"Yes. Very striking."
That should have no effect on him whatsoever and yet her words set him on fire. He didn't know why the thought of her finding him attractive should even register. Millions of women, literally, had found him attractive all throughout history. They used to worship him by the thousands.
But her words made his heart speed up. Made his palms sweat. Made him so hard that he could barely stand being around her.
She took his hand in hers.
"C'mon." She tugged him toward the bedroom.
"What are you doing?"
"You need to rest. It's been a long day and I intend to tuck you into bed."
A smile quirked up the right side of his mouth as he hardened even more. "Really? Can I tuck myself into you?"
"If you play your cards right and stop with the cheesy lines it might be possible."
Kessar blinked twice at Nabium, who'd interrupted his feeding. He raised up from the dead showgirl on the floor and wiped the blood from his lips with a linen napkin. "What do you mean the Hayar Bedr is missing?"
The demon who was tall and dark haired gulped audibly as he noted the fury in Kessar's tone. "The god Nana went to the cavern and-"
"Ex-god," he corrected Nabium.
Nabium cleared his throat. "Ex-god, and he took him."
Kessar cursed at the timing. It pissed him off that Sin had found some way into their hole and found one of his favorite toys. Not that it mattered. They could still free the Dimme, but owning the Moon had made their succession as the dominant life force on the planet a little easier.
"Where's my brother?"
Nabium grew quiet.
Kessar let out a sound of disgust at his younger brother and his libido. He had never learned a sense of timing. "Tell him to get off whatever female he's found and come here. Now."
"I-I can't, my lord."
"Why not?"
Nabium took a step away from him before he gulped again, and then spoke. "They killed him."
Kessar couldn't breathe as that news registered. It couldn't be. "What?"
"He died fighting them, my lord. I am so sorry."
Kessar felt his fangs come out as rage filled him. He wanted blood for this.
As he walked toward the closet, Nabium practically bolted in fear. Not that Kessar would ever hurt his second in command. No, Kessar needed someone weak to torture.
Opening the closet, he pulled the college student out he'd captured earlier after they'd left Sin's casino. She was short, with long mousy brown hair and beady blue eyes that were rimmed with small, round glasses. Her mouth was taped so that she couldn't scream, and her hands and feet were tied. She was dressed in a pair of faded jeans, black boots, and a black Boondock Saints T-shirt that showed off her beefy upper arms.
But what he found fascinating, and the main reason he'd captured her, was that she had a small bow and arrow tattoo on her wrist. Before he'd taken her, she'd told him the bow and arrow was to protect her from nightmares. Strange, really, since it was also the mark of Artemis and as such made the student a prime target for them.
Using his powers, he muffled the room so that no one in the hotel could hear her scream. Then he ripped the tape from her mouth.
She cried out. He shoved her into Nabium's arms. "Hold her still."
"P-p-please," she begged as her gaze fell to the body of the other woman. "I'm pregnant."
"Like we care?" Kessar felt his face shifting over to that of his real demon form.