“Look,” I said, my voice holding an edge of anger that was aimed more at myself than him, “if you’re here to argue, you can just march right out of my apartment. I’m not in the mood right now.”
“I’m not. I’m just here to talk.”
“Good.” I shoved on the kettle, then reached up to grab the coffee from the shelf. Luckily for everyone, there was still some of my favorite left. “Then tell me about the priest in the lane. Who was he?”
He hesitated. “My father.”
Well, that certainly explained the odd questions. The old man had been quizzing his son’s prospective mate. “Then I know where you got your orneriness from. Your father was as helpful as you were.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “So you actually
did
speak to him?”
“Yep. What is he? A spirit? A ghost? What?”
“He is a spirit. Of sorts.” He hesitated. “He is—was—the gate master. The priest responsible for ensuring the ways into this world from the spirit world remained locked.”
“All the ways?”
“Most of them. The priests are magi-sensitive. They can feel when a new gate is being formed.”
“So why didn’t you feel this one, if you were a priest?”
“Because I was only an initiate, and not fully trained.”
The kettle began to whistle. I flicked off the power and poured the water into the cup. “Is that why you became a vampire? Because you needed eternal life if you were to hang about and wait for your sister’s reappearance?”
He smiled, a warmth I felt deep inside rather than actually saw. “Yes.”
“And it was Henri who turned you.” It was a guess, but one I was fairly certain was correct. After all, he’d been friends with Henri all his undead life, and he’d used and abused all the rules, regs, and me to find his killer.
“Yes. He looked after me through the bloodlust.”
I nodded. So many things were beginning to make sense, now. “So what, exactly, are the priests of Aedh? What are you?”
“I am—was—human.”
“Humans can’t fly. Nor can vampires who aren’t winged shifters of some kind. You may be part human, but you also admitted a while ago that you were something else.”
Surprise flickered in his dark eyes. “You saw me fly? How?”
“I didn’t see you, I sensed you. Now answer the damn question—what else are you?”
He hesitated. “The priests were not human in any true sense. They weren’t even an offshoot branch of the family, as werewolves and shapeshifters are. They were more an energy force than actual flesh.”
“Yet they had to be able to take on human form. I mean, you’re here, so they could obviously breed, and human conception has basic needs.”
He smiled, and my hormones did their usual crazy dance. “Yes.”
“So what sort of form did they take?”
“They were tall, golden, and winged. They were often depicted as angels in ancient texts.”
That raised my eyebrows. “So where are your wings?”
“Half-breeds never got the wings.”
“Just the powers?”
“Yes.”
I sipped my coffee, and considered him for a moment. “Did you banish your sister’s spirit after I pinned her?”
“No. What you have done is far better. She is trapped in flesh that no longer lives. She can never escape.”
“Flesh rots. When it does, won’t she be free?”
He smiled again, and this time there was nothing warm about it. Goose bumps ran across my skin. I had to hope that
that
smile was never directed my way.
“The body will be mummified, then wrapped in silver, and sealed with spells only another priest can undo. She will never escape. Can never return to hurt this world.”
Just live in an agony of unlife for the rest of eternity. It was a cruel ending, even for a spirit hell-bent on having her dark master dominate the world. Yet I couldn’t work up any sympathy. “Which just leaves us with the dragons and their master.”
“Whom I can either banish or seal in flesh, once we flush out his sacrifice site.”
“Why is flushing out his sacrifice site important?”
“Because I can use its power to send him back if that’s what we decide to do. Then I can cleanse the site to prevent him ever using it to reenter our world.”
“I thought your sister was responsible for him being here?”
“She was. But if the gate is not closed, he can come back through.”
“Not a good thing.”
“No.” He paused, then stepped forward, until there was only a hairsbreadth between us. The heat of him, scent of him, flowed over me, through me, filling my lungs, filling my heart, filling my soul. My breath caught, then quickened, and it took every ounce of willpower to remain as I was, to not step forward, into his embrace.
“Be careful in there tonight,” he said, his dark gaze on mine and filled with concern. Filled with warmth. “The god of darkness is a very powerful soul, and long practiced in seducing the unwary.”
“I could never be counted as one of the unwary.” Which wasn’t exactly the truth. Otherwise, why would I be standing here, drinking in the scent of sandalwood and man and desire, until all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around him and hold on tight? Why wasn’t I running as far and as fast as I could from this man and all the problems he represented?
Because he was my chocolate. It might be perverse, it might be insane, but he was the one temptation I could never, ever resist.
And yet time and again he’d proven he just wasn’t good for my health—my emotional health.
I might want him physically, but it just wasn’t enough anymore. Even with the moon in full bloom, even with desire battering at my senses, part of me was just tired of it all.
Tired of the fighting. Tired of his constant belittling of the werewolf ways. Tired of simply trying. If he wasn’t at least willing to meet me some of the way—and his actions seemed to constantly prove he wasn’t—what was the point of us even being together?
I’d once said sex was a very good place to start any relationship, and I still believed that was totally true. But sex wasn’t the end-all of any relationship, even for a werewolf. There had to be more.
Had to be trust.
And the truth was, I just didn’t trust Quinn anymore. And that, more than anything he might have said or done over the last few months, was a relationship killer.
I stepped away from him.
He frowned. “Riley—”
“No,” I said softly. “I have a job to do, and I need you to leave.”
“I have no intention—”
“You have every intention,” I said, and a little of the anger that was bubbling deep inside came spewing up. “Do you remember a lady called Eryn Jones?”
“She was my supposed fiancée, so yeah. But what has she got to do with us?”
“You remember what you did to her?”
“I gave her what she deserved, but I still don’t see—”
“She used a drug on you,” I said shortly. Angrily. “That changed the way you thought and acted. She made you fall in love with her.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “How different is that from what you’re doing to me?”
“It’s different.” But it was softly said. He knew the point I was making. He just didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“
How
is it different?” I all but shouted. “How in the goddamn hell can you stand there and say it’s different?”
“She didn’t care for me, just my money.”
“And you caring for me makes it all right for you to try and change my very nature through mind control?”
“I was just—”
I held up a hand. “I’m tired of your excuses, Quinn. Tired of giving, tired of forgiving. Just get out.”
“There’s too much between us to just walk away from it. I won’t—”
“You keep saying that, and yet you keep trying to change my very nature. Enough is enough. Please, just leave, Quinn.”
“No—”
“She did ask nicely,” Rhoan said, his voice holding an edge as he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Leave, or I
will
make you.”
Quinn’s expression darkened. “This is between me and her—”
“You take her on, you take me on,” Rhoan said. “Right now, she doesn’t want you in this apartment, or her life. Go, as asked, or I
will
make you.”
Quinn’s gaze went from Rhoan to me and back again, and the sudden sense of danger had the hairs along the back of my neck rising. Even though he hadn’t moved a muscle, the man standing in front of me was suddenly every inch an old and deadly vampire. Then he shook his head, and the sensation fell away.
“I never took you for a coward, Riley. I guess I was wrong.”
“I guess you were.” I took a sip of coffee, then added, “But then, you’re the one trying to change a werewolf’s nature, not me.”
He gave me a look that was an odd mix of anger, determination, and regret, then spun on his heel and left. When the front door slammed shut, I sighed in relief.
“Thanks, bro.”
He nodded. “You sure you want to do what you just did?”
“He was trying to change who I am, Rhoan. I can forgive many of the things he’s done, but I can’t forgive that.”
“For ever and ever, or just for a while?”
“I don’t know. I’ll tell you when I figure that out.”
“Fair enough.” He walked up beside me and flicked on the kettle. “I’m your backup for tonight.”
“No offense, bro, but I hope you’re not my only backup tonight.”
“Jack will be there. And the place will be surrounded.” He hesitated, and added with a wry grin, “And our enigmatic vampire will undoubtedly be there, if only so he can close the gate.”
“The more the merrier.” I reached up to the shelf, grabbed the regular coffee, and handed it to him. Rhoan’s tastes weren’t as fussy as mine when it came to coffee—even if I’d drink just about anything when push came to shove.
He accepted the jar with a nod of thanks, and tossed some granules into a mug. “You worried about tonight?”
“Yes.” I rubbed an arm, and tried to ignore the goose bumps that fled up my skin at the thought of stepping into the den of a dark god and his dragons. “If they felt Caelfind’s entrapment, then things could get very nasty in there tonight.”
“But they have no reason to suspect your involvement with that.”
“No. But Caelfind was a very old being with powers we can only guess at. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that she contacted Kingsley somehow when she was caught.”
“If they knew Caelfind had been caught and restrained, then they’d be on the move. So far, Kingsley hasn’t stepped from the house.”
“As far as we know. He might have access to underground passages or something.”
“In the middle of Toorak?” Rhoan grinned. “I doubt it.”
“Toorak has sewers, just like every other suburb. There’s no saying he hasn’t got cellar access or something.”
“No, but it’s unlikely.”
Maybe. But we worked in a world where the unlikely was more than possible. “I’d like to go in there with a couple of hidden weapons. Just in case.”
“A set of your special shoes would be sensible.” His gaze went to my hair. “And I think we can attach a couple of the threaded knives to some hair clips or something. But we’ll have to go to the Directorate to get them.”
We had to go back there, anyway. Jack wanted me to try and place some listening devices and micro-cameras around the place. “They’ll have to be short knives if we’re attaching them to hair clips, and short knives won’t reach the heart.”
“No, but all you really need them to do is to pin his spirit to his flesh. We can use conventional weapons after that, and let Quinn do his priest banishing or containing stuff.”
I nodded and glanced at the clock. It was nearing six-thirty now, and given I was supposed to meet Jin at seven, I was going to be pushing things. Still, I liked the thought of making the bastard sweat a little.
And I certainly wasn’t in a hurry to get there, anyway.
I finished my coffee, then pushed away from the bench. “I’ll go for a shower, then we can head off.”
“Then I’ll go pick out an outfit that’ll guarantee they won’t notice any hidden weapons.”
“Great. I’m going to end up basically naked.”
He grinned. “When you’ve got something to hide, show as much flesh as possible. Now go grab that shower, or we’re going to be horribly late.”
I went.
And we were horribly late.
It was nearing seven-thirty by the time I climbed out of the cab. Jin paced the sidewalk in front of Kingsley’s mansion, his expression anxious. I had to wonder why—after all, it wasn’t like he
had
to bring a partner or face dire consequences.
Was it?
I remembered the tone of Kingsley’s voice when he made the request, and suddenly wasn’t so sure.
The traffic noise from the main road began to fade, and the click of my heels against the pavement became more noticeable, carrying sharply across the night. Jin spun, and an almost relieved smile touched his lips. But as my gaze met his dark eyes, I noted the anger there. He might be putting on a pleasant and urbane front, but the creature within was furious.