by Sam Cheever
He stared at me for a beat and then looked down at our hands, sighing. Turning his hand to clasp mine, he gave my hand a squeeze and then pulled away. “What you’re talking about is black witchcraft. My coven practices white witchcraft. There is no place for dark magic in our world.”
“I know that’s how the coven started and even that many of your members, like you, are strict practitioners of white magic, completely shunning black. But you can’t possibly be naïve enough to think no one in your coven has dabbled in black, Raoul.”
His fist came down hard on the counter. “Damn it, Astra, let it go!”
“I can’t.”
He pushed his face so close to mine I inhaled fruity drink fumes from his breath. His lips looked soft and plump and for the tiniest fraction of time I wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Then he grabbed my wrist in a hard grip and gritted his teeth and kissing became the furthest thing from my mind.
“You, of all people should understand how dangerous the Supreme High Witch is, Astra. I will deal with her and the coven. You have to trust me in this.”
My eyes had grown very wide. I tried to tug my arm away from him. It hurt more than a little bit. Although I was a kick ass demon hunter, I felt a girly-type whimper building and I was afraid I might embarrass myself.
After a few insistent tugs he seemed to realize what he was doing and looked down at my arm, dropping it as if he’d been shocked. “God, I’m sorry, Astra. I just haven’t been myself lately.” He turned away and grabbed his drink tube, taking two long swallows of the liquid inside and shuddering before turning back to me.
“I’ve asked for some personal leave from the Strange Deaths Department. I need to get my head screwed back on straight before I can go back to solving gruesome murders and dark world dilemmas.”
I nodded. “I know that and I’m sorry to dump this on you. But if the demons make good on their threat, a lot of human blood is going to be spilled. I have a feeling that I don’t have much time to get ahead of this. I need your help.”
Raoul’s shoulders drooped a bit and he took another swig from the tube. “What do you want me to do?”
I sighed inwardly. His voice sounded so strained. “I need you to be my eyes and ears inside the coven. Anything you can find out about the witches’ involvement in this will help. Can you do that for me?”
He stood in front of the sink staring down at the floor. His dark brown curls drooped over his forehead, hiding his eyes from me. But I knew what I would see there if he looked at me. He was weary and frustrated. He was fighting some kind of internal battle that was overwhelming him.
And I was piling more stress on.
After a moment he nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out, Astra.” He glanced up. “But I’m not making any promises. I won’t spy on my coven for you.”
It wasn’t perfect but it was better than nothing. “I understand. Thanks, Raoul.”
I left him still staring at the floor, the drink tube clutched tightly in his right hand.
CHAPTER THREE
Bad Demon!
Her scaly foe did look at her, with eyes afloat in fear
That big bad demon hunter girl, should zap him in the ear.
Astra, come to me.
I jumped as my mental drawers were invaded and cursed. Hades, Dialle, you shouldn’t sneak up on a girl that way. I almost peed myself.
I shivered under the heat of his soft chuckle in my mind. Kinky. I need you here with me, now. Gerch and I have Alcott’s second and we need your...talents...to break him.
What! Have you lost your frunkin’ mind?
There was a significant pause before he responded. No, I don’t think so. But if I don’t soon get to plow your love cave again I might go a little mad.
My love cave? I was laughing so hard I had to lean against the Viper to keep from falling down. No way did you just say ‘plow my love cave”.
I could hear the grin in his voice when he responded. Alas, that’s exactly what I said. I’ve been reading human sex novels just to get an idea how I might woo you more successfully.
I wiped tears from my cheeks, still laughing. A couple of retro Goth types passing by on the street turned to look at the crazy lady laughing to herself and I gave them a little wave. Well talking like that won’t seduce me. I might crack a rib laughing but rolling around on the floor in hilarity isn’t exactly conducive to hot monkey sex.
Dialle sighed in my mind. I guess I’ll just have to throw you on the floor and have my way with you then.
I was pretty sure he was joking. Maybe. But thoughts of my recent elevator experience brought embarrassed heat to my face.
Where are you?
Good job changing the subject, Astra.
Dialle gave me the address and I climbed into the Viper, programming the location into the built-in navigational system and giving it a verbal command. “Engage and climb.” As my sleek red Viper lifted away from the ground, I sat back in the soft leather seats with a sigh.
All joking aside, I still wasn’t sure how I was going to handle the “relationship” thing with a royal devil. Charming though they might be, the royal devils were the most powerful and dangerous of all the dark worlders.
With a family heritage that included fallen angel, royal devil and possibly even some witch, I had always walked a fine line between good and evil. Especially since my line of work included vaporizing demons and other dark worlders when they got out of line.
The last thing I needed was to get involved with one of the royals. But unfortunately I hadn’t been allowed to make that decision for myself. Prince Dialle had claimed me with a magic daemon hickey that throbbed when he was near and gave off sparks whenever any other male type creature tried to move in on his territory. It was juvenile and outlandish. And I’d been told it was, for all intents and purposes, pretty much a solid contract between me and my luscious royal devil. Even though I definitely did not remember signing that contract, with or without my blood.
I closed my eyes, deliberately pushing the difficulties of being a royal devil’s main squeeze to the back of my mind. I could only deal with one dilemma at a time. My life was the last circle of Hell and my soul was definitely cooked.
I touched down in Angel City Cemetery and emerged from the Viper, looking around. This is such a cliché Dialle, you know that right?
I am aware of a certain vampire-in-the-cemetery aura to the location but I didn’t want to take him back to the court until my father cools down and Demonica was out of the question for this.
Which crypt are you in?
Diablo. It has a very large angel on the door. From what I know of the Diablo clan that’s a sacrilege in itself.
I quickly found the Diablo crypt and dragged the door open. Of course it creaked like a bad horror movie set. Cobwebs hung in tatters down both sides, giving evidence to the recent passage of several bodies through the door.
It was dim in the crypt and had an earthy smell, overlaid with the sour taint of mold. I squinted toward the back of the small building but saw nothing except stone shelves with skeletons on them. “Dialle?”
Below the earth, Astra.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I don’t think that I am, no. There are caverns below this crypt. My people have used them for centuries to move about the city.
When I moved deeper into the building, I spotted a glimmer of light at the back of the crypt, near the floor. I stepped carefully through the cluttered space, praying the cracking noise I was hearing under my soft leather boots was not somebody’s delicate finger bones.
I realized as I reached the back wall that there was an opening in the floor and a ladder that dropped down into it. The light in the space below the crypt was only bright enough to illuminate the floor at the bottom of the ladder.
As I stood there looking down a cold draft traveled up from the cavern, bringing with it the smell of death and decay and something that wasn’t dead but smelled like it should be. Demon.<
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I turned and reluctantly lowered myself down the ladder. I am so going to kill you if I ruin my sexy new boots in this cavern, Dialle.
You can try lovely halfling but I still think Gerch and I can best you.
I snorted. Two against one. Bad odds for you.
Au Contraire lovely Astra, in the past I have found this particular formation to work very nicely for me.
Pig.
Oink, oink.
I snorted again and looked up from picking my way through marshy patches of ground to see Dialle and Gerch, with a very unhappy looking demon chained to a chair between them.
Dialle smiled at me. “Welcome, Mx. Phelps. Are you ready to perform a service for the king?”
I slanted my sea green orbs at him and raised one eyebrow. Apparently Dialle didn’t want the big bad demon to know we were...ummm...friendly. Okay, I could play that game too.
“I’m ready to hear what you’re requesting, Prince Dialle. I can’t promise to help you until I know what you want me to do.”
The demon’s beady wet eyes darted back and forth between Dialle and me. It was obvious Dialle had pumped up my rep a bit and had the demon scared out of his scaly skin at the prospect of what I would do to him.
Astra Q Phelps, bogyman.
Dialle looked from me back to the quivering mountain of grey leather in the chair and smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “I want you to ask Alcott’s second a few questions. He hasn’t been forthcoming with his responses to this point.” He turned away from the demon and faced me. His smile became less scary and more intimate as he met my gaze. “I think you can get the answers I want.”
I stared into his suddenly blue gaze and gasped. Don’t pull that great unifier shit with me, Dialle. I doubt the angels would sanction this questioning.
He inclined his dark head just the tiniest bit as if he were ceding me the point. You might be correct, my princess. But you know they will sanction the results if we keep the human cattle from slaughter.
I thought about that, wondering what my guardian angel, Myra would say. Then I decided she would tell me to do whatever I needed to do to save the humans. At least I thought that was what she would tell me. She could be hard to read at times, being a cranky, contrary bitch.
Walking toward the demon I resisted an impulse to hold my breath. There was nothing worse than eau de demon, especially when you had to be up close and personal.
Staring into the creature’s darting, beady eyes, I smiled. My smile wasn’t a nice one either. Poor demon.
“Give me your name.”
He just looked at me, the oily discharge that passed for sweat in a demon oozed out of his overlarge pores at an accelerated rate but he didn’t speak. I gave him two points for guts and one point for brains. It was only a name after all.
I reached out and placed a finger on the very tip of one large jagged ear. An electric current raced from my finger into the sensitive tip of the ear and he screamed, jerking in the chair. Then he opened his wide mouth and showed me brown teeth, panting. “Depla.” His voice was clenched with lingering pain. The demon is oh so very tender about the ears.
I nodded. “That’s good, Depla. That’s a good start. See how we’re getting along now?” I smiled a slightly nicer smile and reached toward the other ear. He tried to jerk away from me but he was chained too tightly to the chair to go very far.
I touched the tip of the ear but didn’t release my power into it. “Now if you answer my questions we won’t have to cook the other ear and, eventually, you’ll be able to slither back under the rock you climbed out from this morning.” I leaned as close to his oily face as I could force myself to go. “How much pain you feel right now is totally up to you, Depla.”
He glared at me through beady red eyes. Tears had gathered in the corners. Not a very brave demon after all.
“Why are the demons trying to break away from the royals?”
Depla shrugged, apparently that was an easy one. “King Alcott is tired of being under Dialle’s thumb.”
He is no longer allowed to call Alcott king, Astra. My father has decreed it and he knows it. He needs to be reminded of that.
I gave Depla a jolt. As the demon screamed and writhed I walked away a couple of steps. I pretended I was giving him some space but I really just wanted to take a deep breath of air that wasn’t awash with rancid demon.
When he grew quiet again I stepped forward, placing a hand on his rock-like shoulder.
He flinched.
My bad side came out in a big way and I had to force myself not to smile. I liked it when the big bad dark worlders were afraid of little ole me.
I’m secure enough to admit it.
“Now Depla, you and I both know that, since he has decided to go against the Royal Court, Alcott has lost the right to call himself a king. So, from now on, let’s just call him Ally, shall we?”
All three males turned to look at me with varying degrees of disbelief. I shrugged. “I like it. It sounds harmless and fun. Ally.”
Dialle chuckled softly and shook his dark head.
Gerch cracked his wide, craggy lips in what for him was a smile.
Depla’s eyes got even beadier if that were possible and filled with a deeper level of hate.
“Also, never mention King Dialle’s name again without the king part. The royals are very sensitive on that point. Aren’t you Prince Dialle?”
“Yes we are, Mx. Phelps.”
Repositioning myself near Depla’s other shoulder, I placed my finger on the first ear, which was still very red and had swelled to nearly twice its normal size.
“Now, let’s continue. How does Ally plan to talk King Dialle into letting the demons form your own court?”
Depla squinched his eyes shut like a child trying to ignore something he didn’t like. But he didn’t answer me.
I snorted. “You’re kidding me right?”
Depla just sat there, squinched.
Instead of the ear I placed my whole hand on his throat and threw my power at him. The beady, red eyes flew open and his mouth jerked wide on a soundless scream. His whole body started to jerk until I had to move my feet so the chair legs wouldn’t land on them. His arms and legs went completely stiff and pushed outward against the chains, ripping deep gouges across all four limbs as they jerked against the unrelenting restraints. Blood flooded from his pores and ran down his face and neck.
When I thought I’d made a strong enough impression on him I dropped my hand and stepped back, nodding to Dialle to finish the questioning.
I didn’t think he would need me anymore.
The demon slumped back into the chair, his muscles finally going soft but still jerking periodically with aftershocks. The long bristle hairs on his head and body were standing straight up in the air, waving comically in the cool death-washed breeze of the cavern. His head lay on his chest and his mouth was open, leaking saliva and blood down his shirt.
Gerch jerked the demon’s head upward with a large, craggy hand under his chin and then dropped it. “I think she killed him.” He said it as if he were discussing whether he should wear the black slacks or the blue. No more emotion than that.
I shook my head. “I felt his life force. I was monitoring it. I knocked him for quite a loop but he’s not dead.”
Dialle looked at me and arched one elegant black brow. “Remind me to bring a third along when I try to best you, my princess. You have certainly put the whoopass on this demon. I’m impressed.”
I laughed shakily. Using that much power had taken it out of me and I was glad for a chance to catch my breath and firm up my knees. “You really need to stop reading bad human novels, Dialle.” I arched a brow. “And don’t call me that. I’m not your frunkin’ princess.”
Grinning, he turned and punched the demon hard in the stomach. Depla sat up with a gasp and then doubled over again, coughing.
Everybody knows the quickest way to a demon’s brain is through his stomach.
We waited until
Depla retrieved his air and then Dialle placed a hand on either arm of the chair and fixed his formidable royal stare on the panting demon. “Tell me what you know about the plot demon or I will bring the lovely Mx. Phelps back to finish you off. Slowly.”
Depla’s watery gaze slid to me and then quickly away. “Kin... I mean A-Ally plans to capture humans and hold them hostage until the devil king agrees to meet with him to discuss our release.”
Dialle cocked his dark head in surprise. The silky mass of his hair shifted across his broad, muscular shoulders and I immediately forgot my weakened state. Licking my lips I slid my gaze down to his yummy backside and felt heat sliding downward to pool between my legs.
Hades! I gave myself a mental slap and jerked my gaze back to the demon. Nothing kills lust like looking at a demon.
“Are you telling me Alcott...”
I cleared my throat.
Dialle didn’t turn around but I saw his shoulders stiffen a bit in response to my gentle reminder. “Ally,” his voice held a smile, “only wants to entice the king to the table for talks?”
Depla nodded enthusiastically. Either he truly believed that or he was trying really hard to pretend he did.
Dialle stood up and turned away from Depla, looking me in the eyes as he asked the next question. “And what will he do if King Dialle refuses as he most certainly will?”
“He will start killing the human hostages. Then he will make it look like the royals are killing them.”
Dialle nodded, a strange smile flitting across his gorgeous face before he turned back to the demon. “And who is he working with in this questionable endeavor?”
Depla at first tried to pretend he didn’t understand the question but when Dialle shot me a look the demon quickly regained a couple of brain cells. “The k...Ally has not shared this information directly with me...” the demon sat up straighter and his red eyes stretched wide as Dialle turned a displeased countenance on him, “but I heard him talking to another.”
Dialle’s voice was no longer pleasant. It was apparent to everyone in that cavern that he had grown tired of playing the game. “What other?”