Devil May Cry (26 page)

“If we can find him, you mean.”

“Yeah.”

He took her by the hand and led her back through his bedroom to the bathroom so that he could turn on the water and let it heat. Kat dropped her shirt to the floor and watched as Sin leaned into the shower to test the temperature.

The lean muscles on his back were a symphony of movement. Dang, he was gorgeous. From the broad shoulders, to his muscular legs, to his rump, which was absolutely prime.

He was so beautiful, she could barely stand it. “I swear, you have the best-looking butt on the planet.”

He shook his head as he came out of the shower to face her. “One of two of them, anyway.”

“Huh?”

“I have a twin, remember? His butt would look just like mine.”

Actually, she didn't remember that. Zakar's butt hadn't turned her on when he'd left the room earlier. Not the way Sin's did. Honestly, she wanted a bite of it so badly that she could think of little else.

“Like I would know. I'm not interested in checking his ass-sets.”

Sin rolled his eyes at her bad pun. He didn't believe her for a minute. In his experience, women were very quick to check out some other guy's parts. “Sure you're not.”

She pulled him by the arm until he turned to face her. The look on her face made his heart stop beating. “I'm not Ningal, Sin. I have no interest in anyone but you.”

Those words touched him a lot more than they should have.

He cupped her face in his hands before he kissed her with everything he had. He wanted desperately to believe her. But could he? There was so much left to do, so many other men who might turn her head and her heart. He was the only one she'd ever known. What on earth made her believe that she'd be content with him?

He was grateful she at least made the effort. But in the back of his mind was the image of her with someone else, and it cut him so deep that he swore he could taste the blood from it.

She pulled back and stared up at him. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don't tell me ‘Nothing.' I can feel it. There's something inside you that's eating a sore place in your heart.”

“There's nothing there. Believe me. I don't have a heart left.”

Kat didn't know why he was lying, but it was obvious he didn't want to discuss it. Sighing, she stepped into the shower, and Sin followed her.

She wet herself first while he watched with a guarded expression. “I won't bite you, Sin.”

“Seems I've heard that before.” He looked down at his arm where there was a huge scar in the shape of a fanged bite.

She picked up his arm and placed her hand over the scar. “My bites don't wound and they don't leave scars.”

“We'll see about that, won't we?”

She kissed his hand before she released it and soaped her hair. Was there any way to get through to him?

Then again, did she really blame him for his skepticism? How much could one person be hurt in his lifetime and continue to believe that not everyone was out to screw him? Sin was allowed to mistrust. The gods knew he'd earned it.

Sin forced himself to move away from Kat. Trying not to stay focused on the way the water cascaded over her body, he turned on the second showerhead, then yelped as he was pelted by ice-cold water.

Kat laughed before she stepped aside. “I will share, sweetie.”

He paused at her endearment and the way it pierced him straight through his heart. “Sweetie?”

“Yeah?”

He didn't know why something that stupid touched him, but it did. “You are the first person in history to apply that term to me.”

“Yeah, well, the others must not have known you all that well.” She reached out and put a dab of soap on the tip of his nose.

Laughing, he pulled her against him and pinned her to the wall before he nipped her chin. And in that one moment, he realized he was in paradise. The feel of her soft, slick skin on his with the hot water pelting down his back and the sound of her laughter in his ears …

There couldn't be a better moment than this to be had. And he wanted to savor it. If he'd still had his original powers, he'd stop time and make this last for eternity.

But instead of eternity, he heard someone banging on the bathroom door.

“Yo, boss!”

Releasing Kat, Sin stepped back at the intrusion of Kish's voice on his happiness. “There better be something going on worth your life, Kish. Because if there isn't, I'm going to kill you.”

“We need you downstairs, right now. There's a demon eating a tourist!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sin
flashed himself out of the shower and into clothes before he snatched open the door to find Kish standing in the hallway. “What?”

“Downstairs, boss, now. Gallu eating people.”

It wasn't in Sin to follow anyone's orders, but for once he didn't question it. He did just what Kish said—he went straight downstairs.

As soon as he was in the casino, it was easy to find the gallu. Even though the gallu looked human, his true demon form was reflected in the mirrors around them. There was chaos everywhere. People were screaming and running for the doors. Stools were overturned and the human employees were joining the patrons while the Daimons and Apollites were trying to cover those who fled.

And that was why he used them in his casino. Unlike human help, they could be relied on to stay calm in a crisis and to assist in the event something “unnatural” happened. Credit had to be given to the Apollites and Daimons. They seldom panicked.

Sin turned away from the doors to the back corner.

It appeared Damien and his guards had the gallu trapped by one of the roulette wheels—although “trapped” might be more hopeful than true. Sin reached the demon just as he grabbed one of the guards and bit into him. Luckily he was a Daimon and not human—at least that was the thought until the Daimon turned instantly into a gallu.

Holy shit. Their metabolism sped up the change. Whereas a human took about a day to complete their conversion, Daimons were virtually instantaneous.

Oh, the things you learned when you ran a casino …

Now they had two gallu to fight.

Damien took his suit jacket off. “Cover their heads so they can't bite you, and beat the shit out of them.”

“Screw you!” one of the Daimon guards shouted before he ran toward the door.

So much for not panicking.…

Damien curled his lip at the fleeing coward. “Yeah, run home to Mama, little girl, and don't come back.” He paused as he saw Sin.

Sin didn't speak. He kept walking toward his targets. He held his arms out to his sides as he manifested his weapons on his biceps and hips.

The gallu Daimon was the first to come at him. Sin flipped him over, onto his back, and held him in place with his knee. He jerked the knife from his belt and plunged it between the Daimon's eyes, and then buried a second knife in his heart, just to be sure.

The Daimon didn't burst apart, which let Sin know that when a Daimon crossed with a gallu, they were serious shit.

But Sin would deal with this one later. The knives would keep him dead until they could burn him. Right now, Sin had the gallu to finish.

“Come to Papa,” Sin said, rising slowly to his feet.

The demon did, but he was smarter than the gallu Daimon. He didn't run at Sin; he approached him slowly. And when the demon was within striking distance, he punched. Sin blocked the strike and delivered a fist of his own straight to the demon's solar plexus. It didn't even faze him. The demon moved forward to bite Sin, but he stepped right, out of range.

“Who taught you to fight? Your sister?” Sin struck the demon's back.

Spinning, the demon caught him with a solid punch so hard that it knocked him up, off his feet. He hit the ground flat on his back.

Sin flipped himself back to his feet, ready to battle. But before he could move, a steel spike appeared between the demon's eyes.

It was jerked free as the demon slid to the floor to show him Deimos.

“Nasty little bastards your family created. Now it's time to finish the fight we started earlier.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Deimos swung at him. Sin blocked and the next attack came so fast he barely had time to counter it. He jerked his head back just before Deimos would have hit him. His fist came so close, Sin could feel the windburn of its passing on his cheek. He swung at Deimos's chin, but the Dolophonos jerked his head to the side. Sin missed him by only scant millimeters.

In spite of that, Sin smiled. It'd been a long time since he faced someone he considered an equal.

*   *   *

Kat
popped in just as Sin landed a staggering blow to Deimos's chest. The Dolophonos reeled back.

She paused beside Damien. “What did I miss?”

“Not much,” he said dryly. “Killer Daimon that was eaten by a gallu. Sin killed the gallu Daimon on the floor over there. Then numb-nuts popped in, killed the gallu, and attacked Sin.” He glanced askance at her. “Want to wager on the winner?”

She was appalled by his suggestion. “Damien!”

“What?” he asked, his face a mask of confused innocence. “I manage a casino. Gambling is my life. If I were smart, I'd start running odds and bets right now. Trust me, Sin would not only appreciate it, he'd approve.”

The sad thing was, Damien was probably right about that. “You are so amoral.”

“No. I'm a Daimon. Morals don't become us.”

Kat made a feigned sound of disgust at him before she turned her attention back toward the men who were fighting. She had to give Sin credit—unwounded, he was more than holding his own against Deimos. She truthfully couldn't say who would win.

At least not until Sin kicked Deimos back so hard, Deimos went flying into one of the mirrors, shattering it. She cringed in sympathetic pain as Deimos slammed to the floor.

Deimos paused as he saw Kat. A sinister smile curved his lips as he started for her.

Kat braced herself for his attack.

But he never reached her.

His face filled with the wrath of hell, Sin went for Deimos and pulled a barbed cord from around his wrist. Just as Kat moved to strike him, Sin wrapped the cord around Deimos's throat and snatched him back from her. That was the one weakness of the Dolophoni; cut off their air and they couldn't fight.

“That was your fatal mistake,” Sin snarled in Deimos's ear as he tightened his grip.

Deimos's eyes bulged as he tried desperately to pull the cord from his throat. But Sin gave him no quarter.

“Don't kill him,” she said.

Sin scowled at her. “Are you insane? He won't stop otherwise.”

Maybe, but Deimos was still family, psycho though he was, and she didn't want to see him killed. “Deimos, swear you'll leave us alone.”

“Never.”

Sin's biceps bulged as he tightened the cord even more. Deimos was dead. She knew it and it broke her heart.

Suddenly a woman's voice echoed from the open doorway: “Damien! A gallu just dragged off a young woman on the street. Her mother's screaming for help.”

Sin's face went white as he heard those words. Kat saw the indecision in his eyes. He looked down at Deimos, cursed, then let go of the cord and ran for the door.

Deimos fell forward, onto his hands and knees, coughing and gagging as he unwound the cord from around his neck.

Kat cringed as she saw the blood from where the cord had cut into skin. No doubt Deimos would carry that scar for the rest of eternity. Shaking her head in pity, she ran after Sin, who was on the street now, chasing after the gallu.

The demon ran into a side street, dragging a young woman behind it.

All of a sudden, the demon stopped as if it'd run into something invisible. Sin pulled the woman from the demon's arms and kicked it back. He handed the woman off to Kat, then turned to fight the demon as the woman collapsed against her.

Just as the demon reached Sin, it burst into flames.

Kat gasped.

Deimos stepped out from the shadows. “They are filthy bastards, aren't they?”

Sin tensed, waiting for Deimos to attack him. Honestly, he was getting a little sick of it. But to his utter consternation, the Dolophonos looked past him to the woman who was sobbing hysterically against Kat.

“Is she all right?” Deimos asked.

“Shaken, but she doesn't appear to have been hurt. I think Sin got to her in time.”

Deimos stepped around Sin and placed his hand on the woman's head. She fell back, unconscious. He caught her against him, then gently laid her down on the sidewalk as her mother came running over to them.

“Crystal?”

“She's fine,” Deimos said quietly. He looked over at Sin. “He saved her.”

Tears of gratitude were flowing down the mother's face as she looked at Sin. “Thank you. Thank you both. I don't know what he would have done to her had you not helped us.”

Deimos nodded, then he placed his hand on her head to erase her memories of them. Like her daughter, she collapsed, and Deimos placed her carefully on the ground.

He looked at them over his shoulder. “We have exactly one minute before they come to again. They'll think it was a mugger who left them and ran.”

Sin eyed him suspiciously. “We're not going to finish our fight?”

Deimos shook his head. “Contrary to public opinion, neither the Erinyes nor the Dolophoni are the lapdogs of the Greek pantheon. I don't follow orders unless I see a reason to. I was willing to kill you only because you desecrated human remains and didn't appear rational. Now I'm willing to spare you because you chose the welfare of an innocent human over your own.…” He glanced to Kat before he spoke again. “And over that of someone you care for. In my book, that makes you worth forgiving.”

Sin was still stunned by his turnaround. It didn't seem logical. “So you're bowing out of this?”