Dark Promises 2: Demonic Obsession Read online

  He had to be kidding. She could barely keep her eyes open. There was no way she’d be able to hold herself upright. “Bottom.”

  He draped her leg over his hip and pulled her toward him so they faced each other, side by side. “How about we compromise?”

  He slid into her slowly, fully impaling her with one long, torturously slow stroke. The fire she’d thought extinguished returned as he pushed inside, burning low in her belly and spreading to her cunt. He filled her completely, moving in and out with measured precision. His hand caressed the sweat-slicked skin of her back in time with his strokes, his touch sending tiny jolts of sensation through her. She sighed quietly and wrapped her leg tighter around his hip to pull him closer.

  This was it. He was the one she’d been waiting for. The thought almost made her laugh, though, since all her life she’d believed she made her own destiny. This time, fate had snuck up on her, smacking her with a seemingly impossible truth before she even realized it.

  His gaze snagged hers, mirroring the lust she felt inside, and she couldn’t look away. She threaded her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him to her for a kiss. She felt him holding back—for her sake, most likely, but she didn’t want him to think he had to. She was a lot tougher than she looked, and she could handle most anything he could do to her. She wanted him rough. She didn’t want him to be gentle—it wasn’t what she was looking for. She wanted Eric, and whatever else went along with that.

  She deepened the kiss and cupped his ass in her hand, squeezing gently. His response to her silent demand came immediately, harshly. He groaned and thrust harder, increasing the tempo of his strokes. She pulled him closer with her heel, but it wasn’t close enough. Her lethargy had all but faded, leaving her with a renewed sense of wanton desire that baffled her.

  He seemed to sense how she felt, and rolled her onto her back. His strokes grew quicker—short, stabbing thrusts that pushed him deeply inside her. The vibrations of his deep thrusts spiraled within her, pushing her into another earth-shattering climax. She dug her fingers into his biceps and hung on as her whole body convulsed. When she finally relaxed under him he took his release, a primal groan escaping his lips as he stiffened and shuddered over her.

  Eric kissed her forehead before he withdrew and lay down by her side. He rested his head on her stomach, his damp hair brushing across her breasts. His lips tickled her when he kissed her navel, and then traced the thin blue lines of her veins, just visible beneath the skin, with his tongue. She quivered and he laughed. “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine. What about you?” She stroked his now damp hair, absently twisting the strands around her fingers.

  “I don’t know.” He laughed again. “I think you’re trying to kill me. I don’t know how I held out that long without…”

  His voice trailed off, but she’d known what he was going to say. “You wouldn’t have hurt me.”

  He rested his chin on her stomach and looked up at her. “I might have. I tried to be careful, but it’s difficult. You’re so delicate. I don’t know what I was thinking. I never should have let that happen.”

  He scooted up in the bed and tried to roll away, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back to her. “Don’t start. I’m fine. I’m not as fragile as I look. You’re not going to break me by touching me.”

  He stared at her for a long time, as if judging her sincerity. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, the golden tone had intensified even more, and it gave her a slight shiver. “I had to struggle to keep myself in check. It wasn’t easy, Ellie.”

  “You promised to never hurt me, and I believe you. Don’t worry about it. I trust you.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her confession, surprise lighting his features. “You do?”

  “Of course I do.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you think I would have invited you into my bed if I didn’t?”

  He laughed, the sound rumbling in his chest and vibrating against her skin. The vibrant colors of the sunset flooded the room, washing the white bed linens in pastel pinks and oranges. Eric’s skin appeared even more bronze in the soft light, and she was surprised to find he didn’t have a single tan line. She liked the contrast of his dark skin against the paleness of her own. He had a few scars on his back, arms, and chest, but it only made him seem more real to her.

  She stroked his back lightly with her fingers, delighting in the tremor that ran through him. One corner of his mouth raised in a lopsided smile. “You scare me, you know.”

  She frowned, his statement being the last thing she expected. “How do I scare you?”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he answered. “My mother died many years ago, leaving me to care for my sister alone. I was young, but Merida wasn’t much more than a baby. It was hard, too hard for a couple of kids. I had trouble finding food and shelter in bad weather.”

  Her heart broke for him, knowing he’d been born into a time when there were no shelters, no places for him to go. “Have you always lived…? I don’t even know what to ask here.”

  “Panthicenos are earthbound demons. We can’t leave, couldn’t survive life on the demonic plane. We have to live basically the same as humans, eating and sleeping, buying or finding what we need, unlike some demonic races we can’t just conjure up whatever we want.” He sighed heavily and settled his head down on the mattress. “Like I told you before, our original purpose was to maintain the status quo. So yes, I’ve lived on this plane for my entire life. Sam took in Merida and me, put me to work, and helped me raise my sister. I…I went through a lot before he found me, Ellie, and I’ve seen a lot since. I don’t trust easily. I just wanted you to know that.”

  His confession sounded suspiciously like a warning. “You don’t trust me?”

  He barked a laugh, his hand patting her ass. “The thing is, I do trust you. I’ve told you that I’d had other lovers. But I never felt the urge to lounge around and talk afterwards, and I never told any of them about my family and my childhood—or any other part of my life.”

  “You haven’t?”

  He shook his head, his chin moving back and forth across her shoulder. “I won’t say I’ve never been in love before, because I have. In a thousand years, you’re bound to meet a few people you’re drawn to. But there are so many things I’m telling you that I’ve never told anyone before. This is different.”

  “How so?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead he shook his head again, nipped her earlobe, and rested his cheek against her skin. She felt him sigh and knew the conversation was over.

  For now.

  If he thought that he was going to dump a confession like that on her and expect her to ignore it, he was sadly mistaken. He’d just about told her he loved her, and she wasn’t going to let him get away with such a casual statement. Just like she wasn’t going to let him get away with keeping secrets from her either. He’d pay for the whole demon thing, too, but later when the afterglow had subsided and she didn’t feel so sated. Right now she needed time to recover, and at least a few days to sort through all the information.

  * * * * *

  Ellie accepted the glass of iced tea from her grandmother and sat in one of the plastic chairs on the porch. Eric had stayed with her for a few hours before he’d gotten up and dressed, saying he needed to get to work. Something about his tone had worried her. There was still so much about him that she didn’t know, but with any luck she’d have plenty of time to ask questions later.

  The man was a demon, not entirely good, but not entirely evil. A man who spent his life “taking care of” the bad guys, in the worst sense of the word—those thoughts settled a knot in the pit of her stomach and filled her with apprehension. She hadn’t wanted him to leave, but maybe it had been for the best. A little separation might do her some good.

  “You’ve been very busy lately.” Carol sat down across from her, breaking into her thoughts. “I haven’t seen you much. Is it because of
your painting, or is it something more personal?”

  Ellie shrugged. In all honesty, she’d done hardly any painting since she’d met Eric. Her concentration, and her drive, just hadn’t been there. “Personal, I guess.”

  “Eric seems very nice.”

  Oh, yeah. About as nice as you could get for a demon. She bit back a bubble of hysterical laughter. When had her life turned into some kind of supernatural soap opera?

  “Tell me about him,” Carol continued, leaning forward on the table. The interrogation was about to start.

  Ellie shook her head. “There’s not much to tell.”

  “What does he do for a living?”

  I don’t think so. “Oh, this and that.”

  “He’s unemployed.”

  “No, he’s not unemployed. It’s complicated, okay?” She felt bad for snapping, but she wished her family would just butt out of her business for once. It was bad enough that she was becoming attached to the man—Carol would definitely not approve, she’d liked Royce fine as long as he stayed away from her granddaughter—but she had a feeling there was a lot more to his job than being a simple bounty hunter.

  “You’re very touchy today. Maybe you need to get more sleep.”

  “Yeah, that must be it.” Ellie took a long sip of iced tea through the straw. She’d been decidedly crabby lately, and most of it could be attributed to the murderer still on the loose. She wasn’t usually extremely intuitive, but she had a feeling this was going to last for a while, or at least until the murderer was stopped.

  “Make sure you don’t go out alone, especially after dark,” Ellie said to Carol. “It’s not safe for anyone right now.”

  Carol nodded. “I know. I had a talk with Charlotte about it, but I’m concerned about you, too. Sometimes those friends of yours make me a little nervous.”

  “They’re vampires, Nana, not serial killers. I’m safer with them than Charlotte is with those ghost investigator guys she hangs out with.” Ellie set her glass down on the table. “I’ll be fine. I have plenty of people watching out for me.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. You worry me, you know that?”

  That was a change. “I do?”

  “Of course. You’ve always been too independent for your own good. So headstrong, and you take too many chances. I think it’s getting to be about time that you settle down with a nice man and give me a couple of great-grandchildren.”

  Ellie laughed. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

  “Why not? Just as long as the nice young man is a human one, I’ll approve.”

  Lovely. Ellie made a mental note to keep the woman away from Eric. If she ever found out that he was something worse than the vampires, Ellie would never hear the end of it. “I’m not ready to settle down yet. When I change my mind, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Carol sighed. “It would just be nice to know that you’ve got a man around the house to take care of you. I hope you’ve done a protection spell, with all that’s going on around here.”

  “Of course I have.” She’d also done one for Becca, who refused to do her own. With that shady boyfriend, Becca probably needed it much more than Ellie did. She finished her iced tea and stood up. “I’ve got to get going now. I promised to meet Amara in the park. There’s something she wanted to talk to me about.”

  “I swear, Ann Elizabeth. Don’t you have any human friends?”

  Ellie sighed. She was getting sick of having to explain this to the woman. “They are human, Nana, just not the same as we are.” Well, at least that was close enough to the truth.

  Carol had known about vampires for years. It had been twenty years ago, in this town, that she’d first met Marco. The big brother Ellie had never had, he’d inspired her to take up painting. She’d known right away that Marco was different—sometimes children saw things differently than adults—and by the time he saw fit to confess to her when she was seventeen, she’d already known his secret for two years. It had taken her mother and grandmother a long time to get used to the idea, but Ellie had warmed up to it easily.

  Sometimes her family still struggled with it, even after Marco helped Ellie’s mom get rid of some particularly hostile neighbors. That was part of the reason she was being so hesitant with Eric. She wanted a normal life, not one she’d seen her friends live. If she’d ever met a human man like him, it would be a miracle. He was just what she’d been looking for.

  Unfortunately, he was also many things she’d rather not have in her life. He was dangerous, and part of her knew that. She didn’t want to give him up just yet, but she knew eventually she’d have to. Last time she’d checked, there weren’t a heck of many stable human-demon marriages.

  She thanked her grandmother for the visit and drove downtown. When she got to the park, Amara was already there, sitting under a tree with sunglasses on her face and a large brimmed straw hat covering her dark hair. “I don’t know why we couldn’t have met somewhere inside,” she complained, looking up as Ellie approached. “This sunlight is a killer.”

  Ellie checked her watch. “Wimp. It’s not so bad this time of day. Besides, I’m getting sick of going into restaurants and being the only one to ever order anything.”

  Amara smiled. “I could turn you if you want. Then you won’t feel left out.” Her smile widened and she cackled dramatically. “Better yet, let Royce do it. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

  Royce. Had he not gotten around to telling his brother and sister-in-law that he’d dumped her a couple days ago? Ellie shook her head. “I’m all set. Believe me, I prefer to live my life as a human.”

  “That’s too bad. I hate to think I’m going to lose you soon.” Amara stopped at her own words and gulped audibly. “I didn’t mean… You know, I just… Oh, hell. You’ve got me so worried I can’t even talk straight. All I meant was that the human life span is so short compared to the vampire’s.”

  Ellie fixed Amara with a glare. Her friend had something to say, but for some reason insisted on avoiding the truth. “Tell me.”

  “Tell you what?” Amara feigned innocence, but she’d never been very good at that particular ploy.

  “Tell me why you’d make a comment like that, and then refuse to explain it.” Ellie swallowed convulsively. What had Amara seen that would cause her to get so upset? “What do you know?”

  Amara wet her lips and looked away, wringing her hands in her lap—a sight which set off warning bells in Ellie’s head. Amara wasn’t the type of person to fidget unless it was serious. A lump formed in her throat.

  “Amara?” she prodded when she got no answer from her friend.

  “You’re in a lot of danger,” Amara blurted, reminding Ellie of her reaction to the flowers.

  “That’s crazy. You said that before, and you were wrong.”

  “No, I wasn’t. Something terrible is going to happen. You really should listen to me.” She paused, looking out across the pond. “You should let Royce move in with you.”

  Ellie couldn’t hold back the snort of disbelief. “That would never happen.”

  “Did you two have a fight? You seemed so happy before.”

  “Happy? Are you kidding?” Ellie sighed. “If you want to know something, just ask.”

  Amara was silent for a long time. “It worries me that you’ve been pushing him away. This other guy, the one who has your attention, he’s dangerous. He’s not what he seems.”

  “How do you know there’s someone else?”

  Amara rolled her eyes. “I may be new at this whole psychic stuff, but I’ve got a better handle on it than I used to. Someone has your heart, and it’s not Royce.”

  “There’s someone, but it’s too soon to say anything.”

  Amara scowled. “Okay, Ell, for now I’ll buy that. But don’t make me send Marco and Royce after this guy. If he ever hurts you, you know they’ll kill him. Hell, I’ll kill him.”

  That wasn’t going to be a problem. “Amara, I can take care of him, not that I expect him to do anything.”
r />   “Humans are one thing, Ell, but you’re messing with an entity better left alone. You might feel things for him, but make sure he feels something back, and that it’s real. His kind are not play toys, Ell. If you get involved with someone like Eric Malcolm, you’d better be sure you’re serious.”

  Ellie’s gaze snapped back to Amara’s. “How did you know?”

  Amara shrugged. “His presence is all over you. I met him last year, before Marco and I moved here from L.A. He came to talk to Marco about something, him and some big guy with scars on his face. To be honest with you, they both kind of gave me the creeps. I won’t mention it to Marco—yet—because I trust your judgment. As long as you’re sure he isn’t pressuring you into anything.”

  Ellie didn’t even hesitate. “No, he’s not.”

  “When are you seeing him again?” Amara asked, her tone laced with suspicion.

  Ellie shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “Okay, have it your way. Be all secretive with me. But you know you can trust me, right?”

  Normally she’d say yes, but she didn’t know if she could trust Amara to keep the secret from her husband. Marco and Eric would not be a good combination.

  Whatever she thought, it didn’t seem to matter. She was drawn to Eric, and she couldn’t have stayed away from him if she wanted to. Instead of answering, she chose to change the subject. “So what was it you wanted to talk to me about? You sounded upset over the phone.”

  Amara frowned, her expression growing serious. “There’s something going on with Marco. He’s been so secretive lately. He thinks I don’t notice, but how can I not when every little thing makes him jump?”

  “What do you think the problem is?” Ellie asked, hoping Amara didn’t think he was being unfaithful. He might be a little impulsive, but she’d seen him with Amara and knew he’d never do anything like that to her.

  “This is probably going to sound crazy, but I think he’s chasing this killer.”

  Amara’s statement floored Ellie. “Why would you think that?”

  “He and Royce are sneaking out at all hours of the night, acting ridiculous. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I think they know something they don’t want me to find out.”