One Handsome Devil (2 page)

"If you choose to believe that I opened the door without you noticing, snuck into the room, blew out the candles, set up some magic spell to make your wards glow, and then imprisoned myself here, I won't argue with you,” he said. “Just use that silver knife to cut an opening through your wards and I'll be out of your lives forever."

"He has a point,” the woman named Katra said. “How could he have done that?"

"You're a trained scientist,” he reminded Sara. “So observe rather than leaping to conclusions.” He decided to appeal to Sara's emotions. “If I was a criminal, it might make sense to hold me here until the police came. But of course you couldn't. You have no weapon in this apartment and I could walk out. Since I am who I say I am, you have me trapped. Yet it isn't right to hold a sentient being against its will. Your own morals must tell you to let me go."

"You think you know everything about me?” Sara sounded unsure of herself. Time to attack.

"You are easy enough to read, Sara."

"How did you know my name?"

Jack enjoyed watching Sara's body adjust to the shock. Her face flushed, then paled, but she stood up to him her fists so tight her knuckles whitened. He'd always appreciated a fighter, even a fighter of lost causes. With her long blonde hair, slender jeans-clad legs, and hazel eyes, the part of Jack that was male stirred in an instant reaction.

He suppressed that thought. Once he was free, he'd take his fill of humans.

"I know everything about you, Sara. I can see your dreams."

"Ridiculous."

"I'm serious. Look at me and tell me how I could be wearing a costume. Think about it and tell me how I could have come in without you noticing. Watch the wards and tell me if your puny science has anything that could explain what is going on here."

He gritted his teeth, then flung himself against the wards in an all-out attempt to break through or at least prove to himself that it was impossible.

The wards flung him back to the floor with as much ease as if he'd been the tiny imp Sara had accused him of being.

Damn.

Sara's smoke detector went off in a frightened squawk. Had the thing been trying to show her he really was trapped, or had it been seeking to escape and failed? Either way, she found it harder and harder to believe he really was a man in a costume. Too bad, because she hadn't met many men as attractive as Jack.

It took her a minute to climb up on a chair and unhook the battery that powered her detector. When she climbed down, she decided to take Jack at his word and really check him out—staying safely on her side of the wards. If she couldn't find any seams that held his wings on, she would have to believe there was something going on here other than just a bad trick.

She let her eyes have their fill with Jack's body and masculine face then settled down to serious business. There had to be seams where the fake horns met his head and more seams where his wings where attached.

It was hard, though. Her gaze kept sliding off the wings to ogle Jack's broad back.

"Want to help me, Katra?” she asked. Somebody had spent a fortune hiring this hunk and they might as well both take advantage of it. Who knows, maybe he had a friend and they could both get dates out of this.

"I'm looking, believe me,” Katra muttered.

Jack shrugged his shoulders when she passed in front of him. “There are no hidden strings."

"That doesn't make you a demon. Maybe you're an alien.” Anything would be better than one of the demons from her Nana's stories.

"You don't get more alien than a demon.” Jack reached for Sara, then pulled back his hand when the ward started to glow a deeper blue. “Why don't you just cut away some of that sea salt and make a break in your wards?"

Katra tried to bring her heart rate under control without much luck. How Sara could just walk around Jack, checking him out like he was a piece of meat, was beyond her.

"Does your mother's book say anything about banishing demons?” she asked. She'd seen enough movies to know that just setting a demon free was unlikely to be a brilliant move. While Sara was her smartest friend, she wasn't always the most practical.

"Hum?” Sara dragged her gaze away from the hunk. “Oh, sure. It's in there. Except—uh, oh."

Katra didn't like the sound of that. “What?"

Sara's normally tanned face paled. “The spell won't work for twenty-four hours after you summon them."

"You didn't warn me about that."

"Because I was summoning a true love, not a demon."

"True love? Is that what brought me here?” The demon gave a short laugh. “I didn't know it was possible to mangle that spell so badly."

"Sara started to fall asleep in the middle of it."

The demon rubbed his forehead and horns as if he had a terrible headache. “I'm going to forget this ever happened.” He paused, then gave Katra a grin that frightened her out of ten years of life. “If you don't want to use the knife, just blow on the lines. I'll be gone before you can say boo."

Sara might not be able to hurt a fly, but Katra had always been the tough one. “If we let him out, he'll probably just go and bother someone else. Twenty-four hours isn't that long,” she told Sara. “He seems contained."

"For now,” Jack observed. “You don't think these wards will hold me forever, do you?” His hand brushed against the invisible line again, once again setting off a shower of sparks. “Don't you see that they're weakening already? You want me gone. I can be quite a damper on romantic evenings, believe me."

"If that was a problem, we wouldn't all be here,” Sara quipped.

Katra's brain raced. She wasn't dumb enough to miss the fact that Jack had asked a series of questions rather than simply told them he could break out. This could be an opportunity. “He seems to want out bad. I'll bet he'll give us three wishes if we let him go. Remember the way it happened in Aladdin?"

"Whatever Jack is, he isn't a genie,” Sara observed. “Besides, are you sure you want to base your life on a Disney movie?"

"It isn't just Disney,” Katra protested. “All of the fairy tales are the same. And it doesn't have to be a genie, either. Brownies or leprechauns or your grandmother Maura's Baba Yaga, they all give you wishes if you can catch them.” She paused, feeling the smile on her lips. “This one is good and caught."

"Does she always go on like that?” Jack asked.

Sara nodded. “It's part of her dumb act. She thinks it attracts men."

"Hey, it works.” Katra put her hands on her hips. Not that she'd had a lot of luck with men lately. She tried to forget anything she'd ever heard about deals made with the devil. This wasn't the devil, just some demon—probably a misunderstood one.

Sara turned to face the devil-thing. “Is she right? Are you here to grant our wishes?"

Jack's laugh hardly qualified. “You summoned me. Is that what you want? Wishes? All right, free me and I'll give you three requests."

Katra didn't know much about demons but she knew plenty about men. They were big on promises until they got what they wanted. Then the deal got changed.

"I can make wishes any time. Are you going to make them come true, or just let me wish away?"

Jack's smile looked completely artificial. He had been planning to trick them, just as she'd suspected. “It would depend on the request, of course."

"Are you sure you aren't a human man?” she asked. “That's just the kind of offer they'd make. We make our wishes, you decide you don't like them, then you blow us up or possess us or something.” She turned to Sara. “Either your demon is pretty stupid, or he thinks we are."

"He thinks we are,” Sara agreed. She was flipping through her mother's book now. “There's got to be some way to banish him back where he came from in less than twenty-four hours. I don't think I could stand this."

The demon glared at Katra, then tried another artificial smile. “I'm not all-powerful so don't even think about asking for world peace or a cure for cancer. How about, if I can't grant a wish, I'll let you take another."

That sounded better. Of course he might not be able to grant any at all. Sort of like the last guy Katra had dated. Actually, the last seven guys she'd dated. Still, if he couldn't do squat, Katra would just help Sara send him back. Only there was one other trick. “What happens after our three wishes each?"

"I said three, not three each."

"Oh, yeah,” Katra groaned. “Like I've just been dying for one and a half wishes."

When she and Sara had visited Central America together, Katra had always done the bargaining. Nobody could believe anyone who acted as dumb as Katra did could be smart. Well, she might not be a scientist like Sara but she wasn't anybody's dummy either. “Three each, big guy. Or else we light the candles and send you back to wherever you came from."

"You think I'm afraid to be sent back to Hell?"

He was asking questions again, instead of answering, Katra noticed. So he was afraid. This was too easy.

"Now that I think about it, I saw this movie where the guy got nine wishes. Shall we say five for me and four for Sara?"

Jack shook his head. “Three wishes each. Make them good. There aren't any makeup exams here. And I'll let you go afterwards so you won't have to waste a wish on self-protection. It's a fair offer.” He almost choked on the word
fair
.

"Deal,” Katra said. She started to reach out her hand but stopped short of that glowing line. She didn't trust him that far.

"You said you won't hurt us after the wishes. So what does happen?” Sara demanded.

"Your friend said we had a deal."

Sara shrugged. She must have noticed how nervous Jack was about going back to Hell too. “Sue me."

The demon scowled and raised his hands to the walls that held him in but stopped short of giving them another light show. “I grant your requests, then I leave. You'll never see me again. Unlike you two, I have worthwhile things to do with my existence."

"What happens to us?"

"You keep what you wished for."

"How can we know you aren't lying?” Katra demanded.

"Why would I lie?"

He was asking questions again.

"Demons are supposed to be the fathers of lies, remember?"

His wings flared. “I don't lie."

For some reason, Katra believed him. Maybe because of the way he'd weasel-worded before.

"I know what I want, then,” Katra decided. “I want a cute guy with enough money to take me out to nice places, a car that runs for more than ten miles without breaking down, and, uh, I want to win the lottery. Tonight."

"Katra, don't—"

"Done,” the demon declared before Sara could finish her thought.

"Oh, I'm sure."

The phone rang. Sara had a really bad feeling about this.

"Or maybe a vacation place in Hawaii,” Katra continued. “Remember the time we went to Maui and I met that lifeguard?"

"When you almost drowned yourself five times before he noticed you, you mean?” Sara asked, ignoring the phone.

"I do what works. I got a date out of that lifeguard, which is more than you did. I get a lot of dates out of my dumb act too.” She put on a simpering face. “Oh, I just don't know what I'm going to do. I could never change a tire all by my little self."

The phone rang again.

"You'd better get that,” Katra suggested. “Maybe it's the Spanish Inquisition or something."

"I'm not expecting—"

Despite the tension, both women broke into giggles. “Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition.” They slapped hands. Monte Python strikes again.

Jack glared at them. Well, maybe with his bat-wings and horns, he
was
expecting the Spanish Inquisition.

With all the patience in the world, the phone kept ringing.

"All right, I give up.” Sara reached for it but she didn't take her eyes off the demon. She knew he'd bolt given half a chance. “Hello."

She listened for a moment. It was obviously Katra's mother, but she was screaming so loud, Sara couldn't make out any words. Finally she pulled the handset away from her ear.

"It's for you."

"For me or the demon?” Katra asked.

"Very funny. It's your mother."

"Oh, great. She's probably wondering why I'm not hanging out at the bowling alley picking up men. She wants a grandchild so bad it hurts—me."

Still, she took the phone. “Hello."

Katra listened, obviously able to get a little more from her mother's screaming than Sara had.

After a minute or so, the screaming died down and Katra hung up the phone. She glared at Jack. “What did you do?"

"Three wishes.” He paused, then looked at Sara. “Next."

Since Katra's mother screamed like that over winning a free burger in the McDonalds’ scratch-off game, Sara hadn't taken the call too seriously. But Katra looked like she was going to faint. “What's the story with your mother?"

"That's what I need to find out,” Katra answered. “Are you going to be all right if I go home? Either my mother has flipped out or my wishes just came true."

"I'll be fine,” Sara told her. “If he could hurt me, he would have hurt both of us by now."

"I don't mind waiting. You can make your wishes and then let your demon go."

"Did your mother say there's a man waiting for you?” Could it be a coincidence that a man had showed up just after Katra had made her wishes?

Katra nodded. “That's what she said."

"Then you'd better get over there.” Sara stared at the demon trying to suppress the truly randy thoughts that his naked torso created in her mind. “Are you planning on zapping me or something if Katra leaves?” Sara asked the demon.

He gave the two women a scowl. “I promised I would just leave you with your wishes. I am not planning on hurting you."

She might be crazy, but she trusted him. “Tell you what,” she told Katra. “Call me in an hour and if I don't answer have my grandmother send out her minister. A few shots of holy water should keep this fellow under control."

"Maura's church doesn't use holy water."

"Well have him pick some up. Do I have to do everything around here?"

Both women giggled again. Men might come and go, but a friend was a special thing.