Chapter 19 #2
With an impatient huff, she stepped over the broken pieces of her chair and pictures on the way to the living room.
The demon had been through her things, moving pillows and even the coffee table.
She found Brom’s book in a different place than where she’d left it and opened it to the latest entry.
“There’s a new picture. Oh, great, a big monster with three heads.
So that part of Mon’s story wasn’t his literary license. ”
Cyn leaned over her shoulder. “And both of us fighting it.”
His heat called to her Dragon, drawing her to lean back against him. Stop it! Bad Dragon.
She felt it snort, a really odd sensation.
Want.
The worst part was she wasn’t sure if that last sentiment was hers or her Dragon’s. She snapped the book shut and shoved it into her bag. “What kind of monster is that? Another tulpa?”
He was right behind her, his feet light on the stairs as they went down. “Nothing I’ve ever seen. I suppose a Deuce could make a tulpa that looked like that, though.”
This time she snorted. “Well, yeah, if it made one to look like me, nothing’s off the table.”
He threw a glance at her. “Well, I’m sure it was the cutest tulpa we’ll ever see.”
That weird dichotomy actually made her laugh.
They approached the fence, and Ruby grabbed the lock, which was still intact. “How did you get in? And how did you know a demon was here?”
“I climbed over.” He showed her the scrapes on his hands from the barbed wire coils at the top of the fence. “As soon as I discovered that Mr. Smith is still out there, I knew he’d be targeting you again.”
She relocked the gate once they’d passed through. “Just because I’m going with you doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you.”
“Understood.”
She slung her bag in the trunk he opened for her.
“More bad news,” he said as they pulled onto the road. “The Deus Vis is still fracturing. Whatever is causing it wasn’t in that lab. It’s beginning to hit Crescents hard. How are you feeling?”
God, it really wasn’t over at all. Panic squeezed her throat. “I’m tired and achy.”
“Like the flu?”
“Like I’ve got demons and tulpas trying to kill me.” And a Dragon tearing up my heart. “I figured it was everything I’ve been through lately.” She remembered the images Brom had flashed into their minds. “People are still going to die.”
“Yes.”
“Kids. Grandmothers. Us. What about the Elementals?”
“They don’t require Deus Vis to survive.”
She felt some relief, but it was a small consolation. “What do we do? How do we stop it?”
His cell phone rang. “Fernandez,” he said to her and answered it. She couldn’t hear what the man was saying. “No,” Cyn said, glancing at her. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” He disconnected. “He says he knows what’s going on.”
“Could he be in on it?”
“I considered that when I went to see him this morning, but I doubt it. I’ve told him very little, for his protection and ours. As in any large agency, there’s the possibility of corruption at the upper levels.”
He took an on-ramp and merged with the flow of traffic on the interstate. “I’m meeting Fernandez at my house.”
A short while later, he took an exit leading to southeast Coral Gables. “Hungry?”
“Famished.”
He pulled into the parking lot of a small café. “This is one of my favorite places. Spanish food.”
She got out, and the scent of garlic and tomatoes wafting through the air unleashed a growl from her stomach.
“Mr. Valeron, good to see you,” the host said when they walked inside, giving her a nod, too. “Welcome.” He had olive skin and dark hair like Cyn, and his eyes flickered in the Dragon way.
The place was quaint. Murals depicted cozy scenes with what she guessed were Spanish homes and balconies.
Cyn ordered for them, which would have been annoying except she didn’t know what some of the dishes on the menu were.
An array of plates arrived soon after, including one filled with baby octopi.
Ugh. She ate the things she recognized, olives and cheese, chorizo sausage, and slices of beef, along with crusty bread.
“Ruby, remember how I’m an arrogant ass and want you to obey me?”
The olive she was chewing went down like a rock. “Yeah…”
“I don’t want you coming in with me. I’d like to say I trust Fernandez. He and his wife raised me after I was orphaned. That’s the way being a Ward worked in the old days, if you had no family to take you in.”
She didn’t want to know about how he’d lost his parents, how he had no family. “But?”
“I can’t completely trust him.”
“So I’m hiding in the car?”
“No, I want you nearby so you know what’s going on. We’ll walk through the neighbor’s yard. They’re up north for the summer, so the house is closed up. I’ve got a boat off the side dock. Duck down there. Ready?”
“As I ever will be.”
He stood and dropped some bills on the table.
Once outside, he walked to the passenger side and peered into the car first. “Rule of thumb when being hunted by demons: always check your vehicle before you get in. Not a bad idea anyway. Miami has its share of ghouls of both the Hidden and the Mundane variety.”
He was still teaching her. It should annoy her, but somehow it had the opposite effect. Their gazes locked, and that sexuality curled through her. She could feel the heat of the sun on her back, and his heat from where he stood inches in front of her. “Cyn…”
She tried to dredge up something angry or cold, anything to put distance between them. All she felt was a draw to him, even knowing what he’d done. She ached to feel his hand on her, even just to brush a strand of hair from her temple.
“Ruby, don’t look at me like that. Because it makes me want to do this.” He did touch her, stroking his fingers along her jaw line.
She batted his hand away. “Damn it, we aren’t supposed to be here again. Together. Feeling like this. You were supposed to be—” She cut off the words.
“Feeling the ache of you turning your back on me?”
“Yes, I wanted you to feel even a fraction of what you caused me to feel. But you can’t feel, can you? That’s what you said, anyway. Tell me I was only a moral obligation to you. A few moments of lust.” She lifted her chin.
“You like to hear the raw truth, don’t you, Ruby?” As if he’d read her mind, or maybe her energy, he did brush a stray strand of hair from her forehead, trailing his fingers across her brow. “Are you sure you want to hear it this time?”
“Yes.” She braced herself for his cold, harsh words.
“Watching you Awaken woke up a part of myself I didn’t know existed.
It was more than you growing into your Dragon’s sensuality.
It was how your spirit touched me so deeply that I could not stop myself from wanting you.
I told myself it was just sexual attraction.
But when you told me I was the first man you wanted to give your heart to, I realized what’s between us was much more.
And that I wanted you more than anything I’ve wanted in a long, long time.
The only way I could keep from violating my moral code was to tell you the truth right then.
Watching you walk away cut so deep, hurt so much, I actually looked for blood on my shirt.
Now I feel such a deep emptiness, it’s like my insides have been sucked out.
” He took a breath, his eyes still on hers. “Does that fill your need for revenge?”
She swayed, forcing herself to breathe. Every word had twisted so tight around her heart, lungs, her entire body. She felt the truth in words filled with pain, saw it in his eyes. Her voice sounded hollow when she said, “That should do it.”
He opened the door for her and said, “Let’s see what Fernandez has to say. Maybe we can finish this now, and you can walk away again.”