The Redeeming Read online

  “True, but he’ll be cagey about it even if we can’t get a conviction. Merrick will be out of the Mindglow picture for a while.”

  “Can we get back to the other guy?” Logan sat forward, bringing the heels of his motorcycle boots to the floor. “I’ve never seen magic like that. Plus he sliced his swords into Merrick’s neck like hot knives through butter, and demons have damned thick necks.” Logan turned a sharp glance on Samantha. “He jumped in front of you to protect you, even though it was obvious by that time you knew how to bring Merrick down on your own.”

  Samantha tried not to move uncomfortably. She didn’t want to talk about Tain. Not yet. “Maybe he doesn’t like demons.” The understatement of the year. One had tortured him for hundreds of years and driven him completely insane.

  “So he just happened to be in the right place at the right time?” Logan asked, his eyes flashing gold.

  “Could be he got a tip-off that Merrick’s would be attacked tonight,” Samantha suggested. Nothing to do with me being there. He didn’t even recognize me.

  “Right,” Logan said. “So he not only killed the demons but snagged Merrick for us in the bargain. Too much of a coincidence for me. I’d say he went in there with some kind of agenda.”

  Samantha tried to keep her expression neutral. “Why don’t you bring him in and question him then?”

  “Why don’t you?” Logan countered. “He jumped to your aid fast enough. I’d be interested in what he has to say.”

  “So would I,” Lieutenant McKay said. “Killing demons is still considered murder, though we could make a case that this man did it in defense of innocent humans. If he knows something about Merrick or his rivals, I want to hear it.”

  Samantha thought back to Tain’s hot touch on her skin, his rough voice. Stay away from me.

  “I think you’re both optimistic,” Samantha said. “Nothing to say we can find the guy again.”

  “Try anyway,” were the lieutenant’s encouraging words. “Tonight didn’t go exactly as we hoped, but it could have been worse. Go home and sleep, both of you. We’ll clean up the mess in the morning.”

  Dismissed, Logan and Samantha went to their lockers, collected their things and walked out together. Samantha felt Logan’s speculative looks as they departed, her partner too astute for her liking.

  The Los Angeles night was cool, late September finally taking the edge off the shimmering summer heat. Samantha dragged in a breath of air, pretending to herself that it was fresh and clear, not Los Angeles-polluted.

  Logan gave Samantha another one of his discerning glances as they walked through the parking garage. “You all right? You took a good punch in there tonight.”

  Samantha touched her cheek where Merrick’s rings had torn the flesh. Tain’s magic had completely healed the wound.

  “I’m fine. I just need some rest.”

  “Want to go for pizza, maybe a movie? Some mindless, fake violence to help us forget about the mindless, real violence?”

  Samantha managed a smile, but she knew that if Logan got her relaxed on beer and pizza, he’d persuade her to open up about Tain, and she wasn’t ready. She didn’t know how long it would be before she was ready, if ever. “Thanks, but what I really need is a hot shower and a soft bed.”

  Logan shrugged, the movement swift, restless. “Turning wolf makes me jumpy. Enjoy your shower and rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “If you go out, be careful.” The streets of Los Angeles had calmed down a little in the last year, returning to their usual frenetic pace, but that didn’t mean they were safe.

  Logan gave her a little grin, the wolf lurking in his eyes. “I’m always careful, sweetheart.”

  They’d reached Samantha’s vehicle by then, a used Toyota pickup. Nothing glamorous for detectives in the LAPD paranormal division. Logan had a pickup as well, but in his spare time he rode a Harley he lovingly tinkered with—days off saw him flying on his bike through mountains and the open desert far to the east of the city.

  They said good night and parted. Samantha started up her truck and pulled out of the garage, then made her way slowly out of downtown, always tricky with narrow streets and cars backed up on the freeway ramps. She made it to the 10 heading west and tried to let the drive distract her. She liked driving, in spite of the constant stream of L.A. traffic and the challenges every route brought. Tonight, though, her thoughts couldn’t focus, and she was relieved when she reached quieter streets.

  The complex that housed Samantha’s apartment in west L.A. was decent, with a pool and cherry trees that bloomed in the spring. Her mother had invited her to live at home again in Pasadena, but Samantha’s demon father had returned recently, after spending the first twenty-five years of Samantha’s life away, and Samantha was still coming to grips with the new dynamic.

  Her apartment welcomed her with art posters that gave the generic walls color, comfortable furniture, and a shorthaired black-and-white cat called Pickles. As Samantha closed the door, Pickles leapt from the back of the sofa to the kitchen counter, purring like crazy.

  “Cupboard love,” Samantha said as she set down her duffle bag and scratched him under the chin. “I love you, so feed me.”

  Pickles shamelessly butted his head against her hand until she picked him up and cuddled him. She set him down again, and he raced expectantly to his food bowl, which she filled with dry cat food.

  “I slave, you master,” she quipped, but her heart wasn’t in it.

  While Pickles ate, Samantha showered, letting the hot water and steam in the glass-walled stall relax her. The aroma of soap and lavender permeated the bathroom, and she leaned her head on the glass and breathed it in.

  She knew when she went to bed she’d see Tain in her mind—the tall man who’d invaded her dreams for more than a year. She also knew that seeing Tain tonight hadn’t been such a big coincidence. His older brother Adrian owned a house in Malibu, and his other brother Hunter and his wife currently resided there—Adrian was living up in Seattle with his own wife. Samantha knew from Hunter’s wife, Leda, that Tain visited them from time to time. It was more surprising that Samantha hadn’t run across him before this.

  She’d resolved not to be bothered that Tain had come to Los Angeles several times and hadn’t asked after Samantha, but she couldn’t lie to herself anymore. It hurt.

  Tain and his four brothers were Immortal warriors, created eons ago, each born of an aspect of the mother goddess and a human man. Their original purpose had been to keep the world safe from the most dangerous creatures—the Old Ones—ancient demons and vampires. When the power of the Old Ones began to fade, so did the calls for the Immortals for help. Now the brothers were all but forgotten.

  Seven hundred years ago, Tain had been captured, hidden, and endlessly tortured by an Old One called Kehksut, and his brothers and the witches they’d fallen in love with had battled the demon and gotten Tain free. Samantha had played a part in that battle, and she still had nightmares about it.

  Tain had been so maddened by the demon’s torture—Kehksut had flayed him, waited for his Immortal body to heal, then done it again, over and over for seven hundred years—that he’d tried to destroy the world to end his own torment. Only the combined effort of his brothers, the witches, and Samantha had restored Tain to freedom and sanity.

  Now Samantha’s boss wanted to interview Tain. Perfect. Samantha supposed she could call Leda and ask her or Hunter to drive Tain to the LAPD. Samantha wouldn’t even have to attend the interview—Logan and McKay could ask Tain about his knowledge of Merrick and the demon underworld by themselves.

  Samantha shut off the shower but stood still, letting water trickle from her skin. Unbidden came the memory of Tain rising to face her tonight in the club, his blue eyes like winter skies, and the warmth that had cascaded through her body when he’d healed her.

  Shivering, Samantha grabbed towels and dried off. She turbaned her hair in one towel, wrapped another around her torso, and walked out to the
kitchen, craving hot coffee and all the microwave food she could handle.

  Tain was sitting at her kitchen table.

  Samantha jerked back, stifling a scream, and the towel tumbled from her head. Trickles of water dripped down her bare back, chill on her hot skin.

  Tain had folded his big body into her kitchen chair, his red hair still mussed from the fight, the ends singed. He rubbed Pickles under the chin with a broad forefinger as her traitorous cat purred up a storm.

  “What are you doing in here?” Samantha’s voice came out harsh and wrong.

  Tain didn’t stop rubbing Pickles as his blue gaze took in every inch of her towel-clad body. The gaze unnerved her, and not only because she was all but naked. Samantha saw darkness behind the blue, a hint of madness, which maybe had been too engraved on him to be easily erased. She’d sensed the darkness at the club, and it was stronger here, now that she was alone with him.

  “I wanted to talk to you,” Tain said. His voice held a lilt, slightly musical with faintly rolled r’s.

  “Most people knock on the front door,” Samantha said, nervousness sharpening her words. “Or are the rules different for Immortals?”

  “I did knock.”

  “I couldn’t hear you. I was in . . .”

  “The shower.” Tain raked his gaze over her again, and Samantha tightened her hold on the towel. “You left the door unlocked.”

  “No, I—” Samantha broke off. He might be right. She’d been so tired she’d slammed the door, thrown down her stuff, and started the cat-feeding ritual, distracted by thoughts of him. “That doesn’t mean you get to walk right in.”

  “I came because I need help, and you’re the only one I could think of to ask.”

  Samantha stared in surprise. “What, your four Immortals brothers and their kick-ass witch wives aren’t good enough?”

  “Not that kind of help. I need police help.”

  Water slid down her face from her wet hair, and Samantha swiped it away. “Stay there.” She turned her back and walked quickly to her bedroom, feeling his gaze on her all the way. Samantha closed the door firmly behind her but couldn’t quite cut off the sensation.

  When she emerged, dressed again, Tain was feeding Pickles tidbits from a can of cat treats. Pickles purred hard, his Geiger-counter buzz filling the room.

  Last year, during the battle, Tain had lifted Samantha twenty feet off the ground with his magic, a drop that could have seriously injured or even killed her. He’d not dropped her only because she’d talked fast at him, and he’d become intrigued by their banter—the demon who’d imprisoned Tain had been the cause of Samantha’s fall. Now the Immortal who’d so terrified her sat in her kitchen playing gently with her cat.

  “His name’s Pickles,” Samantha said, her voice strained. “Because he likes to eat them.”

  “That’s not what he thinks his name is,” Tain said.

  “What does he think it is?”

  “Master of All He Surveys.”

  Biting back a hysterical laugh Samantha drew out the chair across the table from Tain and sank into it. “I thought your brother Hunter had the affinity with animals.”

  “Don’t all cats think that’s what they should be called?”

  He sounded perfectly sane, and except for the spark buried deep in his eyes, he looked sane enough to the untrained eye. He wore jeans and a short-sleeved black T-shirt, and he’d tossed a long leather coat over the back of her couch. His forearms were mottled with scars, though they didn’t look as bad as Samantha feared they would. Silky, red-gold hair had grown in across his skin, softening the marks of torture.

  “Why were you at Merrick’s tonight?” she asked abruptly.

  “Two reasons. One of them was to see you.”

  His eyes were steady when he said it, no lying. Pickles put his paw on Tain’s hand, and Tain resumed rubbing the demanding cat’s jaw. “I saw you go into Merrick’s last night. Surprised me, until I spied your partner waiting down the street, so I figured you were staking out the place. I got there early tonight and planned to follow you when you left.”

  “How did you even get into a demon club?” Samantha asked, still shaken. “What, they didn’t notice you were an Immortal warrior with two long swords?”

  “I can hide my aura if I want to,” Tain said calmly. “And they’re short swords, not long. Late Roman bronze.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sure you have a fascinating collection of weapons.”

  Tain didn’t rise to her banter. “You aren’t very good at pretending to be a demonwhore. You smiled at Merrick, but it wasn’t in your eyes.”

  Samantha snorted a laugh. “Merrick didn’t notice. He was too busy staring at my cleavage.”

  “I didn’t like him doing that.” Tain’s voice was quiet but with a hard note in it, matching the anger deep in his eyes.

  Samantha shrugged. “Have to admit, it almost worked. He was ready to give me the Mindglow.”

  “He never would have touched you. I’d have stopped him.”

  Samantha’s heart gave a strange beat, but she tried to make her voice light. “And ruined a perfectly good undercover investigation? I was this close to bagging him for Mindglow.” She held up her forefinger and thumb.

  “Merrick is dangerous. Leave him alone.”

  “I arrested him, in case you didn’t notice. Merrick’s in custody at a hospital, though he has the best lawyer in Los Angeles, so I’m sure he’ll go home as soon as he’s healed. Demons make terrific lawyers.”

  Tain watched her with the stillness of a wild animal before it strikes. “Stay away from him.”

  Samantha spread her hands. “Moot point. Assignment’s over, and we probably won’t get him. You said you wanted my help. With what?”

  Tain dug out a few more treats for her greedy cat and watched while Pickles ate them. “You’ve been staking out demon clubs in Venice and Santa Monica, and so have I. That’s the second reason I went to Merrick’s tonight.”

  Samantha rubbed her damp hair. “You know, before you left the club, you distinctly told me to leave you alone. What changed between then and now?”

  Tain studied his hands, the white scars on the backs of his fingers stark against his brown skin. “I don’t want to need your help,” he said. “I never wanted to see you again, after Seattle.”

  “After I saved your ass in Seattle, you mean.”

  To her surprise Tain gave her a hint of a smile, one that made his eyes warm like a summer sunrise. If she’d thought him handsome before, the smile made him devastating.

  Tain exuded power and sensuality, all contained as he sat at Samantha’s table teasing her cat. What would it be like to make love to a man like him, his heady power tempered for her? He’d warm her in the dark while she waited for the flash of smile that made him absolutely beautiful. Samantha didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was demon enough that the hint of darkness she sensed inside him would make it all the more exciting.

  “My Immortal brothers had something to do with defeating the Old One,” he said, still with the trace of smile. “Not to mention the goddesses.”

  “So they helped me out a little. You left, you know, before I was able to thank you for healing my arm.”

  The smile faded. “Nothing I didn’t do for anyone else.”

  “Adrian told me your magical talent was healing. I’m surprised you’re not running through the world curing AIDS and cancer and everything else.”

  “It doesn’t work quite like that,” he said in all seriousness. “If it did, I would.”

  They studied each other for a moment in silence, before Samantha cleared her throat. “Let’s get back to the question at hand,” she said. “What was it that you wanted my help with?”

  Tain’s eyes flickered in relief at the change of subject. “In the last couple months several demon prostitutes have gone missing in the area around Merrick’s club. They’re very young women, freelance, not associated with the clubs as far as I know.” He leaned forwar
d, his eyes taking on that unnerving intensity. “But they’re disappearing, and I want to know why.”

  Chapter Three

  Samantha’s surprise returned. She got up and started coffee, definitely needing a caffeine fix. “I’d think you’d be the last person worried about the well-being of demon prostitutes.”

  She heard silence behind her and turned to see Tain watching her with an indecipherable expression. “You mean, because I was tortured mercilessly by Kehksut?” he asked in a deceptively mild voice. “And now I should hate all demon-kind?”

  “Something like that.”

  Samantha waited for the machine to finish and took two mugs of steaming coffee to the table. “I have sweetener if you want it.”

  Tain shook his head, wrapped his strong hand around the mug, and took a gulp of the coffee.

  “Damn, you must be all powerful,” Samantha said as she watched the swallow move down his throat. “You didn’t even have to blow on it.”

  She’d hoped to prod another smile from him, but his look turned grim. “If I’d wanted to destroy all demon-kind in revenge I would have killed every demon in that club tonight—the attackers, Merrick . . .”

  He left it hanging but Samantha heard the unsaid word . . . You.

  “Good thing you need my help then,” Samantha said, swallowing her nervousness. “And that I looked so good in that dress.”

  Tain’s gaze flicked over her again, although now she wore a fairly shapeless sweatshirt and loose jeans. “You did, yes.”

  Samantha’s face heated. She had no business thinking sexual thoughts about him, but then, he was a hard-bodied man with intense blue eyes, and he’d made her feel so incredible when he’d healed her. What woman, half demon or not, could help it?

  “So why are you worried about these prostitutes?” she asked quickly. “They usually solicit for the clubs, for bosses like Merrick, although some go out on their own. As long as there’s no actual sex involved, and no complete essence draining, it’s legal.”