The First Book of Demons (The Book of Demons Saga) (5 page)

Chapter Eleven

His lips kissing a hot trail down her collarbone.  The sting of cold marble on her heated flesh.  A name, Balthazar, moaned in a breathy question of uncertainty. 

Pain
flooded Alexandra’s body as her eyes opened to the fabric roof of Tavi’s tent.  Memories flooded back from the night before.  Alex let out a heavy sigh, trying to shake off the exhaustion that had overcome her.  She moved to sit up but was forced back down to the bed in pain. 

“Wh
at ails you girl?” Tavi asked from across the tent where he sat reading her book.

“Nothing,”
Alex replied, “I’m just tired.”

Alexandra thought about the name in her dream. 

“
Balthazar,” she mumbled under her breath.

  “Where did you learn of that name?
” Tavi demanded suddenly appearing before Alexandra, his sensitive ears easily picking up the girl’s words.

She blushed, her embarrassment heating her round cheeks as she thought of the man in her dreams.

“I just…heard it somewhere,” she lied, looking up at him from under her brows.

Tavi stared
back at her, his features motionless.  He turned his attention back to the book in his hand.

“Tell me,
girl, why do your people write such strange tales of blooddrinkers?”

“Blooddrinkers?” Alex asked, her brows scrunched together.

“Yes, girl,” Tavi sighed, his eyes rolling from her onto the book in his clawed hands.

“
It’s just a story,” she said, “just for entertainment.”

“I do not believe I have ever met a blooddrinker that was entertaining,” he said
, his brows raised in disbelief. “Much less one falling in love with anything.”

“You mean they really exist?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Tavi said, “although nothing like they are described in your world.”

“But they aren’t real in my world,” Alex replied, getting a baffled look from Tavi.

“…it’s just kinda a thing where I’m from…I guess,” Alex stammered out, attempting to clarify.

He tossed the book onto the
table with the rest of her things, and picked up the silver box. 

“
Tell me how you came about this item,” he said.

  “My Aunt passed it on
to me after she died,” Alex said, “It was the only thing that was left to me.”

“It is
Devasi,” Tavi told her, “most likely from one of the royal workshops, judging by the quality.”

Chapter Twelve

The hot water of the spring bubbled around Alexandra, relaxing her sore muscles.  She rested her head against the rocky side, closing her eyes. She tried to steady her mind.  Perhaps if she could concentrate she might remember something about how she got here.  More importantly, she might be able to find a way back home.  Her eyes slid open to reveal a particularly muscular demon standing before her, his charcoal blue gaze fixed on her half exposed breasts. 

“Honestly!” she shrieked
.  Alexandra struggled to reach a cloth and cover her form. “What is wrong with you people? I said I wasn’t going to run away, I don’t need to be watched while I’m bathing you pervert!”

His eyes, slow and measured, roamed her form, lingering at his pleasure as she frantically
tried to cover herself.  He stepped closer. 

“What are you?” the demon asked, his voice as flat and emotionless as his face. 

“Don’t try to hurt me!” she warned, her voice shaky as the demon stalked ever closer to her.

“There
’s another demon,” she continued, raising a pointed finger, “and he will tear you to pieces, I’ve already seen him do it once.” 

“Where is he now, girl?” he asked, a smirk playing across his clean shaven face.

Alexandra’s heart pounded, she struggled for a few gasping breaths.  The demon’s eyes held her frozen in terror as he stepped right to the edge of the hot spring.

“Lord Balthazar,” Tavi said, appearing suddenly.

Alex whipped
her head back and forth between the two demons.  A hot flush washed across her already heated flesh as the name of the demon registered, bringing flashes of her dream to mind.  Her arousal lifted through the air, reaching the sensitive noses of the brother demons.  They simultaneously turned to look at the girl as the musky aroma caught in their nostrils. 

“Tell me, brother, who is this creatu
re?” Balthazar demanded, his eyes trained on Alex.

“She calls herself Alex
andra, My Lord” Tavi said, “and she claims to be a human.”

“How fortuitous,” Balthazar said, his eyes moving from Alex to Tavi, “Come brother, there is much for us to discuss.”  

Balthazar
disappeared in a flash.  Tavi turned to look at Alexandra who was still standing in the water, a wet cloth hugging her gentle curves. 

“It wo
uld be wise for you to show Lord Balthazar some respect, girl,” he said before he too disappeared. 

Alex
sighed and tossed her cloth covering into the grass where her bathing supplies were and plopped back into the water.  She was beyond caring at this point.  She didn’t know where she was, or how she got here, or what these creatures intended to do with her.  The only thing she did know was that her body ached and the hot water bubbling up around her felt amazing.  She leaned her head against one of the large rocks that jutted out around the lip of the spring. 

#

Balthazar and Tavi sat down to a meager lunch laid out in Tavi’s tent.  Biting into a strip of dried meat tossed with a honey glaze, Tavi eyed his older brother. 

“
My Lord, what brings you here?” He asked.  “I am but a day’s march from the palace.”

“
We have a problem,” Balthazar said, his eyes locking onto Tavi.

“Baal,” Tavi said, raising an arched brow.  He truly wasn’t surprised.

“With
Hasan,” Balthazar said, as bit into a piece of flat bread smeared with a vegetable paste.  “He is planning to have him Anointed in my stead.”

“T
hat fool,” Tavi spat, shaking his head as he picked another strip of dry smoked meat from the table and tore at it with his fang.

“We must stop him quickly,” Balthazar said, “Before he has a chance to gain support from any of the nobles.”

“Can we beat him?” Tavi asked, wiping his hands on a silk napkin. 

Balthazar leaned away from the table.  His jaw tensed, but he did not speak.  His silence told Tavi everything he wanted to know. 

Chapter Thirteen

“I can walk,” Alexandra said, a pout on her lips as she starred up at Balthazar from on the bed.

“Your ability to walk is not in question, girl,” Balthazar bit out, “the speed at which you do so is.”

“Well I don’t care,” Alex fired back, “I don’t want to be carried all day.”

Balthazar let out a low gr
owl of frustration.  He had just met this human, but he was already exhausted of her intolerable defiance.  She walked so slowly it would take days to reach Baal and Hasan. 

Balthazar
reached down, grasping Alexandra’s slender wrist in his massive hand.  His unblinking blue grey eyes locked onto her round face.  He yanked her off the bed, and dragging her out of the tent, pushed her onto the same small liter that she spent the previous day on.  She made a move to protest and stand, but a sharp growl from Balthazar settled her firmly in her place. 

“
Deal with this unbearable creature,” Balthazar growled at Tavi as he turned and walked back into the tent.

“You would be w
ise not to anger him, girl,” Tavi said, signaling to two demons who promptly came over and prepared to lift the litter.

“It’s not my
fault he’s so touchy,” Alex huffed, crossing her arms, “and stop calling me girl. My name is Alexandra.”

“Alexandra,” Tavi
said, a condescending smirk on his square jaw, “Lord Balthazar is not accustomed to being addressed so disrespectfully.  If you enjoy your head attached to your body, I advise showing him some respect.”

#

Balthazar settled himself cross-legged into a plush cushion.  Alone in the expansive tent, he closed his eyes, his hands resting casually on his knees.  He took a deep cleansing breath and pushed all thought from his mind.  He would soon be locked in combat with an older, more experienced, more powerful demon.  Baal was chosen by his father for a reason.  He was not one to be trifled with.  He was strong, fast, and ruthless.  The one advantage Balthazar had over Baal was his royal heritage.  He was the first born of a Royal bloodline, and as such his powers ran very deep.  But he was still young, and his abilities had not had time to fully develop.  Hasan may be of that same royal blood, but he was weak.  He was the son of a secondary wife and never learned to properly cultivate what little power he had.  He was merely a tool for Baal to seize power with. 

Balthazar’s mind wondered to
the human that had so fortunately landed in his grasp.  She was the key to achieving ultimate power, if he could only unlock her secrets.  The girl was unbelievably argumentative, and he was sure it would not be an easy task.  He replayed the images of her slender form, droplets of water glistening in the sun as they trickled down her taught stomach.  He inhaled her scent, that still hung in the air of the tent.  It was intense; It was purity.  It was like nothing he had ever encountered before.  He wanted more of it, much more.  He remembered the hint of her arousal in her scent when his name was mentioned, and it served to deepen the strange allure that surrounded her. 

Balthazar shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions.  He had to concentrate on defeating Baal before he had a chance to gain more support to anoint Hasan.  Then he could turn his full attention to the girl and the possibilities she brought. 

Chapter Fourteen

Baal sat at a low table, reading his scout reports.  Hasan sat across from him, fidgeting with the end of his silk belt.

“I’m bored,” Hasan said
, reclining against a triangular cushion.  He let out a heavy sigh, “I want to return to the palace.  Do have this business taken care of quickly.”

Baal lowered the parchment in his hand to his lap and looked up at the younger demon, his aged forehead heavily creased with wrinkles of vexation. 
“Perhaps you should prepare for the upcoming fight. I don’t believe Balthazar will sit idly by and allow you to take the throne from him.”

“Fight?” Hasan scoffed, reaching over the table and grabbing a fleshy piece of fruit from the table.  “I do not intend to dirty my hands with this.  That is what I have you for.”

“So you do,” Baal said, his yellow eyes flat with the annoyance he was suppressing.  He returned to the report in his hand.  He would take care of the spoiled whelp in time, but for now he would have to tolerate him.  Baal had been waiting many years to seize power.  The kingdom needed a strong ruler.  Sultan Sami had at one time been a great and terrible leader, but the last years of his reign were plagued with compromise and a weak constitution.  In Baal’s opinion the assassination was the best thing that could happen, and now he would be the one to set the kingdom on the proper path. 

A
young, yellow eyed demon stepped through the heavy silk flap that covered the tent entrance, his broad shoulders opening to stand taller. He gave a passing glance at the demon prince that sat across from his father, his family’s ticket to royalty. 

“Father,”
he said with a curt bow, “I have located Balthazar.  He is with Tavi as you suspected.” 

“You serve your father well,
Raza” Baal said, his face alighted with pride in his only son.  Raza stood minutely taller at the measured praise from his father. 

Hasan
envied the two in that moment.  Sami had never showed much interest in Hasan, no matter what he did.  All Hasan had ever wanted was a little recognition from his father, a word of praise, or a glance of satisfaction.  Now the brother he most hated, Balthazar, stood to become the Lord Sultan.  The thought churned his stomach.  Baal offered him a glimmer of hope, a possibility that he could become the unchallenged ruler of the kingdom. Balthazar was fool enough to dismiss such an experienced and powerful demon as Baal, and replace him with a lowly concubine’s son.  It was an insult, and had he been as savvy as their father and the rest of the kingdom believed him to be, he would have known better.  His mistake would be Hasan’s final redemption. 

“It appears they have found a strange creature
, father.  She is not Devasi, or even demon for that matter,” Raza continued, “They are keeping her well protected.  I believe she is of value to Balthazar, and her scent is…unusual.”

“A
strange creature?” Baal asked, a calloused hand scratching at the stubble on his chin, “Bring her to me.”