The Guinea Pig Incident

“Lethe? The club Lethe? How did you hear of this place?” Darien looked over the huge building, which had been a theater once upon a time, but had since been converted to this haven for those wanting to forget their life for a while. Thus the name. He knew the age range for places like this — from early teens dressed to look older to folks with decades on themselves looking for drugs, sex, or maybe both. This was a place people came to forget. Forget who they were, or how bad their day, job, life was. To let the bass beat and dark corners invade their souls and strip them to nothingness for a time. He’d never entirely understood the purpose of such places, although he knew about them. He’d always been more of a bar type — pool tables, draft beers, and rock music over the speaker system.

“Love, I’m here at least once a week when in town,” she said with a laugh. “It’s one of the few places still open at four a.m. when I can’t sleep. You can’t think I go jogging all the time.” At his look of confusion, she realized he had indeed thought that. Thought she was the straight-laced little goody-goody she pretended to be most of the time. The truth was far different, and even she had to admit she’d been hiding that side of her from him. But he’d been hiding a few secrets of his own and she had not pried into it. He needed his own life, separate from relationship, just as she needed hers.

“Alyx…” He shook his head. It wasn’t important, not now. “We’ll never get in.” Though still early, there was already a long line of hopefuls waiting for their chance to go inside and lose themselves for a time.

“Watch and learn, my sweet fox.” She took his hand and led him to the head of the line, ignoring the complaints and protests of those already there. The door bouncer was a huge black man, one whoarenarently lifted large amounts of weight on a regular basis. The tight leather vest and pants showed every bulge of his powerful build. Add the reflective silver glasses he wore and he looked extremely dangerous. “Bullet, my man, how goes it tonight?” Alyx called out.

The man had to look down to see her, but smiled when he did, revealing teeth capped in silver. “Sprout, good to see you.” He eyed Darien and gave him a nod. “This the beanpole that’s keeping you from me? I could break him in half with one arm.”

Darien took that as a challenge, and let his underlying aggressiveness and need to dominate surge to the fore. Alyx stepped to the side and simply watched; a sly, dangerous smile on her face. “I seriously doubt you could come even close.” His voice low and rough. To make his point, he lowered the dark glasses he was wearing to give Bullet a clear view of his eyes. “I can guarantee you’d find yourself in a world of pain.”

Bullet swallowed hard at both the sight of those eyes and deadly tone with which Darien spoke. “Maybe she has a point after all,” he commented, his voice smooth, careful not to give away anything. “She says she likes them lean and hungry.”

Darien glanced over at Alyx, who was watching the two of them with a bored expression. “Well? Are you gonna fight or not?” she asked with a careless air.

“I think I’ll let him live, provided he takes good care of you.” Darien backed away a step and held out a hand for her to take.

She snorted and shoved it to the side. “Right, I can take him and he knows it. Same dojo, Dare my dear.”

Bullet grinned. “Sweet thing, you can take me any time.”

Before Darien got a chance to smash in those pretty sliver teeth of Bullet’s with a well placed punch or two, the man opened the door for them, much to the unhappiness of those still waiting. “Shut up!” he bellowed at the crowd as Alyx and Darien walked into the darkened building.

They stopped against the railing, looking over the main dance floor down below. Darien was still in the mood for a fight with someone and Alyx could sense it. Perhaps she should have goosed him all the way to Stage Five, except he was much more fun this way. His unstable emotions were a far more interesting palette to play with. She leaned back against him, rubbing along his torso, reveling in the feel of silk sliding across his skin, the soft leather that hid little. “If you’re a good boy here, I’ll take you to this bar I know and you can beat the crap out of someone there. Hell, I may even help you.”

He spun her about and snarled, “I am not your trained pet.”

“Hmmm, no you are most definitely not. Come on, Dare, look at them.” She waved her hand at the crowd moving to the music below. “All those poor souls who have no idea what’s in their midst. Can’t we go play with them?” She reached up and pulled his glasses off, watching his nearly unreadable eyes carefully. “So many of them just want to forget for a little while. We can give that to them. Pick one. Male. Female. Androgynous. I’ll bring them to you for whatever fun you want, or you could simply watch if you prefer. There are quite a few pretty young things out there that could be easily manipulated into believing I’m their one true love for the night.” She went up on her toes and bit him on the side of the neck, making him shudder in reaction. “Please? Can we play?”

“Yesss.” He let out as he released the breath he’d been holding. “Play sounds good.” He tried to take the glasses back from her, but she slipped them into an inner pocket of his coat, hers following shortly after.

“Look about, a good third are wearing decorative contacts. No one will care.” The music changed, slowing in tempo. “Oh, I love this song. Well, I think I do anyway. No matter.” She took his hand and headed for the ramp that curved down to the dance floor below.

“Alyx…”

*Just feel, Dare. Just feel the music. Feel how it affects them, how it affects me, and follow it.* The path cleared before them, allowing them to find a spot in the center of the dance floor under a deep blue spot light. She opened her shields and took in those about her, let herself fall into the flow of emotions and thoughts, then she carried Darien along with her. With the combination flowing through both of them, they began to move in a highly charged erotic dance that drew the attention of those nearest them. There was nothing blatant, but the unrestrained sexuality just oozed off them and affected those about them. Within minutes, the entire tone of the room had changed.

For the next hour, they made a slow circuit around the dance floor, moving to some beat that only they seemed to hear. Though they never appeared to focus much beyond watching each other, it was the furthest thing from the truth. They were, in fact, having a rather detailed and exciting telepathic argument over who they were going to try and lure first. Who they wanted to play with for a while. Who they wanted to enlighten to a few of the more... unique realities of the world.

Making a decision, Darien kissed Alyx lightly, breaking the near trance she had lapsed into as she scanned the minds in the room. She swung back to herself, bringing her shields back up for the most part. She liked feeling of the flow of minds, and the headache it caused was more than compensated for by the euphoria of losing herself to the overall roar of thoughts and emotions. Darien had been leading them, keying her to certain minds that they would then seek out the owners of for a visual perusal.

Alyx could tell he’d been having a little fun with her — she was flushed and more than a little aroused. She was also very thirsty. He got them over to the bar and, after Alyx encouraged the bartender to pay attention to them, ordered a couple of drinks. With a glance at the current owner, a stool was vacated and Alyx slid onto it, making her closer to his height than she normally was. She downed half the margarita in a long swallow as he did the same with his Corona, then she leaned in close to him, the combined scent of sweat, desire, and Quicksilver intoxicating her far faster than the alcohol ever would.

“You were enjoying yourself,” she purred against the side of his neck.

And so he had, but there had been another purpose as well — it kept her grounded. Every time she began to get lost among the minds in the room, he had drawn her back with caresses and soft words whispered in her ear. Though at times it had been very difficult to keep it legal — she was so pliable and so responsive. Her unintentional moans in response to his touch had pushed his control to the limit, but the rewards… the rewards would be far greater.

“You seemed to enjoy it as well.” He tipped his head down and kissed her lightly, lips barely brushing hers, his tongue teasing her into parting her lips and letting him inside. *The blonde,* he answered to her unspoken question. An image of the girl flashed into his mind and Alyx's responded with wordless agreement.

*How?* Alyx’s hands slipped under the jacket to run along his back, one slipping lower to rest upon one tight leather clad buttock. *I could just call her over, or shall I play her? She’s a good choice and will be fun to break in.*

*Plus her daddy has quite a bit of money,* Darien countered, one hand burying itself in her damp hair. *Think you could get her to share some info?*

Alyx laughed against his mouth. *I can strip her mind bare if you like, while you strip her sweet body.* She felt his surge of desire for both and swallowed the groan that escaped him with her mouth over his. For the next several minutes she tasted him, her hands rovingoss oss his torso, bringing both of them one step higher in their arousal, so that when she pulled away he was radiating the heat, the need he was feeling. Picking up her drink, she finished it off and set the empty glass back down on the bar. “Give me 20 minutes and then meet us backstage.”

“Backstage?” He was slightly confused.

Alyx laughed. “Yes, dear one, the private back rooms for those conducting deals better not done in public.” She slid off the barstool and pointed in the direction of the staircase that curved back around the former stage that currently held the huge video screen. “Follow the stairs, I’ll make sure you find us.”

As she began to step away, he grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her close. “No tricks.”

Freeing herself, she shook her head. “Not yet, anyway.” She danced away before he had a chance to capture her again.

With a soft growl of frustration, he watched her move through the crowd and to their target. The blonde had been dancing in a group of both males and females and, as he watched, Alyx insinuated herself into the group. She danced first with a guy dressed solely in black and sporting a number of piercings, some in what Darien considered to be painful portions of his anatomy. The blonde herself sidled closer to Alyx and within just a few minutes the two were dancing with each other, slowly closing the distance between them until the taller blonde leaned in to whisper something into Alyx’s ear.

That was part of the reason Darien had chosen her — she had shown more than just a passing interest in not only himself, but Alyx as well. Not that she was alone in that — almost every male and a good half the females had reacted to Alyx’s natural sensuality and astonishing looks. Many knew her from previous visits here, but tonight they somehow sensed she was available in a way she normally wasn’t. The blonde, though, was new at a guess; when Alyx had focused in on her mind, the attraction had been obvious and immediate. When the contact had also revealed that she, or rather her daddy, had quite a bit of money, she became the perfect choice. A little fun and the chance to maybe get some inside information that could lead to a night of thievery was too much to resist.

Out on the dance floor Alyx had curled one hand about the blonde’s neck and pulled her close their bodies pressing up against one another as they swayed to the music. When the blonde’s hands slid down to cup Alyx’s ass he knew they had her. Seconds later Alyx was leading her through the crowd towards the stairwell to disappear behind the curtain. With a glance at the bartender, he ordered another beer and drank it down slowly, waiting with some impatience for Alyx to contact him.

Half the bottle was gone when her voice finally echoed in his mind and he acknowledged her directions, finished the beer, and moved off into the crowd to join her.

Once they were in the room, the blonde — Trinity — suddenly became a bit nervous. Though technically an adult, she was young, still trying to find herself and not finding it easy on Daddy’s dime, torn between what her parents expected and what she wanted. This… this back room rendezvous was part of that. When at college the last semester, she’d had a short-term, but rather heated affair with another female student and it confused her since she was also dating and sleeping with her boyfriend. She’d been hitting a variety of clubs and bars trying to figure out what it all meant.

Alyx pulled all this from her mind with little difficulty, as it was sitting right there on the surface along with a combination of fear, nervousness, and arousal. Alyx would need to get her to relax before bringing in Darien, but that shouldn’t be too hard to do. The girl was practically vibrating with need, with wanting to touch Alyx, to kiss her. Alyx wasn’t going to make her wait long. With a deft movement, she slipped the jacket Trinity was wearing off and tossed it on the piles of cushions sitting on the raised dais in the center of the room. Her duster followed, she she felt the surge of pleasure from the girl and smiled.

Going to the small bar that was in the room, Alyx poured a single glass of white wine and carried it over to her. After taking a sip she handed it to Trinity, who held it a bit nervously. “Relax, hon, I won’t bite. Well, not too hard anyway.” Alyx smiled as Trinity laughed shakily and sipped at the wine. “Love the contacts by the way. Good job by the designer.”

“Thanks.” Trinity answered a bit shyly. The contacts were done like cat’s eyes, in that distinctive golden green only felines seem to achieve. “Yours must hurt like hell after a while though.”

Alyx just shrugged, not about to explain she wasn’t wearing contacts, then took the girl’s free hand and drew her to the cushions, getting her to not only sit, but to slide back so they were both in the middle of the expansive haven of comfort. Most often, people used these rooms to buy, sell, and use drugs — ecstasy most commonly, though heroin, cocaine, and crack could also be found. There was even the occasional GHB or Rhuyphnol-related incident, though the management frowned on its use here. Date rapes associated with this club were not something they wanted to deal with. They were smart enough to know drugs were inevitable, and tried the best they could to keep them under control and to a minimum.

Taking the wineglass, Alyx finished off the last sip and set it aside. Reaching out, she set a hand on Trinity’s shoulder and began to knead the muscle there, encouraging her to relax. Leaning in closer after a couple of minutes, she added her lips, kissing and biting the taut flesh as Trinity sighed and shivered, no longer fighting the desire that coursed through her. Soon her hands were running over Alyx’s back, playing with the laces that held the top in place. Alyx’s lips found the girl’s ear. “Do you want me to stop?”

She groaned and whispered, “No.”

Alyx restrained the urge to laugh, not the least bit surprised at the answer seeing as she had loosened the ties to the tight fitting black corset the girl was wearing and was currently fondling one near perfect breast with her hand. When Alyx gently pinched her nipple, Trinity moaned loudly and all but melted in her hold. That’s when Alyx contacted Darien and told him how to get to the room. Then she refocused her attention on the matter — or rather breast — at hand, and kissed the half-open lips of the girl in her arms.

When Darien entered the room Alyx had directed him to, he stopped, stunned at the sight before him. The black corset the girl had been wearing was loose, though not completely open, the ties hanging down the front of it. Alyx’s hand was hidden beneath the satin cloth, quite obviously caressing the breast still concealed by the stiff material. They were caught up in a kiss that radiated such sensuality that he could easily feel it from across the room. Moving closer, he stood at the edge of the dais just drinking in the sight before him, fighting the urge to simply strip and take one, or both of them, right then and there.

Alyx turned then, her face flushed and eyes half-closed in desire. “Nice of you to join us, lover. This is Trinity.” She tipped her head slightly and laughed softly. “Serendipitously apropos.”

Trinity was watching Darien with a bit of worry, but bit her lip and closed her eyes as Alyx did something with the hand that was still not visible. The low moan she let escape made it obvious that, whatever Alyx was doing, she was doing very well. “Your friend?” Trinity got out when she opened her eyes and focused on him.

“Mmmm, yes. He caught your eye as well, didn’t he?” Alyx asked her, moving in closer to the girl and kissing her lightly, slipping lower until her tongue was tracing patterns just above the breast she was patiently fondling. The girl was more than ready, her youthful passion a heady tonic for Alyx. She could feel every reaction, every want, every need, and right now sweet little Trinity wanted to feel Darien touching her.

Alyx lifted her head and turned to him. “She’s ready for you, Dare.”

Darien shed his coat and added it to theirs before sliding across the cushions to where they were sprawled. For a moment, he was unsure what to do. He knew what he wanted, but didn’t want to scare the girl away with the aggression he was fighting. Alyx could handle it, but this sweet young thing would probably be terrified by it. He contained his groan of excitement. Oh, just a little pain, a few marks on her smooth flesh to enhance the experience. That thought was broken by Alyx’s lips against his, her tongue requesting entrance and then diving inside when granted.

*Easy on her. Lure, tease, distract, remember?* Her voice rolled through his mind, bringing the ultimate goal back into focus. *I already have quite a bit; with your help, I’ll have it all.*

He pulled her closer, deepening the kiss until she moaned in reaction, giving voice to the desire he could feel radiating off her. *Soon,* he replied with decided impatience. *Won’t wait long.*

Alyx pulled away from him, her look momentarily harsh. *You will wait as long as needed.* To emphasize the point, she gave him a reminder of what she could do.

Darien felt a sharp stab of pain in his mind that he knew Alyx had inflicted and, with a suppressed snarl, he moved to go after her. Before he could act on the impulse, however, she redirected his attention to Trinity.

“Tri, this is Dare, my partner.” At the girl’s slightly-less-than-confident look, she continued. “He’s just what you’re wanting, sweet one.”

As he watched, Alyx kissed Tri again and finished untying the corset, parting it and revealing both tanned breasts to his sight, which didn’t help matters all that much. The leather pants, no matter how comfortable, how supple, did not have whole lot of give. They had been snug to begin with and were now downright tight and beginning to cause him some serious discomfort. Alyx’s hand moving to rest on his thigh and sliding upwards to run delicately across his erection didn’t help the situation any.

Breaking off the kiss with Trinity, she drew the girl closer and kissed Darien again. The emotion, the needs, the wants rolling off the both of them were driving her crazy with lust, but she had a different job to do and her needs would have to wait. Pulling Trinity closer still, Alyx shifted slightly and drew her into the kiss as well. The shock the girl felt initially was quickly subsumed by sheer lust. There was something breathtakingly erotic to be kissing two people at once, and Alyx gave herself over to it for long minutes before backing away from it. She stopped running her hands over Darien’s erection, doubtful he’d even noticed that she’d undone the pants and slipped her hand inside to use more direct contact and ease some of the discomfort he’d been radiating. Leaning away from them, she set one hand on the back of each of their necks to keep the contact between them going and then began searching the girl’s mind for anything of interest.

Darien felt Alyx break direct contact and turned his full attention to the girl. His hand found her knee and slid upwards, under the skirt she was wearing. The nylons stopped at mid-thigh, thankfully, and he continued his explorations to find her lacy panties soaked. Her legs spread apart as he began to trace the outline of her clit through the damp material. She moaned into his mouth, her hands coming up to run through his hair. Sliding his finger around the elastic, he teased her for several minutes before slipping a finger inside of her with a swift motion.

She pulled away from his mouth, her entire body shuddering in reaction. Somehow, they had shifted so that Trinity was lying back against Alyx, who still had a light hold on both of them, not only connecting them so that they got to share their passion, but feeding off it herself. Glancing up at her, he saw the ecstasy on her face, the unsteady breathing as what he did to Trinity drew her along as well, the sheen of sweat across her brow and upper chest. Dipping his head back down, he took a peaked nipple into his mouth and bit down, causing both women to draw in a sudden sharp breath and the girl to buck her hips upward at him.

The control he’d been holding onto by sheer will broke, and he slid the skirt up to reveal the scrap of black the girl had beneath it. With swift motion, he had it off her and was freeing his erection, intending to plunge into her. Then Alyx suddenly stiffened and anger washed across her. *Bobby’s here. We have to go.* She released him, breaking that sensory contact he’d had with both women, and moved the hand to rest on the side of the girl’s face. Whatever she did, Trinity responded with a cry of pure release, her body shuddering with the force of her orgasm, and making Darien want to scream in frustration.

“Bitch,” he hissed. “If you’re lying about this….” He wanted, needed release at this point, and he’d beat it out of her if necessary.

Sliding out from under the still-moaning Trinity, Alyx crawled over to him and wrapped her hand about his cock, pumping it slowly and making him groan. “Sorry love. I wanted you to have her as well, but he really is here. I promise to make it up to you later.” She set about putting his clothing in order; doing what she little could to ease the discomfort of the now far-too-tight pants.

He snarled, “I’ll kill the little monkey. How the hell did he find us?” Anger, brilliant and sudden, surged to the front, cooling his ardor somewhat, tempting him almost beyond endurance, making him want to go after the little fool and pound him into a pulp.

Alyx handed him his coat even as she slipped on her duster. Then she went through the interior pockets of the girl’s jacket and pulled out a set of keys. “Your electronic leash, of course. How else?”

She slipped off the dais and headed to the door of the room with Darien right behind her. As she tried to open the door, he slammed it shut, spun her about, and shoved her against it painfully hard. “You left this thing on?” he shouted, lifting his right hand up for her to see. “Are you a fool?”

She shook her head smiling. “Nope, just thought it would be fun. A little game of ‘catch-me-if-you-can’.” She ran her hands across him, feeling the heat coming off his body, smelling the desire, the anger, the Quicksilver. “We can deal with him later, as well.” She jingled the car keys. “We have a ride to catch.”

Darien watched her carefully, wondering what was going on in her mind this time. “Later,” he agreed. “There’s still fun I want to have.” He opened the door and followed her out into the hall, heading further into the building instead of back to the main floor. At a guess, this wasn’t the first time she’d gone out the back way.

*Time to disappear, dear one. Watchers out back.* Her stride altered, footstepsominoming softer against the hard floor, as she vanished from sight.

Not doubting her, he followed her lead and then her ghostly outline as they made their way through back hallways, past various employee areas, and out a side door. Even he spotted the Agency goons with thermals waiting to hopefully catch them, but Alyx had it covered. She pulled him closer and pulled that little trick of hers, the one that negated the cold effect of the Quicksilver and rendered them truly invisible.

Going around the side of the building to the parking lot, she pressed the alarm off button on the key ring and then followed the distinctive beep to a sweet little car. A brand new black BMW Z-3 convertible. Alyx handed the keys to Darien and they slipped into the car. After adjusting the seat to accommodate his much longer legs, he std thd the car with a roar and tore out of the parking lot with a laugh. Once on the road, they both let the Quicksilver flake away. He downshifted and took the next left simply because. For a while he just drove randomly, on the off chance the Agency goons had tried to follow them. Then he turned to Alyx, who was leaning back into the deep brown leather of the passenger seat with her eyes closed.

“So did you get anything useful, like a home address?”

She moved slightly. “Better than that. Feel up to another adventure?”

He shifted again, finally on a long stretch of road that wouldn’t require any clutch for a while, and moved the hand he’d been shifting with over to her thigh. “Like what?”

“Tri’s Daddy is a jeweler. High quality, special order stuff.” She rotated her head and opened her eyes to look at him. “And he just got in a shipment today. Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds — you name it. His supply for the next six months. And I know exactly where they are.”

Darien’s hand tightened momentarily on her thigh, before relaxing and sliding further up and coming to rest at the delta of her legs, which she spread slightly in encouragement. “You’re kidding, right? Just trying to distract me.”

Alyx laughed. Lifting his hand, she fed him all the information she had gotten: location, security codes, even the safe’s combination. Turned out Trinity had been interning with daddy while on summer vacation, and he had been teaching her all the top end of the family business this year. All about cuts, colors, the works. She’d helped inventory the stones when they’d come in today. “Does that answer your question?”

Somehow he kept from driving off the road as the information poured into him. He began to smile, a joy-filled smile of material lust and greed. “One of them, anyway. I still don’t know if it’s meant as a distraction.”

Now it was Alyx’s turn to smile. Shifting, she leaned across the short space between the two seats, thankful for the padded console in the middle. She proceeded to undo his pants; one hand running up and down his inner thigh, enjoying the feel of the buttery soft leather his lean form was encased in. Within moments, she had freed him from the snug embrace and closed her mouth over his still swollen cock. *This is the distraction.*