by Мишель Роуэн
“And that tank top.” Donovan stroked a warm finger down her now bare arm. “Let’s have that, too.”
Mmm. Right. Stupid tank top. She started to pull at it, but stopped herself.
She frowned at him. “Wait a minute. This isn’t what I came here for. I don’t have time for any demon mind games. I get enough of that with Nathaniel. Now, I’m here to find Julian and supposedly you might know where to find him. Now talk—”
He pressed his finger to her lips to quiet her. And then tapped against them gently.
“Val, Val, Val . . . I said we’d talk about that after the wine.”
Right. After the wine, she thought. He did say that. Handsome Donovan said those exact words. Wow, he is so good-looking.
“I enjoy meeting fallen angels,” he breathed in a very sexy way that made her entire body tingle. “But very rarely are they delivered right to my doorstep.”
For some unknown reason, her hand had moved to his thigh. Strange, that.
“How do you know I’m a fallen angel?”
He moistened his full, sensual lips with the tip of his tongue, and smiled. “I wasn’t positive, but now you’ve just admitted it to me, haven’t you?”
Val heard herself giggle. “Oh. Yeah, I guess I have.”
He ran a hand down the front of her top, between her breasts, and then circled it around her waist to pull her body fully against him. “Also the fact that you’re incredibly, sinfully beautiful.”
Okay, that worked for her.
“Kiss me, Val. Then hand over that annoying little tank top.”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
He touched his lips to hers and she tried to kiss him as best she could with the limited amount of experience she had. The only other kiss she’d had was with Nathaniel. Just last night. In her motel room. Was this better? She wasn’t sure. But the fact that she was able to think during it was probably a giveaway to the fact that it wasn’t.
Val’s mind hadn’t been working at all when Nathaniel kissed her.
Donovan wasn’t waiting for her to take the tank top off, he already started working it up her body. She felt his warm hand slip underneath and move up toward—
Wait a minute, she thought suddenly. What the hell am I doing?
Luckily she didn’t have to push Donovan away. He was pulled away. Forcibly. He landed on the black shag carpeting a few feet in front of her.
Nathaniel stood next to the couch. There were two broken glasses of wine on the carpet next to him. Val looked up at him but couldn’t see his eyes for all the flames that they held. His mouth was set in a thin angry line. He glared at her and she felt like she wanted to shrivel up and fade away. His furious gaze moved down to her stomach and she hurriedly pulled the tank top down to cover her bare skin.
Reggie waddled into the room from the kitchen. He looked so small on the floor, struggling to move through the thick carpet. He surveyed the damage.
“So, what did I miss?” he asked.
Chapter Eleven
Val opened her mouth to say something, some sort of explanation for why Nathaniel had had to drag Donovan off her after being alone for only two minutes. But she came up blank.
Besides, Nathaniel wasn’t looking at her anymore. He was looking at the other demon.
Donovan laughed as he glanced up from the floor at Nathaniel.
“This is funny to you?” Nathaniel said.
“Of course it is. I had no idea you were so possessive. You told me that you weren’t together.”
“We’re not. She’s just another assignment”—he eyed Val—“who, by the looks of things, is well over her head cold.” His gaze returned to Donovan. “Stop laughing.”
Donovan got slowly to his feet and brushed himself off. His amusement gradually died down.
“Then what’s the harm in having a little fun?”
“Show her.”
Donovan’s sudden frown chased away the remaining traces of amusement on his handsome face. “What did you just say?”
“Show her.”
“Nathaniel—” Val began.
“Show her what you really are.”
Donovan looked worried now. “There’s no need for that. Don’t take your job frustrations out on me. Unlike you, I enjoyed being a Tempter. How else would I get the chance to meet such beautiful women? Let’s just say this was a misunderstanding and leave it at that, shall we?”
“There is a need. Show her and we’ll see if your charm still works on her. Consider it a little experiment.”
Donovan stared at Nathaniel for a long moment. Then he looked at Val and smiled. “Very well. I’m quite confident in my natural abilities, anyhow.”
Val glanced at Reggie who was still on the floor and they shared a “what the hell is going on?” look.
Donovan closed his eyes and after a moment something began to shimmer on the surface of his perfect dark skin. An aura of some kind. Underneath it he seemed to shrink and change into something different, but she couldn’t quite see what it was until he was finished. Then she could see all too well.
“Oh,” she said, taking in the sight before her. “See, that’s much, much different.”
The demon now stood a foot shorter than she was. He was stocky. His skin was still dark, but it was more of a gray color now instead of the rich chocolate hue from before. He had a single strip of silver hair going down the center of his head. His eyes were huge, taking up the entire upper half of his face, still green . . . and definitely his best feature now. But they were overshadowed by the fact that he didn’t have a nose.
He grinned. “How do you like me now, baby?”
Val looked at Nathaniel who seemed barely able to control his amusement. He shrugged at her. “Other than his charm skills, Donovan is very adept at personal glamour. One of the best
I’ve ever known. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Donovan still wore the silk pajama bottoms. They were tight around his now ample waist and pooled at his ankles.
She forced herself to say something to the troll-like demon. Anything. “Still a hottie. You just can’t help it, can you?”
Donovan shrieked with delight. “See! I told you, Nathaniel! Ha! Now, Val, why don’t we spend a little more time getting to know each other, gorgeous. I have another bottle of wine on ice just waiting for us.”
She nodded. “Wow. That sounds great. But first, why don’t you tell us about Julian? Seen him lately?”
Donovan absently scratched his butt. “Nah, not lately. But I think they were talking about him the other day down at the one of the faery pubs. The one called the Rosebud. Yeah. I was in there with a lady friend of mine”—he waved a hand at her—“Nothing serious. Don’t worry, baby, you’re the only one for me now. Anyhow, I thought I heard somebody mention his name. He’s a regular there. Maybe that’s where you should check.”
“Faery pub?” she said skeptically.
He nodded, then grinned lasciviously. “Now how about that glass of wine?”
They exited Donovan’s apartment so quickly that Val left her coat and sweater behind. But it didn’t matter. It was too hot for them anyhow. Besides, she wanted out of there. She also wanted the last half hour of her life back.
The thought that she’d let that little troll touch her made her feel sick. She had the sudden desire to have a really long shower.
It was too bad. He’d been so hot.
It wasn’t that she was upset he wasn’t as good-looking as she’d originally thought. She just didn’t like being lied to. What had Nathaniel called it? A glamour? Obviously some kind of magical cloak of beauty to cover what one really is underneath. Using a glamour was cheating as much as using the demon charm mojo. As far as she was concerned, if Donovan was a troll, then he should be a troll. He shouldn’t try to be a gorgeous demon.
Speaking of . . .
She turned her head. Nathaniel was walking a few paces behind her. Reggie perched on his shoulder now. That was strange. Julian had reacted like Reggie was
poison to him. She would have expected Nathaniel to behave the same, not chauffeur the little guy around as if it didn’t affect him at all.
She stopped walking until he caught up to her.
“So,” she said. “What do you really look like?”
“What are you talking about?”
She nodded toward the apartment building they’d just left. “Donovan was using a glamour to look so good. I just want to know what you actually look like underneath it all. You don’t have to be embarrassed. I’m not here to judge. Just curious.”
He studied her for a moment before his lips twitched into a small grin. “Are you trying to say that you think I look good?”
Val sighed and started walking again. “Forget it.”
“I think I’m flattered.”
“Don’t be.”
He caught up to her. “Just for the record, I don’t use a glamour. I might use a little extra bit of charm to help me out from time to time, but with me, what you see is what you get.”
She glanced at him sideways. “And I would believe that, because?”
“I already told you I used to be human.”
She shrugged “You could have been an ugly human.”
His grin widened. “Why Valerie Grace, I think you’re attracted to me.”
Val’s cheeks immediately warmed and she watched Reggie’s eyes widen. “Am not.”
Nathaniel took in Val’s flushed response with obvious amusement. “That’s why I just don’t understand why you’re being so difficult. You like me, I like you . . .”
She wanted desperately to wipe that grin off his face. “Donovan’s a better kisser. No offense.”
That did the trick. His grin slid right off his face. “If you knew half of the evil things Donovan has done you would not be so glib.”
“Like the things you’ve done?” she countered.
“You have no idea what I’ve done.”
“I can guess.”
He blinked, and studied her for a moment before replying. “I think you might be surprised, little angel. You don’t know a damn thing about me. Who I am, what I’ve done, what I’m capable of. You know nothing. That’s what I need to remember when we’re together: what my assignment is. I can never forget it. Nothing you say or do can affect me, make me change my mind. Nothing.”
They glared at each other.
“Okay you two,” Reggie said. “Enough already. This is enough to give a rat a headache.”
Val took a deep breath. “You’re right, Reggie. Let’s just focus on finding Julian. Then this can be over and you can convince Claire to change you back. You don’t want to stay stuck like that forever, do you?”
Reggie cleared his throat. “I’m thinking a dozen roses. And a sincere, heartfelt apology.”
“Who’s Claire?” Nathaniel asked.
“My ex,” Reggie said. “She’s the witch who turned me into a rat. She also helped Val summon you. We’re just like a big, happy, scary, dysfunctional family now, aren’t we? Hey, Nate, you wouldn’t happen to be able to reverse my spell, would you? That would save a lot of groveling on my part.”
“No,” Nathaniel said with disinterest. “I can’t. Nor would I want to if I could.”
“Meanie.”
Val had one thing to say for the Underworld, everything seemed to be within walking distance of everything else. She wondered how much space it actually took up. Or if it was a magical displacement of space. And if she should be wearing some kind of sunscreen under the hot sun since she burned easily.
“You’re sure you want to go to the Rosebud?” Nathaniel asked after a few minutes.
Annoyance still tinged his words.
“Of course. If anyone there knows about Julian, I have to talk to them.”
She was looking forward to the faery pub, actually. She loved faeries. Claire had a faery tattoo on her lower back, which she’d taken from a book about faeries she’d shown Val when they’d still been on speaking terms. The tattooist had gotten it a little wrong, though, and had drawn the faery without a neck so it looked as if it was in a perpetual shrug.
Yes, they were pretty little faeries in that bright, colorful book. With their gossamer wings, flitting here and there. How cute. How harmless and adorable—
Nathaniel pushed open the front door of the pub.
How incredibly scary, horrible, and wrong.
Val blinked in disbelief at what was behind that door.
It looked to her as if faeries who lived in the Underworld were a little different from the ones who floated on bubbles and hung out in flower gardens.
The Rosebud resembled a hardcore biker bar on the inside. Dartboards, dark, dank atmosphere, smoke hanging heavy in the air, carcasses of odd creatures nailed to the walls.
They walked into the pub through a narrow, musty-smelling passageway, pushing past what felt like cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. The bar itself was about twenty by twenty feet.
Small and smelly. At a quick glance Val could count six booths and three small round tables in the middle that were carved out of rock. The bar counter had eight stools. Every seat in the house was full, but conversation and the loud, throbbing heavy metal music had stopped the moment they entered. And every eye turned to look at them.
A large, burly man with a long, stringy gray beard and a belly to shame Santa himself got to his feet so fast his chair fell and clattered to the floor behind him. He wore a dirty white T-
shirt under a studded leather jacket. Grease stains marked his worn jeans. He had a fierce, unfriendly expression on his face. When he turned Val saw that his jacket had slits in it to accommodate his wings.
His pretty, colorful, gossamer wings.
He was a faery. In leather. A biker faery.
Sure, Val thought. Why not?
“Who the hell are you?” he growled.
Val gulped, then opened her mouth to say something. Nathaniel held a hand out in front of her. “Let me handle this.”
“Oh, this should be good,” Reggie said.
“What’s your name, demon?” the biker faery asked.
“Nathaniel.”
“I’ve heard of you.”
“Have you?”
“Yes, a Tempter Demon, correct? By the name of Nathaniel? Oh, your reputation precedes you.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah.” The faery smirked. “Heard you’re one failed assignment away from getting a pair of wings of your own.”
Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. “You heard wrong.”
“I doubt that.”
“We’re looking for somebody.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” The faery glanced at Val and Reggie.
“That’s not important,” Nathaniel said.
“It’s important to me.” A few more scary faeries stood up from their tables. “And it’s important to my friends. So, hey, looks like it’s pretty damn important. We don’t like strangers—they make us all nervous and jittery. We don’t like feeling that way.”
“Well that’s just too damn bad.” Nathaniel moved forward so he and the faery stood chest to chest, glaring at each other.
“I’m Valerie,” she said suddenly and Nathaniel shot her a look. “And this is Reggie. Say hi, Reggie.”
“Howdy.”
The biker stared at her for a few very uncomfortable moments. Then he smiled. “That’s more like it. Come on in, Valerie. Have a drink.”
“That’s very nice of you. But we don’t have time for a drink.”
“Now we don’t have time,” Nathaniel said under his breath. “Women.”
“Well, we don’t.”
The biker signaled to the bartender who positioned a shot glass on the bar top. He filled it with an amber-colored liquid.
“On the house.”
“Oh, well, okay then. If you insist.” Val took the glass and looked at it skeptically.
“Bottoms up,” the biker said.
She drank it and scrunched her nose in disgust. It tasted like nail
polish remover. With just a hint of vanilla.
“What was that?” she wheezed.
“Moonshine. Our house specialty.” He patted her on the back. “It’s good for you. Maybe put a little hair on your chest.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
He laughed at that.
“Allow me to introduce myself to you. You can call me Bud.”
“Bud,” she repeated.
“My family name is Rosebud, but I just go by Bud.”
Nathaniel snickered. “Rosebud. Isn’t that pretty.”
Bud turned around to face the demon. “What did you say, boy?”
“Just that you have a very pretty name. But all faeries do, right?”
“Who are you calling a faery?” His eyes narrowed.
“Isn’t that what you are?”
“Maybe I don’t like the way you say it.”
Val went to stand in front of Nathaniel.
“Just ignore him,” she told Bud. “He’s just trying to get a rise out of you. I think he’s looking for a fight.”
“He’s come to the right place. I’m sure I can take him.”
“Out of my way,” Nathaniel growled at her as he stared at Bud as if he wanted pluck off his wings and fry him with a magnifying glass.
“Behave yourself,” she hissed. “Or else.”
“Or else”—his flame-filled gaze met hers—“what?”
Val held her ground. “Or else I’ll make you behave yourself.”
He continued to hold her gaze and his teeth were clenched when he said, “You will not have power over me forever, angel. And when you don’t, you’re all mine.”
She didn’t flinch. “Finished?”
He finally broke their staring match and stormed over to a darkened corner.
Bud was studying her. “You handle him well. I’m quite impressed.”
“Thank you.”
“You are lovers?”
She nearly choked at that. “No. He’s sort of under my control at the moment. I summoned him as my guide to the Underworld.”
“Ah, your first time, I take it?”