Page 14 of Speak of the Devil

Not because she was pretty, even though she was, and not because her nearly waist-length copper locks were so unusual — he honestly wasn’t all that into redheads, although he knew he’d be eternally grateful to the unknown woman who’d driven that slim blade right into Belial’s black heart — but because of the power that shimmered around her, visible to his part-demon senses even though he knew no one else would be able to detect it.

She was definitely all human, and yet different at the same time, the aura she gave off not anything like what he’d sensed in Rosemary McGuire after her angelic powers had awakened. No, this reminded him more of what he’d felt from Glynis, Rosemary’s mother, who was completely human but still possessed her own psychic gifts.

Caleb doubted the redhead could be related to any of them — the McGuire women all had curly brown hair — but he supposed those sorts of talents cropped up in the general population from time to time.

And because the red-haired woman was definitely the most interesting person he’d encountered tonight, he wanted to do what he could to follow her without being too obvious.

She seemed out of place in the casino, and that wasn’t only because she wore a professional-looking knee-length skirt and a silk blouse in a smoky teal color that beautifully complemented her fiery hair rather than the jeans and T-shirts — or the odd cocktail dress or blazer — sported by the other denizens of the casino. No, she kept looking from side to side as she made her way across the floor, almost as if she was on the hunt for something…or someone.

Casino security? She didn’t really give off that vibe, and she didn’t feel like a cop, either.

Maybe she’d come here to meet someone and was having a hard time finding them.

Something about that explanation didn’t seem right, though, which only piqued his interest that much more.

As much as she was looking around her, she didn’t seem to have noticed him following a few yards behind, pausing from time to time to inspect a slot machine as though weighing whether it was worth taking the time to feed a dollar bill into the thing, but never allowing so much distance to open up between them that he couldn’t keep track of where she was going.

Once or twice, she did pause and glance over her shoulder, but her gaze didn’t linger enough for him to think he’d aroused her suspicions.

The woman made an entire circuit of the casino floor, and eventually stopped near the door that opened onto the baccarat rooms. So far, Caleb hadn’t played any baccarat, mostly because that tended to be a game for high rollers and one that might send increased scrutiny his way, even though he never wore the same face twice.

Was she going inside?

Apparently not, because after standing there for a moment, she shook her head and then continued on her way.

Whatever she was searching for, it didn’t seem to be here. She frowned a little, looking uncertain, and then walked away from the baccarat rooms and toward the entrance to the casino. Lacking anything better to do, Caleb followed her, still taking care to hang back so she wouldn’t notice him.

Sure enough, she went outside, although rather than pausing at the valet station, she strode purposefully down the sidewalk, seeming to head for the next casino, which was located about a block away. Just as he went through the automatic sliding doors,he let his appearance shift again, this time to a balding man in his forties dressed in a button-up shirt and jeans, the sort of person he doubted she would look at twice, making sure to time the change perfectly so the movement of the doors would blur any footage the casino’s CCTV cameras might catch.

The ploy seemed to have worked, because she didn’t throw any of those wary glances over her shoulder, almost as if she knew that whoever she was looking for, she wouldn’t find them out here on the street.

Which, on that particular Friday night, was plenty crowded, so he didn’t have a problem continuing to tail her, letting the other people on the sidewalk ebb and flow around him, creating an effective shield.

Then she entered the Palace Station, the flashing lights over the entrance painting her hair almost magenta before she disappeared into the dim interior.

Caleb quickened his pace so he wouldn’t lose the woman, and slipped into the casino only a few yards behind her. Honestly, he couldn’t even say why it felt so important to follow the redhead and see what she was up to, except that his life had already fallen into a sort of humdrum routine, and encountering someone with her kind of powers was like dropping a zesty slice of lemon into an otherwise blah glass of water.

And that was without even knowing the reason for the mission she was apparently on.

This casino was smaller and shabbier, but her behavior was pretty much the same — she made a circuit of the floor, zigzagging past the slot machines so she could walk by the poker and blackjack tables before she paused for a moment to watch a couple of craps games in the process.

Was she a gambler trying to suss out the competition?

He would have said she didn’t give off that vibe, either, except that his time here in Las Vegas had taught him thatprofessional gamblers came in all shapes and sizes and styles of dress, so it was difficult to pin them down just by looking at them.

And she wasn’t a hooker, that was for sure. Although he thought she had on some makeup, it was fairly subdued, and while she wasn’t wearing a suit, that slimly tailored skirt and silk blouse were still more suited for a boardroom than a casino floor.

Even if that skirt showed off a nicely sculpted ass and a seriously fine pair of long legs.

No, he wasn’t going to ogle her…even if he had to admit she was fairly ogle-able.

Instead, he paused at a slot machine and fed it a dollar bill, then pulled the handle. It would have been so easy to make it come up all cherries, but the last thing he wanted was to get a jackpot while she was standing only a few feet away and possibly draw her attention.

No, scratch that. He wanted her to look at him — athim,Caleb Lockwood, and not the middle-aged loser he’d disguised himself to be. Although she wore that faint frown again and had her hands on her hips, indicating she wasn’t entirely happy with her life right now, she looked both beautiful and smart, the kind of person he’d been thinking he needed to find.

Yeah,he thought.Because your last try at getting romantic with a psychic turned out so well.

Actually, it had been an unmitigated disaster, but he still didn’t think that was really his fault. He hadn’t been able to detect Rosemary’s angelic nature, had thought she was nothing more than a beautiful woman with some serious psychic gifts.

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