Wicked Edge (31 page)

Bourne raised one brow. “Like into an angel?”

Edge looked horrified. “Crap, no.”

“Then I guess he’d have to talk to me about it. After we eliminate Archangel Ted.” Bourne closed his eyes, signaling that the conversation was over.

Edge paused once they’d left Bourne’s suite. “I have to get some clothes and things from my apartment. Go right to your room and lock your door behind you.”

“Is that an order?” Passion forced the frown from her face. He just wanted to keep her safe. That was endearing in a bossy kind of way.

He laughed. “It’s a suggestion. I’m not stupid. But Ted’s out there somewhere, and I don’t want you taking any chances.”

She dismissed his worry. “I’ll be careful. But Ted won’t be focusing on me. I don’t have any fighting skills, so I won’t be a danger to him.” Passion did want Edge to know where she’d be, though. “I have to talk to Sparkle for a few minutes, and then I’ll go to my room.” She smiled. “We’ll call room service and eat in. Then…” Passion let the possibilities simmer.

“Got it.”

Without warning, he pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his. He tasted of elemental male and sensual promises. She deepened the kiss and hoped he sensed how much she wanted him. When he finally broke the kiss, he was breathing hard.

She watched him walk away, and then went in search of Sparkle. Passion found her in Sweet Indulgence, yawning as she leaned on her candy counter. Sparkle’s eyes lit up when she saw Passion.

“You’ve saved me from terminal boredom. I can count my customers on one hand tonight. What’s up?” Sparkle narrowed her gaze on Passion’s hands. “Chipped nails. We’ll take care of those tomorrow.”

Passion perched on a stool across the counter from Sparkle. “I have a problem.”

Sparkle’s smile was so potent that Passion was surprised it didn’t send out sex signals to all males within a ten-mile radius.

“Dare I hope you’re coming to me for advice on how to drive Edge into an erotic frenzy?” She slid the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip.

“No.”

“No?” Sparkle didn’t try to hide her disappointment. “But I have so much to offer.” It was just shy of a whine.

“Maybe some other time.” Passion knew she had a lot to learn about all that was sensual, and she had no problem with sitting at the designer-clad feet of the mistress of sex and sin. But just not tonight.

“First, did Ganymede tell you that Ted will probably launch his attack tomorrow morning?”

Sparkle frowned. “No. He has a nasty habit of assuming I don’t have any interest in ‘manly’ things. Usually he acts like a jerk when he’s in cat form. I wonder why?”

Passion forced Sparkle out of her musing about cat-versus-golden-
god forms. “Can you do something that will get rid of the humans in the castle? Once the fighting begins, I’m afraid no one will care if they die.”

“I’m on it.” She pulled out her cell phone. “Holgarth, take care of something for me. Have Bill notify every human guest that a massive bedbug infestation is about to overrun the castle.” She listened for a moment. “I don’t care
what
you say. Improvise. Tell them bedbugs ate the guy in room 140. Warn them to get out of the castle now. We’ll refund all their money.”

Sparkle made a face as she listened to Holgarth. “It isn’t stupid. No one wants to take home hitchhikers who bite.” She thought about that for a moment. “Unless they’re superheated gorgeous vampires.”

Finally she sighed. “Just do it.” And she hung up.

She smiled at Passion. “Done.”

“Thanks. One more thing.” Passion hesitated.

Did she have the right to ask this of Sparkle? What would Edge say if he found out she was doing this? Okay, so he’d be ticked. But she cared enough to want him to have a shot at something other than being Death for the rest of his existence.

“Has Bourne ever released any of the cosmic troublemakers from their assignments?”

Sparkle didn’t answer immediately. “A few have been destroyed like Rabid. And some have been busted down to less important jobs because they weren’t good at what they were doing.” She shook her head. “But I don’t remember anyone asking for a different position and getting it.”

Passion wouldn’t give up that easily. She got right to the point. “If Edge didn’t want to be Death anymore, what would give him the best chance of convincing Bourne to go along with it?”

“Does Edge know you’re doing this?”

“No.” Passion held her breath.

“Good for you. I love women who take control. It’s sexy. Let me think.” She pushed a box of chocolates across the counter to Passion.

And while Passion waited for Sparkle’s thoughts, she scarfed down the candy.

Finally, Sparkle spoke. Good thing. Passion was well on her way to devouring every chocolate and then starting on the box.

“I think Bourne might be open to switching Edge with someone else. If I can come up with the name of someone who’d do a good job as Death and who wants out of their assignment, Edge might be able to make a deal.” Sparkle looked motivated. “Now, in return for my help, you have to learn a new sensual skill.”

Uh–oh. “I really don’t have time to—”

“Sure you do. This is just a little foreplay thing. You’ll learn it in a few minutes.”

Passion sighed. “Fine. Show me.”

When the first panicked evacuee from the bedbug invasion drove past Sweet Indulgence a half hour later, Passion was still practicing Sparkle’s Dance of the Seven Hershey’s Kisses. Who knew the things you could do with a Hershey’s Kiss.

A short time later, Passion was in the hall headed toward her room with a gift bag of Kisses from Sparkle in her hand. She was smiling. Sparkle had jump-started her sexual creativity.

Suddenly, one of the doors opened and a woman sporting a halo of white hair stepped out. Passion recognized her. This was the woman Edge had terrified when he’d lost control. She’d returned to the hotel after Ganymede’s power surge, and Passion had seen her once more outside the castle’s restaurant. She remembered the woman telling her she should be helping people who deserve it. Obviously, the woman hadn’t meant cosmic troublemakers.

She looked frightened, and Passion figured if Edge and Ganymede
hadn’t scared her away, then whatever was happening now must be a biggie. “What’s the matter?”

The woman’s hand shook as she reached out to Passion. “There’s a huge bug in my room. I’ve never seen anything like it. Will you come in and kill it?”

Passion frowned. After all she’d survived, an insect was scaring her? Suspicion touched Passion for a moment, but then she dismissed it. Different fears for different folks. She stepped into the woman’s room. “Where is it?”

The woman pointed into the bathroom.

Passion sighed as she walked into the bathroom. She looked around. “I don’t see it.”

“Sit down on the floor, Passion.” The voice was angry, dangerous, and
familiar
.

“Ted?” She couldn’t even turn to look at him. As her mind screamed for her to turn, to fight, to run, her body obeyed his command. She sat on the floor.

“You may look at me, but that’s all.”

Passion raised her gaze to meet his, but she couldn’t speak.

“If you could talk, I’m sure you’d ask where the sweet old lady went.” His smile chilled her. “She’s still here.” Too fast for Passion’s eyes to follow, Ted became the old woman. “I can be whatever I need to be. You never suspected.” Triumph filled his gaze as she changed back to Ted’s form.

There was nothing angelic about him now. The black swirling around him was just as dark as what surrounded Edge. His brown eyes had always seemed filled with love for everyone. Now? They gleamed hard and cruel. He looked bigger, menacing.

“I won’t need to tie you up, Passion, because I’m powerful enough to hold you here until I’ve finished with Bourne. You’ve been a great disappointment to me.”

“You too, jerk.”
Passion wondered if he could read her thoughts. He hadn’t when he’d made his nightly mental visits to Hope.

Passion got her answer in a startling way. Without warning, something slammed into her mind. It was the equivalent of taking a battering ram to a castle gate. If she could have moved, she would’ve pressed her hands to her temples to keep her brain from leaking out, because she just knew there had to be a giant hole in her head.

“There. I’m in your thoughts now, Passion.”

That’s
how he did it? Ganymede had entered her mind with not even a ripple.

Ted scowled. “I could have been gentler, but traitors must be punished. You deserve to suffer after abandoning your brothers and sisters.”

“Well, if you can read my mind, then read this. You’ve been handing all of us a load of crap since we came into being. Bastard. Wow, cursing really does make me feel better. If I’d known what a wing nut you were, I would’ve cursed a lot more a lot sooner.”

There was no warning. Ted simply leaned down and punched her in the face. Her head rocked back and hit the wall hard. Momentary dizziness made her close her eyes.

Passion felt as though someone had sucked all the air from her lungs. Her stomach heaved and she had to force back the nausea. It wasn’t the pain that made her want to throw up—although the side of her face hurt like hell—but the realization that this was the first time anyone had ever struck her in anger. And she never would have guessed that the blow would come from the man who’d controlled—yes, she could now admit he’d controlled all of them—everything she’d said and done…forever.

All the wasted time, all the lives she might have ruined by intruding on people’s thoughts. She opened her eyes and stared at
him. Passion hoped he saw all the disgust and contempt she felt for him.

He smiled. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that. You’ve always been a pain in the ass. I wasn’t really surprised when I realized you were helping them.”

“What are you?”

He widened his eyes in mock surprise. “I’m an angel just as I’ve always claimed.” Ted straightened and leaned against the bathroom doorframe. “Of course, I fell a long, long time ago.”

Fallen angel.
Horror tore at her. Not only because of how easily he’d fooled her, but because she feared not even Bourne could stand against one of the Fallen.

Ted smiled. “That’s the first thought you’ve had that has pleased me. And you’re right, of course he can’t stand against me. By tomorrow night, I’ll be the new Big Boss.”

He pushed away from the doorframe and moved a little closer. Passion hated her instinctive fear.

“Now that I’m in your head, I think I’ll see what you know about Bourne’s plans.”

If Passion could laugh, she might be a little hysterical by now. Bourne had used the same method with Kemp, only Bourne had been smart enough not to warn him beforehand. And Bourne had evidently slipped in unnoticed, because Kemp had never suspected he wasn’t alone in his mind.

Ted’s expression didn’t change, but Passion sensed his anger, his need to hit her again.

“So Bourne has Kemp. What did Kemp tell him about my plans?”

Now was Passion’s chance to test her theory that Ganymede had jumped into her mind so easily because she hadn’t seen him coming. She was ready for Ted. She retreated to a corner of her
mind where she built her mental wall high and thick, imagined solid steel. Then she hunkered down behind her wall and made her mind a blank.

She could feel Ted probing, trying to find a way past her defenses. The wall held.

“You can’t keep me out, little girl.”

But she did. And sometime in the next few minutes Ted’s probing became painful pokes. It felt as though he was sticking a needle into different parts of her brain. Passion kept her mind a blank even as she kept her wall strong.

“I’ll ask the question in a different way. Maybe you’ll like this version better.” His voice was low and ugly with anger. “What are Bourne’s plans?”

The pain increased. Forget the pins. Now he was using a jackhammer on her brain. If she could’ve screamed, she would have. The pain went on and on. Her wall started to bend and buckle.

“I’ll be in soon. You can’t keep me out.”

He was right. Even her steel wall was collapsing under so much agony. The worst part was that she couldn’t keep her mind blank. The pain wouldn’t let her. So before he blasted through, she focused all her thoughts on Edge, on what she intended to do with her bag of Hershey’s Kisses.

“Yes!”

Ted’s exclamation of triumph was accompanied by a stab of pain so intense she thought she’d pass out. She didn’t. Too bad.

“Now for Bourne’s plans or anything else of importance you’d like to tell me.”

And in her fantasy, Passion performed her Dance of the Seven Hershey’s Kisses for Edge. Over and over and over again, each time with a slightly different variation.

The pain escalated in direct proportion to Ted’s curses. She wanted to reach up and rip off her head.

But something almost as good started to happen. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision, unconsciousness slid closer and closer. And when blackness finally descended, she welcomed it.

It only took a few seconds after waking for Passion to realize that Ted’s Torture Show had only taken a commercial break. He was standing by the bathroom door frowning and the side of her face was throbbing in time to her heartbeat.

She’d wanted to believe she was mentally stronger than he was. Passion now knew she wasn’t. If he started doling out more of the same, she’d cave, and then hate herself. Probably not for long, though, because he’d kill her.

“I don’t have time for this.” He almost sounded petulant. “I have to summon the avenging angels.”

Passion didn’t know why he still called them that. They weren’t angels. They were…Whatever she was. But she wasn’t going to ask him any questions because she had to start building her mental wall all over again.

“I’m leaving you here, Passion. When I come back, I’ll see if you’re ready to answer my questions.” His expression promised more pain if she remained stubborn. Then something seemed to occur to him. “While I’m gone, think about those answers. Once Bourne is gone, you’ll be an important member of my empire.”