Nightmare in Steam (Alliance of Silver and Steam Book 1)

by Lexi Ostrow

  Greyston patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry to hear that. It’s not going to go away. It gets worse for my kind once we have found ours. Different species, different rules. Too bad Seraphina went on a spree and took out most of your people.”

  He ignored the sympathy in Greyston’s voice. It wasn’t a secret that he was one of a handful of Nightmare Demons left. Everyone knew it was his fault too. He refused to bed Seraphina a second time and along with her bargain came a death sentence. To show him who was in control. He’d fucked her that night, and filled her dreams with nightmares and ran. She’d been paralyzed enough to give him some leeway, but he’d wound up on a slab for almost twenty years as payback.

  “Well there aren’t. And thanks.” He had three questions but he knew the answers wouldn’t matter. There was no outrunning a mating mark. He was going to have to find some way to court Eliza Dorley. He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “I’d love to tell you that was the worst thing I came to tell you. You’re on Seraphina’s hit list. She doesn’t appreciate you running around and helping the Alliance take down her demons.” No point in sugar coating it. Greyston had been helping the humans for around eight years, any loyalty he would’ve felt to the demons was squashed when Seraphina passed the law that all lesser demons, all that could remind her of humans, were to be punished and kicked from Hell on sight.

  “I see.” Greyston didn’t say anything else. His eyes didn’t change color to a black to indicate rage. Rather he sat there and stared at the clock on the wall before turning to Lucius and asking the question that was going to be impossible to dodge. “You’re the hit-man I take it?”

  “I’m not going to do it if that’s why you’re thinking. I’ll find someone else, another demon masquerading as human and they’ll just have to do.” He hoped his friend saw the sincerity in his eyes or else he was liking about to experience a lot of pain.

  Greyston nodded once and shoved Fido off his lap onto the floor. “Good. See to it. You should be able to get a few hours sleep. There’s a room up the stairs, five doors on the left. It’s yours. Be quiet on your way out.” He looked at Jessabelle and laughed. “I was going to tell her to go with you, guard you're sneaking arse, but it looks like she’d likely help you murder me in my sleep.” He walked to the stairs and stopped a few steps up, but didn't turn around. “Thanks for the warning. I’ll repay the favor someday I’m sure.” With that he went to his own room.

  Chapter 7

  “Get him out! Greyston I want him out now!” Felicia’s voice pierced his ears and jolted him out of his trance.

  He couldn’t help but laugh quietly to himself. She’d been such an easy target. All tucked in bed and already worried the news meant someone wanted to hurt Greyston.

  “LUCIUS!”

  Jessabelle jumped off the bed and bolted out the doors. He heard Greyston’s steps running down the hall and he grabbed his shirt and tugged it over his head. The energy he got from the small dalliance in Felicia’s dream was not his best plan. His shirt was stuck over his head when the door swung up.

  Lucius was sailing across the room as he tugged the shirt down. His back slammed into the wall and he cried out, unaware of how strong Greyston really was. Note, do not piss off a mated Incubus Demon. Ever. Greyston wrapped his fingers in the shirt and lifted him off the floor. Lucius’s feet dangled as his friend punched him straight in the face and dropped him to the floor. Pain shot through his body form the impact and he swallowed.

  “You ever think to touch my female again and you won’t need to find another mark for Seraphina. I’ll kill you myself. Get out and the next time I hear from you it better be you collecting on your favor. So this is a free pass. Show up again and I will kill you, Lucius.”

  There was nothing but cold fury rolling off Greyston in waves. He did his best to pull himself off the floor, he had to brace himself on the bed and still the pain vibrated throughout his body. Greyston hadn’t stuck around to get an apology, which was good. Lucius wouldn’t have one. He was a Nightmare Demon and he couldn’t ignore prey out on the table anymore than an unmated Incubus Demon could ignore the scent of arousal.

  Jessabelle had crept out of the room earlier and he was oddly disappointed. Grabbing his boots he stepped into them and headed out, he had a train to catch.

  * * *

  Eliza’s shoulder felt as if it would give out under the weight of her two travel bags. It wasn’t healed enough to be carrying the amount of weight she was attempting. The guild’s carriage had taken her to the train station, but she needed to get her ticket still. Great Western Railway had only been operational for a year. The technology they used in the guild was a reconstruct of the steam engines used to make the trains run. But these were giants, beasts of metal and only the rich could afford travel on them right now.

  She struggled to make her way to the ticket clerk and wondered briefly if she was a hunter, not a scientist, if she would be better able to carry her belongings. She didn’t bother to mask her troubles as she simply dropped the two cases to the floor at her feet. “One ticket to Halifax please.”

  The man behind the window was young and she wondered how he’d gotten a job at the rail station instead of as a merchant or solider. The war with America had taken many of their militant forces and she personally never knew if peace was truly upon them. Or if one day the demon threat would get so big that the secret of what lurked below wouldn’t be announced to the people of London, of all her majesty’s territories.

  “Three pounds please, miss.”

  She flinched at the cost. It wasn’t often an Alliance member had to pay for things. As such they made a meager wage and this would all but clean her out until they allowed her back. It’s not as if you have any place else to go. She thought as she placed the currency under the small glass circle and retrieved her ticket.

  Eliza groaned low as she bent to grab her bags again. Slowly, she hefted them off the floor. Her head was still slightly down as she started to look for her gate and she gasped as she crashed into something.

  Her eyes traveled up. No, not something, someone. A man dressed in a simple pair of silken trousers and grey dyed silk shirt. It clung to him slightly and she took in the muscular tones of his arm and knew from impact that they extended to his chest. She’d felt them and mistook him for a wall or lamppost. She swallowed hard as her eyes continued to make their way up his body and she felt as if she might faint as they took in his face.

  Two dark, black eyes were looking down into hers with a shaggy frame of caramel hair. Lucius. Her heart pounded in her chest, so loud she almost missed him apologizing for their collision. She blew out a breath and thanked God that she hadn’t said his name out loud.

  Don’t be foolish, Eliza. Lucius is a dream! This man is just similar. She looked at him one more time, the heat in his eyes a dead mimic for how Lucius had looked in her dream when he’d stroked his own cock.

  Wetness pooled between her legs as desire almost took her to her knees. She stumbled and the man reached out and caught her. Where his hands touched she swore she felt some sort of a shock occur. His grip was light, but it felt to her as if he hung onto her for dear life, like she was the only thing keeping him from falling, like she was the air he was breathing. The thought caused her to sigh and lean against him, wanting to feel him, but she managed to stop herself just barely. Women did not go leaning upon strangers. Not women of her social circle, well her parents’ social circle.

  “Please forgive me. I’m afraid my bags were far too heavy and I wasn’t looking.” She could feel a flush warming her cheeks, like when Kellan would compliment her, and she darted her eyes back to the ground.

  “Never apologize. I love when beautiful women bump into me.” His voice burned into her soul. It was Lucius’s voice. She was going crazy. She had inhaled something when that cycle she’d been working on went up in flames. So this man was real, but her hearing and seeing Lucius was a hallucination conjured up in her mind. His words didn't even register a
nd she just kept staring at the ground. “Are you ok, love?”

  Love. That was what Lucius called her in her dream. She shook her head so hard to rid the thought she almost made herself sick.

  “Yes. Sorry. I’m going to visit my parents in Halifax and well, we aren’t the best of families. I suppose I’m just in my own head.” She finally lifted her head and looked back at him. Those deep black eyes called to her, set her body on fire. She wanted him to touch her again, but his hands had already let go when she’d righted her balance.

  “Halifax you said?” His eyes continued to bore into hers and though she was standing up on her own she felt as if he was still holding her, still touching her somehow.

  She nodded slowly, not trusting her voice wouldn’t come out as lust laden as her thoughts. The smile that lit up his face gave depth to those eyes of his, amusement seemed to flicker in them and she felt a pang of desire in her gut. This man couldn’t be the one from her dreams. But how else could she explain him? She hadn’t eaten more than toast and jam this morning after leaving Greyston’s manor, could that induce hallucinations of this level?

  “Perhaps you’d like to ride with me? I’ve got a private car.” He must have sensed her hesitation because he lightly touched her on the elbow. “Think of it as a way to make up for nearly plowing you down on my way to the tracks. Plus, I can manage carrying these bags of yours.” She noticed then, that he didn’t seem to have anything on him except fine clothes that almost appeared to be slept in.

  She looked from her bags to the track location. They weren’t numbered, but it was easy to tell which was which. Lugging her belongings might only lead to another head on collision and perhaps next time with someone who wasn’t such a gentleman. “I don’t know about sharing a car, sir. But perhaps you can carry my things the short distance while I make up my mind?”

  “It would be my pleasure, miss.” He nodded and grabbed her bags off the ground.

  “Miss Dorley.” She trotted behind him to keep up and was a little ruffled that his response to her name had been merely to look over his shoulder and wink. All she’d needed was his name, something to prove to her that this man was not the fantastic dream lover from the past weeks. He’d not answered once.

  “I’m to the right, two train cars in. Have you decided to take me up on my offer?”

  He flashed a dazzling smile her direction and again she felt an insane need to be with him. To take a stranger up on an offer. She was grabbing her ticket from her bag, wanting to check on the status of her own seat. She had a private car as well, but there was no need to tell the gentleman that. Based on their dressed attire it would have been easy for them both to assume to the social status of the other.

  The sound of the communicator jerked Eliza’s hand and she dropped the ticket on the floor. She cursed because she had been stepping onto the car and the ticket fluttered lifelessly to the ground below and there wouldn’t be any time to rescue it prior to departure. She snarled at no one at all and pretended she didn’t hear the ringing of the communicator. The device was still secretive to the people of the London and if she made a grab for her bag the gentleman would seemingly inquire what was going on. As it was the heads of a few people heading to their cars turned in her direction. She prayed a flush wasn’t creeping up her cheeks.

  “I don’t suppose I have a choice now do I?” She tried to force her voice to sound on the side of casualness, but feared the tension she was withholding leaked out anyway.

  He grinned again and winked, a second time now she’d seen playfulness in him. The man in her dreams was all hard body and hot kisses. He’d never appeared friendly before. See you’re letting your lack of bedding get to you, Eliza. Really. He offered her his arm and she lightly placed her hand in the crook of his elbow. The small streak of lust chimed again and she glanced up, the man was gazing down at her, all playfulness gone from his eyes. She was behaving foolishly, but if she could sit with her carry bags on her side of the seat she would be safe. She’d slipped a crystal gun into them, the one she’d always had hidden away in her room. Her aim was likely to be dastardly, but in close quarters, if this man proved to be anything more than a kind stranger, well she had a feeling even she wouldn’t miss.

  He stopped and carefully removed her arm from his at the door to their train compartment. “Ladies first, Miss Dorley.” He smiled again and once more she melted. If she didn’t find a way to get her dreams out of her head there was no telling what would occur in this car. The journey to Halifax was little over six hours and if he continued to prove to be such a temptation she was going to have to find a new place to stay.

  She watched as he carefully set her bags down on the bench along the right side of the room. But he didn’t sit. Instead, he twisted his bow tie and smiled warmly at her. “I know it’s early, but I find starting a train ride in the dining car is best. Not as many people clamoring for the food. Would you like to accompany me?”

  Eliza’s mouth spoke before she’d had any time to process the idea of a formal meal with a stranger. It could be akin to courtship and there were none present that would not castigate them as sinners for sharing a car. But it hadn’t stopped her. “Yes.”

  “Very good! I will go arrange something for us. Shall you meet me in the dining car for some tea in say, ten minutes?”

  She fumbled for the guild pocket watch she owned. They all owned one as a means to show off the work. But the hunter’s watches contained a small crystal shard, ones that matched the ones on the street designated to pick up traces of demon. Hers however was just a pocket time piece and her stomach grumbled as she checked the time. It wasn’t even ten past ten, but she was hungry now that he mentioned it. “That would be wonderful. Please let me change out of my traveling hat and coat and I shall meet you.”

  The man said nothing, simply turned and walked from the car. She blew out the breath she’d been holding. But whether it had been to release some of the sexual tension streaming through her body or simply one of exhaustion she wasn’t certain.

  “You’ve lost your mind, Eliza. This is positively ridiculous.” She pulled off the white gloves from her hand and shoved them into the bag closest to her. “Really though, it’s not as if he can do any harm to you in a public car and he certainly hasn’t cornered you to pickpocket. You have no pockets.” She rambled on, reasons to run, the one reason she couldn’t, as she took off her coat and hung it over the seat and removed her hat and placed it on the shelf above her seat. She wished there was a mirror to check on her hair, but she just had to hope that removing the hat hadn’t pulled the pins down and ruined the up-do.

  She walked quickly to the dining car, eager to get the man’s name and show herself how foolish she had been. Smiling to the attendant as he opened the door, her eyes found her companion quickly. He was handsome, even from a distance. Absolutely striking in his silken clothes really. She was so intent in staring she bumped into the table closest to her and the man jumped up, as if to catch her. She offered him a small smile and laughed.

  “Please sit, I am not the most graceful of women when I must wear such finery.” She hadn’t meant to let on that she didn’t always dress to these standards, but it had simply slipped out.

  He sat, but not before assuring she got to the table. If she wasn’t mistaken, she thought she heard a low growl from him as the dining attendant pulled her chair out for her, but that was foolish, it must have been the wheels grinding on the track. Perhaps it needed some oil.

  He smiled and thanked the waiter as they filled their glasses with chilled water and set a pot of steaming water down for mid morning tea. He was graceful she realized. The turn of his body, the tone of his voice. Perhaps graceful wasn’t the right word, charming. Charming was the proper term. This man was well and truly charming and she was sitting in a mostly empty dining car having a spot of tea with him. Her heart fluttered when he looked at her over his water glass.

  “I find cool water helps better when I am tired. Please, have a
s much tea as you would like.” As if to indicate his sincerity he picked up the white porcelain pot and poured it into the waiting tea cup. “I do not presume to know what type of tea you like, Miss Dorley. I assume you can handle that.” He winked and picked up his water glass once more.

  She carefully looked over the three tea satchels on the plate and picked up Chamomile; hoping it would still the attraction he kept stirring in her. “I’ve never done this before,” she blurted as she picked up her tea mug. He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “I mean, I’ve never taken up with-” she leaned in and lowered her voice considerably, “-strangers.” It only made him laugh louder and she knew she flushed as the table nearest to them, two elderly women, turned in their direction.

  “Well then, I shall consider myself honored. How can I put you more at ease?” His hand reached over and laid over hers and she sucked in a breath at the sensation. His thumb began to rub small circles over the topside of her hand and she wondered briefly if he wasn’t the well intentioned man she had thought. It wasn’t as if she was outside the guild often enough to judge men other than the scientists, clock workers and hunters.

  “Your name would be most appreciative. I don’t think anything about this situation is entirely in the realm of proper, but a name would help.” She saw something flicker in his black eyes. Something akin to panic and she pulled her hand out of his. She was beginning to lean more and more toward the idea that he was not a good man. But then, he smiled at her and leaned back in his chair.

  “My name is Willan.”

  Inwardly she frowned. So it was true. He wasn’t the real life embodiment of her fantasy come to life. She wondered if her look of disappointment was mirrored in her eyes and quickly tried to banish it. Honestly, shouldn’t you be happy he isn’t? How crazy would you be if you told a man you just met, you’d had nights of wild encounters with him in your sleep?