Accidentally Demonic (28 page)

Silence, awkward and uncomfortable, ensued.

She strode over to Wanda and propped her once- more-gaping mouth closed, then turned to Nina and did her the same favor.

Yeah, thass right.

Her mate
.

CHAPTER 13

Nina, clearly recovered, flipped up her sunglasses. “Hang on there, Princess. How can he be your mate? He has a mate, and as far as I know, you can only have one of those at a time. And let me tell you something, if I find out my man can have some other broad—I’ll pluck the hairs off his balls one by one.”

Casey winced. “I think this case is special. So technically, I guess the one-mate thing is true, but according to Darnell, I have Hildegard’s blood running through me.”

Wanda gasped again, but Nina slapped a hand over her mouth.

“I know. I was shocked, too, Wanda, but Darnell said because I’m essentially Hildegard’s sort of twin, Clay’s safe. So you don’t have to worry he’ll be shunned or lose the safety of the clan because we . . . you know.” Her eyes slid to the floor.

Nina shook her head, the ponytail at the back of her head swaying. “I swear, every fuckin’ time I think it can’t get any kookier—it does. Every fucking time.”

Wanda pulled Nina’s hand from her mouth with a grunt. “So you’re Clay’s mate? Forever? Oh, Casey . . . Wait. Nina, call Greg. He’ll know what to do. He’ll figure this out.” She rooted through her purse while Nina flipped open her phone.

Casey was at Wanda’s side in a heartbeat. “No!”
No? No what? Dude, you’re mated to this guy, and you didn’t have word one to say about it.You didn’t even get a decent proposal. Though the indecent one wasn’t half bad . . .
Yet, she found herself stopping Nina from calling Greg. “No, Nina. It’s okay.” And it was—though it shouldn’t be. But it was. Why was it okay?

“All right. How the fuck is this okay, powder puff?You didn’t get a choice in the matter. I totally know what it’s like to be slapped up against a wall, but I didn’t have to mate with Greg. I
wanted
to.”

And who said she didn’t want to mate with Clay? A lot? All the time, in fact? Who said she didn’t want to be joined at the hip with him?

Wanda threw up her hands, jumping to her feet. “Hooooold on there. How come you’re not freaked out about this?”

If she had the answer to that, they could all rest knowing the exact date of the apocalypse. Casey’s shrug was as bewildered as her reply. “You know . . . I don’t know. I—I don’t. It just seems like it’s okay.”

Nina’s smile was snide and knowing. “It was the sex, wasn’t it? I know, I know, a good vampire toss is like standing at the doors of Heaven. Don’t think we don’t get that. But, dude. This is
for-ev-er
and ever, and fucking ever.You see what that did to Gigantor, don’t you? She’s all uptight over it, sneering and drooling like she was the other night. That’s probably because she had no choice but to mate to survive. Same with Clay. It’s much different for Wanda and me. We
chose
to mate. You? Not so much.”

For the moment, and with Clay comatose on the couch, Casey decided it was best to leave the matter of who made what choice alone. All Wanda needed to hear was that Hildegard had to feed from Clay—or whatever that was about—in order to stay on this plane, and she’d surely flip a fang over it. “I know I didn’t choose this. I didn’t choose any of this, but didn’t you both tell me it is what it is? Don’t try and kid myself otherwise?”

Wanda sighed, deep and jagged. “Point. But we had no idea it included a mate-for-life deal, honey. You’re in way deep, and we have to find a way to get you out.”

Her sister’s statement pricked a new level of irritation. “I don’t need you to get me out of this, Wanda. I can take care of myself.”

She shook her head, making a compressed line of her lips. “I don’t doubt that, Case. But I think we have a case of puppy love here, and puppy love does not a mating make! I saw it from the beginning, you all big-eyed and swooning over him.Yes, he’s an incredibly attractive man, but you know next to nothing about him other than he has a hot ass. Come to think of it, we don’t know a lot about him, either. We all thought he was a swinging bachelor who flits from beauty queen to socialite. So how can you possibly tell me you can take care of this yourself?”

“I’m not twelve, Wanda. I’m thirty-one, and I didn’t say a word about love, puppy or otherwise.” Lust—wee doggie, oh, yeah. Maybe a major crush. A severe case of the “I like yous.” But love took time, cultivation, wooing. A hamburger. A movie. Maybe Rollerblading. It didn’t involve demons who showed up looking like former lovers, or big blond women who wanted you dead because you threatened their food source. This wasn’t love, but what if it could be?

“Wanda?”

Casey flashed a look of irritation at her friend. “Nina?”

“Enough. Let’s go.”

“Not on your immortality. I’m not going anywhere until we figure this out.”

“Get up, Wanda, and move your ass. We’re going home.
You’re
going home and letting Casey be a big girl for the time being. We’ll go find Greg and see what this is about. Then we’re going to present Casey with her options. Whatever they are—or if there are any at all—not solutions. Because it isn’t up to us to decide what’s right for her. It’s up to
her
. So step off and give the kid some room to friggin’ breathe. For now, she’s safe. Clay’s here. Back the fuck away.”

Wanda’s disbelief was evident. “Did you suck on Marty’s neck?”

Nina gave her the finger. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Are
you
kidding me? Exactly when did you get so reasonable? You just gave me perspective. The only person who comes close to that besides me is Marty.”

Nina popped her lips, pointing to the door. “Go.”

Wanda, lips pursed, vibrant anger simmering just beneath her calm exterior, gave Casey a hug, but said nothing.

“Let me know what you find out from Greg, okay?” Casey kissed her sister on the cheek and smiled, trying to offer a reassurance she wasn’t sure she felt. “I’ll be fine. I promise. Just let me figure this out. I swear, if I need you, I’ll call.”

Her sister pivoted on her low-heeled boot and headed for the door.

Before Nina followed her, Casey stopped her. “Um, Nina?”

“Yep?”

Casey’s feet shuffled, her eyes cast downward. “Thanks. I know I’ve been anything but nice to you, and now I’m guessing that’s because of this transference thing, but I appreciate you getting Wanda off my back. I don’t think she realizes I’m not so little anymore.”

Nina grabbed her by the chin, tilting it so Casey’s eyes gazed into her own. “I don’t think Wanda realizes me and Marty aren’t her kid sisters, either. She can be crazy overbearing with her reason, and doing the right thing. All she wants to do is help you because you’re her kid sister, ya know? But I get that sometimes you just need space. I also get that you need to find your way out of this on your own. I’m not sure why you’re so fucking determined to do it, but that’s how I read it. You’ve got some kind of chip on your shoulder about being a big girl, and taking care of your own shiz. We just want to help because no matter how big you are, this paranormal crap needs a shoulder to lean on every now and then ’cause it’s kooky. But I’m warning you, this isn’t an easy road to travel. With everything else you’ve got going on, adding a mating to the mix just ain’t kosher. Now the advice portion of this convo is over. So go be the big girl you say you are, and call us if you need us, okay?”

Casey smiled, warmth lighting it. “You’re not nearly as scary as you’d like everyone to think, are you?”

Nina popped her under her chin with a finger. “Yeah? Well, you oughtta see me when I’m around a bucket of chicken wings I can’t eat because I yark ’em all up. That’s scary. Check ya later,” she said with a gruff laugh.

Casey shut the door behind them, leaning her forehead against it, taking a deep breath. Space. She definitely needed space to figure out the most amazing sex she’d ever had—and what to do about the fact that doing more of what they’d done last night would only deepen what she was feeling when she looked at him lying on the couch fast asleep. She wasn’t the kind of woman who could hide feelings like that well. She wasn’t the kind of woman who was able to detach herself about something so intimate. Whacked-out hormones or not, making love with Clay had meant something.

What
was the question.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see the day.”

Casey whipped around to find Clay awake, a green towel wrapped around his waist. Her inside voice groaned. Did this man not need any primping to look good? Was it fair that she had morning breath and bedhead and he was just as perfect as he’d been the night before? Rippled abs, lean hips, thick thighs, and all. “See what day?”

“The day Nina actually extended a hand in kindness. Showed a little sympathy. Each time I see her, she continues to grow into someone almost likeable. I think Rapture is closer than we think.”

Casey threw her head back and laughed. “So look who’s conveniently awake. How ironic that you could sleep through all of that screaming, and only wake up when it’s all over.”

He cocked his luscious head, the long sweep of his sandy hair falling over his eye. “Screaming?”

“Forget it. Wanda was here with Nina, too, but everything’s okay. So now that you’ve slept—we have to talk.”

“Can’t it wait until I shower?”

She looked at the clock on the wall and smiled. “You’ve got twenty minutes, and then you’re spilling everything,
mate
.”

He turned toward the bedroom he’d chosen without saying a word, letting the towel drop along the way.

God, he was arrogant. And he had a fab ass—an arrogant, fab ass. “I mean it!” she yelled after him, running to her own room to grab a quick shower and, well, primp.

Soaping up, Casey tried to stop picking apart last night. So Clay hadn’t had sex in a long time. She refused to flog her ego with that fact. And she wasn’t going to dwell on it, either. It had been a pretty awesome encounter, this vampire sex. She had to leave well enough alone and not psychoanalyze it to death.

Though, while she dressed, squeezing into the tightest jeans she owned, jeans that actually made her ass with the
L
on it not look half bad, she did what she was trying so hard not to do. Torture herself with all sorts of questions only a jealous lover should be asking.

Like—how many women had he done
that
with before Hildegard? Had he done
that
with Hildegard?

’Cause
that
had been amazing.

Pulling her hair up into a ponytail, she made a face. She certainly wasn’t slinky like Hildegard—she looked like a teenager. That she was comparing herself to Hildegard made her want to heave. Clay didn’t even like Hildegard.

Yeah, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like fistfuls of blondeness with legs longer than a Celine Dion note, now, did it?

Throwing her brush down in disgust, she grabbed her knitting bag and headed for the couch, forcing a casual entry into the living room.

Clay was already there, watching a football game, remote in one hand, newspaper in the other.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You knit.”

“Yep. Wanna make something of it?”

“Not unless we’re talking crocheting, then I’m all about a good smackdown.”

Laughing, she unwrapped the yarn, drawing calm from the comforting familiarity. “You ought to try it—it’s very soothing.” Her knitting needles clacked together in a calming rhythm of knit one, pearl two.

“I can’t think of anything I’d less like to do. Except maybe decoupage.”

“It might take your mind off your troubles.”

“I don’t have any troubles—well, except you,
mate
.” He smirked at her over the newspaper.

Ire prickled her fingers. “I don’t want to be a repetitive nag, but it wasn’t me who dumped demon blood on you, then turned me into your mate,
mate
.”

His eyes remained fixed on the paper, refusing to look at her. “You win. I give.”

Hellz, no. He wasn’t going to put her off by playing dead. “So, you wanna talk?”

“About?”

“About your marriage made in Hell. Like, the literal Hell.”

“Nope.”

“Why not? Don’t you think it might help you to let it out?”

“I don’t.”

“You’d much rather be all brooding and sulky about it?”

His laughter was sharp. “Is that what I am?”

“Please. All this secrecy—all this dark glowering at everyone whenever they mention your wife. Yes. That’s what you are, and it’s grown old. Lighten up.”

“I’ll try and make a more meaningful effort to be all sunshiny.” His amused sarcasm was clear

“Good. Because you did say I had every right to pry. Consider this prying. So let’s start with how this went down.”

“No.”

“Oh, c’mon. Maybe it’ll be therapeutic.”

“And maybe not.”

She crossed her legs beneath her—not an easy task in jeans she could hardly breathe in, but she hoped to come off casual, chatty, versus confrontational. “Okay, so how about this. How did you become a vampire? How old are you? I can’t believe I’m asking that and someone hasn’t come to carry me off to the local mental hospital, but I have to admit, I’m eaten up with curiosity. So what’s your deal? Wanda told me about Greg and Heath—was it like that for you?”

“In many ways.”

“Okay, let me just clue you in on this thing called conversation. If we’re going to spend all of this time together mated—or at least until I’m properly trained in the ways of the demon, and we figure my predicament out—it’d be nice if we could
talk
to each other from time to time and not have to avoid certain touchy subjects. So, here we go, and I’d like at least a full sentence. Please. How old are you?”

“A lot older than you.”

She nudged his arm with her finger, sending him a teasing smile. “Look at you, participating. Okay, so
how
much older?”