Ravyn was through playing this shit with her. "There you would be wrong. And unless you want this club to go up in flames tonight, I suggest you let us pass."
She stiffened at his threat. "You can't harm us, it's against the code. No Dark-Hunter is ever allowed to harm an Apollite until we turn Daimon."
"Fuck the code," he said between clenched teeth. "If my friend is dead, I honor nothing but that which gave birth to me... vengeance."
The man spoke to her again.
She hesitated before she answered him. Her eyes worried, she looked back at Ravyn. "You have fifteen minutes with him before you drain his powers. After that, I want you gone."
To his complete shock, the Apollites actually broke apart to let them pass.
Expecting a trap, Ravyn made sure that Susan was between him and Otto while Leo pulled up the rear as they followed the woman through the club, which actually had a fairly large crowd, dancing to the hip-hop music. Strobe lights flashed off three different mirrored balls that spun high above them. To the sides were tables that were covered with black tablecloths that held Apollite and hippie symbols painted in neon colors. Black lights helped the colors to leap out in the darkness. They also served a dual purpose of making Ravyn's eyes ache.
The motion and lights would weaken a Dark-Hunter while leaving Daimons and Apollites unaffected. Smart thinking on their part.
The woman took them past the bar area, through an industrial kitchen, to a narrow door that opened onto a stairway for the basement.
She held it open with one arm and stood back for them to enter without her. "His room is the last one on the left."
Ravyn went down first.
"You think this is a trap?" Susan asked after the woman shut the door behind them. The light in the basement was very faint, but it actually felt good to his eyes after the hostile lighting above. Here, he could see perfectly.
"At this point," Ravyn said in all seriousness, "nothing would surprise me."
Ravyn paused as he approached the door that the woman had said led to Cael's room. He could hear someone grunting as if in severe pain, then suddenly, Cael let out an anguished cry.
His heart hammering, Ravyn kicked open the door and then completely reevaluated his prior comment about surprise.
This... this shocked the total hell out of him.
His jaw dropping, Ravyn stood in the doorway in total stupefaction as he saw Cael entwined on his bed with an Apollite woman. Completely flagrante delicto. "I so did not need to see that hairy full moon tonight," Ravyn said as he turned around to give them his back. "Gawd, I think I've gone blind."
Susan gasped as Otto and Leo laughed, then stepped back into the hallway, out of sight range for the naked couple.
Cael snarled a fetid curse. "What the hell is this shit?" he demanded angrily in a thick brogue that was an odd Scot-Irish mix. Ravyn could hear the two of them shuffling about on the bed, no doubt trying to cover themselves. "And for the record, I'm not the one with the hairy arse. That would be you. Don't you people knock?"
"Usually yes," Ravyn said snidely. "But not when I think you're being attacked."
"I was being attacked... in a most desirable way. You should try it once in a while, Rave, and maybe you wouldn't be such a bastard."
Ravyn rolled his eyes. "I don't know. You're the one who seems obsessed with my hairy ass. What's that say about you, bud?"
A shoe struck the wall not far from Ravyn's head. "Your aim's off, Cael."
"That wasn't Cael," a soft, venomous voice said in an agitated tone. "And next time I won't miss."
Before Ravyn could comment, Cael cleared his throat. "Why are you here anyway, Catboy?"
"That's Catman to you, and I need a word with you."
Cael let out an aggravated sigh. "Wait outside while Amaranda and I get dressed."
Ravyn cast a glance over his shoulder to see Cael and Amaranda wrapped in a sheet before he joined the others in the hallway and shut the door.
"I think I'll go wait upstairs," Leo said, heading down the hallway. "Call me if you need any more help busting up horny couples."
"Shut up, Leo," Ravyn snarled. "You're not so necessary to my world that you can lip off and not get hurt."