Page 9

CHAPTER NINE

For the first time in his life, Vlad’s perfect composure nearly cracked.

His mind froze at the sight of Delphine standing in his uncle’s study, the blonde looking as coolly professional in her fitted black suit as she had been passionately wild in his bed mere hours ago.

Instinct had him reaching for his incubus powers to steady himself. The maddening void where his magic should be mocked him instead. His pulse thundered in his ears, his palms growing damp in a way they never had before he’d lost his abilities.

Tarang made a worried sound beside him.

Memories of last night flashed through Vlad’s mind. Little things he’d dismissed at the time now took on new significance. How Delphine had noticed details about his building’s security. The way her gaze had lingered on Tarang’s invisible presence. Her movements when she’d dealt with the drunk at the bar.

“Vlad.” Yuliy’s voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. “This is Delphine Dubois. She’ll be your new protection detail while Ilya and Milo are out of action. She’s also be assisting us with our investigation. Miss Dubois, this is my nephew, Vlad.”

The protest tearing up Vlad’s throat died on his lips. He knew his uncle had been insistent about the whole bodyguard situation, but this was the last thing he’d expected.

“Mr. Vissarion.” Delphine nodded curtly at him, her tone pure professional courtesy that betrayed nothing of their recent encounter. Her control only served to emphasize how badly he was floundering. She addressed him and Yuliy. “I appreciate you considering me for this position.”

Vlad almost blurted that he’d had nothing to do with it. He took a shallow breath and gained rigid control over his emotions.

He discovered he didn’t want Delphine to gain the upper hand.

Tarang was studying the blonde unblinkingly, as fascinated with her as he had been last night.

“Please, sit.” Yuliy indicated the leather armchairs facing him. “We have much to discuss.”

Vlad forced his feet to move, acutely conscious of Delphine’s presence as he settled into the chair beside her. Her perfume, the same scent that still clung to his sheets, teased his senses. He clenched his jaw.

She crossed her legs, the movement drawing his eye before he caught himself. He looked up and found her watching him with that same intensity she’d shown at the bar last night, except now there was nothing but cool detachment behind it.

Yuliy’s sharp gaze moved between them, like he could sense the underlying tension crackling between them. Gustav stared.

There was a soft knock at the door. It opened to reveal Lena and a tea cart packed with freshly-baked muffins and croissants.

“Miss Dubois comes highly recommended,” Yuliy told Vlad as the housekeeper began serving them a light breakfast. “She’s perfect for this job.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Vissarion,” Delphine said as she accepted a cup of tea from Lena, “I received very little information about this assignment. Even my employer was unusually vague about the details.”

Though her tone remained measured and businesslike, Vlad detected a trace of tension in her shoulders.

Not so calm after all.

The knowledge that he could read her sent a measure of relief through Vlad that made him freeze with his next heartbeat.

Wait. What am I thinking right now? I shouldn’t be giving a damn whether she’s calm or not!

His fingers whitened on his cup. There wasn’t a single good reason for him to be annoyed with the woman sitting beside him. He was positive she’d had no idea who he was when he’d approached her at the bar.

Yet he couldn’t ignore the feeling of betrayal gnawing at his insides.

Delphine cut her eyes to him for a fraction of a second. Last night, he’d attributed her observational skills to her probable military background. Now he wondered what else she could see behind the mask he carefully projected to the world.

“I’m afraid that’s entirely my fault,” Yuliy told Delphine apologetically. “I made Mr. Morgan promise not to give you any details concerning the…sensitive nature of this mission.”

The name Yuliy had spoken made Vlad straighten in his chair.

“Morgan? As in Gideon Morgan?!” His gaze swung from Yuliy to Delphine, his pulse quickening.

He knew of the mercenary. Gideon Morgan headed a team of elite super soldiers who’d carried out more dangerous missions in the last decade than any other special ops team in the world. He was the guy who’d sent Serena Blake to New York a few months ago, after the Sorcerer King had captured Nikolai.

“Do you know Serena?” Vlad asked Delphine stiffly.

She nodded curtly. “We are close friends.”

Vlad’s stomach knotted as he recalled her strength from last night.

“Does that mean you’re a super soldier?”

“I am.” Delphine arched an eyebrow. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“No, it isn’t.” Yuliy was frowning at Vlad.

Even Gustav and Lena were giving him puzzled looks.

Vlad lowered his brows at his uncle. “When you said you were going to get me a new bodyguard, I didn’t know it would be a super soldier.”

“Considering the circumstances, Miss Dubois is the best person for the job,” Yuliy retorted in a hard voice. “In fact, her expertise makes her uniquely qualified for this position.”

A vein throbbed in Vlad’s temple.

“She doesn’t know the nature of what she might have to deal with.”

Yuliy gave him an obtuse look that indicated he knew exactly what Vlad was talking about and didn’t give a damn.

A shadow passed over Delphine’s face, there and gone so quickly Vlad almost missed it.

She’s annoyed.

“Maybe if you elaborated on the details, it would help me reassure you of my capabilities,” she told Vlad steadily.

The last thread of Vlad’s patience snapped at the silent challenge in her eyes.

“Tarang,” he growled. “Show yourself.”

Delphine went deathly still when the tiger suddenly made himself visible beside her chair.

Yuliy sighed.

Gustav pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath.

“You could at least have given her a warning,” Lena snapped at Vlad.

Tarang plopped his head on his giant paws and watched Delphine unblinkingly, his tail sweeping the floor in a lazy rhythm that said he was willing to be buddies if she was.

“That’s a big tiger,” Delphine stated with a sangfroid that Vlad couldn’t help but admire despite the irritation prickling his skin.

To everyone’s surprise, she leaned over and placed her hand calmly in front of the familiar so he could get used to her scent.

Tarang sniffed her skin and carefully licked her pinky.

Lena hid a small smile. Approval glittered in Yuliy’s and Gustav’s eyes.

Anyone Tarang liked was a keeper in their books.

Delphine watched the familiar for a moment before meeting Vlad’s gaze. “Are you a sorcerer?”

The question startled him. He fisted his hands.

He knew he would have hidden his reaction better had he been in possession of his incubus powers.

“You know about witches and sorcerers?”

Delphine shrugged. “A bit. Serena is acquainted with a bunch of them. She married the son of a demon after all and lives with a bunch of divine beasts in Chicago, a fact I believe you are aware of after meeting her a few months ago.”

Wariness crept onto Yuliy’s face. Gustav and Lena tensed.

Vlad had told them about the people he’d met during the time he’d helped Mae fight the Sorcerer King.

“Don’t worry,” Delphine said quietly at his faint frown. “She didn’t reveal the details of the mission she and Lou Flint undertook in New York. She didn’t need to. Most of us in the corps know about the supernatural world that exists alongside ours. After all, we have Immortal DNA inside us.”

“Has she allayed your doubts?” Yuliy grunted in the hush that followed.

Vlad hesitated. He could hardly refuse to have Delphine as his bodyguard if she both knew about the otherworldly powers he and Tarang possessed and accepted them.

Still, she doesn’t know the whole truth about me. He met the super soldier’s gaze squarely, his heartbeat accelerating on a note of apprehension that wasn’t him at all. Here goes nothing.

“In answer to your prior question, no, I’m not a sorcerer. I am an incubus who possesses demonic magic. And Tarang is my familiar.”

Delphine’s pupils widened infinitesimally.

“An incubus?” she repeated in a neutral voice.

“My mother was a Fire Witch.” Vlad faltered and glanced at Yuliy, guilt twisting his stomach. “And my father is Ilmon, the king of Incubi and Succubi who dwells in Hell.”

Yuliy’s expression didn’t change. His uncle had accepted Ilmon’s identity and the truth behind how Vlad came to be conceived with a calmness that still shocked Vlad ever since he’d informed him of what he’d learned in Hell.

He’d wondered what would happen if the crime lord and the demon ever found themselves in the same room. Vlad masked a grimace.

Knowing Ilmon, he’ll probably weep buckets and beg for Yuliy’s forgiveness.

His father was the biggest crybaby in the underworld, a fact that often worried his demon allies since he had a tendency to drown entire valleys with his tears.

“Shall we get down to business?” Yuliy said curtly. He turned one of his computer monitors around. “Two nights ago, there was an incident in Manhattan. One that will have serious ramifications for this city’s criminal underworld if we don’t solve it fast.”

He pulled up the video that had circulated on the internet before Jared shut it down. “This footage was taken secretly and posted to a public channel. We found the camera hidden inside a plant. It had been shot to pieces.”

Vlad’s jaw tightened as his uncle played the footage from the Oro Divino .