Steal the Day (2 page)

I hugged him close to me hoping that my affection would make the next few minutes easier. “I can’t. I have to go. I have a meeting with a client.”

Dev stopped, a grin crossing his face. I suspected one of the reasons he liked me was my unusual job. I was pretty sure he’d never dated a thief who specialized in procuring objects of an arcane nature before. Stealing from supernaturals made my job one of the riskier fields. It was thrilling when the job ran well and completely terrifying when anything went wrong. Dev had run one job with me and he’d been bugging me ever since to let him go again. He’d gotten off on the adrenaline rush.

He winked down at me, his hands smoothing my hair back. “That’s great, sweetheart. I’ll get dressed and go with you. I promise to keep my mouth shut and be good eye candy. Should I take the Ruger or the Glock?”

I pulled away from him because no amount of affection was going to fix this. “Sorry, but I have to go alone.”

His deep green eyes formed suspicious slits. “Alone? You never go alone. That’s your first rule.” He took a step back, his mouth turning down. “So if you’re not going alone, you’re going with Daniel.”

And there it was, the one name that could wreck our day. “He’s my partner.”

“He’s your husband.” Dev spat the word out as though it was poison. He stalked out of the shower, leaving me with an incredible view of his preternaturally glorious ass.

Yep. And just like that our nice night was wrecked. I picked up a bottle of something Dev liked the smell of and then put it back down in favor of plain old soap. I told myself it was because I needed to be professional. I didn’t want to go into a client meeting smelling like a woman who had just had sex four times.

If I was honest with myself, and I tried not to be, I didn’t want to hurt Daniel.

I finished up in the shower and turned it off, wrapping a warm towel around my body. Dev was sitting on the sink when I went to retrieve my clothes. He’d slipped into silk boxers and looked at me with a sad smile, his shoulders slumped.

“Sorry,” he said. “I know I’m being an ass. I’m just jealous.”

“You have nothing to be jealous of.” It sounded like a reassuring lie even to my ears. I still saw Danny almost every day. It had to bother Dev. “If I could get a divorce, I would.”

I’d come to accept the marriage I’d been tricked into. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Tricked is a harsh word. Daniel had been trying to protect me at the time. It was kind of his excuse for everything. I didn’t resent the protection. I resented the fact that he’d left me ignorant. I had to find out from a demon that we were married.

There’d been no vows of love and devotion, no white dress or fabulous reception. There had been blood and sex and a transfer of ownership between Daniel and myself.

And there was no divorce when you were married to a vampire.

“I guess I should be happy my head’s still on my body.” Dev shrugged negligently, a boyish gesture. “When I found out Daniel was back from Paris, I kind of expected to become one of those ‘bodies in a dark alley’ stories.”

“Oh, babe, they would never find your body.” Daniel would be far more careful than that. I slipped back into the dress I’d worn earlier. It was wrinkled from sex in the elevator on the way up. I looked very “walk of shame.” “He won’t hurt you. He promised me. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t kick him to the curb when he came back.”

There were many other reasons, but I didn’t go into those with Dev. I didn’t mention that it was difficult for me to even imagine my life without Daniel Donovan in it, no matter how pissed I was at the time. I didn’t mention that it was becoming increasingly difficult to just be friends with the man I once planned a life with. Months had passed and my anger was softening.

“Where are my shoes?” I’d worn a comfortable pair of boots with a smaller heel in deference to my meeting.

It was a nice fall night and the boots would be warm. The peep toe heels Dev had bought were not the best fit for the season. And the way some of my client meetings went, I might be running for my life before the night was over.

“I think you left them in the limo. I sent the driver home, but I can call him back.”

I glanced at my watch as I clasped it on my wrist. “Damn it, I’m going to be late. No, I’ll go in the heels.”

I winced inwardly at the thought. They hadn’t bothered me at all when they were wrapped around Dev’s waist, but I didn’t think tonight was the night to break in a new pair of shoes.

Dev smiled, and I wondered if I had really left the shoes in the car. He looked satisfied as I slid my feet into the four-and-a-half-inch heels. I could guess what he was thinking. There was no way I bought those shoes for myself, and Daniel would know it.

I kissed him anyway. It was a sweet kiss and made me remember that Dev and I had fun. It was easy to be with Dev. With the exception of my marriage, we never fought. We satisfied each other, and that was enough for now. He never told me he loved me, and I tried really hard to not even think the words about him. Loving Devinshea would be very dangerous, but I couldn’t seem to walk away, either. I wasn’t his destiny or his last remaining tie to humanity. He liked me. He wanted me. That was enough. It was what I needed.

Dev walked me to the elevator, his hand in mine. “Hey, could you try to find out something for me?”

“Sure. What’s up?” I was willing to do just about anything now. He wasn’t forcing the situation with Daniel so I could definitely do him a favor.

His eyebrows drew together as he looked down at me. “It’s about the new regulars at Ether. Have you not noticed? Is there a vamp convention in town or something? Normally I get one or two a month in the club. But lately, I’ve seen a couple of new fangs in almost every night. They’re odd, too. You know how normal vamps act, right?”

“Sure.” Vampires weren’t big on individuality. They tended to dress the same and act really cool and standoffish until they needed a snack. It was the way Daniel acted until he started taking my blood on a regular basis. In the last several months, he’d come out of what I termed his “long, dark broody period.” He was behaving more like the Daniel he’d been when he was alive.

Dev held the door open, his face thoughtful. “These vamps don’t dress alike. One of them was wearing jeans and a Cowboys jersey, and he was hanging out with a female wolf. I swear, Zoey, I thought he was human. I was about to kick him out of the club when I realized what he was.”

It was curious. Wolves, especially the local pack, had never been friendly with vampires. It was one of the reasons my roommate, Neil, severed all ties to his family. Neil wasn’t welcome in the pack due to his blood oath to protect Daniel. There was something very odd going on if wolves were suddenly buddying up to strange vamps.

“I’ll ask around.” I stepped into the elevator and realized I had another problem. Dev had sent a car for me. I opened my mouth to ask, but Dev was already tossing me the keys to his Audi. I caught them with a smile. “Thanks.”

“Don’t destroy it.” He shook his head because he knew I was perfectly capable of doing just that.

I took the elevator straight down. The doors opened directly into Dev’s office. I had to walk through Ether to get to the parking garage where the car was parked. I opened the door to the office and was assailed by the full-time rave that is Ether. The throbbing beat filled the air as I descended the steps as quickly as my shoes would let me.

A large red demon stood at the bottom of the stairs, dressed in an elegant suit. He tipped his horns forward in acknowledgment. Albert. Dev’s all-in-one, go-to demon. He acted as Dev’s butler, his bouncer, and his second in command. “Mrs. Donovan.”

I was going to try pleasantries but simply snapped my lips shut and started to walk around him. At one point, I thought Albert and I could be friends. Now, he just viewed me as the harlot who was leading his precious master down the wrong path. Seriously, no one can be as judgmental as a demon. They really do know their sin.

“Zoey,” he called out as I tried to get around him.

I turned because he hadn’t called me by my first name in several months. “What do you need, Albert?”

“A moment of your time.”

“If you’re going to give me another lecture on adultery, you can save your breath. Daniel and I have an open marriage.” The open part wasn’t Daniel’s idea, but then the marriage part hadn’t been mine.

Albert ignored me. “Did my master discuss our worries with you?”

“He mentioned something about new vampires in Dallas. I think he wants me to figure out where they came from.” I had to strain to hear him over the noise. I was sure he could hear me. Sometimes it’s difficult to be the only human in the room.

“Yes, we’ve had several new vampires in the club.” Albert raised his voice and inched closer to me when he realized my difficulty. I was happy for the heels because Albert was at least seven feet tall. With the extra four inches, I was all the way up to five eight.

“And Dev said they had been seen with werewolves?”

Albert nodded. “Several of them were seen with weres and shifters. The two-natured were all female, and the vampires were all male. It did not seem like a business relationship.”

Curiouser and curiouser. If vamps and weres didn’t typically do business together, then they really didn’t have relationships. It was more about the weres than the vampires. Vampires have no problem coupling up with anything they find attractive, and were blood is particularly rich. If a vamp could get a pretty were to agree, I was sure the vamp would be thrilled. The werewolf, on the other hand, would be outcast. “Do you have any idea how many new guys we’re talking about? One? Two?”

“I have reports that state at least five new vampires have taken up residence in our city,” Albert explained.

My eyes widened at that bit of news. I really had been spending too much time alone if I hadn’t heard about that. Since we lost Sarah, our witch and my friend, in the last job we’d run, I’d spent a lot of time restoring my house. I’d retreated from the world, but it seemed to move forward just fine without me. “Five vamps have moved into town? There are eight vampires in residence? Can the city even sustain eight vamps for long?”

“You aren’t hearing me, Zoey,” Albert said. “The vampires haven’t moved here. They rose here. Or if they didn’t have their turn in our fair city, then they got here as quickly as they could. None of the vampires appears to be over thirty human years old, and I suspect that is their true age. These are new vampires. I am almost certain of it.”

I shook my head at the thought.

My husband had an awful lot of explaining to do.

Chapter Two

I steered the Audi through downtown traffic, glad that I could make it to Daniel’s with a blindfold on because I wasn’t thinking about the drive. It was difficult to concentrate on anything except what Albert and I had discussed.

Why was the Council sending new vamps to Dallas?

It didn’t make sense. Vampires are very rare. In the course of a decade, maybe five will rise. Almost all of these vampires will be located in the First World. The genetic mutation that causes vampirism seems to be more prevalent in males of European descent. Advanced medicine and health care in the wealthier societies have had an effect on vampire society. In the past, many would die on the battlefield or from disease. Now they mostly died of old age. Old age and vampirism is not a good combination. The thought that five new vampires had risen, and that they had died as young men, was too much of a coincidence.

If such a thing had happened, the Council would certainly not send their precious new fledglings to the same city as Daniel Donovan for training. Quite the opposite. The Council would try to make damn sure Daniel didn’t taint them with his outlaw presence. It was only because of his patron’s influence that the Council hadn’t written an order of execution on him about seven months ago. They should be glad they hadn’t written out that order because Daniel wouldn’t have met the dawn quietly. He would have gone down—if they could take him down, and that’s a big if—in a blaze of glory.

Daniel is the vampire who scares the shit out of the other vampires.

Albert had to be wrong about the vampires being new. It just didn’t happen. If the Council had sent the vampires, then they were here for one reason and one reason alone. They had come to fuck with Daniel.

I pulled the Audi into the parking garage of Daniel’s building, parked and started for the entryway.

“Mrs. Donovan,” the doorman acknowledged as he held the door open for me.

I smiled briefly. I couldn’t get used to the deferential treatment I got whenever I entered vampire society. I’m a companion. It’s the vampire word for wife, dinner, and addiction all rolled into one. Apparently the only thing rarer on the Earth plane than vampires are companions. No one has ever explained to my satisfaction just what it is about me that makes me a companion. There’s something in my blood that makes a vampire stronger, smarter, faster than a vampire without a wife. The flip side is the vampire is completely addicted to companion blood. Even though Daniel and I weren’t living together as man and wife, I donated blood every week to feed him. Many people would love to see Daniel Donovan in a permanent grave, and though I was trying to live apart from him, I could never be the one who made that happen.