The Devil You Need Page 3

  The royal cocked a hip and glared at me. “Yesterday! Have you not spoken to him today?”

  Okay, her snotty attitude was starting to piss me off. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, Brina, but I no longer have powers. I can’t talk to Dialle telepathically anymore. I can’t shift over to the court at a moment’s notice. I’ve tried to contact him the old-fashioned way…” I indicated my televisual. “But he hasn’t responded. What exactly do you want me to do?”

  “And you didn’t find it strange that he isn’t responding?”

  I blinked, my chest tightening with fear. She was right. I’d been so focused on my own issues I hadn’t even thought about it. “I’ll admit it is strange—”

  “Strange?” She dropped her hands to her sides, her hands fisting. “The king languishes, evil stains his soul, darkening his countenance, and his queen barely notices. You fail him, Astra. You fail the court. And you fail yourself.”

  I felt the sting of her power against my skin and my hands came up, instinctively grasping for a magic I no longer had. By contrast, Brina brimmed with energy. And that was what put me over the edge.

  By all rights she should be as bereft of magic as I was. She’d been drained too. In exactly the same way I had, but she’d recovered her powers almost immediately. For that reason I could barely stand to be in the same room with her. And having her stand there, superior and sure of herself, and berate me for something I couldn’t control…suddenly it was all too much.

  Before I even realized what I was doing, my sword was at her throat and her hands were filled with spitting balls of bright orange fire. “Do you think I like being this way? Don’t you think I would help Dialle with the court if I could? I know he needs me. Of course I know I’m letting everybody down. You bitch! I can’t do anything about it.”

  Brina looked down at me, disgust shaping her features. “Stop sniveling Astra and do what you need to do.” The power disappeared from her palms with a whisper and she grasped my shoulders.

  I didn’t even have time to cry out before we entered a space-shift. I had no doubt where I was going. To the Royal Devil Court.

  * * * * *

  Sound returned as my feet touched the hard stone of the floor in Dialle’s throne room. The room appeared empty. I shivered, rubbing my arms against an unaccustomed cold. I also noticed the small cracks in the walls and floor. Brina caught my eye and jerked her head toward the far wall.

  A sense of déjà vu struck me as I followed her glance to where Dialle stood with his back to me, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked over the distant skyline of Angel City. He had his hands clasped behind him, his long, muscular legs spread wide. In that moment he reminded me so much of his father King Dialle the First who was currently warming his sexy heels in the fiery environs of Hell. First had been standing just that way the day I’d been introduced to him.

  But there was a marked difference. Dialle’s father had stood with cocky assurance, broad shoulders squared, chin high. Dialle the son looked, in that moment, like a defeated man.

  Brina disappeared with a wisp of sound that I barely noticed.

  Debris crunched under my boots as I crossed the enormous room. Dust and chunks of rock from the decaying court lay in a ragged blanket over the once-pristine stone of Dialle’s throne room. It was a disparaging portent of what was to come if the court didn’t regain its strength. That vigor was tied to the health and happiness of its leaders.

  That would be Dialle and me. ‘Nuff said?

  He didn’t even turn as I approached, though he couldn’t have failed to hear me coming. When I reached him, I touched his back, softly saying his name. His head turned slowly. A gentle smile curved his lips when he saw me. “Hello, my love.”

  I looked beyond Dialle’s smile, to the dark pain in his black eyes. His eyes were his most changeable feature. When filled with vigor they swirled with gold and silver. When working for the celestial army they often changed to a clear, ocean blue. It was the feature prophesied for the great unifier. The royal who would eventually merge the dark and the light worlds to create a safe environment on Earth for non-magic humans and magic users alike. He’d realized that prophecy several times over, fighting at my side to beat back the forces of evil that would have destroyed us all. But looking at his handsome face in that moment, his black eyes swirling with a color that looked like blood, I wondered if the man I loved wasn’t facing the greatest evil of all.

  An evil that came from within.

  “How are you?”

  He nodded and turned back to the window. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

  Angel City spread across the horizon, glowing as if on fire under the burning sun that dipped below its ragged silhouette. Dusk hovered in the foreground, ready to mute the details of the skyline and embrace the lights that would paint its form once darkness fell. “Yes. I love this view. I always have.”

  “Me too.” He shuddered slightly and turned away, pulling me into his arms. For the first time since I’d entered the throne room, he really looked at me. I knew the moment he turned away from his painful thoughts and embraced more pleasant things. His eyes swirled with the purple of passion rather than pain and his sad smile turned heated. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve missed you.”

  He said the words as if he hadn’t seen me in weeks. My heart took a painful twist and I gave in to the impulse to wrap him close in a hug. “I’ve missed you too, bud.”

  The air shimmered and I was suddenly falling backward onto his soft, soft bed, a hot-eyed devil falling over me. I laughed. “You weren’t kidding.”

  Since his smile had turned playful, the pain pushed away for the moment, I shoved my worry back and allowed myself to get lost in the pleasure of his touch, his taste and the exquisite feel of his long, hard body against mine.

  Dialle’s leather-clad leg skimmed up mine, gently nudging my knees apart as his long-fingered hand covered the vee between my thighs. Heat and lust rolled together in a spiral that suffused me, turning my skin to fire and lifting my pulse until it beat a delighted staccato in my clit.

  His beautiful lips found my throat and branded me with possessive heat. He lingered briefly over the place where his mark used to create a powerful link between us and I held my breath as his kisses stuttered…almost as if he’d just remembered it was gone.

  But Dialle didn’t delay long, his sharp, white teeth nipped the spot and his tongue came out to lave it in a soothing swirl. I moaned at the jolt of awareness his playful caresses caused in my lower belly, where lust tightened almost painfully. I reached up and tugged his white shirt over one golden shoulder and, opening my lips, layered them over his fragrant skin and tasted him. My eyes dropped closed in ecstasy as his warm, masculine scent rolled through me, bringing my senses to life and infusing me with his powerful essence. I gave in to the urge to suck the delicious skin of his muscular shoulder and he moaned, nipping my throat in response.

  “Too many clothes,” I murmured.

  In a blink we were skin to skin, writhing against the bed. I might have lost my powers but Dialle still had his, and his ability to remove clothing with just a thought was one of his finer skills, in my humble opinion.

  Dialle’s long, thick cock nudged my belly, and I opened for him, anxious to feel the wonderful pressure of his hard flesh inside me, stretching me wide and stroking delicious caresses over the pleasure center of my body.

  Dialle dropped his head and placed a tender kiss on my breastbone, sliding a trail of heat over the mound of my breast and encompassing a perky nipple in moist heat. He sucked hard and the pleasure of it speared through me, taking my breath away.

  I reached between us and wrapped his cock in my hand, stroking it in a firm grip and sliding my palm over the sensitive head with each caress. Dialle showed me his enjoyment by biting my breast before soothing it with his tongue and then moving to the other nipple.

  Moisture touched my palm as I fondled him. The drop of pre-come lubricated my gliding strokes, allowin
g me to increase the pressure of my hand around his rigid shaft. Dialle groaned against my nipple and I arched into his mouth, desperate for the feel of his lips and teeth on my hungry skin.

  My legs wrapped around him and I lifted my hips, pressing against his hard cock. “Make love to me, Dialle. Now. Please?”

  He rose to his knees between my legs. His strong hands wrapped around the back of my thighs and lifted. His beautiful shaft danced between us, its thick tip glistening with hopeful moisture. My hand reached out, longing to touch him, but he moved away. “No, Astra. Look at me.”

  I lifted my gaze, finding the wildly swirling magic of his beautiful eyes focused on me. I felt their pull immediately, felt myself falling under their spell, and a delightful sense of awareness rippled through me as I let myself succumb to their magic. My body tightened like the string on a bow, every muscle quivering with anticipation. The magic spun and called, infused now with startling gold as well as the vibrant colors of passion. My eyes opened wider, seeking more of the magic pulling on my senses. Heat pulsed at my core, my clit throbbed in desperate need, and pressure made the pulsating awareness grow.

  He entered my pussy slowly, in a rigidly controlled stroke, until his groin met mine and his balls pressed warmly against my flesh. Still the magic held me, moving soft fingers of pleasure over my skin. I felt as if every cell in my body had opened wide and waited to be filled with the bliss only Dialle could give me.

  I was an empty vessel, needing only his touch to overflow with contentment.

  My fingers clenched on his arms, like claws, grasping as if I were afraid letting go would send me spinning off into space. I thought the loss of his body might just kill me. If I’d been an empty husk before, losing Dialle would finish the process, until I dried up and just blew away.

  Dialle’s hands grasped my hips, holding me firmly in place. His gaze held mine, like an anchor. He drove into me with a slow, steady stroke. Each controlled thrust sent a wave of bliss sliding through me, exploding outward to create mini-explosions over every inch of my sensitized skin.

  My nipples hardened to the point of pain. The knot of need in my sexual core tightened, and my breathing became more taut with every thrust. Lust intensified in my lower belly…drawing my energy toward the time when it would all come together in a violent wash of ecstasy.

  Still his gaze held me, sending me deep within my mind to the place where only lust and love lived. To a place where worry was crushed beneath an avalanche of bright rapture. I clutched him tighter, feeling the pleasure welling up inside my chest, choking, terrifying, until it broke and sent cool bliss sliding through me.

  I moaned as my pussy convulsed around him. My eyes burned with the need to close, to pull away from the power in his gaze. But he held me there, and when the first wave of joy was spent, his magic gaze pulled me into the next. This one so bright, so filled with power and need that it made me scream under its beautiful energy.

  Dialle finally closed his eyes and let me fall away, only to bring me plunging back into joy when his body tightened in release, driving deep, fast and hard into my still-grasping sheath as he fought his way past the thin barrier in his mind that had restrained his orgasm.

  As he gave that final thrust, burying himself deep inside the clutching glove of my pussy, my body wrapped around his and held on, unwilling to release him from the delight he’d offered.

  My eyes closed as he dropped over me, his breath rasping hard and fast in his throat, and I felt the sweet heat of his kiss on my gasping mouth. I wrapped my arms around his back, holding him tight as my body softened into a calmer state of relief.

  My hands shook violently against his skin. My muscles quivered. I felt at once completely sated and totally super-charged.

  There was a dull pain at the juncture of my throat and my shoulder. It felt almost as if… My eyes shot open. I reached to touch my neck, where my mark had been. The area was cool and there were no sparks.

  Despair swept me. It was just memory pain. For the merest moment in time I’d thought I’d regained my magic.

  Dialle kissed my lips and rolled to my side, pulling me tightly against him with a sigh. When I turned to look at him his gaze had returned to normal, no more sensual magic.

  The magic had been replaced with sadness.

  I propped myself up on an elbow and placed my hand on his chest, running my finger around a perfect brown nipple. “Brina came to me today.”

  “Mmm?”

  “She said you were fighting demons.”

  He frowned and his hand clasped my wrist, stopping me from doodling on his pecs. “I’m fine. Brina should mind her own business.”

  My lips parted in surprise. Anger was the last emotion I’d expected from him at that moment. “You are her business. You’re everyone’s business. If you have a problem…”

  He turned to me and frowned, but his grip on my wrist lightened and he threaded his fingers through mine. “I have no problems, my love. I just worry for you.” His gaze darkened again and I felt terrible. If my problems were causing his unhappiness, as well as the decay of the court…

  “I’ll be fine, Dialle. In fact, that’s why I came to see you,” I lied. “I’m going away for a while. Myra and Aubrey think celestial counseling will help me heal.”

  I expected surprise, maybe even anger at this admission but he only stared at the ceiling, his dark gaze intense. “Yes. I think that is a good idea. They might be able to help.”

  Nodding, I only wished he sounded as if he believed it. Tears pricked the inside of my lids and I looked away, flopping onto my back in the tangled sheets. My gaze immediately found the huge, jagged crack snaking across the ceiling above his bed. Looking around, I saw other signs of decay I hadn’t noticed before.

  The windows looking out over the countryside were cracked and clouded around the edges. The furniture all seemed seedier than before, and the beautiful carpet that covered the floor of his rooms looked dingy and ragged. It was covered in debris as the floor in the throne room had been.

  A deep despair filled my heart. I was the cause of all of the disrepair. I was the cause of Dialle’s dark mood. Brina had been right.

  It was all my fault. Everything.

  I suddenly knew that if the celestial counseling didn’t work I’d have to force Dialle to relinquish me. His only hope lay in finding a new queen, one who could help him rebuild the health of the court. Before the rot spread to his people. And, ultimately, to the human population who would pay the price for a damaged Royal Court through violence and unparalleled debauchery.

  The realization nearly crushed me. I brushed a tear off my cheek and pushed upright, turning my back on Dialle so he couldn’t see me cry. “Good. Then that’s what I’ll do. You’ll take care of yourself while I’m gone?”

  Silence met my question so I turned. Dialle stared into space, his expression blank. Pain wrenched my heart and I knew I had very little time. With that thought in mind I started to stand.

  His hand snaked out and grabbed my wrist. I looked at him and his black eyes were locked on me with a terrifying intensity. “Hurry back, Astra. I…” He took a shuddering breath. “I need you.”

  My lips found his in a frantic touch, tears sliding from my cheeks to his. More bittersweet than passionate, the kiss tasted of the potential for loss and failure. And when I pulled away I knew I had only one choice.

  I had to heal myself so I could heal Dialle.

  Or we’d both most likely die of a broken heart.

  Chapter Three

  Energizer Tweener?

  Everywhere our lady looks, surprising sights abound,

  But sometimes one must cook the books, to turn one’s fate around.

  White.

  As far as the eye could see.

  White floors, white walls, white ceilings. White inside and white outside.

  Even the sticks up everybody’s asses were white. At least in my imagination.

  I sat on a white chair in a white waiting room an
d read through the pages of white paper they’d given me to sign.

  It seemed Heaven didn’t want me to sue their asses in case they scrambled my brain or something during counseling.

  Yeah. That gave me the warm fuzzies. The worst part was the realization that there had to be lawyers in Heaven. I’d figured all those frunkers were on permanent vacations in the smoldering climes—walking around with fire extinguishers strapped to their thousand dollar Plutonian warthog-skin belts.

  If you know what I mean.

  The dark-haired angel sitting behind a white desk suddenly looked up and gave me an insincere smile. “He’ll see you now, Mx. Phelps.”

  I scribbled my name across the bottom of the form and stood, grinning at the expression of horror on the woman’s face as her pale, blue eyes took in the vibrant hues of my clothing.

  In honor of my rebellion against a colorless, monochromatic world, I’d dressed in just about every color I could find in my closet. A frilly red blouse with bright green flecks topped a short leather skirt died bright orange. I’d slipped a purple headband into my dark, auburn hair and I’d even donned a brand new pair of bright-blue leather boots. It was a headache-inducing getup and it made my heart light just to look at it.

  The best part was the horrified reactions I’d been getting since Myra had deposited me on the celestial plane. You’d think the Big Guy had invited Freddy frunkin’ Krueger to tea. A couple of them had even suggested I might want to change into something a little less…bright…before meeting my therapist for the first time.

  I’d briefly considered planting a bright-blue boot in their nether regions for their trouble. Looking down at said boots, I frowned. Did they look a shade less bright? Or was I just getting used to them?

  “Mx. Phelps?”

  She was standing in front of an open door with a pale-skinned hand splayed on its surface. I hadn’t even seen her move. When I looked at her she inclined her head toward the door. “He’s waiting.”