Demon's Caress: Demon Heat, Book 1 (11 page)

BOOK: Demon's Caress: Demon Heat, Book 1
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Mikos’s body seemed to fit hers like a comfortable chair, one she wanted to sink back into then lose herself in the firm cushions. She inhaled, the warm, musky scent of masculine perspiration filling her nose. Did his skin taste salty? She eyed the pulse beating in his neck.

An inward yelp echoed through her mind. What the hell was wrong with her?

She let her shoulders relax as if she’d given up. He stilled. Maybe he hadn’t expected her to concede. Good. His stillness should have let her focus on breaking free.

It didn’t.

Love—it’s the real thing. And complicated as hell…

 

The Egyptian Demon’s Keeper

© 2009 Ciar Cullen

 

Archeologist Eliza Schneider assumes her meeting with an exotic stranger in the Egyptian desert was a heat-induced hallucination…until he materializes in New York. She has to give the tall, handsome Egyptian high marks for originality with his pick-up line: they’re fated to save the world together. The master/servant thing goes a long way toward sweeping her off her feet, but it’s easier to believe he’s just another in her long line of poor romantic choices.

Kasdeya, the Fifth Satan, waited eons for his Keeper to find her way to his tomb amongst the ancient ruins. He only has a limited time to convince Eliza that her role is critical to help defeat the loathsome Deumos, a female demon who has laid her claim to bearing his child—a child that will bring down mortals.
 

Trouble is, Eliza doesn’t even believe Kasdeya is real. If he can’t convince her he isn’t an illusion—and neither is their love—Deumos will win.

 

Enjoy the following excerpt for
The Egyptian Demon’s Keeper:
 

Eliza opened one eye and gulped back a scream. If she was asleep, then the dream was astounding. She wiggled her toes to make sure she wasn’t in sleep paralysis.
 

That
man was humming. He was two feet away from her, staring at his palms as if a secret message were about to appear on his skin, and humming.
 

Okay, she thought, this is pretty bad. Unless the laws of physics had suddenly changed and rain could defy gravity, she
had
lost her mind, and this guy seemed a permanent part of her new psychosis. At least he was beautiful. Eliza hoped fervently that if she had to remain mad, he would continue to be part of her altered state.
 

“You hear about sunstroke killing people, you know, but you never hear about this stuff.”

He jumped to his feet and stared down at her, running his hand through his long black locks. “I was meditating. You…”

“I frightened you?”
 

His cheeks reddened, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Of course not. Mortals cannot frighten me.” He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest, as if the stance would somehow convince her that she hadn’t startled him.

“Mortals? Did you say mortals? As opposed to…non-mortals?”

“Correct.” He tapped his foot in a very mortal gesture of impatience.

“This just gets better and better. Okie dokie then. I know I’m supposed to be your keeper or servant or something—isn’t that what you told me in Egypt? Excuse me, should that be ‘the land of pharaohs’?”

“Correct. You are my Keeper, my servant, and it is the land of pharaohs. I’m pleased you listened.”

“Great. I’m dying to please my own hallucination. Would my hallucination mind getting me some water?”
I have to try to pull it together. What if this is a real guy, and he drugged you? Come on, the door is close enough. Please, God, please let my legs work.
 

He gestured to the ornate decanter and glass on the low table. The smirk pulling on his lips ticked her off. So, he knew she meant to make a break for it.
 

“I will pour for you of course.” He handed her a glass, and she pushed herself up so she could sip. Mind racing, coming up blank, she concentrated on clearing her head with the water. She stole glances at him, but his expression was impassive. What does a serial killer look like anyway? Why couldn’t one look like a soap opera star? An Egyptian soap opera star? Did they have soap operas in Egypt?
I’m in real trouble, no matter how I look at this.

“Look, if it’s money you’re after, you picked the wrong girl. Maybe the museum would belly up a few thousand for me… Did you drug me? That’s it, isn’t it? You got to my canteen in Egypt…”
 

“And then miraculously found you in New York, slipped unnoticed into your office or apartment and put a poison potion in your glass?”

She shook her head uncertainly. It didn’t explain the raindrops, the change in his appearance from Dr. Kasey Smith to Kasdeya. Nothing was adding up.

“So, you don’t really know David, and you don’t really work for the museum in Boston.”

“What gave me away?” He smiled fully for the first time, his eyes coming to life and gentle creases appearing around them.
 

Eliza refilled her water glass in a half-hearted attempt to stall. No matter how hard she thought about it, she could only come to one conclusion. The Egyptian desert had robbed her of sanity. Perhaps she was already in an institution and didn’t know it?

“Where are we?” She glanced around the large room, what seemed like part of a larger suite. “Are we in New York?” The ornate furnishings smacked of something from an
Arabian Nights
tale, but with modern amenities. “It has that flying carpet thing going on.”

“Not that again.” His smile faded, and he rubbed at his temples.
 

“Sorry. I’m known to give people headaches. Do demons get headaches?”

Kasdeya took a deep breath and blew it out. Eliza knew that move. She’d watched her mother, David and just about everyone else in her life do it many times.

“Is the room to your liking? I thought you would feel comfortable with these…things.” He gestured to the furniture uncertainly as if he had carved the intricate woodwork himself and was concerned for her approval. The Fifth Satan was a complicated guy—big, buff, dangerous, easily startled and oddly ill at ease. Did he need something from her? Perhaps he didn’t hold all the cards.

“You didn’t answer my question. Are. We. In. New. York?”

“More or less. Would you like to be in New York?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then we are.”
 

A mild tremor rolled through the suite. An earthquake in New York?

“Did you do that?”
 

He cocked his head to one side and studied her. “I thought you said you wanted to be in New York. Well, we’re here. Or there. You are a very confused woman, and you’re beginning to confuse me.”

“Why don’t you tell me what the fuck is going on, Mr. Kasdeya? And if you tell me not to curse, I’ll…I’ll curse again.”

“I will warn you that some of the answers you seek may come as a bit of a shock.”
 

“As opposed to rain stopping in midair? Try me.”

The last thing Eliza expected was for her captor to strip off his black T-shirt. “Dude, there’s no need for that!” Surely he wasn’t going to accost her? He shook his head subtly, as if he read her thought and wanted to ease her mind. “Look at me.”

“I’m looking.” She couldn’t take her eyes off him if she tried. Like an artist had wrapped a masterpiece of sculpture with velvety skin and breathed life into it, Kasdeya was exquisite. He moved his arm to point at the band of golden script that circled one bicep, and his stomach rippled, down to the ridges of muscles framing his slender hips.
 

“When was the last time you saw a man without a shirt, Eliza? I’m pointing to my arm. Look at it.” She glanced at his face instead. His smirk of satisfaction annoyed her.
 

“Oh, so big deal, you’re gorgeous. Get over yourself. All right, let me see your damned arm. I noticed that in pharaoh land. Skip the mumbo jumbo and tell me what it says and why I should care.”

“I don’t know what it says. You’re supposed to tell me. You’re my Keeper.”

“What the hell does that mean anyway? Like a zookeeper? When’s your feeding time? Damn, my head is killing me again.”
 

“You’re probably hungry. Come, let us dine and we can discuss things casually.”

“Oh, lovely, yes, let’s have a nice little chat over dinner. A night out on the town? Perhaps drinks first?”

“That sarcasm does not suit you. You will want to freshen up of course.”

Demon’s Caress

 

 

 

Crystal Jordan

 

 

 

 

Feel the burn.
 

 

Demon Heat, Book 1
 

Usually, Maron is the hunter—a demon sent to earth to imprison evil souls and hurl them into the pit. It’s a dirty, thankless job, but someone has to take out the trash. By necessity, demons need a partner to tag ’em and bag ’em. Since her partner got roped into a Demon Triad, though, she’s stuck with just the tagging part until her boss sends reinforcements.
 

Her backup turns out to be the last two men she wants to see. Two bonded demons who’ve been trying to seduce her into a Triad for months. Sure, the Triad’s sexual bonds generate phenomenal soul-trapping power. Give up her independence? Never. Still, it’s quite a thrill to be the hunted, for a change.
 

Since a night of debauchery in which the three of them experienced a level of power that’s nothing short of explosive, Raum and Kobal have been maneuvering to complicate her eternity…and make her like it. She thinks she’s the most relentless demon hunter around? She ain’t seen nothin’ yet. They’re determined to claim her heart and body…if they can cage the evil soul they’ve been sent to capture.

 

Warning: Three demons doing very wicked things to each other. Guy on guy, guy on girl, guy on guy on girl, and any other combination they can think of. Some anal, a little flameball throwing, a few evil souls sent down to hell. All in a day’s work. Hey, they’re born to be bad…and they’re so good at it.
 

eBooks are
not
transferable.

They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

 

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

 

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

 

Demon’s Caress

Copyright © 2012 by Crystal Jordan

ISBN: 978-1-60928-563-0

Edited by Bethany Morgan

Cover by Angela Waters

 

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

 

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: January 2012

www.samhainpublishing.com

BOOK: Demon's Caress: Demon Heat, Book 1
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