The Space Between

Brendan 1

Brendan

Where? The f**k. Was she? 

She couldn’t have just disappeared. No one was allowed to teleport, pop, shimmer or just randomly f*****g disappear out of my club or they got a lifelong ban. They had to use the front door like civilized beings. I had enough wards in place to prevent it and catch anyone who tried. This was a club for everyone to enjoy, as long as they obeyed my rules. 

Except demons. Demons could f**k off.

So, she sure as hell didn’t pop out of the club because my security would have caught her. So, where the f**k was she? 

I’d already questioned both guys at the door and no one saw her leave. She also wasn’t on the security footage from the front door, trust me, I’d have spotted her. The club had shut down hours ago and I was no closer to finding her than I’d been fifteen minutes after Zak the d**k had pulled me away from her. And over something stupid he could have handled himself. I sighed and leaned back in my desk chair, closing my eyes, and spinning a slow circle with my feet. I had to think of this rationally. There had to be an explanation. I hadn’t dreamed her.

Had I?

She had felt so real in my arms, her skin soft and supple. I hadn’t expected her to lean back into me. My size alone intimidated most people, add in my magic and people stayed away. But none of that mattered the second she placed her hands over mine. It was like electricity coursed through my veins. I’d never gotten that hard so fast in my life.

“Hey, Brendan,” I heard Zak say as he walked into my office. I had my back turned to him, but I heard him sit in one of the leather armchairs on the other side of the desk. “Any luck?”

“No.” He knew I’d been checking out the security footage from the front door, hoping to catch a glimpse of her leaving.

“Tell me what she looked like again.”

“She came up to my shoulder. Slender, like a dancer. Black, shoulder length hair. She was wearing a white crop top and jeans that sat so low you could practically see her ass.” So much skin showing, so much more I wanted to get my hands on.

“Considering you’re 6’8, that would make her at least six foot tall.”

“Thank the giant somewhere in my bloodline,” I snorted.

“Are you sure she was real?”

I stop my chair from moving and Zak stills. Even though I’m still not facing him, I can tell he stills. Like only an elf can still. “What are you suggesting?” My tone is deathly quiet.

“Nothing. It’s just, you’ve been under a lot of stress lately…”

“I didn’t dream her,” I cut Zak off.

“With your sister missing and everything,” he continued, undaunted by my tone.

I swung my chair around to face him. “I was practically f*****g her in an alcove, Zak. I think I could tell she was real.”

“Nobody else saw her.”

“You’re a f*****g elf, you see everything.”

“And yet, I didn’t see her, Brendan. No one saw her come in the club or leave the club.”

“Then you’re all going blind and I need a new security team.” I spun my chair back around.

“Maybe she was a vampire and poofed out.”

“Number one,” I said, holding up a finger, “she didn’t smell like a blood-sucking piece of s**t vampire. Number two, even the prince of blood-sucking assholes can’t poof out of here, so none of them can.” I hated vampires only slightly less than I hated demons. At least not enough to keep them out of my club. Aside from the few vampire exclusive bars, this was the only other place they could go. And they definitely spent money when they were here, so, it was still good business to let them in. The vampire prince knew though, one more incident like the last and they were banned as well.

“And she never told you her name?” Zak asked, as if asking me the question again would elicit a different response.

“No,” I replied for the fourth time. One goddamn moan was all the sound I’d gotten out of her. “If she’d told me her name, I’d be upstairs f*****g her for probably the third time tonight and not down here with you.”

“Maybe you need to rethink that self-imposed rule then. A nameless f**k has to be better than no f**k at all.”

“Don’t insult me,” I say, power rumbling out of me with the words. Luckily, I’m still facing away from Zak, because I know my eyes flashed, I could feel it. “Or any woman I choose to have s*x with. They are better than a nameless fuck.”

“You’re right,” Zak said, adjusting in the chair. “I apologize.” I say nothing and the silence stretches out between us. I hear Zak start to fidget and I know what’s happening. With his supernatural hearing, he hates how loud the club is so much that he wears earplugs while working. But he also can’t stand when it’s too quiet. I bet he can hear the blood pumping through my veins right now and it’s driving him crazy. Before much time passes, I hear the chair creak as Zak rises. “Look, I’m going to head home. The club is closed the next two days, how about you try to relax. I know you spend all your spare time looking for Brittany.”

“Yeah,” I said, still not turning to face Zak. “See you Tuesday.”

I got a few hours sleep but that was it. I haven’t been able to sleep well since my sister went missing a couple of months ago. Everyone knows how I feel about my sister, my baby sister. She was really the only family I had left that I gave a s**t about. She’d been kidn*pped off the street right outside the club, and on Zak’s watch.

The motherfucker was lucky to still be alive. 

The only reason he was still alive was because we’d been friends forever. And I knew he loved Brittany like a sister too. He’d been almost as torn up as me about it. He’d called for backup because a pack of demons started making a ruckus outside. The word pack might be a misnomer. They didn’t show up in demon form, slobbering and slashing, but rather in human form. Most of them had the appearance of rich businessmen in suits. I didn’t understand why they still showed up though, they knew I wouldn’t let them in and the two giants I employed for the front door made sure of that. Demons smelled like fire and brimstone, they couldn’t hide it, which is why two giants guarded the door. A giant can smell what you had for dinner last week, based on what was oozing out of your pores. Their sense of smell was insane. They don’t have speed on their side when fighting, they have power. The guys at my door, Mark and Sven, are seven and a half feet tall and thick, solid muscle. Speed might eventually overpower them if they tired out before the attacker did.

But, back to that night. For some reason, Brittany was near the entrance and decided to get involved, and since Zak was in charge of the front door that night, that made him responsible. There was a reason I didn’t let females man the front door, it was dangerous. That’s why I had Mark and Sven. Yes, Brittany was headstrong and did what she wanted, but that didn’t matter, in this club, she was our responsibility.

In this club, she was everyone’s baby sister.

Every female that worked in this club was my responsibility.

I had heard of a similar situation happening at a different club, demons making a ruckus and another girl getting kidn*pped, but it had been about five years now since that happened. That girl wasn’t my problem though, finding Brittany was.

But I haven’t heard anything. We had feelers out in all the magical communities but there was no information on her whereabouts. I’d tried every location and finding spell I knew. And, if I’m being honest with myself, things hadn’t been the same between Zak and I since she disappeared. I’d drawn away from him, we weren’t as close as we used to be. Right or wrong, I blamed him for what happened. He turned his back on a pack of demons and let them get their hands on my sister. I’ve watched the security footage a thousand times. He tried to stop her from leaving the club, from stepping onto the sidewalk, but she was fast and sidestepped him. Brittany starts yelling at them to get away from the door, saying they know they aren’t welcome. She practically walks right into their circle.

And that’s when Zak, instead of grabbing Brittany and hauling her back inside, he, for whatever reason, turns his back on those demons.

And that’s when those demons close rank on her, Sven reaches out to try to stop them, and they shimmer away with my goddamn sister.