by Nina Bangs
He turned to stare at her. “I guess it wouldn’t do any good to demand that you stay in the castle until all this is over.”
“Nope. Wouldn’t even make me blink. But I probably should stick close to you, because you can spot demons without a detector. Fo can destroy them, but she’s not too great about identifying them. How do you do that anyway? Is it a case of like recognizing like?” Maybe she should try, just once in a while, to remember that he was a demon. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she shouldn’t get too comfortable when he was around. Too late. She was already comfortable with him, except when sexual awareness slithered into view. Which was pretty much all the time. So maybe she wasn’t as comfortable as she thought.
“Demons have different thought patterns—hyper and scattered. They don’t hold a thought for more than a few seconds. But then they don’t have to, because the archdemon is pulling their strings.” He watched as she opened the door.
Kim paused as a question formed. “Do you answer to an archdemon?” She hoped not. If he had to be a demon, she wanted him to be his own demon.
He shook his head. “I’ve always been alone.”
And somehow, that was the saddest thing she’d ever heard.
11
Brynn pushed open the door to his room, his mind on more things than he could comfortably handle right now. Before coming up here, he’d told Holgarth they had to have a meeting tonight. All nonhumans in the castle needed to be there. And Kim. He couldn’t leave Kim out.
Thinking about Kim led to lots of related thoughts, like how much his body wanted her. Way to go, blame it on your body. As he pulled up memories of what had almost happened on that mattress—what he’d wanted to happen, but not during a compulsion—his thoughts rewound to the moment he glanced at his watch. The compulsion had been five minutes late. It was never late. What did that mean? He’d have to run a test. Soon. With Kim. If she was willing. Because she must be getting tired of him ripping off his clothes without warning.
His thoughts scattered as he got his first look at his room. Ganymede sprawled on the couch, one paw resting on the remote as he watched a soap. Chip and cookie bags along with candy wrappers littered the cushions and floor around him. An open carton of ice cream sat on the coffee table, the melted remains pooling on the table’s glass top.
“Where the hell did all this come from?” Brynn waved his hand at the monument to pigginess.
Ganymede burped and then turned to stare at him. “Hey, a guy’s gotta eat. I spent a tough morning trying to get close to Asima. She’s into all this culture crap, and after listening to her rattle on about operas, ballets, and plays, I felt the need to feed my inner slob.”
Ganymede pressed the remote with his paw, turning off the TV. “I phoned the snack order in, told them you’d pay for it later and to just dump everything on the coffee table, and then I unlocked the door. They left the stuff for you, and I ate it. Most of it. I left a little for you.” He stood, did his cat stretching thing, and then planted his butt on the couch. “So what’s happening with you?”
Brynn fought through his urge to toss the feline freeloader out on his overstuffed ass. But he had the feeling he’d need all the help he could get with the demons. “Galveston has a problem. Kim and I went shopping today. Demons have possessed everyone in both stores.” He dropped onto the couch and then reached for a cookie. “Kim’s going to call in her whole family to help destroy them. They’ll turn the island into a war zone.” Hordes of Vaughns descending on the castle would be bad news for him.
“Not really.”
Brynn almost didn’t hear Ganymede’s mutter. “What?”
“You’re safe from the Vaughns.”
Wait, he hadn’t said anything about being safe from the Vaughns out loud. “Get out of my mind, cat. How would you feel if I rooted around in your head whenever I felt like it?” Then he realized what Ganymede had said. “Why will I be safe?”
“Give it your best shot, demon. No one gets into my mind unless I let them in.” The cat looked away from him. “They’ll know you’re not human, but they won’t know you’re a demon. The only way a detector can ID you as a demon is by scanning your organs. Demons have crazy brain activity, their hearts have a weird rhythm, stuff like that.” He took time out to yawn, exposing small, sharp teeth. “Your brain activity is normal. Don’t know about your heart rhythm since you met Kim, though.”
Brynn didn’t react to Ganymede’s comment about Kim. The cat would enjoy it too much. “How do you know all this?”
And if he was a demon, why didn’t he have demon characteristics? Why didn’t he answer to an archdemon? Brynn mentally pounded his fists against the futility of asking questions that had no answers. At least for him.
Ganymede met his gaze and for the first time let Brynn see exactly what he was—a being ancient beyond belief and wielding unspeakable power. And then the cat’s eyes were once again the ones he showed to the world. “I know a lot of things, demon.”
Brynn tried to put everything together. “So you’re a cosmic troublemaker like Sparkle, but a lot older and a lot more powerful. Powerful is good.”
Would Ganymede be able to handle an archdemon? “From research I’ve done over the centuries, I’d guess that portals to hell don’t usually stay open long. Maybe a few seconds. Only one or two demons can slip through before it closes. But this? An archdemon must be keeping the portal open while it calls its minions through. The nonhumans in the castle along with the Vaughns can probably cast out the regular demons, but I’d bet no one’s had experience with an archdemon.”
Ganymede tried to look wise, but it was tough to look wise with ice cream on your whiskers. “Any idea which archdemon?”
“Not a clue.” Brynn rolled the empty cookie bag into a ball and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
“If I help take down this archdemon, what do I get out of it?” Ganymede stayed focused on number one. “You have to understand my situation here. See, in the good old days, I pretty much did what I damned well pleased—knocked planets out of orbit, created ice ages, anything for a giggle. But after thousands of years, that got old. So I decided to go small and mess with human emotions. That ticked off the Big Boss—who has zero sense of humor—and he grounded me. He took away all my fun, said I couldn’t do anything to hurt any living creature. I thought maybe I could play with some of the nonliving ones instead, but he stopped that, too. Can’t even off a vamp.”
“Who’s this Big Boss?” Brynn thought he owed the Big Boss a huge thank-you for reining in Ganymede.
Ganymede flattened his ears and whipped his tail back and forth to demonstrate his contempt for the top dog, or maybe the top cat. “He’s the supreme party pooper, the almighty can’t-do-this and can’t-do-that.” He hissed his frustration with all higher authorities. “A regular no-fun guy.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would cramp your style.” Don’t laugh. Ganymede’s expression turned sly. “He said I couldn’t curse either, but he got tired of keeping count. Sometimes I let loose with a whole string of f-bombs just because I can.”
He hit Brynn with a calculating stare. “I don’t know if the Big Boss would get pissed off if I whacked this archdemon. Maybe I can just shove him through the portal and close the damn thing. Have to be careful not to twist the Big Boss’s tail, because there’s no upside when you cease to exist. So if I’m taking this big chance by helping you guys, I want you to help me impress Asima.”
“How?” From what Brynn had seen of Asima, this might be beyond any being’s skill.
Ganymede began washing his face with one black paw. “She likes this Shakespeare guy, so I used your laptop to Google famous lines from Shakespeare, and then I memorized some of them. You can tell me if they work. Guess I should’ve read all his plays and stuff, but that kind of crap makes my eyes cross.”
He paused for effect. “ ‘But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.’ What’s that all about? So he’s sa
ying this Juliet babe is big, round, and orange? If I said that to Sparkle she’d haul off and flatten me.”
Luckily, Brynn didn’t have to comment, because someone knocked on his door. As he went to open it, he glanced back at the debris field surrounding Ganymede. Nope, nothing he could do to hide all that.
With Kim’s sister and uncle in the castle, and a lot more Vaughns about to join them, he decided to start being more cautious when someone showed up at his door. He looked through the peephole. Kim and Sparkle waited on the other side.
Brynn opened the door and glanced at Sparkle. She looked past him at Ganymede. “Well, hello, cuddly bunny. I see you’ve been keeping yourself happy.”
Not as happy as he’d like to be. For Ganymede’s sake, Brynn hoped Sparkle never found out about Asima. But then he forgot about Sparkle as Kim stepped into the room. Automatically, he glanced at the time.
She put her hand over his watch, but she may as well have put it over his cock, because the reaction was the same. Women had touched him in every possible way, and some not so possible, but none had gotten his body’s instant attention by simply touching his wrist.
“I saw Lynsay in the lobby. She was with Deimos, so I couldn’t say much. I agreed to meet her for dinner. I’d like you to go with me.” She moved far enough into the room so that he could close the door.
“And here I thought you liked me.” Holgarth got really pissy when guests ran out of the restaurant without paying. That was a given if Lynsay got up halfway through dessert and tried to zap him with her detector or separate his head from his body with her steak knife.
Kim walked over to a chair facing the couch and sat down. She put her purse on the floor, and he could see Fo peering at him from the side pocket.
Sparkle bent over to clear the empty bags and wrappers from the couch before she joined Ganymede there. Ganymede was enjoying the bending-over experience. Not hard to do with Sparkle. The scooped front of her top scooped a little too low for safety, and her tight black skirt showed off her tight behind. Personally, Brynn thought the cat should stick with Sparkle. Who knew what Asima looked like in human form.
Kim smiled up at him. “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe. Lynsay’s detector stopped working this morning, and Dirk won’t be around for dinner. I’ll need you to back me up when I tell her about the demons. She doesn’t believe Fo is worth squat as a demon detector, and she knows I can’t sense them.” She frowned. “Maybe we should check out a few more places before I call in the whole family.”
Brynn tried to throttle back his happiness that Kim had invited him to have dinner with her, no matter what her reason. He didn’t get many dinner invites where he wasn’t the main course. And he refused to get all psyched at the thought of going with her to check out the demon population in other places on the island. He had to keep one truth front and center. Kim and he didn’t have a future together. A few great nights maybe, but definitely not a future.
Insight. He’d gotten good over the centuries at raining on his own parade. Maybe it was time he stopped. Just maybe he’d let himself enjoy being with Kim for the time she was here. Enjoy a woman? A revolutionary thought. “I think she’d believe you if you told her Kiki admitted to being a succubus, and that a clerk in the discount store told you where you could sell your soul. But I think you want me there for another reason.”
“Could be.” She twirled a strand of her hair around one finger as she watched him. “Fine, so I want Lynsay to see you as a regular guy, someone I’d like to spend time with. Besides, Lynsay and Dirk would start to get suspicious if they never got a look at you. If you have dinner with us, Lynsay can tell Dirk she met you.”
“So you’re trying to protect me.” A day ago, he would’ve felt offended. Now, it was sort of nice to have someone value him enough to want to keep him safe. The truth? It was nice to have Kim wanting to protect him.
Before he ended up drowning in a sea of warm fuzzies, Brynn looked away, only to meet Sparkle’s interested gaze. She’d finally planted herself in the middle of the couch. Ganymede had crawled into her lap. Chalk a point up for Sparkle. Brynn might not know what Asima looked like in human form, but he’d bet no one sat in her lap.
Sparkle studied him with a small secret smile that said she knew something he didn’t. “I met Kim in the lobby, and since she was headed up here, I decided to tag along to say hi to Mede.” She tried on a regretful expression. “I was so disappointed when Kim told me he hadn’t worked out for her. And imagine my surprise when she said he talked to you guys.” The glance she sent Ganymede said to expect reprisals. Soon. “I told him specifically not to do that.”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Ganymede looked thoughtful. “That’s if you’re wearing any today.”
Sparkle abandoned her happy smile and narrowed her eyes to angry amber slits. “I don’t give rewards to bad kitties.”
“No rewards?” Ganymede looked as though someone had taken away his ice cream.
Brynn wondered what Sparkle had promised Ganymede. It had to be food or sex. More to the point, why had Sparkle wanted Ganymede to masquerade as Kim’s pet? Kim might buy Sparkle’s story about wanting Kim to have a pet, but Brynn had known Sparkle longer than Kim had. Sparkle was working an angle. Too bad he didn’t have the time to find out what it was.
“Hate to interrupt, but all nonhumans have to meet in the conference room at seven.” He’d distracted Sparkle. Ganymede looked relieved. “We have a demon problem in Galveston, so we need to make plans.” Brynn glanced at Kim. “Can you be there?”
Kim nodded. “Try to keep me away.”
He grinned at Ganymede. “Why don’t you fill in the details for Sparkle? Maybe you can try out some Shakespeare on her.” He ignored the cat’s glare. “I think Kim is right. We need to hit a few more places to see how widespread the problem is. See you guys at the meeting.”
Kim stood, and Brynn followed her toward the door.
Sparkle frowned at Ganymede. “Shakespeare?”
Ganymede puffed himself up and delivered his line in a James Earl Jones voice. “In thy face I see honor, truth, and loyalty.”
Sparkle’s smile wasn’t comforting. “No, sweet cheeks. In my face you see mad, bad, and a need for payback.”
Brynn stepped from the room and then quietly closed the door as Ganymede’s eyes widened in panic.
Can we say overwhelmed? Kim had ridden with Brynn from one end of the island to the other, and she was still trying to come to grips with what she’d seen. “Demons are everywhere.” She slipped on the jacket she’d discarded earlier in the day. With the night came a chill breeze off the Gulf.
Brynn leaned against his car, arms folded across his spectacular chest, and eyes narrowed in thought as he gazed around Live the Fantasy. “We have enough time to check out at least one of the attractions to see if the demons were stupid enough to possess anyone in the park. They have to know what Eric, Conall, Holgarth, and I are.”
Darkness was falling, blurring the harsh lines of worry etched in Brynn’s face, but doing nothing to diminish the wonder of his hair as it blew around his shoulders. “Or maybe not. Ganymede claims I don’t give off demonic vibes. I wonder why?”
There was something important imbedded in Brynn’s question, but Kim was too shaken to think about it now. She pushed her blowing hair away from her face. “The Grand 1894 Opera House was a real shocker. I guess I always thought of it as a symbol of Galveston, indestructible. It survived the 1900 hurricane, for heaven’s sake. And now this?” She opened her arms wide to indicate the vast horror of what she’d seen. “Our peek inside blew me away. Can you believe they were performing Dante’s Inferno onstage? And then everyone in the audience jumped up and screamed ‘Hell rocks.’ It doesn’t get any weirder than that.”
“They weren’t human, Kimmie. None of them were.” Fo seemed energized by the knowledge. “You should’ve stepped forward and pushed my red button right then.”
Brynn’s smile was a mere baring of
his teeth. “You might’ve gotten a few, Fo, but then the others would’ve rushed Kim. They would’ve ground you right into the carpet.”
Fo’s purple eyes widened. “Oh.” She peered nervously from the pocket of Kim’s purse.
Kim walked beside Brynn as he strode toward the Wild West area of the park. It was almost dark, and the lights came on, bathing the scene in a pale glow. “Shouldn’t the lights be brighter?” Somehow everything seemed more muted than she remembered from Saturday night. More menacing.
He nodded. “A drop in power, maybe?”
Kim didn’t want to think about who or what might be messing with Galveston’s electricity. “Let’s stop at the Dead Eye Saloon.” Music and voices drifted out of the bar. Ordinary sounds. She needed some ordinary stuff right about now.
Inside the saloon, everything looked normal, or as normal as an old Western saloon where people were acting out their fantasies could look. Everyone except them was in period costume. The dancing “girls” were middle-aged women kicking their legs in time to the piano, giggling, and having lots of fun. Kim wondered how much giggling they’d be doing if they knew what was gathering all over Galveston.
In darkened corners, men and women were acting out more sensual pretend games. And by the door two men were taking their make-believe argument into the street where it could be settled with a make-believe gunfight. Cool.
“How do the park’s fantasies work?” Kim figured that Brynn was perfect for this park, a fantasy man living in a fantasy world. Make that a dark fantasy.
Brynn leaned against the bar and looked around. Every woman’s cowboy. Maybe his jeans, biker boots, and black T-shirt didn’t shout cowboy, but he wore an aura of oneness with his body, a lithe grace that said he could handle a wild horse or a wild woman with equal ease. A dangerous man. Clothes didn’t make the cowboy, and from the stares he was getting from all the women in the saloon, Kim wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“We keep the costumes in a small building next to the saloon. Before coming inside, people choose the costumes they want. If you weren’t with me, someone would’ve stopped you for not wearing one.” He moved closer to be heard above the crowd noise, and she braced herself to resist his sensual pull. “Look around, and you’ll see people wearing park badges. If you have a specific fantasy, you tell them, and they’ll supply a costume and help you act it out. For example, one of those gunfighters who just left is a park employee.” As he spoke to her, he continued to scan the crowd. “Or you can just come in and enjoy the atmosphere.”
