“I hear your thoughts, Kai,” Ove teased. “You doubt him. Now, what kind of relationship is that?”
“You don’t know shit about a relationship!” she screamed. “You left me. You cheated on my mother.”
He waved the ball of fire back and forth. “It’s who I am.” He stood there smug, in his natural form, red skin, chest bared and tail twitching behind him. His horns had extended high from his head and curved toward the back. She thought he was disgusting, but knew if she ever let the darkness inside her take over, she wouldn’t look too different.
“That’s it. I’m done with you!” She told him. “I don’t care what happens to you from here on out. I have no father.”
His voice turned sarcastic. “You break my heart, Kai.” He hurled the fire at her. She tried to dodge out of the way, but it was too big. This time, she would die. The heat reached her before the fire. She waited for the pain she’d experienced the last time, but the heat lessened, and the light from the fire soon followed.
The darkness receded, and like an avenging angel, Donovan stood there in front of her. He too held fire in his hands, both of them. It expanded. Just past him, Kai saw her father’s shocked face. Donovan had never commanded fire, but he did now with Brenton’s power and hers. He opened the black hole behind Ove with a thought. The death, the stench in there choked Kai. She covered her mouth and watched her father.
“Impossible!” her father exploded. “You look like . . . No, that’s not . . . How?”
Donovan chuckled and looked to his left. “This ball here is compliments of Kai, the love of my life.” He looked to the right. “And this one is from an old friend of yours.”
“What are you talking about?” Ove’s words were defiant, but he was nervous. Kai noted the beads of sweat on his forehead, and he had trouble maintaining the fire he had ignited on his arms and torso.
Kai looked up to Donovan’s face. His handsome features shifted into that of Brenton’s, and that same cruel smile that the demon liked to wear spread across Donovan’s face. She shivered seeing it.
Donovan wasn’t one for delaying and making long speeches. He didn’t seem to need to push at Ove, building his fear and tormenting him like he had done to so many others. A sudden wind kicked up, and Ove’s feet slid back toward the roaring abyss. Kai wrapped her arms around Donovan.
“For your crimes against humanity and the citizens of the underworld, Ove,” Donovan announced, “die!” Donovan hurled the balls of fire at her father, scorching his chest, his face.
To his credit, her father didn’t cry out begging for his life. He roared in anger as he disappeared into a black void, and the portal closed. The wind died down. The illusion that Ove had created to make her feel like she was in a void of his making disappeared. They were still in Ove’s office where she had confronted him.
When Donovan dropped to the floor and pulled Kai onto his lap, she felt her power returning. Heat suffused her body, and despite how she had fought it for so long, it was comforting. She hooked her arms around the back of Donovan’s neck and met his warm lips. “Now what?”
He grinned. “Now we get married.”
Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
Lifting her, he chuckled and strolled over to a gigantic black leather couch gracing an entire wall. The thing might as well be a bed. Donovan dropped down on it with her stretched out in front of him. “Well, that’s my plan anyway. Right after I sleep for the next three months and then make love to you.”
She grumbled. “In that order?”
“Using and then losing the amount of power I just did takes a lot out of a man.” His eyes drifted closed.
Kai pushed him on his back and climbed atop him. She unbelted his pants. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. And I’ll beat off the creatures who will break down the door to get us to lift the barrier holding them here.”
His eyes popped open. “Oh, I forgot about that.”
“Already taken care of.”
They turned to find Brenton propping his feet on the desk with an unlit cigar in his mouth. Kai frowned. He glanced down at it and tossed it into the air. The little brown stick caught fire and disintegrated.
“Oh didn’t I tell you?” He grinned. “I’m the new chief demon around here. I lifted the barrier.”
“I can’t believe you would follow through with something so kind.” Kai wasn’t feeling so charitable toward him. Everything he did was for selfish reasons.
“Kindness?” He shuddered. “I did it to begin my plans. I intend to take over the physical world, to enslave the humans. It starts with lifting the barrier. Thanks so much for helping me.” He snapped his fingers, and Mitzi appeared dressed as a whore in a skimpy outfit that barely covered her breasts.
Kai would have attacked Brenton, but Donovan held her back. He swung his legs to the floor and carried her with him to stand. “We’ll bide our time,” he told her and looked at Brenton. “We’ll meet again, Brenton, when I’m stronger. Be prepared to die just like Ove.”
Brenton winked. “I look forward to the challenge. Now, leave me. I want to take Mitzi before I get my work started.”
Kai struggled in Donovan’s arms. He held on, uttered a spell, and they were next in her bedroom. The place was ransacked, clothes everywhere and holes in the walls. She suspected this was Ove’s demons doing, when they had been searching for her.
She sank down on her bed and dropped her head in her hands. “What are we going to do, Donovan?” she whispered.
He sank down on the bed beside her and threaded his fingers through hers. “We’ll do what we did fighting Ove. We’ll stand beside each other. You’ll help me lead my people, choose the ones that will be loyal to me and fight for the greater good. And meanwhile, we work on us.”
“Us?”
He stroked her cheek, nodding. “I was serious before.”
“I know.”
He sighed. “You’re not ready for marriage? You do love me?”
“I do, very much. I don’t want to be apart from you anymore, but just like you said, we’ve got a lot on our plate. This conflict with evil has just begun. Somehow we’ve got to get Mitzi back, and defeat Brenton. Aside from that, Gethin is out there, probably in this world since his plan to rule the underworld didn’t pan out. It feels like too much. How can we think of marriage at a time like this?”
“We can think of it, because without us, there’s no victory. You will grow stronger, and I will help you.”
She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay, you and me.”
“Side by side?”
She kissed him and drew back to stroke his cheek and stare into his eyes. “Side by side, forever. Now, you were saying you’re too tired to fuck?”
He grinned. “Well, okay. Only four hours this time around.”
“Deal!”
The End
About the Author
Brenda Steele enjoys writing erotic romance in the fantasy, paranormal and science fiction sub-genres. Visit her online at www.brendasteele.webs.com, www.myspace.com/brendasteele and www.brendasteele.blogspot.com.
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