Sweet Reckoning

  My eyes welled up as I scanned the things: a fuzzy purple papasan chair and matching throw rug, lavender bedding, a new fridge and microwave, food and drinks, a bathroom kit with all the necessities, and a box of my clothes with a roll of quarters for laundry.

  I wondered if she’d had it all delivered or if she’d brought it herself. I ached inside from missing her. Wiping my eyes, I unpacked everything and set up the room. It felt a little more homey, but I was far from feeling at home.

  I set up my music station and put Marna’s romantic playlist on, then flopped onto the bed for a hopeful nap. As the music played, I remembered last night—the silly faces Kaidan made at certain songs, and his serious look when he was solely concentrated on my body. Each song was a memory, replaying our honeymoon through my mind in vivid recollection.

  A naughty thought crossed my mind as I recalled the picture of myself I’d saved on my phone. I pulled it up and found it to be just as sexy as I remembered. Now that he’d seen every inch of me, it didn’t seem like such a big deal to send it. It probably wouldn’t even affect him.

  With a nervous, half-delirious giggle, I sent it.

  Right away the giggles disappeared and panic set in. What had I done? Kaidan Rowe had, no doubt, received hundreds of sexy photos in his day. Suddenly mine seemed lame. Would he laugh? I wished I could unsend it, or that there was a way to cancel a message if it had yet to be opened.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid! I climbed under the covers and pulled them up to my neck. I must have been crazy from lack of sleep. What was I thinking? I rolled over and squealed into the pillow.

  And then my phone dinged with a text message. I shut my eyes as my heart went into overdrive. Would he throw me a bone? Say something like, “Aw, that’s cute, luv—thanks”?

  With reluctance I picked up my phone. Another text dinged. I opened it—both were from Kaidan. Another dinged. Sheesh, what was going on?

  OH GOD.

  What r u doing to me??

  I can’t believe u took a pic.

  Killing me. DYING.

  My worry began to subside, and the laughter rose up again. Text messages poured in, one after another.

  CANNOT STOP STARING.

  Just wait little vixen.

  F me. Ur so fn hot.

  Ur in serious trouble when I see u again.

  Serious. Trouble.

  Whew, dang, it was hot under the covers. I kicked them off, feeling relieved, giddy, and so tired. When a minute passed with no messages, I texted him back.

  Baby steps for your nerdy girl.

  I smiled at his quick response: Nerdy my arse. All the cold showers in the world can’t cure what u’ve done to me.

  Sorry, I texted, still smiling like an idiot.

  U r not. Leave me alone. I’ll b busy 4 a bit.

  PS . . . ilu.

  I texted back, ilu2.

  Letting out a long breath, I deleted the conversation and cuddled my pillow. Poor Kaidan. I hadn’t meant to work him into a frenzy, but I had to admit I was glad I could.

  A knock at the door woke me from a hard sleep sometime later. I blinked groggily toward the window. It looked like early evening. Another knock sounded. I turned off the music and went to the door without opening it.

  “Yes?” I asked through the wood.

  “Anna Whitt? A delivery for you from the front desk.”

  I opened the door a crack. A large, gorgeous blond guy stood there with a box—it looked like another box of my stuff.

  “I’ll set it down for you,” he said.

  “Oh, sure.” I stepped aside. “Thank you.”

  Yes, I was married to a total hottie, and no, I wasn’t lusting after this guy, but it was hard not to take him all in. He was tall and broad like a football player, with an all-American smile and wavy hair. He carried himself with total confidence, like Kaidan, exuding a presence that drew people in.

  And then the guy turned to me and my heart nearly stopped.

  At his sternum was a bright red badge—the biggest badge I’d ever seen on a Neph . . . as large as a Duke’s. My heart banged a painful triple beat.

  Red. Lust. Who was this?

  With one grand step he stood over me, looming, taking in a deep breath through his nose as if smelling something.

  All at once, whisperers came in a dark whoosh down the busy hallway, weaving through parents and students. My room was at the end of the hall and nobody was looking my way. There were so many spirits, at least six of them. For one horrible moment I was shocked into inaction. And then the handsome Nephilim’s eyes shone red.

  What the . . . ? A Neph’s eyes could not do that.

  I made an involuntary sound of fear and ran for the open door, but the kid was faster. He actually chuckled as he caught me by the arm and closed the door, pressing himself against my back and nuzzling his nose into my hair.

  “Don’t make a sound,” he warned in a calm voice.

  He moved fast, capturing both of my wrists in one of his hands and holding them above my head against the wall while his other hand circled my throat.

  Red badge. American accent. Did Pharzuph have another son? Why did he feel so powerful? The room darkened as the spirits piled in, making sounds like hissing and scratching that echoed in my head.

  He moved my hair aside with his chin and placed a warm kiss on the side of my neck. I shivered, but not in the good way.

  Again, he inhaled deeply.

  “So, you’re not the one after all,” he said. “And I’d been so certain. I even hoped. I should teach you a lesson for all the trouble you’ve caused.”

  What was he talking about? My mind swirled with con­fusion.

  He ground his strong body against my backside. Every instinct inside me flared with the need to fight my way to freedom and run, but a deeper part of me told me to be still. The whisperers hovered around us, shifting.

  “Let me go,” I said, struggling for any wiggle room and finding none. He squeezed my throat harder and I made a strangling sound.

  My resistance only seemed to turn him on, and he chuckled again. His hand blessedly eased off my throat, only to start wandering down my body. I was about to bite his arm and stomp his foot when he spoke again.

  “You smell so much better than the last time I saw you. If you weren’t a disgusting little Neph, I’d take you right now.”

  I froze. No way.

  With a grunt he released me. My eyes felt big when I turned to face him.

  “D-duke Pharzuph?” I whispered. Had I fallen into a warped universe?

  The whisperers bounced with anticipation. Pharzuph waved an impatient hand and growled at them as if they were pesky gnats.

  “No show for you right now. She’s not a virgin. Go tell the others.” With that, they shot out of the room from all angles, making my head spin.

  “How do you like it?” He grinned, motioning to his grand physique, and I swallowed. “I was going to wait a couple years, but with all the excitement going on, I wanted a change. This poor kid had a logging accident up in Oregon. Parents were already dead. It would’ve been a shame to let this go to waste, wouldn’t you say?”

  I just wanted him and his ego to leave. This whole thing was incredibly weird and creepy. He sounded nothing like his old self.

  “It’s . . . a good body.”

  “Better than good!” He laughed. “I can have any girl on this campus tonight, and I think I will.” He rubbed his hands up and down his chest and abs, obviously high on his born-again youth. “I always forget how much energy and stamina a young man’s body has.”

  Ew.

  My stomach turned at the thought of him tearing through campus and hurting these girls in any way. He looked so innocent on the surface with that farmer-boy grin. And then his eyes flashed red again with his evil intentions and I jumped as he stepped closer.

  “I still don’t like you,” he said. “Or trust you. But at least I can check my son off the suspicion list now.”

  “Suspicion list?”
I asked, trying to keep my eyes down and appear meek. “Sir, please. If this is about the summit in New York, I was just as shocked as you all when those angels came—”

  “Just mind your own business and work for the cause. This place is fertile for a Neph of your type. You’re lucky Belial’s given you such a good setup after all the trouble you’ve been. And speaking of your old man . . .” He eyed me. “Where is he?”

  He was trying to sound light and disinterested, but I wasn’t buying it.

  “I don’t know, sir. I assume somewhere in Washington, D.C., now.”

  “Hmph.” He continued to stare me up and down. How had I thought he seemed like a regular, nice guy at first? His eyes were so clinical and calculating. Even when he was grinning he had a menacing quality.

  He pushed past me to the door, turning to speak one last time in a hushed voice. “Never forget you’re expendable. If you give us trouble again, you will disappear with no questions asked, angels be damned. Do you understand, Neph?”

  My heart thumped. “Yes, Duke Pharzuph.”

  “And when you see that father of yours again, tell him hell’s looking for him.”

  Keeping my eyes averted, I gave a tight nod. My throat was too dry to swallow. I was suddenly paranoid about how long he’d be here on campus and what he expected of me.

  “Excuse me, Duke. . . .” I hated how weak my voice sounded, although it was best that he knew I feared him. “I was just wondering, do you need me to, um, work with you tonight or anything?”

  He laughed. Loudly. A patronizing sound.

  “No, I don’t need you to work with me. I don’t work with Neph.” He practically spat the words. “I’ll only be here one night and I want to enjoy it. Find your own bar and send the drunks my way.”

  He laughed again, low and lewd.

  I felt his stare roaming my body before he finally left, and I collapsed onto the bed, shaking.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  DARTS

  It was a true testament to how strange my life had become that the best night of my life was followed by the most uncomfortable. Knowing that Kaidan’s father, a guy who was now the same freaking age as him, was leaving a trail of broken hearts all over my college campus made me ill. And not just broken hearts. That would be too tame for Pharzuph. He would push people to do things they weren’t ready for, and all the while he and the whisperers would mess with their minds—filling them with guilt and self-loathing that would plague them for years to come. He wasn’t just a campus player out for sex. He was an evil bastard out to hurt souls. A weapon in a very beautiful disguise.

  All night as I sat at the bar, my knee bouncing a thousand miles per hour, I thought about what Kaidan and I had shared—how special and beautiful it had been. And then I thought of Pharzuph. My stomach turned.

  Did Kaidan have any idea that Pharzuph had changed bodies? Had he received a call about his father, Richard Rowe, dropping dead at work in New York City or at his posh home in Atlanta? He knew Pharzuph planned to find me and give me the sniff test—trying to catch the scent of virginity. I wished I could call Kaidan and reassure him that it had happened and I was okay.

  What a freaking mess.

  But at least our plan had worked, and for that I allowed myself to smile into my beer glass. Kaidan and I were momentarily off the suspicion list. Unfortunately, my father was still on it. Big-time.

  My smile disappeared.

  “Hey, can I buy you another?”

  I looked up at the cute boy who’d spoken. The bar I’d chosen had gotten crowded and loud, but it was mostly groups of friends, so nobody had talked to me yet. Pharzuph was probably too busy to keep an ear out on me, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Plus, there were at least six whisperers prowling through town tonight, so I had to work.

  “How about this?” I asked the guy. “Let’s play darts, and the loser buys the next round.”

  He sucked in air through his teeth. “I don’t know. I’d feel kinda bad making a pretty girl I just met buy my drink. . . .”

  “Oho, so it’s like that, huh?” I hopped off the stool, surprised by my own ability to feel lighthearted at the moment, but sometimes boys needed to be taught lessons about underestimating girls.

  And so the night passed with me kicking the butt of every guy in the bar. The girls, after realizing I wasn’t interested in their boyfriends, became my cheerleaders. Yeah, I got a few people drunk. Between the beers and shots, I pushed glasses of water their way all night, hoping to keep them hydrated.

  I never forgot who I was, or the fact that I wasn’t one of them, but I still let myself enjoy their company and the feeling of being embraced by friendly strangers. We were having a great time until someone turned up the television for a breaking news story. A popular rapper had been shot after his show in D.C. while greeting fans. He had a colorful past, serving jail time, but had turned his life around and become an education advocate—an inspiring American success story. And now he was in a coma, probably going to die.

  Everyone in the bar shook their heads, muttering, “What is wrong with this world?”

  If they only knew.

  The mood was somber after that.

  At closing time I managed to evade the cute boy who’d been at my side all night. I slipped the bartender a note to call cabs for my drunken buddies, giving my credit card number as payment.

  As I shuffled back to the dorm at two in the morning, a knife in my pocket and the Sword of Righteousness strapped to my ankle under my jeans, I imagined that Kaidan went to school there with me and we were a normal couple. Students. Sometimes it was fun to pretend, but I didn’t let myself long for impossible things, because there were Nephilim who would do anything to have the life I led.

  Calling my life blessed was ironic, considering, but when it came down to it, I was loved, and that made life worth living. Just like my mother, Mariantha, said.

  As I was having that lovely thought, my dorm in sight, a dark shadow flew into my path on the narrow sidewalk, causing a shriek to stick in my throat.

  “Baby . . .”

  I pressed a hand to my chest. “You scared me half to death, Dad!” My telepathic voice screamed at him, and I looked behind me, searching for signs of whisperers but finding none. “Pharzuph is here tonight with a ton of spirits!”

  “I know. Hurry up and get to your room so we can talk in private.” He flew ahead of me, disappearing into the side wall of my dorm.

  I huffed a little, my nerves still on alert, and sped to the entry door. It was strange passing the night-watch girl at the desk. I gave her a small smile and she nodded, oblivious to the gigantic ram-horned demon at her side.

  In my room, Dad practically took up the whole space, and I felt too edgy to sit. I told him about Pharzuph coming and how Kaidan and I should be safe from him for now.

  “But I don’t understand something,” I said. “I didn’t recognize anything about him—he didn’t even talk the same anymore. Has he been an American before, or did he train himself to have a new accent that fast?”

  “No, this is his first time in a U.S. body, but there’s certain knowledge a body retains, even when the souls switch. The brain and body hold on to habits like language and gestures. It’s still going to talk and act the same until you train it otherwise. It’s always strange at first because it’s hard to control, but it ends up being a benefit for us Dukes.”

  Yeah, how convenient for them.

  I told Dad what Pharzuph had said about him being in trouble. Dad laughed. Always a scary sound, deep and guttural, even in spirit form.

  “They would’ve been suspicious of me one way or another, and damned if I was gonna let them capture me. I’ll be hunting for a body next, but I came to tell you that Pharzuph and the others have called for a summit tomorrow night—probably to talk about their findings and figure out what to do next. They’ll be in Switzerland.”

  “Switzerland?”

  “A ski town. They like to make a vacation of these sum
mits, you know. And since they were just in Vegas, they wanted something different.” Dad, being all business, naturally disagreed with the other Dukes’ idea of mixing fun with work.

  My hopes lifted.

  “Wait. Does this mean we Neph have a couple safe days?” I asked.

  He grunted. “Yes, but be careful. I’d say you have forty-eight hours starting tomorrow afternoon when they’re all traveling. Some will stay there longer than two days, but don’t take any chances. If you need to gather your allies or be in contact with them, this is your chance.”

  “And I can see Patti!” I clapped my hands and smiled. This seemed to soften him a little.

  “Yeah, you can see her. Give her my regards.”

  I wished I could hug him, but all I could do was beam up at his frightening face, making him chuckle.

  “And guess what else?” I said. “I got to meet Mariantha.” He became still in front of me. “She came to congratulate me on my marriage. She was beautiful, Daddy.”

  He drifted back a little, weightless, whispering, “Yes . . . beautiful, and full of love. You’re so much like her, baby girl.”

  I held up a hand, splaying my fingers, and he lifted his big, clawed mass of cloudy hand to mine, overlapping it.

  “I love you, kid,” he said.

  We shared a long, quiet pause.

  “Be careful,” I told him. “Wherever you go, I hope I see you again soon.”

  I closed my eyes as he surrounded me with a hug, and when I opened my eyes again he was gone.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  MAKESHIFT HOLIDAY

  It was three in the morning, Pharzuph was somewhere nearby terrorizing the campus, and I was devising a plan. The Dukes were meeting tomorrow night, so the Neph would have to meet, too.

  The thought of seeing Kaidan again after our night together gave me tingles. We wouldn’t be alone this time, but being near him was all I needed.

  I knew it was safe texting Kaidan since his father was “busy,” but my hands still shook with nerves. I didn’t want to reveal too much. Each message I sent and received, I deleted immediately.