Dancing With the Devil (8 page)

“Hold on, there, Broker.” Zayfeer emerged from the fog. “Let’s
not be rash.”

The wind died, and with it, the screaming.

Slowly, I removed my hands from my ears. “You.”

Pushing to my feet, I got in his face and shook a finger at
him. “This is your doing, isn’t it?”

My legs wobbled and my feet couldn’t seem to stick to the
ground, pitching me forward. He grabbed my arms just before I face-planted into
his chest. “I had nothing to do with designing this…this…” He paused and
glanced at the forest. “Poor excuse for purgatory.”

Everyone’s a critic. I clenched my fists. “What are you
doing here, then?”

His gaze probed mine. “You can’t trade your soul for that
one.”

“Why not?”

He glanced away. “That one’s…nonnegotiable. The terms are
written in stone.”

Nikita’s brown eyebrows shot up. “Oh. My. God. That soul
is…?”

She left the question hanging and Z gave her a terse nod.

The queasiness in my stomach pushed up toward my throat. I
opened the mental door so I could flip through the images in my brain. Nine-hundred
ninety-nine souls.

But this one was special.

The deal, nonnegotiable.

Whatever was obvious to the Hell hound was not to me. None
of the people cataloged in my brain stood out as any different than the others.
“Whose soul is it?”

Zayfeer shifted his weight, but met my eyes. “Think, witch.
The first soul you ever took for Lucifer.”

The first soul I took for Luc belonged to a black rapper who
was now happily ensconced in fame, fortune and mega-stardom. “Frosty A? What’s
special about his soul?”

Zayfeer rubbed his eyes, let out an impatient sigh. “Not the
Frost Man. Your
first
soul.”

“He
was
my first soul.”

“You’ll have to tell her,” Nikita said. “She doesn’t
remember.”

Why was I always in the dark? Oh, right. Because Lucifer
never told me anything.

My hand instinctively went to my heart and then traveled
down to my lower abdomen. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes and I had no
idea why, except I was sure I wasn’t going to like the answer to my question. “Whose
soul is it?”

“It’s your…”

In the distance, the tree screamed, the noise like nails on
a chalkboard as naked limbs reached skyward.

I slapped my hands over my ears again and grimaced. A storm
rose out of nowhere. Lightning flashed and we all ducked. Wind tore through the
trees, blowing back my hair and swirling the fog into dozens of dust devils
that swiped at my feet and whipped against my back and legs.

Zayfeer grabbed my arm and jerked me sideways as a large
branch broke off a nearby tree. “We have to get out of here!”

Nikita jetted by, heading in the direction Z had emerged
from. He pushed me forward, helping me dodge the debris flying through the air.
As the fog parted and swirled, I saw an opening to a cave.

We were about to duck inside when a fresh pain exploded
inside my chest. I staggered, falling to my knees. Dark spots danced in my
field of vision. “Wait,” I called over the noise.

Z grabbed my shirt and hauled me to my feet. “What?”

“He kills that tree, he kills
me
. I have to stop him.”

Z’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not possible.”

“With her?” Nikita dog-snorted. “Anything’s possible.”

Hair blew across my eyes and I gripped Zayfeer’s tunic. “Just
tell me whose soul it is. Is it mine?”

The rational wasn’t there. God had returned the halves of my
soul, reuniting them and giving me free will. There was no way my soul or any
part of it could be imbedded in that tree.

But if the soul wasn’t mine, then why was I having such a
visceral reaction to its destruction?

Z shook his head. “It’s not yours.”

Another blow rocked the tree in the background. I gasped and
clawed at the burning inside my chest. He looked as if it pained him as well.

“The soul inside that tree? Amy…it belongs to your mother.”

My mother?

The wind died as fast as it had come. My fists tightened on Zayfeer’s
tunic. Did he think I was stupid? “Stop playing games. I never brokered my
mother’s soul.”

“Yes, you did. She was your first.”

Nikita moved closer, leaning against my leg as if offering support.
“You were young. Just a pup.”

A shaking started in my legs, snaked up my hips and into my
stomach. My magic repelled the weakness, but it flooded my arms and skittered
up the back of my neck.

My voice came out a whisper. “You’re lying.”

Z’s gaze held mine. “Why would I lie?”

“You’ve been playing games with me since you broke out of your
purgatory. You tried to blackmail me at Keisha’s party. All in the name of
redemption. Don’t stand there and pretend innocence.”

He started to reply when a loud
crack
rent the air
and we all ducked.

Not the tree. Not a bolt of lightning. Not the heavens.

The earth.

Right through the middle of the forest, a giant fissure fractured
the ground and zigzagged through the trees. The forest floor trembled. The
trees quaked. A volcano of fire and brimstone erupted from the spreading crack
and a pair of matching black shadows emerged, spreading over the landscape. Wings;
on their feathery ends, fire.

“Finally,” Nikita said. “Something interesting.”

From the earth, a voice rang out, roaring up into the sky
and echoing over the trees. “How dare you threaten the one I love?”

I knew that voice. Knew that tone. Turning loose of Zayfeer,
I stumbled toward the cave’s entrance. “Luc?”

I couldn’t see anything but the outline of black wings.
Black, glossy wings that trailed fire. Orange flames licked the trees in my
forest, turning the whole thing into an inferno. The smell of burning wood
flooded my nose.

“No.” My voice was still ragged. “Not the souls.”

Zayfeer grabbed the back of my neck and forced me to follow
where he pointed. “Look. He’s releasing them.”

Thin, white vapor trails rose out of the flaming trees and
spiraled into the clouds. “Where are they going?”

“If the people are already dead, Heaven. If not, they’re
headed back to the land of the living and the bodies they were taken from.”

Lightning broke like mirror shards from the sky, aiming at
the black wings as they swept by overhead. There was the flash of a large body,
then more fire. A booming sound erupted from the clouds, voice-like, but nonsensical.
At least to me. It echoed down from the heavens, loud but muffled to my ears.

All I knew was that it
didn’t
belong to Lucifer.

His reply, however, came a second later, his words sending
reassurance through me. “I will never give her up.”

Rain gushed from the clouds. The wind rose, driving sheets
of water at us.

In response, the black wings beat three times in rapid
succession. Luc sent a wave of fire and sulfur-smelling brimstone to meet the
driving rain and the two elements collided like warriors on a battlefield.

The second they met, the rain sizzled, popped and…evaporated
in front of my eyes.

No more followed. The heavens grew quiet. The clouds lifted
and the fog fell back to the edges of the landscape.

Battle won. Point to the Devil.

Zayfeer, Nikita and I watched as the last of the forest burned
to a crisp. All but the center tree. “What about my mother’s soul?”

Zayfeer and Nikita exchanged a look. Z shrugged. “Like I
said, that one’s nonnegotiable.”

When Lucifer emerged from the
flames and heavy smoke, he was the dragon I’d seen in the painting.
Magnificent. Enormous.

Beautiful beyond words.

The scales of his dragon skin
reflected the still-burning flames of the forest. His wings, with their fiery
tips elongated to the finest of points, quivered with magic. He moved on four
massive legs, the muscles rippling and flexing as he stalked me. His long,
thick tail swung in arcs, decimating anything in its path.

As he drew closer, I noticed
dozens of sigils tattooed on his dragon body. Symbols I didn’t understand but
didn’t need to in order to appreciate their significance and splendor. They
glowed with an internal light, as if hundreds of lightning bugs danced under
Luc’s skin.

Zayfeer and Nikita went to their
knees, bowing their heads as he approached. I stood mesmerized, the need to
touch him, to stroke those glowing sigils and fire-tipped wings so strong I
could hardly keep myself from running to meet him.

His massive head hung low and
smoke blew out his nostrils. He stopped several feet away. A set of horns
decorated the corners of his skull. His eyes…so dark and unfathomable…searched
my face, a question in their depths.

A question I didn’t understand. I
opened my mind, hoping at least to hear his voice there, but all I heard was
the memory of Zayfeer saying, “…slay the dragon.”

I shook my head. Not on my life.

Another snort of smoke and the
dragon blinked, waiting, watching me.

My god, I love you.

The thought wiped out Zayfeer’s
voice, wiped out my fear.
Fierce beast, fallen angel, wicked human…every
one of Lucifer’s incarnations was like the rich, dark chocolate I craved every
day.

Slowly, I reached out a hand.
Reached for his long nose and broad forehead like he was a skittish horse. Anticipation
expanded in my stomach, at once heavy and light. My head warned against
touching him. My heart urged me on.

He tilted his head and tensed, but
held still, waiting…waiting…

The scales were hot as coals. I
expected them to be slick and reptilian, but instead they were soft as rose
petals. Where my cool fingers made contact, steam rose.

At my touch, his body shivered.

I stroked his nose, looked into
his eyes. Magic tickled my senses. His, mine, and a soft, misty layer that
lingered in the air from the battle. The dragon heaved a great sigh, releasing
it in a slow, heavy stream as he closed his eyes. Relief?

Before I could decide, he dropped
at my feet, all two tons of him. His massive bulk quivered as he hit. The
ground shook.

“Luc!”

I fell to my knees near his head
and rubbed his neck. Everywhere I touched him, our magics sparked, creating a
glistening black light that trailed from my fingers. His breath came in gasps,
the sigils on his body burning with their weird internal luminosity.

“What’s wrong with him?” I
demanded of Zayfeer. “Is he hurt?”

The fallen angel stood several
feet away, Nikita by his side. His face was grim, but not overly concerned. “It’s
the change. He’ll be back to normal in a minute.”

The dragon’s body seized, going
rigid and taut from nose to tail. The wings folded and shrank, drawing into his
back. The horns retracted. Bones snapped. I flinched at the brutal sound.

The sigils sank into Lucifer’s
body and disappeared, taking their glow with them. The scales under my hands
smoothed out and became skin and hair. Every change brought a grunt or groan
from Lucifer’s lips.

The whole process took only
seconds, but it seemed an eternity to watch the one I loved in so much pain.
When it was done, Luc lay in a crumpled heap, pale and lifeless.

His magic was so weak, I could
barely find it. I ran my hands over his body, stroked hair away from his face.
His skin showed burn marks and was smudged with ash. I kissed the corners of
his forehead where deep bruises had formed from the horns. I kissed his cheeks,
his lips, worried when he didn’t respond. He had no heartbeat, no pulse, no
magic.

“Come back to me,” I whispered in
his ear.

My fingers continued to trail
sparks everywhere they made contact with his skin. I touched the cuts and burns
on his chest, arms and back.

Heal.

Magic flashed, enlarging the
sparks into embers of energy. At my touch, the cuts stitched themselves
together. The burns subsided.

I glanced up at Zayfeer and
Nikita, a smile on my face, but they’d both disappeared. I glanced around. They
were gone. By force or by choice?

The individual fires in the
forest had burned down. The smoke and fog lingered, although not as heavy.
Overhead, clouds crammed the sky, blocking out the moon and casting shadows on us.

Returning my focus to Luc, I
worked my way down his body with my healing magic. With every repair, he
breathed easier and the taut muscles relaxed. His magic was still so weak, I
couldn’t get a handle on it.

As I concentrated on healing him,
another part of my mind was furious with God. Who else could have done this? I
wanted to strike out at something, take revenge, but there was nothing and no
one around. That didn’t stop me from lifting my head to the clouds and cursing
God for all I was worth.

I know. Not the brightest idea.
God could strike me down with lightning or a thousand other maladies and kill
me on the spot. I really didn’t care. The only thing that stopped my rant was
the fact I had to make sure Luc survived, and throwing so much energy at my
unseen enemy took too much away from my healing magic.

Luc was my priority. I’d deal
with God later.

Shoving the anger aside, I laid
my hand on Luc’s upper thigh where a large gash was leaking blood. I trailed a
finger over the cut, cauterizing it.

The blood stopped. Luc heaved a
giant sigh, rolled onto his back, opened his eyes and looked at me. “A few
inches to the left would be good.”

A few inches to the left, and
hel-
lo
. What was this? Apparently, the Devil was awake and fully alert.

I did a double check. Yep, definitely
on the mend. “Is that a dragon in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

He sat up, grabbed me and pulled
me into his lap. My magic purred. Gone was the vulnerability in his eyes. Now
they snapped with hunger and his voice came out rough with need. “Since I’m not
wearing clothes, what do you think?”

The hard length of him pushing
into me wasn’t exactly conducive to thought. “I, uh…think you’re a very fast
healer.”

A low rumbling came from his
chest, his laughter shaking both of us and doing wicked things to my lower
half. “Thanks to you, it seems.”

“Nikita said you lost your magic.
How did you get here?”

“Keisha and her incantations. One
that bound my blood to yours.”

That was disturbing on a couple
of levels. A blood bond required blood from both parties. “She had some of my
blood just lying around?”

 He rubbed his thumb over the
pulse at my wrist. It skittered like a puppy wagging its tail over kibble. “She’s
one strong voodoo priestess. Once she bound our bloods, your magic summoned me.
No power on Earth or anywhere else could have stopped me from getting here once
you called.”

That sounded promising. I twirled
a lock of his hair between my fingers. “So you’re, like what, my slave now? I can
command you and you’ll have to do whatever I want?”

His lips took mine, his tongue
delving inside my mouth as one hand went behind my neck. It slid up the back of
my head and dragged me closer.

His magic was still anemic, but
mine exploded, sending a sharp, aching need to the spot between my legs. I
wrapped my arms around his neck and slammed my chest against his. We ravaged
each other with our mouths, clinging tight and holding on.

Some moments later, he broke the
kiss and ran his thumb over my lower lip. “I have always been a slave to your
love.”

Riiight. The Devil had never been
a slave to anything.  Even so, my heart skipped a beat. He’d allowed Keisha to
perform a blood ritual to bind us together. He’d come to purgatory—a place,
according to Zayfeer, he avoided at all costs—to find me. He’d taken on God in
my behalf and released the souls of the humans I’d brokered. “Why is that?”

He kissed me again, long and
deep, and I forgot the question. I kissed him back and laughed when he flipped
me over and pinned me to the ground.

Yep, the dragon was definitely
glad to see me.