Cirque Du Minuit (Cirque Masters 1)

“Unlike you, I don’t plan to die young. I want to live a long time. Have children and grandchildren, and leave behind a legacy.”

“You think I won’t leave a legacy, girl?” His nose was almost touching hers. Their bodies were aligned, skin to skin. “You, at least, will remember me until you die.”

Kelsey could barely breathe. He was doing it again, bespelling her, terrifying her with his power to control her, to turn her on. Even now, she felt an overwhelming attraction to him. Not just to his looks, or his body. It was more than that. It was a heated, tingling pulse in her pelvis, a tightening in her breasts, a craving for his domination.

“Yes, I’ll remember you,” she said, pushing him away. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Anyway,”--she held up the cigarettes--“thanks for doing this. Even though I only give it, I don’t know...about twelve hours before you give up and start smoking again.”

“You’re wrong,” he said in a sharp, abrupt voice. “I never give up. Once I decide to do something, I don’t look back.”

For a weird moment, Kelsey wasn’t sure if he was talking about the smoking--or about her.

“So,” he said, in another abrupt mood change. “Put on something sexy. For a nightclub.”

Kelsey blinked. “Wh--What?”

“You told me you wanted to go to the Citadel. Tonight, we go. We’ll just check it out. We won’t stay too late.”

Kelsey had no idea what “staying too late” might lead to, or why Theo imagined she would just drop everything after a day like today and go to the Citadel with him. Theo scratched his head when she hesitated. “You don’t have to come. But you will wonder until you know.”

Which was true, damn it. “But why tonight?” Kelsey asked. “Why right now?”

“Because tonight Lemaitre will be there. Which means everyone will be there.” Theo ran his eyes over her from head to toes and back again. “And you should be too.”

Chapter Eight: Citadel

Theo sorted through her things until he found appropriately tight and sexy black clothing. A tissue top. A sweet short skirt with textured ruching. And of course, all gymnasts had leggings. He discovered she had ten pairs in black.

Once she was dressed, they set out together. The club was near the residences, undoubtedly by design. It was safer for the performers to stumble home on foot than to risk getting behind the wheel. Theo was in a black shirt too, and dark jeans. As usual, he dressed to exude a combination of sensuality and menace. He had to uphold his reputation. Some of the other performers passed them on the way, gawking. A tumbler he knew, and a couple of trainers holding hands. Lesbians. They looked at Theo and then Kelsey, perhaps gauging if they were a couple. Kelsey was new blood in this game. She just didn’t realize it yet.

Silly girl. She traipsed down the sidewalk beside him, oblivious to the stares. “So what exactly goes on at this place?” she asked.

Theo studied her. Even dressed in tight, sexy black clothes, she screamed of fresh innocence. He shrugged. “The typical stuff that goes on at nightclubs. You’ve been to a nightclub before, haven’t you?” At Kelsey’s negative answer, he rolled his eyes. “Well, let’s see. Vampirism. Cannibalism. Human sacrifice and necrophilia.”

“Theo!”

He chuckled and took her hand. God, he took her hand. What was he doing? He squeezed it and let it go. “It’s dark there. Loud music. Alcohol. Dancing. In some of the private rooms people make out and have sex. Now and again there are...play scenes.”

“Play scenes of what?”

Theo didn’t want to shock her, but she’d see it soon enough. “There are S&M scenes. Like you might see in a dungeon or fetish club.”

“I’ve never been to a dungeon or fetish club,” she said, sounding bleak. “I won’t be expected to do any of this stuff, will I?”

“No.”

“Will you do any of it?”

Theo took her hand again. “Would it bother you if I did?”

“You have done it, haven’t you?”

Theo nodded. “Many times. Me and Minya...” He stopped. “Well. It’s just another form of performance. Many find it a welcome release. Perhaps, one day, you will too.”

She shook her head hard, and Theo stifled a smile. His strait-laced little vixen would deny it until the end of time, but he knew her desires. He’d felt her tremble under his fingers, her anxious, confused cravings like a drug to him in his jaded torpor. “Tonight...” He kissed her hand and let it go again. “Tonight we will only watch. Both of us. I won’t leave you to the wolves.”

Kelsey shivered at his side, even though the night was warm. “There will be wolves there?” she joked.

Theo chuckled. “At the Citadel, you never know.” He stretched out his arms, feeling a twinge of craving he knew would grow as the night went on. He’d smoked three final cigarettes earlier in the evening, thinking of her. One for how he’d wronged her, one for how he’d hurt her. One for how he loved her.

Theo could have quit anytime. He was smoking less than he had in years, preoccupied with Kelsey and their new act. He’d already been down to half a pack a day. But to quit altogether seemed a good gesture of apology. She would find it impressive, important. And he really would quit. Those last three cigarettes would be his last three for life.

“Ugh,” he growled. “It’s a perfect night to smoke.”

She looked up at him with an adorable expression of concern. Let her believe he suffered. It served his purposes.

“They have nicotine patches, you know. To help with quitting.”

Theo waved her off. “Patches are for pussies. When I quit, I quit. I’ll survive.”

“You’ve quit before?” she asked with a tinge of accusation.

“No. I never had a reason to quit before. Never had an obnoxious American complaining about the way I smell, and telling me I’ll die young.”

Kelsey scoffed. “You’ll live to be a hundred just to spite me, and I’ll probably kick off at thirty-five.”

Theo stopped outside the nondescript club entrance. A couple of bouncers patted down each arrival, thumbing the approved guests inside. Kelsey flinched as one of them groped over her shirt and ass. Theo couldn’t fault the guy for feeling her up, but he gave him a look that warned him off trying a second time. They were admitted through the heavy steel door into a dark, cramped hallway. The music was so loud in the club the walls seemed to pulse. When they reached the end of the hall, Theo threw the door open and the music hit both of them like a physical wave. Kelsey fell back, but Theo pushed her forward.

“Here.” He patted her shoulder to get her attention and handed her a pair of foam earplugs from his pocket. He showed her how to twist them and shove them down securely. If she was going to be an aerialist, she needed to protect her inner ears.

Even with the plugs in, the music was loud, the pounding beats resonating in his stomach, his hands, his balls. The air was thick with cigarette smoke and fabricated smog, and blinking spinning lights caught in the cast of ever-changing shadows. Kelsey sidled closer to him, her eyes wide, taking it all in.

The main area of the club was dominated by a bar that ran the length of the room. A few curtained booths and tables dotted the walls, filled with people drinking and yelling over the music.

There was a raised platform on the opposite side, full of writhing, jumping dancers. Beside the platform, a spiral staircase rose to a balcony, and behind the staircase, a hall led to private rooms that Theo knew were furnished with couches, suspension hooks, and dungeon equipment. He’d already scoped out this city’s version of the Citadel. But tonight, Lemaitre would be here.

He wasn’t here yet. The resonance wasn’t right. People were too relaxed, too drunk. When Lemaitre arrived there would be more tension, more sensuality. More hedonism. Theo planned to have Kelsey good and tipsy by then.

He led her to the bar and urged her to get a drink. Like the residences and the cafeteria food, the drinks were covered. Theo ordered a beer and Kelsey did

too. He suspected she just didn’t know what else to order. He would bet his life she’d never been drunk in all her twenty-four years. She grimaced as she took her first swig. Strike that. He would bet his life she’d never even had a drink.

He downed his beer, then downed hers and took her to the bar for something sweeter. He had the bartender mix a powerful but tasty concoction they called Citadel Tea. Like Long Island Tea, only a lot more potent. Theo would only let her have one, but it would take the edge off her nervousness and help her have a little fun. She started to loosen up after just a few sips. He dragged her out onto the dance floor, and she smiled up at him, dancing, drinking.

People crowded in around them and he danced close with her, grinding on her, enjoying the feel of her tight, shapely body, all her muscles alive under his hands. The green, red, and blue lights played in the highlights of her blonde hair, reflecting with a strange brightness. Soon she’d drained her drink and hopped up on the platform without any urging from him. Still the driving, shrieking beats went on. This wasn’t music for listening to. This was music for losing your mind.