“Some of us more so than others.”
“It still feels weird to consider ourselves part of the paranormal community. I only knew of witches before the incident at Aurai's college campus.”
“Don't remind me. Of all the ways to be initiated into the paranormal world, coming face-to-face with a chimera wasn't ideal.”
“You're telling me.” Demi shivered. All their power had been nothing compared to the chimera's when he'd manipulated it against them. “We were lucky to have Cal to help save our butts.”
“It takes all kinds.”
“Indeed it does.”
“Give my love to Cal and you two have a fabulous trip. Oh, and stay away from the east coast. I can sense a big storm building in that direction.”
“Can't promise you anything since I have no idea where we're going, but thanks. Love you.” Demi fumbled with the phone, clicked it off and dropped it into her purse.
Cal looked up at that moment and smiled.
The sun didn't shine any brighter than when Cal smiled at her, and Demi felt like she could conquer the world. Especially knowing she'd be spending the next three days alone with him. No work, no chasing down paranorms, no being shot at, trapped in underground prisons, no being thrown against the walls or lit on fire. Just her, Cal and one king-sized bed.
Demi's body tingled in all the right places in anticipation of getting naked with this human she loved more than life itself.
He met her halfway across the tarmac and enveloped her in a warm, strong embrace. “Mmmm, you smell like honeysuckle and oranges.” He kissed her soundly, the kiss stretching longer as his tongue thrust between her teeth and slid along hers.
By the time Cal broke the kiss, Demi was breathless. “Getting an early start on our weekend?” she laughed.
“Getting a start, anyway.”
“I can't believe the chief gave us the weekend free and clear, plus transportation in a charter plane. Who did you have to do to get that thrown into the bargain?”
Cal raked a hand through his dark hair and glanced down at his shoes. “Uh, Demi⦔
Her stomach clenched as Cal clearly struggled to form his next words. Her lips tightening, Demi's eyes narrowed. “You better be hesitating because you don't know how to tell me they only had champagne instead of Merlot on the plane.”
“No, I have a bottle of Merlot chilling in the galley.” He looked up, his forehead pinched into an apologetic frown. “This isn't strictly a vacation.”
She stepped out of his arms and grabbed her suitcase handle. “Talk fast or I'm turning around and heading back to my apartment.”
“The first part of it isn't a vacation. All we have to do is deliver a package to the Fifth Precinct in Manhattan, then the next three days are all ours.”
Demi sighed. “Is that all? I should have figured the chief wouldn't let us get away without some form of payment. So where's this package?” Demi glanced around.
Cal looked at his watch. “The chief was supposed to meet us here for the handoff about now.”
“Must be something important for him to deliver it himself.” Demi thought about it a moment. “Manhattan? Gina says there's a big storm brewing out that way.”
Cal nodded. “I checked the weather. The reports predict a pretty heavy thunderstorm, but they think it'll turn north before it hits and New York City will only get rain.”
“Weather reporters are the only people who can be wrong ninety-nine percent of the time and still keep their jobs.”
“We can only hope others believe their prediction and steer clear of the city. If so, we'll find some good deals on hotels.” He winked.
She inhaled and let it out. “So we're going to deliver this package and hunker down in a hotel before the weather gets bad, right?”
“That was my plan.”
“Then let's do it. I want my three days of peace and quiet.”
Cal pulled her back into his arms and kissed her again. “And sex.”
“That goes without saying.” She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “At least we'll get a free plane trip out of this deal.”
“Yeah, beats driving all that way. I can't wait to get my hands beneath this sweater.” And he didn't wait, sliding his fingers underneath, his hands brushing the skin of her belly.
Demi trembled in anticipation.
“Do you two mind?” Chief Warner's voice jerked her out of the lusty fantasies she'd been thinking of. “As far as the Chicago PD is concerned, you're still on duty.”
Demi pushed Cal back and smoothed her hair and shirt. “Yes, sir.”
Chief Warner approached them from his unmarked police car. The paranormal extraction van pulled to a stop on the tarmac.
“Where's the package?” Demi asked.
“Coming.” He turned to the van and nodded at the two men moving toward the rear door. They opened it and stood back. A beautiful blonde stepped down. She wore a white diaphanous dress that hugged her body and swirled out like feathers in the wind around her long, lithe legs.
“I don't understand. Does she have the package?” Demi asked.
The chief smiled at the woman and held out his hand. “No. She
is
the package.”
Demi groaned. “I
knew
it was too good to be true.”
“Why didn't you tell us we'd be transporting a person?” Cal asked.
“The fewer people who knew about her movements the better. Apparently, she's the witness to a big Paranormal Council meeting taking place tomorrow in New York City.”
“And?”
Warner shrugged. “And that's all I got. She has to get there on time and safely. Her testimony in a trial is key to putting away one of the most dangerous paranorms of this and other centuries.”
His words sent a chill across Demi's nerves. “What do you mean other centuries?”
“They finally caught Alexei Zhurov, one of the most infamous and elusive vampires in the world. Supposedly, he's over three hundred years old and has been causing problems for all three hundred years of that time.”
“Why now? Why hasn't the Council dealt with him before?”
“From what I've been told by the Regional Council here in Chicago, they never could pin the crimes against humanity and other paranorms on him. He has a gift of manipulating others to do his dirty work. Until recently. He had a member of the high council killed. They're finally ready to put him out of their misery.”
Demi shook her head. “Wait. Regional Council? Here in Chicago? I didn't know there was such a thing. What else have you been holding back on?”
Warner's lips pressed into a thin line. “I tell you what you need to know,
when
you need to know it.”
“Not good enough.” Cal gave his boss a hard look. “We need to know all the factions we're dealing with in the city in order to provide the best protection to its inhabitants.”
The chief raised a hand. “I promise that when you get back, I'll lay it all out for you. For now, get the package to New York City alive, however you have to do it.”
The woman walked toward them with smooth, deliberate steps, crossing one foot in front of the other like a model on a runway, her predatory gaze on Cal.
Demi wanted to slap the face of the
package
and tell her hands off the cop. She bit down hard on her tongue to keep from doing just that.
“Ursula Rusu, meet Demi Chattox and Calais Black, two of Chicago's finest of the Special Investigations Division. They will be your escorts to New York City.”
Cal held out his hand and Ursula took it, a smile curling her lips like a lover's caress. “This trip won't be as boring as I thought.”
“Ms. Rusu. If you'll follow me, we'll get you settled in.” He waved a hand toward the hangar.
Instead of following him, she took his arm and settled against his side as if taking possession of the man.
As he walked away with the beauty, Cal cast an apologetic frown back at Demi where she steamed on the tarmac.
The van driver set a small suitcase on the ground beside Demi and walked away.
“This is
not
how I pictured my mini-vacation.” She piled Ursula's case on top of hers, grabbed her handle and glared at Chief Warner. “Thanks a lot.”
He patted Demi's shoulder and walked with her toward the structure. “How hard can it be? If all goes well, you'll pass Ms. Rusu off to the council tomorrow morning.”
“
If
all goes well.” Demi cast a skeptical glance at the chief. “What else are you not telling us?”
Chief Warner looked away. “Watch your backs. Zhurov has minions around the world willing to do his bidding and keep anyone from testifying against him. Keep Rusu safe and get her to the council meeting on time.”
“How will she help nail Zhurov?” Demi asked.
“She's a telepathic medium. She can transfer thoughts from one person to another. She will be able to connect Zhurov's mind to the minds of the council so they can see Zhurov's memories.”
“Handy. We should get one of our own for all court trials.”
“It's not that easy. She has to have had a relationship with the person.”
“Let me guess, she was Zhurov's lover?”
Warner nodded.
“Great. Who's to say she won't fall under his spell again?”
“She won't. She never loved him. Rumor has it she's in love with a demon.”
“Demon?” Demi stopped at the corner of the hangar. “What kind of demon? One like the nutcase we just caught starting fires all over Chicago?”
“I'm not sure,” the chief replied.
“So we have to be wary of Zhurov's minions and Ms. Rusu's boyfriend?” Demi stopped, ready to turn around and head back to her apartment. “I'm loving this assignment even more.”
“Just get her to the council. Then you and Black will have three days off before you need to report back to work.”
“Deliver the equivalent of a ticking bomb to a council of paranormal freaks capable of turning me into a toad or a grease spot on the road? Piece of cake!” Demi snapped her fingers.” All for a lousy three-day vacation in a waterlogged city. Your generosity is unbelievable.”
The chief chuckled. “You are two of the best I have to offer. I know you'll manage it beautifully.”
“Uh-huh. We'll let you know how it goes.” She gave the man a mock salute, handed off her case to the pilot who stored it in a compartment located in the wing and then climbed the steps into the tight confines of the seven-passenger plane.
Cal sat in one of the seats immediately behind the pilot's seat with Ursula perched in the seat across the aisle from him.
Demi settled into a seat behind Cal. She would have sat farther back, but her curiosity wouldn't allow her to be that far out of earshot of her man and
that
woman. Correction. Paranormal creature.
The pilot pulled himself up into the plane and glanced over his shoulder. “Sorry folks, there won't be beverage service on this flight and if you have to use the bathroom, you better go now. I'll be your pilot, flight attendant and baggage handler for this trip. Which means you're pretty much on your own. Buckle your seat belts and hold on. The weather promises to be bumpy the closer we get to New York.”
Demi fumbled in her purse for the bottled water she'd brought along and the anti-nausea medication she kept handy for just such an occasion.
Cal glanced over his shoulder. “You all right back there?”
“Peachy,” Demi said, slapping the pill into her mouth and swallowing with a big gulp of water. “Just peachy.” She settled back against the seat as the engine roared to life and taxied onto the runway.
The jet engine noise was too loud for conversation between anyone, including Cal and Ursula. Demi allowed her eyes to close as the small plane left the ground, only slightly buffeted by the wind. Nothing like a little escort service to the Big Apple.
She drifted into a semi-sleep state, clutching the pentagram she wore around her neck and the charm bag Selena had slipped into her pocket as she'd packed for the trip. With the protection charm and her sisters' love and support, she could handle anything.
* * *
Cal must have fallen to sleep at some point during the flight. He awoke when the plane made a deep dip, as if falling from the sky.
The pilot glanced over his shoulder and touched his hand to the headset beside Cal, motioning for him to put it on.
Cal slipped the device over his head and adjusted the mouthpiece.
“Getting bumpy out here,” the pilot said. “The tower at LaGuardia is turning away flights into the city.”
“What does that mean to us?”
“We put down as soon as possible and you continue the trip by ground.”
“Where are we?” Cal glanced out the window at a blanket of clouds shrouding the ground below.
“We've been in the air for five and a half hours. I've gotten permission to land at Allentown, Pennsylvania. You can pick up a rental car from there. It's a two-hour drive from there to the city.”
“Can't get any closer?”
“Not in this weather. Even if I could, it's iffy. The wind has picked up and gusts are being reported at thirty to forty knots. Can't risk it.”
“I guess we don't have a choice. Put her down.”
A hand touched his shoulder from behind him. “What's going on?” Demi yelled.
Cal removed one side of the headset and covered her hand with his. “We can't get into any of the airports close to the city. He's putting us down in Pennsylvania.”
She blinked the sleep from her eyes and nodded, her lips thinning as she glanced across to Ursula.
The woman sat calmly admiring her nails as if she flew into storms all the time.
Demi had to be steaming over the change of plans. But there was nothing he could do about it. They were stuck in the job and had to see it through. He made a promise to himself that he'd make it right with Demi once they handed off Ursula to the council.