The Devil Inside mk-1 Read online

  My first instinct was to look away, but I fought it. They’d warned me what I might see at the club once we got into the basement, and if I couldn’t handle watching a couple of guys kiss, I was in deep shit.

  It didn’t take long for Dom to get over his bashfulness. He abandoned himself to that kiss like there was no one else in the room, pressing his body tight against Adam’s and making contented sounds in the back of his throat.

  When Adam’s hands slid down Dom’s back until they cupped his ass, I honestly wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. A part of me certainly wanted to look away, but I couldn’t deny that another part-perhaps even a larger part-was wildly turned on by the sight. They were just so damn sexy, both of them. My inner slut would have loved to slip in between them right now, absorb the incredible sexual energy they exuded. I wanted to slide my hands over Dominic’s ass, just like Adam did, and feel Adam’s impressive erection digging into my belly. Or maybe even other places…

  I shook my head to clear it, and the lust level lowered enough to let me tear my eyes away. However, my pulse still hammered in my throat, and I doubted I would ever get those images out of my brain.

  I cleared my throat loudly. “Okay, boys, I got the point. Now could we just get on with it?”

  They both laughed.

  “I’d love to get on with it,” Adam said suggestively.

  Like a fool, I let my gaze slide over to them again, only to see that Adam’s hand had moved. Now it wasn’t Dom’s ass he was stroking. Dom’s eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open, his head thrown back in pleasure. As far as I could tell, he’d forgotten I was in the room. Or he just didn’t care anymore.

  I mustered my mental forces. “Look, the man I love may be getting tortured right this moment. Do you think you could forego the incredible pleasure of making me uncomfortable so we can rescue him?”

  Adam sighed dramatically but let his hand fall away. Dominic opened his eyes and visibly swallowed a protest.

  “All right,” Adam said. “You have a point.” He gave Dominic’s hand a quick squeeze, then stepped away to put on his shoulder holster. Unlike Dominic and me, he wasn’t wearing a costume. Since he was required to carry his sidearm at all times, he said he’d always found it easier just to dress like a normal person and wear a jacket to hide the weapon when he went to The Seven Deadlies.

  I thanked God for small mercies. Adam was dangerously sexy in his street clothes. I’d hate to see what he’d look like in some kind of bad-boy costume.

  Just before we ventured out of the room, Dominic handed me a cell phone.

  “Here,” he said. “In case we get separated.”

  “We won’t!” Adam said, and it was clearly an order.

  “We won’t,” I agreed. But I took the cell phone anyway, sticking it into a convenient pocket at the top of one thigh-high boot, and Adam didn’t object.

  We arrived at the club shortly after midnight. The nearest parking was two blocks away. I felt like everyone on the street was staring at me as we walked those endless two blocks. It was all in my mind, of course-I probably didn’t look all that outlandish in a South Street — after—midnight context.

  I practiced taking slow, deep breaths, and reminded myself that Brian’s life might well depend on me keeping calm and collected.

  From the outside, The Seven Deadlies didn’t look like anything special. The neon sign above its doorway was actually rather understated, and the facade was for the most part unadorned. I guess I’d expected the place to scream out its nature from miles away, though Adam and Dominic had reminded me repeatedly that it was both more and less than an S&M club.

  At a ticket booth right inside the front door, Adam and Dominic showed their membership cards and claimed me as a guest. Adam generously paid my admission, and a relatively demure-looking young woman stamped the backs of our hands.

  There was a good-sized crowd waiting to get into the depths of the club, and we had to wait in line to go through the doorway. I took the time to look around me and was surprised by what I saw. There were a number of other people dressed, shall we say, exotically, but there were also a large number of relatively normal-looking folks. The age varied from just barely legal to forties, maybe even fifties, with a high concentration of twenty- somethings. I’d estimate about half the crowd was drop-dead gorgeous, and I wondered how many of them were demons. I decided I didn’t want to know.

  We had to pass between a pair of bouncers to enter the main room of the club. They hardly spared me a glance as I stepped by them, but they both moved to block Adam’s way.

  “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to check your weapon,” one of them said.

  I drifted a little farther away from the door, well out of Adam’s reach. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that if the staff confiscated Adam’s gun, he’d try to abort our mission. I wasn’t about to let that happen.

  He reached for his back pocket, then flashed his badge. The bouncer didn’t budge. Adam rolled his eyes.

  “You’ve never had a problem with it before,” he said. I think he was trying to sound calm and reasonable, but the distinct edge in his voice ruined the effect.

  “We’ve had a policy change.”

  “I’m required to carry my sidearm even when I’m off duty!” Adam said, his posture radiating menace.

  The bouncer didn’t look intimidated. I wondered if that made him brave, or brain-dead. “Then I suggest you find a club that will let you keep it. This isn’t the place.”

  The crowd behind Adam was getting irritated with him, but he ignored them. “Let me speak to Shae.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I’m going to have to ask you to either check your gun or step aside.”

  Adam looked like he was one step short of killing someone. He tried to glare me into coming back through the doorway, but I didn’t think he was surprised it didn’t work.

  With a snarl, he ejected the clip from his gun and shoved it at the poor flunky. The flunky gave him a ticket and a dirty look in return.

  I think he seriously considered grabbing me and dragging me out kicking and screaming. I also think he realized it wouldn’t work. It would be kind of awkward and unconvincing to pretend he was arresting me when he’d escorted me in, and he didn’t seem inclined to make a scene.

  He shook a finger in my face. “You stick to me like glue, understand?”

  “Sure.”

  He glowered at me a little more; then Dominic put a hand on his shoulder and the tension eased out of him.

  “Let’s go get a drink, shall we?” Dominic suggested.

  I wanted to get on with it immediately, but Adam said we needed to blend in with the crowd.

  When we pushed through the door to the main body of the club, I had to stop for a moment to adjust to the assault on my senses.

  I’d heard the dull thump of music before we stepped in, but that hadn’t prepared me for this wall of noise. I’d done plenty of club-hopping in my early twenties, but not so much lately. I’d forgotten how deafening these places could be. Worse, the so-called music had a heavy techno beat with a droning, repetitive melody and no vocals.

  The place was dark as a pit, with multicolored strobe lights providing intermittent illumination. People packed a minuscule dance floor, bodies jerking to the rhythm of the music. The floor was so crowded, it was hard to tell who was dancing with whom, and bodies rubbed together with careless abandon. A sign over the dance floor said Purgatory, which I thought an apt description.

  The second floor of the club featured a balcony that circled the dance floor. The balcony was crowded with people, some leaning against the railing to watch the action below, some waiting in front of a series of closed, numbered doors like you’d find in a hotel. A sign over the stairway leading up to the balcony declared Heaven.

  The strangest thing of all was the pair of tables set up one on each side of the entrance. One table held headbands with cheesy devil horns on them, and the other held headbands with cheesy angel halos.
Many of the milling crowd wore one or the other.

  “I told you this wasn’t just an S&M club,” Adam said, practically shouting into my ear to be heard over the music. “If you’re here looking for a partner for some vanilla sex, you wear a halo. When you find a partner, you go to Heaven.” He pointed to the balcony. “And you rent a room. If you’re looking for something more exotic, you wear the horns, and when you find a partner, you go to Hell.”

  My gaze followed his pointing finger until I found the sign saying Hell. It loomed over a heavy wooden door that looked just how you’d expect the mouth of Hell to look.

  I swallowed hard. “And that’s where we’re going.”

  His answer was a curt nod.

  We fought our way through the crowd toward the bar, Adam forging a path while Dominic and I struggled along in his wake. We hovered like vultures until a table opened up, then dove for the high stools. I wasn’t sure if I could sit on one without flashing, but figured it was dark enough that no one would have much of a view even if I did. Adam sent Dominic to the bar for drinks, laughing when I ordered my trademark piña colada. At least he didn’t insist I order something more in keeping with my costume. I was nervous enough I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep any alcohol down.

  Dom returned with the drinks and pulled his stool over very close to Adam, their knees touching under the table. I immediately felt like the third wheel, which I supposed was okay since that was my role for the evening.

  There wasn’t a whole lot of chatter-the music was too loud for it-and I tried to concentrate on my drink as Adam and Dom got progressively…cozier. It seemed Dominic had forgotten his discomfort with public displays of affection. Good thing for him, seeing as Adam’s tongue was down his throat most of the time. If only I felt more comfortable with it, this wouldn’t be quite so hellish. I battled to seem nonchalant and sucked down my drink in big swallows, hoping the alcohol would soothe my nerves.

  Dominic was practically on Adam’s lap when an unfamiliar woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

  She was tall, maybe even taller than me, and her skin was that deep ebony hue you associate with people from the heart of Africa. Close-cropped hair showed off the artistically perfect shape of her skull, and she had the longest, most elegant neck I’d ever seen. She looked Adam and Dom up and down with an almost proprietary expression, then looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

  I didn’t know what to say or do, so I settled for giving Adam a nudge with my elbow to let him know we were no longer alone.

  He came up for air, his eyes dark as sin. He blinked a couple of times, as if he’d forgotten where he was; then his eyes focused on our visitor.

  “ Shae!” he said, sounding delighted. “Long time no see!”

  She threw back her head and laughed like he’d said something really funny. I didn’t get the joke.

  “I hear you were giving my people a hard time, you naughty boy,” she said. Her voice was as dark as her skin, and something about it chilled me. Or maybe it wasn’t her voice. Maybe it was that predatory glint in her eye.

  I reminded myself that she was an illegal demon, and that made it easier to understand my quick and comprehensive dislike of her.

  Adam grinned. “You could get me in trouble, Shae. It’s against regulations for me to go unarmed.”

  She grinned back. “I promise not to tell on you.” Her gaze moved to Dom. “I hear you’ve had a spot of trouble.”

  He nodded, but didn’t elaborate. I got the distinct feeling he wasn’t terribly fond of Shae, though he hadn’t given me that vibe when Adam had talked about her earlier.

  Shae’s eyes found their way back to me, and she raked me with a head-to-toe examination that felt invasive and not at all friendly. “And who might this lovely creature be?”

  Adam’s hand closed possessively around my wrist. For the moment, I didn’t feel inclined to object. He smiled at Shae.

  “She’s my new pet-in-training,” he said, his fingers tightening on my wrist in warning. Guess he knew I’d be tempted to object to that. Honestly, he didn’t need the warning. I objected, but this was the role I’d agreed to play, and if it was what I needed to do to save Brian, then so be it.

  Shae stuck out her lower lip. “But, Adam, you’ve been shamefully neglecting the poor creature. I’ve had my eye on you for a while.”

  He let go of my wrist. “That’s because she’s being punished. She needs to learn to control her temper around her betters.”

  I lowered my gaze, hoping I looked ashamed of my disgraceful behavior while I clamped my jaws together and fought the urge to retort.

  “But you brought her out on the town anyway.”

  I could almost hear Adam shrug. “What better punishment than to be forced to see what she’s missing?”

  “My, aren’t you the cruel one.”

  “Always.”

  “So you’re planning to visit Hell tonight?”

  My insides clenched, but I managed not to gasp or cringe. I was trying to take everything one step at a time, but my mind kept racing ahead of me, wondering what I would see down there, wondering if my rescue attempt was doomed before it began, wondering if I was going to get myself and Lugh killed before the night was over.

  Thank God I wasn’t expected to talk.

  “Naturally,” Adam answered.

  Shae made a sound I might almost have described as a purr. “I’ve missed you. You always put on such a good show.”

  My stomach turned, and I couldn’t help raising my gaze. Adam looked completely at ease trading quips with Shae, and she showed every evidence of enjoying it, too. Dom, on the other hand, sat rigidly straight on his stool, and his jaws visibly worked.

  No, he definitely didn’t like Shae. And he was not happy with where this conversation was leading.

  Adam sighed dramatically. “I’m afraid my showmanship days are over.” He reached over and put a hand on Dominic’s knee. “He’s too fragile for the dramatic.”

  Shae’s eyes were razor sharp. “And yet you’re bringing him to Hell.” There was a challenge of some sort in her voice, though I didn’t understand it.

  “Testing the waters,” Adam said. “You have a wider selection of toys. Mine are all for rougher games than Dom is up to handling these days. I figured I’d take some for a test-drive.”

  Shae’s eyes seemed to gleam in the darkness. Maybe that was her demon shining through, or maybe it was my imagination. “Oh, I think this is going to be an excellent show. I think it’ll be so good I’ll take you down there myself. On the house.”

  Adam met her gleaming eyes with a gleam of his own. “You are the most generous of hostesses.”

  While they congratulated each other with unpleasant smiles, Dom’s face went white, his shoulders so tense I wanted to massage them. But he didn’t protest when Adam threw an arm around his shoulder and dragged him down off the stool. Guilt gnawed at my stomach. I hated that I was putting Dominic through this. I wished I’d realized in advance how uncomfortable this plan made him, but I’d been too absorbed in my own problems to notice.

  The three of us followed Shae through the crowd toward the back of the club, where the door to Hell awaited us.

  CHAPTER 23

  As soon as the heavy door closed behind us, completely blocking out the drone of the music, I heard the screams. I couldn’t force my feet forward, so I stood hesitating at the head of the stairs as the others descended.

  Real honest-to-God torches set in wall sconces provided the only lighting, and the walls were the same rough-hewn rock I remembered from that hideous video. The stairs were uneven and worn in the middle, as if this basement had existed long before the rest of the club. Maybe it had.

  Dominic turned to look over his shoulder and saw me hesitating. He held out his hand to me, letting Shae and Adam get ahead of him.

  Swallowing my fear as best I could, I forced my feet down first one step, then another. My knees felt a bit wobbly, and the uneven stairs and stiletto heels weren’
t helping. I was nervous enough to actually take Dominic’s offered hand. His palm was clammy, and I wasn’t entirely sure which one of us was giving comfort and which one was taking it.

  The sounds got louder and clearer as we descended much deeper into the ground than any basement I’d ever been in. Screams echoed against the stone walls, but there were other sounds, too. The crack of a whip. The smack of flesh upon flesh. And lots of moans, not all of them pain.

  I didn’t want to take those last few steps downward, didn’t want to see the basement Adam and Dom had described.

  I didn’t have a choice.

  The stairway opened out into a long, wide hallway lined with doors. Down the center of the hallway were rows of padded benches, like you’d see in the middle of a museum gallery. Only it wasn’t great works of art these benches were facing.

  Each of the rooms in the pit of Hell was fronted by a huge picture window, kind of like you’d see in a natural history museum. But these dioramas were of a very different nature, and weren’t exactly what I’d call “natural,” if you get my drift.

  A small crowd had gathered in front of the first of those windows. Some sat on the benches, some knelt on the floor, but all watched the window with eager, lust-hazed eyes. A shrill feminine scream emanated from that room. The cluster of watchers drew closer together, hands reaching and stroking, an amorphous mass that hardly seemed human. Of course, probably many of them weren’t.

  I wasn’t surprised to see Shae and Adam stop in front of that window, but I wished to God they hadn’t. Whatever was happening in there, I didn’t want to see it. I swallowed hard. Dominic’s hand squeezed mine. And together, we stepped up to the window, though we still hung back a bit. If anyone had been paying attention to us, they probably would have wondered what the hell we were doing here if we were so squeamish, but they were all far too absorbed in the drama in front of them.

  I still didn’t want to look, but the spectacle drew my gaze.

  The room behind that window looked like a classroom, complete with blackboard and a couple rows of uncomfortable-looking chairs with attached desks. At the head of the “classroom” sat a huge teacher’s desk, covered with books and papers.