Keri Arthur - Deadly Desire

The first door on the right was a security room, lined with cameras and several burly guards who were keeping an eye on things. The next two doors were closed. The first door on the left led into an office area. As soon as I walked in, I felt the magic. It was only faint, little more than a pinprick of energy that swirled across my skin ever so briefly, but it was there nevertheless. And it felt bad . Just like the stuff in the murdered vampires' homes.

A brown-haired, green-eyed woman looked up as I entered, then gave me a polite smile and rose.

"Cecily Berg? Hanna Mein. I'm the manager here."

And one of the owners. But while the scent of roses and bad magic might cling to her like a barely there cloak, she wasn't the woman who'd been in the warehouse with the hellhounds or who'd sent the zombie after Joe. But her scent was the same as the one in the homes of all our vamp victims.

And like the woman at the front desk and the security guard who'd escorted me here, she was wearing a nanowire.

I took her outstretched hand and shook it politely. Her skin was cool, her grip neither firm nor weak, but somewhere in between. Which-according to the Directorate psycho-babble they occasionally like to lob on us-meant she was a woman confident in herself, and not needing to prove anything. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Please, have a seat." She indicated the comfy-looking chair on the right, then sat down and picked up some papers. "You have excellent references."

"That's because I've worked at some excellent clubs."

"We did check your reference for…" She paused and glanced at the paperwork "… Lulu's. She said you don't do pole work."

I hesitated. "To be honest, I'm just not very good at it."

"The owner did say you were in demand for both lap and private dances."

"I'm a werewolf. It's a rarity in a strip club, and Ms. Vanderberg did play that angle up a little."

Hanna smiled, but her green eyes were neutral. I was getting absolutely nothing from this woman on either a sensory or an emotional level. Nothing except that swirly magic that itched at my skin.

"So tell me, why does a werewolf become an erotic dancer for mainly human clubs?"

I smiled. "Because I'm only half wolf, and because it's a damn good way to make money-as long as you work for the right establishment."

"And you think Meinhardt is one such place?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

She nodded again. "We never employ people without a night's trial. Are you willing to work tonight?"

"Sure."

"Excellent. There are no house fees. We simply work on an eighty-twenty split here-in the dancer's favor-which as you'll know is rather generous. Bar receipts are not included in your take, however."

Which is probably why they could afford the generous split. From the little background included in the file Liander had handed me, the bar-or rather, the overpriced booze-was where a lot of money was made.

"We run a main bar, a showgirl's bar, a sports and billiards bar, and the fantasy rooms," she continued, "and our dancers rotate between all of them except the showgirl's room. Only our most experienced dancers entertain there. We expect two on-stage performances if you're in the main room, and lap dances outside those times."

"Do you have privacy booths or rooms?"

"Certainly. We call them the fantasy rooms. Our patrons seem to prefer the various fantasy settings."

"And security?"

"All rooms are monitored. There's a strict no-touching policy in the main room and the show room. Casual contact is allowed in the sports bar, and in the fantasy rooms the option is yours. There is, however, a strict rule about no sex and no drugs of any kind. Participate in either of those activities on these premises, and you will be marched straight down to the local police station and charged."

"Warning heeded." I hesitated. "What about the dress code?"

"Costumes on stage, G-string for room work. In the fantasy rooms, we allow full nudity if the customer is paying for it."

"Sounds good."

She rose and offered her hand. "Good luck tonight, then."

I rose and clasped her hand. The tingly magic I'd been feeling all the way through the interview rose sharply, crawling across my hand and up my arm like a thousand biting insects. As I resisted the temptation to rip my hand away, the wristband Marg had given me suddenly got hot and the biting sensation abruptly fled.

Hanna released my hand quickly, and just for a moment, surprise and curiosity flitted through her green eyes. Whether that was a good thing or bad remained to be seen. "Matthew will give you the tour and show you where to change."

"Thank you."

The blue-suited man appeared in the doorway. "This way, please, Cecily."

"Call me CC. I prefer not to use my real name at work."

He nodded and motioned me into the hallway. I walked out, oddly relieved to be out of that room and away from Hanna Mein. She wasn't a threatening or intimidating person in any realistic way, and yet there was something about her-something other than her magic-that made my skin crawl.

Maybe it was simply that blankness in her eyes.

The rest of the club turned out to be a larger echo of the hallway, at least when it came to color and feel. The main room was dominated by a large stage that reached into the center of the room, lined with several rows of chairs. Tables and chairs were scattered around the rest of the room, and a large redwood bar dominated the far end. There were a few customers scattered about, some being tended to by dancers, some watching the blonde on the stage, and others standing at the bar getting drinks or talking to the waitstaff. The sports bar had billiards tables and a huge TV that dominated one wall. There were G-string-clad ladies here, some playing pool with the customers, others simply sitting down and chatting. There was no stage here, and no lap dancing happening. Some of the women were even wearing sporting-type tops-although they were skintight, and barely covered their breasts.

The show room was smaller than the main room, and it had no tables. Just a large stage surrounded by seats, all of which were empty.

"Shows don't start until ten," Matthew said, obviously noting my surprise. "We don't start getting the main crowd in here until at least nine, so it's not worth the expense of opening this room until then."

"Do the dancers here make much money?" I didn't really care, but it seemed the sort of question someone like CC would ask.

"Plenty. A lot of men prefer the titillation factor of flesh glimpsed under clothing over full-view flesh, and they are prepared to pay big to get it."

He led me into another hallway, this one larger than the one off the foyer. Half a dozen doors led off it and each one was labeled-schoolroom, Arabian nights, boardroom, and so on.

"The fantasy rooms, obviously," Matthew said. "These are all prebooked, so if a customer wants a private dance, he has to go up to the bookings office to get the room and dancer of his choice."

"Are matching costumes expected?"

"Yeah, but you can buy them in-house if you haven't got anything appropriate with you. It's only a basic materials charge."

"Then I'll be expected to get them for tonight?"

"If you dance as well as your resume boasts, then there's going to be a demand, so yes." He opened a door marked Staff Only, ushered me through, then began pointing to the various doors leading off the small foyer area. "Back here you have a staff lounge, locker room, and bathroom. The door to your left goes through to another office area and the costumes department. Perhaps you'd better go see them first. When you're ready, walk up to the main room and ask for Candy. She'll run through the rest of the rules for you."

"Thanks for tour," I said.