Tabitha was completely unprepared for his reaction to her kiss. In one swift, tender motion, he pulled her to him, lifted her off her feet, spun about, and then laid her down on the polished stairs. It wasn't the most comfortable of positions, but it was strangely erotic.
Still, it was no match for his hot, demanding kiss that left her weak and breathless. His long, masculine body lay between her legs as he kept all of his weight on one knee. She could feel his erection pressing against the center of her body as her own body burned to feel him like this naked.
The rich, delicious scent of him tore through her, exciting her even more.
There was nothing civilized or proper about the way he kissed her. Nothing civilized about the way he held her. It was raw and earthy. Promising.
Tabitha wrapped her legs around his lean waist as she returned his kiss full force.
Valerius couldn't think as he tasted her. Felt her. She cocooned him with her warmth and passion.
And it was all he could do not to take her on the stairs like some barbarian warlord.
"You have to stop kissing me, Tabitha," he breathed raggedly.
"Why?"
He hissed as she gently nipped his chin. "Because if you don't, I'm going to make love to you and that is the last thing either one of us needs."
Tabitha traced the outline of his lips with her tongue as he spoke. All she wanted was to strip off his clothes and explore every inch of his lush, male body with her mouth. To lick and tease him until he begged her for mercy.
But he was right. It was the last thing either of them needed. He was a Dark-Hunter forbidden to have a girlfriend and even worse, he wasn't the kind of guy she could ever introduce to her family.
They would all turn on her for befriending her brother-in-law's most hated enemy. Kyrian had been more than accepted into her large family. Everyone loved him.
Even Tabitha did. How could she hurt him this way?
No, it wasn't fair to any of them.
"All right," she said quietly. "But you'll have to get off me first."
That was the hardest thing Valerius had ever done. All his heart wanted was to stay right where he was. But he couldn't and he knew it.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to get up and help her to her feet.
His body was still hard, his breathing a struggle. He couldn't stand to be close to her without touching her. But then, he was used to restraint.
He had been bred to it.
What he had never expected was the almost animal-like need he had to take her. It was primitive and demanding. Fierce. And the only thing it craved was a taste of Tabitha.
"I suppose this is where we part company," he said, his voice catching.
Tabitha nodded. He passed so close to her that she could smell his raw, innately masculine scent. It made her heart pound and fueled her desire even more.
It was all she could do not to reach out for him. Aching, she watched him open the front door to his house.
"Thank you, Tabitha," he said quietly.
She felt his sadness and it made her hurt all the more. "Stay out of trouble, Val. Try not to get stabbed again."
He nodded and kept himself rigid and formal. But he refused to look at her.
Sighing wistfully over something that couldn't be helped, Tabitha forced herself to leave.
It was over.
Impulsively, she looked back as the door closed. There was no sign of Valerius. None.
Except for a sixth sense that told her he was still watching her.
Valerius couldn't take his eyes off Tabitha as she got into her car. He had no comprehension of why he felt the compulsion to run out of the door and stop her.
She wasn't like Agrippina. Tabitha wasn't soothing or comforting, and yet...
His heart ached as she whipped her car out of his driveway and herself out of his life.
He was alone again.
But then, he'd always been alone. Even when Agrippina had lived within his household, he had kept to himself. He'd watched her from afar. Lusted for her every night and yet he'd never touched her.
It wasn't his place. He'd been a nobleman and she nothing more than a low-born slave who served in his household. Had he been one of his brothers, he would have taken her without question. But it hadn't been in him to take advantage of her. To force her to his bed.
She wouldn't have dared deny him. Slaves had no control whatsoever over their lives, especially not when it involved their masters.
Every time he had seen her, it had been on the tip of his tongue to ask her to sleep with him.
And every time he had opened his mouth, he had quickly clamped it shut and refused to ask her something she had no say about. So, he had brought her into his household to save her from what the other members of his family would have done to her.
Valerius winced as he remembered the night his brothers had come for him. The night they had found her statue and realized who it was.
Cursing, he turned away from the window and forced all those thoughts out of his mind.
It had never been his destiny to help anyone.
He had been born to be alone. To know no friends or confidants. To never laugh or play.
There was no fighting destiny. No hope for anything more. He was born to this life just as he had been born to his previous one.
Tabitha was gone.
And it was for the best.
His chest tight, he made his way up the mahogany stairs toward his room. He would shower, re-dress, and then do the job he had sworn himself to.
Tabitha drove her car back to Tia's, where she saw Amanda's Toyota on the street. She pulled in and was getting out as Amanda and Tia came out the back door.
"Hey, Mandy," Tabitha said, closing the distance so she could hug her twin.
"So who was the gorgeous man you were with? Tia said you didn't tell her his name."
Tabitha forced herself not to send any unconscious thought or emotion out to her twin sister. "He's just a friend."
Amanda shook her head. "Tabby," she chided. "You need to stop hanging out with your gay friends and find a boyfriend."
"He didn't seem gay to me," Tia said. "But he was well dressed."
"So where's baby M?" Tabitha asked, trying to get both of them off the topic.
"At the house. You know how Ash is. He refuses to let her leave the premises once the sun goes down."
Tabitha nodded. "Yeah, I agree with him. She's a very special little girl in need of protection."
"I agree too, but I hate leaving my baby behind. I feel like I'm missing a vital organ." Amanda held up her silver talisman. "Tia made me promise to hang it in Marissa's room."
"Good advice."
Amanda frowned at her. "Are you sure you're okay? There's something very odd about you tonight."
"There's always something odd about me."
Amanda and Tia laughed. "True," Amanda agreed. "All right, I'll quit worrying then."
"Please. One mother is quite enough."
Amanda kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you guys later."
Neither Tabitha nor Tia spoke until after Amanda had gotten into her car and left. Tabitha put her hands in her pockets and turned to face her sister's scowl.
"What?"
"Who was he, really?"
"What is it with you guys? He was nobody for you to worry about."
"Was he a Dark-Hunter?"
"Stop it, Gladys," Tabitha said, referring to the nosy neighbor from Bewitched, the show that had given Tabitha her name. "There's no bonus round here for Twenty Questions and I've got stuff I need to do. See ya."
"Tabitha!" Tia followed her toward the street. "It's not like you to be secretive about anything. It makes me nervous."
Tabitha took a deep breath and faced her older sister. "Look, he was just someone who needed some help and I gave it. Now he's back to his life and I'm back to mine. We don't need a family powwow over it."
Tia made a noise of disapproval at her. "You are so aggravating. Why can't you just answer my one question?"
"Good night, Tia. Love you." Tabitha kept walking and was grateful her sister stopped and went back toward her shop.
Relieved, she headed for Bourbon Street with no real destination. She'd pick up some food for the homeless and then do her rounds.
"Oh, it's Tabitha!"
She turned at the distinctive singsongy voice she knew extremely well. Rushing up behind her was Ash's demon, Simi, who externally appeared to be a nineteen- or twenty-year-old woman. Tonight Simi had on a black miniskirt, purple leggings, and a risque corset top. She wore a pair of black thigh-high stiletto boots and carried a PVC coffin purse. Her long black hair was loose about her shoulders.
"Hey, Simi," Tabitha said, scanning the street behind the demon. "Where's Ash?"
She rolled her eyes and let out a disgusted noise. "He got waylaid by that old heifer-goddess who said she had to speak to him and so I said I was hungry and that I wanted to eat something. So he said, 'Simi, don't eat no people. Go to Sanctuary and wait for me while I talk to Artemis.' So here the Simi is going to Sanctuary all alone to wait for akri to come and get her. You going to Sanctuary, Tabitha?"
It always amused Tabitha that the demon referred to herself in the third person. "Not really. But if you want me to walk with you that way, I can."
A man whistled as he walked past them while he eye-balled Simi.
The demon gave him a sultry glance and a small smile.
He headed back toward them. "Hey, baby," he said. "You looking for company?"
Simi huffed. "Are you blind, human?" she asked. She gestured dramatically toward Tabitha. "Can't you see the Simi has company?" She shook her head.
He laughed at that. "You got a number I can call and talk to you sometime?"
"Well, I do have a number, but if you call it, akri will answer and he will get all angry at you and then your head gonna explode into fire." She tapped her chin. "Hmmm, come to think of it, barbecue... It's 555-"
"Simi..." Tabitha said in a warning tone.
"Oh, poo," Simi said as she let out another disgusted breath. "You are right, Tabitha. Akri just get all mad at me if the Simi makes him make this man barbecue. He can be so particular sometimes. I swear."
"Akri?" the man asked. "Is he your boyfriend?"
"Oh no, that's just sick. Akri my daddy and he get all upset whenever a man looks at the Simi."
"Well, what Daddy doesn't know won't hurt him."
"Yeah," Tabitha said, stepping between them. "Trust me, her 'Daddy' isn't someone you want to mess with." She took Simi's arm and led her away.
The man followed. "C'mon, I just want her number."
"It's 1-800-get-a-clue," Tabitha called over her shoulder.
"Fine, bitch, have it your way."
Before Tabitha could blink, Simi broke her hold and lunged at the man. She grabbed him by his neck and threw him up against the side of a building where she held him effortlessly while his feet were about a foot off the ground. "You don't talk to the Simi's friends like that. You hear me?"
He couldn't respond. His face was already turning purple, his eyes bulging.
"Simi," Tabitha said, trying to pull the demon's hand away from the man's throat. "You'll kill him. Let go."
The demon's brown eyes flashed red a second before Simi released him. Bending double, he coughed and wheezed as he struggled to breathe again.
"You better never insult another lady, you stupid human," she said. "The Simi means that, too."
Without another word or thought about the matter, Simi swung her purse over her shoulder and sashayed down the street as if she hadn't almost killed someone.
Tabitha's heart was still pounding. What would have happened had she not been there to stop Simi?
"So, Tabitha, do you have any more of them yummy mints that you gave to the Simi when we went to the movies?"
"Sorry, Simi," she said, trying to regain some composure as she watched the poor guy stumble down the street. No doubt it would be quite awhile before he tried to pick up another woman he didn't know. "I didn't bring them with me."
"Oh poo, I really liked them. I especially liked that green tin. It was very nice. The Simi needs to make akri buy her some."
Yeah, and Tabitha needed to make sure Ash didn't let his demon loose unattended anymore. Simi wasn't evil, she just didn't understand right or wrong. In the demon's world, there wasn't such a concept.
Simi only understood Ash's orders and she carried them out to the letter.
But at least they were headed somewhere where most of the people knew and understood Simi. Sanctuary was a biker bar at 688 Ursulines Avenue that was owned by a family of Were-Hunters. Unlike the Dark-Hunters, the Were-Hunters were cousins of the cursed Apollites and Daimons with one profound difference: They were also half-animal.
Aeons ago, the Were-Hunters had originally been half-Apollite, half-human. In an effort to save his sons from dying at twenty-seven as the Apollites did, their creator had magically spliced animal essence with his sons' bodies.
The result had created two sons who possessed human hearts and two who held animal hearts. Those who were human were called Arcadians and those who were animals were called Katagaria. The Arcadians spent most of their lives as humans who could take animal form, whereas the Katagaria were animals who could take human form.
Even though they were related, the two groups warred against each other because the Arcadians thought their animal cousins were lesser beings and the animals fought because that was their nature.
It was a Katagaria bear pack who owned the bar. Inside the walls of Sanctuary, anyone was welcomed. Human, Apollite, Daimon, god, Arcadian, or Katagaria. There was only one rule: You don't bite me and I won't bite you. Sanctuary was one of the few sacred areas on this planet where no paranormal being could attack another. And the bears would gladly keep Simi occupied until Ash was able to rejoin her.
Simi chattered endlessly until they reached the saloon-style doors of the bar.
"Are you coming inside?" she asked Tabitha.
Before she could answer, Tabitha saw Nick Gautier I headed toward them. Since Nick's mother worked at the bar, he was an almost constant visitor there.
"Ladies," he said with a charming smile as he joined them.
"Nick," Tabitha said in greeting. Simi smiled warmly. "Hi, Nick," she said, twisting a strand of hair around her finger. "You going into Sanctuary, too?"
"I was planning on it. What about you two?"
Tabitha's phone rang. "Hang on," she said to Nick and Simi before she answered it. It was Marla in hysterics.
"What?" Tabitha asked, trying to understand Marla's words that came out in staccato between her sobs.
She glanced at Nick, who was watching her with a frown, "How about Nick Gautier-"
The question was cut off by Marla's scream of terror. "Okay, okay," Tabitha said, realizing immediately why Marla was upset. Nick was wearing one of his heinous Hawaiian shirts along with ragged blue jeans and a pair of tennis shoes that looked as if they'd been fed to a garbage disposal. "Stop crying and get dressed. I'll get someone, I promise."
Marla sniffed. "You swear?"
"Cross my heart."
"Thank you, Tabby. You're a goddess!"
Tabitha had serious doubts about that as she hung up. "Nick, can you entertain Simi for a little while? I have to go prevent a disaster."
Nick grinned. "Sure, cher. I'll be more than happy to keep Simi company if she doesn't mind."
Simi shook her head. "You know, I really like them blue-eyed people," she said to Tabitha. "They's all quality."
"You two have a good time," Tabitha said as she left them and rushed for Chartres Street.
Valerius was blow-drying his hair when he heard a commotion in his bedroom. It sounded like Gilbert and...
Turning off the dryer, he left the bathroom to find Gilbert trying to pull Tabitha out of his bedroom.
"Forgive me, my lord," Gilbert said as he released Tabitha. "I was coming to let you know you had a visitor when she followed me into your rooms."
Valerius couldn't breathe as he saw the impossible. Tabitha back in his home.
An unexpected happiness consumed him, but he refused to even smile.
"It's all right, Gilbert," he said, amazed at how even his tone was when all he really wanted to do was grin like an imbecile at her. "You may leave us."
Gilbert inclined his head before he obeyed.
Tabitha swallowed at the amazing sight of Valerius wearing nothing but a damp burgundy towel wrapped around his lean hips. It seemed completely incongruous to find him like that. With his imperious air, she would have thought him to have a collection of silk bathrobes or something.
His dark hair was damp and loose, framing a face that was chiseled to perfection.
Wow, he looked good like that. He'd probably look even better naked like he'd been when he jumped out of her bed...
She squelched that thought before it got her into trouble.
"To what do I owe this honor?" he asked.
She smiled. Oh yeah, he was perfect for what she needed... and she didn't even want to contemplate that double entendre.
"I need you dressed." Tabitha paused at the thought. Yeah, right, there was something seriously wrong with a woman who said that to a man this finely made.
"Excuse me?"
"Hurry and dress, then meet me downstairs." She shooed him toward the bed where he had a suit laid out. "Fretta! Fretta!"
Valerius wasn't sure what stunned him more, her wanting him dressed or her speaking Italian.
"Tabitha-"
"Dress!" Without another word, she left his room.
Before he could move, she opened the door and stuck her head back in. "You know, you could have dropped that towel, slowpoke... oh, never mind that thought. Keep your hair down and make sure you wear something really elegant and expensive. Preferably Versace if you have it, but Armani will do, too. And make sure you wear a tie and bring your coat."
Completely baffled and yet oddly curious about her request, he exchanged the suit on his bed for a black Versace silk and wool blend with a black silk shirt and matching silk tie, then opened the door.
Tabitha turned as the door swung open and she felt her mouth go dry. Her jaw dropped.
It wasn't as if she hadn't known he was gorgeous, but...
Oh... my!
It was all she could do to breathe. She'd never seen a man wear a totally black suit before but it was haute couture of the first right. He looked debonair and regal.
Marla was going to die!
That is, if Tabitha didn't die first of hormonal overload poisoning.
"You know, I've always heard people say it should be illegal to look that good, but in your case, it really is true."
He frowned at her.
Tabitha grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the stairs. "C'mon, there's no time to waste."
"Where are you taking me?"
"I need a favor from you."
Valerius was oddly flattered by her request. It was extremely rare that anyone ever asked him for a favor. Those were things most people reserved for people they considered friends.
"What do you need?"
"Marla needs an escort for the Ms. Red Light pageant."
Valerius stopped immediately. "She what?"
Tabitha turned to face him. "Oh come on, please don't be a prude here. You're Roman, for heaven's sake."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I have some innate qualification to be an escort for a transvestite. Tabitha, please."
She looked so disappointed that it actually made him feel guilty.
"Marla has been practicing for this for months now and her guy cancelled on her tonight. Her number-one competitor bribed him to escort her instead. If Marla loses, this will kill her."
"I have no desire to be paraded around a group of gay men."
"It's not a parade... exactly. All you need to do is walk her out in the very beginning when they introduce her. It'll only take a few minutes and that's it. C'mon, Val. She spent a year's salary on this gorgeous Versace gown."
Tabitha looked up at him with the most pathetically heartfelt gaze he'd ever seen. It absolutely melted him.
"There's no one else to call on such a short notice. She needs a really elegant man. Someone who's first class and I don't know anyone else who fits the bill. Please? For me? I swear I'll make it up to you."
Personally, he'd rather be beaten and killed... again. And yet he couldn't find it within himself to disappoint her.
"What if one of them gropes me-"
"They won't. I promise, I'll protect all your..." She arched a brow as she looked at his derriere. "Assets."
"And if anyone ever learns of this-"
"They won't. I'll take it to my grave."
Valerius let out a long breath. "You know, Tabitha, anytime in my life I have ever sought to help anyone, I've only made it worse for them. I have a bad feeling about this. Something will go wrong. Watch and see. Marla will fall off the stage and break her neck, or worse, her big wig will catch on fire."
She waved her hand dismissively. "You're being paranoid."
No, he wasn't. And as she led him toward the front door, every horrible memory of his life played through his mind... The time when he'd felt sorry for Zarek and had tried to soothe him after a beating. His father had then forced him to beat Zarek more. He'd pulled back the strokes, hoping they wouldn't be as painful as the ones his father had given Zarek. Instead, he'd ended up blinding the poor slave.
Then when he'd tried to keep Zarek from being caught outside the confines of their villa, he'd caused his father to pay a slaver to take Zarek away from everything the boy had known.
As a first-time general, he'd had a young soldier under his command who was the last surviving son of his family. Hoping to keep the youth away from the battlefield, he had sent him as a messenger to another Roman camp.
The boy had died two days out from an attack by rogue Celts who had stumbled across him.
And Agrippina...
"I can't do this, Tabitha."
Tabitha paused on the front steps to look at him. There was a catch in his voice that told her this wasn't him being ridiculous.
She actually felt a wave of fear go through him.
"It'll be okay. Five minutes. That's it."
"And if I cause Marla to be hurt?"
"I'll be right there. Nothing bad is going to happen. Trust me."
He nodded, but she felt his reluctance as she tugged him toward the taxi she'd left waiting for them. Getting in, she gave directions to the driver to the Cha Cha Club on Canal Street.
It barely took them fifteen minutes to get there. Tabitha paid for the cab while Valerius stood on the sidewalk looking like he was ready to bolt, especially since some of the club's clientele had already taken notice of him.
"Don't worry," Tabitha said as she joined him. "They really won't bother you."
Valerius couldn't believe he was doing this. He must have lost his mind.
Tabitha took his hand and led him through the bright pink double doors.
"Hey, Tabby," a bouncer at the door called. He was large and muscular, wearing a sleeveless T-shirt. His dark brown hair was cut short and he had a Celtic band tattooed around his exposed biceps. At first glance he appeared intimidating, but his open, honest smile stole the ferocity from him.
Tabitha pulled out her wallet to pay their cover charge. "Hi, Sam. We're here to help out Marla. Is she in the back?"
"Put that away," Sam said, pushing her wallet back toward her. "You know your money's no good here. Yes, Marla's in back and please go help her. My boyfriend's about to lose his mind because she won't stop crying."
Tabitha winked at him. "Don't worry. The cavalry's here."
Valerius took a deep breath as he followed Tabitha into what had to be the scariest place he'd ever been. Personally, he'd rather walk straight into a nest of Daimons who were armed with chainsaws and guillotines.
But by the time they reached the bright yellow door beside the stage, he felt a little better. Though many of the men in the club stopped to gawk at him, none of them made a move toward him.
"Don't worry," Tabitha said as he walked past her. "I've got your flank covered."
Valerius jumped as she pinched his butt playfully. "Please don't give them ideas."
She laughed at that.
They walked through a crowd of people who were in the process of applying makeup, wigs, and elaborate dresses. Marla sat in a back corner, wailing while another man flitted around her, complaining. Her bald head was covered by a pink net turban and her makeup was completely wrecked.
"You're ruining all my hard work, honey. You have to stop crying or I'll never get it fixed in time."
"What does it matter? I'm going to lose. Damn you, Anthony! All men are pigs. Pigs! I can't believe he'd sell me out."
Valerius felt bad for Marla. It was obvious this pageant meant a lot to her.
"Hey, babe," Tabitha said. "Buck up. We got something a lot better than old Tone. In fact, both he and Mink will die when you step out with this by your side." She pushed Valerius forward.
"Hi, Marla," he said simply, feeling like a complete and utter jackass.
Marla's jaw dropped. "You're going to do this for me?"
He glanced over his shoulder to see Tabitha watching him closely. There was actually fear in her eyes that he might back out.
God knows, he truly wanted to.
He really, really didn't want to go through with this. But Valerius Magnus was tougher than this. He had never run in his life and he would do this favor for Tabitha no matter how distasteful it might be to him.
Straightening himself, he turned back to Marla. "I would be honored to be your escort."
Marla let out an ear-piercing scream as she jumped up and grabbed him in a hug so hard that he feared his ribs might crack. She screamed even louder as she left him and grabbed Tabitha up into a hug that brought Tabitha's feet off the floor.
"Oh, girlfriend, you are the best friend anyone ever had! Imagine Marla Divine going out there on the arm of the only straight man in the house. Girl, they will die of envy." She let go of Tabitha. "Carey, get over here and redo my makeup, pronto. I need to be fabulous! Fabulous!"
Carey was smiling at Marla's dramatics. "Sit down, darling, and you will be."
While Carey worked on Marla, Valerius and Tabitha stood off to the side, out of the way.
"Thank you," Tabitha said. "Really."
"It's okay."
Tabitha watched Valerius. Before she could stop herself, she wrapped her arms around him and smiled up at him and laid her head against his chest.
Valerius couldn't breathe at the sensation of her hold. His heart thudded at the sight of her head lying against him, at the warmth of her body pressed against his. An unexpected tenderness swelled inside him.
He reached up and lightly stroked her hair while he hoped nothing went wrong with Marla because he was helping her.
The last time he had tried to help someone had been over a year ago when Acheron had asked him to help fight Daimons off a Katagaria wolf pack. He'd gone willingly but during the fight, Vane and Fang, the two wolves they'd been helping, had lost their sister to an ill-placed Daimon strike. She'd died in her brothers' arms.
The sight haunted him to this day.
Valerius had told Vane that anytime he needed him, he'd gladly lend his sword arm to the wolf. Luckily, Vane had never needed him.
You're being ridiculous.
Perhaps, but it wouldn't bother him so much if he was the one who bore the brunt of it. The disaster always seemed to fall onto the ones he tried to help.
He put that thought away and focused on the woman with him. A woman unlike any other he'd ever met before.
She was truly special. Unique.
Time seemed to hold still as he stood there, just letting the warmth of Tabitha seep into him.
He was actually startled when Marla stood up and gestured for him to follow her.
"Dum-da-dum-dum... dum..." Tabitha hummed the theme song to Dragnet as if to portend his doom as they followed Marla back through the dressing room into a hallway that was crowded with drag queens.
Tabitha kissed Valerius's cheek, then left him so that she could make room for others.
She headed out into the club and found Marla's best friend, Yves, sitting at a table in front of the runway with a group of his pals.
"Hey, vampire slayer," Yves said as she pulled a chair up to the table. "Are you here to cheer Marla on?"
"Of course. Where else would I be?"
A cheer went up from the table while they bantered around and laid bets on who would win until the show finally started.
Tabitha was a nervous wreck until Marla and Valerius appeared. The crowd went wild the minute they saw Valerius, who walked as if he was completely comfortable in his role as escort. Only Tabitha could sense his discomfort and she had a feeling it stemmed more from his fear of causing Marla to be hurt than anything else.
When they reached the stairs that would lead them off the runway to where the rest of the earlier contestants were gathered, Valerius descended first and, like a true gentleman, reached up to help Marla down.
Tabitha wanted to weep at what a kind thing he was doing for someone he didn't even know.
She couldn't think of any other straight man who would do something this ridiculous to help out a woman he'd just met. A woman who had stabbed him no less.
As soon as the escorts were dismissed, she pushed through the crowd to find him. The instant she reached him, she threw herself into his arms and held him close.
Valerius was completely stunned by Tabitha's exuberant reaction. She felt so good in his arms that it was all he could do not to crush her to him and kiss her until they both made a spectacle of themselves.
She squeezed him tight, then laid a gentle kiss on his lips. "You are the best!"
Shocked, he didn't know what to say to that.
"If you want, we can leave now."
Valerius looked about. "No," he said honestly. "I've come this far and I didn't kill Marla, so I think we should stay and see how she does."
The look on her face made his entire body burn. "Does Ash have any idea just what a sweetheart you are?"
"I shudder at the mere prospect."
She laughed, then took his hand and led him to a table near the stage.
A large group of men greeted them.
"You were great!" the one closest to them said.
Valerius inclined his head as Tabitha introduced all of them. They sat there for a little over an hour while the contestants held a talent and bathing suit competition. The latter of which made Valerius even more uncomfortable than being on stage.
"You okay?" Tabitha asked, leaning toward him. "You look a little green."
"I'm fine," he said, even though he was cringing at the thought of how a man could restrict himself so much in a bathing suit as to leave no trace of his gender.
Some things just didn't bear thinking on.
After an hour, the judges had finally narrowed it down to three contestants.
Tabitha sat forward. She wrapped her arm around Valerius and perched her chin on his shoulder as she held her breath and prayed for Marla.
Valerius didn't move, but the sensation of his hand on hers made her warm considerably. No matter the outcome, she was so grateful to him for bailing her out.
Neither Kyrian nor Ash would be caught dead here.
Tabitha caught Marla's nervous gaze as they came down to the winner's name.
She couldn't breathe. Not until they announced...
"Marla Divine!"
Marla screamed and grabbed the contestant closest to her. They jumped up and down and cried as more contestants moved in for hugs and congrats.
Tabitha shot to her feet, screaming and whistling her support. "Go, Marla, go!"
She looked down to see Valerius staring at her in horror.
Huffing at him, she pulled him to his feet. "Let's hear it, General," she said. "Shout out."
"I only shout when calling orders to troops and that was a long time ago."
Well, there was only so much loosening up a person could do in one night.
She blew him a raspberry, then continued yelling for her roommate.
The emcee placed the crown on Marla, and the sash, then handed her a dozen roses and directed her toward the runway.
Marla walked down it, crying and laughing as she blew kisses to the audience.
When it was all over, Tabitha and Valerius fought the crowd to her side. Marla hugged Tabitha first, then grabbed Valerius. "Thank you!"
Valerius nodded. "My pleasure. Congratulations on winning, Marla."
Marla smiled. "I owe the two of you. Don't think I'm going to forget, now. Y'all go on and I'll catch up to you later."
"All right," Tabitha said. "I'll see you at home."
They made their way out of the club, to the busy Canal Street that bordered the French Quarter.
Tabitha checked her watch. It was almost ten. "I don't know about you, but I'm famished. Want to go grab a bite?"
Valerius gave her an amused stare. "You have to be the only woman alive who would ask a man with fangs that question."
She laughed. "You're probably right. So would you like to join me?"
"We don't have reservations anywhere."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Hon, where I'm going we don't need no stinking reservations."
"Where are we going?"
She headed down Royal Street, which connected Canal to Iberville. "The Antoine's of seafood. Acme Oyster House."
"Acme? I've never eaten there."
And as soon as Tabitha reached the door of the place, Valerius knew why. It actually had plastic black-and-white checked tablecloths.
He hesitated in the doorway as he scanned the small restaurant. The place was tiny and the crowd thinning. It had a bar to his right that stretched along the wall, and tables set up to his left. The walls were a tawdry mixture of mirrors, pictures, and neon signs. It was loud and obnoxious.
Not to mention, Valerius had to quickly catch himself and mentally force his image into the mirrors before someone realized he didn't cast a reflection.
Tabitha turned to look at him. She put her hands on her hips. "Would you stop looking like someone just scuffed your brand-new shoes? They have the best oysters on earth here."
"It's so... neon."
"So put on your sunglasses."
"It doesn't look sanitary," he said in a low tone.
"Oh please, you're about to eat something that is the vacuum cleaner of the ocean. You do know how pearls are formed, right? All an oyster does is ingest trash. Besides, you're immortal, what do you care?"
"Valerius?"
He looked past Tabitha to see Vane and Bride Kattalakis seated at the oyster bar, where two men behind the counter were shucking oysters for the handful of people who sat there. Valerius let out a relieved breath. Finally, someone he could relate to. A little, anyway since Vane was an Arcadian wolf and Bride his human mate.
Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, Vane was Valerius's height and had long dark brown hair that he wore loose around his shoulders. Bride was a plump, beautiful woman whose long auburn hair was worn up in a messy bun. She had on a tan sweater over a brown dress with little white flowers.
Valerius crossed the floor to shake Vane's hand. "Wolf," he said in greeting... it was always polite to refer to the Arcadians and Katagaria by their animal selves. "Nice seeing you again." He looked to Bride. "And you, my lady, always an honor."
Bride smiled at him, then looked at Tabitha. "What are the two of you doing here? Together?"
"Val was doing a favor for me," Tabitha said as she came up behind him. She turned to one of the men behind the counter, who was wiping his hands after shucking a plate of oysters. "Hey, Luther, two beers and a fork."
The tall African-American laughed at her. "Tabby, this is what, the fourth time this week you've been here? Don't you have a home?"
"Yeah, but we don't have oysters in it. At least not good ones. And I have to come here just to harass you. Imagine a whole day without Tabitha in it... What would you do?"
Luther laughed.
Valerius didn't miss the strange look that passed between Vane and Bride before Luther handed Bride the plate of shucked oysters and went to get Tabitha the beers.
"Is there something I should know?" Valerius asked them.
The instant Vane opened his mouth to speak, Tabitha kicked his shin. Hard.
Vane yelped, then frowned at her.
"What was that?" Valerius asked. "Why did you kick him?"
"No reason," Tabitha said, reaching over the bar to pluck an oyster from the pile.
She looked angelic, which meant something truly evil was going on.
Valerius looked back at Vane. "What were you going to say?"
"Absolutely nothing," Vane said before he took a drink from his longneck.
Valerius had a bad feeling about this.
Luther returned with two bottles of beer and handed them to Tabitha, who in turn held one out for Valerius.
He stared at it blankly.
"Aren't you thirsty?" Tabitha asked.
"Don't we get glasses?"
"It's beer, Val, not champagne. Take it. Really, it doesn't bite."
"Tabby, be nice," Bride chided. "Valerius probably isn't used to beer."
"I do drink it," Valerius said, taking the bottle reluctantly, "just not like this."
"You want oysters?" Tabitha asked him.
"I'm not sure after your rather blunt reminder of what they are."
Tabitha laughed at him. "Set us up, Luther, and keep them coming until I pop."
Luther grinned at her. "I don't think you have a limit, Tabby. It's a wonder we have any left to serve after you leave."
Tabitha sat on the stool beside Bride and indicated for Valerius to assume the one on the opposite side of her. Valerius set his beer on the counter before he complied.
"You look so uncomfortable here, Valerius," Bride said sweetly. "How on earth did Tabitha talk you into this?"
"I'm still not quite sure."
"You two been dating long?" Vane asked.
"We're not dating, Vane," Tabitha answered quickly. "I told you, Val is only doing me a favor."
"Whatever you say, Tab. I just hope your sis-"
His words were cut short by Bride clearing her throat. "Tabitha knows what she's doing, Vane. Don't you, Tabby?"
"Usually not, but this is okay. Really."
Valerius would sell his soul again for a chance to read Vane's mind. "Vane, may I have a word with you privately?"
Bride poured Tabasco sauce over an oyster. "You leave that barstool, Mr. Kattalakis, and you really will be 'in the doghouse' literally for the rest of the week. In fact, I'll sic your brother Fury on you and change the locks."
Vane actually cringed. "As much as I would like to help you out, Valerius, you have to remember that her father neuters dogs for a living, and he trained his daughter well. I think I'll have to pass."
Valerius looked at Tabitha, who was busy taking an oyster from Luther. She refused to meet his gaze.
What did Vane know that he didn't?
They sat at the bar, with Tabitha and Bride chatting about clothes, old friends, and nothing important while both men were ill at ease. The restaurant closed at ten, but Luther served them oysters for another fifteen minutes.
"Thank you, Luther," Tabitha said. "I really appreciate you not running me off."
"It's always a pleasure, Tabby. I like the way you appreciate my service and food, and I have to say this one is easier to feed than your friend Simi. That little girl eats like a demon."
"Oh, you have no idea."
Valerius went to pay while Vane stayed with the women. Once the bill was settled, Vane and Bride headed off toward Royal while he and Tabitha headed toward Bourbon.
"Ready to patrol?" Tabitha asked.
"I'll drop you at your-"
"I'm not going home," she said, interrupting him.
"Where are you going?"
"Stalking Daimons. Just like you."
"That's not safe."
She stopped and glared at him. "I know what I'm doing."
"I know," he said quietly. "You have the spirit and strength of an Amazon. But I would really rather you not kill yourself for something best left to those of us who have already died. Unlike you, we have no one to mourn us if we perish."
Tabitha was taken aback at his unexpected words. More than that, she was taken aback by the concern she felt from him. The pain. "Who mourned for you when you died?" she asked, not sure why she wanted to know.
He paused, then looked away. "No one."
"No one? Didn't you have any family?"
He laughed bitterly at that. "My family was a Shakespearean tragedy. Trust me when I say they were gleefully rid of me."
"How can you say that? I'm sure they cared. Surely-"
"My brothers are the ones who killed me."
Tabitha felt the vengeful agony that surged through him as he growled those heartfelt words at her. Her chest ached for him. Was he telling her the truth?
"Your brothers?"
Valerius couldn't breathe as the past tore through him. But in truth, he felt a wave of relief at finally, after two thousand years, telling someone the truth about what had made him a Dark-Hunter.
He nodded as he forced the twisted images of that night out of his mind. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly level. "I was an embarrassment to my family so they executed me."
"Executed you how?"
His eyes were blank. "You're an ancient scholar. I'm sure you know what Rome did to her enemies."
Tabitha covered her mouth as a wave of nausea consumed her. Before she could stop herself, she took his arm and pulled back his sleeve so that she could see the scar on his wrist. There was all the proof she needed.
Like Kyrian, he had been crucified.
"I'm so sorry."
Stiff and formal, he withdrew his arm and straightened out his sleeve. "Don't be. I find it oddly fitting given my family history. He who lives by the sword..."
"How many people did you crucify?"
She felt his shame before he turned and headed away from her. Unwilling to let him go, she rushed after him and pulled him to a stop. "Tell me, Valerius. I want to know."
The agony on his face tore through her. His jaw ticced. "None," he said after a long pause. "I refused to ever kill a man like that."
Tears pricked her eyes as she stared up at him.
He wasn't what Kyrian and the others thought. He wasn't.
The man they described wouldn't have hesitated to humiliate or kill someone. And yet Valerius had.
He cleared his throat and looked as if the words pained him. "When I was a young boy, I saw a man executed. He was one of the greatest generals of his time."
Tabitha's heart paused its beating as she realized he was talking about Kyrian.
"My grandfather tricked him and then spent weeks interrogating him." His breathing was labored, his entire body tense. "My father and grandfather insisted my brothers and I be brought in to witness it. They wanted us to learn how to break a man. How to strip the dignity from him until there's nothing left. And all I saw was blood and horror. No one should suffer like that. I looked into that man's eyes and I saw his soul. His strength. His pain. I tried to run and they beat for me for it, then brought me back in and forced me to watch."
He gave her a fierce, tormented stare. "I hated them for that. Two thousand years later and I can still hear his screams as they raised his broken body up and carried the once-proud prince out to the square to die like a common criminal."
Tabitha covered her own ears as she imagined what it must have been like for Kyrian to die that way. She knew from her sister that his death still haunted him, too. Though Kyrian's nightmares were much fewer now than they had been when he and Amanda had first married, he still had them. He still woke up in the middle of the night to make sure his wife and child were safe.
Some nights, he didn't sleep at all for fear that someone would come and take it all away from him again.
And he hated Valerius with an unreasoning vengeance.
Valerius took a deep breath as he saw the way Tabitha cringed. He cringed too, just not openly.
His heart had carried the guilt and horrors of his childhood throughout time. If he could go back in time, he never would have sold his soul to Artemis. Better to die and silence the resonance of his father's cruelty than to live interminably with all of their voices echoing in his mind.
He was sure Tabitha hated him now, just like the others. She had every right to. What his family had done was inexcusable. It was why he made a point to avoid Kyrian and Julian.
There was no need in reminding either one of them of their past lives in ancient Greece. It would be even crueler now that both of them had happiness in the modern world.
He'd never understood why Artemis had moved him into New Orleans. It was something his father would have done to ensure that the two Greeks had no peace whatsoever.
But that was something he would never speak of. And should he ever cross paths with Kyrian and Julian, he knew better than to apologize. He'd tried that once centuries past with Zoe, who had been killed by his brother Marius. The Amazon had run him through, trying her best to kill him.
Valerius had been forced to overpower her.
She had spat on him. "Roman filth! I'll never understand why Artemis allows you to live when you should be gutted like a squealing pig."
Over the centuries, he'd learned to just hold his head high and carry on regardless of what the other Dark-Hunters thought. He couldn't give them peace from their pasts any more than he could have peace from his own.
Some ghosts refused to be exorcized.
Now Tabitha knew the truth and she would hate him as well. So be it.
Valerius turned to leave.
"Val?"
He paused.
Tabitha wasn't sure what to say to him. So she didn't speak with words. She reached up and pulled his head down to hers, then kissed him soundly.
Valerius was stunned by her actions. He crushed her to him as he tasted the warmth of her mouth. The warmth of her embrace.
He pulled back. "You know what I am, Tabitha... why are you still here?"
She looked up at him, her blue eyes searing with tenderness. "Because I know what you are, Valerius Magnus. Believe me, I know. And I want to take you home with me, right now, and make love to you."
