Page 32 (1/2)

"Sarah?" I asked No reaction "Ohwith her?"

Eamon didn&039;t answer He readjusted her to put her head back in his lap, stroking her hair, the curve of her face A lover&039;s slow, steady touch

I could not understand what I was seeing in his expression "Ea with her?"

"No," he said "Nothing that won&039;t wear off in a few hours She may have a few side effects; most likely some mild nausea and a dull headache" His eyes remained fixed on me

I couldn&039;t believe it Couldn&039;t honestly fatho that I injected your sister with a drug-nothing too addictive, don&039;t worry-and I put her to sleep for a while" His tone was changing, entle cadence I was used to and toward soh Or the caresses of Sarah&039;s skin Those stayed gentle "Don&039;t fuss, Joanne, it&039;s not the first time I like eneral Sarah thought it was a bit strange, too, when I asked, but she&039;s willing to try new things I find that truly sexy, don&039;t you? She&039;s exceptional, your sister"

I took a step toward hi to kill this son of a bitch

His hand instantly slid fro her hair to fasten around the pale white column of her throat "I wouldn&039;t," he said Now there was a feverish hint of cruelty in his face "It only takes about one second to crush a trachea I&039;d rather not do it I honestly do like her So relax Let&039;s be friends We&039;ve been friends up till now; there&039;s no reason we can&039;t go on being civil to one another"

I knew nothing about crushing tracheas, except that it would kill her and there was nothing I could do to stop it I froze where I was His hands, although long and soft and elegant, also looked strong and very capable

And the expression in his eyes was deadly serious now

"Go on," he invited "I know you want to ask questions I&039;ll oblige"

"Fine What do you want, Eamon? If that&039;s even your name"

"It is, actually" He didn&039;t move his hand froertips trailed over her skin in a rando pattern I wasn&039;t sure he even kneas doing it "I didn&039;t lie about that, although of course the last naain, the one on ht, either You follow?"

"You&039;re a criirl I&039;m a criminal I&039;m a bad, evil h I have to say that I&039;d never have i soers strayed, curving over the skin revealed by the parted terrycloth robe I shivered all over with the urge to kill him really, really dead, but those eyes were constantly focused onToo careful "I came here for you, Joanne"

"Get your hands off her"

"I don&039;t think I can" His s to be understood and forgiven, noGave hi at me, I couldn&039;t wrap my head around the unmistakable fact that he was a very, very bad man, because very, very bad entle touch, do they?

Sarah loved him Oh, God, Sarah loved him That turned my stomach

I must have let my revulsion show, because he lost the smile, and his eyes turned colder "Are you afraid I&039;llher in front of me, asshole!"

"No" There was now no trace at all of warone still "Not yet Why, do you want me to? You&039;ll have to ask nicely, in that case"

"Keep your fucking hands off e of hu very different indeed Very cold and focused and scary "Don&039;t tell me what to do, petal I don&039;t care for it And every ti to leave a mark on Sarah, to reh in a sudden, vicious movement She didn&039;t h that I flinched and involuntarily took another step toward him His hand

I stopped Neither one of us made a sound

The place he&039;d pinched her flushed a bright, angry red He&039;d really hurt her; that hadn&039;t been just show Son of a bitch

"Do we understand each other?" he asked "I&039; my hands I do have other methods"

I was a Warden, da I shouldn&039;t have been helpless

I rubbed ether and concentrated Got a crackle of power, h to knock hih power to h for one shot, but I had to make it count, and Ea ," I said "Just tell me what you want"

He nodded and relaxed a bit again "My business associate-I think you&039;re acquainted with him, Thomas Quinn, sometimes known as Orry-was in the midst of a transaction when he-disappeared He&039;d acquired several dozen bottles of a unique nature, which disappeared along with hiht have been there to see what happened to them"

"Who told you that?"

"Quinn&039;s detective partner Detective Rodriguez? I believe you know him as well, as he&039;s spent several days down there in your parking lot spying on you I had to go ask hi, until I got out the knife You won&039;t et out the knife, will you, love? The furniture&039;s new I&039;d hate to bloody it" I atching Eaht before

The worst part? The look in his eyes He still, even now, looked as if he were genuinely sorry he had to do this

But nowhere near sorry enough to stop

I backed up and sank into a chair, unable to stand any , and my back was on fire Son of a bitch There were two possibilities to what he&039;d just said, neither of theuez and he&039;d been in this frootten the drop on hiuez was

"Is he dead?" I asked

Ea on my sister&039;s throat-palm up

"No idea, really By the tih to talk, if he can, I&039;ll be long gone, so I can&039;t see that it really matters Of course, you&039;ll be the person as last seen having words with hi as he&039;s some sort of police ht not ask too et a bit overzealous when they colanced down at the irls bruise so easily"

I didn&039;t take the bait He raised his eyebrows and sank even lower against the leather couch I reentleness, his smiles, his courtesy I wondered which Eamon was real, or if it all was maybe he was capable of all of this, from passion and friendship to cold-blooded ard he felt for Sarah was real Even now, the way he touched her was odd Gentle As if he could force himself to be cruel, but it wasn&039;t his first choice

My mouth was so dry I tried to s and deliberately unclenchedto keep it calm and even "What exactly is it you want?"

"I want the bottles," he said "I want them back It&039;s not personal, love, it&039;s business My client paid Quinn a great fucking pile ofneither merchandise nor refund And as I have no refund for him"

"Eamon, there are no bottles Quinn&039;s SUV exploded in the desert The bottles were inside They were destroyed"

"So the Djinn were set free," he said quietly "Correct?"

I deliberately played stupid "Gin? You&039;re threatening to kill ot a genuine, char smile "I knew I liked you, love, you&039;re quick Nice try, but I&039; ti the weather does it sound familiar? Because Quinn was very informative on the subject He was positively obsessed"

"Quinn was insane"

"Well, yes, I&039;d have thought so, too, until I met a few more of your friends Like, for instance, your friend Ella, you re with her earlier today before thatI took her back to her house for a chat Reht, and likes h I&039;m not sure she&039;d do street trade for it, so perhaps she&039;s not that htly to one side and let his eyelids drop to half h to think he&039;d let down his guard "Ella really can control the weather I&039;ve seen it So don&039;t try to giveShe&039;s done a nice job of it for your weatherman boss these past couple of years, she told me And she&039;s made some tidy suive me some of it to leave her alone"