by Jill Myles
Somewhere in the middle of this misery, I noticed someone was watching me. The skin on the back of my neck shivered a bit, and I scanned the crowd. At first I didn’t see anything—there was the usual set of college guys, balding men with spare tires, and a few random individuals that didn’t stand out. But then I saw him at the back of the room.
Tall and well groomed with a mane of dark brown hair, he looked to be in his late twenties and well kept. And by well kept, I meant gorgeous. His lean face was something out of a Michelangelo sculpture, the dark, swarthy tan hinting at a mixed heritage as much as his neat clothing hinted at a real job.
He didn’t seem like the type who would be inspired by a visit from a porn star. And given the fact that he was watching me and not Remy, it made my hackles rise a little. I flicked a quick look around to see if I was mistaken, but that didn’t seem like the case.
When he saw me look over at him, he winked and sank back into the crowd.
Unnerved, I glanced over at Remy again. She had her arms around two military men and was posing between them as a third soldier snapped photos. She was doing her best sultry porn-star look and wasn’t paying a bit of attention to me.
I looked back to the man in question, but he was gone. I hadn’t noticed if he was wearing a long leather jacket, one of the trademarks of Zane’s kind. Serim, maybe? Had Noah sent someone to follow me?
A hand tapped me on the shoulder. “Excuse me, miss.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
The man standing next to me—balding with a ponytail—looked taken aback at my fright. He drew his hand back protectively, a business card tucked between meaty fingers. “Sorry, miss. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
I put a hand to my chest, feeling my heart flutter under my skin. “It’s okay. I’m just a little edgy.” And hormonal. And heading toward horny.
He eyed me strangely, then extended the business card again. “The guy over there asked me to give this to you.”
Wary, I took the card from his fingers. “Which guy?” I looked back where the brown-haired stranger had been standing, but he was gone.
The man looked over at the exact same spot and made a noise in his throat. “Huh. He must have left. It’s a long line to see Miss Summore.” As if remembering where he was, he eyed my figure thoughtfully, a hint of a leer in his eyes. “Did you say you’re her assistant?”
No, my boobs did. I gave him a tight smile. “Thanks for the card.” I tucked it into my pocket to end the conversation.
“That’s odd. Can’t seem to get the red-eye on this camera right.”
From afar, my brain zoomed in on the red-eye comment and I glanced over at Remy’s table. She was still there with the soldiers, her arm tight around one man’s neck as she tucked his head under her chin, his eyes going automatically to her half-exposed bosom. The other soldier looked a little confused, but not nearly as confused as the one with the camera. He looked at the crowd. “Does anyone know how to work one of these? I can’t seem to get it to fix the red-eye focus.”
And that’s when I noticed Remy was paying an unnatural amount of attention to the soldier’s neck. She leaned over him, sniffed his skin, and I saw her tongue snake out. Tasting him.
I’d seen vampires do that move before, just before they were going to strike. Except Remy didn’t need blood—but Joachim might. And that meant . . .
Oh, shit.
“Time to go!” I yelled abruptly, startling the crowd. “Miss Summore has other engagements she has to get to! Time to go!”
All eyes turned to me—including Remy’s bright red ones.
Joachim had taken over her body again.
I rushed forward, shoving past the crowd of men and sweeping off my baseball cap. Elbowing between the soldiers, I put my arm around Remy’s shoulders and stuck my baseball cap on her head, hiding her eyes. “No more pictures, please. It’s time for us to leave.”
A chorus of angry boos followed me as I shoved my way through the room with Remy, who was strangely compliant. Her skin felt scorching hot, and I knew it was the influence of the spirit inside her, rising to the surface.
Like we needed more trouble on this trip?
To my vast relief, Drake helped me push the crowd aside to get Remy out of there and stowed into the backseat of the Hummer. As soon as all the doors were shut, I tore out of the parking lot and zoomed down the highway, trying to put as much speed between us and the adult store as possible.
“What’s wrong?” Drake gave me a wide-eyed look from the passenger seat across from me. “Why did we have to leave so fast?”
A low, inhuman chuckle came from the backseat, the deep sound tearing at Remy’s vocal cords.
Drake glanced backward, then paled. “Oh my God,” he said, his voice a couple of octaves higher than it should have been.
“Don’t be scared,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Joachim’s red eyes staring out from Remy’s face, fixed unerringly on me. “It’s just a little demonic possession. Nothing to worry about.”
Well, not really a demon. More like a vampire that used to be an angel—or something. I didn’t know what Joachim was anymore. All I knew was that he wasn’t on our side.
“Demonic . . .” Drake’s eyes bored into me. “You gotta be kidding me.”
“Afraid not,” I said grimly, then glanced in the mirror again. “Remy? You okay?” Could she even hear me?
I drove down the highway for a mile or two, glancing back in the rearview mirror, waiting for a response.
The hard chuckle erupted from Remy’s throat again. “Remy’s busy.” Her hands slid over her body, sensually. “I need to feed.”
Had Remy been feeding Joachim? If so, that was really, really bad news.
“Feed? Which one—sex or blood?” I put on the emergency blinkers, ready to pull over if she lunged for Drake.
“What are you talking about?” Drake sounded horrified.
“Sex and blood, sex and blood,” Joachim sing-songed, sounding straight out of a horror film. “Does it matter which I crave?”
Oh yeah, it mattered. I pulled over to the side of the road with a jerk, ignoring the cars that honked at me. The massive Hummer skidded along the gravel for a few seconds, then jerked to a stop. I threw on the emergency brake and leaned over my seat, looking right into Remy’s red eyes. “Joachim,” I said, my voice surprisingly calm. “I need to talk to Remy. Please let her have control of her body again.”
He stared at me, and I wasn’t sure if he didn’t comprehend or just didn’t want to comply. After a moment, a smile broke across Remy’s face. “Why should I?”
What would cause Joachim to back down? What could I say that would make him realize that I needed Remy back? I crawled into the backseat, staring into her red eyes. I’d try guilt. “Remy’s my friend, and I know she’s unhappy when you do this. I care about her.”
The evil glare focused on me, and a sneer cut across Remy’s lovely face. “Friends.” He laughed coldly. “What do I care for your friendship?”
He had a point. “Look, if you don’t give her back right this instant, I’m going to turn this car around and drive you straight to the vampire queen. I bet she could find a way to suck you out of Remy and back into her body.” It was a bluff—a big one—but it was all I had. I was starting to get scared for poor Remy, trapped inside there. Her skin was flushing an alarming shade of red.
That got his attention. A furious sneer broke across her face. “Fool,” he said, the red flaring in his eyes. Her eyes. Whatever. She began to thrash, her body quaking as if covered with chills. A creepy laugh erupted from her throat.
“Here,” Drake said, handing me her purse. His eyes were wide as he stared at Remy.
I was about to bite his head off for being dumb enough to think that I needed her purse right now, when something inside it sloshed. Maybe there was something . . .
Pinning Remy down with one arm, I rummaged through her purse with the other and
found the sloshing object—a small white bottle with a cross drawn on the front.
Remy/Joachim hissed at the sight, all laughter disappearing.
Holy water.
Good enough for me. I flipped open the cap, eyed the squirt-lid for a moment, then squirted a long stream into Remy’s mouth.
She gurgled for a moment, then began to cough.
“Remy! Are you okay?” I capped the bottle and stared into her face, searching for signs of possession. Her arm was burning hot, and a string of drool rolled down her cheek, her eyes closed. “Remy!”
“Try hitting her,” Drake said, his voice a quivery warble from the front seat. “Maybe that will work.”
I tapped her on the cheek, lightly at first, then harder a second time.
“Ow?” She cracked one eye open. One bleached gray eye. “That hurt.”
Relieved, I obliged, sliding back to give her more room on the seat. She sat up, put a hand to her jaw and wiped the slobber away, then gave me a confused look. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere down the highway. I had to get you out of the store fast.”
Her brows drew together. “Why?”
“Joachim made an appearance,” I explained. “You don’t remember anything?”
She shook her head. “The last thing I remember is some frat boy grabbing my ass for a photo.” She sniffed. “He was cute, too.”
“Yeah, well, when I looked over at you again, Joachim was giving the red-eye glare to everyone, and we had to get out of there fast.”
Remy nodded, a bit pale. “Thanks.” She turned toward Drake in the front seat. “Guess you found out my dirty little secret, huh?”
He was staring at her as if she’d turned into a nightmare. Heck, she had. I’d obviously have to deal with that later. There were more pressing things on my mind than whether or not Drake felt comfortable around us.
“So what did Joachim mean by saying that it was time for him to feed again? Have you been feeding him?”
She straightened in her seat, flinging her long hair off her shoulders. “What do you mean?” She didn’t make eye contact, which was a bad sign.
If she was going to play stupid, there was nothing I could get out of her right now. Best to just settle down and let her handle it on her own. “Never mind. I have enough problems of my own to worry about. We’ll talk later.”
Remy shrugged, and her eyes focused on the bottle in my hands. “Is that my holy water?”
I handed it to her. “Seems to chase Joachim away.”
She nodded as if that were no surprise and unscrewed the cap, taking a long swig and swishing it around in her mouth.
I watched her for a moment more, frowning. How long had this been going on? Was she alternately feeding Joachim and chugging holy water to get rid of him?
It hurt my brain to try to process all of it. First, Zane ditched me, and now Remy was unstable. I made my way back to the front seat. “Let’s just get through Colorado before we have any more problems, all right? Because at the rate we’re going, we’ll hit New Orleans by the time I’m forty.”
If I lived that long.
I started the Hummer again, pulling my seat belt across my lap. Something small jabbed me in the corner of my jeans pocket and I reached in, pulling out the business card. I’d forgotten all about it. It probably had some loser’s phone number on it, trying to score a private one-on-one session with a porn star (or her lucky, lucky assistant).
Written on the back of the card was a scrawled message.
You and your companion are being followed.
Well, wasn’t that heartwarming? I flipped the card over, ignoring the chill that washed over me, and stared at the front.
Luc Stone was all it said, with an email address underneath and a symbol that reminded me quite a bit of Noah’s angelic alphabet tattoo on his wrist.
Another one of the Serim? If so, why was he warning me?
“Oh goodie.” I pulled the Hummer back on the highway. “One more complication on this trip.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
We made it through the rest of Colorado with no incidents. I remained tense and nervous, watching Remy in rearview mirror in case of any other mishaps, but nothing happened. We cut through Kansas and made it to the Oklahoma state line before the world collapsed on me again.
The sun had been setting in my eyes for the past half hour, annoying the crap out of me almost as much as the radio stations that Drake (who refused to talk) kept picking out. My stomach rumbled. Resolving to hand the wheel over to someone else in about five minutes, I shifted in my seat for the nine hundredth time, making my shorts rub against my crotch. My body nearly exploded, and the breath whooshed out of my lungs.
The Itch had returned.
My hands clenched on the steering wheel. A quick check of my eyes in the rearview mirror confirmed my fears. “Remy,” I warned. “Big problem.”
I heard her flip the pages of a magazine in the backseat. “What’s that, hon?” I doubt she even looked up.
I glanced over at Drake. He was starting to look appetizing, which meant I had it bad. I could get him in a hotel room, wash that greasy shit out of his hair, put him in some real clothes . . . maybe . . .
He stared warily back at me. “What?”
“Nothing,” I muttered. “I’m obviously delusional.” I stared grimly out at the highway again. We were pulling into a small town called Ponca City.
Remy sat up. “Is it the Itch?”
I nodded, feeling miserable. “I need Zane, and he left me.” I’d had lots of time to think about how pissed at him I was, and despair overwhelmed me. Here I was, hundreds of miles away from the familiar, and without either one of my boyfriends. Zane had abandoned me because I wanted him to commit to me and not to the vampire clan, and I’d driven Noah away because he wanted an exclusive relationship.
With a succubus. What a lark.
Yep, the Afterlife sucked pretty bad for me right now.
“I can help,” said Drake.
We ignored him.
Just then my cell phone rang, and my heart leapt into my throat.
“Maybe that’s him,” Remy said, brightening. “It’s nearing sunset, so he should be awake soon.”
“I doubt it,” I said but picked up the call anyhow, my heart hammering in my breast. “Hello?” Damn that breathless excitement in my voice.
“Jackie,” Noah’s voice said over the phone, a warning tone. “Let me talk to Zane.”
My fingers tightened on the phone. I couldn’t ignore a direct order from one of my masters, but this one was impossible to fill. “He’s not here,” I said between gritted teeth. “Is that all you called for?” Dake’s hand had landed on my shoulder again and I swatted it away.
“Where is he, then? And where are you?” I could hear the frustration in his voice. “I’ve been waiting for you to get home all day, only to find out that you’ve already disappeared on your little trip.”
“Really? You’ve been waiting for me?” My voice took on a husky note, and the pulsing between my legs began.
He paused, and the silence on the other end of the phone throbbed in my ear. “Jackie, is everything all right?”
I wanted to cry. “Define ‘all right.’ ”
“Did Zane put you up to this?” The jealous anger was back in his voice. “Is that why you left? He wanted to get you away—”
My mirthless laugh interrupted his tirade. “Zane didn’t put me up to this.” If only it were that simple. No curses involved, no throbbing loins.
“What is it, then?” His voice dropped to a lower note. “Jackie, you know I could demand that you tell me, and you’d have to. But I don’t want to do that to you.”
“How kind of you,” I said bitterly. There was no way I was telling him about the curse. I thought of seeing the same look on Noah’s face and flinched. “I’ve got to go, all right?”
“Stop right there!”
A direct command from my master. I threw on the brakes, the car scre
eching to a halt.
“What the fuck?” Remy screamed in my ear, slamming into my seat. Next to me, Drake smacked into the dashboard.
My hand clenched on the steering wheel, frozen in place. I could hear cars honking on the highway behind me, but I was helpless to do anything about it. Noah had commanded, and I had to obey.
“What do you want?” My voice came between gritted teeth.
“Tell me the name of your town,” he said calmly. Another direct order.
I glanced at the nearest motel. “Ponca City, Oklahoma.”
“Tell me a landmark nearby.”
I craned my head, staring down the highway. “I see a billboard for a casino,” I said, feeling like a recalcitrant child.
“Excellent. The name?”
“Two Feathers Casino.”
“Good.” He heaved a big sigh of relief, and I felt a momentary twinge. Was Noah—strong, capable, never-worries Noah—actually concerned about me? Or was it about what he thought Zane and I might be doing together? “Now, Jackie, listen to me carefully.”
“Like I have a choice in the matter?”
“Stay there until tomorrow. The sun’s going down, so I won’t make it to the airport tonight. Pick a nearby hotel, and stay there until I come into town the next morning. Do you understand me?”
“What? Noah, this is a bad idea—” Oh God, if he found out about my curse, what would he say?
“Stay in Ponca City.” He hung up.
I threw the dead phone across the car. Drake stared at me with wide eyes.
Remy smirked from the backseat. “Put his foot down on you, didn’t he? I knew he’d try to be all ‘master’ on you at some point. They all do.”
I stared at the highway ahead of me, ignoring the cars that honked, flipped us off, and drove around us. My foot wouldn’t move to the gas pedal on the car—it was like my muscles had seized up and refused to respond. “I can’t leave town until tomorrow, when Noah comes to pick me up.”
Remy chortled. “Oh, this should be good.”