Along Came a Demon (12 page)

Appalled, I watched him charge the car behind us. He didn’t pull his gun, he just charged. Another surprise: instead of acting like I’d been served to them on a platter, the demons tried to back up. They looked as frantic as I felt. The passenger yelled at Caesar and both alternately looked behind them and back at their buddy demon, who was almost on the hood of their car.

I reached across the passenger seat, pulled the door shut, and put my foot down. I roared away in a cloud of dust and burning rubber.

Chapter
Ten

“
You have to talk to someone,” Mel said.

“
Like, who?”

“
Mike Warren knows you well enough to believe you. Doesn’t he?”

I let my head fall in my hands. “I get results. When Clarion PD loans me out to another department and I get results, they get kudos. He thinks I’m a psychic and he’s almost comfortable with what I do, to the point he sees it as a useful specialty. He is
not
going to believe a crazy story involving demons, and Clarion PD’s new blue-eyed boy is one.” I looked up at her. “And what happens when Mike tells Mortensen what I say? Because it’s exactly what he’ll do, and Mortensen won’t like that, not one little bit.”

“
But you think Mortensen knows what really happened to Lindy,” Jack pointed out. “And his cohorts are after you.”

I groaned. “I think he does. He
has
to.”

“
Then you have nothing to lose.”

My shoulder twitched. “Easy for you to say, Mister Insubstantial. Ain’t a weapon known to man can hurt you.”

Mel stood across from me at the kitchen table. “So you wait until he comes for you? He already waltzed right in once. What’s stopping him coming back?”

I jumped up and stormed across the kitchen to the cabinets. I got my gun from the drawer and took off the safety. “Demon or no demon, this should put a hole in him.”

Mel flung her hands up. “You can’t, Tiff. It would be murder.”

“
He’s a demon!”

“
You’re the only person who knows,” Jack said. “He’s a detective for Clarion PD; they’d throw away the key.”

Right. My stomach churned queasily as I sank back in my chair, clutching the Ruger.

Mel came up to me and put out her hand as if to touch my shoulder, then her hand fell to her side. “You could run away.”

“
Temporarily,” Jack added hastily.

“
Just until it’s safe and you could come home,” Mel said.

I mulled it over. Could I get away? Could I go far enough, the demons couldn’t follow?

Could I leave Lawrence to them, if he was still alive?

I slowly shook my head as I chewed on my lower lip.

“
As if I could leave you guys all alone,” I said, but I couldn’t raise a smile.

I fell asleep after a couple of hours of tossing and sweating. The last time I looked at the clock, it read two in the morning. When I woke, it was four o’clock.

As well as the noise from the old heating system, my house likes to creak and groan as it settles down for the night. I know its noises, so I knew the creak in my bedroom did not belong. Someone was in here with me.

I slowly groped for the Ruger, fingers inching under the spare pillow, feeling for metal. I left my hand there and rolled on my back.

I made a few muffled noises and rolled to the side of the bed farthest from the door, sliding the Ruger under the edge of the duvet, pretending I moved in my sleep. I know every inch of my bedroom and presumably the intruder did not, and unless he possessed uncanny night vision, I held the advantage. If I could get on the floor… .

The overhead light came on, blinding me. I sat up blinking, the gun in both hands panning around the room as my senses strained. A few unlikely scenarios spun through my head: An unarmed crook? Colin sneaking in to surprise me? I couldn’t shoot randomly.

But no, Royal leaned on the doorframe with one hand on the light switch, very natty in a short-sleeved, pale-gold shirt, black slacks and black leather loafers. I pointed the gun at him, pleased my hands barely shook.

“
How do you know those men?” he asked.

I was way past the talking stage. I licked my lips and concentrated on his body language. If he even thought about moving, I w
ould
shoot him. I steadied my aim.

“
You’re not going to shoot me.”

The air blurred and the gun left my hand. He sat on the side of my bed. Confused, astonished, I tried to scoot back and his hand clamped on my thigh right where it hurt. I flinched. He took his hand away as if burned.

He lifted his hands, palm out. “I am not going to hurt you, Tiff. You have my word. But I need answers.”

The man had a peculiar affect on me. It seemed my commonsense took a nosedive. I opened my mouth, meaning to tell him to leave and instead it blurted what it should have kept to itself. “One of them was in Coralinda Marchant’s apartment when I found Lawrence’s drawing.”

“
What happened?”

“
Usual stuff. Chased me, knocked me down, then his buddy tried to take me for a ride.” I shrugged. “You know, same old same old.”

His fingers wrapped my wrist just below the bandage. “Did they hurt you?”

I looked down. “That? My fault entirely. Silly me. I should know better than jump from a moving vehicle.”

His eyes darkened, the pupils stood out like chips of onyx. “They will pay for that.”

His chill, implacable tone made me shrink back.

The ice melted from his eyes. He frowned, all concerned-looking. “I frighten you. Do you think I’m like them? Is that it?”

“
You’re one of them,” I growled.

His frown deepened. “Oh. I see.”

He had an eyeful of my cleavage and I tried to pull the sheet up higher, but he was sitting on it. The extra pressure put on my various abrasions did not help.

“
Now I’m going to tell you what you think,” he said.

Oh, yeah?
I inwardly sneered. Like I needed another know-it-all guy who thought he had me figured out.

“
You think I am in cahoots with the men who chased you.”

Well, duh. “They aren’t men. You aren’t a man!”

“
I am, indeed, a man. I am not precisely, physically, built like a human male, but the differences are insignificant.”

Not precisely?
Whoa
! “You didn’t seem too surprised to see them.”

“
I knew they were in Clarion, but likewise, they knew of my presence. This was the first time I got close enough to identify them.”

“
You knew they were here?” Ditto on the duh. Of course he knew his buddies were in Clarion.

“
We sense one another.”

Sense?
What did he mean? Like Lindy sensed Lawrence? “You did arrest them, didn’t you?”

“
I let them get away.”

I slumped back on the pillows, my mouth curling. “And I’m sure you have a totally logical reason?”

“
I will not battle two of my fellows in the middle of town.”

“
Why not? You’re a cop. Cops arrest people all the time.”

“
They would not have come quietly. It would have been a bloody spectacle. Now I know them, I know where to find them.”

I opened my mouth, but he held up one hand. “You believe those men and I are after the same thing, and you are correct.”

“
Lawrence.”

“
Lawrence,” he agreed. “But I want to help Lawrence. I want to save his life.”

“
I’m sure their motives are equally pure.”

He almost rolled his eyes. Almost. “In my world, as in yours, there are bad guys and there are good guys. I am one of the good guys. I’ve been trying to get between them and their victims for the past six years. Mostly, I failed.”

All those poor little boys.

“
As I know who they are now, I can track them. They could lead me to Lawrence. You have to trust me, Tiff.”

Trust him? I wanted to and had no idea why. I wanted to believe him. I wanted him to be the good guy. But was it wishful thinking because he was so gorgeous, or did he use demon magic to sway me? Either way, trusting him was not a wise choice, not with what I knew about demons and this one in particular. And he had not said anything to persuade me he told the truth.

All I had was the word of a demon, and sorry, it was not enough.

Another silence with the clock
tocking
in the background and his gaze riveted to my face. I wondered what his hair would look like loose, sliding over his shoulders.

We sat and stared at each other.
Don’t look in his eyes, don’t look!
I told myself, but I did. He shifted on the bed to face me, leaned in, and I thought he must hear my heartbeat. I forced my body erect, but my nipples embarrassed me by perking beneath my nightgown; loose as it was, they still stood up like happy little miniature mountain peaks. His gaze went to them; he very slowly arched one eyebrow.

I crossed my arms over my breasts. “Cold in here.”

Supporting himself with one hand on the mattress, he leaned in yet closer. “It must be you. I feel … warm.” And the bastard unfastened the top button of his shirt, then the next one down, baring a triangle of smooth pale-copper skin, looking in my eyes all the while.

His eyes twinkled with what could be amusement.

I glared angrily, shamed by my body’s response, as I realized he laughed at me. Or … teased? He saw my reaction and
teased
me! Teasing was outside my experience. Taunting, yes - kids can be so cruel to one another - teasing, no. The guy had some nerve, waltzing in here and having fun at my expense.

I thought I learned to control my facial expression and body language long ago, but Royal Mortensen read me. What began as a muffled chuckle came from his mouth as a guffaw. I grew hot with mortification as he composed his features.

He grinned at me as he said in a low, throaty voice, “If I can prove you’re wrong in one thing, will you listen to me?”

I hugged myself tighter, said briskly. “Tell me and I’ll think about it.”

He disarmed me with a broad smile. “I don’t have pointy teeth, Tiff.”

And he didn’t. His teeth were white and even and perfect in his delectable mouth. But that proved nothing, not when I’d already seen a demon alter his entire face. “Huh! Neat trick.”

He came in nearer. I tried to disappear in my pillows. “Seriously. I had them capped.”

“
Capped? So people like me won’t know what you are?”

“
No.” This close, he smelled of sandalwood and amber. “So I can do this.” He put his hands on the sides of my face and his mouth fastened on mine.

It was deep and hungry and utterly consuming. His lips were velvet, exploring mine, drawing my breath. I could have
lived
in his kiss for the rest of my life. When he pulled back, a little gasping puff of air escaped my mouth.

And he didn’t have pointed teeth.

Stunned. I was stunned by a kiss.
Pervasive?

His hands still cradled my cheeks, and we gazed in each other’s eyes. The only sound was my heavy breathing and the
tock
of the old carriage clock on the mantle. He looked alien, with his parti-colored metallic hair and gleaming eyes, and incongruous against the backdrop of the pastel greens and fawns of my bedroom. His skin was so smooth; it had an ageless quality. And his eyes were depthless.

He let me go and sat back, and I blinked back to the here and now.
He’s a demon, Tiff!
I told myself.
Don’t let that kiss fool you
.

I licked my lips. “If I ask you to leave, will you?”

“
Are you sure you want me to, Tiff?”

“
Yes.”

He dropped his chin so I couldn’t properly see his face.

“
Did you really have your teeth capped so you could kiss me?” I couldn’t resist asking as he got to his feet.

His smile was slow and wicked. “Well, not you in particular.”

And then he was gone.

Damn!
Nothing
should be able to move so fast!

“
If a man kissed me like that I’d be ripping his clothes off, not pissing him off.”

My mouth dropped open and I twisted to look at the corner of the room near the window. Mel stood against the wall next the fireplace, Jack beside her.

“
What were you two in life? Peeping Toms?”

Jack pushed away from the wall. “Did you hear the one about the dead Peeping Tom?”

“
Out! Or God help me I will call in an exorcist!”

They headed for the door, noses in the air. “Wait!” I called as a nasty thought hit me. “A guy saunters in, and you don’t warn me?”