Kate Evangelista - Til Death

He gave me an are-you-learning-impaired look. A face I knew all too well. This was good. I could handle myself when on familiar territory.

“I usually stay in the city with my tutors. I was homeschooled until recently.”

“So why are you here?” I pretended to search for Turkey on the globe.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m here, you’re here, Constantinople is here.”

The cat settled its head on its front paws, murmuring as if in response to Dillan’s careless words.

“But it does matter!” I covered my mouth with both hands. Where the hell did that come from?

As if reading my mind, his eyebrows shot up. A hint of a grin formed on his lips. Constantinople gave me a withering stare, silently reprimanding me for disturbing his nap.

“Really? Why?” Mischief returned to those startling blue eyes, and something else…something unfamiliar that caused heat to flow under my skin.

Feeling weak against that stare, I hedged, “What matters? What did I say?”

That mocking eyebrow went up a notch, forcing my head to work on overtime. The smile accompanying it made me dizzy. Did the air in here just get lighter?

“Don’t play dumb.” He picked up a slightly disgruntled Constantinople as he stood and deposited the feline on the seat with deliberate yet graceful movements. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The voice in me that told me to fight the corpses screamed for me to run now. But I couldn’t move. After giving Constantinople one last head-to-tail stroke, Dillan faced me. He dusted cat hair off his hands and jeans without breaking eye contact.

When did the library get so hot? I resisted the urge to pull on my sweater collar. My palms sweated. I forced myself to move. For every forward step he made, I answered with a step back. Our little dance continued until the far wall bookshelves pushed against me.

A glimmer of pleasure surfaced in his eyes.

My skin practically sizzled.

“Come on.” He rested his hands on the shelves, boxing me in with his body. “Tell me why it matters that I’m here.”

“Well…” I faltered. His clean scent scattered my thoughts.

“Well?”

I bit my lip. My worst idea yet. His eyes left mine to focus on my mouth. I shivered. Oh, Lord Almighty. Slowly, he bent his head toward me. The tip of my tongue darted across my lower lip. This couldn’t be happening. What was he thinking?

Willingly suffering the shock, I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him back gently. He pinned me with a questioning glance. When I didn’t respond fast enough, he added an eyebrow arch.

I shook my head, feeling light-headed. “Whatever you think you’re doing, don’t.”

“And what’s to stop me?”

What was to stop him? If he wanted, all he had to do was move faster next time. But I couldn’t let that happen. I steeled my expression against his challenging grin.

“I’m just not ready for this. Whatever it is,” I said.

All expression left his handsome features. My chest clenched in response. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it. And just as quickly, he dropped his hands from the shelves, turned on his heel, and sauntered back to the reading chair.

I sagged against the bookshelf. My knees trembled. An annoying part of me wondered if I did the right thing by asking him to stop.

Dillan

Back to the Real World Newcastle

Happy to finally be rid of this disastrous weekend, Dillan climbed out of Kyle’s car Sunday afternoon. He took the steps to the townhouse two at a time without looking back. He didn’t need keys since the doors stayed unlocked. Any locks wouldn’t stop what they normally went up against. The wards discouraged Supernaturals from entering the home. And any human would be stupid to break into an Illumenari protected household. Well, maybe not so much the Hilliard household. Chuckling, he pushed in and dropped his duffle by the door. The stillness inside deceived the casual onlooker. Rainer was around. He felt his menace. Just as his uncle felt him the second he came in.

“Rainer,” he called, keeping his excitement in check. He didn’t want to give his uncle the wrong impression. Banishment just got better. Newcastle wasn’t the sleepy town he initially thought it to be. “Rainer!” He moved further into the house, not having the patience for his uncle’s mind games. “You dick, I know you’re home.”

“Quit squawking.” His warden stepped out of his study. He snapped the book in his hand shut. “I didn’t think I’d miss the quiet until I had the weekend all to myself.”

“It’s back to babysitting the prisoner, Granpa.”

“I did laundry while you were gone. For someone who moves around a lot, you have a crap load of clothes.”

“There’s a Maestro in town.”

That caught the Boogeyman off guard. His brow furrowed, and his gaze turned murderous. Executing a precise about-face, he motioned for Dillan to follow him into his study.

Rainer sat down behind his desk and asked, “How do you know?”

Taking one of the seats across from his uncle, Dillan used the least amount of words to recount what had happened. “Saturday, at Valley View, five puppets broke through the barriers.”

“Puppets?” Steel entered Rainer’s gaze. His mounting anger charged the energy in the room until it bit into skin.

The killing urge reached across the table and washed over Dillan. Unable to avoid it, all he could do was nod, keeping his hands flat on the arm rests. Mentally, he calculated the distance between the chair and door. He considered his options. Maybe he could make it out of there before his uncle pounced. The power in the Boogeyman’s aura pinched his arms, forcing him to abandon any escape plan. Predators always ran after prey. The less he moved, the better. If the chair hadn’t been holding him up, he’d be on his hands and knees already.

“What were they doing there? Valley View has the strongest wards. I helped put them up.”

“Your wards had holes. I caught them with Selena—”

“Fallon?” His interruption came with stillness. The pulse on Dillan’s neck quickened, and sweat drenched his palms. The oppressive air in the room made his pinky twitch.

He swallowed against the tightness in his throat. “It could have been anyone. She was there because…”

“Because?”

From the way Rainer looked at him, lying to save himself wasn’t a good idea. Backed into a corner, he went with the truth. “Because…” He swallowed again. “I was being an idiot. We argued. She stormed out.”

When his uncle relaxed, he breathed again. Shit. He hated it when his jailer got all killer instinct on him.

“How are you so sure they—”

“Five reanimated corpses that turned to black ooze at a single sword strike.” He left out the fact that one of them turned to ooze because of Selena. Rainer would never let him hear the end of it. Losing his sword to a girl. Not good for an Illumenari.

“I’m sure you already know who Kyle Hilliard is?”

He pushed back on his uncle’s stare. “What are you hiding here, Rainer?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“Damn it doesn’t. I’m investigating dog disappearances and saving a girl I don’t even think is human from puppets. I’m a part of this, whether you like it or not. If you want me to do my job, I need to know everything.”

“This isn’t official, remember?” Rainer leaned back. His chair tilted until it creaked. He rubbed his face with one hand then he sighed. “You’re not cleared for what we have going on here.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Besides the dogs, I need you to expand your search to include the Maestro. He needs to be found and eliminated.”