Good Intentions (42 page)

* Moans and whimpers from across the room woke him. Alex stirred in the big, luxurious bed, rubbing his eyes before he looked toward the beautiful sound. Gentle daylight fil ed the room, mitigated by an overcast morning sky. Taylor was on the couch, her head and arms laid against its plush top. With Taylor’s voice so clearly overcome with bliss, Alex had no doubt what his succubus was up to or where she might be. Alex lay in bed, stretching and listening in appreciation. He used to find the sight of Taylor in someone else’s arms depressing, even painful. This was the polar opposite of al that. He could watch Taylor and Lorelei together for hours —except he’d have a hard time resisting the ever-present option to join in. Quietly, Alex slipped out of the bed and into the bathroom to freshen up. Taylor didn’t even notice. Her eyes were closed, and she was somewhere north of Cloud Nine regardless. He took care of business quickly, making a point of brushing his teeth to save everyone from his morning breath. When he came back out, Taylor was still in the same position she’d been before. Stepping around the couch, Alex could see Lorelei kneeling before Taylor with her head buried between the brunette’s legs. He wondered with a smirk how long it had been since Lorelei came up for air and if Taylor was even capable at the moment of caring. Probably not, he decided. He doubted she could think of anything at al . For a moment, Alex wondered about the best way to announce his presence. Figuring Taylor wouldn’t notice right away, he knelt next to Lorelei, trailing kisses across her back. Lorelei let out a softly audible purr of acknowledgement, but didn’t pul back from Taylor. Smiling, Alex then shifted up to Taylor, his hands joining with Lorelei’s in caressing the younger woman’s body. Taylor stirred just enough to encourage more. When Alex came up to kiss her, she kissed back eagerly. “No. Not me. Her,” Taylor breathed out finally. “Give her some attention. She won’t let me.”

Alex pul ed away from Taylor to take up a spot on his knees behind Lorelei. Taylor’s eyes were wide now as she watched Alex join in. Lorelei tensed with excitement, but didn’t let up on her other partner. Treated to such an erotic sight as well as expert attention, it wasn’t long before Taylor went over the edge. When she was calmer, she reached down to draw Lorelei into her arms, holding her fondly while Alex saw to her from behind. What really blew Taylor’s mind, though, happened a few long minutes into this entertaining spectacle. Lorelei’s cries of pleasure became ever louder, ever more compel ing…and finally became a single, coherent word, over and over again: “Master.” Lorelei was finally wracked with spasms and whimpers, col apsing in Taylor’s arms. Alex shifted around, taking up a spot on the couch to gather Lorelei into a tender, loving embrace. Lorelei buried her face in the curve between his neck and shoulder while she held him tightly. It seemed as if she might be crying as he stroked her hair and tried to calm his breathing. “Thank you, master,” she whispered. “Thank you.” Wide-eyed and amazed, Taylor breathed, “Holy shit. ‘Master?’ Seriously?” His eyes turned up toward hers, and he seemed to blush a bit. “There’s…there are some things we really need to tel you,” he admitted with a self-conscious grin. * “We’re not joining your Super Secret Witches’ Club. So fuck off.” “It’s not—!” he paused, glancing around quickly at their surroundings in the small bookstore. There weren’t exactly a whole lot of other customers, or really any at al , but he was a bit paranoid. “It’s not a witches’ club,” he hissed, “and

you should be discreet about such things.” Molly glanced over her shoulder at the bald fell ow with the naturally sinister—wel , creepy and nerdy—face. He was a few inches shorter than her, dressed in a black trench coat over an olive drab dress shirt. The guy openly wore a chain with a pentagram and another with an al -seeing eye symbol, and he had an evil eye tattooed on his neck just over his col ar, yet he wanted Molly to be quiet about his club in the middle of an occult bookstore. “This is the third time you’ve bugged me about this,” she said. “You will not get another offer,” he pressed. “Yeah, bul shit. We won’t get another offer ‘til the next one. I told you the first time, and you were told again after that: fuck off.” “You’re only short-changing yourself. A new order is coming to this city,” the little man continued on. He spoke with a quiet urgency, still looking this way and that. “You can be on the inside for it or you can be an outsider when it happens. We are trying to be polite.” “Not listening,” Molly shrugged. “Then at least look at this,” the man said. He shoved a color print-out of a picture in front of her. She glanced down at it, blinked, and then promptly bit her tongue. Then she forced a scowl as she took it. “What is this? A picture from hotchickswithdouchebags.com?” “Bring us anything on the guy circled in the picture or the woman in the sketch and you’l be rewarded.” “Would that get you to go away?” “His name is Alex. He may be mundane, but it’s also possible that he’s a Practitioner and we just don’t know which Practice yet. The woman is Lorelei. She’s…not of this world,” he said in a lower voice. “Spewed forth from the Pit.”

“Something’s gonna be spewed forth from my pit al over your snazzy outfit if you don’t back the fuck up. You’re making me nauseous.” finally, he snapped. “I’m done being patient. You can rule with the rest of us or you can be food. Your choice.” “Food—? Oh, fuck, are you people involved with them? Jesus. You’re bigger pansies than I thought. Go away, I don’t want anyone seeing me talking to you.” She turned away from him to look at the bookshelves again. “Fucking cunt,” he said, reaching out to grab her. He suddenly stopped with the sound of a loud, low smack of a hand on fabric. He let out a high-pitched grunt and jerked bolt upright. “Leave us alone,” Onyx said calmly, clutching his groin from behind, “or you and al your future offspring get to enjoy a soul-burning case of hereditary herpes.” He grunted again, then nodded and made a motion as if to show he was leaving. Onyx released him, standing up her full height as he strode away. She walked after him a moment just to be sure that he’d leave without any further trouble. The clerk at the counter hardly looked up from painting his nails. “Sorry I picked such a bad time to go to the bathroom,” Onyx remarked dryly as she turned back to Mol y. Then she frowned with concern at the look on her redheaded lover’s face. “What is it?” When Molly showed her the picture of Alex at the house party and the sketch of the woman Onyx had seen at his home, she gasped. “Their little magic club is looking for them. He said her name’s Lorelei and she’s from hell , and that Alex might be a Practitioner.” Onyx shook her head. “No way. Not him. I’m tel ing you.” “I believe you,” Molly shrugged, “but I imagine this is the woman you saw at his place, right? Wouldn’t that confirm what we thought?” “Yeah. Wow. What the hell is going on with him?”

“I didn’t want to ask Poindexter out there, but clearly something serious. Though why it would involve those buttmunches out there is beyond me. Maybe she’s an escapee from one of their pervy summoning orgies?” Onyx made a face. “Ugh, you think they really do that?” “Probably. You don’t think a guy like that gets laid without using magic, right? It’s either summonings or probably date rape sorcery. I’d prefer not to think about the latter.” It didn’t make Onyx feel any better. She looked up at her girlfriend with eyes full of apology. “This is such a mess,” she frowned. “I’m so sorry.” Molly just grinned. “I can think of ways for you to apologize.” “I’m serious!” Onyx said, swatting her arm while trying to fight off a smile of her own. “I am, too. If I can get lingerie shows and breakfast in bed every time you get some from a guy, I might have to find a way to arrange some regular Friday afternoon action for you. You’re a lot of fun when you feel guilty.” “You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?” “Onyx, I’m trying. I want you to stop feeling guilty about this. Look, if he’s bad news, we’l have to end it, but if there’s a chance that things are okay or if we can make ‘em okay, I’m not going to go back on what I said last week. Remember? You remember the ‘what would we do with a penis’ conversation?” Molly waited for her to blush, and then shrugged. “Hey, I like him, too. He seems like a nice guy. I don’t want to see him eaten by demons. So let’s get our shit together and figure out our options, okay?” After a deep breath, Onyx shrugged. She tossed her head to the bookshelf in front of Mol y. “Find what we’re looking for?” “Yeah,” Molly said as her grin turned to a frown. “But I didn’t want to pul it down until that tool was gone. Anyway, it’s seventy bucks.” She glanced back at Onyx. “Think he’s worth it?”

Onyx’s mouth twisted to match Mol y’s expression. She sighed. “I guess that’s my budget for going out for the next couple weeks.” She pul ed a large, hardbound book on demonology from the shelf. “I kinda like staying in with you lately,” Molly said, slipping an arm around Onyx’s waist and kissing her lightly on the neck. “Hel , I didn’t even want to leave the apartment today.” She pul ed the book from Onyx’s hands. “Early birthday present. I’m buying.” “You sure?” “Yeah. But take a look outside while I’m paying up. You’ve got better eyes.” Onyx strolled over to the front of the store, looking out at Broadway Avenue. The rain had lessened to a steady Seattle drizzle. Traffic was light; there wasn’t that much activity on Capitol hill at this hour on a wet Sunday morning. Onyx and Molly both took it for granted that most of the hill ’s denizens were still sleeping off their hangovers. With the relative lack of human activity, though, Onyx found it even easier to spot the tel tale gloom of very malevolent intent. “Oh wow,” Onyx said as Molly got the book rung up by the clerk. “He’s out there with friends. I don’t think this is just another try at fol owing us home.” She cast a concerned look at Mol y. “This is really serious.” Molly took a deep breath and let it out. No getting away from this now. She looked at the clerk. “Hey, have you got a back door here? Out to the al ey outside?” The clerk looked up from under his dreadlocks evenly, glancing over at Onyx and back again. He shook his head. “Not that I can let anyone use. Sorry. Owner’s instructions. Door’s covered in runes, and it’s my ass if it gets opened and something comes out of it.” “You got roof access at least?” “Sure. But I wouldn’t try climbing down.”

“No, I’ve just gotta cal some friends,” Molly nodded. “And could we use the back room for like ten minutes?” Onyx said, coming over to them. “Well that depends on what you’re going to use it for,” the clerk said. “I heard about the last time you two used it.” Both young women blushed at that, looking at one another guiltily. “Um,” Onyx said, trying not to laugh in embarrassment, “very serious occult business here today, sir. We swear.” “Mm-hmm,” Molly nodded, choking down her commentary. The clerk glanced outside again. It was pretty clear that he understood the score. “I don’t need to know what you’re up to, then,” he shrugged with a very practiced noncommittal tone. “Just remember, this is neutral ground. Whatever you’ve got going on, you need to save it for the street.” * Cruel and bloody vengeance dominated Kenneth’s thoughts. His mind only darkened in the twenty minutes he’d been standing behind the van across the street. He smoked a clove cigarette, thinking about al the brutal things he was going to do to those two bitches when they finally came under the thumb of the Brotherhood. To say they were going to regret not accepting his invitation was an understatement. His Lord would let him have the two cunts for a few nights before having to hand them over. At worst, Lord Stefan might want to have his fun with them while they were still fresh, but he’d tire of their flesh soon enough. He was an old man, after al , and not given to appreciation for modern styles. He might want the Goth princess in the lacy black dress. She had something of a classic, delicate beauty to her. But the redhead was a punk and a dyke to boot; naturally pretty, but marred enough by make-up and tomboyish sensibilities that Stefan wouldn’t likely soil himself with her. He’d surely leave her to

Kenneth. Unless for some reason it would be good politics to hand them over to the vampires, anyway. Why this hadn’t been done before now was beyond him. Kenneth could see not going after the pair of pagan circles in the suburbs; they had numbers enough to put up a real fight. And the Indians were too much to go after right now, too, particularly with the muscle that their casino revenues could buy. But these two bitches were al on their own. No back up, no coven. Not enough to defend against the Brotherhood of Apol o. Just like the old Russian witch they’d buried in Tukwila last month. The only real question was whether it’d be more fun to make them obedient servants or just break them and dump them in El iott Bay. Probably the former, ultimately. One simply couldn’t waste magical talent, no matter how misplaced. The rain began to pick up. Kenneth tapped on the window of the van. “Manny,” he said, “keep alert. They’l be coming.” Between the rain and the endless line of parked cars along the side of the street, the bitches would probably feel they had enough cover to make an unseen getaway. Manny nodded. The driver glanced across the street, then immediately back to Kenneth with a twirl of his fingers. Showtime. The pair walked quickly down Broadway. He wasn’t surprised that they might suspect pursuit, but that was fine. He didn’t really expect they’d be able to do anything about it. Two hedge witches who talked tough. Hereditary herpes, my ass, he thought. Manny started the van. Kenneth walked after them. Soon after that, a man looming in a doorway not far from the two girls also came out, joining Kenneth in his pursuit. Two others positioned further ahead would cut off their escape route as they walked, while the van could prevent them from pulling away from the curb if they got into one of the cars parked on the street. Unsure as he was of which way the bitches would take, Kenneth had placed men down both directions of Broadway. The pair waiting down the opposite way would fol ow up to ensure no tel ing evidence was left behind if there was a struggle. There would be few witnesses on a rainy, empty Sunday morning street.

Kenneth strode on, mouthing the words to a sorcerous curse. His fingers twitched and swirled in malevolent patterns at his side as he walked. He focused his wrath on the Goth princess, keeping his gaze fixed on her right up until the bird shit landed on his face. It happened just as his two minions up beyond the girls had stepped out from their hiding spots. Kenneth jerked back reflexively, wiping the nasty mess off his face with one hand. Without even thinking about it, he looked up to see the edges of the buildings and the telephone lines above him lined with crows despite the rain. They al stared down at him. A heartbeat later the murder of crows dove straight for him in a mob that quickly blackened out the sky above him. It al unraveled with that. Kenneth’s partner on the sidewalk yel ed out his name and tried in vain to slap the birds away. There were just too many of them, though, al tearing at him with beaks and talons and shocking ferocity. Kenneth tumbled to the ground screaming. Up ahead, one of Kenneth’s thugs lunged right for Onyx only to fall down flat on his face right in front of her with an ugly crunch. The other didn’t fare much better; he had a stun gun, but he didn’t have anything that would help him against the al ey cat that came from out of nowhere to leap at his crotch with a frightening yowl. It was more than enough of a distraction for Molly to plant her brass knuckles straight into his cheek. She laid him out with a single punch. Manny had just rolled up near the two girls in his van as the thugs both went down. He saw the first, who had slipped in the rain, catch a brutal kick to the groin from Mol y. Onyx simply looked up at Manny and pointed. Panicked, he threw the van into reverse and slammed the accelerator to the floor. He got away from the girls, and indeed backed up past where his boss was being slashed to pieces by angry crows. He came to a stop, though, when his van hit a car that he hadn’t realized was coming up the street behind him. In his rear view mirror, he could see the two cops in the patrol unit he’d just struck. They were both men, both in their thirties. The driver was a white guy with short brown hair and glasses. His partner was black, slightly bigger and