“Hope,” Faith said, and Hope’s eyes bounced back to the blonde. “I don’t think you know how we really see you. How brave we think you are.”
She shook her head and internally cursed when the room spun again. “I’m not brave.”
“But you are,” Faith insisted. “When that bastard attacked you, you fought back. I saw him at the courthouse, Hope. Not many women would even try. Most would freeze up and it would have turned out much different.”
Hope looked away and blinked back tears. “No, I’m—”
“Yes,” Vee said as she squeezed Hope’s hand. “Then after that nightmare, a crazy dog busts through a window and kills a man in front of you and instead of screaming and hiding, what do you do? You run over and try to save him.” Verity and Faith shared another knowing look when Vee uttered the word dog, then Verity snorted and sipped her drink before continuing. “Not me. I can’t stand blood. I probably would have passed out.”
Hope met Faith’s sympathetic gaze. “Garrett wants me to stay home too,” she slurred, eager to change the subject. Her bravery, or lack thereof, wasn’t something she felt comfortable discussing. She liked to think she reacted how anyone else would have. “He says the city isn’t safe. Well, it’s never been exactly safe, but more dangerous lately. The news said there’s been an increase in gang activity or something.”
“Davin feels the same,” Verity added. “Getting to come here today took a lot of persuasion, if you know what I mean.” She gave them a naughty wink and Faith and Hope sucked in scandalized gasps.
“You little vixen,” Faith whispered, a smirk twisting her lips. “Dirty, dirty girl. How did I not know this about you?”
Hope burst out laughing and Faith joined in. “Yeah, Vee. How did you persuade Davin? We want details, the filthier the better.”
Verity spluttered and turned bright red. Hope enjoyed watching the normally quiet girl squirm. Unfortunately, someone chose that exact second to ring the doorbell.
“Saved by the bell,” Hope said as she popped up. “Whoa.” The room swung around a lot and she swayed, which caused the girls to laugh. “I’m just gonna use the bathroom.”
“Down that hall, first door on the right,” Verity said. Faith had already headed for the foyer.
“Right.” Hope hiccupped. “Be back in a sec.”
As she bumped gracelessly down the hall, Hope swore she heard Vee giggle and say, “Don’t fall in.”
Hope smiled. Today was awesome.
I really needed this.
JACK STEPPED across the foyer and felt the powerful wards go up behind him, the hum and low vibration making him uneasy.
“I hate this,” he grumbled as he stalked past Faith.
“Well, hello to you, too, Jack,” she quipped.
He turned and noted the sexy blonde had one curved eyebrow raised and her full lips pulled into a scowl. With a huff, he crossed his arms. When Faith continued to give him the stink eye he knew he must needs play nice, else Dante would rip him a new one. Especially if he heard Jack had been rude to his mate.
“Apologies.” Jack opened his arms wide and waggled his brows. “Hug it out?”
Faith scoffed and rolled her big, blue-green eyes. “And have you feel me up? Thanks, but no thanks.” Jack smirked and she chuckled. “Why are you here?”
“Is this how you treat all your guests?” He clucked his tongue. “Whatever would your mother think?”
Faith choked on a laugh. “My mother thought it was a good idea to cleanse the souls of anyone who walked in our front door, whether they wanted it or not. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t blink at me giving you a hard time.”
“Hmm. Mayhap. So…?
Her eyes narrowed. “So, what?”
He gestured down the hall that led into the penthouse. “May I come in?”
“Fine,” she grumbled. “But I have company, Jack. Mixed company, so no funny business with immortal powers.”
It took a second for Jack to interpret her words. “Oh, a human? Interesting.” He licked his lips whilst wondering what this human looked like and whether it be male or female. Hmm, what he thought would be a dull visit just brightened considerably.
Seeing as she already walked away, Jack followed Faith to the great room and spotted Davin’s soulmate, a dark-haired female named Verity Fairchild and… that was it.
“Where’s Hope?” Faith asked.
Verity sipped from a glass, which contained a drink so bright green it looked like nuclear waste. Jack kept his opinion to himself. “In the bathroom.” Verity’s gaze landed on Jack and she wrinkled her nose. Fine, she didn’t like him. He didn’t care. Her irises, though, were a stunning shade of emerald, and almost as green as her sloshing beverage. “What are you doing here?”
Jack threw his hands in the air and huffed again. “Is today ‘Be a Jerk to Jack Day’ or something?”
Verity giggled. “No. But if you dish it out, which you do all the time, you can take it.” She gave him a wicked grin and those enormous doe eyes scanned his body from head to toe. “Can you, Jack?” she purred. “Take it, that is?”
Fuck. His dick throbbed and he must needs press a palm down on his groin to subtly shift it into a more comfortable position. Pride had definitely infused his previously shy mate with his unabashed confidence. “Fucking hell, Verity. Don’t say shit like that to me. The last thing I want is to deal with a jealous dae—”
“Who’s jealous?”
Faith glared at Jack who snapped his mouth shut, and the three immortals twisted their necks to face the newcomer. It was a chore to keep his recently closed mouth from falling back open. Across the room, a small, but gorgeous, blond and ginger-haired female stood behind one of the larger sofas, body trembling whilst her fingers gripped the back of the sofa so hard her knuckles turned white.
Verity must needs have also noticed the female’s nervousness because she rose—or more accurately, drunkenly staggered—from her seat on the floor to wobble around the sofa and place a hand on the girl’s back. Verity whispered in her ear, but with his immortal abilities, Jack easily heard every word.
“It’s okay, Hope. That’s Jack. He’s a friend of Dante’s. Faith and I know him and we trust him.”
They trusted him? That was news, and if he had the ability to care, mayhap it would have made him feel good.
The human female, Hope, absorbed Verity’s explanation and sank her perfect white teeth into a full, ruby red, lower lip and Fates if his slowly filling erection didn’t grow another inch at the sexy sight. Jack had planned to go out this evening to find a willing partner. In truth, that was why he came by Dante’s. To inquire if his recently mated, incredibly boring, now domesticated, though supposedly lusty, half-daemon friend, wanted to go clubbing tonight. Jack didn’t require a wingman to pick up a hot fuck, but he must needs admit he kind of missed hanging out with his amicus.
But this unexpected little morsel, Hope, with her swollen, perfect for cock-sucking mouth and pale, freckled skin, however, would do quite well in place of cruising. Or, Jack figured mayhap he would do both. Convince the human into having a quickie in the bathroom, then go out later and find another fuck buddy. Most of the time, Jack’s sexual appetite tended to lean toward bottomless.
Unconsciously, he licked his lips and studied this Hope female. The longer he looked, the more he liked what he saw. Aye, he imagined she would taste exactly how she appeared—sweet, luscious, and deliciously naive.
Hope nodded at Verity and lifted her chin to face Jack head on whilst Faith sidled up to him to make introductions. “Hope, this is Jack Bellamy, Dante’s best friend. Jack, this is Hope Hartley. She works in Dante’s club and was Verity’s roommate for a while.”
The girl blushed at Jack’s shamelessly blatant perusal. Cheeks blazing, she dropped her gaze and muttered, “Nice to meet you.”
Fascinated as timid wasn’t Jack’s usual type, he took a step closer and gave his best smile, the one with dimples that made all the females—as well as ma
les—strip naked and beg to be fucked. Her head snapped up and her eyes grew wide, almost as if she were… afraid? But… the smile? Why didn’t it work on this strange human?
Jack cleared his throat and tried for charm.
“Aye, it’s very nice to meet you… Hope.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Verity shot a withering glare in his direction. Too bad. If the girl were willing, he would gladly fuck her. It was none of Verity’s business what occurred between consenting adults, though he’d prefer any activity which must needs be done naked. Faith and Verity should be more careful who they brought around if they didn’t want Jack getting in their pants. That’s what Jack did, and both Faith and Verity knew it.
“I’m going to get another drink,” Faith grumbled.
“I’ll join you,” Jack announced, eager for a chance to question his friend’s mate about the human, Hope. They entered the kitchen and Jack stopped short. It looked like a bomb exploded. Or mayhap the aftermath of a human fraternity party—he smiled at the fond memories of slipping into frat houses from time to time to cruise for easy lays. Practically orgies, those parties were. He blinked away the images and scanned the countertops. Half empty bottles littered every surface and there were puddles of alcohol scattered about, including one that slowly dripped to the floor. A blender sat on the massive island, only an inch of a melted purple concoction left inside. Empty glasses piled high in the sink and several were tucked into any gap on the crowded granite slab.
“What happened in here?” Jack glanced at Faith and flinched.
The sorceress, who stood near half a foot shorter than his vessel, looked so furious he feared mayhap she would detonate. One of her pale, slender fingers jabbed his sternum and he fought the instinct to snatch Faith’s hand and squeeze until her bones broke. Fates, Dante would hand him his ass if he ever laid a hand on his soulmate.
“Stay away from Hope,” Faith growled, punctuating each word with another sharp poke to his breastbone. “I mean it, Jack. Don’t even think about touching her. She’s been through a lot, and no way am I letting you fuck her up by fucking her.”
He opened and closed his mouth several times, unable to come up with a proper response to such unexpected hostility from the easygoing and friendly soulmate of his best friend.
“That woman, out there…?” With a loud hiccup, Faith removed her finger from his chest and pointed toward the other side of the room, where Verity and Hope sat on the sofa, heads together. Despite the urge to do so, Jack refrained from eavesdropping on the females. Instead, he turned his attention back to the fiery sorceress. A fiery class nine sorceress. One who could snap her fingers and do very bad things to a wraith. Jack swallowed and Faith continued her speech. “Hope is the one who was attacked by the djinn. Remember? At Dante’s club.”
“What?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about, so watch yourself,” she snapped. “Because you know my mate as well as, or maybe even better than, I do. You know how protective he is of his employees. And Hope? Let’s just say you’d be lucky to escape with your genitals intact if you so much as lay a hand… or dick, on her.”
Jack couldn’t remember a time he’d been shocked speechless, not once in his very, very long existence, but Faith Summers managed to achieve the impossible. Whilst he processed the horrors of a furious Dante going anywhere near his most beloved body part, Faith’s expression went soft. With a gentle touch, she put a hand on his arm. Jack managed not to flinch. Barely.
“Promise you’ll leave her be.”
“No problem,” he said without hesitation. “Message received.” He wasn’t stupid enough to fuck with a class nine. Besides, his cock completely lost interest after being threatened with its removal from his vessel’s body. Jack preferred his twig and berries intact, thank you very much.
Faith grinned and clapped her hands together, eyes alight. “All right then. Let’s make some drinks, shall we?”
Jack shook away the horrific images of damage to his cock and balls, and gave the kitchen another once over before deciding it wise to put a bit of distance between his now-limp dick and the sorceress. “Mayhap I shall grab a whisky from the bar.”
Jack only made it halfway to Dante’s setup in the butler’s pantry when he heard Faith call out, “Your loss, Jack. I make the best drinks,” and the blender whirred to life, drowning out her voice.
Fates, he must needs get laid. And far away from crazy females. It was no wonder his preferences tended to lean toward males. Less drama. And way fewer threats to his precious cock.
THIS WAS GETTING out of hand and it left Tony more frustrated than ever. He tapped his pen on the report on his desk as he attempted to piece together a bunch of crimes that made no sense. They wouldn’t have been considered connected had they not had one important factor in common.
Dante Vittorio.
Another attack on one of his businesses, this time a warehouse in the industrial district on the outskirts of the city. The Prince of Lust went out of his mind when Tony called to inform him. Shit, he almost feared the Dante when the male showed up at the scene and Tony got a good look at his face. The half-daemon prince was beyond furious. In truth, he looked downright murderous, and Tony didn’t blame him one bit.
He refocused on the paperwork and read through the witness statements again even though he committed them to memory hours ago. A heavily muscled black male with a tattoo on his neck entered the warehouse with a very large black dog. They came through the open garage door at the loading dock. On the male’s command, the dog charged the nearest human and just like the incident at Dante’s dance club, the canine tore the male’s throat out. Two other humans attempted to confront the immortal—who Tony felt it was safe to assume to be the new djinn—but the male easily overpowered the weak humans. The neck of one human was snapped, body found with the head at an unnatural angle. The other attempted to flee and the djinn took chase. His body was found on the other side of the warehouse, bloodied and beaten to death, probably by the djinn’s fists.
The remaining fifteen employees escaped, locking themselves in the office to call 9-1-1. It was clear the djinn left them alive on purpose, as a locked door was as effective at keeping him out as a layer of tissue paper. Three of the survivors heard the djinn call the dog by name, Malum, which translated to ‘evil’ in Latin.
How fucking adorable.
“I know that look, Tony. You’re either constipated or angry.” He whipped his head up to find Joan striding toward their desks. Her expression wasn’t any more cheerful than his. If anything, of the two of them, Joan appeared worse off.
“From the looks of you, I’d say you’re not doing any better,” he said as Joan flopped into her chair.
“Don’t get me started,” she grumbled. She leaned back in the battered chair and the thing squeaked in protest. The furniture at HQ was old and cranky. In Tony’s opinion, they were lucky to have chairs. Half the computers and printers were broken at any given time. But most of the department consisted of angels and saints and, if nothing else, they were used to existing on the bare minimum and no luxuries. Sacrifice and all that crap.
“One of these days, one of us is going to end up breaking our ass when a chair collapses,” he muttered. Joan shot a dark look across their desks. “I’m not in the mood for a lecture today, so can you give me a break just this one time?”
Her mouth twisted, but to his shock, she nodded. “Yeah. This case has me so furious I wouldn’t be surprised if a few curses end up falling off my own tongue.”
Tony’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “You? Cursing? Well shit, I’d pay to hear that.” He smirked and thankfully, Joan kept her hands to herself and laughed. If nothing else, at least the levity lessened the tension.
“Keep dreaming, Detective Martins.” Joan closed her eyes and sighed. “Seriously, though. Four dead immortals and we’re no closer to finding Famine than we were when he started his little killing spree a few weeks ago.” Joan’s eyes popped
open and Tony was face to face with a pair of blazing hazels. “What is he up to, huh?” she asked. “Why did he move from humans to immortals all of a sudden?”
Tony twisted the pen in his fingers. “Well, let’s go back to the beginning.” Joan frowned and he held up a hand. “Wait… just listen. We compiled a list of several centuries’ worth of deceased humans with scorch marks around their mouths. Obviously, the list is incomplete, with many gaps, likely because Famine left Eastlake Falls for long stretches of time.”
“That’s correct,” Joan said through clenched teeth. “I already know all this.”
He ignored her hostility and continued. “In the last few months, the frequency of his kills increased significantly, right?”
“Aye,” Joan said slowly. “From two or three a year to several per week over a six month span.” Her forehead creased and her lips pulled into a frown.
“We don’t know how, but we know two weeks ago he moved from humans to immortals.”
“He’s increasing his soul intake to maintain his power. Or mayhap build his power,” Joan whispered.
“Humans are no longer strong enough to keep him going, so Famine moved to something more potent.”
Joan sucked in a breath. “Immortals.” Her gaze grew uneasy. “What could he possibly be up to that he must needs feed upon immortals?”
Tony’s own heart picked up speed and adrenaline rushed into his veins. The thought of a Horseman attempting to become stronger, when their kind was arguably already one of the most powerful immortals in existence, was in truth, terrifying.
“I don’t know, but we’d better find out. And fast.”
Then a word he never thought he’d hear slipped from Joan’s mouth. “Fuck.”
Despite the heavy topic and the fact that they were both freaking out, the two of them cracked up, laughing until tears ran from their eyes.
“ARE you sure this you want to do this?” Davin asked. They were in Dante’s office. Davin sitting in the chair opposite the desk with his perfectly styled hair and stylish clothes, those cocksure eyes locked on Dante’s.
Hope For More (Trinity Book 3) Page 17
