“Congratulations. Are you ready to go?”
“I guess. Are you sure you don’t want Nathaniel to come with us? That might not be such a good idea, you know.”
She frowned at him. “I don’t care.” She stood up from the sofa and turned around. Nathaniel was standing behind her.
“I am coming with you.”
“No you’re not.”
Nathaniel looked at her with annoyance. “You mean to face Julian yourself, with no protection? That is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“What do you care?”
“I’m bound to protect you. Whether or not I like that fact is not important. You’d walk away from that?”
Val narrowed her eyes. “Just watch me. Want to throw another piece of furniture against the wall now in a pissy show of brute strength?”
Lloyd stood up. “Is that what that noise was? Nathaniel, no more Tempter tantrums, okay?
This is my house.”
Nathaniel didn’t budge. Didn’t flinch. “I’m coming with you.”
“Like hell you are.”
Just as she was about to turn away from him, he grabbed her arm.
She frowned up at him. “Let go of me.” she said it in her commanding tone that usually worked with him.
He immediately released her, but didn’t look happy about it.
She snatched Reggie off the sofa with an audible “eek” from him and threw him on her shoulder. “Thanks for everything, Lloyd. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“Likewise Valerie. Don’t forget to check out my Web site. The new design just launched last week.”
“I’ll do that.”
She made for the front door, opened it up, stepped into the bright sunshine, and began walking toward the sidewalk. Was she being stupid for not letting Nathaniel come with them?
Probably. But having him around would remind her how close she’d been to making such a huge mistake. She didn’t care what Lloyd had to say about the history of Nathaniel. He was a demon. That didn’t fit very well into her heavenly plans.
End of story.
“Uh-oh,” Reggie said.
She felt a hand on her arm twirl her around. It was Nathaniel again.
“Geez, don’t you ever give up?”
He frowned. “Listen to me Valerie, I want to talk about what happened between us earlier. It wasn’t because I—”
“Shut up,” she commanded and felt an odd satisfaction that he immediately stopped talking.
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Nothing happened. Now I want you to not move, not speak, and definitely not follow me. Got it?”
He glared at her, but seemed frozen in place.
She smiled. “That’s more like it.”
Turning, she continued down the front path that led to the sidewalk. A girl was coming toward her. About Val’s height, with reddish hair, and a pretty face. She cocked an eyebrow.
“Hi there.”
“Hey!” Reggie shouted excitedy. “That’s Lisa. She was the maid at the Paradise Inn before you, Val. Hi Lisa! Long time no see!”
Lisa ignored the rat and walked right past Val to approach Nathaniel.
“Hey, baby,” she said. “Remember me?”
She ran her hand along the back of his unbuttoned shirt—a new shirt, gray-striped; Lloyd must have loaned it to him since his other one was ruined—across his shoulder blades, and over to his bare chest. Val felt a sudden twinge of anger, or maybe it was jealousy that this girl was so freely touching Nathaniel. His eyes were on Val, however, and he didn’t move since she told him he couldn’t. His eyes flicked back to the redhead.
“Don’t tell me you don’t remember me,” Lisa pouted.
She curled her right hand into a fist and punched him. His head snapped to the side, but he was unable to move away from the attack. A trickle of red appeared at the corner of his mouth.
The girl studied his lack of reaction for a moment. “That’s very interesting. And it makes things so much easier for me.”
She hit him in his stomach this time, and an involuntary “Ooof” escaped his lips. Then she hit him again in the mouth. By this time Val had closed the distance between them and grabbed the girl’s arm.
“Stop it.”
Lisa turned to look at Val, an angry, wild glare in her eyes before she backhanded her across the face.
“This has nothing to do with you, bitch. This is between me and the demon. I’m here to vanquish him. But first I want to kick his sorry ass.”
Val held a hand to her stinging cheek and narrowed her eyes. “I’m the bitch?” Before she realized what she was doing, she threw her fist through the air, clipping the girl across her cheekbone.
“Oooh, girl fight,” Reggie said from Val’s shoulder. “Me likey. Why don’t you put me down so no rats get inadvertently harmed in the making of this hot action.”
“Ow!” She held her face and glared at Val. “This has nothing to do with you. He needs to be punished. Mind your own business.”
“This is my business.” Val glanced at Nathaniel. “He’s with me.”
She jabbed a finger in Nathaniel’s prone direction. “You don’t know what he did. What he’s capable of.”
“You’d be surprised.”