"Actually, I'm here to see you."
"Me?"
"Viper told me all about you and I just had to come and meet you for myself," Shay explained.
Darcy grimaced, remembering her brief, but tense confrontation with the vampire. "I can imagine what he said. He didn't seem overly fond of me."
"Actually he was quite impressed."
"I find that hard to believe. He seemed convinced that I intended to slay Styx the moment his back was turned."
Shay gave a rueful lift of her hands. "He's just concerned with his Anasso. The vampires are all quite protective of him."
"I've noticed," Darcy retorted dryly.
"Yes, I suppose you have." Shay gave a small laugh as she rose and paced toward the plants that Darcy had set on the wooden shelves. There was a restless energy that seemed to crackle about her slender form. "Are these yours?"
"Yes." Darcy moved to stand at her side. "I hope you don't mind me taking over your solarium, but I was worried about them being alone in my apartment."
"Of course I don't mind." The woman reached out to lightly touch an African violet. "You obviously have a green thumb."
"I enjoy plants."
"So do I, but somehow I always end up killing everything I touch." Shay turned to regard Darcy with her odd, golden gaze. "Maybe I can hire you after the solarium is finished. I'll need someone to keep me from committing vegetative mass murder."
Darcy smiled. "I wouldn't say no. I'm always looking for jobs."
"Viper said you are a bartender?"
"Among many things," she readily admitted. "I never finished high school so I take what I can get."
"You're alone in the world?" Shay asked gently.
"Yes."
"So was I for many, many years. It's ..." The golden eyes darkened with a pain that was only now beginning to heal.
"Lonely?" Darcy finished, with a sad smile.
"Lonely and frightening." Shay gave a shake of her head, as if clearing her dark thoughts. Then quite unexpectedly, she reached out to take Darcy's hand in her own. "Do you mind?"
"Do I mind what?" Darcy demanded.
"Viper tells me that you think you might have demon blood. I'm half Shalott, which allows me to detect most sorts of otherworldlies. I might be able to tell you something of your heritage."
Darcy hesitated for a long moment. She didn't truly believe the woman could help her discover the secrets of her past. Not even if she was a demon.
Still, it seemed somehow rude not to allow her to try.
"What are you going to do?" she at last demanded.
Shay wrinkled her nose. "I'm sorry, but I need to smell you."
Smell me? Jeez. What is it with these people?
"All right," she warily agreed.
The demon lifted Darcy's hand to her nose and sniffed deeply of her skin. And sniffed, and sniffed, and sniffed again.
It seemed to be a demon thing.
"Strange." The woman dropped Darcy's hand and stepped back with a confused expression. "I would swear..."
"What?"
"There is the faintest hint of werewolf," Shay confessed.
Darcy threw her hands in the air. "For God's sake, I've taken two showers and a bath since I was near Salvatore. Do I have to boil myself in bleach?"
"You were with a Were?"
"Only for a few moments and he barely touched me."
Shay chewed her lip as she pondered Darcy's words. "That could be it."
"You don't sound very certain."
"I'm not, which is very odd." The woman heaved a deep sigh. "I'm sorry; I hoped I would be of some help."
Darcy instinctively reached out to touch her hand. "It was very kind of you to come here and try. I do appreciate it."
"I had to come." Her eyes darkened. "I know, Darcy. I really, truly know what it's like to be different, to have to isolate yourself from others in the fear they might discover the truth, to always wonder if you will ever feel safe."
Darcy smiled gently. She felt an unexpected connection with this woman. A kinship that warmed her heart.
"You do know." She gave Shay's Fingers a small squeeze. "But you're happy now."
Shay blinked, as if startled by Darcy's perception. "Yes."
"I am too. Happy. I mean," she assured the demon. "It took a while, but I've discovered that life is very precious, even when it's difficult. It would be very wrong not to appreciate each day that is given me."
A silence filled the solarium before a smile chased away Shay's dark expression. "Viper was right; you are impressive."
Darcy waved aside the ridiculous words. "Most people think I'm a freak, but that's okay."
"Most people are idiots," Shay readily retorted. "And since I'm a genuine freak myself, I think we should get along just fine."
Darcy thought so too.
For the first time in her entire life she was surrounded by those she didn't have to hide her true self from.
She didn't have to lie or pretend or concentrate on her continual charade of being normal.
It was... peaceful, she realized with a flare of surprise.
An odd feeling considering she was being held prisoner by a vampire and hunted by a pack of werewolves.
Ah, well.
It was one more strange adventure in a lifetime of strangeness.
Chapter Nine
Styx awoke alone.
Nothing new in that.
He had been waking alone for endless years. All of them without the least amount of regret.
Vampires were not by nature an intimate race. They formed clans for protection more than any need for a family, and while friends might be willing to kill for one another, they rarely felt the need to seek out one another for simple companionship.
On this evening, however, Styx discovered himself downright grumpy as he rolled to the side and found the bed empty.
By the gods, this was wrong.
Darcy should be in his arms. Her warmth should be cloaked about him, and her scent filling the room with her sweetness.
Why had she left him?
It was something he intended to discover.
After taking a swift shower and tying his hair back with a leather band, he pulled on a robe and went in search of the woman who was consuming far too many of his thoughts.
It didn't take long.
He was a vampire and he'd had Dairy's blood. The moment he climbed the stairs and entered the hallway he could sense her behind the door of the solarium.
As he walked down the hallway to join her, Styx allowed a small smile to touch his lips.
Thank goodness there were no Ravens about. Styx was not a demon who often smiled. Nor did he rush to be in the company of a mere human. His servants would no doubt fear he had gone mad.
And perhaps they would be right, he ruefully acknowledged.
As he neared the door, his smile abruptly faded at the unmistakable odor of gargoyle.
"Damn," he breathed as Levet waddled from the shadows and offered what could only be described as a smirk.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," the gargoyle taunted, with a twitch of his tail. "Not if you value your ... er ... valuables."
"Why?" Styx stepped forward, his expression grim. "Has something happened to Darcy?"
"She is fine," Levet said hastily, no doubt smelling death in the air. "But she is currently occupied."
"Occupied?" Styx tilted back his head to sniff the air. His expression didn't ease as he caught the familiar scent. "The Shalott."
"Yes." The smirk returned to the ugly gray face. "And Shay isn't at all pleased with you."
Styx shrugged. Shay was a long way from forgiving him for torturing Viper and attempting to sacrifice her to the Anasso.
Go Figure.
"And when is she ever pleased with me?" he demanded.
"Never."
Levet appeared inordinately smug at Shay's smoldering dislike for Styx and his Ravens. A dangerous expression considering Styx's grumpy mood had just become categorically foul.
The noble part of him wanted to be pleased that Darcy was with a companion who would intimately empathize with her. They were both part demon, and both alone in the world. Or at least Shay had been alone until Viper had mated her.
Who better to reassure Darcy that the world of the supernatural was not as terrifying as she might fear. And more importantly, that being supernatural wasn't something to be ashamed of.
The far less noble part of him wanted to toss Shay off her own estate before she could manage to poison Darcy against him.
"How long has she been here?"
"For the past hour or so. They seem to be quite taken with one another."
"Good," he gritted, wanting nothing more than to wipe that evil smile from the tiny demon's lips.
"Good?" Levet gave a small laugh. "You're not afraid that Shay will convince your beauty to stick a stake in your back?"
Styx shrugged at the deliberate taunt. It was true enough that he made it an unshakable rule to trust no one but his Ravens. And possibly Viper.