by Quinn Loftis
“Yes, front hugs.”
“Why?”
Was she really going to make him spell it out for her? She simply stared at him, waiting. So yes, she was going to make him spell it out. He took a deep breath and plowed on forward. “Because when a man hugs a woman from the front instead of the side, her chest is pressed against his, which means he feels, her, well, he feels, I mean against his chest are her—”
“Her breasts?” Serenity said as if they were talking about something as mundane as the weather.
“Yes.” He nodded. “Exactly. He has no business feeling those regardless of the way it happens.”
“Okay, so, no petting, no breast hugs, what else?”
“Front hugs,” he said.
“Front hugs, breast hugs, whatever,” she responded.
Dair felt like he should be squirming under her glare, but he held his ground. “No little chats. It should be all business or nothing at all.” A single brow rose on her face. He was in murky water now.
“Do you want me sitting around talking to another female just for the heck of it?” he challenged.
Her eyes narrowed on him. “No,” she snapped. “Okay, fine. I get what you’re saying. But I expect you to trust me to set those boundaries myself.”
“I will, when I’m not around. As long as I’m with you, I will be the one to make a man understand when he has crossed a line. Especially one as bold as that doctor.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Are you ready to go home?”
Her eyes snapped up. “Yes, of course.”
Her answer was sharp and he didn’t understand, unless she was still irritated with him over his reaction to Dr. Lester. “Are you alright? Am I missing something?”
After several moments of silence, she let out a resigned sigh. “I don’t want to sleep.” Serenity played with the fabric of the blanket that covered the bed, not looking at him as she spoke. “The nightmares, they’re too real. Going to sleep is torture.”
The strain in her voice was a dagger to his chest. He reached out and placed a finger beneath her chin and raised her head until he could see her frightened gaze. She was so very tired but past the tiredness, he could see the terror.
“They’ve gotten worse?”
“Not worse,” she said. Her lips tightened, and her eyes narrowed slightly. “They have been horrible from the beginning.”
“That’s not what you told me when I saw you last,” Dair’s voice rose as his frustration grew. “You told me they’d lessoned in intensity.”
She cringed at his words, obviously knowing how untrue her words had been. Serenity stared up at him; her eyes had widened at his loud voice, and she gripped the blanket, no longer simply playing with it.
“I didn’t want to worry you. You’ve been trying to help keep tabs on Emma and figure out why I’ve been having the dreams in the first place. I didn’t want to add to that.”
Dair could see in her eyes her need for him to understand and believe her. She hadn’t been purposely trying to hide things from him, she’d been trying to protect him.
“You don’t have to protect me, Princess,” he told her as he leaned closer to her. “It’s my job to protect you.”
“That’s not how relationships work, Dair.” Her chin rose as she met his eyes. “It goes both ways. We protect each other.”
Dair didn’t know how to make her understand that he needed to protect her. Not only did he want to, but something in him, some primal force inside of him, made him need to protect her. The idea of not being able to do that was almost crippling.
“Please don’t keep things from me. Even if you know it will make me worry, or hurt, or whatever. Please, let’s not have secrets.” Even as he said the words he felt like a jerk. He hadn’t told her exactly what he’d been doing when he was attempting to figure out why she was having the nightmares. He wanted to protect her, just as she wanted to him.
Serenity reached up and placed her hand against his cheek, and he leaned into her touch. Her skin was warm against his cooler flesh and soft as silk. “Okay,” she said softly. “No secrets.”
He let out a resigned sigh. “Then I must be honest with you.”
“What?” She said and attempted to pull away, but he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, holding her in place.
“You know I’ve been trying to determine why you’re having the nightmares. But you don’t know what that entails. To put it in a nutshell, I’ve been hunting demons and trying to get them to talk. The last one decided he wanted to do more than talk. That is why it took me so long to get back to you.” He couldn’t believe the weight that was lifted off his shoulders by telling her the truth, though he hated the worry he saw in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Dair leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips, intending it to be short and sweet. But as soon as the heat of her mouth touched his, he was lost. He hummed his pleasure as her hand reached back into his hair, her fingers wrapping around the strands and pulling him closer. “I’m much, much better now,” he whispered against her mouth.
Serenity parted her lips for him without his prompting, and Dair wasn’t about to turn the offer away. The moist heat of her mouth collided with his, and he greedily sucked her breath into him. She was fire to his ice, and everything about her melted him. The passion he felt when they were close was something he’d never known, and it was addicting. He wanted to be closer, to feel more of her, and yet he didn’t want to hurt her. It had only been a week since she’d been injured, and he didn’t want to hurt her accidentally. Apparently, Serenity wasn’t concerned about pain because she pulled him forward until his chest was pressed to hers.
“Careful, love,” he murmured against her mouth. “You’ve recently been shot.”
She nipped his bottom lip playfully. “I don’t really care if you hurt me. I just want you close.”
Dair could still see the fear in her eyes, though it was clouded with passion as he pressed his lips across her jaw and down her neck. When he returned to her mouth, he left the gentleness behind and gave her what she wanted. Kissing her deeply, he enjoyed the way she moaned and pushed herself closer to him.
When he finally pulled back, he pressed one last kiss to her lips and then another on her forehead. “How about I help you get some good sleep?”
“A good dream?” she said breathlessly.
Dair chuckled. “Not this time, Princess. This time I think we’re going to go for no dreams. You need restful sleep.”
He helped her lay back, and then he turned off the overhead lights. Next, allowing his own natural affinity for darkness to envelope the room, he took away all the light that remained. He wanted her brain to trigger its response to the darkness and help her grow sleepier. He pressed his hand to her forehead and closed his eyes, allowing his power to flow into her mind.
“Sleep, my love,” he whispered as he continued to push his power into her until she was in a deep, dreamless sleep. Dair took the seat next to her bed and sat back, getting comfortable for the night ahead. He wouldn’t leave her side. He was going to watch over her all night long to ensure that she got some restful sleep.
As the time grew later, Dair felt something happening that he’d never before experienced. He might have panicked had he the energy to do so, but as his body grew heavy and his eyelids began to droop, he could do nothing more than wonder how on earth it was happening. For the first time in his existence, Dair did something he’d never done. He slept.
Emma sat on the front porch of Reginald Jones’ house, the place she’d called home for a week now. Home really wasn’t an appropriate word for the dwelling, however, as home to her was a place she wanted to be, not a place she was forced to be. So, in her mind, it was simply more like a hotel, albeit a very dirty, smelly, and depressing hotel.
“Are you cold?” Raphael asked her.
She shook her head, though she truly was. But regardless of her discomfort, she di
dn’t want to go inside. She didn’t want to feel trapped, and being in the house with that man most definitely made her feel trapped. Raphael must have been able to tell she was lying because he placed a hand on her shoulder, and she felt warmth pour over her.
“That’s handy,” she said with a small smile.
Raphael shrugged as though it were no big deal. “There are some perks that come with the job.”
They were both quiet as they watched the fading sun set on the horizon. The technicolor sky was breathtaking and oddly out of place in such an abandoned and unloved neighborhood. It was as though the last of the rays were trying to find the beauty in a place that no longer had any, so that it might brighten and bring that beauty to light. It might as well stop trying. The house in which she found herself was better suited to the darkness than the light of day.
“You made it through your first week of school, mostly unscathed,” Raphael said.
“I kept expecting something to happen, for something to go wrong,” she admitted. “But it was just like a normal week in any school.”
“I know what you mean,” he admitted. “I kept a close eye on Mr. Flannigan when I could, but he never acted out of character. He’s rude and mean to the teachers. He doesn’t go out of his way to help anyone, but I suspect that was his nature before he ever allowed the demon access.”
“How is Serenity doing?” Emma asked, not for the first time that week.
“From what I hear from Brudair, she has been having trouble sleeping.”
“Is it because she’s still in the hospital?”
Raphael shook his head. “I do not think so. Dair believes it is something very sinister that is attacking her mind while she sleeps. He’s been trying to find out what. The only thing he’s managed discover is that the master of hell wants her out of his way,” Raphael explained.
Emma frowned as she looked at him. “Is she going to be okay?” The angel looked uncertain about whether he should answer, but Emma refused to back down.
“I do not know,” he said as he looked away from her and back to the horizon. “But I hope so.”
She felt her stomach clench, and her heart beat painfully in her chest. Emma didn’t want anything to happen to her friend. Not just because Serenity had been willing to sacrifice her life for the girl, but because she cared deeply for her as a friend.
“If it is in Dair’s power to do so, he will protect her,” he said, attempting to reassure her.
“And what if it is beyond his power?”
For that question, Raphael had no answer.
Darla gripped the phone tightly in her hand as she listened to the woman on the other end drone on endlessly about the policy and procedures of the DHS department. She’d called to check on the paperwork they’d filled out. Leslie had been unavailable so she was now dealing with a woman who seemed to enjoy her job about as much as Uncle Wayne enjoyed his last colonoscopy. Darla had asked a simple question about gaining custody of Emma, and the woman had given her the run around for the past thirty minutes, eventually coming to the conclusion that Wayne and Darla wouldn’t be able to purse custody until the DHS caseworker assigned to Emma’s case had a chance to review the paperwork and contact them.
“Why can’t we just speak to the judge about it?” Darla asked.
“Because that is not how things work. The judge in your county wouldn’t have any authority at this point. There are specific procedures in place for the safety of the child,” the woman said in a cold, uncaring voice. Darla believed the woman was concerned for the children in the system about as much as she believed in the Tooth Fairy.
“What if I hire a lawyer?”
The woman sighed, as though she were talking to a child who wouldn’t shut up. “Having a lawyer does not change the fact that the assigned caseworker to Ms. Emma Whitmore has to be present for any proceedings in regard to her placement.”
“What if the judge knew that Emma wasn’t in a safe place? Would he be inclined to allow different circumstances?” Darla asked in a rush before the woman could try and hang up.
“How do you know the child is in an unsafe environment?”
Darla was even more pissed at the bored sound in the woman’s voice as she asked the question. “She is staying with Mildred Jones’ father, and Mildred is about as useful as tits on a bull. And as I told Ms. Brummet, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“So, you don’t really know if Ms. Whitmore’s placement is truly unsafe?”
Darla bit her lip to keep from screaming every obscenity she knew at the woman. “Look,” she bit out through clenched teeth. “We love Emma. We want to give her a secure, healthy home. Why on earth would the state not want that for her?”
“I suggest you get in contact with her caseworker. There is nothing I can do for you until the caseworker is brought into the situation.”
The distinct sound of the phone being hung up was like a slap in the face. Darla pulled her own phone away from her face and stared at it as though an alien creature were crawling out of it. “That heifer hung up on me.” She growled as she looked up at Wayne who was sitting at the dining room table.
“What did she say about Emma?” Wayne asked her.
“She said we had to contact her caseworker, that a judge wouldn’t see us until we’d spoken with her.”
“Do we even know where she is?”
Darla’s eyes narrowed. “No, but I know who can find out for us.” Darla glanced at the clock and saw that it was already nearly six thirty. It was no wonder the woman on the phone was being a bitty. She’d probably had to work over quitting time because Darla had kept her on the phone. After having to listen to the uncaring voice of the receptionist, this brought Darla some small measure of satisfaction.
“But, it will have to wait until tomorrow,” she added with a frown.
“It’s going to be okay, Darla,” Wayne said as he patted his leg, encouraging her to come to him.
Darla walked over and let him pull her onto his lap.
“Little Emma will be back here before you know it, and you can teach her to make green stuff and cookies.”
Darla laughed. “You’re only saying that because you’re hoping there will be more green stuff in the fridge if I’m teaching her to make it.”
“If nothing else, I am an opportunist,” Wayne said with a small amount of fanfare. “I would be a fool not to figure out a way to have more green stuff in the fridge.”
“At least you’re honest,” Darla said as she pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
“Speaking of honest, have I told you the joke about the honest man and the devil?”
Darla leaned back to look at him, a single brow rose as her lips pursed. “Is it dirty?”
A sly grin spread across her husband’s face. “Now, Darla, when have I ever been known to tell a dirty joke?”
“A better question would be when have you ever told a clean one.”
“Clean jokes aren’t near as funny.”
She shook her head. “Only if you’re a pervert.”
“Touché.”
Chapter Seven
“I have been alive since the beginning of time. I have seen civilizations prosper and fall. I have watched the world change in ways I never dreamed possible. And yet none of that is as amazing as she is. Nothing could ever captivate me the
way she has.” ~Dair
Dair stood in the small bathroom with his back turned away from the shower. He’d offered his help when she’d told him she needed to wash the hospital funk off of her. He’d been surprised when she’d told him she didn’t need his help, but wanted his company. It was almost as if she thought he would disappear if he wasn’t where she could see him. He hated he’d made her feel insecure about their relationship. His absence had been hard on her, even though Glory had been making it a priority to come and sit with Serenity. He knew it was him that she wanted. Just as it was her that he wanted.
While he stood there waiting on her to finish, h
e considered the fact he had slept. For the first time in his long existence, he had actually lost consciousness to sleep. It was nothing like he imagined. The peace he thought he’d find there was nowhere in sight. Instead, he was surrounded by fire. It had been all around him, above him, and below him. He’d felt the heat on his flesh and heard the crackling in his ears. It had been so very real, and yet he’d known that it wasn’t. Then he’d heard a voice. It was smooth, sultry, deep, and persuasive. And it belonged to Lucifer himself.
“We finally meet, Brudair, weaver of dreams,” Lucifer said just before he appeared before Dair. He’d taken on the form of a man, tall, lean, and muscular, and no doubt a face women would find attractive. Dair knew it wasn’t his true form; it was the image he wanted people to see. After all, who would follow a demon in their true form to hell?
“What do you want?” Dair asked.
“Don’t be coy. It isn’t becoming of a male. You know what I want.”
Dair shook his head. “They both belong to the Creator. Their paths are set. You have no control over them.”
“Perhaps not.” Lucifer purred. “But I have much control over the human realm. The path the Creator sets is all too often bumpy and narrow. I offer something a little smoother and wider, with more appealing options.”
Dair wanted to cut the snake’s tongue from his mouth but knew he couldn’t. Lucifer was the ruler of hell. He was allowed a certain amount of freedom on earth because of free will. He would be allowed to tempt Serenity and Emma. He would not be permitted to mess with their free will, but as Lucifer had said, he was capable of making the forbidden seem very appealing.
“They won’t choose you,” Dair said.
Lucifer shrugged as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “That’s what they all say, in the beginning. But then they do. And by the time they realize they’ve chosen wrong, it’s too late. They’re alone with no way back to the light.”
Dair nearly laughed. Foolish demon. “That’s the lie you feed them. But Serenity and Emma both have people who will remind them often that it is never too late. It doesn’t matter how far they stray, the Creator is always waiting with open arms.”