The Demon Deception (26 page)

“Would you flirt with him?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“If he talked you into a moonlight stroll,
would you do it, if your parent’s didn’t find out?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay, imagine that you’re on a moonlight
stroll with him, and he kisses you, and you kiss him back.”

Darcy glanced over at Sam, then closed her
eyes, “Okay, I’m imagining it.” Lazarus had a pretty good idea that
it wasn’t the mechanic she was thinking about.

“Okay, now imagine that you’ve just woken up,
and you find yourself in your own bed, your panties are around your
ankles, and your new boyfriend is nowhere to be seen. Then, you
find out three days later that you have an STD. Plus, you find out
you’re pregnant. And when you go to talk to him, you find out that
he’s married and has three kids.”

Darcy opened her eyes, and she looked very
unhappy, “That’s not where I thought this story was going, at
all.”

Lazarus nodded, “Yeah, I know, and that’s
where a lot of people find themselves. The law of unintended
consequences.” He put his hand on Lilith’s arm again, “That’s what
she does. She gives you a choice, and the choice looks very, very
good. Then you make your choice and find out what the consequences
are. That’s the fundamental essence of what demons do.”

Darcy shrugged, unhappy with his explanation.
The food arrived, and they tucked in. It was very good Mexican
food. Lazarus was glad they stopped there. Soon they finished, and
were back on the road. They decided not to go all the way to
Tucson, though. Eight hours of driving was enough. They stopped in
Las Cruses. Lazarus was driving, and he pulled into a Holiday Inn
Express. As he was checking in, he thought to himself,
“I’m not
usually a demon hunter, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express
last night.”

Everybody went to their separate rooms.
Lazarus was getting ready to order a movie to watch, when the phone
rang. He picked it up and answered. It was Lilith, “Eli, can you
come to my room for a minute? I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah, I’ll be right down.”

He pulled on his shirt, and tucked his pistol
into his front pocket. He wasn’t wearing shoes, and didn’t feel
like putting them back on. Before he left, he gave Sam a call. When
Sam answered the phone, Lazarus explained where he was going, “If
you don’t see me again, it’s probably because I’ve been kidnapped
and killed.”

“Oh, I don’t think you have to worry about
that,
Eli. Remember, the other night? When I went to her
room to tell her about the next day? She wasn’t wearing a stitch of
clothing when she answered the door.”

Eli hung up, and stood there with his head
down for a moment, contemplating whatever kind of mischief that
Lilith might have in store. He breathed in and out a few times,
making sure that he was breathing from his diaphragm, to draw
strength before heading down to Lilith’s room. He turned, walked to
the door, opened it and walked down the hall. He knocked on the
door, and waited for her to open it. The observation hole darkened,
then he heard the door knob click. The door opened.

Lilith wasn’t naked, precisely. She had on a
silk robe that dropped to mid-thigh. The robe was diaphanous, and
he could see her body as it was framed by the light of the room
behind her. She held the robe closed with one hand. She motioned
for him to come in, and turned. The front of the robe parted as she
turned and dropped her hand. He could see that she was wearing a
thong beneath the robe, and nothing else. As he walked in, she
turned, and only the light fabric of the robe hid her nipples and
the fullness of her breasts. Other than the robe and thong, she was
naked from the top of her head down to the toes of her feet. The
robe and thong accentuated, instead of hid, her sexuality.

It was tough for him not to stare at her. Her
stomach displayed a tautness that invited his kisses. He wanted to
run his hands over her body, and pull her close to him. He
swallowed hard. Then he looked up into her eyes, and saw
satisfaction as she watched him look at her. Anger replaced the
lust in his heart.

He was being manipulated, and he didn’t like
it. Two thousand years, and he was still that naïve boy. She had
turned him to greed and lust, kept him from the family that loved
him, and made him think his family only cared about the money he
gave them. The words that he spoke next came out hard and cold,
“What do you want, Lilith?”

The pleasure in her eyes died as she realized
that she had overplayed her hand. It had been a long time since
anyone was able to turn away from her manipulation. Subtlety was
not a trait that she had cultivated in quite a while. Men, and
women, did her bidding with very little effort on her part. They
were only human after all. Men like Lazarus, and to a lesser
degree, Sam, were very rare in her experience. Truth be told, it
actually made her desire Lazarus. He was something she couldn’t
have. Nobody told her no.

It was rare that a human escaped her. It was
even rarer that a human escaped the grasp of her boss, even if it
was with help. Plus, they had history together, a lot of it. He
remembered the old ways, and the old days, just like she did. She
couldn’t deny the past that she and Lazarus shared together.

She opened her mouth to speak, then stopped,
turned, and walked over to the bed to grab the belt for the robe.
She turned away from him, closed the robe, and tied the belt around
it, all pretense at seduction gone. She turned back to face him, “I
wanted to ask you about tomorrow.”

“What about it?” Lazarus asked.

“Do you think that Mephistopheles will be
there when we go to pick up the munitions?”

Lazarus shrugged, “Maybe, I don’t know. I
don’t think he can track us from our end. The IDs and credit cards
I’ve been using are all very clean. I paid very good money for them
and used a very reliable source.”

“Israeli intelligence, I expect,” she
countered.

“Well,” he spread his hands, “I’m not going
to tell you who I do business with. Let’s just say that I’ve done
business with them before, and I’ve always found them to be very
reliable.”

“What if he’s been able to track them?”

“If he was able to track them, I think we
would be in jail, or dead.” He stopped, and thought for a moment,
“No, I’m more worried about Sam’s contact. I don’t know who it is,
but they have major connections.”

“What kind of connections?”

Lazarus shook his head, “I’m not going to
conjecture with you, Lilith. Anything I give you could be used
against us at a later time.”

“So, when we go in tomorrow, what do you want
to do?”

“Well, I’ll go in and scout. While I do that,
you need to help Sam safeguard Darcy. I don’t want her exposed.
She’s an innocent.”

Lilith waved the last comment off with a
gesture of her hand, “She’s not as innocent as you believe. She
came to me for magic training. I didn’t offer it to her.”

“Yeah, but how did she know that she could
get training from you. I’m sure she didn’t just mention it out of
the blue one day. I’m sure that you dropped hints to get her to
come to you.”

“Think what you will. I just think you’ve
underestimated her.”

“Whatever, Lilith. Right now, on my list,
she’s an innocent. I don’t have anything to prove that she’s not. I
haven’t seen any signs that she’s cruel or indifferent to the
people around her. So, she’s an innocent. And she falls under my
protection.”

Lilith acquiesced, and spread her hands, “As
you wish. I’ll safeguard her.”

The movement of Lilith’s hands had unexpected
consequences. The fabric of the robe tightened, and Lazarus could
make out the shape of her breasts. This in turn made him aware of
her figure. Once again, his libido betrayed him as his brain
wandered among thoughts that were best left alone.

“Why did you bring her, Lilith?”

Lilith walked over to the table in her room,
bent over slightly to pick up her coke. As she bent over, the
fabric of the robe tightened and lifted up, revealing the curves of
her derriere. She turned back and loosened the cap on the bottle.
The soft drink hissed as bubbles broke to the surface.

“Honestly, Eli, I’m not sure. While the
thought of having a merlin possessed and loose among the public is
a thrilling idea, she’s not even close to being groomed for those
choices yet.”

Her eyes were twinkling as she said this,
making Lazarus think that she was being less than truthful. He
played along, “Slipping, Lilith? I thought you’d be able to work
faster than that.”

She shrugged, “Maybe. Usually humanists are
very easy to turn. Since they don’t believe in ultimate good or
evil, it is amazingly simple to get them to make bad choices. Darcy
isn’t like that though. She hasn’t been making the choices that I
want her to make. I give her the suggestions, plant the ideas, but
it’s like she has a guardian angel looking out for her.”

Lazarus laughed, “And I bet that drives you
crazy. It’s not often that humans can resist your temptations.”

Lilith leaned back against the table. She had
the coke in one hand, and placed her other hand against the table.
The fabric tightened across her breasts again. Lazarus could make
out the size and shape of her nipples. He wasn’t going to sleep
very well tonight. He might have to take another cold shower before
he went to bed.

“It does. But to answer your question, I
don’t know, but something spoke to me about Darcy. I think she
needs to be there with us. I don’t know why.”

Lazarus’ eyes grew dark, “I think you’re
lying to me, Lilith. If you’re going to use her as a sacrifice, you
better think again. Sam and I won’t let you harm a hair on that
girl’s head.”

Lilith sighed, which made parts of her wiggle
deliciously, “Honest, Eli, I’m not going to betray you in Bisbee.
The boss would be very upset with me if I tried to do that.
Besides, why would I? I like my job, I like the position that I
have. I like the perks I have now. I get a lot of leeway to do the
things I do.”

Lazarus thought about it, and on the face,
her arguments made sense. He hadn’t lived as long as he had by
taking the word of a demon at face value, though. There was
something else at play. He didn’t trust her. There was something
that she knew that he didn’t. Time was running out, and he still
hadn’t identified the stalking horse that was working against him.
He didn’t want to be in the Copper Queen mine and still have the
unknown third party unidentified. He may have to though.

“
Mine not to reason why, mine but to do or
die,”
he thought. It was not an enviable position to be in.

He was tired though, so he acquiesced, “It is
what it is, I guess. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

She shook her head, “you don’t trust me at
all do you?”

A wry smile appeared, “Would you if you were
in my position?”

She returned the same smile back at him, “No,
I guess I wouldn’t.”

“Okay, if that’s all you wanted, I’m turning
in for the night.”

She nodded, and he turned to the door.

“You know, Eli, you could stay the night if
you wanted to.”

He didn’t turn around, “I know. But you know
that’s just not possible.”

“We’re married already. It’s not like you’d
be committing a mortal sin.”

“That’s all in the past, Lilith. There’s been
a lot of water under the bridge since those days.”

“Was it really that bad, Eli?”

He turned his head slightly, “You know it
wasn’t. It would have been the perfect life, except, you know, your
betrayal, my betrayal of my family, my death by your jealous lover,
and my subsequent trip into hell. Other than that, it was
perfection.”

She walked towards him, “I’m lonely, Eli. I
don’t want to spend the night alone.”

He turned back and looked at her, the
beautiful, sculpted face, the perfect body, “Sorry, Lilith, I can’t
help you. If you’re lonely, you might want to rethink your
profession. Hard not to be lonely when you’re surrounded by
demons.”

He paused, then continued, “You know, you can
work for the good guys. The offer is there for everybody.”

She paused, thoughtful. Then a look of
disdain crossed her face. She turned her back on him, and took a
drink from her coke, “I’ll think about it.”

He knew her pride would never let her embrace
such a drastic course of action, “Lilith, one more question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know anything about two shooters sent
to kill us in the Poconos?”

She turned so that the light was behind her
again, showing off her body through the robe, “Would you believe me
if I told you no.”

He paused, then said, “Yes.”

“You’re hesitation indicates otherwise,” she
took another drink of coke as she contradicted his assertion, “But
no, I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“Thank you,” he turned back to the door,
opened it, and stepped out into the corridor. The door swung back,
and he heard the lock click as it closed. He walked down the hall,
pulled out his key card, and opened his door. He walked in, and
shut the door behind him. He pulled his pistol out and placed it on
the nightstand. He walked to the phone, picked it up, and called
Sam’s room.

“I’m back.”

“Good, then we don’t have to drag the river
for your body in the morning.”

“I’m touched that you’re concerned about my
welfare.”

“I’m more concerned with not wasting time in
the morning.”

“Deeply, deeply touched that you value our
friendship so highly.”

“So, was I right?”

“About her not wearing any clothes?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Not exactly, but what she did have on didn’t
leave much to the imagination.”

“I’m surprised. I would’a thought that she’d
want to tempt you back to the dark side.”