Beast of Fire -- a Demon Hunting Sexy Romance (3 page)

“You can’t have her,” Lucan said, bitterly, looking Adrian in the eyes, unwilling to cower with the rest of those around him. “That wasn’t the deal.”

An evil smile slid onto Adrian’s lips. “Deals are made to be broken.” Adrian waved his hand, and Lucan found himself back in his apartment. Pain instantly lanced his mind, and he fell to his knees. He could do nothing to stop the Guardians' attack on himself, nothing to protect Kresley.
 

***

Don’t make it all for nothing.
 

Lucan’s words coiled in the pit of her stomach but did nothing to the determination in her heart, nor the footfalls of her steps down the alley. Kresley ran after Lucan as if she were running for her life- – only it was his life she was running for, not her own. Lucan had spoken the truth, a truth she herself had whispered to herself a million times over. He had given up so very much for her. And it wasn’t right. Not then. Not now. She would fix this, would set him free, but she couldn’t do it by chasing him. He was too fast, too determined to escape her intentions.
 

In a matter of seconds, Lucan left her standing in that long alley, alone, lost, but not defeated. He wanted her to go back to the Ranch, a place she would never return. But he would return. Lucan was going back where he belonged—back to the Knights. She’d take his place in hell or die trying.
 

***

Two hours later, Kresley exited yet another dingy motel, with no luck finding Lucan. It was three in the morning, and his painfully harsh departure still replayed in her head with torturous repetition. She’d scoured the streets, checked inside bars and dingy motels near the bars, and everywhere else she could think of, and had come up empty-handed.
 

She shoved her hair out of her face and started down the sidewalk toward her own hotel feeling defeated and tired. As much as she hated admitting it, the time for rest and food had come. She could only hope a new day would bring fresh perspective.
 

Kresley kept her pace slow, still hopeful she might catch sight of Lucan, her mind weary with worry and fatigue. A few blocks from her hotel, a warning tingled along her nerve endings. She hesitated as she approached another alley, and stopped at the edge.
 

Fire sprouted from the air a few feet away, drawing the rough outline of a man; in the next moment, a man appeared. Only, this was no man. This was a Beast, a Demon, and not just any Demon. Astoundingly handsome, with long, blond hair, and perfectly chiseled features, he wore black leather and stood well over six foot four. An evil energy crackled off of him, a contrast to his male beauty; Kresley’s skin crawled with his presence.
 

“Adrian,” she whispered, having heard enough about the leader of the Darkland Beasts to know this was him. Fighting the instinct to step backwards, Kresley held her stance, reminding herself that he was forbidden by the powers of the universe from hurting a human. Those who followed him could, but he himself couldn’t touch her. A comforting thought for all of about one minute. He was a Demon, and they weren’t too keen on following rules. But the danger didn’t matter because Adrian controlled the Guardians. Adrian could free Lucan.
 

“I want Lucan back,” she stated with determination.
 

Adrian's sensual mouth lifted in a smile, his Demon eyes flashing red. “Not much on formalities are you, little one?”
 

She’d heard the stories of his ability to seduce a woman with his voice and eyes. But it wouldn’t work on her. Not with her ability to sense his true self. He disgusted her. The depth of his evil shook her.
 

Kresley stiffened, drawing her spine straight, putting on an air of fearlessness she didn’t feel, daring to ignore his words. “You want something from me or you wouldn’t be here. I want Lucan. I’m willing to deal.”

He quirked a brow. “Are you sure about that?"

Prepared to deal, yes. Nervous because Adrian had come to her? Yes, again. Why had he come? “What do you want from me?”
 

His eyes flared with heat. “What are you offering?”

“Name the price,” she whispered, her stomach rolling with the many possibilities that might follow. Aware she was offering more than she should.
 

Satisfaction flared in his eyes a moment before he disappeared in an outline of fire, reappearing behind her. Somehow, she remained still, unmoving, but she was shaking on the inside. Terrified that Adrian, leader of the Beasts, was within an inch of her. And she knew he was taunting her with the promise of his rancid touch; his breath rushed along her neck, his big body flanking her with deliberate intimidation. “Would you give me your soul?”

She sucked in a breath, anger curling in her chest as she whirled on him. If she could switch places with Lucan, she would, but it was not that simple. Not now that she knew Adrian didn’t intend her, or Lucan, for hell’s serpent pits, things had changed. How could she not assume the pits were part of this agreement Lucan made? It was an assumption that was easy to make, since that was what her time as captive to the Guardians had amounted to. But no. That was not his intention at all. He wanted to use them for his own evils. Her fire had done enough evil. She would not let Adrian control her, or her fire, to create more evil. “I keep my soul,” she countered, backing several steps away from him.
 

“Give me your soul and I will ensure he feels no more pain.” His lips twitched in amusement. “You do remember the pain the Guardians can cause their captives. I know you do.”
 

Her heart squeezed. She did remember. The Guardians had conjured up images of snakes in her mind, snakes crawling all over her. She’d almost gone insane before Lucan saved her, before he'd negotiated to take her place. Thankfully, she’d later learned from the Knights that Lucan had refused to give up his soul, which meant there was hope that he might one day escape the enslavement.
 
And she knew she had to be his hope, because she owed him that for saving her. “There has to be something else you want.”

 
“There is,” he said, disappearing again and reappearing directly in front of her. His hands clamped down on her arms, his eyes latching onto hers in a steely cold grip. “But you aren’t ready to give it to me. You will be, though. You will be very soon.”
 

They disappeared into the air, fire flaring in their wake.
 

In mere moments, solid ground slid beneath her feet and Kresley gasped as she found herself in the cramped hallway outside a dingy old apartment, forcibly transported there by Adrian. She jerked away from Adrian, thankful at least that she didn’t appear to be in hell. She hoped.

“Where are we?”
 

He inclined his chin at the door marked "227." A glance told her it was one of only a few on that level. “You wished to find Lucan. I have brought you to him.”
 

Her stomach plummeted and she darted forward. "What have you done to him?” She didn’t wait for a reply, didn’t expect one. Her hand turned the doorknob, and she shoved open the wooden panel.

Lucan lay on the floor unconscious, his body jerking, his face contorted in a nightmare. Kresley fell to her knees by his side. She stroked his cheek, forgetting they were virtual strangers. Guilt curled in her stomach. This was because of her. She had done this to him.
 

“Lucan. Lucan.” He curled up next to her, wrapped his body around her, his arm circling her waist, head in her lap. Memories rushed over her, memories of her own torture under the control of the Guardians. She understood what he was feeling, understood how completely the Guardians control their captive's mind, especially during sleep.
 

Lucan’s arm jerked and she stroked his face again, whispered in his ear. “Hold on, Lucan,” she whispered, thinking about the insanity she’d felt closing in on her during those hallucinations, the desire to retreat into emptiness and escape the pain. “Please, hold on.”
 

Anger coiled in her gut. “Show yourselves,” Kresley screamed out, demanding the Guardians appear. She’d faced them before, the twin Demons capable of appearing in three different forms–human, reptile, or, like right now, as the damn bracelets on Lucan’s wrists, binding his will. Her hand moved to one of the bracelets. Her fingers sizzled with the touch; she yanked them away. “Face me now, and fight me for his freedom!”

Adrian appeared above her, staring down at her with satisfaction in his eyes. “The Guardians do as I bid them to do. His pain stops when I say it stops.”

Hatred filled her as she had never known it before. Fear over who, and what, Adrian was, slid from her mind. “Take me instead of him.”

“It won’t be as easy as a trade this time,” he said. “You will have to earn his freedom. I make no promises about your own.”
 

Lucan started shivering as if he were freezing cold. Kresley glanced down at him, touched his lips and saw they were blue. She was prepared for her own enslavement, but not this, not what Lucan was going through. With desperation, she looked up at Adrian. “Make it stop.” Her stomach soured as she added, “Please.”

His brow inched upward. “Do we have a deal?”

As much as Kresley wanted Lucan’s pain to cease, she knew better than to blindly say yes to Adrian's questions. “What do you want from me?” she demanded. “How do I earn his freedom?”

“I want you to bring me the Black Opal Ring.”

A ring. It was too simple. Nothing was ever as it seemed with Adrian. “Why do you need me to get it?” she asked, fearful this ring would be a tool used against the Knights.

He knelt down beside Lucan, facing her. Too close for comfort. “The ring holds the power to destroy Demons.”
 

“What power?”

His evil, red eyes pierced hers. “Fire.”

Kresley’s pulse pounded in her temples so loudly she knew he could hear. Her grip on Lucan tightened, his warmth a comfort. But now his pain was a source of more guilt. No matter how she tried to embrace her firestarting, it always brought pain to those she cared about. “This was never about Lucan, was it?”
 

“I hardly see how that’s relevant,” he commented dryly. “Bring me the ring.”
 

“Where is it?”

“On the hand of a powerful Demon.”

Of course. Nothing would be easy about anything Adrian wanted from her. “What makes you think I won’t be killed trying to remove it?”

“A human as lovely as you,” he said. “I’m sure you can come up with a way to persuade the wearer to remove the ring.” He reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingers.
 

Kresley barely contained a flinch. “And while I seduce the Demon, he will burn me alive.”
 

“The ring is a part of the Underworld, my dear, its fire susceptible to all things born from Heaven. And you, my dear, are born of an Angelic bloodline, a Knight's mate. Pure by birthright.”
 

 
Her lips parted with the shock of his statement. She shook her head, rejecting that idea. “I’m not . . .no. I’m not.” She’d heard about the mating process of Knights, but paid it little attention. Her focus had been on preparing to find Lucan. And certainly she had heard nothing of such a bond between Lucan and her.
 
This was a trick of some sort. She shook her head again.
 

“They didn’t tell you,” Adrian said flatly. He shook his head and snorted with disdain. “Of course not. They wouldn’t want you to know, now would they? The Knights don’t believe Lucan can be saved. Why would they do anything to make you want to try to save him? But their tricks didn’t work, did they?” he asked. “You won’t desert Lucan as they have. I know you won’t. You’re here to save him, and I am going to let you, Kresley. Just bring me the ring.”

Confusion slid through Kresley, but she forced herself to shake it off. Adrian was a Demon, a manipulator. She had to be strong enough to remember this. She’d come here to save Lucan. It came down to that and that alone. “I will get you the ring. Now, let Lucan rest.”

 
Adrian studied her a moment, clearly assessing her commitment. Then, to Kresley’s relief, he waved his hand over Lucan, and Lucan’s body instantly relaxed. He waved his hand again, and Lucan suddenly disappeared, and then reappeared on top of the mattress–orbed from the floor to the bed.

Adrian pushed to his feet and offered her his hand. “There is much to discuss. A huntress must know her prey.” Kresley’s gaze flickered to Lucan, confirming he was still at peace. She had to save him. Had to. And though trusting Adrian would be stupid, she saw no option but to play this his way. Once she had the ring, she wouldn’t hand it over until Lucan was free. Decision made, she slid her hand into Adrian’s and sealed her deal with hell.
 

***

Cullen Moore, executive and primary stockholder of Moore Industries, stood at the massive expanse of ceiling-to-floor windows of his executive office that overlooked the Manhattan skyline; the lights of New York twinkled in the distance. Success surrounded him, centuries of accumulated wealth, of providing for his Werewolf pack in a world made for humans. But all that was threatened now. Centuries of living outside the Underworld–as unknown Demons except for a few myths–was now threatened. Now the pack, his pack, was about to implode from the inside out. Rebel wolves had begun to hunt humans, and he had yet to stop them.