Tempted

and then he chose his words carefully. “You think I can make the Red One come to the roof of a building near dawn? Why would I be able to dothat? I’m not strong enough to overpower and carry her,” he said, sounding more bored than curious.
    “You won’t need to. She saved you. And she had to do it without telling anyone. To me that says you mean something to her. Maybe even a bunch of something.” Nicole scoffed at the thought. “Stevie Rae’s pathetic. Always thinking she can save the world and shit like that. That’s why she’s stupid enough to come back here close to dawn. She thinks she can save us. Well, we don’t want to be saved!” Nicole started laughing and as the laughter overtook her, Rephaim saw the inklike shadow of Neferet slide across her eyes and taint her expression so that she appeared close to hysteria.
    “Why would she want to save you?”
    Rephaim’s question ended Nicole’s laughter as if he had slapped her across the face.
    “What? You don’t think we deserve saving?” Quick as an envious thought, she moved to the bed and grabbed his uninjured arm by the wrist. “How about I see what you do think?”
    She stared at him as his arm radiated the heat of her psychic violation, and as that heat spread throughout his body and soul, Rephaim concentrated on one thing: his anger.
    Nicole dropped his wrist and took a step back from him. “Wow,” she chuckled uncomfortably. “You’re really pissed. What’s that about?”
    “It issss about being wounded and left behind to deal with children and their petty gamesssss!”
    Nicole stepped back into his personal space and snarled, “This isn’t petty! We’re getting rid of Stevie Rae so that we can do the shit we need to do, just like we told Neferet we would. So are you going to make nice and help us trap her, or do we leave you out of this and go with Plan B?”
    Rephaim didn’t hesitate. “What is it you want me to do?”
    Nicole’s smile reminded him of a lizard. “We’ll show you the stairs that go up to the tower—the one on the opposite side of the roof from that stupid tree. I’m not taking the chance that she can figure out some way to pull it over to her and have it shield her enough so she lives. So you’ll go to the other tower and wait. Be all crumpled up like we dragged you there after beating the shit outta you and drainingyou almost dry of blood. Which is exactly what I’m gonna tell Stevie Rae we did, but I’ll make sure she knows you’re still alive. Barely.”
    “She’ll go up there to save me,” Rephaim said in a perfectly emotionless voice.
    “Again. Yeah. We’re counting on it. Once she climbs into the tower with you, just stay hunkered down. We’ll smack the grate over the top and chain it in place. The sun’ll come up. Stevie Rae will burn up. Then we’ll let you out. See, simple.”
    “It will work,” Rephaim stated.
    “Yeah, and check this out. If you decide at the last minute you’re not with us after all, Kurtis or Starr will shoot your feathered ass and we’ll throw you into the tower anyway. That’ll work for us, too. ’Cause, see, you are Plan A and Plan B. You’re just deader in one than the other.”
    “As I said to you before, my father commanded me to bring the Red One to him.”
    “Yeah, but I don’t see your daddy around here anywhere.”
    “I do not know why you play this game with me. You have already admitted you know my father has not abandoned me. He will return for his favorite son. When he does I will have the Red One for him.”
    “And it’s cool with you that she’ll be charbroiled?”
    “The state of her body does not concern me as long as I am in possession of it.”
    “Well, you can definitely have it. I don’t want to eat her, so I don’t want her body.” She cocked her head to the side and gave him an appraising look. “I saw inside that birdbrain of yours, and I know you’re pissed, but I could also tell that you’re guilty as hell. What’s that about?”
    “I should be at my father’s side. Anything else is unacceptable.”
    Her bark of laughter lacked humor. “You are your father’s son, aren’t you?” She started to duck out of the blanket that was the door to the room. As she left she called back, “Get some sleep. You have a few hours before she’ll be here. And if you need anything, Kurtis will be out here with his big gun. He’ll get it for you. You just stay in there until I call. Got it?”
    “Yesssss.”
    The red