My boy's goin' into the dark.

And it was happening again.

"Then he left me and I was so scared you'd leave me, too."

So she'd started to shut me out. "You weren't ever going to tell me, were you?"

A shake of her mother's head. "I just prayed you weren't-"

Like him.

A fist squeezed her heart. A cold, clammy fist that just tightened and tightened.

"Peter had a…sickness." Niol, his voice softer, pitched with sadness. "We call it the Dark Touch in the demon world."

Kelly's lips trembled. "Could you-could you have helped my son?" A pause, so brief, then.

"You're strong. Some say maybe the strongest born this century."

Well, that was a new one for Holly.

"Could you have helped him?"

Her mother's words twisted with Jon's. You got to help my boy.

Holly looked up at him, saw the clench of his jaw. "Not then. No, I couldn't."

Brutal honesty.

"But I'm sure as hell working to make sure no more kids go Dark."

The fist eased its hold. Niol glanced down at her with eyes cloaked in so many shadows.

He looked worried. For her.

Niol pressed a kiss to her lips. "Talk to your mother. Get past this. It can't eat you up anymore."

He would know all about being destroyed from the inside.

His head inclined toward her mother. "Interesting meeting you, Mrs. Storm."

Her mouth parted.

Then he walked away. Calm, slow steps. In moments, the door clicked closed behind him.

Holly stared at her mother. Two feet between them, but it sure seemed like so much more.

Do you hear the voices, Hol?

"He…he's not what I expected."

A cold-blooded killer. She knew that was what most people expected. "There's more to Niol than just-" His reputation for death. "What you see and hear."

Her mother crept forward, hesitated.

Holly couldn't move.

"I didn't know how to tell you. There weren't any signs, I thought it had skipped you-"

It. There was no it. She was a demon. Blood, bones, and soul.

"You're afraid of Niol." Her voice sounded rusty. Of course, most folks were rightly afraid of Niol. "Are you-are you afraid of me, too?" Because of what I am.

Another inch forward. Her mother's hands lifted, then fisted. "No."

Holly wanted to believe that.

"I'm not afraid of you, baby. I love you. "

Holly couldn't remember the last time she'd heard those words.

One more inch. "But I understand just how dangerous this world is, especially for you." An inhalation of air that sounded too loud in the room. "I just want you to be safe."

With a demon-hunter on the streets, that wasn't going to be an easy order.

Her mother's gaze searched hers. "You…care for him, don't you?"

That damn fist was back, but Holly managed to nod.

"I saw it, in your eyes."

Had Niol seen it, too?

"I always wanted you to be safe, with a man who'd protect you." Her mouth lifted into the ghost of a smile. "Guess Niol knows how to protect what's his, doesn't he?"

Holly opened her mouth to answer and-

"He'd better," he mother continued, that smile vanishing, "because if that demon lets anything happen to you, I'll kill him."

Then her mom threw her arms around her, squeezing so tightly that Holly struggled for breath.

Dr. Emily Drake sat behind her desk. Her gaze darted to her watch. Nine twenty-eight a.m. Her first appointment would be checking in soon. A charmer.

She liked the charmers. They were the most easygoing of the Other. Actually, most of their trouble usually came from their creature companions. Communication issues.

She tapped her pen against the top of the desk. Yes, her patient would be here any minute and she was glad for that fact because she needed a distraction.

She couldn't get the demon-hunter case out of her head.

Colin had come to her just before dawn. Eyes stark, the scent of blood on his body. He'd told her about the young demon they'd found and the horror she'd endured. McNeal had already sent orders that as soon as the girl woke up, he wanted Emily in that hospital room with her.

But Emily didn't think Kim would be in the mood for talking right away. No, the rage and the fear would be too strong at first.

She'd survived. Barely.

The first victim to live through an attack by the hunter. She was lucky, but Emily wasn't certain Kim would feel that way when her eyes finally opened. She didn't know if-

Her office door swung open. Emily glanced up, pasting a smile on her face.

"I said you can't go in there!" Vanessa's voice, reaching shriek level.

But the man in her doorway didn't flinch. His legs were braced apart, his arms loosely at his sides, and his black eyes zeroed in on her.

Niol.

Well, damn.

Her palms started to sweat. She hadn't seen Niol in months. She'd stayed out of Paradise and he'd stayed out of her way. Fair enough arrangement.

She and Niol didn't exactly have a good history between them.

And she knew that her wolf shifter lover really wanted to kick the demon's ass.

"Tell the witch to back off."

She wasn't the least bit surprised that Niol knew about her assistant's Other powers. The guy always seemed to know everything.

But he'd never come to her office before.

Emily rose to her feet and cast a glance at Vanessa. The woman was pale, with wide eyes– she knew about Niol's reputation –but she wasn't backing down.

"It's okay. I can talk to Mr. Lapen for a few moments." A glance at her watch, a deliberate and fake one this time. "My appointment will be here soon-"

A grunt. "Shaughnessy won't be here today." A smile that made the hair on her nape rise. "He had a…change of plans."

Niol knew too much.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Treat my friends well, witch."

His friends?

Oh, this couldn't be good.

Vanessa gazed back at her and Emily managed a nod. Her glasses felt too tight, as if they were pinching her nose and a dull ache had begun behind her left eye.

Always happened around Niol. His power was so strong it seemed to lap at her.

The door closed with a soft click. Emily didn't sit down and Niol just kept staring at her.

When he finally moved, stalking across the room toward her, she braced her hands on the desk.

"Why are you here?"

His head tilted. "I came to collect a debt."

"What?" She didn't owe that bastard anything. She knew how he operated and she'd made absolutely sure that she didn't-

"Come now, Emily, don't look so surprised. You had to know I'd come calling one day." He glanced over at her black leather couch. "Interesting. Bet the wolf likes that."

Her cheeks heated. Yeah, Colin did.

Control. "I don't know what debt you're talking about-" She wasn't going to touch the couch reference, "but I've got clients who need my help. I don't have time-"

"I need you, too, Emily."

He said her name as if they were close. Friends. Lovers.

They'd never been either.

After a moment, he headed for the couch. Didn't lay down, just sat, with his legs sprawled before him. "You're such a smart lady. Surely you've wondered…"

His eyes were so dark. Humans could get lost in those eyes. She knew that-she'd seen it happen.

And Holly was dating him? Sleeping with him?

"I remember the first time you walked into my Paradise. You were shaking because you were afraid-"

Terrified might be a better word.

"And because you were so hungry."

Slowly, she sat back down into her chair. The leather creaked beneath her.

"You needed my world, didn't you? Needed to touch it, to feel it in order to keep surviving."

She'd always suspected Niol's mind was razor sharp and that his instincts for people were dead-

on. No wonder the guy was such a fine predator. "Where is this going?" Her voice was cool and perfectly calm. She was good at that, good at pretending. She'd had so much practice over the years.

Niol's gaze said he knew that and his slow smile had her stiffening.

"I let you into my Paradise. Gave you free rein in my world."

Okay, yes, she'd always wondered about that, but-"You also introduced me to the asshole who tried to shove his way into my mind." Myles. Demon bastard. He hadn't been expecting her to fight back.

His mistake.

The faint lines around Niol's mouth tightened. "When I realized what was happening with Myles…it was too late." His brows lifted. "You took care of the problem before I could intervene."

Lie. Emily didn't buy that one for a minute. "Bullshit-"

"Doctor– language. "

Emily growled.

"Myles was a mistake." A shrug. "But I think he certainly paid for his crime, don't you? You blasted every bit of his power away. Wouldn't have thought it was possible, if I hadn't seen it for myself."

For a moment, she was back in Paradise. The roar of the laughing crowd around her. Smoke in the air. And a demon at her feet. Dizzy, lost, she'd fallen facefirst into the gleaming bar-

And woken in a hospital.

"I've always wondered…" A couple of things. She drew in a deep gulp of air. The whole conversation was surreal, but she'd wanted answers for years.

Answers . She'd always craved them.

And never found them all.

Some mysteries just couldn't be solved.

"Who got me out of Paradise?" She asked him quietly.

One black brow rose.

Damn.

"I couldn't very well leave you bleeding on my floor, now could I? Not good for business."

Like his clientele would have cared that an unconscious and bleeding woman was on the floor.

He eased back a bit on the couch. "I took you out, made certain there were no…uncomfortable questions at the hospital, and I stayed-"

Now that surprised her.

"-with you until you were awake again."

What? Niol had been there, when she'd been at her weakest? Very scary thought.

His bottomless gaze held hers. "Myles had friends. Shit scum, but powerful. The eye-for-an-eye type. They would have just loved to get their hands on you."

She'd worried about them. Had some nightmares after she'd gotten out of the hospital. But then the fear about retaliation had just seemed to vanish from her mind.

"I…eliminated the threat to you." He spoke easily. Calmly. As if he were talking about getting rid of trash. And for him, maybe he was. Emily had never understood him. His mind had been closed to her. Always closed. Not like the others. She could pick her way so easily into the thoughts of most paranormals.

Not Niol.

Not that she'd ever really wanted to try.

Because Emily knew, deep down, that if Niol wanted to go after her, the way Myles had, well, she wouldn't be knocked out.

She'd be killed.

Niol was just too strong. She'd heard rumors once about level-tens. The talk was that they could live for freaking ever. They could heal so fast that their bodies were in a constant state of perfect health.

But the longer they lived, the more their…demon selves emerged.

The rumors were that some demons out there, some level-tens were so old they had cloven feet and tails.

Rumors, of course; she'd never found any information to substantiate that, but-

But level-tens couldn't be killed by any weapon of man-that much was true.

And Niol, since he more than tipped the power scale, she sure didn't want to tangle with him.

"Since I took care of that little problem for you, I'd say that puts you in my debt."

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"

He held up his hands. "Don't look so worried, Emily. I'm not the threat you think."

She snorted.

"I just need that wonderful mind of yours. So interesting, so strong."

Emily's stomach knotted. "I always thought you were testing me," she murmured, deliberately throwing the words out as her own test to see how Niol would respond.

He nodded. "Yes, I was."

Sonofabitch. He'd let her into Paradise to test her like a lab rat, and he had the gall to sit there and say she owed him ?

"Had to make sure you were capable, that you could handle the darkness."

She'd been handling darkness for years. She didn't need some arrogant ass of a demon to-

"If you weren't strong enough, then you wouldn't have been of any use to me."

Cold and hard. Just like she would have expected.

But-

But his eyes weren't cold. The darkness was lit with a fire she'd never seen before.

I want in his mind.

Because Emily had the feeling that the puppet master was hiding too many secrets of his own.

He leaned forward, dropping the easy pose. "You tell no one about the work I want you to do-"

Niol wanted therapy?

" No one, and you-"

Her office door flew open and banged into the wall.

Her breath choked out in surprise. Niol didn't even blink.

" What the fuck are you doing here, demon? "

Her very much enraged wolf shifter lover stood in the doorway. Not in cop mode, definitely not.

More like jealous fury mode.

And it was sweet, kind of, anyway.