Page 38 of Vanish Into Light

“Hm. Noah, I presume.”

“Yeah.”

Beck cast a theatrical look around the room. “Two by two, I see. How appropriate.” He tilted his head back toward the door. “Are we to assume the bouncing baby on the way is yours?”

“That one is. Some of the girls are having client’s babies.”

“Seems a strange time to be bringing new humans into the world.”

One corner of Noah’s mouth twitched in an expression that wasn’t a smile. “It’s not random. It’s strong DNA matched with strong DNA. Bred for health, and intelligence.”

Rose felt a little jolt of shock. “Eugenics.”

“Don’t say that like it’s a dirty word, darlin’.” His gaze shifted toward her, and then raked her head to toe, slowly. “I figure you’re a good candidate.”

Revulsion flared hot and sudden in her stomach. She fought to keep her expression neutral, but couldn’t suppress the acid in her tone. “You’re making a lot of assumptions about the worthiness ofyourDNA.”

Noah’s brows lifted a subtle fraction.

Beck chuckled, and said, “Don’t bother. She’s not like one of your broodmares.” He accentuated the point by sliding his arm from hers – Rose propped her hands on the knife hilts at her waist – and turning to inspect the screeching macaw in the cage to his left. Noah’s gaze followed him, Rose noted, and though his face remained placid, his throat jumped in a pronounced way when he swallowed.

Nerves. Good.

“How do you stand the noise?” Beck thrust a finger through the bars of the cage, and the macaw fell suddenly silent. He swung along, gripping the metal with his feet, until he was within range to bite at Beck’s finger – and did so – only to pull back sharply, shake his head, ruffle his feathers, and flit silently up to his perch, head cocked to a watchful angle.

The ice shifted in Noah’s glass. He said, “I’m surprised Damien walked you up. I told him I didn’t want to be disturbed.”

Beck didn’t respond. From the parrot cage, he moved to stand in front of the TV; the six different camera feeds flashed across his face, silently writhing figures chasing their pleasure. “What do you think, Rosie?”

“I think if we looked hard enough, we’d find an actual zoo here. The sex club is a front – an excuse to gain access to donor sperm from the rich and exclusive left in the city. This is a breeding program.”

“Very good.” There was a smile in his voice, and on his face, when he turned, fangs revealed by parted lips. “Your name’s not really Noah, is it? You’ve just fashioned yourself the captain of the Ark: here to save what life you deem worthy, when the flood finally comes.”

Noah took another sip. Then slowly set his glass down, and stood. He was taller than she’d expected, the shaggy hair and the lazy, hooded look disguising a powerful build – and an unmistakeable aura of threat, one that was put in check only by Beck’s presence. “What do you want?” he asked, and his tone was different, heavier and more direct. “I’ve got no beef with you.”

Beck fished the pentagram from his pocket; flicked it into the air like a coin, and caught it with a deft snatch – but not before the gold light winked along its edge, and Noah’s gaze followed its path, helplessly.

“I want to know about this,” Beck said. “Where you got it, what it was originally, what you were doing hiding it with a third-rate conman.” He flicked it and caught it again, without looking, gold gaze pulsing at it settled on the club owner. “And be forewarned: youwilltell me, one way or another.”

~*~

Lance supposed it was too much to hope that they be left alone. Four fit guys standing alone in the middle of a sex club were going to get noticed, at some point. He’d tried to set up shop – with folded arms and a forbidding expression – in the corner of two useless walls, and listen to Beck and Rose interrogate the mysterious Noah. Only, the audio feed from their end had cut out, and now he was just standing here in the midst of about five different orgies.

He tried hard not to let his gaze linger on anyone or any spectacle for too long; no matter the act, no matter the participants, all of it left him thinking about the shape of Beck’s mouth earlier when he’d saidproposition. Made him think about coming so hard he nearly blacked out; aboutmy Lancelot, and Rose’s gentle touch this morning, the happiness radiating from her, and the promise of more. Of everything.

Goosebumps chased over his skin, and he’d never had such trouble concentrating on the task at hand in his life.

Someone kicked his foot: Gavin, who, despite being the horniest and skeeviest of them all, didn’t appear to be enjoying the view. He glared at Lance. “Dude. What the fuck goes on with you?”

“That’s a nice way to talk to your superior–”

“And you being out to lunch is a nice way to get us all killed.” He was the angriest and most serious Lance had ever seen him. It was a shock. “I get that you’re like, in love with Rose or whatever, and that she dropped you like a hot rock for Horn Boy, but–” The rest of his sentence choked off into a gasp, and he tilted his head, and stepped in closer, gaze no longer fixed on Lance’s face – but on his throat.

Shit.

“What’s that?” Gavin asked, and took another step; leaned into Lance’s personal space.

Lance moved to step back, and Gavin caught him by the front of his jacket. His eyes popped wide. “Dude, are those – you look like you got bit by a snake!”

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