War and Peace and Pancakes

Lucy

 I was obliging Timothy by accompanying him to this place. Well, I was obliging Samantha and Mer. My vampire compatriot seethed as I drove us to the establishment. I could sense that he didn't appreciate my presence.

It wasn't my fault that his witch had insisted he not go here alone. Her abnormal intuition demanded someone go with him, and my hunter of a mate had demanded that person be me. I didn't frequent places like this anymore since I'd found Meri, but she had ordered me to "Go out and have a damn good time while keeping Tim out of trouble," hence my driving us to this pleasure club.

The women were spending the evening having another one of their "sleepovers." I smiled at the memory of Mer kissing me before practically shoving me out the front door so that she and Sam could do whatever they had planned with the interference of Timothy and myself.

I was happy Meri had found a friend. Like me, her disposition could be perceived as...prickly, but she was incredibly kind and loving in addition to her general badassery.

In my centuries of life, I'd never met someone as beautifully complex as her. She was tough yet vulnerable, guarded yet entirely readable. Most importantly, she didn't put up with my shit.

I tried hard not to be a dick, but I'd spent so long defending my people from forces far more powerful than myself that I'd forgotten how to live, how to interact with people and love and be loved. Meri had taught me how to be me again, and I would forever be desperately in love with her.

"This is the place," said the vampire from the passenger seat, rousing me from my thoughts.

I parked my vehicle and observed the nondescript building. Timothy had warned me that this place was abnormal, and I could already sense something was off about the pleasure club.

The facility bristled with security of both magical and non-magical varieties. Timothy was still young, so he hadn't developed a feel for sensing magic beyond that of his witch yet.

Despite this inadequacy when it came to detecting magic, Tim was very good at what he did for me in terms of his physical and intellectual abilities as a rogue hunter. Therefore, I knew he was aware of the armed guards circling the place periodically as well as the cameras trained on us as we exited the vehicle.

Truthfully, I was surprised he'd let Sammy visit this place the first time they came here considering how protective he was of her, but then again, I had a feeling the tiny human was somehow the dominant one in their relationship.

I shrugged. Maybe I wasn't one to talk about a human dominating a relationship with a vampire.

"Alright," I told the man I'd grown to consider my second in command over the years, "Let's go find your demon, Timothy."

No one confronted us as we entered the building, and the fae disguised as a human and acting as bouncer waved us both through.

I frowned. That was too easy. Putting me even more on edge, I noticed that this place was full of supernaturals, powerful ones who I didn't quite understand.

How was this place in my territory and I didn't know about it? I'd have to have a chat with my intelligence-gathering division.

The interior of the facility appeared as one would expect. Clothed, half-nude, and fully nude supernaturals all roamed about, some performing for the enjoyment of others. In a way, the establishment reminded me of the old sex clubs in Storyville, New Orleans, the pseudo-legal red light district of my city which was shut down in 1917. I had spent some highly entertaining times there. Ah, to be one hundred years younger.

Timothy broke away from me to ask the barkeep if his demon named Urdu was in. The keep shook his head, and Timothy's shoulders slumped a bit.

Poor Timothy. He cared for this demon, but she hadn't even left him a way to get in touch with her. Even when I was still being an indecisive ass before Meri and I finally became mates, I'd left her my cell number. It was the 21st century, after all.