by Lisa Oliver
“It was carnage – a blood bath, literally. The coven were holed up in a barn. We found out, through magic, they had four captives with them. The twins, Levi and Alexi along with their anchor Jasmine were supposed to meet up with us at eight that morning. The idea was we’d hit them when they were still sleepy, having watched them partying the night before. They didn’t show up. Darwin and I waited until ten, then the screaming started from inside the barn. Darwin rushed in there before I could stop him. He knew he was supposed to stay with me, and I’d been calling, texting, trying to get hold of the others. The council had no one else in the area…”
“So, you dashed in to save Darwin and the captives.” Stefan nodded his understanding. “How many vampires were there?”
“Thirteen.” Lucifer swallowed the lump in his throat. “They were another group who thought numbers had power. It was hard enough getting to Darwin so I could use my magic. He’d been jumped on the moment he burst through the door. You should have seen him – bitten, clothes torn, covered in blood and bruises. The moment I could grab hold of him, I activated a fireball and incinerated every vampire in the barn. Darwin made it. Two of the captives, both young magic users, didn’t.” Lucifer fell silent. Months later he still couldn’t get over how close he’d been to losing his brother that day.
“Did you… did you ever find out why the twins and their anchor let you down?”
“The vampires weren’t the only ones partying that night.” Lucifer let out a long breath. “Levi, Alexi, and Jasmine turned up while I was loading Darwin into an ambulance, full of apologies which did nothing. The council conducted a full investigation. The twins and their anchor were censored, fined, and stood down for six months. My boss told me they’d been put back on duty three months ago. I told him if he ever ordered me to work with them again, I’d walk. I refuse to have anything to do with them.”
Stefan wrinkled his brow, like he was thinking hard. “Were you and Darwin friends with them, before this happened? You mentioned they’d propositioned you a few times.”
“Good friends, yes. That’s why their betrayal hit me so hard. Before that we’d socialized, worked together. I’ve even had them at the house before all the shit went down.” Lucifer looked down at his mate, trying to work out where his thoughts were taking him.
“So, did they know Technic too? Before he went rogue, I mean.”
“Yes. There aren’t that many stewards around. Most magic users prefer to use their powers for peaceful means, like Monty. But yes, the twins have worked with Technic, the same as they have with me and Darwin. They couldn’t believe it when they found out he’d drained his anchor. What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking there’s holes in this story, or an awful lot of weird coincidences. I know you’ve been tracking Technic for three years and I’m guessing the twins and their anchor knew that too. When you were talking to Abdullah, you said something about him trying to get you to talk to the twins again, so I guess he was part of the friend circle too. I don’t understand the importance of seven – why it would take seven of us to take down a demon.”
Lucifer tried to remember what Abdullah had said. “It had something to do with our inner strength. I’m guessing the number seven denotes that.”
“But why now? Why at the full moon? Why does it take seven people to take down one demon, even if he is possessing an ex-steward? Magic user powers aren’t impacted by the full moon. They don’t become suddenly more powerful, or anything like that. Demons don’t either. Their powers come from the link they have with the underworld – they don’t even have a moon down there.”
“So, what are you saying?”
“Look at all the players in this so far. Brutus was your friend – he’s killed trying to warn you, or so we were led to believe. Abdullah gives you this mystical spiel about the visions he’d seen – insisting you need to work with the twins and their anchor, even after you told him you never would. Making this a seemingly impossible task. It all seems like a distraction to me.”
“You might have to be a bit clearer than that.” Lucifer did not like where this conversation was going.
“Okay. Let’s break this down. Who did you get the message from about Technic being in Cairo?”
“Brutus. He didn’t know about you. He said me and Darwin needed to get to Cairo urgently.”
“And you went immediately, taking me. We go to the scene; nothing stops us. But by that night, Brutus was dead, and you got shot trying to secure a rental car. Then, when we go back to the crime scene, something tried to drain your magic – your magic, not mine. That being was tuned to you.”
“We don’t know it was me specifically…”
“The message in the alley wasn’t warning enough?” Stefan turned to face him. He clearly believed he was onto something. “That being tried to drain you, not me. So, thinking back to your circle of friends, if you got into trouble in Egypt, who would you go to?”
“Brutus or Abdullah.”
“And Brutus was dead, making Abdullah the only person you were likely to seek help from, right?”
“I could’ve just got on the plane for home.”
The look Stefan gave him would send weaker men to their knees. Lucifer was tempted. “I haven’t known you very long, but even I know you don’t abandon a case halfway through. That’s not who Lucifer Fireborn is. But think about your conversation with Abdullah for a minute – see it, as I did, from the perspective of a stranger looking on. He never used Technic’s name. I thought it was a seer thing at the time and didn’t give it much thought. But I’m thinking about it now. Why didn’t he use Technic’s name? Names only have power over demons, djinn and angels.”
“That’s true. But Abdullah has always been light on specifics and heavy on innuendo.”
“And that innuendo was all trigger points for you. The first thing he said was that the showdown with Technic would be here. You said we’d come home. Then he used the possibility of Darwin being used against you, which you tried to deflect, and he overruled you, being all mystical again.”
“Yes, so?”
“And then he brought up the twins – another immediate trigger for you. What were you thinking when we left the coffee house?”
Lucifer frowned. “I was thinking that I needed to warn Darwin and I needed to find another couple who shared an anchor.”
“Which Darwin already told you was impossible.” Lucifer felt Stefan’s hand on his knee. “Don’t you see? The whole thing was a diversion right down to Garrick being shot and me being taken. I wasn’t hurt. I was stashed away. If Technic took me, which we were led to believe he did, then why didn’t he try draining my powers too? I’m an anchor.”
“Maybe he meant to, but you escaped before he could.”
Stefan shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t think I was in any danger except of losing my mind. But think about the implications. Without me around, your powers are useless. You had no choice but to spend time looking for me and finding people who could make up this magic seven group we’re supposed to confront Technic with. What if Technic is still in Egypt?”
“Now hang on.” Lucifer couldn’t let that one slide. “You said yourself the hole you’d been placed in was demon work, and I smelled sulfur at the scene.”
“But that doesn’t mean it was Technic.” The pressure from Stefan’s hand on Lucifer’s leg got stronger. “Remember what Brutus said, the day I met him? There were two demon sightings. Technic’s only been possessed by one of them. Demons can pop up all over the world if they’ve been summoned…”
“Meaning the other demon could have been here waiting to kill Garrick and set the trap for you.” There was something, something nagging at Lucifer’s brain, but he couldn’t quite catch it. “But why send us on a wild goose chase?”
“They weren’t sending us on a wild goose chase, they were getting you out of Egypt.”
“But Brutus was the one who told me and Darwin to get there.”
; “And it was seers who told Brutus it was Technic who drained that young magic user. There was no other evidence pointing to him, or anyone.”
Lucifer’s frown deepened. He covered Stefan’s hand which was still on his thigh, with one of his own. “Now, hang on babe. You saw Technic yourself…”
“I saw a tall man in a dark cloak raping a defenseless young man,” Stefan broke in quickly. “The only thing I can tell you was the attacker was Caucasian with slender fingers and he was wearing a chunky gold ring on his wedding finger. The ring had an insignia on it, but I can’t tell you any more than that. That does not mean the man was Technic. Who was the seer who worked with Brutus the most?”
“Abdullah. He does a lot of work for the council over there.”
Stefan sighed. “Then why did Abdullah refer to the two men who apparently searched his business as goons? He would know them if he did work for them. And why was the room out the back of his shop warded?”
“It was?” Lucifer hadn’t noticed, but then he was hell bent on getting coffee and answers.
“It was. It was. Oh, my gods, I’ve been so stupid.” Lucifer winced as Stefan clutched at his fingers. “My dragonfly was fluttering when we were in Abdullah’s shop. My dragonfly was fluttering.”
“Er… which means what exactly?”
“Abdullah told me, he mentioned the dragonfly, even though no one could see it in my pocket. I thought he was having a joke with me, using his powers, you know two magic users having a laugh with each other. I didn’t think anything else about it because you said he was a friend. But he was laughing at me, not with me.” Lucifer had never seen Stefan’s eyes so bright. “Luc, the man who raped that young magic user was in Abdullah’s shop. I don’t know if it was this Technic you’re looking for, but the person carrying the magical signature my dragonfly picked up at the crime scene was in the shop when we were having coffee with Abdullah. My dragonfly was trying to get out of my pocket to warn me.”
“Did your dragonfly flutter when you were captured?”
Pursing his lips, Stefan shook his head, as he patted his pocket. “It hasn’t moved since we got on the plane to come back here.”
“Abdullah always did have a soft spot for the twins and Technic now I think about it,” Lucifer mused quietly, unsure if he was ready to believe another one of his friends was deceiving him. But Stefan’s logic, and his belief in his dragonfly couldn’t be discounted, which meant... “Oh, shit and damn and fucking hell. We’ve got to go back to Cairo.”
Chapter Twenty
Stefan fully expected Lucifer to dash back to the house, grab more clothes and head straight for the airport. But his mate surprised him, doing nothing like that at all. They did go back to the house, after Lucifer had sat and fumed for a good ten minutes, but they entered through a well-appointed kitchen this time, with Lucifer giving orders to an efficient looking staff for a meal to be served in an hour. Then, without saying anything else, he led Stefan up the servant stairs, and into a huge room that could only be Lucifer’s.
The first thing that struck Stefan was the sight of his carpet bag and hat looking out of place, sitting on the bed that could easily sleep six. “I asked the staff to bring that up for you earlier,” Lucifer said, crossing the room and disappearing through another door. “I’ll empty some drawers for you later. Did you want a shower?” The sound of running water muffled anything else Lucifer might have said.
“I guess so,” Stefan said, more to himself than to his mate. He was still taking in the giant room. It was light, something Stefan appreciated, with huge windows that dominated the far wall. There were no curtains, but Stefan noticed a faint shimmer on the glass and guessed they were magically treated to keep anyone from peering in.
Then there were the books – hundreds of them, lining floor to ceiling shelves that surrounded the headboard. On the opposing wall displayed like artworks were weapons of all kinds, some of which Stefan could see were really old. He wandered over, tilting his head, first one side and then the other, taking in the swords, torture devices, and a particular nasty looking axe that looked as if it’d been forged in the middle ages.
On top of the dressers - there were two - all Stefan could see was a large hairbrush and a few strips of leather he assumed Lucifer used to tie back his hair. There were also more books, these ones more worn than the ones on the shelves. Keen to see what his mate read in his spare time, Stefan picked up the top book which turned out to be a copy of the Magical Treatise, one of the texts that were used when magic was taught in schools – a very long time ago. Opening a page at random, Stefan found himself confronted with a picture of a demon. The pencil drawing was remarkable in its details. Stefan could almost imagine the stench such a creature would emit as he snarled and sprayed his acidic spit on any who confronted him. The text underneath the picture was tiny and Stefan had to bring the book up closer to his face to read it. Facing demons is not a mission for the fainthearted… Stefan snorted. He’d only faced two in his life, and yep, the text was right.
“Are you coming in?” Lucifer sauntered back into the room and Stefan’s eyes widened. His hair loose over his shoulders, and wearing nothing but the scantiest pair of briefs Stefan had ever seen, Lucifer could either be considered a warrior from old – especially with all those tattoos on blatant display – or someone set to debauch an innocent anchor in the best possible way. Reading about demons suddenly lost its appeal.
“I didn’t realize you wanted us to shower together.” Stefan could feel his cheeks flaming as he hurriedly closed the book and put it back with the others. “Is there enough room? You’re quite…” he spread his hands. “Big.”
“Come and see for yourself.” Lucifer swept his arm towards the door he’d just come through. “I’m sure you’ll find we’ll manage.”
Really? Stefan kicked off his boots. He only had the one pair and he didn’t think steam would help the condition of the leather. Taking off his socks, he stuffed them into his boots, and then walked over to where Lucifer was waiting, watching him closely.
“I know we’ve both got a lot to adjust to,” Lucifer said softly as Stefan stood in front of him. “But I’m determined to share every aspect of my life with you, including the shower. I still haven’t had a chance to check for myself you’re okay after your ordeal.”
“I didn’t get hurt. No one even touched me,” Stefan murmured, but he did nothing to stop Lucifer’s clever fingers removing his tie and unbuttoning his waistcoat and shirt.
“Undressing you is like Christmas every day.” Lucifer’s eyes gleamed as Stefan let his top clothing be removed. Thick fingers trailed over Stefan’s skin, and he noticed every glowing mark he had swayed towards Lucifer’s touch. “It’s incredible how in sync we are with each other.”
I don’t know about that just yet, but Stefan couldn’t deny the way his body leaned towards Lucifer’s, how his fingers tingled with the need to touch so much skin. Letting out a groan, Lucifer hoisted him up, pressing his back into the wall. Stefan wrapped his legs around Lucifer’s hips as the man’s mouth hit his. And it was a hit. Open mouthed, lips and tongues collided as Stefan got caught up in the energies of a man on a mission. Hard fingers molded his butt, kneading, teasing, almost bruising in their intensity.
But Stefan wasn’t worrying about a few marks he wouldn’t be able to see. The air around them was electric and Stefan found himself writhing against Lucifer’s body, his cock pushing the confines of his briefs and pants, searching for just the right amount of friction to get off. Lucifer wasn’t any better. Stefan’s ass was held right over Lucifer’s bulge and the man was humping him as if possessed.
Pulling his head back, because damn it, a man had to breathe sometimes, Stefan hit his skull, but the ache didn’t register. Lucifer’s kisses scorched along his jawline, his scruff scraping Stefan’s neck. All Stefan could do was hold on and wiggle. His orgasm was right…
“Fuck the shower.” Stefan found himself bodily swung around and seconds later his ba
ck hit a softer surface. Lucifer loomed over him, his skin flushed, his mouth an angry red slash among his facial hair. “You need new pants,” was all the warning Stefan got before he heard the sound of ripping cloth and his pants were gone.
“I’ll get you more clothes.” Rip. Stefan’s briefs went the way of his pants.
“Oh, fuck, look at that beauty.” Yep. When Lucifer was on a mission, he didn’t let anything stop him. Stefan arched his back as his cock found a home in Lucifer’s mouth and nothing could stop him thrusting up, chasing the heat and suction. In seconds, Stefan was on the brink again, his fingers clawing the covers…
“Not yet.” Lucifer pulled off his cock, his fingers tingling with magic as they covered Stefan’s hole. Stefan’s magic responded and he could feel his ass muscles loosen. Lucifer’s arms caught him behind his knees and most of Stefan’s back left the bed.
“I. Have. To. Get. In. There.” His teeth clenched, Lucifer thrust, and Stefan cried out, his body suddenly full, his soul swirling with the power of his magic. Lucifer had remembered lube, and that was Stefan’s last coherent thought as his mate pounded into him. Tossing his head side to side, Stefan knew the only thing holding him to the bed was his death-like grip on the covers. His hips in the air, Stefan’s cock bounced around with every thrust from his mate… and Stefan couldn’t reach it.
“Fuck, you should see this,” Lucifer grunted as he sped up. “The way your body takes me in, wrapped around me… oh, gods. Fuck. Damn it.” Warmth flooded Stefan’s insides as Lucifer thrust once more and froze, his teeth bared, nostrils flared, and his dark eyes closed tight as the bigger man savored his moment.
“So damn good,” Lucifer sighed a long minute later, his eyes opening and the tension in his face gone.
“Excuse me?” Stefan pointed to his dick that was leaving streaks of precome over his belly.
“I’d never leave you hanging for long.” Lucifer smiled and licked his lips. “Hang on.”