However, sometimes love has a will of its own.
"Why don't we go outside? I've got some appetizers set up on the deck?"
I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but it appeared as if the floor under Phil had started to slope downward. Plus we were all shoulder to shoulder in my tiny kitchen.
And I wanted everyone to see how cute it looked outside.
I'd found disposable pink trays with brown polka dots, brown plates with pink stripes and brown and pink checkered napkins. They complimented my porch furniture.
I knew Morgan would think it was all supremely girl, but I was supremely proud.
"I'll have another drink first." Désirée stopped petting Al, plucked her glass out of Phil's hand and downed the rest of her martini.
I wasn't the only one concerned. Al cocked his ears and Phil frowned.
Ash patted my back. "I'll make you another. Kate?"
I nodded absently at him. Looking closer at Désirée Norma-Sue, I realized she was tense. The hand clutching her glass a little white around the knuckles. The arm holding Al stiff and rigid.
It made me think her body glitter wasn't just a party accessory, but a cover up for her own lack of skin sparkle.
Damn it.
Things were obviously getting worse.
Phil picked up Désirée's free hand and rubbed it. I watched him, but other than the slight frown on his face, he didn't strike me as overly concerned.
She hadn't told him about her problems. Which meant I couldn't bring it up in front of everyone.
I promised myself I'd corner her inside, after I got everyone outside, and make her spill.
Ash finished mixing our cocktails just as the sun set.
"Morgan and Drake should be here soon."
The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Al stated as Désirée set him down. He lifted his lip as he neared Ash's boot and I snatched him up, juggling my glass and the Chihuahua.
"I'll go with you, Al." I knew Morgan could let herself in. He'd have to holler at her through the door though. He hated to do that.
"I thought you were gonna wear your new top." He licked me just under the chin.
"There were some problems with that top. I decided to go with this one." I nuzzled his head
"Ya look good, Doll." He'd already said that once. I looked down at him. He set one tiny paw on my cheek. "Real good."
He blinked his watery eyes at me. My stomach twisted with guilt. Here I was planning my big evening with Ash and figuring out how to get rid of Al for the evening and Al was . . . Damn it, Al was Al.
Impossibly in love with me.
I sighed.
The doorbell interrupted my train of thought.
I reached for the door with the hand holding my martini glass. Paused. Looked at Al in my other arm.
"Come on in."
The door burst open. I'm surprised she even waited. It may have had something to do with Drake's arms - one wrapped around her waist and the other hand covering her mouth.
Morgan was dressed head to toe in bright flaming red. Her sunset hair practically levitated around her flawless face. Eyes narrowed into piercing slits of emerald green.
Morgan was killing mad.
Not a good thing for a vampire.
"Um." My wide eyes met Drake's. He shook his head. And tightened his grip.
Shit.
"What's up, Morgan?" Of course, the hit man was calm.
She mumbled something I was glad I couldn't hear and kicked backwards, nailing Drake in his shins.
Ouch. Her blood-red boots had five inch spikes for heels.
Drake winced. "Morgan, calm down. I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation." He jostled her from side to side. "Let's hear what he has to say first."
First? What did she want to do after?
One quick glance at her eyes told me I didn't want to know. She had blood, possible dismemberment and definite mayhem on her agenda.
I cuddled Al closer. I was fairly certain Drake didn't mean him, but frankly, Morgan was scaring me.
"Who . . .?" I never got to finish my question. Morgan kicked again while yanking on Drake's arms. He was forced to let go.
I felt a sudden slap of cold wind and heard her shout from the kitchen. "Did you think we wouldn't find out?"
Another slap of wind and I was standing by myself holding Al.
I slammed the door closed and dashed down the hall. I hit Drake's back the moment I entered the kitchen.
Damn it. I knew my kitchen wouldn't hold all of us.
Who the hell was Morgan yelling at?
"Did you think I wouldn't dig until I knew the truth? Did you think you could just show up out of the blue and no one would be suspicious?"
I couldn't see at all over Drake's shoulder and there wasn't enough room in the doorway to edge around him.
Was Morgan yelling at Phil or Ash? And what had her so lethally furious?
"Were you ever planning to tell her?" Who? Désirée or me? Could Phil possibly be behind Désirée's nerves?
"I know exactly who you are, Asmodeus. Or do you prefer Ashmedai?"
Asmodeus? Ashmedai?
Ash.
Drake shifted and I realized he'd been blocking me on purpose. Once he moved I was able to see the confrontation taking place.
Phil stood on the far side of my kitchen in front of Désirée, between her and the door to my porch, protecting her with his body.
In the middle of the tiny space Ash and Morgan faced off. From her flame hair to her scarlet boots, Morgan appeared to be awash in blood. In direct contrast, all in black, Ash loomed over her like the dark angel of death. Small bursts of flames rode along his shoulders.
The force of Morgan's anger enveloped the room, pushing outward, against our bodies, the very walls.
"Morgan?"
I kept my eyes on her. I'd seen his body jerked as if hit by a searing lash when she'd yelled his name. His name. Not Ash, or at least not the full name. His name was Asmodeus. Or Ashmedai.
I had a very bad feeling.
"What is going on?" I watched Morgan closely. It was better than looking at Ash.
"Ash has been hiding something." Morgan drilled her finger into the middle of Ash's chest.
He had a longer name than Ash. I got that part already. Morgan wouldn't be so enraged over a name.
"You know he's a demon lord." Yes I did. This was not news. I kind of liked that fact. My own personal demon lord. Sexy.
"Did he ever tell you which one?"
My bad feeling started to get worse.
Aunt Tabs had informed me there were seven demon lords. One for each sin.
Wiccans and Christians weren't always on the same page with their beliefs, plus there was that whole burning and drowning witches episode a few decades ago as witchcraft was supposed to be evil. Those type of things tend to linger in a witch's memory.
As a result, I wasn't up to date on the bible. The exact nature of each deadly sin to be specific.
Frankly, I hadn't thought it mattered. What did his sin have to do with me?
"Ash is the demon lord Asmodeus. Lord of Lust." Morgan turned to face me. "He's been manipulating you all along, Kate."
13. The Demon King.
Used.
Ash had been using me all along. Using his sin to manipulate me into wanting him.
That's what Morgan meant.
I understood that.
But it didn't make sense.
Why would a gorgeously sexy demon lord seduce a half-bred chunky witch?
I could see it if I looked like Morgan. Males of all species wanted her. She was beautiful. Alluring. Deadly. It made her all that more attractive to men.
I wasn't Morgan. I wasn't incredibly sexy. I didn't turn heads when I went into a bar. I didn't get the free drinks. I didn't cause men to stop dead in their tracks.
I wasn't resentful. But I knew myself. My limits.
That's what made my relationship with Ash so incredibly special. He'd
picked me, the chubby half-breed over the alluring vampire.
Ash had never even looked once at Morgan. His amber eyes heated only for me.
He hadn't needed anything else to seduce me, I'd fallen for him within a heartbeat. Taken one look at his pewter horns, his scars and his incredible body and melted faster than the Wicked Witch of the West.
"His sin is lust. So what?" I didn't mean to hurl the question at Morgan like a steel gauntlet. She was my UDBF. We might be at slight odds, but she had my back.
But this . . . This stabbed directly into each and every one of my insecurities.
"It's not just lust, Kate." Morgan took a deep breath. Her hands balled into pale fists at her sides. "He takes a person's lust and twists it. Twists their desires. Uses their deepest and darkest against them."
Oh shit.
I'd been fascinated by the new kinky side of me, the previously undiscovered and unknown side of me, who'd come to life with Ash.
I'd thought I was becoming comfortable with myself, coming to terms with the whole witch, allowing her to reign supreme in a relationship I felt valued in. A relationship I wanted and was willing to fight for.
If Morgan was right, none of that was true.
Had it all been a lie? A trick to get me . . . Where? Into his bed? And then what?
"He's not just the Demon Lord of Lust. He's also the King of Demons. He commands all the other demons and their sins."
Call me Wicked, but, Spirits, that just tugged all the bristles on my broom. Ash was not just a demon lord, he was King of the Demons.
Should I call him master?
"Kate!" I re-focused on Morgan. Right. This was a bad thing. Somehow. If Ash had been using his sin to control me, to become involved in a relationship with me then that was not good. Was it?
It depended on his reasoning.
Again, I was a half-bred witch. Nothing special. I couldn't help him in hell. I couldn't help him anywhere really. For the life of me, I couldn't see any angle that benefited him by becoming involved with me.
And yet . . . He hadn't said anything.
Not one word since Morgan lashed out with her accusations.
What did that mean?
"Ash?"
He was the only one with the answers.
He stared at Morgan. Glared at her.
He wouldn't look at me.
"Ash."
I didn't ask him this time. He wasn't the type of demon to avoid confrontation.
"Is this true? Did you use your sin to seduce me?" I wanted to laugh. I really did. It was waiting there, right below the mounting suspicion, ready to be set free and laugh at these crazy accusations.
Waiting for Ash to tell me it was all a lie.
"Yes."
A little piece of my heart broke. Ripped apart and shattered. Into a zillion tiny pieces.
I struggled to keep my head up. I couldn't look at anyone else.
My back hit the wall. I didn't remember taking a step back. Didn't remember uttering a sound. Or crossing my arms over my chest to protect myself. Foolish gesture.
There wasn't any point. I'd been slain open with one word. One nauseating word. One horrible, unbelievable word.
"You set me up? You arranged for us to meet? To become involved?"
I couldn't just kick him out the door. No. Not me. I had to drag the awful truth out of him. In front of witnesses. Laid bare and naked for everyone to see.
"Yes."
There it was. That word again.
Nothing else. No explanation. No emphatic defense. No denials.
Ash lifted his head. Cool amber met my eyes.
"I did plan to meet you. I knew who you were before we were introduced and I used my power to seduce you, to draw you to me."
A part of me, the small one that refused to let another piece of my heart break, another piece of me shatter, started to harden. Like a broken bone growing more calcium to strengthen the break, attempting to protect the break, heal the wound.
Making it stronger than it had been before.
"Stop." I held out one hand, then just as quickly wrapped it around my chest. "Don't say another word. Just leave."
I didn't want to hear anything else.
He'd said enough.
He'd met me due to some agenda he had. Some secret reason.
Ash hadn't taken one look at me and fallen hard. He knew what he was about. He'd planned it all.
The reason didn't matter any more. It would only make it worse. And I couldn't handle anything worse when my life was already falling into bits and pieces.
I'd been targeted my entire life by people who wanted to hurt me. Mock me. Make me less.
You'd think I would expect it at this point.
"Kate."
I refused to look at him. It just didn't matter.
I'd fallen for him and Ash . . . Ash had his secret agenda.
Drake shifted. "You need to leave."
"Yeah, Ass. You need to get the hell out of here."
Morgan might have echoed Drake and Al. I wasn't sure. There was a ringing in my ear. A loud buzzing that began to take up all of my concentration.
I thought it started in my ears, but I was wrong. It actually started in my toes. A funny, shaking vibration. And it didn't stop there.
It moved to my ankles, my calves then my entire legs. I'd never experienced anything like it before. As if I was slowly being enveloped in a giant bee-hive. Ten hives. A thousand.
The vibration rattled my hips. My ribcage.
"Kate?"
Morgan had her hands tight to my shoulders. She shook me. Funny. I didn't know when she approached me. I was still trying to figure out the bee-hive.
"I'm sorry."
I nodded.
I knew she was. She wanted to protect me. She'd hurt me once. She hadn't wanted to do it again.
I got it. It just didn't matter right now.
She frowned at me, opened her mouth. "She needs to be alone, Morgan." Drake wrapped an arm around her waist. He used the other to pull her hand off my shoulders.
A burst of cold air and Drake and I stood together in the hall.
"Everyone else is gone." I nodded some more, vaguely aware Drake was talking to me gently as if I was a child. "She didn't mean to hurt you."
Morgan hadn't hurt me. Ash had.
There was another burst of cold air.
The buzzing vibration hit my upper chest. My shoulders and neck. It swallowed me whole.
"Doll?" Al patted my cheek with his paw.
I didn't remember falling down.
"Doll? You're shakin' pretty bad." A small warm tongue licked my lips. "Don't worry. It's just us. I won't let anything bad happen to ya."
He meant now. Al must mean he wouldn't let anything bad happen to me now.
Because it couldn't get much worse.
I'd fallen for a demon. He'd used me.
I knew my coven was cursed to fail in love. I'd grown up with stories of the horrible things that happened when we ignored the curse. I'd even tested it myself a time or two.
I hadn't understood.
Not even a tiny bit.
If I had, I would have run far and long.
I never would have given that demon the time of day. Never would have planned to go to battle for him. For us.
I hadn't an inking of what love actually was.
Had not a single clue of what it truly meant.
To give everything. To offer up the foundation, the utter essence of yourself to another person. To chance it all.
If I had, if I'd known, I never would have risked it.
I never would have held out that hope.
Look where it left me. Crumbled in my hall. Shaking, lost and without purchase. Cradling the one constant in my life, because if I let go, then the rest of me would follow.
Vibrate apart into tiny pieces and float away into nothing.
"I got ya, Doll."
I slumped onto the cold wood floor. Al curled into my neck and I grabbed him
on reflex. Held him tight to my skin. I couldn't get up. Couldn't move.
Every inch of me shook.
So I just laid there and held onto him. As if my life depended on it.
14. Lost.
I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders. It didn't help. I couldn't seem to get warm.
Al lay curled up on my lap underneath the blanket.
We were out on my deck.
I wasn't sure of the time. Didn't care. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't seem to breath inside. So we were outside. Sitting.
The pretty trays of appetizers still sat where I'd placed them hours ago. The food stone cold and a total waste.
I hadn't bothered to turn on the lights. Didn't want to see the lonely remains of what had been.
Clouds had moved in about an hour ago, obscuring the stars and what little light kept me company.
I tried to care. Tried to tell myself this was nothing new. How many times had I been alone? Even with the few friends I had, I was still an outcast. Not part of their group. Any group.
And I'd been fine with that. There wasn't anything I could do about it anyways. I'd made my peace. Carved out my place in two different worlds.
Created a business that made a difference in people's lives.
And now I'd made a mockery of my own.
A matchmaking witch who couldn't see the truth about her own love life? Did I even know what I was doing?
How could I be so completely fooled?
I'd known Ash was hiding things from me. I knew he had some sort of sin. I honestly hadn't thought any of that had to do with me.
No one ever went out of their way to be close to me.
Although Morgan had. She'd had her own agenda too.
What kind of witch was I, if I couldn't trust my own intuition?
I'd failed all the way around.
There was a ball in my chest. A tight fist of pain, welling and growing. I knew if I let it out, I'd feel a little better. I might be able to breathe.
But for the life of me, I couldn't get it to move. Couldn't shed a single tear. Like my inner well had dried up completely and there was nothing left but barren dirt.
"Kate."
Maybe a part of me had been waiting for him. Maybe some part knew it wasn't fully finished between us. Maybe I just didn't give a shit.
But I didn't jump or startle when he spoke my name.
Demons Don't Always Tell The Truth (Kate Storm Series Book 3) Page 8
