Deliverance (Knights of Black Swan Book 12)

by Victoria Danann

  “What I have to say can be distilled down to two words. Do. Over.”

  She took a slice of pizza out of the box, tore off a bite with her teeth, and groaned when the hot, gooey delectable combination of flavors hit her taste buds.

  When she swallowed that bite, she said, “You keep saying that. I don’t know what it means to you. Spit it out and quit being cryptic.”

  “I want to go back to the first time you saw me and do it over. When you come back out of the tavern, I’ll be waiting for you. Just you. Nobody but you.”

  The pizza slice paused in front of her face never made it to her mouth. That suggestion froze Sixt and her brain in place for a minute or so as she imagined how differently that night might have turned out.

  She set the pizza down. “What’s the point?”

  “I blew the opportunity of the millennium. And I’d do anything to take another run at it. If I get that chance, I won’t blow it a second time.”

  She gave herself permission to look at him, really look at him for the first time since he’d promised she’d be a juicy meal for mosquitos or a giant caiman. He was still the same breathtaking demon she’d been obsessing about her whole life, with one big difference. He was indicating that he returned her interest.

  The only problem is that it was too little too late.

  Or was it?

  They heard the front door open.

  “Hello?” Harm called on his way to the kitchen and he made it there before she could respond. His eyes lit with delight when he saw that Sixt was okay, but before he could give her the reunion hug he had in mind he processed the fact that the very demon who was the culprit was sitting at her kitchen island.

  “What is he doing here?” Harm demanded.

  “We’re just talking.” Sixt had gotten to her feet, seeing that Harm was spitting mad and needed placating.

  “He’s not allowed to be here just talking,” he said to Sixt. To Deliverance he said, “Be gone, demon!”

  Sixt said, “Harm. I don’t think you’re exorcist material.”

  Deliverance crossed his arms over his chest, raised an eyebrow, and smirked at Harm.

  “Maybe not,” he said to his sister. To Deliverance, he said, “Don’t make me call my friends.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” said Sixt. “Look.” Her exasperation with the males in her life was growing by the second. “I don’t care what it’s supposed to mean. I’m going to finish this conversation with Deliverance. Then he’s going to leave and you and I can talk.”

  “What?”

  She pushed Harm out of the kitchen and locked the door.

  “Can I at least have some of that pizza?” he called from the other side of the door. She grabbed the box, opened the kitchen door, and threw the pizza. She was relocking the door, when she heard, “I can’t eat pizza without beer. Come on. Give me a beer to go with this.”

  She looked at the ceiling. “Maybe it’s not my reality. Maybe I’m insane. Maybe none of this is really happening.”

  “You can’t be insane,” Deliverance said, “because if you were you wouldn’t question your sanity.”

  While Sixt went to the refrigerator to get Harm a beer, Harm had gone to the hall half bath to relieve himself after a long ride from the airport. When he opened the door, Big Bird flew out, which made him forget all about the toilet.

  “You’re really going to give him a beer?” Deliverance said. “And your pizza?”

  Sixt carried Harm’s favorite green longneck beer to the kitchen door.

  When she opened it, Big Bird flew in. He perched on the crown molding above the cabinets and said, “He’s not a demon. He’s a scoundrel, a pig, and a villain. A dirty rotten pig villain.”

  “You tell him, buddy!” said Harm.

  Sixt shoved the beer at Harm, slammed the kitchen door, and locked it. When she turned around she didn’t see Big Bird.

  “Where is he?” she accused.

  “He wanted a breath of fresh air. So I let him out for a walk on the terrace.”

  Sixt looked toward the terrace doors, where she could see the parrot beating his wings and pecking against the panes, demanding to come back in. She narrowed her eyes at Deliverance.

  “Where did you get that thing anyway? And don’t you have a cat?”

  “I do have a cat, but she comes and goes as she pleases and I haven’t seen her since I’ve been back. As to where I got him. I conjured him to keep me company. Because I was alone.”

  She decided to let the parrot have a terrace time out since he couldn’t manage to keep his little beak closed.

  The demon grew solemn. “I’m sorry,” he said. In spite of the fact that she was berating herself for believing him, she believed he was sincere. “I’m also impressed that you were able to take care of yourself. Impressed and glad.” He scraped a hand over his face. “You’ve never asked me about being cursed.”

  Sixt thought it over. Was she willing to give any ground? If nothing else, she wanted to know what he’d say.

  “I guess it was awful or you wouldn’t have been so mad.”

  “It was awful, but some of what I was mad about, as it turns out, was misdirected. You were to blame for something, but not everything. Some things were your doing. Some things were my doing. And some things were just fate. I’d like to just leave it there and walk away, but I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I miss you.” She hadn’t known it, but she’d been waiting over two hundred and fifty years to hear words of affection from Deliverance and her heart melted. “You’re sorry. I’m sorry. Let’s let it go because, underneath that stuff, is some good stuff. We both know it.”

  “And you think that, if I say yes to a do over, we’re going to get in touch with that good stuff.”

  He smiled. “We’re already in touch.” He reached out and took her hand in his, which was larger and warmer and came with an inviting touch that begged for more contact.

  Sixt jumped when Harm banged on the door. “What’s going on in there?”

  “Say yes,” Deliverance said.

  “When?”

  “Tonight. Dinner. I’ll pick you up here at five.”

  “That’s kind of early for dinner.”

  “Not in Paris.” He smiled.

  Deliverance stepped into the passes and stopped to do a demon version of a happy dance, which was quite something to see. A vagrendir passed by while he was in mid contortion and gave him a look.

  Sixt let both Harm and the parrot inside. Both wanted to know who the other was. Ashes came padding in as if she’d been there the whole time. She licked her jowls when she saw Big Bird.

  Big Bird announced his anxiety over the new arrival. “Uh oh. Uh oh.”

  “You and your friends summoned Deliverance?”

  Sixt would have been sure Harm was joking if it hadn’t been for his threat to ‘call his friends’.

  “Indeed we did.”

  “I guess your idea about networking turned out to be kind of… brilliant.”

  “So the demon rescued you and brought you back here and then the two of you started talking.”

  “Well. No. He’s not the one who rescued me. It was an angel.”

  “What? He said he was going to do it himself. The deal was that you would be here by the time I got home.”

  “I guess the angel got there first.”

  “I guess.” Harm looked away. “I don’t know. Your demon is tricky. I don’t see how you could trust him. Ever.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure I could. Ever. But…”

  “You feel something for him.”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready to admit that out loud, but yes. It’s inescapable.”

  “Then I hope he’s worthy of you. If he’s not, I’ll call my friends.”

  She had to give her brother credit. “Nice to be connected to powerful people.”

  Sixt had two hours to decide on what to wear. She tried on nine different dresses and thought none
of them were right, but the one that was least wrong was red with a high neck and long sleeves. It didn’t show much skin, but she’d been alive a long time and had concluded that skin had lost its guarantee to arouse when it had ceased to be scandalous and become ordinary. The color was flattering to her hair and eyes. The fit was flattering to her body. So much so that she wanted to look in the mirror again and again.

  Once the decision was made to leave her hair down, she turned her thoughts to shoes. The last time she was in the passes with Deliverance, she’d almost stumbled. So she didn’t want to wear too-high heels.

  She pulled out the lingerie that she’d bought for a special occasion and never worn. It made her feel naughty and beautiful at the same time. She told herself that she was going without panties so that the dress would hang perfectly smooth. Underneath she wore only a red lacy bra and thigh high stockings that had a red tint.

  Decisions made, she was ready a whole two minutes early. One minute before Deliverance rang the doorbell.

  She liked that he did that even though there were no barriers that would stop him from walking right in.

  He was wearing black tie and looking supremely lickable. She got an intoxicating whiff of his scent and wondered if he was wearing some sort of cologne he hadn’t used before.

  He leaned in close and said, “You look good enough to eat.” He pulled back a hair. “Wasn’t there a fairy tale about a wolf and a girl in red?”

  “As a matter of fact, that was one of mine. I hadn’t thought about it until just now. You look good, but I’d bet money you already know that. Where are we going?”

  “My granddaughter told me about a place in Paris. Le Tain Bleu.”

  Sixt smiled, working hard to be reserved, even though she felt a little giddy. Her fantasy was coming true. A dinner date with the demon.

  He pulled out the fuzzy handcuffs. She noticed he’d had the decency to bring different ones. Either that or he’d just magically altered the color to match her dress.

  They stepped out of the passes by a small, dimly lit alleyway. It had been warm in New York so she hadn’t thought about a coat. But it was colder in Paris. When she put her arms around herself, the demon pulled her aside in the alley and pressed his warm body into hers.

  “Here. Let me warm you up,” he said just before treating her to a longer, softer version of the kiss that he’d called a see-what-you’re-missing kiss. After a minute she was breathing harder, pressing into his body, and Deliverance was thinking about suggesting that they skip dinner.

  His hand drifted down her waist, stopping to cup her shapely behind. He’d planned on a quick kiss and dinner, but he was having a hard time finding a stopping point. He reached down to find the hem of her skirt so that his fingers could find brief contact with bare skin. Just enough of a preview to last until later, if he was lucky.

  As his hand started slowly up her leg and reached the lace at the top of the thigh high stocking, there was no stopping. He broke the kiss and moved his mouth to her neck as his hand continued to travel upward. His big warm palm spread over her thigh. When he realized she wasn’t wearing panties, his hand drifted over her mons, lightly teasing the ultrasensitive nerve endings.

  She gasped out loud like it was the first time a man had ever touched her there and Deliverance was certain it was the most erotic sound he’d ever heard.

  His erection challenged the crotch seams to hold and not split open. The surprise of her reaction provided enough of a break to allow him to pause and make a decision.

  “Sixt,” he whispered. “You want to go to dinner? Or my place?”

  Deliverance knew that a woman who’d lived as long as Sixt and collected as much treasure as Sixt, was not going to be impressed by a date at any particular restaurant. Because she could eat anywhere she wanted as often as she wanted.

  She pulled back. “Your place?”

  “Yes.”

  “Um… Do you have wine there?”

  He smiled and, even in the darkness, she could tell that a seductive smile from an Abraxas demon could bring a woman most of the way to orgasm. “I have whatever you need there.”

  “That sounds promising.”

  He chuckled as he re-snapped the cuff on his date.

  “This is it,” he said. The fires jumped to life as she looked around his windowless house with its smooth curved walls.

  “I think it suits you,” she said.

  “Do you like it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m glad because it’s the first time I’ve ever brought a, ah, date here.”

  “The first time,” she repeated drily like she was wondering if he told that to all the girls.

  “No. Really.” He turned her around so that she was looking into his eyes. “Just you.”

  “That’s not just a line?”

  “Just. You.”

  “Thank you for telling me,” she said quietly.

  “Do you want wine?” he said, loosening his tie and pulling it away.

  She followed the movement. For some reason it was sexier knowing that he didn’t need to remove clothes the usual way.

  “No.” She shook her head.

  He unbuttoned his jacket. “Want to watch I Love Lucy?”

  “No.” She shook her head.

  He took off the jacket and let it fall from his hand. It disappeared before it hit the floor. Strains of soft and romantic music filled the room and the plush carpet beneath their feet became a suspended wood dance floor.

  “Dance?”

  He didn’t give her a chance to answer. He pulled her in close and began swaying to the rhythm the two of them made together. It wasn’t really ‘dancing’ per se. But the demon sensed that it would help her relax and it was an excellent bridge to intimacy.

  Within seconds her body became soft and pliant, molding to fit against his. The demon, for his part, felt like she was made for him and, knowing what he did about fate, perhaps she was. As the heat between them grew, so did the press of his erection.

  She’d been dancing with her cheek pressed to his chest. When she lifted her face and looked up at him, he took the cue and pressed his lips against hers softly. Slowly the kiss became more demanding. Suddenly Deliverance picked her up and carried her to another part of his dwelling. A large room with open hearth fires on three walls and an enormous bed on the fourth.

  “Why do you have a bedroom? You don’t sleep.”

  “I just created it. For you. Do you like it?”

  She laughed softly. “Yes. I like it.”

  He rewarded her with the smile that was capable of paralyzing her in her tracks. “What else do you like?”

  Immediately she remembered the image of the naked demon in the dressing room during their shopping trip.

  “Do you want to undress me? Or do you want my clothes to go away?”

  She was nodding as if any means of doing away with clothes would do. “Go away.”

  He decided to take that as shorthand for ‘make your clothes go away’. So he did.

  Sixt took in the glorious sight of her demon in nothing but skin illuminated by firelight, which was, apparently, the way fire demons were intended to be seen.

  He smiled, pleased by her reaction which was obvious enough to be accurately read by a human. He stepped into her so that his cock nudged her while he reached behind to unzip the dress. When the zipper was all the way down, he stepped back and said, “Let it fall.”

  There was a moment of hesitation. Sixt swallowed, struggling to overcome a sudden shyness, but she remembered that he’d also seen her in the raw. So she took a deep breath and let the dress fall.

  When it came to erotica, there was nothing Deliverance hadn’t seen. There were things he hadn’t done and times when he’d interrupted acts of brutality or non-consent. But he’d seen everything. Or thought he had. Until Sixt.

  She had the standard issue equipment. Two arms and legs. Ten fingers. Ten toes. Two breasts. A belly button. But somehow when it was all put toget
her on her, it was different. The witch was a vision.

  He pointed to her bra. “Pretty.”

  She looked down, not entirely certain that he was talking about the bra. “Thank you,” she stuttered.

  “Take it off.”

  He waited patiently for a fully aroused sex demon. At length she seemed to summon the courage to free her breasts from the seductive lingerie.

  For a few moments he stared, taking in all that was in front of him. So close. Wearing only thigh high red tinted stockings and high heels.

  “Are you beguiling me?” he asked as he moved toward her slowly, like he was stalking.

  “Beguiling? N… no. Is that possible?”

  Deliverance laughed, showing very white teeth. He backed her toward the bed until the backs of her calves came to a stop against a carved mural footboard. She crawled onto the bed, onto her back, and scooted toward the headboard that was, likewise, a carved mural. She didn’t know or care what the images depicted. The only thing that was on her mind was what was happening next.

  Deliverance started at her mons and licked upward until he reached her breasts. He sucked on one protruding nipple as he rolled the other between his fingers. She arched, writhed, squirmed, and was so incredibly responsive to the slightest touch. She even seemed to be sensitive to his gaze.

  As he continued to minister to the nipples that loved his attention, one hand drifted down her body and lightly grazed her opening again, as he had in Paris when they decided to skip the restaurant. Her reaction was just as dramatic as it had been before.

  “I love that you leave the red hair on your pussy. I want to nuzzle it. Blow on it. Ki…”

  “I’m old-fashioned. In some ways.”

  He chuckled. “The best ways.”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she blurted out.

  “Making love,” he said.

  “No. I mean…”

  He stopped, trying to sort out her meaning and put it in perspective with what had taken place between them so far. His first assessment was that it would be impossible for a female as gorgeous as Sixt to be a centuries-old virgin, but he supposed he’d heard of stranger things.