I’d always been into the lumberjack type of men when alive—the ones with grease under their nails, long, shaggy beards, and built like tanks—but I’d discovered after death that I secretly had a thing for the androgynous man.
“The name’s Scarlett.” My voice, normally not quite so husky or scratchy, all but purred.
He bit his bottom lip. “Talix RoseThorn.”
I grinned. “Good name.”
His lashes fluttered prettily, and twin spots of pink bloomed on his cheeks. As a fertility demi-fae, he couldn’t help exuding raw sensuality. The cash flow would be constant with him around. I could see why Bruce had called him cute.
Hetero or not, most Veiler males fell prey to the feminine beauty of the sidhe—male or female.
Every creation on Earth wanted a touch of fae flesh, but for the fae, the only true addiction was my kind. Fae had an eye toward beauty, and there wasn’t much in the world that could rival them in that department quite like a vampire of the house of Et Pulchrae.
Turning the tables on Talix, I slid my hand over his, letting my pointer finger glide lazily along the pulse point at his wrist. I licked my lips.
Fae blood was death for us.
I could no more sink my fangs into him than he could sink his into me. My blood was a chemical cocktail of drugs and death to a fae. Anything I ingested became dead, just like me. The fae were full of life. We were the ultimate yin and yang.
That didn’t mean we didn’t want to try, though.
His entire body froze, and he looked down at my hand with naked longing evident in his gaze.
“I have a problem, Talix,” I whispered seductively, continuing to stroke his pulse and growing hungrier by the moment. “Want to know what that is?”
The gorgeous fae swallowed hard before nodding.
“I need to get behind the bar.” I dropped my voice, adding just a touch of command to it. Fae weren’t the only ones who could wield magick.
I never called it magick, because to me it wasn’t really. It was compulsion. Like a sweet tooth addict who got up in the morning and swore to throw out all the cakes. Except I was the devil on his shoulder, whispering into his ear, “Just one more bite. It’s not going to hurt you...you know you want to.” Whispering that command over and over and over until I wore down his defenses and he had no choice but to obey.
I was going to go straight to hell for what I was doing, but with Talix so new, he was my best chance at getting back there.
He looked at me, his face screwing up into a short scowl. “You’re compulsing me, Vampire.”
It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t treat it as one. I shrugged and gave him the sexiest smirk in my arsenal. Looking him up and down slowly, I bopped my leg. Normally I was in blue jean skirts and boots.
In life, I’d been a country girl. The kind who took her boyfriend out to the lake to go fishing and whooped and hollered when I caught the bigger fish. I’d been down and dirty and just as wild as the boys. But I’d also had a feminine side, one that’d grown more dangerous after death. It wasn’t often that I got to turn on the charms when I worked.
Scooting forward on my stool, I leaned in and nuzzled his petal-soft cheek with mine, gasping at the sensual touch of so much fae flesh.
Talix practically glowed beneath my hand, his tanned skin gleaming with shades of gold. Blowing out a steadying breath, I reminded myself that I was playing with fire and needed to be careful.
Like the ocean, the fae could easily turn and drown anyone who failed to respect them.
Bringing my ear to within an inch of his so that when I spoke, my lips would delicately brush the shell like a painter’s stroke, I whispered, “No games, Talix. You want me? I’ll give you a taste. In exchange, you take me back there.”
I began to knead my fingers along his collar, causing his skin to break out in a wash of goose bumps, which in turn caused me to gasp as his powers revved up.
Touching Talix was like trying to grab hold of a power cord. He sparked and crackled.
I couldn’t help it when my fangs dropped and began to lightly scrape against the corner of his jaw.
His breathing hitched.
Suddenly Helen cackled, “We had bets, Scarlett, and I won!”
Talix frowned, pulling back a little. “What?” he asked, looking down at a beaming Helen.
Still clinging to Talix’s hand, I shook my head. “Don’t listen to her. Apparently I have a thing for gingers.”
Helen continued to whoop and holler.
“Go take fifteen, Talix.” Helen winked. “Maybe I’ll win another twenty when you’re done.”
Talix blushed prettily, covering his eyes with his hands, which caused me to smile because I’d never seen or heard of a shy fae. I took my Bloody Mary—which incidentally was made with type O negative, my very favorite—and chugged it all back.
I’d need the blood running through me with what I was about to let Talix do.
I still had James’s blood coursing through my veins, which was no doubt why I was pinging like a junkie looking for his next hit. Something about James made me feel positively carnal.
“C’mon, ginger,” I said in a shivery, husky drawl that wasn’t entirely put on for Helen’s benefit.
Talix, still blushing furiously, didn’t release my hand as he led me around the bar and to the private hall. It was the kind of place where those who paid a few hundred more could get a special room set up for the kinkier pleasures.
We were at the first door, which gave me a good view of Diane’s back rooms. Here the scent of James was magnified. I was just yards away from him. If he stepped outside, he’d catch an eyeful, for sure.
Talix, who’d been the more passive of the two of us, suddenly had me pushed up against the wall and was sliding one of my legs around his waist.
He was taller than me, even with my heels on, by several inches. He was powerful and strong and a glowing, jeweled thing of living flame. In short, he was gorgeous.
“I got you back here, Vampire. What’s my reward?” he asked, his voice had grown husky and his eyes were now the color of frozen tundra.
I swallowed hard, wishing I’d not made the deal after all. With the fae, it was always necessary to outline the parameters of any sexual encounter. Rape among the fae was rampant, mostly because they didn’t view it as rape. To them, it was simply sex. They wanted, and so they took.
Few knew that you could determine just what, when, and where sexual acts would and could happen. If you gave them an inch, they’d take a mile, and it was never wise to let a fae run things.
That pretty blush hadn’t left Talix, but he was no longer so shy looking. He was suddenly a man filled with heat and longing. Leaning forward, he dragged his nose along the length of my skin.
“You smell of the frozen icelands of my sithen. Like frost and snow and all things frigid.”
“You like the cold, sidhe?”
He moved in closer, letting me feel just how much he liked it. His hands on my body burned but not with heat. Instead, it was a snapping cold that had my legs trembling.
I shivered as a jet of smoke puffed out from between my lips.
I already knew how addictive fae flesh was. My eyes were rolling to the back of my head, and I was having a hard time remembering that I needed to set limits.
Talix’s hand was trailing down my waist, to my hips, and running powerfully along my thigh, drawing closer to my very wet center.
Then the scent of James tickled my nose, reminding me why I was there and giving me just enough grasp on reality to force me to think.
Grabbing hold of Talix’s hand, I stalled his forward progress, forcing him to look me in the eyes.
“You may only kiss me, fairy.”
He pouted, but I was steadfast. “A kiss for getting me back here. But tongue for shadow and stealth.”
He growled and swiveled his hips in such a way that his cock massaged my inner thigh. I groaned and curled my fingers into his dark silk shirt.
“You won’t make me forget myself again, Talix. A kiss as payment or tongue for shadow and stealth. The choice is yours, but you will get no more.”
“You need me,” he said, his voice grown hoarse as his mouth gently massaged the length of my neck.
Gods, if he kept that up, I was going to come just like that. How embarrassing. I grabbed the sides of his face, staring into his pretty eyes. He flinched. It was never wise to stare into our eyes overly long. Many a man had lost his soul to my kind by doing so. Even the fae were not immune. If I’d been older, I’d have been stronger, but what I had was still enough to scramble his brains.
“Mouth or tongue?” I repeated.
He swallowed convulsively as his fingers dug painfully into my biceps. He wanted me. Wanted my addictive touch. I wanted him too, desperately, but it would have been stupid to let Talix have any more than this.
Even though I needed him, I wouldn’t show it. If I showed it, he’d have the upper hand. Talix didn’t need to know just how much I needed his scent on me to camouflage my smell to the sensitive nostrils of the shifter I tracked.
“Now you ask for shadow and stealth, that is too much for merely a kiss.” He pouted and shook his head. His ice-blue eyes burned.
I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve touched of my flesh, drawn of your sex power. If I really wanted to be a bitch, I could tell you that you’ve been paid in full.”
He clenched down on his back teeth, his nostrils flaring as he stared at me with arrogant disdain. The fae might want the touch of me, but most all of his kind thought themselves superior to any other Veiler.
That little show up front, where he’d looked all shy and timid, had been just that...a show.
Talix was as practiced in the art of seduction as I was not. I’d fallen for his little charade, but then I saw through the glamour. He wanted from me as desperately as I needed from him.
He’d take my terms, even if he didn’t like them. I was being more than fair, and he knew it.
With an angry little growl, he leaned in, his warm, minty breath feathering along my lips, and I pushed a hand against his chest.
“Not until you vow it to the darkness that binds. Tongue for shadow and stealth.”
His eyes flashed with ice, and that soft golden glow burned so bright that it brought tears to my eyes. But I would not be intimidated.
James’s scent grew stronger, and I heard heated voices within the room. Him and Blanca. I wasn’t sure if there were more in there. Whatever was about to go down was probably going to happen soon. I was quickly running out of time.
Talix hissed, revealing his own long, pearly fangs, and my throat convulsed, wanting so desperately for him to sink them into my vein.
“I vow it to the darkness that binds. Tongue for shadow and stealth. Satisfied?” He glowered.
The air quickened with his vow. For him to break his words would make him an oath breaker, punishable by death.
“Now you swear it too, that you do not seek shadow and stealth to do me or Diane’s harm. Do not think to fool me, Vampire.” His words were sharp and brittle.
“I swear by the darkness that binds and the Ever Tree that grows that I mean you or Bianca no harm. If I do, may the Oathbreaker strike me dead.”
Grunting almost gleefully, Talix attacked me.
His touch was not easy. But I was no delicate flower.
He swooped in and shoved his tongue down my throat, demanding I twine mine with his. I did, and immediately I felt the drawing of his sex power explode within us.
My head was dizzy with the madness of the ancient fertility magick. He rubbed himself furiously between my thighs as I rode him hard, lost to the swirl and chaos that lived within him.
It didn’t take long before we were both howling out releases. And with his release came magick. The primitive kind. Flowers burst at our feet, vines crawled along the wall, and the shadow of stealth rained over me.
When we pulled back, we were both panting and breathing heavily. With a start, I realized I scented blood, strong and powerful blood. Ancient blood.
I wet my lips.
Talix shook his head and grabbed hold of my wrists. I’d buried my nails in his chest; his dark shirt was dotted with dark stains of his rich blood. I sniffed.
“Release me, Vampire, lest you perish,” he said slowly, almost gently.
I blinked, wanting nothing more than to take a little taste of him. Clenching his jaw, he jerked my fingers out, and his chest bowed as though it pained him.
But I couldn’t tear my eyes off the blood on my nails.
Still looking at me calmly, he lifted one hand to his mouth. All I could do was stare in longing as he pulled first my thumb into his warm mouth. His wet tongue curled and sucked all the blood off.
Then he moved to the next finger and the next and the next, cleaning off each one as he moaned and groaned softly beneath his breath. I whimpered as my throat spasmed for wont of it.
Finally, he finished and gently dropped my hands then gave me a cocky grin. “I’ve bathed you only in twenty minutes’ worth of shadow. We’ve already used five. Whatever you need to do, do it quick, Vampire. If you are caught, I will not render aid.”
Those words were like a slap of cold water to my face, bringing me back to reality with a jolt. I needed to find James.
I made to move, but he reached out and grabbed my elbow, holding tight. And in his eyes I read what the proud fae would never ask.
It was my turn to grin at him cockily. “See you around, beautiful.” Then leaning in, I pressed a quick kiss to his mouth, savoring the sweetness of his intoxicating fae flesh one last time.
I could never do that again. Talix had almost been more than I could handle.
After jerking out of his grip, I walked off, looking back as I did. Talix gave a worried frown, his eyes searching as he fought to locate me.
But stealth and shadow was impenetrable, even to the fae who cast it. So long as I didn’t bump into anything, no one would know I’d ever been back there.
I ran, getting to the back hallway just as the voices hit a crescendo. Back when I’d been on the case for Diane’s missing jewels, she’d had to show me all the secret passages that could have been used during the heist.
To access the passageway, I needed to press on a particular set of bricks in a precise pattern. I quickly ran through the sequence and rolled my eyes when the hidden doorway opened on soundless hinges.
Bad OPSEC that she’d not changed the pattern. Good for me though. Slipping in unnoticed, I quickly repeated the pattern to close it. Then I followed the sounds of the voices.
Back here, I could easily hear the screams of orgies and the reverberations of whips lashing against sensitive flesh. I also heard James laughing beneath his breath, the type of sound that chilled me to my core.
Moving silent as a thought, I rushed past the rooms full of writhing, naked bodies until I came to Blanca’s private solarium. A golden wash of light filtered underneath the hidden doorway.
“Tell me what you know,” James said in a voice that was so soft and yet terrible that it chilled me to my core. A sound like a loud crash echoed through the hall just as I arrived at the two-way mirror.
They stood before a polished mahogany desk with piles of cash scattered on the floor. Blanca, dressed in a gown of deepest indigo with a heart-shaped bodice and wearing heels made of studded silver and gold, glowered at James, who stood in front of her with his hands down and a bored look on his face.
“You betray yourself,” Blanca snarled, her pretty face twisting into a mask of rage. “I know nothing.”
James chuckled evilly. “You know something, and I want to know what. Tell me, and I might offer you mercy.”
James stalked forward, and his eyes glowed emerald green.
“Clarence didn’t send you here tonight, did he? I kept up my end of the bargain.” Blanca shook her head.
Laughing, his face contorted into a controlled snarl, James snapped, “You
stupid, arrogant little fool. So sure of yourself. Did you honestly think he wouldn’t double-cross you?”
She gasped, clutching at the desk with whitened knuckles, and I was taken aback. Faes were rarely prone to being so demonstrative, not unless they were truly spooked. What was going on?
“He can’t do that! We had a deal. I brought it—” As if realizing she’d almost spoken too much, she covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head.
“Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you live.”
Her silver eyes glittered with malice and loathing.
James’s words were cruel and cold, so different from the shifter I’d come to know recently. His look was chilling, and I saw the killer, the assassin that he truly was. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Wolves had a capacity for bloodlust and violence nearly unmatched by anything else. I saw that bloodlust glow in his eyes, saw the way his smile caused his face to twist into one chiseled of fury and madness.
He was frightening in a way few could ever match because he didn’t stomp, glower, or shout. He was methodical and eerily still.
He was a man who meant what he said.
Blanca saw it too, because her face blanched, and a thick ring of white formed around her usually lush mouth.
“You called my mother away, didn’t you? You are the reason she’s not here? You’d never threaten me so if she were around.”
Again that smile was nothing but fangs and cruel intentions. “One hour, lassie.”
He turned to leave, and Blanca screamed. But not the scream of humans. She screamed the scream of the banshee. The scream of death.
On me, the scream was deadly. I dropped to my knees, clapped my hands over my ears, and tipped my head back as my neck flexed with a silent scream of my own. I knew that if I howled out, I’d sentence both James and me to death.
But the scream worked differently on James. He shifted. Not fully to wolf but something even more nightmarish. The in-between, a thing of beast and man. His movements were reflex as he twisted and shoved his claws into her gut.
Whiskey, Vamps, and Thieves (Southern Vampire Detective #1) Page 19
