10

CHAPTER 9

The next morning I sat leaned against the headboard of the bed. My gaze went to Ezra. "I don't want to owe a clan of flesh eaters some favor later on."

"Speak to Taurin," he mumbled.

Within moments Taurin came into the bedroom.

"What the hell?!" I hastily grabbed the sheets to cover up my naked body.

"You called," he said smugly, trying to ogle me.

"I did not call!" At that moment I wished I could hurt him with my mind.

"I was talking to Ezra," he replied, his eyes glued to the outline of my body against the sheets.

I glanced at Ezra as he turned to me. He ignored the question in my eyes and said instead, "You have a beautiful body."

He then turned his attention to Taurin, "She wants to know why we will not owe a favor to the gordons." His arm snaked around my waist like an anchor and his head pillowed in my lap.

Taurin sighed. "I can't predict that. They are getting free food for a part of their clan that has new young. Ravenous young are not easy to feed."

"Ravenous young?!" I shouted at Taurin while struggling with the sheets that Ezra had pulled partly down with his cuddling.

Taurin slowly edged closer to the bed. "Do you know anything about gordons?"

"Some." I said distractedly as I looked down at Ezra in agitation. He lolled his head casually to look up at me and snapped his teeth together in fun. I quickly drew back and quirked my lips in annoyance.

"Well, they need meat," Taurin said nonchalantly. I turned my head at his words and we both watched his fingers walk the edge of the bed.

"Huh. Are you sure they won't come after us?" I turned to look up at his face, Ezra took that moment to grip the sheet with his teeth and playfully pull.

M

My eyes widened as I looked down at him, "Ez!"

Taurin's hand was now next to my head when he answered, "They rarely actively hunt what is not weak already. They know the condition that we will kill and hunt them if one of them gets the nerve to come after us."

My hands gripped the gradually slipping edge of the sheet to my breasts, "So they might."

Taurin shrugged at this and his arms came to frame either side of my head. He leaned into my personal space and I held my breath, trying to sink farther into the wood behind me, "What is a little gordon to us?"

"Oh, you pompous demon," I said shaking my head.

"They can move solid earth," Ezra added as he surged between the two of us, causing Taurin to stumble backwards as Ezra smiled aggressively at him. I breathed a sigh of relief as Ezra draped himself over me, nuzzling into my neck, covering me from the other demon's eyes.

Taurin replied with a wave of his hand, completely ignoring the power play. "That is not a problem now."

I looked up and gave an exaggerated sigh, "You're right."

Taurin placed his hand on his chest, "She agrees with me? Oh, what will happen next? Demons knocking at your door asking if you've been saved?"

If I wasn't naked I would have tackled him. "Get. Out." I growled. He did, but not without a sarcastic bow. Taurin was not dumb.

I threw Ezra and the sheets off of me and stomped towards the connected bathroom, "You were provoking him on purpose!"

Ezra gave a rumbling purr in his chest and I turned to watch him stretch like a cat on the bed, his eyes sparking bits of blue flame. I gave a frustrated sigh and shut the door.

By the time I made it to the kitchen Taurin was sipping coffee and Ezra was reading a newspaper. "You made coffee?"

Taurin replied without looking at me, "I found that I have a weakness for coffee." I looked down into his cup and noticed it was pale.

"Let me try that," I said while holding out my hand. Surprisingly, he placed the coffee mug in my hand. I took a hesitant sip. It had a lot of milk and sugar. "I can't believe you drink this. I think you have a weakness for coffee flavored sugar."

He gave me an authentic smile that had me looking at him thoughtfully.

"What?" he asked around that smile.

I shook my head moving towards the back door, "Nothing." I gave a small wave, "I'm going running, hopefully nothing will attack me while I'm out there." I glanced at Ezra, who did not look amused at my comment, and left.

Although it was invigorating run I found myself unable to listen to my music and on alert. It turned out to be a good choice. When I circled back home I found my path blocked. I've never seen a gordon in the flesh before. It looked almost exactly as I imagined.

A pale, gray blue figure crouched close to the ground with long arms trailing. Huge wrists and hands bent on the path. Bulbous eyes stared up at me and its bump of a nose quivered. Bits of hair stood up on several places of its body. I think it was smiling at me when it showed me its mouth full of sharpened points.

I centered and kept myself from doing anything rash. Its smile, if that's what it was, slowly faded and I felt that we were in a staring contest. It finally jumped into the trees. I watched until it looked like the earth swallowed it. With a deep breath I continued my jog. When I came back into the house I glared at Taurin, who was washing mugs. He looked at me innocently.

"What?"

I sneered in response and made my way to the shower.

When I came out there was a folded note on my bed. I tightened my cotton robe and reached for the missive. It looked like a warrant. It wasn't. I sat down on the bed as I read it. It was an order for demon hunter Dove Hawthorne with demons Ezra and Taurin to present themselves at the Office of Human and Supernatural Affairs'. It gave a time and date for us, mentioning that the specifics would be discussed at the meeting. It was notarized by the presenter and Aubrey, the chronicler. The shit's hit the fan.

We had two days to prepare to present ourselves. The missive read that we needed to go to the main office for the North Western Zone. On the bright side I would get to see Aubrey, maybe, on the down side we had to drive back to California, Sacramento specifically. Why not fly, because flying was cramped and annoying to me. I sighed and watched Ezra walk through the bedroom door.

CHAPTER 10

As I moved my suitcase out into the hall I asked, "What if someone sets a bomb in my house while we're gone?"

Taurin's burst of laughter grated on my nerves.

"I'm serious," I emphasized.

"Understood," he snickered. "In any case I warded your house. We'll know of any attempt. Why hasn't Ezra put one in place?" He turned his head to look at the demon who was leaning against the wall.

"Not necessary," he replied as he straightened and walked towards me.

Glancing at Taurin he said, "Since you put us in danger I look to you to use all your skills to protect us."

Taurin looked at him oddly, but said nothing.

Seems I was learning a lot about demons now that I had two of them with me. I didn't know that demons could ward a place or talk to each other in their minds. As far as I was concerned Ezra had the right of it, it was Taurin's responsibility.

He grabbed my suitcase and walked to the jeep. Taurin followed. I gave a look around and hoped that Taurin was telling the truth, I didn't have enough money to replace my home. As we drove south I sang to the music playing in the car. Taurin complained. This encouraged me sing the rest of the trip.

We reached the hotel very early in the morning. I promptly went to sleep with Ezra at my side. Taurin got the sofa bed. I woke up alone late in the afternoon and went through the motions of making sure my clothes were pressed and ready for tomorrow morning. When I was done I checked my blades and decided to walk around the city and find something to eat.

I met them at the hotel later in the evening. I walked through the door and Taurin was immediately questioning me.

"Where have you been?"

"What's it to you?" I asked defensively.

"You could have been attacked."

"Don't go thinking that just because we're bonded that you can order me around or know my every move, shit head." From the bedroom door I heard Ezra sigh at my words.

Just by standing up Taurin raised the stress level. I stared into his blue, blue eyes and narrowed my own. I recited in my head, 'I will not throw my dagger at him.' Ezra moved closer to us and interrupted whatever it was Taurin was going to say.

"Taurin was attacked today," he told me.

'Oh', I thought with understanding. What I said was different. "I think you would be used to it by now." I nonchalantly moved to pass him.

Taurin's hand moved in a blur grabbing my left bicep. My dagger was already in my right hand and under his chin. Silence reigned in the hotel room. My peripheral vision caught Ezra sizing us up. If Ezra said anything to chastise me I was going to throw my other dagger at him. Instead he focused on Taurin.

"You shouldn't move so fast with her. It puts her defenses up."

"They should be up," came his stern reply.

I watched the ice spread across his eyes and had to put effort into not being distracted. "If this is your way of making sure that I am ready to protect myself against assassination attempts it doesn't put you in my good graces. Which you're definitely aren't in anyway." The knife remained barely pushing into the skin of his chin.

He nodded, "It's what you're trained to do." He slowly took his hand off my arm.

"No, I'm trained to kill rat bastards like you." At those words I slashed shallowly across his neck. Blood flowed and Taurin tackled me. I tensed my neck to keep my head from banging on the floor. A drop of blood dripped on my face as he stared his fury down on me. I swallowed around his hand on my throat.

"You're too slow," he whispered vehemently.

"I didn't plan on killing you." I raised my chin defiantly despite his considerable weight baring down on me. There was no way I was going to let him think he was intimidating me.

He forced his hips and thighs between my legs. "Then I can do anything I want," he replied cruelly. He pushed down with his very blatant arousal and forcefully kissed me. He bit, licked, and tightened his hold on my throat, urging me to open my mouth for him. I clenched my mouth closed and moved my right arm to place my dagger by his ear. Taurin growled low in his chest and turned his head towards Ezra behind us.

"Get the fuck off me," I said between shallow breaths.

Taurin's face remained turned when he released me and stood up. When I looked at him the cut on his neck slowly healed. Ezra and Taurin stared hard at each other. It seemed there should be heated words going back and forth, but I couldn't hear a sound. Taurin angrily slammed out of the room.

"I think we should've gotten separate rooms," I told him as I rubbed my sore throat.

Ezra smiled slowly. "He is worried about you."

"He doesn't show it well."

"No. You are a stubborn person to be bonded to. Three months was enough for us."

"You think we can wait that long for Taurin and I to stop trying to kill each other? Sure. We can survive that," I replied sarcastically.

"I will be here," he answered with assuredness.

"I'll count on it." I walked up to him and placed my chin on his chest staring up into his night filled eyes. "What didn't I hear when you talked to him?"

Ezra just smiled, swooped me up, and carried me into the bedroom.