devil 02 - tween a devil and his hard place by sam cheever Page B

Demonica and pulled apart with an almost audible sucking sound. I took three quick steps backward and rubbed my tingling palms down the legs of my slacks. I didn’t think it would be ladylike to rub the other tingling parts right out there on the sidewalk.
    Dialle just stood there smiling at me. “Hold that thought, my lovely Tweener.”
    Temper flared at the smug look on his face as well as my growing frustration at being interrupted again. The fact that I knew it was for the best didn’t make it one little iota easier to accept.
    Pushing my chin toward the sky and gathering my tattered dignity around me, I quickly marched to the door and grabbed the handle, figuring action was required to minimize what had just happened between us. I gave the door a fierce yank.
    It’s really hard to look dignified when you almost fall on your face.
    The stupid door was locked and my momentum nearly did me in. I regained my balance and looked up, through the glass, into a pair of wide-set beady eyes in a purple leather face. The demon on the other side of the door was laughing.
    I felt the need to kill. “Open the damnable door, turd from Hades!”
    The demon’s laughing face was joined by another and then another until I felt myself reaching for the vial around my neck. No doubt about it, I was gonna need a dignity transplant after this. “I demand that you open this door and let Prince Dialle and me in. Alcott is expecting us and won’t be pleased if you deny us entrance.”
    I didn’t have a clue if this was true but it sounded good.
    The demons had stopped laughing but looked far from frightened by my declaration. I opened my mouth to scream at them just as I felt the heat of a strong, golden hand on my shoulder. I looked up into a pair of gorgeous black eyes rimmed in gold.
    Any trace of remaining amusement died on the demons’ faces when Dialle leveled that royal gaze on them. The demon king might feel the need to break away from the royals and stand alone but centuries of subjugation had created a sense of awe and an innate aura of submission on the demon side that would be hard to overcome.
    Dialle’s gaze seemed to mesmerize the demons and, although he didn’t say a word, they reached to open the door.
    My yummy Prince moved the golden hand from my shoulder to the small of my back and he gave me a gentle nudge toward the door. I refused to look at him but couldn’t resist shuffling his mental drawers a bit. I want to learn how to do that thing with the eyes you do. It could be very effective in my job.
    His sexy laugh filled my head, causing parts south of the border to clench in happy anticipation . It is not so much a thing, as you call it, as it is a healthy and intelligent fear of their betters. I could almost hear the laughter in his voice that he was trying to hold back. It would be perhaps difficult for you to project, given your propensity for comical behavior in the face of difficulty.
    I turned to glare at him and, unfortunately caught the beady red eye of the demon that had laughed at me through the door. Putting the quotation marks around Dialle’s nasty but all too true comment, the oily purple face split in another grin as the damnable thing looked at me. Feeling my devil come out in a big way, I smiled back.
    Something in my smile must have warned the demon because his smile died on the vine and he took a half step back as we passed. It didn’t save him though. As I walked past the evil thing I reached up and gave it a jolt of power in the tip of one long, pointed ear. I figured his yelp could probably be heard in the furthest reaches of Demonica.
    I smiled.
    Dialle grinned down at me and shook his head.
    I shrugged. Hey, what can I say? Tweener. Half devil.
    His warm laughter coated my mind. And I must say you do the race proud lovely Astra.
    As we entered the cavernous main room of the club we were met by a huge demon with a black body and snow white hair. The demon’s wide, simian brow hung over a