“Dani, stay here tonight. You don’t have to go home, do you?”
She silently shook her head.
“Stay here, let me give you something to help you sleep.” Then, I used the oldest lie that every friend had used at one time or another. “Things will look better in the morning.”
After a moment, she finally relented. “All right. But I know I won’t be able to sleep.”
But I was determined to make sure she got a good night’s sleep. I gave her a sedative guaranteed to eliminate nightmares, and walked her up to the guest room. She was so tired that she immediately crashed. Once I was certain she was fully out, I headed back to the kitchen. The day had been extraordinarily long, and Dani wasn’t the only one who had been through hell.
While I was gone, Nate had cleaned up and a fresh batch of oatmeal-raisin cookies was baking in the oven. Archer was poring through his files, studying them carefully.
I dropped into a chair. “Do I smell cookies?”
Nate let out a small laugh. “You know as well as I do that when I’m upset, I cook.”
“Much to my advantage. Without you, half the time I’d be eating takeout. So what are we going to do next?” I still hadn’t mentioned my text to Tricia, and I wasn’t planning to. What I wanted to do right now was to tromp down to the Underground and drive a stake through Greg’s heart. His death had cost Dani so much. Now, like a bad penny, he kept turning up.
After removing the cookies from the cookie sheet with a spatula, Nate set the plate on the table, wiped up the crumbs on the counter, then slid into the chair opposite me.
“Well, I can tell you what you are not going to do next. You are not going to head into the Underground to stake Greg. I know you were thinking it, because that’s what I’m thinking. You do that and you’ll get yourself killed.”
Archer spoke up. “He’s right. Leave him alone. If you try to destroy him and fail, he’ll take it out on Dani. Vampires are cruel beasts. Dani will survive this news. She’s stronger than she thinks, or than you think. But if you pique his interest, Greg just may come back to haunt her in a way none of us wants.”
I held up my hands. “Okay, I give. I was thinking about it, but I know I don’t have what it takes. And anyway, it would be suicide, given how close he seems to be to the Deadfather.”
Archer was studying something on his tablet. “The Souljacker seems to have focused his attention on clients in the Blood Night District so far. Do you know if he ever traveled? Did he work the convention circuit? If he leaves town, we’re screwed as far as tracking him. And then you’ll always be watching over your shoulder.”
I squinted, thinking. “Let me see. I don’t know, but there’s someone who might. A tattooist in White Tower Center who was a friend of his. What the hell was his name…” I tried to remember. Charles had mentioned the guy a couple of times. “Ray—Ray Bender. That’s it.”
Nate pulled out his tablet and, after a moment, said, “Here he is. Bender Skin Art. He’s open from 6 P.M. till midnight every day. He must pay for protection, given his location. He’s not open tonight, but tomorrow. Want me to call for an appointment?”
“Would you?” Archer said. “That’s one place to start. Without the cops behind us, we’re going to have to tackle this on our own, and very carefully, given how powerful Schafer’s father is. With support like the Deadfather behind him, the Souljacker might as well be a grenade, set to explode on touch.”
A thought crossed my mind. “But won’t they be out looking for him too? If Greg screwed up, the plan wasn’t for Charles to be set free. Maybe he was supposed to deliver him to Terrance, who would probably hide him away. Which means, if Charles is on the loose, my bets are that he isn’t in contact with his family.”
I bit into one of Nate’s cookies, closing my eyes as the fragrant flavor of oatmeal and raisins melted on my tongue. They were hot enough still to burn, but the heat of the caramelized brown sugar added to the taste.
“You’re probably right.” Archer tossed the paper on the table. “Enough for tonight. We’ll exhaust ourselves. Lily, tomorrow you start working for me.”
I nodded. “Sounds good to me. I think during the day might be a good time to go hunting around in the Underground. Maybe there’s somebody there who’s seen something.”
That brought an immediate response from Nate. “Wait a minute, that sounds dangerous.”
“What else do we do? Sit here and wait for Charles to pick us off once we’re outside a warded area? We have to go on the offensive.” I turned to Archer. “What do you think?”
“I think both of you are right. Before you head down to the Underground, we’ll discuss the best way of doing so and I will go with you. But leave that for tomorrow. It’s been a volatile, emotional day for all of you. Even I’m tired from just hearing about it. I suggest we take a break. Do you have any beer?”
Nate warmed up to that idea. “I could go for a drink.”
Marsh laughed. He had been listening quietly, sitting in the rocking chair that I kept near the heating vent. “I wish I could join you. I feel like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone here.”
Both Nate and Archer gave him a puzzled look, but I laughed.
“You have, essentially. As for beer, none in the house, no. But my liquor cabinet is well-stocked. Nate, what would you like?” I crossed over to the liquor cabinet and unlocked it. Archer was right. We needed to unwind, and with Dani out like a light and the new wards firmly affixed to the house, we could take a few minutes to relax.
Nate grinned. “You know my poison. So, spill it. By the way, I noticed your sign’s gone. Did you take it down already?”
“Yeah, I did.” As I pulled out the bottle of peppermint schnapps and three shot glasses, I caught my reflection in the window. I looked tired. Giving myself a rueful grin, I turned around and set the glasses on the table, filling them to the brim.
I raised my glass. “Here’s to new beginnings, and hopefully, a long life for us all.”
“Skol!” Archer said.
As we drained our glasses and refilled them, I began to let go of the day, hoping the alcohol would turn it into a soft blur for just a little while.
Chapter 22
Groaning, I tried to open my eyes, but the lashes were glued shut. My head was pounding like a Were hopped up on jackhammer sex. I tried to sit up, only to fall back against the pillows. My stomach let out a protest at the sudden movement, and I clutched the bed sheets, holding on as the room spun in a lazy circle.
“What the hell happened last night?” Archer’s voice echoed in my ear.
I managed to reach up and pry the goop off my lashes enough to separate them. Squinting against the light shining through the window, once again I tried to sit up, this time taking it much more slowly. I managed to prop up on my elbows and realized just how sick I felt.
“I feel like I ate a peppermint plant.” My voice was scratchy, and I had the vague memory of singing very loudly, for a long long time. “Please tell me we didn’t go crash a karaoke joint.”
“That’s weird. I feel like I turned into a cinnamon stick. I don’t think we left the house.” Archer didn’t look much better than I felt.
I tried to remember what had happened, but the next moment I found myself off the bed and racing for the bathroom, the jarring strides making it even more imperative that I reach the toilet. I managed to fall on my knees in front of it and raise the lid before everything in my stomach came rushing out. When I finally finished, I was relieved to see that I had managed to aim correctly. I flushed, then spent a long time rinsing out my mouth, although I couldn’t even look at the toothpaste without feeling queasy. Instead, I used an antiseptic rinse. By the time I returned to the bedroom Archer was racing past me, presumably on the same mission I had just finished.
I dragged myself back to the bed and gently lay down, pulling the blanket over me. It was icy cold in the room, and as I looked around I realized where the chill air was coming from.
“
Whose bright idea was it to open the window during the night?”
Archer mumbled something from the bathroom that I didn’t catch.
“We’re just lucky we put the new wards up.” Grumbling, I stumbled over to shut the window, then turned up the heat. I glanced at the clock on my way over to the closet. It was only 8 A.M., which surprised me given how drunk we had all gotten the night before.
“Do you want to take a shower together?” Archer stuck his head out of the bathroom.
Struck by how comfortable we had suddenly gotten, I flashed him a smile, albeit a queasy one. “I really do need a hot shower. Start up the water and I’ll be right in.”
Archer was naked and standing by the shower when I padded in, carrying both our robes. I looked him up and down. He was lean and fit, his abs firm, and a flare of hunger raced through me, but I was way too queasy to think about sex. And somehow, I didn’t think it would be a good idea for either of us to French kiss until we had brushed our teeth and our stomachs had calmed down.
He stood back, letting me get into the shower first, then stepped in behind me. When I had my house built, I had made sure the master bath was almost as big as my bedroom. It contained a giant soaking tub, a massive walk-in shower with built-in benches and room for three, a double-vanity sink, and everything else needed. And today, I was extremely grateful that I had planned ahead. I inched over and slid down onto one of the stone benches. The water shot out from three sides and it was warm, soothing my aching muscles.
“Did we get into wrestling last night? I feel like I took a shot to the side.”
“My guess it was Shayla’s punch that is causing the ache. With all the adrenaline and changes going on yesterday, I doubt you noticed it, but you’ve got several good bruises there, and I happen to remember that we weren’t that rough in bed.” He pointed out the bruises that were all purple and blue on my body. Sure enough, they were right where I had slammed against the wall and floor when Shayla backhanded me.
I winced, gingerly exposing them to the hot water. Archer lathered up his hair, and he leaned back to let the water pour over him, washing away the shampoo. His body was slick and wet, and once again I wanted to brush my hands over his skin.
“You know, sex is supposed to heal me up some.” I said, but just then, my stomach twinged again. “Never mind. Bad idea after a night of schnapps.”
Laughing, he shook away the water. “I can’t believe how much we drank. I haven’t partied that hard in a couple decades.”
“Really? Don’t you get together with friends and just let it all blow to hell every now and then?” It occurred to me, aside from his business and that he was great in bed, I knew almost nothing about Archer. I figured now was as good a time as any to find out.
He shook his head. “To be honest, I don’t have a lot of personal friends. I’m not proud of the fact, but the truth is that most people are skittish around me. You know the reputation chaos demons have.” He sounded rather melancholy, and I realized that succubi weren’t the only ones judged by the reputation of their race.
“Yeah, I guess I can see that. I’ll be honest here. When Jolene suggested that I contact you, it made me nervous. While I hadn’t heard a lot about chaos demons, what little I had made me wary. I’m glad that I changed my mind.”
He flashed a look at me, and I couldn’t tell whether he was irritated or not. “So what have you heard? Maybe I can put your mind at ease.”
I forced myself to stand so the water could pulse full force down on my back. “Well, for one thing, that chaos follows you like a magnet. That wherever a chaos demon goes, mayhem follows. Rumors are that it’s one of your natural attributes, that you can’t help it.”
Archer gave a little shrug. “That much is true. As much as I hate to admit it, I suppose you can think of me as your personal Pandora’s box. It’s not that I want to cause havoc in peoples’ lives; it just happens. Believe me, it makes dating difficult. Humans are out of the question. If I dated a human, chances are they’d end up dead through some terrible catastrophe. And it wouldn’t be by my choice. I suppose you should be careful when you hang around me, given what could happen.”
The tone of his voice made me want to gather him in my arms and reassure him that I wasn’t afraid. But the truth was, it did make me leery, even though I liked him a great deal.
“What else do you want to know?” He flipped off the water and opened the shower stall door. As we stepped out onto the bath mat, I thought about his question. What did I want to know?
“Have you ever been married? Have you ever been in love? Where is your family and are you close to them? And why did you choose to become a private investigator in the mortal world?” That should be good for a start.
He laughed and held up his hand. “Slow down, slow down. One question at a time. First, no. I’ve never been married, or even close to it. Yes, I have dated even given the difficulties involved. As to the second question, I was in love once but it was a long time ago. Unfortunately, she died. Not my fault!” he hurried to add. “At least, it wasn’t deliberate. I can never be sure, but I think it was the chaos factor. She was hit by a runaway steer at a country fair.”
“I’m sorry. What was her name?”
“Deidre. She was Fae.” He tossed me my robe and I slid into it. “It was a long time ago, before the Skirmish Years. We lived in Spain. As for my family, I haven’t seen any of them in centuries. Chaos demons don’t tend to band together. I’ll be surprised if I ever see someone I’m related to again. As to your last question, I like humans, as strange as it may sound coming from someone like me. I like the world of mortals and I enjoy interacting with both humans and the Fae. I’m not keen on the Weres, but they can be okay. They get testy. Anything else?”
I bit my lip, thinking. “Okay, then…Where do you live? And how did you meet Jolene? You know, she and I used to be an item until I realized how easy it would be for me to hurt her. Well, until I realized that I was already hurting her. Werewolves tend to be monogamous, and I’m a succubus. Those two factors don’t work well together.”
“I thought it was something of the sort, but I decided to let you tell me in your own time. As for where I live, I own a penthouse on the border between north Seattle and the Blood Night District. I met Jolene when she joined the force. I was already helping out the PIU. Anything else, or is that all for now?” He laughed, and I realized with relief that my prying wasn’t offending him.
“What’s your favorite color? Food? Do you like to read?” I grinned, just playing now.
“Orange, a cheeseburger dripping with mozzarella, and I have a huge library at home. I read just about everything. And now, we should get downstairs, eat breakfast, and then get to work. Remember, I’m your boss now!” He snapped the towel and hit me on the butt.
I darted back into the bedroom, realizing that even though I was still queasy, I was starting to feel better. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a thick, cowl-neck sweater. One look outside told me that it was blowing snow like crazy. The room had finally warmed up, and as I slipped into my clothes and pulled my hair back into a French braid, my stomach rumbled.
“Believe it or not, I think I need some breakfast.”
As Archer dressed, he nodded. “Me too. Just nothing greasy and nothing fried. Toast and jam would be good if you have it.”
“I’ve always got bread, I’m not so sure about the jam. Let’s go find out. But first, I’m going to drop in on Dani and see how she’s doing. Do you remember if Nate stayed the night?”
“Yeah, I recall seeing him passed out on the living room sofa before heading up stairs. You do realize that you performed a striptease for the two of us last night? But he was too drunk to notice. I’m not sure where Marsh took off to; he had vanished by the time we managed to make it to the living room.”
Mortified—the last thing I wanted to do was make Nate uncomfortable—I opened the door to the guest room and peeked inside. Dani was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed, her
face ashen white. She moaned and rubbed her forehead.
“What the hell did you give me? I feel like somebody took a sledgehammer to my head.”
“I gave you Beladonacia. That’s the only side effect unless you take too much. How are you feeling otherwise?” I sat down beside her and took her hands in mine. “I know last night was a horrible shock. I’m so sorry.”
Dani raised her eyes to meet mine. “There’s nothing to forgive. I woke up about half an hour ago, and I’ve just been sitting here trying to sort things through. It’s not your fault that Greg’s popped up again in my life.”
My spirit took a nosedive as the pain in her voice filtered through. “For what it’s worth, he loved you, Dani. You were the golden couple. He died loving you. And you’re right—the creature wearing his body? That’s not Greg. Please, don’t ever start thinking it is.”
She gave a halfhearted shrug. “I won’t. I can’t let myself.”
“What are you going to do today?”
“Go to my shop. Clean up some more. Figure out how much damage has been done. See if the cops know anything. And maybe get some bars put on the windows and door. I’ve avoided that route—I hate feeling like I have to make my shop a jail, but damn it, I can’t afford this sort of crap. I don’t make that much to begin with. At least I shouldn’t lose customers. Weres hate magic as it is, so they aren’t in my client base. Generally, they buy their wards through an intermediary, and I know they won’t skimp on protection just to spite me. So, what are you doing today?”
I thought about asking her if she wanted to poke around the Underground with me during the day but squashed the idea the moment it flashed through my mind. Veek was down there, and that would be rubbing salt in her wounds.
“I’m going down to Archer’s office to get all signed up. Then…I guess we start work on trying to pinpoint the Souljacker. It occurred to me last night that, given he escaped from Greg, it means that he’s out there on his own. If he goes back to his father, Terrance would probably lock him up for his own safety and Charles doesn’t want that. He wants to get his art back. Tonight, we’re going to go talk to Ray Bender—remember him?”