Cat Devon - The Entity Who Came for Christmas

“Back in one piece,” he announced as he set her on her feet.

She breathed in the scent of him. He really shouldn’t still have this kind of sexual power over her. She shouldn’t still love him.

“Pru?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

She stepped back and glared at him. “No, I’m not okay. I do not appreciate being laughed at by a gang of vampires.”

He glared right back at her. “And I don’t appreciate being cursed by a witch.”

She wasn’t sure how it happened, but somehow his mouth was on hers in a kiss that was as fierce as it was raw. He moved so fast he stole her breath, but it was his passion that stole her heart. He slid his tongue past her parted lips to tickle the roof of her mouth before tangling with her tongue in an erotic thrust and parry that made her want more. But she could tell he wasn’t ready to break the curse himself, and she couldn’t do it for him.

As difficult as it was for her, she pulled away.

“I can’t make you believe if you don’t,” she said before walking out.

“Navy Pier is a neutral zone. Sort of the vampire version of Switzerland,” Simon told Pru the next morning as he escorted her toward the Holiday Ice Sculpture Festival taking place on the Chicago tourist spot. “It actually juts out into the lake and the lake is also a neutral zone.”

“Fascinating, I’m sure,” Pru said. She wasn’t feeling real cheerful today. Memories of his kiss had kept her awake half the night.

“Time is running out,” Simon reminded her.

Thinking about running made her glance down at her footwear. She was wearing her magic kick-ass boots today. Contrary to popular fashion, they were not four-inch-high stilettos. Hers were more along the line of blinged-out red leather cowboy boots. Looks were nice, but the main thing was that she could run in them. Run really fast. And kick really hard.

Because when one was dealing with vampires and demons, the ability to move quickly was important. Yes, she could do a disappearing spell, but there were occasions when there was no time to speak one word. And she could hardly go airborne when she was surrounded by humans in the middle of the day. Witches were supposed to stay under the radar.

Had she stayed back in Boston, she would have been working at the Spirit Wellness Center today, seeing patients and working on ways to help them heal.

Instead here she was in Chicago with the vampire Demon Hunter who had seduced her and deserted her. The vampire Demon Hunter she’d cursed. The vampire Demon Hunter she was now helping in his quest to find Excalibur before someone else did.

They’d driven into the city, using a car for a change. Pru had tried to press Simon for more answers. He’d evaded answering just as he’d evaded the crazy drivers skimming through on red lights. He had told her about the forty-eight-hour deadline and reminded her that a powerful and indestructible weapon like Excalibur could not fall into the wrong hands. As in demon hands. Or even in Gold Coast vampire hands.

Then he’d gone on to grumble over the fact that they’d had to borrow Zoe’s red Mini instead of Damon’s top-of-the-line black Porsche. Apparently Damon didn’t let anyone borrow his car, not even his sire. She couldn’t blame him. Simon drove like he did everything else, fast. He’d slowed down when he had sex with her. Then he’d taken all night, working her body for hours of bliss.

She’d already had a restless night dreaming of Simon. She didn’t need to be thinking about having sex with him when she was awake.

The ice festival opened today at noon and they’d arrived right on time. The cheerful sound of “Jingle Bells” sung by a children’s chorus filled the frigid air.

Looking around at the crowd gathered for the Holiday Ice Sculpture Festival, Pru didn’t detect any supernaturals, unless you counted the mom of five who was able to keep all her kids well behaved. If that wasn’t magical, Pru didn’t know what was.

Then she saw them. Lawrence, the tall Botox vampire who had confronted them at the Millennium Park Ice Rink the night before, and two of his sidekicks.

“Out enjoying the sights?” he asked her.

“Yes. I’ve never been to Navy Pier before.”

Simon put his arm around her, staking his claim. He did so with such emphasis that he might as well have had her wear a T-shirt that said “SHE’S MINE.”

Instead she was wearing a holiday red down jacket over layers of cashmere and denim to stay warm. The jaunty red Santa hat on her head had been put there by one of the young workers at the entrance. They hadn’t even attempted to put one on Simon. One look from his glacier-cold eyes and they’d quickly stepped away.

“Navy Pier is neutral territory,” Simon curtly reminded the other vampire.

“I’m here to make sure it stays that way,” Lawrence said.

“So am I,” Damon said as he and Zoe joined them.

Pru was not expecting them, but she could tell by the pissed-off look Simon shot her that he thought she was responsible for their appearance. Simon preferred working alone. He’d done so for over a millennium. The closer they got to the deadline, the more you would think he would welcome help. But no, Simon was the opposite.

He’d forbidden her from telling anyone about their quest. The more who knew, the greater the risk. So she’d sworn on her family’s Book of Spells not to say anything about the sword.

But she had let it slip to Zoe that she and Simon would be visiting Navy Pier today. She hadn’t seen the harm in that. After all, she was borrowing her friend’s car.

“Calling in reinforcements?” Lawrence taunted Simon.

“They’re not here on my account,” Simon said.

“Maybe they’re looking for the same thing you are?” Lawrence said.

“Peace and quiet, you mean? If so, they won’t find it here,” Pru said. “This place is full of tourists.”

“And demons?” Lawrence asked. “After all, Damon and Simon are hunters.”

Personally Pru thought that one of the ice sculptors looked like he could be a demon, with his stained flannel shirt and tattoo-laden burly arms. He’d created a lacy ice snowflake design that looked more angelic than demonic. But maybe that was to throw them off.

“If you were worried about demons, you shouldn’t have hired them as mercenaries,” Simon told Lawrence.

Lawrence shrugged. “Good help is hard to find. As it turns out, it was an experiment gone wrong and you may have done us a favor by destroying them.”

Was that why they’d all been high-fiving each other at the ice rink last night? Here she’d been afraid Simon was in danger and instead they were all buddy-buddy now? If she lived forever, she’d never understand vampires.

“Since I did a favor for the Gold Coast clan, do one for me. Stop following us,” Simon said with a dangerously hard edge to his voice.

“Or?” Lawrence said.

“You don’t want to find out.” Simon turned his back and walked away, dragging Pru with him.

Zoe hurried after them. “Wait up!”

“I told you to keep your mouth shut.” Simon’s anger was reflected in his expression as he glared down at Pru before Zoe joined them.

”Is there a problem?” Zoe asked.

Simon flashed his charming smile. Pru knew him well enough to recognize that it wasn’t real. His real smile could almost make you forgive him anything. Except walking out on her in London. Okay, she might even have forgiven that if he hadn’t had sex with her simply because she was a descendant of Morgan Le Fay’s. He’d told her as much. And been rather proud of himself in doing so.

What witch wouldn’t curse him? Actually, she hadn’t realized at the time that she had the power to truly curse him. Normally that didn’t happen. Not between a witch and a vampire. But because of her ties to Morgan and his to Merlin, their situation was different.