Midnight's Master

Chapter 10

When the camera turned off, he went to her. Niol took Holly’s hand and pulled her away from the cops and into the shadows.

He wanted to kiss her so bad he ached, but the cop, the shifter jerk, had made him…worry. “Come home with me tonight.” Sure, he had guards on her, but having her in his house, in his bed, that was different.

He could protect her then.

Better than he’d protected Gillian.

She blinked. Dammit, he loved her eyes, glamour or no. Because in her eyes, he could see what she felt. Fear. Anger. Lust. “We tried that,” she said quietly, licking her lips, “we barely made it through the door before-”

Niol’s mouth crashed down on hers. He was starving for her taste. The day had been so long and he’d found himself thinking about her, wanting her, too much.

Her lips were so soft and when those lips parted, he couldn’t control the groan that rose in his throat. His tongue swept inside her mouth, tangled with hers and tasted the sweetness that was…Holly.

He pushed her against the brick wall, caging her with his body, and she kissed him-kissed him with the same wild hunger he felt. Her hands wrapped around his neck, the tips of her nails stinging his flesh.

His cock stretched toward her, stiffening with arousal. Too many clothes were between them, too many cops around.

A piss-poor place to get her naked.

But if he could just get Holly back to his place…

Niol tore his mouth from hers. “We wouldn’t make it past the door this time.”

Her breath caught. “That a promise?”

Absolute guarantee. Her breasts teased his chest, the nipples tight, and he could remember those sweet pink nipples so vividly. But he wanted to see them again. Suck them again.

Make her moan and come again.

Make those green eyes darken to sexy black.

And he’d show her this time, she’d see the change-

“Ah, Holly?” A cough, from too close by. “Are you, um, finished here?”

Niol’s hold on Holly tightened. The cameraman. Ben or Bob or something.

“We…need to get back to the station. I got more footage-we can edit and record a segment to air for tomorrow morning, too…”

Niol turned his head very, very slowly and met the guy’s stare. Human. Nervous, shifting from foot to foot.

Holly’s hands fell away. “I’ll be-right there, okay? Just give me a minute to…finish up.”

A quick nod and the human scurried away.

A minute? Niol raised a brow and glanced down at Holly. “Love, I can be fast when the need arises, but what I have planned was going to take a lot longer than a minute.”

She almost smiled. Almost. And he liked her smile. That slow curve of her lips. The wink of her dimple. The way her nostrils flared just a bit when her mouth lifted.

But the smile never fully matured and she shook her head, saying, “I’ve got to put the story to bed.”

Um, and he wanted to put her to bed. “We need to talk, Holly.”

“Talk?” Her brows rose. “I didn’t think talking was what you wanted.”

Not first, but after the hunger was slaked. “Last night…I want to make sure-”

“You were right.” She breathed the words, looked stunned by her admission, and shook her head. “I don’t know how it’s even possible, but…you were right.”

His confusion must have shown because the woman had been damn doubtful at his place and just as furious as he’d been.

Her shoulders moved in a little roll. “I went to see an expert earlier. She confirmed what you’d told me.”

An expert. The only supernatural expert he knew in the city was most definitely a she.

The Monster Doctor. Emily Drake. “You went to see Emily?” He’d planned a little visit to the Monster Doctor himself. Now, it looked like that trip wouldn’t be necessary.

He’d almost been looking forward to seeing Dr. Drake again. Once, Niol had thought about using the doctor-a woman with her special talents sure would have come in handy in his world.

But fate had intervened and Emily had slipped away from the demon world.

For the time being.

“You know Dr. Drake?” Holly seemed surprised.

“Well enough,” was his reply. Emily. He’d met her years ago, when she’d stumbled into his club, drawn by the power of the Other. He’d watched as that dick Myles tried to control her and then watched her fry the demon to ashes.

Not a woman to be messed with, unless you were looking for a serious psychic burn.

And, now, well, you didn’t screw with her unless you wanted an attack from her very jealous and protective wolf shifter lover.

He still didn’t get that connection.

“She told me…” Holly glanced to the left, probably to make sure her cameraman wasn’t around. “She told me she knew the first minute she saw me. How is that possible? How could she know, how could you…but I didn’t?”

Damn good question-and one that Giles had better be finding an answer for.

She looked so worried that he wanted to kiss her-right between her furrowed brows.

Hell. What was the woman doing to him?

He was so not the comforting type.

The wild-sex type, yeah. The ass-kicking type, yeah. The fear-me type, yeah-all him.

Not the hold-a-woman-and-let-her-cry type.

She was screwing with his head and right then, he couldn’t afford that distraction.

Not until the demon hunter was crossed off his list.

“Come with me to my place,” he said again. “We’ll talk. I’ll tell you all I know about-”

“Demons.”

She’d always been curious about his kind. Maybe too curious. Perhaps because deep down…she’d suspected?

Ben’s shoes crunched gravel as he headed toward them, again, and Holly shook her head. “I-I have to go to the station.”

“After.” A demand.

Her lips firmed.

Maybe he should have made the demand softer but soft wasn’t his style, either. But he tried now, for her. “I should have…handled things differently last night.” He just hadn’t counted on getting punched between the eyes. Or grabbed so hard by the balls, but lust could do that. “I thought you were playing me, I didn’t realize-”

“That I didn’t know what the hell was going on in my own life?” Shadows flickered in her eyes. “What can I say? That is the story of my life. Didn’t know Zack was screwing around and the bastard was right in front of me-”

Who the hell was Zack?

“Didn’t know my own brother was fighting for his life, until I walked in and found him dead on the floor of his bedroom.”

Well, shit.

“So really, I guess this isn’t that unusual, is it? Some reporter I am.” She tried to shove past him.

He wasn’t going to allow that. Not at all. She couldn’t run from him, from what was between them, not yet. “You’re a fucking fine reporter.” A compliment he’d give…oh, no one else in her profession. “You care and you try to help other people.” Not his way, but it worked for her.

“Niol…”

“As for being a demon, that doesn’t change who you are. You’re still the same. Your eyes change-big deal. You’re still you. ”

Crunch. The damn cameraman.

“Uh, Holly?” He inched closer. “I got to go…it’s gettin’ late.”

What, did the forty-year-old have a curfew? Niol bit back his snarl. “Your place,” he managed. A concession, one made to make her feel as if she had some of the control. “I’ll be waiting for you.” Getting inside wouldn’t be a problem for him. He’d take care of his business, grill Giles, then take his lover.

Hesitation from Holly, enough to make him clench his back teeth, then…a slow nod.

He kissed her again, ignoring the human and taking his time with her mouth.

Yes, he’d wait, but he’d be damned if he waited long. Once she closed the door of her apartment, she’d be his.

“So…who the hell is Zack?” Niol demanded when he stormed into Giles’s office.

Sure, it was after midnight, and the guy had only been on the case for less than twelve hours but for what Niol was paying the charmer, he expected some damn good results.

And Giles knew he didn’t like disappointment.

The charmer looked up from his computer, brows beetled. “I know I locked that suite door.”

Niol shrugged.

“Damn demon.” Giles sighed and motioned him forward. “Zack…let me guess, you’re referring to the esteemed Doctor Zachariah Nathaniel Hall? Otherwise known as the jackass of the MU biology department?”

Niol threw his body into the nearby chair. “Could be-what do you know about the jackass?”

Giles smiled, and it really wasn’t a pretty sight. Too many teeth. “I know the jackass was engaged to your little reporter.”

The lights over them flickered. “Run that by me again.”

The investigator looked up and his smile dimmed a bit. “Holly…uh, Storm, she was engaged to the ivory tower guy.”

The lady hadn’t mentioned an ex-fiancé.

But then again, they hadn’t exactly been exchanging secrets about old lovers.

Still…a fiancé ? What the hell?

“The engagement ended two months later.” Giles sniffed. “Apparently, old Zachariah had a thing for one of his young students.”

Fucking idiot. He’d screwed around on her?

Humans could be so stupid.

Whatever. The bastard’s loss. His gain.

The lights steadied.

Giles looked at him. “He paid her a visit today.”

And she hadn’t mentioned that to him, either. “Why?”

Giles sighed. “Shit, man, how about a ‘That’s great-you work fast, charmer.’ Or some kind of freaking praise? I haven’t even been on this case for a whole day and-”

“Why did the asshole go to see her?”

No smile now. “I don’t know yet.”

Niol would find out. The human had better not be sniffing around Holly again. He’d had his chance and blown it to hell from the sound of things.

Niol wasn’t the sharing type. Never had been. The human had better back off-or he’d get burned.

“Something I did find out though, you might find it inter esting.” Giles shoved a file across the table. “Holly had an older brother.”

Didn’t know my own brother was fighting for his life, until I walked in and found him dead on the floor of his bedroom.

He flipped open the file. Saw the old clippings from a Mississippi paper. Overdose kills teen. Laurel youth loses battle with addiction. Body found by sister.

Damn.

“Looks like the kid got hooked when he was young, maybe around thirteen. By seventeen, he was dead.”

And Holly was finding his body.

“He was a year older than her. Newspapers say they were close.”

Niol could still hear the echo of pain in her voice. Yes, they’d been close all right.

“A couple of the kid’s friends were quoted as saying he took the drugs ‘to quiet his demons.’”

Very slowly, Niol glanced up from the grainy photo of a boy with Holly’s mouth and with eyes that were darkened by pain and fear.

“Your kind…” Giles licked his thick lips, “you guys can get hooked on the drugs fast, right?”

Some demons did. Because a demon’s power, it could be a very, very dark thing.

Like Sam Miters. He’d gotten hooked fast and when he was young. Niol knew the poor bastard had heard the thoughts of killers. Slow, insidious whispers that had tried to drive him mad. For Sam, only the meth had quieted those voices.

The usual drugs wouldn’t always work on a demon. If a demon went into a clinic, looking for help to stop voices and nightmare visions, usually he just got pumped up with anti-psychotic drugs like chlorpromazine. And that didn’t do shit for a demon, except make the voices louder and the visions clearer.

So the more desperate of his ilk tried their own drug mixes-and got addicted too fast to know they were sliding straight into hell.

Drugs weren’t the way to treat demons. Mind shields, like the one he knew Emily Drake had created for herself, that was the way to keep the insanity out.

But it took years to perfect a shield like that and most demons, especially the young ones who’d just hit puberty and felt the full rush of their demon power for the first time, they didn’t have that precious time.

They needed a fucking system in place to help the young ones so they didn’t grow up to become like Sam.

And so they didn’t die like-Niol glanced down. “Peter Storm.” Had he been a demon? Odds were high that he had. Maybe he’d been stronger than Holly, had a greater power, and been scared to death of that unknown darkness.

“Have you found a demon link in Holly’s family tree?” Had to be one. Demons didn’t just randomly pop up as some kind of mutation in the general population. Vampires did that-those weird-ass Born Masters. They were born to humans. Seemed completely normal then-wham. Woke up one day with a wild hunger for blood and enough power to generally level a city block.

Maybe they were the cursed ones.

As for demons, his kind had been around forever. Since the first gasp of man, and before.

And they’d be around long after that last desperate breath, too.

“I’m working on the rest of the family now…give me more time, Niol.” Almost pleading.

He grunted and pushed out of the vinyl chair. Great view, shitty chairs. “Call me.” A glance at the round face of the clock on Giles’s wall showed him that it was nearing midnight. Holly should be finishing up at the station soon.

And coming to meet him.

His cock swelled at the thought.

He’d meet her at the door.

Her house was dark when Holly pulled into the driveway just before one a.m.

The porch light glowed, but the interior of the house was pitch black.

She slammed her car door shut and stared up at the house and the darkness.

Maybe she should have been a bit nervous, walking up alone toward a house cloaked in shadows. A psycho was on the loose, one she’d deliberately baited on camera.

Maybe she should have been afraid.

But she wasn’t.

Because Holly knew she wasn’t really alone. She didn’t glance over her shoulder and down the street to the left; she didn’t need to look over to see the gray SUV that had been tailing her. She’d spotted the vehicle earlier, right after lunch, and recognized the two men inside from Paradise Found.

Niol’s guards.

She’d been pissed for five minutes. Ready to call him and bawl his ass out for putting his goons on her tail.

Then reality had set in. A killer was on the loose. Holly knew that hit-and-run hadn’t been pure coincidence, and if two really big, really strong demons wanted to watch her ass, who was she to argue?

Once the killer was caught, she knew they’d vanish.

So, no, she wasn’t afraid of the darkness or of the monsters that waited under that cover-and she knew he was waiting for her.

Niol was inside her house. As promised.

Holly knew it, with every fiber of her being. She’d been thinking about Niol since she’d left him. He’d slipped into her thoughts almost constantly as she’d worked.

Not like the lovers she’d had in the past. Not even close.

Her fingers tightened around her keys.

She hurried toward the door. She wanted to get to him. To hold him. To strip and feel the hot slide of his body against hers.

For the last few hours, she’d been working on that damn demon killer story and she wanted to forget.

Niol would help her to forget.

Holly shoved the key into the lock and pushed open the door.

Silence.

Her heart slammed into her ribs. “Niol?” She crossed the threshold, kicking the door shut behind her. A quick punch of the alarm had her safe light shining steady again. “Niol, are you here?”

He was…She could almost feel him.

So dark. She reached for the nearby light switch-and warm, strong fingers curled around her wrist.

“Don’t turn it on.” His voice seemed to be part of the darkness, a growl that sent shivers skating over her.

He pulled her to him. His clothes rubbed against her, the hard strength of his body surrounded her.

“Niol-”

His mouth took hers, and, oh, yes, it was exactly what she’d been waiting for…

Lips. Tongue. Tasting. Taking.

Her sex clenched as a wave of lust had her shuddering.

Her hands found his shoulders in the dark. Tightened around that broad expanse. She wasn’t going to pretend, not even for a moment, that this wasn’t exactly what she wanted.

He was what she wanted.

His mouth lifted, slowly. “Come with me.” He took her hand and tugged her through the house. The guy seemed to be able to see perfectly in the dark. She’d thought only shifters could do that. But he didn’t stumble, not once. Didn’t bang into her coffee table or walk into a couch.

No, he just glided quickly through the den and pulled her into the bedroom.

Candles flickered to life the minute they crossed the threshold-the tall, thick white candles she kept on her dresser and on her cherry chest of drawers. The sweet scent of vanilla filled the air and Holly’s breath caught.

She expected him to pull her toward the bed. A soft mat tress, silk sheets, and naked male flesh seemed like a perfect plan to her.

But Niol steered her toward the mirrored doors of her closet. He pushed her in front of him so that she stared into green eyes that looked smoky…and wild.

Niol stood behind her, his arms circling her body just below her breasts. His head bent toward her, his lips feathering over her neck.

His lips closed over her flesh and her own lips parted in hunger.

Then she felt the swipe of his tongue.

Her sex creamed.

She tried to turn, to catch his mouth and kiss him so that-

“Don’t move.” An order whispered in her ear. “Watch…in the mirror.”

His hands snaked down her body. He caught her skirt and shoved it to the floor. Her skin looked so pale next to his tanned hands. Darkness and light.

His hands came back up, teased her stomach with a soft caress, then his fingers began to slowly unbutton her shirt. The edge of her bra peeked through the opening and Niol’s fingertips smoothed under the light material, stroking the areola of one nipple.

Her legs stiffened. The better to keep standing.

The candlelight danced in the mirror, swelling higher, brighter.

The front of her shirt hung open now, clearly exposing her pale blue bra and the matching panties she’d chosen so carefully earlier that day.

Knowing what would come?

His thumb slid under the front clasp, popped it free and her breasts spilled forward, right into his hands.

He teased her nipples, plucking and stroking with his slightly callused fingertips. The friction was so freaking amazing and she began to twist against him as the tide of desire rose within her.

No teasing, dammit. She wanted the man.

“Watch.” A seductive demand.

The eyes she didn’t remember closing sprang open. His hands cupped her breasts. His mouth hovered over her throat.

And his heavy cock pressed into her ass.

He wanted her, just as much as she wanted him.

In this, they were even.

His right hand slid down her stomach and eased under the elastic edge of her panties.

Yes… Did she say it? Or just think it?

Either way, Niol heard.

He stroked through her curls and found the core of her body. He slid those broad fingers over the button that was the center of her need.

A moan burst from her lips.

One finger found her hot, wet opening. Pushed inside.

Not enough.

A second finger drove into her and his thumb pressed right over her clit.

Holly shot onto her toes.

Withdraw.

Thrust.

In and out his fingers moved in a maddening rhythm that didn’t give relief, only made the fierce ache inside her grow even more desperate and consuming.

Her hands fisted at her sides. The nails dug into her palms.

“Do you want me?”

Oh, what, was the guy crazy? Hell, yeah, she wanted him-she was straining and twisting and moaning like a woman gone wild against him.

“Holly, tell me.”

Withdraw.

Thrust.

She had to swallow twice before she could manage, “Yes.”

“Brace your hands on the mirror.”

Her hands slapped against the cool surface.

The hiss of a zipper.

The rustle of a wrapper-condom.

Holly kicked away the skirt. Stood in her high heels, panties, bra, and open shirt. She waited-

He tore her panties away.

Finally.

Her stance widened.

Niol positioned himself behind her, arching her hips back to him, and-

His cock brushed against the plump folds of her sex.

His fingers trailed back down over the front of her body, finding that aching, quivering spot between her legs that she needed him to touch just as-

His shaft thrust into her sex, a hard, no-holding-back, balls-deep thrust.

“Watch.”

Her gaze jerked up to the mirror. He was behind her, face set in tight lines of lust and hunger. Driving deep, the muscles of his chest rippling. Plunging, again and again-

And stroking with those fingers. Right over her clit. So good. So. Damn. Good.

Her body coiled. Tension mounted. She gasped his name, as the pleasure spun so close-

She saw herself in the mirror. Twisting and moaning. Body flushed. Nipples tight. Straining toward the mirror.

A woman with wild red hair. Cheeks stained pink. Gleaming lips.

Thrust.

Green eyes so dark, so-

Too dark.

The pleasure crested, slamming into her as Holly’s climax erupted in a fury.

And her green eyes faded to black.

Shit, shit, that was -

Her sex spasmed.

Her body quivered.

So good.

“See what I see.” The words rumbled against her as he kept driving into her. Again and again. His eyes blazed at her, a perfect black to match her own.

Demon.

Woman.

Man.

His cock swelled within her, filled every inch of her core. He shuddered. Then his hands dug into her hips and he jerked her up, higher, higher-

Withdraw.

Thrust.

“Beautiful…” He gasped out the word and came within her.

They made it to the bed. Somehow, someway. Holly didn’t remember walking there, and she didn’t remember him carrying her, either.

But the mattress felt good beneath her, and Niol’s arms felt even better around her.

She inhaled the vanilla. The candles were burning down so quickly now. A wave of his hand would extinguish the light-hell, a stray thought probably would-she knew that, but Holly didn’t want darkness, not yet.

“Tell me about your brother.”

Not what she’d expected in the aftermath of that storm, and Holly stiffened. She’d blundered earlier when she’d spilled her painful secret about Peter. As a rule, she didn’t talk about her brother, ever.

Niol’s fingers trailed down the length of her arm. “Easy, love. I just want to know more about him…to understand you.”

Her head turned, just a fraction, to meet his stare. “Is understanding me so important? I thought this-” Her hand fluttered between her sheet covered body and his naked chest. One fine chest. “I thought this was just about the pleasure.”

His expression didn’t alter. Niol, still using that mask that made her teeth grind together, even now. Surrounded by the scent of candles and sex, he hadn’t let his guard down.

But then, neither had she.

My eyes flashed black. Holy Christ, she could still hardly believe that. Being told by Niol and Dr. Drake-that was one thing. Seeing it-

No more denial.

“It is about the pleasure,” Niol told her in that voice that was seductive steel. “But I want to know you.”

“You’re already investigating me.” A hunch, that, nothing more. Because she did know him. She’d done her own research after the first night she’d seen him, and been unable to get the demon out of her head.

She understood the way he operated. Understood the guards he’d locked onto her and understood that her demon heritage would be a mystery for him, one that he’d solve at all costs.

Maybe that was a good thing. She wanted to know the truth, too. All her life, she’d thought she was a human. She’d been surrounded by her “normal” friends, gone to St. Mary’s Church every Sunday, gone to college-led a regular life.

Until now.

Niol didn’t deny the investigation, just kept drifting his fingers up and down her arm in a slow, tempting caress.

“What are you hiding?” He asked quietly.

Pain . The instant answer. A hell of a lot of pain. “Why do you want to know about Peter?”

His hand stilled. “Because I think he may have been like you. Like me.”

Not Peter. “Peter died of a drug overdose, okay?” The words ripped from her. “He was a kid, in too deep, he-”

“Demons fall prey to addictions much faster than humans, love.” Soft, almost gentle. “The drugs-they’re a temptation some can’t resist. They quiet the voices and the visions of blood and death that just won’t stop.”

Ice poured over her. “What?” She shot up in the bed, clamp ing the sheet tight to her chest. “What voices? What visions of death? Peter didn’t have-”

“Demons have different powers.” He rose, too, but didn’t bother pulling up the sheet to hide his body. “Some control the elements, almost like witches. Some can slip into a human’s mind-”

Yes, she knew about that.

“Some have other, less…desirable powers.” A pause. “Like your friend Sam.”

Slashed to pieces. Holly licked her lips. “Wh-what do you know about Sam’s power?” Sam had told her that he was a low-level demon, pretty average, pretty-

“Sam got the shit-end of the draw. He could read the thoughts of humans-across blocks, miles-without even trying.”

That was the shit-end of the draw?

“But the only thoughts he could pick up were from killers. Rapists. Twisted pervs who wanted to hurt and maim. And Sam couldn’t turn the voices off, no matter how hard he tried…until he found the meth.”

Peter’s voice drifted through her mind. “You ever have nightmares, sis?”

“We all have nightmares .” They’d been in the kitchen, getting ready for school, and running late, as usual. She’d rolled her eyes and chugged her orange juice.

He’d been fourteen. She’d been thirteen.

“No. Not a snake’s gonna bite me shit-”

“Shh! Don’t let mom hear you say that-”

He’d grabbed her arm, knocking over the orange juice so that it poured over the tabletop and dripped onto the floor. “I’m talking about seeing people die. Getting ripped apart. Over and over-hearing some bastard laughing and-”

“Peter Marcus Storm!” Their mother’s voice shrieked at them. “What have I told you about…”

“Cursing in my house,” she whispered. Oh, shit. Oh, no. Peter had never talked about his nightmares to her after that. When they’d climbed onto the school bus, he’d stared at her, eyes sad and said simply, “You don’t have them.”

She hadn’t understood.

Niol touched her cheek and she flinched away from him. “You remember, don’t you, Holly?”

Peter had spiraled away from her so fast.

“When puberty hits, most demons come into the power, and for those with the Dark Touch-”

“The Dark Touch?” They had a name for it? Goose bumps covered her arms. Peter’s face was so clear in her mind right then. Not the face after death-the bloated, pale face with the glassy eyes.

The youthful, worried face of her brother. Her nose, her mouth. His intense eyes and strong jaw.

“Those with the Touch pick up the negative energy and it can warp their minds. Demons have a well-deserved reputation for many reasons. The fact that those with the Touch fight insanity is one of ’em.”

She wanted to scream. To yell that he was wrong about her brother, about every damn thing. But Niol knew demons far better than she did. “And what? Drugs are their only hope? Getting wasted? Overdosing and dying?”

“Mind shields.” His jaw worked. “We have to find a way to screen the kids and get them suited with shielding to block out the energy. It can be done, it can-”

“Doctor Drake is teaching me how to shield.” Said slowly.

Surprise flickered across his face.

“I won’t be helpless again,” she muttered.

“You never were.” Niol’s eyes held hers. “You never were.”

So said the guy with enough power to fry his enemies from the inside out.

Her temples ached. There was so much to take in. “Niol, you-you really think my brother was one of those with that-power?”

“Can’t know for sure. Not now.”

Because her brother had been buried in Meadows Ceme tery for so many long years now. She visited him every Christmas, every February seventeenth-the day of his birth-and every August third-the day she’d found his body.

“If he was like that…” And dammit, she was believing that he could have been. “Then why am I different?” Normal.

“You’re a hybrid demon.”

She knew the term. Someone with the mixed blood of a demon and…something else.

“Maybe a quarter demon, could be even less-I’m not done shaking your family tree.”

Ah, okay.

“Power manifests differently for hybrids. Sometimes…” His jaw clenched. “Fucking powerful bastards are born. And sometimes…”

“You get me,” she finished. “I don’t have any powers, Niol. I can’t make fire.” She glanced at the candles, all but sputtering out. “Can’t read minds. Can’t do-”

“You don’t know what you can do. Neither do I. Time will show us.” He didn’t sound particularly concerned. “What I do know about you-you can cloak your powers like no one I’ve ever seen.”

Well, that was something.

“I should have sensed you from the beginning, but the glamour is too strong. I can only see through it when you-”

Climax.

What had Dr. Drake said? Certain powerful instances or stressful situations may trigger the latent powers in you.

Her climaxes with Niol sure fell under the “powerful instances” category.

“If it turns out you’re a level-one-” Niol continued.

The weakest of the demons.

“Big deal.” His fingers tangled in her hair and he brought her face toward his for a hard, long kiss. “I’ll still want you like fucking hell on fire.”

Darkness.

The candlelight was gone. A ball of tight need stirred within her again, but she held on to her control, needing to know…“Niol…do you have the Touch?”

Her hand lay on his chest. Touching the flesh so warm it almost seemed to burn her. Feeling the heart beneath her hand-and the hard lurch it gave at her question.

“You don’t want to know all that I can do.” Said with absolute certainty. “If you knew, you’d be running from me as fast as you could.”

She didn’t move her hand. Didn’t move her body. “I’ve already seen what you can do-”

“Sweetheart, that was just the start.” Light flashed in the room, but not from the candles. Flames hovered in the air, small balls of spinning fire. “What I can do…it’d scare you to death.”

“Nice light show.” Her hands lifted to his face. Felt the faint sting of a late-night shadow lining his jaw. “I don’t scare easily, Niol.” She dropped the sheet. Straddled his hips. Let the aroused length of his cock slide against her sex.

Flesh to flesh.

The way it had never been for them.

“I’m on the pill,” she told him bluntly. “And I’m clean.”

“I can’t get any diseases that humans have-”

Her brow furrowed. “But I thought demons-”

“Lower-level demons can, weaker immunity. I’m not like them.” He kissed her, hard and deep. She lifted her hips, rubbing along the length of that swollen flesh.

Inside.

She stared into his eyes. So black. So many secrets. “I don’t scare easily,” she repeated, and arched her hips.

The tip of his cock slid into her.

Face-to-face. Sex to sex.

Niol’s hand eased between their bodies. Parted her folds. Stroked the bud that quivered for him.

Then shoved his cock deeper into her.

“Good,” he growled. “Because you’re not getting away from me.”

She pushed up on her knees. Drove down. Up. Down. The rhythm grew faster, harder.

She wanted, needed the pleasure. The wild rush of release to cover the memories he’d stirred.

Screw it. She wanted him.

His cock was hot inside her. Long. Thick. Strong. Filling her. Stretching. Sliding in and out in deep thrusts that had her straining against him.

Her bed was big and sturdy. No squeaks. No moans from the mattress.

Just the deep slide of his cock.

The clench of her sex.

Deep.

Again and again.

She kissed him when she came.

When he released within her, his climax a long wave of heat that caressed her flesh, he said her name.

The spinning flames died away.

Kim Went crept down the hallway at News Flash Five. She knew the rotation of the guards, knew the exact movements of the anchored security cameras.

She’d studied the layout carefully before making her move.

Her lips were dry, her palms wet-and Holly’s office door waited just a few feet away.

Her gaze skated up to the camera. Locked on the lens. The camera swept the hallway, and in five, four, three-

The lens shifted, giving her a perfect opportunity.

She moved in a flash, grabbing the doorknob, shoving open the door and nearly falling inside.

The envelope. Where was it? She had to find it.

Her big break was in that envelope. Her break-and her life.

Kim knew that Holly was sitting on one major story. Everyone at the station did. Holly kept going into private meetings with old Mac, and that guy knew what was hot in the news.

But he wasn’t giving her a chance. No, Mac wouldn’t let Kim on the air, he just sent her after his coffee.

Jerk.

She’d show him. She’d get this story, before Holly, and she’d get her spot on camera.

Kim hadn’t worked her butt off the last four years at Mellrune University in order to be a freaking coffee fetcher. She had student loans that were choking her, and she wasn’t going to be a gofer for the rest of her life, dammit!

She fumbled with the desk. Shoved papers out of her way. Where was the envelope?

Kim had seen Holly’s face when she opened that delivery. Oh, yeah, pay dirt.

And then, when Holly had been so freaking desperate to find out who’d left the envelope- a dead giveaway.

Sometimes, news smelled like blood. Rich and tantalizing.

Kim loved the smell of blood. Always had. Maybe because her stepdad had been a vampire, a vamp who’d met an unfortunate decapitation end in a car accident. She’d tried to get him to transform her, once, but he’d looked at her like she was crazy.

“Shit.” Her whisper was too loud. But she couldn’t find the envelope. Kim jerked open another drawer. Then another.

The envelope had to be related to those murders. Demon murders. She knew the truth about those men and that lady the cops had just found.

She’d heard Ben and Holly talking about her, too.

Demons. All of them.

Old Mac probably thought she didn’t know jack about the real world. She knew enough that she could probably give him nightmares.

Hell, yeah, this story was her big break…and it really was her life, too.

Because she wasn’t about to let the killer come after-

The office door squeaked open.

Kim froze, crouched just over the desk.

A security guard? No, the patrol should have been on the other side and-

“Hello, bitch.”

Terror rose, choking her.

That voice-a low, sinister whisper. Evil.

Kim knew evil.

Knew when she was staring straight at it, even when it wore such a simple disguise.

She reached for the lamp-

And evil attacked.