“Drink, darling?” The demon in my kitchen smiled innocently and offered me a glass of red wine. “Or would you like me to fetch your slippers for you?”
“Go to hell, Bathin.”
He sucked in a breath and pressed a hand to his chest as if shocked at my language. “But I just got back. Didn’t you get my postcard?Wish You Were Here?”
I tossed the dagger down on the coffee table by the couch and stood there with my hands on my hips. He was still holding the wine. Two glasses in one hand.
“Is that where she sent you?”
He shrugged, and the innocent housewife thing he was pulling fell away. Leaving him tall, dark, and dangerous, in slacks and white shirt, and smiling at me like he knew where all my guilty pleasures lay beneath the layers of me.
“Does it matter? It won’t happen again.”
“You underestimate my sister.”
He gave me half a nod. “Yes, I did. I promise you I won’t repeat that little oversight.”
“She’s smart. If you challenge her, she’ll be the last Reed you’ll ever tangle with.”
“Is that so?” He looked even more interested in her now.
Dammit.
“Give me the wine.”
He handed it over. “Bad day, pet?”
“Go away.”
He chuckled and then walked around the furniture so he could sit.
“Tell me all about it.” He lifted his glass in a kind of salute and then took a spare sip of the liquid. He settled into the most comfortable chair in the room and tipped his head toward the couch. “No, I’m serious. Have a seat, and tell me about it.”
“Maybe I’m going to bed.”
“Doesn’t sound like you’re too sure about that.” He sipped, patient, implacable.
Not warm, but easy? Welcoming? And I found myself wanting to do just that: sit here and spew my troubles all over him.
Maybe it was because he wasn’t anyone who mattered to me. I didn’t care about his opinion on my messed up life. I could say anything I wanted and what was he going to do about it? Tattle on me?
No one would believe him. Because he was a demon. Two-faced, conniving, self-serving and everyone knew it.
I sighed and dropped down on the couch, careful not to spill the wine. “You know what bothers me about all this?”
He waited, sipped.
I turned the glass between my fingers, scowling at it and not really seeing it. “He hasn’t made a move.”
“Lavius?”
I nodded.
“He sent a demon-possessed vampire to run over your sister.”
It was my turn to be silent.
“He kidnapped Ben. Tortured him. Yes,” he said at my glance, “I know torture when I see it. Cast a blood spell so dirty I wouldn’t touch it with a lead-coated pole. Used it to kill a vampire who was also one of Ordinary’s citizens.”
