The Price of Possession

by Dakota Brown

  The T-shirts were just tight enough to make looking at the handsome demon very fun, and the way his jeans hugged his hips should have been illegal.

  "I've taken the information Sabian gave to me to the police. They're working on finding new leads. If there's anything you can help them with, I'll be in touch."

  I didn't bother to point out that I hadn't offered to help further, Sabian had. Darius knew if he asked, I'd come.

  Darius stayed for a little while longer before heading back to his church, leaving a now clothed Sabian and I alone. I kind of didn't want to take him to work with me. I kind of did. I never took guys I was dating or just sleeping with to the pizza shop and if they showed up there, they were summarily kicked out and told not to return. If they really wanted pizza, I'd get them take out. I was not sleeping with or dating Sabian, but it felt the same.

  Oh well, I wasn't about to leave him on his own, at least not yet, and I had a few things to do, including teaching Billy how to do payroll.

  I leaned against the frame of the sliding glass door, arms crossed. My father had stood that way many times in the past and I'd taken up the habit at some point. The doors faced west, and we got some spectacular views of the desert as the sun set.

  Sabian came over behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I stiffened for a moment before relaxing into his touch. Unlike Mal's, his hand was quite warm.

  When I didn't pull away, he dragged his fingers lightly down my bicep and across my forearm until he could tuck his hand around mine. Sabian fitted himself against my back, put his other arm around my waist, and stood there, holding me.

  Eventually I remembered to breathe again, though my heart sped at his proximity. After I relaxed a little, Sabian tightened the arm around my waist, rubbing my hip gently. I leaned back against his chest, stomach tightening with need, heart racing again. What was I doing? Mal hadn't minded Sabian feeding off us, but surely he would mind if the minute he was out of my sight, I jumped the demon.

  As if sensing my hesitation, Sabian stilled his hand, just holding me, while I tried to get my racing heart under control again. I finally calmed down, though now I ached for release. Damn him, anyway. Having an incubus around was going to be really interesting if he affected me like that constantly.

  Still, it was a few more minutes before I reluctantly pulled away from his warm embrace.

  "Probably ought to show up at the shop for a few. Guess you can come along," I grumbled.

  Sabian didn't say anything, simply followed behind as we went from the air-conditioned house out into the hot evening air. He watched me closely as I got in the car and put on my seatbelt, before doing the same on the passenger side.

  Once he was secure, I pulled out of the driveway and headed into town.

  We didn't speak, though I was completely aware of his presence. It was like sitting next to a lightning bolt. My skin prickled, sending jolts all the way down to my core. Having actually been on the other end of him using his power, I didn't think he was actively trying to do something to me, he was just being him. Unfortunately, my body was reacting strongly to his presence and it was a touch uncomfortable.

  I wasn't ready to call Malak yet. We'd just parted ways, and I thought a little distance between the two of us might not be a terrible thing. Maybe I'd just have to have a solo party with my vibrator tonight.

  Thinking of that got me even more bothered and I gritted my teeth.

  I managed to make it to the pizza shop without pulling over and jumping Sabian on the side of the road, and once we were out of the car and I was able to breathe in a bit of the dry, dusty desert air, I managed to calm down some.

  He never said a word, just followed me from the air-conditioned car through the blast of heat, and into the air-conditioned pizza shop.

  I inhaled the overwhelming scent of garlic and sauce, hoping it would chase the memory of Mal's spicy scent away. It didn't.

  Sabian followed close behind me until I noticed I was getting curious looks from my staff. At least a few of them had been present for me throwing over ambitious lovers out of my restaurant and knew my personal rule about not bringing anyone else by.

  I glanced at the hostess, pointed at Sabian and mouthed 'table.'

  She held up two fingers and I led the demon over to table two. I couldn't help but notice how everyone's gaze followed the incubus and I doubted it was pure curiosity that motivated that.

  "What do you like?"

  "What do you mean?" Sabian was looking around, studying the décor and he turned his attention back to me.

  "To eat."

  "Besides sex?" He grinned at me.

  I groaned. "Yeah. Cause that's not on the menu here."

  He faked a pout before answering. "I don't know. I'll try your favorite. You need dinner, too."

  Sabian had a point, so when Stacy came over, I ordered my favorite, all the cheese, and then extra cheese, mushrooms, and pepperoni, and a couple of ginger beers.

  "Stay here and be nice to Stacy. I need to go do some paperwork." Maybe I should have defined nice, because the expression she directed toward Sabian was a bit more than just friendly. I wondered if he could tone his power down a bit more, but it wasn't the best time to ask with other people around.

  He pushed his lip out in another pout.

  "I'll be back before the pizza gets cold."

  Sabian turned his adorable, pouty lips up into a bright smile and I kind of wanted to suck his lip into my mouth so I could taste it. There were other things I wanted to put in my mouth, too. I cleared my throat when Sabian's smile slid into the seductive range and jerked my attention away from those kissable lips and practically fled to my office.

  Billy came in a few minutes later and I gestured for him to take my place. "You've done payrolls before, right?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, let's get started."

  He raised his eyebrows and I realized I had neglected to tell him he was taking on that responsibility.

  "Yeah, think it's time I handed that over to you."

  "Sure, boss. No problem. Who's your friend?" He slid into my vacated seat.

  "Just a friend." I sighed.

  "Sure." He didn't press, though his curiosity was palpable.

  Shortly, I had him reviewing time records and since he was already familiar with the payroll system, I doubted it would be long before he was better at it than I was.

  "I'm going to go eat. Let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, I'm probably going to take off early. There's not much else to do on the paperwork end and I need to get a few other things done."

  "That's fine, Chris. It should be a quiet night."

  I chuckled. "You just jinxed yourself."

  "Ugh, let's hope not."

  "Yeah, mate. Okay. Holler if you need me." I clapped him on the shoulder before leaving the office and heading back out to the dining area.

  The pizza had arrived by the time I got there, but Sabian had waited for me.

  "Go on." I slid into the booth.

  He stared at the pizza and I understood he actually wasn't sure how to start.

  "Okay, like this."

  Demonstrating the finer points of successfully eating a ridiculously cheesy pizza kept us occupied for another hour.

  "So, pizza going to do it for you tonight? Or do you need more?"

  Sabian eyed the empty tray before turning his gem-like amber eyes on me. Things inside tightened and I really should not have been considering dragging him back to my office, kicking Billy out, and locking the door.

  "I will be okay for a while," he allowed. "It's a lot easier if I just feed every night."

  "Noted. Um, where do you want to go?"

  He studied me for a few minutes before shrugging. "Someplace where sexual energy is high. That would be best."

  "There's a seedy strip joint out in the desert a way," I offered hesitantly. "Only place I know around here. Closer than going all the way to a big city."

  "That would probably do it." />
  "Great. Well, let's go then. You tell me when you're full though so we can leave. I don't mind the girls, it's the clientele that bothers me."

  Stacy walked up just then, because of course she did. She gave me a quizzical look but was too polite to ask if she'd heard what she thought she had.

  "Need anything else, Chris?"

  "Naw, thanks, mate."

  She nodded and headed to another table. I threw down a twenty as a tip and slid out of the booth. Sabian followed.

  The sun was considerably lower in the sky when we left the pizza shop. I slid into the car and let the air conditioner run while I thought. I didn't mind taking him out tonight, but while I had money, taking him to the strip joint every night would get expensive. Not to mention I really didn't want to spend that much time there.

  "You could call Mal instead," Sabian offered.

  I sighed. "I'll let him think about things for a day or two before I call him. Make sure he doesn't want to change his mind or something."

  "There are also other options," he offered softly.

  I glanced at him, expecting a sly smile or something, not the hesitance I found in his expression.

  "Eh, we'll get you good and full tonight and then I'll see what me and my vibrator can accomplish tomorrow. How's that?"

  A smile flickered briefly across his lips and my panties tried to melt again. "Okay."

  "My biggest hesitation is that I know the owner from before."

  "Is that bad?"

  "Eh, it's not the best. It's also not the end of the world. Haven't seen her in years, though."

  "Before what?"

  "Oh, yeah. Before I quit being an exorcist." I pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the desert.

  "You quit?"

  "Yeah, five years ago." Mostly, anyway.

  "Then how?" He waved his hand at himself to finish the question.

  "How'd I end up with you? Darius didn't think to cast a reveal spell, or you might have been stuck with him instead."

  Sabian's eyes glittered with lust when I glanced at him. "I'm glad I'm stuck with you."

  I cleared my throat and tried to focus on the road.

  Sabian studied me while I drove, and I did my best to ignore him and the heat settling in my belly that his intense gaze caused. I was practically squirming by the time we made it to the strip joint.

  Darius was really going to owe me.

  I dug out my wallet and tried to hand all the cash I had over to Sabian. "You do know how a strip club works, yes?"

  He nodded. "This is one thing that I have kept up on, places for incubi to feed when on earth, and how they work. Just in case I ended up here. It wasn't necessarily my plan, but now that I'm here I'm glad I paid attention."

  He waved away the money and held up his hand, revealing a whole bunch of cash.

  "They need real money."

  Sabian grinned. "It's real. Call it a demonic power."

  "Where'd you get it?"

  "We lust demons have our ways."

  "Okay, I probably don't want to know, anyway."

  We climbed out of the car and he bounced on his toes, reminding me of an over excited kid.

  It was a weekday and a little early, so hopefully there would be enough going on to feed the demon. There were a few other cars in the parking lot and the neon sign flashed open. Maybe I would get lucky and Andi wouldn't be in. She was a former dancer. She started the place after winning a harassment lawsuit from her previous employer. I assumed she was still doing well but I hadn't heard from her in quite some time.

  I went over to the door and pushed it open, Sabian on my heels. Loud music, the smell of cheap booze, and the musk of sweat assaulted my senses as I blinked, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darker interior.

  A bored looking bouncer with forearms as big around as my thighs was perched on a bench inside. He raised his eyebrows when he saw me–probably didn't get many female patrons–but gestured for us to come in.

  "ID's?"

  I hoped Sabian had that under control, too. I dug my wallet out of my jacket pocket and handed over my ID.

  Somehow Sabian also had an ID and after the bouncer carefully studied both, he gestured for us to enter.

  The narrow hallway turned a corner and entered into the main room. It was a small club, bar along the back wall, three stages, chairs scattered around the stages and a few private tables. I knew there were a few back rooms here, too. I'd been in a couple of times way back in the day when Andi had first bought the place. I called it seedy, and it was to some degree, but Andi ran a tight ship. Her girls had talent, they did draw in crowds, and she did not tolerate shenanigans from her patrons. Her bouncers had long memories and if you messed up more than once, you never got back in.

  This early in the night, there weren't many patrons yet, and only one stage had a dancer. She was a light skinned red head, currently getting frisky with the pole and, despite the light crowd, she really was killing it.

  Sabian rumbled softly, pleased. I tried not to moan as the sound washed through me. This demon was going to wreck me. Probably in a good way, but still.

  I gestured for him to go have fun while I headed to the bar. If I was going to lurk in the background, at least I could get a drink.

  Sabian went up to the stage and took an empty seat. I ignored him for the time being, asking the bar tender, a relatively attractive blond man that could have doubled as a bouncer, for a whisky sour.

  "What brings a lady like you to a place like this?" the bartender asked as he mixed my drink.

  I didn't answer for a minute, vaguely annoyed by the cliché line before shrugging.

  "Mate needed a night out." I gestured vaguely toward Sabian.

  "So you're the wingman?"

  "Something like that," I allowed. I knew bartenders were supposed to be friendly and all, and normally I would have appreciated it. Unfortunately, tonight I just wanted to sulk in a corner, and I wasn't even sure why. I refused to be rude to servers though, so I forced myself to answer his questions with as little annoyance as possible coloring my voice.

  "Where are you from, anyway?"

  I tilted my head, wondering what to say. If I said Santa Fe, which was the actual truth, he was definitely calling bullshit on my mostly adopted accent. I'd traveled enough that I'd picked up phrases from here and there, and the cadence I'd added to my speech was the bastard child of my father's British accent and growing up in the South West. The more my mother had tried to correct my speech, the more I'd embraced it until she had finally given up. I'd taken one day to prove to her that I could speak what she considered normally if I really wanted to, then gone back to doing what I damn well pleased with the way I spoke.

  "Here and there," I finally gave my standard answer.

  "Twenty bucks says here and there is actually just down the way," a very familiar voice said.

  I turned and, surprisingly, didn't have to force a smile. Andi hadn't changed a whole lot since I'd seen her last. She still wore pants I could only define as trousers, suspenders holding them up over a white button up shirt with rolled up sleeves, and a vest. Today it was blue. Her short, spiky hair was currently a bright teal. She did have more of a tan to her pale skin than I was used to, but maybe she'd finally taken up gardening or something. She'd always wanted a garden in the past.

  "May be the case," I allowed and wrapped my old friend in a tight hug.

  "You driving?"

  I nodded.

  "Too bad. You still owe me a dance." Andi winked.

  I widened my eyes in mock horror. "I'd have to be pretty drunk for that, mate." She was right, though. If she really called me on it, I'd made a stupid claim once and had yet to make good on it.

  "Precisely," she grinned in reply. "I'll let you off the hook this time. What brings you this way?"

  The bartender handed me a drink and Andi waved me off when I tried to pay for it, so I tipped the guy and let her lead me back to one of the private tables before I answered.
>
  "Eh, friend needed a night out."

  "I haven't seen you for five years, and you bring him here?" Her eyes darted over to the stage where Sabian was now the dancer's very favorite. Fortunately, he'd used his incubus charm on everyone, and the guys seemed accepting and even happy about the arrangement, too. Hopefully, he was getting what he needed.

  "Price?"

  I jerked my attention away from the yummy incubus and back to my friend. I tried to remember what she'd said, rewinding the last few minutes in my mind until I recaptured the thread of our conversation.

  "Yeah, long story, that."

  She gave me a lazy smile. "I'll bet. Never thought I'd see the day Chris would have to bring a guy to a strip club to keep him happy." She jabbed at me a little, obviously not content with my evasive answer.

  I jerked my attention back to Andi and raised my eyebrows. Leaning back in the booth, I sipped my drink before replying. "I'm not sleeping with him."

  She grinned. "Why not?"

  Sighing, I shook my head. "Also a long story."

  "Now I'm really intrigued. Another man?"

  She was closer than she knew but I denied that, too.

  "What is he, some sort of incubus?"

  I barely managed to not choke on the whiskey as I nearly inhaled it. "What?" I wheezed.

  "Well, he's certainly popular with Sherry, and you can't keep your eyes off of him. And you know how you and demons are."

  I shook my head while I got my breathing under control. "Exorcist...I banish demons. Remember?"

  "You're not usually this closed lipped, Chris. What's going on?"

  I shrugged. "You know me well enough to know that if I don't want to talk about it, might be safer you didn't actually know."

  Her eyes tightened for a moment before she nodded. "Okay."

  Fortunately, she shifted the topic of discussion to more neutral affairs, the state of her business, the state of mine, she promised to come by for pizza some time and I declined to promise to come by for a lap dance, which had her holding her sides with laughter.