by Неизвестный
"Not quite," Meg said, suppressing a smile.
"Come here," Jason murmured to her, his eyes dark, glassy pools which threatened to drown her.
His softly spoken command mesmerized her and she took his outstretched hand again. Tingles shot through her and warmth suffused her.
He put his arm around her shoulders and winked down at her. "This just might work."
It had to!
What was the alternative?
She shuddered, not wanting to think about it, unable to turn off her maudlin thoughts.
Jason blinked them home.
Home....
Now why did she think that way of the manor?
Babbling, the ghosts surrounded them. Sir Wesley whistled loudly and faced the melee. "Attention! We will divide up the world and muster our armies. Our planet will not have seen so great a war since Lucifer led his revolt. Heaven help us, we’ll be victorious again."
Cheers went up from the ghosts who did loop-de-loops and flips in the air.
Irving swung his axe over his head, making the air whir uneasily. "Let us at ‘em. Me blood is stirring in me veins, first time in centuries."
"What blood?" Kelvin challenged, sticking a transparent hand through Irving’s translucent form.
"Me point is clear enough. You know what I mean." With a grimace Irving swung his axe through Kelvin.
Meg chafed to be going but she couldn’t swallow a large yawn. Hiding it behind her hand didn’t work, either.
"You need some rest before you keel over." Jason rubbed the small of her back, making her groan in pleasure.
Her mind fought the fuzziness claiming her body. "But I want to help you--go with you."
"You’ll do me no good falling asleep. You’ll need all your wits to stay alive." He slid a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to him. "Even with the amulet. You can’t evoke its powers if you’re not alert."
But he could get hurt--vanquished--while she slept.
God, what was happening to her? She wasn’t a clinging vine.
He was a grown man.
Half-demon.
Centuries older and wiser than her....
She drank in his sexy vision. He was more virile and handsome than most thirty-five year old men. "Take care of yourself. These guys wouldn’t know what to do without you."
How lame!
She turned to trudge upstairs but he caught her wrist and pulled her back against him. "And what about you?"
She’d be devastated.
The world would be doomed.
Putting on a show of bravado, she said, "I’d be sad the world’s protector is gone. Scared for our collective fates...."
His lips mere kissing distance away, he murmured, "Uh huh. Don’t make me into a saint. I’m just a concerned man."
A wild beast....
Her blood pressure skyrocketed and she was suddenly wide awake.
"A man who needs his rest every bit as much as you." Jason looked up and stared at the glowing eyes rapt upon them. "Go get a life! This is private business."
Sir Wesley shooed the ghosts away. "Duty calls. Off with you now."
It suddenly felt like a sauna instead of a drafty haunted mansion. A fan would be most welcome. Even an open window. Perhaps less clothing....
Passion blazed in Jason’s eyes and he smiled evocatively. He laid a hand on her shoulder and in the blink of an eye, they were in his bed chamber.
He cradled her face between his palms and plundered her lips in an all-consuming kiss.
Loving his taste, yearning to be closer yet, she curled her arms around his neck and strained closer. Being in his arms, drinking deeply of him felt so very right. So perfect.
So familiar....
After a bliss-filled eternity, he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. His thumbs caressed the slopes of her breasts, making her dizzy. "It’s been so bleak without you. I might as well have been in prison the entire time we were apart.
"You’re much too sweet to be a demon...."
"Half-demon. I was raised in the human world by my mother, here in this manor. You really liked my mother."
She gasped with shock. "I knew her?"
He nodded. "And she loved you."
It was so strange to hear herself spoken about in the past tense that she shivered and awoke from her stupor. He needed rest or the whole world would be past tense. "You said you need rest."
A devilish red gleam lit his eyes, and he encircled her waist with his hands and drew her inexorably close. "Oh, we’ll rest a whole lot better after we wear each other out making love."
Heaven knew she was too wired, too stimulated to drift off to sleep. She ached for him. She needed him. This could be their last time together, not merely in this reincarnation, but for eternity.
Nodding, she gave herself over to the mass of whirling sensations threatening to overcome her. Tiptoeing, she placed sultry kiss on his lips and pressed a palm flat against his maddeningly drumming heartbeat.
"Do you want me or the beast?" He asked against her lips, high voltage vibrating through him.
"Just you. In whatever form you are." He was the beast. The beast was him. How did one separate the whole?
He lifted his head and roared, the beast emerging and then disappearing almost as fast as it came, making her wonder if it had been her imagination. "Are you sure? I’ve struggled with the beast all my life. Hated it. Cursed my demon father. I hate to pass on this legacy to another generation."
His children....
Her children....
"They would only be one-quarter demon--if they’re mine, too. Wouldn’t the demon be tempered with so much human blood? Like in you, but more so?" Excited by the hard ridge of his desire, she nestled closer to him.
His eyes glowed red and his horns began to grow. "No guarantees. Demon blood is strong."
"Your human half is stronger. It dominates the beast--most of the time." She caressed his horns, delighting when he closed his eyes and moaned.
She’d discovered how to soothe the wild beast.
"Except when I’m overly excited. Or stressed."
"Like now." Moistening her lips with her tongue, she tugged gently on his horns.
"Like now." A growl rumbled in his chest.
"I’ve always been fascinated by flames. And I love hot stuff."
The hotter, the better.
A growl rumbled in her own chest. She felt absolutely primitive. Wanton.
Quivering with lust, she rubbed against him. "I wish we had all night, but...." How she wished they had all of eternity!
"But we have a world to save. After I savor your sweetness one...."
She put her fingers to his lips to shush his words, praying it wouldn’t be the last time. "Think positive. Surely good will overcome evil." He proved it on a daily basis.
"I wish it were so simple. If so, my father’s kind would have died out eons ago."
Maybe there really had to be balance. Day and night. Summer and winter. White and black. Human and demon....
"If evil was so much stronger, then good would have died eons ago, too."
Burning up with wildfire, she swept her tongue down the long arch of his neck to the Vee she’d opened in his shirt. "Love me." If there was more love in the world, these atrocities wouldn’t be happening. Maybe the sixties flower children had the right idea.
"Always and forever." Eagerly, with trembling hands, he pushed her clothes off.
She returned the favor and rubbed against his very hot, throbbing cock. "This can’t be the end, but if it is, I want to be in your arms."
"Does that mean you remember us?"
She still only had vague recollections. More feelings than anything. She just nodded, not wanting to spoil the tender mood. "Some." She desperately hoped they had time for all of it to return to her.
Fate would be too cruel if it ripped them apart now.
But what did fate care? The world was literally being ripped apart. The next time the ear
th trembled could be its last.
She needed his strength so she burrowed deeper into his arms, impossibly close but not nearly close enough. "I want you. I need you." She punctuated each sentence with a kiss.
"You love me?"
An old 70’s song played in her mind. In her case, she had loved him before. And she was falling irrevocably head-over-heels in love again.
Falling?
Avalanche was more like it.
Of course what hot-blooded mortal woman stood a prayer against the lethal combination of the sweetest man and sexiest demon throughout eternity?
How had she gotten so lucky to be his chosen one?
But they weren’t lucky. Not yet.
About ready to go up in flames if she didn’t quench her rampaging desire, she pulled him to the bed with her and laid down. She held out her arms to him. "Kiss me."
"Love to, darlin’." He joined her on the bed. Cradling her in his arms, he stroked her hair as if she was the most precious thing in the world, making her feel very cherished.
Hungry, she kissed him greedily and let her hands roam his well-muscled length. So sexy. So powerful. So masterful. She thrilled to his every touch.
Wanton with yearning, tingling all over, she spread her legs wide and guided him to her. When the tip of his cock stroked her inner folds, molten lava flowed through her and she moaned in ecstasy.
Lifting her hips high, she parried his thrusts, taking him deeper and deeper until she encased his entire length.
Wild fury ripped through her, unleashing her own beast and she thrashed beneath him. She raked his back with her fingernails and tightened her muscles around his girth, relishing what could be her last time united with him.
His rhythm slowed and he pulled out to the tip of his penis, teasing her unmercifully. He balanced his weight on his arms and gazed into her eyes. Arching back, he howled so loudly the windows rattled and he became her beast.
He pulled all the way out and she protested bitterly, hovering on the brink of orgasm. Bereft, she shivered. Then he licked his way down the length of her body, pausing to swirl his tongue in her belly button, making her writhe with rekindled flames.
Quivering all over, she spread her legs as wide as they would part, inviting him to feast on her nectar. His hand blazed the trail, first cupping her mons, and then massaging her swollen clit, so that she writhed uncontrollably.
Again she lifted her hips to his penetration, eager to feel his tongue caress her most intimate core.
Fascinated by his horns, she stroked them lightly, and then more feverishly when his tongue moved in chorus with her hands.
Wave upon wave of ecstasy crashed through her and she clung to his horns as he lapped at her ravenously. Unquenchable desire rumbled through her and she pushed her mons in his face, begging for more.
When the rapture subsided, he flipped her over. "Get on your hands and knees," he ordered.
Eager to finally feel his possession, she did as bade. Wiggling her butt in front of him enticingly, she pleaded, "Now!"
Placing his hands on her buttocks, he rammed his cock into her, making her scream with delight. "No mercy."
Mercy was the last thing she craved.
She wanted him and his cock in all its long, delicious length. She wanted a wild, uninhibited night in case it was her last on earth.
Her heavy breasts swayed with the force of his plunges so that her nipples grazed the bed. With each swing, luscious sensations spiraled out of control.
Tightening her muscles around his cock, she milked his seed, racing toward rapture. When he drove his finger into her anus, her dam burst and a tidal wave of rapture threatened to drown her.
He pounded into her and with one final driving thrust, he shuddered against her. They fell to the bed, and he held her tightly. His warm lips nuzzled the back of her neck, tickling her.
"You taste incredible." He murmured against her flesh. His arms crept around her waist and he pulled her back against him.
Sighing contentedly, she curled against him, tucking herself against his heart where she longed to stay forever. She was home in his arms. She was in heaven.
Except for one huge snag--hell had surfaced and the world relied on them to save it.
CHAPTER FIVE
An explosion threw Meg to the floor where she banged her head and knees. Pain ravaged her. Tangled in sheets, she fought to free herself and make sense of the melee. "Jason?!?"
"Invoke the amulet. Balberith...."
Fireballs hurled through the air at Jason. He orbed out and back in but the fire decimated the room. Flames licked the curtains. The bed went up like a bonfire. Walls crashed around her as she held the amulet, reciting "Abracadabra."
She crawled toward the window, seeking escape. The sight that met her eyes horrified her even more. Steam swelled up from the deep crevices and then fire erupted from the moors. The earth swallowed whole trees and outbuildings.
Gasping, she recoiled but was riveted to the horrifying sight. Hell really had risen. Fire and brimstone erupted from the underworld destroying the world as she knew it. "Holy...."
"Just the opposite, dear one." Insanity flickering in his eyes, Balberith stormed toward her raising his hand as if preparing to hurl another fireball. "How dare you corrupt one of the demons--again? Thwart my plans."
How dare she?
"How dare you try to destroy my world! I get the fact you’re evil, but are you stupid, too?"
His face contorted into that of a hideous monster and he hurled fireballs at her in rapid succession. "Stupid?"
Wincing and holding her breath, she prayed the field held. The blinding balls disintegrated against an invisible wall. "Yes, stupid. You’ll die, too, if the world explodes."
"Melodramatic human. Some chaos will not make the world explode." He circled her, touching the field as if testing it. Sparks seemed to fly from his fingertips.
"The wi--others disagree. Call off your evil minions."
"I don’t answer to humans."
"Then answer to me!" Jason hurled a fireball at Balberith.
Balberith scowled and orbed out.
The fireball crashed against her field, knocking her off her feet.
She lowered her force field, ecstatic to see Jason.
But the smoke filled her lungs and she began coughing and her eyes watered. "Get me out of here."
He rushed toward her. His eyes widened and then narrowed. "No!"
Arms grabbed her from behind and yanked off her amulet before she could grab for it. They dragged her roughly against a hard body. Maniacal laughter chilled her to the bone.
Ohmigod! The amulet!
Balberith’s vile breath scorched her ear. "You’re mine."
"Take me instead." Jason stared at him with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
Balberith snarled. "In time. I had you and she set you free. Then you voided the contract."
Digging his fingers into the tender flesh of her neck, he inflicted shattering pain. "The fine print says I get you if your demon doesn’t fulfill his end of the bargain."
Seething, she bit back a cry of pain and outrage. "I didn’t read that in the contract!"
But she had thought it a Halloween gag and therefore the standard legalese that the worst they could do was to sell her email name to a thousand annoying cold mail lists and send her some advertisements.
"White text on a white background. Totally bogus and you know it."
"So sue me. You’re an attorney, now, too?" The vile creature modeled a name in the air with his hands. "Incubus, Esquire. I just don’t see it, dude. You want her back unscathed, you call off your attack dogs and fulfill your contract."
Struggling against her captor, she earned herself a stinging cuff in the head from him. "Don’t do it. I’ll die anyway. We all will if you don’t stop him."
"You’ll die, they’ll die, we’ll all die together," the crazy nut grotesquely mimicked an ancient children’s rhyme.
"You’re insane!"
>
"Stupid and now insane. You do have a death wish. Wave bye-bye to lover-boy." Balberith sniffed back fake tears and rubbed his fists over his eyes. "Parting is such sweet sorrow. Boo hoo."
A blink of an eye later, Balberith held her by her big toe, dangling her over a bubbling volcano. "Betcha never thought you’d see the inside of a volcano up close and personal."
Sulfur and ash filling her lungs and tickling her nostrils, coughs racked her frame. The movement caused her to sway alarmingly and he dropped her.
As she raced to her doom, her lives flashed before her eyes. Terror engulfed her and strangled screams tore from her throat, reverberating off the crater walls.
Then strong arms caught her and she expelled a sigh of relief. "Jason, I remember it all now."
"Oh, Jason, I honestly love you," Balberith’s vile voice made fun of her on a high-pitched whine.
Livid, she kicked and clawed at the demon master.
"Temper. Temper. If I drop you now, you’ll become volcano soup in two seconds."
"Wasn’t that the idea?" she asked dryly, her throat scratchy and raw from the unbearable heat. Much longer in here and her flesh would melt off her bones, even if he didn’t coat her in lava.
"The idea is to torture, maim, and mutilate first. Quick and painless isn’t my style. A demon’s got to have a little fun." He lowered her to within mere feet of the boiling cauldron and yanked her back as the magna shot up.
He was demented!
Perspiration poured off her profusely and water dripped from her straggly hair. "Go to hell!"
"We’re already there. Isn’t it gorgeous?"
"Could use a good decorator," she said wryly, through her gritted teeth.
In less than a blink, walls of water and wind slammed into her, gagging, almost drowning her. Freezing now, her teeth chattered. "Wh-where are we now?"
Balberith held her by her hair and his voice came at her through a wall of water. "Why, Florida. Don’t you recognize it? Home, sweet paradise."
"You’ve wrecked it." Furious, she spat at him. Unfortunately, the wind whisked it away.
"On the contrary, it’s glorious now. All that sunshine gave me a dreadful eye ache. "Would you like to go swimming with the sharks?"
Sharks.
Trembling, she hissed in a ragged breath. Boil her in lava. Drown her. But don’t feed her to those soulless monsters.