SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (153 page)

“That old bastard is the one threatening Thea?”

“And like I said, he’s powerful.”

“What kind of powers?” I asked. “Xray vision? Spitting fire?”

“Not that kind of power,” he muttered. “The judge is connected to lots of highly placed, influential people. He can get away with almost anything.”

His gaze speared into mine with an intensity that made me want to look away. I didn’t. “And he plans to hand Thea over as a sex slave to the demon community.”

I staggered. I know I did because I backed up hard and fast and slapped my head against the wall. That sharp pain brought me up out of the shock numbing my system. And in a way, I sort of wish the shock had stayed. Now that it was gone, I had a clear mental image of my baby girl being tossed from demon to demon to demon and—“Never gonna happen,” I said.

“It won’t be easy to prevent. Since you came into your power, the entire demon community is on edge.”

“Community?” I echoed. “Demons have
communities
now?”

My arm dropped, suddenly feeling leaden. Something suspiciously like despair washed through me. How the hell could I protect my daughter from a ‘community’ of demons? My fingers rubbed the small spritzer of demon spray as my gaze lifted to Devlin again.

If he’d been waiting for an opportunity to kill the Duster, I’d just handed it to him. But he didn’t move. He only looked at me out of those dark, dark eyes.

“I’ll help you protect her,” he said finally.

“Why would you do that?”

He shrugged. “I already answered that.”

True. He hadn’t answered it well, but it
had
been an answer. And I wasn’t stupid enough to refuse help when I so clearly needed it. Still... “Fine,” I said. “I’ll take your help. But,” I added, giving him the death stare, “you make me regret it just one time and I’ll rip your heart out and dump what’s left of you into an ash tray at the Indian casino.”

* * *

Devlin was right.

I started paying attention to the news.

Reading the paper.

And over the next few days, I was stunned to see just how strange things were getting in La Sombra. Not only in my little corner of the world, either. The
strange
was spreading.

It wasn’t just the mysterious fires or the disappearance of pets, either. There was actually a rain of
toads.
Seriously,
toads.
The news guys explained it away with some trumped up story about a cyclone sweeping over a lake. But hey, cyclones in California? Not so much.

“What’s next,” I wondered. “Locusts?”

“What?”

I glanced up at Thea and felt a wash of maternal love so powerful that it nearly choked me. Morning sunlight spilled through the kitchen window and lit her up in gold. She had a spoonful of Lucky Charms halfway to her mouth and mascara smudged under her right eye. She was beautiful. And smart. And funny. And there was no chance in Judge Jenks’ hell that he’d succeed in hurting her.

“Are you still seeing Jett?” I asked, catching my darling daughter off guard. (The only way to get a straight answer out of teenager is to surprise it out of them.)

“Yeah, why?”

“You know why.”

“The demon thing again?” Her left eyebrow winged up and she scowled at me. “Honestly MOTHER, I thought we’d worked all this out.”

“It’s not Jett I’m worried about,” I lied, breaking off a piece of Pop Tart and tossing it into my mouth. “It’s his relatives.”

“Mom...”

“Baby girl, something’s going on in town. Something big and I want you to be careful.”

My tone must have convinced her when my words didn’t. She set her spoon down in the bowl and watched me. “I’m almost sixteen, mom,” she said. “I can take care of myself.”

Huh. That’s what
I’d
thought when I was sixteen. And nine months later, I was a mommy.

“I’m just saying to watch yourself. The demons aren’t real happy about having me around.”

Instantly, her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. “Are you in trouble?”

“Nah,” I said, not wanting her to worry about me. “I can handle it as long as I know you’re safe.”

“I am,” she assured me airily, and stood up, dropping the last of her toast to Sugar. “Honestly mom, you worry too much.”

Outside, a car horn honked and Thea rolled her eyes, though a small smile curved her mouth. “When did picking me up for school every morning become my father’s job?”

Logan. Hadn’t seen him in a few days. Ever since my date with Devlin, Logan had made himself scarce. He still saw Thea every day, but it felt like he was avoiding me. And, strange as it sounded—even to me—I almost missed him.

I didn’t say any of that, naturally. Instead, I shrugged and took another bite of my breakfast. “He likes doing it.”

“I know,” Thea said, waving as she raced from the room. “Later!”

As soon as my daughter was gone, the back door opened behind me and Jasmine stepped into the room. I turned on my chair and looked up into her dark eyes.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

Ready to train. To get better at fighting. To be able to protect my daughter and anyone else who needed it. “Hell yes, I’m ready.”

* * *

After nearly exhausting myself with Jasmine, the thought of cleaning made me want to sit down with a bucket of ice cream. Didn’t seem fair that I not only had to save the world, but also clean toilets.

I whipped through the two houses on my list for the day and met up with Carmen back at my house.

“We are getting more clients than we can handle,” Carmen said, taking another bottle of our demon/window spray. “Mrs. Hasting’s neighbor asked me yesterday for your phone number.”

“That’s good news,” I said, watching as the older woman frowned. Carmen was way more predictable than the weather. When things were going well, she frowned. When they were going bad, she frowned harder. She says it’s because her sons sucked all of her smiles out years ago and she’s too tired to find more.

Hey, I have a daughter. Maybe sons
do
suck!

“Rosario is doing well,” Carmen said, taking a sip of her coffee and frowning at it. “But I think we will have to hire Teresa and also Yolanda to keep up with the new work.”

She was right. We were getting way too much business for the three of us to handle. It seemed the weirder things got in town, the busier we got. Not a bad thing ordinarily, but at the moment, I half wished we were losing customers. At least then I could concentrate more on what was happening with Thea, the demons, Devlin, Logan.

“That’ll work,” I said and tasted the coffee. Seemed fine to me, Carmen was pickier than most. Once she’d even stepped behind the bar at a Starbuck’s to show the barista what he was doing wrong on her latte. “Carmen, are you noticing anything... different in some of the houses lately?”

“You mean the ghosts?” She asked, folding up the apron she habitually wore when working. “Si. They are quiet now.”

“You
knew
about the ghosts?” I hadn’t had a clue until I’d started getting phone calls from relieved owners.

“You didn’t?” She chuckled a little and shook her head at me.

“
No.
And I suppose you knew about the demons, too?”

“Si,” she said and I had to pull a chair out and plunk down at the kitchen table. “There are dark places here. The name La Sombra in Spanish means The Shadows. Of course there are demons. There always have been.”

“I don’t believe this,” I muttered. “We’re having an actual conversation about demons and you’re not freaked out?”

“Ppfft! Why would I be worried about a demon? I lived through three sons, all teenagers at once. And now, Dios Mio, a ten year old. What could a demon show me that I have not already seen?”

“Got a point.”

“These things have always been, Cassidy,” she said sagely, packing up her supplies and hitching the box onto one hip. “Good battles evil. Children make us crazy. Clean houses get dirty. It’s the way of the world.”

“Wow. Thanks, Grasshopper.”

“Ppfft!” She smirked at me and marched out of the house, off to make somebody else nuts for awhile.

So had I been in a fugue my whole life? How had I missed what everyone else had been aware of? How had I not known about demons and ghosts and God knew what else was out there?

And had I woken up in time?

* * *

“I brought subs.”

I stared at Logan, standing on my front porch in the soft twilight and thought about slamming the door in his face. He stays away for days, then shows up like he’s expected? How rude was that? Besides, I’d had a miserably long day and really wasn’t in the mood for this.

My expression must have told him exactly what I was thinking. He opened the top of the bag and let the delicious scent of marinara sauce waft over me. Sneaky bastard.

I still tried to be tough. “Thea’s not here.”

“Didn’t come to see Thea.”

Damn. I stifled a groan. He was going to want to talk about Devlin. And I so didn’t want to.

“Come on,” he coaxed and waved a bottle of wine at me to complete the temptation. “You can go out with Mr. Rich and Slimy and not have dinner with me?”

“Rich and slimy?”

His eyes narrowed despite the half smile on his face. “Cole’s got quite a rep.”

“Logan—“ I so didn’t want to go there with him. Hell, I was only now coming to grips with the fact that I’d
done
a demon for God’s sake. I did a mental eye roll. That sounded like a porn movie. You’ve heard of Debbie Does Dallas? Well get me starring in Cass Does Demons. Oh man. Nope. Was not up for this little chat. “No talking about Devlin.”

“Fine, we won’t talk about him. We’ll just eat.” He rattled the bag. “Torino’s deli.”

I was done for and I knew it. I swung the door wide and let him in, nudging Sugar out of the way with a gentle knee shove.

Logan shot the dog a wary glance and hitched his bag of food a little higher, just in case. Hah! Like Sugar would actually ‘jump’ for anything.

He walked into the living room, plopped himself down on the couch like he belonged there and set the white deli bag onto the coffee table. “I got two chicken parmesans.”

“Chips too?”

“Of course.” He looked up at me. “Got a couple glasses and a corkscrew?”

I nodded and went to get them. When I came back into the room, he was settled in and looking comfy. I handed him a glass, let him open the bottle, fill mine then his own and I took a long drink (screw letting it breathe), before reaching for my sandwich. First things first.

As I took a big bite and savored the hot cheese and thick tomato sauce, Logan took a long drink of his wine and shifted a look at me. “So where’s Thea?”

“Out with Jett,” I mumbled.

He inhaled sharply and blew it out in disgust. “I don’t trust that kid.”

“Well, to coin a phrase,
duh.”
Really good sandwich.

“You don’t trust him either?” he demanded.

“I don’t trust
any
boy who looks at Thea like he does,” I told him, though secretly, I thought maybe I distrusted Jett a little more than average.

“Okay, yeah, but the kid’s a thug,” Logan pointed out, waving his sandwich to make a point.

Sugar’s head moved back and forth right under him, hoping for a spill. She was disappointed.

I handed her a piece of chicken which disappeared so fast she made David Copperfield look like an amateur. Then I had more wine. The dry red went down great and I could feel a buzz already starting to build inside. Good. I could use a buzz.

We talked for awhile, finishing off the sandwiches and making a hell of a dent in the wine. By the time dinner was over, we were both leaning back into the couch cushions and I was feeding that buzz, hoping for more.

“So,” Logan said, “we’re finally alone, with a chance to talk.”

“Talk about what?” I topped off my wine and took another thirsty gulp.

“You. Me. Us.”

I already had both him and Devlin on my mind. I
so
wasn’t in the mood to talk about it all.

“No, no and um...no.”

He sighed and set his glass down onto the table before leaning in toward me. “Cassie, I don’t like you seeing this Cole guy.”

“You agreed not to talk about him.”

“I lied.”

“Well, you don’t get a vote.” I set my wine on the table, knowing suddenly that I didn’t need more buzz.

Logan scowled at me. “His place, Magic Nights, is a magnet for trouble. We’re getting called out there all the damn time.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. It’s a hot spot,” I told him. “People all over California want to get in there. There’s bound to be a little trouble occasionally.”

“It’s a sex club.”

“Not technically.”

“Now you’re defending him.”

Was I? That was weird, because at the moment, Devlin wasn’t high on my favorite ten people in the world list.

“What’s going on, Cassie?” Logan asked, leaning in close enough to give me a small whip of heat that zapped through me like a live electrical wire jumping on wet cement.

Oh man. I really was a slut. Sleeping with demons then getting turned on because my ex leaned in a little close.

The problem was, I’d actually had a few orgasms now and I think my body was just so damn excited, it wanted more. Well, it could just suffer. No way was I going to be having sex with two different guys at the same time.

Oooh. A mental image leaped up into my fevered brain and for one amazingly erotic minute, I enjoyed the picture of a ‘me’ sandwich, my body layered between Logan’s and Devlin’s.

Suddenly desperately dry mouthed, I lurched for my wine and gave myself a mental head slap.
Bad Cassidy!

“Something strange is going on around here, Cassie,” Logan said, his gaze spearing into mine. “How about you tell me what’s going on?”

More than Fiends: Chapter Fourteen

So I did.

I told him everything.

Outside the house, it was dark, streetlights shining like bowls of light in the black. It looked like Night was an entity, alive, threatening and pressing
deliberately
against my window, but that could have been just the wine talking.