Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter #2)(25)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked Nick.

Nick swung around in the chair to face him. "Acheron interpreted it to say that only a Dark-Hunter with a soul can kill Desiderius. That’s why no one has ever succeeded against him. It’s simple prophecy, and you know how that works."

"There’s no such thing as a Dark-Hunter with a soul. Not a full soul, anyway."

"Then according to the Oracles and Ash, Desiderius can never be killed."

Kyrian let out a slow breath. "That is not what I wanted to hear this morning."

"Yeah, and all I have to say is I’m damned glad I’m not in your boots on this one." Nick frowned. "Your eyes are green. What happened?"

"Nothing."

Nick tilted his head and gave him a suspicious stare. "Something’s up." He reached for his cell phone. "Do I need to call Ash again?"

Kyrian took the phone from his hand and glared murderously at him. "Leave Acheron out of this. I can handle it."

"Yeah, you’d better. You get on my last nerve, but I’d hate to break in another Dark-Hunter."

Kyrian snorted at him. "What is that? A declaration of love?"

"It’s one of loyalty. I don’t want to see you go down like Streigar did."

The thought sobered Kyrian. Streigar had been a fierce Dark-Hunter who had been trapped by vampire-hunting humans who exposed him to daylight. His death had upset all of them, Dark-Hunter and Squire alike.

"Don’t worry," he assured Nick, "I’m not going to be a dawn-surfer. I can handle myself."

"Want to bet that’s what Streigar said, too?"

Kyrian growled. "Don’t you have class today?"

Nick laughed at that. "Boy, I’m a backwoods Cajun, I ain’t never got no class, cher." He cleared his throat and dropped the thick Cajun accent. "And no, today’s registration. I’ve got to figure out what I’m taking next semester."

"Fine, but I have a few things I need you to do today."

"And that is different from any other day how?"

Sarcasm, thy name is Nick Gautier.

"I need you to take Amanda shopping for clothes. The Daimons burned her house down and she has nothing except the clothes on her back."

Nick arched a brow. "From what I saw, she had no clothes whatsoever on her back. Her front neither."

Kyrian narrowed his eyes on his Squire.

"Don’t have a hissy." Nick held his hands up in mock surrender. "I know she’s yours and I would never encroach, but man, I’m not blind, either."

"One day, Gator bait…"

"Yeah, right. That threat might actually carry weight if I didn’t know how much you live to order me around. You’d go insane if you couldn’t page me at all hours of the night."

Kyrian couldn’t deny that. The nights did have a way of getting long and boring when there were no Daimons to pursue. And bugging Nick at three a.m. did provide some entertainment.

Nick pulled out his Palm Pilot and made notes on it. "All right, secret mission, take woman shopping." He looked up at Kyrian. "By the way, I want hazard pay for this. I seriously hate the mall."

Kyrian laughed. "That I can tell by the way you dress."

Nick gave him a fake wounded look. "Excuse me, Mr. Armani. I happen to like the grunge look."

"Sorry. I keep forgetting it’s fashionable to look like you just rolled out from under a Dumpster."

Stuttering in indignation, Nick pretended offense. "Why don’t you take your butt back to bed and save your oozing charm for your woman? ‘Cause if you keep this up, I’m going to stake you…" then under his breath, he added, "while you sleep."

Kyrian crossed his arms over his chest. "All right, you’ll get your bonus, but play nice with her. Keep your sarcasm to a minimum."

"Yes, O great Lord and Master." Nick added another note-"Be nice to woman, keep mouth shut"-then he looked up. "By the way, is there a limit on what I’m to spend for her clothes?"

"No. Whatever she wants to spend."

"Visit Needless-Markup and Lord and Taylor. All right, next?"

"Have her back here before dusk or I’m going to feed your Cajun hide to Talon’s gators."

A glimmer of fear flashed in his eyes. Nick hated alligators, but Kyrian had no idea why. "All right, that scares me."

"I also want you to go by Talon’s and pick up a srad. Let’s give Desiderius a surprise he won’t see coming."

Nick visibly cringed at the mention of Talon’s circular daggers. It was an ancient weapon that made a Ginsu look like a butter knife. "Do you even know how to use that thing?"

"Yes, I do." Kyrian took a deep breath. "Now, I need some sleep. Your primary job today is to take care of Amanda."

Nick turned off his Palm Pilot and clipped it to his belt. "You like her, don’t you?"

Kyrian didn’t answer. He didn’t dare. Neither one of them needed to know that one.

Instead, he left Nick sitting at the computer and went back to his room.

After a quick shower, Amanda quietly stepped into the bedroom to dress while Kyrian slept in his large four-poster bed.

The room was completely dark with the only light coming from the bathroom. No one would ever be able to tell if it was day or night from in here, and yet Kyrian always seemed to know when the sun was up.

She stepped over to the bed to watch him lying there with the sheet draped over his middle to shield his nudity. Oh, that man had a body…

She could stare at him all day long and not grow tired of all that lush, tawny skin that she longed to explore some more with her lips and hands. What was it about him that was so addictive?

She ached to kiss those poetic lips and run her hands through the golden waves on his head, but she didn’t want to disturb his sleep. He needed his strength.

Tiptoeing from the room, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Daylight sparkled against the white marble of the room, bright and cheerful. Rosa was frying bacon while Nick sat on a barstool looking through a college course catalogue.

Probably no older than twenty-four, Nick was lean and handsome. His shoulder-length dark brown hair could have used a trim, but somehow it suited his sculpted features. He was wearing a baggy sweater that had seen better days, and faded jeans with a hole in the knee.

"Hey, Rosa," he said without looking up from his catalogue, "if I take Spanish next semester, will you help me study for it?"

"Si. I imagine Kyrian will, as well."

"Great," he said sarcastically. "Between that and Ancient Greek Civilization, I’ll have the friggin’ time of my life."

"Nick!" Rosa chastised. "Such language you use. It is not becoming of a gentleman."

"Sorry."

Rosa set a plate of toast, bacon, and eggs down beside Nick, then turned and caught sight of Amanda in the doorway. "There you are, senorita. Are you hungry?"

"A little."

"Come," she said, indicating the stool beside Nick. "Sit and I’ll make you breakfast."

"Thank you, Rosa."

Rosa smiled.

Amanda took a seat beside Nick. He brushed his hand off on his jeans and held it out to her. "Nick Gautier," he said with a charming, dimpled smile. "Better known as ‘Nick, get your butt in here, I need you to…’ Fill in the blank."

She laughed. "Bossy, isn’t he?"

"You’ve no idea." Nick pulled his cell phone off his belt and handed it to her. "Speaking of, boss man said you’d need to call work."

"Thanks."

While Rosa made her breakfast, she called her boss and explained about her house. Luckily, her director was understanding and gave her a two-week leave of absence to take care of it.

As soon as she hung up, Amanda felt ill as she remembered her loss. "I can’t believe they burned down my house."

"Your house?" Rosa asked. "Who burned it down?"

"The authorities are looking into it," Kyrian said from the direction of the living room.

Amanda turned around to see him standing in the doorway. He looked pale and uneasy.

Rosa smiled. "M’ijo, you are here today. Nick said you would be gone."

"I’m not feeling well." Even though his face was tender, he narrowed his gaze on Rosa. "You came in on time this morning, didn’t you?"

Rosa ignored his question. "Come and sit. I’ll make you something to eat."

Kyrian cast a wary look to the sunlight spilling into the kitchen from the open windows. He took a step back into the dark living room. "Thank you, Rosa, but I’m not hungry. Nick, I need to see you for a minute."

Nick gave her a knowing smile. "At least he didn’t tell me to move my butt."

"Nick," Kyrian said. "Move your butt, boy."

While Nick went over to Kyrian, Rosa set a plate in front of her. "Poor little one. What are you to do without a house?"

"I don’t know. I guess I need to call my insurance company. Find a place to live…" Amanda’s voice trailed off as she thought over all the things that needed to be done.

She’d have to replace her entire life. Everything. Toothbrush, shoes, books, furniture, phones. She didn’t even have a pair of underwear.

Overwhelmed, she lost her appetite.

Whatever was she going to do?

Nick came back to the counter and picked up his catalogue, then went back to Kyrian in the doorway. "I need a favor. I have to register at one o’clock, so if we’re not back, can you sign up on-line for my classes? I know you need to sleep, but I really want to take Greek Civ next semester."

"Why?"

"Dr. Alexander is teaching it and he’s supposed to be really good."

"Julian Alexander?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah," Nick said, looking back at her. "You know him?"

She exchanged a knowing look with Kyrian. "Not half as well as Kyrian does."

Nick shuddered. "Ah, man, not another one of you. Great. Shoot me now and put me out of my misery."

"Don’t tempt me." Kyrian took the catalogue. "One o’clock. Anything else?"

"Yeah, do something about those eyes, they’re creeping me out."

Kyrian arched a warning brow at Nick’s commanding tone. "You two have fun."

"Fun?" Amanda asked as Kyrian left them.

Nick returned to sit on his stool. "We’re going shopping." He curled his lips and shuddered at the word.

"For what?"

He took a drink of orange juice. "Whatever you need, my lady. Furs, diamonds, whatever."

"Diamonds?" she asked, laughing at the outrageous thought.

"It’s on Kyrian, so I say go for broke. Literally."

She smiled. "I can’t do that. I have my own money."

"Yeah, but why spend it? You have no idea how rich the man is. I promise you, buy the mall and he won’t even notice."

Amanda had no intention of doing that. Still, she did need something else to wear. "All right, can we also stop by my mother’s?"

"Sure. My assignment for the day is to serve you any way you want me to."

She shook her head at his devilish smile.

After she called her insurance company about the fire, Amanda let Nick take her shopping. But what frustrated her was Nick’s inability to let her pay for anything.

"I’m under orders," Nick said for the fifth time. "You shop, I pay."

She growled good-naturedly at him. "Do you always follow orders?"

"I do so complainingly always."

She laughed yet again as they left the store and headed back out into the mall with Nick carrying her bags. "How long have you worked for Kyrian?" she asked as they got on the escalator.

"Eight years now."

She gaped. "Really, you don’t look that old."

"Yeah, well, I was barely sixteen when I started."

"You can be a Squire at that age?"

Nick turned his head to ogle an attractive young woman in a tight, short skirt going up the escalator beside them, then he turned to flash a dimpled smile at her before he answered the question. "I didn’t know what he was for a long time. I just thought he was some whacked-out rich guy with a ‘pity the poor kid’ complex."

She frowned as they left the escalator and walked through the downstairs level. "Why would you think that?"

Nick adjusted the bags he carried. "You see beside you, my lady, the son of a career felon. My father died in Angola eleven years ago during a prison riot."

Amanda winced at the thought of losing a father like that. "And your mother?"

"She was an exotic dancer down on Bourbon Street. I grew up in the back room of the club where she worked, helping the bouncers hustle clients."

Amanda cringed at the life he was describing. "I’m sorry."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Don’t be. My mother might have her faults, but she’s a good mom, and a terrific lady. She did her best with what little we had. My father knocked her up when she was fifteen and her father threw her out. So it was just the two of us while my dad hit the revolving door in and out of the penal system. We never had much, but she’s always loved me."