Midnight's Master (14 page)

Demons could hurt.

Her eyes were grass green now, but he’d seen that flash of black when her face went slack with ecstasy.

Total darkness. Iris. Sclera. Everything.

Demon eyes.

The way his always looked.

The way a demon’s eyes looked without glamour.

A climax was a weak moment for a demon. Power fluctuated then. A glamour could slip, for a few precious moments.

As hers had slipped.

She’d played me. All along. From that first night.

No helpless human. Not by a long shot.

For a demon to be able to hide her true self from him, she had to be very powerful.

He, of all people, sure knew how dangerous a powerful demon could be.

What if it was a setup? Everything? Carl? Sam? What if she’d been trying to get close, so that I could be her next victim?

Shit.

He hadn’t been this angry, this fucking furious since—

Since he’d been twelve and his mom had dumped his ass on his grandmother’s doorstep. She’d been terrified of him, his power, and desperate to get away from her only child.

He’d begged. He’d pleaded. But she’d left him with a brown paper bag full of his clothes and the taste of salt on his tongue.

She’d driven away and never looked back.

“Niol.” Holly’s sharp voice jerked him from the past.

He blinked and stopped seeing the flash of red taillights disappearing over an old, broken road and saw Holly, face pale, lips red, as she stared up at him, a faint line between her brows.

“Let. Me. Go.”

No. Not until he found out what she—

Holly kicked him in the shin.

Swearing, he dropped his hold. What kind of attack was that? A demon wouldn’t—

“You’re twisted.” With a quick, snakelike move, she tightened the sheet around her, toga-style. “I thought we had—screw that.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know what kind of crazy shit you’re talking about, but I do know you just ruined the best sex I’ve ever had.”

The best sex I’ve ever had.

Her words calmed the fury.

It’d been the best he’d had, too.

And he’d sure had plenty of comparative experience.

But nothing like being with Holly. The pleasure had ripped through him—no, seemed to rip him apart.

And that’s why it had hurt so much when he’d learned the truth.

He’d had her body, thought he’d touched more in the darkness of the night.

Only to find out everything was a lie.

A trap.

“You’re good, I’ll give you that.” She’d slipped right under his guard, and he’d never even suspected.

“And you’re crazy.” Her gaze darted around the room. “Shit. Where are my clothes?”

Scattered.

“Why are you pretending? The game’s over.”

Her glittering stare shot back to his. “I’m not playing a game with you, jerkoff. I’m walking out on you. There’s a difference.”

She found her skirt. Yanked it up under the toga. Discovered her shirt near the door.

He’d brought it up for her at some point in the night, trying to be a gentleman. Fuck that from now on.

Swearing, Holly pul ed the shirt over her head, not bothering with a bra, and finally let the sheet drop.

Then she looked at him and shook her head. “I thought finding my fiancé with his face between a grad student’s legs had been hard. Hell, Niol, you’ve just ripped me apart.”

Tears gleamed in her eyes for a moment.

The taste of salt on my tongue.

She grabbed her shoes and flew out of the room.

And it felt like someone had punched him in the chest.

Niol took an instinctive step forward, wanting to go after her.

A lying demon.

Just like me.

No, no, Holly wasn’t like him. He’d been watching her too carefully, seen the way she interacted with others.

His teeth ground together.

He’d also seen the flash of her eyes.

Niol heard the thud of her footsteps pounding down the stairs.

Hel . As fast as he could, Niol jerked on a pair of jeans.

Then, no choice—he took off after her. The lady was fast. She was yanking open the front door, his car keys in her fist, when he caught her.

He slammed the door shut with the palm of his hand, caging her between the door and his body.

Her smell, that rush of lavender and the warm scent of woman, teased his nostrils.

Her back was straight, shoulders tense, and the soft locks of her hair brushed against his cheek.

For just a second, he closed his eyes and inhaled.

The memory of her in that pit of an alley flashed before him. Terrified eyes. Pale face.

Helpless.

Trapped.

The demon bastard had controlled her, nearly kil ed her.

Niol’s eyes flew open. That didn’t make a lick of sense. One demon couldn’t control another, especially not one as powerful as—

Holly turned, her body brushing against his, and her eyes stared up at him.

So green…

And lost.

I’ll be damned. Understanding dawned and had him rocking back on his heels. “You don’t know.”

Because no way, no way, could he have been that wrong about her.

He was never wrong about people. He could sense evil and deception—that was part of his nature.

He hadn’t sensed a lie from her. Still didn’t.

One demon couldn’t control another.

Not a full-blooded demon, anyway. But a hybrid—those rules didn’t apply with a hybrid demon.

The line was back between her brows. “Know what?” Holly licked her lips. “Niol, stop jerking me around. I’ve got enough crap to deal with—”

His mouth crashed onto hers. A deep, hard, I’m-taking-you kiss that—

Holly shoved him back a good foot.

Because he let her, not because she had any enhanced strength.

“I’m not the kind of girl who likes it when a guy plays asshole one minute and lover the next.” Her lip curled in disgust—no dimple—as her eyes narrowed. “Even when the sex is good.”

She doesn’t know.

Niol realized he had to tread very, very carefully now.

If he hadn’t been so pissed earlier, he would have realized—

The woman had been thrown into his world months before, a lamb to the slaughter.

Some reactions just couldn’t be faked.

He’d remember her fear in that alley until he took his last breath.

“I’m sorry, Holly.” The words were rusty and felt funny on his tongue. Because it was the first time he’d ever apologized.

Judging by the look on her face, she knew it, too. “Uh, run that by me again.”

“I. Am. Sorry.” He wouldn’t plead. Wouldn’t beg. Had sworn years ago never to do either again.

“Sorry you cal ed me a demon? Well, you should be—”

“Not for that.”

Her lips parted.

“You are a demon, love. But the crazy thing is…I don’t think you even know it.”

She rubbed her hand over her eyes and growled. “I’m not a demon—”

He caught her hand, pulled it gently down, and kept a loose grip around her wrist. “Yes, you are.”

A startled laugh burst from her lips. “You’re actually serious. You believe—”

“I’ll prove it to you. Just give me some time.” An investigation of her background, her family history, would take a few days—maybe less, depending on who he hired and how much money he tossed around, but Niol knew he would find the proof.

He just had to look hard enough.

“I can’t be a demon, I think I would know—”

“I thought so, too,” he murmured.

“My parents would have told me, don’t you think? But they didn’t because they’re not demons. They’re perfectly normal people—” A shadow drifted over her face. “My dad was, anyway, but he had a heart attack and—” Her chin lifted. “He was an accountant, for goodness sake! And my mom, she’s an engineer at the car plant in—”

“Maybe she doesn’t know.” Maybe neither of her parents had known the truth.

Adoption, one possibility. Or maybe somewhere far back in the family tree, one of Holly’s relatives had been tempted by a demon in disguise. “Make no mistake, I know what I saw upstairs.” When he’d had her naked and open to him and he’d been seconds away from thrusting into that slick pink flesh.

Then he’d met her stare and the world had stopped.

And started again in a red haze of fury.

“You’re wrong.” A whisper. “I’d know.”

He brought her hand to his lips. He’d screwed up with her, lost valuable ground, and he wasn’t sure how to repair the damage he’d done.

The idea of Holly betraying him—

It had shattered his control and let the fury rage.

“No, love,” now, spoken as the endearment it was, “you wouldn’t.”

And that was the whole damn problem.

Holly paced her office hours later, Niol’s words still spinning in her head.

A demon. The guy actually thought she was a demon.

Insane.

Ridiculous.

Wasn’t it?

But Niol wasn’t the joking type and the fury she’d glimpsed in his eyes had been all too real.

Because he thought I’d played him.

Shit. Holly stumbled to a stop. It just wasn’t possible.

Holy Christ…what if it were true?

From the beginning, she’d been so fascinated by the idea of demons, drawn, almost helplessly, back to Paradise Found.

Back to the demons.

Because she was one?

No. Not. Possible.

Her hand slammed onto her desk. She was grade-A human, through and through.

No matter what Niol thought he’d seen.

Someone rapped on her door.

Holly sucked in a cleansing breath and turned around. “Kim, do you have those tapes

—”

Kim wasn’t standing in her doorway. She’d expected the intern, with the security tapes from the previous morning.

But the pretty brunette wasn’t staring back at her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Holly snapped, her body jerking as if she’d been shocked.

And, yeah, she was pretty damn shocked.

Because seeing Dr. Zachariah Hal , blond hair perfectly slicked back, golden tan gleaming, blue eyes smiling at her—stunned her. He was the last person she’d expected—or wanted—to see.

The lips that had been tilted in a warm grin sagged a bit. “Holly…you aren’t still angry, are you?”

She growled. Finding her fiancé half-naked with his grad student hadn’t been one of her best moments. Or his. Jerk. “Uh, yeah, I am. And probably will be for the next, oh, twenty years.” Why the hell was the guy there? He’d tried calling her a few times after the breakup. She’d ignored him. Then, blessedly, he’d gone away.

Back to his classes and the nimble grad girls who would do anything for that A.

The smile was totally gone now. “I made a mistake. A onetime mistake.”

One time her ass. She snorted. “One time, twenty times,” which she believed more than the “one time” story. “You’re done in my book.”

He stepped toward her and closed the door behind him.

Her mouth dropped. “Uh, Zack, I’m not in the mood to talk to you—” Ever.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” The words sounded sincere. His eyes looked sincere.

The apology was completely different from Niol’s. Very smooth and slick. Not at al awkward. Didn’t sound like the words had been dragged from him.

But she didn’t buy it, not for a minute.

And what about Niol’s apology?

Later.

“I’m sorry I wasted four months of my life on you. Guess we’re even.” Okay, that sounded like something a really cold bitch would say.

So cal her cold.

And she’d always been a bit proud of being a bitch.

The faint lines around his eyes hardened. He wasn’t wearing his glasses today. Usually he saved those for his classes. She knew he thought they made him look scholarly, and he was all about the smart professor look.

Dr. Zachariah Hall was an associate professor in the biology department at Mellrune University in Atlanta. He spent his days lecturing to bleary-eyed students or writing really lame research papers.

And screwing students, too.

When she’d first met him, Holly had mistakenly believed the guy was a class act. Smart.

Honest. Gentlemanly.

The wild spark she’d always longed for hadn’t ignited between them, but she’d figured she’d be able to live quite happily without that spark.

So she’d accepted his proposal over a lobster dinner one night, then found him having a hands-on experience with his student two months later.

Extra credit?

“I was scared, Holly.” Again, sounded sincere. Maybe it was. “I fell for you, hard and fast. I didn’t know what was happening to me, so I—”

She rolled her eyes. “So you decided to go down on another woman? Got you.” She did not have time for this drama. “Look, I don’t want to hear your explanations. I just don’t

—” Care anymore.

Her breath caught.

Wow. That was true. She didn’t care. She rolled her shoulders and felt as if she’d just dropped a huge weight. “That was months ago, Zack. I’ve moved on and I hope you have, too.” Now she got to be the sincere one.

Less bitch. More—ah, what was she more of?

His perfectly chiseled jaw clenched. “You’re seeing someone else?”

Was she still seeing Niol? Even after his accusation?

What if it were true?

“I—”

Another knock at the door.

“Come in!” She would have welcomed just about anyone then, as long as she didn’t have to be in the room alone with good old Zack anymore.

Kim poked her head inside, and she was smiling. “You got a delivery.”

Not another one. Her stomach knotted.

The door swung open. The red roses spilled from the vase Kim carried, their lush scent tickling Holly’s nose.

She blinked. “Did you see who—”

“Oh, yeah.” Kim didn’t even seem to notice Zack. “Susie was at the front desk, but I caught a glimpse of him before the guy left. Real sexy, black hair, sunglasses—”

Zack cleared his throat.

Kim jumped. Okay, so she hadn’t noticed him.

Holly hurried forward and took the flowers. “Thanks, Kim.” The vase felt slightly chilled against her hands. Niol must have brought it right over from the florist’s.