Tease

Attagirl.

“I need some air.” She turned and started for the exit, not caring whether Danny followed her or not. He grasped her arm, catching her midstride. She swung around, thinking she ought to slap him. Everybody else was doing it.

“I’m out of here,” she said under her breath.

“I’m right behind you.”

The Marquis stepped out of the shadows, blocking them as they reached the doors. “You aren’t leaving?” He held the door open for them, gracious to a fault, and undoubtedly evil to a fault as well. “You haven’t seen the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, our adult theme park.”

“Why broken dreams?” Tess wondered aloud.

She asked the question as she slipped past the Marquis and entered the lobby. Danny was right beside her, but he didn’t seem to have anything to say, and Tess couldn’t gauge his reaction to what the Marquis had suggested. Danny’s expression was as neutral as his sage-green crewneck sweater and blue jeans, but Tess wasn’t buying it.

Why wasn’t he asking questions? She suspected he had some familiarity with this place beyond hearing about it from Mitzi. She couldn’t let go of the feeling that he was not on her side where the Faustini account was concerned, and that she was being set up in some way. And if that was true, she had no idea how far he might take it. She wondered suddenly if the Marquis was involved. But Danny’s motives concerned her most. Was this about work, or was it personal, too?

“Broken things demand our attention,” the Marquis explained. “They won’t let us take them for granted, and we take too much for granted in this life, don’t you think?”

“Can’t disagree there,” she said, “but I think I’ll pass on the Boulevard.”

“Don’t be silly.” He gestured toward an elevator, the same one that had brought them up to the opera house. “It’s on your way out. You don’t want to miss the Vampire Forest. It’s our star attraction.”

The Marquis’ eerie yellow eyes came to mind, even though Tess would have preferred to forget them. Vampire eyes.

One of many lessons Tess had learned in the ad business was to pick your battles. Fight the ones you had a chance of winning. Gracefully concede the others—and save on the wear and tear. In this case, arguing would only prolong the agony, and besides, the Marquis had said the magic words, “It’s on the way out.”

Moments later, the elevator doors opened to yet another opulent hallway of a castle. Wall sconces designed to look like candelabra splashed firelight across the high vaulted ceiling, and freestanding torchieres threw flames as forked as any demon’s tongue. Billowing shadows filled every corner and crevice of the long corridor.

It was a bit medieval for Tess’s taste, but then so was the Marquis. They’d only gone down one floor, so this couldn’t be the dungeon. Those things cried out for a subground environment.

“Welcome to the Boulevard,” the Marquis said. “Where the past they left out of your history books meets the future of your wildest dreams. Look over here.”

He gestured to a futuristic archway leading to transparent doors that gave the illusion of being curved like a bubble. They appeared to be glass, and the room beyond looked like the interior of the largest glitter ball Tess had ever seen.

She read the inscription engraved in the doors. “Hypnosis Parlor?”

The Marquis nodded. “It’s a circular chamber with mirrored walls, but the eyes that stare back are your own. Just as in real life, we hypnotize ourselves. But if you prefer, you can have one of our Hypnotricks do the honors. Members and guests can take their pick of talented young men and women to entrance them and fill their heads with erotic suggestions.”

Danny got close enough to whisper in Tess’s ear, “Not a bad place for a photo shoot.”

The Marquis produced a remote and tapped a button. Immediately a deep male voice enveloped them, making relaxation suggestions that were as sensual as they were soothing. He could easily have put Tess in a trance with a few well-chosen words.

“I’ll bet he could defrizz my hair,” she murmured.

The Marquis indulged her with a smile. “I’m sure he could, if that’s what you want. You also have a choice of two-way mirrors, if you enjoy being watched.”

Tess was trying to imagine how that worked, when she was distracted by the sound of splashing water. She noticed an alcove across the hall. The doors were open, and she caught a glimpse of naked bodies drifting back and forth inside.

Curious, she headed over there for a better look, but with no intention of venturing inside. It appeared to be a large spa, tiled entirely in blue and white with at least one pool. But on the far side of the pool was a naked man chained between two pillars. His back was to Tess, and he was being misted by an automatic device that reminded her of a sprinkler system, except that the spray was so fine it looked like steam.

“Why is he writhing?” she asked as Danny and the Marquis joined her. “Is the water hot?”

“Cold,” the Marquis said. “It’s the duration of restraint that stimulates, not the temperature or the force of the water.”

“How long has he been there?” Tess couldn’t see anything other than his clenched buttocks, but still, it was pretty unnerving.