Easy Bake Coven (35 page)

His laughter was a sly, suggestive thing. “Oh, is that all?”

“If it were less, would I be seeking outside help?”

“Is the jinni helping you?”

“Sort of.”

He sat inhumanly still for a minute. “Paolo won’t be easy to convince. Your people have already tried.”

“My people?”

“Yes, the half-elves. The rebels. How do you think you’ll manage to convince him?”

“I can be very persuasive.” A slow, lazy smile spread over my face.

Again he laughed. “I think your boyfriend would have an easier time of it than you, love.”

I winked. “He is tempting, isn’t he?”

Corbin shrugged dismissively. “Too straight-laced for you. I tasted what’s inside.”

“And what’s that?”

“Freedom,” he said, leaning in again. “Would you like for me to help you set it free?” He reached toward my face. Something in me screamed
yes
, I did want that—but the stronger part of me said nothing. Before a finger could touch my skin, Cheney was there, slamming Corbin’s hand to the table.

“You will not touch her again,” he growled.

Corbin turned his hand and gripped Cheney’s arm. They stared each other down, malice in their eyes. This was going downhill quickly. Holden took a seat next to Corbin and stretched out his legs. Baker plunked down in a chair near me.

Corbin eyes darted in Holden’s direction. Holden’s smirk practically begged for Corbin to keep going and suffer the consequences. His entire being gave off the confidence that he could kill anyone in the bar before they could blink—and his eyes danced with the anticipation of violence. The air grew thin around us. This was definitely bad.

Corbin released Cheney’s arm, looking slightly paler than before—maybe having Holden on our side was a really good thing. Corbin sat back, holding his hands in the air. “I won’t touch her unless she wants me to,” he said and winked—but I noticed he still shot cautious glances at Holden.

Cheney stood behind me and I smiled at him reassuringly. He didn’t return it. “Corbin, this is my
husband,
Prince Cheney.”

“You sneaky wench,” he said with a smile. “So you’re the future king of the fae? Selene certainly didn’t tell me that when she said you couldn’t keep her safe.”

Cheney’s entire body stiffened, but he kept his voice calm. “I am—and you were
misinformed.
I do not need help protecting my wife. We need help to overthrow the king and defeat the rebels, nothing more.”

“That’s plenty, mate.”

“Stop whining, Corbin. In or out?” Baker said in an impatient tone that made the tension drain from the air. Holden did not even bother looking at Corbin. He seemed focused on the door.

Corbin looked me up and down with undisguised interest. “Sending her over was smart. Your idea?” he asked Baker.

“Holden’s,” Baker said.

Corbin sighed. “Yeah, I’m in, but I’m not the one you need to convince. Paolo will take a lot more than a pretty face. And certainly not her face.”

“Is Paolo coming in tonight?” Cheney asked.

“No,” Corbin said. “But I’ll arrange a meeting.”

Cheney nodded, holding out his hand. Corbin plopped a cell phone into his palm. “How about you, love? Do I get your number?”

I smiled. “Not a chance.”

“That’s a shame. Here I thought we had something—”

“You thought wrong,” Cheney snarled, shoving the phone back at him and standing up.

Corbin shrugged. “What? Was it something I said?”

Cheney took a couple of long steps, then turned and looked back at me with no expression on his face, anger still radiating from him.

“I could see you home, love,” Corbin said seeming to forget Holden, enjoying Cheney’s torment.

“Not on your life,” I said before I realized that might be in bad taste as he’d probably been dead for ages. I stood up. “I would shake your hand, but . . .”

“I understand.”

“It was nice meeting you, Corbin.”

“Until next time, Selene.”

Holden and Baker stood up, too, heading back for Holden’s usual table. I stuck out my hand to Holden. “Thank you for your help, Holden. Tell Olivia hi for me. I’m sorry I missed her.”

He shook my hand in a crushing, cool grip. “She’ll be sorry to have missed you, too. Olivia likes you, and that’s a compliment.”

“I like her, too. We’ll have to get together sometime after all of this craziness.”

Holden released my hand. “I’m not getting involved, but talk to Sy about Paolo.”

Cheney waited, his face still giving nothing away. He held the door open for me, and we made it half up the stairs when he grabbed my arm and pinned me between the wall and his body. I could see him struggling with wanting to touch me and wanting to stay angry. I had no fear. Cheney would never hurt me. Though he held my arm firmly, there was no pain. He was always careful with me.

“You said we needed their help,” I told him, knowing exactly what he was upset about.

“So you told him I couldn’t protect you?” he growled into my ear, his eyes wild and breath hot.

“No. I said we needed a strong ally like them and that there were too many for us to handle alone. All true.” I ran my fingers softly down his cheek in direct counter to his firm grasp on my other arm. “He was trying to upset you.”

“It worked.” His grip finally loosened, and I wrapped my arm around his waist, pressing myself against him.

“You have nothing to worry about.” I kissed his neck. His mouth found mine, possessing it fully.

“Never let a vampire touch you,” he muttered a few minutes later. “Not even a hand shake.”

“Why?”

“It’s how they feed, by touch.”

“So they can’t touch anyone without feeding?”

“Not necessarily. They feed by choice, but all they need is skin-to-skin contact.”

“What do they take?”

“Life force.” I wondered if that was the strange feeling when Corbin shook my hand. He had said “delicious.” I suddenly felt violated. I wanted to go back and slap him. The nerve.

“That asshole.”

Cheney laughed, kissing me again. “Let’s check on your friends.”

I expected to find the girls huddled into a booth, staring at the creatures around them. What we actually found could only be described as an interspecies dance off. The once segregated room was now a melting pot of roaring laughter and crazy dance moves.

“Are they playing
Baby Got Back
?” I asked, watching Devin shake her ass on the floor surrounded by a circle of various Abyss creatures.

“You friends are . . . popular.” A smirk ticked on Cheney’s face.

“Where the hell is Sebastian?” I scanned the audience but couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Probably hiding.” Cheney laughed. “I guarantee you he didn’t expect this when he said he would come with them.”

“Serves him right for siding against me.”

“Should we try to get them to leave?”

“No, let them have fun. If they play
Sweet Transvestite,
we’ll know Devin has somehow hijacked the sound booth.”

“Do you want to join them?” he asked, tilting his head in their direction.

“Not really, do you?”

Cheney took my hand. “Let’s find Sebastian.”

We wove our way through the hordes of people. Cheney spotted Sebastian sitting at a booth alone, surrounded by purses and half empty drinks, looking bored.

He visibly lifted when he saw us approaching. “They took over,” he said with a sheepish expression. “I couldn’t stop them.”

I laughed. Sebastian was so out of his depth. “They aren’t soldiers. They’re grown women who are used to doing whatever they want. I’d say you’ve done a wonderful job babysitting them.”

 “Selene!” Devin was suddenly at my side, pulling my arm. “You’re back just in time. Carl is going to let us do karaoke. Come on . . .
Shoop
.”

“Oh . . . I don’t . . . No, no, not a good idea.” I was not about to rap in front of Cheney, not for anything. “Who is Carl?”

“The DJ!”
Of course. Why didn’t I know that? Silly me.
“You have to. Don’t be lame.”

Cheney grinned. “Don’t look at me. It’s completely up to you.”

“Fine, let’s do this.”

I followed her into the crowd. It didn’t take long to get used to all the different types of people once I was among them and not just looking in from the outside. Moments later a microphone was shoved into my hand, and Devin and I did our best Salt-N-Pepa impersonation.

I wasn’t sure if the Abyss listened to much human music, but tonight they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The next morning was a lot less happy. Everyone who wasn’t an elf had a hangover and the lazy attitude that came with it. I felt considerably better than the others.

“You don’t handle alcohol as well as we always thought,” Jessica accused me. “It’s the elf in you. That’s
so
not fair.”

I laughed. “Maybe—now I’m going for a run. Who’s with me?” I heard groans and mumbles in return. “If Cheney asks, that’s where I am,” I said, closing the door behind me.

I walked for a couple minutes, letting my body warm up, then took off at a slow pace. Soon though, I was enjoying the wind in my hair and the emotional release. Something stirred inside me, that feeling that I wanted to run as fast as I could with my arms spread wide, yelling as loud as I could—the feeling that I wanted to escape. It was the same part of me that wanted the vampire to touch me, to free me from the cage.

“You really shouldn’t be out here alone.”

I shrugged, warming at the timbre of Cheney’s voice. No one had ever affected me the way he did. This man had some sort of hold over both sides of me. “No one else wanted to come.”

He kissed my cheek. “You were thinking something.”

“Who, me? What could I possibly have to think about?”

 “You’re not having second thoughts about our plan, are you?” His voice was light, but there was a trace of something heavier beneath it.

“No.” He didn’t really need to know about the strange urges to run away. Some things were better kept to myself. I wrapped my arm around his waist. “Has Gram come out of her room yet?”

“Briefly, but it didn’t last long.”

Gram and I had never really fought. I always did what she told me to do. I had a feeling the power struggle had just begun. “I don’t know if this is going to work.”

”She loves you. I know Edith didn’t make your life easy, but she’ll come around.” He tightened his arms around me.

“But do we have time to deal with her right now? Maybe you should just take her home.”

“Talk to her again. Calmly.”

“Right, because you did so well with that.”

Cheney’s phone rang, interrupting his excuse. “It’s Corbin, I should take this.”

I shrugged.

“Yeah,” Cheney answered. “That will work, where?—Yeah, I’ll be there.” He listened for a moment longer before hanging up with an irritated look on his face.

 “Paolo agreed to meet with me, but Corbin requested you,” Cheney said, watching my reaction.

“When?”

“In a week. I want to settle things with my father before we meet with him. We don’t need them for that, and if I fail the meeting will be pointless.” He frowned. “I don’t like that they want you there. You’re not part of this bargain.”