Seduced by Darkness (3 page)

Heidi shuddered visibly, though she tried to hide it behind
a cough. Such a stubborn, impossible woman. And damn if he didn’t love even
those qualities in her.

She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with the same
fevered intensity as the tendrils of magic dancing across her knuckles. In that
moment, he felt more responsible for her than ever.

Before she could protest, he grabbed her by the waist,
picked her up and flung her across the back of Lillian’s motorcycle.

“What the fu --”

“Shush, demon-child,” he murmured soothingly in her ear as
he climbed onto the leather seat and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Follow
someone else’s lead for a change.”

She stopped protesting then, though whether because his
words had had some kind of actual effect or because Lillian revved the engine
and floored the motorcycle into a sudden backward lurch, he wasn’t sure. By the
time Lillian had the bike reversed and was zooming at top speed through the
rapidly narrowing canyon, all conversation had come to a blissful stop.

They rode in silence, only the bellow of the beast between
their legs making its presence known. He could feel the heat of the amassing
demons as it scorched the brief sliver of skin at the back of his neck, between
his collar and his hair. It felt like a touch. A horrid, hate-filled caress.

He was grateful when Lillian pushed the motorcycle harder,
jolting it forward, keeping them moving.

Heidi nestled between his spread thighs as though she
belonged there. The heat of her rounded bottom seeped through her
above-the-knee flowered skirt, but rather than being menacing and demonic, it
stirred a different kind of sensation in his soul.

And in his groin.

The arm he’d wrapped around her midsection felt at home
there. He angled his fingertips upward and grazed the underside of her breast.
She trembled slightly and he cupped her left mound in his palm, squeezing the
firm globe.

Her answering sigh reminded him of one important thing. They
were alive. And he was going to do everything in his power to make sure they
stayed that way.

Lillian drove the bike like a pro. She made turns by rote
through the canyon, and soon they were on the road, zipping past slow-moving
rigs and family-style mini-vans.

He didn’t ask where they were going. To Heidi’s credit,
neither did she.

They rode for another hour or so before Lillian pulled off
the highway and led them down a series of narrow streets. Luke wasn’t sure where
they were, but he didn’t recognize any landmarks… not that there was much to
recognize. Mountains in the distance. Trees and shrubs along the side of the
road. Fewer and fewer houses that eventually diminished completely, giving way
to more darkness.

The bike came to a stop for the second time just as abruptly
as it had done previously. The tires squealed in protest, kicking up a wave of
dust that got into Luke’s mouth as he opened it to ask where they were.

Heidi did it for him. “Why here?”

“Hallowed ground,” Lillian said, jumping off the motorcycle
in a smooth glide. “They can’t walk upon it.”

Luke looked at the white structure in front of them. It
seemed to glow in the silvery moonlight; its tall steeple marking it for what
it was. A church. An old church by the looks of the crumbling walls and the
broken front window.

“Then why can we?” Heidi asked as Lillian nudged the door
open with her shoulder.

Lillian took off her helmet and threw it on one of the pews.
“
We
aren’t demons.”

Luke opened his mouth to say “I told you so” when Heidi shot
him a look that could melt steel. He shrugged, but did nothing to hide the grin
that curved his lips.

Inside, the place smelled musty, like rotting wood. There
was nothing unpleasant about the scent, though -- not in comparison to the
stench of Hell.

The aroma of smoke and melting wax flooded the air as
Lillian lit half a dozen candles set out on the altar in front of the room. It
had been stripped of any adornment, but the wood looked sturdy, even with the
pools of wax that had sculpted themselves into something resembling art.
Apparently, they weren’t the first people to take shelter here since the church
had been abandoned.

“Now,” Lillian said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts
and leaning against the altar to fix them with a piercing stare, “on to
business.”

“Why are you here, Lil?” Heidi asked. “Really?”

Lillian pursed her lips. “I thought I could let you go. I
wanted to… you have no idea how much I wanted to wash my hands of all of this.
But there are too many demons walking the streets. I’ve spent centuries
slaughtering the ones who dared cross the threshold between worlds, and now
you’ve practically invited them in.”

“I --”

Lillian held up a hand. “No. I don’t want to hear it. I
don’t care.”

“Then what do you want?” Luke asked, taking a step closer to
Heidi. He wanted to be near her, ready to protect her… if it came to that.

“I want the demon responsible for this mayhem to put a stop
to it once and for all.” Her eyes seemed to glow from the inside, giving her delicate
features an ethereal quality. “I want Varin. And you’re going to help me bring
him here to answer for his crimes.”

Varin didn’t know you were miserable. He loved you
.

Hearing Luke utter those words to Lillian two days earlier
had sent a battering ram of jealous fury straight into Heidi’s gut. But
whatever had been between Varin and Lillian was over centuries ago. She knew
that.

Fighting back the jolt of possessive envy that shot through
her veins at hearing Lillian state in no uncertain terms that she
wanted
Varin, Heidi narrowed her gaze. “You’re offering to help us free him from Hell?
Lil, that doesn’t make sense. You made it clear you’d kill him if he ever
stepped foot on this side of the barrier again.”

“That was before I knew what you’d unleashed on the world.”
The tip of Lillian’s tongue swept out to lick her bottom lip. At that moment,
she looked scared. And vulnerable.

Odd, Heidi had never thought of Lillian as anything but
intensely tough, a kick-ass and take-no-prisoners warrior who knew her life’s
purpose and carried it out with single-minded determination. A chill ran down
Heidi’s flesh, raising goose bumps in its wake. If Lillian was scared enough to
want to bring Varin out of Hell, this was bad. Very, very bad.

“How many of them came through?” Heidi asked, surprised when
she noticed her voice shaking. She couldn’t help but wonder whether she looked
as frightened as Lillian.

The woman shrugged, trying for a casual look that didn’t
fool anyone. “A dozen the first time. Almost twice that many the next time the
portal opened. More since then.”

Luke sucked in a deep breath between his teeth, letting out
a little whistle. “We did that?”

“No.” Heidi swallowed past the lump in her throat. “We
couldn’t have.”

Lillian fixed her with an intense stare, but there was no
anger in her brilliant blue eyes. Just pity, and a whole lot of sadness. “You
opened a bridge between worlds. You broke the barrier -- broke all the rules
that kept them at bay.”

“You helped me,” Heidi heard herself saying. She wasn’t
consciously forming the words. The whirlwind of blood roaring in her ears made
it hard to think. “You and the Summoners allowed me to open the portal and go
after my men.”

Lillian paused for what felt like an eternity. One of the
candles sizzled, sending up a thin stream of smoke. Otherwise, the church
remained quiet. Deathly quiet.

“I did. I thought by helping you --” She blew out a deep
breath and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I need to put an end to this,
but I can’t do it alone. Varin is the one who trained the souleaters and Demon
Guardians to breach the barrier between the worlds and kidnap Forgotten souls.
Whatever he did, he can reverse.”

Heidi didn’t miss the uncertainty that fluttered over
Lillian’s ethereally beautiful features. The woman wasn’t as sure as she
sounded about her plan.

“And if he can’t?” Heidi couldn’t help asking. “What then?”

Lillian shrugged, pasting that same blank, casual look on
her features. Seeing it made Heidi’s blood run cold. “Then it’s only a matter
of time until we all become Baal’s playthings. Every mortal soul on Earth.”

An overwhelming, impending sense of doom seemed to suck all
the air out of the church. Heidi’s knees buckled and she reached for Luke,
grateful when she realized he’d been reaching for her at the same time. He
steadied her, and for the second time that night, she let him comfort her.

His unique, masculine scent filled her nostrils. She drew in
a deep breath, drowning in it. He trailed his broad palm up and down her bare
arm, pausing when the heel of his hand grazed the side of her breast. His body
tensed, trembled. A flash of white-hot lust flooded her veins.

Heidi’s eyelashes fluttered closed. For a moment, they were
no longer two people who’d been through Hell -- literally -- and lived to tell
about it. They were two lovers entwined in a sensual embrace.

She let herself fall into that fantasy for the span of a
heartbeat, wondering what it would be like to live in a small, cozy house with
two dogs and a white picket fence. She’d wake up every morning to the smell of
freshly-brewed coffee. And two men in her bed.

Men who adored her. Who belonged with her. Her eyes snapped
open. “What’s your plan? Baal isn’t going to let Varin go. And we certainly
can’t just march in there and take him by force. Every demon in the Underworld
will be waiting for us if we try to cross that threshold again.”

“I know. That’s partly the reason we’re here.” She gestured
around her to the whitewashed walls of the small church, which had taken on a
grayish hue from all the smoke that must have filled the room over the years.
“Hallowed ground will only get us so far. They might not be able to walk in
here, but they can set fire to the church, or do any of a million other
dreadful things to force us out.”

The urge to fight slammed into Heidi like a long-forgotten
memory, potently vivid. She remembered what it was like to use her magic to
send the bastards back where they belonged. Only she couldn’t take out an army
of them. One at a time had been hard enough.

She forced herself to remain calm. “So what’s the point of
being here, then?”

Lillian pushed her fingers through her long, blonde hair.
Even disheveled, it looked perfect.
She
looked perfect. Not like Heidi,
who knew every mile of their harried journey showed in her face, her cheap
clothes, her tangled curls.

Lillian raised a thinly-arched eyebrow. “Can you think of a
better place to conduct an exorcism?”

Heidi stared at the woman blankly. Luke, thankfully,
recovered faster than she did. “Nobody here’s possessed. As far as we know,
anyway.”

“Right… Not yet.”

Irritation gnawed at Heidi. “What exactly are you
proposing?”

“A reverse exorcism. We snatch Varin right from under Baal’s
nose. With any luck, by the time he figures out we’ve got him, it’ll be too late.”

The strange plan was beginning to make an odd sort of sense
in Heidi’s frantic mind. Still, she knew it wouldn’t work. “We don’t have
Varin’s mortal body. He’d need to possess someone when we pulled him through.”

Lillian cringed. “Yeah, I know. I thought maybe I could --”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’ll do it.”

Heidi and Luke had spoken at the same time, but Luke’s voice
had boomed through the interior of the church, determined and confident. The
women both turned to stare at Luke, who’d gone deathly still at Heidi’s side.

“I’ll do it,” he repeated. “Hell, my body’s his anyway.” He
chuckled hoarsely, but there was no mirth in the sound. “Varin can give you
what you need to drive back the horde… through me.”

Chapter Three

“You’re sure about this?” Heidi asked.

Luke looked up at her from the flat of his back. The wooden
altar on which he lay felt hard and unwelcoming, and even though they’d moved
the candles away and scraped off some of the wax, bits of it still stuck to his
bruised skin.

Heidi’s brows had drawn together in a frown. Behind her,
another blue gaze assessed him from a distance, this one much colder, her eyes
like carved chips of ice.

His attention flickered from one to the other, and he was
once again struck by how different the two women were. Lillian’s polished look
was nothing like Heidi’s natural beauty. Her sleek, blonde locks contrasted
fiercely with Heidi’s mane of wild red curls. Heidi’s soft curves betrayed a
womanly shape, while Lillian was pure, sleek muscle. A true warrior.

And yet, the women were similar, too. Heidi and Lillian
shared the same steely determination, the stubborn streak, the independent,
fierce drive that made them dangerous enemies to have and, he guessed knowing
Heidi, tumultuously passionate in bed.

No wonder Varin had loved them both.

“Absolutely,” Luke said.

Even though Heidi’s smile was small and worried, it still
managed to wash over him like sunshine. One day, he wanted to see that smile
broaden into a carefree grin. He wanted to watch her toss her head back and
laugh, really
laugh
, as though nothing in the world could harm her.

One day, he’d make that happen. And if letting a demon
inhabit his body got him one step closer to his goal, so be it.

Only it wouldn’t be any demon treating Luke’s body like his
own private playground. It would be Varin. His Varin.

No, he silently corrected himself.
Their
Varin. Heidi
loved him as much as Luke did. She’d have switched places with Luke in a
heartbeat if she could have, and she’d tried, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

All of this was his fault. If he’d never made a deal with a
demon for his own personal gain years ago, neither Heidi nor Varin would have
been pulled into this mess. Whether he liked it or not, this was his burden to
bear. And every time one of his lovers put themselves at risk for him, that
burden intensified a hundred-fold.

The frown marring Heidi’s milky-white skin deepened, etching
deep furrows into her forehead. Luke reached up and smoothed out the wrinkles
with his thumb. “Much better.” When she scowled at him, he couldn’t help but
smile.

Her skin felt soft and warm under his fingertips. He slid
his hand down to her neck, where he paused to feel the beat of her pulse
against the hollow of her throat. Her breasts heaved with the force of her sigh
and his gaze went to them, admiring the lush shape of the perky globes
straining against her shirt.

Heidi trailed her fingertips over his bare thigh. The
staggering force of the lust he felt at her touch nearly floored him. His
erection strained against the tight briefs he wore, the only piece of clothing
he’d kept on.

“I’m not going to lose you again, you hear?”

His grin broadened at the threat in her voice. “Don’t worry,
demon-child. I’m not going anywhere this time. Varin’s coming to us.”

She sighed again, the sound filled with resignation and
defeat. “Through you. What am I going to do with both of you shackled to one
body?”

Luke’s hand darted behind her head, where he fisted his
fingers in her hair and pulled her down to him until her mouth was a half inch
away from his. “I’m sure Varin will have a few ideas.”

Then, not waiting for her to reply, he kissed her. Or
rather, she kissed him. With Heidi, it was often hard to tell.

Opening to one another instinctively for a fierce kiss that knocked
the breath from Luke’s lungs, they came together in an uncontrollable rush of
passion, teeth knocking, tongues sweeping. He could still taste the faint,
lingering flavor of his cum. Or perhaps she’d always tasted that way -- musk
blending with the natural sweetness of her mouth.

The woman was pure sin incarnate. The way she moved, walked,
talked --all of it conspired to make him lose his mind.

Her hand moved from his thigh to cup his erection. His cock
twitched, jerking against the fabric pressed against the swollen flesh. The
rhythm of his tongue’s thrusts inside her mouth intensified, each stroke more
electric and lust-charged than the last.

She trembled slightly, her fingers moving up and down over
the length of his shaft. A bead of wetness had made its way to the tip of his
cock, wetting the material of his briefs.

Although he couldn’t see it, he knew the force of their
mutual lust fed the sexual energy rapidly gathering in the air. When they’d
generated enough of it, Lillian would use it, along with the inherent divine
force that lingered in the church, to conduct the reverse exorcism.

In truth, he had no idea how this was supposed to work. As
the only human of the trio, he often felt like he’d missed part of the
conversation. Unable to understand the nuances of magic, he usually left the
details up to Heidi and Varin. And now Lillian.

Heidi pulled back long enough to strip out of her shirt and
toss her skirt and panties aside. Her breasts bobbed free, the small, dark
nipples pebbling into stiff little peaks that made his mouth water.

“Come here.” He hadn’t meant the command to be harsh, but it
came out throaty and demanding.

To his surprise, Heidi obeyed. She climbed on the altar,
straddling his thighs. Her pussy lips parted to reveal the fleshy pink folds
within, and the scent of her arousal flooded his nostrils.

He breathed deeply, imprinting her scent on his senses as
she leaned over him, her tight nipples grazing his chest. Holding his gaze, she
sank down and rubbed her wet heat over his struggling cock. The warmth seeping
from her folds penetrated the barrier of the material he wore and managed to
send a rush of desperate need deep into his balls.

He cupped her breasts in both hands, squeezing gently until
a moan ripped from her throat. She bucked slightly, her thigh muscles quivering
as she rubbed herself on his shaft.

“Varin always loved the way you took charge,” Luke said,
holding her gaze.

Heidi’s long eyelashes fluttered as her eyes grew damp. “No
way. He needed to be in control.”

“Yeah,” Luke agreed, pinching both her nipples at once. She
arched her spine, scattering her red curls to cascade down her back and over
her shoulders in silky waves. “He was certainly used to it until you came
along. And then you showed him how much fun dominating a woman who stubbornly
refused to give up control could be.”

She sucked in a breath between clenched teeth. Fire burned
in her eyes and he thought she’d argue with him, vehemently deny what he’d
said. Instead, she only sighed and pressed her lips to his. After a sweet,
soul-shattering kiss, she stared deep into his eyes and said, “Bring him back
safely, all right?”

Luke’s hands abandoned the full bounty of her breasts. He
skimmed his fingertips over the length of her spine and pressed his index
fingers into the double-dimple just above her buttocks as he gripped her hips.
“Ride me, demon-child. Let Lillian do her magic. And I promise to bring your
lover back to you, where he belongs.”

A silvery streak slipped down Heidi’s cheek.
Fuck
. A
tear. A real tear. It damn near broke his heart to see it.

He raised his head and kissed it away, sweeping his tongue
over the salty wetness as though he could draw the pain that created it into
him, too.

Heidi’s fingers danced over the tip of his shaft as she slid
his briefs down just far enough to free his straining cock. The wetness that
had seeped from the tiny slit at the tip rubbed against her bare thigh,
slicking her skin.

He shuddered at the contact and lowered his palms. Cupping
her ass, he parted her cheeks and slipped his fingers inside the soft valley.
Gathering some of the cream from between her folds, he slipped it into the
cleft of her ass and circled the tight anal entrance with his index finger.

She clutched his slick shaft with both hands, stroking his
phallus up and down with strong, rhythmic motions. A groan lodged in Luke’s
throat. His hips bucked upward, his cock seeking contact with the moist,
intimate part of her.

Lowering her head, Heidi covered his jaw and cheeks in soft
kisses before finally returning her attention to his mouth. His tongue swept
out, needing the taste of her as badly as he craved her pussy wrapped around
his trembling rod.

With a growl that was lost inside her mouth, he seized her
hips and brought her down on his cock, hard. She broke the connection of their
lips and cried out, the sound resonating through the room with the same carnal
wantonness he felt clawing at his own soul.

Trembling, she straightened her spine and straddled him,
allowing him to glance down at the union of their bodies. His cock was embedded
deep in her core, his light nest of pubic hair a sharp contrast to the red
curls covering her mound.

The first lunge had been heavenly. Her cunt welcomed him
home, squeezing around him, claiming his cock as though it had always belonged
to her. In a way, he supposed it had. She was the only woman he’d ever been
with who mattered.

The second and third thrusts were pure unhampered bliss.
Rapture streamed over his nerve endings, setting his entire body aflame.

He held her tightly as she rode him, finding her own pace
just as easily as he had. Her breasts bobbed up and down with every thrust, the
rosy nipples peaking stiffly as a flush crept over the pale skin of her chest.
Candlelight washed over her skin, setting her body aglow.

“You’re so damned beautiful,” Luke murmured, watching this
woman who’d become his entire world fuck him as though her life depended on it.

And it really did, didn’t it? The fate of the entire world
could well depend on the way her pussy came down on his cock, harder and
harder, squeezing, milking, demanding everything he had and more.

Her knees dug into his outer thighs and her fingernails
scraped his arms. Small moans of pleasure escaped her throat. He drank them in
ravenously, kissing her more fiercely with each heady groan.

She raised her hips until only the tip of his cock remained
embedded in her sweet cunt, then slammed down against his groin hard enough to
send an intense jolt of pleasure from his balls straight into his shaft. Then
she did it again.

And again.

The fourth time she repeated that little move, Luke knew he
couldn’t last much longer. But he’d be damned if he came before she did.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he skimmed his fingertips over her
stomach and found her clit with his thumb. The stiff nub hid under a delicate
hood, which he raised up carefully before circling the sensitive flesh with the
pad of his finger.

Heidi gasped at the contact and wiggled her hips in a
circular motion. He welcomed her desire eagerly, rubbing her clit, burying his
shaft to the hilt inside her.

When her pussy started spasming around his cock, Luke felt
every nudge of her inner walls with redoubled force. She screamed his name,
then Varin’s, then both. He should have been jealous, he thought distantly as
his own orgasm built and threatened to shatter, but he wasn’t. He knew Heidi
loved him, but her heart wasn’t his alone.

Just like his wasn’t only hers. They both loved Varin as
much as they loved each other, and without him, they were two parts of a trio.
United, but incomplete.

He reveled in her release with greedy pleasure, letting the
feel of her pulsing cunt spread through him and unleash his own desire. The
wave of ecstasy building within him reached its peak and exploded, making him
howl with pent-up fury as the seed spurt from his cock.

A wave of erotic bliss traveled through his body, singeing
his nerves, awakening every part of him -- from his raging cock to the tips of
his fingers. Somewhere in the distance, Lillian’s silvery voice chanted
something that sounded all but incoherent to Luke’s ears. The roar of the
delight streaming through him drowned out her voice.

Lightning crackled, zinging over his exposed flesh. It
burned for a moment as it flared brightly. His cock spurt the remainder of his
cum, unleashing it deep inside Heidi’s welcoming pussy.

And then blackness enveloped him, covering his eyes, making
it impossible to see her. At first, he thought the candles had gone out. Then
he realized he no longer felt Heidi’s comforting weight on top of him, or the
elastic of his briefs stretching around his thighs. His fingers no longer
delved inside Heidi’s swollen folds.

The world had dissolved into blackness, a darkness so
complete it wrapped around his ribcage, squeezed and stole his breath.

Dread clogged Luke’s throat. For a moment, he couldn’t
breathe. Then agony flared to life inside him, blossoming out over every inch
of his body. The rapturous bliss he’d experienced earlier was gone, having been
replaced by soul-numbing anguish.

Someone cried out. A familiar voice, one he recognized. He
clung to it, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Luke?!

The voice, tormented only moments earlier, now sounded
panic-stricken. Worse yet, it seemed to come from inside his own head. His
thoughts… yet not his.

No. No, you can’t be here
.

Luke fumbled in the dark, reaching nothing, grasping at thin
air. He forced his mouth to move, but nothing came out.

Oh, fuck. Luke. Heidi! What have you done?

The pain that had flared to life within him seemed to
expand, filling his lungs until his mind went as black as his surroundings.

And then, blissfully, he knew no more.