by Nina Croft
Despite the strange powers she’d grown up with, or maybe because of them, she’d never believed in God, or Heaven, or Hell. To believe in divine intervention was hard when you constantly felt the pain of those around you. And she wasn’t going to start believing in the supernatural now. But there was something else nagging at her mind.
She stepped back and sank onto the edge of the bathtub. When she tried to remember, the whole evening took on a surreal quality. She closed her eyes and forced her mind back. Back to Justin. She was under the railway bridge, and a thing with crimson eyes was crouched over his body. Not human.
Maybe she was going insane. Her mother had always said she was mad. But she didn’t feel mad.
She leaned over and turned on the taps, then stripped off her clothes. The musky scent of sex drifted up off her body and a stab of desire hit her in the gut. Her mind filled with the taste of him, the feel of him on her, in her, and her muscles clenched. She ran her palm over her nipples and they tightened. A pulse pounded between her thighs.
Her mother had told her there was nothing pleasurable about sex. You did it for money, or whatever else you could get. And Bella had seen enough on the streets to put her off any idea of experimenting.
But what she had felt with Torr was almost beyond pleasure, almost unreal.
Sinking beneath the hot water, she released a huge sigh. She was just a little sore.
What mattered now, was finding who or what had killed Justin. Torr had said he would help. But he’d also wanted something from her. She’d agreed to try to use her empathy. At the thought, a moan escaped her lips. She hated to own up to weakness, but the idea terrified her. Even more than the possibility that she might be slap bang in the middle of a lair of blood-sucking monsters.
She was pretty sure Torr didn’t want to kill her. If that was the case, she suspected she’d be dead by now. And he’d promised her enough money to give her the security she’d always dreamed of. She could buy that farm in the mountains in Spain and live in the sun for the rest of her life.
All she had to do was try to break down the walls she’d built up so carefully in her mind, and she shuddered at the thought. And try to keep her distance. Emotional attachments were dangerous. No mixing business with pleasure.
And from now on, it was strictly business between her and Torr.
Chapter 8
Torr woke with a throbbing erection, which was nothing unusual. Except for the waking part, as he rarely slept these days. Apart from that, he felt better than he had in a millennia, and the reason came back to him with a jolt.
Bella!
They’d made love. Now all he needed was for her to admit that she loved him, and they were safe forever. Well, at least until whoever had stolen his soul, showed up and demanded whatever it was they wanted.
He wouldn’t think of that now. He must concentrate on Bella. At the thought of her, his cock hardened.
He rolled onto his side and reached for her but found the bed empty. His eyes flew open. “Bella?”
“I’m afraid not, Sleeping Beauty.” Cade lounged in the open doorway. “She’s fine—I met her on the way in. She’s gone back to her room, but I have Finn watching her.”
Torr pulled himself up, dragging the sheet over himself. He rubbed a hand through his hair, trying to hide the disappointment, which had slugged him in the gut. Why had she left? He glanced back at Cade. His face was expressionless, but he raised an eyebrow when he found Torr watching him.
“Did she look okay?” Torr asked.
“Yeah, well, apart from the teeth marks on her neck.”
Torr had a flashback to his fangs sinking into her soft flesh. Oh God, he’d probably terrified her. What would she be thinking?
“You bit her.” Cade’s tone was accusing and Torr allowed his anger to rise; it felt much better than the guilt.
“That’s none of your goddamned business,” he growled.
Shoving the sheet aside, he stood up and looked around for his pants. He found them on the floor, where he’d thrown them, and pulled them on. He needed to go to Bella.
Reassure her that he wasn’t some sort of blood-sucking monster.
Lie to her.
“Maybe it isn’t,” Cade said, “but what the hell were you thinking?”
He ground his teeth together. He so did not need this right now. “Fucking sanctimonious prick. Are you telling me that you’ve never fed from Phoebe?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“No? Well, this isn’t yours.” He exhaled, forced himself to calm down. Cade was right. He shouldn’t have bitten her. Torr couldn’t tell Bella what he was. It would break the rules of the Covenant, and right now, her imagination was probably running wild. The best he could hope for was that she would think he was some sort of weirdo freak, who went around gnawing on people. Christ, he should have had some control, but he’d totally lost it. He turned back to Cade. “How was she?”
“She seemed fine, a little dazed, but otherwise okay.”
“I need to go to her.” He searched for his shirt, failed to find it, and pulled a clean one from the closet.
“First we have to talk,” Cade said.
“Later.”
“No. Now. Razul has been in contact.”
Torr paused, buttoning his shirt. “Shit. I thought we’d have longer. What does he want? I don’t suppose it’s to arrange a meeting to give me back my soul.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Christ, why now?”
“You know why. This is no coincidence. It’s that evil bitch trying to manipulate you.”
“So what did Razul want?”
“To arrange a meeting. Unfortunately, I doubt it’s to hand anything back. You know he hates your guts, right?”
“Yeah, and the rest of me.”
Before Torr had arrived on the scene, Razul had been Lilith’s favorite. A lord of the Abyss, he controlled a host of lesser demons, the majority of whom were confined to the lower levels of Hell. Razul was demon-born, and most of his powers were limited to the Abyss, unlike Torr and his brothers who had once inhabited Heaven. They’d been banished to the Abyss, but once that banishment was lifted, they had recovered their abilities to move between the realms. That hadn’t endeared them to Razul.
“Are you okay?” Cade asked.
Torr shook his head, banishing the memories. No, he wasn’t okay. Maybe he had done too much evil, and didn’t deserve a happy ending. But would fate be so cruel as to show Bella to him and then snatch her away for a second time.
One thing he knew—Bella would not suffer any more because of him. If he failed, if his soul was lost, he would let her go.
“Arrange a meeting with Razul. But not in the Abyss. Here on earth. Somewhere public. Tell me when it’s done. Now, I need to see Bella.”
***
A knock on the door jolted her upright.
She had no idea how long she had lain there, but her bathwater was cooling around her.
Dragging herself out of the water, she wrapped herself in the folds of the huge black bathrobe that scraped the floor. She rubbed her hair with a towel and ran her fingers through it. The knock came again. She knew it was Torr. She’d expected him.
Opening the door, she stepped to the side to allow him to enter, before following him into the sitting room. He stood in the center of the room, his hands shoved in his pockets, his gaze fixed firmly on the carpet. She waited for him to speak.
When he remained silent, she stepped closer. He’d dressed—which gave him the advantage—in black pants and a black silk shirt. He looked stunning and as tense as she was.
Which made her feel slightly better. She decided there was no point in avoiding the issue. “What are you?” she asked.
He shifted and raised his eyes from the carpet. “I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
He looked pained, but just lifted one shoulder in answer.
“Well, can you tell me this—are you a vampire?”
He winced. “There are no such things as vampires.”
Funnily enough, she sensed he was telling the truth. “So, how do you account for this?” She twisted her head and raised her chin. He reached out a finger and stroked it down the side of her throat, sending tingles through her skin.
“A love bite?” Her eyes narrowed and he shrugged again. “I’m sorry. I got carried away and was a little rough.” He inched closer, lowered his head. “Let me kiss it better,” he murmured.
Bella stepped back out of range and held up her hand. “Oh, no. We need to get some things straight. I don’t want you kissing me again and I certainly don’t want you biting me. I wasn’t myself last night. I was upset about Justin.”
“And I took advantage of that.”
She shook her head. “No, you didn’t. I asked you, and I’m not sorry. You took my mind off things for a while.”
Something flashed in his eyes, incredulity maybe. “I took your mind off things?” He repeated her words as though he couldn’t quite believe them.
She nodded. “But no more. There’s a reason I was a virgin, and it isn’t because I was waiting for my prince to come along and sweep me off my feet. My mother was a prostitute—I’m not. I’ll work with you—or at least I’ll try—but I won’t sleep with you again.”
His eyes narrowed, filled with a grim determination. It occurred to her that she might have made an enormous error of judgment in letting him through the door. Was Finn still out there? Would he come running if she screamed? Somehow she doubted it.
She stared at Torr wide-eyed. He was so big, he towered over her. His shoulders were twice as wide as hers and she’d seen his muscles. A shiver ran through her at the memory, and she became acutely aware that she was naked beneath the robe. Her nipples pressed against the soft material, and she pulled the belt tighter and forced herself to continue. “And in return, you’ll give me the money you promised, and you’ll find the people, or whatever they were, who killed Justin.”
He studied her, head tilted to one side. “Do you believe in Heaven and Hell, Bella?”
She shook her head, confused at the turn the conversation had taken.
“Do you believe in good and evil?”
“I’ve seen plenty of evil. Good, not so much,” she replied.
“Well, know that I am trying to be good. Whatever you see, and whatever you learn over the next few days, remember that.”
His cell phone rang; he pulled it out of his pocket and listened for a moment. “I have a business meeting. I can’t avoid it and I’d like you to come with me.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to leave you alone right now.”
Bella glanced at her watch. “It’s after two in the morning. What sort of business meeting takes place at two in the morning?”
“One that can’t be put off. And you should know this city never sleeps.”
“Why do you want me with you? I can’t help you yet.”
“And I can’t concentrate if I think you’re back here planning your escape.”
“I won’t go anywhere. I told you I’d work for you.”
He studied her again until she had to stop herself from squirming under his intense gaze. “Do you find it easy to lie?” he asked.
This time she didn’t bother to attempt a lie, just lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug. “Yes.”
Anyway, the truth was, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t sleep, thoughts of Justin and Torr would ensure that. And she didn’t actually want to try. She could sense the nightmare hovering on the edge of her consciousness. She’d rather keep busy, and she had an idea that any business meeting of Torr’s would be far from boring. “I’ll come to your meeting.” She glanced down at herself. “You’ll have to give me five minutes to get ready.”
“Five minutes?” His gaze ran over her figure. “Impressive.”
“This isn’t exactly a date,” she snapped.
She didn’t wait for him to say anything further. Instead, she whirled around and stalked into the bedroom.
She pulled out clean clothes, jeans and a T-shirt, and dragged them on. Her hair was still damp, and she ran her fingers through it. In the mirror, she appeared pale, and the mark on her neck still showed clearly, though it was fading faster than she would have believed possible. She looked about twelve. What did he see in her?
She ran back to the wardrobe, found a pair of black pants and a burnt orange, strappy top that clashed with her hair and clung to her small breasts. They were ‘work’ clothes, worn when she wanted to look like someone else, but she made a conscious decision not to analyze why she was changing. She pulled on three inch heeled, knee high boots over the pants, ran back to the mirror, added a bit of eyeliner, mascara and some lip-gloss. She felt like an idiot, but a fast idiot. Four minutes thirty seconds.
Skip was whining at the door. She nudged him out of the way, opened it, and slipped out. The room was full of men. Huge men. The three-inch heels wouldn’t even make a dent in the height difference. They all swiveled and stared at her so she had to fight the urge to back into the bedroom and slam the door. Hide under the bed with Skip. In addition to Torr, she recognized Cade and Finn, and there was another man. Tall with black hair cut military short, olive skin, and eyes so dark they could have been black.
Bella took a step further into the room and tried not to stare. She didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, but she felt intimidated. There was something about these guys; they were so intense and so big. She inched closer to Torrin.
His gaze wandered over her in a leisurely perusal. “Bella,” he murmured, “you look beautiful.”
She was momentarily distracted. “I do?”
He gave a slow curl of his lips and nodded. “Come and meet my…” he hesitated over the word and she wondered what he normally called them. “Business partners,” he finally concluded. “This is Finn—”
“We’ve already met.”
“And this is Killian.”
The dark haired man stepped forward. He held out his hand and when Bella placed hers in his larger one, he bent his head and kissed the back of it. It was a strangely old-fashioned gesture, but seemed right.
“Very nice,” she said. “But why are they here?”
“They’re your new bodyguards.”
“My what?”
“Your bodyguards. After what happened last night with your friend, I don’t want you going anywhere alone. I’ll stay with you when I can; but if not, either Finn or Kill will accompany you.”
What the hell was going on? She hadn’t needed anyone to look after her since she could walk and she wasn’t about to start now. It wouldn’t do to become dependent on other people, when ultimately she would be out there on her own with no one to rely on but herself. Who did he think he was, trying to take over her life? “Look, I said I’d work for you not bloody marry you. I’m quite capable of looking after myself and I do not need bodyguards.”
Torr considered her for a moment. “And was Justin capable of looking after himself?”
The words brought her up short. If he’d asked her the same question a day ago, she would have answered with an unequivocal yes. She bit her lip and turned away, crossed to the window, and stared down into the dark city streets. Her world had never been a safe one, but now it was crashing down around her.
A hand touched her lightly on the shoulder. She looked up and met Torr’s eyes reflected in the glass.
“Please,” he murmured, and she held his gaze and nodded once. “Good. Now we need to go to this meeting.”
“And look on the bright side,” Cade said. “Never mind the body guarding, they can walk the dog.”
Finn grinned. “Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”
Chapter 9
The meeting was to take place in a nightclub, or so Torr had told her. They’d parked in an alley in an area she recognized, just off Soho. The streets here were milling with people despite it being almost three in the morning. Bella was sti
ll recovering from the drive; being shut in an enclosed space, with more testosterone than she had encountered in a lifetime, had sent her blood pressure rocketing.
A line of people queued along the road, but they walked straight past, Cade in the lead, she and Torr behind him, her two ‘bodyguards’ bringing up the rear. Bella felt like royalty.
The bouncer stepped aside without a word and opened the black double doors. “Impressive,” she murmured. Though not entirely unpredictable. There was something strangely menacing about the group. On the street, you learned quickly who to steer clear of, who not to mess with, or you didn’t survive. And Torr and his partners could easily have had ‘don’t mess with me,’ stamped across their foreheads.
“Actually not that impressive,” Torr said. “Cade owns the place.”
“He does?”
Cade turned his head and smiled at her. “Phoebe likes to dance.”
“So you bought her a nightclub. How sweet.”
“Would you like a nightclub?” Torr leaned close and murmured in her ear.
“I don’t dance,” she snapped and stepped through the door, wincing as the noise hit her ears and jolted all the way down her spine. The place pulsated with the deep throb of heavy metal, and a crush of half-naked people gyrated on the dance floor. An unlikely venue for a business meeting, but what did she know?
Once inside, the group closed up around her. Torr rested a hand lightly on the middle of her back and steered her through the crowd to the far side of the room. Another bouncer stood in front of a door, which he opened as they approached.
“Is he here?” Cade asked.
The bouncer nodded. “Inside. Waiting.”
Torr leaned down close. “When we get in there, stay with Finn and Kill, they’ll look after you.”
“I don’t need…” she trailed off. What was the point?
She heaved a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them and the noise was muted. Then she stopped moving, so abruptly that Finn banged into her from behind.
Cold trickled down her spine.
