Elven Blood (Imp Book 3) (3 page)

I understood what he meant, but he and Gregory weren’t at all the same. How could I convince him that my feelings for Gregory were poles apart from the things I felt for him? I did my best to honor his human need for exclusivity in physical intercourse, but this thing with Gregory was different.

“You’re not jealous of my brother, Dar,” I added. “I’m friends with Michelle and Candy. I don’t have sex with them, but I do things with them that I don’t do with you. This angel doesn’t mean the same to me as you do. Yes, I care about him. I enjoy spending time with him. And I’ve done things with him that you and I can’t do together. That doesn’t make me love you less. It doesn’t make you less of my best friend.”

Wyatt searched my face, looking for signs of deception. “I can’t help but be jealous of him, Sam.”

“I’ll try not to angel–fuck him again.”

Wyatt winced. I saw him consider my sort–of promise. “I can’t hold you to that, Sam. You’re a demon. I’ll try and wrap my head around the fact that what you do with him doesn’t have anything to do with what we share. Just let me know if you do, so that jerk doesn’t surprise me with it at a really bad moment.”

I held him close, burying my hands in his blond hair and rubbing my face against his stubble. I was so relieved that I’d somehow managed to get through this horrible incident without the heartbreak of losing him forever. This was unfamiliar ground. I was trying to balance a relationship with a human and my own demon nature. This thing I shared with Wyatt was like constantly teetering on a knife’s edge, and I kept tumbling down.

“I will, Wyatt,” I vowed.

I took the demon corpse in the Hefty bag and pitched it though the gate in Columbia, while Wyatt waited in the car. Then we picked up take–out and went back to his house, where he relaxed on the couch. He protested as I scrubbed blood and gore off his walls and floor, insisting he’d do it later. I knew better. Left to his own devices, the mess would be there for years. Wyatt’s housekeeping style was kind of “early demolition”.

For the first time in the two and a half years we’d known each other, I spent the night at his house instead of him coming to mine. We’d had gentle make–up sex, and Wyatt promptly dropped off to sleep, encasing me in a straitjacket of arms and legs, crushing me against his chest. I was sweaty and hot in his embrace, unable to shift even a fraction of an inch. He always slept like this. At first, I hated being confined in the uncomfortable grip of a human, but now it felt intimate. It felt like he never wanted to let me go. Random moments throughout my day, I’d find myself longing for him to hold me immobile and breathe into my hair. Nights never were quite right without the kind of bondage spooning Wyatt practiced in his sleep. I’d grown to enjoy it, to need it.

I lay there all night, thinking of the differences between us. He was a human, physically weak, and I was immeasurably stronger. I could crush him with so little effort. Instead, I’d always held back, let him call the shots and set most of the parameters in our relationship. We had sex without my hurting him, without broken bones or torn flesh. He made compromises too. I knew he deliberately overlooked my more disturbing actions, that he emphasized everything about me that seemed more human. This was what he needed to do to come to terms with having a demon girlfriend. We both knew I wasn’t human, and to pretend so was a lie, but we lived with it.

I should have used this argument to break things off, to set him free. He’d be hurt, but he could live a normal life with a human woman. Have children. Not worry about the demons Haagenti was sending ripping him to bits, torturing him in order to pressure me to return to Hel. He’d probably live a lot longer. Bounce grandkids on his knee.

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t give him up.

2

I
t was after lunchtime when Gregory arrived for our meeting. So much for “early”.

He usually appeared in my house, unannounced, but this time he strode in the front door holding a head by the hair. He plopped it down on my dining room table and waved a hand, causing a depressing amount of paperwork to cover the table surface. I ignored the paperwork and focused my attention on the more interesting item.

“Is this a present?” I asked in delight.

I picked up the head and sat it like a hat on top of my own head, modeling it with a flourish.

“How did you know? I’ve always wanted one of these. And it fits perfectly.”

The angel was not amused. “We’ve got a lot to review today, and as often as you get sidetracked, we’re liable to be at it for a week. Put the head down and focus.”

Why the fuck did he bring a head if he didn’t want me to mess with it?

“Should I put it in a vase? Display it as a centerpiece on the table? How can you expect me to focus on stupid, boring paperwork when I’ve got this amazing, decomposing flesh tempting me with its beauty?”

“Fine. We’ll address this matter first, and then I’ll get rid of the thing so it won’t continue to distract you.”

He took the head from my hands and stuck it back on the table. It made an entertaining squelch sound.

“Do you know him?” the angel asked, pointing at the head.

“Uhhh, no?” Was he serious? Just because I lived among humans didn’t mean I knew every single one of them. There were billions, after all.

Gregory threw up his hands in frustration. “Check his energy signature. You might recognize him.”

Now I was confused. “He’s human. He doesn’t have an energy signature. Do you mean check his DNA? The structure of his brain? Is there something specific I should be looking for?”

“He’s not human. He’s a demon.”

I was pretty certain the head was human. I always scanned stuff. It was a habit. Still, I checked again. When a demon committed suicide, they exploded their entire form out and nothing remained. Sometimes we died by another’s hands. Although our personal energy, our spirit–self, scattered, a signature remained, burned into the flesh. This head held nothing.

“Nope. It’s human. There’s nothing.”

Gregory frowned. “This human died in 1922 at the hands of a demon. He was Owned. Since I’m clearly not looking at a ninety year old corpse, it must be the remains of a demon form.”

Demons Own. We rip the souls from human bodies and hold them within ourselves as long as we exist. We absorb the human’s memories, and can then create a replica of their shape and form. We kill too, but Owning is fun—messy, but fun. Gregory clearly thought this was the remains of a demon who’d been in an Owned human’s form at the time of his death, but I couldn’t find any trace of a demon whatsoever.

“There’s nothing there,” I protested. “I believe you. I really do, but there’s no energy signature at all in this head.”

I felt his suspicion hang in the air. “Honestly. I’m not even a thousand years old. I’ve never seen anything like this. Why would you think I’d know anything about it if you didn’t?”

“You’re a demon, I’m not,” Gregory said. “And you know elves,” he added reluctantly.

Ah. Elves. So he wasn’t as blind to their little extracurricular activities as I’d thought. He suspected sorcery.

The elves snared human adults in their traps to use as servants, training talented ones in the arts, but all the truly skilled sorcerers were changelings—human infants taken away and dead elf babies left in their place. The elves had magic of their own, but humans had qualities that made them especially powerful. I’d had dealings with the elves. I’d retrieved a couple of their sorcerers that had gone rogue. Reaching for the head again, I did a more thorough search.

“I can’t feel any residual magic,” I confessed. “I strongly doubt this head belonged to a sorcerer.”

“Could this death be a result of a sorcerer’s magic?” he asked. “Maybe he killed the demon and stripped his flesh of any remaining energy signature to cover up his deed or the demon’s presence?”

“Possibly. I really don’t know if they can do that sort of thing or not.”

“Aren’t you friendly with some elves?” he asked. “Can you inquire? Investigate a bit.”

Fuck. One more thing I needed to remember to do. I had Haagenti trying to kill me. I had a stack of breeding petitions that I needed to deal with sooner or later. I had my human businesses to run, a boyfriend to spend quality time with, impish pranks to pull. I had a pile of boring bullshit on my table I needed to wade though. And there was something else too. I couldn’t recall what.

“Yeah, I’ll add it to my list.” I said. Maybe in a couple of centuries. If I remembered, that is.

He picked up the head and paused. “Perhaps you’d like to keep it.”

What did he expect me to do with it? I hadn’t killed it. The demon, or human, had been no threat to me. It wouldn’t be of any interest as a trophy, and after all my time living as a human, I wasn’t as fascinated by dead flesh as I’d once been.

“As a snack for your pet, maybe?” he asked.

For a second I thought he meant Wyatt. Then I realized he was referring to Boomer, my Plott hound hybrid, my hellhound. There was nothing Boomer loved more than feasting on corpses, but I hadn’t expected an angel to offer one up to him, like a Milkbone. It was a touching gesture.

“Oh yes, thank you,” I said, taking the head and putting it by the back door. I’d run it out to Boomer later. He usually wasn’t up and about until nightfall anyway.

“Well, let’s get to the rest of this,” Gregory said, rubbing his hands in anticipation. I looked at the paperwork in despair. This was going to be the most boring day of my life. Outside the actual council meeting, that is.

“There are four hundred and twenty eight items on the agenda, but we’ll only cover three hundred and thirty three because that is the number deemed most auspicious for this particular council session.”

Angels were fucking crazy, but anything that reduced the workload was okay with me.

“Quite a few of the agenda items deal with matters internal to Aaru. You won’t be expected to weigh in on those, so, in the interests of time, we won’t review them. I brought the summaries though, so you can bring yourself up to speed if you’d like to educate yourself further.”

“Where in Aaru do you hold the meetings?” I was envisioning a big fluffy cloud with a huge conference table and PowerPoint presentations. That would be funny.

“We’ll be meeting here. On Earth. In a conference center.”

I laughed. “Do you guys usually hold Ruling Council meetings in a Marriott? I thought with your distaste for corporeal existence you’d want to hold them in Aaru where you could float around without bodies.”

“We normally do,” he confessed. “But there is strong resistance to your presence in Aaru. Many don’t believe you truly are the Iblis. And there are those who feel the demons have forfeited their seat on the council since they haven’t had an Iblis since the exile.”

Great. The angels didn’t recognize me as the Iblis. The demons didn’t acknowledge me as the Iblis either; they treated me the same as they always had. There was no rise in my status, no fanfare, nothing. No wonder the title had been unclaimed for two and a half million years. It wasn’t worth shit. It didn’t bring anything but boring meetings and endless fucking paperwork.

“So you guys are seriously all going to manifest physical form and sit around a big table with flip charts and nasty hotel coffee?”

“Yes.” He didn’t sound happy about the prospect.

I reached for the nearest stack of papers, but Gregory halted me with an outstretched hand.

“There’s a demon at your door,” he said right as a knock sounded.

My foster–brother, Dar? Hopefully not another one of those Low hit men. I went to the door and was surprised to see Leethu.

“Ni–ni,” she said in a delightful sing–song voice. She kissed me on the forehead. Leethu was a Succubus, and thus was too fragile for the traditional types of demon greeting.

“Leethu, what’s up?”

“I’m hoping you can put me up for a couple of days,” she said, with a flick of her long, black hair. “I’m in a little trouble back home. I’ve popped over to let things cool off a bit.”

She was putting out pheromones like crazy, trying to convince me to let her stay. I wondered what she’d done to want to hide out with me. I liked Leethu, though, and wouldn’t mind having her around for a bit. Hmmm, maybe the monogamy Wyatt expected didn’t extend to Succubi? Because those pheromones she was coating me with were mighty nice.

“Sure, come on in,” I told her, opening the door and standing aside.

Harpy noises were more pleasant than what suddenly assaulted my ears. Leethu let out a piercing scream that went on and on. I grabbed the sides of my head, certain my brains were exploding out my ears, and realized that she’d seen Gregory.

No demon ever survived meeting an angel, especially this angel. Except me, that is. I’d forgotten how alarming it was to see one, how threatening his presence in my house would normally be. Leethu was terrified, convinced her death was at hand.

“Take her, take her,” Leethu wailed, thrusting me in front of her as a kind of demon shield. Her pheromones became erratic and tinged with fear. She cowered, trying to edge back out the door while screaming her fool head off.

“Shut up,” Gregory thundered.

I could have told him that was not the way to deal with a frightened Succubus. Leethu began the high pitched scream again, when it suddenly ended.

“That is the most offensive noise I’ve ever heard,” Gregory said, rubbing a faint trace of blood from an ear. I was surprised mine weren’t bleeding.

I looked back at Leethu, who was still holding me in front of her with an unusually strong grip. She was like a fish out of water, her mouth gaping open and snapping shut without sound, her eyes huge in her lovely face.

“It’s okay,” I told her. “I know this angel. He’s not going to kill you.”

“I might,” Gregory growled. “I really want to.”

I wrestled free from the demon and dragged her by her clothing over to the sofa. She struggled with all her might, taking the angel’s threat seriously.

“I’m the Iblis. I have duties I must perform that involve my meeting with angels. He’s here to go over some of them. He’s here a lot.” I glanced over at Gregory. He was here an awful lot lately. “I’m happy to have you stay here with me, but you’ll need to be okay with him hanging around.”