Bring Out Your Dead (7 page)

“
Belle!
Le
demon!” Sally
shouted, her hands gesticulating wildly.

“
Yes, I know, but this
should only take a couple of minutes. Until Sebastian and I have an
understanding—”

A huge crash rocked the house.

“
There, you see?” Sally’s
voice was complacent as both Sebastian and I ran for the door.
“
Le
demon has
blown up
le
house! I
hope you’re happy
now.”

“
Bloody hell…” I beat
Sebastian to the doorway, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me
behind him as he raced out into the hallway. The sharp, stinging
smell of explosive powder filled the air, making my eyes stream and
clogging my throat. I coughed, peering through weeping eyes at the
destruction. The remains of the front door hung drunkenly open,
attached only by one bent and damaged hinge. The small couch and
end table that sat at the far end were covered in bits of wood and
plaster, and part of something I hesitantly identified as a
revenant. Tim and the others emerged from under the remains of a
large potted palm that had exploded.

“
Brainsssssss,” came the
eerie wail from the bits of revenant on the destroyed
couch.

Sally picked up an unattached leg and
floated her way across the debris to where the still animated upper
half of William sat. “Is this yours?”

“
Oooh. That looks lovely.
If you could set it just here next to me…”

Sally was about to give the revenant his
leg, but heeded the look in my eye and retreated to a corner with
it instead.

Damian, crouched at the top of the stairs,
peered over the rail at me, his dark hair powdered gray, but he
appeared otherwise unhurt.

“
Are you all right?” I
asked him.

He nodded, then pointed to the gaping hole
that was now the doorway. Sebastian and I turned to look.

“
Tattu!
”

The demon I’d surprised earlier stood in the
doorway, its eyes glowing with hate.

“
Oh,
merde
,” Sally said, brandishing the
leg as if it was a weapon. “It’s
ici
.”

Sebastian moved to block the demon’s view of
me. I stared at the back of his neck for a second, amused but
touched by his protective attitude. I’d barely met the man, and
already he was acting like…well, like a doting husband. I couldn’t
help wondering…

“
Tattu!
Come with me and I will not harm the Dark
Ones.”

“
Who is this now?” Tim
asked, giving the demon a haughty look. “Is he holding us hostage?
Are we in a hostage situation? Will he adhere to the proper rules
governing treatment of hostages? Shall we designate one of us as a
negotiator?”

I sighed and moved to Sebastian’s side to
confront the demon. Sebastian stood absolutely still, his eyes the
color of bleached granite, his muscles tense. I slid my hand into
his, not sure whether it was to restrain him from hasty actions or
to comfort myself. His fingers tightened around mine, sending a
little wave of warmth up my arm.

“
This woman is my
Beloved,” Sebastian told the demon, his body language screaming
that he was not about to take anything from anyone. “You will leave
now.”

“
Beloved?” The demon’s
gaze turned to me. My skin crawled as it examined me, leaving me
feeling tainted and foul.

A wave of imps washed up and over the
demon’s feet, collecting in a pool on the hallway floor before him.
They yip-yipped aggressively, hopping up and down and shaking their
little fists at us until Sebastian cast a glance at them. One look
from him had them scampering back to the safety of the doorway.

“
Imps,” said William’s
remains. “I could go for a nice imp fry right about
now.”

You’re a handy guy to have
around
, I told Sebastian.

In more ways than you can
imagine
, he answered, and for one
brilliant moment, my head was flooded with the most erotic images,
thoughts and desires and urges that all involved me. My knees
almost buckled at the things Sebastian wanted to do to me. The
images were gone in a second, leaving me to wish we were alone so I
could investigate futher some of the arousing thoughts he’d had. A
snarl from the demon returned my attention to the moment at
hand.

“
The
tattu
is not your Beloved,” the
demon sneered at Sebastian. “You have not Joined. She belongs to my
master. I will take her now, and there is nothing you can do to
stop me.”

“
Can I have my leg back,
please?”

Beloved, we must Join now. It is the only
way I can protect you.

“
Vous et
what army?” Sally floated over to stand in front
of me, her arms crossed over her chest (she’d given William’s leg
to Tim). My heart warmed at her brave—but completely
useless—attempt to protect me.

Ysabelle, we do not have a
choice. We must Join before the demon attacks. Without help, I can
disable it only for a short time. It will no doubt return with
minions and other demons
. Sebastian’s
voice was rich with regret that he was forcing a decision on me,
but there was a faint echo of satisfaction that had me wondering
again.

The demon walked right through Sally and
stopped a few feet in front of Sebastian. It smiled. The lights in
the chandelier near the stairs exploded, tiny bits of glass raining
down on the floor behind us.

“
Here now! Broken glass
can be very dangerous!” Tim protested, taking a firm grip on
William’s leg as he started forward. He immediately beat a retreat
when the demon turned its eyes on him. “Er…sorry for interrupting.
Continue.”

“
Do not delude
yourselves,” the demon said. “You cannot stop me. I will have
the
tattu
. Will
you be destroyed as well, Dark One?”

Sebastian snarled something that was
anatomically impossible (even for a demon), his muscles bunched as
he was about to strike. A movement behind the demon, a dark shape
faintly visible in the streetlight, caught my attention. Sebastian
must have seen it as well, for his fingers loosened their painful
grip on mine.

Ysabelle, this does not change anything. The
demon will return, with reinforcements. We must Join!

“
Just the foot would do.
Surely you could spare me one little foot?” William pleaded with
Tim.

I heaved yet another sigh, knowing in my
heart that what Sebastian said was true. Now that the demon had
found me, there was no way it was going to let me go. I knew even
without asking that anywhere I went, it would find me, just as it
found me in the middle of London.

“
A couple of toes? Just
tide me over?”

I had no choice. I could either save myself
and Sebastian, or I could damn us both by trying to avoid the
inevitable. Sebastian’s thumb stroked over my hand for two
heartbeats while I wrestled with my thoughts.

What about Adrian and Damian?

Pain lashed through him,
mingling with his anger and regret and need for justice. I held my
breath, knowing if he made a choice I could not condone, we were
both doomed.
I will do as you
demand,
he said at last, the agreement
costing him much.
I will forfeit my right
to revenge myself on them if you will Join with me.

Relief filled me.
I am not going to make love to you. Especially
not right here in front of everyone!
I
thought at him indignantly.

That is the preferred method, but not the
only one. Another exchange of body fluids would do.

Body fluids?

Blood. I wish things were different,
Beloved.

I know.
I smiled at him as the demon whirled around,
finding itself face-to-face with a short, red-haired Guardian
barely visible through the doorway.

“
What—” The demon was cut
off in midquestion.

Now, Beloved.

“
Belle?” Sally asked, her
brow puckered as Sebastian pulled me into an embrace. “What are
you—
mon Dieu!
Not
that!”

A disgusted “Ew!” drifted down the stairs as
Sebastian’s mouth descended upon mine, his lips starting a desire
inside me that I doubted would ever be extinguished.

“
Here, you, little boy.
Fetch me that thigh I see peeking out from under the
chair.”

“
You’re gross,” Damian
told the remains of William.

Despite the confusion of everyone
surrounding us, the demon who was now hanging upside down in the
doorway screaming curses, the revenants, the imps, and Noelle dimly
visible outside as she began banishing the demon, I kissed
Sebastian back with every tangled, confused emotion I had, and
prayed I was making the right choice.

His mouth trailed heat as
he kissed a path to the base of my neck.
I
wish this were different, Ysabelle. But it is right we do
it.

I said nothing as his teeth pierced my
flesh, my body quivering with both the sensation of him taking life
from me, and the images he was sharing with me, feelings of arousal
and need, of a bone-deep satisfaction, and surprisingly, a strong
sense of rightness that resonated within me. My body went up in
flames as his mouth moved on my neck while he drank deeply, my
breasts aching and straining against him, my hips rubbing in a
suggestive manner, heat deep within my core flaring outward in a
rush of ecstacy. Every inch of my flesh was sensitized to the point
where I thought I would climax right then and there.

The demon screamed, causing the windows near
the door to shatter. Sebastian pulled his mouth from my neck, his
eyes almost ebony as he looked down at me. Without a word he kissed
me again, his tongue painting the inside of my mouth with a
familiar, sweet, spicy taste.

Drink,
Beloved
.

He’d nipped his tongue. As I suckled it,
drunk on the heady sensation of taking from him what he’d taken
from me, I merged with him, almost crying out at the dark emptiness
where his soul should have been.

I filled him with as much light as I could
give, dimly aware of Noelle as she yelled the words of banishment
above the clamor of the revenants and imps. Sally sputtered around
us helplessly, trying to gain my attention, but that was focused
solely on the man I held in my arms, the man to whom I had just
bound myself body and soul.

“
Well, that’s done.”
Noelle’s perky voice drifted across the hallway to us as she dusted
off her hands and entered the house. “Nasty fellow. We’re going to
have some trouble there, Belle, now that he’s seen you. Hello, Tim,
nice to see you again. Did one of you explode? I found a knee out
on the walkway. We’ll have to…oh my God. Sebastian?”

I pulled away from Sebastian. His eyes were
clouded as he turned to face my roommate.

“
Good evening, Noelle. You
look well.”

“
You know each other?” I
asked, looking from her to the man who still held me close to his
side.

“
I should say so,” Noelle
said, giving me an unreadable look. “I’m his Beloved.”

Chapter Five

“
You
lied
to me!”

“
I do not lie.”

“
You told me I was your
Beloved!” It’s difficult to put indignation, betrayal, hurt
feelings, and a healthy dollop of menace into a whisper, but I gave
it my best shot.

I’d quickly discovered
that Sebastian’s eyes were a barometer to his mood. Dark midnight
gray indicated sexual arousal. The lighter his eyes turned, the
less happy he was. Right now they were a pale bluish granite.
“You
are
my
Beloved.”

“
Don’t you dare lighten
your eyes at me,” I warned. “You have no right to be angry here.
I’m the victim. I’m the one you used.”

Noelle, who had been standing in the middle
of the hall, moved over to join our whispered conversation. The
revenants were busily blockading the gaping hole where the door
used to be, while Sally had been sent to double-check that all the
windows on the ground floor had been warded against possible imp or
demon infiltration. Damian sat on the stairs, his chin in his
hands, watching everything with bright, interested eyes. The
remains of William were propped up against the wall next to him,
alternating between offering the revenants advice on how to use the
couch to block the doorway, and pleading for just a bit of flesh to
appease his hunger.

“
I’m not quite sure I
understand this,” Noelle said slowly as she looked from me to
Sebastian. “He told you that you were his Beloved?”

“
Yes,” I said, glaring at
the man in question. He crossed his arms and tightened his jaw, as
if he were going to stand there until doomsday before he spoke
another word. “I believed him. I Joined with him—oh, I can’t
believe I fell for that old ‘You’re my Beloved, save my soul’ line!
What a fool I’ve been.”

To my surprise, Noelle exploded in anger…at
me. “How could you do this to me, Belle? How could you betray me
like that? I thought you were a friend! I never thought you would
stab me in the back!”

“
Wait a second,” I
answered, holding up a pacifying hand. “How could I do what? I had
no idea that you were anyone’s Beloved, let alone his!”