Donovan blinked, grinned stupidly, then fell to the ground.
Nathaniel stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, head cocked to the side. “You have been monopolizing my woman for way too long. I don’t think I like that very much.”
Julian stared down at Donovan’s unconscious body, then looked at Nathaniel. He snorted.
“Your woman is a fallen angel.”
Nathaniel glanced at Val and she saw him blink as he noticed the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. “Get the hell out of here!”
“No,” Julian said. “I’m quite serious.”
Nathaniel took a step toward him. “I was talking to her.” He punched Julian in the face, and turned to her as Julian lost his grip on her arm. “Get the hell out of here, Valerie.”
“But—he’s still got the key. I have to—”
“I’ll take care of that. Are you going to argue with me every time I ask you to do something?”
“And Reggie! I don’t know where he is.”
“He’s the one who told me that you were being an idiot by getting Julian alone. He’s around.
Don’t worry about him.”
“But I can’t just leave you here.”
“Go get Lloyd. Tell him what’s happening. But go. In a few moments, Julian will be the least of our problems when the rest of security gets here. Just leave while you still have the chance.”
Julian came at Nathaniel with the couch raised above his head, his eyes fiery. “I’ve been waiting for this for longer than you’ll ever know, halfling.”
“I’ve never much liked that expression.” Nathaniel rushed him and the couch splintered against the wall.
Val heard footsteps pounding outside as security approached. With a last glance at Nathaniel and Julian beating the crap out of each other, she turned and ran away.
It was a straight run to the entrance of the mansion and back to the pool area. Nobody gave her a second glance even though she must have looked like a wreck and was practically hyperventilating.
She’d managed to put everything she believed in, everybody she cared about, in jeopardy.
Nathaniel had been right. She was selfish. She’d risked everything, stormed into the path of danger without a coherent plan just so she could save the day. Get the key. Do her good deed to end all good deeds to get the chance to go back to her fluffy white cloud where—as her continually fading memory served—everything was safe and happy and perfect.
But all she’d done was make things worse.
She ran all the way to Lloyd’s house and collapsed to her knees on his front lawn. She began to sob.
Worse, she thought. Everything was worse now. Much worse.
And it was all her fault.
The door creaked open and Lloyd looked out. He wore a pink apron. Has he been baking more brownies? she wondered. Yeah, he was going to be a whole lot of help.
“Valerie?” Lloyd peeled off his oven mitts. “Are you okay? What happened? Where’s Nathaniel?”
He came down the steps and helped her to stand up. She didn’t say anything yet, she was crying so hard she couldn’t speak, so he directed her into his house and closed the door behind them.
“It’ll be okay,” Lloyd assured Val. “But I need to leave right now. He was right to tell you to run.”
“It won’t be okay. Nothing will be okay.”
He looked anxious. “He told you to come get me, did he not? There’s a reason for that. I wasn’t always a romance writer, you know. I put my time in at the head office before I earned the right to a simpler existence. But I still have connections. Trust me, if you can.”
She rose to her feet. “I’m coming with you.”
He shook his head. “No, you’ll stay here. You’ve been through enough already. Besides, you’ll just slow me down.”
“But Lloyd, I—”
“Nathaniel was right about you. You are a pain in the ass.”
Val’s eyebrows shot up. “He said that?”
Lloyd sighed. “I think it was implied. Just stay here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
With a last look he hurried out of the house and closed the door behind him, leaving Val alone.
She nearly wore a line in the pink carpet from pacing back and forth for an entire torturous hour without a word. She couldn’t just stay there and do nothing. She finally decided to go back to the mansion herself. Whatever happened, happened, but at least she’d know she gave it a shot. That she’d tried to find Reggie. Tried to help Nathaniel. Even if it was too late.
It couldn’t be too late.
She rushed over and opened the front door to leave.
Nathaniel stood on the other side. Val’s eyes widened at the sight of him.
He shrugged. “And that’s what he gets for calling me a halfling.”
He stepped past her into the house while she simply stared at him.
“That asshole,” he continued, “has always caused me grief. Two hundred years and all I hear is whining from him. And I’m the self-pitying loser? I think not. It’s too much. It’s just seriously too much.”
Val finally found her voice enough to say, “He’s Lucifer’s son, you know.”
“That explains a lot, actually.”
She swallowed hard. “You’re okay.”
“You seem surprised.”
“No . . . it’s just . . .”