Demon by Kristina Douglas Page A

It is against my better judgment.”
    “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
    “You have no say in the matter.” He looked bored. “Come.”
    I’d managed to move a good five feet from him in small increments. “I don’t think so.” He could probably will me over there, but I wasn’t going under my own steam.
    “Come. Now.” His rich voice was soft and deadly.
    I still managed not to move. I wanted to, God,how I wanted to. I wanted to cross that careful space I’d managed to give myself and press my body up against his. Against the man who wanted to kill me. I fought it, fought the need to move, glaring at him. It was a battle, one I was determined not to lose. He didn’t fight fair—I believed his claim that he was something other than human, even though he was flat-out insane when he said I was a demon. But despite all his efforts, I wasn’t going to let him control me. The illogical, powerful attraction I felt was probably just one more of his tricks.
    I don’t know how long we stood there. He didn’t ask again. He stared at me out of those deep-blue eyes, so vivid in his calm face, and I fought the chill that swept over me. If I gave in there’d be no hope, though I couldn’t begin to define what I was hoping for.
    “You are wiser than this,” he said finally. “You know I am your enemy, and it would take very little to kill you. Instead of antagonizing me, you should be trying to soften me up.”
    Soft was never a word I would use for Azazel. He was lean, strong, all harsh planes and angles. I didn’t think he’d ever be soft at the wrong time.
    Color flooded my face at the thought. Why was I thinking of sex when I looked at this man? If he wasn’t human, he might not even be sexual.And even if he was, it had nothing to do with me. I wasn’t turned on by someone who wanted me dead.
    But unfortunately, he had a point. I shouldn’t be antagonizing him. I should be meek and submissive and maybe he’d let me go again. But I didn’t move. Not this time.
    To my shock, the merest glimmer of a smile danced across his mouth and then was gone as soon as it appeared. “Your choice.”
    And everything went dark.
    I had felt this before: being crushed in an unbreakable hold, the scent of warm male and the ocean surrounding me. I didn’t struggle—I remembered it would hurt more if I fought. I held still in the dark, blinding embrace, trying to register everything.
    It was crazy, but it felt as if I were flying. Soaring through clouds and space and time, and it felt glorious. Ridiculous, because I hated the very idea of flying. Right now I was simply cocooned in something, my imagination going wild. But I breathed in deeply, the scent of his skin and the sea breeze in my nostrils, and I gave in to the pleasure of it, letting my will dissolve.
    H E SOARED UPWARD, THE DEMON wrapped tight against him. She didn’t fight him this time,which made things more difficult. He was better off fighting her. He could feel her head tucked against his shoulder, feel her warm, moist breath against his skin. If she struggled he could drop her, forget about her, and who knew where and when she would surface? But surface she would. Killing a demon wasn’t that easy, even for him.
    It hadn’t taken long to find her—in truth, he’d always been aware of her, ready for the day when he could finish what he’d started. Letting her live was unacceptable.
    He still didn’t know why he’d changed his mind, gone back for her a year and a half ago. Maybe it was the simple fact that Sarah would have hated what he’d done. Even so long after her death, her gentle influence fought against his more bloody-minded instincts.
    And bloody-minded was the term. The Lilith could bleed—he remembered that. Remembered the torn flesh of her wrists and ankles, which he’d healed after he pulled her out of there. He could make her bleed again, and this time no misguided charity would stop him. He wouldn’t have thought there was a