Up ahead, I noticed the shifting glow of candlelight first. In the incredible blackness of the cave those faint lights shone like the promise of sunshine.
I swallowed hard. Here it was, then. Time to have a dust-off at the OK Corral.
Turning around to face the three people watching me, I said, “I’ll go first.”
Logan tried to argue, but Jasmine gave him another squirt, and I think she enjoyed it.
“We’ll be right behind you,” Devlin said.
“Good to know.” I started walking, not bothering to hide my presence now. What would have been the point? When I stepped into the heart of the cave, I had to stop for a second, to let my eyes adjust to the sudden rush of light—which felt nearly as bright as midday.
The judge saw me first. In the pale, flickering light, his tan was even darker, making his teeth, as he smiled a welcome, gleam in contrast like an orthodontist’s wet dream.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Duster,” he said, opening his arms wide.
There were three more demons/humans/creeps standing in the center of the room, and they looked a lot less happy to see me and my friends. There was a fire burning in a circle of volcanic beach rock, and the candles I’d noticed were standing in puddles of their own wax on rocky ledges on the wall. There were a couple of chairs and a small table that held a thermos, of all things, but that was about the size of it.
“This is your ‘lair’?” I asked, shaking my head in disappointment. “Have you considered a decorator?”
“Is this the entertaining banter portion of the evening?” the judge countered, frowning now. “If so, I must say I’m not really interested in trading insults with you. I already have what I wanted.”
Thea.
Keeping one eye on the judge, I let my gaze sweep the shadowy edges of the cave, searching for Thea. I didn’t see her, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. From where I was standing, I could see at least two more tunnels off the main cave. She could be down one of those dark, slimy places, just waiting for me to find her.
Finally, I turned my gaze back on the judge and let the others behind me worry about his little pals. “Where is she?”
“Close,” the judge admitted, walking toward the fire with his hands out, as if seeking warmth. “Very soon, she’ll be boarding a plane.”
“Thea hates flying.”
“Do you think I care?” he asked, smiling again, and his teeth flashed even whiter in the firelight. “She’s going to be very popular with my friends in Ohio.”
“Ohio?” I couldn’t keep the dismissive laughter from my voice. Hadn’t Devlin said once that he’d left Europe for Cleveland? Apparently there were demons everywhere. “Please. A hotbed of demons in Cleveland?”
“Actually, in a suburb just outside the city. Brecksville. Lovely place. Quite…welcoming to my kind.
“Uh-huh. Well, Thea’s not your kind.”
“Variety is the spice of life, after all,” he said, his eyes narrowing on me in that cold, hypnotic way he’d used in his courtroom.
A curl of something hot and ugly unwound in the pit of my stomach. He was talking about handing my baby over to his demon pals. I didn’t think so. While I started a slow walk around the fire toward him, I said, “Teenage girls aren’t the easiest people in the world to control, you know. Especially Thea.”
“Your daughter was just a tool to deliver you to me,” the judge said softly.
I wondered what Logan was thinking. If he was convinced yet. But I couldn’t waste too much time on anything but the judge.
“Once she’s gone and you’re dead,” he said, “I can implement the rest of my plan to enslave humanity—starting with La Sombra. My ‘connections’ will take me far, and with the Duster gone, there’ll be no one to stop me.”
“God.” I blurted out an amazed laugh. “You sound like Lex Luthor.”
He frowned at me. “Your attempts to distract me are wearying.” Shooting a look at his demons, he shouted, “End this!”
For a split second there was silence in the cave, and then all hell broke loose. A couple of the demons screamed, and behind me, I heard the solid smack of fists meeting flesh. The scent of oregano rose up and filled the room, and even the judge choked and coughed as the spray of demon mixture filled the air.
I kept my gaze on the judge. He was all that mattered. I had to take him out to get to Thea. I jumped across the fire and felt the heat singe my thighs just before I landed in a crouch in front of him. “You know,” I said tightly, letting my anger rise up to fill me, “I was willing to live and let live. I wouldn’t have taken you out if you’d just left Thea alone.”
Okay, maybe I would have, but the point was, I’d tried to avoid this confrontation. He’s the one who had insisted on it.
“You’re a fool,” he said with a sneer of contempt.
“Yeah?” I countered. “I’m not the one getting my cave invaded by enemies. This is all your own damn fault, you know. You just had to kidnap Thea—so now I’m gonna have to dust you.”
He laughed at me. “I’ve lived too long to be concerned about a bimbo cleaning lady.”
“Bimbo?” I screeched the word. “Could you be more out of date, you jackass chauvinistic demon? I’m no bimbo. I’m your worst nightmare. A pissed-off mom with Duster powers.”
I crouched again, swung out my right leg and swept it in a circle. The judge leaped straight up, just like I’d seen Jasmine do that first time. When he landed behind me, I think he was expecting me to be surprised. I so wasn’t. In fact, I was waiting for him.
To make myself feel better, I slugged him in the nose, and he staggered backward, astonished, as blood poured down his face. Disgusting, but satisfying. His back hit the wall of the cave, and I made a leap that made me feel like I was flying. When I landed, the judge’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“Never underestimate a mother,” I said and shoved my hand at his chest.
He was fast, though. I had to give him that. He caught my right hand and gave it a vicious twist. I shrieked at the unexpected pain, then shut up fast when the judge shimmered. One second he looked as he always did, then his features blurred, and in the next instant he was something way different.
His skin was dark blue—almost midnight—and there were white whorls etched into his face in dizzying patterns and squiggles. His nose was broad, his lips peeled back from teeth that were now several inches longer than they had been a moment before. His eyes flashed red, and his long-fingered, clawed hand wrenched my arm up and behind my back.
“You’ve been trouble for me long enough, Duster,” he whispered, and his voice scratched at my mind like nails on a chalkboard. “This ends tonight.”
I was afraid and in pain since he had my arm up so high he could break it with just a little extra pressure. Enough already.
“It really does,” I said and slammed the back of my head into his nose.
Shock loosened his grip, and I jumped far enough back that he couldn’t grab me again. Damn, Devlin had been right. The judge did have some serious strength. My arm felt broken, the ache reverberating through my bones. But I didn’t have time to surrender to the pain. This demon was determined to kill me, and if he won, Thea was lost.
Jenks lunged at me across the fire, and the flickering shadows made his ugly-ass face even scarier. Instinctively, I backed up, and when he crashed into me with a bellow of rage, we went down in a tangle of bodies. All around I heard the sounds of battle. Fists smashing into flesh, groans and a single gunshot that blasted into the cave mouth and echoed with a wild abandon that nearly deafened me.
But I had bigger things to worry about. The judge grabbed my throat, and his fingers closed around the base of my neck like a noose, slowly tightening. “Stupid woman,” he whispered, and his red eyes quickened as if a fire was building within.
I gasped for air as his fingers tightened even more, and the edges of my vision went swirly black. Terrified, I felt myself dying and realized that the others were
fighting their own battles. I wouldn’t get help from that quarter. If I was going to live, I’d have to manage it on my own.
I reached up for the judge’s red eyes and managed to gouge him well enough that his grip loosened. Then with all my Duster strength I gave him a shove that had him landing on his back in the center of the fire.
He howled and rolled out of the flames, but he was still smoking. I staggered to my feet, tossed my hair out of my eyes and faced my enemy across a wall of flame.
“You can’t win,” he promised.
“I won’t lose,” I answered, and have to say, that bravado was probably ruined by the way I was staggering like a drunk after a long night. As my breath came back, so did my determination. This had to end. Here and now. I jumped over the fire like I’d been shot from a cannon.
My nails stabbed at the judge’s eyes as we fell in a roll on the damp sand. Still rolling, locked together, we smashed up against the cave wall, him on the bottom, momentarily stunned from his head bouncing off the rocks. I straddled him, looked him dead in the eye and said, “You never should have touched my girl.”
Then I slammed my fist through his chest.
“You—” he started to say something, but then I yanked his heart out, so his final statement to the world ended in a burst of demon dust sparkling in the firelight.
I fell to the sand without the judge’s body beneath me, and then I took a luxurious whole second to catch my breath. Brushing my hands off, I turned around to look at the people who’d walked into the lair with me.
Logan, Jasmine and Devlin were fine. A little battered, but still standing. There were only two demons left—the third either having been dusted or taken off for the hills—and they were tied up and sitting on the cold, damp sand. Smoke lifted and twisted around the heads of the two demons, and they looked damn unhappy about the whole situation.
“What is in these bottles?” Logan asked nobody as he watched smoke rising and swirling in the wind. “Acid?”
Nobody answered him.
Jasmine gave me an imperious nod, like from empress to peasant. “Nicely done.”
“What the hell is going on?” Logan demanded, shaking his head as if he still didn’t quite believe what he’d seen. “Where’d the judge go?”
He’d seen what happened. I know he had. But I figured by the time we walked out of the cave, he’d have come up with some weird-ass explanation to cover up watching the judge burst into a handful of instant soup mix. Hey, whatever helps him sleep at night.
But, first things first.
“Thea!” I shouted and heard my voice bouncing off the walls of the cave and slamming back to me like a damn boomerang.
“MOM!”
I grinned and felt my heart kick-start back into a normal rhythm. I kept a tight grip on my demon spray, just in case there were any other lurkers around, and headed down the tunnel to the right, following Thea’s furious voice with a smile on my face.
By the time I got her untied and on her feet, she was all talked out, complaining about Jett, demons, grown-ups and the fact that her new Juicy sweatshirt was probably ruined forever.
I hugged her hard, grateful as all hell to have her alive and complaining, then I slung one arm around her shoulders and walked back to where the others waited.
Logan gave her a big hug, and Thea was glad enough to see us all that she hugged him back. Devlin came up to me and smiled. “Nice job.”
“Thanks.” I watched my daughter and her dad grin at each other, then looked at Jasmine and Devlin. “I’m pretty proud of myself, I guess.”
“Yes,” Jasmine said. “It was well done, but this is no time to relax your guard. The judge has been defeated, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more demons out there.”
I just stared at her. “Do I get five minutes to enjoy the thrill of victory?”
“There’s no time for complacency.”
I sighed. “Nag, nag…”
Logan led Thea back to me and said, “I still don’t see how the judge got past us. Pretty damn fast for an old guy. When I get back to town, I’ll put out an APB on him.”
I shrugged. “If it makes you feel better.”
Logan was happiest with logic. Control. Apparently, I was happiest when things were wild and crazy. Because right then, I felt like a million bucks.
Thea came up to me, gave me a hug and said, “Jett told me there was a big party down here, so I thought, okay. I was going to call you, but I couldn’t find my phone, and then Jett brought me here, and then he just, like, left me with that weird old guy.”
Smart of the little shit to ditch Thea’s phone. Smarter of him to get the hell outta Dodge before I could catch up to him. Otherwise, he’d be nothing but a dust bunny.
I hugged her back, then cupped her face in my hands and said, “So, Mom was right about him after all.”
Thea’s mouth worked, and her eyes rolled up white, but she finally blew out a breath and admitted, “Fine. You win this one. Jett was a creep demon.”
“God, I’m right again!” I shouted and loved the echo as Devlin laughed beside me. “This week just keeps getting better.”
We started out of the cave, the five of us, leaving the tied-up, still-smoking demons behind.
“What about them?” Thea asked, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Eh. I’ll come back tomorrow. If they’re still here, I’ll dust ’em.” I was just too tired to worry about them at the moment, and besides, with their boss dead, I doubted they’d be too much trouble. They were just minions, after all, not the head cheese.
Logan and Jasmine were walking ahead of us, and Thea was in between me and Devlin as we walked toward the sea and the beckoning moonlight. The tide was still rushing into the cave, and our feet slapped through an inch or two of water.
“You know,” Thea said, “just because you were right about Jett doesn’t mean I’ll always listen to you.”
I wrapped one arm around her waist and gave her another hug. “Honey,” I said, glancing up at Devlin, “I so know that. Just remember, if you want to date demons, you’ve got to be prepared to do a little dusting sometimes.”
“You dust. I’ll date,” she said and leaned her head on my shoulder.
Devlin winked at me in the shadowy darkness and, ooh, I felt that rush right down to my hoo-hah again. Apparently, Thea wouldn’t be the only Burke woman dating demons.
As we walked out onto the beach and felt the cold ocean air hit our faces, I realized that, complicated or not, my life was pretty damn interesting. And that wasn’t such a bad thing, right?
Sex, dusting and demons.
Had to be safer than sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Epilogue
A whole week with no dusting.
God, it felt great having my world nearly normal. Not to mention my arm. Apparently Duster strength includes quick healing, because the damage Judge Jenks did to it only hurt for a day or so. Of course, there were big write-ups in the newspaper about the disappearance of Judge Jenks. But no one seemed to miss him much. I certainly didn’t. I admit I had a couple of nightmares, where those red eyes were spitting hate at me, but I could handle them.
I spent my mornings training with Jasmine, my days cleaning, my afternoons with Thea, enjoying having my girl safe and sound, and my nights with either Logan or Devlin hanging out at the house. I was sticking close to home since I wasn’t ready to leave Thea alone just yet, not even for an exciting night of orgasms.
Both of the men in my life were doing a lot of hovering and avoided each other somehow—guy radar? But how many women are going to complain about two gorgeous men hanging around?
Not me.
Still, it was nice to have a night to myself. Thea was across the street with Zoe, and Sugar was on the floor at my feet, waiting for me to toss her some pretzels. I had a glass of cold white wine on the table in front of me, a Buffy DVD playing (my favorite episode, about the love spell), and cotton balls between my toes as I slapped on the last coa
t of OPI Nantucket Mist nail polish.
When the doorbell rang, I actually groaned. When it rang again, I shouted. “What am I, deaf? Give me a minute.”
I hobbled to the front door, walking on my heels so my freshly painted toes wouldn’t pick up any stray dog hair off the floor and, still muttering curses on the head of whoever was interrupting my “me” night, yanked open the door.
And stood there with my mouth open. Apparently there had been a big breakdown in the Guy Radar Network.
“I brought pizza,” Logan said, waving a pepperoni-scented box from Tully’s.
“I brought flowers,” Devlin said, extending an amazing, mixed-flower bouquet that looked bigger than Thea.
“Um…” I looked from one to the other of them and didn’t have a clue what to do.
They were glaring at each other, and each of them shot me looks that clearly said I should be choosing him.
Whom to welcome? Whom to send away?
Logan’s blue eyes warmed me, and Devlin’s dark gaze intrigued me. Both men pulled at different corners of my heart. Both men attracted me on way too many levels. And both men were waiting for me to say something.
So I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. I took Devlin’s flowers, then snatched the pizza box from Logan.
Grinning like a loon, I said, “Thanks, guys,” and closed the door on their hopeful expressions.
Cassidy Burke, master of postponing decisions.
About the Author
Maureen Child is the award-winning author of more than ninety romance novels, and often says she has the best job in the world. A five-time Rita nominee, Maureen lives with her family in Southern California.
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