Demon's Caress

Chapter One

She was being hunted.

Adrenaline pumped through Maron’s veins, made her heart pound and her breath rush as she darted between pedestrians and across a busy intersection. Horns blared and drivers swore at her, but she ignored them, a feral smile curving her lips. It was usually she who hunted—she who captured and claimed. Even now, she trailed a killer, the scent of his evil stinging her nostrils, and all the while she knew others of her kind—demons—drew closer by the minute. Seeking her. Wanting her.

The dichotomy sharpened the experience.

This was what she lived for. The thrill, the chase. The order of demons she belonged to tracked down evil souls and shipped them straight to the hot spot before they could hurt any more innocents. Once a person crossed over into true evil, the soul festered inside them, the stench enough to make Maron gag.

If only humans knew the truth about what demons did on earth, keeping the baddies away from them. But it made sense that her kind would be demonized over the ages. You worked in the gutter long enough and it was inevitable you would end up knee deep in shit. Maron shrugged and let her body dissolve into nothing more than a shadow as she ghosted up a narrow side street. It really didn’t matter what people knew or not, she would do her job.

And bringing in this piece of scum was going to be a pleasure.

David Norris. Drug dealer, pimp, murderer. His stink was in her nose, sinking into her blood until her heart thrummed with the need to vanquish the evil. Her world came down to a single focus—find him.

He was close. Very close.

A high-pitched scream froze Maron in place. Every sense went on alert, and she eased around the edge of a building to see what was going on. Norris struggled with a teenage girl who looked way too clean and well dressed for this part of town, but her eyes and nose had the red-rimmed look of a junkie coming off a bender. He slammed her against a dumpster, cutting off her next scream. She gagged and sobbed for breath, tears streaking her make-up down her cheeks. He got in her face and growled, “Where’s my money, bitch?”

“I’ll get it to you.” The girl squeaked when he shoved her again. “I swear I will, Norris. I’m good for it. Just give me a little more time.”

“You said that last time.” He grabbed a handful of one of her breasts, squeezing and twisting. “Maybe I should take it out of you a different way.”

Her hand locked around his wrist, her knuckles whitening as horror crossed her face. “No. No!”

Shit.

Maron wasn’t about to stand around and watch some kid get raped by this asshole. She was only supposed to reconnoiter, find the evil soul and wait for her back up. It didn’t look like that was going to be an option tonight. Her boss, Samael, was going to be pissed. She stepped out of the deepest shadows, rematerializing not far from where Norris had the teen pinned.

“Hey!”

Both humans jerked, their heads snapping in her direction. The girl’s look was pleading—the man’s enraged.

“Get the fuck out of here, bitch. This has nothing to do with you. Unless you want it to.” He grabbed his crotch for emphasis.

Maron rolled her eyes at the crude gesture, which just made Norris even more furious. Too bad. She flexed her fingers, held her hands out in front of her and unleashed the power deep inside her. It rushed up eagerly, the hot, consuming force of it shaking her to her bones. Flames danced at her fingertips, and she shot forward an arrow of fire. It sizzled on the concrete in front of Norris, and he shouted, jumping back. She drove him farther away from the girl with one ball of flame after another.

The teen cowered against the dumpster, snot and tears dripping from her chin. Maron spared her a glance when they drew even. She felt the fire flickering from the corners of her eyes, and her smile was a simple baring of teeth. “Run, little girl. Stay out of dark alleys from now on. And don’t do drugs. They’re bad for you.”

The kid’s eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets, and she nodded so fast her hair flapped against her pale face. Then she ran like her ass had been scalded. Smartest thing the kid had done that night. Sadly, she wouldn’t remember her encounter with Maron. That was the thing about demons. They faded from your memory the moment you left their presence. The fire and lightning and soul-stealing power was just a bad dream. Unless they’d come for you.

Once the teen was safely away, Maron spread her fingers, and a ring of fire whipped around Norris. He screamed, the sound as terrified as the girl’s had been. Maron’s smile deepened.

A bead of sweat slid down her temple as she felt the evil of his soul begin to sap her strength. She just hoped she could keep him caged long enough for her backup to arrive. There was no way she could harvest him on her own. Too bad she’d done the best she could to shake the demons hunting her… Samael would fry her ass for trying to ditch her new partners, but damn it, she didn’t want a new partner, let alone two. She sure as hell didn’t want a fully bonded Demon’s Triad, and that was what Samael had in mind for her. He’d already shuffled her last partner off into that kind of sexual bond with a couple of demon operatives. Fucking matchmaker.

Norris’s shrieks grew louder, the unholy sound pounding against Maron’s skull, and her mental distractions exploded into shards that sliced through her control. Where were those two? She couldn’t hold on much longer. Her muscles began to quake in helpless shudders as her powers dragged at her physical strength. The flames around Norris began to waver and die. He’d be able to escape soon.

No! Shit, shit, shit.

She tried to hang on, poured everything she could into the fire surrounding him, but the weaker she grew, the more overwhelming the evil emanating from him became. It drained her faster. If she pushed herself much harder, she might not be able to pull back at all. Disaster. Letting him go would be a slightly smaller disaster, but only slightly. Her legs cramped and she locked her knees to remain upright, but it was a losing battle. The world faded in front of her, tilting sideways, and she knew she was falling. She was failing.

“Got you.” A strong set of arms wrapped tight around her, pulled her back against a wall of muscle.

“Kobal,” she rasped.

The fire before her roared higher as he added his power to hers, the red flames turning to a brilliant blue. The hottest part of the flame, the heart. “You were expecting someone else, love?”

“Where’s Raum? We won’t be able to bring this one in without him.” She shivered as a small connection snapped between them and Kobal’s energy flowed over her, which made the pain knifing through her brain fade. The relief had her sagging against him, but she forced herself to straighten away from him. No need to encourage his and Raum’s designs on her.

“He’ll be along, don’t you worry.” Kobal cradled her closer, his touch almost reverent as he stroked her hair back from her face and tilted her chin to make her look at him. “Are you all right?”

The concern in his voice made her swallow, and she jerked her face away from his grip. If the tenderness unnerved her, the possessiveness in his touch made her want to drive an elbow into his stomach. She tried to step out of his embrace, but he quelled the movement with easy strength. She clenched her jaw as anger rumbled through her. Instead of instigating a futile struggle, she fed the emotion into the fire. The job was the most important thing—she’d deal with her demons later.

Raum’s tall form materialized on the far side of the blaze, and Norris whipped around to face the new threat. He shouted and stumbled back, shaking his head wildly when forks of lightning speared from Raum’s fingers. A hot vortex formed around Norris, building so high and blinding she couldn’t see through it.

“It’s not going to be enough.” Kobal’s voice gritted out the same conclusion Maron had come to. Even their combined power wasn’t enough to wrench so dark a soul out of Norris's body. If disappointment washed through her, she assured herself it was because they would fail their assignment, not because it proved they weren’t as perfect a Triad as Samael had hoped. Kobal growled a few choice obscenities in different languages, his muscular body stiffening behind her. And that wasn’t the only thing about him that was stiffening. “Unless…”

She steadfastly ignored the iron bar of his erection that rubbed against her backside and the tingles that broke over her skin. So, she was attracted to him. So, she’d spent a night in bed with him and Raum when they were out on assignment once. So what? Her nipples tightened, and the rushing heat of their melding energies seemed to center in her sex. This was madness. She dug her fingers into his forearm. “Unless what?”

“Unless we can boost our power a little. Deepen our link.” He nuzzled the side of her neck, pulling her tighter against his rock hard body. The unwelcome excitement that shot through her made the vortex before them spin faster, glow brighter. A keening wail echoed from within, the sound of a soul beginning to split from a physical vessel.

“No.” The word was little more than a whimper, and she fought to put more strength behind her voice. “No, Kobal. We can catch him another time.”

“And how many more people will he hurt before that happens?” His voice was somehow a steely rebuke and a seductive purr at the same time. “You’re willing to walk away from a case and let a bad guy go free just because you’re scared of bonding with me.”

“I’m not scared.” She gave in to the urge to elbow him hard. His breath whooshed out on a grunt, but his grip didn’t loosen. One arm held her in place and the other moved so he could slide his hand down her midriff. She caught his wrist, digging her nails into his flesh. “We’re in the middle of an alley, damn it.”

He opened his mouth against the side of her throat, scraping the sensitive tendon with his teeth. “No one will see us, and you know it. Not even your nasty little Norris can see us right now.”

A shudder passed through her when he bit down on her neck, just hard enough to sting. Moisture flooded her sex, heat exploding within her. It was just as good as it had been the one night she’d let Raum and Kobal touch her. So hot it sizzled, so sweet it ached. Her eyes drifted closed as sensation dragged her under. He flicked his tongue against her ear, sucking the lobe into his mouth.

“I can feel your cravings, Maron.” He groaned and a pulse of his power shot through her, spinning into the energy vortex that howled in front of them. “Joined like we are, I can feel everything. So good. It’s so fucking good. It could always be this way if you let it.” His fingers flicked open the button on her pants, slid the zipper down and slipped inside her panties.

The short, choking cry that jerked from her throat was half need and half despair. “I don’t work with male partners, and Samael knows it.” And she had damn good reasons for that, which her boss also knew. It was difficult to remember all those reasons with Kobal cupping her wet pussy, teasing her lips until more cream gushed from her.

“He also knows you don’t fuck women, so unless he partners you with men, you’ll never enter a full Triad.” Kobal thrust two big fingers into her channel and her lungs seized. She was already so slick, he slid in easily, and it was fucking amazing. She raked her nails up his forearm, and her breath sputtered in ragged gasps.

This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t. Ten minutes ago, she’d been hunting a corrupt soul and now she was being finger fucked in the name of her job. A moan wrenched out as he rolled his thumb across her pulsing clit. The arm that had held her in place loosened and he used his free hand to fondle her breasts. He plucked at her tight nipples through her shirt, twisting them just enough to set her on the screaming edge of pleasure and pain.

Her head fell back against his broad shoulder, her hips arching into his touch, her interest in resistance splintering under the onslaught of ecstasy. She gritted her teeth as another wave of his power hit her, mingling with her own before exploding into the whirlwind. A dark streak twisted into the light, and she knew Norris’s soul was beginning to separate from his body. It was working. “Fuck.”

“Anytime, anywhere.” Kobal chuckled in her ear, the sound deep and rich. He added a third finger to her pussy, and the stretch made her moan. He rocked his hand against her, thrusting as hard as he could in the tight confines of her pants.

“More. Faster. Now.” She didn’t wait for him to comply, just slid her hand down to cover his, shoving him deeper. They both groaned when she rolled her hips and ground herself against his cock, then pressed forward into his fingers. The energy that cycled back and forth doubled and redoubled until her mouth opened in a silent scream. It was too much, and she could feel the orgasm gathering deep within her, her pussy contracting once.

His big body shuddered. “More, love. Give me more.”

The hot link between them widened slightly, and she could feel the intensity of his need. The depth of it shook her and her eyes flared wide, but before she could question what it might mean, he sank his teeth into the side of her neck, drove his fingers into her hard, and thumbed her clit.

She shattered, her scream lost in the howl of wind and power that sucked upward into the vortex, now almost black with the ugliness of Norris’s soul. She twisted in Kobal’s arms, and he held her closer, tighter. Her sex fisted around his thrusting digits, the orgasm rippling outward in waves that made her body bow, her hips snapping to meet his hand. Tingles erupted over every inch of her skin, sensation piling on top of sensation when his hands worked her nipples and clit through the tumultuous ecstasy. He dragged every drop of energy from her and flung it into the whirlwind. She crested again, her pussy flexing hard enough to make her choke on the razor-sharp pleasure that sliced her control to ribbons. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, could only feel what he wanted her to feel. It went on for an eternity. Left her sagging when it ended.

The vortex burst into a million shards of light that danced on the breeze for a few dazzling moments. She blinked, swayed and watched Norris’s remains slump to the ground. By tomorrow night, the human coroners would probably have claimed he’d died of a heart attack. Having one’s soul wrenched forcefully from one’s body would be shocking enough to stop the heart, but that detail wasn’t going to make any scientific reports.

Raum stepped over the corpse and strode forward, his brilliant green gaze almost incandescent as it swept her from head to toe. It lingered for several long moments where Kobal’s hand was still buried in her sex. Raum was the quieter of the two, and he usually had few words to spare for anyone. He searched her face for a moment and probably saw far more than she was comfortable with. “You all right?”

She shifted under his scrutiny and had to clench her jaw to keep from moaning at the resulting movement of hard masculine fingers inside her. “Fine.”

He nodded and said no more.

Kobal’s hand abandoned her breast as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He pressed a few buttons, then held the phone to his ear. “Yeah, did you get the package? Great. Bring us home.”

His voice was remarkably even considering his rigid cock nestled between her buttocks and his fingers still hadn’t left her pussy. He snapped the phone closed and put it away. His thumb stroked her clit one last time before he withdrew from her pants, and she strangled a harsh gasp.

Raum caught Kobal’s hand, drew it to his mouth and sucked her cream from each finger. Kobal groaned, thrusting against Maron’s backside, his energy lashing through their connection. She froze, caught by Raum’s intense gaze and the carnal sight of his mouth playing over his lover’s flesh. A small smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, telling her he knew exactly what effect he had on her and Kobal. He released Kobal’s hand and reached out to fasten her pants for her, the backs of his knuckles brushing over the lower curve of her belly. She forced away the craving that made her want to demand he touch her and lick her, please her as Kobal had done. Only more. Deeper. Both of them together.

No. They wanted more than she was willing to give. They wanted a Demon’s Triad. Some stupid, weak inner longing twisted through her, and she crushed it under her boot heel. No. Sex was one thing, bonding was something else entirely. Never again would she allow herself be so tied to any man, let alone two. She’d played that game before and lost everything. Her confidence, her self-respect and almost, her everlasting life.

A rush of power flooded her, shutting down her thoughts as her back arched in shocked reflex. This demonic power was too strong to belong to any of the three of them. Samael. She focused on relaxing her muscles. It made the transition between locations easier. It felt similar to when she made her body dissipate into shadows, only she plummeted through the shadows into an icy nothingness. The fall lasted forever and was over in moments. She shuddered, shaking off the chill and the arms of the two men who held her between them.

They materialized in Samael’s office. The room was buried deep beneath the L.A. high-rise that housed all of Samael’s operatives. Maron could sense the fields of energy that emanated from the chamber beyond this office—the hellmouth through which Samael delivered the souls they captured. Standing in this room too long always sent goose bumps rippling along her skin.

Samael’s dark gaze swept over the three of them, assessing them, but Maron didn’t know what for. She was certain she wouldn’t like whatever conclusion he’d come to when a smug smile crossed his lips.

“Good work tonight.”

“Thank you, sir.” Kobal smiled, while Raum just nodded respectfully.

Samael waved them off. “Be back tomorrow night for your next assignment. One of the watchers found something interesting for you.”

Meaning all of them. Anger and horror wrestled for dominance within her. He couldn’t possibly mean it. He should know better, and she was damn tired of all three men trying to push her into a bond she didn’t want.

When Raum and Kobal turned for the door, she stayed rooted where she was. Waiting for the door to close behind them, she took a deep breath and quashed her temper. Losing her cool with a high demon wouldn’t help her case.

“Sir, this will not work.” She set her hands on her hips. “I’m more effective with female partners.”

The big man rose from his desk and came around to her side. “Maron—”

“You can’t say I haven’t tried males before. I have. It didn’t work.” Lifting her chin, she tried not to remember that time. Tried to push Shax from her mind. It was ages ago, and she would never make such a mistake again.

Samael sighed and settled against his desk, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “You’re one of my best operatives, Maron.”

“Thank you, sir.” She took a breath as the unexpected and unusual compliment warmed her.

“But…” His eyes narrowed, pinning her in place. “I can’t send you out on more difficult cases because you don’t form deep enough bonds with your partners to raise the kind of energy required to cage that kind of darkness.”

The bottom dropped out of her stomach, and she forced her expression to careful blankness. “I see.”

“The most powerful operatives I send out in the field are bonded Triads. You’re one of my best, Maron, and I want to use you to the best of your ability. I can’t do that with the way things currently stand.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, looking tired. “I’ve made some mistakes with assigning you partners before, I’ll admit, but I want you to give this a chance.”

Mistake. Yeah, that was one word for it, but in the end, the biggest fuck-up had been hers, not Samael’s. It would be easy to blame him for what had happened with Shax, but it wouldn’t be honest. “Sir, with all due respect—”

“Try it for one more case. If it doesn’t fit, no harm, no foul, and I’ll pair you up with someone else.” Samael held up his hand when she opened her mouth. “A female, yes.”

She gritted her teeth, biting back further arguments. “One case.”

“Just one.” Nodding for emphasis, he met her gaze steadily, letting her know he was earnest. He wasn’t the type to jerk her around, and she had over a century of working for him to know.

“Fine.” The word clipped out. While what he offered was fair, she still didn’t like it.

He ignored her terseness. “Good. You can leave at nightfall. I’ll have details on your new target, so be in my office then. Take the day and get to know your partners a little.”

“I know them well enough already,” she growled.

Sniffing the air a bit, he cast her a wicked glance. “Yes, so I assumed. Perhaps try talking to them this time. Or not.” He waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t dictate how these matters unfold.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “None of us would listen if you tried.”

“Exactly. I don’t work with weak demons.” He straightened and moved around to sit behind his desk. “Go on. Out.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” she drawled. Spinning on a heel, she then marched toward the door. The hinges squeaked a bit when she opened it, and she almost missed his snort of amusement.