Valerius would never understand this woman or her strangeness. In the back of his mind was an image of Tabitha in the slinky black negligee he'd found under her pillow.
The image haunted him.
"I would love to go home with you, Tabitha," he said. "But I can't right now. I have to do my job."
She smiled, then kissed him again so passionately that it made his entire body sizzle.
Pulling back, she breathed in his ear. "And that makes me want you even more." He shivered as she delivered one long, sensuous lick to his lobe. "When the dawn comes, I'm going to make you scream in pleasure."
His groin jerked in eager anticipation.
"Promise?" The word was out before he could stop it.
She took a step back and let her hand fall from his face to his chest where she traced a path to his belt. He burned in the wake of her touch.
"Oh yeah, baby," she said teasingly. "I intend to squeeze you until you pop."
That thought alone was enough to turn his blood into lava. He couldn't suppress the fantasy of Tabitha's long legs wrapped around his hips, her body warm and wet as she welcomed him in.
He pulled her close to him so that he could kiss her even though they stood in the middle of the street. He'd never done anything so lowborn. Nor had he ever enjoyed anything more than the taste of her lips.
Her spicy-sweet scent invaded his senses and made his entire body burn for her.
This was going to be the longest night of his life.
Taking a deep breath, he reluctantly stepped away from her. "So where should we start patrolling?"
"You're not going to try and force me home?"
"Could I?"
"Not bloody likely."
"Then where should we start patrolling?"
Tabitha laughed. "Aren't you a little overdressed for stalking the undead?"
"Not really. It's rather fitting, don't you think, that I should look like I'm going to a funeral?"
She laughed at his morbid sense of humor. "I suppose. Do you always wear a suit?"
"I'm most comfortable in one. I'm not really a jeans and T-shirt sort of man."
"Yeah, I imagine you look like I do whenever I have to wear a suit. Itchy." Tabitha indicated the street with a tilt of her head. "Shall we?"
"Do we have to do Bourbon? Can't we go down Chartres or Royal?"
"Bourbon's where the crowd is."
"But the Daimons like to kill over by the Cathedral." He was suddenly very uncomfortable.
"What's wrong with Bourbon Street?"
"There are lots of unsavory people there."
Now that offended her. "Excuse me, I live on Bourbon. So you're calling me unsavory?"
"No. Not exactly. But you do own a sex shop."
That set off her hackles even more. "Oh! That's it. Nothing for you tonight, Count Penicula. You can go roast your own-"
"Tabitha, please. I don't like Bourbon Street."
"Fine," she said sharply as she stalked away from him. "You go that way. I'm headed this way."
Valerius clenched his teeth as she left him standing there. He truly hated to step one foot into this area. It was bright, loud, and filled with people who hated his guts.
Just go. Forget her.
He should. He really should, but he couldn't.
Before he could stop himself, he headed off after Tabitha. By the time he caught up to her, she was already on Bourbon Street.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as he came up beside her. "I would hate to sully you."
"Tabitha, please stay with me. I didn't mean to offend you."
She turned on him with a curled lip.
The instant Tabitha opened her mouth to let him have it, someone tossed a bucket of foul-smelling water from over a balcony and doused Valerius.
He went ramrod stiff while she frowned, then looked up to see Charlie, one of the doormen for the Belle Queen strip club, laughing. He set the bucket up and high-fived another man standing beside him.
"Charlie Laroux, what the hell are you doing?" Tabitha yelled up at them.
"Me?" he asked indignantly. "Since when are you hanging out with enemies? Nick done told us all about that ass-wipe and I promised Nick that if I ever caught Dick on our street again, I'd make him regret it."
Tabitha couldn't have been more stunned had Charlie slapped her. She looked at Valerius, who'd taken a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his face while that angry tic worked in his jaw.
"I swear, Charlie, if you were down here, I'd wring your neck."
"Why? You know our code, Tabby. Why you violating it?"
"Because there's nothing wrong with Val other than the fact that Nick needs to get a life. Just you wait, Charlie. I'm going to have a nice long talk with Brandy and when I finish with her, you'll be lucky if she lets you park your car in her driveway to sleep in it."
Brandy was Charlie's girlfriend, a regular customer in Tabitha's shop.
Charlie went pale while she reached to take Valerius's arm. She pulled him across the street, toward her store.
"I can't believe them!" she snarled.
"It's why I hate this street," he said in an emotionless voice. "Every time I come here, I end up walking the gauntlet through Nick's friends."
"That asshole!"
Tabitha had never been more furious in her life. She led him into her store and didn't even stop to chitchat with her employee. She took him upstairs to her bathroom and grabbed a towel and washcloth from the closet.
"Go ahead and take a bath. I'll borrow some clothes from my roomie."
He went pale. "No offense, but silver sequins and pastels are not my style."
She smiled in spite of herself. "I won't borrow from Marla, I'll borrow from Marlon."
"Marlon?"
"Her alter ego. He doesn't visit here much, but she keeps a few of his things for whenever he feels the need to come out."
"I don't think I quite understand."
"Go bathe," she said, urging him into the room.
Valerius didn't argue. The fetid stench of the water was truly unbearable. He was just grateful that Tabitha was willing to tolerate him long enough to allow him to clean up.
He'd barely stripped his clothes off and entered the shower before the door opened.
Valerius froze.
"It's just me," Tabitha said from the other side of the shower curtain. "I found a pair of black slacks and sedate black shirt for you. The pants are probably a little too big in the waist, but they should be long enough. I'm not sure about the shirt. You might end up wearing one of my tees."
"Thank you," he said.
Before he realized what she was doing, the curtain opened to show her standing outside with a hungry look on her face. "You're welcome."
Valerius didn't move as he stood facing her with the hot water sliding down his spine. Her bold, intense stare made his body harden against his will.
She didn't seem to mind at all. Indeed, a small smile spread across her face.
"Do you always spy on your guests?" he asked quietly.
"Never, but I couldn't resist getting a peek at what I intend to savor later."
"Are you always this brazen?"
"Honestly?"
He nodded.
"No, I'm not normally quite this obnoxious and you're the last man on the planet I should be considering. But I can't seem to help myself."
Valerius reached out to touch her. She really was too good to be true. "I've never known anyone like you."
She covered his hand with hers, then turned her face to kiss his palm. "Hurry and shower. We have work to do."
She pulled away and he felt her absence immediately. What was it about her?
Unwilling to think about it, he quickly bathed, then dressed. He found Tabitha in her bedroom, sitting in the chair and flipping through one of her books.
Tabitha looked up as she felt Valerius's presence. He stood silently in the doorway. He appeared to be completely in his element, except for the clothes that didn't quite fit.
Getting up, she offered him a kind smile. Once she reached him, she unbuttoned the cuffs of the sleeves that were a little too short for his arms and rolled them back on his forearms.
Then she untucked his shirt.
"I know it's not your style, but it looks much better this way."
"Are you certain?"
He looked delectable. "Oh yeah."
He held a long, retractable sword in his hand. "The only problem is if I don't have long sleeves, I can't wear this."
Tabitha sucked her breath in at the quality of his weapon. "Very nice piece of work. Is it Kell's?" she asked. Kell was a Dark-Hunter stationed out in Dallas who made a lot of the heavy weapons the Dark-Hunters used.
"No," he said with a deep breath. "Kell doesn't deal with anyone from Rome."
"Excuse me?"
He took the weapon from her. "He's from Dacia and his people waged war against mine. He and his brothers were captured and taken to Rome to be gladiators. Two thousand years later, he's still rather upset at all of us."
"Okay, I've had it with this. Why doesn't Ash stop them from treating all of you like dirt?"
"How can he stop it?"
"Beat some sense into them?"
"It wouldn't work. My brethren and I have learned to just leave the rest of them alone. We're few in number and there's no need in even arguing."
Tabitha growled. "Fine, let them all rot then."
Valerius placed his sword on her dresser and left it there before the two of them went back outside.
Tabitha quickly led him away from the sidewalks so that no one else could toss a bucket at them and kept her arm wrapped around his. "You know, I don't see how you can do your duties with Zarek taking potshots at you from Olympus and the rest of the losers on the street gunning for you."
"I learned quickly to avoid Bourbon Street and leave it for Talon or now Jean-Luc to patrol while I take the areas where no one knows Nick."
"And Zarek?"
He didn't comment.
They turned down Dumaine Street. Neither spoke. They hadn't gone far when Tabitha felt a weird sensation whip through her. "Daimons," she whispered, unaware she had spoken until Valerius let go of her.
He pulled a dagger from his pocket as he turned around in the street as if trying to catch a scent.
There was nothing.
Tabitha could feel the evil presence, but she couldn't pinpoint it either.
Something whistled before an unexpected wind danced down the street. It carried the sound of faint, maniacal laughter.
"Tabitha..."
Her blood ran cold at the sound of her name whispered out of darkness.
"We're coming for you, little girl." The laughter echoed loudly, then faded into nothing.
Terrified, Tabitha couldn't breathe.
"Where are you?" Valerius called.
No one answered.
Valerius wrapped Tabitha in his arms as he reached out with every sense he possessed, but could find no trace of who or what had spoken.
"Tabitha?"
Valerius turned sharply at the sound of a voice directly behind him.
It wasn't human. Nor was it Daimon. It was a spirit. A ghost.
It opened its mouth as if to scream, then evaporated into an eerie mist that ran over and through her, leaving her body completely cold.
It was as if something had actually brushed her soul.
Valerius could feel Tabitha shaking, but to her credit, she didn't scream or lose control of herself.
"Is it gone?" she asked.
"I think so." At least he no longer felt it.
"What was that thing?" she asked with a tiny trace of hysteria in her voice.
"I'm not sure. Did you recognize it or the voice?"
She shook her head.
A human scream rang out.
Valerius let go of her so that he could run toward the sound. He knew Tabitha was right behind him and he made sure he kept her there. The last thing he wanted was to leave her behind for that thing to attack.
It didn't take long to reach the small, dark alcove where the scream had originated.
Unfortunately, they were too late. A body lay on the street in a heap.
"Stay back," he told Tabitha as he inched closer to it.
Tabitha started to argue, but didn't really want to see what was obvious. To be honest, she'd seen more than her share of dead bodies.
Valerius knelt down and felt for a pulse. "He's dead," he said.
Tabitha crossed herself, then glanced away. As her gaze touched on the building, she frowned. There on the old faded brick was bloody Greek writing. Tabitha could speak the language, but couldn't read the Greek words. "Do you know what that says?"
Valerius looked up. His face turned to stone. "It says, 'Death to those who meddle.'"
As soon as he read it, the words vanished. She swallowed as a new wave of panic swept through her. "What is going on here, Val?"
"I don't know," he said before he pulled out his phone and called Tate, the parish coroner who was a long-time friend of the Dark-Hunters.
"I'm surprised Tate will talk to you," she said after Valerius hung up.
"He doesn't like me, but after Ash had a talk with him, he's learned to tolerate me." Valerius rejoined her. "We better go before Tate arrives with the police."
"Yeah," she said, feeling sick to her stomach. "Do you think we should call Ash and tell him what happened?"
"We don't really know what happened. There wasn't enough time for a Daimon to kill him and steal his soul."
"So what does that mean?"
"Have you or your sister conjured up anything?"
"No!" she said indignantly. "We know better."
"Well, something seems to have your number, Tabitha, and until we find out what it is, I don't think I should let you out of my sight."
Tabitha couldn't agree more. In all honesty, she didn't want to be out of his sight. Not if that... thing was going to come back.
"Tell me something, Val. Are Dark-Hunters any good against ghosts?"
"Honestly?"
She nodded.
"Not a damn bit. In fact, if we're not careful, we can become possessed by them."
She went cold at his words. "Are you telling me that if that spook comes back, he could take you over?"
Valerius nodded. "And God help you and the rest of this city if it does."