What a Demon Wants (12 page)

“Nice meeting you,” Jude said, his tone normal and totally unaffected by what had just transpired not even minutes before.

Pete returned the sentiment, although Ellina only barely registered it. Anger was replacing some of the bewilderment that had muddled her mind.

She welcomed the anger; it was a much more straightforward emotion. It made her thoughts more lucid.

Once Pete left, she waited a few moments, then she turned to Jude, who still sat on the sofa, looking calm and smug like a well-pleased aristocrat.

“Why did you do that?” she demanded, hoping she would wipe away some of his self-satisfaction with a mere glare.

It didn’t work. He raised an eyebrow, looking even cockier than before.

“Which that are you referring to?”

“All of them,” she cried, his demeanor making her more and more furious. How dare he look so composed when she felt totally out of control? Totally out of control wasn’t good. But she didn’t feel the demon. Also good.

“I was just going with the boyfriend scenario,” he said. “I told you I thought that was a good plan.”

“It’s a stupid plan,” she said, her voice, much to her dismay, rising an octave higher.

“No,” he said calmly, “it makes a lot of sense. I mean, look how curious he was about why I’m here. And look how easily he bought the explanation.”

“He didn’t buy it easily. He was upset when he left. He doesn’t understand how I went from being single one day to having a live-in boyfriend the next.”

Jude shrugged. “People do things like that every day.”

“I don’t,” she shouted.

How could he be so blasé about the whole thing? She was overwrought. She was angry. She was confused. And even amid all that, she was still attracted to the arrogant jerk.

“Well, for my purposes, now you do,” he said, irritation evident in his voice.

“Your purposes. How is this about you?”

He didn’t speak for a moment, then said quietly, “You’re right. It’s about you. And this little story is a good way to keep you safe. To keep me close to you without raising suspicion.”

“Maybe I don’t want you close.”

Finally his calm composure changed. His eyes narrowed slightly and a muscle in his jaw ticced as if he were clenching his teeth. They glared at each other, neither speaking for a few moments.

Then Jude said, “Listen, when we figure out who’s trying to hurt you, then you can go back to your life. And back to Pete.”

She frowned, confused by the way he said Pete’s name. Almost as if he was jealous of him.

That was ludicrous. Pete had been her friend for years. How could Jude, who she’d known for less than twenty-four hours, be threatened by her friend? Why would he be threatened?

“So we’ll stick to this plan, right?” he prompted when she didn’t say anything.

She didn’t want to stick to this plan. Not if she had to actually get close to him. She couldn’t do that. And the only reason wasn’t about turning demony at this point.

She considered telling him she wanted him to leave, but she knew he wouldn’t do it.

The only way this man was going to go was if Maksim fired him, or he discovered who was supposedly after her.

Why had she ever agreed to this? Damn it.

“You’ll stick to the plan, right?”

Ellina nodded. She would, until she talked to Maksim. Then they were going to think of a different plan.

“Good,” he said, the smugness returning.

Her irritation returned too, and she couldn’t help asking, “Why did you kiss me, though? We could have pulled off the plan without that.”

“I wanted him to know this is real. I don’t need some jerk who’s always carried a torch for you deciding to profess his love now. That’s an added problem we just don’t need.”

She laughed then. All of this was ludicrous.

“First of all, Pete isn’t a jerk. And he certainly isn’t carrying a torch for me.”

“You can’t be sure of that,” he said.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure,” she said, her own smile turning smug. “Pete’s gay.”

Chapter 12

Jude stared at Ellina.

Pete was gay?

Suddenly his behavior of the whole morning seemed even more absurd. He’d been acting like an alpha wolf—which, of course, wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for him.

But even he had to admit it was over the top.

He still felt that Pete was a threat. There was something about him that just agitated Jude, yet now that Pete was gone, he couldn’t figure out what or why.

He started to open his mouth to tell her…what? He wasn’t sure. But his need to find the right words, an excuse, was saved by the bell. Or rather by a jingle.

Ellina’s phone.

Ellina started as if the sound startled her too, but she was just as relieved as he was for an escape. Without a word to him, she hurried out of the room. He debated whether he should follow her, then decided against it. He needed to give her a little space at the moment, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d overstepped his bounds.

Especially with that kiss. In all his years of taking jobs, he’d never kissed a client.

He’d claimed it was for her own good, to create a believable pretense, but he knew as well as she did that it hadn’t been necessary.

He’d just wanted to kiss her. He’d wanted to stake a claim over her in front of her human friend.

Whether it made sense of not, he had sensed a threat from the human male. Right away something had rubbed him the wrong way about the smaller man. Now that he was gone, Jude couldn’t say what it was, but something had made him act that way.

Was it…jealousy? Or was it something more?

He didn’t know. He didn’t understand himself this morning.

As he sat there contemplating his weird reaction to the man, Ellina returned.

Her brow was creased, her eyes gray with worry.

“That was Maksim. He says that Jo is having a very difficult delivery. He would like me to come to the hospital.”

Jude rose, noticing that she already had her purse and her usually bare feet were clad in black boots.

“Just give me a minute.” He stood, starting toward the guest bedroom.

“There’s no need for you to go,” she said. “I’ll just take a cab.”

He glanced at her. She regarded him with grave eyes and a firm set to her mouth. She still didn’t get that she was potentially in danger. She also didn’t get that he didn’t have any choice but to go with her.

She was his job.

You’d do well to remember that too, buddy.

“I’ll drive you there,” he said evenly, trying not to sound as authoritarian as he had most of the morning.

She looked as if she were planning to argue, then she nodded. Probably because she didn’t want to waste time debating with him.

He nodded too, then strode to his room. Once there, he pulled out his Glock, laying it on the bed as he went to the duffel beside the bed and pulled out a pair of jeans. He then pulled out the case under his bed. He took out the Kel-Tec-P-II and the ankle holster. This gun was easier to conceal.

He placed the Glock back into the case and stashed it under the bed. Quickly he pulled on his jeans, then buckled the holster. One last trip to his duffel materialized his sunglasses and he headed back to the living room.

Ellina was perched on the edge of one of the wing-backed chairs, her hands clutched on her lap. She popped up as soon as she saw him.

“Ready?” he asked and she nodded.

As she passed him, he could see how tense she was, how rigid she held her body, and he nearly reached out to place a hand at the small of her back. But he caught himself. She didn’t want his comfort, and really he didn’t know how to comfort her.

Still he wanted to soothe away the tension he saw in her. He wanted to help.

Of course keeping his distance was probably what would help her most right now.

That was the best plan for him too. He didn’t want to be agitated and distracted now. They were going out in public. He needed to be centered. He needed to be aware of what was going on around him.

He waited on the sidewalk as Ellina locked her doors, and he wondered after even the second breakin why she hadn’t installed an alarm system. But of course he knew the answer.

When would she take these events seriously? He was afraid it would take something really bad to get her attention.

She came down the steps and he gestured toward his black van. If she found anything odd about his vehicle/mobile home, it didn’t show on her face. She simply climbed into the front seat and waited for him to start driving.

“Turn right at the next stop sign,” she said. Then she told him to turn right again several streets later. And that was how the drive went. No conversation except to direct him to the hospital.

Even when he asked what was wrong with Jo, she just shook her head and repeated what she’d said in the living room, “Maksim said she’s having a hard delivery.”

He didn’t press her further, realizing she didn’t want to talk. He understood that.

There were plenty of times in his past when he was more than content to just be silent.

Especially when he was worried.

They pulled into the hospital parking lot, and Ellina had her door open even before he’d shifted the van into park.

He hopped out just as quickly, realizing she wasn’t going to wait for him. As it was, he had to jog a bit to catch up with her.

As soon as the automatic doors slid open, the distinct smell of disinfectants and blood and sickness enveloped him. He knew hospitals had a definite smell to humans as well, but he imagined it was even more marked and overwhelming to preternaturals.

He knew he didn’t like it. It made him uneasy, like a small animal catching a whiff of a predator. In this case, the predator was illness and death.

While neither predator would get him, certainly not illness, it didn’t make it any less uncomfortable to be around. It was odd, because he was no stranger to death, or maybe it was because he was no stranger. The smells here triggered too many memories. Painful ones.

“Maksim said labor and delivery are on the third floor.” Elina beelined to a set of silver elevators, pressing the Up button.

While they waited, Jude pulled off his dark glasses and watched the people milling around. Hospital staff in white. Humans pushed around in wheelchairs. Still others visiting sick loved ones, and, of course, the patients who were there to get well. Maybe to get well.

Maybe to die.

No, he didn’t like it here.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. It was empty, so they stepped right in.

Neither spoke as they made the short trip upward.

When the doors slid apart, he saw the secured doors that led into the maternity ward.

They followed the necessary procedures to get into the area; fortunately they didn’t detect his gun. Then Ellina went to the nurses’ station to ask where to find her brother and sister-in-law.

Jude paced, waiting. A couple walked past him, the woman clearly in the early stages of labor. Her young husband, with his arm around her, looked harried.

Another couple, both appearing tired but beaming with almost euphoric smiles, strolled to a large windowed room. They stood arm in arm, talking quietly, pointing, grinning.

Jude wandered in that direction to look as well. He stopped, staring at the tiny inhabitants of the white room. Babies in clear-sided bassinets lined the room. They all wore matching little pink-and blue-striped caps. Some were covered with pale blue blankets, others with pink. Some cried, their tiny faces screwed into expressions of utter rage. Others slept. A few just blinked with small unfocused eyes, bemused expressions on their faces as if they were mystified as to how they had ended up here.

Jude stepped closer, memories tugging him.

“He’s little, but he’s strong.”

“Of course he is. He’s my son.”

“The nurse told me they are down this way.”

Jude blinked, turning to find Ellina beside him.

He nodded, trying to shake away his thoughts. His memories.

“Lead the way.”

Ellina glanced over at Jude as they walked down the hall. His eyes looked ahead of them, but they seemed to be focused on something beyond the hallway, and he’d had the strangest look on his face as he’d looked in the nursery window.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He started, drawn back from wherever he’d been.

“Umm—shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he said, offering her a slight smile. The smile didn’t touch the strange, almost haunted look in his eyes.

She frowned, ready to ask him more, when Maksim appeared. It actually took her several moments to recognize him. Her usually polished brother was a mess. His hair stood out all over his head as if he’d spent hours running his hands through it. His usual designer clothing was covered with pale green scrubs, ill-fitting and wrinkled. Dark circles shadowed under his eyes and his lips were set into a grim line.

“Ellina.”

He pulled her against him, hugging her so tight she couldn’t manage a full breath.

She didn’t try to loosen his grip. She simply hugged him back with the same force, knowing he needed comfort.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he muttered against her hair, his voice gravelly with emotion.

“What’s going on?” she asked as soon as he released her.

“They had to take the baby,” Maksim said.

Her heart lurched, afraid of what that meant. She looked toward Jude, who stood to one side, watching them. Their eyes met and held for a second. And she knew he was wordlessly telling her it was going to be okay.

Her gaze returned to her brother, waiting for him to continue. It was clear Maksim was exhausted and not thinking clearly. He seemed to be struggling to organize his thoughts.

“Jo’s labor started intensely almost as soon as we got here. She was in a lot of pain, but the labor seemed to be going along fine. Then the baby’s blood pressure dropped and Jo was in so much pain.”

Ellina took Maksim’s hand, squeezing his fingers, offering him as much comfort as she could, although he didn’t seem to register her touch.

She looked back to Jude. He watched her, his gaze giving instant comfort.

Maksim pulled in a shuddering breath and continued, “They did a cesarean, and the baby’s fine, but Jo kept bleeding. She’s stable now, but…”

Maksim’s eyes darkened, taking on a haunted quality.

Ellina glanced at Jude again, but this time he wasn’t watching her. He stared at Maksim, a similar expression on his face. He understood what Maksim was going through.

He’d been there. She knew it as sure as if he’d told her with words.

Her heart ached just seeing their pain.

“I was really terrified,” Maksim said, his voice hoarse, as if he was trying to squelch the emotions rising inside him—and he was losing. “I still am. I feel so goddamn helpless.”

Ellina hugged him again.

“She will be okay. And the baby is fine. Jo will get stronger every minute. She has too much to live for to let this slow her down. She’s a tough gal.”

She pulled back to smile at her brother. “After all, she agreed to take you on.”

He managed a smile of his own, although it didn’t quite banish that tormented pain shadowing his gaze.

“She did do that,” he agreed, trying to sound light, but failing. “I’m going to go back in with her. You will stay?”

Ellina nodded. “Of course.”

He squeezed her hand, then started back down the hall.

“Wait, Maksim,” she called to him. He turned back to her.

“Is your baby a boy or a girl?”

Maksim face relaxed then, just for a moment. And instead of torment, she saw love in his eyes.

“It’s a boy. Barrett James.”

Tears filled Ellina’s eyes even as she smiled at him.

“Go see him,” he told her.

She nodded, the action causing the tears to spill over onto her cheeks. But her grin never wavered.

“I will.”

Maksim disappeared through a set of doors at the end of the hall.

“Are you okay?”

Jude stood next to her and again she was struck by how much she liked his silent strength. How with a look or a few words he could make her feel safe.

How could that be when just earlier this morning, she’d found him to be an overbearing jerk?

But right now—this moment—she appreciated him being there.

“I’m fine,” she said, giving him a watery smile. “Just a little emotional because Maksim and Jo named the baby after me. Barrett’s my middle name and my mother’s last name.”

Jude smiled too. One of the few genuine smiles she’d received from him, it made her heart skip a beat. Even more than one.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go see my new nephew.”