by Sam Cheever
Something heavy and warm brushed against my calf and I looked down. The fat, orange cat swirled around our legs, dancing out of the way with a yowl as Milc tried to kick her. The cat crouched next to the bed and spit at my unwelcome visitor, angrily snapping her short tail.
Without warning she leapt at him, sinking small, sharp teeth into his leg.
Milc growled and snapped his leg, sending the cat flying across the room. The lithe creature landed on its feet and slipped quickly through the door, unharmed.
“I hate furry things,” Milc offered unnecessarily.
Jerking my arm hard, I finally won release. I immediately stepped back and pulled my power forward, allowing it to dance in the palms of my hands like a deadly promise. “It appears the feeling is mutual, Advocate.”
He leaned against the tall, wooden footboard of the bed, crossing his long arms over his chest.
“Now tell me what you want and get the hell out of here.”
“I’ve come to warn you that you cannot trust the werewolves. I have reason to believe that they conspire with the demons to harm you. You must come with me so I can keep you safe.”
My answering snort was not ladylike, but it was representative of my feelings regarding that statement.
“Those are my friends, Advocate. You are not my friend. In a choice between them and you I choose them. You can leave now.”
He glared at me. “How am I to protect you if you will not listen to me?”
“Simple. You aren’t. I don’t need or want your protection. I’ll figure this out on my own.”
“You’ve done an exemplary job thus far.”
“Nobody’s died in a few days. I think I’m doing pretty well.”
Milc stared hard at me for a long moment and then, in the blink of an eye, was suddenly standing a fraction of an inch away from me, the heat of his long body pulsing toward me like an overcharged aura.
He didn’t touch me, though his lips were so close to mine that I inhaled his breath with every flare of my nostrils.
I just barely kept from sending everything I had into him. “You live dangerously, devil.”
His smile didn’t do anything to warm the cold expression. “Yes, danger makes me hard. Very hard.” When he spoke, his breath touched my lips in invigorating little puffs. “Take care, my queen. It seems there are many who wish you dead. I cannot say I blame them.”
I reached down and sent a jolt into his happy place, causing him to jump away with a growl of alarm. “Get the Hades out of here, devil, before I start to believe you’re behind all these attempts on my life. It won’t go well for you if that’s the case.”
He showed me his teeth in a snarl and then popped away. As he left, his cold, smooth voice slid across my mind. You are not a worthy queen for our court, halfling. And I would replace you if I could. Trust that I am looking for ways to do that. And never lower your guard.
When I was sure he was gone, I dropped to the edge of the bed, my knees suddenly feeling like water. Why was my life so damn complex? I always had impossible tasks to perform and never knew who I could trust and who wanted me dead or worse.
I knew one thing for sure, Dialle was gonna get an earful about siccing that monster advocate on me...as soon as I could find him...and get him to listen to me.
~SC~
After trying one last time to contact Dialle through the usual methods, I gave up and shimmered into his quarters at the Royal Court, bypassing the guards and other royals in the halls of the cavernous warehouse they’d transformed into a comfy Hell on earth.
At first I thought the rooms were empty. Not a sound disrupted the stark silence of the lush space. But the soft sound of a sigh made my head jerk around and I saw them tucked into a shadowed corner of the rooms.
Dialle and Astis. In a clench.
She was pressed up against a wall, her arms held over her head by an invisible force and her slender wrists shackled with power cuffs, which sparked silver and gold in the air around her hands. Her coldly beautiful face was fixed in a rapturous expression. Her pretty eyes were wide with emotion and her chest heaved with excitement. Her back was pressed against the wall but her legs, under the usual gauzy, ankle-length skirt, were spread wide, her hips arching toward Dialle.
He held her throat in one large hand and his knuckles were white from squeezing it. His head was bent toward her, his lips very close to her ear and he appeared to be whispering something. His stance was aggressive, even possessive, toward the beautiful witch.
I must have made a small sound in my throat because Dialle’s head shot around. His gorgeous face darkened when he spotted me, his swirling gaze changed from the reds and oranges of passion to cool blue in the blink of an eye. His lush lips opened and he stepped away from the witch, looking decidedly guilty.
Anger flooded me, tightening my chest and making it hard to breathe. Power surged through my body and my fingers twitched with the need to spray it around the room.
“Astra, this is not as it looks.”
And there it was. The age-old start to the male’s I-didn’t-mean-to-sleep-with-her speech. My lip curled and my teeth ground together. Next he’d be telling me it meant nothing. “Don’t,” I told him. “Don’t even go there, Dialle!”
He took a step toward me and I pulled my power forward, prepared to flee.
“Wait, don’t go! Let me explain.”
Something in his tone made me hesitate. He sounded terrified, sincerely scared that I might leave that room without letting him defend himself.
But then my gaze slipped to Astis. She stared at me through lust-filled, hooded eyes and offered a sensual grin. As she caught my gaze she licked her lips and threw me a kiss.
A ball of power appeared in my palm and I lifted it, my muscles tensing to fling it at her hated face.
“Don’t!” Dialle was suddenly standing in front of me, his hand wrapped around my wrist. “Don’t kill her, Astra.”
It was hard to speak with my teeth grinding together and my lip curled but somehow I managed to growl out a few words. “Protecting your girlfriend, Dialle?”
He tensed. “She’s not my girl—”
I jerked my hand from his grip. “Yeah, I know... It was just one time...it didn’t mean anything...you don’t love her. You’re pathetic, Dialle.”
With a thought I shimmered out of there, back to Mx. Diamon’s nightmare house. I hit the floor in the room I was temporarily inhabiting and started to pace. My stomach roiled and my chest actually hurt. Stars burst before my eyes and I realized I wasn’t breathing.
I stopped, closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, feeling the dizziness recede as my heart rate slowed. Unfortunately the nausea didn’t go away.
A knock on my door reminded me that I was supposed to be on the job. I would be lucky if my client hadn’t been kidnapped or eaten while I was gone having my heart ripped out of my chest. I strode to the door and flung it open, finding the surprised, worried face of my client on the other side.
“Are you all right, dear?”
I wasn’t of course, but I didn’t want her to know that. “I’m fine. Did you need something? Is something wrong?” I dispatched my sensing power and assessed the house. I didn’t sense anything other than my hostess and her friend’s cat.
“I don’t know. I just have this feeling...” Her wrinkled face folded into a frown. “Like I did when my husband was taken.” She fixed me with a worried gaze. “I think the demon is about to return.”
The fat feline skittered quickly down the hallway and dove between my legs, scurrying into my room and disappearing under the bed. The low-pitched sound of a feline growl emerged from the place where she’d hidden.
Grabbing Mx. Diamon’s bony arm, I dragged her behind me, shoving her into the room where the cat was hiding, and pulled my power forward. My nostrils flared as a familiar, feral scent wafted over me. The beast from Betty Davis’ house was nearby.
“Shit!”
I pulled the door closed, slidi
ng a magical lock over it before moving away. If something tried to break that lock from the outside I’d know it immediately.
Reaching down, I pulled a long bladed knife from my boot. As I straightened, I wrapped myself in a protective bubble of power. The bubble would keep me in one piece until I figured out what was stalking my client.
A soft, whirring sound came from the kitchen, the sound of tiny wings on the air. I relaxed slightly. If all I was dealing with was the bird demon, I would have no trouble. A single power arrow between the thing’s beady, red eyes and I’d be done.
I slid silently along the wall, listening for the whirring noise. It had stopped, so I stopped, imagining the demon listening for the sound of my approach as I was listening for him.
Without warning, the tiny demon burst through the kitchen door and flew straight at me, its beady eyes looking terrified and slightly dazed. A memory flashed across my mind but I didn’t have time to explore it. The demon hit my power bubble at full speed and stuck, caught by the power like a bidgie bug in a back yard laser zapper. As it hung there fizzling and jerking in the force of my magic, I stared into the tiny creature’s blank eyes and wondered why it had basically committed suicide.
I dropped my bubble and the demon plunged to the floor at my feet. Its head hung at a weird angle and its tiny wings were tangled and broken.
Something didn’t feel right.
That was when I noticed the feral smell again.
My pulse picked up, pounding hard in my head as I finally realized what was wrong. Too late. I hadn’t seen the trap in time. I was in danger. The air changed at my back, sending the electronic fizz of magic to pulse against my skin. Pulling my power forward, I started to turn.
I didn’t make it.
Something massive hit my back hard, sending me flying across the hall to smack against the wall on the other side. I looked up and saw nothing, except the slight shimmering of the air before me. Before I could get my feet beneath me again, a low rumble sounded and my head jerked around.
The enormous, dog-like creature I’d battled with at the Davis place stood just outside the bedroom door. My gaze flew to the door but it was still closed.
The creature’s orange gaze was fixed on me, its massive teeth dripping with saliva as if in anticipation of how I would taste.
“Shit,” I murmured to myself.
The massive creature threw back its head and roared, spewing fish scented breath into the air around me. Then it sprang in my direction. I barely had time to leap to my feet and grab my knife.
But the creature never got to me. It hit the rippling wall of whatever had sent me flying and dug into it with massive claws, clamping its jaws over the invisible enemy and working hard to wrench a chunk out of it.
I recognized the shimmering air for what it was. A protective power bubble. I suddenly knew what was standing between me and the monster from the Davis place, and I also knew that the monster wasn’t gonna get through that bubble by itself.
My sensing power told me it was built of the most impenetrable magic. Pure, black magic. Teeth and claws wouldn’t touch it. There was only one thing that could take a chunk out of it.
Only one race could create that type of bubble. Created from magic purely of the dark world. Halfling bubbles were a mixture of white and black magic, varying in color from light to the deepest charcoal gray, depending on where the halfling landed on his or her Settling. This was a Royal Devil I was dealing with.
One of Dialle’s subjects. That was just peachy.
I stood there watching the struggle and wasn’t sure what to do. Which one of the monsters in the hallway was my friend? Or were they both enemies, just bumping up against each other in their hurry to get to me?
My gaze slid to the tiny, broken body on the floor a few feet away. Another enemy? Caught in the crossfire of all the creatures trying to take me out? I swore under my breath and expelled air in an angry burst. The fun that was my life was escalating. I had to fight multiple critters who hated me at once.
Frunkin’ awesome.
Maybe they’d kill each other and do my work for me.
But then the giant puppy dog suddenly yelped and flew backward, slamming hard against the wall at the end of the hall and sliding down into a soft puddle on the floor, and I found myself facing my invisible enemy once again.
Keeping my eyes trained on the ripples in the air a few feet away, I dropped the knife and yanked as much power as I could into my hands, creating softball-sized orbs of spitting white power that throbbed in each palm. I waited for the Royal to make his next move.
We stood at an impasse for long enough that I’d begun to wonder why he didn’t attack. Then the air began to thicken and a shape started to appear before me. It was a different shape than the one I’d expected to see, much slimmer and more...shapely.
The Royal stood with hands on softly rounded hips and glared at me through gorgeous, almond-shaped black eyes, fringed with thick midnight arcs of lash. Her bow-shaped, cherry-tinted mouth was pursed with disgust. Her hair was cut in a thick, spiky cap and highlighted with blonde streaks that seemed to glow against the dense blackness of her hair.
Her skin was a flawless, creamy gold.
I stared at her and she stared back, oozing hostility.
Finally I decided it was time to either kick some Royal ass or move the program forward. I was getting bored just standing there staring at her evil perfection. “So, are we gonna rumble or not?”
Her bow-shaped lips twitched and softened into a reluctant smile. “I’d be happy to kick your ass, Astra Q. Phelps. But you might want to hear what I have to say first.”
I cocked my head. “What could you possibly have to say to me that I’d want to hear?”
“How about this? I’m here to save your life.”
Down the hallway, the door opened and Mx. Diamon stuck her head out. “Mx. Phelps, is it safe to come out now?”
That was when I noticed the doggie monster had disappeared.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I Kissed a Girl and She Liked it
Devils can have curvy shapes, and speak in dulcet tones,
But even those whose plans are pure, will not their natures hone.
“No! Close the door!”
The woman quickly shut the door and I heard the lock turn. I smiled. Like a flimsy door lock would stop a Royal. “So what exactly are you saving me from, devil woman?”
The perfect lips tightened. “My name is Brina. You would do well to respect me, halfling. I may be all that saves you from the forces aligning against you.”
Before I could stop myself, I snorted.
The gorgeous, black eyes narrowed and I felt the sting of her power against my skin. I allowed my magic to cover me, giving me an impenetrable barrier against anything she tried to use on me. Sparks flew as her power met mine and she took a step forward, moving into my personal space. I leaned into her, glaring. “Let’s get something straight here, devil bitch. As I told your impudent advocate, I can take care of myself. I don’t need any Royal bodyguards.”
The glare turned into a derisive smirk. “Your ignorance is amusing, but I’m not willing to risk the health of our court on your puny skills. I will be your bodyguard whether you wish it or not.”
Speaking of unwelcome protectors, the air beside me shimmered and Slayer appeared, sword drawn. Before he could get the first slash moving through the air, Brina was on him, her rapier flashing toward him in a deadly arc.
I stepped back to avoid being skewered and leaned against the wall, prepared to enjoy the show.
“Who’s Slayer fighting?”
I jumped away from the wall and swore. Darma stood next to me, her pretty, blue eyes wide with concern.
Not for me.
For Slayer.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
She shrugged. “I don’t sneak, Astra. Apparently you weren’t paying attention.” She jerked her head toward the battle down the hall. “So who is she?”<
br />
Slayer was pinned against the wall, using everything he had to keep his sword between him and the devil’s rapier. Brina was thrusting with such blinding speed I could barely keep track of her movements.
Slayer already had two long gashes on his person but looked as if he was barely exerting himself.
“A Royal devil. She claims she’s my protector, whether I want her or not.”
Darma snorted. “Apparently she doesn’t know you very well.”
I smiled. It was nice to be understood. “That’s what I told her.”
With a move that nearly matched the Royal’s for speed, Slayer twisted his wrist and turned her blade aside, ramming his blade into hers and driving both weapons toward her chest. Brina took two steps backward and then stopped, the entire line of her petite form rigid under the effort she was exerting to hold Slayer off.
His face came to within an inch of hers, his free hand sliding to her throat.
Sparks flew as his skin met hers and her fingers clasped his wrist.
“Who are you?” Slayer ground out between gritted teeth.
She spit on him.
I chuckled and Darma slammed a bony elbow into my ribs.
“Ouch!”
“You should be helping him, Astra.”
I snorted.
“I would ask you the same, halfling. What is your business here?”
Slayer apparently tightened his hand on her throat because the light show increased and Brina’s eyes looked a little buggier. “I am here to protect your queen. A task your court has been woefully inadequate in undertaking,” Slayer informed her in silken tones.
Brina’s slim body tightened and then flashed away. She came up behind Slayer, her thin, deadly rapier pressing the skin of his throat inward. “I am here to protect my queen, impudent halfling. Your services are not needed.”
After another nudge in my poor ribs from my sister’s knifelike elbow, I pushed away from the wall and strolled toward them. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him.” I grinned at Slayer and turned to Brina. “He’s a friend, Brina. Leave him alone.”
