by Dakota Brown
THE PRICE OF EXORCISM
A Reverse Harem Tale
Pizza Shop Exorcist
Book Two
by
Dakota Brown
THE PRICE OF EXORCISM
A Reverse Harem Tale
Pizza Shop Exorcist, book 2
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2021 by Dakota Brown
Cover Design © 2021 by Camila Marques
All rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination and or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Untold Press LLC
114 NE Estia Lane
Port St Lucie, FL 34983
www.untoldpress.com
PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dedication
For Becky Hodges.
You're such a caring and talented person. Thank you for everything.
Acknowledgments
Sending a shout out to my team: My PA Becky Hodges, Lizzy, Shoshanah, Justinn, Sean, Jen, and Therese. You all keep me sane–relatively, because, let's be honest, what is even sanity for an author–and on track. Thank you so much for all the things you do for me.
I want to thank my ARC/Proofer team for finding all those pesky typos. And I want to especially send a shout out to those typos that–despite everyone's best efforts–still sneak through. There aren't many, but every once in a while the tenacious things pop up.
Dear readers, thank you so much for your reviews, the time you take to devour my books, and the messages asking for more. I appreciate you more than you can ever know.
Stay safe out there.
Chapter 1
Price
Aaron looked so happy and carefree as he kicked the soccer ball, encouraging the kids he coached as they ran around the field. The morning was relatively cool, and I'd gotten up to spend a little time with him. Aaron wasn't about to turn me into a morning person, but I could certainly make the effort now and again. I admired the way his lean muscles were so perfectly defined, and I couldn't help my imagination as I mentally undressed him, just a little bit. He didn't go around shirtless much, self-conscious of the white markings on his dark skin, signs of his angelic blood, but I'd seen it enough to want more.
Of course, the kids had given him all sorts of crap for bringing his 'girlfriend' to the practice. He'd taken it well.
We were getting a late breakfast after practice. Then I had to swing by my restaurant for a few hours and get some paperwork done. Then, this evening, Mal, my official boyfriend, and I were going to get Sabian back.
A month and a half ago I'd been happily alone, just running my pizza shop and keeping myself happy with my vibrator. Then Darius, my very complicated sorta best friend, had wandered back into my life with a problem he couldn't solve. An exorcism he couldn't handle. See, I'm an exorcist. Probably one of the best. He's no slouch, but I'm better. He's the one that dragged me into the occult life when we were both teens. He still blamed himself for all the chaos and complications, good times and heartache that had followed. Truth be told, it wasn't all his fault, and I didn't regret most of it.
With Darius back in my life, things had gone from simple to complicated in hours. I'd needed a spell to help exorcise the demon from the charm and that search had led me straight into the arms of Malak Naji. Turns out he's a damn fine lover, and a vampire. He'd worked his way into my pants and my heart courtesy of Sabian, the demon we'd had to exorcise from the charm. He turned out to be an incubus. A starving one.
Long story short, Darius had decided we needed Sabian's help and left him with me. The incubus had also worked his way into my heart, and then I'd accidently banished him back to hell in a fight with a demon prince. See, I'd nearly died. To save me, Sabian's Prince, Ezra, had possessed me. Yeah, that's right, an exorcist who's been possessed. It didn't entirely suck, because of the circumstances. Ezra had promised to behave while he saved my life, and he'd delivered. Maybe a little too well, because I missed him, too. Still, Sabian was my demon and I wanted him back. Fortunately, so did Mal. Despite my assurances to Darius that I wasn't going to call Sabian back, well, I'd lied. The fight with the demon prince had drained me pretty badly, and I'd needed some time to recover before I did any magic, let alone something as complicated as summoning a specific demon. I just hoped he wanted to be here. I thought he did, but I had no way of knowing for sure until I brought him back.
Aaron was a Nephilim, though he hadn't known until a few weeks ago that he had angel blood. The bad guys had tried to use him to summon a prince that they could bind into service. We'd gotten there just in time to save him and stop their plan. Now he and I were slowly exploring the possibilities of a relationship together. We liked each other and, as Mal had said, surrounding myself with powerful men wasn't necessarily a bad idea. So, I got to date multiple guys. Mal, Sabian when we got him back, Aaron, and Ezra a small voice whispered, adding the demon prince to my list. I shied away from the idea of the demon prince. Surely that was simply too crazy, even for me.
Still, something was coming. Something big. We needed to be prepared for whatever it was. Aaron's resistance to most demonic powers would be really useful. Mal was a vampire and an occultist. Sabian was an incubus, and while he wasn't super useful in a fight, he knew more about the demons we might encounter than anyone else. Ezra was a powerful prince, and if nothing else, he was on our side in this coming conflict.
Me, well, I was a wild card. I had untapped abilities Mal wanted to help me learn to use, and I was an exorcist. Somehow, we'd defeat whatever came our way. Hopefully.
A younger kid, belonging to one of the parents watching their children from the bleachers a short distance away, ran up to me.
"Can I pet your dog?"
"Dog? Oh, Mayhem. Yeah, sure. Come here, buddy."
The small yellow Pomeranian trotted over and let the kid pet him.
Did I forget to mention Prince Ezra had gifted me with a hellhound? A demonic dog who had chosen a puffball as his earthly form. I had no idea why. Still, his hellhound form was much more impressive, and he packed a punch in a fight.
The parents were taking turns giving me some serious side-eye. I'd taken the time to spike up my bleached blond hair in a small mohawk. The sides were shaved close, and I wore a tank top that showed off a lot of my ink. I had protective runes worked in with the newer knotwork designs and the older punk symbols all over my arms and torso. My acid washed, ripped up jeans covered the runes on my legs, and I currently sat on my new leather jacket. It was a light one, gifted to me by my employees at the pizza parlor. It was almost identical to the one the demons had shredded last month, with the anarchy symbol on the front and the pizza logo for my restaurant on the back. This one had the updated logo though. After I'd banished a demon in front of most of my employees, they'd changed the décor a bit. This logo had an upside-down pentagram emblazoned on the pizza. I'd let them run with it, and now the shop had both an 80's theme–just like the owner–and a slightly demonic one.
I owned my throwback to the 80's punk scene and didn't care what the parents thought. Hopefully, Aaron didn't care, either, because I suspected at least a few of the parents were going to object to me. Whatever.
Aaron wiped some sweat from his brow and called the kids over. They huddled, cheered, and slapped hands, and then dispersed. Parents collected their kids and I stood and went over to Aaron to help him pack up the cones and other gear they'd used.
<
br /> "I don't think the parents like me, mate," I said when I got over to him.
Aaron shrugged, and I admired his tall, muscular frame. He wore a T-shirt that covered the white eye markings that stood out sharply against his dark skin. He also had wing "tattoos" on his back. They weren't actually tattoos, but it was what he told anyone who asked. They were the physical clues to his angelic blood. He also had some undisclosed abilities, along with the ability to tell if people were lying or not.
"They probably wouldn't approve of me, if they knew I wasn't just a scientist and a soccer coach. They'll get over it."
"Especially if they knew you were consorting with demons and vampires." I grinned.
"And exorcists." He pulled me into a quick hug despite the sweat that slicked his skin and I leaned into him.
"Bored out of your mind yet?" he asked.
"Naw, I enjoyed watching you run around playing sportsball."
He chuckled and stepped away. "Here, you try." He kicked the ball over to me.
I vaguely remembered some stuff from school gym classes, but I'd never been much into team sports. Track relay teams were as close as I'd gotten.
Still, I managed to stop the ball and kick it back to him.
He laughed. "Let me show you."
"Mmm, getting coached now. Excellent." I gave him a suggestive look.
His laugh deepened. Aaron gave me a few instructions, and pretty soon we were kicking the ball back and forth, laughing until the morning sun got too hot and I held up my hands for mercy. "Let's get food before we get too sweaty to be in public."
Aaron gave me a suggestive look. "Or we could get sweaty not in public."
"I'd be down," I returned his banter. We weren't sleeping together yet. I think Aaron was still trying to get used to the idea that Mal didn't mind. To be fair, I was still trying to get used to the idea that Mal didn't mind. It was easier to believe that Sabian wouldn't care. Incubus and all. Mal was a centuries old–he still hadn't fessed up on how old he really was–Arabic vampire. Who, somehow, was probably more liberal than I was in a lot of ways.
Aaron leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. I'd have deepened it, but I figured it was possible some of the parents were still around. They got weird about shit like that.
"So, breakfast? Where are you taking me?" I nudged him as we gathered the rest of the equipment.
Fortunately, there was a small locker area at the park that the club used for storage. Otherwise, when Aaron's house had burned down when the bad guys had tried to sacrifice him, they would have lost all their gear.
"How about The Back Porch?"
"Yeah, sounds good. Love that place. I'm just not usually awake early enough to go."
Aaron chuckled. "Well, I'm not trying to change you, Chris. But maybe once in a while I can convince you to get up early."
"I can probably manage that," I agreed. "I love their crepes."
Aaron nodded. "Best in town."
We headed over to his car after stowing the gear and I got into the passenger seat. Mayhem hopped onto my lap and I really hoped he was using whatever ability he had to avoid notice. I really didn't want people to think I was that person. Why had he chosen a purse dog form? Why... Oh well.
We weren't far from our destination and Mayhem was clearly doing his invisible dog thing, because no one noticed when he followed us into the restaurant.
The hostess was older, and openly stared at me and Aaron with something akin to horror on her face. I had to laugh because I couldn't tell what part of me and Aaron had her most horrified. It was probably my hair, though.
"Price, that you?"
"None other, mate." I turned toward the voice and grinned at Charles, the owner of this place. Most of the small restaurant owners in this area knew each other at least somewhat.
"Who's your friend?" Charles was an older, portly man, with a kind smile and an easy way about him that had always made me comfortable.
"Charles, this is Aaron. Charles owns the place," I explained.
"The food here is wonderful. I come in a lot," Aaron said, shaking Charles' hand.
"I'm glad to hear it. I keep trying to get Chris to join us for breakfast, but she claims she's never awake."
"It's true. Made a special exception for today."
"She must like you then," Charles said to Aaron.
Aaron ducked his head, a pleased grin on his face. "It seems she does."
"Well, I'll let you two get settled. I just wanted to say hi since I had a moment."
"Nice to see you, Charles."
"You, too, Price. I'll come by sometime soon. Hear you redecorated."
My eyes widened in shock and I sorta choked on a reply I couldn't quite make before I found my voice. "Um, yeah. Billy did, anyway."
"The kids were telling me about it. They love it. It'll probably get some interesting reactions from the older crowd."
"You know me. Don't give a damn what other people think."
Charles chuckled. "One of your more refreshing qualities."
"Thanks for that."
He waved and headed back into the kitchen.
Aaron chuckled and held my seat out for me. I let him. The hostess seemed to have gotten her dislike under control and had a neutral expression on her face now. She handed over our menus and left us alone.
"Do you get that a lot?" Aaron asked.
"Knowing the other restaurant folks, or the weird looks from the older crowd?"
"Well, both I guess."
I laughed. "Yes to the first. Most of us in the downtown area know each other, and to the latter, yeah, but the horror factor goes up if I do my hair."
Aaron smiled. "I like it."
"Good thing."
He nodded agreement.
Our waiter came over and we ordered and pretty soon I was enjoying some of the best crepes in town and sneaking a few bites to the damn hellhound.
"Looking forward to having Sabian back?" Aaron asked once we were mostly done with our breakfast.
"Yeah. I just hope we can pull it off. Neither of us have, uh, done this before." I stopped myself before admitting I was about to try and summon a demon in public. There were people close enough they could possibly overhear. It would be awkward enough if it got out that I was an exorcist. Though at the rate things were going, that was probably inevitable.
Aaron nodded. "I miss him, too. He's fun to have around."
"You going to stick around tonight?"
He nodded. "Just in case you need some of my…" He hesitated glancing around and shaking his head. "Abilities."
"Good. Hopefully won't be necessary but always good to have you around."
The waiter brought us our check and I grabbed it before Aaron could. He accepted my claiming of the bill, and I went to pay.
"I'll leave the tip then," Aaron offered, throwing cash on the table.
I nodded and after I took care of the bill we headed back out. The heat was building, and I considered taking off my jacket, but no, the last one had saved me enough times, I'd deal with the sweat.
"You still want to run by your restaurant?"
I needed to, but I kind of just wanted to go home for a few minutes first. I could grab my car and then Aaron wouldn't be stuck waiting on me.
"Let's go home first."
"Sounds good."
We fell into a comfortable silence while Aaron drove a little way out of town back to my place. He was living with me while they worked on rebuilding his house. He'd offered to pay rent. I'd told him to keep the pantry stocked and we'd call it even. The house was paid for, so money wasn't really an issue.
I saw Mal's car in the driveway sitting next to mine when we pulled in. Then I saw Mal.
"Oh, that's not fair," I muttered, as my ovaries wept with joy and I cursed the hours before I might have a chance to get him all to myself.
"What is he doing?"
"Sword forms." Not only was my nerdy warrior vampire doing sword forms, but he was doing them shirtless, and I had to
tear my eyes away from the view before I drooled on myself.
"Your boyfriend is a scary son of a bitch," Aaron stated as he parked the car.
"Yeah, probably a good thing he likes us."
"Yeah," Aaron agreed quietly.
Shit. Here I was drooling over the view, and Aaron was intimidated. I was so not good at this relationship stuff. Still, I could try.
We got out and I went over to Aaron and slid my arm around his waist. He hugged me back a bit hesitantly.
Mal finished his form and glanced over at us, his face lighting up in a broad smile. Aaron loosened his hold on me, but I kept my arm around him. Mal didn't even act like he noticed, just coming over and slapping Aaron–and clearly ignoring the shock Aaron's angelic nature caused the vampire when he touched the other man–on the shoulder before giving me a quick kiss on the forehead.
We followed him inside the blessed air conditioning, and he put his sword down on the table by the front door. I didn't know a ton about swords, but that didn't look like a practice blade.
"Swords now?" I asked as I unashamedly stared at his ass while I followed him further into the house.
"I'm out of practice." He shrugged, the muscles in his back rippling with the motion. "If things keep going the way they have been, it wouldn't hurt to brush up on my sword work."
I was itching to make a dirty joke about sword work, but I refrained. I also managed to keep my hands off him, though I did sigh in disappointment when he pulled a T-shirt on that he'd left in the living room.
Mal glanced at me, arching an eyebrow.
I shrugged helplessly. Sabian's incubus charms weren't even responsible at the moment. Still, between the eye candy Aaron presented and Mal's presence, I couldn't be blamed for being turned on all the time. Could I?