“My mother is the Devil,” I’d blurted just as he’d gotten an urgent text from his higher-ups. He’d stared at me for a nanosecond, muttered a gruff, “We’ll talk later,” and then he’d hauled ass in the opposite direction.
I hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
A good thing, I told myself for the umpteenth time. If he’d been really pissed, he would have come back to slice and dice me by now.
No, he was probably just taking his time to process the info.
That, or he’d gone straight to the Legion with the news, because he couldn’t do the deed himself since I’d rocked his world and he was madly in love with me. They’d no doubt issued a bounty on my head and every demon slayer within a thousand-mile radius was now stalking me, waiting for the perfect moment to—
“…much up front?” Henry’s voice pushed past the humming in my ears and yanked me from my morbid thoughts.
“What? When? What?”
“The down payment.” He motioned to the credit card in my hand. “How much are you putting on the card?”
I forced Cutter from my thoughts, tamped down the gut feeling that something bad was about to happen, and focused on the couple sitting across from me.
“For the size of your wedding and all the extras”—I did a quick mental calculation and added twenty percent—“a fifty-thousand-dollar retainer should do the trick.”
Henry didn’t flinch. Thankfully. While I wasn’t exactly living off ramen noodles, I still had bills to pay, not to mention I was desperate to move my growing business from the first floor of my duplex into an actual storefront.
I was just about to run the credit card when the intercom buzzed.
“Jess?” Burke Carmichael’s voice floated over the line.
Burke and his twin brother, Andrew, were my devoted assistants. With blond hair, brown eyes, and ripped bods, they were two of the hottest guys I’d ever seen. They were also extremely gay, a big plus for me because, as a succubus, I oozed massive sex appeal, which proved far too distracting to the average heterosexual male. The twins fixated on flowers and centerpieces rather than boinking yours truly, so we tended to get massive amounts of work done.
“I know you’re with a bride and groom right now,” he went on, “but I think there’s something out here you should see.”
“I’ll be right there just as soon as I finish up.” I slid the card through the reader and keyed in the amount.
“It’s really important.”
“Ditto in here.” I grabbed a twenty-off referral coupon while I waited for the receipt to print.
“I bet this is more important.”
“I bet it’s not.” I handed Henry the credit card slip and a pen. “If you’ll just sign right here—”
“Get your ass out here now!” His frantic voice shattered my train of thought. I punched the off button and pushed to my feet. “If you’ll excuse me for just a minute. What’s the big emergency?” I demanded when I waltzed into the outer office to find an ashen-faced Burke.
“I opened the closet and there it was.” He clutched his hands. “So then I slammed the door shut and tried to tell myself that I shouldn’t have had two mimosas this morning, but the thing is, I always have two mimosas after a morning facial because they relax me, you know, but maybe I should have had just one because two might be getting to be a bit much and so now I’m seeing things, really bad things and—”
“Burke!” I grabbed him by the shoulders. “Get a grip.” I stared past him at the closed door. “It’s just a closet.”
“Says you.” He shook his head. “It’s in there, I tell you.”
“What is? A rat? A raccoon? A dead body?”
What? I’m a demon, for Pete’s sake. It’s not like I haven’t seen it all. Then again, Burke wasn’t privy to my demon status, so I definitely should have kept my mouth shut.
He didn’t so much as bat a wide, terrified eye. “I think it’s a vortex,” he managed a split second before the door seemed to swell. A roar started. Hinges creaked. Wood cracked.
Okay, so maybe I haven’t seen it all.
The roar grew louder, deafening. I grabbed a fistful of Burke’s shirt and dived for the floor just as the door blew.
And all Hell rained down on us.
Don’t miss these other great reads from USA Today bestselling author Kimberly Raye!
Vampire Matchmaker series from Ballantine Books:
Dead End Dating
Dead and Dateless
Your Coffin or Mine?
Just One Bite
Sucker for Love
Here Comes the Vampire
Just One Bite series featuring the Skull Creek
Vampires from Harlequin Blaze:
Dead Sexy
Drop-Dead Gorgeous
A Body to Die For
Cody: The Braddock Brothers
Brent: The Braddock Brothers
Travis: The Braddock Brothers
Colton: The Braddock Brothers
Available on Kindle:
Something Wild
Faithless Angel
In the Midnight Hour
The Homecoming
Slippery When Wet
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing is the hardest job in the world and the most solitary, but luckily I have a few key people who help make the job easier and a little less lonely: my wonderful agent, Natasha Kern, for her continuing faith in me and my work; my loving husband, Curt, who keeps me going through every trial and tribulation and slaps the remote out of my hand when I’m on a reality TV binge; and my best bud, Debbie, for always listening when I need to talk, or cry, or gossip about people we used to know.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you!
And many, many thanks to my readers who send notes and e-mails and visit me on Facebook. Your encouragement means the world to me!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Curt Groff, 2008
Kimberly Raye penned her first novel in high school and hasn’t stopped writing since. Today she is the bestselling author of more than fifty-five novels, two of them prestigious RITA Award finalists. The first title in her romantic vampire mystery series, Dead End Dating, has been optioned by Disney for television. A die-hard romantic who loves weddings, she lives with her husband and their children deep in the heart of the Texas hill country. To learn more about Kim, visit www.kimberlyraye.com or friend her on Facebook.
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