hunting grounds

I had managed to calm Jill down enough after that to find out the address of the club and sent her on her way home. I checked the clock on the wall and sighed. It was getting late but hopefully, I could reach Miss Mahoney's before midnight. One drawback of being the "phenomenal cosmic power" we wizards wield is our magic interferes with most modern technology which leaves me without the convenience of a cell phone.

I drove to Linda's apartment building as quickly as my busted up old beetle would allow. I buzzed for five minutes before a pretty blonde woman jogged up to the door. "You lookin' for Linda?"

"I am, is she here? It's urgent."

"She went out, it's not contagious is it?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Whatever she's got. I tell ya she looked crazy when she left. Hope she doesn't hurt nobody."

I thanked the blonde woman and raced for the beetle, in the car I took out a strand of hair I had taken from Linda when I examined her tattoo. "I hate tracking spells." I closed my eyes and swallowed the hair like a pill with a grimace. I uttered some incantation in Farsi and when my eyes opened again there was a green line tracing Linda's trail. Judging by the streak of light following the roads she must have taken a cab.

The bad thing about tracking spells, besides hair swallowing, is they don't last very long, so once again I was racing through the streets of Chicago like a bat outta hell. By the time the line had faded I had tracked it to a club, leading inside. The line to get into the club curved around the block. I just couldn't wait that long. Sighing I pulled out my Clark Kent glasses and focused my mind on the disguise I wanted before slipping them on. Checking myself in the mirror the glasses were gone, confirming the spell had worked.

Out of the beat up beetle, I climbed, my red high heels clicking on the road. While I may still be Harry Dresden inside, to the world I was a voluptuous redhead with a set of double Ds poured into a skin-tight black dress. I may look the part but the bombshell moved as I did, so I had to sway my hips as I crossed the street and approached the doorman at the front of the line. Exuding confidence in my new body and spell I touched the bouncer on his large bicep and smiled as I continued on without breaking my stride. As I entered the club I could hear the line of angry men behind me.

Once inside I noticed the club was much larger than it appeared outside. Outside it was a simple one-story building, inside, however, there were swirling staircases that went up three stories to rooms with what inside I could only imagine as a man and woman entered one room on the second floor. The ground floor wasn't just a bar and a dance floor like I had expected but rather filled with tables and booths in dim candlelight and a small section clearly designated for dancing. It was almost romantic if it hadn't been for the impossible size. Someone's been playing with dimensional magic and it's a short list of the beings that were capable.

On the stage a woman with pink hair and a sequin dress was singing something in French I didn't recognize to a slow jazz ballad. "Well, welcome to my parlor." A low feminine voice called my attention from the coat check to my left. As she sauntered over to me in her deep purple dress that made for a great display of her breasts as the neckline ended just before where her nipples would be I realized I had been standing in the antechamber much longer than I should have been. "I take it this is your first time darling?"

"Is it that obvious?" Lucky for me the disguise spell also disguised my voice, so I sounded as sultry as I looked.

"Well welcome to the Dream Parlor where your dreams come true." She said with a rehearsed flourish to the rest of the club. "I am your great and powerful host, Madame Laganja." I hadn't even bothered to check the address where Linda's trail had lead me. What are the odds?

"It's deceptively small from the outside isn't it?"

"Thank you, I designed it myself." She took my hand and led me to the bar.

"How though?" I played dumb, which gave me an excuse to scan the floor for Linda.

"I'll let you in on a little secret," she looked around with a flirtatious smile, "I'm magic." I smiled politely as if I didn't quite believe her.

"What'll you have sweetie?" A woman I could swear was Marilynn Monroe in tight blue jeans and a halter top interrupted us.

"A martini?"

"Comin' right up." She winked before busying herself with my order.

"Sure is a lot of ladies here," as I looked around again I saw two women exiting the same room I saw the man and women enter. "What exactly is this place?"

"Oh darling, this is where dreams come true." I felt her hand caress my thigh, "Some men want to be women for a night, some women want to know what it feels like to have that little extra that men carry with them, and we provide it for them."

"For real?"

"I told you, I'm magic Mr.Dresden."

Well damn, "Fae." Wizards and Fae had what is known as second sight allowing us to see to the heart of people and things, only where wizards had to concentrate to open our third eyes a Fae's third eye was always open. Magical disguises were worthless on them. If this place really was a piece of the Fae realm then I wouldn't get to enjoy my drink after all.

She nodded as Marilynn Monro slid my glass to me, "I take it you're not here to enjoy our amenities?"

"I'm on a case." I gave a brief description of Linda, wishing I had a photo of her, and informed her of her's and Jill's situations.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen this, Linda woman."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Are you sure?"

"I am."

"You haven't seen her?"

"I'm usually very busy, so no." The good thing about Fae's is they can't lie to you when asked the same question three times. "But this would explain the sudden increase in staff these past few months."

"Months?"

"Over the past three months, there have been about a dozen girl who've come to work here. I never really thought anything of it until now." She thought for a moment, "It's normal to have a girl or two leave a month for something better. Then new girls come in and it levels out."

"How did it take you so long to notice?"

"As I said, I'm usually busy. I delegate my lesser duties like job interviews. I trust Marilynn's judgment." She nodded to the bartender who was busy with another customer. She must have seen the look on my beautiful face, "She's been with me since I first opened and never had an issue with her.

"Can I speak to one of your new girls?"

"Sure thing sweetie." She slowly spun on her barstool and walked to the center table and spoke to a woman who looked to be in her high thirties, as she walked over to me Madame Laganja stayed with the man at her table.

"Miss Laganja said you wanted to talk to me?" She sat on the barstool next to me.

"She said you were a new hire, I was curious what brought you here."

She looked down sadly for a moment before looking back up at me with her previously confident smile, "I met a woman."