Page 103 of The Mating Quest
I don’t need help. I need to findIlana.
No guns in the Dark Kingdom, Tristan had warned. They didn’t work. Instead, he carried a knife, sheathed at his belt. Steel, not iron, would go through the veil separating this world from the DarkKingdom.
The Dark Wing Gentlemen’s Club sat on a stretch of dirt road off Emerald Road, a two-lane highway leading out of Sin City. To Skins who might stumble upon the club, it looked like a rundown barn. All glamor. The club was run by a notorious Fae named Jaeden, who used magick to disguise the club’s purpose from Skins, and even certain Others who might havedisapproved.
Blue-gray jagged mountains flanked the valley. The tawny landscape of arid desert was broken here and there by bright green patches of scrub andbrush.
Set back in a field, across the street from a two-story wood house with several pieces of rusting farm equipment in the yard, the brothel was hidden from view by several tall trees. But he could clearly see the black iron rooftop. Iron was painful to most Fae. Jaeden must possess tremendousmagick.
On the street, he studied the black wrought iron fence ringing the property, To Skins the fence looked rusty and disused, guarding only a few dead trees and dry brush set into the dustyearth.
A round buzzer with an intercom and was beneath the gate’s sign that readNo Solicitors.That includes ogres, dragons, Lupines, sprites and especially trolls. A security camera sat on thefencepost.
Ethan pressed thebuzzer.
“State your purpose,” a deep voicegrowled.
“Let me the fuckin.”
The gate swung open. Ethan walked up the sidewalk as the door to the brothel opened. A tall Fae, clad in a black tunic, black leggings and black boots stood in the doorway. He had long, ice-blond hair, hard, brown eyes set beneath dark, archedbrows.
“Jaeden.” A statement, not aquestion.
The Fae nodded. “Tristan told me you’d be arriving. Thisway.”
Jaeden led the way into the brothel. Opulent furnishings greeted him as he was escorted inside. Jewel-toned Persian carpets lay upon the marbled floors and the tall ceilings featured corniced moldings. The receiving area resembled a sheikh’spalace.
He followed Jaeden through a hallway to the back of thehouse.
They went out the back door. What seemed like an acre of dry grass stretched outside, ringed by a tall fence surrounding the brothel. Jaeden headed for a stubbytree.
“This is the portal.” The Dark Fae pointed to the tree. “You will have to send over your knife first, before crossingover.”
Ethan handed him the knife. Jaeden looked impressed at the size, and then set it near the tree. The Fae chanted a few words. There was a brilliant purple flash, nearly blinding him, and the knifevanished.
Jaeden’s pointed ears twitched. “You’ll need me to cross over, Lupine, since you have never been there before. If you are ready, hold onto mybelt.”
Ethan clutched the back of the Fae’s belt. After closing his eyes, he felt a ripple in the air, much like that of an approaching windstorm of tremendous power. And then pain wracked his body, enormous pain that felt as if someone yanked deep inside him and tried to squeeze his innards. He felt his body compress, and then pull outward, and then magick pouring into his body. Not wholesome Lupine magick of wolf, but pure power, as if someone pumped him full ofenergy.
Opening his eyes, he fought thedizziness.
The Dark Fae disentangled himself from Ethan’s grip. Ethan looked around and found his knife sitting a short distance away. He strapped it back on and regarded thisworld.
They were just outside a stretch of thorny cacti that made an effective barrier between a vast wasteland and the glittering black building that was the brothel in thisworld.
The DarkKingdom.
It looked the same as the earth world at first glance. Overhead the burning yellow sun beat down upon them same as it did in the Nevada desert, and the sky was a clear, cloudless blue. But then he noticed the streaks of deep purple and pink rippling in the sky before vanishing, like the Northern Lights ofAlaska.
Most of all he felt different. It was as if he’d repressed everything Other about himself on Earth, and here, all his powers surfaced. Here in the Dark Kingdom, Others were free to practice their magick, embrace their powers and use them without restriction, without fear of humandiscovery.
He stretched out a hand, feeling his powers surge. Ethanlaughed.
Watching him, Jaeden nodded. “It is a rush when you first experience it. Hard to return to the mortalplain.”
Insight hit him. “This is a land where Others who lack much magick can feelpowerful.”
Jaeden nodded. “I trust that is why your Ilana spent so much timehere.”
