Demonic Power
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Demonic Power
Rena Marks
Book 3 in the Wanton Sins series.
Holly Dewan has been to Hell. Not only was she kidnapped and carried through dimensions into a strange land called Luciefyiore, she’s told she’s a breed of demon with a rare power, the ability to trigger lust. The man who captured her is large and tight and sexy, with biceps the size of mountains. Eyes of green with horns to match. Temptation has never been sweeter.
Ace is a bounty hunter with one mission, to bring the demoness home. But the woman has tempted him with her lush curves and long, honey-brown hair. Her lips are full, her eyes a mysterious mix of sultry innocence. And he knows just how to trigger her wave of power—a blazing trail licked right down to her core.
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Demonic Power
ISBN 9781419930461
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Demonic Power Copyright © 2010 Rena Marks
Edited by Helen Woodall
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication September 2010
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
DEMONIC POWER
Rena Marks
Dedication
To Patricia Grubb, who understands that sometimes life is Hell…until we make it a better place.
The Three
Rena—Trisha—Monika
Three
little old ladies and their dogs
were
sitting on a park bench
having
a quiet conversation
when
a flasher approached from across the park.
The
flasher came up to the ladies,
stood
right in front of them
and
opened his trench coat.
Trisha
immediately had a stroke.
Then
Monika also had a stroke.
But
Rena, being older and more feeble,
couldn’t
reach that far.
—Author unknown
Prologue
What form would he take today? Ugh, it was so dreary to choose anymore. There was no one of importance around to appreciate the amount of power it took to change forms. And he had so much stored, he could expend the tiniest bit from his little pinkie with no repercussions.
That was the main reason why he spent his power to change his body. Proof that he was the lord and master. The most powerful being alive.
The only creatures native to where he was banished were these strange little, lizardlike scuttle demons. Dumb as stumps, there was barely any point in impressing them. Plus, lizardy forms were one of his favorites, but damned if he’d let them think he mimicked them.
Oh, it was definitely a thinking day. There weren’t many clarity days anymore. He would use this one to his full advantage. He would let loose his rage and figure a way out of this banishment.
The answer dawned on Enishka like a flash of lightning.
He’d been trapped for years, alone, on this no-good planet they called a moon. His face rearranged by a demon bitch, the eyes spread apart to the temples to keep him from focusing his laser beam on anyone ever again.
While the Council simply watched as she violated him. Not once did any of them intervene, just allowed her to do whatever she wished to him, the highest being in their dimension.
The Demon Lord.
But now he knew how to get them all back. How to enact revenge and how to set himself free to rightfully rule Luciefyiore again. For a Demon Lord always had an ace up his sleeve. Sure, they’d uncovered and punished him for the demon egg he’d once traded to a human. But what the council never knew was…there were more.
He’d call to her. The mixed-breed brat wouldn’t be able to refuse to heed him, especially if she didn’t know she carried demon genes. The traitorous demons in his own dimension would stab him in the back before he could even blink, but humans… Humans were sheep. Stupid creatures, so easily tricked. When the magnetic pull of a full moon occurred, he could access the insane ones who were kept in asylums. Send them to the demon spawn to bring her to him. No one would know. He’d keep her forever. Or until an army of his children were hatched and they’d devour her, ingesting her magic and magnifying it for his own use.
When his army was full grown, he’d attack both dimensions. He’d conquer both…
And then rule both.
Chapter One
What’s Meant to Be will Always Find a Way
Fear paralyzes.
Her fingers normally would move nimbly enough to insert a key into a lock rather quickly. But at this moment, the frozen digits stumbled, stiff as frostbitten extremities.
In the middle of summer.
Panic made her catch her breath as she pushed the door open, closing it behind her so quickly it slammed with a vicious thump, much like the heart against her ribs.
“Stop it,” she chided herself. “There is nothing out there that follows you. Nothing watches you. You’re just a big ole fraidy cat.”
She forced herself to peer out the peephole. As usual, nothing. Slowly the terror in her chest began to dissipate, loosen like a weight levitated from her rib cage. Was she paranoid? Or was something stalking her? Some sort of evil? Was it real? Or worse, in her head?
No, of course it was real.
“You think a lot of yourself, Holly,” she muttered under her breath, trying not to acknowledge the fact that she was switching on every lamp in the house. “Why would the resident evil pick you to stalk? There’s nothing unusual about you, no hidden money, nothing.”
Except for that thing.That thing that had happened during those frustrating teenage years. The thing that she’d never speak of again.
Thinking of the past… No, she wouldn’t think of it. She was jinxing herself by going there.
The air began to thicken around her and the china in her cabinet clattered noisily. The lamps around the room began to dance on the tables, the floor lamps swayed in an eerie dance.
The lights flickered on and off.
“Stop it!” she screamed, hands over her ears.
And all was still.
But would she ever be safe? From others or from herself? Refusing to think about the answer, she ran back out, completely forgetting it was once the dark she ran from. It always chased her.
She ran until she was out of breath and then stopped, inhaling enormous gulps of sweet air, filling her burning lungs with the wet chill from a nearby lake.
“Female!” A deep voice called out.
Holly Dewan turned toward it and gasped. The man was massive. Huge, broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist. Tight biceps the size of her head. He stood at least six feet seven inches. His hair was black and his eyes were the color of sea foam, a deep, murky green. A narrow nose. All in all, a gorgeous specimen.
With horns that match.
“I am here to protect you. Follow me.”
He turned away from her and began to walk away. Great. Another psycho, and was he really wearing costume horns? She watched him stomp off, knowing he was crazy if he truly expected her to follow. Why did she attract the insane?
She turned and headed quickly in the opposite direction.
But walking toward her was a man in dirty medical scrubs, who grabbed her arm as he babbled. “You. You have to come with me, I have to bring you to him.”
His hair was perhaps blond, but so dirty it looked brown, hanging in greasy, stringy clumps. When he smiled, gobs of yellowed teeth protruded, but the worst were his eyes. Watery, pale blue, they looked right through her. As if there was no will or brain behind them. With that, there could be no conscience. She tried to turn back, but he held on with a viselike grip.
“Let me go,” she gasped, jerking her arm from his tight grasp. His fingers were steel, squeezing the tender skin as she fought. “Stop it! Let me go,” her voice was shrill now, rising higher and higher with panic.
He pulled her along, babbling incoherently. “Nish-ka. Wants you to sail in a ship, sail on a cloud to the moon. The special moon, the red one, not yellow. Nisss, nish, nishka. Nishka.”
His grip was locked, not only hurting above her elbow where he squeezed but also nearly detaching her shoulder from its socket.
She was knocked to the ground suddenly, the air yanked from her lungs in the fall. She twisted her head around just in time to see a fist hit the face of her attacker. The first stranger who had wanted her to follow him.
And yes, he definitely had horns. They were murky, a pale shade of green and she felt like giggling. The horns would be good for jewelry. Shouldn’t green be a peaceful color? Not a fist-slam-in-the-face color? It was actually a beautiful shade. It matched the beauty of his piercing eyes.
* * * * *
She was out cold. He couldn’t believe she’d led that attacker on. What was she thinking, not following his instructions? He’d been very specific when he told her to follow him. Next thing he knew, he’d turned to see her moving in the opposite direction toward some whack job. Could she not tell the man had wandered from a human asylum? Did she not see the full moon?
Did she not know they were after her?
Slowly he stretched his neck to release the tension. Then he stooped to the unconscious female.
At least this time she’d do as he requested. He’d sling the weightless slip of a woman up over his shoulder. He’d follow his instructions and take her straight through the Gates of Hell.
Poor thing.
He was surprised she’d lived this long on her own. His gaze narrowed. Like most women, she’d probably existed on her looks. Her breasts were full and sweetly rounded, pushing up and over her neckline without being too obvious.
Not like the women in Luciefyiore, who exposed everything but their nipples. He decided he liked a little left to the imagination. And his imagination was running wild.
Her wavy hair was long and honey brown. Would it be light brown down below? Or would she be shaved lickably smooth? What would her heart-shaped ass feel like cupped in his palms? Would she like it squeezed as he thrust into her wet heat?
He shut off his train of thought as he reached down to impersonally pick up the woman. She was a job, nothing more.
* * * * *
Holly awoke upside down, her body jarring up and down. The pavement rolled up to greet her hazy line of vision and she realized she was slung over someone’s shoulder.
Someone with a tight ass.
Something wasn’t quite right with the world. Granted, she was upside down. She must have a concussion, because everything was eerie. As though she’d wandered into a world based on Halloween. A light misty fog rose from the ground and to her shocked brain, it looked as if the shadows danced to missing music.
Why were there shadows at night? Why did they sway to a voiceless song?
As they were coming up on a pay phone, she heard the shrill of ringing. Without pause, the man carrying her stepped into the booth and picked up the receiver.
“Yeah… I have her, she’s safe… No one saw, though she was accosted by a schizo… Yes, you know how to reach me, then.”
He hung up the phone and proceeded out of the booth.
Holly arched her back to try and raise herself. “Let me down!”
“No.”
That stumped her. But only for a moment.
She beat tiny fists on his tight rump but stopped when she felt the intimacy of the sexy, lean muscle beneath her hands. Because that was one thing she had to avoid to control herself. Desire. “Please.”
“Hold still. We’re almost there.”
“Where?”
“You talk too much,” he grumbled.
“I’m pretty sure this is illegal.”
“So sue me.”
“But…”
“Quiet.”
She wanted to warn him. There was someone chasing them. “Careful—”
He literally growled at her.
Holly screamed when she thought the attacker would accost them. The big man whirled around at her scream, setting her down in one swoop. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Dizziness made her sway, but she pointed behind them, from where they had been walking. “A man,” she gasped. “Following us.”
“Impossible. My gift is the sense of tracking. Why do you think they sent me for you?”
His words made no sense, not to her. So she insisted. “But I saw someone…” she gave a quick glance around. There was no one. Just a tree, planted alongside the sidewalk.
He looked exasperated as he grabbed her by the hand and hauled her along, walking quickly down the sidewalk again.
Even though shadows were constantly moving all around them, and she couldn’t explain why, she just felt it. This time she knew someone followed them. She jerked her head around to see.
The giant tree that had been planted had pulled up its roots and was walking upright behind them, with two branches waving like arms.
For the second time in her life, Holly Dewan passed out. This time the man who had been holding her hand caught her before she hit the ground.
* * * * *
She awoke, strangely enough, aware of her surroundings. She sat up in bed and saw the outline of her protector sitting in a chair.
For after seeing a walking tree, maybe her sanity was at stake. He couldn’t possibly be a kidnapper, not sitting there so calmly. Please, let him be her savior, and not a psychiatrist.
The words tumbled from her mouth. “Tell me I’m not crazy.”
He answered seriously enough. “I don’t think you’re crazy.” Yet his tone implied, I could be wrong.
It put her on the defensive. “Are you wearing a Halloween costume?”
One well-shaped eyebrow rose. “A hell what?”
“Not hell. Hall. Hall-o-ween. A costume?”
“I don’t understand what that is.”
She closed her eyes tight. “I am crazy.”
He leaned in, ever helpful. “I believe so. You were scared by a simple tree.”
She kept them shut, even though she wondered how close he was, and asked, “Why are you wearing horns?”
“I can lower them if they make you uncomfortable. I’m just more powerful while they’re raised. I needed all the reserve power to bring you here.”
One eye opened. Yikes, he was close enough to…kiss. No, not kiss. Don’t think of kissing. It could unleash… “Are you telling me you’re a…real demon?”
“What else would I be?”
“What else indeed?” sh
e parroted.
“Why did you faint?”
Oh, that. She clutched the sheet in her hand, twisting it. “Didn’t you see it? I thought someone was chasing us, but it was a…a walking tree!”
He looked blankly at her. “And?”
“You don’t get it. The tree, it pulled its roots up from the ground and they looked like feet. Two of its branches swung like arms. Like it was alive.”
“I take it plants don’t walk after dark on your Earth?”
“On Earth? Why are you referring to it as my Earth? Where the hell am I?”
“Luciefyiore.The demon dimension.”
“Hell?”
“Are you kidding me? I pulled you out of Hell, woman. That’s where I found you. Hell on Earth.”
“Found me? Why were you looking for me?”
He looked slightly wary. “Didn’t anyone tell you? You’re the most sought-after woman on the planet. Both dimensions. And baby, I’m a bounty hunter.”
She leaped from the bed, searching for the front of the house. Finding the door, she flung it open and stepped onto the porch.
He followed, as if curious to know what she’d do next.
She wondered herself.
She discovered one thing—he was right. This place definitely wasn’t Earth. Not with its reddish sky instead of blue. But the red wasn’t the color of a burning orange sunset on earth. It was more of a pink.
She’d never seen a baby-pink sky.
Defeated, she plopped onto a porch chair. “Why would I be sought after?”
“Because Enishka wants you.”
That name sounded familiar. Wait, that was what the lunatic had babbled. Nishka. “Who is he?”
“The demon lord. He’s been banished to one of our moons, but there’ve been rumors underground of his active search for you.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know. Lady, I don’t ask questions. I just get paid to deliver.”
“Deliver what? Who do you work for?”
“Caleb and Keara Van Trump.”