by Dakota Brown
Mal looked at me for clarification.
"We have to choose a name for him," I translated. "Or Chris does, anyway."
The vampire nodded and lay back on the bed.
Chris came back into the bedroom, bleached blond hair still mussed, a sleepy glaze to her deep brown eyes. Her old T-shirt barely covered her ass, and her lean, muscular legs captured my attention. She got back on the bed and crawled toward us. My breath caught, and her movements made the ink that painted her arms seem to come alive in the low morning light.
She noticed my attention, and had fixed her gaze on me. Mal had gone still and watched her, the predator observing his prey.
A small smile tugged at her lips, though her gaze did flick over to the pom-hellhound sleeping on her pillow, before she turned her attention back to me and Mal. She acted resigned to the creature's presence at this point.
Mal reached for her and she let him draw her close. I sighed as the energy from their lust washed through me, revitalizing and feeding me.
Not wanting to be left out, after the initial wave of pleasure filled me, I rolled onto my side, and paid some attention to Chris' thighs, while Mal's hands roamed over her back as they kissed.
I was about to pull her panties down so I could give her another type of kiss when her phone rang.
We all froze, and then she cursed. "That's Darius and I don't think he'd call this early if it wasn't important."
I wasn't starving, so I didn't press her to ignore the call knowing she would be just as frustrated about the interruption as we were. Mal took it with good grace, too, reaching over and snagging Chris' phone for her. She sat up, straddling Mal in the process. He groaned softly as she shifted around, rubbing against his cock and teasing him a bit as she answered the phone.
"Yeah, mate?"
Mal grabbed her hips and stopped her from squirming. She grinned, amused, before the expression on her face hardened into something akin to resigned annoyance.
"Yeah, sure. We'll be right down." She dropped her phone on the bed and frowned.
Mal also looked concerned. Obviously, his hearing was far better than my own, or I'd been fixating on Chris' ass and what she was doing to Mal with it. Chris shifted to get off Mal, but he didn't release her hips, a wicked grin forming on his lips.
"We have a minute," he stated.
Chris raised her eyebrows. "Darius urgently needs us at the jail for another exorcism."
Mal's grin deepened and he shifted his hand until he was brushing the front of her pussy with his thumb.
Chris groaned and the wave of lust hit me. I flopped back on the bed, drinking it in, sighing with pleasure.
The pom-hellhound grunted and shifted out of the way when Chris let Mal lay her back on the bed and pull down her panties.
Mal glanced at me. "Want in on any of this?"
"If I get involved, we're going to be here longer than the few minutes it'll take you to get her off," I replied a little drunkenly.
He chuckled and went to work on Chris.
Shortly he had our exorcist squirming on the bed, crying out in pleasure. I couldn't help adding tiny moans of my own as I drank in their ecstasy. No, I certainly wasn't going to be hungry today.
Mal was clearly talented, even though he got her off quickly, she still came hard, panting out his name as he worked her through her orgasm.
After we took a moment to enjoy her release, we all reluctantly got up and got ready to go meet Darius and his newest problem. I yet again thanked whatever deity, from above or below, that had let me fall into this woman's life.
Chapter 10
Price
While I'd gotten some satisfaction this morning, I was still grumpy at the interruption, and police stations of any sort were never going to be my favorite places.
"Sabian," I started as I pulled into a parking spot.
He purred at my use of his name and I groaned as his power hit me and Mal.
"Public, mate."
He chuckled and though the sound did things to me I'd rather not think about while in a police station parking lot, he kept his power in check.
I arched an eyebrow and gave him a look.
He smiled back, all sorts of innocence on his face.
Mal laughed, and I tried to hide the smile that was trying to break through my frown.
"As I was saying," I continued once I'd turned off the car. "Why don't you stay out here. I don't want to exorcise you."
"That would be unfortunate," Sabian agreed.
"Or, if it's too warm you could wait in the lobby." I wasn't sure what sort of disturbance Sabian's inability to not ooze sex would have in there, but it might be amusing.
"While the demonic plane is not exactly as humans have pictured it, it's certainly a great deal harsher than the human landscapes. This level of heat will not bother me. I'll wait outside."
"Okay. You coming, Mal?"
He nodded.
When we got out of the car, the Pomeranian shaped hellhound followed.
"Um, mate, think you probably have to stay here, too. Unless you want me to explain you to the cops?"
The dog huffed but trotted over to Sabian's side.
We left Sabian and the hellhound with the car and headed inside. A couple of other people waited in a line by a window where they might have been paying tickets. I headed over to the desk where a male deputy sat typing away at a computer. He was clearly busy, but had taken the time to examine us when we came in. When we came over, he checked us in and called for Deputy McClellan. She came to claim us after an uncomfortable minute standing in the lobby.
"Where's your other, uh, friend?" She gestured for us to follow her through the door she opened with her keycard.
"Sabian is waiting in the car. Seems exorcisms don't agree with him very well," I said.
Deputy McClellan gave me a disbelieving look.
I shrugged. "He's helping. He promised to behave, and he actually does the dishes, so, guess he's an alright house guest."
Her eyes widened before she glanced at Mal. "I don't believe we've been introduced."
"Malak Naji." The vampire offered his hand and Deputy McClellan shook it after giving him her name.
"What is your role in all of this?" she asked.
"I'm a little muscle and some occult backup if needed," Mal replied. "This is getting a lot deeper and I thought Chris could use some backup."
"The..." she shook her head. "Demon isn't enough muscle?"
I laughed. "Sabian is a lover, not a fighter."
She choked.
"His words, not mine. He can hold his own against humans. I'm not sure how he'd fair in a fight against another demon. Probably depend on who he was up against. But while he's got powers, he's not an occultist," I added.
Deputy McClellan gave Mal another searching look before she led us into the same holding cell as before.
The containment spell drew my eyes. It was stronger than the last one Darius had done, though now that I had seen Mal's work, it looked a little less professional, though it would certainly hold the demon contained within.
The woman cuffed to the heavy metal chair was taller, muscular, and drenched in sweat, as if she'd been fighting something. Her head lolled back, as if she were staring at the ceiling, though her eyes were shut. The gray tank top clung to her, and her cargo pants were damp with sweat. Her dark hair hung lank on her head and when she finally did muster the energy to look at us, her eyes were rimmed red with possession.
Darius had set up the spell to release a demon from a charm, along with the general stuff we used in our exorcisms, but clearly it wasn't going well or he wouldn't have called me.
"So, what's the story?" I glanced at Darius.
"I don't know. The demon is fighting me far more than I feel like it should be able to, but it's yelling at me in demonic and I have no idea what it's saying."
I swore and glanced at Mal. "Could you go get Sabian?"
Mal and Deputy McClellan left the room and came back
a few minutes later with our incubus, the hellhound perched on his shoulder.
I hoped if I ignored the dog, everyone else would, too.
Sabian looked around the room curiously before settling his attention on the bound demon.
We all stared at it expectantly and it stared back.
"What's up?" I prompted.
"Maybe toss some of that holy water on it?" Sabian suggested. "Perhaps the demon needs some sort of disruption on its host to break through the compulsions."
Darius complied and we all winced as the woman screamed in agony, but her red rimmed eyes blackened as the demon took greater control. The voice coming out of the woman's mouth was far deeper than you would ever expect from a human, and the sound of it grated against my ears. I couldn't understand any of the words, but Sabian's expression went from pensive to alarmed. The incubus' expression turned inward much as it had when he had contacted his prince. Once he refocused on me, he shook his head eyes tight with worry.
"The demon bound in that charm cleverly figured out that they hadn't forbidden him to speak in the demonic tongue. Of course, no one speaks it but another demon, so it's a good thing you have me." He winked at me.
My lips twitched, but I managed not to smile.
"They figured out the police had found an exorcist and upped their timetable. They're attempting to summon the demon prince now. We have to go."
"Do you know where?" I turned toward the door.
"I think so," Sabian replied.
"Let's go." I headed for the door.
"Price, what about this one?" Darius protested.
"Darius they're trying to summon a demon prince. This is something we do not want to happen. If they could actually bind one into service, it would be worse than if the creature was loose on its own. There's no telling what the humans would do with a demon prince to command."
Darius paled a bit and nodded.
"Besides, I don't think this one will fight you as much now."
The demon shook the woman's head like a puppet, and I shuddered. I never wanted a demon in control of my body. Ever. At least not like that. I pulled my thoughts away from the things I wouldn't mind Sabian doing to me. This was really not the time to lose focus.
The four of us, counting the hellhound, rushed out of the station and into the furnace that was my car after sitting in the sun.
I rolled the windows down, and Sabian gave me some general directions. While I drove, Mal questioned him further on where we were going, and by the time I needed more specific information, we thought we knew where we were headed.
Strangely enough, we weren't headed to some out of the way warehouse, or abandoned building. We were heading to a suburb outside of Santa Fe. It was a nicer area that you wouldn't expect someone from a crime syndicate to live. Of course, my main experiences with those sorts of people were more from movies than anything. Despite my minor lawbreaking as a youth, the most contact I'd had with real criminals was low key drug dealers working the streets where I'd roamed. Of all the things I'd never tried, hard drugs were high on the list. Your mind had to be clear to safely perform an exorcism, and about the only drug I'd ever allowed myself was alcohol and a little weed and it had been years since I'd done anything but drink.
Maybe the occultist lived in the suburb?
I supposed we'd find out soon enough.
Driving as fast as I could without overly risking getting pulled over, I wound through Santa Fe, grateful it wasn't rush hour or high tourist season. Traffic wasn't as bad as some places, but it could get pretty intense sometimes. We finally entered the subdivision and Sabian pointed out a couple of turns.
"You okay?"
I glanced at the incubus before turning my attention back to the road. Sweat glistened on his forehead despite the AC being on high. He'd already told us that the desert heat in the summer didn't bother him, so something was clearly going on.
"I can feel the summoning. It's actually pulling on me, as well. Perhaps because it is our prince that is being called."
"How'd they get that specific? Do they have his name?"
Sabian shook his head. "Probably the political maneuverings he mentioned when you actually spoke with him. I wasn't able to reach him directly when I tried at the jail. The ensnared demon gave me all of the directions."
"Great," I muttered. The tires squealed as I took the last turn and screeched to a halt in front of a perfectly ordinary suburban house.
"I feel like this should be happening someplace really creepy," I grumbled as I killed the engine and threw my door open.
Mal beat us to the front door and had it open by the time Sabian, the hellhound, and I caught up.
I could feel the pressure of wards around the front door as I went inside, but they didn't stop Mal from entering. He did something and a moment later Sabian and the hellhound–really needed to name that thing–were charging down the hallway after me.
I didn't need directions now. Even I could feel the energies of the summoning.
"Damn it, they didn't even have the decency to do this in a proper basement," I complained as I burst into what essentially looked like a large office, or a library, by the bookshelves lining the walls.
I took a brief moment to survey the scene. A black man was bound to a chair, shirtless, and I caught sight of some strange white tattoos on his biceps and pecs that I didn't take time to study. Blood ran down his chest, but he was currently still alive, eyes wide and staring at me. A tall, light skinned woman, with blond hair, high cheekbones, and a very startled expression on her face paused in the middle of an incantation to stare at us.
That could be a real mistake depending on the timing. She wore normal everyday clothing, jeans and a T-shirt, but she had on a white stole embroidered with very familiar symbols draped over her shoulders and a tome of a book cradled in one hand. The other held a crystal of some sort.
One other person was in the room. Now he looked like a thug. A well-dressed thug, in a pressed shirt and khakis, but the expression on his pale face was further darkened by the shock of red hair that framed it. Crazy Irish thug? I liked crazy Irish folks, at least until they were trying to kill me or summon demons.
The thug was currently reaching for a gun. Mal blurred and I trusted the vampire to intercept. I hoped we were in time to disrupt the ritual, and charged forward, tackling the occultist before she could do anything, and hoped that if we were too late, the summoned prince would take into account I was at least loosely allied with him. We crashed into the table she'd set for the ritual, breaking the line of sigils that had created the containment circle and scattering implements everywhere.
Candles went flying and I hoped they went out instead of catching everything on fire.
I heard Sabian yelp and I spared a glance, but he was only shaking his hand and acted okay. It looked like he had tried to release the bound man and come up against some sort of barrier that caused him pain.
The woman I'd landed on screeched in anger and punched me in the face.
"Hey!" I elbowed her in the gut.
Yeah, that was going to leave a mark. Ouch.
Someone went flying across the room and crashed into one of the bookshelves.
The woman pushed me off of her and I rolled, then went still, all my attention focused on the gun now pointed at my face.
Turns out the crazy red head's eyes were rimed in red and I was willing to bet he had surprised the vampire. If we survived this, I was so giving Mal a whole bunch of crap about that later.
Sirens blared in the distance and the bad guys traded a glance before the woman grabbed her book and headed out the door. The red head backed up, gun still pointed at me, until they were clear of the door. They slammed it shut behind them, then I felt something pop as if we were being cut off from the outside.
I struggled to my feet and hit the door hard, but the handle wouldn't budge.
Fuck.
The other thing I should have noticed sooner was the flames licking up the curtai
ns and spreading across the floor from the downed candles.
"Chris, come untie him," Mal shouted.
I turned. Both Sabian and Mal were staring at the black man with surprised expressions on their faces.
"What's wrong with your fingers?" I grumbled as hurried over there, head aching from the punch.
"We can't touch him," Sabian replied.
"What?"
The guy looked just as confused.
I pulled out one of my many blades and hacked away at the thick ropes binding him.
The smoke was starting to get heavy and I coughed. "Why don't you two see if you can get us out of here," I ordered. "Where's the dog?"
They went over to the door, but I didn't see the hellhound anywhere. Hoping the creature could take care of itself, and putting it out of my mind, I worked to cut the guy free.
"What's your name, mate?" I coughed as the smoke thickened.
"Aaron Reed," the man answered. And oh boy was his voice rich, deep, and contained just the right amount of gravely notes. I could listen to this man lecture about physics and I'd probably enjoy it. "Who are you?"
"Chris Price. Friends are Sabian and Mal."
I finished slicing through the rope binding his arms and moved in front of him so I could work on his legs. Dude had some serious muscle. It was either focus on that or start to panic about the smoke filling the room and the fact that we couldn't get out.
Looking up for a moment, I saw Mal smash a chair against the one window despite the flames. The chair shattered against the wardings. He swore in what was probably Arabic and shied away as the flames reached for him.
I went back to work on the bindings. It was the only thing I could do.
Both Mal and Sabian threw themselves at the door and bounced off it. Damn, those were some serious wards. I bet Mal could get around them if he had time, but there wasn't much left. I was starting to feel woozy, and Aaron was coughing.
My knife slid through the last of the bindings and Aaron threw himself out of the chair and to the ground where the air was marginally clearer.
Mal and Sabian tried again, and this time they crashed through the door, and slammed into the wall on the other side.