Heart of the Demon (3 page)

“I’ll see you later,” she whispered against his mouth. Another lingering kiss, then she brushed her hand across his shoulder
as she walked past him.

Finn turned and watched her head toward the back of the club. Because of the crowd he couldn’t see who her target was, and
soon the crush of bodies forced him to move off the dance floor.

He couldn’t take his gaze off the auburn-haired woman who was pure temptation. Still watching Keira, his mood soured. Scowling,
he realized his interest in being at the club had waned, but as much as he wanted to get the hell out of there, he had work
to do.

Keira glanced over her shoulder to see Finn staring at her. He’d shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, the broad
shoulders beneath the soft T-shirt and leather jacket slightly hunched. Blue eyes gleamed with a faint demon-yellow glow.
His expression, one he seemed to wear a lot around her, contained a mixture of desire, determination, and befuddlement.

She was just as confused as he seemed to be, because he purely baffled her. And as much as she told herself she didn’t want
to solve this particular puzzle she knew deep down she was lying to herself. The demon was complicated, and she loved every
complicated piece of his puzzle.

Maybe once she was done with this…project, she could put more effort into the mystery that was Finn Evnissyen. All she knew
about him was that he was handsome, sexy, a great lover, and as badass as they came. While she would trust him to watch her
back in a dangerous situation, he wasn’t the type of guy a woman should give her heart to.

Definitely not the sort a girl brought home to meet her parents.

Luckily for Keira, her parents—both the set in the other dimension and the ones of her human host—were long dead and buried.
All of them—shapeshifter, fey, or vampire—were mortal in the other dimension. They lived and died the same way humans did.
It was the combination of their otherworldly essence with human souls that created their immortality here on Earth. Although
she didn’t have to worry about gaining approval, that didn’t mean she was going to entertain any ideas about having some sort
of long-term relationship with Finn. He was strictly a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy. She’d heard about him around town.

Yet she couldn’t deny that he was a mighty temptation, as well as enigmatic. Even with her abilities she had trouble figuring
him out. She was fey, and like all of her kind she had the ability to use glamour. The older the fey, the stronger the ability.
With her specifically, she was an empath. She could read the emotions of others, even influence those emotions. She could
make people feel what she wanted them to, believe what she thought they should. And if she pushed hard enough, she could alter
their perception of their surroundings to the point that she became invisible.

Her glamour was something she rarely used anymore. In the other dimension before she’d become Keira O’Brien she’d used all
her skills as a grifter to swindle a handsome living off unsuspecting marks. Since she’d come to Earth, though, she’d tried
to do better,
be
better. The personality of her human host had a lot to do with that. The human Keira of the O’Brien clan had been an honest,
honorable woman. So, to pay homage to that, the new Keira had determined to live her life the way her human host would have.

While she could have used her gift to influence Finn, she hadn’t. And she wouldn’t. Ever. Not for something as important as
love.

But to get the information needed for her task from a vampire? In her experience, any tactic employed in war was fair. She’d
use her ability faster than a bartender could pour green beer on St. Paddy’s Day. She turned toward the back of the club and
hurried after the vampire she’d spotted. “Javier!” she called.

 With one hand on the knob of the door that separated the public area of the club from the rooms where vamps went to dine
in private, a short, swarthy-skinned man stopped and looked at her. She’d met Javier Alvaro initially at a formal meet-and-greet
at council headquarters that all newcomers to Scottsdale had to go through. While she wouldn’t call him a friend, they were
at least on friendly terms. Of sorts.

“I need to talk to you,” she said upon reaching him.

“Keira.” He gave her a once-over, which set her teeth on edge, but she plastered a pleasant expression on her face and projected
a sense of sexual interest she was far from feeling. When his dark gaze came back to her face, he said, “If you want to talk,
bonita
, you’ll have to donate, because I’m going in there”—he tapped two fingers against the door—“to feed.” Crimson hunger rimmed
his cocoa-colored irises. “I have a powerful thirst for blood. And maybe something more.”

She wasn’t thrilled with the idea of letting this smarmy vamp fang her, and she had no intention of letting him “something
more” or anything else with her either. However, she was no stranger to making hard choices to get what she needed. She’d
use her glamour on him. It would take some doing to fool a vampire, but she’d been around a long time and had the strength
necessary. And if it didn’t work for some reason, she’d do what she needed to do to get the information she was after.

She widened her smile and swept her arm toward the door. “After you.”

His nostrils flared as did the red in his eyes. He opened the door and murmured, “No, please. After you.”

She went through the door, aware of Finn’s burning gaze on her. He’d want to know why she’d chased Javier down and, more importantly,
why she’d gone into the back rooms with him. The fact that she was going off with a vampire would automatically anger him
because of the animosity between vamps and demons. But it wasn’t like she and Finn were exclusive. She never pressed him for
details about his comings and goings, because she knew it’d be a waste of breath. By the same token, what she did was none
of his business.

Keira pushed back the tinge of sadness that crept over her at the thought. Finn didn’t seem like the kind of demon who craved
hearth and home. She sensed a restlessness about him, a desire to shake off the trappings of his current life so he could
live the way he wanted to. Perhaps so he could be who he wanted to be, not who the pret world painted him as. And she had
a feeling a woman didn’t fit into those plans in any permanent fashion. He was far too self-centered for that.

She walked into the small room that Javier indicated and seated herself on a little leather sofa, crossing her legs and stretching
her left arm along its back. A strong scent of cinnamon colored the air, no doubt to help cover up the smell of blood. No
matter how hard or how often they cleaned these rooms, blood had a way of lingering.

Javier sat beside her and leaned forward. The scent of peppermint wafted from his breath. He licked his bottom lip, no doubt
thinking it made him look sexy. She forced herself to keep a sultry smile on her face as he ran his fingers lightly up and
down her arm.

“So,
bonita
, a little bite to eat first, yes?” He curled his fingers around her wrist and lifted her arm from the back of the couch.

She trilled out a laugh, made sure she was projecting a general feeling of satisfied indulgence, and whispered, “How about
you answer a question for me, and then you can have a big bite?” She leaned closer and trailed her right hand from his knee
up to his inner thigh, almost but not quite hitting his sweet spot.

“Deal.” His voice came out guttural, barely sounding like that of a man. It matched the predatory gleam in eyes that had gone
completely crimson.

“I don’t know if you know it or not,” she said, making sure to keep the soft Irish lilt in her voice, “but I moved here from
back east to do more than get away from cold winters.”

“Oh?”

“Aye.” She stroked her fingers back down to his knee and lingered there, letting him feel the warmth of her palm through the
fabric of his trousers. “We preternaturals have always had to be so careful. Before our public outing, we had to hide what
we were so we didn’t provoke humans into hunting us.”

His lips twisted. “Yes, we have historical accounts to back us up on that one. The witch trials of the fifteenth, sixteenth,
and seventeenth centuries, and werewolf trials in the sixteen hundreds.” His lips curled back to show his fangs. “And of course
they’ve been frightened of vampires from time immemorial.”

“Exactly!” Keira agreed. “And now it’s all ‘Don’t do this or you might make the humans around you aware of what you are. Don’t
do that or you’ll expose us all.’” She sighed and started a halting trail back up his thigh. “You’d think that since we’ve
become common knowledge things would have changed, but they’ve only gotten worse.”

“Yes, they have.” Javier rested one hand on her left shoulder. The other lay on the thigh opposite the one she currently teased.
“What’s your point?”

“My point is… I’m tired of it.” She held his gaze with her own. “We’re stronger than humans.
Better
than humans. We should be living loud and proud, not denying who we are.” She halted high up on his thigh, still not touching
where she knew he wanted her hand the most. “I’m tired of us being in the minority and not allowed a say in how this town,
this
country
, is run.”

“I’m still not connecting the dots,
bonita
.” His fingers tightened on her shoulder. “And neither my time nor my patience, nor my willingness to continue to go hungry,
is limitless.”

“I’ve heard you can put me in touch with like-minded folk here in town. I want to contribute to the cause.” She watched his
face carefully and tried not to look like she was watching carefully. “I’d like to help.”

“I think maybe you got some bad information.” Javier moved his hand from her shoulder to curl it around the back of her neck.
His skin was cool against hers, and she could feel the strength in his grasp. With a flick of his wrist he could snap her
neck, and that’d be it for her. She didn’t know of any preternatural who could survive with their body being cut off from
their brain.

Javier’s hand on her nape made her nervous. But she couldn’t let him see it. The last thing she should do now is show any
sort of weakness to a predator like him. Without losing her smile, she said, “Well, I hope my information isn’t bad, because
I’ll be very disappointed.” She let her fingers drift a little higher.

He studied her a moment. Carnal hunger sparkled in his eyes. “And if I could make sure you’re not disappointed?”

“I’d be very…grateful.” Keira pushed extra breath into her voice so it came out throaty. She also pointed feelings of good
will and sincerity his way.

Those red-tinted eyes stayed fixed on her. She reached out with her empathic sense but couldn’t discern his true feelings.
Damn, he was a hard one to read. Most vampires were. She could only suppose it was because they were reanimated corpses. Thankfully,
they weren’t that hard to influence.

“If I hear something,” he said, “I’ll let you know.” The dip between his brows and the downturn of his mouth told her in spite
of her gentle pushing he was skeptical of her sincerity. Then his lips twisted up. “Now, it’s time to pay up,
bonita
.” He moved his hand from the nape of her neck to her left wrist, lifted her arm off the back of the sofa and started to bring
her wrist to his mouth. His lips parted, pulling back from his fangs.

Keira focused on her breathing, reached deep within her and drew even more upon her fey power. With a soft sigh she projected
a feeling of contentment and growing satiation to Javier. His mouth never made contact with her skin, but his eyes drooped
and his face took on the expression of a vampire who was enjoying every swallow.

After a few minutes, she slowly pulled her arm away. He smiled, a vacant one of overindulgence, and slumped back, his body
limp and replete. She left the room, closing the door softly behind her. She blew out a breath and leaned against the door
for a few moments.

Drawing as deeply as she did on her power always drained her. She fisted her hands to conceal her trembling. It wouldn’t do
for someone to remark upon how exhausted or weak she’d seemed when she left the back room. It might be expected if she’d actually
donated, but since there wasn’t a bite mark on her, it wouldn’t do at all.

Secure in the knowledge that she’d left Javier with the feeling he’d had the best meal of his life, Keira pushed away from
the door and headed toward the front of the club. As she entered the main area, the heat and babble slapped her in the face.
By Dagda’s beard, she was tired. The life energy flowing from the gathered crowd and the noise they made was usually something
she enjoyed. But not now. It only made her want to get out of there.

She focused on putting one foot in front of the other even as a satisfied smile curled her lips. She’d done it. She’d finally
been able to get someone who was willing to put her in touch with the rogue group of preternaturals.

She needed to report in, but she wanted to refuel and rest first. Which meant getting outside and at least putting her bare
feet against the ground so she could take in energy from the Earth. Completely naked would be better, but she wasn’t an exhibitionist
so feet or hands would have to suffice.

Keira reached the front door and paused to glance back into the club. As if drawn by a magnetic force, her gaze lit upon Finn.
He was seated at a high-topped table, leaning close to a blond-haired woman. When the woman threw back her head and laughed
at something he’d said, Keira saw the small lotus blossom tattoo behind her left ear. Her mouth firmed. Of course Finn would
have hooked up with a succubus. He’d been cruising for a sexual partner, and who better to see to his needs than a sex demon?

He wore what she’d come to think of as his flirty look—the smile just a bit too practiced, the interested expression in his
eyes a little too forced. Most women in here wouldn’t look closely enough to be able to see it, but Keira had been around
a long time. She’d seen men at their primitive worst in the Celtic tribe she’d become part of during the early Bronze Age
at the time of her rifting. And she’d seen them at their best when the age of chivalry had reached its height.