Angel's Pain by MAGGIE SHAYNE

slowly. Rhiannon wouldn’t have needed caller ID to know who was calling. She was his maker. They shared a psychic bond that couldn’t be stronger.
    â€œHello, Rhiannon. Thank you for your help on that little Mexican adventure.”
    â€œRight. That’s not why you’re calling, though, is it?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat do you need, Reaper? Has that bitch vampiress bitten you too hard?”
    â€œIf you’re referring to Briar, no. She hasn’t bitten me at all.”
    â€œYou are such a liar. You’re doomed, you know. You stand no chance against her.”
    â€œI’m not against her.”
    â€œBut you want to be.” She laughed softly, enjoying her torment of him. “I like her,” she said, when her laughter died.
    â€œYou’re the only one, then,” he said.
    â€œOh, I don’t think so. You like her, too.”
    â€œI want to like her,” he admitted. “She’s not making it easy.”
    â€œShe wouldn’t. But there’s Crisa. That one seems to adore her.”
    â€œNot anymore.”
    Rhiannon went silent. “What’s happened?”
    â€œCrisa is having debilitating headaches, hearing voices, seeing things. Briar gets the headaches when Crisa does. We don’t know what’s causing them.”
    â€œIs it part of the girl’s…condition?”
    â€œI don’t think so. She says not. And she’s insisting there’s a boy somewhere who needs her, who keeps calling out to her, and that she has to go to him. Briar forbade her, and Crisa defied her.”
    â€œReally? That must have come as quite a shock to Briar.”
    â€œCame as a shock to all of us.”
    â€œWell, it would, wouldn’t it? It’s the first hint of a backbone the girl has shown.”
    He nodded, sighed. “Do you think Eric Marquand might be able to help us figure out what’s happening to Crisa?”
    Rhiannon was silent for a moment. Reaper could hear her long nails rapping in steady rhythm on some surface. Finally she said, “I don’t know for sure, of course. But I can’t think of anyone who’d more likely be able to help. Where are you?”
    â€œAt Topaz’s place, Emerald Isle, North Carolina.”
    â€œI’ll pass on your request,” she told him. “I’ll phone you when I have his answer. Meanwhile…I have another answer for you.”
    Reaper frowned. “An answer to what? I haven’t asked a question.”
    â€œWell, you must have, or I wouldn’t have an answer screaming in my mind right now, would I? I don’t know what the question is that’s been plaguing you, darling, but I do know the words you need to hear right now.”
    Closing his eyes, Reaper lowered his head. He knew damn well what question had been plaguing him. Why was he so drawn to Briar? But he didn’t like opening himself up, revealing his weaknesses, his feelings, to anyone. Even Rhiannon.
    â€œShall I tell you?” she asked him.
    â€œDo I have a choice?”
    â€œOf course not. The answer is, because you think you can’t hurt her.”
    â€œBecause I think I can’t hurt her,” he repeated.
    â€œYes. That’s it. Now, sate my burning curiosity and tell me, what was the question?”
    â€œNone of your business.”
    â€œIt’s about that prickly bitch, isn’t it?”
    â€œIt’s nearly dawn, Rhiannon. I have to go. Good rest.”
    â€œStubborn prick,” she muttered. Then she hung up.
    Reaper ended the call and set his cell phone on the nightstand. Then he lay down in the bed, pulled up the covers and waited for sleep to come, all the while trying not to replay his own question—and Rhiannon’s answer—in his mind. He didn’t need this, not now. Besides, he could already feel the day sleep pulling at him. His body grew heavy. His eyes fell closed. In his mind, he saw Briar, straddling him in