6. VI
VI
Echo
A ster led us down the basement stairs of Playhouse, weaving through dank corridors until we reached the allocated cell. We were called in by Sudo to deal with a new client who had come in requesting services we didn’t provide.
Vice was the syndicate renowned for fulfilling all your sexual desires, exploring another level of lust you never knew existed. Unfortunately, that meant we also attracted the absolute filth of society.
Many had misgivings about Serpents Row, not knowing we had our own set of rules—laws that were followed without any dissention. No children, no animals, no nasty, fucked up shit where people could take advantage of the weak and unsuspecting. We only dealt with consenting adults in this side of the city. If you followed our rules, your kink could be explored till your heart’s content.
With a steady flow of cash and an open mind, I’ll happily show you heaven.
Aster pitched her chin to the cell door before us, indicating for me to take command of the interrogation. She was in a stroppy mood, her snobby nose rising in the air, scowl accentuated by her crimson-painted lips. She was still pissed at me about the whole Appleberry debacle. She shouldn’t have bothered. I was pissed at myself.
The Ludus had taken the untimely death of the ambassador as an aggressive threat and had gone into hiding, cutting off all access to the Caverns beneath the city as if biding their time to strike back. Which wouldn’t be an issue in itself if it was only the Ludus we were dealing with. However, with Khaos now a part of the mix, countless unknown variables were a part of the playing field, making Vice vulnerable for the first time in years.
My failure was a constant presence that contaminated every waking moment. I never fail. The mere thought of that waitress made me hard while imagining my hands wrapped around her throat and squeezing until the light faded from her eyes.
I’d also had no advancements in that department either. Honing in that frustration, I geared it towards the task at hand.
I pushed into the chamber, the barred door creaking at my entrance. Sparing Aster a cursory glance over my shoulder, I said, “Might want to lose that glower, Mistress, you have a few wrinkles pushing through.”
Her hand flew to her forehead, smoothing down the perfect skin. I released a cackle and shut the door in her unimpressed face. Anyone else would get a caning for a comment like that. Me? She knew that wouldn’t work.
Darkness enclosed the small rectangular tomb, and my senses were only spared for the man tied to the lone chair directly in the centre. His head lifted. Unable to see my approach, he knew I was there all the same. “Who’s there?” he asked, voice strained and shaky.
“ The devil.”
The pathetic excuse of a man remained strapped to the chair, blood running from his nose as he fervently shook his head.
“ Answer me, ” I said, my Variant bouncing off the concrete walls to ricochet into his body.
He dry-retched from the impact. “What are you doing to me!? You Variant FREAK!”
I rubbed the muzzle of my pistol against my temple, his arrogance wearisome, giving me a headache. I needed a drink.
“Let me show you how much of a freak I can be,” I said, ready for it to be over. “My Variant gives me the ability to manipulate soundwaves lower than the limits of human audibility. Which means that although you can’t hear the range of frequency, you can feel it.”
I began to circle him with threatening intent. “That sense of terror creeping over your body, that deep-seated feeling of dread… Yeah, that’s me.” The fucker began to tremble, which made a spark of happiness lick up my spine. “With just one word, I can make your stomach turn .” He began to vomit, my gift causing his gut to spasm in knots. “With just one sentence, I can make your heart beat out of rhythm .” His rib cage succinctly rose with short, shallow gasps, a new-found ache taking over his chest.
Stopping short in front of him, I raised the handgun to the centre of his forehead. “I don’t think you realise… With just one statement, I could destroy every cell in your fucking body .”
That’s when that middle-aged nobody lost his absolute shit. A crying, snivelling mess, begging for his pathetic life by praying for salvation that would never come.
“Now, I won’t ask again. Tell me everything you know.”
The useless waste of a human squealed like a pig, and after confessing his darkest secrets, he gave me all the information I required. Names of his associates, the price tag for his fucked up desires and supposed locations to accommodate those needs.
It was a short list, which would soon be cleared. Or, more specifically, wiped and eradicated like the vermin they were.
And I was more than happy to start with him.
Crouching down, I stared directly into his eyes. “I forgot to tell you my favourite part about being a Variant.” He gulped, perspiration saturating his clothes, dripping down his panicked face. “With just one command, I can have your brain melting from every single orifice in that ugly, fucked up head of yours.”
Blasting him with the high exposure of my Variant had his form seizing before me, the promise of my words coming to fruition as frank blood and body matter poured from whatever orifice was available.
He had one thing right. I was a freak.
As Aster and I hit the main foyer of Playhouse, loud, alluring music pulled me back. “What about some stress relief?”
Aster’s gaze lowered to my dress shirt. I hadn’t managed to escape the questioning unscathed. A few red droplets stained the front of my white button-up. Rolling my eyes, I ripped the offending material in half, dumping the remains in a nearby dumpster. Realigning my suspenders, I opened my arms wide for her perusal.
With a subtle nod and without a word, she traced the corridors to the bar out back. She may not have replied, but at least she’d lost that disappointed snare from her face.
The place was pumping with electric energy, accompanied by the undertones of sinful pleasure. We settled in the main booth centre stage as I ordered a shitload of drinks, wanting to drown my lethargy with strong liquor. I hadn’t drunk since the restaurant, and I was more than ready to sink a few while looking for a fresh face to sink my dick into.
Despite my wandering mind, I remained vigilant and attentive. I was Aster’s main protection, her number one. Satisfied with my surveillance, I settled in my seat, allowing the enthusiastic dancers to crowd around us, hips swaying to the hard, thumping base.
Soon, Aster had a tiny brunette in her lap, mouths dancing in time with the beat. Hopefully, she’d take her home, release some of that pent-up stress.
Then, my gaze flicked to an approaching figure whose sole attention was pinpointed on me as if no one else was in the room—better yet, that no one else even existed .
Black hair, brown eyes, dressed in a skintight leather jumpsuit that left nothing to the imagination. Still, that all diminished in comparison to her powerful magnetism. She exuded pure sex appeal, each movement unintentionally sensual, a man’s erotic fantasy transformed into reality. I had to check my tongue wasn’t lulling out of my mouth like a dog as she strutted straight my way. Fuck me, I have to have her.
She expertly moved through the tight space, dancing alongside the other girls, all of them pushing into the background, her presence a straight beacon that refused to be dimmed. She didn’t stop as she reached the prime location between my spread legs. Turning her back, she rotated her hips downward, skimming dangerously close to my throbbing dick.
Reaching for the table, I grabbed a drink, then pulled her tighter into my lap. She didn’t miss a beat and continued to rotate that wicked body over my front.
With drink in hand and a firm ass in my lap, I leant back to enjoy the moment of peace until the clumsy fuck bumped my glass, which tipped over the table. She kept on dancing as if she didn’t notice . Dumb as shit . I knew it was too good to be true .
Before I could lean in for a second, my body turned rigid. Her scent was familiar, intoxicating, addictive. My overtired, frazzled brain was working overtime, trying to decipher its origin. My eyes closed involuntarily as my fingers traced her sides, and my nose ran up her neck, basking in the sweet, stimulating fragrance. Candy.
Blinding clarity crashed through me. My eyes snapped open and narrowed on the mini beauty spot perfectly placed behind her right ear. My arms tightened like an iron bar round her waist.
“ Ah, if it isn’t my conniving waitress ,” I said, my Variant teasing her with a subtle caress. A contrast to the torture I had delt hours before. I didn’t want to hurt her, I wanted to own her. My new, shiny, expensive toy. “ I hope you don’t plan on going anywhere, since I’ve caught you, I won’t be letting go,” I said, half in threat, half in lust. I can’t fucking believe my luck.
Aster gave me a smug side-eye as if she knew I was whispering sweet nothings in this girl’s ear. She couldn’t hear me. No, my voice was purely for my little pyromaniac. For her and her alone.
Despite my unrelenting hold, her hips continued to gyrate over my hardening cock as if nothing was amiss. “Is that the thanks I get for saving you yet again? ” I perused the side of her face to find her pouting. I was struck with stupid silence from the potent intoxication of her voice. Her appearance was different, completely changed from the waitress I chased not so long ago.
Before I could regain my composure and warrant a reply, she swiped two fingers through the spilt alcohol saturating the table, then abruptly turned and straddled my waist. A smooth, toned leg lined either side of my hips, settling into my body as if she fucking belonged there. Brown eyes pierced into mine, one side of her mouth lifting into a mocking smirk as if she knew something I didn’t.
The conceited, cocky bitch doesn’t know what is coming her way.
After eluding me, I had finally caught her, her delicious body held tight in my harsh embrace like a perfectly tailored gift wrapped present.
Finally, she was my prisoner, my captive, my hostage, mine.
I couldn’t wait to strip her of her ever-changing features, tear through her facade and carve into her face, if only to see the true identity behind the mask. My fingers practically itched for my knives.
I opened my lips to inform her of her new ownership when she shoved her two saturated fingers into my mouth, which would have been erotic if it weren’t for the distinct tinge of Devil’s Flower. The poison was bitter and sour, hard to disguise even in alcohol, however, extremely effective and fast acting.
She removed her fingers before I could bite them off and tipped forward until her lips lined the edge of my ear. “You can either keep me here to cuddle or you can catch up to the person who poisoned your drinks who just left out that back door.” My eyes caught on the swinging exit in question.
Rearing back, her tongue darted out to lick my lips. The audacity of this woman.
I was barraged with a multitude of harrowing, primal needs. I had to hunt down the fucker who tried to kill me, and yet, I wanted to claim this vixen with every goddammed cell in my body.
“Tick tock, lover,” she said, eyes dancing with mirth.
My body was trembling with the necessity to possess her, keep her there with me under any circumstances, but reality was a hard pill to swallow. I spat to the side, getting rid of the poison that laced my tongue. I’d need an antidote later, but that could wait.
Pure and utter rage consumed me. To think that I would have easily ingested that drink in one shot if it hadn’t been for her interference . It fucking gutted me. Here I sat, supposed criminal mastermind, nearly culled by a measly type one assassination attempt. Unheard of.
Aster went to reach for her first drink. Thank the saints that she’d been distracted up until that point.
Shoving my sweet little vixen to the side, I swiped all the glasses from the suspecting table and raced through the back door. Before it closed behind me, I afforded one glimpse at the woman I left behind.
She raised her hand in a slight wave, her face lit with complete triumph as she sent me an air kiss. “Checkmate, motherfucker,” she mouthed, the words reaching my ears as if she’d screamed them through a megaphone. My vision turned red, and the door slammed shut, cutting off my gaze.