Demon's Doorway (31 page)

"I'm Darren," he said, brazenly admiring her. "Are you here to audition?"

"Audition? I'm not a dancer, I'm afraid."

"No, I meant audition for something else."

Jack couldn't help it. A quiet laugh slipped out, and he lowered his head.

"Is something funny, friend?" Darren asked.

He stepped forward to stand next to Victoria. "We're not friends."

She stopped him with her arm, giving him a stern look. "Jack."

He calmed himself, for her sake. She flashed that sexy smile of hers.

"This is my overprotective little brother, Jack. And I'm Victoria. Friendship is actually what we're looking for. I need information, and I hear you're the man to go to."

Darren smiled. "You want to tell me how you heard about me?"

Victoria ignored the question. Instead, she pulled a wad of cash from her purse. She counted out ten hundred-dollar bills and slipped them into Darren's palm.

"Do you know anything about the attack at the hotel last night?"

"The one all over the news? Sorry, Vickie, I can't say I do. But…" He eyed her again. "I may be able to find out."

"You're so sweet. Would you keep your eyes open for me? Any information at all, I'd really appreciate it."

He took a step forward, invading her personal space. Jack wanted to kill him, but Victoria was more than capable of handling her own business.

"What kind of payment are we talking about here?"

Victoria smiled and counted out more money. She slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans.

"That's five thousand, just to start. I'll be in touch. Oh…" She gave him a light slap, loud enough to draw everyone's attention. "My name's Victoria, please."

They left, going from the quiet game room to the noisy strip club. Victoria winced for a moment, uncomfortable. Jack knew loud environments were sometimes rough on her senses.

"Setting up different watch points," Jack said.

"Yeah. He was telling the truth. He doesn't know anything."

"I know."

"See what happened there, Jack? He'll find out information for me now, and I didn't have to beat him, didn't have to break any bones. Just some harmless words and some cash."

"And your tits," he said, pointing at her shirt. "I don't have those."

She smiled. "True, they sometimes come in handy."

Jack went to walk through the club, but Victoria didn't follow. He followed her gaze to two men and a woman heading toward them.
Woman
might have been too strong a word. She barely looked old enough to legally be in the place. She mostly stumbled her way along, nearly tripping a few times. The two men walked at her sides. They laughed and joked, and one of them felt the woman's ass. She simply laughed and nearly stumbled again.

They helped the woman up the stairs. When they were on the fifth step one of the men slung her over his shoulder and carried her the rest of the way.

Jack watched the entire scene, and noticed the look of concern on Victoria's face, but didn't understand where it came from.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"That girl, she was drugged."

Jack laughed and gestured around them. "Of course she was. Look around you. That shit probably happens every night, in every alley."

"We should help her."

"I've got a better idea. Let's go get something to eat. I'll have a nice, juicy steak, and you can feed from the hot waiter like you always do."

"You don't care at all? I thought you changed, at least a little. What if that was Tiffany?"

"Now that's a question I'll never have to answer. You see, Tiffany is actually smart. She won't ever be in a position where two men can spike her drink and take advantage of her."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Stay down here and watch the show. I'll be right back."

Victoria walked up the stairs. Jack took a deep breath before following her.

"Let's go be Girl Scouts," he said.

They rounded the stairwell and saw two men guarding the closed door at the top. One man held out his hand as they approached.

"Sorry, this is a private room. If you're looking for a place to screw, you'll have to look somewhere else."

"We saw two men carry a woman up here," Victoria said. "She didn't look to be in the best of shape. We just want to make sure she's okay."

"I guess you both didn't hear me. I said this is a private room. Now, leave, or we won't be responsible for your hospital bill."

Jack leaned close to Victoria. "Maybe we should throw more words at them? Words work wonders."

"Please," she said. "Step aside. We're just gonna check on the young lady, and we'll be gone."

The two men laughed, and one stepped forward. "Look, Red, I'm trying to be nice."

He tried to grab Victoria's shoulder, but his hand stopped two inches from touching her. He looked down to see Victoria gripping his wrist. His face twisted in agony as she slowly crushed it. His partner rushed forward to help, but they were no match for the vampire's speed. She grabbed the second man by the throat, lifting him from the ground. She flung one man down the stairs while choking the other into unconsciousness.

"And when the words fail," Jack said. "Good old-fashioned violence comes through to save the day."

Victoria tried the door, only to find it locked. She pushed the door open with one hand, splintering the frame.

There were six beds, three on each side of the room. The two men and young woman were in the bed closest to the door. She lay nearly unconscious as one man removed her jeans and his friend fiddled with a camera.

"What the fuck are you doing up here?!" one of them shouted. "Get the hell out—!"

Jack leaned in the doorway as Victoria went to work, not even letting the thug complete his sentence. Victoria, for all her complaints of how Jack went about his business, was as brutally efficient as he was. One strike to the temple knocked one man out. The camera flew across the room. She fed from the second man, not spilling a precious drop on the stirring woman beneath them. She kept her fangs buried in his neck until he went limp, and Jack could see the wet spot on his jeans.

"Nice, Victoria."

He approached the woman on the bed and pulled her panties back up, before lightly slapping her. She tried to push him away, weakly flailing her arms.

"Cute underwear," he said, admiring the yellow polka dots before pulling her jeans up. "Wake up, Princess. Do you know where you are, what your name is?"

"I'm dancing," she said, a huge grin on her face. "My name's Amy."

"How's she doing?" Victoria said, licking blood from her fangs.

"She'll be fine. Maybe she'll drink tea from now on. Hey Amy, while you're down there waking up, would you be interested in buying some Girl Scout cookies?"

"Knock it off. We should take her to the hospital—"

"Oh my God!"

They spun to see the same woman that led them to Darren, the one who wanted to jump in bed with Jack and Victoria. She opened her mouth to scream, but Victoria was already on her, dragging her inside the room with a hand clamped over her mouth. She pulled her to Amy and Jack gestured to the giggling woman.

"Do you know her?"

Victoria released her grip, and the dancer didn't scream. She looked down in horror at Amy, and then looked at the two unconscious men.

"No, but the guys are Mike and Patrick, two friends of the owner. What…were they doing up here?"

Jack smiled. "They weren't playing strip chess, that's for sure."

"Oh, no," she said. "I've heard stories, but I never believed…."

"What's your name?" Jack asked.

"Destiny."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Not your stage-humping name. Your
real
name."

"Karen."

"Okay, Karen." Jack always found mortals paid more attention when using their name. "You should probably call the cops, maybe an ambulance."

"What the hell is going on?" a new voice said.

They looked at the doorway to see two large bouncers. They didn't say another word, didn't ask any questions. Victoria grabbed Karen and pulled her back a few feet, for safety. The two bouncers marched straight to Jack, balling their fists. He was the only conscious man in the room, the only threat in their eyes. The fact that he was laughing at the ridiculous tattoo on one of their necks also didn't help his case.

Jack didn't have the raw strength Victoria had. He couldn't knock out someone with a simple slap, like she could. But mortals were still so easy to deal with. He read their movements, knew what they would do before they did. He knew where to strike, and had one more advantage over Victoria.

He didn't care about mortals.

The lead bouncer threw a wild punch, which Jack ducked easily. Jack struck him in the throat, and then kicked him in the back of the knee, dropping him to the floor. He saw the second bouncer's shoulder twitch, and sidestepped a right hand. A kick to the groin doubled the bouncer over, and Jack grabbed a wooden chair next to one of the beds. He slammed it over the bouncer's back. The two men moaned in pain on the floor. To top the short fight off, Jack turned a bed over on them.

"I just love strip clubs."

He noticed Victoria giving him a nasty glare. Karen stared in awe, while Amy was sitting up and leaning against Victoria.

"What?" Jack said.

"Let's go," Victoria said. She slung Amy over her shoulder. "Before you attract the attention of every meat-head in the city."

"What's the plan?"

"Taking Amy to a hospital."

"Why? She has two legs, and they work. I'll bet she wraps them around men all the time."

She said nothing as she led the way to the door. Jack followed, shaking his head, and raised an eyebrow as Karen was a step behind him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm going with you. I want to make sure she's okay, and I'll tell the police about Mike and Patrick."

"Girl Scout number three. Welcome to the club."

They left the room only to see more bouncers stopping at the foot of the steps. Two of them checked on the man Victoria tossed away earlier, while the others looked up at Jack.

"This will be fun," he said, glancing at Victoria. "You always know how to have a good time."

Victoria slammed the locked door next to them, nearly sending it off the hinges. "We're not gonna destroy the place."

"Why not? They've got insurance."

Victoria stepped through the door to a small roof. The strip club must have used the area in nicer weather, as there was a couch, along with a table and a few chairs scattered about. The full roof to the building was above them. She grabbed Karen around the waist and jumped straight up, landing nimbly on the edge over the doorway. Karen let out a small shout of surprise.

"That's fine," Jack said, smiling at the open door back into the club. "Escape with the women. I'll handle everything."

He heard a group of men running up the stairs, anger in their voices.

Victoria reached down and grabbed him by the back of his coat, pulling him easily up with one hand.

"Hey! Don't rip the coat!"

Karen was holding Amy on her feet, her arm around her neck. Victoria tossed Amy over her shoulder one more time and walked across the roof calmly. They could hear the men on the lower roof, frantically searching for them. The vampire headed for the back of the building, not stopping at all. She shifted Amy so she was in her arms, and not over her shoulder.

"What's she doing?" Karen whispered, walking next to Jack. "Is she gonna stop?"

Jack sighed, and scooped Karen into his arms. "Don't think I'm trying to get all romantic here. Do me a favor, and don't scream on the way down."

"What?"

Victoria stepped off the roof. Jack was right behind her, falling the two stories to the alley below. Karen didn't scream, but gripped Jack tighter. He bent his knees when he hit the ground, nearly touching the ground with his ass. Setting Karen on her feet, he looked to his right to see Victoria walking deeper down the alley into the darkness, Amy still in her arms.

"Hey, Grumpy-Fangs," he called. "You want to slow down over there?"

She paused just long enough to turn and face Jack. "
You
are calling
me
grumpy?"

"We'd better hurry," Jack told Karen. "Before she starts crying."

*****

Jack leaned against the brick wall in the darkness with his arms crossed. Victoria, along with the two mortal women, sat on a dumpster not far away. He alternated between watching them and the Baltimore nightlife just beyond the mouth of the alley. They waited patiently for the cab Victoria called.

Amy was finally coherent, and cried like a baby. He couldn't read their lips very well, due to the darkness and the angle. But he knew Victoria was giving her words of encouragement, being the kind supernatural creature he'd known for the past two centuries.