Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines Book 1) (11 page)

Even worse: with Taris guarding the girl, others would be protecting her as well—others with whom he and Morrigan had history.

Bane looked at the princess, still standing in front of him, still swaying her hips, still sucking on her finger like she was getting something out of it. The waitress brought his shot of whisky, and he grabbed it, throwing it back before standing up with a creak of leather.

“I appreciate the offer, darling, really I do, but I’m about to be royally fucked in the ass, so I’m going to pass on that.” He shrugged his shoulders, adjusting his leather duster before making his way past the stripper.

“I like kink. I could be nice to both of you, you
and
your boyfriend.”

Bane laughed as he stood at the threshold of a ratty-looking metal door. She was still staring at him, but with that come-hither look that was supposed to rake in all the bucks, as far as these girls were concerned. If he was smart, he would just take her somewhere, bend her over a table, and make her regret the offer. If he was smart, he would leave, forget about the “cause,” forget about everything, and move somewhere to start over.

But Bane thrived on blood. He lived for carnage, and he couldn’t exist without sex, and the only person who offered all three at the same time, in copious amounts, was Morrigan. She was his chemical high, his drug of choice.

“It’s not my boyfriend, lamb. It’s my wife. And, trust me, you don’t want in on a three-way.”

* * *

The office was a piece of wax paper-covered, incense-smelling, gritty-floored shit. The lights popped every few minutes, the desk was no better than a ratty old pop-up table, the computer was overloaded with porn instead of business files, and there were empty tissue boxes everywhere. Morrigan had a good idea of where the tissues had gone and what they had been used for.

“At least he didn’t leave them on the floor.”

She stood in the center of the room, her trademark stiletto pumps sticking to the floor, arms crossed at her chest. How did the business get that—well, for lack of a better word—shitty? She funneled dollar after dollar into its upkeep. Something told her to buy the place when she’d seen it for sale online. She hired someone she thought would be competent enough to run the operation, but apparently she had missed the mark when she hired Leo.

She walked over to the corner of the room, crouched down, and touched the body that was propped up against the wall.

“How did you let this place get so trashy?” She grabbed the man’s chin and shook his head, his wide eyes not blinking. As always, her voice was even, pleasant, almost comforting. “We are supposed to be having company, you know. How can I present myself as a successful businesswoman when you have spunk and chewing gum all over the floor?” She made a clicking noise with her tongue. “Very disappointed, Leo. Very disappointed.”

From behind her, the door burst open, and along with a flood of light from the hallway, Bane stepped in. Morrigan instantly rose to her feet, whirling around to face him, a smile spreading across her creamy face.

“Hello, darling.”

Bane pointed to the body in the corner. “Leo, eh? Figured he would have been a little more professional with the place, myself. We’ve got to do something about those girls downstairs, all coke and cock.”

“That’s what they do, my dear. That’s what brings in the money.” She walked over to him, placing her hands on his chest and sliding them up around his neck. She pulled him down closer, her lips brushing his face. As she dipped her head down again, the tip of her nose touched the crook of his neck, and she slowly inhaled.

“Two in one night. Must have been hungry.” Her voice was a whisper against his skin. From his scent, she could tell he had fed. “A man and a woman? You kinky beast.” She flicked her tongue over the skin of his neck and let out a small groan as his arms wrapped around her. “It wasn’t the doctor, was it?”

Beneath her arms, his body went rigid, and she instantly pulled away from him. Her cobalt blue eyes flashed to black as she stared at him.

“The girl, Bane. Where is she?”

“I didn’t get her.” His voice was low, soft, almost a whisper. Inside, he was steeling himself for what he would tell her next. Whatever reaction she had to his failure, it would be tenfold when he told her who had managed to get to the doctor first.

Morrigan removed her arms from around his neck and pushed herself back to lean on the table. She crossed her legs at the ankles, her tight black jeans swishing as the fabric locked together above her feet. Her arms followed suit, crossing in front of her chest. Her breasts were pushed together and threatening to spill out of her low-cut cashmere sweater. Their imminent exposure was compounded by her deep breaths.

“What do you mean,
you didn’t get her
?”

Bane took a deep breath and let out a slow sigh before he started to pace the room. Wherever he walked, he could feel her eyes boring into him.

“Listen, I got there as fast as I could, swear on us, I did. The reporter told me everything I wanted to know, and I started for the apartment to get her. But by the time I actually got there—” He paused and placed a large hand on the doorjamb just above his head. “By the time I got there, someone else already had her.”

Morrigan closed her eyes and tilted her head, bracing herself for whatever it was that Bane was stammering about.

“And just who was this someone else, might I ask?”

Bane shook his head. “I could feel him. Even when I was out on the street, I knew he was in there. I thought he was dead by now, Morrigan, I swear I did. I had no idea he was still here. I figured he’d have moved on by now, but sure as fucking rain, there he was. By the time I got to them, he already had her out of the place and on the roof. I fired off a couple shots, but he got me good, sliced my leg up with this.”

Bane reached into his duster and pulled out a blade. With the flick of his wrist, he sent it whipping across the room, end over end, until it embedded itself in the table next to Morrigan’s hip.

“Got blood on my new boots. Don’t really mind blood so much, as long as it’s not mine.” He paused again, walking over to Morrigan, who was staring intently at the black-handled ceramic blade stuck upright into the table.

She closed her eyes again and was keenly aware that Bane’s gigantic frame was directly in front of her. She was doing everything to get her pulse under control. She remembered that knife all too well. The things she had done with it were too numerous to list, and some of them too heinous for even the worst horror film. Her fingers wrapped around the handle and drifted down the stained blade. The last time she had seen it, it was still a brilliant white, a unique weapon if ever there was one. Now it was crimson at the tip and had faded to a dark pink at the hilt.
What was it used for?
Slowly, her fingers traced their way back up to the handle.

“You mean to tell me that not only is Taris alive, but he has the girl and he saw you?”

Bane started to answer, but before he could, Morrigan jerked out from under him. With a vicious growl, she was on his back, kicking his legs and sending him to the floor on his knees in front of the table. His chin hit the edge of the table, and the skin instantly split. He had no time to fight back. She completely overpowered him. She dug the spikes of her heels into his calves just above where his precious shit-kicker boots met his skin.

“If you didn’t kill him,” she whispered down in his ear, “then you didn’t try hard enough.” He could smell the blood seeping out of the wound on his chin. “Give me your hand, Bane.”

“Piss off, you harpy,” he hissed out from behind his teeth.

Morrigan dug her heel deeper into his calf muscle.

“I said give me your hand!”

Bane smacked his left hand onto the table, his breath raging from him like a bull. He closed his eyes as he saw Morrigan pull the blade loose. He fought back a shiver when he felt the tip touch the center of his hand.

“I think, my dear, that you have grown too complacent with this relationship.” She slowly pushed the blade into his flesh. His body jerked beneath her, but only for a moment. “You need to always remember that you are my servant first, my husband second.” The knife went deeper into his skin, touching the muscle and eventually hitting bone. “Now that Taris knows you are here, he will do everything he can to protect her, and since he is still alive, I can only imagine that
they
are still alive, too, in which case,” the blade went deeper until he felt it break through the palm of his hand and embed itself deep into the plyboard table, “we are going to need reinforcements, as well.”

With a shove against his back, Morrigan regained her footing on the floor and pushed herself away from him, landing against the doorjamb. Despite her exertion, her breath was steady, and she hadn’t broken so much as a single drop of sweat. Bane reached across himself to pull the dagger out of the table and back through the wound in his hand. He wiped the slick blade on his duster.

“Overreact much?” he hissed. His shoulders shrugged underneath the leather, and he slowly stood up, bracing himself against the table before wiping the blood from his chin with his sleeve.

“Call it what you want. Someone screws up, they pay the price, and of all people on this maggot-infested earth, you should know that.” She didn’t meet the cold gaze that turned with him as he stood to face her. She examined her pristinely manicured nails. “I trust that even though that will heal,” she pointed to his still lacerated hand, “you will remember it and let it drive you. Next time, I won’t be so lenient.”

She turned on her heel and reached for the doorknob but stopped short. Craning her neck over her shoulder, she looked at Leo, still slumped over in the corner, the hole in the center of his chest still leaking.

“Get some heavy guns in here to help you find her. If The Nines are still kicking around, you’ll need all of the help you can get. I want that woman here, and I want Taris dead. Do you hear me? Dead! And I don’t give a flying shit if he is your damned brother! And get that out of here.” She nodded her head toward Leo before she jerked open the door and stormed out.

Bane sat perfectly still for several minutes, alternating his gaze between the dingy door and his hand. From underneath the sheen of crimson, the wound stared up at him. It was already beginning to heal. He could feel the tingle working its way from the inside out. Instead of licking the wound to seal the outside of his skin, he let it be. If he did nothing to stop it, a scar would form.

He wanted that scar. It would be another battle scar from his life with Morrigan.

It was nothing more than a minor setback.

Like hell it was a minor setback! Taris biting Sarah was a screwup of colossal proportions. It was rash and reactionary and completely unexpected. Never in her wildest dreams would Kalin have seen that coming. The nail file had been more than enough. Actually, she had found it disgusting, but she knew his purpose, so she let it ride. But the pole-vaulter impression and the growling?
Way
too much.

What was worse was the fact that she had felt like a voyeur during the whole thing. All she could do was sit there and watch as her brother groaned with satisfaction at the taste of Sarah’s blood in his mouth. She raised a hand to her eyes and rubbed, trying to block out the sight of their hips grinding involuntarily. Did either of them realize Sarah had actually wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her fingers in his hair?

Kalin sat in the chair next to the bed and watched as Sarah began to stir. She had been asleep for going on three hours now and was finally beginning to wake. In that time, Kalin had kept a constant watch on her. Taris was incognito, no doubt fast asleep, as well. With all that blood and booze mixed in his system, she doubted she would see him until the next day, which was completely unfair in her estimation. He should be there, watching over Sarah, not her. She didn’t bite the girl. All things considered however, it was probably best that Kalin was with her. Otherwise, heaven only knew what would happen.

She had never seen Taris act so rashly, so spontaneously. He was tight and kept a short leash on his reactions. He weighed the consequences of everything. But that? That animal impulsiveness, that strength? She had never seen it from him before.

A nervous jitter blossomed in Kalin when Sarah turned toward her and opened her eyes. She braced herself for the scream and prepared the lengthy explanation that she knew she would have to give.

“Hi,” Sarah whispered up to her.

Kalin looked over her face, at the pink patch of skin above her collarbone. Sarah was calm, peaceful. She was fully awake and not screaming for her life.

Which was making Kalin really, really nervous.

“Hi.” Kalin cleared her throat. “I, um, would you like some coffee or something to drink?”

“I would love some coffee, thanks.” Sarah sat up and stretched. The brand-new look on her face made Kalin hope she had either forgotten what had happened, or thought it was a dream. Kalin rose and started to walk out of the room. She wanted nothing more than to hit the ground running. No, what she wanted more than anything was to step back in time and stop the whole thing from happening.

“Am I one of you now?”

“No.” It was the only word Kalin knew how to say at that moment.

“I believe you now,” Sarah said, her voice still heavy from sleep. She began to slip out of the bed, slowly putting one foot on the floor and then the other.

“You have every reason to now, I would think.” Kalin looked down at the floor. “Taris is sleeping. When he wakes, we are taking you to a safe place.”

Sarah nodded her head as she stepped closer. “I’m sorry about what happened, you know, earlier, calling you freaks and everything.”

“It’s okay. Understandable, really.” Kalin cleared her throat. “You are taking this all very well for someone just attacked by an eight-hundred-year-old.”

* * *

Sarah spun on her heel and began to pace the floor. She drew her hand behind her back and stared down at the hardwood. She went to the wall and back, past the doorframe and to the other side of the room, only to do it all over again. She finally stopped, just on the side of the bed where Taris had stood right before the attack.