What a Demon Wants (6 page)

With only one hand and no sign of exertion, Jude lifted Andrey off the floor until his feet dangled inches above the ground as if he was nothing more than a limp rag doll.

Certainly not a tall, leanly muscled demon.

Andrey didn’t react immediately, clearly shocked. Then he dematerialized from Jude’s grasp like vapor disappearing through his fingers. Her brother reappeared on the other side of the room, his anger still intact, but now her sibling was visibly shaken.

Andrey started to lift a hand to his neck, then caught himself. He wouldn’t give Jude the satisfaction of that much reaction.

Ellina glanced to Pasha, who looked equally as wary of Jude, but his pale eyes still snapped and glowed.

“What are you?” he asked Jude.

Jude’s expression was calm, almost blank. He didn’t answer the question, but he did reply, his voice low and even. “I won’t let you hurt Ellina.”

Something unfamiliar curled through Ellina’s chest. A feeling between relief and something else she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Maybe a need to trust this man she barely knew.

A longing to have someone to trust.

Pasha’s jaw tensed as if he was grinding his teeth. Clearly not the answer he wanted.

“What are you?” he repeated.

This time Jude didn’t answer at all.

Pasha and Andrey stared at Jude for several moments, the air in the room almost suffocating. Tension and male aggression seemed to be sucking the oxygen out of the enclosed space.

At least for the sole female.

“You know, I think we’ve all just gotten off to the wrong start here,” Ellina finally said, when it appeared that the men were going to be satisfied to just stare at each other indefinitely in some silent challenge.

It was almost on the tip of her tongue to add, Can’t we all just get along?

She suppressed one of her inappropriate laughs at the thought of throwing out a

“where’s the love” sort of platitude. Now that would really piss all of them off, wouldn’t it?

“I think you need to leave,” Jude finally said, further positioning himself so she was shielded.

“I think you need to rein in your boy toy, Sis,” Andrey called to her over Jude’s broad shoulder. His eyes narrowed into disturbing black slits.

The laugh she’d already been repressing broke free in a startled burst. Boy toy?

Really?

She knew the situation wasn’t funny, but boy toy? Could this whole encounter get any more absurd?

From her angle, Ellina couldn’t see Jude’s expression. But she noticed his muscles seemed to bulge under his skin as if he was itching to attack. Maybe being called a boy toy was a fighting word for him.

For whatever reason, that idea struck her as amusing too. This whole thing was crazy. Bratty brothers, fake boyfriends, the bandying about of terms like boy toy. It was all nuts.

And what was the point of these three men hell-bent on this stupid standoff like feral dogs, hackles raised, teeth bared? It was all ridiculous, really.

Ellina giggled, despite herself, and found all three men’s attention suddenly riveted on her.

“I’m sorry,” she said, which also struck her as amusing. What was she apologizing for? She didn’t even understand what was going on. But she did manage to keep her laughter in check. Just barely

Clearly the long writing hours and the new member of her household were pushing her to the edge. She clamped her lips tighter together.

“I’m glad you find this all so amusing,” Pasha said.

Andrey raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

Jude just frowned at her as if she’d lost her mind.

As she gazed from face to face, more laughter bubbled up in her.

All this machismo. And for what? Her giggle spilled over, sounding more like a strangled squeak than a laugh.

Of course, she must look quite mad. But it was ludicrously funny.

Well, briefly.

Then it wasn’t.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the vague swish of Andrey lifting his arms in an abrupt upward motion.

And with that simple gesture the room flew into utter chaos. Her many meticulously organized notes swirled into the air, eddying around her office like trash in a windstorm.

Books soared off the shelves, hitting the floor and the opposite wall like cracks of thunder.

Ellina screamed, ducking, as a hardback, possibly her first bestseller, nearly hit her in the head. Jude grabbed her arm and half dragged/half threw her behind her desk, pushing her down to her knees.

But even with the barricade of the large desk, Ellina still had to cover her head to protect herself from the papers, pens, paper clips, and all the other odds and ends that had once been on her desk that now whipped around them like office supply projectiles.

A stapler glanced off Jude’s shoulder, but rather than falling to the ground it launched back into the air like a self-propelled torpedo. She cried out as several paper clips hit her arms, stinging like bees as they connected with her bare skin.

Jude positioned himself around her like a human cage, blocking further attack, but she could hear the items whacking the desk. The walls. Jude.

“Stop it,” she cried.

As if on her command, although she wasn’t naïve enough to believe it really was her doing, everything collapsed to the ground with a whooshing thud. The maelstrom vanished completely as if it never happened. The quiet was almost as jarring as the sudden eruption.

Jude didn’t move immediately; he stayed crouched over her, his large body protective, his heat warming her fear-chilled skin. And when he did move away, she oddly missed both feelings.

He gestured for her to remain down behind the desk.

After a moment, he said, “They’re gone.”

Slowly Ellina stood, taking in the mess around her. Her brothers appeared to have left, but they had the last word. As always. Of course, this wasn’t the first time she’d seen her office in such overwhelming disarray; it was becoming a pattern.

She stared at her destroyed office, her completely jumbled research notes littering the floor. All her hard work, strewn around, like nothing more than garbage.

She didn’t feel like laughing now.

Chapter 6

Jude watched as Ellina stumbled around the desk. She stood in the middle of the room, looking around as if she didn’t know what to do first. Finally, she knelt down and began picking up the papers that were strewn everywhere, nearly blotting out the oriental carpet and mahogany-stained wood floor. Her movements were slow, automatic, and her demeanor concerned him.

Jude didn’t speak. Instead he joined her, crouching down and gathering up the papers. Pages and pages, some handwritten in small, precise lettering, others computer printouts. None of them were even close to being in order.

They worked silently, until Jude realized she’d stopped and sat amid the papers. He couldn’t see her face; her thick, unruly hair falling forward shielded her expression from him. But her slumped shoulders and the collected pages cradled in her lap told him she was distressed.

He continued to clear the floor, casting looks in her direction as he worked. Finally, when she hadn’t moved for several moments, he stood and placed the papers he’d gathered on her desk. Carefully, almost reluctantly, he picked his way through the mess to stand next to her.

He stood there, trying to decide what to do, hoping Ellina would just say she was fine and they could get back to cleaning up this mess. But she didn’t. She remained still, her head bowed.

He cleared his throat, feeling more out of his depth than when facing off two bad-tempered demons.

“Ellina?”

She didn’t respond. Although he thought he detected her shoulders shaking, just barely.

Damn. What if she was crying? He couldn’t deal with crying.

But still he moved closer, dropping to his haunches. She breathed in, the sound a deep, shuddering sigh and the only sign that she might be aware of him. Or crying.

Please, no crying.

Before he even realized what he planned to do, he touched her arm, her skin warm and bare under his fingers. A jolt passed through him; again he was stunned that it was not like the touch of other preternaturals. Not a sticky, distasteful feeling. Quite the opposite, and more unnerving.

He jerked his fingers away from her, and she followed the sharp retreat of his hand, then lifted her head to meet his gaze. Her pale eyes looked flat, hopeless. But no tears.

Jude opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, then hesitated. He could see what was wrong, and what could he say to help her? He didn’t know how to offer comfort.

Protection, yes, defense, yes. Consolation, no.

And he knew what was wrong. Her brothers were dicks, her office was in a shambles, and she was understandably upset.

Still, he should say something.

Before he could summon up some sort of response, Ellina pulled in a deep breath, straightened, and turned her attention back to the scattered papers.

“This is a real mess,” she said, injecting airiness that she clearly didn’t feel into her tone. She started back to work.

He watched her for several moments, then joined her. They worked side by side, neither speaking. He focused on the books, placing them back on the shelves. Books that were obviously a source of friction in her family.

So why did she write them? What drove her to continue something that might cause her actual danger—from very dangerous demons?

Finally the floor was cleared, but now her desk looked like a couple dozen books had exploded on top of it.

“Well at least they didn’t ruin my computer,” she said, her voice filled with feigned optimism. Aside from the keyboard and mouse, the computer hadn’t moved.

She booted up her computer, then tested the keyboard and mouse. “Good. Working fine.”

She smiled, but he could see her discouragement; her shoulders were slumped as if she had more burden on them than she could possibly handle.

The urge to cross the room and pull her against his chest suddenly and distressingly filled him. Jude remained motionless.

“I’m sorry,” he said instead.

Ellina forced another smile that didn’t lessen the defeated look in her eyes. “My brothers always like to make my life difficult. And I shouldn’t have started anything. I should know better.”

Jude didn’t think she’d done anything to merit all this, but the twin demons obviously had hair-trigger tempers. He also got the feeling they were willing to do more than make her life difficult; they were dangerous.

But he said nothing. Warnings wouldn’t help her right now. She was already overwhelmed.

“Is this research for another book?” he asked, gesturing to the clutter of pages.

Her eyes remained locked on her desk, then she sighed. “Yes. Hours and hours of it.

And now it will take me just as long to sort it out.”

She sighed again.

Jude couldn’t explain why, but he felt helpless. She looked so forlorn. But he wouldn’t be any help with sorting through her notes. No more than he would be trying to comfort her. And frankly, he was pretty certain she didn’t want either from him anyway.

Still he asked, “Can I do anything?”

She shook her head, just as he knew she would. “No. It’s just going to take time to get this all straightened out.” She sighed. “A lot of time.”

“Okay, well, I’ll let you get to work.”

She nodded, picking up one of the papers, then dropping it back to the pile as if she didn’t have any idea what to do with it or where to start. He lingered a moment longer, his helplessness making him reluctant to leave. He was a man of action. He didn’t like this feeling.

Then she began sorting, and he decided it was best to just leave.

Just when he reached the door, she spoke, stopping him. “Why did you go along with my stupid boyfriend explanation?”

Jude closed his eyes for a moment at her question. Why had he gone along with that?

He faced her.

“I thought it was a good cover so they wouldn’t question too closely who I am or why I’m here.”

“Oh, they’ll question. They already are. And soon more members of my illustrious family will start asking questions too.”

She returned to her papers.

Jude studied her for a moment. Why would her family be so surprised by a boyfriend? Ellina was stunningly lovely. Surely she’d had many male admirers. Maybe she already had a boyfriend, and that was what had her family so shocked. The sudden appearance of a new man in her life.

Which led him to another question…

“Why did you say I was your boyfriend?”

Her fingers paused on her papers.

“I—I just didn’t want them making fun of the fact Maksim had gotten their silly sister a bodyguard.” She made a face. “Stupid, really. Because they’ll make fun of me anyway.”

Jude wanted to ask if the they she was referring to was just her brothers or if this was aimed at her whole family, but she was again focused on her work. Something about her stance, her expression, told him she wasn’t in a mood to talk anymore.

And in truth, neither was he. He needed a moment to process what just happened.

Ellina could have chosen anything. Why boyfriend? And how were they going to pull that off believably?

He started to step out of the office when she said, “Sorry for the awkward choice of cover.”

Could she read his mind? Her thoughts seemed to follow the same track as his.

“You can’t even stand to touch me,” she added with a dry, humorless laugh.

Now that he hadn’t expected. Had she noticed his reaction to her when he’d laid a hand on her arm? Obviously.

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that wasn’t why he’d pulled away, but then thought better of it. He’d already learned enough about this woman in a few short hours to know she wouldn’t accept that answer without further questions. Questions he wasn’t prepared to answer or ponder too closely.

“Well, it’s our cover now,” he said, again wondering why he was sticking with this plan.

“Bad choice,” she said without looking at him as she continued to sort through her papers.

He couldn’t disagree with that, but not for the same reasons.

This time he did leave her office but paused in the hallway, out of sight, but close enough to hear another of her sighs. Hopeless, tired.

He waited, listening. The creak of her leather office chair as she sat down. The shuffle of papers. A couple more sighs.

Again, he felt that tug, that longing to help her, but he couldn’t. She had to concentrate and get her work done and so did he. He needed to keep his mind on the job and figure out what was really going on here. Because something was going on. His gut told him that, and he wasn’t often wrong about such things.

But as he made his way to the living room, he kept hearing her parting comment.

Bad choice.

That remark summed up this whole situation, didn’t it? Backing up the boyfriend lie.

His choice to stay. Pretty much every choice he’d made since meeting this woman.

Demon woman, he reminded himself. Remember she was a preternatural—just because she didn’t affect him like other preternaturals wasn’t reason enough to lose sight of what she really was.

But now he knew one thing was definite. Leaving was out of the question. Not after the run-in with Ellina’s brothers. Jude did not trust the photo negative twins. Not one bit.

Ellina might think they were just troublemakers, pranksters, but he didn’t believe that for a minute. They’d come here for a purpose and not just to taunt her. There had been a point to their appearance. They had made it known their father wasn’t pleased with her. But why? Was Ellina’s father the real threat?

He needed to research the twins and her father. Fighting demons was always tricky—

no two demons had the same strengths and weaknesses.

He exited her house, moving with his usual stealth. The street was quiet, even though it was a fairly warm afternoon. His black van was parked a couple houses down the street.

Sun glinted off the darkly tinted windows, making it impossible to see inside the vehicle.

He strode to the rear, disengaging the alarm system with the keyless remote, then unlocking the double doors. The back of the van was set up as a makeshift living space. A mattress took up the side behind the driver’s seat; the bed was made up neatly. Several bins were piled up behind the passenger’s seat: one filled with clothing and others with dry goods and canned supplies. A couple gallons of water sat beside the plastic tubs.

But it was his computer case and two duffels close to the back doors that he reached for, slinging the computer and one duffel over his shoulder. The other he carried at his side.

He slammed the doors closed, locked them, and engaged the alarm again. He silently reentered Ellina’s cottage, again stopping to listen. He also tuned his body into the vibe of the house. Nothing prickled at his skin or caused a creeping sensation along his spine. The house was fine for the moment. But he’d already discovered demons could pop in at the snap of his fingers.

He didn’t want to make that mistake again. Getting caught off guard even for a second could be bad news for Ellina…and him.

He dropped the duffel bag in his hand next to the sofa. The canvas bag filled with clothes made a muffled thump against the hardwood floor. He was much less cavalier with the other two bags, setting his computer case on the polished coffee table. The other bag he placed carefully to the side of the sofa, out of the way.

He listened again. Concentrated. Ellina was in her office. He could sense her there.

And she was fine. He dropped onto the couch and reached for his computer case.

While his computer booted up, he pulled out the file Maksim had faxed him. Jude had already read through the notes, but he scanned them again, focusing his attention on the mentions of Ellina’s twin brothers.

Andrey and Pasha.

Maksim stated in his notes that he considered these two capable of being a real threat to Ellina. After that meeting, Jude agreed.

He placed the papers beside his computer and typed in his password. Within moments, he was connected to the Internet. Fortunately Ellina had unsecured wireless. She should have it password protected, but for his purposes now, he was glad she didn’t.

He pulled up his favorite search engine, then typed in “demons Pasha Andrey.” The search returned almost instantaneously with dozens of results. He’d half-expected to get nothing—suspecting that twins’ human names weren’t their demon names, which was true.

They were better known as Andras, the demon of quarrels, and Pyro, the demon of falsehoods. But their human names were close enough, making the search easier than he expected.

Jude read through the descriptions of them, making notes. They were primarily, as Ellina had described them, tricksters. Relatively low-level demons deriving most of their powers from causing rifts and misunderstandings and meddling.

But Jude didn’t disregard them. Anyone could be dangerous. Anyone could kill—

especially demons. More likely, since they were low level, it was possible that they could be working for someone else.

Ellina’s father. The twins had mentioned him and said he wasn’t happy with his daughter. Were they working on his behalf? Could a father—even one who was a demon—

want his daughter dead?

Of course.

Jude had seen far more disturbing things in his two thousand years.

Jude continued to review Maksim’s notes and research on the other demons he’d mentioned, including Ellina and Maksim’s father, who was a very strong demon. He was not as easy to research. Higher level demons did much better jobs of keeping their identities and abilities unknown. They spread conflicting information themselves, making it hard to know what was fact and what was fiction.

If only they had a snopes.com for demons.

By the time Jude finished his research, the living room was dim with graying shadows. He checked the clock on his computer. A little after seven o’clock.

The house was quiet expect for the occasional faint sound from Ellina’s office.

Jude straightened away from his laptop, rotating his shoulders to get the kinks out.

Leaning over the coffee table to type wasn’t ideal, especially not at his height. Being immortal didn’t exclude him from minor aches and pains. There’d been many a fight in his past that had left him hurting afterward, he just didn’t hurt as long. And, at least as of yet, he hadn’t died.