Celebration (17 page)

He couldn’t believe that Athena intended to leave all of that behind, though, especially not since she was having this party. She’d gone to a lot of trouble, and Charlie had to hope that was a portent of the very best kind.

When he climbed the stairs to the attic just before midnight, his heart was pounding in anticipation. He wasn’t the first to head up there, and he wouldn’t be the last. There was a long stream of people behind him on the stairs, chattering and laughing as they made their way to the grand finale. He could feel their anticipation rising and smell their excitement.

The attic was huge beyond expectation. It had to be more than four times the size of the footprint of the townhouse itself. Charlie stared, trying to figure it out. The staircase admitted them in the middle of the space. The floor was a checkerboard of black and white. The walls were black and the windows were blacked out. The ceiling sloped on the sides and he remembered that the townhouse had a mansard roof. The ceiling was also high and he guessed the attic room was heavily soundproofed. There was a line of mirror balls down the middle of the room and a bar at the far right. In front of the bar, a large area of the floor was cordoned off with a gold velvet rope.

Charlie smiled that the beverage of the night was sparkling gold and came in a champagne glass.

The room seemed to be filled with golden confetti. It was almost like sparks filling the room. The effect came from the mirror balls, which reflected golden light everywhere.

To the left was a golden fountain that sparkled in the light. It was on a pedestal, with a carved pillar covered in entangled cupids. Something spewed out the top and splashed into the shallow bowl, but it wasn’t water or even champagne.

It was little gold disks.

Charlie moved closer to look. He put his hand into the spill of golden disks and pulled one out. It had a number on it.

“Not mine,” a woman said beside him with obvious regret. She had a French accent and the sound of it gave Charlie a little thrill. She was cute, too, petite and curvy. He liked the way her dark hair was cut very short, but still looked very feminine. He must have looked confused by her comment, because she indicated the wristband she wore.

They had numbers on them. Charlie checked the number on the disk against his own.

“Not mine either,” he said.

“It’s like a raffle,” she said, looking around. “But I don’t see the prizes.”

Charlie’s heart skipped a beat. She was right. It was another of Athena’s games. Even without knowing what it was, he was ready to play. The woman’s gaze dropped to his crotch and she smiled.

“That means they’re a surprise,” he said with an answering smile. “I’ll guarantee they’re worth waiting for.”

“Ah, a game!” she said, her eyes lighting.

“One of Athena’s games,” Charlie corrected. “It’s going to be incredible. Come on, let’s get a drink while we can.”

* * *

Louise caught her breath when the music was turned off. The attic fell into a kind of hushed silence as everyone waited to see what would happen next. Somewhere in the house, a clock struck midnight. She clutched Zeke’s arm, barely able to handle the suspense.

The gold sparkles of light that danced around the room seemed to become brighter with every passing second. Music began to swell in the background, music with a compelling beat.

“I can’t stand it,” Louise whispered and Zeke rolled his eyes.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Athena cried. Louise spun, like everyone else, seeking the co-founder of the Plume. There was no sign of Athena, and her voice carried from all corners of the room. “We welcome you from near and far, old friends and new, to celebrate a new beginning!”

The music rose to a crescendo, just as a shower of golden confetti was loosed from the ceiling. The crowd cheered. The walls moved and Louise saw sections of them spin. The walls had been flat, but now niches appeared, niches that were occupied by gold statues of nude figures. There had to be two dozen of them, men and women, arranged down the walls as regular intervals, each a more perfect human specimen than that last.

“They’re real!” she whispered to Zeke. “I guarantee it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, but I’ll bet I’m right. It’s just like the opening for our show.”

“I should be been there,” Zeke said under his breath.

“Yes, you should have,” Louise agreed, smiling at him.

Before she could prove her point about the statues, the music soared even louder and higher. “Welcome, all of you, to our garden of earthly delights!” Athena cried.

The crowd cheered again. Light appeared in the marked-off space in front of the bar. As Louise watched, a trapdoor in the floor opened and a golden sculpture rose into view.

Men and women were arranged on a tiered black box that wasn’t unlike a layer cake. The women wore high-heeled gold sandals and were naked other than glitter all over their bodies and sparkling eye make-up. The men were covered in gold body paint and carried gold top hats, but were also otherwise naked other than their masks. They were all beautifully muscled and trim, and the men had huge erections. The women wore feathers, like showgirls, tall headdresses that stretched to the ceiling once the platform had lifted into place. Each woman carried two fans of feathers and held them behind her waists, like a tail. Each man carried one long feather instead of a cane. The feathers looked like peacock feathers dipped in gold.

Athena was posed at the top of the display. Her feathers were taller and more numerous, and she wore more jewels. When the platform stopped spinning, she descended through the others to stand in the middle of the floor. She glistened as she walked, her red hair hanging loose like a flame.

“Wow,” Zeke said and Louise elbowed him. “She doesn’t look real.”

“She’s a man-eater.”

“I could volunteer for that.”

“What if I were jealous?” Louise wasn’t, but she wondered what he’d say.

“Maybe we should take her on together,” he said with a wink.

Louise grinned at the thought. A threesome with Zeke sounded just fine to her.

Athena came to a halt in the middle of the room. She threw up her arms and raised her voice. “Welcome, one and all, to The Phoenix!”

Louise clapped and cheered with everyone else as the music began to pulse along with the strobe lights. The showgirls and guys with top hats chose dance partners from among the crowd and soon they weren’t the only ones swaying to the beat. Louise looked back at the gold figures along the wall and saw that they had changed poses. A ripple of anticipation rolled through the crowd.

“See?” she said to Zeke.

He was visibly startled, then led her through the crowd to one statue that looked like Rex, albeit painted gold. This Rex was posed like a triumphant weight lifter, his muscles pumped, legs astride, fists in the air. Zeke leaned closer to look into the statue’s eyes.

“You’ll never hear him breathing, not with this music,” Louise said.

“I think you’re wrong.”

“It’s body paint,” Louise said. “He’s alive. On the opening night of the exhibition, my sculptures weren’t all statues. Some of them were live people. And at midnight, they broke out of their plaster casings to take whoever they wanted. It was incredibly hot.”

“Was Rex one of them?”

“Yes. I posed him as a raja servicing six wives. He did it, too.”

The eyes of the statue flicked to Louise and away, quickly but not so quickly that she and Zeke didn’t notice.

He laughed. “I saw that!”

“Figures he’d volunteer. He loved that game.” Louise reached out and touched the penis of the so-called sculpture. It was warm and hard. “Careful, Rex,” she whispered. “Don’t give the game away.” She caressed the length of his erection and the supposed statue caught his breath.

“Leave it!” he said through his teeth and Louise laughed.

She looked up at the number written over his alcove. “Number seven. I wonder what I’d have to do to get number seven. Or who I’d have to fuck.”

“If it has to do with Athena, I’m your man,” Zeke said and Louise smiled at him. That was the second time he’d mentioned doing Athena, and Louise was going to make it happen before they left the party that night.

* * *

Athena was having a wonderful time. She felt like a goddess, dipped in gold and turned out in her finery. She was surrounding by adoring devotees, each and every one of whom wanted a favor from her. She smiled, imagining what offerings they’d bring and what dedications they might make. She felt omnipotent, able to make dreams come true with a gesture, and it was good.

Her heart clenched at the sheer number of attendees. She loved their costumes, their beauty and their passion. She was thrilled by their enthusiasm and intoxicated by their anticipation. The room was on fire.

And every eye was on her.

She wanted each and every one of them for her own, together or in groups. She wanted to screw all night long, come a thousand times, then wake up in bed with Julius. He was here somewhere and she loved that he was at ease with her nature.

Life didn’t get any better than this.

Except that maybe it would.

Athena strolled down the middle of the floor to the fountain, accepting caresses and kisses every step of the way.

One man fell to his knees before her, impeding her progress as he kissed her feet. Athena smiled and bent to run her hand over his head, only to feel him slide his tongue between her toes. She gasped, then bent to grab his head in her hands. She kissed him fast and hard, swallowing his surprise and demanding all he had to give. He caught his breath as the crowd cheered him on then framed her face in his hands and kissed her back. It was a hot and heady kiss, one that Athena could have fallen into if she hadn’t had work to do.

She broke their kiss with an effort and rapped him on the nose. “Later, darling. I have to see to the pleasure of my guests, first.”

“At your service, Madame,” he said, bowing before her again.

“What’s your number?” she whispered, then seized his wrist. He looked at her without understanding, then at her grip on his wrist. Athena smiled. “Later, four hundred and twelve,” she whispered, waiting for him to smile before she continued to her next goal.

None of them knew yet that some of the favors were already assigned. Athena had no issues with rigging the results to be what she wanted them to be.

Her guests wouldn’t have any complaints either.

She paused beside the fountain to survey the party guests. “Welcome to the rise of the Phoenix, a new club tailored to serve all of your needs, rising from the ashes of the Plume.” Athena paused while the crowd shouted and cheered. “Later this week, you can attend a presentation about the new club and learn how you can become involved. Tonight, you are my guests, and I invite you to partake of pleasure.”

Again, they hooted and stamped so loudly that she had to wait.

Then she gestured to the room. “Look around yourself at the party favors arrayed for your delight. Thirty gold-dipped slaves in their alcoves, each one worth a king’s ransom. Fifteen more, adorned in little more than glitter, all of them beautiful, flexible, willing and passionate. All of them party favors for your delight.” Athena smiled and bowed low. “Including myself. As your hostess, I could offer you no less.”

There was a lean young guy with black hair on the far side of the room, watching her with a predatory smile. Athena waved at him and his smile broadened. A small woman appeared beside him, her head disappearing periodically in the crowd.

Louise. With a tasty new addition to the ranks. Athena took another look and decided she’d sample him at some point that night. From the look of him, it might be quite an adventure.

The crowd had quieted enough for her to continue. “We do not encourage chaos at the Phoenix,” Athena said. “We are connoisseurs, not barbarians.”

The crowd cheered.

“And we are patient to take our turn.”

They applauded wildly.

“Partly because more than a few of us like to watch.”

This was greeted with a lot of clapping and shouting, so much that Athena smiled.

“Each party favor has a number,” Athena continued. “Each of you has a number.” There was a rustle of motion as people checked their wristbands, then eyed the numbers on the alcoves. The party favors in gold who had entered with Athena pivoted and posed, showing the numbers written on their bodies. “The rules of the Phoenix will be familiar to all of you.” She ran her hand through the gold disks in the fountain. “Winners can do what they like with or to their party favors, within the usual boundaries. Should we choose a prize now?”

The attendees roared approval.

“Then let the matchmaking begin!”

Athena beckoned and two of the men wearing top hats raced to drop to their knees before her. They locked their hands together, making a step for her to climb. Athena put one foot on their interlocked hands, then stepped up. She braced her other foot on one man’s shoulder. He smiled and kissed her instep. Then Athena bent over the glittering fountain, giving many of her guests a prime view. She pushed her hands into the gold disks, lifted two handfuls and let them scatter again.