by Sam Cheever
Warmth pooled between my thighs.
I gulped and tried to look away. Forcing myself to stare at the stat board rather than my yummy passenger. I was so screwed when it came to Prince Dialle. Even if I managed to get my mind under control my body would always react to him. I knew then that, whatever I felt for Emo and despite the accusations he’d made against Dialle, I was going to pursue a relationship with my devil. And hopefully soon.
But in the meantime I had work to do.
In sheer desperation I pressed my legs together and went on offense. I turned back to him. “Nice work destroying Demonica, Dialle. I’m sure that will make things clearer for all involved.”
His grin widened. “I’m not sure that is the case, Astra but it was a lot of fun.”
Just then the Viper sounded an arrival tone to indicate that we’d reached our destination. I had to swallow a sharp retort and turn back to the controls so that I could guide us through the part of the preserve that was not on the computerized maps.
I dropped the Viper down into a vehicle alley that had been cleared through the dense blanket of trees. The alley led to the lone building in the preserve. As we lowered to within a few feet of the ground the light fell away from the day and night seemed to descend on us prematurely. I don’t think I’d realized until that point how dense the trees were in that preserve.
The only other time I’d been in the preserve I’d gone to the place where the witches performed their masses and the trees there, being on the edge of a meadow, hadn’t been quite as thickly layered.
We followed the alley for a few miles, dodging upward a couple of times to avoid colliding with some extremely large deer and one hungry looking blaven, a bearlike creature that walked upright and had claws the length of my hand. Rumor had it the blaven was the sasquatch of human legend.
When we finally came in sight of the witches’ coven headquarters I turned to Dialle. “Before we face off with the High Supreme Witch, I need to know where we stand. Does the destruction of Demonica mean that your father has formally declared war on the demons?”
Dialle snorted elegantly. “My father’s view is that the demons aren’t worthy of a formal declaration. Demonica was meant to be only a reminder to them that we could take them out any time we desire.”
“Well, since Alcott appears to have the human press on his side I’m not sure how affective taking out Demonica was. The news has been filled all day with how your father is trying to bully poor, misunderstood King Alcott. I think his action last night is going to have serious unintended consequences.”
Dialle didn’t respond.
I dropped the Viper into hover in front of the large, low-slung ranch type building that housed the Angel City coven. I gave my devil a look. “I think you’ve proven your point. Hopefully Alcott didn’t take your ‘reminder’ as an incentive to kill all the remaining hostages.”
Dialle shrugged, appearing not to care one way or the other. “That would be an unfortunate outcome of course but unavoidable in this case.”
I stared at him for a long moment. My interaction with the human fireman that morning popped into my head and I realized that I felt differently about the human victims of this situation than did the royals. In the royals’ view humans were little more than cattle to be used as necessary and protected only where it suited them.
A few human deaths would mean nothing to King Dialle and his court unless it caused them problems. I decided right then and there that I would have to make sure human deaths caused them problems.
“I’m sure the Angel Council would take a dim view of those humans dying unnecessarily, Dialle.”
Again he shrugged. “Then let us go speak to the woman who is responsible for the humans’ current predicament.”
I couldn’t very well argue with him on that point, since that was the reasoning that had brought me to the coven in the first place.
We exited the Viper and I sent it into the air and engaged security. I led the way toward the front door. The coven headquarters seemed deceptively serene and harmless. Very human. Despite the fact that I knew the power that resided behind those doors was an awesome thing and far from harmless.
As we reached the door it opened inward. At first I thought it was magically induced, then I saw the extremely large shape lurking behind the door in the dim light of the foyer.
“I am Astra Phelps. I’ve come to request an audience with the Supreme High Witch.”
The bulky shape behind the door motioned for us to enter. The door swung shut behind Dialle and the rotund woman who’d let us in stood silently, short stubby fingers clasped over her round belly. She peered expectantly at Dialle.
He gave a slight but formal bow and quirked those yummy lips upwards as he introduced himself. “Prince Dialle, madam witch. Dark Blessings.”
The woman’s perfectly round face slid slowly into a lecherous grin that made my skin crawl. She returned Dialle’s nod in a slightly negligent way that made me mad. As next in line for the royal devil throne, Dialle deserved more respect from a mere witch. Her attitude told me volumes about the coven’s current mood.
“Welcome Astra Phelps and Prince Dialle. If you will follow me. The Supreme High Witch has been expecting you.”
The rotund witch ambled ungracefully down a long, dimly lit hallway, her stout, sensible shoes clicking sharply on the highly polished dark wood floors. I slid a glance to Dialle and he met it with a dark, unreadable expression. He hadn’t let the witch know in look or manner that her insolence had affected him one way or the other. But the look he gave me showed just what he thought of it.
I shivered slightly. I hoped the coven knew what it was doing. Going up against the court of Dialle the First was stupidity at its finest. However, I doubted the witches, at least the coven members, knew the full extent of their overreach. I suspected the Supreme High Witch, whoever she was, was aware of the danger and would probably lie low until her purposes had been attained, leaving her minions to bear the brunt of the king’s anger.
We were shown into a large room that looked like a combination library and greenhouse. The long wall directly across from the door where we entered sported an enormous fireplace, built of sparkling white Angel City limestone. Despite the relative warmth of the early evening outside, a raging fire crackled and snapped in the depths of the enormous fireplace.
To the left, a wall of windows bowed out over a short expanse of bright green lawn and hovered over an exorbitant mixture of herbs and flowers. I recognized many of the plants as being useful for witch’s brews and magical incantations. The coven was growing Iris for communication, Coneflower for strength and protection, Fern for invisibility and Foxglove for protection and poisonous purposes.
The witch who’d shown us into the room gave us a small nod and left, her wide posterior swinging rather haughtily toward the door.
Dialle’s attention was focused toward the farthest end of the room, where the sun from the greenhouse windows couldn’t reach. A tall shape stood among the shadows there.
Before the shadowed form or I could speak Dialle said. “We were expecting the Supreme High Witch.” His tone was decidedly heated and the temperature in the room rose accordingly.
The figure in the shadows stepped forward and I sucked in a surprised breath. She was beautiful in a nearly angelic way. Her soft golden-white hair flowed down her shoulders and arms and touched her tiny waist in shiny waves. Her form, under the long, silky robes, was slight, with just the softest rounding at the breast and hips. Her face was heart shaped, with finely made features. Large grey eyes with dusky gold lashes swept her peach-tinted cheeks when she lowered her gaze and gave Dialle a proper bow of respect. Then, standing upright again, she smiled and her only physical imperfection was revealed. She had just the tiniest overbite on her small white teeth, making her look, if possible, even more beautiful because it made her real.
“I apologize, Prince Dialle. The Supreme High Witch truly wanted to be here. But she has been un
avoidably detained.”
My devil stared at the angelic looking specimen before us and she stared right back at him. The air changed subtly and I focused my energy on searching for signs of magic, finding nothing. What I was feeling was pure, old fashioned instinct, beating me about the head and shoulders.
The stare-off continued for an uncomfortably long time. Long enough to annoy me, which, I’ll admit, isn’t all that hard to do. I cleared my throat and spoke. “And you would be?”
The woman finally turned to me. “I’m so sorry. My name is Astis. I am the Supreme High Commander of the Angel City Coven.”
I grinned. “Commander?”
Her lips joined me in my smile but something in the eyes warned me. The woman was not at all what she seemed. “I am the second in command, Mx. Phelps. I assure you I am up to the task.”
Her tone held just the tiniest bit of aggression. I supposed that, like me, people were always underestimating her because of her looks. Too small to kick ass. Too pretty to kick ass. Same general principle. I nodded slightly in acquiescence. “I have no doubt of that, Astis. I meant no disrespect. The title is just very warlike and you aren’t.”
She chuckled and it was a lovely sound. “You of all creatures should understand, Mx. Phelps. Do not let appearances deceive.”
Dialle shivered slightly at the sound of her laugh and my gaze jerked to him. He still stared at her as if bespelled.
My heart jerked in my chest. Holy shit he was bespelled!
I touched his arm and he jerked, turning toward me. Dialle, snap out of it!
My voice in his head seemed to wake him from his dazed state. He scowled and gave a terse, yes, in my mind. Then he turned to the woman and his arm shot out before I could stop him. She flew across the room, her large grey eyes round with surprise.
Her lithe, agile body hit the wall behind her with a painful sounding thunk and she hung there, like a bug pinned to a board. Then, amazingly she smiled.
Dialle stalked toward her, the temperature in the room rising dramatically with every step. He touched her chest with one finger and she cried out, writhing against her invisible bonds.
Her gown started to smoke, tiny flames erupting at the hem.
I ran to him and grabbed his arm but he shrugged me off. “Stay out of this Astra. This one needs to learn her place.”
I raised my hands and stepped back. Conceding him his right to address her lack of respect. “Just don’t kill her please. I still need to talk to her.”
He gave me a curt nod.
Dialle’s finger moved and the woman screamed. It was a horrible scream, filled with exquisite pain and tinged with fear. She screamed for a full minute and then stopped as Dialle removed his finger from her heaving chest. She hung there panting, her eyes closed and her body still writhing in the aftermath.
People were pounding on the door and calling out for Astis but they didn’t seem able to get in. I figured Dialle had locked it magically and they weren’t getting into that room until he wanted them to.
Dialle leaned close to her and spoke into her ear. I couldn’t hear him at first but then I pulled my power forward and used it to enhance my hearing. He said, “Do not ever presume again to try and bespell me witch. You are the merest worm beneath my feet. I will squash you into jelly if you touch me psychically again. Is that clear?”
The witch shivered and when she finally opened the grey eyes they were filled with lust rather than fear. As I watched she ran the tip of a pink tongue across her dry lips in a very suggestive manner. Dialle scowled and gave her chest another jolt. that time I recognized the writhing for what it was, sexual heat, rather than pain. The woman apparently got off on pain.
Go figure.
Dialle seemed to realize that at the same moment I did and stepped away from her. It was useless to try to punish a pain addict with pain. As he walked back to me the woman’s body suddenly dropped from the wall and she hit the floor with a jarring finality.
Just like that we were in a different place, surrounded by soft music and gentle things.
The witch looked around in horror.
The ground she lay on was soft and fluffy. Cloudlike in its substance. The air around us was a deep, almost purple blue and filled with soft, calming music. In the distance I could see rolling hills of green and softly waving trees. The place was like a hologram of a real place, nearly real but not completely.
Small, pastel colored creatures with long, shimmering wings fluttered around the horrified witch, throwing flower petals at her head. The largest of these was only about eight inches long from head to feet. He seemed to be in charge. He fluttered to Dialle and bowed in midair. “My Prince, how may we serve?”
Dialle nodded to the witch, who had begun to scream in true horror as the tiny creatures settled all over her body and had begun licking and caressing her. “The witch has greatly displeased me. She thrives on pain. I believe your methods will serve me better.”
The King of the Fairies nodded, his tiny head jerking downward with a military air. “It will be our pleasure to serve, your Highness.”
With that the fairies descended on the woman, covering her completely. The screams coming from under the mound of shimmering creatures were horrible, ear piercing.
I looked at Dialle. His face was like rock as he watched the fairies work. “What are they doing to her?”
“Giving her pleasure without pain. Her worst nightmare.”
“It can’t really be that simple can it?”
He grinned, for the first time since we’d entered the Angel City coven he seemed to relax. “Yes, my princess, it can.”
Then he grabbed me, his lips descending on my own and consuming my quickly exhaled breath. I felt the kiss down to my toes and quickly allowed myself to get sucked under by it.
My heart beat picked up and the knots in my stomach started to unclench as a deep, liquid heat poured through me. I pressed myself as tightly against his long, hard body as I could get.
He reached between our bodies and caressed the point of my pleasure, causing me to arch upward and cry in delight .
The first flutter hit my cheek and I felt a soft tongue against my forehead. A second gentle flutter touched my neck. As the fairies descended on us the sound of their wings throbbed a sexual rhythm against our frantic bodies, increasing the tempo of our need to nearly violent levels.
They fluttered around us, their wings creating a gentle symphony that fired our lust and created a small, private niche in that magical place.
I didn’t realize how many fairies surrounded us until I felt my feet leaving the ground and my body tilting backward. My back touched the soft, spongy surface of the ground and Dialle’s luscious weight and hard planes lowered onto me, driving lust into my prone body at every touchpoint between us.
In a blink my clothes were off and the gentle wings whirred and dipped to touch and lick my heated flesh. Dialle’s body ground against me with a near violent urgency and I cried out with frustrated lust. I tried to pull him into me but something was holding him back.
Nearly screaming in frustration I looked up and saw the Fairy King whispering in Dialle’s ear.
Suddenly Dialle shot away from me, borne aloft by hundreds of frantic fairies. He threw back his head and screamed in rage. The Fairies scurried away as fire filled the air around him, licking up his gloriously naked body and filling the air for twenty feet in every direction with a flesh melting heat.
I had just enough presence of mind to coat myself with protective power and then scoot away as far as I could get.
Somewhere above the roaring sounds of the fire I could hear maniacal laughter and I turned to where we’d left the witch.
She was standing amidst a small mound of dead Fairies, her arms outstretched and her eyes fixed on Dialle. Then she disappeared with a small pop.
Dialle disappeared right after her.
I suddenly found myself back in the Viper. Looking around I saw that the Viper still hovered in front o
f the coven headquarters. The place looked deserted but I doubted it really was.
I sat back in the soft, welcoming leather of the Viper’s interior and let go of my power bubble, wondering if Dialle had gone after the witch or left under someone else’s steam.
What the hell was going on in the coven that they had this much power to pull from?
Why weren’t they worried about retribution?
And how was I going to stop them if even the royals could be made to dance at their slightest whim?
I headed home with a heavy heart. As if things weren’t complex enough, they just got immeasurably worse. And much more dangerous for all involved.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A Visit to the Big House
Alas our lady’s angel comes and bids her do her best,
Her visit to the Heavenly House, will put her to the test.
I was just finishing up a last bit of paperwork in my office when Myra shimmered into the room, an agitated look on her angelic face.
I looked up and frowned. “What now? Don’t tell me another hostage has been killed?”
She flung out a dismissive hand and moved toward me with a very determined air. As she reached for me I drew back, pushing my chair away from my desk with such force that I banged against the wall behind me. Throwing myself to my feet I took a battle stance. “Step back, angel! You will not shimmer me any place until you tell me where I’m going and why.”
Her customary scowl deepened and she squared off against me, placing perfectly manicured white hands on narrow hips. I was pretty sure there was an angrily tapping foot under her flowing gowns. “I was not going to shimmer you away against your will, Astra. Stop being so melodramatic. For the sake of Heaven, I need you to listen to me carefully.”
I raised my eyebrows and softened my battle stance only slightly, knowing full well that my angel was totally capable of catapulting herself over the desk and transporting me out of there with a touch before I could yell, “damnable demon from the wrong side of the celestial tracks!”
Or even something much more succinct like, “holy shit!”
