Nocturnal Part 14

He nodded. "Demons are stronger at night. They are nocturnal and thrive on fear and in darkness. I want to sleep for a while, and then I intend to stand guard. You will be safe from me, Mari. And I promise, on my honor as a Lemurian soldier, to keep you safe from demonkind."

There was no way in h.e.l.l she could just curl up and sleep as if she didn't have a care in the world. Besides, sitting here in the darkness, watching Darius as he slept on her makes.h.i.+ft bed that was nothing more than a mattress on the floor put together with her own bedding from home, was more satisfying than she could have imagined.

He'd only argued a little when she suggested he take her bed. Once she'd convinced him she was staying up to read for a while, he finally admitted he'd been awake for more than twenty-four hours.

Then Mari did more than suggest. She insisted.

He'd fallen asleep within minutes.

Now she sat on the couch with the rest of the room in shadow. She'd twisted the pole lamp so that it focused on the pages of her mother's book of spells.

Mari's attention, however, was focused on the man in her bed.

Darius slept silently, as graceful in sleep as he was when wielding his crystal sword. Where Brad had snored and mumbled and twitched at night, Darius slept on his back with his arms folded over his chest and his long black hair fanned out across the pillow.

The mattress was queen-size, but he slept diagonally across it in order to fit. Even so, his feet almost hung off the end. Mari tried to imagine how she'd fit if she chose to join him. She'd need to curl up close beside him.

Really close.

For now, she merely watched and wondered at all that had happened over the past few hours. Wondered what would happen tomorrow. Besides, it was more pleasant watching Darius sleep than trying to figure out her mother's spells.

But pleasant wasn't going to fight demons. She ran her fingers over the pages of Spirit's book and tried to ignore the frustration she felt. The spells her mother had written down were for specific types of demons, yet nothing seemed appropriate for the actual threat Mari and Darius faced.

"How the h.e.l.l do I know what kind of demons we're dealing with?" Mumbling softly so she wouldn't disturb Darius, Mari pulled her attention away from his sleeping form and read through one spell after another.

This one claimed to banish succubae, that one dealt with incubi. One exorcised demons of anger and greed with sea salt and thyme, but she'd need holy water for demons of fate.

Sheesh. She was just getting used to the whole idea of demons in general, and now they wanted specifics? Mari read page after page, but nothing felt right. Her eyes grew heavy and the hour late. Darius slept quietly, but the room was getting colder. The big mattress and the down comforter and the big man beneath it looked too inviting to ignore. She was just getting used to the whole idea of demons in general, and now they wanted specifics? Mari read page after page, but nothing felt right. Her eyes grew heavy and the hour late. Darius slept quietly, but the room was getting colder. The big mattress and the down comforter and the big man beneath it looked too inviting to ignore.

Finally Mari put the book aside and turned out the light. Then she carefully, quietly crawled into bed beside Darius, slipped beneath the comforter, and curled up close enough to absorb the warmth from his body.

He was so close. He smelled wonderful. He was warm and so d.a.m.ned s.e.xy, she thought she'd have trouble falling asleep.

She didn't.

Some soldier you are. Darius propped himself up on his elbow beside Mari and stared at her as she slept. He couldn't believe she'd crawled into bed without waking him, couldn't believe he'd not gotten up and stood guard as he'd planned, that he'd slept beside her throughout the entire night without even knowing she was curled up so close beside him. Darius propped himself up on his elbow beside Mari and stared at her as she slept. He couldn't believe she'd crawled into bed without waking him, couldn't believe he'd not gotten up and stood guard as he'd planned, that he'd slept beside her throughout the entire night without even knowing she was curled up so close beside him.

In all his long years of life, he'd never spent a night beside a woman. Not once. He'd taken lovers on occasion, but they'd been brief, purely physical affairs. Not one single woman had actually slept the night beside him.

He lay back down beside Mari. Drew her into his arms so that she sprawled across his chest like a warm, sweet-smelling blanket. She mumbled something, nuzzled the hair covering his pectoral muscles, and relaxed back into sleep.

Relaxed was not how he'd describe himself. No. More like aroused, amazed, and content. He'd never felt such contentment, merely from lying close to another soul.

As he lay there with Mari covering his body, Darius stared into the darkness. Before long, shadows would flee beneath the rising sun. He'd never seen a sunrise, yet holding Mari was more important than getting out of bed and looking out the window. He'd watch it tomorrow. He'd still be here. He realized he wasn't going anywhere soon.

Demons should not be about in daylight, but Darius had every intention of remaining by Mari's side.

She moved her leg across his thighs. He hoped his erection wouldn't frighten her, but there was no controlling his reaction to the warmth of her body, the sweet scent of her hair, the beat of her heart thudding against his abdomen.

She moved again and her lips parted. Her breath lifted the hairs around his nipple and his arousal spiked to another level. G.o.ds, she was killing him here. Innocent in sleep, her every move seemed designed to incite him further.

She stretched and yawned, and suddenly jerked into awareness. Her head popped up.

"Good morning." He raised his head and smiled at her.

Her face was mere inches from his, her eyes wide, her lips parted in a perfect O O of surprise. Mari blinked. of surprise. Mari blinked.

Darius did the only thing possible.

He kissed her. Her body went stiff against his. Then she melted against him and her lips softened against his mouth. Softened and parted as she kissed him back.

She was warm and sleepy-sweet and he wrapped his arms around her slim back and held her close as they explored each other with lips and tongues. She wriggled and turned, aligning their bodies until she lay full upon him, trapping his erection between the firm muscles of her thighs, teasing him with the slide of her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s over his chest, the sweep of her lips across his.

This was heaven. Heaven and h.e.l.l, all at the same time.

Many minutes later, as much as he hated doing it, Darius was the one to break the kiss. He nuzzled her chin and her throat, letting her know with his continued touch, the soft strokes over her hips and the rounded curve of her b.u.t.tocks, that he would have preferred more kissing.

What he wanted and what was right, however, were two very different things.

Then, with a soft, almost apologetic laugh, Mari raised her head and stared directly into his eyes. Still sleepy and warm, she radiated a needy tension that he felt wherever their bodies connected. There was a definite glitter of arousal in her beautiful blue eyes, and when she lowered her mouth to his, when her lips parted and her tongue tentatively tested the seam of his, Darius knew he was lost.

This was right-this simple joining of two souls who needed, who wanted the connection, the beautiful sense of two bodies perfectly aligned, two souls in sync. Darius bent his knees and planted his feet firmly against the mattress, trapping Mari between his thighs. He cupped her face in his palms and gently held her, kissing her thoroughly, tasting her. She moaned against his mouth, kissing him deeper. Her fingers threaded through his tangled hair and she held him even as he held her.

The thick length of his c.o.c.k rode between her thighs as she rubbed herself against him. Her nipples were hard points against his chest, her heart thundering so frantically he felt its staccato beat. Arousal exploded between them, desire so powerful, so immediate, there was no denying what each of them wanted...needed.

Suddenly Mari scrambled lower, hooked her fingers in the cotton sweatpants and tugged them over his thighs, past his knees, off his feet. He slipped his hands beneath her camisole top and drew it up. She raised her arms as he slipped it over her head. She shoved her own pants down her long legs, off over her feet.

Darius wished for the sun. Wished the dawn would come faster, the shadows not linger so long. He wanted to see her, to wors.h.i.+p the long, lean, lines he felt so clearly beneath his hands, but she didn't give him a chance. Already she was sliding over him, kneeling, raising up and grasping his painfully erect length in her long fingers, holding him still as she slowly, so slowly lowered herself over his erection.

He wrapped his hands around her slim hips and held her-gritted his teeth and prayed for control. Her eyes went wide as she slowly, carefully, took him inside. He was an unusually big man by human standards, a well-endowed man among Lemurians, and he fought the raging desire to thrust, to force himself deeper inside her honeyed warmth.

Mari's head was thrown back, her eyes closed, lips parted, but it wasn't pain he read in her expression. No. It was pleasure verging on rapture. She wriggled her hips and seated him fully. Then she sighed and began to move.

He felt as if she grasped his member in a tight, hot fist. Her inner muscles rippled along his full length, her fingers curled into the hair on his chest and she rode him with a smile on her face, an expression of conquest as much as pleasure.

As well she should. He'd not intended this intimacy so soon, though he'd wanted it. Dear G.o.ds, how he'd wanted it. Her lips parted, her smile stretched into a grimace as o.r.g.a.s.m claimed her. She rose up and came down on him harder, faster. He heard her cry, felt it as the sound blossomed into a scream of pa.s.sion and release that set him free.

Darius arched his hips, driving deeper, grasping her hips, lifting her and then pulling her close again and then again. A shock of pure fire raced from his spine to his b.a.l.l.s to his c.o.c.k-fire and a feeling so amazing, so unbelievably sweet he was afraid to question what it could possibly mean.

But he knew, as she whimpered his name and collapsed forward against his chest, that something special had just happened. Something he'd never experienced before.

Something he had to believe was part of Mari's magic.

Long moments later, Mari kissed his chin and lowered her forehead to his chest once again. Her body shuddered as her v.a.g.i.n.al muscles continued to pulse and ripple around him.

"Oh. My." She raised her head and grinned at him. "I do like your method of waking me up."

He chuckled. His laughter bounced Mari up and down. "My method? Oh, Mari. That was all yours. All you."

She bit her lip. Then she took a deep breath, kissed his nose and rolled off of him. Distancing herself from such an intimate connection, though her smile was firmly in place. "It appears you're miraculously healed. This is good to know, right?"

He growled and reached for her. "It appears you've healed me, witch."

Laughing, she rolled out of his reach, stood up and headed toward the bathroom. "Give me a minute and I'll be ready to go. Later we can get breakfast at the cafe down the street. I have to open the shop at ten, but we have a lot to do before then."

Darius watched as Mari disappeared behind the closed door. For some reason, she didn't want to discuss what they'd just done, what they'd shared. So be it. Maybe things were different for women of Earth. There was no one he could ask.

No one but Mari. Hopefully he'd figure her out before too long. Smiling as he considered all the things he wanted to learn about her, he cast his thoughts wide, searching for Roland, but there was no sense of his cousin. Lazily he scratched his chest and studied the way the sunlight moved across the ceiling. He felt replete...whole.

What a beautiful world Earth was. How could his people have given up their place in it so easily?

How could they have chosen a life that was nothing more than prison? He thought of all the years he'd lived within his world, within the confines of a dimension without a real sun, without stars. He'd read about them, watched film of them, experienced the artificial days and nights designed to copy what existed right here on Earth.

It was too depressing to dwell upon. He glanced toward the closed bathroom door. Toward Mari. The thought of returning to Lemuria after his brief visit to this world made him want to weep. Somehow he had to find a way to remain here, in Earth's dimension. Here. With Mari. He lay there on the comfortable mattress, thinking about the morning so far, about the day ahead, thinking of walking in sunlight for the first time in his life, wondering if there would be more demons again tonight.

If demons won this fight, all this could be lost. And what of Mari? And what of Mari? He almost understood the Council of Nine's lack of interest in fighting demonkind. What did they have to lose? They merely existed in the shadows of what they'd already given up. He almost understood the Council of Nine's lack of interest in fighting demonkind. What did they have to lose? They merely existed in the shadows of what they'd already given up.

Darius had never had so much to lose. Never before. And with that thought, he wondered again about Roland, if his cousin was looking for him. Had an alarm gone out? He'd been missing now for almost twelve hours and he hated to think he might be worrying his fellow soldiers.

Even so, lying here listening to the sound of running water in the small bathroom as Mari made ready to meet the day, hearing birdsong outside the window, and thinking of suns.h.i.+ne and blue sky overhead, he hoped it took his cousin a long time to find him. A long, long time.

When Evergreen Feed and Tack opened at eight, Mari was waiting at the door with Darius's measurements in hand, and very low expectations of actually finding clothes that would fit him.

She'd been absolutely shocked to find everything she needed, right down to the pair of hiking boots, size sixteen. It had taken her less than half an hour. The moment she returned to the apartment, she'd turned her packages over to Darius and he'd disappeared into the bathroom to change.

He'd looked like a little kid at Christmas, and she couldn't wait to see him. It was easier to shop for him, to give him things, than to think of what they'd done this morning.

What she wanted to do again.

He stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed.

And took her breath, along with her ability to form cohesive words. After a moment of staring she softly said, "Wow. You look amazing."

He filled out the faded, prewashed jeans perfectly, and the green and blue plaid flannel s.h.i.+rt turned his eyes the color of a dark forest. The thick soles of his boots added a good inch or more to his already impressive height. He'd pulled his long hair back into a single thick braid that hung past his waist, and positioned his Evergreen Feed and Tack ballcap low on his brow.

"Do I look okay? Really?"

The hesitancy in his voice surprised her. He actually seemed to need her approval, but after a lifetime wearing nothing but robes and sandals, she figured this must feel really strange.

"Oh. Yeah. Turn around. I want to see everything." Mari parked her hands on her hips and waited while he did a slow spin. "Perfect. I think you're ready to go out in public. You're still going to draw attention, but at least it won't be from people who think you're a bit weird."

"What will they think?" He'd already reached for the door, but now he turned and frowned.

Mari grabbed her purse and stepped through the open door ahead of him. She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. "They'll think you're gorgeous, and that I'm too d.a.m.ned lucky for my own good."

Darius looked as if he didn't know quite how to answer her, which was probably just as well.

She couldn't believe she'd had the nerve to say what she'd said. Of course, she still couldn't believe she'd taken on such a s.e.xually aggressive role this morning. She bit back a grin. She was so not like this!

He followed close behind as they went down the stairs and out through the back door. Everything in the shop looked just fine. They still had an hour before she needed to open-time to grab breakfast at the cafe just down the street. Hopefully, they'd hear if there was any gossip of unusual activities.

Darius reached out and took her hand. Mari wrapped her fingers around his and shot him a quick glance. He smiled at her, and the image of how they'd awakened this morning flashed into her mind.

She couldn't have hidden her blush if she'd tried. Luckily, they'd almost reached their destination. "I'll feel a lot better if I hear other people are seeing strange things," she said.

Darius paused outside the door. "Why?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to think I'm a target. I'd rather think what happened last night was random. It's too scary, otherwise."

He took a deep breath, gazed at the snow-covered volcano looming over the small town, and shook his head. "I don't think it's random," he said. "What happened should frighten you." He tugged her hand and drew her through the door. "Come. We'll have breakfast and forget about demonkind for now."

Mari snorted. Darius turned and stared at her. "What?"

"You make a statement like that and expect me to forget? Darius, my friend, you really need to work on your people skills."

"I imagine you're right."

At least he was grinning.

They took seats at the counter. Mari figured they were more apt to hear what was going on if they sat up front. When the waitress poured coffee for Darius, he looked at the cup and then at Mari and raised an eyebrow.

"Try it and see what you think," she said, taking a sip of hers. "It's a mild stimulant. Helps wake you up in the morning."

He raised an eyebrow. "I prefer your method of waking me up in the morning."

Then he tasted it and made a face.

Blus.h.i.+ng, Mari laughed. "Here. Try this." She opened four packets of sugar and a little container of cream, dumped them in his cup, and stirred.

Darius tried it again and sighed. "Much better. Thank you."

The waitress took their order. Mari noticed that, while she was the one speaking, the waitress only had eyes for Darius.

She couldn't blame her. As soon as the woman left, Mari gazed around the restaurant, curious to see whom she recognized. An older couple walked through the door. The man smiled at Mari and led his wife over to her.

"Good morning, Dr. Franklin." Mari grabbed Darius's hand. "Darius, I want you to meet Dr. and Mrs. Franklin. Dr. Franklin was my mom's obstetrician when I was born."