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don’t want a piece of me, let me assure you of that. Now take your hands off me so I can keep what’s left of my dignity and go home.”
    “Oh, oh, no you haven’t had dessert yet, Selene. Please don’t go.” Clarissa turned to AJ and continued, “See what you’ve done. We haven’t seen her in weeks and now she’s leaving before we’ve even had a chance to chat. God, I hate when you women go all butch on each other.” Clarissa extricated herself from the mass of arms and stomped into the kitchen, cussing.
    “You girlfriend is pissed.” Selene’s smirk signaled a check in her win column.
    “She’ll get over it, trust me,” AJ said, undeterred by Clarissa’s anger.
    “Aren’t you barking up the wrong tree? I’m not the one you have a beef with. You should be taking this up with De Marcus.”
    “I plan on it.” AJ pushed Selene backwards. “I’m going to the coven to see Butch and have it out with him. I’m not going to stand for this bullshit. The coven is an antiquated machine that needs to be dismantled.”
    “And you think you’re going to do that when you visit him? Trust me, he isn’t going to take threats lightly. If anything you’ll only make him dig his heels in more.”
    “I don’t care.” AJ poured herself a whiskey and sat. “I’ve had it with them. They let these two-bit hoods turn humans for their own perverted self-interest. They pick the slime up out of the bottom of the barrel — gangsters, thugs, and drug addicts, people who already have deep seeded issues with authority and make them super human. Turning them loose on the world to do their bidding, and we’re supposed to sit back keep our mouth shut and watch? I don’t think so. Eventually, the humans are going to get wise to what’s going on and put together a covert extermination plan. We won’t know about it until it’s too late. If they’re tapping into our cell phones, emails and god knows what else, you can bet they know who and where we are and I don’t like that. I’m considering going underground for a while. I’ve got stuff stashed for a long hibernation and if this shit goes south, we’re gone. If you wanna come along let me know. I stocked up for a long winter, if you know what I mean.
    AJ’s erratic mental state was a concern to Selene. She was normally pretty even keeled, but when she was under a lot of stress, she’d seen AJ take down men with one blow. She sorta pitied Butch; he had no idea what he was in for. AJ could make it an all-out war with very few survivors. All she wanted was De Marcus and now Selene had to wonder why Butch was working so hard to hide him.
    “Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you do decide to go to the coven. I’d make an appointment, first. Seems Butch doesn’t like surprises.”
    “Really?” AJ sipped her whiskey then purred. “Well then we’ll just have to surprise him won’t we?”
    This was not going to end well.
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Selene stalked though the full parking lot at the Dungeon. Maggie, her business partner, would be thrilled to see so many patrons, but after a night of verbal jousting with AJ, her mood soured quickly. Even Clarissa’s gentle joking couldn’t pull Selene through the night. What was it about her darn cat Nefertiti? The damn thing lay sprawled across her lap half the night. Each time she pushed it off, she found the persistent feline comfortably ensconced on her lap. Finally, she gave up and just let it stay. The cat hair covered her pressed black slacks and cashmere sweater she’d manage to put on after AJ’s little outburst and tantrum that cost her a perfectly good button-down.
    She wasn’t an animal lover at all. In fact, she considered them an appetizer on those rare moments when she craved a liquid diet. A guilty pleasure for sure.
    Entering the club, her vision sharpened instantly allowing her to see everything. The noise on the other hand was almost non-existent. She focused her hearing and could only hear the