He looked at her sharply. “Nice.”
“It’s not a joke. It’s an important question I need the answer to.”
Ben shook his head. “You and me, it’s not going to happen.”
Leena glared at him. “As if. You’re not my type, Ken doll. I prefer men with more of an edge to them.”
He frowned at her. “I have edge. Lots of edge.”
“Besides . . .” She waved a hand. “I’m not sticking around this city. I hate the winter. I have big plans.”
“Like what?”
“Traveling. Seeing the country. Going overseas. A werepanther likes to roam, you know. She doesn’t like getting tied down to any one place.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her certainty. “Okay. Then what are you still doing here, werepanther?”
She ran a hand absently through her long black hair. “Well . . . I just wanted to check something first.”
“What’s that?”
Leena grabbed his shirt, pulled him closer, and kissed him hard on his mouth. It only took him a second before he was returning the kiss with an equal amount of passion as his body, heart, and soul all reacted to her. He was breathless when she finally broke off the kiss.
She bit her bottom lip. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”
Ben found his voice enough to say, “What is?”
She shrugged before giving him a slow, sexy smile. “Looks like you are my type after all. Who knew?”
“I have edge.” He grinned before it started to fade. “However, I have no job, no money, and no prospects.”
She laughed and slid her arms around his waist. “Now you’re more like the kind of guy I usually date. See? That’s much better than Mr. Shiny-Perfect. Besides, I don’t need your money.”
“No?”
Leena shook her head. “That locker key Eden’s holding on to for me? I have a little bit of sparkle locked up in there. Enough to keep us very comfortable for a few years at the least. You interested?”
He eyed her skeptically. “Is this a treasure obtained through legal means?”
She cocked her head. “Sorry, no. But trust me, nobody will miss it and nobody got hurt.”
He scratched his chin as a smile spread across his face. “Then I think I just might be okay with that.”
Leena smiled and grabbed his shirt to pull him closer for another kiss.
She was a werepanther as well as a beautiful but dangerous woman with a shady past. This was a bit different for an ex-cop and ex-Malleus member. But, as he gave himself completely to her kiss, Ben realized that different was more than okay with him.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Eight months later
“She’s absolutely adorable. And I don’t see any horns at all!”
Andy had shut down the office for the day so he could come to the hospital. He gazed down at his goddaughter.
“No horns,” Eden agreed. Her daughter felt right in her arms. Perfect, actually. And she’d already checked several times. No horns. Or talons. Just ten fingers, ten toes—a beautiful, healthy baby girl.
“Have you decided on a name yet?” Andy asked, glancing at Darrak, who stood by Eden’s bedside amidst a colorful backdrop of bouquets of flowers sent by well-wishers.
“We’re having a bit of trouble agreeing on something,” he admitted. “So we’re open to suggestion.”
Andy was thoughtful for a moment. “Rhonda’s what I call my Porsche. You’re welcome to use that. It’s a very strong name.”
“We’ll add it to the list. Eden wanted Destiny or Hope or Faith, but . . .” He cringed. “I’m just not feeling it.”
That their biggest problem at the moment was what to name their daughter was a very good thing. The last eight months had been virtually without incident other than the chance to get to know each other better.
They got married a couple of months ago in a small ceremony at city hall. Andy attended as their witness and best man. Stanley and Nancy had tied the knot right before them, choosing not to wait for a larger, more complicated and costly ceremony. They were each other’s guests of honor.
After everything they’d been through, Eden couldn’t believe it had all worked out so well.
Not that their lives were full of bliss 24/7. She and Darrak were opposites in so many ways and always would be. They argued and debated over practically everything from where to live, what to eat, and of course, what to name the baby.
But it didn’t matter. Their love for each other still seemed to get bigger with every day that passed. Darrak didn’t have to literally possess her for their bond to be stronger than ever before.
Half-demon and half-angel—the man she loved. The father of her beautiful daughter, which he still insisted was impossible.
But just because something was impossible, didn’t mean it still couldn’t happen. Eden had seen more than enough to know that was the absolute truth.
She’d been a black witch on the very cusp of losing her soul to the darkness forever, but she’d recovered. Being an uncloaked nephilim helped when it came to doing private investigation. She could channel her psychic ability better than before. She wasn’t all-knowing and all-seeing, but it was an edge that worked to her benefit.
Every little bit helped.
Andy left ten minutes later, leaving an armful of flowers behind that they put next to the bouquet sent by Leena and Ben—with a card that said they were currently exploring Italy as part of their world travels.
“I still can’t get over how beautiful she is,” Eden said.
“Of course she’s beautiful. She looks just like her mom.”
She grinned. “She has your eyes.”
“And your hair.”
The baby had ice blue eyes and bright red hair—more like bright red fuzz, anyway.
“Your mother called when you were talking with Andy earlier,” Darrak told her.
“Yeah? And what did she have to say?”
“She’s coming to visit next week to see her granddaughter.”
Eden nodded. She’d made her peace with her mother. Caroline was still a bit neglectful, a bit selfish, but she was still her mother. Even when she’d done stupid things, Eden knew they were to try to help her. For Caroline to try to be a good person. To redeem herself and one day get the chance to go to Heaven.
They’d never be super close and that was okay, but she was going to be a hell of a great and generous grandmother. Even though the new body she was currently “renting” was yet another lingerie model/aspiring actress.
At least she was consistent.
Eden and Darrak had moved out of the apartment and into a house not too far away from the office. She’d sensed that the neighborhood was right for them. It was a neighborhood full of Others—including a few fairies living in the human world, a couple of werewolves (who liked their privacy), and a white witch who enjoyed gardening at midnight under the stars.
They made the perfect neighbors for a nephilim and her angel-demon husband.
Speaking of werewolves, Andy didn’t turn into a hellhound after that first full moon. Lucas hadn’t changed him permanently. It was one thing to deal with a very large friendly dog one night every month, and another thing altogether to deal with a very large hellhound with an urge to explore the Netherworld.
Darrak shook his head. “So many names to choose from, I’m sure we can find something we both like. How about Bella?”
“Definitely not.”
“Buffy.”
“No.”
“Um . . . how about Crimson? That’s kind of cool. It’s the color of her hair. Or blood.”
“Darrak. No.”
“Elvira?”
“Now you’re just trying to be funny.”
“Well, it’s better than Hope. I mean, gag.”
She grinned and slid her right hand up his arm. “You can take the demon out of Hell . . .”
Darrak waved her off. “Mocking me isn’t nice, you know. I could go back if I wanted to. The whole ‘You’l
l be destroyed the moment you enter the Netherworld with all that shiny goodness inside of you’ was probably just to try to scare me off.”
“You’re looking for a vacation spot down there?”
“It would be nice to have the option.”
“What about the other place?” She thrust her thumb heavenward.
Darrak glanced up at the ceiling. “The fifth floor?”
“You could jump sides completely, you know. Be a guardian ang—”
He covered her mouth. “Do not finish that sentence.”
Eden pulled his hand away. “Fine, be that way. Just know that my father has plans for me up there someday. That someday will probably be a very long time from now, but it will happen eventually. And I can solemnly promise you one very important thing, Darrak . . .”
He raised an eyebrow. “And what’s that?”
“I’m taking you with me.”
He cringed. “Are you sure that’s a promise? Sounds more like a threat.”
She laughed. “I think you’d kick ass at playing the harp. It’s just a hunch.”
“I’ve always been musically inclined.” He slid his fingers through her hair. She’d let it go back to its original color—bright red. It was beautiful, actually. She wasn’t really sure why she’d always insisted on covering it under the darker auburn color.
No, that wasn’t exactly true. She knew. She’d been hiding what she really was. Now she didn’t hide. She was proud of what she was, who she was with, what she’d accomplished. And for the first time in her life, the future stretched before her, and she was excited at what was yet to come.
That was definitely progress.
“If there’s one person in the universe I’d be willing to sit on a fluffy cloud for, Eden, it’s definitely you.” Darrak stroked his daughter’s head. “Actually, make that two of you now.”
She shook her head. “Just look at us. We’re . . . a family.”
“I know. I’m looking forward to telling her how her mom and dad met.”
“We’ll take out the scary bits.”
“Nah. I think she’ll enjoy those parts best of all.”
Eden looked at him skeptically. “You don’t really want to name her Elvira, do you?”
His brows drew together, his expression turning pensive. “I’m not sold on it. What about Morticia like from the Addams Family? No, wait . . . Maleficent! That’s perfect. She was the evil queen in Snow White.”
She sighed. “Not in a million years.”
“Mal for short. I’m loving this.”
There was a knock at the door and a nurse entered carrying a large bouquet of pink roses. “Mr. and Mrs. Riley? Where should I put these?”
The room was already full of flowers and balloons and stuffed animals, but Darrak cleared a spot on the table next to Eden’s hospital bed. “Right here’s perfect.”
The nurse left them, and Darrak grabbed the small card attached and read it.
“Who are they from?” Eden asked.
He looked at her bleakly. “Take a wild guess.”
They could be from anyone, but the expression on his face told her all she needed to know. She nodded slowly. “So . . . how is he?”
“He doesn’t go into detail about his health and happiness. All he says is ‘Congratulations.’”
Lucas hadn’t been seen or heard from since he absorbed her black magic and disappeared. Eden knew she was supposed to be afraid of him—he was Lucifer, the Prince of Hell, after all. He was the being responsible for controlling the darkness that threatened the human world. Threatened everything.
He’d wanted to leave, to go back to Heaven, and he’d come so close to doing just that. Instead, he chose to stay and keep doing exactly what he’d signed up for in the first place.
He’d lied, manipulated, and deceived them shamelessly, using them as part of his master plan.
And he’d also saved her soul and Darrak’s life.
“I think I know what her name should be,” Eden said after a moment.
Darrak held up a hand. “Don’t say it.”
“Lucy.”
He sighed. “I just knew you were going to say that.”
“What do you think?”
Darrak put the card down and came to Eden’s side, climbing in the bed next to her and putting his arm around her shoulders. He looked down into the face of his tiny daughter and nodded. “Yeah, that works for me.”
She smiled. “Don’t pout.”
“I’m not pouting,” he pouted.
“You’re going to make a great father,” she whispered to him.
“Going to try like hell.”
They both looked down at Lucy, who seemed to smile up at them a moment before a faint glimmer of fire appeared behind her pale blue eyes.
“She didn’t . . .” Eden began.
A wide smile stretched across Darrak’s face. “You said she had my eyes. And she does! That’s my little girl!”
Eden started to laugh. “Well, hell. I guess it’s fate.”
“Would you look at that?” Darrak said before leaning over to brush his lips against hers again. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
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BLOOD BATH & BEYOND
Coming summer 2012 from Obsidian!
The fangs don’t get nearly as much attention as you’d think.
Your average, everyday person doesn’t notice that they’re sharper than normal human canines. If they did, they’d have to deal with the possibility that vampires really existed. It’s a survival instinct on their part, culminating from centuries of living side by side with something they’d prefer to think of as a fictional predatory monster. Or, more recently, as an eternally sparkling teenager.
Real vampires make up approximately 0.001 % of the population—that’s one in a thousand. So, worldwide, there are about six million vampires.
Humans just don’t see us. It does help that, despite what you might have heard, we can go outside into the sunshine without turning into a pile of ashes. We blend in with regular human society just fine and dandy.
It’s kind of like we’re invisible.
Someone bashed into me when I glanced down at the screen of my phone as I walked down the busy sidewalk.
“Hey!” the woman snarled. “Watch where you’re going, you dumb bitch!”
“Bite me,” I replied sweetly, then added under my breath, “or I might bite you.”
She gave me the finger, stabbing it violently in my direction as if it was a tiny, flesh-colored sword.
Okay, maybe we’re not totally invisible.
I couldn’t help that I had a natural-born talent to rub people the wrong way. It had very little to do with me being a vampire and more to do with me just being . . . me. I liked to think it was part of my charm.
I looked bleakly at the phone again. No messages. No calls. It felt like everyone I knew had recently deserted me. It wasn’t far from the truth, actually. Last month, my parents had moved to Florida to a retirement community. Two weeks ago, my best male friend, George, had left for Hawaii to open a surf shop after he won a small fortune in a local lottery. And now, my best girlfriend and her husband were in the process of moving to British Columbia so she could take a job in cosmetics management out there.
“We’ll totally stay in touch,” Amy said to me at the airport before she got on her flight an hour ago. I’d met her there to say a last good-bye.
I swallowed back my tears and hugged her fiercely. “Of course we will.”
Her husband stood nearby, giving me the evil eye like he usually did. We’d never really gotten along all that well. You win some, you lose some. “Are you finished yet? We’re going to miss our flight.”
I forced a smile. “I’m even going to miss you, Barry.”
He just looked at his wristwatch.
Amy smiled brightly. “This
is a new beginning, Sarah. For both of us. We have to embrace change.”
I hated change.
I did hope to see her again soon, not too far into the future.
The future was something I thought about a lot these days. After all, as a fledgling vampire, sired only seven months ago, I had a lot of future to look forward to. I just hoped it wouldn’t suck too much.
Yes, that was me. Sarah Dearly, immortal pessimist. I had to turn my frown upside down. Right now, I was so far down in the dumps that the raccoons had arrived and were starting to sniff around. Metaphorically speaking, of course. The only real raccoons were the ones around my eyes as my mascara smeared from my pathetic sob-fest after leaving the airport.
It seemed as if new opportunities and new adventures had been presented to everyone but me, like they’d won the lottery—literally in one case—and I’d mistakenly put my ticket in the wash and now couldn’t even read the numbers.
“You look sad,” someone said.
I glanced over my shoulder, surprised to see a clown standing at the side of the street holding a bunch of balloons.
White makeup, poufy costume covered in colorful polka dots. Red hair. A hat with a fake flower springing out of it. Big red nose. The works.
It was like a bad omen. Clowns scared the crap out of me.
“Sad? Who me?” I said warily, slipping my phone back in my shoulder bag. “Nah, I’m just melancholy today. There’s a difference, you know. Please don’t murder me.”
“Somebody needs a happy happy balloon to make her happy happy.” He handed me a yellow ribbon tied to a shiny red balloon. I looked up at it.
“Yes,” I said. “This will make all the difference in the world. Thank you so much. Now life is happy happy for me again.”
The clown glared at me. “No reason to be sarcastic, lady.” “I don’t need a reason.”
“The balloon’s five bucks.”
“Three.”
“Four.”
“Sold.” I grinned, then fished into my purse and pulled out the money. “Thanks so much, Bozo.”
“It’s Mr. Chuckles.”
“Whatever.”