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“So, why can’t we have sex?”
Paige blinked. “Blunt.”
“End of the day, I’m still me.”
“Right. Um, well, uh, for me, things would get complicated.” Fact of the matter, she wanted to have sex with him. But he was her partner.
“What’s complicated about sex?” He placed his knee on the seat between them, the leather squeaking under his shifting weight. “We’re together a lot. I find you attractive. I’ve seen how you look at me when you think I’m not paying attention.”
She winced. “Can’t deny it.” Didn’t mean she knew what she wanted to with him, though. She didn’t. On one hand, she wanted to keep things the way they were. She liked what they had. On the other hand, gaw-dang, the man was sexy. She wanted to eat him alive.
“Right. So…” He narrowed his eyes, his crow’s feet crinkling into place. “We could work, Pea. Think about it. You’re a demon summoner.”
“You’re a hunter.” She let out a puff of breath.
The car filled with silence.
“We work pretty good together.”
Which was part of the problem. “We sure do.”
“Friends with benefits could be hugely beneficial.”
“Casual benefits.” She didn’t know what she thought of that. Mostly, she was pretty sure she couldn’t do that. She wasn’t a casual sex kind of person. Well, not that she’d ever given it much of a chance.
“You’re not the kind of woman who needs romanced, are you?”
“What do you mean, I don’t need romanced? Candles, paying for dinner, daisies, opening the door, those are nice.”
“Yeah, but—” His eyes widened. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“I’m not the kind of girl you generally pick up at the bar. I’m intense…Mostly intense.”
“Trust me. I noticed.”
“I’m not impressed by your devilish smile, or that sexy gleam in your eye.” No. She totally had been. “I don’t give a rip about your ass.”
“You’re a liar. Are you looking for a relationship, then? How would your job feel about our affair?”
She hadn’t missed the reference to her being married to her job. “Seriously, shut it. Good grief.”
“You don’t think so? When was the last time you thought of doing anything other than work?”
She pursed her lips in thought. He had a point.
“Even though your memories were stripped, you sought emotional refuge in work. Now, you’re a workaholic.”
“Let me guess. There’s a drug for that.”
“Yes.” Dexx widened his hands, his expression open. “Sex.”
She barked a laugh. “Does it come in a pill?”
He pushed his lips out, his eyebrows raised. “It comes from the sugar on my lips.”
She burst into a fit of giggles. “Oh my god.”
“I’m being serious.”
She regained composure and studied Malika’s house.
Dexx grinned in silence.
Something moved in the thick bushes separating Malika’s yard from her neighbor’s. “What was that?”
“What was what?” He pushed himself up in his seat.
It moved again. “There.”
“Where?”
“In the bushes. Something’s moving.”
“Is there a genie or something here we should know about?”
She frowned at him in question.
“We wished for some luck.”
“It could be anyone.” She leaned her hands against the dashboard, getting as close as she could, hoping for a better view point.
A man stepped out of the bushes, tall and muscular in his black jeans and raggedy t-shirt. His blonde, short hair shone in the brilliant sun as he stood before them. A sick smile graced his lips as he mouthed something she couldn’t understand.
“Sven.”
Dexx’s eyebrows rose in alarm. “You’re kidding me. Sven? That’s him?”
Not that Paige really recalled what his human form looked like, but her soul rang with his name. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Time for your plan. Bring on the earth magick.”
It had been more a theory. Less a plan.
Dexx started for the door.
Sven raised his arms high over his head, his voice almost audible as he called out to them.
Dizziness attacked Paige. Time stilled. Brown leaves swirled in a spiraling dance in front of her. A piece of construction paper slowly sailed on the wind. Dexx moved in snail-like motion as he pushed his door open.
Paige tried to yell at him.
No sound emerged.
She tried to move, to grab him.
Her body wouldn’t budge.
Energy shot through the windshield, vaporizing it as though it were nothing but water. The glass rippled, then reformed unharmed. The power wrapped around her, dark and damp, with a musty tang. What the hell?
With a force of iron will, she grabbed Dexx’s hand and pulled him back in the car. “Go.”
Sven tipped his blonde head, a sick smile sliding into place.
The world blanked as the energies pulsed.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Taking a step toward her, Sven’s expression turned feral.
Her eyes hurt. “We. Have. To. Go.”
Jackie roared life.
Paige allowed herself to sag in relief. Her shields slipped. Her gift leapt, clawing, ripping, tearing its way out of her, reaching, grasping, stretching toward the stranger. It pulled. It called. A single name issued forth.
Sven took a staggered step forward.
She had his true name and with it came a plethora of information. After being slain two hundred years before, he’d been born again after the first world war. He’d grown up in Queens. He’d had friends, watched them all die. Then on the eve of his own death as an old man, a knowledge had blossomed within him.
He was a demon and a very dangerous one.
Something seeped into her, pushing at her, shredding her soul, her very existence. A thick oily sludge blanketed her. Her breath quickened as she put more effort into staying in her body, maintaining control. Sweat broke out on her brow. She folded in her seat, concentrating on just staying…herself. She gritted her teeth. “Dexx. Go.”
He put Jackie in gear, her tires squealing.
Sven lowered his head, his arms spread as his lip curled.
Smoke rolled around them. Jackie struggled to break free. She rumbled and roared, but didn’t move.
Let me in. Let me see him.
Paige dug her nails into the leather seat.
Jackie roared.
Something pushed at Paige, like someone’s hand inside her chest.
She deflected it with every ounce of will she had.
The foreign force stopped.
Sven’s beautiful face glowed.
Her gift flared. Names rose to her lips.
“Mammon, Shax, Abaddon.” Her voice was so distant. “Rise. I need you.”
From the smoke of Jackie’s tires, three bodies materialized.
Jackie ceased her struggle, her motor purring as she faced off against the demons.
Dexx’s chest rose and fell as he wrung the steering wheel. “Pea, what’s going—”
One of the demons stumbled forward, his arms flung wide. Surprise and shock raced across his expression.
Sven watched through narrowed eyes.
Dexx pushed himself as far back in his seat as he could manage.
Something inside her slid, went sideways.
A stick crashed against Jackie’s door.
Then the demon flew toward the car, crashing into Jackie’s windshield, his face plastered against the cracked glass. His fingers stretched. His bloodied mouth moved. His black eyes glazed.
His soul permeated her existence. He pushed at her, tearing at her, making room for him within her body.
A wild roar burst from her.
The body plastered to the windshield disappeared, leaving only smears of blood in its place. Molten heat sizzled along the glass, melting the cracked edges back together.
She stared through eyes that weren’t her own, fought for control of lips that refused to obey her commands. One thought shot through her.
Not again.
Names flew from her mouth, names she didn’t know.
Bodies appeared around them. Men, flexing hands, hopping in place, preparing for battle.
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