Demonic Contract

by Catherine Banks

  DEMONIC CONTRACT

  DRAGON KISSED TRILOGY – Book One

  CATHERINE BANKS

  Demonic Contract

  By Catherine Banks

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Catherine Banks

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Ravenborn Covers.

  Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of the book.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  “This one better not be a troll like last time,” I threatened my best friend Emily as we headed to a double date with yet another of her boyfriend’s friends as my blind date.

  “Hey, Tim was a very nice troll,” she countered.

  “Yes, but you should have remembered that trolls and my kind don’t get along,” I said and whispered the last part. No one knew my full genetics except for Emily and hopefully that was how it would stay for the rest of our lives.

  “I thought that was just a family feud type of thing and that you would be fine.”

  “I’m not racist,” I growled at her. “Our kinds can’t be around each other without getting into a fight.”

  “I noticed when you punched him in the face and broke his nose halfway through dinner,” she said with a glare at me.

  “I waited as long as I could. It hurt.” So, had his face. That was the ugliest man I’d been forced on a date with yet. “He was being rude to me as well, if you recall.”

  “Well, I promise this one will be much better. In fact, I’m really excited to see the two of you together.”

  Emily was a matchmaker and had been since elementary school. Most of her matches were actually very successful and long lasting, but it seemed that I was a bit of a problem for her.

  “Are you going to give me any info on this guy? You won’t even tell me his name or anything,” I grumbled at her.

  She looked over at me, eyes roving from my black strappy heels to my tight jeans and then to my red, silk blouse with a bit of cleavage showing. “He’s going to love you in that outfit,” she said and gave me a devilish smirk.

  “I bet he’d love me more out of it,” I said.

  We stared at each other a moment in silence and then burst into a fit of laughter.

  “I’m glad to see you’re both in such high spirits tonight,” Dave said from where he was leaning against a pole outside the restaurant.

  “He’s not a troll, right?” I asked him.

  A smile spread across his face and he said, “Trust me, you’re going to love him.”

  “After seven terrible blind dates with you two, I’ve lost all my trust,” I said. It was a lie, even if the dates they paired me with were completely not my type, I loved spending time with Emily and Dave.

  Dave walked up to Emily and kissed her cheek. “You look more beautiful every time that I see you,” he whispered.

  They were nauseatingly cute and I enjoyed their always positive and happy relationship.

  “I like this shirt,” she told him and made a purring sound.

  “Hey, I’m still here,” I reminded them.

  “Where’s your friend?” Emily asked Dave.

  “Really? You’re not even going to tell me his name before he gets here?” I asked them.

  “He’s almost here,” Dave said.

  “Come on, Dave. Spill!” I begged him.

  “He’s not a troll,” he replied and then laughed at my scowl. “Tora, relax. I swear this one is perfect.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” I grumbled and adjusted my shirt.

  “Maybe we should get a table so it’s ready when he arrives,” Emily suggested.

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll come inside with you,” I offered.

  We left Dave outside to wait for his friend and went into the busy restaurant. Emily put our names down and smiled at me. “You don’t need to be nervous. You’re amazing and he is going to be blown away by you,” she assured me.

  “Please tell me he isn’t a vampire,” I begged.

  “No, I promise that he isn’t a troll or a vampire,” she said and then bumped her hip into mine. “He’s here.”

  I turned around to face the entrance and my nervousness ramped up even more. The man walking in next to Dave was tall, six foot two at least, muscular enough that he had to work out several times a week, had black hair and sparkling green eyes the color of shamrocks. His aura was intense and he looked like power was coiled within him, waiting to be let free to devour its unsuspecting victim.

  “I love you,” I whispered to Emily before they were close enough to hear us.

  She giggled and then Dave stepped forward to stand between his friend and I. “Tora, this is Edan. Edan, this is Emily’s best friend, Tora.”

  Edan extended his hand and I reached forward, expecting to shake hands, but instead he pulled my hand up to kiss the back of it. “It is a pleasure to meet you. Dave has talked about you many times, but never did he mention how beautiful you are.”

  “Thank you,” I replied. This guy was smooth. He was also shielding his powers and keeping everything contained so that nothing touched me, which was incredibly considerate.

  “Shall we?” Dave asked and motioned at the hostess who had come up behind me at some point during my meeting of Edan.

  “Well, it seems that I am at a disadvantage,” I told Edan.

  “How so?” he asked and pulled out my chair for me.

  “You have heard about me, but I didn’t even know your name until you arrived.”

  Edan glanced at Dave who was studying the menu like we might be quizzed on it by the waiter. “Really?” he asked.

  “Also, I have no idea what lies or embellishments Dave told you. For all I know, he could have lied to you,” I said. I decided on a steak for dinner and set my menu down.

  “I wouldn’t lie about you,” Dave said. “And I have nothing bad to say about you.”

  I tilted my head to the side and looked at him.

  He laughed and said, “I swear I never mentioned those stories.”

  “Those stories?” Edan asked.

  “Drunken stupidity,” Emily offered.

  “Thankfully since you didn’t know my name, that means he hasn’t told you any of my embarrassing stories either,” Edan said with a smile.

  He was hot. Scorching hot.

  The waiter came to take our orders, but as soon as he saw Edan, he started shaking slightly and then bowed to him before walking away. I looked at Emily and Dave to see if they noticed the strange interaction, but they were talking casually. Edan didn’t seem to notice either. Who was this guy?

  “So, where are you from?” Edan asked me.

  Hell. “I lived with my dad until I was about twelve and then
moved up here with my mom,” I answered vaguely.

  “Are you in college?” he asked.

  “Yes, I go to college with Dave and Emily,” I answered.

  He looked incredibly shocked. “You go to college with us?”

  Us? “Um, yeah. I didn’t know you went to college with us too.” How could I have not seen him before?

  “I find it very hard to believe that a creature as beautiful as you, was walking around the college and I never saw you,” he told me.

  I looked over at Emily and asked, “How has he never been brought up in our discussions?”

  She fidgeted nervously and I sent a tiny lightning current into her thigh. “Ouch,” she growled. “We had to make sure that you had actually severed ties with him before we introduced you to Edan.”

  “You kept us apart,” Edan whispered in disbelief.

  “We had a good reason,” Dave said defensively.

  “I was trying to protect you,” Emily said urgently.

  I raised my hand and they all relaxed. “Thank you.”

  Edan looked at me in disbelief. “You’re thanking them?”

  I looked around the restaurant and saw quite a few tables openly watching us and listening. “Could I talk to you for a moment outside?” I asked him.

  He nodded and followed me out into the cool night air. Once we were away from most of the people milling about, I turned and face him fully. “They were protecting us both,” I explained.

  “How so?” he asked. “How was purposefully keeping us from meeting a protection?”

  “Last month I ended a contract with a demon lord. I never let them know the exact specifics, but I fulfilled my obligations so the contract ended. They didn’t know that part, but they were keeping us apart until they were sure that I was really free of him and the contract was really voided.”

  “Who was your contract with?” he asked.

  “That’s personal,” I whispered.

  “Is there any way that he could reestablish the contract?”

  I shook my head. “All of my ties to him are completely severed.”

  “What were the conditions of your contract?”

  “Edan, I hardly know you…”

  “I should be allowed to know what I’m getting into,” he said and then softened his tone. “Please.”

  “I was his assassin,” I whispered.

  Edan’s eyes widened and he asked, “Was that all?”

  “Yes,” I said and then understood what he was asking. “Oh, no! It wasn’t that type of contract! I was his assassin and that’s it. There were no…relations.”

  He laughed and said, “I’m sorry. I just had to know.”

  I exhaled loudly and said, “Geez, I’m not that type of girl.”

  “No, just an assassin,” he replied with a smirk.

  “Does that bother you?”

  He shook his head and walked closer to me. Slowly, he picked up a piece of my hair and lifted it so that he could smell it. “No, it makes you much more interesting.”

  “Who are you?” I whispered as chills swept up my spine in a warning of this man’s danger.

  “That is something that I hope for you to learn over dinner, tomorrow?”

  He was asking me out on another date when this one had barely started?

  “What time?”

  “Six.”

  His scent was heady and manly. If I could bottle that scent, I would have bathed in it.

  “We should head back inside,” he whispered and took a step closer to me.

  I wanted to kiss him and see if his lips were as soft as they looked. His control slipped and a bit of his power washed over me, making me gasp in surprise and excitement. So. Much. Power.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered and started to step back from me.

  I stepped closer to him and whispered, “How much power do you have?”

  “Enough,” he answered in a promise.

  I let my shield slip a bit, my power coursed through me and then I let him sense it.

  His eyes widened and then glowed from his power. “Who are you?” he asked, mimicking the question I had asked him a minute ago.

  “You’ll have to find out,” I whispered huskily and then stepped around him and into the restaurant. The people who had been snooping on us earlier were all looking at me again when I came back. I hated gawkers. I didn’t know who Edan really was, but they had no right to invade our evening like this. With a flick of my fingertip I sent lightning into each of them and watched with satisfaction as all of them looked away.

  Edan entered the restaurant and everyone kept their gazes averted. He looked around suspiciously a moment and I smiled innocently at him before taking my seat.

  “So?” Emily asked.

  “We’re good,” I assured her.

  The rest of the meal went by uneventfully right up until the check arrived. I tried to pay, but Edan refused. We went outside and were met with a group of girls who surrounded Edan as soon as they saw him.

  “Excuse me a moment,” he requested of them. He walked over to me, bowed over my hand and kissed it. “I had a wonderful evening with you tonight and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow evening.”

  “Thank you for dinner.” I wanted to tell him there was no way I would go out with him now that he was ditching me for these skunks, but surprisingly he didn’t go back to them. Instead, a black car with fully tinted windows pulled up to the curb and he climbed in with one last look at me and a smile.

  “Who is she?” one of the girls asked.

  “Are they dating?”

  “No! He hasn’t dated anyone since he moved here!”

  Emily grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the herd before I could ask them questions about Edan. “That seemed to be a success.”

  “I cannot believe you were able to keep me from seeing him,” I told her a bit proudly.

  “It wasn’t easy,” Dave admitted from Emily’s other side.

  “Well, I appreciate the gesture. You should know that my contract was fulfilled and that was how I severed my ties with him. There’s no way I’ll ever be involved with him again.”

  Emily gasped. “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well that would have been good to know,” Dave muttered.

  Emily said goodbye to Dave and we went to our dorm room to change and relax.

  “What did you think of Edan?” she asked me as we shared a bowl of ice cream.

  “He’s gorgeous and powerful,” I replied.

  “Dave said he doesn’t even know how powerful he is, that he only experienced a fraction of his power and it was terrifying.”

  “I felt a fraction of it today and it was unbelievable.”

  “That’s what got you all worked up?” she said with a laugh.

  “You have no idea,” I muttered and ate another big spoonful.

  “I don’t understand you people enjoying being around someone powerful like that. It creeps me out,” she said and shook her body.

  “It’s knowing that they’re dangerous. Knowing that he could do some serious damage to you or anyone that tried to mess with you,” I explained.

  “Weird.”

  “He asked me out on another date,” I told her.

  “When!” she screamed.

  “When we went outside and talked about the contract.”

  “I told you he’d like your outfit.”

  We laughed and then we turned on trashy TV shows until we both fell asleep on the couch.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “Get up!” Emily screamed at me.

  I leapt up and was ready to fight in an instant.

  “What’s going on?” I asked as I looked around the empty room.

  “It’s five o’clock,” she yelled from our room where I could hear her rummaging through my clothes.

  “What?” I asked groggily. I looked over at the grandfather clock she had brought from her home and then ran to the window. “Five at night?” I screamed.

  �
�Yes!”

  “How did I sleep so long?” I asked her.

  “You looked really tired when I left to meet Dave for lunch so I let you sleep. I didn’t know you would still be sleeping or I would have woken you before I left.”

  I yelled angrily and rushed to shower and get ready for my date. I had been tired a lot recently, but I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d slept for so long.

  The shower helped clear what was left of my sleep fog and I was slipping on my shoes when our doorbell rang.

  “Critique?” I asked Emily and spun in a circle in front of her.

  “Behave,” she ordered and then shoved me towards the door.

  I growled at her and straightened my shirt before opening it. Edan had looked good yesterday, but today he looked even better.

  He gave me a once over and smiled wide. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “Bye! Have a good time!” Emily called as I shut the door.

  “So, where are we going?” I asked him and tried to sneak past his defenses to see his magic. His barrier was strong and reinforced.

  He tilted his head to look down at me and said, “If you don’t stop trying to break my shields, our date will have to continue in a more isolated location.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied and walked confidently with my eyes focused in front of me.

  “Of course not,” he whispered. The ghost of a hand slid across my lower back and it took all of my control not to turn to look at him. I knew he hadn’t touched me with his hand and was using his magic. It made me wish this wasn’t our second date.

  He led me to the car I’d seen yesterday and a man in a black suit opened the door for us. We climbed in and I stared at the expensive leather seats, privacy window, and champagne.

  “Do you have a preference for dinner?” he asked me.

  “No, I like everything.”

  He tapped the window three times and the driver took off.

  “Should I be sitting here?” I asked and lifted myself up slightly off the seat.