Seize the Night (Dark-Hunter 6)

He was a calm anchor to her chaotic life and truthfully, she liked his dry sense of humor. His ability to take things in stride without blowing a gasket. It was rare in her world to meet such a man.

He's not a man.

No, he wasn't. She knew that, just as she knew there was no hope of any kind of future for a relationship. Dark-Hunters didn't have significant others of any sort. They could never be together. Never.

Once she and Valerius left this bed, they'd have to part company. He would just be another passing friend.

And yet she didn't want to let go of him.

"Stop," she whispered to herself. She needed her rest.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself to sleep. But her dreams were far from comforting. All morning long, they haunted her with vivid, horrific images of her sister and Kyrian. Of baby Marissa crying for someone to help her.

Most of all, they haunted her with the faces of her friends who had died and with scenes of Valerius being tortured. She could see him stretched out and hear mocking laughter as he struggled not to die.

She could feel his pain, his betrayal.

Hear his scream of vengeance as it echoed throughout time.

Tabitha came awake just after noon with her entire body shaking from her dreams. She'd only been sleeping a few hours, but she was so upset that she couldn't go back to sleep.

"Tabitha?"

She looked at Valerius, who squinted at her.

"Are you all right?" he asked hoarsely.

She kissed his bare shoulder and offered him a smile. "I can't sleep. You go ahead and rest."

"But-"

She placed her finger on his lips. "Sleep, baby. I'm fine. Really."

He nibbled her finger before he rolled over, gave her a tight hug, then returned to sleep.

Tabitha lay in the shelter of his arms with her thoughts racing. She honestly didn't want to get up. But after a few minutes, when she heard Marla and Debbie chatting somewhere downstairs about inventory, she finally decided to rise.

She quickly showered and dressed, taking care not to wake the delicious guy in her bed. As soon as she went downstairs, she called Otto and asked him to bring clothes over for Valerius.

"Why didn't he come home last night?" Otto asked.

"It was too close to dawn."

"Uh-huh," Otto said as if he didn't buy it. "I'll be over in about an hour with something for him."

"Otto," she said with a warning note in her voice. "It better be something he wants to wear and not some Nick-I-want-to-piss-off-Kyrian knockoff."

"You take all the fun out of this."

Tabitha shook her head as she hung up the phone. With nothing better to do, she headed into her store, where Debbie was ringing up a customer.

Otto came about an hour later and dropped off the clothes without so much as a grimace. But Tabitha noted that he was wearing a stylish black sweater and a pair of nice jeans instead of his regular wear. He probably looked like this whenever Valerius wasn't around.

After Otto left, she took the clothes upstairs and laid them out for Valerius to see when he awoke, then crept back to her shop, where she cleaned and reworked a pasties display.

She'd just finished matching the pasties to thongs when Nick Gautier came into the store with a bright smile on his face as he whipped his sunglasses off. "Afternoon, cher," he said, walking up to her.

He kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Tabitha frowned. It'd been a long time since Nick had done something like that. "What has you in such a good mood?" she asked.

He flashed that devilish, charming grin at her. "What do you think? Man, I owe you dinner out, big-time."

She was even more confused than before. "For what?"

"That friend of yours... Simi. She was something else."

Tabitha went cold at the sound of reverence in his voice.

"I can't wait to see her again," Nick continued, increasing her sense of dread. "You wouldn't happen to have her number handy, would you? I was supposed to meet her at six tonight, but I'm going to run a little late and didn't want to leave her waiting for me."

Tabitha struggled to breathe as panic and fear consumed her. This couldn't be happening. Nick didn't do what she thought he'd done-had he?

Surely not even Nick Gautier was that stupid.

"Simi? You want Simi's number?"

"Yeah. She cut out so fast last night that I didn't have a chance to get it."

"Why did she cut out fast?"

"She said she was supposed to meet someone." He frowned at her. "What's up? Is there something I need to know? She's not married, is she?"

Tabitha felt the color drain from her face. "Tell me you didn't do anything with Simi last night, did you? You just took her into Sanctuary and-"

"I took her out for barbecue. She said it was her favorite and those bears don't know shit about mesquite."

Tabitha rubbed her head to help alleviate some of the bitter ache that was starting right between her eyes. This was so bad... "And after you two ate, you what?"

His grin turned wicked. "You know a gentleman never kisses and tells."

Tabitha covered her mouth as she felt an urge to be really sick.

Nick sobered instantly. "What?"

"You didn't happen to ask her who she was going to meet, did you?"

"No, I assumed it was a friend."

"Oh, Nick," she said, wanting to cry for him and his ignorance, "it was more than a friend. Let me put it to you this way: Her phone number is 555-562-1919."

He scowled. "That's Ash's number."

"Yes, it is."

His pallor now matched her own as the true horror of his situation dawned on him. "Not our Ash as in Parthenopaeus Ash?"

She nodded glumly.

He turned a multitude of colors as that registered. "Oh, God, Tabitha, why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew her. She knows you."

"No, I never met her before last night." Nick raked a hand over his face as he set off cursing.

Tabitha shook her head. "Ash is going to kill you."

"Don't you dare tell him!" Nick snarled.

"I'm not about to. But what if Simi-"

"I'll call him and tell him I need to talk to him. I'll confess..."

"Nick, he will kill you. He loves Simi and I mean loves Simi. He'll never forgive you for this. You'll be lucky to come away with all parts attached."

Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing. There had been several times over the last few years that Ash had intimated that he had a girlfriend and Nick had taken to goofing on him for it.

The last thing he'd ever expected was to meet Ash's girlfriend in the Quarter without him.

Oh God, this couldn't be happening. How could he have slept with his best friend's girl? Why hadn't Simi told him? If, as Tabitha said, Simi knew who he was, why would she do such a thing?

"Is she fighting with Ash?" he asked, hoping, praying it was a possibility.

"No, Nick. You're not that lucky."

He cursed again. "I have to tell him," he said to Tabitha. "I'm not going to be a coward. I owe him that much."

"Then you better make sure you go over to the St. Louis Cathedral and confess before you do."

Nick crossed himself, unable to believe what he'd just gotten himself into. He should have known Simi was too good to be real. She'd been a lot of fun, and in truth, he'd been looking forward to seeing her again.

Tabitha was right. He was a dead man.

"Hey, Tabby," Marla said as she stuck her head into the shop. "Valerius is up and showering in the bathroom."

Nick gaped, then glared. "Valerius?"

"Sh," Tabitha snapped at Nick.

He didn't take the hint. "Valerius as in Valerius, dick-head Valerius? What the hell is he still doing here, Tabitha?"

"It's none of your business."

His anger snapped at that. "Oh, yeah, right. Excuse me, but between the two of us..." He paused as he thought over what he was about to say, then reconsidered it. "Okay, I'm still more screwed than you are, but you are seriously screwed blue. Amanda will tear your heart out if she finds out."

Tabitha turned on him with her eyes flashing anger. "So help me, Nick, you breathe a word of this and I'll press the speed dial on my phone straight for Ash."

He held his hands up in surrender. "Deal. But you better get that Roman prick out of here."

She pointed toward the door. "Good-bye, Mr. Gautier."

He put his sunglasses back on. "Later, Ms. Devereaux."

Tabitha rubbed her hands over her face as she contemplated what a horror this day was and that it wasn't even close to over yet.

Aggravated, she headed toward the door that led to her apartment. Upstairs, she heard Valerius in the shower.

Tabitha went ahead and called to have a pizza delivered in case he was hungry.

By the time he was finished and dressed, the pizza arrived. Tabitha paid for it and set it on the table as she waited for Valerius to come down.

She still had the sickest feeling her stomach. "There really needs to be a do-over button for days that suck this much," she muttered as she set out two paper plates.

Valerius was buttoning the last button on his shirt as he came down the stairs, looking for Tabitha. She was standing with her back to him.

He paused on the stairs to admire her there. She was leaning over the table to give him one nice view of her derriere. A small smile played at the edges of his lips as he remembered what that rear had looked like last night naked against him as she danced in her room.

He hardened instantly.

Getting a little hold on his treacherous body, he walked into the room and frowned as he saw a large white box on Tabitha's kitchen table. It smelled good, but...

"What is that?" he asked.

"Pizza," she said, turning to face him.

He scowled in revulsion.

"Oh, c'mon," she said irritably. "It's Italian."

"It's pizza."

"Have you ever had pizza?"

"No."

"Then sit down and hush while I get us some wine. You'll like it, I promise. It was handmade by an Italian named Bubba."

Valerius arched a doubtful brow at her words. "There are no Italians named Bubba."

"Sure there are," she said saucily. "It's more Italian than Valerius is. At least Bubba's name actually ends with a vowel."

Valerius opened his mouth to contradict her, then stopped. There was no reasoning with Tabitha when she was in this saucy mood. "Are you testy because you didn't get enough sleep or do you wish for me to leave?"

"I didn't get enough sleep and if you know what's good for you, you'll sit down and eat." She headed to the kitchen.

Valerius didn't listen. He went into the kitchen, picked her up, and tossed her over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her tone angry.

He sat her down in a chair and braced his hands on its arms so that she was pinned there. "Good evening, Tabitha. I'm fine tonight. How are you?"

"Irritated at you."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, lifting one hand up to caress her cheek. "I woke up to the smell of you on my skin and I have to say that it put me in a rather good mood that I don't want you to destroy."

Tabitha melted at those words and the tender look on his face. Not to mention that the fresh, clean scent of his skin could undo even the worst mood imaginable. His lips were so close to hers that she could already taste them.

And those dark eyes...

They were beguiling.

"You really know how to be aggravating, don't you?" she asked him. She forced her ire aside and offered him a smile. "Okay, I'll play nice." She pulled his head to hers so that she could kiss him.

She was just getting into that kiss when her phone rang. Cursing at the ill timing, she got up to answer it.

It was Amanda. Again.

Tabitha wasn't really paying attention to her as her sister rambled on about Marissa and Kyrian and another dream she'd had.

At least not until she mentioned Desiderius and her.

"What?" she said, forcing herself not to watch Valerius who was poking at the pizza as if it were a UFO.

"I said I'm scared, Tabby. Really scared. I dreamed during my nap that Kyrian and I were killed by Desiderius."