Crave the Night (39 page)

Unable to resist, he ran his thumb across
her lips. Her tongue licked the pad and Dak felt heat rise. Leaning
forward, he brushed his mouth over hers.

Sweet. So fucking sweet. He could lose
himself in her, wanted to lose himself in her. Dak waited for the
disquiet to rise, but it didn't and that rattled him. His defenses
against her were crumbling faster than a sand castle on the beach
during a hurricane. That didn't shake him up either. Hell.

With one last kiss, he eased back. "Turn
around, Nic."

She gave him a quizzical look, but didn't
argue. He liked her faith in him, too, and Dak grimaced. Make that
a sand castle on the beach in a force five hurricane.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind,
froze when she wiggled her ass against his groin, and muttered,
"Stop that. We're trying to get you to use your powers, not see how
fast you can arouse me."

"How does this help?"

"Just a sec. And don't move around," he
tacked on. Dak tugged her closer, trying to envelop Nicole as much
as possible in his natural field of energy. When he had her
situated, he said, "Now mentally mesh yourself with me as tightly
as possible."

Dropping the last line of defense
around his mind didn't make him happy. This was why he hadn't used
this teaching method to begin with, but he opened himself to her,
helping to interlace her consciousness with his. He needed Nicole
to be able to fight the vampire if he was taken out of the picture,
and as it stood, she couldn't, not yet. He remained quiet until
they were in complete unison.
Follow
what I do, Nicole. Feel how I draw my power, how I wield it. Be one
with me.

Dak made a shallow draw and used it to
turn on the lights in his condo.
Now you
try. Flip the lights off again.

She wasn't successful this time either, but
now he knew what the problem was. "The power is part of you," Dak
said softly against her ear. "You're treating it like a lake and
you're trying to scoop up the water in a bucket without getting
wet. If you need that imagery, picture your legs as straws and draw
the water in through them to your core."

Show me again.

He did, using the power to lower the
blinds.
Your turn.

Her agreement came without words, the
acceptance simply there. Dak ignored how normal that was beginning
to feel and concentrated on what his mate was doing. The energy
flowed into her in fits and starts. Nicole lost her hold on it over
and over. She also drew unevenly and the sputtering grated on his
nerves, making it hard for him to maintain the merge with her.

I did it!

She had; the lights were off. And if this
had been a battle, Nicole would already be dead. Dak needed to come
up with some way to neutralize that damn amulet.

"I'll get better with practice."

"I know." But this had been an easy task
requiring little energy. "Work with it some more—open the blinds,
play with the lights, anything."

Nicole did increase her speed each
time, but she wasn't quick enough, not by a longshot. Dak stopped
her after half a dozen tries. Making sure their link was solid, he
sent,
What you're pulling is what I used
to strengthen your wards. I'm going to do the kind of draw I'd need
to power up my arsenal in a fight. Feel the difference.

He closed his eyes, something he'd never do
in a real world situation, and gathered the energy. Since there was
no way he was firing inside his home, Dak held it in his body for a
few moments, enjoying the buzz it gave him, and then slowly allowed
it to disperse.

Reluctantly, he let the last of it go and
opened his eyes. Dak could sense how stunned Nicole was, and with a
grimace, he rested his chin on the top of her head. "The amount I
was able to call up isn't unusual; any strong demon can do it."

"Including me?"

"Yes." Dak hesitated, then added, "Vampires
and demons can build an energy shield around themselves for
protection. Battle usually means hitting their defenses over and
over until they collapse."

"In quick succession while simultaneously
carrying out a physical attack, right?"

He didn't have to say anything, she knew the
answer. Nicole turned in his arms and leaned back far enough to
meet his gaze. "This is what Mary Beth faced in the past during the
demon wars."

"We call them the vampire wars, but yeah,
probably."

With a sigh, she rested her cheek against
his chest and Dak hugged her tight, one hand stroking her hair.
Nicole wouldn't stay discouraged long—another thing he liked about
her—but she needed to be aware of what kind of challenge they were
up against. "I trained for five years to do my job and this was
after using magic my entire life. You're not going to pick it up in
a single afternoon no matter how stubborn you are."

"I prefer to use the word determined,"
Nicole said. "What is your job anyway?"

She could have delved in his head and gotten
the information without asking, but she didn't. Dak smiled.
Momentarily. His position was considered prestigious among demons,
but Nicole had been raised human. How would she react?

He could probe her mind and try to come up
with an answer, but she'd respected his privacy by not mining his
brain and he'd do the same. Her emotions, though, could blast him
if they were strong enough. Dak erected a mental barrier, and
unwrapping Nicole's arms from around him, put physical distance
between them as well.

When he was on the other side of the room,
he rested his hands on his hips and measured her. He picked up
curiosity, nothing more. With a shrug, he gave her the truth. "I'm
an executioner."

Confusion came first, then she asked, "You
kill vampires?"

"No, this is a first. Usually, I'm assigned
to hunt demons who've been sentenced to death by our courts."

Nicole glanced down at the T-shirt she wore
and her lips curved. "Rogue demon slayer, huh?"

Dak grimaced and ran a hand over the back of
his neck. "That was a gift from my sister. My smart-ass sister.
I've never worn it and I thought you'd be more comfortable in
something new."

"Why are you—" She stopped short and became
serious. "You're worried about my response to your job?" At his
nod, she crossed to him. "I'm a vampire hunter. I'd have to be a
pretty big hypocrite to toss stones at you."

Some of the tension leached from his
muscles. "It's not going to be an issue between us?"

"No. Is my job going to be a problem?"

"Not once you learn how to use your powers."
And that made him go taut again. "It's only a few hours until
sunset."

"Yeah." Nicole stuck her hands in the back
pockets of her jeans and rocked, a pensive expression on her face.
"I know I've been the one who's been adamant about hunting Mary
Beth, but it doesn't have to be tonight. In a couple of days, when
I'm smoother with the power thing, then we can go out looking for
her. I waited seventeen years to avenge my family; a few more days
won't matter and we can lie low here until we're ready."

She didn't know. Dak thought she'd read that
information from him already, that she understood his urgency. "We
can't hide here, Nic. I didn't get it at first, but I thought about
it all day. There's only one way the vampire could have found us as
easily as she did last night."

"Because she knew where I lived."

"Maybe, but that's not how she zeroed in on
us in the parking garage." He took a deep breath. "That amulet is
tuned to my energy. She can use it like a fucking GPS to track me
down. There's nowhere I can lie low."

Nicole glanced out the front window of the
sports car, saw the sky had deepened to indigo, and looked back at
Dak. He had a death grip on the steering wheel, but it was late
enough that every vampire in the city was stirring by now.

Wanting to soothe him, she reached out and
put her hand on his thigh. The muscles were tight there, too, and
she ran her fingers up and down his inseam, hoping that would relax
him.

His hand covered hers briefly before
returning to the wheel. "There's time to drop you somewhere safe,"
he said.

She squeezed his leg. "Do you really want to
have this argument again?"

"No, but I want you out of the line of fire,
Nic."

The way he shortened her name, the tone of
voice when he used it was intimate enough to make it an endearment.
She liked that. And she liked how they'd become friends.

He'd gone from
demon males protect their mates
to
I want
you
safe, Nic.
Her, specifically, not her as his
mate. It was a subtle difference and maybe she wouldn't have
grasped the distinction if it wasn't for their mental connection.
She wasn't sure anyone had really given a damn about her since her
family had died, but Dak did.

"Mates stick together," she said and left it
at that.

He grumbled, a sound barely short of a
growl. "We should have left earlier."

Nicole ignored that. Leaving LA had been her
idea, but it hadn't occurred to her until they'd brainstormed
through quite a few other possibilities. "We could make better time
on the freeway," she offered.

Dak shook his head. "I don't want to be
going that speed if the vampire launches an aerial attack."

His leg muscles flexed under her palm as he
braked for a traffic light. They were going through an industrial
area and there were few people around. That wasn't bad because Mary
Beth wouldn't worry about human bystanders, but Nicole would feel
safer in a crowd.

"Do you think she'll do that?"

The light went green and Dak waited until
they were through the intersection before answering. "It's one
option, but that doesn't mean it's the action she'll take."

"Yeah." Nicole dropped her head back and let
the motion of the car lull her. She wished the vampire was already
dead and she and Dak were driving somewhere without any worries. In
the past, she'd never been sure what she'd do once her vengeance
was complete, but now dozens of tantalizing possibilities existed
and a lot of them involved the male sitting beside her. She
smiled.

Turning her head on the rest, she studied
Dak's profile. He was gorgeous and sweet and he was hers. All hers.
From the start he'd looked after her, he'd even wrapped her inside
his energy cloak to keep her hidden—

Nicole sat up straight. It might work.
Maybe.

"What? Did you pick up the vampire?" Dak
asked.

"No. Sorry. I just had a thought." Nicole
shifted, turning as much as she could toward Dak. "Mary Beth can't
use the amulet against me or to track me because I'm only half
demon."

"Yeah, so?"

"So what if I wrapped my energy around you
the way you cloaked me last night? Would that protect you?"

Dak opened his mouth, closed it again, and
his expression went thoughtful. She liked this about him, the way
he didn't automatically dismiss her ideas. And if what she
suggested wouldn't work, he explained why.

Damn, she had it bad for him if she was
getting mushy over this.

"It might do the trick," he said quietly.
"Can you hold the shield in place for an indefinite period over
both of us?"

Nicole gave the question some thought. Dak
needed her to be certain, not cocky. "I wasn't able to conceal
myself from the vampire for the past two nights, so maybe not on
the tracking, but I know I can keep you safe from the amulet."

Silence. She wasn't actively monitoring his
thoughts, but she had no doubt he was calculating the risk to her.
It was important to her that he be safe, too, and that never seemed
to be part of his equation. Nicole hesitated, but maybe it was
something he needed to hear. "You matter, Dak, and if you get
yourself hurt, I'm going to be hugely pissed off at you. You better
remember that."

His smile was slow, but it was real. He
glanced over at her, winked, and then she got a grudging, "Okay, do
it."

Without giving him a chance to change his
mind, she put her wall around him. She'd expected it to be hard,
but it wasn't. Dak fit as if he'd always been there.

He kept driving. Nicole had assumed he'd
turn the car around now that he could fight the demon without
worrying about the amulet, but he didn't. Unless he didn't trust
her. Maybe he thought she'd let him down in the clutch.

"Why are we still heading out of town?"

Dak cut her another glance. "Because I want
us to sit down and hammer out tactics and strategy without you
needing to expend excess energy holding the shield up."

"Oh." And there he went, worrying about her
again. The way he took care of her left her with this weird warm
feeling. "We are going to work together then? You're not going to
try to keep me safe, right?"

"I'd love to lock you away and take down the
vampire on my own, but I won't. No demon with half a brain would do
that to another who has a vendetta."

Good.
Content
with his answer, Nicole let her gaze wander. There was nothing
around except derelict warehouses with chain-link fences around
them. Dak thought
this
was
safer than the freeway? Then she shrugged. For a demon with his
power, maybe human crime wasn't a worry.

She could ask, but Nicole had something else
on her mind. "I have another question."

"You always do." But Dak sounded amused, not
irritated, and this time he was the one who reached over and
squeezed her thigh.

When his hand returned to the wheel and she
could think again, Nicole said, "The other night, you said your
king assigned you to this job. Why does he want Mary Beth
dead?"