Dirty Deeds (Paranormal Erotic Romance) (8 page)

“I'll show you sweet and submissive when I kick your ass.” Her struggles and swats were more playful than serious. She loved him. She'd hoped by now she was over him, but deep down knew she would never be.

“Melody, I—” A banging sounded on the outer office door.

“Drake! Drake are you in there?”

“Damn! I think I'm going to have to kill me a Chaos Demon.” She laughed as he jumped from the bed.

“Well then, go take care of your Chaos Demon. I'll take a shower and get cleaned up.”

“Mmmm.” He caressed the underside of her breasts. “That sounds good. I'll take care of demon boy and join you. We can finish our talk later.” His eyes glowed with sheer lust as he reluctantly let her go to deal with business.

The hot water sluicing over her started to run cool. She'd lost track of how much time she'd been waiting, but since a cold shower was not her idea of a good time, it was time to get out. Drake must have gotten caught up in some work crisis he couldn't get out of.

Melody twisted the lever off and exited the shower, grabbing one of the bath sheets to dry off. She'd spent enough time lavishing herself with sex and love, but now she needed to focus on her task at hand. Today was the thirty-first of October. Her deadline. One Harold had been kind enough to remind her of in person. She stuck her tongue out at herself in the mirror. Her boss was one giant pain in the ass.

She rummaged around Drake's room for her clothes, dressing and repairing as she went along. They looked a bit worse for wear, but she was headed straight home, so she'd get over it. She needed a new killer outfit and a plan. With tonight being Halloween, she wouldn't have any trouble finding a few more sorry souls to meet her deadline. Although the thought of having sex with anyone other than Drake turned her stomach.

Yep, I've got it bad
. So much for the sex-starved demon persona. She would need a different approach.
Hmm. Maybe a dominatrix. That could be interesting.

Melody giggled as she reached for the door and walked into the outer office.

“Boss, what are you going to do about Melody? For this to work, she'll have to be destroyed, or at the very least suffer in flames for eternity. Is this all part of the plan? Get her defenses down so she's easy prey?”

Melody twisted and turned, looking for the source of the voice she'd heard. No one was in the room with her, but she did notice Drake and another man she didn't recognize on one of the video monitors. She moved closer, realizing the conversation was coming from a speaker on the desk. Drake's back was to the monitor, so she couldn't see his expression.

“Watch yourself.” Drake's voice was low and menacing. “I'm perfectly aware what needs to be done.”

“Hey, boss, I'm just saying. We've all been waiting a long time to take down Harold and get back home.”

“You've been saying entirely too much lately. I suggest you worry about yourself and let me take care of the girl.” Drake ran his hands roughly through his hair, tension visible in the rigid line of tendons at his neck.

Set up.

Betrayed again.

Her head spun out of control. How could she have been so stupid?

“It's too bad you had to hear that.” Melody swiveled around to see a huge green, horned demon standing behind her. Beside the horns and the puke green skin, he looked like any other human man who overdosed on steroids.

Holy crap
. Muscles bulged in every spot imaginable. Even
that
one. She glanced toward the door, calculating escape, when he advanced toward her, effectively cutting her off from the exit.

Shit.

“Hear what?” She did her best to appear aloof despite the fear gripping her insides.

“Do I look that stupid?” He sneered down at her.

“Well, now that—” He cocked his eyebrow, contorting his face into the visage of a nightmare.

He paced forward, forcing her to take steps back until her butt hit the desk in front of the bank of video monitors. He raised his hand and Melody quickly tried to process an escape scenario. He didn't strike her, but instead leaned over her, pressing the black talk button.

“Hey, Drake. I think you'd better come to your office. We have a problem.” Melody breathed in sharply as the demon brushed past her, putting some space between her and the door.

This might be my only chance.

She sprinted by the demon, hoping for a little luck. He grabbed at her, only catching the edge of her top. With fear and adrenaline rushing through her, her nails extended to talons as she sliced at his wrist. The demon screeched in agony as he released her shirt, blood from his arm squirting across her face. Melody took off in a sprint, or as much as she could in her four-inch fuck-me heels.

She cleared the office doorway and took off toward the club entrance. Running and stumbling, she made it to the foyer, and with a quick glance behind, heaved a sigh of relief that she'd gotten away.

Thunk.

She ran into something hard, bouncing back only to be caught by warm familiar arms.

“Going somewhere, sweetheart?”

Her heart thudded in her chest as her oxygen-starved brain forced her lungs to work overtime. The steely determination in his eyes told her she wasn't going anywhere. She was trapped.

Melody slumped against him as her heart shattered in pieces again. She'd managed to screw everything up by letting him get to her. Even with a new look, some things never changed.

“Come on, babe; let's go have ourselves a chat.” He scooped her into his arms, carrying her back toward his office. Thank goodness it was still early, and no customers were in the club to witness her humiliation.

What was that old saying? “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

* * *

Drake dumped her in the recliner away from the bed so he'd be slightly less tempted to do something he shouldn't. Despite her evident anger and pain, he felt the need to show her once again who was in control in this relationship. He thought to tie her hands behind her back and put her on her knees in front of him. A good flogging would give his girl the focus she so needed. He shifted his already swelling cock in his pants, trying to get his mind off the image of her lips wrapped around him.

Dammit.

She'd heard the words he'd spoken to a demon he didn't fully trust, not his true thoughts, but rumblings of former plans.

Now covered in blood from her attack of his friend, she needed to get cleaned up again. He walked into the bathroom and grabbed a cloth, running it under the hot water. His mind raced with thoughts he didn't need to say until he had everything figured out. The bedroom door handle jiggled, letting him know his fiery little hellcat was up trying to figure a way out. The corners of his mouth couldn't help but crinkle up in a grin. There was nowhere for her to go. She would have to stay here and hear him out.

Without glancing in her direction, he exited the bathroom and crossed to the bureau in the corner. He searched through drawers for some clothes she could change into instead of the blood-soaked leather she wore now. The wound she'd inflicted on his guard may not have been fatal, but it sure made a mess.

Drake sat down in the chair opposite hers. “Come here, Melody.” He patted his knee.

“I don't think so, Drake.” Her features hardened as she spoke, her arms crossing in front of her. He couldn't blame her for being angry. What she'd heard was damning. He needed to explain the whole truth, make her understand his true self and situation.

Ah, but will she accept the truth
? He'd walked away without trying last time. He owed her more than that the second time around. Especially since she'd gone and given her soul to that bastard. A scenario he’d never dreamed of.

“Melody, you don't want me to get up and retrieve you. I won't be gentle.”

She uncrossed her arms and legs to stand. One small step at a time, she drifted over to his chair and stood before him a few feet away.

“Melody, baby, you need to trust me.”

She snorted.

He sighed. Convincing her would not be an easy task. “You don't know the whole story. Out of context, I admit what you heard sounds bad.”

“Uh, yeah. I'd say trying to kill me is pretty bad.”

“Melody, you don't understand. This isn't about you, darling. My sweet. It's about Harold. Your boss is a bad demon, one who needs to pay for his crimes. I've been after him for years. Trying to stop him from hurting his own kind as well as humans.”

“But you're a demon. Since when do demons help humans?”

Drake shook his head. “It's not quite that simple, babe. Just because we're demons doesn't mean we have free license to do whatever we want. There are still rules to follow and a balance to be maintained. It's the age-old story of balance between good and evil. Too much of one or the other and everything goes to shit.”

She shook her head, disbelieving. “And what exactly does this have to do with me?”

“Hold on, I'm getting there. You really are so impatient—something I'll have to break you of—but considering what you've been through, I'll give you a pass on it this time.” He handed her the cloth. “Because of who I am, I was tasked with the responsibility of maintaining that balance I mentioned.”

She snickered. “You're like a demon cop?”

“Not exactly how I would put it, but for a newbie like yourself, and for lack of a better description at the moment, that's probably the easiest way to explain it. Difference is my job is nothing like a human cop's. I serve as cop, judge, jury, and executioner. I'm not a nice guy, Melody.”

“I don't think I'm really understanding where you're going. Still not seeing where I fit into all of this.”

“Patience, hon. If you let me finish, you'll get there.” He roughly rubbed his hands across his thighs, distracting himself from the need to grab her and pull her into his arms. He could bury his head into her neck, lick all of that sweet skin, sink into her hot sheath, and forget about everything else. If only. “I've been doing this job for a while now, like a few centuries, until your boss outed me.”

“Outed you?”

“Yeah, I told you I'm only half demon. A half-breed.” Something crossed his features when he said that. An emotion she couldn't quite peg. “I was born and raised in Hell where no one but a select few knew who and what I am. Until Harold tortured my mother for the truth. Even in Hell, half-breeds of my kind are not welcome.”

“Your kind?”

“Yeah, my kind.” He swiped his hands through his hair. “My father is an angel.” She took a step back. “See what I mean? You're a brand new demon and even the mention of an angel scares you. It's an instinctive reaction.”

“I'm not scared. Just surprised. I didn't expect demons and angels to be commingling.”

He laughed. “Melody, you are a breath of fresh air here. I haven't smiled like this in a very long time.”

“So, back to Harold and how I fit into your story.”

“Yeah. Well, once Harold outed me, I had every level of demon coming after me on a regular basis. The only way to ensure my safety was to have my guards and me banished from Hell. It's how we ended up here permanently.”

“You mean you didn't choose to live here?”

“No, Melody. Born demons don't like spending more time here than they have to. It's the created demons who enjoy staying here, living with what they are used to, holding on to some piece of their humanity.”