“Britta is having a party.” Minion’s abrupt subject changes took some getting used to, but like all the other dancers in the Midnight Mystery Lounge, Kiki indulged Heidi’s demon companion.

“I hear that. Did you want to go to the party?” She flipped to the next page. The cars seemed different than what she—she didn’t really remember cars, so why they seemed different she couldn’t explain. However, the model, not the car, captured her attention. The man leaned against the driver’s side door, arms folded in front of his chest, head turned away from the camera. The rakish black hair feathered over his forehead and down over his ear. He looked stunning in a tuxedo.

Stunning and familiar…

“I want to go!” Minion bounced on the bed. The action jarred Kiki, and she let the magazine fall. Snagging the imp, she pounced on her and started tickling. The little beast squealed with laughter and they tussled onto the floor. Wiggling, the imp fled out the door. With the theatre closed for the night, the dancers indulged themselves with mani-pedis, pizza, music and a private party—just for them.

Of course, the theatre only closed because Roseâtre, their headliner, and Anthony, her scrumptious man candy, were off to Eastern Europe and Turkey to meet with their respective families.

Peppermint bumped hips as she padded past, a slice of pizza in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. “Come party, girl. Hiding in your room is just not you.”

She pasted on a smile and laughed. “No, but I thought I would try on something different—you know, sedate, scholarly—thoughtful…”

Peppermint stared at her, hazel eyes widening. They both burst out laughing at the same time, and Kiki danced forward to give her a hug. Outside her cell, the music pulsed around them. Britta grabbed her hand and pulled her into the dancing throng. Dayna held out a glass of wine. Kiki took it and tossed it back. She thrived on these moments, the wild party atmosphere—the dancing, the playing, the squeals of laughter.

She was on her third glass when Heidi beckoned her with a simple gesture. Heidi was the stage manager, the mistress of the Midnight Mystery Lounge, matron and enforcer… The woman served many capacities. More than a little tipsy, Kiki held her arms up and weaved a path through her friends and hugged her. “Heidi!”

The stage manager gave her a small squeeze, guided her down the hallway and around the corner. The music continued to pulse, but the noise level decreased. “You need a drink.” Kiki glanced at her own glass. “Speaking of which, so do I.”

Heidi stopped Kiki’s pivot with a hand to her arm and shook her head. “No, we just need a moment to chat. We’re going to launch a new show this week—a little extemporaneous thing—like the drunken debauchery debutante ball you have going on here.”

Kiki leaned against the wall and laughed. “Drunken debauchery debutante ball?” Her lungs squeezed from the laughter and she wheezed. At Heidi’s hard stare, she sobered with a sigh. “Fine. Why do we have to do some extemporaneous thing?”

“Because Roseâtre and Anthony won’t be back until the end of the week, and we can’t stay dark that long. So what I want you to do—”

“Argh. Heidi. You’re killing me here…or at the very least you’re killing my buzz.” The dancer dropped her chin to her chest and faked a moan. “Night. Off.”

“Why yes, I am aware, but since you can’t actually die, suck it up.” The stage manager’s dry response sent another titter of amusement through Kiki. “Tomorrow night. It will be extemporaneous for everyone—”

Kiki’s teeth ached—which was stupid because the last thing any of the dancers ever worried about were medical issues, much less dental. The spells that tied them to the theatre locked them in at the age they arrived, their lives dedicated to every performance—not that they didn’t have time for fun occasionally like tonight. But it didn’t matter where a dancer came from. Once her soul was bound, she remained bound for the duration of her contract.

Her mouth probably hurt because she’d ordered fake fangs and forgot to take them out before the spell swept over her during daylight. Who knew where the damn things were now.

The hum of Heidi’s words coupled with the throb in her gums dried up her buzz. “Oh my God.” She snarled. “I got it—why are you bugging me with this now?” She clapped a hand over her mouth, as if trying to shove the words back in, but they’d already escaped.

The stage manager’s expression chilled, and her gaze became positively glacial.

“Ooo—someone’s gonna get it.” Minion danced a jig around their legs and then scampered up to Heidi’s shoulder.

“Go away.” Heidi told the imp without looking away from Kiki.

“But…”

“Now.” One word. A single tone. The imp literally vanished with a bamf of noise. Kiki envied the creature. She’d like to disappear. Her quickly ignited temper flamed out as fast.

“Heidi—”

“I am telling you because you will be acting as lead for the next six nights. The girls will follow you. They will improvise their performance from yours.” The arctic breeze slicing through the words cut Kiki to the bone.

Lead. She would dance lead.

Her mouth opened, but words failed her.

“Don’t be late—or hung over.” The manager left, but the frozen tundra of her presence left Kiki rooted to the spot.

She blew out a breath, awareness creeping up the back of her neck. Turning, she spotted Cerveau standing in the doorway to her own cell.

“What?” At least that word came out exasperated rather than furious. The agitation surging up in her blood surprised her. Her skin itched. The music throbbed in her ears. Her mouth hurt. She was the party girl, not the killjoy. She left that job to everyone else.

“Nothing. You seem distressed.” Like Roseâtre, Cerveau was an Amazon. But the similarities between the women ended at the statement. They were tall, strong, well defined and athletic, but where Roseâtre’s presence commanded attention, Cerveau virtually faded into the background. It was like her two-dimensional reflection stood next to them—an old photographic negative.

Kiki shook her head. The throb in her teeth made her head ache too. “Just need to go track down the party spirit and shove it back in the bottle. I’m heading up for a bit.” Her black mini dress and combat boots were hardly high fashion, but she wasn’t going out to be noticed.

“Wait…” More scholar than warrior, Cerveau caught her arm in a surprisingly hard grip, and Kiki’s eyes burned. She whirled, a grimace pulling her lips back. To the academic Amazon’s credit, she didn’t retract her hand. “We’re not supposed to go out alone.”

“And I never do.” She struggled to smile—a real struggle because the heat in her belly bled into the rest of her system, and the fingers on her free hand curled into a fist. The urge to strike rode through her, a wild storm blasting through common sense and courtesy. “See you later, darling!”

She pulled herself free and trotted down the hall toward the theatre steps. The closed lounge opened onto the main lobby, and from there she could access the rest of the casino. The dressing area lights were off, a relief for her eyes. Her headache receded with every step away from the music. Where she would normally clomp noisily up the stairs, she virtually prowled.

Why the hell am I running away from the party? The thought crystallized in the sweet silence at the top of the stairs. But she had to go. Out—out of the theatre, away from the girls, away from the music and the distractions.

Hunger gnawed at her belly.

The hunger and an indefinable need twined through her, urging her onward. She was halfway across the stage and descending the steps to the lounge when the drive became a pull. Movement to her left sent her crouching into the shadows. She touched three fingers to the floor and stilled. Nostrils flaring, she caught the scent of nothingness. Not just empty theatre where the scents of human, shifter and vampire lingered amidst the ghosts of alcohol, food and perfume.

Stan appeared at the top of the stage, his normally bland expression grim and serious. His gaze swept over the empty lounge as he studied it. Kiki didn’t dare breathe, but her muscles were tensed, coiled and ready to spring. The sentinel was the guardian to all the women serving as showgirls in the Midnight Mystery Lounge. He escorted them when they stepped out of the safe haven of their cells and he protected them—but he was also a jailor.

Tonight, Kiki refused to be caged.

The lure calling to her increased, but she ignored it. Better to wait the guardian out than allow impulse to get her caught.

She’d made that mistake before.

A ripple of awareness shivered through her. The elusive thought trickled through her mind and vanished before she could capture it. Seconds became minutes, and Stan turned—finally—and vanished toward the back of the stage. Kiki remained frozen until the whisper of the door closing and the definitive echo of the sentinel’s shoes on the steps reached her ears.

The pull tugged her again, but still she waited. When a full five minutes passed and the sentinel didn’t return, she rose and drifted through the shadows until she reached the main doors. A quietly as they allowed, she slipped out into the blast of light and a cacophony of noise. Her eyes narrowed, and she squinted against the fluorescent overheads and beaming crystals reflecting onto the marble parquet lobby floor. Clusters moved through—coming and going—in groups of two, three and twenty.

Cheerful alarms rang up winnings. Cards shuffled. Men swore. Women laughed. Alcohol flowed. A woman sauntered past wearing the musk of sex and a satisfied smile. A man followed behind her, adjusting his tie. A couple in the corner all but rode each other through their clothes, while a grandmother smacked her husband in the back of the head and shooed him out the main doors.