Demon Blood: A Demon Soul Prequel (The Caine Brothers) (2 page)

“No. Why?” Pain spread from her left shoulder on down. “Well, damn it. My arm.”

He blinked. “What the fuck? My eyes. My vision is blurry.” His head whipped around, and he flung an arm out. “Marie-Therese?”

“I’m here.” She moved up against him and ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she framed his face with her hands. “Look at me,” she ordered. “What do you see?” His eyes had a slight whitish film across them. Dread slid down her spine, raising goose bumps.

“Your outline. I know you’re there.” He blinked. “I…” he shook his head. “Fuck.”

Marie-Therese scanned the surrounding area. No one. Well then, first things first. “Let’s get to the stairs, get off this beach, and get help.” She linked arms with him. “Come on, match my steps. Once we get to the top, I’ll take you to the local doctor. My car isn’t far.”

Gideon dug his heels into the sand. “Oh no. I’m not going to Doc Cavanaugh.”

“Yes, you are. You can’t see, you’ve got blood running down your arm, and if your wound hurts anything like mine, you would kill for some pain relief.”

“You’re hurt?” His concern eased her nerves.

“I’m fine. Hoof caught me in the shoulder. Come on now, take a step. You said you’d been doing this run for years, surely you can manage these steps without looking at them. Do you want the railing?”

“Please.”

They switched sides. Gideon took two steps at a time, keeping one hand lightly on the railing, so Marie-Therese did the same. At the top, she took Gideon’s arm and pulled him away from the sharp drop backward and toward the street.

“Okay handsome, let’s get you to my car and we’ll see how the rest of this night will go.”

“I had plans. A hot shower, a glass of wine, a hot woman…”

In spite of her worry, she chuckled. “I hope I am the hot woman you had in mind. Here we go.” She opened the passenger door for him, set his left hand on the roof of the car and the right one on the top of the car door. “Luckily this is a rental, and I don’t care about seawater on the seats. Can you get in, or do you need help?”

“I can figure it out.”

She watched as he made it into the front seat. She leaned down, pulled the seatbelt out. “I’ll just belt you in.” She stretched across him, her breasts pressing against his chest, and clicked the seatbelt in.

His sharp intake of breath stopped her. His hand brushed her cheek before settling on her shoulder. “I meant to tell you earlier. You taste as good as you smell.”

She chuckled. “Well that’s a relief. Let go please, Gideon.”

His hand relaxed and slowly slid over her arm as she backed out of the car and stood.

“I’m shutting the door.” Walked around her car to the driver’s side and took another deep breath. This man. Damn it, this man.

Her shoulder throbbed and she got into the car.

“You’re mine, you know,” he said.

She shot him an alarmed look. His face was set in stone, his voice just as hard, his lips compressed. “You’re wounded, not dying. When you can get it up, I’ll be yours for a bit. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here.”

“I have no problems getting it up. And you’ll be mine for more than a bit, Marie-Therese, I promise you.”

She snorted and started the car. “Don’t go making promises you can’t keep,
mon ami.
”

His hand reached for her thigh, settled there. “Who says I won’t want to keep any promise I make you?”

“I said can’t, not won’t. I am not the settling down type. Who says I want you making promises to me? Now tell me where I’m going.” Her answer was tart.

In clipped sentences, he gave her directions. Marie-Therese spent the rest of the short drive in a confusion of lust and annoyance, his big hand on her leg like a stamp of possession.

She pulled up to the nondescript building. There was nothing there but a street number. No signage showed that a paranormal doctor lived and worked there, but she knew she had the right place. She’d memorized the address and the look of the building before she had left France.

Gideon’s hand tightened on her leg, and she patted it.

“We’re here. I’m going to get out of the car, then come around and help you get inside. And keep your eyes closed. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Marie-Therese, I’m fully competent and I do understand.” His dry delivery made her laugh.

They walked to the doorway, Marie-Therese keeping hold of Gideon’s arm. She pressed the buzzer beside the door.

“Name?” The sound was tinny, like one of those apartment building communicators.

She leaned forward to the speaker. “Caine and Gosse. Emergency.”

“Well of course it’s an emergency. It’s after midnight. It’s always an emergency after midnight, isn’t it?”

There was a click and a buzz, and she ushered Gideon in through a door and down a hallway. It was slightly cooler than the heat of the night, and there was a faint antiseptic scent in the air.

A woman opened a door to their left. “This way, please. We’ll do the paperwork after the doctor has seen you both.” She smiled at Marie-Therese, who frowned in response.

“Mister Caine is the patient. Not me.”

“Miss Gosse, you are not walking steadily, both of you are dripping wet, and I can smell demon blood. You will be examined, Miss Gosse, I assure you.”

“I will be fine in the morning,” she protested.

“Don’t argue with the nurse, babe. Everyone follows her instructions. Hello, Hannah.”

Hannah squinted as she peered into his sightless eyes. “Hey, Gideon. Can you step up and sit on the exam table?”

“If Miss Gosse can help me.”

“As if you need the help,” Marie-Therese muttered. She smiled weakly at the nurse’s grin.

“I’ll leave you two. Shirt – oh, no shirt. Lose the knives,” Hannah ordered as she stepped out.

“Okay, Gideon. Hand me your knife.”

He handed over the knife from his thigh sheath, and another from his pocket. Two smaller knives strapped to his calves, and one she hadn’t noticed on a wrist sheath. She looked at the collection in her hand and shook her head. “Any more?”

“No.”

She set the knives on the counter to the sound of his chuckle.

Nurse Hannah came back. “Doc Cavanaugh will be in a minute or so, Gideon. Miss Gosse? This way, please. And you’ll need to remove your weapons, as well.”

With a backward glance at Gideon sitting on the exam table, Marie-Therese sighed and followed. “That chest, though,” she muttered.

Nurse Hannah laughed and opened the door to the exam room next door.

“He’s a looker, all right. Here we go. Take your weapons off and put them on the counter. Take your top off.” She handed her a paper drape. “You can wear this if you wish.” Hannah disappeared.

“Stylish.” She hissed when she pulled off her shirt. She unbuckled her harness, wincing, and slipped it off, set it on the counter. Set her belt with the throwing stars on the counter as well. Her shoulder was already a deep purple, and there was a hoof-shaped crescent of blood.

“That looks nasty.” Hannah had come in again and probed at the wound. “When was your last tetanus shot?”

Marie-Therese shrugged. “I have no idea.”

Hannah asked questions, Marie-Therese answered, all the while aware of a low rumbling of male voices next door.

“How is Gideon?”

Hannah put away her stethoscope and grinned. “Grumpy. He always is when he comes here. The doctor will be here in just a moment.” She bustled out and before the door had a chance to shut all the way, the doctor was there.

“Hello Miss Gosse. I’m Carl Cavanaugh, and I’ll be your doctor this evening.” He smiled, and her shoulders relaxed.

“I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t need any help, my body will heal on its own just fine.” She hissed in a breath when he poked and prodded her bruise, much more firmly than Hannah had. Fresh blood welled at the slice made by the hoof.

“Well, we like to give the body a bit of a boost, such as a tetanus serum. Ours has an added kick to prevent much more than the basic shot is intended to prevent. We can’t have you warriors catching cooties from hell. Demons carry all sorts of nasties on their hooves, you know.” He held her arm and pulled on it gently.

Marie-Therese bit her lip against an outcry of pain.

“A shot, and I would have you wear a sling but my guess is you won’t wear it, so I won’t bother to give you one.”

“Good.”

Hannah entered, holding a tray with a needle. “Tetanus here, Doctor.”

“Ah, thank you Hannah. Miss Gosse, I’ll need your hip, please.”

She sighed, unzipped her wet pants, and turned around. Felt the wash of alcohol and the pinch of the needle. The drug punched into her muscle like a stream of hot water. “
Merde!”
She shivered in reaction.

“Sorry. It takes some Fae that way.” Dr. Carl put a bandage over the needle prick. “Would you follow me to Gideon’s room?”

She paused in the act of pulling up her pants. Get closer to Gideon Caine? “I’m not family.” Sex or no sex, she wasn’t sticking around Gideon any longer than necessary. Their ideas on her future weren’t the same, and she wouldn’t waste any more time on something that wasn’t going to happen at this point. Maybe the doc could help her find someone else to help her learn how to close portals. She finished zipping and buttoning and picked up her shirt. Pulled it on, wincing again, before turning back to the doctor.

He had his serious face on. “I think you may be able to help with the diagnosis.”

“I’m a warrior, not a healer.” At the cynical rise of his eyebrows, she sighed. “Fine. I’ll go with you. Can’t promise I’ll actually be of any help,” she warned, buckling her belt before shrugging the knife holster over her complaining shoulder. “By the way, do you know any other half-breeds around here who could teach me to close a portal to the Chaos plane?”

Sympathy came and went in the doctor’s eyes. “Gideon is the best we’ve got. He’s the only one we’ve got, since his family departed.” He walked out of the exam room.

Nerves balled in her belly as she followed.

Pushing the door open, he walked in ahead of her and straight to the sink to wash his hands. This allowed her a moment to catch her breath at the sight of Gideon sitting on the exam table. She’d seen him in the night, and briefly earlier here, but now she could stare. His shirtless torso was broad, hairless except for a smattering low on his belly that arrowed to the point where it disappeared into the blue scrubs they’d had him change into. She watched as he pulled a scrubs shirt on, breaking her stare.

Marie-Therese swallowed. Hard. Then she looked into his eyes, and her heart broke a little. The white film that covered them seemed thicker. He’d lifted his head when they entered, and turned toward her, but he couldn’t see her. To see such a warrior so incapacitated…

“
Tu es chanceux.
Lucky. You got dry clothes.”

“
Je leur a demande´.
He chuckled. “I asked for them.”

When he held out his hand to her, she moved in and took it, and kicked herself for her rapid heartbeat. Why the hell did she feel like she was his prey?

“So, I bandaged the cut on your back, and gave you a Tetanus shot as well,” the doctor began. “Now, let’s discuss what happened tonight so we can get to the bottom of the vision issue.”

While Gideon recounted the fight, she was so focused on the doctor and his reactions that she was startled when she heard something she hadn’t been aware of previously.

She turned to Gideon. “You
what
?”

He turned sightless eyes to her. “I scooped up sand and tossed it in the demon’s eyes. See, Doc, they have these big, saucer-like eyes, and I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

Her fists clenched. “Damn it. Did it get first blood, or did you?”

“It did. My back. Why is that important?”

She let out a noise of frustration. “Because the Boargan have a hint of magic that kicks in if they get first blood. Whatever you do to them eventually rebounds on you. Except the killing blows, of course. It’s the petty stuff that gets their prey. So if things had gone the way it had hoped, you would have been blinded in a few minutes and it, or one of its family members, could have taken you down with no more damage to them.”

Dr. Cavanaugh exchanged a glance with Hannah, who was taking notes in the corner. “Fascinating. So much has been lost about the demonkind, other than what we’ve learned from Gideon and his family. So, Gideon will be blind?”

She turned to the doctor. “No, not forever. It takes a few hours for the wounds to heal, or in this case the blindness. He should be fine by morning.”

He nodded and made a note. “That was my take. However, you are Fae. Isn’t there any way you can remove this now?”

Marie-Therese shrank away from Gideon. “No. Partly because this is a demon thing. Plus, I’m Warrior Fae, not a healer. I’m part witch, but I’m not a healer. And what did you mean about demonkind and Gideon? He’s human and Fae. A half-breed, like me.”

“He’s a tribred. Human, Fae and demon, almost perfectly balanced but with slightly more demonkind in him.” Dr. Cavanaugh’s kind eyes looked over the top of his glasses at her. “He’ll need help tonight. He shouldn’t be alone.”

“No. I—no.” She felt the blood drain from her face at the thought. “He’s a demon? No. I cannot.” Her very blood chilled at the thought.

“Just let me bunk here tonight, and I’ll be fine in the morning.” Gideon crossed his arms over his chest but his chin drooped. “More or less.”

“He’s a tribred. Not a demon.” Hannah let out an impatient huff as she turned toward Marie-Therese. “He’s not going to kill you, you know.”

“Now Hannah. If she’s never met a tribred, she’s allowed to freak out a bit. But Hannah’s right, Marie-Therese. Gideon won’t hurt you, much less kill you.”

Marie-Therese just stared at the doctor, who sighed and looked to his charts before lifting his gaze to Gideon.

“I can’t let you stay, Gideon. As soon as we leave tonight, the fumigators are coming in. We’ve got rats,” the doctor added. “Courtesy of the construction not far away.”

“Hannah? You got room at your place? I know Frank won’t mind if I bag the couch.”

“My husband would be proud to have you, Gideon. And the boys love you. Of course you can stay.” Hannah frowned at Marie-Therese and patted Gideon’s shoulder. “It’s never a problem, you know that.”