by Nina Bangs
His brain had it right. The Big Boss controlled all cosmic troublemakers. He was the self-appointed big cheese, master of minions, king of the cubicles—yeah, so there weren’t any cubicles—and the one who had rescued so many of them when they had needed help reining in their powers. Without him, the world might be nothing but a barren wasteland, torn apart by out-of-control troublemakers. He was even older than Ganymede and probably more powerful, although Ganymede was ready to test that theory. No one knew exactly what the Big Boss was, and he had never offered to tell them.
So the smart move would be to just stop the car, kick the kid to the curb, and keep on going. He didn’t. Maybe later, when the Big Boss was actually breathing down his neck, he would do it. But for now, he would let the boy hang around. Ganymede refused to even consider any abandonment issues of his own. Didn’t have any. He absolutely did not see himself in this newbie. That would be a weakness, and Ganymede didn’t do weak.
First, he needed a name. Couldn’t just keep calling him kid. Then he would show the boy…
And right there, as he was pulling into the motel parking lot, thinking about teaching the newbie, an awesome idea clobbered him. The pure perfection of it left him breathless. He would have to set things up fast, but it was doable. If everything fell into place, he wouldn’t have to wait seven years to confront his creator. He smiled grimly.
Distracted, Ganymede herded the kid into his motel room and right into the bathroom. He mimed the essentials of showering, drying, and dressing then left with a warning that he would be monitoring the boy from the other room. He also mimed what would happen if the kid disobeyed—a finger slice across his throat, lots of gagging, and eyes rolled back in his head. Hope the boy got it.
As soon as he heard the sound of water running, Ganymede grabbed his phone, dropped onto the only comfortable chair, and then called in some favors.
Exactly twenty minutes later, he was the proud owner of a Victorian painted lady in Cape May, New Jersey. Since the kid was still playing in the shower, he decided to reward himself by checking out her blog. Sure, he shouldn’t do it, but he was never one to spend lots of energy resisting temptation. He would think of this as a reward for coming up with a killer plan to force his creator into the open. He wouldn’t have to worry about a portal if his maker came to him.
2
How had things come to this? Sitting in some anonymous motel in Who-Cares USA staring at her perfect nails—no chips with a fresh coat of Silver Sex. Perfect nails usually gave her a mega mood boost. Not tonight.
Sparkle hadn’t felt this alone in a long time, maybe ever. She had driven away from Live the Fantasy—the theme park she owned in Galveston—leaving behind stunned and bewildered friends. Now no one knew where she was, so no one could try to stop her.
She abandoned her makeup and nail stuff scattered across the desk and moved to the bed where her laptop rested. Propping herself up with pillows, she went to her Facebook page. She loved modern technology. With minimum effort, she could seduce untold thousands over to the dark side with advice on all things sexy and naughty. And if she sometimes wandered across the line to downright wicked, well, Facebook hadn’t noticed yet.
So far she’d had zero luck finding Mede. Not surprising. He could hide his presence from everyone when he felt motivated. Knowing the Big Boss was in a murderous mood gave him a huge incentive to keep his head down, only popping up occasionally to perform incredibly stupid acts guaranteed to make the BB even madder.
But she had been with Mede on and off for thousands of years, and she knew him. He wouldn’t be able to resist taking a peek at her page, if for no other reason than to see if she was suffering. Sparkle knew her smile was all sly anticipation. She’d given him something to think about in her last update. She had loaded her post with whatever she thought would push his anger button. Hopefully he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from blasting her.
Relationship problems? We all have them, even me. Let me share. The whole argument started over nothing. I said one little thing and he just blew up. It was like I didn’t even know him anymore. Then he disappeared. Typical. Pack your bags and run when you know you’re wrong. He’ll have lots of apologizing to do before I forgive him. And, yes, he’ll come slithering back because—cue sensual music here—I’m simply irresistible. That’s the attitude I want all of you beautiful women to keep. Now go shopping and buy a sexy pair of shoes. Make sure they have four inch heels so you can stomp all over his prostrate body when he comes crawling back.
Sparkle scrolled down the page, skipping over outraged comments from men and you-go-girl ones from women. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Almost at the bottom. She was ready to give in to despair. Finally, she reached the last comment…and there it was.
Nothing? You had sex with a freaking Viking, and I’m the one who’s wrong? Get over yourself, babe. And you know it wasn’t “one little thing” you said. It was a big load of crap, and you shoveled it all over me. Don’t bother sharpening your heels because I won’t be back.
Yes. It was Mede. She closed her eyes then took a deep calming breath. If her hands shook a little and tears seeped from beneath her closed lids, it was only a momentary sign of... Relief? Fear—that the Big Boss would find him, that Mede could be gone forever. What would she do then?
Now for the tough part. Keeping her eyes closed, she reached out to the only one who could help her. Sparkle felt the exact moment she connected with him. It had been so long, but he could hold a grudge forever. She sighed. It felt as though she had ticked off everyone in her personal universe. All she could do was deliver her message and hope.
She didn’t go back to her makeup. Instead she stayed online, searching for news of any new disasters, natural or otherwise. Thankfully, everything looked pretty quiet. She wanted to believe Mede had gotten the rampaging out of his system.
Sparkle had just decided to pull on her nightgown, shut off the lights, and try to get some sleep when, without warning, the door crashed open. She leaped from the bed, grabbed her nail file from the desk and crouched, ready for battle. But only darkness and the wind waited outside. Something was there, though. She felt it.
She was about to shove the door closed when the sound of the wind changed. Its low moan rose to a shriek. Before she could react to the unseen danger, an icy blast of air exploded into the room. It shoved her back and scattered clothes, loose papers, and the makeup she had left on the desk.
The air spun into a funnel that grew taller and taller until the shape of a man materialized within it. Finally, it faded to a breeze and died away. The man remained. He held a severed head by its long blood-soaked hair.
She didn’t scream. She didn’t pass out. You couldn’t live for millennia without running across the occasional severed head. Besides, this was Mistral. “What is it?”
He glanced down at the head. “Lesser demon. Unique. Notice the five eyes set where its nose should be. The horn growing from the chin is unusual too. Useless during a fight, though. I’d add it to my collection of shrunken heads, but I don’t have any more shelf space.”
She narrowed her eyes.
He laughed. “Okay, no shrunken head collection. I was just taking it to my truck when you called.”
“Why did you kill it?” Not that Sparkle gave a damn, but he’d expect her to show some interest, would be disappointed if she didn’t. Since she was about to ask him for a favor, she’d do whatever to keep him happy.
He shrugged. “We had a territorial dispute.”
“So where is your territory?” What could she say to convince him to help?
“Earth. He crawled out of hell last week and got busy upgrading his digs to a penthouse condo in Chicago. Bad decision. This planet is mine.”
Sparkle laughed. She couldn’t help it. That answer was so Mistral. She had only met one other cosmic troublemaker with a bigger ego. Her smile died. And she had to find him fast.
“Get rid of it.” Those five dead eyes staring at her creeped her out.
“You’re dripping blood on the carpet.”
He huffed his impatience with her, but he heaved the head into the parking lot. “I’ll pick it up on my way out. That head’s worth money.”
Of course, what had she expected? Mistral tied everything to profit in one form or another. But that was a good thing, because she had plenty of money to throw at him. “I hope no one finds it before you leave. You could’ve knocked. I didn’t need the dramatic entrance.” She gathered up her makeup, then set everything back on the desk. “Close the door.”
“Sure you did.” He kicked the door shut. “You haven’t seen me in five hundred years. I needed to remind you.” He moved closer.
She remained standing. Sitting would give him an advantage, and she didn’t want him to have any kind of edge. “That you’re as cold and violent as the wind you’re named for? I remember. Don’t worry, your light hasn’t dimmed.”
Five hundred years, five thousand years, it wouldn’t matter. He still rated as one of the most incredible-looking men she had ever seen. If he thought the jeans and T-shirt made him look human, he could think again. Mistral was a male cosmic troublemaker, tall and powerful like most of his kind. But from the neck up he dazzled. Long, straight white hair fell to below his shoulders. Not just an ordinary white, but a shining fall that would leave any woman gasping for air. When the light fell just right on it, the strands glittered with an iridescent sheen. The streak of demon blood made a startling contrast. His hair framed a riveting face—knife edge cheekbones, dark brows, amber eyes framed by thick lashes and a full sensual mouth. She didn’t have a clue how he had rated such dark brows and lashes with that white hair, but it definitely made for an exotic look.
Of course, even Mistral faded in comparison to Mede, but then everyone did. Mede. She pushed thoughts of him aside and concentrated on Mistral. “I’m surprised you came.”
His smile still held the memory of bitterness. “Five hundred years is a long time to sulk. So what if you chose Ganymede over me?” He shrugged. “I got over it. Eventually. What do you want?”
Sparkle tried to calm her racing heart. She might act casual, but he’d rattled her. “Have a seat and we’ll talk.” She waited until he dropped onto the end of the bed before sitting. Then she forced herself to lean back in the chair and cross her legs with a maximum display of thigh. He would expect that from someone who had honed her sexual weapons for thousands of years. Her departure from an expected routine might signal desperation.
His smile widened, became real. She sighed. In the end it didn’t matter whether she sat or stood, he would always dominate a room.
She forced a smile to her lips. Confidence. She’d had it until Mede left. Better get it back fast, because she swore Mistral could smell fear. “How has life been treating you?” More to the point, how had he been treating life? The Mistral she remembered didn’t have much respect for anyone’s life, human or nonhuman.
“Same old same old. I go where I’m needed.”
Where he was needed? More like where he could find someone willing to pay him big bucks for his talent. Call her naive, but she had always believed the joy of sharing her gift should be its own reward. “Come on, something exciting must’ve happened during all those centuries.” She didn’t care about his life, but she needed a few minutes to compose exactly the right words that would convince him to help her. She glanced away from his stare. Those amber eyes seemed to strip her down to her bare essence. Not a comfortable feeling.
“I’m not here to talk about me, Sparkle. Time is money. Why did you call me?”
Everything about him seemed harder than she remembered, if that was even possible. She looked into his cold eyes and wondered why she had thought she could appeal to him after all this time. They’d been close once, but she doubted any affection for her or for anyone remained in what passed for his heart.
“Mede has dropped off the grid. I need help finding him.”
Mistral blinked. “You’re still with him?” He paused to glance away. “Fill me in. What’s happening in your life now?”
Did he care? Didn’t matter. She would humor him. “I own an adult theme park in Galveston, Texas—Live the Fantasy. I give people a chance to act out their secret yearnings. Role playing releases a lot of inhibitions.” Sparkle smiled. So many innocent desires and so many ways she could manipulate them. “Mede and I live in the main attraction, the Castle of Dark Dreams.”
Mistral’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Sounds like you’ve found a sweet spot to settle down in and practice your…craft. Why did Ganymede leave?”
“We fought. Why isn’t important.” Mistral didn’t need to know those painful details. “Now he’s doing his cosmic wrecking ball thing all over the planet. The Big Boss has noticed. He’s looking for Mede. I have to find him first.” The stupid man had actually believed her ugly words. She said unfortunate things when she lost her temper. After so many thousands of years, you’d think the dumb-but-beautiful idiot would know that.
“Good. I never liked the arrogant bastard.”
She raised one brow. “Pot kettle?”
“What do you want me to do?” He glanced at the door, not even trying to hide his need to escape her.
“Find and follow him.” Sparkle could almost see Mistral getting ready to turn her down. She rushed into speech before he could speak. “I’d do it myself, but I can’t sense him.” Over the thousands of years she had known Mede, loved him, she’d always felt a connection, sort of an emotional umbilical cord tugging at her. But not this time. Of course, this was the first time he had purposely hidden his whereabouts. Sparkle only hoped Mede had thrown the Big Boss off his trail, too. “I’ve already visited the places that held a special meaning for us. Nothing.”
He lowered his gaze, hiding his expression. “Two questions. Why me, and what do I get out of it?”
“You’re the most powerful shape shifter to ever walk the planet.” True. He could become anything: animate or inanimate. It didn’t hurt to stroke his ego a little. “Added to that, you can find anyone. Even Mede won’t be able hide from you.” Sparkle took a deep breath before going on. Knowing Mistral, this next part could get tricky. “Name your price. I don’t have a budget limit.” A dangerous, dangerous admission.
He raised his gaze to meet hers, and she couldn’t miss the speculative gleam in his eyes.
“I don’t need money. There’s only one thing I want.”
He paused, and an emotion Sparkle couldn’t read moved in his eyes before he looked away.
“I want to put down roots for a while.”
She frowned. That could mean anything from buying a small country and making himself king to changing into a patch of crabgrass growing on someone’s front lawn. You never knew with Mistral. “What does that have to do with me?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. But when I decide, I want your promise that you’ll help me settle in to whatever new home I choose.”
That was sort of weird. But she didn’t have time to worry about Mistral’s request now. “Fine. Now help me find Mede.” Sparkle retrieved her laptop, then set it on the desk. She pointed. “This is Mede’s response to my last post.”
Mistral stood beside her. He placed one finger on the screen over Mede’s comment. “He’s in Arizona. Sedona.”
“Amazing. How do you do that?” She had forgotten after five hundred years exactly how good he was. There might not have been any Facebook back then, but he could still touch a mark, an object, anything connected to the person he hunted and know exactly where they were.
He grinned at her. “How do you create sexual chaos?”
“I’m the queen of sex and sin. It comes naturally.” She nodded. “I get it.”
Mistral kept his finger on the screen. He frowned. “Is he supposed to be alone? Because I sense someone else with him.”
“Male or female?”
“I can’t tell.”
She couldn’t control her spurt of jealousy. It had to be someo
ne he trusted completely. That should be me. She took a deep breath then stomped on the jealousy. She’d deal with it later. “We leave now.”
She packed her things while he went outside to dispose of the demon’s head. No way would she ask what he did with the disgusting thing. Men and their toys.
Mistral insisted on driving. “I can see his route in my mind, so it makes sense for me to drive. Telling you to turn here or there would be an extra hassle.” He pulled out of the motel’s parking lot. “He’s heading east. You know, this would be a lot easier and faster if you stayed here and just allowed me to kick into wind form to find him. I’d be on him by noon today.”
She shook her head but didn’t look at him. “I have to stay close.” In case the Big Boss finds him. “He’s in Sedona, we’re near Denver. If he’s heading east and you drive fast, we can intersect with his path. Then we just stay far enough behind him that he doesn’t make us.” She wouldn’t try to confront Mede until he reached his destination, wherever that was.
Mistral remained silent so long she almost believed he’d let it drop.
“Makes sense.” Pause. “So what’s your real reason?”
She couldn’t help it, she smiled. Mistral, always suspicious. And usually right. “I don’t trust you. You’re easily distracted. If you got word a demon lord was laying waste to Disney World, you’d be all over it. I’d be left sitting in that motel room wondering what happened to you.” He wouldn’t stray when she was with him. Mistral knew what she could do close up when someone made her mad.
He laughed. “Can’t help it. I love the rush. Chasing Ganymede across the country isn’t exactly high excitement.” His laughter died as he glanced at her. “You can’t stop the Big Boss from destroying him, Sparkle.”
