Ren glanced down at the girl in his arms as he made his way through Gypsy's underground living room and past the beaded curtains that surrounded her bedroom.

The main thing that drew his gaze was the thin layer of dirt she’d smudged all over her face like makeup to cover up the fact that she had a smooth unblemished complexion. Unable to stop himself, Ren let his gaze slowly drift back to her perfect lips and then up to the fan of her long dark lashes where they brushed against her cheeks. It would take more than dirt and baggy clothes to hide her softness and beauty from him.

He could feel the thick cloth that she had wrapped so tightly around her chest and it annoyed him. It was no wonder she’d passed out like that upstairs… he doubted she could even breathe properly with those bindings squeezing her breasts so tight. He silently wondered whose bright idea it had been for her to dress up like a boy... hopefully not hers.

Ren stopped beside the bed and leaned over it to place Lacey down on the soft mattress. It was just his luck that the girl chose that exact moment to snap out of her dead faint and wake up fighting him.

The first thing Lacey noticed was the strong arms that were wrapped around her so possessively. Her brain automatically went into overdrive when her paranoid mind sincerely thought that the dangerous demon that she’d been running from for the last couple weeks had finally caught up with her.

If this was the end of her, then like hell she was going to go down without a fight. Before the darkness even had a chance to clear from her vision, she started throwing punches at the monster holding her.

“Let go of me you black hearted bastard!” Lacey yelled and began kicking her feet to throw the demon off balance.

Caught off guard by her quick awakening, Ren snatched his sunglasses back out of the air where she’d managed to knock them off his face because his hands were full of her. Quickly becoming frustrated, he gritted his teeth and dropped her gracelessly on the mattress.

Not bothering to put the glasses back on just yet, Ren stood to his full height and watched as she bounced once and somehow managed to fold her knees under her in midair so that she landed on them. The movement was fast for a human… very impressive.

Lacey blinked and felt overwhelming relief when her vision finally cleared and she realized it was just Gypsy's heavy handed I want to rock you bodyguard. However, she did frown when her gaze was drawn to his strange eyes. It took less than a heartbeat for her to decide that the color of his irises reminded her of pure mercury with the hint of ice blue around the edges. Oddly enough, they added to his sex appeal since she was damn sure he wasn’t blind.

“Oh, it’s just you,” she murmured thankfully then mentally cringed when he lifted one elegant eyebrow at her inquiringly.

“Who did you think it was… the boogeyman?” Ren asked as he slid his dark sunglasses back on. He was still a little stunned that she’d just looked him right in the eyes and not shied away or flinched in fear.

Lacey stared up at him forcing herself to push the scary image of the old demon and his underlings out of her mind. She crossed her arms over her chest and said with as much sarcasm as she could with her heart still racing a mile a minute, “Nah, you’re no boogeyman… just some creep that can’t seem to keep his hands off me.”

Ren half smirked and half glared down at her and retaliated with an equal amount of sarcasm, “You wish.”

“I wish?” Lacey demanded and rose up so that she was kneeling on the mattress.

She straightened her arms down at her sides and balled her fists up while she fought off the slight fear that was still trailing up her spine. She didn’t have time for this. If she didn’t get out of here, there was a chance it would be too late to leave and she was looking directly at the reason for the delay.

“Yeah… you wish,” Ren repeated wondering how such a spitfire of a girl could look so cute dressed as a boy.

“I’ll tell you what I wish… I wish you’d just let me get what I came here for so I can be on my merry little way,” she tossed back at him raising her chin.

“Speaking of that… what exactly were you trying to steal and who were you stealing it for?” Ren demanded as he leaned down a little closer to intimidate her into answering the one question that was gnawing a hole in his brain. He didn’t like the thought of her putting herself in danger by working with demons and resisted the urge to shake some sense into her.

Even though she couldn’t see his eyes because of the sunglasses, Lacey could feel his silver glare leveled on her and she had to suppress a shiver. Keeping her wary gaze on him, she scrambled backwards in order to put the bed between them only to blink in surprise when he suddenly vanished from view.

She couldn’t control the frightened gasp that escaped her when she felt two hands take hold of her shoulders just as her left hand met thin air instead of the flat surface of the mattress. If he hadn’t moved so fast, she would’ve fallen backwards off the bed and onto the floor.

“How about staying put for a damn minute,” Ren said a little more harshly than he’d intended but this girl was going to have to chill out before she hurt herself.

Lacey's breathing sped up and her gaze darted around the room searching for a weapon of some sort. Much to her relief, she noticed quite a few decorating the walls and mentally smirked at her grandpa’s knack for thinking ahead. Too bad they were still out of her reach.

The man holding her shoulders had moved too fast to be human… which meant he was a demon. If that was indeed the case, then what the hell was a demon doing inside her grandfather’s secret bomb shelter and why was she alone with him?

She slowly blinked and all thoughts of fighting back left her when the memory smacked her in the face… hard. Grandpa was dead. A sound by the door made her jerk her gaze up and she spotted Gypsy and the other guy that had broken down the front door of the shop come into the bedroom.

Gypsy’s shoulders slumped when Lacey’s expression slowly turned from sadness to accusing as they stared at each other from across the room.

“Can you get them out of here and give me a moment to think clearly?” Lacey demanded angrily as she fought back the tears that thoughts of never again seeing her grandfather had provoked.

“Need I remind you that you’re the one who snuck in here uninvited,” Ren shot back wishing there was a demon nearby that could read minds so he could snag that power. He’d give a king’s ransom to know what this girl was thinking right now. The last thing he needed was for her to have enough time to come up with a cover story before he could get the truth out of her.

“Ren, please… can you and Nick give us girls some privacy?” Gypsy asked gently, feeling sorry for Lacey. She’d already dealt with her own grief over the death of their grandpa… but here Lacey had just found out.

Ren stared at Gypsy for a moment before looking back down at the girl he still had a hold of. Tightening his grip, he leaned forward until his lips were only a few inches from her ear, “I won’t be far.”

Now Lacey was born at night but she hadn’t been born last night and understood the man’s underlying threat in his words perfectly.

Gypsy sighed and shook her head before waving both men out of her room. “Go on, I think I can handle it from here.” She blew a strand of dark hair out of her eyes when they stepped out of the sleeping area but stopped just inside her living room to turn around and look at her.

Frowning, she calmly approached the bomb shelter door and pointed out. “No offense to either of you, but I haven’t seen my cousin in over a year and I think she has just as many questions as you do… so out.”

Nick placed a hand on Ren’s shoulder and gently pushed him toward the door. He quickly removed his hand when Ren shrugged it off and stormed out of the room ahead of him.

Before he followed, Nick turned his head and gave Gypsy a reassuring smile. “We’ll be right outside if you need anything. Take your time.”

Ren spun around to contradict the allowance of time but the words died on his lips when he saw that Lacey was now standing right behind Gypsy with a smug smirk on her face like she’d just gotten her way about everything. The little brat was infuriating and on the verge of actually pissing him off… so he decided to play her little game.

Tilting his head down so she could see the silver of his eyes, Ren returned the smirk with a darker one of his own making her expression slip just a little.

Lacey couldn’t believe this guy was actually smirking at her like he knew something she didn’t. Well, to hell with that. In retaliation, she reached out and slung the door to the bomb shelter closed hard enough for it to make a very loud bang about a second before she locked it.

‘Take that you sexy eighties reject,’ She mentally ranted, completely missing the fact that she’d just given him a compliment and an insult in the same sentence.

“Why that little,” Ren thundered and reached for the wheel to unlock it but Nick quickly knocked his hand away.

“Oh come on, I doubt she’s dangerous,” Nick offered trying to get Ren to calm down. “In case you haven’t noticed, she’s scared half out of her wits right now, not planning to take over the world. Besides, there’s only one way out of that bomb shelter and we‘re standing right here in front of it. Trust me… she’s just a girl and not a threat.”

“Screw off!” Ren snapped in exasperation. “If she’s so damned innocent, then why is she dressed like a boy and trying to break into her grandpa’s shop in the middle of the night. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that she went straight for a hidden vault that until yesterday held a slew of very powerful artifacts that any demon would give their Demon Blade to get their hands on? Riddle me that Robin,” he finished cockily.

Nick smirked and slowly shook his head, “Oh no… I’m Batman.”

“Whatever… Robin,” Ren said as he laid his palm against the door and closed his eyes to concentrate.

He frowned when Nick's thoughts, which weren’t very nice, suddenly sounded through his mind loud and clear. Ren couldn’t help it and began to silently rant at the mind reading power that had failed him just a moment ago when it would have come in handy. Where ever that mindreading demon was… it needed to stand the hell still.

Gypsy sighed at Lacey’s stubborn streak and turned around to face her cousin. She didn’t bother with telling her that both men knew how to unlock the door she’d just slammed in their faces. If she kept antagonizing Ren, then she’d find out soon enough… Gypsy was sure of that.

“What in the world…” Gypsy began only to snap her mouth shut when Lacey suddenly reached out and touched her lips with the tips of her fingers and made a shushing sound.

“Where’s our crystal,” Lacey barely whispered before she began walking around the room looking at the vast quantity of crystals Gypsy had on personal display.

Gypsy smiled realizing what Lacey was looking for and approached her computer desk, reaching for the bright ruby quartz crystal sitting there. As children, they’d often used the privacy crystal to tell each other the secrets that they didn’t want anyone else hearing… especially the grownups.

The crystal itself had been their secret and given to them by their grandfather to share. As they grew up, the crystal was set aside because there’d been no use for it. Gypsy didn’t know why the crystal continued to stay with her instead of moving on as crystals tended to do… maybe now she’d get her answer.

Ren kept his hand pressed to the door trying to listen through the thick steel. His eyes narrowed when Gypsy's voice was suddenly cut off mid-sentence.

Nick was standing beside him with his ear pressed to the cold steel. He was having a little bit of trouble but could still hear the same things Ren did.

Ren frowned when he heard Lacey ask Gypsy about a crystal just before the room fell into silence except for the sound of their footsteps.

“What’s a crystal got to do with anything?” Nick asked.

Ren shot him a look that basically told him to keep silent before closing his eyes and concentrating again.

Gypsy and Lacey sat down on the sofa facing one another with Gypsy holding the crystal out in her hand. Lacey placed her hand in Gypsy's, trapping the crystal between their palms before releasing a heavy sigh.

“Tell me everything I’ve missed since I’ve been gone,” Lacey said softly.

Ren was getting frustrated, straining to listen in while attempting to widen his succubus range. Only fragments of their conversation were filtering through now, like a bad radio reception and he suddenly realized he was being blocked by some kind of magic. The air surrounding him gained a bit of power and his frown deepened just before he sneered at the door.

Nick leaned back from the door in confusion, “I can’t hear a damn thing now.”

“It appears that Gypsy has something in there that can shield a personal conversation,” Ren said and his lips thinned in agitation. “They’re using magic to keep us from hearing them.”

Nick huffed at the big bad Ren being outdone so easily, “You mean to tell me that you, with all of your power can’t break through it?”

Ren’s jaw flexed as he pulled on the power of the crystal and stretched the shield to where he was inside its barrier. “I didn’t say that. It’ll take more than a little girl’s silly game and parlor trick to keep me out.” He leaned a little closer to the door and looked over at Nick with a mischievous smirk, “Wanna hear what they’re saying?”

“What, you think I’m stupid… of course I do,” Nick answered with a sly grin of his own. He was in no way above eavesdropping when it suited him. As a matter of fact, he was usually a pro at it.

Ren motioned him over and placed a hand on the jaguar’s shoulder, squeezing a little too tightly just for fun.

Nick cringed at the hard grip but ignored it as his eyebrows shot up into his hairline when he suddenly heard the women’s voices just as clearly as though he were in the same room with them.

“Nice,” he whispered grudgingly.

Gypsy sat cross-legged on the sofa while she told Lacey everything that had happened, starting with Grandpa’s death. It hadn’t taken as long as she thought it would to tell the story and she actually leaned forward a bit when she began to tell Lacey about Nick, Ren, and all the mess with Samuel. She blushed when she admitted the fact that she’d had a slight crush on Nick for years.

Outside the door, Nick took a deep satisfied breath hearing Gypsy's confession and glanced toward Ren to see how he was taking it. It was a little disappointing to find the other man unfazed.

“Shut up,” Ren frowned wishing Nick would stop thinking so loud at him.

Nick wanted to laugh so bad but held it in also wanting to hear what was going on inside the room.

By the time Gypsy was finished catching her up, Lacey was rubbing her temple with her free hand and her face was in a heavy frown like she had a bad headache.

“All of that and you’re still alive? And here grandpa thought that he’d given me the dangerous job. Is there anything else I should know about?” Lacey asked crossing her fingers there wasn’t more to tell.

Gypsy thought about it for a moment and then slowly shook her head, “No, I think that pretty much covers all of the important stuff.”

“It’s a wonder The Witch’s Brew is still standing,” Lacey whispered and tightened her grip on her cousin’s hand before bringing it up between them. “And you tried to shoot a demon with a wooden bullet,” she shook her head in amazement and sympathy. Brave and dumb seemed to be something they both had in common. “I’m so glad that this Michael person had the power to heal you. I’d have died if I’d come home only to find both you and Grandpa… gone.”

“I’m fine and you’re home now. You are staying… right?” Gypsy asked letting the hope shine in her eyes.

Lacey started to say no but paused, biting her bottom lip as she tried to wrap her mind around something her cousin had said. Raising her chin, she locked her gaze with Gypsy’s wondering if she’d just found the safety net she’d been searching for. If it kept the demons from finding her for a little while longer, then she wasn't going to complain.

“Wait a sec… were you serious when you said that demons can’t come into this building without your permission?” she asked knowing when something sounded too good to be true… it usually was.

“It’s true,” Gypsy confirmed with enthusiasm. “We even tested the spell just to make sure that it worked, and well… it works brilliantly.” She tried to keep herself from grinning as she remembered Nick and Ren being sucked out of the store.

“Now that is the sweetest thing I’ve heard in hmmm… about a year,” Lacey said truthfully and felt some of the tenseness drain out of her shoulders and back. Maybe if she stayed, she could buy a little more time before facing the grim reaper. “And you say this was one of the spells that has been in the safe all this time?”

She silently wondered if it had come from the same spell book that she knew held the spell to counteract the power of the demon mark she was now wearing. The way she understood it… by casting a distortion spell over top of her demon mark, it would be near impossible to track her. It wouldn’t remove the mark but it was the next best thing.

She needed to find out where they’d taken that book. Her next step would be to locate the most powerful witch’s coven in the city and convince them to help her perform the spell. Problem was… someone had moved the damn book.

Gypsy tilted her head to the side in concern when the relief in Lacey's eyes faded back to worry. “Lacey, where have you been for the last year? What happened to keep you from coming home?”

When Lacey didn’t answer right away, Gypsy lowered her gaze to where their hands were still locked together around the crystal. “You have to know that Grandpa was worried sick when you vanished. He tried to hide it from me, but you stayed away for so long that he was finally convinced you were never coming back… that something terrible had happened to you.”

Lacey made a slight face knowing Grandpa was the last person responsible for the mess she was in. This one was all on her.

They had always kept Gypsy out of the loop but now that Grandpa was gone, there didn’t seem to be anything stopping her from telling at least part of it. Besides, when her past caught up with her, then at least Gypsy would know what really happened to her and maybe even place a grave marker next to Grandpa in memory.

She felt herself calm as she made up her mind to let her cousin in on the family’s extracurricular activities.

“Grandpa always sent you to the auctions and safe places to get the artifacts he wanted for his collection or needed to appease his clientele. That was your job and you were very good at it.” She smiled fondly at her cousin before adding, “But me… I was good at something completely different.”

“What are you getting at?” Gypsy asked with a frown. She had a suspicious feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever it was Lacey was about to tell her.

Lacey shrugged as if it wasn’t that big of a deal, “Grandpa sent you after the things that were available and easy to get a hold of… just make a few deals in secret, with the help of a highly sought after trade or huge wad of cash. He sent me after the things that were not so… easy to obtain.”

“Like what?” Gypsy asked.

“Like things people did not want to part with,” Lacey supplied and watched as her cousin’s jaw dropped.

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Death Wish

Chapter 1

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