He flashed me one of his 'Who, me?' smiles and walked out.

I grabbed a matching black bra and put it on. I took a step over and opened my closet door. I picked out a short black leather skirt and matching top. I pulled the skirt on. The material was silky and smooth and fit me like a glove. I reached into my closet and pulled out a pair of black leather mule shoes with chunky heels. When I put them on, they made me at least two inches taller.

I pulled the shirt over my head and adjusted it. It was sleeveless but had wide straps to hold it up. It was a scoop neck, so it wasn't too revealing. I had always had a problem finding tops that kept my b.r.e.a.s.t.s in without making them look huge.

I reached into the tiny basket of jewelry I kept on my dresser and grabbed my silver belly ring. I put it on. Whenever I lifted my arms just right in this outfit, my midriff showed, and I liked showing it off. I hadn't ever had to work at having a nice shape, it just sort of came with being part faerie. I wasn't going to start complaining now.

I finished, and looked in the mirror on the back of my closet door. "Perfect," I thought to myself, and headed out of the room.

When I stepped out into the living room, I saw Pallo sitting in my big comfy chair. I loved sitting in that chair and curling up with a good book. It had always seemed so perfect for me. It was covered in large flowers that were done in pastels. Seeing Pallo in it made me laugh. He looked so out of place. He looked like a bad a.s.s that had to sit in a girl's chair. Pallo dug his fingers into his knees, and glared at Ken.

Ken sat on my couch. The chair sat to the side of it. I had always liked the idea of arranging my furniture for conversation, but seeing them sitting that close to each other had made me question my decision.

Ken looked up at me and threw his feet up on my coffee table. That was a huge no-no. I had found an old chest at an antique store and picked it up. I brought it home and had been using it for a table every since. I glared at him, and he smiled.

"Pallo and I were just discussing the various positions you enjoy." He looked up at me and grinned from ear to ear. "I'm shocked, Gwen. I don't think our good friend here knew you were a three input girl."

My face grew red. I raised my hand and lashed energy out at Ken. It knocked his feet off of my table. Ken looked shocked. I think a smile came over Pallo.

"Get out now, Ken." The rage growing inside me belied the calmness of my voice.

He smiled but didn't budge. "Hey, Pallo, is it true that vampires have excellent hearing?"

Pallo's gaze met mine as he answered, "Yes."

I thought back to the argument with Ken in my bedroom. I called him a monster. Pallo had sat out here and listened to the entire thing. My stomach tightened into a knot. I wanted to knock that c.o.c.ky smirk off Ken's face. He knew Pallo could hear every word we'd said, and he'd baited me.

The sound of Pallo's voice broke my anger. "You look lovely this evening, Gwyneth."

"Thanks! I'm going out to get some dinner and drinks."

"With who?" Ken asked.

They both looked at me now.

"It's Friday night, right? I'm supposed to be meeting Sharon at The Raven. You know, celebrate the whole turning twenty-five thing. We had to postpone it a bit, remember? It was your idea Ken."

The Raven was a huge dance club that catered to the supernatural. Sharon had thought it would be fun to take me there for my birthday. She told me to meet her there at nine-thirty. I wanted to go. I wanted to forget about all of the messed up events that had taken place in my life recently. I needed a break from reality. I needed a night off.

"s.h.i.t, I forgot to tell you," Ken said, rising to his feet. Pallo mirrored him. "Sharon had to go out of town for a few days. She got a lead on one of her cases. She should be back by Monday."

"Why didn't she call?" I asked.

"She did. Have you checked your messages?" Ken was being nice and I knew how much energy that took for him. I appreciated it. Sharon was the closest thing to family I had around here. I hadn't realized how much I had been looking forward to celebrating my birthday. Guess it still did mean something to me.

"Well then, looks like I'm not going anywhere. I'm not spending the night dancing with you," I said looking at Ken.

"Gwen, I'm hurt." He gave me that c.o.c.ky grin again.

"I would love to take you to The Raven. It would be my pleasure," Pallo said. He stepped right past Ken and headed towards me.

"If he's going, I'm going," Ken said, and followed behind him. I laughed.

"A smile," Pallo said. He looked pleased.

I went to get my keys and purse. I couldn't find either one of them.

"What's wrong?" Ken asked.

"I almost forgot. I don't have a car to drive anymore," I said, remembering the little burning inferno incident. "I, uh, left it at the park." I didn't want to alert Ken to all of the trouble I'd been having lately.

Ken laughed. "Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will steal it. I've been trying to get you to buy a new one."

"When I get comfortable with something, I stick with it," I said.

"Does that apply to more than cars?" Ken asked, winking at me.

"Come, we shall take my car." Pallo waved his hand in the air and put it out to me. I put my arm in his and glanced at Ken. I could tell he was angry.

I leaned over to Pallo and whispered, "We can't just leave him."

"I would never dream of such thing, Gwyneth." The twinkle in his brown eyes told me that's exactly what he'd been thinking of doing. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking back to Ken.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Ken said as he followed us out the door.

Chapter 17.

We arrived out The Raven almost an hour later. Traffic was terrible, but the ride over was worse. I had a.s.sumed that when Pallo said we'd take his car, it would be a car. I was wrong. We ended up riding in the back of a long black limo. The three of us sat there, staring at each other, afraid to say a word. The only time the silence was broken was when the window came down between the driver and us. He wanted to let Pallo know that an important call had come in for him.

The ride took forever. I had never been so happy to get out of a car in my life.

The Raven was a huge warehouse that had been converted into a dance club that catered to the supernatural element. I had never actually been there, but I'd heard plenty about it. Apparently everyone else in the city had, too. There was a line that stretched down the block and around corner. I stood there with my mouth open. Most of the people in line looked to be in their mid-twenties. Some looked like circus freaks. One man had his hair sprayed green and it stood at least three feet off his head. Around his neck was a dog collar and a chain ran from it to his nose. Yes, he had a chain hooked to his nose. He nodded at me when I looked in his direction. I nodded back.

Ken stepped out of the limo and came to stand behind me. He bent down and whispered to me, "I'll be seeing most of these people in the courtroom soon."

I knew he made a joke, but I didn't particularly like the fact that there was truth behind what he said.

Pallo had walked ahead of us to the main door. He talked to a large man guarding the entrance. He motioned for us to come over. I looked at Ken and he shrugged.

"Looks like the dead have good connections," he said.

I told Ken to shut up. We walked to meet Pallo. He took my arm when I got next to him, and I didn't fight it. The man standing at the door was at least three hundred pounds. I wouldn't have been surprised if he stood seven feet tall. He was mammoth. He wore a black tee shirt that had a picture of a raven on it, and a pair of blue jeans that barely contained his stomach. I noticed that he wore sungla.s.ses. It was almost pitch black out--the gla.s.ses were overkill.

"Master Pallo, your table is ready," he said. His voice rocked my body from the ba.s.s in it.

"Thank you, Makonnen," Pallo said as he walked through the open doors.

"Thanks," I said, smiling at him when we went past. I thought he smiled back, but I wasn't sure.

Ken followed close behind us. The place was awesome. Strobe lights flashed all around us. Blue, red, and yellow light beams swirled before my eyes. They seemed to correspond to the music, which pumped through the sound system so loud it shook my body. A long, black bar ran along the left side. Shirtless men wearing leather pants were busy pouring people drinks. Every barstool was occupied, and the open s.p.a.ces for the waitresses were crowded with people, too.

One girl pushed to get through the mob. She had a round tray in her hand. She was average height and weight, but had an enormous pair of b.r.e.a.s.t.s. They were a little hard to miss, since all she had on them was two tiny pasties with ta.s.sels on the ends. She wore a pair of boy-cut silver shorts that let the corner of her b.u.t.t hang out, and a pair of matching silver go-go boots. Pink frizzy hair puffed out from her head in all directions. Pallo pulled on my arm, and we continued onward.

In the center of the old warehouse was a dance floor. The thing was at least three times the size of my apartment, and looked like it needed to be bigger. People were herded together, b.u.mping and grinding to the music. A large DJ booth was set up directly behind the dance floor. A cage stood on either side of it. Girls in leather string bikinis were dancing in each cage, rubbing themselves against the bars. I shook my head and kept walking.

We reached the back of the club and Pallo guided me into the booth in the far, back right corner. It was L-shaped, and looked like it could seat at least ten people comfortably. I didn't realize until I sat that the tables weren't actually black, they were dark glowing and green, like the booth seat. I found myself sitting between Ken and Pallo. They still hadn't spoken a word to each other since we left my apartment, and I got pretty tired of them acting like babies. Before I could say anything, the waitress with the frizzy pink hair came to our table.

"Pallo." She said his name like she wanted to have s.e.x with it. I looked at him and wondered if he was a regular here. The guy had his own table, for crying out loud.

"Good evening, Angela," Pallo said to her.

Ken looked like he would burst if he didn't say something snide, so I kicked him under the table.

Angela leaned forward and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rubbed on the table next to Pallo. I got a good look at her and was shocked. She had long, fake pink eyelashes on both her top and bottom eyelids. She had big silver eyes. I wasn't sure if they were contacts or her real eye color. From the way she acted around Pallo, I bet he did.

I tried my best to ignore her, but she had none of that.

"Pallo, you haven't introduced me to your friends," she said, tracing a finger around her lips as she spoke.

Pallo took a deep breath in, then spoke. "This is my Gwyneth, and her friend Ken." I noticed the emphasis he put on the word 'my'.

"His Gwyneth?" Ken asked.

I rolled my eyes. Angela took this opportunity to lean in closer to Pallo. One of her ta.s.sels touched his face. Her little scene made me nauseous.

"Gee, Pallo, I hate to interrupt the two of you, but do you think we could eat now?" I let my annoyance show.

"No, really, its fine. I kind of like the show," Ken said. I kicked his leg again and he let out a grunt.

"Yes, by all means." Pallo looked at me to order. It took Angela a minute to give up the menu, but she finally did. I decided on a cheeseburger, fries and a Diet c.o.ke, and Ken ordered a salad and a gla.s.s of water. He was always watching what he ate. When we were engaged he had started getting all preachy on me about my bad food choices. He would go on and on about clogged arteries and high blood pressure.

"Why didn't you get anything?" I asked, looking at Pallo.

He smiled. "My Gwyneth, some things I cannot explain without looking like a monster."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." The fact that the man survived off human blood had totally left my mind. I reached out to touch his arm.

His other hand came and rested on mine. "It is good to know you can see past some things."

"Couldn't we just order you a raw steak or something? We could all sit around and watch you suck it dry," Ken said. I wanted to crawl under the table. He did everything in his power to be the biggest jerk possible.

To my surprise, Pallo seemed amused with him. He smiled and tipped his head. The annoying waitress started back in our direction, carrying a tray of drinks. She bent over, laid her body on the table, and gave Ken his water. She just about dropped my soda in my lap. I caught it before it toppled off the table. Then she turned and handed Pallo a large wine goblet. It was full to the brim with the thickest red wine I'd ever seen.

"I brought a little something special for you too, my love," Angela said, handing him his drink.

Pallo actually looked uncomfortable. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and took the drink from her hands. She made sure to let her fingers slid over his a little too long. She turned and walked slowly away, sashaying the entire way.

Ken leaned over me and looked at Pallo. "When the h.e.l.l did they start serving blood in here?"

"When they received their liquor license, the state considered their 'special' circ.u.mstance and included that, as well," Pallo shot back at him.

"Well, I'm going to have to look into that," Ken said. He acted like a child who just had to have the last word.

After the day I'd been having, I thought I should have ordered a rum and c.o.ke, but I wasn't sure I could hold my liquor tonight. Angela finally came with our food and more drinks. I hadn't had a full meal in days and was starved. Ken and Pallo both sat and watched me eat.

"What?" I asked, suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

"That stuff's going to kill you," Ken said, his voice loud.

"I doubt that I will go by way of cheeseburger, but concern duly noted," I said, finishing up the last few bites of my meal.

"Do you always eat like this?" Pallo asked.

I turned as I wiped the corners of my mouth with my napkin. "I eat when I'm hungry, and I eat what I want. Why?"

"I was just wondering where you put it all. There is nothing to you."

I smiled, and heard Ken cough.

Angela kept popping in with refills for us all. During one of her little pa.s.ses, she conveniently dropped a napkin into Pallo's lap and reached down to pick it up. Her hand rubbed against his pants between his legs. She had enough nerve to cup her hand around him on the way up. I had had enough of their little petting show. I stood up.

"Move, Ken, I'm going to go dance."

Ken looked at me for a minute, then slid out of the booth. I walked out and felt a little light headed. I put my hand on Ken's for support.

"Hey, you better sit down," he said, and eased me back around him.

"I'm fine, just stood up to fast," I said, and pushed away.

"Gwyneth, wait, I will join you," Pallo said.

Angela practically threw herself on him. His face was buried in her big fake chest. Ken sprayed water out of his nose laughing.

I searched for the snippiest voice I could muster and said, "Well, Pallo, you look a little busy. No, really, don't bother to get up."

As I walked away, I could feel Angela glaring at me. I didn't care.

I pushed my way to the center of the dance floor. It had taken me almost five minutes due to the crowd. I knew Ken wouldn't come out and join me--he couldn't dance. I figured that Pallo was still busy getting felt up by little Miss Pink, so I went it alone.

I moved with the music. It was techno, and I wasn't used to dancing to it, but I managed to get by. I closed my eyes and let the rhythm dictate how I moved my hips and body. I let myself become one with the music.

Sharon asked me to teach her to dance when we were younger. Whenever we went out to clubs, she would pull me off the floor when I really got into it. She said that I pulled the men out of the woodwork.