Death Wish . Amy Blankenship
wishing his hand would stop stinging. Whatever that was… it hadn’t liked him very much and the feeling was mutual.
“I don’t have to tell you a damn thing,” Lacey said keeping her voice unhurried and even as she rose to her feet.
The fact that the medallion had worked so well on him let her know he was powerful. It only reacted to power and usually wouldn’t even work on low level demons because they didn’t have enough of it. Honestly, she hadn’t expected it to work on him… it was just the only thing she’d had within reaching distance.
“I may be only human but don’t make the mistake of underestimating me.” Lacey exhaled loudly when Ren took a threatening step toward her. “I don’t even know you,” she informed him with a raise of her eyebrow.
Ren ran a hand through his bangs in exasperation and silently counted to ten… not that it was helping.
Ignoring Ren, Lacey directed her gaze toward Gypsy. “I’m going to get out of these boy clothes and take a shower. Did Grandpa save any of the clothes I left here?”
Gypsy nodded deciding Lacey had more balls than she remembered, though her cousin had never really been a push over. “They are packed away in the trunk in the closet.”
Lacey smiled thankfully, “Good, I’ll see you in a few minutes. And you,” she continued, sending another glare at Ren and paying him back for the way he’d done her just a few minutes ago, “don’t you even think about peeking.”
“As if,” Ren said insultingly and crossed his arms over his chest as he gave her the once over, “you look like a dirty little street rat.”
Lacey let a smirk appear on her face deciding that if she couldn’t beat him at the insult game then she would have fun with him, “You know you want to.”
“I think you have it backwards,” Ren glowered down at her. “You’re the one known to pick the lock and slip in where you are uninvited.”
Giving up, Lacey threw the silencing crystal still in her hand at him and took off for the shower, slamming the door behind her.
Ren smirked as he caught the crystal in midflight and skillfully pocketed the trinket… they wouldn’t be using that little bit of magic again.
“She forgot her clothes,” Nick remarked nodding toward the closet Gypsy had indicated.
Within seconds, the door flew open again and Lacey stormed out grumbling under her breath about needing a testosterone free zone. She went straight to the closet and dragged the trunk into view.
Gypsy lifted an eyebrow and fought the grin that tried to appear on her face when Lacey pulled the heavy trunk into the bathroom with her and slammed the door again, never once even looking their way.
The moment they all heard the shower turn on Gypsy let her light tinkling laughter fill the room. It was going to be so much fun having her cousin back. If nothing else… the girl was entertaining and had been her best friend as far back as she could remember.
“I fail to see why you’re so amused,” Ren grumbled and stormed out of the apartment, stomping his feet all the way up the stairs. He had no clue how the hell he could be this aggravated and turned on at the same time.
Nick snorted and looked over at Gypsy, “I do believe they were just flirting with each other.”
Gypsy nodded liking the idea. Maybe this would be another reason for Lacey to stay. “Well, if she is in trouble… and I suspect she is, who better to protect her than Ren?” she said with a smile.
Nick didn’t know whether to be jealous that she thought Ren was a better protector than he was, or to be happy that Gypsy seemed fine with Ren and Lacey's weird attraction to each other. He thought about it for a second then gave in… silently admitting Ren was bigger, stronger, and way more powerful. Too bad the big guy’s downfall was the fact he was lacking a few brain cells.
Ren had heard Nick's crack but ignored what he was insinuating. Flirting… there was no way in hell he would ever think about being attracted to that brat. She was sarcastic, devious, and a thief… all minuses in his book. He made it up the stairs and started pacing back and forth in the huge storage area.
“She actually ordered me… ME not to peek,” he ranted in a harsh whisper as he paced.
Chapter 3
Lacey sighed when the hot water sprayed over her body and relished the feeling of finally being completely free of the bindings that she’d had wrapped around her breasts to make herself look like a teenage boy. She had a good notion to burn the stolen clothes she’d been wearing.
She grabbed the scrubby from where it was hanging on the tub faucet and turned the heat up a little more. For her, relaxing was a luxury she’d been unable to partake of since running away from Vincent and the horde of demons that were after her.
Vincent… even the name called up feelings of guilt and she frowned sadly. She’d met him a couple days after she’d gotten a layout of the huge museum Grandpa had sent her to. It just so happened that they had both been sent by different people to steal the same artifact.
Her lips twitched at the funny memory… the look on Vincent’s handsome face when he’d caught her breaking into the same secret room he was there to break into. If they had tried to fight over which one of them had gotten there first and who deserved the spoils, they would have alerted the heavily armed guards that were just down the hall and been busted, or worse… shot.
Glaring at each other, it took them about thirty seconds to come to a mutual decision to work together in order to gain the piece. Though thinking back on it now, she realized that Vincent would have been fine either way… he had only agreed to the tag team because he’d wanted too.
Once they’d made it safely away from the museum, they had suddenly been surrounded by five black eyed shadow demons that had taken up host inside some of the local law enforcement by possessing them.
Standing there in the flashing lights of the cop cars with hands raised and five sets of guns pointed directly at them, she’d thought for sure that they weren’t going to make it out of there alive. That was until Vincent had handed one of them the stolen artifact and been handed a huge briefcase of money in return.
Afterward, Vincent had offered to split the money with her and asked her to go into business with him. Without thinking of the consequences, she’d agreed to the partnership deciding that she could get even more things for her grandfather by using Vincent’s ties to these new aggressive collectors.
She had been excited about finally having a partner and she’d seen that he could be just as sneaky as she was. It also didn’t hurt that he was sexy as hell and had a British accent that made it sound like he was flirting with every sentence.
Lacey shook her head at her naïve thinking as she lathered her hair up with shampoo. She’d agreed to the arrangement out of greed and because he was damn sexy… her only two weaknesses.
After a night and most of the next day of hot as hell, no strings attached sex, Vincent had told her a little bit about the underground ring he belonged to. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that being partners with him meant she was also partners with an entire network of powerful demons.
Thanks to grandpa, she hadn’t been completely clueless about demons but that didn’t mean she’d ever danced with one. Though the knowledge of what she was getting herself into had made her nervous, she’d ignored the sixth sense and had been looking forward to the thrill Vincent was offering her.
That evening, he’d taken her to meet the master demon of the underground ring… an old man that looked every bit a hundred and ten years old and went by the name of Masters, which she’d thought funny at the time.
When the old demon had coldly rejected her invite into the underground thievery ring and tried to kill her on the spot, she’d lost all sense of humor. If it hadn’t been for Vincent stepping in front