***
At a seedy bar in the city...
The Edge was noisy. Dante liked it noisy. The beautiful blonde girl under his arm was talking, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. He liked it that way. She was probably telling him what she intended to do to him that night. She was probably telling him what she thought he wanted to hear. She didn't know anything about what he wanted to hear. He laughed. For a moment, she looked taken aback, but then she stretched her full, red lips into a sensual smile. Her teeth were pearly white. Her dark eyes, though, still looked confused.
He leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled back, she looked a lot happier. Her smile was genuine. "You want to be with the prince tonight?" he asked.
The girl smiled and ran a long, red fingernail down his chest. Her voice was a low, husky purr. "Yes." She was probably a couple years older than him. She was the best-looking girl in the club, but there was something empty about her. Her eyes didn't flash or gleam. She smiled when he smiled. She laughed when he laughed. He didn't even remember her name.
He caught her finger abruptly, pushing it away from him. "Why?"
She blinked in confusion. "What?"
"Why do you want to be with me tonight? Because I'm the prince?"
She looked as though she wasn't sure how to answer this. Then she smiled and pressed her body against him. "You're also very hot."
Dante scowled and pushed her away from him. "Leave me alone."
"What?" She looked completely shocked.
"I said go! Leave me alone."
Her beautiful face twisted into a snarl. "You crazy son of a bitch." She glared at him and reached for her glass as though she intended to toss the amber liquid into his face.
One of Dante's bodyguards stepped forward and caught her arm. She looked up at him in surprise. She'd almost forgotten they were there, too. The large, bald bodyguard with a scar down his cheek shook his head. She vaulted out of her seat as though she'd sat on a pin. She glared over her shoulder at Dante, but he wasn't paying attention. He sipped his drink and slammed the empty glass down on the table.
She was the third girl he'd chased off that night. "You know, sir," Sean, the bald bodyguard said in a low, toneless voice, "you might have better luck if you stopped running them off."
Dante slammed his hand abruptly on the table and glared at him. "Did I ask your opinion? When I want it, I will ask. And I can't think of any reason why I would." He glared petulantly around though the flashing lights of the club. "I'm tired of these women. They just want my money and my title. Their eyes glaze over. They don't even hear what I'm saying. I might as well be speaking a foreign language. I just see dollar signs in their eyes." His head spun. He felt woozy. His vision blurred, but he blinked suddenly in surprise, squinting across the room.
"Sir, are you all right?"
"What's Cage doing?"
"Sir?"
Dante lifted his hand to point at the pale-haired Noble. "Cage." Even to his own ears, his voice sounded slow and slurred. "What's he doing?"
"He's speaking to someone, sir."
"Who?"
"I don't know him, sir. I don't recognize him."
Dante squinted through the gloom, but he couldn't see the man to whom Cage Spears was speaking. He seemed to blur around the edges. "I don't trust him."
"I don't understand, sir."
Dante waved his hand dismissively, and his vision cleared a little. He slammed his hand down on the table again. "Another drink!"
Sean and his partner glanced at each other. "You have had several, sir," Errol, the shorter, squatter guard with short, black hair said. He sounded almost nervous.
"When I want you to give me suggestions, I will ask!" Dante snapped. "I'm the goddamn prince. Get me another drink!"
Errol and Sean glanced at each other again, but Sean lifted his hand to gesture at the young, pretty waitress who lingered nearby, awaiting the prince's orders. She brought him another drink in seconds. He leered at her as she leaned over him and winked. He seemed not to remember he'd already seen her several times that night. "Thanks, doll."
He slapped a hundred dollar bill on the table. She looked at it hesitantly for a moment. He looked at her expectantly. She glanced over her shoulder at Sean and Errol. Sean nodded to her and gestured her away. She snatched up the bill and fled the table before Dante could call her back. He forgot her as quickly as she'd gone. He sipped his drink and smirked imperiously around the club.
A short man in a tattered suit staggered up to Dante's table. He looked as though he'd had a lot to drink. His small, dark eyes were blood-shot and watery. "You!" he snarled, lifting a hand to point at Dante.
Sean and Errol stepped forward, but Dante gestured them. He looked at the man in interest. "What?"
"Prince Dante, you son of a bitch!"
Dante pointed a finger at himself. "What? Me? What did I do?" The man lurched forward. Sean and Errol moved as though to stop him, but Dante waved his hand again. "No, no. Let him talk. I want to hear what his problem is. I haven't heard a good one in a while."
"Your men took my son from his bed! You accused him of treason!" Spittle flew from the drunk man's mouth. Dante wiped at his chin and sneered.
"He was probably guilty, then."
"He was innocent! He was just a boy! He did not even know what the paper was!"
"Ah, he was reading Uprising propaganda, then. You know the penalty. If you kept a better eye on him, you would not have lost him to the rebels."
"He was just a boy!" In the blink of his eye, he was holding a knife. He lunged toward Dante, but Sean and Errol leapt upon him and wrestled him to the ground. He continued to shriek.
Dante curled his lip. "Pathetic." He flicked his fingers dismissively. "Get him out of here."
Sean glanced at Dante as he lifted the sobbing, drunken man to his feet. The prince didn't like the look in his eyes.
"What?" Dante snapped imperiously. "You feel bad for him? He attacked me!"
"He lost his son." Sean's voice was so quiet, it barely carried over the music.
Dante slapped his hand on the table. "What did you say?"
Sean's jaw was rigid. "Nothing, sir. I am sure the boy was guilty."
The prince lifted his chin. He glanced around the club. His vision spun and blurred. He blinked to focus his gaze. "Where's Cage?"
"He's gone, sir. He left."
"I don't trust him."
"As you said, sir."
Dante surged abruptly to his feet. "This isn't any fun anymore." He wobbled slightly. Sean leaned forward to catch his arm. Dante glared at him and shrugged him off. "I can walk. I'm not a kid."
"I am sorry, sir. I only meant to help."
"Then take me home. This place is boring."
"Yes, sir."
Errol lifted a hand to speak quietly into the microphone on his sleeve. "This way, sir. The car is waiting outside."
Dante lifted his chin, but he didn't argue. He allowed the two bodyguards to lead him through the flashing club into a long, narrow hallway. A black, unmarked door led out into the dark alley outside. Dante's car wasn't there. It was quiet, but there was a soft, relentless buzz from the broken neon sign above the building across the way. Most of the bulbs had been shattered. Only the large red O still glowed.
"...this is the new one?"
Dante thought he recognized the voice murmuring in the shadows down the alley. He spun slowly toward it.
"...just out." He didn't recognize the second man, but he was sure he knew the first, even if he could not place it.
"Let me see it...it's good. It will inspire many to join the cause."
Dante frowned and lurched toward the two men. Sean and Errol weren't paying attention to him. They spoke into their radios and stepped toward the entrance to the alley to watch for the large, black car that would take the prince home. They didn't notice when he wandered away, into the shadows of the alley.
When the first man spoke again, Dante recognized him instantl
y. "How soon will they be available?" Cage Spears asked. He held something up, but Dante couldn't see it in the dim light. Cage stood just on the edge of the halo of the red neon light. Dante couldn't see the other man. He frowned and staggered forward. His mind was sluggish and slow, but he knew something wasn't right. These people shouldn't be here.
"Prince Dante! Your car is here."
Cage and the man with him jumped as headlights flashed in their faces. They split apart instantly and streaked into the shadows. Dante started after Cage, but he had disappeared into the darkness. The prince couldn't even be sure he'd seen him at all.
"Prince Dante."
He spun back toward the car. "Yeah. Okay. I'm coming."