Ravenous (40 page)

"I know," said Holly, not really interested in Omara's input. She slid both hands along the iron until they touched the wood. The magic of the door knew her, leaping like an eager puppy. The current coursed through her body, up one arm and down the other, brushing against her in silent greeting.

Holly drank it in, considering what she needed to do. The door opened on an entire realm of possibility. People who needed saving. Monsters that really should be locked up forever. She had created access to her world. Was she going to take responsibility for who passed through?

Alessandro stood close, there if she needed him, but he said nothing. The choice was hers to make.

Holly turned to Omara. "I will be the gatekeeper. I made it, after all."

The queen inclined her head. "Good. That is as it should be, but know that most whom you find in there cannot leave. This is a prison for a reason, and the guardsmen are jealous of their charges. You cannot decide alone who enters through that door to walk in our world. Now that the Castle is but a step away, its affairs affect all of us, human and non-human alike."

Holly nodded, feeling the weight of Omara's gaze on her, then on Alessandro, then on the two of them together. There seemed to be an ocean of distance between them and the fierce, tiny queen who stood utterly alone.

The moment broke, as if Omara, on some level, had given in.

"You have my profound thanks, Holly Carver," she said. "You earned your rest tonight." She turned on her heel, starting toward the gate at the mouth of the alley. "Take her home, my champion. Be happy."

"What are you going to do?" Holly asked. "What happens now that the portal is closed?"

Omara stopped, her honey-gold eyes amused. "As queen, I do not get to go home to a soft bed. I get to tie up loose ends, starting with a search for your missing detective. I want to be sure of him before I lay my head down and rest."

Holly opened her mouth, but Omara raised her hand for silence. "I give you my word: I will call you the moment I find him. As for you, my young witch, you have done enough. You gave everything you had to give. Now let responsibility shift to others."

Omara turned and walked away, the long curtain of her hair swinging as she moved. Holly saw the light of her cell phone as she opened it, calling for a ride.

Holly waited until she was sure the queen was gone. "Alessandro, what did you do with
The Book of Lies
?"

"I hid it under the bed. We can go back and get it later."

"Why'd you do that?"

Alessandro looked up at the thin strip of stars above the alley. "I think it's best if the queen rules, but is held in reasonable check. I'd rather hang on to one or two high cards, at least until I am sure she has forgiven me for leaving her service. Absolute power does not become Omara. She has occasional difficulties with impulse control."

Holly felt the beginnings of a grin. "Are you sure you're not a politician at heart?"

Alessandro held her under his arm, the weight of his touch a promise of forever. "I like peace, order, and good government. Omara is the one who enjoys the excitement of power games."

"I'm sorry she is so alone," said Holly. "If she were happy, she might be easier to take."

Alessandro shrugged. "Someday she will find the right sparring partner. Perhaps a large and well-armored dragon."

Holly yawned. "Mmm." She leaned against his chest.

"We need to get you home." He kissed her cheek.

"What's the rush? The night is young."

"Don't you have school in the morning? Tomorrow is Thursday."

"Oh, Goddess, it's calculus. Can I have another demon instead?"

Sharon Ashwood's next novel,

Coming soon from Signet Eclipse.

Back in the Castle five friggin' minutes and I'm in the middle of an ass-kicking
. Mac wiped a sudden sweat from his face.
Same old Club Dread
.

Mac circled his opponent, who mirrored his low, watchful crouch. Bran was a huge, bare-armed hulk covered with spiraling blue tattoos. He stank like old leather shut up in an attic trunk for far too long. A black braid swung past the man's hips as he moved, a dark slash against the scarlet and gold silk of his tunic.

Bran was one scary, ugly mother. He was also one of the guards of the Castle prison.

Shadows ate at the ceiling and surrounding passageways, giving the illusion there was no reality beyond the circle of their combat. The solitary sound in the corridor was the shuffling of their feet on the stone floor. Torchlight played along Bran's short sword, reminding Mac the guardian was armed and he wasn't.

Sharp objects mattered, but Mac's pulse roared in his head, drowning out fear with every heartbeat. He felt drunk, high, complete, even relieved. He was ready to pound this grunt and love every minute of it.
Kill or die
. The shredded remainder of his demon side had finally slipped its leash.

Mac lunged. Bran was quick, blocking him, slashing at Mac's ribs—but Mac was supernaturally fast, dancing aside before the blade could land.

They sprang apart, circling again.

"Nice to see you, too," Mac said with a taunting grin. Without warning, he changed direction, but Bran followed the sudden shift with the poise of a gymnast. Mac licked his lips, his mouth dry from breathing hard. "Interesting tats. Still working the Bronze Age look?"

"Be silent." Bran curled his lip, his white teeth and pale skin making him look more like a vampire than a guardian. "I found you, fugitive. No one escapes twice."

"C'mon, saying that's just tempting fate."

They closed again, grappling and snarling. Bran swept Mac's feet from under him, but they both fell, Mac on top. Mac's vision turned white, then red with bloodlust and rage. With his knee on Bran's throat, Mac smashed the guardian's sword hand into the stone floor. The blade fell loose and spun away.

Bran surged, tossing Mac off. Rolling to his back, Mac brought his feet up just in time to catch Bran in the chest with a satisfying thump. The guardian stumbled, air whooshing from his lungs. Mac flipped to his feet, running two steps to sink a hard, knuckle-bruising shot to Bran's midriff. The man was solid as granite, but no match.

Bran doubled over. Mac grabbed the sword and brought the hilt down with a smack, catching the guardian behind his left ear. Bran dropped like a stone in a facedown sprawl at Mac's feet.

The thud of his fall, like so much dirty laundry, echoed in the cavernous dark. Mac bent, feeling for a pulse. The guardian was still alive but would be out for a good long time.

As he rose, Mac felt the surge of his own blood, the tingle and rush of human life in every limb. Behind it pulsed the demon, gleeful—lustful—at the prospect of even more violence. The weight of the sword was a suggestion, the hilt hard and perfect in his greedy palm. There were so many ways to kill. A quick blade in the spine. The slow agony of a gut wound.

Gritting his teeth, Mac backed away.
I'm still too much a cop to kill a man when he's down. Even this one
. He clutched at that thought, holding it like a talisman that would preserve his slipping humanity.

But in the Castle, every moment was fight or die. Here, he needed his demon side to survive. Staying human would be a losing battle.
I have to get out of here, or lose my soul again
.

A flicker at the edge of his vision made him look up, reflexes poised.

Mac glimpsed a face, all wide eyes and pointed chin. It was a woman, barely more than a girl, with a thick fall of midnight hair long past her waist. Every line of her thin body looked startled.

All was silent but for the sound of Bran's faint, slow breathing. The woman just stared, her mouth pulled down at the corners.

She's afraid
. He stepped over Bran and toward the woman. With a birdlike hop she whisked around the corner. After a second's hesitation, Mac sprinted after her. Until he knew whether she was running from simple fear or running to get Bran's friends, he couldn't let her get away.

By the time he got to the corner, she was already out of sight, but he could smell a trace of sweet perfume. He followed it, mapping this new direction in his mind so he could retrace his steps.

She hadn't gone far, only down another turning. There she hovered, her back to Mac, peering anxiously around the far corner. He came up behind her, his movements utterly silent.

He hadn't realized how much noise a human made—breathing, rustling, swallowing—until, as a demon, he'd stopped. He'd had no scent, moved no air when he passed by. Now, partially human again, he could switch the ability on or off. Going stealth mode freaked him out a bit, but it came in handy.

He was close enough now to see the woman clearly. Her dress fell to the floor and was made of a heavy indigo fabric, worn threadbare along the hem. She was small—barely five feet, small-boned, and almost frail. He could have picked her up in one hand. Most of her weight was surely in that thick, straight hair.

Just when he was close enough to notice a strip of dusty lace peeking out from beneath her skirt, her shoulders stiffened. She'd made him. Soundless or not, even demons couldn't hide from that sixth-sense survival instinct that makes a deer run before the cougar breaks cover.

She whipped around to face him, eyes wide with fear, white edging their deep blue centers. With the jerking motion of a cartoon character, she looked around the corner again, then back to him.
Caught between two bad choices
.

"What's there?" Mac asked in a quiet voice, wondering if she spoke English. The Castle didn't have a universal language, unless one counted despair.

"More guardians," she answered, almost whispering.

Not going to warn Bran's friends, then.

"Three of them, heading toward their quarters." Her words lilted. Irish, perhaps? She searched his face, clearly measuring the level of threat he presented. "Who are you?"

"Conall Macmillan, ma'am." Somehow it seemed right to use his best manners, as if the shade of his great-grandmother was cuffing him on the ear. "At your service."

"At my service, now, is it?" There was a flash of irony in her eyes. "And how is it that anyone who defeats a guardian is serving the likes of me? They're made so that we can't do that. We can't beat them, and yet there you were looming over Bran's broken body."

Uncertainty squeezed Mac's chest. He didn't want to hear from a pretty woman how he was not quite normal, much less that he loomed. "I'm just passing through. Maybe the rules don't apply to me."

Her gaze caught his, deadly serious. "No one just passes through here."

"I've done it before."

"You have a key, then." She said it naturally, as if it were no great marvel.

There's a key? Maybe more than one
? Mac didn't answer, wondering what else she might reveal.

"Well, then." She was calming down, but still looked like she was expecting a dirty trick. "That would answer why I've never seen you before."

"I hope that means you wouldn't forget me if you had." He snuck a glance at the neckline of her dress. Her low-cut gown was laced up the front, the tight crisscross of ribbons making the most of her slender shape. She wore a scarf of thin white fabric around her shoulders, the ends tucked modestly down her front and foiling any clear views of cleavage.
Damn
.

She caught the look. "And if I remembered you, would that be on account of your smooth tongue and practiced smile?"

"I have better qualities."
Careful, the last woman you thought was cute turned you into a demon
.

She ignored his comment and looked around the corner instead, this time letting her spine sag with relief. "They're gone."

"Good." The sword, once so important, now felt cumbersome in his hand. He wanted an excuse to touch this woman. It was pure instinct. She was beautiful and achingly young. The fact that she was hiding from the guardians only added a protective urge to the mix. "What's your name?"

"Constance," she said, then added, "Moore," as if it was a piece of information she rarely needed.

"Were the guardians chasing you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It's a long story."

"I'm a patient man."

"I've heard that one before." She gave him a bold look that almost contradicted her earlier caution. "You men never make it to the climax of a tale."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "You must be one helluva storyteller."

She gave a sly, close-lipped smile that would have shamed the Mona Lisa. Her eyes dared him right up until they shifted away, a nervous tell. "I am."

Mac folded his arms, an awkward process when holding a sword. "Oh yeah?"

She leaned against the stone wall, all fair skin, black hair, and cherry lips. Snow White in a reckless mood. "Indeed."

Despite the taunting jut of her chin, he could see the tremor in her fingers, the quick pant of her breath. His demon side licked up her fear like a cat lapped cream. He reached out with his free hand and cupped her jaw, tilting her face up to him. "What do you know about a key?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I know they exist. This place isn't as airtight as one might think."

He dropped his hand, but didn't move away. "You got one?"

"No." She tried to hold his gaze, but failed. "You can trust my word on that."

"Worried that I might search you?"

"You'd probably like that."

"You think so, eh?"

"You're male, aren't you?" The words were more defeated than bitter, and somehow that made them worse.

"Yeah, but I'm not a ravening beast."
Not the human part, anyway
. "Trust me, undressing a woman is more fun when you're invited."

She laughed, but it wasn't mirthful. "And you're an expert, I suppose."

"Practice makes perfect."

"I'm sure it does." Again, the Mona Lisa smile. There was a history that went with that sweet, self-mocking sadness.

Definitely more temptation than he could handle. He bent and pressed his lips to hers, perhaps to taste that puzzling smile, perhaps to kiss it away. Or maybe just to prove his expertise.