Bedeviled by Maureen Child

her, damn the gods for sending her to him. Though he fought to restrain his fury, a part of him stood back and applauded her ferocious defense of one she loved. Looking into her eyes, he saw that fighting her on this would only make things more difficult. So he inclined his head in a nod.
    “I give you my word that no harm of any kind will come to the child.”
    “Damn right it won’t. Okay, good.” She smiled a little, her mouth curving up at one corner, and Culhane watched the motion with a hungry gaze. Ridiculous to be attracted to a woman who had given him nothing but trouble from their first meeting.
    “Glad that’s settled.” Maggie started floating again, but this time Culhane reached out, grabbed her and pulled her back down.
    “You must focus. Concentrate on standing still.”
    “I have to concentrate to keep from floating? What kind of dumb-ass power is that? And why am I suddenly going all antigravity, anyway? What the hell is going on?”
    Patience , he reminded himself, and wished that he had a larger supply of that virtue to draw on. Most certainly he was going to need it. “I’ve been trying to explain. There’s much to tell you. Much you have to learn.”
    “Yeah, probably.” Her fingers curled over his forearm as she frowned and fought to keep from lifting off her feet. “How about we start with why this is happening to me?”
    The lights in the room were soft and dim. The sound from the television was an annoyance that was easily taken care of. Culhane waved his hand and the set shut off, its now dark screen like a blind eye staring into the room.
    “Will you quit doing that?” She looked at the TV. “Now how will I know which bachelor demon gets picked?”
    “Demons.” Culhane hissed the word.
    She sighed. “Well, they’re not really demons. It’s some bigwig’s idea for a gimmick, that’s all. Unless . . .”
    He laughed shortly as the truth dawned on her. “Of course it is real. Demons are real. Fae are real. And the power overtaking you now is real .”
    She shook her head, hitching her folded arms high enough that the tops of her breasts peeped out of the neckline of her nightgown. He’d already seen much of her. Enough to make him hard and hot for her. But that time would come, and he could wait. First he had to make her see and accept her destiny.
    “This is really a lot to take in, you know? I mean, sure. Weird shit is happening, but—”
    “You killed a demon today,” he said, and watched her eyes darken at the memory.
    “She was a demon?” Maggie took in air desperately. “I was trying earlier to figure out what that thing had been, but I never thought of . . . See, the word demon doesn’t really spring to mind, generally. But your saying it so matter-of-factly, it’s hard to argue with. Of course she was a demon. What else would she be? All those teeth, the tail. What she was doing . . .” She took another breath. “And I killed . . .”
    The hand on his forearm tightened until he could feel the bite of her short fingernails through his coat. “Oh, God. Yes. I killed her. It. Whatever.” Her gaze lifted to his. “I didn’t mean to; it just happened, and if I hadn’t she would have eaten me just like she did Joe, so I can’t really be blamed for—”
    “The pendant,” his voice boomed out, interrupting the incessant flow of words from the woman. “The demon you killed wore the pendant. It carried the dust of slain Fae.”
    “That tornado of gold dust was dead Faeries? Ohmigod.” Her eyes went wide and horrified. “It was all over me. I was breathing it and . . .”
    She wobbled, and he gave her a nudge that sent her falling backward onto her couch.
    “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
    “You won’t.” He dropped into a crouch in front of her. Her hair was a wild coronet around her head. Her eyes looked glassy, and her skin looked as pale as porcelain. Culhane laid one hand on her knee, felt the sting of electricity flow between them, but ignored