Increased demonic activity accompanied the Sci-Fi Convention. Maybe that was what was making his spidey senses go nuts, he thought with a wry twist of his lips. That, and being reminded of his guilt when his brother caught him at Eli's Cavern. But Ariel would be avenged, he'd see to it. Suddenly, the sounds of a scuffle in the distance snagged his attention.
"Bite me, you pack of Star Trek rejects," an outraged female voice rang out.
He stopped. A damsel in distress, or a trap? He felt the air cooling, a sign of evil; didn't much matter as he was in the mood for a fight. He stepped off the path, striding toward the disturbance, and froze. The sight of a fierce woman squaring off against a hunting pack of Verdant Pathway Demons stopped him in his tracks. He recognized the packs gold gilded leader on sight, Galen the Merciless. He personally thought Galen was a chicken shit. The Verdant were holding back, cautious, as if afraid to bruise her. Interesting. The bounty on her must be worth a bundle.
His fascinated gaze lingered on the woman. She had long hair, a tantalizing mixed tawny shade of brown, red, and gold; you could never get that from a bottle. Her eyes were an unusual amber color and tip tilted like a cats, giving her an exotic appearance. She was dressed like she'd been out on the town, in an elegant red dress with a jean jacket thrown over it because she was cold.
Had she been out on a date?
The thought pissed him off for some reason but he didn't feel another presence. The dress clung to her full figure, highlighting the generous curves he, for some insane reason, longed to touch. His body throbbed, all his blood surging to his suddenly rock hard cock. Shit, he usually had more control than this. But his urge to dispatch the Verdant, throw the siren down on the ground, and plunge himself into her heat was undeniable.
Get your head back in the game, stupid, he muttered, as the fog dissipated around the woman, seeming to recede by her very force of being. He watched her flow into a karate stance, while scent wrapped around him, something feminine and hauntingly familiar.
Her fighting spirit was unquestionable, but she was sorely outmatched. The first demon to lunge for her caught a high kick sharply in the chest. He watched in stunned disbelief as it crumbled like a wet paper sack and vanished. He instantly reassessed the situation. A mere mortal wouldn't have the force to take out a demon. So, what did that make her?
She smirked. "Oh, like that's gonna scare me, you re-enacting weirdoes."
Lucian barely had time to smile at her feisty reaction before they circled her again, but this time a bit more warily. The first to attack were expendable, but they wouldn't give up until they took her down.
"This way, assholes," he said conversationally, drawing the pack's attention. They were all symbiotically linked. It was their greatest weakness as underworld mercenaries. Lucian was hotly aware of the enchanting woman's relieved gaze on him, her eyes big as saucers. Her amber eyes seemed to see right into his missing soul. Damn.
The Verdant's gold gilded leader shot at him, taking advantage of his divided focus. Lucian sidestepped the power blast, mocking him. "Don't you idiots know that you can't kill me that way?"
Maybe not, but they could sure as hell slow him down.
He braced himself as the enraged demons launched themselves at him en masse. His uppercut knocked the first to reach him into the air, propelling the demon back so that he flattened the ones behind him like bowling pins. The sheer physical action was gratifying.
Galen bit out a furious command.
Lucian drew his dagger from the sheath beneath his coat and launched it at him. It caught the leader square in his chest and Galen exploded into smoke. It would take the bastard a moment to rematerialize. Lucian's dagger flipped back to his hand, moonlight glinting off its blade. He caught it in a firm grip just as the woman started screaming. He slipped it into its sheath as the demons stood muttering darkly for a moment. Without their leader, they were unsure.
Lucian moved to grab the woman's hand but suddenly, the atmosphere around them started to waver. The fog turned to ice pellets that pelted them as an artic chill blasted through the clearing. The Verdant suddenly fell to their knees, abandoning the attack, and Lucian swore as his feet froze to the ground and his blood turned to ice.
Son of a bitch, the rotten bastard was still alive after all. He watched with narrowed eyes as a bolt-hole opened, rage shooting through him when Zere appeared. His long white hair blew behind him; his muscular body draped in his royal robes. His mocking grin raked over Lucian for a moment and then he turned a curious glance on the woman.
"Come to me," Zere demanded as he held out his hand.
Lucian cursed as the woman shivered beside him, her body heat warming him. No wonder the Verdant had been handling her with kid gloves. Zere wanted her. If she complied, she'd never return from Zere's frozen underworld realm. Concentrating, using up what was left of his powers, Lucian grabbed her arm and instantly teleported them to his lair, which was warded against the demon. They came to rest upstairs in his velvet-draped bedroom. The daylight blocking drapes were drawn back to show the lake. He loved the water. Freudian slip, he thought with a self-deprecating twist of his lips. Nobody would hear her even if she screamed the house down.
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