Company of Angels 02 - The Demoness of Waking Dreams

there had been no need for such a facade. The brothel had been legal, and Venice had been the city of courtesans, famous all over Europe for the beauty of its whores. Prostitutes had vastly outnumbered noblewomen, far more visible on the streets of the city than gently bred girls.
    As one of those gently bred human girls, Luciana never would have come here.
    As a fledgling Rogue demon clawing her way out of hell, she had no other choice.
    She’d paid off her debt to the devil through working here.
    How Carlotta stood it here for so long, she did not know. Obviously, the woman fancied herself a sort of Veronica Franco, a member of the extinct breed of cortigiana onesta, the “honest courtesans” who once ruled Venice with their educated wit and their political influence. Once, the courtesans of Venice had entertained noblemen. Even the king of France himself had spent a night between Veronica Franco’s thighs.
    For Luciana, this place had been hell on earth.
    To her, no matter how rich or powerful a client was, he was still a client.
    Still a man who paid to bury himself between her legs.
    A fleshy, drunken human man grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, saying, “Come on in, gorgeous. Join the party!”
    Party, Luciana thought, is a tame label for what’s going on up here.
    To her, it looked like a full-fledged orgy.
    And it had been going on for quite a while, Luciana guessed from the look of it. Women and men cavorted everywhere; in various states of inebriation, undress and copulation. She pressed forward, into the sea of exposed flesh, looking for Carlotta.
    To find out what the brothel keeper knew about Brandon, and what she had told him.
    Dressed in a low-cut crimson gown, Carlotta stood watching the spectacle from the balcony above. She smiled, showing white, sharklike teeth that seemed to have grown sharper since the last time Luciana had seen her.
    “La Lucciola!” called the courtesan.
    “La Tenutaria.” Luciana flung back the Italian word for madam.
    “I hate that word,” Carlotta said. “I told you never to use it.”
    “Likewise.”
    Every demon within earshot laughed, for all of them understood the reference. Luciana ignored them and mounted the stairway, glaring up at the courtesan. “I need to speak to you at once.”
    Carlotta simply laughed. “How did you know we were having a party, Lucciola? We’re having such a wonderful time. You should join in. You never reached your full potential in this business, you know. There was so much more you could have accomplished.”
    “I don’t do this anymore,” Luciana gritted out. “I haven’t for a long time.”
    They went into the silence of Carlotta’s office, where a couple was in disarray on top of the desk. Carlotta shooed them away, settling into an armchair as they picked up the scraps of their clothing and hurried out the door.
    “Really, why did you come here? Was it just to check up on me? Or did you come to scream at me for directing that big, strapping man of an angel toward your house? I hope he managed to find what he was looking for,” Carlotta said.
    “How much did he give you?”
    Carlotta smiled, fluttering her eyelashes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “How much did the angel give you to sell me out?”
    The courtesan sighed. “There was a small sum involved. But I would have done it for free, you know. You’re such a bitch. You only come to me to complain. Honestly, I don’t know why you brought him here in the first place. Putting all of us in jeopardy while you keep your own household safe and sound.”
    “Well, you fixed that, didn’t you? Ca’ Rossetti is no longer safe, thanks to you. Don’t forget what’s at stake for you if my household is infiltrated,” Luciana said, the threat hanging in her voice. “Need I remind you of all that has passed there?”
    “No,” Carlotta said, lapsing into silence. “But why did you have to come here? ”
    Luciana sighed. “Running here was the only thing I could think of to do with that angel behind me. I had intended to seduce him. This would have been the ideal place to accomplish that.”
    In fact, this had been the ideal place. In his dream.
    But Carlotta didn’t need to know that.
    “Leading him to your home was the only way to get him away from my home,” Carlotta shot back. “It was gratifying, even though I knew you would come poking around here afterward.”
    There were a thousand insults on the tip of Luciana’s tongue. But she swallowed