Scarlet Guard (House of Scarlet #2)

"I'll be careful. Thanks again."

Callie left the tattoo parlor swinging toward her scooter. Getting closer she could see all the business cards she'd left on the bigger bikes stacked up on the seat of her scooter. A wet rock held them down.

Looking at the wall leaners, she pointed at the cards.

"Not nice to mess with a man's ride." One of the grungiest called out.

"You do this?" She asked grungy guy.

"Me? Nope. Not my ride. Not my business."

Callie thought a moment. Digging into her bag she pulled out a tube of lip balm. Picking up the cards while dropping the stone into the gutter, she applied a big lump of balm to a mirror on each bike sticking her card into the blob. The sticky balm acting like glue to hold the cards in place.

Smiling in satisfaction when she finished she looked at grungy. "You gonna do anything about this?"

"Nope. Not my ride. Not my business."

"Good for you." Callie buckled her helmet on. She rode away laughing evilly while reminding herself she'd better stop by the drug store. She was almost out of lip balm. The thought made her laugh even more.

Five

Callie stood in front of her closet considering what to wear. What did one wear to a kink club? Trying her best to imagine herself as kinky, she pulled out a long sleeved red silk blouse and black leather pants. A pair of spiked heels along with a belt of linked silver rings were next. Combined with dark eye shadow and red nail polish on fingers and toes, her ensemble was complete.

Once dressed she stepped into the main room of the house. Tulip saw her. She squealed.

"Callie's got a da-ate. Callie's got a da-ate." Poppy joined in. The noise from the two little girls was almost deafening. As soon as they began singing and dancing T Rose whipped her head around.

"Whoa. Don't you look hot."

"Can I borrow your car? I promise I'll put gas in it." Callie strode over to her sister and held out her hand.

"Sure. Going out with anyone I know?"

Callie just looked at her and waggled her palm for the keys.

"Sorry. Can't blame a girl for asking." T Rose rooted through her pocket then dropped the key into Callie's hand.

On the way to the club Callie stopped to put ten bucks worth of gas into the tank. Down on Second Street she found a place to park not too far from the club door. She wedged the compact into a space at the curb with only a little overhang of the front bumper into the painted red space for the fire hydrant. She stepped out of the car, punching the button on the remote. Checking her clothes before heading for the door of The Pit, she wasn't entirely sure of what she'd find when she got there.

She walked as casually as she could manage, given her stomach tension over the unknown, Callie saw at least her leather pants wouldn't be low fashion. Leather clothing was everywhere. If you considered 1 inch wide strips of leather or plastic straps to be clothing. Some of the girls wore nothing but crisscrossing straps. Most often they wore a collar along with a leash to go with the straps.

At the door she saw that it wasn't only the girls who were wearing leashes. Two bouncers were at the door checking ID. They were giving out plastic wristbands. One of the bouncers was a blond haired guy with green tips dyed into his hair. He had a collar with a short chain leash dangling from it down the front of his bare chest. The other was a woman with black dyed hair dressed in a red leather catsuit. She was brisk and efficient repeating the same question over and over.

"Here to watch or join in?"

Those who answered that they were there to watch got a wristband. The watchers were charged an entry fee. They were directed to a door to the left of the entrance. Those who were joining in, whatever that meant, went through a door to the right without paying a fee.

Callie walked up while the woman eyed her carefully.

"Yowza there little kitty." The red clad woman looked at her licking her lips. "I bet I could make you purr."

Callie smiled the smile she used in competition. It was beautiful. In a deranged, razor edged, shattered glass crazy sort of way. "I know I could make you scream. Real loud. For a long time. Wanna play?"

The woman stepped back. "Easy sugar. I'm not serious. My stable is full. You here to play or just look?"

"I'm looking for a guy. Not interested in anything else tonight. Just need to find this guy and talk to him."

"You been to my dungeon before?"

"No. My first time. But, I'm only here to find someone. Nothing else."

"Ok. Well, here's a wrist band. You can take it off if you change your mind. If you leave it on no one will bother you. You looking for a specific guy? Or, do you mean that generically? As in any guy will do?"

"A specific guy. Wears a sun tattoo on his arm with a skull in the center. He's real proud of it."

"Oh. That's Leon. Leon Hartley. He hasn't been around lately. I dunno why. You could ask his friends. Lyle and Randy. They're over by the paddle rack. They might know where he is."

The what? Callie looked where the woman was pointing. She saw two men, a chunky man with brown hair and a taller more slender black haired man, standing by a rack of . . . paddles. All kinds of paddles.

"Thanks, uh . . ."

"Andrea."

"Callie. If you change your mind let me know. I'm dying to hear how long you can scream."

"Like I said, my stable is full; Callista."

Callie didn't correct Andrea about her name. Why bother. Heading through the door to the left, she made her way toward her new targets.

OH MY GOD! The noise and smell assaulted her as soon as she went through the short tunnel beyond the door. Women screaming and crying. The smell of intense sweat, sex and pain. Lots of pain. There was the sound of whips hitting flesh repeatedly, the humming whine from high speed electric motors and some odd muffled noises she couldn't identify.

That is, until she passed a low barrier to catch sight of a woman on her knees in front of a line of men. Blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back, she was the one making the noise as the guy in the front of the line pumped his manhood repeatedly into her mouth. A leash from a collar on her neck was held by a bored looking woman in black latex. Callie saw that every man in the line was ready for his turn. Several men and women with wristbands stood around watching the action. Someone else was videotaping the whole scene.

Over there, a woman was bound upside down to an X-frame. She was being whipped by a man in a gray coverall. She was also being stimulated by a huge vibrator held by another coverall clad man. Both of the men wore hoods and couldn't be identified. Screaming and writhing the woman's eyes were rolled back in her head until only the whites showed.

Slow movement caught her eye. A man was crawling behind a woman in black spandex who had her hand fisted in his hair. He was naked except for a clear plastic cage fastened around his flaccid penis. The cage came complete with a tiny padlock. Another woman was hanging by her arms from a rope tied around her wrists. More rope was wrapped very tightly around her large breasts. From the blue color of the woman's skin Callie could see that the blood flow had been severely restricted. A lit candle, coming what Callie felt was dangerously close to the woman's face and hair, dripped hot wax on the woman's breasts. All the while she moaned in pleasure at the heat and pain. Over there a man pulled large bore syringe needles out of new packages. Brilliant red blood spurted to run in thin rivulets down white skin as he stuck the needles . . .

Callie refused to see any more of that! She turned her eyes resolutely toward the two men she was heading for.

"Hey there babe. You interested in partying?" The black haired member of the pair of men she was seeking began talking to her as she approached. "Me 'n Lyle, we got some fine stuff if you're interested."

"Like what?" Callie decided to play along to get as much information as she could.

"Well, we have weed."

"Lame." Callie waved that away.

"Ok. How's about some blow? We can maybe find you some good crack if you wanna wait."

"Nah. I'm really looking for Leon."

"Why?"

"He owes me money. I'm here to collect or bury his ass."

The men looked at each other and then began to laugh. "You're a little late for that babe. No one's gonna be collecting anything from Leon's ever again."

"What do you mean? He left town?"

"Nah. He's talking to God now." The brown haired member of the duo broke in. "They found him in an alley last week. Of course we ain't saying who put him in the alley are we Lyle?"

Lyle laughed miming with his fists as if punching Randy in the ribs. "Nope. Not us. We wasn't there. Didn't see nothing. Don't know nothing neither."

"Well, shit! I was hoping . . ." Callie didn't have to feign disappointment.

"Nope. He's gone. Anything he owed you has evap'rated."

"Crap! Well, I guess that's it for me. I'm outta here."

"Hey, hey sweetie. Stick around." This from black haired Lyle again. "The party's just getting started. We got some really good shit coming in later tonight."

"Not for me. I'm done. Later."

Callie immediately started walking back toward the door. The red suited woman, Andrea, looked at her with a question in her eyes. Callie shook her head and walked out.

As soon as she got down the sidewalk half way to the car she knew something was wrong. Three guys were leaning on the car smoking. Callie pulled the key ring from her pocket. She punched the remote. The flash of lights along with the chirp chirp as the car unlocked made the guys jump.

"I'm pulling out guys." Callie called to them as she walked closer.

One of the three began a low wolf whistle. The other two fanned out to try to flank her. The lead guy began a running commentary on bitches, whores, and how lucky she was that they could take care of her.

"Not in the mood. In fact I'm a bit cranky. So, why don't we just stop before we start? That way nobody gets hurt." Callie stuffed the keys back into her pocket to free her hands.

"Now, now. Is that any way to talk to us? We just wanna have some fun." The guy in the center seemed to be the leader.

"Go have fun with someone else. I'm busy."

The two flankers moved further to her sides. Callie stepped out of her heels.

"Last time I'm asking. Slut."

"Last warning asshole. Time to run away."

"Or else what? Bitch."

At the word Bitch, the two flankers closed in. Callie took three running steps before launching a spinning high kick at the leader. Connecting, she let momentum torque her around to drop into a leg sweep for flanker number one. He landed flat on his back, his head hammering into the pavement. Flanker number two was a little slower to arrive. For his tardiness he got two fists to the jaw as Callie braced using the power in her legs to drive her fists upwards just as he bent down to grab her. A click of teeth as his head snapped back before he went down like a felled tree rewarded her efforts.

It took fifteen seconds from start to finish.

Callie walked over and picked up her shoes. A repeating slow clapping sounded loud in the night. Looking at the source, Callie saw Andrea clapping her hands in Callie's direction.

Well done. Andrea mouthed to her.

My pleasure. Callie mouthed back as she opened the car door.

Six

Callie arrived back home while the girls were still awake. They were playing video games. Something with a pink unicorn and stars but Callie wasn't sure. T Rose looked at her speculatively as she took back her car keys.

"I put ten dollars worth in the tank." Callie stretched as she walked to her room to get out of the leather pants. The fight had made her sweat a bit so her pants were sticking to her legs. She was going to have to peel them off. She definitely wanted a shower after what she saw at that club. She felt contaminated.

"Ok. So what happened? He wasn't interested?"

Callie stopped and rounded on her sister.

"I told you there isn't any guy. There won't ever be any guy. Will you stop hassling me about it already?"

Poppy and Tulip stopped their game staring at her with big scared eyes as she lost her temper.

"Geez, Callie. No need to bite my head off." T Rose grumped.

"Sorry." Callie fought to get her temper under control. "I just had to bust some heads. I'm still wired from it I guess."

"What happened? You get jumped?"

"Sorta. I went to that club down on Second. Some guys thought I was an easy mark. I had to teach them to leave me alone."

"That club I told that cop about? The Pit? Why the hell would you want to go there?"

"I went there to find out who the dead guy's friends in the picture are. You know, the picture at the tattoo shop near there."

"Oh no. Callie tell me you didn't go there too? Why are you even getting involved in this? How is it any of your business? Our business?"

"I don't know. I just thought I could help or something." Callie continued toward her room. She really needed that shower.

T Rose followed her in to sit on the edge of the bed as Callie undressed. "Sis. This isn't one of your books. This is for real. You don't need to do this. You don't need to get involved."

"I know. But I couldn't help myself. Something is going on. Henry's in the middle of it I think."

"Henry? How's he involved? He doesn't go that club does he?"

"I don't know. Probably not. He does have one of those red cards in his wallet though. Somehow he's connected to whatever is happening. I just want to know what's going on. Callie stepped into her bathroom. She started the water running in the shower.

"I'm afraid the card is the equivalent of a dead fish wrapped in newspaper. A death notice."

"Why?"

Callie adjusted the temperature of the shower before stepping in. Sliding the curtain closed she wet her hair before replying.

"Because the dead guy had a card and he's dead now. Henry has a card and he doesn't know where it came from. How could Henry get the card and not know where it came from? Unless it was left for him as a warning or something."

T Rose leaned against the door jam of the bathroom so she could talk to her sister while Callie was in the shower.

"It's possible I guess. I mean there is a dead guy. You don't know if the people who gave him the card are the one's who did it or not. They could be the bad guys."

"Rose, what am I going to do? I'm really worried."

"I think you need to talk to that cop. Maybe he'll know what to do next."

"You think so?"

"It's what I'd do. Well, I wouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. But in your case I think you should tell him."

"Ok. I'll call when I'm done here."

"Uh, sis. It's late. He's probably gone home."

"So? I'm pretty sure cops have voicemail like everyone else these days. I'll leave a message telling him what I found out. That way he can't get mad at me for getting involved since I'm not a cop."

"Stool pigeon." T Rose mocked her. "Cluck cluck."

"I pretty sure pigeons go coo coo." Callie rinsed the last of the soap away before shutting off the water.

"Coo coo is right. You're crazy."

In the end, Callie didn't leave a message. After toweling off, she put on a fuzzy red bathrobe over white satin pajamas. Picking up the phone, she dialed the number. On the third ring it was answered by a gruff voice.

"Howell."

Expecting to get the voicemail system Callie was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Uh, this is Callie M. You talked to me. You showed me a picture of a tattoo a couple of days ago. I found out some information about the guy with the tattoo."

"What? Who are you?"

"I told you. I'm Callie M. I'm a tattoo artist you showed a picture too. My sister gave you a tip that the guy was in the photo on a wall in a place on Second Street."

"Sorry. I showed that picture to a lot of people. You're that girl who rides the pink motor scooter?"

"That's me." Callie made a face. Imagine being remembered for her scooter instead of her skills. Some people just didn't get it.

"What do you have for me? What did you find out?"

"The guy with the tattoo is, was, someone named Leon Hartley. He hangs around with, or used to hang around with, two guys named Lyle and Randy. I don't know their last names."

"How did you get this information?"

"I asked Whiskers. He told me."

"Whiskers? Is he the guy at the other tattoo shop?"

"Yes."

"He told my partners he didn't know anything."

Callie laughed. "Listen, if your partners think, talk, and act like this is some cheezy cops and robbers TV show then they're never going to get anyone in real life to tell them anything. They went down there trying to fake some kind of intimidation routine. I'll tell you, you can't fake being a hard ass to a real hard ass and get away with it. Your boys are laughing stocks."

"But someone told you. That make you a hard ass?"

"Nope. But people know me. They don't know, or trust, cops."

"Ok. Whatever. You got anything else for me?"

"Well, there's a woman named Andrea who hangs out at The Pit. She might know more about Lyle and Randy. You could ask her anyway. Don't send anyone. Go yourself to talk to her. She doesn't know you're coming but she might talk to you. If you're polite." Callie laughed. "Tell her Callista sent you as a peace offering."

"That mean something I don't know about?"

"Nope." Callie chuckled at the thought of Andrea talking to the police about Callista.

"Ok. Anything else?"

"Well, there might be something to do with drugs. Lyle and Randy were pushing them at me pretty hard."

"What kind of drugs? Hard stuff or marijuana?"

"They talked about coke, meth, and heroin. I don't know if they were just bragging or if they were serious."

"They mention anyone named Rusk?"

Callie's heart stabbed her with a frozen spear of pain. Oh, Joanna! Taking a breath that hurt worse than frostbite in her lungs, she forced herself to speak.

"No. No one mentioned any other names."

"Ok. Got anything else for me?"

"No."

"Ok. I'll have someone look into this. Thanks." Howell disconnected.

Callie pulled the phone away from her ear as the dial tone hummed. Idiot! Worse, Callie didn't know if she meant Howell or herself.

Sitting on her bed nestled in her comforter, she let her memories run. Memories of a freckle faced brunette kissing her way up the inside of Callie's thigh. Laughing between each soft kiss until she reached the apex where Callie's soaked panties begged her for just another little kiss. Just one! Please! Right there!

Another memory where the brunette scolded her trying to cajole her into trying drugs. C'mon Cal. Just a small sniff. It'll make you happy. It makes me happy. Try it.

Another. The brunette snarling at her. You never loved me. You don't love anyone except yourself. You're just a user out to take whatever you can no matter how much you hurt other people. Well, guess what? I don't need you!

Callie's grief and loneliness stabbed daggers into her soul. TeaRose didn't understand why she looked at other girls. Girls can't give you what guys can. Guys have all those wonderful muscles too. Mmmmmm.

Mama didn't understand either. She thought it was somehow her fault that her daughter wanted to be some kind of Geisha, not that mama really even knew what a Geisha was. Really. Both of her parents were so straight she could use them for a ruler. Neither of them had any idea of what it meant for her to be like she was. They had some kind of idea that if they only disapproved of her attraction to other girls strongly enough she'd change.

Callie snorted softly to herself. As if that was ever going to happen.

On top of that, there was no freaking way she was going to try to talk to her dad or Henry about it. Henry might at least listen. Her dad would definitely go ballistic. Henry never could keep a secret from the rest of the family. Talking to him would be like standing in the living room and shouting. There were much less embarrassing ways to wreck her life than talk to either of them about how lonely she was.