Steal the Night (33 page)

“Well, my lover, I’ve found I have to kill people behind your back,” he shot my way. “You so rarely allow me to kill them in front of your…front.”

Daniel laughed out loud as he gestured Ronald forward. “I’m so glad we had this little adventure. I like that our wife finally has to confront your savage nature. You hide it so well, but now she’ll force you into therapy just like me. We’ll do group therapy and make Lee join us.”

“As long as she doesn’t make me read self-help books,” Dev muttered.

“She made me watch old
Oprah
episodes, Dev,” Daniel confessed. “She found copies of all the Dr. Phil episodes.”

Dev shuddered and I sent him a look that let him know I would do it to him, too.

“I think you’re safe, Mr. James,” Daniel assured the Brit.

Ronald James looked very serious as Daniel nodded for him to take a seat. “I’m willing to accept whatever Your Highness thinks is correct.”

“You were doing your job,” Daniel said. “You’ll have to excuse my partner. He often lets his anger get the best of him. He has the luxury. It’s not one I can afford any longer. Now it would be helpful if you would explain what just happened out there, Ronald.”

“Of course.” The Brit sat very upright in his chair. “I didn’t understand who you were. We only knew that the wizard’s prison was being threatened. It’s our highest directive to protect the crystal prison of Myrddin Emrys until such time as the King of the Sword returns.”

“I’m not Arthur,” Daniel said firmly. “If you’re waiting for the reincarnation of King Arthur then we should go with the first plan and send my queen into exile.”

Ronald stared pointedly at the three of us, and I could see his brain working. “You’ll have to forgive me if I see some similarities, but you don’t understand. It doesn’t matter that you can’t remember some mystical past life. That isn’t what Excalibur is about. Over the years there have been several to carry the sword. No one is exactly sure where the sword was created but many believe it was forged on the Heaven plane by those who fought the demons in the early days of creation. Since then, when this plane was in danger of falling into darkness, a king has risen and the sword taken up. An order of supernatural females was formed to protect the sword and make the decision when the time was right.”

“Nimue,” I said.

“Yes,” Ronald agreed. “She’s the latest and has been at her work for the longest time. Arthur was hers. He’s merely the most famous of the Sword Kings, but by no means the first. You, Your Highness, are this era’s champion and the first vampire to hold the sword.”

“Yes, I believe I mentioned that to you after I woke up from that grenade thing you used on me,” Nim complained as she walked in the door.

Daniel’s eyes widened and Ronald explained. “It was a flashbang. We’ve found them effective on almost all supernatural creatures.”

Nim’s mouth was a flat line as she stared at the Order’s head. “They’re also very good with wards and binding magic as well. They aren’t so good with believing the truth when it stares them in the face.”

Ronald stood and gave her a deep bow. “I apologize, Lady. We’ve had trouble in the past with witches who believed they were the Lady of the Lake. Some were simply insane and some tried to use the Order for their own designs.”

The door opened and a nervous-looking soldier stuck his head in. “King Daniel, there is a…there is a thing out here that claims to be your servant. I think it’s a demon.”

“Never heard of him,” Daniel said with a smirk. “You should exorcise him ASAP.”

“Daniel,” Nim said, sighing. “We still need him. I need him to wake the wizard.”

There was a long pause. “Fine. Let him in.”

Stewart walked in with a radiant smile on his borrowed face. Gone was the skate punk clothing and in its place an immaculately made pair of trousers, dress shirt, and sport coat. His shoes were polished even out here in the isolation of the island. He had cut the young man’s hair into a trendy, fashionable style.

“He made us stop for a manicure, too,” Nim admitted, noting my surprise.

“Oh, you liked it, you little minx. Don’t lie,” Stewart said with a wink.

Nim shrugged. “I certainly like the rubbing my feet part.”

Stewart made a great show of bowing deeply to Daniel. “Your Highness, it is my greatest pleasure to find myself once again in your glorious presence. We have located the place you seek.”

“So I heard,” Daniel said shortly. “Are we close?”

“Very close, but it will be more easily accessed at an in-between time,” Stewart said. “I thought dusk would be perfect.”

That got Daniel’s attention. “Does this have something to do with the veil between worlds?”

I heard the slight hitch in his voice as he asked the question. It was important to him. We’d been searching for someone who knew how to navigate the veils as the Tuatha Dé Danann, the oldest of faeries, did. The ancient Fae had left the plane and the faery worlds attached to it long ago. The only way to access those pieces of Faery was to open the veil, but the magic was old and for the most part had passed from our plane. We’d met a group of Fae who knew how to navigate in such a fashion, but they were long gone. The only trouble was they’d taken my and Danny’s daughter with them. Daniel had been seeking a way to get her back ever since the revelation that the magical child had truly been a combination of us.

“Very good, Your Highness,” Stewart said obsequiously. “It’s very much like that. Nimue created the pocket world that contains the crystal palace and hid it from this world in such a fashion.”

“I did the same thing with Avalon,” Nim replied, sympathy creeping into her voice. “But Daniel, this isn’t what you need to know. I can create a pocket world, but I don’t know how the ancient Fae travel. I came into existence long after they were gone. I will research it further. I won’t give up.”

Daniel’s face remained passive though I knew he ached inside. It was a private hurt, and he wouldn’t dwell on it in public.

“The thought makes the king very sad,” Stewart said, looking seriously at Daniel.

“Drop it,” I warned.

Stewart’s eyes shifted to me. “It’s a private ache between the two of you. It doesn’t include the Fae creature, though he worries about it. On the one hand, the Fae creature wants the two of you happy, but he worries if you and the king resolve the trouble you will no longer have a need for him. Is it a child?”

“She said drop it,” Dev growled as he stood.

Stewart held his hands up innocently. “I apologize. You’re a very strong transmitter. So easy to read, unlike the king. He has to ache with the pain before I can see an image from him. But you, Fae creature, you’re just one big ball of ache. Deep inside you’re still the little boy everyone loved one day and wanted to toss out with the garbage the next. You would fade if these two abandoned you. I can see it clearly. You would lie down and fade from existence. It would take a while, but time would mean nothing to you because you would be dead the minute they discarded you. Everyone discards you. You’re useful for short periods of time, but you always prove unworthy in the end. When the king has his crown and a child with his queen, he won’t need you anymore.”

“Shut up,” I yelled at the demon as I crossed to Dev. His face was pale and his hands trembled slightly. Stewart must be diving deep in his head to make him shake.

“Stewart, if you don’t get out of his head, I’m going to have my soldiers cut off yours,” Daniel explained.

It was kind of cool to see six men step forward ready to do Daniel’s will. Stewart actually backed off.

“Devinshea,” Daniel said quietly, looking up at his friend. “Those are your worries, not my feelings.”

Dev nodded shortly. “I understand.”

“Trust me, the last thing I would want if we found Summer would be to leave you. I have no intention of having the women outnumber me.” Daniel tried to smile at Dev, but he seemed to avoid his eyes.

“Why do we need Stewart?” I asked Nim.

“Because he’ll be able to see the veil better than I will,” Nim admitted. “And I need his blood along with the sword to wake Myrddin. The wizard is the child of an incubus and a devout woman. I need something from each plane to call to him. Excalibur is a gift from the angels and Stewart here…”

“Came straight from Hell,” I finished for her.

“Our prophecies have all pointed to the next king being the one to free the wizard from the prison,” Ronald interjected after a short silence. “The question becomes what is the Order to do if the wizard is supposed to walk free? It has been our quest to ensure it didn’t happen.”

“Until such time as he was truly needed,” Nim corrected. “That time is now. The Order is still necessary. The Order was comprised of the Knights of the Round Table who survived Arthur’s final battle. The Order’s main objective has been to guard the wizard’s sleeping place, but its true mission is and always has been to support the King of the Sword. You are his knights, an honor passed down through the generations. The time has come again and the Order will stand behind Excalibur.”

Ronald put a hand over his heart and bowed his head. “We will do anything the King needs.”

Daniel chuckled, but there was no real humor in it. “Don’t offer the impossible, Sir Ronald. My little war isn’t going well. I’ve been declared an outlaw by the Council. I’m on the run and unable to go home. Even now, my vampires are going into hiding.”

“Hugo is making arrangements for Justin, Jean-Marc, and the others to meet us in New York. We need to regroup.” Dev seemed calmer now.

“But Your Highness, there’s no place more secure than our headquarters,” Ronald replied. “We have no affiliations with any vampire and we’re heavily fortified. If your intention is to raid the Council’s home base, then you need to be close to Paris. We have everything you need.”

“Except our allies,” Dev pointed out. “We need to bring the wolves and the Fae with us if this is going to work. We need a united front.”

“Agreed, but perhaps the Order is more capable of handling our exile than an endless procession of borrowed homes until we’re finally ready,” Daniel mused. “Louis wouldn’t think to look there and it would keep our vampire allies’ hands clean until the battle.”

“I can have everything ready for you,” Ronald promised. “I’ll begin working on it immediately. As I said, your knights stand ready to provide you with anything you need.”

“Do you know what I need right now? I drove all night and if I can’t meet with the wizard until nightfall, then I would like to rest,” Daniel said pointedly. He stood and took my hand. “Devinshea, can I trust you to not kill the head of our knights?”

Dev frowned. “I suppose so.”

“Good,” Danny said shortly. “Then do what you do best and organize our exile. I’m very hungry. You’ll join us when you’re done?”

“It’s a small bed, Daniel,” Dev pointed out.

“Then we’ll have to cuddle. We will not have separate rooms. Not here and not at the headquarters. We stay together. Always,” Daniel said over his shoulder as he led me away. “And Stewart, leave Dev alone. Go find Neil and bug him.”

“Absolutely, Your Highness,” Stewart said with a grin. He was out the door in a flash.

“That was mean,” I complained as I followed Daniel up the narrow stairs.

“Neil still couldn’t hear the last time I saw him,” Daniel pointed out. “Deafness will make Stewart infinitely more tolerable.”

Daniel pulled me up the last two stairs, and before I knew what was happening, his mouth was on mine, devouring me. His tongue plunged in, dominating mine. I let my hands sink into his hair, loving the silky feel of it. I’d almost lost him. I’d thought I had. I’d almost lost him and I let that wash over me because he was still here and still in my arms. Pure emotion drove me as I held him close, every cell in my body responding to him. He was my husband, my first love. I couldn’t remember a time when I didn’t love Danny.

I kissed him with everything I had. I didn’t care that there was an army downstairs. There was only me and Daniel.

He pulled my legs up and around his waist and then my back was up against the wall. He pressed his body against me, grinding his erection on my pelvis. I lit up, pleasure flaring along my skin.

“God, I need to be inside you, Z,” Daniel groaned against my mouth. “I don’t want any of this. I didn’t want to be the freaking king, much less this. I just wanted to be your husband. That’s all I ever wanted.”

I wound myself around him, holding him tight. “I know you don’t want it, baby, but we need you. You’re the only one who can do this.”

He was the only one who could save us all, the only one who could bring everyone together.

Daniel opened the door to the tiny bedroom. He walked us inside, seeming to not feel my weight at all. We fell against the double bed together.

“And I need you,” Daniel said, his eyes dark. “Take off your clothes for me. Don’t be a queen. Don’t be a nexus point. Don’t be a companion. Just Daniel and Zoey, okay? Just for a little while.”

He stood up, staring down at me.

I didn’t hesitate at all. My hands were already on the hem of my T-shirt, pulling it over my head. I tossed it aside and started on my jeans even as Daniel was shoving his off his hips, looking like he would die if he didn’t get what he wanted and soon. I unhooked my bra as he completed his task and got down on his knees. He reached up and pulled me toward him by my ankles. I was trapped by his strong arms parting my legs, spreading my naked flesh.

“I know you think I love you for the way your blood tastes,” Daniel said, his voice deep. “But god, Z, that wasn’t the first taste I got of you. I was an addict even then.”

He brought his mouth reverently down on my pussy, kissing me gently. He let go of my legs, sure that I would hold myself open for him now. He breathed in my scent, the happiness in his eyes letting me know how much he loved it.

“Fuck, baby, you’re already wet.” He parted me with his fingers and let his tongue run the length of my pussy, gathering cream as he went.

I took a deep breath because I needed the oxygen. His tongue speared me, fucking deep and making me squirm. “I always am when you’re around, Danny.”