The Monster Ball: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Heather Hildenbrand

  He leaned back against the wall, his open shirt blowing with the wind. “Why does it matter?”

  My heart raced. “Because you’re not like other supernaturals I’ve met. Your essence is nothing I’ve ever tasted, and in my long life, that is nearly impossible.”

  “You’re shining,” he whispered, changing topics so fast I nearly couldn’t follow. “Like a star in the night sky.”

  I didn’t understand what he was talking about at first, not until I glanced down and saw my arm glowing. It shimmered as if I’d just swam in a pool of gold glitter. “I shouldn’t be. I don’t shine. I’m a demon.”

  “You’re a… demon,” he choked. A hand forked through his dark hair as he absorbed the nature of my heritage.

  My fingers twisted with the charm hanging at my neck. “You sound surprised.”

  “I—”

  A feather from my black wings floated to the ground. It was followed by another. I gasped. My wings didn’t wither. Only in true death would I lose my wings. Or if Lucifer himself stripped them from me.

  Something was wrong.

  And Breckin was to blame.

  My eyes snapped upward, and I didn’t bother to hide the panic from them. What was the point? “I’ve got to go. And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t follow me.”

  “Alexis,” he called after me as I swept through the double doors and back inside the ballroom.

  Without turning around, I kept going. The band was playing, but I barely heard the music. My head was roaring.

  I needed to think, to figure out what was going on inside me.

  It never crossed my mind that there might be more than one hunter or that I still might be in danger. My mind was filled with only one thing.

  Breckin.

  With each step, my head became fuzzier like I was drunk and getting more intoxicated by the second. The only problem was it wasn’t the liquor. I didn’t get drunk. Alcohol didn’t affect me the same way it did humans.

  What is wrong with me?

  It was as if Breckin’s kiss had made me drunk. But that wasn’t possible. Was it?

  I still didn’t know what he was, and that was as frustrating as not understanding what was happening inside me. I thought space would do me good, give me a moment to think without the scent of him clouding my judgment. That hadn’t been an ordinary kiss, not for me… not for humans. I had connected to his soul like no other target, but the flow of energy had been nothing I’d ever experienced.

  Stumbling into the hallway, I threw my hand out to the wall, keeping myself from falling flat on my face.

  “That would have sucked,” I muttered to myself.

  A vampire walked by and asked if I needed help. He had to repeat himself twice before his offer for aid pierced through the humming in my head.

  “Buzz off, bloodsucker.” Being under the weather also made me nastier than usual. I had a viper’s tongue, but it wasn’t normal for me to be rude to complete strangers.

  My forehead pressed against the wall.

  Holy shit. I was going to pass out… or throw up.

  I never fainted. I never got sick. Human ailments didn’t afflict me.

  My body started to fall, and all I could think was, damn him. This was Breckin’s fault. I wasn’t sure how or why, but he had done something to me.

  And then it was lights out. I was consumed by blackness.

  I woke up in a dark room, and several feelings rushed me at once. Disbelief, betrayal, and outrage, but anger was at the top of the pile. Scrambling off the bed with rage swimming in my veins, I reached for the door. No surprise, it was locked.

  Son of a bitch.

  Breckin had deceived me. I found no other explanation for the way his kiss affected my body. I had let my guard down, and my reward was to be locked in a room. My fist pounded on the door, but it was as if it was spelled. Only sorcery had the power to keep me sealed inside.

  He would pay for this. If I had to spend the next decade hunting him down, so be it.

  I paced the room, my fingers running along the wall, searching for something, anything to get me out of this mess. The door opened and shut, and I bit back a curse. Feet shuffled in the room, two sets possibly? I backed up into the corner, watching their shadows.

  The Monster Ball was turning out to be a monster nightmare.

  “Where is she?” a female voice asked.

  “You don’t think she escaped, do you?” It was a male voice this time, and there was something eerily familiar about his aura. I would have sworn we’d met before, but his face was just out of my reach.

  “You better hope not. How else are we going to trap the Nephilim?” the female responded.

  Nephilim? What were these bumbling idiots talking about? Me? Converse with a Nephilim? Were they insane? I wouldn’t dare be seen with one. Not to mention they were practically extinct.

  Why would they think I could lead them to a human with angel blood?

  Stepping out of the shadows, my eyes glowed bright blue in the dark. “I think you’ve gotten your wires crossed.”

  At the sound of my interruption, Tweedledee and Tweedledum jumped. Some kidnappers these two were turning out to be.

  “You’re awake,” the male said, slow on the uptake.

  “And locked in a strange room of a castle. We’re stating the obvious here, guys. How about we move on to the not so obvious. Like why the hell I’m in the room, and who the hell are you?” That was a lot of hells, but the situation called for them.

  “Where is the Nephilim?” the male demanded.

  I blinked rapidly, catching a faint sniff of cigarette smoke. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” It wasn’t lost on me that they hadn’t answered any of my questions.

  He cast me a long glance. “You expect us to believe you didn’t sense his angel blood?”

  Were they talking about the hunter who had tried to kill me? That would make sense, seeing as demons and Nephilim didn’t get along. “If a Nephilim was in my presence, you can bet I would have killed them.”

  The female snorted as if she didn’t believe me, but I don’t know what I had done to give her the impression I was lying.

  I was tired of this kidnapping game. “I think it’s time I returned to the party.”

  The male figure shook his head. “Not until he comes for you.”

  Blowing out a breath, irritation prickled from me. I was at the foot of the bed. “I came alone. No one is going to come rescue me. Not that I need someone to save me. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.” As they would soon find out.

  Flipping out my hand, I extended my fingers and summoned my claws. I swiped at the female’s face. Flesh gathered under my nails and her cries echoed in the room. My ears picked up the whizzing of a fist coming straight for me. I hit the ground, and the arm went over my head. I swung out my leg, catching the male hunter in his shins.

  A sudden burst of yellow light surged through the room from the window, and I got a glimpse of their faces.

  Holy shit. It was the guy from the balcony. The one Breckin had knocked out and we had hidden behind the flower pot. At least he was alive, but too bad he hadn’t stayed out cold a little longer. I wouldn’t have found myself in this position.

  I shot to my feet, the room blanketed in darkness again. “This isn’t going to end well for either of you.” They’d been warned, and it was up to them how far this abduction went. They’d either let me go, and I’d be on my merry way, or I’d suck their souls dry.

  I was really hoping for the later.

  They didn’t disappoint. The two hunters lunged for me at the same time. I darted to the side, giving myself a conscious reminder to get rid of the wings. Only one problem.

  They were already gone.

  While I was preoccupied with the sudden and unexpected disappearance of my wings, one of them landed a blow to the side of my face. I turned my head toward them and hissed.

  What happened to my wings?

  Chap
ter Nine

  Panic set in, but I didn’t have time for a full-blown freakout. I needed to get out of this room.

  My prayers were answered.

  The door splintered, shards of wood flying through the dark. I ducked and barely missed being skewed by a chunk. My mouth dropped open as I glanced toward the light streaming in from the hallway. Breckin busted into the room like an avenging angel. I didn’t want to feel relief at seeing him, but it was there, ribboning inside me.

  A muscle thrummed along his jaw. “No one told me there was a private party.”

  “You!” the male hunter seethed.

  Breckin cocked his head to the side. “Haven’t we done this already?” He dove forward, moving with a powerful grace. He didn’t waste any time engaging the hunters, slamming his foot into the center of the guy’s chest. The hunter crashed into the bed, and Breckin whirled, catching the girl in her hip.

  I hated to be impressed, but the truth was Breckin fought better than any hunter or supernatural I’d ever seen. It was hard to admit, but he might very well be a more skilled fighter than me.

  Instinct finally reared inside me. As Breckin scrapped with the male hunter, I made my move. The female hunter didn’t see me coming. I launched onto her back, digging my nails into her neck. She screamed, spinning in circles before ramming me up against the wall. Decades worth of training kicked in. I didn’t need my wings to kick ass. I wasn’t completely helpless.

  Wrapping my legs around the scrawny twit, I squeezed, thinking she needed to eat a few Big Macs. My thighs were like crushers. I tightened my arms around her slender neck. Her gasp reached me, and my inner demon grinned. Hands flailing, she clawed at my arms and face.

  From over her shoulder, I saw Breckin stagger, the male hunter having landed a lucky shot. I had a feeling Breckin was toying with him, allowing the hunter to think for a moment or two that he might stand a chance.

  Breckin recovered easily enough and squared off.

  “You fight with the enemy,” the female hunter spat, drawing my attention back to her.

  She squirmed in my arms, but I didn’t bother to answer. The hunger inside me took over. Jumping off her, I spun her around, pinning her to the wall with my forearm against her throat. “Don’t worry. This won’t hurt,” I muttered, and then I leaned down, sealing my lips to hers. Wisps of her soul funneled inside my mouth and filled me with her essence. It burst in my mouth like a gust of fresh mint. I left her on the bed, near the brink of death. Something had stopped me from sucking her soul dry. I could only assume it was from the magic of the castle, wards preventing death.

  Pulling my lips off hers, I stared into her pale face. Who is this Nephilim you seek? It was good to know I hadn’t lost all my abilities, just my wings, or maybe they were temporarily gone.

  “That was kind of hot,” Breckin confessed.

  My head snapped up at the sound of his voice. “Keep your boxers on.” I surveyed the damage to the room. The male hunter was out cold on the other side of the bed, his feet sticking out at the corner.

  Breckin brushed at his clothes, ridding them of any dirt or blood. “We should get back to the party.”

  “No shit.” I moved my jaw from left to right, trying to relieve the ache, and cursed the hunter who had gotten in a swipe.

  “In one single night, I’ve saved you twice from a tragic fate.”

  I ignored the warm and fuzzy feeling that had begun to expand in my belly. “How about you let me get you a drink and we’ll call it even?”

  He chuckled, forking a hand through his hair. “You got yourself a deal, but make it two.”

  Shrugging, I moved toward the door. “Only fair.”

  His eyes swept around the room one last time. “I say we let someone else clean up this mess.”

  I tossed him a glance over my shoulder. “Wow. Something we can agree on. I hate cleaning anyway.”

  Those full lips curved. “Who doesn’t?”

  “This doesn’t mean we’re having a bonding moment over our distaste for tidiness.”

  Breckin strutted to the door, stepping over the body on the floor. “Certainly not.” He creaked open the rickety door and carefully peeked down the hall, looking for stragglers. The last thing we needed was witnesses.

  He gave me a wave of his hand over his shoulder. Coast was clear.

  Strolling out of the room, I refused to give the hunters a second thought. They knew what they were up against and the risks entailed when facing a demon, but my problems weren’t over. I still didn’t know what happened to me, why some of my abilities were waning, like my wings. Inside, I could feel something happening to me, little changes, but I didn’t know what they were or how to stop them.

  The only thing I was certain about was I needed to make it through the end of the ball.

  I stepped out into the hall with Breckin. He closed the door softly behind him. Smoothing the crazy girl hair, I made my way down the hall, my boots clicking on the floor as we walked together toward the staircase. Because I had been unconscious when I came through the first time, this part of the castle was new to me.

  It wasn’t far from the main ballroom as I could hear the band’s bass and drums through the stone walls. We followed the sounds and, eventually, the chatter of people having a good time.

  That should be me.

  Drinking. Laughing. Dancing.

  Not being kidnapped by some duo hunters looking for a Nephilim, whom I didn’t even know.

  I gave Breckin a sideways glance. Why was it that I always ended up back in his company? This time I wasn’t even mad about it. How could I be?

  Breckin was stupid hot.

  But—and that was a big BUT—he made me feel and do things that were out of character for a demon. Lucifer would can me if he had any idea of what was going on inside me.

  I shouldn’t trust Breckin, regardless how much I wanted to do so. Sure, he’d had my back twice, but in the demon world, that meant nothing.

  We entered the ballroom, as if we hadn’t just had a scuffle, and headed straight for the nearest bar. It was the opposite of Impira’s, my succubus ally. I would have loved to get her read on Breckin, but that would have meant her lips would have to touch his. That didn’t sit well with me.

  Jealousy.

  Another emotion foreign to me.

  I didn’t get jealous over guys. The closest I’d ever felt since becoming a demon had been another succubus trying to steal my reign as Lucifer’s number one bitch. I worked too hard to let some newbie try to outshine me.

  The bartender and Breckin seemed to be on first name basis. “Elohir, two Frostbites, please.”

  Elohir was an elf. That much I was sure of. His faux-hawk was ice blond and braided at the sides into a low pony. Can we say hot Legolas from Lord of the Rings? Sharp silver eyes flickered over me before returning back to Breckin. Elohir’s face was clean-shaven, and the white Henley he wore was pushed up at the sleeves. “You got it.”

  The elf mixed up two very blue drinks, sliding one to Breckin and the other to me. “And one for the pretty lady.”

  Lifting my glass up, I winked before taking a healthy swig. It was like half of the glass, no point in being mild about it.

  Breckin lifted a brow.

  “Being abducted makes me thirsty,” I explained, crossing my legs and getting comfortable on the barstool. His lips twisted. “This is good, by the way,” I added, taking another sip. I picked up traces of pineapple, coconut, vodka, vanilla, and definitely blue Curaçao.

  Breckin lowered his voice and leaned near me so I would be able to hear him over the music. “How the hell did they get to you?”

  I had wondered the same. “One of them must have slipped something in my drink.”

  You would think a guy like Breckin would look funny drinking what I classified as a girly drink. Just the opposite. He made the beverage sexy. “That makes sense. So we can assume those two will be back later for more trouble.”

  I clinked my glass against his. “Yo
u can bet your fine ass.”

  A slow smile graced his lips. “You think my ass is fine?”

  My eyes sparkled. “Not the point. They were looking for someone, and for reasons that blow my mind, they thought I would know where to find whoever they were searching for,” I informed.

  Breckin’s gaze had narrowed, the twinkling stars on the ceiling reflecting in them. “Did they say who?”

  My brow wrinkled. “No, only that it was a Nephilim. Can you believe that? If a Nephilim was here, I would surely know.”

  “There are a lot of supes here. It could be anyone.”

  Which reminded me. I still didn’t know what Breckin’s deal was. The guy still remained a mystery. “How did you know where to find me?” I asked, angling my body toward him. Our thighs brushed.

  His fingers tapped the side of his glass. “I can’t explain it. I heard your voice in my head.”

  Setting down my empty glass, my mouth hit the floor. It wasn’t often that I was gobsmacked. “Is that one of your little gifts too?”

  “No, actually. It was as much a surprise to me. You led me straight to that room.”

  I pressed my back against the counter, my mind rolling over what kind of trickery was at play here. “Guess I should give myself a pat on the back.”

  A slow, satisfying smile split over his lips, and I knew I wasn’t going to like the next thing out of his mouth. “Or you could dance with me again?”

  “There are two hunters probably waking up right now who are going to come looking for us, and you want to dance?”

  “We are at a Halloween party.” Breckin stood up and held out a hand as if he had a gentleman’s bone in his body.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “But if you step on my foot, it will be your last dance.”

  Amusement flared in Breckin’s eyes. “I swear you are what fantasies are made of.”

  Chapter Ten

  Shaking my head, I placed my hand in his, and we stood up from the bar. What the hell? Why not try to enjoy what was left of the party. Together, we turned to face the dance floor and came nose-to-nose with the undead hunters.