Born To Be Wilde: Immortal Vegas, Book 3 (28 page)

I turned to Brody. “She’s not serious.”

He shrugged. “She’s not wrong. The guy looked like he wanted to consume her, body and soul. As long as, you know, that didn’t mean ‘consume’ consume, I could see the appeal. Nikki is way too much for most any guy, I’m thinking. It’d be interesting for her to have someone who could hold his own with her.”

“You’re both nuts.”

“Remember what I told you,” he said. “No going off half-cocked until we have everything in place.” He sobered. “It’s not that you can’t do it on your own, Sara. I’ve seen you do it. But we don’t know what shape you’ll be in when you get back. Or what shape the kids will be in.”

“I know,” I said. And I did. I appreciated Brody trying to rein me in because it needed to be done, but I was the one who’d come back with a fried liver. I wasn’t going to bring children back here without proper medical backup, not anymore, when I knew what could happen. Sometimes, ignorance really was bliss.

But we were a long way away from that. “How long?” I asked.

He looked at his watch. “Couple of hours, no more. Middle of the night is pretty much broad daylight here, as far as getting people assembled.” He grimaced. “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas.”

I watched Brody pick his way out of the bar, heading for the crowded sidewalk, and I hauled myself up as well. I had to be ready for the next confrontation, which meant I had to understand a few things. Death could help me, certainly. But I needed something more than she could give me.

I needed the unvarnished truth.

The walk from Circus Circus to the Flamingo was short, even given the crowds, and I stepped into the old standby of the Vegas Strip with the same shot of nostalgia I always did…which was odd, since I wasn’t an old-timer in Vegas. I hadn’t lived here when the Flamingo was in its heyday, and I’d barely visited the old casino when I’d been in town more recently. Nevertheless, the retro chic hotel was not my ultimate destination, and I glanced around, finding the image-on-image visual trick easily enough. I made my way over to the correct bank of elevators and punched a button.

When the doors slid open, I had to smile despite my tension. Leave it to the Devil to make even his elevator a sensual experience. I stepped inside the space, admiring the heavy drape of white satin and thick white carpet. Apparently the Devil’s cleaners had no fear of the outside dust of Vegas filtering into his inner sanctum.

The elevator moved up at a leisurely pace, so leisurely that I really had no sense of time passing. When the doors did finally open, it wasn’t a pulsing wall of sound and lights that greeted me, but a sumptuous tropical paradise, draped in a million twinkling lights.

“Sweet Christmas,” I murmured. “Where have you been all my life?”

I stepped into a room that was more Garden of Eden than hotel interior. After a short marble apron, the room exploded into a lush jungle of lush plants and large bubbling pools. At the far end, enormous glass doors stood open to what looked like an outdoor patio and I thought I caught a glimpse of another outdoor pool as well. As I stood, gawking, I felt the touch of Kreios on my mind. He never intruded the way Armaeus did. Instead, he made his presence known as gently as a whisper. It was that whisper that was beckoning me now.

“Sara Wilde,” he murmured, and I turned to the center of the room, finally spying the canopied tent that waved in the breeze from ornate overhead fans. Tiki torches surrounded it, as did honest-to-God live ferns and palm trees. “It is always a pleasure to see you. How can I help?”

I steeled myself and walked forward into the garden room, bracing myself for whatever state Kreios would be in. But the Greek demigod surprised me. He sat at a teak table in loose khakis, a long linen shirt open at the neck, and beach sandals. A large pitcher of something fruity looking occupied the table, plus two glasses. Fairy lights flickered all around him, swaying from the trees. “Much more civilized to talk this way, wouldn’t you say?”

His jade-green eyes followed me as I picked my way down the sandy path, my mind refusing to stop wondering how he kept his place clean. It was a transdimensional domain of a demigod, and I was caught up with housekeeping.

Kreios gestured me to sit, and I took the only other chair at the table, a huge wing-backed wicker seat that I could curl up in and sleep in for days. It was piled high with pillows, and he smiled as I tossed a few of them to the thick rug lining the teakwood ledge. “You’d prefer to sit on the ground?”

“Thanks, not today.”

“Ah, but if not today, then when?” He watched me with hungry eyes as I pulled the chair closer. “I’ve been so looking forward to this.”

I raised a brow. “You’re not seriously trying to flirt with me.”

“There is no need for that.” Without warning, he leaned forward and placed his hands on either side of my face, his eyelids dropping to a sensual stare as he drew in a deep breath. “You know that I can tell your innermost needs and desires. I know what you want, Sara Wilde. I can give it to you. But there is no need for us not to enjoy ourselves while you work up the courage to ask me, no?”

I found myself staring at Kreios’s soft mouth as he spoke, his words weaving a spell around me so strongly, I found myself wanting to surrender. How would it feel to give over to that spell, I wondered. Nikki had done so, and though she never spoke of it, she’d been glowing like a beacon for days following the afternoon she’d spent in Kreios’s care. I knew better than to think he actually had any affection for me, but—

“You are wrong,” he murmured. “I have nothing but the highest affection for you.” He leaned forward and kissed me, so hard and fast that it took my breath away. The kiss was fierce, almost angry, and he reared back with such a look of intensity shining from his eyes that I forgot who I was for a moment, who I was and why I was there.

“Ah! We understand ourselves better, then,” he said, smiling as I jerked away from him, scrambling back in my chair. “Armaeus treats you like spun glass, but the time will come for your testing, Sara, and he will find that you are made of sterner stuff than he could imagine.” He turned to the carafe of juice while I gaped at him. “What are you drinking? Not scotch on such a fine night.”

He poured a glass of juice and pushed it toward me, and I lifted it gratefully. My tongue had suddenly cleaved to the top of my mouth, and I felt awkward, almost shy in Kreios’s presence.

What is wrong with me?

The Devil prompted me. “You want to ask about…”

I let the cool mix of alcohol and fruit juice slide down my throat, the perfect blend of harsh and sweet. And went with the question that weighed the most heavily on me since I’d seen the morning in Brody’s house when everything went upside down for me. Again.

“Do you know who my mother is? My father?”

If I’d surprised him with my priorities, Kreios didn’t betray it. “I do not,” he said, shaking his head. “If I did, you would already know. Armaeus does not know either, though he has his suspicions.”

“And what are those? And if you tell me that I have to ask him directly, I’m going to punch you in the throat.”

“I should welcome the attempt,” Kreios said, his lips curving into a smile. “He believes that you are the child of a mystic of great power, possibly two. It is the only way he can explain your resistance to him, and your capacity to accept new power within you. Your potential is nowhere near tapped, and most mortals simply do not possess that much psychic ability. Not anymore.”

I frowned. “So, what, Merlin is my dad and Enigma’s my mom? That’s what he thinks?” I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous. I was left with a woman who was drunk more days than not. Not exactly the mark of loving parents.”

He shrugged. “Who is to say the reasons of a father when it came to protecting his beloved child?”

I looked at him, my face carefully blank. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

Chapter Twenty-three

Kreios burst out with such a bark of honest laughter that his entire face was transformed with delight. It took my breath away.

“No, my dear Sara Wilde, I can assure you it is not. Much to my intense satisfaction, I’ll have you know. But it is a question that continues to nettle Armaeus. Which is not a bad thing. He’s better when he’s nettled on occasion.” He shook his head, grinning at me with such collegial goodwill, I couldn’t help but be drawn to him. “I would tell you if I knew, but I do not. What else do you seek?”

I considered my next question carefully. “What will happen when I bring the children Viktor stole back through the veil? Will those kids end up possessed?” It wouldn’t change what I would do, of course, but it might change what I asked of the Council. The children deserved to live their full lives, not have their existence cut out at Viktor’s whim or damaged irretrievably by possession. I’d be damned if I brought them back only to deliver them on a platter to him.

Kreios watched me with amusement. “Why did you hesitate to ask this question? I do not have any affinity with the djinn.” He smiled. “The world is a big enough place for magic of many hues, light to dark. Viktor makes the same mistake you do. He’ll see the error of his ways soon enough.”

I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“The djinn are beholden to him, but they are not his slaves. They are also not wholly dark, as I am not wholly dark. There are subtleties and nuances to their magic that he has not fully grasped. But that is part of his value.”

“Value!” I shook my head. “No. He should be destroyed, Kreios.”

My vehemence didn’t faze him. “You cannot destroy darkness, Sara Wilde. You can only overcome it. But Viktor does have his uses. Every Council must have those who leap first, consider second. Else nothing would get done at all.”

“And what he’s doing is something useful?”

“I can assure you, the Council has not been this engaged in the actions of man since the Second World War. That is partly due to SANCTUS, yes. But it is also partly due to Viktor. And it is long overdue.”

“That’s not terribly comforting.”

His smile deepened. “It’s not meant to be. But to answer your initial question about the children and the djinn, consider this. You saw the man the djinn attempted to possess, yes? A fine physical specimen. I looked in on him after his ordeal, since in effect, the Council helped put him in harm’s way.”

I lifted my brows. “He’ll be okay?”

“He will.” Kreios nodded. “But more to the point, he was easily six foot three, well built, sturdy, and in his late twenties. Contrast that with the six children Viktor has taken.”

I frowned. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Nothing at all—but they have not spent the better part of their young lives in a gym, or training on a combat field. They have been given the illusion of an idyllic childhood and education, and that is all well and good. But not, perhaps, of interest to the djinn, if you catch my meaning. Since they’ll be utilizing their own mental faculties.”

“They want the Avengers.”

“Indeed. Not six teenagers who will be trying to reacclimatize to a world that has gone on without them. Viktor should have known that from the start.”

“Yeah.” I blew out a breath. “I’m not really sure how that’s going to go, assuming we bring them back safely.”

“It will go as it must,” Kreios said, his words unexpectedly gentle. “Bringing them back will be the difficult part. From that point, their way will be made as smooth as possible.”

I met his gaze, and in it, I saw something solid and sure. The Council. They would take a personal interest in these children, in helping them return to a world they were ripped from. Their families, their friends. Their parents…

I frowned, looking away sharply. To his credit, Kreios didn’t speak, but let me stare at the burbling pool not ten feet away from the table until I could finally move past the knot of emotion that had lodged in my throat.

Finally, I turned back to him. “I want to ask something else, but first… What do you get in return for all this information? Blue seems to be keeping a ledger of every question I’ve ever posed, yet you’ve given me everything I’ve asked for. That seems…unbalanced, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

“Not at all,” Kreios said, his smile positively decadent. “What is the point of information if it is not shared? What is the point of giving if there is no one to take?” He leaned forward again, and I felt it, the stirring of awareness between us, two predators circling, wondering when to strike. “I give freely because I
take
freely, Sara Wilde. But I never take what is not given with equal freedom. And I prefer an educated conversation, don’t you? That’s far more challenging than when one party remains in the dark, in ignorant subjugation to the other.”

He edged forward a touch more, truly seeming to enjoy himself. “So ask your question, the one you hold closest to your heart, the one I see shimmering on your lips. You’ll find I have the ready answer.”

“Why am I no longer afraid with Armaeus?” I blurted the question before I stopped to think of how stupid or silly it sounded. Instead, I plunged on. “I mean—I’ve known him for over a year, and never once until recently have I not been scared out of my wits whenever he moves in close. As much as I want it—want him to, well…”

“Say it,” Kreios breathed, and embarrassment flooded me, quick and hot.

“Fine. I want him to
be
with me. To touch me. I do—but I can’t. My brain shuts down, my heart seizes up. It’s like I have posttraumatic sex disorder, only we’ve never actually had
sex
.”

Kreios sat back, his face smug with satisfaction. “And that fear has recently changed.”

“Very recently.” I nodded. “Now, he comes near me, and it’s like…a door has been opened. A door I’m finally ready to walk through. But I don’t know why.”

“It’s a simple answer.” He shrugged. “He’s mortal.”

I frowned at him. I’d expected this, but that didn’t mean I understood it. “So? He’s no less powerful, no less Armaeus than he’s ever been.”

“True, but he has changed fundamentally. That change will have to be reversed and soon—there are dangers to remaining mortal that go beyond simple aging, particularly for someone with Armaeus’s past. But for now, he is mortal, and therefore, he cannot harm the essential part of you that he threatened before.”