A Fiend in Need Read online

  I’m not sure how we got to my bedroom, and was it really important? Death by demon in the morning, remember? Didn’t I owe myself one last night of happiness? Damn straight.

  “Let me touch you,” he said, and I was okay with that.

  He whooshed my T-shirt off, and there I was, bare boobed for him and hoping two would be enough. But in the next instant all of those worries disappeared. Let me just say a focused Faery is a great Faery.

  Brady buried his face in my chest, moving from one breast to the other in a wild sort of rhythm that had me rocking back and forth on my feet and holding on to his shoulders so I wouldn’t fall off the face of the Earth. As it was, it felt as if the floor were wobbling, and I tipped my head back to stare up at my ceiling. Not that I saw it or anything. I slid my hands up and wrapped my fingers in his thick, dark blond hair and held on for all I was worth (meanwhile also managing to hold that mouth to my boobs. I’m no dummy).

  But while he nibbled away at me, a voice in the back of my head warned, You so shouldn’t be doing this. You should be training! What are you thinking, getting an orgasm when you have to fight the queen in a few hours?

  Damn it. I didn’t want to think, and when Brady ripped my jeans off and covered my hoo-hah with one big hand, I told my mental self to shut the hell up and enjoy the ride. There’d be plenty of time for guilt later—if I survived.

  Whoops. No thinking.

  Brady pushed two of those magic Faery fingers inside me and I whimpered. (Yes, I’ll admit it here. I whimpered and begged for more. There might have been drool.) He smiled against me, nibbled at one of my nipples and then sucked hard while he massaged me on the inside.

  Magic fingers, I’m telling you. I felt the buildup inside. There was that coiled tension, that sparkling sense of Happyland opening the gates. And, boy, was I ready. I rocked my hips on his hand, arched my boob more firmly into his mouth and gave myself up to the goodies awaiting me.

  “You’re really good at this,” I managed to croak. “I mean seriously good.”

  “Your taste fills me and makes me hunger for more.” He licked my nipple. “Quiver, Cassidy,” he said, pushing his fingers higher, deeper, rubbing that tight little nub with his thumb. “Quiver and come for me. Let me feel you come.”

  So I did.

  I can take direction.

  My body imploded, and I’m pretty sure I screeched his name while I shook and trembled and squeezed my thighs around his hand, trapping his touch inside me. Before it was all over, while I was still shaking and sighing, he picked me up and tossed me onto the bed. I landed on the mattress, bounced once, and then Brady was naked and on top of me, pinning me in place.

  Good times.

  An image of him tied down on Vanessa’s bed popped into my head, and I did the quivery thing again. I remembered his lax Mr. Happy, and thinking that, even spent, it was pretty impressive. Let me just say that a hard and ready Brady would have made any woman step back and take a long second to rethink a few things.

  “Um…” I glanced down at it and thought—briefly—about changing my mind. Jesus. No wonder Vanessa had kept him chained up for a century.

  That thing of his deserved its own leash.

  “Do not worry, Cassidy,” he said, reading my mind, damn it. “All will be wonderful. I will taste you and fill you and make you hunger for me like no other.”

  Hmm. Already halfway there.

  “We will join and our bodies will sing.”

  Okeydokey.

  I was convinced. Okay, I wasn’t. Not completely. But I really wanted that rock-hard penis inside me. Badly.

  “Condoms!” I shouted, and held up one hand to keep him and his trained tiger at bay. Hey, give me a point for remembering. Ever since Devlin and I had been seeing each other, I’d been stocking up on the things. Thank God.

  Brady smiled. “Not necessary, Cassidy. I can protect you.”

  “Uh-huh.” Not that I didn’t believe him, but I had more confidence in latex. “They’re in the bedside table drawer.”

  He shrugged, reached over and pulled out a handful. My eyebrows hit my hairline. While I watched he smoothed on a pale green condom, sliding it down the length of him with a slow hand.

  My mouth went dry.

  “I will have you now,” he said, looming over me.

  “Promises, promises…”

  His grin lit up his eyes, and something else occurred to me.

  “Uh, Brady?”

  “Yes?” He stroked his fingertips across my abdomen and everything inside me clutched. Wow.

  “You’re gonna be careful, right? I mean, you won’t let my Duster powers slide away from me?”

  His easy smile faded as he shook his head. In the pale wash of moonlight streaming through my bedroom window, Brady looked immeasurably disappointed. I hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, but considering whom I had to face in the morning, there was no point in taking chances.

  “How could you think I would allow such a thing, Cassidy?”

  “I…uh…” God. I sounded like that idiot teenager Elle. “Sorry, but I had to ask. Had to be sure—”

  “You have nothing to fear from me,” he promised. “I swear this to you with everything I have: You will come to no harm because of me. Never again.”

  It wasn’t just what he said; it was how he said it. There was a promise in his words, and I accepted it. I reached up for him and took his hand. “I believe you.”

  “This is good,” he said and kissed the palm of my hand before he grinned again and flipped me over onto my stomach. “Now we will have each other.”

  I lay there, face in the quilt covering my bed, and felt his hands and mouth travel up my spine, then back down again before focusing on my butt. I squirmed a little as sensations started piling up inside me. Greed. Lust. Hunger. And, hey, here came greed again.

  I wanted everything he could give me, and I wanted it now. When he grabbed my hips and pulled me up to my knees, I didn’t say a word. What could I possibly have said? I just grabbed a couple of handfuls of the quilt and hung on.

  He dragged me to the edge of the bed and slid his hands from my hips to my hoo-hah. Oh, boy. Both hands rubbed, touched, dipped inside and slid over my wet, slick heat until I was mumbling into the quilt, “Brady, come on. Do it. Do it now.”

  Greed. A very good thing. And I dare you to say you’d have been feeling anything different.

  Again and again he stroked me, and when my knees wobbled he steadied me, only to torture me all over again. I was a woman on the edge. I was ready to jump out of my own skin. I wanted him, damn it.

  And I wanted him now.

  His fingers opened me, stroking, and I braced myself, taking a big bite of my quilt. Then he drove into me with one hard shove that almost pushed me off the bed. I groaned and sucked in quilt-flavored air. I held on to the bed, bit down harder on the quilt and backed into him, arching, pushing, swiveling my hips, driving his body deeper into mine. I wanted to take more of him, feel him so far inside me that he could wipe away the last traces of fear still hiding inside me.

  He pumped in and out of my body with a rhythm that sizzled nerve endings and moved my blood so fast and thick, it was a wonder my heart kept beating. I felt the tension coil and knew the orgasm I’d been waiting for was almost there. I could feel it. Taste it. Damn near touch it.

  Then he pulled out and flipped me over.

  Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

  “Don’t do that!” I complained, lifting my hips, demanding that he get right back to where he left off.

  Brady grinned, covered my body and slid his right back where I wanted it again. “Now we will be one, Cassidy,” he promised, and started moving inside me, setting a new rhythm. One that rocked my world completely.

  Okay, this was different.

  This was sex like I’d never known before.

  It went way beyond orgasm time. My eyes glazed over, and still I could see his eyes, glittering wildly. It felt like Brady was inside me. (Not a pun. I know
his penis was inside; this was more. Try to keep up.) I was trapped in his eyes. Couldn’t look away. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t do anything but lie there and absorb the magic.

  The orgasm crashed down on me, and when my hoo-hah did the trembly hallelujah thing, I felt something new. Something amazing. Something I never could have expected.

  My body went wild, erupting with more fire, more sensation than I would have thought existed. I jolted under him, riding an explosion of light and fire and electricity. I held on to him and rode it out, thinking it would never end as wave after wave after wave spilled through me.

  Tingles rushed through my bloodstream until it felt as though my veins were in flames, and all around Brady Faery dust shimmered, sparkling in the pale moonlight streaming through my bedroom window. That magical dust fell over me and created a hum of sensation that heated without burning.

  Staring up into his eyes, I felt him join me on a much deeper level than penis and hoo-hah. There was so much more. Something rich and strong and damn near miraculous. While I struggled for breath and held his body in mine, my bedroom seemed to glow.

  No shit.

  Glow.

  And the light centered on the two of us. We were the light. We burned brightly together for a long moment or two, and then slowly that light faded until it was just the moonlight again and Brady was staring down at me.

  “What the hell just happened?” Points for me just for being able to speak at all after that incredible orgasm.

  “We are bonded,” Brady said, dipping his head to kiss me long, hard and deep. Deep enough that I’m pretty sure he knew my tonsils better than my doctor did. “I’ve given you my strength. My power.”

  Click.

  My brain finally caught on. (Not that surprising that it took a minute. Have you ever tried to think through an orgasm? Okay, let me reword that. Lots of us have made grocery lists during sex. But I defy you to do it during Faery sex!)

  “The Faery supercharge,” I said, idiot savant finally catching on. “The reason Vanessa was holding you captive.”

  “Yes. I have given that power to you, Cassidy,” he said, shifting his hips, making me hungry again as I felt him growing inside me. “After tonight you will be able to defeat Vanessa.”

  I sucked in air and tried to keep thinking. It wasn’t easy. “But…how? How do I use the power? How do I defeat—Oh, man…”

  He sat back and pulled me with him, so our bodies wouldn’t disengage. Then he sat me on his lap so I could feel that hard, thick Faery wand all the way through me. “You will know,” he promised, cupping his hands over my breasts and flicking my nipples with his thumbs and forefingers.

  I squirmed on him like I was settling into a comfy chair—and let me assure you, I was plenty comfy.

  “For now,” Brady said, tugging at my nipples, “we will have the sex. We will merge again and again through the long night, strengthening you for the coming fight.”

  “We will?” If the next time was anything like the last time, I might not survive the night.

  “When the dawn comes,” he promised, “you will be ready.”

  So, if the amazing sex didn’t kill me off, I might just stand a shot at taking out Vanessa.

  My fogged-up mind reeled when he dropped his hand to the spot where our bodies were joined and gave me a little rub. Oh, baby. I swallowed hard and tried for one more lucid thought.

  Basically I was looking at a whole night of sex so Brady could fill me with power. Work, work, work. But I was willing to do it…for the good of humanity.

  Am I a giver or what?

  Chapter Twenty

  The world was really quiet just before dawn. Who knew? The last time I’d been up this early Thea was eight and she’d been up all night hurling. I remember seeing the first “glorious” rays of dawn through gritty eyes and thinking, Screw this; I’d rather be asleep.

  I felt the same way now.

  Nothing I’d like better than to be back in bed with Brady, pretending that everything was fine and dandy in my little corner of the universe. Instead I was steering my yellow Bug down deserted streets, trying to keep myself from turning around. This whole Duster thing was really turning out to be a huge pain-in-the-ass.

  “I sooooooooo don’t wanna do this,” I whispered, fists clenching around the steering wheel so tightly I felt the hard plastic crack. Fabulous. Use your Duster power and Faery über-charge to destroy your car. “Good call, Cass.”

  Yes, I was talking to myself. Who the hell else was around to talk to? Logan didn’t know what I was up to. Devlin had no clue that I was going at dawn. Thea was still asleep at Zoe’s house. Jasmine wouldn’t be riding in on a white horse like the cavalry. (But that would really be funny, wouldn’t it? The picture of Jasmine bouncing around on top of a damn horse actually made me smile—something I wouldn’t have thought possible a minute or two ago.) And as for Brady…well, he’d done all he could the night before.

  He’d given me the Faery equivalent of a nuclear power surge. Power was crackling inside me. I was practically glowing with it. I half expected sparks to fly from my fingertips and really hoped they wouldn’t. It sounded way too painful.

  I stopped at a red light on PCH and tapped my fingers against the wheel while I waited for it to change. You know, this really says a lot about us—people, I mean. If you’re ever up at this ungodly hour you’ll know what I’m talking about. There was no one but me out, and yet there I sat, unwilling to run a red light. So basically we’re pretty law-abiding, right? Or maybe it was just that I was in no hurry to meet up with Vanessa and, say, die.

  My brain was racing; my nerves were jumping. I was terrified, seriously caffeine deprived and a little nauseous. Probably from the no-coffee thing. “So, after you kick Vanessa’s ass, you stop for a latte,” I promised myself. “Kill a queen, get a doughnut.”

  My voice seemed to echo in my little car, while the last of the night surrounded me.

  I’d never felt so alone in my life.

  You are not alone… Brady’s voice whispered into my mind.

  “YOW!” I jolted, nearly strangling myself on the seat belt, and shot a look behind me, half expecting him to pop up out of the backseat.

  But he wasn’t there. I was still alone. Still on a suicide mission to fight the Bitch Queen of the Universe, and still wishing I were anywhere but where I was. And, hey, fabulous bonus, I was hallucinating, too.

  I thought about whistling, but remembered I couldn’t. So I flipped on the CD player and let Metallica convince me that I wasn’t the only person alive in the world. James Hetfield’s voice shouted out and made me feel as if I were connected to something beyond this weird-ass solitary mission.

  You are not alone, Brady’s voice assured me again. This time I noticed his words were echoing in my mind—not my car. We are connected, Cassidy. You feel me. Hear me. I will be with you.

  “With me?” I repeated, worried now, because no woman in the world wanted a man in her head all the time. For God’s sake, sex with a Faery gave him entry into your thoughts? That should have been stenciled on his forehead.

  He chuckled, and that seemed even stranger than his talking. I will be with you during the fight, Cassidy, he said, his voice no more than a tired whisper.

  “Oh. That’s okay then, Brady.” I answered out loud, pretty much talking to myself when I probably could have just said all this in my mind. But that was the way horror movies always went. The heroine started speaking to people in her mind and pretty soon she was strapped to a bed in the nutso ward and some psycho killer was standing over her with a scalpel.

  Didn’t I have enough problems without slipping into a B-movie version of The Fury? (But wait, wasn’t The Fury already a B movie anyway? So what was I in? B-minus?)

  You are not crazy.

  “Says the voice in my head.” Okay, nice to have company, but scoring a little high on the creep-o-meter, too.

  He laughed, and hearing a disembodied voice laughing through your brain was right
up there with ventriloquists—whom I hated even more than I hated clowns.

  I made the turn when the light turned green and headed down the Pacific Coast Highway to the cliffs. Not that I was eager to get there or anything. “Mainly because I have zero idea what I’m supposed to do.”

  You will know when the time is right.

  “Great, thanks!” Okay, answering the voice in my head. “You said that last night, too. Not a big help. Besides, I think the time’s pretty much right, Brady. I’m almost there.”

  Still time to turn around, Cass. Pick up Thea, head for Canada, maybe. It’s nice this time of year, right? “Sure. Late October. Great for visiting all those northern places. Driving a Bug through a blizzard. Good idea.” Hmm. Demon fight sounding a little better in comparison.

  Oh, God.

  You will win, Cassidy, Brady insisted, his voice in my head soothing.

  I only wished I were as sure about that as he seemed to be. Of course, he was safe at home. Why would he be worried?

  I am not worried because you have my strength. My power. All I could give you, he whispered, and was it just me, or did he sound more tired than before? Of course, after a night like last night, who could blame him?

  “Okay,” I said, willing to lie to the voice in my head as well as to myself. Give myself a pep talk. Pull out the mental pompoms and do a cheer! No, wait, that was Thea. Not me. Oh, crap, I didn’t want to do this.

  I parked the car on PCH and walked across the strip of grass leading to the cliff edge. There was a fence there to keep idiots from tumbling off the ledge and letting their families sue the city. But it wasn’t much of a fence. Just a couple of steel bars that ran the length of the cliffs. I curled my hands over the top rail and let the damp cold of the metal settle into me.

  The ocean was gunmetal gray with some frothy whitecaps. There were no surfers out there, though, which worried me a little. Surfers surfed no matter what the weather was like. So what had happened to keep them away today?

  Then I noticed a rumble of sound and let my gaze dip from the wide expanse of ocean to the stretch of beach at the bottom of the cliffs.