Demonic Contract

by Catherine Banks

  “What?” he asked.

  “I’m just wondering how many women have gotten into this car and thrown themselves at you immediately afterwards,” I said with a teasing smile.

  He laughed, pulled me down, and said, “I have a very good detail company.”

  “You would have to,” I muttered.

  “Tora, why don’t you start by telling me about yourself,” he suggested.

  “What do you want to know?” I asked. I turned so that my back was to the door so I could see him better.

  “What are you studying at school?”

  “I don’t have a major,” I admitted.

  “What?” he asked, perplexed.

  “I’m just going to college for fun and for some general education.”

  “What are your plans for the future?” he asked. “Don’t you have a specific job planned that the education could assist with?”

  I looked away from him a moment and then whispered, “I have plenty of experience in my line of work already.”

  “You don’t have to be an assassin,” he said, but he was the first to say it without judgment in his tone. “You could do anything you put your mind to.”

  I had something on my mind that I definitely wanted to do.

  “I appreciate that,” I whispered, “but I have little say in this.”

  He tensed. “I thought you said that your contract was finished?”

  “It is,” I said quickly, “but my father has plans for my future.”

  “Who is your father?” he asked.

  I couldn’t answer that.

  “What are you majoring in?” I asked without answering him.

  “Business. I will be taking over the family business when my father passes,” he answered.

  “What year are you?”

  “Third. You?”

  “Same.”

  He laughed a second and asked, “How did they manage to keep us apart for three years?”

  “Emily can do anything when she’s determined.” I paused and asked him, “Have they taken you on other blind dates with horrid people?”

  He thought about it and said, “Now that you mention it, yes.”

  “They’re good,” I whispered and laughed hysterically.

  “Care to explain?”

  “Emily has had it planned for us to date from the beginning. She’s been making us go on horrid blind dates until we finally met.”

  He smiled and picked up a piece of my hair, twirling it around his finger. “I think it was a good plan.”

  The car stopped and we walked into Ernesto’s, the fanciest restaurant in town. As soon as we were away from the car another man rushed forward and bowed to Edan. “Your table is this way, sir.”

  I looked at Edan, but he just smiled, set his hand on my lower back, and gently ushered me forward. A bit of my power escaped, zipping up and into his hand, but he didn’t remove his hand or say anything. The host led us past the full restaurant where I received many glares from women and stares from everyone. We went back into a private room which had a single table with candles and a red rose on my plate, and a beautiful view of the Lake Tahoe. Despite all of the changes that had happened, the lake remained the same, pristine blue.

  “What refreshments can I get for you?” the host asked nervously.

  “Water with lemon,” I ordered, pulling my attention away from the lake.

  “My usual,” Edan ordered.

  He pulled out my chair for me and then took his seat across from mine. I picked up the rose and smelled it, it smelled like him.

  “I’m sorry for zapping you,” I whispered as we looked over the menu, “that was unintentional.”

  “I barely felt it,” he said with a smile that could have turned me into a puddle of goo in my chair.

  The host brought our drinks and then the waiter came in. This one wasn’t shaking and seemed to know Edan. “Good evening, sir and miss. Have you made a decision?”

  Edan handed his menu to the waiter and asked me, “Are you ready?”

  I nodded. “I’ll have two chicken tacos with refried beans.”

  “The usual for you, sir?” he asked Edan.

  “Yes.”

  The waiter left and I met Edan’s gaze across the table. “You sure do know how to impress a girl.”

  He smirked and asked, “Why do you assume that I have been dating many women?”

  I waved my hand to encompass all of him. “Because, you.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said and his smirk turned into a smile.

  “It was.”

  “Well, for your information you’re the first girl that I’ve taken on a date aside from the ones that Dave and Emily forced me to attend.”

  I didn’t respond and instead leaned back to put my napkin in my lap. If he wanted to lie to try to make himself appear better, he was talking to the wrong girl.

  “Don’t believe me?” he asked.

  “I find it poor manners to call a man a liar when I have no proof against his claim,” I stated simply.

  “You really don’t know who I am, do you?” he asked softly and looked at me with a mystified expression.

  “Should I?” I asked curiously. He was obviously rich and his family must be influential, but that wasn’t very specific.

  “Well, everyone knows my family,” he stated simply, not bragging, just a statement.

  “Sorry, there are a lot of elite families and clans,” I said and shrugged. “It’s nothing personal.”

  Our food was delivered and we ate in relative silence.

  “Dessert?” the waiter asked.

  “Cheesecake,” Edan ordered.

  I loved cheesecake.

  “So, when you aren’t being hounded by fan girls and gawked at by strangers, what do you do?” I asked him.

  He laughed softly and said, “I spend time reading or exercising. I’ve been working on my martial arts skills lately.”

  Interesting. “Is that how you met Dave?” Dave was an excellent martial artist, especially for a human.

  “Yes, actually. He was the first to hold his own against me.”

  Bragging.

  “Maybe we could spar one day,” I suggested. “I’m afraid that I might be getting rusty.”

  “Dave warned me about you,” he said smugly and folded his arms across his chest.

  “What?”

  “He told me not to let you convince me to spar because once we did, I would want to marry you on the spot.”

  I had been taking a drink of my water, but it went down the wrong pipe and caused me to choke and sputter. I wiped my mouth with the napkin and said, “Dave likes to embellish his stories.”

  “I don’t know, I think he might be on to something. If you’re as powerful as I think, and as skilled as Dave says, you may be just the kind of girl I’ve been looking for.”

  “A bit presumptuous, don’t you think?” I asked with a smirk. “I could be a psychopath.”

  “Aren’t we all a little bit?” he asked and smirked back.

  The door to the room we were in was flung open and a red goblin barged in with a snarl on his face. He had a sword on his right hip and a whip on the left. He stormed towards Edan who looked at him with a bored expression.

  “You son of a bitch!” the goblin yelled.

  Edan asked, “What is your issue, goblin?”

  The goblin turned and looked at me with a scowl. “On a date, huh? Sorry, hun, but your date is over. Beat it.”

  “I haven’t had my dessert yet,” I told him calmly.

  “Excuse me?” he growled.

  “Would you like me to take this outside?” Edan asked me.

  “No,” I said honestly.

  Edan bowed his head to me and stood up to face the goblin. “You’ve interrupted my date and that’s very troublesome for me. You see, we were having a great time and I was finally getting to know this lovely lady, but you’ve ruined the mood.”

  “I don’t give a shit about…” the goblin
began, but I interrupted him.

  “If you make this fast, we might still have time for a walk,” I tempted Edan.

  His eyes flared and in the next instant the goblin was pinned to the floor while Edan kept eye contact with me. “Your wish is my command.”

  “Screw you both!” the goblin yelled and hit the button on a small cylinder he had in his hand.

  Edan reached for it, but the gas had already begun to spread from the cylinder and as soon as the gas touched my skin I felt like I was being boiled. I refused to scream despite the feeling and dumped my glass of water on my arm and leg that the gas had touched and then ran to the other side of the room.

  The goblin was dead when I looked back and the canister and Edan were gone. I looked down at my flesh and hissed, it looked as though I had been burned and smelled terrible.

  “We should take you to a healer,” Edan said and I leapt back from him. I hadn’t heard him or seen him enter. “Easy,” he whispered.

  “I don’t need a healer,” I told him and raised my arm so that he could see my body repairing itself. I looked at his puckered flesh on his face, rested my fingertips against his cheek, and asked, “Do you need one?”

  He smiled and kissed my fingertips. “A few minutes and I’ll be perfect again.”

  “That’s some ego you have there,” I teased him to try to hide my arousal. He had barely touched me and my body responded to him.

  His skin healed fully the next moment and he was perfect again. “I am in your debt,” he whispered and ran a hand up my formerly injured arm. “I delayed his punishment in an effort to impress you, but only ended up getting you hurt.”

  I raised my arm and said, “I don’t see any injury.”

  “One boon,” he whispered. “That will be my payment.”

  His scent was surrounding me and I breathed it in deeply, filling my lungs with it. He moved closer to me and slipped an arm around my waist. “One boon?” He nodded. “Tell me who you are.”

  He tensed and then chuckled softly. “May this wait until we begin our walk? Our dessert is here.”

  I pulled away from him quickly and returned to my seat to see a cheesecake with chocolate and caramel drizzled over the top. “I love cheesecake.”

  He joined me to eat our dessert. When we finished, he led the way out of the restaurant. “I don’t have a jacket,” I whispered as the cold night air hit me.

  “Not a problem,” he whispered.

  I looked at him in question, but he just linked our arms and led the way away from the restaurant, down the street, and to the park that ran along the lake, which was empty at this time of night. We walked deeper into the park, away from passersby, and he stopped. He released my arm, took a deep breath, and then heat began to permeate from him. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing brighter than I had ever seen them. The heat from his body chased away the night chill and warmed me instantly.

  “That’s a handy trick,” I whispered in shock.

  Was he a demon? A fire mage?

  He held out his hand and I gladly put mine in it. We walked down to the lake in the dark and all of the creatures hid from our view. I didn’t know what he was, but as we walked, I knew for certain that we were the most dangerous things in the night.

  “Are you certain that your boon is to know who I am?” he asked me.

  I nodded.

  “I had hoped to keep this from you a bit longer since you don’t know,” he admitted, “It’s nice to meet someone who is interested in me without knowing my title.”

  “I’m pretty sure women are interested in you for more than your title,” I said huskily.

  He smiled down at me and then it wilted. “Will you tell me what you are?”

  “I’m…” I hesitated. I needed to tell him the lie I had been using, but I didn’t want to. He was the first person besides Emily that I didn’t want to lie to.

  “You’re afraid,” he whispered in shock.

  “I would rather you get to know me more first,” I admitted to him. “Please.”

  “You think what you are might drive me away?” he asked in shock. He smiled and shook his head. “Tora, I don’t care what you are or what you used to be.”

  He said that now, but his attitude would change when he found out. Being friends with me was one thing, but dating or mating with me was completely different.

  “Will you still tell me who you are?” I requested.

  He nodded. “It is your boon for my failure to protect you.”

  “Wait,” I whispered. He stood still and I stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips. “No matter what, just know that I’m interested in you even if you’re a poor boy from limbo or a king from a foreign nation. Titles don’t mean anything to me.”

  He pulled me roughly against him and kissed me hard. After a moment, he pulled back and then stepped fully away from me so that the cold night air wrapped around me again. “My full name is Edan Shaw, Prince of the Dragons.”

  The Dragon Prince! Holy cherubs on a stick. “The Prince?”

  He nodded.

  I had just kissed a prince. A real-life prince. Nice!

  “Wow, I had no idea. I knew that someone said there was a prince at our school, but I had no idea it was the Dragon Prince, or that it was you.”

  “And?” he asked, walking closer to me.

  “And what?” I asked as his warmth surrounded me again.

  “That’s all you have to say?” he asked.

  “Why are you single?” I asked. “And seriously, how many girls have you had in that car? I think I might walk home. Your detailers have surely missed a spot or two.”

  He laughed at me and then pulled me against him and kissed me. When he pulled back he looked at me with a serious expression and said, “Thank you for not caring.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “And just so you know, you don’t have to hide what you are from me either.”

  Oh, yes, I did.

  “Edan,” I said with a sigh and started to pull away, but he held me fast.

  “I’m not asking you to tell me today, but can you promise me that someday you will tell me?”

  “Fine, if you and I are still together and things are serious in three weeks, I will tell you everything you want to know about me.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise,” I said despite the fear thrumming through me.

  We resumed our walk, holding hands and I wondered again at the familiarity I felt with him.

  “A dragon?” I asked and stopped so suddenly that he stumbled a step.

  “Yes.”

  “Can I see your true form?” I asked him excitedly.

  “Maybe on our next date,” he offered.

  “So, there’s going to be a next date?” I asked.

  He squeezed our joined hands and said, “Contrary to the image of me that you have in your head, I do not date women often. You are a unique and interesting woman and I would very much like to continue seeing you.”

  “Are you saying that you are going to date me exclusively?” I asked in disbelief. A hot prince like him had his choice of women. Could he really want to exclusively date me after only two dates?

  “I am. Is that something you are not willing to reciprocate?”

  “Wait…” I said and paused. “You, Prince Edan, want to date me, Tora, exclusively? Like, boyfriend and girlfriend and you don’t date or sleep with any other women?”

  “And you don’t date or sleep with any other men,” he agreed.

  Wow.

  “Uh…”

  “You seem to be unsure.”

  “I’m just in shock and disbelief,” I admitted.

  “Tora, will you be my girlfriend?” he asked.

  It sounded so silly and childish and yet it made me want to yell victoriously at the same time. “Yes.”

  He kissed me deeply and whispered, “Now, I’m definitely the luckiest male alive.”

  “Well, you do have me as a girlfriend,” I said and brushed off
my sleeve as though I were bragging.

  Things were moving incredibly fast and although I didn’t understand it, I wasn’t opposed to it.

  “What’s it like to be Prince?” I asked while we continued our walk.

  “Demanding and stressful at times. Boring and rewarding at others,” he replied.

  “What’s your family like?”

  “My mother is a fierce warrior who likes to charge into battle without a plan. My father is a calm and kind man who prefers strategy and negotiations to battle. They balance each other out and make for a great ruling pair.”

  “Your mom sounds fun,” I said with a smirk.

  He looked down at me and said, “I think you two would get along very well, as long as you didn’t kill each other.”

  “You have no idea how many times I have heard that,” I said with a sigh.

  “What about your parents?” he asked. I froze a moment and he noticed. “Tora,” he whispered and stopped me to face him, “What’s wrong?”

  “Sorry,” I whispered, “My mother was a very gentle person and all she ever wanted was to sit in her flower garden.”

  “Was?” he asked gently.

  “She was murdered two years ago,” I explained.

  “By who?”

  “A woman who wants my father, but knew that he was in love with my mother even though they were apart. She thought that by killing my mother she would have a shot with him.”

  “Is she still alive?” he asked and I saw the fierceness in his expression, the one that let me know that he was very loyal to his family.

  “For now,” I answered. “She’s managed to evade me, but soon enough I’ll track her down.”

  “What is your father like?” he asked and resumed walking.

  “Terrifying, fierce, and incredibly powerful,” I whispered and then shuddered as I recalled the weight of his power and how much pain he could inflict with hardly any effort.

  “Perhaps I know him,” he said.

  “You definitely know of him,” I mumbled. “How are you making the heat?” I asked to change the subject.

  “This is my standard body temperature,” he explained, “but most are not able to handle so much heat, so I shield it.”

  “That’s got to take a lot of your magic away to shield your heat and shield your magic at the same time,” I said and looked over at him.

  He smiled. “It takes more than I would like, but I have plenty of reserves.”