“That’s why we’re thinking it’s not worth slowing our progress,” Michael said. “It could just be a wild goose chase.” Lucas lightly nodded as he stared off into space.
“So that’s it then?” When Lucas asked the question, there was a deep sadness in his eyes, and suddenly Michael understood Natalia’s tone. They didn’t want to be left alone again. He turned to face Dez and knew she understood as well.
“We are going to see you guys again,” she explained. “As long as I have a pulse, and you’re in the ether, we can see you both anytime we want to.”
“This isn’t goodbye.” It was the only thing Michael could manage to put together, the idea of having to say those words proving to be somewhat crippling.
“It better not be,” Natalia interjected, with all the sass and passion he genuinely wished he had gotten to know in person. “I don’t want to have to listen to this one,” she pointed her thumb in Lucas’s direction, “sobbing like he’s premenstrual for the rest of eternity.”
“I know, right?” Dez said, joining in on the jibing. “The incessant wailing when he doesn’t get his way is a bit much, isn’t it?”
“Hey!” Lucas protested, looking back and forth between the two women. “What did I ever do to the two of you?”
“Oh, don’t even get me started, Lucas.” Dez looked to Natalia and gave a mischievous little smile.
They parted ways, agreeing to talk again when Michael and Dez returned to New York. After their meeting in the ether, Dez curled up against Michael's side and they both easily slipped into a peaceful slumber.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dez
Dez parked her car in the quiet garage of the Luxor and shut the engine off, bringing the car to an eerie silence, as she glanced at Vegas lightly sleeping in the seat next to her. She almost felt bad at the prospect of waking him up, knowing once he was awake, he would have a hard time falling back into a restful sleep. However, leaving him in the car wasn't exactly an option, so she bit the bullet, reached out her hand and gingerly shook his shoulder.
"Vegas," she softly prompted, trying not to startle him. ''Hey, we're here."
"Where's here?" he asked without opening his eyes.
"I called and got a suite at the Luxor. We just have to go to the front desk to check in, and then we can go up to our room and crash for as long as you'd like."
"Sounds like a plan," he responded as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He turned and looked at her for a moment, leaned over, and gave her a quick kiss before opening the door to climb out.
The smell of the night air in the city reminded Dez of home, and she found herself thinking about how good it would feel to finally spend a night in her own bed. For now, a few nights spent in a nice hotel without constantly looking over her shoulder would be a good break before the long trip back to the East coast.
After checking in at the front desk, they made their way up to the suite, and it was every bit as lush as the website promised, complete with a gorgeous view of the Las Vegas strip. One glance at Vegas told her that her previous thought had been correct. He was wide awake and wandering around the room, casually taking in all it had to offer.
"You don't exactly look tired anymore. Do you want to head down to the strip to grab a drink and do some people watching?"
"No work tonight?"
"Nah," she replied, "let's just take a night to relax and spend some time together."
"Sounds good to me." He walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her, deliberately taking his time, and whispered, "I think we should go make use of that huge shower first." He leaned down and sensually kissed her neck, eliciting an instant reaction from every nerve in her body. A devious smile crept across her face as he led her toward the bathroom.
Roughly two hours later, they finally left their room. They made their way through the bustling crowd on the casino floor. As it was the weekend, the already busy casino was packed with tourists and weekend travelers. They stepped out of the front doors to find themselves standing among replicas of ancient Egyptian statues, matching the theme of the pyramid-shaped casino's interior. A smiling curbside attendant greeted them as he held the door of the nearest cab open, offering it to them.
"Thank you," Dez said as Vegas handed the man a five dollar bill as a tip. The pair climbed into the back of the car and she instructed the driver to take them to Bally's, having already discussed where they wanted to start their evening.
A few minutes later, the driver pulled up to the curb of the Bally's Casino and gave them their total. Dez handed the man a twenty and they climbed out of the car to begin their first real date.
Their first stop was across the street at the water show in front of the Bellagio. They quickly realized they were going to need alcohol to cope with the throngs of drunk people stumbling around, clogging the sidewalks in every direction. After stopping for a drink at a few different bars, dealing with the crowds wasn't even a thought. They wandered for hours, laughing and enjoying the warm night. Eventually, they ended up sitting together beside one of the fountains outside of Caesar's Palace. Dez was reminded of a similar night they had shared some years ago in which Vegas had, in a drunken haze, professed his love for her. They had sobered up, talked it over, and when all was said and done, he claimed it was the alcohol talking. Aside from his acquired nickname as a result of that night, they had never mentioned it again. Now, sitting with him by the fountains again, Dez couldn't help but wonder about that moment. She turned to Vegas. He was leaned back looking up at the night sky with the hint of a smile playing on his lips.
"Hey," she said, playfully bumping her arm into his, "can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"That night, here at the fountains—"
"Yes and no.''
"Yes and no? You don’t even know what I was going to say."
"You were going to ask if I actually meant it when I told you I loved you that night."
"Okay," she replied apprehensively. If he knew what she was talking about, then his answer was even more confusing. "Care to explain?"
"It wasn't planned. It just came out, and I was just as surprised as you. You reacted the way you did, I had no clue how to react, and we both wrote it off as a joke. I guess I meant it at the time, but the second it came out, I didn't know what to think, so, I left it at that." They became quiet again, both sipping their drinks, lost in thought as they watched people passing by. Vegas shifted and out of the corner of her eye, Dez could see him looking at her. She reached over and entwined her fingers in his as she met his eyes.
"I'm glad things went the way they did. Everything happens..." She paused and glanced around as something tickled at the edge of her consciousness. "...for a reason," she finished, her focus elsewhere. She scanned the faces in the crowd around them trying to discern where the other presence was. She couldn't pinpoint it, but she could feel it was close.
"Dez?" Vegas asked as he discreetly looked around.
"Look alive," she answered, trying to stay quiet enough so as not to draw unwanted attention to them. "We've got company, and I'm pretty sure it knows I'm here."
"Demon?"
"Yep, and it's close." Dez drank down the remnants of her cup and stood, still looking around, trying not to be too obvious about it. There seemed to be an infinite number of faces around her, but none of them held what she was looking for. Some telltale sign of the creature hidden within. She had the option of connecting to its mind, but blowing her cover was something she wanted to avoid if possible. If a fight broke out, innocent people would surely die, and she didn't want that burden weighing on her. As she started to stalk through the garden of fountains, something awoke in her and it felt good. It felt right. With a wicked smile, she turned to Vegas and uttered two words.
"Let's hunt."
"Dez, we aren't prepared. If you want to go hunting, we need to go back to the hotel so I can get my piece."
''I've got mine."
"You're carrying?"
''Deal," he replied, a hint of excitement now in his own voice. "Do you have any idea where it might be?"
''No, but we can fix that. Come here."
She held her arms out and waved him over with a flirtatious smile. He complied without questioning her, and Dez buried her face against his chest to hide the change she was about to undergo. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and she felt it the second they shifted to solid black.
The new ease of the transition was something she found a touch disturbing, but having Vegas there with her made it easier to trust herself. His faith in her had renewed her sense of self. Knowing he didn't doubt her made it a lot easier to not give in to questioning what she was and what she was turning into. With him by her side, she felt like she could handle anything. The thought brought a smile to her face and an undeniable calm to her nerves. He was home for her. No matter where they were, and what life had in store for them, they'd handle it.
"Anything?" His question brought her out of her thoughts, and she realized she hadn't been looking for the demon.
''Sorry," she answered. "Got lost in thought for a second." She reached her mind out and instantly felt it. She opened her eyes. The demon was standing only twenty feet away, right behind Vegas, his stare boring a hole into the vampire's back.
The man the demon was camped inside was small: Dez estimated just a few inches over five feet tall, and Asian, Chinese if she had to guess. He wore black running shoes, black skinny jeans, and a fitted black v-neck t-shirt. His hair was closely shaven, his eyes were glossy black, his skin was a pale grey, and judging by the way the demon was staring at them, it knew what Dez was, or at least thought she was a demon just like him. The look on the demon's face was one of perplexed curiosity. It definitely didn't know it was about to die.
"Don't turn too quickly," she whispered. "It's right behind you and it knows I'm here." Vegas began to turn Dez as if they were slow dancing to a song only they could hear.
"The Chinese man?"
"Yeah, the only guy with black eyes."
"His eyes aren't black right now."
"They aren't?" She turned in Vegas's arms to see for herself. The moment their eyes connected, the man bolted. "Here we go."
They took off running after the man as he jumped over railings and nearly knocked several people over in his attempt to escape. They darted in and out of startled crowds. They barked out the occasional apology as they rammed into people, all while never taking their eyes off of the demon. Dez was afraid if they lost sight of him, he may get away and cause far more damage than a few tourists being knocked over.
Suddenly, the demon took a turn into the entrance of the Mirage and ran toward the parking garage. Dez smiled. Perfect. Going somewhere like a parking garage would take the fight away from the people on the street, giving her the opportunity to do what she did best.
Once inside the parking garage, the demon headed for the stairs. It paused momentarily to glance back at her, smiled with a sickly satisfaction, and jumped with inhuman speed and strength, moving quickly upward from one railing to the next. Dez watched as it landed on the fifth railing up. In a split-second decision, Dez shifted into smoke and half a heartbeat later, she reappeared at the very top. No sooner did she pull her gun, the demon landed right in front of her, a stunned look poured over its features. She smiled, winked, and pulled the trigger, the bullet landing home. Blood sprayed the wall, and the rotting body crumpled and fell backward down the flight of stairs, coming to a rest on the next platform down.
Just a moment later, Vegas bounded up over the stairs, stopping just inches away from the corpse.
"That smoke thing is a nifty trick, yeah?"
"It worked out to my advantage. I got the drop on him. Good thing, too. He was a quick little fucker. I honestly don’t think I would have caught him otherwise."
"Back to our date then?"
Vegas offered his arm to escort her back down to the ground level. Dez put the gun back in its concealed spot, then, stepping over the body, she looped her arm through his.
The rest of their night was demon free. They laughed, drank, danced, and stopped off at all the staple attractions, even having their picture taken with an Elvis impersonator whose real name was Jason. As the sun began to peek over the horizon, they decided to call it a night.
The next evening they woke up and got down to business. On their way back to their suite the night before, they had retrieved the extra bullets from Dez's car with the plan to go out hunting as soon as they awoke. After a quick shower and a room service meal, they took a cab down to the opposite end of the strip and worked their way back to the Luxor. Twenty-six dead demons later, they stopped in the bar at Harrah's for a drink.
Dez thought it was rather miraculous that neither of them had any blood on their clothes. Thanks to a demon who had set up shop in the body of a man who made his money doing a show juggling knives, her jacket was going to need to be replaced. Vegas looked fine, of course, having had years of experience with killing cleanly, but she was still getting used to it.
Every day, she wished she didn't live in a world which required that she get used to putting bullets in the heads of innocent people. She also knew the reality was the creatures she was killing weren't people at all. But, in truth, that wasn't at all what bothered her. She had long ago made that distinction. She knew she wasn't taking the lives of innocent people. The demons themselves took care of that dirty deed long before she ever got to them. What weighed heavy on Dez was the ever-increasing pleasure she took in hunting them down and putting a bullet between their eyes. She was beginning to enjoy, with every fiber of her being, the chase and inevitable kill.
She tried to tell herself there was nothing wrong with taking comfort in removing them from the world, but deep down, in the darkest parts of herself, she knew.
She knew it was the kill that brought her such an intoxicating high.
She knew it was the final kill which gave her the sudden rush of adrenaline she had come to crave.
And that little fact scared the shit out of her.
As time passed since Venice, her demon abilities had become more pronounced and easier to use. The possible implications of that, mixed with her growing lust for the kill, were not lost on her. Maybe she was becoming a monster, but for the time being, she wanted to do the most good she could with whatever gifts she had at her disposal. Dez honestly felt if she never lost sight of that goal, she would never totally lose herself.
"Where do you want to head next?" Vegas looked at her expectantly. "Hey, you still with me?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Just spacing out, I guess." She straightened herself and blinked away the errant thoughts, refocusing her attention on the task at hand. "I was thinking we should head up to the Caesar's Palace property. That place is always a draw for huge crowds, especially on the side by the shopping center. It'll be a little bit of backtracking but I think it'll be worth taking the time to comb over it again."
"You're right. That would be a good place to pick back up. There have been far less of them than I expected to run into."
"Well, don’t forget. I was here a week ago and made a decent dent in the black-eyed populous."
"True," he replied. "Maybe their numbers aren't as concentrated here as we thought they would be. I think we should make one more round tonight, then spend the rest of the week here as an actual vacation, doing relaxing couple things." He took her hand in his and stroked her knuckles with his thumb. "What do you say?"
"Sure," she replied with a lazy smile. Although Dez had to admit, a real break with real relaxation would probably be the best thing f
or her, for them, she felt a small twinge of disappointment.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dez
A week and a half later, Dez pulled up in front of her building in New York and shifted the car into park. She had dropped Vegas off at his place with plans to go back to spend the night after she had a chance to get settled and decompress. After three days of driving, she was ready to be home, regardless of how much she loved Stella. She grabbed her keys from the ignition and headed for the door for the first time in a little over five months.
She slid the key into the lock, and as she opened the door, the familiar smells of home she expected weren't there. The apple spice scented candle she regularly burned was faint in the air. She could still pick it up, but just barely. She walked straight to the counter, leaned over the top of the candle, and as quietly as she could, whispered, "Incendia."
Before long, it would feel like home again. Without wasting any time, she went straight to the bathroom and turned on the faucet to draw a hot bath. While the tub filled up, she went back out to her living room to shrug off her jacket. Having been in the desert for the last few months, coming back to New York at the start of February made her miss the arid climate. As much as she loved her home city, she really hated the winter months. As she adjusted the thermostat to bring the temperature up, she made a mental note to look at properties for sale out in the Southwest after things slowed down a bit.
Dez shed her clothes on her way back to the bathroom, shivering a little when her bare feet touched the cold tile floor, and carefully climbed into the scalding hot water. The warmth of the water crept into her bones and instantly started to relax her. She laid her head back on the edge of the claw-foot tub and closed her eyes. It only took a few minutes for the sinking sensation of sleep to settle in. She reached her foot up and shut off the water. The last thing she needed was to have her bath-slash-nap rudely interrupted by a flooded bathroom floor. She took a deep breath and welcomed sleep.
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