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

by Lexi Ostrow

  The impact of her words hit him like a cannonball. Trust. She wanted to trust a demon. Which meant that she wasn’t ready to be done with him. While he certainly wouldn’t say this was an emotional tie, it was a sexual one and the more he spent time with her, the more he admired her. All he knew of her was what she projected into her dreams. She was smart and passionate. She was looking for something she didn’t have and she cared deeply about the Alliance. All things he wanted to know more about, and he wasn’t even annoyed that he wanted to. She fascinated him.

  “Morning. I’ll be out front.” He bent down and took her hand, placed a kiss on the top before severing his connection to the dream and sending them both spiraling awake. She back in her room and he leaning against the bark of the tree.

  He opened his eyes and the sky was slowly fading from the dark of night. He couldn’t find the timepiece he’d stolen before meeting her at the train to check the hour, but if he wanted to have any semblance of energy he needed to get back to the inn and rest. “That’s not all you need to do, Willan. That’s not all.”

  * * *

  The sun shone into her room and she groaned as she rolled over in the bed, clutching the duck feather pillow. If there was only one good thing about being home it was the bed. She’d slept fitfully after Lucius had departed. The idea that she was remembering meetings that essentially weren’t happening concerned her slightly. If Felicia hadn’t said his breed was basically eradicated she would have attributed every dream, every nightmare, in the past thirty-three years to a demon. With a groan she forced her eyes to open, first the right and then the left. The light assaulted her and she grimaced, tempted to turn back over in the bed, but knowing she had things to do today.

  She grabbed for the pocket watch on the table and her eyes took a moment to adjust to the small black numerals. “Twenty past eight. Right then, I’d better get up.” They hadn’t set a meeting time, actually all they’d said was morning and she had a distinct feeling that if she randomly told her mother she was going for a morning walk she would never make it out of the house alone. “Perhaps I’ll just ask if they would like anything from the baker,” she muttered to herself as she got out of bed and pulled open the large cherry wood armoire doors. Her dresses all hung waiting, all the blues and the purples and the lush greens and yellows from her past. She’d known her mother would never discard them, but somehow seeing them reminded her of being a young child, of all the times she’d earned someone’s scorn simply for being a child. Eliza pushed the thoughts off and pulled a green dress complete with white skirts from the closet and laid it on the bed.

  Her eyes drifted over the row of corsets hanging to the right of the closest and she frowned. “I don’t suppose he’d mind terribly if I skipped the dreaded contraption.” She’d always despised corsets and her attire at the guild had never called for one, only during festivals and balls did she don the torturous device. In fact, none of the women at the guild wore them if they did not have to. It probably made them very improper, but many did not look upon the working class anyway. Her mind drifted briefly to the other reason why she did not wish to wear one. She wanted his hands on her, wanted him to have access to the swell of her breast through the thick layers of fabric. It should have disgusted her, but it didn’t. She may not trust Lucius Willan, but she wasn’t going to deny her baser instincts enjoyed his touch.

  She stepped into a pair of green slippers dyed to match the fabric of the dress and walked over to the window, grabbing her opera glasses from the top drawer as she walked. Her hand slowly pulled the thick pale blue curtain to the side and she raised the opera glasses to her eyes and peered out. She wasn’t certain if she expected to see Lucius or not. But there he was, a hundred yards across the perfectly cared for yard and looking as perfect for the society ladies in the area. He donned a black suit with what appeared to be a silver vest and white bloused shirt. He looked handsome, if not a little over dressed. Eliza pulled back from the window when his black eyes seemed to connect with hers from such a distance away. “Get a hold of your emotions. He may not be honest, this could all be a trick, a mission of his.” Nodding her head to no one in particular she let the curtain fall back into place over the window and left her room.

  As expected, her mother and father sat in the parlor. Her mother in a beautiful floral pink gown and her father in a cream colored suit. Both had a cup of tea on a saucer before them and her father had the London City Press, which was a week old due to transit times to Halifax, opened while her mother sat with needlepoint.

  “Good morning, Father, Mother.” Eliza walked in and kissed both of them on the cheek as she entered. She tried to force her breathing to be calm, to make this seem like nothing other than a sweets run. “Would either of you like something from the baker? I fear I have a craving for sweets.”

  Her father made a noncommittal grunt from behind the paper, but her mother stopped what she was doing. “Whatever would you go out for? We have servants who can make such a gun for us.” Her mother’s tone was haughty and held a clear disdain for the habit her daughter must have picked up of running to the bakers.

  “It’s such a fine morning, I just thought it would be a nice time for a walk in the park.” Her hands twitched and she wrung them together, cursing the sweat forming under the blasted white cloth gloves.

  “Well, it’s not like anyone will fancy you. You’re well past your prime and the whole of Halifax knows your dowry is allotted for other things by now.” This time her mother’s comment sliced through her, leaving her raw and exposed.

  Words caught in her throat as she tried to form a response, but she couldn’t. Tears stung in her eyes and she mentally chastised herself for letting her mother get to her. She simply nodded and turned to walk out the front door.

  When the door shut behind her, she gasped and the tears she’d been holding back fell. She would never be what her mother wanted and she’d known that for the past ten years. But hearing it stung every time. She stood, her back pressed up against the door for a few moments. When her eyes cleared from the tears she noticed that Lucius was pacing in front of the gate.

  “Let’s go play with a demon.”

  She felt as if the walk down the gravel path to the gates took an eternity and when she stopped, his eyes met hers and she felt a mixture of emotions, she wasn’t sure if they were hers or his, but they slammed into her. Lust, concern, wanting, curiosity.

  “Are you well? Your eyes are bloodshot. What happened after I woke us up?” His hands planted firmly on her shoulders and he bore his eyes into hers.

  She wished she could raise her arm and wipe away the fresh tears forming. But because of the way he was holding her and her healing shoulder, she couldn’t. He just couldn’t be what Felicia and Greyston said, not with the amount of concern that radiated behind the black depths of his eyes. Right now.

  Eliza sniffled and sputtered a bit before shaking her head. “I’m fine. I don’t quite meet with my mother’s standards on a daughter, it’s a touch of a sore subject and since I showed up unannounced I believe they know something is wrong at the guild.”

  Lucius growled and she wondered if it was on her behalf or something else. “About that-”

  “It’s nothing. I’m an inventor and sometimes even my mind needs a little time off.” She looked at the ground and hoped he got the message, topic off limits.

  His hands let go of her shoulders and he offered her his arm, just as he had done on the train. She looked at him then, between his eyes and his elbow and there was nothing she could do but put her hand on his elbow. He had plenty of explaining to do. Lust wasn’t trust and she could be ok with that for now.

  “Now, my lady, I’m unfamiliar with Halifax, if you can believe that. Where can I take you that won’t cause rumors of courtship?”

  For a moment she felt her stomach drop at the idea that he didn’t want it to look as if he were courting her and she chided herself for her stupidity. One man paying her mind did not excuse that he
was a killer, and not like those in the hunter parties.

  “That is a rough question. This area is high society, we may be outside of London, but this land has grown prosperous and many have holiday homes here. Simply walking down the street could signal such a thought and since you did not speak with my parents, I fear it may not be a good idea. It has been about eleven years since I’ve truly lived at the estate, but people will still recognize me.”

  “Well how about this. I will walk slightly ahead of you, there is something I wish to show you. Then we can use the same procedure and come back here and sit somewhere on your estate. If you do not think your parents would take notice of us around the back of your property? You have a beautiful tree back there, perfect for hiding behind I would think.” His lips were smiling and he winked at her.

  Her heart squeezed at his playfulness, another thing a killer really shouldn’t have. But Kellan did, even if he only killed the bad things. She let his offer roll over in her mind. Her parents rarely looked outside if her mother wasn’t hosting a tea and it was too early for the servants to be drying the linens.

  “Yes, I actually think that may work. But where would I be going first?” She didn’t like surprises. It was the intellectualist in her. The idea of something being fully unknown to her was an obstacle she didn’t appreciate.

  “Just follow behind me. It’s about one hundred meters from here, between two of these gigantic manors. I have a gift of sorts for you.”

  He piqued her interest and she motioned for him to lead on. She didn’t look back to see if anyone had seen her talking to a man and she did her best to stay a few yards behind him at all times and appear to be focusing on the trees. It was times like this that she loved the guild more than anything, and she was truly jealous of how the working class lived. Yes, there were still rules of propriety, but they could co-mingle whenever they wanted except in the chambers at the guild and it wasn’t uncommon to have mixed sexes in the pubs. It was a much more freeing lifestyle and as this outing would determine the fate for her and her…mate, it seemed foolish they had to go to such measures to stay separate.

  Lucius stopped three residences over, the Powell’s. Their house was an imposing mixture of turrets that looked as if they were trying to mimic one of the keeps of the medieval ages. He walked down the side of the house and she stopped following him. His choice made sense now. The house was big and made of grey brick, it cast a heavy shadow over the side of the house and he could do anything he wanted to her, and very few people would notice. He however, didn’t stop. She stood in front of the house, probably appearing daft to any who saw. But she wasn’t going to follow him in. A moment passed and he walked back out of the small side area and stopped a few paces from her. Nothing in his eyes gave his emotions away; they were cold, dead black pits.

  “If I was going to kill you I would’ve in your sleep. It takes a lot for me to manifest anything and while you’re only a female, I’m still not the strongest at combat.” He turned to go back to the alley, but stopped mid step. “We won’t even discuss the rage it’s building in me to think my mate thinks I could ever harm her.”

  He marched back into the side of the houses and she was left standing, the sun warming her skin. Can you trust him? She didn’t have the answer to that question. Everyone lied, she was certain of that. But his crossed a line when he and she engaged in carnal actions and he didn’t tell her the truth.

  With a sigh, she picked up her dress in case the grass was muddy and looked behind her once. There would be no one to see her slip between the houses, no one to potentially save her if needed. “Get on with it, Eliza. He’s said it more than once that he wouldn’t hurt you and how weak he is now if he wanted too.”

  She walked, still rather slow, behind the houses and gasped when she saw what Lucius’ gift to her was. Three Rusha Demons sat tied together, all alive based on the rise and fall of their blood red chests. These demons weren’t the nastiest the guild had fought, but they were deadly. One scratch from their nails and toxin flowed into the victim’s blood and there was no cure as of yet for it. They’d lost a handful of hunters to the creatures and it made capturing them as opposed to euthanizing them rather hard. Their whole body was a deep crimson red and they had two arms and two legs, each with three fingers on them. Their hands were shaped like elongated spheres and while they had eyes, there didn’t appear to be a nose beneath them and above the mouth full of tiny, razor sharp teeth.

  “How? Why?” she asked as she walked as close to them as comfort would allow. Their eyes were closed and she was grateful they could not look at her. Perhaps they were asleep, but she’d guessed Lucius had done something more sinister to them.

  “I wanted you to know. To see that I can do the right thing every once and awhile.”

  “Lucius, that’s not fair.”

  “Oh, but it is. Felicia and Greyston weren’t wrong. I headhunt for the most powerful demon alive and she has a vendetta against humans. Which means I kill them. I torture them with their darkest fears in their sleep and I like it. Love it even. The way it feels knowing you have the power to draw such primal reactions from someone is like none other. I suppose it’s akin to how you feel when you triumph making one of those deadly weapons of yours.” She took a step away from him. His words bled with truth and sent a chill through her. His admittance unnerved her. “But that’s not the point. The night I found you, I’d been sent to kill a guild member inside the guild, simply to raise panic.”

  “Is there some point to this? Or are you trying to scare me away from you, because that is all you’re succeeding in doing at this point.”

  His smile was cold, wicked even, and it didn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe I am. Maybe I want to show you exactly what I am before I explain to you exactly who I will be.” He paused, as if allowing her to throw her two pence into the ring, but she said nothing. “I found you and the minute I saw you I wanted you. I chose that other boy to spare you. Because what Seraphina wants, she gets. But that isn’t the end of it. Her next kill was to be Greyston.”

  She did gasp at that and he chuckled, the situation held no humor for her.

  “Obviously I haven’t done it, Felicia would have been here to kill me herself if I had. In fact I’ve warned him so he can be prepared. Do you know why I killed before Seraphina ordered me to, Eliza? Did Greyston share that with his betrothed to tell you? Well it’s how I live. Nightmare Demons need the fear given off just prior to death to survive. You can call me what you wish, but I cannot change my basic chemistry any more than you can change your intellect level for your mother.”

  His words stung as if he had slapped her. He may have been right. But killing innocents wasn’t ever going to be justifiable. Ever. “That doesn’t make it right. It just means it has to be accepted.” Her voice was quiet.

  “Exactly. I’ve never taken a young’s life, and I hope to never have too. I have taken a royal’s before. I’ve taken the coppers and the merchants and the whores. But not since I’ve met you have I taken anyone that wasn’t a direct order from the Queen of Hell, and again, you don’t disobey her.”

  Curiosity would be her second greatest downfall next to desire with this demon. His body was so close that as menacing as his words were, she could feel his warmth and she wanted his arms around her, even while she wanted to run away and never look back. “How have you been surviving?”

  “On vagrants.” She sighed in relief not realizing how much she needed him to be less than a demon. “I’ve been taking only those who’ve done something unjust. A rapist, a pick pocket who didn’t live in squalor and doing it to survive. It’s been harder, but I won’t lie, there is something even sweeter in their fear when they realize the end has come. So why did I tie demons up for you? Because I’m trying to prove to you that I am a bad demon, but I don’t always have to be. If I can figure a way to payback Seraphina and no longer serve her, I could swear to you, I would only kill those that deserve it. I’ve given you demons, hoped that three o
f them off the Halifax streets are a peace offering.” He took a step closer and ran a hand through her hair and tipped her chin up. “Mates don’t have to be more than sexual, Eliza. But I can’t help but think there’s so much more than just lust between us and I want the chance to try. Greyston got that chance, proof that even a hunter can open her eyes.”

  Quiet descended on them. He stopped his speech and she didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t know if she could cope with a murderer. What would she see every time she looked at him? Would she see the man who brought her to the edge of passion or would see the soulless eyes of a demon finishing a kill? She closed her eyes and an image of Lucius popped into her head. He was clothed in as fine suit as he was now, his body gleamed in some sort of candle light where cloth didn’t cover his skin and his hand outstretched, as if to ask her to take it. And she knew her answer. She would never see the killer in him, because he’d never shown that side of himself. If he was willing to change who he had been, they she would let him, because she wouldn’t admit it, but the idea of who and what he was fascinated her at the same time as it disgusted her and his gesture wasn’t unappreciated.

  “Let me call this in.” She stepped back from him and pulled up the sleeve of her dress, revealing her communicator.

  “Oh I have some questions for you, love.” Lucius seemed playful again, all traces of violence drained from his voice.

  “Felicia. I need you to do me a favor. Don’t send anymore hunter teams up here to watch over me. You’ll never believe this, Lucius brought me demons.”

  “He did what?” Her friend’s voice was incredulous.

  “I don’t have time to explain. Just get the Alliance to dispatch one of their teams already stationed here to bring them in. Or kill them, whatever it is hunters do.” She didn’t let Felicia answer before she pushed the button to disrupt the vibration pattern.