Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy)

by Cathleen Ross

  "Will he kill her?"

  "Worse. He will feed off her life-force, enslave her to his will, until she is no more than a husk under the desert sun. All she will feel is happiness and believe herself in love until he betrays her. That is his true evil because she will not know what he is until it is too late."

  "So he's like a chameleon. Instead of changing color, he changes personality."

  Agrat's expression softened and his mouth turned down. "He was my younger brother, my only companion in the nursery. We both had powers inherited from our mothers, so we practiced them on each other, learned to use them, but we knew when to pull back."

  "You loved him?"

  "A long time ago, Phoebe, until I heard that he did not prevent Rachael's slaying. There were rumors that she'd birthed him a son, but I never discovered if it was true. He even accused me of killing Rachael and turned against me, but it was not so. I told him time and time again I did not touch Rachael, but he insisted soldiers had seen me at her execution. He prefers to blame me instead of his own cowardly nature. I lost all respect for him when he let his woman die. Rachael was a tender and beautiful woman, and I owed her much. I knew it was only a matter of time before Galaden betrayed me and made his bid for my kingdom. I will not let him near you."

  But what about Rachael? Panic hit her. Rachael was a savvy New Yorker. She wasn't the type of woman who would allow someone to ill-treat her, but if Agrat were right, would she be able to see through someone as powerful as Galaden? "Rachael's not a fool. She's psychic. The real deal. She can get to the bottom of a lie faster than anyone I know. If something feels off, she'll keep asking questions and use her gift to find out the truth."

  "She was known as a gifted healer in her past life which is why Galaden was drawn to her in the first place. Her healing energy was powerful. She was loyal to him to the last and she died for it," he said bluntly.

  Phoebe thought of the look of ownership on Galaden's face when he'd seen her friend. Oh good God, where was Rachael now? She adored the angel and if Agrat was right, her dear friend was in terrible danger.

  "I was told she called out to him, begged him to rescue her from the sword. What kind of creature lets his love die without trying to save her?" Agrat asked, his voice rumbling as he paced up and down.

  "How do you know he didn't?"

  He stopped and stared at her. "Because Rachael died."

  "But you couldn't save me either."

  "I tried, but I failed you, too. When my father turned me to stone, you were given to Galaden because my father knew that was the worst punishment he could inflict on me."

  For a long moment she stared into his eyes, as the impact of what he said hit her. When his eyes flamed red and glowed, he was one hell of a frightening figure, but right then his gaze held a deep abiding sadness and he clearly wanted to hold her in his arms.

  "What did Galaden do with me?" she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

  "You became his concubine. He owned you. He had the right to do anything. Anything at all." The muscles in his arms flexed and sparks shot from them.

  "You think he raped me?"

  Agrat's hands turned to fists. His expression darkened and his eyes began to glow. "I was turned to stone. A living consciousness trapped in unbearable nothingness. I could not see nor hear beyond my prison, but I vowed one thing: to tear him apart."

  Memories, a mix of swirling images, assaulted her: the angel staring at her; a look of caring on his face; his wing moving protectively around her. If Galaden were intent on killing her, why did she carry the repeated image of him sheltering her? Why was his protection so important? She thought better than to mention it. Instead, she needed to remind herself not to fall into Agrat's arms, which she so wanted to do. She had to fight this crazy attraction.

  This male standing in front of her, seething for revenge was not human. How could she know what was truth or lies?

  And what had he done to the angel that had made Galaden hate him so much? She didn't dare ask.

  Agrat opened the blind and looked outside, then nodded as if he liked what he saw. "Unfortunately, Galaden will heal from the sword wound soon. I need to find and destroy him, while he is weak. Would that I'd had the strength earlier to tear his head from his body."

  Phoebe shuddered. She needed to escape this madness, this lust for vengeance from a past life that for her was no more than wisps of dreams. Looking through the window she saw grey mist swirling like clouds, creating a sensation similar to flying in an airplane through a storm. Although she'd heard of London having fog, she'd never seen anything like it here. She glanced at him standing huge and furious when he mentioned Galaden's name, his eyes glowing with demonic power, and yet, the persistent attraction to him overrode even the evidence that he was a demon. She must not allow herself to fall for him.

  There was no way she could escape while he was close by. He was too powerful.

  He followed her gaze with his own as he looked out the window. "Don't even think about running away. This house and land are protected."

  "What do you mean?"

  Agrat strode over to the bedroom chair, picked up a cushion off the seat. "Come with me."

  She followed him out of the bedroom, noticing his strong body and the broad 'V' of his back. The same unsatisfied tingling between her legs reminded her of what she could have had after her orgasm and how she'd missed out on so many more.

  He opened the front door and Phoebe was confronted with the same dense, swirling mist, so thick that she couldn't see past the porch. Agrat strode in to the front yard and threw the cushion into the air. A fork of lightning sheered through the sky, caught the cushion and it exploded into flames.

  Phoebe gasped and jumped back.

  Agrat turned to face her. "Don't leave the house."

  "Why don't you tear my head off and grind me to dust, instead of terrorizing me?"

  "Dammit, Phoebe, I'm trying to protect you. You created stone bodies for the demons to inhabit, hundreds of them. If Galaden finds out where we are, he could send them here to destroy you when I'm gone." Agrat went to take her in his arms but she shoved him away. Her push against his chest had little effect so she strode down the hall, past the bedroom and into the kitchen. Tears pricked at her eyes and she muttered a curse at her inability to control her fear.

  She heard him follow her into the kitchen. Wiping furiously at her tears, she turned to face him.

  His dark eyes held a bleak expression. "Don't be afraid of me, Princess. You were my wife in our past life."

  "What?" The shock of his intent hit her like a blow, but she knew the difference between sexual obsession and love. He'd worked his mesmerizing powers on her when she'd been asleep. She was not going to mistake her feelings for him as love or buy into his obsession.

  "I've waited three thousand years. I'll do whatever it takes to make you love me again."

  "Quit talking about taking heads off. It sickens me."

  Walking to the kitchen bench, he picked up the kettle, filled it with water and plugged it in.

  "What are you doing?" It seemed bizarre watching him behave in a normal way after the lightning experience had shocked the pants off her.

  "When your woman is emotional, make her a cup of tea and say sorry even if you are right," he said, as if repeating a memory. He reached across, opened the cupboard and took out a packet of teabags.

  Phoebe folded her arms. "The cop thinks that?"

  He gave her such a stunning smile, his teeth white, his sensuous mouth turned up, that she smiled back.

  "That man is a jerk," she said.

  He put a teabag in the teacup that he'd pulled from the cupboard and filled it with water. "You need sustenance while I am away. The house is well stocked with food." He frowned, opened the refrigerator and looked inside.

  "What are you doing?" she asked.

  "The cop's memory had food in the house." He opened a cupboard and pulled out a can. Biting down on it, she heard his teeth crunch
and she winced.

  "How do you eat this?" he asked.

  "Try searching the cop's database for the word, 'can opener,'" she added, taking it from his hands and on seeing a picture of beans, put it back in the cupboard. She opened the freezer, noticed it was stocked with frozen packets of steak and vegetables, pulled out a loaf of bread and set it down on the bench.

  "Kiss me goodbye, Princess."

  "Wait a minute. You can't leave me here without a way to communicate with you. What if you don't come back?" She didn't want to be left here in the middle of nowhere. If she tried to leave she'd end up like the cushion.

  "Nothing will stop me returning to you, but if you need me, hold your hand over this stone and I will come for you." He unclasped a wrist shield made of metal and leather, decorated with lapis lazuli like his breastplate.

  It was too big for her wrist and hung over her hand like an ancient bracelet.

  "But I'm not psychic. I can't send messages. You know that."

  "Everything in this world is carried on a wave of energy. I am especially tuned to yours and you to mine. I will hear your vibration."

  Phoebe stared into his eyes and he gave her a devastating smile again. At that moment, she knew exactly how dangerous he was. Already she could feel her body heat mixing with his, he was standing so close. He took her in his arms and kissed her and she didn't think to stop him, the pull of him was irresistible. When his lips pressed down on hers, his hands moved from her shoulder blades and down over her back to her hips, pressing her against him. She stood on her toes and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck for leverage.

  Her hunger for him sent ripples throughout her body. Their tongues intertwined, seeking and tasting. The memory of doing this before with this male echoed in her mind. There had been love here once. Waves of longing assailed her bringing her unsatisfied need to the fore. This felt so right in all the wrong circumstances.

  This was not a man: this was a demon.

  And still she kissed him. The sensation of his lips and tongue working their magic on her brought a kaleidoscope of sensual images of another time in the past flashing into her mind. A powerful wave of heat flared from her mind to her nipples, flashed down her spine and exploded between her legs. Her body stiffened, her back arched and she dug her fingernails into his shoulders. Another wave, harder and brighter than the first, exploded. She ground her hips into him seeking relief.

  Finally slumping, she pushed herself out of his arms. "What was that?"

  "I think you know. Your body remembers what your mind cannot."

  "An orgasm from kissing?"

  "You need me, Princess. Your body is crying out for me, your Prince. When I return, I promise to make love to you until you are satisfied and I intend to take a long time." He took her face between his hands and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

  She swore she saw sparks flying off his hands when he touched her. Her whole body trembled. "What's going on? When you touch me it's like a sexual current is passing through me."

  "I absorbed more energy here from the elements than I ever have." He rubbed his chin, his eyes thoughtful.

  Phoebe shuddered, wondering about the type of energy around Salem that Agrat was tapping in to. "Terrible things happened here. Innocent women were accused of witchcraft and hanged. Others were crushed to death. A sort of madness overcame this place."

  He frowned, his expression focused. "I sense that but there is sorrow here too, for the things that were done. Shame. Repentance. This is different. It is something else from another source far greater than normal humans carry." He looked down over his body. "I am bigger. Stronger than ever before. Perhaps you have something else in your bloodline that helps me absorb the energy of the elements."

  "Don't you dare rope me into this by turning me into something I'm not. I am human."

  Agrat rubbed his hands together until they glowed and sparks flew off them. He tapped his forefinger lightly over her lips.

  Heat zinged from her mouth down her backbone to between her legs. Phoebe gasped. His touch was so erotic she wanted to push him onto the floor and mount him. "Stop that!"

  "You respond to my energy like it is an aphrodisiac. I do not think your bloodline is pure human. From the moment I saw you standing at my father's palace gates, I was drawn to you. You have something else in you. Some ancient lineage."

  "I'm not psychic like Rachael. I don't have special gifts, except for my art, and I certainly don't think of myself as some type of energy-absorbing sex goddess."

  "You are so much more than that. With you by my side, I feel whole. More powerful than I have ever been and I mean to use it to destroy Galaden."

  "You must save Rachael. Promise me."

  "You have my word."

  For the first time, trust formed a fragile bond in her heart.

  Agrat took her wrist and pulled it up to her face. "There is a dagger hidden in the wrist shield, swing your hand down and it springs free." He demonstrated with his own hand, swinging it down so that a dagger secreted in the metal layer of his wrist shield slid into his palm."

  Phoebe's stomach turned at the lethal blade.

  "I have done all that I can to protect this property but if a demon should find you here, lure it close and stab it."

  "But those demons in my studio inhabited stone."

  "The blades have magical properties. They'll pierce anything or anyone." He gripped her by the shoulders. "You must survive until I can get to you because I do not wish to live without you."

  Something about the depth of his words hit home but before she could answer, the prince vanished.

  Chapter 8

  Sun shone down on Galaden through the open window so that his whole body glowed. Rachael couldn't take her eyes off him. She lay on the bed after their lovemaking, filled with joy. She had thought him perfect in his carved form, but she realized she'd underestimated his beauty. Pacing the room, his brow slashed with righteous anger about the demon, he was magnificent.

  And he loved her.

  She could feel it to the marrow of her bones and her whole body seemed to vibrate so that she glowed inside with a happiness she'd never known before.

  Galaden stopped pacing, held out his hand and a white ball of energy grew then winked out. "Damn! This light energy is too slow. I need life-force energy. I must be at my peak to destroy the demon before he seeks me out."

  "What do you mean life-force?"

  "Every living breathing thing carries energy. When I became king after my father died, I could touch a human subject to heal them. That's why you're glowing at the moment. You are absorbing some of my happiness." He gave her a boy-like grin, which was so different from his usual countenance. "But using energy transference can be dangerous and I have not practiced it for thousands of years. I fear I have lost so many of my skills. Although I can take what it is that gives them life, taking too much can be dangerous."

  "Use me if I have tired you," Rachael urged him, thinking of Phoebe. "I have to do something."

  "I can't. On a single person it can be deadly. You'll become exhausted, too lethargic to move, some humans even drop into a coma. It is better to move within a crowd and absorb their mass energy; that way no one is harmed, unless I take too much and then it can make humans sick. They will simply believe they are tired, due to the hardship of the day."

  "But you don't have time to waste. You told me that yourself. You have to defeat this demon. If it means helping to save Phoebe, it will be worth it."

  His smile vanished the moment she mentioned Phoebe's name. Instead, he gazed at her, his expression grave. "You don't understand what you're asking me to do."

  "I want you to do this. I love my friend and I know you'll be careful not to drain me dry."

  His gaze dropped to the floor and he wouldn't look her in the eyes. "Damn it, Rachael, never offer me your life-force to bring down a curse. I will find another way."

  His voice sounded so solemn, so mournful as
though he feared the temptation of what she was offering him. "Perhaps we could climb the High Line stairs. It's an unused rail track and the garden on top of it is in full sun," she said.

  "I will wait until noon when the sun is at its strongest but even that may be too slow in this cold country. Our country in our past lives radiated heat for most of the year. It was not populated with complicated humans like this city. The energy was simple and clean."

  She watched him wishing he would take up her offer to use her as a source of power. "But that's several hours away and you barely have the strength to walk this room."

  "I must use these precious moments to track Phoebe." He looked down and opened his clenched fist. Inside it, he held Phoebe's necklace. "I cannot sense where she is. The demon must have used his cloaking powers to protect her essence, which means he has garnered great strength in the short time he has been here."

  "Then how will you find her?"

  "There is another way. I will use Envy to track the demon. Envy was wrought from the mountain of Har Karkom, the seat of Agrat's demon queen mother. All humans have their own scent. You would recognize your loved ones if they were standing close, even if you couldn't see or hear them. In a similar way, all cellular energy has a signature and Envy will trace Agrat's. It will be simple for Envy to find him as there are few of his kind in this dimension. Use a demon to track a demon."

  "What if he harms Phoebe?"

  "I will order him not to harm her. Most demons are simple killing machines, but Envy has more capability and great demonic power. He can be used to weaken a human enemy, to send them into madness. When my father was king, all living creatures served him, including the demons inhabiting the earth plane. As the eldest son, Agrat was their General, but after he betrayed my father, I became their commander and they serve me still." His smile was grim. When he paced his wings trailed along the ground, his lower feathers turned up as they scraped the carpet. His shoulder blades were hunched as if he were having difficulty with the weight of his wings.

  Even if Envy found Agrat's lair, what if Galaden didn't have the strength to match the demon? Her psychic sense pricked. It seemed odd to her that he would put his trust in the demon, Envy, for assistance. Her heart gave a slow, painful thud at the thought of losing Galaden. "I don't like this reliance on a demon. Can you call on angels to help you?"