Lucifer's Daughter (4 page)

Deciding exercise might succeed where masturbation hadn"t, I dressed in my pink track suit with the black stripe, grabbed my iPod, and headed out for a jog. As my feet pounded the pavement in a rhythmic cadence, I let myself fall into the trance that exercising seems to bring. I"d discovered this soothing mind trick years ago when I"d first started jogging as a way to keep in shape–as Satan"s daughter, I never dared show weakness; and the ability to outrun situations had, on more than one occasion, served me well.

Eyes unseeing, I ran the trail in the park, the songs of the eighties that I loved so much blasting in my ears. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a flicker motion, another jogger moving faster about to pass me. I moved over to the edge of the lane, which is the only reason why the blade aimed at me missed.

I pivoted to see a stranger with glowing, yellow cat eyes twirling his blade for another strike.

Amateur. With a grace I"d learned in ballet and tae kwon do, my foot arced up, tilted, and kicked the hand holding the knife. My attacker hissed in pain and dropped into a half crouch, fists flying. I ducked and dodged with ease, then jabbed back with a hard smack to the bridge of his nose. He reeled back in pain, blood spurting, and at this point I expected him to move on, looking for easier prey. No such luck; instead of running, his form rippled as he shifted into something that seemed to have a lot of teeth.

Not waiting to see what special creature he"d turn out to be, I took off sprinting. My plan: make it to a populated location and lose him. All supernaturals take care not to be noticed, lest the government start hunting us. Or even worse, according to the movies, dissect us.

The only problem with my plan? I"d reached the part in the trail that loomed the furthest from civilization. I cursed myself for being stupid and distracted. I knew better than to go out unarmed, but I"d gotten too complacent in my new life. A life that didn"t involve daily attacks. A life where a person could forget her title of princess of Hell, and pretend to be normal. I should have known it wouldn"t last; I just hoped my complacency wouldn"t be the death of me.

Legs pumping to the tune, “She"s a Maniac,” I tore through the woods, my running speed faster than a regular human"s but not fast enough to outrun a shifter. I could feel the energy of the beast as it gained on me, a hungry force behind me which crept closer and closer. Determined not to die like a coward with claws in my back, I stopped and turned to face the creature that hunted me.

A large mountain cat bounded down the forested trail, long canines showing and eyes glowing with menace. Now I really wished I had my knife with me, because the giant kitty would have made a wicked fur coat.

I"d never wrestled weaponless with a beast before, so I quickly came up with a plan of attack–I hoped it wouldn"t eat me. Oh, and that it kept its claws away from my face; other than that, I braced myself to, hopefully, survive my first hand-to-claw combat with an oversized cat. The tawny beast coiled to pounce on me, its muzzle drawn back in a snarl that showed shockingly large teeth, when a large, golden body shot out of the woods from the side and slammed into the mountain cat. With a screech of rage, the two large beasts went rolling off into the woods, snarling and spitting.
Well, that was unexpected.

“Is it me, or does trouble seem to follow you?” asked the man I"d dreamed of all night long.

Not believing my luck, I turned around. It was Auric, dressed in jogging pants and a t-shirt that bulged over well-defined biceps. Slightly sweaty, his face annoyingly arrogant, I still found him breathtakingly gorgeous. I didn"t know if I should have prepared to fight him, or if I should have thrown him to the ground and mauled him. Maybe I"d gotten lucky and he"d come to maul me.

“Following me again?” I asked, instead of obeying my body"s instincts.

“Nope, pure luck or mischance, depending on how you look at it.”

“I take it that was your friend from yesterday?” I said, gesturing to the woods, which had gone quiet.

“Yup.”

“Aren"t you going to see if he"s all right?” I asked when he said nothing further.

“Nope.”

Auric really took the strong silent type a bit too far at times. “Well then, since you"re not worried, I"ll just be off then. Bye.” I started walking away.

Auric wouldn"t be shaken that quickly, though, and caught up to me. “Why was that shifter attacking you?”

“Maybe I smelled good,” I said. Actually, I had no idea why it had attacked me. Random act of violence, I assumed. Perhaps I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although, given my attacker"s special abilities, I tended to lean towards an intentional attack. Just another of many attempts to kill Lucifer"s daughter. Now that the danger had passed, I felt a little gypped. I had to wonder who would have won the battle–the cat-man or me?

“You seem to enjoy oblique answers,” he said.

“And you ask a lot of questions,” I retorted. “How the hell would I know what the shifter wanted? It"s not like we stopped to have a conversation. I was a tad too busy, fighting for my life.”

“Fighting for your life?” Auric chuckled. “You know what, I would wager money that even if we hadn"t come along, you"d have come out just fine.”

Now, that made me feel good. Which, of course, made me suspicious. This from the same man who"d claimed I needed protection last night. “Just what"s your game?” I asked, stopping again and turning to face him. “You came in to the bar last night asking me all kinds of questions about the bar and its owner. You followed me home, and then in the mother of all fucking coincidences, you happened to be on hand when some freak shifter I"ve never seen before attacks me out of the blue. And you think I"m being oblique? I don"t know what game you"re playing, but count me out.”

“No game. I went to your bar because of a recommendation. Sorry if my questions made you uncomfortable; I was curious and making conversation. As for last night, yes, I intentionally followed you to protect you. It"s just who I am. As for today though, that had nothing to do with me. I just happened along.”

“Yeah right,” I said, not believing a word he said, as I started walking again. I didn"t need a lie detector to tell me he hid something. No matter how much my body screamed to get to know him better, I intended to listen to my head, which kept yelling danger.

I saw him turn his head back down the trail and listen; I heard the faint sound of someone coming up the trail on two feet.

Auric spoke quickly. “Listen, I want to clear this up. Why don"t you have dinner with me?”

“I have to work.”

“Fine, then, coffee before work? Say in one hour?”

I shook my head. I didn"t have enough time, not if I was going to do a supplies run for the bar first. But my body wouldn"t let him go that easily. “Why don"t you come to the bar tonight? You can walk me home, intentionally this time, and protect me from the bogey man.” I almost bit my tongue in surprise. I hadn"t planned on saying that. Auric apparently liked it, though. For the first time since I met him, he smiled; and the effect it had on my equilibrium shocked me. A tingling warmth spread from my head to my toes, and I became especially
tingly
in between.

“Sounds good. I"ll see you tonight, then.”

While we"d been talking, we"d reached the edge of the woods. In the distance, I could see people and vendors--in other words, safety. I turned to say good bye, but Auric had already left, jogging back down the trail, more than likely to meet up with his friend. A friend who had gone furry in public to save me. If I didn"t already have the hots for Auric, I might have been tempted to get to know his friend better.

But I wanted the tall and mysterious stranger, and even better, he seemed to want me, too. We had a date of sorts tonight. Oh, no, what would I wear?

* * * *

I nervously dressed for work, trying on outfit after outfit in a girly, clothing tantrum. Too sexy, not sexy enough. I wanted Auric to find me attractive, but at the same time I didn"t want to dress too provocatively, or he"d think I liked him. Which I did, but I didn"t want to come across as too slutty or desperate. Frustrated with my emotional seesawing, I finally settled on black slacks that belled at the cuffs, paired with a gold lamé blouse that shimmered and, when left unbuttoned part way, gave just the right hint of cleavage.

I pulled my long hair up on the sides and clipped it in place with an oversized barrette. It had the advantage of keeping my hair out of my face, and yet leaving it long and loose in the back.

A coating of glam makeup, a daub of perfume on my wrists and behind my ears, and voila, I was ready for my work / date.

If my staff noticed me watching the door that night like a hawk, they wisely gave no sign of it. It was like being a teenager again--breathlessly waiting with my hands clammy and my tummy a swirl of butterflies.

Time passed and I waited. And waited some more. And...

He never showed up. I called myself all kinds of stupid as I closed up the bar. Apparently he hadn"t fallen victim to the same connection I had. I felt like such a pathetic idiot. As I turned the key in the lock, shutting the bar for the night, I saw a shadow detach itself from the building, and my heart foolishly sped up.

“Auric,” I whispered, elation swelling through me. He"d come after all.

“Sorry, I got hung up or I"d have been here earlier. I made sure I made it for closing, though. I didn"t want the streets to suffer if you walked alone.”

A glance at him showed his lips twitching. Humor, a new facet to my knight in leather armor; one I liked, given my oftentimes sarcastic attitude towards life. He wore the same leather duster of the previous evening, and, once again, I enviously admired it. Unable to resist, I reached out a hand and stroked its supple surface, feeling a thrill that my hand strayed so close to his actual body. “It"s so soft,” I murmured.

“Not for long, if you keep stroking it,” he drawled.

It took me a second, but when I caught his unexpected sexual innuendo, I giggled. “That was so bad.”

“Only if you"re thinking dirty to start with,” he said with a straight face. For a second I wondered if my insane desire for him had imbued sexual meaning into innocent words, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed him and I punched his arm.

“Ow,” he yelped.

“Serves you right for teasing me,” I said smiling.

“You made it too easy.”

“I thought you"d forgotten about me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to kick myself for sounding so damn vulnerable. And pathetic.

“You"re pretty hard to forget, Muriel,” he said with a smile. “Shall we? The night awaits.” He swept me a courtly bow, marred only by the somewhat wicked smile he gave me; one that shot a bolt of lust straight through me.

We began walking, and to my inner surprise and pleasure, he grabbed my swinging hand and held it. I looked at his strong hand holding my smaller one. His tanned skin contrasted nicely against mine and his strength was evident in his grip. Strange, how such a simple touch could make me feel so hot, like I ran a fever; one that started in the groin.

“I should probably give you my address.” I said.

“Sixty-six Devil"s Lane, Apartment six.”

“How did you get my address?” I asked, a little surprised. I"d made sure I was unlisted so as to maintain my privacy.

“I followed you and your sister home last night to make sure you got there safe. But really, Muriel, Devil"s Lane?” His eyes glinted with amusement as he looked down at me.

I had the grace to blush. “I know it sounds clichéd, but would you believe I got it at a discount because people kept claiming the address was unlucky?”

“Oh, I believe it,” he muttered. “I take it you had an uneventful night at work?”

“Well, we did have a coven of drunken witches singing “I Will Survive,” but that was painful for everyone, not just me.”

Auric chuckled. “So, Muriel the bartender, do you still think I"m stalking you?”

“I certainly hope so,” I said. At his startled look, I chuckled. “Doesn"t every girl want a man to be obsessed with her? To follow her every move and shower her with attention?”

“Funny, I would have taken you for the type that went after what she wanted.”

“You don"t know me well enough to know if I have a type.”

“Not yet, but I"d like to,” he said softly. His thumb stroked the back of my hand, sending little electrical shocks of awareness through me.

My heart fluttered at his words and, like a princess in a fairytale, I could feel myself falling under his spell. I had to remind I was a princess of Hell, and fuzzy happy endings were for books, not girls like me. I needed to stay alert. Something still seemed off. This charming smooth-talker did not resemble the rough-and-rude guy I"d taken him for when we initially met.

“How come the first night in the bar and in the park you seemed a lot more uncouth? Yet tonight, you"re more...” I paused looking for the right word. “Gentlemanly. Do you have a split personality or something?”

Auric chuckled. “The night I went to your bar, I"d gotten some not-so-pleasant news. The guys thought a drink would calm me down. I apologize if I seemed abrupt. I have a hard time sometimes connecting with people I don"t know. Actually, my friends were quite surprised by how quickly I warmed up to you. It usually takes me a lot longer.”

I didn"t know what to say at this backwards compliment. Nor did I know if I should trust it.

Words were easily spoken--and broken. Arriving at my building, I found myself reluctant to see him go. I knew inviting him up would be irresponsible, but ... I looked up at him. His scarred face hid partially in the shadows, but his green eyes gleamed brightly.

What was it about this dark, mysterious man that drew me like a magnet? No danger brought us together this time. I"d lost most of my earlier uneasiness, and had to admit I enjoyed his company. That I found him attractive was undeniable, and yet his very appeal frightened me. I remained torn--knowing he should go, but wanting him to stay.

Auric let go of my hand to place both of his on my waist, pulling me towards him. I looked up, my heart thumping madly, and I could see the flash of his eyes as his visage drew closer to mine.