by Мишель Роуэн
I looked at her wearily. “Not a chance.”
“You’re such a poet!” She grinned and pulled a cell phone out of her small, beaded bag. “I borrowed this from you earlier. Mine was dead and I had to call Barry. You have a text message waiting there. Somebody with the initial G?” She could barely control her curiosity. “Who’s G, Sarah? Hmm? Someone hot?”
I snatched the phone away from her. I hadn’t even realized it was missing. I glanced at the screen and my stomach took a deeper nosedive. “G is for God, if you must know. I’ve recently become incredibly religious. It must be my Bible quote of the day.”
Yeah, like she was buying that one.
“Grant?” she guessed. “Maybe Gary? Geoffrey? Gerard? Greg? Gaston? Stop me if I’m getting close.”
Gideon.
My knuckles whitened as I clutched the small pink phone.
“I didn’t mean to read it,” she said innocently. “But he wants to see you immediately and apparently you know what he wants.”
I gave her a tight smile. “Super. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Well? What does he want? A midnight rendezvous? A little boom-shaka-laka?” Her smile was blindingly white. “Sarah, I’m so impressed. You had me convinced you were still pining over stupid Thierry. You could have told me, you know, instead of being all secretive about this new piece of yummy. Then I wouldn’t have bothered setting you up with Jeremy.”
“I am obviously an enigma,” I sighed wearily, “when it comes to the yummy.”
“Details! I want details!”
George raised his eyebrows. “That makes two of us. I live with you and even I didn’t know about this. Keeping secrets from your bestest friends, Sarah?”
If only they knew.
I slipped the phone into my bag. “Right. Well, I think I’m going to call it a night.”
Amy and George exchanged a glance.
“Fine,” she said, pouting. “Be that way. But I’ll figure out who your new mystery man is.
Just give me time.”
I pasted a frozen smile on my face. “You’re immortal now. Take all the time you need.”
Then I grabbed my coat and left the club, attempting to ignore her dirty look and George’s curious one. Neither attempted to follow me, which, based on my dour mood and where I was headed, was a very good thing.
“You got my message?”
Gideon’s deep voice greeted me from the shadows of his fourth-floor suite at the Madison
Manor. If I could find a bright point in this otherwise dark scenario, the boutique hotel at
Spadina and Bloor—in the part of Toronto called the Annex—was only a few blocks away from Darkside. His room in the restored Victorian mansion even had a fireplace, which currently wasn’t lit despite the cool temperature of the room. As far as I knew, he didn’t go out. Why should he when I was only a text message away to do all of his chores?
The ensuite bathroom light was on. Otherwise the main room was dark, the blinds drawn.
To my left, double French doors led to a snow-covered balcony overlooking Madison Avenue.
“Obviously I got your message,” I said tightly. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“You are.”
“Can I turn on a light?” I felt at the wall for the switch.
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
But it was too late as I flicked on the overhead light. Gideon glared at me from the chair in the corner. He immediately raised his hand weakly in an unconscious attempt to cover the scars on his face, but then gripped the armrest instead.
I’d seen enough pictures of Gideon in his prime, before the accident, to know that he used to be extremely attractive. Those days were over, at least for half of him. One side of his face was covered in ugly scar tissue, but the other side was still flawlessly handsome.
When I first met him, before I even knew who he really was, he wore a scarf over his face to hide his identity and disfigurement as well as pretending to be the Red Devil. Now I didn’t think he left his room at all. Along with the scars came a whole lot of pain as the hellfire continued to burn through him. He was not a happy camper to say the least.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“As well as I look.”
“That bad, huh?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Possibly worse.”
“Serves you right. You ever heard of karma? Maybe this is your punishment for killing so many vampires.”
“Maybe.” He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Did you bring it?”
“Yup.” I knew what he was talking about. I reached into my purse and pulled out the small package. I didn’t know what it was, only where to go to get it. The man behind the desk at the New Age store had handed it over to me earlier today as if he knew exactly who I was and what I wanted, no questions asked.
“Bring it to me.”
When I approached, he turned his face so I couldn’t easily see the scars. I wanted to roll my eyes. Gideon was very vain. He hated how he looked now and he didn’t want anyone to see him. Couldn’t say I blamed him for that. He looked like hell. Literally.
The scars seemed to be spreading and getting worse, causing him even more pain than before. Despite myself, my stomach twisted at that thought. He’d threatened the people I loved in order to blackmail me into siring him. He’d shot me with a tranquilizing garlic dart—twice. He’d forced me to break up with the man I loved.
Gideon Chase was evil, no question about it.
But being face to face with him reminded me how much I hated seeing anyone in constant, agonizing pain, no matter who they were or what they’d done.
I was such a wimp.
“Is that concern I see on your face?” he asked, as if he’d read my mind, a small smile in his green eyes.
“Concern? For you? Not likely. I hate you. And in three days when this is all over, I never want to see you again.”
He shook his scarred head. “I don’t think you hate me half as much as you’d like to.”
After everything he’d threatened, with everything he represented, it would be completely crazy and illogical for me to feel anything for him except hate.
Right?
Of course it would.
“No, trust me,” I assured him. “I despise you.”
His lips curled, except on one side they didn’t move at all because the scar tissue was too thick. “Quite honestly, I think you should be thanking me for helping you to end things with the master vampire.”
I crossed my arms. “I’m not discussing Thierry with you.”
“You don’t have to.” He placed the package I’d delivered on the small table next to him and leaned back in his chair. “I’m just saying that he didn’t appreciate you as much as he should have.”
“Can I go now?” I eyed the door.
“In a minute. I think you have me all wrong, Sarah. You’ve convinced yourself that I’m the bad guy—”
“You are the bad guy,” I reminded him.
“If I was the bad guy, would I have saved you from being staked that night? You’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for me. I also gave you that very special gold chain you wear around your neck right now.”
I touched the jewelry in question. “That was all to get me to do what you want.”
He sighed. “I don’t see why this has to be unpleasant between us. We can be friends.”
“Friends?” I repeated. “You’re a hunter and I’m a vampire.”
“And your point?” He looked amused with me.
“I’m going now. I brought your… whatever it is. Party on.” I turned to leave.
“Don’t you want to stay to see what it is?”
I actually did. I was extremely curious, so sue me. I’d decided not to open the package when I received it, but curiosity killed the cat and all that. This kitty had had plenty of brushes with death lately, so I wasn’t going to take any more chances.
There was a crinkling sound as he unwrapped the brow
n paper packaging. I swiveled around on my heels as he removed a black box from inside, which he opened to reveal—
“A wristwatch?” I said, feeling less than impressed. “That’s what you had me pick up for you? That’s very underwhelming, I have to say.”
“This is a very special watch. It’s not as special as your chain, but it’s pretty close.” He traced the tip of his index finger over the face of the very ordinary-looking timepiece.
Then he stroked the scars on his face. “It’s actually a glamour spell cast into a wearable object. I had it specially made. You wouldn’t believe what something like this costs.
Luckily money is no problem for me—I set aside a great deal of cash in case I ever needed to go into hiding.”
I knew that a “glamour” magically helped someone appear beautiful or different. If somebody had a large nose and he or she had a glamour it could look like a small nose.
Real-life airbrushing. Didn’t change what was underneath, but sometimes appearances were enough.
Without another word, he slipped the watch on his wrist and fastened it. The very next moment a thin band of light moved over him. Wherever the light touched, Gideon’s scars disappeared completely.
My eyes widened in shock.
“How do I look?” he asked, reaching up to touch his now scar-free face.
I swallowed hard. “You look… different.”
Actually, different wasn’t really accurate. He looked the same as the pictures I’d seen of him. Hair almost as dark as Thierry’s, a disconcertingly warm intelligence behind piercing green eyes, a movie-star-perfect face. He still wore the simple clothes he had on before, of course—black, loose-fitting pants and a baggy blue T-shirt—but now the scars on his muscled left bicep and forearm had smoothed out completely.
He flashed a grin at me. “Different is good.”
I felt stunned. “So what does this mean? You’re cured, just like that?”
His grin faded. “No. This is only a glamour. It changes nothing. In three nights the ritual will go on as scheduled.”
“When I sink my fangs in your neck and suck the life out of you? I’m actually looking forward to it.”
His smile reappeared at my false bravado. “Sure you are.”
“I am. I mean, how many vampires can say they were able to chomp on Gideon Chase with his full permission? I should have promotional postcards made up, or something.”
He pressed his lips together for a moment. “I do have some concerns.”
“The fact that I have to keep my fangs in your neck for a few minutes before I can properly vampify you? Is there a little fear creeping in at the sides, Gideon?”
“No. It’s actually the fact that you’ve only consumed the blood of two master vampires.
My research leads me to believe that might not be enough to gain enough power to fully heal me.”
I nodded. “Well, in that case, you can feel free to find someone else for the job.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, but I do feel some anxiety.”
“Gideon Chase, anxious? Wherever is my camera?”
He rose from his chair to pull the blinds away from the window. He was quite an imposing man, even without taking his reputation into account. Beautiful women from around the world had allegedly flocked for the chance to spend time with him in the past, and it hadn’t only been because he was a billionaire.
Flocked.
He turned and moved toward me.
I took a step backward.
“I have something for you,” he said.
I took another step back until I bumped up against the door.
He held up a hand. “Don’t panic. It’s something nonthreatening, I promise.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?”
He moved toward the table next to his king-sized bed to grab a small fabric bag, which he brought over to me. “A gift for you.”
I hesitated, then took it from him. I opened it up to find a pair of earrings inside. Diamond earrings. Big diamond earrings.
“What is this?”
He raised an eyebrow. “They’re diamond earrings.”
“I can see that. But why are you giving them to me?”
“As a show of appreciation for everything you’ve endured so far. I know it hasn’t been easy for you. I can be a bit of a—”
“Insanely evil villain?” I finished.
“I was going for ‘pain in the ass,’ but you can finish the sentence any way you like.” A smile that I was quite sure had melted the panties off many a socialite in the past spread across his handsome features.
“I can’t accept them.” With a twinge of regret—I mean, come on, diamond earrings!—I gave them back to him.
He nodded. “Then I’ll have to find something else you can’t turn down so easily, won’t I?”
There was a buzzing sound and Gideon fished into the pocket of his pants to draw out a BlackBerry. He glanced at the screen and then put it away again.
My focus had narrowed on the device. I wondered if the names and phone numbers of his contacts were in it. That would be very helpful.
“So, Sarah, did you have a good time at the nightclub tonight with George and Amy?”
Gideon asked.
A shiver went down my spine. Had a spy just reported in regarding my whereabouts for the evening? And if so, what else had been observed? My stomach churned thinking that
Thierry and I had been spotted together. Gideon was being all gift-giving and amiable right now, but I knew better than to push him.
“I had a great time,” I replied. “Amy set me up on a blind date. But don’t go getting all jealous. He’s in human resources. And it’s very possible he prefers men.”
“How is the Red Devil?” he asked evenly. “He stopped you from giving in to your nightwalker instincts, right?”
I spy with my little eye… somebody that is screwed.
“He’s just peachy.” I touched my chain. “Obviously when trying to keep her dark side at bay, a lady should never leave home without her accessories, should she?”
“Why is he here?”
“He’s not much of a talker.”
“What does he look like?”
I chewed my bottom lip. “He was wearing a mask. Plus, I was dealing with a little case of bloodlust at the time, so my vision was a tad fuzzy. He’s tall, that’s all I know.”
“You need to be very careful around him.”
That surprised me. “Around him? This advice coming from the man who bankrolls the wooden stake carriers of America?”
“If this is the true Red Devil, then he is very dangerous. Very unpredictable. I know a great deal about him, enough to know he’s a threat to anyone who crosses his path.”
“So am I when I’m not wearing my chain.”
“It’s different. The Red Devil, whoever he really is, has killed many over his long lifetime—both hunters and vampires. It would have been safer for everyone if he’d stayed away.” He shook his head at my skeptical look. “I know you see hunters, including me, as evil, but I think you know very well that it’s not always the case. There are many hunters who only want to keep the world safe from evil predators.”
“The Red Devil is not an evil predator,” I said firmly.
“Are you sure about that?” He walked to the other side of the room to look out at the view past the balcony. His newly perfected reflection showed up in the glass door.
I shifted my feet but didn’t answer him. I really didn’t know the Red Devil from Adam, as the saying went. All I knew was that Thierry trusted him.
Thierry. If he knew I was having a friendly convo with Gideon in his hotel room, all alone, he’d probably have a conniption.
“I do have something else for you,” Gideon said. “I wasn’t going to mention it yet, but since you didn’t like my earrings…”
“I won’t like anything else you got off the Shopping Network, either. Just an FYI.”
He shrugged. “Maybe you’r
e right. It’s nothing really. Only the grimoire of the witch who cursed you. The book in which she recorded all of her spells, including the one she used on you.”
All the breath left me in a rush. That was the last thing I had expected him to say. “The witch you killed, you mean.”
“She was evil,” he said firmly.
“And it’s great that you’ve appointed yourself judge, jury, and executioner.”
“You’re entitled to your opinion. But it doesn’t change the fact that I have her magic book. And in it is the incantation to remove that pesky little curse of yours.”
My heartbeat quickened. “You’re kidding me.”
He shook his head. “Not kidding.”
“Where is it?” I scanned the room.
“Somewhere safe. And you can have it for giving me something in return.”
I eyed him with equal parts skepticism and hope. “What do you want?”
“The Red Devil.”
My stomach did a backflip worthy of an Olympic gymnast. “What do you want with him?”
“You’re not that naïve, Sarah.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You obviously overestimate me.”
“I want to slay him. I want to stop him from doing any harm to others now that he’s chosen to return to the public eye.”
“So the only way you’ll give me the grimoire is if I help you kill the Red Devil?” I wanted to make sure I understood him properly.
“That’s right.”
My small piece of shiny hope flittered away. “Don’t you have more important things to be thinking about right now?”
He let out a long, shaky sigh. “Actually, I could use the distraction. I need a new challenge to concentrate on. To defeat the Red Devil—a vampire whose reputation others have raised to mythic proportions—would be my greatest accomplishment.” He blinked. “Other than that demon in Vegas, of course. As you can probably imagine, it’s not exactly a memory I currently cherish.”
The grimoire. The answer to all of my nightwalker problems. “I don’t know, Gideon—”
“Damn.” He groaned, then staggered back a few feet and clutched at his face. “Why did I have to mention it?”
Before I could say anything else, he cried out and fell to his knees on the plush carpet of the suite. It was the hellfire. Gideon convulsed in pain as he fought against the flames that couldn’t be seen, only felt.