Chapter 5

Simon paced his living room as he waited for Gene's return. His emotions and thoughts were in a turmoil, a state far from his usual calm demeanor.

I have one feisty hybrid to thank for that. Not that he regretted meeting Beth. How could he when his whole body sang at the sight of her? He couldn't help remembering the sight of her luscious body, which he'd gotten a peek at when he'd cleaned and dressed her while she lay unconscious. She had the curves to tempt a monk. The attitude to withstand adversity. And enough power to handle a man like him.

There weren't many left in the world that could. Yet that wasn't the only reason for his attraction.

Something in him recognized in her a kindred spirit. Someone afraid to trust. Someone hurt by the world. He also recognized that she bore the body of a goddess, with curves and smooth skin that begged for worship.

His cock twitched, and Simon shifted his mind away to more mundane items like, where the hell was Gene?

Irrational jealousy tried to rear its head as an image of Gene seducing Beth - without him - filled his mind. He shook the thought away. He trusted his friend. Gene had earned that trust, and tempting as Beth was, Simon would never let something like interest in a woman destroy it.

Before any other troubling thoughts could hit, Gene returned, a look of bemusement on his face.

"Can you believe she didn't even invite me up?"

His friend sounded incredulous, and Simon chuckled. "She certainly is unique."

"No shit, considering the rest of her kind are dead," Gene replied dryly. Simon winced at the reminder. "Where did you find her?"

Simon's lip curled in amusement. "Would you believe outside a strip joint?"

"You? In a den of debauchery?" Gene's eyes went wide with shock. "Kill me now, for I never thought I'd see the day." Gene flopped onto the couch with his hands clasped to his chest.

Feet shifting uncomfortably, Simon explained. "I was outside, not in, when I found her battling the foul ones."

Gene sat up. "That's right. She mentioned vampires when I dropped her off. I assured her you would have dispatched them."

"Of course I killed them. There's no way I was letting those nasty bloodsuckers run around my town."

"How many did you send back to Hell?" asked Gene.

"A half-dozen."

Gene looked thoughtful. "That many working together? How unusual."

"Funny, but I don't think that's as interesting as the fact that I found a Nephilim." Simon didn't want to talk about the foul ones, even as he struggled to understand his attraction to the hybrid female who, by birth, happened to be half vamp.

"You always did have a knack for sniffing out treasures."

Simon aimed an icy glare at his friend. "She is not an object."

Hands raised in a conciliatory gesture, Gene shook his head. "Sorry. You misunderstood me. No, she's not an object, but you can't deny her value or the beings who will want her, either dead or alive."

At that reminder, Simon growled. Too well he understood the danger to Beth. Too many knew of the prophecy. Too many knew what her blood could achieve.

She is in grave danger, and I don't even think she knows it.

For a moment, his iron control wavered. Frost formed on the edges of the furniture around him and crystallized on the concrete walls.

"Calm your beast down," Gene said, not at all alarmed by Simon's uncharacteristic show of power. "She's not in imminent danger, yet. But you and I both know that it's only a matter of time before others, like the vamps, come after her. One only has to be in her presence to sense how special she is. How delicious."

"Then we shall protect her," he stated flatly, including his friend without request.

For the last several hundred years, they'd done most things together - battling the same foes, sharing homes, tag-teaming the ladies. The only thing they hadn't done was each other. There were some lines he wouldn't cross, and thankfully, Gene felt the same way.

Despite their long time together, never before had they both experienced an instant interest in the same woman - make that possessive interest. Simon knew for a fact that Gene didn't show his bottle to casual lovers. The fact that he'd taken Beth into it, and promised she'd come back, said a lot.

As for himself, he couldn't deny his insane attraction to Beth - and the overwhelming need to be with her and protect her. For over two thousand years, he'd walked this earth, and finally, after searching for so long, he was fairly certain he'd found the one.

At Gene's chuckle, Simon's attention snapped back to him. A frown creased his brow, as he didn't grasp Gene's sudden mirth. "What's so funny?"

"Well, it just occurred to me that if we're going to keep an eye on Beth, then we're going to have to spend some time at her work. What a hardship, staring at naked ladies shaking their ass-ets." Gene leered comically, and Simon's lips twitched.

"I guess it could be worse," Simon admitted grudgingly. "Now, if you're done screwing around, I want you to scout around unobtrusively for information on her. Something doesn't quite add up. How is it she knows so little about herself? And how is it we've never heard rumor of her existence?"

"Yes, the terms babe in the woods and innocent do come to mind. I'll see what I can discover without tipping our hand. And just so you know, before I returned, I laid a protective web over her building to let us know if anything untoward occurs."

A good idea. Simon grunted in acknowledgement.

"I'll be back in a bit." Gene popped out to do his thing, and Simon pulled out his laptop to do a search of his own.

He scoured databases, both human and not, searching for anything that stood out. Other than an increase in vamp sightings and kills starting a few years back, nothing untoward appeared.

After a few hours of fruitless search, he gave up. He needed more info, and for that, he'd need to spend more time with Beth.

What a hardship or, should he say, hard-cock.

The moment they walked in, I sensed them. It proved kind of distracting, as I was hanging upside down on a pole at the time. I managed to make my unintentional slide down look like part of my routine. However, in my new position, plastered to the stage floor, I couldn't see Gene or Simon. But I knew they were there. I only had to pay attention to my hormones jumping up and down, screaming, "They came!"

Question was, would I come?

As I unwrapped my legs from the pole and rolled to lie on my stomach on the stage, I pushed up with my arms in a hands-and-knees position. I crawled slowly and flicked my head up and down to make my hair arc and flutter in silky strands around my face. I called this my lioness move, guaranteed to make men purr. My doggie position - also a bedroom favorite - allowed me to scan the crowd, and I thanked my enhanced eyesight that allowed me to see past the glare of the lights that spotlighted me on stage.

The guys sat at the bar, and I might have preened to note they watched me and saw me glancing. Simon inclined his head in my direction as our gazes touched. Gene just tossed me a wide grin, along with a thumbs-up gesture.

Despite what I was, all my experience, all my cynicism when it came to men, I couldn't help the flush of heat - a molten, wet desire - from flooding my senses.

They came for me. The idea made me quite giddy and aroused. Who could forget their sensual promise of a threesome?

I dry humped the stage in time to the music, my hips rotating sensually in rhythm with my building delight over seeing my new friends again. My excitement radiated outwards, a cloud of invisible pheromones that touched the patrons of the club, erotically so. Catcalls and bills rained over and around me. I didn't bother picking them up. Bruno had an employee to take care of the tips we got for our performances so that his dancers didn't have to scramble all over the stage like crazed magpies. With one last flick of my hair, I rolled to my feet and, with an exaggerated wiggle, walked off the stage.

I exited through the rear curtain and made my way to the dressing room, where I shrugged a see-through, lace babydoll over my skimpy bikini - think teensy, tiny triangles held on by string. I ran a brush through my snarled locks, cursing when the bristles caught.

As I found myself impatiently rushing, I stopped. Slow down. Breathe deep. Eagerness to see and talk to Simon and Gene again was no excuse for my actions. A certain amount of decorum had to be shown. Playing hard to get wasn't something I usually indulged in, yet, with these two, I didn't want to rush. Not when I had so many questions, starting with what had brought them by. Please. False modesty did not become me. I chided myself for my coyness. I knew why they were here. To see me.

Confidence restored, I finished brushing my hair and freshened my makeup. I killed fifteen minutes before I finally exited into the club - a girl should never appear too anxious. My iron will kept me from skipping over to them like an eager puppy with her tongue lolling - but my anticipation was still apparent in the damp crotch of my panties.

Refusing to give in to my hormones - even as anticipation increased my level of arousal - I worked the room, speaking to my regular admirers and accepting with smiles their bills stuffed into my bra. I rewarded them with light touches across their cheeks or hands that fed me their desire while making their eyes glaze over in pleasure.

Thus, did I slowly make my way to the bar where, with a nonchalance I didn't feel, I greeted the guys with a simple, "Hi."

Simon chuckled, his low rumble vibrating through me with more effect than the bass of the music blasting. "Nice show."

"I think I've found my new hangout spot. And, might I say, I look forward to receiving a private performance." Gene, the irreverent one, grinned at me devilishly.

"Behave." Simon elbowed Gene, who grunted but continued to smile with twinkling eyes.

Odd, with any other man, I would have probably become offended. Gene was so brazen and cocky, but I liked it, just like I enjoyed Simon's more subtle admiration. The reason, I realized, was simple. I was the one causing the reaction, not my abnormal side, and under their obvious admiration, I bloomed. As did my desire.

"What brings you guys slumming?" I asked, perching myself on a stool between them, the short skirt of my lace cover-up stopping just short of my crotch.

"Just out for a drink," Gene replied with a blase smile.

"We wanted to see you," admitted Simon with an honesty that shocked and pleased me.

"I'm glad you came." I truly was. In truth, I hadn't stopped thinking of them, and I'd fought the urge to call them all day.

"When are you finished?" Simon asked. "Can we take you to dinner?"

"Ah yes, dinner. We're so very hungry," Gene said with a wink and a leer that had me laughing.

Once again, Simon glared at his friend, and I grabbed his closed fist between my two hands - the man was freaking huge! "It's okay, Simon. Given my profession, I get the innuendos a lot. I've also discovered the ones with the biggest mouths usually have the smallest dicks." I uttered this with a mischievous smile at Gene. My sly rebuke didn't cause him to blush or get angry.

Instead, he laughed. "I think anyone compared to my giant friend would seem inadequate. But I have other skills."

"He does, and not all of them are running his mouth." Simon relaxed his fist and curled his fingers around mine. "Don't worry, what Gene lacks in size next to me, he makes up for in innovation." The subtle innuendo coming from him caught me off guard, but soon we were all laughing, which, I had to admit, was different than my usual experiences with men. Grunting, sweating, and bellows of "Oh my God" tended to be the more usual interactions I had with the opposite sex.

"Listen, I've got another set to do, and then, if you don't mind waiting, we can go for dinner." And then back to Simon's place or Gene's bottle for dessert. My succubus side would be well fed tonight, and if I was lucky, maybe they'd feed my dark side, too. I wondered what drinking genie blood would do to me. Which reminded me, I still didn't know what supernatural caste Simon belonged to. Werewolf? Nah. Not hairy enough. Titan? He certainly had shoulders big enough.

Before I could straight out ask Simon, Claire approached, wearing her waitress costume consisting of a short black and white maid's outfit along with a bunny tail and ears - the irony of it made us laugh like fiends at home. "Hey, Trixi, who're your friends?" she asked with a bright smile and eager eyes.

I introduced Gene and Simon to her while reining in a suddenly jealous side that reared its head with a snarl at the interest in her eyes. She looked them up and down and then, in a mock whisper, said to me, "You're right. They are yummy."

With a mischievous giggle, she hopped away, leaving me facing two grinning men.

"Cute friend," said Gene. My eyes must have turned green or smoke must have billowed from my ears, or some other noticeable sign, because he quickly added, "If you're into herbivores. Me, I prefer a girl who likes to sink her teeth into me while I sink into her."

Simon simply added, "Your bunny friend doesn't hold a candle to you." Mollified, even if I didn't understand my unreasonable jealousy, I chatted with them about the club for a few sets.

At a signal from the bartender, I made my excuses and went out back to change. For my next number, I pulled on my darker side, and I dressed to match the part. Black latex undies that zipped up the front, tight bustier held on with laces, fishnet stockings, and lethal high heels. A coating of dark makeup with a blood-red lipstick and I was every man's fantasy of a girl gone bad.

I strutted onto the stage to the thumping rhythm of Rihanna's song, "S&M." A hush fell over the room as I started to dance.

My skin tingled, and I had to concentrate on my motions as I found myself self-conscious, knowing Simon and Gene watched me avidly. I went through the motions for my second act in a heightened state that made me breathe hard. Usually, I could run through my routines with my eyes closed while compiling a grocery list, but having Gene and Simon following my every move added an element of sensuality to everything I did.

When I grasped the pole - thick and hard - between my hands, I undulated my hips at it while locking eyes with Simon's burning ones set in a face tight with tension - the sexual kind. I pressed my breasts around the pole, cupping and squeezing them, and Gene's wicked smile tightened my nipples and sent a rush of moisture to my cleft.

As I undulated, I skimmed my hands down over my body and closed my eyes, momentarily forgetting I was onstage. I danced faster, my motions erotic, my mood even more so. Gasps and sighs came to me faintly, even with the booming music. Flicking my eyes open, I almost stumbled when I saw the front row - my fervent perverts - panting with glazed eyes, their hands hidden under the table.

I bit my lip as I realized my own sexual interest radiated out to touch the humans in the crowd. Not that they were complaining. Several already wore satisfied grins.

Act complete, I almost ran from the stage. My arousal pulsed within, an almost living entity that hungered. But hungered for more than my usual sexual fare. I struggled to understand what had happened. I didn't have much experience with true arousal. I provoked desire. I didn't suffer from it. When my succubus side required feeding, it made me stalk sex in a very clinical manner, but even when I'd starved that side of myself, I'd never found myself in the grips of lust.

Until now.