bedeviled & beyond 02 - bedeviled & bedazzled (3 page)

I smiled, pushing away from the door. Reaching out for him, I gratefully allowed myself to be folded into his leanly muscled arms. “I’m fine now. I just felt a bit ill for a few minutes.”

He tensed in concern. “What can I do for you? Should I call the unplanned injury crew?”

“No. Nothing. I just want to sit for a few minutes.” I reluctantly pulled myself from his arms and dropped into the nearest chair. Then I looked up and smiled to ease his worried frown. “Have you had any luck with that stuff I asked you to do?”

Emo continued to stare at me for several seconds more, his midnight gaze seeming to pierce my mental barriers until I began to worry he’d read my recent ghostly attack there. My face started to burn and I looked down, hoping he hadn’t noticed.”

Finally he sighed and moved around to sit behind his desk, where I assumed he’d been when I came into the office.

“The local coven is denying any involvement in the uprising. They refused to let me speak to the Supreme High Witch but they were quite adamant that the last thing they would want to do was get involved in a fight between the royals and the demons.

I shook my head. “The king isn’t wrong. If he says they’re involved they
are
involved. King Dialle is many things but he isn’t careless, he has always kept a tight rein on the dark worlders.”

Emo nodded. “I agree. Word is the Supreme High Witch is ambitious and jealous of the attention the other dark worlders are getting. I’ve heard the rumors too that she wants to make a play for more power.” He paused, slanting me a look that said I wasn’t gonna like what he was about to say. I braced myself. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe you should contact DD Raoul.”

I frowned. It had, of course, occurred to me that Death Detective Raoul might be able to help me with the witches since he’d been part of the coven for most of his life. But I was resisting bringing him into the current mess. He’d recently been having some personal issues and had requested leave from the Strange Deaths Department to work through them.

“I was hoping to avoid that.”

“I know. But if he can give us some information it might save us several days of trying to pull it out of a very resistant coven.”

I sighed, knowing Emo was right. But that didn’t make my decision any easier. “I’ll think about it. I know I should do it but I really hate to bother him right now.”

Emo simply shrugged. “As for the demons, the king’s information has been confirmed. I have an...acquaintance in the demon court. He confirms that Alcott plans to capture and put to death hundreds of humans in a show of strength to help them break out from under the devils’ control. They are counting on the royals being averse to publicity and having the humans all riled up against them.”

“But you heard nothing about the Supreme High Witch being behind it?”

Emo shrugged again. “All I have are rumors. But the rumors I heard tell me that she’s involved somehow.”

I nodded and sat, thinking. After a minute I realized I had no choice. Sighing, I stood up. “I’ll go see DD Raoul. I don’t see any way around it.”

“Okay boss. Good luck.” His blacker than night eyes sparkled and his beautiful lips curved up just the tiniest bit at the corners. I found myself wanting to chew gently on that yummy lower lip and almost gasped aloud with shock. I just wasn’t used to having those thoughts about my friend and partner. Tearing my gaze away, I turned toward the door.

I could have sworn I heard chuckling behind me.

A thought occurred and I jerked around to look at him. Eying him with my fiercest, most suspicious gaze I asked, “What were you doing just before I came into the office?”

Emo narrowed his gorgeous almond shaped eyes at me and laughed. “Why?”

“Just answer the question.”

He laughed again and the eyes sparkled with mischief and something...more. “I was filing. What else would I be doing?”

I narrowed my own green orbs at him and cast my eyes around his office. Not a single piece of paper lay across the top of his desk or anywhere else for that matter. Emo had always been almost compulsive about keeping his desk neat. I decided it was possible he could have been filing but...

I didn’t believe him. Damn!

I continued to stare at him but he just laughed and shook his head, black ringlets swirling around a darkly whiskered face with a square jaw. “Whatever you’re thinking I didn’t do it.”

Holy shit!
“What didn’t you do, Emo?”

The grin on his face widened, “Go talk to Raoul, Astra.”

With a final glare I left and took the damn stairs down to the parking level.

~SC~

Raoul was in his backyard, on his knees digging in the dirt of what looked like an herb garden. Having never dug in the dirt in my life, my first thought was that Raoul had gone over into his happy place and would be lost to retrieval.

He heard my approach and looked up, sexy brown eyes narrowing as he smiled in welcome. “My day is looking up.” He stood and turned toward me, brushing dirt-coated hands on his soft, grey pants. “How’s my favorite demon hunter?” He walked over and put his arms around me, careful not to touch me with his hands.

I wasn’t sure how to react to the hug. Although Raoul and I had moved into the realm of comfortable with each other, maybe even close to friendship, over the last couple of years of working together, we’d never before shown any kind of physical affection toward each other. I stood with my hands at my sides for a few beats and then placed them uncomfortably on his back, patting him. It came across as clumsy and insincere.

When he finally stepped back he gave me a wry look. “I’m afraid to ask why you’re here.”

I grinned. “You should be.”

He nodded. “Let’s go inside, I could use something cool to drink.”

I followed him into his place, which was light and cool and filled with natural fibers and potted plants. It looked like a girl’s place.

He caught me looking around and smiled. “I know what you’re thinking. It looks like a woman lives here, right?”

When I shrugged my shoulders he laughed. “People tell me that all the time.” He looked around. “I guess, in my line of work, everything’s so dark, it soothes me to come home to light colors and natural things.”

“That makes sense.”

He nodded. Moving into an abbreviated food service area, he washed his hands and then pulled two cold tubes from a small refrigerated unit and handed one to me. I pulled open the corner of the foil tube and took a sip. It tasted like fruit, very sweet, but it felt cool and creamy in my mouth.

Raoul lowered his butt onto one of the tall stools at the counter and looked at me. “So, what can I do for you, Astra?”

Following his lead, I dropped my own butt onto the stool next to him and took another sip of my fruity concoction, stalling for time.

I stared at him for several beats, reluctant to ask for his help when I knew it would most likely drag him into my mess. But, like earlier, I couldn’t see any way around it so I took a deep breath and dived in. “King Dialle the First summoned me to his rooms to tell me that the demons are staging a revolt to try to win independence from the royals. He believes they’ll go after humans to create a stir, which the royals can’t afford.”

Raoul whistled softly. “I’ve been afraid of this happening. The royals have infiltrated the human way of life so completely it’s made them vulnerable. The demons do have some leverage if they can create fear and use it against the royals.”

I nodded and watched him. Raoul’s mind was very sharp and he’d been working in the Strange Deaths Department of the police for over a decade. He knew his dark worlders. Suddenly he looked up at me. “What aren’t you telling me? Why are you coming to me with this?”

“The king has heard that the local coven is pulling the strings of the revolt.”

Raoul set his drink down with more emphasis than was strictly necessary. “That’s preposterous!”

“He’s not the only one who’s heard this.” I was praying he wouldn’t ask me who else had heard the rumor. I didn’t want him to know it was Emo.”

His sharp, brown gaze locked onto mine and I felt myself wanting to look away. “Who else has told you this lie?”

Hades
! “That isn’t important...”

“To me it is.”

Raoul’s normally calm face had become a storm cloud before my very eyes. His reaction seemed a bit extreme.

“How well do you know your Supreme High Witch?”

It was his turn to stare at me. His light brown face had grown tight with anger, his lips pressed together into a thin, disapproving line. “I know her very well.”

“Then you would know if she had...shall we say...delusions of grandeur?”

Raoul’s face changed darkened to a deep, mottled purple. I knew that what I was asking him wasn’t going down well but not I didn’t know what to do about it. If Raoul had information about the coven that would help me I had to get it from him. Human lives were at stake.

Finally he took a deep breath and stood. “If I knew any such thing I wouldn’t tell you, Astra. Coven business must remain in the coven. It’s one of our strictest laws. Anyone who opens coven business to outsiders risks expulsion.” His angry gaze turned soft around the edges until it gained a pleading quality. “I can’t face expulsion now, Astra. I need my white witchcraft to survive.”

I reached for his hand, which was clenched into a sweaty knot on the countertop between us. “I understand that you’re dealing with some personal issues, Raoul. Believe me when I tell you I never wanted to bring any of this to you. But you’re part of the coven and I need your perspective, that’s all.”

He stared at me for a beat and then looked down at our hands, sighing. Turning his hand to clasp mine, he gave my hand a squeeze and then pulled away. “What you’re talking about is black witchcraft. My coven practices white witchcraft. There is no place for dark magic in our world.”

“I know that’s how the coven started and even that many of your members, like you, are strict practitioners of white magic, completely shunning black. But you can’t possibly be naïve enough to think no one in your coven has dabbled in black, Raoul.”

His fist came down hard on the counter. “Damn it, Astra, let it go!”

“I can’t.”

He pushed his face so close to mine I inhaled fruity drink fumes from his breath. His lips looked soft and plump and for the tiniest fraction of time I wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Then he grabbed my wrist in a hard grip and gritted his teeth and kissing became the furthest thing from my mind.

“You, of all people should understand how dangerous the Supreme High Witch is, Astra. I will deal with her and the coven. You have to trust me in this.”

My eyes had grown very wide. I tried to tug my arm away from him. It hurt more than a little bit. Although I was a kick ass demon hunter, I felt a girly-type whimper building and I was afraid I might embarrass myself.

After a few insistent tugs he seemed to realize what he was doing and looked down at my arm, dropping it as if he’d been shocked. “God, I’m sorry, Astra. I just haven’t been myself lately.” He turned away and grabbed his drink tube, taking two long swallows of the liquid inside and shuddering before turning back to me.

“I’ve asked for some personal leave from the Strange Deaths Department. I need to get my head screwed back on straight before I can go back to solving gruesome murders and dark world dilemmas.”

I nodded. “I know that and I’m sorry to dump this on you. But if the demons make good on their threat, a lot of human blood is going to be spilled. I have a feeling that I don’t have much time to get ahead of this. I need your help.”

Raoul’s shoulders drooped a bit and he took another swig from the tube. “What do you want me to do?”

I sighed inwardly. His voice sounded so strained. “I need you to be my eyes and ears inside the coven. Anything you can find out about the witches’ involvement in this will help. Can you do that for me?”

He stood in front of the sink staring down at the floor. His dark brown curls drooped over his forehead, hiding his eyes from me. But I knew what I would see there if he looked at me. He was weary and frustrated. He was fighting some kind of internal battle that was overwhelming him.

And I was piling more stress on.

After a moment he nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out, Astra.” He glanced up. “But I’m not making any promises. I won’t spy on my coven for you.”

It wasn’t perfect but it was better than nothing. “I understand. Thanks, Raoul.”

I left him still staring at the floor, the drink tube clutched tightly in his right hand.

CHAPTER THREE

Bad Demon!

Her scaly foe did look at her, with eyes afloat in fear

That big bad demon hunter girl, should zap him in the ear.

Astra, come to me.

I jumped as my mental drawers were invaded and cursed.
Hades, Dialle, you shouldn’t sneak up on a girl that way. I almost peed myself.

I shivered under the heat of his soft chuckle in my mind.
Kinky. I need you here with me, now. Gerch and I have Alcott’s second and we need your...talents...to break him.

What! Have you lost your frunkin’ mind?

There was a significant pause before he responded.
No, I don’t think so. But if I don’t soon get to plow your love cave again I might go a little mad.

My love cave?
I was laughing so hard I had to lean against the Viper to keep from falling down.
No way did you just say ‘plow my love cave”.

I could hear the grin in his voice when he responded.
Alas, that’s exactly what I said. I’ve been reading human sex novels just to get an idea how I might woo you more successfully
.

I wiped tears from my cheeks, still laughing. A couple of retro Goth types passing by on the street turned to look at the crazy lady laughing to herself and I gave them a little wave.
Well talking like that won’t seduce me. I might crack a rib laughing but rolling around on the floor in hilarity isn’t exactly conducive to hot monkey sex.