Chapter 2
Tabatha stepped through the entrance of Silk Stalkings and looked around. She’d come here looking for Kriss… and prayed she would find him. He’d gone missing a few days ago and hadn’t even called… and he’d been avoiding her longer than that. She missed him and was starting to worry. If he was gone for any length of time in the past, he’d at least called and let her know everything was all right.
Just catching a glimpse of him would take away her fear that Misery had eaten him or locked him in a cave somewhere.
Sitting down at one of the tall tables, she continued to watch the stage hoping Kriss would come out and perform his act. It was almost an hour later that she realized the time and knew Kriss should have hit the stage by now. One of the waiters walked by her and she touched him on the arm to gain his attention.
“Do you need something, Miss?” he asked.
Tabatha smiled, “I’m hoping you can help me. I’m looking for Kriss Reed. Can you tell me when his next shift is?”
The waiter sighed and shook his head, “You’re the sixth woman to ask about him this week. Unfortunately, he quit a while back, no one’s seen him since.”
Tabatha felt like she’d been slapped in the face. A sinking feeling appeared in the pit of her stomach and she lowered her head to hide the tears that started to gather… she’d lost her best friend.
“Are you okay?” the waiter asked softly.
Tabatha looked up at him and smiled, wiping away the wetness that threatened to ruin her mascara. “Yeah, I’m fine. But you can get me a Malibu and pineapple?”
The waiter gave her a questioning look before sighing and going back to the bar. He recognized Tabatha as one of Kriss' close friends and figured Kriss had skipped town without telling her. It was shame too… she seemed to be a nice girl and Kriss leaving had obviously hurt her.
Tabatha made a show of taking her compact out of her clutch purse and examining her makeup. He’d left without even saying goodbye… he’d promised when they went to Florida with Devon and Envy that he’d never leave her. They had even become closer since her kidnapping… so much closer.
“Here you go,” the waiter announced and set her drink down in front of her.
Tabatha lowered the compact and smiled up at him, “Go ahead and start up a tab… I’m going to stay for a while.”
The waiter nodded and started weaving around his tables making sure everyone was all right, occasionally looking over to make sure his newest guest didn’t drink herself into oblivion.
Tabatha quickly knocked back the drink and set it down on the tabletop. Why was she worried anyway? Kriss was one of the fallen… he had better things to do than mess with humans… much less humans that were his friends. God she hated being pouty and angry at the same time… it made one feel disturbed.
Another drink was set in front of her and she quickly drank that one down, too. About six drinks later she was nice and tipsy. Glancing toward the stage, she pouted seeing a new guy come out wearing only a silver thong and wings. She wondered where the crying drunk Guru was when she needed one and narrowed her eyes hating the dancer for unknowingly mocking her.
“One more before I leave?” she asked the waiter that had hovered close since she sat down.
The waiter smiled softly and shook his head. “I think you’ve had quite enough. Would you like me to call you a taxi?”
“No,” Tabatha said and stood up, grabbing her purse. “I want you to tell Kriss that if he remembers who his friends are, to give me a call.”
Of course she didn’t mean it, but at the moment she was very angry with Kriss… hurt that he didn’t think enough of their friendship to at least tell her he was leaving… or being kidnapped. Opening her purse, she took out her wallet and tried to pay for the drinks but the waiter shook his head again.
“Your tab has already been paid,” he said. “Now go home and sleep it off… I’m sure he’ll call you soon.”
Tabatha fished her car keys out of her purse and dropped them on the floor. “Damn it!” she hissed, wanting to leave before she did something stupid like cry in public.
She bent over to pick them up but another hand closed around them and snatched them up. Tabatha followed the hand to an arm and then a shoulder. Her eyes widened when her gaze locked with Kane’s handsome face.
“Come on, Love,” he said seeing the way the lights shattered within her light blue eyes. She was on the verge of crying. It seemed he wasn’t the only one in a mood tonight. “Let’s get you home.”
Tabatha’s lower lip trembled as she looked up at him and she latched onto his arm instantly feeling his strength. Her bigger-than-life stalker had come for her and for once… she was glad.
Kane nodded over Tabatha’s head to the waiter and led her out of the club. He growled inwardly knowing why she’d chosen this club. She wanted to find the fallen bastard who was hiding from her.
Didn’t Kriss care what his negligence was doing to Tabatha, or had he listed himself as her potential enemy instead of her best friend? Kane wrapped his arm around Tabatha’s shoulders and took her other arm in a strong grip when she almost stumbled in her high heels.
“Have you seen him?” Tabatha asked looking up at Kane.
Kane shook his head sadly, “No I haven’t.” He refrained from telling her that the last time he’d run into Dean he could smell Kriss on him… the fallen was fine.
“He’s gone,” Tabatha swiped childishly at the tear that had finally managed to escape. “What if Misery ate him?”
Kane tried not to chuckle in the face of her drunken but sincere question. “Misery thinks the fallen taste foul,” he recited Misery’s own words.
“Then why didn’t he say goodbye?” Tabatha lowered her gaze to the floor as they walked.
Kane didn’t answer as he got Tabatha into her car and went around to the driver’s side. Images of ripping those silky soft wings off of Kriss' back were running amuck through his head but Kane pushed them aside. Revenge could wait… right now he needed to get his personal angel home safe and sound before his revolving door of a personality shifted back to the dark side.
Tabatha stayed quiet as they drove, the blue of the dash lights giving the inside of the car a soft glow as if daring her to look at the man driving. She’d never really been one to turn down a dare and, although she could hold her alcohol better than the normal person… the drinks did help to suppress a healthy fear.
She slowly turned her head and bravely looked directly at Kane, “Why did Misery say that I belonged to you?”
Kane’s head quickly whipped around to pin her with a hard stare. She wasn’t supposed to remember what happened that night… he’d taken it from her memories. How in the hell did she recall something she was supposed to forget? Seeing car lights shine on her face, he glanced back at the road and swerved just in time to avoid hitting an oncoming car.
Her hand went to the door handle out of instinct when she saw his reaction to her question but she stilled herself. She wasn’t quite drunk enough to jump from a moving car. The twinge of fear that crawled up her back only served to boost her courage level to the point of stupidity.
“Pick a lane,” Tabatha grinned then blinked wanting to smack herself. ‘Crap,’ she thought mentally. ‘Way to go dummy, piss off the guy with pointed teeth.’
“You remember that night?” Kane asked before he could stop himself.
“So what,” she said and mentally shrugged. “Big deal, I remember. Well… most of it anyway. Maybe you’re not as good at putting people under your thrall as you think you are.”
“Maybe next time I won't be so gentle,” Kane warned and watched her shiver at his dark words.
Tabatha narrowed her gaze at his stoic expression. How dare he call her bluff.
“Well, before you try to brainwash me again, how about telling me the answer to Misery’s riddle?” she demanded and crossed her arms over her chest knowing she was taking her anger over Kriss' abandonment out on Kane… then again, maybe Kane deserved it. For all she knew, Kane was the one who had eaten Kriss.
“Either you tell me what she meant, or I swear I’ll hang a big juicy cow heart around my neck and pimp myself out to Misery so I can ask her myself.”
She gasped and quickly grabbed hold of the dashboard when Kane jerked the wheel, making the car swerve to the side of the road and over the curb. He slammed on the brakes and slid across the dirt embankment, making the car do a complete one-eighty before coming to a skidding stop.
Kane was hovering over her before the car stopped moving. Tabatha couldn’t help looking up at his face and admiring the strong planes of his jaw… the amethyst color of his eyes. Her gaze lowered to his perfect lips and she wondered if they would be cold as ice or hot as fire.
Kane was beyond angry and wanted to throttle the woman for even thinking such a thing. Biting his own tongue, he waited until he could taste the quick flow of blood before taking Tabatha’s lips in a searing kiss. Under normal circumstances he would kill to be able to do this… then again, she would have to be sober for it to count. The only reason he was kissing her so deeply now was to clear her mind of the dangerous plans the alcohol had put there.
Hot, his lips were hot and the lovely heat was spiraling through her to center between her legs. Tabatha suddenly felt the fear she’d been lacking just a moment before. It washed over her in vengeful waves and she felt her toes curl at the exact same time panic settled into her stomach. Her mind chose the fear and she started pushing against him as hard as she could. Unfortunately, it had the same effect as an ant trying to lift a house.
Kane felt her hands push against his chest, but if this was going to be their last kiss, then he was going to savor it for a moment longer. He breathed in her warm breath as he softened the kiss only for him to quickly deepen it again.
Tabatha was assaulted with the sweet, salty flavor of Kane’s blood and the overwhelming need to climb deep inside him overrode any lingering fear. That need intensified when his hand curled around her hip and raised her off the seat, pressing her against him as much as the small confines of the vehicle would allow. Her thighs went up in flames and, before she could stop herself, one of her hands slid up his chest to curve around his neck were she gripped his snow white hair in a tight fist.
Kane shivered when he felt her nails scrape against his sensitive skin, making his hips reflex and a growl form deep in his chest. He wanted her… god he wanted her so bad. A car horn blared and Kane was quickly reminded of where they were. It took more strength than he thought he had to release her body and practically slam himself back into the driver’s seat.
“Sober yet?” he asked. The muscles in his jaw flexed and his knuckles turned white where he was gripping the steering wheel as he restrained his hunger.
Tabatha brought her hand up to cover her mouth as she thought about the strange question. After a couple seconds she nodded with a frown on her face. “Yeah, what are you, instant coffee?”
“What are you?” Kane mocked her. “Bloody insane is what you are… talking about cow hearts and demons.”
Tabatha’s eyes widened when a flash of lightning caught her attention as it lit up the street. She licked her bottom lip still tasting him then looked down at herself to make sure her thighs weren’t really on fire. The lightning flashed again and she leaned forward, looking up at the sky to search for the storm clouds. Seeing none, she looked back at Kane and realized it was him making the storm.
“I think you might want to calm down. I was wrong… you’re not instant coffee, you’re instant storm,” she said and straightened herself in the car seat. She hadn’t noticed it before, but when Kane had leaned over her, her dress had slipped up nearly showing the frilly lace of her panties.
Kane rubbed his temple with his fingers and closed his eyes… he had to. “Just do this one thing… stay away from Misery.”
“Is that how you healed me in Warren’s office?” Tabatha whispered, somehow knowing his blood had just killed every drop of alcohol she’d consumed tonight. She missed the lack of inhibitions already but wasn’t about to call him a party pooper with the mood he was in. But, she had to admit, that if he hadn’t stopped the kiss it would have led to other things.
To say he was unstable would have been an understatement if the way he was gripping the wheel gave her any indication. After what she’d just been about to do… maybe they were both unstable.
When he didn’t answer but just stared straight ahead and shrugged, Tabatha found herself getting angry all over again. “Fine, just take me home… or better yet, get the hell out. I can drive myself now.”
Tabatha was slammed back against the seat when Kane put the car back in gear and gunned the engine, bouncing over the curb and reentering traffic… or what little there was this time of night.
“Maybe you should go find whatever bird’s nest Kriss is in and join him since both of you obviously enjoy keeping secrets from me!” she said sarcastically.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s not a good idea to antagonize a vampire?” Kane asked in a deceptively calm voice while refusing to look at her.
“I’m still alive,” Tabatha pointed out.
“For now,” Kane lied but felt satisfaction when the rest of the drive was made in irritated silence.
Tabatha sat in the passenger seat with her arms still crossed over her chest. She adamantly refused to think about that kiss and she sure as hell didn’t think about how sexy he had looked hovering over her… angry or otherwise.
As soon as Kane pulled the car into her driveway he sighed, running a hand through his hair when she jumped out of the car and took off like she’d been bitten. He found the thought rather ironic considering he had bitten her before. Getting out of the car, he silently followed her knowing it was the wrong thing to do.
Tabatha slammed the car door behind her and rushed to the front door of her apartment. As soon as she had the door safely closed behind her, she turned and spent the next few seconds locking all four locks and the deadbolt then flipped the living room light on.
“For now my ass!” she glared at the door finally feeling vindicated… until she turned around. Tabatha screeched when she saw Kane sitting on the sofa like he owned the place and threw her small pocketbook at him.
“You’re uninvited!” she raged then waited to see if he would go poof and vanish. It was actually a good thing he didn’t because she would have hurt herself with the hysterical laughter that would have followed.
“Damn it, why are you still here?” she demanded and kicked her high heels off toward him, satisfied when he had to move his leg to avoid one of them.
To her amazement, Kane just sat there staring at her with that infuriating expression that looked like a cross between amusement and anger. He shimmered and vanished for a second then she heard the thump of something hitting the door on each side of her. Tabatha couldn’t move due to him pinning her against the wood behind her. She heard thunder outside and felt her fear rise with the sound.
Kane leaned forward a bit until his cheek was almost touching hers and inhaled the mixed scent of her anger and fear. It was like an aphrodisiac and served to remind him why he hadn’t taken his soul mate as soon as he’d found her. If anything, he was fighting the urge to take her against the door… hard and fast.
The gods may have linked them together, but they had been wrong in their pairing. For her sake… they had to be wrong. When he leaned back enough to see her face, he was satisfied to see her anger and fear were still present.
Tabatha felt her bangs move with every breath he was taking as he stared down at her with those heated eyes. She became entranced watching his amethyst pupils enlarge and then felt disappointment shudder through her… she didn’t want to forget.
“Before you hocus pocus me… give me a truth,” she whispered, “A real, honest to God truth.”
“A truth love?” Kane dropped his gaze to her lips and lowered his head until his lips were barely brushing against hers… not a kiss but something far more intimate. “I’m more dangerous to you than any demon could ever be.”
Tabatha blinked away the sunlight filtering in through the window and sat up in bed. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, glaring out at the daylight that almost seemed to mock her. Growling to herself, she huffed blowing her bangs up in the air.
“Dangerous my foot,” she grumbled. “He’s so dangerous that he tucked me into bed before leaving.”
*****
Zachary was looking at the map on the wall with his head tilted to the side. They had pinned every strange event that had occurred within the last few months trying to see if there was a pattern forming. They’d started out with only a few colored pegs but, as more documentation was found, pins had started form a pattern.
Angelica took a black marker and drew a circle around the slums and the surrounding area. “Misery has been operating inside this area,” she stated. “The other occurrences we found appear to be other demons getting brave and coming out of hiding.”
“What about what happened at Love Bites?” Trevor asked. “That wasn’t exactly fitting with her MO.”
“We might need to enlarge her area before long,” Chad offered. “And what about the body we found earlier today?”
They all shivered remembering the scene. They had received a call from the police about the body of a young man being found and thought they needed to see it. The man had been about twenty years of age and was wearing the remnants of a tee shirt with the local college name on it.
When they got there, the police had taped off the entire area and about one hundred yards all around it. Chad had thought that odd and went to talk with a couple of his buddies on the force, when he came back his tan was noticeably paler.
“What is it?” Zachary asked.
“They said we need to see for ourselves… it’s just as bad as what you described about the bus the other day.”
As the four of them approached, Trevor had to breathe through his mouth in order to keep the smell from making him sick. The worst part of it was he could taste the acrid odor and that was just as bad. Zach gave him a surgical mask from his jacket pocket… he always kept a few on hand for situations like this. When they saw the body, even Zachary had to turn away and take a few deep breaths.
The body had been literally ripped apart and everything that had been inside was on the outside. The worst part was they could all see where something had actually eaten parts out as whole chunks were gone. Long claw marks covered what little bit of flesh was left and the bones were visible, some of them broken and poking out.
The eye sockets were the worst as they stared straight up… the eyes had been dug out. Part of the scalp had been ripped away and the skull punctured with brain matter still slowly oozing out of the hole. The mouth had been pulled open and left hanging and the tongue also devoured.
Large portions had been gouged out all over the body and the stomach was lying wide open. Angelica turned away from the scene and covered her mouth with a hand to avoid nausea… it wasn’t helping.
“Poor bastard,” Zachary whispered and knelt down next to the boy. This past week had flown by with a frenzy of demon activity and it didn’t look like it was slowing down. “What’s the official word?”
“The police say it was an animal attack.” Chad answered.
Angelica shook her head, “No animal did this,” she rasped and headed back to the car. “It was the grave.”
Zachary shook away the memory and looked away from the map toward Angelica. “What did you mean when you say it was the grave?”
Angelica frowned, “It’s all I could feel from the body. The wounds were almost too old for me to even feel that. I don’t know how to better describe it but to say that it was the grave that killed him.”
Zachary stepped away from the map and went to his laptop sitting on the coffee table. Linking up with PIT, he sent a message to Storm documenting the latest events… his response was immediate.
“Looks like Storm's pulling in PIT’s major players.” Zachary informed the others and paused before looking up at his teammates. “He’s brought in the fabled Ren… he’s already here.”
Trevor shivered visibly at the mention of Ren’s name. Ren had always been the phantom of the group… more of a legend than a real person because Storm was the only one who had ever met him. He’d once asked Storm who was the most powerful member of PIT and Storm hadn’t even hesitated in his response. But if Storm was sending his second in command, then that meant he was sending an army right behind him.
Zachary and Trevor both knew what that meant… the war was starting.
