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

by Rosalie Lario

  “I promise you won’t be disappointed,” she added huskily, dropping her feet to the floor and bending toward him so her breasts practically spilled out of her top.

  With a sense of detachment, he noted how arousing she was. How easy it would be to say yes right now. But his heart wasn’t in it. “I’ll take a rain check.”

  “I thought you might say that.” She abandoned her alluring pose and curled back in her seat, a mixture of exasperation and amusement written all over her face. “I suggest you conquer your current bout of prudishness before you meet the Vivi sisters.”

  Her tone didn’t bode well.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, sharper than he’d intended.

  “Those papers suggest some different ways in which they might seek to determine your worth.” She laughed again. “Let’s just say they are rumored to be quite inventive.”

  Her words dropped like a lead weight in his stomach. “And that would mean what?”

  “They are apparently quite insatiable in the bedroom. Why do you think Merlin was so enamored of them? You’ve heard the stories of his weakness for women.”

  Frustration coursed through him. An avalanche of thoughts invaded his mind, one of them finally making its way to the forefront.

  If Maya were to find out about this, she would seriously kick his ass.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Clomp… Clomp… Clomp.

  “Donde estas, niñita? Te encontraré.”

  “No.” Maya shook her head in denial.

  The demon bypassed her hiding spot and traveled down the hall. In the recesses of her mind she knew this was a dream. Remnants of the past, reliving themselves in her head. But she couldn’t shake it. Once again she was that little child, caught in a nightmare she couldn’t awaken from.

  When the screaming started, she curled herself into a ball. She couldn’t stop it, no matter how much she tried. Paralysis gripped her every time she had this dream. Why couldn’t she do something?

  Footsteps sounded again. A figure stepped out of the hallway and into the room. Even from her spot in the shadows, she saw it wasn’t either of the two demons who’d murdered her family.

  Two booted feet appeared in front of her, practically aligned with the tips of her bare toes.

  “Taeg?” she whispered.

  For a moment the nightmare faded away as she allowed herself to hope. He was here to help her.

  But then the figure inched closer, into the moonlight. It wasn’t Taeg, but a complete stranger. One with flashing green eyes that betrayed him as non-human.

  Her stomach knotted when the man regarded her curiously, then shifted his attention to the screaming down the hall.

  “This haunts you,” he said.

  “Who... who are you?”

  The stranger’s eyes settled back on her. “What happened here?”

  “I... I don’t understand.”

  The screaming stopped abruptly, leaving only the sounds of feasting, of flesh being torn from bone. The man tilted his head, as if drinking in the sound. He stepped back and swiveled to walk down the hallway.

  Maya tensed, half-rising from her position on the floor. Curiosity filled her, but she wasn’t about to follow him. Not when she knew full well what she’d find.

  After a few moments the footsteps padded along the floor again, signaling the stranger’s return. He stared at her, his eyes still expressionless. “This was your family? Murdered by maliki demons?”

  This had never happened in her dream before, at least as far as she could remember. What figment of her imagination was this? “Yes.”

  “The demons’ faces, they waver between humanlike and their true form. Why is that?”

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “Who are you?”

  His brows furrowed, his expression turning speculative, then awestruck. “You could see through their glamour, couldn’t you?”

  “Why are you here?” she whispered.

  He remained silent, studying her intently before speaking again. “Were these demons ever found?”

  A burst of anger pulsed through her body, lending a hard edge to her tone. “No.”

  An expression of understanding crossed his face. “Ah, so this is what you seek? Vengeance?”

  “Vengeance?” she echoed. “I—yes… vengeance.”

  The scene faded into nothingness. She blinked, and when she reopened her eyes she was lying in a strange bed. “What the... ”

  The events of the past few hours came back to her in one blinding recollection. Seeing Elain drinking Taeg’s blood. Fighting with him. Kissing him. “Oh God.”

  Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. When had things become so complicated? Until a few days ago, her mission in life had been clear—find a way to banish all demons to Hell, and destroy the ones who’d killed her family. Now she had to worry about things like whether or not demons were evil, not to mention deal with the confounding man who’d made her question everything to begin with.

  She’d kissed Taeg. Allowed him to touch her. And she’d enjoyed every minute of it. How far would it have gone if Elain hadn’t interrupted them? Would she have slept with him?

  He didn’t understand. How could he? After her parents’ death, with the exception of her adoptive mother, she’d never let anyone get close to her. Loving meant risking loss, and she couldn’t deal with any more of that in her life. Other than that one lousy experiment with her lab partner when she was an undergraduate student, she’d never been with a man. And Taeg had been with a lot of women.

  What if she slept with him and he thought it was horrible? How could she bear that?

  She couldn’t think about this right now. Exhaustion wound through her, making her eyes heavy. She lay back down, shutting them.

  Please, not another nightmare. I can’t keep dreaming about this. That would drive her insane. And now she was adding strangers to the cast of characters in her dreams? Proof that she needed to get herself back on track.

  “Vengeance,” the stranger had said. He had probably been her subconscious reminding her of what was important. Not Taeg, as tempting as he might be.

  Her family. She had to bring them peace.

  §

  The human was far more interesting than he’d initially given her credit for. Troubled, but interesting. She could see through glamours. Leave it to Taeg to discover a gem such as she. Excitement lent a quiver to Leviathos’ hands. Before he could forget their faces, he dug out a pad and sketched rough drawings of the maliki demons he’d seen in the woman’s dream. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Garin.

  “Hello?” the wolf-shifter answered.

  “I’ve got some sketches for you. Two maliki demons who murdered the woman’s family when she was a girl. Talk to your contacts, see if we can figure out who these demons are.”

  “What does this have to do with anything?”

  “I don’t pay you to question, I pay you to do.”

  There was a brief pause on the other end of the line before Garin spoke again. “Whatever. It’s your dime.”

  “I’ll text you the pictures.”

  Leviathos hung up and glanced at the sketches once again. If he could find the whereabouts of these demons, he might be able to use that to coax more information out of the woman. What use did Taeg have in mind for her? One thing was clear: there had to be a good reason Taeg wanted this human. A human who could see through glamours. And he’d bet it had something to do with the Book. The memory of something he’d once heard tickled his mind—a powerful glamoured object. Hmm… he’d have to think about that.

  The slip of paper he’d gotten from Horster lay in a crumpled square on his desk. He picked it up and smoothed it out to examine the geographic coordinates written on it. Horster had been right. They did indeed lead to a hidden portal several hours from the city, one reportedly created in secret by a disgruntled employee of the Council.

  That was his ticket to the Book, kept under lock and
key by the Council. He was close. So near to the power it contained. But before he made his move, he had to know what Taeg was up to.

  If this Maya was helping him, he would steal her right out from under Taeg’s nose, the way his former friend had done with his first and only love, Ana.

  After all, he knew what Maya wanted most.

  Like him, she sought vengeance.

  And he might just be in a position to give it to her.

  §

  Morning couldn’t come soon enough for Maya. She was tired of all the nightmares. Tired of wondering if Taeg had spent the night in his own bedroom, and if so whether he’d been alone. Tired of this house and its snide immortal owner. So when the knock sounded on her bedroom door shortly before noon, she was more than ready to get the hell out of there.

  “Come in.”

  Taeg poked his head in the door, those red eyes of his looking bleary like he hadn’t slept either. And maybe he hadn’t.

  That jerk.

  He arched a brow as if he could hear her thoughts. But when he spoke all he said was “Ready to go?”

  “Hell yeah.” Was she ever.

  She followed him to the front hall. Thankfully, there was no sign of Elain. Probably still sleeping, if that legend about vampires was true.

  Her butler waited for them at the front door, however. When he saw them walking down the hall he opened the door to allow them out. “Good day, sir, miss.”

  “Yeah, you too, Jeeves,” Taeg replied. “Stay fun, pal.”

  The butler merely sniffed and closed the door shut in his face.

  “Always up for a good time, that guy.”

  Maya didn’t bother responding. She walked to the car and waited for him to unlock it. Not even the slogan on his T-shirt—I’m Not Lazy... I Just Don’t Give a Damn—was enough to make her crack a smile right now.

  She slid into the seat and sat silently as he drove off the property. Palpable tension filled the air. Taeg must have felt it, too, because he only drove a few minutes before breaking the silence.

  “Nothing happened,” he said.

  “What?”

  “With Elain.” His fingers tapped the steering wheel. “I didn’t sleep with her or anything.”

  “It’s none of my business.” But true as that might be, she couldn’t help the waves of relief that rolled through her. For the first time since they’d gotten in the car, she turned to face him. “What was the payment she demanded last night?”

  “Blood.”

  Elain had been satisfied with nothing more than his blood. That Maya actually found that to be a relief was a testament to what the past few days had been like.

  “Elain mentioned something last night,” she said to Taeg. “She said she didn’t need a Feeder. What’s that?”

  “Feeders are humans who act as blood donors for vampires.”

  “Willingly?” Who the hell would do that?

  “The act of being fed on by a vampire is arousing. Almost orgasmic. Can you see how some people might be lining up to volunteer for that?”

  The memory of Elain’s hand cupping Taeg’s erection crept into her mind. She couldn’t imagine ever agreeing to be fed from, orgasmic or no. But maybe that was just her.

  “Elain said she was once human. Does that mean vampires are created?”

  “Sometimes I forget how little you know about the other races.” Taeg laughed. “Okay, here’s basic vampire biology for you. Vampires are both made and born. Those who are born are actually beings from another dimension called Enevora.”

  “Vampires came to Earth from another dimension and made more vampires?”

  “Yes. It’s been happening for as long as travel has been allowed between dimensions. Vampires have the ability to make new vampires by altering the DNA structure through blood exchange.”

  “Like a virus,” she said.

  “Exactly. Elain was created by a made vampire, so she’s second-generation at the very least.”

  This was crazy. Maya thought the worst thing she had to worry about were demons. Now she had vampires to fear, too?

  “Wait.” She straightened and looked back at Taeg. “Can vampires only infect humans?”

  “No. They can infect any living creature.”

  “You’re half-fae and half-demon. If you were infected by a vampire... ”

  “I’d become a fae-demon-vampire,” he finished. “I’d have the traits I was born with, as well as those inherited from my vampire creator. The necessity to drink blood to survive, aversion to the sunlight, the ability to create more vampires.”

  “Holy crap.”

  “Exactly. It’s a crazy multiverse, Maya. Crazier than you know.”

  Why would Earth’s leaders allow vampires, if they had the ability to infect everyone around them? They could irrevocably alter life on every single planet. That didn’t make sense. It was also way too much to ponder right now, so she moved on to the next subject.

  “What did Elain have to say about the sword?”

  Taeg hesitated. “The papers Horster sold me contain directions to three fae sisters who might know the sword’s location.”

  “Really?” Not as good as the location of the sword itself, but close enough. “When are we going to go see them?”

  He scratched his chin, scruffy from a day’s growth.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “We won’t be visiting them. Just me. They don’t live here on Earth. They live in Faelan, the dimension the fae originate from.”

  She gaped at him. “How are you going to get there?”

  “I’ll petition the Council for allowance. But not until tomorrow. There’s a gig I’m working for my regular job that I’ve put off for far too long. I plan on taking care of it tonight.”

  “Regular job? You have a regular job?”

  Taeg chuckled and cast a wry glance at her. “What did you think I do all day, sit around and wait for hot, angry chicks to kidnap?”

  “I... ” She looked away, rubbing her arms. “I guess I never thought about it. What is it that you do?”

  “I’m a Detainor for the Elden Council. Just like my brothers.”

  “A Detainor?”

  “Inter-dimensional bounty hunter.” His smile was all teeth, making him look like a predator. “I track down bad guys and bring them back to the Council for judgment.”

  “Like a demon cop?”

  “Something like that.” He snickered as if he found the note of amazement in her voice amusing.

  “What exactly classifies as ‘bad’ to the Council?”

  “A lot of the same things as on your world. Rape, murder, mass destruction. For the most part, these things are technically prohibited. I hunt down the demons suspected of breaking the Council’s laws.”

  “What do you mean, for the most part?”

  “Some races can’t help but do these things. Incubi and succubi feed off others’ life forces. Vampires occasionally take too much blood and kill their victims.” He shrugged. “The Council makes allowances for things like that.”

  Ok-a-a-ay... just when she’d begun to think this Council might be good, he had to go and ruin it for her.

  “I see I’ve finally rendered you speechless,” Taeg said.

  “You could say that.” If she lived a million years, she wouldn’t understand his world. So many moral shades of gray. “What is it that you have to do tonight?”

  His swirling red eyes fixated on her. “I have a meeting with a contact who’s got some information on a demon I’m hunting. Leader of a small local drug ring that sells score. Small-time shit, but big enough that it’s hit the Council’s radar.”

  “Where are you meeting him? That bar we went to the night other night—Eros?”

  “No.” Taeg let out a laugh. “That place is too tame for Benny, my contact.”

  “Too tame?” If this Benny character thought Eros was tame, she didn’t think she wanted to know what he considered fun.

  “There’s an Otherworlder club
up in Harlem that he likes to go to. It’s called Opiate.”

  Opiate. That name sounded familiar. Finally, she remembered where she’d heard it. “Elain said that’s where you two met.”

  He fidgeted in his seat. “Yeah.”

  Great. How many other bimbos did he have waiting for him at that club? Would they be anxious to take Elain’s place? Maybe he picked them up in droves and chose whichever one suited him best at that particular time. Like a harem.

  “I’m going with you,” she said.

  Okay, where did that come from?

  Taeg’s husky laugh filled the interior of the car, sending an involuntary shiver through her. “I don’t think so, little slayer. That place is too dangerous for you.”

  “More dangerous than Eros?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I can handle myself,” she reminded him. “Or have you forgotten?”

  “I’ve no doubt about that, but you’ve never seen a place like this. It makes Eros look like Sunday school. Creatures of all shapes and sizes, ready and eager to let their freak flags fly.”

  A tiny ball of apprehension knotted up Maya’s stomach. From his description of the place, it wasn’t anywhere she’d normally volunteer to go. But she wasn’t about to back down now. If this kind of stuff existed in the city, she should at least be aware of it. “I don’t care about that.”

  “You should.” Taeg sighed. “Listen, Maya, it’s not just that. Opiate caters to the dregs of Otherworlder society. Misfits and outcasts. To say that the place is risqué would be a major understatement. I don’t think you could handle it.”

  She bristled at his words. After everything she’d seen, everything she’d survived, she wasn’t about to back down just because she might have to face some freaky Others. Even if the thought of being in a club packed full of them made her skin itch like she had a major case of hives.

  “I can handle it,” she insisted. “Besides, didn’t we decide we’re partners?”

  “Not in this. This has nothing to do with my mission, or yours.”

  “It’s a club full of Others. Seems to me like that’s exactly where I should be looking if I want to find my family’s murderers.”

  Taeg snorted. “You think you have a chance in hell of finding them in a local Otherworld club? What are the odds of that?”