He tipped her face to his with a finger beneath her chin. “I don’t care what you are. Who you are doesn’t change just because you grew fangs and are on a liquid diet.”
“But it’s more than that, isn’t it? Am I… evil?”
He snorted. “If you believe those Aegis idiots.”
“So, I’m not?”
His hand came up to brush her hair out of her face. “Becoming a vampire distills certain aspects of your personality into a purer form so you’re a little more honest about who you are, whether that’s evil or good, but you’re still you.”
“I don’t understand how you can get past the vampire thing, though, after everything—”
“Stop.” He rolled over and propped himself on one elbow, so she was looking up at him. “I was totally fucked up and pissed off for so long. What my mother and her clan did to me… well, there are no words for it. But I blamed all vampires. Hell, I blamed the whole world. I’ve got a lot of apologizing to do. Starting with my brothers.”
She cocked her head, watching him, because something was different… “Your face! The tattoo is gone. And you have a new one—no, two—around your neck.”
His fingers feathered over his cheek where the markings had been, and then down his throat. “One means I’m post-s’genesis, and the other means I’m mated.”
She had no idea what the s’genesis thing was, but she had lots of time to ask about it. “Well, I think they’re better than wedding rings,” she teased. “You can’t take them off.”
“Smart-ass.” He nodded at her arm. “That’s what you get for being so smug.”
She lifted her left arm and watched in amazement as a replica of his tattoo began to set in her skin.
“You’re mine now,” he said. “No getting away.”
“You think I want to get away?”
“Hope not, because I’m a hunter, remember? I get what I want.”
She smiled. “And what do you want? Right this minute?”
He showed her. Right that minute.
Wraith waited until Serena fell into a deep, exhausted sleep before he climbed out of bed and left her to recover from the feeding, the sex, the bonding, and the little thing of changing from human to vampire
Leaving her was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he had a few things to do, like arrange for his vampire torture and find his brothers. Considering what he needed to say to Shade and E, the torture sounded like fun.
He found them just down the hall in the staff break room, door open. They met him at the threshold.
“Everything okay?” Shade asked, and Wraith punched him in the shoulder.
“You know it is.” As incubi, they would have sensed sex taking place nearby.
“So Serena’s all fangy?”
“And bonded.”
E cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah, the lack of the facial dermoire was pretty much a dead giveaway.” He clapped Wraith on the back. “Congratulations, man. It’s good to know you’re happy.”
“Yeah, about that.” Wraith moved inside the room. “I owe you both an apology. More than that, but I don’t know how I can make up for a lot of years of hell.”
His brothers just stood there, either stunned or not buying a word. Probably the latter. He’d never given them a reason to trust anything he said or did.
“So, ah… I’m sorry. You guys have bailed me out of a lot of shit situations. I can never make it up to you.” Wraith had to smile at his brothers’ silence, because now they weren’t meeting his gaze. The male sappy crap was embarrassing them. Good thing, because he’d hate to be alone in that.
“It’s all good.” Shade’s voice was low and rough with emotion.
Eidolon nodded. “I think we’re all good.”
“Bullshit.” Wraith swiped a couple of oranges out of Gem’s basket on the counter and beaned his brothers with them. “I put you through hell for a lot of years, and a sixty-second suck up job isn’t going to erase that.”
“Well, hitting us with fruit isn’t going to help!” Shade shouted, returning fire. The orange veered to the left, splattering on the wall.
“Hello,” Wraith taunted. “Charmed.”
“Don’t you have more sucking up to do?” E said, but his mouth was quirked in a half-smile.
“I do.” Wraith made a beeline for the coffeemaker, needing to take his mind off how much it bit dick to beg forgiveness. “But it’ll take a lot of time. I’m willing to do what it takes to make it up to you guys.”
E and Shade had fallen silent again.
“Look, why don’t we change the subject?”
His brothers nodded vehemently.
“Okay, then. How’s Tayla?” More than a change of subject, Wraith really did care. He’d wanted to kill the slayer in the beginning, but he couldn’t deny that she was perfect for E. “The Aegis dudes didn’t take her demon thing well.”
“They wanted to execute her,” E growled. “Kynan made them see the light.”
Shade smirked. “Now that you made him the most important human on the planet, he threatened to walk if The Aegis didn’t let Tayla stay on.”
“Ah, blackmail. I always knew that human had it in him.” Wraith would have loved to see that scene. “So, did they welcome Ky back, too?”
“They made him an Elder.” Eidolon grinned. “That sonofabitch is now in charge of the whole damned organization.”
Now, that was funny as hell. “What about Gem?”
“She’s moving Kynan into her place as we speak.” Eidolon bent to retrieve the orange Wraith had thrown at him.
“Good for her,” Wraith said. “So what’s with the new brother? And why was he able to bring back Ky?”
“A mating with a human gone wrong,” Shade said. “His gift is all fucked up. He kills everything he touches, but apparently, he can bring the dead back within a brief time window—”
“And only if they aren’t dying of a demon-inflicted disease,” Wraith finished, still slightly bitter about that. “Where is he?”
“Gone,” Shade said. “Guess he had some things to do. People to kill. Dunno.”
E tossed the orange into the basket. “I think he’s overwhelmed by the instant family. He’ll be back.”
“Speaking of family,” Wraith said to Shade, “when can I meet the nephews?” There was a long pause, too long, and Wraith added quickly, “I won’t eat them or anything. I swear.”
Shade went rigid. “Why now?”
“I want to belong to a family,” Wraith blurted before he could re-think sounding like a candy-ass. “I mean, I have Serena, but she’s a vampire, which means she can’t have kids.…” He felt bad for that, not just for her, but strangely, for him. With her beside him, encouraging him, he knew he could be a good father. “I was just thinking that maybe if we could, you know, just all hang out… fuck, I don’t know. This is stupid. Never mind.”
Shade and Eidolon exchanged looks, as if they had a secret between them. For a moment he was tempted to get inside Shade’s head the way he always had and find out what they were hiding from him. But Shade hated that, and violating his brother’s mind would make his pretty plea for forgiveness yet another lie.
“I get it.” Wraith backed toward the door, bumping against the frame. “It’s too late—”
He couldn’t picture himself barbecuing hot dogs and playing fucking family board games anyway.
“Wraith, it’s not that,” Shade said.
“Doesn’t matter. Serena’s waking up. I need to go to her.”
Shade called his name as he left, but Wraith just held up a hand to cut him off, and kept going. They might not trust him to be a functional member of the family yet, but they would. He’d earn their trust eventually, but right now, his focus was all on Serena.
She was tying the drawstring on a pair of scrub bottoms when he walked in. “Hey,” she said, tilting her head to the side as she studied him. “It’s so weird seeing you without that face tattoo.”
“I figure I’ll be in for o
ne hell of a shock the next time I look in a mirror.” A good shock, though, like he’d had when he saw that his hourglass glyph had been set right again. He took her hand and pulled her against him, reveling in the feel of her soft curves against his hard body. “You feeling okay?”
“Never better.” She smiled, and the points of her fangs peeked out from her parted lips. It was so freaking sexy Wraith wanted to throw her down and get inside her while she sank those hot little teeth into his throat.
What a difference a day makes. He was really starting to understand her hard-on for vampires. He was getting one himself. Literally. “Babe, we so have to get out of here.” His swelling cock was way onboard with that plan.
“Where are we going?”
Such utter trust. Her faith in him tugged at his heart and at the same time scared the crap out of him. What if he broke her trust, failed her?
“You won’t,” she said softly.
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“I felt your fear. Didn’t take a genius to figure out what it was about.”
He groaned playfully. “This bond is going to be a pain in the ass.”
“Really?” She reached low and cupped him. “Because I can feel your arousal, too… and it’s definitely sparking mine.”
Oh, yeah. He could feel it coming through the bond like an erotic drumbeat. “So, maybe the bond won’t be that bad.” His words came out on a moan thanks to the stroking action she’d started.
“So… you were saying?”
“Right. We’re going to my place… ah, Gods, keep that up, just like that.” He arched into her touch. “And after I ravage you, I’ll start teaching you about life in my world. Are you all right with that?”
She flicked open the top button on his fly. “Do the lessons have to start right away?”
“Probably a good idea,” he gritted out, but then she dropped to her knees. “Lessons? What lessons?”
“That’s what I thought.” The look in her gaze, the erotic promise, the trust, the love, brought him to his knees in front of her. She meant the underworld to him, and in that moment, he knew.
He would never fail her.
And the faith in her eyes said she knew it, too.
Thirty-three
“They’re here!” Serena forced herself to walk calmly to the front door, even though she wanted to sprint. Runa, Shade, and their babies would be on the other side—and she and Wraith would be meeting them for the first time.
It had been nearly a week since she and Wraith had arrived at his place—a very male bachelor pad in Manhattan—and after days of doing nothing but enjoying each other, they’d decided it was time to enjoy his family.
Especially because her family had already come and gone.
She’d called Val the moment she and Wraith left the hospital, and he’d been so happy she was alive that the fact she’d become a vampire hadn’t bothered him. Much. He’d come to visit yesterday, and though they hadn’t had enough time to work out all the issues they faced, from the relationship he’d had with her mother to his reasons for keeping the truth from her, to David, to Wraith’s deception and her becoming a vampire… well, truthfully, it was still a mess.
But Val was willing to repair the damage and heal all wounds. Chances were that he and Wraith would never bond over a game of golf, but she figured it wouldn’t be long before they stopped eyeing each other warily over the rims of their whiskey glasses. The fact that they hadn’t tried to kill each other was a start.
As for David… she had a feeling things would never be right between her and her half brother. If he was ever released from Aegis custody for betraying the human race to a fallen angel, anyway.
-Wraith—she’d finally gotten used to calling him that—met her in the foyer. “You ready for this?” He took her hand. “Because we can do this another time. They’ll be at Kynan and Gem’s wedding.”
That had been fun news. The pair had dropped by this morning to invite them to Hawaii next week—a wedding beneath the stars, a night ceremony so she, as a vampire, could attend. Wraith had groused and grumped about being asked to be Kynan’s best man, but she’d caught him smiling for hours after Ky and Gem left.
“I’m ready.”
He’d warned her that his brothers and sisters-in-law could be overwhelming, but the little ones made her far more nervous, and he knew it.
She’d always wanted children, but as a vampire, she’d learned she was unable to conceive. The maternal ache drilled deep, but she couldn’t complain. She was healthy and alive. Sort of, as Wraith liked to tease her.
“Let’s meet the family.” She opened the door, surprised to find only Shade standing there with a squirming, blanketed bundle in his arms, Eidolon next to him.
“Runa’s going to be pissed that you lost some kids,” Wraith drawled.
Shade’s dark eyes sparked with an emotion she couldn’t place. “All three of our babies are home with Runa.”
Wraith and Serena stepped back to allow his brothers to come inside. “So, what,” Wraith said, “you just picking kids up off the street now?”
“It’s yours, bro.”
“My what?”
“Kid.” Eidolon tugged on the blanket, exposing the child’s right arm and the dermoire that marked it. “It’s yours.”
Serena wasn’t sure who got it, who really got it, first, Wraith or herself. He stared at the baby, a little wild-eyed. She just stood there, afraid that what Eidolon had just said wasn’t true. That this was a sick joke.
Wraith had made a baby with someone else, a fact that might have upset her if he hadn’t explained his breed, his past… and if she didn’t understand how committed to her he was.
But somehow she just couldn’t see this innocent life as anything but a wonderful gift and an answer to her prayers.
Shade hefted the infant closer to his chest, gently, protectively, and she turned to Wraith, who was still watching the baby as though unsure what to do.
“Hey,” she said, softly. “You okay?”
He nodded numbly.
Surrounded by silence, Serena approached Shade. The baby stilled, his big brown eyes taking her in with that wisdom all infants seemed to be born with. He was beautiful, with Wraith’s nose and mouth, and in an instant, she fell in love.
“May I?” she asked, and though Shade hesitated, he handed the child to her. In her arms, he felt right, and her heart swelled. She walked over to Wraith, slowly, afraid she’d spook him, because he still had that half-feral look in his eyes. “Look at him. Look at your son.”
He swallowed, locked his gaze with hers. “My… son. I never thought…”
“Just look at him. He’s gorgeous.”
The moment his gaze connected with his son’s, his expression softened, became one of wonder. “The mother?” he murmured, and Eidolon cleared his throat.
“Suresh.”
Wraith’s hand shook as he very carefully offered his finger to the baby, who wrapped his tiny fist around it. “You’ll be able to teleport someday, little guy.” He glanced at Serena. “I’m sorry. This must not be easy for you. The female—”
“It’s okay,” she said, and she wasn’t lying. “I know what you are, and what you were before we met.” She put the baby in Wraith’s arms. He held his son as if the child were made of glass. “He’s yours, and now he’s ours.”
Wraith closed his eyes. “Are you sure? Because… I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be. We’ll learn about this parenting thing together. You’ll be wonderful. Your heart is so big.”
He hooked his arm around her neck and brought her in close, so they were all sharing one big embrace. This was the moment she’d lived her entire life for. The one she wanted to hold onto and never forget.
“I love you, lirsha,” he murmured. “All I ever had before you was nightmares. But now I dream. Because of you.”
“I’ve always dreamed,” she whispered. “But I never thought they’d come true.” She pressed a
tender kiss to the infant’s forehead, and then brushed her lips over Wraith’s. “I have everything I’ve dreamed of and more.”
And when Wraith smiled down at her, she knew he felt the same way. For all eternity.
Demonica: a Demon Compendium
by Larissa Ione
Contents
The Introduction
The Demons
The Hospital
The Key Players in the Demonica World
The Reckoning (short story)
The Introduction
People often ask me how I came up with the concept of a demon hospital. Basically, I’ve always been a fan of both the paranormal and emergency medicine, and one day, while watching an episode of Angel, the idea popped into my head. See, Angel (a vampire, for those who have never watched the super-awesome show) got hurt, and he needed medical attention right away. But really, where could he go? Where could any supernatural creature go?
Clearly, there was a need for an underworld hospital, and Underworld General was born.
When I started to write the first book in the Demonica series, Pleasure Unbound, I knew right away that the Demonica world was going to be extensive. Keeping track of it meant lots of notebooks, computer space, and brain space. I’m not the most organized person on the planet, but I somehow managed to put together not only a glossary, but an inventory of demons.
As the list of demons grew, so did an idea…
See, I’ve always been a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons (when not writing, I’m glued to the computer and playing the fantasy role-playing game!) and some of the best D&D guides are the monster compendiums, which provide backgrounds, vital statistics, and descriptions of the monsters you might encounter in the world.
So I started on the Demonica compendium, and with each book I wrote, the compendium grew larger. Then I decided to include information about the hospital. And the key players.