The Hidden Demon

by Monica La Porta

  The wolf made a sound that was pure joy and it warmed Peter’s heart. It took so little to make the wolf happy. She licked his face, then nudged him with her nose and paws until he was back on the floor and she lay on top of him. He threw his arms around her and she licked him some more. All of a sudden, his mind was filled with the same image over and over again—it was the wolf and they curled into each other. Beautiful and innocent. Pure.

  Love. Love. Love. Me. You. Her. Love.

  He heard the words. Or rather he understood the concept behind the sounds that reached his ears. “Can you talk to me?”

  The wolf pressed her front paw over his heart.

  Love. Love. Love. Me. You. Her.

  Waves of warm sensations washed over him. He had never experienced anything so simple and yet so profound. Selfless affection. “I love you too, sweet girl.” He hugged the wolf closer, caressing her mane, and felt her shivering. “Are you okay?”

  The wolf whined in response, then she sent him another set of images. The night sky was illuminated by the pink light of dawn and the wolf was walking toward the horizon, her back to him.

  Moon. Gone. Me. Gone.

  He moved on the floor until he could look into the wolf’s eyes. “Is it time for Ophelia to come back?”

  The wolf pressed her paw over his chest.

  Me. Gone. Not forgotten?

  Peter shook his head. “How can I forget you?”

  Love.

  The wolf’s shivers turned to convulsions and Peter had to scoot all the way to the corner. He watched with growing concern as the beautiful beast jerked on the floor. Not knowing what to do to help her, he stood to the side, hoping it would end soon and hating to see her suffer. When the transformation took over and the wolf regressed into a more human shape, Peter saw the anguish in the beast’s eyes and he moved back to her side to give her comfort in that last stretch that seemed to go on forever.

  He leaned to kiss her big head and took her shrinking form in his arms, cradling and soothing her. “I won’t forget you. Don’t worry. I know where you are. Next moon, I’ll be here for you. I promise.”

  At his words, the wolf calmed and sent him a final image of the two of them running in the middle of a forest, the silver moon illuminating the trail and the creek flowing by. Love. Love. Love.

  “Love you too.”

  One moment he was rocking a big, furry, chocolate wolf. The next, a completely naked Ophelia was on his lap, shivering and gasping. Compared to the rest of the process, the final transition had been sudden. A frenzy of joy, relief, and pleasure, all mixed with agony, fear, and shock possessed Peter. Far past the ability to think in coherent thoughts, but only able to feel, he found himself cradling Ophelia closer to him, inhaling her scent, murmuring nonsenses into her hair, caressing her back in long strokes, kissing her temples, her nose, her jaws, her closed eyes, her lips.

  “Love you, three.”

  He heard her, but didn’t understand what she was saying.

  “I love you, demon.”

  He stopped caressing her, but kept his hands splayed on her back, then raised his head from her hair and looked at her.

  “You heard me.” Her smooth, mocha skin was darker around her eyes, but her lips were pulled up in a small smile.

  His heart skipped a few beats. “I heard you.”

  She moved in his arms, a puzzled look on her face, as if she had only then realized he was touching her. “Were you having a good time with Wolfie?”

  “She’s the best. Such a sweetheart.” He felt her shiver some more and hunched over her to shield her body from the dank cold permeating the place. Tuff bricks were pleasant to look at, but didn’t retain any warmth.

  “I’m glad you got along so well.” She burrowed into his embrace and sighed. “How depleted are you?”

  “I’ll probably perish if I don’t get some sun soon.” He smiled down at her and brushed her lips. “But I wouldn’t mind that much if you’re in my arms.” He felt her heartbeat skip and he was immensely pleased by her reaction.

  “I prefer you live, demon.” She tried to move out of his embrace, but he didn’t let her. “We need to get you out—”

  “In a moment.” He placed one hand on the back of her head as he pressed her body to his with the other, then lowered his mouth over hers. He coaxed her lips open for the kiss he had been waiting for all his life. “I love you.” With every stroke, with every nudge, with every push of his tongue, he poured his soul into her. “I love you,” he repeated every time he emerged for air. His hands circled her lithe body, his fingers brushing the undersides of her breasts, skimming her skin with the reverence his princess deserved. As darkness came to claim him, he took her lower lip between his teeth, not wanting to let her go, not wanting his nature to rule over him. “I want you more than life itself.” With the intensity of a last kiss, he took her mouth one more time and pushed his tongue inside. He memorized the texture of her, her taste, that small sound she made, something between a moan and a cry, and kissed her until the world went black.

  ****

  Before she could move, Ophelia lay sprawled under Peter for several minutes. He had fainted and collapsed on her in the middle of the most intense kiss she had ever experienced. She loved the weight of him pressing on her and didn’t want to let go of that moment, but he needed sustenance and she couldn’t be selfish. “Demon of mine, but you’re big.” Pushing both hands against his chest, she rolled him to the side with great difficulty and not at the first try. The sight of the blood encrusted on his shirt made her feel sick for him, and by sympathetic response she felt pain in her ears. “I’ll kill them.” She leaned over him to brush his face with a trail of kisses, then forced herself to move away from him and stand up. Trying to put in practice all the tips Alexander had taught her to raise weights, she divaricated her legs, planted her feet on the ground, centered her body, and grabbed Peter by his shoulders. After a minute, she was panting as if she had run with another person on her shoulders, and she had moved him maybe a centimeter toward the exit.

  A sliver of early morning light cut the dark chamber, and Ophelia looked at the door, which had been left open a crack. At brief inspection, a heap of dust and organic material stood in the archway. She walked closer to it and smiled. Her wolf must have chased a fugitive vampire. She pushed the door all the way open. The chamber was illuminated by the cold light, revealing where the other three vampires had died. Peter remained in the dark though. She paced around the big room, searching for anything she could use to force the paneling on the windows out of the way.

  Her eyes went constantly back to Peter, afraid he would take a turn for the worse if she didn’t find a way to help him meet the sun. She also remembered what the angel had said. They would be back. She needed to prioritize her efforts and looked for her cell phone by the heap of rags on the floor that, only a few hours earlier, had been her clothes, and found it. Despite her silent prayer, the cell phone battery was dead. She cursed, then paced around the room, and wept when she found one of the vampires’ cell phone was on the floor by one of the red stains. With clammy hands, she grabbed the phone and screamed her joy when she proved that not only it was intact, but it also worked.

  She dialed a number she had called hundreds of times in the past. The only number among her friends’ she had memorized because she liked to dial it. “It’s me, Ophelia.”

  “Ophelia? Are you okay?” Samuel’s voice always sounded sweet to her ears, but only relief colored her thoughts when he answered.

  “I need help.” She gave him a summary of the last night’s events, then the directions to find the casolare. “Hurry up, as in fly here, and ask the cavalry to come too.”

  She didn’t know if Peter had enough time left to wait for her friends to arrive, but since she couldn’t move him by herself, she thought of plan B. Looking around the room, she scouted for an object at the same time sharp and strong to pull the paneling away from the window. A few minutes later, she was frustra
ted and anxious.

  She slumped down by Peter’s side and put his head on her lap. Stroking his long, straight hair, she leaned her head against the rough brick behind. “Wolfie, where are you now that I need you?”

  Her wolf nudged at her thoughts in response.

  “Lend me your strength for a moment. I need it to save him.” She closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. In the eerie silence of the morning, she heard the noise coming from every bug in the meadow behind the casolare. Before she could realize what was happening, she felt her body tickle with energy, as if she was about to change, but without the pain. Then power surged through her and her heart exploded in her chest, galloping at a mad pace. Her sense of sight changed along her ability to discern colors.

  She looked down at Peter, but didn’t remember when she had stood up. One single thought played in her mind. Save. Him. She bent her knees and reached her arms around Peter’s back, then she pulled him up to her chest. He was still too big for her and she swayed under his weight, his long legs dangling to the side and unbalancing her. Don’t. Stop. She felt like throwing up under the strain, but put one foot before the other and walked the whole length of the chamber until she reached the door. With the last ounce of strength left in her, she pushed him out in the sun as she fell on the ground.

  ****

  Peter felt the light caress of the sunrays warming his skin and slowly opened his eyes. He was lying at a strange angle, a wooden post mere centimeters from his nose. He moved just enough to realize he was looking at the doorjamb. Tilting his chin in the opposite direction led him to discover one of Ophelia’s legs.

  “Ophelia?” He couldn’t recognize his own voice. “Ophelia?” With some difficulty, he raised one arm over his head and nudged her leg. She didn’t stir at his touch. He tried to pull himself to a sitting position, but everything swam before him and he found himself looking at the sky. Counting to ten, he breathed in and out, then pressed his palms down by either side and pushed his upper body up. Dizziness overcame him once again, but this time, he used the doorjamb to keep himself from falling. He slowly rotated until he faced the interior of the casolare.

  Ophelia was still, but her chest rose and fell regularly, and he let out the breath he had been holding. He moved by her side and caressed her hair away from her face. “Wake up, princess.” He lowered his hand to her arm and massaged her skin.

  Her eyes opened. She stirred, then stretched her body as if waking from a slumber. After letting out a sound that resembled a yawn but was way sexier coming from her, Ophelia looked at him from under her long, dark lashes. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” He looked at where his hand rested on her skin, then back at her and saw her cheeks coloring slightly as the soft hum of his power bound them.

  “You’re on the mend, aren’t you?” She shored herself up, and rested on her bent elbow.

  “Feeling way better.” He circled her wrist, brushing its inside.

  She gasped, her eyes widening. “Do you want to be ravished, demon?”

  “I’d like that very much, werewolf.” He put a finger under her chin to take her mouth for a chaste peck, then lowered his forehead to hers. “I love you.”

  She panted, her hands shooting up and around his neck to deepen the kiss. “As I love you.”

  “You know that at full health, this”—he left her wrist to stroke the side of her breast, nothing more than a feathery touch—“would’ve had you screaming my name?”

  She moaned and shuddered in his arms. “Promises, promises.”

  “Imagine what I can do to you when I’m strong enough to walk on my two feet…” He took her mouth again, and for a while the rest of the world disappeared.

  “We are insane, aren’t we?” she asked, her pulse racing and her skin flushed.

  “I am.” He kissed the point of her nose. “I almost beat an innocent two nights ago because he was in a room with you.” He took her hand and brushed her fingers.

  “Nothing happened. And if I’m being honest with myself, even if you hadn’t wreaked havoc in the club, nothing was going to happen.”

  It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did to him, and it made him feel good that she hadn’t done anything with that man. “I was out of my mind. In a day or two, Barnes would’ve asked me to leave Rome.”

  She let out a choked sound, then sought his mouth.

  He pulled out for a moment. “It would’ve been for the best.”

  She bit her lower lip, then frowned. “Why not have sex with me and end all that madness between us?”

  “Because I already knew I loved you and I couldn’t stand knowing you loved someone else and were only affected by my curse.”

  “You drove me crazy.”

  “It was hard for me too.” He waited a heartbeat to hear her laugh, but when she did, the whole universe smiled upon him. “Eventually, I would’ve given in and said yes to any of your requests.”

  “I am irresistible.”

  “You are.” He brought her closer to him, then whispered in her ear, “And that’s why I should’ve left.”

  The unmistakable roar of a car’s engine startled their quiet heaven.

  “Shit,” Ophelia said for the two of them.

  ****

  “Can you stand?” She was pulling at his arms, and although he tried, he fell after he had almost stood straight.

  He looked back at the door, from where a portion of the trail was visible. “Run.”

  “I won’t leave you.” The car was approaching fast. She peered outside the door and let out a long breath. “They aren’t here yet.” She bent her knees and extended her arms for him to get hold to. “Suck it up and move your ass.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “That’s right.” She pulled him up. “Come on, help me out. I’m really looking forward to days of mindless sex, but you must be around.” Another peek outside told her the car was still out of sight, but the road was all curves and bends and their enemies might be closer than they sounded.

  “You know how to motivate a demon.” He slowly stood and on uncertain legs tried to walk.

  She could see the effort it took him and how he was sweating. He felt cold, frigid, to the touch. “Hang in there. We must reach that clearing—” She pointed at the other end of the path that bifurcated in two even narrower roads, one of them leading to a small patch of bushes and a creek. “We can lay low beside one of those junipers over there as you soak a few rays.”

  “Brilliant.” His voice was ragged and his majestic body was shaking, his eyes glassy.

  She pushed and pulled him. “I won’t be celibate forever, so keep going if you want to be the one delivering all that name-screaming bit of action you mentioned.”

  “Now I feel so much better.” His voice was so low, she almost didn’t hear him.

  “No, I promise you, I’ll make you feel so much better if you only move those delectable legs of yours.” She gave him a harder tug, but she could see he was draining himself too much. Wolf, can you lend a hand again? Her wolf send her a lethargic nudge and her mind was filled with an overwhelming sensation of sorrow and helplessness. Great, she’s out of commission too.

  “What did you say?”

  She must have said it out loud. “Nothing.”

  Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a black dot flashing in and out of sight. She swore. He chuckled, more a sob than anything else, but she appreciated he was still reacting. The vehicle, the same city car she had followed the day before, entered the last curve before the road became straight. A few meters of dirt road, and they would be as good as dead. Despair so bleak it hurt overtook her, then she saw the car driving toward her and couldn’t help but laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing really.” She shook her head. “I finally fall in love with someone who reciprocates the sentiment and I die.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Big time.” She watched as the car slowed to a halt before them.

  �
��If that’s of any consolation, I die too.” He gave her arm a soft squeeze.

  “I don’t know. This whole thing of dying together isn’t as romantic as they sell it.” Okay, Wolfie, listen to me and listen carefully. Whatever happens, you come out and with the last of your strength you buy some time for him. Understood? Her wolf sent her a mental poke. Good. A cloud opened and a ray of light, white and brilliant descended on them. He needs a moment to recharge. Just give him that. She rejoiced at seeing only one angel inside the car, and it wasn’t the leader, but one of the two who had accompanied him the day before. “It seems that our odds have changed.”

  The angel’s face was contorted in rage as he opened the car door.

  She knew that neither of them could do anything against the angel’s Wrath, but maybe she could still surprise him by attacking first. “As soon as the sucker is close enough, we’ll give him hell. Okay?”

  “My civic duty.”

  She thought she heard Peter say that, but between his whisper being too low and her blood roaring in her veins, she couldn’t be sure.

  “Why are you still alive?” The angel slammed the door behind him and headed toward them.

  Ophelia squeezed Peter’s hand hard, then smiled her widest smile as she threw herself at the angel and punched his mouth with all the power she could muster. She was able to hit him three times, before the angel, past the first moment of shock, retaliated and hit her square in her abdomen. She tried to stand her ground, but she couldn’t breathe and she saw black dots dancing around her line of vision. With nothing left to lose, she still kicked and punched. Now would be a great time to show up. She felt lightheaded and strange smells hit her nostrils, then her eyesight cleared and changed and she saw the angel opening his mouth in a cruel, bloodied smile.

  ****

  Peter felt the change in Ophelia, and when he blinked, he thought he saw the wolf for a moment, but the next it was just her and the angel. Everything was happening fast and he could barely stand. He wasn’t sure he was hallucinating, but when he saw the angel opening his mouth, he lurched forward, moved Ophelia out of the angel’s trajectory, and jumped on him, letting gravity do its job.