by Nina Bangs
“Like love?” She showed him only sympathetic interest.
He nodded. “Like love.” Kim could be that woman. The thought didn’t startle him as much as he’d expected. Probably because his subconscious had been playing with the idea for a while.
Of course, love between them wouldn’t work. Even if the compulsion was gone forever, he still wasn’t human. He couldn’t ask her to commit to a lifetime with him. Not that she’d want to anyway once she thought about the ramifications.
The irony of the whole thing almost made him laugh. Too bad it wasn’t funny. Because if he came to her bed knowing he loved her, he’d have a whole new bed memory to torture himself with once she left him.
All bed discussions ended as the elevator doors opened and Asima emerged. She padded over to them. “I hate to break up the happy couple, but I have to get our mystery man back to your uncle’s room. Dirk just charged down to the registration desk and demanded they find the filthy thief who stole his detector.”
Brynn nodded as he waited for Kim to grab her coffee and uneaten doughnut. Then he helped her up. They walked to the door and knocked before entering.
Kim hurried over to Fo. “I’m sorry, but Asima has to take . . .” She glanced at Fo’s unnerving new friend.
“Gabriel. Fo has named me Gabriel. It’s a good name.” The gleam in his red eyes said she could’ve named him Bozo, and it would’ve been fine with him.
Fo had named him after an archangel. Brynn thought that was kind of symbolic, considering they were hunting an archdemon.
“Asima has to take Gabriel back to Dirk’s room right now. Dirk’s down in the lobby raising holy hell.” Kim looked at Gabriel. “You can’t say anything about being here because . . . because it’ll get Fo in lots of trouble.”
Gabriel widened his eyes in alarm. “I would never do anything to cause Fo grief. I won’t answer, even if Dirk speaks to me.”
“Thank you.” Fo’s eyes may as well have had the words my hero blinking in their purple depths. “We’ll find a way to be together.”
“Yes.” Gabriel’s voice held a dangerous quality that promised unpleasant consequences for anyone who got in his way.
He might look like a glorified cell phone, but Brynn wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating Gabriel. He was programmed to destroy, and he didn’t discriminate between human and nonhuman. He was an equal opportunity killing machine.
Kim flipped Gabriel closed, Asima picked him up in her mouth, and then she was gone. As it always did, the door closed quietly behind her.
Silence filled the room for a few moments.
“Kimmie, I prayed for a friend like me, but I didn’t know if God listened to . . . small beings.” Her purple eyes glowed with happiness. “He does listen.”
Kim smiled. “I’m happy for you, Fo.” But the helpless glance she sent Brynn told him she wasn’t sure if this love story would have a happy ending.
Brynn drew Kim down onto the couch. He pulled her close against him. “Don’t forget, tonight you have a fantasy with Ordinary Guy.”
Kim laughed as she gazed up at him. “That’s mean. Vic is a nice person, and even an ordinary person can have extraordinary depths. I expect you to give him a super fantasy tonight.”
Brynn hoped he wasn’t broadcasting his evil intentions far and wide. “He’ll have all the fantasy he can handle.”
Then he lowered his head and took her mouth in a long, drugging kiss that had him thinking about putting his bed phobia aside for the moment. When he finally raised his head, his heart was pounding, and his breaths came in shallow gasps.
“And you’ll have a fantasy that will be the stuff of legends, sweetheart.”
18
“So how’s your week been going?” Vic Burton guided Kim into the elevator and then hit the lobby button.
“Fine. Nothing spectacular.” If you didn’t count the demons, vampires, wizards, gargoyles, and immortal warriors.
He nodded. “I’ve had a great time with the fantasies, and the weather’s been warm enough for me to relax on the beach. Makes it hard to go back to work next week.”
“You needed a week to unwind.” If he was waiting for the tales of her week’s adventures, he’d have a mighty long wait.
The elevator doors opened, and everyone spilled out into the lobby. They walked the short distance to the great hall.
Vic looked at his watch. “We’re just in time. I signed us up for the first fantasy.” He offered her a quick grin. “Maybe we could catch a bite at the restaurant later.”
“Sure.” Why not? Brynn would be working, and besides, she wasn’t attached at the hip to Mr. Tall Demonic and Delicious. Nope. Definitely not. Just because he’d be with Donna for twenty-four hours starting as soon as he quit work didn’t mean she wanted to spend every moment until then with him. Liar.
“Ah, Mr. Burton, you’re right on time.” Holgarth sounded almost . . . jovial. “Promptness. An admirable trait.”
Holgarth looked down his long nose at her, which was pretty hard to do because he wasn’t really that tall. His conical hat added at least a foot to his height. The thought gave her lots of satisfaction.
“Ms. Vaughn.” He didn’t sound jovial anymore. “I assume you’ve been busy thinking up totally inappropriate changes for the castle.”
Kim was trying to think of a scathing reply when Vic spoke up. “Okay, where’re our costumes, and what do we do?”
Holgarth was all business now. “Caitlin here will supply your costumes. Once you’ve changed, you’ll simply follow the staff’s cues. Enjoy your fantasy.” His expression said he was hoping part of Kim’s fantasy involved the villain heaving her into the moat.
As she followed Caitlin, Kim resisted the urge to turn around and stick her tongue out at Holgarth. Barely.
A few minutes later, she emerged from the small dressing room wearing an authentic-looking medieval gown. Well, she assumed it was authentic. What did she know? The important thing was it made her feel like a woman from another age.
She patted her pocket to assure herself Fo was still there. After everything that had happened this week, she was afraid to go anywhere without the detector. But she’d warned Fo to keep quiet while Vic was around.
Vic waited for her. Even dressed in hose and tunic, he looked like a twenty-something guy from today’s Houston.
A woman approached. “The queen wishes to see you.”
Kim looked at Vic. He shrugged, and they followed the woman to the long banquet table where a large woman with many chins and a piercing stare waited. The queen was busy looking queenly. She beckoned imperiously.
When Kim and Vic stood in front of her, the queen looked down her royal nose at them. She did it much better than Holgarth. “You.” She pointed at Vic. “You will take the virgin to Eric the Evil so he will leave this castle in peace.”
Vic blinked. “Eric the Evil?”
“Silence, knave.” The queen looked grumpy. “Eric the Evil is the wicked vampire who plagues my kingdom. He demands a virgin whenever he visits the castle. I realize you have feelings for this virgin.” Her dismissive glance in Kim’s direction said she didn’t mind losing one virgin, because after all, there were so many others cluttering up her kingdom. “But you must sacrifice her for the good of your queen.” She didn’t give Vic a chance to mount an argument. “Go.” She pointed toward one of the darkened doorways.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Vic bowed and turned away.
Ha. Naked Man wouldn’t have meekly led her to her doom. Oops, wrong fantasy. Since Kim didn’t have anything to add to the discussion, she followed Vic.
The winding stone stairway was a lot scarier than Kim had expected. Only one or two wall sconces cast a dim glow, and the upper reaches of the stairs were lost in darkness.
“This is creepy.” Vic’s voice echoed in the darkness.
“No kidding.” Kim wasn’t particularly sensitive to atmosphere, but even she couldn’t miss the miasma of evil and danger drifting down the
stairs and twining around them like invisible fingers.
Kim suspected Eric waited at the top of the stairs, smiling as he created their sense of impending doom. She’d already experienced his awesome ability to mess with her mind. But even knowing this, she still wanted to turn around and race back down to the hustle and bustle of the great hall.
Vic clasped her hand as they climbed higher. His palm was sweaty. “I can’t figure out why I’m afraid to meet this Eric the Evil guy. He’s just a hired actor playing a role. Shows the power of suggestion on the human mind.” His laugh seemed overloud in the darkened stairwell.
No, it shows the power of the nonhuman mind.
They reached the top of the stairs and stood peering into the gloom. A low, evil chuckle slid around them. Chills slithered along Kim’s spine. Vic dropped her hand.
“Who’s there?” Vic sounded like he wasn’t too sure he wanted to know.
“Eric the Evil. ‘Tis a bonny virgin you’ve brought me.” The deep voice was rife with dangerous undertones.
A Scottish burr? Nice touch. “Um, I don’t think you’ll be too happy with me, Mr. Evil. I, er, giggle a lot even thinking about a naked man with all his dangly parts. And the one time someone told me how a man and a woman do it, I had hiccups for three days. You wouldn’t want my mouth near your most precious body part while I had the hiccups. I mean, think about what could happen if I hiccuped right when my teeth were near . . . Uh, that would be a definite owie.”
“Silence, woman.” Eric sounded fierce enough, but Kim could hear the laughter in his voice.
“You can’t have her. She’s mine.” Vic seemed definite about that.
“Take that, O Evil One.” Maybe she should get more into her role. Were virgins meek ninnies back then? She didn’t do a meek ninny well. Perhaps she should try a few terrified sobs. Nah.
“You wish to defy me, puny human male?” Eric injected just the right amount of amazement and contempt into his voice.
“You bet.” Vic sounded fierce now. “Give me a weapon, and I’ll take you on.”
“Foolish man.” Eric’s voice was a whisper of menace.
Slowly he emerged from the darkness, and as if on cue, several wall sconces flickered to life. The play of light and shadow against the stone walls added to the implied threat.
Eric paused when he finally reached them. And even though Kim knew him, she had to swallow her frightened gasp. He was dressed as an ancient Highlander, and he was in his vampire form. Wild black hair framed a face filled with savage bloodlust. He moved into their personal space, using his size and bulk to intimidate. Kim didn’t know about Vic, but she for one was damned intimidated.
He hissed at Vic and bared his fangs. “You dare try to keep this virgin from me?”
For a moment, Kim thought Vic was going to say the virgin was on her own and race down the stairs, but then he took a deep breath and met Eric’s gaze, not an easy thing to do. “You can’t have her.”
Smoothly and with an ease that spoke of centuries of practice, Eric drew his sword from its scabbard. “You’ll not only be without the virgin but your head as well. If I hadn’t just fed I’d simply rip your throat out and have done with it.”
Before Vic could voice his reply, assuming he could think of anything meaningful to say like, “Hand me my gun, virgin,” there was shouting and a loud clattering on the stairs.
“Hold fast! We come to rescue you.” The sound of footsteps grew nearer.
Eric sneered at them. “The prince and his faithful warrior race to save you, but they’ll not have you.” He curled his fingers into talons and showed more fang.
Brynn and Conall reached the top of the stairs on cue and rushed toward them.
“I’m Prince Brynn, fair maiden. Sir Conall and I will save you and your brave companion from the dark one.”
Someone needed to work on the dialogue for these guys. “I can never repay you, Prince Brynn. My virginity is safe.” She fluttered her eyelashes to demonstrate that although she valued her virginity, she might be convinced to lose it if he crooked his little finger, or any other appropriate body part.
Brynn’s eyes gleamed with his attempt not to laugh, and Kim was reminded of how absolutely spectacular-looking he was. He’d tied his hair back with a strip of leather and once again wore his long white robe edged in gold.
“I will carry you to safety, beauteous maid Kim, while Sir Conall and your companion, Sir Vic, vanquish the forces of evil.” He cast Sir Vic a glance to see how he was taking the news that he’d be staying behind.
Vic’s eyes lit up. He clapped Sir Conall—who was looking pretty impressive in his hose, tunic, and ankle boots—on the back. “I did some fencing in college. Let’s get this bastard.” He turned to Brynn. “Loan me your sword.”
Eric’s eyes widened as Brynn grinned. He handed Vic his sword and then scooped Kim up in his arms. Instead of carrying her down the steps, he strode across the landing to another stairway winding upwards.
A short time later, they emerged on the curtain wall’s walkway. He put her down, and together they gazed over the battlements. There was a moon out tonight, and she could see the moonlight shining on the dark waters of the Gulf. “This is beautiful, Brynn.”
His grin was quick and mischievous. It tugged at her heart. She’d bet there weren’t many times in his existence when his smile could’ve been described as mischievous. Had she done this for him? She fervently hoped so.
“Yeah, this is a great view, but that’s not why I brought you up here.” Brynn leaned over the battlements to stare toward the ground. He frowned. “What the . . . ? There was supposed to be a rope ladder here.”
Kim blinked. “A rope ladder?” She’d expected and definitely looked forward to a sensual interlude up here, but a ladder?
Eyes narrowed, he looked around. “I put a rope ladder here so we could climb down and escape to the future.”
“Run that past me again?” Not much surprised her anymore at the Castle of Dark Dreams where the bizarre was normal.
“I wanted us to spend time in our own spaceship. A great fantasy. We’d battle alien ships and then relax while we watched the stars for a while. All alone, just us.” His grin returned. “I don’t think we’d spend much time battling alien bad guys.” He glanced away. “Of course, I’d give you the option of staying here to be with Vic when his fantasy ended.”
“I’d love to explore the universe with you.” Kim knew her voice was soft with all the feelings she couldn’t express aloud. “But Vic would be hurt if I just took off and left him here.” She stared out at the Gulf. “Why the rope ladder when all we had to do was go down the stairs and out the castle doors?”
Brynn didn’t look repentant about Vic. “Eric and Conall helped me come up with a few additions to his fantasy that’ll keep him busy for a while. And I got a sub to take over my part in the fantasies until I returned.”
Kim’s heart did its usual hop and skip as he smiled. “Climbing down the wall would be an adventure. Using a door is what Ordinary Guy would do. It’s logical. What’s between us hasn’t been ordinary or logical from the beginning.”
Kim moved closer to him as a light breeze lifted her hair from her shoulders. “Hmm. Am I right in guessing there’re no beds in this spaceship?”
He widened his eyes. “Now that you mention it, I don’t think there are.”
“And I suppose it never occurred to you that if lust for your body overcame me, I’d have to drag you onto the floor.” She reached up to release his hair from the leather tie and then ran her fingers through the freed strands.
Brynn shook his head in disgust. “Busted.”
She drew in a deep breath of courage. Time for a few truths. “Maybe it’s past time we did away with the fantasies between us.”
His gaze sharpened, but he didn’t say anything.
Please let her find the right words to make him understand. “I want to make love with you in my bed. No special effects. No imaginary world. Just the tw
o of us together in the real world.”
“But I’m not part of your ‘real world.’ I’ve never been part of it.”
The earlier happiness was gone from his voice, and she mourned its loss. “Maybe I want you to be part of it.” Okay, treading on dangerous ground here. “I want to wake up with you in our bed. I want to be part of your days, your nights.” Plural. She hoped he noticed the plural. Kim knew she couldn’t get much more direct than that unless she uttered the L word. And she still didn’t have the courage for that, because his rejection would hurt too much.
He smoothed her hair away from her face. “How would you handle your conscience long-term, Kim? I’m not sure what I am anymore, but if I’m a demon, you’d have to deny your duty every day for the rest of your life.”
For the rest of your life. That sounded promising, didn’t it? “What you are is a beautiful man, inside and out, no matter what label the world wants to give you.”
“Thank you.” Bending down, he covered her mouth in a deep kiss that for the time it existed pushed away all the things they hadn’t said to each other, maybe would never be able to say. Like how could she grow old and die while he looked forever as he did at this moment? Would the compulsion ever return? How would they handle never knowing who or what he truly was? And what about children? Did he want any? Could he love an adopted child? And why the hell am I worrying about children when he hasn’t said he loves me?
Kim didn’t know how any of this would end, but she could make one concession. “I’d like to do the spaceship fantasy with you before I leave. After we kick some alien butt, we can make love in a galaxy far, far away.” If she had to walk away once her job here was finished, she didn’t want to look back on a missed chance to make love with him, in or out of a bed.
