by Elisa Adams
She cranked up the radio and opened the windows, letting the warm breeze whip through her hair. She’d never figure out how the two of them could sleep during the day and not miss seeing all of this. She’d never be able to handle being a day sleeper. She loved the sun, the fresh air too much. That thought put a damper on her good mood. Just one more thing she and Royce didn’t have in common.
She wanted to take his advice, to go with whatever happened between them and not worry about labels, but everything reminded her of their differences. What did they really have in common? Besides incredible chemistry in the bedroom, nothing. At least she didn’t think so. She didn’t know much about him. What she knew, she liked—which is why she’d stopped asking questions. She didn’t want to like him. She didn’t want to care about him at all.
But she did.
Why, she had no clue. She didn’t generally gravitate toward chauvinistic cavemen who only thought of themselves and only dated weak women with no minds of their own. So why Royce? Why now, when she was just starting over and trying to get her life together? She could only come up with one answer. Temporary insanity.
Or maybe PMS. Didn’t women get away with anything for that? It would explain why she couldn’t seem to keep her hands off him, even knowing what kind of man he was. She didn’t know. Not really. She knew what she saw—what he let the world see. She had a feeling, though, that he kept his true self hidden deep inside and didn’t let many people in. Ellie couldn’t say enough nice things about him. But Ellie didn’t have a bad word to say about anyone. She ran a hand through her hair and tried to tuck it back behind her ears. When the wind whipped it back over her face within seconds, she growled in frustration. Why did she spend so much time thinking about a dead-end fling when she had a job to do?
She stopped the car down the street from the duplex in case Michelle happened to be home. The last thing she needed now was a bunch of irritating questions. She couldn’t stand reporters. She shut the car door softly and walked down the soft roadside to the front door. It swung open with no effort this time and she walked inside.
“Hello?” she called, not expecting an answer.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she got one. “I’ve been expecting you.”
She shivered at the scratchy, nails on a chalkboard quality of the voice echoing through the room. “Who’s there?” Glancing around the dark apartment, she saw nothing more sinister than the shadows in the corners.
Out of those shadows crept a small round figure cloaked in black. “I know what you are.” He raised his head slowly and met her gaze with glowing orange eyes.
His grayish wrinkled face and sunken mouth sent a chill up her spine. She’d seen a lot of things, but nothing like this. Demons usually fell into two categories—the kind from late-night horror movies that scared the pants off average people, and the kind like her, who could take on a human form and disappoint horror fans everywhere. This thing…he didn’t look like a monster. He looked like death, desolation, desertion. A complete void of anything happy and loving. Her worst nightmare. She drew a fortifying breath before facing him. “That’s great. So you’re at an advantage, because I have no idea what you are. It seems to me that, in a fair fight, I should at least have an idea of what kind of a being you are.”
“Aparasei.”
The word was no more than a harsh whisper from his lips, but it chilled her to the bone. Aparasei. She’d heard that name a few times in her life, always in a hushed whisper. Aparasei were beings even the strongest demons feared. She’d always been warned to stay away from them—which usually ended up being a moot point since they very rarely left the demonic plane to invade the world of humans.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to hear the answer.
“I came to collect what is mine.”
Her stomach bottomed out at his confession. She had to struggle to keep her voice even as she spoke. “And what would that be?”
“All things in time. Why are you here, little cat?” He stepped toward her, his gait uneven as he hunched over an ancient-looking brown gnarled cane. The cane base thumped hollowly against the floor with each step the Aparasei took.
Instinct kicked in and she backed up a few steps. To let the thing touch her would be to cause her own death. “To help a friend.”
“A noble intention. Yet, is it your only motive?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You had no wishes to help a man you would not have considered a friend,” he told her, his haunting gaze locking with hers. “You wished to run away from a destiny that has been yours since birth, Merida.”
The conversation had officially moved beyond creepy. “How do you know my name?”
“I know many things about you. The Aparasei have a special interest in the lives of Balance Keepers.”
“I am not a Balance Keeper.”
He cocked its head to the side and gave her a ghastly smile full of broken orange teeth. “Oh, no? I beg to differ.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want that. If you’re planning to try to get rid of me because of some ridiculous destiny, you’re wasting your time. I turned it down.”
His laugh made her stomach clench. “You cannot just say no. Your destiny doesn’t work that way. I can help you, though, if you wish.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows. “How?”
“We can trade, a favor for a favor.”
A favor. She blinked, remembering what Wil had said. Could Michelle have made some kind of a bargain with the Aparasei? “No, thanks. I’m all set. I’ll figure it out on my own.”
He laughed softly, his eyes glowing even brighter. “I have watched you all your life, little one. I know you are strong. But that won’t matter now. One cannot fight one’s destiny.”
She’d heard that before. From Sam. What she wouldn’t give to have Sam with her now, to translate what this wacko was saying. “Let me get this straight. You’re here to take some unknown object that you claim is yours. I’m here to help a friend who you seem to think I don’t consider a friend. I don’t want my destiny, but the only way to get out of it is to make a deal with you. Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that’s seriously messed up.”
He blinked his big eyes and smiled again. “Messed up or not, little cat, that is where we stand.”
“Which is where? I’m having a little trouble following this conversation.”
“We are here for different reasons, yet the same.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The fear she’d first felt had ebbed a little, pushed aside by her annoyance at the thing’s penchant for speaking in riddles. “Are you talking about the murders? Did you kill those people?”
He nodded slowly.
“Why? Did they steal the object you think is yours?”
His wide shoulders lifted in a shrug. “They saw me. It was too soon, I hadn’t been able to take back what belongs to me. I couldn’t let them ruin my chances. I will fulfill my own destiny before the next moonrise. Then I will be gone from this terrible little town. Provided we can agree on an equitable compromise.”
“What?” Instead of speaking more clearly, he’d only gotten worse.
“We both need something. I need what has belonged to me for many years, and you need a shift of fate to change your life path. If you must promise to let me retrieve my belongings without interruption from you, I will help you shift your fate.”
“Not in a million years, buddy. I have a job to do. I’ll find a way to shift my own fate, thanks.” She stepped toward him, not sure of what she needed to do but knowing something had to be done. “I can’t just let you walk away. You murdered two people. You’re a danger to the human world.”
“You do not understand,” he told her, a menacing smile on his face. “Your fate shifted the second you walked into this house today. I had hoped not to hurt you, but you’ve given me no choice.” He swiped a hand out,
catching her across the side of her arm. She felt a terrible stinging, burning sensation that overpowered everything, and then she only saw darkness.
* * * * *
Royce woke up a while after the sunset, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the unfamiliar surroundings. Something soft had tangled around his wrist. He sat up and pulled it off. Merida’s stocking—or at least what was left of it after she fried it with her hands. His semi-erect cock tightened in response. That morning had been better than he ever would have expected, a turning point in the relationship neither of them would claim to want.
Where was she?
He hadn’t really expected her to hang around wasting the day while he slept, but he’d been hoping she might have come back to bed once the sun went down. Something felt wrong, though. The house seemed too quiet.
He pulled himself out of bed and put his boxers and jeans back on before heading down the stairs to the living room. His heart raced and his nerves tingled. Where was Merida? Something had happened to her. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did.
When he hurried through the living room door, he stopped short. She sat on the couch, her knees curled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs. She looked pale and tired, but she looked alive. “Hi,” he said softly as she looked up at him.
“Hi.” Her voice sounded small and weak and it came too close to tearing his heart out. She gave him a tiny smile that did nothing to ease his fears.
“What happened?” he asked, trying to swallow past the lump in his throat.
“I went back to the house.”
Anger welled in him and he clenched his fists. Why had she not listened when he and Wil told her it wasn’t safe? “Were you trying to get yourself killed? You told me yourself it wasn’t safe. You said there was a demon involved.”
She shook her head. “It’s not a demon. It’s an Aparasei.”
Royce snapped his mouth shut, all thoughts of what he’d planned to say leaving him. He knew she was tough, but she looked so small, so frail. At nearly a foot smaller than him, he couldn’t imagine her being strong enough to take on anything as powerful as an Aparasei.
“Don’t worry. I’m okay,” she told him as she stood up from the couch and walked the few steps to him. She surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck.
His hand automatically went to her back and pulled her closer. “What’s wrong?” He rubbed his hand up the side of her arm and pulled away from her when she flinched. “What happened to you?”
She moved her t-shirt sleeve out of the way to reveal a long, thin red welt. At the sight of it, he wanted to go out and find the Aparasei that hurt her and tear the thing’s head off.
“It’s no big deal,” she told him, her voice a little stronger. “I’m feeling a lot better now that I’ve had a chance to rest. At least I didn’t hit my head on anything when I fell.” Her laugh sounded strangled.
“What do you mean, when you fell? Did he push you?”
She shook her head, her smile not reaching her eyes. “No. When he touched me, I blacked out. I woke up and I had this on my arm.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Only when someone touches it. It’s starting to go away. I was a lot worse when I woke up.”
He pulled her back against him again and kissed the top of her head. If he’d lost her… “When did you wake up?”
“About five hours ago.”
“And you’ve been sitting here the whole time?”
She ducked out of the circle of his arms and walked to the window, giving him her back. “I slept for most of it. I’ve only been awake for a little while.”
“Then why didn’t you come back to bed?”
She turned slowly, and walked toward him, stopping a few feet away. With her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised, she looked, for the most part, back to the Merida he knew and lo—liked. “I didn’t think it would be right to disturb your sleep. After all the sex we had, I thought you might need it.”
“Okay. Fine. Can you at least explain to me why you decided to go against your promise to me, and to Wil, and go back to that house? Where you got attacked by something worse than a demon?”
She frowned, her eyes fiery again—just the way he liked them. The tension he’d felt when he woke up finally dissolved.
“I felt like it, okay? You’re not my boss.” She tried to push past him but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back, kissing her hard before she had a chance to protest. He had her panting and clutching at his arms by the time he broke the kiss.
“Do you want me to make you something to eat?”
She blinked up at him, her eyes glazed over, for a couple seconds before the lust-filled gaze turned to a glare. “Are you crazy? Do you really think I’m going to take a meal from a man who hasn’t cooked anything in a few hundred years?”
Yep. She was back to her old self. He smiled.
“I only ate what Wil cooked for me this morning because I was starved.”
His smile faded. “Wil cooked for you?”
“Well, yeah. I assumed you knew.” She shrugged and walked past him. He followed her into the kitchen. She grabbed a twin pack of granola bars and sliced open the package with her fingernail. “Is there a problem?”
“Why would you let Wil cook for you?”
“It wasn’t like I had a choice.” She rolled her eyes and bit off another chunk of granola bar. “I woke up. He’d already cooked. What was I supposed to do?”
Royce was about to answer when someone banged on the front door. “Hold that thought. We are definitely not done here.” Not wanting Wil to wake up before they finished their conversation, he walked to the front door and swung it open. A tall, dark-haired woman stood there. She smiled when she saw him, her blue eyes flashing interest. “Well, hello.”
He didn’t have to ask to know who she was. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Michelle. I’m looking for Wil.” Her smile widened, displaying a row of gleaming white teeth. He had the passing thought that they couldn’t be real—nothing that perfect ever was. “Maybe he’s mentioned me?”
“He’s sleeping.”
Royce whirled to see Merida standing a few feet behind him, her face expressionless.
Michelle’s expression shifted from interested to annoyed. And maybe a little jealous. “He asked me to meet him here tonight. Could someone possibly go and get him for me?”
She pushed past Royce and walked into the house, stopping in front of Merida. “Who are you people?”
Merida shrugged. “Wil’s friends.”
“Friends? Do you friends have names?”
Royce stepped between them before Michelle got hurt. If she kept badgering Merida, she’d end up with more than a few scratches. “I’m Royce, and that’s Merida.”
Michelle beamed up at him. “I’ve heard about you. A few times, in fact. Wil can’t say enough good things about you.” She turned her gaze back toward Merida and frowned. “But Wil hasn’t mentioned your name.”
One corner of Merida’s mouth lifted into a half-smile and her eyes took on a dangerous expression. “Give it time. We just met.”
Michelle blinked but said nothing.
Merida’s smile widened. “I’ll go wake Wil up. Stay here.” She turned and left the kitchen.
Michelle shook her head. “She’s a little odd, isn’t she?”
“No.” What the hell did she think she was doing, going up to Wil’s bedroom alone? If she wasn’t back in five minutes, he’d have to kick some serious ass.
* * * * *
“What were you thinking, coming here when you knew I was in bed?” Wil glared at Michelle, ready to put his fist through a wall. He’d been woken out of a much needed sleep to find she’d shown up without notice, trying to cause problems. “It’s bad enough that you use me for information. Did you really have to come in here and harass my friends?”
For once, she had the decency to look wounded. “I didn’t come here to bother anyone. I just wan
ted to see you.”
Yeah. Right. A few weeks ago, he might have believed that. But that was before he’d gotten to know her. She might have the rest of the world fooled, but she didn’t care about anything but her own aspirations. She’d proven to him that she’d do whatever it took to get information out of him, including feeding him that story about her father’s murder. He’d looked into it before going to bed that morning. There hadn’t been a murder. In fact, there was question that her father was even dead. From what Wil had read, it appeared Dale Silverman had cleaned out the company bank accounts and disappeared, leaving his business partner with nothing. So why had Michelle lied?
Because she was just like her father. Ruthless, uncaring, only looking out for herself. He took in her perfect hair and clothes, her impeccable makeup—her attitude. He shook his head. She sucked everybody in with her sob stories. He regretted ever falling for any of them. “Go home, Michelle. I’ll call you later.”
“No you won’t. We need to have a talk. Now.”
He faced her, his arms crossed over his chest. “What do you want now?”
“What’s happening to us? I just don’t feel like we’re close anymore. We could have it all, if you’d just let me in. But there’s something wrong with you. You barely socialize, you stay inside most of the time, and you work too much. You don’t eat when we go out. You never drink anything besides water.” She frowned. “You know what? You barely qualify as human.”
He sucked in a sharp breath and let it out on a sigh. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Not everyone needs to comply with your standards of normal.”
“Normal? Wil, your behavior is strange by any standards.”
“If you came to berate me for my lifestyle, go home. I don’t need to conform to your warped views of conventional.”
She put her hand on his arm, not noticing when he tried to flinch away. “I’m sorry. I’ve been going through a lot of stress right now. You have, too. Why don’t we do something about that? Let’s take a vacation.”