As we approached the crowd gathered in front of the main entrance, the smell of marijuana permeated the air and I felt a heavy pulsating rhythm moving up through the soles of my feet.
We climbed up the stairs leading to the entrance and passed through the massive double doors, which were made of heavy wood with elaborate carvings. A wall of sound hit me when the doors opened and the intensity of the vibration took my breath away. At the far end of the club, a rock band commanded the aural landscape with screaming guitars, booming bass notes, and primitive rhythms, the musicians cavorting wildly on the large multilevel stage. The acoustics were such that the sound exploded as it poured from the mounted speakers. A smoke machine was pumping out a continuous layer of fog that hovered near the floor. It had a life of its own, curling and twisting like a ghostly serpent.
A bouncer stood inside the door, blocking our entrance to the rest of the club. He was extremely tall, very thin, and deathly white. He didn’t seem to give much credence to the idea of personal space because he bent down very close to say, ‘Welcome to The Crypt. ID, please.’
His breath was hot with an odd, sweet scent. He reached out a hand with long, dirty fingernails and I jumped back without even thinking and stepped behind Alan while I retrieved my driver’s licence from the pocket of my jeans. It’d been a long time since anyone had carded me.
Apparently not offended by my reaction to his hygiene, he spread his lips in what I assumed was a smile, showing discoloured fangs, and waved us inside with a sweep of his arm. ‘Enjoy.’
Tom tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the bouncer. His expression telegraphed distaste. ‘Is he one of your clients? It appears he could use a little help.’
I glared at him. ‘Very funny. I just might give him one of my business cards. He could be a perfect case study for my book.’
Down, girl. I don’t have to justify myself to Tom, or anyone else. This is starting to feel like a nasty little case of sibling rivalry – not that I have any idea how sibling anything would feel.
‘Hey, you two – check it out.’ Alan pointed to the interior of the club.
The entire place was decorated like a cross between a graveyard and Dracula’s castle, and it was big enough to hold hundreds of people, most of whom had already arrived.
We manoeuvred our way over to the main bar, which ran along an entire wall and was shaped to resemble a long wooden sarcophagus. Standing there, waiting to catch the attention of the bartender, Alan leaned towards me and shouted in my ear, ‘I forgot to tell you – never look vampires in the eyes. They’ll entrance you.’
I started to say something about that being ridiculous, but that was too many words to scream over the music so I nodded and mouthed, ‘Okay.’
Judging by the expression on his face, Tom was already in lecher heaven as he scrutinised the nubile, bouncing female body parts on the dance floor. I didn’t think a grin could get any wider. He reminded me of the ‘Joker’ character in one of the Batman movies. He turned back to the bar to put in his order and caught sight of the bartender. ‘Holy shit.’
She was spectacular: a leather fantasy right out of the centrefold of a men’s magazine. Her hair was cut short and it stood up in stubby little spikes all over her head. It was hard to tell under the dim lights, but the colour appeared to be pink, or maybe orange. Her eyes were almond-shaped orbs. She leaned over the bar and plopped her considerable assets in front of Tom. ‘What’s your pleasure?’
After a few seconds, he finally raised his eyes up to hers and stared, his mouth slowly relaxing and hanging open.
Alan shook Tom’s shoulder and snapped his fingers in front of his face. ‘Wake up!’
Tom came back to himself with a start, shook himself, and peered at Alan. ‘What happened?’
Alan explained. ‘Never look a vampire in the eyes.’
We all stared at the goddess behind the bar. She smiled at us, displaying a fine set of fangs.
Tom laughed. ‘Yeah, right.’ But he looked rattled.
We ordered Bloody Marys – the house special, natch – and went in search of a table.
The interior of the building had many small rooms, raised platforms and cosy hideaways for customers seeking privacy for one activity or another. Miraculously, we happened to be in the right place at the right time and were able to snag an intimate circular booth in a raised area off the main room. The walls enclosing the booth muted the volume of the music and we could talk without yelling. From that vantage point, we could see almost the entire club while remaining unobtrusive ourselves.
Tom, who’d been very quiet since his close encounter with the centrefold at the bar, expressed the need to find the restroom. He started the long process of wading through a sea of humanity to reach the other side of the club. I watched him go, and about halfway across the room he was hijacked by a tall brunette who pulled him onto the dance floor.
‘Hello, Alan.’ A familiar voice enveloped me, velvet in my ears. I shivered.
Alan rose from his seat. ‘Devereux, please join us. It’s nice to see you again.’
Devereux sat next to me in the booth, lifted my hand to his lips, and kissed it. He gave a slow blink of his turquoise eyes. ‘Hello. I am Devereux, the owner of this establishment.’
The touch of his lips on my hand caused a strong reaction in several parts of my body. I couldn’t sort through my emotions fast enough to say anything, so I was relieved when Alan spoke.
‘This is Kismet Knight. She’s a local psychologist. I’ve been consulting with her about the missing girl.’
‘It is a pleasure to meet you,’ Devereux said aloud, while whispering in my mind, ‘I am very happy to see you. Alan does not need to know that we have already met.’
I just stared at him and said nothing because I was overcome by a desire to crawl into his lap and cover his mouth with mine. I’d never experienced such a strong series of emotions before, out of nowhere, and until I was sure I wasn’t going to make a fool of myself, I sat very still.
What was it about Devereux? Every time he came near, I turned into a hormonal teenager – maybe his pheromones were communicating with mine in some mysterious way. Clearly, either the man was a master hypnotist or insanity truly was contagious. Or, more likely, I’d just been dazzled by the obvious.
No doubt about it, he was a beautiful man – a work of art. There was no other way to describe him. His face was masculine yet soft at the same time and it made me want to touch him, to run my fingers over his pale skin and through his long, silky hair. I shifted my head and tried to avoid his sparkling eyes, not because I feared he’d entrance me, but because I was afraid of what he might see in mine.
‘Yes, I desire you as well,’ Devereux murmured in my mind, the words caressing some invisible part of me.
Alan’s cell phone rang. He lifted it out of his pocket and answered, ‘Stevens.’ There was a brief pause and then, ‘Shit, I’ll be right there.’ Turning to me he explained, ‘They’ve found a body – I need to go to police headquarters.’
I started to get up but Alan put a hand on my shoulder. ‘I’m afraid I can’t take you with me, Kismet. You’ll have to wait here. I’ll come back for you and Tom as quickly as I can.’
I didn’t care for the sound of that. I just wasn’t the type to sit waiting for someone to chauffeur me around, and leaving me here with Devereux made me anxious in ways I couldn’t even understand.
Devereux turned his attention to Alan. ‘I will look after Dr Knight and her friend until you return.’