“Jarvis!” Nigel jogged up. “You okay, man?” He stopped a careful distance away, as if he didn’t want to get too close. Resignation tightened Jarvis’s features, a recognition that his own friend, an immortal warrior who was unkillable, wouldn’t risk getting near him.
For a moment, her heart shifted with unexpected sadness for him. For her, there was nothing more terrifying than the prospect of winding up alone in this world, and there Jarvis stood. Alone. Even while standing beside friends.
“Reina.” Natalie touched her arm.
She was surprised by the look of sanity on Natalie’s face. “You’re better?”
“A little. When Jarvis stabbed Augustus, all my hate for the deedub who bit me jerked me out of my happy place.”
Jarvis was watching Natalie with an impassive expression, but his eyes were turbulent with regret. Hate was really his internal demon? That made no sense. Jarvis was scary, dangerous, and aloof, but hateful? Never. No man who lived on hate had the loyal friends he did, or stood up for women he had no reason to protect. Jarvis wasn’t hate, no matter what he claimed.
“I can already feel myself getting more relaxed,” Natalie said, “so I think I’m going to be going back to my lala land soon. Before I do, we need to talk.”
“Oh, Nat—”
“Here’s the deal. I don’t want you to die. Seeing you like that, almost dead, scared me.” Tears filled Natalie’s eyes. “If you get yourself killed trying to save me, when I’m going to die anyway, well, what’s the sense in that?”
“You’re not going to die—”
“I am! No one survives a deedub attack. I’ve been going along with your rescue attempt because I was terrified, and because I wanted to give us both hope, but if you could feel the intensity of the power building within me…” Natalie flexed her hands, and muscles rippled in her forearms. “There’s no stopping it, Reina.”
“We have to try—”
“No!” Natalie shouted her denial and slammed her hand over Reina’s mouth. “Stop talking, and listen to me! I don’t have much time!”
Reina nodded once, regret heavy in her heart as her sister began to slip away again. The real Natalie was gentle and soft-spoken. Warm. Not this muscle-bound tough girl.
“You’re supposed to kill Augustus to save me, right?” Natalie took her hand away, allowing Reina to answer. “So, let’s see. How well did that go?”
Reina shifted, aware that Jarvis and Nigel were listening. Was there a need for the warriors to know exactly how inadequate she was? “I wasn’t ready. Next time I’ll kill him—”
“You won’t! You’ll wind up in a thousand pieces on his therapist’s coffee table! And even if you don’t, how are you going to find investors willing to pay three billion dollars for an assassination by Friday? And you have to find the victims too? All that, just to have the chance to save me? You really think that’s going to work?”
Jarvis tapped his sword against his boot, and she jumped at the thwack. On edge, much? “Well, yes—”
“Let it go,” Natalie said. “This is the first time in my life I’ve felt happy, and honestly, it feels really good. I’m going to die either way, but if I’m worrying about you getting killed on my behalf, I’ll die the same miserable person I’ve been my whole life.” Natalie took Reina’s hand and pressed her palm to her heart. “If you love me, if you have any mercy in your heart, you’ll stop trying to save me, so I can use these last few days to experience an inner peace I’ve never had in my whole life. Would you really deny me that?”
“What kind of request is that?” But Reina could sense her truth and knew the request was coming from the sister she loved, not the demented happy-pill-girl.
“It’s my death bed wish. Everyone gets one.”
“You don’t!” Natalie was sane enough to know what she was asking. Could she really deny her sister? Yes. Yes, she could. Sometimes the role of family was to deny loved ones everything that was important to them.
“You don’t get to refuse a death bed wish,” Natalie said loftily, her voice becoming infused with that awful cheeriness. “It’s against the rules.” She poked her finger into Reina’s shoulder. “You will stay alive and let me go to gallivanting into the Afterlife. And you—” She pointed at Trinity, who was now hurrying down the street toward them. “You will help me get a date with the Godfather. I’m not going to pass from this world by falling into a crevasse on Mount Everest like my sister. That’s such an underachievement. But death by orgasm? Think of all the stories I’ll be able to tell in heaven.”
In a weird and entirely inconvenient way, Reina actually sort of got what her sister was saying. Body-exploding orgasms hadn’t had a significant role in her life, and the thought of a really, really great orgasm was incredibly tempting… But, on the other hand, the big O was not a reason to die. “Nat, I can’t let you go after the Godfather. Remember, you said you wanted me to lock you up to keep you alive as long as possible—”
Natalie went into a martial arts warning stance worthy of a bad karate movie. “Don’t keep me from my dreams, girlfriend.”
Reina blinked. Since when did her sister know how to get lethal with her hands?
“Hey, Tae Kwon Do Girl, don’t forget that today is your big product launch,” Trinity said, easing up next to Natalie. “You’d be so bummed if you jumped ship without properly launching the balls. The men of Boston need you, and you’re their only chance.”
Natalie glanced toward the store, and naked longing for her business flashed across her face. Reina felt her breath catch at the evidence that her sister was still in that body, fighting to hold on.
“That’s true,” Natalie admitted. “I’ve been working so hard on those balls. But —”
“No buts.” Trinity took her arm and pushed her gently in the direction of Scrumptious, past Nigel and Jarvis, who were not even bothering to pretend they weren’t listening to every word of the discussion. “Finish out today. Cement your legacy. We’ll go after the Godfather tomorrow. You have plenty of time to get your life snuffed from you by a well-muscled ecstasy factory.”
Natalie shot a suspicious look at them both, but she was already taking a step toward the store. Yay for workaholics pursuing lifelong professional dreams. “You promise?”
“Swear. I can talk Reina into anything, including allowing you to die amidst shrieks of pleasure.” Trinity nudged her. “Go. I’ll catch up.”
Natalie nodded and sprinted off down the street, calling to the men who were beginning to emerge from doorways, now that Augustus was gone and it was safe for them to come out. Wimps. Nothing like Jarvis, who’d marched right out into the fray the moment things had gotten dangerous.
He had folded his arms across his chest, and he had a smug look on his face. Like he’d just come up with a plan that he liked, one that made him the king of the world. God, she envied that kind of confidence. What she’d give for one minute of believing that she could accomplish whatever she wanted.
“I’m back,” Natalie shouted as she ran into the store.
“Nice distraction, Trin, making her think about work instead of being ready to grab her.” Reina started after her sister, fisting her hands. She could do this. She could be like Jarvis. “Now we have to lock her up. Let’s tackle her by the flour barrel—”
“Wait!” Trinity pulled her back. “You can’t deprive her of work. Let her be.”
Reina’s stomach dropped. “What? You’re going to honor her death wish?”
“Of course not, you nitwit. She needs to be behind the counter today, to focus on something else for a while. After work, I’ll prey on her trust of me and lure her into her cell. Then I’ll betray her by locking her in there.”
“Thank God.” Reina closed her eyes with relief. “For a moment I was worried you thought I was a bad sister to refuse her death wish.”
“Are you kidding? Death wishes are for manipulating the dying person into doing what you want. I’ll go get her locked down, and you take care of
Augustus.”
Oh, Augustus. Big swallow of fear.
Trinity’s fingers tightened on Reina’s arm, and she leveled a hard gaze at her. “But don’t you dare get yourself killed, or I will knock you off myself.”
The front door slammed shut and Natalie danced past the store window, wiggling her hips for all her customers. “I should go check on her,” Trinity said. “I don’t want her to get too horny and slip out the back door. The lure of great sex can be powerful.” She released Reina and hurried over to the store. She paused on the threshold. “Be smart, but make it happen. There’s no time to fail again.”
“I know.” Oh, she knew. But failure was what she knew best, at least when it came to things that mattered.
Like this.
Chapter 6
Jarvis had Reina exactly where he wanted her, and it felt good.
He hadn’t had the upper hand with a female in, oh, about a hundred and fifty years. His quality time with the chicks usually ended with him skewered, stuffed, skinned, and trying to remember why he bothered to keep reviving each time Death offered him an invite to a happier place. Being upright, intact, and in control of a woman was a significant improvement over his old life.
And Reina Fleming was all woman, that was for certain. He’d never have thought he’d turn to a woman for help, but Reina was different. She had grit, and he liked it. He grinned, remembering her surprise when she’d tried to dust him several weeks ago, and it hadn’t worked. Had she backed down? Nope. Not for a second. She’d been on a mission to protect Trinity from him, and the fact she’d suddenly found herself unarmed hadn’t deterred her for a moment. Reina might be female, but she understood loyalty to others, and that made her different than any other woman he’d known. And that trait was what had brought him to her door and shoving a sword through the heart of the man trying to do her harm.
“A morally ambiguous situation,” Nigel said thoughtfully. “I can’t say I agree with your decision, Reina. Your sister has a good point.”
Reina started, as if she’d forgotten they were there, then she looked over at them. As always, her gaze went first to Jarvis, even though it was Nigel who had addressed her.
He stiffened at the intensity of her scrutiny, at the way she seemed to see into the depths of his soul. The flash of empathy, and then the retreat, the subconscious (or conscious) understanding of exactly what bad news he was.
What was with the way she looked at him? No matter how many people were in the room, or how far away they were from each other, he always found her watching him.
He didn’t like that kind of interest from women. It always ended up with him being strung up by his balls to a stainless steel wall and fending off new and creative ways to peel the skin off his body.
Her eyes widened at whatever expression she saw on his face, and she quickly averted her gaze, turning to Nigel. “What do you mean?”
Well, hell. Jarvis didn’t like her looking at someone else. Didn’t like it much at all. Nigel shoved himself off the Hummer he’d been leaning against and strode across the sidewalk toward Reina. “I mean—”
“He means, fuck what your sister wants.” Jarvis felt a smug sense of satisfaction when Reina looked sharply at him. “You make the call on how you respond to the shit life throws at you. No one else does.”
Relief flickered across her face. “Thank you for saying that. I appreciate the support, especially when my sister is so good at making me feel like I shouldn’t try to save her.”
Before he realized it, he grinned at her. “You’re welcome.”
She stared at him as if he’d grown a rat out of his forehead. “I’ve never seen you smile.”
Did he have a bad smile?
Then she smiled back, and he felt like the sun had just come out. God, her smile was magnificent, an expression of an inner truth, not some artificial attempt to manipulate him. He grinned back. “You should smile more,” he said. “It’s nice.”
“It is?” Her smile widened, and her cheeks took on the most appealing flush. “Thank you.”
He took a step toward her. “You’re welcome.”
“Okay, enough with the romantic flirting for remedial learners,” Nigel interrupted, breaking the moment. “What I actually was going to say that although you have a right to get your ass kicked if you so choose, it’s up to your sister to decide if she’s ready to die.”
Reina frowned at Nigel, all of the light and beauty gone from her smile. All that was left was frustration and tension. “That’s not really helpful.”
Nigel grinned. “I’m not trying to be helpful. I’m just observing. Your sister is an intriguing juxtaposition of assorted emotions. She’s conflicted, and it shows on her face. She interests me.” He pulled out his sketch pad and pen. “Hold that expression. It’s a fascinating look into the anguish that love can cause. Brilliant.”
Love. The word was like a knife blade in the kidney. Shit. There was going to be serious anguish in this world if the Guardian of Love didn’t get pried out of Death’s grasp. There was no time to get distracted by a woman’s personal issues. Men had missions. Men had goals. Men were human, even when they weren’t. Women were machines of torture. Instruments of pain on a merciless mission. At no time was it appropriate to forget that and actually develop empathy for one of them.
He got it, Nigel got it, and after a nearly fatal mistake, Christian got it too. But Blaine? Different story, though it seemed to be working out for him.
Honestly, Jarvis didn’t get Blaine’s fascination with Trinity and the way he got all soft over her. Didn’t get that about women at all. Hell, Jarvis couldn’t even be bothered with sex anymore. Ended up not being worth it, because the minute the orgasm hit him, he couldn’t keep his shields up and all his hate spilled over into the female. And then the woman always turned into a screaming banshee and tried to kill him, which sucked when they were Angelica’s black magicked apprentices. Not their fault they went insane on him, but still. Not exactly fun. He could keep his barriers up if he didn’t go over the top, but sex without the orgasm… well, what was the point of that? He already had enough torture in his life.
But Reina… something about the slope of that delicate nose and the curve of those sexy collarbones almost made him want to try one more time.
If, of course, he was a stupid fool who didn’t know what was good for him.
But he had to admit that when she’d put her hand on his back a few minutes ago, his body had responded like a hot poker in the fires of hell. He’d wanted to whip around, haul her against him, and kiss her until they both exploded from the heat.
Which was something he didn’t do and didn’t even think about. But the truth was, he hadn’t been immune from her since the start. From the first moment he’d seen Reina, he’d dug her thick, auburn hair and the way she liked to wear it twisted up in a sexy knot on top of her head, with all those strands spilling down around her face.
Maybe he liked her hair because none of the women in the Den had hair with that tint of red in it. Or maybe he was as tactile as Angelica always accused him of being (badass warriors were not tactile, thanks so much), and the thought of spinning his hands through her hair was appealing as hell. Didn’t really matter. Fact was, he was not going to succumb to temptation and mess with those locks.
He might believe Reina could help him manipulate Death, but trusting her for the kinds of things a woman and a man did together? No chance. No female got that kind of trust from him.
She set her hands on her hips, and he saw her summon strength and drop the worried, vulnerable look that had been making him get a little weird. Instead was a determined, thoughtful expression that bespoke a relentless drive to fulfill her mission. “I don’t suppose either of you know someone willing to ante up three billion dollars and a victim for an assassination festival this weekend, do you?” Her tone indicated that she was expecting a resounding no.
Jarvis grinned. And now the bait gets dropped. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
“You do?” She looked so startled he almost laughed out loud. “You must have misunderstood. I meant—”
“I know what you meant,” he interrupted. “You need someone willing to fork over big bones in return for the harvesting of someone’s soul. I can give you the target and the payor.”
She blinked. “But—”
Damn, this was fun. “And Augustus?” He folded his arms over his chest and had to work to keep the smugness out of his tone. “You did a smashing job killing him. You need help with that too?”
“You were eavesdropping?”
“Of course. It’s the best way to figure out how to manipulate you.”
Reina’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to manipulate me?”
“Yeah.” He waited. Just because it was such a pleasure to be in charge of a woman. It was a new experience, and he was going to milk it for everything it was worth. A once in a lifetime opportunity would not go unappreciated.
She flicked her hand at him impatiently. “Well, go on. Fill me in.”
“You help me, I help you.”
She was already shaking her head. “I don’t have time to help you. I have issues that I—”
“Jarvis could deliver for you, you know.” Nigel flipped to a new page in his sketchbook. “You might want to rethink your hasty dismissal of his offer.” He checked the sun and then moved to his right several feet before starting to draw again. “Jarvis isn’t real friendly with women, so if you’ve got a chance to get his help, you might want to take him up on it before he returns to his usual, sullen, woman-hating self.”
She glanced toward the gilded front window of Scrumptious before giving Jarvis a wary look. “What do you want?”
He grinned and almost started rubbing his hands together. Looked like he was going to have to buy Nigel a drink after this for his assistance. Nigel might be as anti-female as he was, but he sure knew how to manipulate them with a few well-chosen words. Nigel had a finesse none of the rest of them had bothered to acquire. Why waste the effort? Nigel could do it for them if it was required. “Death took my brother,” he told Reina. “I need to take him back.”
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