Domiel

by McClure, Dawn

  While Jade was taking from him, Azazel locked his gaze on Lexie. Of all the things she’d done to him, this was by far the worst … the most personal thing between a vampire and his or her mate was the feeding process, and she was handing that intimacy over to her friend. Without her mate’s agreement.

  She wrapped one arm over her stomach, and placed a hand over her mouth. She was doing the best she could with the situation fate had dealt her. This would always be a memory, always with them. Could Azazel ever forgive her?

  When his breathing came at short clips, and she could smell his desire, she finally turned away, unable to excuse her and Jade’s actions and at a loss to change them.

  * * * *

  The catacombs were dank and dark. Ancient energy seeped off the crusted walls, coalescing into an immortal’s warning. The soft crunch of dirt and rock under Kelsey’s tennis shoes was the only sound in the eerie stillness. The city of Paris lay directly above her, silenced by layers of dirt and concrete.

  Kelsey’s eyes dilated, her night vision giving everything a bluish tone.

  Domiel was going to be pissed that she’d left him behind, but she couldn’t involve him any more than she already had. Lexie hadn’t had another vision, which led Kelsey to believe this last stand against the incubus was going to be just that … her last stand. She might be taking her final breath soon, but she’d take that bastard straight to hell with her.

  Amid all thoughts of death and retribution was the undeniable attraction she’d experienced with Domiel. Thoughts of him hung in her mind like an annoying gnat that couldn’t be swatted away no matter how many swipes of her hand she made. He was, and would always remain, a male that no woman could catch. So why even think about him?

  Because she couldn’t seem to get him out of her head. The sex had been fantastic, which she’d counted on. But their connection had blossomed under the heat of his touch. They’d started out like animals, and slowly, after they’d both had a few orgasms, the touching had gentled. Both tender and rough … oh, what the hell. No reason to dream that impossible dream, nor fantasize about something that would never happen again.

  Moving further into the shadows, she searched for the best place to sit. She’d have to find the incubus in the dream realm, take him on, and coax him out into the human realm to fight. He could take on any identity in her subconscious, and so could she. She could manifest any weapon, any skill, with just a thought.

  So could he.

  But none of that would matter, because somehow he could manifest more than weapons. He’d amazingly made it possible to harm someone in the dream realm. She hadn’t controlled her own actions when she’d been forced to stab herself. She didn’t have the knowledge to manipulate people in the dream realm.

  Death didn’t concern her. She’d be reunited with her daughter. What she didn’t care for was the way the bastard had tarnished her reputation.

  Settling herself against the wall, she closed her eyes and focused on connecting with him, something she’d tried with no luck in the past. She chose the catacombs because while it was here she might have been subjected to all the horrors of the spiritual demons, it was also here that she was the strongest. She’d survived something most would never have survived. Here in the catacombs her friends had found her. She’d lived.

  The physical world faded away as she entered the dream realm and concentrated on the demon’s energy. The only hope she had was that the asshole was sleeping or walking the dream realm. If he was, she’d find him.

  Delving into the subconscious wasteland of those who were sleeping, she passed through numerous dreams. Ninety percent of dreams were either scary or sexy, and all were noisy. Some made absolutely no sense.

  Skilled in her power, she threaded through the badlands of self-indulgence until a thread of familiar energy surrounded her. Dark and intense, it could be no other than whom she sought. A sense of relief flooded her, and she opened her eyes slowly, ready to face him and end his power play.

  She sucked in her breath, not expecting what met her gaze. Her old family’s tapestries hung on the stone castle walls, a huge fire in the hearth casting orange light throughout the space.

  She was back home.

  The setting was so accurate she could have sworn she’d gone back in time. She hadn’t conjured this image, so why was she surrounded by her past? Was this where the incubus liked to play? Where he could fuck with her mind?

  She turned in wonder, taking it all in, feeling as though she’d been sucker-punched. Everything was exactly as she remembered it. When her gaze fell on the stairway that led to the bedchambers, she half expected to see her daughter, Elspeth, sitting on the bottom step, as she’d done so many times while playing with her dolls. The decadent aroma of fresh stew and sweet bread wafted through the ghostly castle. Her father’s soldiers appeared, first as apparitions, then quickly solidifying as if they were really an arm’s length away.

  “As sentimental as a Christmas card.”

  She pivoted toward the familiar voice, a lump forming in her throat. The demon stood in front of the opened oak double doors that led out to the common grounds. The sunlight at his back cast him in silhouette, though no great mystery to behold. He stood tall, so sure of himself.

  Trained to take in a situation within seconds, she braced herself against anything he had in mind. She manifested a sword in each hand, unwilling to remain unarmed, yet knowing the swords could do nothing but calm her fears somewhat. She had to draw him out of the dream realm, because only on the outside could she kill him.

  “I’ll find you. You may think those are hollow words, but I promise you, I’ll find you.” The threat sounded pathetic even to her ears. She did her best to refocus, to draw in the determination that got her through her toughest assassinations. She would not allow him to intimidate her.

  “But we’ve had so much fun over the years, Kels. Why would you want that to end?”

  His flippant attitude toward her pain no longer shocked her. “Meet me in the catacombs.” Not that she believed he would heed her command to meet her in the physical world, and yet the words had come out of her mouth. He knew where his powers were greatest.

  “Do you remember our first meeting?” he asked, trailing his fingers across a tapestry as he moved toward the stairs.

  The sweetest, tiniest voice lifted above the soldier’s laughter, the ghost of her daughter humming a childhood melody while playing in the great hall. The sounds and smells of her past were so excruciatingly real, she felt as though she could touch the past. It’s just a trick, she reminded herself. Elspeth was gone.

  Kelsey kept her gaze locked on the demon. Elspeth did not reside here. He was twisting the dream world into a reality that had transpired centuries ago. “What do you want from me? Why are you framing me?”

  He gazed at her for several heartbeats. He wanted her to lose her shit, but she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She refused to look away from him and indulge herself in the false reality he’d created for her.

  His head lowered, his red eyes the only color to his silhouette. “Your misery.”

  Get him out of the dream realm. Take control of the situation. Don’t show him how he’s affecting you. “I’ve allowed you that for far too long. No more.”

  With his hands clasped behind his back he strode forward. “You finally seek me out, the first time in centuries, and that’s all you have for me? A few clichéd questions? I expected a little more from a trained assassin who’d do anything within her power to see me dead.”

  Anger nearly choked her. Her job was to eliminate those who took advantage of others weaker than themselves. She’d not let her most important mission slip through her fingers. She would not fail.

  He cocked his head. “I helped you in your time of need, did I not? You would have never made it through the possession if I hadn’t been there to hold your hand.”

  It was true, and they both knew it. Part of the castle walls crumbled behind him when she unleashed her powe
rs, mortar and brick exploding from the intense heat and pelting his head and back. He didn’t even have the grace to blink.

  He glanced at the rubble, and then tsked her. “Temper, temper. You’d collapse these walls on those in attendance? How do you know they don’t feel pain?”

  Her daughter’s giggles grew louder for a moment before a tiny voice asked for something to drink. Kelsey steeled her resolve, refusing to meet her daughter’s expectant face. “Do you honestly think I’d fall for that shit? She’s not here.” She squared her shoulders. “What the hell do you want from me?”

  “I want more.”

  Always cryptic, she never knew what he truly wanted. “More what?”

  “Your sadness. Pain. Bring the walls down. Listen to her cries for help, her cries for her mother.” He became a blur, materializing in front of her. She raised her swords, but he caught her wrist and spun her around, her back to his front, one of her swords now pressing against her neck. “Look at your daughter. Doesn’t she look cute sitting on daddy’s lap?”

  Of all the times she’d conjured her daughter’s likeness in her dreams, she’d never come this close to the reality. Pink chubby cheeks, wild blond hair. Her tiny fingers were wrapped around her father’s thick index finger. Joseph looked exactly as he had all those years ago as well—right down to the large scar above his right eyebrow. The details stole her breath.

  “More,” she whispered before she could stop herself, although whether for the pressure at her neck or her family’s faces she wasn’t sure.

  The demon’s energy amplified, wrapping around her with the strength of a boa constrictor and with the same amount of deadly intent. She turned her head to avoid looking at all she’d lost, yet the demon took her wrists in one hand and palmed her chin, forcing her to look back. Her swords clattered to the ground.

  “And where could you be, my fair lady? The family is gathered in front of the hearth, looking cozy and content, but where’s Mommy?”

  The vision faded before her eyes, replaced with an erotic scene of flesh and sweat, sin and greed. The demon had materialized her to an upstairs chamber. Michael, a knight who fought with her husband, braced himself over a younger version of herself. The moans and ragged breathing seemed rancid to her now, no hint of the passion or longing she’d clung to at the time. The muscles of his thighs and ass bunched underneath smooth, taut skin that glistened as he moved inside of her. Her palms had raced over his body, memorizing every contour before she had to release him to his duties once again, and face her own.

  “Isn’t he the one you were with when the vampires attacked the holding? You missed saving your daughter by seconds, am I right? Then again, you weren’t the professional assassin that you are now. You couldn’t have stopped the immortals from spilling her blood, no more than you could stop me from taking you.”

  Suddenly sick with shame and fury, she threw her head back, slamming the back of her skull into the bridge of his nose. She shoved away from him when his grip loosened, the propulsion sending her rolling across the floor. Her body came to a stop directly beside the two lovers on the floor. The air was thick with the scent of sex.

  This wasn’t just him controlling the dream realm. This was history. This had happened. How was he doing this?

  Blood dripped down the demon’s nose across his lips and onto his black silk shirt. He licked the droplets from his lips before twisting them into an evil grin. “Knock, knock.”

  Screams erupted from the first floor of the castle. She barely scooted away from the lovers before they scattered around the room, yanking their garments on. Her younger self looked stricken, and Kelsey remembered the one thought that had been on her mind at that very moment: Elspeth.

  The pain in Kelsey’s heart magnified as she watched her younger version run out of the room. By the time she got to the fight, her daughter would be lying next to three mutilated warriors, her tiny body drawing its last breath in the midst of the battle. She’d never reach her, even in death. The vampire had raised his bloody face from her daughter’s neck as Kelsey skidded down the stairs. Then the demon had taken her, for what seemed like hours.

  She could scarcely recall the bite of the vampire, and then there would be nothing … no recollection of how she’d come to be in the Highlands of Scotland. Barely a recollection of the incubus.

  “Can you hear your daughter’s last breath?” the demon taunted. Her screams were like shards of glass embedded in her flesh, her hand reaching out to her daughter’s lifeless body.

  The scene faded, but not the memory. “I command your existence, not just your past. When you were possessed your pain awakened my appetite. You have no way out, do you understand?”

  She stood with her back to him, completely numb as his callous words washed over her, breathing in the scent of sin that would stay with her always.

  She closed her eyes, incompetent to do anything, despair clinging to every cell of her body. She’d done this. She’d failed everyone.

  “I’m not letting you go this time. You’re separated from your friends. Alone. Hunted. Sooner or later you will turn to me, seek my favor yet again. And this time I won’t be tricked into losing you.”

  Nothing he was saying made sense. He wanted her to come to him, and yet he was framing her. The Alliance would kill her. “You’re mad. They’re coming to kill me. You get that, right?”

  “And yet I can save you,” he taunted. “I alone have the proof of your innocence.”

  He was the proof. How could she get him to admit that to the Alliance? How to set him up to fall?

  He approached her slowly, daring her to make a move, and leaned over her shoulder. “Find me, Kelsey.” His breath moved the hair on the side of her face. “Stop me.”

  The world tilted and she came to her feet in the physical realm, only to see the floor of the catacombs come rushing up at her. She cracked the side of her brow against the dirt and stone floor. It took her several minutes to catch her breath enough to manage a sitting position. Bringing her knees up, she laid her head on them and cried. She’d never felt so alone, so cut off from reality. What was real, what was memory?

  How could she fight an evil that had been with her so long it knew every weakness she had?

  * * * *

  Domiel stretched within a cocoon of warmth, the fogginess of sleep still etched into every muscle of his body. Sunlight lured him from his slumber, piercing his closed eyelids with unrelenting brightness. He reached for Kels, came up empty, and cracked a lid against the sun’s rays.

  It was then that he heard the shower on, imagined Kelsey soapy and naked, and decided sleep was overrated. Where she got the energy to be up bright and early after what they’d done the night before was a mystery to him. But if she had the energy to bounce out of bed, perhaps she’d have the energy for other things.

  Sporting a morning woody he climbed out of bed, scratched his abs and opened the bathroom door. It took him a minute to clear the fog of sleep. The shower was running, though he felt no immortal energy radiating in the bathroom.

  Suddenly he was wide awake.

  He snatched the shower curtain aside and turned off the freezing water with a curse. He vaguely recalled waking up earlier and hearing the shower on, and Kels telling him to go back to sleep.

  She’d asked for his trust, and he’d been stupid enough to give it to her.

  He marched back into the bedroom and grabbed some clothes to wear as he contemplated where he would search for her first. His tracking her had come full circle, and he wasn’t pleased with that realization at all.

  He had no doubt he’d find her. Her energy was as familiar to him as his own. During their hours of sex he’d watched her come undone, and his thoughts had veered from their mission to pleasing her. She could have asked him for just about anything, and it would have been hers.

  He’d been afraid that sex would change nothing between them, and though it had with him, it seemed nothing had changed for Kels. She’d used him. She’d fuck
ed him and left while the moon still hung in the sky.

  He left the house by the back door, the cool spring air beating a path straight through his T-shirt. He checked his watch. Ten o’clock in the morning. He’d slept for nearly six hours. She could be anywhere by now.

  Ambrose’s words kicked back at him. If you don’t reach her by the time the sun comes up she’ll be long gone.

  Where the hell could she be? Had she gone after the demon from her dreams?

  He thought about calling Ambrose, but the leader of the Alliance would track his call. Shit. He didn’t have a lot of options, but maybe Ambrose would listen to him. Domiel could convince Ambrose that Kelsey was being framed, and maybe instead of hunting her, Ambrose could help him find her.

  He needed his cell. The same cell Kelsey threw into some bushes when they’d been running from the cops. Damn. Samael had taken him aside a few times during training sessions to help him with his materializing powers. For some reason, the power hadn’t come easily to him. He needed the power now.

  Closing his eyes, forcing away his anger and fear over Kelsey’s disappearance, he put all his focus on his cell. The contour. The feel of it in his palm. He imagined the emblem on the front, the ridges. Sweat broke out on his forehead, the damp sweat chilling his face. She could be in danger. The thought had him more determined than ever to master his power.

  Something solid manifested in his hand. His cell.

  He flipped it open and highlighted Ambrose’s name. Knowing it could be a horrible idea, but hoping Ambrose would see the light, he hit send.

  The phone rang only twice on the other end before an angry voice demanded, “Where is she?”

  Nothing like getting straight to the point. “She’s not with me.” At least that much was truth. “Listen, I have an update for you. She’s not the one you’re looking for. Something … happened while we were together. She’s being framed.”

  “What happened?”