A Demon's Due
Latter Day Demons, Book 3
Connie Suttle
SubtleDemon Publishing
Copyright (c) 2016 Connie Suttle All rights reserved.
Published by:
SubtleDemon Publishing
P.O. Box 95696
Oklahoma City, OK 73143
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, incidents, and characters are the product of the author's imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
eISBN: 9781939759382
Cover Art by: Renee Barratt @The Cover Counts
To Walter, Joe, Larry, Lee, Dianne, Sarah and Mark.
Thank you.
And to Carmel, Norm and Judy for the best tour of Adelaide anyone could ask for, great food, plus a treasure trove of research information and materials on caving and underground passages.
Also to Sharon and Rupert in Perth, for an evening in King's Park, a magnificent tour of the city, wonderful food and the Southern Cross.
Thank you, too, to all the amazing people in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide who took time from their busy schedules to meet with me.
I had a wonderful time.
Acknowledgements
As always, this book is the result of collaboration. If it weren't for the support of my editor, my cover artist and my beta readers, it would be less than it is. All mistakes, as usual, are mine and no other's.
About the Author:
Connie Suttle lives in Oklahoma with her husband and a conglomerate of cats. They have finally banded together to make their demands, which has proven disconcerting to all humans involved.
You may find Connie in the following ways:
Facebook: Connie Suttle Author
Twitter: @subtledemon
Website and Blog: subtledemon.com
Other books by Connie Suttle:
Blood Destiny Series:
Blood Wager
Blood Passage
Blood Sense
Blood Domination
Blood Royal
Blood Queen
Blood Rebellion
Blood War
Blood Redemption
Blood Reunion
* * *
Legend of the Ir'Indicti Series:
Bumble
Shadowed
Target
Vendetta
Destroyer
* * *
High Demon Series:
Demon Lost
Demon Revealed
Demon's King
Demon's Quest
Demon's Revenge
Demon's Dream
* * *
God Wars Series:
Blood Double
Blood Trouble
Blood Revolution
Blood Love
Blood Finale
* * *
Saa Thalarr Series:
Hope and Vengeance
Wyvern and Company
Observe and Protect*
* * *
First Ordinance Series:
Finder
Keeper
BlackWing
SpellBreaker
WhiteWing
* * *
R-D Series:
Cloud Dust
Cloud Invasion
Cloud Rebel
* * *
Latter Day Demons Series:
Hot Demon in the City
A Demon's Work is Never Done
A Demon's Due
* * *
Seattle Elementals Series:
Your Money's Worth
Worth Your While*
* * *
BlackWing Pirates Series
MindSighted*
Other Titles from SubtleDemon Publishing:
Malefactor*
by Joe Scholes
*Forthcoming
Contents
To Walter, Joe, Larry, Lee, Dianne, Sarah and Mark.
Acknowledgements
Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
Chapter 1
Amterea
Morwin Quiffilis
"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Jerwill, my commanding officer, dropped onto a chair beside my desk.
"I've had enough of the military life. It's time I went home to help my father with the family business." I didn't add that serving three stints in the Amterean military was more than enough, when only one was required by law.
Besides, attempting to teach younglings how to serve their planet wore me down—more than I liked to admit. I wanted to teach other things. Instill a desire to learn and search for truths instead of teaching blade and pistol skills, in addition to memorizing drills and firing patterns for battles.
And I wanted to grow my eyebrows—to indicate that I came from one of the best scholarly families Amterea produced.
I didn't say that to Jerwill. He was military and would always be so. His eyebrows were the prescribed length and would always be kept that way.
"Well, I still have almost a moon-turn to convince you," Jerwill offered a half-smile and slapped his knee before standing. I watched him saunter away before turning back to my father's latest communication.
Father was excited about his most recent commission; a stranger had come, asking him to research tales and myths on an isolated world the inhabitants called Earth. Father could barely contain his excitement—the thing the stranger asked him to research was called the Metal Library.
How interesting.
According to the tales, it held the power to relocate itself.
If this thing were real, I wanted to see it for myself.
The stranger claimed that the Metal Library had recently relocated, from a position he could pinpoint on a map of Earth. Father had sent me his research—and a copy of the map, along with his speculation as to where it may have moved.
My fingers itched to hold a research-quality comp-vid to study it myself. The mystery of it had helped me decide to leave the military. If such secrets were still waiting to be discovered in the universes, I wished to find them.
Father, I tapped into my military-issued device, I will be home in less than a moon-turn.
* * *
San Rafael, California
Kordevik
Lexsi's pale-blonde hair covered most of my claiming marks. I could still see one indention clearly as she slept in my arms.
I wanted to touch it.
Kiss it.
Reverently.
Li'Neruh Rath had supervised my smaller Thifilathi as I claimed my mate the night before. Her wounds had healed swiftly, once I removed my fangs from the back of her neck and kissed the marks gently.
I was more than grateful she slept through the whole ordeal and would wake with no recollection of the pain. I had to wait patiently for her to wake on her own—I couldn't wake her early—Li'Neruh was very firm on that.
As if she felt my eyes on her, Lexsi stirred in my embrace. "Kory," she breathed softly and snuggled closer.
If I died at that moment, my life would be complete. Who wouldn't want a lover's first word to be their lover's name, whispered while still asleep?
"Kory," she said again before pulling away from me. "I'm hungry."
"Baby?" I said when sky-blue eyes opened to blink at me.
I was hungry, too, but not for the same thing.
Sure, all I had to do was kiss her again. My fire would light hers and we'd be all over each other.
She was hungry.
For breakfast.
"Baby, I'll feed you," I said, leaning in to rub her nose with mine.
Sex could wait.
* * *
Lexsi
I couldn't explain how I felt—least of all to Kory. I wanted our first time to be private, in a private place. Not with a houseful of people just outside our door, knowing, in all likelihood, what was going on between us.
I guess I wanted a honeymoon.
I had no idea how to tell Kory that.
Therefore, he and I were in the kitchen of Aunt Bree's house, putting ham and eggs together as if we'd been married for years instead of hours.
At least I felt all right. My neck didn't hurt and I felt hungry instead of sick. I wanted to touch the back of my neck, to feel the indentions there. I forced myself not to do that.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" Anita, wearing house slippers, scuffed across the kitchen tile. She was wrapped in a long, fuzzy robe while Kory and I, dressed in pajamas (well, Kory only wore the bottom half of his), wove our way past each other to make breakfast.
"Why would they?" I stopped to ask. "Want coffee?"
"The last time I saw both of you, you were unconscious," she shook her head. She couldn't hide her concern—she'd thought we were half dead, at least.
"We're fine," Kory gruffed. He pulled a coffee cup from the cabinet and poured for Anita. Her cup was set on the island while she continued to gape at us.
"Something's different," her eyes narrowed.
"What's different?" I turned away from her to pull a pan of biscuits from the oven. Gran made the best biscuits and she'd taught me her recipe when I was young.
"Something's different," Anita repeated.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I set the biscuits on top of the stove.
"Lie," Anita said.
"You taking over where I left off?" I turned toward her. I saw she was grinning, so she was teasing me.
"Check the back of Lexsi's neck," Kory said, thumping a stack of plates onto the island. "Drink your coffee, too, before it gets cold."
"Eeeeeee," Anita screeched before hurling herself in my direction. I had no idea until she wrapped me in a hug and twirled around the kitchen that the screech was a happy one.
"What the fuck is that unholy racket," Watson growled as he walked in, raking fingers through mussed hair.
"Oh." He blinked dark eyes as his gaze traveled from Kory to me. Anita set me down and straightened my pajama top, which had shifted and settled somewhere above my breasts.
That wasn't embarrassing.
"Breakfast. Take it or leave it," Kory breathed smoke when he caught Watson staring at what had previously been uncovered.
"Yeah. Breakfast. I'll take it," Watson said.
"You, sit," Anita snapped at Watson.
"Not a dog," Watson grumped, but as breakfast was being served, he sat anyway.
Other people wandered in as the four of us sat at the island to eat. Opal and Kell, first, then Sandra and Mason, followed by Zaria and Klancy.
I blinked when Esme and Yoff walked in together.
"I hear a toast is in order," Zaria raised her glass of orange juice. "To Kory and Lexsi, because it's about damn time."
* * *
Kordevik
I thought Lexsi and I would be in bed, copulating like a pair of fluffy, Amterean gudgings after breakfast.
We weren't. Something was making her uncomfortable and she wouldn't talk to me about it.
Instead, she did laundry, cleaned the bedroom and wrote a grocery list.
Fucking hell.
My Thifilathi wanted to skip to a hilltop and roar its dissatisfaction when she and Anita disappeared to go to the market.
"Ahem," Zaria interrupted my fist clenching, smoke-breathing reverie at the kitchen island.
"What?" I turned toward her so fast she jumped.
"She, uh, doesn't feel comfortable with so many familiar people around," Zaria began, before placing an envelope in my hand. "Because she thinks we'll know what she's, well, that will take care of it," she pointed to the envelope I now held.
"What is it?" I asked, lifting the flap.
"An all-expense paid trip to Australia and New Zealand. You're going on a cruise—for your honeymoon."
My hand stilled while the papers inside the envelope were only halfway out. "A honeymoon?"
I said the word as if it were foreign to me.
"This is their summer," she pointed out. "You'll have ideal weather and sixteen days of cruising around Australia and New Zealand. You won't know anybody and don't have to get to know them if you don't want to. If you want to spend the whole time in your cabin, that's your choice."
I pulled the papers out of the envelope then, and studied the date. The cruise started in three days. "If you leave today, you can spend two nights in Sydney before getting on the boat," Zaria grinned.
"But what about," I began.
"Let us worry about those things. You'll have your cell phone and mindspeech, if we need you. You can skip back and forth, if necessary."
She was right, plus it could be the only way I'd get sex in the next month or so. Yes, my cock was doing the talking. Hell, it would do the walking, too, if I let it. If Lexsi insisted on being a shy flower, then I'd do whatever it took to get her in my arms and her lips on mine.
The linking would take care of the rest.
* * *
Amterea
Morwin
My trunk and satchel were already packed and waiting; I only had two more days to fill out the necessary forms and arrange for transportation to Kinvalles, Amterea's second-largest city.
My father waited there for me, and was more than excited that I'd decided to join him. He'd uncovered many fascinating legends and tales from Earth, and felt he'd only touched upon a fraction of what was available.
There are many races, not just one, he'd sent in a message. They all have their tales and myths. It is like a treasure mine for me.
What about the stranger's request? I'd returned.
Yes, I have more information on that, too. I will send you what I have.
He'd sent it, but I postponed reading the whole of it until I boarded transport for home. It would occupy my time and keep the memory fresh when I saw Father again. I looked forward to discussing the research with him.
"Morwin?" Jerwill strode into my small office, with two guards behind him.
Those two guards wore full dress uniforms.
Why would they do that? One only dressed like that if one had official information to convey.
I went still.
"What is it?" I asked, keeping my voice calm and steady.
"Bad news, I'm afraid," Jerwill sighed.
One of the dress uniforms stepped forward and handed a comp-vid to me.
When I read the news of my father's violent death the night before, I went still from the initial shock.
Then the anger came.
* * *
San Rafael
Lexsi
My breath caught when Kory waved cruise tickets in front of my face.
Australia.
Who doesn't want to go to Australia?
And two days in Sydney? That was even better.
My mind became so crowded with all the things I wanted to do and see there, that it overwhelmed me.
"Sydney Opera House, here I come," I crowed, snatching the tickets from Kory's hand.
"Bed?" Kory murmured softly.
I blinked at him for a moment before my cheeks heated.
"No worries," Kory said, failing to produce the proper accent while pulling me into his arms. "We'll work it out. Come on, onion, let's pack."
* * *
Two hours later, Kor
y and I stood in line to check in at a hotel in The Rocks, which had a wonderful view of Sydney Harbor. That view included the Sydney Opera House. I was so excited, I almost vibrated with joy.
I get to see it for myself, instead of in photographs!
Slow down, onion, we'll get to that, Kory's voice sounded in my mind. Until then, I hadn't realized I'd sent my thoughts as mindspeech. Somehow, too, Zaria had picked the perfect place for our honeymoon.
Honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised. Kory's hands gripped my shoulders from behind, as if he worried I might float away in my excitement.
"ID and credit card?" I almost didn't realize our turn had come at the front desk. A clerk smiled at us as Kory handed over our passports and a credit card. Somehow, Zaria had accomplished what would have taken weeks to do; she'd secured visas for both of us—for Australia.
New Zealand didn't require a visa application made in advance; I was grateful because we had a few stops to make there on the cruise.
"Sign here," the clerk set an electronic pad in front of us. "Here are your room keys," he handed Kory two key cards. "Fourth floor; the elevator is just past the desk and down the hall."
We pulled our bags toward the elevator, but the moment the doors closed on us, Kory skipped us to the fourth floor. Our room was only a short distance down the hall, and we were inside it quickly, thanks to a second skip.
"Kory," I poked him in the chest when we landed in a rush inside our suite.
His mouth was on mine immediately.
I can't begin to describe the furious bout of heated sex that came after that.
Chapter 2
Amterea
Morwin
My father had so many notes written on paper; he'd only consented to keep records on a comp-vid in the past three sun-turns—after I'd convinced him to do it.
Still, he'd drawn his maps and musings on paper before transferring them to his device.
That same device was now missing, amid brown-stained piles of papers. Yes, those brown stains were my father's dried blood. The constabulary had done its investigation and taken robotically detailed images to place in its files, in an attempt to track down the murderer.
Father had never given me the stranger's name, so I had nothing to offer the authorities, not even a description.
They shrugged when I said my father was studying Earth—only one had barely heard of it and didn't think it worthy of their research.
A Demon's Due: Latter Day Demons, Book 3 Page 1