Demon Huntress:

SACRIFICED

By

Jaide Fox

© copyright August 2004, Jaide Fox

Chapter One

The warm summer air caressed my skin as I soared through the air, searching frantically for my house. It was difficult to find, since it was dark, and the country seemed to swallow light like a black hole, leaving me aimlessly wandering above winding dirt roads and the treetops.

My heart lodged in my throat, pounding and making it difficult to breathe. I couldn’t remember landmarks near my house … couldn’t get my bearings. Fear induced adrenaline suffused me.

I’d felt fear often enough, but never so strongly. This was as close to terror as I’d ever come. Perspiration coated my skin, cooling rapidly in the air, giving me goosebumps in spite of the humidity.

He was out there, somewhere. Hunting me. And I knew he would find me. There was no stopping him.

Lightning flashed above like a strobe light, blinding me. The clouds moved, parting in a furious wind.

I dove and smacked into something, gasping as it grabbed me in a merciless grip.

There was nothing there but air and darkness and the heat of a creature from the deep. I smelled fire and brimstone. Fucking brimstone.

"Got you," a deep voice said with a growling chuckle that rumbled against my chest.

Shock raised chills on my skin. His fingers bit into my wrists, forcing my back to arch, my breasts to flatten against his chest.

I struggled against him, but there was nothing I could do to break his hold. I had nothing to brace myself against, nothing but my own powers of flight, and they were pitiful against him. Panic made my stomach flutter, my heart beat in my chest like a hip hop bass on speed.

It was with a dawning sense of horror that I realized I’d lost my clothes, and I couldn’t remember how or when they’d disappeared.

"Let me the fuck go!" I screamed, gnashing my teeth, tossing my head as if it would help somehow.

He laughed again, tightening his hold. Struggling only seemed to excite him. He rubbed against me, forcing my legs to part around him, until his hard cock ground against my bare cleft.

The movement shocked me to my core. Unbidden wetness saturated my labia on the instant of that unwanted touch. My belly clenched on a spasm, and my vaginal muscles tightened reflexively with the instinct to shut him out.

"I like it when you fight me like that, Nari. How much would you buck and gnash if I fuck you here, in the open?"

I went stiff all over, breathing hard through my nostrils until they flared with each breath. It was always the same with him. He wanted me to fight. He wanted my absolute submission.

I didn’t know what to do, only that I couldn’t give up. I had to change my tactics.

He knew my name. I didn’t know his. He felt like a man, but he wasn’t. He was something else. I’d never been able to see him. How could I fight someone I couldn’t see?
A helpless feeling washed over me, draining the fight from my body in slow increments. Flight had tired me, but the strain of trying to hold myself stiff to resist him wore on me.

"You don’t answer. Could it be you’re considering my offer this time?"

He sniffed my neck, his breath hot, moist, and then his mouth opened over it, his tongue lashing out to lave my skin.

I growled at him in warning.

His tongue traveled up to my ear, pushed inside, molten and wet … and forked. I shuddered. With revulsion, I told myself.

"I could be persuaded to let you go this time if you asked," he whispered before lapping my neck.

Asking was too much like begging. I’d never begged for anything in my life. Besides, I didn’t think he’d do it anyway. I grit my teeth. "I’d never ask you for a damned thing, you fucking bastard."

He grunted and nicked me with his teeth. I controlled the wince. Pain I could deal with. I couldn’t handle him trying to seduce me. That terrified me more than I cared to admit.

"Good. It’s better this way. Don’t you agree that pain makes the pleasure so much the sweeter?"

The world spun as he whirled us toward the ground. My house rose up before us, a pitiful facade of safety. The door burst open on a gust of wind.

Locked around my body, he flew us down the hall as if he knew exactly where my bedroom was. The door slammed open just before we hit it, and then we were inside, crashing down on the bed.

I bucked immediately, freeing a hand to go for the knife I always kept beneath my pillow.

He laughed and snatched my hand back, pinning my wrists down into the mattress, holding my legs down with his own as his weight settled over me.

He was huge, heavy enough I could barely breathe with him on top of me. I couldn’t tell just how big he was, only that he seemed to be everywhere.

He held me down, but he didn’t seem to need his hands. I felt him dip over me, felt his hot breath just before his mouth closed over one breast. His teeth bit into me, ever so lightly, and his tongue flicked out. Rough, it ground against my nipple, making it instantly hard.

I sucked in a sharp breath, breathing harshly. His grunt of approval was barely audible past the roar in my ears. Ripples of pleasure radiated from my nipple. He circled my distended flesh, suckling me until I knew he’d left his mark, sucking until he wrung a cry from my throat.

"God damn you," I said, my voice breaking as he thrust my legs apart with one rough hand and ground the hard ridge of his cock up against my slit.

He broke free, releasing my achy breast to torture the other with the scrape of his teeth.

"You’re wet, Nari," he growled as he tugged my nipple between his lips, rocking his hips to glide against my clit. It seemed to blossom under that insistent pressure, grow swollen and achingly sensitive.

"Big fucking deal," I ground out, hissing as he rubbed against my folds as if to prove a point.

He laved the underside of my breast, nipping it, pleasure and pain mingling. "You want me to rape you, don’t you?"

"No." I clenched my hands, feeling my fingers go tingly with the restricted flow of blood.

"It’s not rape if you want it," he taunted, dragging himself lower, kissing the hollow of my stomach. I didn’t even know how he could reach it and still hold my hands. "You want my tongue inside your tight little cunt." Something touched my slit … and it wasn’t his hand or cock.

"No!" I screamed. I struggled then, fought until I was gasping for air.

He rose over me once more, his shaft riding back against my slit, slipping through my wetness to slide over my clit with unbearable roughness. My clit seemed to swell under the pressure, throb with an acute, piercing pleasure. He pressed his weight down, burying me in the mattress until my skin molded to his, my breasts bulged against his chest. My nipples felt like two rocks, so incredibly sensitive and hard the slightest touch made them burn. The pressure of his chest made me scream in unfulfilled agony. I tried to buck again, hands clenching, feet scrambling for purchase. My throat hurt from holding back a scream.

Each struggle only made him rougher. Made it hurt more as he rubbed against me like a beast that enjoyed toying with its prey. But, god help me, I was beginning to enjoy the pain. Crave it.

I needed to come so badly. Needed it with a desperation akin to madness.

A plea for surcease caught in my throat before I could utter it. I choked on it, gasping and coughing.

"Nothing you say will stop me," he said against my ear. "I’ll just enjoy it more the more you resist me."

What woman in her right mind would want this? But the more he touched me, the more I wanted it. Oh god! Fuckin’ help me! I screamed inside my mind, jerking to attention as the harsh slide of his cock became a prod against my vagina. My nether lips seemed to peel back for him, to stretch and grasp for the thickness of his cock.

He barely nudged me and already my belly ached, my pussy burned.

Teeth scraped my jaw line. "Join me, and I’ll make it good for you. You haven’t known ecstasy until my cum has been inside your womb."

"Never!"

He shifted his hips, pressing my thighs so wide apart my hip bones popped. His cockhead nudged my opening, but it would never fit without ripping me apart. My juices flowed at the threat of sensual pain, defying my mind, or perhaps because of some unconscious desire to be ridden like a whore.

"I could take this from you," he whispered.

"Fuck you!" I snarled, biting at the face I could feel but not see.

He growled furiously and shifted, pressing his dick against my anus, pushing, pushing until it hurt … so good.

I jerked against him, my inner muscles clenching. I almost came right then. I cursed at him again and again as he forced his way into me. The fight was leaving me, and I suddenly wanted him to take me. Fuck me all night long until I was broken and weak.

No. I couldn’t give in. I tensed. "No!" I screamed, trying to resist the sensual lure of pain and pleasure.

* * * *

Nariko Suzaku jerked from sleep, bolting upright in bed. Tears burned at her eyes, a cry choked her throat. She could almost smell him on her skin, still feel the touch of him nudging her body’s openings, his teeth on her throat and breasts. She collapsed back onto her pillows, trembling, fighting the arousal and fear that permeated her senses.

Oh, god. It was close that time. "Too close," she whispered to herself.

Nariko rolled onto her side, a hand pressed between her thighs as if it would assuage the ache there. She was wet with arousal. It disgusted her that she got so aroused about being taken by force, especially from a creature she’d never seen, who enjoyed tormenting her.

He was a monster. A demon from hell or wherever else monsters came from.

She’d run so far, so long. It had made no difference. He knew her. He’d caught her now, and his seduction tore at her control, frayed her nerves. Why did he want her submission? Why did she fight it so hard? It was just a dream.

But it wasn‘t. It had always been real to her. Real in a way that if she was conquered by him, she would never recover. She knew it.

Already the memory of the dream faded to hazy details, but the intensity remained. Fear. Lust. Crowding her body, seeping away willpower as effectively as a drug. Nariko knew she had something wrong with her mentally. And really, it was no wonder she was fucked up in the head.

She was a monster too.

It was why she’d been abandoned at birth, left to grow up at an orphanage. No one had wanted her, even as a baby, because they all knew there was something wrong with her. Physically, she was fine. But evil could be masked by even the most beautiful, and her face was far from that of an angel’s.

Nariko climbed out of bed and walked into her bathroom, turning on the shower and slipping inside.

She still felt like she could smell him on her, and she wanted the reminder of the dream and her arousal out of her mind and off her body.

Today. Today she would see a doctor about these night terrors. If she didn’t, she knew it was only a matter of time before she went completely insane. She just hoped it wasn’t already too late.

Chapter Two

"The Doctor will see you now."

Nariko was nervous. She was always nervous in doctors’ offices. Of course, Doctor Savage wasn’t a "real" doctor. He was a sleep therapist. But she was still nervous and dreading the visit.

When she was shown into his office, he was bent over searching for something in the bottom drawer of his desk. "Just take a seat," he said without looking up.

Nariko looked around at the offerings and finally settled on the couch. The drawer slammed, drawing her attention back to Doctor Savage as he sat up in his chair and folded his hands on his desk, smiling at her and displaying a beautiful set of gleaming white teeth.

A shock of surprise ran through Nariko as she gaped at him. He didn’t look like any doctor she’d ever seen. Not in real life, anyway. The actors on TV couldn’t even hold a candle to this guy.

He was blond, his hair a dark gold but streaked with locks of platinum that created sun-induced highlights lovely enough to make her loathe her own drab, black hair. His bangs fell across his forehead in a way that inevitably made a person want to push them aside just for the chance to touch that silky hair, and she was not immune. He was sun bronzed, made more evident by the contrast of his white shirt, which covered a set of shoulders so broad, she knew they had to be all muscle. That he was all muscle.

His dark brows were heavy and straight over his eyes. Angry eyebrows, she’d always called them, but on him, they were just enough to offset the perfection of his face and make him truly arresting.

She couldn’t figure out what it was about his face that made her want to stare at it. It seemed normal, almost average if she looked at each feature separately, but there was something there in the combination that seized her attention and made her heart gallop.

She didn’t know if she could handle being around a doctor this damn sexy. She wondered if it was too late to get up and walk out the door.

"What can I help you with today Miss … Ms. …." he trailed off, searching around his desk and picked up a file his nurse had dropped there when she’d escorted her into the room. "Is it Miss or Mrs. Suzaku?"

Nariko recovered from her initial surprise. She eyed him speculatively, wondering what difference it made. "Miss. Why?"

He reddened slightly. "This is usually easier if we can form a bond of trust, and part of that is getting to know you."

She relaxed fractionally. "I’m really a lot more interested in getting something to help me sleep."

He lifted one dark, golden brow. "I don’t work that way, Nariko."

Nariko didn’t know what irritated her worse, his familiarity, or the fact that he just dismissed her request out of hand. She resisted frowning at him, keeping her face impassive. "How do you work then?"

He allowed his gaze to travel her length before meeting hers once more. "Drugs are for the incurable. I’ve found that most patients can be treated naturally, overcoming the problems that prevent them from sleeping."

Nariko studied him for several moments, lacing her fingers in her lap to keep from fidgeting. "So I’m just supposed to discuss it with you? Is that how I’m supposed to be cured from not sleeping every night?"

He lifted his hands outward and shrugged. "Why don’t you explain exactly what your problem is."

Nariko couldn’t help it. Blood flooded into her cheeks. "I have … dreams. They’re very … real and very disturbing."

He frowned thoughtfully. "Why don’t you tell me one of your dreams?"

Nariko hadn’t thought it possible to blush any harder than she was already. She gaped at him, opened her mouth, and closed it several times. "I don’t remember them, actually."

Something gleamed in his eyes. She was sure it was amusement. "Sexual?" he asked.

She felt really hot. All that blood pounding in her cheeks was starting to make her sweat. She cleared her throat. "Um. Sort of."

He was silent for several moments. "Ah … are you involved with someone at the moment?"

"No," she said stiffly.

"Is it possible that your dreams are related to problems you had in a previous relationship?"

"I don’t think so."

"Why?"

She sighed, turning to stare out the window. "Because number 1, I’ve never been in a relationship at all. I’m a virgin. And number 2, the thing I always dream of is a demon."

She didn’t want to look at him. She was sure he was trying hard not to laugh. Either that, or he was staring at her like she was some kind of freak because she was a grown woman and claiming to be a virgin. He was silent for so long, however, that she found she couldn’t resist turning to look and see what his reaction was. To her surprise, there wasn’t a trace of amusement in his expression.

"What makes you think he’s a demon?"

Nariko frowned. "I’m not sure. I’ve never actually seen him. It’s one of those things you just know."

"So you do remember the dreams?"

"I don’t really want to talk about them."

"I understand that you’re not comfortable when we’ve only just met, and believe me, I wouldn’t pry if I didn’t think it wasn’t important, but I need to know the nature of the dreams before I can begin to understand what’s causing them and help you work your way through them."

Nariko stared at him, feeling a mixture of hope and doubt, discomfort and embarrassment. It really was getting harder and harder to cope with these dreams. As uncomfortable as she felt even thinking about telling him, if there was any chance he could help her to get rid of them, she really wanted to have peaceful sleep again. She had permanent circles under her eyes. She could barely remember sleep without nightmares. "I’m just not really comfortable talking about them."

Smiling, he rose from his desk and moved to the light switch, dimming the lights. "Why don’t you just relax there on the couch. Sit up if you want to, lay down if you want to. Just get comfortable. I’m going to move to the chair by the window so that you don’t have to look at me. And when you feel relaxed enough, I want you to tell me about your last dream."

Nariko nodded. She thought about it a few minutes and finally decided to lay down on the couch. She heard his movements as he settled in the chair by the window.

"Before we get started, why don’t you tell me how long you’ve been having these dreams and if you can remember anything out of the ordinary that happened in your life before the dreams started?"

Nariko frowned, thinking back. "They’ve only gotten really bad lately, but I’ve been having nightmares for about ten years I guess. Since I was fifteen."

"Did something happen when you were fifteen?"

Nariko shrugged. "Not that I can remember."

"Something between your parents?" he prompted.

"I grew up in an orphanage. I never knew my parents."

He was silent for several moments. "An accident? An injury? Did something happen to you in the orphanage?"

"No. Not really." She thought it over for several minutes. She really wasn’t comfortable telling him, but he was a doctor. "I was fifteen when I got my period."

Again, there was a prolonged silence. "But you think that’s along about the same time that you began to have the dreams? The nightmares?"

"Sometime along then."

"You say they’re worse now? In what way?"

"Before, I used to dream that I was being chased. I never knew what it was that chased me, only that it was evil and that something terrible would happen to me if it caught me. But I always woke up before it did. Then, about a year ago, the dream seemed to change."

"How did it change?"

"He began to call my name. And somehow then, I knew that it was a demon that pursued me. And it’s gotten even worse. Twice now, he’s caught me."

"Why don’t you tell me what you remember about your last dream?"

Nariko shivered. She felt more comfortable than she thought she would feel. His voice soothed her, and there was no judgment in it. Haltingly at first, and then with more surety, she began to describe the dream to him in detail. When she’d finished, she felt surprisingly better.

Doctor Savage had said nothing, however, and she began to have the uncomfortable feeling that he thought she was crazy.

"What do you think?" she asked, finally.

Doctor Savage said nothing. She heard him get up from the chair, however. He moved within her range of vision and reached for the light dimmer once more. She blinked and sat up as the lights in the room brightened. When she looked around, she saw that the doctor had seated himself behind his desk once more. He was studying the file, frowning.

As if sensing her nervous gaze, he finally looked up at her. A faint smile curled his lips. "I think what you need is someone to teach you how to cope with the demon."

* * * *

Stretching into the distance like a riotous sea lay a chasm of blackness, interrupted only by winks in the night like glowing eyes. It was with a sense of terror that I realized they were eyes, and they were coming closer. My stomach lurched at that unending blackness crawling toward me as if the very night lived and breathed evil.

The limits of the precipice crumbled, making me stagger backward, but a cushion of something unseen kept me from fleeing, kept me there at the edge of some unfathomable horror.

A chill wind shifted over me, tangling my hair over my face in loopy tendrils that caught at my eyes and mouth. I pushed it away, unable to look from the darkness.

"Nari," something whispered close by, raising chills on my arms and neck like an abrasion.

I wanted to close my eyes and cover my ears, to will it away. Will it all away. This was a dream. A nightmare. I knew it, and yet I was no more able to control it than I’d been able to any other time since the dreams had begun. I was paralyzed, both mentally and physically. Something held me here, wanted me to see this.

He locked one arm around my breasts, pulling me back against his chest. "They come for you, Nari. For the chance to fuck your sweet little pussy" he said, cupping my femininity for emphasis, curling his fingers into my fabric covered slit. I bit my lip, struggling not to moan. He loosed his hold and grabbed my arms, trapping me as effectively as manacles. "Do you want them fighting over you? I’ve held them back this long, but I can take my protection away if you crave a gang bang. Perhaps that is what’s needed to break you."

I didn’t struggle. The edge was too close for me to risk it, and I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t throw me off if I fought him. But I would never let him break me. Never. "Why should I believe anything you say?" I said, fighting back the swarming urge to shudder at the implication of his words.

"Believe or not. You cannot change my will, wherever it may roam."

"Then why ask me at all?" I gritted out.

He laughed, tightening his hold. "Perhaps simply because I enjoy taunting you?"

He manifested. One moment, I could see nothing, and the next, I saw his hands. They locked around my biceps, black as ebony. His skin gleamed as if he’d oiled down, and each finger ended in a short claw that just cleared the end of each finger. They looked like glass. Black glass. Sharp enough to slice me open.

A strange calmness settled over me. I had to find out more about him if I was going to fight him. I knew he wasn’t real, that he was some part of my subconscious fighting against me, but if I could now see just a small part of him, it told me that I was beginning to be able to face him. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

He laughed, a deep, gravelly sound that grated on the nerves more for its cockiness than its sound, which would’ve been pleasant under other circumstances. "I enjoy your growing bravado, Nari," he said, stroking my skin with his thumbs. "Is my seduction so unexpected that you no longer know me?" He rubbed against my buttocks, his cock a hard insidiousness that nudged the cleft like a hot poker. His hands shifted to my breasts, squeezing them, pinching my nipples as he kept me trapped against him. He bit my neck, lips locking against my flesh, sucking at the crook of my shoulder until I cried out in pain.

He broke away, only to fierce my skin as he dragged the edges of his teeth up my neck to breathe hotly in my ear. "I am called Onyx," he whispered, grinding himself against me. "And you are mine."

"I don’t belong to you or anyone else," I said, my voice monotonous. I felt drugged, even stiffer and unable to control myself than I had been before. Had he done something more than bite my neck?

I couldn’t support my weight anymore. My knees gave out. He caught me as I crumpled, lowering me to the ground.

I looked at him between my lashes, but he was indistinct as a shadow, a dark outline marring the starry sky above us. I wanted to open my eyes more, but they wouldn’t budge. My body wouldn’t obey any of my commands. I lay, limp and malleable, for whatever pleasure or pain he intended.

Grasping my clothing, he pulled until it ripped open, exposing me until I was naked and at the mercy of his raking gaze.

He stopped a moment as if studying me. I could practically feel his eyes touching my every curve. A prolonged silence ensued, broken only by my own harsh breathing. "I far prefer your struggles, Nari, but your complacency makes our joining easier."

"Fuck … you," I managed to whisper, willing my body to move, to flee. Nothing.

My thighs parted beneath his hands. He settled between them, his skin oddly hairless and smooth, warmed within by an insatiable heat hot enough to sear me by touch alone. "In a moment, I will oblige you," he said on a husky growl, lowering himself over me.

I tensed infinitesimally, preparing for invasion. Where arousal had been before, now there was nothing but pervading fear. I was completely dry. He would hurt me.

This couldn’t happen. It was a dream. A dream! I wouldn’t allow myself to be taken in a dream. I couldn’t.

The knowledge couldn’t save me, however. Where was Doctor Savage when I needed him? How could my own subconscious deny me the hope to escape?

As if by only thinking about a savior had conjured it, a light pierced the darkness beyond my closed lids.

Onyx hissed and thrust himself away. I felt the loss of his heat replaced by the warmth of the sun. It invigorated me, broke the paralysis I’d been under. Opening my eyes, I blinked against the blinding light that surrounded me, wondering what the hell had happened.

Sitting up, covering my eyes with one hand, I reached out with the other, feeling around for the source of the brilliance. I connected with flesh and jerked back.

"Who’s there?" I asked, tensing up again. Had I just gone from the pan into the fire? Those things were out there. Had they broken through whatever barrier kept them trapped in the deep?

"I am no foe for you to slay," a deep, amusement tinged voice spoke.

For some reason, it was soothing to me, eased my fear. The light dimmed enough I could uncover my eyes without going blind. Before me crouched a man--no, not a man. He was a monster, but he was more beautiful than any monster had the right to be. This was the kind of demon that could tempt saints to sin.

Hair trailed down his chest nearly to his belly, stirring in the wind created by the massive wings moving at his back. It was nearly a pure white, broken only by contrasting streaks of dark gold. His skin was gold too, almost a metallic shade and too surreal to ever be considered human. His body was all muscle, massive, hard and defined, sculpted by the hand of a master. The angles of his face were pure, beautiful symmetry, broken only by the arch of his brows as he stared at me. His eyes were gold too, a glowing gold that rippled with hints of red and orange, like metal heated to the melting point. Out of his forehead sprang two curled horns, spiraled and twisted like ram’s horns but reaching toward the sky. And his wings … they gleamed like polished ivory, marbled with golden threads as they stirred the air in a gentle current.

He reminded me forcefully of Doctor Savage. Not in form, which wasn’t human, but in face. Enough so, that it startled me at first, and then I realized it had to be thoughts of him just moments before that must have put him into my mind.

There was something inherently carnal about him, aside from his near nakedness. He looked at me with a hunger so intense it radiated from his pores. I covered myself, bringing the edges of my clothes together, uncomfortably aware of how long his gaze had lingered at my breasts and between my legs. If it was possible, I’d swear my nipples and cleft blushed.

As it was, they tightened, coming to achy, needful awareness.

"Who are you? Why did you come?" I finally asked, my voice so husky it didn’t sound like me.

He stood, looking around warily before turning his gaze back to me. "You need to protect yourself against him and the others. I cannot protect you."

I hadn’t asked for his protection, but I wasn’t about to argue with that logic. I did need to learn how to protect myself. Running had only prolonged the torment, and I couldn’t escape him--Onyx--any longer. "I can’t fight what I can’t see."

"You cannot see him because you don’t want to."

Tired of looking up at him, I stood. I still had to look up to meet his eyes. "I don’t understand," I said, tightening my hold on the scraps of clothing covering me. This close, I could feel the heat of his body, breathe in his scent. There was no describing the intoxicating effect it had on me. He was more potent even than Onyx, and I wondered if it was a result of my attraction to Doctor Savage. Who knew? Not me, and I didn’t really relish the idea of exploring my theory with the object of my attraction.

"This is your world. Your rules. We can but obey them." He turned to go.

"Wait!" I said, grabbing his arm, stopping him. He looked down at my hand and then back up to my face. "Could you teach me?" I asked, feeling almost breathless with the tension between us, and the strong muscles flexed beneath my hand.

Turning fully, his body rubbed against my chest. "There are many things I could teach you, Nari," he said, his voice soft, seductive. I felt the deep tone vibrate in my bones, warming my muscles, making my body heat to the point of combustion.

He inclined his head, bending even as I tilted my own to meet his lips. He stopped just shy of satisfying my sudden craving to kiss him. His breathing was harsh, warning me his control was on edge, that he felt as frantic for the connection of our mouths as I did.

"Now is not the time. Wake up, Nariko…."

Chapter Three

Nariko rolled over in bed, pounding the mattress with her fists. "Dammit!" she cursed, collapsing into stillness, squeezing her eyes shut and willing sleep to return. It wouldn’t, of course, not now that she wanted it … and wanted to begin that kiss.

She rubbed her thighs together, feeling the slippery arousal there. Who’d made her feel that way? Onyx, or the stranger?

"Damn."

Nariko rolled out of bed, wincing when her head and neck felt like they were going to seize in a charley horse. She brought her hand up to it, grimacing as she connected with tender flesh. Jeez, she felt like she’d been--Nariko stopped at that thought, jumping to her feet to rush into the bathroom.

She flipped on the lights, leaning over the sink to stare at herself in horror. At the crook of her shoulder and neck was a circular bruise. As she moved closer, she could see darker, smaller bruises within the edges of the circle. Like the marks of teeth….

The creature … Onyx had bitten her. It’d hurt, hurt like something really happening.

She covered her face with her palms, as if it would make the bruising disappear, slowly dragging them down her face but coming up against the same sight.

"How is this possible?" she asked herself.

Dreams weren’t real. How then had she been marked in her sleep?

Had her mind created the bruise? Could she die in real life if she died in her sleep? What else could happen to her?

No one knew the extent of the human mind, however. She’d heard stories of people healing themselves by the power of thought alone. If she’d been raised in the tradition of her ancestors, would she know more about this? Would she be able to protect herself?

To think that it was something else was nearly as unbearable as the thought of her own body at war with itself. It was enough to make her never want to crawl into bed again and never go outside.

* * * *

Nariko felt none of the nervousness she’d felt the first time she’d visited Doctor Savage. She was really scared now.

As soon as she took her seat on the couch, she began to fidget, waiting for him to finish glancing over the file and give her his attention.

After what seemed an interminable amount of time, he looked up. "You’re still having the bad dreams?"

Nariko bobbed her head nervously. "It’s worse than that, though. The dreams are worse, and this time when I woke up, I had a mark from the dream."

Doctor Savage frowned, clasping his hands together on atop his desk. "I don’t understand."

Nariko dragged in a shaky breath. "In my dream, the demon bit me. When I woke up I found this mark on my neck. It looks like a bite."

Doctor Savage stood abruptly and moved toward her. Crouching in front of her, he met her gaze. "Show me."

Nariko pulled her shirt away from her neck and showed him the mark she’d found that morning in the mirror. He studied it in silence for some time. "You dreamed that you were bitten and then you found this?"

She nodded jerkily. "You can even see teeth marks."

Doctor Savage frowned. "You’re certain that this didn’t happen first and then you dreamed of it, and in your dream, it became the demon who had bitten you?"

She stared at him wide-eyed. "You think I’m crazy, don’t you?"

"I didn’t say that."

"You don’t have to. You just said that you thought that I couldn’t tell the difference between dreams and reality."

He shook his head. "Sometimes things happen to us and they disturb us in a way that they manifest themselves in our dreams."

She shook her head. "This did not happen to me. I know the difference. Don’t you see how deep the bite is? How could I not remember that someone had bit me like this? And then think that I had dreamed it?"

He stared at her for several moments. "So maybe it’s not a dream at all."

She frowned. "I don’t think I understand what you’re suggesting."

"I’m suggesting that maybe something is happening to you while you’re asleep. Perhaps you’re not fully conscious of it, but it enters your dream. It’s like, sometimes the doorbell will ring when you’re asleep, but you’re dreaming, and in your dream you think that it’s the phone ringing. It’s something outside your dream, in the real world, that’s intruding into your dreams. And while you’re asleep, you are interpreting it as something else."

Nariko shivered. Just the implication of his words turned her stomach and sent cold chills down her arms and legs. "I live alone. I told you I wasn’t seeing anyone. Are you suggesting someone is coming into my apartment? While I’m asleep?"

"I’m not suggesting that at all. I really find this disturbing, however, and I think what we should do, if you’re agreeable to it, is that I should setup my equipment in your apartment and observe you while you’re sleeping."

She frowned. "Don’t they usually do that sort of thing in a controlled environment?"

He shrugged. "Usually, yes, but I don’t think there’s anything usual about your dreams. Would you like to do that?"

Nariko didn’t think it over very long. She hardly knew Doctor Savage, but it made her feel tremendously better just thinking about him being there while she slept so that she wasn’t alone. She nodded.

* * * *

"Do you really think you can stay up all night watching me?" Nariko asked, looking over the video cameras he’d set up around her bed. She wasn’t sure how well she’d sleep under surveillance but probably better than her average night anyway. She had nothing to lose.

"I’ve gone without sleep before. I normally don’t have to worry about it though, since I usually have technicians and nurses taking shifts as well," Doctor Savage said, adjusting one tripod.

She arched a brow. "But none this time. Should I be worried?"

His head snapped up from what he was doing, and he looked at her. "Of course not."

She couldn’t help herself. She laughed. After a second, he let out an uneasy chuckle and smiled at her, making her heart skip. Damn, it was going to be hell trying to sleep tonight with him in the house. She hoped she wouldn’t do anything embarrassing in her sleep.

* * * *

The bed shifted, dipping as someone climbed into it, sidling up behind me. The warmth of another person brushed against my air space--aura--heightening my awareness and bringing me from the deep blackness of dreamless sleep.

I turned my head slightly toward the movement behind me. "Doctor Savage?" I asked groggily, my voice husky with disuse.. The room wasn’t completely dark. Muted light filtered through the blinds covering my bedroom window.

"No," he said softly, soothingly.

When he touched my hip, I stiffened, watching as his hand traveled down in a leisurely caress around the curve of my buttocks. He caught the sheet covering me and pulled until the edge slid over my hip and pooled on the bed, leaving me bare save for the silk panties I wore. I could’ve sworn I’d gone to bed in pajama pants, since I’d never gone to sleep with a man in my immediate vicinity, and I darn sure didn’t want the doctor seeing me unclothed without a good reason. But having a man see me now didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

He leaned forward, catching the fabric of my panties with his teeth. That’s when I saw his horns.

I startled, tried to jerk away, but his hands were on me, trapping me, flipping me onto my stomach until I was pinned to the bed beneath him. The hot, hard flesh of his thighs closed around my legs, keeping them still while he cupped my buttocks and roamed over them up my spine. "Let me go!" I said, gasping, shaking my head until my face was clear of the pillow. I didn’t know his name, but I knew who it was. I should’ve been fighting, and my body was in turmoil … but for a different reason altogether.

"Is this not what you crave?" he asked, leaning over me until his warm breath brushed the back of my neck. His fingers slipped under my panties, teasing the under curve of my ass cheeks, lingering near my cleft.

I sucked in a sharp breath, unable to speak for the anticipation choking me, making my heart pound in a raging gallop.

He rubbed a sensuous circle, his touch feather light, never quite roaming the direction I wanted him to go to so badly. "Stop torturing me," I said, squirming beneath him, digging my hands into the mattress like claws.

He chuckled, adjusting himself until he’d freed my legs to sit between them. It should’ve been an embarrassing position, having him looking at me this way, but all thought of shame disappeared when he snapped the sides of my panties and tore them away. I jumped, shocked when he ran a finger up my slit.

"I am no more good or evil than any of my kind. We each serve our own purpose. You should not relent so easily, Nariko. You’re stronger than this." He stopped at my core, fingering the edges of my tight hole.

I didn’t feel strong. I felt weak and needy, and I damn sure didn’t want a lecture. I was having trouble concentrating on his words. All I could think about was having him ram that finger inside me and assuage this ache I’d been feeling for what seemed like forever.

Biting my lip, I pushed back, trying to urge him to do more.

"Onyx seeks to gain power from you," he said, tormenting me with his nearness.

I growled against the mattress. "And what about you? What do you want?"

"You, Nariko," he said, and I felt his breath brush over my bare cheeks.

I froze, holding my breath, waiting for him to say or do something. Even my heart seemed to have locked into place. Anticipating. Begging. Emptiness gnawed.

Something hot and wet swiped one cheek. I jerked, trying to see what he was doing, but I could twist around that far. I didn’t need to see anyway. I knew what he was up to. My body felt singed, my nerves so high strung the stroke of air could set them off.

He pried my lips apart. Cool air grazed the moistness, sending chills up my spine, and then the probe of something hot and wet slipped down the slick path, jarring me, sending me whirling into a frenzy of heat and need.

He found the entrance to my vagina, edged it, teasing, provoking me to curse him and groan, struggling to do something--anything.

He seemed to enjoy torturing me as much as Onyx. I was going to go crazy from all this want, this unappeased, unending arousal.

"Do you want my tongue inside your pussy?" he asked, muffled, his breath striking my slit.

His words were eerily similar to the other demons, but I was too far gone to care. I just wanted to come. I didn’t care anymore who made me do it. "Yes. Please!"

He grinned against me, his lips a soft stretch against sensitive parts, then swiped a swath up and down my slit like he had to devour me before I melted. My muscled jumped and quivered.

He drew back a moment, holding my labia apart as his mouth hovered near. "Mmmm. Very good," he murmured, and then his tongue slipped through my creamy seam to my core, thrusting inside. It was long, longer than I had anticipated. It seemed to unfurl inside me, move like it had a mind of its own, like it could see exactly where I needed it to touch.

Almost immediately, he found my g-spot. I nearly screamed at the sharp pleasure that stabbed my inner muscles, making me push back against his face until I was sure I’d smother him.

He gripped my hips, digging his face into my slit, stroking deep inside me as he rubbed his chin against my clit.

I gasped, arching my back, the sheer uncomfortable-ness of the position did nothing to assuage my fervor.

Swells of ecstasy rippled through my muscles, churning around my clit. His tongue withdrew with a smack, and he angled his head until he could reach my clit. He nibbled the base and parted lips, not quite doing as I needed and wanted, barely touching me.

"You’re killing me!" I wailed, squeezing my eyes tightly shut, frustrated beyond measure.

He smiled again, and then plucked at the bud, sucking it into his mouth as he thrust his fingers inside my vagina. I jerked against him at the sudden, intense pleasure that spiked through my body, whimpering, begging for more. I couldn’t ever remember being so aroused.

I was panting for breath now. Desperate for the culmination of pleasure hovering just beyond my reach. The small, wet noises he made only increased my arousal.

He suckled my clit, moving his fingers in and out of me in a mock fucking, stroking the tender patch of my g-spot.

I shuddered violently. Overcome by the torturous pleasure rasping from his mouth, radiating from his fingers. Tingling, knee-weakening, heart stopping ecstasy vibrated through my body.

I cried out, my muscles gone limp as I jerked with each debilitating wave. I couldn’t feel anything anymore, only a vague sort of numbness that left me incredibly sleepy and fulfilled.

He moved off of me, but I was so worn out, I didn’t stir. I couldn’t seem to even open my eyes.

He stroked the back of my neck, kissing my temple. Strangely enough, I couldn’t smell myself on him. "If ever you need me, Nariko," he whispered, "Call my name, Xalen. Call and I will come."

* * * *

Nariko came awake slowly, with such a sense of well being that she was reluctant to give up the drowsy comfort. The threads of sleep refused to remain within her grasp, though. As she came at last to full awareness, she realized she still felt absolutely wonderful--rested, without any sense of sluggishness, no tension, no lingering anxiety.

It was almost like suddenly realizing a complete absence of pain when one had been suffering a toothache for days and days. Rolling from her bed, she glanced self-consciously a the cameras and scurried into the bathroom to perform her morning grooming ritual.

She found, as she showered, that she was actually humming. She didn’t even recognize the tune, but it didn’t matter. She felt better than she could remember ever feeling in the morning.

She glanced shyly at Doctor Savage when she reached the living room, where he’d set up the monitor station for his equipment. Her heart stammered uncomfortably in her chest, the breath rushing from her lungs as she took in his tousled look from the all nighter he’d just pulled.

He was a total hunk when he was immaculate, as she usually saw him in his office. He looked succulent now, with his heavy lidded eyes, the day old stubble of beard, his tousled hair. He’d unfastened his shirt and pulled it from his jeans. The top button of his jeans were undone, as well.

He looked like a man that had spent a night satisfying a woman, and she felt her nerves sizzle with an unaccustomed tension that had everything to do with being around an extremely attractive male.

She smiled at him tentatively when she saw that he was studying her.

"Did the demon disturb your dreams?"

His voice was husky. It sent a shiver of sensation along her nerve endings that made her heart trip over itself. Warmth gathered in her sex.

She ignored it with an effort, focusing on the real reason he’d spent the night in her apartment. "I didn’t," she said with a touch of surprise. "It’s the first time I haven’t in--I can’t even remember when I didn’t." She frowned, feeling a faint blush rise in her cheeks. "Actually, I dreamed about you."

He arched one eyebrow. Something gleamed in his eyes and she was torn between a warm response to the look and a touch of irritation. It seemed to her that he was assuming the dream had been sexual in nature--which it had been--when he had no reason to think she would be dreaming of him like that.

She moved into the kitchen. "I don’t really remember what it was about," she lied, "except that it was just one of those tame sort of dreams you have sometimes. Like you’re going somewhere--something like that."

When she glanced at him over the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, she saw that he was looking amused. "Would you like some juice?" she asked with determined cheerfulness, although she felt like slapping the smug look off his face.

"Yes, thanks," he said, rising from the chair and adjusting his jeans and fastening them.

Nariko glanced away quickly as he adjusted his "package" in the snug jeans.

She dropped the first glass she dragged from the cabinet. The noise of the glass slamming into the counter set her nerves on edge. Thankfully, it was made of thick glass and didn’t break. She righted it and dragged another glass out, then tossed some bagels into the toaster over before she went to the refrigerator to get the juice.

Dr. Savage was sitting at the counter when she turned around and she nearly dropped the carton. "So … you don’t remember what you dreamed?" he asked conversationally.

"Bits and pieces, I suppose," Nariko muttered, recovering and heading for the counter to fill the juice glasses. "Nothing that really makes sense."

"Why don’t you tell me what you do remember?"

Try though she might not to think about what she’d dreamed, she blushed again, overfilled one of the glasses and spilt juice on the counter top. She felt like kicking herself when she glanced at Dr. Savage as she handed him his glass of juice and saw the knowing look on his face.

Or was she only imagining he knew what she’d been dreaming because she felt so uncomfortable about it? And her attraction to him, for that matter.

She frowned, turning her attention to the bagels. "Just something about calling you when the demon came."

He sipped his juice thoughtfully while she put the bagels on saucers and got the cream cheese from the refrigerator.

"I told you to call me?" he prompted when she settled on a counter stool at the other end of the short bar.

That part wasn’t exactly crystal clear in her mind--not nearly as clear as the things he’d done and the heat that had curled inside of her--and rose inside of her now, when she thought about it again. She thought about it for several moments. "That was one of the things that made the dream seem really weird. You told me I had powers of my own, and that if I needed you I could--summon you to me. All I had to do was call your name. The strangest thing, though, was that you didn’t say ‘Doctor Savage’ or ‘Shayne Savage’. You said your name was Xalen.

"You said that if the dark demon came after me again, I was to say ‘Xalen! Come to me!’ and you would come."

His brows rose, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he concentrated on his juice and bagels. When he’d finished, he climbed off the stool and did an all over stretch that exposed every lovely muscle in his chest and belly. His jeans, as he pulled in his stomach in the stretch, rode low, and Nariko’s eyes were drawn to the light, narrow trail of dark hair that arrowed down from his belly button.

"Do you mind if I use your shower?"

Nariko blinked, snapped from her zen meditation of his lower belly when he straightened. "Huh? Oh! Sure! Towels and washcloths in the bathroom cabinet."

When he’d left, she dropped her face into her hands, mortified. She was behaving as if she’d never seen a man before. He was going to think she’d enticed him to her apartment to try to seduce him!

It was that damn dream demon! She wasn’t in the habit of looking at men and thinking sex. She had never even had sex! Up until she’d started dreaming about the demon that was chasing her, she’d never looked at a man, even an attractive one, and thought about sex. She’d been plenty attracted. She’d thought about kissing--maybe a little heavy petting.

Ok, so maybe she’d had a few very tame fantasies about sex, but they were pretty much PG-13. She completely understood the mechanics of it. She’d read plenty of books. She’d seen a lot of sexy movies, but she’d never really associated such things with herself, and she certainly hadn’t fantasized about the sort of things she did now.

And now she’d started thinking about doing those things with her sleep therapist of all things.

She shook it off after a while, deciding that she must have dreamed that because she thought Doctor Savage was attractive and knew he was in her apartment. Most likely, it would never happen again.

When Dr. Savage came out of her bathroom carrying the overnight bag he’d brought with him, it was a knee weakening jolt. Freshly scrubbed now, clean shaven, she didn’t know if it was the way he looked or the cologne that nearly knocked her socks off, but she wished she had something to do besides gape at him like a love sick calf.

He didn’t seem to notice, thankfully. He was all business now.

Dropping his bag beside the chair he’d spent the night in, he settled on the edge and faced her where she sat on the couch, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"I need to have a look at your records from the orphanage," he said without preamble.

Nariko blinked. "I don’t understand. I know you said you thought something might have happened to me, but nothing did. I’d remember."

"Not necessarily," he said grimly. "It’s possible something did, and you’ve managed to block it from your conscious mind but not your sub-conscious. I need to at least rule that possibility out, if nothing else."

Nariko thought about the implications, feeling her stomach tighten. "You think I’m just going to keep having these dreams?" she said uneasily. It was odd that she’d woken feeling as if the whole problem had been solved, crazy really. She’d dreamed the whole thing! How could she have allowed herself to believe her problem had been solved?

She had, though. She’d been behaving, and thinking, like all she had to do any time that thing got after her was summon Xalen and she’d be all right.

How crazy was that?

"So … you’re going to the orphanage?"

"We are going to the orphanage."

Chapter Four

"May I help you?"

Nariko glanced at Dr. Savage. It was odd the way people could use words that sounded perfectly polite and still make it come out as more of a challenge. If the receptionist had only looked bored, she wouldn’t seemed nearly as rude. Her entire attitude, however, was that they’d interrupted her.

"I’m Dr. Shayne Savage. I’d like to speak with the director, if I could."

"Do you have an appointment?"

His eyes narrowed momentarily at her abrupt tone. Finally, he smiled faintly. "If I did, I wouldn’t have asked."

The woman seemed to lighten up a bit at that smile, but his comment made her stiffen once more. Without a word, she flipped through the appointment book. Nariko couldn’t read what was written there, but she could see there was very little.

The receptionist slammed the book shut and looked up at them again. "If you’ll have a seat, I’ll see if Ms. Townsend can see you today."

Nariko felt an unpleasant jolt go through her at the name. She supposed it had been too much to hope the old bat had died since she’d left the orphanage. Or retired. She must be a hundred, and still she clung to her position with the tenacity of a pit bull. Without a word, she turned away from the desk, glanced around at the handful of chairs in the tiny waiting room and finally picked one and sat. Dr. Savage stood, although he moved across the room to stare out of the window.

Nariko kept glancing at the ugly round clock on the wall. Five minutes passed, then ten. They were rapidly approaching the twenty minute mark and Dr. Savage had begun to pace when the receptionist finally returned. Without a word, she sat down and began to peck at her keyboard.

Nariko glanced at Dr. Savage and saw that he was giving the woman a narrow eyed look.

She supposed he wasn’t accustomed to people treating him as if he was a non-entity.

She supposed she should have warned him that that was the way everyone was treated at the orphanage, but then she hadn’t expected them to be as rude to him. He was a doctor, after all. They generally commanded respect.

It wasn’t as if the old bat knew he was a sleep therapist, but then Nariko could well imagine how much old dragon lady Townsend was enjoying the idea of keeping a doctor pacing about her waiting room.

Dr. Savage strode to the desk. "Well?"

"She can’t see you today."

Nariko could see he was fighting a round with his temper. After a moment, he stopped grinding his teeth and forced a grim smile. "Perhaps you can help me then?"

The woman looked up at him, her expression surprised--as if she couldn’t believe he had the gall to ask her to help him.

"I need the records of one of the patients I’m treating."

"Name?"

"Nariko Suzaku."

The receptionist’s gaze flickered toward Nariko. "I’m not sure we still have medical records on her. She was released almost seven years ago."

Dr. Savage gave her a look. "I need to see all of her records--from the time she was brought to the orphanage."

The woman studied him in tightlipped silence for several moments and finally got up and left the office once more, muttering, as she left, "You might have asked that while I was up before."

Dr. Savage turned and exchanged a look with Nariko, and she bit back a smile. "You didn’t mention that this was such a warm place."

Nariko chuckled but shrugged. "It’s the only one I was ever in. I thought they were all like this."

Dr. Savage frowned, but he didn’t comment.

He got tired of leaning over the counter that separated the receptionist’s desk from the waiting area and began to pace again. This time only fifteen minutes passed before the woman returned--empty handed. She sat down at her desk once more and resumed pecking at her keyboard. When Dr. Savage leaned over the counter again, she threw him a smug smile. "Ms. Townsend says they can’t be released without a court order."

Dr. Savage fought another round with his temper. "Why?"

The woman shrugged. "They’re sealed."

"Why?"

She gave him a withering look. "I don’t know. That’s what I was told."

"Did you tell Ms. Townsend that I was Nariko’s physician?"

"You didn’t tell me you were," the receptionist said coldly.

Dr. Savage lost his temper. "I hate like hell to drag you away from whatever you’re doing to do your job, but do you think you could ask again?"

The receptionist glared at him. "I’ll have to have some identification."

Dr. Savage dragged his wallet out and tossed his ID on the woman’s desk.

She studied it skeptically. "This says you’re a sleep therapist."

He ground his teeth. "Exactly. Doctor Shayne Savage, specialty, sleep therapy."

The receptionist stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her that time. She was back within ten minutes, tossing Dr. Shayne’s ID on the counter. "Ms. Townsend says you’ll need a court order."

Dr. Savage palmed his ID and stood away from the counter. After a moment, he turned and motioned to Nariko. When they’d left the building, she glanced at him. "What now?"

He didn’t answer at once. Instead, he escorted her to his car and held the door until she got in. When he’d climbed behind the steering wheel, he sat staring out the windshield for several minutes, as if he was studying the building.

"Do you think it would be worth it to get a court order?" she finally asked.

"I think there’s something damned strange going on here," he responded tightly.

Nariko waited a few moments, but when he said no more, she prodded him again. "What are we going to do now?"

"Break in."

* * * *

"Excuse me?" Nariko asked.

Dr. Savage’s face was grim when he glanced at her. "I need the information in those files if I’m going to help you. And I have no intention of allowing anyone to stop me."

Nariko blinked at him several times, deciding she must have heard him wrong. "But--so you’re going to try to get a court order?"

He studied her thoughtfully for several moments. "That could take a year or more. I don’t think you can wait that long. Do you?"

A year. Nariko didn’t think she could stand what she’d been going through another week. What would happen if that evil thing caught her and finally managed to do whatever he’d been trying to do? That was what she feared--especially after she’d woken with the bite mark. "But--breaking in? What if you were caught? You’d be in all sorts of trouble. I can’t let you do it. I appreciate it more than I can say, but I’d be responsible if it went badly and you were arrested … or anything."

He looked amused. "I wasn’t asking your permission. You asked me what I was going to do … but you don’t have to take the risk. I can handle it. In fact, it’ll be better if I go in alone."

She stared at him for several moments while her shock and surprise turned to irritation. "So--what you’re saying is that I would get us caught? If you’re going to do it, you need me. I lived here practically my whole life. I know it like the back of my hand. It would be better if you just let me do it. That way, if I get caught, you won’t be in any trouble and I won’t have anything to feel guilty about."

"Do you know anything about breaking and entering?"

She gave him a look. "Probably as much as you do."

"We’ll do it together," he said firmly.

* * * *

Nariko gave Dr. Savage an "I told you so" look when the light finally went out in Ms. Townsend’s office. Unfortunately, it was dark and he missed it.

She’d told him the old bat always went back after dinner to do her paperwork and never left her office--which adjoined her apartment--before ten in the evenings. They’d been waiting for a good hour and now they would have to wait longer still.

Hopefully, the old battle ax was deaf, because she’d always slept like a watch dog and Nariko doubted if that had changed any. One sound and she’d come boiling out of her apartment snarling and slavering at the mouth.

It had only taken Nariko one such nasty encounter to decide that she wasn’t doing anything else that might get her into trouble.

When another hour had passed and virtually every light in the orphanage had been switched off or dimmed, they finally left the shrubs and moved stealthily toward the building.

They’d fed the watch dogs meat laden with something to make them sleep. She sincerely hoped they could get in and out before the damned dogs woke up. One thing she didn’t need to top her evening was a Rottweiler chewing up her ass.

When they’d reached the kitchen door, which, in Nariko’s time was often left unlocked because the mechanism was so old it was hard to turn, they discovered a bright, shiny new one had been installed.

Nariko stared at it in dismay, but Dr. Savage merely pulled something from his pants pocket and began working on it. In a few minutes, he had the door open. She looked at him with a mixture of surprise, doubt, and … respect. "How did you do that?" she whispered.

"An old trick I learned in my misspent youth."

When they were inside, they closed the door quietly and locked it behind them. The orphanage only had a couple of security guards that patrolled the interior of the building, but they didn’t want to take the chance that the unlocked door would be discovered and alert them to an intruder.

Waiting until their eyes adjusted, they set off through the kitchen to the corridor. After peering both ways, they left the kitchen and moved quickly down to the stairs at the end, staying close to the wall as they ascended. The stairs creaked anyway. Every time one let out a noise, both of them paused, holding their breath.

One of the security guards passed the stairwell as they reached the second floor. They waited, listening as his steps came closer and closer and then began to diminish once more as he passed the stairwell and disappeared down the hallway. "Midnight rounds," Nariko whispered when he’d passed beyond hearing. "He’s supposed to come every half hour, but he probably won’t be back before one."

Savage glanced at her. "Probably?"

"When I was here, their rounds took forty-five minutes … because he’d usually stop for a smoke or a cup of coffee. I don’t know if it’s the same guys … or even the same schedule … but it is midnight and he just passed."

Savage studied her a moment. "If we should happen to run up on the guards, just do as I say."

Nariko stared at him wide-eyed a moment, wondering what she’d gotten herself in to, but finally nodded.

Opening the stairwell, he glanced in both directions. When he saw it was clear, he motioned for Nariko to show him the way and they moved quickly but quietly to the door to the main office. Again, Savage picked the lock. Moving across the office, Nariko headed toward the records room and went in. Savage pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and flicked the light over the filing cabinets.

Ten minutes later, they’d located Nariko’s file. To Nariko’s horror, Savage pulled the contents out, replaced the papers with part of several other files and stuffed the contents of her file into his shirt.

"You’re taking it?" she said on a breath of sound.

He put his fingers to his lips, shut the drawer and turned off the flashlight.

Nariko had already grabbed the doorknob when they heard the office door slam open and heels clicking briskly across the floor. She turned to Savage wide-eyed with horror. Grabbing her arm, he hauled her to the back of the tiny room, pushed her up against the wall and pressed up against her. "Not a sound," he whispered, his lips against her ear.

A shiver skated through her as the heat of his breath touched her ear.

Nariko heard the doorknob creak as it was turned. "Sh--"

Savage grabbed her upper arms, pressing her tightly against the wall with his body, covered her lips with his and thrust his tongue into her mouth. The jolt that went through her was fifty percent pure physical reaction to Savage’s rough caress and fifty percent sheer terror when the light abruptly came on.

He was totally mad! She should have known he was crazy when he suggested they break into a state run facility to steal her records.

Why had she allowed him to talk her in to this?

She stiffened when the light came on, expecting any moment to hear Mrs. Townsend’s screech. Instead, after a few moments, the light was turned off again and she heard the retreat of the heels across the office floor.

It wasn’t until total silence reigned once more that Nariko realized Savage was in no great hurry to pull away from her and break the kiss. Her lips throbbed from the pressure of his mouth, sending inappropriate signals to places that had no business getting calls in this sort of situation. Finally, however, he lifted his lips from hers and stepped back.

Nariko was too stunned to fully appreciate the kiss they’d just shared. In fact, she couldn’t remember doing anything but standing there with her mouth hanging open as he plundered it. Vaguely, she could taste him on her tongue--sweet with a bite, like sugared mint. She looked up at him in the dimness, gasping for air, not quite believing what just happened. "She didn’t see us. How could she not have seen us?"

A faint smile curled his lips. "They’ll hear us if you aren’t quiet."

Nariko’s jaw dropped when she realized what he was suggesting--thought he was suggesting, that she wanted to him to use his ‘trick’ again. Glaring at him, she led the way from the office and down the stairs. She didn’t know whether she was more relieved or disappointed when they emerged from the building without further incident.

"All right," she demanded as soon as they’d gotten in the car and Savage laid the papers from her file on the seat between them, "how did you do that?"

Savage started the car. "I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue in yours," he said coolly.

She blushed furiously. "That’s not what I meant!"

"She didn’t see us. That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?"

"I just don’t understand how she could’ve failed to see us, that’s all! We were in plain sight."

"You weren’t. I was between you and her. I was very still. I blended with the background."

Nariko gave him a look. It was true that he was wearing dark clothing, but she wasn’t buying it. On the other hand, she couldn’t think of an explanation that actually made any sense and puzzled over it most of the way back to her place until her focus shifted to the file.

When they’d parked in front of her apartment, they both got out and headed for the door without a word, but Nariko, at least, felt a strange sense of unreality settle over her.

In one sense, she felt surprisingly comfortable around Dr. Savage, considering the fact that she hardly knew him. She did hardly know him, however, which was why it made reality seem just a little skewed that Dr. Savage presumed his welcome in her home like a long time acquaintance.

And then there was that kiss and grope thing. She didn’t know how he’d felt about it, but her knees still felt like they were filled with jelly instead of bone and cartilage. She supposed he thought that had been a good way to get her quiet fast and keep her that way until the threat had passed, but had he done it purely out of necessity? Or had it made him feel all hot and bothered like it had her?

If it had, she had to admit he hid it very well.

Once she’d unlocked the door to the apartment, he headed for her couch, dropped the file on the coffee table, opened it and began studying the pages inside. More than a little disconcerted, Nariko watched him for a few moments and finally followed him, settling next to him on the couch and picking up each page and studying it as he discarded it.

Most of it was pretty boring, even to her. There were notes, however, about behavioral problems beginning around puberty. Mentally, Nariko shrugged. She supposed the problems outlined did correspond to the beginning of her nightmares. On the other hand, it seemed to her that pretty much everyone went through a change in behavior when they hit that period of raging hormonal unbalance that corresponded to the transition from child to adult.

Savage cursed under his breath, drawing Nariko’s attention. She leaned closer, reading over his shoulder. Her heart seemed to jolt to a halt in her chest when she saw it mentioned her mother. Grabbing the edge of the paper, she gave it a tug. After a moment, Savage released it.

Her mother had been sent to an asylum for the insane!

Nariko read it through twice and looked up at Dr. Savage with a mixture of chaotic emotions. "She thought … she believed she’d been impregnated by a demon?"

Chapter Five

There was something about the look on Dr. Savage’s face that penetrated Nariko’s turmoil, although she couldn’t quite pin it down. He didn’t look particularly surprised. It was almost as if he’d been expecting the information he’d found. In fact, there seemed almost an underlying sense of purposefulness or maybe even excitement about him.

"She named him."

Nariko blinked. He’d said it as if her mother had identified an assailant by name, someone real--someone he’d heard of.

"You know that name."

He shrugged, looking away from her as he got up and began to pace the floor. Nariko watched him, trying to figure out what might be going through his mind, but she couldn’t seem to get her own mind around the fact that her mother had been insane enough they’d locked her away.

Some forms of insanity were hereditary.

Was that it? Was she crazy like her mother had been? How bizarre was it that her mother thought she’d gotten knocked up by a demon and now she was having dreams about a demon that seemed pretty damned determined to fuck her stupid if he got his hands on her?

She could’ve almost felt better about being abandoned--knowing she actually hadn’t been thrown away--except that her mother had been a nut case and now she had to worry that she might have inherited something awful.

"You think I’m crazy?"

Dr. Savage stopped pacing and glanced at her absently. "What?"

Nariko licked her lips. "My mother obviously was, and now I’m having dreams about demons, too. But how could something like that be inherited? I didn’t know her. I’ve never seen the records. How could I have dreams about being chased by a demon when I didn’t know anything about my mother’s psychosis?"

He shook his head. "I don’t think you’re crazy. I’m not convinced she was either--at least not at first, anyway. Being locked away with the insane is enough to drive a sane person over the edge."

Nariko felt her jaw go slack. Was he saying he believed her mother actually had been impregnated by a demon?

This was worse than the blind leading the blind! The insane leading the nut case!

"We need to try to talk to your mother," he said suddenly.

A mixture of excitement and revulsion filled Nariko instantly. It had never occurred to her that she might even get the chance to meet her mother--but in a mental institute? Visions of a drooling, wild haired woman in a straight jacket filled her mind. She felt sick.

"I … uh … I’m not sure I’m up to this one."

He studied her a long moment. "You don’t have to go."

The only thing she could think of that would be worse than seeing the vision she’d pictured, was Dr. Savage seeing the vision she’d pictured in her mind. "I don’t see what good you think it would do to talk to her," Nariko snapped angrily. "If she’s still there after all this time, what mind could she possibly have? I mean, they medicate them, right? Between her insanity and the drugs, she wouldn’t be able to answer questions even if they let you in to see her."

His lips thinned. "I have to try. She might be the only one with the answers we need."

* * * *

Depression settled over Nariko like a thick black cloud as they left the sanitarium where her mother had spent the last years of her life.

Her mother was dead! As vacillating as her feelings were about seeing her mother, and in such a state, she had felt a terrible sense of loss the moment she was told that her mother had died, that she’d lost the chance to get to know her even a little.

Despite everything, she’d been hopeful when they’d left her apartment to drive to the asylum. She’d allowed herself to believe that Savage was right. Her mother wasn’t really and truly insane … certainly not to the extent that she’d envisioned.

After a few moments, she shook her dark thoughts off. It was absurd, really, to grieve over a woman she’d never even known.

She glanced at Dr. Savage as they reached the car. "Was that weird, or what?"

He stopped, turning to look at the building they’d just left speculatively.

Nariko didn’t particularly like the look in his eyes.

"If I didn’t know better, I’d think someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure you, nor anyone else, ever found out anything about yourself."

"I thought I was just being paranoid … I mean, I can’t actually prove that I’m her next of kin."

Shrugging slightly, he got into the car. "Maybe," he said when Nariko had settled beside him. "And maybe not."

Nariko frowned. "You think all of my problems are somehow connected to my father?"

Savage glanced at her sharply. "It would explain a lot of things," he said after a moment.

Nariko waited for him to continue. He didn’t. "What things?"

"The possibilities are too endless to speculate on without more information."

Nariko fell silent as he started the car and negotiated his way off the grounds of the sanitarium. Instead of asking him to elaborate, since she knew he wouldn’t, she considered what he’d said, speculating on what he’d left unsaid.

She supposed it was possible that things had happened to her that she just didn’t remember and that that might be the underlying problem that was causing the dreams. The ‘demon’ thing was just absurd, but maybe her mother had only meant he’d seemed demonic? Or maybe he had been crazy and thought he was one?

But she hadn’t even been a year old when they’d put her mother away and put her in the orphanage. Even supposing there was something to the ‘father was nuts’ theory, how could he have made any sort of impression on her while she was so young? And why would it come back to haunt her now?

And, more importantly, how could the dreams be so vivid that they affected her physically?

She discovered when she emerged from her abstraction that they’d arrived at her apartment once more. This time Savage made no attempt to get out of the car, however.

"You’re going in after the records, aren’t you?"

"Yes."

"I’m really starting to get uneasy about all this."

"All what?"

She turned to study his profile. "I just didn’t expect you to get so deeply involved in my situation as to risk … the things you’re risking."

To her surprise, he smiled, albeit somewhat grimly. "As much as I’d like you to think I’m going way beyond the call, the truth is the risks are minimal … and, in your case, even if they weren’t, I’d still consider it worth doing."

Nariko frowned, trying to decide if there was an underlying meaning in what he’d said. "I think I could understand it a little better if I’d been your patient for years … or if there was something … uh … personal between us, but I’m practically a stranger."

He slid a glance her way. He was frowning faintly. "I seem like a stranger to you?"

It was Nariko’s turn to frown. "Actually, it’s really odd--because you should--but you don’t."

To her surprise, he chuckled. "Good. It would have been a real blow to my ego if you’d said yes. Mostly, I figure once I’ve had my tongue in a woman’s mouth, we’ve moved beyond considering ourselves strangers."

Nariko blushed to the roots of her hair. "But that was a … distraction, wasn’t it?"

"It sure as hell distracted me."

She hadn’t thought it was possible to blush any harder but she managed it. "That’s not what I meant."

To her surprise, he reached across the seat, grasped her hand and dragged her toward him. She fell against his chest, looking up at him with a mixture of surprise and burgeoning anticipation. He was aroused. She could feel it beneath her bottom. The knowledge made a peculiar warmth spread through her limbs.

"What did you mean?" he asked, a faint smile playing about his lips. There was an intensity in his gaze that Nari found both unnerving and electrifying.

"Uh … I thought you were trying to keep me quiet because you thought I’d give us away."

"Hmmm," he murmured, his eyes dropping to her lips.

"Was I wrong?" It was a mere breath.

"Completely." His head dipped toward her. Nari felt her own head start to whirl. She parted her lips on a harsh breath that stopped completely when his lips finally touched hers. Every nerve ending in her body focused on him, on the softness of his lips, the pounding of his heart against her chest and her own echoing heartbeat.

The kiss they’d shared before was nothing like this, merely an appetizer that hadn’t done nearly enough to satisfy her appetite.

Heat shot through her body, so intense she seemed to liquefy. Her bones turned to jelly. His tongue probed the seam of her lips, his hand tightened at the back of her neck, holding her steady, allowing her no retreat. Even had she been able, she couldn’t stop this. She craved it … had been craving a connection to him since she’d first set eyes on him.

Her lips parted on a ragged breath. His tongue thrust its way inside, staking bold possession, stroking the roof of her mouth, her teeth, her tongue.

She whimpered, unable to control the mewling sounds she made as he invaded her mouth.

He moved an arm around her back to support her, freeing his right hand to rest at her waist, fingering the hem of her shirt a brief moment before he was pushing beneath and upward, striving for her breasts. The skate of his fingers over her never-before-touched skin cause shivers to course over her.

Just looking at him made her pulse quicken. To have him touch her was nearly more than she could bear. And when his hand closed around her breasts, pinching her nipple between his fingers, she cried out in his mouth, clutching at his arm, afraid he’d pull away and stop what he was doing to her.

Pleasure radiated from her nipple, converging in an arrowed line straight to her cleft. She was melting again. Her blood turned to lava in her veins. Her clit throbbed with the rapidity of her pulse. Frenetic heat tore at her as he broke from her mouth and slid his tongue along her jaw and down the cord of her neck. Everything he did to her was new, yet not. She felt comfortable with him, eager to have him lay claim to every inch of her body. She wasn’t scared or reluctant as she should have been.

She reveled to have him.

He explored her ear, nipping, tasting, sucking the lobe into his mouth. All the while, his fingers plucking at first one nipple then the other, drawing them into hard knots of pleasure.

She knew what she wanted. She wanted his mouth there. Everywhere. But the car was too confined. It was like a trap. She could couldn’t quite reach her goal.

Frustrated, Nari pushed his hand aside, reaching down to push the lever to make the seat recline. It went back with a pop that startled them both, making her flatten against his chest.

Panting with arousal and exertion, she shifted until she sat astride him, leaning low to keep from bumping her head.

Shayne looked at her, his eyes heavy lidded with lust. He sat up, pushing her top up until he could lay his lips on her, nuzzle her breasts, taste her. She strangled a gasp as his teeth scraped over her flesh, gently biting, teasing her nipples to hard points. "Oh, God, Shayne…."

He circled her back, cupping her against him as he sucked her breasts to piercing points of arousal.

She bit her lip, rocking her hips until her cleft reached his encased cock. He groaned and lay back, arching, thrusting his hips upwards. The huge bulge rammed against her, hard as a rock. Even muted through the fabric, she felt his heat, his strength. Her cunt had soaked her panties, seeping into her lightweight pants. She rubbed herself against him, the smell of light sweat and lust arousing her more than she’d dreamed possible.

Shayne grit his teeth, dropping his hands to her hips until he could control her movement and his own. He thrust again, rubbing hard against her clit, fiercely plunging her into a swirl of pleasure that heightened with each passing second.

Nari gasped, flattening her palms against the roof of the car, riding him as waves of bliss crested inside her. A wild excitement engulfed her. She was straining toward fulfillment, her muscles tightening, her throat hoarse and achy with the effort of controlling her screams.

He groaned loudly, his hands near bruising her hips, and then he was driving against her like mad, roughly rubbing, hands cupping and massaging her ass, bringing her hard against him. She felt his cock shudder, her own arousal peak, culminate in a rapture that zipped through her erogenous zones with the speed and lingering effects of lightning.

Nari fell against his chest, gasping, goose bumps shivering across her skin.

It took her many moments until she could find her voice. When she was able to speak, she said, breathlessly, "You’re not leaving without me."

He shifted beneath her, and she looked up at him. He was grinning crookedly, looking sexy and mussed, with strands of hair clinging to his damp forehead. "Okay. But I think we’re both going to need a change of clothing."

* * * *

Nari stared at the darkened sanitarium with a sense of deja vu. This time, however, she’d been ordered to wait in the car. She didn’t like it, but she could hardly argue that she knew the lay of the land as she had at the orphanage. Savage had insisted that he was safer to try it alone and she didn’t feel comfortable about arguing with that assessment. It was bad enough that he was determined to risk yet another excursion for information despite all of her attempts to reason with him that getting her mother’s files just wasn’t worth the possibility of getting caught and the consequences attached to it.

She sighed as she watched Shayne disappear into the shadows of the sanitarium grounds, wondering if she’d really tried as hard to convince him not to make the attempt as she should have.

The truth was that the nightmares had been becoming more frequent, and getting worse all the time despite Shayne’s efforts to help her, and she was too scared to think of much beyond stopping it. In some ways, she supposed it wasn’t as bad as it had been since she’d first sought Shayne Savage out. At least now she dreamed of having someone to help her, someone she could turn to when the demon who called himself Onyx invaded her dreams.

She didn’t doubt that it was the fact that Shayne monitored her when she slept that she’d gained that much of a sense of security, but realistically, she knew it couldn’t continue as it had indefinitely. Sooner or later Shayne would throw up his hands in defeat and leave her to her own devises--or maybe even just give up and try to have her committed.

She desperately needed a solution to the problem or she really was going to go nuts.

It had occurred to her, more than once, that it might already be too late. She’d begun to feel as if she was being followed whenever she went out. She never actually saw anyone, but the feeling of being watched persisted. She’d considered mentioning it to Shayne several times, but each time she’d been on the verge of mentioning it, she had dismissed the temptation.

It had all the earmarks of paranoia.

He didn’t seem to think she was crazy and she rather thought she would prefer to keep it that way.

She didn’t want to end up like her mother had.

After she’d checked her watch about a dozen times in thirty minutes, she got out of the car and paced for a while, trying to focus on her problem rather than her anxiety about whether Shayne would manage to pull off his break in. When she’d walked off some of her excess nervous energy, she settled on the hood of the car and stared up at the night sky.

The dreams, she realized, had become more solidly threatening since she’d begun seeing Shayne for sleep therapy--more real and less dreamlike. She wondered if there was a connection or if it would have happened regardless. It seemed to her that she’d already been heading in that direction–which was why she’d sought his help to start with but she couldn’t help but wonder about the way it seemed to have accelerated just within the last few weeks.

She’d been dreaming for years. Up until recently they had only been disturbing, but almost as soon as she’d started seeing Shayne about the problem, the dreams had become to manifest physical after effects. Was there a connection? Or was it only coincidence?

Or was it connected to something else that had happened in her life?

What if she wasn’t being paranoid about being followed?

She hadn’t considered that before, but she realized that that sense of being watched and followed had begun after they’d visited the orphanage. Was it only a guilty conscience that made her feel it, or had she triggered something by going back--something in the real world.

The hostility she’d felt when she’d tried to get the records wasn’t something she’d imagined, not the determination to keep her from learning what was in the file. It was about her, after all. Apart from pure meanness, why might old Townsend want to keep the information from her? Particularly when there didn’t seem to be anything especially important in the file.

Except the information about her origins.

And, now that she thought about it, Shayne was strangely focused on her origins.

She’d thought he was just downplaying her mother’s claims of having been impregnated by a demon, but surely he’d taken that information in stride surprisingly easily … and become more determined than ever to find out what he could about her birth parents.

If she set aside her fear that she was losing her mind, what did that leave her with?

Her mother was telling the truth and either hadn’t been able to handle it and had been locked away, or she’d been locked away for another reason entirely … to keep her quiet? To make certain she couldn’t influence, or protect, her child?

The scrape of gravel snapped Nari from her thoughts. Whirling toward the sound, she saw that Shayne had returned and relief flooded her. Slipping off the car, she met him. To her surprise, he wasn’t carrying anything.

"You didn’t get in?"

Instead of answering her, he motioned for her to get into the car. He didn’t speak until they’d headed back to town.

"I looked through the file. I didn’t think it would be a good idea to remove it."

Nari glanced toward him in surprise, but it was dark in the car and she couldn’t read his expression. "Why?"

"Somebody went to a lot of trouble to bury your origins."

Surprise and uneasiness went through Nari at the same time. "You think so too?"

He shrugged. "You never know the way they guard records these days--and it’s possible the director of the orphanage is just a bitch who enjoys wielding what little power she has, but I definitely got that feeling when we met with the same resistance to seeing your mother’s records."

Nari digested that a while, relieved that someone seemed to share her paranoia and at the same time further unnerved. "What could it mean, do you think?"

He shook his head. "Your mother was killed in a freak accident--at least that was the way it was described. According to the story, they thought she was trying to escape. She had gone up to the roof of the building and was attempting to climb down when the fire ladder came loose and she fell to her death."

"But you’re not buying it?"

"It would take a freak accident to kill somebody falling no more two stories. The building just isn’t that high. Broken bones, I could accept, but plenty of people have fallen even further and lived. The thing is, she was cut to ribbons and there just isn’t any logical explanation for that in a fall."

Sickness welled inside of Nari as a vision of her mother’s broken, bleeding body rose in her mind. "She was attacked."

Chapter Six

Shayne had left Nari with her own morbid thoughts after that, refusing to discuss the matter further until they’d reached her apartment. Nariko hadn’t really prodded him, embroiled as she was in her own thoughts. She had doubts that he could really shed any light on the mystery in any case. It only seemed to deepen the more she learned, not to become more clear.

She was accepting a lot on faith, of course. The truth was, no matter how companionable she felt about Shayne, she really didn’t know him that well and she didn’t know how much trust she could place in her own instincts considering the distress she was under.

In her heart, she felt like she could trust him, but how much of that was dependence? How much was based solely on her attraction to him?

He knew her. She suspected he knew a lot more about her than he’d revealed. But she knew almost nothing about him.

She found by the time they’d reached her apartment once more than she really didn’t want to deal with anything else at the moment. She was weary to her soul, not just physically. As ridiculous as it might seem to anyone else, she mourned the loss of her mother and that sense of loss was magnified by the horrible way her mother had died.

All she really wanted to do was to escape to her room to mourn in private and think things through for herself.

Shayne, however, insisted that the matter was something that needed to be discussed then, not put off until later.

She settled on the couch, feeling resentment slowly overtaking her confusion and sorrow as she watched Shayne pace her living room.

"I don’t see why this can’t wait until tomorrow," she said finally when he showed no indication of being forthcoming anytime soon.

Shayne ceased pacing and turned to study her speculatively for several moments. "I don’t think it’s something that can, or should, be put off. I think you’re in danger."

Nari’s heart skipped a beat, remembering that pervasive feeling of being followed … hunted. "Why? How? From whom?"

He frowned, seemed to wrestle with his thoughts for several moments. "Have you considered the possibility that your mother actually was impregnated by a demon?"

"That’s insane!" Nariko snapped, jumping to her feet. In a moment of weakness, she had toyed with the possibility, but she knew damned well there was no such thing and to consider it was to slide a little deeper toward the madness that had consumed her mother.

"You’re that certain?"

Nariko stared at him, wondering yet again if he was entirely sane himself. He seemed perfectly lucid, and yet he’d done a lot of things that were certainly rash for a man in his position. "I don’t believe in ghosts, or goblins, or things that go bump in the night!" she said irritably.

He looked away from her and began pacing once more. "Humor me, then. Let’s, just for a moment, consider it as a possibility.

"According to the records, your mother wasn’t committed. She went into the sanitarium voluntarily, and I believe she did it because she was hiding … or hoping to hide. I think she placed you in the orphanage to keep you safe and then committed herself, hoping they wouldn’t find her."

"Hoping who wouldn’t find her?"

"The demons looking for the child … you. But they did find her. Maybe they killed her trying to find out where you were.

"Maybe they managed to get the information out of her before she died."

Nari glared at him angrily. "You’re saying I haven’t been dreaming? That the demons have found me? And they want me, why? Why would they have any interest in me at all?"

"Because you’re half demon."

Nariko’s anger boiled over. "Get out! You’re as crazy as she was!"

He stopped, his lips tightening angrily. "Be reasonable. You could be in danger."

"I think I am. I think you’re crazy and I want you out of my house! Leave now, or I’ll call the cops!"

He took a step toward her and Nariko skipped aside, putting the coffee table between them--insubstantial as it was as a barrier. He stopped.

"I have to go if you’re determined to send me away, but I’m asking you to reconsider. You need protection. You haven’t found your powers."

"I’m not a demon!" Nariko shouted at him. "Half or otherwise! I’m not evil!"

"I didn’t say you were," Shayne said tightly. "Your father wasn’t. Everything in nature has a balance, a dark side and a light side. Not all demons are evil."

Nariko gaped at him. "You’re trying to say you knew my father?"

"I did."

Nariko leapt toward her phone. Grabbing it up, she punched the numbers with a shaking finger.

"911. What’s your emergency?" said a feminine voice on the other end of the line.

Nariko glanced at Shayne. "There’s a man in my house."

He glared at her furiously for several moments and finally strode out, slamming the door behind him. Nariko depressed the button on the phone, threw it down and ran to bolt her door.

She might be confused, but she damned well wasn’t so nuts that she was going to take advice from somebody that was crazier than she was!

****

Nariko hadn’t expected to sleep. She had hoped she would be able to compose herself for rest. She had tried a hot, soothing bath. She had read for a while in bed. She had finally gotten up, put on an exercise video and worked out until she’d begun to feel like she would drop in her tracks, but physical exhaustion wasn’t enough to overcome her distress, her anger, or her uneasiness once she was alone in the apartment.

She had finally decided that she would lie down anyway and close her eyes. Even if she couldn’t sleep, surely doing that much would rest her at least a little so that she could face the next day.

Despite her angry dismissal, however, Shayne’s words assaulted her. Every time she closed her eyes her mind went round and round with the argument. It was going on three AM when her mind finally began to wind down. Bits and pieces of nightmares began to batter at her almost the moment she drifted away, however, and she found herself starting into wakefulness each time she sank toward slumber.

She thought when first she sensed the presence at the foot of her bed that she was still sleeping. The nightmares had become so real to her that she’d begun to have difficulty sorting dream from reality at times.

The moment Onyx grabbed her and hauled her from her bed, however, she knew absolutely that this was no dream. Before she could scream, or even put up much of a fight, he’d captured her so tightly against his hulking frame that she could barely even squirm. She struggled anyway, trying to wiggle free of his grip.

"The time has come," he said in his deep, rumbling voice.

Nariko definitely didn’t like the sound of that. "What time?"

"Tonight you will help me open the doorway so that I can achieve my full powers," he said in the same growling voice.

"Like hell I will!" Nariko snapped angrily.

"You will. And you will enjoy it as much as I," he promised.

He lifted her free of the floor then, launching the two of them upward with such force Nariko cringed, expecting momentarily to collide with the ceiling. Instead, she discovered when she opened her eyes that the Earth was far below them. Her heart slammed into her chest wall like a caged bird trying to beat its way out of a trap.

This could not be real. It had to be one of the nightmares!

She was afraid to struggle now, however, and realized she wasn’t so convinced that it was a dream that she was willing to risk breaking free and falling to her death. Instead, she drew in a deep breath to scream for Xalen to come to her.

Onyx silenced her before she’d managed to emit more than a squeaking syllable. She wasn’t certain how he’d silenced her when he held her firmly gripped in both arms, but she felt as if her mouth were covered tightly. She couldn’t open her mouth. She couldn’t breathe.

The fear of suffocation very quickly ousted every other thought from her mind, even her fear of falling to her death. She fought frantically to free herself, to drag air into her lungs, but absolute blackness began to swim around her within moments. The stars dimmed and one by one winked out.

Cold was the first sensation that filtered through her mind when she swam upward toward consciousness once more. Light flickered through the thin skin of her eye lids and she stirred. Realizing she couldn’t move, Nariko opened her eyes at last and found that she was staring up into the darkness of a cavernous ceiling.

The light she’d seen, she discovered, was the flickering fire of torches set into sconces on the dark stone walls that surrounded her.

It looked rough hewn, crude--she was in a cavern, she realized finally.

She couldn’t move because she was pinned by the manacles around her wrists and ankles.

With cold terror washing over her, she lifted her head.

Almost as if they’d been waiting for her to do so, as if it was a signal to them to commence, shadowy figures clothed in dark, hooded cloaks stepped from the darkness and surrounded the stone altar where she lay.

Low, so low it was more like muttering than chants at first, they began to speak words she’d never heard before. Gradually, their voices became louder, the words falling faster from their lips.

She sensed Onyx’s presence before she felt his touch on her leg.

He meant to take her and this time there would be no escaping him.

She screamed then, as loudly as she could, summoning Xalen to her aid. No one was more surprised than she was that she actually managed to break the hold that had sealed her lips before, but the chanting was so loud by that time that she despaired that she had made herself heard above it.

And she was in a cavern, far below the Earth. How could he hear her? she thought despairingly.

The thought had no sooner occurred to her than she realized how totally irrational it was. If Xalen was "real" then he was a demon. It shouldn’t matter where she was … unless this cavern shielded the cult from the other demons, the good demons?

The skate of Onyx’s hand along her thigh jerked Nari abruptly back to her situation. Straining, she lifted her head to look down at him just as he curled his fingers into her mound. She jerked as she felt his finger parting the flesh, probing her.

His gaze moved up her body and locked with hers. He was frowning. Slowly, he climbed onto the altar, licking a path all the way up her belly as he moved. Nari squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the leap of her flesh beneath that damp, heated caress. To her relief, he withdrew the tortuous tongue from her. When she opened her eyes, she saw that he was studying her almost curiously.

"I can give you pleasure," he said in his deep, rumbling voice.

Nari gritted her teeth. "Only in your conceited mind!" she snapped.

He frowned, but more thoughtfully than angrily. "I am so repulsive to you?"

"You disgust me!" she spat out angrily.

He closed his eyes. As she stared at him in surprise, his features began to shift and change. She blinked. When she opened her eyes once more, she saw that it was Savage who hovered above her.

She swallowed. Onyx was playing with her mind.

Or was he?

Was it possible there had never been a Dr. Savage at all? Had this demon appeared to her in a form he thought would please her more? Tried to gain her trust by appearing to her as an attractive human being?

Almost as if he had read her mind, he asked, "Is this form more pleasing to you?"

Instead of answering, Nari looked away from him, feeling ill at the thought that she’d kissed Savage with such pleasure when he might only have been Onyx all along.

"Perhaps this, then?"

Despite her unwillingness to be drawn into his game, whatever it was, Nari found she couldn’t resist looking at him when he spoke again. To her horror, she saw Xalen above her--Onyx looking like Xalen--or maybe there’d never been a Xalen either? Maybe there’d never been anyone but Onyx.

He growled angrily when she merely stared at him. "There is no pleasing you."

"You can not please me," Nari retorted.

His eyes narrowed cunningly. "I can wring pleasure from your body whether it is your will to feel it or not. You responded to me before. I smelled the sweet scent of your desire, felt the heat of your body."

Nari swallowed with an effort. She could lie and deny it, but he would know.

She steeled herself as he lowered his head, turning her face away. He sucked the flesh of her neck, almost to the point of pain, but heat flooded her despite that. She felt her nipples pucker and stand erect.

Onyx felt it, too. The hard little tips drew his attention and he moved down her body. Nari gritted her teeth as his mouth covered one tip, trying her best to ignore the rampant, pleasurable sensations that shot through her. Despite her efforts, her body sang to life, began to tremble as he continued to suckle her determinedly, flicking his tongue over the sensitive tip. She was struggling to catch her breath by the time he turned his attention to its mate.

There was no bracing herself for the onslaught. As repulsed as she was by the evil in Onyx, her body had no conscience. It sang beneath his touch, soared. Moisture gathered in her vaginal passage, welcoming his possession and when he reached his hand down to probe her once more, he grunted in satisfaction.

Shifting, he pressed his hard cock along her cleft, searching, finding the passage that quivered with need in spite of all Nari could do.

Pain shot through her as he lunged, plunging deeply inside of her in one powerful thrust and rupturing her hymen as he claimed her. She screamed, the euphoria he’d created vanishing instantly. He looked down at her with Onyx’s eyes in Xalen’s face, his gaze calculating, impatient, filled with lust.

Slowly the pain subsided, became a dull throbbing. Twisting, he began to tease her flesh with his mouth and tongue once more. Gradually, beneath his persistence, her body responded until she was gasping with need once more, squirming beneath him. He began to move then, thrusting his cock deeply inside of her, withdrawing slowly and thrusting once more. Euphoria intoxicated her, building inside of her in an ever tightening band until she felt her body could not continue to withstand the ever mounting pleasure, until she felt her body trembling, reaching for appeasement.

Without warning, the bubble that had been building inside of her toward explosion, erupted. She screamed with the force of it, feeling as if it would rend her body into tiny fragments, feeling such white hot fire and power explode forth from her that she feared for many moments that when it ceased to flow outward from her that there would be nothing left but an empty shell.

Around her, she heard the shock waves spreading outward, heard the terrified screams of the cult members who had gathered to watch, heard Onyx roar in pain.

It continued rippling outward, jerking from within her. Her flesh heated, a sheen of sweat coated her skin in response, and still the ruptures of ecstasy rolled from within. Something had happened, different from her orgasms before, as if having demon flesh inside her had awakened an innermost part she hadn’t known existed.

She felt that part now, called it forth, but there was no controlling it. A crack of thunder shook the cavern walls, bouncing through the cavern in a deafening echo. Her eardrums spasmed.

Her mind whirled dizzily, and she blacked out. For how long, she couldn’t know. When she opened her eyes at last, she discovered she had not imagined any of it. The room around her was decimated, burned, the bodies of the cult members crumpled.

Nari sat up in surprise, discovering the manacles were broken, twisted fragments now.

Disbelief filled her as she stared at Onyx, far across the room now, struggling to rise. She looked down at herself, but she didn’t have so much as a scratch. What had happened?

She screamed when Xalen materialized beside the altar. He caught her arms, giving her a slight shake. "Nari! You summoned me!"

Nari swallowed with an effort. "Is it … really you?"

He frowned, pulling her close as he surveyed the damage to the room; the dead and dying cult members, the blackened walls, the blasted stones. Seeing Onyx, he released Nari. She caught his arm. "No. Let him go."

His lips tightened. "He is weak now. If we allow him to go, he will grow strong again."

Nari’s chin wobbled. "Please, just take me home."

After a moment, he nodded and scooped her into his arms. Grateful, Nari wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face against his neck. A sensation of movement filtered through her beleaguered senses. Slowly, Xalen’s warmth began to chase the chill of fear and shock from her and then she felt herself being lowered and looked around to discover she was in her own bedroom once more.

She clung to Xalen when he would have released her. He settled next to her on her bed, holding her close.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

"I don’t really know," she responded, the words muffled against his neck. "Onyx … raped me. And then I felt this powerful force building inside of me."

Xalen was silent for a time, rubbing her back soothingly. "He wanted you to unlock his own powers. Instead, he unlocked yours and it nearly destroyed him. I have to confess you are far more powerful than I had imagined possible. I have never seen anything even approaching the powers that you have. I have heard tell of such things in legend, but I hadn’t believed they were anything but tales."

Nari leaned away from him, studying him in confusion. "I don’t understand."

"You do. You just don’t want to accept. You are half demon, Nari. The demon who was your father was well known to me."

Nari pulled away from him. "He raped my mother."

"He loved your mother … in as much as a demon is capable of loving a human being. He was destroyed trying to protect the two of you from harm."

An uncomfortable knot of sorrow rose in her throat. With an effort, she swallowed against it. "How do you know this? And, if you knew, why didn’t you come to me sooner?"

He frowned. "When Daxen was destroyed, your mother took you and disappeared. We believed that you had both been killed when he died. Until you came to me and we found the records, I had no way of knowing you still lived."

Nari stared at him. "Wait a minute! I didn’t…."

Even as her voice trailed off to nothingness, Xalen transformed, became Savage right before her eyes. Nari sucked in a frightened breath. "You! Onyx appeared as you, transformed himself into Xalen."

His hand closed around her arm when she would have leapt from the bed. "You know me! No matter what form I take, you know me, Nari."

Her fear began to subside almost at once, for she realized it was true. She sensed that he was Xalen, and she realized that she had always felt that she could trust him, as Savage, and when he appeared to her as Xalen. No wonder she had been confused about her feelings for both of them.

When she ceased to resist, he pulled her close to him, fitting her against his length. The soothing skate of his hand along her flesh calmed the last of her fears and, as she relaxed, kindled a spark of warmth. When he lowered his head and brushed his lips along her cheek, she lifted her own lips to meet his. Warmth flooded her as his mouth moved over hers, as his tongue slid sinuously along hers in an intimate caress, then became heat as longing began to build inside of her.

Reluctantly, she broke the kiss. "We can’t," she protested weakly.

"As much as I wish to argue the matter, I agree," he responded. "Now that your power is awakened, it must be controlled before we can … do more."

Nari blinked at him in surprise. "You’re not serious."

There wasn’t a touch of humor in his eyes. "I am. You are awakened now, however, though I am certain this was not in Onyx’s plan. He cannot harm you in your dreams without retaliation."

For that, she was thankful, but what it entailed scared her. What if she dreamed of sex and something happened? She could hurt anyone without even knowing it. Nari swallowed fearfully, thinking about what could’ve happened if she’d decided to have sex with him before she’d known. "I almost destroyed Onyx." I could have killed you, she left unspoken. They both knew it.

He smiled faintly. "In time, I will teach you how to control, and use, your powers. You will need them, Blazearc. There are others out there, like you, with powers. We must find them. We will need their help to fight the demon horde, to destroy them, or send them back beyond the gateway and then we will need to destroy the gateway."

The End … or just the beginning…?