by Vivi Anna
As if to punctuate her rumbling belly, the room door opened and Ronan walked in with two bags of food. “I hope you’re hungry. I didn’t know what you liked, so I got you pretty much one of everything.” He crossed the room and handed her a white paper bag.
“Thanks.” She opened the bag and inhaled the delectable smells. “Jesus, that smells amazing.” She reached in and pulled out a double burger, loaded. She unwrapped it and took a healthy bite. The spiced greasy flavor exploded in her mouth and she closed her eyes in delight and sighed. She finished it in another three bites. As she chewed the last of it, she reached into the bag for more. She pulled out a large order of fries.
“There’s no ketchup.”
Ronan tossed her a couple of packets. She caught them, ripped them open and squeezed the ketchup all over her fries.
“I’ve never seen a woman eat like you do.”
“Yeah, well, I doubt you’ve met any women like me.”
He smiled around his food. “That’s for sure.”
“I’m not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.” She shoved three fries into her mouth. She had to admit that she enjoyed their banter. It had been a while since she’d met a man that could dish it out and take it in equal measure.
“What would make you share those fries?”
She laughed out loud. A full guffaw. It felt good to let it out, to let go. She offered him the box. “Either remark will get you half the box.”
“Then it was a compliment.”
Ronan reached over and grabbed a handful, and set them onto his spread-out burger wrapper on the table. Happily, he dipped them into a torn-open ketchup pack and ate them with gusto.
She watched for a bit, wondering what his motives really were. Yes, he said he was after the same demon. For the first time, she wanted to know why. And why partner with her? Sure, she was the best, but given her reputation he must’ve known that she was impossible to work with.
Why would a man subject himself to her belligerent ways if he could’ve gotten information from another source?
He was obviously a glutton for punishment.
“So,” he said after chewing, “did you find out anything?”
“I talked to a source and he hasn’t caught wind of anyone asking around about me. But that doesn’t necessarily mean much. He’s not the only hunter out there. Though he is the only one that I can tolerate.”
“Anyone else you can contact?”
“Maybe.” She finished her fries and dumped the box into the white paper bag. “What about you? You must have contacts.”
He looked at her for a second, then wiped his fingers on the paper napkin. “I do, but you’re not going to like them.”
Demons. She should’ve known.
She got up, pitched the bag into the garbage bin, and then stretched out onto the bed. “No, I probably won’t.”
Ronan checked his watch. “It’s two now. I can’t talk to my contact until three. So catch some sleep while you can.”
Ivy smooshed up the pillow behind her head and closed her eyes. “I plan to.”
As she tried to relax her mind, she felt a dip on the mattress next to her. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked to her right. Ronan was fluffing his own pillow behind his head.
“Excuse me?”
He snorted at her. “Please. You can relax. You’re definitely not my type.”
“Oh, you probably like them with black irises and sulfur for blood.”
“Nah.” He rolled over onto his side, giving her his back. “I like women with souls.”
She flinched as if struck. The harshness of his statement threw her for a loop. She supposed she’d been treating him badly but she was sure she didn’t deserve such a scathing remark. Did she?
Ivy didn’t dignify his statement with a response, and she turned onto her side, as well. She punched the pillow under her head and closed her eyes again. She wouldn’t let him get to her. But after ten minutes of lying there listening to his rhythmic breathing, she realized he was already getting to her in more ways than one.
Chapter 6
Ronan slept for about forty minutes. He had the ability to nod off quickly, go under for a deep sleep and wake up fresh and alert. He didn’t sleep much as it was. He attributed that to the demon blood running through him. Full-blooded demons never slept. Gave them more time to cause chaos and havoc on the world.
He moved carefully off the bed so as to not rouse Ivy. When he was up he looked down at her. She slept like she did everything else—with fierce conviction. Her forehead was wrinkled in concentration and it looked like she was grinding her teeth. Both hands were curled into fists. It looked like she’d bolt up at any moment and punch him in the gut.
But despite all that, she was riveting. She had the quality that made men stand to attention. Made men want to stare into those fierce blue eyes for an eternity, to wait, to hope that she would press those amazing full lips to theirs.
Not that Ronan was thinking of kissing her. It was just she possessed a mouth made to be kissed. It was hard to imagine wasting that tasty pout.
Grabbing his gun and both his knives, he crept out of the room and went around to the back of the motel to the barren, abandoned field that was there. It was a perfect setup for what he needed to do next.
He cleared a spot about six feet in diameter in the soil. After finding a decent stick, he drew a pentagram in the circle of dirt. Then he inscribed the symbol for one particular demon he knew. Daeva. She was a lust demon. Lust demons were more apt to make deals than the other denizens of hell.
Once that was done, he needed to activate the “call.” Taking out one of his blades, he cupped it in his palm and drew the blade across his skin. The immediate sharp sting of the steel made him suck in a breath. Holding his hand up over the sigil, blood ran down his hand and dripped onto the dirt. The black spots immediately soaked into the ground.
It wouldn’t be long before the call was answered. Daeva was usually quite prompt.
Ronan pulled out a thin piece of gauze from his pocket. He always came prepared. He wrapped it around his palm, stemming the flow of blood. Just as he finished tying it off, an audible pop sounded before him. The smell of brimstone and some exotic spices filled the air. He looked up to face the demon.
She smiled. “Well, hello, Ronan. What can I do you for?”
Ronan shook his head at her play on words. It was an old joke.
“Get it? What can I do you for?” She laughed; the sound was like tinkling bells.
“Yeah, I get it, Daeva. It just isn’t funny.”
She took a step toward him, mindful of the lines of the pentagram that she was bound inside. “So, honey, what can I really do for you?”
Out of all the demons he’d run across, Daeva was the only one he liked. She was fun and funny and sexy as all get out with her long crimson hair and startling gray eyes. And she really didn’t follow the usual demon code. She didn’t look for ways to get out of the pentagram and rip your innards out. As long as he’d been doing business with her, he’d yet to see her do any real harm to anyone. She just liked to seduce people. And he really didn’t see the harm in that.
“I need information.”
“About?”
“Sallos.”
“I see.” She tapped one long fingernail against her cherry-stained lips. “I heard he was being a really bad boy.”
“Yes, he’s murdering women. Lots of them. He needs to be stopped.”
“Oh, I agree, Ronan, no doubt about that. But what will you give me in return for my information?”
“What do you want?” He knew it was a mistake to ask an open-ended question to a demon, but he trusted Daeva. Sort of.
“I want to meet her.”
“Who?”
“Who do you think? Ivy Strom, of course.”
“Why?”
She pursed her lips, then fluffed her hair. “I have my reasons.”
“And those would be?” The voice that came was as f
rigid as the Arctic winds. Ronan whirled around to see Ivy walking out of the shadows to stand beside him.
“None of your business, really.” Daeva smiled at the unexpected arrival.
Ivy bristled a little, and Ronan sensed she was about to do something stupid, but at the last second she seemed to settle down and sighed instead. “Well, we’ve met, so now you can tell us about Sallos.”
“We haven’t been properly introduced.” Daeva looked at Ronan. “Will you do the honors?”
He sighed and shook his head. He had a bad feeling that he was going to pay for this in some way. Either from Daeva or from Ivy. There seemed to be some rivalry between them that he couldn’t figure out. “Daeva, Seductress of Shadows, this is Ivy Strom...”
“Hunter of all Demons,” Ivy finished for him.
Daeva chuckled, then offered her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ivy Strom. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Ivy looked at the offered hand, then to Ronan. He shrugged. He had no clue what Daeva was up to. He’d never seen her behave this way.
“From who?”
“The word gets around. Hell’s not that big, you know. When one of us comes back, sent back by you, you can bet he’s right pissed about it.”
Ivy took a step forward so the edge of her boot touched the line of the pentagram. She reached through the binding and grasped Daeva’s hand.
From the look of rapt fascination on the demon’s face, Ronan almost expected her to pull Ivy into the pentagram. He reached over and grabbed Ivy around the waist.
The two women shook hands, and then Ivy pulled back and whipped around to glare at him. “What the hell are you doing?”
He released his hold on her, then sheepishly took a distancing step away. “Nothing.” He looked at Daeva; she was giving him a similar look.
He found the whole thing strange. It was like some weird female bonding thing that he just didn’t get. Next thing he knew, they would be going out shoe shopping or something.
He cleared his throat of the awkwardness he felt. “Okay, now that that’s done, tell us where Sallos is located.”
Daeva cocked her hip and wrapped a finger in her hair, playing with it both innocently and seductively. “Give me a piece of paper and I can give you an address.”
Ronan opened his duffel bag and came away with a notebook. He tore off a piece of paper and handed it to her. The demon took it, then ran her index finger over it. “There.” She handed it back to Ronan.
He looked down at it. There was an address scrolled on the paper in bright red. He didn’t even want to consider what she’d used for ink.
Ivy took it from him. She glanced at it, then at Daeva. “This better be right.”
“Oh, it is, honey. Don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
By the look of fury on Ivy’s face, Ronan decided it would probably be best if he ended the “call” and sent Daeva back to wherever she came from. “Thank you, Daeva, for the information.”
“My pleasure, Ronan, darling. I always love it when you come a-knocking at my door.” Then she put her gaze on Ivy. “It was a pure pleasure meeting you, Ivy Strom. Say hi to your brother for me, will you?” She smiled, blew her a kiss and then snapped her fingers. She was gone in a flash and a puff of spices.
“What was that about?” Ronan asked.
Ivy shrugged. “I have no idea. Quinn’s exorcised a lot of demons, so maybe she’s got a bone to pick with him.” Ivy folded the piece of paper and shoved it into her pants pocket. “Nice choice of contact, by the way.”
He gathered his gear back up and put it in his bag. “She’s always reliable.”
“What does she usually ask for, for payment?”
He picked up the bag and swung it over his shoulder. He grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” With a bit of a swagger in his step, Ronan walked past Ivy to return to the hotel.
He felt her piercing gaze on his back all the way to their hotel room. It made him grin like a fool who’d just won a bet. He was getting to her, just like he’d planned.
Chapter 7
When they got back to the room, Ivy sat down on the edge of the bed and unfolded the paper that the demon had given them. Her hands shook a little, and she put them down at her sides so Ronan wouldn’t see them. She was a bit unnerved by the exchange between her and Daeva. When she’d shaken her hand, she got the overwhelming sense that the demoness didn’t mean her any harm and, in fact, had been pleased to meet her. It had been strange, to say the least.
“Fifty-five Fourth Street.”
“That’s what it says.”
“That’s downtown. Do you have a map?”
“Better.” Ronan reached into his pack and pulled out his iPhone.
She shook her head in disbelief.
“What? Don’t you have one? I can get all kinds of info on here. Maps and internet, voice dialing, even Facebook.” He grinned at that last one.
“Just look up the address, please.”
He tapped the screen what seemed like a hundred times. His face paled after a few minutes. He looked up at Ivy. “We might have a problem.”
“What?”
He handed her the phone. She looked down at the information displayed on the screen. She sighed. “You have got to be kidding. Is she serious with this info?”
Ronan leaned back in the worn chair at the table. “She’s never given me bad information before. I trust it.”
“It’s the Marriott Marquis, Ronan. How are we supposed to get in there and trap a demon without injuring thousands of people?”
“Carefully?”
“Not to mention having the cops involved. If we start a scene, and you know there will be one, they’ll be called in for sure.”
“I don’t know, but this is good intel. We can’t let it go to waste. We might not get another chance at this one.”
She sighed, then ran a hand over her face. He was right. They may never get another chance to find Sallos. She’d worked months to get the one tip on him for the club. The odds were if they didn’t act now, Sallos would kill again, maybe more than once, before she could catch him.
“Do you have a plan?” she asked Ronan between clenched teeth. She hated deferring to someone else for answers. She was used to relying on herself to have a good plan of action.
“The most logical thing to do is to check in and snoop around.”
“There are over a thousand rooms in the hotel. Even if we both dressed up as cleaning staff we’d never be able to search all those rooms.”
“We won’t have to. Sallos is all about the chase. He’ll be out and about on the prowl. There are a few bars in the hotel. He’ll be staking out one, if not more, for his next victim.”
She nodded, then handed the phone back to him. “You’re right.” She ran her hands over her pants, then stood. She glanced at her watch. “It’s four a.m. We can’t check in until what? Three in the afternoon?”
“Four.”
“That gives us some time to prepare.”
Ronan nodded. “Yeah, and find something else to wear. We can’t go into a posh hotel like the Marriott wearing stained denim and leather.”
“My place is likely destroyed, plus I imagine it’ll still be swarming with police.”
“Then I suggest shopping.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out four credit cards. He tossed them onto the bed.
Ivy reached down and plucked one. She read it. “Alex Irvine?”
He nodded. “Yup. I’m also Peter Jacobs, Brian Frost and my personal favorite, Harry Ennis.”
She groaned, but couldn’t stop her lips from twitching upwards. “If you tell me that the middle initial is P, I’m going to smack you really hard.”
“Nah, I didn’t go that far.” He laughed. “But they each have about a five grand limit, so I’m sure we can buy you something hot to wear.”
She glared at him. “I will not be wearing something hot, thank you very much.”
“Why not? You could definitel
y pull it off.”
She didn’t like that gleam in his eye again. It was the second time she’d seen it in the past few hours. The first time had been in the bathroom when he came across her showering. The cambion had another think coming if he thought there was going to be anything sexual between them.
They were working together. Work and sex didn’t mix.
And why was she even thinking about that anyway? It was more than just a work thing. It was a demon blood thing. Just because the man was devastatingly good-looking with wide, powerful shoulders and a smile that could disarm a nuclear weapon didn’t mean she was in any way thinking about having sex with him.
She cocked her hip and pinned him with a look she hoped came across angry and not sexually frustrated. “Do I seriously have to go over the rules of our limited partnership again?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Just messing with you, boss. I know that there couldn’t possibly be a sexual being under all that steel and ice.”
She gaped at him. But he never gave her a chance to respond before he was bouncing on the bed, stuffing the pillow behind his head and closing his eyes.
“Since we have some time to kill, I’m going to catch a few more hours of sleep.”
She glared down at him, but he was impervious to it. After another minute, he was snoring soundly.
Angry, she stared at him some more, willing him to wake up and fight with her. That way, maybe she wouldn’t be so aware of the muscle tick at his strong jawline and the urge she had to trace a fingertip over it to smooth it away.
She turned around on her heel and paced the room. She’d gone too long without a man in her life. Her libido was flaring up like a bad rash. She thought it ridiculous that just having this man stretched out on the bed in front of her, his long legs spread a little, with his deep breathing and his tantalizing male scent in her nostrils was enough to have her heart racing and her gut swirling.
Clenching her hand into a fist, she rubbed it down her leg. She had to get it together. There was no time for distractions. Especially tall, dark and extremely dangerous ones like Ronan. If she wanted to catch Sallos and send him back to hell she had to concentrate on doing just that. And not on fantasizing about the cambion in the bed in front of her.
