Poison's Kiss (Deadly Beauties 2)

"When did you get your tongue pierced, and how are you getting pierced? I thought your skin was too strong for mortal stuff."

He laughs lightly at my random shift of subject.

"I got it done the other day, and there are ways around our tough exterior. Besides, these aren't just for looks. They have a function, too."

"What possible function could a tongue ring have?"

He lets his laughter choke out, and I instantly feel the burning sensation a fool feels after asking such a ridiculous question.

"Well, let's just say the next time I have you to myself, I'll show you."

I squirm uncomfortably, and he slides his hand to rest on the inside of my thigh. My heart pumps almost loud enough to hear.

"Seriously though, they all do different things. Though it looks like a small spike, the one in my eyebrow is actually a key. I have to have it in order to get into the Somage meetings. The one in my lip is solid silver, and as you know, silver is always good to have on hand. The one in my tongue is actually a hidden piece of a spell, should I ever get desperate. Where I chose to put it is purely for your benefit."

My fever returns, and I debate on whether I should even attempt to comment. His devilish tongue doesn't need any extra help delivering divinity. I can't help but be curious though.

"What will you be getting pierced next?" I ask in an effort to shift the subject again.

He smirks as his eyes flash a shade of mischief my way.

"You really want to know?"

I swallow hard as my mind searches through all the scandalous places he could choose and settles on the only one I can think about. My eyes involuntarily flash down to his tightening pants, and before I know what's going on, he gasps.

"Your eyes just flipped through about twenty shades of red and green."

I sigh as I close the traitorous oddities, and then I recline back.

"Stop fucking with my head, and they won’t do that so much."

He laughs as though I've just made the most hilarious joke ever heard.

"Really? I'm fucking with your head? I think we should hurry up and get this out of our systems. I don't have time to take another dip in the lake."

He's joking, but I can tell it's simply to lighten the mood. I shouldn't feel so comfortable with him, but he makes it impossible to feel any other way.

He pulls out the scent masker, and I turn up my nose.

"Mine's probably worse than yours," he says with a chuckle. "I'll stop and get you something to drink to wash it down."

Thank goodness.

He pulls into a gas station and leaves the car running as he steps inside. I watch him with an appreciation I shouldn't have. When I peel my eyes away, I gasp to find a woman sitting in the driver's seat beside me.

I never heard the door open or close, I never felt her eyes, and I never saw so much as a blur. But she's here - her jet black hair swishing below her shoulders. Her long red dress seems odd, considering the temperature, but I'm wearing a short pajama set, so who am I to judge?

I swallow hard as I stare at her, watching her blood-red painted lips turn up in a crooked smile. It's her. It has to be her.

Her appearance is misleading. The seductive beauty she holds hides the monster beneath. She looks to be in her early twenties, but I've read about her living as far back as medieval times.

"He's a cute little boy," she says with her velvety smooth voice while her eyes point to Gage who is sifting through the drinks at the cooler. "Come quietly, and I won't hurt him... yet."

She really doesn't know I'm a witch, or she'd know Gage was something from our world as well.

"How did you-"

"Find you?" she laughs out. "Easy, my girl. That mark on your wrist is mine. The second you gave yourself to my Kane, you belonged to me as well. Now get up. Step out slowly and walk over to that black car."