Chapter Twelve
Remy, me, and Mandal piled into a nearby cab. As we sped off, we passed several police cars and at least two ambulances. Good. I couldn’t help the injured, but they could.
Fifteen minutes later, we got out at a tall building with a wide base before it narrowed into two soaring, towerlike structures. The doorman snapped to attention when he saw Remy.
“Mr. Byrne, welcome!”
Remy gave him a nod. “Hamilton. Spread the word that it’s residents only in the Green Room until I say otherwise.”
Hamilton all but clicked his heels. “Yes, sir!”
“What’s that mean?” I said as we entered the lobby. It was done in shades of cream, amber, and bronze, somehow managing to look cozy despite its size and grandeur.
“This is my hotel, and that means no non-humans allowed unless they live here,” Remy replied as we went straight to an elevator labeled “Private.” He pressed his thumb to a digital screen, and we zoomed up to the thirty-fifth floor.
Air hissed out of me that wasn’t quite a laugh. “How many hotels do you have?”
“Dozens. They’re the perfect cover for supernaturals. People come and go from them all the time.”
The elevator opened into a dually themed bar that must have taken up the entire floor.
Half was decorated in lighter shades and the other half was dark.
We were between the two, and the lighter side’s entire ceiling was a glass-free aquarium.
Fish, stingrays, and even small sharks swam above us.
I had no idea how nothing more than open air contained the water, but it did, and the floor was made of seashells that my high heels somehow didn’t sink down into.
A bar that looked like a huge coral reef took up the entire wall opposite us.
Even the air had a salt tang, as if I really was standing beneath the sea.
The other half of the bar didn’t seem to have a ceiling.
Only darkness that stretched impossibly high, broken by tiny floating stars and a moon that cast a soft glow over the midnight-colored floor.
The bar resembled a huge black opal, with faint colors peeking through its stygian base.
The tables and chairs were made of the same unusual substance, and the bar’s countertop was covered with moonbeam-pale glass.
Remy chose the night half, leading me to the darkly gleaming bar. “Stay here,” he told me.
I stiffened. “Why? Where are you going?”
“To see a necromancer. Few people alive know how to raise Vengers, but several dead ones do. I need to know what sort of power that would have taken.”
I didn’t even blink. What was using a necromancer to reanimate a dead man so Remy could interrogate him compared to everything else I’d seen? “And you’re benching me here why?”
“Even the best necromancers are … unsettling. I don’t want you to feel threatened by what you see.”
Oh. I wasn’t being benched. The Beast was. Considering it had almost freed itself tonight, keeping it calm was smart.
“Fine.”
Remy nodded at the bartender. “Give her whatever she asks for.”
The bald man with heavily tattooed skin and a dragon earring crawling up his left ear nodded. “Yes, Warden.”
With that, Remy left, Mandal following behind him.
I smiled at the bartender. “What’s good to drink here?”
“Everything,” he replied in a gravelly baritone.
No help there. “Okay, I’ll have the—Jesus!
” I sputtered as a man walking toward the bar suddenly turned into a big dog with tawny beige fur.
The dog stepped out from beneath the pile of the man’s clothes and then sat by a nearby woman’s feet.
She didn’t even pause in her conversation with her companion, either.
She just scratched the dog’s long, pointy ears.
“Invoking other gods’ names isn’t allowed here,” I vaguely heard the bartender say.
I dragged my gaze away from the man-turned-dog. “Sure. That’s what’s unusual about what just happened.”
The bartender gave me a slow blink. Either my sarcasm went over his head, or he didn’t care.
I forced myself to stop staring at the dog-man. I knew shape-shifters existed after my run-in with the Basilisk. Plus, Remy had repeatedly mentioned “other races.” I just … hadn’t expected to see someone transform in front of me.
“Give me something strong,” I told the bartender, now wondering if the dragon around his ear was a piece of jewelry, or something I should concern myself with.
A minute later, he put something tall and frothy in front of me. It smelled tropical, and it tasted like liquefied summer romance: sweet, intense, and over too soon.
“Delicious.” It didn’t taste strong, though. He must’ve figured I couldn’t handle the stiffer stuff. Eh, it didn’t matter. I suddenly was in a much better mood. Why, that man over there was covered in either fish scales or snake scales, and I wasn’t staring at him a bit.
“Another one, please,” I said.
The bartender complied.
I downed the second glass even faster than the first. Absolutely yummy, and how nice that it had finally gotten warmer in here. I’d been cold in my strapless dress when we first entered. Now I felt almost toasty.
“Hello,” a voice said before a silver-haired woman sat next to me. Her short pink dress revealed a lot of leg before hugging her torso, where two thin straps were all that held it up.
“Hi,” I said, hefting my glass in salute. “I’m Raine.”
“Lorelei,” she replied, showing perfect teeth when she smiled. Her hair might be silvery, but she looked to be in her early twenties, with golden skin that reminded me of sunshine gleaming on beach sand. “Enchanted.”
“Don’t be,” I muttered, surprised when it ended in a loud hiccup. For some reason, I wasn’t embarrassed by that, either. “I’m one bad mood away from being a literal beast.”
Lorelei laughed. She thought I was joking. If only.
I took another swallow, feeling a stab of envy as I glanced at Lorelei.
She was the type of woman Remy should be with.
Remy was only pretending to be with me because his grandmother had told him to “keep the cage,” or whatever.
Otherwise, Remy wouldn’t give me the time of day, let alone kiss me like that. …
I took another gulp. That kiss had been the most amazing thing I’d ever felt, and he’d only done it to distract me so my inner monstrosity wouldn’t go on another murder spree. The thought had me sliding my now-empty glass toward the bartender.
“Another for me, and one for my new companion, too.”
The bartender didn’t look like he approved, but whatever. Lorelei sure smiled wider.
“You’re too kind, Raine.”
“And you’re too beautiful,” I told her bluntly. “Like, fairy-tale beautiful.”
Ocean-blue eyes glinted at me. “Fairy tales are but one of the many ways humans have spoken about my kind.”
So, Lorelei wasn’t human. No surprise there. She didn’t have a single enlarged pore on her entire flawless face.
“What ‘kind’ are you, if it’s not rude to ask?”
Our drinks arrived. I downed mine with the same recklessness as before. Now I felt downright hot. I started fanning myself with the tiny napkin beneath my drink.
Lorelei took a sip of hers before offering her glass to me. “Your glass is empty. Share my cup, friend?”
Friend.
A pang hit me. I hadn’t had one of those in years. I kept so busy that most of the time I forgot I was lonely, but I was. So fucking lonely. Maybe if Lorelei wasn’t human, I could be her friend, too. Maybe the Beast wouldn’t be able to hurt her—
The bartender clapped his hand over Lorelei’s glass. “No.”
The single word rumbled with so much threat, the Beast briefly overtook my gaze. In the split second it did, I saw Lorelei’s aura lapping around her like blood-filled seas while her silvery hair floated above her as if she were underwater.…
“Mermaid,” I breathed out in wonder.
Lorelei’s laugh was a delighted trill that made me smile back even as I recoiled from the deadly color of her aura.
“Siren,” Lorelei corrected, flicking the bartender’s hand in a playful way. “And you’re a spoilsport, Aaron.”
“That’s the least of your problems,” a familiar voice growled as Remy strode up behind Lorelei.
She stiffened, but then turned around and smiled. “Remington! I didn’t know you were here—”
“Clearly, or you wouldn’t have attempted to drown the woman I came here with,” he said, cutting her off.
Lorelei gave a single shocked glance my way.
I hefted my empty glass at her, surprised that I had to grab the countertop to steady myself from the simple gesture. Maybe those drinks had been strong after all.
Lorelei turned guileless eyes to Remy next. “Raine offered me a drink, Remington. I merely offered her mine in return.”
Remy’s hand landed on Lorelei’s shoulder, his fingers digging in until a golden liquid seeped around his short nails.
“She didn’t know you were a siren.” Spoken as he tightened his grip. Now I knew what that golden liquid was. Lorelei’s blood. “She also didn’t know that if she’d drunk from your cup, it would have given you the power to lead her into open water so you could drown her.”
“Really?” I asked with another hiccup. Then I saluted Aaron. “Good save!”
Lorelei let out a strained laugh. “I wouldn’t do that—”
“Why else would you ask her to share your cup?” Remy cut her off again. “My only question is, did someone send you to drown her?”
“No,” Lorelei said with a pained gasp.
Remy’s hand tightened again. Golden streaks streamed down Lorelei’s skin. “If you’re lying, I’ll stake you out on the salt flats until you can’t remember what liquid feels like.”
Lorelei whitened. “I’m not lying! No one sent me. I saw her disgust at Foster’s transformation into his jackal half, and merely sought to teach her a lesson—”
“It wasn’t disgust, I was startled,” I interrupted. “Never saw someone turn into a dog before,” I added for Remy’s benefit.
“And I didn’t know she was yours,” Lorelei went on, her tone more desperate. “Besides, I wouldn’t have drowned her. I would have let her swim back to shore.”
“As if she could swim after drinking several of Aaron’s Mindcrushers,” Remy said with a dark glance at the bartender.
Aaron spread out his hands. “You told me to give her whatever she asked for. She asked for something strong.”
My laugh ended on another hiccup. Was that why I wasn’t bothered by all this? Because I was drunk on “Mindcrushers”?
Remy bent closer to Lorelei. “Even if I believe your claims, you still would’ve been dead before Raine touched that water, because she is my future céile.”
More color drained from Lorelei’s face. “What?”
“You heard me.” Roared this time. “And let everyone else hear it, too! Raine Stone is my future céile, so any injury done to her is the same as one done to me. If any of you are tempted to forget that, let this be your reminder.”
Remy’s hand slammed onto Lorelei’s head while a torrent of words erupted from him. I didn’t understand any of them, but the midnight-themed half of the bar cleared out faster than if he’d set the place on fire.
Lorelei’s scream turned into a squeal as her head suddenly deflated until it was no larger than an apple. Her silvery hair almost covered it completely, and her neck now looked like a macabre serving platter for that small stub of a cranium.
“Jesus!”
Aaron frowned.
I waved him off. “Yes, don’t invoke a god’s name, but he just shrunk her head.”
Remy arched a brow. “And it was quite satisfying. Thank you for reminding me of that punishment, Raine.”
“You merciless bastard!” Lorelei squeaked.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This was horrifying, but Lorelei’s tiny voice coming out of her even tinier head was unintentionally hilarious.
“Say another word, and I’ll remove your head entirely.” Remy’s voice was icily flat. “I already want to for what you pulled with Raine, so give me the excuse, Lorelei.”
Lorelei snapped her minuscule mouth shut, but she held up her hands as if to say, I give, I give!
“Present yourself to me in six months,” Remy said, to gasps from onlookers at the ocean side of the bar. “If you haven’t rebelled against me in any other manner by that time, I’ll return your head to its normal size.”
Lorelei squeaked. “I’ll starve.”
“I’ll make sure that you won’t.” Remy’s voice hardened. “Which is more mercy than you were about to show Raine. Now, go. Before I double the length of your punishment.”
Lorelei bowed as she backed away, bumping into a few tables until someone took pity on her and led her out of the bar.
Nobody moved until Aaron picked up Lorelei’s drink and poured it out. Then he nodded at me. “Can I get you something else, Raine?”
“No.” My voice wasn’t nearly as squeaky as Lorelei’s, but it was still higher than normal. “I’m done drinking tonight.”