by Susan Hayes
“Aye, maybe we will.” Back in control of his emotions, Alistair gave her a grin. “But before we worry about breaking enchantments and such, I’ll need to be stronger.” Amusement and desire gleamed in his eyes as he stared into Keri’s. “Do you think you can help me with that?”
Keri laughed and twined her arms around his neck. “Oh, I imagine I could. Just how much stronger do you need to be before you can try to free yourself?”
His grin grew wicked and he lowered his lips to hers, punctuating his words with heated kisses. “Much, much, much, stronger. It could take ages to get there.”
“Such a hardship this will be.” She laughed in answer.
***
CHAPTER 5
Keri was in her kitchen taking stock of her morning’s work: bacon, eggs, fresh cured ham steaks and hash browns had all been prepared in the hour since she’d woken up. Feeling achy and well loved, she’d left Alistair sleeping and grabbed a hot shower, basking in the heat as it eased muscles she hadn’t known she had until last night. She was full of energy this morning, despite getting only a few hours of sleep between rounds of the most amazing sex she’d ever had. When not even her singing in the shower had woken her sleeping lover she’d decided to cook him breakfast.
“I think you got a bit carried away.” She laughed at herself as she eyed the counter full of food. She’d also brewed coffee, adding to her energy level as the caffeine hit her system.
Not sure how daemons preferred their coffee, she tossed milk and sugar onto the tray and went to lift it, then set it back down. “Well hell, that’s not going to work.” She pondered for a moment and then grinned and headed for the bedroom.
She entered quietly, and then smiled as she noticed him watching her from beneath dark lashes. “Good morning.”
Alistair left the bed, gathering her up in his arms and kissing her senseless. “Now it’s a wonderful morning.”
It took her a moment to register anything other than the rush of heat that flowed through her the moment his lips touched hers, but as he lifted his head to let her catch her breath she took in his height, stunned to realize he towered over her five foot three frame by more than a foot at least. He made her feel positively petite as he held her.
As her fingers smoothed over his chest she also realized he had gotten dressed. “How—where did you find clothes?” She leaned back to see him better and saw that his shirt was fastened with ties, not buttons and his pants were a soft fabric she didn’t recognize.
His lips curved into a smile. “There are advantages to being a daemon.”
“I’ll say there are. So can you dress in anything you can imagine? Or are you conjuring this up from some magical closet back in your own plane of existence?”
“No closet, this is part of the same ability that lets me change my appearance.”
“Nice trick, if I could do that I’d save a fortune in clothes.” Keri fingered the fabric curiously, then remembered why she’d come into the bedroom.
“If you like I thought we could eat outside. There’s a deck just through the french doors, and its close enough you would be able to sit out there. I just need to ask one really stupid question.” She gestured outside. “Sunlight isn’t going to make you dissolve or turn to dust or anything is it?
Alistair burst out laughing and shook his head. “I’m not a vampire thank you, I’m an incubus! I don’t run around sucking blood, that’s disgusting.”
“Well I don’t have my Demonology guide handy, how was I to know?”
Keri’s cheeks heated and shooed him out of her way so she could open the doors, letting the morning breeze in. The room instantly filled with the scent of lavender and growing things. A small glass and wrought iron table sat out on the cedar deck, accompanied by several matching chairs.
You grab a chair and I’ll go get breakfast.” As she headed for the door she glanced back and said, “And I’m glad you’re not a vampire. I’m not sure I’d be willing to let you suck me dry just to get your strength back.”
She could hear him laughing all the way back to the kitchen.
Coming back, she watched as Alistair paced out the distance carefully, looking pleased as he walked what she assumed must be the limits of his prison. When she moved again he came to meet her, taking the overloaded tray from her the moment he saw how much she was carrying. “I have that, I’m sorry I can’t of more help.” His golden brown eyes showed regret and a flash of irritated pride as he set the tray down and pulled out a chair for her to sit in.
“It’s alright, I understand. You just did more than my husband did in all the years we were together, thank you.”
She sat gracefully and tucked an errant curl behind her ear before gesturing to the tray. “I know I made an awful lot of food given I’m on a diet and you don’t even need to eat, but I like to cook and I haven't had anyone to cook for in a long time.”
“We do not need to eat, but we still enjoy it. Everything looks wonderful, and you should not be on a diet.” Alistair’s eyes rove over her body, his desire for her very evident in his gaze. “You are beautiful Keri, any man who thinks otherwise is a fool. All women have their own unique beauty, it has been a source of never ending confusion to my kind that mortal men fail to see this. It’s why we have prospered on this plane, there are so many women unclaimed or neglected by their men.”
He filled a plate with food and handed it to Keri before filling one of his own.
“You said you had a husband, do you not have one anymore?”
Keri took the plate with a bemused smile and pushed a mug of coffee towards him. “He decided he wanted a newer model.” She quipped and then stopped as she saw his confused expression.
“He divorced me to be with someone new, a woman much younger and prettier than I am.” She explained as she poured a dollop of milk into her coffee and sipped it. “We were married just over ten years, and he walked away from it all as if none of it mattered, like I never mattered. At least he was fair; the settlement gave me more than enough to live on for the rest of my life. To get it, all I had to do was stay quiet and not fight the divorce. I guess he’d be one of those men you said your kind doesn’t understand.”
She shrugged slightly, trying to keep her voice light and hide the pain that still rose up when she thought about Brent and what had happened. “You said you prospered on this plane, does that mean there are others?”
“I’m sorry Keri, I didn’t mean to cause you upset.” His hand reached across the small table to brush a tear from her cheek. “To answer your question, yes, there are other planes; a great many others. Some are much like this one, some are wildly different, and all have their beauties and their dangers. Some are certain death for my kind, and others, like yours are similar enough that some elders believe long ago our species were closely related, two planes that intersected or developed in parallel. No one is sure how or why, but as far as I know your race is one of very few that can bear children of mixed blood, human and daemon.”
Keri blinked and set down the forkful of egg she had been about to eat. “What? We can have children? I could have your baby?”
“My kind does not often conceive children, but yes, it is possible.”
“You knew that and you— we didn’t use any protection! You should have warned me! I was barely able to think last night with everything that happened, but you knew!” Keri pushed back from the table, hurt and anger twisting like serpents in her stomach.
“You are not fertile right now; there was no risk of a child.” Alistair left his seat and came around to crouch beside her, his hand on her thigh. “This body is not like yours Keri, I carry no disease. I swore to you last night I would not harm you, and I meant that. You are the only being in all the planes I can talk to, I would never hurt you.” His gaze met hers, “I’m sorry I said what I did. I could have handled that much better.”
She knew her cheeks were red from the heat in them, and she could feel the tears
that stung her eyes, but she managed to take a slow breath and as she crammed all her lost dreams for a family back into their box and mentally slammed the lid closed again.
“I’m sorry I reacted so badly, It’s just that I haven’t been with anyone since my divorce, and it only now occurred to me how reckless I was last night.” She reached out, her fingers brushing over his brow and stroking the horns he had left unhidden. “We’re going to find a way to free you and then you’re going to go back to your family. I’m not sure I’d be up for raising a half demon baby all alone.”
“Children born to my kind and yours are called cambions. They are mortal, but have many of the abilities of their daemonic parent. Sorcerers, seers and other psychics among your kind are almost always cambions or their descendants. The gifts vary depending on the type of daemon involved.” Alistair turned his head and brushed a kiss to her wrist. “If it were to happen Keri, I would never leave you to raise my child alone. I give you my word.”
“How do you know you haven't already left children behind to be raised by their mothers?”
“I would know, it is part of what I am. We know when our bloodline has been continued. You are not pregnant and I have never been given the gift of fatherhood. I was the first son to be born to my father in a thousand years, my House values our children above all else because they are so rare.”
“Brent, my ex-husband, always told me he wanted children some day. He knew I wanted a family, but he went and had a vasectomy in secret, kept it hidden from me for years. It was only when I wanted to look into fertility treatments, convinced that there was something wrong with me that he finally confessed.”
“He had something done to stop him from fathering children?” Alistair’s voice was full of outrage and horror. “He did this deliberately and then hid it from you? What sort of man does this?”
“He was a selfish ass who didn’t want anything or anyone to mess up his perfect life.” Keri couldn’t hide the hurt and anger she was feeling, but even as she felt it rise within her she realized it was less than it had been before. In a moment of intuition she leaned down and kissed Alistair, passionate and tender at the same time. “He’s nothing at all like you.”
Her words seemed to affect him deeply and Alistair made a low noise of need as he gathered her close, hauling her off the chair and against his chest. Their meal, their conversation all forgotten but as they kissed again and again.
She tangled her fingers into his hair and laughed as he overbalanced and they both landed in a tangled heap on the deck, Keri sprawled on top of him. Even as they fell she sensed him positioning himself so that his body cushioned hers and he held her close, protecting her.
“Breakfast is up there,” Laughter burbled up inside her and she found herself grinning. “So why are we down here?”
Strong hands cupped her cheeks and he drew her down to kiss her again. “You kissed me, and we ended up here. This is entirely your doing.”
“My fault? The big strong daemon is going to blame the itty-bitty mortal woman for this?” She teased him, her cheeks flushed with laughter.
“Aye, I am. And if you keep protesting your innocence I may keep you down here until breakfast is cold.”
“Oh no, we don’t want to do that. Well, maybe we do, but if that happens then I won’t get around to showing you the world for hours, and I suspect you’d like to see what you’ve been missing.” Keri beamed. “So, what’s it going to be?”
Alistair groaned at having to choose, “Can’t we do both?” Even as he complained he sat up and lifted her up and off his body, settled her gently on the deck beside him. He then leaned in to steal another kiss before standing up and helping her to her feet.
“Very well then, first we will break our fast, then you will show me the world, and then my beautiful Keri, I am going to pleasure you out here in the garden.” He pulled out her seat and guided her into it before taking his own. “Does this meet with your approval?”
She met his eyes from across the table and nodded. “It’s a wonderful plan.”
*****
Alistair indulged himself with the meal, savoring every mouthful as he enjoyed Keri’s quiet company and the unadulterated joy of being corporeal and free of the void. After they had eaten she had taken his hand and led him to the bathroom. More than anything else, this room was a stark reminder of how long he had been away. Hot water at the turn of a tap, sweet smelling soaps and lotions all neatly stored in their bottles and boxes, even the massive mirror that claimed much of one wall, these were great luxuries in the time he’d come from. “Are you wealthy?”
She stood up, a toothbrush still encased in some sort of clear wrapping in one hand and a clean wash cloth in the other. “What? Wealthy? Not really. Why?” She handed him the items and gave him a puzzled look.
“It’s hard to imagine everyone lives this way now. Things have changed so much. When I was last on this plane only someone of great wealth could have afforded such luxury.” He gestured around them.
“You’ll get used to it.” She murmured and kissed his cheek tenderly. “I’ll help you.”
After she had gone he could still hear her out in the bedroom, clearing away the remains of the meal she had cooked for him. As he washed his face he let his fingers linger where she had kissed his cheek, and he wondered why a woman of Keri’s sweet nature and gentle beauty remained alone in the world.
He examined the shower but opted to postpone using it until he could convince Keri to join him. Grinning at the image of the two of them entangled under a stream of hot water, he stepped back into the bedroom and blinked at the changes she’d wrought in a short time.
Keri gestured for him to join her by the bed. “It’s not exactly top of the line technology, but I’ve brought the television and DVD player in here, and I’m just going to set up my laptop in a moment. Fortunately I convinced my grandmother to join the modern world a few years ago, so we have Internet access and even wifi.”
Alistair felt as though Keri were speaking in a strange new language. “Wifi? DVD? You are speaking in riddles woman. What is all this?”
She beamed at him, “This is how I am going to show you the world. Now you go get comfy on the bed and I’ll be able to show you what I mean in just a minute.”
Alistair sprawled out on the bed, a spike of lust spearing through him as she bent over to plug in the laptop cabling, giving him a view of her sweetly curved ass.
“There are so many things I could be exploring while lying on this bed. Are you sure you want to start with this Internet contraption?”
She ignored his suggestion with a laugh and continued fiddling with cables until a chirp and a flashing light made her crow with success. She carried the laptop back to the bed and set it down between them. “If we don’t stick to the plan now, I suspect it will be hours before we remember what the plan even was.”
“Well that is likely true.” He idly ran a hand down the curve of her hip, but his eyes were already on the laptop screen. “So what is this little wonder?”
Keri took his hand and placed it over the external mouse, showing him how to move the cursor, her fingers lying atop his as she taught him the basic elements of computer navigation. At first he struggled, not with the concept, but with the shifts in language and spelling since last he’d attempted to read on this plane.
Soon though, he had mastered enough to grasp the gist of the information presented to him, a veritable flood of history, politics, war and advancement that spanned his entire absence. Keri stayed at his side for the next two hours, her soft voice coaching him through the more difficult passages, helping him to make sense of what he was seeing, keeping him grounded when he felt overwhelmed by it all.
When his eyes glazed over from his efforts to focus she shut down the laptop and turned on the television. Fascinated, he played with the remote, flipping channels and altering the volume over and over again. “That is why men don’t get control of the remote
control.” She finally announced, laughing as she retrieved the device from his hand. “You’re like a little boy in a candy shop! Just one show at a time Alistair or you’ll make us both dizzy.”
She selected a channel that specialized in science and discovery programs and left it playing, the volume quiet enough they could converse.
He pointed to the screen, where a narrator was describing the processing of some sort of frozen meals on a massive scale. “Your people have made great advancements while I was away, and yet you are still much as you were. I would never have imagined it.”
“If you’re tired of my world, you could tell me about yours. I want to know what it’s like.”
He flipped the television off and drew Keri into his arms, laying them both back into the pillows. One arm curled around her, holding her close while the other smoothed through her hair, coaxing her head to come down on his chest.
When her body was fitted to his he felt a wave of contentment wash over him.
“We have many of the same things you do here, trees and lakes, mountains and seas that seem to go on forever. But there are many differences as well. The greatest difference though, is what you would call magic. In Daemos, magic is part of everyday life, we are born to it. It is incorporated into our homes and cities; the land itself resonates with it. Here there are only a few places were the magic seeps through, and only those with daemonic blood can wield it.” He felt her stir against him, her arm slipping over his stomach to hold him.
“Would you take me there someday? When we find a way to free you?”
Alistair sighed, “I wish I could, but no one has found a way to bring your race through the veil that divides the planes. Only my kind and some of the known cambions can manage it. Attempting to shift planes is fatal to humans, it would kill you, beautiful girl.”
