Devil's Playground Read Online Free Page B

awake. He jumped from his fur pallet, and in a zip stream of motion, he had drawers open, closed, and then his silk shirt off and his slacks and another shirt on. And all of that happened within a blur. I’d probably never get used to how fast a vampire could move.
    “Do I need my weapons?” Devil asked, after practically teleporting to a closet at the back of the room.
    The door was already open, and he held a long dagger in his right hand.
    I shook my head and said, “I just need you upstairs. Are you rested up enough to face the sun?”
    I looked over at his lady-kittens, curled up in a well-sated pile, arms and legs still entwined. How he got any rest at all in bed with his brides was a mystery.
    “The sun won’t be a problem.”
    “Good, because we have a new ghost in the bar, a possible murderer, and a fleet of cop cars that just pulled up out back. I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re dealing with a murder scene.”
    Devil cursed and ran his fingers through his dark hair.
    “Not good.”
    The door opened behind us. From the prickles of awareness that ran across my skin, I knew exactly who it was.
    “Dev, you’re needed up top.”
    Rafe stood in the doorway. His eyes widened, and he smiled when he saw me.
    “Hi, Kris. Did you fill Devil in on what’s going down?”
    “All that I know of it, anyway. We’re heading up there now.”
    Devil turned to his brides and said, “Stay here, my beauties. I’ll be back soon.”
    His brides quickly snuggled around one another. Like a pile of content kittens, they practically purred.
    Devil then looked at Rafe and said, “Mind keeping an eye on the vamps down here for me? Some of them brought humans with them, and I’d be really happy if all of them left here alive and in one piece. Feel me?”
    Rafe smiled at Devil.
    “Not a problem, amigo. I’ll keep the humans breathing.”
    ***
    A short man in a suit and tie was waiting at the bar, as we walked into the room. He had an unopened notepad in one hand and a ballpoint pen in the other. I scanned the bar for Slone, but she and the mystery man were nowhere in sight. Ward was standing behind the bar, nodding his head like a robot, hands fisted and twisting a bar rag into a tight rope. His nervous stare flicked to me.
    “Where’s Slone?” I mouthed, so the man questioning him couldn’t hear me.
    Ward shrugged at me and walked out from behind the bar, leaving the man hanging mid-sentence. The man’s round face scrunched up, and he gave Ward’s back a perplexed look. Then he saw us.
    “I’m looking for the proprietor of this establishment. Perhaps one of you could help me?”
    Devil walked over with an extended arm and said, “That would be me. What can I do you for?”
    As the two men shook hands, I noticed the extreme difference in size between them. Devil was over six and a half feet tall and built like a mountain. The polite man in the suit, however, couldn’t reach six feet standing on his tiptoes, and the only thing bulging about him was his waistband.
    Regardless of the difference, the man didn’t seem intimidated by Devil’s massive size. It was quite the opposite. He gave off an air of authority, like he was used to being taken seriously and rarely had his words questioned. He had to be a detective. He grinned at Devil, flashing white teeth.
    “I’m Detective Andrews, and I need to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”
    “No, I don’t mind at all. Does this have to do with what’s going on at the back of my building?”
    Behind a pair of round silver-framed glasses, the man’s eyes narrowed. He answered Devil’s question with one of his own.
    “So you already know something happened back there, then?”
    It was like he was purposefully being vague, so Devil would slip up and say something useful or damaging. Andrews was clever. But from my experience with Devil, he was no slouch in the brains department. I mean, come on; he’d have to be crafty in order to successfully juggle