She sighed, hands on her hips. This time, he didn't even come close to satisfying her. What a disappointment. Too bad she needed him. "Go to bed. Your job starts whenever you wake up. The longer you keep her occupied, the happier I'll be. Do anything you like with her. Kill her if you want."
"'Kay." Chazz's head lolled against the back of the couch. "That was great, babe." His eyes closed and Satine left, shaking her head.
She needed a dominant, someone who could help her get rid of Vladimir. Once that was done, her life would be so much easier. Gabriel would help run her business and keep the weres and vampires in line. Chazz just wouldn't do. She needed all of Gabriel Caine's soul and she needed it yesterday. With the rest of his soul inside her, she’d have more power than Vlad. Gabriel would be hers. He wouldn't be able to break free of her, nor would he want to.
That had been the plan, until it all went wrong on the beach. She hadn't expected him to deny her sexually. She really hadn't expected him to fight her, had thought the spell she'd used would have immobilized him. But no. He had to fight, and her strength had waned too fast. She'd fled with only part of her prize.
Satine slipped into her private apartment, slumped at her desk, and brooded. Kendall Sorbis, Hollywood's local go-to sorcerer, had given her a bad spell. He needed punishing, a swift retribution.
A knock on her door had her growling. “Come in.”
Kendall Sorbis walked in, and Satine shook her head. This was almost too easy.
“Kendall,” she purred. “What can I do for you?”
Tall and on the Nordic side, Kendall inclined his head to her, an affectation she hated. “Satine, my gorgeous one. I have come for what you owe me.”
“I owe you nothing.” Her lips twisted. “The spell was flawed. It didn’t work.”
“I can see his soul in you. It flares brightly. How can you say it didn’t work?”
“He fought me for it!” She spread her hands out on her desktop and stood, keeping her gaze fixed on him. “He fought and kept a part of it. His soul is damaged, incomplete, and unusable in its current state. The spell didn’t work.”
Kendall’s eyes remained unconcerned, his body relaxed. Inwardly, Satine frowned. He should be quaking in his Italian loafers at her anger. “Therefore, I owe you nothing.”
His dark eyes flickered at that. “You have more than you had. It isn’t my fault you can’t figure out how to use the part of his soul you stole.”
“I claimed it, I didn’t steal it,” she flared. She caught her anger back. Keep calm, she cautioned herself. Calm, but prepared. Straightening, she sauntered around the desk and leaned against it, never taking her eyes off the sorcerer. “Tell me how to use it, then.”
One pale eyebrow rose as their gazes locked. “It will cost you more.”
“I will give you what you require. After I have what I want.”
He seemed to consider that. A half-smile curved his lips. “I don’t think so,” he said cryptically.
She charged him then, enraged enough to take his life, but her arms closed around air. Satine turned wildly, looking from one end of the office to the other, but Kendall had disappeared. If he’d ever been there at all. She sniffed the air, but smelled only herself in the room.
Her rage cooled as fear set in. She’d known better than to deal with a sorcerer. But now she’d need to carefully set her course of action, or Vladimir would discover her secrets.
Vlad had sought her out, turned her into a vampire because she was a Soul-Stealer. The very first soul she'd taken had been Rose's, and wasn’t that sweet?
He'd allowed her to keep that one. The other souls she'd brought to him he'd used and grown stronger in the process, keeping her ignorant. When she had killed a Soul Stealer without Vlad’s knowledge, she'd absorbed all of the souls that one had amassed, growing ever stronger. But as her strength grew, so did her fear.
Eternal death stalked her. It breathed down her neck in her daytime sleep, lurked in shadows in the depths of night. Vlad controlled her; the others only tolerated her because of him. They'd moved in on the old Master of the city and had prevailed, the war short and bloody and unnoticed by the humans. Three of their vampires had gone missing, the only ones she'd counted as friends. Vlad had said it was due to discipline problems.
Satine moved from her frozen position in the middle of the room and turned to a dresser. She unlocked a drawer and pulled out a photo album, flipping the pages until she found the photo she'd wanted.
There. Sara and Rose. Sexy Sara and Rose the Cootie Carrier. Satine had swiped the photo from her parent's album, needing the reminder to find Rose, to take care of her. Her parents had much-preferred Rose for a daughter. Quiet, obedient, bookworm Rose was more to her staid parents’ taste than their wild daughter.
But Satine had decided not to kill her. Stealing her soul, then setting Rose up with the drug dealer had been much more to her taste, a delicious revenge; and yet her cousin was still alive and giving off the scent of the blessed. It was enough to give the most even-tempered vampire a migraine.
Satine locked the album back in its drawer and shook off the black mood. The night beckoned. Time enough to play with the stupid humans. She waited impatiently for the elevator to take her up to the club. Surely someone up there needed an ass whipping. She fluffed her hair as floors flashed past and stepped off the elevator in search of a little pick-me-up.
Satine felt the whip-touch of Vlad’s gaze the minute she walked into the bar, his eyes coldly assessing.
"You've fed."
Satine pouted. "Just a bit. Chazz." She picked up the glass of his favorite red wine and sipped, watching the patrons watch them.
He sniffed. "You've had sex with him," he accused.
"Oh Vladimir, really. It just sort of happened, the way it does when I walk around half naked," she said. "It was nothing. How many women do you take a day?"
His hand moved to her right breast, squeezed cruelly. She gasped at the pain that shot through her, her eyes wide on him. Her body throbbed with need, her fear an added spice. "Yes," she whispered and moved in to lick his lower lip. "You know what I crave."
He fingered the lace. "You wear these things to entice the humans." His voice, devoid of emotion, sent a shiver of fear down her spine. Her nipples hardened further and her body ached for release.
"I wear them because I want everyone to see what only you can have," she purred.
"And yet, you had sex with the were tiger." Vladimir motioned to the bartender who brought over another glass of red wine and set it in front of Satine.
"I would not give a human the pleasure," she snapped, and immediately lowered her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and shivered as the hand at her breast moved to the other one. It clamped down on her body with the force of mountains.
"You know my rules. No sex unless it's with me. You are begging to be punished, aren't you?" The words came to her ears without inflection, as though he could care less. Satine thought she knew better.
Eagerly, she pressed her crotch against the length of his erection, only his leather pants between them. "You always have the most divine punishments for me, my lord." She whispered the words against his lips, knowing those lips were hard enough to bruise even her. Her hands spread across the cold perfection of his bare chest, delighting in him, so much harder than all her other lovers with their basically human bodies.
"Divine punishments? Perhaps. Drink." Vlad released her and turned to watch the crowd, his voice dismissive of both her and the plans he had for her.
Twin licks of fear and desire slid through her. She was stronger than she had been and stronger than he knew now that she held a part of Gabriel's soul. She would find out tonight if that strength would be enough to get her what she wanted, or if she'd need the rest of Gabriel's soul to win her freedom.
Which reminded her. "I have an appointment." She bowed her head as he turned to her. "Three a.m. I will join you at four."
Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Something serio
us?"
She shrugged one bare shoulder and picked up her wine. "Just an irritation from my past. A family thing. I'll get it taken care of, and then I'll be yours."
Vlad's eyes hardened to bits of black stone. "Whether you do or not is immaterial. You already belong to me. And I will never let you go." He turned away from her. "Until it’s time to unmake you."
Satine jerked, her hand convulsing on her glass. Wine spilled on her skin.
"Careless," murmured Vladimir, not bothering to turn her way. "So unsatisfactory in a mate, carelessness. Don't you think?"
Satine bit her lip until she tasted blood.
Chapter Seven
"These are fabulous." Rose dug into the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Gabriel had made five, two for her. He set two big glasses of milk on the kitchen table and sat across from her. The kitchen was a showplace in stainless steel and granite. The scent of garlic and onions hung faintly in the air.
"Just like mom used to make or, in my case, Dad, since my mother died giving birth to me. At any rate, they should help take care of that empty, dizzy feeling you've got going." He bit into his first sandwich.
Rose looked at the jelly oozing out between the slices of bread. "I don't know how to repay you. It's not like I'm rolling in dough. I don't even have a bank account."
Gabriel shifted in his chair. "Has anyone asked you for money?"
"No, but I feel like I should pay my way." Helpless, Rose shrugged. "It just seems fair."
"You're carrying my soul for me."
"And you're not happy about that." Rose shook her head. She watched as he ate his way steadily through the sandwiches. "Do you always eat so much?"
"I'm fueling up in case I need to resort to demonic tactics tonight. If one of us changes without being properly fueled, the aftermath is harder to shake." He gulped down the milk and went for a refill.
"I wish you didn't have to go. Confronting Satine just doesn't seem smart."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "How else am I supposed to get my soul back?" He poured himself a second glass and put the milk away.
Rose rubbed her arms. "I could go with you."
"No, really." Gabriel eyed her warily. "You can't. You don't want to mess Satine again."
"I should go with you. If I’m a Soul Chalice, won’t you need me? Plus you know, fire whatchamacallit here. I could help, like you said."
"Forget it. Remember how quickly she shut you down the last time?"
"I'll keep my mental walls up and my fire on hand. You know, as best as I can. And I'll carry a knife or something. I'll be fine, if you're there." She put a hand on his and smiled. "I really don’t want to spend too much time away from you. Even if it means fighting."
She could read the indecision deep in his eyes, the gray clear of any evasion. He pulled away and abruptly stood. "I've got to call Justin."
Rose looked down at her hands, picked absently at a hangnail. She could feel his soul inside her, a warmth that lent her strength, though different from the fire demon. Closing her eyes, she explored it.
His soul was more than his being and yet less at the same time. A repository for memory and a welling of life, everything he had been and would be lay inside her. His years away had been lonely ones as he struggled with the girl's death. He’d never forgiven himself, never forgotten. Self-hatred burned inside him. A longing for the mother he never knew. He’d been consumed by a bone-deep need to be alone.
She saw herself there in his soul, too, the picture of the two of them stopped in time as they'd first met, the mist billowing. Now she saw what she hadn't seen then, the twin strands of color that circled him. How startled he'd been when they'd first met, and how some ice had cracked off his frozen heart as the morning progressed.
Gabriel came back into the kitchen, startling her out of her reverie. She looked at him with new eyes and a heart that wondered.
He frowned down at her. "I had to leave Justin a message. Couldn't get through."
"You need me." She grimaced as she wished the impulsive words unspoken. "I mean, you need to take me with you. I'm not staying here by myself."
Gabriel sighed. "I can't promise to keep you safe, though I'll keep you as safe as I can. You've got to agree to do exactly what I tell you to do, or no dice. And if you die while we're there, I'll never forgive myself. Or you," he added, his arms crossed.
"So don't let me die. That's pretty simple. And I guess I'll do whatever you tell me, as long as I don't think it's a stupid order."
He eyed her. "You're not making this easy."
"Look.” Rose met his gaze straight on. “I'm pretty sure I know how to get your soul back. Satine craves the rest of it. If you fight her, and I'm not there, how are you going to get your soul back? If you kill her, what then? Does your soul know to return to you?" Rose shook her head. "I don't think so."
“You couldn’t give me my soul back earlier,” he pointed out.
“Because I wasn’t supposed to, obviously. I have to believe I’ll know what to do when the time comes, since I wasn’t sent here with a how-to manual.”
The kitchen clock ticked the seconds off as Rose continued to eat while he thought.
"I don't know how to get my soul from her," he finally admitted. “And there’s no time right now to see if Maggie can give me a spell to use.”
"You need me." Pleased with the way she put the issue, Rose licked at the peanut butter on her fingers.
Gabriel's left eye twitched. "Fine."
"Don't sound so happy about it."
"Not likely when I'm putting your life in danger," he pointed out.
"We just need to get your soul back before she takes you out,” she soothed. “Then we can all move on."
"I'm an idiot. Just stay alive. Okay?"
Elation pumped through her. "Okay. Let's go. I'm fueled up and ready for anything."
Gabriel stood and picked up their plates. "This is gonna get ugly." He put the dishes in the sink.
Rose turned to him, one eyebrow cocked. "No, really? I thought taking a vampire out would just mean a stake and a poof of dust," she said wryly.
He just looked at her, his face set. "Do as I tell you. It's going to be hard enough keeping you alive; if you go rogue on me, it'll be damned near impossible."
"Gee, thanks." She studied him, searched his eyes. Something in their gray depths made her uneasy. "You want to fight her by yourself. Are you nuts? What if she has more demons with her?"
"She probably will."
"Then ask for Justin's help. Don't be stubborn."
"I don’t want to risk him, but my wishes have never stopped him in the past. He said he’d be here tonight. If he wants to come with us, then he will. I'm not his keeper." His face closed up.
"Yes you are, because you’re his brother," she emphasized. "Brothers take care of each other, guard each other’s backs. You don't have to keep yourself isolated, not now. Not anymore."
"It's a long-standing habit. Besides, my reasons are my own. I don't need to share them with you," he retorted. "I can't believe we're arguing about this."
"Then let's not." Rose backed down, not wanting him to change his mind about taking her with him. "Tell me your story. I want to know how you met Satine."
"Why?"
"I want the history. And if you don't want to tell me, I can always get my cousin to do so. She'd probably love to fill me in on all the details." Rose shot him a triumphant look as she played her ace. "Besides, anything I don't know can be used against me. If I know what the hell happened, then there's a greater chance of not falling into any traps. Come on, sit down and tell me."
"Fine. But don't blame me if you don't like what you hear. And don't interrupt."
Rose crossed her legs on the kitchen chair and leaned her elbows on the table, chin on her hands, and waited.
Gabriel stared at the table between them. "Ten years ago, I killed a human. A demon had messed with her but I didn't realize it until too late. Marianne and I were up north on a short
road trip. I was eighteen and in love. We'd gone to the same high school, and had hooked up right before graduation. We were on the beach one night and I showed her how fast I could run. Then she turned into a demon in front of me, a male demon. I didn't know what to think. Was she really a male demon, and not a female human? He challenged me and we fought. I killed it. Broke it's spine against the rocks at the beaches of Carpinteria.
"But to my shock I didn't kill it, I killed her. When she died, the demon possessing her laughed at me as he appeared next to her broken body. I fought him like a madman. He was hurt bad when he disappeared in front of me.” He touched the scar on his cheek. “I was hurt pretty bad, too. I thought I'd killed him.
"I was left with Marianne, dead on the beach, and nothing to prove that she'd been possessed except a spiral tattoo on her stomach."
Rose clenched her hands together at the mention of the tattoo. She swallowed hard. "What happened next?"
"My first instinct was to go to the police and confess. But I was a coward. I couldn't make myself do that, even though it was the right thing to do. So I took off. I crashed my car against a tree, left her purse and my wallet after taking the money out of them. And I disappeared, into the desert, hoping the world would think we’d both been killed."
Her heart ached. "You were just a boy, Gabriel. He tricked you, used you."
"It doesn’t matter. You had to know that part before I could tell you the rest. The first time I met Satine, it was like a dream. I'd been living in an empty shack along the highway. There are a lot of them, if you know where to look. One night, she—Satine—was just there, hovering above my pallet, her outfit porn chic, something a lonely man might conjure. She came to me, offered herself, and I took her without thought, without care. She was a dream, not a woman. Just someone who wanted my punishment, who needed to be used. A mindless fucking, that's all she wanted. Hell, that's what I wanted.
"Demons can get rough without knowing it, and apparently I got rough. She loved it, wrung me out, had me, or I had her, again and again that night. And two, three, four nights in a row she came to me to be…used.
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