Eve of Darkness Read online

  “The Mark of Cain is a blessing? You’re slick, but not that slick. And I’m not stupid.”

  “Slick?”

  The waiter returned with a tray bearing two bottles of beer, two shot glasses, and chips and salsa. Eve sat back to make room. Reed continued to watch her, smiling.

  “The clothes. The cockiness.” An impatient hand gesture encompassed him from head to toe. “Slick.”

  “Style and confidence, babe. I happen to like both qualities.” His voice lowered. “So do you.”

  She shook her head, but the look in her eyes gave proof to his statement.

  Reed reached over and caught her hand. Her fingers were long and slender, her skin soft as silk. That would change. Wield a weapon often enough and it left its mark with roughened flesh. “You don’t have to admit it.”

  “I won’t.”

  He bared her wrist, then lowered his head. As his lips parted and his tongue stroked across her vein, Eve watched in helpless fascination. He could smell her growing arousal and knew she’d be hot and wet. Her recently acquired hyperactive sex drive was a godsend to his plan to have her again, no pun intended. Restraint was difficult the first few years. The heightened senses and fluctuating emotions were killer until one learned to control or ignore them. The best and fastest way to release all that tension was with long, hard sex. Reed was determined to be the man Eve turned to as a pressure valve.

  Straightening, he kept his gaze locked with hers. He reached for the salt with one hand, slowly stroking across her palm with the thumb of the other.

  “Where is this going?” Her normally clipped tone was softened by hoarseness.

  “To bed.”

  “Not with me.”

  He smiled and sprinkled salt over her damp skin. Picking up a shot glass, Reed licked her wrist and tossed back the tequila.

  Eve handed him a slice of lime. “You’re not here to get laid.”

  “How can you be sure?” He bit into the tart pulp with relish.

  “You’re the type who likes to be chased, not do the chasing.”

  “You don’t know me as well as you think. But that’ll change.”

  “I told you, I want out.” With an offhand toast, Eve downed her shot and chased it with a long swig of the beer. She growled. “Okay. This sucks. It’s like drinking water.”

  “You can’t bargain with God, Eve.”

  “You can bargain with anyone, as long as you have something they want that they can’t get anywhere else.” She turned her head, her gaze moving to the strip of street visible from her position.

  His glance followed hers. Sport-utility vehicles traveled alongside luxury sports cars. Joggers and in-line skaters weaved in and around each other.

  “Are some of those people . . . Infernals?” she asked.

  “Certainly.”

  She glanced back at him. “They coexist peacefully with the rest of us?”

  “If you call living with greed, depression, murder, and lies ‘peaceful.’” Reed tipped his bottle back and drank deeply. “Complete destruction of humanity isn’t the goal. They need mortals for entertainment.”

  “Lovely.” She exhaled sharply. “You mentioned a queue?”

  “There comes a point when an Infernal crosses the line one too many times.”

  “They have to cross a line first?”

  “We’re not vigilantes,” he said, chuckling. “We can’t go around whacking the bad guys for the hell of it. There’s a balance to everything. A yin and a yang, if you will. Orders have to come down. Once that happens, all bets are off.”

  “And then what?”

  “The Mark nearest in location who has the necessary skills is dispatched to take them out.”

  “Who makes that call? God?”

  “The Lord assigns Cain directly. The seraphim manage everyone else.”

  Her lips pursed and he could practically see her curiosity. When she finally said, “Tell me how it works,” Reed’s answering smile was indulgent.

  “Relating it to the human judicial system might make it easier to understand. Every sinner has a trial in absentia and the Lord presides over every case. Christ acts as the public defender. Clear so far?”

  “I watch Law and Order.”

  “Okay, good. If there’s a conviction, one of the seraphim send the order down to a firm to hunt the Infernal.”

  “A firm?”

  “Think of it as the bail bond agency. An archangel becomes responsible for bringing them in—like a bail bondsman. They don’t actually do any hunting. The Marks do the dirty work and they collect a bounty, just as a bounty hunter would, only in this case the prize is indulgences. Earn enough and you’ll work off your penance.”

  “Bring them in? As in dead or alive?”

  “Dead.”

  “Blood-and-gore-dead? Or some kind of magical-dead?”

  “There’s nothing magic about it.” He set his hand atop hers, trying to offer what little comfort he could. “Sometimes it’s dirty, sometimes it’s not. You’ll learn the difference. Training is intense and thorough.”

  “Training in Infernal hunting?” She shook her head. “No thanks.”

  “Some Marks think the work is glamorous.”

  “My idea of glamour is drinking champagne and wearing a little black dress.”

  Reed’s mouth curved. “Can’t wait to see it.”

  “How do I get out?”

  “Of the dress? I’ll help with that.”

  “Jeez. Not the dress. This bounty-hunting gig.”

  “Not possible.”

  “Bullshit. I want to talk to someone else.”

  His smile turned into a grin. “My superior?”

  “Sure. Why not?”

  “You’ll meet him soon enough. In the meantime, class should begin shortly. You’ll be notified when it’s time.”

  “Class?” Eve stared across the table at Reed and hated the fact that she didn’t have a buzz, yet felt light-headed anyway.

  Her gaze moved beyond his shoulder. She straightened. “Heads up. We’ve got company.”

  Reed didn’t even flinch. “About time he showed up.”

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Alec barked, stopping at their table.

  “Waiting for you,” she replied, kicking out a chair for him.

  Alec caught the back and dropped into the seat. He looked at Reed. “What do you want?”

  “Good morning to you, too.”

  “I want to know how to get rid of the mark,” Eve said.

  “I haven’t figured it out yet,” Alec said grimly, “but I’m working on it.”

  “It’s impossible,” Reed scoffed.

  “Listen.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t subscribe to the ‘impossible’ school of thought. Anything is possible. We just have to figure out how.”

  “You don’t even know what’s involved with the job yet, babe.”

  “She’s not your babe,” Alec snapped.

  Reed smiled.

  Eve glared at both of them. “I know I’m not about to get pissed on and provoked every day of my life. I have a job I love, a home I worked damned hard for, and a life that suits me, even if it’s not perfect. I don’t want to hunt demons and nasties.”

  “Pissed off,” Reed corrected.

  “What?”

  “You said ‘pissed on and provoked’ not ‘pissed off and provoked.’”

  “I know what I said! And I meant what I said. I was out running errands while Alec was napping and ran across a gargoyle with a rotten sense of humor and a large bladder.”

  Alec froze. “A gargoyle?”

  “What did it look like?” Reed asked.

  “Like a gargoyle,” she said dryly. “Made of gray stone or cement, small wings, big mouth. This one was kind of cute, with a face like an Ewok.”

  “No,” Alec said. “What did its details look like?”

  She frowned. “It didn’t have any.”

  “It had to have some kind of designator,” Reed argued. “They
’re marked just like you are.”

  “Then he hid his details up his ass or something, because I saw every inch of him, even the bottom of his feet. He was bouncing around, spinning circles, and laughing like an idiot.”

  “Maybe your sight isn’t working yet,” Alec suggested. “They can’t hide their details in body cavities. On the buttocks, genitalia, or even under their hair, yes. But it has to be on the skin.”

  “I’m telling you, this guy had nothing on him,” she insisted. “And I know my ‘sight’ is working, because I saw the jerk on the beach’s details just fine.”

  “Jerk on the . . .” Alec scowled. “You ran into something else?”

  “You can see why taking a nap was a great idea,” Reed drawled.

  “Screw you.” Alec looked fit to kill again. “That was probably your idea.”

  “Not this time. I was too busy keeping your girl alive.”

  “You can’t even keep yourself alive.”

  Eve stood.

  The brothers barked in unison, “Where are you going?”

  “Away from you two. I’ll take my food to go, then you can fight over which one of you will pay.”

  “Sit down, angel.”

  Alec’s voice arrested her, the tone of command undeniable. This was a different side of Alec. Even more delicious than the others.

  Damned libido.

  Angry with her unruly desires, Eve plopped back into her seat.

  “Tell me everything that happened,” Alec said. “Every detail.”

  When she finished, the two men exchanged glances.

  “What?” Eve asked.

  “The tengu went after you,” Reed said. “He shouldn’t have.”

  “Tengu?”

  “The demon you thought was a gargoyle.”

  “I feel like the kid in school who has Kick Me taped to her back,” she muttered. She looked at Alec. His unwritten sign said Don’t Mess with Me. If she had to wear any sign, that was the one she wanted.

  “We have to find him.” Alec’s fingers drummed atop the plastic table.

  The server returned with their food and they all waited while the plates were set down. Alec ordered the same meal, then watched Eve closely as she began to eat.

  “Why do we need to find him?” Eve asked between bites of her first taco.

  “We need to know who he’s affiliated with.”

  “By his details?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine.”

  A smile tugged at the corner of Alec’s mouth. “You sound grumpy.”

  “Neither of you believe me. That thing was completely gray from head to toe. Not a speck of color or design on him.”

  “Your senses probably didn’t kick in until you ran across the Nix on the beach,” Reed pointed out, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin. “They fluctuate quite a bit for the first couple of weeks.”

  “A Nix?” Alec swore.

  “Is that bad?” Eve glanced back and forth between the two.

  “Hell yeah, that’s bad. And I bet you riled him up with that mouth of yours.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my mouth.”

  Both men’s gazes dropped to her lips. They tingled in response. She cleared her throat.

  “And the tengu is bad, too?” she asked in order to break the sudden tension.

  “Any demon is bad,” Reed answered. “But as far as pests go, a tengu is a mosquito and a Nix is a rat. Our resources are strapped, so the tengu fall fairly low on the scale. We don’t hunt them as actively as we do some other Infernals.”

  “We’re going to hunt this one,” Alec said grimly.

  “I’m going, too.” Eve wiped off her fingers. “If that thing had details, I want to see them.”

  “It definitely had details, babe.” Reed picked up his beer. “There’s no doubt about that.”

  “Says you,” she corrected. She looked at Alec. “What do you intend to do when you find him?”

  Alec shrugged. “Shake him down and see what kind of information falls out.”

  “Unless he has hidden talents, it doesn’t seem like a fair fight. He was small.”

  “It’s the demon he works for that concerns me. The tengu are lesser demons who lack initiative and ambition. It’s out of character to risk bringing attention to himself. They like to cause trouble, but only indirectly.”

  “It’s not going to be dangerous, is it?”

  His gaze softened. “You’ll just point him out and get out of the way.”

  “I can do that.” Eve picked up her fork, scooped up some rice, and tried to concentrate on eating. It wasn’t as easy as she would have wished.

  She was too exhilarated, a response she found more disturbing than exciting.

  “Now . . .” Alec’s voice was laden with frustration. “Tell me what happened with the Nix.”

  CHAPTER 9

  As Eve unlocked her front door, she took a moment to appreciate the speed with which it had been replaced. But when she stepped inside her condo, admiration gave way to trepidation.

  Someone was inside her home.

  Alec sensed her hesitation. He caught her arm and pulled her back, taking a defensive position in front of her. Then he sniffed the air and shot her a questioning glance.

  She sighed. She didn’t need an enhanced sense of smell to recognize the scents of curry and freshly steamed rice. “It’s my mother.”

  An odd look passed over his handsome features. Shock and wariness, perhaps. Then a dawning wonder.

  It was the worst possible time for Miyoko Hollis to be visiting. She would view Alec’s presence in Eve’s house with more significance than Eve was presently prepared to give him. And he knew it, if the sudden mischievous grin he wore was any indication.

  “Evie-san?” her mother called out.

  “Yeah, it’s me, Mom.” Eve narrowed her eyes at Alec. She hoped like hell her father wasn’t here, because if he was and if he’d seen Alec’s belongings in her bedroom, he’d expect there to be a ring on her finger. Despite her traditional Japanese upbringing, Miyoko actually had less old-fashioned views of courtship.

  “Behave,” Eve admonished.

  “Of course.” But the gleam in Alec’s eyes belied the promise.

  Her mother’s head peeked out from around the support pillar that anchored the end of the island. The same thick, inky black hair she’d passed on to Eve was permed into tight, short corkscrews that made her look as young as her daughter.

  “Oh, hello,” her mother greeted, her face brightening at the sight of Alec. She appreciated a good-looking man as much as the next woman.

  The rest of Miyoko’s four-foot eleven-inch frame appeared, revealing an apron that protected a lime-colored sweater tank and multihued skirt. A tiny, diamond-encrusted cross decorated her neck. The Hollises were Christian—Southern Baptist, to be precise, although they attended the occasional festival at the Orange County Buddhist Church for the food and entertainment. Eve had been baptized as a child, but broke free in junior high, refusing to accompany her family to any further church events. It was still a point of contention between her and the rest of the family. They didn’t understand her renouncement of organized religion, but then, they’d never tried to.

  Eve made the introductions, her gaze darting to the end of the couch where two suitcases waited with feigned innocuousness.

  “Where’s Dad?

  “Fishing with his buddies again, near Acapulco.”

  Damn.

  Her mother was a caregiver by nature. When her husband was away, she needed someone to fuss over. Since Eve’s sister, Sophia, lived in Kentucky, Eve was the recipient of that fussing.

  The whole day had been hell. Now, her mother and Alec were in her house at the same time. Eve cringed inwardly.

  “A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hollis,” Alec greeted her.

  “Please. Call me Miyoko.”

  “Konichiwa, Miyoko-san.” He bowed.

  Eve watched startled pleasure pass over her mother’s face, but
Alec’s charm wouldn’t be enough to make up for his bad-boy exterior. The slightly overlong hair, worn jeans, ripped physique, and scuffed biker boots made him unacceptable from the get-go. Her mother had impossible-to-meet standards for her daughters’ suitors. Reed’s exterior would be closer to passing muster, but his arrogance would never make the cut. In all of Eve’s years of dating, she had yet to meet a man her mother approved of for longer than five minutes.

  “It smells wonderful in here,” Alec praised.

  “Japanese curry.” Her mother beamed. “Have you tried it before?”

  “Yes. It’s one of my favorites.”

  For a moment, Eve was startled by the statement. Then she considered how long Alec had been living and how far he’d traveled.

  “I made two flavors,” her mother said, returning to the kitchen where onions, carrots, and potatoes were in various stages of being peeled and cut. “Hot and mild.”

  “Why mild?” Eve asked, going to the fridge for a can of soda. She lifted one up to her guests in silent query. They both nodded, so Eve pulled out three and kicked the door closed.

  “I invited Mrs. Basso to have dinner with us. Poor dear. I can’t imagine living alone.”

  “I’m glad she accepted.” Eve set the sodas on the counter and opened the dishwasher. It was empty.

  “You shouldn’t live out of the dishwasher,” Miyoko admonished. “I put the dishes away for you.”

  “You didn’t have to do that. I can take care of myself.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  Maybe her mother didn’t mind, Eve thought, but she’d never let Eve forget that she’d done it.

  Eve turned to the cupboard that held her glasses and found Alec there before her, pulling them down. He handed her one, then pushed the other two—one at a time—under the fridge’s ice dispenser.

  She watched with a mixture of horror and pleasure. This was the man who’d taken her virginity ten years ago. It seemed impossible that he was in her home, moving around as if he’d lived with her the whole time.

  Their gazes met and held.

  “How long are you visiting, Alec?” her mother asked.

  “Actually, business has brought me into the area indefinitely,” Alec replied, setting both ice-filled glasses in front of Eve, and taking the empty one from her hand.

  “Oh?” Wariness crept into Miyoko’s tone. “What do you do?”