Where Demons Fear to Tread (13 page)

Luciana stood at the edge of the dance floor, scowling. “There’s so much saccharine in here, it’s making me sick. I need some air,” the demoness announced loudly. She dragged Corbin by the sleeve out the glass doors toward the pool. Nick trailed after them.

Serena pulled away from Julian to follow Nick. The young man was her responsibility, and if something happened to him, she would never forgive herself. But Julian resisted, holding her against him.

“Let them go,” he insisted. “They wouldn’t dare do anything here. It’s my territory.”

She sent another worried glance in the direction the three of them had gone. “You’d better be right,” she said. Then, as Julian’s arms pulled her closer, she protested, “You’re holding me too tightly.”

He eased his hold, releasing her slightly. They danced slowly, circling to the music. It was strange, knowing that the latent power in the arms that held her might turn on her at any second. And yet, he held her with such care, such infinite gentleness. She inhaled the scent of him. He wore an expensive cologne mingled with the subtle undertones of maleness that arose from his body. He was intoxicating, and if she wasn’t careful, he would seduce her before she even realized it.

“‘Earth Angel.’ What a cliché,” she said, breaking the silence. She didn’t bother to mention that she and Meredith danced around their living room to this song on a regular basis.

“Where’s your sense of humor? I bought this record in 1954.
Hey, Senorita
was the B-side. Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio that year. The French were defeated in Vietnam and the country was partitioned into North and South,” he said, nostalgia seeping into his voice.

“Very impressive. Anything else?”

He paused, looking up toward the massive vaulted ceiling. “The world lost Frida Khalo and Henri Matisse. Oh, and one more thing. The words
under God
were added to the Pledge of Allegiance.”

“How do you remember these things?”

“Details become important. They’re the easiest way to mark time. When you’re immortal, time becomes your best friend and your greatest enemy. You’ll learn that,” he said, his mouth setting into a thin line.

“Why?”

“Because you have all the time in the world to do the things you’ve always wanted to do, learn what you’ve always wanted to know. Then one day you’ll come to a point where there’s nothing left to learn. Nothing left to know. Oh, you’ll never master everything. That’s not what I’m saying. But there comes a point where none of it means anything anymore. Details are the only thing that distinguish today from yesterday, or the last month, the last year or the last decade.”

“I’m still struggling to keep things together,” she said. “But I can’t imagine a time when life is meaningless.”

“You’re new. One day you’ll understand.”

No, she wouldn’t. Life would always have meaning for her—her life, and the lives of those she loved. As she looked up at his face, she realized that he was miserable. And so alone. But there was probably no point explaining that to him. He would never understand. Could a demon understand love?

The sound of splashing caught her ear. Then, Luciana’s high-pitched shriek pierced the melody of the music.

“Nick’s in trouble,” she said. Julian resisted, but she broke from his embrace and started toward the pool area. This was all her fault. She’d allowed her attention to wander, and she’d left Nick alone with those monsters. He was just a defenseless human, incapable of defending himself. She should have known better.

She heard Julian sigh, but he followed her as she broke into a run.

“Did you plan this?” she shot over her shoulder. “Did you deliberately distract me so your friends could get their evil claws into him?”

“Of course I didn’t. I may be in league with the devil, but I am not in league with
her,
” he said.

“I never should have trusted you,” she snapped.

Nick was in trouble, all right, but not the kind she’d anticipated.

The three of them were waist-deep in the pool. Luciana’s dress was molded to her body like the water they stood in, and every bit as transparent. Pressed between the two men, Luciana stood with Nick in front of her, his face lost in the valley between her breasts. Corbin stood behind her, and her head was tilted back as she kissed him, open-mouthed and moaning.

Serena gasped.

The three of them turned at the sound and stood motionless as they gazed at her, an erotic tableau that was strangely beautiful in the moonlight.

Luciana’s gaze swept past Serena, to Julian. “Come join us,
amore mio.
The water’s warm,” she said with a suggestive smile.

“You can even bring your little angel if that’s what floats your boat, old chap,” Corbin said, his gaze sending a shiver of fear up Serena’s body.

“Nick, you’re making a huge mistake. Come out of there right now,” Serena said.

He stood rooted to the spot, his eyes daring her. He clearly wasn’t going anywhere.

She moved forward, ready to leap into the pool after him. At the edge, Julian caught her, holding her back. She tried to shake him off, but couldn’t. To the demons in the water, she called, “You harm Nick, and you’ll have to answer to me.”

Luciana tossed back her glossy black hair and laughed.

Chapter Eight

J
ulian stepped forward. “You harm him, and you’ll have to answer to
me.
”

His voice reverberated over the water. Everyone froze.

Moonlight reflected off the surface of the pool, spangled light splaying on their wet skin. Corbin nodded only once, but solemnly and with respect. Luciana fell silent. A glint of that pale light shimmered ominously in her eyes. Julian would gladly have separated her head from her body if he didn’t think there would be consequences, not only with Corbin, but with higher authorities.

And Nick.
Julian didn’t care what happened to Nick. The little bastard could go to hell in a handbasket for all he cared—it certainly looked like Luciana was perfectly happy to take him. But Serena had consistently put herself in grave danger trying to protect her Assignee. Julian knew his only chance of getting her out of here was to guarantee Nick’s safety.

“Is that a yes?” Julian demanded. “I need to hear it. From both of you.”

“Yes,” Luciana said, her mouth tightening from the force of holding in her resentment.

For a moment, Corbin merely grinned. That grin was a mask. He might be ruthless with his underlings, treating them like disposable objects if they made the slightest mistakes. But with another Archdemon, it was not so simple. He was bound by his understanding with Julian, an uneasy alliance that stretched thin between them now, a wire drawn to the breaking point.

But then Corbin relented. “It’s all just an innocent game, old chap. We wouldn’t harm a hair on his head. Unless he asked us to.”

An Archdemon’s word was enough. Satisfied, Julian exchanged a nod of acknowledgment with him.

Nick remained where he stood, still clutching the demoness’s body. Oblivious to the currents that swirled around him. “Why would they harm me? I’m a big boy. I can fend for myself,” he said, a hand tightening on Luciana’s breast. “Serena, just because you don’t know how to have fun, it doesn’t mean you have to spoil it for the rest of us.”

In his grasp, Julian felt Serena flinch. But she gritted out, “Nick, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. If you have any sense at all, you’ll get out of that pool.”

Julian had to haul the angel away resisting. He pulled her back through the club, back into the hotel lobby. When they were safely inside the elevator, he finally released her. They didn’t speak a word on the way back up to their suite. She stood with her lips pursed and her arms folded.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?” he said, trying to coax her out of petulance.

“
Thank
you?” she said, terrifyingly quiet. “Why on earth should I thank you?”

It was true. He had brought both her and Nick into this mess. He had invited them to dinner with Corbin, and inadvertently exposed them to Luciana. It was entirely his fault. Normally, he would have relished the experience. Tonight, he felt like he had lost something precious.

“He’ll be all right. I promise you,” Julian said. It was the first real promise he’d made in an eternity that was largely unmotivated by evil. He still wanted desperately to bed her, and he supposed that played a large part in his actions tonight. But more than that, he’d extended his protection to Nick so that she wouldn’t have to worry. Still, she didn’t seem to understand that.

“They’re going to destroy Nick. It’s only a matter of time.”

Julian leaned against the elevator paneling, sidling closer to her. “Relax. They were just playing down there in the pool.”

“Were they?”

“Nick was probably pulling threesomes long before tonight. The first time I saw him, he was snorting coke off a hooker’s ass. Like he said, he’s a big boy. He can take care of himself,” Julian said. But as he spoke, the words sounded hollow even to him.

“The problem is that he can’t.
I’m
supposed to take care of him.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the far side of the elevator, her mouth set in a firm line.

Her stubbornness irked him. It was an obstinacy born of the same need for control that caused people to believe she was incapable of having fun. Yet, what annoyed him the most was that, in this instance at least, she was right.

The elevator bell pinged and the doors slid open. Her silence grew from an annoyance to a sting; he felt its bite intensify as he escorted her down the hall and into their hotel suite. When he finally closed the door behind him, she turned to glare, her stance set for a fight.

“Damn it all to hell,” he said, turning to go. “I’ll go get Nick. You stay here.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, it’s far too dangerous,” he growled. Then he turned and headed back downstairs.

The three of them were still in the pool, their wet clothes shed and scattered on the deck. Luciana’s bare breasts shone in the moonlight, Nick suckling at them. Julian was of half a mind to warn the young man right then and there that Luciana was a murdering she-demon from the depths of the underworld, hell-bent on destroying Serena and anyone associated with her to boot. But he refrained. After all, it would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Considering that the pot himself was very, very black.

When Luciana heard the scrape of his shoe on the poolside tile, she turned. “Julian. You’ve come to join us, after all,
caro mio.
”

“No, Luciana, I’ve come to break up the fun.” He waded into the pool and grabbed Nick by the scruff of the neck.

“Spoilsport!” she pouted.

Corbin paused, his hands still filled with her breasts. “What’s gotten into you, my man? Is it the male to female imbalance you’re upset about? We could easily recruit a few of the ladies from the casino.”

“My club, my rules,” Julian said. “You two can do whatever you damned well please. Go fornicate in the fountains of the Bellagio, for all I care. But Nick is here by my invitation, he’s getting paid on my dime, and he will abide by my terms. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to ask him not to participate in a threesome in my brand-new pool.”

“Serena put you up to this,” Nick said through gritted teeth. He hunted through the sodden clothes for his underwear.

“We’ll go to Corbin’s suite, then,” Luciana said loftily, wading out of the pool after them. “Feel free to join us.”

Julian tried not to stare, and said, “Not if you were the last woman on earth.”

He heard her outraged gasp behind him, but he dragged Nick, still shirtless, by the ear behind him. They walked through the lobby, leaving a trail of water behind them. Julian’s trousers were soaked through. He wondered if his Savile Row tailors had contemplated the effects of chlorine when constructing the garment.

Around them, people turned to gawk. Two women stood beside them as they waited for the elevator. “Isn’t that Nick Ramirez?” the first asked.

“It can’t be! He looks terrible,” the second whispered back. They lingered, trying to hear every bit of conversation they could before the elevators slid shut again.

As the elevator doors opened, there stood the attractive chef’s assistant who’d delivered breakfast this afternoon.

“I’ve seen every one of your movies, Nick,” Tiffany said shyly. “I loved you in
Ascent to Heaven.
You were so believable as a depraved monk.”

Nick gave her a sloppy grin.

“Is there anything you require before you turn in?” she asked.

“What he needs is a babysitter,” Julian muttered.

Tiffany’s gaze played fleetingly over Nick. Julian could tell by looking at her that she wasn’t exactly the type of girl to fall in bed with just anyone. But with a coy little smile she said, “For the right guest, anything can be arranged.”

At any time in the past, Julian would happily have accepted her subtle offer and let the two of them have at it. But Serena definitely wouldn’t approve. So before Nick could answer, Julian said, “Thanks, but Nick will be fine on his own tonight. Won’t you, my friend?”

Leaving the disappointed girl in the elevator, Julian hauled Nick to his room. Sat him on the bed. Standing over the actor, he said in a deep and rumbling voice, “Do not leave this room tonight. Do you understand me?”

Nick trembled, looking up at him blankly, his defenseless mind saturated by Julian’s order. “Yes, sir.”

Humans
.
So pathetic.

“You’re feeling very tired now,” Julian instructed him. “So tired you want to close your eyes and go to sleep.”

Nick yawned, his eyes shuttering closed as he succumbed to Julian’s suggestion, body contracting into a fetal curl. Just before he passed out cold, he muttered, “Sometimes I think she’s an angel.”

Julian left him there to dream of feathered wings and halos, and took off to find Serena.

In their hotel suite, Serena scrambled to find a phone. Now she had another chance to call Arielle, and she must succeed this time. The situation had become far too critical. She needed her supervisor’s advice,
now.
She scanned the living room, but Julian had apparently removed the phone here, too. Damn him!
His bedroom. Maybe he’s left a phone in there.

She hesitated at the door. Invasion of privacy was not her favorite modus operandi, and the feeling of crossing into a demon’s territory—into his most private and personal space—sent a chill over her. Shaking, she opened the door. The room was a mirror image of hers, only with Julian’s personal effects neatly arranged. She sat down on the bed and dialed Arielle’s number. As the phone rang, she prayed,
Pick up, please pick up.

Arielle’s voice on the other end of the line was the most comforting thing she’d heard in days.

“It’s me, Serena! Arielle, thank heavens you’re there,” she nearly shouted, before she reminded herself to keep her voice to a whisper.

“Don’t panic. Meredith told me exactly what happened at the party.” Arielle sounded strangely calm. But it was her job to remain calm when her supervisees got into scrapes. “She found someone to cover your yoga classes.”

Yoga classes?
Serena was shacked up with a demon, and the first thing Arielle commented on was covering her yoga classes?
I’m not sick with the flu. I’m in grave danger of eternal damnation.
“Aren’t you worried that I’m staying in a suite with Julian Ascher?”

“It’s not the ideal situation, I know. However, what happened couldn’t be helped. But it’s
you,
Serena. I know you’ll do the right thing. And in any case, you’ll be out of there by the end of the week.”

“Arielle, this place is crawling with demons! Corbin Ranulfson owns the hotel where we’re staying, and there’s a female demon here called Luciana who seems extremely dangerous. Nick is in terrible danger of falling under their influence. What do I do? I wish I could just leave right now.”

“You gave your word, Serena. It’s too much of a risk to break a promise made to a demon. There would be consequences.”

“Consequences?” Serena stopped breathing. “Could I die? Only a demon can kill an angel, right? That’s what Gabriel told us at our ordination ceremony.”

“The soul never dies, even if the body ceases to exist. You know that, Serena.”

So technically speaking, the answer is yes,
she thought.
I might be recycled again, like the Archangels explained before. But my body could still die again.

There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone. “Serena, these things happen in the course of our duties, darling. You’re doing the best you can. I know it’s difficult, but it is imperative that you stay with Julian.”

These things happen?
Serena pulled the receiver away from her ear and stared at it. Something was definitely very odd. Arielle’s cryptic answers were downright frightening.

“What’s going on, Arielle?”

“I can’t tell you exactly what to do,” the supervisor said. “But there is one piece of advice I can give you. Find the inherent goodness that still exists in Julian and make him see it in himself. He must come to the realization on his own, but you have to help him.”

Serena heard the front door open. Heard Julian calling her name.

“He’s coming. I have to go,” she whispered into the phone. “I’ll try to call again tomorrow.”

“Remember, you must keep love in your heart,” Arielle said before she hung up.

Serena listened to the Archdemon’s footsteps striking across the marble floor.

Love,
she thought wildly as the sound approached the bedroom. Arielle had gone completely insane. What place did love have in a situation like this?
Goodness? In Julian?
That was pushing things a bit far.
Why does Arielle think she knows what’s inside Julian, anyway?

The door opened.

“Who are you talking to?” He came to stand at the foot of the bed, looming over her. Water from his soaking-wet dress pants dripped onto the marble floor.

“It was just…my roommate. I wanted to make sure the cat was fed.” She opened her eyes wide, trying to feign innocence.

He stripped off his suit jacket and threw it over a nearby chair. “You’re a terrible liar. You don’t even have a cat. If you had one, do you think I would have sent you a puppy? What’s the punishment for lying, angel?”

She ignored his question. What concerned her more was the thought of poor Milo, cared for by demon servants in Julian’s big, empty house. Instinctively, she moved away from him, sidling toward the head of the bed. “What did you do?” she said, eyeing his wet trousers.

He kicked off his shoes, and bent to peel off his damp socks. “What do you think I did? I jumped into the pool and fished Nick out.”

“Where is he?”

“In his room. Tiffany offered to babysit him. She seemed pretty keen, but I knew you would disapprove. Don’t worry, Nick’s not going anywhere.”

Relief flooded through her. Nick was safe, at least for the moment.

But was
she
safe?

Julian dropped his pants, left them in a wet heap on the floor. Next, he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it on top of the pile. He was magnificent, pure muscle, his body as chiseled and symmetrical as a statue of a young Roman god. He stood in his soaked boxer shorts. They clung, and through the wet fabric, she saw that he was already hard.