Midnight's Master (Midnight 3)

Ben's shoes crunched gravel as he headed toward them, again, and Holly shook her head. "I-I have to go to the station."

"After." A demand.

Her lips firmed.

Maybe he should have made the demand softer but soft wasn't his style, either. But he tried now, for her. "I should have…handled things differently last night." He just hadn't counted on getting punched between the eyes. Or grabbed so hard by the balls, but lust could do that. "I thought you were playing me, I didn't realize-"

"That I didn't know what the hell was going on in my own life?" Shadows flickered in her eyes.

"What can I say? That is the story of my life. Didn't know Zack was screwing around and the bastard was right in front of me-"

Who the hell was Zack?

"Didn't know my own brother was fighting for his life, until I walked in and found him dead on the floor of his bedroom."

Well, shit.

"So really, I guess this isn't that unusual, is it? Some reporter I am." She tried to shove past him.

He wasn't going to allow that. Not at all. She couldn't run from him, from what was between them, not yet. "You're a f**king fine reporter." A compliment he'd give…oh, no one else in her profession. "You care and you try to help other people." Not his way, but it worked for her.

"Niol…"

"As for being a demon, that doesn't change who you are. You're still the same. Your eyes change-big deal. You're still you. "

Crunch. The damn cameraman.

"Uh, Holly?" He inched closer. "I got to go…it's gettin' late."

What, did the forty-year-old have a curfew? Niol bit back his snarl. "Your place," he managed.

A concession, one made to make her feel as if she had some of the control. "I'll be waiting for you."

Getting inside wouldn't be a problem for him. He'd take care of his business, grill Giles, then take his lover.

Hesitation from Holly, enough to make him clench his back teeth, then…a slow nod.

He kissed her again, ignoring the human and taking his time with her mouth.

Yes, he'd wait, but he'd be damned if he waited long. Once she closed the door of her apartment, she'd be his.

"So…who the hell is Zack?" Niol demanded when he stormed into Giles's office.

Sure, it was after midnight, and the guy had only been on the case for less than twelve hours but for what Niol was paying the charmer, he expected some damn good results.

And Giles knew he didn't like disappointment.

The charmer looked up from his computer, brows beetled. "I know I locked that suite door."

Niol shrugged.

"Damn demon." Giles sighed and motioned him forward. "Zack…let me guess, you're referring to the esteemed Doctor Zachariah Nathaniel Hall? Otherwise known as the jackass of the MU biology department?"

Niol threw his body into the nearby chair. "Could be-what do you know about the jackass?"

Giles smiled, and it really wasn't a pretty sight. Too many teeth. "I know the jackass was engaged to your little reporter."

The lights over them flickered. "Run that by me again."

The investigator looked up and his smile dimmed a bit. "Holly…uh, Storm, she was engaged to the ivory tower guy."

The lady hadn't mentioned an ex-fiance.

But then again, they hadn't exactly been exchanging secrets about old lovers.

Still…a fiance ? What the hell?

"The engagement ended two months later." Giles sniffed. "Apparently, old Zachariah had a thing for one of his young students."

Fucking idiot. He'd screwed around on her?

Humans could be so stupid.

Whatever. The bastard's loss. His gain.

The lights steadied.

Giles looked at him. "He paid her a visit today."

And she hadn't mentioned that to him, either. "Why?"

Giles sighed. "Shit, man, how about a 'That's great-you work fast, charmer.' Or some kind of freaking praise? I haven't even been on this case for a whole day and-"

"Why did the ass**le go to see her?"

No smile now. "I don't know yet."

Niol would find out. The human had better not be sniffing around Holly again. He'd had his chance and blown it to hell from the sound of things.

Niol wasn't the sharing type. Never had been. The human had better back off-or he'd get burned.

"Something I did find out though, you might find it inter esting." Giles shoved a file across the table. "Holly had an older brother."

Didn't know my own brother was fighting for his life, until I walked in and found him dead on the floor of his bedroom.

He flipped open the file. Saw the old clippings from a Mississippi paper. Overdose kills teen.

Laurel youth loses battle with addiction. Body found by sister.

Damn.

"Looks like the kid got hooked when he was young, maybe around thirteen. By seventeen, he was dead."

And Holly was finding his body.

"He was a year older than her. Newspapers say they were close."

Niol could still hear the echo of pain in her voice. Yes, they'd been close all right.

"A couple of the kid's friends were quoted as saying he took the drugs 'to quiet his demons.'"

Very slowly, Niol glanced up from the grainy photo of a boy with Holly's mouth and with eyes that were darkened by pain and fear.

"Your kind…" Giles licked his thick lips, "you guys can get hooked on the drugs fast, right?"

Some demons did. Because a demon's power, it could be a very, very dark thing.

Like Sam Miters. He'd gotten hooked fast and when he was young. Niol knew the poor bastard had heard the thoughts of killers. Slow, insidious whispers that had tried to drive him mad. For Sam, only the meth had quieted those voices.

The usual drugs wouldn't always work on a demon. If a demon went into a clinic, looking for help to stop voices and nightmare visions, usually he just got pumped up with anti-psychotic drugs like chlorpromazine. And that didn't do shit for a demon, except make the voices louder and the visions clearer.

So the more desperate of his ilk tried their own drug mixes-and got addicted too fast to know they were sliding straight into hell.

Drugs weren't the way to treat demons. Mind shields, like the one he knew Emily Drake had created for herself, that was the way to keep the insanity out.

But it took years to perfect a shield like that and most demons, especially the young ones who'd just hit puberty and felt the full rush of their demon power for the first time, they didn't have that precious time.

They needed a f**king system in place to help the young ones so they didn't grow up to become like Sam.