Bite Marks

in.

She reminds me of a cougar, I thought as I noted her tawny skin and dark blond braid. She’d dressed to hunt in low-heeled boots, skintight jeans, and a silk top the color of lava that she’d unbuttoned far enough to show the sweat beading between her breasts. The headgear, a brown suede bush hat she’d probably taken off some soul-mangled station owner, completed the look.

Crap. Her head had come up. A sun-bleached old van had pulled into the lot beside Wirdilling Hall’s main entrance. I only recognized its driver by his skinny legs and cowboy boots. It was our entertainer from Crindertab’s, a tanned old dude with a cigarette dangling from his lips and enough hair left on his head to share with three of his baldest buddies. He didn’t see the demon when he went around to the back of the van and began to unload equipment into the hall’s add-on. Didn’t hear her pull his silver-haired partner from her seat and into the shadows. Didn’t even startle when she strode up to him and said in a sex-kitten purr, “I am looking for a dark-skinned woman named Cassandra. Have you seen her?”

He looked the demon up and down, squinted as he blew smoke into her face. “Nope.” She smiled. “I could make your fantasies come true, you know.”

“Doubt it.”

The smile faltered, evened out again. “Anything you like. Anything you can dream of.”

“For a price, right? I ain’t got that kinda pay.”

“I wasn’t talking about money.”

“Neither was I.” He spit the cigarette at her, and she jumped back, giving him time to reach for his belt.

But he was old and unprepared. The knife glinted in Wirdilling Hall’s single streetlight, only half out of its scabbard when she lunged. She grabbed him by both shoulders and tossed him like a scarecrow. He hit an electric post on the opposite side of the street, his back breaking around it like an accordion straw.

She dusted off her hands, straightened her clothes, and began sniffing around the hall again. Within two minutes she was moving toward the house. Astral followed, her padded feet silent on the rain-starved ground.

“Jaz?”

I forced my eyes to Cassandra. “What?”

“You’re shaking.”

I wiped the perspiration off my upper lip. Shit, I just watched her murder two civilians and I still can’t get over how gorgeous she is! How am I gonna function when she’s in the same room?

“Think!” I demanded. “She’s got to be here for a reason. What’s changed in your life since yesterday?” Cassandra started to shake her head; then she pulled back, as if the realization had slapped her. “Oh.”

“What?”

“David asked me to marry him.”

CHAPTERSEVEN

My eardrums started to vibrate, like somebody had just hit a gong right next to my head. I couldn’t believe the curtains weren’t waving like banners, this was so huge! After Dave had lost his wife, I’d given up hoping he’d ever find somebody he could love as much as her. And now? But wait, maybe…

“What did you tell him?” I put both hands behind my back so she wouldn’t see the crossed fingers.

Her eyes wavered. “He wanted me to wait. He wanted to be the one to tell you—”

“Cassandra!”

“I said yes.”

“Aahhh!” We both screamed at the same time and started dancing around like we weren’t about to get our asses thoroughly kicked by high-level evil.

“Um, ladies?” Cole said, tapping me on the shoulder. “Could we act like sorority girls who’ve just made it into Barbie’s Dream House some other time? Cassandra’s got a double-bladed sword. Bergman’s got a lucky pack. And, Jaz, you’ve got your Spirit Eye to protect you. All I have is a new piece of bubble gum, a useless rifle, an even more worthless handgun, and your word that these knotted sheets are going to keep me from falling straight into hell.”

“It’s less a fall than a sidestep. But he has a point,” I told my future sister-in-law.

“Yes, he does,” she agreed. We hugged. Twice.

“Okay,” I said. “Have you been engaged or married anytime since you made the deal?”

“No.” Cassandra winced. “I never remarried after Harith died. There were… other men. Some of them I stayed with their entire lives. But… no. That step always seemed like it would be a lie, somehow.”

“That must be it, then. Something in the fine print of your contract gives her leeway in case you pull a fast one and escape like you did. So the second you enter into a relationship bound by a holy promise, she’s got you.”

Which sucked. Because I knew exactly how Cassandra felt. I’d never dreamed I could find anyone who’d bring out the domestic in me the way Matt had. Never wanted anyone to try. Then Vayl had snuck past my defenses, and now practically all I could think about was the next time I could see him, touch him. If he asked… what would I say? Could we even do marriage, considering the fact that stepping inside a church would set him and his tuxedo on fire?

He’s no good for you, said that voice. I put my hand to my throat, like I could choke it into silence. The laughter behind its next words proved how useless the gesture was. You know I’m right. All he wants is to drain you and leave you dangling from the edge of the bed like some neglected old rag doll.

Keep talking, I whispered inside my own mind. You’re beginning to sound familiar. Not like the echo of my own thoughts after all. More like—