Wicked Pleasure (18 page)

He offered her a polite smile, not showing a lot of teeth. “I'm sure the Castle of Dark Dreams will be a satisfying experience for all of us.” He shifted his gaze to someone standing behind Kim.

Kim turned her head in time to see Holgarth in full wizard costume. He offered her his usual supercilious smile. “I thought I might join you for a few minutes.” Without waiting for anyone's objection, he sat in the empty chair to Kim's right.

Kim frowned. Brynn had said a few people might join her for breakfast, but before she even ordered? Sheesh. “Lynsay, Dirk, this is Holgarth. He . . . does things at the castle.” What
was
Holgarth's title here? “Holgarth, this is my sister and uncle. Both Vaughns. We're a big family.”

Holgarth nodded and offered them a thin-lipped smile. Holgarth the Jolly. “Please go ahead and order. I won't be here long.”

By this time a waitress decked out in medieval dress was hovering. Kim ordered orange juice, pancakes swimming in syrup, and coffee. Not healthy, but she deserved some comfort food this morning. Then she leaned back to hear what Holgarth had to say.

Holgarth reached up to center his tall conical hat—did he sleep in that hat?—and then speared Dirk with a piercing stare. No one did piercing as well as Holgarth. “I'm assuming you're on vacation from your business. What exactly would that be?” He could be so subtle when he chose.

For just a moment, something flared in Dirk's eyes and then was gone. Kim blinked, not sure she'd seen what she thought she'd seen. Whatever it was, it didn't leave her with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Holgarth must've seen the same thing because he narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips to a thin, disapproving line.

Dirk's expression remained bland and slightly amused. “Good to meet you, Holgarth.” He politely refrained from asking, “Holgarth what?” He took a sip of the coffee he'd evidently ordered before Kim arrived. “I have business interests in various parts of the world. I'd decided to do some fishing near Galveston, so I called Texas members of the Vaughn family to see if any of them would like to join me here. It's always nice to touch base with relatives you've never met.” His gaze rested on Kim and Lynsay with fake benevolence.

Fake? Where'd that thought come from? “Yeah, family get-togethers are always fun.” Not.

Holgarth remained tight-lipped as he nodded and then stood. “I'm gratified that you chose the Castle of Dark Dreams.” He didn't look gratified. “I hope your stay is enjoyable.” Holgarth stared at Lynsay. Evidently, he didn't give a damn whether Dirk had a good time. “Feel free to come to me with any concerns you might have.” This was aimed directly at Kim, and he didn't smile when he said it.

Uh-oh. Holgarth's first impression of Dirk hadn't made him a happy wizard. Dirk, on the other hand, seemed perfectly satisfied with Holgarth. He turned away for a few last words with the wizard.

“Kimmie, aren't you going to introduce me?” Fo's whisper sounded as though her feelings were hurt.

“No.” Kim hoped Lynsay and Dirk were too busy saying good-bye to Holgarth to hear her hissed reply.

What was she going to do with Fo? More and more Fo was interjecting herself into conversations, demanding that she be treated like a human. Kim couldn't hide her away. That wouldn't be fair to Fo. But she had to make her aware that talking to strangers could be dangerous.

Once Holgarth was gone, Lynsay and Dirk turned back to her. Thank heavens, Fo had subsided into a silent pout.

“An unusual man.” Dirk looked thoughtful.

“Uh-huh.” Kim figured uh-huh was ambiguous enough to be safe. “So how was the drive from Dallas? Whose car did you take?” Maybe a change of subject would get Dirk's mind off of Holgarth.

“We didn't come together.” Lynsay watched the waitress approaching with their breakfasts. “I drove down by myself. More of the family would've come, but the Texas Paranormal Phenomena Convention is this weekend in Austin. I decided I'd rather meet Uncle Dirk and do some serious demon hunting.”

“I trailered my boat here from Florida. It's at a local marina.” He frowned. “My timing was unfortunate. I didn't know about the convention.”

“Don't worry about it, Uncle Dirk. The rest of the family will ride to our rescue if we get overrun by demons.” Lynsay looked gleeful at the possibility. “Do you still have that useless piece of crap you laughingly call a demon detector, Sis?”

Kim tried to ignore the angry hiss coming from said useless piece of crap. “Yes.” She refused to apologize or make excuses. Fo was more amazing than Lynsay would ever know.

Lynsay shook her head at the futility of trying to snare demons without a state-of-the-art detector. “Take a look at this baby.”

She fished in her purse and came up with a detector that had a case much like Fo's, but there the similarity ended. At the base of the screen were enough small buttons to land a 747. And the screen itself showed row after row of words and numbers that meant squat to Kim. Scary.

“Top-of-the-line. It scans everyone who comes within twenty feet, analyzes them in ten seconds, and recommends destruction when necessary.” Lynsay's face glowed with the pride of a mother.

Kim tried to control her laughter as she got a mental picture of her sister in labor and the doctor's face when Lynsay popped out her precious demon detector.

“That looks interesting. What is it?” The deep voice belonged to Conall, who'd sneaked up on them while Lynsay was bragging.

Kim smiled up at him. “A demon detector. Doesn't have much personality, but I guess it does its job.” She motioned to the seat Holgarth had occupied.

Lynsay gasped and then glared at her. Dirk still wore his blandly amused expression.

Conall gave the response Lynsay and Dirk would expect. “Yeah, right. Well, if I see any demons hanging around, I'll give a shout.” He laughed.

But Conall's amusement never reached his eyes as he studied Lynsay and Dirk. “How's the castle treating you?”

“Conall, this is my sister Lynsay and my uncle Dirk.”

He nodded his greeting. “I'm Conall McNair. My brothers and I see that the castle runs smoothly. We also act in the fantasies that run from eight p.m. to four a.m.” He winked at Lynsay. “Drop by some night, and we'll do a fantasy especially for you.”

Lynsay flushed with pleasure. Who wouldn't? Conall had shaggy dark brown hair that framed a face so masculine it made Kim's teeth hurt. His face was a series of contradictions. It was hard with the memory of too many battles and too many deaths. But his full, sensual mouth promised that in between the battles he'd made lots of women happy. The dark slash of his brows and the hard line of his jaw would make most men pause before challenging him. But his gray eyes fringed with long, dark lashes softened the impact enough to make him simply gorgeous to women.

“What, no fantasy for me?” Dirk smiled his semi-smile. The one that looked like he was conserving lip energy.

Conall cast a sharp glance his way. “We have a fantasy to fit every taste.” His smile was polite, nothing more.

Hmm. Looked like Holgarth and Conall found Lynsay likable and Dirk not so. Of course, that might be because Lynsay had long blond hair, big blue eyes, a pouty mouth, and a curvy body. Dirk didn't. That was just Kim's guess, though.

The thing everyone would have to understand was that behind Lynsay's big blue eyes lurked the heart of a serial killer. Lynsay loved to destroy demons, and if a few luckless humans got in her way, so be it. The family spent lots of time and money getting Lynsay out of trouble.

“Have to get back to work now.” Conall rose to his full six feet whatever, towering over them. A little intimidation? Probably. “Enjoy your stay.”

Dirk watched Conall leave from eyes that gave none of his feelings away. “Lynsay told me you've only been here since Saturday night, but everyone seems to know you.” He turned his inscrutable gaze on Kim.

Think fast.
“I barged into the great hall while the Vampire Ball was in full swing. I hadn't a clue what was happening, so Holgarth sort of took me under his wing and introduced me to the three McNair brothers who run the place.” Weak, really weak. Kim got this mental picture of a giant vulture with its wing draped over her shoulders.

Dirk simply nodded. “Live the Fantasy is a fascinating concept for a theme park. Open twenty-four hours a day and allowing adults to indulge in dozens of role-playing situations. I'd say the Castle of Dark Dreams is the most intriguing of all the attractions in the park. An authentic-looking castle, hotel, and fantasy world all rolled into one.” Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. “Have you found any demons?”

“No.” A direct lie. Kim felt ashamed and defiant at the same time. She might have avoided her demon hunting duties at times, but she'd never out-and-out lied about them.

Brynn didn't deserve to die, though.
How do you know? You only know what he's told you, and demons lie. If he was really gross-looking would you still be as sympathetic?
She didn't know, but she hoped she'd still care enough about any being's life to make sure they really deserved to die before pushing that red button.

Kim took a deep, cleansing breath and shifted her gaze to Lynsay. Her sister was frowning at her demon detector.

“It just went dead.” Lynsay poked at the small buttons, but the detector's screen remained dark. “It was fine a few minutes ago, but now I'm getting nothing. What the hell happened to it?” She looked at Dirk. “What do I do now? I can't just call Dad to overnight another one. We don't have any extras at home right now. He'll have to order another one and then send it on to me. That'll take almost a week.”

Dirk shrugged. “No matter. You have good instincts. If you sense a demon near, tell me, and I'll destroy it.” For the first time, he really smiled. It wasn't a pretty sight. “Let me show you my detector. It's quite something else.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a detector that looked like the prerequisite cell phone. He flipped it open and turned the screen toward them.

Kim gasped. Looking back at her were two large red eyes with black slits for pupils.
Demon eyes.

“The eyes give it a distinctive touch, even though I can't take credit for them. Its creator built this beauty and then died. Too bad. What
was
his name? Sergei something or other.” Dirk didn't sound very sorry. “Mine is the only one in existence. The eyes just appeared on the screen one day. At first I tried to delete them, but then decided it wasn't worth the effort.”

Kim was about to pull Fo out and announce that yes, the creator
had
built another one, when she changed her mind. For whatever reason, her instinct was telling her to keep her mouth shut. Lynsay had seen Fo, but that was before Kim had claimed her, before Fo had created her own designer eyes, and before Fo had said her first word, which had since led to an endless stream of words.

Lynsay stared at Dirk's detector. “How does it clue you in to a demon if those eyes take up the whole screen?”

Dirk smiled some more. “It speaks. Just a few basic sentences, enough to pinpoint the demon.”

Lynsay nodded. “Cool.”

“Umm, mind if I sit down for a minute, Kim?” That deep, hesitant voice could belong to only one person.

With a sigh of resignation, Kim pointed to the same empty chair Holgarth and Conall had occupied. Deimos sat down, dwarfing the chair, the table, and the people sitting around it.

Lynsay's eyes widened. “Wow, did anyone ever tell you that you look just like Vin Diesel?”

Deimos found that observation blush-worthy, and everyone watched, mesmerized, as the red marched up his neck, across his face, and then over the top of his shaved head.

“Cute.” Lynsay had spoken.

Once again, Kim made introductions all around. “Deimos works part-time in the castle and in Sweet Indulgence, the candy store you passed on the way into the park.”

Deimos didn't even pretend to pay equal attention to Dirk. He stared at Lynsay with open admiration, his amber eyes glowing with adoration. Kim did a few mental eye rolls.

“If you have some free time, Lynsay, I'd really like to show you around the castle and the rest of the park.” His blush deepened in response to his daring invitation. “They have a neat mock-up of New York City, and you can pretend to be any superhero you want. Then you get to kill all the villains.”

Lynsay leaned forward, her eyes bright with interest. “Really? Hey, I'd love to do some role-playing as Cat Woman.”

Kim figured Deimos had gotten lucky—or not, as the case may be. “Kill all the villains” had been the magic words. But Kim didn't know how Lynsay would react when she found out that her big bad superhero was a virgin. Lynsay loved men, and not for their minds. Kim hoped Lynsay would be gentle with Deimos. She couldn't control the smile that tugged at her lips. Maybe Sweetie Pie and Jessica wouldn't lose all their leaves after all.

“When will you be free?” Deimos looked as though he wanted to grab Lynsay's hand right now and make off with her.

Lynsay looked at her watch. “I'll be sitting in the lobby at one. We can eat lunch and then do the tour.” She glanced at Dirk. “Did you have anything planned then?”

Dirk shook his head. “Go and have fun. If things develop the way I think they will, you'll be kept busy destroying demons the rest of the week.”

That pronouncement sent a shiver of dread down Kim's spine. She ate the rest of her breakfast in silence while Lynsay and Deimos discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the superhero population. Dirk didn't have much to say either as he watched every person who entered the restaurant with unwavering interest. Did he expect demons by the dozen to be rolling in for a late breakfast? Obviously.