Feisty Heroines Romance Collection of Shorts

by D. F. Jones

  “So, accept your fate.” Cathy met his pensive stare with what she hoped was a determined one. “You will not dine on my people this night nor any other. Leave this place and do not return.”

  His tongue whipped from his mouth again, running a slow line across his teeth, something about the deed causing the tension to furl in Cathy’s stomach.

  “If I cannot dine tonight, then I must find new ways to occupy my time.” His eyebrow arched, and despite her years of experience and understanding how a fiend’s mind worked, Cathy could not deny the way the gesture affected her. Heat bloomed at her core, rising to her face in an ungainly blush.

  “So be it,” she replied, pushing the distracting response away. “Go now and leave me. We shall think no more of it.”

  The demon smiled, his free hand moving slowly toward Cathy’s face. She watched its pursuit with horrifying clarity. His long, slender digits seemed human enough, and when they skimmed her heated cheek, the caress was soft, but Cathy knew better. The hand wasn’t human. In fact, it wasn’t a hand at all. It was the claw of a beast who would strike her down as fast as it would stroke. His feathery touches were a lie.

  “I do not think I will, Cathy.” His voice shifted into a soft purr, the resonance vibrating through her body again. “I think I have found a new and more enticing way to occupy my time.”

  Cathy gulped at the thin veneer of his words. Whatever the fiend intended, her instincts told her it did not bode well for her, and reflexively, she wanted to fight.

  “No!”

  She squeezed her eyes closed, pushing the demon out of her head. It wasn’t until the comfort of the blackness behind her lids, Cathy was able to see just how close the creature had come to devouring her, to pushing her over the edge. Summoning the energy residing within, she imagined it rising from her middle, stretching out to force his intentions back. When she opened her eyes once more, Cathy could see it was working. He still towered over her, those mesmerizing eyes searing a line into her soul, but he was weaker now. Cathy sensed it, and when she inched forward, she noticed the way those eyes widened. The fiend sensed her power ascending.

  The fight was on.

  “You are a spirited one.” His dark laughter rang around the hallway, and those amethyst eyes sparkled. “I like that in a guardian.”

  Cathy gritted her teeth. He was playing with her—taunting her—and she didn’t like it one jot.

  “Then you’re going to love me.”

  The fiend glowered down. “You are so right. And that, Cathy, is why you must come with me.”

  Chapter 5

  Damon

  He swept her up in his darkness before she even had time to process the threat. Had Cathy had the time, Damon was sure she had the strength to resist him, so he took the only course of action remaining open to him—he didn’t give her the time. He denied Cathy the opportunity to regroup and come back at him, yet he couldn’t accept defeat and just retreat through the portal back into the night. Something about the tiny woman captivated him. Even though he had been surveying her for the longest time—he was aware of her charms, and he should know better—Damon found himself enraptured by her presence.

  So, he decided to take her with him.

  Damon cast the dark light over her diminutive frame, catching Cathy unaware for a fraction of a second, but it was enough. Enough to rip her from the celestial plane she walked and tear her back into the wastelands of his domain. Damon sensed the energy rising within Cathy, swelling into fury as they whipped through time and matter, reappearing instantaneously within the confines of his lair.

  “Where am I?” She hissed, advancing on him like a wild cat, though clearly, she already knew the answer to her own query.

  He smiled at the ferocity in her tone. Many had quaked at the prospect of being brought here. They’d cowered, and they’d cried as they’d entered hell, but not Cathy. There was a fire burning in her light blue eyes as her finger jabbed him in the chest.

  “Take me back.” Cathy’s determined stare pinned him as she stamped her foot in a show of defiance. “Take me back, you brute!”

  Damon glanced around the shadows of his dominion, half perturbed and half awe-struck by her performance. He had known of her ferocity and relished the power struggle between them, but he hadn’t counted on this—a witch so intense, she was blinded to the obvious threat she now found herself in.

  “Don’t make me subdue you, Cathy.”

  He stepped away, stretching his back. Remaining in this physical body was an exhausting waste of his energy, yet Damon sensed Cathy wasn’t ready to see his true state. This guise was necessary—a required façade to bribe her cooperation—although so far, that had not exactly gone to plan…

  “Ha!” she snorted, closing the distance between them again. “You, demon, do not have the power to subdue me.”

  Damon turned to her, his eyes narrowing. He’d been playing the game with Cathy so far, giving her a brief display of his power, but nothing too vulgar, yet she still pushed him.

  “I contained you at the house.” His voice had lowered to a snarl. “And I can do so again, little human. As often as I need to.” This time, he took a step forward, halting Cathy’s progress and glowering down at her wide eyes. “Any time I like.”

  Cathy’s lips closed at his warning, yet he still saw the flames of defiance in her gaze.

  “Why have you brought me here?”

  She wrapped her arms around her chest, glancing about his lair for the first time, and if Damon wasn’t mistaken, there was a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes, a hint of what was to come.

  “I couldn’t leave you.” The admission surprised Damon, and his brow furrowed as the words left his lips. “If I can’t get past you, then I want you for myself.”

  “What?” Her hands slipped to her hips. “You don’t get to keep me, demon. I’m a guardian. You don’t win—I win.”

  Damon gazed down at her with a smile. “I know who you are,” he murmured. “I know what you are capable of, Cathy. I should have just broken you in half in the hall, yet somehow, I didn’t…”

  He stumbled backward at the concession. He hadn’t. Why hadn’t he?

  “I couldn’t.”

  She exhaled, running the finger of one hand through her shoulder-length blonde hair. “I was too strong for you.”

  He laughed. “I know that’s what you want to believe.”

  Cathy’s brow rose in protest. “It is the truth, fiend. If you’d wanted to kill me, you’d have done so while I slept, except you could not. You weren’t powerful enough. My incantations pushed you away, and that’s what forced you to set off the alarm.” Her face beamed in triumph. “That’s what really happened, isn’t it, fiend? Admit it—that’s the truth.”

  Damon shook his head. Taking Cathy with him had seemed like a good choice at the time, but gazing down at her now, he started to wonder. This constant battle for control was going to wear thin sooner than he’d anticipated.

  “Will you stop calling me that?”

  “What?”

  “Fiend,” he retorted. “And demon.”

  It wasn’t like Damon was ashamed of what he was. He’d been a creature of the darkness for more centuries than he cared to remember. He was old, he was strong, and he wasn’t used to taking nonsense from tiny humans like Cathy, but something about the way she spat the terms at him was disheartening. Cathy didn’t give them the respect they deserved, and she didn’t cower to them. It was disconcerting.

  She sighed. “Are you not those things?”

  Damon lifted his chin with pride. “I am an ancient evil.”

  “Yet, you still could not pass the weak little woman?” She snickered at her assessment. “How mighty you must be.”

  He advanced on her in a flash, moving so fast, Cathy probably never even saw the motion, but Damon saw hers. He saw the way her eyes widened with terror, heard the quickening of her heart, and as she fell backward, he reached for her tumbling body, catching her in his grasp.


  “They call me Damon.” The anger dissolved as he held her in his arms. “And that is how you shall address me.”

  Chapter 6

  Cathy

  Cathy’s head was spinning. The creature, Damon, had moved so fast, she swore he hadn’t shifted at all, yet there he was, on her, over her, capturing her in his arms after his agility had knocked her from her feet. Cathy had dealt with trickery and the brute strength before, yet she couldn’t recall a fiend as quick on his feet… or hooves or whatever actually constituted his anatomy. Those purple eyes drilled into her, the gaze so intense, she thought she might just burst into flames.

  “Damon.” In the end, she’d whispered the word, though Cathy had no memory of instructing her lips to do so.

  “That’s right.” His lips twitched as he eased her back to her feet. “Guardian or not, you’d be wise not to push me, Cathy. I am older than you, infinitely more experienced, and definitely more cunning.”

  She swallowed, the reality of his appraisal washing over her like icy water. The fiend was right. It was likely he was more capable than she. Cathy’s strength came from her inner energies and from the protection rooted in her home, swathed by her ancestors. She was weaker here—wherever the hell this was—and she shuddered at the thought. The dominion of a demon could very well be hell.

  “What do you want with me?”

  Damon’s arms still encircled her middle, his violet gaze impossible to read while he stared down at her face.

  “You intrigue me, little human.” He smiled at the explanation. “I had thought to keep you.”

  Her brows knitted. “Keep me?”

  Of course, she understood all too well what the brute inferred, but there was no way, absolutely no way she was remaining here with him. Cathy had a life, a salient task to perform, especially at this time of the year with Samhain just around the corner. Why would she choose to remain with a demon? One who, on another day, would have gladly cut her down to destroy the people Cathy was sworn to protect.

  “Well, you cannot.” She lifted her chin to meet his gaze, her tone emphatic. “I am not a thing to be kept, and you know once I am discovered missing, my kind will be after you.”

  Damon shrugged. “So, let them come.” His lips curled. “I have allies who will enjoy the battle. It has been too long since our kinds clashed, and it is the perfect time of the year for the purge.”

  Cathy inhaled at the threat. She refused to succumb to the fear burgeoning in the pit of her belly. Fear could not help her now. Pulling from his arms, she turned away from his insistent gaze. Blinking into the shadows of Damon’s domain, Cathy’s eyes closed, and she silently summoned the light to her side. Lifting her head, she could feel its power, sweeping in from the sides, shoving the shadows back as it swirled in and around her body. The energy moved her, fueling her, giving her strength.

  “That won’t work.” Damon’s voice was gleeful, and with it, Cathy sensed the edge of the energy ebbing. “That kind of magic won’t work here, Cathy.”

  All of a sudden, he was on her again. Cathy could feel the heat of his body envelop her, his darkness snubbing out the breadth of her light as his arms snaked around her middle. Blindly, she fought, pushing back for everything she was worth, compelling the energy to stay, to remain by her side through this ordeal, yet frustratingly, it seemed Damon’s analysis had been spot on—her charms weren’t as strong here as they had been at home. Grounded by the power of the elements, Cathy was virtually impenetrable, but here—in this godforsaken place—she was weaker.

  Vulnerable.

  “That’s right.” Damon’s voice purred into her right ear, and Cathy’s eyes snapped open, her hands on his arms, trying to push him away, but it was as if his limbs were made of metal—solid, formidable, and damn near impossible to resist.

  “You are vulnerable here, Cathy.”

  “I am not.” Her voice was steely despite the truth in Damon’s sentiment. “Now, remove your arms from me. You bring corruption to everything you touch.”

  The resonance of his laughter tickled her neck. “So, I am to corrupt you?”

  Cathy’s lips parted, her lower lip disappearing between her teeth as fleetingly, she imagined what it would be like to be tainted by a creature like Damon. She gulped, trying to suppress the desire. This lunacy was, no doubt, all part of the creature’s plan to lull her. He was hypnotizing her, casting a spell over Cathy’s rational mind to ensnare her senses. But she knew better. The lips which skimmed her nape might feel hot to the touch, but beneath their glossy exterior lurked a depraved demon. His skin might be warm as it immobilized her, but there was no blood heating his body.

  Damon had brought Cathy here to be his captive, to control and mesmerize, and she must not fall for his deceit.

  She must not allow the heat of his breath or his whispered words to fool her.

  She must resist his temptation.

  Chapter 7

  Damon

  Cathy was yielding. Damon could sense it as he held her in his arms. He sensed the conflict in her thoughts, and the rush of yearning when his lips brushed the soft skin of her neck. The closer they became, the more her longing burned into his psyche. Lust had never been one of his favorite sins, but meeting Cathy was fast changing his assessment of the social order. Who needed gluttony and a barrel full of small-minded souls when he had this—the mind and energy of a guardian like Cathy Bateman, let alone the hot flesh he knew she was hiding beneath those cotton pajamas she insisted on donning each night? The human was the epitome of temptation, and her covet to defy him doing little to quell his appetite for her.

  It was the age-old battle for power—the sexual predator going head-to-head with the flawless morality of a guardian of the light. It was timeless, evocative.

  Intoxicating.

  “Let me be.” Cathy’s voice was raspy, her growing need evident in her tone. “Please, Damon.”

  He smiled at the way his name sounded on her lips. Naturally, it was not his real name, not the one given to him in the beginning, but that mattered not. Those nouns were reserved for the very depths of hell. He had always preferred the name he’d chosen for himself and never had it sounded better than it did from Cathy.

  “I am not hurting you,” he murmured into her hair, the scent of honey filling his senses. “If I had wanted to hurt you, Cathy, you would have already been filled with pain.”

  She trembled, glancing over her shoulder to meet his gaze. “Please.”

  Cathy repeated the word, but there was little conviction in it as her pupils dilated. Reacting to her body language, Damon’s hands separated, one rising to cradle her chest while the other slipped south.

  “What do you need, sweet little human?”

  Her head fell against his chest at the question, her hands clawing at his body as though the two halves of Cathy could not resolve the conundrum. Should she give in and allow the pleasure to consume her? In her mind, she had already started to succumb, and Damon caught glimpses of the ravenous way she wanted to be devoured, but still, Cathy’s body fought for her virtue. For her morality. For her principles.

  “Stop, please.” Cathy’s pretty features screwed into a ball, and one of her hands rose to grasp at his hair.

  “You want me to stop?” Damon edged away from her panting body, once again moving so fast, Cathy had no time to process the loss.

  Turning with wide eyes, she searched for him, biting her lip while she fought to catch her breath.

  “There, I stopped.” His brow rose. “Better?”

  Cathy’s gaze lowered to the dirt floor, her body folding in on itself.

  “What are you doing to me? What are you doing to the light inside of me?”

  Damon smirked at her accusations. “Me?” he asked innocently. “What am I doing? I was merely holding you, Cathy. Nothing more, nothing less.” He took a step in her direction. “Why, what were you imagining?”

  She flushed at his words, unable to meet his no doubt knowing gaze. Beca
use Damon did know. He knew precisely what Cathy was thinking, and the depth of her need stirred him.

  “I…” She lifted her gaze. “Nothing.” Cathy swallowed the lie as though it was painful. “I wasn’t thinking anything.”

  Damon shook his head, wanting to grin at her willful deceit.

  “Why resist me?” He fixed her with the most intense stare he could muster. “Why refuse me when you know I can bring you such pleasure, Cathy?”

  “It’s not right,” she countered. Her gaze widened when Damon shifted closer, but Cathy never looked to retreat.

  “How so? You would illuminate the boundless gloom of my eternity, Miss Bateman.” Damon was back with her now, one hand trailing a line up the length of her left arm.

  Usually, it would have pained him to be this gentle—preferring to bind and destroy—but with Cathy, there was no need for restraint. The woman offered herself up for control. She wanted to be ravaged, that was irrefutable, but even now, in the pit of his dominion, Cathy was strong. Her energy might be tapered here, diminished in his presence, but not eradicated entirely. Her soul was unbreakable, and Damon sensed nothing he could do would possess her entirely, much though the thought allured him.

  The best he could aspire for was Cathy’s surrender, her need to give in to his will becoming more powerful than her desire to protect her people and do the right thing. Catching her chin between his forefinger and thumb, he sensed she deserved pleasure. For too long, she had sacrificed her own happiness for those thankless souls. In all the time he’d watched her, he had never once seen her deviate from her monotonous routine. There was no hedonism in Cathy Bateman’s life—just a sequence of obligation and unfulfillment.