Chapter 13
The next two weeks were truly hell on earth after dark. It seemed as if the Daimons lived only to play with and torment them.
No one was safe. The city had even tried to implement a curfew at Acheron's behest, but since New Orleans was a twenty-four-hour party town, they hadn't been able to enforce it.
The body count was unlike anything Tabitha had ever heard of outside of a Hollywood Movie, and the Squire's Council and Acheron were having a hard time hiding all the deaths from the police and news agencies. But what scared her most was the fact that what few Daimons they caught were damn near impossible to kill.
Every night she came back to Valerius's house in pain from the abuse to her body. She knew he didn't want her to go out with him to patrol and yet he never said anything.
Valerius merely spent an hour or two after they returned home massaging Icy Hot into her pains and bandaging up her wounds.
It was unfair that he never had aches and pains, and what few scuffs his body suffered were always gone after a few hours.
Tabitha now lay naked in the shelter of his arms. He was asleep and yet he held her firmly tucked in beside him as if he were afraid of losing her.
That warmed her more than anything else ever had. She should have gotten up hours ago. It was already after four in the afternoon, but since she'd moved in with Valerius she'd become a certified night owl.
Her head lay against his biceps and his right arm was thrown over her waist. She ran her hand over his forearm as she studied that tawny masculine skin.
Valerius had beautiful hands. Long and tapered, they were strong and well-shaped. These last few weeks they had given her so much comfort and pleasure that she could barely breathe from the happiness that consumed her whenever she thought of him.
Her phone rang.
Tabitha scooted out from under him to answer it.
It was Amanda.
"Hey, sis," she said a little hesitantly. Over the last two weeks, there had been a major strain on their relationship.
"Hi, Tabby, I was wondering if I could come over for a little while and talk to you. "
Tabitha rolled her eyes at the idea. "I don't need another lecture, Mandy. "
"I swear it's not a lecture. It's one sister to another. Please. "
"Okay," she said quietly after a brief internal debate, then gave Val's address.
"I'll see you in a few minutes. "
Tabitha hung up the phone, then crept toward the bed. Valerius lay on his side with his hair fanned out around him. Stubble shadowed his face and yet he looked almost boyish as he lay there.
Even asleep the muscles of his body were evident and defined. Dark hairs lightly dusted every perfect dip and curve, making the terrain of his skin all the more masculine and alluring.
But it wasn't just his handsomeness that appealed to her. It was his heart. The way he could take care of her without taking over her. She knew he didn't like it when she fought beside him and yet he never said one word against it. He merely stood by and let her fight her own battles. The only time he interfered was whenever she was in over her head.
Then he would charge in and save her without making her feel incompetent or weak.
Tabitha smiled at the sleeping image of him.
How could someone come to mean so much to her in such a short period of time?
Shaking her head, she reached to dress and thought about the first time Valerius had seen the tattoo on the small of her back, a small Celtic triangle.
"Why would you mark yourself intentionally?" he'd asked as if aghast at the very idea.
"It's sexy. "
He'd curled his lip at that and yet now he took a great deal of pleasure kissing and massaging the tattoo in the mornings when they returned from their patrols.
Impulsively, she picked up his black silk shirt from the floor and put it on. She loved the way his spicy male scent clung to the fabric. The way it clung to her skin.
She pulled on her pants, then went downstairs to wait for Amanda.
"Hey, Tab. "
She turned to the left at the bottom of the stairs to spy Otto using the computer in Valerius's study. It was the only piece of technology she'd been able to find in Val's entire house except for the massive DVD collection that he kept hidden in a vault in his office, which explained his knowledge of pop culture.
"Hey, Otto, whatcha working on?"
"Trying to track the Daimon menace as always. I'm using Brax's program to see if there's a pattern we can follow to predict where they might be tonight. "
She nodded. Otto had slowly warmed up to her, and since the Daimon attacks had started, he'd reverted to his basic black wardrobe.
Today he had on a black turtleneck, charcoal sweater, and black slacks. She had to admit he was a good-looking man when he wasn't trying to be a tasteless slob.
He'd even given up the IROC and now drove his Jag, claiming that it was no longer fun to antagonize Valerius since the Roman was so distracted by Tabitha that he never reacted to Otto's ribbings anymore. Nor was Gilbert there to react to him either.
She moved into the study to look over his shoulder. "Have you found anything?"
"No. There isn't a pattern, yet. I just don't understand what has caused this. If they want Kyrian, why haven't they moved on him?"
She sighed irritably. "They're playing with us. You weren't here for Round One with Desiderius. He gets off on making us afraid of him and on toying with our heads. "
"Yeah, but I'm getting sick of the escalating body count. Ten people died last night and the Council is having a hard time hiding all this from the authorities. The public is freaking and they've only heard about a percentage of the actual total. "
Tabitha cringed. "How many Daimons were killed last night?"
"Only a dozen. The four you and Val took out, Ash killed five, and then Janice, Jean-Luc, and Zoe killed one each. The rest of the bastards got away. "
"Damn. "
"Yeah, I don't like being on the losing side of anything. This really sucks. "
Tabitha scowled as his list ran through her head. "You know, it's pretty sad when I'm human and I can take out more Daimons than a Dark-Hunter. "
Otto gave her a droll stare. "You're not out there on your own. "
She blew him a raspberry. "For the record, Valerius helps me, not the other way around. "
"Riiiight. "
Tabitha laughed at his playful scoffing until another thought occurred to her. "What about Ulric?"
"What about him?"
"How many did he kill?"
"None, why?"
None? That wasn't right. "He didn't kill any the night before, either, did he?"
"No. "
A bad feeling went through her. No, surely she was wrong.
It wouldn't be possible, would it?
"Where did most of the kills occur last night?" she asked.
Otto punched a key and changed the monitor screen to a map of the French Quarter. She saw the areas highlighted in red wherever someone had died. There was a heavy concentration of red marks in the northeast quadrant.
"Who was assigned that area?"
Otto checked another screen. "Ulric. "
She went cold. "And yet he didn't kill any Daimons?" she asked in disbelief.
Otto's gaze narrowed. "What are you saying?"
"Desiderius needs a body. . . Valerius said back when all this started that if a Daimon ever took over a Dark-Hunter-"
"That's bullshit, Tabitha. I saw Ulric last night myself and he was fine. "
"But what if I'm right? What if Desiderius has taken him over?"
"You're wrong. Desiderius wouldn't be able to lay a hand on him. He was a medieval warlord. If there's one thing Ulric knows how to do, it's protect himself. "
Maybe.
The buzzer sounded for the gate.
"It should be my sister. "
Otto swung his chair around to the small video console that showed an image of the car's driver. It was Amanda.
He buzzed her in.
Tabitha went to meet her at the door, even though she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right with Ulric. In spite of what Otto said, she wanted proof that she was wrong.
Tonight, she'd meet the Dark-Hunter herself and decide if her fear held any validity and if it did, he would be Daimon dust.
Swinging open the door, she saw Amanda getting out of her Toyota in the driveway. She was dressed in a pair of nice black slacks, a dark green silk top, and black sweater. It was really good to see her again.
Silently, Tabitha stood in the open doorway as she waited for Amanda to draw near.
Amanda gave her a tight hug as soon as she reached her. "I've missed you. "
"I'm only a couple of blocks away. "
"I know, but we haven't talked much lately. "
Tabitha squeezed her back, then let her go. "I know. It's kind of hard to talk right now. "
Amanda brushed the hair back from Tabitha's face in a very motherly fashion and smiled. "You look happy underneath that suspiciousness; are you?"
Tabitha frowned. "You are seriously scaring me. " She looked past Amanda and scanned the street. "Has someone replaced my twin with a pod person?"
Amanda laughed. "No, goofball. It's me. I've just been worried about you. "
"Well, as you can see, I'm fine. You're fine. Everything's fine. So what brings you here?"
"I want to meet Valerius. "
Tabitha couldn't have been more stunned had her sister hit her. "Excuse me?"
"Ash said some things to me a couple of weeks ago that got me thinking. And with every day that passed without you racking this guy and moving in with me until this is over, I did more thinking. You've been with him night and day, haven't you?"
Tabitha shrugged with a nonchalance she didn't feel. "Yeah, so?"
"And yet I haven't had a single call from my homicidal twin telling me she's going to cut his head off and put it in a bowling bag if he says or does such-and-such one more time. Why, Tabby, I do believe that's a record for you. "
Tabitha fidgeted guiltily. It was true. Not once in all their lives had she been with anyone that she wasn't threatening to kill the guy every other hour for some annoying habit.
But with Valerius. . .
Even when he annoyed her, it wasn't so bad. And the truth was, he very seldom annoyed her. They talked about all kinds of things and even when they didn't agree, he respected her opinions.
"You love him, don't you?"
Tabitha looked away.
"Oh God, Tabitha," Amanda breathed. "You've never done anything the easy way, have you?"
"Don't start on me, Amanda. "
Amanda cupped her face and turned her head until their eyes met. "I love you, Tabby. I do. Of all the men-"
"I know!" she snapped angrily. "It's not like I woke up and said, Hmmm, who is the one man on the planet guaranteed to alienate me from my entire family for all eternity? Oh, I must go and find him immediately and fall hopelessly in love with him. "
She took a deep breath before her anger overwhelmed her. "God knows, I didn't want to love someone like Valerius. I keep thinking that you are his perfect woman. You're elegant, sophisticated. Hell, you actually know which fork to eat with when you go out. I'm the idiot in college who went out with you and Dad and drank out of the finger bowl because I thought it was some kind of fucked-up clear soup. "
Tabitha scoffed at her own words. "For that matter, listen to my language. I have to be horrifying to him and yet when he looks at me, I shiver. "
Over and over, the arguments of why she didn't belong with Valerius ran through her mind. They should be completely incompatible and yet they weren't. It didn't make sense. It wasn't right.
Tabitha sighed. "The other night he took me to Commander's Palace and we sat down where they had this really elegant display sitting in the middle of the table. It was made up of all these exotic veggies and fruit and looked really tasty. So, stupid me, I grabbed my butter knife and started hacking at it to eat some of it. It wasn't until I looked up and saw the gape on the waiter's face that I realized I'd done something completely stupid. I asked him what his problem was and he said that he had just never seen anyone actually eat the centerpiece before. I was so embarrassed I wanted to die. "
"Oh, Lord, Tabby. "
"I know. Valerius, God bless him, didn't miss a beat. He reached over and started eating it too, then he gave one of those haughty, regal stares at the waiter, who quickly ran off. After he was gone, Val said for me not to worry about it. That he spent enough money in that place that I could eat the tablecloth next if I wanted to and if that didn't make me happy, then he'd buy the restaurant just so I could fire the waiter. "
Amanda burst out laughing.
Tabitha had laughed too when he said it and the memory of his kindness still warmed her.
She gave her sister a sincere stare. "Don't you think I know that I don't belong with this man? I really, really don't. To me fine dining is slurping down oysters and drinking beer out of a bottle. To him it's a fifteen-course meal where people actually put the napkin in your lap for you and reset the silverware between every course. "
"And yet you're still here. "
"And I don't understand why. "
Amanda smiled gently. "All I ever wanted was a nice, normal life with a nice, normal man. Instead, I end up with a husband who used to be immortal who has friends that are gods, demons, and animals that can take human form. And I don't even know how to begin to classify Nick. Let's face it, I'm married to a man who gave me a daughter who is able to talk to animals like Doctor Dolittle and who can use her thoughts to move just about anything in the house. And you know what?"
"What?"
"I wouldn't trade it for all the normality in the world. Love isn't easy. Anyone who says differently is lying to you. But it is worth fighting for. Believe me, I know, and that's why I'm here. I want to meet this man and see if there's any way I can soothe over Kyrian enough to where he can at least say Valerius's name without rupturing a vein. "
Tears blurred her vision as Tabitha pulled her sister into another hug. "I love you, Amanda, I really do. "
"I know. I'm the perfect twin. "
Tabitha laughed at that. "And I'm the psychotic one. " Stepping back, she took Amanda's hand and led her into the house.
Amanda gave a low whistle as she came inside and looked around the elegant interior. "Very nice place. "
Otto stepped into the foyer to shake his head at them. "Kyrian will stroke if he ever finds out you were here. "
"And you'll be limping if you enlighten him," Tabitha said.
"Don't worry. He won't hear it from me. I'm not that stupid. " Otto headed for the door. "I'm off to meet up with Kyr and Nick. We're going to get together tonight and do some patrolling of our own and see if we can run some of these bastards to ground. "
Tabitha nodded. "You guys be careful. "
"You, too. " He inclined his head to them, then left.
"Why don't you wait in the library?" Tabitha said. "I'll go see if he's up yet. "
Amanda nodded.
Tabitha sprinted up the stairs and headed to Valerius's room to find him still asleep in his bed.
She lifted the silk sheet up so that she could nip his hip with her teeth.
He made a sound of pleasure before he rolled over onto his back.
Tabitha's breath caught in her throat at the sight of his nude body. She could stare at this man all day or night long.
She particularly loved the area of his body where short crisp hairs ran from his navel to his groin. Unable to stand the temptation, she bent over him and nibbled the little hairs there.
His cock hardened. He placed his hand gently on her head. "You certainly know how to wake a man up happily, don't you?"
She laughed at that before she lightly nipped his skin, then pulled away. "I need for you to get up. "
"I am up," he said, glancing down to the part of his body that was standing at full attention.
"Not that," she said, rolling her eyes. "My sister is downstairs and she wants to meet you. "
"Which sister?"
She gave him a meaningful look.
His face went ashen. "I can't meet her?
Tabitha refused to listen to his argument. "Get dressed and meet her. It'll only take a minute and then she'll leave. "
"But-"
"No buts, General. I'll be waiting at the stairs and if you're not there in five minutes, I'm going to bring her up here. "
Amanda sat in a burgundy chair near a heavily draped window. She looked around the formal, elegant mansion. Unlike her home, there was nothing inviting about it. It spoke of a man who was stern and formidable, pretentious and condescending. Cold. Even a little evil and scary.
Everything she'd been told to expect from Valerius Magnus.
How had Tabitha ever hooked up with such a man? Her sister was none of those things.
Well, Tabitha could be evil, but in her twin's case that was an almost endearing quality.
It seemed to take forever before she heard Tabitha coming down the stairs.
"Tabitha!" The hushed tone was stern and commanding.
When Tabitha didn't lash back with a caustic retort, Amanda got up to investigate. She stayed in the shadows so that she could see Valerius with Tabitha on the stairs.
He was dressed in black pants and a black button-down shirt. From what she'd heard of him, she'd assumed his hair would have been cropped very short. To her surprise, it brushed down to his shoulders. His face was elegantly sculpted. Perfect.
Power and control bled from every part of him. This was definitely not the kind of man who attracted Tabitha.
Ever.
He glared at her sister as if he wanted to choke her. "You can't have her here. She has to leave immediately. "
"Why?"
"Because Kyrian would die if he ever found out his wife was in my home. He'd lose his mind. "
"Val-"
"Tabitha, I'm not kidding. This is cruel to him. You have to get her out of here before he finds out. "
Amanda was shocked by his words. Why would he care how this affected Kyrian when Kyrian would gladly see him dead?
"Amanda wants to meet you, Valerius. Please? Just for a minute and then I'm sure she'll head home. "
She scowled at Tabitha's calm, rational tone. Normally when her sister didn't get her way, she turned rather violent. Or at the very least, shouted.
His face softened instantly as he reached out and cupped Tabitha's scarred cheek in his hand. "I hate when you give me that look. " He brushed his fingers over her eyebrow and smiled gently at her. "Okay. " He dropped his hand to hers, then pulled it up and kissed the back of her hand.
Tabitha kissed his cheek before she stepped away and headed toward the library.
Her heart thumping at what she'd just seen, Amanda stepped back into the room so that they wouldn't know she'd been spying on them. But as she waited, images of their encounter played through her mind. . .
Valerius couldn't believe he was about to meet his enemy's wife.
Tabitha's twin sister.
He'd never been more nervous or unsure of himself.
But he refused to let that show. Stiffening his spine, he walked into the library, where Tabitha greeted her sister.
It was extremely odd to listen to them speak to each other. The only way he could tell their voices apart was their vocabulary. Tabitha had a unique way of speaking, whereas her twin sister was more eloquent and proper.
Amanda's eyes widened a bit as she scanned him from head to toe. Whatever she thought of him, she gave no clue.
"You must be Valerius," she said, stepping forward to offer him her hand.
"It's an honor," he said formally before he shook her hand very briefly, released it, and stepped back six paces.
She looked at Tabitha. "You two are the odd couple, aren't you?"
Tabitha shrugged before she tucked her hands in her pockets. "Thank God he's cuter than Tony Randall and I don't have Jack Klugman's nose. "
Valerius became even more rigid.
Tabitha ran her hand affectionately down his arm. "Relax, hon. She doesn't bite. Only I do that. " She winked at him.
The problem was, he didn't know how to relax. Especially not while her twin was staring at him as if he were something sinister.
Amanda watched her sister with the Roman general she had assumed she would hate on first meeting. To her surprise, she didn't.
He wasn't friendly, that was certainly true. He stood there with a crisp, arrogant look that seemed to defy her to insult him. But as she looked closer, she realized it was nothing more than a facade. He actually expected her to say something vicious to him and was just bracing himself to take it.
In fact, her psychic sense didn't pick up cruelty of any sort. Though he looked completely ill at ease, his gaze softened ever so subtly every time he glanced at Tabitha.
And there was no way to miss the way Tabitha reacted to him.
Oh, good grief, they really did love each other. What a nightmare!
"Well," Amanda said slowly, "I can stand here making everyone uncomfortable or I can go home. I should probably head back before it gets dark anyway. So-"
"My apologies, Mrs. Hunter," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to make you uneasy. If you wish to stay and talk to Tabitha, I'll be more than happy to withdraw. "
She smiled at his kindness. "No, it's okay. I just wanted to meet you for myself. I've never been the kind of person to let someone else make up my mind for me and I wanted to know if you really were a three-toed, horned demon. But strangely enough, you look like an accountant. "
"From her, that's a compliment," Tabitha said with a laugh.
He looked even more uncomfortable.
"It's okay," Amanda said. "Really. I just felt this insane need to know who was holding my sister hostage. It's not like her to not call me three dozen times a day. "
"I'm not holding her hostage," he said quickly as if the accusation offended him. "She can leave anytime she chooses. "
Amanda smiled. "I know. " She looked at Tabitha and shook her head. "It's going to be hell at Thanksgiving, huh? Never mind the terror of Christmas. And we thought Granny Flora was bad with Uncle Robert. "
Tabitha's heart pounded at what her sister was saying. "You don't mind?"
"Oh, I mind, all right. I would sooner kill myself than ever hurt Kyrian, but I can't hurt you either and I'm not willing to lose you over something that happened two thousand years ago. Maybe we'll get lucky and one of the Daimons'll get Valerius before this is over. "
"Amanda!" Tabitha snapped.
"I was joking, Tabby. Really. " She took Valerius's hand and held it against Tabitha's. "One of these is not like the other, one of these does not belong," she sang under her breath.
Then she sobered. "Are you going to ask Ash for Valerius's soul back?"
Tabitha felt a bit awkward with that question. "We haven't gotten that far. "
"I see. "
Tabitha stiffened at the "Mom" tone Amanda used. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Amanda looked at her as if she had no clue. "It means nothing. "
"Yeah, right," Tabitha said, her anger mounting. "I know that tone. You don't think I'm serious about him, do you?"
Amanda sputtered. "I didn't say that. "
"You didn't have to say that, Amanda. You know, I'm really tired of being the brunt of the family jokes. I've never understood why I'm the weird, crazy one when Tia dances naked out in the bayous in voodoo ceremonies; Selena chains herself to fences; Karma is a bull inseminator; Aunt Jasmine is trying to splice a Venus flytrap with kudzu to make a man-killing plant to devour her ex-"
"She what?" Valerius asked.
Tabitha ignored him. "And you, precious Amanda, who is everyone's darling. First you unknowingly date a half-Apollite whose adopted father is out to kill you for your powers and then you end up married to a vampire that I have to tolerate even though I personally think he's a pompous, overbearing, humorless boor. Why am I the crazy one in all this?"
"Tabitha-"
"Don't Tabitha me when you know it seriously pisses me off!"
Amanda's eyes flared. "Fine, you want to know why you're the crazy one? Because you flit from one extreme to the other. Good grief, you had, what? Nine majors in college?"
"Thirteen. "
"See? You are a flibbertigibbet. If not for us taking care of you, you'd be one of those homeless people you feed every night and you know it. It's why you feed them. "
"I can take care of myself. "
"Yeah, right. How many jobs did you have until Irena left you the store? She didn't want to retire, by the way. Dad paid her to because it was the only job you ever held on to for more than a few days. "
"You bitch!" Tabitha lunged for her sister, only to have Valerius intercept her.
"Tabitha, calm down," he said, holding her back.
"No! I'm tired of being treated like the village idiot by those who claim they love me. "
"We wouldn't treat you that way if you didn't act it. My God, Tabitha look at yourself. Look at why Eric left you. I love you, I really do, but you have done nothing but cause strife all your life. "
"Don't you dare speak to her that way," Valerius snarled as he moved away from Tabitha to confront Amanda. "I don't give a damn who you are, I'll throw you out. No one talks to her like that. No one. There is nothing wrong with Tabitha. She's nothing but kindness to anyone. If you can't see all her good qualities, then there's something seriously wrong with you. "
A smile instantly broke across Amanda's face. "And that really was what I needed to know. "
"You were playing with me?" Tabitha snapped.
"No," Amanda said sternly. "This is no playing matter. But before I go make my husband absolutely miserable, I have to know that you two are serious and that Valerius isn't just another one of your 'let me make my family crazy' fixations. "
Tabitha glared at her as her volatile emotions swirled. "There are times, Mandy, when I think I hate you. "
"I know. Bring him by the house tonight and we'll try this again. "
"I can't believe you're doing this for us," Valerius said.
Amanda took a deep breath. "No offense, I'm not. I'm doing this for Kyrian. Ash told me something and I'm here to make sure it happens. "
And with that, she turned and headed for the door.
"Mandy?" Tabitha called, stopping her before she left. "Do we have a truce?"
"No. We have a volatile, homicidal family. But at least it won't be boring. I'll see you tonight. "
Tabitha watched as her sister left. Deep in the pit of her stomach, a strong sense of foreboding settled. It was bleak and harsh. Frightening and cold.
It was almost as if she knew instinctively that tonight one of them would die. . .
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