The Witching Hour (The Grim Reaper Saga (Urban Fantasy Romance)) (26 page)

“Hey. Hey.” He caught up to her and grabbed her elbow. “Calm down. You should probably wait to put on something a little warmer. And what meeting?”

“What?” She glanced down, eyes going wide, finally noticing she was nude. She blushed again and if she didn’t seem to be in such a panic to leave, he’d be pulling her back to the bed for the sequel. “Where are--”

He jerked his thumb behind his shoulder. “Hanging over the chair. You looked a little uncomfortable last night so I--”

“But I thought you tore my clothes.” The blush was still firmly settled in her cheeks. She bit her bottom lip and he couldn’t stop himself from touching the spot with his finger.

Hunger replaced the panic in her gaze. “More time. Goddess, what I wouldn’t give for more time,” she moaned.

It was obvious that she needed to go, with a sigh, he stepped back. “I tore some shorts and a shirt I put you in. The thong’s gone.”

She raised a brow. “Changed me in my sleep, you dirty boy. But that’s okay. Commando-R-Us, that’s me.” She winked and he growled.

“More time,” he said.

“More time,” she agreed with a nod.

Eve walked to the chair, grabbed her clothes and slipped them back on. The jeans and turtleneck once again hugged her curves.

Very luscious curves at that. His eyes traveled the length of her body, a slow heated perusal, no longer having to imagine what that body looked like beneath. Her desire coiled inside him and he grinned, staring at her face. Blood pooled between his thighs, engorging him, making him instantly hard and ready.

She narrowed her eyes, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. “What I wouldn’t give to know and do what’s going through that mind of yours.”

“Might frighten you.”

“Hmm. If that’s a challenge I think I’m up to the task.”

He inclined his head, an answering grin on her face. “So what’s this meeting?”

“Just a gathering held each month where each species has a delegate speak on their behalf and give the happenings of what’s going on in their territories. A must attend for business owners. It keeps us up to date and it’s good place to mingle, make trades. That sorta thing. I’ve never missed one.” She smoothed out the flyaway curls gathered around her face and grinned. “Anyway, Cian, thanks for letting me crash and that other stuff.”

She was so cute when she got shy. How a woman could be so wanton and sexy in bed and then shy about it afterwards confused him, but also made his blood boil. She’d never be boring.

“It’s never a problem.”

She rocked back on her heels, shoving her hands down her back pocket. “It’s getting pretty late. I really need to go.”

He ground his jaw and took a step forward. Though he really didn’t want to do what he was about to suggest, neither was he willing to let her just walk away.

“Take me to the gathering with you.”

She shook her head, her eyes narrowing into slits. “Seriously? You want to go there with me? It’s just a boring meeting.”

“I don’t want you to go alone. It’s dangerous at this time of night.”

Eve reached out and patted his cheek with a soft smile. “That’s really nice of you. But I’m a big girl and I can tell you don’t really want to go.” She touched her ruby stone necklace. “I’ve got this. I’ll be fine.”

He turned his head, planting a kiss on her palm.

She sucked in a breath, golden eyes growing soft. Sexual tension arced through the air like electricity. The rich scent of patchouli filtered under his nose, he inhaled and nodded.

“I just want to be with you.”

Currents of warmth flowed through him.

“You sure?” she whispered.

He nodded.

“Okay then.” She walked toward the bed and picked up her fallen boots, sitting on the edge she pulled them on. “You wouldn’t happen to have a spare toothbrush lying around here would you?”

He pointed to the bathroom. “Under the sink, there’s a couple.”

She smiled and walked toward the bathroom. Rushing water warred with the sound of a scrubbing brush. The strong scent of mint filled the room.

Why couldn’t he shake the feeling that this was a terrible idea? His gut was a nervous mass of knots. Eve was losing time. Not only that, but he still hadn’t come up with an answer to their dilemma. Now they were headed to a gathering full of the undead and supernatural. Trouble. Nothing but trouble.

***

Eve ran through the streets of San Francisco. Cian right on her heels. And they weren’t the only ones. Others were coming out the woodwork, slinking away from shadow and flying as fast as the wind could carry them toward Presidio.

It might have been faster to take a cab, but there was a strict rule: no normals allowed within ten yards of the monthly meets. Ever. More for their safety than anything else.

Panting and sweating profusely, they finally arrived at the historical military keep--now transformed park reserve--with little time to spare. She’d always tried to leave for the gatherings with at least an hour to spare, not today.

Freaking sexy vamp
.

She’d cut it way too close and now looked like a drowned rat. She wondered what Cian thought, just thinking about him made her remember what she’d done last night. What he’d done.

Her stomach flopped and she couldn’t stop the grin from stealing across her lips. Goddess but the man could…

He chuckled and she knew she’d been projecting again. She rolled her eyes, casting him a dirty look. “We’re here.” She pointed to the cream colored, four story abandoned complex covered in chipped paint, cut nicks and grooves in the stuccoed wall. It looked in shoddy disrepair, but it was actually very solid, able to withstand many years’ worth of earthquakes.

“So I see.”

Cian pulled her to his side as a group of vampires walked inside. “Stay close to me, Eve.”

She laughed at his protective gesture. “I’m fine. These monthly gatherings began long before my birth: there’s never been any bloodshed. It’s perfectly safe.”

His jaw set and he eyed a group of stalking pumas. Sexy Cian was gone, brooding Cian taking his place. “I’d feel better knowing you were close.”

Smirking, she nodded.

Men.
Well okay, so maybe he was still kinda sexy in a broody Bruce Wayne kind of way.

“Eve, holy hell. Get your butt in here.”

She turned and spied Tamryn gesturing frantically for her to hurry inside. Grabbing his hand she walked in. The cavernous room more than big enough to hold the variety of creatures gathered.

Large tiers of candles lit the otherwise darkened room. There were no decorations. Just chairs, a few benches and the head table up front, in which sat the delegates of each race.

Iah, of the moon clan, spoke for the vampires. Severe and austere, he was nonetheless pleasing to the eye. Hawk beaked nose, chiseled cheekbones and dark eyes the color of polished ebony. Rich Egyptian skin glistened purest copper.

Next to him sat the Were liaison, Lootah of the Kohana pack. Regal and proud, he gazed at the group. The burnt red of his face a fine map work of wrinkles and scars. He was an ancient. Old wolf. And well versed in the matters of his kin. It was good to see him up there. He brought to the talks a wisdom of age very few could match.

Last, but certainly not least, Edlyn of the briar thorn coven, frail of body but strong of spirit. Salt and pepper hair caught up in a braid, tendrils curling around her tired face. Deep into her eightieth year she’d seen more than many mortals in her time and was the perfect delegate to speak for the witches.

“C’mon… hurry before this starts.” Tamryn pushed past several rows of bodies, leading them toward a bench in the back corner of the room.

Eve squeezed through the narrow openings, following her sister and throwing Cian a grateful glance. Now that he was here, she was thankful.

She’d never been able to share this part of her life with Michael and being here with Cian felt right. He truly understood what it was to be different. They shared a bond she never had with her husband.

Chatter rose to cacophonous levels, drowning out the noise of any one individual conversation. It was all just buzz to her. Mostly the species stuck to their own, forming tight bands of vampires, wolves, hawks, panthers and so on. But a few, like herself and Cian intermingled.

Mingan and Celeste were deep in talk when they finally made it to the bench and dropped down beside them.

“So we made it.” Eve glanced at Mingan. “Good to see you.”

He nodded, a distracted frown on his face. “Yes, you too, Eve.” He patted Celeste’s sleeve in a farewell gesture then marched off.

She frowned, casting a quick glance at Cian. His face was a mirror reflection of her own. “Oddly dismissive. What was that all about?”

Celeste shook her head, a worried gleam in her moss green eyes. “Rumor’s been flying about a murder.”

“Murder? What murder?” First she’d heard of this.

“Vampire. Found this morning staked to a cross. Body burned beyond recognition.”

Shocked, she blinked. “When?”

Lootah stood, spreading his arms wide and quieting the crowd with a glance. “The meeting will come to order.”

It was like a light switch turned off. A crowd of hundreds instantly fell silent. The delegates spoke for the groups for one reason. You respected them enough to listen.

This wasn’t an easy thing to command in a room full of predators.

Brown eyes full of knowledge and century’s worth of sorrow landed on Eve’s face for the briefest of moments. In the eyes she read truth. The rumor of murder was rumor no more.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Indigo of the clan thrive, was found dead this morning.”

Instantly buzz exploded through the room.

“Indigo,” she hissed and looked at Cian.

He frowned. “The vamp in the alleyway two nights back?”

Her eyes grew wide and she nodded.

“Not that I ever cared for that hot head much, but ohmygoddess,” Celeste shook her head. “The turd’s gonna hit the fan now.”

“Quiet!” Iah shot to his feet, quelling them all to silence. “Thank you, Lootah, but I think I can take it from here.”

Lootah nodded and sat.

“Indigo was killed in the most despicable of ways. Strapped to a cross and roasted to cinder by the sun. How could this have happened and no one notice?”

He pounded his fist on the table. A wicked gleam filled his black eyes. She could feel his rage simmer just below the surface, everyone leaned forward a tiny bit, breaths indrawn and waiting on tenterhooks.

“Her death was an earmark human killing.”

The room broke into a violence of voices. This was big news, one that held many connotations--for one, the shaky pact between normal/super relations. Supers were given the right to live out in the open, in freedom without fear of retribution. The law stated that no human should come to harm at the hands of the supers and vice versa.

In her heart, she knew this would irreparably damage the fragile peace between supernaturals and normals.  

Iah pointed to a vampire dressed all in black. “Mia, is this not so?”

Mia stood. Pale, perfect skin. Rich sable hair caught up in a severe knot. Her face lacked the lines and wrinkles of the elder, she was youth personified. But it was the eyes. The malachite eyes that gleamed with the eternal mark of age that gave her away. This was an elder. Well past her four hundredth year.

“Yes.” The gravel of her voice reverberated through the room and brought chills to the back of her neck.

“This is an outrage!” Another vampire towards the back of the room jumped up and shouted, punching his fist through the air. “One that must be dealt with swiftly and fiercely. Lest all normals forget who’s really the weaker of the two.”

“Aye!”

“Yeah.”

“...lest they forget.”

The room erupted in an ear-piercing chorus of voices. Several of them vamps, but a few Weres, or even witches. Eve clamped hands over her ears, wincing at the buzzing pitch buzzing through her eardrums.

Their faces were angry and contorted, the ardent predator inside them demanding reparations. She knew what they thought; she could feel the resentment rolling off them. ‘They’d lived by the rules, so too should the normals.

“Bloodbath,” Tamryn mouthed.

Mia turned, a sinister smile playing on her blood red lips. “We band together and find the killers. Then we do to them what they did to Indigo.”

Rage. The emotion more intense than even the sight of blood, transformed others into their Dr. Hyde personalities. Fangs began ripping through mouths, fur sprouted from knuckles. The room grew heavy with tension, like a rubber band seconds before it snapped.

This couldn’t happen. Somebody had to stop it. She glanced toward the delegates. They each wore calm looks, hands crossed in their laps, none looking ready, or willing, to break up the angry crowd.

Heart racing, adrenaline surging through her veins, Eve jumped to her feet. “No! You do not understand.” No one stopped talking. “Stop,” she shrieked, “and listen!”

That caught the group’s attention. It was a rippling tide of faces turning to stare at her and an eerie silence filled the hall. Iah frowned. The room grew tense with expectancy. “Enlighten us then, witch.”

“Indigo killed a human that night.”

“Lying witch, she would never,” Mia screamed, her green eyes narrowed with ire.

Cian stood, standing so close to Eve they shared body heat. She was grateful, and her heart gave a tiny flutter in response. He gave her the strength to plow on.

“I arrived at the scene to hear her feed off the dying man.”

Mia’s nostrils flared even as her fists clenched by her sides.

It was unnerving to have so many eyes on her, boring holes into her. One wrong move and she’d come under attack by the full weight of all the others within.

“Are you certain this was Indigo?” Iah asked.

“Yes. I saw her with my own eyes. High off blood.”

Iah snapped his mouth shut. Eve knew what she’d just done. She’d put the blame square on the vamps. The humans had retaliated, but the fangs had struck first. Very, very bad mojo. The truth was the vamps had broken a sacred pact. The innocent victim suddenly was not so blameless.