Angel Seduced (3 page)

Kasabian found Cory on the worn-out chair in front of his desk. “Lyle's not running drugs. He's trying to find his little brother. Give him space, okay?”

Kasabian saw Cory's reaction in a quick-fire burst: surprise, guilt, and then a nod. He didn't stick around to say more. Cory would have questions—so did he—but answers, well, he was painfully short on those.

You have the answers…

Buried in the recesses of his mind. He rubbed the scar. He would always be fucked up, and it wasn't only because of his abduction. But he could help these kids, get to the bottom of the abductions, and put a stop to them once and for all.

Good thing for him he knew a chick from a bar with just the kind of magick he needed to unleash the repressed memories in his mind. He'd vowed to stay away from her. But now he needed to get close. Very, very close.

Y
ou want me to do
what
?”

Kye stared across her table at Kasabian, where he'd sat after closing his bar. She was sure that the echo of the night's pounding music was distorting his words.

“It's not a want. I need to do the Cobra with you.”

His words catapulted through her body. “Uh…no.” She swallowed. “Remember what I said about it bonding.”

No longer in the tight shirt encouraged by Mike for the purposes of being eye candy, Kasabian wore one of those urban shirts with angel wings on the back. He smelled like limes, clean and citrusy.

He took her hand and mirrored her earlier gesture of hands on top of each other. “So we take the Cobra to the second step”—he slid his fingers between hers—“but don't permanently take each other's essences.” His touch, along with what he was proposing, shook her.

As much as she knew she should pull her hand free, she couldn't. “Just so you can lust without pain? No way.”

But he didn't look like a man in search of physical pleasure. His expression was somber, his eyes intense. He turned her hand and traced a circle on her palm. “When I was eight, I was kidnapped and spent four years in captivity. I escaped, along with four other children. Three of them were Deuce or Dragon, and they were dreadfully weak. I heard they survived, but I never saw them again. There were two of us Caidos.”

He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open to reveal what looked like a gray starburst tattoo at his solar plexus. “Whatever they did to the Caidos left these scars…and made us crave feelings. What they did to the other kids depleted their essences, leaving them in the same shape as someone who's left Miami for an extended period.”

The god essence inside Crescents needed
Deus Vis
, literally the “god force,” that radiated from the Bermuda Triangle. If Crescents were away for too long, their magick essence withered away, and so did they. “But I doubt we walked far, not with the kids in such bad shape. The problem is, we don't know anything because we think they memory-locked us. That's a Caido ability to lock away a period of time or event. So when you mentioned that the Caido's buried memories returned, you got my attention.” He buttoned his shirt again.

Kye's hand continued to tingle from where he'd touched her. “You want me to help you remember.”

This was not at all what she'd expected, not children in danger. She saw the pain of what he'd gone through and his fear for those kids. “I'm sorry that happened to you, but doing the Cobra just to revive those memories, well, I can't even guarantee it will work. And if we accidentally bond, I have no idea how to unbond.”

“I dismissed approaching you for those reasons. But now there's more at stake. The Caido who escaped with me works for the Guard. Hayden told me a boy was found with the same mark.” Kasabian tapped the starburst through his shirt. “He may have escaped from the same people who had us. Before Hayden could get the traumatized kid to talk, he was whisked away by someone connected to the Concilium. Whatever the people who took us all those years ago were doing…they're doing it again. There are secondhand stories about Crescent social workers taking kids to camps so the mothers can get back on track. No one ever hears from the kids again. Others have simply disappeared.”

Kye shuddered. Who knew what horrors those children were exposed to? She looked at Kasabian, really studied him. For a moment, she was tempted to pry, to delve deep and glimpse the pain he'd endured.

He raked a hand through his hair. “Because of the Concilium's involvement, we don't know who to trust. We're on our own with precious little to go on. Remembering our captivity might help us figure out who's behind this. Will you do the Cobra with me? I've done the Essex enough to know how to control it. Once you set your magick in place, we touch, back off, and hope it's enough to trigger the return of my memories. I promise not to take in your essence.”

She thought of the boy, of children in danger, and found herself saying, “All right.”

“Tonight. Now.”

Her fingers curled in the fabric of her skirt. “I always perform it at the Caido's residence so he'll be comfortable. The bombardment is pretty intense. I have to monitor that part. His girlfriend stays with him through the night in case anything happens. Is there someone who can stay with you?”

Kasabian shook his head. “I'll handle it.”

Kye would have argued further, but she could see that he wouldn't be swayed. Or maybe he didn't have someone who could stay with him. “All right, let's go then.”

She followed his yellow Lotus all the way to SoBe—South Beach.
Why am I doing this?
Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel as she pulled into the parking lot of an old Florida-style apartment complex.
Children. I'm doing this for children.

Kasabian gestured to a parking spot, then pulled his Lotus into one farther down. Kye slid out of her jacket, folded it, and laid it in the trunk of her BMW coupe. The black-and-red patch with vampire fangs was on top, an ominous portent. She quickly shed her fishnets and black boots and changed into black and red flip-flops.

Kasabian rested his hand on her shoulder as he guided her through a gated entrance into a lush courtyard. The pool was lit, and a few people lounged around. They all greeted Kasabian and gave her a curious look. One couple was getting all kissy-face in the corner of the pool. The woman's nervousness glowed a pale yellow and made Kye's stomach churn a little as it reached for her. It was not dissimilar to her mother's gift of mediumship, as she described it, the way spirits sensed and migrated to a receptive soul. Kye closed the psychic door.

They took the stairs to the second level. Kasabian unlocked the door and gestured for her to precede him. He flicked a switch, and three corner torchieres threw soft light over the living area. Nice place, with polished wood floors and moss-green walls. Plants in dark wicker baskets accented the natural feel.

He waved toward a dry bar in the corner. “Want a Whis-Kye?”

“Maybe just a splash of whiskey straight up.”

Her gaze went to a picture of a little boy held by an alligator magnet to his fridge. He had haunted brown eyes and a smile he was obviously forcing for the photographer's sake. She walked over to it. “Who's this?”

Kasabian stepped up behind her, his presence nearly overwhelming. “Jonathan. He's the younger brother of one of the kids at the youth home where I volunteer, and he went to one of these supposed camps. The mother said he was later adopted, but Lyle is suspicious. And hurting. He hasn't seen his kid brother in a year.” He stared at the picture, anger and pain in eyes that were now more hazel than green. The shade of whiskey. “The need to find him is eating at my soul. Maybe it's because I imagine my mother looking at my picture the way Lyle looks at his.”

“You volunteer at a youth home?” The thought gave her a whole different impression of this sexy bartender.

He handed her a glass of amber liquid, dark gold in the ambient light. “It's where I lived for a few years. I like to give back.” He shrugged, downplaying it.

She took the glass, inhaling the smoky scent. He started making an absinthe, pouring water over a melting sugar cube into a glass of opaque green liquid. The menthol aroma filled her nose and made her eyes water.

She leaned against the black granite counter and watched him. “Every Caido who's done the Cobra had one of those first.”

He lifted his glass up, and when she touched hers to it, he said, “Here's to liquid courage.”

Kye felt no speck of courage as she threw back her splash and a half.
You have control over this.

He finished his drink and came to stand in front of her. “Tell me what to do.”

He was at her mercy. It gave her a weird sense of power she'd never felt before. “The Caidos dropped fast once the process was complete, so you want to be on carpet. The bombardment lasts anywhere from one to two hours and then you pretty much pass out for the night. The Caido who recovered his memories woke with them the next morning.”

“Hopefully it won't be as bad for me. I haven't stuffed away my emotions as much. In fact, I crave them: joy, heartache, jealousy, anything. That's why I work in a club, so I can soak them all in.”

“But don't they hurt you?”

“I have to do the Essex every night to manage the pain.”

Now she understood that strange twist of emotions she'd picked up from him that first time. “So you're an Essex addict?”

“I'm an emotion addict. But I guess since I need the Essex to manage the emotions, that assessment would be apt. Working in a bar gives me an array of people who need healing, and who can ease my pain as well.” He gave her a soft smile. “And you want to know why I crave emotions.”

She started to say no, that it was none of her business. Might as well be honest. “Of course.”

“I think it has something to do with what they were doing to me while I was being held captive. Hayden feels the same.”

“So that's why you're forty ways fucked up.” Finally, she had an answer.

His smile darkened. “Part of it.”

Great.
Part
of an answer.

He led the way to the living room, where he moved the coffee table away from the thick, contemporary-style rug beneath.

“Get comfortable,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “That usually means being naked.”

The mental picture of him standing naked in front of her sent an odd tingling right down to the core of her belly. She blinked, pushing it away. “Stop that,” she said to both him and her wild imagination.

“Just saying.” He stripped out of his shirt, which made his pecs and biceps move in all kinds of interesting ways, and tossed it on the couch. His torso was golden tanned male perfection. He undid the top button of his jeans, kicked off his shoes, and stood in the middle of the rug. “You going to catch me when I fall?”

Her gaze, which had centered on the faint hairline that went down to those undone jeans, snapped to eyes with a smile in them. She almost said,
I could ask the same of you.
She blinked.
Whoa, where had that thought come from?

“I'll try.” With a hard swallow, Kye stepped up in front of him. “How does the Essex work on your end? Can you see the exchange?”

“No, I feel it. I pull in a little of the essence of the person I'm doing the Essex with and send mine into her.” He demonstrated, weaving his long fingers through the air and making her think of an orchestra leader. His actions, along with his words, sent a shiver through her body.

She cleared her throat. “You'll send your essence out to me. Then I'll take over. Get into the same state that you're in right before you do the Essex.”

He held out his hands. “We need to connect physically.”

His hands slid against hers, his fingers locking around her wrists. Why did his touch always jolt her deep inside? He blinked, obviously feeling it, too.

“Close your eyes,” she ordered, completely unnerved and unable to tear her gaze from his. When he complied, she studied him for a moment, the planes of his cheeks, the thickness of his lashes, a mouth made for sin. Frigging gorgeous. It seemed surreal, him standing in front of her like this, them about to do this.

She closed her eyes and summoned her magick. In her mind's eye, it manifested as a beautiful column of dark pink. Then she pulled her own deep yellow essence toward the column. “Send your essence to me.” Cool, silvery smoke floated toward hers, and she directed it toward the column as well. “We're going to start with the Essex, our essences barely touching.”

Even that mere brush took her breath away. She focused on the pink column, sending it to wrap around their essences. It required a part of her, that small extension of her essence, but nothing too intense. Here was that sought-after addictive state where a Caido could feel without pain.

But Kye was beginning to feel something, too.

Kasabian's essence was powerful, his magick strong and compelling and…sexy. It spiraled in languid, sensuous circles, and her essence began to wind around his of its own volition.

A slow smile spread across his handsome face. “Damn, I wish we were doing this for different reasons.” His eyes opened for a moment, glowing brightly with such blatant hunger that it made parts of her ache. “This feels incredible with you.”

Better than with anyone else?
she wanted to ask.
No, don't ask.

“Like a sensual dance,” she heard herself saying. She was a Zensu Deuce, versed in sexual pathos and magick. She knew the chemistry between them was rare. But that was a path she could
not
tread. She caught herself physically leaning toward him and pulled back her body and her essence with a soft inhalation. “Which it shouldn't. Close your eyes and focus.”

“Don't worry, love, I won't be forgetting that this isn't about sex. Or about us. It's about those kids.”

“It's not as though we'd forget. Right? Get caught up in this and lose our minds.” She shook her head, sending her hair washing across her shoulders. “Of course we wouldn't. Right now our essences are resting against each other, the way my fingers laid on top of each other. We're going to the next step now. Our essences are going to slide together like my fingers did, but remain straight like an X.” She felt the sensuality of the two colors sliding against each other throughout her body. Lord, but she wanted to let them intertwine, the way her body wanted to intertwine with his. “We can't go to the final step. Let's stay here for a few seconds and see if that will trigger the bombardment.”

Mmm, it felt good in a way that it shouldn't. Like lying naked in bed with an achingly beautiful man and not being able to touch him. Heat began to generate wherever their essences met, slowly filling her entire being.