Demon Lord 5: Silver Crown King (11 page)

I nodded.
  Yeah, that’s the down side.

ELEVEN

“What is this damn obsession women have

with bad boys?  It’s enough to get me laid.”

                                     —Caine Deathwalker

I slowly woke up the next morning on the couch in my suite in the Clan House.  Light poured into the room from the windows—much too much light.  Izumi had stayed over, commandeering my bedroom for a sleepover with Julia.  I had not been allowed to join in.  Lying with one arm across my eyes, I vaguely wondered what time it was.  I was dressed in the sweats I’d slept in.  They must have been magical sweats because the fabric over my stomach was levitating, letting in warm breeze.

No, wait.  That’s someone’s warm breath.  Izumi?  No, her breath is cold.  Always.

I lifted my arm and looked to see a young hand holding up my sweatshirt.  My visitor’s head was hidden, but I could see her body.  The Old Man had been happy to have Julia visiting, and had sent a special ops team out to procure cute jammies and assorted items of clothing for her.  Julia hadn’t brought a whole lot with her since she hadn’t known I’d be kidnapping her.  The jammies were pink and purple.

“Julia, what are you doing?”

She spoke without taking her head out of my shirt.  “Osamu is making pancakes.  They’re almost ready.  Izumi wants you to help her with her shower.  I offered to wash her back for her, but she says she likes the way you do it.”

“Julia, I’ll ask again, what are you doing?  What’s the great fascination under my shirt?”

The shirt came down.  Julia looked at me with fixed determination in her face.  “I want a tattoo.  A magical one like yours.”

“Red would kill us both if I let you.”  I held up a finger.  “One, he’d get pissed if he didn’t get to do the work himself.”  I held up another finger.  “Two, he won’t do the tattoo because you’re a minor and your body I still growing.  If you got a tattoo now, by the time you stopped growing, the ink could get distorted, ruining the artwork.”

She straightened and took a few moments to think about what I’d said.  “What about a temporary tattoo?”

I thought about it.  “Theoretically, it could work.  But I don’t have any pure dragon blood to mix with the ink.”  

“All your tattoos use dragon blood?”

“Not the
Demon Wings
tattoo.  Old Man volunteered a pint for that one.  “After breakfast, why don’t you go see if he’ll make you a temp tattoo?  Just call him grandfather, and he’ll fall all over himself to spoil you rotten.”

She nodded emphatically.  “Okay.  I’ll give it a shot.”

I sat up and swung my feet to the floor. 

Osamu called from the kitchenette.  “Julia-chan, come get your breakfast.  Let Caine-sama pull himself together.”

“Coming!” Julia called.  She leaned in and gave me a good morning hug and peck on the lips, then ran to the kitchen.  I stood, stretched, and headed into the bedroom, locking the door behind me.  Adult showering wasn’t something Julia needed to see.  She was precocious as it was.  I wondered about the tattoo.  I’d given her a gun, and I knew she went to the dump to target practice regularly on the scurrying rats.  Maybe she felt insecure and wanted more protection.  That would be consistent with what she’d been through.  I hoped she’d get what she wanted out of the Old Man.

A quick glance showed me an empty bedroom with a rumpled bed.  The bathroom door was ajar so that a slash of light split the gloom.  I peeled out of my clothes and let them fall.  Against one wall was my magic mirror, throwing back my image.  Chiseled muscles, a small frame, dark hair and eyes; one of them shimmering with pinpricks of gold.  The tats all over my body contrasted against numerous faint scars.  I looked middle to late twenties, half my true age.  That was the dragon blood in my veins.

I had only one mirror, but it occupied three points in space, serving as a mini-portal between here and Malibu.  My Mansion’s armory and bedroom each had a manifestation of the looking glass.  That reminded me; I needed to set up a similar system between tying the clan house to Santa Fe where we now had demons loyal to us.  Cactus demons.  They were currently providing security for Lysande, the jeweler making my crown.  The last element I needed in place for my coronation to come off. 

That meant Julia, Izumi, and I were heading to Santa Fe today.  I needed to let Izumi know.

I went through the bathroom door.  The air was cold, but not icy.  I went to the shower and slid the glass door open.  Izumi was inside.  The spray was full on hot, but sleeting off her body, it turned cold—just bearable to me. 

As an ice fey, she had antifreeze for blood, and easily passed as a Japanese snow woman, her most comfortable disguise.  She no longer needed the cover, having made peace with her mother the queen, but this was a comfortable identity for her, and it was the one I’d met het under.  This was how I knew her, Asian eyes, perfect, pale skin with long straight black hair.  Her eyes were large, pools of black.  Five-foot nothing, maybe a hundred and five pounds, all of it wet and slick and bouncy as she lathered her luscious body, humming a soft song.

Her back was to me, suds dripping down her sweet bubble ass.  I stepped into the shower and took what was mine, pulling her against my hard erection, sliding my hands past her ribs, and up to maul her tits.  She leaned back into me, saying, “About time you got here.  I was about to start without you.”

I growled, turned her in the spray, and gnawed at her throat.  My hands continued to roam, tweaking nipples, sliding lower, back behind her to grip her ass, pressing our lower bodies together.  She seized my cock and squeezed its iron hardness.  My lips found hers.  They locked.  Our tongues battled as we shared a breath.  She pumped my rigid length.  “I need this, Caine.  I need you!” 

“I aim to please.”

Her hands were on my shoulders, clenching wet flesh, icing the water so that a thin sheet of ice crept down my back.  The hot spray of the shower softened the ice and made it fall at my feet.  There was nothing soft and tender about what followed.  My inner dragon bugled encouragement.  I used his strength to lift her off her feet and let her legs encircle my waist.  Her back pressed against a wall of the shower.  Her huge tits were in my face, begging to be mauled. 

“Take me, take me now!”  She was Winter Court fey, begging for the thaw of spring, for the breaking of earth and the sowing of seed.  I plowed into her, a hard thrust that buried my length.  A shrill sound of exultation fell from her lips.  “Oh, yes, yes!  Fuck me!”

I licked a nipple, then the other, then nibbled with my teeth.  Then I got serious about pounding myself into her.  The sound of wet flesh slapping together was loud.  The water on my back burned with heat.   The bitch riding my cock burned me with cold.  If not for the raw gold magic protecting my erection, it would probably have snapped off like an icicle—a tragedy for the whole female world.

She screamed incoherently, throwing her head back.  Her eyes rolled back in her head.  Her vagina clamped down on me.  Pulsing contractions milked my cock.  I followed her over the edge of ecstasy with an explosive release.  Long after I was done, her body quaked in rapid-fire aftershocks until she grew limp against me, needing my support so she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself.  She wrapped her arms around me, her legs unwinding.  I held her against me, letting the water bath us, clean us. 

Her eyes opened and found mine.  She looked exceptionally serious for a change.  “Isn’t this good, Caine?”

“Hell yes.”

“Then why do you need anyone else?”

Monogamy?  From a fey?
  I hadn’t expected this.  I could have lied.  It would probably have been better, but I’d been experimenting with adding the truth to my lethal repertoire.  I gave her the truth.  “My dragon nature is my dominant side, uncomplicated by morality due to my demon upbringing.  To a dragon, it’s not what you have that’s important, but what remains to find, steal, or conquer.  The pussy yet explored will always have a dreadful fascination, but it doesn’t mean you aren’t a precious possession.”

She stared into my eyes. 

I saw no heat of anger in her.  Her eyes were dark mirrors, hiding emotion.  Being fey, from a culture that celebrates multiples partners, I thought she could handle the truth, but her silence made me nervous.  My relaxing cock slipped out of her, disconnecting us.  She seemed to move a thousand miles away.

“Izumi?”

She pressed into me, sliding sideways so she was by the shower door.

“Izumi?”

She licked my nose and ran for it.

I yelled at her.  “Izumi!  You know I hate that.” 
Yeah, paybacks are always a bitch
. 
A sexy, playful bitch. 

I caught myself at the bathroom door and didn’t go out.  My heightened dragon nose smelled munchkin.  And pancakes.  And bacon.  Julia was out there despite the fact that I’d locked the bedroom door.

Izumi went, “Eek!” as she discovered this.  She said, “I thought you off playing somewhere.”

“You’re naked,” Julia said.

“Well,” Izumi sounded flustered, which was really strange for a fey.  She’d been in the human world way too long.  She said, “I’ve been taking a shower.  Of course I’m naked.”  I heard her hurrying feet as she went to my closet for clothing she kept there.  I hoped she remembered to bring me some clothes too.

Julia’s voice had an odd tension in it and a touch of cloying sweetness.  “Did you have a nice shower?  It sounded like you did.”

Damn.  The kid had the same heightened senses I had.  She knew very well what went on in the shower.  Playground gossip would have already done much to educate her. 
Fuck it with spurs on! 
I went and got a towel, wrapping it around me, and went out.

“Don’t tease Aunt Izumi,” I said.

Her gaze shot over to me, raking my chest.  “I still want a tattoo.  I figure if it’s magic, it can be made to keep its shape as I grow.”

“Well, yeah, that’s theoretically possible, but you should get Aggie’s and Red’s permission.”

“Why?  You’re my father.”

Clothing in hand, Izumi emerged from the closet in time to hear that.  She tossed me slacks and a shirt while giving me a piercing look.  “Really?”

“Adopted father,” I said.  “Her mom died on my watch, and Julia is a half-ling like me.  Every now and then, I do something good to balance out my karma.”

“So, I can get the tattoo?” Julia asked.

Izumi went back into the closet for her own clothes.  I called after her.  “Dress lightly. 

We’re all going to Santa Fe today, to Lysande’s silver shop.  Gotta make sure the crowns are ready.”

She shrieked in joy.  I heard her doing a little happy dance, and hoped my closet would survive.

I looked back at Julia who was still waiting for an answer.  “I’ll let you get a couple temp tattoos, but you got to talk the Old Man into donating blood for them.”

“Oh, please,” she said.  “Give me something challenging to do.”

Izumi emerged in khaki shorts, a pink top, sneakers, and a straw hat tied on with a tangerine scarf.  All she needed was sunglasses, sun lotion, and her purse.  She took over the conversation with Julia who held her plate, forking up a last bit of pancake.  I backed into the bathroom and hurriedly dressed while listening in.

“Why do you hide beautiful skin with ugly ink?” Izumi asked.

I paused a moment.
  Ugly ink?

“It’s not ugly,” Julia said.  “Red does good work.  And they’re useful.  If I’d had a magic tattoo, my finger wouldn’t have gotten cut off.  I couldn’t have been used to lure Caine into a trap.  He and Red wouldn’t be mad at each other now.  Next time someone comes after me, I want to be able to fight.”

“But you’re a dragon,” Izumi said.  “You can turn into a beast and breathe fire.”

“It’s really hard.  And it hurts.  I’m last in all my classes.  My classmates make fun of me all the time.  You know what’s worse than the jokes and laughter?”

I finished dressing, zipping up, tucking my shirt in.

Julia said, “The pity in their eyes when they look at me.  I hate it.”  She sounded like tears weren’t far off.

I went out into the bedroom and over to Julia.  “Go put your plate in the sink.  Rinse it off.  As soon as I get my shoes on, and a belt, we’ll go talk to the Old Man.”

Her eyes brightened.  She wiped tears away.  “Great.  I want a butterflies.  Magical exploding butterflies that will pull off my skin and go blow people up!”

I nodded.  “Good choice.  Just make sure they’re gone before you go back home.”

“Caine,” Izumi said, “you’re going to encourage this?”

I said, “Among the fey, fourteen is old enough to marry a daughter off.  By then, most girls know any number of defensive spells, and have glamour to hide behind.  Why should I keep Julia more vulnerable than they are?  You know what I am, what I’m meant to be.  I have powerful enemies and I’m going to make more.  That means that Julia will sooner or later be back in the crosshairs again.  I can’t always protect her, but I can help her to protect herself.”