Dangerous Games

"Said to be?"

He shrugged. "A pentagram facing north can cause great problems, as north is associated with darkness and the unknown from pagan times."

"How do you know all this crap?"

His smile was almost bitter. "I am a very old vampire, and sometimes easily bored."

"Uh-huh." I had a feeling the thing I'd met in the alleyway—the thing who'd called himself a high priest of the Aedh—might also have a whole lot to do with his knowledge.

"So where might we find this circle?"

"Somewhere she feels safe. Somewhere secure."

"Her house?"

"Possibly. But I ca

"I can." And I had a somewhat legitimate excuse for being there if caught—Jin. "We can use our telepathic link. I'll describe what I'm seeing, and you can tell me how to destroy it."

He glanced at the house, then at me. "The minute we destroy the circle, she'll feel it."

"So?"

"She might get a tad angry."

I gri

He didn't say anything, just looked at me, and my grin slowly faded. "Look, let's just do this, before someone else dies."

He took a moment to nod, then glanced at the house again. "Rhoan has this house tapped?"

"Yes." I didn't mention he couldn't actually hear a whole lot. I had a feeling if I did, Qui

"Has he infrared of the rooms?"

"Not yet," Rhoan said into my ear. "Maybe in an hour or so, once lack's team finishes hacking their security."

I repeated his words, and Qui

"Why?"

"Because that is where his power rests. That is where he sacrifices and feeds. To destroy him, we must first destroy the altar."

"I'd imagine that would piss him off more than a little bit."

"Yes, it will." There was something in his eyes—a darkness that was part memory, part ferocity—that sent a shiver down my spine. "And that is when you will understand the true meaning of the god of darkness."

"A lesson I have no desire to undertake."

"A wise decision."

That was me—wise all the way. Not.

"You got a car nearby?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll follow you to Jin's, if you like."

He nodded and pressed a hand to my back, gently guiding me toward the rear of the yard. Warmth shivered across my skin, and moon-spun desires sprung to fierce life. "I don't suppose—"

"No," he said, "Not here. Not now."

I scowled at him. "You're just no fun."

"If the moon heat is so bad, you should not be here."

Yeah, well, there was that. "It's just an itch that needs to be scratched. Nothing urgent." Not yet.

He didn't say anything, but then, he didn't need to. He might not be able to actually smell my desire, but he was a vampire and an empath. He'd feel the heat of it in my emotions. Would hear the elevated rate of my heart.

I headed back to my car then followed his—a divine black Porsche Coupe—across to Jin's. I couldn't get parking anywhere close and was forced to park in the next street then lope back. Qui

My gaze went to his house, and a tremor ran clown my spine. There was something almost watchful about its facade.

Something sinister.

I rubbed my arms and glanced at Qui

His gaze was on the building. "There's nothing visible on infrared, but that doesn't mean the place is empty."

I raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't?"

"Demons don't show up on infrared."

"That's a comforting thought." I paused. "So how do I combat a demon?"

"Demons can be killed when they materialize." He walked to the trunk of his car and opened it up. "All you need to do is chop off their head."

"Which will be positively easy, no doubt."

It was dryly said, and he smiled. "About as easy as chopping off a vamp's head."

I waved a hand. "A walk in the park, then."

"Yeah." He handed me a long silver knife, waited until I'd strapped it on, then gave me two bottles of water and a box of salt.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" I asked, a little bemusedly.

"Holy water and salt are both weapons and purifiers." He slammed the trunk lid shut. "They can either keep the demon off you long enough to use the knife, or contain the circle so that it ca

"We're not going to destroy it?"

He shook his head. "By making it unusable we force her to make a second, and therefore drain her of a little more power. We need every advantage we can get."

"Can I just point out it's two against one?"

"No, it's two against five. She will call the others if attacked and they can respond quicker than you could ever imagine."

He touched my back again, sending little shivers of delight lapping across my skin as he guided me toward the house. "How? They're in human form, and therefore restrained by human limitations."

"They can shed their human forms if they wish. It just means they have to find new bodies to take over."

"And would that be easy?"

He glanced at me, obsidian eyes giving little away. "No human can withstand them."

"In which case, there'd be no need for a willing victim acquiescing to evil then, would there? They could just take whatever they wanted."

"There is a difference between feeding to maintain existence and taking over the body. One has to be willing, the other does not."

"Could a nonhuman resist them?"

"Not if we're talking about a usurping of body ownership."

A tremor ran through me. I hadn't really wanted an answer to that particular question. Not when I probably had to face the bastards sooner rather than later.

I opened the gate and ran up the steps to the front door. It was locked, naturally, and a quick hunt around the nearby potted shrubbery didn't produce any handily-hidden key. "Don't suppose you were a cat burglar in one of your bad periods, were you?"

"I'm a vampire, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Thresholds and all that. "Oh well."

I hit the door hard, in the sweet spot just above the lock, and it sprung open. Qui

"Courtesy of an apartment where the locks never work and the landlord refuses to replace them. It's the same sort of lock." I opened the salt and one of the bottles and held them at the ready. And felt stupid doing it.

I mean, water and salt had never been on my must-grab list when it came to weapons. When it came to unconventional weapons, give me a wooden spiked heel any day.

I took a long look at the shadow-bound hallway, then glanced at Qui

"A cellar or room below ground level."

"Why below ground level?"

"Earth acts as a barrier to those sensitive to magic."

"The same way as it acts as a barrier to infrared?"

He nodded. "The door will probably be locked. Make sure it hasn't got any symbols carved or drawn onto it before you touch it."

"Symbols are bad?"

"They could be very bad." He touched my cheek, his fingers so warm against my skin. "Be careful in there."

"I will." I leaned forward and kissed him—just a brush of lips, a promise of heat, but even so, it had my hormones dancing with glee. I pulled back before the temptation to taste him more fully became too much, and stepped over the threshold.

The silence of the house descended like a blanket, and there was something almost surreal about it. It wasn't just the silence of a house without people. It was too watchful, too tense, for that.

Goose bumps ran across my skin. I gripped the salt box a little tighter and opened the telepathic link between us.