Summoning the Night (Arcadia Bell #2)(64)

“We’ve never had any complaints from the succubi.”

“Oh, really? It totally surprises me that your prisoners aren’t complaining to the people holding them against their will.”

His brows shot up.

“I mean, who wouldn’t want to screw an entire lot of wrinkly, stoned rich guys?”

“There are women, too. We aren’t sexist.”

“Even porn stars and prostitutes get a choice. They also get paid.”

“Touché.”

“For the record,” I added, shoving my arm into a jacket sleeve, “I don’t hire out my magick. I don’t need money that badly.”

“Lon’s assets are nothing to sneeze at.”

That sent me into orbit. I was fed up with feeling hunted, threatened, and living in the shadows. I was not about to be bullied by a man who thought he could slap his dick on the table and hold my life in his bony fingers. But to add insult to injury, he added, “You may want to plan for the future. When you’re young, it’s hard to see past tomorrow, but once Lon’s midlife crisis wears off, he’ll get bored with you. Then my financial offer might look more enticing. Especially to someone like you with a past you’d like to keep hidden.”

His words felt like a slap in the face. I knew he was just goading me, knew what he was saying about Lon wasn’t true, but the implication was a finger poking around in my insecurities. Insecurities about our age difference. About Lon’s status in La Sirena versus the working-class life I’d created for myself. Dare’s observation was worse than all the gossipy looks Lon and I got when we were out together in public.

A dark corner of my brain roared to life. Violent thoughts sprung from nowhere. I wanted to pound Dare’s face into the table, make him take back the seed of doubt he’d just planted in my brain. And in that moment, I did something rash. My Moonchild power came to me like a loyal soldier following an order, fast and unquestioning. The bar fell into unnatural shadows and the blue dot appeared. I shaped it into a binding triangle and slammed it down over Dare before he could straighten his suit jacket.

The darkness fell away from my vision and the bar reappeared. Dare cried out in surprise as Heka trapped him where he sat. I could hear people murmuring in the distance, but I didn’t care. If any savages were in the bar, they couldn’t see the Heka anyway.

Dare’s shock sluiced away. He laughed and gave me a rotten smile. “Impressive, Ms. Bell. Just splendid. How did you manage this without sigils?”

“You listen to me,” I said, sticking my face in front of his, as close as I could get to the binding without breaking it. The Heka from the binding tickled my nose. “Lon and I will do our best to stop this goddamn Snatcher. But you’re not going to bully me into doing Hellfire dirty work, and if you ever, ever imply that I’m some freeloading dinner-whore after Lon’s money—”

Dare tugged at his tie, rocking it back and forth to loosen the knot at his throat. A bead of sweat dropped down his domed head, but his eyes fixed on mine with defiance. “You’ll what, Ms. Bell? Follow me around and bind me every hour? This might scare the weaker Earthbounds that patronize this establishment, but it doesn’t scare me. If you want me to keep your alias secret from Lon, you’re going to have to do more than this.”

I laughed. “Lon already knows my secrets. What he doesn’t know, apparently, is what a despicable * you really are. He told me you were one of the few people he trusted in La Sirena—that you were a good person. But you’re just like the rest of the Hellfire members, aren’t you?”

“Despicable or not, I am Lon’s family and have been since he was born into this community. Who are you, Ms. Bell? That’s the real question, isn’t it?”

Despite his bravado, Dare was turning a nasty color. The thought crossed my mind that the pressure from the binding could cause a heart attack in someone his age. I tugged at the binding with my mind, dissolving the magick and freeing him.

He crumpled into his chair, breathing heavily, then slowly stood up. “I don’t know why you’re using a fake name, but believe me when I say that I can find out. And Lon might know who you are, but I’m betting other people do not. Unless you want everyone knowing what you’re trying to hide—a Ms. Kar Yee Tsang, perhaps—I suggest you refrain from binding me again.”

Every muscle in my body tightened. Kar Yee was only a few feet away, behind the office door. She would never forgive me for lying to her all these years. Never.

Dare smiled like a man who knew he’d just won a small victory. “And regarding your future work with the Hellfire club? I don’t think you’re in any position to turn down my offer, so consider yourself officially moonlighting for me. You can start by recharging the summoning circle you broke in the caves last month. But first, you might want to try a little harder to stop our former magician from taking more of our children.”

He turned to leave and my brain fired on again.

“Wait,” I called out. “Are their homes warded? The seventeen kids?”

His head swiveled. He glanced at me over his shoulder. “No.”

“Send me a list. I’ll start in the morning.”

The magical wards took me almost twelve hours to erect. Though they were temporary, unlike the massive wards that Lon and I had around our homes, at least they offered some protection.