Demon's Kiss (13 page)

Reaper blinked. “Is that a word?”

“You know, like they weren't all there. Kind of dull-minded.”

“Like drones,” Reaper interpreted.

“Yeah, like that. Any idea what that could mean?”

“Perhaps Gregor has found a way to create them that way. Maybe he's keeping them weak and complacent by feeding them very little, or by some other means. It would explain how you managed to take out five of them single-handedly.”

That
stung. “Six. And they weren't
physically
weak, pal. Just mentally a little slow. Can't I get props from anybody for this?” He glimpsed, just barely, a little spark in Reaper's eye that might have been humor, and almost gaped. The miserable bastard was teasing him! Seth didn't know he had it in him.

“The only
prop
you'll get from me is my sincere relief that you didn't get yourself killed. I suppose you
do
deserve credit for staying alive.”

“And rescuing the prisoner,” Seth said.

“Yes, because we
so
needed one more stray,” Reaper muttered.

Seth pretended not to hear him. “What happened on your end, anyway? You never told me.”

“The group I followed split up,” Reaper said. “I stuck with Briar.”

“Who?”

“That's her name. The, uh…the dark one.”

“The evil bitch from hell? I figured her name was Lucifer.”

Reaper averted his eyes. “She took a victim. A drunk man, as he left a local bar. Got him into his car and took him right there, on a public street where anyone could have seen.”

“Brass ovaries on that one,” Roxy said. “She kill him?”

“I pulled her off before it went that far.”

“But I'll bet she intended to,” Seth said, and he didn't make it a question.

“Yes,” Reaper admitted. He drew a breath and went on. “She knows I've come for Gregor. I got the impression he knows, too, and that he's waiting. And now she knows I'm not alone, that I have Seth working with me, and that the two of us stole their captive.”

“Well, we already knew they were on to you, Raphael, when they sent that semi to try to crush your ass in your car. But at least they didn't know you weren't alone,” Roxy said, glancing at Topaz.

Topaz shrugged. “They still don't know that you and I are also on the team, Roxy.”

“No, they don't. Which means you could still contact Jack without alerting him.”

Topaz lowered her eyes. Reaper asked, “What's this about?”

“She sensed him nearby tonight, while we were running errands and searching for signs of the rogues,” Roxy said. “I suggested she call out to him, tell him she's in town and wants to see him. Then see if she can get any information from him.”

“Yeah, like where they're holed up.” Topaz flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “But we know that now, thanks to Seth's bond with the damsel in distress, so it's totally unnecessary.”

“You might learn other things, though,” Reaper said. “How many of them there are, what their schedule is like, when they feed, what they were doing with this captive.”

“You want to know that stuff, ask them yourself.” Topaz looked at the girl in the bed, deliberately changing the subject, Seth thought. “So what's her story?”

Seth studied Vixen for a moment. She seemed oblivious to their conversation, and he thought she might be sleeping. “I don't know. I mean, I think she and I are connected. You know that bond they say is stronger between one of us and one of the Chosen than it is with any other? I think she was that one for me before she was transformed. Or maybe I was for her, before I was changed. Either way, it's still there.” He sighed. “Dammit.”

“Seth?” Topaz stared at him and then at Vixen, then back again.

He tried to paste a look of practical, no-nonsense seriousness on his face.

She rolled her eyes, then shot a look at Reaper. “You knew this? And you let him feed her from his own body? Are you insane?”

Reaper sighed and waved a hand.

Seth frowned at them both. “Wait. Am I missing something here?”

“Sharing blood makes any bond stronger, Seth. Incredibly stronger. Good grief, no wonder you look like you've been smacked upside the head with a freakin' love-club. Rookies.” Topaz shook her head, sent Reaper one more scowl for good measure, then said, “Go on, Seth, what else do you know about her?”

“I don't know anything about her, except her name. Vixen.”

“No idea why they held her?”

“No.”

“You didn't ask her?” Topaz asked.

“Of course I did. She didn't know, either.”

Topaz studied Seth's prize where she lay in the bed. “I think she seems…strange. Different.” She looked at Reaper. “Are you getting that, too? The sense of her, her scent, her energy? It's vampire, but…something else, too.”

“Yeah, I'm getting it, too. Did from the beginning.” Reaper sighed. “We should turn in, it'll be daylight soon.” Then he looked at the windows, and Seth followed his gaze.

The windows were completely covered in black felt, taped firmly in place.

Roxy nodded when they both looked at her. “Yeah, Topaz and I did that tonight, while you guys were out picking up strays and battling drones. Shopped for supplies, and then did some decorating. All the bedrooms are safe for you to use now. And they all lock from the inside.”

“I like sleeping in a real bedroom,” Topaz said. “And there's no reason for us to be cramped up in some dank basement or all sharing that theater room, when there are a dozen perfectly good bedrooms in this house.”

“For once, princess, I agree with you,” Seth said.

She smiled. “Don't even
think
about the corner room at the end of the hall. I've claimed that one already. It's got a Jacuzzi.”

“Actually, I thought I'd bunk in here tonight.”

Everyone gaped at him, brows rising, eyes widening, speculation careening through the air like a bat on crack.

“If she wakes alone, she might not know where she is. She might freak out. But she'll remember me. You saw the way she was clinging to me. I just want to make sure she's okay. That's all.”

“Makes sense to me,” Roxy said. “I've gotta go get a bite to eat, folks. My belly button's touching my backbone. And by the way,
I've
called dibs on the suite at the opposite end of the hall from Topaz's. It's got a sauna.”

She left the room, Topaz right behind her. Reaper remained a moment longer. “I'll take one of the rooms next to this one, in case you need me,” he said.

“Yeah.” Seth sighed. “Just one question before you head out.”

“Yes?”

Seth met his eyes and smiled a little. “Can I keep her?”

“We have too many people underfoot as it is.”

“Yeah, but if she leaves us, they'll get her again. You saw her before, Reap. You and Tope are right, there
is
something different about her. Something innocent and naive and vulnerable. She's…she's like a child. They'll get her back if we turn her away, leave her on her own.”

“Seth, we're here on a mission. Not to take care of homeless vampires.”

“If they get her, they'll cage her again. Torture her some more. Maybe shock her, or even kill her, to punish her for running away.”

Reaper's gaze moved from Seth to the woman in the bed. His expression softened. Seth saw it, surprised there was a soft bone in the man's entire body, and knew he'd won.

“If she wants to stay with us, she may. As long as she doesn't get in the way. But, Seth, you cannot afford to be distracted while this situation lasts, no matter how much you feel for her. You drop your guard, you could end up dead. Understand?”

“Absolutely,” Seth said. But he was so busy studying the way the colors in her hair were lighter in some places and darker in others that Reaper could tell he wasn't really paying attention.

S
he'd picked up their names and their faces as they'd gathered around her to tend to her wounds. Reaper, Topaz, Roxy. And Seth, of course. Seth. Her Seth.

Vixen woke to a soft mattress, thick blankets, fluffy pillows and clean, sweet-smelling sheets. It was warm and wonderful. This part of being human—the creature comforts in which they indulged themselves—was one of the few things she'd always enjoyed, and she let herself luxuriate for a moment. But then there was a disturbance, a mental shout delivered on a wave of energy that reverberated in her head and made her eyes squeeze tight.

Pay attention, you bastards! You'll pay—and pay dearly—if you don't listen to me now!

The threat frightened her so badly that she leapt from bed. “Gregor!”

She looked around, frantic, certain he must be very close, then raced from the bedroom through the hallway and down the stairs, instinctively following her senses to where the others had gathered—in the kitchen.

Vixen thought, from the way they looked—each of them still and attentive, focused on nothing, in a posture of listening—that Gregor's shout must have reached them all: Reaper, Seth, Topaz and any other vampire within range of Gregor's anger.

Even Roxy had stopped what she was doing, a large ceramic mug in one hand, freshly brewed pot of coffee in the other, and cocked her head. “Is something…?”

Reaper held up a hand, and Roxy went silent.

I want my captive back, Reaper! Before midnight, or I promise you, I'll take one of your little helpers in her place.

Seth spotted Vixen across the room, went to her and clamped an arm tightly around her shoulders. Too tightly. He shouted, and the anger in his voice made her flinch and try to pull away from him, but he held her all the same.

“Yeah, come on and try it, you bastard!” he shouted. “Send some of those brain-dead monkeys you had guarding her, why don't you? See how far they get.”

“Seth.” Reaper put a hand on his shoulder. “Enough. You'll give away our location.”

“And why the hell are you yelling, anyway?” Topaz demanded.

“Not to mention crushing the poor little thing in the process,” Roxy added.

Seth looked at her, captured in the circle of his powerful arm, and eased his grip. But he didn't let go, not entirely. He seemed to bank his anger only with an effort. “I haven't got the hang of shouting mentally yet. I still have to do it physically to make it work.”

The impatience left Topaz's face for just a second, and she stared at him as if he were something cute enough to cuddle. If she said “Awww,” he was out of here, he thought.

“I heard that,” she said. “See, you can do it. You just have to stop over-thinking it.”

Vixen eased herself free of Seth's arm and took a few steps away from him. “It was Gregor,” she said softly. “Did you all hear him?”

Reaper and Topaz nodded.

“I didn't,” Roxy said. She filled her mug. The aroma coming from the steam was one that Vixen loved. She moved closer, closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of fresh coffee.

“He said,” Vixen told Roxy without opening her eyes, “that if he doesn't get me back by midnight, he will come and take one of you instead.”

“Ha!” Roxy's bark of laughter made Vixen jump, and her eyes popped open wide as she searched Roxy's face. “I'd like to see him try,” the mortal woman declared. “Don't you worry, hon, he's not getting you back, and he's not going to take any of us anywhere, either.”

“He'll try,” Vixen told her, and she knew it was the truth.

“He'll fail,” Seth said, moving to stand beside her again. He didn't touch her this time.

She turned and met his eyes, and she felt something ripple through her. A pulling sensation that tried to make her sway closer to him, touch him. A tingle of pleasure and a rush of sensory memory—the way it had felt to suckle him last night. The power of it. And the way she'd felt since the first time his essence had drifted through her mind.

He was her mate. He was the one.

She liked his touch. But not when it seemed to convey ownership. She was no one's captive. Would never be again.

Still, this man's blood had made her strong, made her well when she'd been weak and in pain. And it had been spilled for her in battle. She fixed her eyes on his. “Thank you for helping me.”

He smiled, drawing her gaze to his mouth, and she found she couldn't take her eyes away from his lips. Fascinating, so soft and touchable.

“You're very welcome, Vixen. And I want you to know, no one wants you to leave. You're staying with us for as long as we're here.”

“Wait just a minute,” Topaz said, verbally shouldering her way into the conversation. “You're presuming a lot, Seth. No one's asked me what I think about that. And the fact is, we don't need any more help here.”

“We're not going to abandon her, either. Gregor's gang would get her back before the first night ended,” he shot back.

“And that's our problem why?”

“Because I say it is, that's why. She's staying.”

As they argued, Vixen backed away from the noise, her attention bouncing from Topaz to Seth and back again, and when she couldn't stand any more she pressed her hands to her ears and closed her eyes tight. “Stop!”

They fell silent, and when she dared open her eyes again, it was to find them all staring at her. She took her time, tried to find the right words to convey her frustration without seeming ungrateful.

“You…helped me,” she said. “Seth, you took me from that cage, and you risked your life doing it. But…I didn't ask you to. I didn't ask you to bring me here. I didn't ask you to feed me from your veins to make me well. I didn't ask for that bed, or for Roxy's ministrations. I'm grateful for all of it, but I didn't ask.”

“I know that.” Seth seemed confused.

“You don't own me just because you helped me.”

His jaw went lax for a second, and his eyes seemed uncertain. “I don't…I don't want to own you, Vixen.”

“Then why are the two of you arguing over whether or not I'm staying here, when the decision isn't yours to make?”

“I don't understand—”

“I have to run. I have to be free. I don't want to stay here. I'm sorry Gregor is angry with you, but that's not my fault. I'm free. I want to see you again, Seth. But I'm no one's captive. And I'm going my own way now.” She smiled at them all, very brightly, and added, “Thank you, all of you, for your help. Goodbye.” Then she turned and left the kitchen, wandering through the house in search of an exit.

Seth lunged so fast that he nearly tripped over his feet getting ahead of her, and then he stopped, blocking her path. “Wait!”

She was startled, and a little afraid. Maybe he
did
think he could keep her against her will just because he'd saved her. Maybe he was going to try, and maybe he was truly no better than Gregor and his band had been. And she had so hoped to mate with him. Disappointment came in waves. She had never felt so attracted to a male before.

“Why, Seth?” she asked softly. “Do you have a collar you want to put on my neck? A cage you want to push me into?”

“No.
Hell,
no. That's not it at all. Vixen, if you go out there on your own, Gregor's bullies are going to capture you again. If you stay here with us, we can keep you safe.”

“I don't want to be
kept.
Safe or any other way.”

“Could I inject a word here?” Reaper asked from behind her. She turned slowly, to see that he and the others had followed from the kitchen.

Vixen met the older man's eyes and nodded, wary. The one called Reaper had a darkness about him. A quality of danger. He held it tightly in check, but she sensed it was a constant battle, and one he did not always win. “Speak,” she told him.

“Vixen, Gregor is our enemy. He's an evil man who does great harm.”

She nodded. “He is a killer.”

“And those with him are just as dangerous,” Reaper went on.

“Not all of them,” she said.

Reaper lifted his brows in surprise, but quickly set that aside and moved on. “I've been sent here to stop him, to stop them all. But I'm at a disadvantage. I know nothing about him or his band, who they are, what they're capable of. You've been with them. Even as a captive, you would have learned things about them that I need to know. You could help me, Vixen. Not because you have to, and not because you owe us anything for helping you. But just because you want to.
If
you want to.”

She tipped her head to one side, considering his words.

“If you stay, you stay only for as long as you like. You stay as a guest—”

“No,” Topaz bit out.

Every head turned in her direction, where she and Roxy stood just behind Reaper. Vixen sensed that Seth was about to shout her down, but she sent him a look that asked him not to. “Let her speak.”

Topaz nodded and went on. “You can't stay as a guest. Or as a prisoner, though where you got the idea any of us would stoop to that is beyond me, and frankly, I find it pretty damn insulting. But I suppose you don't know us, and you've been treated pretty horribly, so…” She shook her head, as if shaking that thought aside. “If you stay, you stay as part of the team. You work, like we all work, to put this rogue band out of commission. You help us. We help each other. No one owns anyone, no one holds anyone here. We're all here because we want to be, and that's the only way you can stay. That's the deal.”

Vixen bent her brows. The one who most disliked her was the only one treating her as an equal. How very strange.

“And if I wish to leave tomorrow or a week from now or…?”

“Then you leave,” Reaper said.

Vixen slid her eyes to Seth, who seemed to be searching his mind for a way to disagree without ensuring that she would bolt right then. But there wasn't one, so she was glad when he didn't try. Finally he nodded his agreement with what Reaper had decreed.

Vixen turned and looked out the nearest window at the fields, the woods, the starry night sky. How they beckoned her. But she supposed Gregor and his band would be a constant threat to her for as long as they existed. If she could help this group stop them, then maybe she could
really
be free. Free of captivity.
And
free of fear.

She drew a breath of fresh night air, then turned to face the others. “All right. I'll stay. For now.”

“Good,” Reaper said. “Now, before we make another move, Vixen, can we sit together and talk? I'd like you to tell me everything you know about Gregor and his gang.”

She looked at the people around her and nodded. “Yes, if we can do our sitting and our talking outside, under the stars, and—” she looked up at Seth, right into his eyes “—if you will sit beside me.”

She saw his Adam's apple swell and then shrink as he swallowed hard, and then he nodded. “Sure I will.”

“Oh, brother,” Topaz whispered.

“Hey, wait a second,” Roxy said. “Come back this way. Let's go out the back door instead. There's a patio, gardens, furniture. It's a regular paradise out there.”

Vixen smiled, turning and nodding at once. “Yes, that sounds better.” She closed her hand around Seth's, and when he glanced at her with a surprised expression in his eyes, she only smiled. “I very much enjoy touching you when you're not trying to control me.”

He just stared, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. “I, uh—I enjoy it, too.”

“Good. Then we'll do more of it.” She tugged his hand, and quickly followed Roxy through the massive house to the patios and gardens in the back.

 

“Tonight we plan,” Reaper said. “We're going to go over this until we're sure we know the best course of action and the best way to execute it. Agreed?”

The vamps nodded, but Roxy said, “They'll be looking for us tonight. I'm not sure it's wise to wait.”

“I think it's a bigger risk to rush into battle unprepared,” Reaper said. He kept glancing up—distracted, Seth thought, by Vixen. She was the only one not sitting still. Rather, she was wandering, though staying within human earshot, likely for Roxy's sake. But she was moving about, curious, exploring. She sniffed every plant, paused to watch every bird or rodent that moved in the distance. She stood beneath a set of tinkling wind chimes for ten solid minutes with her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face.

Seth didn't blame Reap for being distracted. He was distracted, too, big-time. Not to mention confused. One minute she was pulling away from him, the next, holding his hand. Did she like him or didn't she?

“You're all adept at shielding by now, what with our practicing on the road,” Reaper said.