Chapter Seven
They did move. Eventually. From the bed to the shower. Then, wrapped in the terry robes they’d found in one of the many cabinets in the enormous, luxurious bathroom, they headed to the galley, fixed omelets, and fed them to each other.
“Gotta get a boat like this one of these days.”
“Ya think?” She grinned at him. “The spook biz pretty lucrative, is it?”
He shrugged, waggling his eyebrows at her. “I do okay.”
Doing what? “Explain to me what it is that you do do.”
“Can’t. It’s all classified.” He shook his head, his brow furrowed. Reaching up, she ran a fingertip across his rigid jaw, along his sculpted cheekbone, to smooth the knot between his eyes. He took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. “But I’m done,” he told her. “Out. I’m going to join Bhyrne in his new security agency here in Sleepy Hollow. Raines Security.”
The smile wreathing her face grew wide enough to crack her jaw. The omelet suddenly tasted like the most amazing gourmet dish in the world. “You’ll be around then?”
“Yep.”
“And we can see each other?”
“What, like fuck buddies?”
“Well….” She lowered her gaze, staring into her cup of coffee before taking a sip. “I’d like more than that.”
“Me, too. There’s something.…” He shrugged. “Dunno what it is, but you know it’s not just the sex, Genny. Awesome as that is.”
Warmth spread through her at his confession. Playful. This grim, dangerous male…teasing her. Goddess, she fell a little deeper under his spell. As if that were possible. She might already be head-over-heels for the guy, if her racing pulse was anything to go by. Oh, hell. No might about it.
“Unless…you’re still trying to kill me, Ms. WOW,” he added, his frosty eyes warming and alight with promise.
“You can more than handle me, Mr. Secret Agent Man. But, no. I kinda think maybe all my demon-chasing, maybe it all just led up to this, you know? Finding you? Something happened to me when I flitted into your Paris hotel room. Something changed me. You. I’m going to have to ditch POLOS, I think. Maybe you and Bhyrne will give me a job.”
“You’d work for demons?”
“I am a demon.” The admission clobbered her. She ducked her head and pushed stray bits of mushrooms and cheese around her plate, lining them up against a border of fluffy eggs, a fence of golden toast.
Spook covered her other hand with his, his thumb skimming over her white knuckles. “Look, it’s okay. You’ll accept it soon. I didn’t know about myself until a couple of days ago. When you told me, I didn’t know what to think. When Max and Bhyrne confirmed it…it explained so much I could never figure out. So much that seemed…a little off about me. And I kinda like having a family I never knew about. Any family at all.”
She fiddled with her fork. “It’s different. I’ve always known. It’s just that I’ve been…well, it’s way more than denial. I’ve hated all demonkind since I was a child and demons took my parents away. Didn’t give them a chance.” She told him the story, her chest tightening with the pain, her words halting, still hurtful to speak.
“My parents were will-o’-the-wisps, like me. I was very young when they died, but old enough to know they weren’t coming home anymore.”
Without a word, he pulled her to him, lifting her with ease out of the chair. He settled her in his lap, his warmth flooding her, the sound of his heartbeat comforting as he enclosed her in his strong, protective arms.
“I’ll take care of you, sweetheart,” he murmured, nuzzling her hair.
“I know. I know you will.” Going still for a moment, she breathed him in, basking in the scent and feel of him before she trusted her voice enough to go on. “In the lore, we are like pixies, or fairies. Or, according to some humans, swamp gas. But we sense evil.” She gazed up at him. “I got the demon vibe when I came up your corridor and neared your hotel room in Paris. But you had no evil aura.”
“’Cause I’m such a nice guy.”
“You are,” she agreed. “But will-o’-the-wisps seek out those with rotten hearts and blackened souls. Lure them with the elusive, flickering light into a final bad act or terrible deed that destroys them. Or into a place from which they cannot return.”
“This is all new to me.”
“Few people really know about us. Even in demonkind. The light-lure wouldn’t work if it was common knowledge. Everyone would avoid us. No one would follow.”
“You glow when I touch you,” he said. “I love the way you light up for me.”
“That’s different.” A bolt of warmth shot up her neck, suffusing her face with heat.
“Love that blush, too.”
She wriggled on his lap until his arms clamped down, holding her still. “Stop wiggling or I’ll have you in bed in two seconds flat,” he warned. “And I want to hear this. I want to know everything there is to know about you.”
“It’s not that pretty. My parents got an assignment from their king to track down a powerful demon warlord and hasten his departure from the world.” She paused, the lump in her throat making it hard for her to continue.
He toyed with her hair, twisting long strands around his fingers, as if trying to bind her to him. “Go on, sweetheart.”
“But it was a difficult job and all but drained them, nearly extinguishing their light. They were freezing to death. They needed renewal, an influx of energy to keep going. But when they appeared at the gates of Duyvil Tand, the guards laughed at them and refused them admittance.” She choked back a sob. “Their light went out. They never came home and I never saw them again.”
He held her without saying anything, his steady, potent presence filling her with strength and courage until the block in her throat dissipated, the daggers stabbing her chest easing. She looked up at him, shocked by the grim cast of his mouth, the cold steel of his eyes.
“What is Duyvil Tand, baby?” he asked. “Where is it?”
“It’s Devil’s Tooth, the demon stronghold, below a mountain in the Catskills, where many realms meet. The Queen of the Succubi has her palace there. The laird of the WOW has his sphere. It’s the domain of the King of the Fire-Sex Demons, along with the fortresses and pavilions of other demonic rulers.”
“Let’s call Campbell and get you home.” Sliding her off his lap, he rose and headed to the cabin. “Just remembered I need to do something.” She started at the uncompromising tone of his harsh, unpleasant growl. Fear gripped her, squeezing her heart like a vise. She raced after him, found him next to the rumpled bed where he’d given her such great pleasure, already half-dressed, yanking his clothes on with spare, lethal movements. He dragged his overnight case onto the mattress to check his weapons. Her jaw dropped as he holstered an array of blades into sheaths he’d already strapped to various parts of his body, then slammed a magazine into the hollow butt of a hand gun.
“No.” She tugged on his arm. “And who the hell brings a fuckin’ armory like that to a romantic rendezvous, anyway?”
“I do. The date’s over. I have something I have to take care of.”
“I am not going to let you do this, Spook Raines.”
He gazed down at her, his eyes like chips of frost. “You really think you can stop me, Gen?”
Spook wasn’t sure exactly when it happened. But sometime during the night or morning of their one-night stand, while he’d been so busy taking possession of her body, Genny had laid claim to his heart and mind, maybe even his soul. He thought of her as his female now. And no one would wrong her without paying a substantial price. Even if he had to blow up all of the mysterious Duyvil Tand to exact it.
But she saw through him as if he were transparent as a window pane. “You’re not going anywhere without me, Spook. I’m not exactly a wilting daisy here. I know a thing or two about demons.”
Apparently, the WOW, who was half his size, had some mad combat skills of her own. She didn’t exactly succeed in disarming him, although she’d given the knife in his shoulder holster a pretty good go. But somehow she’d managed to talk him into taking her along on his quest for revenge. For one thing, without her location memory of the demon stronghold, he couldn’t whiff them to Duyvil Tand.
“My history. My wrong. My vengeance,” she insisted again when they stopped their plunge into the depths of the hidden mountain and the massive, carved doors of Duyvil Tand loomed in the distance.
“No one hurts my woman and gets away with it.”
“I’m your woman now?”
“Aren’t you?”
“Kinda fast work there, Spook, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think. And I thought we had that all settled. When it’s right, it’s right.” He glared at her. “Can we have this discussion later? Or are you so hell-bent on distracting me, I’ll get us both killed?”
“Your genius idea. Don’t blame me.”
They continued to trade barbs until a voice boomed out of the darkness.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the little, orphaned WOW. And Spokane Raines. Never thought we’d see either of you in Duyvil Tand again.”
Spook froze, his vision adjusting to the darkness until he spotted the immense form of the gatekeeper appearing out of a cloud of mist and blocking their way to the doors of the stronghold.
“Again?” He shifted his position to shield Genny, primed for action, his weaponry within easy reach.
The gatekeeper rubbed his hands together, letting loose an unholy cackle. “Haven’t seen you lot since you were crawlers.”
“We’ve been here before?”
“Well, of course.” The monster snorted. “Don’t they teach you anything topside? So which realm door do you expect to darken today? If you can make it past me, of course.”
Bhyrne suddenly materialized next to them. “Shut it, Boltack.” They gaped at him in shock. “What?” He shrugged. “Haven’t been gone that long. The queen hasn’t even filled my old job yet. I still know people. Got a heads up from one of my boys.”
The creature’s demeanor immediately changed when he spotted Bhyrne. He inclined his gigantic head in what could pass for a gesture of respect. “Enforcer. You have found your brother, it seems.”
Genny pushed forward, shoving the big Raines men away to glare up at the giant. “Are you the creep who barred my parents?”
“No,” said Boltack. “Feemis is long gone. From the gates, from the doors, from the realms. If you’ve come for his blood, you will be disappointed.”
“We’ve come for answers,” Spook said.
“Enforcer?”
Bhyrne nodded. “Ex-Enforcer. But, yeah. Let’s start with Velda.”
“The Queen of the Succubi is not happy with you, ex-Enforcer.” Boltack grinned, making no attempt to hide his glee. “Or the ex-princess.”
“Zena’s still a goddamn princess and don’t you ever forget that. But luckily, she’s expecting my progeny and could not make the journey from the human plane. So Velda will not have to deal with my mate today.”
The guard sighed, as if he no longer found any of them a source of sport or entertainment. He lowered his battle-ax and cranked the chains to raise the gate.
Moments later, they stood in the court of the Succubi Queen. Spook looked at Genny. Her jaw dropped and her hand crept into his. His own mouth hung open. The place was every bit as awe-inspiring as a demonic stronghold should be. Not to mention creepy. Hard to believe that less than an hour before, they’d been making hot, rabid love on Campbell’s yacht, the epitome of human luxury and one hundred and eighty degrees away from here.
“Approach, Enforcer,” Velda bellowed from across the throne room. “And bring your companions.”
When they were a couple of yards from the queen, Bhyrne bowed his head, dropping to one knee and pounding a fist over his heart.
From atop her throne of lethal metal spikes, piled skulls, and jewels, Velda leaned forward, her mouth quirking with irony. “Really, Bhyrne? When you showed me so little respect the last time you were here?” She snorted. “I should toss you in a torture chamber in the dungeon again.”
Spook stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder at his brother’s side.
“Back, demon,” Velda snarled. “Or I will throw you in with him.” She frowned when Spook and Genny remained standing in her royal presence. “You do not kneel before your queen?” Her voice rumbled with rage along with a sliver of another emotion hard to define. Humor. The thought surprised Spook.
“We are Americans,” Genny spat. “We do not kneel. We’re not succubi. We’re not your subjects. And you are not our queen.”
Velda’s frown grew thunderous. And then, inexplicably, she laughed. “Oh, yes. The American demon spy. And the American demon-hunting WOW. It’s all so very amusing. One day I really must meet this Madame Eve who brings you all together for your little one-night stands that seem to go on forever and eternity. The woman has powers and abilities I’ve never seen. Not to mention hooking up three of my most potent and promising succubi with the loves of their lives and knocking them out of commission and service to me.”
The queen studied them, nodding with satisfaction at last. “Bhyrne is saved today because I would not subject my niece, Zena, to his absence at this trying and delicate time for her. She is well, Enforcer?”
“She is well, my queen.”
“As a wedding gift to you, I will also spare your brother, your blazelet’s uncle.” Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Spook. “You look very like your twin, Spokane.”
Twins! So it was true. His thoughts whirled, unfocused, with the confirmation and the just plain, out-and-out weirdness of being a prodigal demon whiffing into the underworld to avenge his lover. But he had not come there for himself, risking unknown demonic wrath.
“And Genny?” he grated between clenched teeth.
“Yes, and the will-o’-the-wisp. She has been through enough.”
Turning to her closest courier, Velda barked, “Prepare refreshments for our guests. Take my scrolls to Finn and Darius, requesting their presence. If they can grant an audience, I’m sure our visitors would love to meet them.” Then she gazed back at them again. “Pity you did not bring Max and Dagney. We could have quite the party.”
“We did not come to party,” Spook said.
“Yes, well. As to that, I’m afraid your bloodlust will go unrequited this night.”
***
Genny stared at Finnian Silverthorn, the laird of the Will-o’-the-Wisps. He had a shock of thick white hair and blue eyes of a depth and color that surpassed her own. Despite the kindly crinkles in the corners of his mouth, she sensed his power, the vast well of danger below his benign surface. And Darius, the ruler of the fire-sex demons, did not attempt to hide his lethal air. Huge, well-muscled, and exuding a compelling sexuality that might have had her blood humming had she not been curled against Spook’s side, he clearly shared the Raines genes.
“So you see, Morphang grew more and more envious of your father and the power he’d amassed,” Darius told the brothers. “He lusted after the crown and managed to convince Finn that the power had corrupted Khyllian.”
“He convinced me that your father had turned dark, had become evil. As evidence, he blamed Khyl for atrocities he himself had perpetrated, and I believed his lies. I agreed to take the contract. To my everlasting regret, I gave your parents the assignment. I had no idea what Morphang planned, or that he paid off the gatekeepers to bar their way and prevent their return. The best I could do, when it was all over, was to spirit you away to the human realm when you were a small child and make sure you did not want for material goods.”
“I’ve hunted evil all my life.”
“And you’ve done good work for POLOS, my dear,” Finn said, “Even if those jobs were unsanctioned by us. But perhaps it is just as well you will now leave that organization.”
Spook sat frozen beside her. “Did you know any of this?” he demanded of his brother.
“No,” said Bhyrne. “And Max didn’t, either. We only found each other a few years ago.”
He stared at Darius. “You are our uncle, then?”
“Yes. You’re demon royalty. Khyl was my brother. So is Max’s father. So was Morphang.” He paused. “I beheaded him when I finally realized how sick and evil he’d become. But the damage had been done. It was too dangerous for you to remain together. I had to separate you for your own good.”
“I grew up fighting in the streets,” Bhyrne said.
“That wasn’t the plan. You were both to be hidden, fostered in good homes. But Morphang’s minions continued to search for you. The foster families were destroyed.”
“Who pays for all of this then?” Spook demanded in anguish. “Who do we take out? How do we make this right?”
“No one,” Darius said, shaking his head. “There’s no one to pay. No one for you to slay. There’s no revenge to take. You make this right by loving each other, taking care of each other, and living good lives.”
“All right, then,” said Velda, yawning with boredom. “Now that we’re done with that mess, would someone please pass the Buffalo chicken wings?”