SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (162 page)

Well, it was a demon.

The question was, whose cavalry was he?

Mine?

Or the judge’s?

“Devlin,” Jenks said, pleased to see him. “Get rid of her.”

Devlin’s gaze burned into mine. “Right away.”

Well, I had my answer.

* * *

An hour later, I was at Devlin’s place, wearing one of his black silk shirts, (and a couple of bandages on the scrapes the demon gave me—hopefully he wasn’t carrying some hideous disfiguring demon disease), curling my bare toes into the rug beneath my feet as he paced like a Wildman.

“Are you completely insane?” he shouted. “What the hell were you thinking going up against the judge alone?”

“It felt like the right thing to do,” I said, my gaze following him on his crazed stalking path. “Besides,” I pointed out in my own defense, “I was holding my own. I took down the demon toad and I could have gotten the judge too, if you hadn’t interrupted.”

I hadn’t been sure whose side he was on until we had left the courthouse. He had a grip on my upper arm and he’d pretty much
dragged
me to my car in the parking lot. I’d been prepared, still holding onto my demon spray, waiting for my shot to kill him if it came to that.

But as soon as we were out of sight of the courthouse, he’d pulled me in close to him, wrapped his arms around me and kissed me so hard and so long, my head was still sort of spinning. In a good way. He’d brought me here, to the private apartment over the club and for the last half hour, he hadn’t stopped yelling at me long enough to kiss me again.

Which was a damn shame from my perspective, since right then, I could really have used a good kiss. I’m a firm believer in the reward system. Survive the judge, get a kiss.

“Why were you there, anyway?” I asked, suddenly suspicious, despite that first great kiss, the hope for more and the fact that he’d loaned me a shirt.

He stopped short, glared at me and stabbed his fingers through his hair. “One of the bailiffs called me.”

“Tree Stump,” I said, nodding. “Must have called when he took the prisoner out.”

“He said the judge was in danger from the Duster.”

“So you went trotting right over to protect the boss?” I asked, and didn’t bother to hide the disgust in my voice.

“I went over there because
you
were in danger.” He crossed the room to me, grabbed my shoulders and gave me a shake that sent my eyeballs rattling in my skull. “I couldn’t believe it when he said you were there, in the courtroom. Damn it, Cass, the judge is an
ancient
demon. He has strength you wouldn’t believe. And minions ready to die—or kill for him. You’re lucky you got out of there in one piece. You can’t just walk onto his turf and start giving orders.”

I grabbed hold of his shirt front and tried to do a little shaking of my own, but it was like trying to rattle Mt. Everest. “I didn’t give him orders,” I argued, “I offered him a deal. I told him I’d back off and leave him to do whatever the hell he wants to do if he leaves Thea alone.”

“He doesn’t think he needs your permission, Cass,” Devlin muttered, his voice thick with repressed anger. Well, I thought, join the club. “Going there was like waving a red flag at him, don’t you get that?”

I let go of his shirt and narrowed my eyes. “I don’t care, don’t you get that? I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect my kid.”

“You’re dangerous.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” I stepped back, looked into his eyes so I could see his reaction and asked, “I found out something else while I was there. Something I didn’t know before the judge told me.”

He waited.

“Did you know the judge had my mother killed?”

A heartbeat passed, then two. He shook his head slowly. “No,” he said. “I didn’t.”

I believed him. He looked as surprised by the knowledge as I had felt when I first heard it. That was something, anyway. “Well, he did. Apparently, my grandmother backed off to keep mom safe, but my mom wasn’t willing to play the game.”

“Does that tell you something?” he asked, his voice soft and low and filled with shadowy emotions that felt as raw as what I was feeling myself.

“Yeah,” I said. “It tells me as long as he’s alive, Thea’s at risk.”

“True.”

Hmm. I had thought he’d argue with me. Try to convince me to play the judge’s game the way my grandmother had. And I wasn’t trying to make a call on how gram had handled things in her time, either. I figured as mothers, we all made the choices we had to. She’d chosen to pull back. My mom had chosen to stand and fight, though she’d never gotten the chance.

And I guess I was more like my mother than I had ever thought.

“I told you I’d help.” His grip loosened a little. “You should have told me you were going in there.”

I shook my head. “Couldn’t. You would have tried to stop me.”

“Damn straight.” One of his hands slid down my back and cupped my butt.

“I had to face him, Devlin. Had to look that old bastard in the eye and tell him he couldn’t have Thea. I appreciate the offer of help, but she’s
my
kid.”

“I know,” he said and squeezed my behind.

“Not fair distracting me,” I told him, but moved against his hand like a cat wanting to be stroked.

“You need distracting,” he said. “I don’t want you dead.”

“Me neither,” I said, stifling a moan as he undid the hook and zipper of my slacks and slipped one hand down across my abdomen and lower still, until he was cupping me, rubbing his palm across skin that felt suddenly as sensitized as raw nerves. “Big no to dying.”

“You’re making me crazy, Cassidy,” he said, his gaze moving over my face while his hand did some amazing things to my body.

“It’s a gift,” I said, then hissed in a breath. How the heck did I go from pissed off and defensive to all gooey and needy in a couple of lousy seconds?

And how could I feel the same way about two different guys? Logan could make me feel just like this. All twisted up with wants and needs I shouldn’t have had. And now was so not the time to try to figure it all out.

“I need to touch you.”

“So touch,” I said, despite the groan rippling up my throat.

He did. For several long, completely fabulous seconds. He really had amazingly talented fingers.

“I knew you were going to be trouble the first time I saw you.” He nibbled on my throat. His tongue drew a line of heat up to my earlobe.

“Hah! And you think I was prepared for Demon Sexcapades?”

He smiled against me. I felt it. “I think we need to stop talking,” he said and took my mouth with his.

Good point.

His mouth covered mine, his tongue tangled with mine in a frenzied dance of anticipation. My nerves were taut, my body humming and when I parted my legs for him, he pushed one finger into me, sliding it in and out of my slick heat, making me move into him, fighting for balance, fighting for control, and losing. I rode the crest of sensation, always seeking more, always finding it.

He stroked me deeply, intimately, and I groaned into his mouth, silently demanding more. Yet even as I eagerly raced toward the climax hanging just out of reach, a part of me wondered if the face I was currently lip locked with was Devlin’s real face. I mean, I’d seen that guy on patrol who had dropped his human looking appearance and become the demon within a blink of the eye.

What if Devlin could do the same thing? I mean, what if he was like hideously horned or fanged or bright blue or something?

Then his fingers drove higher and I forgot about thinking. As long as he kept taking me on this ride, I didn’t want to wonder what image he might be hiding from me.

So exactly what kind of Duster did that make me? One touch from mysterious demon lover and I was ready to throw the job to the wind in the hopes of another orgasm?

Oh, yeah.

“Next time you take on the judge,” he muttered, tearing his mouth from mine and lifting his head to look me square in the eye, “we do it together.”

“Right,” I said, wondering what the hell we were talking about. “Together.”

Then his tongue tangled with mine again and his fingers pushed me over the edge of need and down that slippery slope to oblivion.

More than Fiends: Chapter Nineteen

I wasn’t going to think about what happened with me and Devlin two days ago. Okay, fine. I was thinking about it a lot. Though a part of me still niggled at the worry that maybe he was playing both sides of the demon/human fence, another part of me was delighted to let that worry go and shout Woo-Hoo! I’ve accepted that I have slut puppy issues and I’ve moved on. So should you.

All I’m going to say about that afternoon is, a double layer of condoms didn’t slow Devlin down any. I only hoped his sperm weren’t as energetic as he was.

But anyway, I’d made my challenge to the judge and despite the fact that the demon had practically laughed me out of his courtroom, I felt like I’d made my point. After all, he was down one bailiff, wasn’t he?

Score one for the Duster. Right about now, I figured Judge Jenks was feeling pretty pissy. No more than me. The more I thought about what the bastard had already taken from me, the more determined I was to stand up to him and make him pay.

He’d had my mother killed. Growing up without a mom was hard. My dad had done his best, but he couldn’t do the first bra thing, or the period talk—Rachel’s mom had stepped in and included me when she’d taken Rachel for her first training bra and box of tampons. And God help us both, Dad had skipped the sex talk altogether. (Thinking back, maybe that’s why he’d been so understanding when I told him about being pregnant with Thea. He’d probably half blamed himself).

Of course, the real person to blame was Judge Jenks. Killing my mother had cheated us both out of the very relationship Thea and I shared now. And I wasn’t going to let that miserable demon get even close to my baby girl. He’d taken all he was going to take from me.

And on that cheerful thought, I had another glass of cold white wine and let my gaze sweep the crowded street. The party was in full swing. The multicolored strands of tiny Christmas lights were twinkling in the trees and hanging across the street like high tech banners, sparkling in the growing twilight. Four tables were set up in the middle of the street, literally groaning under the mountain of food provided by all of the neighbors.

Needless to say, I was in Heaven.

U2 pounded from the stereo and the kids made fun of any parents brave enough to try dancing in front of an audience. Between the wine and the brownies though, I was content to hang on the fringes and watch everyone else.

Especially Thea and Jett.

I picked up a brownie, took a big bite and chewed while I watched the neighborhood party from the sidelines. With chocolate in hand and a wine chaser, the world was looking pretty good.

“I do not understand how you can eat as much as you do without weighing eight hundred pounds.”

Trust Jasmine to toss the first wet blanket.

I looked down at her. Man, it was good to be taller than
somebody.
“Metabolism,” I said around a second bite. “My dad said I got it from my mom. Must be all those Duster powers, huh?”

Jasmine gave one of those
Dear God why did the Duster have to be YOU
sighs and rolled her eyes. “Have you made a sweep of the surroundings?” she demanded.

“A sweep?” I took a sip of wine and choked down the brownie.

A sharp wind came up out of nowhere and was actually strong enough to ruffle a couple of Jasmine’s gray curls. Amazing. I would have bet money it was plastic hair.

“I know everyone here, Jasmine. There are no demons at this party.”

“There’s me.”

Ah yes. Kept forgetting that. “Yeah,” I said around another bite, “but you’re on
my
side.” At least, I was pretty sure she was. I thought about that for a minute. What the hell? I was sure.

“And there is another.”

I followed her pointy finger straight to where my darling daughter was smiling up at spike-and-piercings boy. “Okay, sure. There’s one. But he’s only half demon and even you said that he was good.”

“I said
some
demons are good.”

“MY POINT,” I said, loudly enough to be heard over a classic Stones song just starting up on the stereo, “is that this is my day off.”

“Dusters don’t get days off,” she said, sniffing. “Especially when they’ve been foolish enough to beard the lion in his den.”

“Oh for chrissakes,” I whined. Yes,
whined
. I’d thought Devlin was pissed off about my little meeting with the judge. But he was nothing compared to Jasmine’s fury when she found out about it. “There’s no more room on the Guilt Train, so just pull the hell out of the station.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Now it was my turn to sigh, so I let her have a big one. “I only did what my mom would have done, didn’t I?”

Jasmine’s shoulders actually
slumped
for the first time since I’d known her at the mention of my mother. Shaking her head, she said softly, “Cassidy, you must believe me. We never knew. Your grandmother and I. We had no idea your mother’s death was anything more than a tragic accident.”

“I do believe you, so chill,” I said and gave her an awkward pat on the back.

Naturally, when I got home from Devlin’s, Jasmine was there, feeding Sugar a cookie, the one way to make sure my dog loved you forever. I had faced her with the judge’s boast and just the look on her face had told me all I needed to know.

She hadn’t been aware of this at all. Everyone had been in the dark about this and I wasn’t looking forward to Gram’s next visit when I would have to tell her the whole truth. Hopefully though, by then I would have done away with Jenks and we could all go spit on his grave together. Nothing like a family outing.

“Hell, Jasmine, you should be glad I faced him down. Isn’t that what you’ve been training me for?”

Her bony shoulders snapped straight and she moved quickly to stand right in front of me. Hands clasped at her waist so tightly her knuckles were white, she stared up into my eyes and gave me the same speech she’d been giving me for the last two days. “Your training has just begun. You are in no way able or qualified to confront a demon like Judge Jenks. Perhaps in a year. Or two.”