Abby shivered again and felt Rule’s arm tighten around her.
“Cold?” he murmured.
“No. Just thinking.”
“That usually leads to trouble.”
She pinched him. “Not plotting, just thinking. I promise I wasn’t hatching any elaborate escape attempts.”
His arm dragged her closer against his side. “Good. Because I would come after you.”
Abby had been teasing, but Rule didn’t sound like he was. She rolled onto her side to face him and found his dark eyes watching her. They picked up the few stray shards of light that managed to sneak into the room and reflected them back to her. “Would you?”
He nodded. “Anywhere.”
Maybe it was the darkness; maybe it was the intimacy of lying beside him, skin to skin, feeling the beat of his heart against the hand she laid on his back. Either way, Abby felt her heart clench and grew suddenly serious.
“I didn’t . . .” She paused, took a deep breath. “I hadn’t planned to meet anyone, to find anyone special in the middle of a riot on a night when I should have been curled up on my sofa reading a good book.”
“And I hadn’t planned to kidnap a woman and carry her off like a prize of war, let alone keep her prisoner for my own nefarious purposes.” His voice rumbled out of the darkness, as warm and rough as a cat’s tongue.
Abby stroked her hand over his shoulder. “I want you to know I’m sorry for those things I called you earlier. I don’t really think you’re unholy.”
“I am not sorry,” he said. “They led us here.”
“But where do we go next?”
There was a moment of silence before Abby felt the soft heat of his lips pressing against her forehead. “I am not certain, but we do not need to make a decision just yet. We have a little while, still, to enjoy the moment.”
Abby swallowed against the lump in her throat, but she knew he was right. They had too many other decisions to make, too many other battles to fight, to tackle this one prematurely. She turned and kissed his bare shoulder. “I am enjoying it. I promise.”
His hand slid across her rib cage, closed warm and possessive over her breast. “Let me help you enjoy it even more.”
She didn’t think that was in any doubt.
His lips found hers unerringly, brushing over them in light, teasing caresses. When she tried to catch him in a real kiss, he closed his teeth lightly over her bottom lip and tugged a playful warning. For a man who looked and sounded so serious most of the time, his capacity for play and teasing astounded her, and he seemed happy to exercise the talent on her. She whimpered and stabbed her fingers into his hair, holding his head in place and chasing his mouth with her own.
His chuckle teased her senses, just as his fingers teased her nipple. They brushed over the crinkled skin, flicking the taut peak, circling and pinching and making her arch up to press herself against his hands.
“Don’t tease,” she hissed, hooking a leg over his hip and pressing herself against the length of his erection. She rocked her pelvis against him, letting him feel the slick welcome awaiting him. “I want you.”
All his playful intent vanished in a ragged groan. In an instant, he shifted over her, his weight pressing her into the soft mattress. He surrounded her, overwhelmed her, and she welcomed him with eager touches of her hands, with the rocking motion of her hips, with the soft, greedy clinging of her lips.
He tucked his hands beneath her arms and curled his hands over the tops of her shoulders, holding her in place. His eyes caught hers and held as he shifted and found her snug entrance. In one smooth, effortless motion, he pressed inside her, filling her in a steady, heady wave of pleasure that sent her senses spinning and her heart soaring.
Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and slid silently down her cheeks when he came to rest inside her, buried to the hilt, two bodies now one, flesh and breath and hearts joined in perfect union.
“Rule.”
She breathed his name into the pregnant hush, watched him take it in and return her own.
“Abigail.”
She gripped his forearms, feeling them flex and ripple as he held her steady and began a slow, rocking rhythm inside her.
The feeling that filled her this time was different, less urgent but somehow more intent. She felt no need to rush headlong into the pleasure, but instead wanted to savor the connection, the warm, solid, tangible weight of him above her, inside her, around her. She saw her need mirrored in his fathomless eyes and spoke his name again.
“Rule.”
She felt him shift above her, nudge a fraction deeper, and the world started to dissolve around her. Just before she tumbled over the edge, she sensed him lean closer, felt his breath stir the hair at her ear, heard his low, gravelly voice whisper. The words filled her head, the way his body filled hers, and her heart recognized them even if her mind was too clouded to comprehend.
“My Abigail,” he breathed. “My heart. My mate.”
He slid another breath deeper, and she began to unravel around him. He tumbled after her, his cock pulsing within her sheath, filling her with a warm rush of seed.
“My name is Arulnagal.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
She woke slowly, stretching beneath the warm sheets, feeling them glide over her skin in a casual caress. The bed beside her was empty, and she had a vague recollection of Rule slipping from it earlier and urging her to go back to sleep. She hadn’t had any trouble complying.
It’s about time you woke up, though considering the two of you went at it like Energizer Bunnies for half the night, I can’t say I’m surprised to see you sleeping in.
Abby frowned, her eyes still closed, her brow wrinkling. Something wasn’t right.
By the way, did you know you snore?
Squeaking with outrage, Abby clasped the sheet to her breasts and shot up in bed, glancing frantically around the room. It was empty.
“Louamides?” she asked, feeling like an idiot.
A naked idiot.
Call me Lou, the voice inside her head replied. After all, the two of us are pretty close, wouldn’t you say?
The laughter inside her head definitely wasn’t coming from Abby. She didn’t find this at all amusing.
And she hoped she didn’t snort like that when she did laugh.
“No, I wouldn’t,” she muttered aloud. “That’s like saying the Lindbergh baby was close to his kidnappers. You’re inside my head. That doesn’t mean I have to like you.”
Yeah, well, you ain’t nothing to write home about, sweet cheeks. Rule might find you distracting, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so bored in my life. If it hadn’t been for the free porn last night—
“Shut up!” Abby screeched, feeling her skin staining a telltale red. Only for once in her life, she wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or rage. “Just shut up right there. Not another word. If you don’t want me to do a naked jig down Fifth Avenue while shouting Uzkiel’s name at the top of my lungs, you will shut your mouth and never, ever mention anything about my sex life to anyone, ever again. Do I make myself clear?”
She asked that last question in a tone of voice that would have done Sister Mary Joseph proud. Apparently, it worked on more than misbehaving schoolkids, too.
Yeah, whatever, the fiend muttered, sounding chastised, if not precisely repentant. Listen, now that you’re awake and not, uh, otherwise occupied, what do you say to getting us some food? I’m starving in here. Well, actually, you’re starving, but it’s driving me crazy.
Come to think of it, Abby was pretty hungry. Her stomach growled in testimony, and she managed a reluctant nod. “Fine. I’ll go down for breakfast. I assume that when I eat, so do you?”
If you can call what you do eating. You had a cup of yogurt and half a sandwich for lunch yesterday. What the shit is that? Birds eat more than that.
“Yes, well,” she muttered, “some of us are trying to avoid acquiring a layer-of-heat-conserving-blubber. And watch your mo
uth. While you’re in my head, you can keep a civil tongue in yours.”
Of all the gin joints in all the world, I had to walk into this one.
“Trust me, Rick, neither one of us is all that happy with the situation.”
She started to throw back the covers and paused, feeling awkward. Maybe the only eyes Lou had to see out of at the moment were hers, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was someone else in the room watching her. Especially when she could feel its anticipation. She glanced around and saw the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door, the one she’d have to walk past to get to her clothes.
“Nice try,” she grumbled, and yanked the sheet from the bed, wrapping it around her and taking it with her into the bathroom.
Spoilsport.
When she closed the bathroom door behind her, she realized the uncomfortable feeling of not being alone was still with her. Crossing her arms over her chest, she blew a stray hair out of her eyes and looked into the mirror. She looked the same as she always had, but that didn’t mean she was the same.
“Look, this was a lot easier when you were inside playing dead,” she said, pressing her thighs together against the suddenly urgent need to pee. “I’ll make a deal with you. You give me half an hour to shower and get dressed and whatever else, and I’ll let you pick breakfast. Okay?”
There was a moment of silence inside her head, and Abby had the uncomfortable feeling that Lou was weighing the possibility of eating his favorite foods against the certainty of getting to see her wet and naked.
Deal, it finally consented, grudgingly. But don’t say I never did nothin’ for you.
“Perish the thought.”
She waited a good five minutes, against her bladder’s fervent protests, just to make sure that un-alone feeling was gone before she hurried to pee and shower. She didn’t trust Lou not to come back early and claim it didn’t own a watch.
By the time the fiend did reemerge, she was thankfully showered and dressed, and she took great delight in drowning out its grousing, however briefly, in the din of her hair dryer. It turned out her dad had been right all those years. Hair dryers were so loud they made it impossible to hear oneself think.
Bless them.
Rule found her an hour later, stretched out on the sofa in the media room, with one arm draped across her eyes and the other cradling her stomach.
“Is something wrong?”
“Many, many things,” she groaned, not moving an inch. “Beginning with runny fried eggs and ending with a deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. If I don’t hurl soon, I may have to make a trip to Graceland to desecrate Elvis’s grave.”
Rule frowned down at her, noticing that the snap of her jeans had been unfastened, exposing the little curve of her tummy to the open air. “Did you eat all of that?” he asked carefully.
“Believe me, it wasn’t my idea. And if I have my way, I might never eat again.” She paused and sucked in a slow, shallow breath. “In fact, if you don’t mind, can we please change the subject? The idea of food is making that hurling thing a distinct possibility.”
Frozen halfway into a sitting position on the edge of the sofa beside her, Rule thought better of it and turned to settle onto the coffee table facing her. “Can I get you anything?”
“I need a young priest and an old priest.”
Rule groaned. “Is there no one on this plane who has not seen that bloody movie?”
“It’s a classic,” she defended, but he could tell her heart wasn’t in it.
He shook his head. “I take it that means Louamides had something to do with your present discomfort?”
“Try everything,” Abby snorted. “He blackmailed me into letting him choose breakfast. Not a mistake I’ll be making again soon.”
There was a moment of silence before Rule heard her mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, “No way, you perv. I’ll think of something else to keep you occupied.”
Rule raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
She shook her head, then groaned, as the motion clearly upset her stomach. “Nothing,” she said, raising her arm to her forehead so she could open her eyes and look at him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning. I thought you and Noah would be out pounding the pavement, so to speak.”
“Your brother is. I have been talking with Tess.”
That brought a little color to Abby’s cheeks. “Has she found an exorcism she thinks will work?”
“Unfortunately, no.” The animation fled from Abby’s face, and Rule felt a squeezing around his heart. It still astonished him that making this woman happy could mean even more to him than keeping her safe. He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his thighs, letting his hands hang down between his knees. “She is still working on a solution, but in the meantime, we have been debating other possibilities.”
Abby frowned. “Other possibilities for what?”
“For flushing the fiend out of hiding.”
“I assume you’re talking about Uzkiel.”
“Yes. I had not expected him to be so hard to locate. This city is large, but there are few fiends here at any given time, since they must wait to be invited before entering.”
“I’ve been wondering about that.” Abby lowered her arm, being careful not to jar her stomach, and reached out to take Rule’s hand. Almost absently she joined their fingers together, and he again felt his heart contract. “How did Uzkiel get here in the first place? I have a hard time believing even a summoner would be stupid enough to call on him to exact revenge on the girl he couldn’t date.”
Rule snorted. “I see you share my high opinion of summoners.” The question had bothered him, as well, and the answer he’d given Rafe sat no better with him now than it had several days ago. “I am afraid the fiends may have discovered and exploited a loophole in the invitation clause.”
Abby looked her question.
“When a summoner casts his spell and issues an invitation to a fiend, what he is doing, in essence, is opening a temporary gate between here and the Below.” Rule looked down at their joined hands and twined his fingers with her much smaller, much more delicate ones. “The summoner then names the fiend he wishes to bind, and in doing so, because he uses the demon’s true name, he commands the demon to pass through the gate into this world.”
She nodded. “That’s the impression I got, but I admit I’m far from an expert. Most of what I knew before last month came from watching the late, late movie.”
“The assumption has always been that fiends do not enjoy being enslaved, even temporarily, which I believe still holds. But what if the fiends had discovered that by one piggybacking on the summoning of another, the second fiend could pass through that gate as well and enter this world unbound to the human who had opened the gate?”
Rule watched Abby frown as she worked through the scenario, then saw her pale. “Oh, my gosh. That would be . . . horrible. If that’s possible, it would allow any fiend who wanted to to come through into this world and just roam around unchecked, killing anything or anyone it pleased.” She paused, gripping his hand tighter. “Is it possible?”
“Unfortunately, Tess agrees that it may be.”
“But that would mean the fiends could just all relocate here if they wanted to and not be under the control of the Watch anymore. They could build an army if they wanted.”
That nightmare scenario had also occurred to Rule. He shook his head. “I cannot deny it is possible, but I don’t believe the threat is imminent, and Tess agrees. While yes, theoretically any fiend who wanted to could piggyback on another’s summoning, the gates opened during those spells are very small and very brief. We believe that at most one additional fiend could travel through at a time. Unless the summoners begin opening gate after gate after gate in a short period of time, the number of fiends here at any one time would be finite.”
Abby breathed a sigh of relief. “I suppose that’s some comfort.”
“Some small comfort,�
� Rule agreed. “In any event, while it does limit the number of fiends in the city, it makes it more difficult to locate one. Uzkiel and any others present at the moment appear to be wise enough to lay low for the time being.”
“So how are you going to flush it out?”
This was the part of the conversation Rule had been dreading. “That is why I came looking for you. I thought we should join the others and all discuss it at once. If the idea Noah and I dreamed up is to work, we will need everyone’s help.”
She smiled at him, her sweet expression glowing with trust. “Then let’s go find them. Just do me one favor.” She eased herself carefully into a sitting position and grimaced. “Don’t take us anywhere near the kitchens.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
They convened in the library, which was beginning to gain the nickname around Vircolac of “the War Room.” Tess, Rafe, and Samantha sat on the sofa, looking expectant, while Noah lounged in an armchair across from the one his sister had curled into. But his lazy appearance didn’t fool anyone. Graham, Rule had learned, had taken Missy on a short trip to the country, because “fresh air would be good for the pup.” He wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all Missy, who had said, “He’s just trying to keep me out of trouble.”
Rule couldn’t blame the Lupine. If Rule had the choice, he probably would have done the same.
This was not a moment he had been looking forward to.
“Well?” Tess prodded. “Let’s hear it, O fearless leader. What’s the plan?”
Rule glared at Noah. Tess might have asked the question, but Noah had been just as involved in the planning as he had. The only reason Noah didn’t stir himself to answer the witch’s question was that he wanted to watch Rule squirm. Apparently Noah wasn’t quite as nonchalant about Rule and Abby’s relationship as he had assured them he was.
“You all know parts of it,” Rule began. He stood beside Abby’s chair and rested his hand on her shoulder. “I have discussed aspects with each of you over the last few days. Our goal, of course, is to locate Uzkiel and bring the fiend to justice, whether that involves binding it and returning it to the Parliament to face formal charges for its crimes or whether that involves destroying it outright.”
The Demon You Know Page 19
