Clutch of the Demon (7 page)

Why she was offended by that remark was beyond her. Her brain must be going haywire underground. "So, what am I doing here?"

 
In the centuries I've been trapped here, you are the only being who has managed to find me. You will stay with me as long as I am imprisoned here.
 

She mulled that over. So, he wasn't going to eat her. He wanted company? She bit her lip as she tried to wrap her mind around this. She looked down at the sandwiches with a frown.
 

"How are you caged here when you're so powerful?"

His eyes narrowed.
I'm cursed. I cannot leave the cave.

She wanted to ask the obvious 'Have you tried everything?' but she didn't want to be extra crispy so she asked instead, "But you still have magic?"

I can conjure any worldly comfort and I have seen the world change through the eyes of humans, but I have not been able to summon anyone here. I have never been able to communicate with anyone until you arrived.
 

She shifted uncomfortably and began to eat again, hoping he wouldn't ask what she was dreading.
 

Why is Luc, a Master Demon, plaguing you?

The bite of sandwich caught in her throat. She choked and gulped down iced tea when she got her breath back. Her hands began to sweat and her stomach twisted with dread. "Demons infect people with greed, madness, rage, lust," Cara took another sip of tea because her throat was dry. "Under Luc's influence, he can cause a whole town to go up in flames in a matter of hours. He knows which humans are weak and influential, what they crave. He possesses them for a couple hours and brings forth their worst qualities. By the time he jumps to the next puppet, they're bent on destruction. I've always been able to sense demons."

She trailed off and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep the sandwich in her stomach. A long silence fell. She couldn't explain the horror she felt as a child, watching demons breathe chaos into those around her. Luc never inhabited one human for long. Right now, the puppet he possessed was one of the richest men in the world, a man who influenced the politics in seven countries.
 

So you became a demon hunter.
 

"Yes. I left home when I was sixteen," she said and tapped ragged fingernails on the glass.
 

You must be good at what you do.

She looked up with a frown. "What makes you say that?"

You're alive and Luc punished you by trying to kill your sister. You're a threat. I know how his kind works. Luc won't tolerate interference.
 

Cara stared at him for a long minute before she shifted awkwardly and muttered, "Thanks for what you did in the hospital. I've never seen Luc scared of anything."

His talons scraped the stone floor.
Luc has gone unchallenged for too long.
 

She seconded that. Before her, no one dared challenge the Master Demon, much less managed to thwart him. It was Luc's arrogance in not taking her as a serious threat that allowed Cara to do her work for so long, following Luc's trail and undoing the evil in his wake.
 

"You know him?" she asked uncertainly.
 

She was stepping into La La Land now, sitting as casually as you please in a cave, chitchatting with a dragon about demons. Then again, she'd never lived in the real world. What she sensed, no one else could. As far as most people were concerned, she was an evil witch. It was better for people to believe that than the truth.
 

Luc and I know one another, but he didn't dare come out so openly then.

"He's powerful," Cara said.
 

She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, unable to block out the sound of Luc's voice in her head, exploiting every human need in her. Cara didn't make connections, knowing Luc or other demons could use them against her. Sky and Dawn were pure of heart and therefore couldn't be possessed, which is why Luc infected Sky with a sickness no healer could cure. She pushed away those dark thoughts. It was done. Sky was fine and under the protection of an Ancient.
 

You're safe from him here.

Cara's head snapped up. "What?"

My power eclipses his while you're in my vicinity.
 

A bubble of something foreign erupted in her chest. Luc couldn't touch her
or
her family? Her mouth curved in an unfamiliar manner and she raised a hand to cover it as something burst from her mouth. Did she just
giggle
?

You're amused about something?

With her tongue pressed against her cheek, Cara said, "Luc must be pissed."

The pressure was off. Her family was safe and Luc couldn't stalk her here. She was relieved and so damn tired. She'd never had a normal life and for the most part, didn't waste time worrying about it. In kindergarten she realized no one else could hear demons whispering seductively into their victim's ears. She didn't know how to connect with anyone on a normal level because she
wasn't
normal. Now, she would live underground with a dragon for eternity. Her life was seriously bizarre.

The dragon didn't move, but that didn't lessen the aura of power around him. Even his stillness was alarming because she knew how fast he could move. He looked very reptilian with his long, arching neck, sharp angles and scales that shimmered in the light. If she looked at him objectively, he was beautiful in a freaky, alien way. His eyes seared her soul so she avoided them as much as possible. He was a beast built for war and although the thought of him in the real world made her body go cold with fear, it seemed so
wrong
having him down here. He saved Sky and he wasn't going to eat her so he couldn't be
that
bad, right? He didn't like demons or Luc, which meant he was on the 'good' side.

The dragon shifted, breaking into her musings.

What do you require?

Huh? "What do you mean?"

Clothes?
 

She looked down at her wet hiking boots, torn jeans and shirt. "Anything's fine."

I'll provide it. If you require food, contact me.
 

She got the impression that he was going to leave her and she didn't know whether to be afraid or relieved. She glanced around the dim interior of the cavern. She couldn't even hear the waterfall from here.
 

"Is there anything else in the cave?"

I am the only beast here.

Cara winced and waved a hand. "I didn't mean..."
 

The beat of his wings tossed her off the rock and she landed on her butt. Shit. She watched him fly away, a ghostly bird of prey that disappeared into the depths of the cave. Cara downed the rest of the iced tea before she ambled over to her cave and sat, feet dangling over the edge of the step. She should scope out her surroundings, but her body felt like lead. If her insides weren't caked with Rage and she wasn't in a dragon cave, she may have convinced herself that the past three days were all a dream. She focused inward and tried to purge Rage, but he'd had a lot of time to work on her on the flight from Montana to Ireland.

Drawing out a demon's taint on you was the same as drawing out the venom from a snake wound. This time, there were no innocent victims around if she went postal. She didn't worry about the dragon since he was a big boy. She braced herself and touched the lingering remnants Rage left for her.
 

"Freak!"
 

Cara cowered as three boys and four girls pummeled her with sticks.
 

"She's a witch like her mom! We have to burn her!"

Cara fought back, heart pounding in terror. She swung wildly but whenever she focused on one person, she was hit from behind. She managed to scramble out of their huddle and run as fast as she could through the dry grass. It was nearly waist high and she could hear them screaming behind her. She thought she was home free until a boy appeared in front of her and used her momentum to swing her to the ground. The others laughed and cheered as they gathered around her. She tried to get to her feet, but there were too many of them and they had no intention of letting her get away this time. Someone kicked her in the face and a boy stomped his foot on her chest, making her breath wheeze out of her. Through the blood streaming down her face, she blinked up at a girl with pigtails. Cara's breath caught in her throat as the girl held up a lighter. Cara thrashed and a boy sat on her legs while two girls stood on her arms, pinning her. Cara screamed for help as the other kids chanted, "Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"
 

Cara struggled madly, but she was outnumbered. Out of the corner of her eye, Cara saw the lighter spark. The girl tried several times and let out a triumphant squeal when a flame appeared. Cara stared at her classmate as she smiled wickedly and held the flame close to her hair. Everything slowed down and something slithered to life in Cara's chest. Fury beat through her and Cara let out an animalistic snarl. Cara twisted her arm out from beneath the girl's foot who screamed in surprise and toppled into the dry grass. Cara did the same with the other girl who watched dumbstruck as Cara sat up and effortlessly tossed the boy who was sitting on her legs. Once Cara got to her feet she lashed out at the girl with the lighter. The grass began to smoke. The kids screamed and Cara turned and ran. She wasn't in charge of her body, which was fluid, controlled and focused. Her mind was curiously blank and when she came to, she stood across the road from the field, which was engulfed in flames.
 

Cara wrenched herself out of the memory. She wasn't sitting on the step of her cave anymore. She was thirty feet away, soaked with sweat and trembling. She stiffened her spine and walked back to her hobbit hole. She was so engrossed in the memory that she ran full out as she had that day. Stumbling into the cave, she stripped out of her clothes on the way to the bathing pool. Cara ducked her head beneath the surface and swam for several strokes before she came up for air. She sat with her back against the wall of the pool for half an hour, staring straight ahead with no expression.
 

When she climbed out of the tub, she wrapped herself in a towel and paused when she saw a pile of clothes against the wall.
I can conjure any worldly comfort.
She pulled on soft pants and a shirt, brushed her hair and braided it. When she rounded the wall, she walked to the entrance of the cave and was almost disappointed to find herself still alone. She shook her head and climbed into bed. She stared up at the ceiling for a long time before she drifted into uneasy sleep.
 

Dragon

The dragon knew he should give her space, but he had to come back, had to keep an eye on her. His mind couldn't fully accept that she was here. A human female slept in his prison. He settled at the mouth of the cave and watched the slight rise and fall of the sheet on her chest. His keen hearing picked up even breaths that signaled sleep. Black hair spilled over white sheets and he knew her eyes were pitch black without a hint of brown. She had tan skin and he enjoyed the thought of her in the sun and felt a wistfulness that he instantly crushed. Average height, average build. She wasn't beautiful, but striking with exotic features.
 

Out of all the creatures that could have trespassed, he never thought a human, much less a
woman
would dare. She popped up in his lair without an explanation and calmly asked for a favor as if he were a fairy godmother. She risked her life to find him, believing he was 'good' and that he would save her sister's life. He'd been so flabbergasted by how misinformed she was, he didn't respond immediately. Then, his mind had lurched into gear and he had decided to spare her sister's life to soften Cara's heart towards him.
 

He didn't know what to think of a human that hunted demons and sacrificed her life for a sibling. He'd never met such a reckless human. In his experience they were selfish, foolish and stubborn. Cara was definitely foolish and stubborn. Selfish, she was not. After she left the caves with his blood, he watched her make the trek up the cliffs, roaring and gouging the stone around him.
 

His freedom hinged on the way Cara perceived him. He watched her interact with her mother and sister and a long forgotten part of him stirred. Seeing Luc face
his
human hadn't put him in a good mood and he was too far away to send Luc back to hell. He saved Cara's life only for her to risk it again to attack the possessed human at the airport. He nearly strangled her to put himself out of his misery. She heedlessly threw herself on the tracks in front of oncoming trains. What was she thinking?

It was pure self-preservation on his part that made him order her to come to him when she reached the Cliffs of Moher. His future depended on a woman who stared down at the waves as if contemplating throwing herself in. He watched her every move, waiting for her to balk or refuse to come to him. To his astonishment, apart from her reckless need to exorcise demons, Cara kept her word. How long had it been since he'd met anyone who kept his or her word, human or otherwise? She obeyed his dictates to the tee, even though she knew she wasn't strong enough to make the journey back to the cave. Was that her plan? End her life instead of spending eternity with him?

He knew he only had seconds to save her when he thrust his talon into the water tunnel. He gave her more blood than a human should consume and the fact that she hadn't woken immediately made him realize how far gone she was. He wouldn't be so careless with her again.
 

Cara. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with her. He would ensure she had food, water and clothing. He knew she wasn't vain. Any woman who warred against evil and allowed herself to be possessed by demons to protect others wasn't finicky about her looks. He couldn't believe she came back to him, especially since she thought he would
eat
her. He turned his head as he snorted to direct the fire away from her.