“Stop!”
Harm chuckled. “I hate to say it, but all of those consequences are still in play, Sixt. If I can think of dour deeds of revenge in a couple of seconds, imagine what he’s had time to think up. When you release him, he’ll be free. Do you hear what I’m saying? Free? That means he can do whatever he wants and, if he’s still miffed, he just might.”
Sixt took in a deep breath. “Of course it’s occurred to me.”
“That’s why you should be learning everything you can. And doing research on how to do battle with a demon holding a grudge.”
Sixt turned away, but Harm’s words left a brand on her heart. He was right. She needed to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The meeting in Aspen would be an ideal time to ply the collective knowledge of other witches. She almost wished she hadn’t insisted that the demon tag along.
What was she thinking? Other than that she craved the sight of him, relished being in his presence, and missed him in inexplicable ways when he wasn’t around. She hadn’t realized she was walking around with a gaping hole before, but somehow having the demon nearby gave her a sense of peace. That was particularly odd considering that what Harm said was undoubtedly true. The demon would try to get back at her at the earliest opportunity.
Even if she hadn’t come to crave his nearness, that was reason alone to keep him captive for as long as possible. She shuddered at the thought of payback by a demon. She didn’t know any other demons, but she’d bet money that Deliverance was capable of being more vindictive than most. She needed to put her longing aside and get ready for war.
Shortly after takeoff Sixt had leaned the seat back in her reclining chair and dozed off, but something unidentifiable was keeping her from a good sound sleep. When she opened her eyes, she was staring into the face of a beautiful demon inches away. She blinked, but didn’t move otherwise. He snorted.
“What?” she asked.
“I was sure that would make you jump. It’s fairly easy to create surprises in lesser beings, but you have, what do they call it? Nerves of steel.”
Her lips grew thinner when she pressed them together. “Lesser beings?”
He nodded. “Yeah. It means inferi…”
“I know what it means, demon! I’m objecting to what was said, not what it means. You can’t possibly think it’s good manners to insinuate that I’m below you.”
After a slight hesitation, he laughed out loud. Sixt thought Deliverance’s laugh must have been one of the attributes bestowed on Abraxas demons to make them irresistible to their targets. The sight was a spectacle of beauty sufficient to rob the beholder of breath and fascinate hypnotically so that she was powerless to look away. The flash of white teeth against skin that looked sun kissed. Dark eyes that jumped to life like a pilot light sparked from within.
“First,” he replied, “I wasn’t insinuating anything. I was saying outright that your species is not at the level of mine. It’s a fact. Nothing more or less. Second, I can’t imagine what gave you the idea that I’m concerned with manners. The idea is a human construct as artificial as plastic and disposable as the other whims humans are known for.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “The point is that, by getting lost in the weeds, you missed the point. Which was actually a compliment.”
“You’re complimenting me now? I missed that. What was it again?”
“Nerves of steel?”
“Excuse me if I missed the crumb you threw this way.”
He cocked his head. “What’s the problem?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you dense?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Maybe. Are you about to enlighten me?”
“I’d like to, but it’s only a six hour flight.” She fumbled for the button that would make her chair sit up. “You know the only thing that could possibly make you unattractive?” His eyebrows went up as he smiled broadly and shook his head ever so slightly. “Being a dick!”
Deliverance erupted into renewed laughter. As he was composing himself, it gradually dawned on him that he was enjoying the exchange with the witch. It could not be possible that he enjoyed teasing her. That would indicate something between them and he would not tolerate anything pleasant between them. Not even friendly teasing.
“Why is it being a dick to point out the obvious?”
“The obvious being that demons are superior to witches.”
“Precisely.”
“In what way?”
He waved at the plane. “You need this contraption to get to your convocation.” He smiled. “I don’t. See ya.” And he vanished.
She turned her head toward the window to see him on the outside of the plane, walking on the wing like the demon in The Twilight Zone movie, looking like he and his hair defied physics, which she supposed was true. As she stared he struck various poses wearing the cold weather clothes she’d bought him. She didn’t want to laugh, but the antics were too comical to ignore.
He grinned, saluted, and disappeared from view.
She sat back in the seat thinking. If she was brutally honest, she was going to be forced to admit that, even though Deliverance was insufferably smug about it, he was superior, in many ways. Humans would probably call him a god. That didn’t mean that she was helpless and totally without means. She wasn’t human and she didn’t think he was a god. She had a toolkit of her own and, before the weekend was over, it would be exponentially expanded.
Of course the weekend was promoted as being about socializing. But her business philosophy, that it’s good to know what your agenda is and bad to lose sight of it, could just as easily serve her interests when networking with other witches.
“You know I was thinking.” Harm interrupted her reverie. She turned her head toward him. “Maybe that demon could stay someplace else for the weekend?”
“Why?” When Harm didn’t answer right away, his concern hit Sixt like a flashing neon billboard. “You’re afraid you won’t get a chance with the eligibles if Deliverance is around.” She chuckled in spite of secretly agreeing he should be concerned.
“It hasn’t escaped my notice that the record is full of our kind who go gaga over demons like him.”
“By, like him, you mean Abraxas? Sex demons?”
“Well, yes, Sixt. That’s what I mean.”
“I’d like to say your worries are without foundation, but I can’t. I’ll ask him to make himself scarce. Shouldn’t be a problem. He’s probably dying to be uninvited.”
Harm brightened. “Thanks. I mean. I need a chance.”
“I know. How are you at pancakes?”
He grinned. “Incredible. If I do say so. I could put on a show like Coyote Ugly.”
“So you’re serving drinks with your pancakes.”
“Of course. Name a breakfast cocktail and watch me go to work.”
“I’ll look forward to that so long as you keep your clothes on.”
“You’re kind of prudish for a seventeenth century feminist.”
She chuckled and turned to the crossword puzzle in the Times. “I’m not prudish because I don’t want to watch your jiggly bits jiggle while you make brunch.”
“But the ‘eligibles’ as you call them, and I hope they are, might want to see what’s on the market.”
She put down the crossword long enough to pin him with a stare. “I have a phrase for you. Window dressing. The best way to show off what you’re selling is by dressing it.”
As much as she believed she was giving her brother good advice, the image of Deliverance in the dressing room took center stage in her brain. His skin had looked so touchable.
“What just happened?” Harm said.
She pushed the image away. “What?”
“You got this far away look. What were you thinking about?”
“Nothing.”
“Bull. Shit. You were daydreaming about that demon. Weren’t you? Looking besotted like a school girl with a crush.”
“What would you know about school girls? You never wen
t to school. Likewise, I’ll bet you’ve never had a crush in your life.”
“Deflecting.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“I’m doing this puzzle now. Find something to do.”
He looked toward the galley. “How about the flight attendant?”
“No fraternizing with the help.”
“I wasn’t going to fraternize with her. I was going to schtupp with her.”
“Save your eagerness,” she said the word pointedly, “for Aspen.”
“You’re no fun. Were you always no fun?”
“Well, you never paid attention to me when we lived together as a family and you dumped me in Paris at the first opportunity.”
He nodded. “Guess that means you were always no fun.”
She snapped her paper and went back to her puzzle, knowing that she would never extricate herself from the exchange unless she ignored him.
“I can’t wait to meet some other witches.”
She ignored him.
Deliverance arrived at the house in Aspen before Sixt and Harm. He had to hand it to the witch. She’d done alright for herself given the limitations of Loti Dimension. There were several people in the house busying themselves with fresh flowers, food, drinks, and so forth.
Noticing him wandering around, one of them, a woman with a clipboard, introduced herself and said, “Can I help you?”
“I’m the advance team of one,” he said. “I work for Sixt.”
The smile he gave her following his explanation would have satisfied the woman if he’d said he was there to take the silver and spray paint graffiti.
He walked away thinking it was delicious to have the freedom to walk away.
After a self-tour of the house, there was no question about which bedroom was the master. It was large and welcoming, with floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto ski slopes and a large fireplace. Deliverance loved fireplaces, especially in places that were cold. Like Aspen. The room was done entirely in pale sage green. Everything that wasn’t polished wood furniture was the same shade. Carpet, bedding, window shutters, and wall art, all pale sage green. It was calming. In an odd way, depending on the perspective of the view, it could be seen as very feminine or as suitable for a gentleman dressed by Ralph Lauren. In an odd way, it was also sexy.
He fell across the bed onto his back and bounced a little before coming to rest staring at the tongue and groove stained wood ceiling, the tint of which matched the furniture perfectly. An unwelcome and unbidden image of being in that bed at the same time as Sixt came to mind. The flashes of fantasy involving the witch were becoming more frequent, but they only served to set his jaw tighter and make him more determined to see the requital through to the end.
After having a thorough look around, he decided to take the room next door. If she had nightmares, he’d be close by. He didn’t care if she suffered from night terrors. In fact he enjoyed it. But every such encounter caused her to lower her guard a little more. Eventually he would come to know her very deepest fears.
He brought no luggage. The idea of a demon with luggage was intrinsically comical. During the shopping trip he’d learned what Sixt liked seeing him wear. He’d also learned that she liked seeing him in nothing, but there was no surprise there. All females had that reaction. He was able to recreate the clothes that hung in the closet or rested folded in drawers in Graydon’s room in the penthouse with a thought.
Clothing himself in something he expected would keep him warm, he went out for a look around Aspen.
The driver let Sixt and Harm off at the front door. He would park in the rear, unload luggage, and someone would see to it that everything made its way to the right place by the time it was needed.
They climbed up eight steps to the front door. The house, built on an outcropping was multilevel to conform to the terrain. There was a first floor, a second floor, a loft, a mezzanine, and an entire guest wing that could be reached in half the steps it would take to climb to the second floor in the main part of the house.
Once inside, Harm stopped and gave a low whistle. The reaction caused Sixt to look around, imagining seeing it through someone else’s eyes for the first time. It was beyond handsome. It was gorgeous.
The gas fires were all lit. The juxtaposition of that with fresh flowers told a story of wealth and privilege.
As Sixt set the cat carrier down and released Ashes, Harm said, “This is…”
“What?”
He seemed to be searching for the right word. “Wonderful.” He looked at her. “Can I have it?”
She laughed. Looking around again, she said, “Maybe. If you give a rose to somebody I like, I might make it a wedding present.”
He snapped his fingers. “The list just got longer. Dark hair, blue eyes, long legs, delectable curves, and likeable sister-in-law traits.”
Sixt nodded, smiling. “I approve of the last item on the list.”
“Where do you think your demon is?”
“He’s not my demon. Stop calling him that.”
“Is he free to go?”
She scowled. “You know the answer to that.”
“I do. The answer is no. If he’s not free to go, then he’s your demon.”
“Used in that context, I take your point.” She began walking. “Want a tour?”
He scoffed. “What do you think? Of course I want a tour of my wedding present.”
“Getting a little ahead of yourself. You know when I was a child, I thought you were fun and, um, good-natured, I guess? Now I think you’re impulsive and maybe a little immature.”
He nodded, smiling. “I am. I am. But also fun and good-natured.” He followed as she walked through the main living room, past the smaller conversation rooms, past the large dining room capable of seating twenty, a smaller, rustic dining room with a stone fireplace designed to seat eight, through the butler’s pantry, to the enormous kitchen that featured miles of concrete countertops and an enormous island with polished wood sides and a granite top. Dozens of shiny copper and stainless pots and pans hung from the fixture above that also featured spotlights to illuminate the island. A perfect marriage of form and function. “And don’t forget good-looking. Very good-looking. Extremely good-looking!”
“And humble.”
“Right. Humility is what I’m most known for.” As they walked he’d been half-interested in the tour, but his eyes were continually drawn to views of the slopes. “I’ll bet this is amazing when it’s covered in snow. Do you ski or board?”
“I don’t do either one. I watch the idiots who do.”
He gaped. “You aren’t serious. Why would you have this,” he waved his arm to indicate a place fit for royalty by mountain house standards, “in the ski capital of the world if you don’t ski?”
“It’s a nice change from Manhattan. I like the views. I like the ‘magic’ of the lights at Christmas, and, like I said, I enjoy watching the humans come down the mountain. I know I call them idiots, but the whole thing was kind of inventive of them.”
Harm nodded. “Humans are really good at games.”
Sixt looked at her brother. “They are!”
Turning so that he could face her fully, Harm looked uncharacteristically serious. “I’m not entirely undisciplined, you know. You’re not the only one who doesn’t like being alone. It wasn’t easy to mark decades off on a calendar while I was on an island with a few people I studiously avoided.”
Sixt’s face softened as she looked at her brother, noticing that his eyes were more or less identical to her own. She reached up and touched the lock of dark blonde hair that had fallen onto his forehead. “I know. You’re complicated.”
He searched her eyes until he was satisfied that she wasn’t discounting him as completely superficial, then suddenly grinned. “Good. I need snacks.”
The local party planner rushed into the reading room where they stood. She was almost breathless, wearing what could only be called mountain chic, a world
away from Manhattan.
Sixt had chosen that location for her reading room because it had the best view of the slopes. It had an oversized fireplace - one of only two real wood-burning fireplaces in the house - and a nap chair that called out like a siren to anyone who saw it.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you. I’m Lacy Jakes.”
Sixt shook her hand and introduced herself and her brother. It was fairly clear that Lacy would have accepted a marriage proposal from him on the spot. The way the woman looked up at Harm made Sixt snicker, which seemed to recall the party planner’s attention to the business at hand.
“All the arrangements have been made. We have people meeting your guests at the airport to take them to their lodging. Except for those who’ll be staying here, of course.” She glanced at Harm, clearly wishing she was on that list.
“Thank you. Everything is ready for the meet and greet tonight?”
“Yes. Heavy hors d'oeuvres in the kitchen for those staying here. Those in local lodging are on their own for dinner. They’ll be picked up by their assigned drivers in time to arrive here at exactly nine o’clock.”
Sixt nodded. “The menus for dinners are set?”
Lacy mirrored Sixt’s nod. “Yes. The restaurant at the top of the mountain is reserved for your private lunch tomorrow. The gondolas will be available only for your guests, who’ll be given a pass on a lanyard, and the service people who are working the event.
“You’ll have twenty for dinner here tomorrow night. Nineteen the night thereafter. Is that correct?”
“It is for now. You know how these things go. If there’s any last minute change of plans, I’ll let you know. Now I have schedules to be delivered by hand. If my things have arrived, I’ll give them to you now.”
“Oh yes. Your luggage is in the master. There was a hard side briefcase that I sent to your office. If that’s not right it can be moved, of course.”
“No. That’s right. Let me get the schedules for you.” Sixt could hear that Lacy was following as she walked toward the office. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’ve included your cell number for my guests’ use. Just in case they need anything.”
Deliverance (Knights of Black Swan Book 12) Page 12
