by Karin Harlow
“Then I guess it’s just you and me.”
“The necklace, Nikko!”
“Give me the answers I want, and I’ll give it to you.”
“The necklace is mine, you have no right taking it from me!”
“You took something from me that was far more valuable.”
He would never forgive Selena for what she had done, regardless of why, and he’d be damned if he was going to hand over the necklace. He knew the minute after she took out the daemons, she would take off, then go to ground. As long as he controlled the necklace, he controlled her. “Then I guess we’ll have to stand and deliver.”
The shrieking whirl had caught up to them. He took a step back despite himself. To his surprise, she braced him. Stood just behind him, as if giving him strength.
“Face them, Johnny. Brace yourself, don’t open your mouth or your eyes, and do not allow them into your thoughts or they will take possession of your mind. If that happens, you will wish you were dead.”
She grabbed his hand and looked up at him. “When you get the chance, run like hell for the water. Daemons are terrified of water and won’t follow you there.”
Grudgingly, he admired her bravery. Nikko took the necklace from his pocket and wrapped it around her neck but held on to it, keeping possession. The minute it touched her skin, the stones flared. He closed his eyes and set his jaw. Together they turned and Hell was unleashed upon them.
Heat singed his skin. A percussion of energy pushed, shoved, and prodded for entry into his body. Wild, wicked screams bombarded his eardrums. He forced his mind to remember his childhood prayers. He chanted them in his head. The swirling forces screamed louder. The sulfur stench was stifling. Nikko fought the need to open his mouth and breathe deep, the pressure almost unbearable.
He felt Selena’s body being pulled upward. Her fingers tightened around his. He reached out, grabbed her other hand, and pulled her against his chest. She nudged her head beneath his chin, pressing her lips to his chest.
The daemons ramped up their efforts. His prayers faltered. Instead, the image of his baby lying in a shallow grave erupted in his mind.
The maelstrom of the daemon attack ended as abruptly as it had begun. As if by magic, they disappeared into the night.
For long moments, Nikko stood silent and still, Selena pressed tightly against him. He slipped the necklace back into his pocket, wondering why she didn’t grab it and run. When her arms relaxed and she pulled away from him, he opened his eyes and stared down into two dark ones. She looked away from him and started walking.
“Selena!” he called, and went after her. She started to run. He ran faster and caught up.
“Selena, stop!”
She whirled around and angrily faced him. “Give me my necklace, Nikko, then turn and run as far and as fast as you can.”
“If you think you’re protecting me, I don’t need it.”
“I just saved you from being torn to shreds by that swarm of daemons!” She took a step closer to him. “I know you’re a big boy. And as long as you don’t hang out with me, you can take care of yourself. I want you to stay the hell away from me! I have a business to run. I have a life to live, and I can’t do that with you hanging around.”
“I have business with you, Selena, and like it or not, you’re going to cooperate.”
“We have no business.”
“What were you doing in Kyrgyzstan and what is Balderama to you?”
Selena shook her head. He was not going to leave her alone until she threw him a bone. Fine, she’d give Johnny—Nikko—just enough information to let him think she’d told him everything.
“I was in Kyrgyzstan collecting blood serums. I came across you dying on the roadside. I injected you with them because it was the only chance you had for survival. As I told you earlier, Señor Balderama was my mother’s good friend. He has been a surrogate father to me in many ways.”
“What kind of blood serums?”
“A little vampire—”
“More than a little—I feel like Dracula!”
“Okay, so a lot. And just so you don’t go blab it to the world, it’s illegal to extract blood from any immortal, and if I’m caught with the serums, the penalty is death.” She held her hands out palms up. “Look, I know it’s a lot, but you need to back the hell away. Forget all of it and go back to what you were doing.”
He ran his fingers through his hair in a frustrated gesture. “Selena, in less than a week my entire world has been shaken up like a snow globe. I was on the verge of death and the woman I was sure I killed with my own hands shows up in the middle of a third-world country and injects me with something that turns me into Superman with a hard-on. Next thing I know, my ex, the one I thought I killed, is a half-daemon. Oh, and she fucking kills daemons for a living!”
He shook his head and glared at her. “And while I know you’re feeding me some truth, you’re keeping the majority of it from me.”
“I don’t owe you anything.”
His rage flashed. “You owe me more than you can ever repay!”
“I deserve your hatred. But I’m not going to allow you to use it to manipulate me.”
“I’ll do more than manipulate you! You know about that cask, and you’re going to share that information whether you want to or not.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me? Again?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really think I care? I’m running on borrowed time as it is. Once word gets out that I’m the one destroying the Hellkeepers, my father will come after me, and if he doesn’t get me first, then the Order will get me for the Rev.”
Nikko pinched the bridge of his nose and slowly exhaled. “Rev? The Order?”
“Rev—it’s a combination of blood serums that can save a dying vampire’s life. It’s like a dose of supercharged adrenaline. As far as the Order goes, ask your vampire friend.”
“I’m asking you.”
“I’m in enough trouble, I can’t talk about it.”
“Why did you save my life?”
She glared at him. “I owed you.”
“At the risk of a death sentence?”
“Yes. Now we’re even.” She shrugged it off. “Besides, they’d have to catch me first, and if you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty good with a sword.”
“You’re lying about Balderama. He wants the uranium, doesn’t he?”
“I’m not doing this with you.” She moved past him. When he grabbed her arm, she flung him off and turned on him. “Don’t touch me again.”
Nikko stood ramrod stiff and watched her walk away. As much as he wanted to hurt her, he wasn’t going to beat the information out of her.
“If he is what he purports to be, we’re on the same side, Selena,” Nikko called after her.
“No, we’re not,” she called back, and kept walking. She crossed the boulevard and took off across the beach. When she waded into the water, then disappeared into the darkness, Nikko took off after her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Seldom did Selena run, but tonight she’d had enough. Infused with adrenaline and Johnny’s blood, which was the equivalent of a shot of Rev, Selena swam to the Black Widow, moored just off the end of the Costa del Oro Marina, several hundred yards away. The ocean was calm, cold, and dark. A peaceful haven in her turbulent life. But with each stroke, her emotions churned as if in a blender. By the time she had the seventy-one-foot yacht in sight, Selena was more worked up than when she had run from Johnny.
Seconds later, she climbed up the aft ladder and stood soaking wet on the wide teakwood deck. Johnny’s shredded shirt still clung to her. She ripped it off and threw it into the ocean. She pulled off what was left of her skirt and flung it in the water as well.
She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled.
She had to get the necklace back from Johnny. It held no power for him since she had not freely given it to him. She should have just grabbed it and run. The thought had occurred to her, but for some reason s
he did not want to take it, she wanted him to give it. But if he didn’t come around quickly, she’d take it. Without it, she was a sitting duck. Without it, she had no chance of destroying her father. Without it, Marisol was in grave danger. And without it, Johnny would be vulnerable to her father’s demonic machinations.
She pressed her hand across the biometric pad to the left of the sliding-glass doors. They silently slid open and she inhaled the familiar scents. Suntan lotion, the ocean, and … Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeper. Marisol. Several of her daughter’s stuffed animals graced the boat. Selena and the Black Widow made sporadic trips north to St. Michael’s Island and spent idyllic days sailing along the Intracoastal Waterway with the free-spirited eight-year-old.
Not a soul, not even Juju, knew of her refuge here aboard the Black Widow. The large motor yacht served several purposes, the primary one escape. The perfect antidaemon safe spot. Though she was half-daemon, Selena had never had an aversion to anything wet. It was the only place she felt remotely safe, so it was where she and Marisol spent the time they had together when they were not on St. Michael’s.
She picked up the stuffed Minnie Mouse Johnny had bought for their daughter the day they’d learned the baby’s gender. At the time, Selena had been naïve, thinking she could have a family and keep them safe. Then her father came to her in a dream demanding the child’s life in return for her own and her lover’s. When she refused, Johnny was attacked and hospitalized. When she still refused, that bastard had upped the ante.
She lifted the scuffed doll to her nose and inhaled. Marisol’s fresh scent of sunshine and animal crackers infused her senses. Her fingers tightened and she hugged the doll to her chest. Powerful, protective emotion swelled within her. She could not imagine her life without the plucky little girl. She was everything good and right. If anyone so much as touched a hair on her baby’s head, she would destroy them!
“Oh, Johnny, I’m so, so sorry.” She was coldhearted. She would not have been nearly as restrained with Johnny as he had been with her. How could he stand the sight of her?
She sighed and set the doll down on the sofa. He couldn’t.
As she walked toward the spiraling stairway to the master stateroom belowdecks, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the wall. She looked as if she had aged ten years. Her skin was dull, her eyes haunted. She flung her damp hair from her shoulders. She was all Marisol had. She would do what she must to keep Marisol’s life a secret from Paymon; and once he was dead, now that Johnny knew Selena was alive, she would introduce Marisol to her father.
Selena’s mood lightened. Johnny might try to kill her again, he might even succeed, but he would know his daughter. To that end, she would do whatever was necessary to destroy Paymon, even if it meant pushing Johnny further away from her.
Selena made her way down the stairway into the comfortable stateroom that took up almost half of the bottom deck. She felt more at home here than she did at her Star Island manse.
She turned on the shower and jumped in under the cold spray. For long minutes, she stood as the water warmed, allowing her mind to wrap around the only way she knew to get the necklace from Johnny. Pull the succubus card. She shuddered at how the idea made her feel. It was extreme, underhanded, and pure daemon, but she told herself he wouldn’t know what had happened, only that he no longer possessed the necklace.
As she emerged glistening wet from the bathroom, she stopped short. Johnny sat on the edge of the bed staring straight at her. He’d removed his shirt, but his wet trousers were soaking the linen comforter.
Her body shivered. She felt her breasts plumpen and her nipples harden. His eyes locked on hers, then trailed downward.
“You don’t take no for an answer, do you?” she softly asked.
He shook his head and stood. His eyes blazed with the faintest haze of red. Heat pulsed off him. He walked toward her. She didn’t back away. She couldn’t, not if she wanted the necklace.
“You can run, Selena, but you can’t hide. Your blood courses through me. I can find you anywhere.”
Selena’s heart slammed wildly against her chest. He made no effort to hide his fangs. He stopped inches away, his eyes mesmerizing her. Her body flared with its own heat. She could blame her primitive reaction to him on her daemon side, but it would be a lie.
“Your boat is appropriately named. A Black Widow for a black widow.” He traced a finger along her collarbone, then down between her breasts to her belly, and across the incision just above her pelvic bone. Her heartbeat stumbled. “What’s this?”
“A scar.” Her cesarean scar.
His eyes narrowed. “What kind of scar?”
“Appendix.”
“Liar.”
Selena swallowed hard and moved into him. His skin was warm, his muscles hard. His scent seductive. When her breasts brushed against his chest, they both hissed in a breath. His fingers dug into the curve of her hip. “John-Nikko,” she breathed, running her hands up his defined pectorals, “I’m willing to meet you in the middle.”
He smiled, his fangs glittering under the low light of the room. “I hold all the cards.”
His warm breath caressed her cheek, signaling the sensitive nerve endings just below her steamy skin to a response. She snaked her fingers around his neck, then into his damp hair, and pulled his lips down to hers. “Maybe, but I have the ace in the hole.”
She kissed him. He didn’t resist, but he did not engage her either. Deepening her kiss, Selena licked his fangs. His body responded if his lips did not. He swelled against her belly. Still he did not engage her.
She opened her eyes and looked into his deep blue ones, then pulled slightly away. “Why are you fighting me?”
“Why are you trying to seduce me?”
“I want you.”
“You want your necklace.”
She couldn’t help a small smile. She nodded, dropped her arms, and stepped away from him. She had her pride.
He tightened his grip on her hip and pulled her roughly against him. “Is it that easy for you? To pretend to want me, then step away?”
Selena shook her head. “No,” she hoarsely said. “It’s not.”
He let her go and stepped back to the bed. “I want answers. I want them now.”
Selena decided to give him what he wanted—most of it, anyway. “Let me get dressed and we’ll talk.” When he made no move to leave the stateroom, she cocked a brow and inclined her head toward the door.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
She threw her hands up into the air, then strode over to the closet and pulled out a wraparound deck dress of white jersey. It was casual and comfortable, and it accentuated her curves. As she tied a knot between her breasts, she looked over at him and noticed for the first time the deep stress lines around his mouth and eyes. He looked haggard. The Rev was wearing his body out.
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Before you shot me up.”
Shaking her head, Selena sat down near him on the edge of the bed. Only once had she injected a human with the Rev, and she hadn’t stuck around long enough to know if it had worked or how. Johnny was clearly suffering. She’d feel guilty only if it hadn’t saved his life. “If you don’t get some rest, you’ll wear your body out. You might be Superman, but even he needed to sleep.”
He shook his head. “Answers before sleep.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Where is the uranium?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
Agitated, he stood up. “Tell me what you know about it. Who wants it and why were you in Kyrgyzstan?”
“I was in Kyrgyzstan to hijack the truck with the cask in it. I failed. Noslov has it now.”
He looked at her as if she had grown a second head. “What does Los Cuatro want with enriched uranium?”
Selena wasn’t surprised at the depth of his intel. “For safekeeping.”
“I doubt it. What does Noslov want with
it?”
“Why do you want it?”
“Same reason you do. Why does Noslov want it?”
“That wily Russian plans to auction it off to the highest bidder.”
“Where and when?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
“How?”
She looked at the floor, then at Nikko. Yes, Nikko. She sighed. He was right, Johnny was dead. That part of her life was over. She had killed it. “I can get into his head.”
“If you can get into his head, then you can control him?”
“In theory, I suppose. But I’ve never done it before. I don’t know how.” A small but effective lie.
“You did it to Vegas.”
“I got into his head and had the unfortunate experience of observing his nightmare of a life as it flashed before his eyes. I didn’t possess him.”
“Four days ago Noslov was in Osh. With a phone call, I can have his current location. How close do you have to get to him to get into his head?”
“I need face-to-face access. It’s easiest if the host is asleep.” Selena bit her bottom lip. It was dangerous. She’d have to get an audience with Noslov, which wasn’t the problem. He respected Los Cuatro’s clout. But then she’d have to get him alone. Of course, there was the other way. The same way she was going to manipulate Nikko. If she told Nikko what she was capable of, he was smart enough to keep his mind en garde and keep her out. It was how she had managed to stay clear of her father all these years.
“Then you would be able to manipulate the date, location, and terms of the auction.”
“Have you met Noslov?”
Nikko shook his head.
“I have, and he is a strong-willed man. The stronger a man’s will, the more difficult it is to break him.”
“You don’t have to break him, just get the intel.”
“And then what?”
“My people bid on it and take possession.”
“Not so quick. My people want it. More specifically, my people want to keep it out of a certain Venezuelan dictator’s hands. Those were his thugs riding shotgun.”
“I work for a covert United States government agency. The cask will be safely stored on American soil.”
