by Michele Hauf
“Tell me you do not enjoy my presence, Mersey.”
“I…” Do. He even smelled good. Like a fresh lilac panicle after a sundrenched spring rain. “Enjoy is not the right word.”
“Desire?”
“Yes. No!”
Focus, Mersey! This faery holds no sway over you now. She had moved beyond the humiliation. Think of your new lover. Yes, the man her mother had chosen for her.
“I don’t have time to speak to you, Raskin. Please,” she pleaded. “Jack is…”
“Is what? Your mortal lover?”
To give that information would serve Raskin too well, something he would eventually wield as a weapon. But Mersey knew the longer Jack remained lost, the deeper and more desperately he’d become fixed by enchantment. He might never be found. The forest would consume him forever.
And she could not conceive of never again seeing the man.
“Yes,” she answered, straightening and dusting back her hair from her cheek. “He is my lover.”
“Do tell.”
“Tell what?”
“Sensational details. Sordid excerpts. Illicit moments. I insist!”
Mersey stood briskly. “I’m leaving.”
“Does the hunter, who trails demons in his wake like a pied piper, care about you? Or does his mission serve a means to treachery? To further death? He does not love you, Mersey. Jack Harris is using you to gain access to the Cadre.”
“I know that.” And that Raskin knew infuriated her. “But I know that I can open Jack’s eyes to a different viewpoint of the paras if only he could meet some of them.”
“Like moi?”
“Er…” It was never a good idea to introduce the current boyfriend to the old one, especially when the old one would tell tales.
“I hate that term. Paras.” Raskin said it as if a bit of broccoli were stuck to his tooth.
She’d been wise earlier to realize this conversation would get her nowhere.
“The hunter has a nasty demon attached to him.” Raskin ran the tip of a wing filament over his lips and gave a theatrical shiver. “I can feel the creature’s presence even as we speak. It has followed its mortal slave into the forest.”
“Ba’al Beryth?”
Raskin lifted a brow. “You would lure the mortal in, knowing so much? Mersey, Mersey.” He tsk-tsked. “I am almost inclined to respect you for that. But I cannot allow you to show the demon into the Cadre.”
“Since when have you been so devoted to the Cadre? Last I heard, you were admonished for preaching a rebellion against the forest guides, and anyone who would ally themselves with the Cadre.”
“Alas, a futile uprising. Today it pleases me to ally myself to your little group. Tomorrow may be another day. Now, you should run along. Leave the mortal lost, as it is. Food is being brought to the round. I can smell the sweetmeats and wine.” He slanted a rich gaze upon her. “You are not invited to the festivities, kitten. And I should not wish to endure your tears when you see the lovelies I have plans to kiss tonight.”
Perhaps he was right. Jealously would rear up should she witness the harem Raskin could gather with a mere snap of his fingers. If Jack snapped, she would go to his side. Jack. Her hero. The one man she had finally found.
“Raskin, is there nothing you can do?”
“Ah, you strike me with your misery. I can do many things. I can groom a whale. I can battle trolls. I can open a maiden’s heart—”
“Raskin!”
“I—” he leaned closer and danced his fingers between them “—can reverse the foreverness of the lost.”
“You can?”
Irritation made his eyes beam. “I just said I could.”
“Yes, of course you can,” she rushed in before she angered him further. Mersey grabbed Raskin’s hand. Without a thought, she begged her heart. “Please. I’ll do anything if you will put Jack’s hand back in mine.”
The faery’s thin dark brow lifted. “Anything covers quite a lot.”
Yes, it did. Her heart lurched. Toggling the last remaining ring on her finger, she swallowed.
She had known Jack only a week. And yet she had known him forever. Since she had been a babe in her mother’s belly. Jack Harris was the man for her. Jack Harris held her heart.
Mersey nodded. “I will require an additional favor, but…yes. In exchange, you may have…anything.”
“Then it is done.” Raskin clapped his palms together once. And Mersey stood—
Chapter 25
—In the dark forest, her hand clasped within a warm, sweaty grip.
“Mersey?”
“Jack!” She tugged, as it seemed he was about to step forward into a faery round. “Don’t go in there!”
“Never.” He clung to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Every part of her that touched him renewed his spirit, lifted him up from the dark.
“How did you find me?”
“I would do anything to find you, Jack.”
“I’m not worthy,” he murmured.
“Jack, your worth is immeasurable to me. Now, don’t drop my hand again,” she said.
He kissed her and spread away the hair from her face. Gorgeous green eyes glittered with moisture. “I won’t. Let’s get out of this dreaded wood.”
She turned and pointed high above the treetops. A rainbow stretched through the midnight sky, glittering as if slathered with faery dust.
“This way.”
Finally, he felt the draw. Pulled down from the sky and into the depths of the St. Yve wood. Beryth allowed it to occur, his arms spread and corporeal body tumbling. Jack Harris, his familiar, would lead him inside the sacred walls of the hermetic order that had treated him so cruelly. Cruelty, he could accept. But stealing away love?
Never.
“You asked to find me, and the faery prince simply helped you?”
Mersey smirked at Jack’s disbelief. She couldn’t tell him she’d ransomed something valuable for his freedom.
But it was worth it. Jack would not be wandering the forest forever. And she had got something additional out of the deal. Something that would allow Jack to see her world—without recourse.
“Simple as that,” she responded.
A stacked stone cairn signaled the end of the ever-changing trail and full sunlight beamed upon a stately manor. Mersey paused to look over the manicured lawn behind the grounds of the St. Yve manor. The air vibrated with a preternatural energy. Damselflies constellated the long grasses that decorated the west end of the pond. Threshold guardians maintained stealth guard over the centuries-old manor. The family wings were guarded with as many house demons as the Cadre’s section.
An initiate required permission to bring a guest into the manor. Mersey knew P-Cell would never be allowed inside. But she so wanted to show Jack her world. She’d take the back door, access allowed only to Cadre initiates, and those forest residents who had been approved—including Raskin.
“Should I still hold your hand?” Jack wondered.
“Yes, but first—”
She peered behind them and sighted the rapidly moving spurt of glimmer headed their way.
Jack turned, and before he could mutter more than “What the—” a faery crashed into his chest, spuming him with a cloud of dust. The force sent both Jack and the faery reeling in opposite directions, but Jack managed to catch himself against a poplar trunk. Shaking his head sent dust everywhere.
Mersey waved to the retreating faery—Raskin, wobbling from the impact—and called thanks.
“Now, you can hold my hand,” she said, pleased with the transaction. He merely stared at her fingers.
“It’s a glamour,” she offered. “You’ve just been given a free pass into the Cadre.”
He patted his chest and studied his arm. The gray sweater he wore shimmered beneath the sunlight. “What does that mean?”
“For twenty-four hours you’ll appear as Raskin Rubythorn to others. He has access to the manor. The glamour will get you past the g
uardians. Shall we try?”
“You mean I look like a faery? How do you see me?”
“As Jack, my hero.” And she did, for one who orders the glamour can always see beyond it. And how thankful was she for that? If Jack resembled Raskin, Mersey was in trouble. “Let’s go on.”
At the servant’s door where Mersey often entered after a jog through the forest, she flashed a smile to the guardian demon, followed by Jack who offered a roguish smirk. He wore the disguise well enough. They made it all the way to her room without interference. Which surprised Mersey. She hadn’t expected an armed guard to come and wrestle Jack away from her. She supposed whoever was on security was probably getting a smile at her and the faery.
“Council meeting,” she said, remembering today would see most of the facility in a meeting to discuss bringing a certain former Cadre initiate
—Damien Hancock, a vampire—back into the fold. The equinox was coming up, and the nasty Asmos demon would be expected to return. Capturing that para would require a specialized adept. Mersey wasn’t keen on vampires and would likely stay as far from the Cadre as possible should Mr. Hancock be approved for return.
“Easier than I thought,” she said as she wandered into her room and released Jack’s hand.
She watched him for a long time. They had actually parted hands and he had not disappeared. She knew so long as she remained in his presence, Jack was safe. But should they stray from the other’s sight, all bets were off.
“You have your own room?” he wondered.
“Already taking notes to report back?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” He sat on the edge of her bed and absently traced the emerald square set in the quilt. “Mersey, you know I have orders.”
“Yes, and I have no worries.”
“Memory loss?” he guessed.
“What made you guess that?”
“P-Cell rumors. A few agents have attempted to get inside, with similar results. But you don’t know anything about that, right?”
“Exactly.”
He leaned back, crossing his hands behind his head and studying the long white sheers that ballooned across the window tops. “So you grew up around all this weird stuff?”
“I was born into this stuff, Jack, and it’s not weird.” She slid onto the high bed and climbed on top of him, fitting her knees to either side of his hips and grinding her mons against his already hard cock. “Just wait until the building tunes in to your feelings.”
“What does that mean—oh, yes. Riiiight there…”
“The manor is alive with demon energy. But benevolent demons—they won’t harm us. Although they are rather lusty and tend to feed off any sexy, erotic energy that is released here.”
“Really? A regular peep show, eh?”
“I prefer to think of it as a sanctuary.” Jack tugged her closer and she pulled the neckline of her sweater down to reveal the witch mark.
“Taste me, Jack.”
“You want to feed the demons with our lust?”
“Oh, yeah.”
His hot tongue electrified her skin with a single touch. Dragging the back of her sweater up her ribs, he then pulled it over her head and tossed it aside. “But I thought you were going to take me around and introduce me to your friends?”
“Soon. They’re all in meetings right now, so we’ve some time to waste.”
“Right then. I just want you to know…”
Mersey tugged down her jeans and kicked them off. “Know what?”
“My opinion has already changed. I don’t think I’ll ever see otherworldly entities in the same way that I have been.”
She bit her lower lip, holding back the urge to groan loudly. Though he chatted, after every other word, Jack lashed his tongue over the crescent mark, pushing her, goading her to surrender. “What—ohhh—
made you change your mind?”
“You. And lately…everything. I…I saw my dad in the forest, just before you tugged me from the circle. It was an illusion. Some faery bloke made me see him. I think he wanted me to step into the circle.”
Had it been Raskin? She had been suspicious that the sidhe had already seen Jack before speaking to her. Their kind could be everywhere and nowhere and then back again—it was called bilocation.
“Dad’s my past now, Mersey. And just like you wearing the rings on one hand, because your past can never be changed, I can’t change what happened. My world has done a complete one-eighty since meeting you. It’s for the best. Because it brought me to you.”
“Are you getting romantic on me, Jack?”
“Don’t know how to do romance. I just know I like it when you’re in my arms, and I don’t like it when you’re not.”
He scouted her stomach with a lazy trail of tongue lashes. “Give me another purr. You know you purr like a pussycat when you’re aroused? And you do that funny kneading thing against my shoulders.”
“Funny?”
He kissed her quickly. “I like it. So does this glamour thing I’ve got on mean you’re actually shagging a faery?”
“Oh, I…don’t know. Well, it’s you, Jack.” She licked his demon mark.
“Feels like you.”
“What about the erotic energy? Are there…demons watching us?”
Mersey glanced to the ceiling and then trailed her gaze down toward the window. Jack followed and saw a flit of faery lights. “So we’re the show?”
“Oh, yes.”
Digging her fingernails into his scar made Jack suck in his breath. She pressed her lips over it. He moaned aside her neck as her fingers wrapped around him and squeezed firmly. “Oh, sweetness…”
“Do you love me, Jack?”
Eyelids closing and jaw tense, Jack had fallen into the only moment he could manage while aroused—the cock ruled all. “What was that, love? Sure. What did you say?”
A firm tug on his cock wasn’t going to make him pay closer attention; it redirected all blood flow to his torso and deprived the brain of clear thought. “Oh, love, please. I can’t…That’s so good. Don’t make me think now, huh?” He parted her legs and dipped his tongue across her mark as his fingers traced the same motions inside her. Mersey’s grip loosened.
“We’ll talk later, yes?”
“Yes,” she purred. In a deft move, she wrapped her legs about his hips and drew him inside her warm and tight squeezing walls. “Talking…bad. This…”
“Good,” Jack finished for her as he began to thrust to the rhythm of their heartbeats. Fast, steady. A new pace to him because this one involved setting his apprehensions aside and accepting what came to him.
“Kiss me,” he murmured. Mersey slid her lips across his forehead and kissed him there. And there, at his temple. And there, at the crease of his eye. “Oh, yes, lover, kiss the demons from my dreams. Take them all away.”
“All of them,” intoned a dark, deep voice over their heads, “save me.”
Jack pushed Mersey from him. The sudden loss of connection bit like a serpent. He groped the bedside for his gun. No weapon. And overhead, the demon Beryth grinned at them.
Chapter 26
“T his is how I prefer you, Jack.” Beryth swept over the bed, its head and shoulders formed in thick red muscles and from hip down, a black mist. Sulfur wilted the air. “Charged up and ready to action. But looking a little strange. Those wings aren’t yours, are they? And that you chose such a powerful familiar for your sex mate. Good boy, Jack.”
Jack shifted beneath the sheet to cover Mersey. He felt something ping against his fingers and the shards of her final ring spilled onto his palm. Shit.
“Go back to hell,” Jack shouted. “I didn’t call you here.”
“But you did, Jack.” The demon formed into human shape, shaking out wavy black hair and landing on the floor with both feet. What to use as a weapon? Jack’s pistol had been removed from him upon entry. Put a simple shaker of table salt in hand and he could at least hold the thing off.
He pressed the ring shar
ds into Mersey’s palm.
Tilting a sad head shake at him, the demon then jumped onto the end of the bed and crouched there like a primate. A wicked glimmer shot from its yellow eyes, which Jack did not look into. And he protectively lifted his hand to shield Mersey’s eyes. “Don’t look.”
She slid a leg along his thigh beneath the sheet. “I know.”
“I have always been a part of you, Jack. Belief is all that is required,”
Beryth cooed. Creeping forward, its hand pressed the counterpane over Jack’s leg.
And the hand changed, growing thinner, more delicate. Blond hair shook out over the demon’s shoulders. Monica’s face smiled at Jack. “You’ve served your purpose, Jack. Now.” She eyed Mersey. “I want her. She looks like her mother.”
Mersey sat upright. “You killed my mother!”
“She was no longer mine when her death came. She’d given herself to that familiar.”
“M-my father?”
“Wretched bastard.”
“You continued to torment her after their marriage. She died to protect her family!”
“You invent stories to appease your broken heart. No wonder familiars are so easy to enslave. I was nowhere near Mirabelle when she breathed her final breath. Pity.”
“You’ve no power within the walls of the Cadre,” Mersey said to the demon. “Leave now and you remain free. But stay one moment beyond the time it takes me to fit that crystal into my hand—” all averted their eyes to the quartz pyramid on the bedside table “—and your arse is mine.”
“Not if I can make your ass mine first,” Beryth hissed in Monica’s tone. A long black tongue snaked toward Jack, attaching itself to the scar on his chest. Jack choked, felt a tugging deep within his heart. The tongue stirred at his insides. He couldn’t bend his arms to grip the intrusion. Would it eat his heart, as it had Monica’s?
The demon chanted a few words.
To Jack’s right, Mersey twisted and reached for the crystal. Beryth lashed out with a talon, knocking the pyramid to the floor. Mersey scrambled, naked, off the bed.
