Night Marks (11 page)

“You two are bonded with me, he isn't, so I don't think you have to worry about my attentions being diverted. I already have two cocky alphas; I don't need to collect any more men.”

“I am glad to hear you say that. I have to go get that amulet ready, so I will let you use both hands to drive. I will see you in a few minutes. Be careful until then.”

“I will be. Love ya.”

“I love you, too, Nyx,” he says and hangs up.

“Ahh. Love, true love,” a deep, unfamiliar voice says from the back of the truck.

“What the …” I say swerving slightly as I look back in my mirror to see unfamiliar purple eyes staring back at me from the very back seat. The jerk has the nerve to wink at me. What is up with guys winking at me today?

The eyes are attached to a face with dark olive skin. The man has dark brown, wavy shoulder length hair. Obviously, he is not human. I can imagine the rest of his body is appealing to most afflicted with the female persuasion. The biggest issue I am having right now is the fact that I have never seen him before in my life and the fact that he just popped into my vehicle bodes extremely badly. The strawberry smell filling the car also would appear to point the situation into the unpleasant direction.

“I am pretty sure I mentioned you would be seeing me again. It took a little while to get disconnected from that weasely meat suit I was wearing because I actually left him conscious for the duration, but I did it just in time to see you before you got home. From the sounds of things, that was good thinking on my part,” says the demon that I am starting to believe is the D from DH.

The only good thing I heard from his little speech is that Harvey will be aware he is going to be a papa and not go total ape shit on Felicity for ending up pregnant. I just hope he doesn’t blame her for not realizing he was possessed. Some guys might be sensitive to that fact.

I look over to see why Jonas and Jake haven't gone on attack to find them both frozen. They look kind of funny stopped mid motion. It looks like me and Demon Boy are the only things moving in the vehicle. Not only that, he seems chatty. I didn’t like riding with a chatty Felicity, just imagine my joy at a demon with the disposition.

The way this day is going, I should have just rolled back over after my rude awakening this morning and stayed in bed. Maybe if I promise not to get out a bed for a week, things will start looking brighter.

“What do you want?” I ask pissed about the situation. “Don't you have some babies to go tend after? It was you that impregnated those two girls.” Not only that, he advanced their pregnancies by months, probably just for his own amusement.

“Do you know how hard it is to have a child as a demon? I imagine you don't, so I will tell you. Demons pretty much have no chance of procreating. There has not been a new demon born in a few millennia. Maybe even longer, no one really knows. Demons these days are created from already existing beings, similar to vampires, but we cannot create children the old-fashioned way,” he explains.

“Over the last couple of decades I have started feeling a paternal desire. I have been trying every method I can think of. I have used this form, my true demon form, others' bodies as vessels, women of different ages, women of different species, and the combinations go on indefinitely.” He pauses momentarily to sigh. “No matter what I try, my DNA just won't take. I am hoping that you may make the difference.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you might have noticed I was talking to my boyfriend just a second ago and I don't think he would like me having some stranger's kid. Not only that, but I don't plan to become pregnant. Ever.”

I do believe this conversation is starting to border on the insane. Of course, at least half of the conversations I have had this month follow along those lines, but eventually that has to stop, right?

He is quiet for a few moments and I start hoping he has given up and left, but a quick glance shows he is still back there. He looks rather pensive. A demon deep in thought is probably not a good thing. Wanting him to just leave, I don’t initiate further conversation. I focus on the road and try to implement the old saying “if you cannot see it, it doesn’t exist”.

“What species is your boy toy?” he finally asks. Drat. The saying is a bunch of hogwash.

“Sebastian,” I say not liking the boy toy comment, “is a vampire, so, as you can guess, babies aren't in our future.”

“First, let me say I am happy to hear you like older men. Sebastian isn’t exactly a spring chicken, so things are looking up for me. Secondly, if you were just a vampire, I would agree with that statement, but we both know you are something far more complex. Your tri-supernatural gene pool makes you very unique. Vampires don't generally have babies because they only fornicate amongst themselves and the poor females of the species are barren. We both know that you, however, are very fertile. I believe it is your womb that I have been looking for all these years.”

Oh God, that is creepy. I shiver from just the thought of him implanting something in my womb. That thought has moved to another of my many top ten lists. This one is the one that lists things I never, ever want to happen and will do anything possible to prevent it.

“As fertile as this womb may be, nothing is getting planted in it, so you can take your crazy little notion and leave.”

“Nyx, we have an incantation that will hopefully cast him out of the vehicle,”
I hear Alex say in my head.

About time, okay maybe there is one good thing about us being mentally connected. I ponder that for a second and decide that there still isn’t anything good about it. I am almost home and Demon Boy will probably be ejecting soon.

“Oh goodie, an incoming transmission. It would seem you have connected with the furry part of you. Two mates from species that don’t get along, I imagine holidays are great fun at your place. Tell him to calm down. I am leaving, for now, but there is a third side to you that may need a mate one of these days and I am hoping you will think of me,” el creepo says from the peanut gallery.

“Sorry, that third side is not demon, so I think you are out of luck.” Oh please, don’t let me be part demon. We have assumed that other part was human and they don’t need specific mates.

“No, not demon, but nevertheless it is paranormal and I believe I am compatible with it, so keep me in mind. Until then, if you need me the name is Ben. Just give a shout and I will come running. Enjoy the parting gift,” he says before vanishing.

A searing pain hits the palm of my right hand. “Son of a bitch,” I yell, taking my hand off the wheel and at the same time try not to drive off the road. Looking at my palm I see a burn of an intricate design start to take place. “Shit.”

“What the fuck is that?” Jonas asks unfrozen and looking around for a threat before settling on my palm.

“Sorry, he is long gone. And this,” I say waving my hand around, “after the somewhat short, one-sided conversation I just had, I am afraid is marking me as a demon’s whore. If said demon shows his face again, I am going to torch his ass.” 

I don’t know what the thing that is still forming on my hand is, but I hope it can be removed. Otherwise, I am fixing to lose some skin carving it off myself. It is bad enough I have marks carved into me by one bastard. I don’t want to have some weird demon’s calling card.

My cases had better not all turn out like this. It was supposed to be simple, find the girl and make her call home. Not find the girl, attract her horny demon possessed boyfriend, and get fricken marked by that asshole.

Chapter 14

The creepy truth about sculptures

As I pull into my spot, I see my two very worried mates waiting for me. I get out and walk over to Sebastian, giving him a quick hug. I am hoping he will find this latest travesty somewhat amusing.

Looking up at his face, I can see my guess is dead wrong. Caged violence lines every cell of his gorgeous mug. I think I was right about the done wrong by a demon in the past thought. Now, the question is whether it was a male or female demon. I can just imagine some bitch of a succubus getting him hot and bothered and then leaving him high and dry. I will have to remember to interrogate him later.

“This is extremely serious, my love. Demons may be somewhat lesser paranorms in our society, but they are the most dangerous. Let me see the mark so I can see what it says.”

What it says? I thought it was just some drawing. Shows what I know. It is good to know I have someone on my side that reads demonese.

I extend my palm to him and show him the now blackened mark. I feel Alex shift to stand behind me looking over my shoulder. His heated presence releases a feeling of calmness through my body. Stupid wolf hormones, I don’t want to be calm. I want to be pissed.

We all concentrate on the design. All I see is a wicked looking raven centered in a ring that has an outer ring around it. In between the two rings are a bunch of little scribbles. I am guessing they are probably some demonic language now that Sebastian thinks words are involved.

“It’s not as bad as I expected. I have seen some real doozies as far as these marks go. I am concerned about the raven, though. Each demon has their own symbol. The raven is well known to belong to the demon Benjalarico. He is a very old reaper demon. For him to take interest in what Alex has described to me, based on what he overheard in your mind, is quite confusing.”

“Yeah, good old Ben wants to have himself a little baby. I informed him I wasn’t interested, hopefully, that closes the case. Now, what do the scribbles say?” I ask wanting to know what horror is ahead for me. The fact that Ben is a reaper demon means he has been taking time out from his busy soul-harvesting schedule to make his attempts at fatherhood.

“First, there is the protection from other demons. That one is mainly to mark you as his as far as his kind goes. Having to deal with only one isn’t so bad, from our point of view,” he adds to his explanation. “The next is a tracker. I am not very happy about that one. He can now pinpoint your location at any time. It will also block any kind of charm I would have tried to protect you with.”

“That is just great news. Do we have the ability to at least charm the bathroom so he doesn’t just pop in while I am in the shower?” I ask starting to get pissed even with Alex trying to calm me. He places his hands on my hips to try harder. Sorry bud, it ain’t working. I am not even going to ask why his presence may cause a change in my mood. I have enough stuff to piss me off, for the moment.

“Yes. The building itself will be protected, I hope. We will also try to charm the vehicles. Your personal one may be an issue since he has already been in there, but we will make the attempt,” Sebby responds.

“At least that is something,” I reply glumly. This might mean I need to trade the old girl in. “Do the scribbles do anything else?”

“The last part gives you the ability to summon him at any time. I am guessing he gave you instructions on how to do it. It looks like his summoning name should be here, but it is missing.”

“He just said his name was Ben and to call him anytime I needed him.”

“He must have made it so you didn’t need the official name. Demons rarely give them out, so it isn’t surprising. There isn’t anything here that formally binds you to him. It is just protection and ways to get in contact.”

“Did Alex also hear that good ol’ Ben says I have some other kind of paranorm gene beside the two we know of?” I ask tilting my head back to get a glimpse of Alex’s face.

“He did,” Alex responds speaking of himself in the third person. “If it is true, it isn’t anything we have encountered and the Collective didn’t know about it either.”

“Whatever it is, let’s hope it is like a vampire and doesn’t have a predestined mate programmed into it. Having to share you with someone else is already hard enough. A three-way share would be impossible,” Sebastian says taking my hand and leading our group inside.

Yeah, but if the demon possesses one of them is it still considered a three-way share?  The possibility horrifies me.

At my floor, we file out and I give a quick wave to Venus and David.

“They can’t wave back,” Jake points out. He must really think I am a moron.

“If I ever decide to lift the curse, they could possibly wave. It should give Venus her arms back,” Sebby states as if it is no big deal.

“Wait. Hold the phone. Those two are actually real people?” I say skidding to a halt.

“Of course. Most sculptures of people you see are just curses. As they are passed around over the centuries, the incantation to reverse the curse is sometimes lost, but I know both of theirs. I can release them at any time.”

“Are they aware in there?” I ask. I can just imagine the cultural shock of waking them up if they have been encased for hundreds of years.

“I couldn’t say. It all depends on the being that laid the curse. Some want their victims to know what they are missing, others just want them out of the way.”

The idea that they are real people boggles my mind. It also terrifies me that people are out there capable of doing something like this.

“So, I am guessing a witch is behind this kind of thing. How worried should I be about pissing one of them off?”

Sebastian full on laughs. I didn’t think the question was that funny. “A witch couldn’t dream of anything this complex,” he says after calming down. “No, my love, the only being able to do something like this is one like your new found friend. It be a demon curse.”

I wonder how many times I have thought “great” to myself today. I imagine I am going for some kind of record because I am thinking it again.

“Don’t worry,” Alex says pulling me along and depositing me on the sofa. “We will protect you from the big, bad demon. We’ll also make sure you are clothed at all times. I know you would hate to be a naked sculpture.”

“Jerk,” I hiss as I punch him in his shoulder. He just laughs and takes the seat next to me.

“It doesn’t sound like being forever immortalized in stone is what he has planned for you,” Jonas kindly points out.