The Nymph's Curse: The Collection (79 page)

Who she wore it for. Maybe that was what really bothered him. He hated that asshat Devon. If Jasper had his way, she would wear that dress only for him.

“I’m going to say it again: I don’t like this. I don’t think you have any business going out with him.”

“You’ve already made that more than clear, but you don’t have a valid argument for why you hate him so much.” She grabbed her purse. “Just because he is interested in me doesn’t mean you should care. I mean, you don’t
like
me. You left me for the last few months. Now you don’t get to be possessive.”

“I left because I had to.”

Her high heels clicked on the hardwood floor as she walked to the hotel room’s door and opened it. “Well, now I
have
to go. And who knows? Maybe Devon won’t leave.”

She shut the door. He waited for a minute and followed her out, careful to stay enough distance behind her so that she wouldn’t know he had followed.

Didn’t Starling understand that he cared about her? That he wanted her? But she was someone he could never have.

He stopped in the middle of the lobby as Starling slid into the backseat of the town car where Devon must have been waiting. Her face lit up with a smile as the driver closed the door.

A strange knot formed in his stomach. Her face never lit up like that for him. Maybe she never really cared about him. Hell, if she did there would have been a glimpse of something, some attraction underneath her anger. Yet, there had been nothing, only the annoyance.

He was the real asshat for wanting her.

Jasper waved for a taxi, and getting in, gave the man directions to follow the black town car. The driver answered with a grunt and pulled behind Starling and Devon’s car. He hated this. Why couldn’t they just get along, find the books, and get back to Vegas? Then again, as soon as they returned to Vegas, he would go back to investigating the Catharterians. What a cluster fuck the investigation had become. Over the last few months he’d been working his ass off, trying to hunt down any leads about their identities and their organization. The latest lead he had was a man who claimed to be a vulture-shifter living in the Arizona desert.

As far as he could tell, their population was low, probably no more than fifty in the entire world, but it was hard to pin down an exact estimate. Aside from Dr. Redbird, the woman who’d killed Starling’s mother, he’d only come across the man in Arizona as a confirmed vulture. Every other lead he’d tracked down was either crazy humans or others who had been mistakenly identified as Catharterians. If he could just get his hands on the man, maybe he could get the answers he needed.

The only thing he knew with any certainty was what Dr. Redbird had told him: that the shifters needed to breed, and in order to breed, they needed Starling and her drugs. They had been more than willing to kill to accomplish their goals. They wouldn’t stop in their pursuit.

Since he had chosen personal security as his career two years ago, he had learned one important lesson: an enemy who possessed secrets was an enemy who was one step away from succeeding. And he couldn’t let them get their hands on Starling.

The car turned to the right and pulled to a stop in front of a piano bar called Banging Keys. Jasper smirked as he imagined banging Devon’s face into a piano’s ivories. The thought was so real it made his fingers twitch. The bar’s brick exterior was worn with age, and its windows lined with velvet curtains that blocked unwelcome passersby from spying on the patrons. Devon had seemed so egocentric that a hole-in-the-wall piano bar was a far cry from the over-the-top haute cuisine restaurant where Jasper had expected him to take Starling.

Her red dress rose dangerously up her thigh as she stepped out of the town car. Devon walked around and waited until she wrapped her arm around his like they were attending some high school prom rather than a night out at some dingy club.

Handing the taxi driver a fifty, Jasper got out. But as he approached the door to the bar, the bouncer stuck out his arm and stopped him. “ID?”

“Really?” Jasper asked, digging in his back pocket for his wallet. It had been years since he’d been carded.

“Really.” The guard crossed his steroid-enhanced arms over his chest, making his man boobs look even more pronounced.

Jasper flashed his driver’s license to the bouncer. The bouncer took a quick look. “You can’t come in.”

“Ah, I get it,” Jasper said, fishing out a hundred dollar bill from his wallet. “Here,” he said, stuffing the money into the gorilla’s hand.

The man wadded the bill into his palm, making it disappear. “Thanks for the tip. If you hurry you can still catch your taxi.” He motioned toward the cab with his chin.

“What in the hell?”

The man stepped in front of the door and looked past him like Jasper wasn’t even there.

So much for the hundred bucks.

“And fuck you, too,” he growled, turning away from the impenetrable wall of man. As he moved to the taxi, the cell phone in his pocket vibrated with life.

“Hello?”

“Jasper?” a woman asked.

“You got him. Who’s this?”

“This is Ariadne. I’m calling to check on the status of your investigation. It’s come to my attention that you are currently in Savannah, correct?”

Word traveled fast, even to the Sisterhood on the other side of the world.

“I’m disappointed that you didn’t think to notify us about the change in Starling’s status. You know she’s in danger.”

“I’m aware, ma’am. That is why I followed her down here. I’ve been trying to get her to return to Vegas, but let’s just say she’s been less than accommodating.” He looked back at the bouncer who stood between him and Starling. He had to get in. He would just have to find another way.

“Is she currently safe and out of the hands of our enemies?”

He tensed. “Absolutely. I have everything under control.” He hoped he wasn’t lying. He walked toward the taxi and got into the backseat. “One block to the right and stop,” he said to the driver.

“What was that?” Ariadne answered.

“Nothing, we’re just finding our way.”

“Glad to hear it,” Ariadne continued. “You need to find a safe place. We have reason to believe the Catharterians are growing in strength and have made Savannah their central location. Where exactly, we aren’t sure. All I know with any certainty is that is the last place you and Starling should be.”

“Floor it,” Jasper said to the driver.

The man stepped on the gas, pressing Jasper into the backseat.

“Have you learned anything else?”

“All we know for sure is that they have set up a headquarters somewhere in Savannah. What they are trying to do, aside from getting their hands on the formula, or Starling and her supply, is hard to say.” There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “They are growing more frantic. They lost another of their kind at our hands this week. There’s a war coming and we all need to be ready.”

“What happened?”

“We had an attack here in Crete. They tried to come after our other young nymph, Trina. Luckily, her fiancé, Kaden, came in and made short work of the vulture. We found out the vulture was working for some kind of faction within the Catharterians, but not much else,” Ariadne paused. “Needless to say, we’ve put Trina in protective custody until this is over, and the vultures are no longer a threat. I can’t stress how much danger Starling is in. You need to get her somewhere that no one can find her.”

“We’ll be back to Vegas on this evening’s flight.”

“Good. It’s a start. At least in Vegas she’ll have the hotel’s security and yourself. Keeping her safe is about to get a lot harder.”

He cringed. It was already a challenge keeping a headstrong girl who wouldn’t listen to reason out of trouble. The last thing they needed was to stay in the Catharterians’ home field.

“I have everything under control.”

There was a pause. “That’s what you said last time …”

He clenched the phone. “I won’t make the same mistakes.”

“You better not. There’s too much at stake.” The line cut off.

The cabby pulled the car to a stop just short of the back door of the club. He handed the man more money and got out. “Park around front. If things keep going my way, I may need you again.”

“You got it, boss,” the cabby said as he stuffed Jasper’s money into his pocket.

Two waiters were standing outside, smoking cigarettes and laughing about some joke Jasper had missed. He made his way over, making sure to stick to the shadows that ran deep down the back road. The back of the bar stunk of garbage, liquor, and sickness, and it was hard to sit behind the dumpsters, but thankfully he didn’t have to wait long for the men to snuff their cigarettes and go inside. He darted to the back entrance, and with a quick glance around for another muscled bouncer, he snuck inside.

A man sat at a piano perched in the middle of the stage. He played a slow, bluesy version of the song
Rock Me Baby
. Jasper couldn’t help but step in beat with the catchy song as he made his way toward the main room of the bar. He’d always loved blues; too bad he and Starling couldn’t have been here under different circumstances.

Sitting in the corner in the VIP section were Devon and Starling. Devon had pulled her chair close to his, and he had his arm draped across the back. He leaned in and said something into Starling’s ear, and she started to laugh. Her sound was masked by the pianist’s song, but just seeing her this happy made Jasper want to sprint across the bar and enact his fantasy of pushing Devon’s face into the piano. On the other hand, it was nice to see her having fun, laughing. In truth, she probably needed a night out like this. No worries. No stress. No spirits.

• • •

Devon leaned closer, his Scotch-scented breath wetting her neck. “I just knew you would love the blues. This is one of my favorite places. Come here all the time.”

“With your other dates?” Starling raised an eyebrow.

He leaned back as he answered with a full belly laugh. “You aren’t jealous, are you? I thought you left that emotion up to your little lap dog, Jasper.”

“Jasper isn’t my lap dog. He’s barely even my friend.”

“Then why does he follow you around? Is he your brother or something?”

She fiddled with the end of her dress, pulling it down to cover more of her naked flesh. It was wrong to have come here. The more she got to know Devon, the more she wished she had stayed in her room. At least from there she could have spent her time trying to find out where the books were instead of being stuck on a date where she wanted nothing more than to shove a fork in the side of the man’s neck. Maybe Jasper had been right.

“No, he’s not my brother. He’s my bodyguard.”

“Your bodyguard?” Lines collected around the corners of Devon’s eyes as he frowned. “Why would you need a bodyguard? Are you a foreign dignitary? A princess from Sweden? Oh god, the guys at the bank are going to love this!”

Of course, all he would care about was his image. “Yeah, I’m a princess from Sweden. Starling isn’t my real name. It’s really Asa, but don’t tell anyone. Okay?” She held back the urge to roll her eyes at the banker’s stupidity.

He’s not as stupid as you think,
a spectral man whispered.

She gasped at the sound of Asclepius’s ghostly voice. Not here.

Then where? After your enemies kill you?

Starling clenched her eyes. Go away.

Trust me. You want me with you. I can help you.

Opening her eyes, Starling stood up. Devon took a long swig from his aged Scotch and gave her a sickening wink. “Where’re you going?”

“I need to use the bathroom. Be right back.” She started to walk away.

“If you need a hand in there, I’m your man!” Devon drunkenly called after her. Several of the people sitting around them stared at her, making her cheeks warm.
He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing
, Asclepius said.

Shut up.

There was only one woman in the women’s bathroom, and the blonde barely looked up as Starling walked in and closed herself in a stall. She sat down on the commode and opened her purse. Rifling through, she found the familiar orange bottle and took out a tablet. Her medication would make it all better. The pill stuck in her throat, but she forced the dry medicine down.

That will only keep me and my kind away for so long. We will keep coming until you get the books.

“Just shut up,” Starling said, her voice echoing through the almost empty bathroom.

“Excuse me?” the woman at the sinks answered.

Starling dropped her forehead into her hands. I’m trying. I don’t need you to keep pushing. I need the books, too. She paused mid-thought.
Why do you need them? You’re dead. It’s not like you’re reading.

We all need help. You cannot help us until you have reached your full potential.

Can’t I help you without the damned books? What happens if I never find them? What if they’re just gone?

You must find them.

Starling sighed. She didn’t even know where to start. A black feather was the only clue—from there she had nothing, no direction to turn. Where do I go from here?

You leave this place. Go back to Jasper. He will lead you in the direction you need to go.

The only place he wants to go is back to Vegas and he will leave me again. How can I convince him to keep searching?

Tell him the ghost Asclepius has commanded you. And tell him that forgiveness can be found in moments of selflessness.

Starling sat up and ran her fingers over her hair. Why should I trust you? You told me I would die if I didn’t get the books. Why are you trying to help me all of a sudden?

Let’s just say there aren’t many who are like you. True mediums are hard to find. Especially ones with your… qualifications.

Are you saying you need me?
Starling smiled.

And you need me.
As the drugs began to soak into her system, Asclepius’s voice grew quieter.
Go back to Jasper. Trust him.

She made her way back out to the bar. Her date had a fresh glass of Scotch sitting in front of him as she sat down. “Devon?”