Winn grinned in return, the smile so similar Colt swore he could have been looking in the mirror—all except for the fat mustache with the pointed tips and the shorter haircut. A log in the small woodstove under the boiler crackled and popped, sending a shower of sparks up the flue. His brother’s gaze flicked to Colt’s hip. “You packing silver?”
Colt gave a single curt nod, surprised at the unspoken permission Winn was giving him to go hunting in Bodie. He turned the knob on the door, ready to leave. “Always do.”
“Good.” Winn took a deep breath, his broad chest expanding, and let it out real slowly, his blue eyes steady. “Colt, if you need help, holler.”
Colt nodded, knowing he could count on Winn if things went to hell, then walked out the door to find a demon.
Chapter 4
“Hope to hell this works.”
While Colt had gotten rid of a lot of demons, mostly by hitting them dead center in the forehead with one of Marley’s demon killer bullets or with various other means combined with sheer dumb luck, he sure as shit had never summoned one. He looked at the instructions he’d dug out of a moldy old book he’d borrowed from Marley.
The high desert seemed immense in the darkness, with only the stars, a thick half moon, and his small campfire for light. Down in the floor of the valley Bodie crackled with life, but out here among the sagebrush and spindly creosote the desolation closed in, scented with wood smoke.
Colt lit four candles, one at each point of the compass, holding the fifth lit candle in his hand as he sketched a pentagram in the powder-fine dirt at his feet and enclosed it in a circle.
Marley had told him summoning a demon was about the stupidest thing he’d ever heard of, but had helped him find a reference to it nonetheless.
Colt eyed the lines in the dirt. The book had said it would hold a demon, and that the demon couldn’t get out of the circle until it was released by the summoner or until sunrise, whichever happened first. Sure didn’t look like much protection to him, but what the hell. Hunting came with risks.
He drew in a deep breath, letting the Latin words hum and vibrate through his chest and across his lips as he spoke them slowly and deliberately, lending his own sense of urgency to them.
A shimmer in the air, rather like the warping of a mirage in the desert heat, rippled just above the circle, followed by a curl of black smoke that grew denser until it began to form a physical shape.
At first he mistook it for a trick of the firelight. His breathing hitched as the shape solidified into a feminine form with generous uptilted breasts and gracefully sloped pale shoulders. He glanced up and found himself face-to-face with a demon far more beautiful than any had a right to be. Damn.
She looked like she’d just risen out of bed, her deep red hair a silken, fiery cloud that tumbled loose and wavy down her back. Her pale skin flushed a rosy pink, which set off her unnaturally deep green eyes. They sparkled with pleasure and delight, as if she were truly pleased to see him, and tangled his gut into a fierce mix of wariness and attraction.
Dressed in nothing more than a short black silk nightgown that dangled by miniscule strips of black satin ribbon over her bare shoulders, she—it, he reminded himself—was showing more skin than he’d ever seen of a woman outside of the sheets. Her long, bare legs were so creamy smooth he bet silk would be jealous. A seductive, knowing curve shaped her full lips into a come-hither smile that could bring any man to his knees.
“Aren’t you just a tall drink of water?” As if the sight of her weren’t enough, the low, husky quality of her voice danced across his skin, making him hot and hard at the same time. “What’s your pleasure, cowboy? I assume you summoned me for a reason.”
Colt struggled to collect enough moisture in his mouth to get his tongue to work properly. “I want you to open a door for me.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat to cover it.
Her eyes grew half-shuttered, the emerald color still unnaturally bright through the fan of her thick, sable lashes. “A man as strong as you could open any door for himself, I’m sure.” She stepped forward and met with an invisible barrier, then glanced down at the lines he’d drawn in the dirt. “The circle only lasts until daybreak. Then what?” Her long, tapered fingers skimmed along the barrier, depressing the pads of her fingertips, as if it were glass.
The momentary break in her gaze on him snapped some sense into Colt. He wasn’t going to take the chance that Marley was wrong about that circle holding a demon. He leveled his revolver at her. The metallic click of it cocking sounded louder than it should have in the air between them, but then Colt wasn’t packing just any ordinary revolver. It was a Hunter model designed special for his pa by Samuel Colt himself, and the very gun he’d been named after.
The demon eyed the gun, caution flickering across her features. “You’re a Hunter, aren’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The corner of her mouth rose higher in delight. “A polite one.”
“Yes, m—” Colt caught himself. She was already wrapping her charm or spell or whatever the hell it was around him again. He glanced away, deliberately trying to keep her from getting a hold on his common sense.
“You just want me to open a door? That’s an odd request, coming from a Hunter.” She crisscrossed her arms around her narrow waist, which made her breasts press together, drawing his attention to the dark shadow between them. “Why do you really need me?” Her voice drizzled like warm honey over him, smooth and sweet, and oh so tempting. Damn. Perhaps he should have covered his ears too.
“Only a demon can open the door,” he replied. He refused to make eye contact with her now or look at how the firelight danced across her pale skin. He focused instead on the flicker of the candle flames that marked the edges of the circle.
“Ah. So you want me to unlock this door for you?”
“Yes.”
“And what will I get out of it?”
Colt moved on instinct, flicking his gaze upward, cocking and pointing the barrel of his gun at the center of her forehead in the same instant. “How about I don’t blow your sweet ass back to Hell right here, right now?”
Her eyes turned hard, assessing, taking in the measure of him like he was a raw chunk of gold and estimating what he’d be worth. “Tsk, tsk. No need to be rude. After all, you are the one who summoned me. And as a Hunter, surely you know no demon works for free. There’s always a price.”
Colt hesitated. “What do you want?”
The demon paused, dropping her lashes just a fraction and looking at him in a way that oozed sexual appeal. “A kiss.”
“That’s it?”
“A kiss for opening the door,” she amended, her full lips opening just a fraction, drawing his attention and filling his mind with curiosity about what it would be like to kiss her—not just slow or quick, but soft and deep.
He ran his finger along the edge of his stubbled jaw, trying to ignore the snap of energy that fizzled and sparked in the air between them. Every normal male reaction in him said hell yes, but his brain was pulling back on the reins with a determination he couldn’t ignore.
“Surely a kiss isn’t too much to ask.” Her voice was fine and smooth, and seared a path right to his belly just like aged whiskey.
“That’s what worries me. Every other demon I’ve ever met has asked for my soul.”
Her sensual mouth curved into a subtle smile, just a bare uptilt of the lips that made his heart pound hard first in his chest, then down lower in his groin. “Well, perhaps I’m different from any other demon you’ve met.”
Colt eyed her up and down. She sure as hell had that right. His mouth suddenly seemed desert dry.
She shifted, turning and putting her back against the solid invisible barrier of the circle. The barrier pressed against the curve of her ass, making the silk there look like it might have been painted on her skin. He swallowed hard.
“Surely you’ve kissed a girl before?”
“’Course I have.”
“You’re not a girl. You’re a demon, and if I kiss you I’m sealing a pact between us.”
The soft pink tip of her tongue slicked a slow, glistening trail over her top lip. “That’s right. You kiss me. I open your door.”
“What about my soul?”
She shrugged. “It’s not part of this accord.”
“But you want it.”
Hunger flared in her eyes. “Of course I want you.”
Colt leaned forward, then abruptly stopped and shook himself. What the hell was he thinking? She was a demon, and there was no way a demon was going to just blithely go on its way without his soul. But for that brief space of a second, she hadn’t seemed like an unnatural thing at all. She’d seemed like the most enticing woman he’d ever met.
He stepped back a pace from the circle and tried to think on something that didn’t have to do with how she looked. Not that the distance was going to do him any good. The smooth, warm wood of his revolver usually soothed his nerves when he was on edge, but not tonight. He began to pace.
“What kind of demon are you?”
“Does it matter? Or were you looking for something particular?”
Colt turned, pacing back the other way. “Nah. Guess it don’t matter much.”
“You’re stalling, Hunter. Why is that? Do we have an accord? My help for your kiss?”
Colt’s brain spun trying to think of all the possible ways this could go wrong, and there were plenty. But he’d battled far worse all on his own than one lone demon who looked like sex personified. He stopped pacing and stared hard at the demon. “Why would you help me?”
“Maybe I like you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Maybe I’d like to.”
Colt stepped closer to the invisible barrier formed by the circle that held her his prisoner, pulled by some magnetic attraction he couldn’t resist. Up close her skin was even smoother, almost the texture of rose petals, and damn, but she smelled just as good.
“I thought demons all smelled like sulfur.”
Her husky laugh made him want to lean in and sample her lush mouth. “Only certain demons.”
“And you’re different.”
“I’m a lover, not a fighter, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“So how do you steal souls?”
“Oh, I never steal them.” She batted her eyelashes at him in absolute innocence. “Men give them to me willingly.”
“Why would they do that?” Even as the words left his mouth, gut deep he knew why. She was the damn near sexiest thing he’d ever been this close to.
Her lips formed a beguiling Mona Lisa smile and her words came out a sultry whisper of promise. “Because I can do things for them. I can offer them pleasures no mere mortal woman can.”
He bet. “Good enough to kill ’em, huh? You must be one hell of a succubus.”
She shrugged her delicate, creamy shoulders. One of the slender ribbon straps slipped, sending the edge of her gown tipping precariously low. Both hands itched to touch her. Ah, hell.
He swallowed hard. “Your charms are wasted on me, demon.” Colt was hoping God didn’t plan on striking him dead right then and there for that whopper of a lie. “I only need you for one thing.”
“I have a name, you know.”
Colt’s tongue tied into a knot. “Name?” he choked.
“I was a mortal girl before I became what I am now. My name hasn’t changed just because I’ve become immortal.”
He stared hard at her. Ever since the day that demon had come for him as a boy, he’d never thought of them as anything other than creatures of the damned who had no soul. But this was different. She was different.
She gave a dramatic sigh, leaning her head back against the barrier of the circle. “It’s Lilly Arliss.”
It took a moment for him to control his thoughts enough to find words to answer her. “But that’s so normal.”
She gifted him with a feminine smile that fisted through his chest and took away his ability to breathe. He thought he might have even seen a glimmer of admiration in those eyes. “You have no idea how much that means to someone like me.”
“Something.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Something like you.”
The pleasant curve of her mouth disappeared instantly, the intoxicating sensation she was causing evaporating like fog, leaving a chill behind. “Now you are wasting my time, Hunter.”
“I’ve got a name too. Colt Jackson.”
She crossed her arms, her eyes hard and glittering like cut emeralds. “And why should that matter to me when I am no more than a means to an end for you?”
There wasn’t a damn reason why it should, but at the same time Colt desperately wanted it to matter to her. Perhaps more than any other woman he’d ever met.
“Even now you’re probably thinking of a way to send me back to Hell as soon as you’ve finished with me.” She huffed. “You’ve no more honor than any other being, human or supernatural. At least my offer was genuine.”
That stung. Colt’s shoulders tensed. He had honor, dammit. Probably more than most men. His life as a Hunter had been built upon caring for those who didn’t know what nasty uglies there really were out in the world. But considering how ruthless his reputation might be on the other side, he thought she might have a reason to see his actions in an unflattering light.
“What if I let you go when you’re done with helping me?” The minute the words left his lips, he wondered why he’d even offered. What was he thinking? Letting a demon go free? What the hell had compelled him?
But then Lilly looked at him. Her deep green eyes pierced him, making him feel stripped bare to his very bones. And he knew exactly why he’d made the offer.
“Would you really do that?”
“As long as I get to keep my soul after you’ve helped me, then, yep, I’ll release you when we’re done.”
“Would you be willing to help me instead?”
That took him aback. Why would any demon need his help? They were mutual enemies, good vs. evil.
“Depends.”
She tipped her head slightly to the side. “What if it involved getting back at an even more powerful demon than me?”
Hell yeah. That, he was all for. “I might consider it. Who’s the demon?”
“Rathe. Know him?”
Colt didn’t trust himself to speak. Yeah. He and Rathe were going to lock horns pretty soon, one way or another. Better to have an ally in demon form than go up against the Lord High archdemon alone. “I’ll help you.”
“Then kiss me.”
Colt had held back as long as he could. He leaned in toward the barrier and was surprised to find it melted around him, warming his skin like a ray of sunshine as he passed through it into the circle he’d cast. Inside the circle her allure was even more powerful. Colt’s head swam and his palms grew damp. It was as if someone or something had reached into his head and pulled out his most intimate fantasies, making them real.
Miss Arliss waited for him, her oval face tipped up at him, her eyes shining with expectation. His skin tightened. Damn, was it stifling hot inside this circle? He suddenly remembered this same sensation the first time he’d approached one of the neighbor girls before the stranger had come and changed the course of his life. She’d been a sweet thing. An innocent, creamy-sweet girl who looked like she was spun out of sugar and dreams. But Miss Arliss was far more suited to his grown interests. She wasn’t innocent, but neither was she jaded and used up. She was the perfect blend of enticement and allure bathed in moonlight.
He couldn’t resist the temptation to touch her and see for himself if her skin was as soft as it looked. He grazed his fingers across her cheek, his thumb brushing the edge of her jaw. Her skin was smoother than heated silk.
He moved in closer, her mouth a breath away from his. The warm femini
ne scent of her hit him full force as he inhaled. The fragrance of her desire made his own need escalate. Colt’s reserve snapped. He crushed his mouth down on hers and found it soft, warm, and willing. His desire to feel her, skin to bare skin, to sink into the warmth she offered, raged inside him.
The kiss was far more than he anticipated, drawing out not just a full range of hunger and desire, but drilling even deeper into his soul, pulling out of him the desire to tuck her against him, protect her. An image flashed in his mind of him kissing her on a wide front porch as she wrapped her arms around him, welcoming him home.
But that was impossible. A total fantasy. As long as he was a Hunter he’d never have a proper home. He’d never have a wife or any kind of family of his own, because he wouldn’t risk them.
He looked down into the shimmering depths of her eyes, fighting off the urge to lose himself there. Through the sensual haze filling his mind, his training pushed forward, bringing him back to sanity. Reminding him that part of a succubus’s power was the ability to make a man’s deepest fantasies seem so real he could hold them.
She was a demon. A powerful one, and he couldn’t afford to forget it, no matter how desirable she seemed. He pulled back, breathing hard, a hostile mix of yearning and wariness swirling in his gut. “I’m warning you.” He was disgusted to hear how thick and lust-filled his voice sounded. “I don’t care how good you are. If you cross me, I’ll send you back to Hell in a heartbeat.”
Chapter 5
The dark velvet of the night closed in around the shifting yellow circle of firelight. “Threatening your partner is hardly the way to start a productive relationship,” Lilly said.
She stared deep into those determined blue eyes and tamped down the urge to rip him to shreds right then and there. While it might be satisfactory for a moment, in the long run it would ruin her chance to get the damn piece of the Book of Legend Rathe had demanded. She’d pictured meeting Colt Jackson so many times in her mind, and none of those images had matched what was happening between them now. The smell of him, virile male mixed with desert sun and leather, still swirled in the limited air supply of the circle he’d cast.
The Hunter Page 4