Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy) (9 page)

"What did Galaden do with
me?" she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"You became his
concubine. He owned you. He had the right to do anything. Anything at
all." The
muscles in his arms flexed and sparks
shot from them.

"You think he raped
me?"

Agrat's hands turned to fists.
His expression darkened and his eyes began to glow. "I was turned to
stone. A living consciousness trapped in unbearable nothingness. I could not
see nor hear beyond my prison, but I vowed one thing: to tear him apart."

Memories, a mix of swirling
images, assaulted her: the angel staring at her; a look of caring on his face;
his wing moving protectively around her. If Galaden were intent on killing her,
why did she carry the repeated image of him sheltering her? Why was his
protection so important? She thought better than to mention it. Instead, she
needed to remind herself not to fall into Agrat's arms, which she so wanted to
do. She had to fight this crazy attraction.

This male standing in front of
her, seething for revenge was not human. How could she know what was truth or
lies?

And what had he done to the
angel that had made Galaden hate him so much? She didn't dare ask.

Agrat opened the blind and
looked outside, then nodded as if he liked what he saw. "Unfortunately,
Galaden will heal from the sword wound soon. I need to find and destroy him,
while he is weak. Would that I'd had the strength earlier to tear his head from
his body."

Phoebe shuddered. She needed
to escape this madness, this lust for vengeance from a past life that for her
was no more than wisps of dreams. Looking through the window she saw grey mist
swirling like clouds, creating a sensation similar to flying in an airplane
through a storm. Although she'd heard of London having fog, she'd never seen anything
like it here. She glanced at him standing huge and furious when he mentioned
Galaden's name, his eyes glowing with demonic power, and yet, the persistent
attraction to him overrode even the evidence that he was a demon. She must not
allow herself to fall for him.

There was no way she could
escape while he was close by. He was too powerful.

He followed her gaze with his
own as he looked out the window. "Don't even think about running away.
This house and land are protected."

"What do you mean?"

Agrat strode over to the
bedroom chair, picked up a cushion off the seat. "Come with me."

She followed him out of the
bedroom, noticing his strong body and the broad 'V' of his back. The same
unsatisfied tingling between her legs reminded her of what she could have had
after her orgasm and how she'd missed out on so many more.

He opened the front door and
Phoebe was confronted with the same dense, swirling mist, so thick that she
couldn't see past the porch. Agrat strode in to the front yard and threw the
cushion into the air. A fork of lightning sheered through the sky, caught the
cushion and it exploded into flames.

Phoebe gasped and jumped back.

Agrat turned to face her.
"Don't leave the house."

"Why don't you tear my
head off and grind me to dust, instead of terrorizing me?"

"Dammit, Phoebe, I'm
trying to protect you. You created stone bodies for the demons to inhabit,
hundreds of them. If Galaden finds out where we are, he could send them here to
destroy you when I'm gone." Agrat went to take her in his arms but she
shoved him away. Her push against his chest had little effect so she strode
down the hall, past the bedroom and into the kitchen. Tears pricked at her eyes
and she muttered a curse at her inability to control her fear.

She heard him follow her into
the kitchen. Wiping furiously at her tears, she turned to face him.

His dark eyes held a bleak
expression. "Don't be afraid of me, Princess. You were my wife in our past
life."

"What?" The shock of
his intent hit her like a blow, but she knew the difference between sexual
obsession and love. He'd worked his mesmerizing powers on her when she'd been
asleep. She was not going to mistake her feelings for him as love or buy into
his obsession.

"I've waited three
thousand years. I'll do whatever it takes to make you love me again."

"Quit talking about
taking heads off. It sickens me."

Walking to the kitchen bench,
he picked up the kettle, filled it with water and plugged it in.

"What are you
doing?" It seemed bizarre watching him behave in a normal way after the
lightning experience had shocked the pants off her.

"When your woman is
emotional, make her a cup of tea and say sorry even if you are right," he
said, as if repeating a memory. He reached across, opened the cupboard and took
out a packet of teabags.

Phoebe folded her arms.
"The cop thinks that?"

He gave her such a stunning
smile, his teeth white, his sensuous mouth turned up, that she smiled back.

"That man is a
jerk," she said.

He put a teabag in the teacup
that he'd pulled from the cupboard and filled it with water. "You need
sustenance while I am away. The house is well stocked with food." He
frowned, opened the refrigerator and looked inside.

"What are you
doing?" she asked.

"The cop's memory had
food in the house." He opened a cupboard and pulled out a can. Biting down
on it, she heard his teeth crunch and she winced.

"How do you eat
this?" he asked.

"Try searching the cop's
database for the word, 'can opener,'" she added, taking it from his hands
and on seeing a picture of beans, put it back in the cupboard. She opened the
freezer, noticed it was stocked with frozen packets of steak and vegetables,
pulled out a loaf of bread and set it down on the bench.

"Kiss me goodbye,
Princess."

"Wait a minute. You can't
leave me here without a way to communicate with you. What if you don't come
back?" She didn't want to be left here in the middle of nowhere. If she
tried to leave she'd end up like the cushion.

"Nothing will stop me
returning to you, but if you need me, hold your hand over this stone and I will
come for you." He unclasped a wrist shield made of metal and leather,
decorated with lapis lazuli like his breastplate.

It was too big for her wrist
and hung over her hand like an ancient bracelet.

"But I'm not psychic. I
can't send messages. You know that."

"Everything in this world
is carried on a wave of energy. I am especially tuned to yours and you to mine.
I will hear your vibration."

Phoebe stared into his eyes
and he gave her a devastating smile again. At that moment, she knew exactly how
dangerous he was. Already she could feel her body heat mixing with his, he was
standing so close. He took her in his arms and kissed her and she didn't think
to stop him, the pull of him was irresistible. When his lips pressed down on
hers, his hands moved from her shoulder blades and down over her back to her
hips, pressing her against him. She stood on her toes and kissed him back,
wrapping her arms around the back of his neck for leverage.

Her hunger for him sent
ripples throughout her body. Their tongues intertwined, seeking and tasting.
The memory of doing this before with this male echoed in her mind. There had
been love here once. Waves of longing assailed her bringing her unsatisfied
need to the fore. This felt so right in all the wrong circumstances.

This was not a man: this was a
demon.

And still she kissed him. The
sensation of his lips and tongue working their magic on her brought a
kaleidoscope of sensual images of another time in the past flashing into her
mind. A powerful wave of heat flared from her mind to her nipples, flashed down
her spine and exploded between her legs. Her body stiffened, her back arched
and she dug her fingernails into his shoulders. Another wave, harder and
brighter than the first, exploded. She ground her hips into him seeking relief.

Finally slumping, she pushed
herself out of his arms. "What was that?"

"I think you know. Your
body remembers what your mind cannot."

"An orgasm from
kissing?"

"You need me, Princess.
Your body is crying out for me, your Prince. When I return, I promise to make
love to you until you are satisfied and I intend to take a long time." He
took her face between his hands and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

She swore she saw sparks
flying off his hands when he touched her. Her whole body trembled. "What's
going on? When you touch me it's like a sexual current is passing through
me."

"I absorbed more energy
here from the elements than I ever have." He rubbed his chin, his eyes
thoughtful.

Phoebe shuddered, wondering
about the type of energy around Salem that Agrat was tapping in to.
"Terrible things happened here. Innocent women were accused of witchcraft
and hanged. Others were crushed to death. A sort of madness overcame this
place."

He frowned, his expression
focused. "I sense that but there is sorrow here too, for the things that
were done. Shame. Repentance. This is different. It is something else from
another source far greater than normal humans carry." He looked down over
his body. "I am bigger.
Stronger than ever before.
Perhaps you have something else in your bloodline that helps me absorb the
energy of the elements."

"Don't you dare rope me
into this by turning me into something I'm not. I am human."

Agrat rubbed his hands
together until they glowed and sparks flew off them. He tapped his forefinger lightly
over her lips.

Heat zinged from her mouth
down her backbone to between her legs. Phoebe gasped. His touch was so erotic
she wanted to push him onto the floor and mount him. "Stop that!"

"You respond to my energy
like it is an aphrodisiac. I do not think your bloodline is pure human. From
the moment I saw you standing at my father's palace gates, I was drawn to you.
You have something else in you. Some ancient lineage."

"I'm not psychic like
Rachael. I don't have special gifts, except for my art, and I certainly don't
think of myself as some type of energy-absorbing sex goddess."

"You are so much more
than that. With you by my side, I feel whole. More powerful than I have ever
been and I mean to use it to destroy Galaden."

"You must save Rachael.
Promise me."

"You have my word."

For the first time, trust
formed a fragile bond in her heart.

Agrat took her wrist and
pulled it up to her face. "There is a dagger hidden in the wrist shield,
swing your hand down and it springs free." He demonstrated with his own
hand, swinging it down so that a dagger secreted in the metal layer of his
wrist shield slid into his palm."

Phoebe's stomach turned at the
lethal blade.

"I have done all that I
can to protect this property but if a demon should find you here, lure it close
and stab it."

"But those demons in my
studio inhabited stone."

"The blades have magical
properties. They'll pierce anything or anyone." He gripped her by the
shoulders. "You must survive until I can get to you because I do not wish
to live without you."

Something about the depth of
his words hit home but before she could answer, the prince vanished.

Chapter 8

Sun shone down on Galaden through the
open window so that his whole body glowed. Rachael couldn't take her eyes off
him. She lay on the bed after their lovemaking, filled with joy. She had
thought him perfect in his carved form, but she realized she'd underestimated
his beauty. Pacing the room, his brow slashed with righteous anger about the
demon, he was magnificent.

And he loved her.

She could feel it to the
marrow of her bones and her whole body seemed to vibrate so that she glowed
inside with a happiness she'd never known before.

Galaden stopped pacing, held
out his hand and a white ball of energy grew then winked out. "Damn! This
light energy is too slow. I need life-force energy. I must be at my peak to
destroy the demon before he seeks me out."

"What do you mean
life-force?"

"Every living breathing
thing carries energy. When I became king after my father died, I could touch a
human subject to heal them. That's why you're glowing at the moment. You are
absorbing some of my happiness." He gave her a boy-like grin, which was so
different from his usual countenance. "But using energy transference can
be dangerous and I have not practiced it for thousands of years. I fear I have
lost so many of my skills. Although I can take what it is that gives them life,
taking too much can be dangerous."

"Use me if I have tired
you," Rachael urged him, thinking of Phoebe. "I have to do
something."

"I can't. On a single
person it can be deadly. You'll become exhausted, too lethargic to move, some
humans even drop into a coma. It is better to move within a crowd and absorb
their mass energy; that way no one is harmed, unless I take too much and then
it can make humans sick. They will simply believe they are tired, due to the
hardship of the day."

"But you don't have time
to waste. You told me that yourself. You have to defeat this demon. If it means
helping to save Phoebe, it will be worth it."

His smile vanished the moment
she mentioned Phoebe's name. Instead, he gazed at her, his expression grave.
"You don't understand what you're asking me to do."

"I want you to do this. I
love my friend and I know you'll be careful not to drain me dry."

His gaze dropped to the floor
and he wouldn't look her in the eyes. "Damn it, Rachael, never offer me
your life-force to bring down a curse. I will find another way."

His voice sounded so solemn,
so mournful as though he feared the temptation of what she was offering him.
"Perhaps we could climb the High Line stairs. It's an unused rail track
and the garden on top of it is in full sun," she said.

"I will wait until noon
when the sun is at its strongest but even that may be too slow in this cold
country. Our country in our past lives radiated heat for most of the year. It
was not populated with complicated humans like this city. The energy was simple
and clean."

She watched him wishing he
would take up her offer to use her as a source of power. "But that's
several hours away and you barely have the strength to walk this room."

"I must use these
precious moments to track Phoebe." He looked down and opened his clenched
fist. Inside it, he held Phoebe's necklace. "I cannot sense where she is.
The demon must have used his cloaking powers to protect her essence, which
means he has garnered great strength in the short time he has been here."

"Then how will you find
her?"

"There is another way. I
will use Envy to track the demon. Envy was wrought from the mountain of Har
Karkom, the seat of Agrat's demon queen mother. All humans have their own
scent. You would recognize your loved ones if they were standing close, even if
you couldn't see or hear them. In a similar way, all cellular energy has a
signature and Envy will trace Agrat's. It will be simple for Envy to find
him
as there are few of his kind in this dimension. Use a
demon to track a demon."

"What if he harms
Phoebe?"

"I will order him not to
harm her. Most demons are simple killing machines, but Envy has more capability
and great demonic power. He can be used to weaken a human enemy, to send them
into madness. When my father was king, all living creatures served him,
including the demons inhabiting the earth plane. As the eldest son, Agrat was
their General, but after he betrayed my father, I became their commander and
they serve me still." His smile was grim. When he paced his wings trailed
along the ground, his lower feathers turned up as they scraped the carpet. His
shoulder blades were hunched as if he were having difficulty with the weight of
his wings.

Even if Envy found Agrat's
lair, what if Galaden didn't have the strength to match the demon? Her psychic
sense pricked. It seemed odd to her that he would put his trust in the demon,
Envy, for assistance. Her heart gave a slow, painful thud at the thought of
losing Galaden. "I don't like this reliance on a demon. Can you call on
angels to help you?"

Pain skated across his eyes so
that the intense blue darkened and mirrored a stormy lake. "I do not wish
to alert my kin to my presence in this dimension. They will not be pleased to
find me with you. I married you because I loved you so much, but it was selfish
of me to do so. You paid the ultimate price. I will not lose you again."
He clutched her hand, wrapping his palms around hers.

"But they could help you
fight against the demon. You shouldn't do this on your own. I'm afraid for you.
I don't want to lose you."

Galaden's expression softened.
"My one true love. You were ever thus. Concerned for me. Patient. Gentle.
Even then you could sense things that others could not." He frowned.
"The day you met me was a curse on your good soul."

"How did we meet? I know
you said I was a healer, but why would an angel go to a human healer?"

"You were powerful,
extraordinary. I was injured in battle, so Agrat took me to you."

Rachael scratched her head.
"Why would Agrat do that? He hates you. I don't understand. Why didn't he
let you die?"

"It was before Agrat met
Phoebe. I was in his charge. He was training me to be a warrior and I was young
and foolish enough to want to prove myself. I took a spear to the chest, right
into my heart."

"But that should be
fatal."

"I have never done battle
with another angel, but it is said that to kill one, you must remove the head.
Perhaps that is why I was so foolhardy. Even so, Agrat told me that he thought
I would die, until you used your healing powers on me. So you see, he led me to
you, though you suffered because of it."

"Don't say that. I'm not
upset about what happened in our past life together. It doesn't mean anything
to me."

"For me, your death seems
like yesterday. Don't put your trust in angels."

The depth of sadness in his
eyes was painful to watch. "I don't understand," she said. What was
he trying to tell her? "They're the ones we should trust."

He bent and sat next to her on
the bed, one large wing covering her nakedness. "In many ways we male
angels are like an army, bred and trained to follow orders without question. If
the larger plan requires sacrifice, angels will take lives, even innocent ones."
He swallowed as if he had a big lump in his throat. "Do not revere us.
Angels can be capricious and haughty. Members of my race consider themselves
above humans."

"They are, I guess."
She wanted to add they ranked just under God in her book, but something made
her hold her tongue. Something was off; every psychic sense in her body told
her so.

He stroked his hand over her
face. "I married you in secret but I confided in my mother that I loved
you, hoping she would honor our relationship even though you were human. Damn
it, Rachael, my father was a king, but he was a man, too. I thought my mother
would allow me this one happiness and sanctify our union. In all other ways I
had obeyed and followed both her and my father's wishes."

"So I wasn't part of her
plan?"

"No. I was destined for
one of our race, so that we would rule over the civilized lands when I became
king, but I wanted her to intercede for me and ask my father to bless us. I
never cared for or wanted the power of the throne. All I ever wanted was you,"
he said.

"Was your mother the one
who ordered my execution in my past life?" It seemed like a surreal
question to be asking, but she'd dreamed the scene so many times.

"No. That evil lies at my
father's door, but the fault is Agrat's. "

"Stop! Don't! I don't
want to hear anymore." A sharp pain pierced her neck and she put her hand
to her throat as the memory played out in her mind. She reached out and
squeezed his hand.

Silver tears formed at the
corner of his eyes. "I will never forget it. When my father found out
about our love, he had you arrested."

"In my dream he is
shouting and angry, pointing his finger at me. You're there, too, along with a
soldier dressed like Agrat, but I can't see his face. He has a helmet on."

"The demon prince.
My greatest enemy.
He took you by force and brought you to
my father. I loved him once, but that destroyed all feeling I had for him. You
had no chance and you were so innocent, so beautiful." Silver tears ran
down his face. "I'm sorry. I cannot speak of it anymore."

With his wing spread over her
like a shield, she could smell morning dew and frankincense. "Lie with me.
Use my life-force to heal," she urged him. "You have to defeat Agrat.
I can't bear you looking so drained and I'll never forgive myself if I don't do
this for you."

"There is too much at
stake."

She pushed herself to a
sitting position, put her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down.
"He will kill you, slaughter you and I will have nothing."

Galaden put his hand over her
lips. "Do not utter those words."

His face was grey with
exhaustion and she sensed sadness in him so deep, the well seemed endless.
"You owe it to me to fight. Take my energy," she ordered him.

"This is an ancient
curse, one that I promised to fulfill. A curse made in the heat of anger. I
would gladly slaughter the demon but to take from you your goodness, your pure
essence...I cannot do it. I prefer death." He stopped and turned his face
away from her as if unable to look at her.

She saw the slivers of silver
at the corner of his eyes roll down his cheeks. "I will never forgive
myself if you die."

"Perhaps you will never
forgive me if I live."

"Stop it. Hold me close.
Connect with me. You have to get strong before Agrat returns. Take my
life-force
. You said you would do anything for me," she
challenged him.

"You know not what you
ask of me." His mouth turned down as he turned to face her, wrapped his
arms around her and hooked his thigh over her hips pulling her in so that they
were torso to torso.

She tilted her head up and
caught his lips with hers, but he pulled back clearly unwilling to kiss her.
Her psychic nerves jangled.

Guilt.

The sentiment resonated
throughout her, the word repeating itself in her mind like a warning. Something
was wrong. She knew he held guilt so deep it pierced his very soul because he
hadn't saved her from the soldier in her past life, but he was hiding something
from her too.

Taking in a deep breath, she
closed her eyes, called up her psychic powers, moving into Galaden's mind while
he was open to her, trying to sense what he was not telling her. A vision of
black energy swirled in front of her. Mentally, her soul stumbled toward the
vortex that threatened to suck her in and she couldn't pull back. She hadn't
been expecting this, not from Galaden's description of what would happen.

Fear invaded her body,
paralyzing her and she seemed to be disintegrating. She started losing
sensation in her form. Was Galaden taking her energy or was it something worse?
Whatever it was wanted to suck her soul right out of her. Fear trickled along
her spine like acid. Evil. She could sense it. The black energy opened as it
sucked her in and she saw a scene appear in front of her. There were angels
with white hair that reminded her of Galaden's. They fell to their knees and
bowed, their wings spread, their foreheads touching the earth in worship, but
inside their hearts they were terrified. Who were they worshipping? Something
large and dark loomed up. Terror made her rigid.

"Rachael, stop!" Galaden
grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Come back to me."

She felt herself falling back
into her body and the whole bed shook. She forced her eyelids to open, but he
must have absorbed her
life-force
because she could
barely hold them wide. All the strength had gone from her limbs and she couldn't
move and yet her body trembled with horror. "What was that?"

"You were not to use your
powers to see inside me while we connected. You have placed yourself in great
danger."

"That image was
real," she whispered. Anxiety rolled over her.