Shades of Wicked

by Jeaniene Frost

  “It’s all right!” I said quickly. “He’s not here for you. He’s here for them.”

  Ian’s gaze swung back toward me with a mixture of horror and disbelief. “The bloody Grim Reaper is your father?”

  “What you’re seeing isn’t what he really looks like. On this side of the veil, you see what you fear.”

  “I see an enormous cloaked skeleton wielding a huge scythe,” Ian said promptly. “That’s not what you see?”

  I looked at my father, seeing a tall man with silver, gold, and blue hair; strikingly beautiful features; and deep bronze skin. The Warden’s true form was so similar to my real appearance, I had to constantly wear the glamoured disguise of a slim blonde Law Guardian to avoid being recognized as his child.

  “No, that’s not what I see,” I said, meeting my father’s lightninglike gaze before I looked away. Then I gestured to Ian’s former guards. “Your offering, Warden.”

  My father extended his hand and ghostly visages rose up from the corpses before they were compelled into his boat. None went happily. They all screamed much the way Ian had when he saw my father. The only one who wasn’t afraid was the Simargl. He pressed against the bars of his cage as much as his chains allowed, making noises that were similar to happy yips. My father looked at him and gave him the barest nod—the highest form of approval I’d ever seen from him.

  “You will care for him,” he told me. A command, not a request. “His prior owner treated him in an unworthy manner. I will inform him of the change.”

  I didn’t mind the order. I’d already decided to do that anyway. But I was surprised by that last part. “You know who his former owner is?”

  For the second time, I was sure I’d amused my father even though his expression didn’t change. “Yes. It is Dagon, and he was just leaving.”

  Ian and I turned around at the same moment. I couldn’t see my expression but it was probably as shocked as Ian’s when I saw that Dagon had, at some point, materialized behind us.

  Chapter 24

  I hadn’t seen Dagon in over four thousand years. The demon looked exactly the way I’d remembered: tall, blond, boyishly handsome and with a little smirk that rarely faded no matter what atrocities he was inflicting. That smirk grew when he saw Ian, then dropped entirely when he looked at me. Dammit. I hadn’t taken the time to reapply my glamour so Dagon would only see the Law Guardian appearance I’d been hiding under.

  “You,” he said in astonishment. “I thought by now you had to be dead!”

  I’d had countless dreams about what would happen when I finally faced Dagon again. The details varied, but they all ended with me stabbing demon bone through his eyes to send him to the fate he so richly deserved. Now, I was caught off guard and unprepared, but I couldn’t let him see how rattled I was.

  “You of all people should know how hard I am to kill.”

  Hatred dripped from every syllable. Dagon’s smirk returned when he heard it. I fought not to tremble from a mixture of blind rage and remembered despair. Time was supposed to lessen the intensity of all things, yet in that moment, I hated and feared Dagon just as much as I had all those millennia ago, when I’d been nothing more than his favorite prop.

  He wagged a finger at me in the playful way people did when they caught a child being naughty. “You must be the troublemaker who divested me of my latest soul acquisition. Very clever of you to mute the tether in Ian’s brands, but now, it’s time for me to take him back.”

  I moved in front of Ian before either he or Dagon had a chance to twitch. “He’s not going anywhere with you.”

  Dagon’s face darkened like a sky full of deadly weather. “Isn’t he? You should remember what happens to people who upset me.”

  “Is that a threat?” My father asked the question in the mildest tone. Dagon still stiffened as if he’d been slapped.

  “Of course not, my lord,” he said, laughing as if we’d all shared a joke. “That would violate our agreement.”

  “It would, so you may leave now,” the Warden of the Gateway to the Netherworlds replied. Again, it wasn’t a suggestion.

  Dagon smiled at my father but gave me and Ian a look that promised bloody vengeance. Then, he disappeared.

  My father didn’t look at me, but I knew he would make sure Dagon didn’t pop back up to murder us anytime soon. He might not care for me in the way that mortals cared for their children, but he wouldn’t tolerate one of his commands being broken only hours after giving it. That, I could count on.

  Of course, that command went both ways. Long ago, my father had commanded me never to kill Dagon. I fully intended to go back on that order. And Dagon might not try to kill me today, but he would absolutely start plotting my murder now that he knew I was still alive. When it came to our hatred of each other, neither of us was rational or obedient.

  My father didn’t look at me when he left. He simply turned that boat full of screaming spectral passengers around and sailed back into the unfathomable darkness he’d appeared from. Then that darkness vanished, replaced by the blandness of the garage with the smashed cars and the bodies strewn around it.

  I went over to the Simargl’s cage and broke it, then unwound him from all the chains around him. As soon as the Simargl was free, he started flying around me in happy circles.

  “I’m going to call you Silver,” I told him. “Do you like that?” An enthusiastic yip was my answer. Silver it was, then.

  I looked at Ian. He still hadn’t moved except for his eyes. They raked over me, the body-filled room, and the area where my father had appeared and disappeared. His face was no longer as pale as fresh snow, but his jaw was set so tight, I could hear the cartilage cracking from the strain. The silent tension grew until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to be okay with this. The vampire race defaults to rejecting people who are a combination of different species.” I let out a sharp laugh. “I should know; I’ve tried and failed to stop the hostilities that have boiled over between vampires and ghouls when ‘abominations’ like me are discovered.”

  Ian might have been against Katie’s execution, but there was a world of difference between not wanting your friend’s child to be murdered and continuing to partner with someone who was half vampire and half of a species that couldn’t easily be named. Worse, my powers were everything vampires and ghouls feared when they talked about the perils of mixing different species together.

  “It’s fine,” I went on. “All I ask is that you don’t reveal what you know about me to anyone else.”

  Tenoch would’ve killed him to ensure his silence. Once, I would’ve, too. At some point during the short amount of time we’d spent together, I’d started to care for Ian. That was supremely stupid of me, but it was still true.

  “We’ll go our separate ways,” I continued more briskly. “Dagon still can’t find you with your brands muted, so you’ll be fine if you keep yourself hidden. I still intend to take him down, so you’ll really be fine once he’s dead.”

  If I kill him, the pessimistic part of me added, but I didn’t say it out loud because I was trying to sound confident. I was also trying not to show how much it would hurt when Ian turned around and walked away. But Tenoch had long prepared me for people being unable to accept what I was. Watching millions slaughter each other over far fewer differences during the thousands of years of my life had proved Tenoch correct.

  I was so sure of Ian’s rejection, it took a moment for me to register what he was saying. “. . . don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Feels like I haven’t had a decent meal in days.”

  “What?” His reaction to this momentous revelation couldn’t be something as simple as hunger.

  He also pulled a coat from a dead guard, shook it so the worst of the gore flew off, and put it on. Then he walked over and gave me a light whack on the ass.

  “Half deaf as well as half demigod, hmm? What, your ears didn’t fully regenerate along with the rest of you? I’ll say
it louder, then: Follow me. I’m peckish and I know the perfect place where we can indulge in a feeding splurge.”

  Chapter 25

  I did a warding spell on the Simargl so that Dagon wouldn’t be able to track him from his blood anymore. Thank you, Nordic vampire, for spilling that important detail. Then I covered his cage with another dead guard’s coat so his wings didn’t attract stares when we went outside. Several blocks later, Ian banged on a side door labeled “Crimson Fountain, employee entrance.”

  The door opened and a young woman with purple hair and dark eye makeup appeared. “Job interviews don’t start for another hour,” she began, then stopped when she got a good look at Ian. “But you can wait inside,” she added, her scent changing until lust covered the heavy chemical tang from her perfume.

  “Grand,” he said, walking into the building. I followed, which made the corner of her mouth curl down in disappointment. Then Ian’s gaze captured hers and his eyes turned green. “Gather together the rest of the employees and bring them here.”

  She turned around without another word. Minutes later, about half a dozen people shuffled into the narrow hallway. “Is this everyone?” Ian asked the purple-haired girl.

  “So far,” she said. “More’ll show up after six when the main shift starts.”

  “Bring them to me as soon as they come in. As for the rest of you,” his bright green gaze landed on each until they were all under his thrall. “You don’t see me, this woman, or our creature until we tell you that you do. You don’t hear us, either. Now, go about your business as usual.”

  They turned and walked away, some wondering out loud why Dahlia had asked them to come see an empty hallway.

  “Cancel the interviews for today,” Ian told Dahlia next. “But before you do that, show us the VIP section and turn the music on. It’s quiet as a tomb in here.”

  She nodded, and we followed her through what was obviously a club. I was surprised to see wooden coffins set up around the stage. Then I noticed large glass fangs over the bar, mock headstones making up the backs of chairs, and stakes for some of the beer taps and understood. Now, the cheesy name for the establishment made sense.

  “You brought us to a fake vampire bar?”

  Ian set Silver’s cage down beside the bar, then threw a grin at me. “The owner and I are friendly, though he thinks I’m another poser instead of a real vampire. Doesn’t know a bit about the undead world, either, poor fellow. That’s why Dagon would never think to look for us here.”

  He was right. I’d expected us to either flee the city or run to an ally’s house. Not go to a club that was a bad stereotype for everything humans normally thought of when they heard the word vampire.

  “Think it’s safe to let him out? Or will he eat the staff?” Ian asked, tracing the bars on Silver’s cage.

  “Simargls are vegetarian,” I replied, offended on Silver’s behalf.

  “Bring him whatever veggies you’ve got,” he told Dahlia when she came back after turning the music on. She’d turned the house lights down and the club lights on. Now, the club was mostly dark except for multicolored beams that crisscrossed over the empty dance floor and the occasional fog or strobe effect.

  “VIP section’s over here,” Dahlia said, walking up a flight of stairs. After I petted Silver and told him to stay, I followed Dahlia to the second floor. In the far corner, ropes and curtains cordoned a room with long black couches, its own bar, and a great view of the dance floor, if you kept the curtains open.

  Ian didn’t. He closed them and took his coat off before lounging on the nearest couch. Dahlia’s gaze swept over Ian’s bare upper body as if he’d compelled her to memorize every detail of how his creamy skin stretched over muscles that rippled with his slightest movement. When she licked her lips, I found myself bristling with what could only be jealousy.

  Ridiculous. I’d promised Ian an orgy on my dime as soon as this was over. How could I be resentful of someone merely looking at him? But I was, so much that my scent soured, until I might as well have sprayed myself down with a bottle labeled Jealous Bitch.

  Ian’s gaze touched mine. I quickly glanced away. He couldn’t know about my latest irrational flash of possessiveness. By the gods, I still needed to have some secrets from him!

  “She’s obviously into you, so you should start your feeding splurge with her,” I said, trying to prove I didn’t care about anything that might happen between the two of them.

  Ian’s mouth curled into a slow grin. Great. He’d probably sensed my possessiveness and was amused by it. You’re being a fool! I told myself sternly. It didn’t matter. After everything that had happened, I was out of the reserves I normally drew from to hide what I was feeling.

  But I didn’t have to stand here and be mocked for it. I spun around. “I’m going to check on Silver—”

  “Wait.” It wasn’t the command in Ian’s tone that stopped me. It was the dangerous amount of intensity in his gaze when I turned back around.

  We stared at each other. An electric jolt went through me when his smile faded and naked hunger overtook his expression. “Come back here, Veritas.”

  The new throatiness in his voice beckoned me more than his words. Once again, the smart move would be to walk away. Instead, I found myself walking toward them as if I’d been hypnotically compelled. I didn’t even have Red Dragon to blame my actions on anymore.

  His gaze filled with green. I didn’t need to see my eyes to know that mine had probably started glowing green, too. An unbearable need swept over me, drowning out everything else. Yes, I should turn around and leave. But I didn’t want to.

  “Go,” Ian told Dahlia, the vibration in his voice telling me he used his power on her. “Close the drapes behind you. Don’t come back or even think about us until I summon you.”

  Dahlia left at once. Seeing her go gave me a brief moment of sanity. I started to follow her, but Ian got up and grabbed me. I stared at the pale hands gripping my arms instead of at him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked in a low voice.

  “This.”

  I gasped when he yanked me down onto the couch. All my nerve endings jumped at the feel of his hard body on top of mine. I considered saying what a bad idea this was, but discarded that when his mouth covered mine.

  His mouth was firm, but his lips were satin, and his kiss dared me to deny the heat blasting through me. I lost that dare, parting my lips without hesitation. He deepened the kiss, tongue twining with mine until lust made me dizzy. His taste, his scent, the way his hands moved in my hair, the sound he made when he sucked on my tongue . . . I was melting and burning at the same time.

  Then I arched against him when he caught my lower lip with his fangs, lightly piercing it. The nip flavored our kiss with the tang of my blood. I scored his lip with my fangs, moaning when I tasted his blood. Ambrosia couldn’t compare. I scored his tongue next, then sucked on it. His kiss became even more erotic. That deep inner ache began to throb and my control evaporated. Too much so.

  I knew I’d gone too far when he shifted and I glimpsed his back over his wide shoulders. It was streaked with crimson and my hands were also red. At some point, I must have ripped bloody tracks into his skin.

  “Sorry!” I said, snatching my hands away.

  “I’m not.” He grabbed my hands and put them on his back again. “I want more.”

  He ripped my coat open. I was naked beneath it, and his gaze went molten as it raked over me. “Stunning,” he rasped. “Can scarcely believe you’re real.”

  Oh, I was real, and I needed him to never stop kissing me. I pulled his head down and his mouth once again slanted over mine. Then I groaned when my bare chest touched his. His muscles were so hard, so taut, but his skin . . . silk had never felt this luxuriant. I rubbed against him to feel more. Then his hands began to move over me. Everything that had ached now felt like it was burning beneath his touch. I felt more volatile than I had right before I’d exploded. Soon, I was making incoher
ent noises against his mouth.

  He slid between my open legs, then twisted his hips so the bulge in his jeans rubbed me where I throbbed the most. Each sinuous stroke had me arching against him, until I was gripping him with my thighs as tightly as I held him with my arms. I needed to have him inside me. I couldn’t wait. There was only one thing in my way—the damn jeans he still wore.

  He let out a growling chuckle when I tore at the front of them until dark fabric flew in every direction. Then he sat up and caught my hands. “No,” he said, the single word stunning me. “Not until you stop holding back.”

  What?

  “I’m not holding back,” I began, only to have him fling me against the couch with such force, it sent me and the sofa sliding across the room.

  He stalked over when the wall finally stopped the couch. “Liar. The only time you weren’t was when you tore my back up.” With each step, his voice deepened. “But after you apologized for that, you haven’t drawn my blood since. I won’t tolerate your half response. I want all of it, and if you keep holding back,” he leaned over, denying me the kiss I sought in favor of nearly yanking my legs open, “I’m going to torture you with pleasure until I break your control.”

  Chapter 26

  A wild thrill ran through me that at once became muted with caution. “I can’t. I’d hurt you.”

  “Good,” he said with a dark laugh. “Looking forward to it.”

  I took in a breath to argue. It exploded out of me as his mouth descended between my legs. He didn’t tease me with ever-deepening flicks of his tongue the way he had when we first kissed. He devoured my flesh with the same abandon he’d demanded I give to him. My loins clenched with band after band of unbelievable pleasure. I gripped his shoulders as my gasps turned into loud cries.