Bittersweet Darkness (12 page)

Did he gaze at Tara like that?

Probably.

Roz didn’t hate her father as much as Tara hated him. Of course, The Walker hadn’t been responsible for the rape, torture, and hideous mutilation of Roz’s best friend.

In his own defense, he hadn’t known the details. He’d released a whole load of lesser demons and told them to make Christian suffer. Tara’s friend had been in the wrong place. Ash could only breathe a sigh of relief that she’d been taken rather than Tara.

One day she would forgive him.

He hoped.

“Christian, did you find anything?” Piers asked, dragging Ash from his thoughts.

Ash hated meetings, but he was interested in what Christian had found out about MI13. He didn’t like Faith working in that place; he had a bad feeling about the whole thing. And if she learned too much and they decided she was untrustworthy—which they very well might if they discovered she’d warned Ryan after the initial meeting—she could be in danger. He wanted her out of there, but so far, she didn’t seem tempted by CRs offer of an alternative job.

“Some.” Christian said. “I talked to my contacts. It seems MI13 has been in existence for a long time, under various other names. It used to be referred to as MI11 and was pretty much known about by everyone. And the place was a joke. The community used to refer to it as RIP.”

“Rest in Peace?” Ryan asked.

“Actually, Research into Paranormal. But it was an in-joke that if you were transferred there your career was over—so yeah—Rest in Peace. That changed about ten years ago when apparently MI11 shut down. The general intelligence community believe it’s gone, closed and finished, that the government has accepted the whole supernatural thing was nothing but a piece of fiction. But there are rumors that it reformed under another name and this time it’s no joke. They’re taking it deadly serious.”

“So what changed ten years ago?” Piers asked.

“Nothing I can come up with. I did some mind reading and inserted a little compulsion and they’re going to look into it some more. See if they can come up with some names,” Christian said.

Piers turned to where Ash lounged against the back wall. “What about your girlfriend? Has she come up with anything useful?”

“The truth is she doesn’t know anything. Yet.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, she’s actually a very good employee and refuses to talk about the job—apparently she had to sign a whole load of confidentiality agreements—but yesterday she was a little pissed off.” He grinned. He liked Faith when she was angry; she positively sizzled.

“Get the grin off your face and get to the point,” Piers suggested.

“They promised her on day one that as soon as the big boss had cleared her, she’d get access to all sorts of interesting stuff. So far—nothing. She’s convinced that they only took her on to get to Ryan and now me and that’s pissed her off even more. And she’s bored and that doesn’t help.”

“No, Faith doesn’t do bored,” Ryan said.

“You’re sure she doesn’t know anything?” Piers asked. “That she’s not playing you along. She could have told them that you came on to her and they’ve ordered her to keep seeing you as a way to get to Christian.”

That couldn’t be true. Could it? Though it would explain why she agreed to see him, but still refused to take their relationship a step further and sleep with him. He stopped short. Had he just used the “relationship” word? Since when was this a relationship? It was supposed to be him getting close to a woman in order to find out what she knew. And sex. Instead, it was no sex and a
relationship
?

He ran a hand through his hair. No, she liked him—didn’t she?

“Ash?” Piers prompted.

“I don’t know.”

Piers stared at him, eyes narrowed. Then he laughed. “That hadn’t occurred to you, had it? That a mere woman might be using you, the great Demon of Lust.”

Ash scowled. He knew Piers hated him, but there was no need to sound so amused. “Piss off.”

“Could she be playing you?”

He decided to ignore the question. In some ways, he could sympathize with Piers. If he thought Ryan had had an affair with Faith, he’d probably hate him as well. Again, the thought shocked him. Since when had Faith mattered to him?

Probably since the night he’d watched her sleeping. Ever since then he’d had to fight a weird urge to protect her. To ask how she was.

But could she really be playing him, pretending the attraction? He felt slightly panicked at the idea.

“Maybe it’s time for me to give her a call,” Tara said. “I can say Ryan asked me to talk to her. Give her the rundown on the job. She might open up more to someone a little less intimidating.”

“I’ll come along as well,” Roz said. “Everything has been quiet on the angel front.”

Piers didn’t appear too happy about that, but he’d no doubt learned by now that it did no good to tell Roz outright no—because it would just piss her off. Of course, Ash had been able to, because she’d worn his sigil and so she’d had to do as he ordered. That’s probably why she hated being ordered around so much now. He rubbed the sigil on his own arm. He couldn’t blame her.

“Do
you
think it’s safe?” Piers asked him.

“There have been no other sightings of Raphael, they’ll have their security detail with them, and Tara’s talisman will glow if there’s an angel anywhere near. That will give them enough time to get back here.”

“I still don’t get this,” Ryan said. “Aren’t angels the good guys? Can’t we talk to them—explain that Roz isn’t evil or something?”

Ash smiled at the pitying glances cast Ryan’s way.

Ryan saw them as well. “What?” he snarled. “You’re telling me they’re not good?”

He sounded like Faith. They’d had a few discussions on good and evil. She was so set in her ways.

“Sort of good,” Piers said.

“Some of the time,” Christian added.

“Great, just great,” Ryan muttered.

“So that’s settled,” Piers said. “Tara and Roz will contact your friend Faith and see if they can get anything useful. At the least, she might get the lowdown on what Faith really thinks about you.”

“Ha-ha.”

“I’m sure they’ll let you know,” Piers said. “So how are your meetings going so far?”

“The pair of you look pretty nifty,” Roz said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryan in a suit. Or you.”

“The meetings are going fine,” Ash said, trying to focus his mind on business instead of Faith. “The first one was pointless—the guy was an asshole. Yesterday’s was an idiot, but the meeting today went well. I think we might have a candidate.”

They were searching for potential people to invite to a meeting where they would reveal themselves to the select few. First though, they needed to make sure the select few were the right people for the job.

“You agree?” Piers asked Ryan.

“Yeah, the first guy was an asshole, the second lacked a brain cell. But we met a woman today. She seemed…open-minded.”

“Useful?”

“She’s near the top of Christian’s list. High up in the civil service.”

“Well, that’s not bad. One out of three. Keep going.”

“We will.”

Ash was actually enjoying himself. While he’d never considered them as equals, he’d always found humans fascinating, and in the dim past, a good portion of his time had been spent on Earth. These days, under the Shadow Accords, their contact was limited. While the occasional seduction was ignored, anything more was frowned upon. And after the periodic wars between the demons and fae, the portals were locked. Of course they opened again eventually, nothing would keep them closed permanently.

Now, if this came to fruition, then for the first time, humans would know the truth of their existence. Some of them might even visit the Abyss.

Maybe he’d take Faith to his home. He had an image of her sprawled on the black fur covers in his huge bedroom at his castle in the Abyss.

He had an idea that Faith wasn’t going to take the news that the ghosties and ghoolies—as she referred to them—really existed with a smile. She was so emphatic.

He couldn’t wait.

…

Faith drummed her fingers on her desk and stared at the computer in disgust. She was beginning to hate this place. She glanced at the clock. Another hour until lunch.

She hadn’t heard from Ash yet. They’d lunched together each day since that first time. And each evening he drove her home and dropped her off in front of her apartment. And each time she saw him, her decision to keep her distance eroded a little bit more.

At night, as she lay in her bed, she fantasized and she gave herself a little release, but that only seemed to make her body crave him more.

He’d kissed her last night in the front seat of his car like a couple of teenagers making out. And God, that man could kiss. Only the neighbors pulling up behind them and beeping their horn had put a halt to their lovemaking. By that time, Ash had one hand on her breast and the other on her belly and inching downward.

She’d ached for his touch. A pulse throbbing between her thighs, and when he’d raised his head and gazed down into her face, a question in his eyes, she’d come so close to nodding.

Only a second beep had brought her to her senses.

If she liked him less, she might have given in. Because it would be just sex. But she did like him. And she couldn’t risk herself feeling more while she was using him and she suspected he was using her.

Not that he was giving her much. He told her that if she took the job with them he’d tell her everything. His words had so much reflected her current situation at work that she’d been even more pissed off.

Anyway, he’d driven off last night without arranging to see her for lunch today, and he hadn’t called yet. She hated how bad that made her feel. Maybe it would be better if she didn’t see him again, before she got in any deeper. But that thought made her feel even worse.

She was a mess.

On top of that, she still hadn’t heard from the hospital about her test results and that made her edgy.

She eyed up the colonel as he crossed the floor to his office. He’d been avoiding her, probably because she moaned at him for something to do every time she saw him. But this time, he must have felt her evil-eyed stare because he glanced up and headed over.

“The boss is expected this afternoon,” he said. “You should have your clearance by tomorrow morning.”

“Will I meet him?” she asked. She was curious about “the boss.” The boss who the security guards had never met, which must mean that he came in through a different entrance and presumably skipped the retinal scan and all the other checks.

“Perhaps.”

As he left her, she sat back in her chair and grinned at her reflection in the dark screen. Tomorrow was the big day. She was finally going to learn something interesting. Or in the very least, she was going to discover that MI13 had nothing interesting for her to learn.

When the phone on her desk did ring, she almost jumped. She glanced at the number. It was an external line, but she didn’t recognize the caller. Not Ash then and a jolt of disappointment stabbed her in the middle.

She ignored it and picked up. “Hello, Detective Connelly speaking.”

“Detective Connelly, it’s Tara Roth. We met briefly the other night.”

“I remember.” Her mind was working furiously. What the hell did Christian Roth’s wife want with her?

“Ryan suggested I call you.”

“He did?” That didn’t make anything any clearer.

“He said you had some doubts about coming to work for my husband’s company and thought I might be able to answer some questions for you.”

It sounded reasonable but her detective senses were tingling. All the same, she was definitely interested.

“That’s nice of you to take the time. Give me a moment, and I’m sure I’ll come up with a question or two.”

“Actually, I thought we might meet for a drink tonight. I’m doing some shopping. We could meet up after you finish work.”

“Why not? There’s a bar on the embankment called Happy Joe’s. How about that?”

“I’ll find it.”

After putting the phone down slowly, she glanced up at the colonel’s door, half expecting him to pop out and officially assign her to spy on Tara Roth.

When nothing happened, the tension seeped out of her. She was getting paranoid. The colonel wouldn’t be monitoring her calls—would he?

There were no more calls, despite her constant glare at the phone. She was being pathetic. Time to be proactive. She picked it up and punched in a number.

“Hi, Pete. It’s Faith Connelly. I wondered whether you like to meet me for lunch.”

Chapter Nine

Faith was already seated at a table when Tara walked in. She recognized her from the other night. Small, her blond hair cut into a shoulder-length bob with a green baseball cap on top, and startling green eyes. She also recognized the woman with her, just as short but with spiky dark brown hair, an orange cap, and brown eyes. Rosamund Fairfax was pretty and perky and not a wart in sight—nothing like a witch.

In fact, they both appeared so normal and sort of wholesome that Faith winced. She’d been on the police force since she’d left school fourteen years ago, and she spent a lot of time mixing with lower forms of life. People who looked like this didn’t tend to get mixed up with the police.

She stood as they approached; she was a good six inches taller than either of them. Tara wore jeans, high-heeled sandals, and a pink T-shirt. Roz was dressed the same but her T-shirt was crimson and cropped at the waist baring her midriff with a matching ruby belly-button ring. They made Faith feel dull by comparison in her sensible black pantsuit and very conscious of the pistol shoved in the holster at the small of her back. She should have left it at the office, but she’d been severely reprimanded by the colonel when he’d realized she wasn’t wearing it on her second day and informed her it was compulsory at all times.

Nice to know he was worried—probably scared the vamps or witches would get her. Though could you stop vamps and witches with bullets? She grinned at the thought.

The two women had come to a halt in front of her, and both smiled. They appeared so open and friendly that she smiled back automatically.