Her phone rang for the second time, and she saw that it was Mark. Again, she thumbed the button to ignore the call. She did not want to talk to him right now. Could not. She didn’t know how she would face him in the morning, but she couldn’t tell him right now what she was doing. He’d insist on trying to join her, and she didn’t want the argument. She turned her phone off and threw it back in the Mazda before shutting the door. She was going to another world now, and didn’t need the distractions of this one. She locked the car and walked down the smooth cement path towards the building. Her steps clicked with the distinctive sound that only a stiletto makes, and she smiled. She loved dressing like this. It did something to her, inside, to know that guys would drool when they saw her.
The outfit was inappropriate for public display (unless you were a streetwalker), but there didn’t seem to be anyone around to be offended (or turned on) by it. Which was odd, this early in a business park.
Rae knocked on a chocolate-colored door. The sign next to it said only 13. The first two letters of the address had been blocked out by a hand-drawn sign. It read NW. The door opened before she finished her third knock.
“You came,” Tailor said, pulling her inside. He looked at her invitation, but only for a split second. He seemed to have expected her. “And you came alone.” He nodded, and his dark eyes flashed with the light of the early evening sun. His face looked pleased.
He took her hand in his own and pulled her inside. When he shut the door, Rae found herself in the familiar layout of NightWhere. She didn’t know how they did it, but no matter where the club was housed, in whatever type of building, once you stepped through the doors, it always looked exactly the same. Uncanny. This time though, there were very few people present. Sin-D was at her post at the bar, and a woman in a latex outfit sat on the far side of the room by the racks. But nobody was currently being flogged. A nude man walked across the dance floor but the stage was silent. As he passed them and continued towards the bar, Rae noted that his back was a mess of freshly opened gashes. Blood dripped across his buttocks and down his thighs.
She thought it seemed early for anyone to have gotten that messed up already.
“Tonight is a special night,” the doorman said. “I’m sure you noticed that we called you here a couple hours earlier than usual. There’s a reason. We have lots to do before midnight strikes. Go to The Red, and Kharon will fill you in on everything.”
Mark waited in the car for few minutes, debating on whether or not he should go in. Finally, he pulled the gearshift out of Park and let the Sonata begin creeping down the shoulder. After a few cars passed him, he punched the gas and cut onto the road and headed towards home.
He wasn’t going to confront her in front of whoever she was with. He didn’t need that drama, and he didn’t necessarily want to admit that he’d followed her. He’d wait to see what her explanation was later, when she finally came home.
But his plan changed almost as soon as he made it home.
Mark walked into the kitchen and headed straight to the fridge for a beer. He popped the cap and took a long, deep swallow. His heart was a mix of emotion. Angry with her for sneaking. Angry with himself for not stomping in after her and demanding that she come home. But at the same time, he felt the edge of a black depression looming near. She was only doing this because he didn’t fulfill what she needed, a voice inside him said. He wasn’t man enough. He was a failure…
Mark closed his eyes and struggled to clear all the voices away. Rae would come home and have a good explanation. She had always been straight with him, and there had to be a good reason for this. He shouldn’t have spied on her.
That’s when he noticed the crumpled red envelope on the kitchen table.
“You bitch!” he whispered, as he slammed the beer down and uncrumpled the envelope.
He knew where it came from without touching it.
Rae hadn’t gone to cheat with another man. She’d gone to NightWhere.
Without him.
Mark chugged the rest of the beer and picked his car keys back up. He may not have had the invitation, but he knew where NightWhere was tonight.
They had agreed to do this together, or not at all.
Mark got back in the car.
Chapter Sixteen
The Hunter
The ancient-looking door to The Red creaked open as she approached. Rae couldn’t help but smile as she saw Kharon’s preternatural, large eyes staring out of the dark at her. He reached out a hand and stroked her cheek.
“So beautiful,” he whispered.
Rae felt her face flush. Something about this man made her melt. And his touch…
“I am glad you understood the invitation,” Kharon said. “After last time, I do not think your husband is ready for NightWhere.”
Rae shook her head. “He doesn’t understand.”
Kharon ran a cool finger down the bare skin of her chest, hooking it inside when he reached the edge of the V in her dress. “Neither do you,” he smiled and pulled her close to him with that finger. “Yet.”
He bent until his eyes were just an inch from her own. His tongue traced her lips. His touch made her shiver, but as soon as Rae opened her lips to accept him fully, he pulled away.
“Tonight is the night of the rabbit,” he said. “We already have one here, and we need you to go and fetch us the other.”
“You want me to go to a pet store?” she asked, confused.
Kharon laughed. He turned and walked through the antechamber of candles and into the dark hall beyond.
Rae followed him into a small room that seemed to ooze red light from its corners. The light was just enough to see walls glistening in something dark and liquid. On the far wall, a man was chained. A pale, bald man stood nearby. A Watcher. His hands were stroking the chained man, gently…as you would a pet.
“Here’s our first rabbit,” Kharon said. “We’ll run him later. But first, you have to bring back another. It’s hardly a race if we don’t have two.”
“I don’t understand,” Rae said.
“You are going to go to this address,” Kharon said. He handed her a piece of paper. “His name is Perry Pierce, and he wants NightWhere. I’ve already talked to him about coming, though he doesn’t really understand yet. You should have no problem bringing him in.”
He grinned. “Just coax him with stories of whips and chains. I don’t think your own wiles will help this time around.”
“What happens when I do?”
“You will be rewarded,” Kharon smiled. Lightly he traced his finger down her right side before slipping it around to cup her ass.
“But what will happen to that guy?” she pointed at the man chained to the wall. “And this Perry?”
“You’ll just have to see,” he said. “But first you have to bring him back.”
Mark pulled up to the industrial park for the second time in an hour and was about to turn into the parking lot when he saw the red flash of Rae’s dress in a doorway. He flipped off his turn signal and passed by the entrance to flip into the parking lot at the next one. He hoped she hadn’t seen his car. He eased into the lot at the far end and watched as she walked to the Mazda and got in. Moments later, she pulled out of the industrial park and Mark followed, careful to let a couple cars get in between them.
He thought she was going home. If so, he’d hang back from the subdivision for a few minutes and then follow her in.
But then she turned west and headed away from their house. She pulled into a pet store and he followed slowly, careful to park around the building from her. That had him really scratching his head, since they didn’t own any pets. She was only inside for a few minutes and then they were back on the road again.