“Bad man.” Little Damon peered over her shoulder. His cherub mouth had screwed up into a frown. He pointed a chubby finger in Nevin’s direction. “Bad man!”
Energy crackled, lifting her hair and blowing it in front of her eyes. It gathered strength and released in a resounding boom. Then a shout of outrage and pain came from Nevin’s direction.
Shay turned to see what had happened, shoving tangled curls out of her eyes. Nevin clutched his chest with one hand, his other arm coming back up. Quel had risen to his feet behind him, raising his rifle as if it weighed hundreds of pounds.
Giggling, Little Damon clapped his hands together. “More!” Another pulse of energy lit up the night.
“More!” Lightning arced out from the babe’s outstretched hand. Nevin lurched backward. Quel took aim and fired. The demon’s eyes dimmed and grew bright again, like dying coals.
“Bad man!” Again and again the babe attacked, until Nevin’s last cry drowned in a resounding splash. Then, it was silent, utterly silent.
Shay let out a startled sob. “Good Shay,” she heard the boy soothe as he stroked her cheek. Everything seemed to speed up, the world returning to normal. Nevin was in the fountain, his feet hanging over the edge. Limping, Quel and now the town sheriff ran toward him.
Shouts sounded all around them. Drawn by the commotion, what looked like the entire town converged on the square.
Quel vaulted into the fountain and yanked the demon out of the water. With Quel’s arm locked around Nevin’s elegant neck, he wrenched him backward as Jeanie secured his hands behind his back with handcuffs.
“Damon Junior!”
“Mama!” Little Damon twisted in Shay’s arms, straining to reach Harmony.
Shay was drawn into the family embrace, submitting to the hugs and kisses as the child was lifted from her arms. “He is an amazing boy,” Shay said, breathless. “He saved my life, and Quel’s. He defeated a demon lord. He’s more powerful than we ever imagined.” The estimations of her former master, Lucifer, included.
A familiar, foul odor filled the air. Harmony wrinkled her nose at the dirty diaper. “A shame my heroic son’s superpowers don’t extend any . . . lower.”
They shared a teary laugh. “There’s a lot more to tell you, Harmony,” Shay confessed.
“I know.” The woman’s eyes revealed that she did indeed know. “For now, you belong somewhere else.”
“With Quel . . .”
“Yes, honey.” She smiled her knowing, enigmatic smile, the one that revealed her powers that she kept so well hidden. “Not everyone gets a second chance, Shay. Take it, and do not squander it.”
“I won’t,” she whispered. It looked like Harmony would have to run another ad in the newspaper.
“Shay!” Quel was striding in her direction. Blood trickled from a cut above his right eye; bruises and dirty scrapes marred his knuckles. Their embrace was long and heartfelt. She breathed in his scent, willing it to stay inside her forever.
“Nevin?” she asked when they separated.
“He’s being read his rights.”
Sitting near the fountain, Nevin appeared decidedly unhappy as the sheriff angrily recited something to him. “Now I’m hauling your ass off to jail,” Jeanie declared. “Get up and walk, pretty boy.”
“I was sure you’d kill him.”
“I thought about it.” Quel’s eyes narrowed at the departing demon. “Then I realized fate cooked up a worse punishment for the man.”
“Man? You mean he’s turned mortal, too?” The magic wishing fountain, she realized. Like her, Nevin had fallen in and come out with a soul. Unlike her, he’d never wished to be mortal. Or so she’d thought. “Just when you think you know someone . . .”
“My son Damon made that decision for him,” Harmony said. “He wished it on the demon, not the other way around.”
“Ha. Poor Nevin.” Shay grinned and threw up her hands. Her giddiness reminded her of the postrace celebrations at Circus Maximus. “To Damon Junior, the new champion!” Everyone around them applauded and cheered. This was one victory she’d savor. Two ancient demons lost in the space of a week: Lucifer wouldn’t be so eager to send another for quite some time to come.
“Now, I’d like to see you alone, Miss d’Mon.” Quel grabbed her by the elbow, steering her away from the crowd.
“Both of you need medical attention,” Dr. Fogg called out after them.
“Will do, Doc.” Then Quel brought his mouth to her ear. “But first, we’re gonna talk.”
“I didn’t mean it about not wanting to see you anymore.” She assumed that’s what he wanted to know. “I feared for your safety. I feared for your life.”
“I hope you learned your lesson. I can take care of myself. And I can take care of you.” His expression was fierce as he tugged on her hand. He found a quiet spot under a stand of fragrant conifers. There he stopped and turned to her. “From the very beginning, I knew you were lying to me.”
Shay’s heart sank.
“From the night you showed up, I was dead set on uncovering your little ruse, even if it happened under the covers. One thing was pretty damn certain: I wasn’t going to fall for you in the process. No way in hell.”
Shay bowed her head.
“I asked you out for a drink on your night off for investigative purposes. Then there was our hot little hookup afterward. I’d say that was 100 percent investigative, too, but I’d be lying.” He took her face in his hands, forcing her to look up at him. His eyes weren’t angry, they were heartstoppingly tender. “The woman who started out as a she-demon turns out to be a virgin. Then she tells me we’ve got history I don’t even remember but I sorta do, especially when we’re kissing and I feel like I’ve been to that little corner of heaven before—so to speak.”
“It is heaven,” she whispered, imagining what God’s domain would be like: all good, nothing bad.
“Shay, you’ve got me turned so inside out I can’t think of anything else. I can’t have that. No way. I’m a sixth-degree demon hunter, and I’ve got a job to do.” He swept her into a passionate kiss. She could barely stand up when he was done. “How do you frickin’ do that?” he said harshly against her mouth, sounding winded himself.
“Whatever it is, you do it to me, too.”
“I’m thanking God it’s mutual, because I wouldn’t want to live knowing that it wasn’t. I don’t want to live without you at all. Angel, I know we’re only getting to know each other again. I know you’re just getting to live for the first time. What I need to know is if you wanna do it with me?” He pressed a finger to her mouth. “You’re mortal now, so you have to think like one. That means waiting before you answer.”
“Quel . . .” she mumbled, wanting to reply.
“Hear me out, woman. Life is short. That means you don’t have to say yes to spending it with me.” He stroked his knuckles down her check. “But you goddamn better.”
“And I goddamn will.” Smiling, she wept tears of joy that he gently wiped away.
Ten
The ring of a phone pierced the early morning silence. Shay’s hand popped out from under a pile of blankets, hunting blindly for the contraption. For all she loved modern technology, there were times she despised its intrusions.
She found the phone and brought it to her ear. “Laredo and d’Mon,” she answered. “Demon Hunters, Incorporated.”
Quel’s body was large and warm pressed to hers. His hand slid up her leg, then her thigh. Grinning, she stopped those clever fingers in their tracks so she could concentrate on the call. “Yes, we’re available. Yes, we can fix your problem.” Hanging up, she turned to scribble the information on a bedside memo pad.
“What do we have, angel?”
“Small town about a hundred miles north of here. Hellhole. Goblins have been disrupting the ski lifts.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“Snow and goblins? I suppose. What I’d really prefer is another gargoyle-demon assignment. I loved New York City.?
??
“Manhattan’s better in the spring.” He stroked his hand up and down her leg. “We don’t need an assignment for me to take you there.”
He was right. Business was good if mostly uneventful. Neither one of them complained about the lack of challenge in most of their assignments. Someday, Lucifer might try to hit them harder. For now, he’d taken his defeat, and they’d take the respite. It left her with energy to spare for her charitable work with children from poor areas in New Mexico, where Quel had experienced his rough upbringing. Shame over her past deeds had initially driven her to help innocents, although Harmony assured her she’d been forgiven by “the Big Guy upstairs.” The fact that she really did care about what happened to the kids had kept her involved ever since.
In Mysteria, she and Quel helped Harmony and Damon protect little Damon, planning to extend that assistance when the Faithfulls’ second baby arrived in a few month’s time. No one knew if the second child would have powers or if little Damon’s amazing abilities were a fluke. The town’s collective breath was held as everyone awaited the news.
Tossing aside the pen, Shay took refuge back under the covers in the rustic mountain cabin they rented every once in a while. Quel peered out the frosted-over windows. “It’s a frickin’ blizzard out there.”
She sighed in bliss. “I know.”
“You’re crazy, woman, wanting to stay up here in a snowstorm. It may be why I love you.”
She straddled him. “One of the reasons.”
“I hear wind,” he said. “And snow drifting up over my jeep. I hear my stomach growling for a cheeseburger and a beer, and my ass telling me it wants to be sitting on a warm couch watching the football game.”
“I hoped you’d have a better time up here. I thought maybe it would jog your memory of when we used ride out the storms together. The first time.”
“The first time,” he muttered. “Angel, this is the first and definitely the last time we’re camping in the middle of a blizzard—”
She silenced him with a kiss. “Swift River was never this cranky.”
He slid his fingers behind his head as he sighed.
“Quel?” Shay asked, worried.
He sighed again and rubbed her back. “Look, Shay, I’ve never loved anyone—or anything—as much as you. Every day it gets better. But when you get to talking about our ‘first time,’ I get possessive, even though the man you’re referring to is supposedly me.”
“He is you . . .”
“No,” Quel said. “He’s not. I’m me.”
In his voice and words, Shay sensed his disappointment and even jealousy. The mentions of Swift River had cast in doubt that what he shared with her was special between them, and only them. Shay ran guilty fingers over her lover’s handsome face, hoping that what she felt in her newfound heart got through to him. “Quel, it’s not like that. When I look at you, it’s you I see. It’s you I want. It’s you I’m in love with.”
“Yeah, I know.” He smiled. That smile made her heart ache. He had the patience of a saint. She’d made a mistake waiting as long as she had to tell him those words. For as long as she’d walked the earth, she knew shockingly little of affairs of the heart. The past six months had been a learning experience for both her and Quel but most of all for her. She hadn’t been capable of true emotions when she’d bedded Swift River. She was now, making her relationship with Quel a real one. Yes, there were moments she was sure Swift River and Quel Laredo were of the same, reincarnated soul, but the better she’d gotten to know Quel, the more the differences between the two men became apparent. For one, Swift River had been an open book, easy to read. Quel Laredo had been slow to give up his many secrets. Swift River had led a simple if not easy life, limited to the task of survival—his and that of his clan—whereas Quel’s survival had been more complicated. His scars were mostly internal as opposed to Swift River’s visible ones.
She shook her head. No more comparing. It was wrong. “I’m sorry, truly sorry. No more living in the past. From now on, I’m living for today and for however many tomorrows we’re allowed to have.” She poked him in the chest. “I intend to spend every last one of those days with you, Quel Laredo. In the future, when I ask you to camp in the snow, it’s because I feel peace here and want to share it with you, not because of Swift River.”
“Then we’ll continue to come up here.”
“Camping doesn’t have to be,” her voice thickened with mischief, “burger-less.”
“What?”
“Or—” Eager to reveal her surprise, she hopped out from under the covers. From under the bed she pulled a large box, then a small satellite TV. “Football-less!”
He coughed out a laugh of pure surprise. “When did you bring that shit up here?”
She joined him in laughter. “A girl can have her secrets, Laredo.” Next, she pulled out a portable grill and a cooler full of chopped beef, all the fixings, buns, and beer.
Laughing, he watched her, love filling his eyes. Shay popped two of the cans, handing him one. “It’s after five p.m. somewhere in the world,” she reasoned, shrugging.
He raised his drink. “Here’s to the good life.”
“This life. The one we’re going to concentrate on from now on.”
Nodding, he touched the can to hers. “You got that right, angel. You got that right.”
And so it was that the little demon
who’d always dreamed of being human
got her wish and lived happily ever after . . .
A TAWDRY AFFAIR
Gena Showalter
To P. C. Cast, Susan Grant, and MaryJanice Davidson. Or, as we would probably be named inside of Mysteria: P. C. Sweetbottoms, Susan Buttercup, and MaryJanice Sugarlips. (Maybe I’d be Gena Dinglehop—that’s wait-and-see, though.) To Wendy McCurdy and Allison Brandau for putting up with me!
One
If Glory Tawdry discovered her sister, Evie, and Evie’s vampire boyfriend going at it like wild cougars one more time—just one more!—she was going to throw up a lung, gouge out her eyes, and cut off her ears.
“You’re disgusting,” she grumbled, standing in Evie’s open bedroom door. Her sister and Hunter must have severe discovery fantasies, because they always “forgot” to barricade themselves inside when things were getting heated.
They didn’t even glance in her direction.
She coughed.
They continued.
Sadly, if Glory walked down the hallway of their modest little three-bedroom home, she’d probably hear her other sister, Godiva, going at it with her boyfriend, a werewolf shape-shifter. They, at least, liked privacy when they were screaming like hyenas.
Still. There was no peace to be found for Glory. Not even in town. Lately Mysteria, a place once known for its evil creature population, as well as a place she’d taken great pride in, had turned into a horrifying love fest of goo-goo eyes and butt pinching.
Except for me. No one makes goo-goo eyes at me. No one pinches my butt, even though there’s enough for everyone to grab on to at the same time. She didn’t care, though. Really.
Men and relationships were so not for her. Really.
“Hello,” she said, trying again. “I’m right here. Can you stop for like a minute?”
Thankfully Evie and Hunter finished their show and collapsed side by side under the covers. Moonlight spilled from the beveled windows and onto the bed, painting them in gold. Both were panting, sweat glistening from their skin. Evie’s dark hair was spread over the pillow and tangled under Hunter’s arm. Vitality radiated from her.
Handsome Hunter looked exhausted and incapable of movement.
Score one for Evie, Glory supposed.
“Oh, Glory.” Evie grinned, happiness sparkling in her hazel eyes. “I didn’t see you there.”
Ugh. Evie did everything happily now, and Glory was seriously embarrassed for her. Evie was the greatest vengeance witch ever to live in Mysteria. As such, she should scowl once in a while. Glory was the love w
itch, damn it, so Glory should be the happy one.
“Don’t you know how to knock?” her sister asked.
Are you freaking kidding me? “Don’t you know how to close a door? I mean, it’s a difficult task to master, but with hard work and the proper training, I think you might be able to do it.”
Hunter laughed, revealing long, sharp teeth.
“Ha-ha.” Evie punched him on the shoulder.
When Evie said no more, Glory shook her head in disappointment. Used to, they would have argued and insulted each other, maybe yelled and thrown things. Now, she was lucky if Evie frowned at her.
A dysfunctional relationship it had been, but it had been theirs.
“I miss us!” she found herself saying. “You’re a softie now, and it’s killing my excitement levels.”
Understanding dawned, and Evie scowled. Even pointed an accusing finger at her. “Seriously, what’s up with you, little sis? Every day I think you can’t possibly get any bitchier, and then you go and prove me wrong.”
Much better! Life was suddenly worth living again. “Lookit, you show pony, I need your help.”
“Yeah? With what?” Unable to retain the harsh expression, Evie gave her another smile.
As always, that satisfied smile caused a deep ache to sprout inside Glory’s chest. When will it be my turn to fall in love, have great sex, and sicken the people around me? The moment the thought drifted through her mind, she blinked in shock and revulsion. Whoa, girl. That line of BS has to stop. Like, now. Before you crave more.
She was a love witch, yes, but she didn’t want to fall in love. Ever. People became slobbering fools when they succumbed to the soft emotion. Look at Evie! Proof right there in all her glowing splendor.
“I’m waiting,” Evie said.
Glory opened her mouth to say . . . something. What, she didn’t know. Great Goddess, how should she begin? She could not allow Evie to turn her down.
“Seriously. I want to bask in the afterglow.” Evie rubbed her leg up and down Hunter’s lower torso. “Hurry this along.”
“I’m thinking.”