Wicked Whispers (16 page)

“Is he bad?” She sounded fascinated.

He hated the faery already. “He’s rare. Thank the gods. Bad? He is if your woman is in that mob.”

She looked puzzled even as she edged forward.

Murmur grabbed Ivy’s hand to stop her. He watched Sparkle plant herself beside the dark faery and then glare at the other women. Sparkle had some dangerous vibes going on because, despite the faery’s lure, they backed up.

“He’s irresistible to the women he seduces. Some think there’s an addictive substance in his skin. Maybe he just has overactive pheromones. Who knows? But he’s deadly. Women he targets die from the withdrawal when he leaves.” Murmur had to get rid of him fast.

Ivy studied the faery. “I don’t think he’d need anything addictive to seduce women. That pale skin, black hair, and wow face are winners.”

“He’s going down”
—Ganymede pressed against Murmur’s leg to keep from being trampled by the women—“
as soon as I can get the bastard somewhere away from Sparkle. Don’t want her mad at me.”

Murmur was deciding how to reply when the faery saw him. His eyes lit as he walked toward Murmur. Too late to get Ivy away. He held her hand more tightly as the faery stopped in front of them.

“Your name?” Murmur wouldn’t get his true name, but he didn’t need it right now.

“Braeden.” The faery shifted his gaze to Ivy.

Instinct kicked in. Murmur released only one strand of his music. It was wire-sharp, meant to cut.

Startled, Braeden stared at the thin line of blood that had suddenly appeared on his hand. Then he looked at Murmur. A challenge stretched between them.

Finally, the faery nodded and turned to watch Sparkle join them. Murmur’s tension eased as Braeden and Sparkle locked gazes.
Lots
of interest there. Ganymede’s growl vibrated, low and menacing. Time to defuse the situation.

“Turn off my music, Braeden. It wasn’t meant for you.” He glanced around at the sea of female faces edging closer. “Send the women away before they touch you.”

Braeden raised one dark brow. “Not exactly welcoming, demon. Your music slammed into
me
. I didn’t go searching for
it
. The message just said to come to the Castle of Dark Dreams for a good time. Well, I’m here.” He glanced around. “When do the good times begin?”

Sparkle ran her fingers under the cuff of the faery’s jacket to touch his wrist. “Good times are always happening at the castle. Why don’t you send those other women away?”

Braeden looked intrigued. He nodded, and the crowd of women turned and went back to whatever they’d been doing. He’d made his choice. “I’ll go ahead and register, and then we can—”

“You can leave, you thieving bastard.”

Ganymede’s voice was a roar in Murmur’s head. He winced. Ivy did the same. The cat had lost his cool, and he wasn’t being careful. Some of the nearby humans looked shocked.

“Calm down. Everyone can hear you.” Murmur nodded toward the humans who were now looking around.

Ganymede had puffed himself up to twice his normal size. His ears lay flat against his head and his tail was a bottlebrush of feline aggression. Suddenly, all the humans in the room simply left.

Murmur started to pull Ivy away from the cat. If Ganymede was getting rid of witnesses, then bad things were about to happen.

Sparkle glared at Ganymede. “What was that all about?”

The door leading to the courtyard slammed open. Ganymede’s yowl of outrage rose from deep in his throat, and as it grew louder and louder, the walls of the great hall began to vibrate.

“Stop it. Right now.”

But Ganymede’s tantrum was flying free, and nothing Sparkle could say would stop it. Murmur’s music cut off as Braeden started to back away. Smart faery.

“Maybe we should get out of here.”

Ivy had barely finished speaking when some unseen force picked Braeden up and flung him through the open door. The door slammed shut behind him.

“I know trash pickup isn’t until tomorrow, but that piece of shit was stinking up the place.”
Ganymede looked smugly satisfied. Until he looked at Sparkle.

Sparkle hissed her fury as she rose into the air. She hovered three feet off the floor, her hair floating around her on a nonexistent breeze, and her amber eyes glowing. “Who gave you permission to throw a guest out of
my
castle? Remember? This. Is.
My.
Castle. And you can sleep in your litter box for the rest of your miserable existence for all I care, because one place you won’t be sleeping is in my bed.”

She drifted back to the floor, turned her back on Ganymede, and tapped an angry beat with her sky-high heels as she followed Braeden out the door. Murmur composed a bass and drum rhythm to accompany her exit.

“It’s all about subtlety, cat. Jealousy made you stupid.” Murmur couldn’t empathize. He’d never experienced the emotion. He dropped Ivy’s hand. No, he had
not
been trying to keep her from the faery. Absolutely not.

Ganymede sat down and stared at the door.
“Did I just fuck up? And is my honeybun as mad as she sounded?”

Ivy sighed. “I hope your litter box is clean.”

The cat glared at her.
“That’s just insulting. The cosmic chaos-bringer doesn’t use a litter box.”
He turned his attention to Murmur.
“This is all your fault. Why the hell did you send out your music?”
Ganymede looked as though he was ready for another eviction.

The cat was out of the bag, or in the litter box, depending on how you looked at it. “This isn’t my story to tell. Let’s meet tonight in my room and get things straightened out.” Murmur wouldn’t be surprised if Bain, Tirron, and he were sitting out on the curb with Braeden by morning. Asima’s music played in his head, something dark and ominous. Perfect.

Ganymede looked thoughtful.
“Okay, I’ll give you till tonight. Your room at seven. Have any music to soothe Sparkle’s temper?”

Murmur decided now wasn’t the time to turn the cat down. “Maybe.”

“Yeah, well,
maybe
it might soothe my temper a little if you could do that.”
The threat was implicit.

Murmur watched the cat pad toward where Holgarth lurked in the shadows. “Damn.” He mentally scanned his playlist. Nope, nothing
that
soothing.

“I’d like to be at the meeting.”

“What?” Murmur dragged his thoughts from the mess he’d created. “No, you need to stay as far away as possible from everyone involved in this.”

Ivy’s stare was lethal. “I was involved from the moment I saw the ogre. I’m coming.”

He recognized stubbornness when he saw it. If he said no, she might follow the cat right now to tell him her tale of ogres and brownies. And with Ganymede’s crappy mood, the cat would probably kick him out without giving him a chance to warn the others. Murmur took a deep breath. No big deal. So he’d leave the castle and never have to see her again. Why did that thought make him angry?

“It’s your decision.” He couldn’t help the coldness that crept into his voice.

He hated feeling as though she’d backed him into a corner. Yes, he could still compel her silence, but he didn’t
want
to do it. The fact that he couldn’t name a reason for why he felt that way annoyed him even more.

If she went to the meeting and discovered what Bain and Tirron had planned for her, so be it. At least then he wouldn’t have to worry about his attraction to her. She’d grab her brother and put as many miles as possible between them.

“Good.” She looked away from him. “Okay, I know you don’t want me to be there, but this isn’t just about me. I need to make sure that none of what’s happening will put Kellen in danger.”

“I understand.” And he did, even though her presence would make things a lot tougher.
For him
. Not that it mattered. Not that
she
mattered.

He must have been scowling, because when she finally glanced back at him she looked uncertain.

“You say you understand, so why all the glaring?”

He wouldn’t lie. “I understand, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“If you’re so against me going, why didn’t you fight harder to keep me away?”

He shrugged. “If I said no, you could just chase after Ganymede and tell him what you saw.”

She looked as though he’d struck her. “You honestly think I’d do something like that?”

The hurt in her eyes bothered him. But he was getting used to her affecting him in ways no one else had before now. “A demon wouldn’t hesitate.”

Ivy didn’t say anything for a moment, and he could almost see her testing different responses, searching for exactly the right one to blow him out of the water with. But when she finally spoke, there was no anger, only sadness.

“I’m sorry. It must be hard to trust so little.” She stood a little straighter and met his gaze. “I don’t break promises.”

“I know.” And strangely, he did.

He sensed that she wanted to ask something, but was hesitating. He waited quietly for her to decide what she would say.

“Would you talk to Kellen about what he’s seeing? I don’t know enough to help him.”

“Now would be best.” Before he hunted down Bain to break the bad news.

Ivy looked relieved. “Thanks.” She ventured another question. “Why didn’t you send Braeden away like you did the ogre?”

“Ogres are big and dangerous, but not too smart. And they don’t have the magical power of the Sidhe. Braeden wouldn’t leave without a fight.” Besides, Ganymede and Sparkle had already seen him, so there wasn’t much to hide.

They’d reached Kellen’s door. Ivy’s brother let them in and then returned to his seat at a small desk where he’d been finishing his meal. His netbook was open in front of him. Murmur pulled up a chair while Ivy sat on the end of Kellen’s bed. Kellen pushed the remains of his meal aside and stared at Murmur. He swallowed hard.

“Tell me.”

So Murmur told him: of the fae, of vampires, of demons and fallen angels, of werewolves and others that could change their shapes, and of all the assorted beings that were not human but shared his plane of existence. When he was finished speaking, silence filled the room. Had he said too much?

Ivy leaned forward, her expression a mixture of shock—after all, she was hearing most of this for the first time too—and worry for her brother.

Kellen finally took a deep breath and nodded. “Cool. I’m not crazy, and the world’s a lot more interesting than I thought it was. So what’re you?” He stared at Murmur.

“I’m the demon of music.” And Murmur waited—for the horror, the fear, the rejection.

“Explain demons—not what everyone thinks they are, but what’s real.” Kellen looked tense, but he didn’t bolt.

I wish your sister had been the one to ask.
The thought struck before he could block it. Murmur glanced at Ivy. Her eyes were wide with… fear—of what he would say, of knowing things she didn’t want to know. It hurt, and that scared the hell out of him. Her fear shouldn’t surprise him, though. She barely knew him, and demons didn’t get much positive press. It was no big deal if she was afraid to face what he was. She didn’t matter. Really. She didn’t.
Then why are you so upset?

Murmur took a few moments to collect his thoughts. No one had ever asked him to explain what he was.
You wanted her to be the first.
Angrily, he shoved the thought aside. He clicked off Asima’s music and replaced it with something quiet and calming. Sure, it would tick the messenger of Bast off. Who cared? Not him. By the end of the night, Asima’s secret wouldn’t be worth much anyway.

He met Kellen’s gaze without even glancing at Ivy. “All demons are born to evil.” No use sugarcoating it. “When we’re released onto the mortal plane, all we care about is raining as much death and destruction on humanity as possible.” He shrugged. “It’s our nature.” Not that Ivy would think it was much of an excuse.

“Then?” Nothing in her voice gave away what she was thinking.

He kept his attention on her brother. “Contrary to popular belief, demons are bent and shaped by their time on earth, just as every other being is. There are those who grow indifferent to humanity, those who grow more vicious as the centuries pass, and the vast majority that are somewhere in between.”

“So you have free will?” Kellen looked puzzled.

This was the tough part. “Not really. A demon that remains too long on the mortal plane and loses his zest for evil is called home.” He attempted a smile, but it didn’t feel right. “It’s sort of a reeducate-a-demon-gone-good thing. Once the demon has finished his refresher course—this involves lots of pain—he’s turned loose on humanity again.”

“What if he refuses to return home?” Ivy sounded as though she really cared.

Forgetting that he
didn’t
care, he glanced at her. Ivy’s expression made him frown. Sympathy? He didn’t want her pity. “I don’t need a refresher course. I remember my roots.” Not as well as he had a few centuries ago. He hoped she didn’t notice that he hadn’t answered her question.

“If you’re a music demon, does that mean you only use your music for evil?”

Damn, the kid had a lot of questions. “That’s the plan. It’s my first instinct.” Maybe he should remind Ivy in case she’d forgotten. “My music is a weapon—to kill, to tempt, to control.”

“Wow.” Kellen sounded impressed, if not particularly scared.

The fear would eventually come. It always did. Kellen opened his mouth to ask his next question. Murmur sensed he’d want to know about his blood heritage. He glanced at Ivy. Kellen should find out about his Sidhe blood from family. She nodded her understanding.

“I think I’ve covered the main points.” He stood. “I have things I have to do.” Murmur wanted out of there—away from Kellen’s questions and Ivy’s presence. Because now that he wasn’t concentrating on her brother, he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

“Sure. Thanks.” Kellen was already turning back to his computer.

Murmur figured the kid would be doing lots of research during the next few days. He headed for the door and forced himself not to look at Ivy.