He held up a belt of small throwing knives. “What are you going to do with all of this?”

Jordan sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “A girl can never have enough weapons.”

“I really hope we don’t need to use any of this,” said Peter as he poked around in the bag.

I picked up one of the small silver daggers I’d gotten for myself. “So do I.” But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

* * *

Blue Nyx wasn’t like any of the other nightclubs we’d driven past on our way here. There was no flashy sign to attract clubbers and no lineup outside the door. It was a nondescript brick building with a plain steel door bearing no decoration. In fact, if it wasn’t for the small blue letters painted above the door, we would not have known we were at the right place. We couldn’t even hear music until we stood in front of the door, and even then it was very faint.

Jordan tried the handle and found it locked. She rapped on the steel door and took a hasty step back as the heavy door swung outward. I think we all gasped as the biggest man I’d ever seen towered over us. He must have been seven feet tall with a blond buzz cut and dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched across his massive chest and arms. With his flat nose, wide forehead, and small dark eyes, he reminded me of a picture of an ogre I’d seen in a book at Westhorne. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did have ogre in his blood.

“Holy crap, you could bench press a bus,” I blurted.

His thin lips twitched, and his gaze settled on me before sweeping over my friends. I wasn’t sure what he was checking for, but he looked satisfied by whatever he did or didn’t see. He stepped back, still holding the door open with one hand, and waved us in. We had to walk under his arm, and he was so tall none of us had to duck. That seemed to amuse the bouncer because he chuckled. I looked up and caught a flash of fang. Definitely ogre.

We walked down a short hallway where another bouncer, almost as big as the first one, stood in front of a second door. “Talk about security,” I muttered to Jordan, who nodded.

At first glance, Blue Nyx was like the nightclubs I’d seen in movies. There was a crowded dance floor and a long bar where three bartenders rushed to fill orders. Waitresses in tiny black dresses maneuvered through the tables and couches that surrounded the dance floor, carrying trays of colorful drinks. In one corner a DJ sat on a raised platform surrounded by equipment while loud music pumped through the club’s sound system in synch with the colored strobe lights. A staircase curved upward to the second floor where people milled near the railing, talking and watching the gyrating bodies below.

Even before my eyes had time to adjust to the lights, I knew this place was nothing like those other clubs. My senses were assailed by the different kinds of magic that permeated the air, filling my nose and raising gooseflesh on my arms. Magic pulsed with the music like a living thing and made me want to move with it. It was a heady sensation.

My power twitched, wanting to break free, and not just because of the other magic. There were demons here.

But not just demons. Scanning the dance floor, I could barely keep my jaw up at the sight of the diverse group of people. Tall, slender elven women with long blond hair and pointed ears rubbed against faerie males. A nymph in an almost transparent dress did a slow sensual dance, surrounded by five men who could only be dwarves. A werewolf couple was engaged in a heavy make-out session, oblivious to the people moving around them. At least, I suspected they were weres based on the hair I saw sprouting along their arms. Four gray-skinned mox demons danced in a small group at the edge of the dance floor, and a vrell demon who reminded me of Kelvan danced with a blue-haired girl who raised her hands in the air and shot blue sparks from her fingertips. There were other people who I suspected were demons and a number of humans too, and they all moved together in a mass of sweaty, undulating bodies.

My face grew warm just watching the dancers, and I didn’t even want to imagine what was happening on the couches in the darker corners of the club. I looked at my friends to gauge their reactions and found Roland and Peter gawking at the nymph while Jordan looked the faerie males up and down. I shook my head. “Roland, if your tongue hangs any lower it’ll be on the floor.”

He gave me a goofy grin. “Why don’t we have clubs like this back home?”

“Or men who look like that?” Jordan said with a gusty sigh, still staring at the faeries.

I followed her gaze, but when I looked directly at the faeries, their outlines blurred for several seconds. One second they were muscled with blond hair and handsome faces, and in the next they were slender and blue-skinned with long black hair and pointed ears. Once I focused all I saw were the blue bodies. It hit me what I was seeing and I let out a laugh. “Um, Jordan, you know that thing where I can see through glamours? Trust me, those guys aren’t your type.”

She slanted a look at me. “You’re kidding.”

“Not unless you like your men blue and pointy-eared.”

“Pixies? Shit. That is so wrong.”

“You can’t trust a faerie.” I smirked at her. “Trust me.”

She punched my arm. “All right, smartass, let’s go find this Adele chick.”

I had to nudge Roland and Peter twice to drag their eyes away from the dance floor. “Men,” I muttered, even though I was beginning to suspect the magic I sensed in the room might be partly responsible for the promiscuous behavior of the people there.