FinsFantasy (10 page)

He ignored her and focused on the others in the room.

“And you, Baden. The astral projection, two places at once?
What a wonderful spy you’d make. Araya, you have a way with
Tengurs
.
They are special demons aren’t they? If you had them both in here now, you’d
definitely have the upper hand. Good thing I was expecting them. And lastly,
Fin. The male
Sempire
. I didn’t believe the guards at first but when I
captured Navine, I felt it. She had no trace of my brother in her anymore. Many
Incubi would want to kill you. I kind of want to kill you myself but you’re
such a novelty.”

“What do you want from us?” Rydin asked through gritted
teeth.

“A favor from each of you. Whenever I may need your talents.
No questions. Agree and I’ll let Navine go. Oh I’ll also make sure word of
Valia’s talent doesn’t get out so she won’t be in danger.”

“I will not be beholden to another contract holder. Ever,”
Rydin said.

Baden sneered at Rydin. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just let
my sister go.”

“Me too,” Fin declared.

“No. No.” Dorster waved his hands emphatically. “No
contracts. Each of you, give me your word. It will be good enough.”

“What?” Valia laughed. “Bullshit. You’re just gonna accept
our word? What’s the catch?”

“If you refuse me when it comes time for me to cash in the
favor, I’ll sadly but definitely, have you killed. Truly, I’d rather not get
into any of that nasty business. I prefer to believe you will keep your words.
Valia, can’t you read my aura?”

Valia squinted, straining. “No.”

“Well, one of you feel free to volunteer to find a
Sensus
demon to come read me. One you trust. You’ll see I have no motive other than
making interesting allies.”

“If you wanted allies, you probably shoulda gone about this
a little differently,” Kean said. “Ya know, like knocking on the door and
introducing yourself.”

“Please,” he said. “I’m offering you a way to find the
truth.”

“Raimee,” Araya whispered. “But what if it’s really just a
trap?”

“She’ll be here in a minute,” Baden said, his face red. “She
was finishing up a…scene.”

Fin knew exactly what Baden meant. Raimee must have been
performing in one of his mother’s fetish films when Baden astral projected to
her.

“That is such a nifty skill,” Dorster slapped his knee,
smiling at Baden.

The door opened a few minutes later as a guard escorted
Raimee into the room.

“Hey guys,” she said, smiling and waving. “Dors, what the
hell are you doing?”

“You know him?” Baden said, incredulous.

“He’s a fan,” she explained.

“Indeed.” Dorster came forward to hug her. “I had no idea it
would be you but I’m pleased. If you wouldn’t mind, let your friends know my
intentions toward them.”

She stood, studying him. “He’s clean right now. Someone ask
him a question so I can see if his aura changes.”

Fin asked, “Do you plan to let Navine go, unharmed?”

“Yes. I do.”

Baden said, “What about the rest of us? One favor and then
we’re off the hook?”

“I only want one favor from each of you at some point.
Nothing more.”

“His aura shines truth. I don’t have all the details of what’s
up but I don’t think whatever he’s told you is a lie.”

“See?” he said to everyone in the room. To Raimee he said, “When
are you going invite me over for dinner?”

She laughed. “Dors. It would never work with us.”

He sighed. “Such a pity.” To the rest of them, he said, “If
you’ll all give me your word, I’ll have Navine brought down and you can go.”

They all agreed, even Rydin, and Dorster sent a guard to
fetch Navine. Fin’s heart knocked against his chest. He wanted to see her for
himself. To know that nothing bad had happened to her.

Moments later, there she was looking as beautiful and angry
as the first day he’d seen her. She shoved at the guard as he led her into the
room by her arm. When he removed a cuff from her wrist, she ran to Baden,
throwing her arms around him.

It was her brother, he knew, but jealousy stabbed at him
anyway. He wanted her to find comfort with him. Run into a room and throw her
arms around
him
.

Valia punched him in the arm.

“Ow. What was that for?”

She whispered, “Your aura is blinding me. Seriously? Jealous
of her brother? You got it bad.”

Fin scowled. Damn it. It was bad enough he felt like a fool.
He didn’t need Valia teasing him about it.

“I hope your stay wasn’t too unpleasant, Navine,” Dorster
offered.

Navine’s eyes dilated, Fin assumed because of the Incubus
scent, and her only other response was to lift her middle finger to him.
Dorster chuckled, unfazed.

“Let’s go home,” Baden said.

“The guards will escort you out where you’ll find your
Tengurs
safe and sound.”

Once outside, Kean and Araya took charge of Kiberry and Xena.
They were both spitting mad, all gnashing teeth and snarling until they saw
everyone was unharmed.

* * * * *

They all ported back to the mansion. Navine and Baden
thanked everyone for their help and apologized for putting them out. She
offered to assist in any way possible when it came time to do Dorster’s
bidding.

She saved Fin for last. She took his hand in both of hers,
surprising the hell out of him, looking him in the eyes. “Thank you most of
all.” She squeezed his hand and kissed him on the cheek, then hastily turned
away.

Fin slumped in his chair as Navine and Baden left the
mansion. Even though elated that Navine had not been harmed, he felt more
despondent than ever now that she was gone. He didn’t know what he’d expected,
but he wanted something. Wanted more. Wanted her here with him.

His face must have given away his feelings, or Valia was
reading his aura, because she said, “Aw, cheer up, Fin. She didn’t spit on you
or yell at you.”

True, he supposed. There was that.

It’d been two days since they’d brought Navine back from the
demon realm and she continued to plague Fin’s mind. He hadn’t expected it, but
he’d hoped she might call him or text him or pop by to see him but she hadn’t.
He hadn’t heard from Baden either.

Araya and Kean’s engagement party was tomorrow and Fin
busied himself with cooking. Cooking waaay more food than the guests could
possibly eat.

“Wow,” Araya’s voice startled him, “what a spread. Didn’t
you look at the guest list?”

He wiped his hands on a towel that hung from the waist band
of his pants and gave Araya a hug. “Yeah, I looked. Are you checking up on me?”

“Nope. I trust your food choices. I came by to grab the wine
fountain.”

“I would have brought it to you.”

“You have your hands full already and I’m still trying to
figure out how I want to arrange everything. It’s easier if I have the stuff at
home to move around.”

“You mean to have Kean move around?” he teased.

She laughed. “He loves it. He’s excited about it too. Should
be fun.”

“Should be,” he agreed.

Fin knew Araya was about to ask him something serious by the
look on her face, and he didn’t want to do serious right now. Hell, he’d hate
to be a big cry-demon in front of his youngest sister.

“Any word?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“You okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

She gave him a sorrowful look, squeezed his arm and nodded.
“Well, then I want you to bring a date to the party tomorrow.”

“What? I’m not dating anyone right now. Don’t even have any
prospects.”

Valia chose that moment to pop in. “What’s up, sibling
bitches?”

Fin and Araya both laughed at her entrance.

“I was just telling Fin to bring a date to the party.”

“Oh hell yeah.” Valia pulled a stool up and sat.

“I’m not really up for all that. I’ll just bring the food.”
The only one he’d want to bring as a date was Navine and obviously that wasn’t
going to happen. The thought of other women simply did not appeal to him at the
moment.

“Either bring a date or I’ll bring one for you,” Valia
threatened. “You know I’m not kidding.”

Yep, he knew damn well if Valia threatened it she would do
it. Maybe he’d ask Raimee. No, he didn’t want to step on Baden’s toes. He was
pretty sure Baden had some interest in her. Although Fin didn’t so it would be
strictly platonic.

There were plenty of females in and out of the mansion. A
few of them he’d even entertained. They hadn’t been interested in more and
neither had he but they’d stayed friendly.

“Fin?” Araya asked. “Consider it, okay? Now, where’s that
wine fountain? I need to get going.”

He showed her where it was, kissed her cheek and went back
to cooking. Valia stood there staring at him, hands crossed over her chest.

“What?” he asked without looking up.

“I don’t like you sulking.”

“I’m not sulking, V, I’m cooking.”

“Cooking for the entire demon population? You’re stress
cooking.”

He dropped the mango and knife that was in his hand, pulled
up a stool and sat. “It’s keeping me busy. Okay? I’m trying really hard to not
be a sap. I’ll bring a date. Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it or think
about her anymore. It’s done. I wanted more. She didn’t. I’m just happy she’s
alive. At least there’s that. I promise I’ll be fine.”

She smiled unconvincingly at him and hugged him. “Lemme know
if I can do anything. I’m popping over to Araya’s for a while—until she starts driving
me nuts with arranging—want me to take anything?”

Fin let out a relieved breath. He couldn’t believe Valia had
dropped it so easily. That wasn’t her usual M.O. “Sure.” He opened the fridge
and took out a double-stacked platter and handed it to her.

Valia left and Fin decided he’d make some meatball parmesan
sliders. Rydin and Kean would love them. Hell, he loved them.

“Hey, cousin!”

Fin’s head jerked up. “Lymirie?” Wait, had she called him
cousin
?

She skipped over and wrapped her arms around him, then
stepped back and looked him up and down. “Lookin’ good! It’s been awhile.”

He shook his head. “What did you call me?”

She laughed and shook her finger at him. “You heard me.
Sneaky, sneaky. Ya know, I always had a crush on you. The cousin thing must be
why you snubbed me.”

Fin didn’t know what to say. How the hell did she know?

She smacked him on the shoulder. “Relax. Araya kept me on
the phone for an hour, talking about the possibility of,” she looked around the
kitchen, then whispered, “male
Sempires
. Anyway, by the time she was
finished, she had me convinced it wasn’t a bad thing. Then she swore me to
secrecy and told me about you.”

It took him a minute to recover from the shock but then he
relaxed and smiled, glad to have someone else accept him as he was. It was what
he’d always wanted. Acceptance.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Always.”

Fin grabbed a plate from the cabinet, opened the
refrigerator and piled it high with a variety of fruit. If he remembered
correctly, Lymirie liked a little of everything. He set the plate in front of
her and she rubbed her hands together dramatically before digging in.

“What’s it been? A year, since you last visited?” Fin asked.

She swallowed a chunk of dragon fruit before answering. “Yep,
almost.”

“Why so long?”

She shrugged. “You know how it is. You get busy doing this
and that and before ya know it, a year’s gone by.”

“Well, it’s great to see you.”

“I’m glad you think so because I have a favor to ask.” She
grinned sheepishly.

Fin raised an eyebrow at her.

“My lame sister bailed out on me. She was supposed to be my
date to Araya’s party. So, I thought maybe if you didn’t have a date, you could
be mine.” She batted her eyelashes at him.

He chuckled at her silliness. “That’d be perfect, but why’d
she bail?”

Lymirie rolled her eyes. “Because of the Incubus thing. She
totally chickened out. I told her she was being stupid. If Talith and Valia can
be around Araya’s Incubus fiancé without jumping his bones, I’m sure we’ll be
fine too.” She slipped a mulberry in her mouth, her eyes widened and she
swallowed quickly, practically choking. “Hey. Does Araya’s Incubus affect you?
Oh crap, I just realized I have sooo many questions for you.”

She bounced in her seat like an excited child and Fin braced
himself for the interrogation.

Two hours later, she’d run out of questions about the male
Sempire
thing, eaten three plates of fruit and decided to take a nap in one of the many
guest rooms. He’d always enjoyed her company. When she was a young female,
visiting the mansion, she’d followed him around constantly. She was still
young, only ten years Araya’s senior at forty, but had matured into a beautiful
Sempire
.

Fin had barely gotten back to cooking when someone else came
in. Damn, he was popular today.

“Whatcha making? I’m starved.” Raimee pulled up a stool
across the counter from Fin.

“Meatball parmesan sliders.”

“Mmm. Sounds great but looks like you’re just getting
started. You have anything ready?”

“Sure. Help yourself to anything on the bottom two racks in
the fridge to the left.”

She hopped up, dug through the various trays and platters
filling up a large plate. Tomato, strawberry, kiwi, cantaloupe salad. Several
pieces of fruit sushi. Chicken parmesan muffins.

“What is this?” She pointed to three rolls on her plate.

“Fruit sushi.”

“Weird.” She popped one in her mouth. “Ooh but yum.”

“Yeah, my mother and sisters love it.”

Raimee took a bite of the muffin, nodded her head in
approval and swallowed. “Is all this for Araya’s party?”

“Yep.”

“So, how about being my date?”

Wow, super popular today.

Fin figured she’d be going with Baden. But wait, Baden’s
name hadn’t been on the guest list. Fin assumed it was an oversight.

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. “Did Valia put you
up to this?”

“Up to what?” She batted her wide eyes all innocent-like. At
his glare she said, “Okay. Maybe she mentioned you were dateless and so am I so
let’s go together. It’ll be uncomplicated. Not a real date—a friend date.”

“Had you asked two hours ago, I’d have said yes, but another
dateless beauty got to me first.”

She pouted. “Damn. Any suggestions?”

Fin thought for a moment. “Well, Baden’s the obvious choice.”

Her eyes widened as she took another bite of muffin. “And
why do you say that?”

He shrugged. “You two seemed to get along well enough.”

“Eh, well, he didn’t ask and… Never mind. I’ll go alone. No
biggie.”

Fin was surprised Baden hadn’t asked her, but maybe he’d
been wrong about feeling a vibe between them. It was obvious his relationship
possibility radar was off. “Oh, hey, have you met Aidor, one of the guards we
brought back from the demon realm?”

“Yeah, a couple times. He’s a little scary looking and
doesn’t say much but seems okay. Why?”

“Araya invited him and he really doesn’t know anyone yet.
Might be nice for him to have a date. Want me to—”

“Nope. I passed him in the hall a few minutes ago. I got
this. Thanks for the food.” She winked at him and took off to find Aidor.

* * * * *

Navine had been staying at Baden’s for the past two days.
She didn’t really want to be alone after being abducted for a second time.
Luckily, this time hadn’t been as big of an ordeal.

She’d been shocked when she’d seen the spitting image of
Debol standing there. Baden had projected to the room she’d been locked in to
keep her updated on what was up when they’d all shown up to free her. He’d
warned her the Incubus looked just like Debol, but she couldn’t imagine it
until she’d seen it herself.

Shock and rage had overcome her. She’d wanted to rip the
look-alike’s face off but smartly she’d controlled that urge.

Baden had taken off the last two days to stay home with her,
but tonight he’d been called in for some kind of pizza emergency or something.
She supposed she should learn more about the business. Baden hadn’t wanted to
leave her alone and asked that she come with him but she decided to port to the
cabin instead. She couldn’t hide from the world forever and taking a swim in
the creek always relaxed her, calmed her mind.

Walking up the steps brought back memories of how she’d
ripped Caffin’s shorts down and taken his cock into her mouth. He’d tasted so
good, so male, so right. Instinct had taken control of her body and mind. All
she’d known in that instant was that she’d had to have him. Had desired him
above all else.

Pushing the memory from her mind, she went inside. He’d
cleaned up before he’d left. She opened the fridge and found a small fruit
plate covered in plastic wrap. He must have made it the night they were
supposed to celebrate.

She unwrapped it, set it on the table and slid down onto a
chair. She picked up a cherry. He’d pitted them for her. A folded piece of
paper set atop the table. She pulled it toward her and opened it. It said,
Navine,
give me a call if you’re still up for a celebration. Fin
. His cell number
was below it.

Waving the note back and forth, she considered her options.
She could call him but why? Because she had her pussy-pants on and felt weirded
out about being alone? What she needed to do was get off her ass and feed. But
not today. She’d see if she could friend up with a
Sempire
at Araya’s
party tomorrow night and they could go out together.

She didn’t even want to go to the party but she’d promised
Baden, and she couldn’t help but like Araya. Navine was still dumbfounded that Araya
was getting married to an Incubus. Okay, only a fraction of him was Incubus but
still it seemed crazy to her.

She would give Araya a gift, chat for a few minutes, eat and
drink a little and then she was out of there. Speaking of gifts, she and Baden
had stopped by a restaurant-supply store and bought Fin the mack daddy of all
industrial smoothie blenders. Hopefully, he didn’t already have that one, but
if so, he could return it for something else.

They would drop it off with Araya tomorrow to give to him.
Navine knew she should do it herself, give it to him in person, but she couldn’t.
She didn’t trust herself around him anymore. After what had happened between
them. The things she’d felt, things only he’d ever made her feel. No she needed
to move on. There could be nothing between them.

Baden had assured her that Fin was only setting up the food
for the party and leaving or Navine might not have agreed to go. She popped a
handful of cherries into her mouth, went to her room and changed into a bikini
and ported to the creek.

* * * * *

Fin spent the next afternoon, until early evening,
transporting trays of food to Araya and Kean’s house and arranging them in a
splendid display. Araya had decorated simple but elegant. Candles, paper
lanterns, a few choice flower bouquets.

It was six o’clock by the time he finished and the party started
at seven thirty. He ported home and took a leisurely shower. Lymirie wasn’t
meeting him downstairs until seven thirty on the dot, she said, and Fin planned
to relax as much as possible until then.

With only a towel wrapped around his waist, he lay on his
bed and tried to think of anything but Navine but it was an impossible feat.

A scratch at his door pulled him from his thoughts. He
opened the door to find a somewhat odd-looking terrier mix dog and a Siamese
cat standing there. The dog held a picture of Araya and Kean in his mouth. He
placed it on the floor and nudged the cat with his snout. The cat looked up at
Fin for a moment and then rubbed around his legs.