I’d half expected the night to be a bust, but it was looking as if Bo’s Intel might have been good after all.
Maddox snapped our arms out as he moved us seamlessly through the steps, then his fingers were brushing through my hair, and his nose was nuzzling the side of my cheek. “Do you have your eye on Midas?”
My stomach feathered with curls of wicked heat and desire. I swallowed hard, scanning the thousands of porcelain-masked and unmasked but highly painted faces in front of me.
And finally, I spotted him—he was dressed as his true self, getting ready to make his way toward the elaborate golden throne of his to welcome us all to his ball and say whatever the hells kings often said. If the gang was going to strike, they were going to strike soon—very, very soon.
“The adder is making its way to the den now,” I hissed, being cryptic in case there were any unwanted ears listening in, as all around us more and more masked birds swirled and danced. “Where are the damned demons?” I hissed so softly it was barely a breath of sound.
I wasn’t sure what I was looking for as far as the demons went. High Lord demons weren’t your typical red-skinned freaks. Rumor had it they could be as beautiful as the very angels themselves, though I had no personal experience with actual demons myself. Few of the hundred realms did. Not many could afford to keep even a low-grade demon on payroll, let alone a few dozen.
Maddox brushed my hair aside, his calloused fingertips wreaking havoc upon my sensitized flesh as his lips brushed like flame along the curve of my neck. I felt the scraping of sharp teeth and hissed, digging my fingers into his spine, not sure whether I meant to push him back or draw him forward.
My brain and body were completely at odds with one another, but I knew it was nothing more than him keeping us in character. So I told myself to breathe and to let him set us up as he felt he should. I trusted Maddox, knew that whatever he was doing, he was doing it for the good.
Then something that felt an awful lot like the glide of a fang pressed against my carotid, and my pulse jumped hard. I groaned, rubbing my head against the curve of his shoulder and purring, all while wondering how in the hells Maddox had fangs.
“I count no fewer than fifteen moving in. Look for the ivory-fanged masks,” he whispered heatedly.
I purred when his large palm slid down my left arse cheek before cupping and holding a good portion of it, forcing my thighs to part so that his knee could take up residence between them. I shuddered, fighting my body’s natural inclination to grind down on him so that I could alleviate the mounting pressure building.
But I forced myself to keep focused, and sure enough, I saw the fangs moving slowly in toward Midas, drawing a tight circle around him.
The tension in the room was electric, and all around us, I could feel the energy of the dancers responding to the subtle sensual cues of the music.
There were hands brushing against us, bodies moving in closer, some birds, most not. My mouth tingled, the need to sing growing more and more desperate within me.
Maddox pressed me tight to his body and whispered, “You’re starting to leak, Elle, and that has given me an idea—if you’re game, that is.”
I growled, biting down on my front teeth. Knowing exactly what he was referring to, I could feel my magick gathering, coalescing into a tight sphere within me. My siren’s charm wanted to explode from within me. It was building momentum. I hadn’t felt this wound up in I didn’t even know how long. But it was his touch, fake or not, that was doing it to me. And that damned sexual feast for the senses all around us. I was feeling overwhelmed and was losing my very tenuous grasp on my desires.
He wanted to use my powers, and I was all but willing. Only once, when Cat Pillar had siphoned some of my siren powers, had I ever flipped around him. Pillar had taken too much, stolen more than I’d offered. As a result, I’d become darker, the more murderous version of me. It had taken a trip to Alice’s shop and placing me into the arms of the enigma Celestria before I’d reclaimed my sanity. But we’d learned since then that if he gave me warning and didn’t startle me with the amount of power he pulled from me, I could actually handle the shift enough to be somewhat cognizant of who I was and what I was doing.
It was a revelation in terms of helping me to gain a foothold on my abilities, a feat I’d never before believed possible.
There was still one problem, though. There were too many civilians, too many innocents that could get hurt. And a lawsuit wasn’t something Bo would take kindly to.
“People,” I whispered.
He nodded. “I can clear them out.”
As long as we could get the dancers and musicians clear of the worst of my song, it might work.
“Do it.”
He grinned and very loudly said, “Is that the king?” Then he gasped. “Are… are those bags of gold?”
Everyone who was likely not a Slasher turned, and the tide began a slow rolling exodus toward where the unwitting king would soon hear demands for gold.
I chuckled and murmured beneath my breath, “Clever boy,” then louder and in a husky drawl, “I care not for gold, my pet. Only that you dance with me.”
Then I couldn’t wait any longer. Leaning up on tiptoe, I grabbed hold of the shell of Maddox’s earlobe with my teeth and bit, hard enough that he hissed and rose up on the tips of his toes.
“Elle,” he hissed a warning but didn’t sound all that displeased with my aggression, either.
His fingers dug into my waist, making me jerk against him, both from pain and the pleasure of feeling myself so manhandled. It had been so damned long since I’d felt this level of passion.
So bloody long.
I smirked, choosing to ignore his chastisement. He was making me spark like a firecracker. It was the least he deserved, the fecking bastard.
Nuzzling the tip of my nose against his chest, I murmured, “We need to call this in, get backup here stat.”
His hot hand was moving, gliding around my waist, sliding up toward the edge of my breast. We were moving in unison, he and I, in and out, swaying and grinding, neither of us mindful of what we were doing. We’d been tap dancing around our feelings for weeks, and it had only been a matter of time before all the tension had finally come to a head.
The party was the absolute worst place to have this happen. We needed to keep our heads in the game, remember why we were here. But I was a siren who’d been pushed very nearly to the edge, and he was… well, I wasn’t entirely certain what Maddox was, only that he was my catnip and apparently, I was his.
“No time,” he said as he leaned his face so close to mine that I felt the mint of his breath wash over me. “We need to get to Midas now. You’re sure you’re okay with what I’m about to do?” He gripped me tight.
I nodded and purred my approval of his off-the-cuff plan. So long as it got me what I craved, too, I’d have agreed to sell what was left of my soul right about then—that was how turned on I was. Careful not to rip out the false eyelashes, I gently pulled my mask off and dropped it to the floor. I would need to see from all angles, plus I couldn’t touch him as I really wanted to. With a purr, I began to rub my cheek against his like a cat in heat. I pressed my hands to his chest. Yes, I was silently saying. And he knew it. He saw it. His pupils flared.
The birds were closing in on us. We were nearly surrounded. It would be obvious if we suddenly started plowing a trail through them toward the king, waving our badges about. We couldn’t afford to let them know just yet that we knew who they were. But if we moved toward the king as two lusty siren-sparking lovers, well… none would be the wiser for it.
“Do it, Maddox,” I whispered. “Do it now.”
He slid his strong, powerful arm around my waist and pulled me in so tight against him that not even an inch of space existed between us. I felt the ropey strength of his muscles vibrating against me. He was like a snake ready to snap, and it thrilled me endlessly.
“As my goddess wishes,” he rumbled in his darkly culture
d voice, which made me shiver and my flesh skate with heat.
With a hungry moan, his mouth found mine. It was a mere peck, a ghost of a kiss, really. Barely a graze, yet I felt my skin start humming, felt my legs grow soft and pliant, the transformation very nearly upon me. I might have worried about his sanity, getting me to this type of frenzied peak, but Maddox could handle me as long as he didn’t push me to the point of no return. I wasn’t sure how, but I didn’t give two damns how it was possible right now, either.
My siren charms were at their peak. One more touch of him to me, and I would become a nova of lusty flame and wild desire.
“Is that it?” I teased, digging my fingers into his back and daring him to give me more. “I know you’ve got better. I’ve tasted of you before, or have you lost your— ”
I didn’t get to finish my thought, because he was suddenly kissing me, eating at my mouth like a ravenous beast. And I sang beneath his touch. I couldn’t help myself. He’d unleashed my tempest with a simple touch.
I hummed, the sound low and sonorous and hypnotic.
Around me, I sensed the humans dropping one by one to their knees as they were gripped by the siren’s song, by my song. But they were outside the range of true danger. Now it was merely an annoyance.
I had them all so easily at my mercy, and with a mere snap of my fingers, I could make them mine to command, mine to control. I was desire, beauty, sex, and death. I laughed even as I sank deeper into the darkness that was a siren’s true and sometimes cruel nature.
I knew the magick I was channeling was strong, because Maddox hadn’t simply revved me up. He’d made me burn, and my waters were curling around me, and everyone who heard my song moaned, moving farther and farther away from us. But Maddox didn’t seem bothered. If anything, he clung harder, kissed deeper, swiped his tongue against the seam of my lips, then he was dueling with mine.
I felt us moving, but I was lost to the madness. I hadn’t given in to my charms in months, and it was like a pressure valve that had just been released. From the corner of my eye, I saw a few unwitting humans who’d gotten too close drop like stones. But it was too late for me to stop.
Maddox’s hands were in my hair, and he was growling angrily, destroying me with his touch, and I sensed that we were walking up some steps. Somehow, he was still moving, still cognizant, still thinking as a detective should.
But all I could think of was him—him in my arms, him beneath me as I feasted on his body, licked at his flesh, and sucked on his blood. My fangs slid out, and I sliced through his bottom lip and tasted the tang of his salt and iron upon my tongue.
He growled but didn’t push me away. Instead, he drew me closer, deeper, as if he enjoyed my violence, my aggression. And I felt him against my thigh, long and strong and thick. He liked it. And I smirked because I liked it too. A lot.
A part of my brain understood that I was losing my grip, but he wasn’t fighting it, and a more primal part of me was glad, thrilled even.
I curved my clawed hand around the back of his head, wanting to be as physically close to him as I possibly could be. It was dangerous to tango with an excited siren and never to be done by the faint of heart.
But Maddox held his own, using my powers as his weapon as he continued to clear a direct path toward the king.
“Stop them! ” I heard someone snap, then all hells broke loose.
Detective Maddox
I DIDN’T KNOW how the Slashers hadn’t fallen prey to Elle’s siren charms, but suddenly, we were surrounded, and Midas was barking out orders. “Demons! Attack! ”
Elle and I broke apart. I saw her blinking, confused, no doubt taking a second to assess our surroundings, brain still banked in the fog of lust. Her eyes were glowing a brilliant blue. Her marking was lit up like a flash of lightning, and even her hair crackled around her head. She’d barely begun to unleash her magick and was still a force to be reckoned with. Her nostrils were wide while she scented the air as she turned, keeping her sights peeled for the king.
But he’d hidden behind the rush of bodies still swarming at us. There was madness as all around us, the revelers screamed. Those who’d been gripped by her song were free of the enchantment and were up and running and turning an already chaotic scene even more frenzied in their desperation to get to safety. I had no idea how many Slashers there were because a horde of them had suddenly appeared as though from thin air.
The demons turned into streaks of black smoke, swirling around figures who fought with nothing but killing air, their dying screams echoing macabrely through the dark-red night. Midas had a golden sword in his hand as he hacked and slashed at his attackers, holding his own. Mere yards separated us from him, but it felt more like miles with the wave of humanity that constantly pushed us back.
We would see the crown upon his head bobbing up and down, and then he would disappear into yet another wave of fleeing revelers and bloodthirsty Slashers. I rose up on my tiptoes, scanning for any sign or glimpse of him. All around, I could hear the grisly echoing clang of steel meeting flesh with a sickening, bone-jarring thud.
“Do you see him?” she asked, her voice hard and sultry, a blend of detective and siren.
I shook my head. Someone fell shoulder-first into my middle, pushing me back on my heels and making me grunt. It was a woman with tears running down her face, the whites of her eyes large and nearly swallowing up the iris. Her skin was so pale it looked as though she had no blood in her at all. Her bicep was bleeding profusely, but she didn’t even seem to be aware of it as she scrambled back to her feet and continued to slip and slide her way toward safety.
“Godsdammit,” Elle snapped, and when I looked at her, it was to see her wrestling with her own mad stream of partygoers. She shoved the males back hard. “Out of my way.” There was no madness of the siren left in her eyes anymore.
We slowly made our way ever closer toward the king.
The demons weren’t slowing their attacks even an iota. If anything, the closer we got to Midas, the more chaos ensued. It was as though he were the eye of the storm.
I went to reach for Elle’s elbow, seeing a massive group of at least eight get ready to cut between the two of us, possibly separating us. But she must have seen it, too, because she did an elegant sweep and roll with her arms and somehow cleared a path right through them.
We were probably within fifty feet, if not less, of the king when I felt the fine hairs on the back of my neck lift up. Growling, I glanced behind me, and that was when I spotted two attackers coming at Elle and me from behind simultaneously, their wickedly curved claws extended. They were dressed all in robes of black silk and fur, with elegant golden masks on and hoods pulled over their heads. There wasn’t an inch of them I could see to use as a character description. But I knew these were our Slashers.
“Elle, at our six, we’ve got company,” I barked as yet another naked female cut between the two of us.
Elle’s face was a stony mask of irritation. She took one look at me and nodded. “Well then, as they say, the jig is most definitely up.” She reached into her bodice and pulled out her badge, holding it high, and glared unerringly at the Slashers who were now mere yards from us. “Hands up!” she cried. “Grimm PD. You’re under arrest.”
At the sight of her badge, those who’d still been fleeing around us suddenly stopped and dropped to their knees, tossing their hands over their heads and screaming out that they were innocent.
The black-robed Slashers didn’t even slow down a little. If anything, it seemed as though they’d picked up speed.
And from one second to the next, they were upon us. Two came at me, and five went for Elle.
After shoving her badge back down her bodice, she became a whirling dervish of death as she danced between arms and legs, punching and kicking out. It would have been so much faster if she could use her firearm, but she was wise not to. There was too much potential that a bystander and not the Slashers would be hurt or possibly even killed.
&nbs
p; I wanted to aid her, but I had my own worries. Lethal steel claws tipped in something viscous and clear made a grab for me. I turned but not quickly enough. One of the claws found me and dragged a long vertical tear down the center of my chest.
With a grunt of shock but also of rage, I rolled out of reach of their hands and moved my hips into the hips of another, executing a perfect over-the-shoulder throw. But when the black robe fell to the marble floor, there was no grunt or cries of alarm or even of rage. Because the robe that had covered a human form just seconds earlier was now nothing but a small pile of discarded fabric, and a large black bird was winging rapidly away.
I needed to take down the bird, capture it, and question it, but it was already out of range, and the next set of hands was on me, and this one was far more deadly.
The robed attacker moved like my shadow, anticipating my each and every move. I would move left, and so would it, back and forth. I’d punch it, and it was like a mirror that could hit back. And each time it did, its blows grew in strength and ferocity.
At one point, it landed a perfect blow to my lower ribs. I grunted as I felt the bend in my bones and had to bite down on my back teeth to keep upright and not lose my lunch.
My ribs ached, my head was pounding, and my breathing was deep and gasping. My head was screaming out in agony, swimming with stars as the mirror image followed my every lead. But it wasn’t only following my lead—it was actively doing something to me. Every second in its company, I felt myself growing weaker, as though it were siphoning my essence, drawing my energy away from me.
I frowned, recognizing the stamp of very dark and potent magick emanating in waves from it. What the devil was this thing?
If I didn’t attack, neither did it, yet I felt that like a coiled spring, should I even make a move, it would come at me with ferocity that would leave me breathless.
The Grimm Files Collection Boxed Set Page 34
