Wicked Whispers Page 8
He motioned her from the room. “Us.”
Ivy knew she could refuse to go with him, but that would give him further proof that he bothered her. He’d enjoy it too much. She went back to the nightstand to retrieve her room key, and then followed him into the hall. “Stairs.” She might never get into an elevator again.
He followed her down the steps, and she could feel his glance skimming her back and coming to rest on her butt. It wasn’t a bad feeling. “Why does she need you? I assume she just wants to go over my duties.” With the sound and fury she’d heard coming from the candy store, Ivy was surprised that Sparkle was in any condition to meet them at all.
Murmur’s laughter was soft and cynical. “Sparkle is the cosmic troublemaker in charge of sexual chaos. She’s decided that we’re absolutely not right for each other, but the sexual vibes feel good, so she’ll play with us for a while.”
Ivy didn’t like the sound of that. There were no sexual vibes. Not many anyway. Okay, so maybe there were a few. “How do you know what she’s planning? Besides, she can’t force us to do anything we don’t want to do.” She wished she felt as positive as she sounded.
“I’ve been here a little longer than you. I’ve seen her in action.”
She sensed his smile.
“I wouldn’t mess with Sparkle. Ganymede can end your life in a moment, but Sparkle can make you wish for death for a thousand years.”
Ivy almost smiled. “You’re exaggerating.”
“No, really.”
She turned her head in time to see him widen his eyes in mock sincerity.
They reached the office tucked around the corner from the conference room. Murmur held the door open for her. Ivy took a deep breath and then stepped into the room.
Sparkle sat behind a massive desk. An empty desk. She watched them from across its wide expanse of richly polished wood, her expression that of a cat with a particularly tasty mouse. “Come in and sit.” She gestured at the two chairs facing her.
Ivy obeyed, aware of Murmur taking the seat beside her. She scanned the room, her gaze stopping as she realized who sat in a shadowed corner of the office.
Zane slouched in a chair watching her. He looked annoyed, dangerous, and beautiful all at the same time. He offered her a brief smile.
“Who won?” Murmur sounded amused.
Sparkle sniffed. “The bitch is lucky I didn’t unload all my power onto her furry ass.” She glanced at her nails. “Broken. Three of them. I’ve already made an appointment at the salon. And I snapped the heel off one of my favorite stilettos trying to drill a hole in her ungrateful head.”
Ivy caught herself staring. Livid scratches and what looked like bite marks marched up Sparkle’s arms. Her hair sort of stuck out all over. Sparkle saw the direction of Ivy’s stare and reached into her desk. She pulled out a mirror, comb, brush, and hair spray. They all waited while Sparkle whipped her hair into its usual tumbled glory. Murmur coughed at the cloud of hair spray.
“Now, where were we? Oh, I wanted to talk to both of you before I had to leave. Ivy, I want you to answer my e-mails. I’ve let them pile up while I took care of some of the Big Boss’s business.” She waved at the work station against the far wall.
“Answer them?” Panic. “How can I answer them? I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Sparkle looked unconcerned. “Be creative. Murmur will stay to help you. He knows me well enough to figure out how I’d probably respond. Oh, and my password is ‘sexyforever.’”
“Why is he here?” Murmur nodded toward Zane.
Ivy didn’t miss the animosity in his voice. But she couldn’t worry about Murmur’s attitude. She was too busy hyperventilating.
Sparkle didn’t even glance at the sorcerer. “Zane and I were discussing a few minor details about the castle.”
“Minor details?” Zane snorted his opinion of Sparkle’s description.
Sparkle didn’t get a chance to respond because a woman walked into the office. She was petite with short black hair and wide blue eyes. She wore a gray business suit, sensible shoes, and a disapproving expression. She paused, hesitant, when she realized Sparkle wasn’t alone.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize… You said you wanted to see me.” The woman glanced at each of them before focusing on Sparkle.
Sparkle sighed. “This is Ella. She’s one of the cosmic do-gooders we liberated from Ted, the fake angel.” She glanced at Ivy. “Ted had raised an army of powerful nonhumans like me—not nearly as interesting, though, because they’re disgustingly righteous and nauseatingly kind, merciful, and all that other crap. He told them they were angels, and they believed him. Long story short, they attacked the castle trying to overthrow the Big Boss. Edge got rid of Ted for us. Unfortunately, he left Ella and the others here.”
“Edge? But I thought he was in charge of political chaos. How did he—?”
“He was in charge of death back then. He has a new job description now. His work doesn’t take him away from the castle much, though. The politicians usually create their own chaos.”
“I see.” Not. Ivy thought her head would explode.
Ella’s smile looked ragged around the edges. “Since we lived our whole lives following Ted’s rules, we have no idea how to interact with humans on the mortal plane. The Big Boss assigned Sparkle as my mentor.” She didn’t seem totally down with that arrangement.
“Interesting.” Murmur cast a speculative glance Ella’s way. “And what is your particular talent, Ella?”
Ivy wanted to draw the conversation back to the e-mails. How could she possibly answer—?
“I encourage loving committed relationships between couples. I help them see the advantage of practicing purity, sexual control, and modest dress.” Ella didn’t look at her mentor.
Sparkle’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “I will personally kill the Big Boss and take over his stupid empire for this.” Then she stood. “I’m taking Ella with me. After I get my nails done, we’re going shopping for some more stylish clothes.”
“But they must be modest,” Ella reminded her.
“Of course.” Sparkle’s smile was a brief lifting of her lips to expose perfect white teeth.
Ivy wondered why Ella didn’t see the cunning anticipation in that smile.
Sparkle walked around the desk and headed for the door.
“Wait.” Zane finally spoke. “We didn’t finish our discussion.”
Sparkle paused to cast him an impatient stare. “We don’t need increased security, Zane. The gargoyles protect everything in the park.”
The sorcerer stood and reached her in two strides. “They’re not enough. Ted was able to shut them down. Any powerful entity could do the same.”
Sparkle edged closer to the door. “The Castle of Dark Dreams has three cosmic troublemakers, a vampire, a wizard, a sorcerer, and two demons in residence. I believe that’s sufficient security.”
Without giving Zane time to mount an argument, she hustled Ella out the door.
Zane stared at the closed door before turning his frustrated gaze on them. “She refuses to listen.” He threw up his hands in disgust. “An attack by a powerful force could destroy the gargoyles and take the castle down stone by stone. The castle needs more powerful wards.”
Murmur shrugged. “So why don’t you take care of that?”
“She won’t let me. Sparkle and Ganymede don’t trust me enough.”
“You worked for their enemy, so, yeah, I can understand their distrust.” Murmur didn’t try to hide his dislike.
“That has nothing to do with the castle’s safety.” Zane’s expression said he wasn’t a fan of Murmur either.
“Maybe Holgarth can—”
Zane didn’t give Ivy a chance to finish. “My father is a powerful wizard, but he isn’t strong enough to create the wards the castle needs.”
She didn’t have any other ideas to offer, so she walked over to the computer and sat down. Zane and Murmur positioned their chairs on eithe
r side of her. “Let’s take a look at these e-mails.” It shouldn’t take too long to answer them. How many could there be? She just hoped she could get away with general answers. And if she messed up, it was Sparkle’s fault for not giving her some directions.
She put in Sparkle’s password, clicked enter, and waited for the e-mail list to appear. It appeared. She stared. “Crap. Is this even possible? She has two thousand unanswered messages? How am I supposed to answer all these?”
“One message at a time.” Murmur reached over to open the first one.
Hi Sparkle,
I was so happy when you hooked me up with Sidney. You can see from my photo that I created a new me. Everything was perfect. The sex was incredible. I fell in love with him. But then I found out he hunted defenseless animals so he could put their heads on his wall. I told him I couldn’t live in a house filled with dead animals. He broke up with me. Sparkle, he loved his ten-point buck more than me. Now I’m so sad. What should I do?
Totally depressed,
Sally
Zane muffled his laughter. She suspected Murmur was doing the same. Jerks.
Ivy stared at Sally’s photo—really short body-hugging dress that gave new meaning to cleavage, and stilettos with heels high enough to give Sally a nosebleed. Sidney never had a chance.
“What am I supposed to tell her?” Ivy had no desire to mess around with someone’s broken heart. “I can answer business mail. I can’t answer this.” Ivy looked at Murmur.
Murmur smiled. “I can channel Sparkle as well as anyone. I’ll take care of this one.”
Ivy changed places with him and then watched him type his answer to Sally.
Sally,
Accept my deepest sympathy, and now suck it up. Sidney was a loser. He didn’t deserve you. Forget him.
Concentrate on the positive. You look hot, lady. Think of Sidney as a practice game. You know the rules now, so go out and get another man. Just make sure you vet the next guy a little better.
Stay sensual,
Sparkle Stardust
“That is so cold.” Ivy was horrified.
“That is so Sparkle.” Murmur didn’t sound too concerned. “If you intend to work for her, you have to think like her.”
“I’ll never do that. I want my seat back.”
Murmur moved without commenting.
She opened a few more e-mails. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll answer these if it saves one person from the kind of answer Sparkle would give. It’ll take a long time, though. I’ll have to think about my answers, make sure I’m giving people the right advice for their situations. But it’ll be my advice, not Sparkle’s.”
Ivy frowned. This would be a monumental job. “I’ll print out twenty of these and take them back to my room so that I can really get a feel for their problems.” She waited as the printer did its thing.
“Oh, good grief.” Zane shook his head. “This isn’t that deep.”
She glared at him.
“Okay, here’s what I’ll do to help you. I have some free time. I’ll go through these and answer only the ones thanking Sparkle for her awesome advice. Will you trust me to do that much for you?”
Ivy glanced at Murmur. His narrowed-eyed expression said he wouldn’t trust Zane to take out the trash. For a moment, she wondered why he seemed to dislike Zane so much. Then she allowed the thought to slip away. It wasn’t any of her business.
She bit her lip. Could she trust Zane? It wouldn’t be as though he was doing the tough part of her job, and it would give her more time to spend on answering the people who really needed her.
She nodded. “Okay. But make sure you don’t touch any of the ones from people who need serious help.”
Zane grinned. “Wouldn’t think of it.”
Murmur stood and strode to the door. “Let’s go.” He looked disgusted.
Ivy joined him. She ignored his expression. He could just get over himself.
Zane stopped her as she was about to leave. “By the way, let me know when you want those tips on how to keep people out of your mind.”
Murmur sent him a murderous stare.
“I won’t forget.”
Ivy didn’t elaborate. No use in putting Murmur in a worse mood by bringing the whole rat scene up again. She left the office. Murmur followed her and closed the door behind him.
She stopped. Ivy now had two unfinished job assignments. “I should go to my room and start working. Or maybe I should just pack. She won’t be happy when she sees how I answer her e-mails. Sparkle doesn’t strike me as a patient woman.”
Murmur laughed, a soft husky sound. It was so sensual that it made her stomach clench.
“She won’t fire you. If she wants to make us her latest sex tag team, she has to keep you around.” He sounded calmly certain.
“That doesn’t make sense. Why us? You’re a powerful demon and I’m… nobody.” Okay, that sounded pitiful, even to her own ears. She needed to work on her self-image.
Murmur looked sincerely surprised. “Nobody? Not true. You were courageous in the face of spiders and rats. You didn’t run from the castle after seeing your first ogre. I’d say you were brave for not panicking after dancing with your first demon, but I’m sure my natural charm convinced you that danger can be fun. You are an amazing somebody.” His smile challenged her to deny it.
Ivy couldn’t help it; she laughed. And that was exactly what he’d wanted her to do. She hated being predictable. She stopped laughing as she thought of the ogre. “Cinn said she thought I might have Sidhe blood in me.” Now why had she blurted that out?
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and then he nodded. “Why don’t we sit in the lobby for a while? I need to people-watch.”
Ivy blinked. That was a strange reaction to her revelation. Did she want to be with him? He was a demon, and he was manipulating her mind. So, no. Her mind didn’t hesitate. But she realized there were other parts of her chiming in with their opinions. The part of her that was shallow and unhealthily focused on his total hotness thought spending a little time with him wouldn’t be a bad thing. After all, what could he do in a crowded lobby? It would be a lot more interesting than sitting alone in her room reading e-mails and sorting through complaints.
She nodded. It was only a few steps to the lobby, and they found a small table tucked into the corner of the room. Ivy allowed him to buy her a drink. “I still can’t talk about the…” Nope, guess not.
He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. “Did you find out anything about your family?”
Evidently he didn’t intend to ignore her earlier comment about the Sidhe after all. “I talked to my father. He said our…” Damn, she didn’t know what to call it. Gift? Ivy didn’t think so. More like a curse. She didn’t want to see things like the ogre. “Our ability might come from his grandfather. No one knows much about him though.”
Murmur’s gaze followed a passing woman in medieval costume who was headed for the great hall. “I suppose she’d do. She’s young. She’s beautiful.” He sounded as though he was talking to himself.
“What?” Was he scoping out women while he was sitting with her? “Maybe you’d like me to leave so you could get to know her better.” She sounded as bitchy as she felt, and she didn’t give a damn.
He looked startled for a moment, and then he smiled. It was slow, and knowing, and filled with the promise of every forbidden pleasure she could imagine, and some she probably couldn’t. “Are you jealous?”
Ivy could feel heat flooding her face. She glanced down. She couldn’t believe she’d said something so stupid. “Absolutely not. I just don’t want to hold you up if you have something else you want to do.” No matter how professional and detached she sounded now, she didn’t think her explanation would fool him. “Besides, how can I be jealous of someone I only met yesterday?” She was beginning to think there was a stranger hiding inside her, one who said stupid things and felt dangerous emotions.
“You’re jealous.” He practically glo
wed with the joy of knowing.
Stupid man. No, stupid demon. She had to keep remembering what he was.
And just in case she might forget, a soft melody began to play a background to her thoughts. She opened her mouth to tell him to shut off the music, but it was so beautiful that she decided to let it stay. “Why are you playing music in my mind?”
He shrugged. “No reason. I just like it. It reminds me of you, all soft and sensual.” He didn’t look down as he reached over and put his hand over hers where it rested on the table.
Her hand evidently thought this should be a shared experience, because it felt as though he’d cupped her entire body. His fingers were warm and smooth against her skin, and she’d never known that one small touch could scatter her thoughts and send her heart into hyperdrive.
Control. She took a deep breath. “Oh.” She didn’t want to be pleased by his answer. She really didn’t. But she was. Although she didn’t agree with the soft part. She’d spent years practicing to be hard and focused on her life goals. Don’t just touch my hand. Touch my body, my hear— No. Where had those thoughts come from? She shoved them away.
“And I wasn’t checking out that woman for me.”
He met her gaze directly, but then Ivy figured that all demons would be qualifiers for the Liars’ Olympics. Murmur probably had the medals to prove it.
His hand. She couldn’t concentrate with him touching her. But she also couldn’t summon the will to pull her hand away. Maybe his music wasn’t the only addictive part of him.
“I need a woman for a particular job. She has to be young, beautiful, and enjoy traveling to unusual places.” Something about what he’d just said seemed to amuse him, because he smiled.
Ivy waited for him to tell her more, but after a few seconds of silence, she decided that’s all he intended to say. “Now that we’re just chatting, I have a few questions for you.”
He looked wary. The music stopped.
“Do you have to use your music for evil? I mean, what would’ve happened if you hadn’t just shut off the music in my head?” She couldn’t believe she was actually giving a demon the chance to assure her he wasn’t all evil. Shades of gray.