Fire Me Up (27 page)

Have you ever tried to fall asleep on the top of an arched
bridge a hundred and fifty feet above dense traffic and a river after your lover
has abandoned you? It's not easy. T finally figured out that sleep wasn't
necessary (or likely), but a calm, quiet mind was. Fifteen minutes after I told
my plan to my pigeon friend (now huddled into a fluffy pigeon ball at my feet),
I carefully hiked up the chiffon skirt of my gown and assumed the lotus
position.

Ten minutes after that, I discovered I had to go to the
bathroom.

Luckily, two minutes after that revelation, my mind was
cleared and quiet enough, focused on nothing, as my old yoga instructor used to
demand, that an incubus showed up.

One moment I was sitting with my eyes closed, humming softly
to myself, holding the mental image of a door made of alabaster in a snowstorm,
and the next a warm, woodsy breath was touching my ear.

Slowly, so as not to scare away the incubus, I turned my
head. A familiar dark-haired man was kissing my bare shoulder.

"Hi, Jacob," I said softly.

His head snapped up, his eyes opening wide as he jerked
backward. I grabbed hold of his arm to keep him from going over the edge of the
arch. "You! It is you! The one with the dragon—"

"Yes, but he's not here. I'm all alone," I said, keeping my
voice low and what I hoped was seductive. He tried to pull away from me, but I
used both hands to hold on to him as t batted my lashes. "All alone. Just little
old me. By myself. And I'm terribly lonely."

He stopped trying to pull away, looking around the top of the
arch suspiciously. "The dragon is not here?"

"No." I gave an insouciant little shrug. "He's abandoned me
for the night. I'm so glad to see you, Jacob. I had hoped you would come."

"You did?" he asked, watching in surprise as I traced a
finger down his bare arm. He was naked, but all I cared about was that his arms
were strong enough to hold me while he got me the hell off the bridge.

"Yes. I'm in a bit of a bind, though. I'm stuck up here—the
dragons put me here as punishment—but I'd much rather be in bed, where it's
comfortable."

He frowned. "A bed is more comfortable," he agreed after
looking around. "This is not comfortable."

"No. And not conducive at all to romance."

His eyes swiveled from the pigeon to me. I could see him
weighing the possibilities in his mind. I leaned forward and blew a little
breath on his lips. "I would be ever so grateful to the man—incubus—who got me
down off here. Very grateful."

The frown cleared as his eyes lit with the same lusty look
that had been present in the eyes of all the other incubi. He nodded. "I will
give you pleasure, lady."

"I know you would. If we were on the ground, I know that you
could give me great pleasure."

"For many hours," he added, his shoulders thrown back as he
puffed out his chest. "I am a virile lover."

"I can see that," I said, sliding my hand down his chest,
avoiding looking at any parts that might be rampant. Well, all right, I peeked,
but only for a second, and just for curiosity's sake. "Why don't you get me off
of here, and then we can discuss just how virile a lover you are?"

He frowned again as he looked down at the traffic on the
bridge. "It will be necessary for me to carry you."

"Yes," I answered, sucking in my cheeks and trying to look
weightless.

He nodded and held out his arms. "I can do that."

I sent up a fervent prayer of thanks as I scooted over to
him, leaning into his chest.

"I must change form now, but fear not, beauteous one. I will
clasp you most firmly."

"All right..."  I clamped my lips shut tight as the man
holding me in his arms suddenly dissolved into a thick gray smoke, seemingly
bodiless, but then I was lifted from the cold stone of the arch, the smoke
surrounding me, wrapping me in warm, dry tendrils. I bit my lip until I tasted
blood to keep from shrieking as the cars and water and buildings drifted by
beneath me, my brain finally taking the preventive measure of ordering my eyes
tightly shut until it was over.

I can't honestly say how long it took for Jacob to get me off
that bridge. All I know is that time seemed to hold its breath, seconds slowed
until it seemed they had stopped altogether. Then the smoke embracing me
slithered away, and I found myself standing in the garden outside the hotel,
staring with blinking, disbelieving eyes at the bright lights and soft music
streaming out of the restaurant that overlooked the garden.

"Now we will go to your room, and I will pleasure you a
thousand times before the sun rises," a thick voice said behind me. I spun
around, so grateful that I actually hugged Jacob, pressing a kiss to his cheek
before releasing him.

"Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't believe
it worked! I can't believe you got me off that horrible bridge! Boy, do I owe
you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Whenever I need an incubus,
you're going to be the one I call, I guarantee you that."

He looked inordinately pleased. "It was nothing. I have much
more impressive skills ... in bed."

"Ah." I stepped back, aware that I was standing in full view
of the restaurant windows with a naked incubus. One who, indeed, looked fully
prepared to fulfill his promise. "About that—you know, I'm ... urn ... thinking
that my trauma about the bridge was so great, that I couldn't really appreciate
any of your wonderful love-making talents tonight, But if you don't mind"—with a
glance over my shoulder at a small group of people who emerged from the
restaurant, I gently pushed Jacob toward a tall hedge that would provide a bit
of privacy— "I'd like to ask you some questions."

"Questions?" He looked at me sullenly. "You question my
ability to give you pleasure? I am almost six hundred years old, lady. I have
pleasured thousands of women in that time. Hundreds of thousands!"

"I'
m sure you have," I said softly, shoving him a bit farther
along the hedge.

"I am a lover extraordinaire! No matter how debauched your
tastes, I will satisfy you."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you would."

"Flogging, bondage, fetishes—T have experience in all
methods."

"Just so, but the thing is, I don't want to question you
about your technique. I want to ask you about the number of times you can do it
in a night."

He stared at me, his mouth slightly ajar.

"That thousand times you mentioned a minute ago— is there a
limit to the times you can make love in one night, or are you pretty much the
Energizer Bunny?"

"The what?"

"Limitless?"

He looked taken aback for a moment, then he puffed out his
chest again, his chin up, his eyes blazing. "I am an incubus of the House of
Balint. We are the oldest and most virile line in all of Eastern Europe. My
loins can provide you with as much pleasure as you can survive."

"Ah, but how much would it take to kill someone, I wonder?" I
asked, one piece of the puzzle sliding into place.

"A dozen times, perhaps less, depending on the strength of
your heart," Jacob answered matter-of-factly. "Of course, that matters not if
you are immortal."

I looked up from where I was contemplating the hedge,
startled by what he said. "Guardians aren't immortal."

"No, they are not. Come, lovely one. Let us find your bed,
and I will put your mind at rest as to the power to be found in my manhood."

"Just a second. I have another question. You said you are
from the House of Balint. Are all incubi from specific houses?"

"Yes. It is a family designation, you understand."

"And are they regional? That is, do all the incubi who work
this area belong to the same house?"

"Yes," he said, tugging me toward the hotel.

"So you know all the others who hang out around here?"

He stopped tugging and gave me an outraged look. "You will
want no other after you have had me!"

I held up my hand "I'm certain I won't. I just wanted ID know
if you know everyone in this area."

"They are family, brothers in the House of Balint. I know
them. But none are such a good lover as me."

I eluded his grasp. "You wouldn't happen to know if one of
your brothers had been to the hotel the last couple of nights ... er ...
visiting Guardians?"

"Many of my brothers have pleasured women here," be said,
grabbing me around the waist like he was going ID pick me up and carry me.

"Lately?" I asked, trying to squirm out of his grasp without
much Luck.

"Yes, recently. The last few nights. Many have summoned us,
just as you summoned me. Come, my adorable one, and allow me to worship you as
you deserve to be worshiped."

"Names," I squawked. "Do you have their names?"

He let go of me, putting his hands on his naked hips as he
glared. "I begin to think it is not me you desire at all. I begin to think you
question me about another of my house."

"It's not that. I'm just interested in who has been visiting
Guardians during the last few nights. If you could give me their names, I'd be
very grateful."

He thought about it for a minute, then suddenly he scooped me
up in his arms and started walking—buck naked—toward the hotel. "No. You have
heard tales from these other women about their dream lovers, and you think that
only they can satisfy you. But I tell you I am better than them. I will make you
forget all about them."

"Oh, look, there's Drake! My dragon!"

Jacob stopped dead, but still held me.

"Uh-oh. I think he's seen us. And he looks angry. Is that
fire coming out of his nose? The last incubus he caught with me—ooof!" I hit the
ground hard. Jacob, without waiting to see Drake (which was a good thing, since
he wasn't there), dissolved into smoke and disappeared into the night.

I got painfully to my feet, carefully brushing grass off my
gorgeous dress before limping into the hotel. A quick stop by the front desk to
get a room key, an elevator ride to the seventh floor, and before you could say
"Ricky Ricardo" I was throwing open the doors to Drake's suite.

Drake, Istvan, and Pal all looked up from where they were
sitting.

I stared at each one of them, letting them see everything
they'd put me through before slamming the door behind me with a particularly
meaningful "Honey, I'm home!"

"
Asling, I am not lying. I do not lie."

"Oh, I like that!"

"When have I lied to you?"

"Just three seconds ago when you told me you knew I would get
off that damned bridge."

"Kincsem—"

I jerked away from where Drake was trying to grab me,
marching past him with a glare so fulminating that it literally started a fire
on the bureau behind him. "Don't you dare kincsem me!"

Drake absently slapped the fire out, watching as I paced back
and forth between the bed and the wall.

"How could you do it, Drake? How could you park me on top of
that bridge and just go blithely on your way?"

"I told you, mate. I knew you would find a way down. If
nothing else, you could have dived into the river."

"And broken every bone in my body."

"No." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps one or two,
but I am sure that would be the most damage."

I hitched my glare up another notch. The curtains burst into
flame.

Drake sighed as he looked at them. "You must learn to control
my fire, Aisling. I know you are angry at me for allowing the punishment to be
carried out, but I assure you that it was by far the least objectionable of all
the punishments suggested."

I growled something physically impossible, snatched a tiny
fire extinguisher from the wall, and plastered the drapes with white chemical
foam. "Oh, right, like I'm supposed to believe that? I could have died up there,
Drake."

"But you didn't."

"No, but that's no reflection on you."

"I agree." I toyed for a moment with spraying him, too, but
in the end set the extinguisher down and stared at him. His normally expressive
eyes were unreadable. "But it is a reflection on you, mate." He stopped me as I
made a disgusted noise, about to walk out of the bedroom. Just the feel of his
hands on my arms sent little frissons of fire whipping through my body.
"Aisling, I knew you would find a way off the bridge. You are smart and
resourceful, and you command more power than you can imagine. I knew that you
would either start a fire on the bridge, thus summoning aid, or summon a being
to rescue you."

Damn. I hadn't thought about starting a fire. I bet that
would have brought the fire department out pretty quickly.

"All right," I said, holding on to my anger just a little bit
longer despite knowing it was mostly unwarranted. "That excuses you from trying
to kill me. But you could have given me a couple of hints on how to get down off
there before you went zooming off. You could have reminded me that I can bring
up your fire."