Kim Vaughn has come to the Castle of Dark Dreams at the
request of the unknown owner. A demon hunter from a long
line of demon hunters, she's eager to put aside that part
of her life to work at the castle as an architect.
Unfortunately, there's a lot more going on at this fantasy
haven than meets the eye. Accompanied by her less-than-
accurate demon detector, Fo, Kim barely sets foot inside
the castle before Fo is sounding the alarm. It appears the
castle is overrun by a variety of non-human entities.
Willing to put aside her demon hunting past and focus on
the job at hand, Kim adopts a live-and-let-live philosophy
toward the various vampires, werewolves, chaos demons and
sex-obsessed demons inhabiting the castle. This works out
well since the guy she's attracted to is a centuries old
demon named Brynn McNair.
Kim finds she must resume her demon destroying ways when
she and Brynn discover that Galveston is overrun with a
variety of incubus, succubus and other assorted demons
intent on taking over the world. The arrival of Kim's
sister and uncle at the castle sets everyone on edge as the
battle between good and evil is about to commence.
Ms. Bangs' WICKED PLEASURE is an amusing supernatural romp
full of an eclectically delightful collection of trouble
makers, chaos creators and demon destroyers. Kim is fun as
a demon hunter with a heart, Brynn hotly sympathetic as an
unwillingly sex-obsessed demon and Fo is hilarious in her
journey of self-realization. This is the second book in a
trilogy. While it stands well on its own, it's obvious some
of the characters and some back story were in WICKED
NIGHTS. Readers might want to make sure they've read it
first before embarking on the sensual treat of WICKED
PLEASURE.
A man who can’t say no
Brynn McNair has spent the last five hundred years of his
existence offering his body to any woman who desires him.
The evil entity that created him has made sure that if he
tries to resist the compulsion to play love slave, he
suffers. So it’s no wonder that he thinks of women as his
enemy. Until he meets Kimberly Vaughn.
A woman who won’t say yes
Kim Vaughn is a demon hunter. It’s a family business and
her destiny. But Kim is all about avoiding her destiny.
She wants to marry an ordinary guy, have ordinary kids,
live in an ordinary house, and work as an architect. No
way does she want anything to do with a man who has
paranormal connections. Until she meets Brynn McNair.
Kim comes to the Castle of Dark Dreams, the main
attraction in a sexy theme park, to plan a few upgrades.
She stays to join forces with Brynn and save Galveston
from a supernatural takeover. Can a woman who wants to
marry Mr. Ordinary and a man who thinks of love as
sleeping with the enemy find happiness together? You’d be
surprised.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
Throbthrobthrob. “You can vibrate all night, Fo, but I
don’t feeeeel you.” Kim ignored the frantic pulsing going
on in her jacket pocket and concentrated on the Castle of
Dark Dreams.
The castle was definitely male. Sensory ripples of
overpowering sexuality, danger, and frightening secrets
glided over her exposed skin. She smiled. Perfect for a
castle, but everything she didn’t want in a man.
Kim still couldn’t believe she’d gotten the job. Her
family would go ballistic if they found out she’d broken
her promise, but a little sneakiness and lots of creative
lying should guarantee they’d never find out. They thought
she’d come here to hunt demons. She was really here to
live her dream.
Kim pulled the collar of her jacket over her ears.
Galveston might not be freezing in March, but a drizzly
night could still be miserable and chilly.
“Take me out, Kimmie. I’m your partner, your electronic
identifier of all things demonic.”
Kim glanced at her pocket. Fo could express any emotion
that suited her annoying little self, and right now she
was into an irritating mix of wheedling and whiny.
“Uh-uh. Isn’t going to happen. Your success rate in
fingering demons is in single digits, Fo. Remember the
White House? The president? Can we say humiliating? Our
nation’s Commander and Chief wasn’t amused. Don’t think
we’ll be getting an invite to the Oval Office anytime
soon.”
Kim continued to admire the castle’s exterior. She had the
gut feeling that the Castle of Dark Dreams only came alive
when night shadows enveloped it. Words like threatening
and brooding came to mind. Even though spotlights bathed
it in a brilliant glow, she’d bet its heart still lived in
darkness.
Threatening, brooding. Suddenly, she felt uneasy. Nothing
physical. Just a faint tap on the door of her
consciousness, a warning that anger and desperation waited
outside. More disturbing was the darkly erotic flow of
something she sensed hiding behind these emotions. An
uninvited visitor.
Erotic flow? Okay, so she hadn’t been with a man for a
while, but this didn’t feel like a playful gotta-have-some-
great-lovin’ moment. This wasn’t ordinary need. It was a
compulsion. Not something she’d feel or want to feel.
Angry and desperate? Nooo. Sure Dad ticked her off by
assuming she’d want to spend the rest of her life in the
family business, but that didn’t come anywhere near
desperate.
Kim took a deep breath. She was probably way too deep into
the castle’s mood. A few in her family were still
intuitive to a certain degree, not enough to recognize
demons as their ancestors did, but enough to sense things.
And yeah, she had a vivid imagination. Still, she’d never
experienced this kind of feeling before. For once, she was
relieved when Fo spoke.
“Fine, so I made one little mistake. The president forgave
you. Besides, all of those cameras and mikes confused my
sensors. But this time I’m right. I detect all kinds of
supernatural activity here. You need me.” Fo sounded
positive about that.
Right. Like she needed a big fat wart on her nose. Kim had
passed up the more technologically advanced versions of
the Vaughn family’s demon detectors exactly because they,
well, detected demons. She hated the family business, so
she’d chosen Fo, short for First One, specifically because
Fo couldn’t find a demon even if the devil drop-kicked her
into hell. This was a good thing. The fewer demons
detected, the less demon-destroying Kim had to do. And Kim
was all about avoiding her destiny.
A brief pause for conscience-appeasing justifications.
Unlike the rest of her family, she hadn’t swallowed whole
the belief that every entity identified by her ancestors
as evil was a demon. Back when her family used their
enhanced sensitivity to root out demonic beings, the
Vaughns hadn’t always come down on the side of goodness
and light.
She’d found proof in the family’s record books that the
accused “demon” was sometimes a very human enemy destroyed
under the guise of ridding mankind of evil. Besides, in
ancient times all entities painted with the name “demon”
weren’t considered wicked or minions of Satan. Her family
chose to ignore that fact.
“Kimmie, I sense demons dead ahead. Umm, if you take me
out right now I can be ready to destroy the soul-sucking
slime-buckets with no muss and no fuss. Then you can just
kick their ashes into the grass.”
“Not now, Fo.” Lately, a disturbing trend in the demon-
hunting business had further alienated her from her family
and relatives. Family heads had decided that the current
crop of detectors was behind the curve, that some demons
had found a way to circumvent their sensors. The more
dedicated hunters hated the safety feature that made it
impossible to attempt destruction of anything the
detectors didn’t identify as demonic. Fail-safe devices
were a pain in the butt.
“The demons are really close, Kimmie. I bet they’re close
enough for you to smell their disgusting sulfur breath.
What are you going to do?”
“Give them a breath mint.” And so, a few of the far-flung
members of the demon-hunting Vaughn family had decided to
destroy “evil entities” in the old way, by lopping off
their heads with a sword, even if the detectors didn’t
agree.
Now, this is where things got sticky. If the demon was
manifesting in its true form, no problem. But if the demon
had possessed a human, then lopping off a head sort of did
permanent damage to the innocent vessel. Some of the
Vaughns, though, had no patience with drawn-out exorcisms.
What the hey, it was worth some collateral damage to rid
the world of evil entities. It was all good to the
fanatical few.
“You’ll be sorry you didn’t take me out, Kimmie. While
they’re kicking your sorry behind all over the courtyard,
I’ll be stuck in your pocket.”
“Uh-huh. Then you’ll be able to lay an I-told-you-so on me
as I eat dirt.” Kim wasn’t a destroyer. She was a builder.
If she came across something truly evil, and she had proof
that it was a malevolent spirit, she’d destroy it. But she
wouldn’t make demon-destroying the driving force in her
life. There were enough obsessed hunters in her family to
more than make up for her lack of enthusiasm. Besides, she
intended to have a husband and children someday. She
refused to put them in danger from a bunch of ticked off
malevolent spirits.
“Just take me out for a minute so I can see everything.
How would you like it if someone stuck you in their pocket
and forgot about you?” Fo knew how to play the guilt card.
The only flaw in Fo’s reasoning was that she never let Kim
forget about her. Surrendering to the inevitable, Kim
reached into her pocket, pulled Fo out, and flipped her
open. To anyone who didn’t know better, Fo looked like a
camera phone. Only Kim knew that Fo’s true function in
life was to be a little pain in the butt.
Fo’s small screen lit up, and her huge purple eyes
outlined in neon pink blinked open. Fo was not into subtle.
“You know, the whole goal in demon-hunting is to sneak up
on the demons. We’re talking low-key here. Cell phones
don’t have eyes.” Kim had allowed Fo to have eyes and
choose her own eye color. Fine, so she’d said okay to the
eyes because she felt conflicted about her demon-detector.
The rest of Kim’s family treated their detectors as
necessary pieces of technology like their computers. No
angst over the true nature of their demon-hunting tools.
But Kim had to constantly hum loudly over an inner voice
that tried to whisper AI in her ear.
Everyone in her family had cracked up the one time she’d
mentioned the words “artificial intelligence” in relation
to Fo. They’d agreed between guffaws that, yeah, Fo was AI
all right--Absolutely Ineffectual. Offended for Fo--who of
course had no feelings to hurt, who was just the creation
of an inept programmer--Kim had never again voiced any
doubts about the detector to her family.
“Forget it, Kimmie. I like my eyes.” Fo paused almost as
though she was actually...thinking.
Kim rushed to assure herself that Fo wasn’t thinking. Any
pause was due to the detector’s flawed innards.
“Look at it from my point of view. I don’t have a body. I
don’t have one single physical thing that can express my
personality, my individuality. Just my eyes. So purple and
pink is who I am.”
Fo was wrong. Her voice was always expressing something.
Fo should’ve put a mouth on her screen instead of eyes.
Better yet, Kim would feel a lot more comfortable if Fo
looked like all of the other demon detectors--no human
features, just a screen filled with technical info
pertinent to the evil entity in question.
“Be quiet now so I can concentrate on the castle, get a
feel for it, absorb its essence.” Okay, so all Kim really
wanted to do was wallow in the joy of her first job as an
architect.
When Holgarth--not Holgarth Jones or Bob Holgarth, just
Holgarth--had written to express the owner’s desire that
she be the one to make a few changes to the castle, she’d
been thrilled but cautious. When something seemed too good
to be true, it often was. So she’d done some investigating
and found the offer was legit. Holgarth explained that the
owner, whose name he never mentioned, was looking for new
and enthusiastic as opposed to experienced and jaded.
Well, Kim was certainly new and could out-enthuse anyone.
This was a breathtaking opportunity to start her career
with a bang.
She turned the screen toward the castle so Fo could see
it, too.
As theme park attractions went, this one was awesome. Live
the Fantasy Theme Park advertised that it was a place
where adults could role-play their fantasies, childhood or
otherwise. From the pirate ship to the Wild West street
scene, it invited customers to throw away their
inhibitions and play.
But the Castle of Dark Dreams was something more. It
looked as authentic as everything else in the park--a keep
with four square towers, a curtain wall, moat, and
drawbridge--but the white walls that imitated the lime-
washed color of ancient castles didn’t fool her. This was
no Magic Kingdom castle. Its master planner had captured a
spirit of danger and mystery in every sharp angle and
blunt line. Wonderful. Of course, whatever she did would
have to maintain that ominous aura.
“Ooooh! Scary.” Fo was happy again. “I’ll have to do a
scan of my systems to make sure I’m ready to off dozens of
demons. I like it here.”
Oh, jeez. “Look, Fo, you can’t keep seeing demons behind
every bush. I mean, I can’t believe you shouted demon at
that woman in the shop we just left. Sparkle Stardust
isn’t a demon. She’s just a nice lady who owns a candy
store. Sure, her name’s a little strange, but hey, lots of
people have unusual names. That doesn’t make them demons.”
She held up her hand to forestall Fo’s interruption. “I
know, I know. So my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Ozzlehoot,
was a demon. But he was an exception. And Mom took care of
him at the first parent-teacher conference. I don’t sense
mobs of demons hanging around this castle. Loads of
atmosphere but no demons.” Maybe a little too much
atmosphere. Kim walked across the drawbridge, through the
open gates, and into the courtyard. She paused to look
back at the gates. “The castle needs a gatehouse.”
This time when the emotions hit her, they were strong
enough to make her gasp--fury, hopelessness, and sexual
hunger that wasn’t about pleasure. What the hell...? They
weren’t her emotions. And they couldn’t be someone else’s
because she was the quintessential ordinary person, other
than her job of course. Ordinary people didn’t get slammed
with unexplained emotions. Kim gloried in her
ordinariness. She had no psychic abilities. Thank God. She
pushed the emotions aside to be taken out later and
examined from every angle, and then reasoned away.
Fo laughed, a light trill of amusement. “You couldn’t
sense a demon even if it tattooed the words malevolent
spirit across its forehead.” Pause. “You know, that would
be a lot to get on a forehead, but if it had a really wide
forehead--”
“Drifting off-topic, Fo.” Kim’s reminder was automatic. Fo
jumped from subject to subject like the frenetic
zigzagging of a water beetle.
Fo blinked. “Oh, yeah. Anyway, over the centuries, your
whole family has lost its ability to sense demons. That’s
why you need a demon detector. And Sparkle is a demon, a
very old and evil one.”
Kim didn’t bother arguing with Fo. It wouldn’t do any
good. Besides, Fo was right about one thing. Kim couldn’t
sense demons, didn’t want to sense demons. During her
short career as a demon destroyer, she’d used Fo to zap a
measly five of the evil entities. And that was only
because they’d been really dumb. Even she couldn’t miss a
demon when it attacked her in its true disgustingly gross
form. Ugh.
Besides, before they’d attacked her, four of them had
given her indisputable proof of their demon status. They’d
mooned her. Together. And there on all of their repulsive
bare butts, she’d seen the imprint of a small bat.
For the last six hundred years or so, demons had taken to
imprinting an animal shape somewhere on their bodies,
usually on a spot normally covered by clothing. They
picked an animal with ambiguous symbolism, one that
throughout history had both good and evil connotations, as
a representation of their ability to confuse humans. The
bat was a sign of good fortune in the East, but it
represented demons and spirits in medieval Europe. The
animal thing was a stupid affectation because it was just
one more way for destroyers to identify them. But then,
demons weren’t the brightest sparks in the fire.
“You know, your heart isn’t in this business, Kimmie. Why
don’t you quit? You can build big beautiful houses and I
can be your interior design consultant.” Fo blinked her
large purple eyes. “I’m great with color.”
“Can’t do it.” Kim shuddered at the concept of Fo as
interior designer. “I made a deal with Dad. I stay in the
family business until I marry. Then I’m gone.” She
continued walking toward the massive doors leading into
the great hall. Holgarth had overnighted the castle’s
blueprints to her, and she’d seen photos on the Web, so
she felt she knew every inch of it now. But studying
blueprints and looking at photos hadn’t prepared her for
the total impact of the place. It was WOW on a gigantic
scale.
“Hmmph! At the rate you’re going, you won’t find Mr. Right
or even Mr. Sort-of-Okay until you’re a card-carrying AARP
member. Not that AARP isn’t a great organization. It gives
its members?”
“Floating off-course again.” Kim fixed her attention on
the grotesque gargoyles protecting the castle’s doors.
Very effective details. But would they really keep evil
from entering the castle? Her ancestors thought so.
Only a short distance now and she’d be inside, and
hopefully safe from random attacks by weird emotions.
“I knew that. Now what was I talking about...? Oh, I
remember. The search for Mr. Right.” Fo narrowed her eyes
to indicate her displeasure with Kim’s ongoing, and for
the most part futile, hunt for the perfect guy. “What
exactly do you want in a man?” Fo’s tone suggested that at
the advanced age of twenty-seven, Kim should settle for
anything human and male that had the right sexual organs
and would marry her. “Just tell me, Kimmie, and I’ll help
you find him.”
Kim glanced up at the keep where light streamed from the
many arrow slits. “Cool place. Tour the castle, buy stuff
in the shops, eat in the restaurant, take part in a
fantasy, and then sleep in your cozy chamber for the
night. Great view of the Gulf of Mexico, too. Bet this
place makes tons of money.”
“I want to talk about Mr. Right.” Fo was in sulky mode.
Kim sighed. “I want an ordinary man so I can have ordinary
kids and live an ordinary life.” Qualifications for her
perfect mate? He’d never seen a ghost or wanted to see
one, never glimpsed a UFO or wondered about alien
abductions, and laughed at even the suggestion that
vampires, werewolves, or demons existed. And he’d have to
have a job that could never ever intersect with the
paranormal world.
Chances of her finding and actually settling down with Mr.
Ordinary? None. Because he’d be gone as soon as he met her
family.
“Sounds sort of boring, but then what do I know about
exciting.” Fo’s tone said that if she had a body to go
along with her eyes, she’d aim a lot higher than ordinary.
“Forget men. I have to think about the castle. Holgarth
wanted me here right away, so I didn’t get a chance to
pull together any ideas at home.” She didn’t want to talk
about her love life. It gave her a headache. Call her
picky, but she couldn’t seem to find a man who rocked her
world and fulfilled her perfectly reasonable
qualifications. Was she expecting too much? She firmly
shut the door in her mind labeled Hunky Normal Husband and
concentrated on something more accessible, like getting a
quick look at the great hall.
Since Dad had assured Kim that no way was Fo a sentient
being, and because Kim had always believed Dad knew
everything, it followed that she should put Fo back in her
pocket. Kim kept her out. Fo liked to see things.
As she drew nearer to the doors closed against the damp
and chill, Kim noticed a corner protected from the
spotlight’s glare. Within the shadows lurked a darker
shape, massive with no identifiable form. And for the
moment it took her to catch her breath, fear rippled
through her. Strange emotions, dark shadows--this place
was messing with her mind.
Kim glanced around. Castle and surrounding area lit by
bright spotlights, people still walking around even in the
drizzle. Fear? What was that about? Hello? She was a demon
destroyer. Black blobs skulking in the shadows didn’t
scare someone who hunted demons. She wasn’t even afraid of
a big butt-ugly minion of the Supreme Scumbag. Okay, maybe
she was a little afraid. Very little.
Throwing whatever stood in the shadows a casual and
totally fearless smile--she was still practicing her
totally fearless smile in front of her mirror--Kim reached
for the door.
“Do you really want to go inside? You’re not dressed to
kill.” The voice was light, female, and amused.
Startled, Kim almost dropped Fo.
The scary blob separated, revealing the shapes of two
people, a man and woman. The woman stepped out of the
shadows. Short blond hair, a pixie face, and large dark
eyes. She looked perky. Kim winced at the description. Ms.
Perky’s long black sleeveless dress was slit up the side,
plunged low in front, and was set off by the sparkle of
diamonds at throat and ears. Silver sandals with four-inch
heels helped with the height thing, but Kim figured that
she’d barely break five feet two in her bare feet. Wasn’t
she freezing to death out here without a coat?
“Dressed to kill?” Kim glanced down. “Well, no, I guess
not. Can’t I go in wearing jeans?” Why didn’t the man step
out of the shadows?
The woman’s laughter was friendly, her smile contagious.
Kim smiled back. Sheesh, how embarrassing. Lucky her
family wasn’t here. Kim could see the black-bordered blurb
in the family newsletter: Kimberly Vaughn, formerly known
as a tiger in the demon-destroying world, has been
disowned by her family for the crime of being afraid of
her own and other people’s shadows. The Council of Demon
Destroyers has reduced her to the rank of scared-rabbit.
Fine, so even on her most ferocious day, Kim would never
describe herself as a “tiger of the demon-destroying
world.” That title would go to her sister, Lynsay.
“No one will stop you.” The woman inventoried Kim’s
outfit. “But you’re still not dressed to kill.”
“Kill?” Kim didn’t get it.
The shadow man hadn’t moved, didn’t seem to even breathe.
He certainly wasn’t filled with friendly perkiness. In
fact, something about his complete stillness made her
shiver. She pulled her jacket more tightly around her.
“Only vampires pass through these doors on a Saturday
night.” The woman’s smile widened. “The Castle of Dark
Dreams holds a Vampire Ball every Saturday night. Everyone
does the basic black clothes and fake fangs thing. Oh, and
I’m Liz. I’ve been staying here for a few weeks. Really
neat place.” Liz’s expectant pause meant Kim would have to
reciprocate with name and trivial info.
“Kim Vaughn, and I’m an architect.” She got an adrenaline
rush just saying that out loud. “The owner hired me to
plan a few additions to the castle. So we’ll probably run
into each other again.”
“I’ll only be here for two more days, but I’ll look for
you.” She slid her tongue across her lower lip. Liz
sounded really eager, and her smile was really friendly,
but Kim decided that something about Liz and Shadow Man
was really creeping her out. Probably just a byproduct of
the last few minutes’ weirdness and her scared-rabbit
syndrome.
Fo’s paranoia must be catching. “Guess I’ll go in and take
a peek at the great hall.” Kim reached for the door again.
“Psst, Kimmie.”
Damn, Kim had forgotten she was still holding Fo.
“Uh, she’s a demon.”
Kim glared at Fo.
“I’m whispering. She can’t hear me.” Fo looked aggrieved
that Kim didn’t appreciate her attempt to be discreet.
Kim cast Liz a cautious glance. Yep, Liz had heard
Fo. “It’s just my cell phone. My brother did some creative
programming. He has a warped sense of humor.” She hoped
her smile said amused embarrassment.
Kim never found out what Liz thought of her brother’s
warped sense of humor because at that moment the man
stepped from the shadows.
Oh. My. God. Kim felt frozen in place, not able to close
her mouth or blink as she got her first look at him. At
the same moment, the emotions struck again with enough
force to almost bring her to her knees.
“Umm, Kimmie? Did you hear me? I said she’s a D-E-M-O--”
Kim flipped Fo shut and crammed her back into her pocket,
all without taking her gaze from the man. She couldn’t
reason away what she’d just felt. Even as she stared at
him, she could feel her ordinariness trickling away, and
she hated him for that. Because the emotions were coming
from him. She knew it, felt it on a primitive level.
He narrowed his gaze on her, through her, to the confused
person inside. She tried to rub away a slight pressure
between her eyes. Great. A sinus headache would complete
the night.
“So your cell phone thinks Liz is a demon?” His voice was
a husky murmur that would be right at home on a foggy
London street at midnight, quietly menacing with a promise
that danger could be deliciously tempting.
Kim forced herself to blink before her eyeballs dried
out. “It thinks everyone’s a demon.” True. “My brother
programmed it to accuse people of being demons as a joke.”
Not true.
“The laws of probability would suggest that it might be
right sometimes.” His soft laughter shivered along all of
her nerve endings. “If demons existed.”
He leaned closer to her, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t
breathe. Thankfully, the scary emotions had disappeared.
She didn’t question why.
But holy cow, would you look at him. Six feet plus of
broad-shouldered hard-muscled body. Fine, so she couldn’t
testify to any bare-body specifics because he was wearing
a black tux and what looked like a black silk shirt. But
only a hard-muscled body would do justice to that face.
Kim drew in a deep breath before she turned as purple as
Fo’s eyes. “Sure. If demons existed. They don’t, so the
message is a big ha-ha.”
Right now demons weren’t on her personal radar screen.
Where did great looking cross the line into spectacular?
This guy not only had leaped across the spectacular line
but was closing in fast on unbelievable. No one looked
this good. If he were a building, he’d be the Chrysler
Building in New York City, one of her personal choices for
most magnificent building in the world.
Liz moved up to put a proprietary hand on his arm. “We
need to get going, Brynn.”
The man, Brynn, deliberately glanced at his watch. “Not
yet.” He didn’t look at Liz, and his words were shards of
chipped ice. Didn’t sound too lover-like to Kim. In fact,
he moved away from Liz’s grasp and closer to Kim.
While Brynn was eyeing the time, Kim was ogling him. Hey,
scenery this good came along once in a millennium. She
couldn’t tell much about his hair other than it was at
least shoulder-length, because he’d pulled it away from
his face and secured it with a leather tie. In the
uncertain mixture of light and shadow she wasn’t sure
about its color. Maybe rain-darkened blond.
He shifted his attention back to Kim. “You don’t believe
in demons, but let’s say they existed, in theory of
course. And just for the hell of it, let’s say your cell
phone could really identify them. Would your cell phone
also be able to destroy them?”
There was a dark eagerness to his question that would’ve
normally registered on her really-weird scale, but she was
still too wrapped up in the glory of his face.
“Yeah, I guess so.” His face. If you just listed each
feature--firm jaw, full lower lip, wide-spaced eyes--you
might dismiss him as merely another example of yummy
maleness in a world loaded with delish guys.
This man had all the intangibles, though. Every woman who
ever looked at him would recognize his sensual, dangerous,
and primal call. Kim didn’t know many women who wouldn’t
answer. He was simply perfect. And since Kim never trusted
perfect in an imperfect world, she was instantly
suspicious.
Uh-huh. Time for a teeny tiny bit of self-honesty here. If
Mr. Sinfully Sexy crooked his perfect finger, she’d
probably leap on him, knock him down right here in front
of the castle, rip his clothes from his body, and have her
wicked way with him. Kim took a deep calming breath. Yeah,
she’d still be suspicious, but who said she couldn’t have
a good time while she waited for him to do something
dastardly, hmm?
“Come on, Brynn. I’m cold and it’ll be time in,” Liz
leaned over to glance at his watch. “five minutes.”
She sounded whiny, and the malicious enjoyment Kim got
from the thought surprised her. And what exactly would
happen in five minutes?
“You may as well go back inside, Liz, because I want to
talk to Kim for a few minutes about her cell phone. In
fact, I guess I’ve officially been with Kim for the last
four minutes. So all bets are off. Enjoy the rest of your
night.” More shocking than Brynn’s terse dismissal of Liz,
was Liz’s response.
“You’ll pay for this next time.” She didn’t look perky
anymore, just royally pissed off. “I’m starved.” Liz
speared him with her gaze, and Kim couldn’t remember ever
seeing such open sexual hunger on any woman’s face. She
cast Kim a speculative glance before turning and striding
away from the castle, anger in every click of her heels.
Away from the castle? Didn’t they have food inside? Maybe
she didn’t want food. Kim figured Liz had a pretty healthy
appetite for Brynn’s body. Say something. “Uh, this is
probably none of my business, but I think I missed
something.”
He lifted his face to the light breeze that had suddenly
kicked up and closed his eyes. “Liz and I play a game each
night. She lost this time.” He opened his eyes and then
stepped closer.
For the first time she got a good look at his eyes in the
full light...and forgot to breathe. The Big Bang theory
became real for Kim in that moment, because looking into
Brynn’s eyes opened up a whole new personal universe for
her.
She was surprised he couldn’t hear the kaboom kaboom of
her heartbeat. Kim controlled the need to flatten her hand
over the organ in question so it wouldn’t leap from her
chest. Chasing your heart down the street would be so not
cool.
There were a thousand stories in his eyes, and they were
all sexual. Color? Old whiskey held up to candlelight so
that the rich gold shone through--potent, ageless, and...
Warm should be the next word on her list. It wasn’t. Every
emotion she’d felt just a few minutes ago shone in those
eyes. Cold. So cold. She exhaled sharply and shivered.
Forcing her gaze away from those eyes, she tried to
concentrate on what he was saying.
“You saved me from a night of mindless sex.” He didn’t
smile when he said it.
Mindless sex? The men she’d known would salivate like
Pavlov’s pooch at the mention of mindless sex. She didn’t
understand him, and she certainly didn’t understand his
emotions that had sort of wandered off course and found
her. “Gotcha. Well, I guess I’ll take a peek into the
great hall. Are you coming in, too?”
“No.” His gaze drifted beyond her into the night. “I think
I’ll walk for a while. There’s a certain pleasure in
aloneness. Don’t you feel it? The quiet. The peace.” His
voice was smoke, sex, and warm secret places.
She would’ve believed his voice if she hadn’t looked into
his eyes first. Warm wasn’t part of his agenda. Kim
finally managed to move. She stepped back. Standing too
close to those waves of pheromones couldn’t be good for
her sensual well-being. “You’re right. I wouldn’t mind
being alone more.” She couldn’t help it if she sounded a
little wistful. She was supposed to keep Fo with her all
the time, and the detector didn’t have an off button. So
essentially Kim was never alone.
She had a feeling that his “alone” meant something else.
Could a man ever get too much female adoration? The
thought was revolutionary. But Kim could almost imagine
what would happen inside the castle if all the women knew
he was outside by himself. There’d be a bloody catfight,
dozens of women scratching and clawing at each other. The
winner would eventually drag her battered body out here to
claim her prize. Kim frowned. Something touched her that
felt uncomfortably close to envy.
“Would you mind if I took a quick look at your cell phone
before you go inside?” He’d shifted closer again, invading
her space, bringing with him the scent of wicked joys and
dark fantasies.
“Oh, sure.” She reached for her real cell phone in her
other pocket and prayed he hadn’t seen which pocket held
Fo.
“I don’t think so.” He covered her hand with his larger
one, and she swore she felt the heat from his touch all
the way to her backbone. “I think this is your talkative
little phone.” He dipped his fingers into her other pocket
and pulled out Fo.
Damn. Kim snatched Fo from his fingers, flipped the
detector open so he could see, and hoped for a miracle.
One in which the screen remained blank and Fo remained
silent.
It wasn’t her night for miracles. Fo’s huge purple eyes
blinked open, and she stared at Brynn. Only the slight
widening of Fo’s eyes gave warning, but Kim knew what was
coming and was helpless to stop it. Now Kim knew how the
Wicked Witch of the East had felt just before Dorothy’s
house flattened her.
“Woohoo! DemondemonDEMON!” Fo’s small metal case pulsed
with excitement. “Big beeeautiful DEMON. Can we keep him
for a while before we destroy him? Huh, can we?”
Kim closed her eyes and wished for an out-of-body
experience. Preferably one that would take her at least a
mile from this man. “I’m already visualizing the duct tape
over your mouth, Fo.” Kim’s hissed threat didn’t seem to
slow down Fo’s happy vibrating.
All right, she’d have to open her eyes sometime. He’d
either be surprised or amused. Those were the usual
responses to one of Fo’s outbursts. Except for the
president’s secret service. It took a lot to surprise or
amuse them. Fo had barely escaped with her nano-parts
intact.
Drawing in a deep breath of courage, Kim opened her eyes.
Then blinked. He was fascinated. Really fascinated. He
carefully removed Fo from her nerveless fingers.
“It’s a joke. It’s only a cell phone. My brother
programmed her, umm, it, to say that. It didn’t mean what
it said. I mean, she’s, uh, it’s not real, so it didn’t
know...” Shut up. Kim closed her mouth and waited for his
response to that bit of hysteria.
He narrowed his eyes as he studied Fo. Fo studied him
right back. “What happens if I press this button?” He
indicated the red destroy button.
“Not much. A little noise, a little light. Pretty
harmless.” Unless you’re a demon. “The whole thing’s a
gag. I’ve been trying to tell you that.”
She reached for Fo and then watched in horror as his
finger hovered over the red button. The demon-destroying
beam would get him right in the face. It wouldn’t kill a
human, but it would blind him for about a half hour. She
didn’t need to start her new job with him clutching his
face and accusing her of trying to kill him.
Kim ripped Fo from his fingers. “It was great meeting you,
but it’s chilly standing out here.” She clicked Fo shut
and put the detector back into her pocket.
She refused to meet his gaze, but Kim sensed his
amusement...and something more, something darker.
“When you’re ready to go in, just press that button and
someone will greet you.” He pointed to a button beside the
doors. “Welcome to the Castle of Dark Dreams, Kim.” Then
he turned and strode away.
Bemused, she watched him until he disappeared in the
darkness, and then she reached for the doorbell.
“Would you like a brochure, dearie?” The voice behind her
said old and wizened.
Kim gave a startled squeak and leaped away from the door.
Okay, so with everything that had happened tonight she had
a right to be jumpy. She turned to meet the sharp gaze of
a walking stereotype.
The woman looked old. Very old. Her white hair was short
with waves that marched across her head in perfect order.
Small wire-framed glasses perched on the end of her nose.
A round face, faded blue eyes, a small mouth, and many
many wrinkles completed the picture of everybody’s
grandmother.
Trouble was, Kim’s grandmother didn’t look like this.
Grandma was slim, trim, and stylish with great hair. She’d
threatened to give all her money to cat charities unless
her family promised to make sure when they laid her out
that no gray roots showed and that she had fresh
highlights. Grandma wasn’t going to knock on the pearly
gates looking like a night hag.
Kim glanced down at the brochure the woman held out to
her. The grandma image continued. White cardigan, baggy
flowered dress that showed the tops of knee-highs when the
wind caught the edges of her skirt, and black chunky
shoes.
Kim took the brochure because she didn’t want to insult
the woman. “Thanks.”
The woman smiled at Kim. It was a prim smile. “I’m Miss
Abby. Taught first grade for thirty-five years here in
Galveston. Kids’ll either kill you or make you stronger. I
got stronger. When I retired, I started my own business.
Ye Olde Victorian Wedding Chapel. I’ll marry you in style.”
What to say? “Umm, I don’t think--”
“That’s the trouble today, youngsters don’t think. Keep
the brochure. You never know when you might meet the
perfect young man and want to hitch up with him in a
hurry. In my day, young ladies didn’t just up and marry
someone fast unless they were in a family way. But times
change.” Her expression said not for the better.
Family way? Who said things like that nowadays? “I
guarantee I won’t be needing a wedding chapel.” Not unless
Mr. Ordinary popped out of the castle wall.
The woman waved at her. “Keep the brochure. Pass it on if
you can’t use it.” She walked past Kim. “I have to leave a
pile of them in the lobby. Get a lot of business from the
castle.”
Strange. Miss Abby’s walk was a lot more chipper than the
rest of her. But a faint squeaking distracted Kim from
Miss Abby’s walk. Birds? Not at night. “Do you hear a
squeaking noise?”
Miss Abby glanced back at Kim. “That’s my girdle, dearie.
Every lady should wear one.” Her gaze said no girdle, no
lady. She didn’t give the button a second glance as she
pulled the door open and disappeared inside.
Kim was on Miss Abby’s slut list, but somehow she couldn’t
drum up the energy to care. She’d take a look at the great
hall and then spend the rest of her night trying to reason
away Brynn’s very scary emotions that had scraped off on
her.
Finally, she noticed the whispering coming from her pocket.
“She’s a demon, Kimmie. I’ve been trying to tell you, but
you weren’t paying attention.” Pregnant pause. “Some day a
demon is going to get you, and you’ll be dead, dead, dead.
And I’ll make sure they put ‘I told you so. Love, Fo,’ on
your tombstone.”
Kim sighed. “What a sweetheart.” She pushed the button.
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