Devil May Cry (Dark-Hunter 11)

He looked less than amused. "Thanks for the reminder." But even though his response was sarcastic, she still had a feeling he wasn't as irritated as he pretended.

"Sorry."

He rubbed at his eyes as if he were exhausted. At least for a couple of seconds. Then he suddenly paused. "Where are the demons?"

"I think you killed them all."

"Not mine. Yours. The Charontes. Where have they vanished?"

Oh, that was a good question. In all the chaos, she'd forgotten them. "Hopefully not eating someone."

Terrified, they both flashed up to the room where Simi and Xirena were staying. It took a second for Kat's eyes to adjust to the darkness.

When they did, Kat had to stifle a laugh as she saw the two of them lying asleep, looking like spontaneous crash victims. Simi's legs were propped up on the wall and her body twisted while her head and one arm were draped over the side of the bed, toward the floor. Xirena was facedown with the top of her head on the floor while her body was spread diagonally across the bed. Her wings covered her like a blanket.

Scowling, Sin angled his head as if trying to match their twisted positions. "How do they sleep upside down like that? Wouldn't all the blood rush to your head and hurt?"

"I have no idea," she whispered, pushing him back toward the door. "But let's let them sleep"

He walked through the door, literally, without opening it and pulled her through behind him. A shiver went over her at his actions. "That was eerie."

"Yeah, but you have to admit it's kind of fun. I used to do it on Halloween to scare kids."

Kat laughed at the devilish look on his handsome face. "You're awful."

"Never claimed to be otherwise." He opened the door to his penthouse and allowed her to enter first.

She could sense his exhaustion and his concern for his brother as Sin joined her inside and closed the door behind them. "He'll turn up."

"Yeah, but how?" I have a really bad feeling about this, Katra. Did I make a mistake by freeing him?"

She reached up to cup his face in her head so that she could soothe some of the guilt she felt from him. "Oh, Sin, you know better. There was no way you could have left him there, like that."

Those beautiful golden eyes were tormented. "I know. But..."

"Don't think about it," she whispered, giving him a light kiss on his whiskered cheek.

Sin nodded as she withdrew from him. He still felt terrible. A feeling that wasn't helped as he saw Kat put her hand to her head as if there was a sharp pain behind her left eye. "You all right?"

"Mmm, my head really hurts all of a sudden."

"You want some aspirin?"

With only her right eye open, she gave him a winsome smile. "Wish that would work. No. I think I just need to lie down for a sec."

Wondering what could be wrong with her, he took her to his bedroom and helped her into bed. "Is it any better?"

"No. I feel really sick."

He grabbed the plastic trash can from the floor and held it up for her.

Kat groaned as she saw it. "You know nothing says love like a man holding a bucket, waiting for you to hurl into it."

"No offense, you start hurling and I'm going to be needed immediately downstairs in the casino... I guarantee it."

She glared at him with only her one open eye. "That's not very romantic."

He scoffed at her aggravated tone. "Excuse me? Did I miss something? What has ever romantic about vomit?"

"A man standing by your side when you're sick. Holding your hair back from your face... that's romantic."

"In what alternate universe do you live? Here in a place I like to call reality, that's disgusting. Who in their right mind would find that romantic?"

She managed to open both eyes to pin him with a less than complimentary snarl. "So you'd just leave me here alone to be ill?"

"I didn't say that," he said, trying to defend himself. "I'd have Damien come check on you."

She curled her lip at him and pushed him away from her. "Just go. Get out of here."

Sin didn't budge from the bed. "I can stay. You're not regurgitating at the moment."

She dry heaved and he actually inched toward the door. "You're just messing with me, aren't you? That wasn't real."

She leaned back on the bed and closed her eyes again. "I can't believe what a baby you are."

"Me? Like you'd stand over me if I were hurling? Give me a break."

"I might."

He didn't believe that for an instant. "Yeah, uh-huh. Let me go get ripped and put that theory to the test."

She pulled a pillow to her stomach. "You're awful."

"I'm honest. Trust me, no one ever comes to check on someone when they're ill."

"It doesn't matter anyway. You're a Dark-Hunter. You can't get sick or drunk."

That wasn't true by a long shot, and he'd had the hangovers to prove it. "I'm an ex-god your father gave a job to. I can, and have, been both many times."

Kat opened her eyes again to frown at him. "You've been ill?

"Yes. Apparently, I lost whatever common cold and flu immunity I had when you mother sucked my powers out of me."

"And Damien or Kish didn't come help?"

"They'll bring food. That's about it."

Her heart ached for him. "I'm sorry, Sin. No one should be sick alone."

"Yeah, well, we all muddle through, don't we?"

Kat supposed. But it seemed terribly harsh and a wave of guilt went through her. No one should suffer without having someone to take care of them. It broke her heart to think of Sin in this bed with no one to bring him food and check his temperature.

She tried to reach for him, but suddenly the entire room spun and started to fall from the bed.

Sin caught her against him and cursed as he felt the heat coming off her body. She was on fire. "Kat?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she made a strange gurgling noise.

"Kat? Are you all right? Speak to me!"

"She can't."

He looked to see Zakar in the doorway. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Out," he said with a hostile note in his voice.

"Out where?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "You've got bigger things to worry over than my previous whereabouts."

"Such as?"

Zakar jerked his chin toward Kat. "Your girlfriend must have been bitten by one of the gallu. What she's doing right now is converting into one of them."