Wicked Pleasure (13 page)

Brynn's muttered curse carried to those with enhanced hearing in the room. All the vampires glanced his way. Liz smiled. She deliberately walked around the table to sit beside him.

Liz put her hand over his. “Hi, gorgeous.”

Brynn didn't look at Liz. Instead he watched Kim. Her frown told him she understood what was happening, and somehow her knowledge shamed him.

He could get up and move away from Liz, but doing that while everyone watched would make him feel less than a man. Sure, it was just his stupid pride talking, but his pride was all he had right now. And he knew Eric and Conall would reluctantly honor his wish for them not to interfere.

He glanced at his watch. Not that time mattered. Liz was a vampire. He couldn't run from her, any more than he could run from what he was. And so he leaned back to listen to Kim.

“I'm sure you want to know why I'm here, Kim.” Liz's voice was a low, sensual purr, filled with all her sexual expectations for the night. “You already know one of my reasons, but I do have another. I'm a friend of Taurin. He usually works in the castle, but he's away now searching for his brother. The castle is home to him, so I told him I'd let him know what's happening. I hope you don't mind if I sit in on your presentation.”

“Would it make a difference if I did?” Kim looked like she wondered where a stake was when she needed it.

“No.” Liz leaned close to Brynn, and he purposely pulled his protective cloak of nothingness around him—blocking out all emotions, all sensory stimuli, all caring.

“I don't think Kim likes me, Brynn.” She offered him a phony expression of sorrow. “I bet she's jealous because she's trapped up there giving her talk and won't be able to interfere this time. Poor her.” Liz's light trill of laughter flowed around the nothingness Brynn had created, touching no part of him.

“
I
can tell Taurin what he wants to know.” Conall's expression was thunderous. He wore his warrior face.

Brynn knew all he'd have to do is nod at Conall, and his friend would heave Liz out of the room.

He didn't nod. Instead, he listened as Kim began to discuss her ideas.

“I don't want to take away any parts of the existing castle, only add some elements that will make it more authentic and interesting to the customers who tour it during the day. You could incorporate these into your nightly fantasies as well.”

Brynn watched as Kim forgot about her audience and became involved in her ideas. Great ideas. Unfortunately, some of her listeners spoke before they thought.

Conall got carried away when she suggested an authentic medieval kitchen and bakery. He regaled everyone with how it felt to ride in from a day of battle to a hardy venison stew and willing wenches.

Kim looked thoughtful.

Holgarth couldn't control himself when Kim suggested the small theater area Asima had wanted. He had to share his story of the time he'd gotten revenge on Shakespeare by making all the actors suddenly appear naked right in the middle of
Macbeth
.

Kim looked more thoughtful.

And when Kim suggested an authentic medieval chapel where real weddings could be performed, all the vampires grew very still. The negative energy in the room would've reduced Sweetie Pie and Jessica to bare branches.

Kim looked resigned.

She took Fo from her pocket, placed her on the meeting table, and narrowed her gaze on her audience.

“Okay, let's have it. I want to know what each one of you is. And human is
not
an option.”

Kim nodded at Holgarth. “Why don't you start? Who exactly are you under that cheesy wizard outfit?” She hoped she sounded calmer than she felt.

Maybe she shouldn't have challenged the whole room at once. She was already upset about Liz and didn't need more craziness piled on top of that. Why did she give a damn what Liz was doing, anyway? Brynn was a big boy. He wouldn't appreciate her outrage on his behalf. But she did give a damn. Right now her feelings were all out of whack.

Probably her emotional balance would've stayed on a more even keel if these wild and weird revelations had come over a longer period of time. But she needed to know if there were any other demons in this group and then move on. Otherwise Fo would drive her crazy. She hoped Fo was paying attention.

Fine, so this wasn't just for Fo's sake. Her mind had to be straight about things before Lynsay and Uncle Dirk hit the drawbridge. Kim already knew she couldn't let them run rampant through the castle zapping everyone they suspected might be a demon. She wanted to keep this job. That wasn't all, but Kim refused to do any deep internal searches right now.

Holgarth somehow managed to look down his nose at her even though he was seated and she was standing. “I am a very old, very powerful, and very offended wizard. And this ‘cheesy wizard outfit' is quite authentic, I assure you.”

A
real
wizard? Uh-oh. Could he turn her into something small and slimy? Ugh. Yuk. Time for major damage control. “Yes, well, I knew that. Blue is you. Don't ever change the color.” She shifted her gaze to Donna before Holgarth had a chance to skewer her with a few well-chosen insults. “How about you, Donna? I noticed you weren't too enthusiastic about the chapel.” She smiled at Donna so she'd know Kim respected her opinion . . . no matter what she was.

Donna smiled back. Kim's tension eased in the warmth of that smile. What a nice woman. “I'm a vampire, Kim. Eric turned me using Taurin's blood because Eric's clan can't make other vampires. Since Taurin is a night feeder, that makes me one, too. Night feeders aren't compatible with things you find in chapels. So Taurin and I won't be paying any visits. But if you really think visitors would enjoy a chapel, go for it.”

Kim gripped the back of the nearest chair to steady herself and to keep her hands from shaking. Okay, she could deal with this.
Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat as needed.
“Eric, I guess you're next.”

Eric's smile was friendly and relaxed. “You're wound too tight, Kim. We never bite architects until they've fulfilled their contracts.” He put his arm across Donna's shoulders. “I'm a vampire, but I belong to the Mackenzie clan. Mackenzies don't have any problems with holy water and crosses.”

Kim pulled out the nearest chair and sat down. Okay, she collapsed.

Information overload.
This was her own fault. She'd asked a simple question, and well, everyone had answered it. That would teach her to only ask questions about the weather. She looked at Conall. One more to go. She could do this. “How about you, Conall?”

He shrugged his massive shoulders. “My real name is Conall O'Rourke, and I'm an immortal warrior. Morrigan, the Irish goddess of war and death, cursed me because I killed one of her favorites in battle. My punishment was to protect the descendants of the useless piece of crap I killed. The last one lives somewhere in Galveston. When I find him and make sure he never breeds any future pieces of crap, Morrigan will release me.”

Uh-huh. Didn't need to know any more about that. “That's . . . amazing, Conall. Just wondering why you guys told me all this neat stuff. Does this mean you have to kill me now?”

Conall's laughter was as big as he was. “We don't need to kill you. What do you think would happen if you went to the police and told them a vampire, a demon, and an immortal warrior were running the Castle of Dark Dreams? Bet they'd hook you up with a kind and caring member of the mental health community.”

Kim nodded her agreement.

“And what're you when you're not being an architect, Kim?” Liz wasn't even pretending to be friendly now. “And what's that phony cell phone with the purple eyes?”

Kim took a deep breath. Time to stop pretending. She'd symbolically pushed aside her duster and reached for her holster when she put Fo on the table. Now she had to shoot from the hip. She paused to organize her thoughts.

“Ms. Vaughn belongs to a notorious demon-hunting family.” Holgarth reached up to adjust his tall, conical hat. “Since the only demon in the room is Brynn, and he looks reasonably intact, I would assume she doesn't use her demon destroyer impulsively.” He offered Kim a supercilious smile. “Unlike other members of her family.”

Kim stared at Holgarth. “How did you know that?”

Holgarth's gray eyes glittered with triumph. “Even a wizard with a cheesy outfit knows many, many things.” He frowned. “Actually, I Googled the Vaughn name. One of your family members was stupid enough to have a Web site.” Scanning his audience, he continued, “I advised the owner against hiring Ms. Vaughn because of her unfortunate family ties and my worry about putting Brynn in harm's way.”

Brynn's surprised expression said Holgarth wasn't in the habit of worrying about anyone but himself. The pompous old fart.

“I heard that thought, Ms. Vaughn.” Something that could've passed for humor touched his gaze and was gone. “The owner chose to ignore my concerns in favor of hiring, and I quote here, ‘a person who'll bring some kick-ass excitement into the old pile of rock.' And since I live to serve, I acquiesced.”

“Relax, Holgarth. I'm wearing my architect's hat while I'm here.” Good grief, who used the word
acquiesced
in real life? Kim closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead where a headache was trying to form. “I'll take questions and suggestions now.” She opened her eyes to see everyone's hand up and Brynn and Liz gone. What the . . . ? She glanced at her watch. Almost an hour. It hadn't seemed that long.

For the next twenty minutes, she was inundated with questions. And if Eric, Conall, and Donna looked worried, that worry didn't translate into action.

Not your business, not your business
. Fine, so she was making it her business. She held up her hands to stop further questions. “Look, if anyone wants to talk to me, catch me tomorrow. Gotta go.” Kim scooped Fo from the table. “Can someone tell me Brynn's and Liz's room numbers?”

There was a moment of dead silence, and then Eric spoke up. “Brynn is in the Wicked Desires room, number 205, and Liz's room is number 310, Wicked Intentions.” He glanced around at everyone staring at him. “What? Someone needs to do something. Brynn won't let
us
help.”

Donna looked confused. “I don't understand. What's going on?”

Kim left it to Eric to explain things. She was outta there.

“Where're we going, Kimmie? Did you notice how quiet I was?” Fo blinked her eyes. “Of course, I didn't have to tell you they weren't human because they told you themselves. Don't you think Eric is a beautiful vampire? And Conall is so big and sexy. Do you think Conall would be interested in dating a very small being?”

“Haven't a clue, Fo.” She'd try Brynn's room first. “And we're going to stop Liz from doing something . . .”
Cruel? Obscene?
Brynn would tell her to butt out, that he'd been used this way for centuries. Well, too bad. The using wasn't going to happen on her watch, not if she could help it. “Stay alert, Fo. I might need you.”

Fo's eyes grew wide with excitement. “Really? Please let me zap the blond vampire slut? Pleeease?”

When things calmed down, she'd have to find out where Fo had come up with the word
slut
. She wanted to expand Fo's vocabulary, but not in the wrong direction.

“Hey, Kim, where you going?”

Kim glanced down to find Ganymede staring up at her. His belly was so stuffed it almost dragged on the floor. “I see you found the restaurant.” She stopped at the elevator and pressed the Up button. “I'm going to find Brynn.” As the door opened, and she stepped inside, she glanced around to make sure no one had seen her talking to a cat.

“Don't worry, I look before I talk.” Ganymede padded into the elevator with her.

No, no, no
. She didn't want company. But things just got worse. Asima sat in the corner watching Ganymede from huge blue eyes. Great, just great. Kim punched the button for the second floor with a little more ferocity than necessary.

“Whoa, would you look at the sexy lady. You must be Asima. Lookin' good, kitten.” If a cat could leer, Ganymede was leering. He padded up to Asima and reached out to touch noses with her.

Asima calmly lifted one elegant paw and swatted Ganymede across his nose. Then she began washing her face.

Ganymede jumped away from her and went to look at his nose in the mirrored wall. “Hell, woman. What was that about? Can't a guy get a little friendly? You scratched my nose.”

Asima looked up at Kim.
“Who is this . . . animal?”

“I'm Ganymede, sis, and you don't have to do the mind-talk when we're the only ones in the elevator. Why'd you hit me?” His cat face expressed his complete shock that any female would meet his advance with a swat.

“You have a typical tomcat mentality. You're fortunate we weren't in our human forms, or else I would've aimed somewhat lower on your anatomy.”
She stopped washing her face.
“By the way, what are you?”

Human forms. Did that mean Ganymede was a shape-shifter? She added that tidbit of info to her growing weird-stuff pile. The elevator doors slid open. Kim paused to get her bearings and then strode toward Brynn's room. The cats padded after her. “Ganymede, you can get things straightened out with Asima while I'm taking care of business.”

Fo laughed. “We're going to kick some vampire butt.”

Both cats looked interested as they stopped outside of Brynn's door.

“Wait outside. I hope we won't be long.” Kim could hear Liz's muffled voice through the door, so she'd picked the right room. Now to get inside. No use knocking and announcing her presence. The element of surprise was important. She quietly tried the door. Damn. Locked.