I was still stuck on sure. Was he being a smart-ass? And why did I care? Why did my chest, which had felt like a cow was sitting on it, suddenly feel like butterflies were twirling merrily inside?
Because of that damn kiss. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
But I had to. Maybe he wasn’t crazy anymore, actually he never had been, but that only meant he was a demon hunter. He was so not for me.
“He’s an incubus,” Chavez murmured, thinking out loud. I yanked my eyes and my mind from his mouth and listened. “He needs sex to live. But there are a million plus women in this city. Why not get it somewhere else?”
“Yeah, why not?”
His head tilted. “What did he say to you?”
“That we weren’t finished. He needed something only I could give.”
“What?”
“Got me.”
I was new at the whole sexual demon gig.
“If I can discover why he’s obsessed with you, I might be able to figure out exactly what kind of incubus he is.”
“There’s more than one kind?”
Chavez nodded. “The heading incubus covers a wide range of sex-feeding demons. Each one of those has its own particular method of death.”
“Terrific,” I muttered.
“As soon as I know exactly what he is, I can find out how to kill him.” His dark eyes met mine. “You’ll be safe as soon as I kill him.”
Funny, I felt safe now.
An hour later we’d cleaned up the apartment, cleaned up ourselves. I was dry and dressed. Unfortunately, so was Chavez. I’d kind of enjoyed the short period when he’d worn nothing but a towel around his waist and another looped around his neck as his clothes tumbled around the dryer with mine.
We sat in the living room, lights blaring against the remnants of the night. I’d made the promised coffee, and we both sipped from the largest travel mugs I had in my cupboard. I needed more sleep, but since I wasn’t going to get it, I’d have more coffee.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
He glanced up. “We?”
“We,” I said firmly. “I don’t plan to sit around waiting to be demon raped.”
His hands jerked, sloshing hot liquid very near the rim. “He won’t rape you; he’ll make you want him.”
“Make being the operative word. Even if I think I want him, I really don’t. Which means he’s raping my mind as well as my body.”
I set down the cup. My hands had begun to shake at the thought of what was after me, of my complete lack of control whenever it came near.
“I want him dead.” I lifted my chin. “Preferably last week.”
“Okay,” Chavez murmured, staring at me with newfound respect. “I guess it’s we.”
“What do we do now?” I repeated.
“You know where Eric lives?”
“No. And he wasn’t supposed to know where I lived, either. That’s the beauty of Internet dating.”
“Not exactly. If you know what you’re doing, an address is pretty easy to find. Can I use the computer?”
Moments later, we had Eric Leaventhall’s address on the Upper East Side.
“Let’s pay him a visit.” Chavez glanced at the window. The sun was just coming up. “We’ve got only so many hours of daylight.”
“What difference does daylight make?”
“Dark spirits arise at sunset.”
“Seems like there’s too much evil in the world all day to have demons only available at night.”
“Just because the demon is sleeping doesn’t mean it isn’t still whispering.”
Which actually explained quite a lot.
Not too long afterward, we paused on the sidewalk opposite Eric’s building. He had a doorman, too.
“Now what?” I asked, but Chavez was already cutting across the street.
I hurried after him, catching up as he slipped around the corner and headed for the service entrance.
Chavez stopped and handed me a pair of plastic gloves. After donning a pair himself, he withdrew a long, thin strip of wire from his pocket.
“Done this before?” I asked.
Chavez didn’t bother to answer as he jimmied the lock. At Eric’s door he used what appeared to be a pocket calculator and a squiggly power cord to disable the security system. My feeling of safety was rapidly disintegrating.
“Where did you learn this stuff?” I asked. “Rogue demon hunter school?”
He shook his head and used the wire again, popping the lock as if it were a toy. “On the streets like everyone else.”
“Everyone?”
Chavez glanced over his shoulder and smiled. His teeth were so white they blinded me. Or maybe I was dazzled by the excitement in his eyes. He was having fun, and at the moment so was I. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d felt this alive.