Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy) (26 page)

"Snarcus!"
Daniel and Cassiel said.

"A
demon?" Rachael asked.

"Of the
worst kind," Daniel confirmed.

Cassiel opened
his mouth to speak, but his whole body shuddered and no words came out. He ran
his fingers through his thick blond hair. "Sorry, Rachael, there's more
but Father has forbidden me to talk about it. When I try my body seizes
up."

"The prince
is innocent. I have to stop Galaden. This hatred of Agrat is wrong. It has
changed Galaden, sucked so much love out of him." Rachael swung her feet out
over the bed. There was a small cupboard in the room. She strode over to it,
opened the door, found her jeans,
tee-shirt
and coat
hanging up. Folded neatly were her underpants, freshly laundered. On the floor
sat her shoes.

"There's
more," Daniel said.

"More?"
Rachael asked. She was almost afraid to hear it.

"The vow to
kill Agrat also included Phoebe. The old king ordered if Agrat ever escaped his
statue prison and reunited with Phoebe, Galaden had to kill them both,"
Daniel said.

"What?
Phoebe!
Galaden's going to kill Phoebe?
Oh my god,
I'll never forgive him. No wonder he forbade both of you to speak of it,"
she cried. Rachael wrenched her hospital gown from her body not caring that
Cassiel and Daniel were in the room. She dragged her
tee-shirt
over her head, pulled on her underwear, jeans and shoes. Her head swirled. Her
angel husband, her gentle beloved soul was going to do something so sinful
she'd never be able to forgive him. "How could he vow such a terrible
thing?" Sheer, sharp horror gripped her. Galaden's words came back to her.
"Do not put your trust in angels."

"He never
thought Agrat would escape. He made a foolish vow out of hatred for the prince,"
Daniel said. "He doesn't want to kill Phoebe. I'm sure of it. He had an
opportunity to do so after Envy kidnapped her, but he didn't."

Cassiel nodded.
"Which is why Galaden's turning into stone. He made a vow to the old king,
now he has to follow through or turn to stone."

Rachael marched
up to Daniel and Cassiel. "Take me there now. I have to stop him."

Cassiel's body
started to shudder. "I can't, damn it. Galaden ordered me to take you to
your apartment. Daniel will have to do it."

"I order
you to take me there. I am your maker. I grew you in my body in my past life. I
nursed you as a baby. You take me there now."

"But the
maker is male," Daniel said. "He has to obey a male's order."

Rachael rounded
on him. "Like hell it is. I am Cassiel's maker, too. Cassiel, do as I
say."

Chapter 16

When Phoebe materialized in
her artist studio in the Meatpacking District, her stomach rose up to meet her
throat and the only thing that stopped her falling was Agrat's strong arms
around her. He took the bottle of healing water she gripped, unscrewed the top
and gave it to her. She drank a deep gulp although she could barely swallow,
and the moment it hit her stomach the vertigo disappeared. "Daniel was
right. It gets easier each time."

"Soon, I
will be able to take you anywhere you wish without illness," Agrat said.

"I'll look
forward to it when travel's on my agenda, but for the moment I want to know how
Rachael is doing." Phoebe spied the telephone in the corner, which had
been knocked off its telephone table but remained undamaged, unlike the statues
in her studio. She strode over, put the bottle on the telephone table, picked
the phone up and dialed information for the trauma hospital number and pushed
the button to be put through. Rachael talked to the charge sister and put down
the phone.

"How does
the healer fare?" Agrat asked.

"The nurse
said Rachael's conscious. She’s speaking normally, but her specialist hasn't
seen her yet," Phoebe said, her voice full of excitement. "Galaden
must have returned her life-force. He said he would, but I didn't believe him.
I guess he must really love Rachael. She's getting better." She put her
hand on her heart, relieved that her best friend was well.

"There was
good in my brother once," Agrat said, his face sad. "When Rachael is well,
Galaden will leave her to find us. I could hunt him down but I do not wish to
fight near the healer in case she is injured. It is better for me to prepare
myself for the last fight here. It is daylight and Galaden will be
strong."

"What can I
do to help?" Her life rested on the line with his. They both knew it.

He moved over
and put his arms around her, his hands moving lower to cup her bottom, pressing
her into his groin. "The more time you spend close to me, the better my
energy will flow after Lightning's assault.

A sexual zing
passed through her at the press of his hands on her behind and she wiggled out
of his grasp. "Only you could be thinking of sex at a serious time like
this."

"My energy
flow is serious. Lightning crippled me when Envy snatched you. Our son, Daniel,
saved me from death when all the demons that once served me in the past
converged on me in Salem on Galaden's orders."

"What will
Daniel do when you fight Galaden? He is from the world I created here in my
studio." She looked around at the remaining sculptures: princesses from
her past life; Tamir, the head of the harem; the fat eunuch she had bribed to
escape and the decapitated head of Galaden's angel mother lying on the floor.

"My son is
my blood. He will support me. He helped destroy all the demons," the
prince said, his voice satisfied.

Would he? Phoebe
wasn't so sure. "Galaden treated him as a son."

Agrat's gaze
rested on the head of Galaden's angel mother, which lay on its side near the
body. "The fallen take great pleasure in the misery of others. Luckily,
Galaden decapitated his mother by accident or she may have returned. She is a
daughter of Lucifer and would test my powers to their zenith. Even I, as old as
I am, cannot hope to best her evil power. Such misery she caused us, poisoning
the old king's mind against me. Never was a female more manipulative and cruel
than this creature. She hated the bond I had with Galaden. Did everything she
could to destroy it. Galaden accused me of bringing Rachael to our father. I
could not convince him otherwise. After Rachael's death, he withdrew from all
public life.
All joyfulness in his character gone.
He
grew hard and cold. Vengeful."
Agrat's hand clenched
into a fist as he stared at the decapitated angel.
When he opened it, a
fireball grew on his palm.

"What are
you doing?" she asked.

Agrat turned to
her, his eyeballs blazing with anger. "I will blast what's left of her
into a million pieces."

"Stop! No
more blasting. She's decapitated. Grind her to dust so she cannot ever reform
but no more blasting. I hate the fighting. I need peace when I can get it,
especially where I create and I don't like seeing you roiled up with
bitterness." Agrat's mouth turned down and his eyeballs changed to a
fierce glow. She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "I love
you," she said simply. "Please try to calm down. I don't like it when
your eyeballs turn to fire. I can cope with glow. I'm not freaked out by glow,
but I prefer them human."

Her words
settled him. She knew because his eyes returned to their inky darkness though
the pupils still blazed and she knew his anger lurked beneath the surface. She
gave his hand a squeeze, pleased that she had soothed him. She looked around
her studio. "My life is chaos." Bits of marble were imbedded in the
walls from the force of Agrat and Galaden's previous fight, the floor littered
with broken stone.

"I will
make it up to you, Princess, but first I want Galaden dead." The prince
moved behind her and put his arms around her.

Galaden. Dead.
Agrat's words gave her no joy. She needed the safety, but what of Rachael? It
appeared the angel loved her friend and Rachael loved him too. The whole
situation was a nightmare and Phoebe didn't know how to fix it. A strong desire
to clean her studio overtook her, a need to have order on the brink of
impending disaster. "I want a tidy workplace and you in my bed. Those two
things would make me happy."

"In your
bed, you say?" Agrat's expression became cheerful despite the dire
situation and he waved his hand. Red sparks flew off his fingertips.

Phoebe watched
stunned as the debris implanted in the walls flew out and vanished. The walls
closed over and looked as if they had never been damaged.

Agrat turned and
brandished his hand around the studio, a red web of energy spun out from his
palm stirring up the dust and absorbing it until none remained. When he
finished, the studio sparkled, the stone dust and damage gone leaving only the
completed statues and the one of Galaden's mother,
its
decapitated head lying on the floor.

Amazement made
her turn to the prince. "Wow! That was quick. I didn't know you could
clean up. I thought you were only good for fireballs. You're definitely worth
marrying."

His eyes
narrowed as his lips turned up. "You mock me, woman and you will pay the
price for it. We married in our past life." He swept her up into his arms
and strode to the back of the studio, through the door and into her apartment.
When he placed her on her feet, he proceeded to pull her
tee-shirt
up over her head.

"What are
you doing?" she asked.

"Completing
the second part of your wish," he answered, undoing the clasp of her jeans
and tugging them down. "I need you."

"We've just
made love and you're still as horny as hell."

Agrat frowned
and tilted his head. "I do not grow horns, unless you count what is
between my legs." He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his erection.
"Is this a horn?"

Phoebe resisted
rolling her eyes. She pulled her hand from his and butted it on his
breastplate, studying him. "You've syphoned the cop's brain. You know
'horny' means you want sex."

Agrat laughed
and somehow his teasing helped relieve the knife's edge tension. "I always
want sex." He wrapped his arms around her and cupped her breast, his
fingers caressing the fabric of her bra, teasing the nipple underneath.

"Wait a
minute," Phoebe stayed his hand. Rachael's compact mirror and lipsticks
lay on the carpet floor of the living room. Phoebe recognized them because
she'd given them to Rachael as a present. Unraveling herself from him, she
strode into her bedroom, saw that the bed was unmade and there was blood and
silver angel glitter on the sheets. Rachael's cell phone lay smashed on the
bedroom floor. "Galaden had Rachael here in my bed. Ugh! That's
disgusting." She opened her wardrobe door, took out a set of clean sheets
and put them on the bedside table. "I can't believe that creep had sex
here. He's bled all over everything." She bent to strip the bed but before
she could do anything, the bed sheets vanished in front of her eyes. She looked
up to him. "How did you do that?"

She noticed
Agrat's gaze move over her torso, bare except for her bra. The zip of her jeans
was undone and his eyes feasted on the base of her zipper as if he were wishing
her jeans would vanish, too.

"Like
this." He moved his hand up and the red web of energy left his fingers,
the clean bedding lifted off the bedside table and hovered over the bed.

Phoebe watched
and her jaw dropped as Agrat prepared the bed with the sheets, comforter and
pillows so that it looked like a department store advertisement for bedding, by
controlling the energy with his fingers. "Wow! That was fast work. I'm
surprised that you even know how to put together a modern bed."

"Do not
leave evidence of sex with a different woman if you want to get laid."

"The cop says
that?"

"It is good
advice, is it not?"

"That's
gross," she said.

"I do not
understand why you are angry. The cop speaks with truth. You did not wish to
lie with me in your bed when the sheets were not clean," Agrat said.

Phoebe shook her
head. Some things were not worth explaining. "It's cold in here. I'm going
to turn on the heater. Why don't you warm the bed? Don't set fire to it."
After she'd turned on the electric heater in her bedroom, she looked at the
prince and saw that Agrat's armor was a muddle on the floor and he lay on the
bed on his side, his erection enormous.

Her heart
fluttered as desire coursed through her. Even now, with death around the
corner, he had the ability to move her. She reached behind her, unclipped her
bra so that her breasts sprang free and threw it down. She wiggled out of her
jeans sauntered over to the bed, climbed on and put her arms around him.
She stared into his eyes, her heart swelling with love for
him. “I know you're going to have the fight of your life. If you win, I live.
If you lose, I die."

His hands moved her hair from
her face and he tucked it tenderly behind her ear. "Do not be afraid.
Galaden will not have the assistance of demons in this fight. I will not let
him near you again."

"I love you and I realize now
I've always loved you. Hold me. I need to feel your arms around me. It's the
only time I feel safe.” She couldn’t take her eyes or hands off him. How long
would they have? The danger of Galaden made her want to make every minute they
had together meaningful.

When he leaned close, she
touched his face, his strong neck and the grooves along his shoulder blades.
His face looked hard and intense in the streaked light from the window and his
eyes seemed to gleam with unusual intensity. His chest was broad and ridged
with muscles right down his six-pack. There was a faint line of crisp dark hair
below his belly button, which threaded with his thick public hair. He was
perfect in every detail and he was hers.

“You are my one true love. I
knew it when I saw you, your hair gleaming in the sun at the palace gates,” he
said. "Your eyes lit up when you saw me. Hopeful. No one looked upon me
like that, a feared demon son of the king."

“I am yours and I always will
be.” She was on fire. Her gaze wandered over Agrat’s strong body and she could
barely resist the urge to press herself and slowly rub against him.

Her hand stroked him, moving to
the smooth muscles of his chest.

His arms went around her and he
pulled her in tight.

Something about his words
ignited deep passion in her chest. She was way too turned on to question
whether it was right to have sex with him with Galaden close by. She needed
him. She wanted to be consumed by him.

“When this day is finished and I
have defeated Galaden, I intend to make you my wife. I will build you your own
palace wherever you want it and put wards on it so that you feel safe when I am
not close by. Your happiness and safety is all that matters to me. I owe you
that after all I have put you through.” He hugged her close. His big hands stroked
over her shoulders, his fingers testing the nodules of her spine before moving
his hand over her ribcage, finally coming to rest on her breast. His fingers
paused to tease a nipple. As his hands moved past her waist and over her
abdomen, her body tensed. She wanted him to stroke between her legs, so she
parted them.

"I don't need a palace. I
just want you," she said.

“Phoebe.” He said her name like
a caress and the tendrils of his voice swirled around her brain.

Agrat’s pupils were so large, so
dark. “Remember all I am to you and all you are to me. Gift me with the
strength to defeat our enemy.” He bent his head and his lips grazed hers, but
he didn’t linger long on her lips. Though she was waiting for a hard kiss, he
moved down to her neck, his lips grazing every hollow, ridge and curve.