devil 02 - tween a devil and his hard place Read online

  Then thoughts of my Dialle starting invading my sleep and I couldn’t help remembering how soft his lips had been on mine and how they had subjected my rigid nipple to a melting heat when he’d sucked there. I could almost feel him there as I had the thought and I smiled with pleasure as my sexual core clenched and started to tingle in anticipation. Then, on some level, I realized that I couldn’t have been remembering that because Dialle’s yummy, hot lips had never actually sucked at my breast. And for a moment the feeling wavered and faded away.

  But then Dialle was hovering over me on the bed, staring into my eyes with the most beautiful blue gaze. The black silk of his long hair teased against my skin, making it twitch. I looked down past the flowing midnight locks and was very happy to see nothing but smooth, golden skin, some of which was pointing right at me with a happy face.

  As my gaze returned reluctantly to his beautiful face, his hard body began lowering onto mine. I gasped as I felt the long, rigid length of him against my thigh and couldn’t stop myself from arching against him and spreading myself so that he slipped between my legs.

  He laughed, showing long, white teeth and his tongue slid out to waggle suggestively at me before he lowered his head again to nibble softly at my neck.

  My daemon hickey throbbed in rhythm with the pulsing between my legs.

  I moaned and he moved his lips to mine, pressing himself against me as he ravaged my lips, plundering my mouth with a driving tongue that tasted of sexual musk and sweet promises. Lethal white teeth clasped my bottom lip and nibbled, just to the point of pain, before stopping and being replaced with those amazing lips sucking softly.

  I stopped breathing on my own and felt my heart slowing to mirror his.

  Dialle moved off me suddenly, resting against my side so that he had one arm free to play. Thinking at first that he was leaving me, I cried out and tried to pull him back between my legs. He reached down and touched me with a finger that felt as if it had been heated under the sun for hours and I gasped, pushing shamelessly against the toasty digit like a bitch gargoyle in heat.

  The finger was soon joined by a friend and the two of them slid gently into my wet core and started a smooth, sensuous samba that caused me to arch my hips and join the dance. Their buddy the thumb took up residence on that happy place just above where the finger friends currently danced and made firm, rubbing motions that threatened to take me right over the edge into heaven.

  All the while, Dialle’s heated mouth was not idle. His lips and tongue worked their way down my neck, across my collarbone and to the other breast, which was just as happy to see them as my first breast had been. Careful ministrations there brought that nipple out to play and Dialle moved on to make sure all the playmates came out to join in the fun.

  As his lips neared the happiest of places, where his thumb had been providing a smooth, sexy massage that was making me see entire constellations, I felt a change in the air around the bed that sent a cooling wash across my skin and told me party time was over and harsh reality, in the form of my cranky angel Myra was about to pee all over my good time.

  My dream Dialle raised his head and frowned, as if he recognized my angel’s calling card and, with a final smile filled with soft regret, popped out of my dream and, presumably, back into his own.

  A firm smack on my forehead brought me reluctantly awake and I glared at Myra. “This had better be good, angel. I had some dream going on here.”

  Myra pursed soft, pink lips and furrowed her flawless white brow. “From the look on your face and your current state of…undress, I’m sure I don’t want to know what the dream was about.”

  I pulled the rumpled covers over my naked body and pushed myself upright in the bed, trying valiantly to ignore the frantic throbbing of my dream-ravaged nether regions. It wasn’t easy to ignore something as insistent and painful as that throbbing and my damnable guardian angel was definitely going to pay the price for breaking into what had been the most pleasurable and realistic dream I’d ever experienced.

  I continued to sit there glaring at her and she continued to stand beside my bed, glaring right back at me. Finally I realized that I could never beat my angel in a cranky contest and that one of us had better resort to common sense or it was conceivable that we would both still be standing—or sitting as the case may be—there glaring for all of eternity. In fact, if eternity was the finish line, Myra would win anyway because she’d still be there when we hit eternity while I, being slightly less than immortal, would not be.

  Sighing, I pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed, heading for the cleansing tube. “Talk to me while I cleanse, angel. I need to wash the remains of that dream away, before I lose my frunkin’ mind.”

  I didn’t turn around to see if she followed me into the personal hygiene room but I could feel her presence in the room as I climbed into the cleansing tube. “Water on, one hundred degrees, full soap.” As hot soapy water left the spigot on the wall I sighed and turned to face Myra. “Well, what’s up?”

  Myra’s perfect pink and white face didn’t change an ion as she lowered her angelic behind onto the chair beside the door and continued to stare at me. “You could at least have made me some coffee.”

  I stopped in mid-scrub and stared at her, my mouth dropping open in disbelief. She simply stared back. Once again I sighed and decided on the better part of valor. “I’ll make you some as soon as I get out of here.”

  She shrugged, finally looking away, “I can’t stay.” Her clear blue gaze scanned the room as if looking for flaws in its décor she could point out to me.

  I waited, knowing that nothing would spur my angel into speaking until she was damned good and ready.

  Finally she said, “The demons have made good on their threat to take hostages, Astra.”

  I turned off the water and stepped into the drying tube. “What have they done?”

  Myra’s waist-length blonde locks swung softly around her shoulders as she turned to face me. “They’ve kidnapped the humans who visited Demonica last night.”

  I pushed at my long, auburn hair in an effort to get the thick layers dry. “How many?”

  Myra shrugged. “We’re not entirely certain but we believe it’s in the range of twenty to thirty humans.”

  I stepped out of the tube and whistled. “Hades. That will certainly get somebody’s attention.”

  Myra’s scowl returned. “Precisely.”

  I grabbed my warm, bulky robe off the heated rack by the cleansing tube and pulled it on. Shivering in delight as its warmth started soaking into my chilled flesh. “What exactly do you want me to do about it?”

  The scowl deepened. “Fix it of course.”

  I sighed, “Of course. And how do you propose I do that?”

  Myra’s form started to shimmer and fade. “How the hell do I know, Astra. Just fumble and bumble around like you usually do until you get lucky and it gets fixed.”

  I watched the damnable creature fade completely away and then took out my favorite string of curses and started filling the air where she’d been with them.

  I was up to my third level of foul deprecations and was really gearing up to enjoy myself when I walked through my sleep room door and my heart stopped.

  Dialle lay sprawled across my bed, totally naked and in the exact state he’d been when he’d popped out of the dream, his gorgeous black hair spread across my pillow. He smiled at me when my eyes finally made it to his face and said, “Now, lovely Astra, where were we?”

  I pulled my mouth shut and fell against the wall behind me, my spindly little knees totally giving out with the shock. Holy shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

  Chapter Five

  Hostage Situation Demon Style

  Into the demon’s lair she goes, a devil on her arm,

  To plead release for those she thinks, the bogyman would harm.

  I looked at him for a long moment, considering how to ask the obvious question and then took the coward’s way out and just decided to ign
ore the elephant and his…trunk…in the room. Shaking my head I grabbed some clothes and started pulling them on. “We don’t have time for games right now, Dialle. Alcott has made good on his threat. He’s got a bunch of humans at Demonica and he’s threatening to kill them one by one in a very public way if your father doesn’t dance to their tune.”

  Dialle’s face didn’t change. He continued to lie there on my bed looking all yummy and…expectant. I frowned at him as I pulled skinny black slacks over my legs and topped them with an oversized red sweater. “You and I need to go talk to Alcott, Dialle.”

  He extended a long-fingered, golden hand and smoothed it over the sheets for a moment, his midnight gaze fixed firmly on my face. At that moment I would have given anything to know what was going on in his beady little brain.

  I sat down in the chair and pulled soft black leather boots on over the slim-fitting slacks. The buttery leather molded around my leg from the soles of my feet to just under my knees and felt oh-so good. I was ready for action if action was required. I stood up and headed for my weapons cache. Pulling a picture on the wall aside, I placed the pinky finger of my left hand against the panel and the door swung silently open. I pulled a belt of tiny platinum crosses out of the wall safe and buckled it on over the sweater. Then I extracted two long platinum knives, which I slid down inside my soft boots for easy access if I should need them and a necklace with a tiny vial of angel blood in case I needed to make a strong impression on any gargoyles. I shuddered at the thought. But knew the ’goyles were particular favorites with Alcott and his gang, as they had been with his brother, Abrine.

  When I was fully armed and appreciably dangerous, I turned to a still-naked and…expectant…Dialle and cocked my head. “Are you coming?”

  He cocked a sexy black eyebrow at me and gave me a slow smile. “Unfortunately it appears that I am not. However…”

  And suddenly he was standing in front of me fully dressed, his lush lips hovering just inches from my own.

  “I am definitely breathing hard.”

  I watched those devastatingly yummy lips lower toward mine and felt the haze returning to my brain. Just before his mouth touched mine he halted and I soon felt the heated moisture of his tongue against my mouth, gently caressing the seam of my lips and nudging them apart. I couldn’t help myself, my lips opened and he was in.

  The kiss pulled the breath from my body and brought my nipples to hard peaks. I melted into him and felt his hands wrap around the backs of my thighs, just under the curve of my buttocks. He pulled me more tightly against his hard body and I soon found myself grinding against him, my traitorous body wanting to get closer and closer when my brain was trying to scream at me to get further and further away so I could think.

  His thumbs started to caress that oh-so-tender area where my buttocks round away from my thighs, in a gentle, circular motion that created an incredibly sensual feeling. The unnatural heat of his hands quickly spread inward to touch my throbbing core. I gasped and wrapped one leg around him so I could grind the painfully throbbing area against him.

  I’m not sure how or why he did it, given his single-minded pursuit of our mating but apparently he was able to think more clearly than I. Damn it! Without pulling away from me even the tiniest little bit, I felt him gather his power and suddenly we were shifting through space and time, locked in a world that was sensual to the point of pain and heated beyond endurance. I was torn between relief that he had taken the choice out of my hands and despair that we would once again be interrupted.

  We landed on the sidewalk outside Demonica and pulled apart with an almost audible sucking sound. I took three quick steps backward and rubbed my tingling palms down the legs of my slacks. I didn’t think it would be ladylike to rub the other tingling parts right out there on the sidewalk.

  Dialle just stood there smiling at me. “Hold that thought, my lovely Tweener.”

  Temper flared at the smug look on his face as well as my growing frustration at being interrupted again. The fact that I knew it was for the best didn’t make it one little iota easier to accept.

  Pushing my chin toward the sky and gathering my tattered dignity around me, I quickly marched to the door and grabbed the handle, figuring action was required to minimize what had just happened between us. I gave the door a fierce yank.

  It’s really hard to look dignified when you almost fall on your face.

  The stupid door was locked and my momentum nearly did me in. I regained my balance and looked up, through the glass, into a pair of wide-set beady eyes in a purple leather face. The demon on the other side of the door was laughing.

  I felt the need to kill. “Open the damnable door, turd from Hades!”

  The demon’s laughing face was joined by another and then another until I felt myself reaching for the vial around my neck. No doubt about it, I was gonna need a dignity transplant after this. “I demand that you open this door and let Prince Dialle and me in. Alcott is expecting us and won’t be pleased if you deny us entrance.”

  I didn’t have a clue if this was true but it sounded good.

  The demons had stopped laughing but looked far from frightened by my declaration. I opened my mouth to scream at them just as I felt the heat of a strong, golden hand on my shoulder. I looked up into a pair of gorgeous black eyes rimmed in gold.

  Any trace of remaining amusement died on the demons’ faces when Dialle leveled that royal gaze on them. The demon king might feel the need to break away from the royals and stand alone but centuries of subjugation had created a sense of awe and an innate aura of submission on the demon side that would be hard to overcome.

  Dialle’s gaze seemed to mesmerize the demons and, although he didn’t say a word, they reached to open the door.

  My yummy Prince moved the golden hand from my shoulder to the small of my back and he gave me a gentle nudge toward the door. I refused to look at him but couldn’t resist shuffling his mental drawers a bit. I want to learn how to do that thing with the eyes you do. It could be very effective in my job.

  His sexy laugh filled my head, causing parts south of the border to clench in happy anticipation. It is not so much a thing, as you call it, as it is a healthy and intelligent fear of their betters. I could almost hear the laughter in his voice that he was trying to hold back. It would be perhaps difficult for you to project, given your propensity for comical behavior in the face of difficulty.

  I turned to glare at him and, unfortunately caught the beady red eye of the demon that had laughed at me through the door. Putting the quotation marks around Dialle’s nasty but all too true comment, the oily purple face split in another grin as the damnable thing looked at me. Feeling my devil come out in a big way, I smiled back.

  Something in my smile must have warned the demon because his smile died on the vine and he took a half step back as we passed. It didn’t save him though. As I walked past the evil thing I reached up and gave it a jolt of power in the tip of one long, pointed ear. I figured his yelp could probably be heard in the furthest reaches of Demonica.

  I smiled.

  Dialle grinned down at me and shook his head.

  I shrugged. Hey, what can I say? Tweener. Half devil.

  His warm laughter coated my mind. And I must say you do the race proud lovely Astra.

  As we entered the cavernous main room of the club we were met by a huge demon with a black body and snow white hair. The demon’s wide, simian brow hung over a pair of small, red eyes to the point that you could barely see them. He placed his enormous frame into a defensive stance and clasped hands that could pop a basketball behind his back. He simply stood there, glowering at us and saying nothing.

  We stopped in the middle of the dance floor and glared back at the thing.

  Dialle finally spoke. “Take us to Alcott. We are expected.”

  The black and white mountain just stared at us, unmoving.

  I looked at Dialle and grinned. You want me to zap him?

  Dialle scowled but didn�
��t look away from the immovable demon. “If Alcott would like the ear of King Dialle the First, you will take us to him now.”

  The demon simply stood there.

  We made a move as if to go around him and he shifted to stay in front of us, his huge form seeming to grow to fill the available space.

  A commotion at the front door of the club drew our attention away from the stubborn demon and we turned to see what was happening behind us.

  I smiled as I saw who had joined us. Dialle did not smile.

  What’s he doing here?

  I invited him.

  Why?

  He’s my partner, I need his help.

  You do not need that pretend royal. You have me.

  Oh stop being such a baby. Emo has a way with demons. I thought he might come in handy.

  Emo strolled up to us, a cocky smile decorating his beautiful golden face. “Hey boss.”

  I smiled back. Something warm and tingly spread through my chest and headed south. “Hey yourself. Did you have any trouble getting through the door?”

  He just laughed in response, causing the warm tinglies to kick up their heels and make babies. I gulped and turned away from my longtime friend and partner. I was so not used to having these feelings where he was concerned. Barely a week ago he was squat and red and got on my nerves on a regular basis.

  Now he looked like something off the cover of a sex novel and his eyes devoured me every time we looked at each other. My greatest fear, however, was that my eyes were returning the favor.

  He turned said devouring eyes on me now. “What’s the problem here?”

  I gestured toward the immovable demon. “He won’t let us past. I think we’re going to have to take him down.” I tried to peer under the brow overhang on the demon’s face to see if my threat even registered in his eyes but the beady red things were entrenched in shadow and no body movement betrayed his feelings.

  Emo looked at the demon for a beat or two and then stepped closer to it. When he was standing barely a foot away from the thing he reached up and placed a hand on the demon’s oily brow.