Steal the Sun (23 page)

I watched in complete disgust as the male and female continued their dance. It became somewhat frenzied as the woman’s magic took over. I racked my brain trying to figure a reason why this woman would try to dance a man to death and then the word finally came to mind.

“
Baobhan sith
.” I have to admit that I was in awe of the rare creature I found myself in the presence of. I’ve seen a lot of freaky shit in my time, but this was something totally different.

She stopped suddenly and turned my way. “You know my race?”

I did, though only through stories from my adopted summer parents. Ingrid and Halle had given me a rundown of all the creatures of Faery I should know. The
baobhan sith
were only mentioned because they thought Daniel would find them amusing. They were the faery version of a vampire. The
baobhan sith
were all female. They roamed the forests at night looking for wayward men, so in some ways my prior hooker theory held true. She would exchange her body for what she wanted. But she wouldn’t take a quick hundred for a hummer. She wanted her payment in blood, and unlike the Earth plane’s vamps, she almost always killed her donor.

“I know what you are.” I felt no great fear talking to her. From what I understood, she wouldn’t attack a female.

“This one is hunting in my forest,” she explained even as the Hunter swayed close to her. “That makes him mine.”

“Look, lady, here’s the truth of the matter,” I began, hoping beyond hope that logic could sway her. “I don’t care. If you want to eat that asshole, I’m more than fine with it. Hell, if I had a fork, I’d give it to you, but how about giving a sister a hand? Why don’t you untie me and I’ll take the puppies here and leave you to your dinner?”

It was a good plan. I couldn’t care less that the guy who wanted to use me and junior as lures would die. If the crazy vamp was willing to cut me free, then I could shag ass out of this forest and get Danny. Danny could handle the ogre with one hand behind his back and he wouldn’t need to tie me up to do it. If Herne the Asshole had let me in on his plan in the first place, I would have gone straight to Daniel.

“The woods have been full of hunters tonight.” Her strange eyes glazed over in memory. “I’ve tasted the sweetest blood.”

“What other hunters?” My skin crawled. If she roamed the forest a lot, then the Fae likely knew to stay away from her. My people didn’t. Some sort of sign might have been helpful or a pamphlet.

She smiled serenely. “I found another earlier. His blood was so sweet I spared his life. It’s why I need this one. I must have more but I wish to make the shapeshifter last a long time.”

“Damn it!” I let my head fall back against the tree trunk. Now I couldn’t just run for my life. “Seriously? Are you sure about that? Was he about six foot tall, with curly brown hair and a righteously crabby disposition? Because if we’re talking about the same guy then I have issues because that one is mine.”

“If he’s yours then he should not have been hunting in my forests at night,” the vampire chided me. “He should have been at home in your bed as a good husband should. The fact that he was out at night means he was up to no good. I’m doing you a favor. Find a more easy to control male.”

Nice. I was tied up in the middle of the forest and crazy bitch was giving a lecture on scene control. “He isn’t my husband. He’s my bodyguard.”

She looked me over, ropes and all. “He’s not doing a good job.”

“Well, I can be rough on a guard,” I admitted. “He was just doing his job so I need him back. As for this one, go crazy. The dinner bell’s a ringing.”

The Hunter was at her back. He was still swaying but now he ran his hands down her arms and he let his face rub into her hair. She moved with him, keeping him in a state of wanting though her real attention was focused on me. “I think you’re not in a position to demand anything. Why should I give up my lovely treats to a girl who was silly enough to get herself tied to a tree?”

“Girl power?” I offered. “Come on, don’t we chicks have to stick together?”

“Why do you refer to me as a baby bird? I’m not soft and sweet.” She turned toward the Hunter now, who let his hands find her breasts. “I will show you.”

Baobhan sith
don’t have fangs. She held her hand up and showed me what she did have. Her index finger sported a long, sharp talon. She drew it brutally across the Hunter’s neck and I got sprayed with a fountain of blood. The dogs growled now but even as she pulled him close and fastened her mouth against his neck, the Hunter’s hands came out to quiet his pets. They whined and moved close to me as though the tied up pregnant human would protect them.

The vampire feasted. She sucked and made noises I was sure Danny didn’t make when he ate. Even from the outside looking in, watching Daniel feed was a sexy thing. This was kind of stomach turning. For the most part, feeding a vampire is a fairly neat experience. Even the two times that bastard Louis Marini has caught me for a snack, he didn’t ruin my clothes. This girl vamp didn’t seem to care that she was letting a lot of her meal go to waste. Girl needed some table manners. She seemed to have skipped vampire finishing school. The Hunter was bleeding and it was going everywhere. It was on him. It was on her. It was on me.

Even as I thought it, I could see the flow slowing. The vampire pulled back, startled, and checked her prey’s neck. It was closed now and though the Hunter seemed the tiniest bit woozy, he was still on his feet.

“What magnificent prey I have found this evening!” she exclaimed with a happy sigh. “He’s like the other. Their powers of healing are amazing. I’m full yet they live to feed me again on the morrow.”

“I’m happy for the two of you. Now, how about we celebrate your newfound interdependence and untie me?”

Her mouth was covered in blood and it dripped down her white dress but she was surprising unselfconscious. “I think not. I think you would attempt to save the shapeshifter. I think you would fight me.”

“Absolutely not,” I promised, lying through my teeth. “Take ‘em both. You were right. He was a crappy guard or I wouldn’t have ended up here.”

She moved in close, and I could smell the stench of decay on her. I tried to move away from it, but there was no place to go. “Be careful, little girl. We do not take kindly to liars.”

I took a deep breath and prayed she didn’t use that nasty, needed-a-manicure, finger on me. “All right, I’ll tell you the truth, then. If you give me my wolf and let me go free, then I’ll leave your forest and I won’t return.” I left out the part about sending Danny back to deal with her, but I doubted seriously she could handle Daniel.

The vampire looked at me. “And what do I get in return for giving you my prize?”

I looked into her dead eyes and I was extremely serious about my offer. “If you give me my wolf and untie me, in exchange, I promise not to hunt you down and kill you.”

Her laughter rang through the air, breaking the quiet of the forest. “You’re most amusing, human. I would enjoy watching the large ogre chew on your bones, but I’ll allow you a private death. I need to take my new love to my home and settle in for a nice long evening. Good luck to you.”

She turned and when she walked back the way she’d come, the Hunter followed her without a single glance back at the woman he’d intended not to hurt. I was left alone in the middle of the forest, staked out and bloodied. I was the perfect feast for a hungry ogre.

Barghest whined beside me. He obviously wondered if he should follow his master, but I assumed that last hand gesture had been a stay command and though there wasn’t much the dogs could do to help, I was glad I wasn’t alone.

Shuck lay down on top of my feet and closed his eyes. At least someone was getting something out of this.

The Hunter and his new lady friend disappeared into the wilderness. I made note of the direction they were going because I had every intention of making good on my promise. I was going to hunt down that vampire and I was going to get Lee back.

There was a rumble in the distance and it sounded like something big was walking my way. I started pulling at my bindings in earnest now because the ogre was coming and I was almost out of time.

Chapter Fourteen

I looked at Barghest, the dog not asleep at my feet. “Hey, buddy,” I said in my brightest voice. “You want to pull that knife out of the sheath and cut through these ties? I’ll give you a treat.”

Big black eyes looked up at me with zero intelligence in them. He did that doggie smile thing and popped up to lick my face. It was sweet and not helpful in our current situation. At my feet, Shuck began to snore, his enormous body rising and falling with his deep breaths. I was in a place filled with unique and magical creatures and I got stuck with two dumb dogs.

Closing my eyes, I started to work on the bindings on my hands. I had tried to hold them apart to make the loop as large as I could while the Hunter was tying me up so I would have some wiggle room when I relaxed. I was happy to find that this ploy, unlike everything else I had tried tonight, worked. I had a small but significant amount of slack to work with. The rope burned, but I continued my struggle. If I bled, it would just serve as a handy lubricant to grease the wheels a bit. I managed to get the ropes almost down to the first joint of my thumb when I heard something moving in the distance. The sound came from the direction the Hunter and I had entered the woods earlier in the evening. I picked up the pace, working the ropes hard because while I thought the ogre would come from the opposite direction, I’d already had an encounter with a nasty-ass vampire, so I wasn’t taking any chances. These damn woods were more crowded than Ether’s dance floor.

The dogs sat up and thumped their tails happily, barking to let me know that a friend was coming. Shuck ran off to greet whoever was walking our way.

I was happy to see it was one pissed-off werewolf.

“Zoey Donovan.” Neil strode out of the bushes looking incredibly out of place in his perfectly pressed sky blue pajamas and red velvet smoking jacket. He looked like he should be in a Doris Day film rather than walking through the woods looking for a wayward charge. He stood staring at me for a long moment, his slippered feet tapping against the forest floor. I tried to speak, but he gave me an imperious shake of his index finger that told me he needed a moment. After what seemed like forever, he finally spoke. “The funny thing is, of all the things I thought I would see when I caught up with you, this was number three.”

I thought about that. “God, Neil, what were one and two?”

“You don’t even want to know.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared me down with his icy blue eyes. “I’m going to kill you for this.”

“Kill me later. Untie me now.” I said it with a smile because of all the people to come looking for me, he was the best. He could yell at me all he liked if he saved me from being something an ogre had to pick out of his teeth and then chose not to mention the incident to either of my husbands. I was going to owe him big time.

“Oh no, sister.” He stood before me, his face a mask of indignation. “You’re going to stand there because I don’t know who did this to you but I know why. You were intensely obnoxious and whoever tied your ass up got tired of dealing with your shit. My only regret at this point is that they forgot to gag you. It was a serious misstep on their part.”

“Neil, sweetie,” I started, keeping my voice calm because I deserved his lecture. I deserved far more than that, and I hoped he would calm down when he realized I wasn’t going to argue with him.

“I went to get you a nice cup of tea,” he said, stomping his slippered foot and completely ignoring my pleas. “I made Albert get up out of his comfy bed and make you a hot cup of chamomile since you’d had such an awful day. I was going to massage your poor pregnant feet and listen to you tell me all about how hard it is to have two gorgeous, filthy rich men who love you. Do you want to know what I found when I quietly entered your room?”

“You found I had left the building?” I asked because the answer was so obvious but seemed to require a response.

“You were gone,” he said as if I weren’t even speaking. “Oh, you made sure to pull the curtains closed so I spent a good five minutes talking to an empty bed. It was a nice touch. I tried to coax you out by revealing the deepest parts of my soul to you. I had a long conversation about how worried I get about Chad being with the Council and in Louis Marini’s clutches. I worry every day about losing him just like you’re worried about losing Dev. It was a bonding moment for us. Unfortunately, one of us was missing.”

“We need to go, Neil.”

“Do you have any idea how hard Daniel will come down on me when he finds out you gave me the slip? Why the hell would you sneak out on me? You’re a pregnant married lady. You have to stop giving your bodyguards the slip so you can go parading through the woods doing god knows what. Daniel is going to kill me. He’s going to bring in some other wolf to be your guard when Lee isn’t around. How do you think that makes me feel, Z? Are you trying to hurt me? Is this because I left and you died in Vegas?”