“It’s different. The Red Devil, whoever he really is, has killed many over his long lifetime—both hunters and vampires. It would have been safer for everyone if he’d stayed away.” He shook his head at my skeptical look. “I know you see hunters, including me, as evil, but I think you know very well that it’s not always the case. There are many hunters who only want to keep the world safe from evil predators.”
“The Red Devil is not an evil predator,” I said firmly.
“Are you sure about that?” He walked to the other side of the room to look out at the view past the balcony. His newly perfected reflection showed up in the glass door.
I shifted my feet but didn’t answer him. I really didn’t know the Red Devil from Adam, as the saying went. All I knew was that Thierry trusted him.
Thierry. If he knew I was having a friendly convo with Gideon in his hotel room, all alone, he’d probably have a conniption.
“I do have something else for you,” Gideon said. “I wasn’t going to mention it yet, but since you didn’t like my earrings…”
“I won’t like anything else you got off the Shopping Network, either. Just an FYI.”
He shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. It’s nothing really. Only the grimoire of the witch who cursed you. The book in which she recorded all of her spells, including the one she used on you.”
All the breath left me in a rush. That was the last thing I had expected him to say. “The witch you killed, you mean.”
“She was evil,” he said firmly.
“And it’s great that you’ve appointed yourself judge, jury, and executioner.”
“You’re entitled to your opinion. But it doesn’t change the fact that I have her magic book. And in it is the incantation to remove that pesky little curse of yours.”
My heartbeat quickened. “You’re kidding me.”
He shook his head. “Not kidding.”
“Where is it?” I scanned the room.
“Somewhere safe. And you can have it for giving me something in return.”
I eyed him with equal parts skepticism and hope. “What do you want?”
“The Red Devil.”
My stomach did a backflip worthy of an Olympic gymnast. “What do you want with him?”
“You’re not that naïve, Sarah.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You obviously overestimate me.”
“I want to slay him. I want to stop him from doing any harm to others now that he’s chosen to return to the public eye.”
“So the only way you’ll give me the grimoire is if I help you kill the Red Devil?” I wanted to make sure I understood him properly.
“That’s right.”
My small piece of shiny hope flittered away. “Don’t you have more important things to be thinking about right now?”
He let out a long, shaky sigh. “Actually, I could use the distraction. I need a new challenge to concentrate on. To defeat the Red Devil—a vampire whose reputation others have raised to mythic proportions—would be my greatest accomplishment.” He blinked. “Other than that demon in Vegas, of course. As you can probably imagine, it’s not exactly a memory I currently cherish.”
The grimoire. The answer to all of my nightwalker problems. “I don’t know, Gideon—”
“Damn.” He groaned, then staggered back a few feet and clutched at his face. “Why did I have to mention it?”
Before I could say anything else, he cried out and fell to his knees on the plush carpet of the suite. It was the hellfire. Gideon convulsed in pain as he fought against the flames that couldn’t be seen, only felt.
I stood, frozen in place, feeling sick as I watched him suffer. I pressed up against the door, wanting to leave, but finding it difficult to move.
“What should I do?” I asked.
“Nothing.” His voice caught as a shudder went through him. His teeth were gritted. I was willing to bet my bottom dollar that nobody had ever seen Gideon like this before. So weak and needy and pathetic. The thought didn’t make me feel the least bit better.
“Maybe I can call a doctor—” I offered lamely.
He looked up at me with glassy eyes. “I don’t want you to see me like this.” When I didn’t budge, he raised his voice. “Leave me! Now!”
“Fine with me.” I turned around, opened the door, and left Gideon alone to his suffering and solitude.
I didn’t care if he was in pain. This was the man who held my life in his hands and was forcing me to do what he wanted.
I hated him.
And, even more than that, I hated the small part of me that didn’t hate him. It was very inconvenient.
M aybe I should have taken the diamond earrings after all.
No. I pushed the thought away. In fact, I tried very hard to push away all my thoughts about Gideon, his pain, his plans, and his new scar-free but still evil face. My thoughts, however, had other plans as they continued to churn through my tired cranium.
I left the hotel and walked quickly down the sidewalk, my arms crossed tightly over my chest. I wanted to call Thierry and go see him, but I couldn’t. Which sucked. Besides, I really didn’t want him to find out that I was seeing Gideon on a regular basis behind his back.
I’d fully planned on tonight being the last time I came to his hotel like an obedient Girl
Scout, but now he’d presented me with something I couldn’t simply forget even if I wanted to.
The grimoire. Did he really have it or was he just messing with me?
Was the Red Devil really as bad as Gideon suggested? I mean, I had figured he didn’t go around giving people fashion advice or handing out gift certificates. He was an immortal vigilante, after all. It was possible that he’d done some super-nasty things in his life to achieve his reputation—things that I might even consider evil.
But was that enough proof to stick an apple in his mouth and offer up his head on a platter just so I could get what I wanted?
I felt sick at the thought. I wished I could be a little more heartless. Just a smidge. Nice girls don’t get the corner office, after all. They get trampled on. And, well, cursed.
Speaking of heads-on-platters, I sensed something then. It was strange. I didn’t actually hear any footsteps and I didn’t see anyone, but on a deeper kind of vampire-sense level I felt that someone was following me. The sensation of ants doing a conga line down my arms was a tipoff.
And I had a funny feeling I knew who it was.