There was no discussion of sleeping arrangements tonight. Ed paused for a moment in the kitchen and gazed about the brightly lit room with a blank expression. “Food in the fridge,” he mumbled. Then he stumbled off to his room, practically asleep on his feet.

Alton fed Bumper while he stuffed down a leftover sandwich and drank one of Ed’s cold cans of beer. He set the can down and turned to Dax. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You had him tonight, Dax, but I missed. I wasted a good shot. There’s no excuse.”

Dax frowned. “The sword…”

“No.” Alton shook his head. “I can’t keep blaming the sword for my own failure.” He smiled and turned his head away. “I guess I’m not much of a warrior. At least not as much as I’d like to be.”

“I disagree.” Dax forced Alton to look him in the eye. “You left your home, gave up your life with your own people to fight a battle that isn’t really yours. You’re a brave companion and a true friend. I could not do this without you, Alton. I wouldn’t want to, and I’m proud to have you fighting beside me.”

“Thank you.” Then Alton chuckled. “I’ll fight beside you, proudly. Just not too close.”

Dax smiled. “At least not within striking distance. Good night, my friend.”

“Good night, Dax. Eddy.” He gazed at Dax a moment longer. Then he turned and went straight into the guest room with Bumper on his heels and Willow curled up on his shoulder, already asleep in a nest of his long hair.

Eddy cleaned up the few dishes left in the sink, while Dax finished off the last of the leftover sandwiches. He studied the long curve of her spine, the graceful way she moved, and felt the now-familiar rush of desire he’d learned to expect whenever he had a moment to actually sit and watch her.

She glanced over her shoulder as she wiped down the faucet and counter. Her smile seemed forced. Dax felt her concern. For him.

“You okay?”

He nodded and pushed physical arousal into the background. “I’m okay now,” he said. “Other than feeling really pissed off and frustrated.” He shrugged and slowly shook his head. “We need a plan. That thing’s powerful.”

Eddy nodded and draped the damp cloth over the edge of the sink. She turned and leaned against the counter with her arms folded across her chest. “I know.” She raised her head and stilled, until, somehow, he fell into her brown-eyed gaze. She blinked, and Dax could have sworn he felt the brush of her long lashes against his lips. She took a breath, and he felt her breasts rise against his chest.

She shook her head, almost as if she had to physically break the connection between them. He heard her deep sigh clear across the room. “C’mon,” she said, pushing herself away from the counter. “We’re both exhausted.” She glanced over her shoulder as she passed him on her way to her bedroom.

Dax silently followed her into the room they’d shared earlier today…or was it yesterday? He was losing track, but he was much too aware that the night was almost gone. When a new dawn began, he could check off another day.

Three days gone. The fourth only hours away. So much had happened, but there was so much yet to do. At least now he knew who their enemy was: the gargoyle appeared to command the lesser demons. They followed it like a mindless army, intent on doing its will. If only he could figure out what the creature’s weak point was—if it had any. Right now, Dax was the weakest of the bunch. Even Eddy’s strength was more than his.

DemonSlayer. He’d taken pride in the title when Taron had named him, but now it felt like a bad joke. Without Eddy to control the curse, Willow to feed him energy, and even Ed and Alton there to fight, he was less than useless.

Even Bumper had accomplished more than he had tonight, herding the army of demons toward Ed and Alton. They’d destroyed all the avatars, either killed or banished hundreds of demons, but more kept coming. The portal was closed, but Taron hadn’t been kidding when he said there’d been a sizable invasion.

They’d all greatly underestimated how sizable.

How the hell were they going to win over such terrible odds? What was the gargoyle’s weakness, if it even had one?

Eddy closed the door behind him. Dax’s focus shifted from demons and the battles to come, to the woman moving silently from door to bed. Wordlessly, she sat on the edge of the bed, untied her boots, and slipped them off. Dax did the same, taking a chair on the far side of the room where he could watch her every move.

Eddy tugged her shirt off over her head and slipped the jeans down her long, long legs. She stood up to unhook her bra as Dax reached for the belt holding his jeans. Suddenly Eddy’s mouth split into a wide grin. “Look at us,” she said, laughing softly. “Undressing like an old, married couple when we’ve only known each other for three days.”

Dax’s first thought was, Has it only been three days? I feel as if I’ve known this woman forever. He paused with his hands on the belt buckle. “Is this how an old, married couple acts?”

She nodded, but she didn’t lose the smile. “I think so. I’m not sure. I’ve never been part of a married couple, old, young, or otherwise.”

“Well, if it is, I think I would like to be part of an old married couple…or otherwise.” He held her gaze for a moment longer; then he undid his belt, unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, and slid them down over his legs. His boxers went down with the pants. When he straightened up and stepped out of them, Dax knew there’d be no doubt in Eddy’s mind what was on his.

There was nothing at all subtle about his erection. It jutted out in front, aiming directly for Eddy. She stared at him, her eyes bright, lips slightly parted. He knew she was exhausted. He was as well, but there was something in the space between him that seemed to take on its own life. He felt a thrumming in his veins, a pulse that was hot and rich as liquid gold. It had his mind buzzing, his body reacting.

He tried to compare the feelings, the sense of arousal he felt now in this human body, with what he remembered from his life as a demon, but there was no comparison. Nothing similar at all beyond the anxious sense of need, the pressure that seemed to encompass his groin and belly, buttocks, and balls.

Similarity ended there. Ended, and expanded with feelings that went so far beyond the physical that he had no way to describe them, no way to fully understand the ache in his heart, the thickness in his throat, the feeling that he wanted, that he needed…but what did he need?

More than Eddy’s body. More than her touch, her soft skin. His lips hungered for her taste, his fingers itched to roam across the hills and valleys of her body, exploring secrets he’d barely suspected…but it was more.

Still more, but what?

It had to be this human body. The demon only wanted to ease its need for blood or sex. This human body wanted more. Saw more. Desired only Eddy Marks.

She was everything to him. Beauty. Kindness and humor, the sound of her laughter, the salt in her tears, the sweet scent of her skin, and the taste of her lips. All these things, each separate, each a necessary part of the whole. All the parts that made the woman.

All the parts that made him ache. Made him want more than four more days. More than a night in her arms.

She stepped close and took his hand. He noticed there was a definite flush to her cheeks, a rosy tint that crossed over her breasts and spread across the soft curve of her belly. She tugged lightly on his fingers, pulling him toward the bathroom. He followed her, curious about what she intended, happy just to know that whatever it was, she wanted him with her.

She turned his fingers loose and reached for the faucet on the shower, and he studied the line of her back, the smooth sweep of her hip and thigh. When she turned the tap and checked the temperature of the water, he realized he was caught on the subtle play of lean muscles beneath her smooth skin.

Then she slid the glass door aside and stepped in. Held the door open, silently inviting him to join her. His mouth went dry. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but he’d not really thought this far ahead. Hadn’t considered the implications of Eddy, naked and wanting, her lips parted, eyes clear and filled with his reflection.

Suddenly the demon rose up in him, almost a separate entity beneath his human skin, struggling to emerge. To take. Power flowed through his body. The snake began to writhe across his chest, and heat surged through his cock. Dax paused with one foot in the shower, one on the cold tile of the bathroom floor.

He grounded himself on the cold tile. Swayed with the effort it took to force the demon down. Took a deep, controlling breath. Another. The tattoo stilled. The demon retreated, but Dax sensed it waiting. Sensed its displeasure.

He’d had no idea his demon self still existed. No idea it clung so tightly. No idea it retained such power. He needed to think about that. Be aware of his demon side. Later.

Much later.

Steam rose over the top of the door and enveloped Eddy in a misty cloud. In control now, Dax walked into a dream. He stepped into the big shower and closed the door behind him. Water beat down on both of them. Eddy held a clean cloth, and she carefully rubbed soap into the thing.

“Turn around. I’ll wash your back. Then you can do mine.”

He wasn’t about to argue. Dax turned, leaned forward, and planted his palms against the tile wall. Eddy rubbed the soft cloth over his shoulders, down the length of his spine. The water pounded out a steady rhythm against him; the cloth left swirls of soapy sensation. He realized he was groaning softly with each sweep across his skin.

All too soon she stopped. “My turn,” she said. Dax moved aside, and Eddy took his place while he soaped the cloth and carefully washed her back.

He ran the cloth across her shoulders, down her spine, and over the curve of her buttocks. Up the same path until he detoured. This time he swept the soapy cloth around to the front and swirled it across her breasts, over the taut nipples that had gone from soft, pink buds to tightly ruched points.

When he ran the nubby washcloth across the tips, Eddy arched her back and pressed her breast into his palm. He stepped closer and used the cloth to wash down the soft curve of her belly and then dragged it lightly between her legs.

The soft whimpers she made told him he must be doing something right, but he backed away and grabbed the shower nozzle out of its holder, pulled it close, and rinsed the soap from her body.

She dipped her head beneath the spray and washed her short hair. Dax hung the nozzle back in its holder and did the same. When he rinsed the soap out of his, Eddy was already through, but she grabbed the wet cloth once again and began soaping his chest.

He stood beneath the hot spray while she carefully ran the cloth over the quiescent tattoo. She washed down over his hip, along his flank, the full length of one long leg all the way to his toes. Then she did the same to the other. Anticipation made him harder than ever, and his penis bobbed obscenely in front of her nose, but Eddy didn’t seem to mind at all.

She took the cloth, added more soap, and carefully washed all those human male parts, gently lifting his thick shaft and sweeping the cloth along his full length. She cradled his testicles in the palm of her hand and gently bathed him. The soft sweep of soapy cloth took him to the edge. His hips jerked when she swept the cloth between his legs, up the crease of his buttocks, and back over his flank.

He might have felt embarrassed at such human intimacy, probably should have, but it felt too good, too right for him to be concerned. He searched for the demon, but it remained quiet, satisfied with Eddy’s perfect touch. When she was done and had finished washing him and then herself, she rinsed both of them off as if they’d always bathed together, had always shared such astounding familiarity.

She got out of the shower and handed him a towel. Dax carefully dried himself and followed Eddy back into the bedroom. She brushed her tousled hair back from her face and handed the hairbrush to him with a smile that couldn’t be anything but seductive. This act of bathing had turned into more than flirtation. It was, instead, a serious prelude to mating, a dance of desire—Eddy’s own brand of foreplay taking both of them to another level of awareness.

She turned off the bright overhead light and then leaned over and turned on a lamp beside the bed. It cast a pale glow about the room, lighting the bed, but leaving most of the bedroom in dark shadow.

Dax dragged his gaze away from Eddy’s sleek body and looked down at the hairbrush in his hand. He brushed it through his wet hair and dragged it all straight back, but he realized he was once again watching Eddy through eyelashes still wet and spiky.

They were both clean now, but in spite of all her flirtatious moves, Eddy hadn’t actually said she wanted him sexually. The night was late, and Dax figured she’d want to sleep, though he was oddly disappointed at the thought that this might be all that would happen between them.

His tattoo was beginning to burn. His demon stirred. He’d felt in control while they showered, but now, here in the darkened bedroom, watching Eddy pull the bed’s sheets and blankets back, Dax was aware of the subtle slither and slink of the art taking on life, pulsing slowly over his skin, of the demon rising, watching Eddy through eyes dark with lust.

He touched his abdomen, where the wide body of the snake crossed just above the thick root of his erection. He ran his fingers over the design and felt the distinct pattern of scales beneath his fingertips, as if the pain itself took on form and substance. Was his demon working within the curse? Taking back the tattoo? Following the heat of the snake’s body, he trailed his fingers across his belly and up his chest.

The pain was growing, burning him from thigh to belly to chest, but he worked it, touched it, tried to make it his as he’d done earlier tonight. His hand trembled when he traced the line of the snake’s head. Its tongue flicked across his palm.

“Shit!” He snatched his fingers away, raised his head, and stared directly into Eddy’s eyes. She stood on the far side of the bed with her fingers pressed against her lips, her eyes wide in absolute horror. The pain intensified. His demon roared a silent scream of frustration. Dax felt a tearing sensation—the snake tattoo was pulling itself away from his body.

Eddy suddenly sprang to life. She raced around the end of the bed and slammed her hands against his chest, against the three-dimensional head of the snake as it twisted away from Dax.

“No!” She raised her head and stared at him in wide-eyed horror. “No,” she said, softer this time. “I won’t let it do this to you. I won’t.”

Dax covered Eddy’s hands with his. Together they pressed the snake’s head back down against his chest; together they held it in place. He had no sense of the demon now, but the snake writhed and twisted, and the heat was intense. Eddy never wavered. Neither did Dax, though it killed him to think of the pain she endured…for him. She held her hands to the scalding heat of the snake with a look of grim determination on her face.

Slowly the three-dimensional head of the snake flattened out beneath their hands. The texture of scales and muscle faded back to mere ink over cool skin, until, after a few long minutes, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Dax to tilt his head, for Eddy to raise hers, for them to find a connection of hands and hearts and lips.

Dax had kissed her before, but never with the intent of taking the kiss beyond a meeting of lips and teeth and tongues. This time, with Eddy holding the snake at bay, with Dax holding Eddy and their bodies fresh from the shower, both of them still damp and warm and entirely naked, it felt right to draw close. Right to wrap an arm around Eddy’s waist, right to pull her slim body tightly against his.

Right to spread his legs wide and draw her in to the cradle of his thighs, to tilt forward just so, until the heat of his erection nestled at the juncture of her thighs, pressing upward along the soft swell of her belly.

Her hands moved away from the now cooled and quiescent tattoo and slipped higher, trailing over his pectorals, across his collarbones. Her fingers tangled in the damp hair curling against his neck. One fingertip traced the edge of his ear, raising shivers along his spine.

She tilted her hips forward, pressing harder against his erection, teasing him with the soft brush of her pubic hair where it tickled the underside of his shaft. Her lips parted for him; her tongue dueled his in a sensual dance that left him breathless, wanting more.

Needing more. He cupped her firm buttocks in his palms and lifted her. She seemed to flow against him, and her long legs wrapped around his waist. He walked her to the bed and leaned forward with her still clinging tightly to his body.

When her back touched the mattress, she released him and sprawled shamelessly across the sheets. Her lips were swollen and shiny from their kisses; her nipples had tightened to dark points that called to him.

He couldn’t avoid comparisons. Eddy was perfect, and there was nothing in his past to compare. Demons were neither male nor female. They’d been created out of the muck and residue of all creation, not born. Some had breasts and genitalia that included multiple penises or both male and female organs on the same body. Others had no genitalia at all. It didn’t matter. When one demon conquered another it either ate the vanquished foe, or dominated it sexually. No matter if there wasn’t a conventional orifice. Anything would work.

A demon’s cock was as much a weapon as fangs or claws, as apt to ejaculate murderous venom as any other demonic fluid. When two demons came together, it wasn’t about sex or pleasure or desire. Sex was a weapon, another method for conquering the opponent. It was all about force and pain, about taking control of a weaker foe.

He had survived untold millennia as a demon, had defeated and known defeat, but the law of survival was one that allowed no weakness. There was no emotion, no desire beyond an uncontrollable frenzy to vanquish and subdue.

Win or lose, conquer or be conquered. Fuck or get fucked. It was all about domination and power and survival.

This was different. So wonderfully different.

Dax looked down at his hands and realized his fingers trembled. They were hands with the power to throw flame and ice, yet they trembled before a woman. Standing here now, beside the bed, with Eddy sprawled in all her soft and feminine splendor, unmanned him as no more powerful foe ever had. He wanted her so much he ached.

He feared her just as badly, though not for what she could do to him. No, he feared loving her, knowing it would change him forever. And he realized, in that brief moment when all his battles, his wins, his losses, and all his timeless past flashed before him, that it was worth the risk. Worth the pain when he finally lost her. Worth whatever it cost him for this one night. This moment in time, spent in Eddy’s arms.

He leaned over her, one knee planted firmly on the edge of the bed, one big hand hovering over her breast. He had to touch her, wanted to taste her. He glanced from her inviting breasts to see an even greater invitation in her eyes.

“Make love to me, Dax.” She raised her hands and brushed her fingers across his chest. Ran her fingertips over the snake, beginning at the fearsome head and trailing along its sinuous length. When she trailed one fingertip across the hard planes of his belly, he sucked in a harsh breath.

Her fingers brushed the thick root of his cock, lingered but a moment and then moved beyond, to trace the multicolored snake along the top of his thigh to the very tip of its tail. Fire followed her touch, but it wasn’t the fire of the demon’s curse. No, this heated his blood, made his heart beat faster. His breath escaped in tiny puffs, so quick and short he was hardly aware of drawing air inside in order for it to escape.

He’d never made love, never covered a woman before with a human body. Had no idea how to make it right for her, no knowledge beyond plunder and plunge deep, thrust hard and fast, take or be taken.

“Eddy…I…”

She brushed her fingers across his lips. “It’s okay,” she said. The knowledge of ages was in her eyes. “Follow my lead.”

He nodded, but he moved slowly, still unsure. His body thrummed with growing pressure, with a need that filled every cell, tightened every fiber of every one of his human muscles. Eddy sort of rolled up and curled around until she was kneeling in front of him as he half knelt, half stood beside the bed. She sat back on her heels and gazed up at him with her velvety brown eyes sparkling. She ran her fingers over the tattoo once again, as if she calmed the beast within.

Then she cupped his balls in her warm hands and wrapped her fingers lightly around the hard length of his shaft. Dax groaned and thrust forward into her grasp. His demon roared to life, and he fought it back until his entire body quivered with the restraint he forced on himself. Denying the instinct to shove hard and fast, to cover Eddy with his larger body and force himself deep inside her feminine heat, had him trembling as if he suffered from a palsy.

Eddy held him a moment longer. Her gentle touch had him clenching his muscles until his buttocks and thighs, chest, and jaw were hard as rocks. Then she leaned close, curled her spine, and brushed her lips over the broad crown of his penis.

Dax sucked in a breath. His body went rigid. He held himself still, concentrated on maintaining control, on holding the beast at bay while her lips and tongue ravaged his senses. He clenched his fists at his sides and felt the nails dig in to the fleshy swell beneath his thumbs. Her lips danced along his heavily veined length, and when he thought he couldn’t take it any longer, Eddy opened her mouth and wrapped her lips around the upper third of his cock.

He arched his back, but she held him in place with one fist wrapped tightly around his shaft while the other cradled the heavy sac beneath. Held him and took him to heaven and beyond with the sweep of her tongue and the warm suction of her full lips and the wet cavern of her mouth.

Time seemed to stand still as she loved him with her mouth, but when he knew he couldn’t last, that he couldn’t hold on another moment, she slowly released him, licking along his full length, nibbling the flared crown. She dipped the tip of her tongue into the weeping slit at the end of his cock, swirled lightly, and then sat back on her heels.

Her lips were shiny and soft, her breasts seemed somehow fuller, and when given the choice between lips and breast, Dax, leaned forward and wrapped his lips around her nipple, right over her heart. She threw her head back, thrust her chest forward, and he suckled her nipple into his mouth, tonguing the tip, nibbling, and then licking, until she held his shoulders in both her hands and pressed her breast against his mouth.

He didn’t remember moving, but he was above her now, his knees between her thighs, his cock resting against her damp cleft. He suckled first one breast, and then the other, fascinated by the taste and texture, the sense that this amazing act was something his human body recognized.

Dax, who’d never nursed at a mother’s breast, had never touched a woman, seen a woman…made love to a woman. Suddenly presented a feast, he was unsure where to begin. He trailed kisses along Eddy’s ribs, dipped his tongue into her navel, kissed the crease between her groin and thigh.

So close, he was drawn by her scent, by the rich, feminine perfume between her thighs. He scooted back and lifted her legs, presenting her for his own perusal. At first she tried to close her knees together, but when he glanced up, stared solemnly at her, and shook his head, she lay back down, and the tension went out of her thighs.

He leaned close, touched his tongue to her mound, and swirled the tip through her crisp curls. Her labia glistened with tiny drops of dew, and he ran his tongue between her feminine lips, lapping slowly. He quickly realized that when he laved the small bump at the top of her cleft, her body jerked and she pressed closer to his mouth.

So he did it again, and again, slowly, lightly, teasing Eddy just as she’d teased him until she suddenly cried out. Her body jerked, and her thighs closed against his ears as she arched closer to his mouth. Acting purely on human, not demon instinct, he pressed his lips around the swollen bud and sucked lightly for a moment longer, until her convulsive movements ended and her body relaxed in his hands.

Her eyes were bright in the dim glow from the bedside lamp when he finally moved over her, settled himself between her legs, and used his hand to guide his erect penis between the damp and swollen entrance to her body. She arched into him as he thrust forward.

Her opening was hot and very slick, yet he was so large the fit was tight and his progress slow and not so steady. He buried himself deep, and deeper still until he was fully engulfed in hot rippling flesh.

He’d never felt anything remotely as wonderful, nothing that could compare to the hot clasp of Eddy’s sheath around the thick length of his shaft. She filled him with life. Her muscles pulsed along his taut length; heat and moisture enfolded him. She lifted her hips and took him deeper; he recognized her rhythm and slipped into it as if they’d done this act together all their lives.

In and out, thrust and retreat, instinctive movements as old as time, but it was nothing like he’d ever experienced before. Nothing in his entire life had prepared him for this, for the overall sense of fulfillment, of pure, unadulterated ecstasy as his body became one with Eddy’s, as his heart found a rhythm that matched perfectly to hers.

And he knew, somehow he understood, that this was not the way it always was for all humans. That this perfect synchronization of hearts and bodies, of minds and needs, was unique to the two of them, totally encompassing every desire he’d ever had, every dream he’d never known to dream.

This was what Eddy said when she called it making love. This was love. This was more than their bodies, more than their minds—it was every cell, every thought, every need and desire, fulfilled and made whole.

Eddy’s body tensed beneath his. Electricity arched between them, dragging Dax into a new rhythm, a more powerful lead. The demon stirred, slipped beyond his defenses, and took control.

A deep, unearthly roaring filled his ears, a familiar, fearsome sound, one Dax thought was gone forever. He—both the man and the demon—thrust into her hard and fast, his hips moving in a compelling tempo racing against the beat of his heart, the rush of blood, the harsh intake of breath. Slamming into Eddy time and time again, until his balls slapped the curve of her buttocks and the sounds of wet flesh and hot suction and gasping breath all mingled and melded with Eddy’s cries and Dax’s hoarse roar of completion.

A final thrust, and his body hung rigid and unmoving above her. His sac drew up hard and tight between his legs. His cock jerked deep inside Eddy’s clasping sheath as he emptied himself in spurt after spurt, trapped as he was by clenching, spasming muscles, the hard muscles of her thighs wrapped around his waist, her heels locked together against the small of his back.

He had no idea. Hadn’t suspected, hadn’t known enough to even wonder what this would be like. Rearing back on his heels, Dax wrapped his arms around her and dragged her against his chest. Slowly the demon subsided, retreated, and faded into the back of his consciousness. Dax held Eddy close with her legs wrapped around his body, his cock buried inside, still jerking with each pulsing release, filling her…claiming this woman as his own.

Long moments later, her body relaxed, and she slumped against him. Her cheek rested on his shoulder; her arms dropped listlessly to his sides. She panted, breathing in and out with quick bursts of air that tickled his sweaty skin.

Dax lay her down on the soft bed, loath to separate entirely. Her closed eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. Perspiration beaded her chest and forehead, and a rosy flush spread over her breasts and belly.

Carefully, Dax pulled away. Regretfully he withdrew from her vagina. Her slick muscles still rippled around his shaft when he slipped free, almost as if they tried to hold him close, but he backed away and went into the bathroom to find a damp cloth. He quickly washed himself, rinsed the cloth carefully in warm water, and returned to Eddy.

He was almost afraid to think of what they’d done. What he had done. He’d felt the demon come to life, felt the power of his demon lust, the comingling of human and unworldly creature, taking Eddy, making love to Eddy.

He’d been afraid, but not enough to stop. He’d wanted her too much. Needed her too badly. Now she slept soundly just as he’d left her. One arm covered her eyes, one knee was still raised, the other sprawled limply to one side. Carefully, Dax washed between her legs, bathing his seed from her body, and then drying her with a warm towel.

When he was done, she rolled to her side with a soft sigh on her lips. He put the damp cloth and towel in the hamper, turned out the light, and crawled into bed behind her. His body fit perfectly against the curve of hers. He lay there with her warm bottom tucked against his belly and her damp hair tickling his chin.

It was a long time before he slept, not because he couldn’t relax, but because he forced himself to stay awake. He didn’t want to miss a single minute of the sweet experience of holding Eddy close. Of knowing that she slept so peacefully now because her body was sated from his loving.

Human and demon. Together they’d left her satisfied and smiling. He needed to think about that. Needed to understand how the two could work together.

Four more days to defeat the demons. Four more days in Eddy’s bed before his life on her world ended. How could he bear to leave her?

How could he not?

At least the death of his human body would be acceptable if he knew he’d be leaving Eddy safe. Alive, unharmed, and safe, in a world free from demonkind.

There was no other option. There was no point in saving the citizens of Evergreen if he couldn’t save Eddy. No point at all.

 

She wasn’t certain what woke her, but Eddy was suddenly wide awake and terribly aware of the man sleeping beside her. Dax must have turned off the bedside lamp before he slept, because the room was softly cocooned in total darkness. The sun hadn’t begun to rise, yet she felt energized, as if she’d slept soundly for many more hours than their late night should have allowed.

Reacting purely by instinct, Eddy placed her palm over the tattoo, finding it easily even in darkness by the intense heat radiating along its length.

The moment she covered the snake’s head with her palm, Dax sighed. His body relaxed, and he rolled from his back to his side, enveloping her in warmth and muscle. One heavy, hair-roughened leg slid across her thighs, and she felt the thick length of his partially tumescent erection against her hip.

They’d made love just the one time before exhaustion had claimed her, but Eddy’s body still hummed with the aftereffects of the most amazing climax she’d ever experienced in her life.

When the sun rose, Dax would be starting his fourth day. More than half his time would be gone. Eddy didn’t want to think about life after Dax, but she couldn’t help herself. She knew she’d never know another man like him, a man as much demon as human, one who loved her even as he sometimes left her feeling just a little off balance, a bit unsure. No, she would never find anyone even remotely as close to perfect.

Wasn’t this just like her usual luck? She’d never wanted a permanent relationship with any guy until now. Until Dax. He was the first man she’d ever known who pushed all her buttons. He filled every need she’d ever had, including a few she hadn’t even been aware of.

Typical. Softly, she stroked the tattoo, aware now how his skin cooled beneath her fingers. Dax sighed and snuggled close, nuzzling the sensitive skin beneath her ear. His hand drifted across her belly, slipped upward over her ribs, and settled around her left breast. His palm was rough, his fingers gentle, as they lightly plucked at her suddenly attentive nipple.

She felt him growing erect against her hip, knew he hovered on that plain between sleep and wakefulness. His lips pursed in a drowsy kiss against her throat; his hips thrust forward.

He began to take form in the thin, gray light of early dawn. The dark sweep of hair across his brow, the straight line of his nose, the curve of his jaw. With the growing visibility of his face came the full awareness that their time was growing shorter with each minute that passed.

The sun was rising.

Another day had ended. The new one began. Eddy rubbed her hand slowly across the firm muscles of his chest and cupped her palm over his shoulder. Gently, she applied pressure and pushed him over on his back. He rolled over with a grunt, but his eyes stayed closed.

Eddy raised up on one elbow to study him. His thick lashes curved in dark half moons above sharply defined cheekbones. His lips were pursed, but when Eddy leaned close to press a soft kiss to his mouth, they softened and reformed beneath hers, returning her kiss.

She smiled against his mouth. His muscles firmed beneath her hands as he awoke more fully. He returned her smile. His big hands found her in the darkness, stroking her flanks, her sides, cupping her breasts.

He lifted her, and, as if they’d done this uncountable times, Eddy slipped her leg across his body and straddled his hips. Rose up, grasped his thick erection in one hand, and guided him between her legs.

When she settled down over him, he sheathed perfectly within her, filling her completely. She wriggled her hips just enough to settle all of his length inside. He groaned. The faint light spilling through the blinds glinted off his sleepy smile.

Eddy began to move. She quickly found a rhythm that took Dax deep and then slipped him almost free of her tight channel, lifting and then lowering herself above him. Teasing him with tiny, rocking motions of her hips, she managed to make contact exactly where she wanted to on each rise and fall. She used the muscles in her thighs and calves to lift her up, to slowly lower her down, to take both of them to the very edge.

Fully awake now, Dax’s eyes glinted in the growing light of dawn. His lips were tightly drawn as he grasped her around the hips with both hands, lifting her up, pulling her down. He lifted his hips to meet her, faster now, and harder until the slap, slap, slap of their bodies coming together seemed to echo against the harsh rasp of their breathing, the soft whimpers from Eddy, the deep groans from Dax.

She leaned forward and pressed her palms against his shoulders, anchoring herself as he drove into her, raising his hips hard and fast to meet her.

Her body hovered, nerves stretched thin on the sharp edge of orgasm. Eddy ran her tongue across her lips and gazed down—directly into the eyes of the snake.

Its forked tongue darted toward her with a malevolent and deviant sensuality anchored in pure evil. Eddy slammed both hands over the gaping mouth as the snake’s scaled head slithered entirely free from Dax’s chest. She felt the curve of its blunt snout, the strength of muscle beneath its hot, reptilian skin. With a harsh cry, she shoved the serpent back against Dax.

He seemed unaware of the impossible battle taking place over his heart. With eyes closed and lips stretched thin in what could have been either a grimace of pain or extreme pleasure, he slammed his hips upward, driving into her. Eddy arched her back, held the snake in place, and gave in to orgasm. Wave after wave of pleasure rippled from the point where she and Dax connected. Rippled and grew in a tide of sensation.

The snake moved beneath her hands, and Eddy channeled the sharp waves of pleasure, worked the full thrust of arousal, and cast it forward, calling on all the love she felt, the fears for this man, the need in her she knew no other man would ever satisfy—channeled all of it from her heart, through her hands, and into Dax.

Owning it, working the multiple strengths of her own pleasure and need, she sent it blasting into the snake.

A brilliant pulse of energy passed from her fingertips into the reptile. Eddy felt the thrill of completion as Dax cried out, as his body tightened beneath hers and his hips thrust upward and held.

Her muscles clenched, and still the power passed from Eddy, through the snake, into Dax. Back again to Eddy, a circle of power surrounding the snake, trapping it within a golden light that actually glowed along the sinuous edges of the tattoo.

Eddy felt it along her thigh, where she connected with the tail end of the snake, felt it against her pubes, where the thick body of the snake passed over Dax’s groin. Felt it beneath her hands, where the snake’s head stopped its powerful thrust and once again flattened into a seemingly harmless tattoo, a mere piece of art adorning her man’s broad chest.

The last ripples of orgasm rolled through her body, in wave after wave of pleasure so powerful it verged on pain. Eddy fell forward as Dax’s arms wrapped tightly around her and held her close. The tattoo was a cool presence between her breasts. She knew it lived, but for now she knew without any doubt she had subjugated whatever evil curse gave it strength.

Smiling, Eddy turned her face and rested her cheek against Dax’s chest. Rested it directly over the snake’s venomous fangs, feeling almost smug in her awareness that once again she’d bested evil.

Sunlight found them, drowsy yet complete. Dax was still buried deep inside her body, and his arms still encircled her waist. But the snake was quiet, and Eddy knew Dax felt none of the curse’s pain right now. Whatever she’d done had stopped the creature, though probably not for long.

Even so, she couldn’t help but smile. They’d conquered its strongest attack yet, and they’d done it with love. Maybe that was the secret to fighting the demon. There was power in love. They just needed to figure out how to use it, and there were very few days left to get it right.