“It’s just Hammy. I brought her here after the demon broke into Betty’s house.”
I had a light-bulb moment and realized that was where I’d seen the cat before. “Ah, Betty Davis.” I nodded and let my muscles relax slightly. Reluctantly, I slid the knife back into my boot.
“Betty was a client of mine.”
Mx. Diamon’s rheumy brown eyes looked shrewd. “I know.”
“Of course you did. Betty told you, didn’t she?”
The old woman nodded. “She said she’d never met you, but that you came highly recommended.”
“Yes. We only spoke once, on the televisual. Her visual wasn’t working so I only heard her voice. I went to her home and found a dead demon. Something attacked me.”
Mx. Diamon stood and walked across the room. Pulling open the door to the oven, she peered inside at another batch of cookies.
I leaned sideways to peer around her, looking for scorched bones.
No bones. But she’d made enough cookies to feed all the inhabitants in Hell.
Apparently deciding that the latest batch wasn’t quite ready, she closed the door and settled her large mittens back onto the counter.
I realized she’d probably been looking for me all along. “So when you came to Werever…Whenever you weren’t looking for the guys?”
“It took me a while to find you. I don’t know how you get new clients, dear. You might want to consider signage. Or an office that isn’t located in the center of the earth.”
I shrugged. “Somebody’s trying to kill me. That tends to make you a little jumpy.”
Mx. Diamon nodded. “Yes. I know.”
I couldn’t help wondering if she really did.
Chapter Seven
My Client Bites!
Danger comes in many forms, and strikes in many ways,
But secrets cause the harshest wounds, when liars start to play.
I lay back against the flowery-scented bedspread on the impossibly soft bed. My butt and shoulders sank deep, making me wonder if I’d be able to extract myself in an emergency.
Throwing my sensing power around the home again, I satisfied myself that things were secure. Then I set my mind to trying to figure out where Mx. Diamon was hiding that damn Betty.
It seemed impossible that the woman could be in the house without me sensing her. Unless they’d somehow cloaked her physical presence from me. Maybe a powerful spell…
I grabbed my pocket televisual from the doily-covered table beside the bed and told it to connect to Werever…Whatever.
Ralph answered after several blips, looking slightly harried. “What is it, Astra? Is our client all right?”
“She’s fine, but she’s not really your client, she appears to be mine.”
He frowned, his pretty hazel eyes turning territorial. “What’s that supposed to mean, Phelps?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. I’ll explain later. When you were taking down background information from Mx. Diamon, was there anything to imply that she was attached in any way to the Angel City Coven? Or that she practiced witchcraft herself?”
Ralph shook his head. “Nothing. She’s just a little old lady, Astra.”
I tried to keep my face neutral. That would be scary enough if it were true.
Unfortunately I was beginning to suspect that it was far from the truth. “What did Bob sense when he read her? He looked a little pale for a moment.”
Ralph turned away from the screen and a second later Bob’s face appeared over his partner’s shoulder. “Hey, Astra! I didn’t read anything. She was normal.”
I frowned. “You sure?”
He hesitated just a beat before nodding. “Yeah, just a little old lady.” He grinned. “I’m sorry to report.”
I snorted. “Yeah.” Bob would have been able to read my discomfort with Mx. Diamon. And it would be hard not to read something into the fit I pitched when they told me I needed to stay with her for a couple of days. “Thanks.”
I disconnected and lay there, thinking. Where was my client Betty Davis and how was the scary, wrinkly, cookie-baking monster in that house keeping her hidden?
I decided to have another look around the house and check on said monster, so I started to climb out of the bed. Unfortunately the succubus arms of the old-lady mattress weren’t quite ready to let me go.
Pushing and shoving, I finally managed to get myself into an upright position. I sat on the edge of the bed, panting from my efforts, and decided I’d be sleeping on the floor that night. I couldn’t be wallowing around on that damn mattress like an entrenched Venusian hippopotamus if the bird demons returned.
Standing up, I started for the door. I didn’t get far.
The air before me started to thicken and shimmer and I pulled my power forward.
The shimmering air darkened and solidified into a tall form with long, thick black hair, broad shoulders and narrow hips. For just a beat in time I thought it was Dialle.
By the time I realized it wasn’t him it was too late for me to fling a power arrow at the son of a bitch.
A large square hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, putting the magical smack-down on my powers before I could crack him between the eyes with them.
He yanked me up close. Way too close. Close enough to feel the suspiciously hard front of his pants.
“Is that a pickle demon in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”
He lowered his head and dragged me up his body until the handsome face was a mere breath away from mine, the deep-set eyes surrounded by a thick fringe of midnight lashes. His cruel mouth was turned up in a smile that made my knees weaken.
Unfortunately for me, my Settling roared, sending waves of heat and lust roiling through me.
My pussy clenched, drenching my panties, and my nipples turned to hard peaks beneath my sweater.
Milc’s nostrils flared in recognition of my lust. “You appear very happy to see me, my queen.”
My fingers twitched in a desire to blast him, but his hand on my wrist made that impossible. My body swayed toward him, my hips arching to increase contact with the enormous ridge beneath his tight, soft pants.
The cruel mouth lowered to find my throat, tasting me with lips, tongue and teeth and, against my will, my traitorous head dropped back, giving him free access to the starving flesh.
He wrapped an arm around my waist like an iron band, sliding heated fingertips along my hip and up the side of my body to skim along the rounded edge of my breast. I sucked in a breath and his mouth captured mine, sending me into sensual overload with a seriously heated kiss.
His tongue swept out and tangled with mine. His hand lowered to cup my buttocks, dragging me up tight against his rigid cock. When he ground himself against me, my Settling exploded, making the air spark in multi-hued flame and the nerve endings in my skin fire with need.
A tight coil of lust blossomed in my belly, cranking tighter with every touch of his hot tongue against my skin.
I managed to retain a tiny corner of sanity under the sensual onslaught, but I couldn’t do anything about it because of the hand clamped, unyielding, around my wrist. So as my mind screamed in refusal of the sensations the evil advocate was creating in my traitorous body, my happy place throbbed with need and my lips sought his hungrily.
His body pressed closer to mine, his hand on my back sliding across my buttocks and over my thighs, teasing me with quick forays into the throbbing place between them.
He deepened the kiss until his lips bruised mine, his sharp teeth nipping at the tender flesh of my mouth and piercing it in his fervor. As he sucked the resulting beads of blood, Milc growled low in his throat and jerked his lips from mine. His dark eyes spun with the vivid colors of passion and his wide, cruel mouth was swollen from the violence of our kisses.
Even through the haze of lust consuming me, I could see that he was alarmed by his reaction.
“I don’t know why I did that, scrawny Tweener. I don’t even find you all that attractive.”
I frowned, feeling strangely insulted.
His nostrils flared. “It must be the Settling that draws me.”
I knew he was right. It wasn’t that I was so irresistible to everybody I met, but my body was throwing off “come hither” pleas in massive amounts.
No male in his right mind would just walk away from that without trying to give it a shot.
Something heavy and warm brushed against my calf and I looked down. The fat orange cat swirled around our legs, dancing out of the way with a yowl as Milc tried to kick her. The cat hovered next to the bed and spit at my unwelcome visitor, snapping her short tail angrily.
Without warning she leapt at him, sinking small, sharp teeth into his leg.
Milc growled and snapped his leg, sending the cat flying across the room. The lithe creature landed on its feet and slipped quickly through the door, unharmed.
“I hate furry things,” Milc offered unnecessarily.
Jerking my arm hard, I finally won release. I immediately stepped back and pulled my power forward, allowing it to dance in the palms of my hands like a deadly promise. “It appears the feeling is mutual, Advocate.”
He leaned against the tall wooden footboard of the bed, crossing his long arms over his chest.
“Now tell me what you want and get the hell out of here.”
“I’ve come to warn you that you cannot trust the werewolves. I have reason to believe that they conspire with the demons to harm you. You must come with me so I can keep you safe.”
My answering snort was not ladylike, but it was representative of my feelings regarding that statement.
“Those are my friends, Advocate. You are not my friend. In a choice between them and you I choose them. You can leave now.”
He glared at me. “How am I to protect you if you will not listen to me?”
“Simple. You aren’t. I don’t need or want your protection. I’ll figure this out on my own.”
“You’ve done an exemplary job thus far.”
“Nobody’s died in a few days. I think I’m doing pretty well.”
Milc stared hard at me for a long moment and then, in the blink of an eye, was suddenly standing a fraction of an inch away from me, the heat of his long body pulsing toward me like an overcharged aura.
He didn’t touch me, though his lips were so close to mine that I inhaled his breath with every flare of my nostrils.
I just barely kept from sending everything I had into him. “You live dangerously, devil.”
His smile didn’t do anything to warm the cold expression. “Yes, danger makes me hard. Very hard.” When he spoke, his breath touched my lips in invigorating little puffs. “Take care, my queen. It seems there are many who wish you dead. I cannot say I blame them.”
I reached down and sent a jolt into his happy place, causing him to jump away with a growl of alarm. “Get the Hades out of here, devil, before I start to believe you’re behind all these attempts on my life. It won’t go well for you if that’s the case.”
He showed me his teeth in a snarl and then popped away. As he left, his cold, smooth voice slid across my mind.
You are not a worthy queen for our court, Tweener. And I would remedy your place there if I could. Trust that I am looking for ways to do that. And never lower your guard.
When I was sure he was gone, I dropped to the edge of the bed, my knees suddenly feeling like water. Why was my life so damn complex? I always had impossible tasks to perform and never knew whom I could trust and who wanted me dead or worse.
I knew one thing for sure, Dialle was gonna get an earful about siccing that monster advocate on me…as soon as I could find him…and get him to listen to me.
* * * * *
After trying one last time to contact Dialle through the usual methods, I gave up and shimmered into his quarters at the Royal Court, bypassing the guards and other Royals in the halls of the cavernous warehouse they’d transformed into a comfy hell on earth.
At first I thought the rooms were empty. Not a sound disrupted the stark silence of the lush space. But the soft sound of a sigh made my head jerk around and I saw them tucked into a shadowed corner of the rooms.
Dialle and Astis. In a clench.
She was pressed up against a wall, her arms held over her head by an invisible force and her slender wrists shackled with power cuffs, which sparked silver and gold in the air around her hands.
Her coldly beautiful face was fixed in a rapturous expression, her pretty eyes were wide with emotion and her chest heaved with excitement. Her back was pressed against the wall but her legs under the usual gauzy ankle-length skirt were spread wide, her hips arching toward Dialle.
He held her throat in one large hand and his knuckles were white from squeezing it. His head was bent toward her, his lips very close to her ear, and he appeared to be whispering something into it.
His stance was aggressive, even possessive, toward the beautiful witch.
I must have made a small sound in my throat because Dialle’s head shot around.
His gorgeous face darkened when he spotted me, his swirling gaze changed from the reds and oranges of passion to cool blue in the blink of an eye. His lush lips opened and he stepped away from the witch, looking decidedly guilty.
Anger flooded me, tightening my chest and making it hard to breathe. Power surged through my body and my fingers twitched with the need to spray it around the room.
“Astra, this is not as it looks.”
And there it was. The age-old start to the male’s I-didn’t-mean-to-sleep-with-her speech. My lip curled and my teeth ground together. Next he’d be telling me it meant nothing. “Don’t,” I told him. “Don’t even go there, Dialle!”
He took a step toward me and I pulled my power forward, prepared to flee.
“Wait, don’t go! Let me explain.”
Something in his tone made me hesitate. He sounded terrified, sincerely scared that I might leave that room without letting him defend himself.
But then my gaze slipped to Astis. She stared at me through lust-filled, hooded eyes and offered a sensual grin. As she caught my gaze she licked her lips and threw me a kiss.
A ball of power appeared in my palm and I lifted it, my muscles tensing to fling it at her hated face.