Wicked Memories (CASTLE OF DARK DREAMS)

by Nina Bangs

  Cinn left to find her husband once they were inside the castle. Kayla decided to try the great hall first. Even if Sparkle wasn’t involved in a fantasy right now, Holgarth would know where she was.

  Time was important, so Kayla didn’t spend much of it searching. She approached Holgarth.

  “Where’s Sparkle?” She tried to ignore his supercilious expression.

  “Why? Could it be you’re bringing glad tidings that you’ve finally managed to rid us of this Thorn person?” He went from mock surprise to mock sadness. “But no, that would be impossible, because you fear doing what needs doing. You’re a talker not a doer. So sad.”

  “Tonight is not a good night to push me, wizard. Now, where’s Sparkle?” She wanted to bring her fist down on top of his pointy hat and flatten his pointy head beneath it.

  He must’ve seen something in her eyes because he just sniffed and answered. “This is her night off. She’s in her suite with Ganymede.”

  Kayla ran up the steps instead of waiting for the elevator. She arrived at Sparkle’s door sweating and out of breath. She knocked.

  Sparkle answered on the third rap. She wore a long clingy black nightgown cut out in strategic spots. Kayla quickly shifted her gaze beyond her client. She could see Ganymede stretched out on the couch with his paw over the remote and a dish of ice cream in front of him.

  What a lazy butt. Kayla wondered what Sparkle saw in him.

  Sparkle followed her gaze. “He’s a lot different in his golden god form.”

  Kayla didn’t comment on that. “We have a situation.” She told Sparkle everything and then waited.

  Ganymede leaped from the couch and padded to the door. “Heard that. We need to meet with the bastard now.”

  Sparkle looked as though she wanted to say no, but she finally sighed and nodded. “We’ll meet them in the conference room in ten minutes.”

  “Why not here, sweetbuns?” Ganymede looked longingly at the ice cream.

  “I only invite friends into my home.” Her expression said that was that.

  “I’ll go tell them.” Kayla started to turn away.

  “Won’t have to.” Ganymede was already hurrying back to the couch. “I’ve already messaged Eric. And I told him a half hour, not ten minutes.”

  Something in Sparkle’s expression said the time change bothered her, but she just nodded. She didn’t invite Kayla inside to wait. That was fine, because she had things to do.

  Kayla went up to her room and opened her laptop. She did a search for Aegir. A short time later, she shut it down. Then she just sat, eyes wide, thoughts racing. Impossible. But then she remembered where she was and whom she worked for. Maybe not. Damn.

  She walked down to the conference room in a disbelieving daze. Kayla was the first one there. She took a seat in the middle of the long table. And then she just thought—about Thorn, about every strange person she’d met so far, and about the giant named Aegir.

  Her thoughts always circled back to Thorn, though. She could close her eyes and pull up his exact image—every sculpted line of his face, his eyes, and sensual lips, along with his powerful body. She could hear his voice, soft and husky, murmuring promises. Too bad he would never speak them to her. And she would recognize his scent anywhere, even though she couldn’t describe it yet. All she knew was that his scent was sexy and had his picture attached to it.

  But she didn’t have any idea what went on in his mind. He’d known Sparkle. Her sudden flash of jealousy didn’t surprise Kayla. Not really. What powers did he have that she hadn’t seen yet? What did he see when he looked at her?

  Kayla didn’t have time for more questions she couldn’t answer, because the door swung open and Thorn strode into the room. Grim and his security team filed in behind him.

  * * *

  Thorn met Kayla’s gaze. She stared at him with the innocence of her short human life. He hoped she didn’t look too closely at his eyes. They weren’t innocent. And if she decided to stroll down the path of his long vampire life, she’d wander into the dark woods and be lost.

  He smiled and hoped it distracted her from the truth in his eyes. Thorn went around the table and sat down beside her. He glanced at the wall clock. “They’re late. I assume Sparkle and her cat want to make a grand entrance.”

  Kayla shrugged and then met his gaze. “I looked up Aegir. He’s a Norse sea god. Want to tell me more?”

  “Patience.” He leaned back in his chair and said what needed saying. “You might consider leaving right now. Quit and get on the first plane home. Sparkle will have a lot on her mind. She won’t be worrying about you.”

  “Leave now? That sounds ominous. Let me think.” She tipped her head to the side in thought. “Uh, no.”

  The smooth line of her neck mesmerized him. He imagined sliding his tongue over her warm skin, placing his lips right there where her pulse beat strong, then . . . Thorn gave himself a mental shake. “You might not be safe here.” Danger came in many forms. Aegir wasn’t the only threat. Thorn knew his interest in her neck and other areas of her body should bump him up closer to the top of her things-to-be-avoided list. Too bad she didn’t know that.

  “Maybe after I hear all you have to say I’ll revisit my answer. But as of right now? No.” She seemed to have surprised even herself with that decision.

  He felt ridiculously relieved. Thorn didn’t like the feeling. Humans had a history of doing stupid things and then dying because of them. Getting involved with individual humans would exhaust a vampire after a few centuries. So far, he’d avoided that particular pitfall. He shrugged. “Your choice. Lots of jobs. One life. Do the math.”

  Thorn glanced around the table. His people sat on either side of him facing the door. He didn’t think that Ganymede would do anything to endanger his precious hotel guests, but you could never tell with the really powerful ones.

  Kayla stayed silent beside him, but he was aware of every breath she took, every beat of her heart, every glance she slid his way. He resisted the urge to lean close and whisper all the things he wanted to do to her. Not now. Maybe later. He smiled at the thought of her alarm. She might even try to hit him. The thought entertained him until Sparkle came through the door.

  It seemed that she’d brought an army with her. Thorn recognized the wizard, the plant lady and her vampire husband, and the were-shark bodyguard. But who the hell were all these other people? They filled up the seats and then stood against the wall. He hadn’t realized how many nonhumans lived here. He’d have a talk with the people he’d hired to scope out the castle ahead of his arrival.

  They all stared at him with lethal intent, even the Siamese cat sitting on the shoulder of one of the men. Thorn smiled at them, fangs and deadly warning on full display. And as they watched him, he quietly studied each of them, assessing the threat they posed.

  Sparkle was dressed for business, her kind of business—skinny jeans, a cling-wrap green top, and heels that no human should be able to even stand on let alone walk in. Her red hair tumbled around her shoulders, and her amber eyes promised death if he was playing her.

  Strange that he could coldly recognize her beauty but not care. He’d thought he might still have a few feelings left even after all this time. But Kayla was the only one who stirred him.

  Thorn had finished scanning Sparkle’s people. He narrowed his eyes. “Where’s the cat?” Suspicion flared. At this very minute, Ganymede could be slinking around Nirvana destroying it with every twitch of his tail. He started to rise.

  “Sit down, vampire.” The man to the right of Sparkle spoke.

  Thorn stared at him. He’d overlooked the man as he’d checked out the rest of the room. How the hell had he missed this guy?

  The man smiled at him, a smile filled with malice. “You didn’t notice me because that’s the way I wanted it.”

  That voice. Thorn kept his eyes from widening, but only just. He was noticing now. The man was big, probably about six-five when he was standing. His tangled blond hair framed his
face and almost skimmed his broad shoulders. He looked as though he’d only had time to finger-comb it before he stepped into the room. He could pass for a street-tough fallen angel, with a face that women would call beautiful, but hard enough to cut diamonds. Thorn recognized the look because he’d met a few of the fallen in his time.

  “Ganymede.” Thorn didn’t make it a question.

  The man nodded. “It takes a while for me to change, and it’s not fun. I left my TV and ice cream to be here. Make it worth my while.” He didn’t even try to hide the “or else” at the end.

  “Why’d you bother?” Thorn thought he knew, but he wanted to keep Ganymede talking while he assessed things.

  “I knew you were coming. The cat form is for sneaking. The human form is for other things.” His expression said that one of those other things was his desire for his enemies to put a human face to the one who killed them. “Besides, you and Sparkle have some kind of history. I thought we should be on equal footing this time.” He didn’t smile when he said it.

  “Ganymede?” Kayla was an echo beside Thorn. She didn’t make any attempt to hide her wide eyes.

  Ganymede’s smile was slow and meant to impress. “Definitely. You mentioned something about not knowing what Sparkle saw in me. Changed your mind?”

  Kayla’s eyes weren’t wide anymore. She looked ticked. “I thought that. You were in my mind without my permission.”

  “No big deal. I’m in a lot of minds without their permission.” He shifted his attention back to Thorn. “Why’d you call this meeting?

  Thorn stood. “Aegir came calling a short time ago.” A glance told Thorn the others in the room recognized his name.

  “He gave his message to me because I was once Viking. I understand the old language. He considers me one of his.” Thorn found Eric and Grim. They’d been Vikings too. “Eric or Grim can give you more details if you want them. The bottom line is that Aegir is tired of being an almost-forgotten sea god. Poseidon gets all the press. Aegir is moving his seat of power to the Gulf. More people to recruit. Maybe he’s tired of the cold climate, wants to kick back in the sun. Who knows. He wants all humans and nonhumans not of his choosing gone from Galveston so he can bring in those who will worship him.”

  Sparkle had remained strangely quiet, but she spoke now. “That’s what the explosives and sinking ships are about?”

  Thorn nodded.

  “It’s not just that now. There’ve been fires and explosions all over the island today. Someone is targeting businesses.” The speaker leaned forward. He had tawny hair, a grim-reaper tattoo on his arm, and the cosmic troublemaker’s amber eyes. “Why would a god try to make this look like a human’s work?”

  Thorn thought about his answer. “I’d guess he didn’t want to alert his enemies in the supernatural community. And the Norse gods and goddesses in Asgard might not be thrilled with what he’s doing. But he’s grown impatient. So now that he believes he has his operation in place, he’s taking off his mask.”

  “And that means?” The question came from the man with the cat on his shoulder.

  “He wants us out of here in three weeks. He’ll keep up his attacks on the humans so they’ll leave too. At the same time, he’s bringing in people who support him to take the place of everyone leaving.” Thorn noticed Kayla’s horrified expression. The others in the room just looked angry. They understood that gods and goddesses did what they pleased and expected everyone else to fall in line with their plans.

  “What did he offer you, vampire?” Ganymede’s eyes gleamed.

  Thorn tipped an imaginary hat to Ganymede. The cosmic troublemaker had assumed correctly. “If I help him get rid of your park, he’ll allow Nirvana to survive with me still in charge.”

  Ganymede’s smile was one of the scariest things Thorn had ever seen. “That would work for you, wouldn’t it? Sparkle would be out of business. No more sneak attacks necessary. Problem solved. Maybe you were the one who suggested that Aegir look this way for his new home.”

  But Thorn had his own scary smile. He used it now. “I don’t call in outside help to do my work for me.” He glanced at his people. Okay, so maybe he did. “And if I were going to help Aegir, I wouldn’t be here now spilling his plans.”

  Ganymede subsided for the moment, his gaze still drilling holes in vulnerable parts of Thorn’s body.

  “Anything else we should know?” This was from the woman sitting beside the tawny-haired troublemaker.

  “Aegir isn’t well liked. He has a rep for sinking ships and taking the crews.” He looked around the room, meeting everyone’s gaze. “His wife, the goddess Ran, is here too. I met her on the beach. I didn’t remember who she was until tonight.”

  “Damn.” Eric breathed the word. “Ran is a cold bitch. She pulls men overboard with her net and drowns them.”

  “So here’s what we have to work with.” Thorn had their complete attention. “We have three weeks to get rid of both of them. We know that Aegir isn’t beloved. That’s probably why he lost his chief-sea-god status. We might try fomenting an uprising in his ranks.”

  “And we know he has an underwater hall off the coast. Kel has seen it.” He nodded at the kelpie before looking back at the others. “Since searchers didn’t find any bodies from the sunken ships, Aegir might be holding the crews there to use as hostages if he needs them.”

  “Some of you may have powerful god or goddess connections.” He glanced at Grim. “Use them.” Thorn started to sit down and then paused. “Sparkle, you have two guests who probably belong to Aegir.” He told her the room number.

  She cut him up and scattered his pieces with her stare. “How do you know this?”

  He offered her the smile he’d saved just for her, filled with all the promises of retribution he’d planned over the centuries. “I saw them when I was attaching my special air fresheners to your walls.”

  Her lips tightened, but she said nothing to him. Instead, she looked at two of her people and nodded. They immediately left. “I’ve sent for the two you mentioned.”

  “So are we finished here?” Ganymede’s expression didn’t bode well for Aegir or anyone who worked for him.

  Sparkle looked back at Thorn. “I assume you’ll still be working to get rid of me even while Aegir tries to take over Galveston.”

  “Of course.” Good. She wouldn’t expect a truce while they fought the sea god. If they won, he’d still want her gone. And if they didn’t? He wouldn’t have much of anything to worry about.

  Her smile was sly, wicked, and looked great on her.

  “I thought so. I guess you know I’ll still try to stop you.”

  “I’d expect nothing less.”

  She nodded, satisfied.

  Just then the two she’d sent from the room returned shoving a man and woman ahead of them. They pushed their captives into seats and stood behind them waiting.

  Ganymede stood for the first time. Thorn felt the troublemaker’s power. It hit him and drove him back in his seat. If he’d had to breathe, he’d be gasping for air now. He looked at Kayla to see how she was taking this show of power.

  She looked pale, but her gaze met his calmly. He felt a rush of pride in her. Without thinking about it, he reached for her hand beneath the table. She clasped it and hung on.

  Ganymede leaned across the table and spoke to the man and woman. “You’ve stayed in our castle while you worked for a scumbag who’s trying to destroy us. That pisses me off.”

  The walls of the room vibrated while thunder rumbled in the distance. The two captives pressed themselves back in their seats as far as they could to escape him.

  “I want you to tell me everything you know about his plans.” The ends of Ganymede’s hair flickered with blue flames. Suddenly, the electricity went out, leaving his glowing eyes and the flames the only lights in the room. Another crack of thunder that sounded as though it was right over their heads shook the walls.

  Thorn grinned. Hey, this was great stuff. Entertainment at its best.
Of course, if he’d chosen to use his power of persuasion, he would have had answers from them without all the theatrics.

  The lights flickered back on.

  Oh, crap. Where the two captives had sat there were now two terrified moray eels. Four-feet long with big teeth. They started to slither off the chairs. Everyone in the room was on their feet and shouting.

  Without warning, the eels just disappeared. Everyone sat down and stared at Ganymede. He didn’t meet their gazes. “I sent them to the Pacific Ocean. I hate seafood.”

  “You overplayed your hand.” Thorn knew he sounded gleeful. “You scared them into shifting.”

  “Shut the hell up, vampire.” Ganymede’s expression said he wouldn’t mind sending him to the Pacific as well.

  Thorn decided the party was over. “Guess we’ll get back to Nirvana. I’m keeping my park open until I feel it isn’t safe for visitors.”

  Sparkle stood. “Live the Fantasy will stay open too.” The stare she sent Thorn could have stripped the varnish from the floor. “We’ll deal with all threats.”

  Thorn didn’t feel that needed an answer. He nodded at his people and started for the door.

  “Vampire.”

  Thorn turned slowly to face Ganymede. He readied his persuasion. He didn’t kid himself. He’d need it to survive if Ganymede decided to eliminate a threat right now.

  “You knew Sparkle. I want to know about it. Now.”

  Sparkle reached out to Ganymede. “No. Let it go. We’ll talk about it another time.”

  Ganymede didn’t even look at her. “Now.”

  For a moment, Sparkle looked shocked. That changed quickly to anger. “Bastard.”

  Thorn wasn’t sure if the word was aimed at him or Ganymede. He hadn’t planned to confront her now. He’d wanted to save it all up until her business was in ruins around her.

  But why not now? He had an interested audience. Besides, his anger was killing off some of his wisest brain cells. He hated Ganymede’s attitude. This would hurt the troublemaker too. And then the troublemaker might hurt you. He’d take the risk.