Good Intentions (27 page)

now she gloried in his adoring and hungry stare. The only thing that could compare was fall ing in love. And it was love that let her be here with him in the first place. * Lorelei had a hell of a time getting back to Alex’s house that afternoon. She felt everything. felt her flesh devoured, felt herself magnificently and fiercely taken and cuddled and caressed and ravished al over again. Everything had that rush of a first time, with her own so far in the past that she couldn’t even remember it and hardly even gave it any thought in the last thousand years. Onyx wasn’t a virgin by strict interpretation. She’d made love before, Lorelei knew now. There was no sensation that fit the breach of a hymen. But this was her first experience with a man. Lorelei was absolutely sure of that. Twice, Lorelei pul ed over to bask in the sensations she drew from Alex. The bond between them grew ever stronger. She could feel the difference. At this point if she had the chance to confront the man who’d attempted to bind her, only to have Alex come along and screw it al up, Lorelei wouldn’t have the words to thank him enough. * “Oh God,” Onyx moaned with a smile, “I don’t know if I can do this anymore.” She’d lost track of how many times he’d gotten her off. She’d also lost track of time. If this went on further, she’d probably lose track of her identity.

“You okay?” Alex asked. He kissed her cheeks, her forehead, her neck. “Hel yes,” Onyx grinned. “I feel amazing. You’re amazing. You’d better not be a one-time-only kind of guy, mister.” “No way,” Alex huffed. “You’re not even entirely naked yet.” Her grin became sly. “We’l have to save that for next time, then.” “Deal.” “Much as I don’t want you to go anywhere,” she said, “I could really use some water.” “Oh!” Alex blinked. “I’l get it.” He pul ed away and got off the bed. After a two-second detour to the bathroom he came back with a towel for her. “Don’t know if you’d like this or not,” he said a bit shyly before heading back out of the room. Onyx blinked. She hadn’t expected him to be that thoughtful. Not after al that exercise. She rose up from the bed as he walked out, using the towel only momentarily but wanting to look at him again as he headed down the stairs. She liked the way he looked, especially to the spiritual sight that she’d learned as the first lessons of her Practice. His aura revealed compassion and humility and purity of spirit. There were black marks, too; everyone had those. Yet by and large Alex’s were small , most of them even insignificant. He had the bright, vibrant aura of a genuinely good person. Onyx smiled at him as he headed down the stairs, and as she looked for things unseen by ordinary people, she saw something meant to be unseen by anyone. She was tal and dark-haired and beautiful. Gorgeous enough to make Onyx feel plain…except for the twin scars on her head, just below her hairline, like thick gashes cut over her skin. The woman smiled as Alex came down the stairs toward her, saying nothing to him but watching as if he’d seen her. He didn’t stop on his way to the kitchen, but she fol owed.

She had a tail. Onyx saw it poking insubstantially through the woman’s short business skirt, swaying with a relaxed air. Onyx wasn’t supposed to see the woman at al . She was sure of that. But moreover, only a Practicioner of magic could have ever seen that tail unless the woman will ed it so. Onyx knew that wasn’t just a woman down there. She jerked back away from the staircase before the woman looked up at her, then saw that she had fol owed Alex into the kitchen with a smile on her face. Her mind racing, Onyx rushed back into the bedroom, quickly gathered her clothes, and then locked herself in the bathroom. * “Wonderful in ways I would not have expected, Alex,” Lorelei whispered into his ear. He stood at the kitchen counter pouring water out of a pitcher while she slipped up behind him, moving her hands over his chest. “Our bond must still be strengthening. This was much more than a rush of vitality and healing for me. You didn’t have just her. You had me as well …or, more accurately, I had you just as she did. It was breathtaking for both of us.” “I still can’t believe this is happening. Can’t believe you’re okay with it. Can’t believe she’s okay with it,” he murmured. “I was afraid I was delaying plans for the weekend. I didn’t want to disappoint you.” “Alex,” she whispered, “never, ever hesitate on my part. We share this.” “I should go back up there,” he said. “Go,” Lorelei consented with a smile. “Take your time with her. I’m enjoying this as much as either of you. Just…take me the moment she leaves,” she added with a wink.

* It was the simplest, most basic of purification spel s. If she’d been subjected to something serious, it probably wouldn’t work. But she had to try something immediately. First aid, if nothing else. For that, she always carried sea salt in her purse. Onyx brushed a small pinch of salt across her forehead and threw it into the sink with the faucet running. She did so again with salt across her heart, then again just below her bel y. She murmured the words, trying to keep her voice down even though Alex and whatever that woman was were still downstairs. With this done, she looked in the mirror. She didn’t feel any different. Her body was still riding so high on the rapture of her afternoon. But her mind and her heart were thrown for a loop by this revelation. If anything had been altered about her, if she had been manipulated through some supernatural means, it was well beyond her ability to break right now. That, or she hadn’t been affected at al . One or the other. His aura shone with benevolence and life, but there was an invisible woman with a devil’s tail connected to him somehow. She didn’t want to leave him here. It wasn’t right. She had to get him away from her—from that— and make sure he was okay. Unless, somehow, he was part of this, and everything about him was a deception beyond her means to detect… Stop. That doesn’t make sense, she told herself. That he could fake his aura was a pretty big stretch to begin with. Everything about him and his home stated flatly that he knew nothing of any Practice she had ever heard of. Further, if he could run such a good charade, or if that woman could, then clearly she shouldn’t have been visible to Onyx at al .

Whatever was going on had begun well before Onyx got here. He was hale and hearty. Il ness or fatigue would have shown in his aura. Any drain in his soul would have been visible as well . This was bad, but it was not an emergency. At least, not for him. Onyx looked in the mirror. She had another minute or so before her presence here became suspicious. She could already hear him coming up the stairs. Rummaging around in her purse, Onyx pul ed out a tiny pil bottle fil ed with snapdragon petals. Murmured words in Greek and Hebrew mingled with English as she placed a petal under her tongue. She hoped the universe would not hold this one spel against her. Deception was not a pleasant way to go and tended to incur a threefold payback, but al she wanted out of this was a smooth and inconspicuous exit. Lying wasn’t high on her list of social skill s; she needed this boost of guile. Onyx rolled the petal up from under her tongue, swal owed it, and took a deep breath before opening the door. She kept a pinch of salt at the ready in her right hand. “Hey,” she said softly, finding him sitting on his bed again. He offered her a glass of water, which she accepted with her left hand. She drank it down with hardly a pause. “You’re dressed,” he observed. There was some slight disappointment there, but he didn’t want to guilt trip or push her. That much was obvious. “Yeah. I hadn’t realized the time. I really need to go. Got places to be soon.” A lie. Not a big one, and arguably only a half-truth, but not the way she wanted to handle things. Then again, she didn’t want a demon in his house, either. “You’re sure? I haven’t made you uncomfortable or anything, have I?” His concern was plain. It only made her melt a little bit more inside. She nodded. “It’s not you. It’s nothing bad,” she lied again. Looking at him like this, trying not to think of what they’d just done for one another and seeing that he could clearly perform yet again made leaving difficult. Part of her wanted to ignore what she’d seen and stay in his bed even longer. But she couldn’t. That was unthinkable now, at least until she had a chance to cleanse and to think. Onyx looked at

him, then pul ed him close and kissed him. Her right hand slipped behind his head and let the salt fall into his hair. She broke off the kiss, leaning her forehead onto his, murmuring something very softly. “What’s that?” Alex whispered. “Nothing. Just that I really like you. I don’t want you to feel like I’m running away from you.” “If you say that’s not what you’re doing, I’l take your word for it,” he offered. She smiled a bit. “What are you doing this weekend?” she asked. “I’ve kind of got plans. Party tomorrow night but I think it’s al people you don’t know. And I’m, um…wel , like I said, there’s someone…” Onyx nodded. “Yeah. Me, too. It’s fine. I just wanted to know if it’s okay to cal you if I’ve got the chance. No promises,” she added. “And no getting sad if I don’t cal . Just means I couldn’t, not that I didn’t want to.” “Of course. Cal me anytime,” Alex agreed. He grabbed a receipt that had been lying on his desk and wrote his phone number and email on it, then handed it to her. She took it and smiled. “Okay, I’ve got to get out of here, or I’m gonna wind up jumping you.” “That’s bad?” he grinned. “Don’t,” she grinned back, gripping one of his shoulders firmly. “Don’t tempt me. You have no idea how easy that would be for you, so I need to trust you not to. Please.” Alex nodded. “I’d rather be your friend than your bed buddy. But I’d much rather be both,” he added only half jokingly. “Thank you. For this. Today. Everything.” She got up. “I should walk you to your car,” Alex said.

Onyx laughed and shoved him back onto the bed. “Not like that you can’t. I’ve really got to run. I’l be in touch. Seriously. See you later, Alex.” With that she moved quickly out of the room and down the stairs. At the door, a hand reached out and softly covered hers. She was sure she wasn’t supposed to see it, but she was on her guard now. The touch was electric, almost paralyzing and delicious al at once. Trying to maintain her façade of unawareness, Onyx paused. “He wants you,” a sensuous woman’s voice whispered directly into her ear, setting Onyx’s desires on fire al over again. “He wanted you from the moment he first saw you, and will want you again. You can trust him. You’re safe with Alex.” With that, the hand slipped away. Onyx shuddered, then opened the door and went outside with al deliberate speed. Lorelei smiled as the young woman left. She sauntered up the stairs, feeling her master’s desire for her. The succubus expected to find him sitting or laying on his bed. Instead, he was waiting for her at the doorway. Lorelei yelped happily as he yanked her close, kissing her wantonly and pushing her up against the wall . She slid one bare leg up along his, her skirt hiking up invitingly as she moved. They had a lot of catching up to do. Chapter 12

Warts and Al

“Mol y! Molly Molly Mol y!” She hadn’t even turned off the rattling engine of her car yet. There was definitely something wrong in there, probably a bent whatever from when she’d hit a bump a little too fast, but the last thing she had money for was an uncomfortable noise. Yet the uncomfortable noise coming from just outside her car was somehow even more

annoying. At least settling it wouldn’t cost her any money. She stepped out of the car onto the grass next to the curb and forced herself to smile wearily at the neighbor-child shouting her name. “Hi, Chrissy,” she sighed. “What’s up?” Had this been an adult with some sense of tact, Molly never would have asked. Chrissy, however, was going to tel her if she asked or not. “Tigger’s up in a tree and won’t come down and I can’t get him and I’m going to be late for dinner and I’m going to get in trouble with Mom for letting him out!” “Oh no. Not that,” Molly said dryly. “You’ve gotta help me!” Molly tugged her backpack out of the car and locked it—as if anyone was going to steal it. “Chrissy, Tigger got himself up there, right? And he always comes back to your apartment, right?” “Yeah, but he’s up in a tree and can’t come down!” “Did you know that in the history of the world no cat has ever starved to death in a tree?” Chrissy’s little eyes went wide. “You mean Tigger’s gonna be the first!? Oh no!” Mol y’s shoulders slumped. “Where is he?” she asked. Chrissy grabbed Mol y’s hand and tugged her along through the row of apartments stacked on top of one another to the small open plaza behind their building. As she walked, Molly thought once again how much of a terrible, terrible mistake it had been to tel the kids in the complex last 4th of July that she was fluent in cat. And dog. And snake. Especially snake, but at least nobody in the complex actually had one, so she wouldn’t likely be cal ed upon to prove it. It was also very clear to her that she should never, ever be drunk in front of children again. She had let her guard

down, and now none of the kids in the low-rent complex had any fear of her intimidating manner or spiked jewelry. They found Tigger in the branches of a maple tree, just high enough to make climbing up to get him very difficult. The calico cat sat upright, complaining loudly about his predicament to any who were within earshot. “What the hell were you thinking?” Molly asked the cat. He meowed back plaintively, to which she said, “You’ve got no business going after squirrels. You’re a housecat. That’s not going to work out as well for you as you want to believe.” “You’ve gotta speak cat, Mol y!” “Chrissy, that’s not how it works. I’m not going to meow at him. He understands me.” She looked up at the cat. “Don’t you, Tigger?” His tail flicked irritably as he stared down at her. “Okay. I’ve got to go inside. I’m tired and hungry and we’re not going to play around with this. Climb down here.” He meowed back, and then looked away as if he weren’t listening anymore. “Tigger, I know you’re listening to me. I can see which way your ears are turned. Climb down.” He didn’t reply. Molly sighed again. She dropped her backpack and held up her arms. “Okay, jump down here. I’l catch you. But you sprout claws on me and it’s your ass.” “He’s not gonna just jump down,” Chrissy said. He did, in fact. The cat’s aim was naturally perfect, and as he thumped into Mol y’s chest and shoulder she grabbed onto him gently but quickly enough to keep him from fall ing. Then she pul ed him off herself and handed him to Chrissy.

“Oh my gosh, how did you do that?!” Chrissy exclaimed. “You’ve got to teach me how! I have this problem with him al the time!” Molly frowned. “I don’t think your mom would like that. Go home, Chrissy. I’l see you later.” She shouldered her backpack again, thanking the universe for al owing her solid insurance against ever accidentally having children as she walked to her apartment. It wasn’t terribly big, or even terribly nice on the outside. Nothing more than a two-bedroom space underneath another two-bedroom space, with nearly-identical two-bedroom spaces on either side. They had no real patio or porch, just a doorway underneath the staircase leading to the upstairs neighbor’s apartment. What they had, however, was a cheap place that they could cal their own with neighbors who didn’t ask a lot of questions and a landlord who wasn’t big on coming by to personally check up on things. Incense wafted through the doorway as she entered, strongly enough to grab her attention immediately. Everything was turned off. She thought for a moment that there could have been a power outage, but then it al clicked. Molly put down her backpack, secured al three locks on the door and went to the spare bedroom. Onyx was there in the center of the wax pentagram that they had painstakingly created on the bare concrete floor after rol ing up the carpet. Mol y’s lover and partner was stripped bare and soaking wet, chanting quietly on her knees. It would’ve been a serious turn-on for Molly to see her beautiful girlfriend like this if the atmosphere didn’t seem so grave. The shelves were ablaze with candles and the window was open for ventilation though the heavy curtain was drawn. The three buckets of rainwater they had gathered were al around her, one of them having obviously been emptied over Onyx’s head. Most of the floor was wet. Bowls of ritual components sat outside the circle, while ingredients from each were scattered within. Molly said nothing. She was concerned, of course, but knew better than to interrupt. She took a look at what Onyx had included in the ritual, what she was doing, and what was pointedly missing from the shelves of supplies in the far corner of the room. The candles hadn’t been burning long at al , but they were already kicking out a good deal of heat. Molly knelt outside the circle directly facing Onyx to wait this out.