Sizzle and Burn (The Arcane Society #3)(57)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

A figure brushed past her and vanished into the men’s room. In the gloom he was little more than a dark shadow. With her attention focused on her footing, all she saw was a leather-clad pant leg and a heavy black boot.

The scent of smoke laced with a strong, acrid-sweet herb drifted around her. Someone in the men’s room was either burning incense or smoking something strange. She had a hunch it was the latter. She wrinkled her nose, trying to avoid taking a deep breath.

But the smoke grew stronger, not fainter. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she caught a hint of movement in the heavy black drapery to her left. It undulated as though a powerful current of air had moved over the fabric.

No, not over the curtain, under it. The motion was caused by something or someone standing between the drapery and the wall. One of the club’s patrons had ducked behind the curtain to take a quick hit of something that was no doubt highly illegal.

Out of nowhere a tide of voices rose in her head. She recognized the screams of rage and pain and sick, euphoric elation.

…Need to swim in the blood. Need to bathe in it…

…Die-die-die. Want to feel it when she finally stops breathing. Need it. Need to know I have the power to take her life…

Old voices from a cold case she had worked with Bradley, she realized. They were intermingled with a lot of blurred static that clung to the hallway.

…Need another hit. Gotta have it now, now, now. Don’t care what I have to do. Gotta have the stuff. Nothing else matters. Nothing…

…Stupid bitch. Has it coming. She deserves to suffer. Make her pay…

…Going to kill him this time…

Panic welled up, as disorienting as the sea of ghostly voices. Zack was wrong when he’d promised that she wasn’t going to go crazy like Aunt Vella. It was happening. She was losing control. Her internal psychic defenses were crumbling. Everything was coming up out of the secret swamp.

Suddenly there was another voice riding the swelling wave of screams. Zack, casually telling her something every member of the Arcane Society already knew.

…Any sensitive who decides to experiment with illicit crap is really asking for nightmares…

Okay, maybe she wasn’t going crazy. Maybe it was the herb-scented smoke. The stuff was doing something to her parasenses. She had to get away from it.

She tried to hurry out of the hall but couldn’t seem to find her balance. When she looked down she saw that her feet, complete with high heels, had disappeared into the glowing blue light beneath the thick glass. She could no longer tell where she was stepping. The smoky drug was throwing both her normal and her paranormal senses into chaos.

The heel of her invisible shoe skidded on the glass, twisting beneath her.

She stumbled and started to fall. Instinctively she grabbed a handful of the black curtain to steady herself. But the thick drapery could not support her weight. It tore free of the hooks that secured it to the wall.

She went down hard on the illuminated floor, still clutching the curtain. Yards of heavy fabric cascaded on top of her, threatening to suffocate her.

A rush of adrenaline shot through her. This was ridiculous. She was not going to die here on the floor outside the restroom of a goth club. Clamping down savagely on the riot of horrible voices, she planted both hands on the illuminated floor and managed to push herself up onto all fours.

The change in position allowed a draft of air in under the shroud of cloth. She could still smell the tainted smoke but it was not nearly as strong as it had been a moment before. Smoke rises, she thought. The air was less tainted here near the floor. The dust embedded in the curtains was another problem, however. She sneezed.

There were more voices. Thankfully, they were not coming from inside her head. Two young men who had just emerged from the restroom were talking.

“Hey, man, floor look a little weird to you?”

“I told you that new shit was some righteous stuff.”

“No, man, it’s, like, the curtain that used to be on the wall. What’s it doin’ on the floor? Can’t see the lights.”

She drew another cautious breath. “Help.”

“I think there’s somebody under there, man.”

“You sure it ain’t the shit?”

“Don’t think so.”

The drapery was abruptly snatched away. She straightened to her knees and discovered two figures peering down at her. She couldn’t see their faces clearly in the deep shadows but the floor light illuminated two pairs of heavy leather boots.

“Thank you,” she managed between sneezes.

One of the young men bent over her, concerned. The blue floor light gleamed on the rings in his nose, eyelid and lower lip.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yes, thanks,” she said. The scent of the drug was almost gone. The air tasted relatively clean. “Could you give me a hand? I think I broke the heel of my shoe.”

“Sure.” Ring Guy took a firm grip on her elbow and hauled her upright. “Hey, you’re Pandora’s boss, aren’t you? I’ve seen you in here before.”

“That’s right.” Standing, she could see that both men were wearing leather vests that left their arms and chests bare. The better to exhibit their extensive tattoos, no doubt. Ring Guy’s hair was cut and gelled into a shark’s fin on top of an otherwise shaved head. His companion wore his hair in a long black ponytail.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the two of you coming to my rescue,” she said, giving them both a grateful smile. “That curtain weighed a ton. Thought I was going to suffocate under it.”

“No problem,” Ring Guy said, pleased to play hero.

“Yeah, sure,” Ponytail said enthusiastically. “Anytime. You gonna be okay now?”

“I think so, yes.” She looked around, wondering why the noise level had gone up so dramatically. “You two weren’t behind the curtain, were you?”

“Huh?” Ring Guy seemed confused. “No. We just came out of the restroom.”

“I thought so,” she said. “There was someone else here a moment ago, hiding behind the curtains. Did you see anyone leave?”

“No,” Ring Guy said. “But it’s sorta hard to see much in here.”

“I know. Well, thanks again.”

She tried to take a step and realized that walking was going to be an issue. Her ankle was throbbing. She put one hand on the wall to steady herself and limped slowly back to the main room. She heard the voices of her rescuers floating out of the hallway behind her.