DX (4 page)

“There has to be a catch.” She was in so far over her head it wasn’t funny. She stared at his mouth and tried to figure the angles. “With demons, there’s always a catch, everybody knows that. So, you’ll tell me the truth— in return for what?”

“Listen to what I say.” He stepped back, two, maybe three, feet from her. “Hear what I ask of you.”

Oh, Milos
, she thought.
What have you done
? “Deal.”

His eyes shifted with color, eddies of pale gold. “Helen Marshall,” he said, moving close again. “It is done.”

“Is what you’ve already told me the truth?”

“Yes.”

“What else?”

He drew a long breath. “Milos Sanders ordered me to give you to Elijah Douglas.”

“Give,” she said slowly. “Not take me to.”

“Yes.”

Hell chewed on her lower lip. From her position, she had a distracting view of his shoulder muscles. You’d think pale eyes would seem washed out or unfinished, but his didn’t. The color shifted, as if something deep and mysterious floated beneath the surface. “But you didn’t. Why not?”

She caught a glimpse of orange in his eyes, a hot and fiery color that settled back to pale amber. A smile flashed over his face, grim and desperate. She felt cold at the sight. “But, I did,” he said.

“Explain that.”

“The werewolf Elijah is no longer in control of his body or his will. I gave you to the Setonian demon who possesses him, as Milos ordered. You felt him, Hell. He took possession of your will.” He put a hand on the wall above her shoulder. A demon. She was inches from a Bak-Faru demon. “I did what Milos commanded, and then I took you away from him.” He sneered. “I knew the Setonian was not strong enough to keep you.”

“What happens when Milos finds out?”

“He will correct the error of his command.”

She swallowed hard. “But, why?”

“In return for my true name Milos promised the Setonian a human female.” Jaden put a fingertip to her forehead. Her skin reacted to his heat. “Someone close to him. Someone important. Someone he loves.”

“That’s crazy,” she whispered.

“Milos chose you.” He leaned closer to her, and she remembered kissing his soft and tender mouth. Except, she’d thought he was Agent Incredible Hunk. All the time, she’d been kissing a demon. “If Milos does not keep his promise, the Setonian will kill him.”

“This gets better and better, doesn’t it?” She looked at the ceiling. “So this
wow
between us. Was that all pretend?”

“No.” The demon’s fingertip moved down her face along with a searing glance, tracing a line from her throat to the top of her breasts. She could have stopped him. She didn’t. When he hesitated, when his eyes asked what he should do next, she didn’t pull away. He watched his finger moving over her skin and the shiver of arousal that followed. He fingered the front clasp of her bra. His knuckles brushed against her. Hell’s pulse raced, and it wasn’t with fear.

“There is one more thing you must understand. I do not care if humans go to war with werewolves or vampires or among themselves. My only wish is to be free of Milos Sanders.” He popped her bra open, and cool air swept over her. His hand moved in to cover her, to gently hold her. She drew in a breath. Her life was out of control and headed for disaster, but she didn’t want him to stop. “I would rather die, Helen Marshall, than remain subject to his will.”

The tingle in her spine spread to her belly. He looked into her eyes while his fingertips brushed over her nipple. She was wet, ready for him, in need of him. The malign presence from Mimouza probed around her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry he did that to you.”

He smiled sadly. She watched the pale shades of color shifting in his eyes, knowing there was something more, something she was missing. “I have promised to keep you safe, but Hell, what Milos tells me, I must do, even if it means breaking my promise to you.”

“Then why did you promise?” Their eyes met, and she felt the malignant shadow of him.

“Milos Sanders is a fool,” he whispered. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head with one hand, then gazed at what that did to her torso. She felt his presence nudging at her thoughts. “He should have fought for your heart. I would have.” Jaden bent his head for a moment, eyes closed. Then he looked at her again, and she was struck anew by how fiercely beautiful he was. The knot in her stomach eased. His darkness reached into her and touched her until she quivered with relentless longing.

He cupped her, and she couldn’t stop herself. She arched into his hand, and he accepted the offer of her body. He pushed aside the halves of her bra, let his fingertips pluck at her nipples. She moaned softly. In her head, the video of Jaden in the Golden Wing played over and over. He had killed easily and with enjoyment. Did it matter that he was forced when he liked it so much? Did it matter that she liked what he was?

“There is a way for me to keep my promise to you when Milos orders me to give you to the Estonian. Again.”

She tried to focus on what he was telling her, but it wasn’t easy.

“A demon male bonded with his mate protects her with his life. His mate will always come before any promise. Always. There can be no exception. He lowered his head and kissed her breast, one then the other with a soft butterfly lift of her into his mouth, a tongue circling her nipple. He raised his head long enough to say, “Let me bond you to me, Hell, and I will protect you whatever Milos does.”

Her thoughts scattered, and she had to draw them back from what his hands and mouth and the blackness of his energy were doing to her. She liked what she was feeling. She liked it too much. “I thought demons didn’t have any choice in their mates.”

He let go of her wrists. He stopped touching her, too, and it was all she could do not to pull his head down and demand more. Instead, she let her arms drift down until they landed on his shoulders.

“If you don’t,” Jaden said in a low voice, “I must do what Milos orders. Even if he tells me to kill you.” He dropped his head to kiss the underside of her jaw. She angled her head to give him access. He whispered, “I do not wish to harm you, Hell. Please. Agree, and I will keep you safe.” Hands sliding down her sides, he leaned against her. His bare chest brushed hers. “Agree, and I am bound to give my life for you, even before Milos.”

“Can you undo it afterward?”

He raised his head. The color of his eyes shifted toward golden-red. “No.”

She bit her lower lip. She wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t understand how dangerous he was. “There has to be another way.”

He shrugged again. “You are human.” His fingers touched her arms and stroked gently. “You are unlikely to feel the bond as a demon female would, and demon females rarely feel the bond as deeply as their mates.”

“I’m the kid whose Cracker Jacks didn’t have a prize.” She worked her fingers around to the back of his neck and then underneath the black silk of his ponytail.

Jaden smiled softly. “I can bond you so it is the same as if you are my vishtau mate.” He curled a hand around her waist, sliding his fingers downward.

“Why not just do it, whether I tell you yes or no?”

“To do that, Hell, I would have to harm you.” He touched the ring through her navel, tugging gently. “You must agree.”

“You’re a demon, Jaden. What happens to me if I do?”

He turned his head to kiss her fingertips. “You would become my heart.”

“I felt you. I can feel you now. What you are.” She licked her lips. “At Mimouza. I felt what you are, and you are dark and frightening. You felt evil, Jaden.” Her hands slid over his torso, over his silken skin, the muscles and sinew of his chest. “I wouldn’t convert for Tuan and you’re a thousand times more intense. You would overwhelm me. Look at me,” she whispered, still touching him. “I can’t keep my hands off you. You’re beautiful.” Her hand slid down to his belly and then lower, over his erection. A growl rumbled in the back of Jaden’s throat. “If this is what you do to me now, what happens if I let you bond me? What happens if I feel more for you than I already do?”

He tipped his pelvis back and, his ponytail falling over one shoulder, unfastened his pants. What would he look like with his hair loose? she wondered. She slipped a hand lower on his belly and curled her fingers around his penis. Jaden undid her zipper, pressing against her while he pushed her pants down her legs. She ached for him.

Something heavy landed on the metal doors above them.
Boom-kaboom
. They froze.

“Hell?” called a familiar voice.

She closed her eyes. “Shit. He’s always had the worst timing. It’s Tuan.” While she put her clothes to rights, he zipped his pants and rebuckled his belt. “Don’t let him see you like this, Jaden,” she said. He morphed to his human form. The transition was smooth and nearly instantaneous. She shook her head. “Somebody in I-Ops is feeding him information. You don’t know what he’s like. He smart, Jaden. Chances are he’s figured it out already. He shouldn’t see you at all. Not in any form.”

“I will kill him if necessary.”

“Hell?” The metal door started to open.

She grabbed Jaden’s arm, and decided she’d gone freaking insane. “Can you do what the Setonian did to Elijah? Possess me? So he wouldn’t know you’re here?” His eyes widened, and her heart misgave her more than a little when she saw his anticipation. “If you can, do it now.”

“I know you’re in there, Hell.”

Tuan Ng had never been a fang to embrace the +1 look. No Armani or Versace for him. He wore his wealth in more subtle ways, like the diamond stud in his ear, or the cars he drove. His hair was rough cut and short enough that it spiked across the top of his head. He liked his enforcers to wear leather, and he’d been known to go out for the night wearing leather himself. Right now, however, he was wearing baggy tan shorts that hit mid-thigh, a pink-and-grey bowling shirt and a pair of leather flip-flops. He was tall for a Vietnamese, five-ten, maybe five-eleven and had broad shoulders and smoldering black eyes. She’d always liked the casual beach look on him.

“What are you doing here, Tuan?” she said to him from the basement floor. Tuan had lifted the doors and streetlight and moonlight poured into the basement. She gripped the metal railing of the ladder because otherwise she’d have keeled over from the disorientation of having a second person in her body. This possession stuff was wild. Jaden was inside her, experiencing her consciousness, her emotions and her sensations and his own, too. She felt the malevolence of his energy vibrate through her.

“Hell. Come up here. We need to talk.”

There was a moment of confusion while Jaden adjusted to the different physics of her body, then she climbed the stairs on wobbly legs. At the top, Tuan leaned a shoulder against the wall and eyed her, pausing at her brassiere-clad torso. She liked it better when Jaden ogled her.

“You look good.” Tuan spoke with that Southeast Asian slur around certain sounds that she really, really liked. Then he smiled and reminded her of all the reasons she’d fallen for him in the first place. He was handsome, of course. He had a twisted sense of humor, and she’d believed for a long time he wasn’t hung up on his power.

“Thanks.”

“I’ve missed you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. Jaden, she discovered, had a much different take on the world than she did, and it was bleeding into hers. She’d never assessed Tuan as a rival, but Jaden did. “What you are you doing here?”

“The same one-track mind as always, I see.” He grinned. “Fabienne told me you were in trouble.”

“Nah,” she said.

Tuan looked at the blasted-out street and tumbled down buildings. He pushed off the wall. “What I heard is some goon had you.”

“He’s not a goon, Tuan.” They’d been an un-item for well over a year. Except for one brief but disastrous backslide, she hadn’t seen him for months and she still felt an absurd descent into emotional baggage that ought to be long empty of impact.

“Your goon killed Stephano. And left you alone in the Lower. The Cazadores could get top dollar for you, Hell, don’t you know that? Where is he?”

Oops. There hadn’t been time for a cover story. “He left to get help. How about you, Tuan? Are you here to help or gloat?”

The vampire sighed. “The car’s there.” He jerked a thumb toward the street.

With the lights back on, the block looked worse than before. The Cazadores were gone. So were the werewolf bodies. The buildings across the street were more or less rubble and the ones on this side weren’t much better. Other than Fabienne leaning on a Mercedes convertible with a Street Sweeper balanced on her shoulder, there weren’t any people. Fabienne bared her fangs at Hell and hissed.

“Lose the attitude, Fabienne,” Hell said on the way to the car. She could see the seating arrangements already. Fabienne driving, her and Tuan in the back seat. Arguing. Or worse. She turned around. “Hey, Tuan?”

“What, darling?” he said, opening the rear passenger door for her.

“Let me drive.” She stood on the sidewalk, hands on her hips. Jaden seemed to enjoy the sensation. “Come on, Tuan, why not?”

“For you, anything.” He nodded at Fabienne who stood aside from the driver’s side door.

In the car, Hell waited for Jaden to realize he had to move the seat forward before she fastened her seat belt. She gave the belt an extra tug and then Jaden took over. And that was a freaky experience. She felt a black energy buzzing in the back of her head, and then she was, gently, shoved aside. Her world turned into a spectator sport, surround-sound and a 3-D movie on steroids. She was an observer in her own body. And Jaden relished the control. No, he delighted in it, adored it, embraced it. Wanted more.

“Golden Wing?” she asked. She expected Jaden’s voice to come out of her throat, but it was her voice because he’d used her body to speak, rather than use his power to vocalize on his own.

“Yes,” Tuan said. He opened the passenger side door and slid in. Fabienne got the back and pouted about it, too.

Jaden was aware of Fabienne, of her energy and strength and if not her thoughts, then her mental state, which was angry and sulky. Jaden did not see Fabienne as a threat. He also thought Tuan’s enforcer was hot. Both vampires were a near match for his physical strength but little, if any, for his power. He believed he could kill either of them. More disturbing than Jaden’s sexual attraction to Fabienne— Hell wasn’t used to feeling aroused by another woman —was that Jaden had access to her memories of Tuan.

He was not a good lover
, Jaden remarked in her head. “
I would be much better for you. I’d like to do that
.”

Shut up and drive.

Fabienne gave directions, but it wasn’t clear to Hell that Jaden needed them. He seemed to have an internal GPS of his own. The minute they left the Lower, the enforcer crossed her arms under her chest, slunk down on the back seat and didn’t say another word. Jaden pulled into traffic on the last second of the yellow. Fabienne shouted. Air flowed over the car.

Jaden blocked Hell’s reflexive close of her eyes when he cut off an SUV and merged behind a moving van. He changed lanes again and punched the gas to make another yellow light. Horns blared all around them. Three car lengths from the left turn lane, he went left, jamming on the gas when he saw the light for the cross-traffic turn yellow. He steered the Mercedes into the turn to counter the shimmy at the back. Wheels screeched, and he whipped into the right lane without looking.

At the Golden Wing Jaden pulled into Tuan’s spot and shut off the engine. For several seconds, the only sound was the cooling engine and the garage HVAC. The quiet was worth every minute spent praying they weren’t going to die in a flaming ball of gasoline and engine parts. Jaden opened his door. “Here we are,” Hell said brightly because she knew how much that would piss off Fabienne.

Tuan got out and came around the front of the car to put a hand on Hell’s elbow. “Where’d you learn to drive like that?”

Jaden mined her thoughts and said, “Traffic school.”

Tuan laughed. “I’d love to see what you’d do with a real car, Hell.”

“Do you have one?” Jaden asked the question.

Tuan smiled. “There’s the Lamborghini I bought for your birthday last year.”

“Oh, yeah. Nice wheels.”

“It’s still yours.” He stroked the back of her arm. “I know a private road,” he said. “You can get as fast and wild as you want. Come upstairs with me, and I’ll get you the keys.”

“You!” said Fabienne from the back seat. She put a hand on the top of the door and vaulted onto the pavement next to Hell, the Street Sweeper clutched in her other hand. “You are a fucking maniac!” Fabienne put a hand on Hell’s shoulder and pushed. Hell didn’t budge. “You shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a car!”

“Tuan likes the way I drive.” That sounded way too much like Hell was baiting her. She was surprised Jaden could feel Fabienne’s jealousy. It was easy enough to guess, but Jaden felt it. He still thought Fabienne was hot.

“Then he’s crazy, too.” She whirled on Tuan. “Let her near the Murciélago, boss, and the car is toast, guaranteed.”

“We got here didn’t we?” Tuan let go of Hell’s elbow and slid his arm around her waist. Tuan knew Fabienne was jealous, too, but he liked it. “Let’s go inside, shall we?” When she hesitated, Tuan said, “We need to talk, Hell.”

Upstairs, Tuan kicked off his sandals and walked straight into the living room. The furniture was still forest-green leather, two couches, some chairs and an ottoman, glitter gold walls and a bamboo floor. There was a koi pond and a waterfall in a corner. Hell sat on one of the couches and felt like she’d never left. Jaden receded enough to let her take the lead. “Keys?” she said.

Tuan snapped his fingers at Fabienne. The enforcer rolled her eyes, but she left the room long enough to return with two sets of keys. She threw them at Hell, hard enough to hurt if she hadn’t had Jaden’s reflexes to snatch them out of the air. She stuffed the keys in her pocket. “Thanks.”

Fabienne flopped down on the other sofa, splaying out her long, elegant legs. The Street Sweeper lay across her lap. Jaden thought that was especially hot. She had a great rack, and with that observation came an image of Fabienne stretched out on the sofa, naked with her— no Jaden, caressing her breasts. Was that all men thought about? Hell’s stare got a puzzled look from Fabienne.

“Fabienne,” said Tuan. “A bottle of tequila and some limes.” On their third date, when Hell wasn’t even sure they were dating, they’d come here and between them consumed an entire bottle of tequila and then she’d had the best sex of her life. He didn’t bite her. He didn’t so much as flash a fang, but the sex was fantastic. The pressure for biting and more didn’t come until later.

He still wants to convert you
, Jaden said.

I can handle him
.

We should go. Now.

What and leave Fabienne all alone
?

“Sure, boss.” Tuan’s enforcer headed for the kitchen.

Tuan sat next to Hell, close, but not too close. Being around him in her bra and pants was uncomfortable to say the least. She leaned back, and then scooted away under pretext of rearranging her legs. Tuan noticed, and he frowned. “I hear your meeting with Elijah Douglas went badly.”

“How do you know?” Hell replied. She knew better than to look at any vampire, especially Tuan, in the eye, and Tuan knew her well enough to understand her distrust. A chill sped down her spine. The rat-fink was trying to establish the mental connection needed to lull her into compliance. Then she’d tell-all and do-all. Her fear roused Jaden.
It’s all right
. “Stop it, Tuan.”

“Hell, darling.” He didn’t try to make direct eye contact again, but he did touch the nape of her neck. “I am well informed. You know that.”

“Then you don’t need to ask me anything, do you?”

Fabienne returned with the tequila and two shot glasses. “You can go now,” he told her.

“I wouldn’t recommend it, boss.”

Tuan shook his head. “I have personal business with Hell.”

Her mouth tightened, but she turned on a heel and left.

“What I don’t know,” Tuan said softly as Fabienne retreated, “is what happened to Agent Lightfeather. Is he dead?”

“I don’t know. I told you, he went to get help.” She lifted a hand, palm out when Tuan handed her a glass. “I’m working tonight, Tuan.”

“It’s your favorite.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“That’s not the way I remember it,” he said in that soft voice that always got her into trouble. She did like bad boys. “What are you afraid of?”

“Fine.” She took it and put it on the teak coffee table in front of her. The guy always had to be right about what was best. He had to be right about what she thought, right about what she remembered and right about how she remembered it. Her shoulders tensed up. The waterfall in the koi pond burbled gently. She was better off now, way better off without him.

“We were good together, Hell, you know we were.”

She shook her head. “No, we weren’t.”

Tuan slid close enough to her to touch her bare shoulder. “Yes, we were.” She pushed away his arm. Inside her, Jaden rumbled his displeasure. Tuan sighed and left his hand on the top of the sofa. “About Agent Lightfeather.”

“What about him?”

“I’m interested in talking to him.”

She pretended to be astonished. “No shit?”

“I know what he is, Hell.”

She damn near looked at his face. As it was she managed to veer off at the last minute and stare at his ear. “You mean a covert agent?” She laughed, but it was a close call. “Trust me, Fabienne is the only assassin you need.”

“You can’t lie to me, Hell.” He was being polite for now and staying out of her head. Thank God. “I’ll know. I’ll always know.”

Her back was sticking to the couch, and she leaned away from the contact. Jaden ran hot, and she was uncomfortably warm. She shrugged. “Okay, he’s not covert.”

“He’s the demon who attacked me and killed six of my people.”

Her pulse jumped but she kept her body still. “Are you sucking crack-addict blood these days, Tuan?”

“Who do you think gave Milos the video you saw?” He leaned forward. “Damn it, Hell, I watched him do it.”

“I saw.”

“As soon as Fabienne told me what happened to Stephano I knew who he must be.” The room was too close and far too warm. And Tuan was about to leave off being polite.

“Don’t,” she said, lifting a hand. “Just don’t, okay?”

“Did you send him?” Tuan gripped the back of her neck. The instant he touched her, Jaden put himself in control. Tuan set a hand to her chin and forced her to look at him, but she closed her eyes, willing Jaden to stand down. He didn’t. Jaden opened her eyes, and she saw, as a spectator, Tuan’s deep black eyes and felt the mental pulse of his connection, and what Tuan met was Jaden, not her. Tuan hissed, exposing his fangs and leapt halfway across the room. Fabienne came into the room at a run, a Ruger automatic ready to fire. “No!” Tuan shouted.

Fabienne slid to a stop, eyes on Tuan. “Boss?”

Hell stood up, but under Jaden’s power not hers. Her body felt clumsy because Jaden stood like someone who was much taller than she was and whose center of balance was different. He adjusted, and she stopped feeling like she was going to fall over. “I’m fine, Tuan. It’s fine, everything’s fine. Goddamn it, Jaden!”

“Is that you, Lightfeather?” Tuan said.

“Yes.” God, that felt strange, his answer coming out of her mouth in her voice.

“Is she the one controlling you?”

“No.”