"I think I should be going now."
"No, wait. Sarah, we must talk."
I cleared my throat. "Do you think it can wait for another night? I sort of have a date."
"With Thierry?"
I nodded. "And he does hate to be kept waiting."
"I'm sure that he does. But I'm afraid this can't wait either. I'd like you to come somewhere with me."
I shook my head. "I don't think that's a very good idea."
"You don't trust me."
"Why should I trust somebody who hides his face? Look, I don't mean to be ungrateful or anything. I appreciate that you gave me the gold chain. I do. But the odds of me coming along with you wherever it is you want to take me are seriously slim to none."
He didn't say anything for a moment, and then, "Would knowing who I am change your mind?"
I looked at him skeptically. "Not sure about that. Who are you? Brad Pitt? My friend thinks you might be Brad Pitt."
He shook his head. "Afraid not."
"Do I know you already?"
"Indirectly, I'm sure that you do."
"Are you one of Thierry's informants? Or another bodyguard?"
He shook his head again.
Great. He wanted to play games. "So show me. Show me who you are and maybe I will be a little friendlier. Although I'm not promising anything."
He reached up to his scarf but then his hands froze as if he'd had second thoughts.
"Perhaps you're right. Tonight is not a good night for this."
I rolled my eyes. "What? Chickening out? That is so not something I'd expect from the Red Devil."
He laughed a little at that. "No, I don't expect that it is. But… but I've been through a great deal recently that I doubt you'd understand."
I frowned. "What does that mean? A great deal of what?"
"I was involved in a horrible accident recently. My face… it's not what it used to be."
I raised my eyebrows at that. "Your face? Is that why you're wearing the scarf? Some sort of Phantom of the Opera role-playing thing?"
"That's one way to put it."
"Look, I saw the movie." In fact, I used to own the DVD until my apartment went up in smoke. "The phantom was a good guy who bad things happened to. I promise not to scream or freak out. As long as you don't start singing everything is going to be just fine."
His green eyes took on an edge of amusement that chased away the doubt that had been there. "There will be no singing at any point of this evening. That much I can promise you."
I was warming up to the guy again. Just a little. He was one of the good guys, he just had a little facial disfigurement going on. And the phantom thing was so Gerard Butler, and that was a very good thing indeed.
Besides, at the moment I was only screaming distance away from Haven's friendly neighborhood bouncer coming to my rescue. I allowed myself to relax a bit. Just a bit.
"All right, here it goes. At your insistence, remember," the Red Devil said out loud, and then slowly began to unwrap the black scarf from his face to reveal his true identity.
My now regularly beating heart picked up pace. I couldn't believe he was actually going to do it. He was going to show me who he was.
I pressed my lips together as he uncovered the damaged flesh. His face, on the entire right side, had been horribly burned. The damage trailed down his neck and, I assumed, continued along that side of his body.
"Oh, my God," I managed, feeling a huge swell of pity for the poor guy. "What happened?
What caused that?"
"Hellfire," he said simply.
I frowned and my gaze moved to the good side of his face and my heart began to make an impression of the Titanic and sink like a stone into the cold dark depths of the night.
"Oh shit!" I said out loud as the untouched, handsome side of his face helped me click in to his actual identity—after all, I'd recently seen a picture of him from a computer print out.
Amy's words from earlier began to ring loudly in my ears.
"Hellfire. Apparently it completely and totally incinerated his body. There was nothing left behind. It was a closed casket with only a picture inside."
"Gideon," I said out loud, and my voice was barely audible. "You're supposed to be dead."
"I am, aren't I?" He studied me as a slow smile grew on his damaged face. "Now remember, you promised not to scream."
Every muscle in my body had tensed up. "A woman's prerogative is to change her mind."
"That is true."
I staggered back a step and held my hands up. "Don't come any closer."
He raised the only eyebrow he had left. "If you scream, I will start singing. All bets are off."
My throat felt so tight I wasn't sure I could scream at all. But I was willing to give it a try.
I opened my mouth.
Before I could let out a single sound I felt a painful stinging sensation. I looked down at my chest and pulled out the small dart. I stared at it with wide eyes and then looked at
Gideon, who now held a gun.