by Michele Hauf
“I’ve been sleeping in total darkness since I was a kid. I’ve known nothing else.”
“I wish I could know myself. And then.” She set down her fork and turned to really look at him. This morning her eyes were blue. “Maybe it’s not so important I remember? Maybe I’m meant to move forward with the knowledge I have.”
“Sounds good. In theory. But there’s that sticky situation with angels trying to kill you and demons trying to lure you into a vast glowing portal. What was with that?”
“I don’t know. I do know I felt compelled to walk toward the glowy circle and the closer I got—let’s just say, I’m glad you arrived when you did. You saved my ass once again.”
She kissed him then. A sweet kiss to the corner of his mouth that wasn’t seductive or teasing, but instead, a simple thank-you. Yet Blade was compelled, as if to a glowing portal, to pull her closer and kiss her deeper. The tingle between his shoulder blades alerted him as it had last night, but he ignored it. And no way would he let his fangs down.
“Mmm, you’re a great bit of muscle and blue to wake up to in the morning,” she said, and teased the ends of his hair that lay against his biceps. She turned and scooped in more eggs. “Did I dream that you pulled me closer last night?”
“Not sure. I think you were snoring so much there was no room for dreams,” he said.
“What? I do not snore.”
No, she didn’t, but how else to dodge the “pulling her closer” question?
Ah, hell, what should he do about her? He wanted to deny the intimacy that seemed natural for the two of them to share, and at the same time he had just kissed her. And he’d liked it. And he wasn’t going to regret it, either.
To kiss her or to push her away? Life would have been a whole lot easier had he never seen those demons in the house across from Mr. Larson’s lot.
“What’s your plan for today?” he asked. “Luring more demons to you?”
“If I knew how and why that happened, I’d avoid it, believe me. I shouldn’t have gone into the club alone. That was stupid. I was just...”
Feeling rejected by him after their weird embrace and then his pushing her away to prevent his vampire from biting her. So sometimes he wanted to kiss her and other times he didn’t.
Pull it together, man!
“I’m complicated,” he offered. “Sorry about last night. I should have been there to protect you, no matter what.”
“Don’t be sorry. You couldn’t have known I’d need protection. And you know, I think I like complicated.”
He smiled at that declaration. If the chick wanted complicated, he was the poster boy for that.
Zen crunched a piece of toast. “So let me get this straight, you can’t bite me. That’s cool. But when you’re attracted to me it’s your faery that reigns?”
“Not all the time. I can be normal. As normal as a guy like me is. I can kiss a woman, have sex with her, without wanting to bite her. It’s when I’m in faery shape and am mating with a woman that my vampire wants to join in. Something about having my wings out heightens my vamp’s craving for blood. That’s never cool.”
“Yet you were in plain old human shape when making out with me last night.”
“I’m never plain or human.” He chuckled, thinking that had sounded narcissistic. “If you have to label me as something, I’m vampire. And the vamp likes to make out with a pretty woman as much as any other man would.”
“What about your faery?”
“Sex on steroids,” he muttered, then grinned. He wasn’t bragging, that was just how it worked. “So I’m a case. I did tell you to stay away from me.”
“Everything I learn about you only makes me want to learn more. You’re brave. Honorable. Handsome. Contradictory. We’re alike in many ways. But while I strive to remember, I sense there is some part of you that wants to forget.”
“Forget what?”
“You tell me. It’s to do with demons—I know that much.”
“Maybe you don’t know that.”
“I’m pretty sure I do. But if you’re not cool with talking about it then I’ll have to be cool with ignoring you’re trying to hide it.” She patted his arm. “So you wanted to know what I’m doing today? Nothing. At least not that I can think of.”
“I was planning on stopping by my father’s place this afternoon,” Blade offered. “I want to show him the halo, see if he can modify it for me. He’s a sword smith. Makes amazing swords and weapons.”
“Can I come along?”
He nodded. “I’d like that.”
* * *
Malakai Saint-Pierre wore his muscles like armor, and was gruffly handsome. Blade resembled him in pale skin tone, dark hair and height, but the father was a bit broader across the shoulders—if that was possible. Kai was a full werewolf, as Blade had explained to Zen on the drive over. Now she noticed him sniffing the air before her as Blade introduced them. Had to be a wolf thing.
He had a sure, almost painful grip, but when he saw her wince, he apologized and then slapped his son on the shoulder. “What do you have for me?”
“Something surprising.”
“Come out into the work shed, you two. Let’s have a look.”
Zen clasped Blade’s hand. She squeezed, more for her reassurance than his. Kai noted the clasp and grinned widely at his son.
“It’s not fancy,” Kai said to her as they strolled along the back of the house and into the shed. The roughhewn log work shed was surprisingly bright thanks to exposure windows set into the vaulted ceiling. “But it’s where I do all my work.”
Scents of charcoal and burned steel mixed with the earth floor and an acidic chemical scent Zen couldn’t place. She wandered up to the log wall where half a dozen swords hung from leather straps. The polished steel blades gleamed. Some featured elaborately etched blades; others offered a sleek swash of deadly beauty. She almost touched, but decided she shouldn’t without first asking.
“You made all these?” she asked. “You possess amazing skill.”
“My dad can make steel sing,” Blade said proudly. “So here’s what I’ve got.”
Kai hissed at sight of the halo held in his son’s hand. “Is that...?”
Blade nodded. “Slayed the bastard who owned it the other night. It was after Zen. Actually, she did the slaying.”
“But you distracted the angel,” Zen added with a wink to her man.
Kai delivered her a curious onceover. She shivered at the touch of his gaze. “Why are angels after you? My son told me you lost your memory. Are you an angel?”
“I don’t know. I have a halo, too. Have had it with me since after the accident that boggled my memory. Does that make me an angel? Or maybe I found it somewhere and it’s just a trinket?”
“Interesting. You talk to a witch?” Kai asked Blade.
“Dez hadn’t any idea what she could be. Though she did think she was in the process of becoming.”
“What does that mean?” the werewolf asked.
“Haven’t a clue.”
Both men glanced at Zen. She toyed with the rhinestones around her neck, suddenly aware of the overwhelming power a man’s stare could deliver. Times two. It was...kind of nice. Made her stand a little straighter.
“Let’s take a look.” Kai held out his hand and Blade gave him the halo.
The imposing werewolf inspected the circular weapon, tapped it against the wood-and-steel-block table where he must fashion his weapons and put it around his wrist as if a bangle, then popped it off with a flick of his hand and caught it expertly. “Mind if I pound on this a bit?”
“Go for it,” Blade said. “I was thinking you could modify it for me. Make it more blade like.”
“Halos are the toughest substance to show up in the mortal realm. I doubt any tools I have will even dent it. But I’ll give it a go. Maybe a little of your mother’s faery dust worked in might soften it up? This could be sweet!”
“Thanks, Dad. Mom isn’t home?”
“Nope, but she made some killer red-velvet cake this morning. It’s in the fridge. You two better go have some. Nice meeting you, Zen. And, Blade?”
“Yes?”
“Serve your woman some cake and then come back out, okay?”
The house was a gorgeous cabin-like structure. The open-floor design featured a vast living area and kitchen on the lower level. The second level consisted of an enclosed room with a king-size bed, and an open living area, one wall of which was entirely windows that stretched up to a peak at the pinnacle of the two-story ceiling. The view was lush and green, and a stream bubbled not far beyond the patio that hugged the house.
The cabin was a dream escape, Zen thought. Must have been an awesome place to grow up living in the middle of nature. Now, this was her kind of home.
Blade dished up some cake for her, but not himself—though he did lick the knife clean. “That will make you believe in heaven on earth. My mother makes the best sweet stuff. I almost miss moving away from home when I get a taste of her cookies and cakes.”
“Better than blood?” she asked.
“Sometimes.”
She sampled a forkful of the dense red cake capped with a cream-cheese frosting and decided not to talk because that would only hamper her from eating more, more and more.
“I’m heading out to see what Dad wants. Probably wants to give me his opinion on the new girl.”
“Am I your girl?” she muttered through a mouthful of cake. “We’re not even friends.”
“That’s right,” he said, and left out the side door.
“Mmm...” Heaven, indeed.
But what would be more heavenly? To actually be Blade’s girl. And to convince the man that there were more interesting things to do than merely kissing her. She wouldn’t ask for his bite again. But she really wanted to get back to where they had been the other night when they’d been making out on the couch, and he had licked her nipples. Just thinking about it made her toes curl.
Memory? Who cared about what she couldn’t remember? She was making delicious new memories with a man who had begun to hold and kiss her in her dreams.
Now, how to convince him to take a chance on her in real life?
* * *
“She’s trouble,” Kai said. He gave the halo a good whack with his ball peen hammer. Not even a dent. “Angel? That’s not good for your vamp, son. Your faery might like to dally with her, but if you whip out the fangs...” His father shook his head.
“I don’t think she’s angel. Or if she is, if she actually fell to earth, I don’t believe she’s angel anymore. Though her blood does initially bleed blue.”
Kai hissed. “Keep your fangs away from that woman’s neck.”
“I will. But I sense other things about her. Or so Dez put the idea into my head.”
“Like what?”
“Faery.”
Kai set the hammer down and turned to his son, arms crossed and head tilted. “She got wings?”
“If she does, she doesn’t remember how to bring them out. And she’s got some interesting markings on her arms. Sort of like Kelyn’s, but not. They glow.”
Kai nodded. Thought about it. “So why are demons after her? And what is with this new club at the edge of town? I’ve never heard of it. And I usually have a pretty good eye out for all paranormal activity in the area.”
“Really, Dad? You’re not even pack principal anymore. You’ve retired.”
Kai puffed up his chest. “Are you saying I’m losing my edge?”
Blade shook his head. His dad would always have the edge, but he was more focused on making a good life with his wife right now than pack politics or even the paranormal goings-on in Tangle Lake.
“I didn’t know about the club, either,” Blade reassured Kai. “It’s some creepy old mansion that looks as if it’s been sitting on that property for centuries. Which makes no sense whatsoever because I’m sure all of us have been in the area where it sits, probably snowmobiling in the wintertime. And it had this portal in the middle of the dance floor that was sucking Zen toward it.”
Kai blew out his breath. “Portals are not cool. If it’s a demon hotspot it might suck her into Daemonia.”
Blade hadn’t considered Daemonia. Thinking about that place gave him a shiver. His parents had told him about it during their Teen Talk. It was the Place of All Demons. No place for any vampire, wolf or faery to go. They’d much prefer he smoke or start drinking than consider visiting Daemonia.
Kai asked, “You think this chick is worth the trouble?”
Blade ran a hand through his hair, but didn’t meet his father’s eyes.
“I get it. You’re afraid if you let yourself care about her this will go down like the last one. What was her name?”
Blade bowed his head and turned a shoulder away from his father. “Octavia.”
The last one. Why wouldn’t his family stop mentioning her? There was no way he could ever forget until everyone else did.
“That wasn’t your fault, Blade. You didn’t know Octavia was a mimicus demon. And you sure as hell couldn’t have known her denizen would let her die.”
They could have saved her with intervention from a witch, even demonic magic. A simple spell. But Ryckt, the denizen leader, had allowed Octavia to fade—to death. Blade didn’t want to stir into that muck again. He marched toward the door.
“I know you seek forgiveness, son,” his father called. “You’re the only one who can do that for yourself!”
Blade veered toward the stream that paralleled the back of the house. He stopped on a mossy stone that edged the crisp, gurgling water. Even the fresh, verdant scent couldn’t lessen his anxiety. His shoulders felt as tight as his jaw. And his heart squeezed in his chest.
Had he known they would let her die he would have done something. What, he didn’t know. He had been so out of it after the torture. But—hell. She didn’t have to die!
When he heard Zen’s soft voice, Blade cringed. She stood right behind him. Shit.
“I won’t ask,” she said softly. And she embraced him from behind and tilted her head against his back. “Let me in, Blade. I promise I won’t look too deep. I just... I need someone to anchor me to this realm.”
He clasped her hand against his chest. He could do that for her, the anchoring part. But the letting her in part was what made him clench his teeth.
“Whatever you’ve done that makes you feel as though you are better off to push people away,” she said, “doesn’t matter to me. I’m starting fresh. You can start fresh with me. Deal?”
It would matter to her if she knew his dark truth. It mattered to every family member who still cringed whenever his past was mentioned. He had been responsible for a woman’s death. Because of his bite.
“I’m lost,” Zen whispered. “But standing close to you makes me feel found. Or at least, safe.”
“I can’t protect you forever, Zen. So long as I remain clueless about what you are and why so many are coming after you, I can’t completely protect you.”
“Maybe you should put the halo over my head? I know the mythology. If I am really an angel that’ll give me my earthbound soul.”
True. It would also make her human.
“And make you mortal. Do you want that? What if you fell to this realm for a reason? With a purpose? Let’s keep looking. We’ll figure you out.”
He turned and she kissed him, and this time he didn’t push her away. Because maybe he could protect her. And yes, it did something to his aching heart when he held her close. And he liked that feeling. It was a dangerous path to tread, but he’d never feared danger before.
Losing his heart to Zen could be the worst thing for him, but the best thing for his future.
Chapter 15
Blade dropped Zen off at The Red Rooster. He told her he had something to do with Stryke. He said he’d pick her up later if she wanted to get a bite to eat.
Of course she did. She was never not hungry. That red-velvet cake had only stoked her c
raving for more food.
Waving him off, she turned in time to see the Mini Cooper pull into the parking lot. Trouble hopped out and handed her the keys.
“Thanks.” She tucked the keys into her skirt pocket. “Now how will you get back to your truck, which must be out on that country road?”
“Kelyn drove me out to your car. He’ll swing by here in a few minutes and pick me up. Everything’s cool. You and Blade getting along?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good. I thought for sure he’d never want to see you again after the demon affair at the club.”
Zen slung the backpack over her shoulder and met Trouble’s dark gaze, which was just as high up as Blade’s was. “What is it with Blade and demons? Something really terrible must have happened because he always clams up when I ask him about it.”
Trouble leaned forward, sticking his face right before hers. He smelled great, like pine trees and fresh-cut wood. “You really want to know?”
Zen nodded.
“Well—”
“Wait!” She put up her hands between them. “Forget it. If Blade wants me to know, he’ll tell me. It wouldn’t be right to go behind his back and ask about something if he wants to keep it private.”
Trouble whistled. “I like you. Even if you do turn out to be demon, I’ll have your back.”
“I think I can handle myself.”
“Really? ’Cause if we hadn’t rescued you from the Demon Dance Hall you would be Hades knows where right now.”
She rubbed her arm and shrugged. “Fair enough. Just tell me one thing about Blade.”
Trouble shrugged his massive shoulders back and puffed up his chest, then shot out, “Maybe.”
“Was it a woman? Someone who hurt him?”
She wanted to know, and then she didn’t. She didn’t have a right to know. Again, Blade would tell her if he wanted her to have that knowledge.
“No,” she quickly said. “Forget it.”
Trouble smirked. “Wasn’t going to tell you anyway. But so you know, you are barking up the right tree. See you later, Zen.” He strode off toward the big iron rooster and gave its tail a slap as he passed.
