“Some of us are more on edge than others,” Taka muttered.
Jian’s lips twitched. Tiege looked like he was waiting for an orgy to start, not preparing to travel to the Mojave Desert so he could raise the dead. Of course, he was fairly certain that there would be at least one or two orgies once the male arrived. The Incubus would be staying in Vegas, after all. Sin City was the ultimate destination spot for an Incubus.
“True,” Jian murmured. “Although there’s no one better to discover the truth behind the pendant.”
During the meeting of the Masters it was decided that someone had to discover the meaning of the pendant recently discovered by Sorin. The magic that was contained inside was clearly powerful. The Masters needed to know what it was, and if it posed a danger to them.
Since the magic was clearly Succubus, and there hadn’t been a female sex demon around for centuries, they had no choice but to call on the voices of the past to guide them.
“How did you convince him to help?” Taka demanded.
Jian studied the male across the lounge, an ancient regret twisting his heart. “He claimed his brother, Petros, insisted that he represent the House of Furia.”
Taka narrowed his gaze. “You think there’s more to it?”
Jian nodded. “My House suffered deeply when my grandfather stood against Marakel and his claim to the Obsidian Throne, but nothing could compare to Tiege’s loss.”
“You mean Portia?” Taka asked, referring to the betrothed mate of Tiege’s brother. The gentle young female had disappeared over a century ago and was never seen again. After his loss, Petros had stepped aside as Master of his House, handing the reins to Tiege and going into deep seclusion. “I know she disappeared, but no one really speaks of what happened.”
Yeah. No one wanted to discuss the fact that they’d all turned a blind eye to murder rather than openly confront the Obsidian Throne.
“I’m not sure anyone knows the precise details,” Jian said in a low voice, “but Tiege has always claimed that Marakel had chosen her before she fell in love with Tiege’s brother. Supposedly the bastard kidnapped her and then beat her to death when she refused to warm his bed.”
Taka’s jaw clenched. The hardened warrior had a soft spot for vulnerable females and children.
“What do you think?”
“There’s no proof, but I don’t doubt that Marakel is capable of killing a female in a fit of rage,” Jian said without hesitation. “Unfortunately, there was no proof he took her, and his servants refused to say if they’d seen her, let alone if they’d disposed of her body. We didn’t have enough evidence to have him brought to justice.”
“A damn shame.”
“Beneath his pretense of not giving a damn about anything, I don’t think Tiege ever forgave the rest of us for not doing more to prove Portia was murdered.” Jian heaved a sigh. Now that he had his own mate, he truly understood the pain that Petros must have endured, and why he’d turned his back on his life, handing his responsibilities to Tiege. “And I don’t blame him. If we hadn’t been so damned self-centered and consumed with our own petty issues, we could have worked together and realized there was something wrong with the Sovereign and his dysfunctional reign.”
Taka jerked his head toward Tiege. “So he’s only helping because his brother forced him to?”
“That’s what he says, but I would guess that he hopes the pendant will offer him the opportunity to destroy Marakel.”
Taka made a sound of surprise. “Why would he think they’re connected?”
“To have the pendant found just when we’ve discovered the connection between Marakel and the angels, not to mention the treachery of the Nephilim priestesses…” Jian gave a lift of his hands. “It has to be more than a coincidence.”
Taka grimaced, but he didn’t argue. Magical creatures possessed a healthy respect for fate.
“Have you ever seen him…”
Jian chuckled as his ruthless, outrageously courageous friend shuddered at the mere mention of Tiege’s powers. “Talk to the dead?” he finished for him.
“Yeah.”
Jian shook his head. “No one is allowed to witness the ceremony.”
“Let’s hope he’s as good as he claims to be.”
~
Tiege strolled onto the private jet with a small yawn. He’d been on a three-day binge when Petros had called him home on a matter of ‘utmost urgency.’ He’d almost ignored the command. Wasn’t it enough that he was expected to devote endless hours to the family real estate business? Now he had to deal with the Masters on his days off?
It really was too much to ask of a genuine hedonist.
Then he’d realized that the bastards had at last come to their senses and accepted that the current Sovereign was truly a psychopathic monster. About fucking time.
Yeah, it was too damned late to help Portia or Petros, but it at least offered him the opportunity to destroy the male who’d caused so much damage.
Settling in the deeply cushioned leather seat, he accepted the drink that was handed to him by the exquisite young stewardess and watched as the thin, silver-haired man dressed in a somber black suit moved through the streamlined aircraft to take a seat opposite him.
The male looked like a traditional English butler with his narrow face and haughty expression, but in truth he was a highly skilled Watchman who’d been Tiege’s personal guard since he was just a child.
“Jacob,” Tiege murmured.
The elder guard offered a dip of his head. “Master.”
“You’ve made all the arrangements for my arrival in Vegas?”
“I have.” The male carefully tugged at the cuffs of his crisp white shirt. “I’ve reserved your favorite suite and a limo will be waiting at the airport to take us to the hotel.”
“And you made sure that the bar is stocked?” Tiege demanded. Just because he had a duty to perform didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself.
Hell, it was all the more reason to party.
He’d discovered after his father’s death and his brother’s retreat into his stoic depression that he could follow them into the darkness or he could plunge headfirst into pleasure.
And plot the day he would have his revenge.
“Of course,” Jacob assured him. “By the time we arrive it will be filled with your favorite selection of wine, cognac, cigars, and several cheese plates.”
Tiege sipped his whiskey, smiling at the stewardess who hovered near the end of the cabin. Even at a distance he could catch the scent of her arousal. One lift of his finger and she’d be crawling all over him.
“You sent out the invitations?”
“I did,” the guard assured him in dry tones. “Not that they were needed. Once word of your arrival spreads through Vegas we’ll be turning away potential guests.”
It was true. The last time he’d been in Vegas he’d caused a near riot when the hotel manager had tried to limit the number of guests who could enter his suite.
“And the female?” he asked.
He’d requested that a Nephilim be procured so he could feed before he performed the ancient ceremony. He would have to be at his maximum strength to call on the dead owner of the pendant. And then he would need to feed again when he was finished to help him regain his powers.
Jacob nodded his head. “I spoke to your brother before I left for the airport. One of the House guards was sent to collect her. They should arrive at your private suite before nightfall.”
“As efficient as ever, Jacob,” Tiege murmured.
Jacob shrugged. “That’s why I get paid the big bucks.”
“I thought it was because you had to deal with me,” Tiege drawled.
“There is that.”
Tiege gave a sharp burst of laughter. When he was a youth, he’d gone through a dozen different guards who’d all sworn he was a reckless hellion who was destined for an early grave. Only Jacob possessed the necessary nerve to accept Tiege’s love for danger.
Tiege polished off his drink and set the glass on the nearby table. The jet had already made a smooth takeoff, which meant he had nothing to do until they reached the States.
“If everything is in order, then I intend to get some rest,” he said, nodding his head in the direction of the stewardess who instantly turned to hurry toward the bedroom at the back of the plane. Tiege was confident he would find her stretched out naked on his bed. “Once I arrive, I plan on enjoying myself.”
“When don’t you?” Jacob demanded in sardonic tones.
Tiege smiled. “What’s the point of being an immortal demon if you don’t savor the pleasures this life has to offer?”
Jacob arched a silver brow. “Your brother would say the continuation of the family line.”
A vicious pain sliced through Tiege.
He understood his duty. Now that Petros had lost his betrothed, the House of Furia depended on him to continue the family line. But he wasn’t prepared to face that ugly truth.
Not yet.
Once he did he would have no choice but to accept that the golden days when his father was the ruthless Master of the House of Furia, and Petros and Portia were giddy with happiness, was at an end.
That was…unacceptable.
“Have you truly considered the horror of a posse of little Tieges running around?” he instead mocked.
“The mind boggles at the possibility.” As always, Jacob’s expression was unreadable. Yep. He truly would have made a perfect butler. “Of course, we can always hope they take after their mother.”
Tiege rolled his eyes as he headed to his bedroom and the waiting stewardess.
“Wake me before we land.”
~
Sloane entered the elegant Vegas hotel and edged her way around the twirling carousel. All around her, tourists scurried to reach the nearby casino or hit the streets to join the endless crowd that surged from one end of the Strip to the other.
Thankfully, her connection to the House of Furia meant that she didn’t have to fight her way to the reception desk. Instead she headed directly to the private office of the manager and pushed open the door.
There had to be some compensation for having to deal with Tiege, she silently acknowledged, stepping into the large office.
Instantly a middle-aged human rose to her feet. Dressed in a tailored jacket and pencil skirt, she perfectly fit the office.
Elegant, but subdued.
“Ah, Ms. Bellator, welcome,” the manager murmured. The two had met the year before when Sloane had been forced to travel to Vegas with a large amount of cash to pay for the damage done by one of her Master’s outrageous parties.
Most people in Vegas assumed that Tiege was some eccentric European royal who devoted his life to fast cars, fast women and expensive wine.
They weren’t entirely wrong.
They just didn’t know the whole “lethal Incubus” part.
“Has Mr. Furia arrived?” she asked.
The manager gave a dip of her head. “He has.”
“Is he in his suite?”
There was a brief hesitation before the woman managed to pin a smile to her lips. “I believe so.”
Sloane resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Obviously the party had already started. Dammit.
“I presume he’s not alone?” she said in dry tones.
The manager cleared her throat. “I believe he’s hosting a small gathering.”
Better known as a drunken orgy.
“I see.”
“Would you like me to call up and let him know that you’re here?”
Sloane shook her head. “Actually, I prefer to surprise him.”
The woman gave a nod of her head. “Very well.”
Sloane turned toward the door. She needed to speak with Tiege before he became too preoccupied with his…amusements.
“Have my bags taken to my rooms,” she commanded.
“At once,” the manager promised.
Crossing through the casino, Sloane headed to the elevators at the back of the hotel. She was exhausted after her long flight, and in dire need of supper and a hot bath, but she wasn’t going waste time freshening up. Not until after she’d spoken with Tiege.
The sooner he learned the truth, the sooner she could crawl into bed and sleep.
Besides, she wasn’t going to let the bastard think that she cared about his opinion.
When she’d become a guard in the House of Furia six months ago, she’d been hyper-sensitive to any hint of disapproval. After training from the age of eighteen to become a Nephilim Blade, she’d been tossed out of the temple when she questioned the need to kill the children conceived between an Incubus and human female. She didn’t regret her refusal to perform that duty, but she’d been acutely aware that others would consider her honor tarnished.
Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so eager to leap at Petros’s offer to become a guard in the House of Furia. She’d known the male was only giving her the opportunity because she was a cousin to his dead betrothed, Portia. But she’d been so relieved to have a respectable position that she hadn’t realized she would be working directly with Tiege, or that she would be so annoyingly sensitive to his mocking amusement.
He thought she was a priggish, inflexible bore who had forgotten how to be a female.
She thought he was a pain in the ass.
They clashed every time they were in the same space.
With a grimace, she resisted the urge to glance in the mirror on the elevator wall. She knew exactly what Tiege would see.
A slender woman who barely topped five feet, with shoulder-length honey brown hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. Her tiny face was heart-shaped and dominated by a pair of hazel eyes. With a slender, tip-tilted nose and wide lips, she looked more like a Dresden doll than a trained killer.
Currently she was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and T-shirt, with a leather motorcycle jacket despite the sweltering Vegas heat. She had to hide the two handguns and obsidian blade she had strapped to various parts of her body.
Hardly the type of female to impress a jaded Incubus Master.
Not that she wanted to impress him. Of course she didn’t.
Not. At. All.
There was a shudder beneath her feet as the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open. Jerked out of her ridiculous thoughts, she forced herself to walk the short distance to the door. There were only four suites on this particular floor. All of them large, and elegant, and obscenely expensive.
Tiege always chose the corner suite that overlooked the Strip. It was, of course, the largest and most expensive.
God forbid he not have the very best.
She didn’t bother to knock. She could already hear the heavy rap music and the shrill giggles of the bimbos who flocked around him like clucking hens around a crowing rooster. Instead she pushed the door open and battled her way through the half-dressed women and drunken males who filled the large room.
She had a vague impression of paneled walls and marble floors, with velvet furnishings that were in various shades of brown and tan. There was a bar at one end of the room and a hot tub at the other, but Sloane headed toward the attached suite.
There was only one place to find a sex demon in the middle of a party…
Stiffening her spine, she stepped into the bedroom, her heart slamming against her ribs at the sight of Tiege leaning against center of the massive headboard.
Dammit. It didn’t matter how she braced herself, the first sight of the male was always like a punch to the gut.
He was just so…outrageously beautiful.
It was unfair.
At the moment, he was framed by four naked females who were busily kissing and fondling his perfectly chiseled body that had been stripped down to a pair of black boxers. His dark hair was rumpled and his eyes glowed with a rich copper heat.
As she watched, he allowed his slender, artistic fingers to glide down the bare back of a gorgeous brunette who was kissing a path over
his shoulder. Even from a distance she could see the sparks of energy that leaped over his fingers and trailed up his arms in a shimmer of energy. It wasn’t a full Incubus feeding. More like a pre-dinner snack.
Her lips pressed together, and she told herself that her stab of annoyance had nothing to do with the naked bimbos and everything to do with her personal sense of responsibility. Petros had sworn that Tiege’s presence in Vegas was a matter of life and death. And that she had to be willing to do whatever necessary to assist him in his duties.
Instead of preparing for his solemn ceremony, he was wasting time with yet another orgy.
Was it any wonder she felt like pulling out her gun and shooting the collection of drunken fools who filled the suite?
“Hello, Master,” she managed to force past her stiff lips.
Lifting his head, Tiege studied her with something close to horror.
“Sloane,” he breathed her name like a curse. “What the hell are you doing here?”
She tilted her chin. Okay, so there wasn’t any love lost between them. Still, he didn’t have to look at her as if she was something he’d found stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
Prick.
“I was sent by your brother,” she said in wooden tones, ignoring the females who continued to crawl over his half-naked body with nauseating gusto.
Tiege narrowed his gaze. “Petros always did have a peculiar sense of humor,” he muttered. “Are you here to be my babysitter?”
Her lip curled. “There isn’t enough money in the world to entice me to become your babysitter.”
His gaze lowered to her heavy leather jacket, easily sensing the weapons that she’d strapped to her body.
“I have Jacob as my guard,” he drawled.
“I was sent to retrieve your…” She deliberately allowed her gaze to move toward his slender fingers that continued to draw lazy energy from the unsuspecting humans. “Dinner.”
He arched a brow, lifting an arm to tuck it behind his head as he studied her with an intensity that made her shiver.
“You?”
She planted her hands on her hips and forced herself to meet him glare for glare.
So what if he was gloriously sensual? So was Beelzebub.
Masters of Seduction Volume 2: Books 5-8: Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 19