“She’s my new pet-in-training,” he said, his fingers tightening on my wrist in warning. Guess he knew I’d be tempted to object to that. Honestly, he didn’t need the warning. I objected, but this was the role I’d agreed to play, and if it was what I needed to do to save Brian, then so be it.
Shae stuck out her lower lip. “But, Adam, you’ve been shamefully neglecting the poor creature. I’ve had my eye on you for a while.”
He let go of my wrist. “That’s because she’s being punished. She needs to learn to control her temper around her betters.”
I lowered my gaze, hoping I looked ashamed of my disgraceful behavior while I clamped my jaws together and fought the urge to retort.
“But you brought her out on the town anyway.”
I could almost hear Adam shrug. “What better punishment than to be forced to see what she’s missing?”
“My, aren’t you the cruel one.”
“Always.”
“So you’re planning to visit Hell tonight?”
My insides clenched, but I managed not to gasp or cringe. I was trying to take everything one step at a time, but my mind kept racing ahead of me, wondering what I would see down there, wondering if my rescue attempt was doomed before it began, wondering if I was going to get myself and Lugh killed before the night was over.
Thank God I wasn’t expected to talk.
“Naturally,” Adam answered.
Shae made a sound I might almost have described as a purr. “I’ve missed you. You always put on such a good show.”
My stomach turned, and I couldn’t help raising my gaze. Adam looked completely at ease trading quips with Shae, and she showed every evidence of enjoying it, too. Dom, on the other hand, sat rigidly straight on his stool, and his jaws visibly worked.
No, he definitely didn’t like Shae. And he was not happy with where this conversation was leading.
Adam sighed dramatically. “I’m afraid my showmanship days are over.” He reached over and put a hand on Dominic’s knee. “He’s too fragile for the dramatic.”
Shae’s eyes were razor sharp. “And yet you’re bringing him to Hell.” There was a challenge of some sort in her voice, though I didn’t understand it.
“Testing the waters,” Adam said. “You have a wider selection of toys. Mine are all for rougher games than Dom is up to handling these days. I figured I’d take some for a test-drive.”
Shae’s eyes seemed to gleam in the darkness. Maybe that was her demon shining through, or maybe it was my imagination. “Oh, I think this is going to be an excellent show. I think it’ll be so good I’ll take you down there myself. On the house.”
Adam met her gleaming eyes with a gleam of his own. “You are the most generous of hostesses.”
While they congratulated each other with unpleasant smiles, Dom’s face went white, his shoulders so tense I wanted to massage them. But he didn’t protest when Adam threw an arm around his shoulder and dragged him down off the stool. Guilt gnawed at my stomach. I hated that I was putting Dominic through this. I wished I’d realized in advance how uncomfortable this plan made him, but I’d been too absorbed in my own problems to notice.
The three of us followed Shae through the crowd toward the back of the club, where the door to Hell awaited us.
CHAPTER 23
As soon as the heavy door closed behind us, completely blocking out the drone of the music, I heard the screams. I couldn’t force my feet forward, so I stood hesitating at the head of the stairs as the others descended.
Real honest-to-God torches set in wall sconces provided the only lighting, and the walls were the same rough-hewn rock I remembered from that hideous video. The stairs were uneven and worn in the middle, as if this basement had existed long before the rest of the club. Maybe it had.
Dominic turned to look over his shoulder and saw me hesitating. He held out his hand to me, letting Shae and Adam get ahead of him.
Swallowing my fear as best I could, I forced my feet down first one step, then another. My knees felt a bit wobbly, and the uneven stairs and stiletto heels weren’t helping. I was nervous enough to actually take Dominic’s offered hand. His palm was clammy, and I wasn’t entirely sure which one of us was giving comfort and which one was taking it.
The sounds got louder and clearer as we descended much deeper into the ground than any basement I’d ever been in. Screams echoed against the stone walls, but there were other sounds, too. The crack of a whip. The smack of flesh upon flesh. And lots of moans, not all of them pain.
I didn’t want to take those last few steps downward, didn’t want to see the basement Adam and Dom had described.
I didn’t have a choice.
The stairway opened out into a long, wide hallway lined with doors. Down the center of the hallway were rows of padded benches, like you’d see in the middle of a museum gallery. Only it wasn’t great works of art these benches were facing.
Each of the rooms in the pit of Hell was fronted by a huge picture window, kind of like you’d see in a natural history museum. But these dioramas were of a very different nature, and weren’t exactly what I’d call “natural,” if you get my drift.
A small crowd had gathered in front of the first of those windows. Some sat on the benches, some knelt on the floor, but all watched the window with eager, lust-hazed eyes. A shrill feminine scream emanated from that room. The cluster of watchers drew closer together, hands reaching and stroking, an amorphous mass that hardly seemed human. Of course, probably many of them weren’t.
I wasn’t surprised to see Shae and Adam stop in front of that window, but I wished to God they hadn’t. Whatever was happening in there, I didn’t want to see it. I swallowed hard. Dominic’s hand squeezed mine. And together, we stepped up to the window, though we still hung back a bit. If anyone had been paying attention to us, they probably would have wondered what the hell we were doing here if we were so squeamish, but they were all far too absorbed in the drama in front of them.
I still didn’t want to look, but the spectacle drew my gaze.
The room behind that window looked like a classroom, complete with blackboard and a couple rows of uncomfortable-looking chairs with attached desks. At the head of the “classroom” sat a huge teacher’s desk, covered with books and papers.
My eyes found that desk just in time to see a large forty-something man pick up a screaming woman about half his size and slam her down onto it. She struggled and kicked so convincingly that for half a second I thought she actually meant it. Then my brain caught up with my emotions and I realized it was all for show.
She wore the pleated skirt and crisp white button-down of a good little Catholic schoolgirl, complete with knee-high socks and Mary Janes. She was small enough to make a convincing young girl. If the ridiculousness of the costume hadn’t tipped me off, I’d have known she was acting when the flailing of her legs made her skirt ride up enough to show everyone she wasn’t wearing any panties.
The “teacher” shoved books and papers out of his way, then pinned the “girl’s” wrists above her head with one meaty hand. A rhythmic clicking sound told me someone in the audience was jerking off to the sight. I clenched my teeth and didn’t let my eyes wander. Bad enough to be forced to watch this disgusting scene-I didn’t want to see the orgy it was inspiring.
Of course, as soon as I thought that, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing in Adam’s direction.
He watched the scene with an impassive expression, looking neither excited nor disgusted. Shae clung to his arm, and there was no mistaking her pleasure at watching the simulated rape of a child. I let my eyes slide downward and was relieved beyond measure that there was no telltale bulge in Adam’s pants. Which led me to wonder at myself. I mean, I already knew how unpleasant his tastes were. I’d experienced firsthand his cruelty. So why should I be relieved that this wasn’t turning him on? Why the fuck did I care?