“Val wouldn’t send me someplace unsafe.”
It definitely wasn’t unsafe. Too safe, was more like it. Serena wheezed again, and he set aside his paranoia. Nothing was too safe for Serena. Still, he kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, taking note of the vehicles, the houses, even the fucking birds, as he spoke. “You’re sick. We need to get you inside.”
“My throat is dry. That’s all.”
Wraith swung around, stared at her through the amber filter of his sunglasses. “Don’t BS me. We’ve been through too much.” Enough that he wanted to bundle her up and take her to UG, where he knew he could keep her safe. From Byzamoth, at least. Her illness was a beast he didn’t know how to fight.
“I know.” She hugged herself. Shifted her weight. He hated that he’d made her uncomfortable, but the time for making love and pretending she hadn’t committed suicide was over. He was a fighter, and he was in kill-the-threat mode.
Especially since the threat was now to Serena.
He eyed the building. “What did he say about this house?”
She pulled back a decorative shutter. Behind the wooden flap was a metal box mounted on the side of the building. She pushed some numbers on the keypad and retrieved a key. “He said it’s warded against vampires.”
“Vampires?” He hoped she didn’t notice the way he’d choked.
Her hand fluttered to her throat, dropped again. “I asked him why the house wasn’t warded against demons, too, and he said that spells to repel vampires are narrow in scope and long-lasting. But with demons, it’s different. Unless you ward against specific species of demons—”
“You’d need a very general anti-evil spell, and those don’t last long.”
She nodded. “Exactly.”
She stepped inside, but he hung back, unsure how the anti-vampire spell would affect him. He wasn’t a true vampire, but he didn’t want to take chances. The ward might work only on the undead—which would be smart, given that they were sitting in the middle of mummy land—or it could be some tweaked version that worked against any blood-drinking creature.
“You coming in?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “That an invite?”
“You a vampire?”
“Yep.”
“Good.” Her sultry tone hit him in the groin. “Come on in.”
“Your vampire fetish is going to get you bitten someday,” he warned, only half playing, because he really, really wanted to be the one biting her.
“I can only hope.” She opened the door wider.
“You’re hopeless.” He didn’t need invites to get into houses, but if the place was warded… an invite couldn’t hurt. “I’m going to do a perimeter check first,” he said. “Can’t be too careful.” That, and he wanted to see what other security tricks had been built into this house.
“I’ll see what kinds of supplies we have here. We’re probably going to need to go shopping.” She stood in the doorway, her hair blowing in the breeze and glinting in the sun, and he wanted her. Right then, right there.
He shot to her like he’d come out of a cannon. Her soft sound of surprise was muffled by his mouth, easing into a contented sigh as she melted against him. Now wasn’t the time or place to do everything he wanted to do, but he made his message clear.
He would take her ten ways from Sunday when she was cured, because he refused to believe it wouldn’t happen.
And then he’d find a way to make her his. Humans couldn’t bond with Seminus demons, but there had to be a way. Somehow, it could happen.
Right. As soon as she forgave him for lying to her, seducing her, oh, and being a demon.
Shit. He was living in fantasyland. All he needed now were mouse ears and fairy fucking dust.
Cursing silently, he broke away from her and made the circuit around the house. Nothing was out of place, but he discovered more subtle signs that told him this house was more than what it seemed. The entire property line had been carved out with a very narrow, shallow ditch almost invisible to anyone not looking for it. This would be where someone might put out a protective circle of salt, ash, holy water—any substance meant to guard against evil.
His inspection turned up several more curious features, including a number of tiny silver stakes in the ground, set out in the shape of a giant pentagram that spanned the entire property.
He headed for the front door, pausing at the threshold. He heard Serena coughing somewhere in the house, but she was nowhere she’d see if the ward worked on him. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the doorway.
Nothing happened. Cool. He wondered if the ward should have affected him, or if the charm was doing its thing.
Serena was drinking a glass of water in the kitchen, so he poked around the other rooms. In one of the back rooms he found a wooden chest. When he opened it, his blood ran cold.