SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (158 page)

“What’re you thinking?”

A deep, really familiar voice spoke up from behind me and I slowly turned to face Devlin, holding one of those little baskets with the wire handles.

“You shop?” I asked, glancing into his basket to notice a bottle of chardonnay, some crackers and a wheel of cheese. Somebody was going to be having a good time and I seriously wished it was going to be me.

“And eat. And dance. And...other things,” he said, and gave me one of those all too rare smiles.

Oh man, I knew all about those ‘other things’ he did. Wasn’t I still having dreams about that one night with him every time I closed my eyes? Good thing I had the cart to hold onto. The man wielded some
serious
sexual power. At least over me.

But despite the whip of excitement jittering through me, that annoying voice in the back of my mind started whispering again. ‘He’s a demon,’ it said. ‘He’s admitted to working for Jenks. The guy who crashed into your car works for
him.
Sure he’s sexy as hell. But is he after your body? Or your death?’

Stupid inner voice. I so didn’t want to listen to it. I wanted to believe that Devlin was trying to help me. Mostly because protecting Thea would be a hell of a lot easier if I had some help I could trust.

Yes, I could trust Logan to help me out. But he had laughed at me when I told him about the demon situation, so he probably wasn’t the go-to guy for help in fighting one of them.

Boy, I needed a vacation from my life.

“You look worried.” He stepped up closer and I could actually
feel
heat rippling off of him in waves so thick I could hardly breathe. It was like he was sucking all the air out of the store.

“I am,” I said and locked my knees, just so they wouldn’t give out and leave me sprawled in the bread aisle. Grocery shopping women have no mercy. They’d have rolled their carts right over my prone body in an attempt to get the chore of food shopping over with as soon as possible.

“About what?” he asked and lifted one hand to smooth my hair back behind my ear. Did he deliberately stroke my earlobe with a long sweep of his finger? Did he
know
what he was doing to me? Of course he knew. It was probably some weird ass demon power—any minute now I’d start walking like Frankenstein’s monster and follow him anywhere.

His lips quirked. “You’re thinking about something else now. Me?”

I gulped and took a quick look around. Down the aisle from us, two women were grappling over the last box of Cheerios, but that wouldn’t last long. Turning my gaze back to him, I said, “I was thinking about you. And the Judge. And how I can protect Thea.”

Okay, so I lied.

Big deal.

At least it would get the subject changed to one I could deal with a little easier.

“I told you I would help you with that.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, scooting my cart over as the two women walked past us, both of them giving Devlin hot enough looks to set him on fire. “And when’re you going to start that helping?”

He blew out a breath. “I told you it wouldn’t be easy. The judge has a lot of friends—human and demon.”

“Yes, but I’m the Demon Duster, right?” I whispered it, not sure who might be on the soup aisle right behind me. “I don’t see why I can’t just go to his courtroom and take him out.”

“You’d never get close enough,” Devlin assured me, moving in so close now, I could practically feel the buttons on his blue shirt pressing into my chest. “And crazy as it sounds, I don’t want anything happening to you.”

Oh, boy. I really wanted to believe that.

“Trust me,” I said on a deep breath, lifting my gaze to his, “I’ll get close enough. Nobody threatens my daughter.”

“I know.” Devlin lifted one hand again and cupped the back of my neck. His fingers were warm and strong and damned if I didn’t remember exactly how talented they were. And how he could make me feel, just by skimming those fingers over my skin with a feather light touch.

Damn it.

But as his hand tightened on my neck, I remembered something else. Devlin was a demon. He had plenty of strength and if he wanted to, he could snap my neck like a twig right here and walk away. There was no one who could stop him. No one to catch him. If he killed me, there wouldn’t be another Duster until Thea came of age and then
she
would have to deal with him—or someone just like him.

“You’re a strong woman, Cassidy,” he said, his voice little more than a hush of sound. “And I find that really sexy.”

“Lucky me?” Oh, God. I moved away from his touch and he let me go. I just was so not prepared for him or for anyone like him. As much I had enjoyed that night with him, and as much as I daydreamed about trying out a few of those rooms he had at the club, I had to keep reminding myself that he was a demon. Technically, the enemy.

“You look worried again.”

“Shouldn’t I be?”

“About the judge?” he asked, “yes.” Then, as if reading my mind, he said quietly, “About me, no.”

I wished it was that easy. But it just wasn’t. I didn’t really know Devlin. His demon power could be lying convincingly for all I knew. And Thea’s safety was at stake here. I couldn’t afford to trust the wrong person—er, demon.

“I want to believe you,” I admitted.

He bent down and I opened my eyes to look directly into his. His black eyes swam with emotions, some I could read, some I couldn’t and maybe that was just as well. I was having enough trouble sorting out
my
emotions at the moment.

“I already told you, Cass. I really like you. And I’d like to see you again.”

Oh, boy.

I swallowed hard and fought down my urge to shout,
Yes! Great idea! When? Where?
Every single one of my hormones was jumping up and down and demanding I pay attention. But...“I can’t think about that. About
us
, until Thea’s safe.”

“I understand,” he said, grimly, his gorgeous face going like stone. Even his eyes shone with a glassy, stoic glimmer. “We’ll take care of it. Together.”

“When?” I asked when he let his hand drop away and took a step back.

“Soon,” he promised. “It’ll have to be soon. He’s losing patience with you, Cass.”

Another woman clattered past, pushing a cart with a broken wheel, making a
whacketa, whacketa
kind of sound. Enough to shatter whatever was left of the sensuous moment I’d been having. And maybe that was for the best.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been getting rid of too many demons lately,” he said. “The last couple of days, you and your squirt bottle have been pissing the demons off and word’s getting around that La Sombra’s not the safest place to be anymore.”

I should have known that all of my squirting the last couple of days was going to make some waves. But hey, I was just doing my job.

“There are a lot of demons unhappy about it. And they want the judge to take care of you. He’s promised to do just that.”

“How’s he going to do it?” I asked, and silently congratulated myself on the steadiness of my voice. I mean it’s not every day somebody tells you that there’s a hit out on you.

And these weren’t your ordinary, everyday mafia type hit men we were talking about, here. These were
demons.
Instantly, I flashed back to Rachel telling me about shark boy and his three rows of teeth.

YIKES.

I
so
didn’t want to run into that guy.

“Not sure yet,” Devlin admitted and he looked irritated by that fact. “I’ve been asking around, but there aren’t many willing to talk about the judge. Don’t want to risk pissing him off. Like I said, he’s been the big man in La Sombra for decades.”

Which meant I was in deep shit.

A brand new Demon Duster going up against a guy who’d been alive for who knew how long? With all kinds of connections? Not mention
lots
of Minions no doubt willing to fight me to protect him.

Even as I thought that though, I knew it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but making sure Thea was safe. And if that meant I had to go up against the demon big shot, then so be it.

“Will he come after me himself?” I asked, tightening my hands around the handle of the cart, just for something to hold onto.

“Probably not. He doesn’t usually go out in the field himself. Doesn’t have to,” Devlin said and took my elbow to get me walking. We strolled down the bread and cereal aisle and looked like nothing more than a couple, shopping together.

“He’s got enough demons and humans on his payroll, he never has to get his own hands dirty.”

“
Humans?
” I repeated and stopped dead, staring up at him like he was suddenly speaking Russian or something. I knew I was goggling. I mean I could almost feel my eyeballs skittering in my head. I’m sure I looked lovely. “He has
humans
on his payroll?
People
work for a demon? On purpose?”

He dropped his basket into my cart, then grabbed me and held me close, murmuring in my ear. “Keep your voice down, Cassidy. The people in this town who work for the Judge wouldn’t be happy to hear you know about them.”

My own voice was muffled against his broad chest and it was all I could do to concentrate on the problem at hand rather than focusing on the feel of his broad, hard chest pressed up against me. “Fine. I’ll be quiet. But who are these people? And why would they do it?”

“Why else,” he muttered, his breath brushing my ear, his words dropping like stones into the pit of my stomach. “Money. Power. Greed for more of both.”

“And you don’t want that?” I had to ask. Yeah, I know. Pretty stupid. Like he’d admit anything to me if he
was
working for the judge against me?

He pulled his head back, dropped a quick, hard kiss on my mouth, then smiled. “I’ve already got money and power. I don’t need to kiss the judge’s ass to get it.”

I winced. “Thanks for the visual.”

He grinned. “Damned if I don’t enjoy the hell out of you, Cass.”

“Glad somebody’s having a good time,” I said and reluctantly stepped out of his arms.

He steered me on again, walking right beside me. “Once we get rid of the threat to Thea,” he said, his voice dark and filled with promise, “we’ll both have a good time.”

Woo-hoo!

“And until then?”

“Until then,” he said, lifting his own basket out of my cart again, “we’ll do what we have to do. We’ll keep Thea safe and we’ll find a way to take out the judge. I’ve got a line on his lair.”

“His lair? He has a lair?” I shook my head and stopped in front of the dairy case. Lifting out a jug of regular milk, I set it in the cart and shot him a look.

Devlin shrugged and nodded. “Down on the beach. One of the caves out near the point. The judge is old fashioned. He doesn’t do meetings at his house. He prefers taking care of business from his lair.”

An old fashioned demon.

Swell.

Devlin left me in the frozen food section and I took that as a sign. I grabbed a few pints of Coney Island Waffle Cone ice cream, then, still shaken, I headed for the cookie aisle.

The last of my frozen Samoas were gone and I was going to need some cookie therapy. Fast. I grabbed some Double Stuffed Oreos, a bag of pink and white iced circus animals, then turned to snatch a giant bottle of chocolate syrup off the shelf behind me.

My stomach was jumping and my head pounded hard with every beat of my heart. It felt like I’d been scared and or worried now for days. Probably because I had been. Thea’s sweet face floated to the front of my mind and fear washed over me like an incoming tide.

“Excuse me.”

The pissy voice came from right behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at a woman in running clothes, her long black hair in a ponytail, pushing an empty cart. Ah. A woman who
started
her shopping in the cookie aisle. I liked her style. “Sorry.”

She glared at me as I yanked my cart out of the way. As she came up alongside me, I’m not really sure why I gave her a good squirt. Instinct? Now, wouldn’t that be nice? But most likely, it was because of the surly look she gave me.

Anyway, I shot her dead in the forehead and she hissed in a breath as smoke curled around her head like a lazy Olympic wreath. Then she swept out one hand, trying to gauge my eyes out with her French manicured nails.

“Whoa!” I leaped back, hit the shelf behind me and knocked down what felt like an avalanche of chocolate, strawberry, and caramel syrups, not to mention boxes and boxes and oh,
boxes
of ice cream cones.

The clattering noise almost covered up the woman’s voice saying,
“He
can’t help you. No one can.”

He who? Devlin? She had seen Devlin and me talking? Great. Demon spies in the grocery store. Well, screw needing Devlin’s help to dusting
this
bitch.

I shoved my cart into her stomach so hard, she doubled over the edge and landed with her face plastered up against my Oreos. Before she could get up and try at my eyes again, I held her head down with one hand and went for her heart through her back. Turns out, it works just as well from that angle.

The bitch exploded into a cloud of dust and before I left the cookie aisle, I kicked cones and syrup out of my way and grabbed an extra bag of Oreos as back up.

I was thinking
lots
of cookie therapy.

More than Fiends: Chapter Seventeen

I took Sugar with me on ‘patrol’.

Yes, yes, I can hear you all laughing, and let me assure you, I didn’t have her along for protection. Oh, she’s big enough to scare anyone who doesn’t know her—until she hides behind me and cowers until whatever stranger happened upon us goes away. Nope, the reason I took her was simple. She was getting fat.

Now, I don’t mind a chubby dog, but Sugar was quickly moving on to Hippo size and you’ve got to draw the line somewhere. So, since we
both
hated exercise in any form, I decided that if I had to suffer, so did she.

Sugar did not approve of the plan.

“Look,” I said, dragging on her leash as she planted her big butt and stared out at me through her hair with a pout, “we’re not walking to LA, okay? Just once around the block.”

The street was pretty quiet, considering it was only about six thirty. And yes, I know that taking a walk around the block wasn’t what Jasmine had had in mind when she told me to go out and patrol the city. But you know what? I’d about had it with demons by then. And I figured, I’d do my part to make my one little corner of La Sombra safe and leave the rest of the city to its own devices until I was sure Thea wasn’t in any danger.