Read The Demon You Know Online
Authors: Christine Warren
Rule glanced over his shoulder to see Graham Winters propped negligently against the wooden frame. He cast the Lupine a dark look and turned back to his mental self-flagellation.
"I've seen it too many times, my friend, on the faces of my friends and cousins, and in my own
mirror to boot." Cheerfully ignoring his lack of welcome, Graham sauntered into the room and settled himself into the armchair to Rule's left. "In my world, that look only comes from one place. Woman troubles. I didn't know your kind shared that particular vulnerability.”
In general terms, Rule liked Graham. He possessed a fierce loyalty, a ferocious honesty, and razor-sharp fangs that Rule knew personally came in handy in a fight. But right now, he would just as soon toss the Silverback Alpha out the window as have this conversation.
"Considering how little you know about my kind, that is hardly surprising." Rule raised his glass to his lips. "But I fear you are mistaken. I do not have a woman to cause me trouble.”
"Then who exactly is upstairs sleeping in one of my VIP rooms?”
"I'm sure Rafael has filled you in on the current state of affairs.”
"Oh, he told me a pretty interesting story. Missy and I found him and Tess waiting in our living
room when we got back from the movies." Graham leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out to
plant his heels on the low wood-and-metal coffee table. "But what he said doesn't explain the look on
your face. Or the eyeful Tess described seeing when they barged back in on you and not-your-woman in the library.”
Rule cursed, low and fluently, in the language of the Below. "That meant nothing.”
"Interesting. That's a pretty different summary than the one Tess gave me. From what she described, I was thinking we'd be celebrating another mating around here any day now.”
That earned Graham a glare. "I am not a Lupine. I do not make a commitment to a female merely because my hormones become slightly unruly.”
"Then what does make a demon take the plunge? Presumably some of you do, or there wouldn't
be any little demons pitter-pattering around the Below.”
Rule's shoulders shifted in a reluctant shrug. "Of course some do, but it isn't like one of your matings. We don't believe that one soul has been preordained to join with ours and make us complete. We forge alliances or partnerships based on mutual compatibility.”
"And lust.”
"That, too.”
Graham shook his head. "That sounds almost human, Rule. They pick their mates in the same arbitrary manner you've just described. I've always thought that's why so many of them get divorced.”
"And I have always thought being tied to another for all eternity was the reason why so many Lupines die young," the demon snapped. "But this conversation is pointless. I have no interest in the human woman. We certainly do not share the sort of similarities in mind and character that could forge a lasting relationship.”
"Just a lasting lip-lock, huh?”
Rule's growl was succinct and illustrative.
Graham smirked. "Right. But it's not woman trouble.”
"Not the sort you are imagining." Rule tossed back the remainder of his brandy and rose to pour himself another glass. "I have no doubt the woman will be trouble, but that is because she is alone, afraid,
and, I suspect, reckless. She doesn't seem to comprehend the gravity of her situation.”
"Which is?”
"If Uzkiel locates her and wrests the
solus
spell from Louamides? The end of your world as it
currently exists.”
"Bummer.”
Rule snorted and turned back to his chair. "I fail to understand how you mortals, with your finite life spans, can seem to regard matters like the destruction of your existence with such nonchalance.”
"We're used to it. Christ, Rule, you remember what happened last year with Fiona and Dionnu. Before that it was the Light of Truth, and before that it was something else." He shrugged. "It's not that we take anything lightly; it's just that if we panicked every time we were threatened with destruction, we'd all be dead of heart attacks.”
"And you all view where I come from as hell.”
Graham grinned. "That's just because you guys don't get ESPN.”
Rule shook his head and swallowed more brandy. He still didn't even feel a tingle, let alone a
healthy buzz.
"Seriously, Rule, I hear what you're saying, but I still think you've got more trouble than you're admitting to. Unless you tripped and fell on her lips?”
No, he'd tripped and fallen on his own damned idiocy. "Something like that. It was purely accidental, and not something I plan to repeat.”
The Lupine just looked at him.
"What?" Rule snapped. "I am perfectly serious. I have no intention of so much as touching the woman again, let alone kissing her. Not only is she under my protection, but she is mortal. Human. She is
not at all the sort of female to interest me.”
Graham's lips twitched. "Right. Just like I never in my life would have looked twice at a mousy
human kindergarten teacher too softhearted to step on an ant at a picnic.”
Having met said kindergarten teacher and seen Graham's inability to keep his hands off his mate for more than five consecutive seconds, Rule failed to appreciate the analogy.
"This is an entirely different situation. I am not Lupine, I have no pack succession to ensure, and there is no force in the Above or the Below that could possibly compel me to take a mate, let alone one so patently unsuited to me.”
Shaking his head, Graham rose and sauntered toward the door. "You keep telling yourself that, buddy. And while you're at it, flip open the dictionary in the desk drawer. There's one particular word you ought to look up. It's called 'fate.'"
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Abby had to admit the service at the Vircolac club beat any kind of hotel she'd ever stayed at. She'd been served coffee, eggs, scones, and jam in a private dining room that morning almost beforeshe'd so much as had a chance to tell the caller on the other end of the house phone line that she wasfeeling a little hungry. While Abby had eaten, her room had been ruthlessly straightened, the clothes she'dworn yesterday had been laundered with a speed that bordered on creepy, and she'd been asked nofewer than five times if there was anything else she required.
She had to give it to them; the Others ran a heck of a swanky club. But that didn't change the factthat they'd be in for a surprise when Noah showed up and drove a tank through the front door of their
little bat cave.
She wasn't sure if Noah had a tank at his immediate disposal, but if he decided he needed one to
stage her rescue, she had no doubt that he would find one. Just like she knew he would find a way to use
her text message from Samantha's cell phone to trace her location. Whether or not it would be quite in keeping with military regulations or the stated mission of his unit, she didn't know, and at this point she really didn't care.
I'm glad you have so much confidence in this brother of yours,
Lou whined,
but I'd like to point out that if you ’re wrong about GI Joe, I'm gonna be the one paying the price.
"Trust me, as much as I hate to acknowledge this," Abby muttered, "I wouldn't do anything I thought would lead to you getting hurt. At least not while it's my face coming between you and a well-placed fist.”
She felt Lou settle down for a sulk and shook her head. Not only because the fiend had turned out to have such easily hurt feelings for such a crude, uncouth little monster, but also because she realized she was beginning to be able to sense it inside of her. That feeling of being watched, she now knew, was a signal that Lou was aware and paying attention to her and her surroundings, even if he wasn't talking. A few carefully placed questions over the last few hours had assured her that when that feeling faded, so had Lou. It couldn't leave her, but it could settle into a different area of her brain and stop paying attention for a while, kind of like taking a nap.
Too bad that feeling didn't come nearly as often as the first one.
The only luck she'd had in all of this nightmare consisted of the fact that her brother's battalion wasn't currently overseas. If it held even a smidge more, he wasn't at his base in North Carolina but on leave somewhere closer.
A glance at her watch made her grimace. She'd sent the text message and marked it "urgent" at just about midnight last night. It was now after three in the afternoon. If Noah had been in the state, visiting friends or their parents in their hometown northwest of Ithaca, he'd have been here by now, which meant she would be home free. Since she was currently pacing a hole in the carpet of a very comfortable sitting room, he must have been at Fort Bragg. She just hoped he had leave coming to him. The last thing she needed added to her conscience was the knowledge that she'd made her brother go AWOL. It was already stinging to the point of needing a spiritual shot of Novocain, stat.
I still vote for bourbon. Neat.
"Only if you want to experience firsthand what it feels like for your host body to projectile vomit. I told you, I don't drink. Even beer makes me queasy.”
If you were drinking American beer, I can understand why.
Abby gave up pacing and dropped onto the sofa, burying her face in her hands. She still couldn't get over it. She'd kissed a demon. Shoot, if they hadn't been interrupted just then, heaven only knew what else she'd have done with him. Just the memory was enough to make her blush. She hated to think
what a repeat performance would do to her.
Abigail Miriam Baker! Get that thought right out of your head. You can't go around fantasizing about having sex with a demon! Do you have
any
idea how many Hail Mary ’s that would be?
Okay, she was reasonably sure that had been her conscience and not the fiend lurking inside her, especially since she doubted said fiend would be able to calculate the penance she'd be doing from her nursing home if she kept this up.