Club Noire

Chapter9

Baz held my hand on the elevator as we headed to the main floor where my office was located. We met with Phaedra and Jas and watched the footage that IT had found. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I now understood how the creepy man managed to get inside without a member’s help. He had assumed the identity of an unsuspecting member in order to get in by murdering the man outside. He used a glamour of someone in the system; therefore, the wards hadn’t been triggered nor security alerted because all everyone saw (except me, and apparently Baz), was the other member’s face. Unfortunately, his aura was still so evil that everyone still steered clear. Again, except my curious self.

I didn’t realize I was shaking until I felt Baz rubbing small circles on my back. I took a steadying breath as I inhaled Baz’s scent of pine and something manly and all him. Nodding, I sighed and smiled at Baz in thanks. He pulled me closer, and I rolled my eyes at Phaedra’s knowing smirk over the rim of her coffee cup. I wanted to tell her to knock it off, but she brought me the gods' promised elixir, aka a large caramel mocha coffee with whipped cream. We are best friends for reasons such as this. Jas snickered at his mate’s antics. Glad he thought this sh*t was hilarious. I huffed to myself.

Bringing my thoughts back to the present, I looked closer at the screens. Something suddenly caught my attention. I had the IT guy, Saul, stop the feed.

“Look at the creep with him. What do you all see?” I asked. Everyone crowded around me and saw what I was pointing at. Saul broke the horrified silence.

“Holy sh*t, what IS that thing?!” he exclaimed. I had to agree with his take now that I realized what I saw. It's an actual golem. I had never seen one, even outside the club. Only the most potent and high-level mages and witches could create one, which meant Mr. Creepy was even more dangerous than we immediately thought. This begs the question. Why was he at my club, and what was his interest in me? I shuddered at the sudden chill I felt. Baz rubbed my arms gently and leaned in closer.

“We will deal with this together. Whatever that thing with the mage means, we will get the heads of the highest factions together and sort this out,” he whispered. His words made me feel much safer than I originally had. I was much more comfortable with a task or goal. I immediately went into boss mode. I directed Phaedra to contact the faction heads and arrange a meeting in about two days. That would give us time to figure out who the creepy guy was, and even as good as my computer squad was, they needed at least twenty-four hours to get everything that might answer all the questions that might arise at the meeting. I set up the conference room on the first floor and put Saul in charge of getting all the tech guys on this issue. He was pleased to be trusted with such an important task. I let Saul know I had complete confidence in him and told him to keep me and those he wanted of his team in the loop. He promised with a bright smile as he took his leave.

Saul was an orphaned tiger shifter who was a world-renowned hacker by the time he was in his early teens. One of the other shifters introduced him to me, who found him in a decrepit building, living hand to mouth. After coming to work for me, he now had a (legal) well-paying job, an apartment in the building I owned down the block from the club, and had just found his mate, a sweet witch who also lived there. I usually let unmated members of my security team who worked for other factions stay in the building on a rotating basis. That increased their chances of finding their mates or intended in the city. Some factions were outside the city, and finding their other halves was more challenging. At least most of them weren’t dodging arranged marriages, although meddling parents were not uncommon in the supernatural community.

My club had become such a sought-after workplace that I had to put my security and other workers on a rotating schedule that I’d worked out with the factions I trusted. They would only send me their best and most-trusted members and I would further vet them before they set foot on any of my properties. I hadn’t been wrong yet, thank goodness. Little did I know that we were in for a few surprises.

Once Saul and the others had left, I turned my attention to Phaedra and Baz. “Something is way off. Even if the creepy dude managed to take over another person through glamour, the wards should have gone off on the strength of the fact that dark magic was used. That’s something we need to check on ASAP. Also, has anyone found out where that woman-beating weasel, Dav, is hiding out?” I glanced at Jas, knowing he would have contacted his contacts for an update. She looked down as her phone chimed and smiled.

“Our little weasel has gone to the ground to hide with the Ghost faction. The Ghosts don’t want him there, but apparently, he has some dirt or did some dirt for them and owes him a favor. Sorry about their luck,” she read the messages as they came through. Interesting. The Ghost faction was a misnomer, as no ghosts or necromancers existed. It was named that because an assassins guild operated as a faction.

They were mercenaries and if you wanted someone to disappear with no trace to you, the ghosts were who you’d talk to. No one really knew where they were located, and contacting them was a process. Somehow, they always knew when they had a contract. Double-crossing them was a death sentence, and they were insanely wealthy and feared. Their secretive nature also meant that no one knew who was a faction member. I had heard rumors they were led by an American dragon based in New Orleans, but nobody could confirm that. I had never needed their services, but I would have to get in touch with them, my way. I sent everyone out with more instructions. Phaedra was to check on Mercedes and have Dmitri call me. Baz growled at that, and I swatted his arm.

“None of the possessive growly stuff, wolfie,” I murmured. He nipped my neck.

“Wolfie?! I’ll show ya a wolfie, darlin’,” he whispered. I blushed to my toes as Phaedra and Jas snickered.

“Anyway, Phaedra, you know what to do. Jas, see if the other factions have something we can use as leverage for the Ghost faction to turn the weasel over to us. They do nothing for free, but all currency isn’t money.” I gave her a meaningful look. She nodded and sashayed out of the room in a flurry of scarves and perfume.

“What about me, darlin?” Baz asked.

“We’re going on a field trip,” I replied. He gazed questioningly at me.

“We’re taking a quick trip to New Orleans to see a ghost,” I said in a sing-song voice as Baz laughed.