Chapter 13
Penny
Delerium wasn’t like any other club I’d been to before. I mean, the music and the people were similar, and if I closed my eyes and ignored the magic swirling around me, it’d feel like any other club, but the resemblance ended there.
First off, the bouncer had been an honest-to-goodness fire demon! He hadn’t even tried to hide his nature from us or from anyone else, not even the ordinary humans in line. None of the magical folk here did. Humans and monsters alike were welcome to come as they were.
The energy was wild and primal. A part of my soul definitely recognized it, if not from this life, then another. I had a feeling I was dancing to the beat of the drums around a bonfire under the stars.
And through it all, I found my eyes wandering to one person in particular: one very sexy incubus named Prax.
It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who found him irresistible: several women were checking him out, and by the looks of it, they liked what they saw. In particular, he was being chatted up by the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She had fire-red hair and perfectly painted lips to match. She was generously endowed, almost but not quite out of proportion, with legs for days. The bitch.
The redhead got real close and hooked her arm through his, and a stab of something strange and new hit me in the chest. What the hell! Was I…jealous?
No way! Prax wasn”t really mine. He was only here because of the botched spell. He was an incubus, a player by nature; what the hell did I think would happen? That he’d give up his very essence for me? That was just silly.
I was nothing special, especially compared to someone as perfect as the sexy siren he spoke with now. She was drop-dead gorgeous. The kind of woman entire armies died for. Even I found myself wanting to go over and bathe in her presence. In fact, the more I looked at her, the more I craved her attention.
I wanted to unsheath my non-existent claws and swipe at her for talking to Prax while simultaneously pressing my body to her like a cat in heat. What an odd combination of emotions.
I tore my eyes away from them, confused as fuck. There must be magic involved here.
I grabbed my drink from the table next to us. We’d chosen this spot specifically because it was somewhere we could watch our drinks. I downed the rest of it, letting the liquid fire burn away the baffling thoughts.
Too bad I found myself looking in his direction the second I put my drink down. He wasn’t there anymore. I saw red. Did he leave with the wom—? No. She was standing alone by the speaker. I focused on the music instead and let the rhythm move my body.
After a moment, I realized someone was trying to dance with me, and whoever it was was getting handsy. I danced away from the stranger and toward Lily, but that only bought me a few seconds before he was too close again. This time, his fingers were definitely grabbing my ass.
I whipped around and glared at the stranger trying to cop a feel. The asshole looked and felt completely human; I didn’t sense any magic emanating from him. Just because I couldn’t see magic like Griselda didn’t mean I couldn’t feel it.
“Back up, buddy.”
Griselda, who had been dancing there just moments ago before she’d moved away to dance with a big, brawny shifter, sent me an apologetic look. But it wasn’t her fault this guy was grabbing me. She started dancing back toward us, her dance partner following her.
“Aww, come on, gorgeous. I was just giving you the attention you deserve. A goddess like you shouldn’t be dancing alone. And besides, you are the right one.”
The right one? Something about the way he said it reminded me of the shifter from earlier today.
“The wait is over, beautiful,” he shouted over the music. “Your perfect man is here!”
Oh yeah, this was definitely the spell rearing its ugly head again. No one flirted at a club like this. At least, I sure hoped the hell not.
I backed away from him, but he advanced, closing the gap between us. Griselda had heard what he’d said too, and was no longer dancing with her shifter. She and Lily came to stand on either side of me.
“She said back off,” Lily yelled.
He continued toward us, even as we backed away toward the security guard who hadn”t yet noticed the exchange. Just like earlier today, we formed a shield. They’d been pretty clear at the door they didn’t tolerate any offensive magic here, but surely, a shield was considered defensive. Right?
I took another step back and bumped into something hard and unmovable. My first thought was, oh shit, this guy has friends, but the arm that snaked around me was warm and welcoming. Prax’s familiar scent of trees, campfire, and roasting marshmallows filled my nostrils.
“She said back off, buddy.”
The barest hint of magic flashed in the man’s eyes. The air around us changed, and the music warped in our vicinity, sounding stretched. I’d been wrong: the man had magic. Maybe he was a wizard? He’d been hiding it well, that’s for sure.
“You have not claimed her,” he announced. “She is mine.”
“She came here with me. And I have claimed her.” Prax held up my left hand, and there, on my ring finger, was the biggest rock I’d ever seen.
I knew it was just his soul stuff, but it sure reflected the lights of the club like it was real.
“Now back off, or we’re gonna have a problem.” Prax seemed to grow bigger and taller. He took a menacing step toward my new admirer.
I put a restraining hand on his arm, hoping to prevent a fight. I did not need to get kicked out of a club tonight.
Lucky for me, the asshole decided that I wasn’t worth the trouble. He turned and left, disappearing into the crowd.
“The spell?” Lily asked.
Prax, Gigi, and I answered her simultaneously. “Yes.”
Prax said something, but the music was too loud for me to hear, and my voice was toast from screaming anyway.
“It”s too loud in here. Let’s talk outside.”
We started toward the door when we were suddenly stopped by a man in form-fitting jeans and a smoking jacket that should have looked very out of place at a club. But like Prax with his pirate get-up, the man wore it with such confidence and aplomb that it worked.
“Prax! My old friend. I’m so glad to see you are free and alive. Gina told me you were here.”
“Julian! It’s been centuries. Gina…oh, you mean Gwen. Yes, I saw her earlier.”
I exchanged a look with my friends.
“I’m pretty sure that’s the club owner,” Lily whispered.
I was suddenly thrust in front of the man, with Prax showing me off like a prize. “This is Penny. I’m here with her and her friends, but we were just finding a quieter place to talk.”
“You can use one of the VIP rooms. Come, I’ll take you.”
We followed him up a flight of stairs and through a set of double doors. The room was lavishly furnished with lush leather couches, a low, oval marble table in the middle of them. A selection of finger foods and snacks was set out on the table. A well-stocked bar stood against the wall with a variety of liquors, wines, and champagnes.
The music was quieter in here, and it was indeed a perfect place to talk.
“If you need a server to mix some drinks, or anything else, just press that button right there, and someone will come.” Julian eyed Lily, Gigi, and me appraisingly before handing Prax a card. “I’m sorry I can’t stay, but I’ve got some business I must attend to. Call me, and we’ll catch up. And if you need some privacy, just flip the sign at the door. No one will bother you.” Then the other demon was gone, and we were alone.
“Um, did I just get the feeling that your friend thought we were going to have an orgy or something in here?” I asked.
“That is a distinct possibility,” Prax admitted. “Julian is an old friend of mine from way back. I am not surprised he owns this place. It is an incubus’s dream.”
“No kidding. Lots of sexy women for you to hit on.” Oops. Did that sound as jealous to him as it did to me?
Prax must have known who I was talking about because he was suddenly by my side. “She wanted to go hunting together for old time’s sake. I told her I wasn”t interested.”
“Hunting?”
“Yes. For bed partners. Gwen…I suppose she goes by Gina now…is a succubus.”
“Ohhh!” Lily and I said together.
“I told her I wasn’t interested because I’m not on the hunt.” His eyes sparkled. “I already know who I’m going home with tonight.” His gaze sizzled on me.
“That’s really sweet, you two, but can we please get back to your little problem?” Gigi said. “This spell you cast is still sending you random men.”
Oops! For a moment there, I’d totally forgotten we weren’t alone.
“Prax,” I asked, “when you received the summons, was there anything strange about it?”
He shook his head. “Nothing I can think of. But I didn’t exactly look very thoroughly. I thought it was just a booty call, remember?”
“But you stuck around.” Lily grabbed a candy from the tray on the table, unwrapped it, and popped it in her mouth. “And now Penny has bachelors throwing themselves at her,” she mumbled around the confection.
“Did the spell promise you anything if you accepted it?” Gigi asked.
“Nope. Just Penny. Which, for me, is prize enough.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Lily said.
My heart did a silly little skip at his words, but I pretended not to be affected. “So why are all these others throwing themselves at me?”
Prax leaned back on the leather couch, looking smug. “Maybe it”s because you haven’t accepted me yet. The spell and its request is still considered to be pending.”
“Yeah!” Lily exclaimed. “That makes sense. You haven’t been ‘claimed’.”
“She has,” Prax said firmly. “She’s mine.”
“You know,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him, “you sound just like one of those other guys. It’s kind of creepy. And you’re an incubus. You’re not even supposed to want forevers.”
He shrugged. “Can’t you be temporarily mine? Aren’t most modern relationships temporary anyway?”
“Touché,” I grumbled.
“But you were just recently freed. Don’t you want your freedom now?” Gigi followed Lily’s lead and grabbed a candy.
“Of course I do. There are many things in this century that I want the freedom to explore: fast cars, good music, new technology, modern cities.”
“I see.” Gigi nodded as if that explained everything.
It didn’t to me. Clearly, this spell was messing with Prax’s brain.
“Then I think it’s clear,” Griselda said. “If you want the spell to stop sending you random weirdos, just accept Prax. Simple. Once the spell is satisfied that it has found you a man, it should stop.”
Lily nodded adamantly beside her. Prax seemed deep in thought.
“If you say so,” I said, not fully convinced. “But first, I have something I want to test. I want to know if the spell is constantly lobbing men in my direction, or if it stops when Prax is around.”
“Oh, good point,” Lily agreed. “Maybe he has to be physically present. We can test that theory right now. It’s the perfect place for it. The two of you go back out on the dance floor together and see if anyone else comes by.”
“We’ll keep close just in case,” Gigi said.
And with that, we headed back out to the dance floor.