Burning Midnight Read online

  She shot him the best glare she could muster and lifted the liquid to her lips, taking a slow, long breath. The coffee was strong, possibly indicating an additional shot of espresso, but mixed with the sweet aroma of hazelnut. A tentative sip revealed it was still fresh and that it did, indeed, taste of extra espresso and hazelnut mocha. Not her usual choice, but delicious all the same. Still, it was too hot to gulp, so she lowered the cup to lessen the temptation.

  “I didn’t know what you’d prefer,” Knox confessed. “But it’s late, so I figured the added shot would be smart. I took a gamble on the rest.”

  Having caught her breath a bit, Gwen looked up at him once more. “What made you pick hazelnut?” More importantly, why was that her question? She ought to have at least half a dozen other things to say!

  His expression warmed and she held on a little tighter to her cup. Oh boy. That look was dangerous. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but she’d bet money it’d disarmed a woman or ten in the past. “It was the first flavor I thought of when I thought of you.”

  “Erm. Right.” She had no idea what to say to that. She only knew she wasn’t displeased by it. Seeking to change the subject for the sake of her own sanity, Gwen looked away and finally registered their surroundings. It looked like they were in a hotel. A rather nice one, at that. She frowned, wondering for a moment how or when they’d migrated to a hotel, and finally it dawned on her.

  When their make-out had begun progressing to something more, she recalled them moving from the wall to a bed. She even remembered wondering about it for a moment or two before becoming thoroughly distracted.

  “What’s with that weird look on your face?” Knox asked.

  Gwen snapped her attention back to him to find him tipping his own coffee to his lips. “This is a hotel.”

  He arched a brow.

  She clenched her hands around the cup in her lap. “We didn’t exactly check in.”

  His lips twitched with amusement. “Nope.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Knox! That’s illegal! We’ll be in big trouble if we get caught!”

  His grin broadened and his shoulders shook with a low chuckle. “What’s your point? We needed a bed for the things I wanted to do to you. This one was open.”

  She opened her mouth to further lecture him, but heat pooled low in her belly at his actual words and it was distracting. Damn him, anyway. She should have been mortified and yet … well, if she were being honest with herself, there was a secret part of her that was a little turned on over the whole thing. Which, in turn, was mildly horrifying.

  “Huh,” Knox said. “I kinda thought you’d have something to say about that.”

  Gwen lifted her coffee to her lips and tipped it back to keep from having to respond immediately. Promptly choking on scalding hot liquid. With an awkward series of coughs, she jerked the cup away, Knox quickly taking it from her hands, and the blanket fell from her chest as she wiped at her mouth clumsily. “That’s just … embarrassing.”

  “You need a shower before we bail?”

  She looked back up at him, finding he’d set both their cups on the side-table. “We can’t use their shower!”

  He grinned and she realized he probably already had. “I’d be happy to join you.”

  Well, that would just be counter-productive. Gwen scowled at him. “This is bad enough. I’m serious, I’m not going to jail just because my demon lover has no regard for the law.” Oh, she regretted that the moment she said it.

  His dark eyes flashed and he leaned over her, pinning her back against the mattress. His lips ghosting over hers, he teased, “Lover, huh?”

  Gwen flushed, fumbled, caught the edge of a pillow, and smacked him in the head with it. “Don’t get ahead of yourself!”

  Knox laughed, actually laughed, as he rolled off her and sat back up. “Fine, fine. But if we’re not gonna play again, we should ditch this place.”

  Huffing, Gwen sat up, tugged the pillow to her chest, and reached once more for her coffee. This time, she took a careful sip before asking, “What did you mean ‘it’s late’, anyway?”

  He shrugged, moving back as she proceeded to drag herself from the bed. “I didn’t figure you’d choose sleeping in over the threat of being caught, so I gave you a couple hours and then fetched us some coffee.”

  She supposed his words made as much sense as any. Wait… Glancing at the bedside clock, Gwen blurted, “How’d you find a Starbucks that was open this late?”

  Handing over her discarded bra and shirt, Knox replied, “Google. There are a few late-night options. I picked one. With the magic of mobile order and a quick teleport, it took about three minutes.”

  Tugging her clothes on and putting a conscious effort into focusing solely on their conversation—and thereby failing—Gwen said, “I never considered the modern-day benefits of teleportation before.”

  Knox gave her a strange look. “Didn’t Kai teleport you halfway around the country last year?”

  Gwen rolled her eyes as she finished adjusting her clothes. “First, using it for the obvious purpose of traveling is hardly the same. Second, for most of those jumps, I landed too sick to care, anyway.” Really, everything was better with a healthy heart. Especially magic teleportation. And sex.

  “All right, I’ll give you that last one,” Knox relented. Before he could add more, if he’d even intended to, voices drifted closer from the hallway outside the door.

  Gwen’s gaze snapped to the single point of entrance as a pit formed in her stomach. They were going to be caught! She could just barely make out the shifting of shadows under the crack of the door, confirming the voices, and stared in horror as the first sounds of a keycard in a lock echoed through the room.

  “Well, time to go,” Knox declared under his breath, stepping up to her and wrapping an arm around her waist. With his other hand, he managed to snatch up both Starbucks cups, then everything went black. Gwen caught the briefest glimpse of the door beginning to swing open before her vision was obscured.

  They landed back in her living room, the black energy of Knox’s shadows sucking into the ground at their feet.

  Gwen released a breath, only then realizing that she’d somehow wound up with her coffee in her hands. Her heart beat rapidly against her ribcage, but she wasn’t sure how much of that was in fear and how much was excitement. She only knew there was a mix of both.

  “Admit it,” Knox whispered in her ear, reminding her of how close he still held her. “That was fun.”

  Heat rushed to her cheeks as her mind immediately supplied a full-sensory memory of his hot, wet mouth on her breast and his hard, thick cock burying itself inside her. Gwen barely bit back the resulting moan but was unable to form the glare she ought to have aimed at him. Because yeah, it had been fun. Way, way, too much fun.

  Knox rumbled with laughter, nipped at her ear, and released her, stepping back entirely. “I meant the thrill of nearly being caught, you naughty woman. Obviously, the sex was fun.”

  The glare came a little easier this time and Gwen lifted her coffee to her lips. “That was not fun.” It wasn’t.

  She turned her attention away from him—as much as she could—as she gulped some of her mocha. Promptly realizing that her impromptu romp with the frighteningly sexy demon at her side had distracted her from her looming reality. The mess that was, still, her apartment. She hadn’t picked up a single thing.

  Gwen sighed heavily. “God, what a mess.”

  “Stop doing that.”

  She blinked and looked back at him. “What?”

  He gave her a pointed look. “The G-word. It’s unnecessary.”

  Her lips twitched. “Sorry,” she said. She hadn’t meant to, of course, but she got a twisted sort of amusement at his aversion to the word. Did it really cause actual pain? Or was it a psychological thing?

  “Lying’s a sin, you know,” Knox scolded, a teasing tone in his voice. He extended his free arm, palm out, pulled his fingers down sharply, and the airbed flopp
ed to the floor. With another subtle motion of his hand, it slid back into its former place, the paper and assorted debris in its path spreading aside to make room. “There, one down.”

  “I don’t suppose you can also do the repair trick?” Gwen asked, recalling the times she’d seen Kai use his power to fix property damage after a fight.

  “Nope,” Knox said. “That’s one of those ‘healing’ style techniques that are kind of the opposite of dark and demonic.”

  Gwen sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.” Oh well. She chugged the rest of her coffee. “Okay, then, let’s get to work.”

  ****

  Gwen was ready to drop when a knock sounded at the door. It was morning, though she wasn’t sure what time, and she was exhausted. She and Knox had worked through the remainder of the night cleaning up her apartment and putting things away, because it would have been dumb to re-pack the boxes first. Still, between the fact that she’d had most of the unpacking left and the royal mess the bitch demon had gifted her, they weren’t done. Not quite, anyway. The mess was technically picked up, or at least, it probably looked like a reasonable dusting of paper bits and things due to unpacking boxes. But a visitor? At whatever inhuman hour it was?

  “Are you going to answer it, or are you going to keep staring at the door in terror?”

  Knox’s whispered tease did little to make her feel better.

  Gwen sighed and handed him a couple of DVDs she’d started gathering to file away on her bookcase-turned-movie shelf. “I’ll get it,” she grumbled. He obviously had way more energy than her if he could still manage to chuckle after all this.

  Doing her best to stamp down her tired frustration, Gwen moved to the door as the knocking sounded again. There went her flicker of hope that whoever it was had been an easy surrender. She flipped the deadbolt, drew a breath, and pulled the door open enough to hopefully not seem suspicious. Her forced smile faltered, however, at the sight of the obliviously bright one of her baby brother beaming back at her.

  “Morning, sis,” Ben said, his voice full of all his usual vibrancy. Something she normally admired in him. He paused, slowly arching an eyebrow. “Uh, is there a reason you’re staring at me like that?”

  Yes. Yes, there was a reason. What was he doing there? Hadn’t she told him she wanted to do all her settling in on her own? He wasn’t supposed to just pop up like this! “Ah…” What was worse, even, was that he’d had such a hard time with the whole demons-and-angels thing in the first place, in no small part thanks to the revelation that his then-girlfriend was secretly an angel, she couldn’t possibly tell him she was being targeted. Again. Not to mention the small detail about how she had a demon presently in her apartment.

  “Earth to Gwen?” Ben called, now waving a hand in front of her face. Actually, he was waving it kind of awkwardly.

  She looked down and finally registered the traditional to-go tray holding two cups of hot coffee in one hand and the white paper bag currently tucked between his opposite elbow and his torso. Oh, man. He’d brought breakfast. For two, of course.

  Clearing her throat, Gwen tried for a more sincere smile and said, “Morning, Ben. Sorry, guess I’m still pretty tired!”

  “Yeah,” Ben said, taking the bag properly in hand again. “No offense, but you kinda look it.” He paused. “Are you going to let me in?”

  “Oh! Right, of course!” Crap. “Come in!” She stepped aside, unable to stall, and waved her brother in. Here we go.

  “You’re still unpacking boxes?” Ben asked as he moved into the main living space. He turned enough to look back at her. “I told you you should’ve let me help.”

  Gwen opened her mouth, reflexively thinking to figure out a half-decent explanation for the state of her apartment, but cut herself off as she realized how odd it was for her sweet brother to just ignore another person in the room. Ask a bunch of questions, especially if he happened to recognize him from Knox’s few visits while she, Kai, and Belle had been camped at her brother’s, but not ignore. “I … ah—” But Knox was nowhere in sight.

  I guess … that explains it. She felt an odd twinge of disappointment at the realization but shook her head.

  “I guess I’m a slow worker,” she finally said, shutting the door and joining her brother in the living area. “Tell me there’s something to eat in that bag.”

  Ben laughed and held it out obligingly. “I figured you’d need some extra carbs this morning, so I grabbed your favorite from the shop near my place.”

  Her mouth practically watered as she reached in and extracted an extremely unhealthy, wonderfully indulgent pastry. “You’re my hero,” she praised before taking her first bite. She hadn’t had anything to eat since the pizza she’d shared with Knox the day before. And while the stretch of time in between might not have been particularly unusual, the amount of physical and mental strain she’d put herself through certainly was. She needed calories. And sugar.

  Ben set one of the coffees down by her feet. “Plus your precious double-caramel mocha, since that other one you rave about is out of season.”

  “Always a shame,” Gwen declared around a mouthful of sweet, flaky dough. She and her brother settled themselves cross-legged on the floor and Ben leaned forward to snatch his own treat from the bag. Likely recognizing that she probably would have eaten that, too, if he waited too long.

  “When’s your furniture coming?” Ben asked after a minute or three.

  Gwen licked the icing off her thumb as her brain tried its best to kick back into gear. “Um, today, I think.” Yeah, that sounded right. Three days after she moved into her apartment. Because she’d originally thought that was plenty of time to get everything unboxed and out of the way. And it was already day three.

  “Well,” Ben said, glancing around. “At least you’ve got most everything unpacked, it looks like. If we tackle it together, we should be able to knock it out by noon.”

  She swore her muscles ached just listening to him voice the idea. ‘Tackling’ things and ‘knocking them out’ sounded like more hard work. Hadn’t she done a lot of that already? A girl needs her beauty sleep! But Ben didn’t know about any of that and, frankly, she didn’t want him to. So she took advantage of his wandering gaze to steel herself, lifted her new coffee, and let the caramel-infused scent bring happiness to her spirit.

  “So, what do you say?” Ben asked, turning his attention back to her as she took her first indulgent sip. “Will you let me help you out today?”

  Gwen took a moment to treasure the life-rejuvenating flavors on her tongue before lowering the cup with a not-so-exaggerated sigh. “Fine, fine, you can help. Since you’re already here.” She watched him roll his eyes and grinned. If nothing else, at least she wouldn’t be so distracted now. Still … where did Knox go?

  Chapter Seven

  “Look, I know it’s a sensitive topic, but—”

  Gwen cut her brother off, not wanting to hear his well-thought-out argument. “You’re damn right it’s a sensitive topic,” she said. She leveled a glare at him for a long minute before turning and picking up the last pillow. Tucking it beneath her chin in order to line up her new pillowcase beneath it, she said, “I’m not going.”

  “Come on, Gwen,” Ben pleaded immediately. He sat on the edge of her newly-arrived bed in her peripheral vision. “It’s one day. Can’t you pretend to not be upset for one day?”

  Shaking the poor pillow harder than she should have, Gwen snapped, “No, okay? I can’t. I can’t pretend not to be upset for one day. Not even for one hour. Not where they’re concerned. So go, do whatever, but you’re doing it without me.”

  “Gwen.” His voice was firmer now. He thought she was being unreasonable. “They’re our parents.”

  With one more violent shake, the pillow finally sank fully into her new pillowcase. She tossed it to the head of the bed, beside the one she’d just completed, and did her best to keep her tone civil. “Yeah. I remember. I remember a lifetime of lies culminated in an ultimate act
of cowardice, all because they couldn’t face me.” She returned her glare to her brother who, to his credit, looked suitably pained. “I remember reading in a suicide letter that they’d sold my soul when I was a toddler.”

  Ben looked away and Gwen tried not to cringe. It wasn’t his fault, but she also remembered how much he’d cried when he learned why. When he learned they’d done it so he would live. She never meant to imply she held him responsible. He’d been a helpless newborn, incapable of holding an opinion on the subject when the choice was made.

  “Gwen,” he tried again, his voice softer. “It’s—it’s the anniversary, okay?” She watched his throat work on a swallow before he managed to look her in the eyes. “It’s less than two weeks away. I’m not asking you to say a prayer for them or talk about how much you miss them or reminisce about old memories. Just…” He trailed off but didn’t look away. “Just come for me. Please.”

  A flicker of guilt sparked in her chest. She hated upsetting her baby brother, it was true. Generally speaking, she did whatever she could to avoid it. But this… He was asking her to go with him to visit their parents’ graves on the sixth anniversary of their deaths. Their suicides. That just wasn’t something she could give him.

  “I’m sorry, Ben,” she said, doing her best to smother the anger in her voice. “I won’t go.”

  A mixture of disappointment and frustration settled on Ben’s usually gentle face. She hated putting that expression there, but she wasn’t backing down on this. A fact he must have finally recognized, because he sighed and his shoulders dropped, indicating the end of the argument.

  Gwen was trying to figure out what to say to fix the uncomfortable silence when her phone rang. Willing to accept a distraction in lieu of an easy change of topic, she lifted the device from where she’d rested it on her new nightstand and swiped to answer. It didn’t matter a whole lot that she didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

  “Your brother seems like a sweet boy,” a dangerous, familiar female voice declared on the other end of the line. It was her. The demoness from before.