The redheaded demon puffed out his chest and scowled. "No one doubts…Rule's abilities, but the situation is most grave. While Louamides is in possession of the solus spell, it presents a danger we cannot ignore. The spell must be destroyed.”
"I understand your concern, but I admit to a certain innate curiosity." Rafe flashed a very white, very toothy smile. "It is in my nature. And I have had my wife do some research on this spell. What she has found has proved to be most interesting.”
This was the first Rule had heard of Tess's investigation. He'd known Rafe had been trying to gather more information on the spell and on Uzkiel in hopes of leading them to the fiend's hiding place, but the Felix hadn't mentioned any discoveries.
"From what my wife tells me," Rafe continued, "there are only two ways to destroy this spell. One is to cast it.”
Bal didn't react, just watched Rafe through unblinking black eyes.
"The unfortunate thing is that casting the spell also destroys the caster. Rather inconvenient, wouldn't you agree?”
"And what is the other way?”
Rule suspected Bal wouldn't like the answer to his question, but he had to ask it.
"To kill the one who knows it." Rafe turned his gaze on Rule, and beneath the urbane façade the demon could see a powerful swell of anger. "Destructive little bit of magic.”
Rule's gut clenched, and he nodded abruptly. "So it would seem.”
"And I haven't even told you the best part," Rafe continued, his mouth curving in a feral smile. "The spell has one other nasty little surprise that the fiend Louamides failed to tell us. Anyone who teaches the spell to another will also die. A sort of magical sowing the fields with salt, as it were.”
That time it wasn't Rule's gut clenching. It was his heart. In his mind he heard the echo of Lou's words telling him the spell would kill it if it gave it to Uzkiel. Rule hadn't understood what that meant at the time. Now he did. The solus spell was like a time bomb lurking inside Abby, just waiting to be set off. When he'd called it a Doomsday device, he'd been right. No wonder the spell had been hidden and forgotten after the wars.
"Yes, you see how destructive it is," Bal said. "That is why it is so important that it be returned Below where our people can develop a way to disarm it.”
"Not while the spell is hidden inside the human. I will not risk her life over this.”
"Her? Louamides and the spell are concealed inside a human woman?" Bal snorted. "What more proof do you need that the hiding place is expendable? One human woman will not be missed. Let me take her to the Parliament and have done with it.”
Rule felt a growl beginning to vibrate low in his chest. Rafe sent him a warning glare.
"No. In my city, no humans are expendable," the Felix said. "We are on the verge of war with the humans as it is. I will not add this girl's disappearance to the tally of our sins.”
The prime minister's mouth curled in a sneer. "So the tales are accurate. You have gone and revealed yourselves to the humans. It's disgraceful. And no good will come of it, mark my words.”
"You are not the first to speak them, and you are not the last I will ignore. This is not your world, and your opinion holds no weight here. But this is not at issue. The woman is, and she remains under my protection.”
"This is none of your concern, mortal." Bal's voice held a clear warning. "Do not meddle in the affairs of the Below.”
Rafe arched a dark brow. "At the moment, you are here in the Above, and in this world, my word is law. She stays. You, however, are invited to take your leave at the earliest possible opportunity.”
"I am not accustomed to being denied.”
"Think of it as a learning experience." Rafe reached behind him to open the office door. Looking out, he beckoned to a Lupine security guard stationed in the hall. "Evan, the prime minister was just leaving. Please escort him to the gate outside the Council chambers and see that he gets off safely.”
"Yes, Mr. De Santos." The guard stepped into the office and attached himself to Bal's side without so much as a blink.
The demon snarled. "I suggest, De Santos, that when Uzkiel seizes the girl and the spell, you not come begging to the Parliament for aid. You will find we have long memories.”
"And you will find that I never beg.”
With a parting glare, Bal stormed out of the office and down the hallway with the guard a silent, steady presence at his heels.
When the pair disappeared through the doorway leading down into the cellars, Rule turned to the Felix and frowned. "Abby is in even worse danger than I thought. We have to find Uzkiel now. And I want her under twenty-four-hour guard until we find that fiend.”
Rule knew he sounded dictatorial and paranoid, but he couldn't seem to ignore the clenching that had begun in his gut when he'd listened to Bal suggest offering Abby up as a sort of sacrifice to the greater good. No good was great enough be worth the loss of her. He would do anything he needed to do to keep her safe.
The knowledge of what that meant struck him with the power of a catapult blast. He fought to keep from listing to the side as the full weight of his concern for the mousy, ordinary, thoroughly beguiling human woman dropped on his heart.
Graham had been right all along. Abby Baker had captured not just his reluctant attention, but his heart as well. She was the woman he would take to mate, the only one he could envision spending any stretch of eternity with.
And spending eternity with her required that he keep her safe. At any cost. In fact, if he could help it, he planned to keep her within arm's reach beginning now and ending never.
Rafe smiled. "It's a good thing I am such a mellow sort, or I might take offense at being given orders by a second demon in the space of a few short minutes.”
"You know what they say about demons. We have no manners to speak of.”
"I had heard that," Rafe said conversationally as the two men stepped into the hall and headed toward the stairs. "But I didn't really believe it until I saw the evidence with my own eyes.”
"So what happened?" Tess demanded, falling into step beside them.
"It was as we thought. The prime minister wanted to take Abby back Below with him." Rafe tucked his wife's hand into the crook of his arm and led the way upstairs.
Rule noticed that on them the oddly old-fashioned gesture looked entirely natural.
"I hope you told him where he could shove that idea.”
Rafe laughed. "Not in so many words, my crude little darling, but I believe he understood the implication.”
"Good. Imagine thinking we'd just let him take Abby away like that. I mean, how stupid can you get?”
"He was right about one thing. Abby is not safe while Louamides and the spell remain inside her.”
"I'm working on that," Tess frowned, "but it's tricky. Traditional exorcisms banish a fiend back to the Below or bind it to an inanimate object. If we cast Lou back Below, we'll be in almost the same position as if we let that creep take Abby with him. And the solus spell can't be cast into an object, so neither can a fiend who knows it.”
"Keep working on it." Rule reached the top of the stairs first and turned immediately toward Rafe's office, the last place he'd seen Abby. "In the meantime, Noah and I will resume the hunt for Uzkiel. If he's in this city, we'll find him.”
Tess nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not a quitter. I've also asked a friend of mine, another witch, to whip up some mojo. She and her coven had a talent for finding lost things. It can't hurt to have some extra eyes on the lookout.”
"Fine. Let me know as soon as you hear anything.”
He slipped into the office and shut the door firmly behind him. Outside, Tess and Rafe looked at the door, then looked at each other. They both heard the snip of the lock sliding home.
"The demon has locked me out of my own office," Rafe mused, half-smiling.
Chuckling, Tess pressed herself against her husband's side and nodded. "It's getting late, and Gabriel will be ready for bed in a couple of hours. Once he's asle
ep, I can show you that our bedroom is much more comfortable than your office." She leaned close and pressed her lips to the side of his neck. "And it has an even better lock.”
Rafe grinned. "Let's go home and say good night to our son. After he takes his bath and hears his bedtime story, I know another story I would like to tell you.”
"Ooh, I hope it has a happy ending," Tess purred.
"Of course." Her mate grinned wickedly. "But this tale is definitely not suitable for children."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Abby stirred in the middle of the night and bumped up against something solid. It took a moment for her sleep-clouded mind to register that not only did the something belong there, but also she'd asked it to be there. Not that Rule had seemed at all inclined to say no. Still, it was the kind of thing a girl should remember, the first time she asks a man to spend the night with her. Especially since she'd fallen asleep with him still buried inside her, his heavy weight pressing her deep into the mattress. It had been a little tough to breathe, but what did that matter? He felt like home.
He had eventually moved off of her and now lay sprawled on his stomach across the wide mattress, one arm draped across her body as if anchoring her to his side. Not that she had any desire to move. In fact, if she could have lived forever in this moment, lying in the dark beside Rule, listening to the rhythm of his breathing in the late-night silence, she would be perfectly content.
She stared up into the darkness, her fingers instinctively stroking the velvet skin of her lover's bare arm where it pressed her into the mattress. She knew the visit from the prime minister had upset Rule. Even his carefully edited version of their meeting told her that. By the time the men had emerged, she'd been too tired to ask the questions swirling around inside her head and had obediently let Rule lead her up to her temporary bedroom, but she hadn't let him drop her at the door.
He hadn't struggled too hard.
Abby smiled and shivered at the memories of his hands on her, as eager and urgent as if he hadn't had her only a few hours before. She had always dreamed of the man who wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of her, but she hadn't expected to find him. She was hardly a femme fatale, after all, and shy, plain women with hang-ups about religion and her own attractiveness didn't usually find the men beating down their doors. Heck, men didn't even usually bother to stop by. They were too busy rushing over to the beautiful girls' apartments.
This time, though, the man hadn't just stopped; he'd also lingered. Deliciously.
Abby shivered again and felt Rule's arm tighten around her.
"Cold?" he murmured.
"No. Just thinking.”
"That usually leads to trouble.”
She pinched him. "Not plotting, just thinking. I promise I wasn't hatching any elaborate escape attempts.”
His arm dragged her closer against his side. "Good. Because I would come after you.”
Abby had been teasing, but Rule didn't sound like he was. She rolled onto her side to face him and found his dark eyes watching her. They picked up the few stray shards of light that managed to sneak into the room and reflected them back to her. "Would you?”
He nodded. "Anywhere.”
Maybe it was the darkness; maybe it was the intimacy of lying beside him, skin to skin, feeling the beat of his heart against the hand she laid on his back. Either way, Abby felt her heart clench and grew suddenly serious.
"I didn't..." She paused, took a deep breath. "I hadn't planned to meet anyone, to find anyone special in the middle of a riot on a night when I should have been curled up on my sofa reading a good book.”
"And I hadn't planned to kidnap a woman and carry her off like a prize of war, let alone keep her prisoner for my own nefarious purposes." His voice rumbled out of the darkness, as warm and rough as a cat's tongue.
Abby stroked her hand over his shoulder. "I want you to know I'm sorry for those things I called you earlier. I don't really think you're unholy.”
"I am not sorry," he said. "They led us here.”
"But where do we go next?”
There was a moment of silence before Abby felt the soft heat of his lips pressing against her forehead. "I am not certain, but we do not need to make a decision just yet. We have a little while, still, to enjoy the moment.”
Abby swallowed against the lump in her throat, but she knew he was right. They had too many other decisions to make, too many other battles to fight, to tackle this one prematurely. She turned and kissed his bare shoulder. "I am enjoying it. I promise.”
His hand slid across her rib cage, closed warm and possessive over her breast. "Let me help you enjoy it even more.”
She didn't think that was in any doubt.
His lips found hers unerringly, brushing over them in light, teasing caresses. When she tried to catch him in a real kiss, he closed his teeth lightly over her bottom lip and tugged a playful warning. For a man who looked and sounded so serious most of the time, his capacity for play and teasing astounded her, and he seemed happy to exercise the talent on her. She whimpered and stabbed her fingers into his hair, holding his head in place and chasing his mouth with her own.
His chuckle teased her senses, just as his fingers teased her nipple. They brushed over the crinkled skin, flicking the taut peak, circling and pinching and making her arch up to press herself against his hands.
"Don't tease," she hissed, hooking a leg over his hip and pressing herself against the length of his erection. She rocked her pelvis against him, letting him feel the slick welcome awaiting him. "I want you.”
All his playful intent vanished in a ragged groan. In an instant, he shifted over her, his weight pressing her into the soft mattress. He surrounded her, overwhelmed her, and she welcomed him with eager touches of her hands, with the rocking motion of her hips, with the soft, greedy clinging of her lips.
He tucked his hands beneath her arms and curled his hands over the tops of her shoulders, holding her in place. His eyes caught hers and held as he shifted and found her snug entrance. In one smooth, effortless motion, he pressed inside her, filling her in a steady, heady wave of pleasure that sent her senses spinning and her heart soaring.
Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and slid silently down her cheeks when he came to rest inside her, buried to the hilt, two bodies now one, flesh and breath and hearts joined in perfect union.
"Rule.”
She breathed his name into the pregnant hush, watched him take it in and return her own.
"Abigail.”
She gripped his forearms, feeling them flex and ripple as he held her steady and began a slow, rocking rhythm inside her.
The feeling that filled her this time was different, less urgent but somehow more intense. She felt no need to rush headlong into the pleasure, but instead wanted to savor the connection, the warm, solid, tangible weight of him above her, inside her, around her. She saw her need mirrored in his fathomless eyes and spoke his name again.
"Rule.”
She felt him shift above her, nudge a fraction deeper, and the world started to dissolve around her. Just before she tumbled over the edge, she sensed him lean closer, felt his breath stir the hair at her ear, heard his low, gravelly voice whisper. The words filled her head, the way his body filled hers, and her heart recognized them even if her mind was too clouded to comprehend.
"My Abigail," he breathed. "My heart. My mate.”
He slid another breath deeper, and she began to unravel around him. He tumbled after her, his cock pulsing within her sheath, filling her with a warm rush of seed.
"My name is Arulnagal."
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
She woke slowly, stretching beneath the warm sheets, feeling them glide over her skin in a casual caress. The bed beside her was empty, and she had a vague recollection of Rule slipping from it earlier and urging her to go back to sleep. She hadn't had any trouble complying.
It's about time you woke up, though considering the two of you went at it like Energizer
Bunnies for half the night, I can't say I'm surprised to see you sleeping in.
Abby frowned, her eyes still closed, her brow wrinkling. Something wasn't right.
By the way, did you know you snore?
Squeaking with outrage, Abby clasped the sheet to her breasts and shot up in bed, glancing frantically around the room. It was empty.
"Louamides?" she asked, feeling like an idiot.
A naked idiot.
Call me Lou, the voice inside her head replied. After all, the two of us are pretty close, wouldn't you say?
The laughter inside her head definitely wasn't coming from Abby. She didn't find this at all amusing.
And she hoped she didn't snort like that when she did laugh.
"No, I wouldn't," she muttered aloud. "That's like saying the Lindbergh baby was close to his kidnappers. You're inside my head. That doesn't mean I have to like you.”
Yeah, well, you ain't nothing to write home about, sweet cheeks. Rule might find you distracting, but I don't think I've ever been so bored in my life. If it hadn't been for the free porn last night—
"Shut up!" Abby screeched, feeling her skin staining a telltale red. Only for once in her life, she wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or rage. "Just shut up right there. Not another word. If you don't want me to do a naked jig down Fifth Avenue while shouting Uzkiel's name at the top of my lungs, you will shut your mouth and never, ever mention anything about my sex life to anyone, ever again. Do I make myself clear?”
She asked that last question in a tone of voice that would have done Sister Mary Joseph proud. Apparently, it worked on more than misbehaving schoolkids, too.
Yeah, whatever, the fiend muttered, sounding chastised, if not precisely repentant. Listen, now that you’re awake and not, uh, otherwise occupied, what do you say to getting us some food? I'm starving in here. Well, actually, you're starving, but it's driving me crazy.
Come to think of it, Abby was pretty hungry. Her stomach growled in testimony, and she managed a reluctant nod. "Fine. I'll go down for breakfast. I assume that when I eat, so do you?”
The Others 03: The Demon You Know Page 18