Her glamour was something she rarely used anymore. In the other dimension before she’d become Keira O’Brien she’d used all her skills as a grifter to swindle a handsome living off unsuspecting marks. Since she’d come to Earth, though, she’d tried to do better, be better. The personality of her human host had a lot to do with that. The human Keira of the O’Brien clan had been an honest, honorable woman. So, to pay homage to that, the new Keira had determined to live her life the way her human host would have.
While she could have used her gift to influence Finn, she hadn’t. And she wouldn’t. Ever. Not for something as important as love.
But to get the information needed for her task from a vampire? In her experience, any tactic employed in war was fair. She’d use her ability faster than a bartender could pour green beer on St. Paddy’s Day. She turned toward the back of the club and hurried after the vampire she’d spotted. “Javier!” she called.
With one hand on the knob of the door that separated the public area of the club from the rooms where vamps went to dine in private, a short, swarthy-skinned man stopped and looked at her. She’d met Javier Alvaro initially at a formal meet-and-greet at council headquarters that all newcomers to Scottsdale had to go through. While she wouldn’t call him a friend, they were at least on friendly terms. Of sorts.
“I need to talk to you,” she said upon reaching him.
“Keira.” He gave her a once-over, which set her teeth on edge, but she plastered a pleasant expression on her face and projected a sense of sexual interest she was far from feeling. When his dark gaze came back to her face, he said, “If you want to talk, bonita, you’ll have to donate, because I’m going in there”—he tapped two fingers against the door—“to feed.” Crimson hunger rimmed his cocoa-colored irises. “I have a powerful thirst for blood. And maybe something more.”
She wasn’t thrilled with the idea of letting this smarmy vamp fang her, and she had no intention of letting him “something more” or anything else with her either. However, she was no stranger to making hard choices to get what she needed. She’d use her glamour on him. It would take some doing to fool a vampire, but she’d been around a long time and had the strength necessary. And if it didn’t work for some reason, she’d do what she needed to do to get the information she was after.
She widened her smile and swept her arm toward the door. “After you.”
His nostrils flared as did the red in his eyes. He opened the door and murmured, “No, please. After you.”
She went through the door, aware of Finn’s burning gaze on her. He’d want to know why she’d chased Javier down and, more importantly, why she’d gone into the back rooms with him. The fact that she was going off with a vampire would automatically anger him because of the animosity between vamps and demons. But it wasn’t like she and Finn were exclusive. She never pressed him for details about his comings and goings, because she knew it’d be a waste of breath. By the same token, what she did was none of his business.
Keira pushed back the tinge of sadness that crept over her at the thought. Finn didn’t seem like the kind of demon who craved hearth and home. She sensed a restlessness about him, a desire to shake off the trappings of his current life so he could live the way he wanted to. Perhaps so he could be who he wanted to be, not who the pret world painted him as. And she had a feeling a woman didn’t fit into those plans in any permanent fashion. He was far too self-centered for that.
She walked into the small room that Javier indicated and seated herself on a little leather sofa, crossing her legs and stretching her left arm along its back. A strong scent of cinnamon colored the air, no doubt to help cover up the smell of blood. No matter how hard or how often they cleaned these rooms, blood had a way of lingering.
Javier sat beside her and leaned forward. The scent of peppermint wafted from his breath. He licked his bottom lip, no doubt thinking it made him look sexy. She forced herself to keep a sultry smile on her face as he ran his fingers lightly up and down her arm.
“So, bonita, a little bite to eat first, yes?” He curled his fingers around her wrist and lifted her arm from the back of the couch.
She trilled out a laugh, made sure she was projecting a general feeling of satisfied indulgence, and whispered, “How about you answer a question for me, and then you can have a big bite?” She leaned closer and trailed her right hand from his knee up to his inner thigh, almost but not quite hitting his sweet spot.
“Deal.” His voice came out guttural, barely sounding like that of a man. It matched the predatory gleam in eyes that had gone completely crimson.
“I don’t know if you know it or not,” she said, making sure to keep the soft Irish lilt in her voice, “but I moved here from back east to do more than get away from cold winters.”
“Oh?”
“Aye.” She stroked her fingers back down to his knee and lingered there, letting him feel the warmth of her palm through the fabric of his trousers. “We preternaturals have always had to be so careful. Before our public outing, we had to hide what we were so we didn’t provoke humans into hunting us.”
His lips twisted. “Yes, we have historical accounts to back us up on that one. The witch trials of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, and werewolf trials in the sixteen hundreds.” His lips curled back to show his fangs. “And of course they’ve been frightened of vampires from time immemorial.”
“Exactly!” Keira agreed. “And now it’s all ‘Don’t do this or you might make the humans around you aware of what you are. Don’t do that or you’ll expose us all.’” She sighed and started a halting trail back up his thigh. “You’d think that since we’ve become common knowledge things would have changed, but they’ve only gotten worse.”
“Yes, they have.” Javier rested one hand on her left shoulder. The other lay on the thigh opposite the one she currently teased. “What’s your point?”
“My point is… I’m tired of it.” She held his gaze with her own. “We’re stronger than humans. Better than humans. We should be living loud and proud, not denying who we are.” She halted high up on his thigh, still not touching where she knew he wanted her hand the most. “I’m tired of us being in the minority and not allowed a say in how this town, this country, is run.”
“I’m still not connecting the dots, bonita.” His fingers tightened on her shoulder. “And neither my time nor my patience, nor my willingness to continue to go hungry, is limitless.”
“I’ve heard you can put me in touch with like-minded folk here in town. I want to contribute to the cause.” She watched his face carefully and tried not to look like she was watching carefully. “I’d like to help.”
“I think maybe you got some bad information.” Javier moved his hand from her shoulder to curl it around the back of her neck. His skin was cool against hers, and she could feel the strength in his grasp. With a flick of his wrist he could snap her neck, and that’d be it for her. She didn’t know of any preternatural who could survive with their body being cut off from their brain.
Javier’s hand on her nape made her nervous. But she couldn’t let him see it. The last thing she should do now is show any sort of weakness to a predator like him. Without losing her smile, she said, “Well, I hope my information isn’t bad, because I’ll be very disappointed.” She let her fingers drift a little higher.
He studied her a moment. Carnal hunger sparkled in his eyes. “And if I could make sure you’re not disappointed?”
“I’d be very…grateful.” Keira pushed extra breath into her voice so it came out throaty. She also pointed feelings of good will and sincerity his way.
Those red-tinted eyes stayed fixed on her. She reached out with her empathic sense but couldn’t discern his true feelings. Damn, he was a hard one to read. Most vampires were. She could only suppose it was because they were reanimated corpses. Thankfully, they weren’t that hard to influence.
“If I hear something,” he said, “I’ll let you know.” The dip between his
brows and the downturn of his mouth told her in spite of her gentle pushing he was skeptical of her sincerity. Then his lips twisted up. “Now, it’s time to pay up, bonita.” He moved his hand from the nape of her neck to her left wrist, lifted her arm off the back of the sofa and started to bring her wrist to his mouth. His lips parted, pulling back from his fangs.
Keira focused on her breathing, reached deep within her and drew even more upon her fey power. With a soft sigh she projected a feeling of contentment and growing satiation to Javier. His mouth never made contact with her skin, but his eyes drooped and his face took on the expression of a vampire who was enjoying every swallow.
After a few minutes, she slowly pulled her arm away. He smiled, a vacant one of overindulgence, and slumped back, his body limp and replete. She left the room, closing the door softly behind her. She blew out a breath and leaned against the door for a few moments.
Drawing as deeply as she did on her power always drained her. She fisted her hands to conceal her trembling. It wouldn’t do for someone to remark upon how exhausted or weak she’d seemed when she left the back room. It might be expected if she’d actually donated, but since there wasn’t a bite mark on her, it wouldn’t do at all.
Secure in the knowledge that she’d left Javier with the feeling he’d had the best meal of his life, Keira pushed away from the door and headed toward the front of the club. As she entered the main area, the heat and babble slapped her in the face. By Dagda’s beard, she was tired. The life energy flowing from the gathered crowd and the noise they made was usually something she enjoyed. But not now. It only made her want to get out of there.
She focused on putting one foot in front of the other even as a satisfied smile curled her lips. She’d done it. She’d finally been able to get someone who was willing to put her in touch with the rogue group of preternaturals.
She needed to report in, but she wanted to refuel and rest first. Which meant getting outside and at least putting her bare feet against the ground so she could take in energy from the Earth. Completely naked would be better, but she wasn’t an exhibitionist so feet or hands would have to suffice.
Keira reached the front door and paused to glance back into the club. As if drawn by a magnetic force, her gaze lit upon Finn. He was seated at a high-topped table, leaning close to a blond-haired woman. When the woman threw back her head and laughed at something he’d said, Keira saw the small lotus blossom tattoo behind her left ear. Her mouth firmed. Of course Finn would have hooked up with a succubus. He’d been cruising for a sexual partner, and who better to see to his needs than a sex demon?
He wore what she’d come to think of as his flirty look—the smile just a bit too practiced, the interested expression in his eyes a little too forced. Most women in here wouldn’t look closely enough to be able to see it, but Keira had been around a long time. She’d seen men at their primitive worst in the Celtic tribe she’d become part of during the early Bronze Age at the time of her rifting. And she’d seen them at their best when the age of chivalry had reached its height.
Regardless, it had been a long enough time for her to know the signs. Yet she couldn’t seem to help herself from being jealous. A sudden wave of light-headedness assailed her, making her sway and reminding her she needed to recharge. She turned away from the temptation that was Finn and pushed open the door.
As soon as she got outside, she headed to the easement between the sidewalk and the street. Remembering what this strip of land was called back in Northeast Ohio where she’d lived for a time, she smiled. It seemed appropriate that outside the Devil’s Domain she’d be standing on the devil strip.
Keira reached it and looked down. The security lighting from the club’s parking lot made it as light as day even out by the street. The devil strip was gravel, not soft grass like in Ohio, but at least it wasn’t concrete or asphalt like the parking lot. It also had several clumps of prickly pear cacti growing in it. Any time she could be on a patch of ground where other living things were also nourished, it provided a stronger surge of nature’s vitality.
She slipped off her shoes and scraped the gravel aside with the edge of one foot then stepped onto the cool packed dirt. Immediately renewing energy from the Earth and everything it nourished flowed into her, like warm tendrils snaking around her muscles, curling through her veins. Her fatigue lessened enough so that she felt she’d be able to make it home without passing out.
She put on her shoes and walked to her car. She’d get back to her house and lie down on the patch of grass she had in the backyard, a small circular area she maintained so she could have a place to literally commune with nature. Sheltered beneath a mesquite tree, it was a tiny oasis in the dry desert landscape. And she definitely would use it tonight. This little bit she’d done was only a Band-Aid solution for what she really needed, but she didn’t have time for more. In a little over two hours she had to meet her contact on the Council of Preternaturals and fill him in on her progress.
Chapter Two
Keira sighed and shifted against the grass. The night air was cool against her bare skin, and with the six-foot-tall privacy wall that surrounded her backyard, she was assured none of her neighbors would catch the late show she was currently putting on.
She’d been home less than fifteen minutes, and other than the few seconds it had taken her to shed her clothing, she’d been out here, lying on her stomach, skin to ground on the small patch of grass she maintained with meticulous grooming and much care in this desert clime. She’d kept the lights off. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, letting the scent of grass permeate her. The Earth generously gave of its vitality, filling her with strength and peace.
With another soft sigh she turned onto her back and stared up into the night sky. The moon, slicing a slender crescent in the star field, peeked at her through the branches of the mesquite tree that grew at the outer edge of this small patch of grass. During the day the tree gave the grass and the small patio behind her house additional shade. At night it was a welcome friend, standing as a silent sentinel.
After several more minutes Keira had the healing energy she needed. Getting to her feet, she shrugged into her robe then sauntered to the house. She glanced at the old carriage clock on the fireplace mantel. Good, she had time for a shower, which she took in five minutes. After towel drying her hair, she pulled it back into a ponytail then looped it up into a haphazard chignon at the nape of her neck. She’d thought several times about cutting it, but every time a feeling of dread had stolen over her. She sensed that having long hair was something that had been very important to her human host, so she’d left it long. But damn if it wasn’t a pain in the arse to care for.
She debated wearing jeans and a simple T-shirt, but decided that, as good as she felt now, she wanted looser clothing. Instead, she donned a thin strapped sundress in bold turquoise and slid her feet into bright orange sandals. She slipped her gold cuff watch over her wrist and gathered up her purse, making sure her cell phone and other essentials were in it, and headed back out again.
She guided her car south on 101 then went east on State Route 60. After she went through the small town of Apache Junction she started north on Apache Trail. In the blackness of the desert, her headlights were the only illumination until she reached a tiny mom-and-pop diner just before the boundary of the Lost Dutchman State Park. She pulled into a parking space and shut off the engine.
From the outside, the diner looked like it was caught in a time warp with its sleek metal design and neon signage. When she entered the restaurant a bell above the door jangled, making her smile. It was such a cheery sound. She paused and looked around, deciding that the place was as fifties on the inside as it was on the outside. The floor was black and white square tiles, and there were red stools at the counter. The rest of the modest restaurant contained booths with red seat cushions. She liked it.
“Sit anywhere you want to, hon,” a middle-aged woman in a worn blue-and-white-striped uniform told her from behind t
he counter.
“I’m meeting someone.” She spotted her companion in a booth at the very back of the diner. “There he is,” she said with a soft smile at the waitress. She walked back and slid onto the bench opposite Caladh MacLoch, a senior member of the Council of Preternaturals.
“You’re late,” he muttered. He folded the newspaper he’d been reading and set it to one side. His white shirt was crisply pressed, as if he’d just picked it up from the cleaners. Lifting a spray bottle, he spritzed his face with water. Caladh was a selkie—a seal shapeshifter—and hated being in the desert. His term on the regional council wouldn’t be up for several more years, so he’d learned to adapt as best he could. He’d told her more than once that someday he hoped to finally make it to San Diego, where he was sure he’d live a long and fulfilled life.
“Sorry. You couldn’t have picked something closer to home?” She pushed the silverware lying on a paper napkin to one side and leaned her elbows on the table, which was set for two and already had a small bowl of creamer containers sitting in the middle. “You already ordered?” she asked Caladh.
He gave a nod. “My stomach has been reminding me for a few hours now that we went long in today’s council session. I missed dinner.”
The waitress approached, and Keira leaned back and gave her another smile. The woman returned it. “You know what you want, hon?”
“I’ll take a coffee, black.” Keira leaned over to read Caladh’s menu upside down. There wasn’t a huge selection to choose from, mostly burgers, breakfast dishes, and dessert. Looking back at the waitress, she asked, “How’s the peach pie?”
“Best pie this side of the Superstitions,” came the reply.
“Coffee and a slice of peach pie, then.”
Heart of the Demon Page 3