She rolled her eyes. "So you decided to go down on another woman? Got you." She did not have time for this drama. "Look, I don't want to hear your explanations. I just don't-" Care anymore.
Her breath caught.
Wow. That was true. She didn't care. She rolled her shoulders and felt as if she'd just dropped a huge weight. "That was months ago, Zack. I've moved on and I hope you have, too." Now she got to be the sincere one.
Less bitch. More-ah, what was she more of?
His perfectly chiseled jaw clenched. "You're seeing someone else?"
Was she still seeing Niol? Even after his accusation?
What if it were true?
"I-"
Another knock at the door.
"Come in!" She would have welcomed just about anyone then, as long as she didn't have to be in the room alone with good old Zack anymore.
Kim poked her head inside, and she was smiling. "You got a delivery."
Not another one. Her stomach knotted.
The door swung open. The red roses spilled from the vase Kim carried, their lush scent tickling Holly's nose.
She blinked. "Did you see who-"
"Oh, yeah." Kim didn't even seem to notice Zack. "Susie was at the front desk, but I caught a glimpse of him before the guy left. Real sexy, black hair, sunglasses-"
Zack cleared his throat.
Kim jumped. Okay, so she hadn't noticed him.
Holly hurried forward and took the flowers. "Thanks, Kim." The vase felt slightly chilled against her hands. Niol must have brought it right over from the florist's.
Kim gave a little wave and ducked out of the room.
Holly carried the vase to her desk. There was a small white envelope nestled in between the bloodred flowers. Her fingers shook a bit when she reached for it.
She'd always been a sucker for red roses.
She opened the tiny envelope, pulled out the card.
"So there is somebody else."
A bold black scrawl on the crisp card.
I'm a bastard, but you know that. But you don't know what's inside of you-waiting to come out.
I do.
Let me show you, love.
Her fingers clenched around the card.
Demon.
Niol wouldn't make a mistake like that. Everything she knew, every whisper of gossip she'd greedily caught all pointed to Niol being the strongest demon in the city.
He'd know if he was having sex with another of his kind.
I see you now.
Her eyes closed. Denial, yeah, option one.
But what if… what if ?
He'd be able to show her a whole new world. A world she'd been desperate to see from the beginning, like a kid with her nose shoved up against a shop window.
"Glad you've found somebody." Gritted. Not sincere. "I-I won't take up any more of your time."
She looked up just as Zack stormed out.
Holly had his flowers and his note, the next step would be hers. She could bid his ass good-bye or she could step up to the plate and learn what secrets she kept, locked inside.
"I want a background investigation done on Holly Storm," he told the man before him. A short, dark-haired charmer. Charmers were always the best at ferreting out information from the unsuspecting. And Giles…the guy was damn good. An investigator for the Other, he made a fine living by bending and breaking the law whenever he could.
Giles narrowed his gray-gold eyes. "Why's that name familiar to me?"
They were in Giles's office, a freakishly clean business in the middle of downtown Atlanta.
"She's a reporter for News Flash Five." And so much more.
"You wanna know if the lady likes to play in the darkness?"
I'm here to play. "I already know that." His fingers flattened on the desktop. "I want to know about her family, her lovers. I want to know about anything unusual that's ever happened in Holly's entire life. And I want to know yesterday. "
Because a new fear had begun to haunt him after he'd dropped off Holly's flowers and then taken his time strolling around the station. No one had stopped him. Old Steve had sure given him a wide berth.
Holly was like him, Niol knew it. Even if she didn't.
The impure will die.
Giles cocked his head. "It's gonna cost you."
"What else is new?"
"What am I looking for here, man? Point me to what you want-"
"Skeletons." Demon skeletons. "Something tells me the lady has more than a few in her family tree." They just had to knock 'em loose.
Holly was running late for her appointment. Again, dammit. If she wasn't more careful, she'd start to get a bad reputation.
But before she'd left the station, she'd needed to follow up on the security tapes.
The follow-up had lead nowhere because the tapes were gone.
Not erased. Not unusable. Gone.
The guys at the security station had been rattled. The station owner had been alerted.
Someone was playing a game with News Flash Five.
With her.
More cameras would be installed. More guards hired. After the last bloodbath at the station, the higher-ups weren't taking any chances.
So now, she was running fifteen minutes late for an appointment that she did not want to miss.
The elevator chimed then the doors slid open and Holly hit the hall at a run.
A few moments later, she shoved open a gleaming wooden door, perfectly polished. Holly ignored the gold lettering and hurried inside, where she caught sight of the witch behind the desk.
And Vanessa really was a witch, or, at least Holly was about 90 percent sure she was. She'd caught the woman reading spell books the last time she'd been in the office and Holly was pretty sure she'd seen the redhead levitating her pen once or twice.
"Uh, sorry I'm late." She hoped that didn't merit being turned into a frog or something. With the Other, you just never knew. "Is…Dr. Drake still available?"
Vanessa raised her brow. "This is the second time-"
She winced. "I know. Sorry."
The witch smiled. "Try not to make a habit of it, okay? She's waiting on you."
Holly exhaled. Great. Because she sure needed to talk to the Monster Doctor today. She hurried toward the doc's inner sanctum.
"At least you don't have a damn snake with you…"
Vanessa's mutter had her hesitating with her hand over the knob. She glanced back. "Er, right."
The door opened.
Dr. Emily Drake, known in the darker circles of Atlanta as the Monster Doctor, stood in the doorway. Her black hair was pulled back into her usual perfect bun. Her pretty features were calm, her green eyes curious behind the lenses of her glasses.
Looked like any other woman you'd meet in the city.