For just a second, Holly could have sworn that she felt the warm touch of his tongue sliding over the shell of her ear.
Her knees did a quick tremble. “Niol…”
“Why are you here?” Another dark whisper. “And who the hell sent you to this place?”
She drew in deep breath, caught the scent of the flowers, fresh and clean from the late evening rain.
And the dank stench of blood.
Vampires.
Holly turned more fully against him. Her breasts teased the muscled expanse of his chest. Niol wasn’t dressed in the fancy garb some of the vampires had worn. No silk jacket and pants.
Just his standard black T-shirt. Faded jeans.
A T-shirt that was stretched taut by his defined chest, his wide shoulders, the rippling muscles of his arms.
And those jeans…
Later.
Holly rose onto her tiptoes and let her lips skim his jaw. “Marc told me-I made him, but that doesn’t matter.” Not at all. She swallowed. “The picture at Carl’s…” Her voice was as soft as she could make it, a breath of sound. The vampires weren’t close, but she sure didn’t want to chance them overhearing her. “I got one like it today, delivered to the station.”
She glanced over his shoulder as she spoke, her gaze resting on the plump, bloodred petals of a rose. The roses were twisting beneath an old-fashioned gaslight. Strange to see them blooming, far too early in the season. Magic . She cleared her throat and said, “I got a picture, of you and me…and a note.”
The roses shriveled before her eyes. Darkened to a sickly brown, then fell to the ground, petals raining down. Magic-Niol’s magic.
Holly jerked her head back and stared, wide-eyed, up at Niol. His face was a hard mask, his black eyes glittering. “What did the note say?”
“The impure will die.”
Her hair lifted in a breeze that hadn’t been there a minute ago. “I think you’re next on the bastard’s list, Niol.” The guy had all but drawn a bull’s-eye on Niol’s face. “I had to find you, to make sure-”
She stopped.
One black brow rose. “To make sure-what?”
“That you were safe.”
The brow lowered and a crinkle appeared on his forehead. “Worried about me?”
In too deep . “Yes.” Stark. She caught the surprise that flickered over his face. What? Hadn’t anyone ever worried about the man before? “No matter how strong you are, you can still be hurt…or killed.”
She didn’t want to think about that. Holly’s fingernails dug into his arms. “The bastard’s watching us, Niol. And I’m not going to let you become his next slaughter.”
A ghost of a smile feathered his lips. “Deadly.”
“Right, that freak is, and I’m not-”
“Not him. You.”
She didn’t know what to say. Deadly-not exactly a word many had used to describe her.
“I like that in a woman.”
He would.
“And if our…friend…was watching us before, when he took that picture-”
“It was from last night, in the parking lot of News Flash Five.” He’d been so close to them, too close.
His hold on her hardened. “If that sick fuck was watching us then…” His stare bored into hers. “What makes you think he’s not watching us now?”
Holly’s breath stuttered out as her heart slammed into her chest.
Hell, yes, he could be watching. Could have been watching her the whole time.
And, if so, she’d just led the freak straight to Niol.
Chapter 7
Holly’s face bleached of color and Niol swore.
“You think he followed me?” She sounded horrified.
No point lying. “Maybe.” Or maybe the bastard had been following him. “Either way, the guy’s letting us know the game’s on.”
“And that you’re his next target.”
Or she was.
No, no that wouldn’t make any sense. The impure reference in the letters had to be talking about the demon blood.
No humans had turned up carved to ribbons. Only his kind.
So, yes, looked like his ticket was up next.
Let the fucker just come and try to kill him.
“The flowers are all dying,” she murmured, her lips curving down. “Stop it, Niol. They were the best thing about this place.”
He hadn’t even realized he’d been letting his power leak out. Instantly, he slammed down the gates of his control.
Niol dropped his hands and stepped even farther back into the darkness. He could see the withered petals in the flickering light.
Dead.
He was good at killing.
But once something was dead, there was no way to bring it back.
His gaze locked helplessly on Holly.
Once something was dead…
No.
Holly might not be impure, but someone had already tried to kill her once this week. No way was he gonna let her be at risk.
She’d been in the picture, too. Maybe the killer had decided that Holly had been slumming with the demons too much. Maybe she was impure in his twisted head, too.
Maybe he just needed to find the bastard and do some slicing of his own.
She touched his cheek.
Niol nearly flinched.
It wasn’t a sexual touch, though, hell, yes, he sure liked those from her. The woman’s mouth was the best temptation he’d had in well, years.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “They’re just flowers.”
Even as she said the words, he saw the memory flicker in her eyes. Another night. Another place. Another rush of his power.
But it hadn’t been blackened flowers at their feet.
It had been a man’s charred body.
The bastard had been planning to kill Holly. There hadn’t been a choice.
Her hand didn’t fall away, and he was expecting her to wrench back. But she didn’t. The memories were there, the full knowledge of just what he could do.
What he’d done.
“I never thanked you, did I?” She asked quietly. “You and Cara saved my life that night.”
And took another. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“I-I think I do.”
“Don’t make me into a hero.” That he’d never be.
“I won’t make that mistake.” Did her lips curl just a bit? For a second, he could have sworn that dimple winked at him. “But you’re not a hardass villain, either.”
Wasn’t he? Sometimes, even he wasn’t sure. He caught her hand, and, for a moment, held her tight. Then said, “We need to go. If that asshole is watching us, we’re not safe here.” There was only one place he’d feel was safe enough for Holly.
His house.
His bed.
She glanced over her shoulder, back up at the monster of a house. “Do we have to go back in there?”
“No.” He tugged on her wrist. “I know another way out. Come on.” Time to get the hell out of there.
Before their new friend showed up.
They left her car at the party. Niol figured he’d call one of his men later, get ’em to pick it up, drive it around town to throw off any watchers, and then bring it back to his place.
Holly rode with Niol back to his home. When they first climbed into the car, she’d asked, “Where are we heading?”
“My place,” had been his growled response.
Her slow smile had nearly stopped his heart, and then she’d whispered, “Good.”
Niol didn’t make a habit of bringing women into his home. Not his real home, anyway. He had an apartment over Paradise Found that he used for his lovers, but his home, that was different.
Sanctuary.
But he wanted Holly in his realm.
They drove to the outskirts of the city. He’d bought the land years ago, commissioned an architect, and built the house exactly the way he’d planned so long ago.
Years ago…when he’d been a dirt-poor kid all but shoving his nose against the windows of the fancy houses in D.C.
A fucking lifetime ago.
Holly whistled when she saw his house.
He drove past the thick wall surrounding his home, pushing a button to send the electronic gates closing behind him. The house waited down the lane, windows gleaming, lights shining from within.