He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot

by Stephanie Rowe

  “That’s good,” she whispered.

  Forty-five minutes after that, Becca sat back and Nick caught her. “I can’t find any more,” she said. “I think they’re gone.”

  Her body was trembling and slick with sweat. She was still wearing her outfit from the bar last night, though it seemed so long ago. She leaned heavily against him. “That’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever done.”

  Yasmine looked up, her own eyes bleary. “I’ll finish up. You go rest.” She smiled briefly. “What’s your name?”

  “Becca.”

  “Okay, Becca, after you and I rest, we are going to have a little talk. Good work.”

  Becca stared at Yasmine as if she couldn’t believe Yasmine’s compliment, and Nick stood up. “Come on. I’ll show you where you can crash.” He tugged her to her feet and she swayed against him.

  “I’m fine.” She pushed off him to stand up on her own, tilting only slightly. “We need to get back to the Council offices to find out what happened. The Council has the means and motivation to send someone to kill Satan, so I need to know if they’re involved.” She sighed and looked at Nick. “And they were around for the Markku rebellion, and I have some questions I want to ask.”

  Yasmine glared at her. “You will not. It is critical you rest after healing. Cleanse and rest.”

  “I don’t have time. Those men will be gone.” She started to fade through the floor, though she was so drained that it took longer than usual, which gave Nick time to grab on and Yasmine time to lecture her before they finally faded away.

  Becca’s head was still hurting from her first ever mom-lecture when they came up slowly through the floor of the Council offices.

  The two downed men were gone, and the entire place was on fire.

  “Satan Jr.” Nick cursed and started sprinting for the door and the roaring flames.

  Fourteen

  Nick shouldered his way through the fire, ran down the hall, and reached the door to the room Satan Jr. had been kept in, waving aside the black smoke so he could see where he was going. Flames were licking the walls and sparks were flying out of the light fixtures in the ceiling. He slammed his body against the steel door. It flew open and a roar of flames burst through the opening and into the hall.

  He charged inside, ignoring his shirt as it caught fire and burned right off him. The freezer was standing in the corner, misshapen from the heat of the flames, with a pool of colored water on the floor around it. “Dammit!”

  He grabbed the cooler and looked around for Becca. “Becca!”

  After a minute, she appeared in the doorway, holding her T-shirt over her face. “Did he melt?”

  “Get us out of here.”

  “With the cooler?” She ducked as a light fixture exploded over her head, and a burning ceiling panel landed on her bare arm. She flipped it aside and jumped into the room. “Good thing I’m from hell,” she said. “Me and fire go way back.”

  At that moment, there was a crackling from the corner and Nick realized the cabinet where Jerome had set up a stash of weapons for his stay was about to go. “Get down!”

  She dropped to the floor as the metal cabinet exploded, and a huge serrated knife flew right toward her. She rolled to the side, and it slammed into her thigh.

  Nick cursed and let go of the cooler, dropped to the ground next to her, and yanked the knife out of her thigh. A groan of anguish slipped out of her mouth, and Nick caught her as she started to collapse, his heart racing as he felt her pain.

  “Showoff.” He pressed his palm over the flow of blood gushing from her leg. “You’re immune to fire. You couldn’t have left it at that? Had to get yourself impaled?”

  “I like a challenge.” She winced when he adjusted his hand, then gestured at the floor, where the water had turned rosy from her blood. “What about all the water on the floor? Isn’t this Satan Jr.?”

  As if he cared about a stupid sociopath right now! She was losing way too much blood, but the smoke was so thick he could barely see her through it. “We have to get you out of here.” He swallowed hard, trying not to look at the blood gushing out of her leg. Dammit! Why hadn’t he inherited the true healer gift from his ma? He had all the annoying emotions of a healer, but minimal healer skills. He felt her shudder, and he scowled. “Stay with me, gorgeous.”

  “I’m fine.” She coughed, then splashed water onto the T-shirt before pulling it up over her face again. “I have to get out of here. Smoke’s a killer. Get the freezer, will you?”

  He smiled at her insistence, then reached out to put a hand on the freezer. “I’ve got it.”

  She coughed again, then turned a murky gray, almost the color of the smoke that was circling them.

  Then reformed right where she was.

  He pressed harder on her leg and she let out a squeal of pain that had his heart twisting. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t let me lose any more blood,” she ordered.

  Another crash came from somewhere in the building. “I’m not planning on it. Just get us out of here.”

  She nodded, closed her eyes, and this time shimmered only briefly before taking solid form again. “Dammit! Come on!” She coughed again, a brutal hack that shook her body.

  Nick pressed harder on her leg and tried to send her his energy through his palm. “Come on, Becca. You can do it.”

  She bunched her fist and the muscles in her neck flexed, but nothing happened. She jerked her eyes open. “I can’t do it. I’m too exhausted. That healing stuff wiped me out. I feel like hell.” She looked around the room, her eyes wild but calculating. “We have to get out another way.”

  The ceiling crashed down in the hallway and flaming boards blocked the door.

  He thought frantically for a second, then nearly sagged with relief. “I never reset my portal. It should still be linked to Jerome’s office down the hall. We’ll have to go through the fire.”

  “Fine with me. I like fire.”

  “Take over.” He pressed her hand to her thigh, then yanked off his sweats and cranked them around her leg.

  Her face got white and she started to waver.

  “Becca. Stay with me.” He helped her to her feet and pulled her shirt up over her face as another cough wracked her body. He kept his hands around her waist. “You can manage?”

  She looked at the door, then at him. “Of course.” She gritted her teeth and took a step.

  Her leg gave out instantly and she fell to the floor, cursing the whole way down.

  He picked her back up, careful to protect her leg. “Nice language.”

  “It inspires me.” She stood on one leg, gripping his arm. “Turn around and get down on your knees.”

  He did it as the outer wall exploded inward, sending studs and plaster flying at them. Becca shuddered as she threw herself onto his back, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Help me with my leg.”

  He grabbed her injured leg and pulled it gently around to his stomach, wincing at the moan of pain from Becca as he hooked her heels around his waist. “I’m glad you’re not one of those women who’s too proud to let a guy carry her.”

  “I can let you carry me because we both know I could kill you in a heartbeat. I have nothing to prove.” She rested her head against his back, and he squatted down and grabbed the freezer with both arms. “Just hurry up already.”

  “You’re so demanding. No wonder you’re single.” The fact she was ordering him around had to mean she was going to be okay. So what if she couldn’t shimmer. Didn’t mean she was in danger of a total collapse. Keep it together, Nick. He got a grip on the freezer and then bolted for the door, slamming through the burning wall of boards.

  “What makes you think I’m single?” Her arms tightened around his neck as a beam fell toward them. “Maybe I have hordes of boyfriends.”

  He bolted past it and it landed with a crash behind them. “I’d be willing to bet that there’s been no one since Gabriel.” He slammed the freezer into Jerome’s office door, shattering the
wood. “You need to stop obsessing about killing him.”

  She flinched as her leg caught the doorframe. “I’m not obsessing.” Her voice was strained.

  “Yes, you are.” There was too much smoke to see if his portal was still there, so he sprinted to where it had been, and he sighed with relief as the humming vibrated through his body. “It’s not your fault you killed him. You did nothing wrong.”

  She tightened her grip around him as the room began to disappear. “You’re not just saying that so I won’t kill you before you can kill Satan? Trying to get on my good side?”

  “I’m already there, aren’t I?” He sighed with relief as his safe room came into focus.

  She let go of him and slid down his body, until she landed with a moan on the floor. “You’re so arrogant.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” He set the freezer on its back so no more water could leak out, then went to scrape Becca off the floor.

  She waved him off as she rolled onto her butt. “How much of him is still in the freezer?”

  “I don’t know.” He squatted in front of her, his heart tightening at how pale her face was. “Let me see your leg.”

  “We have to see to Satan Jr. first.” She batted his hand when he went for her leg anyway. “You can do whatever you want to my leg after we get Satan Jr. secured. That’s my priority, Nick. He’s involved in this situation with your sister, which means he’s involved in trying to get me killed. That’s my focus, not my leg.”

  He scowled at her, and she glared back, and he realized she wasn’t going back down. “You’re a stubborn wench.”

  She grinned. “Thank you. Now check on Junior.”

  He sighed and walked over to the freezer, keeping one eye on her in case she suddenly toppled over in a death spiral. He flipped open the lid and glanced inside, then took a closer look and cursed. “It’s empty.”

  “Really?” She scooted across the floor and pulled herself up on the edge of the freezer and peered inside. “It’s not even wet in here.” She looked up at him, grimacing with pain. “You think that colored water on the floor was him?”

  “No.” He grabbed her under her arms and scooped her up, relieved when she didn’t protest, but worried when he felt her sag against him. “I think someone took him somewhere else to melt and re-form and left that water to distract us. And it worked.” He scowled as he carried her across the room and set her on his bed. “Do you have any idea how dangerous he is?”

  “Yes, I do.” She groaned and stretched on her back and closed her eyes. “Satan’s a lamb compared to him.”

  “That what I’ve heard.” He checked the bloodstained wrap on her thigh to make sure it was still secure. Blood was still leaking, but its rate had slowed. “You need to get this cleaned out. I don’t have any first-aid supplies, since I never need them.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Yeah, I think it sliced my quad muscles pretty good. Maybe broke my femur, too. Hurts like a mother, actually.” She propped herself up on her elbows to look at him. “You do realize that Satan Jr. escaping is a major problem, don’t you? I just helped Satan redo his will, and he listed Satan Jr. as his sole heir. If you kill Satan now, Satan Jr. will automatically get hell, and that’s really bad. I can’t control him, he’s got no redeeming characteristics, and he certainly wouldn’t adhere to his daddy’s treaty with the Council. Plus, he’s trying to kill your sister and me. Double whammy.”

  “But I’ve got part of him in my freezer.” Nick frowned as her movement caused the blood to start to flow more quickly. “Lie back down.” He gently propped a pillow under her leg. “And if your quad is sliced, you need surgery. Now.” He cleared his throat. “Because you won’t be any good to me if you’re too injured to function.”

  She eyed him, as if she heard the hesitation in his last comment. “If he’s anything like Satan, it doesn’t matter if part of him is in your freezer. As long as Satan has more than fifty percent of his body in liquid form, he can re-form entirely. The other part can’t re-form into anything. So you’d need to melt him and then divide the water into two separate containers of exactly fifty percent and never let them touch.” She shifted slightly and winced. “I don’t have time for surgery. We have things to do.”

  Nick cursed and sat down heavily on the bed, suddenly exhausted. “So he’s out there somewhere, reforming, right now.” He set his hand on her thigh and reached inside to see if he could sense the extent of the damage. He frowned at the dark pulsing inside her. “There’s something wrong with you.”

  “I’d say there’s a good chance of that, yeah.” She raised her brows. “I meant, of Satan Jr. off reforming somewhere.” Then she grinned. “And yeah, there’s probably more than one thing wrong with me, too.”

  “No, something other than the leg.”

  She gently peeled his hand away. “I’m fine. Just a scratch.” Then she negated her words by groaning and collapsing back onto the pillows. “So, we’ll have to find Junior and kill him before he can destroy everything about hell that’s good.” She draped her arm over her face and sighed.

  “Is there anything that’s good?” Besides you. He was startled by his thought, then realized it was true. Too true for his comfort.

  She opened one eye. “You’d be surprised. Satan’s a big fan of the luxuries of life, and it’s pretty easy to creatively reallocate them to the peons.” She tried to lift her leg and shuddered. “This isn’t going to work. I’m never going to be able to do everything I need to do if I have only one good leg.” She dug into her bodice and pulled out a tiny cell phone. “No pockets in my slut outfit,” she explained when she realized he was staring at her in surprise.

  “I can fix that.” He rolled off the bed and headed toward a metal armoire in the corner, needing something to do to take his mind off what he’d felt inside Becca. Something was really wrong, and her leg was a mess, and he knew she wasn’t going to admit it. And they still had to figure out how to save Dani, and now Satan Jr. was missing. He cursed and yanked open the door to the armoire, slamming it into the wall. He glared over his shoulder at her. “I forbid you to die.”

  “It’s not your choice.”

  “Give me a break, Becca.”

  She hesitated, then managed a small smile. “Okay, Nick. I promise I won’t die. Happy?”

  “Swear?”

  “I swear.”

  Nick grunted a response and turned back to the armoire, and Becca realized for the first time that he was wearing only his boxers. His body was well muscled and lean, making her recall the hardness of his body when she’d hitched a ride out of the Council offices.

  Like she had time to be attracted to him. She scowled and hit the number-two speed dial on her phone.

  Theresa answered on the first ring. “You want your coat back, don’t you?”

  Becca smiled at the sound of the dragon’s voice. “Actually, I need to call in one of the favors you owe me.”

  “Excellent. Zeke’s still out of town and I’m bored out of my mind. You want me to kill your apprentice, don’t you? She’s driving you mad but you’re too soft to do it yourself, so you need a badass dragon to take her out? I’m down with that. Tell me where she is, and I’ll take care of her.”

  “Actually, I need some espresso.”

  Silence.

  “Dragon?”

  “You know I can’t give you a drink from the Goblet of Eternal Youth! And why do you need it? Aren’t you immortal?”

  “I’m immortal in that I’ll never die of natural causes or grow old, but other than that, I’m no tougher than a human. And I currently have a hole the size of a grapefruit in my thigh. Also, I have a sociopath to slay, a leader of hell to protect, and a lifeline to break. I can’t do it all on one leg, and if I don’t do it soon, there will be major problems that will reverberate throughout the mortal world and the Otherworld.” She peeked at Nick, who was now dressed in gray sweatpants and was back to digging in the ugly metal armoire. But at least he hadn’t put a shirt on yet…Argh. Focus, Becca. W
hat was wrong with her?

  “Well, that sucks and all, but I’m not even the Guardian anymore,” Theresa said. “Mona is back at Justine’s under house arrest. I actually feel kind of bad, because Justine never lets her go anywhere—”

  “Perfect. So she’s looking for a holiday. Steal her, and bring her to me. I’ll take a sip, you can pretend you don’t know what I’m doing, and all’s good.”

  Theresa sighed. “Fine. I’m coming. Where are you?”

  “Hang on.” She moved the phone away from her mouth. “I have a friend bringing me medical supplies. Where is this place?”

  He held out his hand for the phone, and she handed it to him.

  “Hello?” He frowned almost immediately. “No, we’re not naked.” He raised his brows at Becca, and she shot him a look of apology. Like she needed Theresa bringing that up right now.

  Fifteen

  Becca closed her eyes and snuggled back down on the bed as Nick gave directions to Theresa. She was completely drained and her leg was seriously hurting, but she was also amazed and exhilarated at the same time. She’d felt the blackness around Jerome’s heart, tormenting him, and she’d actually pulled it out. It was almost like taking out a soul, but it was different. It was like peeling away darkness to let the sun shine through, and it had felt unbelievable.

  She sighed and let the exhaustion take her, and her muscles began to relax. Why was she so tired? She felt like her body weighed a thousand pounds.

  The bed shifted under her, and she cracked her eyes to see Nick stretching out next to her, a look of total exhaustion on his face.

  He held out a pair of red sweats and a gray T-shirt. “They’ll probably be too big, but I thought you might want out of those clothes while we wait for your friend. She said she’ll be here in the morning.” The worry in his eyes clearly said that he wasn’t sure Becca would last that long. Or maybe he was worried about waiting that long to work on saving his sister.