Demon's Grace Ch. 32-37

My heart accelerated as I stared at him. He looked drunk through and through, all except his eyes. His eyes were iced over as a dull gray and bored a very serious intent on me. And they were cracking slowly, like you would see a lake start to crack on the surface. He downed his water as he started walking towards me. I backed up as he shattered the glass on the floor. I walked backwards into the living room and he shepherded me into a chair. The chair was on the back of my legs before I knew it and I sat down abruptly. He followed until he was kneeling between my legs and laying his arms and head down in my lap. I looked over at Ezra who was casually seated on the couch.

"How did you manage to get yourself drugged Taurin?" He asked calmly.

I brought my hands up and slowly began to run my fingers through his hair. He moved his head so he could sneer at Ezra. "Icehoth. Poison to Ice Dwellers, but intoxicating to me."

"Mmmm." He replied as he studied Taurin. He bent down and fingered one of the plants on the table.

"Dove," he mumbled into my lap, "I gave you part of me because I thought it'd be fun to push Ezra out of control." He started laughing uncontrollably, "It worked! But now," his laughter subsided and he looked up at me, "it worked too well and I don't want it to work anymore. None of it. Not his, not mine."

I felt heat wafting off of Ezra towards us. I kept my eyes on Taurin as his arms circled around my waist and he rested his chin on my stomach. "Too late. Too late, " he mumbled.

Ezra spoke inside of my head, 'Distract him. Ask him about the plants he brought in. Soothe him anyway you can. He will respond better to you than me at this point. You realize a drugged Taurin is more unpredictable than a sober Taurin.'

I spared Ezra a quick glance and then directed all of my attention on Taurin. I kept playing with his wispy hair. "What are those plants you brought in, Taurin?"

I watched him crack an eye to look at the plants on the table. "The poison is dried Icehoth. The other ones I found growing by your house. But, it's our house now, right, IshaDove?" He looked up at me with a stern expression.

"Eeeyes Taurin. You live here so it's your house too. But, what are the other ones?"

"I went to find out. I've never seen them here before and they are growing all around us. It is sage, sandalwood, and...something else..." I watched Taurin furrow his head in thought. In my peripheral vision I saw Ezra crumble the ones Taurin named off and blow some heat on them. He inhaled the scent and on his exhale it wafted over to me.

"Pepper." I said, "Oh. Strange. That is something I smelled in the meditation room." I inhaled it some more and looked over at Ezra. He was standing and had completely transformed. His wings spread out behind him.

"Demon magic," he growled.

Ezra sent off heat that moved like a wave through the house. When it reached outside, the barriers that kept us from smelling the magic dissipated and the combined smell of the plants billowed into the room. The overwhelming scent drenched me and I felt myself get wet.

"Yes! Demon magic! That's what I needed to tell you. Someone has come." Taurin's voice grew husky at the end of his sentence and he crawled his way up my body to my lips. He harshly kissed me and I instantly responded, full of lust. On top of my head I felt Ezra's warm hand gently stroking my hair. I pulled away and gasped, "Wait! There's... something... Oh shit!" I was drowning in desire.

Taurin was already pulling down my pants. "I can smell you," he growled.

Ezra kissed his way down my nose to my lips as I arched up to meet him. Meanwhile, Taurin had already stripped my flimsy pajama bottoms off and was licking me. I instinctively arched my hips to be closer to his mouth. My mind pulled away from the sensations for a second, and I hastily shouted, "Oldavai!"

Taurin's head shot up at my warning. Ezra seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time and I watched a flash of anger consume his eyes. He pulled away abruptly and just as quickly grabbed Taurin by the hair and threw him backwards. I yanked my pants back up and looked over to the two demons. Taurin seemed rabid and Ezra had flares of fire spark around him. I could feel the lust in the air and started to go to them anyway. A large part of me didn't care that they were going to rip each other apart. My body ached at the thought of celebrating with the winner.

Ezra effortlessly kept Taurin from attacking either of us. Although in my case, I was pretty sure that his attack would have been sexual. I couldn't decipher anything Ezra was saying to Taurin. Yet, his tone and reluctance to actively attack Taurin made me conclude that he had shrugged off the effects of the magic.

Ezra never looked at me as he growled, "Dove! Leave. If he cannot smell you I have a better chance of bringing him off his high and Oldavai's magic."

"Maybe you should just let us have sex," I suggested huskily.

The living room heated up in a second and I listened to Taurin keening softly. Ezra had surrounded him in a wall of volcanic heat that I could feel where I was standing. I watched as he slowly turned to face me. I felt the blood leave my face as I stared into those intense black eyes. There was nothing inside them I was familiar with.

"YOU WILL LEAVE or I will not be held accountable for what happens here."

I looked over at Taurin and watched a wind whip around him. I could feel him build his power in a way I had not felt since I set out to kill him with Carlos. I nodded with mortification and ran to the kitchen, ashamed at myself for being unable to fully wade through the influence of Oldavai. I couldn't fathom how he moved in for the kill so fast.

CHAPTER 35

I ran through the kitchen and out the back door. The silence outside could not compete with the furious language of demon erupting from my house. I debated on getting in the jeep and leaving, but realized I would need to go back in the house to get the key. I grunted in frustration and decided to wait for the sounds of arguing and wrath to fade.

I stared up into the starry sky and focused on its vastness. Sitting down on the crisp grass, I rocked back and forth with my arms wrapped around my knees. The lust Oldavai pushed into me was slow in dispelling and I was disgusted with myself. I could only imagine the fight Taurin needed to pull it out of his already drugged system. I deeply breathed in the warm air and eased myself into meditation. Freeing my focus from my body I negated the effects of Oldavai's influence and pulled myself into a trance.

Heavy silence behind me pulled my awareness into my immediate surroundings. I threw out magic and felt gordons watching me from the woods, Taurin's presence inside the house, and Ezra behind me. He radiated an incredible amount of power that I had never felt from him. I didn't turn around as his voice drifted to me.

"You tranced yourself."

"Yes. It cleaned me."

"You have no barriers surrounding you." His voice grew irritated. "You left yourself unprotected and I acted rashly with Taurin."

"Did you knock him unconscious?"

"No," he replied.

"This is what he's been asking for. You to use your power. Maybe he has a death wish."

"Dove! You are not listening to me!"

"You mean the Gordons?" I didn't turn around and he didn't close the distance between us.

"I mean everything, Dove! Especially now that Oldavai is hunting you."

"You don't think I can protect myself?" I asked calmly, unruffled by his exasperation.

He sighed heavily, "No. You just refuse to. Do you have a death wish?" He paused, "Is that why you accepted me?"

I heard the sincerity in his question and quickly turned to look at him. "No, Ezra. Never." I hastily stood up.

He shimmered heat and held up a hand to forestall me from getting too close. The entirety of his eyes were completely darkened over and his body glowed red. He stood, bare feet firmly planted on the ground, wings flared behind him.

"Even now, knowing you can feel power I hid from you, there is no wariness. You come right to me. All I have to do is crook my finger and you come." He shook his head, "Shorn gave you to me because he deduced that your inability to make quick kills was due to a surfeit of compassion."

I made a sound in protest, ready to interrupt.

He waved his hand, "No, shhh, Dove. He was right, you are all defensive action. I fight with you, remember." He held his hand out as if to cup my face and I slowly went closer to him. He gave me a hard look and curled his arm around my shoulders, then chuckled. "It is a good thing no other demons want to bind to you. There would be no refusal in you."

I shrugged, my face buried in his chest. "You'd probably all kill each other."

He smiled as he pulled back and tapped the tip of my nose, "Now that is truth. Come, we need to talk with Taurin." As we walked his skin shifted and moved until his wings folded into him and he looked like a clothed human. We paused in the porch light at the front door and he scanned the vegetation around the house. "I will burn the surrounding plants here."

I gave him a wide look, "My flowers!"

He looked at me out of the side of his eyes, "Dove. You cannot be serious. This way we can track Oldavai's magic before it becomes a problem."

I shook my head and waved my hands over the plants, "He did this in less than a day, Ezra. Less than a day! Burning my flowers and his herbs is not going to stop him! We'll find another way."

Ezra puffed out smoke in irritation and pulled open the screen door. Taurin leaned against the wall, one foot propped behind him. He looked down at the carpet. There wasn't any physical evidence of a fight in the room, but a weight of violence and magic filled the air. Ezra directed me away from him and to the couch. We sat next to each other, our legs touching.

We waited in silence until Taurin lifted his head. When he did his eyes were all for me. I saw in his face the same I'm sure that he saw in mine. Shame. Shame that neither of us could pull away from Oldavai's magic as fast as Ezra. Shame that nothing mattered in a few moments but lust. Inside of me there was still one question though. The question if I was the only one who really didn't have the power to pull away of their own violation. Taurin was drugged and I believed that made all the difference for his weakness. He pushed himself off the wall and sat in the chair. He distractedly started to braid his hair. I gave Ezra a surprised look for Taurin's silence.

Ezra started talking. "First, know this, had we fallen completely into Oldavai's magic he would have been able to worm his way into any or all of us. He could influence us from inside our minds instead of through his simple herbs and magic."

I snorted in desertion, "Simple."

He gave me grave eyes, "Simple, but powerful, Dove." He stared at me to make sure I understood him. I nodded and looked away, peeking a look at Taurin. He remained playing with his hair never looking in our direction.

"Next, do not be deceived that lust is his only weapon. He has true love at his disposal if he is able to leech into your mind. His power is a progression, from lust to true love and everything in between. You will betray everything and everyone," he stared hard at me, "for whomever he directs you to love, usually him." He paused and looked at Taurin briefly. He still wouldn't look at us, now he gazed blankly at the wall.

Ezra continued. "His power is very different from many of our brothers. It is a subtle knife in the ribs, where as most of us are an axe to the head." Ezra gave me a bitter smile, but still Taurin said nothing. I was starting to worry, it wasn't like him at all.

"He will make you think that you are in charge. As if you decided to have a one night stand or fall in love with someone of your own choosing. As if a beautiful night of passion with someone you have been with for years was a normal night. This is why he has been sitting on Shorn's desk for years. He preys on a dream. The biggest dream of all, love." It was his turn to stare at the wall without seeing.

"Are there others like him?" I asked.

"In a way. He just happens to really enjoy himself and is incomparable, no species is safe from him. We are all masters of illusion, but he makes us look like novices. That is why he is legend in your book." He looked over at me.

"How did he find me so quick? How did he grow plants that fast outside my house? I only just searched for him!"

Instead of answering my question he asked one, "What was it like searching for him?"

I arched an eyebrow and pursed my lips in thought. "You know, he was fast. Always ahead of me. Really fast actually." I paused to think about it.

"He must have travelled your world in blinks. And... he brought me to a building and showed me something etched in the stone. Said it would tell him who was hunting him and where I was."

Ezra grimaced, "He showed you that? It shows how sure he is about killing you."

"This is secret demon stuff, huh." I gave him a wry smile.

Ezra continued unruffled, "They do move fast. Faster than any of us. I am not surprised..."

Taurin interrupted, still staring at the floor, "It is rumored that they are able to time travel." I would of teased him about finally speaking up, but his dejected air stopped me. Instead I frowned my brow while I looked at his bowed head.

"It is rumored, but there is no proof." Ezra said matter of fact.

Taurin finally looked at him, "And you tried to find proof because you had a specimen under your knife?"

"Yes. I found out that they move in a dimension of time, but they do not travel time." Ezra said blandly.

I flopped myself deeper into the couch and sighed. They both looked over at me. I finally got a good look at Taurin's face. There was a dark bruise on his left cheek and just under his eye. His neck was a ruby red color. I cocked my head in wonder. He hastily looked down at the ground. I blinked and turned to Ezra. "Anything else?"

"They are a fast breed. I am not surprised that he moved so fast once he figured out who you were."

"He wasn't very subtle." I stated.

"No. Not after I dispelled his barriers that kept us from sensing his magic. Neither of us killed the other, but it would have been in his favor with one of us dead."

Taurin looked up again. I watched them stare at each other.

"Do you think he wants me dead immediately?"

Ezra looked over at me and gave me a heavy stare, "I do not know what he wants."

"Does he have the ability to control a demon through love?"

Ezra opened his mouth to talk, but Taurin interrupted. "Absolutely." He gave me an intense look, "We want love too, Dove."

I shook my head and closed my eyes briefly before looking at him. "I never meant to imply that you didn't, Taurin."

"Hmm."

"So, what's next? No sex until he's taken care of?" I chuckled softly.

"Yes. I do not want Oldavai in our bed or our thoughts."

"You're serious!"

"Yes. Of course." Ezra replied, his tone surprised I questioned him.

"Huh."

Taurin threw his head back and started to laugh bitterly. "Oh! This will be a treat! To watch you two try not to have sex!" He calmed his laughing down and wiped his eyes, "This will be a trial for both of you! It would be for me too if you didn't deny me so much, Dove." He started laughing again.

"Hmph. I fail to see the humor in this, Taurin." I said with crossed arms and legs.

He calmed himself again, "Ah well, that's ok. I'm off to bed." He stood up and stretched. He stopped just before he walked past the arm of the couch and leaned over to me. I looked up at him and he pushed my head down to kiss the top of it. I felt confused over his tenderness.

"Good night, IshaDove. Ezra," he said and continued to his room.

I looked over at Ezra and watched him narrow his eyes in contemplation.

CHAPTER 36

The sun was barely warming the horizon when Taurin burst into the bedroom. "Dove!"

I shot up and leaned over the blankets reaching towards Taurin, "What!? What's wrong?!"

Next to me Ezra grumbled, his dark voice coming muffled from the mattress. "You could have told her in your mind, Taurin. You are projecting so loud she should have heard you."

My arm dropped to the bed and my jaw dropped. I finally caught up to speed with the two demons. "Jesus, Taurin, you didn't need to make my heart jump out of my chest."

Taurin smiled widely as his legs hit the end of the bed frame and he toppled the top part of his body onto the mattress. "I can't get enough of her reaching for me, Ezra."

Ezra growled and moved his legs away from Taurin, not even deigning to look at him. Taurin continued to climb onto the bed, crawling up my legs until his head was in my lap. I fell back into the pillows of the bed, my hand playing with his hair.

"We can talk about tonight's full moon later. I just want to sleep for a little while more," I said sleepily, picking up on Taurin's thoughts.

He mumbled into my lap and curved his arm around my waist. Strangely enough, we all fell asleep again. I woke up with Taurin cuddled around my body, his head twisted on my shoulder and breast. I sighed and moved my fingers gently through his hair. When I looked over him I saw Ezra watching me through slitted flaming eyes.

'I believe we were granted mercy,' he said into my mind.

'We who?' I responded.

'Not you.' His laughter echoed through my head. 'Taurin and I. I believe that we were guided to you through our guardians.'

I cocked my head and stilled my hand on Taurin's head. He mewed and shifted until I started again. I smiled down at him distractedly. When I looked back up Ezra's eyes were full open, still flickering with unseen fire.

'You mean God?'

'God.' He scoffed. 'It was your God who made it all right to turn us into outcasts. Your Gods of the human race who called us demons. Made us into what we are.' His face tightened in anger.

I looked at Ezra in wonder. "No, Ezra. You, all of you, made your own choices."

Underneath me Taurin stirred fully into wakefulness and curled his hand around my wrist. He brought it to his mouth and kissed my palm.

Ezra sat up against the headboard and looked down at him then back at me. His words came out bitter. "Really, Dove? And how were we supposed to defend ourselves when we became the enemy? When the holiest people of all religions learned that they could trap and attempt to get us to do their bidding? And why not, we were evil because God said so, there is no ounce of goodness in us. They said they were saving everyones' souls because we did not have a single soul among us. We corrupted theirs just by being alive. So we learned that more power was our way out of their control. That just convinced them even more that we were evil because how do we gain power, Dove?"

Taurin bit the pads of my fingers hard and I looked down at him warily. His eyes were the shifting colors and depths of a glacier. "Yes, Dove, how do we gain power?"

"Through others," I whispered.

"How do we gain power, Dove?" Ezra said again forcefully. I looked back at him.

"By taking it from others."

Ezra breath smelled of smoke and cloves, "Not good enough, Dove."

"By killing or binding with those who have their own magic." I said defiantly.

"Very good," Ezra patronizingly responded. "Your God does not send his miracles to the enemy."

I shook my head at him and he smiled grimly. I thought to myself about the hurt and bitterness that could accumulate in hundreds and hundreds of years. I pushed myself up to a sitting position. Taurin stayed curled around my waist.

Ezra gently put his hand on my hair and smoothed it over. "But you, Dove, is God punishing you by giving you to us? Or did our own guardians take you and put you in our path for our salvation? Making sure that every thought we had centered on being bonded. Making sure that you were the one in the way. If the demon hunter would not have me they died. No hesitating, Dove. None. Does that mean that your God stopped looking after his children? Or does it mean that he cared more about being righteous and validated about his demons?"