bedeviled & beyond 01 - bedeviled & beguiled Read online

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Advocating Evil

  When evil has a pretty face, it’s often hard to fight,

  When evil has a crashin’ bod, you’re Hades-bound tonight.

  He moved toward me on long, straight legs that were encased in equally long, seductively tight pants of some kind of black, shimmery material. The pants climbed his legs lovingly, reaching toward an impossibly beautiful torso with tender fingers of cloth, and melted over his narrow hips before tucking themselves away a few inches below his trim waistline. His shoulders were broad and strained against the sheer white shirt he was wearing. Like a pulsating billboard hanging over Times Square, the shirt pronounced him a sexual predator. It was tucked into the shimmering pants but was left basically unbuttoned, showcasing a lean but well-sculpted chest of the most beautiful golden color I’d ever seen.

  As he walked, his pecs rippled and his biceps bulged against the tissue thin fabric of the shirt. My eyes finally made it to his face as he got within five feet of me and I almost forgot to raise the cross to stop him.

  His deep laughter rumbled through the room as he came to a casual stop and cocked his gorgeous head at me. “You have no reason to fear me...” the barest hesitation and then, “at the moment.” It was the deep, sexy voice from the televisual.

  I blinked. “You’re the advocate?”

  “I never said that.”

  I blinked again. “You didn’t?” I felt as if my mind had turned to water and was flowing out of my ears. My body felt languid and warm. Very warm if you know what I mean. I had to force myself to concentrate on keeping the cross up. He just stared at me through almond shaped eyes that looked about ten miles deep. His devastatingly sensual gaze was cloaked in black velvet and ringed with pulsating rings of gold. His burnished black mane of hair fell around his square, golden jaw and touched his shoulders just where the barest, sexiest, little curl started at the ends.

  “Shit.” I shook my head and pinched myself with my free hand. “Get out of my head!”

  He laughed again. “But it’s nice in there.”

  “Get the hell out or I’ll vaporize you. I pulled the holy water out of my pocket and started unscrewing the cap.

  He raised large, square, hands in surrender and the woozy feeling began draining away from my mind. After a minute my body almost stopped tingling.

  He shook his head, causing the glossy, black mane to swing away from his shoulders. No, the tingling wasn’t entirely gone, but I wasn’t going to say anything because I was afraid it was me doing it this time and I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

  “It’s really too bad, I was enjoying our mating.”

  Forcing myself to ignore his effect on my body I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at him. “There was no mating going on, bud, not even a little bit.”

  He simply smiled at me in a way that made me doubt my own reality.

  “Not of the physical kind, of course, that will come later. But you must have noticed how our minds were drawn to each other. I haven’t felt that kind of attraction for quite some time.”

  To avoid thinking about what he was saying, I concentrated hard on the accent. Where had I heard it before? “Get over it, it’s not reciprocal.”

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Deny it if you will. It will do you no good.”

  “The Royal Court!”

  He cocked his dark head again. “I beg your pardon?”

  “You’re a member of the Devil Court.”

  “That is correct.”

  “And Deaver ran you out? I thought you royal devils were more powerful than that.”

  His laughter rumbled up and filled the room. “Do not even think that inconsequential little nothing could overpower me. I left on my own and for my own reasons. Which is why I summoned you.”

  “Summoned my ass. You kidnapped me and I can’t believe you let him run you out.” My own laughter wasn’t very rumbly, but it had a powerful effect on my royal devil anyway. For a minute I thought I might need to use my holy water after all.

  He took a step closer to me and his hand was on my arm before I could blink twice. I gasped at the electric jolt of his touch and tried to pull the arm free. His golden face moved closer, until I could smell the warm, smoky scent of his skin and taste the intoxicating heat of his breath. The place where he held me was all tingly and the quivery feeling was quickly spreading up my arm. I realized I was still holding the vial of water. He’d made no move to take it from me.

  Knowing I would never be able to best him in strength, I decided to fall back on my wit and charm, two things which I usually have in abundance. Unfortunately, under the onslaught of his pulsating gaze, I was finding it really hard to conjure up anything but drooling lust.

  I tried a smile that felt more like a grimace.

  His leaned close, whispering into my ear. “Do not be amused by me, pretty halfling, for it will be the end of you.” His hand on my arm tightened briefly. The pain it caused would have brought a lesser woman to her knees, but I was really tough so I just whimpered pitifully and spat into his gorgeous face.

  His head jerked back and his mouth opened, showing large, white, extremely sharp looking teeth. I took a deep breath and prepared to die. As he lowered the teeth toward my face, I closed my eyes, primed to accept the searing pain. I jumped in surprise when, instead of eating my face, the evil looking teeth clasped my lower lip and nibbled gently. I thought it would be more than I could stand, until his lips lowered over mine and then I realized I hadn’t felt anything yet. The kiss was obscenely and outrageously sexual. His lips were silky, like warm satin, and soft like down pillows against my own, surprised lips.

  Where our lips met liquid fire bloomed. The fire quickly spread down my body until my mind formed a picture of spontaneous combustion. I wanted to pull away but the pleasure was too intense, too powerful and I felt myself getting sucked into it. My arms came up and I reached for him, pulling his long, hard body against mine and grinding into him like a dog in heat.

  All semblance of restraint drained away as the hard lines of his body melted against mine. I suddenly couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get enough of him against me, into me, over me.

  The vial of holy water exploded in my hand and I jumped, pulling away from him with a gasp of surprise. I looked at the hand that had been holding the vial and frowned at the trickle of blood that ran down my palm. I didn’t even see him move, but suddenly he had hold of the hand and was running his tongue across the small cut in my palm. He closed his eyes and smiled.

  I knew what he’d done was really disgusting. I wanted to be repulsed. I really did. But his hot, soft tongue had nourished the fire in my belly. As the mind-melting heat poured through me, I forced myself to get pissed off, because somewhere in my fevered brain I realized that my soul was at stake.

  Stepping away from him, I reached for the knife I’d strapped to my thigh and swung it toward his lecherous face. “You sonofabitch, I warned you about getting into my head.”

  He easily stopped the arm in mid-swing and chuckled softly as he pried my fingers from around the knife. He flung it harmlessly away and it clanged against a wall about fifty yards from where we stood. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, pretty halfling, but I didn’t enter your head that time. That was all your own doing.” He moved away from me, laughing and motioned for me to follow.

  Under the circumstances, me and my very red face decided it was the best thing to do. We lowered our head and followed, keeping our distance, albeit a little too late to save our pride.

  ~SC~

  The room we entered was even larger than the one we’d left. The walls were covered in thick, black velvet draperies with golden tassels as trim. Hanging from the draperies were dozens of tapestries, which told the typical tales of devildom and its place in history and Hades. A particularly large tapestry hung on the wall that served as the backdrop for a long, curved table with at least a dozen huge, throne-like chairs standing empty behind it. The chairs looked like
they’d been carried forward through time, with intricate, flowery patterns carved into the dark, heavy wood of their backs and fat feet and arms that were rippled and shiny with use. The seats were covered with the same black velvet material that covered the walls. The carpet beneath my feet was creamy white and as soft and thick as anything I’d ever walked on before. Other than the raised table at the front, the enormous room was empty.

  The largest tapestry, which had grabbed my attention when I’d walked into the room, was a scene designed to return me to my previous unwillingly tingly condition. It was a depiction of a fragile-looking, pale haired, pale skinned young woman in a gauzy gown of some sort, who was in the late stages of being completely seduced by a devil who looked not at all unlike my own devil.

  Even as I had the thought he laughed, as if he’d read my mind. My face heated. Please tell me he didn’t read my mind? As much as I knew about devils, my knowledge of their royalty, the most powerful and evil of all devils, was sketchy. I made a mental note, if I ever got out of my current predicament alive and unscorched, to find out more about them.

  But for the moment, I needed to concentrate on getting out. I watched as a door just behind and to my left of the table opened and a line of...creatures—for lack of a better word—began filing into the room.

  The lesser devils came first. These were the devils who, like my own beloved Emo, looked just as the bible and human history have always depicted them. They were red skinned, some with scales and some without, with short, squat bodies and long, sharply pointed horns on their wide heads. I knew from personal experience that those horns looked and felt like ivory up close and pierced human flesh like a sharp needle through a butterfly.

  The lesser devils come with varying degrees of humanity. Some were little more than slavering canines, with long, sharp teeth that served as constant funnels for saliva and their thought processes could be compared to that of a cow’s or a pig’s. There was some intelligence there but it was scattered and undisciplined.

  Others, like my Emo, are very human in their appearance, despite the red skin and horns and very intelligent. These devils are generally of a higher rank and keep two or three of the lower devils as pets. This much I’d learned in my research on devildom.

  Then there were the royal devils. By far the most intelligent and beautiful of the devils and therefore the most dangerous. Several royals filed in and sat in the chairs around the arc of the table. I was very distressed to see that a few of the royals had angels chained to their wrists. The angels were dressed in scarlet and black and were forced to keep their eyes downcast. Several of them looked as if they’d been beaten. As I looked at them, I couldn’t help wondering how they’d gotten there and why the Big Guy wasn’t doing anything about it.

  I suddenly realized that my devil had moved around the table and, send me to Hades, he’d taken up a spot just to the right of an extremely beautiful female devil, at the center of the table. I didn’t even have time to wonder what that meant before she spoke.

  “Prince Dialle, I trust you have kept our visitor well entertained during her short wait?” The she-devil had the longest, blackest hair I’d ever seen and she wore it in a thick braid down her back. I could see the tail of it lying against the floor under her chair. Her heart-shaped, golden face was framed in silky midnight curls and the entire outside curve of her small, pointed ears was adorned with gold and jewel covered earrings. She was dressed, audaciously enough, entirely in white, from head to toe. Her outer robe was completely sheer and fell in gentle folds to her feet, which were covered in woven gold straps that climbed both of her slender calves to just below her knees. Beneath the sheer material of her robe I could see the merest triangle of denser fabric that served as her panties and a thin strap of the same material, which covered just the center strip of her heavy breasts. She was an incredibly beautiful she-devil, which meant that she was extraordinarily dangerous.

  My devil, apparently a Prince, smiled widely at me and winked. My traitorous face assumed its cherry-red color again. “I believe we entertained each other, my love.”

  My love? My eyes narrowed at him and I suddenly wondered what the she-devil would think of our mutual entertainment. I decided to find out. “Yes. Our mating was very inspiring. He’s the best devil I’ve had this week.”

  The she-devil merely laughed. Apparently she wasn’t the jealous type. “She taunts you, Dialle. You have apparently gotten under her lily-white skin.”

  Prince Dialle didn’t look nearly so amused. “She has trouble controlling her own emotions and she blames me for it. It is not her most attractive trait.”

  I felt an uncontrollable urge to stick my tongue out at him but fortunately I refrained. That wouldn’t have been very attractive either. “I’m losing patience with all of this.” I swung my arm around the room, for the first time realizing that the devil rabble had continued to dribble in as my attentions had been elsewhere, I was now a very small minority of one in a room of about fifty evil beings. Not good odds even for me. Oh well, might as well be eaten for a lion as a lamb. “I have a life and clients waiting. Why did you drag me here?”

  The she-devil smiled but the smile didn’t quite reach her black eyes. “She has fire, don’t you think, Dialle?”

  Prince Dialle gave me a look that reminded me strangely of that aforementioned element and nodded mutely. Seems the she-devil had got his tongue of fire.

  “Please stop discussing me as if I wasn’t here. It really pisses me off.”

  With an evil smile, the she-devil narrowed her eyes. The effect was immediate and very disturbing. My knees buckled and went out from under me. My back hit the soft carpet and jerked my leaden head after it. As I looked up from my newly horizontal position, I could see, through blurry eyes, that the entire ceiling was covered with naked people doing things you’d expect a bunch of naked people to be doing.

  I struggled to my feet, my head whirling with the effort and grinned at her. “Not bad, but I’ve had better.”

  The she-devil came to her feet with a snarl and her slender arms came up. Suddenly a deep, incredibly sexy voice filled my mind. It took me a minute to understand that he wasn’t speaking aloud. Shit, shit, shit. He was in my head again.

  Do not taunt her, pretty halfling. She will kill you without a thought.

  Aloud he said, “She is not very bright, my love. Are you certain that she is the one to help us?”

  This distracted the she-devil enough so that she didn’t kill me on the spot. Things were looking up.

  “Unfortunately she is all we have. I have been told that she is the one. We must make do.” She sat back down with a disgusted sigh.

  “It’s just so hard to get good help these days.” Even to me my voice sounded slurred and mushy like I’d been drinking all day.

  My lovely prince chuckled and shook his head. “Yes, my love, you are correct, she does have fire, but no sense to go with it. She will be lucky to survive against Nerul.”

  The voice filled my head again and I glared at him.

  You are lucky I have reminded her that we need your services. See if you can keep your mouth shut long enough to survive this audience.

  Sexy from Hell he might be, but I really wanted to stick my tongue out at the guy.

  Instead I raised my hands and tipped my head in her direction obligingly. “Tell me, Princess, what can I do for you that you can’t do for yourself?”

  The look I got back really made me wish I had access to a bathing pool full of holy water.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  When Evil Calls

  I donned my pretty black dress, I donned my tall leather boots,

  I set out to fight my wicked foes and wound up in cahoots.

  “It all began about two thousand years ago.” Dialle said with a straight face. “There was a war between the two royal courts and many souls were lost. The war has continued, in one way or another since that first battle. It shows no signs of ending, even now.”

  He sto
od up and began pacing behind the long table. The other devils watched him with avid expressions as if they’d never heard the story before. For my part, I mostly just watched the way his tight little butt moved under the shimmery pants.

  “The first Princess that we lost to Nerul was used for pleasure and sport by the entire court. She held up surprisingly well, but eventually even she could not withstand the abuse. Her soul fled her and feeds our hatred for Nerul to this day.”

  “We lost a young Prince to Nerul next, as the result of a war to avenge Princess Kaar. Prince Dev lasted only a few years and his soul was too battered to join with us, so he is out there somewhere, tortured for eternity.”

  The Devil Court seemed bothered by this, which surprised me a little, since I thought being tortured for eternity was pretty much business as usual for devils.

  “And now, Queen Kaline has been taken. We cannot allow Nerul to get away with this defilement. He and his entire court must die.”

  I know I should have kept my mouth shut but by now you’re probably beginning to understand how hard that is for me. “So what’s the problem with your court? It seems Nerul has won all the battles?”

  Dialle glanced at me, but he didn’t seem as pissed off as I’d expected. He actually looked thoughtful.

  “Do not assume that we have not taken our share of souls, little halfling. Nerul has lost half of his court to us over the last two hundred years alone. That is why he has taken our queen.”

  “Why now? What set him off recently?”

  Dialle laughed. “Very perceptive, pretty halfling. I guess you could say that we struck him where he would be harmed most. We have his oldest son under our control.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I laughed out loud. “Well, duhhh! Did you think he would just sit back and say, ‘Oh well, I guess I’ll have to make another one’?”

  Dialle’s black eyes fixed on my face and I could have sworn I saw a tongue of flame in each one. But he looked away quickly, as the she-devil stood. “That is enough, Dialle. She is obviously too course and stupid to serve as intermediary between the courts. As you said, Nerul will dispense with her as soon as she opens her mouth. I will kill her and we will do it my way after all.”