Lost Paradise (25 page)

Danial nodded. “A demon was being set by a
corporate climber to knock out competition. I was hired only to
discover who. But when I knew the real cause, I couldn’t turn the
information over to the client, who had no idea how to handle a
demon.”

I waited, expectant.

“Terian tracked down the demon, and helped
find it’s human master. Then I called in a professional to handle
things.”

Did I want to know anymore? And why was
Danial telling me all this now?
“Is the demon alive?”

Danial shook his head. “The professional was
as good as his references made him out to be. I tell you this now
because I’m not sure that demon won’t show up again someday. While
almost all demons stay far away from those who they knew when they
were last out of Hell, a few sometimes come looking for revenge.
Terian received word today that this demon has been summoned out of
hell. I wanted to warn you, just in case. If you feel blackness,
don’t assume it’s Terian.”

“Titus said the same thing,” I wrote. “I’ll
be on my toes.”

“Good,” Danial said, taking the paper and pen
from me. “Terian has wards in place, so no full demon except his
father can teleport here. But it pays to have everyone aware. You
were my last to be warned.” He paused. “I would not have let
anything keep me from Christmas with you if I could help it, Sar. I
needed you to know that.”

I squeezed his hand, then kissed his cheek,
telling him I knew that.

Theo was in the bathroom for so long, I fell
asleep waiting. Danial nudged me gently when he finally appeared an
hour later.

Theo looked to die for. The red pants had
been made to be loose-fitting on Danial, who was much less bulky.
In short, they clung to my husband in all the right places, the
outline of the little they hid visible by the bathroom light.
Theo’s chest was bare, the deep V of his chest hair shining in the
light. His muscles rippled as he leaned in and turned off the
bathroom light, cloaking him in darkness, then he padded towards us
barefoot.

“I feel your heart racing, Sar,” Danial said
seductively, excitement in his words.

Theo stopped still.

“Get in here, Theo,” I said, praying that The
Lust didn’t take this moment to show itself.

Theo took a deep breath, let it out slowly,
and then got into bed. But he stayed over near the edge, and didn’t
come near us.

“Theo, I’m not going to bite,” Danial said,
mirth in his words. “You can come closer to Sar, if you want.”

“I’m fine where I am,” Theo squeaked.

“Suit yourself.” Danial pulled me a little
closer to him, and then relaxed.

I touched Theo on his shoulder with my
fingertips, making him jump. When he saw it was me, he turned over
on his side facing me, and put his hand in mine.

* * * *

When I awoke, the dynamic had changed. I was
now in Theo’s arms, clasped tight against his chest. We were in the
middle of the bed, where we usually slept when we were in our own
bed. But we weren’t alone. Danial was behind me, his body pressed
to my back, his arms also around me underneath Theo’s.

Danial felt me wake, and woke up. He kissed
my cheek. “Any change?”

I carefully probed my teeth with my tongue.
“Back to normal,” I said, relieved.

“Then wake him up,” Danial said wickedly.
“I’m dying to see his face.”

I leaned up a little and kissed Theo. “Theo,”
I said softly.

He didn’t stir.

I kissed him again. “Theo, there’s
bacon.”

Theo shifted, but didn’t open his eyes. Then
he said sleepily “I don’t smell any, Sar.”

“I’ll make you some, if you let me up,” I
said, trying hard not to burst out laughing.

“No,” he said, squeezing me and Danial. “I
want you to stay here with me. I missed you. I want you. I know we
can’t do the normal way, but we could—”

“Theo,” I said stridently. “We are not
alone.”

Theo’s eyes flew open, registering he was
holding both Danial and I. He pushed back hard with his arms,
trying to get away.

Danial moved fast, his hands clamping on
Theo’s arms to hold him where he was. “Careful,” Danial said
sharply, holding him still. “You may hurt Sar in your fear of
me.”

Theo was breathing hard now, clearly afraid.
“Let me go.”

“No,” Danial said patiently. “We need to get
past this.” He paused. “I’m not going to touch you as I touch Sar.
When I and Devlin were together with her, we touched her together,
not each other. There is nothing for you to be afraid of. I have
never wanted a male lover. I’m not about to change after four
hundred and twenty some years.”

“Then why does the idea of you and I sharing
Sar together excite you so much?” Theo replied. “I can smell that
it does.”

“I liked what Devlin and I did together with
her,” Danial replied. “I liked it very much, much more than I
expected to. I have shared women with Devlin before, but never one
that either of us loved. It was just sex, and it wasn’t that good,
not for me, anyway. But being with he and Sar was different.” He
paused. “What we did that night, I…I’d never done it before. I
hadn’t known how good it could be, watching another man make love
to her, and helping him love her. I saw what it did for Sar, how
much she loved what we did to her.” Danial paused again. “At my
age, there is very little that is new, especially in love or sex.
That this was so good and I’d never known of it…well, I’m looking
forward to next time.” He glanced over at me. “If Sar in
interested, that is.”

“I can tell she is,” Theo growled, either
from jealously or from my not being on his side. “But why me and
not your brother?”

“You are like a brother to me. I think it
would be as good with you as it was with Devlin. Maybe better even,
because I know how much you love her.”

My love for Theo aside, I didn’t agree.
Devlin had been the ringmaster of our threesome, maneuvering us all
masterfully. The reason it had been so good was that he had been
the one in control. But I didn’t say any of that.

“Why do you really object?” Danial continued.
“Your views on sex have never been Biblical.”

“I just…I just never considered it,” Theo
whispered. “It seems immoral to me. It seems wrong somehow.”

“If it’s something we all want, I don’t see
how it’s wrong. We both love her, and she loves us. Who are we
hurting by doing this with each other?”

“No one,” Theo whispered reluctantly.

“Then please consider it,” Danial said,
letting Theo go and gently moving me aside so he could get up. “Not
until after the babies are born, and Sar’s well enough for it. But
perhaps then, if you are interested, we might try it.”

Theo moved to the far side of the bed and
didn’t answer.

Danial put on his bathrobe, and turned to us,
fastening the tie. “You said you wanted her, Theo. I’m going to use
Elle’s shower. She and Theoron are at their lessons by now. No one
will hear you, including me.” Danial got some clothes out for
himself, gave me a passionate kiss, and then left, closing the door
gently behind him. Once his footsteps receded, all was quiet.

Theo’s expression was petrified. I reached
out and grabbed his hand. “Relax. There’s no pressure. You don’t
have to do anything you don’t want to, and I mean here with me now,
too.”

Theo turned and kissed me gently. “You can
talk. Your teeth aren’t sharp anymore,” he said, very relieved.

“Good thing, too,” I said with a smile. “I’d
make a bad vampire. I’m very bad at being careful.” My smile became
suggestive. “And you’d be out of luck.”

“Say it for me,” Theo said lustily, pulling
me close.

“As many times as you want me, Theo. As many
times as you want me.”

* * * *

Feeling sated and stuffed with bad breakfast
food, I made my way up the stairs to Danial’s study. Terian and
Danial were both hard at work at their computers.

“What first?” I asked. “How many emails are
we up to?”

“I’ve done the more pressing ones,” Terian
answered. He gestured to some piles on a small desk. “We set that
up for you to use.”

Making a fake cheery face back at him, I got
to work. “How was your trip out west?”

“Good,” Terian answered, flashing me a
smile.

He looked better than good, he looked more
relaxed than I’d ever seen him, as if a weight had been lifted from
his shoulders.

An hour later, Terian shut off his computer
and got up.

“Quitting early?” I teased.

“I’ve been working since eight a.m.,” he
replied, smirking. “Despite all the disturbances.”

He had heard Theo and I. “I hope we kept you
entertained,” I said drolly.

He laughed, nodded, then left.

Danial also got up from his computer,
grabbing a few papers from beside his desk.

“You leaving, too?” I asked

“My donor is downstairs waiting,” Danial
answered. “I’ve left the internet window open, so when you’re done
filing, you can begin answering emails. You already know what to
do; the only new thing is that we have a new signature for you that
includes the web address. I’ve logged you on, so that will be
automatic.”

“I’m almost ready to switch to that,” I said.
“I’ll see you later tonight.”

Danial gave me another kiss on the cheek, and
then left.

A few minutes later, I began to go through
the emails for Solutions, Inc. There were a bunch of good leads. I
printed off at least thirty emails, and then gave them case
numbers. There were more than a few that were junk, so I deleted
them. As usual, there were also a few that had to be sent to
Devlin.

As I attached them all to one email to him, I
wondered what Dev did exactly with everything I sent him from
Solutions, Inc. He’d had all these meetings this week, but who was
he meeting? Devlin had credited his vast wealth to his investments.
He’d initially been given this branch of the business by Danial in
an attempt to get back some of the respect and fear power he’d lost
when Danial had disposed him as Ruler, not for the money it would
bring in. Now as the new Ruler of Canada, Devlin no longer needed
additional respect. Devlin also never had indicated he was working
these cases at all, so who was? Lash?

I reclined back in the chair, puzzling over
this mystery. Danial had said once that Devlin was handling the
work we sent his way very well, without a lot of bloodshed. I’d
just accepted that vague answer at the time, because back then I’d
been happy not to know. But things were different now.

What was going on? Had Dev been killing
people those nights he had left me to go out? If he had, were they
justice kills, righting wrongs? I remembered Devlin’s answer to
Danial at stake point years ago, telling him that he’d take care of
Danial’s hits for the Italians, so Danial wouldn’t have to do them
anymore. Had Dev paid off the mob or had he been killing people for
them? If he had, what had happened to that arrangement when he’d
left for Rio, then reappeared here months later?

Where did Lash fit into all of this? He had
to be involved somehow; likely he did some of the contract killing.
But why do them for Devlin, not for himself? Did Devlin approve
them for him? Did they split the money? That seemed unfair to Lash,
if he did all the work. That bitter comment about being told what
to do all the time had been important and meaningful. So had the
ease with which Lash had disposed of Kev and Vince, two trained and
powerful men much younger and in peak shape.

Where did Titus fit here? He seemed too nice
for contract killing. Yet if he ate people, that was way too
generous an assumption, even if he was a relatively good demon.

The nights Dev had gone out, he’d worn suits
half the time and jeans the rest. Had he been doing jobs on the
casual nights, and meeting clients on the dressy ones? Or had he
been collecting payment in jeans and killing more upscale people in
a suit? Or was this all just a bullshit smokescreen and he’d been
meeting a woman—or women—to satisfy himself? I knew Dev’s
appetites; he’d been far too relaxed all week to not have had any
sex.

Angry at myself for my sudden surge of
jealousy, I focused again on the business end. Devlin had given me
the filing to do. He’d said they were all of his records. So where
were the business records: the cases, the expense reports, all of
the details? I’d only found various employees’ wage listings, old
receipts for household expenditures, some handwritten investment
records, and a whole lot of love notes.

I was having his child. If that child was in
danger because of what Dev was doing, I needed to know. Now.

I picked up the phone and called his cell.
The phone rang twice before he answered.

“Hi, Love,” Devlin purred. “I’ve been missing
you.”

I didn’t reply, debating what to ask first
and how best to ask it.

“What have you been doing all day?”

“Cut the shit, Dev,” I said calmly. “We
parted on bad terms. Don’t act nice to me now, just because you
probably got laid a few minutes ago.”

“I was not with anyone today, Sar,” Devlin
said gently. “I’m just happy to talk to you.”

“So talk.”

“I want to say I am sorry for how I said what
I said—” Devlin began vaguely.

“So you aren’t sorry for saying it,” I
stated.

“I want more than one child with you, if we
have a girl first,” Devlin said bluntly. “Things were going so
well, I thought that you might like the idea. I know you haven’t
got to working on the nursery yet, though I liked the colors and
suggestions you have been showing me—”

“Things were going well,” I said coldly. “The
word is ‘were’, Dev.”

“I should have just told you the choker was
fixed. I shouldn’t have forced you to put it on. I am sorry I
scared you.”

“No, you aren’t!” I said bluntly. “You have
said that many times, and it’s simply not true, Dev! You like my
fear. And I don’t like to be afraid of the people I love.”