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"Uood memory, cop," Niol et my check and--talk with Niol about the band"

And spout lame-ass lies to him

"Take off your shirt," he snapped

Cara blinked "Uh, Todd--"

"Not you!" She’d da in front of Niol His fist dropped and his hands clenched the front of Niol’s black shirt "Him!"

Niol’s eyes--eyes that were just as dark as Cara’s when she dropped the gla the warmth he saw in her stare--

narrowed "Despite what you may have heard, Detective, I really do prefer to be wined first And I preferasshole "Cut the crap and take off your shirt"

The scent of sex and lavender floated around him as Cara scrambled to his side "Niol didn’t kill that woman He didn’t even know about her until I told hi--"

"Another part of your lacking education," Niol said at the saer than a hued "I heard everything you said to Niol"

Hell

"And I heard everything that woman told you on the phone"

"I know" And that part, he did know Cara had been right beside hiot the call--even a human would have heard the conversation "What I don’t understand is why you would have cory

Furious Okay, fucking pissed

She shouldn’t have turned to Niol, she should have turned to hio way back" Niol’s voice held the intimate tone of a lover and it made every uy didn’t have to say the rest It was implied And she doesn’t trust you

"Take off your damned shirt" He wasn’t there to find out which of them knew Cara better He wasn’t there to play the jealous lover, though he sure as hell could have nailed that part

"Take your hands off an to crack as shards of anger pierced his words

Todd stared down at him Waited one beat, two

Then he released hilared at hi for you--"

"Forback a snarl "Just show hiht it to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles "Only for you" Then he rose, yanked the black T-shirt over his head, and exposed a chest that was coh for you, or do I need to drop my pants, too?"

The phone booth had been slass--so the perp must have been injured in the upper portion of his body

Not below the waist

"Not necessary," he growled

Niol winked at Cara "And what about for you, my love?"

"Not necessary," Todd answered for her

Cara shook her head,like a jerk Niol did what you wanted, he’s shown you every courtesy--"

And just how many courtesies had he shown her? "I found a woo A woman who looked almost exactly like you"

She flinched

"Her body was in a phone booth outside of town She’d been left there, like some kind of broken doll"

"The woman who called you--she’s really dead?"

"Yeah, I think it was her" Odds were dah that it was

Her eyes squeezed shut for a moment, then she opened the here, Todd" She licked her lips "You’ll think it’s crazy, but I-I believe so to set me up for murder"

Not crazy "And you came to Niol?"

"He hasn’t told anyone to lie for ood That woman," she sed, "if-if that’s the one whose body you found, she was lying And there’s only one reason she’d call like that and lie to a cop"

"Because she wanted to take Cara down," Niol said,no move to put his shirt back on Instead, he reached for his drink, and took another slow sip "The vics were all linked to Cara, weren’t they, cop?"

All but the last one Thoot these bodies, these men who are all somehow tied to Cara, even if she didn’t know them, and they wind up dead

Men in the peak of health Dead" He tapped his fingers on the bar "And they bear the mark of a sex demon"

"Succubus," Todd snapped

Niol quirked a brow "Interesting, isn’t it, that all the clerks at the hotels just happened to see a blond wo Cara’s description--"

"How the hell do you know about that?" Todd demanded

Niol blinked "You do realize that deood third of your force, don’t you, Detective?" Another sip of his drink, then, "Where was I? Oh, yes, the clerks all described a woman like Cara, the victims are all killed by the touch of a sex demon, and at one scene, well, damn, you even find Cara’s ID, all nice and neat and just waiting for you"

Cara’s eyes were on his

"The killer was shoving her down your throat" Another sip "So to speak"

"It’s true, Todd," Cara said, her tone fierce "So rabbed her arm, jerked her toward him So close He wanted to kiss her He wanted to claiet the hell away froht around her

"Todd? I’ know that by now, baby?" Then, because he couldn’t stand the stark look in her eyes, he kissed her

Deep and hard, and tried not to feel the swirling cold in his gut

A cold that was instinct, rearing its head

His succubus was in danger

And he wasn’t sure if he’d be strong enough to keep her safe

But he was da sick of this darowled as Todd pulled her across the bull pen and toward his desk, a desk that was overfloith paperwork

"Tough" He raised a hand and waved one of the uniforms over to them "Mark, I need you to watch her"

Watch her? What the hell was she now? Soave a firm nod