Deadly Attraction (2 page)

“Not bad, huh?” he asked as he gave her a casual grin.

Her lifelong friend was easy on the eyes, with a ruggedly
handsome face, an engaging, dark-brown gaze and a head of tousled,
russet-colored hair, a tad on the long side. He was tall and muscular, with
long, sinewy limbs and strong, slightly calloused hands. They’d been lovers
once, years ago. Both eighteen and without a clue in the world as to what they
were doing.

That was the year Michael’s parents had died. His mother had
been a midwife and she and her husband had traveled to a neighboring village to
help deliver twins. They’d been caught in an avalanche on the way back, trapped
for nearly a week before the bodies were recovered. Following that tragedy,
Michael had pulled away emotionally, and so had Jade, as memories of her own
loss haunted her.

He’d taken over the tavern after the deaths and Jade had
tended bar with him ever since. They were the best of friends, though she never
failed to miss the lingering glances he gave her. The hint of “what if?” in his
chocolatey gaze.

But eight years had passed, and although he still had the
ability to make her heart flutter with a grin or a chuckle, a romantic reunion
didn’t seem to be in the cards. Mainly because neither one of them spoke of
their pasts, which was something they both knew necessary in order to reconcile
their inner turmoil and regain the emotional ground they’d once shared.

Instead of delving into painful memories, however, they
chose to ignore them. Keep them buried and securely locked within their hearts.

In fact, Jade didn’t reminisce about the years as they
drifted by. She focused solely on the present. On surviving when evil hovered
too close for comfort around the fringes of the mortal realm.

Pushing her distressing thoughts aside, she said of the
wine, “Not bad at all. The Delfinos will be very pleased.” One of their best
customers.

The evening progressed in its normal manner. Some of the
patrons got a bit tipsier than others, which no one minded, since everyone
would agree it took the sting out of the repression most of the villagers felt,
being under the thumbs of demons. And given they would be walking home, no one
had concerns over causing an accident.

Jade, on the other hand, worried about what awaited her as
the village’s bell tolled at midnight and the bar closed. She, Michael and
Josh, the server working that evening, cleaned up and locked the door behind
them.

They bid Josh good night. Then, as he did six nights a week,
because the tavern wasn’t open on the holy day out of memoriam for the
villagers’ slaughtered ancestors, Michael turned to Jade and asked, “Want me to
see you to your cottage?”

She shook her head, as always, when his query came. “It’d
hardly make sense and you know it. We’re on opposite sides of the village.
You’d have to walk all the way back here. And then some.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, hedging as though he had something
to say to her. His gaze locked with hers, his brown eyes full of unexpressed
feelings Jade couldn’t quite wade through. “I keep thinking someday you’ll say
yes.”

To what? She couldn’t help but wonder. Yes to an escort? Or
yes to so much more?

He brushed away a strand of dark hair that had blown across
her face and stuck to her eyelashes. Tucking the lock behind her ear, he said,
“I hate to think of you all alone in the cottage. You don’t have any neighbors,
Jade. It concerns me.”

With a soft smile, she told him, “I’m very good at taking
care of myself. Been doing it for a long, long time.”

“I know, it’s just…” His voice trailed off and he swallowed
down what seemed to be a hard lump of emotion. “Don’t you get lonely
sometimes?”

She stared up at him, emotion swelling in her own throat.
She opened her mouth to speak but didn’t know the appropriate words to say. The
attraction between them still existed to a degree. But circumstances beyond
their control had torn them apart once and Jade had not been inclined to have
her heart broken again. Nor had Michael, it seemed.

But perhaps he’d changed his mind about them.

Finally, she said, “Of course I do. Especially this time of
year, when the snow’s falling and all I can think of is snuggling in front of a
cozy fire with someone.”

He leaned toward her and his head dipped. “Maybe we should
try again.”

His lips were just about to touch hers when a sharp snort cut
the quiet air and Michael’s head snapped up.

Jade jumped back, startled. She whirled around, having heard
the noise behind her. “A horse?”

The smack of a hand against a flank and the pounding of
hoofs echoed ominously. The night was too dark, the trees and buildings in the
heart of the village too dense and the demon and his steed too black for Jade
to have seen anything. But she knew her stalker had come back for her, on
horseback. To take her away with him?

A chilling sensation slithered down her spine.

Turning back to Michael, she said, “You go home and secure
your door.”

He glared at her, incredulous. “Me? What about
you
?
You think I’m just going to let you wander the woods alone at night when there
was clearly someone watching us?”

“Not us.
Me
. He’s been following me for a while.”

Michael gripped her shoulders. “Who?” he demanded.

“I don’t know, exactly. But I intend to find out.” Her heart
pounded erratically, yet she managed to speak calmly, for Michael’s benefit.
“It’d be a whole lot easier if I didn’t have to worry about him coming after
you too.” She could not fathom how devastating it would be if she inadvertently
put him danger.

He appeared stumped by what course of action he should take.

She implored, “Do this for me, Michael.
Trust me
.”

Regardless of his obvious reluctance, he released her. “Be
careful, Jade.”

“I will. Now go. I can handle this.”

She’d been fighting demons her entire life, after all. In
more ways than one.

Chapter Two

Darien stormed into the castle, having left his Arabian with
stable attendants. He took the steps of the sweeping staircase two at a time
and strode agitatedly into his study as he stripped off his riding gloves and
then tossed them on his desk.

“My Lord, is there a problem?” Sheena asked as she joined
him.

He suspected she’d been curled up in her chair in front of
the fire in the adjacent sitting room, awaiting his return, as she was prone to
do. She moved gracefully toward him, a stealthy vampire with flowing auburn
hair and penetrating green eyes. A striking woman, yes, yet she held no allure
for him. The object of his never-ending obsession had grabbed his attention
eight years ago and had not let go of it since.

“May I pour you a drink?” Sheena offered.

“A large one,” he said, his voice as tight as his bunched muscles
and his coiled gut.

His very competent and sometimes overly astute assistant
handed him a snifter of brandy after he’d shed his black, full-length leather
coat. He took several big gulps and she waited patiently for his next command.

When it was not forthcoming, she surmised, “Something went
wrong with the human?”

At that very moment, the general of his army sauntered in,
shaking his head. “Well, she’s certainly onto us now!”

Darien glowered at the head of his militia—and his longtime
friend. “I don’t need commentary from you, Morgan. I’m perfectly aware I fucked
the whole thing up.”

Instantly backtracking, the general said in a placating
tone, “It was merely a reconnaissance mission, your Highness. No harm, no
foul.”

“Wrong,” Darien insisted before he drained his glass. With a
slight wince from the burning sensation in his throat, he added, “At this
point, Jade knows we’re watching her and that violates the law
I
laid
down.”

“I suspect she knew that before this evening, when I was the
only one following her,” he admitted. “She’s always looking over her shoulder,
stopping from time to time to listen for footsteps.”

“She wouldn’t hear any, nor would she see you. You’re a
wraith. You can take male form,” as he did now, “or you can simply disappear.
Become an apparition that blends into thin air.”

“I still could have been the one to tip her off,” Morgan
further contended.

Darien shook his head. Fury tore through him that
he’d
been the one to bungle such an easy quest.

Then again, no. It hadn’t been easy at all.

Darien had come across a heart-stricken and tearful Jade
years ago, and he’d been so entranced by her, he’d studied up on the people she
was close to and had learned as much as he could about her.

He knew she’d once had a relationship with Michael Hadley
that had gone sour. So tonight, when he’d moved in for a kiss… Darien had
flinched and his horse, Thunder, had been inclined to let him know he was
making an ass of himself by reacting to another man kissing a woman Darien had
no business lusting after in the first place.

One, she was mortal. That alone erected a steel cage around
him that was not to be breached no matter how arousing the raven-haired beauty
was.

Two, he had no idea what sort of power she possessed or how
she’d obtained it, but something mystical built within her. He had the keen
ability to sense it, though he had no idea what the budding strength was or
from where it stemmed. She didn’t practice Wicca, Morgan had already confirmed
that.

Granted, Darien had discovered that Jade did have a close
friend who worshiped ancient pagan gods and their rituals. Yet Lisette Bordeaux
had been bound by law not to practice any sort of witchcraft. This had been
Darien’s ruling, when he’d instituted the regulation no demon could harm a
human.

In his mind, if he kept to the law of averages, making it
illegal for demons to cause further trouble for the humans and making it
impossible for Wiccans such as Lisette to use her vanquishing spells against
the immortals, peace might prevail.

Admittedly, the wars had caused too much destruction and had
altered not only the face of the planet, but civilization as everyone—human and
demon alike—had known it in the first decade of the 2000s.

In many ways, time had stood still following the last sweep
of near-human annihilation. The intent of the wars had been to reduce the
numbers significantly, not completely wipe out the mortal population. The
humans still had their uses. But modern advancement in the post-apocalyptic
world was not something Darien supported, leaving this new society with baser
provisions that were essentially throwbacks to the 1800s, a simpler time he
preferred.

Darien, who’d turned two hundred years old back in 2016 when
the first war broke out, didn’t miss the spoils of a high-tech world. He was old-fashioned
that way.

“Something—or some
one
—threatens my reign,” he said to
Morgan, elevating his need to determine what was transpiring with Jade Deville.
It was too damn bad his libido kept getting in the way. If he didn’t stop
thinking so territorially toward the human, he might end up losing his kingdom.

After taking another sip of the drink Sheena had efficiently
refreshed, Darien said to Morgan, “I’m immortal by lineage, but I don’t possess
the ability to vaporize. You’re going to have to continue your watch on her.”
It was more than that. He simply couldn’t be objective when it came to Jade.

Morgan said, “Of course, I’ll do whatever necessary. And I
will be much more careful in the future, your Majesty.”

It was not necessary for Darien’s best friend to address him
so formally in private, but he always did when it came to military matters.

Clasping Morgan’s shoulder with his free hand, Darien said,
“I made the mistake this evening, not you.”

He gave further thought to the situation and added, “It’s
been several days since Jade has visited Lisette and I suspect she’ll be
dropping by soon. I need to know what they discuss. If it’s magic I’m sensing,
than we have to stop the power from burgeoning. One witch in the village is
risk enough. Two, who might be able to combine their forces into a single
significant strength, could prove detrimental when it comes to keeping the
peace. They harm even
one
demon and there will be hell to pay.”

With a sharp nod, the general said, “I understand.”

“There will never be harmony between us and them, but we
don’t need another massacre. We did more damage than we’d intended with the
wars and I am adamant about never again unleashing the demon population on
mortals. But my hand might be forced if Lisette—or Jade—breaks my law and those
in my alliance demand retribution—or seek it on their own.”

“Of course. I assure you, whatever they’re up to, I’ll find
out about it and report immediately to you.”

Darien continued to grip Morgan’s shoulder. A shift in the
tense atmosphere caused Sheena to bustle about, feigning indifference over the
new subject matter as it came up.

“Is there something more, Darien?”

This from his friend, not the general of his vast army.

Myriad emotions warred within Darien. He was the Demon King.
Powerful and revered. Never challenged and never doubted.

Yet he doubted himself these days and that threatened to
undermine his authority. Actually, he’d felt the push and pull within him for
several years now. Since that night he’d come across Jade and had gazed at her
over the river separating them. He had not breached Ryleigh’s border, though he
had every right to do so, given he ruled the entire continent. But he respected
the human-demon boundaries, particularly on that evening, when he’d gone
unnoticed by her.

She’d sat at the river’s edge, tears streaming down her
cheeks. The moonlight had cast a shimmery glow around her and she’d taken on a
very angelic appearance. Not at all the way she seemed in reality. No, he’d
witnessed from afar the raven-haired, blue-eyed spitfire in action when she was
riled and he’d been as captivated with her fiery spirit as her emotionally
damaged one.

He couldn’t explain why. It was more than just the fact she
was striking, with high cheekbones and full, luscious red lips. She was also
tall and curvy, enticing in a way that made his cock twitch at the mere thought
of her. But Jade Deville was a peril best avoided because she not only stirred
his senses, she brought out a protective side of him that contradicted his
entire existence.

She was human and a commoner living outside his walls. He
was immortal and king of the land he’d conquered.

And yet there was something about that very sentiment that
held him captive. He’d never wanted to be king. He’d never wanted the almost
impossible to stop annihilation of humans. He’d been a puppet. A very effective
one, because he clearly had the ability to command an innumerable force. But
his hands had been tied. He’d done as was expected of him by his family.

And perhaps therein lay the crux of his problem. Maybe his
punishment for being cajoled into taking on a task he’d not agreed with from an
ethical or a political standpoint, but which had been thrust upon him, was to
suffer through an unrequited infatuation that could not possibly, in any capacity,
be fulfilled.

Or…maybe being locked in a hopeless situation was the key to
his redemption. For Darien’s military undertaking had gotten completely out of
hand because he’d made too good a ruler in the demonic world. And he’d suffered
the moral consequences.

Was his torment meant to be the catalyst for some sort of
restitution and restoration that went far beyond simply keeping the peace?

His hand dropped from Morgan’s shoulder. He moved away,
turning his back on his friend. Perhaps what had been set into motion had a
specific purpose in this new world.

He said, “It’s possible the die has already been cast. Leave
her be for now.”

* * * * *

Jade was not followed home that night. And while it came as
a relief, it also struck her as odd. She’d grown used to the shadow. It had
never been a comforting one, but somehow, there’d been something alluring about
not being all alone in the woods of Ryleigh, given she’d felt alone the
majority of her life. A point Michael had easily made this evening.

As she entered the cottage and slid the wide metal latch
into place on the door, she wondered who’d been outside the tavern, watching
her. And why. While she fanned the flames of the low-burning fire in her living
room, she considered the possibilities. Was she being stalked, as she’d
suspected, for the inevitable purpose of being preyed upon? Or had the Demon
King sent one of his wraiths to spy on her?

She would concede she had abilities that might draw
speculation and concern from the king. But Jade had never used any of her
natural powers in front of another and had told no one of what she was capable.
Not even Lisette.

From the time Jade was a little girl, she could skillfully
move objects with her mind. Her psychokinesis had alarmed her at first—what
normal person could do such a thing?

But then she’d witnessed her father, Liam, moving his pipe
from the mantle to his hand without ever getting out of his chair. The “gift”
they both possessed had been their shared secret. Never to be revealed to
anyone else. Never to be used in front of another, including Jade’s mother.

There was a second gift Jade had discovered when she’d
fallen from a horse and had broken several bones. Those bones had healed at
such a rapid rate, her father had insisted he be the only one to tend to her.
With instruction from the local physician to straighten her limbs so they set
correctly, he stayed by her side while her body repaired itself.

He’d had to backtrack and announce he’d been overdramatic in
his assessment of her injuries—so overcome with fear and grief, he’d assumed
the worst—when, instead, she’d merely had the wind knocked out of her and that
had made it impossible for her to move, causing Michael, who’d been riding with
her, to seek help from Liam. Given her father’s authority within the village,
and Jade’s expeditious recovery, the lie had not been questioned.

Recently, Jade had added a third specialty to her obscure
talents. The ability to sense an evil entity when it lingered in the shadows.

Convinced she still wasn’t under close observation at the
moment, she ducked into her bathroom, the plumbing being akin to that in a
rural cabin with a septic tank buried in the side yard. She splashed water on
her face from the glass basin sitting on the vanity and then dabbed at her wet
skin with a towel.

After changing into a long, pewter-colored, flannel
nightgown, she built a small fire in the hearth in her bedroom and climbed
under the covers. It had been a busy night at the tavern. That, combined with
the emotional tolls created by her mysterious stalker, left her exhausted. She
was asleep within minutes.

But her overactive mind did not rest. Jade dreamed of
Michael. A mental vision she hadn’t had in a year or two. Her subconscious
homed in on his earlier lean-in and what mighthave happened had the
demon on the horse not interrupted them.

In Jade’s reverie, Michael’s soft lips brushed hers, a
tentative kiss full of uncertainty, yet laced with desire. His hands clasped
her hips and he pulled her to him as his mouth sealed with hers in a kiss that
was still experimental, but which slowly grew more confident.

The street corner melted away and the images playing in
Jade’s head were of her and Michael lying naked in her bed, his large, muscular
body covering hers. He kissed her deeply as her hands roamed his back and her
body writhed beneath his.

It had been eight long years since Jade had been with this
man—with any man—and her physical cravings were as overwhelming as her
emotional yearnings. And her need for intimacy.