Demon of Desire (4 page)

“We’ll stick together and make it somehow. If we’re lucky,
it won’t be snowing as heavily as they predicted.” Gower wrapped up the fetish
and followed Enos out of the room.

As his brothers left, Baen tucked the quilt tighter around
Sin and planted a kiss on her forehead. It occurred to him he’d just met her,
but in some ways he’d known her forever. Walking around to the opposite side of
the bed, he plumped a pillow against the headboard and leaned back, resting his
head against the wall. He heard the sounds of his brothers’ footsteps on the
porch, and the quiet rhythm of Sin’s breath. Relaxing, he let his hearing
sharpen until he heard the comforting, constant beat of her heart.

* * * * *

Sin landed in her body as if she’d fallen from a skyscraper.
Pain hardened her muscles and her skin felt as if it was about to shatter. The
sound of a cat purring roared in her ears.

With caution she opened her eyelids just a slit, snapping
them closed again when the light stabbed through her head. This was far beyond
any hangover she’d ever experienced. What had she drunk last night?

The thought of a drink sent nauseating waves coursing
through her belly and the room began to spin. She was going to vomit, if she
could gather the strength. Suddenly, strength or not, she had no choice. Her
abdomen spasmed as she rolled toward the edge of the bed.

“Here.” A man’s quiet voice spoke and a wastebasket appeared
below her head as she retched. Dry heaves hurt worse than all her other aches
combined.

When her body quieted, she lay back on the pillow. “What
happened last night?”

“What do you remember?”

She peered through one twitching eyelid. Baen stood over
her. Well, that was a start. She remembered him. And his older brothers. She
drew in a deep breath and it filled her with his scent. Warm spice, soap and
something a bit wild that she couldn’t name. “You and your brothers came over
to help get the house ready for the storm.”

“That’s right.”

“I was moving my aunt’s clothes out of the closet.” She
turned her head, planting her hands firmly on the bed to keep it from spinning,
and looked at the closed door across the room. “There was a wooden box.”

“A casket. That’s correct.”

She shivered. “Casket?”

He laughed, a quiet, rich sound that soothed her. “That’s
what that type of box was called. It’s antique, you know.”

Sin saw the box sitting on the dresser. “There was something
in it. A carving.”

“A fetish.”

Her eyes widened as the rest of the memory came back. She
remembered hovering above the room, watching herself, her body, strip for the
three men and seduce them. She groaned.

“And the rest of the evening has obviously returned.”

She couldn’t bear to look at him, but heard the teasing in
his voice. “Please, you have to realize, I don’t—I would never—”

“We know. It was the demon.” Baen sat on the edge of the bed
near her feet. “Suthu.”

Gooseflesh rippled down her skin. “Don’t say that name. You
might conjure it up.”

“It’s okay. The demon is gone now.”

Gower entered the bedroom. “You’re awake.”

Sin recalled commenting on his ass and kissing him not long
before her possessed body had reached for his belt buckle.
Saints forgive me
.
She closed her eyes and willed herself to vanish under the quilt.

“And she remembers all of it,” Baen said.

The bed sank beneath Gower’s weight as he brushed her hair
back off her face. His fingers were cool on her skin. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m wishing the earth would swallow me up right about now.”

“That’ll fade.”

She glared up at him. “And when was the last time you
stripped before total strangers and begged to be fucked?”

“She’s got you there, brother.” Enos’ laughter-rich voice
announced him as he came to stand at the foot of the bed. “You’re looking good,
hon, all things considered.”

In her head images flashed of her body rolling around under
the men. She supposed that was the perfect way to end a sexual drought, getting
naked with three men at once. The only problem was, she didn’t remember how it
ended. Somehow asking,
was it good for you too
, didn’t strike her as the
right way to find out.

And worse, after being possessed by a sex demon, why did it
matter to her if she’d come?

The thought of being in her body while having sex with these
three sent shivers of excitement throughout her. How insane, to feel like a
limp rag and be craving a ménage á quatre. Maybe the demon hadn’t left. Making
sure the quilt was tucked tightly under her arms and hid her hardening nipples,
she shifted to sit up against the headboard. “So, how’d you guys get rid of the
demon?”

The brothers exchanged glances before Gower spoke. “It’s
complicated. Mythology says the demon possesses the body until death.”

“But I’m still alive.”

Gower lowered his gaze. Sin turned to Baen. “You guys found
a different way, obviously.”

Baen nodded, and looked over at Enos.

Enos straightened, spreading his feet and crossing his arms
across his chest. “We had to bring you near death, without actually killing
you.”

“Near death? How do you do that? How do you decide what is
near enough but not too much? What are we talking about here?”

She thought no one would answer her as she studied one man
after another. In the movies when a character wanted to experience near death,
there was usually all sorts of medical equipment involved. There hadn’t been
time for that last night. Just how big a risk had they taken with her life?

“Gower? Tell me whatever it is you guys are avoiding. It
can’t be all that bad because I’m sitting here now talking to you. I’m still
alive.”

He met her gaze and held it. “Not technically. None of us
are. Sin, we’re vampires.”

She remembered seeing Enos’ fangs appear, and the blood on
his lips as he fought with the demon inside her body. She pulled the quilt a
little higher, desperate for a modicum of security. They obviously didn’t want
to kill her or they would have done so already. Or left her to deal with the
demon on her own. Yet none of them would meet her gaze. “You’re vampires.”

Enos shook his head. “No,
we’re
vampires.”

“That’s what I said.” Then her mouth formed his words and
understanding hit her. “Oh God. We?”

They all nodded.

“I’m a…” She couldn’t finish it. How the hell did she become
a vampire? Two days ago she was packing for her move, thinking evil thoughts of
her great-aunt who left her fortune to her cats, and now she was some sort of
undead freak. It was unreal.

Gower spoke softly beside her. “It gets easier to deal with
in time. There’s a woman in the village who can help you, if you’d like.”

“A woman. Is she a vampire, too?” What kind of place was Whispering
Valley? Why did her aunt remain in a community like this? “Was my aunt a, you
know, vampire?”

“No. As far as we know, you aunt had no special gifts beyond
communication with spirits.”

“Gifts?” They were kidding, right? The desire to suck blood
and an allergy to sunlight weren’t something she’d considered asking Santa for.
Ever. She grew faint when she had a hangnail. Drink blood? No way. Not even
with vodka and pepper sauce.

“Not everyone here is a vampire,” Baen explained. “There are
psychics, witches, fairies…”

Sin frowned. “Fairies aren’t real.” She heard the words as
she said them. So she could accept vampires, but drew the line at fairies?
Closing her eyes, she leaned back into the pillow. “It’s too much.”

She heard shuffling sounds and the room grew quiet.

Baen pulled the door closed behind them and followed his
brothers downstairs. “We should call Ana.”

“Do you think she can help?” Gower dropped into an
overstuffed chair in the front room.

“She can’t hurt. We can’t just leave Sin to deal with this
on her own.” Baen stood facing the large window, his back to his brothers.
“Even if Sin weren’t the one we’ve been looking for, we have to help her
adjust.”

How had this gotten so screwed up? Just over a year ago he’d
been in this very room helping Absinthe prepare to move into the local nursing
home. He’d promised to feed the cats, and to watch over her grand-niece when
the old woman died. Apparently, the aunt had seen the end coming, but it had
taken longer than she expected. Had she also known the connection between the
brothers and her niece?

One thing he knew for certain, turning a woman into a
vampire wasn’t the best way to start a relationship.

Baen turned and looked at Enos. “We need to continue to stay
with her until we’re sure she’s going to be okay. I’ll take the first shift.”

Enos nodded. “I’ll talk to Ana.”

Baen watched his brothers leave, then went into the kitchen
to feed the cats. The three sat on the counter watching him intently. Their
loud purrs did nothing to convince him they were happy to have him invade their
space. He found some cans of food and dumped them in the cat dishes, then
looked in the fridge for something to fix for Sin.

It would take a while for her body to adjust to a diet of
blood as its mainstay. He knew meats wouldn’t digest well, and there was no
fresh produce in the drawers. He should have thought about groceries when Enos
went for their dinner the night before.

He felt, rather than heard, the door push open behind him.
He straightened to see Sin walk in, shoving her blonde hair back from her
shoulders. “Hey, how’re you feeling?”

She made a face. “Still fragile. As if I’m going to break
into a million pieces.”

Nodding, he moved to the small table and pulled out a chair
for her. “Let me fix you something to eat.”

Her complexion took on a green tinge. “I’m not sure about
food.”

“Trust me. It’ll help.”

He found some instant oatmeal in the cupboard and had a
steaming bowl in front of her in a matter of minutes. She poked at it with her
spoon. Slipping into a chair opposite her, he asked, “Something wrong?”

“No milk.”

“Yeah, well. There was none in the fridge. Your body won’t
take to animal protein for a while, anyway. Except for…”

Sin raised her gaze from the bowl. “Except for blood.”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

Sighing, she spooned a mouthful and chewed. “I’m not going
to wake up from this, am I?”

He leaned across and grasped her free hand. “Hopefully in a
few months, you won’t want to.”

“What’s so great about being a vampire?”

“That’s not the point,” he replied. “You’re still Sin. You
still have a life. So maybe your diet and sleeping habits change. You are still
a part of the community. You can make friends, maybe fall in love.”

Chapter Four

Love
. There was the irony. She sucked at love. Maybe
as a vampire she’d have better luck. She wrinkled her face as she watched Baen
sit opposite her at the kitchen table. “I didn’t come here looking for love.”

“Why did you come?”

“My life was over in L.A. Why not?” Two million dollars
worth of cat food funds had sweetened the deal, she had to admit. And the only
way to access the money was to live in the house and take care of the cats.
“Let’s just say I had suffered some financial losses, so an all-expenses-paid
trip to somewhere no one knew me came at the right time.”

He nodded, stroking his thumb across that back of her hand.
“Is there a man in your life who’ll be following you here?”

“He’d better not!” She supposed she owed the brothers the
whole story, or most of it, seeing as they were helping her adjust to life in
Whispering Valley. And suddenly, she realized she wanted to share it. Free her
mind of it. “We broke up a long time ago, but I’m still cleaning up the mess he
left me in. He got involved in a multi-level marketing scheme and became one of
the fall guys when the company was exposed. Somehow he’d tied my finances to
his, and all my savings, my 401k and my condo were frozen.”

She smiled wryly. “I never thought I would be grateful that
my aunt left her money to her cats. I never told her about Tim’s dealings or
losing everything I owned, yet her will was worded in such a way that Tim can’t
get at the money, if I ever were so stupid as to let him back into my life.”

Sensing Baen was about to ask, she added, “He’s not coming
here and I’m not going back to him. In fact, if you ever see a tall, skinny
creep with washed-out red hair you have my permission to bite him. But do me a
favor. Don’t make him immortal.”

Baen nodded again and leaned back in his chair.

Pushing away the half-eaten bowl of oatmeal, she combed her
fingers through her hair and looked around the room. “If my life is supposed to
go on as usual, I guess I need to unpack.”

Taking the stairs to her room, she felt something
whoosh
past
her, too tall for a cat, and remembered the shadow she had noticed the other
day. Was the demon still here? As she peered around the doorframe into her
room, she prepared to call out for Baen.

When she saw her great-aunt’s ghost wavering near the
closet, she let out her breath in relief. “It’s you, thank God.”

“Yes, I needed to be sure you’re all right. I am so sorry
about the demon. It’s all my fault.”

“Your fault?” Sin asked. “How?”

“I never should have kept the fetish in this house. I tried
to warn you away but you couldn’t see me. I knew it was in the closet and
didn’t want you going in there.”

“That was you who put the clothes back in the closet?”

Absinthe nodded. “It was silly, I know, but I hoped you
would either figure out I was trying to tell you something, or get scared
enough to make the brothers move everything out of here. I kept bringing the
clothes back in here, and looking around in the attic for something to get your
attention.”