Locked in Silence: Grimm's Circle, Book 5 (11 page)

Pissed.

She didn’t
care
.

“What in the
hell
was that?”

His hands slashed through the air. “
That was you almost getting fucked—and I’m not talking about sex, Vanya, although I didn’t expect to see you letting him go so far. You didn’t think at all.”

Sputtering, the bloody knife still clutched in her hand, she stared at him. “I didn’t
think
? Um, excuse me, I’ve killed more of these things than I can remember and I’ve never felt anything like that—what in the hell was that?”

She felt a blast of cold in her mind, and although that nasty, clinging residue of unwanted arousal lingered, it was no longer the driving force in her mind. Now she was awash in Silence’s anger, the knife edge of an icy rage. And all it did was make her even more pissed.

Distantly, she heard the chaos in his mind—the way she did when he was either thinking random thoughts or trying to block her. Damn it, he’d better be blocking because right now she was so fucking pissed, if she heard him too clearly, they’d be going at it.

Shaking with her own anger, trembling with fear and disgust, she said, “Again, what in the
hell
was that?”

His hands flashed, moving too quick for her to follow.

“Damn it, either slow down or just
talk
to me,” she snarled.

His eyes narrowed. Then his hand moved, again too fast. But he wasn’t signing to her this time. This time, he was grabbing her, his hand hooking in the front of her corset and hauling her against him.

His face just a breath from hers, he glared at her. The look on his face was one of sheer, icy rage.
“Just talk to you, Vanya? How can I just talk when you threw everything I’ve taught you out the window and reacted blindly?”

“Damn it, I was freaked out! I still am, and you haven’t answered me—what in the hell was that? Why in the hell did I suddenly
want
him touching me?”

A muscle ticked in Silence’s jaw.

She shuddered at the rage she felt coming from him, rage, worry, jealousy…confusion.

Then he closed his eyes.

His hand uncurled from her corset and she was able to sink back to her feet, still watching him, still confused as all get out.

She went to push her hair back from her face and saw she was still holding the knife. “Fuck,” she muttered, her voice cracking a little. She wanted to cry. Wanted to curl up into a ball and sob. And she also itched, ached with the need to fuck—her entire body burned with it. Swallowing past the knot in her throat, she shoved it all aside. She wasn’t done here, after all, right?

She sank to the ground, unable to exactly
bend
—not in the corset. She used the dead guy’s shirt to clean her knife, eying his face.

He was just a dead body now—a dead man.

A human.

One she’d killed.

Sighing, she whispered to him, “I’m sorry.”

Silence touched her head.
“You know you had no choice. Once an incubae settles in, we cannot get them out. If he’d fought, there might have been a chance, but he wasn’t fighting. You could see the demon in control, couldn’t you?”

She eased away, shaken, still angry, so confused. Not to mention hurt and scared. She moved until he couldn’t touch her and shot a nervous look around the parking lot. Tucking her knife back into her boot, she said, “We’ve been out here too long. We’re going to be seen.”

Silence shook his head.
“No—”

Then, abruptly, he stopped speaking and signed.
I’m hiding this area. Nobody can see us or hear us. For all the world knows, this area doesn’t exist right now
.

He lifted a hand as though to touch her.

Vanya backed away even as her belly went hot and tight, even as her nipples drew tight.

What the
hell
—? She crossed her arms over her chest, but that was almost agony.

“Damn it, why am I feeling like this, damn it?” she demanded, humiliated when her voice broke. “I’ve been around those things too many times and I’ve had them pawing me too. But I’ve never been turned on by one. I never
wanted
one.”

Silence sighed, the soft sound breaking the quiet that wrapped around them. His hand, still stretched out between them, curled into a fist and then fell to his side.

She stared at him, waiting for an answer.

When he spoke into her mind, she jumped.

“It may be that you’d always shielded against it. But it’s just the power of their kind, Vanya. It’s nothing unusual. I’ve felt it myself—and it’s nothing for you to feel shame over. You didn’t
want
him. It was your body reacting without your consent to something he did—you can’t be blamed for blinking, for breathing. It was an instinctive response, nothing to feel ashamed over, nothing to be angry over.”

Then he passed a hand over his face, shook his head.
“Your powers have increased with your change—they often do. It never occurred to me that you were unfamiliar with what they can do since you’ve fought them before. If you’d had a natural resistance to them as a mortal, I would have thought it would carry over.”

He looked at her, his blue eyes troubled. He lifted his hands and signed.

I’m sorry
.

Vanya swallowed and looked away.

Shit.

He was sorry—for what? Still squirming, still miserable, still fighting her own anger, she looked away. Her voice stiff, she said, “You expected me to think and I didn’t. You’ve been training me to think and I didn’t. I fucked up, for whatever reasons. Don’t be sorry. I’ll do better next time.”

She went to brush past him. His hand came down over her neck and squeezed.

“You had a right to be disturbed by that—I would have been if I hadn’t been expecting it.”
His thumb and fingers lightly dug into the tight muscles, coaxing them into relaxing.

Vanya didn’t want to relax, though.

She couldn’t, not until she figured out a way to function with this shit.

Hell, she’d blocked the things before—shielded against it, a natural resistance, whatever. She’d figure it out again. “Disturbed or not, I’m supposed to think, right?” She moved away from his hand, heading toward the club. The farther she moved away, the louder the music got, the brighter the parking lot got.

“We’re done for the night,”
he said a few moments later.

She briefly wondered what had become of the body, or if it was still lying back there.

“We’re not done,” she said. “You told me I had to do this a couple of times, damn it. I’m doing it a couple of times.”

She’d be damned if she let these things freak her out so badly that she couldn’t function—hell, she’d done better as a human.

That wasn’t acceptable.

“Damn it, stop being so stubborn,”
Silence snapped, reaching for her.

But she evaded him, her body swaying to the side only a second before he would have closed his hand around her shoulder. That smooth, white shoulder left bare by the corset he’d provided for her to wear—what had he been thinking?

“I’m not being stubborn,” she replied. “I’m doing what you brought me here for, remember? And I’ll handle it better this time.”

She was still upset. He could see it in the tense set of her shoulders, in the pale, tight look around her eyes.

He wouldn’t risk this—

Somebody came around the corner.

A lithe, leggy blonde who took a look at him then Vanya. He recognized her about the same time Vanya did—saw the thing peering out from behind her eyes.

Vanya tripped. On purpose, he was sure, falling against the woman with a soft sob.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry.” She gave a very convincing, completely
fake
sniff and shot him a dirty look. “Would you leave me
alone
? I told you, I’m
not
leaving. You wanted to come here—fine, we’re here. Asshole.”

She went to go around the blonde, but the woman caught her around the waist. “Are you okay, sweetie?” She shot Silence a smirk and added, “Let me guess. Your boyfriend here doesn’t want you having any fun, huh?”

Vanya curled her lip. “Only
his
kind of fun, the bastard.” She tried to push away from the blonde, subtly, putting some distance between them.

“Hmmm. Typical man.” She stroked a hand down Vanya’s arm.

Silence felt the prickle of her power roll through the air.

It was stronger than the incubae had been, and if he could speak, he would have sworn a blue streak. As it was, he was hard-pressed not to blast his voice in Vanya’s mind, knowing she’d be getting the full brunt of the succubae’s power, completely unprepared, and touching the demon as well.

“What’s he wanting, sweetie? The typical male-pig thing? Having two women crawling all over him?” She inched closer. Her eyes were darker now, the demon inching closer and closer to the surface.

Vanya swayed forward. “Um. No. He wanted…” She looked away, shot Silence another dark look. “Another guy. Wanted me to do it with another guy. And him. I didn’t want to—the other guy got mad and I…hell, I hit him. I think I broke his nose and he got mad, took off.”

Clever girl,
Silence thought. That would explain any blood the succubae might scent on her if she stopped thinking with her cunt long enough.

“Broke his nose, did you? And you still want to stay?”

Vanya poked her lip out. “I want a drink. I want to dance. And…hell. I don’t know. I want to have some fun, but I don’t think I want to be with two guys. He won’t shut up about it and now he’s pouting.”

“Hmmmm…that sounds like a man. And two men, well, it can be fun. But still, you should get to choose your own games,” the blonde whispered. She had a hand on Vanya’s waist now, stroking upward to her breasts.

Vanya blushed when the blonde touched her. Blushed, shivered, turned away. “I…um…”

The blonde touched her mouth to Vanya’s shoulder. Silence watched, set his jaw. And called his shadows, wrapping them around them. As he did, he eased closer to Vanya, reaching out to touch her, his fingers brushing the tips of hers as he lowered his mouth to hers.

The succubae chuckled. “Well, maybe two women will work for him as well, sweetie. I think he just wants to see you having fun, really…look at how he looks at you. He’s completely gone over on you, I can tell.”

Silence stroked his hand down her torso. The succubae had slid her hands around, dipped them inside the top of Vanya’s corset to toy with her breasts.

Silence could feel her touching his woman and it bothered him—he’d played this game and it had never affected him before. It was an easy way to set up this kind of demon—they were so easily distracted with the lure of sex, all save the king or queen.

But he hated this because he could see the discomfort in Vanya’s eyes. Even under the impact of the succubae’s power, she was still herself—and she didn’t like this, at all. It infuriated him.

Stroking his hand farther down, he trailed his fingers over her thigh, catching her knee, bringing it up.

A few seconds later, he had her knife in his hand.

Vanya tensed as the succubae screeched.

Her scream ended abruptly, and Vanya jerked out from the little demon/angel sandwich she’d been in.

Staring at Silence, staring at the knife he held, she set her jaw.

“Damn it, am I supposed to be learning or not?” she demanded.

“Yes. But I’m not putting more on you than you need, and you’ve done enough tonight.”
He cleaned the blade and handed it back to her. She took it, about ready to spin around, heading back into the club. But he caught her arm, his grasp too tight to break.

As he hustled her toward the car, she snapped, “Damn it, we can’t just leave. What about the bodies?”

He smirked.
“We leave them. You’ve done that before, I know.”

Vanya winced. Yeah, there were a number of cops who really wanted her ass—hell, they’d probably branded her a serial killer. “I thought you all operated with a little more polish. Besides, this place has cameras. I saw them.”

A grim smile twisted his mouth.
“Cameras don’t like me. The security people will find them all broken. Another gift of mine. Stop dragging your feet, Vanya. We are leaving.”

They reached the car far too soon, but before she could climb in, he touched her cheek.
“You are still unhappy with me.”

She gave him a flat look. “I’ve had a bad night. And since we’re not staying, can we just
go
? I want a damn bath.”

He sighed and dipped his head, brushing his lips over her brow. Then he stepped back, letting her climb in. The door closed behind her and she closed her eyes. She wanted a bath, and despite the fact that she wasn’t supposed to
need
sleep, she did. She actually kind of craved it, needed the oblivion it promised.

Chapter Six

“Why are we here?” Vanya sighed as Silence parked the car in front of a luxury hotel that she’d seen before, but damned if she had ever so much as stepped a foot inside.

She couldn’t afford this place.

She probably couldn’t even afford the
soap
in this place.

“I’m tired of that hovel. We’re moving to this hotel.”

She stiffened. “That
hovel
is where I’ve been living for several months. If it doesn’t suit you? Fine. Take me there and you can check your fancy ass into whatever hotel you like.”

Silence shot her a narrow look and shook his head.

“Fine,” she bit off. “I’ll fucking walk.”

She was so damned tired it wasn’t even funny. Tired, and more than a little embarrassed. Yeah, she knew the rundown little place wasn’t much, but hell, it was the best she could manage.

But when she went to get out, Silence’s hand closed over her wrist.
“You are not leaving. You do not need to be alone, and you damn well deserve better than that miserable room.”

Flushing a miserable shade of red, she fought the urge to hunch her shoulders.
 

“That miserable room suits me fine,” she bit off.

He snorted. The look on his face said more than enough.
“You’re not going back there.”