Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (24 page)

“It’s okay. I have plenty,” Tristan said with
another trace of a smile.

She sensed no danger from the angles and
planes of his features, but she sensed no welcome either, as if
they sat on a fence while he assessed her before deciding which way
to push her: to the vampires outside or to the impenetrable shadows
around him. He poured more tea into her cup.

“Thank you,” she murmured. She took a sip of
the sweet, hot brew. The hellhound nudged her.

“She likes you.” Tristan raised his eyebrows
toward his dog. There was warmth in his gaze as he looked at the
blind hellhound. It was the first sign of humanity she’d seen
anywhere on the street.

“Animals are so much better than humans,” she
replied. “I’d take a rabid dog over some of the people I met
today.”

“Dogs are kindred spirits.”

“It would be a nice life, wouldn’t it? Eat,
sleep, roll over and have your belly rubbed.” She sighed. Tristan
chuckled, a sound as dark as the shadows. Despite his strangeness,
she felt her body relaxing in his company, her emotions gaining the
foothold she had denied them the entire day. She looked away before
his gaze could capture her. “I’m looking for some advice.”

“You said witchcraft?”

“I have …” She looked down and around,
realizing she’d forgotten the box. Her eyes swept to her car parked
across the street, where the lumpy shape of a box was visible
against the backdrop of a lit store window. The vampires had
multiplied and moved closer to her car. Despair made her throat
tighten.

“I think I … wow.” She stared at the table,
embarrassed when her gaze blurred with tears. “If you
dare
make a joke about this costing me my soul or making a deal with the
devil, I swear I’ll … I’ll just walk away. Again. I’ve done it a
million times already and will do it again if you laugh at me. But
I’ll show it to you anyway. Excuse me.”

Frustrated and tired, she stepped over the
dog and left the shop. She wiped her face and stalked across the
street, snatched the box, paused for a few deep breaths, and
trotted back to the porch as several of the caped spectators
started toward her.

She entered the shop and found Tristan seated
where she left him, one hand dangling down to pet the hellhound’s
massive head. He watched her with a piercing gaze she avoided, and
she pushed the box onto the edge of the table.

“There. Laugh or whatever so I can be on my
way,” she said.

His gaze slid to the box, lingered, then
returned to her. He didn’t even touch it. Sorrow bubbled within
her. She reached out to grab it, but he caught her hand. Warmth
flared up her arm once more. His palm was calloused; his fingers
gently stroked the sensitive underside of her wrist.

“It’s too late for someone like you to be out
on the Alley. Most people know better than to remain after dark,”
he said.

“I don’t have time to wait ’til morning. Or
eat. Or sleep,” she replied.

“What is your plan? To sleep in your car?” he
asked.

“I lost my keys. I can’t even do that. I’ve
failed at everything,” she said and blinked, surprised at how the
simple touch affected her. Warmth traveled up her arm, easing her
muscles and tension. “I was planning on going door to door until
someone called the cops on me.”

“I own the apartments above the shop. I’ll
loan you a room. You really look like you could use some rest.”

“Do I look that bad?” she said, suddenly
self-conscious with the considering gaze of the handsome stranger
on her.

“Yeah, you do.”

She wasn’t sure how to take his honest
answer. His gentle touch somehow managed to pull the tension out of
her. She had come to Demon’s Alley for help. For the first time in
two weeks, a stranger was offering to assist her. It was not the
help she desperately needed, but it was help nonetheless.

“Thanks. That sounds good,” she murmured.

Tristan turned her hand to expose her palm.
He studied it. She forced herself to draw away finally.

“Better?”

She nodded, in control of her emotions once
again.

“Try some tea.”

She hesitated before taking a sip. Her gaze
went to the box. He hadn’t looked at it after she set it down.

“You’re not interested,” she said sadly.

“I’m very interested.” His heated gaze was on
her, not the box, and his look made her face warm again. “What do
you want to know exactly?”

“I want to know how to counter it, what it
is, where it came from,” she replied with emotion. “I want to know
why
.”

“It’s not something
you
can counter,”
he told her.

“I don’t have a choice,” she said with a
frustrated sigh. “If you have no intention of helping me, please
tell me now and I’ll find someone who will. And please don’t you
dare
make a joke about this costing me my soul.”

“I would ask nothing you couldn’t afford to
give.” His response startled her. There were many things she could
afford
to give! She could afford to give an arm since she
had two. She could afford to give her car, her money, even her
life, so long as she kept her soul. It was not the reassurance she
sought, and her courage faltered for the first time in two weeks.
She studied him carefully, the way shadows molded around him as if
he were one of them.

Would you make a deal with the devil?
She’d asked herself the question many times over the past few days
and always answered yes. Facing the devil, she wasn’t so sure. If
Tristan mentioned her soul, he wouldn’t be joking.