Laughing, Simone rolled out from under him stood up, and cocked her head as she saw her goblet on the nightstand. How had that happened? It was always on the dresser.
She went to move it back, then froze as she caught sight of what appeared to be dried blood in it.
"What on earth?" She glanced to Xypher who quickly looked away. "Is this yours?" He didn't answer.
Before she could pursue it, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw it was Tate. Flipping it open, she answered.
"We found Gloria's body."
She couldn't believe it. "Where?"
"In the alley where she died."
"You're kidding?"
"Nope. It was really weird. The police called a few minutes ago to let me know."
That was great, except for one tiny detail that made her stomach shrink. "Is she . . . turning?"
"Not at all. It's very strange, but I thought you'd like to know."
"Yeah, thanks. I know you're relieved." Simone hung up and turned to face Xypher. "They found Gloria's body again."
"That's good."
There was something extremely guarded about him. "You knew about it, didn't you?" She looked back at the goblet and wondered why someone would put blood in it. Besides her, there was only one other person in this house who could bleed. . . . "What did you do after I went to sleep?"
"Nothing."
"Xypher," she snapped from between clenched teeth, "Don't lie to me. I'm not stupid. I know blood when I see it. For Saint Peter's sake, I'm a pathologist. You know I can take that to my lab and get a DNA sample off it."
An angry tic beat against his jaw. "What do you want me to say, Simone? I summoned a demon lord and made a bargain with him?"
Yeah, right. "Would you be serious?"
"I am serious." His tone and face confirmed it even though she didn't want to believe it. "I had to feed him my blood to get Gloria and her body back for you-that was the price he demanded."
Simone was stunned by his words. No, it couldn't be, could it? "You're not kidding."
"Why else would there be blood in your goblet?"
Why else, indeed? After all, people waking up to find blood in a cup nest to their bed had to be a daily occurrence.
In the Twilight Zone.
"This can't be my life ..." And yet why was she so surprised? One of her best friends was a ghost and the other worked for a group of immortal vampire slayers. So why wouldn't her pseudoboyfriend be able to conjure a demon lord and feed it blood?
"What next? You gonna tell me my new neighbor is a demon, and the dog down the street is a lycanthrope?"
He shook his head. "Now you know why I didn't want to tell you what happened. I knew it would only upset you."
"Yes, yes, it did. How would you feel if someone invited a demon lord into your bedroom while you slept and fed it blood from your favorite cup? I don't think you'd be all happy over that, do you?"
She glanced at her clock. It was just after eight. "And now I need to shower and get ready for work. Guess you have to follow me since I'll die if you don't and please try not to summon any more demon lords into my house while I'm naked, okay?" Damn, the ludicrousness of her life was beginning to know no boundaries.
Xypher's expression turned sullen. "Yeah, but I'll die if I do follow you and hear you naked in the shower."
Simone didn't know why, but that took a lot of the anger out of her. Probably because she was enjoying the idea of torturing him.
She patted His cheek affectionately. "There, mere, baby, it'll be okay."
He looked down at where his erection made an impressive bulge in his pants. "Not really, it won't. You only say that 'cause you're not the one in pain. And here I thought I had a few weeks' reprieve from torture. You're working with Hades, aren't you? Go ahead. Admit it."
Simone gathered her clothes, then paused as something he'd said a minute ago seeped into her mind-I had to feed him my blood to get Gloria and her body back for you. Why would he do that? "Why did you get Gloria back?"
He turned around as if looking for something.
"Xypher?" She closed the distance between them. "Why?"
His expression sheepish, he shrugged. "You were upset over her. I didn't want you to be worried or blame yourself for her loss."
For the first time, she understood his incessant need to find out what her motivations had been for helping him. There were some acts of kindness that were so altruistic, they defied logic. To him, the simplest act was baffling.
To her, this one was. "Why did you care?"
"I don't know."
Xypher ground his teeth. It wasn't true. He knew exactly why he'd done it. For once he'd put her feelings above his own, but to admit that... It was most likely more than he could do right now.
Even so, he'd sacrificed a part of himself to make her happy.
She lifted herself Up to kiss him lightly on the lips. "Now you understand that kindness doesn't have to be motivated by anything except a desire to help someone else and make them feel better."
Xypher blinked as she withdrew. She was right. Never in his life had he done something to help someone just because. Even with Satara, he'd been out to get something. She'd send him to do her bidding, then would reward him, and he'd done what she asked purely to get those rewards from her. It was all done for selfishness.
But not this.
He hadn't expected Simone to even thank him for saving Gloria. For that matter, he hadn't intended to tell her what he'd done for her. Why had he done it?
"Xypher?"
He glanced up to see her standing in the doorway.
"I need to shower. You have to follow so that I can."
"Sorry." He dutifully walked to the hallway.
She gave him a warm smile that his heart before she shut the door and left him to stand outside while she went about her business inside. He listened to her moving around and imagined what she'd look like naked with the water sliding over her body . . .
He shifted, trying to get some relief from his swollen cock, but it wasn't happening. Closing his eyes, he pictured himself in the shower with her. He could feel the heat of the water against his bare skin, see the contour of her back as she faced the spigot and washed her hair. Her eyes closed, she dipped her head to make sure her hair was completely wet. Gods, she was beautiful.
Needing to feel her, he leaned his front against her back and wrapped one arm around her waist.
"Xypher!"
The shriek of outrage jerked him away from his fantasy.
An instant later, the door was snatched open to reveal Simone in a clinging towel, glaring furiously at him. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I was just standing here."
"No you weren't. You were in the shower with me."
"No, I wa. . ."
Was he?
He barely bit back the smile before he made her angrier. Yes! His powers had been working. But that thought was followed by a sick feeling.
All, damn, had he known he was really in the shower with her, he'd have a copped a better feel.
She frowned at him. "You're not wet."
" 'Cause I was standing right here the entire time."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes."
Doubt was heavy in her expression. "You're lying to me, aren't you?"
"Not intentionally."
"Xypher!"
He sputtered as he tried to find some way to calm her down. "I didn't know I could do that. I mean I knew I could do that before, but I didn't know it was actually working now until you screamed. I thought I was just imagining it. And don't give me that look . . . sorry?"
She growled at him before she slammed the door in his face. Two seconds later, she snatched it open again. "Stay out there! Don't you dare come back in here with those evil mind tricks." She shut the door.
Xypher wanted to whimper he was in so much pain from his erection. "Does it buy me any bonus points to note that you have a really nice-looking ass?"
She shrieked again.
"Dude! What are you doing?"
He turned to find Jesse behind him. His face was an expression of ultimate horror.
"I was just standing here."
Jesse let out a sound of disgust. "Let me explain something to you. When you've made a woman mad by spying on her, you don't fix it by telling her she has a nice backside. That'll just get you bitch-slapped."
Well, when it came to being bitch-slapped for something, he was sure Jesse was an expert. Maybe he should listen to him for once. "Then what do you do?"
"Simple, my brother. I am about to impart to you the sacred words my father gave to me. It's the five responses that will get you out of any female problem."
Yeah, right. This he had to hear. "And they are?"
Jesse held his hand Up and ticked each one off on his fingers, "I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do it. Baby, there's no one else in my world but you. Oops. And Jesus is Lord."
He understood the first four, but the last one seriously confused him. "Jesus is Lord?"
Jesse nodded. "A little sacrilegious, I know, but trust me. If a woman thinks you've found religion, it can get you out of all lands of trouble. Not to mention, you can combine them. Such as-I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't do it, or Jesus is Lord, baby, you know there's no one else in my world but you. See, easy."
The door opened to show Simone glaring at both of them as if they deserved only to be mowed over and buried in the lawn.
Wanting to dispel her anger, Xypher decided to try Jesse's advice. "Oops, Jesus is Lord."
Jesse groaned out loud. "Oh, you're hopeless, and I'm out of here."
Simone scowled at him. "What on earth are you talking about?" Shaking her head, she mumbled a condemnation of all men before she headed to her room.