Unmasked (2 page)

Chapter 2

Within a few minutes, the actor was back on his feet, looking none the worse for wear except for the missing costume. He’d been possessed and he shouldn’t have recovered so quickly. Scanning the night sky, Jett searched for the demon. He’d seen the black mist escaping, but where had it gone? And what was the point?

Demons loved to mess with humans’ plans. Was the creature merely hoping to disrupt the filming? Jett flashed over to the shadows where he’d first appeared with Locan and Addie. The two of them joined him a moment later.

Any idea what we’ve got?

Addie and Locan shook their heads.
I think a couple of the women are possessed, but they’re hiding it well. I sense demonkind, but even in costume they’re acting normally.
She shrugged.
Well, as normal as anyone dressed like a demon can act.

I don’t think they’re dressed like demons.
Locan stared at Jett and Addie.
Almost everyone in the costume and makeup trailers is possessed. Definitely the ones doing makeup and choosing the costumes. I think the ones we think are wearing makeup and costumes are showing the demons’ true appearance. The ones aiding the possession are hiding beneath their human hosts.

All of them?
Jett glanced about at the huge number of people milling about the set. This was totally bizarre. Demons generally weren’t smart enough to carry off a lengthy human possession. They almost always reverted to demonic behavior—unless they were dealing with a different sort of demon. Jett glanced at Locan, who shimmered and pulsed in shadow form, obviously anxious to start killing demons.
How can you tell which ones are possessed? We have to be certain.

The ones in charge merely wave a hand over each person and they’re suddenly costumed as demons, yet no one seems to notice. It’s like they’re pulling demons out of the air. I don’t get it.

Okay.
No way was Jett going to argue with that.
We have to figure out a way to run them out of their human hosts without harming anyone. This mist form is a new twist. We should try to imprison one so we can study it a little closer.

Addie went totally still.
And how in the hell are we supposed to do that?

With this.
Jett took corporeal form for the span of a second, retrieved the mesh bag he carried, and reverted to shadow form. The mesh was dark and remained hidden, but there was a sense of power about the thing that only appeared when it was exposed to the air.
It’s spelled somehow. I’ve never figured out how it works, but if we can catch the mist when a demon tries to escape, we can hold it in this thing. Once we go home, we can study the creature, see what its strengths and weaknesses are.

Addie’s shadow shifted and, while he couldn’t really see her eyes, Jett would bet good money she’d raised an eyebrow at him.

Why,
she said,
does the idea of taking one of those things home with us make me very uncomfortable?

Probably because it’s a really stupid idea. Let’s do it.
Locan headed out before either one could answer. Together, they drifted around the perimeter of the set and headed to the makeup trailer.

* * *

Addie held her position between Jett and Locan. She loved the feeling of a powerful yet sexy guy on each side, loved the sense of security they gave her. It was strange, really, how quickly she’d learned to trust them—two edgy demon fighters, men who, while not even remotely human, still made her heart race, kept her libido revved up on high gear, and wielded swords like the warriors they were.

Who’d have thought that little Addie Logan would end up with two of the most amazing male creatures she’d ever known? Jett and Locan were partners, friends, and lovers, and just thinking of what the two of them could do to her—not to mention what the three of them could do together—caused a tight clenching in her sex, raised her heart rate, and made her want to forget about demons altogether.

Time to reel in the growing arousal and concentrate on the job at hand, though she wasn’t all that thrilled about trying to capture a demon. Killing them was one thing, but catching one to study and trusting a flimsy net to hold it captive was something else altogether.

But once the guys agreed on a plan . . . Sighing, she found a place in the shadows while Jett and Locan took their positions behind the makeup trailer. Someone would be out before too long for a smoke; the butts on the ground and stench of stale cigarette smoke in the air identified the spot.

Less than a minute later, a man in full demon guise—or possibly full demon possession—stepped out of the trailer. He cupped a hand around the cigarette he’d stuck in his mouth and lit the tip, then sat on the top step, arranged his batlike wings, and took a long, slow draw.

Addie glanced at Jett.
Okay, fearless leader, what next?

He shot her a grin that was way beyond sinful.
Just watch, sweetheart. Locan? Take him from the left; I’ll handle the catch. Use the flat side of your blade and drive the demon into the net.

Locan shifted into the shadows beside the man. Jett hovered just above him with the mesh bag held wide. Fascinated, and not a little bit frightened, Addie waited. Suddenly Locan swung his sword, catching the man in the demon costume across the back of his head. His cigarette flew out of his mouth as he lurched forward and fell, but Jett materialized in time to catch the glowing cigarette and ease the man’s body to the ground.

A black mist gathered over the prone man’s head, screeching and spinning like a small tornado. Growing, it sucked parts of the man into the mist. First the batwings stretched up and melted into the whirling pattern. Then his horns, the red scales, and the long tail with the spike on the end. Everything that made him a demon followed. Spinning and screeching, it spun faster and faster until Jett swept the mesh bag over the top and cinched it closed. The screech chopped off as Jett disappeared from view. Locan was right behind him.

Addie paused a moment, caught by the instant change in the man’s appearance. No longer demon, he lay on the ground wearing ugly plaid shorts and an even uglier Hawaiian shirt. The door flew open and three demons raced down the steps.

She realized now that was exactly what she was seeing—demons that had taken over the life force of the human actors. But why? None of this made sense. They stared at one another. One knelt beside the man. “Ukopach? Ukopach!”

The language made no sense to Addie, but the man stirred, slowly regaining consciousness. Blinking, obviously confused, he sat up, took one look at the three demons surrounding him, screamed, and passed out.

Laughing, one of the three hoisted him over his shoulder and carried the man back inside. Addie didn’t want to think of what might happen next. Outnumbered and totally confused, she wished herself home, felt the momentary disorientation, then clarity, and solid ground beneath her feet.

She stepped out of nothing into the living area in the middle of their cavern.

The familiar low rumble of male voices drew her toward the workroom at the back of the cave, past the pool where she and the boys bathed—usually together. Damn, she’d much rather be naked with Jett and Locan than checking out a captive demon.

Grumbling, Addie stepped into the work area they’d set aside for training and exercise. A demon glared at her from inside the mesh trap. It was tiny—not even as large as the one Jett had killed on the Hollywood sign. Standing barely a foot tall, it wrapped its tiny fingers through the openings in the mesh and glared at them. His tail curled around his clawed toes.

“What is that thing?” She got up close enough for a good look. “Shit. It looks exactly like the man did, only he’s a fraction of the size.” Raising her head, she frowned at Jett. “What’s going on?”

Jett shrugged. His black hair hung over his shoulders and down his back in thick waves, a shimmering cascade of ebony against skin darker than night. She caught the look in his sexy green eyes and realized she was leaning closer to him, almost falling into him as if bespelled.

Would she ever get used to their beauty? One so dark, the other so light—both gorgeous?

“I don’t know,” he said, breaking the spell with such simple words. “He speaks a language we don’t understand, he’s the tiniest demon we’ve ever seen, and yet I can feel the power in him. Do you sense it?”

He glanced her way, and Addie forced herself to study their captive, not the captor. “There’s something there, and at least we know it’s male.” No doubt about that, though the moment she noticed his tiny penis, she couldn’t help but make an unfavorable comparison to Jett and Locan, which was really stupid, considering how much bigger they were overall.

The moment that thought entered her mind, she sensed Locan behind her, heard his soft chuckle. Caught again . . . the guys knew how susceptible she was to the two of them.
Concentrate, Addie!

There was something about the demon—something that set him apart from the others she’d battled most recently, but what? Bending close, she stared into his strange eyes. They were shaped like a cat’s eyes with a vertical black slash of pupil set in a shimmering field of silver. He stared at her, but instead of the hate and malice she expected to feel, there was nothing but a sense of frustration along with a healthy dose of curiosity.

He wasn’t afraid, though it was obvious he wasn’t all that happy about being held captive. There was a definite sense of intelligence behind those unusual eyes. “Have you tried telepathy? Sometimes thoughts translate better than spoken words.”

“I haven’t.” Locan shrugged. “Give it a shot. He’s much calmer with you staring at his ugly mug.”

She shot Locan a sharp glance. “Probably because I didn’t whap his avatar on the head with a sword and stick him in a demon-proof bag.” Leaning close, concentrating on the demon, she sent a questing thought.

Do you understand me? Do my thoughts make more sense than spoken words?

His eyes went wide and he rubbed the top of his head with one tiny, clawed hand.

She tried sending visual images other than words. The Hollywood sign, the makeup trailer, a few of the other demons she’d seen. Suddenly her mind was filled with images—so many images she could barely keep up, but she opened her thoughts to Locan and Jett and shared everything the little guy sent her way.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the images slowed and faded. The tiny demon sat back on his haunches, yawned, rolled over, and tucked his hands beneath his head. His strange silvery cat’s eyes drifted shut, and the mesh bag collapsed around him like a soft blanket.

“Must be bedtime.” Addie straightened up, feeling slightly disoriented from the barrage of images that made so little sense. “Did you get that? All the visuals?”

Jett nodded. “I did. A ton of stuff, but it’s going to take me a while to sort it all out.”

“Good.” Locan grabbed Addie’s and Jett’s hands and dragged them toward the doorway. “I always think better in the bath.”

Addie rolled her eyes. “Locan’s horny.”

“That too,” he said.

Jett merely laughed, and surged on ahead as Locan dragged them behind him.

Chapter 3

The three of them floated together in the warm pool. The walls had an inner luminescence the guys had never been able to explain to Addie, but who needed an explanation when it was more than enough to show off the beautiful bodies of her men? Good Lord but she loved to say that:
her men—
Locan, with his sapphire blue eyes, ivory skin, and silvery hair, and green-eyed Jett, with skin as black as night and yet, somehow, clearly visible in the darkly shimmering water.

Sometimes it still felt like a dream, as if she should be waking up any moment and heading off to her boring job to spend another endless day in her little cubical that was just like every other cube in the office. Heading off to a job where the biggest worry was whether or not she’d get all the numbers to line up the way they were supposed to. And then, when she really did wake up, it was this: floating in an amazing underground pool with two absolutely beautiful men—her men. Wondering what the next battle would be like, what new skill she might learn, what new power she might discover.

She almost laughed as an old saying came to mind—no, she certainly wasn’t in Kansas. Not anymore!

She was somewhere a gazillion times better, and as unbelievable as her new reality was, Addie believed with all her heart that it was absolutely perfect.

It was so calm here—the only sounds the mineral-laden water bubbling up out of the natural hot spring that fed the pool, and the steady trickle of water running out through a narrow crevice at the far end. Quiet and peaceful and perfect for working out puzzles.

Her body felt light as a feather and yet she almost hummed with sensation, with the soft brush of water against ultrasensitive skin, with her body’s total awareness of her two amazing men.
Damn.
Jett and Locan weren’t the reason she was here right now. Grumbling silently, Addie floated with arms and legs spread wide in the water and tried to make sense of the images the tiny demon had shared.

Bizarre and yet vaguely familiar shapes and forms, places and events filled her head. In time, she knew she’d understand. Floating somehow allowed her mind to relax even as her body thrummed with desire for her guys. It was almost funny how arousal helped her concentrate. Closing her eyes, Addie set her mind free and allowed her thoughts to flow.

There was something vaguely familiar about the demon, though it was hard to call him a demon when he was actually kind of cute, and obviously much smarter than the average minion of evil. Almost a cartoon version of what a demon should look like. She wondered if he had a name, where he came from, and why she felt as if she’d seen him before.

* * *

Jett watched Addie for a moment, his body preternaturally aware of her slowly increasing arousal, but he forced his thoughts to stay on the stream of visuals the demon had shared. None of the images filling his mind made any sense, and yet they were the source of his growing arousal, as if someone stroked him intimately. He glanced across the pool, first at Addie, who almost appeared to sleep in the warm water, and then at the man leaning against the slick stone at the edge of the water. Locan raised his head and met Jett’s gaze, spearing him with a kindred sense of expectation and need. Jett almost laughed at the expression in Locan’s eyes—a look that promised something well beyond demon hunting.

The hint of arousal that teased his senses burst into flame, a wildfire spreading beyond containment. Transfixed by a visceral surge of pure lust, Jett linked with Locan. The visuals in his partner’s mind were nothing like the ones Jett had been worrying over, but the sensation was very much the same.

Pure carnality. Overwhelming need. Thoughts well beyond the demon in the other room.

Locan shared a visual of the two of them—he was leaning over the edge of the pool, his face resting on his crossed arms, the ends of his silvery hair floating in the turbulent water, the long line of his back barely submerged. Jett was behind him, arms braced against the stone, lips curled in a feral grimace that had nothing at all to do with demon hunting.

The steady rhythm of Jett’s thrust and retreat made it obvious what Locan imagined, but they’d been given a direction, a direct order to kill demons. Pausing, Jett reached for the sense of urgency, for the same pressure that had sent them rushing to Hollywood earlier in the evening. He couldn’t find it.

That was odd. The pressure had abated. That meant the danger was past, at least for now. He sent the demon’s images to the back burner of his mind, to that primitive part of his brain that dealt with things that made no sense, with questions that nagged without ceasing.

Just as Locan was nagging now. Silently emphatic, with the look in his eyes, the fractured cadence of his breathing, and the beautiful erection thrusting above the swirling water. It was an invitation Jett had no intention of denying. He walked toward his partner, drawn to him more powerfully than he could express. As he walked through water the temperature of blood, he thought of all the long, lost years they’d fought this attraction. All the long, lonely years when turning to Locan for sexual intimacy had been the farthest thing from his mind.

Far from his conscious mind, and yet slowly consuming him, body and soul.

This was the man he’d wanted to kill more often than not. The one he’d fought against as powerfully as he’d fought beside him. If not for Addie . . . Jett glanced over his shoulder. She still looked almost as if she slept, floating in the pool with arms and legs spread wide. The water was heavy with minerals and held a body afloat without any effort at all. He’d watched Addie sleep while floating, taking the time to heal injuries from a fight, or muscles sore from too much sex.

That stopped him. Could there ever be such a thing as too much sex?

She looked so peaceful now. A tiny smile tilted her full lips and her eyes fluttered beneath lowered lashes, as if she dreamed.

He wondered if she dreamed of the three of them, together. But Addie was resting, and probably trying to figure out the demon’s message, and while Jett knew he should be doing the same thing, there was Locan’s silent call. Silent yet screaming in need. An invitation to sin.

An invitation he wasn’t about to ignore. There was a lot of wasted time to make up. Hundreds of years where he and Locan had danced so desperately around their attraction, one to the other, and instead had acted out their frustration in anger. Sometimes that anger had exploded into bloody battles. One of their fights had ended with Locan overpowering and raping Jett. He’d beaten the younger man and taken what he wanted.

What both of them actually wanted but couldn’t admit. But Locan had erred when he’d taken Jett by force. He’d done it to establish a dominance that couldn’t last. They were equally powerful, equally dominant, and so the fighting continued, but with a new burning anger, a powerful resentment that made them both more dangerous together.

At least when they weren’t trying to kill each other, they were amazingly talented at killing demons. Their other fulcrums had tried to keep things smooth between the two of them, but the edge never went away, their sexual frustration breaking out in even more violent fights between them. Fights that—more than once—put the entire team in danger.

It had taken Addie to see what should have been obvious—they were two sides of the same coin, creatures capable of extreme emotions—both love and hate. Hate had dominated until Addie showed up, saw what neither of them had been willing to admit, and forced two very stubborn men to face reality.

It wasn’t hate at all—it was frustrated love. A powerful sexual attraction denied. Two men denying with their hearts and minds what their bodies knew to be real and true. Even with Addie’s insistence, it hadn’t been an easy switch, that rough segue from loathing to love.

Not easy, but so satisfying. And smart, too. The team was stronger. They were stronger, and Addie no longer had to worry about her partners losing control and trying to kill one another instead of the demons they hunted.

Jett had no intention of trying to kill Locan. Not anymore. Turning his gaze away from Addie’s peacefully floating form, he focused on Locan and found himself caught in that icy blue stare. He glided through the water and stopped directly in front of his partner. With a teasing lilt to his voice he asked, “Are you thinking of the demon’s message?”

A sly grin tilted Locan’s full lips. He shrugged. “Not really. I thought we’d do better if we combined our thoughts. Maybe something will make sense with both of us on it, together.”

Slowly shaking his head, Jett laughed. Then he wrapped his fingers around his own cock and stroked upward from root to tip. “Right now, this is all that makes sense.”

“I hear that. I feel it, too.” Locan grinned. “Actually, I want to feel more, but we can put it to good use.”

Jett tilted his head. “Oh, I have every intention of putting it to good use. Turn around.”

“Not yet.” Locan leaned forward, placed his palms on Jett’s shoulders, and drew him close. “First I want to connect. I want your thoughts, your mind, as tightly linked to mine as you can. I want you to fuck me hard, but I want your mind as deep inside my head as your cock is up my ass.” He chuckled, but there was a definite sense of strain behind it. “If we’re mentally linked at the same time we’re physically linked, I think we can unlock the demon’s images.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Grinning, Jett covered Locan’s hands with his own. “You expect me to think about that stupid demon when I’m buried balls deep?”

“I do. Didn’t you feel it? There was a real sexual vibe to those images. The visuals were all about conflict and fighting, but there was a pattern I’m trying to recognize, and it made me hot as hell the more I thought about it. There’s something in his thoughts that’s tied to sex.”

“He’s a demon. A lot of what they do has sexual overtones because they know it’s our weakest point. That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that sex is going to unravel the message.”

Locan leaned close and kissed him. There was a lot of tongue, a lot of emotion—feelings that were more confusing than sexual. Jett didn’t complain—he merely acquiesced and met his partner stroke for stroke. “It might unravel me.” He nipped, caught Locan’s lower lip hard enough to draw blood. “If I have to wait.” He growled against Locan’s mouth, his lips wet from kissing, his chest tight with need that felt ready to explode, with lungs suddenly starving for air.

“Link. Give it up, Jett. Open to me. Nor merely the physical sensations. I want your deepest thoughts. Your feelings. Your innermost secrets. Full and unabridged.”

Oh, crap.
“Sort of you show me yours, I’ll show you mine?” Jett chuckled, but inside terror slammed deep and hard. This was something they’d never done to the depth that Locan wanted. No matter how often they linked, it was surface stuff—telepathy, images, whatever the hell was going on at the moment. Not the personal junk. The fears he hardly understood himself. The insecurities, the mistakes he’d made, the jealousies he’d felt. So many petty, embarrassing thoughts that were part of a life that had gone on for millennia.

Jett fought the command. Fought the vulnerability that came from a truly intimate mental link. There would be no secrets. Nothing but truth. Nowhere to hide. No walls, no barriers, no sense of self. He wasn’t ready for this. Would he ever be?

They’d shared sensations, shared orgasms, shared the overwhelming lust that always seemed to take over every time they fucked. They’d never truly shared themselves. Not those innermost thoughts, those secrets men often held apart even from their own consciousness.

But if sharing themselves meant understanding the messages they’d both received, there was no choice. They were sworn to fight demonkind, and knowledge was their most powerful weapon. On this, he would defer to Locan. Jett leaned his forehead against Locan’s and gently nodded his agreement. “I’m in,” he said, very reluctantly. “You might be getting more of me than you bargained for.”

“Never. Never enough.” Locan kissed him quickly and then wrapped his arms around Jett’s waist. Hugging tightly, he brought their bodies close, connecting them from thighs to bellies, from hip bones to chests. Their cocks rode high, one against the other. Jett slipped his arms around Locan’s waist and pulled him even closer, until the two of them strained against each other. So close their hearts sounded as a single beating organ. So close their cocks rode side by side, pressed between two taut bellies.

As their bodies connected, their minds touched, slipped close and then separated, but even that first link sent shivers of apprehension along Jett’s spine.

Then Locan broke free and Jett was aware of a stretching sensation, as if a long, thin band connected the two of them even as they stood apart. It held true when Locan turned and rested his forearms on the stone ledge at the back of the pool. He planted his feet and held the position while Jett moved closer, ran his fingers over Locan’s hips, across his buttocks.

Still the connection held.

Jett used the soft bar of soap and ran it along Locan’s spine, down the tight crease between his firm ass cheeks. Locan moaned, and Jett sensed Addie’s awareness. She hadn’t moved, but her thoughts touched his—feather-light flickers of curiosity weighted by the deep, dark, sexual need that blossomed as Jett stroked Locan. Touching, but not connecting. Not with Addie. Not yet.

Not anything like the bond that seemed to be growing between Jett and Locan.

“What are you doing? Something feels different.” She floated close until her fingers brushed Jett’s hip.

“We’re going to try a deep link during sex.” Jett glanced over his shoulder and realized Addie was wide awake, intently focused on the brush of his fingers over Locan’s perfect ass, almost mesmerized as he slowly circled the puckered ring of muscle with his fingertip. “Locan thinks that if we bond as intimately with our minds as we do with our bodies, it will somehow open us to the images the demon sent.”

Addie’s laughter echoed off the cavern walls. “Wow. I’ve heard Locan’s lines before, but that one’s new.”