Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(32)

Dahlia nodded, then frowned. “I can’t imagine him walking away from you, though. You’ve got him all tied up in knots. It’s killing him that he isn’t supposed to be with you. The whole cross-species thing, you know.”

I did know. I rubbed a hand over my eyes, unsure that I wanted to share Remo’s past, as little as I knew about it. I had a feeling he wouldn’t want anyone else to know. “I can’t tell you what happened. They are his secrets, not mine.”

Her jaw dropped. “He told you . . . about his past? Good God, he does have it bad for you.”

Ernie snickered around a mouthful of meringue, spitting bits of it out as he spoke. “Like a major hard-on. You should have seen him on her after the courthouse.”

“Ernie!” I screeched. “You are such a Peeping Tom!”

Dahlia kept her focus. “Did he tell you about his past?”

“No, he didn’t,” I spluttered, as if denying a crime. “I kinda guessed. Look, that’s not the issue at hand. I need to find out what that stuff is Santos has, and if I can stop him from using it, then all the better. Because he’s going to come after me again. If it will burn through me, it could burn through Tad too.”

Dahlia’s eyes went thoughtful. “And you are thinking of what exactly?”

I took a breath and straightened my back. “Of switching allegiance to Santos.”





CHAPTER 8


“You’re out of your mind! He’ll never go for it!” Dahlia’s denials burst out of her as she paced the kitchen from end to end.

“I think he will,” I said softly. “He kissed me at the courthouse; he wants to hurt Remo, not just me. If he thinks he’s stealing me away from Remo . . . he’ll believe me. I know he will. He obviously wants to hurt Remo, and what better way than to take someone he sees as Remo’s secret weapon?”

“Do you know where he is?” Tad asked.

I looked at Dahlia. “I don’t have to. Dahlia does, don’t you?”

She groaned and shook her head. “This is a bad, bad idea. Santos isn’t like Remo. No matter how tough Remo is, he is fair. Santos is an asshole of the largest kind with a god complex.”

“You mean he’s an elephant bum hole?” I raised an eyebrow, my lips twitching.

She pointed a finger at me. “Don’t try to lighten this moment. This is deadly serious.”

A sigh slid out of me. “I know, but the reality is I need to find out what he’s got on me. And how he got it. Does it not seem crazy coincidental that Santos, after his first run-in with me, mere hours later has something that can hurt me? Something even Achilles couldn’t manage on his own? This doesn’t make sense.”

She stopped pacing. “Do you think Theseus has finally shown up?”

I groaned and tipped my head back. “I know he has, actually. He’s convinced Beth he’s a good guy named Tim. And she and Sandy are still with him.” A fact that made me all kinds of fear filled. Like an overstuffed cream puff filled with curdled cream, my nerves and fear spilling in every direction.

Ernie spluttered. “What? I didn’t know he’s calling himself Tim. What a tool.”

“Huh?” The strangled sound barely escaped Dahlia’s lips before she spit out, “Tim? What’s he trying to do, blend in with the normals? Are the girls okay, though?”

I nodded. “I think so. I think . . . I think he’s not going to hurt them yet. Beth was ready to fight me over him.”

“Oh my God, I miss out on so much being out during the day!” She threw her hands in the air. “Okay, come on, let’s go.”

“No, just tell me where Santos is. I’ll go on my own. I don’t want you to get hurt,” I said.

She pointed a finger at me. “Listen, we are friends, so you aren’t going alone. I could never live with myself if something happened to you when I know I should have been with you. And . . . honestly, you can’t do this on your own. You aren’t a fighter, we all know it.”

And there was the truth, more than anything else. She didn’t think I could do it without her help.

“And you aren’t going without me.” Tad stood and brushed his clothes free of cookie crumbs.

Dahlia and I shook our heads in unison. “No.”

Ernie snickered. “Don’t argue with two badass chicks, my friend. They’ll do you in when you aren’t looking.”

Tad looked from Dahlia to me, and back again several times. “I’m coming with you. One of you is my sister, the other is my girlfriend. I’m not going to be that guy who is ever okay with either of you just walking into danger without me either trying to stop you or going with you.”

“Sweet, but stupid. It’s why I like you,” Dahlia muttered.

He grinned as though it was a compliment of the highest kind.

“There are more problems than Santos, and honestly, what does he want with you, Tad? You’re a naga, not a vampire.”

“You’re not a vampire either, sis.” He pointed a finger at me.

I pointed a finger at myself.

“But he wants me because of my connection to Remo, because of what he sees me capable of, regardless of what you two think I can do.” I gave them each a hard look. “He doesn’t want you, which will make you as expendable as an empty cupcake wrapper.” I waved both hands in the air at him as a thought hit me. “But you could help find Theseus. I don’t know where he took Beth and Sandy. Maybe you can see if they are okay? I bet he’d let you get close to him. We need to watch him and see if he’s amassing an army or something.”