by Robyn Bachar
“I could create food,” Faust offered, and I shook my head.
“Normal people order room service. We’re trying to appear normal here. Then again, normal people would have luggage.” I plopped down on the sofa, and a set of luggage appeared in the room. I laughed and smiled. “Very nice.”
“I did promise to provide you with clothing.” Sitting beside me, he took one of my hands in his and studied it, as though looking for some sort of magicky connection between us. Soul mates. Ain’t that a kick in the head?
“I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “The higher powers really are dicks for matching you with someone with the lifespan of a fruit fly.”
“It doesn’t matter. I love you.”
“I love you too, but it does matter. It’s not fair. You should be matched with another faerie.”
“No. I think that would be just as difficult. Most faerie relationships no longer last.” He squeezed my hand and smiled reassuringly. “We will just have to enjoy the time we have together…you’re certain you won’t consider necromancy?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Necromancy is disgusting. Besides, who would I feed on? Harvey? I don’t think so.”
“True.” He continued to peer down at my hand, tracing his thumb over my knuckles in a very distracting way. “I have had many lovers, but only truly loved very few of them. I didn’t expect to fall in love again, and then you gave me this.” He withdrew a silver pocket watch from his vest. It swayed back and forth at the end of its chain, glinting in the golden light of the room.
My face heated with a blush. I’d given it to him as a winter solstice present last year. “I don’t know why, but I thought of you when I saw it, and I knew I had to buy it for you. It seems silly, buying a watch for a faerie, but…”
“But it was perfect.” He smiled, and my heart fluttered. Geez, I really had it bad. He made me flustered and awkward like a teenager. “No one had given me a gift in a very long time. Most people ask things of me. Like Helen and Zachary. They’re very needy, but they never ask what I want, say thank you or offer to do things for me.”
“What can I do for you?” I asked, curious.
“Marry me.”
I laughed and kissed him. “Tell you what. If I live through this, then you and me have a date with a preacher in Vegas.”
He grinned, but it was a hollow promise. My survival was a really big if. The fact that I was still kicking after the rest of the summoner population had been killed was pretty miraculous. My concern must have shown on my face, and Faust pulled me to him and held me.
“Everything will be all right,” he assured me. I doubted that, but it was nice to hear just the same. “I have so little left. I won’t lose you too.”
Guilt threatened to swamp me—he was guaranteed to lose me if I killed Kris, but I couldn’t tell him that. Instead I forced a weak smile. “We have that in common. You lost your clan. I lost the other summoners. It’s us against the world, babe.”
“Then we’ll just have to look after each other, won’t we?”
“Looking after you sounds like a full-time job,” I said, and he chuckled.
“The same could be said for you. You’re trouble, Patience Roberts.”
Truer words had never been said.
Chapter Seven
Faust stirred and woke me at six in the morning. He didn’t seem like an early riser, so I blinked at him with bleary concern.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He sat up and rubbed his face with his hands. “Simon is calling me.”
Huh. Wasn’t expecting that one. Honestly I doubted that we’d ever hear from him again.
“You think it’s a trap?” I asked.
“Perhaps.”
I nodded. “Lemme dress and we’ll go.”
“You should stay here. Go back to sleep.” Faust turned and stroked my hair. It was a perfectly sensible request, so of course I ignored it and got out of bed.
“Nope. We’re in this together. You go, I go.”
Though he sighed, he nodded in agreement. “Very well.” His familiar gray suit appeared around him in a quick blink, ruining my view of his nakedness as he rose. Pity. The glasses reappeared as well, and I detoured from finding clothes long enough to gently remove his specs and slip them into his jacket pocket.
“Your eyes are pretty. Stop hiding them,” I insisted.
Faust frowned. “I like my spectacles. They make me look mysterious.”
“You’re mysterious enough on your own. You don’t need accessories to enhance it.” I kissed him affectionately, meaning to keep it light and walk away, but he wrapped his arms around me. Clothes appeared on my body—blue jeans, a black silk blouse and black combat boots. No bra, and I wondered if he’d left that detail out on purpose. Then again, I barely have any boobs to speak of, so they don’t really get in the way.
“Be ready,” he warned, and blinked us out of the room.
We appeared back in the library of Simon St. Jerome, and I tensed for a fight. The Titania and Oberon weren’t around to put me in faerie-blooded timeout if I was rude, so that was an improvement. But Mr. and Mrs. Michael Black were there, and that didn’t bode well. They stood together to the side of the antique wooden desk and looked vaguely displeased to see us. Mrs. Black gasped softly, and I was willing to bet that she recognized the family resemblance between Faust and Simon’s eyes. Now that I knew about their connection, I saw a few more similarities—high cheekbones, fair skin, slender hands, and fine, expressive eyebrows.
Faust stepped away from me, folding his hands in front of him. “You called?”
“I located the information you requested,” Simon replied. He held out a plain beige folder, and I eyed it suspiciously.
“Free of charge?” I asked.
“In this instance, yes,” he replied.
Watching him like a mouse waiting for the cat to pounce, I edged closer and took it. Vamps were fast, even librarian ones, but he remained calm and serene. Simon was usually even-tempered, but now it made me worried. I flipped the folder open and found a few pages covered in Latin. Like any good summoner, Latin is among the languages I speak. There are days I speak it more than I do English.
I quirked a brow at Simon. “Thanks. So it is possible to banish an ancient demon?”
“It hasn’t been done in modern times, but we were able to locate a few examples. Mostly legends, but you might be able to draw something useful from them,” he said. “I assume you are familiar with the requirements for killing an ancient demon.”
“Yup.” My stomach somersaulted, but I kept calm as I flipped the folder shut. “Well if that’s it, we’ll get out of your hair.”
“What are the requirements?” Faust asked.
“Don’t worry about it, I got it,” I assured him. “Tell the Titania we’ll let her know when it’s done.” Or at least Faust would, I amended silently. I’d be stuck in some hell dimension, a newborn demon. I wasn’t sure if I’d even remember my previous life; the details were fuzzy on what happened after the change. It was a fate I’d been resigned to for some time. Now it was much more bitter knowing that I had a shot at love and happiness, but wouldn’t be able to have it.
“It requires that the summoner sacrifice a piece of his or her soul,” Simon said. I wanted to punch through his placid face at that moment.
“Gee, thanks for sharing that with the classroom. Now did you and your buddies want to take another stroll down memory lane, or are we free to go?”
“You can’t afford to lose another portion, Miss Roberts,” Mrs. Black spoke up. I bet she used her old seer powers to spot that one. My aura was about half and half now, and had been for awhile. It kept me from doing spells I knew would put me over the edge.
“What is wrong with you people? Is it official ‘get all up in Patience’s business’ week? I said I got this.” I turned to Faust to demand he port us out, and he was staring at me with an expression I could only assume was horror. My mouth dried up like the Sahara, a
nd I licked my lips.
“Is that true?” Faust asked.
“Can we discuss this somewhere else?” I replied.
“It is true, I assure you,” Mrs. Black said.
I pointed at her. “Stop helping.”
She frowned, because making others frown is a special talent of mine. “I merely thought you would want to know—”
“Believe me, I know. I was there when I got that way. Yes, if I kill Kris, I’m done. All I can do now is hope I end up as something decent. I really don’t want to be a succubus. They’re a bunch of heinous bitches.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Faust asked.
“Because there aren’t any other summoners hanging around to handle Kris, so I’m handling it.” I turned away, not liking the hurt in his eyes, and turned my anger at the vampires. “Don’t you get it? Every summoner I’ve ever known—the council, my colleagues, my competition, even my own damn family from my parents to my baby cousins—they’re all dead. No one else is coming to help. There is no backup. No cavalry. I’ve been trying to keep the flood back, but now it’s one last battle for me, and then you’re all on your fucking own against the horde.”
“Surely it can’t be that bad,” Mr. Black said.
“It is. You better make your peace with the higher powers, because if things don’t change for the better fast, we’ll all be dead within a year.” Shoulders squared, I looked at Faust. “Let’s go. We have work to do.”
He nodded, still clearly flustered, and he took my arm and ported us out before the undead posse could offer any other helpful information that would piss my honey off. We appeared back in the bedroom of our suite, and he grabbed me and pulled me to him. The folder was knocked from my hand, and pieces of paper fluttered to the floor.
“No,” he said simply.
“No?” I repeated as my brow rose.
Faust held my face in his hands. “I won’t let that happen to you. I swear it.”
Magic tingled through my skin at his touch. That was no simple promise, and my eyes widened. “You can’t—” I started, and he interrupted me with a kiss. Faust pushed me back until I fell onto the bed, but before he could pin me I grabbed his tie, yanked him down next to me and pinned him instead. “Hey, pay attention. I have to do this. I’m the only one who can. It sucks and I’m sorry, but—”
“Let me do it.”
My train of thought ground to a screeching, derailed halt. “What?”
“Let me kill him. I’ve plenty of soul to spare.” He grinned, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. This was no laughing matter.
“Not an option. There’s no telling what it’ll do to you. Introducing that kind of evil into your soul eats you up like a cancer,” I warned. I’d seen it happen time and time again in the summoner community, and I had personal experience with the subject. I struggled with it every day—the constant temptation. A million little chances to do the wrong thing. Once you let the darkness in, it’s hard to keep it out. Just like after you’ve made your first kill, the rest that follow are each a little easier.
“I’m sure I can handle it. I am shadowspawn, after all. Quite evil.”
He gave me a reassuring smile, and I shook my head.
“You’re not evil.”
“Of course I am. I’ve done many bad things. Terrible things,” he replied.
The average person might’ve bought that argument, but not me. I knew better, because I knew the difference between bad and evil. I gently caressed his cheek. He was so damn pretty, and though he was full of wicked mischief, there wasn’t an evil bone in his body.
“No, Liam, you’re not. You’re only evil by association.”
Power zinged through me, and he shuddered as though he’d stepped outside on a windy, subzero day, and closed his eyes. “Say it again. No one’s said my name in so long.”
Though the idea of using his True Name again made me nervous, I brushed a light kiss across his lips and indulged him. “I love you, Liam. I want to stay with you…”
He opened his eyes and looked up at me imploringly. “Then stay with me. Let me do this for you. For us. You banish him, and I’ll kill him.”
“No. You’ll have to let me go at some point. I’m mortal, remember?” I pointed out. “I’m ready to go out in a blaze of glory. You shouldn’t have to endanger yourself like this for a few days more with me.”
“Patience, every moment spent with you is worth dying for.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I took a slow, steadying breath to fight back the sob clutching my throat. Lord and Lady, that might be the most romantic thing I had ever heard, and I knew he meant every word. There was only one thing I could do.
I lied.
“All right. Let’s go back to sleep, and we’ll start working on the spell at a more decent hour,” I said. Because our field trip hadn’t lasted long it was still around about six in the morning, and even creatures of the night have our limits. We’d sleep on it, and I would let him think he won the argument, right up to the end.
His serious expression melted into a mischievous grin as he flipped me beneath him. “I’m sure we can find more entertaining things to do than sleep.”
“Don’t you ever get tired?” I asked.
“Not often.”
Our clothing vanished, but before he could further his wicked plan, I pulled him closer and clung to him. Closing my eyes, I inhaled the familiar scent of him—smoke, he always smelled like smoke, which my inner fire faerie considered fine cologne. Faust was warm, and I enjoyed the simple pleasure of feeling his heart beat and the brush of his breath against my skin. Nothing felt better than being next to him…and nothing would hurt more than losing him.
“Make love to me,” I murmured.
“Gladly.”
I kept my eyes closed, afraid that if I looked at him I’d burst into tears. He kissed me, and then his lips trailed down the side of my throat, pausing to nibble just beneath my ear before continuing lower. Cupping my breasts, he teased the peaks of my nipples, and I moaned my approval. Exquisite sensations tingled through me, and an eager ache formed between my thighs. I needed him inside of me, but as he’d said, Faust preferred to be thorough, and I knew this was only the beginning.
When he was satisfied that I was a whimpering mass of need, he moved his attention down again and lowered his mouth to my sex. Though I was enamored of his talented fingers, they were nothing in comparison to the wickedness of his tongue. My hands tangled in the bed sheets as he licked and sucked, using his mouth and his fingers to pleasure me. I bit back a scream at the first orgasm, but he was relentless, and I gave up attempting to be quiet. I felt wonderful, and I didn’t care who heard me.
Amazing sensations flooded me until I was flushed and shaking, and Faust finally drew away. He laid his body over mine and kissed me deeply—I had no idea what I tasted like, but he seemed to enjoy it.
“Look at me,” he whispered. I opened my eyes and stared into his as he hovered above me. “I love you, Patience.”
“I love you too.”
I angled my hips toward him as his cock slid into me, and I shivered at the feeling of completeness. Soul mates…I never would have thought it possible, but as Faust began to move with long, slow thrusts, it made perfect sense. It explained why he stayed when no one else had, why I allowed him closer than anyone else. We needed each other.
Faust murmured endearments, finally in a language I understood, so I was able to enjoy each time he praised my beauty and proclaimed his love and undying devotion. Holding him tightly, I begged him not to stop. I needed more—I needed forever, but that wasn’t possible—and I reveled in the pure ecstasy as he increased his pace and rode me fast and hard. After he came, he kissed me slow and thorough, kindling the burn for a second round of lovemaking. He was insatiable, but I didn’t argue. I’d be grateful for the little time we had left together, and savor every moment as though it was our last.
Chapter Eight
While we were busy shopping for
ritual components for my big banishing spell, someone burned down my office building. No one was killed, but they could have been. Despite the building’s old age, I knew it wasn’t a problem with the wiring that started the fire—one of my would-be assassins lit the place up. There was no way of telling if it was Kris, Harrison or the hunters, but my money was on the vampire. It sounded like something he would do. Spoiled brat. Nobody burns down my office but me.
Buying the ingredients strained my checking account—quality eye of newt costs more than you’d think—and composing the spell fried my brain like I creating a last-minute thesis, but I managed it. Faust and Harvey helped with moral support, when they weren’t arguing with each other. Harvey liked Faust even less after the discovery of our soul mate status. I didn’t understand it—seemed to me it would encourage him to give Faust a break, but if I didn’t know better I’d say Harvey was jealous. He shouldn’t be, because Harvey was a roommate and business partner, but that was it. Unlike many other summoners, I didn’t think it was appropriate to have an intimate relationship with my demon—there are so many men with succubus servants that summoner gatherings can feel like a trip to the strip club. Though it had never occurred to me before, I began wondering if he was lonely. Well, he’d be free of me soon enough. Our contract would end when I ceased to be human, and he could find himself a pooka girlfriend.
Though Harrison’s undead assassins had already hit Faust’s condo, we decided to do the ritual there. It was unlikely that the vampires would return, the hunters didn’t know where Faust lived and Kris hadn’t showed up there yet. We were about to change that, because I needed to summon Kris before I could banish him. And then I needed to banish him before I could kill him. It was going to be a busy night…
“Are you ready to begin?” Faust asked. He stood outside the summoning circle and peered at my handiwork.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said with a shrug. I didn’t want to do this, but it had to be done. A true summoner would’ve headed for the hills the moment the hunters came calling, but I stayed. I was the idiot trying to plug the holes in the dam just before the flood. My parents would be so disappointed in me.