Hotter After Midnight

“Niol?” A tall, model-thin brunette slipped behind the demon and wrapped her hands around his waist. “You made me wait,” she whispered, stretching to kiss his neck.

“Sorry, love.” He never glanced her way. “I had to play nice with the PD.” His hand lifted, covered hers. “But I’m done now.”

An obvious dismissal.

Colin pulled out a card, thrust it toward Niol. “If you happen to learn anything about the case or if you”—a deliberate pause—

“remember anything you want to share, call me.”

Niol pocketed the card. “I’ll be sure to do that…if I learn anything else.” His head inclined slightly. “As always, it’s been a pleasure, Emily.”

Right. She snorted. Why did he even bother pretending with her? Niol knew she could see right through his fake manners to the real nature of the demon within.

And that demon, he wasn’t a gentleman. He was hard, evil. Deadly.

Pity the lady clinging to his arm so tightly and glaring at her didn’t realize those important facts.

And now wasn’t the time to warn her.

Niol and his companion stepped back, and in mere seconds, they had vanished, melting into the crowd.

“What a bastard.” Colin glared into the throng of dancers, then turned his bright blue stare on her. “Think he knows more than he’s saying?”

She didn’t have to use her psychic powers on this one. “Without a doubt.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

Emily turned her attention back to the darkened booths. Was Donnelley still waiting on them?

“Was the woman a demon too?”

“No.” She answered absently as she tried to search the shadows. Had Jake gotten frightened when he’d seen them talk to Niol?

Had they missed their chance to find out exactly what he knew about the case?

“Then what was she?”

“Human.” There’d been no shift in the atmosphere when the woman approached, no telling flow of power, no faint shine emanating from her body. Niol’s companion was most definitely a human.

Did she know what he was?

“What did he mean, about you draining some demon’s power? Thought you said you were an empath, that you just felt—”

He would lock onto that part of the conversation. Her eyes continued to search the booths as she said very softly, “I was defending myself, okay, Gyth? The bastard attacked me, shoved the full force of his power into my head.” As a level nine, the demon had plenty of power to shove. “It was instinct. I fought back, tried to push the energy right back at him.” And she’d managed to blast away all his power before she’d collapsed.

Emily finally looked at him, found him watching her. “It’s not something I like to talk about.” Explanation made, case closed. She didn’t want to bring up the subject again.

“Understood.”

Her shoulders relaxed. Good. Maybe she could get through the rest of the night without any more rehashing of one of the most painful moments of her life. Her stare swept the bar once again, then locked on the shadowy figure of a man.

A man who stood near the back booth. He motioned to her, waving his hand quickly in the air.

“Donnelley’s there.” Relief poured through her. She’d been afraid that Niol’s dark presence had screwed up the meeting.

“I see him.”

Course he did. He could probably see perfectly through the shadows while she had to strain and squint. Shifter skills. Sometimes they sure could come in handy.

A waitress brushed by them as they maneuvered to Donnelley’s table. Emily caught the faint whiff of power around the woman. A witch.

Donnelley was bent low over the table, his hands fisted over the old, scarred wood surface. His jaw tightened when they sat across from him. “I gave the note to her, Gyth, not you.” A Braves baseball cap was pulled low over his head, hiding his blond hair.

Colin leaned back against the black cushions. “It’s my case.”

“And my life!” A bead of sweat rolled down Jake’s cheek. “Do you know what kind of risk I’m taking just by being here?”

“Why?” Colin jerked his thumb toward the dance floor. “Scared your buddies will turn on you if they find out you’re givin’

information to the cops?”

Colin sure didn’t have much finesse.

“I wasn’t planning on talking to you. ” His stare darted to the left, the right. Then landed on Emily. “I wanted to talk to Dr. Drake.”

Beside her, Colin shrugged. “So talk. We’re both listening.”

Jake licked his lips. Hunched even deeper into the booth. “Preston knew about us.”

“Us?” Emily asked softly. She’d figured she’d better jump in, before Colin scared the guy to death with his hard-ass approach.

Sometimes a delicate technique was required. She’d spent years honing that technique.

“Yeah. You know, the Other. ”

Well, that wasn’t exactly news. But she nodded anyway, trying to look encouraging.

“His girl, she was a demon.”

She could feel the sudden, alert tension in Colin’s body. “What’s her name?”

Jake sucked in a sharp breath. The weak beat of his power flickered in the air around them. “You didn’t get this from me, okay?”

“Right.” Colin tapped his index finger on the table.

“Gillian Nemont.” He swallowed. “But I don’t think you’re gonna be able to talk to her.”

Jake pushed to his feet and cast another nervous glance toward the front of the bar. “Shouldn’t have come here,” he muttered. For a moment, his face tightened as he looked back at Emily. “I thought we’d meet alone.”

Colin stood slowly. “Sorry, we’re a package deal.” He positioned his body in front of Jake’s, effectively blocking the demon’s path. “And just why won’t Gillian talk to me? Does she have a thing against cops?”

Jake shook his head. “No, if you can find her, she might talk, but…”

“But what?” Emily pressed.

One shoulder lifted in a faint shrug. “But I think she’s hiding. I haven’t seen her in at least a week, maybe two.”

Jake stepped forward, obviously intending to make his exit, but Colin didn’t move. Colin stood a few inches taller than the demon, and he stared down at him, his head cocked to the right. “That all you got for us, Donnelley?”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, I wanted to make sure the doctor knew to look in the right direction for the killer, that’s all.”

“The right direction?” Emily repeated, frowning slightly at his phrasing. “And just what is the right direction?”

“A human didn’t do this,” Jake said. “It’s one of us. I knew it when I saw the body.”

“Well, damn.” Colin whistled softly. “You’re the guy who got the shot of Preston, aren’t you? You’re the one who took the picture of his body and got it splashed across every newspaper in the city.”

Jake lifted his chin. “I’m a reporter, okay? I was doing my job.”

“Huh. Here I was thinking you were just the cameraman.”

Jake’s golden eyes flashed black. A ripple of weak power swept through the air. The power would have been enough to cause a human to stumble back, maybe even to fall.

Colin didn’t waver from his spot. One black brow rose. “Is that all you’ve got?”

“You don’t want to see what I can do,” Jake snapped. Then he lifted his hand and shoved past Colin.

Emily sighed. That did so not go well. No wonder Danny wanted her to accompany Colin. “Not much for tact, are you?”

He glanced at her. “The guy tried to use his magic on me.”

Shifters were immune to demon magic. Actually, a demon’s magic worked only on humans.

“You know you just showed him that you’re Other. ” And that worried her. Had Jake deliberately tested him?

His lips tightened.

“If you don’t watch it, Gyth, your little secret might get out.”

“He’s not gonna tell anyone. If he did, he’d have to reveal his own history.”

Yeah, he was right. Jake would have just as much to lose.

The crowd in Paradise Found was even bigger now, even louder, and as they maneuvered back to the entrance, Emily was aware of the stares on them, aware of the whispers.

She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally stepped back outside. The night air was slightly cool, and the sky was a starless black, illuminated only by the glistening moon.

They walked in silence for a moment. Emily replayed both Niol’s and Jake’s conversations in her mind. She wasn’t sure she trusted either man.

“We need to find this Gillian,” Colin said, stepping off the sidewalk and turning into the alley. His Jeep was parked just around the corner. Just a few hundred feet away. “Brooks ran Preston’s background check. We both talked to the neighbors, family. No one mentioned this woman.”

“Maybe he was keeping her secret. It’s not exactly easy to announce to the family that your new love is a demon.”

“Yeah, he coulda kept quiet about her.” He paused beneath a flickering light hanging from the back door of a club. “That black eye thing—it’s a demon trait, isn’t it?”

She nodded, and realized that she seriously needed to brush the guy up on Other 101. Despite being an SB, he sure didn’t seem too aware of their world.

Probably because he’d been hiding from that world, trying to fit in with the humans.

“Why doesn’t Niol change his eye color?”

“Because Niol doesn’t give a damn. He doesn’t care if people realize he’s different.” Hell, as far as she could tell, Niol actually got off on jolting humans out of their safe worlds.

And, of course, he got off with humans too.

The fluorescent light hanging over Colin made a faint humming sound, then faded into darkness.

A chill skated down her body. Emily glanced around the alley. She didn’t see anyone else.

She lowered the shields in her mind, aware of a sudden shift in the atmosphere.

No, she didn’t see anyone, but she could feel a presence.

Emily opened her mind, sent her powers questing out. A blast of hot, burning rage hit her, driving straight into her mind, driving her down to her knees as she cried out in sudden pain.

Level-ten demon. Shit.

“Emily?” Colin reached for her, catching her by the arms and pulling her onto her feet. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Her teeth were chattering. “S-someone’s h-here…” She shook her head, clenching her jaw.

What the hell? He kept his left hand wrapped around her. He could hear her heartbeat; the frantic drumming filled his ears.

He didn’t hear anything else, though. Didn’t hear the telltale crunch of gravel beneath shoes. Didn’t hear the whisper of clothing that would alert him to someone else’s presence in the alley.

His senses were fully open. If an assailant was in the alley, he should know it.

Colin reached for his weapon. He didn’t sense anyone, but the doc sure did, and he wasn’t about to take any chances. He slipped off the safety, wanting to be ready.

Four men jumped from the shadows. They wore full black ski masks, jackets, pants, and boots. The masked men lunged for him and the doc. Colin shoved her back against the alley wall and turned to face them, lifting his gun. “Get back,” he ordered, “I’m a cop—”

They attacked.

Sonofabitch. They fell on him at once, hitting and punching, driving him back to the ground. He fired a shot, but he must have missed, because they didn’t stop, not for an instant. He felt an icy pain slice into his right hand. Felt blood pool into his palm as his gun dropped from his suddenly nerveless fingers.

He didn’t know who these guys were, but they’d just picked the wrong guy to fuck with.

Colin was pinned on the ground, his bloody fingers scraping against the rough gravel. One of the assholes was driving his boot into Colin’s ribs.

Another one was going for the doc.

Screw this.

The beast within roared its rage. Colin’s nails lengthened into razor-sharp claws. He slashed out with his hands, catching two of his attackers; he cut open the leg of the asshole who’d been kicking him and then drove his claws into the second bastard’s stomach.

“Get the hell off me!”

Colin turned at Emily’s shout. She was pinned against the wall. A man, tall, hulking, had his hands wrapped around her arms. He was leaning into her, and she was kicking against him, ramming her high heels against his shins and trying to head-butt him.

If he hadn’t been so furious, he might have been impressed with her.

Then the man’s hands shot to her throat.

Colin forgot about everything in that instant but the urge to kill.

He was behind the man in less than a second. Grabbed him, lifted the bastard up, tossed him headfirst into the alley wall.

Emily gasped for breath, her hands rising to her throat.

Colin spared her a glance. Her hands were shaking, her body quivering lightly.

He crouched over her attacker. He wanted the guy’s blood. Could almost taste the kill.

He touched Emily. Wrapped his hands around her throat. Tried to hurt her.

The beast was screaming its rage, and Colin could actually hear the howl in his ears.

Destroy. Attack.

Kill.

The beast was hungry, so hungry.

His claws lifted over the man.

“Dammit, watch out!” Emily shot past him, arms raised, and drove straight into the last assailant.