Madeline never remembered ever taking this long to get ready for anything in her life.

She’d done a few other things during the day, like ordering groceries online, and doing a few intro lessons on the Japanese language program Levi installed on her laptop, but it was mainly focused on getting ready for the evening’s activities.

After showering for the second time that day, and getting carefully dressed, she applied, and then reapplied her makeup probably half a dozen times before she was satisfied. Settling on a dark, smokey shadow matched with winged black eyeliner, she also chose a deep crimson lipstick. Seeing herself all made up in the mirror made Madeline feel way overdone and overdressed. She rarely went to nightclubs, mainly because she didn’t have the money to buy the clothes or to get in. And getting time off from work cost her money too, so the whole fashion thing didn’t come easy. After first putting her hair up, she decided she didn’t like the look, so she had worked her red curls into sexy waves which rested against her back and over her shoulders. She also borrowed a pair of strappy kitten heels from the mystery woman and hoped her feet would forgive her.

There was a rapping at her door as Levi knocked with the back of his hand.

“Time to go,” he called through the door.

Taking one last look in the mirror, she was about as pleased with her work as she was going to get. Opening the door, she nearly choked as she laid eyes on Levi.

He was wearing tight black leather pants with black combat boots. A blood-red, silk shirt hung on his body loosely, unbuttoned halfway down. Around his neck was a couple of long silver and black chains, along with a choker displaying a single intricate silver charm. His black hair was styled perfectly straight and parted off-center so that the sweep of his bangs almost covered his right eye, and not a strand was out of place.

“I take it you like?” he said, tilting his head to the side and licking his lips subtly before giving her a cocky smile.

“S...sure,” she replied, trying to not act like an idiot. He was hot. She got that. He was also somewhat of a dick. She got that too.

“Our cab is waiting downstairs.”

Madeline went over in her head anything she might have forgotten to do, and realized she didn’t have any sort of small purse to bring. Reaching for her normal purse, Levi stopped her immediately.

“What are you doing?” he asked, grabbing her wrist. “You’re definitely not bringing that thing.”

“Well, what do you propose I do then? Put my ID in my bra, or my panties?” Madeline fired back,

“I am proposing you don’t bring a purse,” Levi responded. “You don’t need one. No one is going to card you and you’re not going to have to pay for your own drinks. So just leave it.”

Taking her hand, Levi led her out of the room and to the front door where he locked it behind them. Entering the elevator, he let go of her hand.

“Just remember not to embarrass me,” he said under his breath. “I didn’t pick the colors of my clothes on a whim. I’m matching yours as a precaution, and I do have a reputation to uphold.”

“I’ll remember that,” she answered, crossing her arms and looking angry.

“No one will go out of their way to harm you there,” he continued as the elevator was about to arrive at the ground floor. “I want to see how you get a feel for people. That’s also a big part of what I do.”

Silent, Madeline nodded.

“You look lovely by the way,” he added.

Ignoring him, she strutted out of the elevator ahead of him and towards the taxi. Not waiting for him, she let the driver open the door for her so she could slide into the backseat. After Levi joined her, they rode to the club in silence. She was obviously irritated, but she was going to do her best not to show it when they got to the club.

From what she knew of the Golden Lotus, it was a newer, upscale nightclub. Their security was impeccable. You never saw anything on the news about any disturbances or altercations of any sort. The cover-charge was insane, and there were very few pictures on the internet of what the inside looked like, other than what was on the club’s official website.

As the car pulled up to the front of the club, a doorman opened the door, allowing Levi to step out. Graciously, he offered his hand to Madeline, helping her out of the backseat. She took his arm as they approached the front of the line where a rather underwhelming bouncer stood guard. She could feel Levi’s taunt arm muscles from beneath the thin fabric of his crimson shirt, and the sensation thrilled her.

Sensing this, Levi chuckled.

Madeline wondered what was he laughing about. She glanced up and down the line of guests waiting to get in, and didn’t see anything funny. Shrugging it off, she approached the bouncer at Levi’s side.

The rather thin bouncer took one look at the silver charm on the choker around Levi’s neck and waved them both through.

Madeline took notice.

“Is that some sort of V.I.P. badge or something?” she asked, referring to his charm.

“Something like that,” Levi replied without disclosing anything further.

As they passed through the entryway, they entered a small, dimly lit hall with bronze walls and honey-colored running lights along the baseboards. A heavy bass beat grew louder and clearer the further in they walked. As the hall veered sharply to the left, they arrived at a podium attended by the twin of the bouncer outside. This man didn’t even glance at Levi’s necklace but waved him through immediately to the end of the hall which opened up to the large main room. The bronze theme of the hallway carried onto the walls of the club, only there was now the addition of jade tiles running waist high as well. To the right, partitioned off with golden pillars, were rows of black booths with high, clam-shell like backs and golden cocktail tables. Along the far right wall of the club stretched a bar of polished bronze under-lit with golden lighting. To their left was a large dance floor flanked with groups of low-back easy chairs, surrounding even more golden cocktail tables. And in front of them, at the far end of the room, was a stage with the curtain drawn. To the left of the stage was a DJ booth, where a fashionably street-clothed young man with a short, shaggy black haircut bobbed his head along with the beats he was rolling out.

And it was packed.

Levi looked past the crowd to a private booth to the immediate right of the stage. Seeing it was unoccupied, he started to guide Madeline to the dance floor.

“We’re going to dance?” She asked coyly.

“Maseo isn’t here yet, so we might as well kill some time,” Levi replied. “Why, can’t you dance?”

“I can dance just fine, thank you,” Madeline responded coldly. “Can you?”

Levi snickered in response.

She wasn’t sure what to expect. She loved to dance, however past dates either refused completely, or they thought they could dance and ended up moving on the dance floor like a drunken bear on its hind legs. From past experience, she wasn’t looking forward to this at all. Begrudgingly, she followed Levi to the dance floor and weaved through the other dancers moving with the heavy beats.

Her first clue that things were going to be different was that Levi leisurely rested his left forearm on her right shoulder, and placed his right hand on her hip. In this position, he could guide the sway of her hips to match the sway of his, and the weight of his forearm kept her captive. She didn’t know where to put her hands at first. She couldn’t put them around his neck because his left arm was in the way, so she resorted to mirroring him. This meant she had to touch his waist with her right hand. As in touch him, and feel his body move under her palm and fingertips. His pants rested lower on his hips than she had expected, and raising his arm to her shoulder shortened the length of his shirt. So while most of her hand was touching the leather of his pants, her thumb and index finger were resting on his bare skin right above his belt.

And his rhythm was lecherous. The snake-like way he swayed under her touch was bringing heat to her face as her imagination dropped to the gutter. She could feel eyes on them, or rather eyes on Levi, as most of the females within site were stealing hungry glances.

Oh hell no…

She did mention to him she knew how to dance. She would not be dismissed as some random dance partner.

Closing her eyes, she focused on the pumping rhythm that was shaking the floor. She let every note into her blood, let the melody move her upper body, while the letting the back-beat flow through her lower body. When she opened her eyes again, she was rolling her body perfectly in sync to Levi’s. And she could feel eyes on her now.

Even Levi’s.

The multicolored lights spinning overhead played tricks with the shimmer of his eyes as his gaze pierced her, analyzed her, but she didn’t stop. She wanted to prove to him she could be just as sexy.

Levi immediately noticed the increased potency of her delicious emotion. If it was a game of who could be better, he was going to show her the full ability of who she was playing with. Flashing her a wicked grin, he licked his upper lip, hungrily accepting the challenge.

Madeline felt his eyes now undressing her in such a way that parts of her body were tingling with anticipation. To make matters worse, he removed the hand that was resting on her hip and used it to unfasten the remaining buttons on his shirt so that his chest was now mostly exposed. Placing his hand back on her hip, he moved her just close enough that the movements of their dancing caused their bodies to brush against each other ever so slightly. She was acutely aware that the only thing separating his bare chest from hers was a thin layer of silk and lace, and it took every ounce of stubbornness Madeline had to keep the uncomfortable distance. Fighting to distract herself, she forced her eyes to wander around the crowd behind him. She didn't dare look him in the eyes right now.

Over Levi’s shoulder, Madeline could see the crowd parting as if to let someone important through. Still moving her body without missing a beat, she continued to gaze in that direction, curiously wondering who was coming.

It was a man about her height, with the most beautiful black hair. Slick, long, ebony hair that hung down to his waist. He wore a sleeveless, persimmon-orange, maple leaf patterned, kimono-like shirt that wrapped around his slim torso, falling mid-thigh to his black pants. Despite his thin frame and slight build, he had an aura of power around him that was almost tangible. The closer he came, the more Madeline realized the kimono style wasn’t just for show, his flawless Asian features were perfect and poreless.

Approaching Levi from behind, he tapped the shapeshifter on the shoulder.

If Levi had been startled, he didn’t show it.

Levi stepped off to the side, making it clear this person was going to be her new dance partner. Unsure how to carry herself now, she let him guide her. In contrast to Levi’s method of placing his hands a bit inappropriately, this man placed his right hand more traditionally on the middle of her upper back, while his free hand took her right hand gently. Although he brought her in close, their bodies did not touch, and compared to Levi’s pelvic gyrating, this man held himself properly, nothing obscene in his movements at all. In fact, even thinking about dancing dirty with this man made Madeline feel rather embarrassed.

She stole a quick look at Levi out of the corner of her eye to see what he was doing.

He was dancing with another girl who had promptly dumped her partner for him, but his eyes were still on Madeline. It wasn’t a look of playful inhibition anymore, just unreadable observation.

At that point, the gentleman dancing with her leaned his head forward and began to whisper in her ear. It was a throaty whisper in another language, and although she didn’t understand a word of it, the way it vibrated in her ears made her blush.

Before the song blended into the next, the man was leading Madeline off the dance floor and towards the high-backed booth to the right of the stage in the reserved area.

Levi followed silently behind them.

Sliding into the booth first, he released Madeline’s hand so she could scoot into the seat, and Levi slid in behind her.

“Madeline, this is Maseo,” Levi introduced, fingers moving to button his shirt back up.

“Levi, you need to stop being so salacious,” Maseo scolded Levi jokingly with a bright smile. “This is a public place.”

“You’ll have to forgive him,” Maseo now turned to Madeline, watching as Levi finished primping. “Some shapeshifters are predatory, and they can’t help their own triggers sometimes.”

“Predatory?” Madeline questioned. “Just what is he after?”

“He feeds on the emotion of Desire,” Maseo elaborated, causing a light to go off in Madeline’s head.

It all made sense to her now. The teasing, and the atmosphere at the condo being so sexually charged. She understood now how their arrangement was, as he put it last night, a “mutually beneficial situation”.

“Really, Maseo?” Levi glared in disbelief. “Telling her that was not your decision to make.”

“She does deserve to know, though,” Maseo said in his defense. “Being upfront is a good way to see if you can trust her, and if not, it’s not like you can’t dispose of her. Not to mention, it’s not as if it isn’t common knowledge.”

Levi sneered and then turned his attention to Madeline.

“And just so we’re clear,” he said to her, “Desire is not the same as Gratification, and it doesn’t even have to be directed towards me. Maseo makes it sound like I’m an incubus.”

Madeline didn’t even bother to ask why he didn’t tell her. It was obvious that even though he rescued her, and was now stuck with her for the time being, he was under no obligation to confide in her. Especially with that sort of information. But it did make sense. He offered her a safe haven, and she apparently fed him, as weird as the situation was.