Imprisoned Gods - G. Bailey Page 0,24

he replies, still grinning - no doubt because he now knows Mads doesn't know what I am.

"We will have two then," I reply before Mads can, and pull my card out of my handbag. He waves me off and steps back to grab some glasses.

"The boss says it's on the house. Perks of the job, right?" He doesn’t give us a chance to respond before he disappears off to make our drinks. Shit, maybe we should be getting out of here before he tells Mads everything by accident. The last thing I need is her freaking out and me possibly losing my best friend on my birthday because she’s become scared of me.

"The boss must be nice then," Mads says awkwardly, no doubt picking up on the strange mood I’m in. I can only nod as I run my eyes around the room and decide it’s about time I get my karma job out of the way so we can leave. I do not want to have to come back here, and this way, Mads can drink in peace for a second. I’ll just have to trust the bartender isn’t a giant dick; if he knows anything about the etiquette of living among gods, he should know that he can’t just go blabbing the truth to any random patron who walks into his bar.

It’s decided. I will use the bathroom excuse, get my karma job done, and then tell Mads I saw a rat or something. We’ll get the hell out of here and go back to our usual place, ready to drink the night away and forget all about this strange, magical club. Yep, this sounds perfect and foolproof.

"I'm going to find the bathroom while you wait for the drinks, alright?" I ask, and Mads nods as I get up and walk across the room towards the sign for the bathrooms. I pass the table of orgy couples and walk into a long corridor. There are doors at the end of the hallway with bathroom signs, and I square my shoulders before turning toward them. Act natural, I tell myself. You’re not in a human place, that’s for damn sure. As I walk down the corridor, I can feel my hand start to burn where the location dot is, and I spin around, looking for my charge just as a man steps into the dark corridor behind me. I can’t see all his features, just a built, muscular body and a tall frame. His hair looks red and messy, but his face is too hidden in the shadows to see. Whoever he is, he sends goose bumps all over my body, and some instinct in me tenses up. The corridor feels tenser, and not the good sort of sexual tension, either. No, this is the scary ass, insanity-provoking kind instead.

"Hello?" I utter out, pulling my power so I can sense his fears and what I need to do here for him to get bad karma. I sense nothing other than water, an image of a still lake appearing in my mind for a split second, but I can’t tell what it is about water that this guy doesn’t like. All I know for sure is that it’s a fear of his - or at least a nuisance.

There is something else, a prickling little itch at the edge of my consciousness. It feels like it’s just out of reach, and when I intensify my concentration, reaching out with my mind as I clench my hands into fists, it feels like a wall is slammed up. It’s like losing your train of thought, over and over again. At any rate, though, using water against this guy shouldn’t be much of a problem.

The stranger doesn’t reply, just stands there still as a statue as he stares at me. It’s unnerving, and as the seconds tick by, I can feel myself getting more and more creeped out. Even after I take a couple steps forward, I still can't see his face, but I wouldn't be sensing his fear unless he were the man I was looking for. I pull my necklace out of my dress, feeling around my charms for something to break the glass above him and flood this corridor with water. That should be karma enough, and it's my birthday, so I'm not doing more right now. I pause on the bolt charm I got today, wondering if it's not a bolt at all but a crack. Well, no time like