He arched an eyebrow at her. "Based on you being the one cuffed, you're the one expected to answer questions. Not me."
The pain in her chest receded, not all the way, but on a one-to-ten scale, it was down to a six after Reese had just suffered ten thousand. She wrapped one arm across her waist--an effort with flex cuffs on her wrists--and stretched her fingers to the gash in her side.
Yep, still there.
Evalle let out a rush of air that sounded relieved. She stepped up next to Storm but looked down at Reese. "You looked perfectly healthy when you were fighting in the park. Are you having a reaction to Adrianna's power?"
Reese considered lying just to make them all feel guilty, but she didn't have the energy to play games. "No."
"Why are you sick now and you weren't then?"
"I had on a protective disk that someone tore off my neck." She searched the faces for a sign that someone had it. No one seemed to know what she was talking about.
"What's your name?" Evalle asked.
"Reese." She clamped her lips shut and groaned. "Sorry for the short visit, but I got hit with a load of poison earlier from fighting a pair of jotnar demons. Since I doubt I'll last much longer, I'm done answering questions."
Adrianna came over. "I'll see what I can do."
Reese shook her head. "You can't fix this. Ask him." She nodded in Storm's direction.
They turned to Storm, who still looked as though he hadn't made up his mind not to solve her problem by removing her head from her body. In another fifteen minutes she'd be begging him to do just that.
Chapter 9
Evalle considered Reese's condition and Storm's anger. She put her hand on his arm.
Her mate lost his demon glare when he turned to her and waited to see what she'd ask of him now. Clearly, bringing a demonically influenced person into their home had not gone over well. She couldn't fix this now, not with an audience.
She squeezed his arm and said, "We need to talk to her. It's very important. I'll explain it all as soon as I can, but I told Quinn I'd keep her safe until he gets here. Can you do anything?"
The furious glint slid away and Storm's warm brown eyes returned. He brushed his hand over her hair. "Maybe. Let me see."
He moved out of Evalle's grasp and sighed when he took in the pitiful sight of their captive. Addressing Reese, he said in an even tone. "I will help you if you swear on your life not to harm me or what's mine."
Reese struggled to look up and forced out, "Yes, but--"
He produced a knife and leaned down.
Eyes terrified, Reese clamped her lips shut and followed his every move.
He sliced through the flex cuffs then stood up.
She rubbed her wrists, now wary as she kept him in view.
Storm held both of his hands over her and lifted his head. He spoke in a tongue that Evalle had heard before, but not often.
It took a moment before she realized he was speaking Ashaninka. He'd been born part Ashaninka and part Navajo, but he'd gotten his demon blood from his South American roots.
Well, damn. She hated for him to tap that side to help anyone, but interrupting him right now might do greater harm to Reese.
Tonight's private conversation just got more conflicted.
As he spoke, the lights in the room quivered and the air turned brittle cold. Storm's voice had a sharp, nasal tone but was filled with respect.
To Evalle it sounded as if he were calling upon his ancestors to do him a favor.
Hair on her arms stood up.
Adrianna's white-blonde locks lifted off her shoulders.
Isak wore a horrified expression, but kept his gaze locked on Reese, unable to look away.
Reese grabbed at her chest. She made garbled noises as if something inside her struggled to get out.
Evalle kept track of Isak to be sure he wouldn't pull out a demon blaster and use it. His eyes couldn't get any rounder.
Adrianna, on the other hand, watched Storm with intense fascination. The kind of attention a student would give a master, which was quite a compliment considering Adrianna was the baddest witch in the east these days.
Maybe in any direction.
Reese's eyes turned white. Her body lifted up in the air, arms hanging loose and head dropped back.
Black smoke curled up from her open mouth. It continued to feed out in a silky tendril, then rolled into a dark ball that smelled sick and nasty.
Her body shook, but slowly her form shifted upright until she stood flatfooted. She gasped for air then bent over, hands on her knees and coughed, sucking in one deep breath after another.
Storm kept his eyes shut, but turned his face toward the black cloud floating over Reese.
He shoved his hands into the dark mess.
No! Evalle reached for him, but before she could grab Storm to pull him back, the cloud exploded into microscopic crystals that sucked into themselves and sizzled out of existence.
She grabbed his face, turning his head to her. "Storm, are you okay?"
He opened his eyes. The red glow died down and returned to his normal brown eyes. He blinked and all sign of demon was gone. "I'm fine."
She held his face. "Don't ever do that again, okay?"
He kissed her, murmuring, "Then don't bring a demon home again."
"It wasn't intentional."
Reese argued, "I'm not a--"
Ignoring Reese, Storm spoke over her, suggesting, "How about next time you treat something unknown like it might be a rabid animal and lock it in a cage until I get here?"
She dropped her hands. He was still angry, though keeping it hidden from the others. She knew it came from him thinking she'd been at risk, but he also knew she killed demons for a living.
Just to let him know she wasn't fooled, her lips twitched and she shrugged. "I don't see a cage, do you?"
"I'll build one."
"You do that."
He sighed. "Ever the hellion."
Adrianna interrupted. "She's stable again. She might make it this time now that you got the poison out of her."
Evalle leaned in, pausing right before she kissed Storm lightly to say, "Thank you."
He sighed again, the sound of a man in love who knew he could not win this fight. "You're welcome." He turned the quick kiss into one he put his stamp on that told everyone in the world that Evalle was his.
He added in a whisper next to her ear. "Let's wrap this up. I have plans for you."
When he pulled back, she quipped, "Then don't piss me off again."
"I'll work on that, sweetheart."
Even angry, he had the ability to send her heart somersaulting with his endearment.
"You two done making up?" Isak asked, not the least bit happy.
Storm turned around, putting a protective arm over Evalle's shoulders, and she let him.
Isak grunted out a derogatory scoffing noise.
Adrianna had caught the whole exchange. She told Isak, "You could take a few tips." Then she walked over to wash her hands.
Evalle didn't need her empathic gift to know that Storm was enjoying a smug moment.
The security monitor on the wall made a soft ding. She started to go check.
Storm kept her in place. "That's Quinn. I gave him and Tzader codes for entering and set the ward to allow them to come in."
Adrianna stepped back over and teased, "What about me?"
"I have a code for you, too, but I need you physically here to set the ward."
He'd clearly surprised her. "Okay, thanks."
Isak said, "That will be handy."
Storm replied, "For them. You, on the other hand, can only come inside when invited."
Evalle slid a look at Adrianna, whose smirk said she enjoyed the exchange, which only pushed Isak's irritation level up another notch.
Those two needed to stop circling each other and find a room.
"I got here as soon as I could," Quinn said, striding into the room. He nodded at Storm then asked, "Has anyone got
ten anything out of that woman yet?"
Adrianna chuckled. "Storm did, but the only one it helped was her. She was loaded with demon poison."
Reese stepped forward and told him, "That woman has a name. I realize it may strain your alpha egos, but try to show a little respect and talk to me as if I have a mind."
Evalle wanted to dislike Reese because of catching her in the middle of tonight's mess and because of Storm having to tap his demon blood to help her, but she had spunk. A fighter. Evalle certainly couldn't disparage the woman for having mixed blood. She knew well enough how it felt to be shunned because of prejudice. Of all the people in the room, Evalle might be the only one who saw beneath the woman's bravado to the fear.
Storm's empathic side had to be alerted, but he may have been too pissed off at first to sense Reese fully. The confusion trickling into his expression probably meant he was finally taking a deeper look at Reese.
Reese might be earning a bit of sympathy. Or so Evalle thought until she caught the dark thoughts simmering in Quinn's eyes.
He didn't look a bit sympathetic.
She spoke to him telepathically. What's wrong, Quinn?
Let's deal with this woman first. Then he asked the room, "Nothing useful, huh?"
Storm and Adrianna gave Evalle odd looks, searching for an explanation. They knew Quinn well enough to catch that something was off.
Isak didn't.
Evalle would have to ask Isak to leave or they'd be forced to dance around what they could say.
Isak's phone buzzed. He lifted it and read the monitor. "I need to go." He put his phone away and told Adrianna, "I'll call you later."
"Why?"
Evalle almost spewed the water she'd just slugged back.
Not the least bit put off, Isak walked over to Adrianna. Standing toe to toe with her, he said, "To talk about having dinner."
"Why?"
Storm watched with amusement lighting his gaze. Quinn seemed close to snapping at everyone, but Evalle had enlightened Quinn about these two. Quinn liked Adrianna, which was probably why he allowed the witch a moment.
Sounding perturbed now, Isak stared down at Adrianna. "Because I want to share a meal with you. Why is that difficult to understand?"
She gave him a dainty shrug. "I'm a strange person. Not even a person. I'm a nonhuman, based on the definition you use, so why would you want to have dinner with such a being?" She paused and added with emphasis, "An it."
Isak muttered under his breath.
Evalle caught something about a woman turning him into a lunatic.
Storm hugged Evalle. He might not like Isak, but she caught a touch of sympathy rolling off Storm. Storm had gone through a lot to win Evalle's trust. She figured he could empathize, even with Isak, when a woman was making a man crazy.
Leaning down, Isak said, "I'll call. You'll answer. We'll discuss this later." Then he picked her up, kissed her hard, dropped her back down and walked out.
It took Adrianna a second to realize what he'd done and yell, "Hold your breath waiting on that."
His booming laughter answered her.
Quinn started rubbing his head.
Evalle took pity on him. She asked Storm, "Did you get your bar stocked?"
"It's our bar and the answer is yes." He started for the bar built into the wall. "Two fingers of Boodles, Quinn?"
"Absolutely."
"Tea for you, Adrianna?"
"I can get it. I found it earlier when I opened the wrong cabinet."
"What do you want, Reese?" Evalle arched an eyebrow at the woman, warning her she had few friends in this room. In other words, don't mouth off at a potential ally.
Reese must have taken the hint, because she politely requested a soft drink.
Once they all had something in hand and had pulled chairs into a half circle to face Reese, Quinn asked Storm, "What can you tell me first?"
"She has demonic energy--"
Reese gave him a frown then told Quinn, "I clarified that I'm not a demon, but a demon magnet. Big difference."
Quinn looked to Storm with a question in his gaze.
Storm held his hands out. "She's telling the truth."
Reese scoffed. "You keep saying things like that. What are you? A human lie detector?"
No one said a word, waiting for Storm. He smiled at her and said, "That's exactly what I am." Then he told Quinn, "Next question."
Evalle said, "I didn't even think to explain about Storm and lying."
Quinn said, "Why should you? It doesn't matter ... if she plans to tell the truth."
Reese's gaze jumped from person to person until she finally accepted what he'd told her, looking more worried than she had when she'd obviously thought Storm was going to drain her, kill her or both.
Chapter 10
A human lie detector? Screw me.
Reese had no idea such a thing existed. Considering she was sitting in a room with Beladors, a demon guy and a witch, she shouldn't be overly surprised.
Not just Beladors. No, she'd opened door number three and had gotten their leader for this part of the world.
That Quinn had a dark attitude. If he didn't look ready to fight the world at any moment, she'd call him attractive. Nothing fit with him. He had a British accent but a face that reminded her of the Russian ancestors in her screwed-up bloodline.
Quinn would be the hardest puzzle in the room to crack.
None of these people were making sense to her. The witch had knocked her out, then had been willing to heal her. The human guy, Isak, hadn't turned his scary weapon they called a demon blaster on her.
Evalle had been cautious around her, but Reese picked up positive vibes from the young woman.
The oddest thing to accept? Storm. He was a demon, but he'd healed her. Granted, he'd dialed back his anger for Evalle, but still ... a demon.
"Reese?"
She'd lost track of the last thing said. "What, Quinn?"
His head pulled back at being called by his name.
She said, "That is your name, right?" Going from one side of the half circle to the other, she called out each one. "You're Adrianna, a witch with a lot of mojo. You're Storm and we both know what you are." She gave him a snippy smile that he ignored. "You're Evalle, a Belador who I assume is the demon's main squeeze."
Storm growled at her.
Evalle said, "You really aren't much for keeping things calm are you?"
"Calm is boring." Then Reese turned to badass Quinn. Storm was hot. No question about it. She'd give the demon that, but Quinn had a presence about him that spoke of power and leadership. He wasn't a man who took orders from anyone.
He was the one person in this room who could destroy her by handing her over to VIPER.
She cocked her head at him. "You're Quinn, the Maistir. See? I paid attention when you were reading me the riot act in the park."
Adrianna picked up the questioning. "Evalle brought up a good point earlier while you were still out of it. How were you fighting that demon if you were so sick? I'm not questioning whether your illness was real. We all saw what Storm pulled out of you. What did you mean about a disk protecting you?"
"I had a talisman that had started healing me, but I lost it in the fight at the park."
"What kind of talisman?" Evalle asked.
"A black medallion that looks like an oversized silver dollar."
"Do you need that to use your powers?"
What was the point in trying to lie in front of Storm?
Reese said, "Yes." She took in their faces. Quinn hadn't been here last time. "Anyone happen to see a disk dangling from a cord necklace?"
"Stick to answering the questions, not asking them," Quinn said, shutting down her inquiry.
She drew in a slow breath and waited. This was not going to go well if she got pressed for more details. She couldn't tell them why she was in Atlanta or she'd blow her best chance at gaining that body.
Quinn started in. "Were you with those men who attacked the M
edb witch tonight?"
She gave him an offended look. "Of course not."
He checked Storm, who nodded that she'd told the truth.
"Then who are you and where are you from?"
She decided to test Storm. "Like I said, my name is Reese, I live in California and I'm thirty."
"Name and California are true. Your age is a lie."
Damn. He was good. "Correct. I'm not quite thirty."
"Testing me?"
She shrugged. "Just want to know if I'm being played or not."
His eyes smiled in confidence. Evidently, she'd amused the lie detector.
Her interrogator started up again. Quinn asked, "What's your last name?"
"Sorry. I'm not sharing that or where I specifically live. I have no idea who you people are or what you're after. I will not expose my family and friends to unknown preternaturals." She looked at Storm, daring him to question that.
He didn't.
Her last name must not have been a big issue for Quinn, who asked, "What do you do in California?"
"Photographer." No records of her as photographer existed. She used a third party and a pseudonym for selling her photos.
"Do you know why those men were looking for the body of a Medb priestess?"
She almost blew her next answer by hesitating. She covered it by arranging her face to look confused. "No." Storm kept his eyes on her and showed no reaction. Clearly, her answer passed as truth. She had no idea what was up with that group who appeared out of nowhere and needed to avoid them if they ran with demons.
"So you're definitely not helping those men in any way?"
"No." Truth. She was only helping herself on this trip. She hurried to get ahead of a question she couldn't answer honestly. "Why would anyone be hunting the body of a Medb? If it's in this realm, I'd expect it to be burned and scattered with salt."
She started to push it further, but she glanced over at Quinn and got sidetracked by the grief in his eyes. The pain in them called to her, spoke to the silent voice inside her. When he caught her looking too closely at him, his countenance turned stony. That, she also recognized.
How often had she shielded herself behind a cold exterior to hide what went on inside?
A dead Medb priestess could only be Kizira.
The darknet had erupted about her death, blasting out conspiracies about who had killed someone most would believe possessed no vulnerability. Until her talk with Yaahl, Reese had dismissed the stories as propaganda.
Yaahl believed the body was in a tomb and Reese would stack a heavy bet on anything he believed. He expected Reese to find said body, then keep it from the Medb as a minimum. Who had buried a dead priestess in a tomb in the human realm?
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