Wicked Whispers (4 page)

Intriguing. Demons didn’t have a strong sense of responsibility. He’d like to meet this woman. “What makes you so sure she’ll still be with the hunt?”

“They returned to Faery afterward. Time passes differently there, so she’ll still be alive.” Bain looked thoughtful. “The Sluagh Sidhe keeps everyone they capture. She’ll be with them.”

Murmur did some mental number crunching. “Wait, that’s impossible. Every hunt gathers up hundreds of victims.” He thought about the horde descending on Galveston. Crap. This would be ugly. Then he smiled. He couldn’t wait.

But his smile faded. “Why did you wait so long to tell me about this?”

Bain met his gaze. “We have one thing in common with the Sidhe: favors aren’t free. I’ll owe you. I was trying to decide if your help was worth it.”

His friend’s expression signaled an end to the questions. But Murmur asked one more. “Anything else important I need to know?”

Bain started to glance away.

“Amducious.”

Bain’s attention returned to him. Anger filled his eyes. “Don’t use that name here.”

Murmur shrugged. “I don’t like being ignored, and if using your true name, O mighty Destroyer, gets your attention…” He left the rest unsaid.

Bain looked impatient. “Okay, maybe you should also know that I can’t just yank someone away from the Sluagh Sidhe without offering up a replacement.”

“You’re the Destroyer. So why play their game? Just crush the damn faeries.”

“Unlike Tirron, I’m not anxious to start a war with Mab. If Tirron wants to take a shot at batting faeries out of the sky, that’s his business. I’ll cheer him on. But I won’t help.”

Murmur thought about that. As much as he’d enjoy a battle, he didn’t want the queen of the Unseelie Court as an enemy. “Got it. You have someone in mind?”

He nodded. “Ivy. Young, pretty, human, and clueless to the wicked ways of the Sidhe.” Bain frowned. “That’s if you haven’t scared her away.”

The thought hit before Murmur could stop it.
He hoped to hell he had
.

Ivy walked down the castle stairs in a daze. When she got to her door, she stopped to lean her forehead against the cool wood. Bizarre was the new black. She’d barely had a chance to absorb Murmur’s stunning announcement before Sparkle had handed her a key and her first assignment. Ivy had just finished emptying every freaking complaint box in the castle, and she’d swear there were dozens of them stuffed to overflowing. Sparkle wanted her to read them, put them into some kind of order, and then make a report on her findings. She now clutched the garbage bag filled with small papers while she tried to come to terms with what had happened during the short time she’d been here.

She’d danced with an insane man last night. Sparkle might believe he was only joking about being a demon, but Ivy didn’t. She’d sensed that he was deadly serious. The frightening part was that, even though she knew he was crazy, he still took her breath away. What did that say about her?

And her boss was… Ivy didn’t know how to describe Sparkle Stardust. She was every man’s sexual fantasy—tall, beautiful, with long dark red hair, amber eyes, and a full, sensual mouth. Ivy frowned. She had the same amber eyes as her cat. That was just weird.

But there was something beyond Sparkle’s beauty and obsession with her nails that bothered Ivy. If she listened to her instincts, she’d go into her room, pack, and leave right now.

That’s what Dad would do.
He’d bailed on every job he’d ever had. Mom had held the family together for as long as Ivy could remember. And as quickly as that, Ivy made her decision. She lifted her head and rooted around in her pocket for her room key. She would stay. Because she would
never
be her father.

“Why are you still here, human?”

She turned slowly, knowing who she’d see. “Why would I
not
be here?” The man was still squat, and his attitude still needed adjusting. His bushy brows were drawn into a straight line over black eyes filled with rage.

“I sent the spiders.”

The weirdness had reached epic proportions and didn’t seem about to let up. She could either run screaming from the castle or stay and fight back. If she left now, she’d have to go home and admit she’d quit without working even one day. Mom would look at her with sad eyes that said, “Just like your father.”

No. Fear might eventually drive her from the castle, but not at this exact moment, and not because of this creepy guy. “It’s never safe to make assumptions. Spiders don’t bother me.” She shrugged. “Better luck next time.” Perhaps goading him wasn’t the best approach, but she was too ticked off to care. “By the way, what’s your name? I’ll need it when I report you to the hotel management.”

“As if I would give the power of my name to a mere mortal.” He was almost sputtering as he paused for a moment to stare intently at her door before turning and disappearing up the stairs.

Ivy rubbed the spot between her eyes where a headache was forming. Did she believe in magic? Not before arriving at the Castle of Dark Dreams. But she’d seen the spiders, and she’d seen Holgarth make them disappear. If she accepted that as magic, then she had to believe another nasty surprise waited inside for her. All she had to do was climb the stairs to the great hall, find Holgarth, and ask him to go into her room first.

Pride was a terrible thing. She pulled the key from her pocket and opened the door. She held her breath. Nothing.

Limp with relief, she walked in, closed the door, and slumped onto the nearest chair. She dropped the bag of complaints beside her.

Then she saw them. Rats. Lots of them. They scampered from under her bed, sniffing and watching her from beady black eyes.

The little jerk expected
this
to make her quit? There was something he didn’t know about her. She was here at this castle of nightmares because she’d lost her pet shop to the crappy economy. She’d worked with rats on a regular basis, and she’d handled more than one tarantula. Rats were intelligent animals. Unlike Mr. Obnoxious and Creepy. If he’d really wanted to terrorize her, all he had to do was wave last month’s credit card bill in front of her face.

She didn’t move except to pull out her cell phone and call the front desk. Someone had better hurry because she had plans to make.

A few minutes later, the door swung open.

Ivy closed her eyes and then opened them. Yep, Murmur was still there. She sighed. She didn’t need the emotional storm he brought with him. Demon or not, he was a scary man.
And sexy. Don’t forget sexy.

“What’s the problem?” He scanned the room, his gaze stopping when he reached the rats. “Never mind. I’ll get rid of them for you, and then we’ll talk about who put them here.”

She had no words. What did you say to someone who thought he was a demon? And what did it say about her mental health that the longer she stayed in the castle the more reasonable his claim seemed? Ivy shook her head. No, that was nonsense. He was delusional, and she was… She slid her gaze over the long amazing length of him. She was attracted. Horrified, Ivy found her lost voice.

“Don’t kill them.”

He raised one expressive brow. “Not an expected request from a guest who finds rats in her room.”

She met his gaze. “Maybe I’m not your usual guest.”

Then he smiled. A real smile. And Ivy forgot all about Creepy Guy and his rat attack.

“Now there’s something we can agree on.” Then he shifted his attention to the rats.

Ivy was thinking about the power of that smile as he turned to the still-open door, walked across the hallway to the dungeon door and opened it as well. Then he returned to stand beside her chair.

She was picking through her tangled web of confused thoughts when the music began. It was a single finger of haunting melody that circled the room—searching, beckoning. Startled, she realized she wanted to trail after it, discover where it would take her, because she knew that place would be exactly where she’d always wanted to be. Ivy fought the need to stand, to follow.

Murmur placed his hand on her shoulder and she froze. The weight of his hand wasn’t a compulsion, but it was heat and pleasure and a suggestion that she’d be more comfortable right here with him touching her.

Then she looked at the rats and forgot about his hand for the moment. They emerged from all the places they’d been hiding in her room—damn, there must be hundreds—and streamed toward the open door. The musical lure drew them across the hall and into the dungeon. When the last one was inside, the dungeon door closed. The music stopped.

“You’re the Pied Piper of the Castle of Dark Dreams.” Ivy knew she sounded calm, but the words didn’t even begin to describe the chaos churning her stomach into nauseating waves and scattering all her preconceived notions of how the world worked.

She might not know if he was a demon, but she was certain now that his music was magic. And that thought segued right into… “Last night. The dance. You used magic.”

He didn’t bother to deny it. “I’ll get a wizard down here to send them home.”

One word of snark from Holgarth and she’d go ballistic. She’d flatten his pointed hat with her fist.

“Not Holgarth. But it’d be fun to watch you flatten his hat.” Murmur’s sensual lips lifted, and his eyes gleamed with wicked anticipation.

She didn’t keep him waiting long. “How did you know I was thinking… ? Wait, were you in my head?”

He shrugged. “I’m a demon. I can be anywhere.” He paused for effect. “Even in your bed, if that’s what I want.”

He was baiting her. And he probably thought she’d rant and deny and then pack and leave. It seemed that’s what everyone wanted except for Sparkle. He’d have to live with disappointment, though, because it wasn’t happening. She didn’t like people pushing or manipulating her. That’s about all she’d gotten since she’d arrived at the castle. “I want to talk to this wizard after he’s finished with the rats.”

She didn’t miss the flash of surprise in his eyes. Good. She lived to crush expectations.

He didn’t have time to respond before a man came down the stairs and stopped in the doorway. Tall, intense, with ice-blue eyes and dark, tousled hair, he didn’t fit the wizard image. Not old enough. No wand, no staff, no wizardy clothes. Just jeans and a T-shirt.

“You interrupted lunch. Where are they?” His voice was heat, smoke, and simmering bad temper.

Murmur ignored him and spoke to Ivy. “This is Zane. Best rat removal service in Galveston. Too bad it comes with a giant helping of surliness.”

Okay, she’d try on a big, fake smile and lots of syrupy gratitude for her beautiful but cranky exterminator. “I’m Ivy, and you’re a huge improvement over the sarcastic old grouch with the pointy hat.” The lie almost embarrassed her. Almost.

“You mean my father?”

Oops. “Umm, I’m sure he isn’t always sarcastic and grouchy.”

“Trust me, he is.”

Murmur nodded at the closed dungeon door. “In there.”

Zane moved closer to the dungeon, but he didn’t open the door. He just stared the way Creepy Guy had. Thirty seconds later he joined them in Ivy’s room. “Gone.”

Ivy didn’t trust anyone in this place. She stood. “I’ll check.” She walked past Zane, ignoring his scowl, and peeked into the dungeon. Chains, whips, iron maiden, but no rats. She returned to her seat. No way would she remain standing, an open admission that all their looming was intimidating her.

“Good. Now I have a favor to ask.” After seeing his jolly good humor, she didn’t hold out much hope that Zane would do anything for her. But at least Murmur would know that his rooting around in her brain had really ticked her off.

“I’m Ivy, Sparkle’s new assistant.” She cast Murmur a quick glare. He hadn’t bothered to even introduce her. “And if I’m going to work here, I’ll have to learn how to keep busybodies who need to get a life out of my head.” She smiled at Zane and hoped it didn’t look as plastic as it felt.

She felt Murmur tense beside her. Zane narrowed his eyes, but at least he didn’t reject her outright. Finally, he smiled. And the sun rose over Texas. Wow. There were no halfway measures in the Castle of Dark Dreams. The men were either butt-ugly or gorgeous. She mentally wrote Zane’s name in the gorgeous column. She could feel Murmur leaning closer, but she kept her gaze fixed on the smiling wizard.

Zane glanced at Murmur, and his smile widened. “I think I can help you with that. I’ll give you a call when I’m free, and we’ll see what we can do to slam the door on demons with too much time on their hands.” His soft laughter trailed him as he turned and left the room. He closed the door, and they were alone.

Murmur allowed the silence to gather, and Ivy forced herself to remain quiet, to not fidget. Now that Zane had gone, she could feel Murmur’s presence filling the room, pressing against her from every side. She was just about to say something, anything, when he spoke.

“I’ll find out who put the rats in your room, and then take care of them.” He started toward the door.

“I already know who did it.” Was that wispy voice hers?

He paused with his hand on the knob, turned, and walked back to stand in front of her. “Who?”

To hell with not admitting she was intimidated. She stood. Gee, that was so much better. Now she was at eye level with his chest. “I don’t know, but he wants my job. He thinks if I’m gone he’ll have a shot.”

No emotion crept into his expression, but Ivy sensed building anger. It was aimed at her. Maybe she shouldn’t have spoken to Zane in front of him. She took a deep breath and stiffened her rubbery spine. Too bad if she’d embarrassed him, although his anger didn’t feel like embarrassment. He deserved a put-down for creeping into her mind without her permission.

“He wouldn’t tell me his name.”

Murmur nodded as though that made sense. “What does he look like?” Each word was clipped, cut short by his obvious rage.

She resisted the urge to step back. “Shorter than me, dark hair that sticks out everywhere, huge nose, black eyes, and really wrinkled skin. Oh, and he keeps calling me ‘human.’”

“Got it.” He headed for the door again.

“Wait. I’ll go with you.”