Demon of Desire (8 page)

Baen stepped closer. “We did knock. And cleared our throats.
And I’m pretty sure at least one of us grunted once or twice.”

“But you didn’t think about coming back later?”

“I can’t say I thought about much more than joining in,”
Gower admitted.

“Oh, fuck,” Sin muttered, forcing an arm through a tangled
sleeve. “I don’t do this sort of thing. Really. I’m not—”

Enos grabbed her hand and pulled her back down on his lap,
now covered by his jeans. His arms encircled her, holding firmly but gently.
“We know you’re not.”

“I’m sorry, Enos. I shouldn’t have had sex with you. I
barely even know you.”

“Shhh,” he whispered, stroking her hair and pushing her head
against his chest. “It’s my fault. I should have talked to you about it first.
But I couldn’t stop myself. Once I started kissing you I was lost.”

Gower had come to sit on the back of the settee. “There’s a
lot of talking we need to do. We’ve been waiting until you felt stronger.”

“More comfortable with all the changes you’ve been through,”
Baen added, sitting beside Enos and pulling her legs across his lap. He wrapped
his hand around her ankle and draped his other arm over her bare shin, the wool
from his sleeve rough against her skin. “I think whether you’re strong enough
or not, it’s time.”

“Time?” With all the craziness that had happened in the past
month, she wondered what else they could spring on her. “Why do I have the
feeling I’m going to regret coming to Whispering Valley?”

“If you don’t already, that’s a good sign,” Enos said in her
ear.

“We hope not,” Baen added. “I was hoping to make you glad
you came. And maybe a bit less embarrassed that we watched you two make love.”

Heat rose to her cheeks. It would take a long time before
that embarrassment left.

Baen cleared his throat. “I guess I need to go way back to
explain this correctly. You’ve probably noticed we’re triplets.”

“Yes, Gower told me, and told me you stopped aging when you
were turned into vampires.” With a wry laugh, she added, “Like I told him, why
couldn’t I meet you guys years ago when I was skinny and wrinkle-free?”

All three men made noises of disagreement. Enos brushed her
hair back from her face and kissed the corner of her eye. “We prefer you just
the way you are.”

Baen continued. “Our grandmother once told us we were one
soul split into three, and that really described how we’ve lived. We have the
same tastes in books, wine…”

“Women,” Gower added.

With a dirty look at his brother, Baen said, ”I was getting
to that. We’ve had two wives over the years.”

“Two of you are married?” she asked.

“No. The three of us were married twice. To the same women.”

“Neither were vampires,” Enos explained. “Otherwise we’d
still be married. ‘Til death do us part’ takes on a different meaning when
you’re undead.”

“Okay.” She drew out the word, wondering what they were
getting at. She’d been talking about having sex with them and he was talking
marriage. Speaking of rushing things!

As if hearing her thoughts, Baen said, “When we saw you, we
recognized you as our mate.”

“If life had happened a little differently, we might have
been able to court you properly.” Gower lifted her hand to his lips. “Suthu
kind of destroyed any hope of normalcy between the four of us.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” she agreed. One thing still
confused her. They spoke of wives and mates. Did that put her in a different
role than wife? Was she just to be their sex toy or brood mare? “What do you
mean by mate?”

Enos jumped in. “Poets call it a soul mate, but there again,
the undead thing changes the game.”

“Your being a vampire makes it different that if you were a
mortal,” Baen said. He ran a hand up her smooth leg and her crazy thoughts
landed on the fact that being undead meant she had quit shaving. “We’re talking
a long commitment if you agree to this.”

“Agree to what?”

All three men spoke. “Becoming our wife.”

Those were
the words she expected, but still hit her
like a Peterbilt truck. The last guy she’d been involved with couldn’t commit
to a wedding date and these three wanted a lifetime and beyond.

It was too much, too quickly. Libido aside, she didn’t know
enough about them. They didn’t know her. She snored, or so she’d been told. And
she didn’t like to cook—well, that probably wouldn’t be a problem, between Enos
and the blood bank. But she had nothing to bring to a relationship except a
house filled with voices, a demon and three very rich cats.

“You don’t have to decide this moment.” Enos’ arms squeezed
tightly around her then relaxed.

The weight of the sudden changes in her life pressed in on
her from all sides, making it difficult to breathe. She needed to be alone.
Breaking free of Enos’ hold, she stood on shaky legs, sweeping her hair back in
an effort to control something. “I need a shower. Some downtime. Do you guys
mind?”

A chorus of negative utterances answered. Baen said, “Why
don’t you soak in the bathtub with some oils or salts?”

Gower asked, “Would you like a glass of wine to sip?” He
rose from the back of the couch.

“No, guys, really. I don’t need anything from you. From
anyone. Right now I’d love to be on a deserted island. No offense, but I
haven’t been alone since I arrived in Whispering Valley.”

“We can’t leave you completely alone, hon. Not until the
last of your aunt’s possessions have been checked for demons.” Gower looked at
his brothers as if for support.

Baen agreed. “We can stay out of your way, though. You go
pamper yourself and we’ll see if we can get the last of the crates out of the
attic.”

“Fine.” At least they wouldn’t be hovering.

As she walked slowly up the steps, with twinges of pain
coming from her hips and inner thighs from being spread on Enos’ lap, she
realized how ridiculous it was that she was complaining about the men hovering
over her. Tim had never been nurturing in all their six years together. He was
whiny, demanding. A spiritual and emotional vampire, now that she thought about
it.

And downstairs she had three, count ‘em, three, real
vampires waiting to see to her every need. She hadn’t planned to enter the
romance lottery ever again, but the letter from her aunt’s lawyer had
apparently been the winning ticket.

Maybe someday she’d feel like a winner. At that moment she
felt only drained.

Baen and his brothers surveyed the stacks of crates and junk
in the attic. He pointed at the ones stacked in one corner. “These boxes we’ve
gone through can go to Marrett. And let’s take anything that looks like books
to our place. Sin started reading from one a few weeks back. I don’t know what
language it was, but I was sure a demon would appear at any moment.”

“Her curiosity is dangerous. Her parents must not have told
her anything about what her great-grandfather did.” Gower lifted a pile of
quilts and moved them to a corner where a mahogany highboy dresser stood. “I
think we should take it all to Marrett’s to sort through. It’s too risky to
leave it where she can get at it.”

Enos folded in the top flaps on a box of books and lifted.
“He isn’t going to be happy to see all of this shit dumped at his place.”

“So we’ll take it to our basement and he can look through it
there. I just want it as far from Sin as we can get it. She’s not strong enough
to survive another possession.” Baen frowned as he thought about the potential
risks the attic held. He moved to the nearest stack of boxes and picked up the
top two, then followed his brothers down the staircase.

He barely noticed the whispers filling the corners he
passed. He’d lived in the valley for so long, their presence was like a
constant breeze, or the stench from the horses down the road from their house.
It came with the territory. He wondered how much of their lives went unnoticed,
yet would be new to Sin. Life in the valley, life as a vampire, required
adjustments.

They needed to be aware of that and act accordingly. Like
not watching each other make love to Sin. Not yet, anyway. She didn’t seem the
type to have experimented with multiple partners, serially or at one time. They
would have to ease her into it.

Memories of the expression on her face when she had peaked
with Enos set his cock twitching. Her face could have been painted by the
Masters—so much passion, so much womanly mystique poured from her features.

Baen considered how he felt about her after such a short
time. He wouldn’t call it love, yet. Love took time to build and deepen. There
was something about finding your mate, though, that changed the rules.

Was it possessiveness? A sense of completion and rightness,
or inevitability? He could honestly tell Sin he and his brothers would devote
themselves to her forever, because they had been waiting so long to be able to
do so. Love would come, blossoming out of whatever emotion they felt for her
now.

He decided he should tell her that, so she would understand
them a little better.

Chapter Seven

Sin opened her eyes to the realization the bath water had
gone cool. Small islands of bubbles floated between her knees and the end of
the tub. How long had she been in there? She lifted a hand and glanced at her
fingers, surprised not to see wrinkles. Her body really was dead. Or undead.

She didn’t notice a chill when she stood, either. So many
little changes were easy to overlook in the day-to-day adjustment to being a
vampire. Like the way her teeth felt when she and Enos made love, how the
canines had grown. Grabbing the thick, fluffy towel from the bar, she patted
her skin. She had always been pale and had been grateful in recent years when
that look became popular. At least that was one change she didn’t have to get
used to.

When she heard footsteps above, she was glad to know the
guys were up there so she didn’t have to wonder what might be moving about in
the attic. She’d be so happy when life took on a normal routine.
Normal
.
Right. Rising at dusk and toasting the sunset with a goblet of O-positive. What
did vampires do all day—er, night? Flit around from tree to tree?

Speaking of which, she wondered if she could fly. Turn into
a bat at will. That would save on auto maintenance and gasoline bills.

Perhaps it was a good thing the three men were staying so
close. With her luck she’d shift without notice in some embarrassing situation
and land on the nightly news. Or YouTube.

She pulled on some clothes, barely glancing in the mirror at
her appearance. One day soon, perhaps, she’d feel like dressing up and putting
on makeup but for now, she couldn’t really care less about how she looked.
Running a brush through her hair, she pictured each of the brothers and thought
about her feelings for them.

Baen was the leader, it seemed. The big brother. She’d never
known triplets before so seeing the dynamic in action was new. So alike, yet so
different. Baen exuded confidence, like a man who was used to getting his way.
He wasn’t bossy or bull-headed, but more like a prince who grew up knowing he’d
one day be king.

What would he be like in bed? Probably a confident lover who
would know exactly what she needed. Would he be the type to tell her what to
do, how to touch him? The idea of him asking her to undress him, to run her
tongue over his hardened length before taking him in her mouth had ripples of
excitement coursing through her.

Then there was Gower. She hadn’t had as much time alone with
him but her attraction had been instant. In the days since she’d been turned,
her sense of smell had grown stronger and Gower’s scent was the most powerful
of the three. Just catching a whiff of him as he walked past could make her
salivate. She suddenly understood women who buried their faces in a lover’s
shirt or pillowcase just to inhale the memory of him.

Enos was the most emotional of the three. More nurturing.
He’d be the one to bring her soup in bed when she was sick. Gourmet recipe, of
course. He’d be the one she’d curl up with on a winter night when cabin fever
set in. His presence enriched her somehow. Making love to him had been as
wildly passionate as she expected, but her heart felt calmer afterward, if such
a thing was possible.

It had also made her dilemma quite clear. She needed to come
to some sort of decision about her relationship with the brothers. She was
drawn to each of them in different ways. She could imagine a happily-ever-after
with any of them, as ridiculous as it might seem so soon after meeting them.
But she had to figure out if she could handle being with all three of them as
they insisted was meant to be.

For the moment, she needed to see how they were doing with
emptying the attic. Hopefully the only dangerous objects in the house were up
there. She doubted that, though, since the fetish had been found in her aunt’s
bedroom.

She seen her aunt’s ghost only once since the demon had been
driven from her body. Maybe now that Sin was safe, her aunt had gone on to wherever
souls go when people die.

With a sigh, Sin wished she could sit and talk with her aunt
and get the answers to all of these questions. Since she couldn’t, she went in
search of the guys.

As she went up the last two steps to the attic, she almost
collided with the large box coming through the doorway in Gower’s arms. Jumping
back, she flattened herself against the wall. “Hey!”

The box lowered and Gower smiled down at her. “Sorry. We’re
almost done up here.” He looked back over his shoulder. “I don’t know if you
should go in there until we’re sure it’s clear.”

“Do you really think I’m any safer standing two feet outside
the room?”

He balanced the box against the railing. “I guess you’re
right. I just don’t want anything more to happen to you.”