by Nina Bangs
But Brynn’s whole I-can’t-spend-more-than-an-hour-with-a-woman thing was a gigantic pain in the butt. And speaking of butts, Mede had better get his sexy tush here fast before Brynn’s compulsion interfered with Sparkle’s plans.
On the positive side, though, Brynn had shown up with Kim when he never purposely initiated contact with a woman. And he’d stayed strangely quiet. That meant he was thinking, hopefully about Kim.
“Intriguing? Sure.” Kim looked uncertain. “Umm, I saw a Siamese cat in the castle. Do you know who it belongs to?”
Cat? Sparkle slid into Kim’s mind. Not good news. The snooty, scheming witch was back. Asima had kept a low profile since interfering with Sparkle’s plans for Eric. Sparkle wouldn’t let that sneaky Bast gofer mess with her business again.
“That’s Asima. Keep her out of your room. She’ll claw your clothes and pee on your bed. If you feel the need for a pet, I’ll get you one. In fact, I have the perfect pet in mind.” Oh, yesss, the Court of Cosmic Justice was in session. Mede would hate what she had in mind, but when had she ever let that stop her?
Kim looked alarmed as she started backing toward the door. “Hey, thanks, but I don’t need a pet. Definitely not in the castle. And I travel a lot, so I’d have to park it with someone. That wouldn’t be fair to the animal.”
Brynn cast Sparkle a warning glance as he paid for his blow pops. With his back to Kim, he spoke quietly. “Be careful. Her cell phone—”
Kim opened the door, letting in the chill and damp. She glanced back at Sparkle. “Oh, your pet idea almost made me forget what I wanted to say. Next time I drop in for candy, you can tell me what kind of nonhuman entity you are.” She stepped outside to wait for Brynn.
Brynn shrugged. “We’re all busted. I talked to Fo, Kim’s fake cell phone. Kim thought Fo was just a defective demon detector, but Fo told us she was programmed to identify anyone who isn’t human. She can’t differentiate between us, so that’s why she calls everyone a demon.” After dropping that little bombshell, he turned and followed Kim out the door.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. Demon of Sensual Desire, for helping Kim out all of us. Sometimes Sparkle didn’t know why she bothered with men. Fine, so that was a lie. She knew exactly why she bothered with them. A hot bod with sex on his mind was at the tippy top of her personal evolutionary scale.
She smoothed her fingers over her black leather skirt and then checked her fuchsia nails. Good. No chips. If there was anything that could put her in a worse mood than a man doing something stupid, it was chipped nails. She listened to the sound of footsteps coming from her storage room. Deimos was lucky her nails were perfect.
“I unpacked all the new candy, so what should I do next?” His sulky voice preceded Deimos. “Hey, can I go out to do some action hero stuff? Maybe someone is drowning in the surf or something.” His eyes brightened. “Or maybe he isn’t drowning. Maybe he’s being attacked by a great white.”
Sparkle narrowed her eyes to annoyed slits as she glared at her Vin Diesel knockoff. “It’s March. It’s chilly. It’s raining. I don’t think anyone’s frolicking in the surf today.”
The next time she agreed to mentor a cosmic troublemaker newbie, she’d lay a five-page questionnaire on him. And every question would have the word sex in it.
Look at him. Six feet plus of massive muscle and he was still . . . “Are you still a virgin?”
“Yeah.” Red crept up his neck. “Look, I’m too busy learning to be an action hero to bother with that stuff.”
Okay, now she was royally ticked. “That stuff is what I’m all about. And since I’m mentoring you, you need to be about that stuff, too.”
“I’ve only been in existence five years. I need more time to—”
She was losing it. If he wasn’t careful, she’d break the heels of her favorite Jimmy Choo stilettos over his hard head, and then she’d really be pissed.
“You look like Vin Diesel and you’re . . . still . . . a . . . virgin. You’re a damned minion of the Queen Of All Things Sexual, and you’ve . . . never . . . had . . . sex. Does anyone else think that’s strange, hmm?” Sparkle hadn’t a clue why steam wasn’t coming out of her ears. “Go somewhere and have sex, sex, sex, sex, sex!” Watching the red creep farther and farther over his shaved head every time she said the word “sex” gave her a little satisfaction.
Oh, hell. What was the use? She’d made him watch videos, read books, and even go to a lecture given by a former madam who knew her stuff. Results? Nothing.
“So what should I do now?” He was edging toward the front door.
“I don’t know. Go separate the M&M’s into piles according to color. I don’t give a damn.”
She knew he sensed freedom as he eased the door open, and she purposely waited for the moment when he thought he’d escaped.
“Whoa, big guy. A little later I want you to drop by Kim’s room and check on the plants.” She smiled, her good humor restored by his disgusted groan. “And while you’re there you can explain to Kim how she can keep the plants healthy.”
His grumbles were cut off as he slammed the door behind him. She studied the door, her thoughts on Deimos. He wasn’t cut out for the job of spreading sexual chaos. He’d never follow in her footsteps. But she kind of liked him. The way she’d like a big, clumsy puppy. Not something she’d ever admit to anyone, least of all Deimos. She couldn’t send him away in disgrace. Sparkle shrugged. She’d worry about what to do with Deimos later.
Suddenly the front door was flung open as if punched by a giant fist. Wind whistled, lightning flashed, and a clap of thunder shook the store.
Sparkle ran around to the front of the counter just as a large black cat stalked through the open door. It leaped onto the counter and stared at her from brilliant amber eyes.
She felt the warm glow of joy that only one being in the universe could make her feel. “Mede.”
The cat’s eyes gleamed with evil laughter. “Your big bad lover boy is in the house, babe. Where’s the fridge?”
“I’m going to my room, suck on lemon drops until I’m permanently puckered, and then I want us to meet for dinner so you can explain to me what you are and what’s going on around here.” Kim sounded quietly desperate. “I’d say come to my room right now, but I need a few hours to scream, pound my head against the wall, and come to terms with Fo’s new status as detector of all things weird.”
Brynn used Kim’s own logic against her. “Have you considered that no matter how Fo was programmed she still might be flawed? Maybe she’s just taking wild guesses. What’re the chances that almost everyone you’ve met here isn’t human?” Damned good.
Brynn glanced at his watch as he waited for the elevator with Kim. He’d made it with twenty minutes to spare. He’d go to his room, take care of some paperwork, do the things he had to do around the castle, and then catch some more sleep so he’d be ready for tonight’s fantasies. At least he didn’t have to worry about Liz until sunset.
“I guess it’s possible.” She looked uncertain. “Except for the cat. Asima talked in my head. Not a normal feline trait.” Kim didn’t sound uncertain about the cat.
Asima. Brynn didn’t try to explain the cat because there was no logical explanation. But he’d have a lot to say when he got a chance to track down that pain-in-the-butt interfering messenger of Bast. It was dry cat food for her royal nuisance.
“Are you telling me you’re totally human?” Her voice said she was hoping for a yes.
“Totally.” He fixed his gaze on the lighted numbers tracking the descending elevator while Kim tugged Fo from her jacket pocket.
Come on. Hurry. Kim could be a bigger danger than Liz. Brynn understood the Lizes of the world—their greed, their hunger.
He used his body to give them sexual pleasures they’d never have with their human mates. That was his small revenge on them. Once he reclaimed his body after a few hours, he used his mind to take away the reality of what they’d experienced. They remembered it as a dream.
Whatever entity had created him had at least given him that much protection. Without it, some of the powerful women who’d commanded his body would’ve imprisoned him like a genie in a bottle, something to be taken out and used at their own pleasure. But unlike a genie, he couldn’t hide in a bottle between wishes.
He frowned as he watched Kim take Fo from her pocket and flip her open. Kim and Liz. Two different problems. Liz was a vampire with a mind powerful enough to block his suggestions that sex with him was only a dream. So once she realized he was a sex machine that she could turn on anytime she wanted just by staying with him for more than an hour, she’d taken full advantage.
He could easily walk away from the castle forever during the daylight hours, lose himself in a distant city where she couldn’t find him. But the castle was his home now—Eric, Conall, and Holgarth his friends. Besides, she’d only be here for one more day. If she ever returned, he’d deal with her.
So that left Kim. Kim with the tiny sentient being that could destroy him when he no longer wished to be destroyed. Brynn didn’t miss the irony there. Kim whose wide eyes showed every one of her emotions, and whose full, lush lips stirred his sexual interest when no woman had done so for centuries, except while he was under the compulsion.
She was the real danger, because the rock-hard ground made up of his centuries-long contempt and loathing for all things female supported the wall he’d carefully erected around his emotions. Sprinkle that ground with a little sexual awareness, and the ground might soften, allowing the wall to tumble down on top of him—baring his feelings, making him vulnerable. The wall was all he had left of his self-respect.
Thoughts of walls and awareness scattered as the elevator door opened. Kim waited for several people to get out before stepping in and hitting the button for the top floor. As Brynn followed her in and prepared to press the button for his floor, he could see Fo’s big purple eyes watching him. But just before he pressed the button, someone charged into the elevator behind him. He turned to see Wade, the demon fisherman, squeezing past him, a coffee container in one hand and a glazed doughnut in the other.
But before Brynn could turn back to press the button for his floor, Wade bumped into Kim, knocking Fo from her hand. As Wade tried to right himself without spilling his coffee or dropping his doughnut, he stomped on Fo.
The elevator door swished shut, and at Kim’s horrified cry, Brynn forgot about pushing buttons. He shoved Wade away from Fo, but even as the demon lifted his foot from the detector, he managed to kick her into the corner. Kim dove for the floor to rescue Fo.
“Oh, jeez, I’m sorry, ma’am.” Wade was still juggling his coffee and doughnut. “Lost my balance. Look, I’ll get you another cell phone.” He glanced at Brynn. “The only place I’m not clumsy is on my boat. Wasn’t meant for life on land.”
Brynn narrowed his gaze on Wade even as he bent down to help Kim. He reached for Wade with his mind. “What the hell were you thinking? You said Fo wasn’t any danger to you.” Fo didn’t look too good. Her back cover had come off. It was still in one piece, but it had a crack in it. There were a lot of little bits of her lying around the case.
“Thought about that and decided it never hurts to be too careful.” Wade looked big, clumsy, and apologetic.
But Brynn knew the demon wasn’t clumsy, and he was a long way from apologetic. “Real smart move, Wade. She’ll just get another detector, and the new one might actually be able to point out the real deal. Did you think about that?” He picked up the few pieces of Fo that Kim had missed and placed them in her shaking hands.
“Doesn’t matter to me. It’ll probably take her a week or so to get a new one. By that time the fishing tournament will be over, and I’ll be gone.” Wade edged away from where Kim still crouched and moved to the front of the elevator, ready to step off as soon as the doors slid open. “Once I leave, I don’t give a damn if she wipes out a whole army of demons. Eudemons are pretty laid back that way. Just leave us alone to do our thing. And my thing is fishing.” The door opened, but he paused before heading toward his room. “Want to apologize again, ma’am. I’ll be over to get some info from you. You’ll have the best phone I can find.” And then he strode away.
Kim looked up at Brynn as she held the pitifully small pile of Fo’s remains. Tears glistened in her eyes. “She . . .”
Brynn slipped into Kim’s mind to hear the words she couldn’t speak aloud. Sorrow. Kim mourned the loss of a being she hadn’t even known she cared for. Hopelessness. Fo was lost to her. Kim hadn’t a clue how to fix her, and the detector’s creator was dead. Kim doubted anyone in her family could or would even want to put Fo back together again.
Brynn glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes. He couldn’t believe what he was considering. But the sadness he’d touched in Kim’s mind plus the thought of those ridiculous purple eyes closed forever, bothered him. So he was feeling compassion, was that a crime? Yeah, for a demon. He was pretty sure the Big Bad who created him wouldn’t be happy. Brynn exhaled sharply. He’d worry about the Big Dickhead Bad later.
“Give Fo to me. Let’s see what I can do.” Silently, Kim handed Fo’s pieces to him and then fished in her jacket pocket for her key.
Once inside, she threw her jacket on the bed and then joined him in the small sitting area. He’d set Fo on the coffee table, taken off his own jacket, and now sat on the couch studying the pieces. Kim sat beside him on the couch. “What’re you going to do?”
I’m going to use my mind to interface with whatever power still remains in Fo and see if it can tell me how to fix her. All in fifteen minutes before I’m compelled to do my sex demon routine. “I know a little about electronics. Don’t think I can do much more damage.” From the looks of Fo, he’d have more luck with Humpty Dumpty.
“Who would’ve thought I was so attached? I mean, Fo drove me crazy most of the time.” She shook her head and then bit her bottom lip.
Probably trying to control her emotions, but the damp sheen of her full bottom lip brought a low growl from the sexual beast within him. A beast that never roused itself except when compelled. He forced himself to concentrate on Fo.
“Yeah, friends do that sometimes. Now be quiet so I can concentrate.” He thought his suggestion that Fo was her friend shocked Kim into silence. Good.
Brynn had a powerful mind, made more powerful over the centuries, but he’d never tried interfacing with a sentient machine. He poured his mind into Fo and searched among the ruins for anything that remained of her. “I don’t know how to fix you, Fo, unless you tell me how.”
At first he saw only blackness, and then a screen opened within the darkness. It faded in and out, but he could see some sort of schematics. Hopefully Fo’s. Too bad he didn’t have a clue what to do with it. While he was pondering where to start studying the maze of parts and letters, a cursor appeared. It blinked beside a small, distinctly shaped piece.
Brynn studied the piece and where it was. Then he looked down at Fo. It took him a few minutes to find the piece spread among the others on the table, but when he did, he put it back into Fo according to what he’d seen.
Once that piece was in place, he glanced at his watch. Uh-oh. This was going to take longer than fifteen minutes. He pulled a few dollars from his wallet. “Would you do me a favor and get me some coffee? Black. Helps me concentrate.” Once Kim was out of the room, he was safe until she returned. And then the countdown for the next hour would begin. He didn’t think it would take longer than that to get Fo’s innards back in place.
Kim waved off his money. “Hey, you’re trying to fix Fo. I’ll be back.”
She left, and he went back to painstakingly accessing Fo’s memory to find where each piece belonged. Somewhere along the way Kim returned because a Styrofoam container of coffee appeared on the table close to where he was working, and he felt Kim ease down beside him. But he was too focused on what he was doing to stop long enough to even look at his watch.
He’d just completed all the
things he’d seen in the instructions, replaced the back of Fo’s case, and was considering going down to his room for some tape to make sure the crack didn’t get worse, when he felt it. The warm flow of desire he hated, couldn’t control. The lengthening and thickening of his cock—automatic, attached to no emotion, only ravenous physical hunger. Unstoppable.
Brynn didn’t need to look at his watch. He was too late to stop what was about to happen. He closed his eyes for a moment of deep regret. His budding friendship with Kim was over. She’d either accept his body and what it could offer her, or she’d turn from him in disgust. Either way, he lost.
He carefully closed Fo, pushed her away from him, and then stood.
The compulsion washed over him.
5
Kim was reaching for Fo when Brynn got up and strode away from the couch. Was Fo okay now? Kim was almost afraid to look. Would she see huge purple eyes or a blank screen?
And then she forgot about Fo. Suddenly, everything in the room seemed to shift. Not physically. The couch was still in place, but it was as if the room swirled with energy, an energy that warmed the air around her and changed the reality of what had been just a few seconds ago. Did that make any sense? Uh, no.
What the . . . ? Kim looked up and automatically sought Brynn. But Brynn had evidently left the building, because the man standing in the middle of the room was not Brynn. Oh, he had Brynn’s size and shape, his features, but his essence had become something else, something totally . . . No, that didn’t make sense. She blinked, and then blinked again. Nothing changed. She drew in a deep breath, trying to balance her disbelief with what was standing right in front of her. He’d become a totally sexual creature right in front of her it-ain’t-happening eyes.
His hair. The lamplight, the pale daylight streaming through the arrow slits, all faded, leaving only the glory of Brynn’s hair framing his face. Not blond. It was hot summer sunlight, the kind that made her sweat as she tried to pull her clinging clothes away from her damp body. The kind that made her want to run naked in it, letting the air flow over her and the warmth sink into every inch of exposed skin. The kind that tempted her to lie in the cool grass, open her legs, and let the heat touch her there. Kim’s body clenched around the imagined sensation.
