Violet Tendencies

T
he Tit Crypt hadn’t changed much over the years. The neon sign over the mausoleum-shaped building still featured a pair of breasts that throbbed with each blink of the lights. Letters under the enormous glowing rack warned passersby this club was strictly members only. It didn’t mention all the members were vampires.

“So, Sabina,” Adam said, “your friend isn’t exactly into subtlety, is he?”

“With a name like Fang was there any doubt?” I hefted a duffel bag onto my shoulder. Adam clenched the twin to my bag in his right hand.

“Okay,” I said, “everyone play it cool in there.”

A voice came from inside the bag I held, “Please, my middle name is Cool.”

A female voice from Adam’s bag responded, “You said your middle name was Hung.”

“Whatever,” I said. “Just remember to keep a low profile, okay? We don’t want the Dominae to know we’re in town yet. Just about the only thing we have going for us right now is the element of surprise.”

Once the demons in the bags mumbled their agreement, we set out. Other than a couple of drunken vamps stumbling out the front door, the place looked tight. We skirted the front and made our way to the back of the building. Although frankly, if we’d gone in the front door, chances were good the patrons’ eyes would have been on the strippers. But we didn’t want to take any chances.

I banged on the heavy steel door in the alley behind the building. A couple of seconds later it opened to reveal six foot five inches of leather-clad vampire. Adam stiffened at my side. Couldn’t blame him, really. In addition to his impressive size, Fang’s scowl and full-sleeve tattoos of vampire pinup girls gave him a decidedly threatening air.

“Hiya, Fang,” I said, unable to contain my damn-it’s-good-to-see-you smile.

“Come give me some sugar!” He hauled me up into his massive arms for a bear hug and a grope. I laughed and hugged him back.

Seeing Fang again brought back memories of the good old days—simpler times when I made my living killing vampires for the Dominae. Now I was the one being hunted, and the word
complicated
didn’t even begin to describe the shitstorm that was my life.

When he finally set me down, I turned to Adam, who watched the reunion with arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

“Adam, this is Fang. He owns this den of iniquity,” I said. “And Fang, this is Adam, the mage friend I told you about.”

The two males eyed each other, sharing terse nods and a white-knuckled handshake. They might as well have whipped out their dicks for a little compare and contrast.

But to their credit, this wasn’t an average territorial, tough guy greeting. Each also had to weigh whether their mutual acquaintance with me meant they could trust each other. Mages and vampires weren’t easy allies as a rule. Especially now with a war between the races all but inevitable.

Scratching noises came from inside my duffel bag, followed by an “Ahem!”

“Oh, right.” I held up the bag. “And this is my demon minion, Giguhl.”

Fang peeked into the panel on the side of the bag. A shadowed outline of a cat with huge, hairless ears appeared against the mesh. “Hey there, Mr. Kitty.”

An evil hiss ripped through the air. Fang jerked his hand away and shot me a worried look.

“Um, Fang,” I said, “he’s kind of sensitive about the cat thing.”

Fang’s eyes narrowed as he looked inside the bag again. “I’m sorry?”

“You should be, asshole,” said the bitchy kitty.

I dropped the bag on the ground. A muffled yelp followed, along with a word that sounded suspiciously like
bitch
. I shot Fang a lame smile and mumbled a quick apology. Then I motioned to Adam, who lifted his own bag obligingly.

“And this,” I said, motioning to the small blinking eyes and beak just visible inside the bag, “is Valva.”

Fang’s smile froze. “Did you just say—”

“Vahhhl-va,” the peacock purred from the carrier.

“Okay,” he said slowly, eyeing the bag. “Why don’t you and your”—he struggled for the proper word for a second before finally settling on—“friends come on into my office.”

I nodded and made to follow him in, but Adam put a hand on my arm. When I looked at him, he was frowning. “Are you sure we can trust this guy?”

I sighed. “Adam, do you really think I’d bring us here if I didn’t?” I couldn’t really blame the mage for his suspicion. But I wasn’t any more interested in finding trouble here than he was. “Fang and I go way back. He’s cool.”

Adam jerked his head toward the door. “Lead the way then.”

As we made our way toward Fang’s office, the pulsing beat of the club’s music made the walls throb. The noise made it unlikely Fang had overheard my hushed conversation with Adam. And thank the gods for that—I didn’t need to offend my only ally in Los Angeles.

Fang slung a heavy arm across my shoulders and led me to a doorway at the end of the hall. “Godsdamn, it’s good to see you!” His voice boomed over the music. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you again after that trouble you got into with the Dominatrixes last month.”

I smiled at the derogatory term for the Dominae. “Believe me, I didn’t think I’d be back, either.”

He opened a door and flipped on the light. Fang’s office was actually a storeroom with one metal desk and an ancient rolling chair shoved in a corner. The rest of the room contained shelves filled with jugs of baby oil, cases of toilet paper, and several kegs of beer. Through the crack in a door at the rear of the room, I spied a cot and some cleaning supplies. Probably for dealing with the oil slicks Fang’s skanks left behind on the stage. It wasn’t the Four Seasons, but it beat sleeping in the truck we’d boosted. If Fang let us stay there, that is.

“Um, Sabina?” Giguhl’s plaintive voice came from inside the bag as I set it down on the floor.

“What?” I said, flashing Fang an apologetic smile.

“Can we switch back now?”

I sighed. “Hold on.” To Fang, “Do you mind if I let the demons take their true forms? They’ve been stuck in these bags for a while.” We’d flashed into LA using what Adam called “interspatial travel.” It’s kind of like the magical version of having Scotty beam us up, except with more nausea. Regardless, Adam insisted the demons travel in their animal forms since we’d need to be mobile the second we touched down in the City of Angels. Besides, a cat and a peacock were easier to hide than a seven-foot-tall Mischief demon and his golden-skinned, blue-tailed Vanity demon girlfriend.

Fang shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Adam and I opened zippers, and the cat and peacock emerged from their canvas cocoons. After some exaggerated stretching and whining about animal cruelty, they settled down enough for me to say the incantation that allowed them to change forms.

A loud pop sounded in the small room, followed by two plumes of smoke—one green and the other blue—that smelled of rotten eggs. The stink cloud finally cleared enough to reveal the demons in all their naked glory. Fang stumbled back.

Obviously amused to see the big bad vamp’s shock, Adam didn’t even bother covering his shit-eating grin. Fang’s fear was short-lived. Hard to be intimidated by two nude demons doing the pee pee dance, I guess.

I threw a pair of sweatpants at Giguhl and a long T-shirt to Valva. I’d learned the hard way to carry extra clothes in a backpack for them. The switch between forms always resulted in exposed demon junk. Not pretty.

Giguhl pulled on his pants quickly. “It’s an emergency.”

“Me too,” came Valva’s high-pitched voice from inside the T-shirt as she slipped it over her head.

Fang’s eyes tracked the demons’ every move. “Bathrooms are down the hall.”

“I’ll go with them,” Adam said. I nodded my thanks, grateful for a second to talk to Fang without an audience. The trio disappeared and shut the door behind them.

Once we were alone, Fang blew out a breath. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Sabina?”

Between hunting down my grandmother, who’d kidnapped my twin, and trying to avert a war, not to mention the crazy secret cult who wanted to kill me before I could accomplish that goal, I wasn’t really clear on which drama Fang was taking issue with. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be more specific here, dude.”

“I know you’re on the Dominae’s shit list, but surely you didn’t have to resort to slumming with mages and demons.”

His venom set me on edge. “Those are my friends, Fang. If you have a problem with them, you have a problem with me.”

He held up a hand. “Wait. I’m sure they’re fine if you trust them. It’s just, if the Dominae find out I was harboring both you and a mage, I’d be good as dead.”

I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry to drag you into this. I just didn’t know where else to go. The Dominae will be watching hotels and the regular haunts. Hell, they probably already upped the price on my head.”

“Since you mentioned it…” Fang walked to the desk and picked up a stack of papers. “I know you said you were back in town to find someone, but you’re not going to get very far with these circulating.” He handed me the first sheet from the stack. “They’ve plastered these all over the city.”

My own face looked up at me with a sly smile. I remembered the picture had been taken at a party at my old friend Ewan’s bar. That night we’d been drinking hard, and Ewan had captured a rare unguarded moment. Little did I know then that a year later he’d be dead and I’d be on the Dominae’s hit list.

The flyer claimed I was missing and feared kidnapped. It also said my family was offering ten thousand dollars for information leading to my safe return.

Acid filled my stomach and my fangs ground together. “Shit.” Normally when the Dominae put prices on vampires’ heads, they spread the word quietly among the fanged community. But now, they’d cleverly recruited humans into helping them, too. And, of course, the irony of claiming I’d been the one kidnapped was a little extra dig. I crumpled the paper in my palm and silently promised my twin, Maisie, I’d find her and make Lavinia pay. Painfully.

To Fang, I said, “Only ten grand? I think I’m insulted.”

He wasn’t impressed by my bravado. “If I were you, I’d forget whoever you’re looking for and get the hell out of Dodge.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. They have my sister.”

“You have a sister?” His eyes widened. “Is she as good lookin’ as you?”

I appreciated him trying to lighten the mood, so I forced a small smile. “Actually, she looks exactly like me.” While he digested this with a whistle, I carried on. “The Dominae kidnapped her from the mage compound in New York last night.”

“And you figure they’ve got her at the Dominae estate in Malibu?” When I nodded, he continued, “Damn, Sabina, good luck. Between the flyer and the Dominae’s security, you’re gonna need a miracle to get her back.”

I nodded to indicate the truth of that statement. “I know, but I’ve got to try.”

He sighed and crossed his arms. “How can I help?”

“I was kind of hoping you could put us up for a couple of nights.”

Fang sucked air through his teeth. “I don’t know, Sabina. You know I’d do almost anything for you, but—”

I held up a hand. “The last thing I want to do is put you or your girls in danger, but you have my word we’ll be careful not to implicate you in anything. We just need a place to crash. Otherwise, you won’t even know we’re here.”

Fang relaxed a tad, and I was convinced he was about to relent when Adam burst through the door. The heavy bass of the club’s music had been muffled until that moment, but now it flooded into the room with a vengeance.

One look at the expression on Adam’s face and my heart skipped a beat. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Oh shit,” I said. “What did Giguhl do now?”

He shook his head. “Not Giguhl. Valva.”

Catcalls and whistles echoed down the hallway—loud enough to be heard over the ear-bleeding volume of Axl Rose welcoming us to the jungle. Someone really needed to talk to Fang’s DJ about updating the playlist.

Giguhl stood in the shadowed hallway. Just beyond him, an archway opened up into the club. The demon’s eyes were locked on the stage. His posture was stiff, and his fists clenched liked rocks at his sides.

I skidded to a halt next to him with Adam and Fang behind me. “G, where is—” My voice trailed off as I followed his glare to the stage.

“Oh shit!” I yelped.

Apparently, I needed to have a little chat with the Vanity demon about the meaning of the phrase
low profile
. It certainly didn’t involve spinning on a stripper pole fully nude. Yet that’s exactly what she was doing.

Her golden skin might have looked like a bodysuit to the unfocused eye, but if you looked long enough, it was hard to miss the two pert, gilded nipples and a bush that sparkled like Christmas tinsel.

“Does someone want to explain how the hell this happened?” I demanded, turning on Adam and Giguhl.

Giguhl was too busy glaring at the males waving dollar bills at his true love to answer. Adam wouldn’t meet my eyes but mumbled, “She snuck out while Giguhl was taking his sweet time in the john.”

“Shut it, mancy. It’s not my fault magical travel gives me stress diarrhea.”

Just then, a gasp rippled through the crowd. Onstage, Valva had unfurled her peacock tail in all its blue, feathery glory.

“She’s amazing,” Fang said with dollar signs in his eyes. “They love her.”

I shot him a glare. “How long do you think it’s going to be before word gets back to the Dominae you’ve got yourself a new demon stripper?”

That got his attention. “Get her off there. Now!”

I rolled my eyes. “If we run out there and make her get off the stage, it’ll cause more of a scene than any of us want.”

“Um, guys? Whatever we do we better make it quick,” Adam began, nodding at the gaggle of pissed vamp strippers gathering on the edge of the stage, “or this place is going to turn into catfight city.”

Valva ignored the venomous stares of the redheaded, pasties-wearing posse and continued to taunt and tease the males at the foot of the stage into a frenzy. The pile of dollars at her feet was quickly growing into a mountain.