by Nina Bangs
Kim had Fo clutched tightly to her as she reached the parlor. Even Fo seemed shaken by the violence, because she remained silent. Please let him be okay, please let him be okay. She played and replayed her mantra as she got her first look at him.
He lay sprawled across one of the scarlet throw rugs while blood spilled down the side of his head. So much blood. Positive thought. At least he still had a head, so he’d survive. Red coated his hair where it had fallen across his face. As she dropped to her knees beside him, Kim put Fo on the floor and then pulled her cell phone from her purse. She started to punch in 911.
“Don’t.” His command was a hoarse whisper.
That one word was the most wonderful sound she’d ever heard. “You need help.”
He looked up at her through the fall of hair. “It’s a head wound. Bleeds a lot. Hurts like hell, but don’t think it’s serious. No ambulance. No police.” He reached up to touch his head and winced. “No way to explain that a demon shot me, but it’s okay because I’m immortal.”
Put that way, it made sense. “Fo destroyed the demon, but you have a hysterical employee in the kitchen who’ll be blind for about another twenty-five minutes. She’ll want some answers.”
Brynn slowly pushed himself to a sitting position. Kim supported him.
“Call the castle. Tell Holgarth we need help. And then we get dressed before the guys get here. If they walk in and we’re still naked, they won’t ever get off our cases.” He watched her from eyes that gave away nothing as she pulled on her clothes.
Then she helped him into his clothes before calling Holgarth.
“I’ll call Lynsay and tell her we can’t make dinner.” Now that the scary part was over, she couldn’t keep her hands from shaking.
“Just tell her we’ll be about a half hour late. I can make it.” He smiled at her. “The demon was a lousy shot. She just grazed me. If you help me up to my room, I can take a shower, change, and the wound will be almost healed by the time I’m dressed again.”
Kim nodded. Reaction was setting in. She’d destroyed demons before, but not when the life of someone she cared for was on the line. Someone she cared for. How much did she care? It’d seemed like a lot when she was racing back to the parlor and didn’t know if he was alive or dead. She lifted his hair away from his face and tried to ignore the blood staining her fingers. He was alive, so all the might-haves in the world didn’t matter now.
“What about the woman in the kitchen?” What would Clarice remember when she calmed down? How would they explain the temporary blindness?
“Eric will take care of her.”
Kim didn’t have time to ask how, because at that moment the front door blew open, and Eric, Conall, and Holgarth rushed into the room.
They gathered around Brynn while he told them the short version of what had happened. Minus the part where he’d gotten naked on the velvet couch with her.
Fo finally found her voice. “I kicked some serious demon butt.” She narrowed her eyes. “I could’ve saved Brynn if he hadn’t put me in the kitchen so I wouldn’t see what he and Kimmie were doing.”
Kim seemed really interested in the crystal chandelier. “Can we say duct tape, Fo?”
Eric raised a sardonic brow. Holgarth donned his all-wise and all-disapproving expression.
Only Conall seemed oblivious. He frowned. “So demons are in the park.” He turned to Kim. “Better make that call to your family tonight. We don’t have much time.” He returned his attention to Brynn. “Holgarth and Eric don’t need conventional weapons. I’m going to make sure my sword is with me wherever I go. What about you, Brynn?” Conall slid his gaze to Kim. He smiled. “Never mind. You already have your own personal demon destroyer. Lucky bastard.”
Brynn ignored Conall in favor of Eric. “Better go back and take care of the woman.” He looked at Kim. “She might appreciate having you nearby.”
Kim nodded and then trailed behind Eric as he walked to the kitchen. Exciting stuff. Her first vampire action.
He paused in the kitchen doorway to stare at the small mound of ash. “And this is?”
“What’s left of the demon after I cast it out of Clarice. Demons always set up housekeeping in the brain, so I had to aim at Clarice’s head. Ergo her blindness. The ash is my proof the demon was really destroyed and didn’t just move into another home.” She shrugged. “Don’t ask me how Fo works and where the ash comes from because I don’t know. I’m just the executioner.”
Eric nodded. He pulled a chair up next to the sobbing woman and sat down. “Hi Clarice. I’m Eric McNair, and everything’s going to be fine.”
Clarice the hysterical stopped crying. Wow, how’d he do that?
His voice. It was deep, warm, comforting. Kim felt herself go all soft and squishy inside. Anything Eric told her was the truth. She could trust him to take care of her. He’d wrapped her in a fluffy blanket of security.
Wait. Kim did a mental headshake. What was this about? She didn’t know Eric, so why the warm fuzzies? But then she glanced at him, looked into his eyes, and knew.
This was heavy vampire stuff. He was changing forms right in front of her. His eyes grew larger and elongated. His pupils swallowed his irises until his eyes looked black, the kind of black you figured you could stare into and see a person’s soul. Under different circumstances she would’ve taken some time to consider the viability of vampire souls, but this wasn’t a night for deep vampire thoughts.
Everything sensual about him seemed to intensify. His lips looked fuller, sexier. Probably because of the fangs beneath them. His hair lay in a black tangled glory around his face. Even his body seemed bigger, more muscular.
And yes, she did recognize how really weird her response was. Even as he changed, she should’ve been rummaging through the kitchen for a clove of garlic, making a cross from two pieces of celery, or whittling a stake from a chair leg. At the very least, she should’ve screamed loud enough to wake the dead, no, the undead. But after a day filled with demons, a vampire seemed sort of anticlimactic.
He must’ve felt her stare, because he turned to study her. Something that looked a lot like laughter moved in those black eyes.
She swallowed hard.
He hissed at her.
She squeaked her alarm.
He lifted his lips away from deadly-looking fangs.
She backed into a chair and sat down hard.
He laughed.
“Okay, you’ve had your chuckles. So what’re you going to do about Clarice?” Kim’s heart was still trying to hide in her throat.
Eric put a finger to his lips and then stared at Clarice for several minutes. Then he turned to Kim. “How long before Clarice will be able to see again?”
Kim glanced at her watch. “About ten minutes.”
He nodded and stared at Clarice for another minute. “I’m finished. We can talk. She won’t hear us.”
“What did you do?” This was fascinating. A small voice reminded her she wouldn’t meet people like Eric if she married Mr. Ordinary. For the first time in her life, she entertained the thought that Mr. Ordinary could be a wee bit boring.
“I have the power to create fantasies for people.” He reached out and tapped the side of Kim’s head. “Here. Right now, Clarice is leaving her job at the Dead Eye Saloon. She doesn’t feel well and wants to go home early. Her boss isn’t around, so when she saw me come in here, she figured I could tell him what happened and arrange for a sub to fill in for her tonight. At the end of ten minutes, she’ll open her eyes to see me bending over her. I’ll tell her she fainted, have someone take her over to the park’s doctor so he can look her over, and then arrange for someone to drive her home. Clarice is pregnant, so she’ll believe she needs to rest more.”
“And this fantasy will seem . . .”
“Completely real.” He returned to human form. “Ask Donna someday about the time we played naked on a cloud. She was just getting the feel for cloud sex when Air Force One flew by. The president waved
at her. Pretty embarrassing.”
“You have to be in vampire form to create the fantasy?” This was so cool. What fantasy would Brynn like? Probably one that took place on a planet where women were extinct. Kim allowed herself a small, secret smile. Maybe not all women. He’d looked really interested on that couch.
“Right.” Humor touched his gorgeous blue eyes. “When you want to share a special fantasy with Brynn, come see me.”
Okay, getting all defensive here. “What makes you think I’d want that?”
His smile was slow and wicked. “Because I was in your head just now.” He held up his hand to stop her rant. “I won’t do it again. But Brynn’s birthday is coming up on Sunday. He didn’t have a birthday until we gave him one. Everyone deserves a good time on their birthday, and Brynn deserves it more than most. Just think about it.”
Kim nodded. She stood and took a last look at Clarice. “I have to help Brynn back to his room.” She needed to think about what Eric had said.
And as she walked toward the parlor, Kim could feel the sucking sound of desire dragging her down to disaster.
13
Brynn was standing when Kim walked into the parlor. Barely. He was healing, as he always did, but he still felt shaky. Holgarth had done what he did best—manipulate reality—so Brynn could walk back to the castle without people noticing he was a bloody mess. No one had warned Kim, though.
She stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. “You look like nothing happened to you. No wound, no blood.”
Brynn shrugged. “I’m still bloody, but Holgarth did his wizard act and hid the gore so I wouldn’t scare customers when I left here.”
“Are you strong enough to walk?” Kim shook her head. “Of course you are. You’re immortal. Superfast healing and all that stuff.” She stared at Holgarth. “So what other wizardy things can you do?”
“Wizardy things?” Holgarth raised one brow. “What a delightful turn of phrase. I can do oh so many ‘wizardy’ things, Ms. Vaughn. For example, I could wait until you leave Galveston and then correct with a twitch of my nose any unfortunate design faux pas you might have inflicted on the castle.”
Kim looked like she wanted to snarl at him. “Are you always such a snot?”
Holgarth widened his eyes. “But of course. I live to annoy.”
Even in the face of a demon invasion, Holgarth made Brynn smile. “Don’t believe him, Kim. Underneath that hard crust is a marshmallow.”
“Marshmallow?” Holgarth looked horrified.
Brynn figured now would be a good time to get out of there. “I’m still feeling a little weak. Would you walk back to my room with me?” He offered Kim his wounded-hero expression while ignoring Conall’s eye rolling.
“Sure. Do you need to lean on me?” Her eyes were warm with sympathy.
“No. I should be okay. But I’d appreciate the company.” Amazing the depths he’d sink to just to keep her with him.
Conall smothered a grin. “Eric will take care of the woman, and we’ll see you guys at the meeting.”
Brynn nodded and then followed Kim from the bordello. For a few minutes they walked in silence, and Brynn allowed himself to enjoy small pleasures—the soothing darkness, the clean, crisp gulf breeze, a woman who walked quietly beside him demanding nothing. No orders to touch her body or put his cock inside her on cue. Startled, he realized his greatest pleasure was just being alive. He’d survived and was glad of it. When was the last time he’d felt that? Probably never.
He frowned. Brynn knew damned well all this glad-to-be-alive crap was because of Kim. Not good. He wanted Kim to only be about sex. But his great feeling about life in general, even though the demons and Vaughns wanted a piece of him, felt like more than just a sexual high. He’d have to make sure it didn’t become more. For both their sakes. And so he resisted the urge to take her hand.
It wasn’t until they entered the lobby that Kim spoke. “With everything that happened back there, I forgot to ask how long it took for the compulsion to hit this time.”
“An hour and twenty minutes. Longer than the last time. I don’t know what’s happening, but whatever it is, I hope it keeps up.” Brynn glanced at his watch. He kept forgetting to check the time when he was with Kim.
“We’ll have to test it again.” Kim’s smile said she’d enjoyed at least part of what the last test had led to. “This time without the pianist from hell.”
Fo paused in her scanning of nearby people to gaze up at Brynn from Kim’s purse. “I have to stay next time. What if another demon sneaks up on you, huh? Who you gonna call?”
“We’ll see.” Translation: never going to happen. Brynn looked down at Fo. “Who you gonna call? Been watching some online movies?”
Fo blinked at him. “Of course. How else would I learn what normal human behavor is like?” Calmly, she went back to scanning for demons.
“Normal. Right.” Eric figured Fo’s view of the world was going to be really scary.
They’d almost reached the elevator when Donna stopped them. “Are you guys okay?” Dressed in jeans and an oversized T-shirt, Eric’s wife didn’t look anything like what she was, a vampire and the host of a popular late-night talk show. “Eric called and told me what happened.”
Brynn smiled. He teased Eric about being chained for all eternity to the queen of late-night radio, but he liked Donna. “We’re fine. But the demon was armed. We have to protect the humans in the park. We’ll talk about it at the meeting.”
Donna nodded and turned to Kim. “How about coming on my show tonight for about an hour? We don’t need to give your real name if you don’t want to, but I’ve never interviewed someone who destroyed demons. My listeners would love it. Most of them are pretty knowledgeable, and I guarantee you’d get interesting questions.”
Kim paused before answering. “Sounds like fun, but that might not be a good idea right now. I don’t want the demons to know a hunter is in town. Get back to me after this is all over, and I’d love to do it.”
“You’re right about the demons. I didn’t think of that. I do a lot of phone interviews, so my listeners wouldn’t know you were in Galveston unless you told them. But the people who come to watch me each night in person would spread the news. And you’re welcome to come on the show whenever you like. If you’re still up around midnight, stop by the lobby and watch a little of the broadcast.”
“Will do.” Kim smiled, but Brynn saw the strain behind the smile. It was tough to concentrate on much of anything when demons were taking over the city.
Donna seemed to pick up on Kim’s mood. “Donna Till Dawn could score a radio first. I bet no one else in the media ever got to cover a war with demons. Eat your hearts out, CNN and Fox.” She touched Kim’s hand and smiled at Brynn. “Gotta go. I told Eric I’d help him get Clarice home.”
They watched Donna walk away before continuing on to the elevator. Brynn hit the button and waited for the doors to open. Once again, Kim grew silent. By the time they reached his door and she still hadn’t said anything, he began to wonder if she regretted coming with him.
“Look, I feel okay. You probably need to freshen up before dinner.” He pushed the door open.
“Lynsay’s my sister. I don’t need to clean up for her.” She stepped into the room with him.
They both paused in the doorway.
All the lights were off, and flickering candlelight gave the room a soft glow. A vase of fresh flowers sat in the middle of the coffee table. Everything was suspiciously neat, not a candy wrapper in sight. The TV was off, and the swelling notes of an aria filled the room.
Opera? Brynn had pretty eclectic taste in music, but he didn’t have any opera CDs.
Ganymede and Asima sat on the couch, each with a wineglass in front of them on the coffee table. As Brynn watched, an almostempty wine bottle hovered in the air above Asima’s glass.
“Here, have some more wine, babe.” Ganymede’s amber eyes gleamed in the semidarkness.
Asima didn’t answer beca
use she’d locked her blue gaze on Kim. “Tell me you aren’t letting Sparkle dress you.” She was broadcasting her thoughts to everyone, and she sounded steamed.
Leaping from the couch, she padded over to take a closer look. “This outfit is a total disaster. You may as well wave a red light over your head. I see Sparkle’s tawdry claws all over these clothes.”
Brynn studied Kim—sexy top, sexy pants, and sexy shoes. “This is a great outfit. I like it.”
Asima’s stare was a power drill through his heart. “You would. You’re a man. A man’s taste in clothing is attached directly to his sexual organs.”
“Come back to the couch, beautiful kitty, and drink your wine.” Ganymede glared at Brynn behind Asima’s back.
Asima ignored him. “Don’t you dare wear one more piece of trashy clothing supplied by Sluts-R-Us. You’re a professional. You need something simple but elegant. I’ll do some shopping tomorrow and put together a wonderful outfit. Expect me on Wednesday morning.”
Kim looked worried. She should be. Brynn wouldn’t want to get in the middle of a fashion war between Sparkle and Asima.
Fo spoke up from Kim’s purse. “Um, I’d love to get some fashion tips from an expert, Asima.” Her small voice sounded hopeful.
Asima looked down her aristocratic nose at Fo. “See, even your small sentient being understands that I have superior taste.” She nodded her head regally. “My first rule, little one, is to keep an uncluttered wardrobe. Classic styles are always excellent choices.”
Brynn didn’t need to hear this. He walked around Asima to get to the couch.
“What the hell happened to you, demon?” Ganymede wasn’t fooled by Holgarth’s trickery.
“Kim and I had a run-in with a demon. Fo took care of it. Don’t forget the meeting tonight.” Brynn headed toward the bathroom. He’d only have a short time to get cleaned up before they’d have to head down to dinner.
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll be there.” Ganymede reached out to paw the remote, and the music soared. “Gee, I love opera. Come back to the couch, babe, and listen to it with me.”