Authors: Tamara Hogan
“
So, Lukas and Jesse are backstage. You’re in the pit,” she said to Jack, not looking at the Sebastiani siblings as some sort of unspoken message bounced between them. “What do you need me to do? Not that I’m complaining, you understand—I couldn’t get a ticket to this show to save my life. But how can I help?”
“
Just keep your eyes open. Lukas wasn’t kidding about reassigning nearly every Sebastiani Security employee to Scarlett’s show tonight. We need all hands on deck, all available eyes and ears,” Jack replied. “This concert’s a high profile event on a couple of fronts. For one thing, it’s the last show of Scarlett’s tour. She hasn’t performed locally for over a year. It’s going to get rowdy. Scarlett’s manager and I have been working with Sasha on these plans for months. And if Scarlett’s security needs weren’t a big enough challenge, most of the people on that org chart will be here tonight too.”
“
A command performance.”
“
What?” Sasha tugged at her hair, already standing straight up in the air.
“
The people on that org chart may be family, but they’re also the rulers of your people. Royalty,” she added with a shrug. “The pressure on Scarlett must be enormous.”
Sasha pursed her lips.
“I hadn’t thought of it that way. They’re just… the Council. Hmm, that might explain why she seemed so…” Sasha trailed off, shook her head slightly, and focused again. “There was a reason you couldn’t get a ticket. Due to the security considerations, and the pheromone issue, there’s a private guest list.” At Bailey’s blank look, she glared at the men. “What were you guys doing before I got here, playing grab-ass?”
Lukas ground his teeth together so hard that Bailey thought his jaw would shatter.
“We haven’t gotten to physiological considerations yet.”
Jack picked up the explanation of procedures.
“The floor is General Availability, so anyone with a ticket has access. Second floor is reserved seating, a little pricier. Council members and their immediate families will be congregated up here.” Jack indicated the third floor VIP boxes at the rear of the venue, facing the stage. “The younger ones will probably creep down to the floor before the night is over, so we’ll have to keep our eyes open.” He reached into his briefcase, pulled out a small, hinged black box, and pushed it across the table. “Here. You’ll need this.”
Bailey opened the box and looked at the tiny earpiece and matchbook-sized receiver with an integrated clip.
“I don’t recognize this technology.”
“
Now that the Council has cleared you, you’ll have access to technology you’ve only dreamed about. That,” Jack said, indicating the small box, “will patch you in to Sebastiani Security restricted communications tonight. You’ll be able to read up on it later,” he said, recognizing the interested gleam in her eye. “We don’t have time right now. We have—” he looked at his watch “—less than two hours to give you a cultural crash course. Species strengths, weaknesses, susceptibilities…”
“
How about protocol?”
Sasha looked at her with an odd expression on her face.
“What?”
“
Hey, this Council stuff might be old hat to you, but tonight I’m meeting royalty. And everything I know about protocol comes from networking books. Or the Goldie Hawn movie.”
“
You held Annika’s hair out of the toilet when she puked the other night. You’re sitting with two Council members right now, people you work with every day. One of them is your best friend. It’s way too late for protocol, sweetie.”
Bailey froze.
“C’mon, don’t freak out on us now,” Sasha said, grasping both of her hands again. “You know us. At least, you’re starting to know us. You already know that Lukas is an annoying grouch, you’ve known Jack forever, and you ogle men’s asses with me, The First Daughter.”
“
True.”
“
Back to the matter at hand, ladies,” Jack said. “Time’s tight. Claudette asked for a personal favor, council leader to council leader. We don’t have a choice here.”
“
Our families go way back,” Sasha added, examining a chip in her purple nail polish. “I live with Scarlett and Annika. Claudette practically moved in after Mom died and helped raise us.” She turned her head to her brother. “Did you know that Dad and Claudette are finally doing the deed?”
Lukas winced.
“What?” Sasha shrugged with a grin. “I’m happy about it. I don’t know why they waited so long. And it’s so cute to see her doing the Walk of Shame out of Dad’s place in the morning.” She giggled and sing-songed, “Dad’s getting la-id.”
“
So saying ‘no thanks’ really wasn’t an option, no matter how much you might have wanted to,” Bailey said to Lukas.
Lukas stiffened. Sasha looked at Jack, and then Lukas.
Bailey sat back in her chair and spread her hands. “Okay, guys. What’s up?”
“
Sorry. You have to cut us a little slack here,” Lukas said. “This is only the third time in history this information has been shared—”
“
And Captain Sphincter here is just a little uncomfortable discussing our species’ susceptibilities,” Sasha said, indicating her brother. “
His
susceptibilities.”
If possible, Lukas’s jaw clenched even tighter. Bailey feared for his teeth.
“Okay, Incubi Physiology 101,” Jack broke in smoothly. “You might notice that both Lukas’s and Sasha’s nostrils are twitching right now.”
They both immediately stopped.
“It’s not a twitch,” Sasha said, crossing her arms over her chest. “You make it sound like I’m Samantha on
Bewitched
or something.”
“
It’s a definite twitch,” Jack informed Sasha, then turned back to Bailey. “Incubi and succubi absorb emotional energy for sustenance. They do this unthinkingly, autonomically. If it’s there, they absorb it, like humans breathe air.” He kept his eyes on Bailey, his voice clinical. “Absorbing positive emotions is pleasurable, absorbing negative emotions is not. When they’re feeling pleasure themselves, they emit pheromones which others around them find pleasurable.”
“
Creating a feedback loop?” Bailey asked.
“
Yes. That incubus sex myth?” Sasha flicked a challenging glance at Jack. “Fact.”
Bailey’s brain was clicking, processing.
“How…?”
“
Your guess is as good as ours,” Lukas said. “The best we can tell, our species can process and utilize a type of energy that humans can’t.”
“
Like a sixth sense.”
“
Yup,” Sasha responded with a smile. “It’s not magic by any means. Just because I can discern—” Sasha gazed at Jack, let her eyes travel over his face and upper body “—lust in the air doesn’t necessarily mean I can tell who’s feeling it. But sometimes, just by process of elimination, it’s pretty easy to guess.” She curled her legs in her chair while Jack’s face went tight. “I just know if it’s there, I absorb it. And it feels really, really good.”
Oh my God. They could tell what she was feeling? When she was pissed off? Aroused? By sniffing? Sniffing the air? Bailey put her hands to her own burning cheeks.
“We try not to be invasive about it,” Sasha said with a shrug. “It just… is.”
Jack rubbed his neck. Bailey was pretty sure he was counting to ten.
“So, tonight’s show,” he finally gritted out. “The club holds nearly a thousand people. No humans tonight, other than you and me. Weres, vamps, hundreds of incubi and succubi in an enclosed space, drinking, dancing, having fun. And where there’s fun, there’s pleasure, and where there’s pleasure, there are pheromones. Now, factor a siren into the equation—a siren who interprets and amplifies emotion with her song.”
If Bailey understood Jack correctly, Scarlett’s voice would ratchet the pheromone level sky-high.
“Yes,” Sasha said, her voice dripping with anticipation as she confirmed Bailey’s suspicion. “It’ll be Bacchanalia.”
Lukas abruptly stood.
“Can you take it from here, Jack? I have some work to do.” He stalked to the door without waiting for an answer.
“
Um, good-bye!” Sasha called to her brother’s back. She stood up to follow him. “He can be such an asshole.”
“
So can you,” Jack snapped. “You know how hard this is for him. Andi’s assailant shoved some nasty second-hand shit down his throat not twelve hours ago, he’s had no sleep, and Scarlett’s show is the last place he wants or needs to be. But he’s doing it. He’s sucking it up and doing it. So back the hell off.”
The silence hummed.
“Bite me,” Sasha finally muttered. But it was said without heat.
“
You wish.”
Sasha’s eyes wandered over Jack—all over Jack. Bailey felt a tug between her thighs as their eyes locked in battle. She barely stopped herself from writhing against the leather seat, and she was just sitting on the sidelines.
Sasha smirked. “Don’t forget to take your meds,” she said airily as she followed her brother. “Catch you later, Bailey.” The door slammed behind her.
“
Meds?” Bailey finally said.
“
There’s a drug that humans can take to make them less susceptible to the pheromones.”
“
Hmm, handy. Something that Sebastiani Labs conjured up?” At his affirmative nod, she sat silently for a moment. “Is Lukas okay?”
Jack reached across the table and turned off the overhead projector.
“He’s under a lot of stress right now, but he’ll deal with it.” He looked to the door, and sighed in relief. “It’ll be easier to explain this now that they’re gone. I swear she picks on him for entertainment. I hope Lukas can catch a nap.”
She could use one herself. In the last hour, she’d found out humans weren’t alone in the universe—hell, weren’t even alone on Earth. She’d learned her boss was an incubus, and his sister a succubus. She’d learned her best friend was a member of a Council governing Earth’s non-human species.
“So, this is what all the secrecy is about.”
Jack raised his eyebrows in question.
“The rooms at SebSec that I can’t badge into. The servers and files I can’t access.” She looked away from him for a moment. “I thought you didn’t trust me.”
“
I trust you implicitly. But Lukas and the Council were a little more challenging to convince, and it wasn’t my secret to share.” Jack rose and sat in the chair Sasha had just vacated. He looked her in the eye. “I’m so glad you backed away from that firewall when you did.”
“
Yeah, well, it was close,” she muttered, “and we both know that at one time I probably wouldn’t have.” They sat in silence, let it wrap them comfortably. “Wow,” Bailey finally said.
“
Yeah, it’s a lot to think about,” Jack agreed. “There are aspects of their world that I’m still trying to learn about, to absorb. But tonight, all that has to be put aside. Scarlett’s safety is the priority.”
“
What is Lukas so uptight about?”
“
Lukas has a genetic anomaly which forces him to taste and smell emotions as he absorbs them. He’s battered by stimuli 24/7, and a lot of it isn’t pretty.”
“
Kind of like emotional synesthesia?” she asked, referring to the sensory integration disorder which enabled some humans to see numbers in color, smell music, and taste scents.
“
Yeah. He doesn’t talk about it, but the bottles of antacids scattered around the office speak for themselves. And yes, before you ask, he and Scarlett have a history. He’ll be struggling tonight.”
Bailey pursed her lips.
“So, let me get this straight. Basically, the Underworld Council is coming to an orgy.” She started giggling as she tried to imagine some of humanity’s historic rulers doing the same, but stopped as a horrible thought struck. “Is Dick Cheney a vampire?”
Jack blinked.
“Not that I know of.”
Bailey took the mouse from Jack and clicked on the
“Species” link. “What do I need to be on the lookout for? Cliffs Notes version, please.”
“
The werewolves tend to be vocal, physical, and exuberant, and will probably shed clothes as the night goes on. The vamps might flash some fang, but most of them aren’t about to strip off in public. The Valkyries have been officially reminded that they can’t fight in the building. The sirens shouldn’t be a problem, unless they band together and start singing along with Scarlett. Jesus, I hadn’t thought about that one,” he muttered, grabbing his mini-comp and tapping a note. “But in terms of crowd control, the incubi and succubi will pose the biggest challenge. They’re the most vulnerable due to their susceptibility to siren song, but they emit pheromones which loosen everybody’s inhibitions.”
“
No meds?”
“
So far, the pheromone meds only work for humans.”
On
ly three humans in history knew of their existence in the first place. Two sat in this room, and one was dead. Damn it, Jack had allowed himself to be used as a lab rat.
Jack clicked deeper into the website, explaining what he knew about the species. Bailey took mental notes on the areas where she needed to spend more time, do more research. And as the facts and factoids scrolled by, she learned Earth’s unvarnished history: how the Underworld Council’s guiding hand had been poised behind countless thrones, influencing events to their benefit, and about how many of humanity’s accomplishments weren’t actually humanity’s at all.