Steal the Light (Thieves) (30 page)

“Oh, yeah.” My breath caught at the thought. It felt exquisite.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind feeling that way, too.”

I laughed, but there was no small amount of desire in it. I liked the thought of Daniel being the one who passed out from pleasure.

Daniel pulled me close again. “Do you have any idea how good you taste? Every day for the last five years I’ve dreamed of this. Being around you and not being able to have you has been hell. I could drain you dry, and I would still want more.”

“Let’s not try it.” I let my head fall to the side. “But a late-night snack won’t kill me.”

He was gentler this time. I felt only the slightest sting as his fangs found the vein in my neck, and then the pleasure started to build with every tug of his mouth. When he’d had his fill, it was my turn.

“Baby, this is important.” He held out his hand. “Don’t be scared.” He grimaced a little as his nails lengthened, growing into perfect claws.

I stared at them, in awe of the way he could change. “I’m not afraid, Danny.”

He drew a single, sharp nail across his chest and blood welled. He put his hands on my face. “This is everything to me. This means we’re together. No going back, Z.”

I didn’t want to go back. I leaned in and tentatively put my mouth on him.

“Oh, god, baby, suck me, please.” Daniel’s hand wound around the back of my neck and held me in place. “Suck hard. It feels so good.”

I did as he asked, sucking his blood into my mouth, surprised at the hot velvety texture. Even as I whirled my tongue against his chest, he drew my hand down to his cock. It was hard, so damn hard. He pumped himself into my hand, and I tightened around him. He groaned as I released my hold on his chest. My mouth had other places to go.

“Oh, yes,” Daniel said approvingly as I moved lower and took him into my mouth.

I was pleased when he passed into sleep completely satisfied.

* * * *

When I woke up, I was cuddled against him. This time there was no pain or weakness. My neck felt fine, and when I ran my hand over it, I was surprised to find it smooth with no hint of the earlier wounds. It was his blood. It healed and made me stronger than I’d ever felt. I stretched, feeling every muscle move languorously. I let myself lie against him just a moment longer before I sat up and looked at the clock. It was almost five in the evening. I slept all day, lying there next to Daniel who had no choice but to sleep.

I would have to get used to a nocturnal lifestyle because I didn’t plan to spend my nights sleeping anymore. I would spend them with Daniel. My boyfriend was a vampire, so daylight wasn’t going to be our special time. I smiled as I thought about it. There were things to be worked out and difficult conversations to be had, but I could get through that. I had everything I wanted. I was hours away from giving the package to Halfer, getting my contract back, and having a shitload of money to show for it. I already had the best thing of all.

I had Daniel back.

I glanced over at the package. It sat on the table where we left it. Everything was exactly as it should have been with one teeny, tiny difference.

The damn thing was glowing like a firefly.

I got out of bed and slipped into Daniel’s T-shirt. I walked tentatively to the box. It glowed and started to pulse as I approached.

“Damn it.”

This is where it all goes to hell. I will not touch that box,
I continued my inner dialogue.
Pulse away, little box, I’m not playing Pandora. I am going to leave you right where you are, and Halfer is coming to get you and I’m gonna hand you over and fulfill my end of the contract. It’s nothing personal, box, it’s strictly business.

And then I heard it.

The box, or whatever was in the box, cried.

All of my thoughts of self-protection flew away as I touched the box, and it opened without hesitation. The top slid open and there, sitting in the middle of the box that seemed much larger on the inside than it had from the outside, lay the one thing I could never hand over to a demon.

I picked up the soft, pink baby girl so perfect and human, with a ridiculously precious toothless grin, and held her close with a maternal instinct I hadn’t known I had. She wriggled against me.

She made some soft sounds and settled against my shoulder, and I knew in that moment I was going straight to Hell.

Chapter Twenty

“OMG! This is the single porniest room I have ever seen!” Neil exclaimed two hours later as I let him through the door. His eyes went wide as he took in the sights. He stopped when he got to Daniel lying in the bed. It was obvious I’d occupied the other side of the bed. “Then there’s the smell. Jeez, Zoey, change the sheets after you’re done. It’s really overwhelming. Oh, look Sarah, Mommy and Daddy got back together. See, I told you dreams can come true.”

“Porny?” I resettled the baby on my hip. I already felt better.

The last few hours I’d felt vulnerable. It had been just me, a sleeping vampire, and a baby who I had no idea how to care for. Though I figured Neil would be useless when it came to taking care of the baby, he did make me feel safer. Demons would have to think twice before dealing with Neil. It didn’t hurt that I knew his strength was enhanced with Daniel’s blood.

Neil smiled. “It’s something new I just came up with. Look, I made an adjective! I can’t imagine what my inspiration was. So, I’ll ask the question. Why are you holding a baby? You look cute—all Madonna and child. By the way, Dev is bringing in the stuff you asked for, and he’ll be here any minute so you should…well, there’s not a damn thing you can do to hide this, so just be ready. He’s been freaked out all day.”

“We couldn’t find you.” Sarah looked at the wards I’d drawn on the walls. She ran her hands across the symbols as though she could feel the power behind them, and maybe she could. “We were up all night. I tried every locator spell I know but got nothing. This explains it.”

“Thanks. I had a great teacher.” I was just the teeniest bit disappointed she didn’t seem more excited. It was the first time I’d done something with magic that worked. We’d been safe here.

“I thought we should just try your cell phone,” Neil said. “But you know, Sarah, always with the witchy stuff.”

“I tossed the cells.” They were in itty bitty pieces all along 183. I couldn’t take the chance that the demons knew about the whole GPS thing.

“And when would you have had time to answer?” Neil snarked. “What with all the porntastic fun going on? See, I made another one.”

Dev chose that moment to walk in carrying a large bag from Target. I hoped it contained the list I dictated to Neil over the phone. I’d rattled off all the baby stuff I knew and hoped I hadn’t forgotten anything. Up to this point, little baby girl had been a perfect angel. If I’d thought about it at the time, I would have been suspicious, but the truth was, I didn’t know what babies were like. I’d never had a baby sister or brother. I only had one real girlfriend, and Sarah was as far from procreating as she could get.

The baby hadn’t cried or wanted food, which was good because all I had were a few Tic Tacs and a can of Red Bull. She’d smiled and gurgled and tried to put lots of things in her mouth but not a single tear yet. She even allowed me to take a shower after calling the troops. It had been cooler than I would have liked, but I was clean and she was clean, and that was what mattered.

Daniel would probably be pissed I’d given away our location, but I trusted these people, and I needed help. I couldn’t believe that anyone on our crew had betrayed us. Lucas Halfer might have betrayed us but not Dev or Sarah. Daniel was going to have to understand why I’d called in the cavalry. He was dead to the world until eight thirty p.m., and I had a baby to deal with. I was so not cut out to be a single mom.

Dev smiled as he walked in, but the minute he surveyed the room, I watched a dark look fall across his face. His jaw clenched, and I realized that he was going to take this harder than I’d bargained for.

“Well, that was inevitable. I guess I should have gotten into the car after all.” He let the bag drop to the floor. He glanced at the bed where Daniel lay, still as death, and I didn’t like the look on his face. I remembered what he said to me earlier. He would stake him if he thought Daniel was seriously trying to make me a companion. I’d made myself a companion last night, but I doubted Dev would see it that way. “You were forced to feed him, I suppose.”

“He was dying.” I tried not to really think about what happened. I’d been able to put it out of my mind the night before, but it would catch up to me eventually. I would see him again and again, so pale and close to dying.

“He died a long time ago, Zoey.” Dev stared at Daniel for a moment and shook his head. “I’ve got another bag in the car. I’ll be back.”

Neil whistled. “He’s going to be bitter, that one. Oh, well, he’s the ex now, so who cares? You’re back with Daniel where you belong, and Dev just has to deal with it. Okay, so baby? Anybody gonna explain little Miss Sunshine here, or do I get the speech? You know the one where a mommy and her vampire love each other very much…”

“Neil, obviously she found a baby,” Sarah said with a hint of annoyance. “The question is why hasn’t she turned the baby over to the authorities yet?”

She looked down at Daniel and studied him for a moment. He wasn’t like a human sleeping, as Daniel didn’t move at all. There was no restless movement or squirming. He was just there.

“Was he really dying?” she asked quietly.

“Yes, he was,” I replied. “That damn demon kept switching bodies. Daniel got shot full of silver and one of the bullets was close to his heart. He managed to hold on long enough to save us, but I had to haul him into the car. The bullets came out, but the silver was in his blood. It was terrifying. I did what I had to do to save him. He needed blood, and I couldn’t trust anyone else. And I didn’t find the baby. She was in the box.”

“What?” Sarah turned pale. It was odd to see Sarah scrubbed clean of all makeup. It made her look younger than her years and easier to read emotionally. She was tired and shocked at the prospect that the baby had been in the box we stole. I was with her on that one, but I’d had hours to get used to just how screwed up the whole situation was.

“She was in the box. I know it sounds crazy, but that damn box is magic. It was bigger on the inside than the outside. It was kind of cool,” I explained as I patted Baby Girl’s backside.

It seemed to soothe her. Her little bottom was covered in a pillow case I ripped up and tied off. The motel was going to need to rethink that whole “no credit card on file” allowance. I hunted through the first bag and pulled out a package of diapers.

“She’s the Light of Alhorra?” Sarah asked, her voice sounding shaky.

“I guess.” I settled her on the bed next to Daniel. She tried to turn around and climb on him. I pulled her gently back and wrestled with her to get her into the diaper. She kept twisting and turning and trying to look back at Daniel.

“That baby came out of the box?” Dev asked from the doorway. He set down the car seat he was holding. “The faery box?”

“Yep.” I finally fit the diaper around her little bottom and got the sides to close. Now random urine was one less problem I needed to worry about.

“You idiots.” Dev walked over to the box and examined it. He looked at it for a moment, his eyes going over the inscriptions. They were in some form of Gaelic. Not being able to read Gaelic myself, I’d ignored them. Dev seemed to think they were important. “Let me guess the sequence of events. You fed him. You fucked him. Then the box pops open and suddenly there’s a baby. Did you not notice when the box started to glow and move around on its own?”

I stood up and settled her on my hip again. She tried to wriggle toward Daniel. I was a little fed up with the attitude I was getting from Dev. It wasn’t like we had a commitment. “Sorry, I wasn’t really looking at the box. My mind was on other things.”

“I bet it was.” He walked up to me and touched my neck. He examined it for a moment, running his thumb up and down the skin. “Doesn’t like it from the neck, does he? What part of you did he tear up, Zoey?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but he did bite my neck. He’s gentle about it.” I felt the need to defend Daniel. What we’d done together last night had been beautiful, and I wasn’t going to feel bad about it.

Dev caught his breath and took a step back. He looked horrified, and I tried to think of what I said to put that look on his face. “Zoey, I need to talk to you in private.”

“This isn’t the time or place to have this conversation. I have things I need to get done.”

Time was getting away from us. Halfer would be coming for the baby in a couple of hours, and I needed to do something about it. There was also the little thought in the back of my head that if I pushed it far enough, I would never have to have this conversation with Dev. I would be in Hell, but at least I would avoid the awkward discussion about my sex life. There was an upside.

“Now, Zoey.” Dev said firmly. His face was set. “Or I’ll just have it out with you in front of everyone, and this isn’t a conversation you want made public.”