by Мишель Роуэн
I’ve just got a few more things to take care of, starting with my brand-new head injury—” and ending with curses, Thierry’s secret identity, siring Gideon, and my new insight into the fun and exciting world of demons “—and then I’ll get my own place. Just know that I really appreciate what a great friend you’ve been to me during my pathetic, self-pitying time of neediness.”
“Sarah, it’s not—”
But I’d gotten up during my speech and made a slow, staggering beeline across the living room to give him a tight hug. “You rock, you know that?”
He disengaged from my clinginess as best he could, then went to the closet to grab his jacket. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “I have to go out for a bit, but you stay here and rest. And chill out. And try to stay out of trouble, if that’s possible.”
“Not sure that’s possible.”
“Try, anyhow. After all, I only have so much house insurance.”
Without another word, he left.
Maybe there’d been an Invasion of the George Snatchers lately. In any case, I’d have to remember—despite my multiple other dramas—to keep an eye on him. There was nothing worse than a potentially depressed vampire. I speak from personal experience.
I groaned and rubbed my tender scalp. Demon-boy sure had a mean left hook.
George wanted me to stay calm and rest up after being batted around like a fanged punching bag, but how could I relax? That teenager had been possessed.
“He holds a clue in his hand—a glimpse of a betrayal you would never expect.”
I was fairly certain he’d been talking about Gideon. And if I was going to be betrayed then
I’d really love to know all about it.
What did he hold in his hand? A remote control? A piece of fruit? Some of my butt last night when he’d kissed me?
Another thought occurred to me.
Maybe the demon was talking about Gideon’s BlackBerry.
That made a whole lot of sense, actually. I’d already thought about what secrets might be inside it—names and contact information. Schedules. Meeting places. Text messages and e-mails. It seemed too simple an answer, but it was possible it could be helpful to find out who was on call to help him blackmail me to do whatever he wanted.
Maybe no one had to get hurt. If I could get my hands on his BlackBerry I could use the information on it against him. Make him know that he didn’t hold all the power.
Then if I still decided to sire him he’d see I did it without any duress. I’d prove to him once and for all that vampires didn’t deserve to be staked. And then he could take his newfound, benevolent view of the paranormal world back to his cronies and get hunters to stop hunting. It would be a whole new world.
The Disney song by the same name started playing in my head.
Okay, I wasn’t a total ignoramus. I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. But it was something to start with. Something solid.
Then he’d give me the grimoire, no strings attached. Because that’s what friends do. They help each other out.
Gideon Chase = my buddy.
Obviously my concussion was worse than I’d thought it was. Thank God I had vampire-
strength healing abilities now.
I’d start with getting the cell phone away from him and take it from there. Baby steps.
Tomorrow night at midnight was when I was supposed to turn him into a vampire. I really hoped that deadline wouldn’t contain too much “dead.”
I grabbed my cell phone and scrolled to the last time Gideon had called me. Taking a deep breath, I pressed the button to redial his number. He picked up on the second ring.
“Good afternoon, Sarah,” he said. “Are you feeling better today?”
We hadn’t exactly parted on a good note last night, had we? I remembered sinking my teeth into his tongue and him snarling some sort of threat at me when I refused his generous offer to have sex with him.
Best friends. It could happen.
“I want to talk to you about what happened last night.”
There was a long pause. “So, talk.”
I swallowed. “Not on the phone. I want to see you.”
“Really?” He sounded intrigued. “I was under the impression you weren’t happy with me.”
“I slept on it. I think I may have overreacted.”
“Then by all means, come here this evening. We can pick up where we left off.”
That could mean many things. “Can’t I see you right now?”
“No.”
“Why? Got company?”
“Would that make you jealous?”
“No.” My stomach lurched. Who was with him? I hadn’t seen anyone with him since he first came to town. “I was planning to see Quinn today as well, so I guess I can wait.”
“I strongly suggest you say nothing to him about me today. Can I trust you, Sarah?”
“Of course,” I said quickly. Besides, I wasn’t lying. I wouldn’t say anything today. I’d already talked to Quinn about his old hunting buddy yesterday.
“When you come here, I also want you to tell me everything you know about the Red
Devil.”
I tensed. “I don’t know much about him.”
“You were seen with him last night. You know enough. I’ll see you later.”
The line went dead.
Somebody saw me and the Red Devil last night? A shiver went down my spine. Who’d seen us? It didn’t matter, it just proved to me how closely I was being watched.
I wanted to call Thierry. I wanted to talk to him. But I had no idea how to do that without raising Gideon’s suspicions. I couldn’t get him any more distrustful until I, at least, had that BlackBerry of his in my hot little hands.
The plan that had seemed so sparkly a few minutes ago now seemed like a dull grasping at straws.
Since I had told Gideon I was seeing Quinn that afternoon, that’s exactly what I did. I met him at Bodacious Bean an hour later and we spent the rest of the day together. We chatted about innocuous things that, if overheard by Gideon’s seemingly invisible spies, wouldn’t sound like anything except two people who liked each other spending time together.
Quinn and I strolled around downtown and window shopped in the Eaton Centre, the coolest mall in the universe. Then we wandered along the frozen streets of Yorkville—
probably my favorite part of Toronto, with cute boutique shops and the possibility of celebrity sightings in the trendy neighborhood. Normally it would have been a great day, but obviously my concentration was elsewhere.
“Hey—” Quinn squeezed my hand. “Earth to Planet Sarah.”
“Sorry.” I swallowed hard. “I’m a bit scattered today.”
“Just today?”
“Ha ha.” I gave him a look. “I guess I’m perfecting my craft.”
“It’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”
“It is?”
He nodded firmly and grinned at me. “We’re both going to get everything we ever wanted. We’ll both find the happiness we’ve been searching for. And you know how I know that?”
“Please share with the class.”
His smile grew. “Because we’ve damn well earned it.”
I eyed him. “You smoking crack?”
“No drugs necessary. Why, don’t you believe me?”
I breathed out and watched the air freeze into a cloud. When I was a nightwalker that wouldn’t happen. I didn’t have to breathe, and being outside in the cold would lower my body temperature. “I’m not sure what I believe anymore.”
“Then I’ll have to believe enough for the both of us.”
“Since when have you become the motivational speaker of the group?”
He shrugged. “One of us has to be and I guess today it’s me. You’ve lost your optimism.”
“I think I just misplaced it somewhere.” I chewed on my bottom lip. “If you had the chance to be human again but it came with a heavy price, would you take it?”
He thought a
bout that for a moment. “I’ve done my share of chasing after easy answers to hard questions. Nothing worked out how I thought it would. But if somebody presented me with a special pill today that would make me the way I used to be.” His brows drew together. “I don’t think I’d go for it. I’m okay with who I am now.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “What if you were cursed?”
“I felt like I was for a time after I got bit. Now I know I was blessed.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think I liked you better when you were angst-ridden.”
“Oh, trust me, I still am.” He smiled and squeezed my hand. “But life presents us with lots of forks in the road. We never know what the right one is until we walk that path and see where it leads.”
“Please stop.”
“Sorry. I can’t help myself.” His smile fell away and a shadow moved over his expression.
“I think somebody’s following us.”
I tensed. “So what do we do?”
“Just act natural.”
The sun had set. It was almost completely dark and not long before I could go and see
Gideon.
“Look at us, having fun together,” Quinn said tightly, loud enough for any passersby to hear.
“Totally,” I agreed. “So relaxed and calm and ready to enjoy our wonderful lives.
Together. Quinn and me. La la la.”
His jaw tightened. “That didn’t sound very natural.”
“My acting abilities aren’t what they used to be.”
He pulled me off the sidewalk and against the wall of a high-end fashion boutique. “This is for appearances only.”
“What is?”
“This.” He kissed me. I was surprised, but knew it would definitely help show anyone who might be watching that Quinn and I were together romantically.
I’d kissed Quinn a few times before, and there had been some great chemistry between us in the past. But this? This was just for show, and the attraction I’d once felt for him was all but completely gone.
Still. The ex-hunter had some amazing lips on him.
He finally pulled away enough to whisper in my ear. “Sorry about that.”
“Sorry?” I managed. “Don’t be sorry.”
“I wonder if the Red Devil witnessed that one as well.” I felt him grin against the side of my face. “I know he’s keeping tabs on you. Must have given him quite an eyeful just now.”
Well, that was possible.
I knew then, without a doubt, that along with anyone Gideon had tailing me, the kiss had also been witnessed by Thierry. I concentrated enough to feel his presence through our vampire/sire connection.
Quinn had always brought out his jealous side. Served him right.
“I have to go,” I told Quinn. “I have an appointment.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
I shook my head. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”
It took a bit more convincing, but I managed to part ways with Quinn, and just before seven o’clock I approached the Madison Manor. My steps slowed the closer I got to
Gideon’s hotel as I tried to calm myself.
This will go just fine, I tried to tell myself.
I could handle Gideon Chase. He was putty in my hands.
Sure.
I heard a voice from the shadows.
“You’re seeing Gideon again?” the Red Devil as played by Thierry de Bennicoeur asked.
“What a surprise.”
I put a hand on my hip. “He’s just so charming I can’t stay away.”
“I see. So you feel the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it?”
I’d taken an English Lit course the year I’d been in university. I recognized a good Oscar
Wilde quotation when it was sarcastically thrown in my direction.
Or maybe he was just being truthful. I tried to see the situation from his point of view. I knew Thierry didn’t want me to put myself in harm’s way by seeing Gideon. He’d told me as much to my face. And yet here I was merrily prancing into Gideon’s hotel room again as if it was no big deal.
Also, I do believe I admitted last night to the “Red Devil” that not only did Gideon kiss me, but I might have enjoyed it. Whoops.
“Do you think I’m having an affair with Gideon?” I asked.
There was a long stretch of silence. “Are you?”
“I can’t believe you have to question that.”
“That wasn’t a clear yes or no answer.” His voice was tight. “But it’s really none of my business either way, is it?”
“Now that you mention it, I guess it isn’t.” I pushed my annoyance away and turned around to spot him in the shadows to the side of the hotel a little off to my right. “Why don’t you just go ahead and tell me who you are? I’ve never been a big fan of game playing, unless it’s Twister or spin the bottle.”
I’d give him a chance. This was his big opportunity to come clean with me once and for all.
“It would be best if you kept your distance from Gideon,” he said quietly, without even attempting to answer my question. “I don’t need to tell you he’s a very dangerous man.”
“So are you. In fact, Gideon tells me you’re basically a vampire of mass destruction.”
“He said that, did he?”
“My words, but that’s what he meant.”
There was a pause. “And what do you think of me?”
“The jury is still deliberating. All I know is that Gideon will hand over the grimoire so I can break my curse if I hand you over to him. So I’d watch my step if I were you.”
“Do you plan to help him? Is that why you can’t seem to stay far from his side?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” All I could see in the darkness was the outline of his body and a slight glitter in his shaded eyes behind his mask. “There’s a lot on the line for me at the moment and I feel like I’m all alone in the world.”
“You’re not alone.”
“Sure feels that way.”
“You didn’t seem so alone this afternoon with Quinn. Perhaps there is still a chance you and he can be together if that’s what you want.”
There was a familiar unfriendly edge as he said Quinn’s name. Obviously the kiss had not gone unnoticed. As much as I’d had it with the jealousy, I did feel a twinge of guilt. More than a twinge. It felt like lately I’d been gallivanting all over the city attacking the lips of everyone I passed. Thierry had a right to be questioning the fidelity of my lips or, for that matter, the rest of my body.
“I’m not in love with Quinn. Never was, never will be. Also, his fiancée would rip my head from my body with her new fangs. You know very well who I’m in love with.”
“Do I?”
I sighed heavily. “Why don’t you take the rest of the night off? I don’t need protection from anyone right now, especially not somebody who hides behind a stupid mask.”
“Perhaps I’m not protecting you as much as I’m protecting others from you.”
I tried not to cringe. “Is that so?”
“You are a dangerous woman right now, currently treading a very fine line of self-control.
You pretend you’re normal when you’re anything but.”
“Yeah, well.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat and absently touched my gold chain.
“That’s what I want to fix. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
I started to walk away but he grabbed hold of my hand.
“Sarah—”
“What?” Just as I turned to face him he let go of me and stepped back into the shadows.
A long moment of silence stretched between us. “Promise to be careful.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Frustration again welled inside me. Why was it that Gideon told me everything about himself, but Thierry told me next to nothing? The balance seemed wrong there.
He’d had ample opportunity to tell me the truth. Did he honestly think I
didn’t know?
That I couldn’t see past a flimsy mask?
But of course that’s what he thought. If no one had ever seen past his masks in God only knew how long, then why would he expect me to? But I could. And I did. Despite our many differences I saw who Thierry truly was underneath it all even if nobody else did.
I was sure there was a metaphor in there for something.
Up on the fourth floor of the hotel Gideon was waiting for me. When he let me in, I scanned the room quickly and saw that the bed was unmade, the sheets in disarray.
“Had a fun afternoon with your visitor?” I asked dryly.
His lips quirked. “Just a relaxing afternoon nap.”
“Right.”
“Would you be upset if I sought affection elsewhere? After all, you did leave me in a state last night.”
“Yeah. A state of denial.” Then I had to remind myself that I wasn’t there to insult him or make him mad. I was there to get that glorified cell phone of his. Sugar, not vinegar, was the main ingredient of the evening. “Sorry. I’m just tired, I guess.”
“It’s fine. Please make yourself comfortable.”
I chose the armchair by the window and sat down uncomfortably in it.
He sat down on the edge of his messy bed. He was fully dressed in a designer suit even
Thierry might envy. Half the buttons of the white shirt were undone so I could see a glimpse of his muscled chest—still free from any scars, thanks to his glamourizing wristwatch. And I was willing to bet the BlackBerry in question was in his suit jacket pocket.
“You had a visit from your young wizard today,” he said after a moment. It wasn’t a question.
My mouth went dry. Why was I surprised? He obviously had one of his spies stationed somewhere outside George’s house. I was concerned enough about George’s current state of mind without his finding out that every move he made was being monitored. I did get the feeling Gideon’s spies were never close enough to overhear conversations, just close enough to witness who I was spending time with. At least, so far.
“He returned my money from yesterday. No big deal.” And he’d also been possessed by a demon, but I didn’t think that was information Gideon needed at the moment.