Make Me (20 page)

Jack looked annoyed. “You need some muscle beside you. You can’t do this alone.”

SHE HAS ME, Fang informed him.

“I’ll go with you,” Austin said.

I glanced at him in surprise. “Don’t you want to follow up on the chupacabra
thing, find Lisette’s missing vampire?”

He shrugged. “I’ll text Vincent and ask him to do that. You need my help.”

I hadn’t expected that, but I did appreciate it. “Thanks.”

“They don’t know me, so I can blend in, help when needed.”

Austin, blend in? With his good looks and cowboy drawl, he was more likely to cause a stampede… in his direction. But there was no way I was gonna feed his ego by saying that aloud. I glanced at Fang, expecting some kind of snarky remark, but he was too wired to banter.

“Good idea,” I said. “But Dina is a succubus as well. To make sure she doesn’t grab you in her chakras, I’ll have to hold you in my thrall.”

A slow grin spread across his face and he looked up from his phone. “If you think you can handle me.”

Annoyed, I shot back, “Of course I can.”

He leaned back in the chair and crossed his booted ankles. “So, what do you plan to do if he doesn’t show?”

HOW ABOUT WE CATCH US A SUCCUBUS AND TORTURE HER UNTIL SHE TALKS? Fang said.

Whoa. Remind me not to get you pissed at me
. And if he was going in looking for blood, I was afraid this wasn’t going to go well. Aloud, I said, “If necessary. But let’s try something simpler first. Fang can overhear demon thoughts. If anyone knows anything about them or the demon who kidnapped them, he’ll hear it and let me know.”

Fang snorted. MY PLAN SOUNDED LIKE MORE FUN.

Good, a little snark. Maybe he wouldn’t be as much of a loose cannon as I feared. “If we don’t find out anything that way, we’ll corner Dina and make her talk.” Somehow. “More backup would be good, too. No more vamps—they’d stand out. And if too many San Antonio demons show up, it’ll make Dina suspicious.” But I did need to let Shade know what was going on with his dog.

“How about David?” Jack asked.

Yes, of course. He was watching Shade for us so he should be nearby. I called him and filled him in, and he was glad to help. “He’ll meet us there,” I told the rest of them.

We stashed as many hidden weapons on us as we could, and, once the phone was charged, we left Jack and the books in our adjoining rooms, then headed out. When we got there, Club Purgatory was rockin’, and with a few
don’t look
nudges from Lola, Austin was able to sneak Fang in under his coat. But we changed our minds about Austin blending in, figuring it would be better to have him close by. We grabbed a corner table on the main floor, and Fang slid into the shadows under the table. I ordered a Coke—all they’d let me have since I was underage—and Austin ordered a beer. He was way over-age.

“Make that two beers,” David said as he joined us, a ski cap pulled down over his head to hide the majority of his scars.

The server nodded and I introduced the two guys. They nodded at each other, and David reached down to scratch Fang’s ears. “Hey, buddy.”

When Fang didn’t respond, I explained, “He’s listening in to demon conversations, to see if he can catch a hint of who the kidnapper is or where they’re holding our friends.”

David nodded, and the four of us resorted to searching the room with our gazes, looking for clues and watching for trouble. Plus, I had to admit, I was also looking for Shade. I kinda wanted to see him, but kinda didn’t. I was afraid he’d still be ticked off at me, but I had this fantasy that he’d spot me in the crowd, run to me in slow motion, and we’d kiss and make up.

Insert flat buzzer sound here. Wasn’t gonna happen. I’d be lucky if he wasn’t Dina’s personal love slave by now. I winced at the thought.

No, you can’t blame this on Dina. He’d find a way to get free if he needed to.

After a couple of hours of sitting there, doing nothing but drinking and getting on each other’s nerves, I asked Fang,
Anything yet?

NO, FOR THE FIFTIETH TIME. IF I LEARN ANYTHING, YOU’LL BE THE FIRST TO KNOW.

I knew that, but I hated waiting. Doing was my thing. Standing, I said, “I’ll be right back. Bathroom.” After all that Coke, I really did need to visit the ladies’. And that would keep the guys from coming with me.

After I used the facilities, I was too antsy to sit still again, so I wandered off down the hallway and through a door that said Staff Only. No one seemed to be paying attention to me back here amongst the bottle storage and dishwashing equipment. I snooped around a bit, but didn’t find anything useful, so I slipped down the back stairs to the underground lair where I’d met Shade and Dina before. I heard voices in the break room, so I stopped outside the door to listen in.

“Snooping, are you?” a voice asked behind me.

I whirled and there was Dina with two boy toys in tow. Unfortunately, I knew one of them all too well—Shade. There went my dumb fantasy. I reached for him with Lola, but Dina already had control of him. It figured.

Backup,
I yelled to Fang,
I’m in the basement and I need backup.
I hoped he was close enough to hear me.

ON OUR WAY, came the faint thought.

I relaxed and shrugged nonchalantly, pretending it didn’t bother me that Shade was slobbering all over her. I had to remind myself that she’d probably ordered him to do that and he had no choice to obey her. “Just thought I’d visit again because, you know, last time was so much fun.”

“Oh, really? I thought you’d come back to tell me you were leaving my city.”

Wishful thinking, bitch
. “No, I just have a few questions for you. Like why did you enthrall Shade? You promised not to.”

She shrugged. “Actually, I promised I’d take care of him. And I have been.” She leaned her forearm on Shade’s shoulder. “Haven’t I, sweet thing?” He pulled her close and planted a slow kiss on her neck.

I wanted to scream, throw things, or cut out her black heart, but none of that was acceptable. “Try that without your succubus thrall and see how far you get,” I challenged. Shade wouldn’t do that on his own. Would he? I forcibly tamped down my simmering anger, refusing to let it overflow and show her that she’d gotten to me.

“No, thank you,” Dina said. “I rather like having a shadow demon around.”

Austin, David and Fang arrived then, pelting down the stairs. Fang let out one explosive
humph
when he saw Dina, then settled down.

I felt a little better with my friends behind me. “I was just telling our hostess that we have a few questions for her.”

Naturally, Dina reached out to try and seduce them into being her slaves, but I already had hold of Austin. And I couldn’t even reach David. Huh. Well, if I couldn’t, she couldn’t either.

“Micah’s missing,” David said. “What do you know about that?”

“Missing?” Dina repeated, then fondled her crystal teardrop again, drawing the guys’ attention to her cleavage. “I don’t know anything about that.”

Fang growled. SHE’S TELLING THE TRUTH, BUT SHE’S HIDING SOMETHING. FIND OUT WHAT IT IS.

How was I supposed to do that? “Have you heard from him lately?” I asked.

“No, not since he called to tell me about you and the books. Why? Have you misplaced him?”

“No, he’s been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?” she repeated in surprise. “You think I had something to do with it?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” I said dryly.

“Well, I didn’t.”

TRUTH, Fang confirmed.

Dina gasped, looking suddenly apprehensive. “You think I might be next?”

I thought about relieving her mind, telling her that the kidnapper wanted the books, but I felt like being petty. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

GEE, THANKS, Fang said. NOW ALL SHE CAN THINK ABOUT IS HOW TO PROTECT HERSELF.

I shrugged it off. She probably didn’t have any information anyway.

“What else can you tell me?” she demanded. “My security detail has to know everything to protect me.”

Aha, I had something she wanted. I smiled. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll tell you what I know about the kidnapping if you release Shade.”

“I don’t want to leave,” he said.

Was that Shade talking? Or Dina forcing Shade to want to stay?

Dina crossed her arms and glared at me. “No deal.”

“Okay, then give me five minutes alone with him—without him under your control—and I’ll tell him what I know. He can tell you.” When she hesitated, I added, “It’s the only way you’ll learn anything.”

Her eyes narrowed, then she spat, “Fine. Five minutes.” She whispered something in his ear, then drew away from him. Dina gave me a confident smile. “Not that it’ll do you any good,” she murmured.

We’ll see about that
. I grabbed Shade’s hand and tugged him through the door and into the phone room again. Once we were alone inside, Lola reached for him. It wasn’t conscious on my part, but Lola hadn’t fed in a while and was getting edgy from lack of energy. She was accustomed to feeding on Shade whenever she liked… and she liked right now.

But his chakras felt different, tight and closed off. Was that from having another succubus in them for so long?

“Stop it,” he said, drawing away from me to the limits of the room.

I could see why he was tired of being controlled. “It’s not me,” I protested. “It’s Lola. She likes you.”

“You have control of her,” Shade said, his voice uncharacteristically terse. “You can stop it.”

Why was he so angry? “Already done. But let me touch you so I can see your face.” I reached out to cup his cheek, but he jerked away. He did let me touch his hand, though. I clutched it hard. “I’m so sorry she’s controlling you.”

“It’s part of my job.” His expression was tight, uncompromising.

Okay, he was pissed. I got that. But he had to get over it soon. “She can’t maintain control of you twenty-four hours a day. Can’t you stay awake? Leave when she sleeps?”

“You don’t get it,” Shade said. “I have a job to do and I’m doing it. I don’t need the Slayer’s help or to be rescued by a vampire. I can handle this without you.”

Was I coming on too strong? Too controlling? Suddenly uncertain, I asked, “Has Dina brainwashed you?”

“No, I finally came to my senses. Here, I’m treated like I’m somebody. Not just the Slayer’s boyfriend or Micah’s watcher and healer. Here, I matter.”

“You matter to me,” I said in a small voice.

“Not enough. You don’t see me, Val. You don’t see what’s right in front of you.”

I wanted to cry or throw things, but that wouldn’t help. How could I convince him that I didn’t see him as weak? That I needed him? “Shade—”

He drew away from me. “Enough. You’ve had your say. Now, tell me what Dina wants to know about the kidnapping.”

“Okay, but you need to know something else.” I swallowed hard, and wished I didn’t have to reveal the rest. “Two others were kidnapped along with Micah.”

“Who?”

“Gwen and Princess.”

“Damn it, Val. You couldn’t even protect my dog?”

Why was he being so unreasonable? This wasn’t like him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know—”

He cut me off with an impatient gesture. “Tell me what you know about the kidnapping.”

Confused and upset, I let him listen to the voice mail and see the picture. “That’s all I know. I didn’t get the message until it was too late to meet him. But he told us to meet him here, at the club. Doesn’t that imply Dina is involved?”