"How do you know my father, anyway?" Elyssa said, eyes filling with suspicion.

"That's a story I'd rather not get into right now."

"I have time."

I glanced at the others and shook my head. "No. You really don't want to know."

She took a step toward me, fists clenched and eyes glowing. "I think I have the right to know."

Very Spanish-y sounding music blared from somewhere. Bella pulled out her smartphone, arcphone, or whatever she called the thing, and spoke for a moment before hanging up. "The council would like to meet with all of you for a recap of yesterday's events."

"Council?" Beck gave her an uncertain look.

"Yes, our town council. We are very nosy people and love gossip wherever we can get it. Not only that, but the removal of two very dangerous and corrupt drug-dealing vampires is worth a celebration."

"What kind of celebration?" I asked.

"Oh, a dance, of course! We celebrate anything around here. If Juan mows his lawn, we celebrate. If Maria finds an extra egg from her chickens, we celebrate. Otherwise, this place would be too dull to bear."

"I don't know how to dance."

Bella winked at me. "You will learn, young man."

"Ugh. There you go again with the creepy grandmother words again."

She smirked. "I may look close to your age, but I have decades of experience that would probably disintegrate your young little mind."

Beck grinned. "I don't care how old you are, I think you're hot."

Pink colored Bella's cheeks. Elyssa flashed Beck a look of what might have been jealousy or just simple disgust, but hard as I tried to interpret her look, I couldn't tell. Fausta didn't seem surprised a bit. Her eyes met mine and held my gaze for a moment, but if she were trying to communicate anything, I couldn't sense it.

"I will definitely teach you how to dance, young—" Bella paused and took a breath. "I mean, dude."

I couldn't help myself and felt a genuine grin creep onto my face. Bella's cheerful attitude seemed infectious and even drew a snort of laughter from Elyssa. It reminded me of the time I'd shown her a trophy with lopsided boobs and we'd laughed so hard, Ms. Foreman, the Evil Queen of Detention, had made us stay even longer. The memory punctured my happy balloon, leaving me feeling even more depressed than before.

Bella stood and motioned for everyone to move out. "Before we go to council, Lina has invited us over for lunch. Do you require any more blood, Elyssa?"

"I'm fine. Thanks so much."

"It's very nice to meet other dhampyrs. Our kind are so rare, in the grand scheme of things."

We walked toward Lina's house while Bella chit-chatted about the weather and other things holding no interest for me. Fausta walked to my left, well away from Elyssa, her eyes alert, as if danger might be upon us at any moment. I had to force myself not to look at Elyssa, though it didn't work. My eyes sought out her fair skin, those amazing eyes of hers, and the smile that set my heart afire. I smelled the underlying hint of oil and leather on her, not to mention the indescribable scent all her own. The lustful demonic part of me strained against my indecision.

Take her. She's yours!

Elyssa's eyes wandered my way a few times, and for one electric second, our eyes met before I pretended to look at a plant. Beck, for his part, took every chance he had to check out every female rear end within range of his vision. I wanted to punch him every time his gaze settled on Elyssa. And when he pursed his lips appreciatively, I wanted to murder him.

As we reached Lina's house, the aroma of arepas drifted out and curled around my nose. My stomach gurgled and whined with anticipation. Lina was setting the table when we stepped inside, Alejandro pouring drinks into cups. Eduardo smiled from his place at the table and said something in Spanish to Bella.

"Eduardo, you old dog," she replied, before rattling off a reply in his language.

Beck said something in Spanish. Bella blushed and Eduardo laughed until he coughed.

I caught myself staring at Elyssa and looked away, only to meet Fausta's smirking gaze. I turned away from her and caught a glare from Lina. She shook her head slowly and gripped a fork in one hand like she wanted to skewer me with it.

"I hope you are hungry," Lina said, her large dark eyes regarding Elyssa.

"Famished," Beck said, and winked.

Good lord, was there any woman this guy wouldn't flirt with? Then again, maybe it would be a good thing for him to set his sights on Lina and get me out of her crosshairs.

"This looks delicious," Elyssa said. "Can I help you with anything?"

Lina's eyes traveled up and down Elyssa's body before casting a venomous look at me. Her expression abruptly changed to a sweet smile faker than a blonde in California. She aimed that smile at Elyssa. "Well, Justin, your girlfriend is very pretty."

The room went absolutely silent. Except for Eduardo who was already digging into a baked plantain Alejandro had just set before him. I froze. Bella's eyes widened. Beck stared at Lina's chest. Elyssa blanched. Fausta's eyes lit up like she'd just won a rare vermillion unicorn at a raffle.

"What did you say?" Elyssa said in a strained voice.

"Oh, Justin did not tell you?" Lina gestured at me to be absolutely sure there was no mistaking to whom she was referring. "He said you were his girlfriend but your father erased your mind so you would forget him."

Fire blazed in Elyssa's eyes. I could practically feel the heat as they settled on me. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt one thing was for sure.

Things were about to get painful.

Chapter 24

Elyssa clenched her fists and stormed toward me. "Now I know why my father hotlisted you."

I dodged around the table, putting it between us. "Whatever you think you know, it's not right!"

"Who, what?" Beck asked, coming out of the boob trance he'd apparently been in since the inception of this crisis.

Elyssa lunged across the table. I jumped back and hit the cabinets. She raced around the long table. I scrambled past Eduardo as he munched on his plantain, and hid behind Bella.

"Look, I know it sounds really bad, but I have a reasonable explanation."

"You're the spawn my father warned me about," she said, stalking toward me, squeezing between the chairs and the cabinet.

Bella held up her hands. "Please, everyone, calm down."

Elyssa's lip curled into a snarl. "Not with that thing in here."

I moved Bella out of the way and waved Elyssa on. "Fine, bring it on. I'm sick and tired of everyone dehumanizing me just because I'm part spawn. What makes you any better, dhampyr?"

"I'm half human."

"Big deal. So am I."

She paused for a moment. "There's no such thing."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"No there is not!"

Bella cleared her throat. "Justin is telling the truth, dear."

Elyssa shook her head. "Even if he is, it doesn't change what he did to me. He used his incubus abilities to pull me under his influence and indoctrinate me so I'd betray the Templars."

I laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"I'd like to see someone try to do that to you. You define the term 'strong willed'." I blew out a breath and took a seat at the table. "I'm not leaving. I'm hungry and I plan to eat something. If you want to really know what happened, I'll tell you about it later. Otherwise just shut the hell up about it."

I grabbed a fork and dug into the chicken-covered arepa, eating with a gusto I really didn't feel. Part of me wanted to bend Elyssa over my knee and spank her. The other part of me didn't want to die, so I kept eating while the others looked around uneasily. After a moment, Bella took a seat beside me and, after touching my hand and offering a reassuring smile, took a bite of her own food.

Alejandro followed suit while Beck and Fausta exchanged amused grins and whispered. Elyssa strode to the far end of the table and dropped into a seat. Beck sauntered her way, parking his macho butt in a chair next to her. He flashed a smirk my way, probably figuring it would be easy sailing right into my girlfriend's pants. Except, she wasn't truly my girlfriend—not until or if she remembered me. One seat remained conspicuously unoccupied. Lina had apparently left the room. Probably for the best. I was so angry with her right then I would have said something nasty. Something I couldn't take back later. I wanted to blame her, but couldn't. It might not even be me, Justin, she was attracted to, but my incubus traits or the thrill of someone new. I didn't know for sure and probably never would.

Crazy women.

Eduardo gave me a gap-toothed grin as he ate another plantain. He said something in Spanish and an uncomfortable look came over Alejandro's face. Beck laughed.

"What did he say?" I asked.

Alejandro cleared his throat. "He says you are quite the Casanova."

My face grew hot and I stared at my food while Bella snorted with the effort of not laughing.

"It's not funny," I hissed at her. "Really, I'm feeling very emotional right now."

She nodded and tried to give me a serious look as her face contorted with the effort to hold in her mirth. A tear trickled down one eye and she looked away, her sides shaking. I groaned and gave myself a well-deserved face-palm.

Risking a sideways glance down the table, I noticed Elyssa's gaze seemed to have settled on me. Her lips parted a fraction as if her jaw had gone slack, and her eyes grew unfocused. I removed my palm from my forehead and looked behind me in case Lina was sneaking up on me with a butter knife. No one was there. When I looked back, Elyssa's attention was back on her plate.

"Can you tell us the story now, man?" Beck said as he chewed a mouthful. "I'm dying to hear this."

Elyssa shoved him so hard his chair fell over sideways with a thud.

"Ouch, woman!" He sprang back to his feet and put his chair upright. "Gotta watch this one. Nasty temper."