by Dakota Brown
"They are summoning demons, binding them into charms, and handing them out to their people."
I shared a concerned look with Darius before he turned back to the demon. "Why?"
The demon shrugged. "If you could be faster, stronger, and more bullet proof than your competition, wouldn't you be at least interested in the idea? Especially if the cost was much lower than normal possession?"
"He's got a point," I agreed.
"Anything else you can tell us to help stop this?"
Sabian shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Not that I don't want to, I just don't remember anything else. The bindings are cleverly done."
"That someone with the kind of skill necessary to bind demons in such a way is working with a drug cartel is concerning," the vampire offered.
That brought Darius' attention back to him.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"Malak Naji," the vampire offered. "I lent Ms. Price the spell to unbind the demon."
Oh, that was his name. Malak, huh. I realized he also hadn't known my name until Darius had said it. It took a great deal of effort to keep from laughing.
Something must have shown on my face because Darius shook his head. "Chris, you're something else."
"What?" I asked innocently.
His gaze flicked between me and Malak for a moment before he shook his head again. "I'm well familiar with that flushed, disheveled look of yours."
"Um, well, to be fair, Sabian's an incubus, and he's starving, so it wasn't my fault. Or his." I pointed at Malak.
"Right." Darius gave Malak a long hard look before glancing back at Sabian. "Ready to go back?"
Sabian shrugged and glanced between me and Malak before returning his attention to Darius. "I'd actually kind of like to stay."
"Of course, you would," Darius grumbled.
"I'm not a crossroads demon where souls are involved, or even out to make a deal. I just haven't been up here in at least an age. Might be fun to look around. I'm not even particularly evil." He gave Darius a winning smile. "Besides, I might be able to help with your drug cartel."
"How?"
The demon shrugged. "I don't know. I simply might be able to help. I'm harmless."
"You had my best friend making out with a total stranger," Darius pointed out.
"Uh, mate, that's not really so out of character, right? At least he's a hot stranger." I grinned when Darius shot me an annoyed look. Why was I defending the demon, again? "Besides, I was enjoying myself. Pretty sure Malak was, too."
Malak chuckled.
"See, harmless." Sabian did his best impression of a puppy dog, turning his amber eyes fully on Darius.
"You're begging me to release you and let you hang out with my best friend? Seriously?"
"I already gave you my name. What else do you need? She's basically my master now."
"Naw, you can leave the dungeon mastering to Malak." I snickered at Malak's startled expression.
Darius frowned at the vampire. "What?"
"Role playing." Malak sighed.
The demon purred. "I like whips and chains."
"Why is everyone suddenly going right to whips and chains?" Malak exclaimed. "Dice, lots of shiny little dice, and books, and beer and pizza. No whips and chains."
I doubted Malak was actually consuming pizza, but then, I had also thought vampires were allergic to sunlight and that was obviously incorrect. The thoughts didn't stop my laughter.
"You'd like it," Sabian retorted.
"What?" Malak and I blurted at the same time.
"I can always tell what people will like." He gave us both a lazy wink. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have encouraged you to kiss."
"Learn something new every day. Eh, mate?" I nudged Malak.
He sighed again.
Darius chuckled. "I'm tempted to let your demon out and leave you three alone. Might be good for you to date a nerd instead of your normal type."
If he knew Malak wasn't just a nerd... I wasn't about to break my promise to Malak though, even to my best friend. Not without a really good reason. Then I got a look at Darius' expression. Was he serious?
"Oh please," Sabian begged. He went so far as to drop to his knees and clasp his hands up in an imploring gesture. "I promise to behave."
"Define behave," Darius ordered.
Whoa, he was actually considering it. He must know something I didn't, because I wasn't nearly as convinced as the priest seemed to be. Maybe the investigation really was that desperate.
"Well, I won't harm Chris, or Malak, or you." He hesitated, thinking. "No inciting orgies unless it's in defense of you three." He sank back on his heels, head tilted. "What do you want me to promise?" he finally asked.
"Incubi are not harmless," Malak offered. "But he's nearly got me convinced he is, at least to us. Demons are notoriously devious, but he did give us his name. That negates a great deal of his power should we chose to use it."
Mmmm, Malak was considering an 'us' in this equation. I might get my hands on him, after all. What the fuck was I thinking? He's a vampire. My brain did mental yo-yos while I tried to come to terms with my conflicting desires. None of them necessarily involved letting an incubus loose in my life, however.
Darius shook his head. "Here's why I'm considering this, demon."
"Sabian," the demon corrected.
Darius hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "Fine, Sabian."
The demon purred when Darius said his name.
What the fuck? Did he actually get off on being controlled? Shit, was he a sub? What on earth were we getting into? I could already tell Darius was going to let him stay.
"Here's why I'm considering your request. We might actually need your help with the drug cartel. If you'll help us, and the other things you promised, then I'll let you out."
I wanted to object, because obviously Darius wasn't going to take an incubus to church, so he would be staying with me, but though I though the words, they didn't cross my lips. What the hell. Might be fun to have a well-endowed incubus around. My vibrator was only so satisfying. As if sensing my thoughts, Sabian's gaze wandered over to me and he grinned.
"I agree, I'll help as much as I can." He bounced to his feet.
I managed to keep my eyes on his chest, but it was tough.
Darius glanced at me.
"You know he'll have to feed off of sex, right?" I pointed out.
"Isn't that what your dungeon master is for?"
That was a little callous, but that was Darius. When he got focused on a mission he tended to forget that people were, well, people and not tools.
"I mean..." I shrugged. "That's probably up to him."
I glanced at Mal who looked a little shell shocked at the turn of events, but not exactly unwilling. The demon's influence? Or something else?
My brain was so tweaked out by the bizarre turn of events that I was having a hard time finding words.
"You've never had a problem with sex with random guys in the past. That change?"
I narrowed my eyes at Darius.
"Why exactly do you want to keep the incubus?" I ignored his other question.
"Sabian here is the first demon the cops have come across that they were able to catch, but the increase in activities with the drug cartel have been immense recently. They're loosely associated with human traffickers. If we can't get it stopped before this spills over, it could get pretty bad for a lot of innocent people."
Huh, maybe he did actually have a real reason for keeping the demon around.
"If Sabian can give us an edge, we might need it. Obviously, I have to leave him with you. I'm not judging, Chris. I have no ground to stand on in that regard. I just know you used to like sex, and I feel like they'll probably be a step up from your usual hookups."
"I..." Was I really agreeing to this? Yeah, I was. Human trafficking, that was bad shit and demons getting in on it was even worse than the drugs. Darius was right. We had to get this stopped. "Okay, mate. Just remember, I'm st
uck with the demon because of you. You can not come back later and try to get all righteous on me or some shit."
"Promise," Darius replied.
I glanced at Mal, who had settled back into an interested but somewhat impassive expression, as if we weren't talking about using him to help me feed an incubus. Mal glanced at me, winked, and went back to studying Sabian. Maybe he wasn't that upset about it. Come to think of it, willing hookups might be hard for a vampire to find. At least with someone who knew what he was.
Darius took a deep breath, then slid his foot across the circle, breaking the containment spell.
Sabian squealed in glee, threw his hands up, and scampered over to my side. I'd never seen a six foot something tall man scamper before, but he nailed it. Then he sank down next to me and wrapped his arms around my leg, resting his head on my thigh and staring up at me adoringly.
I gaped at him, not even sure what to say.
Malak chuckled.
Darius sighed. "I'm not sure if I should be apologizing or not, Chris."
"Don't know. Looks like I'm in for a good time."
Darius actually blushed.
"Is that something a man of the cloth is supposed to promote?" I couldn't help but needle him a little. "Demons, lewd acts, leaving me with a dungeon master."
Malak sighed.
Darius gave Malak another searching look before he shook his head. "You haven't had a lot of luck with humans, maybe the demon can change things around for you."
I almost choked. "Yeah, definitely think that's not something a priest is supposed to say."
Darius grinned. "Hell, Price, he might be safer to let loose in Santa Fe than you are."
I could not come up with a proper retort because, maybe, just maybe, he was right. "Yeah, thanks for that, mate. So, change of subject. Sabian..."
The demon purred, the sound going straight to my groin. My legs nearly buckled, and I was almost grateful when Malak aborted his move to grab me, or Darius might have gotten an eyeful.
"Could you keep that under wraps for a bit, mate?"
"Sorry," Sabian replied contritely.
"I'd make a quip about innocent eyes, but Darius isn't nearly as pure as his profession makes him out to be." I glared at my friend.
He shrugged, not denying it.
"Anyway, Darius, could you get some clothes for our new friend here? I'm quite certain I have nothing in his size. Well, maybe a robe, but that's probably about it."
"Sure, Price. I'll pick a few things up. Bring them by tomorrow afternoon?" He waggled his eyebrows.
I managed to refrain from blushing. "Hey, you're the one leaving me with a starving incubus."
"You want me to send him back to hell instead?" Darius asked. "If you don't want him around, I'll make him leave."
Sabian tightened his arms around my leg, but as far as I could tell, he wasn't otherwise using any of his powers on me. My personal wards would protect me from most anything that would harm me, which is how his power before had gotten through–he'd meant no harm. I'd never put the wards to the test against a vampire before, so I wasn't sure how effective they would have been if Malak had gotten his teeth in my vein. Maybe if he'd actually been trying to hurt me, but he hadn't been. Just caught up in the lust like me.
"Naw, guess he can stay."
Sabian let out a relieved breath.
"Malak, nice to meet you," Darius said. "She's a handful, hope you're up for it." He headed for the stairway. "You might want to go upstairs first, more comfortable."
"Darius!"
He chuckled and hurried up the stairs.
"Fucker," I muttered.
We stood around in uncomfortable silence until I heard the front door close then I glanced at Malak, not entirely sure how to proceed.
He clasped his hands together, partially avoiding my gaze, obviously not quite sure what to do next, either.
"Ms. Price…"
"Naw, mate. You had your tongue in my mouth. Think that means you can call me Chris."
"Okay," he replied, laughing. "I typically go by Mal."
"Great."
"I should probably leave."
Damn it, I'd actually wanted him to stick around. Wasn't going to force the issue, though. That certainly wasn't fair.
"Sure, if you want."
He tilted his head. "Do you want me to stay?"
I shrugged. "Hungry incubus and all, might be useful to have you around." Sabian tightened his grip on my leg again.
Mal's eyes widened. "I'm not sure you need me if you have a hungry incubus."
"I'm still too close to starving," Sabian interjected. "I could hurt Chris, or even you, if I fed directly from you."
"Well, in that case, you gotta stay." I smiled at him.
Mal shifted on his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I could," he said slowly.
"Only if you want to," I felt I had to add.
He gave me a lopsided smile. "I have no objections per say, I'm more surprised you want me to stick around. I bite, after all."
"Ah, well, only live once, I guess. Never had a vampire before."
He took a step closer, and I held my breath. He reached out, tracing his fingers along my temple, through the shaved hair on the side of my head and down my neck, making me shiver, speeding my heart.
"I've never had an exorcist before," he replied softly.
"We're something else." I grinned.
"I can tell."
"I'll stay until the morning," he offered. "Then I'll leave you with my phone number. It'll be your choice if you want to see me again."
"What if you don't want to see me again?"
"You're the most interesting person I've met in quite some years. I'm already convinced I'd like to get to know you better."
"Even if I don't role play?" I teased.
"I'm positive I could change your mind. And who knows, maybe Sabian would enjoy it."
I'd somehow nearly forgotten about the demon clinging to my leg. Mal had captured all of my attention.
"I'm up for anything, except being starved," Sabian replied.
"Hint taken," Mal answered and held out his hand. "Care to show me your bedroom? I'm curious what a space you've decorated looks like."
"Just, uh, don't judge the mess. Haven't had anyone to impress in a while."
"Promise."
Chapter 5
Price
Mal held my hand as I led him and Sabian down the hallway to the back corner of the house where my room was. Sometimes I thought about moving into the master. Then I thought about dealing with my parents' things. Note, I still slept in my old room.
Not much had changed since my mother had turned me loose with black and white paint. The walls were black, the trim and the ceiling white. I'd since painted wards all the way around the room, making it extra warded in addition to the house wards. I'd done the same with the basement, but for different reasons.
Both Mal and Sabian passed through with no difficulties. That made me a little uneasy.
"Hey, Mal, how'd you get in the house, anyway. Wards should have kept you out."
The vampire turned from his contemplation of a poster of one of my favorite eighties vampire flicks, and glanced at me, eyebrow raised.
I blushed a little and shrugged. "You ever actually seen that movie?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yes."
"One of my favorites. Sue me."
"I promised, no judging."
"Right. I never redecorated after I moved back in."
He smirked at me.
"So, wards?" I changed the subject away from my childhood décor.
"I may have altered my personal protections so that the wards would not recognize me as any sort of threat."
My jaw dropped. "Wait, you can do that?"
"Well, I can," Mal answered. "I very much doubt too many others have the ability."
"Whoa, wait a minute. How do you know that?"
"I'm an occultist. I should have thought that would be clear from
the reading materials I lent you."
"So am I. Never knew you could do that with wards."
"Chris, I'm considerably older than you are. I have probably forgotten more about the occult than most people know."
"Oh, right. How old?"
He gave me a cagy smile before turning his attention back to the décor.
Sabian also glanced around, before he found a corner to curl up in and just sort of faded from my awareness.
My phone chimed, distracting me from the pile of clothing in the corner I'd intended to shove in a closet. I fished it out of my pocket and read the text.
"Hey, before you leave, can we send a picture of that ritual to unbind the demons to Darius?"
"Yes."
"Great, thanks."
Mal stepped over to me, took my phone and turned it off before tossing it onto my window seat.
My heart raced as he stepped back into my space and brushed his fingers over my hair. I was definitely a little afraid of him and I was fairly sure he knew it. If he had tricked my house wards, I suspected my personal protections wouldn't respond to a threat from him, either.
Still, I kissed him back when he pressed his lips to mine, and soon I'd forgotten my fear as my tongue chased his, his lips melding to mine.
I wrapped my arms around him, running my hands up under his shirt and across his muscled back.
Mal held me tightly, one hand pressed between my shoulder blades, one cradling my head, somehow making me feel as if I were the most important thing in the world to him at that moment. Only one other lover had made me feel that important, and the emotion nearly brough tears to my eyes.
"You all right?" Mal broke off our kiss to whisper. He ran his thumb across my cheek. Apparently, I had teared up.
"Yeah, mate. I'm fine." Shit, that would take some getting used to if we got up to this again. I wasn't used to someone so perceptive. I guessed a vampire would have to be to survive.
Mal ran his hands down my shoulders, caressing my upper arms, then down my sides.
I moaned softly and pressed against him. He slid his fingers under the hem of my shirt and tugged gently. I raised my arms, wishing I'd had some sort of idea this morning that someone else would be undressing me. I would have worn the lacy underwear.
