Demon Moon

something in a language he didn’t know and glared at him. “You were supposed to be here before dawn. Get inside, you gorgeous fuckwit.”
    “Your flattery is sweet music, my dear. I comply.” He walked with her toward the entrance, grateful when they passed into the shadow cast by the warehouse’s bulk. “Where’s Castleford? You’ve become disgustingly inseparable.”
    “Savi’s riding with him, and she’s still sore. He had to go slower than normal.” Lilith swiped her card through the lock, then turned to look at him when he opened the door for her. “You really fucked her over,” she said darkly. “She was crying all night.”
    For an instant, unbearable pain ripped through him, tore at his heart and lungs with venomous teeth. Then he recalled the easy smile Savi had given him before sinking into the taxi’s backseat, her laughing reply.
    Feel free to triumph all you want, Colin. It’s just a phase .
    “You’re lying,” he said with certainty. Yet the tightness in his chest didn’t immediately subside, even when Lilith gave him a demure smile.
    “Of course I am.” But she glanced pointedly at the door. Colin lifted his hand, saw the impression his fingers had left in the handle. “But isn’t that interesting?”
    She swept into the corridor; he trailed after her, waited until Jeeves had verified her identity before remarking, “You’re a bitch, Agent Milton.”
    “You love me.” She shrugged out of her jacket, revealing her black leather corset. He grimaced, and her eyes narrowed. “What?”
    “The trousers are fine, but the top is horrid. I’ll order you something less—” He searched for the right word. It wasn’t tacky …exactly. She carried it better than any other woman possibly could, but it was still intolerable. “—hackneyed. Though just as striking.” Giving demons and vampires a particular image proved useful to her, but it didn’t have to be so uninspired.
    “Will you pay for it? Your tastes are more expensive than mine.”
    “No. Don’t be absurd.” He turned away from her to stare into the wall panel; after a moment, Jeeves nodded at them. “Castleford can afford it.”
    “He likes this.”
    “For the whole of the two hundred years I knew him as a Guardian, he wore the most revolting brown robe I’ve ever seen. His likes and dislikes are hardly worth consideration. He’d probably think it smashing if you wore a nun’s habit.”
    She grinned at him, as if pleased by the idea—or she was considering dressing as a nun for Castleford. Christ, how soft she’d become. A year ago, she’d have stabbed Colin for mentioning Castleford’s name.
    She’d still stab him, given the proper encouragement, but he supposed he was fortunate he didn’t have to be quite as careful around her. “Why has Castleford not told Savitri he forced his Gift on James Anderson?”
    Or perhaps he did. Lilith whirled and pressed her dagger against his throat. He stared at her, taken aback, but unconcerned. Though as quick and strong as a vampire, she posed no real physical threat; this was simply an expression of her displeasure—and her protective instincts. Not for Savi—only concern for Castleford could’ve produced this aggression against him .
    “You don’t tell her,” she hissed between her teeth. “If he hasn’t, it’s for a reason. But whatever the reason, it’s between them.”
    His eyes narrowed speculatively. Could Savi forgive Castleford’s deliberate execution of a human? A human she’d convinced herself had been mentally incapacitated?
    If Colin ever needed a wedge between Savi and Castleford, Lilith’s response suggested this might be a useful one. She, too, must assume that Castleford feared Savi’s reaction—and Lilith wouldn’t allow him to be hurt by it. “It merely surprised me to discover he’d not told her the truth of it,” he lied.
    “And why do you care?” Stepping away, Lilith slid her dagger back into its sheath.
    “I don’t.” He smiled lazily. “You give me too much credit; I’ve simply little else to do.”
    But he couldn’t completely deceive her. “So that’s why you’ve been around so much the past week? You’re bored?” Lilith asked as soon as they were through the security door. “Or is it the pheromone again?”
    The suggestion was too insulting to be borne—too insulting to him and to Savitri. But he was also too tired to shrug it away. “Fuck off, Lilith.”
    Her mouth thinned with anger, but she was