His mouth, warm from the heat of her body, slid down her neck, planting kisses down the corded tendon. Nix moaned again, head tilting without her permission, giving him unhindered access to her throat.
He felt so good against her, so right. As much as she’d tried to deny her feelings, there was still something here. For both of them, she thought.
“As hot as I remember,” Tobias muttered against her skin. His tongue swiped a hot path over the pulse pounding in her throat. “If only you weren’t…”
She stiffened and shoved at him. She had a feeling she knew what he’d been about to say, but regardless the fact that she was something he wished she wasn’t was enough. Too much. “Get away from me, fang boy.” She was half demon. She couldn’t change her parentage any more than he could. She bent to grab her purse.
“Nix—”
She shot upright at the same time he bent forward, almost knocking him in the chin with the top of her head. Only his fast reflexes saved him. She tossed the bag through the open window of her car, not caring when it bounced from the passenger seat onto the floor, spilling most of its contents. “What is this, Tobias? Play with Nix week? You come blowing back in town, the big, bad hero riding in to save the day, and what? Just need to get your rocks off a little bit for old times’ sake?”
“Honey—”
“Don’t call me that!” Her horn buds burst from beneath her skin. She gave a raspy groan at the agony. Pain radiated through her skull, setting up an echo behind her eyes that she knew were now mostly yellow. She doubled up her fists against the desire to beat the hell out of him, but she couldn’t lose control of her demon side. She wouldn’t. The torturous ache rode across her shoulder blades and up the back of her neck as her muscles tightened with tension and rage. She took a deep, calming breath and promised herself an extra long tai chi workout once she got home. “I’m going to make my report to the council, then I’ll go see my mother. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your word and not say anything about the demon scent until after I talk to her.”
His lips thinned but he didn’t say anything. When she yanked open the car door and nearly nailed him in the gonads, he backed away with a mumbled oath.
She smiled sweetly at him through the pain that now rode around and around her skull. The best thing to do to alleviate the burn was to go completely demon. But every time she did that she ran the risk of losing her humanity, of losing her mind. She’d let Finn bring it out in her at the club, she’d been so frustrated and angry. She wasn’t going to let go again. She had to prove that she could be around Tobias without ill effects. Prove that the inherent darkness of his nature didn’t call to her, making her already volatile temper and demon tendencies that much harder to control. Prove it to him, to herself.
Nix got in the car, strapped herself in, and drove off. This time she refused to look in the rearview mirror. She didn’t care if he was all alone. He deserved it.
She used the ten-minute drive to the council headquarters to rein in her anger, to drive the demon deep inside where it belonged. Making her report was going to be challenging, it always was, and it wouldn’t help her to start off by being all hyped up.
For once when she arrived at the council building she was brought in right away. She made the customary greeting to Deoul, Caladh, and Braithwaite.
“Give us your report.” As always, Deoul was curt.
“Unknown victim, probably male vampire, was killed in a vacant lot off of Camelback. He was… Well, the only way to describe it is savaged. Not much of him was left in one piece.” Nix kept her gaze steady on the council members.
“That’s all you have?” Braithwaite leaned an elbow on the table and propped his chin on his fist. “What about sounds? Scents?”
Her heart pitter-pattered. “As with the other scenes, there was nothing out of the ordinary.” That demon scent could have been laid down up to forty-eight hours before the crime occurred. Without proof demons were involved, she didn’t feel any obligation to point fingers.
“I see.” Braithwaite stared at her. “You’re sure of that?”
She kept her face straight with an effort. What was he getting at? Did he know? And, if so, how? “I have nothing more to report about this latest killing.”
Caladh spritzed his face with the ever-present spray bottle. “What have you discovered on the other cases?”
This she could answer truthfully. “We’ve spoken to Pickett’s business partner. There’s nothing there,” she said. “But we’re sure one of Amarinda’s co-workers—her boss, actually—knows more than he’s saying. We’re planning on heading back down to Tucson tomorrow to talk to him.”
“Why not go today? What if this boss takes off?” Deoul swept his hair behind his ears and turned his glare on Nix.
“Tobias has someone keeping an eye on him. A private investigator.” Keeping in mind her body language, she fought the urge to cross her arms. She’d either come off as insecure or as trying to hold in anger. Either way it would shut down any slack the council members might otherwise afford her. “He won’t go anywhere without us knowing about it.”
“We’d like you to get down there as soon as possible,” Caladh said.
“We will.” Nix waited for more questions.
“That will be all for now,” Deoul said. “You may go.”
“As you wish,” she said slowly, and turned to leave the room. That had to have been the shortest report she’d ever made. Ever been allowed to make.
As she reached the double doors she glanced over her shoulder to see the three council members in a huddle. When Deoul saw her watching them, he motioned to the guard, who took her by the arm and ushered her out. “I’m going, I’m going,” she snarled, shaking him off her.
She went out to her car, knowing there was no way to put off seeing her mother any longer. Best to get it over with. She’d stop by one of Maldonado’s clubs on the way and pick up a bottle of wine. That always seemed to put her mother in a good mood. Well, as good a mood as she ever got.
Tobias stayed in his car and watched Nix drive away from the council building. He’d been instructed to wait until she left and though it didn’t sit well with him, orders were orders. He got out of the Jag and walked into the main chamber.
Deoul sat behind the table looking over some paperwork, but Caladh and Braithwaite stood at the far end of the table.
“Tobias!” Caladh walked over and clasped his hands. “Terrible business this is. Another murder.”
“Caladh, there are protocols,” Deoul called out.
“Protocols-shmotocols.” The selkie heaved a sigh and motioned Tobias forward. “No one but you wants our liaisons to do all that bowing and scraping, Deoul.” To Tobias he whispered, “I suppose to keep the old elf happy you should go through the motions. We wouldn’t want to make his foul mood any worse than it already is.” He winked and walked around the table to take his seat.
“Oh, forget it.” Deoul looked at Caladh and then Braithwaite, who quickly hid his grin behind his hand. Deoul put his gaze back on Tobias. “What’s your report?”
“This latest crime scene was pure carnage.” Tobias clasped his hands behind his back. “The victim was ripped into pieces. There was just enough of him left to let us know he was a vampire.”
“No ID on the body?” Braithwaite asked.
Tobias shook his head. “The killers have escalated their violence with each kill. But I don’t know if that’s why this third victim was savaged or if they wanted to obscure his identity.”
Braithwaite glanced at the other two members and then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the shiny surface of the mahogany table. “What’s your opinion at this point about the suspects? Are they human or pret?”
“With this latest victim I’m positive the killers aren’t human. There would have been evidence at the scene if the suspects are human.” Remembering the scene, he tightened his lips. “A vampire would have gotten a few strikes in, at the very least. There would have be
en human blood spilled there, and there wasn’t. In my expert opinion, prets are behind these deaths.”
Deoul nodded. “That’s the conclusion we had come to as well. With that said, there’s no reason for us to have a human liaison involved, is there?”
“You want to remove Nix from the case?” Tobias rocked forward and let his hands drop to his sides.
“Do you believe she can still provide value to the investigation?” Caladh asked. His tone suggested he would be amenable to the idea.
“Yes, I do.” As much as Tobias thought his being around Nix wasn’t good for her, he still had a job to do. She seemed to be better at keeping herself under control and he had to trust that she would tell him if she started having trouble.
“Well, then—” Caladh started, only to be interrupted by the vampire member of the Council of Three.
“What about the demon scent that’s been present at the sites?” Braithwaite asked.
Tobias hesitated. There was no way in hell Nix would have told them about that in her report. Not after she’d reamed him a new one over it. “Demon scent?” he asked, stalling for time. Where had they heard about it?
“Word has come to us that there has been a distinct scent of demon at each of the crime scenes.” Braithwaite pinned him with a penetrating stare. Or tried to. It might have worked better if Tobias wasn’t a vampire. “Are you saying the report isn’t true?”
“I wasn’t at the first scene, so I can’t comment on that. And as far as there being a distinct scent…” Here was a fine line. If the right question was asked he would answer truthfully. But Braithwaite hadn’t asked the right question. Tobias said, “There was not a distinct scent of demon, no.”
Unfortunately, Braithwaite was smarter than he looked. “But there was a scent of demon there.”
Tobias wasn’t going to lie. “Yes. But—”
“Then to keep Nix on the case would be irresponsible of us.” Deoul’s smile reminded Tobias of a Cheshire cat’s. “She’s part demon. It could be someone she knows.”
“All the more reason to remove her.” Braithwaite shared a glance with Deoul.
Brown-noser.
“So if we determined that it was a vampire doing these killings, would you also then remove me?” Tobias folded his arms over his chest and waited for their answer.
Of course they had none. Braithwaite sputtered and Deoul narrowed his eyes. Caladh offered, “Perhaps we should wait and see—”
“No!” Deoul stood and planted his hands on the table. “She made no mention of demon scent in her report. She’s obviously covering up the fact that some of her people may be involved.”
“Her people are also human. Besides, there’s no evidence yet that demons are involved.” Tobias scowled. “If she’d come in here and told you she smelled demons yet had no evidence, you would’ve ridden her up one side and down the other.”
Deoul slowly straightened, his face rigid. “Watch yourself, Tobias. You, too, can be replaced.”
Caladh sighed. “Now, gentlemen, let’s get ourselves under control, shall we? I call for a vote. Those in favor of keeping Nix on the case?” He raised his hand.
So did Tobias.
“Those in favor of removing Nix from the case?”
Deoul and Braithwaite raised their hands.
“Unfortunately, Tobias, your vote doesn’t count.” Caladh seemed genuinely dismayed over the turn of events.
“And you will not say anything to Nix about this,” Deoul cautioned Tobias. “We’ll tell her.”
“For the record, I disagree with this decision.” Tobias shoved his hands in his pockets and shot a glance at Caladh, who raised his brawny shoulders in a shrug.
“So noted.” Deoul sat back in his chair. “Now, something else.” He exchanged glances with the other members of the council. Caladh gave a slow nod, and Deoul said to Tobias, “We have our suspicions that there is an underground movement within the pret community, a group that means at the very least to stir up trouble of some sort.” He looked at Caladh and Braithwaite again. “I’m sorry to say we don’t know anything more specific than that. We’d like you to keep your ear to the ground and let us know if you hear anything.” He paused and then lifted his hand to make a shooing motion. “You may go.”
Tobias clenched his jaw. Giving an abrupt bow he left the room. Damn it to hell. He’d known Deoul had a thing about demons, yet he’d hoped Braithwaite would be a voice of reason. But apparently Braithwaite would be nothing more than the council president’s puppet.
Nix was going to be furious. And he knew she’d blame him. But he believed in the chain of command, not some musketeers mentality. He wouldn’t lie. And she’d be off the case.
Chapter Ten
Early in the afternoon Nix turned into her mother’s neighborhood. House after house with Spanish tile roofs lined the street like soldiers standing at attention. Neat, clean, one looking much like another. Before she reached her mom’s street she pulled over to the curb. She needed to calm her nerves or she’d end up mouthing off and not getting anywhere. Not that she felt like she owed Betty that much respect, but she did need her mother’s cooperation.
As always, whenever she thought of her mom, Nix’s thoughts turned to the father she’d never known. Her mother had fallen in love with Arturo de la Fuente, a Mexican American professor at the University of Phoenix. Betty had moved in to Arturo’s apartment two months after they met, and nine months after that along came baby Nix. They made a happy home for about six months after Nix’s birth. But eventually the trappings of human life and the responsibilities of motherhood had grated on Betty and she’d taken off, leaving her infant daughter behind. Nix’s father moved them in with his mother so she could watch the baby while he was at work. For a time they managed to be a cohesive family unit.
Then Betty blew back into town. Seemed she’d missed her husband. And Arturo was so blindly in love with Betty that he’d taken her back. They’d had an intimate reunion that had caused Betty to lose control and siphon off all of his life energy during sex, killing him. Unable to face what she’d done, she left once again, leaving Nix with a bitter old woman who’d lost her only son and was saddled with demon-spawn.
Nix had tried and tried to please her grandmother. She’d studied hard and received straight As in school. She’d comported herself modestly, as a good girl should. She’d even learned to sew so she could make her grandmother pretty things.
Nix had a lot of memories of the hard times of childhood, but one played over and over in her brain now. One night the then ten-year-old Nix had stayed up until two in the morning putting the finishing touches on a dress for her grandmother’s sixtieth birthday. She’d presented her grandmother with a perfectly wrapped box, proud of her accomplishments. Her grandmother had looked at Nix, stood up and walked to the trash can where she dumped the unopened box.
Things had continued to go downhill from there. Within three years Nix was spending most of her time hanging out on the streets, being a general nuisance and a youthful hooligan. She’d become an expert pickpocket and shoplifter. She stole sometimes out of necessity because her grandmother was on welfare and there wasn’t a lot of money to go around, but sometimes she stole for the thrill of it.
Her grandmother died when Nix was sixteen, and after a short stay with a foster family Nix went back to the streets. Her mother was a stranger who flitted on the outskirts of her life. Puberty had brought out the demon and Nix didn’t want to go live with human families who wouldn’t understand what she was. Besides, her friends were her family. They would take care of her.
And they had. For a while. But one by one they’d left, either off to better lives, prison, or death. Nix had been alone. Until she’d met Tobias. A dark, lonely life became bright and fulfilling. She’d learned to love without fear of being hurt.
Shortly after Nix and Tobias started dating, her mother couldn’t ignore her guilt any longer and had come to Nix, telling her she could help her understand her demon s
ide and what it was capable of. Nix hadn’t been interested. She’d gotten along just fine without her mother all those years.
But something inside her had told her to not give up the chance to get to know the woman who’d given birth to her. So she’d pushed back her stubborn pride and allowed Betty back in her life. The two were slowly getting to know each other as people. Maybe someday they actually would relate as a mother and daughter should.
Life had been good. So good that when she let herself think about it she’d gotten scared, waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it did, it dropped with a thud that smashed her heart.
For now… Nix blew out a breath. After Tobias had left her she’d thrown herself into her work, first as a unit clerk in a hospital and then as a dispatcher at the Scottsdale Police Department. Then after prets had been outed she’d landed the job as a liaison to the preternatural council. She’d worked hard to prove she wasn’t that light-fingered little thief anymore, tried to demonstrate her professional abilities and show she was more than her demon. Yet it seemed that the council wanted to keep her at the bottom of the pile, letting her be nothing more than the DNA her mother had given her. And if she wanted to solve these killings, if she wanted to be able to go to the council with something, she had to talk to Betty.
A couple of deep breaths, and she pulled away from the curb. A few minutes later she sat on the leather sofa in her mother’s ultramodern living room and accepted a glass of iced tea. Several candles burned on the console table behind the sofa, permeating the room with the scent of cinnamon and apples.
“Are you sure you don’t want wine instead?” Betty asked as she sat down in a matching armchair across from Nix. She crossed her slender legs and idly swung one bare foot in the air. “That bottle you brought me has enough for at least two.”
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