Save My Soul (6 page)

“No. It’s not like that now. My clan brother managed to find me after a few weeks. I was driven almost mad by the hunger. I was so weak I couldn’t shift from my physical form by that time. He brought me women.”

“And you killed them.”

“The first two, yes. I was starving. They were food. Stop trying to make me feel bad about this.”

Anna had managed to find the biscotti at the back of the cupboard. “Oh don’t give me that crap. You’re a demon. You don’t feel bad about it.”

The fear ebbed more the longer they talked. What had happened between him and Beatrice had been personal. As long as she didn’t sleep with him, she’d be fine. Theoretically. Her eyes drifted to the finely-chiseled lines of his chest. She tamped down the flutter in her stomach. Yeah, sure. No problem.

Luc flopped into the nearest kitchen chair. “Normally I would say you’re right. But she did something to me. I don’t want to kill anymore.” He put his head in his hands. “I’m pathetic.”

“No argument here.” She poured the coffee into two mugs and placed a jug of milk beside Luc’s.

He scowled up at her, but continued. “My brother delivers my dinner at night. He just hasn’t been by yet.”

“Is he as charming as you?”

Luc’s face darkened, and the lights flickered for a moment. His eyes grew colder than she’d seen them all evening, causing her to take a step back from him.

“When Cain gets here, you will be locked away in your safe little bed.”

The back door flew open then. Apparently demons were not stopped in any way by locks or alarm systems or really strong glass.

“He’s here,” Cain said, stepping through the back door with a drunk, blonde co-ed. “This one is a very dirty girl, Lucien. You’ll like her.”

“Leave her and go.”

“But how will she find her way back without an escort? It’s dark out. Just anything could come by and grab her.” Cain licked his lips as he let his eyes rove over the blonde.

She smacked him on the shoulder then leaned unsteadily against him, oblivious to the danger she was in. “Don’t be silly, silly. I’m good. I have a cell phone.” She waved a pink flip phone in his face.

Cain stepped to the side and watched as the girl slid to the floor, unable to support her weight without assistance. He turned to Anna and smiled.

“So, what do we have here, Luc? You didn’t tell me you had a live-in meal again. How nice for you.” His gaze swept lasciviously over her. “Is our boy Lucien not getting the job done? Because I could oblige you.”

Anna blushed as she felt a warm wetness flood her panties. She wanted to fuck him. It didn’t matter that Luc and some unknown blonde girl were there to witness the act. She wanted him to bend her over the kitchen table and screw her right there. Delightful pornographic images flashed in front of her face.

She whimpered and reached out to him. “Please . . . ”

“Back OFF!” Luc growled, moving to stand between Anna and Cain.

“But she wants me. She’s practically in pain from it.” Cain extended a hand toward her, as she craned her head around the big obstruction that was Luc.

Her body reacted more strongly, and she started to cry. “Please . . . ”

Cain shook his head, a mask of pity pulling his features. “Someone has to help her. The poor darling. I think I’m just the demon to do it.”

“It’s because you’re cheating!”

Cain pierced Luc with a sharp glare. “Yes, and demons cheat. They don’t try to honestly seduce like insipid humans. You forget what you are. Of course, you always were a little soft, even before the witch.”

He stepped closer to Anna, his hand reaching out to caress her cheek. She sighed in relief as she pressed up against him, a soft moan leaving her throat. Yes, more. Don’t stop touching me, please.

“You’ll be delicious. All that emotion and passion.”

Anna nodded her acquiescence, leaning harder into his touch. She felt bereft when his hand was pulled away and looked up, disappointed to see Luc had him pinned against the wall.

“I SAID leave her alone!” he roared.

Cain laughed. “So you want her for yourself, then? Fair enough. Just don’t make the mistake of falling for your food again. We all know the path that leads down.” Cain arched a brow, studying him for a moment, a light suddenly dawning. “You’ve been hiding her from me. She’s been here a while.”

“A couple of weeks.”

A sinister smile lit the other demon’s face. “So, either you’ve decided to try to convince her to help you break the curse, which I can tell you just from looking at her, won’t happen. Or . . . you’re already falling for her.”

Luc remained silent.

“Fine then. You work it out yourselves. Just don’t expect to see me again until you’ve sorted out your issues.”

Cain dematerialized. Only his laughter remained, echoing off the walls of the kitchen. As soon as he was gone, the sexual possession left Anna, replaced by a feeling of revulsion. She couldn’t shut off the vivid pictures that continued to spin through her head. She’d felt mindless. The only thing she’d been able to think was how desperately she wanted Cain’s hands on her body and how she’d do anything to make it happen. Crawl, beg, plead, kill. Anything.

“Oh God,” she said, sliding to the floor. She sat huddled, her hands wrapped tightly around her knees as the shame washed over her. How many hours had it been since she’d been eating peach cobbler and mocking clog dancers? That was her life. Not this.

She was barely conscious of Luc crouching next to her, taking her hand in his. Anna thought at first he was there to comfort her. She didn’t have the presence of mind to push him away, though she resented him taking advantage of her moment of weakness.

She looked up in time to see the knife and jerked her hand back, her eyes filling with tears. “What are you doing?”

“I’m protecting you.” Luc cut a thin line down the center of his palm. “Expecting Cain to honor verbal tradition is like expecting the sun to set backwards. He thinks because he’s the boss, he’s above the law.” He took her hand gently, his thumb caressing her skin.

“I’ll leave. I’ll leave the house,” Anna said, the panic seeping back into her voice. “Just don’t do any creepy blood rituals.”

“It’s too late for that. Do you want him to get into your mind like that again? Do you want to feel what you just felt and have no control over it?”

She shook her head. The idea made it feel like something dirty and slimy was slithering underneath her skin. She thought she might throw up. “Why do you care? This is what you are, too.”

Luc avoided her eyes and made a matching cut down the center of her palm. She hissed as he clasped her hand in his, mingling their blood.

“Are you stealing my soul?” She couldn’t believe that was her voice, that dead, hollow sound. Ten minutes ago she’d been feisty as Luc put it. Well, if he liked that in a girl, at least she was off the menu now.

“Of course not. I can’t steal souls. That’s one thing we can’t coerce. This will bind you to me temporarily. Cain can’t feed from you or control your mind, and neither can any of his minions.”

Luc stood, his wound already closing and forming a scar as he crossed the kitchen and took a hand towel from the drawer. He ran it under cool water and returned to wrap it around the injury he’d inflicted.

“Anna?”

“Yes?” She cradled her bandaged hand.

“I have to feed.”

She tensed and cringed away. “No.”

Why was she saying no? It wasn’t like he couldn’t just do what Cain had done. He could make her want him. Somehow she knew if he got hungry and desperate enough, he might. Had this happened to Sara Johnson? Was that why she was rotting away in a padded cell right now?

Why didn’t I leave when I had the chance? She’d been so cavalier about the whole thing. Scarlett and Rhett slipped into the room then, wrapping their small, warm bodies around her, offering silent support.

“It’s not a yes or no proposition. I must feed.”

“You guys are majorly weird. I’m just gonna go back to my dorm now.”

Anna looked up to see the blonde wavering on wobbly legs as she tried to get herself re-oriented to her surroundings. Anna and Luc exchanged a look. They’d forgotten about her.

“No,” Anna said, “I can’t let you do that. She’s drunk and . . . ”

“I won’t harm her or do anything she doesn’t want to do. Of her own free will.”

Anna shook her head.

“And how exactly will you stop me? Do you really want to stand between a trapped demon and dinner? You can either stay or leave, but you have no power to prevent this. And further, I won’t let you. If I don’t feed, you won’t be safe.”

She wouldn’t be able to listen to the moans again knowing what was causing them. She wondered how she could have ever thought it was a female ghost making those noises. Noises which now she couldn’t mistake as anything but a woman crying out in the throes of passion. The French called the moment of orgasm, la petite mort , the little death. Anna wondered if there was a large incubus population in France.

Her eyes welled with unshed tears as she met his gaze. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“Never.”

She couldn’t stay there, couldn’t listen to him fucking someone else in her house. She needed to get out, get some air. Be somewhere that wasn’t here.

Anna was afraid Cain might still be lurking nearby, but she was going to trust in whatever Luc had just done because she had to escape the way her universe had shifted sideways to become a place where magic and demons lived.

Outside in the dark, the peach trees looked threatening, like they might break free of their roots and chase her down, dragging her kicking and screaming into some hell where Cain would have his way with her, and she’d writhe and moan in his arms while he did it.

The moon lit the sidewalk as she ran the ten blocks to Tam’s house. She banged on the door, panting and trying to catch her breath.

“Anna, what on earth . . . it’s 4 o’clock in the morn . . . ” Tam took a closer look at her. “I’ll make tea,” she said, stepping out of the way so Anna could get inside.

She sat at a bar stool in Tam’s tiny kitchen filled with herbs, sipping the soothing Earl Grey brew. She told Tam everything, starting with Marshal, all the way to Luc and the blonde co-ed. “He could kill her, and I just left her there. I’m going to Hell.”

“Hon, you don’t believe in Hell.” Tam stroked her fingers through Anna’s hair. Anna shot her a dirty look. “Sorry. Now probably isn’t the time for jokes. But from what you just told me, I’m not sure I believe he’d kill her.”

“Really?” She looked hopeful. “Still . . . I can’t . . . What if she didn’t want to sleep with him and he . . . What if . . . ”

She’d never forgive herself if that girl got hurt. The blonde might have been a stupid, drunk little twit, but Anna was pretty sure that wasn’t a reason to aid a demon.

“Listen,” Tam said, “I know this probably isn’t the part to focus on, but I’m sorry I encouraged you to go out with Marshal. I had no idea he’d ever . . . ”

Anna placed her hand over Tam’s and laughed. She wouldn’t have believed it a few hours ago, but in the grand scheme of things, Marshal Crust was barely factoring into her night.

***

Luc stared out the front window long past the point he could see Anna. He’d been tempted to stop her. But what would he do? Chain her up? She was already scared to death of him.

He needed her to break the curse on the house.

You sure that’s why, buddy? his inner voice taunted.

No, it wasn’t why. He’d spent the past two weeks working up the nerve to show himself and have a conversation with her. Somewhere during that time, an infatuation, perhaps even an obsession, had started to build.

It was the little things about her. The way she twirled her long, chocolate brown hair while she read. The way she talked to characters on the television saying things like ‘Don’t go in that room!’ Her antics hiding from those crazy old biddies. The way she talked to her cats like they were people.

And of course there were those delicious, soft curves she revealed far too often because she thought she was alone. He’d finally entered her dreams, promising himself he’d just take a little. Just enough to satisfy his curiosity.

But it wasn’t just all of that. Her loneliness called out to him. He watched her when she looked in the mirror, brushing her hair at night. His chest tightened at the sad, wistful look in her eyes. He knew that look. The feeling that the emptiness could eat you away. He’d experienced the same thing for so long he felt a kinship with her.

He should have just shown himself, talked to her. But every time he worked up to it, he lost the nerve and instead did some stupid, ghostly thing to see what she’d do with it. He might never have introduced himself at all if that dickhead hadn’t forced his hand.

Luc had quietly seethed when he’d seen she’d brought a man home. He’d shut himself off in one of the upstairs bedrooms, pacing until he was sure he’d wear a hole in the carpet. He’d been angry over the fact that he was jealous of the man, that he hadn’t been able to bring himself to talk to her in all the time he’d lurked in the house. And now someone else had beat him to it.