Dark Dreams

Progeny of Sin

DAWN TREADWAY & AARON SPECA

A division of HarperCollinsPublishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

HarperImpulse an imprint of

HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

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www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2015

Copyright © Dawn Treadway & Aaron Speca 2015

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Cover layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers Ltd 2015

Cover design by Izzy Ashford

Dawn Treadway & Aaron Speca asserts the moral right

to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International

and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.

Ebook Edition © August 2015 ISBN: 9780007594702

Version 2015-08-11

Dawn:

Dedicated to my father, Dr. Gerald Treadway, who instilled in me the belief that I could achieve absolutely anything, if I did the work.

Aaron:

For Wendy, my true partner

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Dawn Treadway & Aaron Speca

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

Chapter 1

Jade Shear could feel the spark of emotion ignite; like a caged electrical storm it slithered up her skin and spread throughout her body. “No, damn it, not again,” she cursed into the air. Jade’s eyes strained shut as her long, French-manicured fingernails drew into fists.

Opening her stinging eyes she watched her customers begin to twitch and look around nervously. It was as if, suddenly, something ominous had just descended. She felt a wave of anxiety sweeping through their emotions even before the patrons themselves were aware of it. She let out an audible sigh and began trying to suppress the assault on her senses.

The patron’s responses were varied. Some began to look lost; others, more strongly affected, looked almost angry.

Jade opened her fists and tried to stabilize herself inside the circular wooden countertop forming the epicenter of her store. The emotion around her relentlessly crawled through her body, like a horde of ants on a mass exodus through the inside of her spine and limbs. She leaned forward and steadied herself, inhaling deeply. She closed her eyes, grabbing a thick, red curl between her fingers and began to twist. Fixating her mind she began deflecting the patrons’ feelings, pushing them away. Get out of my head!

Her eyes opened and Jade swore she saw a man-sized shadow move behind one of the crowded bookshelves in her peripheral vision. It disappeared so quickly she thought, for sure, it was her imagination.

“Hey, gorgeous, thought it was your day off!” Matt lilted accusatorily and sauntered toward the register. Nothing ever seemed to ruin his good mood. It was one reason she could stand to be around him. The other was that he was one of the few men she could be near and not read lascivious feelings about her pouring off of him. “You all right, sweets? You look like you need a drink.” His perfectly arched brows rose slightly for a moment. “And a hairbrush.” He chuckled and tried to tame her hair.

“Can you please not start with me?” Jade tried to shake out the last bits of the obtrusive emotions around her. She actually loved when Matt “started” with her.

“Now, darlin’, what in the world would be fun about that?” He moved his hand like a wand through the air when he spoke, a gesture he always seemed to make appropriate. Whether recapping a bad date he’d been on, appraising someone’s outfit, or generally talking trash about another of Jade’s employees, there was always “the hand” emphasizing his dramatic points.

He continued, without waiting for a response. “Girl, you need to stop with the workaholic spinster act.” He gave her a cursory disapproving glance from her disheveled hair down to her beautifully attired feet. She saw a small smile escape when he eyed her footwear. “Get out of here, go dig up a life, girl, get laid, fall down drunk somewhere.” He let loose with yet another wave of his hand around the store. “You know this place is fine. I’ve got the wheel. I make a fabulous captain.” Matt laughed; the man certainly loved to amuse himself.

“I just need a book or two, then I’m out. I won’t stay,” Jade swore, even as she scanned the shop for other things she could be working on.

“Okay, mama, but I’m watching you.” The characteristic hand wave ended with an accusatory finger pointed at her.

A gust of hot air blew up from the floor behind her. It seemed to come from nowhere. Jade inhaled as the fragrance of dark sandalwood and a dirty masculinity wafted into her nostrils. Her eyes closed and as she breathed in, her mind was abruptly flooded with the image of all the sex she wasn’t having.

Matt’s lowered voice invaded the darkness of her shut eyelids. “Oh, my Lord, no, I am not looking at you, not anymore, now I’m watching that!” She opened her eyes and saw the look in Matt’s eyes glaze over slightly as he motioned to something, or someone, behind her that had now consumed his attentions.

“Do not turn around quickly, but girl, turn the hell around. Slowly, I said, do not startle it and make it run away,” Matt hissed as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

“What are you talking about now? Is there some kind of animal in my shop?” Jade turned and not twenty feet away, he stood.

Legs crossed, a gorgeous man leaned against a bookshelf, his cocked head resting against it in a lazy pose. A long stream of dark, almost black, hair fell below his extremely well-built shoulders, contrasting with the lighter red of the cherry wood. This man was making no attempt to hide the fact he was staring right at her, assessing her. She felt some disdain for his audacity, but honestly his stare caused her to catch her breath, and then consciously begin breathing again. Rather than turn away, she stole another peek. Jade’s eyes met his and they seemed to grab and pull her in. His eyes contained darkness, but she saw that they were actually an intense gold laced by black lashes. As she trailed down his body, large muscled arms exploded out of the sleeves of his black t-shirt.

His emotion came upon her unbidden and she felt a sudden wave of lust crash over her. She unintentionally released a breathy sigh and clenched her teeth as the pure animal nature of him surrounded her in an all-encompassing cloud of arousal. Between this force and her body stood only a flimsy white tank and it apparently was going to provide her no protection. Her breasts and nipples tightened and became overly sensitive to even the slightest movements she made. The lower regions of her body went moist and warm and she crossed her legs; the clenching, however, made the feeling even stronger.

“Holy cow,” fell softly out of her mouth.

And Matt concurred, “Yes, ho-oly cow, girl.” Her mouth had apparently remained open because, keeping his gaze stuck on the tall hunk of man before them, Matt put his hand under her chin and popped it closed.

Trying to shake off the lusty arousal, she turned and tried to take on the look of the professional establishment owner she was, and took a tentative step in his direction.

Of course, that didn’t work out; instead she tripped on the edge of the Turkish rug beneath her, twisting her foot and breaking the heel off her favorite Jimmy Choo knee-high boots.

“Damn it,” she said under her breath, “I saved for months to buy those.” As she bent down to pick up the broken heel, she tried to take a step backward and stabilize her still sexually stunned body against the wooden counter.

Naturally, being that she was Jade, her hand landed at the base of a stack of returned books, sending them and herself tumbling to the floor. She was now red-cheeked, with hair strewn across her face and in her mouth, on her hands and knees. She lifted her head to wait for the typical Matt-like wisecrack, which surprisingly never came.

The mysterious man flashed a condescending grin the Cheshire cat himself would have been proud of and slowly turned and sauntered toward her front doors. Then he seemed to disappear. But that couldn’t be right, could it? He must have simply walked out the door and she had missed it.

“What the fuck was that?” Jade gaped at the space the dark-haired man had occupied, as she sat back onto her heels and shook her head to clear it.

Matt only raised his brows and looked down to her. His mind was obviously still more focused on the gorgeous stranger than his boss. As her clumsiness was pretty much constant, he looked at her with only a slight smirk. “That, my dear, was sex; pure, walking, fabulous sex. And not the weak-ass, watered-down kind. That man was fully loaded,” he chuckled, “and I would love some.” Matt furrowed his brow and bent down to help her.

“Okay, Jade, tell me right now,” Matt demanded, tapping his fingers on the patterned rug beside her sore knees. “What was that hot slice of man feeling? I have to know.”

Jade looked at Matt, past his crisp blue jeans and perfect orange polo shirt, the look in his eyes full of anticipation. He was one of the only people she trusted with the knowledge of what she could do. Well, actually, the only one, because she was reasonably sure he was the only one who didn’t ever want something from her. “I hate my curse, you know that. When I make a conscious decision to take advantage of the annoying thing, I am ashamed of myself. Please don’t make me go there.”

Unfortunately, most of the time her ability crept in without her inviting it. Even now, all around them she could sense the crowd’s slow change back to their previous mix of emotions. Curious, she thought, that man appears as a sudden shift in emotion consumes the store and knocks me on my ass and, blam, he walks out, and it all goes back to normal?

“Come on, Jade, you’re not going to tell me anything?” He gave her his sweetest puppy-dog eyes.

“Sorry, dude, but I didn’t even try,” she lied; this was the easiest way out of the conversation. Jade hated using her blasted mental capabilities to read emotions, almost as much as she detested her ability to change those feelings, and she had absolutely no intention of discussing them or the sexual barrage that strange man had given her. The memory made her body release a shiver from head to toe, which unfortunately came to rest in a warm, aching pool deep down in the lower regions of her stomach.

Why did this have to happen to me? Jade asked herself for the millionth time.

A swirl of wind formed in the discarded trash and debris on the dirty sidewalk, out from under Nias’s black combat boots as he transcended outside to the not-so-fresh air of New York City streets.

He usually didn’t take such a risk. Humans seeing a tall, dark stranger appear from out of nowhere tended to become alarmed. He had simply wanted to remove himself from within the vicinity of the human female immediately.

When Nias first saw the backside of the statuesque redhead twirling a single curl and lounging on her forearms at the book counter his body began to boil. He knew right away he was staring at trouble. She was stunning. Watching the girl in plain, low-rise jeans and a white tank top … there was definitely something different about her. He could tell immediately that there was a force within her, the power they needed. But there was something else as well, something insisting his gaze remain on her, and not stray.

When she turned around with her friend to look at him he could feel her immediate pull on him. All he had wanted to do was remove the space between them. Slip a hand around the curve of her hip to the small of her back and pull her body flush against him, for a long, slow kiss.

The few moments after he had seen her were bad enough, but when she turned to look in his direction, the effect he had on her became abundantly clear. He began to mentally undress the beauty and, in detail, strip her down and find ways to make her react to him. His loins began to swell as his brain began to get more descriptive. It was only when she tumbled and their eyes broke contact that he was able to snap out of the apparent spell she had put him under. He had no other recourse for the moment but to get out of there before he walked up, took her by the hand, and transcended her straight back to his bedroom.

He silently cursed Jibreel and the other Goddesses for asking him to locate Jade Shear. Oh yeah, that girl would definitely be trouble.

A slight queasy ache swelled from the pits of his stomach. He straightened his bearing back to that of the warrior he was, returning to his now-comfortable state of numbness.

Nias turned to survey the street. Humans, with their matching white paper coffee cups, sat a little nervously now, lounging and taking in the sun. An ordinary blond couple opened the wooden and glass door and moved into Jade’s establishment. Resting his hands in the front pockets of his faded jeans, he found peace in his old habit of surveillance, and slowly the feelings began to subside.

None of the scattered few had noticed him appear. No wide, stricken eyes or signs of panic were visible. Only the common human reaction of shifting as an anxious tension swept through them. But it always did when a strong high-caste Daemon was near.

His memory shifted to the last image he had of her as he exited the store. She was kneeling on the ground, a disheveled mass of books surrounding her, on her hands and knees in the middle of it. She was a beautiful disaster.

This was the female that was supposed to help him traverse Sheol and rescue his brother?

“Unbelievable,” he grumbled.

He had spent ages, millennia even, in Sheol. He didn’t need assistance. Arousing or not, that clumsy human was going to get them both killed. She couldn’t even manage to stand on her legs; how the hell was he supposed to traverse Sheol with her? Much less kill multiple caste-leveled Shaitan in blazing underworld heat. And he was there to seek her help? The woman on her hands and knees, knocking things over and tumbling to the ground – she was supposed to be able to protect him from the Shaitan? He realized his teeth were grinding.

Nias had a flash, a sudden, intense desire to leave her, to never see this female again. This is a really stupid plan. People are going to die; this girl is going to die.

Now he had to return to Jibreel and her sisters and tell them he had found her. This day just kept getting better and better.

“I am fucked,” he said to himself and transcended out.

Chapter 2

Nias opened the immense white door and stepped through for the second time in a scant few hours, taking long strides over the cloudlike path toward the Goddesses. Bathed in a bright light, the area consumed him in a powdery whiteness. He kept his head down, raising a hand to his brow and using the front sheet of his hair like a shield against its radiance.

Djinn were rarely asked to meet with the Goddesses, and almost never here, at the Temple. And so, when he received the summons that morning, curiosity got the better of him, and he transcended immediately to the place of worship. Now he returned with a pit in his stomach to tell them the “good” news.

Three of the High Goddesses stood facing him, the edges of their figures wavering against the light that Daemon could barely gaze upon. “Eternally beautiful, eternally dark, it has always been curious how he made your kind. If he were capable of love, or even remote affection, I would say it was used during your creation.” The center Goddess tilted her head of glimmering white hair to the side, using her hands to trace his outline when she spoke to him.

“Thank you, Goddess, your compliments honor me, as always.” Nias, although playing the subservient to their vanity, couldn’t help but curl the side of his mouth in a flirty smirk, his golden eyes flashing with a hint of mischief. He continued walking, moving close to her and leaning in toward her ear when he spoke next. Lowering his tone to something just north of a whisper, “Jibreel, thank you for inviting me back into your home.” He couldn’t help but tease them. They were without true male companionship in Arcadia.

She sighed and then noticed the other two Goddesses looking at him as well and stood up straight to regain an authoritative posture. “Our creatures in the Unseen tell us Joss is being held by the Empusa; this is good news for you. It gives you plenty of time to train the girl and prepare her for your journey into Sheol.”

“Train the girl for our journey into Sheol? You have to realize what you’re saying is absurd.”

The ethereal blonde to his left immediately became more animated. “Djinn! You will not speak this way to Jibreel! With a wave of my hand I could end your life. It would, in fact, be a pleasure. I do not share Jibreel’s affection for creatures like you. Whether above ground or below, I would end you all. I see how dangerous you all are. And you, specifically, Nias.”

I dare you to try, he thought, but made sure not to show his feelings about her threats openly. He spoke to them with a deep, composed voice. “You know as well as I, no living human belongs in Sheol.” He inwardly shuddered at the memories of his time there … of what he was tasked to do. “I can certainly handle anything they can throw at me. What possible good can come from me training her?”

“You are the most capable warrior available. You know why Phaeton cannot go; he needs to retain his position as Sovereign of the Djinn Sentry. To leave the humans unguarded would bring chaos. We require your help, and your brother needs you.”

The Goddess Eeia had intentionally used Phaeton’s new title to gauge Nias’s reaction, he knew, and was sure she was not disappointed as he bristled at the sound of it. “Unquestionably I will go for Joss, but the woman, I don’t need her. I won’t take her.” Do not order me to take her, come on, girls, do not make me take the beautiful trouble, Nias silently pleaded.

“If she has retained the Gifts she will ease your passage. For your brother, for the balance, you will take her. Are her powers legitimate? Could you feel her?” Oh yeah, he was feeling her all right, way too much, in fact.

“Yes, yes, she has powers.” He knew then he had lost this argument. For his brother he would take the girl. “She is stronger than I have ever felt from a human. The empathic Gifts granted to Jade are definitely potent.” Speaking of the girl brought on a reaction in him he didn’t know what to do with. He found himself shifting from one cloud-covered combat boot to the other. I do not shift uncomfortably, he thought. He corrected himself once again, retaking his typical firm, masculine stance. Gritting his teeth, Nias lowered his head slightly and exhaled, resigned to the course the Goddesses had set him on.

Damn.

Jade figured she must have blacked out, because one moment she was walking home from the bookstore after staying, despite Matt’s protests, and the next she was inside what looked to be a large amazing loft space. She was inside someone’s home. She dropped to her knees, hitting a cold, hard floor, and then she fell into a kind of shock.

She started muttering to herself, “Okay, this is too weird. I was just outside, and the sky was dark. Now I’m in somebody’s loft, where I can plainly see out that window,” she pointed a dizzy finger toward the floor-to-ceiling casement, “the sun isn’t even down; it is clearly twilight out there.” She was talking to herself out loud, to hear her own voice more than anything. She turned her body to figure out exactly where she was, and her chin ran smack into the denim-covered legs and steel-toed combat boots of the man who was responsible. And she screamed as loud as she could.

Nias fell to his knees and put his hand over her mouth.

“Woman, you are obviously upset, and at this point I can understand that, but if you would stop with the screeching and remain calm, I can explain everything.”

That was good because she wanted some answers. “Where am I? How did I get here? Did I pass out? Did you give me drugs? Are you some kind of kidnapper? If you are, I will let you know now you definitely have the wrong girl. I haven’t a dime in the world, so you might as well just save yourself the trouble and let me go!” Her words came out rapid-fire, a battering tempest of chatter that she could see nearly overwhelmed him.

In response to her questioning this large dark-haired man merely began to laugh out loud.

“I’m sorry, did I amuse you?” She squinted up at him.

“No, hellion, I just find your way of communication different, that’s all, and no I am not a kidnapper, I have not given you drugs, you did not pass out, and you are in California; San Francisco to be precise. As for the way you got here, I transcended us.”

“You what?”

“I transcended us – a process Daemons use to move around.”

“Daemons?” She looked up to take a real, solid look at this maniac…and ran smack into the eyes of the gorgeous man from the physical disturbance this morning in her bookstore. Criminy, I have been abducted by the hottest lunatic ever. Jade looked around her, trying to assess the likelihood that she could escape and outrun him. She saw an open window and on the opposite side of what seemed to be a living room, the front door. Door is further, but I probably won’t break a leg if I go for the door. Door it is. She shoved him away and was up and running!

Before she took three steps, he was in front of her, a giant wall of muscle. She turned on the tips of her replacement stilettos and bolted for the window. This time he gave her five steps. He was in front of her again. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Broody gently picked her up with one of his arms behind her back, swung her legs up and over his other arm and carried her to the divan, where he smoothly sat her down and smiled.

“Can I continue? Or would you like to take another turn about the room? If it’s exercise you’re looking for I can think of much better ways to expend your energy.” He folded his arms, as if daring her to make another run for it. His golden eyes flickered with unmistakable amusement.

“Oh, for crying out loud, fine. I will listen to what you have to say. Only because you outweigh me by at least a hundred pounds, are way quicker than I am, and clearly you are willing to use force to have your way.” She was waving her index finger in the air, much like Matt did when he got excited. “But stop grinning at me; I am a hostage, not a plaything.”

“Pity.” His eyes did a swift head-to-toe assessment of her body. “I can assure you I wish this could be done any other way. Unfortunately the circumstances at hand have forced me into your life.”

“That I can see,” she hissed.

“Jade, I’m afraid our time together has just begun,” he said, squinting his eyes a bit. “I, or rather my family and I, require your assistance, and your gifts. We know you have the ability to sense emotion; we also know you can, in various degrees, affect emotions around you. Also your ability to tell if beings are lying may come in handy as well.”

“How in the world could you know that? Or my name? Who the hell are you?” If it were possible, this conversation was starting to freak her out even more than what had already happened.

“My name is Nias, and let’s just say I have it on the best authority.”

“Well, then, Nias, do you know where this curse came from? Can you tell me?” She wasn’t sure why it had come out as a question and not a demand; maybe it was fear at finally having an answer. What she did know was even discussing its origin made her recall all the pain and sadness it had brought into her life. If there were a way to find out where it came from, possibly there would be a way to get rid of it. She would do almost anything to accomplish that.

“That, I cannot do. I am not at liberty to inform you of any more than you have to know in order to help us.”

“Why am I even having this conversation, then? For all I know, you found out somehow, got Matt drunk, maybe, I don’t know.”

Then it hit her. The strangest thing about this situation was she could tell he wasn’t lying. She always got a feeling when someone lied to her. Almost like a sharpness at the back of her neck and behind her eyes, like a fierce headache was coming on, and she wasn’t getting it from him. So there were only two possible conclusions; one, he believed what he was saying so strongly that it didn’t come out at her as a lie, which meant her half-sarcastic comment was correct and he was insane. Or two, he was being truthful. Surprisingly to her, it wasn’t the possibility of the former, complete insanity, worrying her the most; it was the possibility of the latter, that his story could reflect the truth, causing the bubble of nervousness and trepidation to rise up from her gut.

“Well, can you get rid of it? I want to get it out of me; it is awful, to tell you the truth. You are looking at this thing as a gift, but it isn’t. This thing has made me a freak. My own parents couldn’t handle it. Or I guess it was me who found it hard to tolerate their loathing of my oddity. It wasn’t just them; try making friends when you know their every feeling and lie. It crashes into my head, and did I mention it hurts? Can you, they, who, whatever, make it go away?”

Nias was not completely surprised to see the look of pain in her eyes, but it had an effect on him he did not expect. He had an overwhelming need to make that look, the causes of that look, go away, but he knew it was impossible. He needed the part of her causing that pain.

“No, I can’t. I was asked to find you, explain the situation, and obtain your help. And to be honest, I doubt they would be willing to take away something they find useful.” He couldn’t help but place his hand on her forearm, to touch her, to soothe her. And then, as quickly as he had placed it, and felt the warmth of her skin, her eyes flickered straight towards his own, and he yanked his hand away.

He would not do this. This human would not affect him. He pulled himself together and got back to the business at hand.

“My brother has been kidnapped by some very bad individuals.”

“I feel his pain, as I seem to be in the same situation.” He appreciated her sharp wit and snappy comeback, and smirked despite himself.

“Trust me, Jade, you are not in the same situation. I will not hurt you. If you try to run, I will bring you back. But I will not ever hurt you.” And he suddenly realized he meant every word of it.

Again Jade could feel he wasn’t lying. He meant what he said, and strangely she didn’t feel like she was in any immediate danger.

“I need to get to him, and I need you to use the abilities you possess to help me do it. The place I have to take you is evil beyond your reasoning; it will be like nothing you have ever seen or imagined,” he continued to explain.

Jade shuddered at the sincerity and seriousness in his voice. “Where is this place and who are these people?”

“I cannot give you any more information right now, but we need to start with your training immediately, if I ever expect to see my brother alive again.”

“Why in the world would I get involved with this? It sounds extremely dangerous, and I’m sorry to be harsh, but it just isn’t my problem.” Even as she spoke the words, she thought of the one and only thing that could possibly make her do something so crazy; to actually have a normal life, to be rid of this blasted curse. This man might not know where the curse came from, but even if there was an infinitesimal chance she could find its origin and maybe, just maybe, find out a way to make it stop, she wanted to try.

“Unfortunately, Jade, the moment you came into contact with me you started being watched and it became your problem. The Shaitan have eyes everywhere. They have, no doubt, seen you by now, so you are involved already. You’re just not safe without me or one of the Djinn beside you anymore.” Nias looked into her eyes and she thought she saw a tiny glimmer of regret. Then she experienced a flash of anger that he had put her in this position. If what he said was true, he had already endangered her life.

All thoughts of agreeing to this madness had flown out of her mind. She clenched her teeth as she responded.

“I appreciate you want to retrieve your brother, but I don’t know anything about these … these Shaitan, or Djinn, or Daemons, or whatever they are called. I have a business to run, I have a life!” A sad and pathetic life; one where I cannot keep a relationship intact, prevent my head from erupting into spontaneous bursts of pain or even manage to stay out of dreamland long enough to cope with the madness. But right now she didn’t care, she needed some air to breathe not full of super-hot “I’m a Daemon” guy. She needed to get away and think, time to sort through this mess.

She continued her tirade getting up and taking a step toward him. The tension in the room was palpable. “I am going to go, please do not stop me, do not contact me, do not drug me or drag me across the country anymore!”

She paused for a time, looking at him, and when he made no move to stop her, she stormed past him and out the door. To her surprise, he let her go.

As Jade walked out of the flat, she wondered what kind of fiendishness was truly involved in getting her there. She had been to San Francisco before, and as she looked around she realized quickly he was telling the truth on that count. Did he take her across the country, unconscious on a plane? Surely not a public one. How long was she out? She had not felt herself go under or come out of a blackout. What she did know was she needed to find a way home.

Luckily she was a credit-card-in-the-pocket, and not a purse kind of a girl, because she was going to need a cab ride and a plane ticket before that hot but vexatious man came looking for her. She was not sure why he had let her walk out, and right now she did not give two shits about the why’s, she just wanted as far away from here as she could get.

Unfortunately, as far away as she could get was two blocks, when something metal slammed into her stomach and then hit her over the head, and this time everything did go black.

Chapter 3

When she came to, it wasn’t in a lovely flat with a gorgeous alpha male. Instead, she was in some kind of an abandoned warehouse-looking place. It was so dark she could only see by the thin cracks of light coming through what she assumed were doors, which extended from the floor to incredibly high ceilings. Her head was pounding and a foul odor smacked her in the face. She had no idea what it was, but it was a smell one could only imagine in a nightmare. A stewed thickness wafted of feces and other body fluids. She had never smelled decaying flesh, but she could imagine it smelled exactly like this.

She tried to move and realized she was chained to a beam, which connected to the ceiling. Terrified, she struggled, but the chains did not merely shackle her wrists and ankles; she felt them wrapped around her body, rendering her practically paralyzed. She began screaming from the depths of her soul, fear producing a sound she never imagined could come out of her. As she cried out she swung her head around, violently at first, but that made her pounding headache turn into an explosion of agony. She continued screaming and crying until snot and tears mingled and dripped from her face. No one responded, and she couldn’t see anyone else there. She finally passed out, most likely from the combination of fear and pain.

Next thing she knew, someone slapped her across the face so hard it split her lip and flung the other side of her face into the beam. She would have registered immense pain, except what was in front of her stole every bit of her attention. She sensed the emotions coming off of the person joining her in the cavernous space. If pure evil were a feeling, this would be it; hatred, jealousy, rage, loathing, greed, mistrust hit her all at once, and then she tried to shut them out. She pushed against it with her mind, despite the throbbing in her head. She had minimal success, making it slightly less overwhelming. She could make out a shadow of someone hunchbacked. From what little she could make out, it looked like he, or she, had been born with some hideous deformities. It seemed lopsided. One arm appeared to be longer than the other. Its breath smelled like putrid sewage … no that wasn’t it; it smelled of death. She could also hear the voices of several others behind her, but they weren’t speaking a language she understood.

Then a high, whiny voice spoke in English. “How is it you know Nias, what business does he have with you, human?”

Fuck, fuck, fuck, did it just say human like it wasn’t one? She only wanted to go back home. She wanted to wake up from this whole nightmare. She began crying again, and she couldn’t breathe right. The chains were too tight and she couldn’t calm herself.

She was screaming again!

“Stop!” It slapped her, hard. “What is your business with Nias? Answer me or I will not continue to be so kind,” it whined in a macabre, singsong manner.

Although fearful, she felt compelled to lie. “I don’t know who that is! I have no idea who…what do you want from me?” she managed to choke out through the blood running from her mouth.

It tore through her shirt with a razor-sharp claw, drawing down her chest, diagonally over her breast, across the chains, ripping across her stomach. She cried out and then bit her bleeding lip. The nails made a scratching noise as they pulled over the last of her bindings. Sharp pains were now emanating from her torso in concert with the continued pulsing in the back of her skull.

“Do not lie to me, I saw you transcend in with him! You were in his home; I saw you converse. What did you discuss?”

Her vision was hazy and she wasn’t sure what she should say. She didn’t want to make it angrier, but she had the feeling giving it too much information was definitely a bad idea. Actually, she couldn’t think of a good idea at all.

“Speak!” It ran one of its razors slowly down her arm.

It was horrifying, but the feeling of being trapped and powerless over the situation was starting to make her angry, despite her terror. She clenched her teeth and began to struggle again, but this time with fury. She shoved aside the pain and pushed back at it with her mind, grabbing the emotions within its head and twisting them. She attached herself to the darkness within it and it consumed her; she knew it would, but she also knew it would only last until she gained control.

When attempting to alter someone’s emotional state, she used the opposite emotion to push it out. Her success varied. It depended a lot on how in touch with the opposing emotion she could get, and how strong the target was. Although the utter darkness and pure hatred was heavy and difficult to move, she found its self-doubt and the creature allowed her manipulate it; at least, she hoped, enough to get it to stop injuring her. She tried her best to channel pleasure until she could feel its hate dissipate, if only slightly. Unfortunately, she was finding it a little difficult to find any pleasant images to pull from. She only wished hate could move hate. She was feeling plenty of that and channeling it could have knocked the fucking thing on its putrid ass.

Jade thought she would try to trick it into letting her go. She tried to speak evenly. “I was taken by the man you’re referring to, but I’m not sure how.” The best lies were always the ones that contain at least minimal truth. “I have no idea what he wanted from me. What is it you want from me?” Her anger and pain were starting to make her breathless.

“I need to know what the Djinn are planning. They are a bad lot. They hurt people, did you know this?” It continued in its high-pitched, unholy melody. She could sense immediately it was lying to her but decided to play along.

“I didn’t, but I knew when he abducted me that he had bad intentions. I was afraid for my life.” Yeah, does this stupid thing not get that I am afraid for my life now?

“Yesss,” it hissed, “you were right to fear for your safety, you are much safer now.”

Really? Did it really just rip its claws through my body and tell me I was safe? She had to get out of here. The pain in her head was abating, but it was starting to swim now, probably from blood loss.

“I really can’t breathe right,” she pretended to hyperventilate; “can you loosen … the chains?”

It made a discontented grunting sound, and called out for someone else to come and do the chore. And something else arrived, but she couldn’t see it. Its breath was rapid and short. It sounded as if it only used its mouth to breathe. Whatever it was she could feel its hand come from lower than a man’s hands would be. It seemed to be the size of a small child. It unlocked the chains to give them slack, but as it did so there was a moment it let them give a little more than it needed to, and she felt the chains fall below her knees. Jade was by no means a fighter, but the adrenaline pumping through her body made her fear and anger override her pain. Before she even knew what she was doing she had stepped out of her bondage.

With both arms straight she clasped her hands together and, using them like a bat, she swung at the hunchbacked creature, knocking it to the ground. The child-sized thing hissed at her and clutched at her legs. She punched at it, and then grabbed at the shadow, ripping at its skin with her fingernails. Thank God for her long fake nails. She could tell she had wounded it and torn at its flesh, which is exactly what she had wanted to do to any one of them since they had flayed her own skin. She began running blindly, staggering for the light coming through the walls, hoping she had been right and it was a door of some sort. The floor was damp or slimy, maybe, and she could feel her feet almost slide out from under her several times as she ran.

When she actually made it to the wall she crashed into it as hard as she could, trying to use her body like a battering ram. She didn’t look behind her, but she could hear multiple shuffling footsteps rushing toward her. The wall didn’t budge. As she felt up and around the sides of her prison, panic began to take over again. She heard herself starting to breathe too quickly as she became hysterical. Then they caught up with her. The first one grabbed her by her hair and ripped her backwards to the ground. She managed to get her hands behind her before her head hit the floor, but her arms burned with the impact. It began dragging her back across the slick floor. It was speaking fiercely in that bizarre language again, stopping suddenly to kick her in the ribs and yell something at her. She started to break a little. If they started in on her again …

And then she heard a deeper voice boom through the darkness; it was right above them and it seemed to speak the same language, but with a much deeper tone. She turned in the dimness to see a figure towering over the beast, grabbing it by its neck and twisting, producing a horrible cracking noise. She could hear the sound of other monsters scatter and then pained, high-pitched moaning. Another force seemed to be beating them down.

Jade still lay on the floor in a state of alarm and shock, turning over and trying to crawl away without being noticed, pain wracking every part of her body. She couldn’t even force herself to her feet, but still, escape was the only thing she could fathom. Then a large thing that felt warm and solid and smelled like a familiar musk picked her up in its arms and held her close. As she began to struggle, still panic-stricken and feeling the pain of the gashes that other thing had ripped into her body, it spoke.

“Jade, it’s okay.” He, and it was most definitely he, the he she had run from, pulled her face toward his so she could see who he was. “I’ve come to get you out of here. The things are dead, I’ve got you.” Even in her shock she knew that beautiful face and his voice soothed her. She immediately sensed inside his mind; he was hyper-alert, aware and concerned; he emanated calm safety. And involuntarily, she curled in tightly to him.

“Get me the fuck out of here, please!” she said breathlessly.

He began walking with her toward the other side of the warehouse, as he shouted in that unusual dialect to some others she couldn’t make out in the darkness. She suspected he was calling out orders at them about going after the fleeing creatures. It sounded like there were four or five other men. But she had no intention of lifting her head to find out. She felt safe curled in her current state, buried beneath his long, dark hair, which spilled over her. He even smelled like safety. A warm rich musk mixed with sweat, a dirty masculinity. She could feel the hard muscles in his arms and the thickness of his chest, and for right now she wasn’t moving a muscle of her own.

Damn it, why did I let her go?

Right after she had left, Nias had taken the three flights from his flat down the cramped stairwell two at a time. He slammed open the heavy door at the bottom with all the ferocity and frustration the situation had caused to fester inside him. The thick carved wood tore from its top hinges, dangled and then careened to the sidewalk.

Nias stalked past one streetlight to the next, one block after another. The scent of Chinese food and stale beer sickened him as he searched for what he needed. Threatened and fearful humans moved quickly out of his path, as gusts of wind swirled like dervishes around his menacing stomp, projecting dirt, discarded trash and anything underfoot. Lightning crashed in the deep-blue sky as his emotion became even darker and his self-loathing for letting this happen meshed with a determined vengeance within him.

Now because of his fuck-up, Jade was gone and he was one step further from retrieving Joss. Nias inhaled and through the sweat of strippers, cheap cologne and myriad smells of the dirty San Francisco night, he caught the scent of what he was searching for, and what he was hoping not to – the smell of Shaitan, and Jade’s fear. And he knew they had taken her.

Nias had then transcended directly to the Djinn Sentry. Phaeton, being the current Sovereign, had ownership and control of the compound, their base of operations, for the Cause. Nias walked in and started ordering Daemons to locations throughout the city. He would cover them all. The more guards he had out, the faster they could find her. They always found the Nests in these mass deployments. All Djinn had a potent sense of smell. When they got within a few blocks of a Shaitan Nest, they would know.

It had taken the Sentry about an hour to locate the Nest. When they did, Nias had transcended directly inside with a small group consisting of whomever he could immediately muster. The girl had been badly injured, but he could also see she had put up a fight they would have not suspected her capable of.

He could see she had escaped the bonds they had put her in, but not before she had been cut up. The beautiful redhead was being dragged across the blood-splattered floor of the dirty warehouse, and he was consumed with a burning rage toward the beast that had dared to touch her. That it did so sent a shuddering hatred through him he did not expect. He grasped its neck with the blind fury of a man who had been personally violated. After he picked it up and finished it, he was flooded with disappointment that he had not drawn out the vile creation’s pain.

Nias took Jade into his arms and held her shivering body tightly to his chest, wanting to absorb her panic within him. He ordered the extinction of the rest of the pack, calling out to the Djinn to spare no violence; tear their heads from their bodies if they wished, he would welcome it. Dispose of the rot when they were through. The Sentry would take the dead creatures back to the incinerator in their compound.

He didn’t realize Hamartia had witnessed his bloodlust and emotion until he stood with the unconscious girl in his arms and she appeared suddenly before them.

“Hello, my delicious pet.” Her voice scraped through the darkness like nails on a chalkboard, giving him chills penetrating to his very spine.

He growled, “Hamartia, I so do not miss your hideous whine. What could possibly draw you out of Sheol? I can’t imagine anything worth you missing even a minute of your enjoyment of the suffering and torture of the damned.” He watched her tall shadow approach him in the dimness of the room. She had long black, dreadlocked hair, which fell around an ugly scarred face. Her body was diseased from her conception and had continued to slowly rot for millennia. Wetness from her open sores shone through the encrusted dark fabric of her ancient, worn, floor-length gown.

Iblis had once taken her as a lover simply to amuse himself with something vile. It had been during a time when he had a sick fetish for fucking things that disgusted him. After centuries of finding pleasure in those who didn’t consent to his advances, he sought a distraction with a different kind of depravity.

When he was through with using Hamartia for his lasciviousness he took immense pleasure in telling her all about his experiment with the filthy and nauseating, letting her know she actually managed to make even the most depraved beast ever in creation, himself, sick. Some believed she had developed affection for him, if she could even conjure such a feeling. Spurned, she fell into a blood-hungry rage that continued to consume her existence. She had never left Sheol before, to Nias’s knowledge. Head Mistress of Pain; dominance and humiliation were all that gave her pleasure now. But, yet, here she was.

Unfortunately, she had also always had a lust for Nias. His physical beauty, strength, and power were an attraction she had been fixated on even before the humiliation Iblis caused her.

“Maybe it is just that I missed gazing at you. Why do you hold the human that way, Nias?” The she-beast drew out his name like she was playing with it on her tongue, and tilted her head in query. “She is beautiful, but have her quickly and discard her, like the other women you take to your bed. It looked to me from watching you end Rin that you almost felt something for her, but she will never hold your attentions like I could.”

He could hear her jealousy and it made him fear for Jade’s wellbeing. He knew Jade could no longer leave his side, at least until this conflict was resolved. If she lived, they would have to find a way to remove her from the attention of the Shaitan.

“No, Hamartia, she never could. The disgust I feel for you will never be the kind of attention I would give Jade.”

“You use her given name?” She pulled a hiss in though her teeth. “Why did you transcend her to your residence, Nias? We saw you converse with her and block her exit. It looked to be more than bedding.”

“She is nothing to me, Hamartia. You have no reason to concern yourself with this girl.” He did not want to give her any hint that Jade could be the key to his saving Joss.

“Your reaction to her miniscule injuries was extreme; I would very much like to take her home with me.” She took another step towards him as if to relieve him of his burden.

He bristled at Hamartia’s description of what her compatriots had done to her. Jade made a tiny moaning sound, and Nias realized both her clothing and his had become more saturated with blood as he held her. He needed to get her somewhere safe and tend to her wounds now.

He glared at the monstrosity before him, disgusted with both her inner and outer self. “This one will be discarded quickly; your perception of the events is obviously skewed. I hope our next encounter will not be soon, if ever.” And he transcended himself and the girl out before Hamartia could get in another word.

Chapter 4

Jade abruptly found herself in a dark room, once again being held by her beautiful kidnapper. Although the room was only lit by the glow the moon and stars sent through the large windows, the fullness of the moon allowed her to see the essence of it. The furnishings were extremely nice, but different from the flat she had been in earlier. This was a huge bedroom, well appointed, even more moneyed. The change in the time of day implied she was in yet another time zone.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and she was still trembling and bleeding badly through what was left of her shredded clothing. She couldn’t feel animosity right now; hell, she couldn’t feel much of anything except pain mixed with some level of gratitude. The pain was worst from the front of her body and her arm, where the grotesque fiend had ripped her open. But Nias’s firm grip on her was calming and soothing and in his arms she got the sense she would be all right, which was completely insane since he was the one who had got her into this mess in the first place.

Nias walked over to a dark wooden four-poster bed with a dark-blue duvet and a pile of brighter-blue pillows. He turned his head toward the fireplace and under his glare the fire suddenly ignited and rose to warm the room. When he bent down to place her on the bed, she didn’t want to let go. She felt so confused, shaken, and hurt she wasn’t sure whether she needed his strength around her for a little while longer, or whether she should demand to be taken to a hospital. The latter seemed the right thing to do, but that wasn’t what her body, as badly injured as it was, wanted to do.

He looked into her eyes and she felt a pang of fear coupled with a need for him. He lowered her gently onto the bed and sat down next to her. She heard a thump and then another, which must have been his boots hitting the floor, because the next thing she knew he was stretching his expansive chest and long legs, clad in faded jeans and an old black t-shirt, out next to her. He leaned on one elbow, his long, shiny black and dark-brown hair falling and folding on to the bed.

Damn, he was something to see; she almost forgot about the pain. Then it shot back at her and he put one of his hands flat on her stomach, as if to comfort her. Even with the pain, she noticed his heavily muscled bicep shift when he moved.

She couldn’t help but read him; she was freaked, badly injured and in a strange place. She wanted to trust him, but the darkness in him she felt earlier was prevalent, like a pervasive hum, an unholy deadly enigma. Right alongside the darkness was his concern. She decided he was most likely her best bet right now. She certainly wasn’t going to try to run off and get taken by more of those things, even if she were capable of that kind of movement.

“Where am I?” she managed to croak out. He put one finger on her lips to quiet her.

“Be still, Jade. As I told you before, you are safe with me.” The matter-of-fact manner in which he said it, the gentle way in which he was now touching her after the rough manner of their initial meeting, it felt almost surreal how soothing it was. She reached up to take his hand. It was warm and she gripped it with both of hers. She looked toward his beautiful face. His bright gold eyes were looking into hers and they didn’t look cocky or sarcastic. For the moment, he seemed to be actively trying to calm her. She would even say he looked kind.

“I know you’re in pain. I can make the pain and the wounds go away, but you will have to trust me.”

“Honestly, that worries me, but I really want the pain to stop.” She gave him a half-hearted attempt at a smile, trying in vain not to cry. “Okay, what can you do?”

“Just close your eyes, Jade. You’re safe with me.”

“I heard you the first time, but, before I trust you, which I can’t promise I’ll be able to do, how about you tell me your name. Your full name.” Her voice was hoarse, but she was trying her hardest not to sound defenseless.

He gave her a smirk of sorts and chuckled softly. “Very well. My name is Nias Hu’dor.”

“Okay, Nias Hu’dor, I’m going to do my best to close my eyes and trust you here. I suppose if you are going to kill me I’m kind of screwed anyway,” she rasped. He smiled kindly at her attempt at humor, and it made her feel calm enough to lean back on to the pillows behind her and tighten her grip on his hand as the pain continued to sear her flesh. “Although trusting you for more than your warmth and monster-killing rescue seems a very risky prospect.” She closed her eyes.

Next thing she knew she felt his fingers take hold of her tank top and the sensation was followed by the sound of ripping material.

Jades eyes flew back open. Her tank lay on either side of her body exposing her cut flesh and barely covered breasts. Nias was astride her and was moving the inner crook of his elbow toward his mouth, where he licked and then calmly used his teeth to rip a hole in his own lower arm. His teeth sank in and tore at the soft flesh, causing his blood to begin a dense, steady drip. She started to panic and tried to sit up; Nias gave a searing glare as he looked straight into her eyes and pressed her back down. Moving his bleeding arm over her, the blood bubbled out and flowed on to her chest and belly. Again she squirmed and he held her in place. Using the hand that wasn’t bleeding to hold her by the collarbone, he began to cover her wounds with the warm red fluid. She struggled violently beneath him, frightened at this display, but couldn’t escape; it was as though his grasp were made of solid metal.

“Jade, look at me,” and she did, but it had to have been with fear in her eyes. “I will not hurt you, I promise. Trust me, you are safe now.”

He continued to repeat that mantra of safety as he threw her tank to the floor and unbuttoned her jeans. He began smearing the thick drops down her chest, smoothing them out over her cuts with his palm.

He started at the base of her neck, his flat hand and fingers swerving down her body. Then went back up to her bra, which had been cut slightly, his hand wandered inside and he let his fingers linger by her taut nipple longer than necessary. He grazed the hardened bud slightly as his fingers flowed so tantalizingly off of her breast, and continued down her body. His eyes connected with hers and she gave him no sign she wanted him to stop.

Her whole body convulsed and caused a wet heat between her legs. He stuck four sticky fingers below the top of her open jeans, barely sweeping them over the top of her tight curls to make sure the sliced skin was covered to its end. Again she shuddered involuntarily, and gave a tiny sigh of acquiescence. He finished by squishing more blood from his vein to the long gash on her arm and firmly sliding his hand down and off of her wrist.

She couldn’t help it as his touch sent a tremor through her and she began shaking. She was completely aroused, covered in this man’s blood; he had his hand practically at her throat and she wanted more. More of all of him, cocky bastard that he was. He had taken her full circle, from being attacked and nearly killed to a state of euphoria. And now she was face to face with a man, a seriously erotic one, who looked even better than the ones she loved to dream up and thought were perfection, and she looked like she’d just been murdered. It was a lot to take in all in the same day, much less in an hour.

“Thank you?” She asked it as a question in a breathy voice. Her wounds did feel better and she glanced down, seeing some of them miraculously starting to close. She had definitely lost control of herself and the situation.

“You’re welcome,” he said looking dreamily and directly into her eyes.

“Criminy, that was the sexiest ‘you’re welcome’ I’ve ever heard.” The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. His voice was soft and deep. But the tone … the tone managed to stroke her entire body all over again. The electricity was palpable between them.

Then she thought back to his previous behavior; what an arrogant ass he’d been and how she had detested him. She thought about getting up and walking out, since she wasn’t having the sharp pain anymore. But her body seriously objected; it had gone to the dark side and it was staying.

She drank him in; this was much closer than she had been to him before. He had a chiseled strong, square jaw and full, kissable lips, but they were completely outdone by the intensity of his exotic golden eyes. She took in the entire length of him again; he had an energy emanating from his body and demanding attention. He somehow managed to be sleek, long, intensely muscular and amazingly masculine all at the same time; like a panther, a big sexy cat, staring with his intense yellowish gaze.

“Are you warm enough?” he inquired in a deep, sexy drawl; he had a hint of an accent she hadn’t noticed before. She couldn’t place it, but the sound of it slithered out, wrapped around her, and slowly whispered “sex”.

Her mind betrayed her next as she thought about her books and her dreams. What usually happens at this point? Should I begin running my fingers through his hair, do I stroke him? Should I … and then he leaned in and kissed her.

His hand was back to her belly, and he turned in and lightly brushed his lips against hers. She had wanted this so badly in her dreams and now she felt horribly nervous. With all of her wishing and dreaming and hoping, and even with the aroused state she was in, the fact that she had no practical experience at being intimate, and barely any at kissing, was all she could think of right then, and her body tensed. She began to tremble and wonder what came next, as the fear, excitement, anxiousness, and desire all came to her at once.

Nias could not believe how out of control this human girl was making him. He hadn’t had any intention of getting twisted up in bed with her. He had only gone after her to correct his mistake; he should have never let her go. But when he found her being dragged across the floor, her body torn open by that lowlife Shaitan, he felt a protective surge come over him. The need to safeguard someone had never before made him feel so hostile.

He had to pull her close. Seeing that she had put up such a fight even when outnumbered and surrounded by Daemons had made her nearly irresistible. She was courageous and feisty. It made him want to own her, to keep her, and he generally had no patience for humans.

He had brought her back to Phaeton’s knowing it was the safest place for her. He told himself he was only keeping her safe because they needed her. But the truth, he knew, was that he wanted her as well. She had a sass women didn’t normally have around him. They typically threw themselves at him. She was scared and injured and he still wanted her. Seeing her lying on the bed, her fire-colored curls spread over the blue of the sheets, made him crazy; and then to explore her body as he fixed her wounds with his blood brought him to a fervor and thirst stronger than he could have imagined. Her full, round breasts, her tiny waist, her heavenly ass; he wanted to fix her quickly so he could play with her. Her lack of knowledge in these activities, the innocence he never suspected, it just got better and better.

It made his cock thicken even more to think about being the one to show her the way to complete pleasure.

Nias eased his free hand up under her chin and lifted her face to take her in. She was so close to him, he could feel her warm, sensual breath. She smelled like ripe, sweet plums and warm sunlight. Innocent, feisty, naughty girl.

“Don’t worry, Jade, just listen to my words.” His pants were constricting as he felt himself harden even more with the thought of how she might taste. And it wasn't the blood running through her veins that had his taste buds watering. He suppressed the growl threatening at the back of his throat.

He stroked her hair back from her face, ran his fingers through its length and placed it behind her ear and up, cascading upon the pillow behind her head. Then he moved his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her up, as he changed his mind and decided to dispense with any verbalization.

His mouth took hers; his tongue pushed its way through her inexperience, showing her the way. And she began to follow his lead. Her pouty lips were claimed as his as he began to move his tongue within them. He leaned back to look at her and ran two bloody fingers across her bottom lip, pulling it to the side, smearing his blood across her face and making her lip swell.

He felt predatory, he wanted to be rough with her; he felt like strapping her down and owning her. Yet something pulled him back from the primal urge that normally claimed him. There was something different here, something on the edge of his consciousness that he couldn’t get his head around.

He wrapped a hand around her waist and easily scooped her forward until their bodies were flush. His hand went around to her exquisite ass, grabbing her firm roundness and pushing it in even closer; his hips rocked forward, and he pressed and ground his engorged shaft against her blood-soaked body. She melted into him, wrapping her hands though his hair and around his neck. A soft moan came out of her beautiful mouth, as they resumed the intense intertwining of tongues. The kiss was scorching as his tongue ravaged her mouth, cruel and demanding. There was an intense rush of heat, and he reached his hand up to fist her hair, pulling at it and biting her bottom lip, then slowly releasing it with his teeth. She languorously closed her eyes and moaned while she shuddered beneath him.

He shoved her, a little more violently than he intended, flattening her back to the bed. As she turned her head to face him, she was a perfect blend of innocence and vixen. She may have been inexperienced, but that wasn’t stopping her from enjoying everything he was giving. She gave him a coy smile, wiggled beneath him and her body began to purr. He could feel his pulse racing and his breath became short. It made him almost angry to be thrown off so much by this human.

He stopped to take her in and a moment of confusion washed over him; he hadn’t felt this kind of passion in so long. There was something about this girl he couldn’t get enough of, even in their short time together. His whole body felt alive and seething. He smashed his lips against hers. He knew he was being too rough but couldn’t help himself. He was drowning and she was his breath.

Growling at her, he grabbed both her hands and yanked them up over her head, holding them in place. He slid a knee between her thighs and eased her legs apart and moved his body between them. He crushed the seam of her jeans up into her pleasure point, grinding gently. This time her moan was not as soft, it was far more wild and severe. He went in for more of her and again their tongues coiled in an erotic dance. The inside of her mouth was so succulent he had to taste the rest of her. Backing up, he lowered his hand deep into her open jeans, his fingers found her slickness, and he pushed them inside as her muscles clenched around him.

He found she was untouched; she had never been intimate with a man. Blissfully he thought of all the things he could teach her; he wanted nothing more in that moment than to give her a thorough education in all the carnal pleasures. Inch by delicious inch he would take each soft, sweet fold of her body into his hands and into his mouth. He would show her sweet innocence what it was like to have him deep inside her. He knew how to bring her over to a darker side of sexual feeling than she could imagine. He would own her, his possession.

Between her legs was so warm and inviting, a momentary impatience wanted to remove his fingers and thrust his achy cock inside, but not yet, he told himself. His fingers plunged and curled inside of her. She ground her hips against his hand. Arching her back she moved her hips in time with his strokes. She was perfect. Her desires matched his own. And he wanted to ruin her for all other men so she would always need to come to him to be satisfied.

He felt raw as he shifted the top of her jeans lower, exposing the milky perfection of her thighs beneath.

“No, I can’t,” she protested, her voice breathy and weak, her eyes still closed.

Keeping a firm grip on her wrists, he traced her moist heat with his fingertips. “That was hardly a refusal, more like an invitation. Should I listen to your words? Or would you rather I hear their intention? Which I believe was to tease and coerce me into giving you real pleasure?” He taunted her as he continued to outline her sensual essence with the tips of his fingers.

“Yes,” was all she managed. Her body undulated beneath him, her breath panting. He laughed softly and resumed removing her jeans. Unzipping her boots with his wandering hand, he tossed them to the floor, then slipped the jeans over her ankles and into the air with one swift movement.

“Yes” Jade heard herself say. Wait! That wasn’t what I meant. But she couldn’t even fool herself with the weak protest. His body was heaven; his fingers were fire inside her. An ache of pleasure was forming in her lower body. It was growing, consuming her. Her nipples ached and she thought she might explode.

And he pulled away.

“No,” she managed through her haze.

“Kitten, I thought it was yes. You will make up your mind, won’t you?”

When she opened her eyes to protest further he reached around and unsnapped her bra, removed it and replaced it with his tongue.

“Aah,” she inhaled sharply and suddenly.

He grinned at her with amused, cat-like eyes. “Did you have something else you wanted to discuss? Should I stop?” He lifted his head just a touch to inquire.

She could only speak in barely whispered breaths. “No, don’t stop, it’s okay, I really don’t want you to,” she purred, despite her conflicted opinion of him. He was arrogant, conceited, talented, delicious, warm… and then he was licking her, lapping her tight bud, pinching and kneading the other. She began to rock as one of her hands ran through his long hair, involuntarily holding him there. Although inexperienced, her body seemed to know what to do, what it wanted.

His mouth left her breast, leaving one set of dirty fingers behind, and he began licking down her belly… past her tight curls… until he was between her thighs. With a roguish look in his eyes, he smoothly picked up one of her legs at a time and placed them on his shoulders; then he slid his belly to the sheets, wrapped his arms around her hips, focused his gaze elsewhere and pulled her to his mouth. Her moan escaped, still louder than before, and she could hear his chuckle in response. But right now, she thought the phrase “couldn’t have cared less” had never been more appropriate, or true.

He took long, lazy, controlled strokes with his tongue. Spreading her with his fingertips, she came completely undone; any vestiges of her feigned control were lost. Her hips bucked softly and her back arched. Again the pressure began to rise in her, right at the point where he laved her. His mouth expertly drove her to places her dreams had not even brought her, sucking and nipping at her pleasure point until the pressure drew to an explosion and she convulsed. Bliss ran through her in waves for what seemed like an eternity. But this bad boy apparently liked to see her lose control because he didn’t stop. He continued at his leisure until her body bucked and shook underneath his ministrations again and again and again for him.

Her mind was collapsing into a thousand random shards of rainbow-colored light as she croaked out, “no … please … oh God …” As she pitched, as if to get away, her nerves overloaded by the stimulation he was giving her, he pulled her legs back down off of his shoulders and pinned her ankles to the bed. Raspy, her voice cracked, “Yes … God yes …” as she succumbed completely, her hips undulating beneath his lips, the smell of sex filling the air. Drops of sweat pooled on her toned belly as a beaded mist coated her forehead and ran down into her dampened hair. Any remaining thoughts of the pain she had been through that night fled against the assault on her senses, until ultimately she mentally and emotionally exploded, crying out and crashing into the mattress underneath her, trembling.

Finally, writhing, she begged him to stop. Jade lay exhausted, dreamy, and sated as she dissolved into the bed. She looked up at his face as he moved up her body, and she could see the arrogance beneath his visage; a completely justified pride, power, strength of soul and body, a never-wavering confidence … and motherfucking gorgeous to boot. He is a primary being, a god, a deliciously evil dessert. Her thoughts ran rampant through her brain as the blitzkrieg on her senses abated.

He pulled his shirt off over his head. How could he drive me to such places without even removing his clothes? He kneeled there for a moment and licked his lips before ripping the duvet from underneath her, sliding up to her side, and pulling her into his warm arms, covering them both. She melted into his body, feeling warm, smooth, soft, hard, safe, and dreamy all at the same time.

Chapter 5

Jade was lying curled in his arms, molded to his body, her long red curls tumbling over the blue cover; and Nias didn’t want to be anywhere else. Knowing he brought her to peak gave him more pleasure than he knew possible. Could a human woman be making him feel this way? Not possible, he insisted. He was merely having a deep, intense lust for her, which in and of itself was a pretty unusual feeling for him to have toward a human. He deeply enjoyed sex with human women, even more so with Daemon, but this was stronger than that, like somehow she fit with him. There was a force which propelled him toward her, and held him there. He lay watching her in her languor; beautiful pink lips, the high, soft bone structure, her high-arched brows the only physical manifestation of her incredulous defenses toward the world. She was a fiery one; the flames of her hair suited her perfectly. And even though he normally would have had his own way with her, then cast her aside, a good hour passed while he placed kiss after kiss on her.

“You are amazingly beautiful,” Nias said, placing his head on his hand and leaning on one arm. He watched her lie against the pillows and accept his kisses, her eyes only half open from the pleasure he had given her.

“I’m not sure what you are, but I or, um, my body, seems to really like it.” She smiled a wide grin at him.

She reached up, taking a piece of his shiny dark hair in her fingers and began to twirl the end, something he had seen her do to her own hair and it made him feel a touch vulnerable. Letting someone give him contentment was something he rarely allowed, especially a human woman. Typically he would cast her aside, but instead, he felt the need to reach for her. Trying to end the overly intimate contact, he took her hand in his and kissed it.

He watched her fade to sleep, listening to her breath. Despite her mild protesting he could see she felt safe with him, and he was delighted. He finally fell asleep with this human curled in his arms, hesitant about how much her safety comforted him. He was so pleased by what she had done, such a tiny act and enormous at the same time.

And that was what scared him to death.

When she woke she was a little hazy and still completely enveloped in him. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was, and then it flooded back to her: met hottest man she’d ever seen; kidnapped; out cold, maybe; fought with hottest man she’d ever seen; kidnapped AGAIN; tortured and nearly gutted; definitely out cold; miraculously healed; got obscene with the hottest man she’d ever seen; drowsy, sleepy, safe, out cold; NO kidnap; and wake up still snuggled tightly to hottest man she’d ever seen, still covered in their blood. Yep, that about covered it.

Leaving her eyes closed, she felt the soft sheets beneath her bare body, and heard only the near silence of the early-morning breeze. But she could also feel his body against her, his powerful presence and masculine smell permeated her very being. She shifted involuntarily against him as her hand went to his hips (still clothed!) and sighed deeply.

She looked up, realizing he was already awake and gazing at her. She had a sudden vision of their encounter and was struck with self-consciousness. The reality of her situation invaded the fantasy, and she blushed beet red, looking away. Deviant sexual behavior is so not like me. But that sure as hell didn’t feel deviant! She shook her head. What the hell had she been thinking? She barely knew this man. And yet she lay there cozied up and secure in his body. He was sex on a stick; it oozed out of him, the way his massive arms unavoidably flexed whenever he shifted. It was only one of the highlights of his impeccable body. The arrogant smile he gave, which always accompanied the soft, dark, sexually charged laugh, raised her ire.

“What is it, Kitten?” She jumped slightly; his deep, seductive voice startled her.

She could have screamed. She could have lashed out at him. She could have gotten up, demanded some clothes and gotten the hell out of there. Maybe she should have done any one of those things. But after everything that had happened … “I was reflecting on the absurdity of the situation. I could be crippled by fear, ashamed at myself, or throw my hands in the air and confess I’m just not in Kansas anymore. I guess that’s what I’ve decided to do.” Again she chuckled at her own humor.

“I don’t understand, what does this day have to do with a Middle American state?”

God, has he never even seen “Wizard of Oz”? Where was he from, anyway? “Never mind, I have a really strange habit of making myself laugh when things are too … overwhelming.”

“I understand you feel undone. But, I believe I have discovered a way to calm you a little. Shall I apply my findings again?” He flashed another wicked grin.

“No!” God no, she thought, even though her protest came a little more sharply than she intended. “Please keep your findings to yourself for a while. I have never done anything like that before. I am a little humiliated with my actions. What I’m trying to say is I should have stopped that from happening and I didn’t and I’m not sure why. Okay, I am going to shut up now.” And her face turned bright red again as she managed to dam up the words tumbling out of her mouth faster than she could think about them. He continued smiling wickedly at her. “What, why are you grinning at me like a cat with a mouse trapped under its paw?”

“You do realize, my Kitten, you said, ‘for a while’ don’t you? You asked that I keep my so-called ‘findings’ to myself ‘for a while’,” he stated with a big sardonic grin.

“Oh, well that’s not what I meant,” she choked out, as if she didn’t even believe it herself. Weak, Jade, truly weak. “Anyway, now that I’m not being ripped apart by monsters, or smeared with blood – which reminds me I would really like a shower – or molested, I have a whole lot of questions for you.”

“First of all, ‘molested’ implies you did not consent and I’m pretty sure I remember every stroke, moan and wiggle, and Kitten, you heartily consented; and second, we can take a shower any time you wish.”

“Okay, molested may have been the wrong word, and I did not mean take a shower together. Smugness isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

“On the contrary, I think it already has.” He arched his brow.

“Stop it.” Now she was grinning and thinking about that co-ed shower. Stop it yourself, Jade!

“How about I show you where you can get cleaned up and then I’ll answer all the questions you have?”

“Alone.”

“If you insist.”

“I insist.” Shut up brain, I do not want to hear it.

“I’ll call down to have someone bring up fresh things for you to wear. I imagine you are hungry as well?”

God, there are others here? She flushed again, wondering if her cries might have been heard. “Yes, I am a little, thank you. I know you said you would answer all my questions later, but, where are we? Why are there people who have things for me? This doesn’t look or seem to be the place we were earlier. I thought that was maybe where you lived.”

“This is my brother’s home; he has several people who work for him here, and they will bring you clothes and food. You were in my home earlier.”

He picked up a phone on a side table next to the bed and told whoever it was on the other end of the phone what he would need, “jeans size 6, tank top medium, jacket black, and something comforting for a human to eat, and breakfast for me as well.” The last part struck her; she realized this meant he must eat something different. Scary. What the hell would that be? Did she even want to know?

He got up to show her to a large, beautiful bathroom. She pulled a sheet off the bed and flipped it toga-style around her bloody, naked body and did the walk of shame to the bathroom. It had dark granite countertops and bronze fixtures. The tub and sinks were black, and the floors a natural deep-brown travertine. She loved fixtures and granite and flooring; she took a lot of time decorating her book store and small flat. But this place obviously had a bigger budget than had been available to her, which was barely enough to scour flea markets and resale shops.

The bathroom fit nicely with the bedroom; they were both, lovely, dark, large and cozy at the same time. Um, that sounds just like Nias – lovely, dark, large and cozy. She cursed herself for thinking crazy. She didn’t know where she was, who was after her, who the hell the man she’d just had sexual relations (for the first time ever!) with was, or what exactly he was. Now she was going to shower and eat dinner with him like they’d known each other for ages. Yep, Jade and the Daemon having a little food together, I feel like I’ve seen this movie. This whole damn day was surreal and it wasn’t going to be getting any closer to any reality she had ever known anytime in her foreseeable future. And, for God’s sake, Jade, she scolded herself, stop touching him, purring at him, staring at him and lusting after him. First of all, it is wildly inappropriate for the danger of the situation, and second the cocky bastard is loving it! But so am I, she snickered to herself.

As she removed the sheet she noticed herself while passing in front of one of the mirrors. Oh my God! Dried blood was smeared all the way down the front of her body. She moved closer. The blood on her body covered what remained of the long cuts that thing had sliced into her. There was a gap in the scars and she remembered it had scratched over the chains that had bound her. She felt a wave of terror run through her as she remembered being there. Nias HAD calmed her down. In fact, he had taken those gruesome memories completely away for a while. It was truly insane how comfortable she felt with him. He had kidnapped her, but it was like it had never happened when she was with him. She enjoyed him that much? That quickly? As Sherlock would say “something is afoot”. She could conjure no explanations for the moment, so she looked back at herself. Blood had seeped into her hair when it spread around her neck from his application, and mortification struck her again as she noticed the remnants of bloody handprints on the backs of her knees and between her legs. Shower, Jade, get in the shower. She was feeling dirty for several reasons now. Another walk of shame commenced as she moved to the shower, waited for the water to warm, and got in.

After soaping every part of her body twice, she washed her long hair, rinsed, and exited the shower. When she got out there were fresh towels and clothing laid out on the countertop. She hadn’t even heard anyone come in, which bothered her a little. Being deep in an escapist dreamland would do that. Her mind had checked out, like it often did in moments of stress. Except this time it wasn’t visions of some random creation. This time her mind hovered on Nias and herself. New possibilities had come to mind. Never in her romantic visions had she imagined dark, gothic scenes, complete with blood and tearing flesh. Her knight errant had always rescued her from some historical complication, Jane Austen-style. Someone wasn’t acting a gentleman or she had been humiliated in front of a room filled with The Ton, so he married her and they lived happily ever after. Not monsters, never Daemons in jeans and boots with long, shiny, dark hair.

She combed through her hair, left it to dry on its own, and got dressed. Clean and fresh-faced, she re-entered the bedroom. While she had been in the bathroom with her endlessly rambling thoughts, it seemed Nias had cleaned up as well and finished eating. Whatever it had been, he’d eaten it extremely rare and used a knife to cut through it. The plate and silverware looked almost as bloody as her skin was before she had cleansed it. What did he eat? God! Hopefully not humans!

But she dismissed that thought and joined him on a cozy sofa to get some far more important answers. The minute she sat down on the end of the couch he moved toward her.

Nias had eaten, but simply being around the girl made him ravenous.

“You look lovely clean and wet.” He did enjoy her covered in his blood and couldn’t wait to dirty her up again. He could think of several ways of accomplishing this goal, and, contemplating it, his arousal started to thicken. There would be plenty of time for that. He wasn’t letting her leave any time soon, if ever. There was a long, nasty road in front of them; he still needed to prepare her if they had any chance of staying alive. But if they did survive, he just might keep her permanently.

He mentally shook his head to center himself again; she had him off-kilter. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Their journey would begin soon enough.

“Okay, I’m listening. I know you have questions.”

“What the fuck were those things that abducted and hurt me? Why did they do it? What happened with your blood? I can tell it made my cuts feel better, but why? And is it my imagination or are they almost healed? Where exactly are we? What are you exactly? Although I’m not sure I want to know because I really don’t want to get any more involved? When you keep saying I have to train, what could that possibly mean? When I leave, will they come after me again? And why the hell do you keep calling me Kitten?”

“Hum, where to begin, let’s start with Kitten. I call you,” he leaned forward without thinking and placed his mouth to her full, pink lips, his tongue slowly licking the seam between them, “… Kitten, because you are soft and beautiful.” He leaned in again to taste her opening slightly during the connection and giving her mouth the brilliant idea to do the same, allowing him to slide through and drink her in a bit. She let out a tiny raspy moan, which caused an immediate pulsing at his groin. He connected to her eyes and continued, “And when I touch you, you purr.” This time when he kissed her his mouth opened fully and his tongue found its way back in. He allowed his hair to fall forward over his shoulder enfold her into him. She closed her eyes, beginning to enjoy the feel of him again, and then he heard the sound that made him lose control, purrrr.

Chapter 6

“Hey,” she protested in more of a whisper rather than the shout she had intended. “Hey.” The same whisper forming only slightly louder this time. Fighting her own seemingly unstoppable need, she unclasped herself from his warm, full lips. His eyes caught hers again and those amazing lips formed a quirk, shooting a flame of desire through her. Push though this Jade, she said to herself, you need to get some answers and find a way to get back home.

“Don’t try to distract me. I want answers and I intend on having them.” As much as it pained her, she finally did move away from him. Being the fiend he was he dropped his fingertips to the skin of her arm and ran his nails down her bicep, over the sensitive, easily aroused softness of her inner elbow, and scraped it off the end of her hand and fingers. Goose bumps exploded across her arms and legs which made her shiver and feel a bit dizzy.

Shaking her head, she pressed forward, trying to get her frustration to the forefront. “Kitten, huh? That is real cute; you gave me a pet name. One of an actual pet. Why is it I feel that is completely appropriate? You stroke me and I unconditionally respond. Do I even have free will here or is this some kind of sexual trance thing?”

“My siblings and I have a strong sexual force about us, this is true. But it is not who I am, it is what you want,” he grinned flashing perfect straight white teeth. “I’m not using any magic on you.”

Magic now? But then how else to explain what I’ve seen, unless I’m completely hallucinating. “I’m not sure what to make of that answer. I’m going to consider it, and get back to you with my opinion.”

“I’m quite sure you will,” he chuckled with amusement, in that infernal sardonic tone.

“For now, I would appreciate it if you took your sexual force to the opposite end of the couch. So I can concentrate. Yes, I said for now; let it go, Smiley.” Jade crossed her arms, letting out an exasperated huff.

He moved his hands to the couch and pushed his gorgeous body away from her, stretching his legs up on the coffee table in front of him.

“Next question?”

The intoxicating human sat up straighter, her breasts heaving forward during the movement, making him stifle a growl. Then she crossed her legs underneath her on the sofa. He was still staring when her hand went up into her mane of red curls and took a lock between her fingers, twirling the strand the same way he had seen her do it at the bookstore.

“Why are we at your brother’s house and not yours?” It was ridiculous, the woman had him staring and losing his concentration. I am a warrior, not an adolescent chasing my first little girl. He looked at her and answered her question.

“Phaeton is the current Sovereign; this place is more of a compound than anything. He is in charge of the Djinn Sentry. Many of them live on this property. Because of their presence, and some other magic surrounding it, we are safe here. We will also conduct your training here.” He was now fully intent on getting down to business, having pushed aside the stirring within him.

“Okay, what is the training and what would I be training for?” Her gaze followed him back and forth, taking in the change in his demeanor.

“Maybe you would like to eat before we continue, your food is cooling and this answer may be extensive. I wouldn’t want to burden you with it on an empty stomach.”

He removed his feet from the coffee table and walked across the room to bring a covered tray and water to her. She found a hearty beef soup and fresh bread.

“I had it made for you while you were in the shower.”

“That was really nice, actually.” He was pleased he had done something right. For some reason he cared what she thought. He placed a glass of water in front of her as well. “You don’t drink water? You don’t eat either, do you? I know you pretend when you’re with me, but you never really eat anything. Do you eat regular food?”

He gave her a droll, blank stare like he had no intention of answering, which made her even more curious.

“No, really, are you like a vampire? Do you drink blood but you don’t want to freak me out?” She needed to have this conversation. It was scary to her that she didn’t even know what the hell the man, whom she had just let cover her in blood, ate. “Do you eat flesh, bloody flesh? Your plate looks a little gooey.” She wanted to close her ears and not get this answer; this might be the perfect time for her “ignorance is bliss” theory. But she had already asked and it looked like he might answer.

“I eat uncooked food. I am a strict carnivore.” He lifted his hand to her before she could react. “No not human flesh, I protect humans. As for the other question you asked the answer is yes. I can get as much strength and far more pleasure from blood as from meats. And as for the next question you are going to ask, yes, I could and would love to drink from you; and I can be quite creative in where I choose to drink from.” He gave her a wicked smile that made her legs cross and squeeze together at the top, and her areolas tighten in response. He was male perfection, even in the middle of this nightmare. He continued in that delicious, melodic tone only he possessed, “You my sweet, dirty girl, would love it. I have an extremely potent sense of smell and your blood smells divine.” He ran his nails up the inside of her tightly squeezed and blessedly covered thigh. Jade inhaled deeply and thought about how demented she had become, because she considered how much she might enjoy it.

She got up in order to sit on the coffee table, keeping herself out of his reach. As she buried herself in her food, not trusting herself to even speak to him at the moment, he watched her in silence.

As she was eating, he tried to explain what he was to her. If he wanted to move forward with Jade’s help he felt she deserved a few answers. He could, at least, give her that. He suddenly thought about risking her life and he realized he no longer felt so eager to do it. This woman he had known for a day seemed a little more important to him than she should.

“I am a Daemon, one of two kinds; my kind is called the Djinn. The monsters that abducted and harmed you earlier are Shaitan. You were extremely lucky, because they enjoy inflicting pain. The fact it only scratched you means they were after something and needed you coherent to get it. I won’t go on. Hopefully you will never learn the full extent of their depravity.”

He could see goose bumps form on her flesh and then watched her shudder.

She changed direction on him with her next question. “Okay, I’ll focus on you for now, you’ve been blinking me around the country; your blood stops my pain. What other powers or abilities, or whatever, do you have?”

“We call ‘blinking’, as you say, transcending; we can move anywhere instantly, we only need to know where it is we want to go and we arrive, anywhere above ground. Also we can control fire and weather and have acute smell and hearing, which we used to find you earlier.” He purposely left out the part on how their emotions could sometimes affect both fire and weather without their conscious thought – there was no need to add that to her apprehension. “However, none of this works in Sheol, which is why we have to move in on foot.”

“Where is this Sheol? I heard you mention it to that woman, if that’s what she was. Your brother is being kept there, right? By the Shaitan? Are you sure he’s still alive? I’m so sorry to ask you, but from what you’re telling me they seem more than a little dangerous.”

He paused, his face darkening. She had asked something he didn’t want to consider at all. “No, I’m not absolutely positive he’s still alive.” He said it that way because he refused to believe anything different.

“But they took him for a reason. He isn’t directly connected with the Sentry. He is a free spirit. Joss lives his life separately from us, like I was trying to do before he was taken. Until they let us know their intentions we are confident they won’t end him. But they are sure to damage him physically and psychologically over time, so we need to train you and move in as quickly as possible. Iblis, the father and Lord of Sheol, is given the souls of the worst of human life. He punishes them in ways I do not wish to speak of. Your murderers, pedophiles, those who torture and cause pain to others during their time above ground, also those who decide to take their own lives; they all end up there.” He could feel the pain of this last answer and the memories it dredged up, and wanted to move away from it quickly.

“Centuries ago, Djinn and Shaitan inhabited Sheol together. But we saw how the Shaitan had begun to trick humans and lead them to slaughter, forcing them to the Unseen. So we left to try to protect them …”

Jade practically flew off the table, obviously stunned, and began to completely come undone.

“You mean Hell don’t you? Because you’re a Daemon and you come from freaking Hell, right? You are telling me you used to live in Hell and then you and some of the others, after hundreds of years, millennia, possibly; you and the other Djinn finally decided it wasn’t okay that the Shaitan, the monsters that abducted me, are minions of an even more evil thing, this Iblis. That they abduct innocent humans and torture them, in ways I can’t even fathom, for eternity. Call it what you will. But you want me to go with you into the pits of HELL and get your brother. Am I getting all this straight? This is your plan? And you really think it will work? With me? I am the one to help YOU get through Hell? I think I’ll just take my chances with the Shaitan above ground if that’s okay with you; well even if it isn’t, I’m fucking out.”

He was a little speechless. Nias could not remember another time in his life when he actually was at a loss for words. But here he sat. He watched her head for the door, which led to the hallway, tracking her as she stalked across the room. She was attempting to leave. He knew there was no way she could get out of the house, much less the compound, without him, so he let her go for now, to give her some time to cool off. Then he would go find her and start again. Eventually she would either begin to accept her circumstances or she wouldn’t. Either way he would get her to cooperate.

As Jade walked swiftly to the door of the bedroom she had expected Nias to grab her and stop her at any moment, but he hadn’t. She walked into the hallway and then broke into more of a run when she realized the possibility of getting free. Her mind was moving even faster than her body. I can’t believe I let myself get taken in by him! He wants to take me to Hell! Why in the world would he think I would ever even consider that? He was just using me! That’s it. Just another asshole who treats women like something they can own, possess, control.

As her mind railed and she searched for a way out, her breathing became heavy. The hallways seemed to go on forever! She passed door after door. Through the open ones she saw bedrooms, bathrooms, rooms that she had no idea what their use was. She tried a few of the closed ones. Some were locked, but those that weren’t simply revealed more of the same. No way out! She tried to regain her composure; she needed to calm down. Eventually she came to a stairway, which led both up and down. She headed down, hoping to find a door, any door, out of this gigantic house.

When she reached the bottom of the next flight she had to choose left or right. She could see some kind of light coming from the end of the hall to her left and so she went in that direction. As she approached she could hear multiple voices coming from the end of the hall. If she got close enough, she would be able to take a read of their emotions. Sometimes, when there weren’t too many people in a room, she could even tell before she entered how many there were in it by the emotions running through them.

She got a little closer, and she could feel four or five distinct personalities. She went further down toward the room and saw a large armoire with glass shelving. She crouched down behind it, and in doing so was able to see the whole room through the glass. Unless they knew to look for her, they wouldn’t see her sitting there. They weren’t shouting, but there was an atmosphere of seriousness in the room and voices were being raised; a heavy debate was taking place.

The room was very Goth socialite – a little bit rustic Rococo. It smacked of monsters with money. Furnished with heavy wooden antiques and expensive-looking paintings of fleshy pale nudes, the room had a color scheme of dark reds, deep blues, and gold. Rich burgundy tapestries hung around windows, which stretched upwards two full stories and were surrounded by intricately carved walls. Somehow the furniture managed to look oversized and cozy, a neat trick for the old French and Italian theme. Jade had an image in her mind, due to the expanse of the place and the interior furnishing, that at least a few flying buttresses held the whole building up and stone goblins stood guard outside.

There were actually five of them in the room – one woman and four men. Two of the males stood behind the couches. Most of the heaviness seemed to be coming from a huge, amazingly hot, dark-haired male. He looked similar enough to Nias that Jade knew this must be one of the siblings he had spoken of, but this guy looked more rugged, more muscular. While Nias was tall, with heavy arms and shoulders, he managed to be sleek; he always came off like the predatory cat she had first seen. This man was still tall and lean but more pure warrior. She could see him in the old country with a dirk or present-day muddy on a rugby field with torn clothing and a mass of injuries that didn’t bother him a bit. The second man, who seemed to be doing his best to negotiate between Big and Rugged and the girl, was about six feet tall and blond. Much softer-looking and softer-spoken, he seemed far more reasonable than the others. The two men standing were both between six two and six four, still gorgeous, but not so much as the others. They stood silent, almost to attention, and seemed to be waiting for orders.

The girl was dwarfed by the men. She seemed to be around five four. But even with her small stature, she was holding her own. She had long dark hair pulled back tight in a low ponytail. Jade could see the familial gold eyes shine out of her beautiful, almost perfect, features. She wore black combat boots, black jeans and a tight fitting black t-shirt. She wasn’t made up, but she carried herself like she knew she didn’t need it, and didn’t seem the kind of girl to care that much anyway.

“We need to figure out what is going on and we need to do it now before it gets worse!” the largest male boomed.

“I agree, Phaeton, but don’t go out there on a killing spree before we have a chance to find the source of the chaos,” the girl countered, and went on. “The Shaitan never do anything without being told to do it. We need to know what Iblis is planning. Why would Hamartia be above ground? I can hardly believe that sick bitch could walk away from her closest companions – bloodshed, pain, and misery – for even a day.”

“Ella is right. We should find out how we can stop the whole, not kill the few. Hamartia’s presence signifies something completely different is happening. We have to find out what.” The blond simply stated things matter-of-factly, without elevating his voice at all.

The girl, who obviously was named Ella, continued, “Don’t get me wrong, Phaeton, we will stop them from doing harm, with the same force we always use. I don’t want them to suspect anything is different in the way we are approaching this latest assault. I will lead the Sentry to the streets, as I always have. I wouldn’t want to let a day go by without our usual body count. But I will not simply injure the body of the beast and allow the head to grow again.”

“I will join you on the street. My abilities will speed the process of finding the Shaitan and learning about their plans; besides I haven’t had the opportunity to end nearly as many of the scaly low lives as I would like recently.” Phaeton smiled.

“We would be honored to have you with us. We could benefit from your tracking, they could be anywhere in the world by now. If you can get us to the right city, we can easily flush them out by scent and sound.” This was spoken by one of the standing men, one whom Jade assumed to be part of the Sentry they spoke of.

“If Nias is successful at bringing Joss out, or when we find this mission has failed, the Sentry will move in force into the Unseen. We will fight until we achieve our purpose or Iblis finally takes us down for good. We begin tomorrow scouring the streets for the information you believe is necessary, Ella. Start with all the major cities; if you smell and hear nothing in twenty-four hours move to your next location. You lead your Southern group through Europe; I will take the North Corps and start in Asia. Do not let the humans see you transcend, as always. Let one Sentry settle first, find an appropriate location and then the rest can settle safely. Locke, you are home base for now. I believe Nias has persuaded the girl into helping us and will begin training her soon.”

Jade was a little shocked at Phaeton’s assuredness. She had definitely decided not to help. Or had she? If so, why wasn’t she trying to escape? Instead of moving and trying to find a door, she was crouching here listening to them plan their assaults, and finding herself wondering if these beings could indeed help her find a key to reversing her curse.

Then she felt a familiar heat come up behind her.

Chapter 7

“Hello Kitten … learn anything of value?” He could smell plums and almost taste her in his mouth again when he came up behind her.

Jade screamed and jumped at the same time. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. Her face became completely red as it was apparent she had been spying.

“Damn it, Nias!” She turned to scowl at him.

He began to laugh, as he found her delightful. Even caught spying on a room full of royal military Djinn, she had the courage to scold him. He actually enjoyed her bravery.

“Nias, how nice of you to come out of your room and join us, we’ve been letting your friend here in on some of our plans for tomorrow,” Phaeton announced.

“What, you knew I was there and you didn’t say anything?” I am so humiliated. With a beet-red face she turned, gave Nias one more dirty look, and introduced herself to the others. “Hi, I’m Jade Shear.”

“Yes, I figured as much when I first heard you sit down, and could smell human. I am Phaeton, Sovereign of the Djinn, and Leader of the Sentry.” Nias had to roll his eyes at his introduction. Even though Nias had stepped down because he no longer wanted to be Sovereign, he and Phaeton continued to have a potent sibling rivalry; an endless struggle of power and ego. He thought back to their last conflict before they finally left Sheol under Nias’s leadership and the memory made him tense.

Phaeton continued, “I thought I heard you come in last night, Nias, but I didn’t know if you had brought our guest. I am pleased to have both of you staying with us. Will you be here long? I know the two of you have a lot to get accomplished in the next few days. That is if Miss Shear has agreed to help us.” Phaeton looked to Jade to see what her answer to his query would be. Nias looked to her for the same reason, having no idea what she would say. He was curious to see how she would handle the situation. If nothing else, it would be amusing. “But before you respond to such a question let me introduce our family, this is our sister, Ella.”

Nias saw the look in his sister’s eyes as she responded and said hello, albeit in a snarling, disapproving tone. “Ella! You will treat Jade with respect; she has been through hell in the past twenty-four hours!” Nias was shocked at his own outburst and reaction, as Ella looked a little stunned and Phaeton raised an eyebrow. One of the other men cleared his throat to break the silence.

“I’m Locke. Not sure what my position is in this family. One day I realized, much to my consternation, that I had been adopted, or taken prisoner, much like yourself. I’m still not sure which. I’ve tried to escape, but they always manage to pull me back in somehow. I guess someday I’ll learn to tell them no, but it’s been several thousand years and I haven’t seemed to do it yet.” Locke stated all of this in his usual irascible tone. Nias smiled at him. They had been best friends for centuries. Locke was friendlier and much less guarded than the members of his own family. “I see Nias hasn’t managed to completely scare you off yet? His personality is a little abrasive. He seems to believe he is the one and only cat, and the rest of us are merely his toys.”

“Locke, it is good to see you too. I’ve missed your lovely sense of humor,” Nias said with a good-natured needling.

“Nias, I shouldn’t expect you to remember as you were only semiconscious at the time, but I saw you yesterday. So I can’t imagine you’ve missed me too much.”

“Yes, my friend, I believe it’s been way too long.” And Nias gave his best friend a slight push at his shoulder.

“I’m sorry for them, Jade. They have been best friends for so long they no longer feel it is necessary to treat each other civilly,” said Phaeton.

“What do you mean by ‘she’s been through hell in the last twenty-four hours’?” Ella had recovered from her surprise and wanted to get back down to business. She was a no-nonsense kind of girl. She always did what she wanted, which at this point was command an entire division of the Sentry under Phaeton. Nias and Phaeton had a soft spot where their sister was concerned. It didn’t matter what she did, how many fiends she could kill in a night, how controlling and demanding her disposition, even the numbers of men, both human and Daemon, she took advantage of, made fall in love with her and cruelly disregarded. They would always treat her like their little sister, always be on her side in any disagreement. Anyone who dealt with the family knew this. No one messed with Ella; she messed with them.

Although in this moment Nias felt the need to protect Jade, and this was getting to be an annoying habit of his. He wanted her to feel safe, always. He wanted her to be comfortable even with his enigmatic and derisive family. The hellion would probably try to run for the door any minute now and he would be the one responsible for bringing her back, but he had started to like having her around. Of course, there was always the lust. There was no way he was letting her go before he had taken her. Long and slow, she would spend several nights, or even weeks, in his bed, willingly, before he was letting her go anywhere.

He also knew the family needed her to help him traverse Sheol. His feelings were starting to make him lose sight of the objective. He should sleep with her soon, he thought, so he could get his mind back to where it ought to be. She was somehow confusing his thoughts.

“Hey, Nias, we would like to be informed of the past twenty-four hours, please,” Ella repeated, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Well, as it will probably clarify her answer to Phaeton’s question regarding whether she has agreed to help us, I would love to explain.”

“Oh, no please, allow me,” Jade said forcefully. His family and friends looked a little shocked at how Jade seemed to treat Nias as an equal; they had never seen a woman he hadn’t won over and dominated immediately.

“I was actually on a walk when I was kidnapped by pretty boy here.” Surprised glares came from all. “Not sure I have to even explain to you all my shock at the whole Daemon thing, so I tried to escape, got captured and sliced up by monsters, at which point Nias showed up, broke one of their necks with as much effort as it takes to break a pencil and sent others to kill the rest. I was torn up and, well, and then brought here.” Nias noticed her look at her feet and grab a curl between her twirling fingers as her voice faded a little at the end.

“Excellent work on your kill, Nias, I had gotten a report of the extinction of a San Francisco nest earlier. What did you see of Hamartia? We are all concerned about her appearance here.”

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