happy here."
He left, and Bastien and I stood there in silence for a few moments. "You know," I said at last, "in the years I've been in Seattle, I don't think Jerome has ever told me to call him if I needed anything."
Bastien chuckled as he walked over to a small but well-stocked bar. "Luis is quite exceptional from what I've seen so far. I was lucky to end up here. You too."
"Yeah. We're all lucky, aren't we?" I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall by the war. "How did you end up here?"
"The same way any of us end up anywhere. I was living in Newark until I got the transfer order a couple days ago. Here I am."
I frowned. "I thought you said you'd been here a week?"
"Week, a few days. I don't know. I admit, I've been kind of intoxicated since I arrived. It was recent, that's all. And a surprise."
"So was mine," I murmured. "Astonishingly so. And now you're here too. It's kind of weird."
"Is it?" He emptied a martini shaker into two glasses. "We've worked together before. Figures that it would happen again."
I accepted the glass he offered me. "I suppose so. But still . . . the number of times we've ended up together has been pretty amazing. For it to happen again is a huge coincidence." I took a sip and nodded approvingly. He'd used Grey Goose.
"Maybe it's not a coincidence. They keep track of our performance records. They probably know we work well together."
I hadn't considered that. "You think they'd actually place us together because of that? To get results? I mean, I'm still trying to figure out why I was even transferred at all."
"There doesn't have to be a reason, not with them."
"I know. One theory about me being here is that I haven't been all that great of a succubus."
"Ah, then there you are. They sent you to me because they know what a good influence I am on you."
"Bad, you mean."
His eyes twinkled. "This is going to be a lot of fun having you here. I haven't even gambled yet, and already I feel like I hit the jackpot." He knocked back his drink. "Finish that, and let's go have some fun. I know a great place for lunch. We'll go there and then hit some games of chance."
It felt weird going out on the town, especially so early in the day. I'd become too subdued in my Seattle life, I realized. I'd done such a good job at playing human that I'd forgotten what it was like to think like a succubus. Why not live it up in daylight? This was technically a business trip, but the point was to scope out the place of my future employment. I'd been here lots of times before, but this was the first time I really and truly studied the city through the eyes of an "on the clock" succubus. Again, I was struck by that earlier, heady sense: easy, so amazingly easy.
We caught a cab, and Bastien gave instructions for us to go to Sparkles. I ran through my mental list of Las Vegas attractions and came up empty.
"I've never heard of that," I said. "It sounds like a strip club."
"Nah, it's a brand-new hotel and casino," Bastien told me. "So shiny and new, in fact, that it just opened a couple of weeks ago, and already it's a hit."
"Why's it called Sparkles?" I asked.
He grinned. "You'll see."
The answer was obvious once we got there. Everything was, well, sparkly. The exterior sign was a riot of glittering, chasing lights that should've had a seizure warning affixed to it. Everyone who worked in the hotel and casino wore elaborately sequined outfits, and all the decor was done in brightly colored metallic and glittering surfaces. Paired with the flood of flashing lights already found in a casino, the entire spectacle was hard on my eyes at first. Yet, despite what could've easily degenerated into tackiness, there was still something in the feel of the place that radiated luxury. Sparkles was over the top, yes, but in a good way.
"Here," said Bastien, leading me through the maze of the casino. "There's a little less sensory overload where we're going."
Opposite the side we'd entered in was a doorway dominated by a sign reading DIAMOND LOUNGE. With a name like that, I expected strippers and more glitz but instead found myself in a quiet and much more tastefully subdued establishment. Crystal chandeliers and