Chapter Ten

It took longer to get his hormones under control than Finn cared to admit. He was aware of every single breath Pepper took. It wasn’t like him to lose it where a woman was concerned. But she wasn’t just some woman. His earlier exhaustion burned away under the flood of adrenaline. “Walk me through it. What you were doing when they contacted you, and exactly what it is you were supposed to do?”

“I told you.”

“No, you told me some of it, not all of it. You’re sitting on something big. I need there to be no more surprises.” He was beginning to feel more than a little played. A lot of manipulation went into getting him to Vegas, to this damn resort and it was like he could feel it sucking at him, trying to latch on and jerk him down the rabbit hole to his grave.

“They told me you were here to investigate the casino for mob ties. That if you stumbled across what really was here, it would out us—them—to the world. If that happened, they would have to shut it down, erase it, make it like it never existed at all. To protect all the Tribes, Clans, Prides, Packs and whatever else you want to call them.”

“Who told you?” He wasn’t quite ready to turn around and look at her. The urge to say fuck it and kiss it all away, spread her out on that bed until they shook with the pleasure of it all was like a hard, hot fist in his belly.

“Does that matter? Really?” Hesitancy marked her response and he turned. Worry marred her expression. “It’s just that…the person who told me is someone I trust. But they’re thinking the same thing you are right now. We didn’t have all the facts.”

“Who told you, Pepper? It’s important.”

Conflict played over her expression, she dropped his gaze and stared at the floor. “Heidi told me.”

Her earlier slip. The “hi.” Pacing over to the bed, he knelt down so he could look at her eyes. “Who’s Heidi?”

“She’s the stage manager at the Midnight Mystery Lounge.”

Information clicked together. Pepper suffered from a terminal illness. She came to the Arcana Royale thirty some odd years ago and they helped her for a price. “You’re a dancer.”

“I am.” She winced. “But not right now. They—Heidi told me the only way I could get close to you was if I was human again, so I could see you during the day and I wouldn’t turn to dust if the sun hit me. They lifted the curse from me.”

“Are you sick again?” And he knew exactly why they’d lifted the curse from her—because he’d have sensed it the moment she approached. Being human protected her from him, but not her illness. How long did she have?

“Not terribly. But she warned me that it would come back, that it had never really gone, just suspended. She sends me tea to drink.”

The nasty pomegranate tea she’d forced down during breakfast the previous morning. “Why did Heidi want you to do this?”

“I don’t think she really wanted me to. Someone talked to her. She runs the lounge, the theatre. She’s in charge there. But you know, I think she has to report to…” Pepper pointed upward. “You know. Them.”

The Overseers. Despite the gravity of the moment, his amusement resurfaced at her reluctance to say their name out loud. She chided him for lumping everyone who worked in the casino together and then acted like Connor and his ilk were mad, bad and dangerous to know. Of course, in this case she’s right. “You trust Heidi?”

“I do. She’s good to us. She doesn’t let anything bad happen, sends a bodyguard with us when we go out from the lounge…and I’ll tell you a secret, I think she’s been instrumental in getting some of the dancers free. Everyone is a little bit afraid of her, but I think she just doesn’t like to let people get close. She’s harsh, but also very thoughtful. She told me last night…she told me she didn’t have the power to let me have a life outside of here…yet. But that whatever I wanted to do, whatever my choice was, she would try to help me make it happen.”

“In exchange for what?”

“For nothing.”

His eyebrows raised along with his skepticism. “No one in this place trades something for nothing.”

“Heidi didn’t ask me for anything. I don’t think she wanted me to do this favor in the first place, but once we went out in the sun and shopped and it…was kind of nice to be back in the world again and see the sky again. I miss the girls. I even miss the performances, but it all seems so far away and everything outside is so different now. So different from what it used to be.”

“Have you spoken to her since you agreed to the favor?”

Pepper nodded. “Last night, after you dropped me at my room. Minion came to get me.”

“Minion?”

“Heidi’s imp. Cute as a button, but a chaotic kleptomaniac.”

Finn wondered if the imp could have trashed his room earlier. The traces of magic left behind had been haphazard rather than methodical. Seemed like imp work. “What did she say?” 

“She told me there might be a way for me to reclaim my life outside, heal the cancer, but it…it would cost me.”

“Cost what?” The devil was in the details, especially here. “What exactly did she say?”

She frowned. “She said it would cost me something I value. That the cost would be high because it always costs something of value.”

So what price did Pepper put on her life? What price do I put on it? Rising, he brushed his fingers against her cheek. 

She stopped him, catching his hand and holding it. “Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“Your mother died, but you came here to screw with them…but I’m one of them. So…”

A little truth for truth, it wasn’t too much to ask. Unless his truth was the price of her freedom—suspicion flamed in his gut and he hated himself a little bit for it. No, I hate myself a lot. I can afford to lose…she can’t. “You are not one of them. And I came because my mother’s lover sent me an urgent message. She didn’t just die. She’d been murdered.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It really isn’t. It’s sad, it might even flirt with tragic. But my mother dealt in lives, twisting them, perverting them, making them serve her. She never was going to die of old age like a normal person. If she’d wanted a mortal life, she’d have been dead centuries ago.” He sat on the bed next to her. Pepper leaned her head against his arm and took his hand, interlacing their fingers.

She offered comfort. Few people ever got close enough to know him, and fewer still were allowed this form of intimacy. “So you came to avenge her?”

“I don’t know what I thought I would do. Shutting this place down would be nice, but it wouldn’t be justice.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed. “My relationship with my mother was complicated. Complicated by the fact that she was a witch. At her core, she was power. She amassed it like some women collect shoes or jewelry or those little snowglobes you liked. She could never have too much.”

“But she must have loved you.” Her faith was touching, if naïve.

“Thank you for thinking that. Maybe she did, at first, when I was a baby. I have a few memories of my childhood that were fun. Traveling Europe is one. Playing in museums and later in Egypt playing at archaeological sites and further still in Asia. But I think it was an afterthought more than her goal. When I was old enough to be sent away for education, she did. I could go years without seeing her. And then I found out I wasn’t aging anymore and seeing her became paramount.” 

He didn’t know anyone who knew this story. Not even the other Overseers. Had Connor known the real story, he might have rethought the plan to lure Finn to Las Vegas. “It took me ten years to track her down. She was irritated with me because a busy woman doesn’t have time to coddle childish requests… Childish. I was sixty-five years old and I didn’t look a day older than I do now.”

Pepper straightened and stared at him. Her mouth opened and then shut. 

“Exactly. That’s when she told me she used me as a reservoir. She stored extraneous power inside of me, and used it like a battery. It consumed other power to sustain itself, and thus me.” Actually, the explanation had involved a great deal more about spell traps and the fact that he was perfect in every way. It took her nine months of casting, coincidentally while she was pregnant, to make the intricate spell work just right.

“That’s why you’re a null? Your mother did that to you?”

“But that’s just it, I’m not a null.” Finn shook his head. “I’m a lot worse. I’m a magical magnet. I can strip power away and consume it, refilling my reserves, preventing any other weaving or spell from getting a hold of me. It took me a century to figure out how to control it, but I do. Sometimes it just happens if she takes too much, but it’s what she referred to as the perfect clean energy. It doesn’t require blood sacrifice or loss. Whatever it is, it’s long and ugly and I’m alive and I cannot die.”

“Immortal?”

He eyed her, she looked a little pale beneath her cosmetics. “More or less.” 

“How old are you?”

“Well, older than you. But I was born just after the American Revolution…so 1778-ish? I forget. Before electricity and internal plumbing. The human mind was never meant to keep memories as long as I’ve been around, so the first hundred years have kind of bled together.”

“Oh my God,” Pepper gasped, so much for being the same age. “And you…wait…if you eat magic, why would they let you in here?”

“That, my dear, is the fifty million dollar question.” Connor’s answer surprised the hell out of him—but after what Pepper said about Heidi, he understood it. It was a game of power, a game in which he was a piece Connor wanted to wield just as his mother had wielded him.

“And?”

“And I want to meet your Heidi.” He had some choices to make.

Pepper hesitated.

“I only want a conversation with her, I swear. I want to ask her about you.”

“What can she tell you that I can’t?”

She can tell me why Connor wants to destroy the protections on the Midnight Mystery Lounge. “A lot, I imagine. But one question we both need answered. What cure is there for you? And what does she need from me to get it?”

“She said it had to involve something I value…”

Finn didn’t have the heart to tell her that she valued Heidi. Not yet. “I know. Can you arrange a meeting?”

“Probably.” Wariness returned to her voice and he lifted their joined hands to kiss her knuckles. “But it will have to be tonight. She usually locks the theatre during the day.”

“Okay then. Let’s go have breakfast and try not to think about it for a while.” And enjoy a few hours before I have to make a decision.

They spent the day exploring the casino. Finn knew places Pepper didn’t even realize existed, because she’d never ventured out of the theatre on anything more than playful forays to the gaming floors or maybe another theatre to see how they put on their shows. 

On the fourth floor, a library and recreational area opened up onto a patio deck with a swimming pool, where they had breakfast at a shaded table. On the first floor, the shops fed into each other and like a dragon’s warren of loot—a gift shop extended into a flower shop which then turned into a clothing store and further to a chocolatier. He spoiled her with constant purchases that were whisked back to her room before she could say no. They skipped the slots and he took her instead to the movie theatres, where she made herself sick on popcorn, red licorice and sweet tea. The downside of her returned human appetite, however, was the side effects of binging had returned. She worried about how much she ate—but it all tasted so good.

A late lunch of burger baskets and people watching turned into a game. Finn could peg people just by watching their interactions. He pointed out one couple where the man was planning to propose and that the woman would say yes. They had a front row seat when the guy sucked up his courage. Another couple sailed through, all prim and cold and aristocratic.

“Vampires,” Finn commented as he sipped his drink.

“They came in the front door,” Pepper argued. “And the sun is shining.”

“No they didn’t. They came up from the garage over there, but they blurred through the crowd to fake their arrival for the cameras. Too many tourists in here and they’re aware of it.” The romance convention was still in high swing.

“I wonder if the book signings are today.” She swirled a fry in the ketchup. “I think the convention rooms are down there.” She motioned to one of the long hallways jetting away from the lobby and main casino floor.

“We can try to get you in. Maybe you can introduce me to the real Virginia DeWylde.” He waggled his brows.

Her face warmed and she sighed. “You’re never going to let me forget that are you?”

“Not any time soon. Though I admit, you really thought quick on your feet to come up with that.”

“I didn’t,” she admitted with a wince. 

“Did you just make that name up?” asked Finn.

“I honestly don’t know where it came from. The words just spilled out of me and they seemed to be working. I’m actually a terrible liar.”

“It’s one of your more fascinating qualities given how most people are good at it.” He collected their trash and rose, but she still had a few fries left and she liked sitting next to the fountain. The hustle and bustle flowed around them like a living stream and they were the rocks. Instead of sitting back down, he waited on his feet, studying the crowds. “Where do you think the story you told came from?”

“I don’t know…Heidi works in mysterious ways.” Pepper grinned. “I opened my mouth and the story came out.”

Finn spared her a look. “Has it happened since then?”

“I don’t think so…except for that weird thing last night.” Tension locked up her neck. She’d meant to ask Heidi about that—hell, she’d meant to do a lot of things, but the damn disease exhausted her.

“The losing time?” Apparently Finn knew exactly what she meant.

“Yeah. Why did I forget that happened? Or mostly forget?” She frowned.

“That’s how it works. You’re persuaded to not think about it. They can’t take it away entirely, but it ‘slips’ your mind…”

“How what works? What happened last night?” Chills raced across her. She’d seen a lot in thirty-some-odd years—some strange things, some familiar and some downright unexplainable, but very little of it truly frightened her. Living with a death sentence for most of her young life had taken the sting out of everyday threats. But this defied explanation.

“This might not be the best place to discuss it.” It wasn’t the first time he muted her on a subject, but she didn’t want to forget about it again. Rising, she took the trash from him, dropped it all in the can and pointed to the hall leading to the theatre.

She didn’t wait for him, cutting across the parquet floor and letting him follow her. The door wasn’t locked, it was late enough in the day that the girls would be rising in the next hour or two. Inside, the hushed quiet blanketed them. The silence rubbed against her after the lobby’s constant hum. She rounded on Finn and stopped him in his tracks. “How what works?”

“How demonic possession works.”

Pepper opened her mouth, but no words came. Demonic possession? Of all the things he could have said to her, that was the last thing she expected. The world tilted sideways as he urged her into a chair.

“Head down, breathe.” He murmured the words and urged her head down to her knees. Panic swelled in her breast, her heart slamming against her ribs like a hummingbird trying to escape.

She didn’t know whether to cross herself, laugh or cry. “You did say demon possession, right?” The words burst out of her riding hard pants of air.

“I did. Breathe. Slowly.” He added to the command by crouching next to her and rubbing his hand up and down her back. Spots danced in front of her eyes, but she refused to pass out. “Did I… did I vomit on anyone?” 

Finn laughed. “No, it’s not like the Exorcist. No climbing up the walls. No Pazuzu.”

“Then who?” Gulping in oxygen, she cut a glance up at the ceiling and back to Finn.

“It was an Overseer.” He didn’t give her more than that, and that was bad enough.

Shudders rippled over her. The urge to flee the building ramped up inside and for the first time since she arrived at the Arcana Royale, she wanted to escape. It explained his behavior, guarded, but protective and at her door. “That’s why you kissed me.”

“What?”

Rising, she jerked away from his touch. His kiss reminded her of everything she had given up—the potential of it, anyway. Disappointment curled through her. He kissed her because a demon had possessed her. He’d been trying to smash any residual magical effects. I’m such an idiot.

“That’s why you kissed me.” She couldn’t seem to stop trembling. “You tried to help me because of the magic and I thought…I thought you liked me and, God. I should have just shut up.” I told Heidi I wanted a chance because I thought he liked me and God knows I like him… She paced away from him.

“What the hell are you talking about, Pepper?” Finn actually sounded angry.

“It’s fine. Really. I just made it seem like more than it was. I was so stupid. I thought you kissed me last night because you were attracted to me and I’ve gotten you deeper into all this because I thought with my hormones and not my brain.” She’d made it another step when he grabbed her arm and turned her around. She landed against his chest and tipped her head up to see him glaring down at her.

“Yes, I started that kiss to make sure he didn’t leave any magical footprints behind, any traps that could hurt you. But that sure as hell wasn’t the only reason I kissed you. It definitely wasn’t why I kissed you this morning.” He dipped his head until his eyes filled her vision. “Let’s just sew that all up right now. When I kiss you this time, it’s to kiss you.”

He didn’t give her a chance to respond. His mouth fastened over hers and her thoughts scattered. Finn’s kiss was determined and hard, and it took her breath away. She looped her arms around his neck and sank into the wealth of passion racing through her blood. She wanted to drown in the pleasure he created in her and her body arched, taut and shuddering at once. Slowly, he broke the kiss and stared down at her.

“That had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with you.” His voice was a husky whisper, erotic and compelling.

“Well, as endearing as this entire discussion is, I’m thinking there’s a time and place for it.” Heidi’s voice crashed into Pepper like a bucket of cold water.

Finn’s arms tightened around Pepper, whose impulse was to step away. “You’re Heidi.”

“And you’re Trouble, also known as Finn Mikelson, son of Marguerite.”

He inclined his head. “We need to talk.”

“I think we do.”

She wasn’t at all what he expected. Finn stared at the woman Pepper had spoken of with such enthusiasm and Connor referred to with cutting awe. At least a half a foot or more shorter than him, she wasn’t a slender little thing. Her robust figure didn’t suggest dancer, nor did it imply laziness. She was a hell of a lot woman. Pepper shifted uneasily, but Finn refused to let her go. One arm wrapped around her meant that most spells coming in her direction would dissipate or be absorbed by him. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the stage manager, but he didn’t know her. He’d heard many contradictory rumors about the lounge and the woman who ran it. 

“And why would you know me? I made a point of not being in your line of sight, Mr. Mikelson.” And apparently possessed some skill at mind reading.

“Surely you can call me Finn…”

Heidi smirked. “Why, surely I can. But I won’t, Mr. Mikelson. Not when we’re to discuss business. Shall we?” She mimicked his formal tone right down to the intonations. Her clothing, her mannerisms, even the blunt appraisal in her gaze suggested someone common…ordinary. No chance that was true.

He shook his head and guided Pepper over toward the table Heidi indicated. “You’ll have to accept my apologies. You’re not what I was expecting.”

“Hmm, not drop dead gorgeous, I suppose? Or not green enough? Did you really think I’d waste a glamour on someone who can see right through them? Please. I have much better things to do with my spells.”

Pepper stared, her eyes widened. Maybe she was seeing a side of the stage manager she rarely glimpsed. A young woman glided out of the shadows and set tea out for them along with a strong mug of coffee, which he suspected was for him. He was wrong. The stage manager picked up the mug.

“We both know you’re not going to eat or drink anything I offer. The tea is for Pepper. She hasn’t had near enough today and she’s very tired. We’ll both feel better if she’s treated.”

Unable to find a fault in that argument, Finn nodded. Not that Pepper waited for his permission, she poured herself a cup with trembling hands. She’d grown paler too. He gave himself a mental kick. They were supposed to eat breakfast in her room, where the tea had been.

But he’d failed to show up and she came looking for him…and they never went back to her room.

“Thank you,” he murmured, and rested a hand along the back of Pepper’s chair, keeping one hand on her as they all sat. “I mean that.”

“You’re welcome,” Heidi said almost dismissively, her focus on Pepper. “How are you feeling?”

“A little tired and I think I’m in shock. Finn just told me a demon possessed me last night.” He wished she’d kept that little gem to herself, but only the slight dilation of Heidi’s pupils betrayed her surprise at the news.

The stage manager then flicked a look to him. “Careless.”

“Very.” A second point of agreement. Connor shouldn’t have been allowed to get anywhere near her. “But it’s done.”

“So I see. Any lingering after effects?” The stage manager divided her attention, but Finn imagined she didn’t miss much. She’d perfected the look of iron queen, regal and authoritative with just a hint of motherliness peeking out when she turned her attention to Pepper.

She cares about her, but she isn’t making a show of it. “Potentially disastrous ones,” he said. He didn’t remove his attention from the stage manager. Pepper sipped her tea, barely grimacing this time. Either she’d gotten used to the taste or she really needed it.

“Disaster is a rather titillating term, Mr. Mikelson.” She had a talent for watching him without staring. He admired it.

“Only mildly so, I’d think ‘fire’ or ‘run’ screamed at the top of your lungs would be more provocative.” A hint of movement behind Heidi revealed the silver-haired man he’d seen watching Pepper through the storefront window the other day.

Pepper gave him a warm smile. “Hi, Stan.” 

“Good evening.” He nodded to her, genial and kind.

A golem. He really didn’t know anyone who dealt in those anymore. It also explained why the man kept his distance. But not why Heidi dared to be this close—no magic poked at him or tickled along his senses. She must have shielding down to an art.

“Pepper? What do you remember about the possession?”

“Nothing. Almost nothing, I barely remembered it happened and I meant to talk to you about losing time last night, but I forgot. Finn says that’s part of it…the forgetting.” She’d finished her first cup of tea and grimaced when Heidi poured her a second cup.

“All of it. And no arguments, you’re paler now than you were last night. A couple of more days at most, and you’ll be where you started.” Heidi’s lips compressed as she transferred her attention back to him. “What did he want?” So much for the dance, she cut right through to the heart of the matter.

“He doesn’t want me to talk to you.” He smiled just a little. It would really piss Connor off that he sat across the table from Heidi. Finn wished he could be a fly on the wall when the demon found out.

“Clearly it’s important to you that you satisfy his desires.”

“Oh, absolutely.” He leaned back in the chair and stretched his legs. The tension coiling through his muscles threatened to cramp him. Toying with Pepper’s hair, keeping the physical contact going helped, but only a little. “What do you want?”

“Not much, and even less from you.” Heidi took another drink of her coffee. “The question is, how do we all get what we want?”

“Satisfying one desire does not guarantee another will be equally fulfilled,” said Finn. “So, we do what we can with what we know.” And the game returned. Reading Heidi proved more difficult than he imagined. Her expressions weren’t guarded. She let her emotions show, but how much was real and how much was play he couldn’t quite determine.

“It’s not about satisfying all desires, only identifying the fulcrum upon which those desires converge.” Heidi didn’t look at Pepper, but what else did they have in common? He couldn’t imagine she wanted to satisfy Connor’s power grab any more than he did.

“Mutually assured satisfaction?” Not likely. Pepper is in danger the longer she remains human. Returning her to the lounge repairs the damage done, but also puts her out of reach. Once she’s under the curse… He refused to finish that thought. No curse would hold her. Not if he were there.

He was her mutually assured destruction.

“Maybe not. But a win is a win, Mr. Mikelson. So you choose the battle that you can win and you take it.” Vague advice, no matter how confident it sounded.

“It depends on what you define as a win.”

“It would indeed.” Heidi smiled, a genuine one filled with warmth and a glint of white teeth. Drumming her fingers against the side of the mug, she glanced over her shoulder. “Stan, the sun is going down. Make sure the girls are ready. Anthony and Roseâtre should be down in an hour or so to do a warm up for the cats.”

The golem nodded and Finn waited for the sound of his footsteps to fade away. Sliding his arm away from Pepper, he gave Heidi an opportunity. He would feel the stirring of magic. “Pepper’s life would be a win.”

“Of course it would be, but I don’t have what you need for that.”

“That’s not an answer.” No spells tingled at his awareness. If anything the air seemed a little musty and quiet—an empty theatre waiting for its audience.

“You don’t need answers. You need power. I believe you are well acquainted with the gathering of power.” She glanced at the doors. “And if you have any other questions, you should be quick about it.”

Heat warmed along his back. Impending doom marched toward them. “Can she really survive? Is there anything I can do to make that happen?”

“Of course. You have everything you need.” Heidi glanced at Pepper. “Don’t be frightened, dear. His bark is a great deal worse than his bite.”

“Finn doesn’t bark—”

The theatre doors slammed open with enough force to crack one down the middle. Connor stood in the entryway. His expression shuttered, but furious. Finn wrapped his arm around Pepper’s shoulders, keeping her in her seat. Her gasp spoke volumes for the fear that clung to her.

“Good evening, Connor.” Heidi smiled and, for the first time since she’d approached them, he felt her magic unfurl. It flowed around him and the beast inside of him reacted hungrily, but Finn locked it down. She needed the power she coiled around her hands and exhaled into her words.

Her attention wasn’t on Finn or Pepper—but the demon glaring at them from the door.

“Time to go, Mr. Mikelson,” Heidi suggested. “And Pepper. It was good to see you both, but as I explained, our reservations are completely booked this evening.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” Finn rose, taking the cue smoothly. Pepper shivered, and why shouldn’t she? The malevolence roiling around the demon made Finn’s teeth ache. “We’ll just have to find another way to entertain ourselves.”

“I hear the Aqua Lounge has a fabulous mermaid show,” Heidi offered, both genial and kind.

“Oh, I like mermaids,” Pepper managed to say, and Finn hid another smile. He tucked the slender woman against his side. “Do you want to see them?”

“Maybe. Or maybe we can find something to do on the strip tonight.” Far, far away from the very angry demon. For a second, it seemed Connor wouldn’t let them out of the theatre. Finn stared at him, letting him decide whether they would have this fight now or later.

“Manners, Connor. These are our guests after all.” Heidi’s chiding reminder had an effect. Connor pivoted to the side, his shoulders stiff.

Staying firmly between Pepper and the demon, Finn escorted her out of the lounge. For a moment, he held on to a twinge of regret. He was leaving the stage manager alone with the angry Overseer. He glanced back in time to see the doors slam shut.

“Will she be okay?” Pepper whispered.

“I think so.” Because before the doors had shut, he’d seen Heidi’s face, and she wasn’t afraid of Connor.

She was pissed.

“But we’re going to let them work it out between them.” While I figure out what I have that Pepper needs…