ii colletore. he was solid, and ruby was alive.

julio grabbed marielle and dragged her toward the master bathroom, throwing her into the windowless room and closing the door on the hysterical blonde.

terence grabbed the jade cat and placed it in a leather sack, which was tied to his belt. this time it would not hide!

with aiden beside him, zane faced the demon-and ruby shouted, "he doesn't like silver!"

zane shifted his sword to his left hand and drew a silver dagger that was hanging from his belt. he heard the others making adjustments, as well. julio fired a bullet at the demon, but it had no effect. surely no one had thought to bring silver bullets. in all their research, there had been nothing about silver!

research or not, silver made a difference. in the demon's one red eye, zane saw frustration and confusion. time was running out; his ninth soul was fighting; and for once, for once, the brotherhood was not too late in arriving.

zane used the silver dagger to swipe out, aiming for the place where the heart should be. the demon's shape was that of a panther. did that mean the heart was in the same place? was there a heart? the demon screamed, emitting a loud, catlike shriek that cut through zane's brain like a hundred burning needles.

a mere four warriors of the brotherhood fought against ii colletore with whatever silver they had available. knives, mostly, though while the demon howled in protest, julio jerked the silver cross from around his neck and threw it into the gaping, tooth-filled opening.

the cross flew into the demon's mouth, and while ii colletore howled, zane took careful aim and swung his sword with all his might. with the head and body separated, the black cat fell to dust. it had not taken a soul this time, and so was weakened. the demon had not retreated into the jade, where it would be frustrated but safe until the proper moon came again, but was destroyed. as what was left of the terrifying thing fell, several bits of bright light rose, separating from what remained of ii colletore, rising to the ceiling of ruby's bedroom.

zane looked to the bed, where a bound ruby sat still clutching her silverware. she used the fork to gesture to the streaks of light, and he realized that she was counting. she counted twice, then breathed what seemed to be a sigh of relief as she looked at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. "eight," she said. "all eight are free, now." and with that, she collapsed onto the bed.

ruby took a deep breath and tried to calm herself while zane untied her ankles. everything had happened so fast! she was alive, she had her soul, and zane wasn't one of the bad guys. he was a good guy.

a very good guy.

she had just fallen into his arms when the doorbell rang. one of his friends went to answer, and after a loud argument, a handful of neighbors rushed into the bedroom.

hester was in the lead. "what's wrong? what was making those awful sounds? who are these men?" no one paid any attention to the innocuous and almost invisible sprinkling of dust on the bedroom carpet.

zane and his friends remained silent, and in the bathroom, marielle cried hysterically. the neighbors watched and waited.

the truth was impossible. "i can't believe my screaming sounds awful, but i was scared." she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed but not trying to stand. not yet. "in a nutshell, marielle murdered my aunt mildred. poison." her lower lip trembled. that part of it was so unfair. "she planned to kill me tonight."

one of zane's friends, the big blond, opened the bathroom door and dragged marielle out. she looked at the dust on the floor and screamed in pure agony.

"thank goodness zane and his friends heard me.

they were just about to start a poker game, but they rushed right over."

"with swords?" todd asked, scratching his head.

"zane's collection," ruby explained. "they scared marielle sufficiently, i'm happy to say."

"i called the police!" hester said, and at that moment ruby heard the distant wail of sirens.

zane and his friends stiffened, but ruby found herself patting zane's arm in offered comfort. this could all be explained away, and marielle would end up in jail. "good," she said.

"they'll kill me," marielle said softly. "i failed, i screwed up, and they'll kill me."

the neighbors all kept a distance from marielle.

anyone could see that she wasn't quite right. the good people of holland court just didn't know how out of her gourd the pretty blonde was. she yanked away from the man who held her and dropped to the floor to run her hands through the dust-all that remained of the demon who had seduced her with dreams and promises.

"i actually asked her out," todd whispered to the nearest man. "thank goodness she told me to ask another time. i might be dead right now!"

the excitement over, ruby's neighbors peeled away. more than one of them told her she had a scary-ass scream. she had a feeling that scream-the cat-demon's screech-would haunt her for a long time.

fortunately, she wouldn't have to face it on her own.

before all the onlookers had departed, ruby fell into zane's arms. "i want a cookie," she whispered.

"no, that's not enough. maybe a cupcake, one with really thick frosting." frosting, that was an idea. she'd choked down a huge piece of cake and a bowl of ice cream not so long ago, but that didn't count. choking down food in order to keep the silverware did not compare with snuggling beneath a blanket with a warm man and a sweet dessert. "no, wait, i want a cake. i want a whole chocolate cake with fudge icing.

nothing fancy. aunt mildred's recipe, the one she used to make when i was a kid."

"you can have whatever you want," zane said, smoothing her hair.

"can i?" she asked. "can i really?"

"yes."

she pulled away and looked up into fierce brown eyes. life was too short for her to be so damn careful all the time. "remember when i said i didn't want a man?"

"i remember."

"i've changed my mind."

he gave her a tired smile. "good, because i'm planning to ask you out."

"on a date?"

"yes, on a date."

"i'm a little rusty," she confessed. "i haven't dated in a while."

"neither have i."

ruby allowed her head to rest against zane's chest.

she held on to him more tightly than was necessary, and it felt good. she listened to his heartbeat, which was almost as fast and hard as hers. she took a deep and stilling breath, and when his hand settled on the back of her head she almost cried. it felt so right.

"get me out of here, zane," she whispered, and without hesitation he slid his arms beneath her legs and lifted her.

"i can walk," she said, resting her head on his shoulder and making no attempt to make him put her down.

"not tonight."

the neighbors had not really left. they milled about in her yard and on the street. they all watched as zane carried her to his house, and no one said a word, not even hester livingston. there were still police questions to handle, and ruby had no desire to ever again set foot in that house-even though she knew the demon was gone. she didn't have any idea when she'd reopen her shop, and even though

marielle had turned out to be a fraud, ruby had lost a friend today. and still, at this moment she was content.

christmas eve

tomorrow there would be a big family christmas celebration at the benedict home place, a rambling farm-style house on a horse ranch in tennessee, just past the alabama-state line. zane was looking forward to seeing his parents and his brothers, to introducing ruby to them and celebrating the fact that ii colletore was no more. since she'd moved in two weeks ago, he had not doubted for a moment that ruby would celebrate the holiday with him. she was a part of the family, now. she was a part of him.

ruby had already made four desserts to take with them, as she was horrified at the very thought of generic lemon cookies or twinkies for the holiday meal. he didn't think she was trying to bribe her way into his family's heart, but if anything would do the trick, it would be the english toffee cheesecake, or the death by chocolate cake, or the mile-high lemon pie, or the huge box of homemade cookies that would feed his brothers for a week.

but tonight was for them alone, and he liked it. he liked it very much. with the demon destroyed and marielle's assumption about the status of her safety having been proved correct-she'd been found hanging in the minville jail two days after her arrest, dead from an apparent suicide-life was normal. for the first time since zane had turned fifteen, he didn't have to worry about saving the world.

he just had to take care of ruby.

that actually meant that for him life was no longer normal at all. he was going to have to get used to a different kind of normal. so far, that experiment was going very well.

ruby put a few finishing touches on the small christmas tree they'd put up earlier in the day, then they settled together on the floor by the tree, entwined and comfortable. dressed in a wonderfully skimpy christmasy red nightgown, she fed him cookies and the most decadent apple pie he had ever imagined. if this was what most people considered normal, he would very quickly get accustomed to normalcy in his life.

while a piece of a rich sugar cookie melted on his tongue, ruby moved onto his lap and draped her arms around his neck. "do you think it's possible i only love you because you saved my life? and my soul," she added, making a face and shuddering a little. "and the world, of course. for the purposes of this discussion, let's just stick with my life."

"i don't know. do i only love you because you feed me increasingly decadent sweets?"

"don't forget the sex," she said with a smile.

"as if i could."

she rested her head on his shoulder. "the sex is very nice, but i thought you loved me because i'm symmetrical."

"there is that."

it was too soon for love, perhaps, but they both felt it, and neither of them had been shy about saying the words. almost losing everything would do that to a person, he supposed.