“It’s not a date,” she argued. “It’s a group. And you’re the one who said a ‘group’ is totally fine.”
Uh-huh. Hey, I was the master of the glib story. When I was her age—you know, before I was pregnant—I had more moves than Dancing with the Stars. So I knew she and Ryan would no doubt be hooking up at Tully’s. As long as she knew I knew that she knew, we’d be okay.
“All right,” I said, already digging into my black Coach bag for my wallet. I pulled out a twenty and handed it over. “You can go to Tully’s and celebrate. But be home for dinner. Your father’s coming over and he’ll want to see you.”
“Fabulous!” Thea grinned huge, leaped up and hugged me, took an extra minute to hug Brady tight and whisper, “Thank you!” then sprinted back to her new friends.
“She is happy,” Brady said.
“She is,” I agreed.
“You are happy, too.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking up at him. “I’m happy, too. Wanna celebrate?”
It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind, but eating a hot dog and walking along the beach was nice, too. Brady was enjoying himself, and we made sure to walk in the opposite direction from the beach caves where Vanessa was supposedly gathering her army.
Damn. I hadn’t wanted to think about the bitch queen of death. Suddenly the hot dog I’d eaten turned to stone, and my stomach was complaining. I slapped one hand to my abdomen, told it to shut the hell up, and concentrated instead on the feel of Brady’s arm around my shoulders.
“This is very nice,” he said.
“Yeah, it is.” But I had a creepy feeling. We were pretty much alone on the sand and prime targets for some demon trouble.
“Not just the beach,” Brady said. “Being here with you is nice as well, Cassidy. It has been a long time since I was free to enjoy simple pleasures.”
His hand rubbed my upper arm, and spirals of heat started uncoiling inside me. His touch really had a lot of magic in it. When his hand dropped lower to cup my breast, my eyes closed.
“How about we head home now?” I said on a sigh that rippled up from my toes as he tugged at my nipple. Distraction was not a good thing at the moment. Not with that creepy feeling nagging me from the back of my mind.
“I would like that too.” Brady turned me around, pulled me in close and kissed me.
More distraction. I didn’t know where all of this might have led, because just about then, everything went to shit.
“Duster.”
“Damn it.” My forehead hit Brady’s chest. Then, sliding my bottle of demon spray out of the belt loop where it was hooked, I turned around to face the latest disaster in my life.
Yikes.
He looked like a giant lizard, almost like those velociraptors in Jurassic Park. Only without the tiny arms and the weird-ass big feet. Green, pointy head, red glowy eyes and a tail, for chrissakes, poking out of his jeans and swishing back and forth on the sand. (Have I mentioned I don’t do reptiles? Snakes, lizards, spiders—yes, I know they’re not reptiles, but they’re clumped in with the other creepy-crawlies in the world.)
I’d seen some truly ugly-ass demons in the last month, but this one was a little too gross for words. I held up my demon spray and readied for the first squirt. Then the damn lizard opened his mouth and a tongue about a mile and a half long shot out of it, wrapped itself around the bottle and tore it from my hand!
“HEY!”
“Oh, CRAP,” Brady said, sounding a lot like me.
The lizard guy spit the bottle out, and it lay on the wet sand with the incoming tide pushing at it with every roll of the tiny waves.
“The queen readies for your death,” Liz said in a hiss that sounded way too snakelike for me. “But I will kill you first and she will reward me.”
“Suck-up.” Honest to God, that Web site Vanessa had set up was really starting to piss me off. Wasn’t it enough that she had a freaking army? Did she really need to post a reward for me?
“Die, Duster! By my hand, or face the queen!”
To my way of thinking, better the damn queen than a lizard with a tongue that long. That was just too gross for words.
Liz charged, Brady screamed and I leaped straight up. Damn, I was good. When I landed on the sand, Liz had already run past where I’d been, so I was behind him and away from that damned tongue. Worked for me. Before he had time to turn around, I lunged at him and made a grab for his heart. The damn tail ruined that plan.
That hard, scaly tail swept my feet out from under me and sent me sprawling into the water. Icy cold ocean engulfed me for a second while I fought to get my feet under me again. The wet sand sucked me down, and the water tugged at me in an Outer Limits kind of way. Liz stalked into the water, splashing sand and spray into the air. The bottle of demon liquid bobbed around on a stray wave like a cork on the end of a fishing line, and I made a grab for it.
Liz screeched loud enough to break eardrums, but I so didn’t care. I grabbed that bottle, flopped over onto my back and shot a stream of nasty brownish green liquid right into his glowy red eyes. Then the screeching really took off. It lasted only a second or two, though, because while Liz was distracted with all that pain, I reached through his scaly chest and ripped out his nasty heart.
Reptile Boy disintegrated all over me, so I lay back down and let the ocean rinse me off. Cold, but effective. And I only considered floating out with the tide for a moment or two. Then I remembered that fish and other squirmy things lived in that water. As it was, I was probably bathing in fish poop. Well, that thought got me moving in a damn hurry.
I scrambled out of the water on all fours and plopped onto dry sand, not even caring about how gross I must look or how all that sand was probably sneaking into all my nooks and crannies.
Then Brady was standing over me. He was wringing his hands, glancing over his shoulder looking for the next attack, and asked, “Is the celebration over? Can we go home now?”
Good idea.
Chapter Nineteen
The day before Halloween arrived and I was out of candy. This happened to me every year. The only thing different this year was how many bags of candy I’d gone through. Six, if you count the M&M’s and I don’t, really, because they’re so damn little they’re not really candy at all. They’re more candy-light.
Anyway, the upshot was, I had to make a run to the store. Sure, you’re thinking Vanessa was going to be attacking on Halloween night, and what were the chances I’d actually have to give out any candy at all to trick-or-treaters? If Vanessa had her way, there wouldn’t be any kids running around. They’d all be demon chowder.
Oh, God.
I needed candy.
I parked my Bug in front of Von’s and ran inside. Candy was probably cheaper over at Target, but at Von’s I could get some fried chicken and wine and some cookies. Have I mentioned that I’m a nervous eater? I’m a calm eater, too. Actually, I’m an all-occasion eater. Thank God for the Duster metabolism or I’d be the size of a bus. One of those charter ones with the bathrooms and two stories.
Humming along to the Muzak version of “Like a Virgin,” I pushed my cart down the seasonal aisle and grabbed everything I liked. Three Musketeers, Milky Ways and three or four bags of Baby Ruths. No more M&M’s. They just weren’t worth all the effort.
“Stocking up?”
I spun around so fast I got dizzy and had to hold on to the cart for support. But to be honest, one look into Devlin’s eyes and I’d have been dizzy anyway.
“Halloween,” I said, and tossed the last of the bags into the cart. “Gotta be ready.”
He didn’t smile. “I heard about Vanessa.”
“Demon grapevine? Impressive.” I pushed the cart, headed for the cookie aisle, and Devlin kept pace.
“You’re going to face her, aren’t you?”
“What? Like I get a choice?”
He grabbed my arm and yanked me to a stop. His grip was tight, his mouth was grim and his eyes briefly flashed red before going dark as
night again. “There’s always a choice, Cass,” he said. “If you face her, she’ll kill you.”
Gulp. I really didn’t want to think about that, because he was right. No way would I be able to win this little contest. Hey, I’d been a Duster for only a month. Vanessa’d been a demon for, like, ever.
“You gonna miss me?” I asked, and gave myself points. I didn’t sound scared.
“I don’t want to miss you,” he said, and glanced over his shoulder as an old woman tottered down the aisle pushing a cart with a wheel that went WHAPITA, WHAPITA, WHAPITA.
Do they make those things broken?
Turning back to me, Devlin lowered his face to mine and said, “I want to help you. Damn it, Cass, you’re deliberately shutting me out.”
Yeah. I had been. Fine. I can admit it. Devlin had really hurt my feelings when he took Three Boob out for a spin. And I wasn’t finished being hurt yet.
“You know,” I pointed out as the old woman came a little closer, “I’ve been pretty busy for the last few weeks. Maybe it’s not all about you, Devlin. I have a life, you know?”
“The Faery.”
“Gaaaahhh…” I half shouted, half groaned, and it hurt my throat. “What is it with you and Logan? Leave Brady out of this. This is about my life, okay? I’ve got a daughter, a trainer and a pissed-off demon queen on my ass. Maybe I just don’t have time for you to be on it, too.”
He let me go and shoved one hand through his hair with enough anger to snatch himself bald, which I totally hoped he didn’t do, because Devin has got great hair.
“I don’t know what to do for you, Cass,” he said as the old woman came up behind him.
“Hello?” she snapped. “Other people need some aisle, you know!”
“Sorry,” Devlin muttered, and stepped aside.
“Men shouldn’t be let in grocery stores alone. They don’t know the rules,” she muttered, her purple sneakers squeaking on the linoleum. “Blocking the aisle. Standing there looking stupid. I’m old, you know. I could be dead in a minute.”
I rolled my eyes, and Devlin ducked his head to hide a smile. As the crabby old woman moved past me, I reached into my black Coach bag, pulled out my demon spray and gave the back of her head a squirt just for the hell of it.
Smoke lifted off her scalp and twisted in the air-conditioning.
Whoops.
She stopped and gave me a dirty look. “Duster. Big deal. I’ve got warts older than you.”
“No need to get nasty,” I said.
She snorted at me. Old-lady demons and their snorting. She and Jasmine would probably get along great.
“If you’re gonna kill me, do it already,” she complained. “Otherwise, get outta my way. I need some corn plasters. And some damn fiber. I’m so plugged up, getting dusted would be a vacation.”
Ew. “Way too much information.”
Devlin kept his head down, but I could see his smile. The old-lady demon paid no attention to either one of us. Just pushed her stupid WHAPITA cart off in a huff.
“Now, why couldn’t Vanessa be more like her?”
Devlin’s smile faded as he looked at me. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Me neither.” I tore open a bag of Baby Ruths, grabbed one of the little suckers and ripped the paper off. Taking a big bite, I let the caramel and chocolate back me off the emotional ledge.
“You should let me help you.”
If I could think of a way for him to help, I would. I’m not an idiot, after all. But when it came down to it, this was going to be mano a mano. Me and Vanessa. She might have an army, but if I could knock off the queen, they might just forget about the whole attacking thing.
Cut me some slack. There is nothing wrong with wishful thinking.
“Devlin, if I make it through, we’ll talk. Okay? That’s the best I’ve got.”
He came up to me, held my face between his hands and gave me a long, hard kiss that had my insides weeping and my outsides going up in flames. When he was finished lighting up my world, he pulled back and said, “Make sure you come through this, then.”
“That’s the plan.” As he walked away, I blindly reached for another candy bar and chewed thoughtfully as I admired the view.
“Remember to strike fast,” Jasmine said as she took a swing at me in the backyard.
“Really?” I jumped out of the way and landed on the sprinkler. Ow. “You mean I shouldn’t go really slow?”
Jasmine stopped, took a breath and looked at me for a long, quiet moment. “This will be a dangerous fight, Cassidy.”
My hands dropped to my sides and my stomach dropped to my feet. Seeing Jasmine worried and concerned just made me want to drive to Vegas. Or the Grand Canyon. Hell. Anywhere.
“Can I beat her?” I asked, and wanted to bite my own tongue for asking a question I really didn’t want the answer to.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, that’s honest, anyway.”
“I won’t lie to you….”
I just looked at her.
“All right, I have lied to you, but not now. This fight is unavoidable. I will help you all I can, but you are the one who must face her. And you must do it at dawn.”
Dawn? As in tomorrow morning? Stomach plunging, mouth filling up, brain spinning. So not pretty.
“Her attack will come at sunset,” Jasmine said. “Your best hope is to catch her unaware before then.”
“Right…because if I surprise her, she’ll probably just surrender.” Not.
Jasmine laid one hand on my shoulder. Hell, from the stoic, crabby demon this was almost a hug! “You must win this, Cassidy. For all our sakes.”
“No pressure, though.”
Jasmine was gone, dinner had been eaten, Sugar was in a food coma on the couch and I’d packed Thea off to Zoe’s house for a sleepover. Thankfully, Rachel hadn’t asked any questions, despite the fact that a school-night sleepover was usually a huge no-no. But if I was getting up at dawn to fight the queen, I wanted Thea safe and far from me, the house and anything that might lead Vanessa right to her.
That was the hardest part of all this: sending my kid off, not knowing if I’d see her again. I stood at the front window and looked out at the street. Everything was quiet. Logan was home but, thank God, hadn’t come over. Lights were on in the Cohen house, and I really hoped that Thea wasn’t going to sit up all night worrying.
Like I was.
I couldn’t stop thinking about my last fight with Vanessa. How she’d tossed me around like a Frisbee. How she’d beaten me and taken me closer to death than I’d ever been before. And I couldn’t help the fear gnawing at my insides.
Nothing had changed. I was still the same brand-new Duster facing off with a demonic wrestler. No way could I win. No way would I come out of this alive.
And no way could I walk away from it, either.
“You are worried,” Brady said, coming up behind me.
“Big-time,” I agreed, and looked up and over my shoulder at him. “I can’t beat her, Brady. She’s gonna kick my ass all over the beach, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. But I have to try. I can’t just let her take over the world, can I?”
“No.”
“Rhetorical question, but thanks,” I said, shaking my head and looking out the window again to my best friend’s house—where my daughter was. “But if I die, no one will be here to protect Thea.”
“The demons cannot harm her. It is a rule.”
“One of ’em tried not too long ago, remember?”
Brady turned me around and wrapped his arms around my waist. “If a demon tries to kill a Duster before her time, the demon dies. The gods will not allow it. Thea will be safe.”
“And alone,” I said. Sure, she’d have her father, but she wouldn’t have me.
“You will survive, Cassidy,” Brady said.
Oh, God. I wanted to believe him. Seriously. But how could I? No. I needed wine. Or candy. Or…
“I will not allow you to be
harmed. I will not allow a danger to Thea.”
“Nice, but how can you guarantee—”
Brady kissed me. Deep, hungry, tongue-twisting, breath-stealing kissed me. Okay, maybe this was what I needed. His arms wrapped tight around me and yanked me in close enough that I felt his Mr. Excitement hard and ready. Oh, yeah. Orgasm central. Take my mind off dying by lighting up my hoo-hah.
At the moment? Worked for me.
He scooped his hands up under the hem of my shirt and must have Faery-dusted my bra off, because one moment it was there and the next, gone. I didn’t miss it, because Brady’s hands were doing its job. And then his mouth.
I’ve mentioned his mouth before, I know. Brady’s a magician with that tongue of his. I stood there swaying, staring up at the living room ceiling and just riding the wahoo of Brady’s tongue on my nipples.
“You will survive, Cassidy,” he murmured, his breath brushing over my skin, his lips and tongue working me in between words. “You will meet the queen at dawn, as you plan. But tonight you will be here. With me.”
“Brady, as good as this feels, maybe…” What was I thinking? Was I really going to turn down the comfort, the solace, the pleasure he was offering? I felt more alone than I ever had in my life. I was scared, tense and wound so tight I felt as though my insides were nothing more than rubber bands twisted to the point of snapping.
I caught his face in my hands and tipped it up so that I could look into his eyes. What I saw there made me feel better.
He smiled at me, smoothed my hair back and whispered, “We are not meant to be together forever, Cassidy. We both know this. You have love for another and I—” He broke off and shook his head.
Love for another? Did I? Who? Logan? Devlin? Why did Brady know the answers and not me?
“We can give each other tonight, Cassidy. This long night before your battle, you will take all of me.”
I looked into his eyes and couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be. He was right: We could give each other this one night and worry about tomorrow when it happened. “All right.”
A Fiend in Need Page 23