Howler's Night

by Marie Hall

  My mouth watered. My pulse thundered.

  Standing, and wearing a pride-filled smirk, she bent over, giving me a flash of what lay beneath, and my breathing became twice as hard. She snatched up a pair of white-and-black checkered heels that had a good four-inch heel and slipped them on, but the best part about them was the way they laced around her delicate ankles.

  “I changed my mind,” I said in a voice grown gruff. “Take it off.”

  Laughing, she waltzed over to me and laid a hand on my rapidly beating heart. “You jealous?”

  Banding my arms around her waist, I growled, and the sound of it covered her in a wash of goose bumps.

  “Oh, Asher.” She leaned up on her toes, even though we were pretty much eye level now, and nipped at my nose. “This is just a little window shopping. They can look, but they can never touch.”

  Wanting to make damn sure she understood that, I slipped my hand down the front of her top, popping one of her breasts free and palming it in my hand. She moaned, and the sound of it drove me wild.

  “Mine,” I said, and it was a primitive form of claiming, but I wasn’t playing any games with this woman. Not anymore.

  “Always, Greed, always yours,” she moaned.

  ~*~

  We just barely made it to the big top in time. Bubba was already outside, dressed in his top hat and coat tails, brandishing his cane at the spell-bound audience. I’d seen the routine a thousand times, but tonight I was nervous because I had no idea what Gluttony had planned for my demon.

  Pandora patted my chest. “Relax, big boy. I’m gonna be fine. But I’d be worried about everyone else if I was you.”

  She glanced at the audience, and a definite gleam of anxiety flashed in her stormy eyes.

  Breathing out harshly, I nodded. “I’m sorry. You don’t need me back here stressing you out.”

  Bubba’s eyes looked around the crowd and then lit up when he finally spied Pandora. I knew the time had come for her first test.

  Rubbing her back as we made our way toward the big man, I whispered, “I’ll be in the back.”

  She hip bumped me. “Protecting me as always. I get it. But don’t freak out about what might happen, okay? I don’t expect this to be easy, whatever it is.”

  “That’s code for don’t interfere, Ash,” I grumped. “I get it.”

  Chuckling, she shook her head. “Give me a word.”

  “What?”

  She paused as an obviously over-excited human male rushed ahead of her to tear through the tent flaps.

  “A word you want me to use if I think it’s too much. Our safe word.”

  I twirled her around. “And you’ll use it? If you can’t take it, you’ll use it?”

  “Of course. I swear.” She placed her hand on my shoulder.

  Bubba joined us then. “Gotta get inside before things get too rowdy.”

  She looked at me expectantly, and I knew the word for us. “Truth.”

  Her smile was soft. “Okay then.” And with a gentle kiss on my cheek, she walked into the tent.

  Bubba was about to join her when he pressed his hand to my chest, stalling me. “I want you to know that what you see will probably be uncomfortable. But that girl is about the only real friend I’ve ever had, and I’ll do anything to help her get well, so you need to trust me.”

  I clenched my jaw, shoving my hands into my jeans. “And if I don’t? If I think you’re pushing her too far?”

  “Then I’ll fight to keep you out.”

  Eyes narrowing, I said beneath my breath, “You know you’re no match for me.”

  “So be it.”

  Neither of us was willing to break eye contact first; predators are wired that way. It was Pandora shoving her head out of the tent and giving us both the evil eye that finally broke us apart.

  “Boys, boys, if you don’t mind, it’s time to train.”

  Chapter 21

  Pandora

  Bubba had us sequestered in a hidden back room in the tent. Well, it wasn’t really a room, more like thick blankets that stretched out from four corners, creating a sort of private inner sanctum. This was likely where Bubba brought his night’s trophies.

  This wasn’t at all a traditional big top. There were no rows of seats waiting to be filled or animals parading about.

  There were floor mats and pillows and lots and lots of naked, writhing bodies.

  He eyed me up and down. “Great costume.”

  I chuckled, rubbing my arm. “Thanks. My boy toy picked it out.”

  Come to think of it, he really had done a good job. Bubba and I could have been twins in our getups. With his blond good looks and my dark allure, we were like the ying and yang of smexitimes.

  Mood music, some sort of throaty jazz number, only heightened the sounds of moans and groans that filtered through this den of sexual excess.

  “So what do I do, Bubba?”

  “First I need to know how strong your demon is.” He rubbed my bare arm. “I don’t feel it. I need to feel it.”

  I swallowed. I’d kept these little bastards locked down, and I was almost afraid to tap into the wellspring again. But I knew that without opening up, I’d never be able to get beyond where I was.

  Reminding myself that I was there to learn, I closed my eyes and blossomed, fingernails digging into my palms and leaving crescent moon shapes behind as I vibrated from the immediate surge of unfamiliar power.

  I was bathed in the rich scent of blood and flesh. Visions flashed through my mind, images of men and woman heeding my call, thralled by the Pied Piper as they came, falling to their knees before me and offering themselves.

  Drunk with desire, I laughed, but the sound was instantly cut off by a vicious slap against my cheek.

  Hissing, I opened my eyes, only to stare at Bubba, whose eyes were now a heated, glowing red. His fangs had dropped, and he was staring at me with both wonder and astonishment.

  Snapped instantly back to reality, I shoved Gluttony down into the deepest, darkest reaches of my soul and hugged my arms.

  It took Bubba a moment to blink himself back to normalcy. “Damn, you’re strong.” He scrubbed his jaw, blinked a few more times, and then nodded. “Holy hell, Dora, what’d they do to you?”

  Feeling as though I’d just run a marathon, I shook my head. “Can you help me, Bubba?”

  Taking a final deep breath and a large step back, he nodded. “I can, but it ain’t gonna be easy. I’ve had years to learn to control this.”

  “I’ll have a night.” I tried not to let the defeated sound out, but it came anyway. He tipped my chin up.

  “Yeah, but you’re strong. And you can shield, which is half the battle right there.”

  “I learned to do it last year because of Pestilence.”

  His brows lifted high on his forehead, and I realized no one other than Luc and Ash had had any clue about my second possession. I waved a hand. “Long story. Anyway, yes, I had to learn to control something foreign to me. I know how to keep them out—when I’m calm. What I don’t know is how to block them when I’m not.”

  “That’s just it.” He tapped my temple. “It’s like a pressure release valve. You release a little steam at a time, and it’s fine. But you hold that steam in—”

  “And eventually it explodes.”

  He nodded. “Exactly.”

  “So I give in?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Not completely. Not like me. I only got one demon, so I can nurture him, give him what he needs. But if you give into one, you’ll be forced to give into seven, and that would drive you loco.”

  I chuckled. “Something like that.”

  “All right.” He walked toward one of the sheets, fisting it in his hands. “Now we can do this out there, or we can do this in here. It’s up to you. Whatever makes you most comfortable.”

  I knew Ash was waiting out there, and I could only imagine what he was seeing. My not-so-puritanical man meat was probably pissed, angry, and aroused as all get out. Not
the greatest of combinations when it came to him.

  “In here. And I want Ash back here too.”

  “Dora.” He lifted a brow. “You sure about that? He may not like what he sees.”

  I nodded. “In here, Bubba. This is who I am now. He knows that.”

  He was just about to head out when I called his name once more.

  “And Bubs.”

  “Yeah?”

  Walking over to him, I wrapped my tiny arms around his thick chest and rested my ear over his heart. “I’m sorry for last year. I’ve judged you unfairly; it’s never been your fault that you are who you are. And now that I know what this feels like, I just wanted to say I’m proud of how strong you are.”

  Letting go of the blanket, he hugged me back. “I’ve lived with those looks all my life, Dora. And in some ways I’ve grown used to them. It’s easy to hate what you don’t understand.”

  I sighed into the kiss he planted on top of my head. Never again would I be disturbed by his touch.

  He returned a moment later not only with Ash in tow, but with a woman and a man as well, both walking in a drunken, happy haze.

  The woman was a light shade of black, and her hair hung in tight spirals down to her shoulders. She was slim, attractive, and dressed in designer everything, from her tight fitting jeans, to her flowing top, to the quality burgundy-wine ostrich boots on her feet.

  The man was taller than her by a good four or five inches and was white, with a shaved head and piercing green eyes. Athletic and toned, the dark A-shirt he wore showed off his sculpted arms and flat abs. He wore a pair of jeans that looked painted on and a huge belt buckle that proclaimed him a rodeo champ at some point.

  Something about the girl made me look back at her again. She was different, not mortal. But I couldn’t place what she was either. Not vampire, not shifter. I pulled in a breath. There was musk on her, something rich and even slightly alluring.

  “Which one do you want, Dora?” Bubba asked.

  I shook my head, clearing my mind of those strange thoughts. I knew I didn’t want the woman. I’d never been into women, but at the same time, I worried what Ash would think if I went for the man. I know what I would think if he went for the girl.

  I’d find her and kill her later.

  Better for the man if I let him be.

  “What exactly are you gonna have me doing, Bubs?” I wiped my mouth as Gluttony slowly came to life inside me.

  The humans stood idly by, never blinking or really doing much of anything except for taking an occasional breath. Bubba had placed them under heavy sedation.

  “You’re going to learn to release a little steam, girl. Now, man or woman?”

  I felt Asher’s eyes drilling into my face, but I didn’t dare look at him. With a sigh, I pointed. “The woman.”

  Bubba gave the man a shove toward the exit then turned around and nodded. “I’m going to release my thrall on her. When I do, she’ll wake up. It’ll be up to you then to get her back under and make her give you what you need.”

  My lip curled. I wasn’t sure I could do this. I mean, I knew that everyone Bubba tagged was kind of rotten to the core, so I didn’t really feel bad for them for being in there. But at the same time I had zero desire to kill tonight either.

  “And how do I do that?”

  “You will it.” He smiled. “You feel it in here”—he touched his heart—“and she will feel that draw, that pull to you. She’ll want you as badly as you want her.”

  “But I don’t want her.”

  “Not her body, Dora, her essence.”

  I jerked my gaze to his face. “I won’t have to eat her?”

  He gave me a droll look. “What the hell do you think I do in here?”

  I grimaced. “Well, I thought…I mean the rumors were…” I let my words trail off pitifully, a little embarrassed by what I had thought he’d done.

  “Flesh is highly overrated. Tastes like cat meat.”

  I really had nothing to say to that. “Oookay then.”

  He flashed me his pearly whites. “The true need, the true desire, it rests in the blood. Make her want it, and then you can sate your beast.”

  I frowned. “So that’s it? That’s all Gluttony gives you, a desire for blood? No super cool badass powers, no nothing?”

  I mean, at least with Lust I could change my form. That was sort of cool.

  He chuckled. “Oh, he can do much more. But before he can, you have to feed him.”

  My eyes widened. Finally, the good stuff. “What can he do?”

  Lifting his hand, he pointed it at the woman and slowly fisted it, just as I’d seen Ash do when he was drawing his shadows.

  The woman never blinked as her skin began to shine in shades of red. She didn’t utter a sound as she started sweating blood. It stained her face, her chest, her pants. My eyes widened.

  “You can call it?”

  His smile was wide. “You can drain a mortal before they even know what’s hit them. Now.” He clapped his hands on my shoulders, turning me around to face my girl. “Your turn.”

  He didn’t move, snap his fingers, or say open sesame, but from one second to the next, suddenly the girl was wide awake and blinking confusedly at me, at him, at Ash. Then she glanced down at herself.

  I knew the second her brain realized what was taking place. Because she was looking at her chest, and a guttural gasp escaped her.

  Bubba’s warm breath whispered against my ear. “Get control of her, Dora.”

  But suddenly it wasn’t only the girl staring at the blood. I was too. Gluttony was alive in me, and he was hungry. Ravenous.

  Each breath she took caused her shirt to move up and down rhythmically, and almost hypnotically I was drawn to the stains on it, to the slide of red sweat still pouring down the base of her throat.

  My pulse pounded, a driving beat of my blood rushing through my veins, throbbing in my temples. My body was so desperate for a taste of it. I took a step forward, and the girl was so terrified she didn’t move, just stood there like a frightened deer as it watched a truck barrel down on it.

  Blood.

  The word shivered down my spine. Not my own, and yet I embraced my desire for it.

  Images bombarded my mind. Pools and pools of dark, viscous blood. I was naked, bathing in it, drinking it in, laughing with intoxication as it slid warm and wet down my parched throat.

  And then I felt the tremble of Pandora pushing away Gluttony’s excitement. Because this was wrong, debauched. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t.

  But even as I denied it, the jackhammer beat of my excited heart showed me what a liar I was. Because we did want this—we wanted it more than life itself.

  I was curling my nose, even as I stepped in closer. Even as I grinned in her terrified face.

  I could feel my nails lengthening, becoming stronger, sharper. My flesh shivered, and I knew if I looked I’d see my skin turning a shade of gray.

  Breathing heavy, feeling ravenous, I wet my lips, and she screamed.

  Turning on her heel, she made to run away, but Asher blocked her escape, crossing his arms and glaring at her. She lifted a hand, as if to claw at his face, but then Bubba flicked his fingers.

  Immediately she stopped moving, sagging against the air as though resting upon something.

  “What happened?” he snapped.

  I shook my head, still feeling a little dazed by the power of my need. “Dammit.” I clenched my fists. “This is too hard. I can’t do this, I can’t.” I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my brows.

  I didn’t even know how to drink blood, and now that the girl wasn’t looking at me, now that I couldn’t breath in the ambrosia of the sweet, sweet nectar flowing through her veins, I felt sick.

  I shoved Gluttony down into a dark place and wanted to retch at the memory of what I’d been thinking, what I’d hungered for.

  Hugging my arms to my waist, I shook my head.

  “Dora, yes, you have to.”

  I whirled on Bubb
a. “I don’t know how to do this, I don’t know how. I can sex up anything, but this…” I tossed up my hands.

  His touch on my bicep was warm. “The dark hunger gets easier, I swear.”

  I swallowed hard. “How do you do this? I see her and I want her, but my mind is screaming at me not to do it.”

  He shook his head. “It’s because you see her as an innocent.”

  “No, I don’t,” I said. “I know she’s not light. I feel it all through her.”

  “Yes, but”—grabbing my hand, he slid his fingers through mine—“knowing and seeing are two different things. Your emotions are at a war with one another. The demon and Pandora must learn to co-exist.” Lifting our twined hands, he nodded at Asher, indicating for him to turn the girl around.

  Again her gaze was little more than a drug-laced stupor, and my spine went rigid.

  “Relax.” He rubbed my back until the worst of the tension was gone. “Now, I’m gonna help you do it. Just follow my lead. Bring him out now, Dora.”

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I threw open the proverbial shutters, letting that demon in again, letting it slink and slither through me, sharing my space, my body. And once again I was hungry.

  “Now,” he breathed into my ear, “when I let her go, you read her like you do your sex partners.”

  “Just the same?” I whimpered, because my skin felt stretched too tight; it tingled with want and desire. A cloud of red blurred my vision and the thump, thump, thump of her beating heart rang out like a song, calling me closer.

  “Just the same,” he whispered.

  Her eyes shot wide; the terror was back. And for just a second the doubt came flooding in, but then I searched her, driving my will through her brain like a spear.

  “That’s right. Just like that, Pandora. Do you see it?”

  All I saw was darkness, thick clouds of overwhelming black that obscured my vision completely.

  “I don’t see it.”

  “Look harder. There in the corner of her soul. Do you see the box?”

  This time when I looked, I did see it. A small black box. The seed of her dark twisted soul.

  “Crack it open.” Bubba’s voice was even and soothing.