Kiss of the Vampire(48)

Tobias saw where she was headed. Finn Evnissyen stood near the door, the expression on his face one that indicated he knew they’d been looking for him. “Damn it,” Tobias groaned, and hurried after Nix.

“What the—” he heard MacMillan say.

“Come on,” Victoria said before Tobias got completely out of earshot. “They might need help.”

Tobias caught up to Nix and took her arm. “Don’t do anything rash.”

She jerked free and glared at him. “Why do you always assume the worst of me?” The hurt in her eyes was real and sent a pang of regret through him. He admitted to himself it was possible, perhaps even probable, that he still saw her through the filter of the past. She deserved better.

They reached Finn. “I hear you’ve been looking for me all over town,” the demon drawled. He crossed his arms and looked down at them as if to say ‘Well, here I am.’

Even though Tobias was six feet tall, Finn towered over him by a good five inches. And probably outweighed him by more than fifty pounds. Not that it mattered; as a vampire Tobias possessed the strength of five humans, easily double the strength that Finn had. Even so, this was one big demon.

Who didn’t appear to faze Nix at all. “You bet your ass we’ve been looking for you.” She mimicked his stance, arms folded over her breasts, gaze hard and challenging. “We have questions for you about Amarinda Novellus.”

Something flickered through the demon’s dark blue eyes but was gone before Tobias could identify the emotion. “Yeah, I heard about that. Bad thing.”

“No kidding.” Nix took a step closer. “We heard you went looking for her not that long ago. Why?”

He appeared to be as concerned with her getting in his face as he would be with a small dog yipping at his ankles. “That’s between Rinda and me.”

“You knew her well enough to call her by her nickname?” Tobias asked. The preternatural world was less informal than the human one. You didn’t call prets by their pet names unless you were close.

Finn just stood there and didn’t answer.

“Listen, you pile of dog shit—” If Nix got any angrier, Tobias was sure she’d start vibrating. And popping her horn buds.

“Maybe,” Tobias said, interrupting her and trying to make her back off before he had two pissy demons on his hands, “we should just go to council headquarters and sort this out.”

Finn raised eyebrows a few shades darker than the shaggy blond hair on his head. “If you think you can force me down to council HQ, you go right ahead and give it your best shot.”

“Be happy to.” Nix took another step toward him, unsnapping the safety strap on her holster.

Quick as a flash Finn had her in a headlock, her back to his chest, one brawny forearm across her slender throat, the other behind her neck in a classic choke hold. The wine bottle dropped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Dark red wine splattered on the wall and slowly spread across the floor like the spill of blood.

Tobias stiffened. He started to move forward but stopped when the demon tightened his hold on Nix. “You need to let her go,” Tobias demanded. He pushed pheromones Finn’s way, trying to influence the demon’s behavior. It worked better on humans than prets, but he had to try. From the corner of his eye he saw MacMillan and Victoria stop beside him. The detective had drawn his gun the second Finn had reached for Nix. Tobias filed away the detective’s quick reflexes for future notice.

“Tell pretty boy there to stand down before he gets hurt.” Finn looked at Victoria. “And you don’t scare me either, sweetheart.”

“You hurt her, you won’t make it out of this club alive.” Tobias never took his gaze off Nix, her slim body dwarfed by the big demon who’d dared put his hands on her.

Finn laughed. “You think you can take me, vampire?” he challenged.

“I do.” Tobias glanced over his shoulder to see their altercation had drawn attention. Several vampire bouncers were making their way over, fangs out and hands holding cattle prods. He clamped his jaw against the sense of foreboding that began to claw his insides. He had to diffuse this before it got out of control. Nix would be the first to be hurt. Or worse.

“Let go of me.” Nix drew her Glock and shoved it into Finn’s side.

Tobias admired her spunk, always had, but now was not the time. “Nix, that’s not helping.” Tobias looked at Finn. “This won’t end well for you, Finn. Let her go.”

The demon stared at Tobias, his eyes hard and flat, his mouth in a grim line. Finn held Nix a moment longer, then released her and put his hands in the air. Only then did MacMillan holster his weapon.