Demon's Kiss (23 page)

“I meant emotional feelings, not physical ones,” he said.

“Don't be stupid, Seth. Sex is physical. Not emotional.” And yet his suggestion rang true, somehow. It wasn't just the sensations that had coursed through her. It was
him.
It was something very specifically about him.

He'd flinched when she spoke, almost as if he were the one with the inexplicable pain pulsing through his chest. She soothed him with a pat on the shoulder, then sat up straighter. “I need to be alone for a while, before the day sleep.”

“Oh.” He looked so incredibly sad when he said that. As if she were hurting him, somehow.

“I'll come back. I need…I can't explain what I need, but believe me, it will help. And I
will
come back. I'd like…I'd like to sleep in your arms, I think.”

His brows rose, the sadness in his eyes replaced by a thin look of hope and a dense one of confusion. “Oh. Okay.”

“Okay. I won't be long.” She climbed, naked, out of the van.

“Your clothes,” he began, but she only tossed a smile over her shoulder and called, “Don't need them,” as she raced out of the empty warehouse and into the night.

 

Seth followed her. He couldn't help himself; he had to know, dammit. She'd been keeping a secret. He knew that much. And he had a feeling it was something that was having a huge impact on their relationship—on the way she felt things—or, more accurately, didn't feel them. Hell, how could she not feel something after the sex they'd just had?

How could she even claim to feel nothing, when she looked at him the way she did? When she touched him as if she adored every inch of him, as if she couldn't keep from running her hands over his skin even if she wanted to? When she took his body into hers the way she did? How the hell could she not realize that what had been happening between them went way beyond sex?

How?

He crept out of the warehouse just in time to see her running and leaping, stark naked, through the tall grasses and wildflowers and weeds of a vacant lot-turned-field, until she seemed to stumble, seemed to bend, seemed to fall down into the grass.

Almost as if she really
were
having some kind of heart attack. Hell, it wasn't possible. Was it?

He ran into the field, because he couldn't see her anymore. Her body was hidden by the deep grasses. He ran through the night, his preternatural vision probing, until he found her, about ten feet ahead of him, lying on the ground, writhing and flattening the grass all around her.

He lifted a hand, opened his mouth to call her name, to ask what was wrong, then froze when he realized what he was seeing.

She was changing. Vixen's very shape was changing. Her body curled in on itself, and she buried her face beneath the thick mass of red hair, and then she seemed to shrink, and shrink, and…change. Skin vanished beneath sleek shiny fur. The hair covering her face became a long, lush tail. And when it flicked away, the face of a fox—a vixen—peered up at him. Big brown eyes, exotically slanted, blinked once, and then she sprang onto all fours and darted away through the grass.

Seth just stood there, staring after her. “What the hell just happened?”

A hand closed on his shoulder. “So now you know,” Roxy said.

He turned. “
That's
her secret? That she's not really a woman but an animal?”

“She's not an animal, Seth, she's a shape-shifter. Or was. Now she's a vampire, just like you.”

“Not just like me.”

“Of course she is.”

“Bullshit.” He shrugged her hand off his shoulder and stomped back toward the warehouse. A shiver worked up his spine. “Shit,” he muttered. “I just fucked a goddamned animal.”

“T
his prisoner exchange,” Topaz said softly, a little while after Jack had finally returned to his room, where she'd been pacing, waiting, nervous and eager and unsure, for most of the night. “Is it some kind of a trap?” She studied Jack's face, his eyes, as she awaited his answer.

Several drones had been left here to guard her. He'd sent them packing as soon as he'd come through the door, though she wasn't convinced they'd really gone. A few of them were probably still lurking in the shadows, keeping a safe distance, outside in the darkness beneath the windows, in the hallways of this place. Probably also posted at every possible exit.

No, not every exit, she thought. There wouldn't be enough of them. She was a vampire, after all. Any window, door or chimney could serve as an exit for her.

Not that she planned to leave tonight. She intended to stick around long enough to learn something valuable about this gang, something she could take back to Reaper, so that he could use it to his advantage. And maybe she could learn a little something about Jack, as well.

He'd prevented her from being killed, had put a halt to her torture. No question, he'd helped her, and probably at no small risk to himself.

The question was, why? Did he have some new con in mind? Was he running some new game on her? Or on someone else?

She wasn't stupid enough to think there could be any other reason. Like that he cared. No, she'd bought into that once already, and it had cost her a half million dollars. She wasn't falling into that trap again. Trusting Jack Heart was like trying to pet a king cobra on the head. Just as foolish, and just as deadly.

He'd returned with a bundled-up towel in one hand, dismissed the drones, and then told her that she would be going back to Reaper's gang tonight, just two hours past sunset.

Now he sank back on the bed, sighing. “I know as much about Gregor's plans as you do, Topaz. You know that.”

“Bull. You're his right hand.” She was pacing away from him, too nervous to stand still.

“And he no longer trusts me—largely thanks to you, I might add.”

“Thanks to
me?
What did
I
do?” She turned to face him, made her eyes go round and filled them with innocence.

He didn't fall for it; she could tell by his expression. “Please,” he said. “You show up here out of the blue and risk your pretty neck, forcing me to step in between you and disaster like some kind of storybook hero, and you want to know what you did?”

She blinked rapidly. “I showed up here to warn you that your life was in danger, risking my own life to do it. I'm the storybook hero here, Jack. You're the con man who used me, cheated me, left me and doesn't deserve my efforts. You're more like the storybook villain.”

“I risked my standing with Gregor to protect you.”

“A hero wouldn't be with Gregor in the first place. He's the bad guy, Jack. Or hadn't you noticed?”

He shrugged, but averted his eyes, which was as good as admitting guilt.

She slid her glance to the towel he still held in one hand. Something was inside, but she had no idea what and didn't want to ask, because she thought that was what he wanted her to do. “So what's going to happen at this prisoner exchange tomorrow night?” she asked instead.

“I don't know. I swear to you, Topaz, I honestly don't know. If I did, I would tell you.”

“Hmmph. Only if it benefited you in some way.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them again, he was patting the spot beside him on the bed. “Come on. Get in.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, pursed her lips and shook her head firmly. “I don't think so.”

“Why not? You afraid of me? Or yourself?”

“Neither. I just know us both too well. Having sex with you right now—”

“Is exactly what you want, and you know it. You've had it on your mind since before you even got here.” Again he patted the spot beside him on the bed.

She turned her back to him. “I have not,” she said. But it was a lie.

“Yes, you have. Look at the way you dressed for the occasion. If those aren't the clothes of a woman bent on seduction, I don't know what could be. I know women, hon. And I know you.”

She didn't face him. “You're so damn full of yourself, aren't you? So sure I'm dying to get back into your arms.”

He was off the bed before she was sure he'd moved, coming up behind her, sliding those aforementioned arms around her, pulling her body back against his, nuzzling her neck.

“Aren't you?” he asked. “Tell the truth, Topaz. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm as eager as you are.”

Her eyes fell closed as a shuddering sigh stammered from her lungs. “The truth is, you broke my heart, and I let you. I fell for you, even though I knew better. I let myself love you, even though you never said you loved me, too. Acted like it, played the role, but you never said the words. That should have told me all I needed to know, but I refused to listen. I'm not going to let you get to me like that again, Jack. Not now. Not ever.”

“All right.” He kissed her neck, her shoulder, pushing the neckline of her dress aside to get to them. She shivered. His fingers caressed her collarbones.

“And I want my money back, and I'm going to keep my head long enough to get it.”

“It's on the bed, Topaz.”

She stiffened as the words sank in. Then she stepped away from his embrace and turned to stare, first at him, then at the towel he'd left on the bed.

“Go on, take a look. See for yourself,” he said.

She barely knew what to think. Swallowing hard, she opened the bundle and peered inside. Stacks of bills, neatly wrapped, were haphazardly piled inside.

“I'm sorry that I can only give you the half that I kept for myself. I honestly don't know what to do about the half I gave to Gregor,” he told her.

The part of her that still loved him damn near whispered,
That's okay, baby. This is enough. More than enough.
But she bit her lip before that part could speak. Then she bitch-slapped it into a corner and called on the part of her he had burned instead.

“I want it all,” she told him. “You stole it. What you did with it afterward doesn't negate the fact that you stole it. Therefore, you owe it to me. All of it. And I want it, Jack.”

“I want
you,
” he said. He moved closer, slid his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck again.

She closed her eyes and tipped her head sideways to give him more neck to nibble. It felt so incredibly good. But dammit, if she let him make love to her, it would be all over. She knew it. She would fall for him again, even knowing he didn't feel the same and never would. It was a world of hurting just waiting to happen, and she wanted no part of it.

“I can't. I can't put myself through that kind of pain again, Jack. As much as I want you, I just can't.”

He sighed, but he backed off. Kept his arms around her, but stopped the kissing and caressing, which left her wanting it back again. He turned her toward the bed, urged her closer. “I wasted so much time running around with the boss that tonight, there's probably no time anyway. It'll be dawn soon.” He glanced at his watch. “Twenty minutes or so.”

“Oh.” She was relieved. Surely she could keep her willpower strong for twenty minutes.

“We have to stay here, together, just to make sure Gregor believes the bill of goods we're selling him. And there's only the one bed.”

“Yes, I see that.”

“I'll keep my hands to myself, I promise.” He held up one hand, making a Scout's-honor gesture.

She pressed her lips together, but finally nodded. “All right.” And without another word or look, she marched to the bed, peeled back the covers and crawled inside, still fully clothed. She tucked the bundle of money underneath her side of the bed.

“You're not getting undressed?” he asked.

She made a face at him.

He shrugged and pulled off his jeans, then his shirt, leaving him garbed only in boxers and socks. He looked good. As good as she had remembered, or maybe even better. So long and lean. She'd loved that about him right from the start. Everything about him was long and lean, even his fingers. Elegant fingers. The fingers of a musician, he had. And God, they were so talented when it came to playing her.

She closed her eyes and averted her face so he wouldn't see the blatant hunger in it as he approached the bed.

He climbed in beside her, stretched his arms over his head and yawned, then lay down on his back. She was lying on her side, facing away from him, longing with every cell in her body to roll over, wrap her arms around his waist and lay her head on his chest, the way she used to.

But that would lead to more. And more would lead to pain.

Although maybe avoiding all that wasn't going to do any good at all, because the pain was already there, gnawing a hole in her chest like a rat chewing through a wall. Hot tears welled in her eyes, and her throat constricted, until she had to force herself not to suck in a choking sob or two.

Dammit. Why did it hurt so much to be this close to him?

“Topaz?” he said.

“Hmm?” She didn't dare say more in answer. Any more and he would hear the tears in her voice, choking her.

“For whatever it might be worth, I'm sorry.”

She blinked. “For what, exactly?”

She felt the bed move as he shrugged. “Everything. Leading you on, taking your money. Using you, conning you, tricking you. Leaving you.”

She thinned her lips as she let the words make their way through her ears to her brain, trying to block them from entering her heart. “Why are you sorry? It's what you do, after all.”

“It was different with you.”

She was quiet for a long moment. Anger built. She wanted so badly to believe that, but she wasn't quite that stupid.

“I honestly think there was something real between us, Topaz,” he went on. “Or could have been, if I'd—”

She sat up in the bed so suddenly that he went silent in surprise. Then, with a tug, she yanked the covers off him, leaving only a sheet, slid to the floor, grabbed two pillows under her other arm and strode across the bedroom. Blankets dragged behind her like a bridal train.

“Where are you going? What did I say?” He was sitting up now, but he didn't get out of the bed.

“If you have any respect for me at all, Jack—even a crumb of it—don't insult me by starting the con all over. You never felt a thing for me. Don't try to tell me you did.”

“But—”

“I can forgive you. Maybe. In time, and only if you return the rest of the money. But I damn well can't forgive what you did if you keep right on trying to do it. I'm not going to fall for it again, Jack. So just…just don't bother, okay?”

He couldn't meet her eyes. “I wasn't. I really wasn't.”

“Bullshit. I want my money. Period.”

She slung the pillows into a pile in the corner of the floor, then spread the blankets over them. When she finished, she crawled in, lying on top of one blanket and beneath another, which she yanked up to her shoulders before turning on her side, facing away from him and closing her eyes.

“I'll try to get you the rest of your money.”

“I'll believe it when I see it.”

“I mean it. I
will
try. I just…don't know if it's possible. Gregor has a safe, and shit, I gave you half.”

“Good for you. I want it all.”

“Can I have a blanket?”

“No.”

She heard him sigh, heard the mattress move with his weight as he lay back down, and congratulated herself on her resolve and her willpower.

Thank God she wouldn't have to be here long, though. She wasn't certain she could make it last.

That thought led to another, as she returned to her original concern: the prisoner exchange that was to take place tonight, and the question of whether it was legitimate or some kind of a trap.

She didn't like Gregor. What she knew of him, what she'd seen and sensed about him, told her all she needed to know. He was a bad apple. And he wasn't to be trusted.

Sadly, neither was Jack. She was frightened about what was going to happen tonight. She was frightened for Reaper, for Roxy, for Seth and Vixen. She was even frightened for Jack. And, a little bit, for herself.

She wished she knew what to expect.

 

When Vixen returned to the van to bed down for the day sleep, Seth wasn't there. She didn't know where he had gone, and there was very little time to search for him. Thinking he would come back before sunrise, which was only moments away, she burrowed into the covers, and got comfy and warm.