Wicked Demons 2 (4 page)

"Do you need help?" a familiar voice
asked.

"Holy shit!" Andi spun around to meet
Michael. The quick motion caused her to curl her arms around her
stomach.

He stood just off the sidewalk. Tall and
defiantly muscular, like an Adonis carved from the finest stone,
how could he physically appear so perfect? It was a hoax of nature
to offer such a vision without the ability of control under his
touch. She could never trust herself at his hand. Even now, as she
wondered if his incubus abilities might heal her sickness, an inner
alarm screamed at her to withdraw.

This was no time to flirt with Michael's
powers. Usually if he touched her, she might have the power to
fight his magical advances and shut down his mojo all together. But
after the run-in with the priest, she felt neither sexy nor strong.
Not to mention, she was kind of pissed at him for disappearing all
together. Sure, Toryn had the whole 'I live in Hell and can't read
a street map' excuse. But Michael... He journeyed in and out of the
human world on a regular basis, so why couldn't he have made her a
priority? Shit, why did she care? Could he even be trusted?

As Michael moved towards her, she commanded,
"Stay right there."

"I can't just leave you here. What's wrong?
Please allow me to help," he pleaded, his baby blues overwhelmed
with concern.

"Help what, lead the witches right to
me?"

"What?" His shoulders hunched. Even his dusk
blond locks seemed to wilt. "You think I would do that to you?"

She inspected the intensity seizing him,
recalling how she had traced his strong jawbone and the slightly
crooked bridge of his nose with her fingers the night they first
met. He had seemed so honest. Their time together had felt genuine,
yet...

"I don't really know you, Michael. I-" Andi
fought off a momentary bought of nausea. "I don't want to make
unfair judgment calls, but you've already confessed that you are
willing to turn a demon over to the witches in exchange for your
humanity. What if I'm that demon? What if I know that demon?"

"And now that you know, you could turn
me
in. Will you?"

"No!"

"I trust you." He stepped closer. "Now trust
me."

"You're the second man to step out of the
shadows and ask for my blind trust tonight. It didn't," she
hesitated, wincing from a sudden shooting pain through her chest
before continuing, "go so well the first time. I think I'll pass.
Thanks."

He stepped even closer. "I can help."

Sitting on the stoop, Andi raised her hand
for him to stop right where he was. "I'm going inside and I'm going
to bed."

"You're sick. You cannot be alone."

"Goodbye, Michael." She decided not to expose
Toryn's presence. He was still inside, as far as she knew.

"Wait." Michael wanted to say so much more,
but the look on Andi's face clearly expressed just how unprepared
she was for this conversation. Inhaling a long breath, he flipped
his keys over and over in the palm of his hand. "I'll get a pen out
of the truck and leave my cell number in your mailbox."

"Ha! A cell, too, but this was the best
moment to show your face?"

"I can explain." He approached the bottom of
the stairs.

Andi suppressed every urge to gag and crawled
to her door. Aware that she was being watched, she let go of any
idea to give a fuck and muttered, "Don't bother," before turning
the knob.

Michael was quickly a memory by the time she
pulled herself past the threshold and locked the door behind her,
collapsing onto the floor. There had never been a time that her
limbs felt this heavy, like they were made of lead. Luckily, the
nausea was waning. However, she could definitely go for a hundred
year nap.

"Toryn!" She tried to yell but her voice
cracked. "Help me," she strained under her breath. "There's
something wrong..."

When Toryn discovered Andi on the travertine
of the foyer, she was laughing and talking, though it was unclear
what she was attempting to say. She seemed to have let go of every
care, removed from her usual worrisome disposition. Sweat framed
her flushed face and it was apparent that she was extremely
ill.

He scooped her up immediately and charged up
the stairs to her bedroom.

Gingerly setting her on the bed, he was about
to slide the sheet up to cover her icy yet clammy body when she
suddenly grabbed his wrist.

The laughter was gone, her eyes haunted
now.

Toryn dared ask, "Who did this to you?"

Letting go of his wrist, Andi's gaze dropped
to his naked form sitting on the bed, to the sheets crumpled around
her, and then to her arm where the amber trailed up her flesh. She
felt...sober.

"What's happening to me?"

"You are under the influence of a drug. Who
gave it to you?"

"A priest." It was almost a question, because
Andi sure as hell couldn't imagine a priest drugging her. And if he
really had, how and with what? He had merely touched her. Unless...
There must have been something on his hand
, she thought.

No, it was his power,
Toryn's deep
voice resonated in her mind.

She was actually getting used to hearing that
voice so close to her own thoughts, but not the things that he
said.

"What? A priest can't love God
and
be
a demon."

"I never said he was a demon. Your good
priest is an angel. There is a grievous difference."

"How do you know?"

He grabbed her arm and turned it to show the
amber glow. "Only an angel can match a demon power with an opposing
force. For you, ice. And this matching force contaminates your
being like a drug."

Andi sat in silence for a moment. She had
only recently discovered her demon heritage, but her priest, with
the use of his "drug", had shown her a vision that completely
contradicted her timeline of events. Because obviously she knew a
hell of a lot more than even she realized. She had to have been
aware that she was a demon when she sought out the priest in the
snowy tundra, wherever that was. Why would she have forgotten?

If I was willing to risk my life, how could I
forget why?

"You are only part demon. There are many
areas in your subconscious that will always be vulnerable to
witchery of all forms. And there is little regard during a time of
war."

Her mouth dropped open for a moment. "Someone
took my memories to stop a war?"

He shook his head. "To stop you from starting
one."

"Whoa!" Andi leapt to her feet, forgetting
that her balance had been compromised. Toryn moved to catch her,
but she pushed away and stood on her own, suddenly much stronger
than she had been only a moment before. "I would never start a
war!"

Not human Andi.

"Not
any
Andi, human or
underworldly!"

Toryn moved to grab her arm, yet Andi dodged
his grasp once again, enjoying a quickness to her step that had
never been there. It excited her, like a growing flutter of
butterfly wings under a watchful cat's eye.

"You need to be still," he instructed.

"No, I'm feeling better," she insisted, quite
satisfied with her new state. Yes, the nausea and pounding headache
ripping through her brain had vanished. There was only a strength
and stillness in its place.

Toryn was finally able to snake his arm
around her waist and pull her close before she could sidestep his
advancement. She wrestled against him, causing them to crash to the
floor. Managing to land first, Toryn cushioned her fall with his
body, though she showed little regard for his wellbeing.

"Let me go," Andi demanded, practically nose
to nose with the demon.

"I could," he supposed. Abruptly rolling them
so that he landed on top of her, he leaned into her ear,
whispering, "But that would be unwise. Be still. Remain calm."

"Why?" For a moment, she lost sight of her
question as the naked line of his body caught her attention. It was
hard to ignore such ungodly perfection.

Resting his elbows just above her shoulders,
to either side of her head, Toryn demanded her attention and
confessed, "Because the effects of the drug are not over. The more
you become agitated, the greater the hold it demands. It feeds on
adrenaline."

"But I feel..." Andi thought for a moment
before answering, "Invincible." There was a cadence of euphoria in
her voice. She tried to wiggle beneath him.

"Be. Still," he practically snarled. Toryn's
patience was incredibly short, having witnessed this type of drug
and its capabilities during his lifetime. He had seen it weaponized
in lesser demons, and their outcome was death. The more she gave in
and moved, the stronger she would become, and the greater the hold
it would take.

Registering the concern in his expression,
Andi tried to clear the fog around her brain. "You're right," she
managed to say. "We have enemies everywhere, apparently, so I
just... I need to remain calm and not be high on angel dust or ice
blood or whatever that shit is under my skin!" Her voice rose.
"Inside. My body!" Panic had broken through her soft shell of
composure, taking hold before she had a chance to realize. And it
began to eat at her anxieties.

Toryn stood and helped her off the floor.

"This is the opposite of what I asked you to
do."

"Yeah? No shit. I can feel it stirring inside
me. What am I supposed to do with that? Read a book? Crochet? Clean
my pores? Join a 'Demons Anonymous' help group?"

Toryn stared at her silently, battling to
form an appropriate response that never came. He shook his head and
grumbled under his breath, "Change your soiled clothes. You will
feel better."

Shaking her head, she pulled her ruined
turquoise top off and threw it to the floor. Shimmying out of her
jeans, she wiggled her last leg free and flung them by the
discarded shirt, not missing Toryn's lustful glance.

In the next few minutes, she managed to brush
her teeth and, as she entered her bedroom, cast off her black bra
and panties. Yes, she had begun to feel calm again, in control.
Kicking the black material to the side as they fell to her feet,
Andi bit her lip playfully, slinking dangerously closer to her
naked demon lover.

Watching her vigilantly from the edge of the
overly cushioned bed, Toryn struggled with the throbbing urge to
give in to her seductive ways. To let her take of him what she
dared.

No.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of
these fantasies. If Andi's will fell to the influence of the drug,
her body could also fail. The drug would run its course, frying her
human nervous and muscular system, causing complete pandemonium. It
would be too much to survive, even for a halfling.

However...if they were to advance slowly,
perhaps?

Yes.
Andi's eyes sparkled with
mischief as she answered in his mind.

Toryn had not meant for her to hear his inner
dialogue. She should not have harnessed this capability to enter at
will, only when invited.

It must be the gift
, she thought
silently, taking pleasure in his shock.

"Mmm," he answered out loud.

Swaying her hips more than usual, she
strutted to Toryn, halting just shy of him before walking to the
rich emerald settee by the closet. Her toes took extra care to
stroke the carpet as she made her way. Bending slowly in front of
it, she took her time sliding the flat palms of her hands across
the thick material until she slunk onto it on all fours.

You don't mind if I lay down, do you? To
rest.

Sparing a glance at the tense man on her bed,
she fought a smile as she stretched across the sofa, breasts
brushing the fabric. The act made her nipples harden. Andi's round
ass was left bobbing in the air, bewitching the wild beast within
Toryn.

Thinking himself a demon of fortitude, Toryn
inexplicably found himself on the floor, grasping the comforter as
if his life depended upon it. He had lost a moment to the pure lust
Andi was inciting, unable to remember moving.

"Do not provoke me further," he said, his
voice carnal and heavy.

Her body stretched the length of the settee.
She parted her legs mere inches while raising the lower halves of
her legs in the air, allowing them to rub up and down, from toe to
shin, against one another.

"You must stay calm or-"

"Or what? I might get what I deserve?"

As if luring a large predator, Andi dropped
her right foot to the floor, drawing tiny circles on the carpet
with her big toe. And it was not long before she felt a hot palm
inch its way up from heel to ankle and stop.

"We should not," Toryn warned, now just
inches away.

"Okay then." Andi called his bluff. Making
the first move to rise, she suddenly felt him jerk her legs toward
him, causing her knees to land on the carpet, straddling either
side of his thighs, while her torso and breasts remained safely
cushioned on the sofa.

"I'm glad you see it my way," she purred,
gyrating her hips ever so slightly just for good measure.

If her heightened libido was a pleasantly
unexpected side effect from the drug, Andi could definitely
understand the draw for more. And more. How could something that
felt so good be so dangerous for her? Okay, just that thought, she
realized, sounded like the beginning of a raging addiction.

She waited for Toryn to reprimand her
thoughts, but the moment never arrived. He was too busy wrestling
with his lust. And losing, Andi noted thankfully.

His hands ran forcefully up and down her
thighs, kneading at her flesh with evident disregard. Though, she
could tell he was using every bit of restraint in his power. Toryn
really was trying to fight her sensual sway.