by Nina Bangs
Eric smiled. Beautiful and threatening at the same time. “Yeah. I want to welcome him back to the land of the living, and then I want to knock him through that wall.”
“Gee, I bet he’ll be glad to have an old friend around.” She returned Eric’s smile. “Try to hurt him and I’ll do my best to send you to that great blood bank in the sky.” Cinn was too tired to worry about how Eric might take her threat.
Eric took a moment to study her and then nodded. “Fair enough. Now after you tell me who you are, tell me all you know about what Dacian’s been doing for the last two hundred years.”
Chapter Eight
Dacian had the sense that he hadn’t been out of it too long this time. And there wasn’t as much disorientation. Both good things. He had the feeling Cinn had something to do with that. Because as he fought free of the rage and the memory loss that went with it, all he could think about was getting back to her.
As usual, along with his returning awareness came caution. He didn’t say anything, didn’t give a hint he was now back in his mind. He looked and listened.
What he saw and heard shocked him. He was back in the dungeon and in chains. All expected. It meant he probably hadn’t killed anyone. But the sight of Cinn and Eric talking to each other was a kick in the gut. What was she telling Eric about him? What was Eric telling her about him? Of the two, what Eric was saying worried him the most. Eric knew what he’d done during the first few years of his rampages, before he’d decided to fake his own death and cut himself off from everyone and everything he’d ever cared about. Cinn already thought of him as a monster; she didn’t need proof that her conclusion was right.
Eric glanced at him from where he sat beside Cinn on the dungeon’s examining table. Dacian couldn’t help his sudden stab of jealousy. He didn’t want Eric anywhere near Cinn. And telling himself that he had no right to such feelings didn’t mean a thing to his primal instincts.
Eric’s casual glance sharpened. “Welcome back, Dacian. If you weren’t in chains, I’d tear your freaking head off. I’ll save that treat until you can fight back.”
Cinn turned wide eyes his way. Then she smiled. He thought he’d fight his way out of the fires of hell just to see her smile at him that way.
“Are you okay? You were only out for about an hour this time. That has to be a good sign.” She hopped off the table and came toward him.
Eric followed her and put his hand on her arm. Dacian hissed. He wanted to rip the other vampire’s arm off.
Eric looked surprised, and then he smiled knowingly. “I see.” He turned his attention back to Cinn. “Don’t get too close until we’re sure he’s completely back.”
“I’ll never be more back, asshole.” Not the best way to greet an old friend, especially one who was already pissed at you. But Dacian didn’t seem to have any common sense when Cinn was involved.
Cinn glanced up at Eric, and Dacian hated that she looked to the other vampire for guidance. At least this time he was able to keep his mouth shut.
Eric nodded. “I think it’s okay to let him loose.” He concentrated on Dacian’s chains, and they fell away.
Show-off. Dacian hated the awed expression on Cinn’s face.
Eric must’ve sensed what Dacian was feeling, because he moved away from Cinn and leaned against the iron maiden. “I brought my wife with me. After I beat your ass, maybe I’ll introduce you.”
Dacian dropped his gaze as he made a big production of rubbing his chafed wrists. He shouldn’t feel so relieved.
He took a quick survey of himself. Ripped and bloody clothes, but at least he still had them. Then he raised his gaze to the man he’d once called friend. “I need a shower and change. So do you. What room are you in?”
“The one next to yours.” Eric stilled as if sensing something no one else could. “Dawn isn’t far away. You’ll have to talk fast.” Then he held open the dungeon door as they all left.
Holgarth met them outside the door. “The fantasies are finished, and the hotel guests are all happily asleep, so I thought I’d check to see if our resident bloodthirsty vampire had regained his sanity.” He treated Dacian to a dismissive sniff. “I see he has.”
Eric laughed. “Still the same old fun guy, Holgarth. God, how I missed your sarcasm and biting insults.”
Holgarth almost smiled. Almost. “Ah, yes. I still remember fondly those wonderful moments of joyful mayhem you brought to the castle.”
Dacian left Eric laughing as he pulled Cinn into his room. She collapsed onto a chair.
“Why don’t you take a nap on my bed while I work things out with Eric? I’m meeting him in his room. You don’t have to be there.” He didn’t want her to be there. He didn’t want her to hear his transgressions paraded past her in living bloody color.
“I’m coming with you.” She looked adamant. “I’ll sleep after you go down for the count. I don’t have to meet Sparkle until noon.”
Dacian didn’t try to change her mind. He needed all his remaining energy to face the man he’d once called friend. He didn’t linger in the bathroom. A short time later he emerged to find Cinn fast asleep in the chair. He thought maybe he could sneak past her, but she woke just as he touched the doorknob.
“I sleep lightly, vampire. I’m tuned in to you, so don’t think you can leave without me.”
Her smile was sleepy and so sexy he wanted to forget about Eric and drag her into his bed. Dacian tried to push aside images of her riding his cock until time stopped.He was only partially successful.
Eric answered on the first knock. He swung the door open and allowed Dacian and Cinn to enter the room ahead of him. A woman waited to greet them. She had blonde shoulder-length hair and big brown eyes. Eric always had attracted beautiful women. Dacian’s senses told him she hadn’t been vampire for long.
Eric closed the door and went to stand by the woman. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. Dacian wished he had the right to do that with Cinn, but he didn’t. He tried to strengthen the wall around his heart. Probably never would have the right. But that was okay. He’d been alone for a long time. You got used to it.
“This is my wife, Donna. We met here at the castle. She was doing a talk show. Still is. She’s the hostess of Donna till Dawn.” Eric didn’t try to hide his pride in his wife.
“Donna, this is Dacian. He’s the cause of all the trouble Taurin gave us.” The glance he threw Dacian wasn’t friendly. “And this is Cinn. Nice lady. Way too good for Dacian.”
Donna made a big deal about wincing, and then smiled. She offered her hand to Cinn and then to Dacian.
Dacian didn’t miss the searching glance she sent his way. “Since dawn is only about a half hour away, maybe we’d better get things moving.”
Eric sat on the couch with Donna. Dacian and Cinn sat in chairs opposite each other.
“You guys can get to know me anytime. I think it’s important that Eric and Dacian work things out first.” Cinn leaned back and prepared to listen.
“Yeah, let’s hear your story, pal.” Eric heaved the ball directly into his lap. Crap. Dacian thought about making up some convoluted tale, but in the end he decided everyone needed to know the truth. He didn’t want to stare into Eric’s eyes while he confessed everything, so he looked at Cinn. And surprisingly, he realized it was most important to him that she understand and possibly forgive what he’d done.
She met his gaze, no judgment in her eyes. She’d listen with an open mind. A gift he wouldn’t waste.
“You guys know bits and pieces of the story. I’ll make this short.” He spoke to everyone, but his attention stayed fixed on Cinn. “Six hundred years ago, Stephan made me. No, he didn’t ask my permission. And no, it wasn’t to save my life. A woman I thought I loved lured me into an alley where Stephan was waiting. After draining me, he thought it’d be fun to make a new vampire who’d worship at his undead feet. So I was born. He wasn’t much older than me. I was his first creation, and his most powerful.”
Eric interrup
ted. “What’s this Stephan’s last name?”
Dacian shrugged. “He’s always had a god complex. Gods don’t need last names. Anyway, two hundred years ago he decided he was powerful enough to pull all of the night feeders together under one banner. His. Alone, night feeders aren’t much of a threat to other nonhumans, but an army of them could do some damage. Stephan is the only night feeder to survive this long, and he’s ruthless. That gives him street cred with all the others. I’m almost as old as Stephan, and for two hundred years he’s built his army at the same time he’s tried to call me home. He says he needs my power by his side.”
“And you won’t go.” Eric looked thoughtful. “Cinn told me what happened when you refused him.”
“Yeah.” Dacian raked his fingers through his hair. “At first I didn’t know what was happening. Literally. And then I found out I killed people while my mind was out to lunch.”
“Including some of the Mackenzies.” Eric didn’t sound mad about that.
“The Mackenzies had always been enemies of the night feeders, so my instinct was to kill them. I didn’t recognize friend or foe.” Dacian remembered Sean Mackenzie. If not a friend, at least someone he had known as a good man. Once again, he revisited his agony from when he’d found out he’d killed Sean.
“So you used our own plan against us.” Eric shook his head in self-disgust.
“You and your friends had captured Taurin and stashed him in the warehouse as bait to draw me in.” He shrugged. “I found out and decided it was a great opportunity to fake my death so I could go somewhere where no one would ever be in danger from me again. I can control fire, so I went in and set the warehouse ablaze. As far as you were concerned, I never came out.”
“But you made sure Taurin and I got out.” Eric had one more question. “How’d you escape?”
“The Mackenzies never thought a night feeder could gain much power. Your mistake. I can dematerialize, as long as I’m not in one of my rages.”
“I can’t believe I was that stupid. So why’d you decide to come out of hiding now?”
“My informant said that Stephan knew Taurin’s location and was going to kill him to punish me.”
Eric nodded. “I guess there’s only one thing left to do.”
He stood, and before anyone could move, he reached Dacian, dragged him to his feet, and punched him in the stomach. “That’s for being a dumbass for two hundred years and not trusting your brother and me to find a way to help you.”
Dacian was doubled over clutching his stomach, so he didn’t see the exact moment Cinn brought the lamp down on Eric’s head.
Eric turned to stare at her. He would’ve worn the same expression if a rabbit had hopped up and bitten his nose. “Ouch?”
Donna covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter.
Cinn glared at Eric. “I warned you.”
Dacian’s stomach had recovered from the blow, but now he was doubled over, laughing. How many centuries had it been since he’d felt like laughing? He couldn’t remember.
Eric was still rubbing his head as he glanced toward the ceiling, toward the sky he couldn’t see. “Dawn. We’ll discuss this when we rise.”
Dacian nodded. “I have to get Cinn to her room.”
Cinn didn’t want to be gotten to her room. She wanted to stay with him. An amazing development after seeing him in full vampire mode.
They’d only reached the top of the steps when Bain met them. “Hey, I’ve been given a chance to redeem myself. Lucky me. I get to guard you and your plants for the day. No sleeping on the job this time.” His narrowed eyes said he wasn’t feeling as lighthearted as he sounded.
Dacian handed her over to Bain without comment and headed back down the stairs. Cinn thought it would’ve been nice if he’d said a little something about how he was going to miss her. But of course, he wouldn’t. He’d be…sleeping. She preferred that word rather than the oh-so-scary dead.
When Bain and Cinn reached her door, she didn’t invite him in. “I’ll only be a few minutes.” And she made sure she kept her promise. No way did she want to step out of her bathroom or turn around while she wore only her bra and panties to find that Bain had beamed himself in because he’d gotten tired of waiting.
Once she left her room, they went out to the greenhouse. Wade waited for her.
Cinn was horrified. “You haven’t been guarding the plants all this time, have you?”
Wade’s gaze never left her. He didn’t bother answering her question. “I can’t think of anything but you. I tried looking over the Bass Pro Shop Catalogue and all I could see was you on every page.”
She ignored Bain’s snort. Okay, this was getting too weird. She didn’t know how demons’ minds worked, but a male mind was a male mind. And she’d never attracted this kind of mindless adoration. Didn’t want to attract it. “You don’t even know me, Wade.”
Wade looked outraged. “Sure I know you. I know you’re the sweetest, and most loving, and most beautiful, and—”
“No. I’m not any of those things.” She racked her mind for an explanation. “When did you first realize how you felt about me?”
“I fell in love over that pretty little rosebush. You put your hand on mine, and it was like a hundred-pound catfish hitting the end of my line.”
Cinn thought back. She’d touched the rose bloom, then she’d touched Wade’s hand. No. She drew in a horrified breath. Oh no, no, no. She tried to keep what she was feeling from her voice. “Well, if you really care for me, you’ll make me feel good by going and getting some sleep.”
Wade looked as though he didn’t know how to argue with her reasoning. “Okay, but don’t tell me he’s going to guard you.” He glared at Bain.
Uh-oh. She hoped her smile looked reassuring. “He’ll keep me and the plants safe. Don’t worry. Go get some sleep.” Please, please, please don’t give me a hard time.
Suddenly, the good-old-boy demon was gone. Wade’s eyes changed. Was that red creeping into them? “Let me give you a little lesson in demons, Miss Cinn. I’m a Eudemon. We’re a pretty laid-back lot. We don’t go around causing trouble as long as we’re having fun. Only time we give humans problems is when we’re bored. A bored demon is not a good thing for mankind.” He paused to let that sink in.
“Then there’re the Cacodemons. They’re the ones humans have to worry about. They go around looking for trouble to cause. They’re the ones humans have named evil and spawn of the devil.” He nodded toward Bain. “He’s one of those kind. You won’t be safe with him.”
Wade’s words made Cinn feel kind of creepy. She slid a sideways glance at Bain. He winked at her.
She sighed. “Look, Wade, I’m tired. I’m glad you told me about the two classes of demons, but right now I need sleep. No matter what you think Bain is, I don’t believe Sparkle or Ganymede would allow him to stay here if he were that evil.” She looked at Bain for confirmation. “You’re not evil, are you?”
“I’m very evil.” He grinned at her, as gorgeous a smile as a man could produce.
“Not the right answer,” she muttered through clenched teeth.
“But since I know Ganymede will kick my ass if I indulge myself, I suppose you’re safe for now.” His tone said not to count out any time in the future.
“Thank you.” I think.
Wade looked torn, but finally he moved away from the door. He offered Bain one more glare before finally walking toward the courtyard.
Cinn waited until Wade was out of sight before turning on Bain. “You weren’t much help.”
He shrugged. “You wanted the truth.”
“Do you think you can guard the greenhouse from outside?” Exhaustion was making her sway on her feet.
“Nope. I can handle some direct sunlight, but I burn easily.” He put a hand over his heart, thought a minute, and then moved the hand to the other side of his chest. “Demon physiology is a little different from a human’s.”
Cinn didn’t have the energy to fight with
him. She’d just have to believe that no harm would come to her in the few hours she had to sleep. When she woke she’d have to think about Wade. And what would she do with Eva, her pretty little rosebush with the passionate punch? Cinn staggered into the greenhouse and fell onto the cot.
She woke to someone clasping her shoulder and shaking her.
“Time to go shopping. And don’t think you can escape by pretending to be asleep.” Sparkle sounded nothing if not determined. “I refuse to suffer alone. Drat. I broke another nail trying to wake you up. Luckily for you I’m not the same shallow person I once was or I might be really upset.”
Cinn groaned. She had a feeling that putting her hands over her ears wouldn’t do any good. She opened her eyes and blinked.
Sparkle leaned over her. When she saw Cinn open her eyes, she smiled. “Good. Get up, run up to your room, and change. I brought coffee you can drink on the way.”
“Why do I have to change?” If she hadn’t still been half asleep, she wouldn’t have asked that question.
“Even if we are going to a big-box store”—Sparkle seemed to be suggesting that they were traveling into the bowels of the earth, where they’d encounter prehistoric creatures with exotic names like tyranno-cheap-flats, or bronto-made-in-China-purses—“I refuse to be seen with someone wearing fuzzy slippers.”
Cinn looked down. Oh, yeah.
With Sparkle urging her on, Cinn finally got dressed and stuffed herself into the car.
Sparkle sat clenching the steering wheel with determined ferocity. “Fine, now where’s a discount store?”
Cinn gaped at her. “How would I know? I don’t know anything about Galveston.”
“Well, I’ve never been to a discount store. Where do you think we’ll find one?”
Cinn swallowed all the sarcastic comments that came to mind. “Seawall Boulevard seems to be a busy road. Maybe if we start driving we’ll run into one. If that fails, we’ll stop and ask.”
Sparkle nodded and they started driving. They finally spotted the big store—huge sign, best-known chain in the country—and Sparkle looked surprised. “I never knew this was here. It looks…ordinary.”
