Mark of the Sylph (Demons of Infernum, #2)

by Rosalie Lario

  “Focus on finding out more of her background.” Leviathos pulled a large wad of bills out of his pocket and slid them across the table. “That’s what I’m paying you for.”

  “You’re the boss,” Garin said. His eyes gleamed with greed as he picked up the stack of bills.

  Leviathos stood and left without further conversation. He couldn’t wait to get out of this dank hotel. It made his flesh crawl.

  Garin would do as he was told. The promise of more money made him a loyal, if somewhat incompetent, lackey. But Leviathos wasn’t about to depend completely on him. No, now that he knew the woman’s name, he would try to dreamscape with her. Perhaps he could learn more about her that way.

  He could only hope that Taeg hadn’t confided in her about a demon’s ability to communicate telepathically with humans. If luck was on his side, he’d know what Taeg was up to by the end of the week. Once he knew what Taeg was playing at, he could finally get the revenge he desperately craved.

  §

  After a night of restless sleep, Maya crawled out of bed sometime in the late morning. When she opened the door, Taeg was still asleep on the couch. From the way his sheet twisted around his lower body, she had a feeling he might have slept as restlessly as she had. By the time she showered, dressed, and exited the bathroom, he was already awake.

  “Good morning,” she said when he sat up on the couch and ran his hands through his sleep-rumpled hair. The sight evoked images of him lazing around in bed, and her flesh grew warm in response. He was too hot for his own good. Or hers.

  “Harrumph,” he replied as he rose and headed toward her. Against her better judgment, her heart rate sped up. But he didn’t approach her like she’d thought he would. He simply edged past her and into the bathroom. She told herself she wasn’t disappointed.

  No, she was relieved.

  Yeah. Right.

  She headed into the kitchen and rummaged around in his fridge, then started making breakfast. Amazingly enough, she felt better this morning. Confiding in Taeg last night had made her feel lighter. Freer. And maybe he was right. Was it fair to blame herself for mistakes she’d made when she was only ten?

  After fixing a couple of plates and setting them on the small table tucked into one corner of the kitchen, she made some coffee. She heard the opening of a door a second before Taeg’s voice sounded behind her.

  “Something smells good.”

  “I made breakfast.” Taking a sip of her coffee, she turned to face Taeg. And, when she saw his shirt, promptly choked on the hot liquid.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  Written in bold red letters across his T-shirt were the words Awesome in Bed.

  Below that, in tiny print, she noticed for the first time the words I Can Sleep for Hours.

  “Uh... nothing.” Maya took a hasty seat at the table, certain her cheeks matched the color of the words on his shirt. What could she say, that the first three words on his shirt had called forth imagery she couldn’t stop from running through her mind?

  Taeg only smirked as he walked over to the coffeepot and poured himself a cup. “We’ll leave for my friend’s place around six o’clock this evening. It’s a bit of a drive, so I figured we’d spend the night there and come back tomorrow morning.”

  “How far is it?” Maya asked in between bites of her eggs.

  “About two hours.” He took a seat across from her and leaned back, grinning while he placed his arms behind his head. “Should give us plenty of time to chat.”

  She tried not to cringe at that thought. Two hours of being no more than inches from him in a cramped sports car sounded like a journey to one of the nine levels of hell. And that wasn’t even taking into account his lack of driving skills. The man was too arousing for his own good. How would she handle being so close to him?

  “So”—her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat before continuing—“your friend will be able to decipher the papers Horster gave you?”

  “Yes.” Taeg nodded and picked up his fork. “The real question is whether that will lead us to the sword.”

  “What do you think?”

  He shrugged. “Most people believe Excalibur is a myth because the sword has never been found. Or if they do think it exists, they don’t believe they could blow through Merlin’s magic in order to recover it. My guess is yeah, it’ll be at one of those places, ready and waiting for someone like you to find it.”

  Taeg sounded so sure of his words that she couldn’t help but stare at him. “And what happens if we find it?”

  “When we find it, I’ll destroy the Book. And once I find Leviathos, I’ll destroy him, too.”

  He cocked a brow as if daring her to argue with that. Like she was one to judge. How many demons had she killed, and for far less serious offenses?

  When she said nothing, he leaned over his plate and shoveled two forkfuls of eggs into his mouth. She caught herself staring at the way his lower lip moved when he chewed on his food, and acknowledged the inevitable. She was attracted to him. And after everything she’d learned about demons in the past few days, it wasn’t as horrible a thought as it had once been.

  Not every demon was evil.

  There. She’d said it. She’d laid it all out.

  In the end though, it didn’t change anything between her and Taeg. If she was going to help him find the sword and he was going to help her track down her family’s killers, then that meant they’d be working together for some period of time. Neither of them could afford the distraction and uncertainty of taking things beyond the professional level.

  No matter how hot she found him.

  And don’t you owe it to your parents’ memory not to get involved with a demon?

  The thought materialized out of nowhere, surprising her with its intensity. That wasn’t what was stopping her. Was it? Maya banished the worry from her head. There was no use in examining it further. It didn’t change anything.

  She stared at Taeg for a little while longer before letting out a shaky laugh. “What an unlikely pair of allies we make—a demon and a demon-hater.”

  Taeg gave her a cocky grin. “Sweetheart, you just never met the right demon.”

  §

  Shortly before dusk, Taeg snuck a look at Maya from his seat behind the wheel of Dagan’s car. In the hour and a half they’d been traveling upstate, the landscape of steel and glass had morphed into quiet roads and maple trees, but she’d been eerily silent the entire time. The woman ran hot and cold like nobody’s business. It was almost as alluring as it was frustrating.

  Yeah, he had issues.

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  “They’re worth more than that,” she replied.

  Wasn’t that the fucking truth? Right now he thought he’d give the entire contents of his bank account to know what was going on inside that puzzling head of hers.

  She finally spoke. “When are we going to start searching for the demons who murdered my family?”

  Taeg fought the urge to wince. “I called a contact of mine earlier today and asked him to run a search for maliki demons in Mexico. I figure we can start there, then branch out if we need to.”

  Amazing how easy the lie passed through his lips. He hadn’t done squat about her problem yet. Brynn and Keegan came first.

  “Okay. How many of these malikis do you think there are?”

  “All over the world?” He let out a disbelieving laugh. “Thousands, probably.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Why? Why can’t they stay in their own world, where they belong?”

  Okay, that hurt, but he tried not to take offense. “Maya, Infernum is a nasty place to live. It’s dark, it’s hot, and there are no modern conveniences. Like electricity. Nobody wants to stay there.”

  “They can just leave because their own world sucks?”

  “Demons are allowed to leave their dimension for a variety of reasons. Usually it’s a temporary allowance, but a lot of them don’t go back.”

  “I do
n’t understand. Don’t humans know about this? Why doesn’t anyone try to stop them?”

  “You’re right. You don’t understand.” He held back an impatient sigh. “There’s travel between all dimensions, and every world has a leader who sits on the Elden Council. Your Earth leader is aware of what’s going on.”

  Maya gave him a sharp look. “By Earth leader do you mean the president?”

  “He’s only the leader of the United States,” Taeg said. “But to answer your question, I don’t know who Earth’s Council member is. The only ones who do are those who sit on the Council.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t get your politics. How could anyone willingly let in creatures who mindlessly kill and torture? Why allow travel between dimensions at all?”

  “I for one am glad they do,” he replied lightly. “Otherwise I’d be rotting in Infernum.”

  “It’s your world, isn’t it? Some would say that’s where you belong.”

  Her sharp words lingered between them like a bad smell, and this time Taeg couldn’t help but be offended. For some reason he’d thought she’d begun to see him as more than just a demon.

  After a few moments of pointed silence, she heaved a soft sigh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. It’s just frustrating.”

  “I get that. I do. But things aren’t as simple as you’d like them be.”

  “You’re right,” she admitted stiffly. “They aren’t.”

  Just like that, his anger melted away. This couldn’t be easy for her, changing her entire worldview in a few short days. In a way he was amazed she’d come as far as she had.

  “We’re here.” He turned into the long, curving road that led up to the estate.

  She perked up, taking in their surroundings. “Where exactly are we?”

  “Right outside of Poughkeepsie.”

  The car jiggled and bounced as the narrow road turned into a cobblestone path. After some time it curved, and the house came into view.

  “Whoa,” Maya breathed. “You didn’t tell me your friend lives in a mansion.”

  He gave her a grin as he parked in the semicircular driveway. “You didn’t ask.”

  She drank in the sight of the two-story, Classical-style home with its limestone façade. Even he had to admit it was quite impressive, though not as impressive as the outline of Maya’s lush figure against the inky darkness.

  Turning back to him, she said, “Is everyone you know rich?”

  “Elain has had hundreds of years to gather her wealth.” She’d been turned by a vampire in her native Wales back in 1642, and she’d proven quite adept at business dealings over the centuries.

  “Her?” she asked, her voice sharp.

  He couldn’t help but be pleased by that. “Yup.”

  She was silent for a moment. “She’s not human?”

  “Most definitely not. So please”—Taeg nodded toward her boots, where he was sure her daggers were concealed—“try to refrain from using those.”

  Maya appeared to consider his words. “Okay.”

  She moved to open the door, and he got the urge to flash outside and open it for her. So he did.

  Startled, Maya jumped, then pressed her lips together, sliding out of her seat. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to that.”

  Some mischievous part of his brain urged Taeg to step toward her. Okay, maybe it was his cock doing the thinking. Whatever. He obeyed without questioning it too much.

  She let out a gasp when the front of her body sensually rubbed against his own. She shifted to the side so her back leaned against the side of the car. “You’re crowding me.”

  Taeg followed her, placing his hands on either side of her. He bent forward, taking perverse pleasure in the way her breathing accelerated and her pupils dilated. The scent of honeysuckle and spice assaulted his senses, making him hunger for something he shouldn’t.

  “Let me do the talking in there,” he whispered into her ear. “And for devil’s sake, listen to me if I tell you to do something. Elain is decent enough, but she’s far from human and can be quite fickle.”

  “What”—Maya gulped, and when she spoke again there was a tremble in her voice—“what does that mean?”

  Her breath fanned out against his neck and his cock tightened in response. He purposely pressed tighter against her, knowing she could feel it. Some sick part of him wanted to remind her that while she held contempt for demons, she was also attracted to one. Not very sporting of him, but he found he didn’t quite give a damn.

  “What I mean, little slayer, is that you don’t want to unintentionally anger her. Or worse, catch her interest. Be as dull and uninteresting as possible. In other words, don’t be you. Got it?”

  “Ye-yes,” she gasped.

  Her eyes were even more unfocused than before. With her cheeks flushed and her lips moist and parted, she looked one hundred and ten percent fuckable. His previous admonitions to stay away from her were for the moment forgotten. All he could think about was kissing her for real this time, and not just in a dream.

  He tilted his head toward hers and moved forward. His lips were mere inches away when she placed her hands on his chest and pushed.

  “Taeg, we shouldn’t,” she whispered, her voice as unsteady as he felt. “We’re supposed to be working together and... and we’re too different.”

  The implications behind her words were obvious. She was human and he was demon, therefore, not good enough for her.

  Damn it, what was he doing?

  He backed off, putting some distance between them. He was supposed to be focused on finding the sword, not on kissing his pretty little slayer senseless.

  Keep focus, douchebag.

  Besides, she was right. They were too different.

  He turned and headed for the front door. “Come on.”

  Yeah, actually he was glad Maya stopped him. The last thing that needed to happen was for them to become attached to one another. For so many reasons.

  If only his cock could be happy like his brain. Unfortunately, in its semi-aroused state, there was no way that was going to happen.

  §

  Swallowing hard, Maya stumbled after Taeg. While he sauntered forward like he didn’t have a care in the world, her legs had gone weak with lust. She feared they might not hold her. Hadn’t he been affected by their almost-kiss at all?

  Okay, well, she knew he’d been affected. She’d felt the proof of that high on her hip. But that wasn’t what she meant. He’d almost kissed her, then acted like it didn’t mean a thing. What a confounding man.

  Demon, Maya. Not a man. Have you forgotten those red eyes?

  “Oh shut up,” she muttered irritably. Her brain couldn’t seem to leave that one alone.

  “What?” Taeg asked.

  “Uh, nothing.”

  He practically flew up the eight or so steps it took to get to the front entrance, then rapped on the heavy oak. Less than ten seconds later, the door gave an imperial groan as it swung open. On the other side stood a butler. An honest-to-goodness butler, for Christ’s sake. He appeared to be in his mid-to-late sixties, with a shock of white hair across his head and rheumy blue eyes.

  “Good evening, sir, miss,” he said in a regal British accent. He stepped back to allow them inside. “The madame is expecting you.”

  “Thanks, Jeeves,” Taeg replied.

  The front door opened to a long hallway decorated with checkerboard marble flooring. Wood-paneled walls were painted a creamy white.

  “The parlor is this way,” the butler said. He led them to a door down the hall.

  “Yeah, I do remember from last time I was here,” Taeg said.

  The butler sniffed, opening the door and stepping to the side.

  Maya entered the room and peered around in openmouthed shock. Given the Classical décor of the façade and the hallway, she hadn’t expected this. At all. The cozy parlor was dimly lit and decorated in shades of red and black that were far more suitable to the Moulin Rouge than to a late ni
neteenth-century mansion. Black brocade drapes covered the far wall, running from the ceiling to the floor. On another wall, twisted strips of fuchsia silk lined a large, gilded mirror. Two cushioned chairs and a settee were covered in rich burgundy velvet. The whole room screamed luxury and decadence.

  “The madame will be with you in a moment,” the butler droned.

  Maya turned around to see Taeg nod at the butler. “Thanks, pal.”

  With another loud sniff, the butler stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  “That guy’s a regular barrel of laughs, isn’t he?” Taeg quipped.

  She opened her mouth to answer, but a curtain of velvet fabric on the wall behind Taeg caught her eye. The ends were partially draped behind iron hooks, billowing the fabric open just enough that she could see the glint of metal underneath. Were those iron manacles on the walls?

  “Um... who exactly is this friend of yours?”

  The door swung open and a woman stepped inside. Although the term “woman” seemed far too tame to describe her. She was more like the vision of Aphrodite one might find in a painting at the Metropolitan. With long, curly hair the color of flame, shocking blue eyes, and alabaster skin so unnaturally smooth and pale that it could have been carved from ivory, it was clear she was no human. An electric blue dress fell to mid-thigh, highlighting her slender curves and long, lean legs. Although she appeared younger than Maya, she was effortlessly chic in a way that made Maya, in her jeans and purple blouse, feel like the dorky college girl she was.

  The woman’s blatant appraisal of Maya turned to stark lust when she turned to Taeg. “Taeg, darling. It’s wonderful to see you again.”

  Maya sucked in an involuntary breath when the tone of the woman’s voice made her gut clench with an emotion she couldn’t deny. Jealousy. She forced herself to stay calm. For all she knew, this woman and Taeg thought of each other as brother and sister.

  “Good to see you, too, Elain,” Taeg said. “You’re looking beautiful as always.”

  Elain gave him a low, seductive laugh and crossed over to him, threw her arms around his neck, and pulled his head down to hers.

  So much for her theory. Brothers and sisters definitely did not greet each other like that.