Demon's Triad (19 page)

Whether you want to ‘break up’ with us or not, Aleeza, you need to think of your safety. And about the success of the investigation.”

“Please, that isn’t what—that’s not what I mean. This is official business, and your coven is paying me to do this. So I think it’s best if you guys go now and let me talk to Walter alone.”

“Our coven chieftain asked us to help you. This is helping.” Dorand crossed his arms across his chest and widened his stance, the very picture of an immoveable object.

“Yes, Dorand, you’re helping. But Ferrin and I are trouble. You said it yourself and—”

“So it’s me. You want to get rid of me. You should have just said so in the first place, Aleeza. I’m a big boy,” Ferrin said.

She opened her mouth to reply but couldn’t think of anything to say. Ferrin stared at her for a long moment, then turned. She and Dorand watched him leave the room, slamming the door behind him.

Dorand sighed. “I’d follow him, but I think he’d kill me if I did.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt him,” she said. “I don’t want to hurt either of you. That’s why, don’t you see, you guys have been so close for so long, and now it seems like—”

The last words were spoken into the soft fabric of his shirt as he closed the distance between them and circled her in his strong arms. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying,” she said, aware that in another minute she would be and desperate to make it stop. The warm comfort of his energy wrapped around her, giving 97

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her strength. “I just don’t understand what’s going on here, and I think I’m only making things worse by staying in such close contact with you two.”

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do. That magic targeted you and Ferrin.

Pushing us away isn’t going to change that.”

“But staying together it isn’t making it better either.”

“You don’t know that.” Dorand hugged her more tightly.

“I’m a good guesser.”

“Not good enough. You never would have figured out we were dealing with a demon magic-fast spell without me,” he teased.

His words brought a faint smile to her lips. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“We’re big boys. We can take it.”

She lifted her chin, and their eyes met. A blaze of heat ran through her body. “So you’re saying you want to get hurt?”

“No. But I think if you shut us out it will hurt more.”

“But—”

His lips took hers, cutting off her words, turning the banked flames in her body into an inferno. Even thinking of Ferrin somewhere outside did nothing to cool the raging desire taking hold of her.

Together they fell against the wall, their mouths devouring each other. Her hands dove under his shirt collar, desperate for the feel of his smooth skin. Nothing existed but their need, their lust turning into a blue-white blaze around them. He slid his palms down her back, over her bottom, lifting her in his strong arms so she could wrap her legs around him and feel the ridge of his erection press against her pussy.

Her already swollen breasts ached for his touch. She hooked her arms tightly around his neck and strained against him, urging him to lift her shirt and stroke them, stroke her. He felt so good. She wanted him inside her, wanted to feel their bodies and energies join. She wanted his calm to overtake her and lose herself in the soothing ocean of his power even as her pulse raced.

“Aleeza,” he whispered against her lips. His hips rocked forward, pinning her to the wall. She cried out in pleasure.

Bracing her against the cool stone behind her, he reached down to fumble with his jeans. She tightened her thighs on his hips, helping to keep herself up while he pulled the zipper down as far as he could.

Without breaking their kiss, he pulled away enough to set her feet back on the floor.

Together they tore at her jeans, at his, tugging them down. She couldn’t get her shoes off fast enough, and her jeans caught on them, leaving her barely able to stand.

“What the hell is this? I leave you alone for two minutes and this is how you decide to occupy your time?”

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Ferrin’s voice was like a swift slap on her ass. It surprised her, scared her, but only heightened the desire pulsing in her veins. She looked up at him, his face filling her vision. That dark hair, those perfect lips. Without even thinking, she reached out to him.

“Ferrin…Ferrin come on.”

He didn’t move, watching while Dorand stood gasping next to her, his cock pressing into her thigh, his hands still clasping her waist.

She pulled away, finally tugging her foot free so she could walk. She was naked from the waist down, and she didn’t care. In fact she was pleased. She wanted Ferrin to see how badly she wanted him, cared for him. Maybe after this she would have to leave them both. But perhaps she could heal their fracturing relationship before she did.

His gaze threatened to swallow her whole. She could fall into it, into his eyes, and live so happily. She
would
be happy if he would touch her and be hers. Forever. She needed him so much. She just didn’t want her need to be the ruin of a long friendship.

After all, it was partly her need—her need and her decision to break the celibacy spell—that was causing all of this, wasn’t it?

Ferrin’s hands hesitated before touching her. “I don’t want to be your mascot,” he said.

“You won’t be.” It was Dorand who spoke, not her.

“Please, Ferrin,” she whispered. This time she couldn’t fight the tears. “Please.”

His kiss, like everything about him, was so different from Dorand’s, but just like Dorand’s it made her want to scream in delight. His fingers clenched her arms so tightly she knew she would bruise, and she didn’t care. It felt good. It felt right when he bruised her, when he yanked her forward so her breasts crushed against his chest.

He kissed her so hard she could barely breathe, and she didn’t care. He wouldn’t let her die. He would protect her always, and when their time came and their children were born…

The children, there was that thought again. She’d never wanted children—her childhood in Mona’s house had assured that. So why this horrible compulsion to make babies every time she touched Ferrin, every time that green-gold magic began to glow between them?

As if on cue, their auras collided and exploded around them like fireworks, green sparks raining down over their heads.

“What? What is that?” Aleeza pulled away from Ferrin, wincing at the noise.

Something was screaming, shrieking, its echoes in the almost-empty room deafening. Ferrin took his hands off her arms to cover his ears while she did the same.

“It’s an alarm!” Dorand shouted, He grabbed her clothes and threw them at her.

“What the hell—”

The overhead lights started flashing, lending a further air of unreality to the scene.

Aleeza took her hand off her ears and tugged her jeans up as quickly as she could while Dorand did the same. Something was about to happen—she sensed it intuitively, and 99

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she wanted to be ready. Her bag was on the floor in the corner. The club was gone, but she might have a blade of some kind. Maybe she should smash one of the cases and take a demon weapon?

No, that probably wasn’t a good idea, but there had to be something. Any minute that door would open, and they were only three witches against…what?

They all tensed as the door handle turned, looking jerky and terrifying in the strobe light effect. Aleeza grabbed for their hands, needing their strength. Together they could make trouble for an army of witches. And they would.

The door opened. She felt Ferrin and Dorand get ready to leap forward and meet their adversary.

Walter stepped into the room, holding some kind of remote. He pressed it. The lights steadied and the siren stopped.

“So,” he said, looking at Ferrin who still glowed slightly green with that gold light dancing in his eyes. “I wondered what you were.”

* * * * *

“The Pandorians were never completely gone. There are several clutches of them, some off the coast of Greece, a few near the Taiwanese islands, and one of the largest settlements six miles west of the Savior City harbor. They own an island out there, run eco-tours and the like,” Walter said, muting the small television in the corner when the program once again went to commercial.

Dorand could see the frustration clearly etched on both Ferrin and Aleeza’s faces.

They’d activated a several-hundred-year-old demon alarm when their auras had touched, but Walter had still insisted on watching his show while he explained how the hell such a thing could have happened. Dorand would have been frustrated as well, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. Walter had an addiction, plain and simple. He needed his reality TV fix, and nothing was going to keep him from it short of the world catching fire and burning the building down around him.

“Then why does everyone assume they’re extinct?” Aleeza asked, shifting on the couch beside him.

She was sipping the White Russian Walter had made for her and munching on green olives and cherries, the only food Walter had, coming from his fully stocked bar.

Just watching her eat was an extremely sensual experience, and Dorand had to fight to keep his cock from thickening. He’d never been so wildly attracted to a woman. It would have been disturbing if holding her in his arms didn’t feel so amazingly right.

He knew it would be the same the next time they were in bed together. That sense of connection, of completion, would transform fucking into lovemaking.

Lovemaking. He was falling in love with her. The knowledge hit him hard, and for some reason made his eyes jump to where Ferrin sat on the edge of the chair he’d 100

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pulled up next to Walter’s. But Ferrin wasn’t looking at him. He was watching Aleeza slip a cherry into her mouth with complete absorption.

“Because they want people to think that. More importantly, they want the demons to think that. The Pandorians were victims of demonic possession for thousands of years. They couldn’t fight them off.”

“But I thought they were one of the impish covens? Doesn’t that mean they could magic-fast with demons?” Aleeza asked.

“That’s a bit of mythology. Only a Gunera or a Daiesthai has the power to magic-fast with a demon and form a symbiotic relationship. The witch gets power and longevity while the demon gets to experience the world as mortal flesh.”

Ferrin and Aleeza shared a look then that made Dorand suspicious. Why hadn’t they told him about this?

“The Pandorians, on the other hand, would simply get taken over. They wouldn’t have to enter willingly into a contract with a demon. Their souls would just get kicked right out of their bodies. Even if they managed to maintain soul-body connection, the demons would be able manipulate them more than they would another, stronger-magicked witch. So they went underground a few thousand years ago and only a handful of demon-slayers know of their existence. They need to stay in contact with us, for those times when a demon does manage to sniff them out.”

“You’re a demon slayer?” Ferrin’s tone was respectful, but Dorand could hear the disbelief under his words. It was true Walter didn’t look like he could slay much of anything, but he was one of the most powerful supernaturals Dorand had ever known.

“Most demonologists are. We’re the only people who can deal with the prolonged exposure to all these relics and not lose our minds.”

“So the Pandorians exist but have been in the demon-possession protection program,” Aleeza said, earning a short bark of a laugh from Walter. “Forgive me, but I don’t see what this has to do with Ferrin and me setting off the alarm.”

“You’re a very impatient woman.” Walter smiled as he said the words and Aleeza smiled back.

“Very impatient, especially when I’ve got a crime to solve and a demon trying to worm its way into my head.”

“You’re sure it’s a demon, not the witch who’s fasted with the demon?” Walter asked the question as if he already knew the answer.

“Um…yes.”

“Because…” Walter prompted.

“Because it wants Ferrin and me to have a child, another generation for whatever spell it wants to work. If it was another witch, he or she would want to be part of the equation, wouldn’t they? Either the impregnator or the impregnatee?”

“Not necessarily. If your witch is a Daiesthai woman, she might not be able to conceive. They’re supposed to have fertility problems. She would need a Gunera or a 101

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Pandorian woman to carry the child. The only imperative is a Daeisthai male, or a Pandorian male whose soul had been completely possessed by the demon host. Or, in rare occasions, there were tales of Gunera men being able to impregnate Gunera women with a Daiesthai baby, but there was some complication. I believe that’s the reason for the Gunera curse in the first place—something was wrong with their offspring. But I could be— Wait a second, we’re back. Hold that thought until the next commercial.”

Walter hit the mute button again, and the theme music for
Celebrities Behaving Badly
filled the room.

“I’m sorry, Walter, but we can’t wait.” Aleeza stood and crossed the room to hit the power button on the television. She then stood in front of it, as if to block the signal if Walter decided to use his remote to bring the set back to life. “Three people have been killed and there’s a demon strong enough to violate the protection spells on this building on the loose. It was talking in my head in the Armory, and from what Dorand told us, that shouldn’t be able to happen.”

“The protection spell is on the building, not on the people inside the building,”

Walter corrected, looking more than a little irritated.

“Please, Walter, I’m begging you. We need to know why we set off that alarm, and we need to know now, not at the next commercial break. Lives are at stake.” Aleeza ran a hand through her long, dark hair and flashed wide, liquid brown eyes at Walter.

Dorand watched Walter soften as he met those eyes and began to wonder if Aleeza had this effect on all men.