Heart of the Demon (18 page)

K
eira and Finn cleaned up after their lovemaking, taking separate showers because bathing together would have served to delay
them even further. She knew his self-control where she was concerned was tenuous, and when it came to her self-control, well,
it was nonexistent. If she were to be in a hot, steamy shower with him, his big, naked body pressed against her, they’d never
leave. Nearly an hour later she walked into the Devil’s Domain with the money bag in her hand and Finn on her heels.

She made her way straight back to the private rooms, where the vamp standing guard let her in. The first door on the right
was the room where Stefan had said he’d be. She’d give him his money and be on her way. Adrenaline still sang in her veins
and the high of the job and memory of making love to Finn amped up her awareness of those around her, especially Finn.

She got the sense that he wasn’t happy she’d had such a good time on the job, and on one level she wasn’t, either. However,
she did recognize the joy she felt in doing what she was good at. Being successful always brought about a sense of well-being.
She paused outside the door and looked at him. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“Let’s do this and get out of here,” he responded. “I’m thinking maybe we need another celebration. What do you think?” His
voice came out low and languid and so full of desire and affection it softened everything feminine inside of her. She fought
it back, knowing their time for intimacy was past until the next Influx had passed. After that, well, she really had no idea
how things would end up.

For right now she couldn’t let Stefan see how Finn affected her. The vampire thought he had a chance to get in her pants,
which was where she needed him. In her experience with men, they were more malleable when they had sex on the brain, and she
aimed to use that to her advantage. A Stefan she could manipulate was a Stefan she could defeat.

She knocked on the door and heard him call “Enter.” She went inside. Finn came in behind her and closed the door. Without
any fanfare she went over to a seated Stefan and handed him the money bag. “Here.”

A slow smile curved his lips and he hefted the bag a moment before sliding open the zipper. He took out one of the bundles
and fanned it. He laughed and looked up at her. “Job well done, my dear.” He glanced at Finn standing at her back. “You did
your part, too, I’m told.”

Keira glanced over her shoulder and saw Finn’s eyebrows shoot up. “You were told?” he asked. “You had someone watching us?”

“Of course,” Stefan said, his tone evincing his puzzlement that Finn would be surprised to find this out. “I always have someone
keeping an eye out on our new members.”

Keira shared another glance with Finn.

“That’s why I’m surprised it’s taken you so long to bring this to me.” His stare was pointed. “You completed your assignment
over an hour ago.”

What excuse could she give? She didn’t want to let on that she and Finn had been intimate with each other. She was pretty
sure Stefan wouldn’t like that, and if he got jealous it might jeopardize her mission. “I needed to freshen up afterward,”
she said. “Not to mention refresh my energy,” she added. Hopefully he’d form a picture of her frolicking naked on the grass.

From the light in his eyes, she was fairly certain that was what he was thinking. He looked at Finn. “And what were you up
to while she was doing all this freshening and refreshing?”

Finn gave one of his half shrugs. “I took a nap.”

“Is that right?” That one Stefan didn’t seem to buy, but he also didn’t seem too interested in pursuing it further.

Keira decided to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. “Why do you keep new members under surveillance?”

His upper lip lifted in a sneer. “Because they aren’t always what they seem, that’s why.”

“You mean you’ve had people join who didn’t believe in the cause?” Keira asked.
Imagine that
.

“Several months ago, as a matter of fact. A vampire joined our ranks, we think at the behest of the council. He managed to
be with us for a few weeks before we caught on.” Stefan’s eyes hardened. “He was dealt with.”

By “dealt with” she knew he meant the vamp had been killed. The same thing that would happen to her if they ever found out
she had joined in order to bring them down.

“I’m satisfied that you two are genuine in your aspirations,” he said. He stood and walked over to the phone on the wall.
Holding the receiver to his ear, he dialed a number and waited. When someone came on the line, he said, “Come see me.” He
hung up and walked over to Keira. Ignoring Finn, who stood only a foot away, he cupped her chin and stared into her eyes.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” He leaned forward as if to kiss her, and she drew back before he could make contact. He
straightened with a frown.

With a flick of her eyes, Keira indicated Finn. She couldn’t fake an attraction to Stefan and really sell it to him, with
a protective and disapproving Finn standing behind her. Finn, the man she loved. Even pretending to like Stefan was an affront
to what she felt for Finn. It left a sour taste in her mouth.

Thank God the comet was due tomorrow. Then, one way or another, this would all be over. She’d either be victorious and Stefan
would be behind bars awaiting execution, or he’d be successful and she’d be halfway around the world in her attempt to evade
him.

Or she’d be dead. That possibility was never far from her thoughts.

A knock sounded on the door. “Enter,” Stefan called out.

Keira altered her position so she stood sideways to the door. That way she could keep an eye on Stefan, Finn, and the vampire
Javier who had walked in.

He directed a cool glance toward Finn, a much more heated one to Keira, and a subservient, almost docile look at Stefan. “You
need me?”

Stefan handed him the money bag. “Secure this. And meet me later at the machine.”

Javier took the money with a nod and left the room.

Stefan stared at Finn. “You may go as well. Thank you for looking out for this lovely lady today.”

“Sure.” Finn hesitated, his gaze going from Keira to Stefan and back again. “You’ll be all right?” he finally asked.

“Your need to protect her is over,” Stefan snapped. “She’s quite safe with me.”

Still Finn didn’t budge. Keira sensed anger roiling up in Stefan, like a cauldron of slippery crude oil about to bubble over.
“I’m fine,” she assured Finn. “I’ll call you later.”

He gave a nod and reluctantly left the room.

“As a reward for a job well done,” Stefan said, taking her by the arm, “I’m going to show you the machine that will bring
all our schemes to fruition.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Really? How exciting.” This had been one of her goals, and it was finally going to happen! “When?”

“Now.” He escorted her out of the room and headed toward the back entrance.

“Now?” She glanced over her shoulder but there was no one to come to her rescue, even if Stefan would have let them. If he
really had bought her act she was in no danger. But she couldn’t stop a shiver that worked its way up her spine.

“Is there a problem?” he asked as they reached the parking lot. The sun had set while she’d been inside, and the lot was illuminated
with multiple lamps. She didn’t have a jacket with her, and she shivered again as the cool night air caressed her skin. “Oh,
no. No problem. I’m just surprised we’re going now.”

He smiled and helped her into the passenger seat of a large luxury sedan. She watched him as he walked around the front of
the car, his wiry frame almost effeminate looking when she mentally compared him to Finn. Looking at him now, if she didn’t
know what she knew, she’d never guess how incredibly devious and dangerous he was. He had a fairly nondescript appearance.
It was only when his eyes took on that mad light that one began to see his true nature.

She wasn’t sure what had twisted him, but if he’d been working on this plan ever since he’d come through the rift, it had
obviously begun in the other dimension. And she thought it must have been something pretty spectacular to cause such a reaction.

He climbed behind the steering wheel and started the car. “Ordinarily I have a driver, but I don’t want to share this moment
with anyone else tonight.” He sent her a smoldering look. “No one but you.”

Oh, no.
What else did he have planned other than showing her the machine?

She noticed as he drove he kept checking the rearview and driver’s-side mirrors, and the more he did it the more she realized
he was checking to make sure they weren’t being followed. She stifled a sigh. If she was in trouble here, she could rely only
on herself to get out of it.

An hour later he stopped the car at a trailhead northeast of town. “We’ll have to hike in from here,” he said as he opened
his door and illuminated the inside of the car.

Keira glanced down at her feet. She wore her favorite pair of shoes—a bright pink peep toe with a two-inch platform and five-inch
spike clear acrylic heels. “Ah, Stefan. I can’t hike in these.” She looked over at him.

“Of course you can’t.” He got out of the car and came around to her side. After he swung open the door, he held out his hand,
palm up in invitation. “Come with me.”

She accepted his help to get out of the car and followed him back to the trunk, which he opened using his remote. Inside the
trunk was a shoe box. He bent and flipped off the lid, then straightened with the box in his hands. Inside was a pair of brown
hiking boots with a pair of white socks lying on top of them. “These should fit.”

Keira raised her eyebrows but took the shoes out of the box without comment. She went back to the passenger side of the car
and sat sideways on the seat. Taking off her heels, she dropped them onto the floorboard. She rolled the socks onto her feet
then pushed her right foot into the hiking boot. So far, so good. She laced it up and then put on the other one. She stood
and stomped her feet, walked around in circles a bit, then stopped and looked at Stefan. “They fit.”

His smile was pleased. “I thought they would.” He reached into the car and took a flashlight from the glove compartment. He
shut the door and flicked on the light. “I’m an excellent judge of size.”

She’d known many men who could look at a woman and guess her dress size. But shoe size? That was something new.

Setting an easy pace, Stefan took the lead, telling her to stay close. “It’s cold enough at night now that snakes aren’t out,”
he said. “But there are always mountain lions to be concerned about.”

She blew out a breath and hurried to close the distance between them. After an hour, she was beginning to puff a little. “How
much farther?”

“We have at least another hour’s walk.” He stopped and looked at her. “Do you need a rest?”

She stopped and put her hands on her hips, dragging in deep lungs full of air. “No, but I wish we’d brought some water. My
mouth is so dry.”

“There’s plenty of water at the mine,” he said. “Let’s go.”

“We’re going to a mine?” She started walking again, this time at his side.

He gave a nod. The beam of the flashlight threw shadows onto his face, giving him a devilish appearance. “It’s a copper mine
that played out over a hundred years ago. It’s deserted, and the main shaft has a spot that’s large enough for the machine.”

“And whatever it is that this machine does, it can do it even though it’s essentially encased in rocks?” She wasn’t an engineer
by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew her cell phone cut out whenever she went through a tunnel.

“We have an amplifier that points the radio waves toward the opening of the cave. There is a certain degradation of the signal,
but it’s still strong enough to get the job done. Once we have the numbers we need, we can dismantle the machine and reassemble
it out in the open.”

“Why would you need to do that?” She frowned and accepted his help over a rough patch.

He took on that creepy serial killer expression. “I mean for every human being on the planet to become preternatural. With
this machine I can open the rift any time I want to.”

Her heart rate increased, and not merely from exertion. The climb got steeper and they fell silent. Keira struggled to make
sense of what he’d said. He really planned to have prets take over the world.

He was insane.

Finally they stood in front of what appeared to be an abandoned mine, complete with crisscrossed boards blocking the entrance
and a sign that read
DANGER! DO NOT ENTER
attached to them.

Stefan tugged on one side and the boards swung open like a gate. He grinned at her start of surprise. “This way,” he murmured.
He pulled the gate closed after them and led the way down the mine shaft. They reached a dead end, and with a frown she looked
around. Her heart started beating faster, even though she willed it to be normal. She knew Stefan’s vampire hearing would
pick up on her increased pulse, but she couldn’t completely suppress her rising panic. He’d brought her into a mine with only
one exit. He knew she was a fraud and was going to kill her, and leave her body up here for the coyotes to scavenge.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “We’re not trapped.”

Thank the gods he’d misinterpreted her agitation.

He pressed a protrusion of rock and the wall in front of her slid open.

“It’s just like in the movies,” she said, wonder in her voice.

“Isn’t it, though?” He grinned, his glee like that of a nerdy schoolboy. If he wasn’t such a complete whack job, she thought
they could have been friends. She wondered what could have happened in the past to have turned a seemingly ordinary guy into
a madman. “Come on.”

 The rock face closed behind them, and lights flickered on, showing a tunnel that headed into the mountain hundreds of yards
deep. “This way,” Stefan said.

Finn padded on four paws around a mesquite tree. He’d followed Liuz and Keira, at first on his motorcycle and then, after
they’d started up the trail, he’d drawn on his chameleon abilities and shapeshifted into a mountain lion. He’d made sure to
stay downwind of them so Liuz with his superior vampire sense of smell wouldn’t detect him. Finn didn’t know how Liuz would
react if he thought he was being stalked by a mountain lion or, rather, a shapeshifter in the form of a mountain lion.