devil 04 - the devil you know Read online

  Dialle’s voice in my head pulled me the rest of the way out. Astra! We’re in the castle. Where are you? What are you doing? Why is my bond mark screaming and sparking?

  “Frunk me to Hades and back again!” I screamed, shoving at First’s head with both hands and scrambling away from him.

  Dialle the First looked up at me from between my thighs, his chin wet with my juices. ”That’s what I’m trying to do, my sweet.”

  “Argh!” I scrambled off the bed and looked around frantically, searching for an exit. Unfortunately, First had chosen his spot well for my seduction. The fairy mound where my Dialle had taken me to make love for the first time was deep within the earth, so there had been no windows or doors.

  Dialle! Your father’s magicked me to a spot like the fairy mound. There are no exits and my powers won’t work here.

  Much telepathic swearing ensued at this information. We’re searching for the warlock who created the warding now. He has to be somewhere in this castle. You’ll need to improvise until we can find him. Hopefully it won’t take long.

  “Shit!” I watched as First climbed across the bed toward me, his face wearing a hungry expression and his cock bouncing hard and heavy between his muscular thighs. “Come back to bed, lovely Astra. I will make you forget my puny offspring. He does not understand what it takes to be king of the dark world. I do. I can truly make you queen.”

  Gulping, I looked frantically around the room for something I could use as a weapon. There was nothing. Unless I wanted to initiate a pillow fight, I was screwed.

  I doubted that death by feather pillow was in First’s immediate future.

  I decided to go with the next best thing. Distraction. I backed as far away from him as I could and went with the most libido-killing topic I could think of.

  My sister.

  “I don’t understand, King Dialle, if you wanted me for your queen, why did you take my sister?”

  He stopped crawling and shuddered. “I’d have to be truly insane to seriously consider mating with that shrew.”

  I shrugged. What could I say, he was right. “Then I assume you used her as bait to draw me here?”

  The randy king dropped backward onto his fine posterior and slid his long legs off the bed. I tried to ignore the nicely waving package at the juncture of his hard thighs. “That would be an admirable ploy wouldn’t it? As consummately annoying as your sister is, you are known to be very loyal to your family. Anyone who knew that would be able to use one of them to get you to do what they wanted.”

  I frowned. His choice of phrasing was squigging me out. It was almost as if he were trying to give me a hidden message. “Are you telling me you didn’t take my sister?”

  He shrugged. “I am capable of many things. Most of them quite atrocious, as you know. I did have your sister here.” He examined his perfectly manicured fingernails. “For a while…” he murmured.

  “Where is she now, King Dialle? What have you done with my sister?”

  He laughed dismissively. “I’ve done nothing with that bitch. I was only allowing someone to keep her here for a short time.” He frowned. “A regrettable decision as it turns out. Cost me one of my sons.”

  My eyes widened. “You killed Torre?”

  First looked amused. “Killed him? That would be a waste of my powers.” He sighed, shaking his head with disgust. “I fear my younger son would go down under a single flick of my finger. He has never been strong. And that woman…” He shuddered theatrically. “I’ve simply removed him from her influence. Mayhap the dungeons will toughen him up.”

  A sense of horror filled me. Dialle didn’t have Darma. And if he didn’t, then who did? Emo’s face flickered through my mind and I shook my head, forcing the thought away. I refused to think my partner and best friend would be capable of such deceit.

  “What about you wanting to grab back the crown? Was that a lie too?”

  First laughed at that and stood, stalking toward me with the lithe grace of a large jungle cat. And just as deadly. “I’m always looking for a way to get my power back.”

  Frowning, I held my hand out, placing it on his chest to stop his forward progress. Big mistake. My Settling flared as I touched his smooth, hot skin. I snatched my hand away. “Did you ask Emo to bring me here?”

  “Who?”

  Dread cut a cold swath through my belly. “The Tweener who brought me here.”

  “Oh yes, Emmanuel.” First flipped a dismissive hand over his head. “His relationship with you came in handy. And it didn’t hurt that he is turning ever closer to his devil as his Settling takes hold of him.” First shivered with apparent delight at Emo’s decline into the vast darkness of his nature.

  “Emmanuel?” I murmured. Was that my partner’s true name? I’d never heard him called that before. And if it was, what else didn’t I know about him. Alas, I wasn’t going to find out right at that moment.

  First grabbed my hand and pulled it to his lips. He sucked the middle digit into the heated cave of his mouth and my knees buckled. He caught me around the middle before I fell and, in the blink of an eye I found myself on my back on the bed, with him settled over me, a hard shaft nestled between my legs.

  Dialle!

  We’ve found him, Astra. Hold on just ten more seconds.

  That might be too late!

  First lowered his head and licked me, starting at the juncture of my shoulder and neck and forging a trail of fire up the entire length of my throat. “You will enjoy our mating, my sweet.” He captured my bottom lip between his sharp white teeth and nibbled gently, then bit down hard enough to draw blood.

  Rather than bringing pain, the action caused a jolt of pure, sensual delight to spear through me. I moaned as my pussy clenched in the first waves of release, my toes curling tight against the bottoms of my feet.

  The fat, wet head of his penis nuzzled my pulsing entrance, urging me to open wide and take him in. He groaned as the tip of his shaft nestled easily there, finding me more than ready for him.

  One more second and I’d be unfaithful to Dialle.

  My mind screamed at me to stop him, but my traitorous body resisted that good advice, wrapping itself around him to make its ravishment easier.

  Fortunately for me a built-in mood killer had access to my head. Astra! I thought you were coming to get me. I’m in trouble here, Astra. I don’t know how long I can hold this guy off. Shit! Astraaaaaaaaaaa!

  I surged upright on the bed, panting. Shoving First off me, I leapt off the bed, grabbing a pillow. If a pillow was all I had, I’d do whatever I could with it.

  If nothing else I’d stuff it between my thighs as a feather chastity belt.

  Fortunately I didn’t need to resort to that.

  I felt the change in the air the moment the warlock gave up his secrets. The retrieval of his wards created a sudden surge in magic that wreaked havoc with any existing spells, including First’s fairy-mound spell.

  My power came surging forward and extinguished the pillow I was holding in my hands in a puff of smoke.

  Then I blinked and found myself standing in the throne room again.

  Naked as the day I was born.

  “Did I miss the notice for casual day?” a sharp-edged female voice asked.

  Looking up, I gave my aunt a sheepish smile, wishing I still had that damn pillow to hide behind.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dis Just Sux!

  The demon stared upon young miss, her death fixed in its eye,

  But she preferred to face the dark, and make the monster die.

  Dialle strolled up to me, glaring. “I see you found my father.” He whipped a hand toward me and, thankfully, I found myself fully dressed again. I smoothed a hand down the silk t-shirt and smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

  He leaned close. “I trust you managed to hold him off?”

  “With a feather pillow…and not much else.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll happily kill him for you.”

  I looked
around. “By the way, where is the old dog?”

  “He poofed away shortly after you popped in.”

  Myra stepped close. “We need to find Darma and get out of here.”

  My eyes widened. “Darma!” Turning to Dialle, I grasped his shirt in both hands. “I think Nerul has Darma. He must be behind all of this. Your father was perfectly willing to take advantage of the chaos Nerul has caused, but he wasn’t the one vying for your crown.”

  Dialle stared at me for a long moment, his black eyes swirling with anger and other emotions I couldn’t read. Then he swore, apparently seeing the truth behind my words. “I should have known he couldn’t be trusted.”

  Dialle grabbed my arm and suddenly we were locked in space and time. On our way back to his castle, no doubt. I wanted to shriek at him that we were most likely traveling directly into a trap. I wanted to tell him about Emo. I wanted to shriek at him for dragging me, without consulting me first, into a new situation before my nerves had managed to settle from the last one. I wanted to do all of those things. But all I could do was stand there, my mouth open in surprised outrage, and glare at him.

  We settled back to the physical plane in a small, darkened room. It smelled like…cleaning products. Wrinkling my nose I forgot to yell at him for transporting me against my will and asked, “Are we in a maid’s closet?”

  Dialle reached out and touched the door. It slid silently open just enough for him to peek outside. “Yes.”

  I had to smile. “You mean you don’t just wave your hands and clean the place?”

  I couldn’t see his handsome face, but I heard derision in his voice. “We don’t waste our powers on such trivia. We let the human damned clean. It keeps them busy so they don’t get into trouble.”

  I snorted and he amended his statement with a grin. “More trouble.”

  I joined him at the crack in the door. The hallway outside looked just like all the other hallways in the castle. “Where are we?”

  He opened the door wider and stepped out. “West tower, top floor.”

  Since I had no clue about the castle’s layout, that meant nothing to me. I took a stab at a reason. “Nerul’s floor?”

  “His rooms are nearby. Now that I know what he’s been up to, I believe this is where he has been keeping your sister. There have been signs, which I’ve managed to ignore with everything else going on.”

  The air shimmered beside us and Dialle’s brother Torre flickered into existence. His dark, delicately handsome features were hard with anger and determination. “Where is she?”

  Dialle jerked his head toward a thick wooden door at the end of the hallway.

  Torre strode toward the door, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

  I admired the view as he went. Torre had always been too delicate for me, too pretty, but something had changed in Dialle’s younger brother. He appeared to have grown up, gotten tougher.

  It was a delicious change.

  Dialle caught me staring at his brother’s fine backside and licking my lips. He cocked an eyebrow, the hint of a smile dancing across his lips.

  I shrugged. “Damn Settling,” I offered feebly.

  Shaking his head, he started after his brother.

  I pulled my power forward and followed. The door exploded inward as Torre approached and we continued through without breaking stride.

  The outer room was quiet. For a moment I thought the rooms were empty. Then I heard the sounds of a struggle and my sister’s ear-shattering shriek. Torre took off toward the sound, his aura vibrant with barely leashed power.

  Before Dialle and I made it into the room, something exploded and Darma shrieked, “Torre!”

  Torre roared and more explosions followed.

  With his longer legs, Dialle made it through the door before I did. I heard him swear and knew something bad was up. So I took the time to envelop myself in a protective bubble before following them through the door.

  I peeked around the doorframe and took in the situation before entering the room. It was pure chaos. Dozens of Nerul’s guards filled the large room, which appeared to be a bedroom minus the bed and any other furniture. There was no sign of Darma or Nerul. He’d apparently had some warning that we were coming for him.

  Emo’s newly hardened face and manner flitted through my mind again but I squashed it ruthlessly.

  Dropping my bubble so I could fight, I stepped through the door.

  I had to duck immediately. One of Nerul’s guards flew toward me, nearly taking off my head with his squat, heavy body. I waited for him to land and then grabbed the sword out of his hand, plunging it into his chest. I turned to meet the next guard, who swung wildly at me, mostly missing. He didn’t look very bright, apparently dredged up from the bottom of a very deep barrel. A string of drool swung from his lower lip as he lumbered around, making clumsy attempts to spear me with his blade.

  He swung again and I ducked and lunged, twisting my wrist at the last moment to slice his side. As he turned away, trying to protect the wound, I swung my sword in a power-induced arc that sent his head flying to skitter wetly across the floor. It landed next to a set of large feet in soft boots. My vision slid up the boots to a fine pair of legs, stalled out over a nicely bulging area at the juncture of a muscular set of thighs and then continued upward to a handsome, smiling face.

  My Settling gave me a quick jolt of sheer lust that curled my toes and then tucked itself back behind my aggressive side, allowing me to stay mostly focused on the battle at hand.

  Slayer winked at me and lunged, taking out another of Nerul’s guards.

  I realized that he’d probably found me by using the Slayer hickey on my hand. Although I was happy to see him, having another devastatingly handsome male type able to track and find me at all times was discomfiting to say the least.

  However, I didn’t have time to worry about it right at that moment.

  The doorway darkened with something huge and hairy in basic colors. Very basic.

  Shit! Dialle! This might be a good time for you to tell me how you defeated that Dis Demon.

  I’m a little busy right now, Astra.

  I turned to Dialle and found him fighting four of Nerul’s soldiers at once. I sent a jolt of power into one of them and it went right through him to maim a second guard. Dialle finished the wounded one with his sword and cocked an eyebrow at me. I had it under control.

  I don’t doubt that for a minute. I told him. But we have a visitor.

  His beautiful black gaze slid to the door, where the biggest Dis Demon I’d ever seen was standing, nearly folded in half because he didn’t fit through the doorway, which was over eight feet tall and five feet wide.

  My guess was he was ten feet tall if he was an inch.

  Dialle finished off two more guards with very little effort, spearing one on the end of his sword and sending a power arrow into the head of the other, exploding it like a melon. Would you like me to take care of it?

  I frowned. I didn’t like other people having to clean up my messes for me. No. Just tell me how you did it.

  The demon stepped into the room and, surprise surprise, the doorway wasn’t empty. Another Dis, at least as big as the first one, ducked through after him.

  Looks like we both get one. Dialle said with a grin.

  I’ll take the one on the left, I told him, turning to the demon on the right. It was a ploy Emo and I used frequently to throw off our opponents. Like sleight of hand using our line of vision and body direction to confuse them. I forgot for a moment that my battle partner had changed and a wave of sadness slipped over me. My life was changing in ways I wasn’t comfortable with.

  Part of me wanted to go back to the time before the Settling, when Emo and I were still friends and partners. Part of me realized the Settling only enhanced the flaws and strengths we already had and that we needed to work through our issues before we could be whole again.

  Then a Dis demon swiped a massive paw in my direction and a third part of me, the
survival part, realized I needed to stop dithering like an idiot and kick some demon ass.

  I leapt into the air as the demon moved with preternatural speed toward me. I wasn’t used to a Dis that wasn’t protecting something. These demons were in attack mode.

  They weren’t going to stand there and wait for me to go after them. “Dialle! How do I kill this thing?” Three enormous claws swiped across my back as I landed, tearing through my clothing like it was made of paper and ripping my skin.

  The claw marks burned like acid, making me scream in pain.

  “Dialle!”

  Use your inner sight, Astra. Slow it down with your vision.

  Oh shit! This is no time to go all zen on me. The ground shook and I spun as the demon swiped again. This time claws scored three long, bloody gouges in my arm.

  Screaming in pain and anger, I lifted my arm and blasted the thing between the eyes.

  The power arrow tore through the wall behind where the demon had been.

  It was gone.

  Two massive hands closed over my arms and lifted me high into the air. I kicked out, connecting with the thing’s face, but it merely grunted before throwing me across the room, toward a stone wall. Closing my eyes, I prepared for impact.

  I knew it was gonna hurt like Hell. And believe me, I knew how much Hell hurt.

  I never hit that wall. Something soft and warm stepped in the way, stopping me before impact. The air before me shimmered and I was looking into Auntie Myra’s beautiful, cranky face. We floated back to the ground. “I see you’re doing your usual bang-up job in battle, Astra.”

  I kissed her on a peach-tinted cheek. “Bang up being the operative words, of course. Thanks, Auntie.”

  She scowled at me as I turned back to the demon.

  Stop screwing around, Astra. Slow it down with your vision.

  Sighing, I decided to try it his way, since my way pretty much sucked so far. I pulled my power forward and infused my vision with it, settling my gaze on the Dis demon and concentrating hard on seeing it with my enhanced vision.