Chapter 11

The club was down a back alley and through an unmarked metal door. Unmarked to the casual observer that is. For all of us with clairvoyance, there was a large sign which read: Lights Out. I grinned at the obvious play on extinguishers and glanced at Abby, who fidgeted with excitement beside me like a puppy waiting at the door for his daily walk. We'd been to this club once before when we were both eighteen and had just given our vows to become Extinguishers. It had been a crazy, tequila-soaked night filled with debauchery, and I was both scared of and hoping for a repeat.

Brendan rapped on the door sharply and it was only a few moments before it swung open to reveal a large Irish man in your basic bouncer attire; black muscle T and black jeans. He looked us up and down and then stepped aside. Abby grinned wider at me and took my hand as we went in. I glanced back at Brendan, but he seemed to have learned his lesson from his failure in the limo and had adjusted his behavior. He waved me on with a magnanimous smile.

Inside, there was a small antechamber with a comfy chair, several TVs showing scenes from both inside and outside the club, and a window which looked out onto the club. The bouncer opened a door set into the wall beside the window and thumping bass slapped me in the eardrums. I cringed a little but smiled through the pain as Abby dragged me inside with her. I wondered briefly if I'd still be able to hear in the morning.

The club was dark in the way of most nightclubs; a sort of mysterious murk that allows for flashing lights to illuminate intriguing pieces of people or objects. You end up forming images in your mind far more enticing than reality. There was a light fog lurking around the floor, probably the result of a machine and not anything as wonderful as magic, and there was a wide, black stage at the far end which seemed to float above the fog. The stage was the most brightly lit area in the room.

Onstage were gyrating musicians and before them, the foggy dance floor was full of gyrating extinguishers. Yep, all of them were extinguishers. I may have mentioned this before but we're a secretive group who hates to stray outside of our community. Not even for some R and R. If you're an extinguisher, you only dance with other extinguishers because sometimes dancing and drinking can lead to sex. Sex especially is only indulged in with other extinguishers; just in case your indiscretion results in offspring. We can't have any powerful babies running amok outside the families. Fortunately, we're a very large group and a very fertile one so we keep getting larger. It hasn't been a case of kissing cousins for quite some time now.

We found a table on the outskirts of the dance floor and ordered some drinks. Abby was still displaying puppy-like zeal—hopping up and down in her seat, raring to go—but Jared just relaxed back into his chair with a slide which clearly said he was there to stay. Brendan looked over at me with a raised brow.

"I'm good." I looked at Abby. "Why don't you take Abby out to dance, and I'll wait here with Jared?"

"Really?" Brendan lifted his brows. "I seem to remember a school dance where you never left the floor."

"Yeah, I was thirteen and didn't care if I made a fool out of myself." I chuckled. "I think I flailed about more than danced and my moves haven't improved much since then."

"Your moves were good enough for me to remember them." Brendan grinned.

"Good, hold onto that memory"—I grinned back—"because that's all you're going to get."

"I'm coming back for you when they play a slow song," Brendan vowed.

"Fine," I huffed.

"You're sure you're okay with me leaving you here?" Brendan cocked his head at me.

"As long as Jared is cool with you dancing with his girl?" I looked over at Abby's boyfriend.

"I'm fine." Jared nudged Abby. "Go on, honey, I know you want to dance."

"Yay!" Abby jumped up and tugged on Brendan's arm. "Come on, come on!"

Brendan laughed and let her drag him onto the floor. I smiled as I watched them slide into a clear space and Abby's red hair started swinging around with her wacky dance moves. Evidently, she still didn't care about people's opinions of her. I kind of envied that.

"Dancing isn't your thing either?" Jared asked me as Claudine and Matthew followed Abby and Brendan to the dance floor.

"Not really," I admitted. "I can do the slow sway like no one's business, though."

"Me too," Jared said. "You wanna see?" He sat up and barely moved side to side in his seat.

"Nice!" I shared a quick fist-pound with him and then sat back as the waitress deposited our drinks on our table.

"Abby said you were pretty wild, but you seem rather calm to me," he observed.

"I was more wild before—" I frowned and took a sip of my drink.

"Yeah, I heard." He grimaced and took an awkward sip as well. "Sorry about that."

"Thanks." I looked away, and he let me because he was a guy, and he understood that you didn't push someone when they were reliving a trauma.

"Good thing I'm such a great conversationalist," he joked, and I jerked my gaze back to him to find him grinning apologetically.

"Yeah, good thing." I laughed a little. "Maybe we should talk about your relationship with my friend next."

"Ow." He held a hand to his chest. "That was unfair."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But, seriously"—I pointed at him—"what are your intentions with Abigail?"

"Relax, Mommy." He held up his hands in surrender. "Come on, what are anyone's intentions? We're extinguishers; I intend to marry her and have lots of baby extinguishers. It's part of our job. I think it's even in the contract."

"Yeah." I sighed; my good mood ruined.

"Hey." Jared hit my shoulder with his fist. "It's not as if it's a hardship. Look around; we're not exactly ugly people, and we're not hurting for choices either."

"No, I know." I took another swig of my rum and coke. "We're all fit—we have to be—and most of us are pretty... well... pretty, but it's just the whole required to do it thing that pisses me off."

"I agree," he said, "I—hey, what the hell's a fairy doing here?"

I followed Jared's stare over to the bar where a familiar fairy face was staring right back at me. As if it had been doing so for quite awhile. My jaw dropped as I unwittingly got to my feet and began walking toward Tiernan.

"What are you doing?" Jared's voice stopped me before I got too far.

"My job," I called back to him as I kept walking. "I'm keeping the peace."