Now my demon folded his wings, tucking them against his back as he came toward me and stopped. He smiled. His teeth, though still impossibly white, were now more human in size, shape, and, I assumed, quantity. The features of his face were similar to those he adopted with his Armani persona, although now there was a touch more of the exotic about him. Perhaps it had been there when he was Mr. Armani and I just hadn't noticed. He held his hand out to me.
Why are you on your knees? Are you praying?
I had absolutely no idea. I certainly didn't recall assuming the position of a supplicant. He bent forward, and his hair tumbled over one shoulder. It fell to his waist and had the same glossy sheen as his wings, without the red ends. His body was a healthy bronze color, a natural hue that owed its pigment to genetic code instead of a tanning bed.
I placed my fingertips in his palm, feeling the blush rise to my cheeks, and grateful to see he was wearing black leather pants. I couldn't decide if my embarrassment was because he was clothed or because in his previous manifestation I'd seen more than I expected to. My apparent look of relief at his wardrobe choice did not go unnoticed. He gave me a quizzical look and asked, “You prefer me partially clothed?”
“Well, a girl does like to be surprised every now and then,” I said, getting to my feet.
“Something to remember.” He widened his smile. I wasn't sure how I should take that, but I wasn't going to ask for clarification. “As is this image that pleases you.”
“It's okay,” I lied. The last thing I wanted was to hand him something he could potentially exploit and use against me. “A bit theatrical, with all the Vegas showgirl feathers.”
“Liar,” he said, as he narrowed his eyes. In his current form, they were black with shards of red and green glittering in their depths. “Your body betrays you, Rowan. Your heart is beating so fast you can scarcely catch your breath, and I can smell your lust for this image before you.”
I wanted to remind him that he was the liar as well as a trickster and deceiver, but I couldn't. Not this time. I didn't love him, and I never would, but the sudden lust I felt for him, while unexpected, was also very real. In my head I wanted nothing more than to feel the physical sensation of having that body touch me . . . taste me . . . fill me.
ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?
My inner bitch shrieking like a banshee was better than a cold shower. I snatched my hand from his and took a step back. He looked mildly disappointed.
“Almost,” he murmured.
“Why are you here? What do you want with me?”
There was a rustle, a snap as if someone was treading on dry twigs, and then his wings were gone. And now I was alone with a really hot-looking guy with waist-length black hair wearing nothing but snug leather pants. I took in a deep breath to clear my head and caught the lingering scent of anise. His scent.
“I've come to give you a gift,” he said.
“I don't want anything from you.”
“Oh come now, don't be churlish. What kind of a groom would I be if I didn't want to give my bride-to-be a wedding gift?”
Groom? Bride-to-be? Wedding gift?
He was out of his mind, completely and totally off the deep end. Except he ruled the Dark Realm, and although I was fairly certain a good many of the inhabitants were clinically insane, I doubted the jailer was. Too risky. Then again, who knew what passed for madness in such a place.
“I don't remember discussing marriage with you,” I said slowly. “And I don't know why you would think I would ever agree to such a thing.” Frantically I pulled up the memory of our last meeting, running it through my head like an old 8mm movie. Had I agreed to this and didn't remember? No, I was certain there had been no mention of matrimony. I stared at him. He was too calm, too collected. He knew something I didn't. I wondered if he was trying to change the rules of our agreement, trick me into defaulting, but deep down I knew his pride would never allow that.
Even demons have a code of honor. Admittedly it might not be one most other people would agree with, but then again, how many folks have ever entered into such a bargain with the ruler of the Dark Realm? I stared at him, and he looked back at me, a half smile playing on his lips. He wasn't here to try to change something in the agreement between us in order to give himself an advantage. He was here because he already had that advantage. Something had already changed.
Gabriel!
The Master of Discord, my demon had to already be aware of the animosity existing between Aleksei and Petrov, Kartel and Aleksei, Kartel and me, and Kartel and Gabriel. If I asked, he could probably tell me exactly how far from Death Valley Gabriel was right now, or if he was already there. If he'd reached Aleksei in time, or if . . . or if . . .
“Is Gabriel dead?” I blurted out.
Don't be an idiot! If Gabriel was dead you'd be lying on the floor, eyes rolling, muscles twitching, and fluid leaking from places I don't want to think about.
Oh . . . yeah.
To his credit, the look of surprise on the demon's face seemed genuine enough. As if he too had forgotten the terms of our deal.
“Dead? Why would he be dead?” For a moment I was equally surprised by his look of concern, but then he quickly covered it with a mask of sly mischief as he asked, “What is it that you think he's done?”
In as few words as possible, I told him about how Kartel had manipulated Aleksei to go after Petrov. I didn't say anything about my own abduction or my suspicions about the blue-haired vampire wanting to weaken Gabriel for some unknown reason.
“Oh . . . that!” He laughed and looked . . . relieved. “I have no interest in the petty squabbles of vampires, and to answer your question, no, Gabriel isn't dead . . . but you already know that, right?”
“Why would you think I'd ever want to marry you?”
“Well, you don't have to,” he said agreeably. “I just made the offer to be polite. I know how important these ridiculous rituals are to your kind.”
My kind? Did he mean humans, or was he referring to me as a Promise? “So you don't want to marry me?” A headache was germinating in the back of my skull. With any luck it would be a doozy that would knock me out.
“Your foolish rites make no difference to me, but if they make you happy, so be it.” He shrugged nonchalantly.
There was something I still wasn't getting. Some nugget of information that he was deliberately keeping from me. Shit! The bastard was going to make me work for it.
“I'm not going to marry you,” I said firmly. “Not now, not next week, not in the next century!”
“Very well then, we can forgo the ritualistic formality. I'll just take you when the time comes.”
“What time? What the fuck are you talking about?”
He stroked his chin with his long fingers, looking thoughtful. “You don't know, do you?”
“Well, duhâwhat do you think I've been trying to tell you?” I put my hands on my hips and glared across the space between us as any lustful desires I might have had completely vanished. “Our agreement was for a specified amount of time, and I don't think we're anywhere near the end of that.”
I knew we weren't because Ryiel, busy poring over ancient scrolls searching for a way to break my demonic agreement, would have told me if my time was up.
“No, of course not,” the demon agreed with me, “which is why I was surprised that you decided to end your relationship with Gabriel so soon after our pact. What happened? Did he disappoint you, hmmm? Was it performance problems? You do know that can be fixedâ”
“There's nothing wrong with his performance, either in or out of the bedroom!” I snapped hotly.
I heard the ruffle of feathers as he shrugged. “Well, if it's nothing physical, then what could it be, I wonder?”
This was going nowhere, so I decided to bulldoze right in. “Why don't you quit with the bullshit and tell me what you know. What's happened to make you think I've ended my relationship with Gabriel?”
“Well, you have to admit it's difficult to believe in the sanctity of your love when you deliberately consent to his infidelity.”
“I . . . I've done no suchâwhat?!”
“Infidelity, you do know the definition, I assume?” I was too stunned to offer a pithy comeback to his sarcasm. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but our deal was to see if the affection you have for each other was strong enough to withstand temptation, greed and lust. Gabriel's sleeping with another woman is a deal breaker, even if you have sanctioned it.”
“But I didn't sanction anything of the kindâand he hasn't slept with another woman!”
“Not yet, but he will.”
“What? When?”
“Twenty-five years from now, give or take a month or two.”
Twenty-five years? Twenty-five . . . oh, God damn it all to hellâJenna!
“Are you talking about the promise of protection Gabriel gave Laycee's baby?”
He arched a brow. “Of course, what else would it be?”
“Who do you think he's going to sleep with? Laycee?” I snorted at the idea.
“No, not Laycee,” he said, rolling his eyes. “He's going to sleep with the baby. Once she's all grown up,” he amended.
“Why would he . . .”
Aw shitâthe price, Rowan, it's the price for Gabriel's protection! The price Laycee could have turned downâprobably would have turned downâbut that you agreed to pay.
The bands of red and green in his eyes gleamed maliciously. “You really didn't know?” he asked, amazed by my ignorance. I shook my head. “Well, if Gabriel deliberately deceived you, then he is the one who has broken the pact.”
“But he didn't deceive me,” I refused to let his integrity be impugned.
“If he asked you to agree to a payment without complete disclosure, then he deceived you. It's really very straightforward.”
“Would that void the agreement?” I asked, grasping at what I hoped was a straw.
He smiled wickedly. “No, it just tells me where to place the blame.”
“Then you have to give it to me, because Gabriel didn't deceive me.” I was going to sound like a broken record if I kept this up. “He didn't tell me because I didn't give him the chance to. I agreed to pay whatever was asked without knowing what it would be.” Saying it out loud like this made me feel like the biggest, most stupid moron in the world.
“So you didn't know that the price for his protection is her virginity?” I shook my head. “And Gabriel didn't tell you?”
No, he didn't. And now I knew why. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at my feet morosely.
But why didn't Gabriel tell you?
As if hearing my inner bitch, the demon said, “Because once the agreement was verbally accepted, no part of it can ever be spoken of again.”
“Well, that's just stupid!”
I stumbled as I crossed the room and sat down on the couch. My head was throbbing, and it had nothing to do with my burgeoning headache. I was angry. Angry with myself more than anything else, because, as usual, I'd made a decision based on emotion instead of reason. Now I understood why Gabriel had looked so horrified when I'd blurted out my willingness to accept responsibility for his gift. And to think I'd accused him of doubting
my
integrity! And he hadn't told me because, by then, he couldn't tell me. The price to protect my best friend's baby from being hit on by a vampire as she was growing up was to allow her to give herself to one specific vampire once she was old enough. Holy shit!
Mistress of impulsive decisions, questionable behavior, and all foolish choices . . . had you known, would it have made a difference?
We'll never know, will we? I can't go back and re-live that moment, but I think in my heart of hearts, if I had known, I would have let Gabriel and Laycee decide.
And if the result was the same?
I don't know . . . I honestly don't know . . .
I put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. This was such a terrible mess. The only thing I was certain of was I had to tell Gabriel I knew as soon as I saw him. It wasn't fair to expect him to carry the secret alone. And I wasn't going to tell Laycee. How and when the shit hit the fan twenty-five years from now would be a problem to deal with then.
My demon sank to his haunches in front of me, and I felt him tug gently on a lock of my hair, pulling the curl between his fingers, and stroking it with this thumb. “You, of all people, should know the care needed when entering into agreements with supernatural beings. Words that mean so little to humans carry far more weight with us. And vampires in particular.” Gabriel had said something similar, but at the time I really hadn't understood what he meant. Unfortunately, I did now. Dropping my lock of hair from his fingers, the demon said, “And it never crossed your mind to ask?”
My only concern had been to give Laycee some peace of mind and to assuage my own feelings of guilt for exposing her to the world of vampires to begin with. “No,” I said, shaking my head, “and in all fairness, Gabriel did try to tell me . . . I just didn't listen.”
He did a credible job of suppressing his glee, and I knew I'd pretty much just handed myself over to him. From out of nowhere a large square jeweler's box appeared. The color told me it was from Tiffany's. “This is my gift to you.” His voice was rough and filled with the promise of sex. A promise I wasn't sure I'd ever survive. “When I take you, you will wear these . . . and only these.”