Her hand went to her necklace, and he caught a whiff of blood again. She was killing him. “He isn’t human, then.”
“Would it matter if he was?” His voice was bitter and rough to his own ears. She didn’t deserve his anger, but he was pissed at Byzamoth, at Roag, at the assassin who’d poisoned him, at himself, at the entire f**king world, and he was tired of playing nice.
“Would it matter to you?”
“No. He’s a threat. Period.”
“You’ve lived a hard life, haven’t you?” Her words were softly spoken, but they echoed around the tiny chamber and inside his skull.
“What? Yours has been charmed?” The words flew out of his mouth before he realized the irony of what he’d said.
She smiled—he knew the look. It was the one Tayla and Runa gave to E and Shade when they wanted to humor his brothers. Might as well give him a nice pat on the head, too. “I have. I’ve always been lucky.”
“Luck runs out, Serena.”
“So you’re a pessimist?”
“I’m a realist.”
She walked over to him and punched him in the biceps. “Stick with me, baby. You’ll learn to be an optimist.”
Fat chance of that, but this was the opening he needed. “Oh, I’m sticking with you.”
She handed him the Roman pendant he’d taken from the real Josh. “I don’t need you anymore.”
“Yeah,” he said, “you do. You have demons after you, and I have a shitload of experience fighting them.”
He wondered how she was going to argue her way out of this, but to his surprise, she merely said, “I’m going to Aswan. If you think you can keep up with me, you’re welcome to tag along.”
She poked him in the chest with a finger and strutted off, leaving him standing there staring after her like a dolt. When she reached the exit, she threw him a cocky grin over her shoulder.
“You coming?”
Not nearly soon enough.
The thought came naturally, easily, but for the first time, it was followed immediately by shame. Because Gods, she was better than that, standing there in the dim glow of the flashlight, dirt smudged on her cheek and nose. She had a purity about her, a good, wholesome energy that seemed to repel darkness and capture light. He figured, being a demon, that he should be repelled, but she drew him, and even now he felt himself drawing closer to her.
He needed to resist, because getting emotional with her meant regretting what he had to do to save his life.
He nearly laughed out loud at that. He’d never denied himself, had never resisted his desires or regretted much of anything. Now, suddenly, he was trying to exercise some control, something even his brothers hadn’t gotten him to do.
But this spirited little human had him by the balls, and some small part of him liked it.
Hell’s bells, as Shade would say. Hell’s f**king bells.
Ten
I don’t need you anymore.
That’s what Serena had said to Josh after the demon left them in the catacombs, but it wasn’t true. Something was wrong with her charm, because that demon shouldn’t have been able to hurt her.
Not that it had hurt her a lot, but when he’d wrenched her arm behind her back, his nails had dug into her skin… and drawn blood. It was a minor injury, but it never should have happened, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was a little frightened.
Josh had handled himself like a pro, and as an ex-Guardian, she supposed he was. Until she figured out what was wrong with her charm, she could use his protection.
They caught a quick bite at a deli near the hotel before hurriedly—and cautiously—grabbing their remaining belongings from their rooms and catching the 17:20 train to Aswan.
They’d each purchased a large private sleeping compartment and agreed to meet up in the dining car for dinner. She had a few minutes, so she changed out of her dusty clothes, took two swigs from her flask for courage, and put her time to good use, calling Val while she still had a signal.
“Hey,” she said when he picked up.
“Serena? It’s David.”
“Oh.” She strained to hear David’s voice over the crackle of static in the cell phone and the rumble of the train on the tracks. “Is Val there?”
“Yeah, hold on. Did you get the coin?”
“It’s in my pack.”
“Good. Keep it with you,” he said, as if she was an idiot who would let it out of her sight. “Here’s Dad.”
She heard the transfer of the handset. “David said you got the artifact,” Val said by way of greeting. “Any problems?”
“Maybe. Last night a man approached me on the streets of Alexandria. He said you sent him.”
“What? Josh was supposed to meet you, but I didn’t send—”
“I know, Val. Calm down. I got rid of him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night?”
“I figured he was gone for good.” She took a deep breath. Val was going to hit the roof. “But today he showed up at the catacombs… and it turns out he’s a demon.”
Val inhaled sharply. “You okay?”
“You know I am.” She hesitated, considering how much she should say. If he knew Byzamoth had hurt her, he’d send every Aegis cell within a day’s travel after her. “But my secret is out.”
“What are you saying, Serena?” Val’s voice was low, controlled, and for the first time, she heard the Aegis warrior he was.
“My cloak was compromised,” she admitted. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. It’s repaired now, but it was down for a time.” Now she had to hope whatever was wrong with her charm would be as easily fixed.
“You need to come home. Forget about the Aswan artifact.”
“I’m already on the train.”
“You will get off in Cairo and catch the first flight back.”
She gazed out the window at the harsh yet beautiful landscape, a mix of golden sand and graceful trees, and shook her head. “I’m perfectly safe. And Josh is with me.”
“Josh? Why?”
“Val, come on. He was a Guardian. Who better for me to travel with?” She could practically hear the top of Val’s head blow off. Time to go. “Wow, the static is terrible. I should hang up. I’ll call you when I get the tablet.”
“Wait—”
She severed the phone link by mashing the End button with her thumb. Just to be safe, she turned off the phone completely and headed for the dining car.
Nerves, from the tense conversation with Val and from the anticipation of seeing Josh, turned her stomach into a churning cauldron. But when she saw Josh smiling at her from a table, she wondered why she’d been anxious.
Something about that devastating smile just made her go all mushy inside. She’d never been one for tattoos, but the swirling design on his face suited him, with its angular twists and whorls and dark, sharp edges. One pointed end kissed the very corner of his mouth, and she pictured herself putting her lips to his and following the tattoo until it ended at his fingertips.
He stood—awkwardly, almost as though doing so was an afterthought—and waited for her to sit before taking his own chair again. He was already halfway through a glass of whiskey, and he’d ordered her one as well. Very thoughtful.
She downed it. “I called Val.”
“Did you tell him you have demons after you and your artifact?” He took a swig of his drink, and as his throat muscles worked the liquor down, Serena realized for the first time that a man’s neck could be damned sexy. Maybe she could have one of those dreams like she’d had last night, only this time, she could be the vampire.
“Yes, I told him.” She shot him a wry look. “So your blackmail material is ruined.”
His grin made her pulse leap. “Don’t need it. Now you want to hang out with me all on your own.”
“Are you even aware of how cocky you are?”
“Do I really need to answer that?” He stroked his long fingers up and down the glass, and she suddenly wanted him to do the same to her. After a moment, he pushed the whiskey at her. “I think you need this more than I do. What did Val say?”
“He wants me to come home.”
“Are you going to go?”
“Heck no. Val’s paranoid.”
“Maybe he’s smart.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not you, too.”
He leaned back in his chair, his sinfully toned body sprawled out as though he didn’t have a care in the world, but the way his alert gaze kept checking out their surroundings said otherwise. She got the impression that a gnat entering the dining car wouldn’t escape his notice.
“So… what’s his story? Why does he act more like a father than a boss?”
She watched the liquor in the glass slosh around from the motion of the train. “He was a friend of my mom’s. After she died, he kept in contact with me, encouraged my love of archaeology. He’s an archaeologist,” she explained. “I went to Yale, where he taught, but college turned out not to be my thing. I was getting sick of school, ready to drop out, and he hired me for his private archaeology foundation. He offered me a place to stay at his mansion, and I would have been stupid to turn it down.”
Josh’s eyes narrowed into slits. “What’s the catch?”
“Catch?”
She could have sworn she heard a low snarl come from his side of the table before he spoke.
“No man offers a tight young bod like yours a place to stay without wanting something in return.”
Tight bod? She laughed. “Trust me, he has no interest in me. Not like that. You said it yourself: He’s like a father.”
“Why?” he repeated.
She shrugged. “I think it’s partly because we have a lot in common.” Namely, she was the only person working for him who knew the truth about his and David’s Aegis connections, and he was one of only a handful of people who knew the truth about her. “And partly, it’s because he’s kind of felt obligated to watch out for me.”