Kiss of the Vampire(49)

Nix, however, did not. She put her gun to the middle of Finn’s chest. Tobias could smell the demon fire burning inside her, could see the horn buds beneath her bangs. When she shot him a glare, her irises were completely yellow.

“Nix, put it away.” Tobias took a few steps closer and kept his voice gentle. As violent as prets could be, it was still frowned upon to shoot an unarmed man. And if it happened in the Devil’s Domain, Maldonado would not be happy. Tobias would be able to smooth things over with his old boss, but it would take some doing and probably end up with him owing Maldonado a favor. Nix was worth it, but he’d prefer not to owe Maldonado if he didn’t have to. The old vampire was crafty and just as likely to get Tobias mixed up in something he didn’t want to be involved in. He wasn’t an enforcer, not anymore. He put a hand out to keep the bouncers at bay. They stopped but remained in an alert line behind MacMillan and Victoria.

“Yeah, little cousin,” Finn drawled. “You’re not exactly encouraging me to be cooperative.”

“You two are related?” MacMillan asked.

“No,” Nix bit out. “We are not.”

Finn stared at the detective. “We’re both demons. So we are related in a way.”

Tobias noticed that the demon’s eyes remained a normal, human blue without any demon yellow showing at all. This was one cool customer.

“Not in any way that counts.” Nix kept the barrel of her gun pressed to his chest. “You demonstrated that just now when you put me in a choke hold.”

“And you reciprocated by poking your gun in my side.” Finn’s stance suggested he was unconcerned about the altercation, and Tobias couldn’t pick up any emotions from him, either. “I was just defending myself, little cousin,” Finn said.

“Stop calling me that.”

“Nix.” Tobias put a hand on her shoulder. “Holster your weapon.”

She scowled but finally did as he asked.

“Thanks for leashing your little doggy.” Finn smirked down at her.

Her jaw tightened and she gave a little growl, hands fisting at her sides, but her gun stayed holstered.

“Well, now that we have that settled,” MacMillan said in a low voice, “maybe someone could tell me who the hell this is and what the hell is going on?”

“This is Finn Evnissyen,” Victoria offered. Her dulcet tones wore a harsher note than normal. “A smooth operator who’s an expert at pissing people off. A living example of an oxymoron, actually.”

“Moron is right.” Nix hadn’t taken her eyes off the big demon.

Finn tsked. “Now, now, little cousin. Don’t be mean.”

Nix took a step forward, clearly ready to take him on again.

“Enough!” Tobias’s voice came out in a low roar. “No more games, Evnissyen. Why were you looking for Rinda?”

The demon gave a careless shrug. “She stood me up and wasn’t returning my calls. I wanted to know why.”

What a load of… To keep from reaching out and throttling the guy, Tobias shoved his hands deep into his pockets. A dustup between demon and vampire tonight wouldn’t solve anything, though he thought he might feel better once he saw blood streaming from the arrogant bastard’s nose. He held Finn’s gaze. Some other time. “Rinda wouldn’t duck your calls. She would’ve told you to your face why you weren’t worth her time. Try again.”

“That’s all I got for you.” Challenge lit Finn’s eyes. “And dragging me in front of the council won’t change that.”

Tobias studied him. Obviously the pheromones had had no effect. “Fine,” he said after a moment. “Get out of here.”

“No, Tobias, we can’t let him leave!” Nix moved to block the way.

Finn gave a jaunty salute. His deep blues settled on Nix. “The next time we meet, little cousin, I won’t be so nice. Now, get out of my way.” He grabbed her upper arms and lifted her, setting her none too gently to one side.

Rage rolled over Tobias. He moved with vampire speed and shoved the demon against the wall so hard he broke the drywall. Tobias was vaguely aware of the buzz of voices in the club quieting. His fangs slid down, vision became awash in crimson. Facial bones morphing as they hardened. With his forearm across Finn’s throat, Tobias rasped, “You touch her again, you even come near her, and I will kill you.” The demon tried to push Tobias away but Tobias didn’t budge. Instead he exerted more pressure against Finn’s throat. “You read me?”

“Yeah, I read you.” The words came out choked but the expression in Finn’s eyes was as defiant as ever. “Now lay off.”