Just outside the doorway, Geraldo stood, watching Kael watch the fire, uneasy down to his very soul. She had been like this for months, now; ever since the harrowing escape from China. Lao Ma’s death seemed to have extinguished whatever tiny bit of light had dared to live within her. This new Kael was more cruel, more ruthless, more utterly heartless than ever before. It was as if causing pain, anguish and death was the only thing keeping her own demons at bay.

When she wasn’t on some killing spree, Kael sequestered herself in the bedroom, staring blindly at nothing for long hours. She hardly spoke at all anymore, except for a few tersely voiced commands which she issued to friends and enemies alike.

Her soul seemed a dead and rotting thing.

But still, for all that, Geraldo found himself still desperately in love with the woman. His heart was a traitorous thing, not even his own anymore.

“Stop staring at me before I take your eyes out with this poker,” Kael spat out without ever turning her head from the fire.

Biting back a sigh, Geraldo stepped fully into the room, closing the distance between them in several long strides. Careful to stay out of touching distance, something the woman, of late, detested except for those times when the lust of killing led her to take him to their bed and wear out his mind and body with the heat of her blazing passion, Geraldo looked down at Kael’s bowed head. “I’m due at a meeting shortly. I would like it if you would join me,” he said quietly.

Kael slowly turned her cold, dead eyes toward him. Her lip curled slightly. “Does this ‘meeting’ involve bloodshed?”

“No.”

“Then get the fuck outta here. I’m not interested.” She turned back to the fire.

“You’re never interested in anything anymore! Except killing.”

Kael snorted. “Smart boy you are, Einstein. It took you this long to figure that out?”

“Kael, please. Diego Cordova has asked to meet with us. I think it would be interesting to see what he has to say.”

“The only thing interesting about Diego Cordova is how high he’ll scream when I pull his balls out by the roots.”

“He has important connections in Indonesia. It might be valuable to us to form an alliance with him.”

The dark head shook. “That’s all you’re good for anymore, Geraldo. Talk. Where’s the man who used to have the jewels to rip the hearts out of assholes like Cordova, huh? That useless piece of shit is so far beneath you that he’d have to look up to see the soles of your shoes, and yet you want to talk to him. Form an alliance with him.” She threw up her hands in disgust, still staring into the fire. “You’re a weak, pathetic excuse for a man, Geraldo. A spineless jellyfish is what you’ve become. You make me sick.”

“Kael … .” Anything further Geraldo might have said was interrupted by the chiming of the door. The jaunty tune trailed off to silence, only to start up again, bare seconds later. And then again.

Kael snapped her head around, her eyes narrow and murderous. “Where the fuck is the hired help, Geraldo? Packed off to their little families to spread some Christmas cheer?”

The look on Geraldo’s face was all the answer she needed. She blew out a disgusted breath and rose from her chair as the door chime rang yet again.

“I’ll get it,” Geraldo offered.

Kael smirked, patting his face as she passed by. “No, that’s alright. I wouldn’t want you to strain yourself, little man. Just relax and rest up for that great meeting of the minds you’re gonna have.”

Leaving Geraldo to stand impotently in the darkened bedroom, Kael made her way down the winding staircase, her ire ratcheting up another notch each time the doorbell rang. She found herself wishing the caller was a religious fundamentalist hoping to teach her the error of her heathen ways. She would have fun teaching them the true meaning of the word ‘righteous’.

Coming to the bottom of the stairs, she crossed the floor quickly, then grasped the door handle, yanking the door open savagely, rage painting her face in harsh tones.

Kael, whose unusual height made it rare for her to have to look up into the eyes of anyone, especially another woman, found herself doing just that as she froze in mid snarl. The woman facing her topped her by a good two inches and was, to put it simply, gorgeous. She was tall and sleek, her curves absolutely dangerous. Her hair was a gentle brown, long, and soft-looking as it was drawn away from the striking features of her face. Her lips were a bit too misshapen, her cheeks a little too sharp to give her a classic beauty, but her deep caramel eyes, accented by heavy eyeliner, more than made up for it, in Kael’s book. And that body … . “What do you want?” she asked finally, in a tone far less harsh than she had at first intended.

The woman cocked her head, her entire essence rippling with barely repressed sensuality. She smiled. “You.” Her voice was low and whispery, with a whiskey and cigarettes hoarseness that made Kael’s already surging hormones stand up and take gleeful notice.

“Me, huh?” Kael made a show of eyeing the entire package, slowly, lewdly.

The grin broadened. One long, slender finger drew itself down the middle of Kael’s broad chest. “Oh, yes,” the woman purred. “We’ll have a lot of fun together, you and I.” The finger dipped into the waistband of Kael’s slacks, tugging slightly. “More fun than you ever dreamed.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed as a dark smile bloomed on her face. “So, you know what’s in my dreams, do you?”

“Oh yes,” the woman said again, her finger now trailing along Kael’s strong jawbone. “Full of such delicious imagery. Rage. Death. Fear. A veritable feeding ground for the senses.”

Cobra-quick, Kael reached up and snatched the stranger’s hand away from her face. Their eyes met and locked, each soul feeding off the palpable darkness in the other.

They might have stood that way forever, locked in an unending feedback loop of mutual rage, had Geraldo not chosen just that moment to make his presence felt behind Kael.

“You’re beginning to irritate me, Geraldo,” the American growled, still looking at the strange woman who had captured her interest. “And I really don’t think you wanna go there right now.”

Taking a chance, Geraldo put his hand on Kael’s shoulder and squeezed. “I need to talk with you,” he whispered in her ear.

“So talk,” Kael replied, managing only by the smallest of margins to keep from turning and ripping his face off.

“Not here. Inside. Alone.”

The other woman smiled, gently disengaging her grip from the beautiful American’s. “Talk to your friend. I’ll wait right here.”

“You do that.” Grabbing Geraldo’s hand, she flung it off her shoulder and turned, pushing him back into the house and closing the door behind her. “Spit it out,” she demanded.

“Do you know that woman?”

A corner of Kael’s mouth crooked up. “No. We haven’t been properly introduced. Yet.”

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep it that way. She is nothing but trouble.”

Kael’s grin broadened. “Well, you know how much I like trouble.”

“Not her kind. She’s a Santeria priestess. A very dark and dangerous one. She is responsible for the destruction of the Villa family. She made them believe that they were invisible to the police and that bullets couldn’t hurt them. The police came and killed them in their beds.”

Kael snorted. “They deserved it for being such idiots, then.”

“She is evil, Kael. Her words are all lies, but she has the power to make you believe them. I forbid you to let her come into this house.”

Ice blue eyes narrowed dangerously. “You …forbid… me?”

Geraldo stood his ground. “Yes. I will not have that woman in this house, corrupting it. Corrupting you. I love you, Kael. Shouldn’t that count for something?”

“Not with me, it doesn’t. Love makes you weak. It makes you soft. Just like you’ve become, Geraldo. Worthless. So just go to your stupid meetings and hash out your stupid deals and let me take care of my own business, hmmm?”

Frustrated beyond all good sense, the Latin man lifted his arm, his eyes flashing his anger at the impudent American.

“Lay one finger on me, and I’ll make sure you never touch another living thing again, Geraldo.”

His teeth clenched, Geraldo curled his hand into a fist and stood there, his entire body trembling with the need to lash out at something …anything, just to release the building frustration. The woman who had gone to China with him had died somewhere along the way. In her place, a stranger stood. A stranger who Geraldo both loved and loathed. That he feared her was beyond question. That he was scared for her was likewise true. He felt lost in a way that was foreign to him, and that made him angry, bitter, and frustrated beyond all good sense.

Angered past the ability to make a rational decision, Geraldo allowed his fist to swing down, intending to, if nothing else, get in one good blow before Kael could think to block and retaliate.

Kael saw it coming, and backed her head out of the way, allowing Geraldo’s arm to move past her before using the opening his wild swing left to lift her own arms and, fingers extended, jab at the pulse-points in his neck.

Geraldo collapsed to his knees as the fight left his body.

Kael squatted down in front of her dark lover, sneering. “I’ve just cut off the flow of blood to that thing you call a brain. Any last requests?”

The Latin felt a warm trickle as a thin stream of blood left one nostril to pool at his upper lip. “Please,” he gasped.

“Please what?”

He gasped, choking on the blood seeping into his mouth.

“Speak up, Geraldo. Can’t hear you when you mumble, ya know.”

“Please,” he whispered again. “Don’t … .”