A Demon's Dark Embrace: An Elite Guards Novel (23 page)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Olivia awoke to the sensation of being stared at. She stretched her arms and stifled a yawn as she sat up in bed to find Ristan watching her as she slept. She quickly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to be sure she hadn’t drooled in her sleep. He smiled as if he’d read her mind and shook his head.

“You snore,” he said playfully.

“I do not,” she said, watching him as a smile formed on his full mouth.

“Then explain to me why the trees have all run away and are hiding even as we speak?”

“Seriously, I snore?” she asked in a worried voice.

“You do,” he teased. “Up,” he coaxed as he snapped the covers away and used his magic to wash her instead of wasting time with a shower. With a quick flick of his fingers, he dressed her in a baby-blue cotton dress that made her eyes pop vibrantly. It had a full-length skirt, which he wasn’t too hot about, but he wanted her to be comfortable when he broached the conversation he needed to have with her. “I need you awake, then I need you to listen to what I have to say.”

He reached around to the table he’d set up with an array of food and beverages, grabbed the coffee, and ran his fingers over the rim of the blue mug until steam rose from it. She watched him with wonder in her eyes as he heated the coffee for her.

“Warm, but not scalding with a dash of fresh vanilla crème and one packet of sugar, as you prefer it. There is also fresh melon and other fruit for your breakfast,” he said as he handed her the mug and watched her as she lowered her nose to inhale the warm, fragrant vanilla.

He’d watched her enough to know exactly how she took her coffee, and that she preferred fresh fruit over bacon and eggs. He also knew that she hated going to Starbucks because she thought the baristas didn’t make the coffee strong enough, but she wasn’t against buying it to brew at home where she could make it strong enough for her taste.

She sipped the coffee and moaned as she closed her eyes with a smile. “This tastes like heaven,” she murmured between sips.

He enjoyed watching her eat, and since he didn’t need Human food, he didn’t join her, but he did enjoy watching as the juices from the plump melon balls tried to escape her lips as she devoured them. He loved the way she ate without a care to what or who was watching, unlike many Human girls he’d observed who pretended to be full after only a few bites. Olivia always ate as if she was being given her last meal.

Once she was finished, he handed her a tissue he glamoured and held out his hand for hers as he took her out of the bedroom so his brain could be where he needed it, and not on the giant bed and sexy vixen he wanted to bend over it.

“Just spit it out!” she said when they’d reached the living room where archives and papers were still scattered everywhere, which he knew had to be driving her OCD over the edge.

“Synthia gave you a file on a dagger shortly after you first came out of training; do you remember it?” he asked, his eyes watching for any sign of agitation as his fingers absently stroked her palm.

“Yes,” she replied honestly. “That was a very long time ago.”

“Marie told Synthia that she was to give it to you, but at the time it seemed strange to Synthia because you were pretty new to your duties.”

“Yes, I said as much. I thought it should go to another librarian who had more experience to take care of it than I did. Marie told me I had to file it, but it was strange because normally an Elder from the library would be present, and Marie was more of an
everything
Elder. She knew the entire running of the Guild from top to bottom, and she told me she needed me to do it. I remember Synthia bringing it to me, and I remember her having a strange look on her face as she looked around at all of the older librarians,” she said as she made a face and continued. “However, instead of it being handed off to another librarian to be double-checked after I’d finished processing it, Marie took it. She simply stated that she wanted to be sure I’d double-checked the file.”

“Did you tell anyone about it?” he asked as he watched her.

“No, never; Marie was an Elder and I trusted her one hundred percent. She was kind, and she cared about us,” she sighed heavily and turned troubled eyes to Ristan. “She loved us, and I think if she had been alive to see the Guild brought to its knees, she’d die again.”

“Marie was murdered,” Ristan pointed out.

“They told us that she was killed by a group of radicals,” she corrected.

“They tell you what they want you to know, just as they’ve told you all Fae were evil. Tell me, Olivia, do we still seem evil to you?” he countered.

“I can’t answer that,” she whispered. “I only know what they told us. I also know she was different than the other Elders. She taught us things that mattered and about self-worth. She was also the sweetest woman I’d ever met. I just can’t imagine that someone would actually want her dead, not even after all this time has passed.”

“A few weeks ago, I am sure you couldn’t imagine a Guild Elder conspiring to kill everyone in his own Guild, but shit happens. People keep secrets; we all do it. So back to the dagger,” he replied.

“It’s in Ireland,” she replied absently and tenaciously circled back to their previous topic. “The Elders told us that Marie was killed by a group of radicals outside the Guild. If she was really murdered inside the Guild…” 

“The parents of the students would have panicked; Enforcers would have called for the blood of an invisible enemy. Alden believes she was killed by another Elder, one who wanted to take her place.”

“Cyrus took her place,” she whispered breathlessly.

“That he did.”

She seemed to consider his words for a moment and then nodded as if she was willing to let that line of thought go for now. “Okay, so there are a few things that don’t make sense, while some of it does. The dagger was supposedly hidden in Dublin, Ireland; the archives stated it was in the catacombs of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. I remember quite a few details from the records, but I would prefer to double-check those facts against the ones in the Guild Library before anyone heads off to the cathedral.”

“Ireland?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “Ireland is full of myths and legends, and it’s the perfect place to hide something.”

“Ireland,” she confirmed and nodded her head. “Coffee me,” she smirked. “Please.”

“Fine, but we need to get some things together. I have to see someone before we can leave for Ireland and you’ll need to come with me. Do you happen to know anything else about that box?”

“Other than the fact that it’s evil?” she quipped. “I know that Marie knew about it. She thought it should be destroyed. Problem is, no one knew enough about it to know how to successfully destroy it. She spoke with us openly about things like that, as if we weren’t just a bunch of kids in training, more like we were adults who would be soon in charge. I’m still not sure about where the key might be, but, Ristan, whatever is inside that box, it’s beyond anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s like raw, burning evil that radiates from it as if it’s a life force itself,” she whispered shakily.

“So is the man we are going to meet,” he said softly as his palm touched her cheek. “I’ll pack you a bag and we will leave within the hour. After I’ve concluded my business there, we will leave for Ireland.”

“And how will we get out of the mountains?” she asked with a worried look. “More sifting?”

“For you and the box of evil, I’ll drive,” he said with a grin. “I’m not flying in one of those death contraptions over an ocean, though, so to Ireland, we will sift.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

He brought around a Land Rover that looked as if it had never been driven before. The interior was black leather, while the exterior was an opalescent white. He had driven in silence for over an hour when he turned off the highway, pulled to the side of a deserted stretch of road and parked before he looked at her with a knowing grin. “I know you are uneasy about travelling with the box, but the man who we are taking it to isn’t stupid. He needs it, and we need him to be on our side for the upcoming war. Sometimes having the biggest, meanest evil villains on your side is the best plan. He won’t unleash hell on earth, because he can’t rule it if he does. From what we’ve heard, Lucian is always in control and wouldn’t have need for something like this to unleash evil. He is searching for something. We have no idea who or what it is, only that once he finds it, he’ll probably go back to where ever the hell he came from.”

“What if he opens it with no real idea what is inside of it, and something bad is unleashed?” she asked worriedly, her fear clear to see in her beautiful eyes. “What if you’re wrong about his motives and he knows what is inside of it and lets it loose?”

“Then we send Ryder to kill it and him if need be,” he stated simply, as if it was an easy choice. “Ryder is the Horde King, and he won’t allow any harm to come to the Humans because he loves Synthia. She loves the Humans, and was raised as one of you. Trust me, Olivia. She is still an Enforcer, just one with her eyes wide open now. Yours are opening as well, and you see what was wrong inside the Guild, even if you can’t openly admit it yet. Adam, Adrian, and Synthia still ask me every time I see them if you’re okay. What does that tell you?”

“Loyalty, but I don’t understand it. One day they were the elite, the best Enforcers of the Guild, and the next they just disappeared. How could they go that long without knowing what they were?”

“Synthia was an infant when she was brought to her adoptive parents. She was spelled, her true powers cloaked. She was branded to suppress her Fae powers and to keep her looking like one of you for as long as possible. Adam is her familiar, or was until she was reborn as a Goddess. He was accidentally pulled here when her guardians were murdered, and his parents had thought they’d lost him. Being connected to Synthia and always within close proximity to her helped kept his powers suppressed as well. As they aged, Adrian saw that Synthia had more power than he did, and he knew she was so much more than he could see, so when Ryder had Vlad offer him immortality and more power than he could have as a Warlock, he accepted the gift. They weren’t flawed, nor did they do it to fuck the Guild over; they just became what they were supposed to be.”

“It’s almost unbelievable,” she whispered as he put the SUV in gear and pulled back onto the highway. “We were told that they had betrayed the Guild, and hundreds of mission logs were pulled and combed through. I hated questioning them, ya know? Like they had infiltrated the Guild and lied to us the entire time is how we were made to feel, but even as we combed through the mission logs, the facts all checked out and eyewitnesses to the missions were brought in, questioned and nothing changed. They enforced the laws of the Guild with utmost respect. Synthia was found to question her orders more than other Enforcers, but now I think she may have been catching on to what was happening before anyone else. She was always the noisiest about any assignment that she thought was bullshit,” she mused with a small grin.

“She’s perceptive and persistent,” Ristan agreed. “And stubborn as a mule,” he added with a laugh.

“You like her,” Olivia asked as a pinch of jealousy set in.

“I think if my brother hadn’t claimed her, I’d have tried for at least a taste of her. She’s got a fire that most men would love to sample.”

“And I don’t,” she said quietly as she pulled her legs up in the seat and wrapped her arms around them.

“You have an inner glow, a slow burn that ignites and flares gloriously, but you’re not the same as Synthia is. She’s a fighter who jumps into the fray without thinking first, and you…You’re a thinker like me. You try to see things from every angle, and you do question things—for the most part.”

“I didn’t ask enough questions before I handed you over to Cyrus, and if I could undo it, I would,” she said softly. “With all of the things I know now, I wouldn’t have given you up—or Alden, for that matter. I am sorry for my part in it. I know you won’t believe me, but I am sorry.”

He smiled and turned to look at her, really look at her. Her hair caught the sun and from where he sat in the driver’s seat, she was beyond beautiful. She was the perfect combination of fire and ice. Her sapphire eyes glowed with her own inner purity, while her red halo of hair made her skin seem a little paler than it had this morning.

“You’re beyond beautiful, Olivia. I have never wanted a woman as much as I do right now. If I had more time, I’d pull over and show you what I could do with your sweet body pushed up against the hood of this SUV.”

“Really,” she whispered throatily, but as she spoke a bolt of lightning cracked across the sky, making her jump.

The storm hit the mountain range with a vengeance. Snow and sleet were making the road treacherous, and eventually Ristan caved to Olivia’s nervousness and pulled over at one of the many mountain retreats to rent a room. Once they were inside, he glamoured her some dry, fresh clothing and then did the same to himself.

He snapped his fingers and a crackling fire lit in the elegant fireplace. He could’ve sifted her to Lucian’s club and sent one of his brothers to retrieve the Land Rover, but he wanted this time with her. He wasn’t sure why, or what would become of it, only that he enjoyed her company.

He’d just given her a steaming mug of peppermint cocoa when the violent storm ripped one of the storm shutters away from the window, which made her jump again and spill the cocoa.

“Ouch,” she cried as she set the cup down and held her burnt fingers to her lips. He moved to her and took her hand into his much larger ones; a soothing coldness emanated from his hands that would ease the pain of the burn as he healed her. “That feels better,” she admitted and lifted her eyes to his with a smiled. “Thank you.”

He leaned to her, his mouth claiming hers with wild abandonment before he could stop himself. Her hand forgotten, he pulled her body close to his and waited for her acceptance before he deepened the kiss.

He easily picked her up and headed to the bed, but she struggled against him and he stopped himself, forcing his body to cool the ardor that she created with a single look. He stepped away from her and glamoured a new storm shutter over the window. Satisfied it was secure, he turned to look at her.

She stood almost fully naked, dressed only in a pair of lacy pale pink panties, and the thick fur slippers he’d glamoured on her feet. He swallowed and forced himself to remain still, as if she was a skittish animal that could easily be spooked.

“Take off your clothing, and lay on the bed, please,” she whispered huskily. He raised an eyebrow at the abrupt request.

“Olivia…” He’d been about to give her an out, so she wouldn’t feel obligated to fuck him. However, his curiosity got the better of him and he wished his clothing away as he walked to the bed, laying on it with a cocky grin. “You’re not planning something bad, right?” he teased and watched as she smiled.

Her hands came up to gently pinch her pink nipples which had a direct connection to his cock. He barely managed to stifle the groan as she stepped closer to the bed, her eyes feasting on his body.

“In the books I read, I often dreamt about men made for this, but I was sure they didn’t really exist,” she confided. “Your body is perfect,” she whispered as she brought a hand down and trailed it over his muscular, defined abs. Her fingers barely touched his skin as she traced a circular pattern in his flesh.

She straddled him as she had in the beautiful place in Faery he’d taken her to, and lowered her lips to his pierced nipple. Her teeth clicked against the piercing on the first one as she gently tested it with a soft pull. She felt his cock as it rose up and curved against her opening. She moved to the other and hid her smile as his cock jumped again when her tongue flicked against his hardened nipple.

“Damn, girl,” he growled breathlessly as she reached down and started to work his long, thick cock with her hand. He bucked his hips and reminded himself mentally that she wasn’t used to this, and outside of his experiences with Danu, neither was he. Other than Danu, he hadn’t allowed any other female to ever have control of him.

He lifted his head as she climbed down his body and his heart did a somersault as her tongue darted out to lick her lips as she stared at his cock. He shifted to sit up and rested back on his forearms. Then, as he watched her, she leaned in closer and used her tongue to reach out and taste him.

His entire body vibrated with the simple act. Fuck, he was in so much trouble with this one. Her lips kissed him, and before he could guess her next action, she’d taken the tip between her lips and slid her mouth down until she coughed on it. He smiled at her ineptness, but fuck if it wasn’t the hottest thing he’d ever seen.

Instead of giving up, she took him into her mouth again this time slower. His head rolled back and his arms buckled against the bed as he pushed his hips, feeding her more until she tightened her hold on his cock and began slowly working him over until he looked up. Her eyes were liquid fire as she allowed his cock to slip from her mouth and crawled up the mattress until her body was above his.

“You drive me crazy,” he said shakily as he watched her slowly straddle his body, her hand positioning his cock where she wanted it. She was a wet mess, and she slid him inside her pussy easily.

“Ditto,” she replied as she began moving her body in a rocking motion. She was the most beautiful fuck he’d ever had. He smiled as he growled and turned her over until her back was on the mattress and her thighs spread wide apart. His cock slid out of her sleek heat and before she could protest, his body shifted and he buried his face in her wetness.

“Ahh!” She moaned and screamed as he used his nose against her clitoris as his tongue pushed into her. He may not have the ability that Ryder had to grow a larger cock, but he was a Demon. His tongue swelled until it filled her and his eyes feasted on hers as wonder lit in their oceanic depths. He pushed it further until she squirmed against him to get away from it.

His tongue caressed the sweet spot as she cried out, her body growing slick with sweat as he continued to push his tongue deeper while it fucked her G-spot, right until she exploded with violent tremors and a few choice cuss words that made him smile against her soaking wet pussy. He pushed her legs further apart as his tongue went back to normal size, and he shifted his body around until his cock was back at her entrance.

He plunged into her body without allowing her to come down from the cloud she was currently occupying, and took her with a force that would leave her sore until he decided to heal it. His cock was gripped by her pussy as if it was refusing to give it back, or maybe it was hugging it. Who didn’t like a good hug with a vagina?

He pushed her legs up, allowing them to close a smidge as he raised them for better depth. She cried out as he pushed deeper into her welcoming heat. He bent his face over her body and nipped at her perky nipples, rolling them between his tongue and teeth until he felt her slipping over the edge again. Only then did he allow himself to find release as he sipped a taste of her soul, her pussy feeding his Fae while her soul fed his Demon.

This time, he didn’t have to pull back on his Demon; it controlled itself and only took a small sliver, seeming content with that. As if it wanted to please its host by not wasting this treat so he could have more in the long run. Ristan knew he would never get enough of the way her soul tasted, addicting and dipped in a purity that was hard to find any more in the Human race. He took her four more times, enjoying each orgasm as she screamed out his name and God’s. As if God would ever approve of her screaming his name while she was being fucked by a Demon? He smiled when she mumbled incoherent words until she passed out.

Yeah, he was going to have a hard time letting this one go.

He curled his body protectively around hers and slept, blissfully unaware of the Goddess who watched them from the reopened storm window, her ire rising at what she witnessed. Ristan tucking his much larger body around the librarian’s, and then kissing her forehead tenderly.

*~*~*

Ristan felt her presence before he caught a glimpse of her rounding the cabins. He finished loading the few things they’d brought with them into the back hatch as Olivia came out and got into the passenger seat of the Land Rover. 

His eyes scanned the snow-covered woods as he moved to the driver seat and bent over to start the engine so that the heater would kick in and keep her warm. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he gave her a gentle smile and turned to move to where Danu had slipped into the woods behind the cabins.

He had just broken through the brush when he caught sight of her further down the trail. She was dressed in a white robe, her features obscured from his vision as he approached her. His heart sped up, but he knew he had to face her.

“Danu,” he whispered, wondering how he could explain Olivia to an ancient Goddess who had a black spot where her heart should have been.

“Your time is up, and it is time for her to die,” she whispered and turned to look at Ristan with blood tears running down her face.

He paused and hated the sick, twisting feeling that entered his stomach at her angry words. He felt his heart turn cold in his chest and he shook his dark head at her.

“If you kill her, Danu, you’d better kill me too,” he whispered. “I am not the child who thought the world of you any longer. I did love you at one time, I am sure of it now, but you didn’t love me back. You can’t love anyone because I don’t think you’ve ever been taught to love. You can’t understand it because in your world it doesn’t exist. That’s why we, the creatures you created, are flawed. You forgot to love those you created, and in turn, it made most of us unable to comprehend what it was.”

“Love is a weakness,” she snapped. “I am a Goddess! I can have no weaknesses. If I loved every one of my children, it would only paint a target on their backs for other vengeful Gods and Goddesses to use against me. I created the Fae without love because I needed them to be stronger than the race before them and to not have weaknesses that could get them killed. I made you to be killers, ones who would fight until your last breath for me and in doing so, I had to give my soul! I will die if you are too distracted by a tight pussy to save Faery, so you now know your real flaw.”

“I played my parts, I fulfilled every task and demand you set before me; I helped heal the Tree of Life,” he growled, hating that she thought she could stake her claim on his life after what she’d done. “I will help find the relics, but I’ve already told you, Goddess, we are done. What you did to me? I can eventually forgive you for that, but your constant need to control me, and the blatant disregard for the fucked up situations you leave me in? I’m over it. Touch Olivia and I will end my part in saving Faery. I help fight for Faery by choice, not because I can’t survive elsewhere.”

“You fight because it’s your home, and your people need it to survive,” she whispered as she wiped at her eyes.