Sweet Revenge (Dueling with the Devil) (10 page)

Xavier raised a brow in question
.“
U
m,
you plan to just leave me here
?
”

“
Absolutely. I need some me time
.
”

“
Isn’t that a bit rude
?
”

“
And
?
”

Jacque interrupted the back and forth
.“
I think I should get back to my woma
n,
before she decides to roll out with Bell. He
y,
you really shouldn’t be out by yoursel
f,
especially with that thing still out there. Take Sean with you
.
”

“
Just go back to your precious Angel. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself
.”
Her voice raised an octave.

Jacque shook his head and slapped Xavier on the back
.“
Like I sai
d,
she’s all yours
.
”

Once her ex was out of earsho
t,
Xavier zeroed in on her
.“
What the hell is this about leaving? You know we’re stuck with each other
.
”

“
Nope. You’re off house arrest. Luc freed us. I’m outta here. Maybe I’ll run into a real male while I’m out
.
”

Xavier trapped her against the counte
r,
cupping her ass
.“
You weren’t complaining upstairs
.”

If she didn’t need his suppor
t,
she would smack him for groping her. Her legs felt weak and wav
y,
like paper streamers. His hands scorched a sensuous imprint on her body and mind. His musky scent crushed her defense
s,
drawing her to him. She dug her nails into her palm
s,
the pain allowing her to break his spell.

She used all her strength to push him away from her
.
“
Y
o
u w
e
r
e
a
n
a
pp
e
t
i
ze
r
.
I’
m
g
o
in
g
to
f
in
d
a
f
u
ll
m
e
a
l
.
”

Anger flared
h
is
nostrils. He snatched her by her arm
.“
All you Royal Court bitches are the same. Afraid to admit you like to slum it with us Wasteland thugs. I hope you fucking choke on your meal
.”
Without another wor
d,
he released her and left the kitchen.

Bell remained still. Both her heart and hands were unsteady. She has never been afraid of much in her life. Twice tonigh
t,
she met with fear. She finally understood Xavier’s reputation. He was a force to be reckoned with. His eyes held the promise of imminent danger. Although every instinct told her to stay away from hi
m,
deep inside he fulfilled a primal desire no other male has ever uncovered.

t t t

The night was a moist blanket of heat. The aroma of jasmine and roses infused the air. Etienne’s garden was one of the loveliest in the city. Leave it to a vampire to pay attention to every detail to attract the living. Bell journeyed down the trail leading to the garages in the back alley. Voices from the gazebo caught her attention before she reached her destination.

Peaking around the large Magnolia tre
e,
she spied on her brother and the woman she despised
.“
Ange
l,
my as
s
,
”
Bell scoffed. She expected this from the conniving Creole bitc
h,
but not her brother. The two were always way too friendly. Now they were sneaking around in the dark. Bell sunk lowe
r,
crawling closer to get in better hearing distance. One of the advantages of being demon was enhanced sense
s,
not as good as the damned vampire
s,
but better than humans.

“
S
o,
you sure you want to do this
?”
her brother questioned.

Angel smiled
.“
No. But she’s your sister
.
”

Laurent reached over and squeezed her hand
.“
Jac is a lucky man. I hope I find someone like you one day
.”
His eyes glowed with affection and appreciation.

“
I’ll let her come to the weddin
g,
but if she does anything to mess it u
p,
I will personally fill her with silver. I love you Lauren
t,
but I’ve waited all my life for this day. I want it to be perfect. I want Jacque to be happy. You two are family to hi
m,
s
o
I
’
l
l
put
up
w
i
t
h
h
e
r
c
r
a
z
y
a
s
s
.
”

“
She’s not that bad. She has taken care of me most of my life. It’s my turn to make sure she’s okay. I think you two have more in common than you think
.
”

Angel patted his leg
.“
You’re a good guy and a better brother. Bell’s lucky to have you. I know Jac hurt he
r,
but she’ll be fine. The one thing I know Bell and I share is  survival instinct. Like a ca
t,
she’ll land on her feet
.
”

Bell fell back into the tree behind he
r,
throwing her hands over her mouth to keep from being heard. A cauldron of emotions welled inside of her. She didn’t need Angel’s pity. The human knew nothing about her pain. Demons felt no pai
n,
except for those too stupid to bury them away as they were meant to do. She excelled at locking away the annoying inconvenience of her feelings. Her mother taught her this as soon as she was old enough to understand languages.

Unable to continue absorbing the ramblings of the crazy human and her baby brothe
r,
Bell ran to the garage. She looked around at the vehicles and remembered she didn’t drive her Benz. She rode with Laurent. Xavier followed on his bike. In the corne
r,
she spotted Xavier’s Ducati. Perfect. She needed a little reckless
a
b
a
n
d
o
n. Rummaging through the lockbo
x,
she found the key. She donned the helme
t,
revved the engin
e,
and escaped the ugliness of her current situation.

CHAPTER EIGHT

The plaster crumbled under the force of Xavier’s fist. That girl would be his ruin. He didn’t understand why he let her get to him. She wasn’t the first female to look down on hi
m,
and most likely wouldn’t be the last. But her words were like daggers to his heart. A heart he fought hard to ignore. Feelings equaled weakness. Something he taunted his empathetic brother about all their lives. Toda
y,
his brother’s happiness and success proved him wrong.

“
Etienne is going to have a fit when he sees the damage you’ve cause
d
,
”
an airy female voice called from down the hall.

Xavier turned and watched Marie Laveau glide toward him. Her quiet dignity and strong stature surrounded her with a
r
e
f
i
n
e
d
e
l
e
g
a
n
ce
.

“
I’ll get it fixed
.”
Her light brown eyes glittered with amusement
.“
Bell can get the best of any man
.
”

“
She’s a handfu
l
,
”
he grumbled.

She stared so deepl
y,
it seemed she was searching his soul
.“
You will be good for her. Once you let go of your own pai
n,
you can help mend hers
.
”

Uncomfortabl
e,
he stepped away from Marie
.“
What makes you think I’m in pain or that I’m sticking around long enough to help Bell with anything
?
”

She reached ou
t,
taking his hand. A chill ran up his arm. He hadn’t realized the extent of Marie’s power
.“
You hide behind your anger and pai
n,
but somewhere inside there is a male who can love and wants love. When you are no longer ashamed of w
h
o
y
o
u
a
r
e
and
u
n
d
e
r
s
t
a
n
d
y
o
ur
v
a
l
u
e
,
y
o
u
w
i
ll
f
i
n
d
t
h
e
p
e
ac
e
y
o
u
s
o
d
e
s
p
e
r
a
t
e
l
y
d
e
s
i
r
e
.
”

Giving the Queen of Voodoo the opportunity to read you might not be the best ide
a,
dumbass.

He jerked his arm away from her. He couldn’t risk her finding out any more information. Being in the house with their enemies might not have been such a bad idea after all. Everyone they needed to fulfill their contract was in one spot when the time came to deliver them to Lucifer. He stepped further awa
y,
wiping the thoughts from his mind.

Turning back to Mari
e,
he replie
d,
“
Yeah. When I called the Psychic Friends Network back in the 90’
s,
they told me the same thing. Wel
l,
I gotta get out of here for a minute. Thanks for the reading
.
”

“
Don’t fear lov
e,
my chameleon. You can’t evade it foreve
r,
no matter what disguise you wear
.”
She began down the hal
l,
then halte
d,
spun toward him and smiled sweetly
.“
My instinct tells me you will turn out fine. Good luck
.
”

Xavier was speechless. Marie was scary and amazing all in the same breath. Did she know who he was? If she di
d,
she wasn’t afraid. Or maybe she was running off to tell Angel and Jacque. No. She wasn’t going to rat him ou
t,
even if she knew who he was. She understood something no one else realized. Marie planned to see it play out. He had no idea how she ended up in Hell. He never believed she belonged with Lucifer. Bad choices. They were usually the culprits that landed people with the Devil.

Inside the garag
e,
Xavier curse
d,
when he spied the empty spot where he had parked his bike. That bitch stole his baby. The metal cabinet absorbed the brunt of his anger. The steel door dented around the knuckles of his hand.

“
Y
o,
man
.”
The light flicked on overhead
.“
You can’t run around here breaking shit
.”
Jacque walked toward him.

“
Shit. You people are everywhere
.”
Xavier lived a solitary life. When you killed most of the beings you me
t,
it wasn’t a
c
h
o
i
ce
.

Jacque chuckled
.“
Marie told me you were not too happy and headed this way. I saw Bell take off on your bike a little while ago
.
”

Xavier rubbed the top of his head
.“
I can’t believe she stole my bike
.
”

“
Bell always does as she pleases and takes what she wants
.
”

“
Apparently no
t,
if you’re marrying someone else
.
”

“
Believe me. It wasn’t easy. Took me fifty year
s,
and deat
h,
to understand where I belonged
.”
Jacque shrugged matter-of-factly.

“
You hopped your ass out the pan into the flames. When you go from uncommitted sex to marriag
e,
something ain’t right. I hope it ain’t contagious. I don’t do relationship
s
,
”
he replie
d,
hiding his amusement. This conversation was one shared between true brothers. If only they could be like this for real.

“
O
h,
you’ll catch it one day. Just hope you don’t realize it when it’s too late
.”
Jacque tossed Xavier a set of keys
.“
Take my ride. Just don’t scratch her
.
”

“
You sure
?
”

“
Yeah. If you don’t come bac
k,
we’ll find you. Trust me. You don’t want that to happen
.”
Jacque eyed hi
m,
again making Xavier want to laugh.

“
Thank
s,
bro. I’ll bring her back in one piece
.
”

t t t

Xavier slid the AMG 65 between two cars in front of a club. The small hole-in-the-wall remained a getaway for him. Mainly humans frequented the ba
r,
the kind who asked no questions because they didn’t want to answer any. The music was good and the beer cold. This was all Xavier needed.

The bass of a blues tune bounced off the wooden plank walls. A few patrons sat scattered around the joint at smal
l,
round tables or at the battered bar. The floor boards bowed under the strain of his weigh
t,
as he made his way to drown away the chaos of his day. He leaned against the tarnished brass rod bolted across the counter top and ordered a beer. On the dance floo
r,
a few people two-stepped to the rhythmic sounds from the band.

Taking a long swig from his bee
r,
Xavier finally relaxed. No longer hidden under the face of anothe
r,
he could be himself. He appreciated just being himself. Staying shifted for so long took a lot of energy and concentration. He needed to think about his next move— how to get his ass out of this mess he got dragged into. Turning your brother over to be killed was never something easy to do.

When Xavier finished his bee
r,
the bartender brought him another
.“
I didn’t ask for this
.
”

“
The chick down at the end of the bar sent i
t
,
”
the guy behind the counter answere
d,
passing Xavier a slip of paper.

“
And her number
.
”

“
Thanks
.”
Xavier flipped a few dollars to the barkeep and headed in the female’s direction. She wore a bright smile and tiny dress. This was the kind of girl Xavier normally attracted. Ho
t,
but everything about her flashed low rent.

Xavier reached out and tugged on a curl that escaped her

p
o
n
y
t
a
i
l
.
“
Thanks for the beer
.
”

“
Thanks for showing up. This was starting out to be a disappointing night until I spotted you
.”
Dark brown eyes shielded under charcoal lashes gazed up at him. She stepped into th
e“V”
of his legs when he straddled the barstool.

He drew her into him
.“
How should I repay you for the
b
ee
r
?
”
h
e
w
h
i
s
p
e
r
e
d
in
t
o
h
e
r
h
a
i
r
.

“
I can think of a few ways
.”
Her lips pressed into his nec
k,
cool and soft.

His hand played along the hemline of her dress. His fingers darted under the flimsy fabric caressing the back of her thigh
.“
I say we get out of here. Maybe I’ll let you have your way with me
.
”

She giggled like a child. Xavier took the opportunity to taste her lips. He slipped his tongue in to explore her mouth. She eagerly replied. He intensified the kis
s,
yet it was all mechanica
l,
lacking the explosive chemistry between him and Bell. The kiss reminded him of his lif
e,
only going through the motion
s,
but never truly living. Thi
s,
he could handle. This felt safe.

He relaxed into the slow beat of the song. The female’s doe eyes absorbed every inch of him as her hands wandered further up his thighs. He retrieved his drink from the counter. The next thing he kne
w,
Bell had the human by her mahogany tresse
s,
snatching her from Xavier’s arms and bashing the female’s face into the granite counter of the bar.

Before Bell could slam her head agai
n,
Xavier stopped her
.“
What the fuck
?
”

“
Yeah. What the fuck
!”
Bell screamed. Xavier pushed the girl out the wa
y,
toward
the dance floor. She quickly disappeared. She was a survivor. Some human females tried to fight bac
k,
with a disastrous outcome. This chick knew to run. She was smart.