“She won’t kill you,” she said soothingly.
He grasped her around the waist, clinging to her like she was a life preserver and he’d swum out too deep.
“You don’t understand. She’ll suck out my soul,” he sobbed. “I have to blow it up.”
“Blow what up?” she asked, but the pieces were already clicking together.
On the table was a plastic wrapped block of explosive. Lo had been selling Ignazio the materials to make a bomb. Ignazio was going to blow up the theater, because…Tanith Q was a succubus. It was the only “she” that made sense. Vincent had been sent to find him, not because Ignazio was the bad guy, but because he was desperate to stop Tanith. He’d figured out that she wasn’t human, and he’d tried to research how to stop her, but to no avail. In desperation, he’d turned to an illegal arms dealer in the hopes of killing her. It all fit together so neatly.
“You don’t need to worry now,” she said. “We’ll stop Tanith. But you can’t blow up the theater.”
“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you need to leave,” said Lo coldly.
Vincent stepped forward, his face dark. “Actually, I’m here because of your mother. Don’t you ever answer your phone?”
Lo scoffed. “You again? When will you get the picture? I have better things to do than deliver kung pow to impatient retirees and drunk college students.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t give a damn. She needs you, and you’re going to go,” declared Vincent.
“Says who?” asked Lo, his eyes narrowing.
“Me.”
And with that blunt declaration, Vincent Malone stepped up and punched Lo Wang in the throat. At least Vincent pulled the punch so he didn’t crush Lo’s windpipe. As it was, Lo crumpled to the floor, gagging and clutching at his collar.
Vincent looked down at him without pity. “Call your mother. She needs your help at the restaurant, and you need to start visiting her on a regular basis. If you don’t, I’ll find you, and next time I’ll break you. And then I’ll tell her what you really do for a living, and she’ll break you.”
His cold eyes took in Lara and Ignazio, and their shocked expressions. His face softened.
“Hey, I think family’s important,” he said. “Let’s go. We have a lot to talk about.”
Chapter 16
Vincent didn’t like the way Ignazio was hanging on Lara. He didn’t like Ignazio’s pretty boy good looks, or the way his curly brown hair tumbled over his forehead. He looked like he should be on the cover of a romance novel, and Vincent hated him for it. Maybe Ignazio had brought Vincent and Lara together—which was a good thing—but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tear them apart.
The strength of his jealousy surprised him. He’d become so attached to Lara in such a short time, and now here he was, wondering if maybe Ignazio was playing them just so he could get closer to her. That didn’t make any sense, but it didn’t stop Vincent from thinking it. And then he felt stupid for thinking that, which made him angrier, which made him feel more stupid…
It was a vicious cycle, and it was all Ignazio Balma’s fault. He was lucky Vincent hadn’t punched him like he had Lo.
Lo Wang had called his mother at the hospital and was supposedly en route to help her right now. Vincent wasn’t stupid. He knew that Lo was probably looking for a way out this very moment, but the fact that Vincent knew about his illegal business dealings would keep him in line for now. That would have to be enough.
The day had turned hot, so they sat down to iced coffee in a secluded corner of a coffee shop. Vincent and Lara sat side-by-side with their backs to the wall, watching the room. No one—not even a succubus or an angry illegal arms dealer—would be able to sneak up on them. Moments after they sat, Lara’s cool hand crept into Vincent’s, and he couldn’t keep from smiling. Ignazio might be a handsome guy, but somehow it looked like he’d gotten the girl. Him. The amnesiac killer turned angel of death.
He could barely believe it himself. He was so lucky. He squeezed her fingers gently, and she returned the gesture.
“So,” Lara said in her husky voice. “Tell us everything from the beginning. Maybe we can help you.”
Ignazio’s eyes were locked on her, and he licked his lips. “I don’t want to endanger you, precious. She’ll hurt you.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said, but he shook his head and refused to speak.
“You know, she was hired to hunt you down and take you to Tanith,” Vincent observed after a long moment of silence. “If you don’t talk to us, we’ll have no choice but to do it.”
Ignazio blanched. “Hunt me down? Please, my angel, tell me this isn’t so!”
With a grave face, Lara nodded.
“Tanith said you stole from her,” she said. “But I am willing to believe that she was lying.”
“She was!” exclaimed Ignazio. “You must believe me!”
“Tell me.”
Lara spoke with a quiet authority that Ignazio couldn’t resist. He nodded.
“Very well. Perhaps I can convince you to stay away from her. You mustn’t go back there, my love. A beautiful creature like you will attract her attention. You are too full of life, and she will want it for herself. You are so, so lovely…”
“How did you find out what she was?” asked Vincent, hoping to bring him back to the topic at hand.
Ignazio’s eyes snapped to him. “I saw the aftermath, that’s how. After she performs, Tanith picks one or two groupies and takes them to her rooms for a party. Sometimes you’ll see them stumble out of Tanith’s suite hours later. I didn’t think much of it. It’s Vegas, after all.”
“Right,” said Vincent, gesturing for him to continue.
“We’re under strict orders not to disturb them during those parties, and I wouldn’t want to anyway. Drug addled orgies aren’t my thing. But one evening, we had a reporter from Rolling Stone show up unannounced, and I couldn’t turn the guy away without an interview. So I tried calling. No answer. I knocked. No response. So I got the door open, and I went inside, and…” He shuddered. “She was feeding on this guy. Her mouth was open, sucking in the air from the guy’s mouth as they screwed. I could see light going from his mouth to hers. And her skin was all leathery and scaled, but as she breathed in, it got all smooth and beautiful. And he shrank down further and further as she drained him.”
“What did you do?” asked Vincent, his dislike of the man forgotten in the wake of the story. “I don’t know what I would have done.”
“I froze,” said Ignazio mournfully, “and she saw me there. She made me help her dispose of the body. I didn’t want to do it, but she said she’d drain me too. The only reason she didn’t was because it’s so hard to find a good assistant, she said. But I knew that was bullshit. It was only a matter of time before I was dead. So I ran.”
“Why’d you take the tapes?” asked Lara. “You had to know that she’d come after them.”
“I didn’t take any tapes. I did take some of the petty cash, but that’s it. I was thinking I was going to leave town and run for it, but you guys scared me off at the airport. I thought you were after me. So I laid low for a day or so, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I couldn’t cut and run while she was still killing people. That’s not right. So I decided to try and blow up the theater.”
Vincent nodded. “I was trying to stop you from killing,” he said. “You’re not going to do that now, are you?”
“That all depends. Is there any other way to stop her?” asked Ignazio.
“We will,” said Lara with confidence.
“We will?” asked Vincent.
The moment he said it, he felt sheepish. Of course they had to do something. He’d been letting the voice make his decisions for too long, waiting to hear about his next target instead of choosing one himself. Here was someone who he knew was a killer. Someone who fit the profile of all of his targets. If he didn’t do something to stop Tanith, people would die. Whether the voice order
ed him to do it or not, confronting her was the right thing to do.
“I mean, of course we will,” he said.
Ignazio looked from one of them to the other. “But how?” he asked.
“We broke into the back room at the club,” Lara pointed out. “We’re not helpless.”
“But…” Ignazio looked between the two of them. Then his eyes locked on Lara. “But I don’t want to lose you.”
With an exasperated sigh, she gestured. Vincent didn’t see anything strange, but based on how Ignazio’s eyes seemed to clear, perhaps she’d undone the love spell she’d had on him.
“I think you should leave town,” she said. “But give me your cell number. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come back for your things.”
“Yeah,” he said, looking more than a little puzzled. “Sure. That probably makes more sense after all. Thanks for the coffee, and for talking me down. I feel a little silly now.”
“It’s all good.”
Ignazio took his leave, but Vincent was too lost in thought to notice the details. Lara had ensorcelled Ignazio just like that. What if she’d done the same to Vincent? His feelings for her were out of character, just like Ignazio’s had been. How did he know she hadn’t shot him too?
He almost asked, but as he looked at her, he realized it didn’t matter. She was caring and smart and skilled. She was gorgeous. He didn’t need some magical reason to be in love with her. Just the opportunity to prove it.
She turned to him thoughtfully once they were alone again.
“We should figure out a plan,” she said.
“We should go to Tanith’s show tonight and arrange to meet her afterwards. Then we confront her. It seems like our only option.”
After a moment’s thought, she nodded. “Okay. Anything we need to do in the meantime to prep?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. All I can think about is getting you alone.”
She smiled. “That could be arranged too.”
They ended up at Vincent’s apartment. The moment the door closed behind them, she was in his arms. She was soft and warm, strong and assertive. Her mouth claimed his. He picked her up and threw her on the futon with a bounce that made her laugh. They stripped themselves of clothing in a hurry, eager to experience each other.
Her body thrilled him. He ran his hands over her smooth skin, feeling the strong muscles underneath. She shivered at his touch, and he grinned against her mouth. He’d been with women before, but it had been nothing like this. He’d never smiled and laughed with someone in bed before. He’d always been too busy wondering if she was having fun, or if she liked what he was doing, or if this was the right thing to do in the first place. But with Lara, he felt certain.
He felt like he hadn’t smiled in ages. But she made him happy, and that was enough.
Chapter 17
Lara didn’t want to leave Vincent’s bed. She lay there drowsing for a while, pretending that they didn’t have places to be and succubi to drive off. If only they could stay there all night. Order takeout. Listen to music, or maybe watch a movie on Vincent’s flat screen. She didn’t really care what they did, just that this feeling wouldn’t end.
She’d been with plenty of men before, of course. Even if she hadn’t been a cupid, she was an attractive, intelligent, successful woman. She generally didn’t have problems picking up someone to spend the night with, if she was in the mood for that. But those encounters often left her wanting more without quite understanding what “more” meant. She’d had orgasms a plenty, but still left hungry. Now she finally understood that feeling. Not only did she feel physically satisfied—and boy did she ever—but she felt comfortable. Secure. Loved. Maybe it was too early to use that word, but it was how she felt.
She only wished she could take more time to savor it. But they didn’t have that luxury. It was getting late, and although she really wanted to confront Tanith on her own, she had to admit that it would be a very bad idea to go into that confrontation without at least telling Annamarie what she was about to do. Things could go wrong. If they did, she’d need the backup. And if not, maybe Annamarie would give her a little more credit when it came to dealing with succubi and other love manipulators. Just because she was a cupid didn’t mean that she couldn’t deal with this. She wasn’t stupid, after all.
Beside her on the surprisingly comfortable futon mattress, Vincent stirred. His lean, muscled arm worked his way around her, and then he groaned. Her head whipped around to stare at him in concern, and he grinned.
“Don’t panic. I just don’t want to get up. But we should,” he said.
“Just one more minute,” she replied, nestling into the crook of his arm.
“How can I say no to that?”
They snuggled together for more than a minute. Lara couldn’t see a clock, but she figured it had to be at least five, and she was trying to work up the motivation to get up and put her clothes on when her cell rang. Vincent startled at the noise, his arm jerking beneath her head, and she snickered as she got up and crossed the room to her bag. She could feel his eyes on her, and she gave him a coy look over her shoulder as she fished the still ringing phone out. She was rewarded with a look of delighted awe as his eyes took her in.
It felt good, but her sense of delight faded when she saw the number. Ignazio. They’d exchanged contact information. Hopefully, he was just calling out of nervousness, but she couldn’t shake the instantaneous feeling that something must be wrong.
“Hello?” she answered.
“You’ll never guess who I found,” purred a voice into the phone. No one in a million years would have mistaken it for Ignazio. No, this was unmistakably Tanith.
“Put Ignazio on the line,” she said.
“Now, why would I do that? Especially when I find him only to realize that he has your number. He tells me that you saw each other earlier. How is that possible, my sweet Lara, when I hired you to bring him to me? Perhaps you’ve forgotten our business arrangement?”
“No,” said Lara. Her mind raced. Should she play stupid, or call Tanith out? It was clear that the succubus already suspected something. Most people would try and hide, or run like Ignazio. Tanith would expect that. Lara didn’t like doing what was expected when it came to her targets, and Tanith was just that. A target. And Lara was going to bring her down. “I remember. But I don’t like handing people over to hungry succubi.”
If she hadn’t been listening closely, she might have missed the sharp intake of breath on the other end of the phone. Tanith recovered quickly, but Lara knew her arrow had found its mark. She’d surprised the succubus. Knocked her off guard just a bit. Hopefully she wouldn’t regret it later.
Vincent sat up bolt upright now and kicked off the sheets. If she hadn’t been so distracted, she would have taken the time to admire the lean lines of his body before he began to pull on his jeans. But Tanith’s response took up all of her attention.
“And how did you figure it out?” Tanith asked, seemingly delighted. “I thought I smelled a whiff of something otherworldly about you. What are you, my sweet?”
“I figured it out in the course of my investigation into Ignazio. There were no tapes, were there?”
“Of course not. But I can’t have people wandering around with knowledge about my true identity. Which means we have a bit of a problem, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t have a problem,” said Lara tartly.
“Well, I do. But here’s what we’ll do. We’ll meet. Have a nice chat. I’m sure we can figure something out, can’t we?” purred Tanith.
“You must think I’m insane. Why on earth would I meet you, knowing you’ll just try and suck me dry?”
“You’d like it, you know. But no matter. We both know you’ll come, because I have Ignazio, and you have a hero complex. Don’t you, darling? Meet me at the theater. With traffic, it shouldn’t take you more than an hour. And don’t be late. I’m terribly hungry, and who knows what would happen?”
Tanith’s throaty
laugh filled the line, and then she hung up.
Vincent paused with his shirt balled up in his fists. His hands worked at the fabric.
“She called to threaten you, didn’t she?” he asked.
“She called to find out what I knew.”
“So you just told her?” He cocked his head to the side. “I’m confused.”
“She knew I’d figured something out. So I hit her with it. If she’s feeling cocky, she’s more likely to make a mistake. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.”
“At least she didn’t waste her breath on empty denials. So she’s got Ignazio, and we’re going after him?” At her questioning look, he said, “Hey, your volume is up really loud. I couldn’t help but listen in.”
She chuckled, even though she didn’t exactly feel like laughing.
“Fair enough,” she said. “And yes. I mean, I’m going. I assume that you’ll come with me?”
“Lara, I’d follow you into a volcano,” he said sincerely. “I want to be wherever you are.”
His gaze warmed her, and she found herself smiling despite the whole situation. Funny how it felt like everything would be okay when she looked into his eyes, even though she knew there were a million ways things could go wrong.
“I need to make one more call before we go,” she said.
“Cool. I’ll run a brush through my hair. You’re welcome to use it too, if you want. I think you look great, but you might not want to fight a succubus with I-just-had-sex hair.”
This time she laughed outright. He went into the bathroom, and she dialed the phone.
“Hey, Lara,” answered Annamarie. “What’s up?”
“Tanith Q is a succubus,” she said.
There was a shocked pause.
“Are you sure?”
“Sure enough. I confronted her with it, and she didn’t deny it. Didn’t even blink. The whole theft story was just an excuse to get her hands on Ignazio, because he’d figured it out and was hiding from her.”
The Supernaturals of Las Vegas Books 1-4 Page 60
