Wicked Fantasy (30 page)

“Uh, yeah.” Banan seemed a little puzzled, but he nodded dutifully.

“So talk. And why'd you put your damn secret in
my
hands?” Destiny's eyes glittered with unshed tears.

Thank God, Gerry grabbed the ball and ran with it, because Conall was out of words. “He put the secret in your hands because he cares for you, Destiny.”

Conall watched Destiny digest that revelation. Her eyes softened. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Banan had finally said something useful.

“Why don't you guys go up to Banan's room and talk things over?” Gerry's smile was tense, but triumph gleamed in her eyes.

Banan reached out to clasp Destiny's hand. She didn't jerk it away. He turned to Conall. “I don't know why you bothered to help tonight, but thanks.”

“Hey, no problem.” They were home free. Things had gone a lot better than he could've expected.

“We did it because we were trying to hook you guys up.”

No.
Gerry didn't just open her mouth and blow everything. Conall stared at her, as speechless as Banan had been a minute ago.

“I don't understand.” Destiny didn't look like she could take another revelation tonight.

“I know, I know, you think I'm dumb for telling them.” Gerry met Conall's glare. “But Banan decided honesty had to come first or else everything that came after would be built on a lie. Nothing lasts long on a weak foundation. He was right.”

Who cared about foundations? They weren't building a freaking fortress. This was about throwing up a shack that would last the few days it took to trap a demon. Then the damn thing could fall down. “There'll be consequences.”

Gerry shrugged. “Aren't there always?” She turned her attention back to Banan and Destiny. “Sparkle Stardust and Edge made a friendly bet.”

Hadn't looked too friendly to Conall.

“Edge bet Sparkle that he could hook up you guys before she could get Conall and me together.” Gerry glanced at Conall. He scowled. “We needed a favor from Edge. He said he'd help us if we'd help him.” She lifted her hands. “So here we are.”

Banan nodded. “Now everything makes sense. He's come down to the beach a few times to talk about how sexy Destiny was and how great we'd be together.”

“Same here.” Destiny didn't seem too upset about it.

Banan grinned. “I'll have a talk with Edge tomorrow. Meanwhile, Destiny and I have some things to work out.” If he wanted to know more about the how and why of the bet, Banan was too into Destiny to ask.

Destiny still looked in shock, but she didn't seem able to tear her gaze from Banan. “Maybe Edge will still win that bet.”

Conall let silence build as they watched Banan and Destiny leave. He waited until Banan shut their new door softly behind him before turning to pierce Gerry with a stare he hoped told her how pissed off he was. “I assume you had a good reason for that amazing moment.”

Anger flared in her eyes. “No. It was completely spontaneous. Maybe, though, I've finally had enough of watching people being manipulated. Could be that I wanted to give Banan and Destiny back a little control over their lives.” She rubbed the crease between her eyes. “Since we don't seem to be having much luck getting any for ourselves.”

Conall refused to recognize the twinge he felt as guilt. So he'd done his own share of manipulating by strong-arming Gerry into letting him move in with her. It was for her own good. And he didn't have a choice when it came to serving and protecting. It was a by-product of the curse.

As she stared at him, her expression said she knew what he was thinking. Some of the anger drained from her. “Not you. You're doing what you have to do.” She rose from her chair to pace between the iron maiden and the rack. “We have so many entities pulling our strings I don't know why they don't get them tangled up.” She shrugged. “I saw a chance to strike back in a small way, so I did it.”

He hated to remind her of this, but . . . “If you make Edge too mad, he might back out of his agreement to let you cart him off to jail.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, no. I forgot.”

Raking his fingers through his hair, he tried to let go of some of his tension. “Feels like the walls are closing in. Want to go up to the battlements with me?”

She shook her head. “You reminded me that I have a job. I need to e-mail a report to Payton. I'll come up when I'm finished.”

He opened his mouth to say he wouldn't leave her alone.

She made a shooing motion. “I won't be alone. I'll call Kim right now to ask if Fo can visit for a while. We left Brynn standing on the beach with Fo, Gabriel, and Conalla. I'll tell Kim what happened so she can pass it on to Brynn.”

Conall waited while she made the call and only left when Kim was finally sitting on the couch with both Fo and Conalla.

Asima was curled up outside the door. He grinned. Sleeping on the job. Good. He wouldn't have her trailing after him. But he didn't escape everyone's notice. As he climbed the winding stairs up to the battlements, Morrigan joined him.

He looked down at her, blinked, and looked again. Then for the first time in 800 years, he almost laughed at her. “What the hell is that—”

“I'll do the talking, O'Rourke. I don't see any protecting going on here.” She hopped up a few steps ahead of him.

“Kim and Fo are with Gerry.” Conall stopped and leaned closer. “What's that on your ass?”

“A wig.” Her crow eyes glowed red. “If you laugh I'll torture you for untold centuries.”

“Been there, done that, goddess. Why the wig?” He bit his lip and tried to swallow his laughter. The wig was long and trailed behind her. She looked like she was wearing one of those Shih Tzu dogs on her butt.

“An idiot who works in the castle compared me to a plucked chicken.”

Uh-oh.

“His ass is now covered with an itchy, burning, disgusting rash. He won't be sitting down anytime soon.”

Conall nodded. “So what do you want?”

She flapped her wings at him. “I'm not done talking about my tail. Find something that'll keep the damn wig on. I've tried double-sided tape, glue—”

“Staples?”

“We are not amused.” Morrigan almost vibrated with temper. “If I didn't want you to continue suffering, I'd have destroyed you centuries ago, warrior.”

Conall wished he could cut her strings and wrap them around her scrawny neck.

“Now get me something to keep—”

A sudden breeze blew down the stairs as if someone had opened the door to the battlements. It lifted Morrigan's wig and dropped it on the step beside him. He picked it up, prepared to put it back on the goddess's butt.

“Hey, your feathers are almost all grown back.” He stared. “I don't remember some of them being white.”

“Put the damn wig back on.”

He plopped it on her behind and then straightened. “Old age catching up with you, goddess?”

“You did
not
see those white feathers. You will
never
speak of them to anyone.” She twisted her head to make sure the wig covered the offending feathers. “Sparkle Stardust is a bitch, but she takes care of herself. I'll make an appointment with her hairdresser. A good color job will fix everything.”

Conall would pay to see the expression on the unlucky hairdresser's face. “Anything else you need?”

“I've decided to give you and the Kavanagh female one night of sex.”

After eight centuries, Morrigan had finally said something to shock him. “Why?” He wouldn't pretend he wasn't interested. Conall just hoped she didn't know how desperate that interest was.

“I've spent days trying to find out who impersonated me. If I'd had all my tail feathers, I could've appeared in my true form and scared the shit out of everyone in this cursed place. All I've been able to do, though, is listen at some doors and read a few puny human minds.” If a crow had teeth, she'd be grinding them. “You know everyone here. They'll tell you things.”

“And?” He guessed what was coming.

“You'll track down the pretender and in return I'll give you your night.” She wiggled her butt. “My revenge will be horrific.”

“So I can make love to Gerry after I give you a name.” Where should he start looking? The odds were against him earning that night with Gerry.

Morrigan cocked her head to study him. “Make love to her tonight or tomorrow night or whenever you want. But it'd better be just one night.”

“Aren't you afraid I'll take my reward and not give you what you want?”

Her eyes shone in the dim stairwell. “You'll come through. You know that if you try to mess with me I'll punish some unsuspecting descendant of yours. Your conscience is a weakness. Too bad for you.”

“That's why I liked Sean so much. He was like me. His conscience was never an issue. Sean wouldn't care who I hurt as long as he got what he wanted.” She sighed. “I thought of him as a son. So much potential for greatness.”

And I killed his ass.
Even after all these years, the thought still gave him satisfaction. He turned and continued climbing the stairs. She didn't follow.

As he stepped out onto the walkway, he was busy planning how he'd find the person who impersonated Morrigan.

“Beautiful night, isn't it?”

Startled, Conall turned toward the woman's voice. Well, so much for being alone. The three demonic vestal virgins stood smiling at him. “Yeah, nice night.” Maybe they'd leave.

Instead they moved closer. All three of them were gorgeous, but they creeped him out. Blond hair, pale eyes, white dresses . . . “Did you ever think about buying some red dresses?”

They studied him a little too long. One of them finally answered. “I'm Tullia, and these are my sisters Fulvia and Varinia. We'd never wear red. It's a carnal color.”

Personally, he thought a little carnality would do these women a lot of good. He glanced over the wall at the people leaving the castle after their fantasies. It must be nice not to have demons cluttering up your life.

“We noticed that you've been with Gerry a lot.”

This from Fulvia, although Conall wasn't sure. They looked interchangeable. “Uh-huh.” If he didn't encourage them, would they go away?

Varinia chimed in. “Ordinarily we wouldn't intrude, but we think you should know some things about Gerry.” She glanced at her sisters for confirmation. They nodded their agreement. “She's fixated on her body.”

“And that's a bad thing?” So was he. It gave Gerry and him something in common.

“She'll whine about her cellulite.” Varinia gave him a so-there look.

“Cellulite?”

“And when she goes to the store? She'll come home with a beer brand you hate because it was on sale,” Tullia chimed in.

Conall frowned. Not buy his favorite brand? This could get ugly. It wouldn't be a deal-breaker, though.

Fulvia delivered what she probably thought was the knockout punch. “Picture this. Houston Texans. Behind by six points. Need a win to get in the playoffs. One minute left on the clock. Fourth and goal for the Texans. And . . .” She smiled with wicked glee. “Gerry grabs the remote, presses the mute button, and plants herself in front of the TV screen because she wants to discuss your relationship. When you growl at her, she asks what you're thinking. Do you tell her?”

“No. I pick her up and move her away from the screen. I don't see that as a problem.”

“Argh.” Fulvia's eyes glowed red, and she bared her teeth at him.

Conall exhaled wearily. “Look, I get that you don't want Gerry and me together, but there's nothing you can do to stop it. Maybe you should trot on back to hell.”

“You know we're demons?” This from Varinia.

“Yeah. And you failed. Gerry and I have already made love.”

The three sisters looked at each other, then they looked at Conall.

“Does anyone remember what sex feels like? I don't.”

“What do we have to look forward to when we go back? Just another thousand years of freakin' chastity.”

“He has a good body, and I bet his cock is very large.”

“What do we have to lose?”

“What have all those centuries of virginity gotten us? No fun, and we still get PMS.”

Conall didn't bother trying to put a name to each comment. The overriding message was clear. It looked as though he'd be fighting demons sooner than he'd expected.

They rushed him. His innate unwillingness to hurt a woman disappeared fast as all three flung themselves on him at once. He went down beneath the assault. Damn, he'd forgotten that they might look like women, but they had demonic strength.

Conall fought the clawed fingers that ripped his clothes from him. He managed to hold on to his briefs. Barely. Three pairs of glowing red eyes stared down at him. He had no trouble reading the sexual hunger stored up over centuries in them. The sisters smiled at him, exposing pointed demon teeth. In their excitement, they were losing their human forms.

“This isn't going to work. No matter what you want, it's not going to happen without my cooperation.” He grunted as one of them threw herself across his chest while the other two tried to yank off his briefs.

Conall heaved himself to a sitting position and then to his feet dragging the three virgins with him. He fought them back and forth around the walkway. This would teach him to take his sword everywhere. When he'd thought about battling demons, fighting for his virtue was
not
what he'd had in mind.