by Marie Harte
Ella skirted the mass of cubicles in the center of the large office and joined her coworkers at the windows. At four stories up, they had a pretty decent view of their part of town.
What she saw made her gasp. “Is that for real?”
It looked like the set of a movie. A few blocks from the mall, a mass of people fought in the parking lot. Rocking cars, slashing tires, and breaking out in fights. At least twenty people seemed to be brawling for no apparent reason. Mostly men, and a few women, made up the bulk of the crowd. Then her friend, Todd, pointed out many of those fighting wore denim jackets, and to the far side of the lot sat a bunch of motorcycles.
How odd to be relieved over a biker fight.
“Hey, check it out. Local 6 has it online. Apparently fights are breaking out all over the city,” Mark from new accounts said.
Diana nodded and elbowed Ella. “See. I told you.”
“City? Try all over the East Coast,” Todd corrected. “Random people are losing it for no reason. Then they settle down all of a sudden and can’t remember what’s happened. This shit is weird.”
Ella agreed. It made no sense at all, and her mind flashed to all the end-of-the-world movies she’d seen. They started out like this, with strange happenings that spread, affecting greater populations. Maybe she should head out with her family to the mountains this weekend. That or hunker down in her condo with some Rocky Road and not answer the door.
Her boss joined them. “People, in light of what’s going on out there, we’re closing up early. Have a good weekend and make sure to check the group email for details on Monday. If it’s still like this, I’m not coming in, and I wouldn’t expect any of you to.”
For all that Brad had a weakness for breasts, he was a decent boss who cared for his employees. As everyone dispersed, he sidled next to her. “Ella, do you have a minute?”
“Sure.” She followed Brad to his office.
“Have a seat.” She sat, and he pulled at his tie and sat behind his desk. “Have you heard from Lauren?”
“Not since the meeting yesterday.” And I still don’t feel an ounce of remorse for what happened. Milo was right. She was dark…and proud of it.
“I haven’t either. I tried calling and texting her, but I got nothing.”
“And?”
“I think one of us should check up on her.” He waited.
“Meaning me.”
“I think it would be more appropriate than having me look in on her. Besides, I thought you two were friends.”
“We were. Are.” Are? Yeah, right. Ella sighed. Must be karma biting her in the ass for getting such joy from Lauren’s misfortune. “Fine. I’ll swing by her place on my way home.”
“Thanks.” Brad looked relieved. Sirens wailed from outside. “Be careful driving. It sounds like that fight by the mall is getting handled. But there are plenty of strange things happening lately.”
“You got that right. I’ll watch myself. Thanks.” She said her goodbyes, packed up her things and drove to Lauren’s, prepared to do her civic duty. Not to mention satisfy her curiosity about Lauren’s state of mind.
She arrived at Lauren’s development, relieved to see the streets quiet, the area apparently normal. She parked in the common lot and texted her cousin about meeting for dinner at her place later, and if he’d pick up Chinese food. He texted back with a raised middle finger emoticon and You owe me in all caps.
She frowned at her phone, then tucked it into her pocket. “I have to figure out where he gets those middle fingers. I only have smiley faces.” Ella locked up her purse in her car and walked the dreaded steps to Lauren’s.
She knocked twice before the door was yanked open. Prepared for zombie Lauren, Ella had no way to handle the hug that came instead.
“Oh, Ella.” Lauren squeezed her tight until Ella managed to pull back.
Lauren looked haggard, but even her blurred mascara didn’t deter from her beauty. Wearing designer jeans and a raggedy sweatshirt, Lauren was the epitome of casual chic.
“I stopped by because Brad was worried.”
Lauren dragged her inside and closed the door. “That’s so sweet of you.”
Did I say I came because I cared? The truth wanted out, but Ella forced herself to swallow it down. She’d already kicked Lauren in the teeth with that porn video. Time to be herself again. Nice Ella. Supportive Ella.
She sighed. Boring Ella.
“So.” Ella stuffed her hands in her pockets and rocked on her feet. “Had any threesomes with Peter lately?” She wanted to slap a hand over her mouth, not sure how that had come out.
Lauren gave a nasty laugh. “Funny stuff, huh? What the hell, Ella? I expect that kind of shit from everyone else. Not you.” Lauren wiped a tear from her cheek. “I asked Peter if he did something to my laptop, and he was shocked to know he was on the video. I mean, yeah, we had sex. But not like that.”
“Okay.”
“Why would someone do that to me, when I go out of my way to help everyone?”
Great. It was back to the Woe is Me hour starring Lauren Daley.
“I mean, I’ve been bending over backwards for Diana, Grace, Todd. And you especially. I was almost positive Brad was going to hand you that new field title once corporate gives it the green light. I pitched it to Mr. Kellen myself.”
“Hold on.” Ella’s rage, which had been on low simmer since yesterday, resurged. She rubbed at the excruciating pain in her temples. “That new field position was my idea. You know, the same way it was also my idea to expand those senior care centers. The ones you took credit for—the one that bagged you the promotion.”
Laruen frowned. “But we’re a team. We worked on that together.”
“No. I did all the work. You took all the credit.” Annoyed all over again that Lauren would pretend to not understand, Ella continued while the anger festered inside. “And while we’re at it, nice porn you made with Peter—the one guy I told you I liked. You knew I was going to ask him out, but you had to have him, didn’t you? You can go out with any guy you want. No one says no to you. So why Peter?”
“He asked me.”
“That’s a lie. You came on to him. One of the girls at work told me so.” Actually Ella had seen the truth in Lauren’s thoughts. “Then, instead of just telling me the truth, you had me stop by your place so I could hear you two going at it.” Ella crossed her arms over her chest. It felt damn good to be honest and blunt for once. No more hiding behind polite smiles or trying to care for others’ feelings.
Lauren blinked. “Well, I… I mean, I had no idea you felt that way.” Her eyes narrowed. “It was you, wasn’t it? You set me up.”
“Really? I’m that skilled with computers that I secretly bugged your condo and filmed you doing three guys at once? Three, Lauren? Really?”
Lauren’s cheeks blazed. “That was a lie! I was only ever with Peter.” She walked up to Ella and poked her in the chest. “You’re such a bitch. It’s always about you. Now, when I could really use a friend, you’re jealous over Peter. And I earned that promotion, honey. Not my problem no one believes you’re smart enough to pull it off.”
“You know what? I hope you get what you truly deserve.” A surge of power leapt from her to Lauren, and Ella swayed, dizzy.
Lauren’s eyes grew wide, focused on Ella’s nose.
“Crap.” Ella wiped her nose and came away with blood. “You know what, Lauren? Sleep with Peter. Sleep with Brad. Hell, why not see if Kellen’s interested in that strap-on you apparently like to wear? I’m done here.”
She left before she did something she’d regret, like apologize. Telling the truth had felt better than good. She left Lauren sputtering behind her and had just unlocked her car door when a manicured hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her around.
Ready to launch into another volley of insults, Ella instead stared in sho
ck at Lauren’s transformed features. Underneath she resembled Lauren, but imposed over that face was another—one from her nightmares.
“Hello, nephilim. We see you, and we’re coming for you. Tell Kingu it will never come to fruition. None of you will escape. Especially not you. We have plans for your kind.” Lauren’s jaws moved, but a ghostly visage of pincers over a square mandible took form, right under a muzzle and wolfish eyes and ears, around a face covered by what looked like brown and gray fur. Lauren’s skin and clothing had been replaced by chitinous plates of interlocking armor held tight by a hard leathery surface. As if the wolfman had vomited up a praying mantis and been melded with Ripley’s Alien.
“You’re like The Fly on crack. Get away from me!” Ella shrieked when Lauren clapped a hand over her wrist, because the hand had turned into puke green pinchers the size of dinner plates.
Then, in an instant, the ghastly image faded and Lauren stared at her in confusion. “What are you babbling about? Are you on something?” Lauren’s tight expression eased. “Is that why you’ve been such a bitch? Oh, Ella.” A pitying look took form. “You need help.”
“Get off me.” Ella shakily got into her car and left. Not sure what to think, she drove to the place she thought of as her home away from home. Milo’s bar.
She parked and sat for a moment, trying to gather her composure. A glance at her dashboard clock showed it wasn’t even four yet. Milo would still be working. It wasn’t fair to keep asking him for support. But Jesus, what the hell had she seen?
Demons, dragon, now mutant alien creepazoids?
She left her car and locked it, then stood outside debating what to do. Before she could decide, a powerful sensation rooted her to the spot.
“Hello, Ella.”
She turned. Zelec smiled down at her.
Her body heated, desire flooded her, but the pain in her head became too much. She gave in to unconsciousness, comforted by the dark and strangely relieved that her demon had returned.
Zelec caught her before she hit the ground. “Ella?”
He didn’t like her energy. She felt…disordered. And too hot, even for a nephilim. Nothing neat or compact about his cutie today. She didn’t look mischievous. She looked afraid, and he didn’t like the slack features or her listlessness.
Needing some privacy, he teleported to a safe spot in the city. James Sinclair’s place downtown would do. Zelec had never officially been given an invite, but since he’d saved the bastard’s life, he figured James owed him. After setting Ella down in the large master bed, he stripped her naked—because he liked the view—and fetched a cool cloth to bring down her body temperature.
He stared at her, taken by the whole package. He liked the fact she was neither too big nor too small. Her breasts fit neatly into his hands, and the strip of hair over her pussy neatly separated the smoothness of her abdomen from the treasure between her thighs. Her legs had tone but not too much muscle, so he didn’t think she was a fan of exercise. Yet she didn’t overindulge either. No belly on Ella.
For someone so “average,” she sure packed a wallop. That inner fire that lit her from the inside called to him on another level entirely. He could feel it, even now, simmering inside her. Along with something else…
A primordial kind of chaos tainted her, something he had never before experienced. Not angelic, demonic or human. Nothing in between. It felt…alien, and he didn’t like it anywhere near Ella.
Out of sorts, he stripped down and shed his mortal form, taking on the black skin and wings of his true nature. Calmer, he settled around Ella, holding her close, and let his healing ability flood her. He let himself bask in her scent and touch, at ease with her frail human body and powerful dual nature. No wonder nephilim often settled in either the Ordinary or the lower realm. Her need for sin and pleasure flickered like a beacon, calling him closer.
Though demons and humans produced more demons, angels and humans produced powerful offspring known at nephilim. They often presented as psychic humans, though the rare nephilim had been known to reside in heaven and cater toward divine pursuits. Asael’s son, Duncan, had mated one such nephilim, and she was damn good at her job of swaying souls for the lower realm.
He stroked Ella’s hair, content in a way he couldn’t describe. Sex with her had been phenomenal, but Zelec didn’t indulge in tender emotions. With the constant possibility of Asael or some duke of hell interfering in his life, harming something he cared about, Zelec made sure to keep his affections hidden. He had no need for love or softness, his craving for acceptance his only weakness.
This obsession for his gentle little nephilim could bite him in the ass if he weren’t careful.
As it was, he’d been due to report back on the humans running amuck in the Ordinary. Like the other realms, a strange madness seemed to have descended. He curled tighter around Ella, sniffing at the alien energy that even now was dissipating. He really should report this to Asael, but he didn’t want to put her at risk.
Searching with his thoughts, he contacted Belphegor, one of Asael’s more trusted dukes. Though Asael had said to keep information about the uprisings quiet, Zelec had no problem using Belphegor to pass a message to the boss.
The duke answered his summons, perpetually testy. “What?”
“Yo, Pheegee. I need you to get a message to Asael.”
“Fuck off. My name is Belphegor. I’m a higher demon, dickhead. A duke of hell.”
He ignored Belphegor’s inventive cursing. “Look, just tell Asael it’s the same here.”
“What’s ‘the same here’?”
“Give him the message. He’ll understand.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Because I’m in the middle of obeying the Lord of the Abyss on another matter. You want to ask him what the message means, go for it. He demanded secrecy on the matter, and I don’t plan on ever going to The Pit again, if I can help it. I’m not fucking this up.”
A pregnant pause from Belphegor. “Fine. You owe me.”
“I do not— Bastard.” The demon had cut the connection.
A small lie of omission told to spend more time with his dirty little angel. So much the better. Zelec kissed the top of her head.
He didn’t mean to fall asleep. As a higher demon, he shouldn’t have needed it. But somehow he dreamed, and his subconscious became entangled with another’s—not Ella, someone male. A vast presence, a darkness bound with the purity of magic and power. A soul uncorrupted, one that pulled at him to recognize its hold over him.
He wanted to struggle. He should have. But the seductive purr of need and belonging took him into another place all together.
When his eyes blinked open, he found himself staring up at an enraged female with eyes as black as night. He shifted and felt pain at his throat.
Ella straddled his waist and held a knife to his neck. “What the hell are you? And where are my clothes?” So much for his idea of a vulnerable female and tender emotion.
Naked and wet, her hot pussy sat right over his aching erection.
He didn’t do anything but smile, and she pushed the tip of the knife into his skin. Bleeding him.
He moaned, his libido fully charged. “You are just adorable. Let’s fuck.”
She didn’t blink, but she surely couldn’t miss how hard she’d made him. If she’d just move a little to her left, he could slide right in.
“Is sex all you think about? Even with a knife at your throat?” Her gaze passed over his wings and centered on his face, captivated. Then shot back to his wings. “Oh, man. I dreamed you, didn’t I?” She released her tight grip on the blade, still holding it against his throat but without force.
“You did?” Delighted, he moved to sit up and deliberately impaled his neck on the knife further.
“Stop moving. Zelec.” She pulled the knife out and tossed it to the ground, then tried to
stem the dark red-black blood oozing from his neck. But her hands were too small and the wound too large.
He healed himself without thinking and moved too quickly to be denied. He had her flat on her back, her legs spread open, cradling him as he positioned himself over her. Then he shoved home.
She gasped and scratched his shoulders, then clamped her ankles around his back. “More,” she growled. “Faster.”
He was a first-class demon, a liar and a scoundrel, but he never left a woman wanting. He gave her what she asked for.
And more…a small, satisfied voice whispered inside him.
Chapter Five
Once again, Zelec had sexed her senseless then vanished. “What is with that man—demon—whatever?”
So much for talking it out. She should have been floored, too freaked out by her life to make sense of anything, and curled in a ball and wept. But whatever. Ella wasn’t one for pity parties, and Zelec was too good a lay to bemoan his nonhuman status.
Had to be a demon, was all she could think. Because that ink-black skin and wings, in addition to the red eyes? And those fangs and claws she’d felt, once again, digging into her ass while he dragged her closer to thrust deeper inside her? Heavenly.
She chuckled at her ironic choice of words. Hellishly good, maybe. She stretched and knew she should clean up. A shower would be good…if she were at home. Now that she’d taken a good look around, she realized she had no idea where she was.
She hurriedly cleaned up with a hot washcloth and hand towel from the en suite, wanting to be dressed in case someone she didn’t know returned instead of Zelec. The place Zelec had brought her to boasted top of the line everything. Mahogany furniture, hardwood floors, creamy walls decorated with pricey paintings. Classy, expensive, but not flashy. Lots of classical pictures of mythical beasts and underworld creatures.
Like dragons.
She stopped halfway into donning a man’s robe that had been hanging on the back of the bedroom door.
She’d dreamed of a blue dragon. She’d also dreamed of Zelec and that creepy thing too. Zelec was real. Were dragons? Was the creepy thing?
