by Linda Wisdom
“Maybe he would, but I’d be the one to turn you inside out and stake you in the boiling sun.” Her smile wasn’t meant to take the sting out of her words but to enforce them.
“Wow, bloodthirsty.” He eyed her closely as she handed him the serving platter filled with foil-wrapped corn and potatoes. “You women are dangerous.”
“Why do you think many warriors handed their captives over to the women?” She gave him a gentle push toward the door. “Take those out to Declan while I bring everything else.”
She waited until he was outside before she pulled a small bag out of her jeans pocket and tucked a hair inside.
“Messenger needed. Safe to come now.”
“Hey, baby.” A dark-gray ferret appeared on the counter in a spark of light. “You got something for me?”
Maggie handed him the bag, which he tucked into his tiny leather bag. “Hand this over to Forensics, Zickie. Tell them it’s a rush job. I need to know what he is.”
The furry critter peered out the window. “Looks like a fire demon to me.”
“The other one,” she told him. “Have them leave the info in my private message box. I’ll pick it up the next time I’m at the compound. Thanks.”
“No prob.” He paused at her coffeemaker and poured the last of the brew into his cup. “You want this copied to Mal?”
She shook her head. “I’d rather give him an oral report after I read what comes up.”
“The big guy won’t like it, but who am I to say? Later.” He was gone as quickly as he appeared.
Pasting a perky hostess smile on her lips, Maggie picked up the rest of the dishes and carried them outside.
“Everything’s coming along well,” Declan announced, giving her a searching look.
“Good.” After she set everything on the round glass table, she walked over to the barbecue. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Courtney and Mick sharing the wooden swing at the edge of the yard.
“What do you think?” she said for his ears only.
“Even with the James Dean attitude, he seems too good to be true. Polite but not too polite. Looks badass, but not so much you’d want to call the cops on him,” Declan replied, putting the food on the grill. “He even has decent manners.”
“The key words are ‘too good to be true.’ Courtney’s smart. She isn’t taken in that easily, but she’s totally blind where he’s concerned.”
“Testosterone does that to a girl.” He bumped his hip against hers. “We guys blind you with our charms so you don’t see the real us.”
“All I want to know is what the real him is.” She did her best to keep a subtle eye on the duo. “I should have done it from the beginning. Especially since he doesn’t show any back history. I can’t believe he was hatched like this, but then, who knows.”
“A lot of kids fall off the grid. Get fake IDs so they can do their own thing. He could be one of those.”
“I told Mal I wasn’t up for this gig,” Maggie muttered. “I don’t deal with humans if I absolutely don’t have to, so it’s not easy for me to get into their minds. To understand them well enough. Jazz interacts with humans all the time. So do Stasi and Blair. Lili is a doctor and treats them. Some of us have lived among them all the time. Others stay away from them.”
“And you stayed away as much as you could,” he guessed.
She nodded. “When I could, but it wasn’t easy when a lot of my bodyguard jobs dealt with humans. You can’t show emotion in my work. Emotion can get you killed. When I protected someone, I thought of that person as my charge. Not even as a name. Now my charge not only has a name but a personality that gets under my skin, and the knowledge that if I fail…”
“You won’t. It’s not in your genetic makeup not to succeed.”
“Are we eating soon?” Courtney called out. “Starving kids here!”
“It won’t be long,” Declan told her. He looked down at Maggie. “Think you can be subtle with him so you can find out about the raves?”
“He’d be too suspicious. Courtney’s been a little open about it, and if I step carefully, she’ll tell me enough. Or I’ll just activate the tracker necklace when she does the expected and sneaks out of the house.” She fingered the bracelet on her right wrist.
“Witches and their jewelry.” He eyed her ankle bracelet with its emerald winking brightly. Like Courtney, Maggie wore shorts, hers the color of ripe watermelon, with a white tank top edged in dark pink.
“Girls gotta have their bling.” She felt unease wash over her like poisoned water. “You know what? Let’s get this over with.” A wave of her hand, and the food was done cooking. “I should have known I couldn’t do the family barbecue thing.”
“Come on, Samantha, no using magick,” he teased.
“I really hated Bewitched. What witch refuses to use her magick? No wonder she couldn’t do what Darren wanted.” She looked at the young twosome. She was beginning to think dinner couldn’t be over soon enough.
Maggie forced herself to laugh and smile, talk as if nothing was wrong, and eat food that held no taste at all for her. She was fairly sure that Courtney and Mick had no clue, but she couldn’t hide her feelings from Declan. He didn’t betray her worries, but a dark look in his eye told her he saw through her mask as the perfect hostess.
This is why I go to parties, not host them. I have no idea how to do this.
But for just a moment, a tiny spot deep inside her whispered that she could have a different life if she wanted it. A normal one like they show in TV sitcoms, complete with a white picket fence, a dog, and a minivan in the driveway.
The question was: Did she want a life like that, or were her hormones just telling her that was what she wanted?
Maybe hitting that 700-year mark meant it was the time for a midlife crisis.
***
Courtney was positive something was up. She was really glad that Maggie had invited Mick to dinner. She wanted to know about him. And Courtney wanted her to see what a nice guy he was.
Sure, Mick had his dark side. She’d seen it a few times, and while it scared the hell out of her, it also excited her. He was hot, and he loved her. He’d even said so. How many guys are willing to use the L word? Plus, he hadn’t pressured her into anything she didn’t want to do.
She enjoyed sitting next to him, feeling his thigh brush against hers under the cover of the table.
While they’d sat in the swing, he’d whispered to her that he knew of a party the next night—and could she sneak out to go with him?
She wanted to tell him the truth about Maggie and Declan, even if she still didn’t know what the dude was. But after that whopper of whatever junk (she couldn’t even think the words because they never came out right) Maggie threw at her, she couldn’t say a word without sounding like an idiot.
She had thought about texting Mick, but she quickly learned that didn’t work, either. Luckily she deleted the message before sending it out. She didn’t know what Maggie had done, but she sure wanted to learn. Knowing that would be better than anything she’d learn in a school; that was for sure.
“Mick asked if I could go to the movies with him tomorrow,” she announced, smothering a giggle when he nudged her foot. “Can I go?”
“While I’m new at this guardian job, I know I should ask what movie.” Maggie looked at Mick.
He named the new Hugh Jackman action-adventure film.
“I can’t fault your taste in movies. And while it’s a school night, yes, I know you’re not in school right now.” She glanced at Courtney, who made sure to keep a small smile on her lips and no expression of triumph. “I won’t say no if you go to an early show and come back right afterward.”
Courtney nodded and almost stomped on Mick’s foot with her excitement.
Declan started.
Crap, wrong foot!
He looked at her but said nothing.
“I think we could be out by nine,” Mick said.
“Maggie!” she whined, because
she knew it was expected of her. “Do we have to go to an early show? It’s not like we’re driving into Houston for the movie. We’re just going here in town. We could stop for pizza or something afterward, couldn’t we? I’d be back before curfew. And my cell phone would be on all the time,” she promised. “You’ve met Mick, and you can see how nice he is. And he makes me wear a helmet when I ride with him on his motorcycle.” Surely that was the clincher.
She waited with bated breath while Maggie and Declan exchanged that silent conversation that adults seem to share. The two might not be married, but they might as well be, with the way they were always in sync. She also thought if Maggie concentrated more on Declan, she’d focus less on her.
“The show lets out at nine?” Maggie asked Mick, who nodded. “Fine, you can grab something to eat afterward, but I want Courtney home by 10:30.”
“We can do that.” Mick smiled at Maggie and then grasped Courtney’s hand and squeezed it.
Courtney felt a smidgen of guilt that she’d lied to Maggie. Sure, she and Mick would go to the movies, but later tomorrow night she’d be sneaking out to go to a rave.
Maggie had talked to her about the raves, hoping Courtney would tell her where they were. No way she’d do that. The last thing she wanted was Maggie showing up at one. Besides, Maggie and Declan were too old for the kind of parties Courtney and Mick went to. If Declan wouldn’t let her go inside his club, she wasn’t going to talk about where she went.
She’d already scoped out the house and knew the easiest ways to sneak out. It was a good thing Maggie didn’t have an alarm system. And so far Declan hadn’t stayed over, although Courtney was positive they’d done it. There was something about them that said so.
But she’s a kitten. She knows plumbing. What if she’s put something on me so she knows where I am all the time?
Great, now Maggie’s got me feeling paranoid. She seems to like Mick, so she must see he’s okay. She said yes to the show and our going out for pizza afterward.
Courtney decided to just relax and enjoy the moment. And tomorrow night, Mick had promised, they’d attend the rave of the year.
***
Maggie exhaled a breath of relief after Mick left with a polite thank-you for dinner. Courtney immediately disappeared upstairs. Maggie was positive the girl was up there calling or texting him.
“It wasn’t as difficult as you thought it would be, was it?” Declan settled on the couch next to her. “Now it’s just us old folks,” he told her, turning her around and draping her legs across his lap. “I could get to like this.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You like the edgy life in your club.” She noted the fleeting change in his expression. She straightened up. “What’s wrong? It has to do with Damnation Alley, doesn’t it?”
“It’s something I’ve had to keep quiet,” he said in a low voice.
“Such as something the Guard should know?” Her voice took on an edge. “You need to tell me, Declan.”
“You can’t let anyone else know,” he told her, his eyes turning a dark silver.
“No promises, and you will tell me.”
Witch and demon personalities warred, thickening the air in the room.
“There’s a portal in the club’s subbasement.”
Maggie sighed. “Sorry, Declan, but that’s old news.”
He nodded. “It’s always been under strict control. A guard is on duty 24-7 and keeps a log on who comes through.”
“What kind of control?” she asked tautly.
“Heavy restrictions, but not the kind you’d appreciate. Don’t forget we’re talking about demons. Remember, Anna’s talent makes her exceptional. There are no warm and fuzzy demons around. Just mean and meaner. Then you move up to psychotic. Coming through the portal is a privilege, but bribes are nothing new if you want to go through badly enough. There are no visas given, but time limits can be enforced.”
“You said it’s guarded,” she reminded him.
“Alexi, Anton’s brother, was the guard.”
“Was?”
He nodded. “He’s gone. No trace of him at all.”
Maggie’s mind whirled. “Do you know when he disappeared?”
Declan shook his head.
“Or who could have come through after he was gone.”
“Amazing how your mind works.”
Maggie resisted the urge to scream. “Can’t I have just one piece of good news?”
“How about that I think you’re as sexy as Hades, and I’d enjoy hauling you upstairs to your bed?” he quipped. “I told you about the portal, something you’re not supposed to know, and I have someone checking into this.”
“And it’s common knowledge that demons don’t like the Guard messing in their business.” She blew out a deep breath and drummed her heels against the couch cushion. “Fine. It’s your headache, not mine. I’ll have mine tomorrow night when Courtney sneaks out of the house to go to a rave.”
“Do you want some company?”
“I think I’ll take this on myself.” She slid over until her butt settled snugly in his lap.
“Looks like you’re doing that already.” He rested his hands against her waist, edging his fingers under her white cotton top until they met bare skin. “Think you can make sure the kid doesn’t sneak downstairs? We wouldn’t want her receiving a live version of adult education.”
“Easy peasy.” Maggie looked upward. “Lullaby and good night. No ears, no sight. Just slumber and sweet dreams for young girls. Do it now.” She threw her power upstairs. She waited a moment. “She’s probably sound asleep in that pile of clothing she never cleared off her bed.”
“Good.” He pulled her closer to him and angled his mouth over hers.
Maggie realized she was quickly getting addicted to Declan’s kisses, the hot taste of his mouth, and the way he made her insides tumble around like an Olympic gymnast.
She pulled his shirt out of his waistband so she could spread her hands over his heated skin, feel his taut abs, and listen to the rough sounds of his breathing, aware his reaction was all for her.
“We.” She nipped the corner of his mouth. “Have.” She moved to his ear. “All.” She sucked on his earlobe. “The.” She returned to his tempting mouth. “Time.” Then down the rough underside of his jaw. “In the world.”
She returned to his mouth and licked the seam of his lips. “I can’t make time stop,” she whispered against his skin. “But I can slow it down a bit. Make it all ours.”
Declan moved his hands up her bare back before bringing them around to cup her breasts, his thumbs circling her nipples, which peaked under his touch. The tune he hummed under his breath was familiar and a bit haunting.
Maggie smiled, recognizing the Rolling Stones’ hit “Time Is on My Side.” “Do you think that’s possible?”
“Sure, if we want it to be.” He nuzzled her throat. “We’re a powerful team. I knew you were trouble the minute you first walked into the club.”
“The Bloater was trouble. I was just the catalyst.” She combed her fingers through his hair. As spiky as it looked, it felt soft as silk.
It would have been so easy to suggest they go upstairs and finish what they were starting here. But the idea wasn’t perfect with Courtney in the house, even if she was now sound asleep.
Maggie felt greedy. She wanted a large space of time where nothing mattered but the two of them. Where they could indulge in each other and feel the intimate connection tighten between them. No teenagers. No Mayan priests looking to take over the world. No Mal ruining her day.
Maggie pulled back just enough to look at Declan’s face.
Fates help me: I’m falling in love with a demon.
Chapter 16
It should have been easy.
Maggie acted the part of the clueless guardian when Mick arrived the next evening to pick up Courtney for the movie. She even thanked him for adhering to her rules when he returned the girl at ten-thirty on the dot. The witch pretended she didn’t
notice Courtney whispering something to Mick as she hugged him good-bye. She nodded when Courtney yawned and said she was going upstairs to listen to music before going to sleep.
Maggie settled in the family room with the TV on. She knew to the second an hour later when Courtney crept out her bedroom window. A moment later, the medallion on her bracelet lit up.
“Thank you for wearing the necklace,” she whispered, fearing the girl would take it off. But Courtney had loved it the moment Maggie gave it to her and hadn’t taken it off since.
Maggie went out to her car ten minutes later and used the tracking medallion to keep tabs. She cursed when the tracker flickered in and out a few times—and cursed even more when the light dimmed and then died. She felt as if she was driving in circles and was ready to throw out a locator spell.
“Not now,” she snapped when her cell rang and she activated her Bluetooth.
“Yes, now.” Declan’s voice came out of the speaker. “We’ve got trouble.”
“I’m following Courtney and Mick to the rave.”
“There’s no rave.” A tone in his voice alerted her that what he had to say was very bad. “Or if there is, they aren’t at it.”
She pulled a one-eighty in the road and sped off with a squeal of tires. “Do not tell me she’s at Damnation Alley.”
“Fine, I won’t tell you, but she is.” Anger coated his voice.
“How the Hades did she get past Anton?” She pounded her dashboard as she increased her speed.
“Anton’s not on the door. He’s on portal guard duty. Believe me, someone’s head will roll for this.”
“Not if I get to him first. I’m on my way. And if anyone claims I’m not fitting the club dress code, I will turn them into a boggart.” She ignored that she had just blown through a red light.
Declan sighed. “I’ll alert the door. Or maybe I won’t, after what happened.” He disconnected without saying good-bye.
Not that Maggie’s feelings were hurt. She had other things to think about. Such as dragging Courtney out of there before something happened. The only thing that kept her temper in check was the knowledge that Declan was there to make sure the girl was kept safe.
