Hotel Hex by Linda Wisdom Page A

power.”
    “That’s something else I intend to make sure doesn’t happen,” she said grimly, gesturing for him to accompany her.
    She tuned out Zorak’s grumbling as they returned to her suite. Jazz twisted the skull-shaped doorknob and pushed, but the door refused to move.
    “Damn it all to Hades!” she shrieked, stepping back and turning sideways. She lashed out with her foot, connecting with the door. “Owowowow!” She hopped on her uninjured leg. “That door’s like concrete!”
    “Probably magick wanting to keep you out. Let me.” Zorak pushed past her and opened the door with ease.
    Jazz limped into the room.
    “Nick’s asleep in the bedroom,” Derwood said in a low voice from his spot on the sofa. “He said he was tired.”
    “Tired? Nick’s never tired unless it’s a real sunny day. Even then he’s fine as long as he stays indoors. Although the last couple days…” she headed for the room.
    Jazz had seen Nick in his daytime sleep before, so she wasn’t surprised to see him lying on the bed like a statue. Or a member of the undead community.
    Except something felt very wrong to her.
    “He’s not asleep,” Fluff told her, bouncing up and down within their protective circle. “He groaned and just flopped back.”
    She moved to the side of the bed and sat down by Nick’s hip. “It’s still dark outside, so Nick shouldn’t be that tired.” Worry made her voice wobble as she stared at her beloved’s face.
    Faint lines fanned out from his eyes and deeper ones scored his face between his nose and mouth. There was also a faint ashen look to his skin. She touched the back of his hand then picked it up. She expected his flesh to be cool, but not the ice cold she felt now. “No, Nick,” she whispered. “She was going to take you last.” She kissed his unresponsive palm then placed it against her cheek. “She did this to punish me. Because I taunted her downstairs.” She released a soft sigh. “Okay, babe, I’m on my own. Do I know what I’m going to do? Hades no, but I promise I’ll bring her down before she gets all of you. And I will bring you back because you belong to me.” She leaned over and kissed his lips, ready to cry at the, well, dead feel of them.
    “We’ll protect him, Jazz,” Puff vowed, wiggling his ears back and forth.
    “Yeah, we won’t let anything happen to him,” Fluff added. “Go get her.”
    Jazz picked up the quilt from the end of the bed and carefully tucked it around Nick. She knew it wouldn’t warm him, but it made her feel better.
    Derwood was prone on the sofa, his legs dangling over the end. Zorak perched on a nearby chair, staring intently at the man.
    “She decided to take him now, didn’t she?” he rumbled. “To punish you.”
    “Not for much longer.” She glared at the carpet that shifted from forest green to dark blue. She glanced at Derwood. “How do you feel?”
    “Tired.” He smiled wearily. He held up hands that were now trembling violently. Dark liver spots and prominent veins blossomed across the skin in an alarming display. He had aged a good ten years in barely that many minutes.
    “Amira is ‘resting’,” she told him. “I guess she has to recharge her batteries before she goes after her next victim. If that’s the case there might be a way for me to take care of her, but I need to do it fast. Even then I may not succeed. You need to realize if that happens she’ll speed up the process to kill us and it could be brutal.”
    Derwood recoiled at her words. He breathed deeply in and out as he touched his slightly wilted bowtie. “Is there anything I can do?”
    Jazz was touched by his offer. “I guess this isn’t what you expected.” She held her moonstone pendant in her hand, feeling the protective power of the stone.
    “I have had a few close calls in Eastern Europe, but this does top the list,” he admitted, erupting in a wheezy cough.
    Jazz stood up and looked toward the bedroom where Nick lay motionless and