The Elfbitten Trilogy (12 page)

     “Why do you want to go with me?”

     “To help,” he said it almost like a question. “If you’re struck by the bite or the Hunter, what if you go in there and can’t control yourself and forget why you’re there?”

     “And you think you can help keep me focused?”

     “Yes.”

     “You’re affected by my magic, Daniel; if I want to distract you, I can.”

     “Sure, but who else do you have that can help you with this?” I thought about it. I had Roxy, but, to be honest, I wasn’t sure she’d see this as such a problem. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but Roxy might take advantage of the situation. Roxy loved sex and raising magic. She might see this as an opportunity for a never ending supply of power.

     “Only if you’re sure,” I finally said. “I don’t want you to go because you feel some weird obligation to me. If you’ve never been to that club, it can be kind of overwhelming.”

     “No, I’ve never been and no, I don’t feel some weird obligation to you,” he responded. “But I do feel something for you, even if we hardly know each other.” He gave me that sly smile, making me smile back at him. He pushed away from the wall and crossed the short distance between us, stopping just in front of me. He set his hands on my hips and pulled me against him, closing those last few inches. He didn’t try for anything other than the embrace. I rested my cheek on his bare chest, enjoying his warm skin and the thud of his heart beat and slipped my arms around his narrow waist.

     “I just hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,” I whispered.

     By the time I had blown out and styled my hair, applied my make-up, and figured out what to wear, Daniel had fixed us something to eat. That more than anything made me want to jump him right there on the kitchen table. I was so ravenous it made me wonder how long it had been since I’d eaten. Daniel assured me we had taken food breaks, but probably not as many as we should have. Once we were finished and the dishes were cleared away, it was late enough for the club to be open. I had warned Daniel, or at least tried to, about what the club was like, but he wasn’t at the least bit worried about it. I was. Daniel said he felt something for me. What if the bite made me lose it again and Daniel and I became separated and he wasn’t there to slake my lust and I satisfied the craving with someone else? How would he feel about helping me then?

     Choosing what to wear to the club proved to be much more difficult this time around. Last time, showing as much skin as possible was the goal, along with easy access, but tonight I wasn’t interested in seducing anyone I wanted. However, if the power of the bite did take over my mind, I didn’t want to be wearing something so constricting that I might damage it to get it off. It was quite the dilemma.

     Finally I decided on a slinky little grey dress. The material was soft and clingy, hugging my curves and ending two inches below my ass. It had a halter-top neckline, the material stretchy enough that it just slipped over my head without any fasteners. I adjusted my breasts, happy that the halter was tight enough to keep my girls up and in, showing a mound of cleavage. The halter top left the bite mark exposed, but I figured it was okay since I was going to try and find the Hunter and talk to him about it. Because the material wasn’t shiny, I was able to pair it when the boots the flirtatious pixie coat check girl had given me. They were a beautiful soft black suede, knee high and flat soled. I left my long blond hair down to tumble around my shoulders. I didn’t bother with jewelry since the dress showed off so much. Finally I decided on a pair of crotch-less panties. No, I wasn’t planning on having sex there, but just in case the bite mark had other plans, I didn’t want to lose another pair.

     “Bloody hell,” Daniel said when I walked into the living room. He gave me wide eyes and his mouth was open in surprise.

     “I hope that’s a compliment,” I said, glancing down at myself, not seeing much past the swell of breasts and grey cloth stretched over them. I spun around, letting him see the whole thing, stopping to face him again. He managed to blink, but still hadn’t said anything. I snapped my fingers to get his attention.

     “It’s definitely a compliment,” he finally said after swallowing audibly. I snickered and shook my head, tossing my hair over my shoulder. I walked over to the coffee table and grabbed my purse, making sure everything I needed was in there.

     “You know,” Daniel said, his voice telling me he was much closer to me than he had been a moment again. “The club is open until sunset, we have plenty of time to get there.” He finished with his hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me against his front. I could feel through the thin dress and layer of his jeans just what he was suggesting we do before we go. And I thought I was the one we had to worry about.

     “No,” I said laughing, pushing his hands away. “I don’t want to take the chance that we’ll miss the Hunter.” But just his suggestion, coupled with the closeness of his aroused body, ignited the bite, making me squirm a little. I found myself pressing my legs together. Quickly I pushed his hands away and turned around to face him, putting one hand on his chest and pushing him away.

     “Fine,” he sighed in mock resignation. I just shook my head at him.

     Daniel didn’t really have anything to change into, so he was just wearing what he said he’d been wearing when we met two nights ago. He had on heavy black biker books, dark blue jeans with the legs cuffed like some 1950’s greaser, and a simple black t-shirt that hugged his lean and muscular torso. I saw his leather motorcycle jacket tossed over the back of the couch, waiting for him. I glanced up and saw that he had found some hair product to make his two inch tall Mohawk stand up straight. The red looked shinier and the black tips almost looked sharp when the light hit them. I was very pleased with the over all look, especially pleased by the fact that his Mohawk was short and tidy, not some over-done, five inch tall punk rocker mess. Even his five o’clock shadow added an edge to his face that made my heart flutter.

     “Ready?” I asked, dragging my gaze away from Daniel, grabbing my purse and the same leather jacket I had worn the other night.

     “Yeah, let’s go find this bloke,” he replied, a hint of anger in his voice making his accent just a little thicker. He helped me into my jacket before pulling his on and holding the door open for me.

     We rode over to the club on his motorcycle. I was happy to be conscious this time. It was exhilarating, holding onto Daniel, pressed into his back, my stomach flipping when we took curves in the road. I’d be lying if I didn’t mention the amazing feeling of the rumble of the engine between my thighs. That alone would be reason enough for me to buy one. There were a couple of times, while we idled at a red light, where I had to stop my hands from wandering Daniel’s body.

     Baven, my half-troll friend, wasn’t working the front door tonight. We had to go through a screening process for Daniel since he was human. They needed to make sure he wasn’t an undercover cop come to case the place for a raid and he even had to sign a full release form stating he wouldn’t hold the club owners accountable for anything that might happen to him while inside. I had never brought a human with me, so this was all as much of a surprise to me as it was to Daniel, who had never been here before.

     “I hope this place is worth the hassle,” he whispered to me as we walked down the long, dark hallway that led to the club proper.

     “I suppose that’s a matter of opinion,” I replied. “But I think, if you know what this club is for, you would think it was worth it.”

     “They make it sound like you’re risking life and limb coming in here.”

     “Well, you are, kind of,” I said. “You could become elfstruck or pixiestruck or fairystruck and that could be a life sentence. And last time I was in here, there was at least one vampire and one shape shifter, so you could be risking mortal danger.”

     “Bollocks,” Daniel said and I realized he had stopped. I turned around and walked back over to him.

     “What?”

     “A vampire and a shape shifter? You’re putting me on,” he said.

     “No,” I shook my head. “I’m not. My friend Roxy had a dance with the shifter and I had a dance with the vampire.”

     I watched him try to control his reaction, but I saw his face twitch. I crossed my arms and glared at him, daring him to say something about my being with Andre or Roxy being with the shifter. I finally said, “Listen, Daniel, if you can’t handle hearing something like that, you won’t last five minutes inside. And if you have a problem with me, just tell me now and get out of here.”

     “No, no,” he said quickly, trying to recover. “I was just surprised is all.”

     “Sure,” I said flatly.

     “I’m sorry. You just said is so casually, it threw me.” I relaxed my bitch pose, remembering my reactions when I saw Andre and the shifter that night. They had both scared and intrigued me; I’d be throwing stones if I gave Daniel too hard a time. He was here trying to help me after all; I could give the guy a break.

     “Yeah, okay,” I said, uncrossing my arms. “But you need to get that human bullshit together, otherwise you’re gonna offend someone in there and we’ve got to keep our heads straight. Alright?”

     “Yeah,” he nodded, “let’s go.” I blew my bangs out of my eyes and turned to lead the way again. The club was just as crowded as it had been on Tuesday. The dance floor looked like one giant, relatively vertical orgy of elves, fairies, humans, and more, while the dim booths gave little privacy to the full blown sex acts happening in them. Daniel managed to keep his face schooled as he walked beside me, but still glanced here and there taking in the atmosphere, but that was perfectly normal.

     “Hi,” I said brightly, recognizing the bubble-gum pink haired pixie from the other night standing behind the counter in the coat check room.

     “Hey,” she greeted me in kind, her bright, pointy face lit up in a smile when she recognized me. Her purple eyes went wide when she glanced over my shoulder and saw Daniel standing there, nearly a foot taller than me. She mouthed the word “wow” to me and I chuckled, shrugging off my jacket before handing it with my purse to her.

     “Thanks,” Daniel said when she took his leather jacket, walking into the back to store them for us.

     “Listen,” I said when she came back to give me a ticket stub for our things. “We’re looking for someone, maybe you’ve seen him?”

     “Yeah, maybe, what’s he look like?”

     “He’s a Hunter,” I said, wanting to give her the most pertinent information first. “He has long auburn hair, tattoos all over his arms and chest, big.” I motioned with my hands, trying to gauge how broad his shoulders had been.

     “Hmmm,” she said, tilting her head to the side, trying to remember. “That really could be so many different Hunters. But the auburn hair, yeah, I’ve seen him.”

     “Tonight?” I asked, feeling my heart beat speed up.

     “Yeah,” she nodded. “Yeah, I saw him come in like an hour ago, but I haven’t seen him since.”

     “Great, thanks so much!” She grinned at my enthusiasm and Daniel reached over my shoulder to drop a tip in her jar, making her bounce with excitement.

     “Hey, if you guys want some company later,” she said, letting her sentence trail off as she leaned on her elbows on the counter top, putting her face much closer to my body. She arched a pink eyebrow at me, a new edge to her smile as she glanced from me to Daniel. I heard him clear his throat behind me. I couldn’t tell if it was to cover a laugh or because the pixie made him uncomfortable. I wasn’t surprised by her offer; she had made a similar offer to me the other night. Only the chance of being fired kept her from asking me outright.

     “Thanks, maybe,” I said not wanting to offend her, but the idea of sharing Daniel set an angry fire inside of me that surprised me. She nodded at me before we turned away from her and scanned the crowd.

     “Yeah, maybe?” Daniel asked me when we were out of earshot and I just smiled, shrugging my shoulders before I said, “There’s no reason to insult her.”

     “You know,” Daniel said, turning his face back to the club, “you hear all kinds of rumors about this place, but you never believe half of them.”

     “And now?” I asked.

     “Yeah, they’re all true.”

     “They usually are.”

     “So, do you want to look for this guy?”

     “Yes.” Ever since we walked in I felt the bite throbbing on my shoulder; the magic and lust filling the air called to it. I had to get this taken care of tonight if I wanted to live a normal life.

     “Where do we start?” I felt Daniel slip his hand to the small of my back, the press of his fingers burned through the thin material of my dress.

     “I met him on the dance floor,” I said, nodding towards it. He didn’t say anything, but he nodded and pressed his hand into my back, guiding me forward at he started walking. I was surprised by how easily he was taking this; the club was a little overwhelming the first time. I realized worrying about him was making me a little nervous and only the bite burning away on my shoulder was pulling me into the mood of the crowd. I’d need to relax or else drive myself crazy.

     I stopped at the edge of the dance floor and took a moment to just breathe and calm my nerves. Daniel didn’t ask me what I was doing, which I was grateful for. I could taste the power and magic of the crowd and so many bodies pressed together. It was like spices on the back of my tongue. I breathed in the scent of night-blooming jasmine, sweat, and sex, let it fill me, swirling inside of me, calling to the magic hidden inside.

     When I opened my eyes, I knew they were glowing with magic, lighting my face. I licked my lips and reached for Daniel’s hand and pulled. I guided us onto the crowded dance floor, feeling the beat of the music thrum through me, bouncing in time with it to make getting through the bodies a little easier. People parted for us, slipped around us, touched our bodies, welcoming and inviting us to join in. Daniel’s fingers were rigid in my hand, but once we were in the thick of it, he seemed to relax little by little. When I turned to face him, he was even smiling a little. I nodded at him, encouraging him to calm down and just go with it. We’d find the Hunter, but we could also enjoy ourselves while we were here.