“It’s called being quiet,” he replied, grinning. “I’m pretty good at it.”
“I’ll say.”
He stopped beside me. “Whatcha doing?”
I turned back to the loading area. “I was hoping I could sneak in the back and see what the hell is going on in there.”
“It’s a freaking horror show.”
“You’ve been in there?”
Glenn nodded. “Got here when David put the call out. Haven’t seen anything like it. Seriously.” He lifted a hand, rubbing it over his skull. “You don’t have to sneak. Only members are inside, and a handful of detectives that David knows.”
“Crap,” I murmured. If the police were here and most of them were outside while only members and the cops who knew about us and the fae were inside, this was some serious stuff. “Let’s go.”
Glenn led the way to the doors where the SUVs were parked. “So where are you from?” I asked, realizing I knew very little about him.
He looked over his shoulder at me. “You’re the second person to ask me that.”
I glanced around. “Oh?”
“Yeah. You and Ren.”
“Oh,” I said again, much lower this time.
A handsome grin appeared on his face. “I’m from New York City. It’s taking me a bit to get used to this place.”
“I’ve never been there. Always wanted to see it though.” We walked around one of the SUVs. “I’m originally from Virginia.”
“So the summers are as bad here as I’ve heard?” He opened the door, holding it out for me. “I was expecting it to be warmer by now. Sort of feels like I’m still in the north.”
“Yeah. The weather right now is a little weird.”
Glenn stepped around me and led the way down a narrow hallway with several closed and opened doors. A break room. A door marked “Manager.” A storage room that was open, with liquor bottles everywhere.
“I’m not sure what you’ve seen before. I’m guessing you’ve seen some crazy stuff since we all have, but this . . .” He trailed off as he stopped in front of a gray door with a small window. “Yeah, this is something else.”
Unsure of what I was preparing myself for, I walked through the door he opened and made it a couple of steps before I came to a complete stop. Horror rose within me, robbing me of the ability to speak or even think.
The house lights were on, glittering like sharp diamonds. I spotted David standing next to Miles and Henry. Dylan and Jackie were standing near what used to be the shadowy corners. And then there were detectives staring up, and I had to wonder if they had ever seen anything like this before.
People hung from the ceiling.
Humans.
Their bodies were swaying like branches in the wind.
People were scattered across the floor.
Their bodies left behind like discarded trash.
Some were nude, and some were fully clothed. They looked like staff. The men were in black slacks, and some were still wearing white uniform shirts. Others were bare-chested. Some women wore slinky black dresses. The closest body to me belonged to a female. She had one high heel on her foot. For some reason I looked down to see if I could find the other shoe, and I don’t even know why that was important, but I looked and then I saw her.
It was the waitress I’d seen the night Ren and I had come to Flux. She’d been serving Marlon and the ancient whose blood had opened the gates. I’d suspected she’d known what they were, based on her wariness around them, and how she seemed to know that she was about to be fed on when the ancient had grabbed her. Now she was dead and cold on the floor, staring up at the dazzling lights.
They were all dead—dozens and dozens of humans. Some hanging from the ceiling. Others splayed across the floor and in between tables and chairs.
And all of them had been fed on until there was nothing left but pale skin and tainted, darkened veins.
~
It was late Tuesday night when I got home. Tink was asleep, or at least that’s what I guessed he was doing, because his door was closed and no sound was coming from inside. But I was too disturbed to sleep.
I sat on the corner of the couch, wrapped up in the soft chenille blanket. The TV was on, the volume turned down low, and I had no idea what was being said or what was happening.
I couldn’t un-see what I’d seen in that club.
As long as I lived, I would never forget the sight. Glenn had been right. I’d seen a lot of crazy and messed up stuff, but nothing ever like this. So much death—senseless death.
Even David had been unsettled, and it wasn’t because he couldn’t hide that many deaths from the public. The detectives were going to spin it as some kind of cult—mass suicide or something—but people weren’t stupid. Some were going to be seriously suspicious, but they’d never believe the truth anyway.
I’d overheard Kyle say he’d seen something like this before once in Dallas, where the fae had turned on the humans that had served them for one reason or another, feeding on all of them until they were gone. That too had been pawned off as a cult offing themselves because a comet hadn’t shown up or something.
I didn’t understand why this had happened. The fae didn’t need humans for anything other than food, but having their assistance in some areas had to be helpful. Why would they kill them, and why now? There were too many questions.
Before I left, I’d closed the waitress’ eyes, and on the way back to my place I’d called Ren. There was still no answer, but I didn’t leave a message for him this time.