by Terry Spear
Almost immediately he appeared, and she wondered then why they hadn’t had to return to Dallas first to be close to where he lived.
“I was trying to track you down, Alana,” Bentos said, his smile smug. He turned his attention to Hunter and shook his head. “When will you call just to visit me as any good son would?”
Hunter offered a disgruntled snort.
Bentos smiled. “It is good that I admire you, son. It is not often a demon has a half-human child he can be proud of. None of our kind has ever worked with a Kubiteron gate guardian.” He cast a glance at Alana’s father.
“You can’t have Alana,” her father said to Bentos.
“Come now, Pappalios. You would not deny my claim to her.”
“She’s already been claimed, and she’s returned the interest.”
“Yeah, and she beat on my chest to prove it,” Hunter said, sounding proud of the fact.
“I… why you arrogant jerk!” Alana’s face flamed and the heat quickly consumed her. “I had to start your heart—twice. I should have let Samson beat on you.”
“I’m her match,” Samson said to her father, his chest puffed out. “It has to be a Samuria.”
Indigo swept around her, chilling her. She’d forgotten all about him. “Tarn’s dead now. You have avenged your murder. You can leave this world now.”
“Kubiteron.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. You want to find peace.”
“With you.” Then Indigo slipped away.
Jared pointed at the warlock. “What do we do with him?”
“I can’t wipe a warlock’s mind, but maybe my uncle or his mentor or someone else they know might.” Alana turned to her father. “What did you mean that my mother was telling me a story about you?”
“She couldn’t tell you I was her demon lover, not until you began to experience your demonic abilities. Then when I said I’d take you away to learn your skills, she panicked and tried to hide you from me. She worried I’d take you to the demon world and never return. She’d hoped your uncle could teach you skills to keep you away from me. I knew where’d you’d gone and watched you.”
“Even in the swamp?”
Her father’s ears turned a little red. “Some of the times I lost you, I have to admit. You’re hard to keep up with.”
“So you loved my mother.”
He bowed his head.
Her heart shot straight to the ceiling. “Always?”
“Yes, Alana. And watched you grow all these years. You didn’t give the boy a nosebleed in class when you were nine. You were too young to use any of your abilities, witch or demon. I did.”
Ohmigod, if she’d only known. “I would have made you a Father’s Day card.”
“It was enough to watch you grow.”
“You can cloak yourself like Jared?”
“Yes.”
Hunter groaned. His father dug his extended claws across Hunter’s chest. She cringed at the sight and wished she could have healed Hunter instead.
“What about him?” Jared pointed at Connor, still passed out on the floor.
“I’ll call Caroline and tell her to get some help for him,” her father said.
“So, what do we do now?” Jared ran his hands through his disheveled hair. “We’ve gotten rid of the Matusas who were causing trouble. Your uncle has destroyed all the summoning books they could get hold of. It’s still summer vacation and—”
“We have a week left at the Paradise Lodge,” Hunter said, rubbing his chest.
“I wouldn’t mind riding some of the rides.” Samson smiled.
Alana nodded. “I’m game.” It would be much more fun than returning to her uncle’s home and practicing more spells. “Besides, I need to remove a couple of barriers I erected the last time we were there.”
“I’ll let your mother know where you’re going for a week,” her father said.
“I’ve got to help a couple of other ghosts leave here and Trendy Donuts.”
“What about Indigo?” Jared asked.
Alana lifted a shoulder. He’d helped them fight the sinister Matusas. If he didn’t bother anyone and didn’t want to leave Earth world yet, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
***
After exorcising the ghosts at the mansion and donut shop and saying goodbye to her father, who she intended to give a Dad’s Day card to in a couple of weeks, they boarded a flight to Orlando.
Exhausted, everyone slept for part of the flight, until Alana felt too chilled. She reached up and turned off the overhead air vents, then felt the cold brush against her cheek.
Slumping against the seat, she pulled the thin airline blanket higher. Maybe she wouldn’t have to tell anyone about her secret admirer. She hoped she wouldn’t have to try and exorcise him anytime soon, figuring he might be more than she could handle.
She glanced at Hunter who frowned at her. “What?” she asked, totally annoyed.
“You brought him with us, didn’t you?”
“Who?”
Hunter wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Frosty the ghost. But don’t worry. I’ll keep your fires burning.”
“You are so—”
“Yeah, and you love me for it. Admit it, Alana. You beat my heart right into submission just like any good demon mate would.”
Indigo came back for another pass, and Hunter tightened his hold on Alana. She smiled. Never in a million years did she think being half-demon could feel so right. Her world would never be perfect, but she figured right this very minute, it wasn’t half bad.
###
About the Author:
Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance and continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars and also writes new YA books. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear. And on Wordpress at:
Terry Spear's Shifters
http://terryspear.wordpress.com/
An Excerpt from:
DEMON TROUBLE TOO
Book 2
(Demon Guardian Series)
by
Terry Spear
PUBLISHED BY:
Terry Spear
Copyright © 2010 by Terry Spear
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief
quotations in a review.
Discover more about Terry Spear at:
http://www.terryspear.com/
Chapter 1
Alana Fainot slumped at her desk in calculus class, Day One, hating that she had to be here when she was probably needed to save the world. Somewhere.
Certainly, advanced math was not required in her line of work. Most of all, she hadn’t wanted to return to Baltimore to her old high school to complete her senior year. Her mother had insisted she leave her uncle’s home in Dallas to return to live with her. Normally, Alana would have been bemoaning the fact she had to stay with her neat-nic uncle for any length of time.
Everything had changed once she had learned she was half Kubiteron demon, not just a witch, and that she had a mission—keep the demons from entering the world when a portal was called forth by some clueless human.
She still wasn’t really fond of the idea that she had to guard the gates and send the demons back, particularly when the nasty-tempered Matusa entered. They were dangerous
and most of the time deadly, and she really didn’t think she could deal with one strictly on her own.
Which was another reason she hated returning to Baltimore.
She’d had to leave Hunter behind. Half Matusa and half pain in the butt, he was a first class demon hunter. As much as she hated to admit that she needed anyone, she needed him. Well, his protection when it came to dealing with Matusa. Not that she couldn’t deal with them in part. But she really needed him at her side when she did. She tried to tell herself that was the only reason she couldn’t quit thinking about him.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Jared, either. He was a lesser demon in the pecking order in the demon world, a full-blooded Elantus that were usually pretty good-natured. So she’d heard.
Except when it came to her. She outranked him in demon order, but was a less powerful demon than Hunter. Every demon was less powerful than a Matusa.
Jared still believed she’d be the death of Hunter, and so he’d held a major grudge against her. Although sometimes he riled Hunter by showing he really cared for Alana, more in a girlfriend/boyfriend way. Not that Alana was buying it, either. She figured it was more of a way of his causing trouble between her and Hunter.
To her amusement, it did. Was Hunter jealous? Nah. He couldn’t be.
The two of them weren’t the only reason she didn’t want to return to Baltimore though.
She hated it here because she was the only witch in the whole school. Courtesy of being only half witch. Because she was also half demon. So, she really didn’t fit in. She hadn’t really been working on her witch’s spells like she should have been either, resenting that she wasn’t all human. Until she discovered that that wasn’t the only problem she had. How many kids her age could claim half demon heritage? Two that she knew of. Hunter and her.
Then she had the problem with being pulled to portals opening when humans, sometimes warlocks or witches, summoned demons into their world. She was drawn to them in a really weird way—teleported in mind, body, and soul, kind of. Yet, she wasn’t physically there. Except everyone saw her there. And she could even speak to them. Talk about weirding everybody out, including herself.
Just chalk it up to being really bizarre. The good thing was no one could hurt her in her astral form. The bad part was that sometimes the demon came looking for her afterwards if she had witnessed something—like murder—that he didn’t want announced to the whole wide world. Not that she’d be dumb enough to tell the world that she’d witnessed a demon murder his summoner. How dumb did a Matusa think she could be?
Oh, and yeah, then she had this other slight problem. All demons were attracted to the Kubiteron females. Like she had some kind of pheromones that called out to the male demons, saying, I’m interested if you are. Only she wasn’t. And it really ticked her off that she couldn’t control that aspect of herself.
Which, in circumspect was probably another reason Jared sometimes acted as though he liked her. She had this automatic demon perfume designed to get their attention. Even if deep down, he didn’t want to have anything to do with her.
But right now, she was stuck in calculus class. Not only had her mother insisted she leave her uncle’s home in Dallas, but he had also. She suspected he couldn’t deal with all the trouble she’d brought to his home. Demons were real. She was a bona fide half demon. Yep. She’d turned his whole world upside down. Since he was a high level warlock, not much did. In his methodical way, he was probably still trying to come to terms with it.
So he insisted she return to live with her mother and finish her senior year at high school. What a waste of time. What was she going to do with learning calculus or chemistry? Not when she needed to improve her witch’s skills every waking hour and learn whatever other abilities her demon half could contribute to her guardian duties.
She needed an arsenal of weapons if she was to make a stand against the Dark Ones when they left the demon world and came here.
As soon as she took her seat, way in the back of the class, she felt the ghostly chill of the dead Matusa, Indigo, as he settled at the empty desk next to her. He gave her one of his cock-eyed evil smiles. She shook her head at him. He had promised not to bother her at school. She should have figured he’d lie. Matusa demon.
She wondered how long he’d sit in class and behave himself. Not for long, she imagined.
What really stoked her ire was when Ferengees Samson, though he insisted on being called Samson, walked into the class. His blond hair curled about his ears and his green eyes took in everything around him. As soon as he spied her, he headed for the desk next to hers. One thing about Samson, he had a nice round face that always made him look rather jovial. Or almost always jovial. She usually was too busy fighting a demon to know what his expression was when he was battling his own. Or he wasn’t quite all there. He had a peculiar way of turning into mist when a battle arose.
Still, she stared at the Samuria demon in disbelief to see him here. She had warned him not to come to class. She didn’t want him saying something that couldn’t be easily explained since he was all demon and had never lived in the human world. Luckily, he looked like most anyone else in class, jeans, sneakers, well, except for the golfing shirt. He thought they were cool.
Hunter had vehemently told him he wasn’t to hang around her any longer also. Not that Samson listened to Hunter all that much. And certainly now that Hunter was miles and miles away in Dallas, Samson really wasn’t listening to the Matusa. But even so, being a half Matusa, Hunter expected to be obeyed. They were the most evil and powerful of demons, after all. But his human half tempered his gruffer personality and his growl was often worse than his bite. At least with her. Most of the time.
Samson believed he was to be her protector, paired with her for life because she was a gate guardian. She didn’t agree. Neither did Hunter.
Jared, on the other hand, was all for it. Although she was often at odds with the electronic genius, a full-blooded Elantus demon, she missed him, too. Or maybe not him, exactly, but his laptop that warned them when a demon was in the area. He was working on a demon tracker device that would be as small as a cell phone, easy to carry, and each of them could have one as an early warning system.
As loyal as Jared was to Hunter for saving his life, Jared was making one of the trackers for him first. Then he’d make a portable one for himself. And lastly, for her. Samson wasn’t on the list of customers because Hunter wouldn’t let him be.
Alana was a more powerful demon than Jared, she had reminded him. And she was a witch. To her way of thinking, she should get a device before he did. But he wasn’t listening to her. Particularly when he and Hunter were in Dallas and so far away. Otherwise, she figured she would have been able to browbeat one out of Jared after Hunter had his own.
The teacher walked into class and began taking roll call. Alana must not have heard the bell ring, her thoughts still on Jared and his mini-demon tracker devices. Too bad he couldn’t sell the invention to a company that could mass market them. Then again, except for their little group of four demon hunters, she didn’t figure anyone else would have any use for them.
Indigo was moving about the students seated in class, doing his ghostly best to freak them out as he sifted from desk to desk, chilling them with his presence. Thankfully, he wasn’t doing much more than that. Not until he saw Alana observing him, and then as if wanting to really show her what he could do, he smiled in his dark way and headed straight for the teacher.
Oh… my… God… no!
No one could see the ghostly entity like Alana could. Well, and like her mother could, ghost buster that she was. He was dark-haired, like most of the Matusa she’d encountered, except his hair was jet black. His hair was cropped short though, and he had the look of a biker dude—leather pants, leather jacket, black T-shirt, black boots. She hadn’t been able to see him before when he’d come to their aid, but she figured he’d become more comfortable with being around her. He had both the aura of a Matusa, which
helped her to define what type of demon he was, and a ghostly silhouette that indicated he was not of this world.
He was handsome, as all Matusa were. Deadly handsome, with a rugged face, not an ounce of extra flesh—looked to be an athletic type, tall, muscled, a regal nose, and a haughty expression that screamed arrogance. Arrogant, as were all Matusa.
Hunter included.
On edge, Alana watched, unable to make Indigo cease and desist. No matter how many times she’d tried to exorcise him so he wouldn’t be floating around Earth world causing trouble, she hadn’t managed it. It seemed to her that even in death, a Matusa with a grudge—another had murdered him to claim power over the area—was still a powerful presence.
The teacher, Mrs. Cogsworth, was catching students up on simple math they’d probably forgotten over the summer, writing on the board while Samson was taking studious notes. Mrs. Cogsworth was totally unaware that Indigo was standing beside her, mimicking her in his silent ghostly way.
Alana shook her head. As long as he didn’t do anything more… no… no… no…
He began to pick up one of the markers and, of course, all anyone else could see if they were watching her was the red marker waving in the air near the teacher. The cap came off. Then the marker was pressed against the white board and started drawing.
Alana glanced at the students. Some were watching as the unsmiley face suddenly appeared about a foot away from the teacher, who was oblivious. Alana wondered if he hated math. The students, who were watching Indigo, stared at the paranormal occurrence in silent horror. What if the marker targeted them next? That’s what she would have been thinking had she not been able to see Indigo and know him somewhat. Although she probably would never truly know him.
