Demonfire (26 page)

That was something he wouldn’t
do. Ever. He couldn’t allow himself to dream the impossible. Even to begin to
imagine a life with Eddy—to imagine creating life with Eddy. It was not to be.
His life was finite and his days poorly numbered.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t
appreciate now, couldn’t cherish each moment with Eddy as long as those moments
lasted, couldn’t love her, find fulfillment loving her. Eddy’s channel pulsed
around his thick shaft, and he plunged in and out, matching her rhythm with his
own.

He kissed her again. She
opened her eyes when the kiss ended, and then she pressed her fingertips
against his tattoo. He felt a cooling wash of energy, as if she poured all the
love in her heart through her hands, into the curse.

Into Dax.

Instead of the steady drain of
power he’d felt since the demon’s curse, this time he experienced something
more, a new sense of strength, as if Eddy channeled his demon powers through
herself and gave them back to him, cleansed of the curse.

He straightened his arms and
raised up on his palms, wrapped his arms around Eddy and lifted her as he knelt
back and sat on his heels. Her legs went around his waist, and she leaned into
his embrace. Hips thrusting, heart singing, he held her close while her fingers
danced over the angles and lines of the snake tattoo.

It glowed in the twilight of
the room, a deep golden glow that made him think of a halo. There was no sense
of evil about it, none of the sinister malevolence, the stench of corruption
Dax associated with the curse. Eddy healed whatever evil it contained, and once
again she held the curse at bay.

Dax thrust deep and steady. By
himself, this time, without the demon. As he loved her, as he tied the two of
them even more deeply together, he gazed into Eddy’s shining eyes and felt hope
rise in him once more.

She wanted to remember
everything about this act of love. Everything about Dax. The way he felt, the
smooth flow of powerful muscles and hard bone as he lifted her, filled her,
loved her.

The way he smelled, an
enticing blend of clean sweat and some other scent she couldn’t identify. It
wasn’t soap, or shaving lotion or anything remotely familiar, yet it was
intoxicating, addicting…and unique to Dax.

His touch, his kisses, the
trace of an accent she’d never been able to identify, the power of his muscles,
the sweet sound of his laughter.

She knew that for the rest of
her life, every man she met would be compared to Dax—and every single one of
them would come up short.

He made love to her as if she
were the only woman on Earth. He treated her as an equal, deferred to her in so
many things, and yet she knew he would gladly give his life to protect her.

Was
giving his life to protect her. Three more days. Could she possibly save enough
memories in three short days to last a lifetime?

She was going to have to. Eddy
pressed her lips to the glowing tattoo and willed it to behave. She sensed no
threat from the curse, at least for now. What she did sense was her own growing
climax, a shiver of need and fulfillment racing through her nervous system,
building a power of its own, screaming for release.

Dax reached between them and
brushed his fingertips across her needy clit. She bit her lips to contain the
scream that even her father might hear.

Now, wouldn’t that be
embarrassing?

Dax stroked his fingers over
her once more, and then again.

Eddy screamed.

But no one heard. Dax’s mouth
covered hers. His tongue thrust in time with a final, powerful thrust of his
hips. He swallowed her scream with his own silent cry of completion.

Perfect memories
,
she thought as her body pulsed and clenched, released, and tightened once
again.

Absolutely
perfect.

The loud knocking on the
bedroom door brought Eddy awake much too fast. She grabbed her robe off the end
of the bed and raced to open the door. Alton stood outside with his fist raised
to knock once again. His hair hung in blond tangles down his back, and he
looked as if he’d just been awakened as well.

“Your dad said to wake you.
Ginny called. She’s getting reports of statues and stuff massing at the freeway
exit south of town. Almost as if they’re trying to prevent people from
leaving.”

“Crap. We need to get down
there. But why’d she think to call here?” Eddy grabbed her jeans off the floor
and looked around for her T-shirt. Dax was already zipping his pants as he
grabbed for the clean shirt he’d borrowed from her dad.

“I guess you told her your
boss at the paper had hired you back. She figured you’d want to know for a
story.” Alton turned to leave. Then he stopped and said, “Dax? Ed’s packing
sandwiches.”

“Thank you, Alton.” Laughing,
Eddy shut the door behind him. She needed to get dressed, and Dax was the only
audience she really wanted.

He’d found a brown plaid
flannel shirt. It hung open and unbuttoned as he reached for his boots. The
tattoo across his chest still glowed. He glanced up as Eddy leaned back against
the closed door and said, “Even in an emergency, Dad’s going to make sure no
one goes hungry.”

Dax paused in the midst of
pulling on a boot. “I have to agree with Alton,” he said, nodding seriously.
“That is a very good thing.”

They were both laughing as
they left the bedroom, but in the back of her mind, Eddy wondered when they’d
find anything to laugh about again.

They’d all piled into Ed’s
Jeep for the short drive to the exit south of town. Cars were lined up near the
on-ramp. Lights flashed from a couple of highway patrol black-and-whites, and a
group of about half a dozen sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrolmen
stood off to one side.

Ed pulled in behind one of the
flashing black-and-whites. Eddy grabbed her camera and climbed out of the
backseat. Local law enforcement officers were used to seeing her at the scene
of any accident or disturbance, so she slung the camera over her shoulder and
carried her tape recorder, notepad, and pen.

“What’s up?” She stopped
beside a couple of the local guys. Milton, the taller of the two, shoved his
hat back and scratched his bald head.

“Hey, Eddy. Haven’t seen you
in a while.” He pointed toward the on-ramp, where dozens of stone statues and
ceramic garden gnomes sat in silent rows across the lane. “Craziest thing. Got
a call that the ramp was blocked, and came out here to find this mess.”

“I just don’t see gangbangers
lining up little animal statues.” Bud, Milton’s partner, laughed out loud.
“Shit. This is just nuts. Who’d do something stupid like this?”

Alton, Ed, and Dax joined the
group. Eddy noticed that Alton wore his sword in the scabbard across his back,
but her view of it appeared to fade in and out. He must have used some sort of
hypnotic compulsion or glamour to hide it. Neither Bud nor Milton took any
notice, but as intent as they were on the mess blocking the road, they might
not have needed hypnosis to miss Alton’s sword.

“Milt, Bud,” she said,
snagging the deputies’ attention. “I want you to meet a couple of old college
friends who’ve been visiting.” Eddy nodded toward Alton and Dax.

Alton held out his hand to
Milton. “Interesting roadblock you’re using.” The men all chuckled. Bud
scratched his head and grunted. Alton added, “Dax and I would be happy to move
this mess out of the road for you.”

Eddy jerked about and caught
Alton’s eye. He merely smiled at her. Then he winked. Before she could figure
out what he was up to, Alton raised his hand and made a sweeping gesture that
encompassed everyone in uniform.

Milton blinked. Bud stared
blankly at the massed figurines. Then he looked toward Alton and smiled. “Why
thank you. That’s very kind of you. We’ll let you take care of things.”

He and Milton turned away,
climbed into their car, and drove off. The highway patrolmen followed suit.
Moments later, Eddy heard the scream of sirens. Lights flashed. Highway patrol
and sheriff’s cars raced back toward town.

Alton remained focused on the
cars parked along the on-ramp. He repeated the gesture, passing his hand
through the air in the direction of the cars backed up along the road.

Engines roared to life, and
people began backing their vehicles up, turning around, and leaving. Eddy took
Bum per’s leash from her father as the last car disappeared. Alton’s talent
definitely made things easier for them, but she wondered what was going on in
town that would require a code-three response from all the law enforcement
Alton had just dismissed.

Alton glanced at Dax. Dax
nodded, and the two of them split up. Dax went to one side of the silent group
of innocent-looking stone and ceramic pieces blocking the road. Alton moved to
the other.

When he reached over his
shoulder and unsheathed his sword, Eddy gasped. The blade spun in Alton’s hand
and pointed directly at Dax. Alton’s shoulders strained, and the muscles
bunched along his arms as he firmly grasped the hilt in both hands and directed
the blade at the silent army of statues and gnomes.

After a brief struggle, he
regained full control of the sword. “Bastard,” he muttered, staring at the
shimmering blade held upright in front of his face. He made a sweeping slash
through the statues, beheading all of those within his long reach with a single
stroke.

Without pausing, he struck
again. And again, until the ground was littered with rubble. Dax held his hands
at the ready while stone and ceramic heads clattered to the asphalt. Eddy
clutched Bumper’s leash in both hands, holding her tightly as the dog strained
to go after the first moving target.

A bird chirped nearby. A truck
passed by on the overpass, and the road rumbled with the rattle and clank of
empty trailers. Alton destroyed the final figurine. He and Dax took a step back
from the mess and silently stared at the beheaded and shattered statuary.

No demon stench escaped. There
was no sign of black mist. No rows of razor-sharp teeth or glowing eyes. Alton
raised his head and glanced at Dax. “Nothing here. What’ve you got?”

Dax shrugged. “No scent of
demon at all. I don’t get it.”

Eddy’s cell phone rang. She
flipped it open and took the call while Dax and Alton shoved the rubble to the
side of the road with Ed’s help.

Ginny’s frantic words made
Eddy’s blood run cold.

“Dax! Alton…Dad! Hurry.
There’s a riot in town. The statues from the cemetery are gathering near the
library. People are showing up armed to the teeth to fight them. Ginny said it
sounds like it’s absolute chaos!”

Alton took the passenger seat
beside Ed. Eddy, Dax, and Bumper piled into the small backseat. Eddy was still
fastening her seat belt when Ed gunned the motor. “What do you make of that?”
She nodded toward the pile of broken statues and figurines as Ed backed up and
spun the Jeep around.

“A decoy?” Dax glanced at
Alton. “Could the demons have enough intelligence to stage a false attack, one
that would draw all of us away from town?”

Alton nodded. “One of them
could.”

“The gargoyle.”

Dax’s softly spoken statement
sent chills racing along Eddy’s spine. She turned to Dax and caught his serious
gaze. “Working together’s one thing. What’s this mean, if they’re using decoys,
actually planning and organizing an attack?”

Dax just shook his head and
grimly glanced away. He didn’t need to say a word for Eddy to realize this was
something altogether new. Something none of them had counted on.

Instead of being weakened in
the fight with Dax this morning, the gargoyle appeared to be growing stronger.
More cunning.

Already a powerful opponent,
it had just taken the war to an entirely new level.

The Jeep bounced and rattled
over potholes in the road as Ed gunned it along the short distance into town.
Dax’s fingers wrapped around Eddy’s hand. When she glanced at him, his
expression was bleak.

“Are you in pain?” she asked.
“Is the tattoo burning?”

He shook his head and parted
the top two buttons on his flannel shirt. A soft, golden glow still surrounded
the quiescent tattoo. “Your love appears to have conquered it, if only for a
little while. There is no pain at all, though I sense the curse, almost as if
it lies in wait.”

“I’m sorry.” Eddy ran her fingers
over the brilliant colors. “I wish I could do more.” She blew out a gust of air
in frustration. “There is something going on with the gargoyle. Something that
doesn’t make sense. It’s not anything like the other demons, but I can’t figure
out why. How come it’s so smart and they’re all so stupid? It’s like they’re
two different species of evil.”

Dax nodded. “When I was a
demon,” he said, “I thought as a demon. I lived for the moment. Eat, fuck,
kill. All that concerned me was the need to survive. Survival was my life, my
only goal for eons. Life continued without change, one day after another. I
didn’t think of politics, of other demons. I had no friends, no real language
to speak of, as there was no need to communicate. I went on that way from my
beginning. Then a time came when I knew, somehow, I wanted more. I had no idea
what it was, only that there had to be something more than eating, fucking, and
killing.”

He looked down at their
clasped hands as the Jeep rattled along the bumpy road. Then he focused once
more on Eddy. “With that realization, I began to change, to evolve into
something other than a demon. Something no longer suitable for Abyss. That’s
when I was cast into the void. That’s when the Edenites found me.”

“What are you saying?” She was
almost certain where this was leading. She wanted to be wrong, but Dax was
shaking his head. Agreeing with her unspoken thoughts.