“A very powerful one, yes.” Rans crossed his arms, a hint of tension visible in his shoulders.
Maybe that little tidbit should have surprised me. Somehow, it didn’t.
“Did he take a lot of human souls before the treaty?” I wasn’t sure why, but the idea bothered me.
Rans’ blue gaze grew very serious, and his eyes held mine unblinkingly. “Don’t ever underestimate him, Zorah. Nigellus is legion, and he contains multitudes.”
The words sent a shiver along the length of my spine.
“He’s your friend, though,” I said, not sure if I was arguing with him, or just trying to understand. For some reason, I desperately wanted Nigellus to be one of the good guys, despite the fact that he was a demon.
Like me.
“He has been... my haven, when things are at their darkest,” Rans said, very carefully. “He’s the one who found me after the Fae destroyed the rest of my race, and prevented me from following them into true death when I learned what had happened. I suspect... he may also be the one who negotiated for my life at the end of the war.”
Your continued survival is mandated within a clause of the peace treaty, vampire, the Fae Magistrate had told him.
My throat grew tight.
“I guess that puts Nigellus firmly on the same side we are,” I managed eventually.
Rans’ gaze never wavered. “I hope it does,” was all he said.
I hoped so, too. “Anything else I should know about him?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Edward is bound to him. He has been for a very long time.”
I let that sink in, thinking of the sweet octogenarian butler.
“Another treaty violation?” I asked in surprise. If nothing else, it seemed far too blatant an act for someone as canny as Nigellus.
But Rans shook his head. “When I say he has been for a very long time, luv, I mean exactly that. There was no treaty when Nigellus bound Edward to him.”
“Whoa.” I blinked, fitting that piece of information into the puzzle that was my life now. “Okay, so Uncle Demon has been keeping Edward on ice for centuries, instead of gobbling him down for the extra power? Why?”
Rans pushed away from the low wall and wandered along it, looking out across the city. “Because he likes him, presumably. Edward claims Nigellus has given him the final say over the time and manner of his death, and I believe him. If Nigellus were planning to harvest Edward, he’d have done it when things turned against the demons during the war. When he needed additional power the most.”
Some of my fresh misgivings about Nigellus eased. I silently decided that if I did end up stuck in Hell and needed a demon-bond to get out, I’d ask Nigellus rather than anyone else. Assuming, of course, that I could be demon-bound in the first place, when I already had a life-bond with Rans.
Something told me that asking whether that was possible wouldn’t go down well, so I kept silent on the subject. With luck, I’d have the magical key to Hell’s door encoded into my succubus DNA, and the subject would never come up.
Thinking of the life-bond brought me around to another thing, though.
“Next question,” I said. Rans glanced over his shoulder at me, so I rose and went to stand next to him. Beyond us, St. Louis glimmered like a million jewels in the dark. “You said demons can will some of their power through a bond with a human to extend their life indefinitely. Can vampires?”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t know what you’re asking.”
I let my shoulder brush his. “Can you push power through the life-bond to extend my life, so you won’t be sentenced to death with me in a few decades?”
He looked so surprised that I almost wanted to shake him. The urge grew stronger when he said, “You seem far more concerned about that eventuality than I am, you know.”
I scowled up at him. “I heard what you told Nigellus about being ‘weary of life.’ That doesn’t mean I like what I heard.”
His face closed off. “No, luv. I can’t magically stop you from aging. Not by—” He paused, then gave a faint shake of his head and continued. “Not by pushing power at you. If I could do that, I’d just lock you up somewhere so we could shag each other day and night until you got tired of me. It certainly sounds a lot more enjoyable than most of the other available alternatives.”
My treacherous demon nature agreed with him. I shifted restlessly, attempting to ease the sudden ache between my legs. “Now you’re just trying to distract me,” I accused.
“Too right,” he agreed. “Is it working?”
Bastard. Almost despite myself, I reached up a hand to cup his cheek, drawing him down until his lips covered mine in a kiss. My arms went around him, pulling him to me until we were pressed together from chest to knees.
Clearly, it was working very well.
FIVE
THE FOLLOWING MORNING brought with it an almost unbearable heaviness, as the significance of the date hit me at the same time as the blinding morning sun.
“Up with you,” Rans prodded, looking bleary-eyed as only a vampire at seven a.m. could. “Shower, dress, eat something. We’re going out.”
I tried to blink the grit out from under my eyelids. “Huh? But lunch isn’t for hours yet...?”
“It’s not. But first, I’m taking you to see what state your house is in,” he explained, and my stomach sank a little further.
“Oh.”
Rans only raised an eyebrow. “Might as well get as much emotional trauma as possible out of the way in one day. You’re going to be miserable, but there’s no reason you can’t be productive at the same time.”
He had a point. I muttered something semi-intelligible and stumbled off to use Guthrie’s spectacular guest bathroom. An hour later, I was clinging to Rans’ back as his black Triumph sped through traffic. He’d unearthed a helmet from somewhere for me. That—combined with the fact that we weren’t being pursued by a carload
