Chapter Eight

 

The first brush of his mouth against hers felt like something from a dream. It was barely there, leaving only a slight tingle on her lips to tell her they’d met his. The second brush was more substantial, the velvet of his mouth dragging against hers. Her breath caught in her throat. Gods, she’d had no idea!

The third brush was the most potent. His mouth settled over hers firmly, pressing their lips together. Then the target’s mouth opened, drawing her bottom lip into his mouth for a playful suckling she felt all the way to her toes. Unable to resist his silent demand, her lips parted.

Hot, wet, and insistent, his tongue swept into her mouth. Shade gasped as her taste buds exploded with his flavor. She tasted the wine he’d had with dinner and beneath it, the decadent taste of male. Primal instinct made Shade tangle her tongue with his, dipping into his mouth for a deeper taste.

His hands rose, circling her back and pulling her tighter against him. The bulge in his pants pressed into her stomach. His thigh slipped between her legs to nudge her core. Then she was lifted from the floor, straddling his muscular thigh as his hands found her backside, kneading and rocking her against him.

Liquid heat poured into her veins, obliterating all thought. Eager and hungry, Shade’s hands rose to knead his shoulders, little moans catching in her throat as she let him rock her on his thigh. A harsh sound rasped in his throat as he kissed her deeper, his mouth biting at hers almost savagely.

A knock sounded on the door of the dining room. The target ripped his mouth from hers, his eyes fully red now and chest heaving with labored breath.

“What?” he shouted, not bothering to hide his anger.

“M-master, the Amazons are back,” Hatot called through the door, clearly not willing to open it to deliver his message.

Females coming to see the target. Pull back. The words flashed across Shade’s mind, forcing her body to follow. She slid off the target’s thigh, ignoring the resulting tingle. She straightened her clothing and scrubbed a hand over her mouth trying to rid it of his taste. He had females in his home, Amazons who were known to be beautiful, warm, and sexual. He’d been playing with her.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Shade told him coolly, pleased to see the surprise in his eyes.

She walked out of the room, passing Hatot at the threshold. Her keen ears picked up the sounds of females talking from the front of the house, but she avoided them by slipping into the shadows. The cool caress of the familiar darkness soothed her battered pride and the sting of her first taste of desire.

Coasting to her room, Shade closed and locked the door. Dropping wearily to the bed, she wondered what had possessed her to take such a risk. He was an assignment, not a potential mate. Not that she was looking for one anyway. Her chance of happiness had been lost the second Luther touched her, killing everything in her that was soft and loving. She was a death dealer and death had no future.

Once again, the cold crept into her, nestling close to her heart. This was for the best, she thought as her eyes closed. She wanted to be numb to future heartache and pain for as long as she lived which wouldn’t be long once Luther knew she hadn’t fulfilled her assignment.

*****

“Don’t you have better things to do than to bother the hell out of me every day?” Malachi stormed into his library where Saga, Izzy, and Rosetta, the drag queen Amazon, lolled.

“Someone’s frustrated,” Rosetta said in her deep voice, winking an outrageously made-up eye at Malachi. “Sugar, you know the girls and I would be happy to take care of your frustrations. You just say the word.”

Repressing a shudder, Malachi sat at his desk. The walk from the dining room to his library had barely been long enough to lose his erection, but nothing would ease the ache of lust entirely. He wasn’t even sure if having Lani would give him relief. Thinking about that explosive kiss made him hard and aching all over again.

“So what are you doing here?” he groused.

Saga shrugged, contemplating the toes of her boots. “We’re bored.”

“Yeah, things used to be exciting around here what with Ruby running from Lucian, Piper going through her kitty-cat phase, and that hottie incubus friend of yours showing up all over the place. Things just aren’t fun anymore,” Izzy complained from the sofa she’d sprawled upon. “And now that we can’t participate in the next Battle of Lionesses, we don’t have shit to do other than train, drink, and screw.”

“You make it sound like those are bad things,” Rosetta said from her place in one of the chairs in front of Malachi’s desk. Today, the drag queen was sporting a baby blue wig, sparkly feathered eyelashes, dramatic make-up, and a tiny bikini type dress that Malachi did his best not to stare at.

“You’re just saying that ʼcause you found out Bruce was gay,” Izzy mumbled into the crook of her elbow. “Other than Bruce the Bull Moose Prior, the men are all the same with the same bits and pieces.”

Malachi wanted to squirm. He wanted to stick his fingers in his ears and pretend he wasn’t listening about other men’s bits and pieces. However, these females were his friends, so he stood and poured them each a hearty glass of scotch.

“What’s really the problem?” he asked as he handed Saga her snifter.

“We’re really bored, seriously,” Saga mumbled into her snifter. “Lucian kicked us out of the house ʼcause we were making too much noise. He told us to come here, that you might have something for us to do.” She finished off her scotch, putting the glass down with a decisive click. “I hope he was right because I’m on the verge of calling a hunt.”

“A hunt would be fabu!” Rosetta agreed from the opposite chair.

Even Izzy looked interested.

Malachi did shudder this time. The Amazonian Hunt was the stuff of legend and an extremely simple concept. A single male was voted on as the most virile specimen of manhood. Luckily, the Amazons only applied the Hunt to Veilerian males otherwise humans wouldn’t stand a chance. The male, or Green Man, was given a notice of one week to put his affairs in order and to plan his escape. On the dawn of the eighth day, Amazons all the world over who wished to participate, emerged from their camps on the hunt for the Green Man. Sometimes the Hunt lasted a week, sometimes it lasted for years, but it was well-known when he was caught, the Green Man wouldn’t walk for a while.

“No, no Hunt,” Malachi scolded softly. “I heard Demos is still recovering from the last Hunt.”

“I didn’t get to participate in that one,” Izzy complained, bottom lip poking out in an extreme pout.

“It was fun. This shit we’re doing now isn’t fun,” Saga told her younger colleague.

Seeing their restlessness gave Malachi the chills, pushing his lust for Lani out of mind for the moment. He was desperate to keep them from trouble. “Okay, I have a job for you,” he told them abruptly. Three heads swiveled in his direction, eyeing him with eagerness. Christ. “You know I’m hunting Eturian generals, right? Well, five of them are dead already.”

“What? Are you serious?” Saga demanded, leaning forward in her chair. “Who did it, does Council know?”

Malachi shook his head. “The only thing we know for certain is that the Assassin Guild isn’t taking credit for the kills.” He paused, a part of his soul mourning the girl he’d grown up with. “Whoever it is, they got Bianca.”

“What. The. Fuck. She was locked away in the Halls of Silence, wasn’t she?” Saga asked her face white as a sheet.

“Yeah,” he sighed wearily. When that news had come his way, he’d nearly lost it. Sure she’d been an evil bitchtress, but he’d once been happy with her, been friends with her. “She was dead for two days before the guards found out. The files are in the great room.”

He needed to move around. Leading the three Amazons from his library to the great room, he indicated the files. Saga paused by the table, her nostrils quivering.

“There was a fairy here,” she said sourly.

As nonchalantly as he could, Malachi nodded. “Lucian requested a GE to help me on this case.” Hopefully the Amazon would leave it at that because he wasn’t ready to talk about Lani with anyone.

Luckily, she let the subject drop as she crowded around the files with Rosetta and Izzy. All was silent for several minutes as they looked through the files.

Izzy whistled. “Wow, whoever this is, they’re a kick ass assassin,” she said in wonder.

“Why do you say that?” Malachi asked. He was inclined to agree since the killings were done silently and with great precision all within hearing distance of the victims’ guards.

“Well, other than the fact that they got into the Halls of Silence, killed Bianca, and did it all without setting off the alarms, they’re calculating. Look at this,” she said, holding up the picture of a demon pinned to a wall. “This demon could’ve screamed for help, but no one heard a sound. Look at the way he’s pinned. Whoever did this is both strong and cold as ice. The scalpels went right between the bones of his radius and ulna. You’d have to position the scalpels in just the right spot to support his weight without pulling on the wounds more. This wasn’t a crucifixion, no matter what it looks like.” She put the picture down and lifted the autopsy report. “They found no evidence of a spell or potion that kept him from screaming. What they did find, was bruising around the larynx that prevented him from making a sound. The killer could’ve easily used a potion or spell, but didn’t because they can be traced.”

“We know all that, Sherlock,” Saga said wryly as she flipped through her own file. “But you’re right. In each case, with the exception of Bianca, the victim was silenced immediately before execution.”

“What’s with the ‘S’ on their faces?” Rosetta asked as she peeked at her file. “I mean, that’s like serial killer shit.”

Malachi paced around the table. “I think the ‘S’ is their trademark. Some assassins leave objects with the body, or cut off a certain body part as their signature.”

“That’s just sick,” Rosetta said, getting up from the table.

“What do you need us to do?” Saga asked as she set the file aside.

“I don’t want to imply that I don’t trust Council, but I want to be sure no clues were passed over because they were Eturian generals. Go to the execution scenes and see what you can find,” he told Saga with a grim smile. “We’re missing something.”

“Shit yeah!” Izzy said with a happy grin. “I always wanted to be Columbo.”

“Jesus, Izzy, Columbo dressed horribly!” Rosetta protested as she sauntered around the room, poking at the decorations. “Malachi, you have some nice digs here. Are you sure you’re not gay? ʼCause most men don’t decorate well.”

“I’m positive, honey,” Malachi answered with a smile.

She sighed. “That’s too bad.”

“What about Bruce?” Saga asked as she stood.

“You women are ruining me for relationships. He wants us to move in together, but I can’t give up my girls.”

Izzy nodded. “True. You know what they say, ‘chicks before dicks’.”

“True dat,” Rosetta said her and Izzy doing some complicated handshake.

Saga sighed deeply, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.

“How high are you counting?” he asked her in a stage whisper.

“I was going for ten, but I’m aiming for a hundred now,” she whispered back.

Malachi was unable to hold back a laugh. Grabbing Saga around the neck, he pulled her head close to ruffle her hair. She squawked good-naturedly, elbowing him in the ribs to get away from him. If she’d wanted to hurt him, it would’ve been easy, but she looked at him like a brother since they’d both decided not to tempt the fates by having an intimate relationship.

“Make a copy of anything you need from the files, but I’d like to keep the originals here,” he said as he let her go.

Saga fixed her ponytail as she nodded. “I guess this would be cool to do for a little while. Why didn’t you ask Pagan to handle it?” she asked, referring to the vampire who ran a Veilerian security and private investigations service.

“Last I heard, she was on hiatus doing some suck-up work for VP Chief Snow,” Malachi told Saga as he gathered the files for them. “Seems she trespassed into one of the GE armories, cleaned out their demon-killer bullets, and left a love letter for Snow in the ladies’ loo.”

“Aw shit, she broke in, didn’t she?” Izzy asked, joining the conversation.

Malachi nodded, biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing. Pagan’s antics were giving her twin brother, Mortimer, grey hairs and entertaining the rest of The Veil. “She ah, somehow found a naked picture of Snow in his heyday as Satricarion and had it wallpapered in every stall in the bathroom along with his private number.” He wanted to laugh at the idea of the former satyr leader, or Satricarion, and current VPA Chief being bombarded with calls from horny Veilerian women.

Izzy laughed loudly while Saga looked intrigued. “Does she have the negatives?”

“I don’t want to know!” Malachi said, throwing his hands up defensively. These women were worse than frat boys sometimes. “Anyway, Grayson has Pagan playing bodyguard to his son while he’s on tour with his band.”

“She’s got to be going insane,” Saga said, shaking her head ruefully at her friend’s antics. “Wait ‘til I tell Albreda what her BFF has been up to.”

Rosetta laughed. “She’ll probably be jealous cause she didn’t get to see Grayson Snow nude. Our queen has the hots for him.”

A collective ‘eww’ echoed around the room.

“I don’t want to hear anymore!” Malachi said forcefully. “Get to work and stay out of trouble. If you need anything, give me a call, okay?”

“Yes, dad,” they all chimed in together.

“Good. If you get in trouble and don’t call me, I’ll paddle all your asses,” he warned half-playfully.

“Oh! A spanking, a spanking!” Izzy shouted, jumping up and down. “You must give us all a good spanking!”

Saga dragged Izzy from the room. Rosetta sauntered after them, hips swinging dramatically. Shaking his head at their antics, Malachi leaned against the table.

He was fortunate the Amazons and his brother were so willing to forgive and forget. Most of the Veilerians he met up with eyed him suspiciously, as though they expected him to pull out a measuring tape to size them up for a coffin. Malachi wiped a hand over his face. He lived with his mistakes every day, but hopefully he’d prove his willingness to live by Veilerian law again.

Blowing out a tired breath, he left the great room and headed upstairs. He hadn’t seen Pet, no Tia, all day and he worried that she was lonely. It was strange to think of her as a person since for so long, he’d only viewed her as a weapon in his war. No longer, he thought firmly as he reached the second floor. She was to be cosseted and treated like a member of his family, because that’s what she’d become.

Stopping for a moment, Malachi looked down the hall towards Lani’s room. He wondered what she was doing, if she was still pissed at him. She’d said she would see him in the morning, so she wasn’t going to run away. He shouldn’t have kissed her, but he hadn’t been able to resist the temptation of her drowsy eyes and full lips. His cock twitched. Scowling down at his groin, he told it to heel. When this shit with the Eturi was over, he’d try to coax more from her, but not now.

Dragging in a deep breath, he continued to Tia’s room. Before he even reached the door, he heard the television blaring. Smiling to himself, he knocked.

The door opened and he looked down to see Tia’s blazing blue eyes looking up at him. He opened his mouth to greet her, but was distracted by the sudden groans and cries that were unmistakable as impending orgasm poured out the room.

He gaped at Tia. “What are you watching?” he asked her in shock.

She shrugged. “Abba, I didn’t expect you to finish with the fairy and Amazons so soon.”

“Oh, oh, harder!” a woman screamed, squealing as the slap of flesh meeting flesh grew louder.

“Uh,” Malachi said, feeling the heat of a furious blush work its way to his face. Gods, Tia was watching porn! “You need to turn that off. You shouldn’t be watching that stuff,” he told her, feeling fiercely protective of her.

“Yes, Abba,” she answered, turning around to turn the television off.

He remained at the doorway, feeling awkward. Was Tia a sexual being? Did she hunger for sex? Did she even know what it was? Gods, he thought in horror. She was his responsibility and she’d been watching porn! Now he knew how Lucian felt when Dominic watched Victoria Secret commercials.

“May I come in, Tia?” he asked, feeling like a father about to invade his teenage daughter’s domain.

“Of course, Abba.”

He gave her a stiff smile and stepped into the room. The room had been immaculate when she’d taken possession of it, but now the bed was messed up, piles of dishes cluttered the nightstands and floor around the bed, and she hadn’t turned the television off. No, the orgy happening on screen was in silent mode, which looked ridiculous.

“Why are you watching this?” he asked harshly as he stepped forward to shut the television off.

“I was curious, Abba. I have only seen things like this through visions which are one-sided. It looks like fun, doesn’t it?” she asked and if her voice had held the slightest tinge of interest, he would have run out the room. However, her voice was as emotionless and flat as it usually was. “Have you done those things? Do they feel good?”

The blush that had faded mere seconds before came back in full force. “Um.” He shuffled his feet. This shit wasn’t something they taught in the Guardian Academy. He needed someone who could answer these questions who wasn’t sex starved like the three Amazons who’d just left his house. “Why…why don’t I have Ruby, my brother’s mate speak with you about it, Tia.”

“Oh.” She stood in the middle of the room, hands clasped together. “Okay. Can I do that one day?”

“Gods! Don’t ask me something like that!” he exploded, dragging a hand through his hair. A cold chill dripped down his spine at the thought of some male damaging her innocence. He’d kill them. Slowly and painfully. He needed to buy her a chastity belt. She wasn’t leaving her room until she was…well, much older. “Do you like your room?” he asked her, determined to bring their conversation to something less frightening.

“It is nice, Abba. And the food is very good.”

“You should have Hatot or Kahal up here to clean it,” he suggested as he accidentally kicked a fork across the room.

“But I like to have shiny things like these,” she told him, scooping up the fork and stroking it lovingly. “I have never owned anything. These are mine now.”

Hurt speared Malachi’s chest. She hadn’t owned anything because he’d never given her anything. She deserved possessions just like every other Veilerian. “I’ll have Kahal bring you some catalogs and you can order anything you want from them,” he promised her solemnly.

She tilted her head to the side. “What’s a catalog?”

He smiled. “It’s a book with pictures of things to buy. If you want something from them, just have Kahal order them for you.”

“That sounds agreeable. Thank you, Abba,” she said with a bow of her head. “The shadow still follows you.”

The casual statement raised the hairs on the back of his neck. “Do you know what it is?”

“It hasn’t made up its mind what it wants to do. Sometimes I can almost hear it talking, but it goes away too quickly,” Tia said, the barest hint of frustration coloring her tone. “It’s in danger, too. It knows it’s going to die, that’s why it isn’t sure what to do.”

“Do about what?” he asked almost desperately. Tia’s predictions were always fluid and subject to change, but lately, they’d been too obscure to truly understand.

“Why, whether to kill you or not. It should, but it isn’t sure if it wants to. It’s very confused,” she answered, her voice softening as though in sympathy. 

“Do you know who they work for?” he asked excitedly. The assassin was after him! He needed to draw them out, try to capture them and find out what exactly was going on.

Tia shook her head. “No. It’s very frustrating.”

Malachi placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It’s okay, Tia. If you’re meant to know, it’ll come to you.”

Her head turned to look at his hand which took up a large part of her shoulder. Malachi quickly let go, feeling awkward again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to touch you,” he told her apologetically.

Her head cocked to the side again. “No, I liked it. It made me feel…” her voice drifted off as though searching for the word. “Warm here,” she said, placing her hand over her heart.

Shifting his feet, Malachi thought of the similarities between Tia and Lani. They both had no idea what emotions were and no clue how to deal with them. While he knew Tia’s inability to understand emotion hinged from her isolation for hundreds of years, Lani was harder to understand and he wanted to. Desperately.

“It made you feel comforted,” he told Tia softly, brushing his fingers over her veil. He wished he could see what she looked like. It seemed important to be able to recognize the being who considered him a father. “Will you take this off?”

Her blue eyes considered him thoughtfully before she shook her head. “Not yet. It isn’t time.”

“Okay,” he said gruffly. “Don’t watch that…stuff again, okay? It isn’t appropriate.” He gave her another squeeze on the shoulder before turning away. “Remember to pick whatever you want in the catalogs tomorrow. Clothes, shoes, music, pictures, whatever, okay?”

He sensed that she was pleased. “Yes, Abba,” she answered, bowing her head.

As he left the room, his attention was caught on a pile of DVDs in the corner of the room. Wanting to make sure Tia wasn’t going to be watching more porn, he went through the stack. It seemed harmless enough: Die Hard, Talladega Nights, Dirty Dancing, Underworld, Cum Together…what the hell?

“Where did you get these movies, Tia?” he asked, slipping the porn from the pile.

“Hatot let me borrow his movies.”

Malachi decided he needed to have a talk with his servant about being too helpful. Putting the porn DVDs on the side, he made sure he didn’t skip any. She was certainly physically old enough to watch them, but the innocent glow in her eyes made him feel ridiculously protective of her. He wanted to keep her safe from the nastiness in the world just a little longer.

“I’ll take these for now,” he told Tia wryly. “Get some rest.”

She bowed, a tiny figure draped in black cloth. “Yes, Abba. Good evening.”

Malachi stepped out of the room. Looking at the selection of skin flicks in his hand, he began chuckling. Who would’ve thought he’d have to raid his adoptive daughter’s porn pile? Laughter spilled from him as he climbed the steps.

When he paused at the foot of the stairs and glanced at Lani’s door, no one was around to see, or to wonder why he laughed even more.