Tangled Sin (A Dark Realm Novel) (2 page)

She hurried for the front door to her aunt’s apartment.

“Not so fast.”

Aw crap!

He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “You ruined my kill.”

“Are you terminally insane?” she spluttered, her gaze dipping to the tantalizing shallow cleft on his chin. “Just how did I do that?”

“By crossing my path…distracting me, and allowing my other prey to escape.” Those cool green eyes trapped hers, became flinty with resolve. “You owe me.”

“Owe you?” She glared, her irritation piling. “I owe you nothing. Not a damn thing!”

“I’m taking it anyway.” He wrapped his huge palm around her nape. Lowering his head, he ran his tongue along her bottom lip.

Saia stilled in horror. Yes, it most certainly was horror, not awareness churning her stomach.

How dare he?

Then he bit her. Hard.

“Oww!”
She dropped her bag and slammed her hands into his chest, but he was about as movable as a monolith. With an annoyingly quick move, he secured her wrists to her back with one hand and yanked her close. She felt every rigid muscle in his body. Then shocking all hell out of her, he drew her abused lip into his mouth and sucked it.

Unexpected desire took her fast, her knees caved. If he hadn’t had her trapped against him, she would have landed at his feet in an embarrassing pile of goo.

“Don’t ever put yourself in danger like that again,” he snapped. “Understand?”

Saia blinked, licking her swollen lip. Reality walloped her upside the head. She was too close to him, a guy she didn't even know—a stranger for crying out loud, who’d just been too intimate. And she didn't care how sexy that chin dimple was. She yanked free.

“Put myself in danger?” she spat. “It’s you who grabbed me like some mental whack-job and kept me here. If you hadn’t, I would be safe inside my building. And you bit me!”

“Mental?” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Whack-job?”

“As I said, out of your bloody mind,” she expounded.

He went motionless. “Wait a minute. You live here?” He indicated the two-story, semi-detached colonial building with the twin white doors and green shutters leading to the two separate residences. “
Here
?” He said it like it was a curse.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I do now.”

The guy looked as if she’d slid her blade between his ribs. Like he’d stopped breathing. Whatever. She sure wasn’t waiting to find out. He’d bloody bit her!

Glowering, Saia grabbed the Vuitton handle again and dragged her mistreated case to the left white door, slamming it shut behind her.

***

Riley stood there in the empty courtyard, feeling as if someone had yanked out his brain then stuffed it all back in his skull again, except nothing lined up right. His mind was in utter chaos and his body throbbed hard with need.

By the nine flippin’ hells.
She lived here? Next door?

He had to get out of here.

However, he scanned the place for the blood-demon that had escaped him. Nothing. The other he’d killed with relish. Assholes probably thought to get a nice long drink from the little socialite.

Riley flashed and took form beneath a grove of trees near the lake in City Park. The cool, brackish scent of the water and damp soil eased him some.

What the hell had induced him to bite her?

Oh, yeah.
Mental
and
whack
-
job
would do that.

He’d just wanted to teach her a lesson for the name-calling, but his own reprisal followed. Hell, he should have left the moment he saw her. Then he wouldn’t be in this precarious position of knowing what she tasted like—her lip soft and lush against his tongue. And wouldn’t you know it, his sexual boredom took on new life. His groin hardened painfully behind his zipper.

Dammit! He didn't fool around with his neighbors, too much was at risk. He’d just have to keep out of her way. Ignore her.

With this little mortal, nothing more could ever happen.

You could always clear her memories of you.

For some reason, that thought didn't sit well with him, especially considering the numerous memory wipes he’d performed in his long life with all his hook-ups.

Shutting her out of his thoughts, Riley hunkered on the soggy bank, his mind back on what he had to do. Ripples of water slapped gently at his boots as he stared at the watery gateway. Would it convey his message into his old realm of Stygia?

Only one way to find out what the hell was going on, why the sudden influx of guards were shadowing him.

He stroked his open palm over the gray, liquid surface.

We need to talk.
He sent the telepathic missive to Gaelin, using the body of water as a conduit. Seconds passed. And like a catalyst, at the faint connection with his old world, memories of his last time in Stygia spilled open…

Debilis
. Even in his adult life, the name haunted him.
Weakling
. His jaw clenched.

As a child, he’d developed late both physically and psychically. While others his age had come into their abilities, he, the “runt,” had become an embarrassment. So much so that his own sire had cast him out.

They thought him weak.

He was just a late starter.

Bastards. The lot of them!

A shimmer in the air pulled him back from destructive memories. A form took shape, revealing a blond demon. As the male strolled closer, Riley snapped, “What the hell took you so long?”

Gaelin stopped several feet away, the faint odor of sulfur clinging to him. He cocked a dark golden brow at Riley’s snarly tone. “Let’s see, being pinned down by two centaur demons determined to get a piece of me—yeah, was a little tied up.” He brushed his damp hair and grimaced, staring at his moist fingers.

“What’s going on?” Riley forced himself to calm down. “You haven’t been around lately, but assholes from Stygia have?”

Instantly, Gaelin’s teasing manner vanished. He wiped his hand on his pants. “I’ve been meaning to get to you, but work kept me bound.” Since Gaelin was a tracker in the Stygian militia, it would. “Your name’s come up in the citadel.”

“Who?”

“The same one who tried to separate your head from your body when you left Sheol for the human world.”

Baric. Why did that not surprise him? For some reason, the demon hated his guts. He’d followed Riley to Earth and tried to finish the job of killing him. It couldn’t be because he’d defected to the human world. That didn't make sense when thousands of demons had done so. Only the intervention of that blue-haired Guardian, one of those hardass immortal warriors who protected the earthly realm had stopped Riley’s death.

“Let him come. I'm not the boy who left Stygia a millennium ago.”

“Réomer,” Gaelin sighed, using Riley’s birth name. “Baric’s been sending out spies and collecting intel on you. I don’t think he works alone. You’ve been far too long in this world. Your strength will not endure much longer. Even now, I feel your psychic hunger.”

Gaelin’s statement bit ass big time. Without the need to hone it, his psychic strength had waned over the passing centuries. That didn’t mean he couldn’t kill the bastard. He’d probably get sliced up in the process. So be it. Never again would he be the weak, pathetic little fool Stygia thought him.

“Is that all?”

“I am trying to keep your ass in one piece, Réomer, but you don’t make it easy. Your sire would have you return—”

At his stony look, Gaelin shut it and shook his head.

Riley had no interest in what his
sire
had to say. The only father who mattered, the one who’d raised him, was dead, killed in the clan wars eons ago.

“Then you're going to be real pissed about this… Your sire’s dispatched two more guards.”

Blood heated and thundered into Riley’s head. “Tell that sonofabitch I need nothing from him!”

“Now, now—” Gaelin sported a wry grin. “You know I can’t actually call one of the most dangerous of The Original Seven a
sonofabitch
and live.”

Riley cut him an annoyed look. Gaelin shifted on his booted feet and slipped his hand into his pockets. “Réomer, they haven’t been sent just to keep an eye on you this time. They’ve been ordered to retrieve you. They’ll hurt you if it means getting the job done.”

Retrieve him?
Like some forgotten package? The fuck they would.

The bastard had tossed him aside as a child, and now he wanted him back? Well, too damn bad, and too fucking late.

Riley flashed from the park and headed back to his apartment.

Gaelin followed, his voice a disembodied sound in the mist.
“Réomer, your two-thousandth year of birth approaches in less than a month.”

“So?”

“Have you forgotten what you are?”

Riley’s gut tightened. He understood exactly what he was. But like a damn H-bomb, his legacy hung over his head. He had no desire to inherit anything from his sire, especially not
that
curse of darkness.

“If shit falls and I with it, so be it.

Saia rushed out of the shower. The digital time at her bedside glowed accusingly in neon red. Like she needed the reminder.

Eight P.M., and she wasn’t ready. Ugh! Niki would be here soon.

Hauling clothes from the closet, she tossed them on the bed, her mind back on the latest call from her mother earlier that day, demanding her presence at the annual Christmas party.

Frustration tightened around Saia like a noose. There was only one reason her mother would create such a hoo-ha about her refusal to attend.

Suitor number twenty-nine had been reeled in.

Why—
why
did she have to be born to a woman steeped with outdated beliefs from prehistoric India? Saia didn't get it. Especially since her mother had been born and bred in England.

And why couldn’t she find a guy who wouldn’t be intimidated into leaving?

Her last boyfriend had fled soon after meeting her mother.

Her mind drifted to her
rescuer.
Riley. Bet
he
wouldn’t scare so easily.

She’d been stunned stupid to discover that her rescuer-slash-mouth-biter lived next door to Liz soon after she’d moved in.

No wonder he’d looked shell-shocked when she told him she lived here.

She’d been on her way back from university and had seen him leaving the apartment. And he, of course, merely stared at her like he’d never seen her before. That amped her irritation up a notch, because all she’d thought of after that unfortunate incident was him sucking on her lip.

Since then, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him, as if he’d packed up and moved out.

Curious, she’d casually asked Liz about him and had learned his name. Apparently, he wasn't really a hunter—whatever that meant—but a loner. And dangerous. Right.

No-no, he wouldn’t do at all. The damn man had bitten her. He’d threatened to cuff her, and…and…

Heat that had nothing to do with her ring simmered low in her tummy.

Honestly, she had no idea what was wrong with her. A part of her wanted to run as far from him as she could. Another wanted the eroticism his threats promised.

Sheesh!
Like his erotic threats?

Obviously, she lost her mind.

Inhaling an annoyed breath, she shut him out of her thoughts. She had more pressing worries right now, like going home this weekend and meeting the next suitor.

Her irritation hiking, Saia tossed a leather skirt onto her bed, rummaged through her things and picked out a fitted, red, knit dress with long sleeves. She hadn’t worn the CK number yet, but not in the mood for anything bright, she flung it on her bed and pulled out a black dress, then held it against her body and grimaced at her reflection in the mirror.

Ugh, too curvy, too damn curvy—

A door slammed somewhere. Rising chatter erupted.

Liz’s two friends had arrived, it seemed.

Saia heard her aunt’s soft voice reassuring them she was fine. They regularly popped in to check on Liz after the mugging. With Saia’s bedroom being downstairs and just off the living room, she could hear them clearly.

“Liz, guess what?” Jane’s voice resonated with laughter. “MaryAnn bumped into the hunk.”

“There was no bumping of anything,” MaryAnn grumbled. “He walked right past me, didn’t even give me a moment to catch my breath. And it’s only right to stop breathing when one sees him.”

“Can’t argue there,” Jane said. “You probably scared him off with all the drooling.”

A snort. “Girl, I only wanted to ask him if I could borrow something for a few minutes, like his lips.”

More laughter.

Saia smiled. Liz’s friends were a horny bunch, and she liked them. But just whom were they prattling on about?

She pulled on the dress and checked herself in the mirror. With a scooped neckline and long sleeves, the finely-knit mini dress in stark black hugged her body and flared out slightly at mid-thigh to hide her sin.

Her poochy belly didn't show…too much. She pinched her stomach and sighed. No matter how much she jogged or dieted, that little roll was as stubborn as her mother with a suitor in tow. It refused to budge.

“You do realize he could have a girlfriend,” Jane said.

“I heard he has a string of them. But hey, nothing’s set in stone until the ring’s on the finger.” MaryAnn dismissed the idea. “Damn, those intense green eyes, they're an invitation all on their own. And melt your panties sexy.”

Saia froze. They were talking about Riley?

Just thinking of him had heat flaring through
her
lower limbs. Sure, the guy was hot, but insane, too. Grimacing, Saia picked up her boots from the closet as her aunt walked into the room.

In her early thirties, Elizabeth Grayson was much younger than Saia’s father.

She wore a long, multi-hued broomstick skirt teamed with a blue, roll-neck top. A black band held her sun-streaked brown hair back, and a smile warmed her attractive features. She appeared a little pale, although the bruises around her cheek and eye had healed from her attack.

Liz’s gaze skimmed over her. “You look lovely, Saia. It’s time you had some fun.”

After living here for three weeks, it still took some getting used to that Liz didn’t jump down her throat about losing weight, or harassing her that if she kept running when decent, available men were around, she’d end up a spinster.

Ugh, she was far too young to be shackled to any man.

“Thanks for having me, Liz.”

“My pleasure, hun.” Liz hugged her, a connection Saia savored. “You should have come sooner.”

“I wanted to…” Saia fell silent. While other
normal
parents were eager for their kids to leave home, her mother? Not so much. She’d dismissed the idea, insisted Saia finish university first. Then that awful date happened.

Liz didn't say anything either. Saia understood why. There was no love lost between her mother and Liz. Their feud had been ongoing for as long as Saia could recall.

“Don’t worry about anything, Saia,” Liz said softly. “You go have fun—meet a guy.”

“Why don’t you come out with us, Liz?”

“No, love. Jane and MaryAnn are here, we’re having dinner—” The doorbell rang, interrupting them. Patting her arm, Liz went off to answer.

Niki Connors, Saia’s best friend, sauntered in a minute later, wearing dark gray pants and a long coat. Tucking a loose strand of chestnut hair that had escaped her high ponytail behind her ear. Her gaze darted to the explosion of clothes on the bed. “
Holy mother of God!
Sai, what in the world happened here?”

At Niki’s amused cry, MaryAnn and Jane rushed in. Then laughter spilled at the blast of clothes on the bed

Saia lifted a shoulder in a helpless shrug. “I was a little upset…” At mother.

“So you took it out on the clothes?” Jane, blonde, short, and skinny, pushed the clothes aside and dropped down on the bed, chuckling.

Swallowing a sigh, Saia sat on the armchair adjacent to the bed and rolled on skin-tone stockings then pulled on black leather boots with ice-pick heels.

“Hmm, fuck-me heels.” MaryAnn eyed Saia’s footwear speculatively. A sly grin crept across her brown face. “Hoping to get lucky tonight, sugar?”

Saia rolled her eyes as she rose. “My mother’s spies will nip that in the bud.”

“You mean the twins?” Niki asked, removing her coat.

Saia spun to her friend. “Please, please tell me my brothers are not here.”

“Well…” Niki pursed her lips. “I left the Garden District with them following…”

Saia scowled. “I swear I'm going use Liz’s baseball bat the moment they walk through that door.”

“I'm kidding.” Laughing, Niki parked herself on the bed near Jane.

“That’s not even funny. I think Mother has number twenty-nine lined up for me to meet this weekend.”

“Why don’t you just get a pretend boyfriend and get her off your back?” Niki asked. “I do that. So easy to get rid of unwanted questions and situations.”

Saia exhaled roughly. On the phone it was easy to say
no
, but face-to-face with her mother—ugh, she’d rather face a firing squad.

“Have you forgotten who my mother is?” she asked, sliding off the barrette holding her hair up. “She’d put any P.I. to shame. The moment she hears I'm interested in a guy, she’ll have his background checked right through his pedigree. Every column against his name must check.”

A telling silence.

Niki pushed off the bed and gave her a quick hug. “Tonight is about having fun, Sai. Forget all that crap. You ready?”

“Uh-huh.” But helplessness dug a hole in Saia’s belly when she thought about the coming party. She had a bad feeling about this, because her mother was far too silent about number twenty-nine.

She stopped cold. Oh Lord, please, please, don’t let it be
him.

***

The jam-packed hall of The Hangout just off Bourbon Street reminded Saia of a sardine can.

In relief, she stepped out into the chilly night and away from the ruckus, only to be smacked in the face with the awful alley stench. Breathing through her mouth, she took in the gloomy surroundings.

Late fall brought with it an unexpected cold spell to New Orleans. A thin mist covered the area.

“The Hangout not doing it for you?” Niki teased, pulling on her coat.

“It’s all right.” For some reason, it didn't have the appeal a new place usually did. “It must be those drums. I swear they’ve taken up residence inside my head.”

“Yeah, they were pretty heavy. It’s a new group. Come on, I know a great jazz place.”

“No. A drink first, or I swear I'm going to start following you with my tongue hanging out.”

Laughing, Niki put her arm around Saia’s waist. “There’s a bar farther down—oh, girl, you want eye-candy, Satire’s the perfect place.”

With a wicked smile, she flipped back her ponytail and hustled Saia through the crowded street lit with bright lights and blazing neon signs from the buildings.

Despite the teeming streets, the darker side of life didn't escape Saia, nor did all the dangers that surrounded them. Hunters strolled the area, blending in with the crowds. Their hard-eyed stare was one Saia was all too familiar with considering what her brother did.

No, the pretty, bright lights were not to draw tourists; they were used as a deterrent to keep Caligos away from the masses. Those shapeless, body-stealing entities wouldn’t survive direct light of any kind—it’s why they stole and inhabited human bodies.

Shivering a little, Saia gratefully slipped into the warmth of the softly lit bar. The low, sultry sounds of blues drifted from a jukebox on the far end near the red brick wall. Two pools tables were adjacent to it. Dark wood made up the bar that ran almost the length of the back wall. Leather seats and wooden tables filled the rest of the space around a small, makeshift dance floor where several couples swayed.

Women crowded the bar at one end—probably because of the eye-candy that Niki mentioned. Snorting, Saia shrugged off her coat and handed it to Niki. Spying an empty table at the back, she nodded at it. “Grab that spot, I’ll go get our drinks.”

She turned for the bar and froze. All thoughts of having fun and forgetting about the horrible weekend ahead slid right out of her mind, her attention caught by the guy behind the counter.

He worked here?

As if there was a direct link between them, Riley looked up and stilled, then his green eyes narrowed. Her stomach whirled like leaves in the wind.

“Sai, where are the drinks?”

The sound of Niki’s voice yanked Saia back to where she was. She wasn’t even aware that she’d backed away and had dropped down beside her friend.

“So, you like the eye-candy, huh?” Niki teased when she saw where Saia was looking. “He’s the best one here. You want some fun, he’s perfect for that.”

Perfect? He’d already shown her exactly what he could do with his mouth, both verbally and physically. Heat flooded Saia’s face.

“Ahh, so that’s how it is. Make a move then, Sai”—Niki nudged her shoulder—“or one of those bar-tarts will wind up with him in her bed tonight.”

Darn, she couldn’t keep anything hidden from her sharp-eyed friend.

For some reason, the thought of him with another woman made her tummy hollow out. Unable to get her chaotic thoughts in order, she pushed to her feet. “I'm going to the restroom.”

Niki sprang up and grabbed her by the elbow, effectively blocking her escape. “Oh, no you don’t. Come on, Sai. Live a little. Soon enough, you’ll be shackled to a man of your mother's dream.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Then prove me mistaken. Hell, Sai, I love your family, but this is just so wrong, your mother choosing your husband.”

At Niki’s comments, Saia’s stomach churned. God, she hated how wussy she appeared. But she had to tell her friend the truth about Riley.