Demon Blood

he’d need to find a demon. He swept that out wider, searching over thousands of human minds.
    A second later, he felt the dark, scaly slide of a demon’s psyche. It answered with a psychic probe that tried to pierce Deacon’s shields. A slight taunt echoed beneath it, the message clear. Come find me.
    It wasn’t hard to guess where to go. That taunt originated in the same direction as the vampire community’s club.
    He told Rosie what’d been left in the demon’s home. “Someone knew I was coming,” he finished.
    She frowned. “I didn’t expect him to make this move.”
    “Malkvial?” he guessed. And killing one of Theriault’s demons was a bonus.
    Her brow creased, and she stared up into his eyes, but not looking at him. He could almost feel her mind working as she tried to fathom a demon’s.
    “If he just wanted to kill you, he could have waited here. Is he trying to make a bigger statement by doing it in front of vampires?” She shook her head, talking her way through it. “No. No, that would make a statement to the vampires, but it says to other demons, ‘Deacon’s dangerous and he’s stepping on my toes.’ You’re not, though. You’re doing him a favor. All of Theriault’s demons look like fools now. For God’s sake, they’ve been slain by a vampire .”
    Deacon grinned. She’d said that like a demon might, as if a vampire was a piece of shit that a demon had to scrape off his heel.
    “Maybe he’s delivering a message?” Putting the vampire back in his place. “Though he could have done that here, too.”
    Her eyes cleared, hardened. “That’s it. He’s testing your resolve. You’re killing demons, but you’re taking them by surprise. Now he’ll see if you run—because if you do, he’ll paint you as a coward and a failure, and drive that home with another message.”
    “By killing the vampires here?”
    “That would be perfect, wouldn’t it? ‘Deacon’s arrogance destroyed another community.’ So if you confront the demon waiting for you, he delivers his message—probably by slaying you and making you pay for your arrogance. But if you run, he delivers another message to his demons and to every vampire community: Deacon is a coward. Either way, he wins.”
    “So how does this fit into your plan if I have to kill him?”
    “Oh, Malkvial isn’t waiting for you. He’s challenging you, but he wouldn’t want to give the impression to any other demons that you’re important enough to bother with himself.”
    “I have to kill the messenger,” Deacon realized.
    “Yes.” She laughed softly, shaking her head. “Demons can be clever, as Malkvial seems to be, but they are rarely original. The only time they surprise me is when love enters the mix. But it isn’t here.”
    Deacon’s gaze searched her face. She laughed, but worry and a touch of panic whistled through her psychic scent, a cold wind past a jagged cliff.
    And he could have told her that she was wrong: Love was here.
    But he had to push it away.

    Rosalia hadn’t expected this. She’d imagined many other scenarios, but not this particular one.
    Deacon could handle this, no doubt. But it served as a reminder of how much could go wrong, how quickly everything could fall apart. One missed step. One wrong move. The dreaded possibilities rushed in on her without cease, spinning through her mind. Like falling from the sky, unable to form her wings.
    “You all right?”
    She had to be. They’d almost reached the club. “Yes.”
    He wasn’t convinced. His gaze searched her face. “You’re scared. You’ve been worried since we left the demon’s place.”
    “I’m not scared .” Her pride stinging, she frowned at him. “Not of this demon. Just . . .”
    “You don’t like not being in control. Or letting someone else dictate events.”
    He saw her so well. Knowing how he disliked her maneuverings, she wasn’t sure if that pleased her or not.
    “Trust me. I’ll pull it off.” He grinned, and her heart flipped over. “Then you’ve got to fix your inner control freak. Just let go.”
    “I can’t.”
    His grin turned wicked, showing plenty of fang. “You did in my bed.”
    She had to smile. So she had, and loved it. And she trusted him to carry this through now, just as she had then. But—“If everything goes out of control there, no one dies.”
    “I came damn close a couple of times, princess.”
    A laugh burst from her, but she couldn’t make it last. She’d come close, too—but not