Something Wicked (14 page)

Stanley cleared his throat and sipped on his own glass of bubbly. “That’s going to be a problem, I’m afraid.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“He’s gone.”

“Gone?”

He nodded. “He left town the other day for an extended vacation. He’s recovering from some, uh . . . recent injuries . . . and needed the time alone to recuperate.”

He was gone? How could he be gone? Her chest felt tight. She’d hoped this would go smoothly tonight.

“Where did he go?” she asked, her throat suddenly thick.

“He didn’t say. He really wants to be alone right now. He’s all Greta Garbo. Knowing him, though, it’s somewhere with palm trees and drinks served in coconuts, but I don’t know the exact location. My boss is super secretive about everything in his life. Maksim doesn’t even want anyone to know his first name.” Stanley paused. “Whoops.”

“Maksim, huh?” Eden tried to remain calm. “I need to get in touch with him. How do I do that?”

“You don’t. Sorry.”

“Darrak is not going to be happy,” Eden said, not liking that she felt the need to resort to veiled threats. Then again, this guy hadn’t made a fabulous impression on her so far, so scaring him a little was okay with her. “You don’t want an archdemon to get angry with you—all talons and sharp teeth and, um,
horns
. Big scary horns.”

Darrak sighed. “I’ll leave any horny jokes alone. Way too easy. And sadly accurate at the moment.”

Stanley swallowed and wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “Trust me, I don’t want him to be angry. But there’s nothing I can do. If Darrak wants to disembowel me because of this, it’ll be a waste of his valuable time.”

“You think he’d disembowel you?” Eden asked. Stanley seemed all too ready to jump to the conclusion that Darrak was just as dangerous as Ben thought he was.

“Of course.” Stanley lowered his voice. “He’s an
archdemon
. I try to avoid them whenever possible, but in my line of work . . . well, it’s difficult. Can you . . . uh, tell him that I can create some elixirs for him for free? I work to order. It’s my side business.”

“I promise not to disembowel him,” Darrak said. “The cleanup’s a real bitch. We should just go now.”

“Just relax,” Eden said to Stanley. The guy looked ready to wet himself at the prospect of infuriating Darrak.

“I can’t relax. Sex is the only way I can unwind, and you totally blew that for me tonight.” He breathed deeply and downed the rest of his drink. “What’s Darrak’s problem anyhow? Must be something major. If he’s looking for a wizard master to help him and his girlfriend—”

“I’m not Darrak’s girlfriend,” Eden said firmly.

“His bitch, then.” He flippantly waved his hand. “Whatever you are.”

Darrak snorted. “He called you my bitch.”

“I heard him.”

“What did you say?” Stanley asked.

“I’m not Darrak’s bitch.” She hissed out a frustrated sigh. “So what you’re saying is talking to you is a big fat waste of time, is it?”

“If all you’re looking for is my boss, then yeah. But if you’re looking for something else”—he placed a hand on Eden’s thigh—“then I might be able to help.”

She looked down at his hand. “Do you have a death wish?”

Stanley removed his hand. “You’re a difficult woman to love. No. No death wish. Although I have to say I’m probably in the minority around here. Anyone coming to this club who doesn’t have any magical protection is asking for trouble.”

That piqued Eden’s interest. “Are you talking about the murder last night?”

“Among other things.” He glanced nervously around the crowded club. “That’s seven now, including the reporter.”

She inhaled sharply. Stanley may not have been helpful in contacting the wizard master, but did he know something about Graham’s murder?

“I thought the other women only went missing. Do you really think they’re dead?”

“Once you disappear from here, you don’t come back.”

A shiver went down her spine. “So where do you go?”

“We really shouldn’t talk about this.” He scanned the room, his face paling. “The walls have ears.”

She touched Stanley’s leg to get his attention again. “You think it’s someone who works here doing the killings?”

He licked his lips. “It’s possible. It’s connected to Luxuria, that’s all I know right now. I wouldn’t come here at all, but I can’t seem to stay away. Wish I could.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just what I said. I’d like to go to other clubs, but I keep coming back here. So does everyone else. Ninety percent of the people you see here return nearly every night like clockwork.”

“Really?” She glanced around. She’d had friends who enjoyed going out on Friday and Saturday nights to let off a little steam after a long week at work, but to go to a singles’ club more than that? Seemed excessive.

And expensive. The drinks here were way overpriced.

She needed to know more. Darrak didn’t want her investigating anything to do with Graham’s murder, but how could she resist a little prodding into things? She owed her old friend that much.

“Look, Stanley,” she began, “I know you don’t want to get involved, but if you’re a regular here, maybe you saw something suspicious—” She stopped talking for a moment as something occurred to her.

The other demon had been here last night just before Graham’s murder.

Of course. It made total sense. That demon had to have something to do with this. What other reason would a demon have for hanging out at a singles’ club?

“What?” Stanley prompted.

Two people making out next to her jostled Eden’s arm, and she moved out of their way, scooting down the couch to sit closer to Stanley. “Did you see a demon here last night?”

“Eden,” Darrak breathed. “We need to leave. Come on.”

Why was he trying to stop her from learning more? If she had a chance like this to find out more, shouldn’t he encourage that? She could dampen him so he didn’t get in the way, but she wasn’t ready to do that yet.

“A demon.” Stanley swallowed hard enough for it to officially be considered a gulp. “Yeah, I saw him. The demonic energy emanating off him was hard to miss.”

Her heart drummed so hard against her rib cage that she felt it in her ears. “Do you think he has anything to do with what’s going on here?”

“No.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Really?”

A waitress emerged to retrieve the empty champagne glasses in front of Stanley before she was swallowed again by the crowd on the dance floor half a dozen feet away. The music shifted from dance to something slower.

Stanley rubbed his temples. “I mean, I don’t think so. I don’t know what happened to the women for sure, but I’m positive a demon didn’t kill that reporter.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because he was strangled to death, right? A demon would never end anyone that humanely.”

Eden repressed a shudder. “Being strangled is humane?”

“Demons enjoy digging in and seeing what makes a human tick before they snuff out the life completely. It’s fun for them. And when they’re done, it’s not unusual for dental records to be necessary to ID the victim. That is, if there’s even anything left over to ID.”

Eden’s stomach lurched. “I can’t imagine all demons are like that.”

Stanley snorted. “What fairy tale are you living in, sunshine? I haven’t seen that much in my career as Maksim’s assistant, but what I’ve seen has shown me demons aren’t anything to mess with. And when they kill, they leave a hell of a mess in their wake. Oh—
a hell of a mess
. I made a pun. Listen to me. If my elixir business tanks, I should try stand-up.”

“Happy now?” Darrak asked dryly. “He thinks he’s witty.”

Eden stood up on shaky legs. “Tell Maksim I need to talk to him the moment he gets back, okay? That Darrak and I both need to talk to him.”

“You’re going? You’re sure you don’t want some champagne?”

“Positive.”

She turned and walked away from him, still queasy from the mental image of a demon’s carnage. She’d seen Darrak’s demonic form—all talons and fire and sharp teeth. And, yes,
horns
. If something like that, or
worse
, chose to end a human life . . . well, Stanley was right. They probably wouldn’t use strangulation as their modus operandi.

Then who was the murderer?

And what was the other demon doing here? He’d been looking for Darrak, hadn’t he? And Darrak had dismissed it so she wouldn’t worry.

So what was this other demon’s plan? To drag Darrak back down to home base or destroy him outright? Either option made her feel more ill.

“So, this was pretty much a wasted trip tonight,” Darrak said, sounding weary. “I figured it would be.”

“Who is this other demon?” she said under her breath, anxiety spreading through her. “He’s after you, isn’t he?”

“He’s . . . uh . . .”

“You said he was your friend, but does he want to find you? Was he sent to hurt you?” She couldn’t hide the growing panic in her voice.

“He doesn’t want to hurt me.”

“How do you know that? You haven’t seen him in three hundred years, right?”

“Right. Yeah. About the demon . . .”

“What about him?” Her chest felt tight.

“We’re meeting him for lunch tomorrow.”

Her sharp focus on the exit to the nightclub blurred. She froze in place. “What?”

“Next door to here. It’s a souvlaki place in case you’re curious.”

The music shifted back to a fast hip-hop song she’d heard on the radio during her drive to work that morning. She didn’t speak for a full minute.
“What?”

“Uh . . . the demon from last night. My old friend. Lunch tomorrow. Souvlaki. Yum?”

Was she hallucinating? Why was he saying things to her that made no sense? He’d made them leave last night, fearful of meeting his “old friend” face-to-face.

“When did you happen to make these plans with him?” she asked slowly.

“Last night.”

“But . . . but
when
last night? We’re together
all
the time.”

“I know. Cozy, isn’t it?” He was quiet for a moment. “It doesn’t matter when. The fact is, the plans are made and I probably should have told you earlier, but I didn’t.”

It was like a puzzle she didn’t have all the pieces for. “You’re keeping things from me, aren’t you?”

“Nothing major.”

Oh, that was comforting. “So, at some time last night you talked to him? This old friend of yours?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of? What’s that supposed to mean?”

A man walked past Eden on the way to the restrooms, and he looked at her strangely as she stood talking to herself like a crazy person. At the moment, she didn’t really care.

There was silence from the demon for way too long. And then, “Just get us out of here, and we’ll discuss this matter privately.”

She searched her memory from last night. He’d possessed her at sunset like usual. They’d come to the club. They’d left the club in a hurry. She’d gone to bed. That was all that had happened.

Then she had a thought. “What are you doing? Stealing my body when I’m asleep?”

Darrak didn’t reply to that. She’d hoped for laughter at how ludicrous that theory was, especially since she’d only been joking.

She struggled to breathe. “No way. That’s impossible.”

“I can’t help that you’re a good guesser.”

She gasped. “Oh, my God! You’re stealing my body at night!”