Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (31 page)

“To Jaseth! May your next nineteen years be safe and prosperous!” Charlie toasted me.

“To Jaseth!” Everyone else cheered and I took a sip of my drink. Sweet Lilbecz, Aliakh hadn’t been lying about the potency of the brew. The sugar had taken the edge off slightly, but it still felt like a kick in the throat when I swallowed.

Telgeth coughed loudly. “Fyar khanall Aliakh, are you trying to poison us?” he gasped.

She laughed. “I told you to take it easy Telgeth. Oh, here comes the chef now.”

The chef, assisted by the waitress, handed around plates of our dinner. We had a beautiful, tender piece of steak, perfectly medium-rare, smothered with mushrooms and a slice of tangy blue cheese. It sat on a bed of creamy potato and garlic mash and the whole lot was drizzled with a rich red wine jus.

“Oh gawd, Jimmy. You were right about the food!” I exclaimed as I wiped up the last of the sauce with my finger.

“I’m glad you approve,” Aliakh smiled at me. “Ah, and here’s Anna and Fiona. Perhaps it’s time to start the entertainment.”

Anna and Fiona had entered the lounge, glancing about for a second before noticing us and waving, then going to order drinks from the bar. Two of Anna’s bodyguards slipped in unobtrusively and went to sit at one of the tables. She had probably left the other one outside, I guessed, the poor bugger clearly having drawn the short straw for the evening.

Off to the side of the stage, musicians began to play, swirling, complex, Nea’thi-style music, but with a definite hint of sensual rhythm. A girl, possibly slightly older than us, appeared on the stage from behind a curtain and began to dance. She was wearing a Nea’thi-style robe, but it was slit down the front and belted closed. As she danced, her fingers played with the belt, teasing it open slowly.

“Oh man, I’m definitely going to have to sit closer. You coming, Jas?” I waved Telgeth away, I could see just fine from the booth at the back. He went to sit at a table right in front of the stage, Sammoch and Donnick following immediately, and Dunkerle, after he hesitated a moment.

“Oh, I can just imagine what my mum would say if she knew I was here. Och, bloody spectacles have gotten all steamed up!”

The rest of the tables and booths filled up slowly. There were groups of expensively dressed men, as well as some women, I was a bit surprised to see, who watched the show from behind fluttering fans.

No matter how slowly I sipped my absinthe, I had begun to feel decidedly tiddly already. After we had eaten, Sallagh had gone to find a bathroom, but now she was back and she slid into the booth beside me, almost sitting on my lap. Her leg pressed into mine as we watched the girl on stage. This was weirdly intimate behaviour, but I was well into my second glass of the green liqueur and I couldn’t bring myself to care.

The dancer had shed her robe and revealed long, long legs, covered in silky stockings with towering strappy shoes, heeled
like knives. A corset cinched her waist in tight, and as she slung her hips and bent over to give the crowd an excellent view of her lacy knickers, she toyed with the buttons on a satin bolero that barely covered her bosom.

“Take it off!” yelled a man at one of the other tables. The girl paused and waggled a finger at him mock-sternly, like a teacher at a naughty little boy, and then flicked open the buttons. She turned and slid the jacket over one shoulder, then the other, then pulled it off altogether, revealing her back, bare save for the corset and the strap of a thin brassiere.

She turned to show the crowd, who whistled and cheered. Her bra barely covered her nipples, and as she squeezed her arms together to show off her breasts I was sure they were going to pop out completely.

Oof, was it just me or was it getting very hot? I took another sip of my drink and almost spluttered as I felt Sallagh’s hand rest lightly on my knee. She hadn’t shown any interest in me since that first night at the Shivering Thistle, and she had flirted with Sammoch on and off in the intervening months, though I didn’t think anything had come of it. But this new attention was definitely a surprise. I tried not to think of her hand, now lightly stroking my knee, but the girl on stage was now completely topless, playing with the crowd, teasing them by covering herself with her hands and grinding her hips. I chanced a look at Lolitha, who was peering at the stage, cheeks pink, as interest warred with embarrassment.

Charlie had gone to talk to Anna and Fiona at the bar. I realised, glancing over, that Anna was studying him thoughtfully, looking away whenever he caught her eye.

“Hey ‘Litha, look,” I whispered, pointing at the bar.

“What?” She dragged her eyes away from the stage and looked where I was pointing. “Oh… Ohhh. Heh, cute. Looks like I planted the seeds, eh?”

Indeed she had. There was definitely a new sort of tension between the two. Fiona left them and drifted over, carrying another bottle of absinthe, Lilbecz help me.

“Ugh, I don’t know what’s going on with those two, thought it would be more fun back here. Having fun, Lolitha darling?” She grinned wickedly and Lolitha flushed an even darker red.

“Um, yeah, I suppose.”

Fiona chortled. “I bet. Aliakh has some lovely girls who would just adore you!”

Lolitha ducked her head and her response was drowned out by the roaring of the crowd. The dancer had dropped her hands and her breasts with their hard chips of nipples swung free. Sallagh’s hand was creeping higher up my leg and I gulped. It was going to be very hard to walk soon if she kept this up.

“Hey Jaseth, did you like your present? I helped Charlie pick it out.”

“Oh yes Fiona, thank you. Um, can I use it here?”

Fiona laughed. “Oh yes, the smoking of moss is permitted. Aliakh
is
Nea’thi-Blood you know. Just no tobacco inside, it makes everything smell nasty.”

Fortunately the pocket with my pipe and moss was on the other side of the leg Sallagh was touching. “Uh, Red anyone?” I packed my new pipe from the red velvet pouch, then sparked it myself as it passed it around the booth.

The dancer finished to a loud round of applause, and she scooped her discarded clothing off the floor of the stage and disappeared through the curtain with a final cheeky grin for the crowd. The music continued and the dancer was replaced on stage by a willowy Nea’thi youth, demurely covered for the moment.

“Ooh, Nea’thi strippers, brilliant! Look, ‘Litha!” Jimmy elbowed her and she grimaced.

“Hell, I hate being gay at times like this. It’s just not
fair
!” she moaned. The girls had had a massive head start with their drinking and Lolitha was slurring her words ever so slightly. Mantilly had gone to sit with the boys and she was whispering in Dunkerle’s ear, who periodically had to remove his spectacles and wipe them clear of steam. And Sallagh… Well, Sallagh seemed intent on giving the birthday boy a gift of her own.

“I, uh, have to go to the bathroom.” I stood abruptly and eased my way over Sallagh, who trailed her fingernails down my leg as I passed. Oh hell, please don’t let me have an erection.
Please
.

I possibly did, but the cut of my robe was very forgiving. Anna and Charlie were still talking at the bar, and Charlie watched me expressionless as I walked past on the way to relieving myself. That was odd. In fact, that was
very
odd, but I didn’t pause – now I was standing the pressure on my full bladder was almost unbearable.

On the way back from the bathroom I noticed Anna had gone to sit with the others at the booth, and as I went to go join them Charlie stepped in front of me and blocked my way.

“Why the
hell
didn’t you tell me?” His face was dark with fury, and I took a step back, surprised more than anything by the force of his question and the wholly uncharacteristic anger. Charlie had
never
been angry at me before.

“I, uh, tell you what?” I countered lamely.

“What happened on Samhain, you idiot!” He had never called me names before, well, only nice ones.

“Anna told you?”

“She most certainly did! Why, Jas? Why didn’t you tell me?” Something else crept into his voice. Sadness? Guilt maybe? I realised suddenly that his anger wasn’t directed at me.

“Anna, she… She asked me not to. Oh hell, I’m sorry Charlie. It wasn’t that big a deal,” I said when he sniffed. Seriously, my Mentor was almost
crying
?

“It
was
a big deal!” he exclaimed. “You could have been
killed
! I’m your effing
Mentor
and you could have been
killed
! I failed you, Jaseth. Do you understand that? I should never have taken you to that place and I should have looked after you, like I’m
supposed
to. It’s my
job
and I
failed
!” he groaned.

Oh sweet Lilbecz. If a crying girl was hard to deal with, Charlie’s miserable self-recriminations were terrifying.

“Shit Charlie, seriously, it’s fine.”

“But you couldn’t even
tell
me!” The look on his face was pure woe. I couldn’t handle it. I reached out and tentatively patted him on the arm.

“Anna asked me not to. And it was fine and we’re alright and we won’t let it happen again. Come on, let’s go to the bar, it’s my birthday!” I said brightly, trying to distract him, but he groaned again and rubbed his forehead in dismay.

“And now I’m ruining your birthday! I’m the worst Mentor
ever
.”

Right, it was clearly time to take the firm approach. “That’s bollocks Charlie, you’re a brilliant Mentor and you know it. You’re the
best
. Now let’s go get some of that tequila you’re always going on about.” That seemed to work because he smiled hesitantly.

“Oh yes, you’ll like tequila. Best thing to come out of Yhull since… Since I don’t know what. I
am
sorry, Jas. I will try harder.” I didn’t want to think about Charlie
trying
to be a better Mentor, that was too overwhelming, so I towed him to the bar.

Behind the counter, Aliakh had taken over for a while so the waitress could take a break. She grinned when Charlie ordered the tequila. It was a thick amber liquid, and Aliakh poured two shots into tiny glasses and laid slices of lemon on the top, setting a salt–shaker beside them on the bar.

“Excellent choice. This has been imported directly from Yhull.” She waved me away when I went to pull out my coin-purse. “Anna is taking care of it all tonight, boyo. It seems she’s grown rather fond of you.”

Now
that
was a surprise. The tall violet-eyed woman, even when at her most relaxed, was always slightly removed and aloof, always watchful. Even though I saw her most weekends, and she was always gentle with me, I only detected fondness for Aliakh, Fiona and Charlie. Even Jeetz failed to rouse any sort of warmth in her, but perhaps that was because he plainly disapproved of her occupation. Therefore, I thought, maybe this whole birthday thing was an apology of sorts for the Samhain incident. Somehow, Lolitha and I had found ourselves in the middle of one of her professional deals and maybe she felt guilty. An unpleasant thought niggled at me. I had assumed the whole thing had simply been a case of wrong place, wrong time, but Anna had said she had a personal interest in killing the two men. Maybe, and this was the unpleasant bit, she had used us as bait.

Oh no, no, I told myself sternly. That was far too much like paranoia to be true. She had been Charlie’s friend for as long as I had been alive – she had been a Mentor herself, she wouldn’t do anything to put us in harm’s way, would she?

Yes, but she is the most ruthless woman in the entire city, a little voice told me, she is the
head
of Lya Vassalion, maybe…

Stop it! I thought, and concentrated on Charlie showing me how to drink the tequila. You licked the soft bit of your hand between the thumb and first finger and sprinkled salt on it. Then, holding the lemon in your hand, you licked the salt off, downed the shot, then sucked on the lemon. How hard could it be? Right. Salt, tequila, lemon. The lemon was already in my mouth before my brain could register the punch of the strong liquor.

“Ooh shit,” I gasped and spat out the wedge of lemon. Charlie giggled as his lips puckered and one of his eyes twitched involuntarily. “What, you
like
this stuff?” I demanded, eyes watering.

“Give it a second!” Charlie licked the last of the salt from his hand. Sure enough, my stomach slowly unclenched and a warm fire spread through my insides. Hmm, not bad.

Sallagh and Lolitha had come over to us, giggling about something and stumbling slightly. There was an ease between them that, two weeks ago, I would have never thought possible.

“Oh, tequila, brilliant! Have you ever drunk tequila before, Loli?” Sallagh used Lolitha’s hated nickname, but to my surprise, she didn’t seem to mind. Whatever Emma had done, it had worked like magic. I chuckled quietly to myself, of course it actually kind of
had
been magic.

“Hullo girls, tequila?” Aliakh leaned back and called through the door to the kitchen. “Coco, can you come out here, please?” Coco appeared in the doorway, a winsome girl of medium height with long, curly dark hair and dewy brown eyes. “Coco dear, these are my friends, please entertain them while I duck out to the desk for a second.” Coco smiled shyly at Lolitha who blushed furiously. Charlie gave me a massive wink.

“I think I’ll leave you kids to it then,” and he went to sit at the booth with the other Mentors.

“Um, how does this work?” asked Lolitha, as Coco poured the next round for us.

“Easy! Okay Jaseth, lick my neck.”

Wait, what?

“Right here.” Sallagh lifted her hair back and pointed to a spot that was very close to the swell of her breast. Oh hell, okay, I can do this. I complied quickly, trying not to breathe in too much of her scent or look too closely at the top of her dress. It was
very
low-cut. Shit.

“Good,” she told me and sprinkled salt on the damp patch I had left. She took a slice of lemon and placed it in her teeth, rind side facing in, and handed me the shot glass. I saw what I had to do. Without hesitation I licked the salt from her neck, drank the tequila in one go, then took the lemon from her lips.