Come Hell or High Water

by Michele Bardsley

  “She did what she was supposed to do,” said Astria. “Don’t be mad, Connor.”

  “He wasn’t angry,” I told her. “He was scared.” I hugged him and felt him soften more. “So was I.”

  I looked at the others in the room: Larsa, Patsy, Astria, Anise, and Ren. Damian and Nicor had joined us.

  “Danny and Jackson, are they still all right?” I asked Damian.

  “Asleep in Jackson’s apartment,” he confirmed. “And well protected, I promise you, Leibling.”

  “The talisman,” said Nicor, “where is it?”

  “You’re looking at it,” I said.

  He seemed shocked, then appalled. I got the feeling he wanted to reach inside me and pull it out. Good luck with that, I thought.

  “I don’t want to wait for Lilith to make an appearance,” I said. “We need to draw her out.”

  “How?” asked Damian.

  “We’ll use one of her tricks.”

  We sat down and hashed out a plan. And the whole time, I never let Connor go.

  Chapter 28

  When we arrived on Main Street, downtown was dark and quiet, too reminiscent of the nightmare. I was not alone. Connor stood with me.

  Broken Heart would not be destroyed. Lilith would not win.

  “Are you sure?” he asked me. I gripped his hand, and he allowed it. He wasn’t ready to trust my affection, but I knew he would not leave me alone. I could rely on him; his strength and even his love were mine to call upon.

  “Yes,” I said. “Call her.”

  He looked at me one moment more, and then nodded.

  “Jennifer,” he said. “Come.”

  In her blond-bombshell form, she wavered into view, a couple of feet to my left.

  “Wow,” she said. She turned and sauntered toward us. “This is rad!”

  “Remember what we talked about, Jennifer?” asked Connor.

  She nodded. “No killing innocents. No implosions. No tricks.”

  The red lights sparkled, and when they dissipated, she was male-CEO Jen, with a nice suit and gray hair. His gaze softened as he looked at me. “I see magic in you, Phoebe. It’s pretty.”

  “Thanks, Jennifer. We need you to get Lilith now.”

  He frowned. “Are you… sure? She’s not very nice, and she doesn’t like me.”

  “But you’re her daughter,” I pointed out. “And you can bring her here.”

  My heart broke for Jennifer, who’d been abused by Lilith’s abandonment, languishing in that non-space in hell until she was found by her brother. Connor taught her about love, about sacrifice. And she’d somehow retained her innocence. She was not designed to be good, but she’d chosen it. And was not the act of choosing right instead of wrong the sign of inherent goodness?

  Red lights pulsed again, and a little girl stood there looking prim in her lacy dress and patent-leather shoes. “I have to go. So long as I stay at my house, I behave.”

  Her gaze was solemn, and I figured that Jennifer knew her limitations far too well. I sensed her sorrow, along with the eddy and twirl of her increasingly confusing thoughts. Could I sense the crack in her mental state because I was the talisman? It wouldn’t have surprised me. At this point, a spaceship could land on Main Street and Elvis could saunter out singing “Love Me Tender,” and I wouldn’t be surprised.

  I knelt and wrapped my arm around the little girl. I hugged her tightly and said, “Call her, Jennifer. And I promise she will never hurt you again.”

  She nodded, and then closed her eyes. I felt the power of her mental link, and realized that Jennifer was not a weak being. No, she had power beyond measure.

  Certainly enough to draw her mother to Broken Heart. Jennifer was a portal that required no bloodletting at all.

  Lightning hit the street. The whole area shook as I nearly lost my balance. The air smelled like ozone, and then Lilith appeared, right where the bolt had landed.

  She still looked like a teen – innocent and sweet. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a concert T-shirt for Paramour, faded denims with holes in the knees, and a pair of zebra-striped flats.

  Her favorite pet was behind her, and a few of its friends. We’d expected she’d show up with reinforcements. Her sneer took in the little girl.

  “Thanks, daughter. For once you did something right.”

  “Go with Ash,” I said softly as a shadow stepped out from under the eaves of the Old Sass Café. “She has a present for you.”

  “Did I mention that I haven’t done this before?” whispered Ash. “It’s dangerous and crazy and stupid.”

  “Sounds like it’ll be fun, then.”

  She grinned.

  “And she’s worth it, too.”

  Ash nodded, and led the little girl away.

  I had explained my idea to Connor: Giving Jennifer a soul, a way to temper her demonic tendencies, was the only reason he agreed to call his sister forth from the Pit. He loved her, but he knew her limitations as well as she did.

  Lilith lost interest in her offspring the moment Jennifer was out of sight. She didn’t seem to care much about the soul shifter, either. She was arrogant. And ruthless.

  “You want the talisman or not?” I asked.

  “I want it all, baby,” she said. Then she grinned, because she thought she was going to win.

  “Come and get it.”

  She narrowed her gaze, her smile going sloppy. “Oh, no, sister,” she said. “The talisman is mine. Mine!” She stepped toward me, vibrating with fury. “I will take it from you. I’ll rip it right from your bony little fingers.”

  The demons behind her spread out, maybe ten of them, and their eyes were trained on us.

  Lightning flew from Lilith’s extended palm.

  “No!” roared Connor.

  The pain was instantaneous. It threw me backward and I skidded across the pavement, banging up my elbows and arms as every nerve ending throbbed in electric anguish.

  Lilith aimed a palmful of lightning at Connor, too.

  I’m sure she didn’t expect Ash to shoot her. The bullets were more annoyances than anything else, but it gave Connor time to rush toward me.

  “Ouch,” I said.

  “Lass. God, Phoebe.” He scooped me into his arms and took off toward a row of parked cars. He ducked behind a silver truck and looked me over.

  “Sweet Jesus.”

  “I’m not gonna pass out,” I said, gritting my teeth. Holy crap, I was hurting. “I refuse.”

  “Good.” He lifted me so that my face brushed his neck. “Drink from me. Get your strength.”

  My fangs elongated and I pierced his flesh. His blood was as delicious as hot chocolate, and as I drank, I healed.

  When I was finished, I felt a lot better.

  “C’mon. Let’s finish this.”

  Connor stood and helped me to my feet. We crouched behind the truck bed.

  Morrigu appeared and pounded her staff against the street. Thunder roared into the sky. “Enough!”

  I had to give the goddess some props: She knew how to make an entrance.

  If the look in Morrigu’s eyes was any indication, she was trying to decide whether to slice and dice or flambé Lilith.

  Personally, I was hoping for flambé.

  Three demons stepped in front of their mistress, forming a wall of victims. Lilith easily sacrificed her protectors to the dark goddess, who wielded chaos like the rest of us wielded a rake or a spatula.

  Clouds roiled above her, fierce wind whipping her dark green robes. She raised her staff and silver bolts issued from the raven. Thunder roared, and Morrigu added her screeches to the booming noise.

  Seriously? I almost wet myself.

  Lilith watched Morrigu with a small, mean smile. She hadn’t figured out that she was making a dumb-ass move. What did she expect? Applause? Instant world domination? A gold star for her weekly evil chart?

  I was pretty damned sure she didn’t expect Morrigu to aim her staff and send a huge silver jolt downwar
d.

  There was no stepping out of the way. That kind of furious puissance sought its target unerringly.

  The demons couldn’t escape Morrigu’s wrath.

  Within seconds, they were nothing but smears on the street.

  She aimed her staff again, at the demons standing behind Lilith, and seven more flashes of lightning destroyed them all.

  Lilith began to realize she was no match for Morrigu. She was maybe a midmorning snack for one such as the crow queen.

  The storm died down completely, and the black clouds inspired by Morrigu’s ire broke apart and drifted away.

  Then black puffs of smoke appeared around Lilith: Nicor, Pith, and Berith materialized. Connor dropped a kiss on my head, and then took my hand.

  We joined the hunters.

  Magic surged from Connor and the hunters. Four coils cinched her, imprisoning Lilith in pulsing red. Her expression was a mixture of emotions, including desperation and fury.

  “I will not go!” she wailed.

  The most selfish, tyrannical, asinine creature I’d ever had the displeasure to meet could not forestall the inevitable.

  I walked forward, and she tried to move, but she was stuck, bound by the magic of the four men surrounding her. I placed my hands on her cheeks.

  “I am the talisman. I bind you to the deepest, darkest part of the Pit, Lilith,” I said. “You will never leave hell again.”

  Her wails echoed into the heavens; the terrible screams threatened to cleave me with their serrated sounds. I wanted to clap my hands over my ears, but I couldn’t.

  The horrible keening stopped.

  Then Lilith started sinking into the ground. She tried to move away, but it didn’t matter how many times she moved; it didn’t stop her progress. She clawed and screamed and tried to hold on, but in the end, she could do nothing but go to hell.

  It felt as though the tilted world had finally righted. Maybe this was the feeling of balance being restored. Well, semirestored.

  “Very good, Talisman,” said Morrigu. Then she disappeared in a cloud of silvery mist.

  I had to wonder why the goddess showed up to smite demons, but left us to stick Lilith into the Pit. I was tired, and frankly, as long everything was okeydoke, I wasn’t gonna waste brainpower worrying about the whims of Celtic goddesses.

  “Connor?” A girl stumbled out from the café, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She looked as if she was sixteen, maybe seventeen, with sable hair and brown eyes as soft as a doe’s. She wore black capris with a blousy pink top and matching flip-flops.

  “Jennifer?”

  “That’s the form she chose. It’s hers. She has a soul now,” said Ash. She looked a little worse for wear, but she grinned. “That was a bitch, O mighty Talisman. You owe me big.” She slung an arm around Jennifer’s shoulder. “C’mon, honey. I need a drink.”

  ———

  We returned to my house. Connor was subdued, and I was nervous.

  I asked him to come in, and he followed me into the bedroom. I flipped on the light, and he watched me sit on the bed. I tugged off my boots and socks, wiggling my toes.

  “I’ve decided to keep you, Connor.”

  “Oh, really?”

  I looked at him and said, “I’m sorry. You offered me love, and… I was a real bitch about it.”

  “And now?”

  “Still a bitch,” I said, “but very much one in love. With you.”

  He looked pleased, a smile curving his lips. Small joys. Tiny, happy slivers. It was all we had. And I’d take it.

  “C’mere.” I patted the bed.

  He shut the door behind him and slid next to me. We lay down together, my cheek pressed against his chest, and I listened to him breathe.

  “I’m not sorry you followed the prophecy,” I said fiercely. I slid up his muscled frame and cupped his face. “If you hadn’t, I would’ve never met you. And I can’t be sorry about everything that’s come before, you know?”

  “Aye,” he said, his gaze tender. “I think, lass, I’ve waited my whole life for you.”

  I kissed him. A quick, soft promise. When I pulled back, his eyes had gone hot, and an answering heat thrummed in my belly.

  He lit up my world, this demon. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Do you want to talk about our relationship?”

  “God, no.” Connor’s lips dipped down to my throat and roved over the sensitive flesh.

  I angled my neck to give him better access, and he growled (really, he did), and electric pleasure jolted through me.

  I moved my hands to the edge of his T-shirt, and he paused long enough to help me tug it off. I remembered this. I remembered him.

  I pushed him onto his back, and he let me, his lips cocking into a sexy half grin. I knelt between his legs and explored the planes of his chest, my fingers skimming every muscle, every old wound.

  “I know who you are now,” I whispered. I leaned down and let my words drift across his skin. “You can’t hide from me.”

  “I dinnae want to,” he said. “Not ever again.”

  My lips paid homage to his sacrifice. For every second of pain, however inadvertently, that I had caused, I showed him my gratitude. With soft scrapes of my lips, and flicks of my tongue, and the touch of my fingers, I said, Thank you, and, I’m sorry, and I love you.

  His heart was the frantic beat of an ancient drum, and his flesh quivered beneath my mouth.

  His hands dove into my hair, and he tugged until I scooted up and lay flush against him. He took my mouth, plundering… no, begging, and I gave him everything. I didn’t want him to beg. I wanted him to know he was mine, and I was his, and he never had to worry about my heart.

  Because I knew I would never have to worry about his.

  I worked off my top and let it fall to the floor. He unsnapped my bra, and dropped it… oh, I don’t know. Somewhere. I had other things on my mind.

  He flipped me onto my back. His cock pressed into the vee of my thighs. The sweet pressure dragged a moan from me. Damn. My panties were already soaked.

  His hands trailed up my rib cage, stopping under my breasts. I felt the barest touch of his fingers. His lips found the curve of my neck; he pressed his mouth against the hollow of my throat; then his tongue traced a path to my ear.

  I pushed my hand between us and unbuttoned his jeans, pushing them down until I could get my hand inside.

  He gasped, and stilled. “I think that’s” – he gulped – “verra unwise.”

  There he went with the brogue. Hoo, boy.

  “Hmmm.” I grasped his cock, lightly stroking. He swallowed, his eyes closing, and then he got me back by sucking a nipple into his mouth, teasing it to hardness.

  “Wow,” I murmured. I felt electrified. “I feel like there’s lightning inside me.”

  His gaze caught mine. “Is that a demon joke?”

  “No.” I grinned. “What? Are you saying you’re lightning?”

  “Oh, yes,” he said, his tongue flicking across the top of my breast. “And thunder. And rain. And wind.”

  He blew on my nipple, and it gusted cold, so cold my flesh crinkled and the peak went tight. Then he did it again, this time with heat. Desire blossomed, petals of heat and light curling. I squirmed.

  “You want more, lass?”

  “Is that even a question?”

  He knelt between my thighs. He shucked my jeans and underwear. Then he knelt down until his face was even with my thighs. He looked up at me from that most intimate spot, his gaze such a mixture of emotions. Wonder. Mischief. Love.

  Then his tongue flicked out.

  Tiny blue sparks squirmed over my swollen flesh.

  The electric sensations were so intense my eyes rolled back into my head. I grasped his hair and pulled. Then, when I could talk again, I said, “Do it again.”

  And he did.

  I might’ve blacked out.

  When the haze of sensation faded just a little, Connor pulled me into his mouth… sucking… licking… kissing. Every so ofte
n he offered one of his little zaps, and I arched and grabbed onto the sheets.

  Having a demon lover had its perks.

  Connor savored me a little too much. He’d bring me to the brink without letting me fall over. He did it until I was freaking mess, so eager for release I could scream.

  “Connor,” I begged. “Please. Oh, please.”

  He withdrew from tormenting me, dragging his lips over my stomach, between the valley of my breasts, along my throat.

  My hands clawed at his jeans. He looked at me, smiling, and the next instant the pants were gone.

  “You mean you could’ve done that the whole time?”

  “Well, now, I dinnae want you to think I was easy.”

  “You’re a fibber!”

  He grinned more broadly, completely unrepentent. Well, that’s what I get for loving a demon.

  I grasped around his buttocks and rubbed against his shaft.

  His heartbeat went wild as he slid his cock between my slick folds, expertly rubbing against my clit. I arched against him, offering my breasts. As he scraped my sensitive nipples with his teeth, he slipped inside me.

  He paused, sucking in a breath, and I squirmed, both expectant and impatient.

  Then he started to move.

  I held on to him, my nails scoring his back. Connor whispered words I couldn’t understand. Old words that surely meant passion and devotion.

  I tipped over the edge, flying into a burst of light, of bliss, and then Connor cried out my name and spasmed.

  For a long moment, we did nothing else but hold each other. Connor tightened his grip and the world went black and off center.

  We arrived in the bathroom. As Connor turned on the shower and made sure it was the right temperature, I said, “We could’ve walked in here.”

  “What fun is that?” he asked. He put me under the warm spray and then joined me.

  I was happy. I could imagine creating a life with Connor. With Danny. And, yes, Jackson. He would always be part of our lives, too. We’d be safe, and mostly content. I wasn’t a complete optimist. There would be arguments and tribulations and hurt feelings. But more important, there would be love, always love.

  All we really had was now.

  I was determined to make the most of it, so I kissed Connor until the water started to steam.