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She had just fallen into his arms when the doorbell rang. One of his friends went to answer, and after a loud argument, a handful of neighbors rushed into the bedroom.
Hester was in the lead. "What's wrong? What was making those awful sounds? Who are these men?" No one paid any attention to the innocuous and almost invisible sprinkling of dust on the bedroom carpet.
Zane and his friends remained silent, and in the bathroom, Marielle cried hysterically. The neighbors watched and waited.
The truth was impossible. "I can't believe my screaming sounds awful, but I was scared." She sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed but not trying to stand. Not yet. "In a nutshell, Marielle murdered my Aunt Mildred. Poison." Her lower lip trembled. That part of it was so unfair. "She planned to kill me tonight."
One of Zane's friends, the big blond, opened the bathroom door and dragged Marielle out. She looked at the dust on the floor and screamed in pure agony.
"Thank goodness Zane and his friends heard me. They were just about to start a poker game, but they rushed right over."
"With swords?" Todd asked, scratching his head.
"Zane's collection," Ruby explained. "They scared Marielle sufficiently, I'm happy to say."
"I called the police!" Hester said, and at that moment Ruby heard the distant wail of sirens.
Zane and his friends stiffened, but Ruby found herself patting Zane's arm in offered comfort. This could all be explained away, and Marielle would end up in jail. "Good," she said.
"They'll kill me," Marielle said softly. "I failed, I screwed up, and they'll kill me."
The neighbors all kept a distance from Marielle. Anyone could see that she wasn't quite right. The good people of Holland Court just didn't know how out of her gourd the pretty blonde was. She yanked away from the man who held her and dropped to the floor to run her hands through the dust—all that remained of the demon who had seduced her with dreams and promises.
"I actually asked her out," Todd whispered to the nearest man. "Thank goodness she told me to ask another time. I might be dead right now!"
The excitement over, Ruby's neighbors peeled away. More than one of them told her she had a scary-ass scream. She had a feeling that scream—the cat-demon's screech—would haunt her for a long time. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to face it on her own.
Before all the onlookers had departed, Ruby fell into Zane's arms. "I want a cookie," she whispered. "No, that's not enough. Maybe a cupcake, one with really thick frosting." Frosting, that was an idea. She'd choked down a huge piece of cake and a bowl of ice cream not so long ago, but that didn't count. Choking down food in order to keep the silverware did not compare with snuggling beneath a blanket with a warm man and a sweet dessert. "No, wait, I want a cake. I want a whole chocolate cake with fudge icing. Nothing fancy. Aunt Mildred's recipe, the one she used to make when I was a kid."
"You can have whatever you want," Zane said, smoothing her hair.
"Can I?" she asked. "Can I really?"
"Yes."
She pulled away and looked up into fierce brown eyes. Life was too short for her to be so damn careful all the time. "Remember when I said I didn't want a man?"
"I remember."
"I've changed my mind."
He gave her a tired smile. "Good, because I'm planning to ask you out."
"On a date?"
"Yes, on a date."
"I'm a little rusty," she confessed. "I haven't dated in a while."
"Neither have I."
Ruby allowed her head to rest against Zane's chest. She held on to him more tightly than was necessary, and it felt good. She listened to his heartbeat, which was almost as fast and hard as hers. She took a deep and stilling breath, and when his hand settled on the back of her head she almost cried. It felt so right.
"Get me out of here, Zane," she whispered, and without hesitation he slid his arms beneath her legs and lifted her.
"I can walk," she said, resting her head on his shoulder and making no attempt to make him put her down.
"Not tonight."
