GAISCE (At Our Best, Book 3, Part 2 in Baile Series)

Chapter 1 Hunters and Billionaires

Isla

The floor reverberated to the bass techno music pounding through the speakers hidden in the recesses of the club. Hunters and the billionaires who hired them lounged on plush couches and booths, discussing gun deals or the latest drop in the supernatural slave markets. The neon lighting casted sharp shadows upon the many men and women who watched me dance with a pole in the centre of the room, their eyes glistening with hunger and curiosity. The hunters and billionaires were enchanted by the body and aura I possessed, their dark eyes tracing the swaying of my waist length red hair and longer than life legs. I made an effort to look each greasy lowlife in the eyes, tempting them to come closer and implying that I knew they wanted me.

An Asian man wearing an open black suit with no shirt got up from his seat as a man and a woman entered the club, both clad in black and adorned in gold jewellery and accessories.

I swung around on the pole, holding myself upside down, watching the trio and their entourage of guards following them up towards the orange, neon lit stairs.

I righted myself before giving my crowd a flirtatious smile and descending the raised platform. I made my way to the bar, clapping hands with Alick in an act of signalling our switching of places.

I nodded to Devon at the bar who was bartending shirtless, neon paint slathered over his chest. He winked in return and continued to serve drinks to the many skimpily dressed women who were nauseatingly fawning over him.

I slipped past the beaded curtain and into the door behind the bar. My short shorts and cropped top melded into a skintight neon pink dress as I flipped my heavy hair forward, tying it off expertly into a high ponytail. I checked my makeup in a nearby mirror before plucking a silver platter stacked with glasses of champagne and reentering the main clubroom. I made my way to the stairs, sashaying in my six-inch heels towards the second floor that had been booked out for the twelve o'clock time slot.

"You have certainly kept us waiting Miss Valentine." The Asian man sat across from the woman and her companion, one leg folded over the other and the opening of his suit revealing a large and intricate dragon tattoo. I studied his features and accent closely, concluding that he was Japanese, along with his guards.

"The wait will be worth it, I assure you." The woman spoke with a pronounced American accent that drawled her vowels.

I approached the gathering, offering drinks with a seductive smile.

The Japanese man crooked a chilling grin before taking a glass. "Thank you. Why don't you come sit with me?" He reached for me.

I set the platter down, taking a glass myself before sitting on the armrest of the chair beside him, locking eyes with Alick down on the floor, who was working the pole like magic.

I returned my gaze to the group to find the American woman eyeing me suspiciously, I pinned it to jealousy rather than her suspecting of my supernatural blood.

"What is his rating in terms of his powers?" The Japanese man draped his arm over me as he spoke.

"Ya'll just have to wait an see." She replied cryptically.

One of the guards moved and whispered into her ear, "He's ready." I picked it up with my enhanced hearing.

"Here we go." She grinned before frowning as her eyes met mine. "You're gonna have to stay behind sugar." Her tone was tinged with warning.

"Oh?" I batted my lashes and leaned into the Japanese man.

He lapped it up. "She can come, if you she doesn't speak a word of what she sees."