The Dark-Hunters (249 page)

Tabitha smiled at him. “Night, Otto. Don’t let Tad get you into trouble.”

“You know Tad, too?”

“Babe, I know almost everyone in this town.”

“Great,” Otto muttered under his breath as he headed for the door.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Valerius started past Tabitha.

For some reason she couldn’t fathom, she reached out and caught his head in her hand.

Startled, he opened his mouth.

Unable to resist the temptation, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Chapter 5

Tabitha was completely unprepared for his reaction to her kiss. In one swift, tender motion, he pulled her to him, lifted her off her feet, spun about, and then laid her down on the polished stairs. It wasn’t the most comfortable of positions, but it was strangely erotic.

Still, it was no match for his hot, demanding kiss that left her weak and breathless. His long, masculine body lay between her legs as he kept all of his weight on one knee. She could feel his erection pressing against the center of her body as her own body burned to feel him like this naked.

The rich, delicious scent of him tore through her, exciting her even more.

There was nothing civilized or proper about the way he kissed her. Nothing civilized about the way he held her. It was raw and earthy. Promising.

Tabitha wrapped her legs around his lean waist as she returned his kiss full force.

Valerius couldn’t think as he tasted her. Felt her. She cocooned him with her warmth and passion.

And it was all he could do not to take her on the stairs like some barbarian warlord.

“You have to stop kissing me, Tabitha,” he breathed raggedly.

“Why?”

He hissed as she gently nipped his chin. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to make love to you and that is the last thing either one of us needs.”

Tabitha traced the outline of his lips with her tongue as he spoke. All she wanted was to strip off his clothes and explore every inch of his lush, male body with her mouth. To lick and tease him until he begged her for mercy.

But he was right. It was the last thing either of them needed. He was a Dark-Hunter forbidden to have a girlfriend and even worse, he wasn’t the kind of guy she could ever introduce to her family.

They would all turn on her for befriending her brother-in-law’s most hated enemy. Kyrian had been more than accepted into her large family. Everyone loved him.

Even Tabitha did. How could she hurt him this way?

No, it wasn’t fair to any of them.

“All right,” she said quietly. “But you’ll have to get off me first.”

That was the hardest thing Valerius had ever done. All his heart wanted was to stay right where he was. But he couldn’t and he knew it.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to get up and help her to her feet.

His body was still hard, his breathing a struggle. He couldn’t stand to be close to her without touching her. But then, he was used to restraint.

He had been bred to it.

What he had never expected was the almost animal-like need he had to take her. It was primitive and demanding. Fierce. And the only thing it craved was a taste of Tabitha.

“I suppose this is where we part company,” he said, his voice catching.

Tabitha nodded. He passed so close to her that she could smell his raw, innately masculine scent. It made her heart pound and fueled her desire even more.

It was all she could do not to reach out for him. Aching, she watched him open the front door to his house.

“Thank you, Tabitha,” he said quietly.

She felt his sadness and it made her hurt all the more. “Stay out of trouble, Val. Try not to get stabbed again.”

He nodded and kept himself rigid and formal. But he refused to look at her.

Sighing wistfully over something that couldn’t be helped, Tabitha forced herself to leave.

It was over.

Impulsively, she looked back as the door closed. There was no sign of Valerius. None.

Except for a sixth sense that told her he was still watching her.

*   *   *

Valerius couldn’t take his eyes off Tabitha as she got into her car. He had no comprehension of why he felt the compulsion to run out of the door and stop her.

She wasn’t like Agrippina. Tabitha wasn’t soothing or comforting, and yet …

His heart ached as she whipped her car out of his driveway and herself out of his life.

He was alone again.

But then, he’d always been alone. Even when Agrippina had lived within his household, he had kept to himself. He’d watched her from afar. Lusted for her every night and yet he’d never touched her.

It wasn’t his place. He’d been a nobleman and she nothing more than a low-born slave who served in his household. Had he been one of his brothers, he would have taken her without question. But it hadn’t been in him to take advantage of her. To force her to his bed.

She wouldn’t have dared deny him. Slaves had no control whatsoever over their lives, especially not when it involved their masters.

Every time he had seen her, it had been on the tip of his tongue to ask her to sleep with him.

And every time he had opened his mouth, he had quickly clamped it shut and refused to ask her something she had no say about. So, he had brought her into his household to save her from what the other members of his family would have done to her.

Valerius winced as he remembered the night his brothers had come for him. The night they had found her statue and realized who it was.

Cursing, he turned away from the window and forced all those thoughts out of his mind.

It had never been his destiny to help anyone.

He had been born to be alone. To know no friends or confidants. To never laugh or play.

There was no fighting destiny. No hope for anything more. He was born to this life just as he had been born to his previous one.

Tabitha was gone.

And it was for the best.

His chest tight, he made his way up the mahogany stairs toward his room. He would shower, re-dress, and then do the job he had sworn himself to.

*   *   *

Tabitha drove her car back to Tia’s, where she saw Amanda’s Toyota on the street. She pulled in and was getting out as Amanda and Tia came out the back door.

“Hey, Mandy,” Tabitha said, closing the distance so she could hug her twin.

“So who was the gorgeous man you were with? Tia said you didn’t tell her his name.”

Tabitha forced herself not to send any unconscious thought or emotion out to her twin sister. “He’s just a friend.”

Amanda shook her head. “Tabby,” she chided. “You need to stop hanging out with your gay friends and find a boyfriend.”

“He didn’t seem gay to me,” Tia said. “But he was well dressed.”

“So where’s baby M?” Tabitha asked, trying to get both of them off the topic.

“At the house. You know how Ash is. He refuses to let her leave the premises once the sun goes down.”

Tabitha nodded. “Yeah, I agree with him. She’s a very special little girl in need of protection.”

“I agree too, but I hate leaving my baby behind. I feel like I’m missing a vital organ.” Amanda held up her silver talisman. “Tia made me promise to hang it in Marissa’s room.”

“Good advice.”

Amanda frowned at her. “Are you sure you’re okay? There’s something very odd about you tonight.”

“There’s always something odd about me.”

Amanda and Tia laughed. “True,” Amanda agreed. “All right, I’ll quit worrying then.”

“Please. One mother is quite enough.”

Amanda kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Neither Tabitha nor Tia spoke until after Amanda had gotten into her car and left. Tabitha put her hands in her pockets and turned to face her sister’s scowl.

“What?”

“Who was he, really?”

“What is it with you guys? He was nobody for you to worry about.”

“Was he a Dark-Hunter?”

“Stop it, Gladys,” Tabitha said, referring to the nosy neighbor from
Bewitched,
the show that had given Tabitha her name. “There’s no bonus round here for Twenty Questions and I’ve got stuff I need to do. See ya.”

“Tabitha!” Tia followed her toward the street. “It’s not like you to be secretive about anything. It makes me nervous.”

Tabitha took a deep breath and faced her older sister. “Look, he was just someone who needed some help and I gave it. Now he’s back to his life and I’m back to mine. We don’t need a family powwow over it.”

Tia made a noise of disapproval at her. “You are so aggravating. Why can’t you just answer my one question?”

“Good night, Tia. Love you.” Tabitha kept walking and was grateful her sister stopped and went back toward her shop.

Relieved, she headed for Bourbon Street with no real destination. She’d pick up some food for the homeless and then do her rounds.

“Oh, it’s Tabitha!”

She turned at the distinctive singsongy voice she knew extremely well. Rushing up behind her was Ash’s demon, Simi, who externally appeared to be a nineteen- or twenty-year-old woman. Tonight Simi had on a black miniskirt, purple leggings, and a risqué corset top. She wore a pair of black thigh-high stiletto boots and carried a PVC coffin purse. Her long black hair was loose about her shoulders.

“Hey, Simi,” Tabitha said, scanning the street behind the demon. “Where’s Ash?”

She rolled her eyes and let out a disgusted noise. “He got waylaid by that old heifer-goddess who said she had to speak to him and so I said I was hungry and that I wanted to eat something. So he said, ‘Simi, don’t eat no people. Go to Sanctuary and wait for me while I talk to Artemis.’ So here the Simi is going to Sanctuary all alone to wait for
akri
to come and get her. You going to Sanctuary, Tabitha?”

It always amused Tabitha that the demon referred to herself in the third person. “Not really. But if you want me to walk with you that way, I can.”

A man whistled as he walked past them while he eyeballed Simi.

The demon gave him a sultry glance and a small smile.

He headed back toward them. “Hey, baby,” he said. “You looking for company?”

Simi huffed. “Are you blind, human?” she asked. She gestured dramatically toward Tabitha. “Can’t you see the Simi has company?” She shook her head.

He laughed at that. “You got a number I can call and talk to you sometime?”

“Well, I do have a number, but if you call it,
akri
will answer and he will get all angry at you and then your head gonna explode into fire.” She tapped her chin. “Hmmm, come to think of it, barbecue … It’s 555—”

“Simi…” Tabitha said in a warning tone.

“Oh, poo,” Simi said as she let out another disgusted breath. “You are right, Tabitha.
Akri
just get all mad at me if the Simi makes him make this man barbecue. He can be so particular sometimes. I swear.”

“Akri?”
the man asked. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“Oh no, that’s just sick.
Akri
my daddy and he get all upset whenever a man looks at the Simi.”

“Well, what Daddy doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Yeah,” Tabitha said, stepping between them. “Trust me, her ‘Daddy’ isn’t someone you want to mess with.” She took Simi’s arm and led her away.

The man followed. “C’mon, I just want her number.”

“It’s 1-800-get-a-clue,” Tabitha called over her shoulder.

“Fine, bitch, have it your way.”

Before Tabitha could blink, Simi broke her hold and lunged at the man. She grabbed him by his neck and threw him up against the side of a building where she held him effortlessly while his feet were about a foot off the ground. “You don’t talk to the Simi’s friends like that. You hear me?”

He couldn’t respond. His face was already turning purple, his eyes bulging.

“Simi,” Tabitha said, trying to pull the demon’s hand away from the man’s throat. “You’ll kill him. Let go.”

The demon’s brown eyes flashed red a second before Simi released him. Bending double, he coughed and wheezed as he struggled to breathe again.

“You better never insult another lady, you stupid human,” she said. “The Simi means that, too.”

Without another word or thought about the matter, Simi swung her purse over her shoulder and sashayed down the street as if she hadn’t almost killed someone.

Tabitha’s heart was still pounding. What would have happened had she not been there to stop Simi?

“So, Tabitha, do you have any more of them yummy mints that you gave to the Simi when we went to the movies?”

“Sorry, Simi,” she said, trying to regain some composure as she watched the poor guy stumble down the street. No doubt it would be quite awhile before he tried to pick up another woman he didn’t know. “I didn’t bring them with me.”

“Oh poo, I really liked them. I especially liked that green tin. It was very nice. The Simi needs to make
akri
buy her some.”

Yeah, and Tabitha needed to make sure Ash didn’t let his demon loose unattended anymore. Simi wasn’t evil, she just didn’t understand right or wrong. In the demon’s world, there wasn’t such a concept.

Simi only understood Ash’s orders and she carried them out to the letter.

But at least they were headed somewhere where most of the people knew and understood Simi. Sanctuary was a biker bar at 688 Ursulines Avenue that was owned by a family of Were-Hunters. Unlike the Dark-Hunters, the Were-Hunters were cousins of the cursed Apollites and Daimons with one profound difference: They were also half-animal.

Aeons ago, the Were-Hunters had originally been half-Apollite, half-human. In an effort to save his sons from dying at twenty-seven as the Apollites did, their creator had magically spliced animal essence with his sons’ bodies.

The result had created two sons who possessed human hearts and two who held animal hearts. Those who were human were called Arcadians and those who were animals were called Katagaria. The Arcadians spent most of their lives as humans who could take animal form, whereas the Katagaria were animals who could take human form.

Even though they were related, the two groups warred against each other because the Arcadians thought their animal cousins were lesser beings and the animals fought because that was their nature.