Lucifer's Daughter (7 page)

Not knowing if he"d break easily, I decided on a course of safety. “Um, Auric, we might want to leave now.”

“Not fucking likely,” he said, not taking his eyes off the couch which hid our visitor. Auric inched backwards towards the kitchen.

Rolling my eyes, I again had to question why men had to be so stubborn. “Seriously, Auric, you do not want to mess with this thing.”

“I"ve dealt with demons before,” he said, pulling out a sword from behind his kitchen counter. I had to admit being impressed–his sword was long, shiny, and hard. Wait, that didn"t sound right.

Needless to say, he had a big one; and judging by the way he moved it, he also knew how to use it. Damn, I was even hornier than before.

But right after I finished admiring his sword, I clued in to what he"d said. “What do you mean, you"ve dealt with demons before?” My Auric had hidden depths to him, it seemed.

“Could we discuss this later?” he said, flashing me a quick look as he inched towards the couch and what lay crouched behind it.

I had planned on taking care of the demon myself, but his arrogance annoyed me; so I decided to let whatever had made an appearance toy with Auric first, before I saved his ass.

I hopped back up onto the stool and crossed my legs to watch. Auric moved with a sinuous grace that I had to admire, and with his coat finally shed, I also got to admire the view of his ass as it moved in his tight jeans. Yummy.

When he got within a foot of the couch, the intruder pounced. A minor demon, I"d say, by the size of it. Lots of tooth, claw, and leathery wings, but no magic. I could have flattened it without breaking a nail, and I"d probably still have to if Auric turned out to be all look and talk with no walk.

Turned out he had a lot of walk. He swung his sword like an extension of himself, making it arc and swoop impossibly fast and fluently. I admit to being impressed. The little demon didn"t stand a chance, especially once I realized the sword had been spelled. The blue glow whenever he struck the demon gave it away.

In no time at all he"d injured the demon enough that it lay prone on the floor, breathing heavily, the sword point at its throat. Instead of finishing him off though, Auric asked it a question. “Why are you here?”

“To kill,” hissed the ugly creature.

I rolled my eyes. That had been a little too obvious. I hopped off the stool and walked over to them. I looked down at the minor demon, not recognizing it. Not that I knew every demon in Hell, but I knew a fair bit; some I even considered friends.

Auric lifted his sword to strike the killing blow that would send it back to Hell, unable to be summoned for a hundred years while it healed, but I stayed his hand.

“Kill who?” I asked. I hated vague answers.

“Lucifer"s daughter,” it cackled.

I frowned at it. “I know who I am. I asked who you were told to kill.”

“You.”

“Me?” I squeaked. I wasn"t scared, just annoyed at its effrontery. I mean, seriously, did he really think his not-so-impressive ass could have kicked mine? “That"s ridiculous. My dad is going to rip out your innards when you get back to Hell, you little rodent.” And I was tempted to follow and kick him around a few times, too, for breaking up one smoking hot kiss.

Auric"s voice rumbled and he didn"t sound happy. “Who wants Muriel dead?”

“The one who would rule Hell. My master, G–.” The little demon began choking up gobs of black blood and bile.

Eeww!

Auric and I both stepped back–me mostly to save my boots--and watched the creature"s body as it convulsed, its limbs thrashing hard against the floor. With a high pitched squeal of pain, the demon"s body caved in on itself, shrinking in size, „til with a pint-sized scream, it winked out of sight; and, judging by the burst of energy at the end, permanently.

“Shit! Now there"s something I"ve never seen before,” I exclaimed. “I"ve got to go.” I had to tell my dad about this. Someone had managed to completely destroy a demon from afar. An act that should have been impossible.

“It"s not safe; perhaps you should stay here,” said Auric, wiping his sword blade down with his napkin from dinner.

I looked at him in disbelief. “Nice try, Casanova, but the making-out thing is going to have to wait for another time. I"ve got to go talk to my dad and ask him what, by the hag"s hairy tit, is going on.”

“What?” Auric looked confused, then he frowned at me. “This isn"t a ploy to get in your pants.

You heard what the demon said. It was after you. You"re in danger.”

“Yeah, well, welcome to my life. Daughter of Satan, remember? This isn"t the first time it"s happened, and it probably won"t be the last. My dad made sure I could protect myself at an early age. Speaking of which, some of my weapons are back at my place, so if there"s going to be a bunch of demons gunning for me, then I need to get ready.” Not to mention one of the first things Dad had done when I"d moved out on my own was ensure my apartment was portal-and demon-proof; well, except for him, of course. The only way demons could enter my place was through the door, and by invitation only.

“You"re not going alone,” said Auric, moving to a cabinet against the wall. When he opened it, I almost clapped my hands in glee, for my handsome suitor had almost as many cool toys as I did.

Swords, knives, guns, and yes, even a flame thrower. I could feel another piece of my heart swinging in his direction, and I had to stifle an urge to throw my arms around him and kiss him silly.

I watched him slide silver knives into his boots in cleverly hidden sheathes, and up his sleeves with leather straps. I shook my head in bemusement. Auric just seemed too perfect to be true. I"d have to find his major flaw soon.

The final touch--his leather duster, of course. He swung it on, hiding his arsenal, and held his hand out to me, his eyes so vividly intense that I caught my breath.

As if in slow motion, I walked to him and put my hand in his; his warm strength made me feel alive, and closer to someone than I"d ever felt. For a girl who"d spent most of her life alone, almost friendless, this contact seemed precious to me. Auric knew my deepest secret. He"d seen some of the ugly parts of my life, and yet he didn"t run.

Yeah, but wait ‘til he meets Dad
, said my stupid inner voice.
Shut up,
I snarled back.

I hated it when I was right.

When we emerged from Auric"s building, his friends were just walking up. I threw Auric a suspicious look. He just smiled enigmatically. I"d really have to have a talk with him about whom and what he was.

“Muriel, may I introduce my long-time companions, David and Christopher.”

David smiled at me shyly while Christopher swept me a bow.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” And it was. Auric had good looking, not to mention interesting, friends.

David sniffed the air and looked up. Being a shape shifter, I knew he had to have a keen sense of smell and excellent night vision. It seemed to be a species trait.

“Did you get a visitor, by any chance?” David asked.

“Nothing I couldn"t handle.” Auric shrugged.

Again, I felt like rolling my eyes. I could have handled the little demon, too. Which made me frown. If someone meant to kill me, why on earth would they send such a weakling to attack me first, and give the whole jig away? Anybody who knew me would have known it would take something a lot bigger than that.

Something about this didn"t make sense, making me more determined than ever to get home and call Dad. I had a special phone line to Hell. My father"s way of making sure I kept in touch; not that I needed to use it often, with his almost daily impromptu visits. Someone still had a hard time letting go.

Back to the situation at hand, I realized something else. Auric"s friends didn"t seem to be shocked about the fact a demon had attacked. Just who were these mysterious hunks?

Christopher, the wizard, didn"t look happy, and he frowned at Auric. “The magical wards I put on your place should have prevented demonic entry.”

I sheepishly put up my hand and waved it. “Guilty.” When Christopher looked at me questioningly, I explained. “I"m like a walking no-magic zone. Spells don"t work around me; I probably deactivated your wards when I entered his place. Sorry.”

“But you didn"t affect my sword,” said Auric, placing his hand on the hilt.

“Your sword is blessed, right?” I asked on a hunch.

“Yes. Does that make a difference?”

“I"m Satan"s daughter; of course it does. Your sword is imbued with holy magic. It"s the only type of magic not affected by me.”

Too late, I realized that perhaps I shouldn"t have said that last bit out loud; maybe the first bit as well, judging by the saucer-sized eyes on David and Christopher. To tell the truth, I figured Auric would tell them at some point anyway. But telling them about my weak spot, mainly blessed items, that was just dumb. After all, I didn"t really know these guys, and here I"d just given them an important clue if they ever decided to get rid of me instead of date me.

My dad always said I talked before thinking. Oh, well, the damage had been done. I"d pretend I didn"t say it, and hope they didn"t mean me ill.

Auric"s arm curved around my waist, a masculine gesture I quite enjoyed, and he squeezed me as if to reassure me. We walked towards my place as he filled his friends in quietly about the demon.

His friends, surprisingly, didn"t question me about the whole being related to the devil thing, which I appreciated since I found myself busy basking in the feeling of being so close to Auric.

Not to mention how distracted he kept me with his fingers lightly stroking the skin of my waist.

I"d have to remember to always wear short tops around him.

“How is it you live so close to the bar and me, yet I"ve never run into any of you guys before?”

“We were busy,” was Auric"s short reply. His friends pretended to be checking out the sky.

“Busy doing what?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Auric, instead of answering, drew me up on my tiptoes and kissed me soundly. When he finally stopped, I found myself breathless and flushed. But I hadn"t missed the fact he"d evaded my question once again. A mystery. It annoyed and thrilled me at the same time. I"d told him my dirty, awful secrets, well some of them anyways; he owed me the same in return if he wanted to put those luscious lips on mine again. Wait, he just had. Damn.

I didn"t know if I liked the fact that his kisses distracted me, and even worse, he"d noticed it.

What could I say? The man kissed like a god. The term “mind blowing” came to mind. I wondered if this effect he had on me would wear off over time. I"d have to kiss him some more and find out. A hard task, but one I looked forward to.

Coming into sight of my building, the shadows darker here due to the lamppost being burnt out again, the men slowed down and formed a protective wall in front of me as a shadowy figure detached itself from the wall it had been leaning against and moved towards us.

Standing on tiptoe and craning, I tried to see around them, but they formed an effective barrier.

So I walked around them to greet the oncoming figure.

From behind me, I heard the snick of a sword being loosed from a scabbard and raised a hand to wave them down. “It"s okay, I know him. He"s a friend.” I turned to the cloaked figure. “Charon, what are you doing here? Is everything all right at the bar?”

“Your father sent me. We must speak. Alone.”

I felt the stirrings of anxiety. Charon had never come to my place before, and the fact he did so with a message from my dad did not bode well.

“Thanks for dinner, Auric,” I said. I turned and pasted a smile on my face I knew didn"t reach my eyes. “Maybe we could do it again sometime.” I whirled back around and started walking to the front door of my building, Charon close by my side, when I sensed a presence on my other side. I looked up into Auric"s slightly smiling face.

“I"m not leaving, Muriel, until I know you"re safe,” he said pulling the macho protector routine again.

Ah, wasn"t he just the cutest? But still. “I"m safe with Charon, and I can take care of myself.”

Auric just ignored me–which made me fume and smile in equal parts--and held open the door for Charon and me to walk in. Had I not been so frazzled, I would have noticed the door was unlocked and probably sensed the creature that lay in wait, but Auric had my hormones in a frenzy. Before I knew it, the creature managed to tangle its claws in my hair and yank me sideways. I heard Auric bellow something, but being somewhat busy trying not to be scalped, I had no idea what he said.

Anyone who"s had their hair pulled knows the pain, and when I"m in pain, I get mad. Really mad. I stomped my boot down on the foot of the foe who held me, while my elbow jabbed back, hard, into the creature"s ribs. This had the effect of loosening the hold in my hair, allowing me to twist away. I pivoted around with my hands raised, and I spit out the words of a spell that suddenly flooded my mind. The words of power I used--which came to me only when I needed them--flowed from my mouth, an almost visible and potent magic that struck the demon who had dared accost me on my home turf. It didn"t have time to scream or even writhe, it simply ceased to be.

I stared at the sifting black dust in shock. Since when could I annihilate a demon? In the past, when in need, I"d been able to banish demons or place a stasis hold on them until bigger help arrived. This complete destruction of one floored me. Another reason I needed to speak to my father.

Danger taken care of, I schooled my features so as to not let my companions know how strange this act had been, even for me. I patted my hair, and turned with a bright smile to them. “Where were we? Ah, yes, I was trying to explain to Auric that I could take care of myself.” To my intense pleasure, he gave me a grudging smile of acknowledgement, but he still refused to budge.

“I never doubted you could take care of yourself; I"d just feel better if you didn"t have to do it alone.”

I closed my mouth; what could I say? That had to be the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. In a gesture of trust to my abilities, he let me go up the stairs first, with Charon between us.