Sinfully Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 1) (19 page)

It was tempting to let her go. Yes, I was angry about the
burn to my arm. Her escape had also bruised my ego because I prided myself on
being a good hunter, and that stupid little cunt shouldn’t have escaped. Still,
going after her was risky, especially with the warlock closely guarding her.

Unfortunately for her, I dreamed of her torment every night.
Killing her had become an obsession I couldn’t let go of, so I had to come up
with a plan to take her. There had to be a way to get her bodyguards away from
her. If I could get the bitch alone, she’d be mine to torture. Reaching a hand
down to stroke my throbbing erection, I imagined her agonized screams.

The incoming call interrupted my fantasy, and I was tempted
to ignore it. Unfortunately, I knew I couldn’t. Tonight, there would be another
ceremony, and I’d already selected the succubus. Sadly, it wouldn’t be the cunt
who’d gotten away.

“What is it?” I snapped into the phone.

“Have you picked a sacrifice for tonight’s ritual yet?” the
irritating asshole calling me asked.

“I’m working on the details,” I said impatiently, not
sharing the fact that I already had everything planned out. Let the little
prick worry.

“Maybe I need another partner,” the arrogant bastard stated.
“Yes, it might be time to find a partner who can actually deliver on his
promises.”

The rage building inside of me was almost overwhelming, and
I really wanted to kill someone. Luckily, I’d get that chance tonight. “Just be
at the meeting place on time,” I said before hanging up.

Looking over at my laptop, I stared at the screen. Alana
Talbot’s face stared back at me. “Soon,” I murmured, as I reached out to touch
the screen. “You might be foolish enough to think you're safe with your
warlock, but your days are numbered.”

My phone buzzed again, and I saw it was a message from the
little prick. When I read the message, I had trouble containing my rage.
Staring at her picture on the screen again, I felt fury and disappointment mix.
“I’ll bet you think this change of plans means you’re safe, don’t you, bitch?
Well, guess again.”

Since Mel had stopped by to spend the afternoon with Allie,
they’d convinced me to work at the office for a few hours—not that I was
getting much work done. Thoughts of Allie seemed to consume my mind, making it
hard to focus on anything else.

At the moment, I was staring at my phone waiting for a
reply. We were playing
This or That
at Allie’s suggestion. Finally, my
phone buzzed.

ALLIE: Mashed potatoes or rice? How is that even a question.
Mashed potatoes, of course. Cat or Dog.

ME: Cat because dogs are too needy.

ALLIE: That’s funny. I figured you for a dog person.

ME: Really?

ALLIE: Yes. I could totally see you with one of those cute
little dogs that barks all the time.

I had to laugh at the image, and I was pretty sure she was
laughing, too.

ME: Smart ass. Top or Bottom.

ALLIE: Pervert! You know the rules—nothing about sex.

ME: Pervert? Me? I meant top or bottom bunk. What in the
world was going through that dirty mind of yours?

ALLIE: Liar. Bottom because I’m always afraid I’ll fall out
of bed at night. Left or Right?

ME: I like both of your breasts equally.

There was a pause as I waited for her reply, which came in
the form of a phone call.

“Hey, sweetheart,” I answered with barely contained
laughter.

“You are not very good at this game,” she said, trying to
sound stern, but I could tell she’d been laughing.

“On the contrary, I’m awesome at this game. I get all the
right answers.”

“You have turned almost everything I ask into something
related to sex,” she accused.

“I would never do something like that,” I denied innocently,
even though we both knew that was exactly what I’d been doing. “It’s your
fault, anyway. Being away from you sucks, and I’m not doing anything but
thinking about you. This wouldn’t happen if I was at home.”

“How would being closer to me keep you from being
distracted?” she asked.

“Simple,” I said, my voice dropping so my nosy assistant
wouldn’t hear. “If I were at home, I’d fuck you until I was too sated to even
think about sex.”

The annoying succubus actually laughed at my suggestion.
“I’m not sure Mel would appreciate you having sex with me while she’s in the
house.”

That’s when I heard Mel’s shout from the background. “Don’t
make me use an impotence spell on you.”

“Impotence spell?” I asked loud enough that I’m sure
everyone on this floor of the building heard me. “Can she really do that?”

“Oh, yeah,” Allie said. “Don’t mess with Mel.”

“Does Trevor know about this?” I asked, because he should
know that the witch he was pursuing could render his dick useless. This was the
kind of thing a man needed to know about.

Allie giggled. “Don’t worry. If she uses one on him, he’ll
recover in a week or so,” she assured me. “Remember, I did warn him to stay
away from Mel.”

We all had, but I still thought this might be a bit extreme.
Of course, if it happened, I’d have to make fun of him. We’d been friends too
long to let the opportunity pass me by.

“Are you still there?” Allie asked.

“Yeah, sorry, but that impotence spell kind of threw me
off,” I admitted. “What were you saying?”

“I said Mel needs to leave in an hour. Will you be home by
then?”

“Sure thing,” I said, glad I had an excuse to duck out of
the office early. “See you soon, sweetheart.”

“Bye,” she said before hanging up on me.

It was impossible to wipe the smile off my face as I
finished up some work and got ready to head home to Allie. She definitely gave
me a good incentive to leave the office on time.

Trevor was babysitting me at work tonight, and after a week
with no incidents, I was beginning to think he and Dylan were worrying over
nothing. Of course, I was more than happy to have them walk me to and from my
car, but I thought hanging out at SpellBinders all night might be overdoing the
protection. Marcos was also starting to get annoyed with my bodyguards, but
he’d calmed down immediately when Trevor agreed to spend more money at the bar.
Marcos would do just about anything for money.

Tonight was slow, which wasn’t uncommon on a Wednesday.
Thursday through Sunday were our busy nights. I was restocking and oiling the
leather in one of the rooms when I heard the ominous click of the door closing.
Spinning around, I was faced with a vaguely familiar looking demon. Flashing a
sinister grin, his forked tongue darted out to toy with his lip ring. Based on
his shiny red skin, his emotions were running high. That’s when I remembered
him, and I had to struggle not to show my fear.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said, sounding overly cocky.

Arms crossed in front of my chest, I tried to look tough,
but that was hard to pull off wearing a blue halter dress and hooker shoes.
“Did Marcos promise you my time again?” I asked. “If he did, I’m sorry because
I am not for sale.”

“That’s right,” he said, his grin widening to show off his
pointy teeth. “You’re the succubus who thinks she’s too good to let me fuck
her.” His hand drifted down to the front of his pants, and my eyes
involuntarily followed to see him stroking his huge, corkscrew-shaped erection
through the fabric. “Like what you see, baby?”

“No,” I responded automatically. “I think I’m going to
vomit.” Why I’d chosen to say something that stupid, I had no idea. Pissing
this demon off was not a good idea.

“Fucking cock tease!” he roared, lunging toward me.

I managed to sidestep him and was working hard to remember
the self-defense spells I’d learned. Unfortunately, it had been too many years,
and I hadn’t practiced any of them recently, so none came to mind.

“You’re going to pay for turning me down,” he growled as he
stalked toward me again.

He was positioned so I couldn’t get to the door without
fighting him, and I wasn’t stupid enough to think I’d be able to overpower a
demon who was nearly a foot taller than me and outweighed me by at least a
hundred pounds. Looking to my side, I saw the table designed to restrain one’s
partner, and decided I would only be able to jump over that if he was
distracted. I’d moved into a position where I was sure the security cameras
would get the best view of what was happening, in hopes that someone would
notice I was in trouble. Of course, that was assuming Marcos hadn’t told
security to ignore anything happening in this room. For the first time, I was
truly afraid Marcos would let someone rape me because they’d paid him for the
privilege.

One defensive spell finally came to mind, and I silently
mouthed the words to the spell while pointing my finger at his crotch. My wrist
cuffs not only dimmed my succubus powers, they also dimmed my rusty witch
powers, but I still saw the blue arch of electricity zap through the air,
making contact with the demon’s jeans.

He howled in pain, but it sadly wasn’t enough to take him
down. I held the spell as I foolishly tried to leap over the table in four-inch
heels. Slipping and nearly falling on the floor broke my concentration and
released the demon from the spell.

The demon’s hand fisted in the back of my hair as he slammed
me down onto the table. I struggled under his hold and then felt his body press
behind me as his hot breath fanned across my face, nearly gagging me with the
scent of sulfur. “If you’d cooperated the first time, it could have been fun
for you. Now, I’m going to make you bleed.”

I opened my mouth to try another spell, but his hand clamped
over it so hard my teeth cut into my lips. “Don’t even think about it, bitch,”
he warned. “I’d love to hear you scream and watch your eyes fill with terror,
but I’ll have to blindfold and gag you. No one told me you were a witch, too. I
wonder if your blood will be even more potent.”

His leathery forked tongue scraped across my neck, and his
penis lengthened against my back. I continued to struggle under his hold,
refusing to just give in when I had a feeling he was not only planning to hurt
me, but possibly kill me. With his hand still pressed tightly over my mouth and
the weight of his body pressing down on me, he finally released my hair. “We
need to take this party back to my place,” he said, and then I saw the syringe
as he waved it in front of my face.

I tried to open my mouth to bite him, but it was useless.
Helpless tears streamed down my cheeks as I stared at the door, willing it to
open.

“Don’t cry,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ll make sure you’re
wide awake for play time. I wouldn’t want you to miss the fun.”

The door slammed open, and I was surprised to see Trevor and
Marcos rush into the room.

“Get the fuck off her,” Marcos practically growled, much to
my surprise. I hadn’t actually expected him to come to my rescue. My hope had
been that someone on security would help me, even if Marcos had told them to
ignore the happenings in this room.

Trevor mouthed a spell, and the demon slammed into the wall,
muttering vile threats of things he wanted to do to me, things that would
probably give me nightmares for weeks, as if what had just happened wasn’t
enough to do that.

“Are you okay, Allie?” Trevor asked as he helped me up from
the table and pulled me close.

I nodded because I couldn’t do much more after the shock of
the attack. The demon broke free from Trevor’s binding spell and slammed the
back of his hand against the wall so hard that large cracks formed in the
plaster.

“You’re going to pay for this, bitch,” the demon growled
with black foam frothing at the corners of his mouth.

“Don’t threaten people in my club, asshole,” Marcos hissed,
taking a menacing step toward the demon.

“What are you going to do about it?” the demon taunted. “I
possess power you can’t even imagine.”

“You also just broke a binding spell in front of my security
cameras,” Marcos said, motioning to the camera mounted near the ceiling.
“Security has probably already alerted the police of your activities, and I’m
sure they’ll want to know what you’ve done to gain that kind of power. Either
you’ve hired someone to work some very dark magic for you—death magic would be
my guess—or you’ve made a deal with someone very bad. Do you really want to
stick around and explain this to the police?”

The demon glared at me like he was imagining killing me very
slowly, and that was if I was lucky. There was a lot of hate in his beady black
eyes. “This isn’t over,” he said before storming out of the room.

“You’re just going to let him walk away after what he did?”
Trevor demanded.

I wanted to yell at Marcos, too, but I just didn’t have it
in me at the moment.

“He won’t get far,” Marcos said with an indifferent shrug.
“Security will do their best to stop him when he walks out of the club, and the
police are already on their way.”

“And if they don’t catch him?” Trevor pushed.

“Knock it off, Trevor,” I said with an exasperated sigh. “If
he broke your binding spell, there was nothing Marcos could have done to keep
him here.”

Marcos’ eyes widened with surprise, probably not expecting
me to defend him. That made two of us who were surprised, because I hadn’t
expected Marcos to come to my rescue.

“Why don’t you take the rest of the night off with pay, Al,”
Marcos suggested, shocking me even more.

“What?” I asked, because I must have misheard him. Slow
night or not, Marcos wasn’t the type to let anyone go home early, and he sure
as hell wasn’t the type to offer to pay them.

Marcos gave me an impatient look. “You heard me,” he
snapped. “Don’t make me repeat my kind offer. Giving away money hurts me.”

I nodded and almost laughed. “Thanks, Marcos,” I said
somewhat awkwardly, because I really wasn’t used to thanking him for anything,
mostly because Marcos didn’t do nice things for people.

“Come on, Allie,” Trevor said, guiding me out of the room
with an arm around my shoulders. “I’ll call Dylan to let him know what happened
while you gather up your things.”

“Do we really have to tell him?” I asked, because I already
knew Dylan was going to lose it when he found out, and I wasn’t sure I could
handle him getting even more overprotective. As if it wasn’t bad enough that
I’d been stalked by a killer one night, now I’d almost been attacked by a demon
at work.

“Yes, we have to tell him,” Trevor said with a sigh. “Dylan
needs to know what’s going on to keep you safe.”

We made our way to the locker room so I could gather up my
belongings. Trevor waited just inside the door and made his call to Dylan.
Doing my best to tune out Trevor’s conversation, I fumbled with the combination
on my locker. It took several tries to get it open, and I have no idea how long
it took my brain to function enough to gather up all my belongings.

When I turned, I found Trevor watching me with genuine
concern.

“This was just some crazy customer,” I said. “I had a run-in
with him the night I was followed. Maybe he’s the one who was following me, and
it has nothing to do with the murders.”

“That demon could be the killer,” Trevor said, and I felt a
shiver of fear run through my body. That was something I hadn’t considered,
even when I’d been sure he was going to kill me.

“You think he might be the killer?” I asked in a shaky
voice.

“It’s possible,” Trevor said gently. “Based on what I saw
tonight, he wouldn’t have any reservations about committing murder. That type
of demon can be vicious.”

“I just wish Dylan didn’t know about this,” I muttered.
“I’ll bet he lost it when you told him what almost happened tonight.”

“Is that the real reason you didn’t want me to tell him?”
Trevor asked, and I could tell he didn’t believe that was it.

I shook my head. “This may sound crazy, but Dylan knowing
makes it seem more real. I’m barely holding it together, and I’m afraid of
breaking down with him.”

Trevor stopped and turned me to face him with a hand on my
shoulder. “I know you’re scared of what’s going on right now.”

I snorted. “Duh. Who wouldn’t be afraid when someone might
be trying to kill them?”

“I didn’t mean that,” he said. “You’re afraid of Dylan
hurting you.”

“Duh, for that, too,” I said.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course, I trust you. You’re one of my closest friends,
Trevor.” I gave him a wobbly smile.

“Dylan’s going to do his best to avoid hurting you in any
way,” he assured me. “If I didn’t believe that, I’d be warning you to stay away
from him.”

Trevor was right, but there was this part of me that
couldn’t let go of my fear. “I know. Dylan’s a good man, but I’m not convinced
I’ll ever be enough for him. I’m not a full witch, and I’m not even very
powerful. I’ll always be more succubus than witch.”

“You don’t give yourself nearly enough credit,” he said with
a frown. “You passed your witch tests the first time, and there are plenty of
witches who take it multiple times before passing. From what I heard, you also
did great in school.”

I snorted. “The witch tests were mostly about remembering
stuff in books. I don’t even remember the last time I used a spell for
anything, other than the weak self-defense spell I tried tonight. Look how much
good that did me.”

“Sure, you’re rusty, but that’s only because you haven’t
been using your witch abilities,” Trevor insisted. “Besides, I don’t think
Dylan cares if you can cast a spell or not. Your magic complements his. That
first night, I was too busy worrying about how you hooking up with him would
affect me, or I would have noticed the moment you met.”

I wanted to argue, but mostly, I wanted to believe what he
said because I was really starting to hope I could have a future with Dylan. I
was starting to believe in insane things like being happy with one warlock for
the rest of my life, and that terrified me.

We’d been standing in an alcove just inside the front of the
club having this conversation, ignoring the buzz of voices around us, but the
buzzing of Trevor’s phone grabbed his full attention, and he scanned the
message quickly before slipping an arm around my shoulders.

“Your ride’s here,” Trevor said as he led me out to the
familiar car.

“You asked Dylan to pick me up?” I was torn between
annoyance, anxiety, and relief.

“He was in the city already and insisted on coming to get
you,” Trevor explained.