Steal the Light (Thieves) (18 page)

It was the sigh that did it. Dev sort of sighed and let his head drop to mine. It was a sound of deep longing fulfilled, as though he wanted to be here with me and now he was content. My heart felt so full at that moment that I couldn’t stop my arms from winding their way around his big, warm body and relaxing against it. It felt so good to fall into him. In that moment, I felt safe and loved and wanted.

Dev was smart enough to let me take the lead. He treated me like a shy deer he wanted to feed by hand. When I pulled back and looked up at him, he didn’t pounce. He let me guide him down toward my lips and stood still while I haltingly explored his mouth. His lips were soft against mine. I pressed our mouths together in a chaste kiss. I’d always worried that Daniel would be the only man who could ever make me want him. This notion was now firmly put to rest as every nerve in my body came to life and sang a glorious chorus.

I tentatively let my tongue glide against the firmness of his mouth. Those lips were plump and I sucked the bottom one into my mouth, tasting him, feeling my power. The shudder that went through him satisfied me deeply. He let me have my way with him, allowing my tongue an easy entry. He tasted like mint, and I knew he had hoped this would happen. Knowing he’d thought about this, planned for it, made it easier for me. I pressed my body against his and felt how happy he was to be here with me. His cock was already hard and rubbed against my belly, promising all manner of comfort and pleasure.

“Zoey.” He groaned and pulled away slightly. “Sweetheart, you’re really short.”

I laughed. His neck was at an awkward angle due to our height differences. It must have been uncomfortable. “Sorry about that. I could stand on a chair.”

I tried to find a solution to our problem because stopping our impromptu make-out session wasn’t something I wanted to do. I felt alive around him. My worries melted away the minute he laid a hand on me. I wanted more of this feeling.

“I can handle it.” He lifted me with one arm, and I suddenly found myself sitting on the kitchen counter, my legs dangling. Dev shoved himself between my legs, and we were finally at the perfect height. He pulled me close, his hands on my ass, nestling himself between my legs.

His hand slid up, tracing along my back and upwards. Dev gently cupped my face and looked into my eyes. “I don’t want to push you.”

His voice had a slight desperation to it. Every woman, even one with very little experience, can translate that tone. It means
please, please, please let me…

I smiled. “I think you can push me a little.”

And then I wasn’t thinking about demons or stolen money or lost loves. I was thinking about that long silent voice that was suddenly screaming at me to kiss and lick and let this man do whatever he wanted to with me. Dev let himself go now, and he was suddenly everywhere. His tongue seduced mine. His hands explored. His fingers ran up from my hips, skimming along my side until he found his way to my breasts. My nipples were hard points begging for his attention. I wanted his mouth on me, his hands roaming. The center of him pressed against me, seeking entry despite the barriers of our clothing. He was not a small man. His cock was large and blissfully erect. That glorious erection nudged insistently through the denim of my jeans. I let my legs wind around him and gave myself over to the moment.

“Please, Dev.” It had been so long. I hadn’t even touched myself. I’d been utterly alone.

He smiled, a slow curving of his lips. “You have no idea how much I want to please you. How much I can please you. I come from a long line of men whose goal in life is to please a woman. The right woman.”

He tweaked my nipples, his fingers pinching lightly. I squirmed, the feeling going straight to my pussy. His lips kept up a slow grind against mine as his fingers made their way down my torso. I held on, pulling him close. I felt connected in a way I hadn’t in forever. He delved under the waistband of my jeans. I sighed against his mouth as he found his way to my clit. With an expert touch, he started to rub.

“Hate to break up a tender moment.” A bitter voice shattered the intimacy.

I didn’t have to look out the window to know that night had fallen, and Daniel was here.

It was just instinct that made me try to push Dev away, but he was having none of it. He helped me off the counter and turned to Daniel with absolutely none of the ridiculous shame I felt. I tried to get enough air into my lungs so that I could talk.

“Sorry,” Dev said in a voice that didn’t sound sorry at all. “I guess we got carried away.” He put one arm around me. It was a casual thing, like he’d been my boyfriend for a while, but the truth was I needed his support to stand. He nestled our bodies together. “I didn’t realize it had gotten so late.”

“Obviously.” Daniel’s slight lisp let me know his fangs were out. He kept his lips tight so no one could see. “I need to talk to Zoey. Alone.”

“I think that’s up to Zoey.” Dev tightened the arm around my waist slightly.

“It’s fine.” I didn’t really want to talk to Daniel. It was going to go one of two ways. Either he was going to be horrible about it, or he was going to act like he couldn’t care less. I wasn’t sure which would be worse. But I couldn’t avoid him, so I might as well get it over with. “Dev, could you go see if Neil needs help with the altar?”

He leaned down and planted a quick kiss on my lips. It was a small promise of things to come. “Will do, boss.” He nodded toward the counter. “Oh, I’m sorry about the herbs.”

I looked over and was surprised to see the thyme I’d been chopping had apparently grown. It was green and lush and there was a lot more of it, as though every piece I had cut had grown a new sprig.

Dev grinned down at me. “I’m afraid that happens sometimes when I get excited. My grandfather was a Green Man, you see. I might not have gotten his immortality, but I’m good with plants and…fertility rites. I’m good at making things grow and reach their full potential, if you know what I mean.”

I thought I knew what he meant, and I wished we’d had time to reach that full potential he’d been talking about. He walked out of the room, and I wished I had a tenth of his confident charm. I didn’t, and I was suddenly left alone with Daniel.

I didn’t owe him anything. He’d been with god knew how many women since he left me. From what I heard, the Vampire Council wasn’t exactly a monastery. The girls at the club were there for sex as well as blood, and Daniel had been seen with most of them. I didn’t owe him fidelity or an explanation. So why did a thousand excuses pop to the tip of my tongue? If he’d shown the slightest bit of hurt, I would have dissolved into an apologetic puddle.

“Seriously, Zoey?” His tone held a bitter bite. “You’ve known him for five minutes, and you’re already hopping into bed. I thought I knew you better. I didn’t think you were a…”

He stopped as though finally realizing he was crossing a line. He looked surprised and closed his mouth.

Any thoughts of apologies were gone. I was across the room before I even realized what I was doing. My fist met his jaw with a satisfying crack. I even managed not to scream when pain exploded across my skin.

“Damn it, Zoey.” Daniel grabbed my arm so I couldn’t get in another one. “I didn’t say it.”

“You thought it,” I snarled up at him. “That was enough.”

“What did you expect? I walked in here and you were practically fucking him in your father’s kitchen.”

“I expected you to not give a damn, Danny. I expected you to cheer me on,” I said. “Didn’t you want me to find someone? And don’t you dare say anyone but him. I get to choose who I sleep with, not you. I thought you would be happy I was moving on. Now you can go wherever it is you’ve been planning on going once your conscience was clear.”

Daniel dropped my hand and seemed to deflate. He turned away. “I want you to be happy. I just wish you hadn’t been happy here. It was a shock.”

I took a deep breath and steadied myself. I knew what he was talking about. I felt it every time I walked into my dad’s house. “Daniel, there isn’t a room in this house we didn’t make love in.”

It was true. There wasn’t a room in the house that didn’t hold some memory of us. He first kissed me in my bedroom when we were just barely fourteen. The first time he held my hand was on the stairs. We spent nights in the study doing homework and planning our future. Anywhere I went in this house there was a ghost. I was just surprised he still felt it, too.

“I was happy here,” he said as though he heard my thoughts. “It was the first time in my life I was really happy. I always thought we would end up raising kids in this house.”

“Damn you, Danny.” My eyes filled with tears. “Why now? Years you spend pretending I mean nothing to you and now you say these things to me. Now you care about our past just when I’m starting to believe I could find happiness with someone else. You really are a bastard.”

He turned to me, and I was so surprised at the sight. There were tears in his eyes, and he looked so confused. “I never pretended not to care. I can’t anymore, Zoey. What I am, I can’t love you like you deserve. I can’t give you what you need so I had to stay away and make sure you were all right. You don’t understand the truth of this world. I don’t even want you to. I never stopped loving you. I just…I’m a monster. I would only hurt you. I’m sorry about…what I said. I just never imagined it would hurt so much to see you…like that…with someone else.”

I sighed, a deep, tired sound. “How do you think I felt about all those other women?”

“What other women?”

“The ones at your club.” I wondered just how many there had been. It was not in a vampire’s nature to be celibate. Sex went along with the feeding. I knew it was just sex, but it still hurt.

Daniel grew still. “In all the years that I have been a vampire, I have never taken a lover. I have fed, but it went no further. I have no intentions of betraying you, Zoey.”

I was confused. No vampire was celibate. The need for sex was hardwired into their systems. It was beyond longing. It was an actual physical need. It was part of the feed.

“How can that be true?” And then another question hit me. “You can’t go an eternity without sex, Danny. What are you going to do when you’ve happily married me off?”

He smiled sadly, and I knew the answer. I bit back a cry at the thought. He was planning to walk into the light.

“Zoey, Daniel, it’s time.” Neil’s far too subdued voice told me he’d heard enough.

I wiped the tears from my face. “We’ll finish this later,” I vowed.

I had a demon to call, but I walked out with the knowledge that my own personal demon was going to be so much harder to deal with.

Chapter Twelve

Neil had properly drawn the circle on the living room floor. It was a nice hardwood floor, which is so much better than carpet. Carpet consists of hundreds of separate fibers that have a habit of not always sticking together in the manner one wishes they would. When you’re just using the space for watching television and doing the occasional yoga session, it’s a perfectly fine form of flooring.

When calling a demon, carpet sucks. It doesn’t hold the circle firmly, and once the demon has the slightest centimeter of a crack, the carpet-loving demon caller tends to find himself in intimate contact with said demon. Those sessions never end well. Trust me, hard floors, wood or concrete, are really best.

My father’s house contained beautiful solid oak floors that now boasted a large, red spray-painted circle decorated with a bunch of arcane symbols meant to keep the demon inside. I was fairly sure my father would have a heart attack when he saw it, but he would probably be more pissed off that I called Halfer in the first place.

The doors to the room flew open and Sarah stormed in. “Zoey, I talked to my coven leader.”

Christine walked in behind her carrying a sack. I was pretty sure the small blonde was the reason for Sarah’s annoyance. Looking at the pair, it was hard to imagine they were both witches. Sarah, I could see. She cultivated that cool Goth look pop culture associated with post-modern witches. She wore a black mini-skirt with fishnets and combat boots.

Christine had pageant hair and wore a cutesy business suit. She was wearing pumps, and no one who has to deal with the supernatural world on a regular basis would wear pumps to a demon calling. Christine looked like she should be heading home to make dinner for her hubby and two point five kids. She did not look like a chick who would be excited about calling her first demon.

“What did Emily have to say?” Emily was the head of Sarah’s coven and the most powerful witch in the area. If anyone could give us advice about this calling, it would be Emily.

“What did she say beyond the fact that you’re insane and we’re all going to die?” Sarah flipped a lock of pink hair out of her eyes.

“Yes, beyond that.” Emily apparently hadn’t said anything I didn’t already know.

Sarah frowned. “It isn’t possible. Neither Christine nor I have enough magic to handle a demon as powerful as this one. You should have seen the look on Emily’s face when I gave her the name Brixalnax. Man, I have never seen a black woman turn that white. He’s old. He’s royalty in Hell. This is dangerous, and we don’t have the fire power.”