Chapter Four
“None of this will do.” Veronica grimaced and turned away from the closet in Genny’s Sleepy Hollow apartment.
Her head still spinning from her torrid encounter with the blistering hot demon in Paris, the flight home and flurry of e-mails from 1Night Stand with the particulars of the match, Genny could barely follow the witch’s bubbly chatter.
“It’s either all leather or all gossamer. And I’m not even sure what gossamer is! But you def need some slinky silks and satins,” Veronica informed her. “We’re going to have to go shopping. The Westchester, okay? We can hop over to Neiman-Marcus for sexy lingerie.” She eyed her friend. “Unless…up for a trip into the city? Saks?”
“No. None of the above. I’m not even game for this 1Night Stand date.” Genny frowned. When had she and Veronica switched roles, anyway? A few months ago, before 1Night Stand had matched Veronica with her super hunky and super fine contractor, Sean Jones, the reluctant young witch had sleep-walked through her existence as a quiet, unassuming, shy, fabulously wealthy widow. She hadn’t even been a very good witch. Instead of living her own life, she’d eagerly followed her will-o’-the-wisp bud’s exploits as Genny flitted around the globe.
“He’s a demon, V. I can’t be with him.”
“Well, Madame Eve thinks you can. And she’s never wrong.”
“It’s against my code,” Genny protested. “Against everything I stand for.”
Veronica frowned. “I never really got that. Your code. Lily, Dagney and Zena are succubi. That makes them demons. You’re okay with them, right? I know you like them. And don’t forget, I’ve met Max and Bhyrne Raines. We’re practically in-laws.”
Well, not exactly. Sean’s brother, Campbell, had reunited with Lily, the great love of his life, courtesy of 1Night Stand. And Lily’s two sexy and sultry succubi sisters, Dagney and Zena, were mated to the Raines cousins, both fire-sex demons, also thanks to 1Night Stand.
“There’s nothing evil about them,” Veronica went on. “Unless you consider gorgeousness a vice. They’re both hotter than sin and if Spook turns out to be anything like his family—”
“Oh, he’s damn hot all right.”
Veronica did a lousy job of hiding her grin. “Then you’re in for one helluva steamy night.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Genny recalled how his kiss had nearly incinerated her in that Paris hotel room, the scent of him enthralling her, binding her to him with invisible chains of passion, putting her under his compelling sexual spell. A whole night of that? She’d never survive it. Even if she did die with a happy and satisfied smile on her face.
She sighed. “You may as well know, V, I fight demons. I hunt them. Kill them. I belong to a secret cadre of demon hunters. I’m a Protector of the Legion of Shadows. I’m off on POLOS missions most of the time, when you’ve thought I was trysting with some handsome rogue in the romantic cities of the world.”
“Like Paris?”
“Uh-huh. Like that. Spook was an assignment.”
“So, what happened?”
“I don’t know.” She bit her lower lip, remembering his sizzling kiss, his smoldering embrace. “Nothing I’ve ever encountered.”
“I think you were meant to be. Madame Eve always knows.” Veronica paused. “What happened to you, anyway? I mean, you live here in Sleepy Hollow. You know there are demons here. Why do you have such antipathy toward them?”
Why? Even after all these years the “why” stabbed her like a rusty knife, twisting into her so raw and painfully she could barely speak.
“My parents froze to death one harsh winter when they’d been caught outside,” she whispered, her voice aching and unsteady. “Temperatures fell far below zero and there was ice everywhere. They got stranded in their car and their glow began to fade, the shimmer of their lights started flickering out. When they banged on the doors of the demon stronghold in Duyvil Tand, seeking even the smallest of embers for a spark of life, the gatekeepers laughed at them and refused to let them in.”
“Oh, Gen, I’m so very sorry.” Veronica curled an arm around her shoulders, and met her gaze, her eyes soft and sympathetic, then uttered the one truth she’d always tried so hard to ignore. “But, Genny. If your parents were demons…then you must be, too.”
***
Before meeting Max and Bhyrne in Sleepy Hollow, Spook quickly had gotten rid of the purloined computer chip, dumping it and his letter of resignation into a diplomatic courier pouch, along with any remaining ties he had to the secret government agency he worked for. So far, there hadn’t been any lethal repercussions. Not that he expected his letter would be the end of it. If they didn’t ice him, they’d at least have to debrief him. But right now, he was taking some “me” time, as the female Raines mates might say.
The meeting with the Raines males had floored him. No question in his mind Max was his cousin and Bhyrne, his brother. Possibly even his twin brother. They looked that much alike. Bhyrne didn’t know much about his family history, having grown up on the street, and even Max was vague. But it seemed likely they’d been separated at birth. Even their personalities seemed similar and compatible. Bhyrne’s fledgling security agency piqued Spook’s interest. Bhyrne had squirreled away enough salary and hazardous duty pay over the years to make that work. But it seemed to be Spook’s mad skills the former enforcer really wanted as an asset.
And so, yeah. Apparently the WOW was right. His relations were demons. Pretty much making him one, too. Away from the romantic lights of Paris, and beyond the zone of the slinky female who’d so sexually crazed him in the hotel, internal/external temperature had fallen. But his relatives were convinced he’d gone through some sort of false, premature breedspawn heat. The way they’d explained the male, fire-sex demon mating phase to him did not exactly thrill him, either. But there was no denying the burning love in his brother’s otherwise cool eyes when he gazed at his mate, or possessively patted her belly bump. Max had not yet gone through the phase, but Dagney assured them she couldn’t wait for the breeding flames to hit her lover.
“So if I go on this 1Night Stand date with this WOW,” he said, still having a hard time saying her name, “I could go into heat? Bond with her for life? Make babies?”
“Blazelets,” Zena corrected. “Demonlings.”
Demon. There it was again. He so couldn’t get his head around that one, either. His brother had laughed when he’d told them he’d whiffed back from Paris, one of the skills of his spook training.
“No, it’s one of the perks of being a certain kind of fire-sex demon,” Zena advised him. “Like breedspawn. Bhyrne can whiff, too.”
“And as far as breedspawn goes, it’s not likely it’ll hit just because you’re out on a date with Genny,” Dagney said.
Fuck. They knew her. He couldn’t decide whether that made it all better or so much worse. But he already liked his newly acquired relatives. Felt he’d known them all his life. Felt something missing had been found. And he wasn’t quite so alone in the world anymore.
“We don’t think breedspawn is triggered by a particular female,” Bhyrne said. “Or Dagney would have sent Max far over the edge by now.”
“She has sent me over the edge,” Max corrected with a grin. “But it’s more like a growth/maturation thing. When it’s your time, it’s your time. And when it does hit, you’d damn sure better have the female of your dreams within reach. Or you’re screwed.”
“So screwed.” Bhyrne nodded. “For life.”
His mate elbowed him in the ribs. “Watch that, buster.”
“You know I wouldn’t have it any other way, Z.” He wrapped her in his arms and nuzzled the side her neck.
“We like Genny,” Dagney told him. “You have to keep this date. Madame Eve is never wrong.”
For the next couple of hours, Dagney and Zena got busy convincing him and planning his evening. They called a witch named Veronica, apparently the WOW’s closest friend and another 1Night Stand success story, and got her in on the act. Then they phoned their sister, Lily.
Faced with so much estrogen aligned against him, he didn’t know what the fuck hit him. But then he found himself stepping onto the dock at the Tarrytown Marina, preparing to board a luxury yacht called The Lily Flower, overnight case in hand.