The Shadows

  Again, Assail showed no reaction at all. "If I am, what's the issue?"

  "You're funneling money into their pockets."

  "And . . . ? So?"

  "Don't be fucking naive. How the fuck do you think they're going to spend it."

  "Last night," Rhage said, "we got caught in some cross fire between the Band of Bastards and some slayers. Guess what the undead were squeezing off? AK-forty-sevens. It's the first major gun power we've seen in this city since the raids."

  Assail shrugged and put up his palms. "How does this have anything to do with me? I'm a businessman--"

  Wrath jacked forward in the chair. "Your business is making it more dangerous for my boys. And that fucking cranks my shit, asshole. So your business is now mine."

  "You have no right to stop me."

  "If the three of you don't make it out of here alive, I think that'll be game-over, don't you."

  On a oner, every single brother in the room outted a dagger.

  Rhage braced himself for an explosion of some sort, but Assail remained cool as a cucumber. He didn't fidget, didn't blink, didn't hem and haw.

  Maybe the motherfucker had no central nervous system.

  "What did you think was going to happen," Wrath said, "when I found out. Did you think I was just going to let this really big fucking conflict of interest ride?"

  There was a long period of silence.

  Finally, Assail bowed his head. "Fine. I'll stop selling to them."

  Wrath's nostrils flared as he tested the male's scent. A moment later, he said, "Good, now get the fuck out of here. But know if I find any of that shit on even one slayer, I'm going to come after you and not for the conversation."

  Rhage frowned, but as Wrath nodded to the exit, he opened the door and watched from the jamb as the three of them walked out, went for their potpourri of pistols and knives, and rectified their collective iron deficiency. Then they were out the door, and on the way off the property.

  "He lied," Wrath said grimly.

  "Knew it was too easy," Rhage muttered. "Why'd you let him go?"

  "I want you to follow him." Wrath nodded to Rhage and V. "The pair of you. If we kill Assail now, we can't find his supplier and make sure that the Lessening Society loses all access to product. Follow that motherfucker, find out where he gets his shit, and then make it so the enemy doesn't have anything else to sell in Caldwell." The King shifted forward in his armchair. "And then put a bullet through the chest of each one of those three."

  "No problem, my lord." Rhage glanced over at V, who nodded back. "Consider it done."

  FORTY-NINE

  Moving quickly, but not too quickly, maichen whispered along the empty hallways of the palace, heading for the Queen's ritual chamber. From time to time, she passed guards, other maids, even a Prime or two. None paid any attention to her.

  Because she was hiding in the guise of her humble alter ego.

  If any had known who was beneath the pale blue robing, a great commotion would have ensued.

  Instead, when she came upon her destination, the guards standing to the left and right barely looked at her. They were exhausted at the end of their shifts, and that was why this was such very good timing.

  "Clean-up for the Queen," she said with a dutiful bow.

  They opened the door for her, and she slipped inside.

  The sacred space was all black marble from floor to ceiling, and there was nothing to diminish the mind-bending effects of being surrounded by all that glossy noir: no rugs, no furniture, only a few inset cabinets in the corner where food was stashed and replenished. Illumination came from lamps that had open flames on wicks, the special oils being consumed giving off a whitish-green flicker.

  She didn't look around. She had long since learned not to.

  There was something terrifying about the room, especially if you spent any appreciable time in it. The longer you sat within its confines, the more you began to lose your sense of orientation, until you weren't sure whether the four walls and everything below and above had disappeared and placed you in the midst of the great night sky, suspended without gravity, in another dimension that you were not sure would ever release you.

  She hated the room.

  But she'd been compelled to come here.

  Her mother, the Queen, sat in the center of it all, facing the north, black robes that had a sheen to them falling to the floor all around her, falling from her covered head, falling to become one with the marble.

  Until it seemed as if the stone had gone liquid and was seeking to consume her.

  Her mother was stock-still, not even breathing.

  She was in the thick of the mourning meditation.

  This was good news.

  maichen padded over to the corner and opened the hatch on the cabinet without making a sound. None of the food that had been left there earlier had been touched. Another positive sign.

  In less than an hour, at midnight, the high priest, AnsLai, would come filing in along with the Chief Astrologer and rituals would be performed, fragments of meteorites being crushed and consumed in sacred teas as a way to commune with the stars that determined everything for the Shadows. Then there would be a bloodletting and ritual sex. After which the Queen would be left again to drift away from the earth and find solace from her grief.

  Or "grief" was more apt.

  It was difficult to believe that female actually felt anything for those she birthed.

  Now assured that the ritual was in fact still progressing, maichen backed toward the door. Before she passed through it, she glanced at her mother. She had seen the female only at formal occasions all her life, when maichen had been brought out at court in full noble robing, rather as one would tease the display of a prized vase or work of art. Save for those viewings, which were for the benefit of the Territory, she lived in sacred quarters that were surrounded by guards.

  She had never been visited by the female who, immediately after birthing her, had given her into the care of specially trained staff in that suite of rooms that was a prison.

  Such was the life of the Princess of the s'Hisbe.

  She had found a way out, however.

  And had been drifting around the palace under the guise of a maid, a low priest, even an astrologer, ever since.

  maichen slipped out and briskly walked away.

  Nothing like discovering s'Ex, her mother's favorite lover, having a tryst with two human females, whom he had evidently smuggled in--likely through the rear entrance. maichen hadn't meant to find out his secret, but she had discovered that there was a grate up high on the wall, and learned that, if she dematerialized into it, she could travel along the system of heating and air-conditioning ducts.

  For quite some time, it had been nothing but a game with which to pass the time, and she had learned nothing of note from her spying. That had changed one night, however, as she had, in her Shadow form, looked down through one of the slats, and gotten her first and only sight of the mating act.

  Although . . . well, there had been a lot of body parts.

  So she wasn't sure what she had seen exactly.

  She must have made a sound or something, because s'Ex had frozen and looked up, meeting her eyes even while the humans kept moving and grinding against him . . .

  s'Ex had come to her cell immediately thereafter, and they had struck their little deal. In exchange for keeping what she had seen private and no longer using the venting system, she was allowed to leave her quarters provided she stayed within the palace and kept herself duly camouflaged.

  s'Ex's indiscretion could well have been the death of him: Shadows believed that mating was a sacred act. And the Queen would have been infuriated to know that certain body parts of hers had essentially been . . . exposed . . . to the body parts of humans by virtue of s'Ex's exploits.

  That male was supposed to be hers and hers alone. Everyone knew this.

  And those human women? He might as well have had sheep in that bed of his.

>   As maichen padded along, moving through the corridors, her stomach began doing flip-flops. As she had gained age, she had been granted some privacy, such that she could send all attendants away from her quarters--and she had exercised that privilege once again this evening: Before going to check that her mother was, in fact, in full mourning, she had told her servants to depart from her quarters, as she was exhausted from stress and desirous of some privacy as she exercised the rituals required of her.

  None had questioned her. And no one would be back until after dawn.

  It would be easy to use the grate system and escape out into the world.

  Meet up with her betrothed's brother.

  And . . .

  Well, she didn't know what.

  Stars above, was she really going to do this? She wasn't even exactly sure where the cabin he had spoken of was.

  No, this was foolhardy. Stupid. Reckless--

  An image of iAm standing naked before her cut off all thought.

  As her body began to warm from the inside out, she realized that, in spite of all her mind might be telling her, her flesh was going to drive her to him.

  She would go. Heaven help her . . . she was going to go.

  And deal with the consequences, whatever they may be, later.

  FIFTY

  Trez just needed to cop to shit: When it came to Storytown, he was only good at the kiddie rides. Stuff like the Teacups, and the Dragon Tail--which was a swoosh that didn't leave the ground and barely gave you a breeze in the face--and the f-in' carousel with its elevator Muzak and those hard-seated, impaled horses and unicorns going up and down.

  Speaking of poles and up and down . . .

  "You ready to go home?" he asked.

  Selena looked up at him. "I am. This has been so much fun."

  "I know, right? Best night of my life."

  She leaned into his body, giving him a squeeze. "That's not totally true, though. I thought you were going to lose it on the roller-coaster."

  He stopped. Pivoted her around. Swept her hair back from her face. "I was with you. So it was perfect."

  The kiss was supposed to be one of those I'm-making-a-point ones, a quick affirmation that he meant what he'd said. But he'd been wanting to get it on with her all night, and before he knew it, he had her flush against him, her breasts pushing into his chest, her hips locked in his palms, his tongue stroking hers.

  "You wanna get out of here," he growled again.

  "Yes," she said against his mouth.

  It was probably time anyway, he thought with a quick glance at his watch--yup, eleven fifteen.

  Even though his cock was in a hurry to get gone, he didn't want to miss the stroll back to where the car was parked. With his arm around her shoulders, and their left-rights in step, they walked the paths that took them by all the rides they'd gone on, past the blue picnic table where they'd done the dog and burger, around the cotton-candy concession where they'd gotten a big cone of Marge Simpson hair and torn off pieces to feed each other.

  "I didn't get you a stuffed animal," he said.

  "Buy me one? Oh, I don't need--"

  "No, win you one. At like a six-gun shooting range."

  She sent him a look from under her lids. "I know how you can make it up to me. Remember eating that cotton candy?"

  "Yeah . . ."

  "Your tongue was very good at it."

  As all kinds of hallelujah images of her naked with her thighs wide hit him, he had to wonder if there wasn't a hotel on the way home.

  "God, I wish this were summer," he groaned.

  "Oh?"

  "I could push you into a dark corner and take those pants down."

  "You could do that now, you know."

  He stopped. "It's too cold."

  "Is it?" She took his hands and pulled on them. "Look over here. There are no lights. It's sheltered."

  Sure enough, the visitors' center, which was lights-out closed because it was just them, was a star-shaped facility, multiple entrances jutting out from its central body, creating pockets of dense, private darkness.

  "No one will see," she whispered against his throat.

  Without any exterior lights, the juncture she drew him into was pitch-black, and his sex hit the go button before his brain did. Turning her to face him, he kissed her hard and pressed her back against the painted siding, his hands sneaking into her parka and finding her breasts. Her nipples were tight and he pinched at them through her bra and blouse, tweaking and then thumbing them as he eased his thigh in between her legs.

  "Fuck, I've wanted to do this all night," he said before taking her lips again.

  She was hot and fluid under his hands and against his body, ready, so fucking ready, so with him. He wanted to get her totally naked--there was something really frickin' hot about the idea of her like that and him fully clothed; plus then he'd be able to get to her nipples with his mouth. It was way too cold for that action, however, and besides, he was down for a quickie in this hidden place, but he was not feeling the idea that anyone would see her in that state, all gloriously undone and hot as hell.

  The bonded male in him was liable to tear some poor Good Samaritan human apart with his fangs.

  Not the romantic end to the evening he was looking for.

  His hands went down to the waistband of her slacks and it was a case of unclip, unzip, and down-you-go. They were boot-cut, thank fuck, and one side slid off from her shoe just like a dream.

  "Do you want my panties off?" she asked between heaving breaths.

  "No, I'm going to fuck you with them on."

  And he did. He grabbed her perfect ass and hopped her off the ground and around his waist. Reaching in from behind, he stroked at her, feeling how ready she was, how hot she was, how desperate she was.

  He wanted to spend all night there. Instead, he shoved the silk aside, and--

  "Oh, God, Selena," he hissed.

  Slick and hot, tight and vital, the penetration rocked him and kept him standing at the same time. As he began to move, he held on to her ass and rocked her back and forth. Her hair was in his face; her scent was in his nose; she was an overwhelming tide that made him want to drown.

  Faster. Harder.

  She came first and he loved that, her rhythmic grips juicing him even further. And then he jumped on the one roller-coaster he was willing to ride for infinity, his cock kicking inside of her, the orgasm bringing them soul-close.

  When it was over, he panted against her until he worried he was crushing her. "I'm sorry--"

  "Mmmm." She went for his mouth, sucking his lower lip in and nipping at it. "More."

  Instantly, he was ready to go again, but even as his hips started to pump, he had to stop. "Home," he grunted. "We need to do this at home."

  "Still concerned about the cold?" she drawled, running a fang down his jaw to his jugular. "And here I am, feeling so hot."

  Trez moaned and wobbled in his boots. "I'm greedy. I want more access to you than I can get here."

  Her laugh was like a caress over his bare flesh. "Then by all means, take me to your bed."

  It was treacherous getting her fully back into those slacks. Particularly as he bent down to the ground and went eye-to-eye with her sex.

  Gritting his teeth, he somehow managed to get her dressed and have him restuffed into his fly without going caveman on her. And then it was a case of nonchalantly strolling out of the shadows, all nothing-doing as he pulled her back in close to his side.

  "That was so amazing," she whispered. "I can still feel you inside of me."

  Trez started to walk funny. It was either that or break something you couldn't put a cast on.

  By the time they made it to the car, he was calculating the exact ETA for his bedroom--assuming he was going a hundred and fifty miles an hour.

  Hey, it was a Porsche, right?

  Opening her door for her, he sat her down and closed her in, and then all but wide-receivered it around to the driver's side. The second his ass hit tha
t bucket seat, he fired up the engine.

  "Oh! Cold!" she shouted.

  The heater had been going when he'd shut things down, and now that powerful blower was kicking out arctic everything. They both reached forward, slapping at various buttons and knobs--

  Music exploded out of the Burmester sound system, thanks to the Sirius dial, and before he could turn the stuff off, DJ Khaled's "Hold You Down" came on.

  "Wait," he said. "No, leave it on."

  Getting out, he hopped around to her side again, opened the door, and offered her his hand. "Dance with me."

  "What?"

  "Dance with me, my queen."

  Sweeping her out of her seat, he led her to the front of the Porsche, into the headlights, pulling her close. Together they moved, bodies shifting, fingers intertwining, the beat transforming the parking place and the wide-open amusement park into a private dance hall.

  "Forever . . ." he murmured against her. "I'll hold you down . . ."

  Trez curled his head onto her shoulder so that his much larger body was all around her, encompassing her, protecting and loving her.

  Together, they danced in and out of the headlights.

  *

  Up in the security tower, iAm watched his brother take Selena back out of the car and bring her around to the front grille. There was no knowing what song was playing, and it wasn't like it mattered. Just watching the two of them come together and move as one, shifting to the music, holding each other close, was enough.

  iAm found himself having to brush at both of his eyes to clear them.

  It was too damned hard to look at.

  Turning away, he paced around the tight space and thought of how much Trez would hate being so high up in the air, nothing but the wide-angle view and the drop to the ground to focus on. The male had always hated heights, to the point where it had been a miracle to get him to agree to a place on the eighteenth floor of the Commodore.

  He was staring at the roller-coaster when, a few minutes later, his phone let off a wiggle in the pocket of his leather jacket. He took the thing out.

  Time to go, was all the text said.

  Almost immediately a second one came in from his brother. Thank you so much.

  Trez never spelled out words in text. So he must have really meant it.

  iAm hesitated with his response. Then he sent: Glad to help. Will c u home.

  He went to put the thing back into his jacket when he hesitated. Thn ima go to check on thgs.