Sighing, I shook my head. "Maybe I will."
"Get out of here." She shooed me toward thedoor. "Go find this new friend of yours. I want to meet her sometime soon."
"Okay. I'll see what I can do." Leaving atOlivia's insistence, I headed home. I lived close enough to the square that Ididn't need to drive, and with limited parking it was easier not to. I walkedtoward my small house, lost in thought.
Fortunately, I managed to avoid knocking anyone over,though the old Native man who played some sort of pipe did have to scramble outof my way. It took me a few strides before I realized what I'd done. I turnedaround and apologized to him. We'd spoken on more than one occasion and Isuspected he would forgive me.
Otherwise, I made it back to my house in a fog thatdrove home how necessary it was to speak with the exorcist at least once more.There was just something about her that called to me.
Now I just had to track her down. Not difficult.
I pulled out a pendulum and an old-fashioned papermap, speaking a few quiet words of connection between the pendulum and the bookI'd marked.
There was no hesitation once I spoke the final word ofconnection. The pendulum, well attuned to my own energies, homed in on the bookand pointed to its current location. A spot not too far outside of town.
I noted down the address and headed for my car, hopingmy exorcist wouldn't mind the intrusion.
Chapter 4
Price
I'd just started studying a really interesting discoveryritual when my doorbell chimed.
Darius always knocked, so it couldn't have been him. Iput the book on the coffee table and went to the door. The view through thepeep hole showed the owner of the spell book. He really could track it down. Interesting.
I opened the door. "Howdy, mate."
He smiled, and I tried not to get lost in his liquidbrown eyes.
"I wanted to check and see how you were doingwith your demon." He looked away before I could, releasing me from hisstare, and studying the door frame.
"Fine, I guess. He wanted to talk to a priest andthen I can send him back." At first, I thought the door frame was an oddthing for him to be looking at, but I watched his gaze and it flicked from onesupposedly invisible sigil to another as he traced the warding I'd placed onthe entryway. Very interesting.
"A priest?"
"Guess even demons want confession sometimes."
"I see," he replied dubiously.
"Great book. Thanks for lending it to me."
"You're welcome."
I left the door open and stepped back, making it clearhe could come in, without actually inviting him. His lips moved but he didn't sayanything out loud. I frowned, but then he stepped across the threshold,glancing around curiously.
"I must say, your taste in décor does not matchyour taste in attire."
Laughing, I shook my head. "Naw, you should seemy room. It matches. The house, still mostly my parents' decorations. I neverbothered to change it up."
I currently wore my normal ripped jeans, combat boots,and throwback band T-shirt. My jacket was on its hook by the door. The T-shirtshowed off the knotwork tattoos that spiraled up my arms. Protective runes hidin the artwork. The tattoos hidden under my shirt were much earlier works andfar more in line with my punk beginnings. The knotwork had been a lateraddition. The artist had suggested it would meld well with the runes I'd wantedinscribed on my body. She'd been right.
"That makes a great deal more sense," heallowed.
He followed me into the living room where I'd beenreading, and I handed him his book back.
"I would have brought it back later tonight, ortomorrow. You didn't have to come out this way." I lived out of town abit. Not far, just enough to have some space around me.
"It was no trouble. I was curious, and I thoughtit might not hurt to check on you in case the unbinding went poorly."
"Seemed to work fine."
He touched my shoulder and I stiffened and turned toglare at him. He captured my gaze with his, fingers touching my chin lightly,though I suspected he would have grabbed my face if I'd tried to turn away.
"What?" I demanded after a moment, voicehoarse. My insides were doing all sorts of interesting summersaults I hadn'texpected. His scent washed over me, the same scent I'd gotten caught up in whenI'd cast the spell yesterday, heavy spice incense, and old books. Surely, not...
"Just checking."
I cleared my throat and pulled away from him. "Demon'sin the basement if you don't believe me."
He followed when I headed that way to show him. Thatdefinitely should have been my last clue. Randomly inviting a stranger into mybasement to see a demon was not a normal behavior. I certainly didn't think ofthat until much later.
I'd left the light on so the demon wouldn't be in thedark. Not that I knew if he would have cared or not. He lay basically where I'dleft him, though he had shifted to his other side and now faced the door. Notthat I had necessarily expected otherwise, but he was still quite naked, and Itried not to peek. Naughty Chris, don't ogle the demon's bits.
His eyes snapped open and he studied both of us.
"Finally," the demon purred.
We both had a moment to say 'what?' before a wave ofpure lust washed over me.
I whimpered, stomach tightening with need, visiongoing hazy for a moment before I found myself shoved up against the wall, legswrapped around...shit...I didn't even know his name...his lips pressed to mine.We devoured each other, my hands buried in his hair, one of his cupping myhead, the other squeezing my ass.
I chased his tongue with my own, tasting him, deepeningour connection until I noticed some of his teeth were awfully sharp. Coming upfor air, I broke off our kiss, chest heaving, heart racing. He kissed along myjawline before nibbling his way down my neck. I was not quite convinced I'dfelt anything strange until he pressed his teeth into my neck, not quitebreaking my skin.
"Fuck," I groaned. I supposed if I was goingto die, I'd enjoy it. There was
