by Amie Gibbons
“Milo.” Quil nodded.
“Do you know what he is?” Milo grinned, pointin’ at Grant.
“I do not. Care to share?”
“No,” Grant said. “That was part of our deal.”
“When?” I asked.
Grant looked at me.
“Oh! While you were inside your heads? Wow. Did he tell you what you were? Because he’s not answerin’ any of my questions.”
“No, he did not tell me what I am. And he would not talk about you either.”
“Well, that’s not completely true,” Milo said, winkin’ at me. “I wouldn’t tell him what I saw in your head, but let’s just say you came up.”
“Zip it,” Grant said. “Ryder, you and Milo will be working together. Find who’s behind this.”
“Yes, sir, but-”
He pulled the door open and the noise drowned me out as he walked into the crowd.
“So,” Milo said, clapping his hands together and shuttin’ the door, “all of us going out will look suspicious. I say we make it look like a romp was going on.”
He ruffled my hair.
“You’re messing up my hair!” I squealed, batting his hands away.
“That’s the point,” Milo said. “It’ll look like we all had some fun in the hall.”
“It would take longer than this,” Quil said.
“And everyone knows I’m with Quil,” I said. “They’ll probably figure we’re working the case.”
“But we don’t want people to know Milo is working with us,” Quil said. “Or that you’re even working this. It’s already bad enough they had to know we were trying to set a trap for the demon. You’re not supposed to be an investigator, you’re supposed to be my date.”
“You’re okay with this?” I asked him. “People thinkin’ Milo and I did something in here?”
“With me,” Quil said.
“It won’t be the first time either of us had a threesome,” Milo said.
“Ummmmm, how much… er, I mean, do you, when there’s a threesome?”
“Neither of us is bi,” Milo said, chucklin’. “When I say threesome, I mean the two of one gender payin’ attention to the one of the other. You know, if we really want to sell this-”
“No,” Quil said with a smirk. “Nice try, but no.”
“No what?” I asked.
“He was suggesting an actual threesome, just to make it believable.”
I blushed.
“Not just for that reason,” Milo said. “I would love to have sex with you, you’re cute.”
Quil rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as Carvi.”
“No I’m not. Carvi would be hitting on both of you and a lot more aggressively.”
Quil made a face. “Good point.”
“His brother likes you?” I asked.
“He has a crush on me.”
“Emphasis on the crush,” Milo said. “I love my brother, but he has issues. Quil is a rare breed of vampire. He has an optimism and sweetness in him and my brother is attracted to that. I wish I could say it was because he wanted to be closer to that feeling, but more often than not, he has a great deal of fun destroying it.”
“And you want me to go down there?” I asked. “He’d eat me alive.”
“Why?”
“You just said he likes to destroy sweetness. If he wants to destroy Quil, I can’t imagine what he’d want to do to me.”
Milo smirked. “Oh, you’re under the impression you’re a sweet little girl, aren’t you?” He laughed. “Remember, I’ve seen inside your head. I’ve seen you kill without remorse. You may be able to fool yourself, but I know you, and you can’t snow the snowman.”
I paled and looked between him and Quil.
“You’ve killed someone?” Quil asked.
“It was in self-defense! She deserved it.”
“That’s very practical,” Milo said. “It’s not sweet.”
“I’m a good person. You saw the situation. What was I supposed to do?”
Milo walked up to me and grabbed my arms, trappin’ me against the wall. “I never said you weren’t a good person, that I disapproved, or wouldn’t have done the same.”
Milo bent down, smelling my neck and pulling me close as he rubbed against me.
I expected Quil to step in.
He didn’t.
“There, that should get some of our smell onto each other,” Milo said, lettin’ me go. “Don’t look so shocked, Ariana, I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already know.”
“You certainly aren’t saying anything useful,” I said.
He met my eyes. “Let me tell you something you don’t know then. In a long term war, I’d rather go up against Quil than you, because you can be vicious, and far crueler than him.”
“No! No, I’m not a mean person.”
“I said cruel, not mean. There’s a difference. You have it in you. And you know it. After all, the female of the species is deadlier than the male.”
Quil snorted. “I think this is enough time.”
“Eh, for a quickie,” Milo said. “Just got to mess up us and our clothes some.” He mussed his hair and tugged his top out of his slacks, unbuttoning a few down then re-buttoning with one off.
He went back in without a word, closing the door and leaving me and Quil alone.
“What was that last thing he said?” I asked.
“Oh, it’s a Kipling poem. Means when push comes to shove, women are more dangerous, probably because they have children they put a lot of resources into to protect.”
“I don’t like the things he was saying.”
“I noticed.”
“You don’t believe him!”
“That you killed someone?”
“No, that… I’m not sweet.”
He smiled and wrapped his arms around me. “What if you aren’t? Why is that so bad?”
My mouth worked. “I… I don’t know, but I’m not a bad person. I swear.”
“I never thought you weren’t a good person. I know you are.” He pulled me into a kiss and I melted into it, lettin’ the world fall away in an all too natural way.
We finally broke and he rested his forehead against mine. “Personally, I find it a little insulting whenever his brother says I’m sweet, it’s almost like he’s saying I’m weak and he could break me.”
“I think it’s a compliment. I don’t think I want either of us around his brother.”
“Yeah.” Quil grabbed the handle. “Shall we?”
“Yeah.”
He opened the door and we rejoined the party.
I hit the dance floor with Milo and no one gave us a second look.
Geez, maybe sharing humans was common for them or something.
“What else did you see about me?” I asked as we started to glide, he was short for a guy and only had about four inches on me, so we moved together nicely.
“I don’t know.” He sighed, looking down at me. “I don’t remember.”
“Bull,” I said.
“What did you see?”
I told him, finishing with, “Killing her like that was despicable. Your turn.”
“Oh, that’s cold.”
“You’re really not one to talk.”
“I’m really not.”
“So spill, what do you know about me? What were you talking about when you said I didn’t know? Know what? Who’s him, and who’s her?”
“Find out. Get into my head. Dig around like I dug around yours.”
“I don’t know how.”
“And imagine if you could only learn that.”
“Your price is too high.”
“I’m open to haggling.”
“What else would you want?”
“From you? Blood. But I think I could work out a trade with Quil if you’re serious about learning without paying for it yourself.”
“I’m fine with paying for myself. I’m not fine with paying with myself.”
He shrugged. “We can sit do
wn with Quil once this is all over. See if we can’t figure out how much juice you have. Me training you will help Quil too, like in investigations such as this.”
I smiled back and nodded.
Finally! I finally had someone who could help me try to figure all this out. I finally met someone like me.
“I think we can work somethin’ out then,” I said. “Can’t you tell me what you saw that you’re not tellin’ me though?”
“You notice your accent gets thicker when you want something?”
“Yes, now come on.”
He pulled back and I actually saw pity in his eyes. “I don’t think I should. I think it would do more harm than good.”
“That’ll be my problem then. Tell me!”
“Did you ever see anything and tell someone what you saw, only to wish you hadn’t later?”
I sighed, finally spitting out, “Yes.”
He gave me a pointed look.
“I need to know though.”
Did anyone ever think the cat died of curiosity, not cuz he went out of his way to satisfy it? Cuz that’s how I always interpreted the story.
“Well, this is one of those times, and I’ve learned my lesson about telling people things that would only hurt them.”
He said it with compassion, but there was something in his eyes that said he was really enjoying my curiosity.
“Bull. You just like me trying to pry it out of you.”
“As funny as your little face is when you turn red like that, I really am not telling you for your own good.”
“Then you shouldn’t have brought it up. You didn’t have to say anything, I never would’ve known, and I wouldn’t be dying of curiosity right now.”
“I didn’t mean to bring it up,” he said. “It slipped out before I could consider what I was saying. And I was going to tell you, but then we were interrupted, and it’s a good thing too, because this is one of those things that I would look back and say, ‘You idiot, why did you tell that beautiful young woman that? Now she’ll be too upset to sleep with you.’”
I jerked back, but he wouldn’t release my hand. “I am not sleeping with you,” I said. “And why would you say something like that anyway? You know I’m with Quil.”
“Oh right,” he said. “You’re with Quil, you’re in love with your boss, so another man in your life would be complicated.”
“I am not in love with him.”
“You of all people know better than to lie to a psychic.”
Duh! I’m psychic. He doesn’t have to tell me anything.
I squeezed his hand tightly and focused on his dark eyes.
“Now that’s more like it.” He grinned that stupid wide grin again and pulled me in close to his body, meeting my gaze. “You’re trying to get a vision, aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“I can help you with that, but for tonight, it should be focused on the job.”
Right.
How selfish was I that I wanted to figure out what he was hiding about me when we had a killer to find?
“Good point. How do I do this?”
“Close your eyes.”
I did.
He leaned in and kissed me.
“Hey!” I jerked back.
“Now, now, Ariana. We supposedly just had a threesome, don’t make such a scene now.”
“You behave yourself and I won’t have to. I thought you were going to help?”
He sighed. “Fine, but for tonight, it’ll be faster if I do this on my own. You’ll only slow me down. Doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get anything, just you don’t have the experience. First lesson, know you can pull anything you want out of someone. There are no limits, there’s no chance about it. You just have to focus and you can see whatever you want.”
He let me go and Quil stepped in.
How long had he been standin’ there?
“Let us know what you find?” Quil asked.
“Sure,” Milo said.
“Now why don’t I believe him?” I said as he disappeared into the crowd.
“Milo doesn’t make deals he doesn’t keep,” Quil said. “He may twist them, but he won’t break them.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Keep mingling, you keep touching people, try to get a vision.”
“This is gonna get old.”
I grabbed another drink and we hovered near the door leading into the hall by the bar.
If anyone new tried sneaking in, it’d probably be through there.
Quil stopped one of the queens as she passed, the one from Atlanta maybe?
“Marie, we’ve hardly had a chance to chat,” he said.
“Hi!” I said, puttin’ on my best smile.
Marie looked down her long nose at me. Her hair was so pale blond it was near white and her eyes were the lightest, most transparent blue I’ve ever seen. She was more ice queen than a flesh and blood one.
“Quil, this plan is stupid,” she said, accent light and nearly as cold as she was physically, maybe Scandinavian? “If the demon is here now, we’ll never find it in this.”
She waved a long hand at the crowded club.
“Don’t worry, Marie,” Quil said. “I have it under control.”
Her eyes went wide. “You were lying. This party is a cover for some other way to find the demon, isn’t it?”
Well, she wasn’t stupid apparently.
She smiled. “Quil, you naughty boy, what do you have up your sleeve?”
“I will tell you if it works, but until then.” He tapped a finger to his lips and she nodded, still smiling.
“Marie, I believe you met Ariana earlier.” He took my hand and placed me between them like I was a prize winning pup up for show.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, not even trying to lean in for any kind of hello.
“Actually we met,” I said, resistin’ the urge to role my eyes. She wasn’t going to make this easy. “But yeah, still nice.” I lifted my hand like I was going to shake hers.
She stared at it.
“Oh right.” I dropped my hand. “You don’t shake hands, I keep forgetting.” I looked up at Quil. “Am I supposed to kiss her like everyone else?” I looked back at Marie. “Sorry, I’m new at this. All I know is all y’all keep kissin’ me.”
Quil nodded along, stepping off to the side to give us some space. “It’s our custom, sweets.”
She gave me a smile that didn’t reach past her lips and leaned over, pecking me on the lips.
Okay, focus on her!
Flash.
“I don’t care what she is.”
I clearly saw Marie in a fancy, very plush bedchamber. She was talking on the phone while she reclined on a fur covered bed as large as my bathroom. I couldn’t hear the voice on the other line.
“Get rid of her. I can’t have a psychic running about.”
More talking.
“No, I have to go. If I don’t, Quil will be suspicious, and then the rest will. If I want this to work, they can’t suspect me. Which is why I have you.”
The voice on the other line continued.
“You got the hair, just use it to make the gris-gris today and she’ll be useless until you can kill her.”
She nodded along.
“Of course, but they won’t be able to do anything about it, they won’t know who’s holding it. You just do your job.”
The voice said something else and she growled.
“Don’t forget who made you. She’s a hell of a lot worse than me, and believe me, if tonight implodes, she’ll do worse than kill you.” She nodded again. “Good. We understand each other then. Ta.”
I jerked out of the vision and away from her, but it was too late.
She knew.
Chapter nineTEEN
Even Quil didn’t have time to twitch before her hand flew to my neck and she pulled me back against her.
It was a light grasp, but I knew she could snap my neck in less than a butterfly’s blink.
She knew it too.
“Move and I kill her,” Marie said in a low, sweet tone.
We faced away from the general party, too far in the back for anyone to really see, and even if they did, all they would notice was her caressing my neck, which half of Quil’s people had already done last night anyway.
“What did you see?” she asked.
I gulped. “Well, um, you on the phone this morning.”
She made a rude noise.
“She had someone else do the summoning,” I said quickly. “That person’s here tonight. And she’s work-”
She squeezed tighter and I shut up, suckin’ in what little air I could. Call me a coward, but I’m attached to my neck and I wanted to keep it that way.
“Marie,” Quil growled. “If you kill her, there’s nothing to stop me from killing you.”
“Hence the point of a hostage,” she said, still sweet as Eskimo Pie.
“Why didn’t your gris-gris work on me?” I asked as she lightened up again.
Saying anything was a risk, but she needed me alive. At least for the moment.
“And how did you get my hair?” My eyes flew wide and my stomach sank. “My hair clip. It came out when the demon attacked.”
“Stop talking,” she said, adding pressure to my neck again.
Flash.
It was outside the room at Tom’s where Quil was attacked.
Grant went over to near the wall and picked up my hair clip, keeping his back to the group of vamps.
Groans came from the room and he growled under his breath, resisting the urge to punch the wall.
He cleaned the strands of my hair off the clip before pulling a few of his own out and putting them in and placing it back on the floor exactly where he’d found it, and glanced back over his shoulder.
The vamps were too busy watching the door and the stairs to worry about him.
Good. His hairs were darker, and shorter, but could’ve been the little ones that frame my face at a casual glance. He pulled out a small metal thing I recognized as a tracking device and pressed it onto the clip. It was metal too so kind of looked like it was just another decoration on the clip.
“What?” Marie asked as I pulled out of the vision.
I must’ve been grinnin’ like an idiot, and surprisingly enough, it wasn’t my nervous smile.
I have to say it, sometimes Grant is a genius.
