by Angie Fox
What do you say to a man who is willing to give everything to you?
"Yes."
The corners of his mouth tugged up, and he drew me in for a long, burning kiss. He smelled like sweat and work and rock-solid man.
I rubbed up against him and felt him stiffen.
Closing my eyes, I fought the urge to pull back.
I hated the demons for draining him, and now I was supposed to do the same? I felt my dark mark pulse. It wanted him. I did too, but not at the expense of who he was.
His lips brushed the tender spot at the back of my ear, my throat, my mouth. To think, if I failed, we might not have any of this. My kiss faded and he felt it. He drew back, a questioning look on his face.
"How will we know when to stop?" I asked.
He squeezed my hand. "I'll know," he said, his voice rough around the edges.
Hand in hand, we walked the trail, pebbles crunching under our boots.
"You don't need to do this."
Dimitri slid his arm around me as we wound down into a rocky canyon.
The dark mark pulsed with anticipation. I hoped he could trust me with his power. "You don't know what could happen if we try this." I slid my marked palm away from his. "I'm evil. Or at least I'm turning evil. I don't know." None of this made any sense.
He tipped my chin up. "Is that what you really think?"
I didn't know anymore. It certainly hadn't been good for Max's last slayer.
Dimitri regarded me with a mix of amusement and chagrin. "I'm not going to lie to you. The devil's mark is usually a bad sign."
"Thanks," I said, breaking his gaze. What kind of person was I to need a little support here?
"Hey," he said, forcing my eyes back up. "Answer me this: Have you done anything evil since the mark? Anything the old Lizzie would regret?"
Things had certainly been different, but not anything Satan would get excited about.
And the way he looked at me… let's just say I never thought it would be possible, before I met Dimitri. He simmered with all of the things he'd like to do to me and that I probably shouldn't have enjoyed… but I would.
His mouth quirked. "I think the mark is your way of drawing closer to the danger than any of us would dare. It's in your nature to give, Lizzie. Even when you don't realize it. It can be your great weakness, or your strength. We'll see."
"And you think?" I asked, hoping there was a glimmer of the old Dimitri left, the man who believed in me more than I could have ever hoped.
"I know," he said, kissing the tip of my nose, "you're stronger than this."
I caught his mouth and kissed him long and deep, this man who knew I was good. I knew there was good left in him too. "Are you ready?" I whispered.
"Always," he said, slipping his hand into my marked palm.
"Evil is a choice. Drawing yourself close to the darkness, well, that's what you do, Lizzie. True, you're a demon slayer. But I've never heard of any other slayer looking at things quite the way you do."
"Great, I'm unique." My whole life I'd been training to fit in, and the one place I might actually belong, I learn I'm different from them too.
Dimitri smiled at that. I tried to return it. I scarcely deserved the man.
I leaned up against a flat rock, sheltered by a red rock overhang. The night was silent except for the sound of our footsteps. "I'm sorry I lied to you."
"About what?" he asked, arms tense as he leaned next to me, facing the expanse of the canyon.
"After hell. I didn't want you to know I saved you because I didn't know what I felt about my life, about you, about anything. I couldn't commit."
He kept his eyes on the canyon ahead. "And now?"
Well, of course it would be different now. If he'd still have me.
"What? You're not mad? I infused you with enough of my essence to save your life and screw up your griffin heritage and that's it?" He had to be angry, because frankly, I was angry. It was stupid and wrong and even though I'd save his life all over again I'd at least give him the courtesy of telling him what I did. I'd trust him enough to level with him. "I left you open for a succubi attack. I should have been honest sooner, and that's my mistake. But don't sit here and pretend you're not upset at all about this. At least respect me enough to tell me what you're thinking."
"So now I'm the one who screwed up?"
"I don't want to pussyfoot around this." Not if he was going to risk everything for me.
I'd lived my whole life being nice, doing the right things, saying the right things—even if they weren't true. Well, not anymore. Sometimes, you gotta love somebody enough to tell them the ugly bald truth.
"You really want to get into this right now?" he asked.
Oh, I knew I'd be in the Cave of Visions in the next hour or so. I'd be in the crosshairs with all of my strength, and now, all of his. I knew I should probably spend my last moments with him making red-hot griffin love instead of poking him with a verbal fork, but this was more important.
He was more important.
He let out a jagged laugh, heavy with regret. "You want to know the truth? I'm actually okay with the fact that you didn't tell me right away. I know I was pressuring you to leave things behind and head to Greece with me." He dug a hand through his dark hair, making it spike awkwardly. "That's why I didn't tell you I loved you. I knew it would scare the hell out of you." He braced his hands on his knees, as if he wasn't quite ready to say what came next. "I know you hate what I do to protect you, Lizzie." His face was unreadable in the moonlight, the set of his jaw intense. "And you're not sure what I'm about to give you. But at some point, you have to relax a little, let go enough to accept the gift."
The truth of it hit me hard. I couldn't accept him or the Red Skulls or anybody. I'd wanted to do this on my own from the very start. Look where it had gotten me.
A little lizard scurried over a large rock to our left, noticed us and took off in the other direction.
"What did you see when I fought with Max?" he asked.
"I saw what happened when he died." I told him about Sid the fairy and how he'd reversed time. "Like him or not, Max's power is the only thing slowing them down. For now. If the demons reach six hundred sixty-six, or succeed in whatever they have planned tomorrow night, I'm afraid Max won't matter anymore."
"Neither will we."
The cool desert air settled around my bare arms as I tried to remain stoic, resolved. I had one more question and it was worse than the fifth layer of hell.
"Those things I asked you before," I said, throat dry. "I needed to know you'd be honest, because I need the truth about one more thing." I willed myself to say what I'd feared since the minute we set foot in Vegas. "When are you going to decide it's too much?"
His brows knitted. "I don't understand."
"This," I said, holding up my marked palm. "When are you going to figure out that it's too hard? Face it. I'm a pain in the butt. I mean, you love me, but you also get my crazy grandmother, a bunch of loudmouthed biker witches, demons that want to have you for lunch and a channeling that might not be too different from the last ceremony that sent us straight to hell."
He actually smiled.
Joker. I planted my hands against his chest and pushed. "You're officially mad."
I took a drop-dead gorgeous griffin, and I broke him.
He cradled both of my hands in his. "I'm supposed to—" he lifted my chin. "Here, look at me." He edged us into a bright patch of moonlight. Damn the man. He couldn't have looked more sincere. "I'm supposed to give up the only woman I've ever loved, over a few complications?"
Well, when he put it that way…
"I'm not talking about giving up your Sunday golf game to go have brunch with my parents." Did griffins even play golf? And what would my uptight, society parents have to say about me dating a shape-shifter?
His thumbs traced circles on the tops of my palms. "Ah yes, demons instead of brunch. But love isn't about what's easy. I think you would have had an easier
time if you'd denied your demon slayer calling, stayed home in Atlanta to teach preschool."
True. No matter how much I disliked growing up in a family where fitting in and looking good somehow made you a better person—I had to admit, it would have been easier to stay with what I knew, even if it wasn't what I loved.
Dimitri's thumbs caressed the hollows of my wrists. "I love you because love to me is about finding the person you want to be with." He drew me in, kissed me. "And being there no matter what."
"Through hell and back?"
"Through demons and in-laws."
He drew my marked hand to his lips and kissed me, right there on the palm. Tears singed the back of my eyes as he caressed the marks.
"Don't look so surprised."
I couldn't help it. He loved me, demon mark and all.
"Now I figure," he said, kissing his way down my neck. "We've got about a half hour before anyone comes looking for us. And I have lots of energy."
Mmm, happy pings shook me to the core. "What shall we do?"
He used his incredible griffin strength to rip my leather skirt clean up the middle, and then he showed me.
Chapter Twenty-four
He tackled me against the cool rock and kissed me thoroughly. His fingers roaming—oh yes, please—everywhere. They pushed up under my breasts, teased my nipples, circling them, plucking them, sending heat coursing through me until he did the whole thing over again with his tongue.
"E-yow," I said, nearly banging my head against the rock. "If you're trying to take my mind off things, it's totally working."
"Not well enough." He slipped a hand down between my legs, stroking me, spreading me until the only thing I could think about was his fingers and where, oh where, they'd go next. His tongue tortured my nipples while he dipped one finger, then two inside me. I moved with him as his thumb rubbed, teased. Oh wow.
I felt his power surge, pure and white. He didn't stop. Even when I tried to pull him to me, he kept rubbing, kissing like he couldn't get enough. I didn't know how long it went on, only I'm not the patient woman I thought I was. It had been too long. We'd been through too much. And I could feel him, hard and ready, against my thigh.
So close.
I wound my fingers into his hair and kissed him hard on the mouth. He pulled me closer, his erection pressed firmly against me. Slowly—ohh, eee—so slowly he ran himself along my slick flesh.
Over and over.
I traced a hard, flat nipple with my finger. "Dimitri." He had to know this was cruel and unusual punishment.
And still he rubbed against me, showing me every inch of him, letting loose an avalanche of sensation. My entire body shook with the need to have him. Inside me. Now.
Mmm, the things this man taught me.
I twined my arms around his super-heated back, nibbled on his ear. "I want you."
He chuckled against my neck and flipped me over. "I know."
Splayed over the flat rock, I reached back and found the slippery tip of him. He groaned as I circled once, twice. He gripped my hand, slammed it against his brick wall of a thigh and drove straight into me.
He filled me to the hilt and I heard myself whimper with the sheer joy of it.
I opened myself to him and felt him fill me up with his strength, his power, himself.
"Trapped between a rock and a hard Dimitri. It feels soo good." He proceeded to pound into me. He snaked his hands down my backbone, as if he could pull me deeper, push me harder. "There, there, there. Right there!" I dropped my head forward. He'd found the sweet spot. Lord in heaven above.
He gripped my hips and focused on that one spot. Filled it, ground against it, worked it until I was quite sure my legs weren't holding me up anymore. He was. And he pinned me, pushed me until I came in a blind rush of sensation like I'd never felt before. It swamped me, ripped through me. Sweet griffins, it was almost like floating.
Dimitri collapsed warm and steady against my back. We lay there for a few minutes, spent. At least I was. Dimitri probably had a wicked case of blue balls.
"Hold on," I said, trying to see if my knees still worked. I rolled out from under him and lay splayed for a second on the rock. Coolness seeped through me. Seemed like we'd really warmed up our section of rock. Dimitri, heavy-lidded with his streaked hair irreparably mussed, shot me a smart-aleck smile.
I lifted a finger to tell him to wait. "I'm going to—ohh." A late orgasmic ping zipped through me from my sweet spot down to my curling toes.
"Are you all right?" he asked, quite amused for a man in pain.
I nodded, not trusting my voice—or the pings. "Are you?"
He nodded weakly.
"I'm going to take care of you," I finally croaked.
He laughed and coaxed me into his arms. "Oh, that's what you were moaning about over there? Well, in that case, you already did."
"I didn't notice."
"You were busy."
"No kidding," I said against his sweat-slicked chest. Not minding, for once, that I didn't have a complete grasp of the facts, or anything else for that matter.
He'd given me everything of himself that he could, despite the cost. I'd make sure it was worth it.
I curled up warm against him, trying not to think about what we had to face—the channeling ceremony, and worse, the demons tomorrow night. Now I'd robbed this beautiful man of his energy and strength, the very things he'd need to defend himself if I failed.
Dimitri's mouth found my shoulder, the crook of my collarbone. I'd about closed my eyes when he yanked his mouth away and coldness flooded the places he'd just kissed.
A blue light shot out over the ridge and I fought the urge to burrow into Dimitri's arms and never leave. "Please tell me it's the Red Skulls."
Dimitri rubbed my back, as if trying to keep away the chill. "It is." He kissed me on the forehead. "It's time."
Chapter Twenty-five
"Hup, hup!" Grandma ambushed us as we rounded the horse stables. "Don't tell the Red Skulls about Armageddon."
Yeah. No problem. It could be our little secret.
Her gray hair tangled in a cloud of Ziploc bags packed with spinning, twirling spells. "Move your keister, Lizzie. You think the Cave of Visions is open all hours like the Taco Bell drive-thru?"
Oh please. I'd been summoning my strength. And sacrificing my new-ish leather skirt. I wound my fingers a little more tightly into Dimitri's grip.
"Nice outfit." Grandma waggled her brows at the tunic I'd made out of Dimitri's black T-shirt. Yeah, well lucky for me, the man needed plenty of material.
I'd told myself I wouldn't get embarrassed, but the heat crept up my neck and I found myself blushing a dozen shades of scarlet. "I don't want to hear it." Not from my Grandmother. Not from anybody.
Where were those dark obnoxious powers when I needed them?
"Frieda!" she hollered over her shoulder, the cabins ablaze with light behind her. "Lizzie needs some underwear!" She turned back to me. "And make it snappy. No grandbaby of mine is going to channel with her whatnots flapping in the breeze."
A devilish grin played across Dimitri's features. I dropped his hand and inched my fingers up his sensitive rib cage, enjoying his sharp inhale. Don't mess with me, babe. I wound my fingers through his hair, ignoring the way the sweat from our encounter made it curl at the ends, and dragged his luscious noggin down to my level. I ran my thumbs along his cheekbones. "Next time you rip my skirt clean up the middle, I'm going to do the same to your drawers." He was so darned kissable, until his strong jaw twitched into a smirk.
He nipped my lips, sending a ripple of pleasure straight to the part of me that, hm, felt well loved. "That a promise?"
"She needs clothes too!" Grandma added, for the listening pleasure of anyone within a fifty-mile radius.
Oh for the love of Pete. "Can't you at least try to keep a secret?"
Grandma paused in the middle of coaxing a glittering spell from one of the bags at her neck. "Why?"
Like I could expla
in the concept of privacy to a woman who spent Saturday nights tossing fart spells at her friends.
Well I refused to be embarrassed. Or at least I wasn't going to admit it.
A flashlight broke through the moonlight, bobbing as Frieda crunched across the rocky soil, waving a pair of pink leather pants. I'd borrowed clothes from the blonde witch before. Being a demon slayer tended to be hard on the wardrobe.
I could smell Frieda's cigarettes before I could even get a clear look at the pants. "Grabbed my lucky ones!" She dragged me behind the rough-hewn horse barn, chomping on spearmint gum. She shoved the pants in my general direction. Zippers crisscrossed the hot pink leather.
"Thanks," I said, reaching for the only pair of leather pants more obnoxious than the snakeskin ones Frieda had on.
The earthy smell of manure tickled my nose and I soon figured out why. I stood uncomfortably close to a pile of the stuff as Frieda showed me how to cram myself into her pink pants. Because they couldn't have a zipper up the front like every other pair of pants in creation.
"See?" she said, blowing the sorriest looking bubble I'd ever seen. "That there side zipper goes like a vee all around your girly parts, but you don't want to open that or, well, you'll be in for a world of hurt. You want to use the side zipper here and then attach it back to the back zipper on the butt."
My fingers fumbled with the thick leather and stiff zippers. This was worse than sudoku. Finally, I managed to make everything fit, even the matching bustier.
"Tar and feathers." Frieda pulled a ribbon of black lace from her back pocket. "I forgot the thong."
I'd noticed that. "Don't worry," I said, trying not to cringe. I'd never gone without panties. Ever. But past experience had proven that Frieda's thongs weren't much different than going commando and, frankly, I didn't want to try and get into the pants again. If the witches were ready, so was I.
She glanced up at me through rhinestone-tipped lashes as she started in on my side buckles. "Don't squinch your forehead like that. You'll get wrinkles. Besides," she said, silver hoop earrings glinting in the moonlight, "we've got your back."