Demon Hunting In the Deep South (36 page)

“I don’t know,” Evie said, searching for a way to make him understand. Good luck, she thought.
How can you explain it, when you don’t understand it yourself?
“So much has happened in the last few days. Losing my temper is bad enough, but this . . . It makes me feel strange, for some reason. Correction. Make that
stranger.
Like I don’t know myself.”

“
I
know you. I have always known you. Do you remember that first day in the flower shop?”

She smiled up at him. “Yes. You made me so nervous. I couldn’t look at you. I remember thinking,
Jeez Louise, look at him! He’s so freaking hot he glows!
And then you called me Evangeline and said I was strong. Me, the biggest wimp in the South. I was so shocked. I couldn’t say a thing.”

“That is not all I said, as I recall. I told you that you are beautiful.” He lifted one of her long, wet curls and brought it to his lips. “And you are. You remind me of a wood nymph with your red and gold hair, like autumn leaves.” He dropped the damp curl, and Evie shivered as his hands moved to caress her breasts. “And your big eyes . . . so sad and full of shadows. You were shy and skittish as a doe. I remember thinking,
Go gentle with this one, Ansgar, else you will startle her and she will take flight.
Even then, I was terrified of losing you.”

“Not too terrified,” Evie said. She gasped as he opened her thighs wider and pushed inside—but not enough. Her greedy body wanted more, wanted it all. She wiggled, trying to get closer to him. To her frustration, he pulled out. Clamping his hands on her legs, he teased her, rubbing the head of his erection along the sensitive folds between her legs. She bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming in frustration. “Y-you left.”

“Ah, but I came back.” He continued his torturous assault, withdrawing and pushing forward again, entering her without fully sheathing himself, leaving Evie frantic for more. “I could not stay away. I could not forget you. For thousands of years, I have known only duty and the hunt. Nothing of love or tenderness. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I
had
a heart and that I had left it behind with you.”

“What about
her
?” she panted, clutching his arms as he slid a little deeper inside her.
Yes, just a little more . . . oh, my God, he is killing me.
She could feel the pressure and the heat building between them, the pleasure. “This Kalia chick you were with?”

“She was as sand poured into the mouth of a man dying of thirst,” he said. “She could not ease my torment or make me forget you. Indeed, she only made me more wretched.”

“Good,” Evie said. “I’m glad. You deserve wretched for leaving me.” She arched her pelvis, trying to take more of him in, desperate for him. He chuckled and held her down. “Ansgar,” she cried, pummeling his chest with her fists. “Stop teasing me and give me what I want.”

He grinned down at her, no more troubled by her blows than by a gnat. “And what is that?”

“You. All of you. Right now.”

“You have me.” Her eyes drifted shut as he rocked his hips, giving her another slow, maddening stroke and then another. “I am yours, Evangeline, body and soul.”

Yes, that was it
.
A little more, a little harder. Al . . . most . . . there.
Everything in her was drawn tight, straining toward him, eager for release.

“Say you are mine.” His husky voice made her shiver. He gave her another slow, exquisite nudge, his hardness filling her, taking her to the edge. “I need to hear it.”

“Yes, yes.” She was almost sobbing now. “You know it’s—”

“Say the words. Say them.”

Lust drunk and dazed, she opened her eyes. “I’m yours, Ansgar. I love you. I want you. I need you. What more is there to say?”

“But one thing more, sweetling. Say that you will marry me.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then I will keep you here until I change your mind.”

“I can’t marry you,” she protested. “Not when there’s a murder charge hanging over my head and I could go to prison. That wouldn’t be fair.”

Tangling his hands in her hair, he tilted her head back. She gazed up at him in surprise. His jaw was clenched, his expression set and stubborn.

“We will go forward with this farce and try to discover the identity of Meredith’s killer because I know it is important to you to clear your name. Consequently, that makes it important to
me,
” he said. “But, do not imagine—
even for moment
—that I will be separated from you ever again, much less allow you to go to prison. I will whisk you away and keep you safe, by force, if need be.” He looked forbidding and determined, and totally irresistible. “I was perfectly content with my lot in life until I met you. But you changed all that. I love you. I cannot live without you, nor am I inclined to try—a circumstance I lay entirely at your door. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

“Oh,” she said. “In that case, I guess I’d better marry you.”

Chapter Thirty-six

T
he slow grin Ansgar gave her was blinding, like the sun breaking through a bank of storm clouds. “That was the right answer,” he said.

Evie cried out as he thrust inside her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on as he began to move, each stroke driving her closer to the edge. The delicious tension built and then uncoiled in a wild rush, taking her and Ansgar once more into bliss.

When she came back to herself, she was in his arms and they were still connected. She smiled, luxuriating in his nearness; being with him felt so right. Even the moon seemed to approve, smiling down at them in their secret lagoon.

Maybe a little too much, Evie thought, squinting as Old Man Moon bore down on them like the headlight on an approaching night train.

“Ah, there you are, brother,” a deep, familiar voice said. Evie yelped in surprise and shrank behind Ansgar. Brand stood on the sandy bank, a glowing orb suspended above one upraised hand. He closed his hand, and the shining ball vanished with an audible
pop
. “For a moment, I feared fair Luna had fled the sky,” he said. “Then I realized ’twas your backside shining back at me from the river, and not the moon.”

“Very amusing.” Ansgar turned to face the other warrior, blocking Evie from view. “But, as you can see, Evangeline and I are engaged.”

“So I noticed.”

Evie blushed at the knowing slyness in Brand’s tone. He was enjoying their discomfort. She wished she could say the same. She was horribly embarrassed, and she felt like an idiot huddled naked in a creek behind Ansgar’s back. The one time, the
only
time in her life she went skinny-dipping, and she got caught. She thought with longing of her clothes scattered about on the little beach. Ansgar, on the other hand, seemed at ease with his nakedness. He crossed his arms and leaned back, so that he was pressed against her, shielding her from view.

“You misunderstand. Evangeline and I are engaged to be
married,
” he said. “She has consented to be my wife.”

“Felicitations,” Brand said. “Adara will be delighted when she hears the news. As will her mother.” The hint of slyness crept back into his tone. “Bitsy will be in transports when she learns she has yet another wedding to plan. She regards Evie as a second daughter.”

“I had not thought of that.” The genuine horror in Ansgar’s voice made Evie want to giggle. “By the sword, you need not sound so damnably pleased, brother.”

“Misery loves company,” Brand said. “Take heart. You and I have survived worse. The siege of Rome by the Ostrogoths. Torture. The attack of the winged vairnir upon the City of Light.”

“ ’Twould be less painful to have my eyeballs plucked out,” Ansgar said.

“Do as I do,” Brand said. “Tell yourself the woman you love is worth it, and that Bitsy means well.”

Evie leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Ansgar’s shoulder. “Ask him why he’s here,” she whispered. “I’m starting to get pruny.”

“What brings you here, brother?” Ansgar asked.

“Adara sent me,” Brand said. “Evie must come at once. The fabricated residential dwelling unit that Nicole presently calls her abode has succumbed to gravity.”

It took Evie a minute to parse Brand-speak. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, grasping his meaning at last, “you mean her trailer collapsed? Is she all right?”

“Yes,” Brand said, “but she is inconsolable and asking for you. Will you come?”

“Sure.” Evie cleared her throat. “But, first, we need to get dressed.”

“Of course.” Brand bowed. “I will return anon.”

Blip!
He was gone.

Froggy Bottom was a marshy, low-lying area north of town made up of dilapidated shotgun houses, sagging mobile homes, and abandoned fishing cabins. Nicole’s place was located down a dirt drive behind a huddle of mildewed trailers. Sooner or later, everything in Froggy Bottom mildewed due to the proximity of the river, including the people.

The scene when they arrived was bedlam. The police were there and the volunteer fire department. Red and blue emergency lights flashed, illuminating the crowd that had gathered around the wreckage of the prefab home, like hyenas panting around a fallen wildebeest. Yellow police tape, stretched around the perimeter of the weedy lot, held the rubberneckers at bay. Inside the taped-off square, Evie saw officers and firemen moving around in the darkness, trying to assess the damage.

She glanced at her watch. It was 5:30. Not long until sunup. Good gracious, she’d pulled an all-nighter. And what a night! She’d been to her first Halloween ball, had her memory restored by a supernatural ruminant from another dimension, gone on a toot with a succubus, been in a bar fight, had wild gorilla sex in the great outdoors, and received a declaration of love
and
a marriage proposal from the man of her dreams. It was enough to make a girl dizzy.

She found Addy talking with Chief Davis. Addy broke off her conversation when she saw Evie coming up with Ansgar and Brand.

“You’re here,” Addy said, coming to meet them. Her brown eyes were wide and uncertain. “I was afraid you’d still be too mad at me to come.”

“I am still mad at you,” Evie said. And she was, but only a little, although she wasn’t ready to tell Addy that yet. “I’m here for Nicole.”

“Evie, please.” Addy’s mouth trembled. “You’re my best friend in the whole wide world. I love you. You know I never meant to hurt you. You were so . . .
broken.
I didn’t know what to do.”

Evie folded. She couldn’t stay mad at Addy, not when her hardass BFF looked so contrite and vulnerable.

“You are such a jerk,” Evie said, pulling Addy into a tight hug. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“Me, either,” Addy said, hugging her back. “But I’m glad you do. And I’m glad you’re here. Nicole is so upset. I tried to talk to her, but I think I made things worse. Maybe you can calm her down.”

Evie released Addy and stepped back. For some reason, she was crying. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that she and Addy had made up. No way.

Evie wiped her wet cheeks. “Where is she?”

Addy pointed to a miserable figure across the yard. “Over there.”

Nicole stood underneath a mercury light, clad in nothing but a shower curtain and crying as if her heart would break. A large assortment of drooling dogs sat in a semicircle around her. As Evie watched, a mutt with a German shepherd’s head on a basset hound body slunk closer.

“Get on,” Nicole shrieked, stamping a bare foot at the dog, her face streaked with tears. “I mean it!”

With a startled yelp, the dog retreated just out of leg reach and settled on its haunches. Tongue hanging out of its mouth, the dog gazed at Nicole with longing.

What was with all the dogs? Evie looked closer, but didn’t see a Chihuahua. Her heart sank. Oh, dear. Something must have happened to Frodo. That’s why Nicole was so upset.

Leaving Ansgar talking to Brand and the chief, she hurried over to the sobbing woman. “What’s happened? Is it Frodo?”

“N-no, Frodo’s fine.” Nicole threw herself at Evie. “But I ain’t. Oh, Miss Evie, it was so awful.”

Evie wrapped her arms around Nicole to give her a hug, but it was like trying to hold on to a buttered eel. “Nicole, why are you so slippery and what is that
smell
?”

“Bacon grease.” Nicole stepped back, her chin quivering. “D-Daniel said bacon was the perfect food, so I invited him to my place after the dance for a BLT.”

Bacon grease—Nicole
reeked
of it. Granny Moses, she was a walking, talking bacon-flavored treat. No wonder she’d attracted every dog in the neighborhood. It was a miracle she hadn’t been mauled to death.

“After we ate, Daniel and me talked.” Nicole hiccupped and grabbed the shower curtain as it started to slide south under the twin influences of gravity and lard. “One thing led to another, and the next thing you know, I’d done rubbed myself down with bacon fat and broke out the old pole.”

“Pole?” Evie repeated blankly. It was hard to concentrate. Nicole’s plastic sarong had started a downward trek again, like a glacier inching over mountainous terrain, and Evie expected the whole thing to hit the ground at any moment.

“I used to be an exotic dancer at the Booby Trap in Pensacola,” Nicole said, sniffling. “That’s where I met my first husband, Travis the Louse. I gave up dancing, but I kept the stripper pole for old time’s sake. I was doing a cradle spin, when the whole dang trailer busted, because . . .” Her round face crumpled and she began to wail. “Because I’m so fat!”

Evie patted Nicole’s greasy shoulder. “Don’t say that. This is not your fault. That trailer should have been condemned years ago. Cousin Ick ought to be ashamed, letting family live in a dump like that.”

“He’s not blood kin. He’s Travis’s cousin. I shoulda known better than to trust a Eubanks.” Nicole gave Evie a watery smile. “Thanks for coming, Miss Evie. I’ve been beside myself.”

“Please, call me Evie. ‘Miss Evie’ makes me feel like an old maid schoolteacher.”

Nicole gave a halfhearted chuckle. “Right, that’s why you got such a fine-looking man sniffing around you, on account of you’s an old maid.” Her mouth trembled and she burst into tears again. “Dan ain’t gonna have nothing to do with me again, not after this. Not if I wear a bacon
dress
. I gotta get out of here.”