Ivan followed Dez back about ten feet inside the walls of a remarkable cave. It was incredibly light, and the walls were lined with huge cloudy white and pale violet crystal formations. He'd never seen anything like it before.
A sense of calm befell him. Was it because of the cave? Or did being with Dez make him relax?
"It's like a giant geode." Stroking one of the crystal formations, he remarked none of the edges were sharp as he'd seen in small, hand-sized geodes.
"That it is," she said. "This was the reason I bought my house. I was drawn here by the energy of this cave. It centers me to stand in here surrounded by all these crystals. It releases the murkiness from my soul and it protects against magic, too."
"Ah, I understand now. You're worried about me stealing your magic if we have sex?"
When a vampire made love to a witch-and drank her blood-he took small increments of her magic into him. It wasn't something that happened often, because most vampires walked a wide path around witches. But it was the very reason for the war between the nations.
Ivan crossed his arms. "Just so you know, I don't need your magic. I'm one of the most powerful vampire-witch hybrids to walk this earth."
"Aren't you full of yourself?"
Dez snaked up to him. The clingy white lace revealed the dark aureoles of her nipples and the dark landing strip between her legs.
Ivan looked all he wanted. Because he sensed this encounter would not go as he wished.
He sensed a duplicity about the witch right now. She wanted to seduce him, and yet another part of her raised caution far higher than passion.
The witch swept back the hair from her face and waggled a finger before her narrowed eyes. "I've more power in my little finger than you do in your entire body, baby boy."
"You calling me a baby? I suppose. You have seen more years than most trees."
"Now that was uncalled for." She pressed her hand against his shoulder.
Ivan felt the shock of it as if it were a Taser, but his shoulder merely jerked in reaction. "Did you just try to blast me with your powerful little finger?"
"Drop it, vampire."
"Why is it when you're angry with me I'm a vampire?"
"Because I don't know what to call you, and it's easier for me." "Maybe it's because you've more prejudice against our kind than you're willing to admit."
"Trust me, Ivan, you can't begin to know what I'm about."
She slunk against a curved wall of crystals, fitting her body to the hard geometric structure. Easy to imagine the divine suppleness of her figure lying beneath him, naked, breathing heavily, begging for more, more- "Maybe this was wrong, me bringing you in here."
Ivan jerked out of the fantasy. No, it wasn't going to happen. And why had he expected it would? He'd played this one wrong.
Because you don't know what you're doing, do you? You're not here on a fixer task, you're here for selfish personal reasons.
You can't do that. You don't know how to do that.
"I thought this cave would be a place of peace, of neutral ground," she said. "The perfect place to come together for some unconditional, no-strings-attached sex."
"War sex."
She nudged up a shoulder into a noncommittal nod. "War sex."
"Sounds exciting, yes?"
"It does. And it doesn't. I'm sorry, I know we stand on the same side, hold the same beliefs, but there's that little situation with you trying to steal the Grande Grimoire from me. I just can't get beyond that."
"I'm sorry." Ivan kissed her on the cheek. Apricots and vanilla? Like a warm wintertime dessert. Oh, to taste her! "You're right. I know next to nothing about you. As you do me. But I want to get to know you better. We're rushing things with the whole 'let's have sex for the thrill of it' stuff."
"What's wrong with sex for sex's sake?"
"Not a thing, unless you want to have a more involved relationship with the person you plan to have sex-for-sex's-sake sex with."
She lifted a brow. "Say that again, fast."
At least she was joking.
"No coercion," he reassured. "It's day, and I'm here on my own recognizance. And look." And stretched his mouth wide. "No fangs. Promise."
Her sigh thudded against Ivan's heart. She toyed with his shirt at the center of his chest. "This is the craziest situation. I want you.
But you work for Himself. And that I've even come this far with you is so wrong."
"How can I get you to see me for the man I am, Desideriel?" He stroked her cheek, softer than any flesh he'd ever touched. The thrill of it cautioned him. No pleasure would go unpunished, he felt sure. "I have a confession. I work for the devil. And I do my job well. But never in a million years did I imagine that one day my job would lead me to something so wondrous as you."
"Let's go back inside." Dez started for the cave opening. "I don't want to hear this."
And I shouldn't want to say it. Ivan pressed his forehead to the cool flat plane of a crystal as Dez walked out.
Ivan stood on the beach long after Dez had climbed up the cliff. The white sand sifted over his boots. He skipped another stone across the water; it jumped once, and then dropped.
What had that been about? He'd refused sex with a gorgeous woman?
It wasn't as though he'd never had no-strings-attached sex. Happened all the time. Well, a few times a year. He couldn't do the free-for-all gigolo lifestyle to save his lacking soul.
Dez had been almost clinical about their having sex. And if that didn't drop a man's libido like a cold shower, then nothing else could.
Was that part of her plan? Could be.
Should he have been more insistent? Eager to accept whatever she had been willing to offer? Probably. It would have granted him entrance to the part of her Himself felt was weakest.
You stopped her from doing something she felt was wrong, even if she didn't realize it herself.
If it didn't feel right, Ivan wanted no part of it. Coercion or not.
And thinking of the coercion: he sensed tonight would be hell.
Chapter 10.
H e didn't resist this time. It would be a lie.
Ivan fell to one knee and bowed before Himself. They stood at the opening to an alley between a cafe and a hardware shop.
Willow Cove was quiet, it being past midnight.
"Master," Ivan said.
Himself pressed a hoof to Ivan's shoulder and shoved him against the brick building. "You dally, fixer."
The burn of the obsidian hoof shrieked through his musculature. Ivan fought to remain coherent. "Just doing...my job.
Seduction...takes...time."
The ever-present aura of brimstone worked like poison on Ivan's lungs. Devil's cancer, he called it. But this disease couldn't kill him, only make him suffer. He struggled to keep his eyes open, his mind clear.
Himself stepped back and leaned against the wall of the opposite building, one arm cocked lazily at his disjointed hip. He wore a strange costume of red leather over his lean black sinews.
"Don't think I'm not aware of your feelings toward the witch," Himself hissed. "You think to win a reprieve from your duties with silly dalliances?"
"No, master. Seduction is not so simple as making an imp vomit toads or giving a sin eater back all the sins he's eaten. And even when I do finally gain her trust and she is open to me, I'm not sure how to get the book."
"Take it from her."
"It's not like she keeps it on a shelf in the library."
Flayed across the cheek with steel talons, Ivan's body took the slap and he landed on the ground, arms outstretched before him.
The scent of his own blood seeping from his face stirred him. It had been days since he'd had the desire to drink blood. He'd not needed it, for his nights were more pleasure than pain."Exactly." Himself clomped two paces out onto the sidewalk. "Your kind needs to feed, Drake. You're not taking blood tells me you're not doing the job."
"As best I can, considering the circumstances."
"Not good enough!"
Ivan pushed up to kneel. A shake of his head momentarily cleared out the brimstone, but it seeped back in, dizzying him, softening him to Himself's command. "Would you suggest pain? I don't think she'll take kindly to torture."
"You've yet to try."
"You were the one to suggest seduction!"
"You watch your tone. I own you, boy."
"Yes," Ivan gasped. "I will never forget."
But could he ever win his freedom? Freedom for his parents?
Not likely.
Always Himself knew Ivan's thoughts. Which was why he focused his intent on doing the job to his best ability, not clouding his thoughts with doubt or insecurities or even disgust for the fixer's trade.
But now he'd stepped into this strange new seduction-no, he would not think it. He would not give Himself the wicked pleasure.
"You've two days, fixer. For your own personal conceit, I suggest you get that book. But if not, you know I will enjoy sucking the souls from your parents. Had your mother's once already. Tasty witch filled with blackness due to her murderous deeds.
Mmm..."
Clenching a hand into a fist, Ivan rolled his head down and away from Himself's smacking lips.
Car headlights rolled to a stop at the curb. Ivan pushed himself up by the wall and turned his bleeding cheek away from whoever sat in the car. Even as he sought to hide the wound, he could feel it healing, the skin sewing itself tight, yet pushing out more blood as it did so.
The car door opened and a frail, blue-haired woman got out. "Mr. Drake, is that you?"
"I'm fine, Mrs. Henderson. You shouldn't be out driving so late."
"Coming home from visiting the grandkids in the next town over." She stepped around the hood of the car. Himself stood at the curb, one leg out jauntily and hands on his hips. "Oh. I don't believe we've met."
Ivan shook his head. Those not attached to Himself saw him as their greatest temptation. Fortunately, the old lady would never see the real creature who stood before her. He felt sure the resulting nightmares of such a sight would drive her insane.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Sean Connery?"
"Why, I do believe they have." Himself stepped forward and offered a talon-hand-for Elise to shake. Which she clasped.
That look of utter adoration killed Ivan. The old woman had no idea she held hands with the devil Himself. In fact, she sighed and touched her chest, a gesture of infatuation.
"Are you a friend of Ivan's?" Elise asked. "The town picnic is this Saturday, and you're welcome-" "He's just passing through." Ivan leaned against the building. He still couldn't fill his lungs with air, and he didn't want to risk stumbling before Elise. A swipe of forearm across his cheek brushed away most of the blood.
"Just so," Himself said. He stroked the back of his sinewy black hand across Elise's cheek, wrinkled with age. The skin tightened, not so much that the wrinkles disappeared, but Ivan saw the change occur. "That grandson of yours, he's one you'll have to watch out for."
"Why do you say that? The boy is a babe."
"We boys grow to be men, Elise," Himself purred. "But if you don't intend to watch over him, I assure you I will. Ta."
Himself turned and strode away. Ivan was sure he'd teleport right out of sight, but the dark demon didn't. Instead he turned the corner, and then likely disappeared.
Elise gave Ivan a confused glance. "What was I just doing?"
"You stopped to offer me a ride, but my hotel is down the street," he said, imparting subtle persuasion in his tone. "You should head home, Mrs. Henderson. It was good to see you."
She smoothed a hand over her cheek. Did she sense the youth Himself's touch had granted her? But the real question was, after she returned home to look in the mirror, would she accept the offer and hand over her soul for more of the same?
Ivan hated how his master manipulated mortals.