by Nina Bangs
She didn’t argue, just nodded.
The sharp pain cleared his brain for a few seconds. He reached for Ganymede. At first he got nothing. He listened harder. Then…There. A faint whisper. Edge focused harder. Almost, almost. Finally, he had it.
“He’s in his apartment. Let’s go.”
They danced their way to Ganymede’s door while visions of hot sex filled their minds. At least Edge assumed Passion’s mind was tuned in to erotic images too.
Time for more pain. “I need another pinch.”
“Sorry. Can’t resist.” She pinched his ass. “So beautiful. So pinch-worthy.”
He pushed aside visions of payback and concentrated on his mental message. “What the hell is going on?”
Ganymede’s answer was immediate if faint. “The bastard threw up some kind of spell around my room. Couldn’t get out or reach anyone’s mind. Son of a bitch will pay for this. Focus your power on your side of the door, and I’ll take care of this side. If that doesn’t work, we’re shit out of luck until we can get Holgarth up here.”
Yeah, like that was going to happen. Holgarth was busy dancing naked to Murmur’s compulsion. Anger drove Edge’s power. Ganymede must’ve felt the same, because the door simply disappeared. Ganymede padded through the opening.
“You’re in cat form?” Passion was doing what looked like a snake dance right now. Intriguing. Arousing. “Don’t you think human form might be a better bet right now?”
Ganymede padded toward the stairs, ears pinned back and tail whipping from side to side. “When I felt Sparkle get hit, it threw me out of cat form for a little while. I felt her compulsion. Fat lot of good it did me.” He sounded disgusted. “Figured once I got out, I’d be able to resist the pull better in cat form.”
He wasn’t resisting everything because Edge could see his tail beginning to wave in time to Sparkle’s song while his front paws moved with Murmur’s rhythm.
“What’s the situation?”
Edge explained in as few words as possible.
“I can stop Sparkle. If Murmur is our guy, though, that changes everything.”
Startled, Edge stared at the cat. That was a first. He’d never heard uncertainty in Ganymede’s voice before.
“Maybe the Big Boss is your guy.” Passion was now into a tango. She was beginning to breathe hard.
So was Edge.
Ganymede stopped to stare at her. Edge stared too. The implications were mind-boggling.
“Why would he mess with his own people?” Ganymede stated the obvious.
She shrugged. “Isn’t there some quote about power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely?”
“All that power could eat your brain. Maybe he’s gone crazy?” Ganymede seemed to be considering the possibility.
“I don’t think we want to go there yet.” If the Big Boss had turned on them, then the world was in deep shit. Edge didn’t think anyone would walk away from that.
They’d reached the great hall. For a moment, they just stared. Edge figured hell must look a lot like this. Only here there were dueling devils.
“Some of them are dancing at the same time they’re…How is that physically possible?” Passion sounded horrified.
“Tell me that’s not Holgarth over there. I can’t look. I think I’m going blind.” Ganymede turned his head away.
“Isn’t that Bain?” Passion didn’t look away from the demon, and she didn’t look horrified. “What a beautiful man.” Wonder moved in her voice.
“Demon. He’s a demon. He sleepwalks. And he has weird friends. Didn’t Murmur say that Bain is his friend?” The immediate stab of jealousy caught Edge by surprise. He wanted to tear Bain apart and then heave his pieces into the trash bin.
Edge had bragged about the control he had over his body, but he was doing a crappy job of controlling his emotions. What did that mean? He’d think about it later.
“Murmur needs to back off his power before I try to stop my sweetie.” Ganymede padded over to the demon. “Yo, demon, shut it down.”
Murmur stared at him from glazed eyes. “Why? Haven’t had this much fun in centuries.” He blinked. “Want to join them in the dance, but can’t if I have to match power with the bitch over there.”
Ganymede flattened his ears. “If you weren’t high on your own power, I’d take that comment personally.”
Edge and Passion joined Ganymede.
“So you’re not stopping?” Passion cast Ganymede a worried glance.
Murmur grinned. “Hell, no.”
Ganymede crouched, ears pinned and tail whipping. His power surged, creating a mini-tornado around him.
“Oh, shit.” Edge made a grab for Passion in an attempt to get her out of harm’s way before Ganymede went off on Murmur.
“Stop.”
The one softly spoken word reached every corner of the great hall.
Everything stopped—Sparkle’s humming, Murmur’s music, even Ganymede’s power faded to nothing. The human dancers froze in place. The nonhumans looked around, dazed.
A man walked slowly across the great hall. Expanding power filled the room, pushing at the walls, and filling Edge with dread. He’d never felt power like this.
And even though the man had said only one word, Edge recognized his voice. A glance at the faces of the other cosmic troublemakers in the hall assured him that they did too.
The man heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I leave you alone for a few centuries, and look what happens.” He smiled, a smile that promised someone would pay for this.
Edge stood straighter, shoving his fear and resentment into a place he hoped the man couldn’t see. He lowered his head with the respect due his leader.
Sparkle, eyes wide with shock, said it for all of them. “Ohmigod! The Big Boss is here. And why the hell am I naked?”
12
The Big Boss, an ordinary human title for someone she couldn’t imagine ever being ordinary or human.
Passion had rooted around in enough women’s minds to suspect he’d never be able to walk down any street on the mortal plane without riots breaking out. She knew there’d be chaos in the cubicles back home if he appeared in their midst. The plane of existence didn’t matter. Certain males just had “it.” And females knew.
He wasn’t as tall as Ganymede or some of the others. Probably not quite six feet. But he was eight feet tall when it came to impact.
She skipped over his broad shoulders and lean-muscled body in favor of studying him from the neck up. Black hair shot through with what looked like strands of gold fell in a shining curtain down his back. And his face…She’d never seen anything so beautiful in heaven or in the minds of mortals. Of course, she hadn’t canvassed hell yet, so who knew.
Thick black lashes framed pale gray eyes, the pupils outlined in black. She’d bet Sparkle would kill for lashes that long. Passion wouldn’t. Maim, maybe, but not kill. To top it off, his eyes had a slight upward tilt to them, giving them an exotic look.
He had a sensual mouth, and the angles of jaw and cheekbones were made to hold shadows and secrets.
Inexorably, her gaze returned to his eyes. They didn’t lie. His comment might have sounded playful in a sarcastic kind of way, but his eyes didn’t say playful at all.
They branded him as other. No human eyes could be that cold, that still, that empty. It wasn’t the empty of nobody’s–home. It was more the empty of I–don’t–give–a–damn. Passion sensed she was getting a peek into the soul of a being who had existed for so long that all emotion, all warmth, had drained from him.
She’d never seen such cold eyes, sensed such an icy heart. Did he even have a soul? Maybe that’s why she couldn’t see any colors around him. Weird.
She thought about the no–colors thing. The angels didn’t have any colors either, but that was because they didn’t sin. She didn’t think this man was sinless.
Then she realized he was watching her with those pale eyes. His lips lifted in a faint smile, and he nodded at her.
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Something in the twist of his lips, the cold gleam in those eyes…He scared her.
She leaned into Edge. He might represent death, and black might be doing a jig around him, but he still had a soul, and he wasn’t dead inside.
The Big Boss finally reached them. He leaned close to her for a moment. “All that from one glance? Damn, you’re good.” Then he looked at the others.
He’d been in her mind. Somehow that didn’t shock her. It did make her mad, though.
“I am not happy. Look at this.” He swept his arm to encompass the frozen, naked bodies. Cold power rippled away from him, slapping at all of them.
“We didn’t cause it, Boss.”
Ganymede didn’t sound intimidated, but Passion couldn’t tell what he was thinking without a human expression to help her.
The Big Boss didn’t acknowledge him. “How will we fix things?” He glanced at Edge. “What do you think, Finis? Should we kill them all?”
“I can’t see that as fixing anything.” No expression showed on Edge’s face or in his voice.
“You don’t enjoy killing anymore, do you?” The Big Boss smiled as though he’d just uncovered a wonderful secret.
Edge didn’t answer him, just looked away.
“What about you, Ganymede? I could cut you loose. Wouldn’t you like watching Galveston slide into a giant sinkhole? Your act would live forever on CNN, shown over and over again to horrified humans throughout the world. You’d have millions of views on YouTube. You always loved over-the-top performances.”
For the first time since Passion had known him, Ganymede had nothing to say.
The Big Boss’s smile was both a terrible and beautiful thing to see. “Oh, I understand. You’ve formed friendships here, grown to love the island. More than that, you have an emotional attachment to someone, and she wouldn’t want you to destroy all those lives.” He shook his head in mock sorrow. “You’ve let emotions creep into your existence. They weaken you. I should’ve come sooner.”
He shifted his attention to Sparkle. “And what about you, Sparkle? Did you have a good time?”
While the Big Boss had been talking, Sparkle had found her clothes in the restaurant, pulled them on, and joined the group.
“I can’t enjoy something I don’t remember.” She glanced around the hall. “But it must’ve been a hell of a party.”
“You were magnificent. Just like the old days. Remember how it used to be? You’d choose two people who were completely wrong for each other. You’d manipulate their emotions until they fell in love. And then, you’d tear them apart without one moment of regret. You were pitiless. What happened to that Sparkle?” He stared unblinkingly at her. “Your success rate is in the toilet. It seems every couple you bring together lately ends up getting married. What kind of cosmic troublemaker is that?”
Passion could learn to hate this guy.
A low rumble filled the room.
The Big Boss glanced at Ganymede. “Stop growling at me, Ganymede. I’m only trying to understand what’s been happening here.”
There was silence for a moment, and then Sparkle spoke up. “Okay, you’ve made your point. You’ve made us feel like failures. But maybe you need to lighten up. I think I liked your rep better than you. He had that whole jolly ice-cream guy thing going on. He was fun.” She smoothed down her hair and absently slipped on her metallic stilettos. “You’re beautiful, but you need to warm a little before I can offer up some woman on the altar of your awesomeness.”
Ganymede hissed and leaped in front of Sparkle. Edge crouched. Murmur looked amused, and Passion freaked.
Ohmigod, the Big Boss’s eyes were glowing. He looked as though he was lining up Sparkle in his sights before blasting her out of the water. War would erupt. Edge might die. And why was that her first thought? Her primary worry should be that she might die.
Eternity seemed to hang on the Big Boss’s reaction.
Then he laughed, a real laugh that actually warmed those icy eyes just a little. “I’ve always liked you, Sparkle.” He looked out over the hall. “Even if you did make a mess here.”
Passion could feel the tension easing. Edge came out of his crouch, and Ganymede sat down in front of Sparkle.
“I only see one solution for this.” The Big Boss gave the naked people his complete attention. “I have to turn back time. When I release them, this never will have happened, and they’ll continue doing whatever they were doing.”
Passion’s mouth opened and words came out before she thought about them. “That’s impossible. Besides, I don’t want to forget.” Uh–oh. She’d called attention to herself. Not a good thing.
“Everything is possible, Passion.”
Something about the way he said her name made it personal. And Passion didn’t question how he knew who she was.
“I sympathize with why you don’t want to forget.” He didn’t look sympathetic. “Don’t worry, only the mortals will have no memory of what didn’t happen. I’ll leave the nonhumans with something to talk about.”
Passion was confused. Not that she believed he could turn back time, but if by chance he could, then did that mean she was still a virgin?
“So if you’re turning back time for everyone, then I guess you won’t be here yet, and the rest of us won’t be standing around with our thumbs up our butts.” Ganymede looked disgruntled.
The Big Boss smiled, but Passion sensed darkness behind the smile.
“When I turn back time, I’ll tweak the past for our little group here. So, yes, Ganymede, you will be standing around with your ‘thumb up your butt.’” He shook his head. “Your use of language amazes me. Is ‘thumbs up our butts’ a Texas thing?”
Ganymede offered him a cat snort. “Stick around and I’ll teach you to talk like a human. And turning back time will have consequences.”
“There are consequences to everything we do. Time will change only for those inside the castle and out in the courtyard. I made sure no one entered or left the grounds once Sparkle started humming, so the damage was contained. For those who get home a little late or have someone outside the castle comment on the time lapse…” He shrugged. “It will simply be their unsolved mystery.”
“Wait. Does that mean you knew what was happening from the beginning and didn’t stop it sooner?”
Edge didn’t sound mad, but Passion could sense his outrage, his need to strike out at his leader.
“Yes.” The Big Boss’s stare challenged Edge. “I wanted to see if the person orchestrating these events would make an appearance. Gloating is part of the fun. So while all of you were taking a sexual timeout, I was having a look around the castle.”
Murmur had remained quiet, but now he spoke. “Look, I respect the hell out of you, but I’m getting restless. I’ve never seen anyone mess with time. Let’s do it.”
Bain had quietly joined the group. He’d pulled on his pants and boots, but he was still shirtless. “I’m going to kick your ass, Murmur, for throwing that compulsion at me.”
Murmur grinned. “Hey, you had a good time. So let it go.”
“Quiet.” The Big Boss didn’t turn to look at them. He stilled, and his gaze grew distant.
Edge clasped Passion’s hand. She released the breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Things would be okay.
“I’d suggest that everyone close their eyes. If not, once I begin you’ll get the mother of all motion sickness attacks, and I don’t need to see you puking up your guts.” He didn’t shout, but once again, his voice seemed to fill the hall.
Passion immediately closed her eyes.
Even so, she knew the moment he began. It felt the way she imagined plunging backward down a roller coaster would feel, a free fall that left her stomach along with the rest of her world dropping away until she was sure her stomach had permanently lodged in her throat. Then it stopped.
“You can open your eyes.”
When she opened them, it was as though she’d hit the pause button on a show while sh
e ran to the bathroom. When she returned, she hit the pause button again and everything continued as though nothing had ever interrupted it. Everyone was dressed, and no one acted like anything unusual had happened.
Except for Holgarth, who descended on them with narrow-eyed temper written all over his face. “This is not acceptable. My fantasy schedule will be off by a half hour for the rest of the night.”
Interesting. Holgarth remembered, so he wasn’t human.
He glared at the Big Boss while Edge tried to make shushing motions at him.
From the Big Boss’s expression, Passion guessed he was about to hit Holgarth with a deadly dose of snark, or something worse. She felt unwilling sympathy for the wizard. It didn’t take much insight to figure out that the castle was everything to Holgarth. He was old, and no one had mentioned a wife or family. The fantasies were his children.
No matter how much of a butthead Holgarth had been to her, she found she didn’t want his ego cut to ribbons, or worst-case scenario, him cut to ribbons. Still, she surprised herself when she impulsively put her hand on the Big Boss’s arm.
When he swung to look at her, she saw the flare of shock in his eyes. How long had it been since anyone had touched this man?
She swallowed hard. “Please. Don’t.” That’s all she could get out.
He held her gaze for a moment longer, then nodded. He turned back to Holgarth. “I apologize for disrupting your schedule. I realize how hard it is to keep this kind of operation running smoothly.”
Passion wasn’t the only surprised one. Even Holgarth looked shocked. She’d bet his insults weren’t often met with an apology.
Holgarth nodded stiffly. “All right then. If Sparkle can keep her clothes on, and time doesn’t make a habit of running backward, then I can maintain my schedule. And since finally someone strong enough to protect us all has arrived”—he glared at Ganymede and Edge—“I assume I can reclaim the dungeon as part of the fantasies.” He even managed a tight smile.
Well, well. Passion thought the Big Boss had won over at least one person tonight. If he was capable of an act of kindness, maybe she’d have to rethink her soulless judgment.
