Chapter 10
The staircase was echoey. It made Theo conscious of how loud he was, and he forced himself to keep calm, keep his footfalls as light as possible.
He had Uber on his phone. He hadn’t used the app much, not when the tram was normally faster and he had Peter, who insisted on driving him more often than not. But he booked a ride even while he was still on the stairs.
At least stuff like this doesn’t freak me out. Should stuff like this freak me out? I’m going to miss the fucking seminar and the screening, and that freaks me out a little. I don’t want to have to ask Peter to compel my professor.
Theo was going to cross that bridge when he came to it.
He pushed the emergency exit open and hurried outside, keeping his steps measured as he headed toward the pickup point the app was directing him to.
It was past the linguistics building, close to where Peter always dropped him off, and Theo kept casting looks over his shoulder while blinking against the sunlight.
Once he was in the car, he continued to look over his shoulder for a good five minutes, but when he didn’t see the Cloudtree guy following him or running after the car, he relaxed and texted Carl.
Hey, you at the Boudoir?
I am.
Coming in now. In an Uber. There was a strange guy at the cafeteria.
ETA?
Theo checked the app.
About 10.
Are you being followed?
Don’t think so.
Did you call Mr. Collins?
Theo fiddled with the shoulder strap of his bag before typing,
I might be overreacting. He’s busy at work, and this is fastest.
Understood. I’ll meet you right in front of the building.
Right in front of the building meant they’d be there to get him right out of the car.
It was a security measure. Celeste was strict about that to begin with—if you even had a feeling someone was following you, you were supposed to take a cab and text the Boudoir.
The Boudoir would cover cab fare, no questions asked, and in some cases, security would even take you home after work, or so he’d learned during training for his first job there.
Theo sagged back in his seat, letting his phone go dark but keeping it in hand, just in case. The ten minutes went by quickly, and before long, the front entrance of the Boudoir came into view.
He straightened in his seat and looked out the window. It wasn’t just Carl waiting for him, but also Kira. Kira was usually on duty inside. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore a black suit much like Carl’s.
When they stopped, Theo thanked his driver and opened the door, though Carl caught it and held it open for him.
Theo got out, and the Uber left.
“Are you okay?” Carl asked, his eyes searching Theo’s face.
Kira was watching him too, and Theo was beginning to feel silly and wondering whether he’d overreacted.
It was entirely possible that he had fallen for some student’s art project and that what Cloudtree had said was actually innocuous.
I’m biased, right? Of course I would think he was talking about vampires.
I’d think the worst instead of the most likely…
My Occam’s Razor is broken. Yeah. I’m being silly.
“Hmm.” While Theo was beginning to doubt his own judgment, Kira narrowed her eyes and stepped right into his personal space. She sniffed the air.
Theo knew she didn’t do that—not the violation of anyone’s space unless there was a damn good reason, nor the obvious sniffing.
He had seen her act this way exactly once during his training, when a patron had tried to kiss one of his then-and-future colleagues, but she’d never done it to him. He startled.
“Did I—?” He wasn’t even sure what he’d been about to ask.
She narrowed her eyes. “This is—I know this scent. Carl?”
Carl nodded and met Theo’s eyes while Kira stepped back. “Excuse me.”
He did what Kira had, stepping close to sniff him before backing away. Then he turned to her.
“Shit.”
Something tensed in Theo’s gut. “What? What’s happening? Why’re you looking at each other like that?” He swallowed, his voice going feeble. “Share with the class?”
Kira straightened. “We’re taking this inside. Right now.”
Her tone of voice was commanding. That was nice, sort of.
Comforting. Except, of course, it wasn’t like Theo had been scared of anything.
What was there to be scared of except some weird guy at the cafeteria?
But that tone of voice made him wonder why she sounded so…
worried? Though that couldn’t be it either, especially since Kira didn’t do worry.
“We’ll reach out to Mr. Collins when we get into the Boudoir,” Carl said stiffly while ushering Theo up the stairs to the front entrance. Kira was ahead of him, taking two steps at a time.
“I don’t think we have to. He’s busy at work.”
Theo didn’t turn, but Carl’s frown was an almost physical thing, a glower he could feel right through his back.
Or maybe I’m imagining it. I might just be uneasy for no good reason.
Everything is out of step again. The fruit art, I could’ve handled, but I can’t turn on my heel and call Peter whenever something even slightly upsets me.
What’s he going to do to the professor if I ever fail a class?
Theo was going to wait until they were inside and in one of the back rooms before he’d discuss with Carl how no one was going to call Peter.
It was probably nothing. It couldn’t be anything like the thing with Bernard.
No. That was in the past. Theo had his life in order now, if you could call living with a vampire who you sort of liked and who packed you lunch having your life in order.
Kira held the door for him, but she stayed ahead of him, Carl behind.
Theo knew the Boudoir, but the front entrance was mostly for clients.
It was beautifully decorated, with a richly patterned wallpaper and a thick carpet in shades of dark red.
Both matched the floor tiles with small red roses on them.
Through an awning, they came into the entrance room where the bar was. Theo took a cursory look around as he followed Kira, but Celeste wasn’t there. Kira made straight for the room on this floor that Celeste used the most, and she knocked—two short, four long, one short.
To Theo’s shock, she didn’t wait for an answer, just went right inside.
The room was full of plush pastels, chains, and a wide selection of floggers and other toys. Celeste had a turning table and a chair, both with an abundance of restraints. It was the table that was currently in use, and the client on it wore a latex mask and nothing else.
Celeste was dressed in lace and wearing shimmery gloves that went above her elbow. She looked incredibly soft but for the riding crop she was running over her client in a tantalizing way.
“They have come to watch you,” she told the man, never missing a beat despite the sudden interruption. “You must behave. Lead by example.”
Celeste was a good boss, but Theo half expected her to be less than thrilled about them barging in here and make it known. At least from her expression, Theo didn’t see anything that resembled anger.
“Ma’am,” Kira said.
Celeste ran her riding crop deeper, using it where it would get the most out of her client.
“They’re begging me to play with them instead of you.
Hmm. You should think about that, think about what you can do better.
” Her client breathed heavily, longingly, even as Celeste put her crop on a small table where he’d be able to see it.
She beckoned the three of them into a corner of the room.
“Explain,” she said, not unkindly, her eyes focusing on Theo.
“He smells of Fae,” Kira said, and next to her, Carl nodded as if to confirm it.
“What?” Celeste’s voice went up, and for once, her composure slipped, if only for the briefest moment. Theo wasn’t used to that. “What happened?” He also wasn’t used to having her concern directed at him.
“I—Fae? I just came here because there was this weird guy on campus, saying something about how he was going to free me from a blood yoke or whatever. He was barely even wearing a shirt. And glitter. He was wearing glitter. I thought he was an art student.”
Celeste was frowning at him. “Apparently not. Free you from a blood yoke?”
Theo shrugged. “I don’t know, but I thought it sounded like he thought I was under compulsion by a vampire, which I know I’m not.” Theo sighed. “Peter only ever did that to protect me, because he’s Peter. Anyway, I got worried, and the Boudoir was close, so…”
She nodded. “You did the right thing.” She glanced back over her shoulder at the man on her table. “I have to finish up here. Kira, Carl, take him upstairs and stay with him.” She narrowed her eyes. “We’re going to call Peter too. Just in case.”
Theo perked up at that and crossed his arms. “Why do we have to—just in case of what?”
She sighed and put a gloved hand on his shoulder. “It’s a precaution. I’ll call Lord Laurette first, of course, see if he can sort this out. He’s the Elven lord whose protection we’re all under.”
That was news to Theo. An Elven lord sounded outlandish, and he only had the trip up the stairs to Celeste’s to make sense of it, still guarded by two werewolves. It wasn’t nearly enough time to make sense of anything, and as soon as they reached Celeste’s kitchen, worry crept in.