Wicked Fantasy

by Nina Bangs

  “Hmm. Interesting. Do you have any leads on the entity we’re hunting?”

  “We’re hunting? I don’t see any we here. Someone set fire to my bed tonight. Any flames licking around your toes lately? No, I didn’t think so.”

  Payton’s sigh grew louder. “I hate to threaten, but if you abandon this assignment, I’ll be forced to assume you’re not right for the organization. In other words, I’ll fire your vampire ass.”

  Gerry hung up. She raked her fingers through her hair as she turned to Conall. “I forgot to mention the plant that scarfs down sexual energy, but I don’t think it would’ve made any difference to Payton.”

  Conall sat on the couch and drew her down beside him. “One thing at a time.” He met the cat’s stare. “What’re you doing here, Ganymede?”

  Ganymede did a cat stretch and then leaped from the coffee table. He padded over to the plant and sat to study it. “Sparkle sent out an SOS. Said her current project was in danger. So here I am.”

  Conall frowned. “Project?”

  “That would be us. Sparkle told me she was committed to hooking us up.” Ganymede? Where had she heard his name before? Oh, yeah. “You’re the evil entity that caused Brynn so much trouble.”

  If a cat could smile, Ganymede was grinning. “Evil entity? That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years.” He cocked his head to get a different angle on the plant. “Doesn’t look like Houston’s getting any.”

  “Like I have time to worry about a plant? Sparkle can take him. He’ll be bushy and bright in no time.” Gerry was finally calm enough to string a few rational thoughts together, but she was still totally ticked off. “Why’re you in my room?”

  “Just checking to see if any erotic happenings are going down here. This room is a sexual wasteland. That’ll piss Sparkle off big-time, and she won’t be in the mood for a night of sizzling sex. Too bad.” He abandoned Houston and padded toward the door. “Oh, I charged the ice cream to your room-service bill.”

  “Whoa, halt, stop. Get your chubby kitty behind back here.” She was over her panic attack. What she wanted were answers. “You have the same color eyes as Sparkle and Edge. Are all of you cosmic troublemakers?”

  “Yeah. I’m one of the most powerful beings in the universe. In the bad old days, I spread chaos around the world. But I made the Big Boss nervous. So he said no more death and destruction. Bummer. If I want to have fun now, I have to sneak around behind his back.”

  “And you’re here to do what?” Oh, to have a few hundred years of vampire power under her belt.

  Ganymede yawned. “Check out the babes, enjoy a few great meals, and make sure no one gets in Sparkle’s way.” He paused before leaving the dungeon. “I haven’t met this Edge dude. What’s he like?”

  Gerry knew it was petty revenge, but she couldn’t help herself. “He’s gorgeous. Tall and built with this dangerous air women love. Gee, I bet he’s as powerful as you are.”

  The cat hissed at her and the whole room shook. With a squeak of alarm, she grabbed the back of the couch. Turning his back to them, he stalked out of the room. The dungeon door slammed shut with enough force to almost rip it off its hinges.

  Conall sank onto the couch. “That went well. Look, I know you don’t need one more person interfering in your life, but Ganymede will take some of the pressure off. He’ll distract Sparkle so she won’t have as much time to make our lives hell. And he’s the most powerful entity I’ve ever met, so you want him on your side.” He frowned as he thought of something. “Are you leaving?”

  She stretched out on the bed and gazed around her. “No. I want to keep my job.” God, he must think she was a complete idiot after that last display. For whatever reason, she wanted him to understand.

  “I was the victim of a bite-and-run vamp attack. I honestly don’t know who turned me, but suddenly my life and my career were over. I tried to explain to my parents, but they’re in denial. I’m their ‘Goth’ daughter to friends.” She let her gaze rest on Conall’s face—the harsh masculine beauty of it, strength in the line of his mouth and his calm gray eyes. Gerry wondered how many of her ancestors had slept more easily knowing Conall was there. Heaven knows, she would.

  “How do you feel about being vampire?”

  No one had ever asked her that question. “It’s only been two years, and sometimes I forget what I am. I still think like a human. I still get scared like a human. Everything that’s happened since I got to the castle freaked me out, and I finally just lost it.”

  Conall nodded. “Hey, I don’t blame you. You’ve met some powerful entities. Fear is a survival instinct. It makes you careful. You’ll exist a long time if you know when to back off.”

  “Thanks for understanding.” Right now he was the calm in her storm. “I want to be the one who catches the wife killer, but I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not a twenty-eight-year-old sales rep anymore.”

  She sighed. Time to stop laying all her fears and insecurities on him. “I like the living-for-centuries concept, but I miss a bunch of things.”

  “Like?”

  He looked interested. Was that part of his curse description: Know everything about the rotten Kavanagh you’ll be stuck with? “Pizza, a summer day on the beach, and . . . men.” Maybe she should’ve left that last part off.

  “Men?” His lips tipped up in the beginning of a smile.

  Loved that smile. “I don’t feel comfortable with mortal men anymore. I tried, I really did. When I first became vampire, I didn’t know how to control anything. The guy I was going with took me to a sexy movie, and when he made a move on me I bit his neck. No more phone messages from him. Another guy I went out with came on too strong, so I threw him across the room when all I wanted to do was push him away.” She shrugged. “And I haven’t met that many nonhuman males.”

  “Until now.” His smile widened.

  “Yeah.” Call her picky, but he was the only one who gave her a serious case of the wants.

  Gerry yawned. She was starting to feel a little tired. Dawn mustn’t be far away. Maybe as she grew older, it wouldn’t affect her this early. “So when are you going back to your room?”

  “I’m not.” His expression said she’d have to pick him up and throw him out. “I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

  She thought about arguing. Who was she kidding? She needed him. And . . . she sort of liked having him around. “Okay, but once we catch the wife killer and find out who wants me more dead than I already am, I’m turning you loose.

  “Turning me loose? Like back to the wild? You still don’t understand. You can’t turn me loose. Neither of us has any say in how the curse works.” He hesitated a second before continuing. “And we can’t make love.”

  Her eyelids stopped drooping. “Wow, major buzz kill.” She peered at him from under her lashes. “Right, no making love. I got that back in the Sultan’s Palace. Only I’ve always hated dumb stories where he wanted her and she wanted him, but there was this big ‘something’ keeping them apart. I never did understand why they couldn’t just talk about the big ‘something’ and then make love.” She paused to see how he was taking things so far.

  “Go on. I’m listening.”

  “The curse is our big something. If at some point we get past the Great Wall of our last names and want to make love, why not?” She should be all embarrassed by what she’d just said, but she wasn’t. He’d wanted her during that fantasy, and lord knew she’d wanted him right back.

  He surprised her. “I agree. But it’s not only about our feelings. Morrigan is a control freak. If she thought I enjoyed making love with you, she’d punish both of us. Don’t think for a minute she has any warm fuzzy feelings for you because you’re Sean’s descendant. You’re just the instrument of my punishment.”

  “Hmm.” She thought about that as she climbed from the bed, grabbed her jammies and headed for the bathroom. By the time she came out, she had a plan. Not for tonight, but for an emergency if the wanting got too much.
For both of them. She didn’t think she’d share with Conall until he needed to know.

  Slipping under the covers, she watched him. He’d picked up the lamp and TV, and now he was checking to see if the TV still worked.

  “When will you get some rest?” She scooted farther under the covers.

  “When you wake up at dusk, I’ll catch some sleep.”

  She let her lids drift shut. “You know, if you were in my harem, I wouldn’t start at the top.”

  “No?” He sounded cautious.

  “No. I’d make you lay on your stomach, naked, and then I’d do erotic things to your sexy bottom.”

  “Hmm.”

  “I’d massage your luscious butt cheeks like a cat kneading while it thought about bowls of thick sweet cream.” She licked her lips.

  “Would you purr?”

  “Oooh, yeah.”

  “Then that’s good.”

  She was into it now. “I’d order you to turn over. I’m impatient, what can I say? I’d scrape my teeth over each of your nipples and then slide my tongue past all your scenic wonders until I reached the overlook for the whole panoramic you. Probably I’d pull over. Maybe take a hike to see if the real thing was as spectacular as it looked.”

  “You’re killing me, here.”

  “I certainly hope so.” She smiled. “I’d run my tongue around and around each of your sacs until you moaned for release.”

  “Would you give it to me?”

  She thought about that. “No. I’m in charge. And I’m not done.”

  “You’re a cruel woman.” His soft laughter sounded strained.

  “Cruel women rule. Okay, back to business. I’d glide the tip of my fingernail—filed to a sharp point because cruel women always have daggers for nails—the length of your cock.”

  “And?” His voice was a husky murmur.

  “And I haven’t thought out the rest of it.”

  He exhaled deeply. “This is payback for the Sultan’s Palace, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “More than a little.” He got up and headed for the bathroom. “I need a shower.”

  “Do cold showers really help?” If it worked, maybe she’d try it.

  “Not really.” He paused in the doorway.

  “I meant it. Only a tiny part of that was payback.”

  “Uh-huh.” He closed the bathroom door.

  “Houston needed plant food,” she explained to the closed door.

  7

  Gerry opened one eye. Bed not on fire. Goody. She opened the other one. Conall asleep on the couch. Relief. Not the reaction she wanted. Her logical self knew that wanting him to be there when she woke could lead down a dangerous path. But her emotional and sexual self thought he’d be a fine beginning to each evening.

  His big body looked all scrunched up on the couch. Some men seemed younger, softer in sleep. Not Conall. He was all coiled power and danger even with his eyes closed. And so tempting he made her clench body parts that hadn’t gotten much exercise. Ever. Fine, so she had high standards when it came to her lust objects.

  She studied the evidence: TV still on and almost empty coffeepot on the table. He must’ve lost the battle with sleep sometime during the day. Sort of endearing. Morrigan hadn’t given him the ability to stay awake forever, but he’d sure tried.

  She crept quietly out of bed. Sleep had helped her. Once again she felt in control. Okay, maybe not completely, but enough to put things in perspective. She had two problems.

  One was straightforward. Find and arrest homicidal wife slayer. The second was fuzzy around the edges. Discover who wanted her dead, find out why, and stop them.

  She couldn’t picture any of the people from her life before the Castle of Dark Dreams hating her enough to move themselves to murder. Sure, she’d arrested a few petty criminals, but she couldn’t see anyone connected to them caring enough to stalk her.

  So that left someone here. Conall was the only person in the castle with a close connection to her. She’d bet this was about Conall. She just had to figure out how.

  Gerry slipped into the bathroom, and when she came out she was dressed for the hunt. Lucky she couldn’t see herself in a mirror. If she’d looked into one and asked, “Does this make me look fat?” it would’ve shattered. She’d morphed into El Blimpo, supersized superhero.

  Her hips looked, well, hippy with the four deep pockets of her loose tan pants stuffed with goodies like a sealed plastic bottle of holy water, a wooden stake, a taser, a mini hatchet, and a few extra Securers. Her loose red T-shirt hid her shoulder holster and gun along with the throwing knife suspended between her shoulder blades.

  If she ever fell, she’d assassinate herself.

  The two pockets in her light jacket held her cell phone and a PDA where she’d stored tons of helpful info for dealing with a variety of entities.

  Too bad she couldn’t ID any of those entities. She needed her own personal Fo. Hmm, Fo was pregnant . . . How long did it take a baby demon detector to reach employment age?

  She hadn’t bothered dressing to kill for Jinx. But for a being that had gone through five hundred wives in his search for wedded bliss . . . ? Yeah, she needed all the help she could get. September in Galveston was hot, but she’d sweat for the cause.

  Gerry decided to let Conall sleep. He needed his rest. Besides, he had to work tonight. She’d be fine by herself. She was awake, alert, and loaded for werebear or any other bully being who got in her way.

  Before leaving, Gerry tiptoed over to turn off the TV. She reached for the remote. The news was on, so she paused to listen.

  “Now for our most unusual story of the day. Live the Fantasy theme park in Galveston was the site of a bizarre robbery. Nola Keady took her diamond bracelet off to show a friend while they shared a few drinks at the Dead Eye Saloon. When she set it on the bar for a few seconds, a thief stole it.”

  The anchorman smiled into the camera. “What’s so bizarre about that? Well, Nola swears she saw a tarantula toting her bracelet away on its back. That’s right, a tarantula. She tried to catch the thieving arachnid, but it just wasn’t Nola’s lucky day. So all of you who have plans for spending the weekend in Galveston, don’t take off your jewelry, and watch out for those spiders.” Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

  Damn it. Jinx.

  Gerry turned off the TV, strode from the room, and tripped over Asima. She fell to her knees and found herself nose to nose with the cat. “What the . . . ?”

  “A woman should move gracefully. Like a cat. Like me. I’ll schedule some lessons.” Asima’s blue eyes grew larger as she checked out Gerry’s clothes. “Oh, dear. That outfit is a disaster. You look like you should be on a stage somewhere doing something disgusting like . . . rapping.”

  Gerry refused to wince. These clothes were all about survival. “I wouldn’t have tripped if your arrogant little butt wasn’t planted in front of the door. Why?”

  “Conall has an affinity for cats. I’m a cat.” She did a passable imitation of a cat shrug. “So I protect him.”

  Sounded suspicious to Gerry. “Are you sure that’s all?”

  Asima gazed at Gerry with innocence oozing from every kitty pore. “What else would it be?”

  Gerry climbed to her feet. “Am I the only one who sees the irony here? You’re protecting Conall, who’s protecting me.”

  Asima looked at her blankly.

  “Never mind. Do you always sit outside his door?”

  “Only since you came. If someone’s trying to kill you, they might hurt Conall, too.” Asima looked determined. “If Conall gets between you and the would-be killer, I’ll have to get him out fast.”

  “And leave me to the killer?”

  Asima blinked at her. “Why would I possibly care?”

  Gerry sighed. “Right. No caring.”

  “Oh, I liked all your sexy talk with Conall last night.”

  “Ohmigod! Tell me you weren’t listening at the door.”

  “I was bored. I listene
d. No biggy.”

  Okay, Gerry was outta here. She willed the heat from her face as she walked down to Jinx’s room and pounded on his door. She should’ve stuck a can of Raid in her pocket. He didn’t answer, and she didn’t have the power to open doors like Holgarth could. She’d eat dirt before asking Asima to do it.

  Anyway, Jinx was probably out robbing people in all his sneaky forms. And she couldn’t find him. The Securer would tell her if he went out of range, but as long as he stayed within the park, she couldn’t get a fix on him. Flawed technology. The Securer needed a mental GPS device.

  Gerry was so ticked she was running on steam by the time she reached the castle’s great hall. It looked like workers were setting up for the night’s fantasies. A long, wooden banquet table dominated the room from a raised platform in front of the massive hearth. Costumed men and women wandered around. People were already buying tickets. She hoped Conall woke up in time.

  She searched for Holgarth. Ah, she spied his pointy blue hat at the door. Probably insulting all the customers as they handed over their money. She’d rather not talk to him, but she needed to make sure he woke Conall. Besides, he might give her a hint where she could find Edge.

  Gerry took a deep breath, promised herself she wouldn’t lose her temper with the wizard, and tapped him on the shoulder.

  He turned with his supercilious sneer already in place. “Ah, our intrepid defender of the law has risen.” His gaze picked her apart before abandoning her pile of pieces as obviously not worth putting together again.

  She squirmed. Gerry hated her automatic response to him.

  “One never ceases to marvel at what passes for style today. I might point out that your plethora of deadly weapons is weighing down your pants. Only that rather gruesome T-shirt hides how far they’ve slipped.”

  “And you know all this how?” She threw out a few mental curses. He was right. The pants were too big for her, but she’d needed something with a bunch of pockets for her weapons. They didn’t have anything in her size. Now only her hip bones held them up. Yay, hip bones.