I'll hold you to that. Both the story and fulfilling all my lustful demands, that is.
He smiled, a long, slow, sultry smile full of much promise.
"Oh, for the love of the saints . . . if you four are going to sit there making googly eyes at each other, I'm going to go see what passes for the Home and Garden channel in Italy," Eleanor said, stalking off to another room. "Call me when I can go back home."
"So if Brother Ailwin is in jail - and stop looking at me like I'm insane, Kristoff, because I wasn't going to suggest that we have him summon Ulfur after the events of this afternoon - but since he's out of it, how are we going to get Ulfur?" Pia asked.
"We'll find another lichmaster," Kristoff told her, looking toward where I sat.
"I'm almost done. I found a Web site for something called the Guardians' Guild that lists a contact number." I scribbled down a phone number and relinquished the laptop. "Evidently you can hire Guardians through them. I wish I knew Noelle's last name."
"It wouldn't do you any good if you did," a tired voice came from the doorway.
Kristoff was across the room before I could blink, Alec right there with him. Kristoff pinned a slight, balding man with dark hair and dark eyes to the wall, Alec leaning in with a wicked intent.
"Who are you?" Kristoff snarled.
"My apologies," the man said in a choked voice. Literally choked, since Kristoff held him up by the neck just as Alec had done with Brother Ailwin. "I should have known better than to startle Dark Ones with Beloveds in the same room."
"Yes, you should have," Alec said. "Answer the question."
"I'm not sure he can," Pia said, tapping Kristoff on the arm. "His face is turning red, Boo. You should probably let him down before he passes out."
Boo?
It's Pia's love name for Kristoff. She said he scared the hell out of her when she first met us.
That's fitting. You scared the crap out of me, too.
Your first sight of me was when I killed the woman who decapitated you. That hardly counts.
"Who are you?" Kristoff repeated, releasing the man. He was a good foot shorter than Alec and Kristoff, balding, dressed in a brown suit, but with a pleasant face despite the fact that he'd just been throttled. "And how did you get in here?"
"What did you mean about it being of no use to call the Guardian?" Alec added.
I moved over to where he stood, telling my inner devil to stop attempting a new career as a matchmaker. Unattached Beloveds were not my problem. "Just out of curiosity, do you know Noelle?" the devil forced me to ask nonetheless.
"My name is Terrin," he said, answering Kristoff first. "I walked in. Mortal doors have never been a problem for me. It's of no use to contact the Guardian - who I do not personally know, by the way - because she couldn't get Diamond out of the Akasha."
Mortal doors? So this guy is one of you?
He's not a Dark One, no. But he is immortal. Alec considered him with interest. The name seems familiar to me, but I can't place it, or him.
"Why couldn't Noelle spring Diamond?" I asked at the same time that Kristoff, in a growl, asked Terrin what he was doing there.
"I would be happy to explain both if you would allow me a glass of water?" Terrin rubbed his throat, grimacing when he hit a tender spot.
Pia gestured toward the couch. "Of course. Please come in and sit down. Do you drink tea? The water's fairly hot still, I think."
"Tea of any temperature would be most welcome, thank you. I have had a long journey to get here." Terrin held up a hand, giving Kristoff a watered-down smile. "I see you're about to object to such civilities. Would it relieve your mind if I told you that I am a member of the Court of pine Blood?"
The who of what, now? I asked Alec, moving over to the couch to sit with Pia opposite Terrin.
"It might," Kristoff allowed.
It is what the mortals think of as heaven. Or rather, the mortals based their notion of heaven upon the Court.
So he's a good guy?