Demetrius (4 page)

She gave a curt nod while staring into the corner of one the bookshelves that lined his office.

“You’re going to need to elaborate.” Demons. He and his team were just talking about investigating the council for practicing the dark arts seconds before Callista showed up on his doorstep. He was too damn smart to believe in coincidences.

She fidgeted, her hands wringing, her eyes lasered onto the floor at her feet. “I, um, came home from work a week ago. I heard a weird noise and followed it. He was talking to this thing.” Her hands motioned by her forehead. “It was tall, stunk of sulfur, and had horns. It sounded like my father was going to banish it back, or whatever you do with summoned demons, but it disappeared, like, into him. And now my father is…different.”

“Different how?”

She let out a sad sigh. “Scary. I get chills when he’s around and I want to run. Sometimes I swear his eyes are black, but when I look again, they’re his normal blue. And he checks on me all the time. He’s always been protective, especially after my mother left, but this is just… I feel like I’m being watched. When I was leaving for work last night, he hinted that I should quit.” A shudder wracked her body. “I can’t stay locked in that house with him. He’s not right.”

“Where do you work?” The demon-possessed father should be his first concern, but it hadn’t occurred to him that the council and their families would have to find an alternate way to support themselves. Most of them came from old money.

“Eldercare Nursing Home, here in Freemont.”

“What do you do?” Again, off topic, but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m an aid. I do whatever needs to be done. I help the residents eat, clean themselves, go to the bathroom, change their bedding. Whatever.”

“Perhaps that’s why your father wants you to quit.” A councilmember and prime male’s only child wiping butts? It was unheard of.

She sat as straight as possible, the epitome of prim and proper. “He’s been very supportive. Not only is it obvious I enjoy it, but it’s the only reason we have food to eat, our only hope to heat our house this winter.”

“Surely you can’t be broke already.” It’d only been a year. Callista and her father shouldn’t be in dire straits so soon.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the gossip that my mother spent our fortune before she left.” She sounded miserable, ashamed.

Yes, he’d heard rumblings, but it’d been years. Edgar should’ve grown a nice pot since then.

“Why didn’t you come to me right away?”

Her expression turned droll. “Why did I wait to go the male who destroyed my father and would probably annihilate him just to solve the demon problem?” Her shoulders dropped. “I’ve looked into everything else. I don’t even know if saving Father is an option anymore.” Her eyes welled with tears. Demetrius wanted to brush them away, hated seeing them in her eyes. “It’s like there’s less of him present every day that goes by.” Then she startled him with a little hiccup.

“I need to meet this Malachim.”

She considered him; he saw the intelligence churning in her eyes. “I expected to have to convince you there’s a problem. That my father didn’t just go crazy. You’re not shocked by me walking in here making claims that I’m living with a demon?”

Demetrius wished he was. “Should I be?”

“
I
was certainly taken off guard by what I’d seen. If only disbelieving was an option. But not you. Why?”

“Like I said, there were happenings the former council gladly turned a blind eye toward. Your claims only strengthen our suspicion.”

“Of what?”

If he wasn’t going to tell the Synod, he certainly wasn’t going to sit and discuss it with the first beautiful female who walked into his office. “You seem to be taking the shock well.”

She shifted. “I’ve had time to get used to the idea these past several days. And my research has turned up some very interesting conversations that we all should be having.”

“Tell me about your research.”

“You can look it all up yourself,” she said looking down her nose at him. “You’re the one in charge now.”

“Says the one who needs my help.” The line of her mouth indicated he hit a nerve. Well, so had she. “Like I said, I need to meet your father. Why don’t you bring me home and introduce me.”

“And tell him what? That I’m hanging out with the guy who cost us everything?” She shook her head. “That would’ve been disastrous two weeks ago. I don’t want to test his reaction now.”

“Edgar and I aren’t acquaintances. Introduce me by another name—say we’re friends.” He wanted to growl at the thought.
Friends?

“Except that I don’t bring males home.”

“Haven’t you ever brought a date home to meet him?”

“No.”

There was something she wasn’t saying. He inhaled deep. He’d been trying to ignore her scent and convince himself that wildflowers in bloom wasn’t his new favorite smell. Letting the unique scent that was Callista Augustus flow through him, he drank her in and instantly regretted it. Hardening painfully, his zipper cut into him, amplifying the delicious pain. He liked wearing tactical pants better than the designer slacks he always wore when he was undercover with Sigma, but now they seemed too rigid and overly confining.

He could say she smelled like the loveliest, most divine essence, but there was something else. Something that didn’t sit right with him, other than the blazing innocence that made him want to run out of his office and shower a good twenty times before he ever touched her. Under the essence of wildflowers, there was a faint scent like a match had been blown out.

“You’re a virgin.” He sounded bleak even to his own ears.

“You make it sound like a bad thing. My father was extremely insistent, and since he worked hard to raise me on his own, that is one request I’ve honored.”

It shouldn’t be a bad thing. If he was looking to score, then yes, definitely not good. If he was looking at his true mate, he’d be completely dismayed. A virgin. He suppressed a shudder. Egad, if her scent had revealed her to be his true mate, he’d just go walk into the sun now. She disliked him, had daddy issues, no experience, and…smelled like heaven bottled in a body that he wanted lick every inch of to make those lush, pink lips separate in a gasp.

Every tooth of his zipper must be leaving an impression in the flesh of his cock. He needed
to focus back on the problem, not on her. She was trouble. 

He spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “You have to do something, princess. I can’t sneak into your house and spy on him.”

She bristled at his name for her. “Is there someone you trust who could pose as my boyfriend?”

Fuck. No. The voice in his head screamed at him to never let another male near her again.

WTF? She wasn’t his true mate, and he had no plans to seduce the holier-than-thou female; it shouldn’t matter.

“Since the maleness would be a problem, what if you brought a female friend home?”

She brightened at the idea. “Yes, that would be much better.”

Great, he’d love for it to be Zoey, but since she’d had a grandmother on the Vampire Council, Edgar might know who she was. He wouldn’t know Ophelia, though. And hanging out at Callista’s place might serve Ophelia’s assignment of posing as a disgruntled vampire looking for more power.

“I’ll get Ophelia down here and we can go over a plan. I don’t want you going home alone if you’re in danger.”

He texted Ophelia, but he didn’t miss the unreadable look Callista gave him. He’d give up his favorite knife to find out what she was thinking.

Chapter Four

What an arrogant prick
. Calli watched him mess with his phone. She no longer had one; had to give it up a few months ago when money got too tight.

Yes, she should be grateful. He was willing to look into her father’s demise; hadn’t mentioned destroying him to solve the demon problem. At least she’d gotten over her initial reaction to him, which was to sit on his lap and lick the shell of his ear. Could the guy be any hotter? No wonder he had whole websites extolling the benefits of sleeping with him. Sitting in his office, she was surrounded by his ridiculous scent. Did he roll in a cologne strip out of a Men’s Health magazine? Vampires couldn’t stand to wear fragrance. It had to be his own natural essence. It was almost too much.

She was a virgin, but she wasn’t naïve or totally inexperienced with males. After the claims she’d read on the web, and his rakish sable hair brushing his chin and those pale green eyes inspecting her, she became extremely hot and bothered, trying not to shift in her seat. The last thing she wanted to do around this male was release a cloud of arousal.

“Ophelia’s on her way. You will pretend you just met her, that like you, she’s from a prime family, and in no way mention she’s associated with me. Do you understand, Callista? There’s more going on than your daddy issues. I can’t have Ophelia’s identity threatened.”

Calli was not going to let Demetrius start treating her like a child. “Had you heard of me before I arrived?”

He waited a heartbeat before answering, like he was wondering at the reason for her question. “I knew Edgar had a daughter, yes.”

“Yet, that’s all you knew. Of course, I’d heard of you, the prime son who took over an empire, then helped create a new one. That was
before
a ten minute search on the internet told me what clubs you frequent, an estimate of the number of ladies you’re with a night, that you drive a Maserati, and you prefer whiskey-cokes. With Captain Morgan, of course. An odd choice for such a refined vampire. So tell me, Demetrius, which one of us should be having their level of discretion questioned?”

His irritation rose a notch with each point she made; it clogged the air. He narrowed his eyes on her and sat forward.

“It’s no secret what school I went to. All the prime children attend.” He cocked his head, allowing a lock of hair to hang over one eye, making him seem dangerous, sinister. “But you did not. When I realized our species was being undermined by those who ruled us, I set out to challenge that, and it gave me a certain amount of…exposure. Which was exactly what I needed.” He sat back, a derisive tilt to his lips. “It’s easy to hide in the shadows of others when you never come out of them.”

“Did you just infer that I acted cowardly?” she sputtered.

“I would do no such thing. A coward doesn’t live with a male she believes is possessed by a demon for week and do nothing.” His tone told her the opposite. “Yet, I believe you inferred twice that I was a scoundrel and a rake.”

He was right and that irritated her because he knew it. Her father taught her better manners than this. She couldn’t help him when Demetrius made her act volatile and childish.

“Perhaps I was mistaken coming to you for help.” She stood.

Turning to leave, she saw a petite female by the doorway watching their exchange. Dammit, she hadn’t noticed her entrance. Demetrius would’ve known, yet not one muscle twitched, not even when she’d stood up to leave.

“So am I needed here or not?” She focused on Calli with a measuring gaze.

The female must be Ophelia, and she seemed to have more attitude than Demetrius.

“Callista?” Demetrius’ tone was soft, but not mocking.

She hated that her body tingled in sensitive places whenever he said her name. Just dreaded it. This was for her father, she reminded herself. Maybe she could work with Ophelia and have little to do with Demetrius and his judging comments, and the way he made her ovaries drool.

Her reaction was only because she’d been so sheltered. That was it. The males she’d dated hadn’t been alphas like he was—or vampires. Demetrius sat on the ruling body for vampires, shifters, and hybrids; his power made people of all races stop and obey; his obvious charisma made females turn control of their bodies over to him.

Knowing why she reacted so viscerally to him calmed her. She could temper her reaction from here on out; pretend to be the daughter from a wealthy house like she’d done so many times before. If she had to work with Demetrius, she’d remain calm and collected.

“I would greatly appreciate your help, Ophelia.”

Ophelia’s brown eyes flicked from her back to Demetrius. “Tell me what I need to know.”

***

“I never bring friends over, so it needs to be a valid reason.”

Ophelia rolled her eyes. Calli gripped the wheel of her Honda Civic tightly. The female’s attitude got old fast.

“Why don’t you tell me what a valid reason would be then.”

Since she’d shot down every suggestion Ophelia brought up, to the vampire’s obvious irritation, she would have to be the one to come up with a suitable backstory.

Calli racked her brain; everything sounded inane. She didn’t go off to school like others in her social circle because her father couldn’t afford it. Ophelia knew nothing about her work. It’d be too risky to pretend she was a coworker from the nursing home. Her father was insanely private, so they never had anyone over to repair anything.

“Maybe it’s just time you brought a damn friend over.”