by Nina Bangs
Kim looked more thoughtful.
And when Kim suggested an authentic medieval chapel where real weddings could be performed, all the vampires grew very still. The negative energy in the room would’ve reduced Sweetie Pie and Jessica to bare branches.
Kim looked resigned.
She took Fo from her pocket, placed her on the meeting table, and narrowed her gaze on her audience.
“Okay, let’s have it. I want to know what each one of you is. And human is not an option.”
7
Kim nodded at Holgarth. “Why don’t you start? Who exactly are you under that cheesy wizard outfit?” She hoped she sounded calmer than she felt.
Maybe she shouldn’t have challenged the whole room at once. She was already upset about Liz and didn’t need more craziness piled on top of that. Why did she give a damn what Liz was doing, anyway? Brynn was a big boy. He wouldn’t appreciate her outrage on his behalf. But she did give a damn. Right now her feelings were all out of whack.
Probably her emotional balance would’ve stayed on a more even keel if these wild and weird revelations had come over a longer period of time. But she needed to know if there were any other demons in this group and then move on. Otherwise Fo would drive her crazy. She hoped Fo was paying attention.
Fine, so this wasn’t just for Fo’s sake. Her mind had to be straight about things before Lynsay and Uncle Dirk hit the drawbridge. Kim already knew she couldn’t let them run rampant through the castle zapping everyone they suspected might be a demon. She wanted to keep this job. That wasn’t all, but Kim refused to do any deep internal searches right now.
Holgarth somehow managed to look down his nose at her even though he was seated and she was standing. “I am a very old, very powerful, and very offended wizard. And this ‘cheesy wizard outfit’ is quite authentic, I assure you.”
A real wizard? Uh-oh. Could he turn her into something small and slimy? Ugh. Yuk. Time for major damage control. “Yes, well, I knew that. Blue is you. Don’t ever change the color.” She shifted her gaze to Donna before Holgarth had a chance to skewer her with a few well-chosen insults. “How about you, Donna? I noticed you weren’t too enthusiastic about the chapel.” She smiled at Donna so she’d know Kim respected her opinion . . . no matter what she was.
Donna smiled back. Kim’s tension eased in the warmth of that smile. What a nice woman. “I’m a vampire, Kim. Eric turned me using Taurin’s blood because Eric’s clan can’t make other vampires. Since Taurin is a night feeder, that makes me one, too. Night feeders aren’t compatible with things you find in chapels. So Taurin and I won’t be paying any visits. But if you really think visitors would enjoy a chapel, go for it.”
Kim gripped the back of the nearest chair to steady herself and to keep her hands from shaking. Okay, she could deal with this. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat as needed. “Eric, I guess you’re next.”
Eric’s smile was friendly and relaxed. “You’re wound too tight, Kim. We never bite architects until they’ve fulfilled their contracts.” He put his arm across Donna’s shoulders. “I’m a vampire, but I belong to the Mackenzie clan. Mackenzies don’t have any problems with holy water and crosses.”
Kim pulled out the nearest chair and sat down. Okay, she collapsed.
Information overload. This was her own fault. She’d asked a simple question, and well, everyone had answered it. That would teach her to only ask questions about the weather. She looked at Conall. One more to go. She could do this. “How about you, Conall?”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “My real name is Conall O’Rourke, and I’m an immortal warrior. Morrigan, the Irish goddess of war and death, cursed me because I killed one of her favorites in battle. My punishment was to protect the descendants of the useless piece of crap I killed. The last one lives somewhere in Galveston. When I find him and make sure he never breeds any future pieces of crap, Morrigan will release me.”
Uh-huh. Didn’t need to know any more about that. “That’s . . . amazing, Conall. Just wondering why you guys told me all this neat stuff. Does this mean you have to kill me now?”
Conall’s laughter was as big as he was. “We don’t need to kill you. What do you think would happen if you went to the police and told them a vampire, a demon, and an immortal warrior were running the Castle of Dark Dreams? Bet they’d hook you up with a kind and caring member of the mental health community.”
Kim nodded her agreement.
“And what’re you when you’re not being an architect, Kim?” Liz wasn’t even pretending to be friendly now. “And what’s that phony cell phone with the purple eyes?”
Kim took a deep breath. Time to stop pretending. She’d symbolically pushed aside her duster and reached for her holster when she put Fo on the table. Now she had to shoot from the hip. She paused to organize her thoughts.
“Ms. Vaughn belongs to a notorious demon-hunting family.” Holgarth reached up to adjust his tall, conical hat. “Since the only demon in the room is Brynn, and he looks reasonably intact, I would assume she doesn’t use her demon destroyer impulsively.” He offered Kim a supercilious smile. “Unlike other members of her family.”
Kim stared at Holgarth. “How did you know that?”
Holgarth’s gray eyes glittered with triumph. “Even a wizard with a cheesy outfit knows many, many things.” He frowned. “Actually, I Googled the Vaughn name. One of your family members was stupid enough to have a Web site.” Scanning his audience, he continued, “I advised the owner against hiring Ms. Vaughn because of her unfortunate family ties and my worry about putting Brynn in harm’s way.”
Brynn’s surprised expression said Holgarth wasn’t in the habit of worrying about anyone but himself. The pompous old fart.
“I heard that thought, Ms. Vaughn.” Something that could’ve passed for humor touched his gaze and was gone. “The owner chose to ignore my concerns in favor of hiring, and I quote here, ‘a person who’ll bring some kick-ass excitement into the old pile of rock.’ And since I live to serve, I acquiesced.”
“Relax, Holgarth. I’m wearing my architect’s hat while I’m here.” Good grief, who used the word acquiesced in real life? Kim closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead where a headache was trying to form. “I’ll take questions and suggestions now.” She opened her eyes to see everyone’s hand up and Brynn and Liz gone. What the . . . ? She glanced at her watch. Almost an hour. It hadn’t seemed that long.
For the next twenty minutes, she was inundated with questions. And if Eric, Conall, and Donna looked worried, that worry didn’t translate into action.
Not your business, not your business. Fine, so she was making it her business. She held up her hands to stop further questions. “Look, if anyone wants to talk to me, catch me tomorrow. Gotta go.” Kim scooped Fo from the table. “Can someone tell me Brynn’s and Liz’s room numbers?”
There was a moment of dead silence, and then Eric spoke up. “Brynn is in the Wicked Desires room, number 205, and Liz’s room is number 310, Wicked Intentions.” He glanced around at everyone staring at him. “What? Someone needs to do something. Brynn won’t let us help.”
Donna looked confused. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
Kim left it to Eric to explain things. She was outta there.
“Where’re we going, Kimmie? Did you notice how quiet I was?” Fo blinked her eyes. “Of course, I didn’t have to tell you they weren’t human because they told you themselves. Don’t you think Eric is a beautiful vampire? And Conall is so big and sexy. Do you think Conall would be interested in dating a very small being?”
“Haven’t a clue, Fo.” She’d try Brynn’s room first. “And we’re going to stop Liz from doing something . . .” Cruel? Obscene? Brynn would tell her to butt out, that he’d been used this way for centuries. Well, too bad. The using wasn’t going to happen on her watch, not if she could help it. “Stay alert, Fo. I might need you.”
Fo’s eyes grew wide with excitement. “Really? Please let me zap the blond
vampire slut? Pleeease?”
When things calmed down, she’d have to find out where Fo had come up with the word slut. She wanted to expand Fo’s vocabulary, but not in the wrong direction.
“Hey, Kim, where you going?”
Kim glanced down to find Ganymede staring up at her. His belly was so stuffed it almost dragged on the floor. “I see you found the restaurant.” She stopped at the elevator and pressed the Up button. “I’m going to find Brynn.” As the door opened, and she stepped inside, she glanced around to make sure no one had seen her talking to a cat.
“Don’t worry, I look before I talk.” Ganymede padded into the elevator with her.
No, no, no. She didn’t want company. But things just got worse. Asima sat in the corner watching Ganymede from huge blue eyes. Great, just great. Kim punched the button for the second floor with a little more ferocity than necessary.
“Whoa, would you look at the sexy lady. You must be Asima. Lookin’ good, kitten.” If a cat could leer, Ganymede was leering. He padded up to Asima and reached out to touch noses with her.
Asima calmly lifted one elegant paw and swatted Ganymede across his nose. Then she began washing her face.
Ganymede jumped away from her and went to look at his nose in the mirrored wall. “Hell, woman. What was that about? Can’t a guy get a little friendly? You scratched my nose.”
Asima looked up at Kim. “Who is this . . . animal?”
“I’m Ganymede, sis, and you don’t have to do the mind-talk when we’re the only ones in the elevator. Why’d you hit me?” His cat face expressed his complete shock that any female would meet his advance with a swat.
“You have a typical tomcat mentality. You’re fortunate we weren’t in our human forms, or else I would’ve aimed somewhat lower on your anatomy.” She stopped washing her face. “By the way, what are you?”
Human forms. Did that mean Ganymede was a shape-shifter? She added that tidbit of info to her growing weird-stuff pile. The elevator doors slid open. Kim paused to get her bearings and then strode toward Brynn’s room. The cats padded after her. “Ganymede, you can get things straightened out with Asima while I’m taking care of business.”
Fo laughed. “We’re going to kick some vampire butt.”
Both cats looked interested as they stopped outside of Brynn’s door.
“Wait outside. I hope we won’t be long.” Kim could hear Liz’s muffled voice through the door, so she’d picked the right room. Now to get inside. No use knocking and announcing her presence. The element of surprise was important. She quietly tried the door. Damn. Locked.
“Do you want me to go inside and tell you what’s happening, Kim?” Asima looked eager to spy out the situation.
“No. You guys have to stay outside. Brynn will be embarrassed enough when I go in without me sending you in, too.” How was she going to get inside? She narrowed her gaze on the cats. Hmm.
“Embarrassed? Why would he be embarrassed?” Asima looked truly puzzled.
Ganymede made a rude noise. “Because he might be doing something of a sexual nature. Duh?”
“Asima, you have more power than I do, so why don’t you open the door for me?” Kim had witnessed firsthand Asima’s ability to unlock doors.
Asima seemed torn. “I have a curious nature, but as much as I’d like to see what’s happening, it might not be right to barge in if Brynn’s—”
“I’ll open the door for you.” Ganymede didn’t sound puzzled. He sounded like he understood what was going on.
Kim decided she’d wonder about that later. Right now she needed into that room. And if she thought too long about what she intended to do, she might be tempted to walk away. “Do it now.”
With an almost inaudible click, the door swung open.
“I still don’t understand why Kim has to go into that room in the first place. And I think there’s one too many cats in this hallway.” This aimed at Ganymede. Asima had shifted from puzzled to irritated.
Kim stepped quietly into the room. As the door swung closed behind her, she heard Ganymede’s whispered reply. “I’ll explain, and then after this is over maybe we can raid the kitchen together. I’m a good guy once you get to know me.”
Kim didn’t have to sneak, because there was some sort of Celtic New Age music playing. Besides, Liz had her back to the door and was so focused on Brynn that she wouldn’t have heard an army of vampire slayers charging into her room. But then Kim had no room to criticize, because she was so riveted by what she saw that the same army of slayers could’ve trampled her into the carpet on their way to Liz, and she wouldn’t have cared.
Kim covered her mouth to muffle her gasp.
Brynn lay on his stomach, naked and spread-eagled across the bed. Liz had evidently been in too much of a hurry to do anything more than yank the pillows from the bed. She’d left the deep red bedspread in place, a crimson pool around his golden body.
Eyes widened in horror, Kim stared at his wrists and ankles tied to the bedposts and then skimmed the angry welts marring the smooth, muscular expanse of his back and buttocks.
“No man has excited me this much in two hundred years. It was almost worth losing you to that bitch last night.” Dressed as the dominatrix from hell with stiletto-heeled boots, black fishnet stockings, and leather everything, Liz looked in her element. She trailed the tip of a wicked-looking whip over his abused body until it slid between his open thighs. She let the tip rest against his exposed balls. “I mean, if you hadn’t gone off with her, I wouldn’t have an excuse to punish you. Now that you’ve learned your lesson, you can give me pleasure for the rest of the night. How does that sound to you, hmm?”
“If that’s what you want, then I want it, too.” Brynn had turned his face away from Liz, so Kim couldn’t see his expression, but the absence of any emotion in his voice said it all.
Kim took her hand away from her mouth and exhaled on a hiss of fury. The noise was too loud for even Liz to ignore. She spun to face Kim, her mouth twisted into an angry snarl.
Kim had learned a long time ago that perception was everything when dealing with demons and hopefully vampires. She slid into her kick-ass demon-hunter persona. “Hi, Liz. Oh, and the bitch is back.”
“Where the hell did you come from?” Liz took a threatening step toward Kim. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you what happens to people who interfere with a vampire’s recreational time?” Her smile was slow and confident. “They end up a dry husk.”
That should’ve been Kim’s signal to run like the devil, but she was too ticked off to pay attention to signals. “Let him go.”
Liz laughed, but beneath the light trill of amusement moved a malevolence Kim could feel as a cold slide of danger across her skin.
“He’s mine until tomorrow. Aren’t you, gorgeous?” Liz didn’t turn her head to look at Brynn. Her unblinking stare stayed fixed on Kim.
The silence dragged on for so long that Kim thought he might not answer. But finally it came. “Yes.” Once again, there was no inflection in the one word to give Kim a hint of his feelings.
Liz’s smile widened in triumph. “See. He wants me. Now, if you leave like a good girl, I might not rip your throat out.”
Okay, that did it. Kim didn’t like to hurt things, but she felt a really unholy need to hurt this woman. She couldn’t remember ever being this mad. She lifted Fo and turned her to face Liz. “Let him go.”
Liz yawned. “You’ve officially bored me. And as much as I’d like to drink a toast to Brynn with your blood, I can’t risk everyone getting bent out of shape. So I’ll settle for beating the crap out of you.” She sneered at Fo. “And your toy won’t stop me. I’m not a demon.”
With that contemptuous dismissal of Fo’s power, Liz became vampire. Jeez, instant ugly. Liz in her vampire form was almost as disgusting as the demons that had mooned Kim. Huge black eyes and long, sharp fangs. Ugh, ugh, ugh. She didn’t look cute and perky anymore. Hey, things weren’t all bad.
Behind Liz, Kim could hear Br
ynn struggling to free himself. He’d evidently come out of whatever trancelike state he’d been in. “Get out, Kim.”
“Not until I take care of Fang Girl here.” For the first time, Kim smiled. “Fo might not be able to destroy you, but she can sure give you something to think about.” She pressed Fo’s red button and watched the powerful beam score a direct hit on Liz’s face.
Kim winced at Liz’s shriek. Liz threw her hands over her eyes. “You blinded me! I can’t see. I don’t care what the others say, I’m going to kill you.” She growled her fury as she flung herself in the direction of Kim’s voice.
“Um, I’d watch out for that chair . . . Oops. Bet that hurt.” She watched Liz untangle herself from the fallen chair. But before Kim could say anything else, the door crashed open, and Ganymede padded to her side. Asima stood in the doorway, watching with wide blue eyes.
“Relax, your favorite cosmic troublemaker is here to save your butt. Just step aside.” He glared at Liz, but then his gaze slid past her to where Brynn still lay tied to the bed. “Wow, that doesn’t look like fun, pal.” Forgetting about Liz, who was staggering around bumping into furniture, Ganymede padded over to Brynn. The bindings immediately fell away from Brynn’s wrists and ankles.
Brynn winced as he rolled over and sat up. He didn’t look toward Kim. But he didn’t have to, because his emotions hit her with enough force to back her up. Anger, embarrassment, and self-loathing washed over Kim. He must’ve been holding them in check until now. She took a deep breath and forced the emotions aside.
Fine, so he was royally steamed at her for turning this into a circus. Could she help it that Ganymede and Asima had tagged along? Absolutely not. And as it turned out, she’d needed them. She understood his anger and embarrassment, but they needed to have a long talk about his self-loathing.
Right now though, Kim had other things to worry about. Like how to get Liz under control. She didn’t fool herself. Blind or not, with Liz’s strength, she could rip Kim apart if she caught her.