A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)(39)

That voice… It sounded awfully familiar. My spine tingled, and the air seemed to thicken around me as I watched a vase get lifted off a corner table. The daemon took the flowers out, tossing them onto the floor, and poured the water over his tall and broad frame, revealing himself.

I held my breath. I recognized Zane, standing in the freaking bookstore, just a few feet away from me. He was as tall as I remembered him, his muscles heavy and toned, and his chest and arms covered in tribal tattoos. What was he doing in the city?

What is he doing here? Oh no, is he here to take me away again? Not happening!

I kept my sword out, my grip tightening around the handle to the point where my hand trembled a little. There was no way in hell I was letting him drag me back to those wretched gorges again.

Zane cocked his head to one side, a flicker of amusement lighting up his fiery red eyes.

“Relax, Fiona, I’m not here to take you away,” he said, his voice gruff and sending some very mixed signals to my brain. “Although I could, since the dragon’s out of town.”

“No longer surprised that you know so much about our movements,” I muttered, taking a couple of steps back to increase the distance between us. My throat closed up in his presence, the intensity weighing heavily on my shoulders. There was something about him that demanded my full attention and… not fear, but rather… respect. “What are you doing here, Zane? What do you want?”

A couple of seconds went by. He took his time to formulate an answer as he measured me from head to toe with renewed interest.

“I’m just… visiting.” He shrugged, his gaze settled on my face, while I had trouble keeping my eyes on his. The sinuous curves of his shoulders, the deep lines of his hips as they sank beneath the massive leather belt, the ropes of muscle threaded down his abdomen—they all required attention. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, and, by the looks of you, I bet you missed me.”

His smirk set me off. My cheeks burned, and I snapped out of my split second daze, shifting my focus back to his red eyes. He’d caught me staring, and I hated it.

“It’s been a while since we saw each other?” I mockingly repeated his statement with a raised eyebrow. “You saw me just yesterday.”

“And today couldn’t come soon enough.” He grinned, leaning on one of the wooden support beams. He crossed his arms over his chest, and that somehow made him look even bigger. “You look beautiful, by the way. Your stay in the gorge did wonders for your skin.”

“What in the world is wrong with you?” I groaned, rolling my eyes. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what his end game was.

“What? I’m just giving you a compliment. Is that a crime?” He raised a patronizing eyebrow at me, further fueling the fire burning in my core. I really wasn’t used to such high body temperatures.

“You abducted me. Your species is killing innocent Maras and Imen. You’re using magic that you shouldn’t even know about, and you are literally stalking me. I’m pretty sure a compliment is kind of useless at this point!”

“I’d dare to disagree.” Zane seemed unfazed. “I think it’s good to tell the truth, even if it makes people uncomfortable. And the truth is that you look beautiful, and the black leather does you justice.”

I blinked several times, trying to wrap my head around what was going on. Why was I just standing here? Why wasn’t I looking for the optimum attack angle? And why was I blushing?

“I think you’ve lost your mind somewhere in those gorges.” I shook my head slowly.

“Okay, fine, don’t take the compliment.” Zane scoffed, feigning exasperation. “But either come at me or put that fire poker away before you hurt yourself with it.”

“Did you just make fun of my sword?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

Why am I letting him get to me? Snap out of it, Fiona!

He chuckled, then resumed a standing position, putting his hands behind his back.

“You call that a sword?” He pursed his lips.

“Okay, that’s it!” I hissed and lunged at him, the blade pointing at his chest.

He expertly dodged it but didn’t retaliate. Instead, he stilled and waited for me to come at him again. I wasn’t going for the kill, anyway. Something told me that would be nearly impossible. But I needed to assess his fighting skills and, most importantly, his speed.

“That was a bit… weak.” He gave me a playful smile.

Oh, really?

I slashed at him again, this time bringing my sword down from the left, and he effortlessly moved back. The blade missed him by inches. He growled with excitement as I launched a flurry of hits, gripping the sword with both hands and swinging it with ample movements that were quite demanding on my shoulder muscles.

Nevertheless, I still couldn’t hit him, as he flashed left and right with impressive speed.

We went on like that for a couple of minutes, until I started getting closer. I noticed that the fewer feet between us, the more sluggish his defenses got. Something sparked in the back of my head, and I feigned a hit on the right side, stopped halfway, and immediately executed a rapid 360-degree turn and brought my sword in from the left. I hit nothing but air.

Zane had already vanished in that fraction of a second that I’d turned away.

What the…