Demon Born

by Christine Pope

  “Cat Castillo?”

  She looked up and tried not to groan. Standing next to the table was Ashley Meadows, someone who’d attended Cat’s high school. They hadn’t been exactly friends, because Genoveva Castillo had frowned on her children getting too close with civilians, but Ashley was one of those people who just had to make you her best friend — for the few minutes she was talking to you before she got distracted by something or someone else.

  “Oh, hi, Ashley,” she said lamely.

  Her former acquaintance seemed mesmerized by the necklace Cat was wearing, but she gathered herself enough to exclaim in her usual gushing tones, “Oh, my God, Cat, I haven’t seen you in forever! I didn’t know you came to Echoes!”

  Good thing the music was so loud, or Ashley’s piercing voice could have been heard to the back wall of the nightclub. “Well, I don’t, really. I’m just here with a friend because he wanted to check it out.”

  Ashley’s big blue eyes widened. Because of the false eyelashes she wore, they made her look a little like a startled kitten. “He? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone. Everyone says you’ve been living practically like a nun.”

  Cat didn’t bother to ask who “everyone” was, mostly because she knew that there was a small, dedicated group of gossips who seemed to make it their duty to keep up with everyone in their high school class who was still living in Santa Fe…never mind that they’d all graduated seven years earlier and should have been getting on with their lives. As for the comment about living like a nun, well, she couldn’t do much to argue with that particular statement, since it was pretty much the sad truth.

  Calmly, she replied, “I’m not ‘seeing’ him. He’s a fellow artist, and he’s visiting here for a while so he can find out more about the fiber arts scene in Santa Fe.”

  “Oh, right,” Ashley said, wrinkling her nose a bit. “You’ve been doing that whole weaving thing or whatever it is.”

  “Weaving is part of it, yes.” Cat figured there wasn’t much point in going into any detail about what her work actually involved, since Ashley would probably zone out halfway through the explanation anyway. To tell the truth, she had no idea what Ashley was up to these days, either. She’d gone to the state university in Las Cruces but had promptly returned to Santa Fe when she graduated. The last thing Cat had heard, she was working in a law office — maybe because she hoped to snag a lawyer husband and then not have to work ever again. Ashley had never been very twenty-first-century when it came to her attitudes about women’s empowerment.

  But then her eyes widened, and Cat shifted slightly in her seat so she could see what her friend was looking at. Sure enough, there came Loc, white wine spritzer in one hand and something tall and filled with ice in the other. Long Island iced tea? She had a feeling he’d order a drink like that, just to see whether it would have any effect on him at all.

  “Oh, my God,” Ashley said, her tone almost reverent. “That’s your friend?”

  “Um…yes,” Cat responded. She knew there wasn’t any way to hide her connection to Loc, so it seemed safest to just come right out with it.

  “He’s…he’s….” Words had clearly failed Ashley, so she just stood next to Cat’s table, making no attempt to hide her obvious stare.

  “Hello,” Loc said, smiling at Ashley as he handed Cat her spritzer.

  “Loc, this is Ashley Meadows. We went to high school together. Ashley, this is Loc de la Cruz. He’s visiting from Spain for a few days.” It seemed safe enough to put a bit of a time limit on Loc’s presence here in Santa Fe. If it ended up that he stayed longer, she’d figure out a way to explain the reason for his extended vacation.

  “‘Spain’?” Ashley echoed. “Wow. I’ve never been any farther than California.”

  “Oh, yes,” he said. “Travel can be a wonderful thing, although I do find it somewhat amusing to see all the Spanish names here in your desert Southwest. It feels almost as if I never left Barcelona.”

  “I guess I never thought about it,” she said with a giggle. Then she turned an almost accusing stare on Cat. “And I’ll bet this is the first time you’ve even gotten out and about. Cat was never much of a partier.”

  That was only the truth, mostly because the dubious fun of partying had to be weighed against the fallout should Genoveva have ever found out what her youngest daughter was up to. Voice a bit strangled, she said, “Loc’s been out and around. It’s not like I’m keeping him prisoner at my house or something.”

  “Oh, right — I heard you bought the old Rio Luna winery and fixed it up.” A sudden grin touched Ashley’s pink-glossed lips, and Cat braced herself, knowing that the other woman had something up her sleeve, something she probably wouldn’t like very much. “I know!” Ashley exclaimed next. “You should have a party! That way, everyone can see your new house, and you can introduce Loc to everybody.”

  “I don’t — ” Cat began, but she didn’t get any further than that, since Loc cut in.

  “I think a party sounds like a wonderful idea,” he said. “I would like to meet more of your friends.”

  She wished she could stare daggers at him, but with Ashley standing there and staring down at her expectantly, Cat knew this was not the time to get into an argument. Willing herself to stay calm, she said, “I have a lot to do to get ready for the show next week.”

  “It’s no problem,” Ashley said. “I can take care of the guest list. You just need to give me your address so I know where to tell everyone to go.”

  Cat could think of where she wanted to tell Ashley — and Loc — to go, but that wasn’t really an option. Before she could respond, Loc chimed in.

  “And I can manage the food and the drinks,” he said. “Let us do it Spanish style, with tapas and sangria.”

  “You’re going to make tapas for fifty people?” Cat asked, not bothering to hide the skepticism in her tone.

  “Of course,” he replied. His dark eyes were dancing, and she realized then that producing tapas for fifty people — or a hundred, or two hundred and fifty — wouldn’t be any problem for him at all.

  “Oh, that sounds awesome!” Ashley said, her voice almost squeaking with excitement. “Tomorrow night?”

  “Sure,” Cat said wearily. Might as well get it over with.

  “Perfect timing, too, because Channing Ellis is in town — his sister Emma just had her first baby, and he’s here for the christening.” Now the excited glitter in Ashley’s big blue eyes almost seemed more like a scheming gleam, although Cat knew that was probably only her imagination at work. “I know he’d love to see you.”

  “Um, sure,” Cat returned. Channing Ellis was probably the last person on earth she wanted to come visit her, but there was no way she would ever tell Ashley that. “Sounds great.”

  “Okay, what time?”

  “Um…seven-thirty?”

  “Great. Oh, and your address?”

  “Forty-two North Shining Sun,” Cat told her, doing her best to ignore the sensation of being caught on the back of a runaway horse. “It’s right off the 503.”

  “Got it,” Ashley chirped. “See you tomorrow night. This is going to be so much fun!”

  She bounced away then, pausing only a few yards away to talk to a couple around her age. The woman looked familiar, and Cat thought she might be another former schoolmate. It was dark enough that even that small distance made it difficult to pick out many details of someone’s facial features.

  Loc spoke then. “You don’t seem particularly pleased.”

  “Oh, no, I love the idea of my house getting invaded by a hundred strangers,” she shot back, and took a large swallow of her white wine spritzer. Damn it, she should have asked him for something stronger.

  “‘Strangers’?” Loc echoed. “How can they be strangers if you went to school with them?”

  “We all graduated seven years ago,” she told him. “And I haven’t done much to stay in touch, because my late mother wasn’t real keen on having her kids hanging out with civilians. B
ut no worries.”

  She sipped at her spritzer again, while Loc swallowed some of his Long Island iced tea and appeared to pause for a few seconds, as though evaluating its effects. Then he said, “Who is Channing Ellis?”

  “A guy I went to school with. I guess I had kind of a crush on him.”

  Was that a frown creasing Loc’s brow? “He was your boyfriend?”

  “No,” she said shortly. “My mother would never let me date a civilian.”

  “Ah.” He was quiet again. “Then why would Ashley be so eager to have him come to your party?”

  “Because she knows I liked him, and she probably thinks it’ll be funny to see how we react to each other after all this time.”

  Luckily, Loc seemed to accept that explanation, lapsing into silence as he watched the dancers gyrate under the strobing lights set into the ceiling above the dance floor. Thank God for that, because Cat was in no mood to tell him the truth about her and Channing Ellis. No, nothing had happened between them in high school, but when he’d come home from college a year after they graduated, she and Channing had had a brief fling. It was her single greatest act of rebellion against her mother, losing her virginity to a civilian she had no intention of marrying. Channing hadn’t seemed to expect anything out of the relationship either, except to scratch his itch, since he’d broken up with his girlfriend a few months before he hooked up with Cat.

  She hadn’t liked sneaking around, though, and after spending a few days in his company, she’d realized she really didn’t like Channing all that much, either. Yes, he was gorgeous, but even an unpracticed virgin like she had been could tell he wasn’t all that great in the sack, and it seemed the only things he’d wanted to talk about were football and school. He was pre-law, following in his father’s footsteps. It had paid off, because the last she’d heard, he was working for some high-powered law firm in Houston, but Cat had no reason to think Channing Ellis would be any more interesting now than he’d been six years ago. Maybe now he’d talk about his law firm or his stock portfolio rather than his classes, but she had a feeling football would still figure far too prominently in any of his conversations.

  Well, he probably wouldn’t even come to the party. She doubted he had any more desire to see her than she did to see him. He’d probably get Ashley’s invitation and smile and shake his head, then not bother to show up. That would be the easiest resolution to the situation.

  Unfortunately, Cat knew all too well that things were rarely so simple.

  8

  He’d thought he would ask Cat to dance — after watching the people on the dance floor for a good fifteen minutes or so, Loc knew he could manage to imitate their moves well enough — but she seemed troubled after Ashley had left, and he had a feeling that any such requests would be summarily shot down. Was Cat troubled at the idea of seeing someone she’d once cared for, or was she merely annoyed that he and Ashley had plotted this party without really asking for her approval?

  Probably a combination of both, and so he judged it best to sit with her and finish their drinks, then suggest quietly, “Time to go home?”

  “I thought it was time to go home a half hour ago,” she replied, her tone tart. “But yes, I’m ready.”

  She got up from her chair and retrieved the little black clutch purse she’d brought with her. Loc rose as well, knowing that she was angry and not exactly sure how he should try to soothe her troubled spirit. The problem was, he didn’t know why she would be upset about the party, since Ashley had promised to manage the invitations, and he himself would be handling all the food and drink. The house and its grounds seemed very neat and clean to him, so he didn’t think there should be much work involved in making sure the place was ready to receive guests.

  After they’d left the club, walked across the parking lot, and climbed in to her SUV, Loc said, “I will do everything I can to make sure this party won’t require you to put forth any effort. All you’ll have to do is attend and have a good time.”

  Cat had already set the vehicle in self-driving mode, and so it was not unsafe for her to turn her head and send him an unreadable look. “It’s not about the work, Loc.”

  “Then what is it? If it troubles you that Ashley is inviting this Channing Ellis, then message her and tell her to take him off the guest list.”

  That offer only made Cat let out a huff of an exasperated breath. “Doing that would only make things worse.”

  Sometimes, human motivations could be very difficult to understand. Here he had given Cat a way to get out of an awkward situation, and she’d refused. Could it be that, deep down, she really wanted to see this Channing person?

  Loc couldn’t know for sure. What he did know was that it probably would not be wise to push the issue. Cat already seemed upset, and he did not wish to anger her further. He went quiet, watching as the headlights flickered against the massive trunks of the cottonwoods that lined the road leading back to her property. It was very dark out here, for there were no streetlights such as those that lined the roads in more populated areas.

  Just as she was turning onto the little private lane that would bring them to the house, she spoke. “It’s all right, Loc. I have been living like kind of a hermit out here. I did have that small housewarming party, but it was just for family, only about twenty people. Since it’s summer, we’ll do everything in the patio area off the old wine tasting room. I haven’t really done anything to it except make sure the gardeners keep it all looking nice, so it’s still set up for large groups of people. It’ll be fine.”

  “That sounds like a good plan,” he said, relieved that she seemed to have come around to the idea of having a party. Truly, he was curious to see how she acted around her peers, because before this he’d only seen her interacting with family members, and that had been during a difficult, highly charged time. “It will reduce the risk to your house, at least.”

  She sent him a tight little smile, then turned off the SUV’s self-driving function so she could guide the vehicle into the garage. “Oh, people will still come into the house, if for no other reason than to use the bathroom. There’s one in my studio — the old tasting room — but the last thing I need is someone getting drunk and making a mess while I’m in the middle of working on projects there. It’s better for them to go to the house. At least there if someone trashes something, it can be more easily replaced.”

  Did she really think that her former classmates would be quite so destructive? He couldn’t know for sure, because he might have traveled around the world, but he’d always kept to himself for the most part. This would be the first time he’d ever attended a real party. At any rate, if anything got broken, he would help to repair or replace it. However, he realized that even his great magical gifts might not be enough to help Cat if someone damaged some of her art. Better to keep everyone out of her studio and avoid any risk of such unpleasantness.

  “I’m sure they will be respectful of your property,” he said.

  Another of those thin-lipped smiles that ruined the beautiful fullness of her mouth. “For a demon, you sure have a high opinion of humanity.”

  She pushed the button to turn off the engine, then took her purse and got out of the vehicle. Loc climbed out as well, still searching for a suitable reply to her last comment. If anyone had asked, he would have said that his opinion of humanity was entirely neutral, since there were both very fine and truly horrible examples of the species. For some reason, though, he did not particularly like Cat referring to him as a demon. Yes, he was one — a demon lord, at any rate — but when she spoke of him in such a way, it seemed as though she was doing what she could to create more distance between them.

  Not that he hadn’t done a very good job of doing such a thing by going along with her friend Ashley’s idea of a party. Wouldn’t it have been better to have a quiet evening alone with Cat, rather than inviting a horde of humans to invade the quiet sanctuary she’d created here?

  In some ways, though, that scenario was
even more fraught.

  He followed her into the house, where she paused so she could take off the high-heeled sandals she wore. “It’s been a long day,” she said. “And it sounds like tomorrow is going to be even longer, so I’m going to bed.” A pause, and then she added, “Thank you for dinner.”

  “You’re welcome,” he murmured, but she was already gone, sandals hanging by their strap in one hand, her useless little purse tucked under her arm. It was clear enough that she didn’t want to spend any more time around him this evening.

  Well, all he could do now was hope she would be in a better mood the following day.

  Cat was still cranky when she woke up, although she told herself that done was done, and she might as well make the best of the situation. When she went down to have her morning coffee, Loc was already there. He set a mug in front of her and said, “You really don’t have to worry about anything. I will make sure the house is ready for the party.”

  Was a demon lord really capable of managing all the thousand and one details that needed to be taken care of when planning a big get-together? She didn’t know, but she figured she’d find out. As she’d showered, she’d told herself that she wouldn’t get involved, would stay out of things.

  And if the whole damn affair turned out to be an unmitigated disaster, well, at least she could use that as ammunition to make sure no one ever came to one of her parties again.

  “Sounds good,” she said, and left it at that.

  They had a quiet breakfast, and then Cat disappeared into her studio to get as much work done as possible before the hordes descended. She figured she’d have to stop working around six-thirty to give herself enough time to get ready, but even so, she had a whole day ahead of her. Better to make the most of it, because she had no idea how out of it she would be the morning after the party.