Chapter 17

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Ditching the car was tricker than I thought it would be, but we were able to get it into a chop shop with a decent payout and obtain a pack of candy for Sias. It was late in the evening by the time we made our way back to Biodome and rain had begun to pour in earnest by the time we ducked inside.

The drumming of raindrops on the club's signature glass ceiling was deafening without the thump of music, the flashes of lightning giving the creepy atmosphere of the dark building an even more ominous tone. Biodome was more like a haunted house than a place for revelry and party drugs in the state it was in, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear music drifting up from the lower levels.

Light from Marthas's lounge area was the only life seen within the building from the upper floor, bleeding up in thin hues of amber and carrying the scent of pizza. Zane and I descended the stairs, escaping the sorrow of the haunted club and into the relaxed scene of low rock music, a few boxes of pizza that had been picked through, and two men who hated my guts commiserating over beer and darts.

"I thought they trained you lot to aim," Marthas haggled Austin as he landed a miserable shot on the dartboard. "You need me to tack pictures of vampires on it for you to hit anything?"

"You normally talk this much shit over a friendly game?" Austin asked as he lined up his next throw.

"Only when my opponent sucks this bad." Marthas glanced my way as we stepped into the room. "Wilde, put your vampire in front of the board. Maybe your brother can hit something then."

"Zane doesn't like getting poked by just anyone you know." I cackled as the picky poker slapped my shoulder. "I'm learning your love language is assault."

"My hate language is assault," Zane corrected. "I'm going to go check on Barnaby and Sias."

"I'll play you for my jacket back," Marthas tossed out to Zane. "We'll trade the darts for knives."

"Buy a new one with the money you win off him," Zane fired back, gesturing to Austin. "Otherwise, I'll happily remind you how the last fight went."

Marthas chuckled, palms up. "Easy, vampire. I was fucking with you. By the way, the golden incubus is upstairs in the atrium. The professor is in the basement."

Zane hummed that he wasn't amused and changed course, heading back the way we came to go find Sias. Marthas watched him until his figure disappeared.

"He always that pissed off, or do you bring that out in him?" Marthas asked me.

"It's a side effect of being dead. No sense of humor. You got money on this game?" I snagged a slice of pizza from the box and shoved some in my mouth.

"Hundred bucks," Marthas answered. "I'm about to double it."

"Uh-huh." I finished my bite and stole Austin's beer off the table. "Heads up, Austin. He's a sore loser."

"So, what's the plan exactly?" Austin asked, focused on the game. "How are we going to find this Florence Pierce now that she's gone into hiding?"

"That is a damn fine question." I hadn't realized that the beer I stole was unopened and sealed with a twist off cap, and I weighed my options of how to tackle the situation that would have been a breeze with two hands. "How does one find a self-righteous health nut who has thus far been not only cheating death, but manipulating it in unforeseen ways?"

"Before someone else does," Marthas added, cracking open a fresh beer for himself. Show off. "She's got a bounty on her for fleeing DHAP. A hefty one too."

"Do you have any leads?" Austin paused his game to give his attention to the imp. "Have you heard anything? You can keep the reward money. We just want the scythe."

"Well, hold on now," my business side entered the negotiations, now sitting with a beer pinched between my knees. "I think a 60/40 split sounds reasonable if he has a solid tip."

"If I had anything, I sure as hell wouldn't give it to you for 60/40, Wilde. I'd pay someone the entire total just to kick you in the ass."

"How hard?" Austin jumped in before I could fire off a well-timed "fuck you."

Marthas chuckled, taking a pull from his beer.

"We're going to get along just fine, army boy."

"Yeah, ha-ha." I took a break from my beer opening attempt to flip them off. "I'm flipping you off too, Austin, but I'm using my ghost hand."

"I'm assuming your lack of a real answer means you have no idea how we're going to find her." Austin took aim and threw, grumbling at the bad result. "So, we're just what? Waiting around?"

"Yeah, right now we are," I confirmed, ignoring his eye roll. "We have no leads, and DHAP is breathing down our necks. I'll use what we have to try and cash in some favors or get some intel. Someone has to know something. It's just a matter of finding who."

"Whatever you say." Austin threw another bad shot and sighed. "My depth is off."

I gave up on holding the beer with my knees and twisting, since the slippering thing just kept rotating with my twist.

"Getting knocked in the head will do that," I said.

Austin stabbed me with a sharp side eye as I studied his profile. The bruising was still bright on his tan skin, though the swelling had gone down considerably. I hadn't had a chance to take in the full state he was in during our panicked flight from Sias's home, and my chest tightened at seeing the full extent of the damage.

It wasn't just the black eye that marred him. His lip was split from a second or third blow to the face, jaw peppered with a few, lighter bruises. The Saint's Army patch that should have been on his shoulder was notably absent, thin threads and torn fabric hung in ripped disgrace, the force of the removal scarring it beyond repair.

"Stop staring at me. I'm trying to concentrate," he mumbled.

"What happened, Austin?" I asked after he threw, the dart bouncing off the wall and clattering to the floor.

"Pretty stupid question." Austin gathered up his darts and passed them to Marthas. "You know what happened. You were there."

"What happened when you presented your case?" I stood and tried to line up the bottle's cap with the edge of the table and knock it loose, but it just gouged the wood.

"You really think the old man was going to let me present a case?" Austin scoffed, offended that I assumed he'd play fair. "After what I pulled?"

"Presented a case?" Marthas asked as he tossed his first dart, which landed near the middle. "What does that mean?"

"Saint's Army rule," I explained. "If a soldier disobeys a command from our leader, we have a chance to argue why in front of the community. It would be up to them to decide if our action was just or not. It's supposed to be non-negotiable."

"Unless it's a time of war." Austin fell into a seat at one of the tall tables around the room. "Which this is. My actions were clear, so he responded in kind."

"That's bullshit," I snapped, the injustice of it causing my anger to boil to the surface. "If we can get you in front of everyone, especially Paris and Worth, they can vouch?—"

I had expected anger from him. Outrage fueled tenacity for the justice he deserved. Austin was the best of us, a true soldier through and through. He bled devotion to the Saint, to the Army's cause, vowed to me when we were way too young to understand the gravity of his words that he'd die fighting the undead scourge.

There was not a scrap of that left in him when he interrupted my misplaced rage.

He was quiet.

Tired.

Changed.

"Dallas, you're not getting it. I don't want to go back. I'm done."

Standing felt way too hard when I heard how devastated he sounded, and I found myself falling into a seat beside him because I couldn't fight gravity anymore.

A hot stab of guilt split me open as I sat there, staring at the beer I had failed to open.

"This is my fault," I admitted. "I shouldn't have pulled you into this shit."

Austin took my beer and opened it for me.

"It is your fault," he whispered. "If you had stayed as a traitor, a coward fallen from the sight of the Saint, I think I would have been able to shoot you when he told me to. And I hate myself for that. Hate you for being better than I thought you'd be."

We sat in silence as his words hung like well-aimed darts in my chest, and I scrubbed my eyes to keep the sting of tears at bay.

The beer was delicious, and a little foamy from being shaken from my botched attempts.

"You're mad at me for not being a coward?" I clarified.

"It would have been easier if you were," he agreed.

"I'm…sorry?" I coughed a laugh, the fragile grip on my shield starting to slip. His barrage of honesty was cutting through my sarcastic armor, hitting the weak spots only he had access to. "I can try to be more of a coward in the future if that helps."

"I don't think you can," Austin said. "Despite everything, you've managed to be a decent man. I'm not ready to say I forgive you, Dallas, but I can admit you're worth standing beside."

My eyesight had gone completely soggy, reality a warbled mess of blurry colors as I swallowed past the knot in my throat.

"Man," I managed, voice embarrassingly strained as I dashed at the betraying tears from my cheeks. "Fuck you for making me cry in front of Marthas."

Austin huffed a noise that sounded almost like a laugh, but I couldn't see him through the damn tears. By the time I was able to scrub my vision clear, Austin had fallen back to his normal, contemplative glower.

Marthas set the darts and a fresh beer on the table for Austin, which he took as a great excuse to stand. He moved away to take his position to throw a few more shots at the board, his aim improving but still horrible in comparison to his opponent.

"Since I got to see you cry like a baby," Marthas said, still lingering by the table. "I'll let it slide that I specifically said no pets and not throw you on your ass."

"You mean the skull or the hound?" I sniffed back some of the stray moisture still trying to escape my eyes.

"I mean the big ass beast that ran through my bathroom looking for the incubus. While I was in it," he leveled his glare at me. "The skull at least apologized."

Laughing helped ease the tightness in my chest, even if it likely deducted points from Marthas.

"Oh my God. This day got a little better because of that."

"Thin ice, Wilde. Thin fucking ice."

I decided to finish off Austin's beer since it was almost gone and the grumpy imp had brought him a new one anyway.

My goal had been to shamble down into the basement and face plant onto bed since I was feeling particularly emotionally raw from my brief but impactful chat with my brother, but I realized with a groan that I still had Sias's coveted pack of cigarettes in my pocket. Had it been for literally anyone else, I would have thrown it out the door and hoped he found them on his own, but that wasn't going to fly with Mr. Gold Plated Guns.

Pretty sure he would have ordered me out to get him a fresh pack if I let it hit the ground. Not to mention I wasn't about to be passive aggressive to a guy who owned a hellhound.

It was humbling to realize I was on a shorter leash than that damn dog.

Even in the dark, I knew how to navigate the halls of Biodome. The place had been my second home since I was a homeless teenager. I'd been ready to dive headfirst into danger, drugs and sex, and a nightclub owned by a notorious imp gang leader had been the perfect place to pitch my growing assassination business. I'd been young, armed and hadn't given a shit; Biodome was like heaven.

The rainfall had eased a bit when I wandered out from Marthas's VIP area, the thunderous pounding calming into a steady drum line. Memories of past nights played out in the shadows as I trailed up the serpentine stairwells that connected the floors, the building quiet enough for me to hear them creak.

The atrium section of Biodome was themed with flora in mind, but there was nothing alive inside the club other than us (Zane excluded, obviously.) An intimate dance floor of polished jade lived under the massive glass ceiling fogged over from time and the elements, flanked on all sides by a few narrow tabletops and a smattering of long couches tucked into dark corners for more private conversations.

I'd rarely had the money to afford the atrium section of the club, but when I did, I had plenty of fantastic conversations there. And a few harrowing nights of being dangled over the edge after being caught conversing with the wrong people.

The storm pressed against the glass above as I ascended, tapping out its own thunderous soundtrack and accompanying light show. A bright flash hit the jade floor in a piercing shock of silver, illuminating the dark corner of the bar where the monsters were lurking.

A vampire with red eyes watched me from where he sat beside a demon whose horns captured the light of the storm and held it captive. I could see Zane's gaze as the lightning faded, the glow sharp as it slid over me. Sias's horns seemed to twist in the dark, his voice a velvet snake coiling around its prey.

"Come here, pet."

I obeyed, traveling across the atrium to where the vampire and demon lay waiting. Sias lounged beside Zane on the forest green couch, one arm draped over the back with his fingers dangerously close to Zane's shoulder. The vampire at his side indicated for me to sit between them with a jerk of his chin. My heart began to drum as quickly as the rain above us, the rolling thunder shaking the butterflies loose in my stomach.

I knew Zane could feel the flutter, knew Sias could taste my excitement by the way his eyes flared into a dazzling magenta. I eased onto the cushion between them, my nerves wound tight and fingers twitching, unsure of where to focus first.

"It's come to my attention that we have some unfinished business." Sias's fingers slid across my nape, feather soft and teasing. "Some debts to be repaid and bets to cash in."

"Debts?" I lifted a brow at him. "What debts? Every cent you've ever given me I've earned in one way or another."

"Not monetary debts, little pet." His fingers trailed up into my hair, nails dragging deliciously across my scalp. "I believe I told you I would help you get your vampire back so that I could taste you at your best."

"Ah, right," I mused, my heart beating like a war drum. As if I'd ever forget that.

"I was able to taste just a tease last night." Sias inhaled slowly, his fingers slowly curling in my hair. "Even from across the house it was…invigorating. Your energy together is a storm of shadow with bursts of bright, raw, carnal pulses. I felt my threads hum when he fed on you, felt the thrall of your intimacy like a plucked harp string."

I swallowed as my mouth started to water at the idea of Sias feeling us together, drinking in the energy of Zane biting and fucking me.

"You felt the void sing to you," Zane told him, a warm palm sliding over my thigh. "Threads bind you to us, my feeding and his pleasure vibrated through the strings."

"More than that, my dear vampire. It wasn't just a ripple through our bond." Sias ran his hand over his throat, his second set of eyes starting to crack open. "I felt the moment your teeth went into his skin. I've never felt something so powerful, so erotic. The sensation made me lift off my mattress and writhe. I almost sprinted down the hallway to demand I fuck you both right then and there, but I forced myself to be patient. Give you time to find yourselves."

"And now that you have?" Zane placed his hand on my thigh, the touch electric. Sias inhaled like he was walking through a pleasure garden, eyes alive with colorful excitement.

"I'd like to join you," the incubus purred. "Taste you. Enjoy you. I want to join something as beautiful as the two of you, but only if my presence will add and not disrupt."

My chest felt like it was full of rubber balls ricocheting off my ribs as I warmed, Zane's hand on my thigh and Sias's confession igniting a fire inside me. Sias's fingers trailed down my cheek and across my jaw, finally grasping my chin and rotating my face in his direction. Blooming fields of pinks, emeralds and violets greeted me, a wave of amber and tobacco surrounded me.

"I think we should give him the night he deserves, Zane," Sias whispered to him, eyes still fixed on me. "He's gone through hell and back for us both. I want to spoil him. Worship him. Maybe see if we can get him to squirm a little bit."

Zane's chuckle rumbled like an engine, his hand sliding higher on my thigh making me shiver.

"Normally I'd say the last thing he needs is to be spoiled. He is a brat, after all." He gave my thigh a squeeze and I almost whimpered, but managed to bite my tongue. "I think tonight I'll make an exception."

"What do you think, pet?" Sias trailed a thumb over my lips. "Can your two men cherish you tonight?"

I had to swallow a few times to get my voice back, I'd apparently lost it in the promise being bounced around.

"I'd like that," I managed, my body so wound up I felt like I was about to buckle into myself. "A lot. So much that I think my heart might stop beating."

"You'll live." The incubus smirked, squeezing my jaw a little with his fingers. "How adventurous are we feeling?"

"Whatever you want," I succumbed in a rush. "My brain is barely working right now. It's basically just horny goo leaking out of my nose."

Sias hummed thoughtfully, "Now, I like playing with my food a bit. How about you, Zane?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"A friendly wager." Sias lifted his eyes from me to Zane, his thumb still tracing my lip. "Who can make our sweet Dallas come the most in one night."

"Holy shit…" I exhaled, practically wiggling in my seat. Zane squeezed for me to hold still and I groaned.

"Stop flopping around or I'll kick you off the couch," he threatened coolly, before answering Sias. "You really think that's a fair bet, incubus?"

Sias's velvety laugh was not helping my wiggling situation.

"You don't think you can compete with me, vampire?"

Zane's hand trailed higher on my thigh, giving me a squeeze just before my hip.

"I think I'm giving you a run for your money after one night."

Sias's eyes took on a citrus hue around the floral pink centers, the challenge couldn't have been clearer if Zane had slapped him with a dueling glove.

I pivoted my head between them like I was watching the most intensely hot tennis match I'd ever witnessed, practically vibrating with the sexual tension between them that was likely going to result in me getting snapped in half in order for them to resolve it.

I was so goddamn happy.

"Is that so?" Sias quipped. "Do you accept the wager?"

"You still owe me from the pool game, demon. There's no way you're beating me tonight."

"A head start in order for it to be a fair challenge," Sias countered. "I'll let you have the first three orgasms, and I'll still beat you by a mile."

"Thank you. Thank you to whichever deity made this happen," I prayed. "Saint, Goddess, whoever. Thank you so much."

"Whoever has the most by the time he surrenders wins," Zane pitched, ignoring my prayer.

Sias reached across me and shook Zane's hand, sealing my fate.

"What qualifies as a ‘surrender,' exactly?" I asked after the deal was struck. "Not that I plan on giving you two the satisfaction."

"Until you either physically can't come anymore, or you tell us to stop." Zane's broad palm squeezed between my legs, his lips close to mine as he whispered, "But before we wring you dry, hunter, I'm cashing in my winnings."

"Winnings?" I asked in a haze, lifting my hips to increase the contact. His proximity sank me into a fog of grave roses and rainwater, and I was helpless against it.

"The pool game." Zane's eyes watched me behind dark lashes. "I get to play with you first."

"I gotta start playing pool with you guys," I teased, groaning as Sias's fingers threaded through my hair to turn my lips his way.

"Do you want us to treat you like our pet tonight?"

My breath got stuck in my throat from the sting of his dominating pull combined with Zane sliding his palm over me, so I couldn't answer fast enough.

"Don't tell me we've already wound you too tight," Sias teased, nipping at my earlobe as Zane licked the other.

"I'm so happy right now," I said in a rush, my breath returning in a gasp.

"Answer us, hunter," Zane insisted, his grip making me lift off the couch with a gasp. "You're not getting fucked without verbal confirmation."

"Y-yeah. Yes." I had to answer before my heart leaped from my throat.

"Yes, what?" Sias probed, tugging at my hair again. "What do you want from us tonight?"

"All of it. The bet, the fucking, the whatever the hell you want—I'm in. I'm so in. But I'm adding a condition to this bet," I said, wetting my lips as I darted a look at each of them. "If I make you both come at the same time, I win."

"Same time?" Sias cracked a grin, both sets of his eyes turning to Zane. "I think a sex demon can outlast an undead vampire."

"I have a few decades of practice on you, demon. I can go all night." Zane gave me one last, blissful squeeze. "You're on, hunter."

The hold Zane had on my thighs slipped away as did Sias's grip on my hair, and I was left dizzy from the sudden loss of contact. Both men stood, my chin taken in Sias's fingers as Zane stepped in front of me.

"In the spirit of fairness, Zane gets to throat fuck you first," Sias explained, his thumb smoothing over my bottom lip. "I'll enjoy the show."

I don't know which was more erotic, watching Zane unsheathe his beautiful cock or how captivating it was to watch Sias's eyes flare into a lustful glow of neon pinks with flecks of black. It was the first time he'd seen Zane's skin, seen how blessed the undead creature was, and I could feel the beginning slithers of his newly darkened charm magic begin to stir.

"You've never experienced incubus charm magic, have you?" Sias asked Zane, his gaze sweeping up from his dick to his face. "I can show you, if you want."

"Show me," Zane confirmed, his fingers slipping into my hair as the velvet grip of Sias's void touched magic found us. The magic I was familiar with was still there, but it now had an edge of deadly chill as it settled over my skin. Instead of feeling my doubts and hesitations fall away like I was slipping from silk sheets, I felt them disappear into a fog rolling off my skin. It was as if they'd never been there in the first place.

My body floated in a state of aroused bliss, inhibitions banished to the void, and replaced by spider silk threads draping over my body in thousands of kisses.

Zane exhaled as his eyes hooded, his cock jerking as he pulled me closer. His fangs caught a flash of lightning as I lapped at the tip, shamelessly teasing him in a state of sex magic euphoria. The vampire's eyes sparkled with flecks of pink charm magic churning in the bloody pools, Sias's expert hold on us unlike anything else in the world.

The only magic that could wrap around a creature of the void like a cocoon and make him moan in pleasure.

"Can I touch you?" Sias whispered to Zane, only daring to put a hand on him after he was given a verbal agreement. Long, elegant fingers trailed over the thatch of hair below Zane's navel, snaking down to grasp the base of his cock, guiding it fully into my mouth.

Zane murmured a prayer to his Goddess as I swallowed him down, and I was drunk on the bliss of how delicious his pleasure sounded.

"I told you his throat was like silk," Sias cooed, his fingers summoning a happy sob from Zane as he gave the vampire a cheeky squeeze when there was room.

"He has a free hand, you know," the vampire pointed out, stroking his fingers through my hair before giving me a teasing tug.

"That he does," Sias agreed, stepping in closer to flick his belt open before unlashing it from his waist. The leather strap was tossed over the arm of the couch, and my hand was taken from Zane's thigh to be repurposed for Sias's pleasure.

I slowed down to watch Zane admire Sias, the incubus more than equipped to make the immortal vampire swallow. Sias's eyes danced with color, resembling a rainforest of rich greens and vibrant pinks as he pulled out a couple of enchanted bottles I knew very well from his pocket. The small, palm sized containers seemed simple enough: two plastic, flat vessels with a thick, clear liquid perfect for any sexual occasion. One to lubricate, one to clean.

I had no idea the cost of a custom enchantment that never ran out of lube and a waterless cleaning element, but I had never seen Sias without them. The lube was self-explanatory, but the cleaning enchantment was damn impressive. The liquid inside was safe for all parts of the body (inside and out) and helped scrub anything unsavory from parts so you could enjoy all orifices interchangeably.

Kind of a sex demon staple.

It was always on his person just in case someone forgot to supply some, or he was caught in a spontaneous encounter.

Like fucking a necromancer and a vampire in an abandoned club.

A few drops were dribbled onto my palm before I wrapped my fingers around him, evoking a lovely groan from his throat. An electric shiver rattled me as Zane's cock jerked in my throat upon hearing Sias's siren song.

The vampire watched Sias tilt his head back and sigh as I stroked him, longing painted across his handsome face. A storm of emotions lanced through me at seeing Zane pining for him, a bright flush on his pale cheeks as Sias moaned from my touch.

An unreasonable excitement threatened to rip me down the middle, the sting from the absurdity of my fantasy sneaking past Sias's charm to kick me in the ribs.

There was no way in hell I was actually seeing this. No way, in the name of all the deities, that Zane was actually watching Sias like he wanted to bend him over the couch and fuck his brains out.

Zane gripped my hair a little tighter at feeling my mind explode with sparks of dizzying daydreams, pushing his hips forward so I took more of him in. As I choked a bit and readjusted, I was held captive as Zane pulled Sias into a deep, languid kiss.

Sias hummed in appreciation at the vampire's skill, my fingers feeling the jolt of pleasure that Zane's tongue sent through his body.

In the heat of the moment, watching my wet dream play out in front of me in real time, I was viciously reminded that I was missing my right hand when I went to add myself into the pleasure train. My only free hand was wrapped around Sias, leaving me to be left unattended while the two hottest men on the planet made out in front of me.

I choked and coughed as I pulled free from Zane, slowing my grip on Sias but not releasing him.

"This went from being insanely hot to diabolical in a matter of minutes," I announced to them, drunk on charm magic and vampire dick. "You can't make out like that and leave me handless."

Sias chuckled as he nipped at Zane's lip, their kiss breaking so they could peer down at me.

"I told you he'd be bratty when we finally did this," Sias said to Zane. "Defiant, needy, wanting to be in the middle no matter what."

"He's nothing if not consistent," the vampire agreed.

"This was discussed?" I glanced between them, my soul ascending from my body. "This was all planned?"

"Why do you sound so shocked by this?" Zane demanded. "I told you I was in a harem before."

"And how often did I ask you to bring Zane along when you came over for dinner?" Sias tsked. "Really, pet. This has been a long time coming."

I blinked a few times to try and stabilize my vision, my racing pulse knocking my focus out of alignment.

"Neither one of you ever directly pitched a three-way. This is still on you. I probably would have gone for it if you'd gotten me drunk enough."

I was tugged to my feet by my men, both of them looking at me with that perfect blend of admiration and absolute annoyance.

"You're really frustrating," Zane told me, a loving scowl stuck on his face. "I don't know how you manage to make me want to punch you and kiss you at the same time."

"That's what I aim for: erotically aggravating." I grinned, wiping my chin clean with my wrist. "Now, I think you two mentioned a bet involving me getting fucked until I begged you to stop. Who's up first?"

Sias's eyes flashed a new shade of fiery flamingo I wasn't ready for, the color vicious with all the promises it held. His horns twisted, bending the gold around them, his new set of eyes flared with a bite of yellow fire and black ink. The vampire at his side let his fangs flash as he snarled, black vapor swirling up from his pale skin.

My two men peered down at me with lustful, loving hunger, like I was a sacrificial lamb tied to an altar, licking their lips as they prepared to consume me piece by piece.

I happily surrendered to my fate.