She'd been in the ER for the last four hours. Been checked by three doctors, and they'd all wanted to keep her there in the lovely confines of Reed In-firmary for a much longer stay.
But, other than the bleeding, the bruises, and the general fury that she had going on, she was fine and did not need to stay overnight in a hospital.
His blue eyes wide, he began, "Babe, there is no way you can go on the air looking-"
She growled and Ben very wisely decided to shut up.
Holly pointed to the production assistant who was staring at her ripped skirt. "You." His eyes bulged. "Hook me up with a microphone." She glanced back at Ben. "Because I'm going live."
"No, Mac said Susan's doing the story about the restaurant food poisoning-"
Another growl. Then she stormed past him. She caught the eye of the cameraman working the evening news show. The assistant hurried behind her, struggling to attach a microphone.
Holly didn't bother sitting at the second "desk"-the backup that waited just beyond the main anchors. She stood, wanting the camera to catch all of her.
In the background, she heard Mac talking, heard the clear order of "switch to Holly in five, four…"
"What the hell?" Susan Patrick's snarl. The blonde shoved her way toward the camera, glaring at Holly. " I'm on the air-"
"Hold your story, Sue. The burgers can wait." Mac pointed to Holly. "She's our lead."
Mac always knew when a good story was close. When a reporter had dried blood on her clothes, it meant a very good story was close.
"…three, two, one…"
The camera lens fixed on her. Holly lifted her bruised chin. She could still taste her own blood on her tongue. "I'm Holly Storm, coming to you live tonight with a plea for your help."
Niol stilled in front of the television. The glass of water he'd been lifting to his mouth froze.
Holly stared back at him. A long, angry red scratch slid down her cheek. The camera slowly pulled back, and Niol caught sight of her full body. The ripped clothes. The blood.
A slow fury began to burn within him.
"Earlier today, I was the victim of a hit-and-run."
The glass shattered.
"A white van, no plates, hit me on Biltmore Street just before twelve today."
Niol shook his hand, sending water and glass shards flying.
"If anyone out there has information about this crime, call the police station-"
Niol grabbed the remote. Muted the sound. Stared at Holly.
So weak.
Biltmore Street. Home of hookers, drug dealers, and gang-bangers. What the hell had Holly been doing there?
And what would he have done if she'd died there?
Fuck.
He reached across his desk. Picked up his phone. His call was answered on the second ring.
"I want protection." He didn't bother identifying himself. Not necessary.
A swift inhalation of air. "For yourself, sir?"
He almost laughed. Almost, but he could still see the bruises on Holly's skin. "For Holly Storm."
Niol had said that he'd leave her, that she'd be on her own.
It looked like Holly wasn't the only liar in town.
Someone would fucking pay for hurting her.
Sam Miters had been clean for exactly four weeks, two days, and sixteen hours.
At first, he'd been counting the minutes. When little Holly Storm had held his hand in that shithole and watched him vomit his guts out, he'd counted the minutes then.
The early days were a blur. He remembered coming to a few times and seeing her. Looking like some kind of avenging angel-an angel with the fires of hell around her head. Beautiful Holly Storm.
She'd seen him through hell, all right. Offered him a second chance.
But she didn't know what his life was like. Didn't understand.
His gift…such as it was…let him see the darkness in humans. Only the darkness. He heard their painful dreams in whispers. Heard them long to kill. To torture.
He never heard the whispers from the good people in the world. He'd never so much as caught a hint of Holly's thoughts.
It was the killers. The twisted souls lost long ago– they spoke to him.
And they would never fucking shut up.
Being clean just made their voices louder.
One voice, one deep voice, had slipped into his head a few days ago and the damn voice had kept him awake since then, shuddering with disgust.
The things the voice wanted-Sam choked, tasting bile. No, he couldn't think of them. He'd tried to pretend the voice didn't exist, that someone wasn't out there, hunting-
Then that kid had turned up dead.
He rapped the back of his head into the brick wall of the alley. No, no, he couldn't do this anymore, couldn't-
"I can make it stop."
His breath caught. Because, this time, the voice hadn't come from inside him. He looked up, body shaking, and met the stare of a stranger.
The man smiled. "Chased any dragons lately, friend?"
Chasing the white dragon. Sam's breath caught. Meth. Sweet white beauty. He shook his head even as his heart seemed to jump into his throat. He swallowed, trying to ease a mouth gone bone dry. He'd been so good. Stayed clean.
For what? So that a fucking psycho could crawl into his head and he couldn't get the bastard out?
He kept hearing the words, over and over.
Cut them. Slice them. Blood on the ground. The impure will die.
Cut them. Slice them. Blood on the ground.
"I've got something you might like. Something that will make you feel real good."
He never felt good. Not even when the meth pumped in his blood.
But the voices quieted with the drug's help. Such beautiful silence. "Wh-where is it?"
The man shook his head. "Ah, now that's not the way it works. First, you've got to pay."
Cut them.
Sam's whole body trembled.
The man bent, reached into a black bag at his feet, and pulled out a glass pipe. A whimper slipped past Sam's lips. He liked to use the pipe. Liked to grip the cold glass in his hands and inhale his bitch of a lady.
His gaze locked helplessly on the pipe. He licked his lips. Just once. He could take a hit this one time, stop the voice-
Slice them.
And he'd be fine. He wouldn't get trapped by the meth again. It would just be one time.
One time.
He took a step forward, hands already up to reach for the pipe. "I-I don't have much cash…"
Another smile, one that seemed too cold. The man's eyes glinted like chips of ice. "I don't want your money."
He needed that pipe. "What?"
The pipe was shoved back into the bag. "Information. All I want from you, Sam, is information."
Sam blinked. How did the guy know his name?
"Tell me what I want to know, and I'll take you on a ride you'll never forget."
Blood on the ground.
He slammed his hands over his ears, but he could still hear the voice.
The man walked toward him, the black bag now thrown over one shoulder. He caught Sam's hands and tugged them down. "Hurting, are you?"
A fast nod.
"I'll make the pain stop. Just tell me what I need to know."
Another fast nod. He would have traded anything right then.
The fucking voice had to stop.
"The reporter…Holly Storm…what did you tell her today?"
Holly. She'd helped him-
The stranger's eyes caught his, held him in that grip of ice. "What did you tell her?"
"N-nothing." True. "Not working…w-with her anymore." He didn't want her to know about the voices. Something was wrong with him, had to be, or he wouldn't hear the killers.
Like to like . That was the way of the supernatural world.
No, no, he wasn't a killer. He wasn't-
"But she came to you because she wanted something, right?"
He tried to think. His mind was a blur of death, hunger, and fear.
He had to get his dragon.
Holly's voice trickled through his mind. He'd been desperate to get away from her, wanting only to run and hide.
"What did Holly Storm say to you?"
His lips shook. "Niol!" The word burst from him. "She thought he-he knew about the kid's death-" Hadn't she thought that? Yeah, yeah, she'd mentioned Niol, he knew she had.
Those frozen eyes narrowed. "Did she?"
Sam's control snapped. He grabbed the man's shirt, balled it beneath his fingers. "Give me the drug!" He meant for his voice to be a roar. It came out like a whimper.
Cut them.
"Of course…" The man's gaze flickered behind Sam for a moment, toward the darkened street.
"Come with me."
He would have followed him to hell.
Sam stumbled behind the man as they tracked behind the buildings. Twisting and turning, snaking into the secret parts of the city.
Then they were at a door. A black door, heavy, behind yet another building, with the scent of garbage and smoke heavy in the air.
The stranger pushed open the door. "Go inside. I'll give you what you need…"
He ran inside. A lab-maybe there was a whole damn lab waiting for him.
A small, bare bulb hung from the ceiling, glinting, casting light over the shadows. Something crackled beneath his feet.
He glanced down. What the hell?
Looked like plastic. Spread all over the floor, all the way to that table-
Slice them.
The hair on his nape rose.
Sam swallowed. No, this wasn't right. He turned toward the stranger and felt the hot cut of a knife against his flesh.
He fell back, a scream on his lips.
Too late, he realized he wasn't staring at a man.
"Don't worry, Sam, I'll make the voices stop." The knife, coated red with his blood, rose again.
"I'll make them stop…forever."
"No!" Sam lurched forward to fight the bastard.
The knife came at him again.
When Holly stepped inside her house hours later, she was tired, sore, and desperate for bed.
She kicked the door shut behind her, flipped on the lights-
And found Niol standing in her living room.
"Ah!" She stumbled back, slamming her elbows into the wooden door.
He raised a brow.
Holly glared and fought to suck in a deep breath. She really, really hadn't needed this shit tonight. "What the…" another deep breath, "hell are you doing in my home?" Her gaze shot to the left and she glared at her damn ineffective security system. A system that was even now beeping because she hadn't punched in her code.
Niol didn't speak, but he walked toward her. A tall, dark, threat.
She swallowed and met his black gaze.
He kept coming toward her. Her breath hitched.
You know what he's done.
A killer.
But he saved me.
Surely he hadn't come to her house to-
He stopped before her. Close enough to touch. He leaned forward. Put one hand beside her head, palm flat against the door. The other hand rose-
And his fingers punched in her security code.
The beeping ceased.
Holly exhaled. Nice. "Breaking and entering…that's against the law, Niol."
He shrugged. Then he took hold of her chin, lifting her face toward the light. Toward him. His mouth tightened and he said, "You look like hell, love."
Just the compliment she needed.
"And you look like a criminal who has just broken into my home. " A sexy criminal, yeah, dressed in black as he was-as he always was. Tight black shirt. Low-slung jeans. Tousled hair that looked like a woman's fingers had just raked through it, and they probably had.
Another shrug. "I needed to see you." He inched ever closer, so close that his chest brushed hers.
"I watched you on the news tonight."
A lick of what was not excitement curled in her belly.
The black stare drifted over her face. "You looked like hell then, too."
Her breath shot out on a growl. "A demon criminal who knows how to compliment. Just what I was dreaming of-"
He kissed her. Drove his tongue past her lips and tasted her. The muscled length of his body pushed against her, his legs nudging hers apart. The length of his cock, long and heavy with arousal, pressed through his jeans, and the feel of his erection had her gasping into his mouth.
Gasping not with horror, as she probably should have been.
But with pleasure.
Dammit, she wanted him. Jerk, criminal-she wanted him.
Her fingers locked around his shoulders. Holly needed him closer. She wanted to feel every hard inch of his flesh against hers.
The kiss became harder, deeper. The man kissed oh so well. He knew just how to move his mouth, how to slide his tongue, and how to demand a response that she was only too ready to give.
The fingers that held her chin slid down her throat. Over the pulse that raced too fast. Callused fingertips, rough, but gentle on her.
She hadn't expected gentleness from him.
Then again, she hadn't expected to want the demon so much, either.
When his mouth lifted from hers, she had to bite back the cry of protest that rose within her.
His eyes, still so mysteriously dark, now glinted with an undeniable hunger. "Decided you wanted to play, did you?"
Heat burned in her cheeks at his words, but she never looked away from his stare. Her nipples were tight, rubbing against his chest, and, with his enhanced demon senses, she suspected the guy could even…smell…her arousal.
No need to play the innocent. She hadn't been innocent for years. "You know I want you, Niol."
Hell, most women did. The guy spelled sex and danger. A wild combination, one designed to push a girl to the edge of reason.
