Demon Underground (2)

by S. L. Wright

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. He must know Shock and Bliss had left. “Why didn’t you come to the bar?”

  “The surveillance cameras are aimed at the front. There’s nothing on this side.” He glanced away. “Revel’s PI is at the other end of the block. There’s a waitress in the Chinese joint he likes.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the reminder that Papa Revel’s eyes were trained on me. Revel had been my first demon lover, the one who had taught me how manipulative demons could be. He had spent the past decade trying to win back my trust, while also protecting me for Vex. But I couldn’t get over his first betrayal—I really thought he loved me, when all he wanted was to control me.

  “Have you been watching me, too?”

  He smiled slightly. “Every second.”

  I didn’t like it, but in a strange way it was also flattering. Why did I hate it when Revel did it, but it made me go all girlish when Ram did?

  I wanted to reach out to touch him, but resisted with everything I had. The fact that we had chemistry didn’t mean anything, not really. Ram was the most dangerous creature I’d ever come close to, and I knew plenty of monsters by name.

  “Every second?” I forced myself to ask coolly. “So you did call 911.”

  He hesitated, fighting a lifetime of concealment. “Yes, when Dread and Zeal were in the bar. I was worried.”

  I shifted back from him. “I’ve got everything under control, Ram. I wouldn’t have invited them inside if I thought there would be trouble. But now Dread’s agreed to order the Vex demons to keep away from me.”

  He ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the curling strands. It made me want to do the same, to feel how silky it was. He had lain with his head in my lap as I stroked his hair, doing everything I could to make him feel better after Dread’s torture, while he was lying to me with every pained breath. I thought he was a human, but he wasn’t. He had such deep reserves of energy that he could have healed himself instantly. I tried not to take that personally—it would have exposed him and prevented our escape. But I couldn’t help thinking about it.

  “What are you giving Dread in return?” he asked.

  “He wants me to tell you that he won’t hurt people anymore. He’s dismantling his cage and getting out of the Abu Ghraib business. He wants to cut a deal with you.”

  Ram gave me a look. “I hope you don’t believe him.”

  I shrugged. “He lives for fear, and he’s used to a regular diet of it. I seriously doubt he’s going to change now.”

  “He’s going to want more from you, always more. You can’t trust Dread, Allay. He’s trying to form an alliance with Goad, and has promised him something huge. Everything’s on the verge of exploding. The humans went through the enlightenment and the industrial revolution, but the way demons operated has remained the same for nearly two thousand years with Vex and Glory calling the shots. None of the modern demons has seen such a major paradigm shift within our culture. They don’t realize that the old days have ended.” He shook his head. “What does Glory want from you?”

  “Information about Dread. And you.” I took a deep breath. It was time for me to be fully honest with him. How could we develop any sort of trust if we lied to each other? “While I was at the Prophet’s Center, Dread told me about a new machine that’s been developed—the ERI. It uses a high-frequency, high-voltage, low-amperage electrical field to show the difference between humans and demons. They’re going to be used as weapons detectors, but Vex found out they also reveal our unique energy pattern. Shock thinks he was just making it up to scare me into cooperating with them.”

  Again he hesitated, raising all sorts of flags in my mind. “I’ve been waiting for this. It’s called a Kirlian field. It was invented by Professor Semyan Kirlian of Russia in 1939. He discovered a way to use high frequencies to photograph the aura, the energy field of living matter. I met with him after the war. I’ll never forget how he tore off a piece of a leaf and when he photographed it, a ghostly image of the missing part was left.”

  “Like us, when a limb is cut off,” I said, remembering how Dread’s arm had rematerialized after he cut it off with the cross of the Fellowship of Truth. “So it’s really true? The ERI really exists.”

  “Yes. It’s already in mass production.”

  “But that’s . . . earth-shattering.” I could hardly imagine it. “Demons will be outed.”

  Ram nodded. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Perhaps in this scientific age, we’ll finally be known for who we are. I hope we can leave behind the hysteria and xenophobia that always comes when we’re discovered. If reason doesn’t triumph, we’re in for another witch hunt of epic proportions.”

  “We have to tell the others.”

  “It won’t do any good to try to raise a panic about it, Allay. None of them will believe you.”

  “They didn’t before, but they will if I tell them you agree with me.”

  “Even if you convince them it’s true, there’s nothing they can do about it. It might even provoke them into stupid acts, like Vex with his religious resurrection. Demons will always try to use what’s at hand to their advantage.”

  “Does that include you?”

  His slow smile melted me inside. “I always win. That’s why I’m watching over you, to make sure you get through this transition period unharmed. These are chaotic times, and there’s no telling who will turn on whom, who will become enemies or friends.”

  I suddenly got the oddest flash of a giant demon standing head and shoulders above the surrounding men. He was broad in the shoulders, a massive man with a huge helm on his head that made him seem even taller. His followers were in rags and brandishing sabers as he shouted commands, his flaming red beard streaming from his chin. “I know it’s happened before. All those vampire and werewolf stories. Not to mention the Bible. And Redbeard ...”

  Behind the huge redheaded demon, I could see a castle high on a craggy coastline, the water bluer than I’ve ever seen before, like the purest turquoise. His people swarmed over to me, surrounding me. The ocean was booming not far in the distance as I passed slowly through the crowd. They reached out to touch me, begging for my blessing, for a miracle, forcing their desperate desire into me as I glutted myself. Pain blossomed in my hands as blood began to flow, shiny dark red against my pale flesh, dripping down my arms as I raised them high for everyone to see. A roar went up as they tried to get to me, squashing me among them as I writhed in ecstasy.

  I blindly held out my hands, palms up. “I’m bleeding!”

  “No, you’re not.” Ram took hold of my arm to steady me. “Allay, what’s wrong?”

  “Memories,” I realized. “Plea’s memories.”

  I could feel the stigmata in my palms, the searing lie. I had . . . Plea had conned those people into thinking she was a saint, just like Vex had wanted me to pose as a messiah. I wondered if he thought that Plea’s memories would be an inducement to agree to his plan. Maybe he hoped I would want to relive the glory days. He couldn’t have known that I remembered nothing about my progenitor. But from this taste, it would have made me even more reluctant to stage my own resurrection.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes.” I swallowed back a burning in my throat. “I haven’t had a flashback in a long time.”

  It was a little ominous that my self-control was slipping now. But that one memory made clearer than anything the true frenzy of the mob, the sheer weight of humanity that could crush anything in its path.

  I should have known better than other demons; I had lived my human life. I knew how schoolkids stuck to those who were like them, shunning the ones who were different. I knew what that revulsion for the other felt like, and sympathized with it, even though I was now “the other.”

  It was what kept me in hiding, in shame, holed up in my bar instead of living my life for the past decade.

  Now through Ram’s touch, I could feel his driving aggression, everything rus
hing full speed ahead—his desire for me, his need to pull me closer, and his iron control so as to not frighten me. It washed over me, surrounding me with his energy, as he sighed, no longer hiding his need for me. His aura flushed verdant, staining my own aura with my response where he touched me.

  “Thank you for helping me,” I told Ram. “And thank you for Bliss.”

  His smile was wistful. “You like her. I’m glad.”

  It surprised me after Shock’s dire warnings. “You don’t think it’s dangerous?”

  “Between your memories and influence, and her own core desire for pleasure, I doubt she’s capable of harming anyone.”

  It was nice to have my judgment confirmed for a change. Very nice to touch him and feel that warmth I craved—my own skin was cool, as was all demons’. But Ram was different, far more ancient than any of us.

  He was completely immoral. How could he not be, when he was able to do exactly as he wanted and controlled everything in his reach?

  He was looking at me, his eyes locked on mine for far longer than I was used to. I kept glancing away, but he was still watching me when I looked back. It made me confused, almost heady with delight. How could such a simple thing, his eyes on mine, be so powerful?

  I leaned forward as he bent closer. I wasn’t sure if I kissed him or he kissed me, but our gentle, sweet brush of the lips lingered on as I pressed against him. Touching him was even better than being devoured by his eyes. I was lost in his arms around me, holding me close as his mouth caressed mine.

  Then I realized Ram was feeding me, pouring his potent energy into me. I almost stopped him, but it tasted so good, and was so freely given, that I couldn’t refuse. I hated stealing from my patrons to survive. He was like a river of wealth flowing into me.

  He turned, pushing me against the chain-link fence, which gave comfortably against my back. He was already hard, so hard and hot that he pressed into my belly, and I arched against him, buoyed by the fence.

  He grasped my hips through my skirt and rubbed against me with one long, hard thrust. His intent was unmistakable. “Allay,” he breathed. “I must have you.”

  “Here?” I said, a little too loudly, shaken out of my fog of lust. True, we were hidden behind the rusted green Dumpster, but the sidewalk was just on the other side and I could suddenly hear the sound of cars and people talking as they passed by.

  “Your place,” he urged. “I’ll go around the block and come in through the roof.”

  Shock was coming back any minute. The thought of her expression when she found me having sex with Ram was like a cold dash of water. “No!”

  He eased back, letting me rest against the fence, our auras sparking with brilliant green where his hands held my waist. To his credit, he was still feeding me his energy despite my rebuff. “You don’t want me?”

  “Yes! I do. Only ...”

  “You don’t trust me,” he said flatly.

  My mouth moved to protest, but that was what it came down to. Did I trust him? How could I?

  Then again, how could I not? He had saved my life twice. My best chance of survival was with him at my back. Shock’s and Bliss’s best chance of survival, as well. If I was a cynical, conniving demon, I would fuck him senseless just to keep him on my side.

  But I wasn’t that kind of girl.

  Ram traced a light finger down my cheek to my wet lips. “Of course you don’t trust me. There’s no reason you should. But I have an eternity to prove myself to you.”

  I really wanted to ask him to lower his shields, so I could feel his powerful signature throbbing through me. So I could feel how old he was, like history itself, wrapping the thread of human existence around the spool of one man.

  I clasped his hand, and reached up to cup his palm that lay against my cheek. “I do want you, Ram.”

  I pulled him closer to kiss him, making him lean into the fence, pressing against my entire body. All of a sudden, my fear was gone. All I cared about was him in that moment.

  I wrapped my leg around his to lock him in close. He arched his back, stroking himself against me, raising up my skirt with one hand so he could feel my cool thigh. His fingers dug into me urgently. “Don’t deny me, Allay.”

  I murmured against his lips, “I want to feel you inside me.”

  “Now?”

  “Now.”

  I pulled up my skirt all the way. He moaned at the feel of my skin against him. With a quick twist, he ripped my panties as if they were tissue paper, making me gasp at his power. As if I were close to a volcano about to erupt, bathing in the heat.

  He pulled my knee high around his hip, holding me up as I wrapped my arms around his neck. We fit together, balancing each other as my back braced against the chain-link fence. All I could see was his face.

  I was open to him, and he pushed himself inside me slowly, sliding ever deeper like I was drawing him in. He let out a sighing breath almost as if he was climaxing, trembling throughout his body at the intensity of burying himself inside me.

  “I belong inside you,” he murmured.

  I kissed him as he thrust into me, soaking up the adoration, the desire that raged inside him, the need to take me and keep me safe. He couldn’t hide any of it. It was overwhelming as it poured into me, filling me up.

  As I cried out in pleasure, somewhere in the back of my mind I still questioned—how could he feel so much for me, so soon? Could Ram really be in love with me? Maybe it was just because I was like Hope. . . .

  Then everything vanished as I climaxed, giving myself over to pure sensation. Nothing else mattered. There was only perfect joy, the essence of Bliss, in every touch, in every sweet kiss.

  As I came back to myself, a light sheen of sweat covered my skin, raising goose bumps in the breeze. He had fed me so much, my skin felt warm.

  Then I remembered where I was. I was as shameless as Bliss. No wonder, poor girl! I’d made her that way.

  Ram felt my sudden blush of embarrassment, staining my aura blue. I disentangled myself from him, and as I straightened my skirt, I felt the need to say, “I don’t usually go around having sex in public places, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “Not at all.” He sounded as if he was trying not to laugh.

  I shot him a silent warning not to. And he didn’t. But he was amused at my modern sensibilities. I could see why; after all, he was born in a time when everyone, including children, slept in a pile and had sex in front of everyone else. Orgies must look awfully self-conscious to him.

  “Come around to the bar and see me next time,” I blurted out. “I don’t like hiding from Shock.”

  His brow rose as he realized that was why I didn’t want to go back to my place. “I don’t mind your friends knowing about us, but I don’t want Dread and Glory’s spies finding out. Revel is working for Dread now, you know.”

  “You want me to lie to everyone about seeing you?”

  “I don’t want them to get the idea to use you against me. If they know how important you are to me, they could kidnap you and try to trap me.”

  It sounded reasonable enough. But I didn’t like to lie. I lied too much as it was, living among humans. I wanted to be honest about my feelings for Ram. I would have to start with Shock and Bliss, and damn the consequences. Because it was the truth. Despite my doubts, I couldn’t turn my back on these feelings—his or my own.

  Ram lifted his head. “Shock’s coming. I’ve got something to do tonight, but I’ll try to be back before you close. You . . . be careful while I’m away.”

  He gave me a lingering kiss, and then he was gone before they came into my range. As I emerged from behind the Dumpster and made my way back to the bar with the crumpled bag holding the fruit, I couldn’t stop smiling. I’m sure my customers would never recognize the wanton sex kitten that I had become with Ram.

  I made it back to the bar just before Shock and Bliss. They took one look at my highly charged aura, glowing green and still edged with blue from the realization of how uninhibi
ted I had been, taking him right there on the street. . . .

  “Allay!” Shock breathed in dismay. She seemed to be at a loss for words over the fact that I had made love to Ram.

  “Yes,” I told her and Bliss. “You might as well get used to it. I finally found someone I can be honest with. A guy I’m mad about. I’m not giving it up, not for anything.”

  “Not even your life? Or mine.” She shot Bliss a look. “Or hers?”

  Bliss tilted her head. “You told me to stay away from Crave until things settle down.”

  “Yeah, Allay,” Shock agreed. “The least you could do is the same. Ram is dangerous, and getting too close to him puts another target on you.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant,” Bliss denied. “I meant I should be able to do Crave now. Otherwise it’s a double standard.”

  I shook my head. “You know why I asked you to stay away from Crave. Glory is our ally now, but if you start messing with Lash, her only hold on Dread, she’s going to turn against you. And me, because I’m going to defend you. Could you wait just a few days, even, before pursuing this?”

  “Can you?” Shock asked me, her arms folded.

  “Do you want me to piss off Ram by rejecting him? Now, when we could use all the help we can get?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re using him. You’re in this up to your eyeballs. I can tell. But he’s using you. That’s what demons do.”

  That was exactly what Ram had said. I had survived a long time by listening to Shock. But I couldn’t force myself to agree.

  I clapped my hands together once, ready to be done with this. “Can we talk about all this later?” I pointed to the bar. “It’s time to open up.”

  She held my gaze a moment longer, then gave a hard shrug as she turned away. It was awful. She had been my friend since I became a demon, my sister in word and deed. She used to come by the bar, regular as clockwork, to pretend to have a drink and tell me some of the gossip in the demon world. She was on the streets with her job, so she came across demons all the time and picked up bits and pieces of things. But she also refused to participate in the various intrigues. In that way we were a lot alike. I had stayed away from the others and hid out in my bar because too many demons had turned on me and tried to steal my hybrid energy. And my soul.