The Empress (The Tarot Club 1)

"I'm currently holding protection around you, I'm going to keep that connection throughout the night," I spoke through gritted teeth.

I had to keep mentally reminding myself that he was a client and for that reason alone, I couldn't tell him to get lost. I needed to behave.

I had never lost my manners as much as I had in the short time-frame that I'd known Dimitri.

“No,” Dimitri’s voice was so low you could’ve almost missed it.

I glared at him, awaiting some sort of explanation. Arlo looked as if he wished to intervene, but instead chose to stand a foot back, allowing this to play out. Dimitri’s gaze blazed against mine, hardening when he saw my resolve.

"No," he repeated himself softly, the venom tainting his lips was only just palatable. "You will stay with us and work within our compound until the threat is resolved."

One of the golden rules within the Tarot Club was to keep the clients at arms length. Clients tended to get attached to their card readers, the Magick itself addictive - drug inducing. And so, the rule was as much for our protection as it was for theirs. We weren’t hookers who spent nights in the confines of our clients’ apartments, we were the consultants of Magick. Sure, some of the girls had some passionate nights with a few of them, but it was only done after the job was complete.

We don't stay with clients.

I needed to placate Dimitri until I could call Charl. Charl could handle this situation with far more tact than I was capable of right now. Because at this moment, I wanted to throttle the towering man standing before me.

I smiled up at him - a smile filled with condescension and loathing and said, “I just need to call Charl and discuss this change in protocol first.”

“Tell him that it’s a coin toss, you either come willingly, or we assist you in relocating to our compound, the choice is yours, Bambi.”

I glared at him, my cheeks heated with embarrassment.

Dimitri nodded his understanding, dismissing the situation as already resolved. A man used to getting his way in all things. The funny thing about Magick is that it didn’t follow linear rules, and if Dimitri was up against a true Voodoo Priestess, then he was in for a rude awakening. Even standing on the sidewalk in the summer heat I felt her energy press up against mine. I refused to glance back at the building, shivering as I heard her sensual chuckle in the crevices of my mind.

We were in trouble.