Demon Night

the floor, then moving into the small kitchen to water it. Keeping her hands busy, he realized, so she wouldn’t give in to whatever other need was pulling at her. “Just before that, I went from ‘kind of sure’ about something to ‘ninety-nine percent sure.’ It gave me a little more courage—because otherwise, I’d never take this risk.”
    Courage, but her fingers were trembling. The ceramic pot rattled when she set it on the counter. His chest tightened. “But you’re afraid you might lose.”
    She looked at him, her eyes dark, haunted. “There’s that one percent.”

    He left Charlie soon after pulling in all of her belongings that he still carried in his cache, and insisting she take his big bed. Ethan wouldn’t be using it, and hers had been smashed and bloodied when they’d fallen out of the sky.
    He stopped in Caelum for a couple of hours, but it wasn’t any use trying to drift. He’d best be figuring her out soon, or there wouldn’t be many thoughts in his head that weren’t fuzzed up.
    And he couldn’t risk losing, either.
    Halfway to San Francisco, he determined that there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t start throwing things at her feet right away, and the first ought to be the house. He was certain that wasn’t what she was after, but maybe it’d bring her a smile.
    It wasn’t yet dawn when he arrived in the city, so he went directly to the big, fussy Victorian mansion crowded in among the rows of other fussy houses. Colin Ames-Beaumont arched a brow when he opened the door, but politely invited Ethan inside. There just wasn’t something quite right about any man who looked a picture of elegance at five thirty in the morning, and Ethan wished he’d dirtied himself up a little before knocking, just so it all balanced out a bit more.
    “I have heard that congratulations are in order,” Colin said as he led Ethan into a room that wasn’t much different from parlors he’d known in Boston as a young boy. “And that vampire blood has suddenly become a valuable commodity.”
    “You’ve heard correctly,” Ethan said, but declined a seat on one of the spindly little chairs. “But that ain’t what I’m here for.”
    “I hope not,” Colin said. “To hear it all again would make for a frightfully boring conversation.”
    “I think it sounds exciting,” Savi said as she entered the room, and when she stopped beside him Ethan obediently bent for her kiss to his cheek. Her cool lips brushed his skin, then she sat next to Colin, curling her legs up beneath her. “Sword fights, stray bullets, a humiliated demon. All good fun.”
    “A regular shindig,” Ethan said dryly. Dawn wasn’t far off, and Savi looked to be in her pajamas, so he went straight to the point. “I’d be much obliged if you’d consider selling your place up in Seattle.”
    He’d surprised them, but they both were nothing if not quick. They glanced at each other, and Savi bit her lip as if she was about to put something delicately.
    It was likely about the money. Ethan said, “I’d need a price. I’ve got cash—”
    “Twenty thousand?” Colin said, but his teasing grin was for Savi.
    “Yes. I can turn it into something more right quick. A lot more, if that’s what it takes, but I’d like to have an idea of what you’d be asking, and if you’d be willing to part with it.”
    Colin stood and tucked his hands in his trouser pockets. “I’m afraid we cannot, McCabe. Just this evening, we’ve entered into another agreement regarding that property.”
    Disappointment might have hit Ethan harder if Savi’s eyes hadn’t been shining so brightly, and she wasn’t biting her tongue to hold in her laughter.
    “A one-hundred-year lease,” she said. “With a newbie vamp who has already given notice at her current residence, and who we’ve decided would be a fantastic manager for the Heritage theater.”
    Ethan looked down at his boots, and his grin just about busted his cheeks. By God, Charlie sure was something.
    But she sure as hell wasn’t slow.

    By ten thirty, Charlie stopped glancing at the door every time it opened, hoping it would be Ethan. She was just going to make herself crazy, so she went through the motions of pouring drinks and conversation.
    A few minutes before closing, when she looked up from the cash register and met a pair of amber eyes in the mirror, her heart let her know that it was still alive by thumping a furious beat.
    Her smile showed her fangs, but his body would