Twisted (Rogues Shifter Series Book 3) (8 page)

"Is it because of me drinking your blood?"

"I don't know. It could be partly because of that. But, I'm pretty sure I would have liked you anyway."

I looked down again. “I’m sorry I called you a liar.”

“It’s okay." He shrugged. " Vampires tend to be promiscuous. Sasha and Heinrich are pretty much the norm.” His mouth turned up at the corners. “Could we keep this conversation just between us? Those two already torture me enough.”

“You can trust me
.”

He reached across and took my hand, threading his long fingers through mine.
"I know I can." He looked me over as a delightful tremor shook my body. “You've healed up really well. Do you feel better?" I nodded, afraid to speak and ruin everything. "Come downstairs and hang with Sinc and me. Don’t stay up here by yourself.”

“I’ll come down and make something for
me and Sinc to eat. Then maybe I’ll stay.”

“Good.” He released my hand, stood up and smiled, then turned to walk back the way he’d come. I watched his body move gracefully and powerfully down the hall to the stairs as I took in a lungful of sweet vampire mixed with wild  ginger.
OMG, I was toast.
I grinned and sighed deeply, reveling in the thought of spending alone time with Will.

Chapter Thirteen

Jackie:
4:00 AM Wednesday

When I o
pened my eyes a minute later, Isaiah was sitting cross-legged on the bed looking smug and excited. I, on the other hand, began to experience the beginning throes of a full-out panic attack.

“Just breathe Jackie, you’ll be fine.”

“My eyes….they…”

“They were spectacula
r! “ He finished. “A true tone, even though you aren’t full blooded. You're descended from nobility, no question.”

“But that was..
. I don’t want my eyes to be orange. I like my green eyes.” I was starting to whine, yes whine. This was just too much. I was a freakin' demon. I couldn’t ignore it. It wasn’t going away. I started to shake and hyperventilate. Any minute now I was going to pass out again.

Isaiah grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me hard. “Jackie!” he yelled. “Get control of yourself.” When he h
ad my attention he continued. “Like it or not, this is the best news you could have gotten. You’re going to get out of here and get your revenge. Or at least help me get mine. If you get over yourself enough to make this agreement with me, Kennet's not going to ever touch you again, so stop acting like some girly girl and man up!”

I was so shocked by what he
'd said that I stopped trembling and stared at him with an open mouth. His expression was completely serious. I tried, I really did, but I couldn’t manage to choke back the hysterical laughter that roared out of my mouth. He glared at me as I bent over and let it all out, tears running down my cheeks. I ended up having to race to the bathroom to blow my nose before I drowned in my own snot.

When I’d composed myself again I came out and sat at the table. He was still cross-legged on the bed glaring at me. As I took in his expression, I decided that a little peace keeping was in order.

“I’m sorry I laughed. And I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you. And I’m sorry that I’m not too enthusiastic about being part demon. It will take a while for me to get used to the idea. You’ll have to be patient with me.”

He twisted his mouth, looking slightly mollified. “You don’t have
time
to get used to it. I estimate that we have one hour to put together an agreement that we can both accept, which will give us exactly 34 hours for training. That leaves you 8 hours for sleep—4 hours today and 4 hours tomorrow. The training is difficult and can be dangerous, so the agreement will have an appropriate disclaimer.”

“You sound like you watch a lot of infomercials
or courtroom dramas.”

“The Demon R
ealm can get so boring, with all the infighting and the torturing, and the kidnapping, but the mortal plain is fascinating to us.  We watch a lot of your TV. That's how I learned to speak English.
(Well, that explained a lot.)
All the higher demons want to be invited here, but we despise being summoned, unless the creature summoning us is weak or inexperienced, then it's fun because we get to play.” He gave me one of those really creepy looks again.

“You can be invited here?”

“Sadly, it doesn’t happen very often. Everyone fears us. I can’t imagine why. For instance if you decided you’d like to invite me to visit you, I would be on my very best behavior the entire time so you wouldn’t have cause to send me home.”

“I could send you home after I invited you?”

“Of course.”

“You wouldn’t be playing me would you, Isaiah?”

His eyes flashed orange but he shook his head and said sincerely. “Absolutely not.”

I still had
a million questions. “So was one of my parents demon royalty?”

“Oh no, your father was a sorcerer and your mother was cheetah
and demon.”

“Wait a minute, what
are you saying? I’m only a quarter shifter? And what do you mean my father was a sorcerer? Do you know who they were?”

“It doesn’t matter what percentage of shifter you are, when the gene is dominant you are just as powerful as one whose parents were both shifters. There’s sorcerer in you, but because you’re a female
, you couldn’t inherit that power. However if you have a male child at some future date, he could be a cheetah
or
a sorcerer. Not both, obviously. And no, I don’t know for sure who they were, only what they were.”

“But you suspect
?”

“Demon blood, like fae blood, can combine with other races
and talents: strengthening the person's power base. I believe your grandmother seduced a male cheetah shifter, then returned her child, your birth mother, to the mortal world to be raised. This isn’t uncommon. As I said, we love to upset the balance. Your grandmother is from demonic nobility, like me.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Your DNA is like a road map on a GPS for a demon. You have a great history, healer. I’m enjoying this much more than I thought I would.” Strangely, his smile was infectious and I felt the corners of my mouth turn up just a tiny bit.

I couldn’t believe that I was actually considering striking a
deal with a demon. First, I needed more information. “So what happens if we make this agreement and share blood, and then one of us reneges on the deal?”

The fire was back in his eyes.
“I’ll own you or you’ll own me, for a limited amount of time of course. No more than a century.”

“Own me?”

“Slave, familiar, concubine, personal assistant, masseuse, chef, our choice.”

“Forget it.” I crawled back into the bed and put the blanket over my head.
I didn't even care that he was still sitting there next to me. I couldn't make a deal where I might end up having to fuck a demon instead of a fae lord.

Unfortunately,
I could hear him through the covers as he continued to talk. “While you’re hiding under there, think about how it felt when Kennet kissed you against your will, but with the full consent of your body. Next time he’ll be doing a lot more than kissing you.“

I almost started to cry again…almost. Instead I poked my head ou
t and asked, “Am I able to decide what goes into this agreement?”

“We negotiate each point until it
is satisfactory to both.”

He stood and faced me, looking somber and surprisingly
respectful. "I am a demon of honor, Jacqueline Crawford, which is not an oxymoron. We follow our own code and are bound to it by demonic law. I don’t wish you any harm. If you’re back with Garrett and you’re happy, that will only make Kennet more miserable, which is my goal in all of this. And neither will renege. We want this too badly."

"How can I trust someone I met only hours ago with the next hundred years of my life?"

"Between you and me, Jacqueline Crawford, there will be complete honesty as we strike this bargain. This I swear. Demons do not make such a promise lightly. We are known for our ability to lie without detection." He winked.

I looked at him
and swallowed hard. This was a no-going-back decision which would set me on a new life path: one that terrified the shit out of me. So what else is new?  I nodded my head. “We’re wasting time. Let’s do this thing.”

“As
you wish, Healer.” His teasing smile made me laugh as his eyes flashed orange and he moved to sit at the table. For the first time since I'd opened my eyes in this dingy horrid room, I felt hope that I might be back with Garrett soon.

Chapter Fourteen

Bridgett
: 8:00 AM Wednesday

S
ince the vamps had to sleep during the day, the rest of us had to be up fairly early, so I'd managed to get about four hours of sleep. That amount was okay for one or two nights, but I was definitely going to need to close my eyes earlier tonight. Last night I’d gotten carried away watching Will work with Sinc. He seemed to be picking up all the tech stuff at lightning speed. I was pretty savvy with a computer, but he’d already passed me right on by. Sinc seemed to be impressed.

Sinc was also obsessing about Ethan. He’d called last night to say that Garrett was making good progress on his journey and should make it to them before dawn. I’d asked Sinc the obvious question of why Garrett didn’t just rent a pri
vate jet and get there in an hour or so. She explained that since Liam jumped through the lines, Garrett would be going over ground that Liam had skipped and he was determined not to miss any clues. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to cover that distance with his vamp speed and his ability to reenergize through the ley lines.

We
trying to stay positive, talking about Garrett finding her and bringing her home to us. We both looked up to him like he was some kind of vamp super hero. I giggled when I thought of him in spandex and a red cape.

I took a shower, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, and then went do
wnstairs to dig up breakfast. There was a strange man standing in the kitchen, which freaked me out at first, but when he turned toward me and smiled, I knew instantly that he wasn’t an enemy. He was tall and slim like most fae, and his waist length platinum blonde hair was tied back, away from his handsome face. His smile was warm and his dark lavender eyes glittered as he nodded slightly to me and spoke in their musical way.

“I’m Farrell, Lady Jor
renn’s son. I’ve been sent by Lord Caelen to protect this household until the vampires rise at sunset. I will be here everyday until Liam returns and can resume his duties. Are you Sinclair?”

“No, I’m Bridgett, Jackie’s sister.”

His expression changed instantly from warm to icy cold, making frozen fingers crawl up my spine. The pleasant young man of one minute ago had morphed into a much more dangerous stranger. My gut twisted when I realized that his icy gaze was directed at me alone. “I would like to speak to Sinclair. I will wait outside for her.” He turned and started to walk out the patio door. I raced to block his exit and his eyes flared with anger at my nerve. He didn’t try to push past me, probably because he didn’t want to get that close.

“Please, Farrell. Can I talk to you? I know you’re very angry over what I did. I’m going to live up to my agreem
ent with the fae. And I’m going to make a formal apology personally to all the prisoners who’ll allow me to. Liam is going to arrange it.”

Farrell’s  expression hadn’t changed
, so I lowered my gaze and moved out of his way. He walked outside and stood by the fountain, keeping his back to me. I wanted to crawl back into bed and bury my head under the covers, but instead I started to make breakfast. I knew that Sinc would be up soon and I’d send her out to him. Days were really going to suck with him around.

Rob showed up
first so I sent
him
out to talk to Farrell. I served up French toast with various toppings, along with ham and fresh fruit. I put out the orange juice and the coffee and set the table, setting out places for Sinc, Rob, Farrell and, in case she popped by, Elizabeth. Then I made myself a plate to take upstairs to the den to eat by myself. I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s breakfast.

Sinc was coming down the stairs as I was going
up.

“Why aren’t you eating in the kitchen?”

“You’ll see. I’ll be fine up here.” She shrugged and kept going.

An hour later, I went downstairs to load the dishwasher, only to see that Farrell was already doing it. Sinc was at the computer in the living room and Rob was at Garrett’s desk on the phone in his office,
so we were alone. Farrell had heard me enter, so he faced me and I froze and then started to turn away. I didn’t want to have to deal with his pissed off attitude twice in one morning.

Instead, he
spoke to me politely in his rich, musical voice. “Bridgett Brownlow, I apologize for acting in such an unfriendly manner toward you. This is your sister’s home and I was wrong not to show you the proper courtesy.”