The Devil You Know (3 page)

I followed the line of Jupiter’s dark, knotted finger, and my heart dropped. I saw only Jacq.

The trumpeter is never wrong.
The phrase known to everyone from witch to moon-howler echoed in my head.
No.
I clenched my fists. It didn’t matter what Jup saw coming. We’d deal with it. Jacq moved into the street, stepping around a group of drunken sailors who’d stopped to watch the limo. But Jup’s finger didn’t follow. My lungs filled with sorely overdue air. Jup pointed to the limo and its entourage. Not that I didn’t think Detective Jacqueline Slone was trouble. While I’d yet to have the pleasure, I was of the personal opinion that she was of the more earth-shattering rather than earth-ending distinction.

The limo crept closer, only yards behind my returning date. Jupiter propped his old silver trumpet on his knee and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a faded handkerchief. Though it was nearly midnight, the day’s heat was only now fading. My friend turned his head toward the limo.

“You best be getting on.” Jup picked up his dusty fedora and began to pocket the tips collected therein. There was no point in asking the trumpeter what he meant. He’d donned his I’m-just-an-old-man-ignore-me expression.

“That act, Mr. Jones,” I shook my finger at him, “may fool the tourists, but one day real soon me and you are going to have a sit-down.”

Jup just harrumphed at my half-playful, half-earnest scolding. He dusted his hat against his knee before setting it on his head. I looked from him to my auburn-haired love as she stepped near.

The smile on my face slipped away.

A stranger would’ve seen a calm, carefree woman-about-town. But Jacq’s normally stormy gray eyes, so often dark with passion, were a much lighter gray-blue. And in them was a grieving woman preparing for some inevitable loss. Jacq was working hard to hide her emotions. But our mental bond had grown stronger over the past twenty-four hours, giving me a good idea of
what
she was feeling…if not precisely
why
.

She stopped before me, looking at me with those cloudy eyes. With one hand in hers and the other on her white belt buckle, I tugged her onto the sidewalk and out of the approaching limo’s path, not dropping her hand even as we stood together. I was still puzzling over her strange turn of emotions as the car pulled to the curb feet away. Disturbed by the magic rolling off the white stretch limo, my demon-half began to pace in its cage, pushing my fire to the surface.

I let it rise.

I couldn’t imagine what Jupiter considered worse than Nicodemus. But whatever it was, it had to be bad. Jacq moved subtly, angling her body so we could both watch the car, leaving a portion of her larger frame between myself and the vamp-suits now fanning out around us. I really hoped this was not one of those moments where the stupid chivalrous woman got hurt on my account.

Thoughts of injuries forced me to look around. The streets were packed. If there was going to be a fight, it needed to be elsewhere.

The bulkiest of the vampires removed his shades. I buried my urge to roll my eyes. Like people wouldn’t know he was Kin just because they didn’t see the glowing irises. Puleeze, the fact that he wasn’t breathing was a dead giveaway.

“Miss Delacy.” He opened the long car’s rear door. “Her Majesty requests your presence.”

The car’s crest belonged to Seth, NOLA’s Master Vamp, leader of the Kin, King of the Louisiana Vampires, and head of the Southern States. (Yeah, I know, he had way too many titles.) But when the Kin said “Her Majesty,” he wasn’t referring to Seth’s sister, Serena, who also happened to be my friend. Serena preferred to travel alone in more low-key vehicles, to her brother’s continued ire. Ignoring the waiting vampire, I looked to my gray-eyed protector.

“It’s your decision. If you decide to go, I won’t hold you here.” Jacq gripped my hand a fraction tighter, her actions belying her words. Her voice, as whiskey-smooth as ever, was pitched low, though we both knew it offered only the illusion of privacy. The Kin, with their sharp ears, could have heard us from a block over, much less their position only a few feet away.

Jacq caressed my cheek. I closed my eyes, savoring the hot magic trailing over my skin. But cutting off my sight also helped me focus on our mental bond. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was saying goodbye. I could almost hear the words
I thought we’d have more time
ringing through our ever-deepening connection
.
The silly woman had been dogging my steps for days, going so far as to sleep on my lumpy, too short couch. Why she thought tonight would be any different, me getting in that car without her, was beyond me.

I opened my eyes, searching Jacq’s face for clues as she continued, “Whatever you decide, do it without regrets. I don’t want anything to come between us.” She cut her eyes to the waiting car, her speech becoming more formal as an icy curtain fell over her expression, hiding her heart from everyone but me. “But if something must, I’d rather it be a distance I can travel or a wall I can climb, rather than a past I cannot undo.”

I looked away to the vampire’s stoic face to the idling limo’s open door and back to Jacq. With the donning of her cold mask, I could feel Jacq gently but steadily pulling away from our emotional link. In my mind, I grabbed the bond, not forcing her to stay but showing her I’d fight with power and determination to keep her there. As I wrestled with her, wielding hope and love like psychic chains to bind her tighter still, I rushed to add my words to the battle.

“There are a lot of things in life I regret.” Speaking softly, I raised my hand to hold hers against my cheek, laying my fingers in the creases between hers. “But not this. Not now. Not you and me.”

I lifted my chin, meeting the eyes of the woman who’d become the living embodiment of my totem, my bright phoenix, and forged ahead. “I live with wrong choices, paths untraveled, lives lost, and I never hold those regrets against anyone but myself. So, if you have some reason that you think I’ll regret getting in that car or not getting in that car, then tell me. Because I won’t have anything between us, either.” My mind flashed to an hourglass, grains of sand trickling away, carrying my life with them. “At least, nothing we can avoid…like the fear of unspoken words.” I blinked once, keeping my eyes wide. This was not goodbye, damn it. And there was no way I was going to get all misty-eyed in front of a vampire wearing wingtips.

No longer even pretending not to listen, the vamp looked from us to his watch. The undead could take a long walk off a short pier into a bright pool of sunshine for all I cared. I was not ashamed of what Jacq made me feel. But I’d never live it down if I started crying and it got back to Serena. That bloody Vampire Queen had a mind like a magical mousetrap. If she ever heard I’d so much as sniffled in public, she’d tease me until I was dead, reanimate my corpse, and do it all over again.

It was Jacq’s turn to close her eyes. I held my breath, feeling blind without that gray window into her thoughts. An infinitely long moment passed before she sighed and blinked. As her gaze once again locked with mine, something in her shifted, and I breathed deep. Her body relaxed, as if a decision had been made and with it a demon exorcised. The icy curtain lifted and she stopped fighting our bond, letting it flow back into place like the river of love it had become in the dry bed of my heart. Before her husky words even began, I wanted to kiss her. And kiss her I would. Soon. But not the kiss goodbye she expected. No, this would be a kiss hello. Because, little-by-little, this woman was showing me pieces of her soul. And in that moment, I might have fallen in love with her all over again.

“You, cher, are a curiously honest woman. You keep secrets. Yet you hide nothing of yourself. But the things you don’t know about yourself, the secrets kept from you, tear at your heart. I can feel it in here.” She brought our joined hands to rest over her breast. “And your pain is mine.”

I blinked again, restraining that dreaded sniffle. A public corner in the heart of the city beneath the sea with more than one nosy eavesdropper was not the place for this talk. But there was no way in hell I was going to stop her now.

Jacq continued, “And maybe there’s a good reason for that hurt. There’s so much you don’t know, probably won’t ever know…” She swallowed, her voice unnaturally calm as she added, “…unless you go now.” In my heart, I knew what she was saying:
I don’t want you to go, but I can’t ask you to stay.

The truth was evident in her eyes. Jacq believed the answers she spoke of would decide my decision. And maybe she was right. Maybe the answers I’d been seeking were waiting inside that limo. My gut seemed to think so. And part of me wondered if it wasn’t that possibility, more than the aura of powerful magic rolling out of the car, pushing through my shields, that had my demon-half clawing the walls to be released from its cage—before it was forced to reveal itself in the full moon’s light.

Questions. Answers. Power. Demons and Blood. All should matter. But they didn’t. Not as much as this moment. Not as much as what I felt for Jacq. Not as much as what she felt for me in return.

I raised our joined hands to cup her face before pulling her down for a brief but no less passionate kiss—my previous reluctance for public displays of affection having been thrown out the proverbial window…along with my sanity. I held her face close to mine as I said, “There’s only one answer I’m interested in right now: Would you go with me? Because if not, we’ll both walk away.” I smiled, adding sweetly for the benefit of the oh-so-serious suits surrounding the car, “And whoever’s in the overpolished tin can can go find another runner to dig them out of whatever hole they’ve landed themselves into.”

Jacq’s eyes registered shock then pleasure before she laughed quietly. Her warm breath brushed my still tingling lips. Her arm wrapped around my waist for a tight hug. Up until now I’d been a loner, so I could understand why she’d think I’d go it alone. But a little understanding and her current half-smile’s delectable dimple wouldn’t get her out of a lecture later.

The happiness quickly faded from her eyes. “If I’m right about who’s waiting, I won’t be welcome and my presence might do more harm than good.” Meaning I might not get my answers.

I didn’t have to think about it. But I did, looking at Jacq, seeing her. Her loveliness. Her courage. Her strong selfless heart. And I answered with the honest surety garnered from a lifetime of gauging people by their actions. “My question still stands.”

She nodded just once, her smile returning. “As my lady commands.” At my arched brow, she added, “It’s your show, darlin’.”

I bit my lip, hiding a smile. I found it irresistibly cute when her badass immortal self tried to talk all modern. But from the twinkle in her eye I knew that she knew…and that she was going to milk my reaction for all it was worth.

I turned to face the vampire. Leaning back against Jacq, I wrapped her hands around my waist. My statement was clear, even before I said, “Where I go, she goes. And I’ll have your blood oath upon your loyalty to your Master that we won’t be harmed—in any way.”

He started to flash his fangs in a practiced smile but stopped as I added, “And that includes mind and magic games, along with the usual physical promises of good health.” My look was pointed. At the vampire’s scowl, I felt Jacq’s silent laughter against my back. There was a quick conference as he murmured into his headset before opening the door further with a bow.

The Kin’s eyes flickered red before resuming their normal black stare. In a tone surprisingly mellow for such a broad-chested man, he said, “You have my vow. More notably, you have the Queen’s.” I started to move forward. He raised his hand. “But a warning, little witch. Seth is my Master, but Serena’s my friend. And the friend of my friend is my own.”

My expression remained neutral. He’d given a warning, and his tone implied it. But heck if I knew what it was. Still, if it delayed climbing in the limo, I’d listen.

He smiled again, this time fully, showing a set of glistening white fangs before continuing in a much deeper, more serious voice. “A vampire’s loyalties always lie first with his Master. As they say—so the blood flows, so the Kin goes.” He slipped his shades back on and moved to stand behind the door, opening it further. He continued, more drolly. “I’d suggest you hurry. Once you reach a certain point, patience often decreases with age.”

Though it seemed he was referring to the car’s occupants, I suspected the vamp’s warning had everything to do with someone else. Someone who wouldn’t tell me himself that he was running out of patience.

I stared into the shadowy interior, trying to pierce the darkness. That extra sense—the one that sometimes made me feel like an Alpine skier, skis half-hanging off the edge of a steep cliff, anticipating and fearing the plunge—said this was one of those moments that would define my life. Did I stay or go?

With little to lose and much to gain (or so I hoped), I chose the latter. Just before I ducked to enter the car’s doorway, I saw our reflection in the limo’s windows. Jacq looked the same, but the mirrored Cate’s eyes held an eagerness I didn’t feel. Keeping my hand in Jacq’s, I moved into the car sliding across the cool light-tan leather. Not that I thought my detective would back out. But for all my attitude with the vamp, I was still nervous. Her touch, and the increased clarity of her mind in mine it afforded, soothed me. We were barely settled before the car started moving. Jupiter’s trumpet trilled as a clock somewhere began to chime.

Midnight. The witching hour.
How appropriate.

As the car moved forward, I couldn’t help but wonder if our coach would turn into a pumpkin. Although, considering my once black, now a more faded dark-blue jeans and similarly faded dark-blue shirt, perhaps I was the scruffy mouse and they would hitch me up to pull the damn thing. Jacq didn’t say a word, but I could feel her amusement in my head. She had obviously caught something of my thoughts. Maybe my elegant warrior liked the scruffy look. But that was an experiment for later. Much later.