The Darkest Pleasure

Now a tremor swept through Danika's slight frame. 'My grandmother, do you know where she is, as well?'

A pause. A stiff nod. 'I've already backtracked the program to see where she's been, but there's been little activity from her signal this week.'

Hope lit Danika's angel face, brightening the entire room. 'She's alive, then. She's really alive! Aeron was wrong. If she was dead, she wouldn't be trackable. Right?'

Torin answered without hesitation, his expression dead-pan. 'Right.'

Eyes widening, she tented her hands over her mouth. 'Oh, my God. This is…this is…this is the best day of my life!'

With a brilliant laugh, she threw herself at Reyes, her cheek burrowing into the hollow of his neck. Her skin was petal-soft, fragrant with the scent of night skies. 'I'm so happy right now I could burst.'

Reyes held her, but kept his gaze on Torin. His friend gave a clipped nod in response to Reyes's unspoken question. A dead body, it seemed, could still give off a signal.

Inhaling deeply, Reyes closed his eyes. He held her, loving the feel of her, every muscle he possessed straining toward her. He shook with the effort to remain still, though he could not stop his nails from elongating, his teeth from sharpening. The two only happened when the demon's hunger spiked.

I've already fed you. Just…enjoy her.

They might not have her much longer.

When she learned that a dead body could indeed be tracked…Dread consumed him, and he closed his eyes. She had been offered hope, such evil hope. The same he'd tried to give her earlier. He would not take it away. Yet.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

'THIS TIME, stay here,' Reyes said.

He deposited Danika inside his bedroom and left to do God knew what, shutting the door firmly behind him. She waited several long, agonizing moments before sitting on the edge of the mattress, her gaze never leaving the entrance. When he failed to reappear, she relaxed and tugged the tiny cell phone from her jeans pocket.

Stefano had figured the Lords would search her and take it, maybe use it to try and track him, but he had thought giving her a phone worth the risk. So had she. Everyone carried phones nowadays and she hadn't thought the Lords would automatically assume she'd gotten it from the Hunters. Now, she almost wished Stefano hadn't tucked it into her pocket before drugging her, or that the warriors had found it. Then she wouldn't have had a choice to make: to check in or not to check in?

In theory, it was an easy decision. Family won. Always. Things were not always that simple, as she was coming to realize. The Lords had known her family's location but had never struck. A point in their favor. Then again, the Hunters had never tried to hurt her family—but what if she chose to help the Hunters, and they failed to stop the Lords? After all, they had failed all these centuries. The warriors would—perhaps—learn she helped their enemy and they would—definitely—come after her with more fervor.

If she failed to check in, though, the Hunters might try to sneak inside the fortress and save her. There might be a fight. If Ashlyn returned, she could be hurt, and thereby the baby. Anya, too. Reyes.

Her gaze lowered to her hands. The cell's keypad blurred. Reyes had taken such good care of her. Tomorrow, he was escorting her to her family. Oh, God, her family. All of her conflicting thoughts melted away, her mind focusing completely on her loved ones.

Danika's lips curved in a happy grin. They were alive, and they were together. She didn't know why Grandma Mallory had left her friend's house without word yet had remained in Oklahoma, and she didn't care. She didn't know why the three women had decided to risk capture and stay together; she didn't care. They were alive! That was all that mattered.

She would have to call Stefano and buy herself a little more time to figure this out. And she would have to do it now, before Reyes returned. Tamping down a wave of dread, she dialed the number. Her hand shook as she placed the phone at her ear.

'Happy House,' a deep voice said.

'It's…me.'

There was an energizing pause, and the faux overworked-employee persona faded. 'You're still alive.'

'Yes. They've been good to me,' she admitted.

'The devil always smiles before rendering the final blow.' Static crackled over the line. 'What have you learned?'

'There's another demon out there, Hope, and he's their enemy. Other than that, nothing. They've kept me isolated, asking questions about you and your group.'

'Another demon?' The sound of a pen sliding against paper echoed. 'What have you told them?'

'That you guys asked me questions about them, but I didn't have any answers for you.' That, at least, was the truth.

'Is it possible to search the fortress for journals, pictures, information about anything they've been up to?'

'No. I've been locked inside a bedroom.'

'No good with locks?'

'No.' Another lie.

'Have you considered…' His voice trailed off.

Seducing one for answers, she finished for him. 'I—I—' She couldn't force an answer to form.

'Just think about it.' There was a pause. 'Everything you do is for the greater good. Remember what I told you. Peace, harmony. No more adultery, no more suicide. The welfare of your family.'

In his fanatical way, he really did care about the world and its people and was willing to do anything to save them. Not altogether altruistic, but he did believe perfection waited just around the corner, the Lords the only thing blocking the way.

Danika wasn't sure what to believe anymore. Reyes had said there would always be evil in the world as long as people had free will, demons roaming the land or not. 'I'll think about it.' But she knew she wouldn't. She wouldn't whore for him, no matter the cause. If she slept with Reyes, it would be because she desired him.

'We've been watching the fortress,' Stefano said, 'yet there's been no activity inside. Any idea what they're doing?'

If she admitted most of the Lords were in Rome, the Hunters might view the fortress as fair game and sneak inside. Torin and Cameo and anyone else who'd stayed behind couldn't fight them all.

'I don't know,' she finally said. God, am I possessed by the demon of Lies? 'I'll try to find out.'

'Have you heard—'

'Wait. Someone's coming. I have to go.' Yet another lie, but she hung up and shoved the phone back into her pocket. For a long moment, she simply sat there, shaking. Then her shoulders slumped, and she covered her eyes with her hand. She had trouble drawing in a breath.

What's wrong with me?

She'd asked herself that very question a thousand times, it seemed. For once, she thought she might know the answer. Infatuation. She was infatuated with Reyes, and had been since the beginning.

There. She'd admitted it. No excuses this time, no talking herself out of it. He drew her; she wanted him, and she needed to not want him. Her desire had begun to color her every action, her every thought and what little common sense she had left.

Danika jumped to her feet. Her knees nearly buckled, but she latched on to the bedpost and held tightly. Being with Reyes wouldn't be pleasurable. It couldn't be. She'd have to stab him. But maybe she needed to experience it firsthand. Maybe that would finally drive him from her mind and her fantasies.

She could purge him from her thoughts as surely as she purged her nightmares when she painted.