by Nina Bangs
Carly Simon immediately affirmed that “Nobody Does It Better.” Miss Abby smiled at her gaping audience. “The One Whose Name Cannot Be Uttered chose that song.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Kim did some mental eye rolls. “James Bond and the One whose Name Cannot Be Uttered. Perfect.”
As the music swelled, the top of the cake opened, and a demon leaped out. Probably by demon standards she was pretty hot with her long fake eyelashes accenting her red eyes, her green nail color carefully applied to her claws, and pink glitter on the end of her tail.
But great accessories didn’t impress Kim. She pressed Fo’s red button. Demon ash rained down on the cake.
Miss Abby frowned. “Now that wasn’t very friendly.”
“Where’s the archdemon?” Holgarth sounded mad enough to crawl into the cake in search of his prey.
“I’m here.” Gabriel narrowed his big red eyes. “And you just offed Bon Bon, one of my favorites.”
Brynn dropped Gabriel.
“Ouch?” The red eyes looked affronted. “I was going to search for another human host, but this was so convenient. And I guessed that since he was one of only two detectors still working, you’d bring him with you.”
Fo’s purple eyes were saucer size. “I knew the real Gabriel wouldn’t say those things to me.” She looked up at Kim. “Let me get the demon out of Gabriel.”
“Hey, give it your best shot, cutie.” The archdemon sounded supremely unconcerned. “In fact, all of you have a go at it.” His soft chuckle dripped with evil. “And then it’ll be my turn.”
Horrified, Kim stared at Brynn. “He was in the closet listening to us make love.” She knew her whisper said ugh, yuck, and ack.
The archdemon had excellent hearing. “You guys were so hot I almost popped out of that closet and joined you. Can you imagine the rush? Threesomes are the best.”
Kim’s answer was to aim Fo once again and press the Destroy button. At the same time, expressions around her grew tense and focused. If the total blast of everyone’s power at once didn’t blow the archdemon out of the water, they’d better vacate the premises fast.
There was the expected blinding flash of light from Fo, but this time there was almost a sonic boom of power from the others. The room shook, and pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling. Kim felt the power like giant hands pressing her body between them.
Then there was silence. The little black dots stopped dancing in front of Kim’s eyes, and she looked for Gabriel. He still sat on the floor, his red eyes glittering with wicked amusement.
“You guys are a real disappointment. I expected to at least get a buzz from the whole thing.” A deep humming noise started deep within Gabriel. “My turn now.”
Brynn stared into space for a moment and then looked at Kim. “I just told Eric to get his immortal butt here fast.”
Kim poked Sparkle. “Tell Ganymede to get his fuzzy face out of the ice cream container because we’re in big trouble.”
Sparkle nodded, her amber eyes filled with real fear.
Lynsay had backed up against the door and was fumbling with the doorknob. Kim didn’t need to see her sister’s expression to know the door was locked. Not that a locked door would ordinarily stop the beings in this room, but she had a sinking feeling no one would be leaving if the archdemon didn’t want them to go.
“Miss Abby will soften you up. She’s my second-in-command. A lot more powerful than the demons on the street.” The archdemon sounded absolutely jolly. “She’s out of range of your detector, Kim. And I’ll keep you from getting any closer. I think I’ll let her take out the weakest link, your sister Lynsay.”
“No.” Kim’s harsh whisper of denial came at the same time Miss Abby’s fingertips began to glow. “Do something, Brynn.” That wasn’t fair. What could he do? She tried to move toward the demon but smacked into an invisible wall.
Deimos had wrapped Lynsay in his massive arms and put himself in front of her.
Miss Abby cackled. “I don’t have to see her to kill her, dearie. You can’t stop me.”
“But I can.” Brynn’s quiet statement drew everyone’s gaze.
Kim watched his face subtly change, and she knew he was purposely becoming the man he loathed, the demon of sensual desire. His eyes heated, backlit in fluid gold. His lips seemed fuller, more sensual. His sexuality was a living, breathing presence in the room.
“Come to me, Abby. Use my body in any way you want. You’ll never know pleasure like I can give you.” His voice was the call of temptation to every woman from the beginning of time.
Yes! There was hope. Kim had forgotten about Brynn’s power to draw any woman to him. She held her breath and steadied her finger on Fo’s button.
Miss Abby’s eyes darkened with sexual hunger. The tips of her fingers stopped glowing. “Mmm. I’m on my way, hot bod.” Girdle squeaking and chunky shoes clumping, she walked toward Brynn.
“Yo, stupid. Don’t go any closer to them.” The archdemon sounded annoyed but not really worried.
Miss Abby kept walking.
“Abby, I command you to stop.” Now he was worried. The archdemon was invoking his seniority.
Miss Abby’s gaze never wavered from Brynn. Kim waited until the demon was in range, and then she pressed the red button. When the beam was gone, Miss Abby was a small pile of ash on her chapel floor.
“Well, well. I underestimated the varied talents in the group.” The archdemon wasn’t amused. “I’m bored with this whole scene. I think I’ll destroy you now.”
Everyone froze as they waited for the attack. And waited, and waited.
The archdemon growled his fury. “This damned machine is fighting me. Why the hell would anyone give a machine free will? If I had that son of a bitch Sergei here, I’d kill him all over again.”
“Way to go, Gabriel.” Kim glanced out a window. Where was the cavalry?
“Oh, fuck it, I’ll have to take my true form.” The air swirled, and reality seemed to shift. The smell of sulfur filled the room. And then the One Whose Name Cannot Be Uttered materialized in all his demonic hideousness.
Twice as big as an ordinary demon, with scarier eyes, bigger teeth, longer claws, a really impressive tail, and the prerequisite cloven hooves, he was the Big Bad on a gigantic scale.
“Oh, crap.” Conall said it for everyone.
The archdemon snarled as he turned his attention on Conall. “Too bad. You talked first, so you die first. I think that’s fair.” He glanced around the room. “Don’t you think that’s fair?”
“No.” Brynn leaped forward but slammed against the archdemon’s protective shield. Holgarth didn’t have any better luck.
A feline scream filled the room and reverberated against the walls. Asima leaped in front of Conall. A brilliant white light enveloped both of them, and then they were simply gone.
“How’d she do that?” The archdemon sounded more baffled than furious. “Oh, well. There’re a lot more of you to kill.”
Without warning, the door shattered as a great gray owl flew into the room. The owl instantly became Eric. Naked Eric. He smoothly changed into vampire form.
“Oh, goody. Another challenge. See, I knew you hadn’t shown me the best you had.” The One Whose Name Cannot Be Uttered was back into his enjoyment of the whole happening.
Brynn pulled Kim to him and tucked her face against his chest. “Don’t watch.”
“I have to watch. I owe it to Eric.” She held her breath as Eric fought his way past the archdemon’s protective shield with the supportive power of the other immortals in the room. But the ending was the same. Eric sat on the floor looking dazed and bloody, but at least he was still alive.
“How can anything be that powerful?” Eric’s frustrated question was their death knell.
“Now that we’ve finished the preliminary stuff, I get to have my fun.” True evil now looked out of the archdemon’s eyes. “Since you won’t be around to watch my master plan unfold, let me run it past you. I’ll set
up headquarters in Galveston while more and more demons come through my portal and spread onto the mainland with no pesky Vaughns to bother them. Without their detectors, the Vaughns are no longer players. Today Galveston, tomorrow Houston, and then the world. No one can stop me.”
“Wouldn’t count on that, sulfur breath.” Ganymede leaped through the hole in the door Eric had made and padded to Brynn’s side. He looked up at the archdemon. “I was into a good movie and just about to dive into a big bowl of buttered popcorn when Sparkle called. No one gets between me and my popcorn.”
“What’s with all the cats?” The archdemon’s whole body was starting to glow.
Brynn could feel the evil building, expanding, filling the room.
“I’m not in the mood for small talk, sucker. I have a bowl of popcorn calling my name. So let’s just get this over with.” Ganymede looked up at Brynn. “Pick me up. Now.”
Brynn felt as confused as everyone else looked. “Why? I don’t have any power.”
Something ancient and more frightening than even the archdemon moved in Ganymede’s eyes. “Remember that morning at the inn five centuries ago, Brynn? Remember the black-and-white cat?”
Brynn froze, unable to move, as the horrific truth of his beginning crept closer on silent cat paws. He wanted to know. He wanted to run.
“Yeah, me. You are what I made you all those years ago. Now I need the part of my energy that still remains in you to send this thing back to hell and then close the portal forever.”
While everyone else made startled noises, Brynn felt the cold misery of all those centuries well up in him. If he looked anything like he felt, he could match the archdemon red eyes for red eyes.
Brynn concentrated on his breathing—in and out, in and out. He couldn’t lose it here with the archdemon about to make his move. And then he felt Kim’s arms around him, felt her holding him tightly. He looked down into her eyes sheened with tears.
She tried for a watery smile. “I’ll cry and curse in your place while you’re busy kicking demon butt.”
Glaring down at the cat, Brynn reached for Ganymede with his mind. “Go scriosa Dia thu.” May God destroy you. Funny how when he wanted to curse Ganymede with every four-letter word in the English language, he instead returned to the Celtic language he’d spoken those many centuries ago.
“Yeah, yeah. Demon destroying first and then curses.” For just a second, wry humor slid into those amber eyes. “And you might just get your wish someday, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
If Brynn thought about it too long, he’d squeeze the immortal life from Ganymede once he got his hands on him. So he quickly picked up the cat and faced the One Whose Name Cannot Be Uttered.
The archdemon narrowed his red eyes, for the first time sensing power that might threaten him. But you had to give him points for balls of steel. He smiled, showcasing a mouthful of sharp teeth that would qualify him to swim with the great whites.
While his tail whipped from side to side, he murmured, “Here kitty, kitty.” And then the archdemon loosed his power.
Big mistake. Ganymede lay relaxed in Brynn’s arms. He even aimed a bored yawn in the archdemon’s direction. But suddenly the One Whose Name Cannot Be Uttered was flung into the air as if by a giant hand, whirled around, and thrown headfirst down through the top of the cake. Then the cake collapsed on itself and disappeared.
There was shocked silence for endless seconds. Then Holgarth asked the question they all wanted the answer to. “Good Lord, where did you get that kind of power?”
It was the first time Brynn had ever heard true respect in Holgarth’s voice. But he was still too killing mad to savor the moment. He dropped the cat and wrapped both arms around Kim. “I’m not trying to murder him because I love you, damn it, and with his power he’d make you a widow before we ever got to the altar.”
Kim lifted wide eyes to him. “You finally said it. Took you long enough.”
Most cats would’ve landed lightly. Ganymede landed with a thud and then glared up at Brynn. “Let’s have some respect for the one who just saved the world’s ass. Yeah, I know you’re all bent out of shape—even though I personally don’t get it—but we need to talk about the situation like civilized beings.”
“Five hundred years of thinking I was a demon, and you tell me I’m supposed to talk nice with you? Go to hell.” Too bad he didn’t have the power to make it happen. “Anytime you want to shift to human form and drop your powers, I’ll show you exactly what I thought of those years.”
While he and Ganymede traded snarls, Kim and Sparkle exchanged meaningful glances.
Kim slid her fingers over Brynn’s jaw. “Be mad. You have a right to your anger. But nothing’s going to change what you’ve suffered for five hundred years. Talk, and at least you’ll understand what happened to you and why.”
Eric and Holgarth hovered behind Brynn. Eric was once again in vampire form with fangs on full display, and Holgarth was making threatening motions with his wand toward Ganymede.
Brynn nodded. He didn’t need to be the cause of a second battle. “We’ll go back to my room.”
Ganymede brightened. “I’ll get to finish my popcorn.”
Sparkle scooped the cat up in her arms and wisely got him out of the house before Brynn reverted to raw, primitive rage.
Once back in his room, Brynn pulled Kim down beside him on the couch. Ganymede was crouched beside the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table while Sparkle hovered nearby in case hostilities broke out. She should’ve brought the whip that went with that outfit.
Brynn wasn’t wasting words tonight. “Tell me about it.”
Ganymede cast a regretful look at the popcorn and then gave Brynn his complete attention. “There’s only one cosmic troublemaker older than me in the whole universe, so I’m about as powerful as a being can get. Back in the beginning I got my kicks by putting major hurts on whole civilizations—war, famine, pestilence, drought, even the occasional exploding planet.”
“Real nice guy.” Control the sarcasm. Brynn didn’t want Ganymede leaving before he finished the story.
“Yeah, those were the bad old days. Just ignore me if I go all nostalgic on you.” Sparkle threw a warning glance his way, and Ganymede continued. “After thousands of years the mass destruction routine got old. I was bored. So I decided to go small, see what kind of trouble I could brew between individual humans. That was sort of fun until the Big Boss brought his hammer down. Said I couldn’t kill or do physical harm to any living thing. Bummer. Took most of the fun out of life.”
Kim had her mouth open to ask who the Big Boss was until Brynn caught her eye. He needed to keep Ganymede focused. “So where did I fit into all this?”
“I was still raising hell five hundred years ago—hadn’t mellowed out yet—when I came across you at the inn. I was in human form, and we both got drunk. You’re lucky. I didn’t do really mean stuff when I was sloshed.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” Close your mouth. “Wait. You mean I was human?”
Ganymede nodded. “You were young, skinny, and putting up zeros with all the women. You said you’d give anything if you could have sex with every woman you met.” He paused for a popcorn break.
Human. He’d been human. “I can’t believe I said that.”
“Believe it. I felt sort of sorry for you. I always got sentimental when I got drunk. So I gave you a great body, a great face, immortality, and—”
“The compulsion.” Kim finished for him. “You thought you were doing him a favor.”
“Smart lady.” Ganymede threw Brynn a look that said he was dumb as a rock next to Kim. “I took away your memories and gave you new ones of being a demon. See, if you thought you were a demon, you wouldn’t feel guilty about screwing all those women.” He cast a long-suffering look at his audience. “I did everything out of the goodness of my heart, and all I get in return are threats and curses.”
“Stuff it, Mede.” Sparkle reached down to wipe dust off the toes of her b
oots.
“So you came here to make things right out of the goodness of your heart?” Kim sounded doubtful.
“Ha!” Sparkle sat on the edge of the coffee table now that the threat of violence had lessened. “He came because I promised him kinky and unforgettable sex if he’d make things right for Brynn. The park’s owner knew Brynn’s history and told Holgarth. And I weaseled the info out of Holgarth. I decided matching Brynn up with a demon hunter would be a stimulating challenge. But I couldn’t do much with the compulsion interrupting things every hour.”
Brynn frowned. Was it just coincidence that Sparkle knew Ganymede? And that a demon hunter just happened to fall into her lap? He didn’t believe in coincidences, but he had other things to think about right now. “At least you got rid of the compulsion for me.”
Ganymede and Sparkle stilled.
“Hey, wasn’t me. I tried, but no luck.” Ganymede forgot about his popcorn for the moment. “Are you telling me it’s gone?”
Brynn nodded.
Ganymede twitched his whiskers. “Well, there ya go. Life’s good.”
“Except for those five centuries of sexual slavery.” He was starting to sound like a whiner. He hated whiners.
Ganymede’s amber eyes turned sly. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I get the feeling you guys love each other. If I hadn’t messed with your life, Brynn, you’d never have met Kim. So how do you feel about that?”
Brynn gazed at Kim. “I’m glad I’m alive to love her.” He took a deep breath. “And marry her. If she’ll have me.” With that admission, he conceded the battle. “Now maybe you need to take your bowl of popcorn and move in with Sparkle.”
“Sure, sure. Get the popcorn, babe.” This to Sparkle. “Maybe I do feel just a little bit guilty. Not much, just a little. So since you guys love each other, I’ll give you an early wedding present.” He glanced at Kim. “There is going to be a wedding, isn’t there?”
Kim leaned into Brynn and smiled her secret woman’s smile. “Oh, yes, definitely.”
“You already know I’m not great at undoing things, so I can’t take Brynn’s immortality away from him. But I can give you a life span to match his. Do you want this?”