Free My Wicked Vampire by Nina Bangs Page B

damn sure he didn’t drop the pot.She’d had the vine wrapped in a nice neat ball, but now it tumbled loose. Smothering a curse, Dacian gathered up the vine and draped it over his shoulder. Just freaking great. He glanced at Cinn. She was grinning. And suddenly, he felt like grinning, too.
    Sparkle and Ganymede had a suite in one of the towers. Ganymede paused in front of the door. “ Understand something. Sparkle did the decorating before she got depth and character. Personally I think this is who she really is, but that’s just me. Anyway, the first jerk who makes a crack about it gets a fist in the face. ”
    “You don’t have a fist.” Dacian had to point out the obvious.
    “ Smart-ass. ” Ganymede turned back to the door. “ I have claws, though. ”
    The door swung open and Ganymede padded in. Dacian, Cinn, and Edge followed him. Dacian and Cinn froze in the doorway. Edge just snorted his opinion and kept walking.
    Sparkle swayed toward them. “Welcome. Have a seat.”
    Her smile was an invite to have much more than a seat, but who was looking at her smile? Her nightgown was long, black, and just short of see-through.
    Her smile widened as she studied Dacian. “I made sure I was decent for the meeting. And this gown is a leftover from my shallow days. I’ve ordered some plain cotton jammies, but they, um, must’ve gotten lost in the mail.” Her expression said she wasn’t looking too hard for them.
    “ Ouch. ” Vince’s voice?
    Dacian blinked and looked down. He’d tightened his grip until the pot was in danger of shattering. He relaxed. A side glance at Cinn caught her glaring at him.Interesting. She must not be a fan of Sparkle’s nightwear.
    Sparkle draped herself across a chaise. Her black gown slithered and slid, forming interesting patterns of skin and silk.
    Ganymede ignored everyone as he sprawled next to the remote on the couch. “ Someone put the damn headphones on me so I can watch the tube while you guys yammer. Oh, and I need my bowl of popcorn. Someone take care of it. ”
    Everyone looked at everyone else. No one moved.
    Finally, Sparkle sighed and unwound herself from the chaise. “Men. Helpless babies.” She thought about that. “Or kittens, as the case may be.”
    She somehow managed to get the headphone buds in Ganymede’s ears and then she plunked the popcorn down so hard in front of him that kernels flew in every direction. He ignored her bad humor as he stared unblinking at the screen.
    Cinn dropped onto the couch beside Ganymede. Edge and Dacian sank into twin overstuffed easy chairs. Not the kind of seating arrangement he liked. A straight chair was simpler to spring out of if danger threatened. But Sparkle had stuff piled on the chairs grouped around the small dining table.
    “So why are we here?” Dacian wanted to be gone. He intended to take Cinn back to her room, where the Bain guy would presumably guard her until morning when Edge would take over. He’d taken Edge’s measure and didn’t doubt the guy could handle the goddess. But he didn’t know squat about Bain. He’d find out, though. Soon.
    “I need all three of you together for just a few minutes.” Sparkle had once again arranged her body on the chaise in a lush display of female flesh.
    Only a saint could ignore what Sparkle was, and Godknew, Dacian wasn’t a saint. An angry hiss jerked his attention to Ganymede. The cat’s gaze was fixed on him with clear intent to do physical damage.
    Sparkle’s laughter was low and so sexy it would make a man’s teeth hurt, along with other body parts. “Ignore Mede. He doesn’t understand the game, Dacian.”
    “Obviously I don’t either.” Cinn’s voice sounded neutral, but her clenched fists suggested otherwise.
    For some reason, that made Dacian feel good. He wasn’t ready to analyze why.
    Sparkle sighed. “You’ve spent too much time around your plants, Cinn. Everything that happens between a man and woman is a game. And if you’re lucky, you both