The Demon's Bargain (A Deal With a Demon #4)(37)
“How the fuck would I know that, Guillermo?”
“So touchy,” Guillermo teased as they descended a narrow staircase. “Seriously though, as good a guardian as she was, she is brilliant at this. I take five percent for providing the space and some security, and my cut is almost as much as I make in the VIP rooms. That’s a lot of lap dances.” The duende said with relish. August struggled with the urge to pop him in the mouth. “She’s a fucking orgy virtuoso. You should see her when she really—”
“Do you want me to rip your throat out, Guillermo?” August roared, so loud that the small bulbs on the wall flickered.
“See, this is what I mean,” Guillermo snapped back, pointing at August’s forehead. “Your fucking horns are coming out! Man, I do not want problems here, Gus. I’m doing this as a favor because I owe my wife and my kid’s lives to you, but I don’t want you two trashing my place.” The duende rubbed his face and sighed. “She’s going to be so pissed at me for bringing you down here.”
They finally reached the landing, where there was only a long hallway leading to a marble wall with an archway etched into it. Two gargoyles dressed in black tuxes stood on either end. They bristled the moment they saw August, the threat in their eyes making his own claws extend.
“She knows I don’t need you to find her,” August reminded his old friend as he stalked toward the pair of bruisers guarding the door. “And what did you expect to happen when you told me about her orgy skills?”
When August got to the threshold, an opening appeared, and the guards stepped aside to let him pass. She was allowing him in. She’d probably sensed him the moment he walked into the speakeasy. Though there was an opening, he couldn’t see what was going on inside. She’d put up a glamour for privacy. It was powerful magic. Probably Guillermo’s handiwork.
“I need you to look into something for me,” August said, as he slid a small paper out of his pocket.
Guillermo eyed the thing warily, an unhappy sound escaping his lips. “I am not helping the Order anymore.” The finality of the statement made August smile. Guillermo had been an invaluable help to them in the past. The duende had more connections in the supernatural world than anyone. Whenever August had needed a lead on a contact or information, there was nothing Guillermo couldn’t find out. But when the time came to choose, the duende’s loyalty lay with her. It had only made August’s respect for his friend grow.
“This isn’t for the Order,” he admitted, eliciting a raised eyebrow and a look that held a million questions. “This is for me.” August would not get into what that meant, not until he’d talked to her. But Guillermo nodded and took the paper. “Thank you.”
The duende waved him off and pointed at the portal. “Go. And watch your back.” August put one foot through the nebulous gate. One of the gargoyles growled, and Guillermo laughed. “For that matter, watch your front too.”
August had to fight against the force suddenly trying to keep him out, but he pressed forward. A bitter smile turning up his lips as he thought about the grueling months in which they’d built up her skills to seal or open portals. Again and again, he’d made her open doorways and seal them until her hands bled and her legs could barely hold her up. He’d been ruthless in his instruction. Determined to bring out the power he knew was inside her until she’d built and destroyed passages to the underworld without a second thought.
A gust of air tumbled him through the final barrier, and he landed unsteadily at the entrance of what looked like a Roman-style bath…full of monsters.
There was so much going on, so many creatures on almost every inch of the place, that no one seemed to notice his presence. Eight columns surrounded a large round pool at the center of the room. Scattered around the space were sculptures of horned, fanged creatures in the throes of ecstasy. He noticed that two different creatures seemed to be using them as erotic scratching posts. Beyond the water, three walls opened into an outdoor space made to look like a Roman hanging garden. There were private cabanas with lanais lined against the walls, most of them in use. Some had a thin curtain pulled down for privacy; others were left open. August presumed part of the appeal of this place was that there was a built-in audience, and there was a lot to see.
Life in the Claudian Order was tantamount to being in a monastery, but August’s life had been far less chaste or disciplined before he’d been recruited as a sentinel. When he’d been only sixteen, a witch—one his philandering father had betrayed—cursed him and his four brothers turning them into demons. Snakes like his father, she’d said, as she cast the irreversible spell. He’d then spent years making a living however he could—including sex work in places where a snake man was a coveted novelty. But this place was not for humans who fetishized monsters. What she’d created served the monsters. Gave them a space to have their desires fulfilled without shame or fear.
Merely feet away from him on a nest of cushions, two duendes were pleasuring a blindfolded gorgon. She had her back pressed to one of them, his deeply muscled chest pressed tightly to her. She suckled hungrily on one of his fingers, while his long tongue swirled around her nipple. The duende held one of her legs open, his brown hand gripping under her knee, while the other creature sawed his enormous cock in and out of her. His big balls slapped the creamy skin of her ass as she mewled with pleasure. The force of his thrusts making her bounce on the other’s lap. The bright red snakes around her head hissed every time her lover bottomed out inside her. Behind the thrusting duende, a sprite had her face buried in his ass. Her wings fluttered, lifting her off the ground, as her iridescent hands palmed his cheeks, spreading them wide. From where August stood, he could see a bright pink tongue licking the duende’s crease. His face contorted in torturous delight as he attempted to push himself onto the sprite’s ministrations even as he railed the gorgon.