The Redeeming

by Jennifer Ashley

  Samantha reached home that evening feeling drained. She’d been tense all day, keeping Logan at a distance and avoiding phone calls from her mother and father. Logan had known something was wrong—something more than her being nearly killed by demon acid—but hadn’t asked, and Samantha hadn’t said a word to him.

  How do you ask your best friend if you’ve been sucking out his life essence?

  Samantha wearily climbed the stairs and entered her apartment. It was dark, Tain gone, Pickles meowing like a cat who hadn’t eaten in three days. She flicked on the lights, noting that Tain had done the dishes and put them away.

  “What a dream man,” she said as she closed and locked the door. “A one-night stand who cleans the house before leaving.”

  Samantha dumped her purse and briefcase on the sofa and went into the bathroom. She didn’t notice until she was at the sink splashing water on her face that an unfamiliar toothbrush rested in the holder next to her own.

  She stared in surprise, then reasoned that Hunter had likely brought it with Tain’s clothes, and Tain had forgotten it when he left. Same with the razor hanging from the shower caddy.

  Samantha snapped on the light in the bedroom and opened a drawer to grab one of the oversized T-shirts in which she liked to lounge around the apartment. She stopped. Half the drawer was filled with men’s T-shirts, large ones, folded neatly. Her underwear drawer above it shared space with a handful of boxer shorts and rolled socks.

  Samantha slammed the drawers shut and yanked open the closet. Tain hadn’t brought many clothes—shirts and jeans and another duster coat—but they were hanging quietly next to hers. Above them on the shelf was an empty duffle bag.

  She shoved the closet door closed and stormed out to glare accusingly at Pickles. “He’s moved in.”

  Samantha couldn’t help thinking her cat looked a bit smug. She grabbed the phone and called Leda, needing in her panic to talk to someone used to Immortals, but no one answered.

  Samantha hung up, fed Pickles, then started pacing. She hated waiting to see if and when Tain would return, but that’s what she would have to do.

  She stared at the phone a little bit longer, then slowly picked it up again and called her mother.

  Tain stood in the back of the small auditorium with Hunter, listening to Leda answer questions.

  “Ms. Stowe,” said the interviewer, a slender woman who’d introduced herself as a Ms. Townsend. Ms. Townsend wore a business jacket and skirt, had blond hair wound in a careful knot, and minimal makeup. “How do you feel about the city of Los Angeles allowing demon-kind and vampires to go on living here after they nearly destroyed us all last year?”

  Hunter leaned to Tain. “I don’t like her.”

  Tain studied the woman’s aura, which was fiery red-orange next to Leda’s blue and green hue. “She doesn’t have death-magic,” he said. “She’s just an angry woman.”

  The group called themselves No More Nightmares, and were very interested in how normal human beings could protect themselves against demons and vampires. They’d asked Leda how she and the Coven of Light had destroyed the demon Kehksut the year before and what she’d learned from it.

  Leda answered readily enough. “As a member of the Coven of Light, I learned that death magic and life magic must balance in order to maintain the status quo of the universe. Last year, there was an unhealthy dose of death magic, which resulted in the chaos that we had to live through. Once life magic was allowed to return to its normal level, harmony was restored. But we need death magic to keep the world on an even keel.”

  “You have a son,” Ms. Townsend cut in, glancing toward the back of the room. A carrier rested at Hunter’s feet, his sleeping child in it. “As a mother, don’t you worry for him? Do you want him playing outside, exposed to any demon who might happen along? Or any vampire?”

  “Of course I worry,” Leda answered. She laughed a little. “Being a new mother, I’m paranoid. But we have guarded our house with the strongest wards, and I’m confident that my husband and I can keep him safe until he learns to protect himself.” She looked out at the audience, her smile reassuring. “Demons keep to themselves, mostly. Their clans are close-knit, and few venture outside them, except in the clubs. Humans seek out vampires and demons for the thrill of it, not the other way around. Last year was unusual.”

  “Not all of us have the benefit of possessing witch magic,” Ms. Townsend said. “What of us mundane human beings?”

  “There are plenty of witches around who are happy to ward your house, your car, whatever you like. Protection is never a bad idea.”

  “For a fee.”

  The audience murmured angry agreement.

  “For a modest fee,” Leda corrected. “Witches have bills to pay, and supplies cost money. If a witch wants to charge you an exorbitant price, of course, you should seek another.”

  “Do you do these wardings?”

  “I don’t have time to do much, but I can refer anyone here to witches who do.”

  “Witches who practice death magic, like yourself?” Ms. Townsend snapped.

  The crowd started their murmuring again, and Hunter stirred uneasily.

  Leda flushed. “I admit that I have twice in my life used death magic to perform a ritual. I didn’t want to, and I didn’t like it, but both times it was absolutely necessary.”

  “Necessary?” Ms. Townsend asked coldly. “Or the easiest way to get what you wanted?”

  “Necessary,” Leda repeated. “The first time, it saved a life; the second time, it helped kill an ancient demon threatening the world.”

  “So you advocate using death magic if you feel it’s justified.”

  “No, I don’t advocate using it at all.”

  “And in fact, I believe your own coven asked you to leave after you performed this death-magic ritual.”

  “I left of my own accord,” Leda said with a hint of frost.

  “I’ve spoken to other witches of this so-called Coven of Light—some of them tried to cover up for you, others openly left because of the coven members who condoned what you did.”

  Leda started to answer, but Hunter thrust the baby carrier at Tain and strode up the aisle. White-hot magic surrounded him, and people cringed out of his way.

  Hunter grabbed Leda by the hand and glared at Ms. Townsend. “What happened in Los Angeles was nothing to what would have happened if Leda hadn’t done what she did. She doesn’t deserve to stand here and be berated by people like you.”

  “Hunter,” Leda said.

  Ms. Townsend regarded Hunter down her long nose. “I am pointing out that even those whose motives are pure can be seduced by death magic.”

  “Point it out without us.” Hunter pulled Leda down the steps and up the aisle, Ms. Townsend watching them go with glee.

  Hunter took the carrier with the waking baby as he passed Tain. “You coming?” he asked when Tain didn’t move.

  “No. I want to listen a while.”

  “You’re kidding. What for?”

  “It might be important.”

  Hunter growled, but didn’t argue.

  “Be careful,” Leda said to Tain.

  Tain gave her a reassuring nod. The two of them left, and Tain stepped into the shadows beside the door.

  Ms. Townsend regarded her audience with a chill smile. “Wasn’t that interesting? Aren’t you glad I asked her to come?”

  Her followers applauded. Ms. Townsend waited for the admiration to die down before she spoke in clear, strident tones. “Death magic is insidious. It comes at us when we least expect it, seducing us as the demons seduce their victims in their so-called clubs. We must work to eradicate the darkness any way we can.”

  She waited for the next round of applause, then launched into a speech about demons and what they did, much of it inaccurate. She brought in vampires too, talking about the laws that barely held them back from slaughtering the population.

  “We need to take back the night, ladies and gentlemen. Our children
need to be protected from these evil beings that our laws favor, before it’s too late.”

  Her audience, ordinary looking men and women, cheered. The trouble was, Ms. Townsend wasn’t completely wrong. The network of laws that kept demons and vampires in line worked only as long as the demons and vampires wanted them to.

  Septimus was strong enough to keep the vamps in Los Angeles under his thumb, and his power extended to other cities up and down the coast. Demons harbored so much resentment between themselves and clans that an overall demon leader would likely never emerge. But if the balance of power ever shifted, humans would be sitting ducks, and these people knew it.

  Tain had the feeling, as the meeting went on, that this group wasn’t about to combat the problem with bake sales and sticking fliers on car windows. His hunch was confirmed when Ms. Townsend began describing the exact methods for subduing and killing a demon, including how to cut out its still-beating heart.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Samantha’s apartment windows were completely dark when Tain reached it at eight that night, after he’d done what he’d needed to do. Her small truck sat in the parking lot, and Tain made his way quickly up the stairs, worried about why she hadn’t turned on any lights.

  When he opened the door, he saw Samantha sitting motionlessly on the sofa in the glare of the outside lights, her feet on the coffee table and a lump of cat curled up on her thighs. Tain exhaled in relief and closed the door, making his way to sit next to her in the dark.

  “You were right,” she said after a while, voice low. “About my mother.”

  Tain said nothing, sensing she didn’t want words from him right now.

  “I talked to her tonight,” Samantha continued, bleak. “I asked my mother point-blank if she’d let me take her life essence, and she said yes. I asked her why, and she said she knew I needed it, and she didn’t mind.”

  “She loves you,” Tain said, keeping his voice gentle.

  “That makes it worse.”

  Tain smoothed his hand down Samantha’s bare arm, finding her cold. “I wouldn’t have told you that abruptly, but I thought you already knew.”

  Samantha flicked a glance at him. “Because I’m demon, and that’s what demons do?”

  “Yes.” He couldn’t explain more than that.

  “And you believed I’d suck dry my own mother.” Samantha bit off a laugh. “Well, you were right.”

  Tain sat in silence for a time, uncertain. It seemed strange to want to comfort a demon, but this was Samantha. This was different.

  “When I was a lad,” he said slowly, “I used to hurry through tedious chores using my magic. My father would shout at me about it.”

  Samantha looked at him, clearly wondering why he was bringing this up now. “Your Roman soldier father? You lived with him in England, right? Or whatever it was called then.”

  Tain nodded. “He valued hard work and honor above all else. He considered using magic a shortcut to shirking.”

  “Not on the same scale as sucking out life essence,” Samantha said, her voice dry.

  “I couldn’t control the vast power inside me, and I nearly killed him with it. I collapsed a stone shed on top of him, because I was trying to cheat while helping him repair the roof. That was the day I discovered my healing ability.”

  Samantha’s eyes widened, and she touched his hand. “Thank goodness you had it.”

  “What I’d done terrified me for a long time,” Tain said. “I was afraid to use my magic again. My father understood, but he never chastised me, just made me work very, very hard.” He smiled, remembering the tough physical labor his father had put him through, which Tain had done without complaining. He’d been happy to do it. “My dad’s dead and gone now, centuries ago.”

  “Sounds like you loved him.”

  “You didn’t say it in those days—respect and honor was what you gave your father. But I did love him. Very much.”

  Samantha rubbed his arm. “I’m sorry you lost him.”

  Tain shrugged. “He was a mortal human, and grew old and died.” He tried to sound stoic, but the day his father passed had left a hole in his life that had never been filled. “I would have lost him sooner or later.”

  “That doesn’t make it easier.”

  Tain shook his head. “No.”

  The day Cerridwen had come for Tain, his father had gruffly told him to go and not to shame him. Tain had seen tears on his father’s face, but the man had turned around, stiff-shouldered, and walked off into the woods.

  Tain slid his arm around Samantha, unable to keep from touching her, and pressed a kiss to her fragrant hair. “Let me warm you,” he said softly.

  She looked up at him, her eyes holding both anguish and need. “I think I’d like that.”

  Tain carefully set the sleeping Pickles aside and led Samantha to her bedroom. He undressed her, and by the time she was bare, she’d recovered herself enough to help undress him.

  Their lovemaking was slow this time. Tain licked her mouth, tasting the salt-tang of her sweat, then ran his tongue across her throat and breasts. He worked his way downward to press his mouth between her legs, teasing her there until she moaned. Then he rolled off her and to his back, lifted her onto his body, parting her legs to straddle him, and slid straight up inside her.

  He made a low noise of passion as Samantha moved down onto him, her body taking his. He belonged here.

  Samantha rested her hands on Tain’s chest, her knees against his sides, her head going back as he rocked up into her. In the light that leaked through the slats of the window blind, he saw the glitter of her dark eyes, the faint hue of her aura like sunshine on midnight velvet. Her head lolled back, her sleek hair falling across her shoulders. The movement thrust her breasts toward him, and Tain cupped them, teasing the nipples with his thumbs as she rode him.

  When Samantha started to come, he took her hand and laid it over the tattoo on his cheek, feeling the tingle as his life essence trickled into her.

  “No,” she moaned.

  “Take it. Take all you need. You won’t hurt me.”

  Samantha’s mouth twisted. Tain knew she wanted to argue, but her climax was on her, and she cried out and ground herself against him. At the same time she drew his life essence into her through her hand on his tattoo.

  The high of that was like nothing Tain had ever experienced. Kehksut had tried to make sex with his female form the ultimate in erotic satisfaction, but Tain had loathed every minute of it. He’d been trapped in pain and madness and the demon’s magic, the tiny, sane part of him screaming while his body obeyed the demon’s wishes.

  With Samantha, everything was different. Tain was wound up tight with wanting, and he lost control in the best way, finding his hands digging into the mattress as he thrust up and up into Samantha. The white essence of him swirled over her fingers and into her body, her eyes shining with it.

  “Take every bit of me,” he said, voice breaking. “I want you to have me.”

  Samantha gasped as he pushed all the way inside her, farther than he’d dared go their first time. Samantha’s eyes widened with the shock of it, and then a second climax overtook her.

  Tain moaned his own release and rocked into her, still hard, until the joy of it wound its way down to sweet languor.

  Heart thudding, Tain drew Samantha down on top of him, kissing her face, throat, lips. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Samantha lay down on him, breaking contact with his tattoo but folding him into her warmth. He could stay here forever, in this silence and darkness that was peaceful, not terrifying. Being with Samantha was a haven, not a prison. Tain closed his eyes and let himself relax for the first time in centuries.

  Samantha touched his cheek again, he still inside her, but the connection between them had gone.

  “I didn’t mean to do that,” she said softly.

  Tain opened his eyes and let himself smile. “I hope you did.”

  Her eyes were pools of darkness but held warmth
, not triumph. “I didn’t want to take your essence this time, but I couldn’t stop it.”

  Tain stroked her hair from her face. “You shouldn’t stop it. You crave it like your body craves food. You need life essence to survive.”

  “You know a lot about it.”

  He gave her a half smile. “I became the demon expert.”

  “Is that what Kehksut did to you? Stole your life essence? Over and over again?”

  Tain shook his head as he threaded his fingers through her sleek hair. “He couldn’t stand my life essence—it was too much for him. That’s why he had to break me.”

  Samantha’s eyes glittered with sudden tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” She was crying now, and Tain gathered her into his arms.

  Samantha laid her head on his chest, hot tears wetting his skin. “I don’t want to forgive your brothers for not finding you, for letting you suffer so long.”

  Tain had come to terms with this a while ago, knowing his brothers weren’t to blame. “They tried for a long time, but they couldn’t. When Adrian did find me, I was so far gone in madness that I refused to go with him. It took my brothers’ collective power to get me free. And you.”

  It had taken a long time after the ritual had ripped him from Kehksut’s power for Tain to realize he was truly free, that Kehksut was dead and had no more hold on him. Tain’s brothers had expected him to bounce around rejoicing, but the scars inside him were too deep for a quick healing. They might never heal. Tain could only withdraw into himself and wander the world, waiting for the darkness to go away.

  Samantha was frowning at him, her brown eyes wary. “I noticed you moved your stuff in here. Without asking me.”

  Tain’s smile died. “I moved in because there are people out there teaching other people how to kill demons,” he said. He’d moved in for other reasons, but the No More Nightmares organization was a good excuse. “In fact, I met one of them today.”