“Not yet.” Again with the black smile. “But I’d like very much to change that. Wouldn’t you?”
Gabriel scratched his jaw, considering. Would he? How long had he been sitting here? Where were his brothers? His associates? That woman with the silver hair? Jennifer, was that her name? Jeanette?
The raven-haired woman lifted her glass, touched it to the rim of his. “To new friends.”
Gabriel nodded and took a drink. It burned, just as he thought it should.
She downed hers in a few quick gulps. Then, leaning in close, “Maybe I’ll stay for another. No one wants to be alone on a night like this.”
Gabriel nodded. He couldn’t argue with that.
He poured another round, then another after that. In the darkest recesses of his memory, something scratched, a trapped thing trying desperately to free itself, but if he was supposed to do something that day, or meet someone, it was too late now.
He turned toward the woman. Heat made her image waver. Made him thirsty. Made him tired.
“You look like you could use a hug,” she said, reaching for him.
“Why not.” Gabriel leaned into her embrace. She felt hot and suffocating, but suddenly he didn’t have the strength to resist her. To wonder if he even should.
“That’s better, isn’t it?”
Gabriel nodded. Itwasbetter. Soft. Warm. Tired.
She threaded her fingers into his hair, stroking him. Humming. An old song his mother used to sing.
The woman tilted his head back. Leaned in close.
Her black lips grazed his mouth, then pressed closer…
No. The kiss was all wrong.
Everything about this was wrong.
Shaking out of the lull, he wrapped a hand around her throat and shoved her away, keeping her at arm’s length.
“Who the bloody hell are you?” he demanded.
Her mouth stretched into a wide, hideous grin, her eyes turning demon black. “I’m your worst nightmare, vampire prince. And I’ve come to—”
Hellfire exploded around her, enveloping her in a silver flame that reeked of brimstone.
Gabriel released her and leaped backward, slipping and smacking his head on the bar, landing on the floor with a crash, everything spinning.
When the room finally righted itself again, the bar vanished.
Gabriel was back in the penthouse, sprawled face-down on his bed, his head throbbing.
Just a nightmare. A hallucination.
He rolled over onto his back. Sat up slowly.
And watched the nightmare come to life before his eyes.
Across the bedroom, the woman with the raven hair leaned back against the wall with her hands raised in mock surrender, a cruel laugh cutting through the ringing in his head.
Just a few feet away, Jacinda held her hands out, a ball of silver hellfire roiling between them.
Hellfire she controlled.
