“Then why are you on the fire escape?”
Shit … he needed a viable excuse. “Um. I’m testing it.”
“Testing it?”
“Yeah. I work for the city. And uh … we’re conducting a safety check to make sure they’re in working order. You know? Can’t have them faulty.”
She laughed. “You’re so full of shit!”
“What makes you think that?”
“Midnight and you’re dressed like a Bond villain.” She let out an evil cackle.
Urian wanted to hate her. He’d been sent here to kill her and her family.
All of them.
She and her sisters and mother were the very last of Apollo’s living line. After all these centuries of hunting and killing, they’d finally done it. Finally tracked them down to the last few.
And this one …
“I’m Phoebe Peters, by the way.” She held her hand out to him.
For the love of God, don’t tell me your name! That was just wrong when he was here to kill her. “Urian.” He even shook her hand like an idiot.
Gah, I’m a moron. Because the moment he touched that tiny little hand, he realized just how soft it was. How delicate.
How good she smelled. How much he wanted to taste a piece of this most forbidden fruit. Especially when she looked up at him with an adorable grin.
I’m so doomed.
And he was. Especially when she bit her lip and he saw the tiniest flash of fang.
She’s your enemy.
Yet it didn’t feel that way. And his body wasn’t reacting to her like she was his enemy. In fact, he was harder than he’d ever been in his life.
“Well, nice meeting you, Urian.” She rose up on her tiptoes, kissed him, and vanished as if she had no clue how lethal he was.
Dismissed him! Completely stunned, he tried to get an idea where she’d gone, but his clever little bunny had gone to ground with resounding skills.
Damn. Just damn.
He certainly couldn’t report this. His father would put him through a wall.
October 31, 1988
Urian was trailing after Phoebe and her sister, Nia. He wasn’t sure where they were headed. The London street wasn’t too busy tonight. The faint strains of music could be heard blending in with traffic.
It was so different from the old world he’d been born to.
The women had just turned a corner when a shadow moved out in front of them.
“Hey there, give us your purses!”
Two more shadows, armed with knives, stepped in behind them. Terrified, Phoebe and Nia were trying to obey, but they were shaking so severely that they could barely comply. Which caused their attacker to lose patience.
He slapped Phoebe.
Furious, Urian rushed in before he could stop himself. He disarmed the first one he reached. Kicked the second one into the wall, yet the one who’d slapped Phoebe had the audacity to actually stab him.
Stab him!
Hissing as his rage mounted, Urian yanked the knife from his side, turned, and grabbed the man by his throat. He slung him into the wall and would have ripped out his jugular had Nia not screeched and reminded him that they were in a public place and this might not be a good idea.
Phoebe rushed forward. “Urian, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my God! Thank you!”
Similar in looks, but not quite as pretty, Nia gaped at them. “You know him?”
“I met him a couple of weeks ago.” She cast him a devilish grin. “We just kind of randomly ran into each other.”
“Well, I’m definitely glad you ran into him tonight.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Her smile turned luminescent and did awkward things to his body in spite of the pain he was in. “You’re my hero, Urian!”
And before he realized what she intended, she kissed him. This wasn’t just any kiss. It set him on fire.
For reasons he couldn’t even begin to explain, she tasted like home. Pulling back, he stared down at her.
Until he heard the police sirens.
Shite! “I have to go.”
Nia gaped. “You’re wounded.”
It didn’t matter. Urian stepped back into the darkness, taking a second to take one last, lingering look at Phoebe. In the moonlight, she was exquisite.
Until then, he hadn’t realized how numb he’d become without Xyn around to remind him how precious life was. How good things could be.
Forget the soul exchange he had to have with humans. Her kiss was the psuché—the breath of life.
Damn shame I’m going to have to kill her.
November 15, 1988
“Okay, now this is getting creepy. Are you stalking me? Should I think about getting a restraining order?”
Urian froze as Phoebe grabbed him from behind as he stood in the alley near her building. Her humor and nerve amazed him. No one was ever this forward where he was concerned. Most wet their pants if he so much as glanced in their direction. “Are you not afraid of me?”
“Should I be? I mean … I was joking about the restraining order, but should I call a lawyer?”
He laughed. “You do know that I’m a Daimon, right?”
That finally seemed to catch her off guard. She even took a step back. “Are you?”
He opened his mouth to show her his fangs. Like an intrepid child, she reached up to touch them.
“Mine aren’t that large. You think it’s because my father’s human?”
Wow … he couldn’t believe her grit. “You’re really not afraid of me at all, are you?”
She shrugged. “I like people. Even Daimons.”
That shocked him most of all. “Met a lot of us, have you?”
“Not really. Most of the ones I’ve met have tried to kill me. But you saved my life, so I’m assuming you’re not one of those. You’re not one of those, are you?”
He was definitely one of those, and yet something about her innocence reached out and wrapped itself around a heart he’d thought was long dead.
Worse, it made him strangely protective of her.
In a weird way, she reminded him of Nephele and his niece that he’d inherited after Theo’s death. One he’d carefully watched over and take care of, until she’d been slaughtered by Acheron’s bastard Hunters. “I’m definitely something that goes bump in the night.”
She laughed at his bad double entendre. “You know, lines like that will get you friend-zoned.”
He gave her his most charming grin. “Will they?”
“Big-time!”
Don’t tease her! She’s an infant!
He was thousands of years old. In comparison to his ancient age, she’d only been alive for five minutes. A gross exaggeration, but not really. It was a fair comparison, all things considered.
And still neither his heart nor his body listened.
They were asking for the impossible.
Her.
You’re an idiot!
There was no arguing that. Especially when she reached for him. Terrified of what he might do, he did the one thing he’d never done in his life.
He turned and ran.
Phoebe scowled at the sight of the man rushing off. Again. It was the darnedest thing. On the one hand, he seemed to always be interested and then on the other, he was as skittish as a brand-new colt.
Men! She’d never understand them. They were all so weird. Her sisters were right. It was something with that broken Y chromosome.
Shaking her head, she sighed and went into the condo where they were temporarily staying. Then again, that was all they ever did. She couldn’t really remember ever having a real home.
Because she and her sisters were the last of Apollo’s line, they had been hunted since birth. By all kinds of Daimons and demons who thought that if they killed them off, it would end the Apollite curse.
How stupid was that?
A part of her was tempted to tell her mother about the Daimon. In the past, she would have done so without hesitation. But Phoebe knew exactly what it would mean.
Leaving immediately. They wouldn’t even take time to pack. Her mother and father were so incredibly paranoid. All they did was tighten the noose around her neck.
All their necks.
What if he’s one of the ones hunting you?
But then why would he have saved them?
No. She didn’t believe that. There was something about him that seemed kind and sweet. She didn’t know what, but Phoebe saw something different whenever she looked at him.
He wasn’t a monster.
Urian was …
She couldn’t find words. But she wanted to see him again.