Demons Are Forever

by Marianne Morea

  Kyle looked up from the large chicken breast he picked at, and I meant picked, as in carrion bird picked clean.

  “Howdy, darlin’.” His beady eyes flashed a strange double-lidded blink. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  Smile still plastered, I tried to meet his gaze. Not an easy task when his birdy eyes moved independently of each other.

  “I’ve heard so much about the island’s famous avian, I had to come and introduce myself.” My flirty lilt made my inner organs cringe. “I hope that wasn’t too forward.”

  Grinning, his beaky nose nearly touched his upper lip as he took my hand. “Not at all.”

  Bits of chicken bone poked from between his teeth, and I tried not to stare. He was gross. And not because he was short and fat, but because his beady eyes barely strayed from my breasts. Even as he talked, one eye stayed on the goodies, even if the other looked me in the face. Can we say freak show?

  “I heard you were from the great State of Texas. I love visiting the River Walk in San Antonio. Are you near there?”

  “My territory is just north of Austin. I prefer the mountains, though my soar is wide and varied in geography.” His tongue darted in and out, upping the gross factor.

  He kept my hand in his, and the goose-pimpled feel of his skin was strange and a little creepy. “I had heard we had a VIP demi-demon arriving this week,” he continued. “My friend Furpot met you at the dock. He said you were attractive, but the sly dog didn’t tell me you were beautiful.”

  “That’s kind of you to say.”

  A cross between a caw and a cackle left his mouth along with a tiny spray of chicken bone. The urge to jerk away nearly overwhelmed, but I caught sight of Daniel and gritted a smile that bordered on painful.

  “What did you mean by VIP?” I asked, and the question wasn’t feigned interest.

  “No need to fish for compliments, darlin’, everybody knows you’re Hux’s girl.” He caw-laughed again, and I eased my hand back, keeping my smile static. “I didn’t believe him when Hux claimed he had a prize filly for a daughter, but that boy ain’t lying. You are grade-A prime.”

  I blinked. Did this asshole just compare me to a brood mare and butcher meat in the same sentence? My mouth tasted metallic, and I realized I bit my tongue bloody.

  “Aw, you really are sweet, and I hear you have a prize talent of your own. Something not many avians can boast.” I raised a teasing brow, hoping I didn’t choke on the monster-sized lies coming out of my mouth.

  The demi-kestrel’s chest puffed out, making him look even squatter. He leaned in, as if revealing a secret. “Well, now. I’m not one to brag, but have you seen the movie Beastmaster?”

  “I have!” I replied, feigning enthusiasm. “It’s a classic.”

  His smirk was too slick as he took my hand again, but when he placed my palm on top of his head, I recoiled.

  “Excuse me! What are you doing?”

  “It’s okay, little lady. I want you to feel the top ridge of my skull.”

  I stiffened. If this was some weird shifter-erection-fetish thing I was going to retch.” I swallowed my revulsion and flattened my palm on his head.

  “Cool, huh? It’s called a vertex. Only avian’s born with a raised vertex have the Beastmaster skill.”

  Direct contact made it easier to work a compulsion, so I tapped into my demon side and concentrated on Featherbutte until his eyes dilated.

  “Kyle,” I asked, batting my now burning eyes. “I’d love it if you would shift into bird form and take me for a spin.”

  “Now?” he asked, his head jerky and stiff under compulsion.

  I tapped my index finger on the end of his beaky nose. “Of course, silly. I want the whole Beastmaster experience.”

  To everyone around, the interaction looked innocent. Strange and unsettlingly gross, but innocent. “What do you say, Kylekins?” I let my finger trail his cheek. “Do it for me?”

  A jerky nod, and he stepped back, stripping out of his clothes until he stood stark naked on the veranda steps. Guests stood in less than quiet shock, and I had to up the compulsion, so their reaction didn’t interfere.

  “Featherbutte!” Neville Furpot skipped to the top of the veranda steps. “What in hell’s name are you doing?”

  The avian plucked a hair from his head, and handed it to me before leaping into the air. I was impressed, actually. The little butterball phased on the fly. Not bad for a gross halfling.

  His bird form was tiny, and the moment he shifted, the hair in my hand turned into a feather. I closed it in my fist and walked down the steps to the empty garden. Looking up to track the bird’s flight, my vision shifted and suddenly I was connected to the kestrel.

  Its caw echoed in my head, like listening to yourself scream. Rapid blinking centered me against growing vertigo, until my equilibrium adjusted.

  “Wow,” I murmured, lifting my face to the sun and not feeling a retinal sting. From this vantage point, the island seemed a tiny scrub in a tangle of winding water. Cypresses reigned supreme, and in the murk, I knew every ripple and shift in temperature. Monolithic gators barely moved, while fish and snakes undulated past. It was a different world, and it stole my breath.

  Focusing on the task at hand, I searched for the glowing ley lines. Their spark wasn’t as defined as I hoped, but it had to be due to the borrowed sight. The kestrel dived for the water, which meant I had seconds to pinpoint the apex or be privy to an eviscerated live meal.

  I spotted it from the periphery. Ley lines converged beyond the massive spelled tree Daniel found. Past the water and onto a small outcrop. Squinting, I made out what looked to be raised tombs, like the cemeteries in New Orleans. Old. Overgrown. Forgotten. Recently resurrected. The question? Why?

  I let the feather fall from my hand just as Featherbutte pierced the water. My breath loosed in a jagged exhale, and my knees failed. Crumbling under my own weight, I was going down hard until a strong hand caught my elbow.

  “That’s some trick.”

  Glancing up, I expected to see Daniel, but instead the hand and the help belonged to Hux. “Not mine,” I replied. “His.” I pointed to the sky. “The kestrel was showing me his Beastmaster move.”

  Hux nodded, and the tolerant amusement on his face irked.

  “Look, thanks for the hand, but I’m good.” I extricated my arm as he helped me to my feet.

  “Linzie…Green, is it?” he asked, even more amused.

  I turned, facing him square though all I wanted was to cross my arms tight at my chest. “Yes. Is there a problem with that?”

  “That’s a loaded question,” he replied. “Much the same as your mother asked whenever she dug in her heels.”

  Curling my fingers into my palms, I ignored the urge to smack the humor off his face. My mother may not have trained me as a witch, but she was still a single mom who struggled to do her best for her child.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Come, come. Linzie. Did you think I wouldn’t know my own child?” His grin made me cringe. “I sensed you the moment you touched the water.”

  I blinked at him. Touched the water? What the hell was he talking about? Then it hit me. When Daniel pulled my hand back in the fan boat. My fingertips barely skimmed the surface.

  Hux nodded as if reading my mind, or at least my face. “You’re a Hellborne for sure.” He winked. “Even that stubborn streak screams so, though your mother was a witch on wheels when she wanted to be, and I mean witch with a capital B.”

  That was it. My eyes burned so badly I expected flames to engulf the smug bastard. I settled for hauling off with a heavy smack, leaving five finger marks across his cheek before walking away.

  “You can ignore me, but you can’t ignore your blood, Linzie Hellborne. Demons are forever.”

  I stopped with my shoulders in my ears, loaded for bear. I rage-pivoted in the grass, not caring how it looked. “You can’t possibly think I owe you anything.” My tone was not playing.

&
nbsp; “No, but—”

  “There is no but. This isn’t an episode of Long Lost Family. For years Mom knew how to find you, and she gave me the choice. I chose no, with a capital N. I wanted nothing to do with you then, and I want nothing to do with you now. That we happen to be on the same island in the middle of the bayou is utter coincidence. Don’t make this uncomfortable, or you’ll find yourself in the water with the rest of the snakes.”

  He didn’t reply, and I was relieved. I knew without a mirror my eyes were full on black and flecked with hellish red. It was the worst kind of feeling, though power vibrated from every sinew in my body. The wrong kind of power. Dark power. But power, nonetheless.

  I stalked off, making my way toward the front of the house so I could slip upstairs to my room without scaring anyone.

  “Linz!” Daniel hurried up from behind. “Are you okay?”

  I turned and he stopped short, and the look on his face told me he got his answer.

  “Holy shit. Your eyes.” He took a step closer, but I held up a hand, stopping him. “Linzie, this is nuts. I’ve never…”

  That he didn’t know how to continue wasn’t his fault. Obviously, my demon side was hella stronger than his. I was the one who’d been dabbling for shits and giggles. Tabitha warned me. Roy warned me. Did I listen? Not really. I had this whole body ocular reaction only once before in my life, and had convinced myself I could handle the burn.

  I was a teenager the last time. My mother was mugged coming home from work, and I used every paranormal sense I had to track the lowlife. Tabitha was with me then. She’s the reason I didn’t kill the bastard when I found him.

  “Daniel…I…” I shook my head, squinching my eyes closed.

  “It’s okay, Linz. I got you.” Before I could say anything, he clamped his hand over mine and tugged me toward the front of the house and up the stairs.

  Chapter Seven

  I kept my eyes shut the whole time, hoping the rest of the plantation house assumed Daniel tugged me upstairs for a little afternoon delight.

  He hip-opened the door to my room, and helped me to the edge of the bed. I sat with my eyes still closed, my fingers gripping the bedspread.

  “Open your eyes, Linz.”

  I didn’t answer.

  “Linzie. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together.”

  The words were ones I’d longed to hear forever. Of course, my hurt and anger always ended the fantasy with me frying Daniel’s ass, but the urge to do so now was nowhere to be found. I wanted Daniel’s support. I wanted his comforting arms around me. I wanted him.

  He sat beside me, turning me slightly so he could see my whole face. “C’mon, killer. I know your baby blues are in there somewhere. We need to coax them out and your demony side in. I can’t do it without you, babe. In fact, I can’t do much without you. I’ve spent three years learning that the hard way.”

  Taking my face in his hands, he didn’t take advantage or even try to kiss me. He simply waited. Patience. I had accused him of being impatient. It was true in the past, and yeah, that impatience had rooted our breakup, but I was wrong. There was no impatience. Only maturity, and he’d been showing me that since the airport.

  I covered his hands with mine, and it felt right. Felt whole. Taking a steadying breath, I opened my eyes, half expecting Daniel to jerk back. He didn’t. His gaze locked with mine. No holy-shit-what-the-hell. No fear, and more importantly, no pity. Just Daniel looking at me and me looking at Daniel.

  “Well?” I asked, not sure how to gauge my own body.

  “Not bad. Your baby blues are a little gray, and there’s black around the edges, but it looks like they’re back from whatever took over.

  He let go of my face, and I got up to go look in the mirror. I snapped on the bathroom light and leaned in, inspecting the residual. Daniel came in and stood behind me. He slid his hands onto my shoulders, kneading the bunched tension underneath.

  “I lost it, Daniel.” I lifted one hand before letting it drop to the porcelain vanity. “I allowed him to get under my skin. It was like he knew exactly how to play me.” A guttural exhale punctuated my self-blame.

  “Do you think maybe, just maybe, this was performative?” he asked, squeezing the knot balls on either side of my neck.

  I looked at him in the mirror. “How do you mean?”

  “Planned. Strategic. Whatever is happening on this island with witch’s blood is too big a money maker to keep small. Perhaps daddy dearest was testing your demon side and what it takes to trigger.”

  I closed my eyes, squinching up my face. “And I gave him exactly what he wanted. Now he knows bashing my mother is a trigger. That his abandonment is a trigger. Wait until he finds out about you and me, I’m sure he’ll find a way to twist us to his own use as well.”

  Daniel’s hands stopped kneading. “Us?”

  Opening my eyes, I met the unspoken question in his gaze. It wasn’t mocking. It wasn’t skeptical. It wasn’t even hopeful. It was honest and waiting.

  “Why did you leave without so much as a word why?” Answering his question with a question wasn’t what he wanted, but I deserved an answer to the past before we could talk about a future.

  He didn’t look away. “I was young, Linz. I wasn’t ready.”

  “Ready. For what?” I didn’t want to sound like a shrew, but what the hell did he think I had planned?

  “For what came next.” He lifted a hand from my shoulder in an I-don’t-know-what-to-say gesture.

  “We were twenty-four and twenty-five, respectively. I had nothing planned, Daniel. No covert machinations, no secret strategies in play to trap you or get you to do anything. I just wanted to be together.”

  He nodded. “I know that…now.” He let go of me completely and turned for the bathroom door. “It was everyone else. Older relatives. My friends. Even people I knew casually. They all said the same things. “When are you gonna pop the question? Bro, how’d you avoid the noose so long? Linz is gonna cast a spell on your ass if you don’t hit that knee soon.”

  I didn’t want to laugh, because his face was so torn and serious, but come on. “Daniel, seriously? If you had just talked to me instead of getting all weird and distant, I would have told you then I wasn’t ready either.”

  “Again… I know that, now.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s like that saying. To be old and wise you once had to be young and stupid.”

  “You’re still young.” I slid in next to him. “Though I can’t speak to the stupid part.”

  “Ha-ha. Not nice.”

  I shrugged, “I’m a demon. Black eyes. Nasty disposition.”

  “Not quite, demikins.”

  “Well, if you’re going to nitpick…”

  Daniel play-shoved me back onto the mattress, climbing over my hips. “You’re nice all the time, so no more about your little demon side.”

  He looked so unbelievably sexy. Hazel eyes glinting with humor, and his gorgeous, teasingly crooked smile making me want to curl my fingers into his hair and drag him down for a breath-stealing kiss.

  Daniel must’ve read the look on my face because his mouth crushed mine. He slid his legs back, so every inch of him covered every inch of me, and I let go. I didn’t care anymore. He gave me the answers I wanted, and the past no longer mattered. It was now. It was here. It was us.

  “Mmmm, I will never get tired of the delicious way you smell. Dangerous and sweet at the same time.” Daniel’s arm gripped my waist, pulling me against his hard length.

  My pulse raced. Three pent-up years were ready to explode with a single stroke.

  A throaty chuckle fanned the tender skin beneath my jaw. “Are you sure you severed your connection to the fat little Beastmaster? This is a private rendezvous.” He nipped the base of my ear. “Unless your new kinky side wants him to watch.”

  “What? NO!” I shifted to look at him.

  “You said I’d be surprised if I asked, so…”

  A small grin tugged. “So you WERE jealou
s.”

  “Of course I was jealous.” He nipped my bottom lip.

  “Good…now no more talk about that creepy bird or you’ll kill the mood.”.

  “Deal. The kestrel’s rotund little body would explode if he watched what I have in store for you.” He licked the underside of my jaw to my ear and nipped again.

  “I can picture it now. Poof! Feathers everywhere!”

  Daniel’s eyes twinkled. “How’s your little demon, now? Sizzling or what?”

  “Hey, you’ve got a demon side, too, though not so little if memory serves.” I dragged a hand over his jeans to the bulge behind his zipper.”

  “And you claim you’re not a size whore.”

  “When did I claim that? My inner demon needs to be fed, and she likes it hard and thick.”

  His gaze locked on hers. “This is the only way to play in the dark, Linz.” He reached to snap off the light, letting the blackout curtains flood the room with night. “Flesh on flesh. Mouth on mouth. And every delicious in between.

  “Daniel…”

  He shook his head. “I learned something after leaving you, and that’s never question something that feels right.” He snapped his fingers, and in a flash, they were both naked. “Oh, and I learned that convenient little trick, too.”

  I didn’t want to know where or with whom he learned that technique. I dismissed the thought. Not that it took much. And not with his hard length pressed against my lower belly.

  Daniel’s mouth took mine before I could question, and the taste of him sent my senses reeling. Tongues wrestled, mingling our breath and I gasped, demanding more.

  “That’s what I want, Linzie.” His hand cradled the back of my head. “I want you, dripping wet and begging for me…for more.”

  His whispers hovered, teasing me. Tantalizing. Even as his free hand slid over my hip to the soft curls between my legs.

  “Hello again, Ms. Muffit,” he teased, letting his fingers slip between my folds. “I remember you. Soft, yet slick and juicy.”

  I sucked in a breath at the rough feel of his fingers curling up and in, and he kissed my ear again.

  “Let go, Linzie. Nothing else matters but this.” Daniel’s thumb circled my hard nub. “Your need. Your want. Tense. Clenching. Until there’s nothing left but raw desire.”