Savannah Sacrifice (4 page)

Starling's throat tightened. She was desperate to get into the safe deposit box, but was she willing to do anything? What if he asked her for sex?

Some prices were too high.

“What do you want?” she asked, her voice seductive but guarded.

“Before I ask, you need to tell me about your fiancé.”

“Who?”

Devon's full lips pulled into a handsome but unnatural smile. “The man you came here with.”

Double crap. How could she have forgotten about Jasper?

“He's not really your fiancé, is he?”

“What gave it away?”

Reaching over, he took her hand. “You aren't wearing a ring. I've learned that women love to show off their rings.” Her fingers slid into his enormous palm, like he was a duke from one of her romance novels and he was asking her to dance. She'd never felt so much like a princess. Then again, she'd not had the full attention of a real man before—boys, yes, but never a man—except for her brief moment with Jasper in Vegas. “Is he even your boyfriend?”

She shook her head.

“I would love to go on a date with you, Miss Starling.”

“Isn't that blackmail or fraud or something? Couldn't you get into trouble?” She stared down at her fingers. Her skin was milky and pale against his.

“Oh, we don't need to look at it like that, do we? Besides, it's not like your aunt is going to come after the bank for letting you into the safe deposit box. At least this way we both will get something we want.”

She nibbled at her lip. Jasper was going to have a holy fit if she told him she had arranged for a date with the bank manager. It was a wonder he hadn't had a stroke in the elevator when he pushed his way in between them. He would never agree to her seeing Devon. Then again, she didn't need his permission.

“Okay. One date.”

“Only one?” Devon's eyes sparked with devilishness. “I'll believe that when I see it.”

“Not much of an ego, I see,” Starling countered.

“No ego. I just know that after one night out with me, you will be begging for more.”

Her laugh echoed out into the concrete halls. “No ego my ass.”

Devon leaned to the side, his suit jacket pulling tightly, only further defining his well-toned muscles. “Oh, I would love to get another look at your ass all right.”

She turned slightly, just to give her duke a glance of what he wanted. “One date. You have to prove to me that you're a gentleman.”

He stood up straight and wiped the confident smile from his face. “If it's a gentleman you want, I'm your man. I know exactly how to treat a lady, Miss Starling.”

“Safe deposit box first.” She motioned toward the vault.

“Where are you staying?”

“The Bohemian.”

“All right, the Bohemian at seven.”

“While I'm looking through the safe deposit box, you can decide where we'll go this evening.”

“Done.” He clicked a few buttons on his computer screen and then, using a set of keys from his pocket, unlocked the vault. “I'll be waiting out here. When you're done, just knock on the door and I'll let you out. And take as long as you need. I'm going to need a while to plan something … unforgettable.”

The inner doors of the vault closed and Starling waited for the sound of the gates. After a second, the haunting clank of the metal closing filled the room, reverberating off the thousands of green metal boxes that lined the walls. On the table in front of her was a large, rectangular box. It sat unlocked but unopened.

What if the spirits had done nothing but led her on a dead-end journey? What if they had been wrong? She had spent almost all of her money getting down here and had only a small supply of her medication to keep away the spirits. Her only hope was that the
Libros Umbrarum
would be inside or she would have nothing left. No hope. No chance for recovering from her affliction. She would be left to the mercy of the dead.

Trying to rid herself of her nerves, she gave one long exhale. She'd come so far in her quest for the books, now wasn't the moment to be weak. The metal was cold and unyielding under her fingertips. The green box was the color of vomit, and merely the thought made her stomach turn.

Don't worry. The books will be inside. Don't worry. She repeated her mantra over and over in her head.

She lifted the lid.

The air in her lungs escaped in one long wheeze. Sitting in the bottom of the box was a lone, black feather.

The Catharterians had beaten her there.

• • •

He couldn't stand it any longer. She'd been inside the vault for too long. Jasper made his way down the hall from the elevator and stopped at the entrance to the small office that led to the safe deposit box area. Another minute and Jasper would break the gates down and go after Starling. The only thing stopping him was that asshat, Devon, working away at his computer, no doubt trying to make himself look busy so he wouldn't have to face the fact that Jasper stood just a few feet away.

Jasper clicked away on his phone as he looked through the emails the Sisterhood had sent him. He tapped nervously, the sound filling the small space as he attempted to think about anything other than Starling and all the things that could go wrong. He didn't trust Devon. Something about the asshat's face made his skin crawl. Sure, she was enclosed in a bank vault, but what if she wasn't really alone? What if a Catharterian was waiting for her? What if there was a fake exit?

He tried to quell his fears. It was just a bank. He was overreacting.

“Hey, man, can you keep it down?” Devon asked with a look of annoyance.

The floodgates opened at the sound of the asshat's voice, and Jasper shoved his phone back into his pocket. “Open the door,” he ordered. “It's been long enough.”

“Look, man. From the way you are acting, it's no wonder she wanted a little break.”

“I'm allowed to worry. She's my fiancé,” Jasper said, but he could feel his entire body twitch as he said the word. The first time it had been amusing, but something about repeating it made him uncomfortable.

“Funny,” Devon answered, as he looked back down at his computer screen.

“What's so goddamned funny?”

“That you are still lying about your relationship with her. Starling told me the truth.”

He imagined grabbing Devon by the throat and slamming his face into the computer's monitor.

“And to be honest,” Devon continued, “she seemed more than happy to agree to go on a date with me.”

“Bullshit.” He focused on keeping his body still, anything to stop himself from lashing out at the prick.

“No bullshit, man.” Devon stapled a stack of papers together and laid them on the desk. “My guess is that a guy like you couldn't do anything to please a woman as beautiful as her.” He looked up. “It's a good thing she found me.”

“If you don't shut the fuck up and stop calling me
man,
man, the only thing you're going to find is my foot in your ass.”

“I see you're a sorry loser,
man
.” Devon looked up, a condescending sneer on his face. “What do you think you are going to do? There are security cameras everywhere here. If you lay one single finger on me, you will find your ass behind bars.”

“Fuck you.”

“What was I thinking? At least if you are behind bars, your little
fiancé
and I won't have to worry about you hovering over us.” Devon leaned over forward. “What's your thing with her, anyway? If you're not her fiancé, what are you?”

“That's not any of your goddamned business. You don't need to worry about anything to do with her or us. You won't be seeing her again.”

“Wanna make a bet?”

There was a tap from the other side of the doors. Devon stared him down as he walked over and unlocked the vault. Starling came into view; her black hair was disheveled and a few strands were stuck to the side of her face. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, there were no books in her hands, and her purse hung limply on her arm.

“Starling,” Jasper said, racing to reach her before Devon even had the time to respond. “Are you okay? What was in the box?”

“I'm fine. They weren't there,” she replied. “Let's just go.” She passed Devon a weak smile.

“Are you okay?” Devon asked. “If you're not feeling well, we can postpone our dinner. I'd understand.”

Jasper clenched his jaw. He didn't need a fight right now. First things first—he needed to get Starling back to the hotel. Then he needed to find out exactly what had been in the box that rattled her.

“It's going to be okay, Starling. We'll go pack up our stuff and catch the next flight out.”

“No,” she said, but she couldn't raise her gaze from the floor. “I have to find … ” She glanced up at Devon and then back down at the floor. “I have to find what I need. Besides, I promised Devon I would go out with him. If nothing else, I'm good to my word.”

He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and tell her exactly what a prick Devon was, but now wasn't the time—at least not in front of the banker. Jasper had the upper hand; all he had to do was get her out of the building and away from the creeper, and if he played his cards right, neither of them would have to see Devon again.

When she'd left Vegas, Starling whole-heartedly believed that things would go her way. Everything in her life had been turned upside down in the last few months since she had been uprooted from her deceased mother's apartment and moved halfway across country with a father she barely knew and his new wife. It only seemed fair that the fates would eventually be on her side. What a naïve fool she had been. Why had she even bothered to hope? Life was never fair.

She buried her face into her pillow.

“Why did you agree to go on a date with Devon?” Jasper asked, pulling her attention away from her wallowing and back to him.

His face was a contorted mixture of anger and annoyance, but the way the lines collected around his lips made her wonder if he felt something else, something resembling jealousy. A wiggle of excitement rose from her belly at the possibility. “He noticed that my papers didn't have a notary's seal. I had to agree to the date or else I wouldn't have gotten in.”

Jasper nodded and folded his hands together behind his back. “You don't intend on actually going, do you?”

“I don't have much, Jasper. The only thing I have is my word. It would be a shame to lose that.”

Jasper stood quietly for a moment. There was no way he was going to talk her out of this. Devon was gorgeous from head to toe. Even the way he smiled screamed sexy. If nothing else, having him at her side would take her mind off the lost books.

She smiled for a second as she noticed the way Jasper's jeans clung to the arch of his ass. He bent forward and his shirt moved up, exposing the dimples just above his waistband. Excitement sprang up from the depths of her belly and then sank back down to deeper, more forbidden places.

“What exactly are these books you were looking for?”

She looked away from his perfect ass and tried to concentrate on something other than her growing need to feel a man's touch. “They're called the
Libros Umbrarum
. I don't know much about them other than the name means
Books of Shadows
in Latin, and the spirits keep pushing me toward them.” She rolled onto her side. “Even Harper's sister, Jenna, wanted me to have the books. She left them to me in her will. I didn't even know they existed until she died.”

“Why are the spirits hellbent on getting these books?”

“The spirits keep telling me they are the key to helping them ‘cross over' and that they will help me gain control over the voices that I hear. I'm low on my supply of the GX 149, plus they are losing their effectiveness. The
Libros
are my only hope; if I don't do something I fear I'll go mad.”

“Harper is close to making more, isn't she?”

“She was able to make a small batch before the company she used to work for found out she was using company equipment for a personal project on drugs—and to top it off, they somehow found out it was a drug that didn't pass FDA approval. She was fired. Now she's a year away from having her new lab up and running. By then I doubt they will have little effect on my control of the voices.”

“I didn't realize …” Jasper turned. “So what can we do? Where are you planning on searching next?”

Starling sucked in a breath. “I have no idea. They were supposed to be in that bank, but I think the Catharterians beat me there. They must have them. First, they showed up at the airport and now a black feather in a secret bank vault? They're the only shifters who change into a vulture. They're the only ones who know about the drugs and would have access or the motivation to access our secrets. With the books in their hands, I won't be getting them any time soon.”

“How much contact do you have with the spirits? Could they help you find your books?”

“They didn't even know the Catharterians had the
Libros
. I would doubt they have any clue where they put my books.”

“But that's just the spirits you talk to on a regular basis. Do you think it's possible there are spirits out there you haven't met who could point us to the Catharterians' lair?” Jasper's eyes were bright with excitement, giving him the look of a kid talking about getting a Christmas present. He mustn't have learned the lesson of hoping for something that just wasn't going to happen.

“Spirits aren't easy to work with. They don't come when you want or need them. They only come to you when they want something. The dead are the worst kind of people.”

Jasper's laughter echoed through the room.

“It's amazing what happens to a soul when their actions are no longer dictated by the laws of other people's judgment.”