Beauty and the Beast (Demon Tales 1) (4 page)

“Look,” Brigg flicked a look back towards
the toilet cave, impatience a burning urgency in his chest. “I’ve
left Helki in the toilets—unconscious.”

“What?” Torc’s shock was plain to see. Even
with his face full of fur, Brigg was able to see that his brother
was wondering just how and when he’d gone insane.

“Shh!” Shifting the human to a better
position, drawing the clearly disapproving eye of his younger
brother, Brigg explained. “I had to, he was killing her.”

Torc’s face changed and understanding
dawned—they might be beasts, but they weren’t evil. No matter what
had been done to them, no matter just how their lives had been
screwed by humans, they were still good demons—a rare thing. His
eyes flew to the toilet caves and Brigg saw resolve fall over his
younger brothers gaze.

“What will you do?”

“I intend to find out who she is, and get
her back to where she belongs.”

Mine.

“What if Helki wants her back?” Torc asked,
his gaze shifting around the room, watching for any trouble. “I’m
pretty sure that when Helki wants something, he keeps it.”

“Fuck Helki.” Brigg snarled. Torc’s gaze
fell upon the female, a critical eye that took in all of her
features. Brigg could see his brother’s brain ticking, his shrewd
gaze working things out. He knew his brother was seeing how
attractive she was, how helpless she looked. And his brother knew
him well enough to know that Brigg was a sucker for the needy, and
always had been. What his brother didn’t need to know was that
there was more to this, much more. Folding her in closer, Brigg
swallowed the need to tell his brother to stop looking at his
woman—especially with a frown of disgust. It bothered Brigg on a
level he didn’t care to understand.

Mine.

Torc gave a heavy sigh. “I hope she’s worth
it, bro.” He patted Brigg on the back and shook his head. Brigg
gave no reply as he left the caves and took the little human out of
Helki’s reach. He ignored the surging relief and the joy bubbling
up inside just for the reason of being able to hold her.

Mine.

“No,” He replied to the ecstatic voice in
his mind. “Not mine. She is human.” Even as he spoke the words, his
brain echoed,
mine
. Brigg wondered what the fuck he was
going to do if this little human was in fact his destined mate.

Pain registered through Cally’s sleep, a
dull ache in her head and a sore throat. Her whole body throbbed,
but it was her throat and head that consumed her thoughts as
consciousness climbed slowly over her brain. She stretched out her
limbs like a waking cat. Cally revelled in the feeling of reaching
over her head, the tightness in her shoulders ebbing away as
she…

Wait. Stretching?

Cally’s eyes flicked open the moment she
realized that something was different. Panic gripped her chest,
tightening her breaths until she gulped in enough air to think
straight. She blinked her eyes against the bright sun light filling
the small room. She turned her head and winced, shocked by the pain
in her neck and her head and… well basically everywhere.

“Try not to move to fast.”

Cally stilled, even as her heart began
wildly pounding. A deep voice rumbled softly in the quiet room. She
turned her head and gasped when the big hairy demon filled her
view. He stood watching her from a doorway, his dark, dark eyes
appraised her as if judging her worth.

Broad, strong shoulders filled the doorway
as he watched her. His baseball-bat-sized arms crossed over his
chest. He was wearing a white shirt and dark leather trousers. Most
of the demons’ fur was covered, but Cally could still see it all
over his face and hands. Brown, almost black, the fur shone like
silk in the soft sunlight.

The demon cleared his throat, pulling Cally
from her thoughts. She gripped her banging head with shaky hands as
she tried to scramble together her rambled thoughts. “Where am I?”
she whispered. A cough wracked her chest, forcing her to sit up and
clutch at her sides. The demon walked forward and poured her a
drink from a jug on the table next to the bed. Cally looked at the
cup as he offered it to her. His hairy hand held the glass in a
tight grip. Suspicion and fear stopped her from taking the much
needed liquid.

“It’s water,” he barked, thrusting it
forward. Cally flinched at his booming voice, and moved backwards
instinctively. She was somewhat surprised when he lifted the water
to his mouth and took a sip to prove its safety. Seeing no other
option, and being so thirsty she could spit feathers, Cally took
the drink. After tasting it tentatively and finding out that it was
in fact water, she chugged it down quickly. He watched her for a
long moment, his dark stare unsettling. Cally dipped her head and
drew the blanket up higher. The demon turned and resumed his
position in the doorway.

“Where am I?”

“You are in my cabin.”

Fear stabbed like a jagged piece of glass in
her chest.
His cabin
? He watched her with eyes now black as
night. His body language spoke of being battle-ready like, a knight
of old. He was frightening. The knowledge that she was alone with
him was enough to make her want to faint. She stared around his
cabin, and tried to compose her thoughts. Surely this was a better
option to that stinking hellhole she had been in before.

Sparse furniture sat in logical places. A
chair by the fire, a table with one chair under the small window,
and a bed—the one she was on—set by the far wall, the opposite side
from the small kitchen area. From the looks of it, this was a small
hunting cabin built for one person.

“Why?” She cringed at the sound of her weak
voice. Clearing her throat, she spoke again, this time she sat up
straight and lifted her chin. “Why do you have me here?” She tried
not to drop her eye-contact, but the beast was intimidating and her
control slipped as a wave of heat burned at her cheeks. She looked
back up using all of the willpower she owned. He watched her with
intense speculation, he had clearly heard her speak, but didn’t
offer a reply. Cally squirmed under his scrutiny, confused by the
heat warming her insides.

The door rattled and boomed as someone
outside knocked hard enough that Cally could have sworn that they
used a battering ram. Startled, she dragged the blankets up and
over her, needing something to hide under. Images of demons with
wings and serrated teeth sprang into her mind, red-skinned beasts
with yellow eyes, like the ones she had seen loitering in the
caves, danced in her head.

The demon watched for a moment, and then
headed to the door and peeked through the gap in the woodwork. He
was so cool and calm it was unnerving.

“It’s ok, human, it’s my brother.”

Relief was a cold wash over her body, until
she realized that
his brother
would probably be just as
scary as him. His big hand fell on the door handle, and Cally spoke
before she had a chance to think.

“Wait!” Sitting up on her knees, still
clutching the blankets, Cally swallowed back her fear and spoke
again. “Uh… uh, please tell me why I’m here.” His dark eyes held
her captive. Cally wanted to sink back into the bed until she
disappeared, until she turned into feathers and dust, but her need
to know what was to happen to her made her hold his stare—his
intensely unnerving stare..

“Little human, I will not hurt you.”

Although his words were clipped and gruff,
Cally heard a sincere note that gave her pause. Something popped
inside her chest and a surge of relief filled her lungs. Though it
was probably foolish, she believed him. The calm quiet of the beast
was as reassuring as it was scary, his intense eye-contact,
although unnerving, was honest. Cally couldn’t deny that her mind
quieted under his attention. Still clutching the blankets, she held
her breath as he pulled open the door and allowed his brother to
enter the cabin.

If she had thought that the first demon was
deadly, then this one was savage. Eyes the colour of liquid amber
fell on her as he stalled in mid-stride. Cally watched with wide
eyes as the demon glared at her coldly. She wanted to run, to hide,
anything to remove his hateful gaze from her. She sunk back to the
wall and pulled the bed sheets higher.

* * * *

“What is it, Torc?” Brigg asked, trying to
break the tension in the room. He could tell that the little human
was petrified by his brother. Her wide eyes and trembling hands
made her look impossibly young and innocent, and Brigg just wanted
to scoop her up and hold her. But he wouldn’t, he wasn’t a
fool.

Torc was not exactly helping matters,
glaring at the little rabbit as if she was the one who had cursed
them.

Brigg placed a strong hand on his brother’s
shoulder and brought Torc’s attention back to him. Those damn
annoying protective urges were goading him again.

She had been unconscious for nearly four
hours, and Brigg had never felt so tense. Watching her breaths and
reassuring himself that she was well had been his only activity in
all the time she slept. When she had stirred into life, relief had
been a punch right to his solar plexus. It was insane. Brigg had
wanted to grin when she had turned those cornflower-blue eyes on
him, even if they had held anger and fear— Hell, he was more than
used to that by now.

Not wanting to analyze his feelings too
much, Brigg turned his attention back to his brother. “So what
happened?” Brigg frowned. Torc was usually the lighthearted one,
the brother who laughed everything off. But standing in front of
Brigg now, Torc was fidgety.

“You have really fucked up, Brigg—big time.”
Torc threw a disgusted look over his shoulder at the human, making
Brigg’s temper flare.

“Eyes forward,” Brigg growled, as his mood
turned black and his body buzzed with adrenaline. His inner animal
did not like Torc glaring at the human. Shit, neither did the human
part of him. This was all kinds of messed up. He waited for Torc to
turn his attention back to him and asked, “What happened?”

“Helki is pissed off.”

“Yeah, I guessed that much.”

“No. I mean, really pissed off, Brigg.” Torc
tuned to the human and pointed at her, making her look up
wide-eyed. She whimpered. Brigg had to catch himself before he
jerked his brother’s arm away. His anger flared, forcing him to
grind his teeth against the blinding need to batter his brother.
Torc went on, “She is the runaway Princess from Tempath.”

A small gasp from the human, and a dainty
red blush, confirmed what Torc had said. Brigg’s heart thumped and
the voice in his head said…

Oh Fuck.

He turned to Cally. “Are you?” He had
already seen the confirmation in her reaction, but he had to ask.
His words were barked, and the sound of fright that yipped from her
mouth let him know that he had scared her.

Nodding her head weakly, she whispered
“Yes.”

Brigg spat out a vile curse and turned to
face the fireplace. His hands gripped the stone, his nails cutting
into the rough surface as he tried to rein in his reaction to the
news that his little human , and possible mate, was the daughter of
the bitch who had cursed him and his brother all those years
ago.

“I say we just give her back to Helki and
walk away.”

“No!” The answer was out his mouth faster
than he could think it.

“What the fuck, man?”

“I said, no!” Brigg roared, stopping his
brother’s tirade before it began. Hurt passed over Torc’s face.
Brigg swallowed the sawdust-dry need to bellow at his brother and
yell at the gods. His inner turmoil at learning this was painful
and tight. Should he explain to his brother what he suspected?

What would he say? I think she is my
mate.

No, he couldn’t say that because he didn’t
even know for sure. All he did know was that the little human
needed help, and he was the one willing—like a fucking sacrifice—to
offer it. After all, it seemed to him that she didn’t have a whole
lot of friends beating down his door to help her. He couldn’t even
begin to describe the soul-deep need to help her, his brother just
wouldn’t believe him. They had long thought that the notion of
mates was a fairy-tale, a farce, told to them by their parents to
stop them from being careless and foolish with their lives. But
Brigg couldn’t deny what his body was telling him. The little human
inspired something inside that Brigg had thought was long
gone—dead, killed by the curse that had shattered all his dreams
and plans for the future.

“I am not a savage. I won’t hand over a
woman to Helki, human or not.”

Some of the tension dropped from Torc’s
shoulders. A small amount of resignation clouded his eyes, and Torc
nodded weakly. Torc turned and headed for the cabin door, then
stopped and spoke—not looking at Brigg.

“I’m no savage, either.” He threw a cold
look over his shoulder to the female. “But I still won’t help a
human. Ever.” Torc stepped out of the cabin, his wide shoulders
almost filling the door frame. “One more thing, bro,” Torc said as
he dragged his jacket’s hood over his head. “Helki knows where you
live—so I would run, fast.” Torc dropped his head, shoved his hands
into his pockets and stormed off into the woods surrounding the
cabin.

Brigg watched him disappear through the tall
trees, a growing sense of dread beginning to weigh heavy on his
chest. He closed the cabin door and wondered just what the fuck he
was supposed to do now. Brigg hated that he had betrayed his
brother, but there was no way that he could throw the little
human—mate or not—to Helki and his mob of degenerates. Whatever had
happened to him and Torc, Brigg could never live knowing that he
didn’t help the one woman who might be his destined mate—just
because she was human.