Margaret Carter - Demon's fall

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2024-12-23 0 0 173.68KB 21 页 5.9玖币
侵权投诉
DEMON’S FALL
Margaret Carter
Chapter One
Malice lurked within the scrawny man’s brain. Sensing that malice from his position just
inside the door that opened onto the homeless shelter’s parking lot, Karl Engel visualized it as
a snake. It needed only a light prod to make it inject venom into its host and spur him into
action. Applying that prod wasn’t Karl’s job. Other forces performed that function. His job
was to spring to the rescue of the host’s intended victim at the strategic moment.
In the shabby reception room of the House of Bread, he held the door for Erin Collier, the
potential lady in distress. The other four-to-midnight volunteers had already gone home,
leaving Karl to escort Erin, one of two paid staff members on that shift, to her car. At twelve
o’clock on a summer night, the lot was empty of people, although music and laughter from a
bar in the next block drifted on the humid breeze. Erin brushed a lock of her short,
honey-blonde hair back from her forehead and smiled up at Karl. Her jasmine perfume teased
his nose.
He welcomed that fragrance, mingled with her moist female scent, as one of the
compensations of occupying a human body. By the Dark Powers, there were plenty of
negatives to offset the few positives! This shell of flesh required nutrition, water and sleep, and
it performed distasteful functions such as digestion. Not that he didn’t enjoy some kinds of
food, such as the steamed blue crabs Erin had taught him to crack for their meat or the
homemade fudge she sometimes brought for dessert at the shelter. If only his body didn’t have
to handle those treats in such a crude way. On the other hand, it responded with a pleasant
stirring of the blood to Erin’s lushly curved shape. He edged closer to her, letting her aroma
and the glow of her aura override one of the negatives, the odor of garbage from the dumpster
at the side of the building. He wasn’t sure he’d have been able to endure wearing a human
body and senses if he hadn’t had the power to escape from them by turning ethereal now and
then.
His night-adapted eyes caught sight of another figure trudging toward them on the
sidewalk, a woman. No, more like a girl, he decided, in her late teens at most. He watched her
with mild annoyance, hoping she wouldn’t throw off the timing of the planned confrontation.
Thin except for her rounded abdomen, she wore jeans, sandals, a ragged sweatshirt
voluminously too big for her, and a backpack. Uncombed brown hair straggled to her
shoulders.
She planted herself in front of Karl and Erin. “Do you work here? I need a place to stay.”
Erin gave the girl’s shoulder a brief pat. “I’m sorry, the shelter’s been closed for hours. You
come back tomorrow, hon—what’s your name?” Her strong alto resonated through Karl’s
bones like organ music. One of the few pleasures of volunteering at this refuge for outcasts
was listening to her lead the “clients”, as she called them, in song after dinner each evening.
“Lisa,” the girl mumbled. “I’m going to have a baby.”
A smile flitted across Erin’s lips. “Yes, I see.” She dug into the purse slung over her left
shoulder and pulled out a handful of twenty-dollar bills. “This should cover a room at the
Thrift-Inn. It’s just half a mile that way, and the street’s well lit.” With a wave, she indicated a
northward direction past the closed restaurants, strip malls, and car dealers. “Come back
tomorrow when I start my shift at four, and we’ll see about getting you some help.” She
pressed her business card into Lisa’s hand.
“Uh, sure, thanks.” Looking a bit stunned, the girl stuffed the card and money into a
pocket and turned to walk up the road.
As soon as Lisa reached the next intersection, Erin said in a low voice, “Maybe I should
have offered her a ride. But we’re not supposed to get personally involved with the clients.”
Slipping his arm around her waist, Karl said, “You don’t consider giving her money
getting involved? Do you really expect to see her again?” The brush of her hip against his
made his loins tighten, a pleasant but unnecessary distraction at the moment.
She raised her chin defiantly and glowered up at him from the foot of difference between
their heights. “Yes. I don’t share your low opinion of the human race.”
With another appreciative sniff of her perfume, he began, “As you’ve told me many times
in—”
Another smell intruded, beer and stale sweat. The thin, unshaven man who’d been
lingering in the parking lot sidled up to Karl and Erin as they started toward Erin’s car. Karl
congratulated himself on timing their exit well. It wouldn’t have done for the attack to occur
inside the shelter, where someone on the midnight-to-eight shift might have interfered with his
heroics.
Erin paused at the sight of the scrawny man, who tried to claim a bed at least four nights
a week and had to be turned away an average of half the time. His weathered skin and bird’s
nest of gray-streaked hair made him look older than his probable fifty years. “Mr. Weiss, you
know the rules.” Karl read a suppressed sigh of exasperation in her mind. She folded her arms
and continued in a sympathetic but firm tone. “You know the shelter closes for the night at
nine, and you know you’re not allowed if you’ve been drinking, anyway.”
“Aw, come on, Ms. Collier, can’t you give me a break for once?”
“You have to give yourself one first. Come back tomorrow afternoon, and we can talk
about getting you into rehab again.” She kept walking.
Not for the first time, Karl wondered how she could maintain such a good-humored tone.
It wasn’t faked, either. Underneath the layer of impatience and fatigue, she felt sincere
compassion for this worthless specimen. Given permission, Karl would have stopped the
man’s heartbeat without a second thought. But killing human beings outright was one thing
his side wasn’t allowed to do, a restriction that baffled him. Didn’t millions of them die every
year through disease and natural disasters? Who’d miss a few more?
Weiss shuffled in front of them to block the way to the car. “Then gimme money for a
motel, like you did that pregnant kid.” His tone shifted from whiny to surly.
“Sorry, I can’t do that. It’s warm out tonight. You won’t freeze. We’ll talk tomorrow
afternoon.”
Karl marveled at the lack of fear in her voice. No wonder he hadn’t yet been able to fulfill
his mission of persuading her to quit her job on the shelter’s staff. She was insane, more so
than the rest of these hairless bipeds. At least she had sense enough to realize Weiss, unlike the
girl, would squander any cash she gave him on a bottle rather than a room.
When Erin stepped sideways to walk around him, the drunk made a grab for her arm.
“Don’t blow me off, lady.”
Karl’s hand lashed out and slammed down on Weiss’s forearm in a sharp chopping
motion. With a wordless snarl, Weiss stumbled backward. Karl smelled the miasma of
demon-spawned anger clouding whatever rational thought processes the man had left. Not
true possession, but unnatural influence, as Karl had expected. Weiss pulled out a pocket knife
and unfolded it with tremulous fingers.
Erin emitted a spike of fear, quickly suppressed. When Weiss jabbed the blade in the air
and snatched at her purse, though, she didn’t retreat. Recognizing his chance, Karl leaped
between Erin and the attacker. Instead of letting Karl shelter her behind him, to his
astonishment, she shoved him out of the way.
“No, he won’t hurt me. Mr. Weiss, give me that knife.” She held out her hand.
The ploy might have worked if the man’s brain hadn’t been clogged with more than
alcohol. After a shocked pause, he lunged at her again.
This time Karl didn’t give her a chance to interfere. He slapped the knife out of Weiss’s
hand to clatter onto the pavement, knocked him facedown, and knelt on the middle of his
back. “Erin, call the police.”
“No, Karl.” Now her voice trembled, and he scented fear on her skin. “Another arrest on
his record won’t do him any good. Take the knife and let him go.”
“Have you lost your mind? He’ll just come after you again.” Karl leaned his weight harder
on Weiss, who thrashed under him and alternately groaned and cursed.
“He won’t do that when he sobers up. Please, I’ve got more experience with this kind of
thing than you have.”
“That’s why you jumped in front of a weapon? Your psychology degree makes you
invulnerable?” Although the encounter had ended just the way Karl had planned, he couldn’t
help feeling outraged at the way Erin had thrown herself into danger and still exhibited
sympathy for this halfwit who might have sliced up both of them. With a baffled shake of his
head, he stood up to let Weiss scramble to his feet. “You heard Ms. Collier. Get moving.”
The demonic influence seeped away from Weiss’s brain, leaving him muddled and
frightened. He flung a confused glance at each of them in turn, then shambled into the
darkness. Karl picked up the weapon and folded the blade. He could still hardly believe Erin
had tried to shield him as if he were the one in danger.
When she took a step toward him, though, he noticed her legs quivering with the
aftershock of the encounter. He dropped the knife into a side pocket, closed the distance
between them in a couple of strides, and drew her into his arms. Her head rested on his chest,
her cheek pressed to the front of his shirt. The strategic moment had arrived. Surely this time
she’d listen to his rationale for resigning from the shelter job, even if he had to seduce her over
to his viewpoint, a prospect he anticipated with pleasure as well as curiosity.
* * * * *
Shaking, Erin wrapped her arms around Karl’s waist. His firmly muscled body provided a
welcome pillar to lean on. Now that the crisis had ended, belated fear washed over her. Mr.
Weiss had never before done anything to hint he was remotely dangerous. She could still
hardly believe he’d threatened her. The steady thump of Karl’s heart under her ear calmed her
own breathing and pulse. One of his hands stroked her hair, while the other traced circles in
the middle of her back. She felt his lips brush the top of her head. “Are you all right?” His
faintly accented voice rumbled in his chest, creating vibrations that resonated through her
bones.
She nodded. His fingers inched under her hair to massage the nape of her neck. Tilting her
head back, she searched his face in the light from the streetlamp. His eyes, ice-blue in daylight
but heavily shadowed now, scanned her with concern and possibly more. He dropped a light
kiss on her forehead. Her breath caught in her throat. His fingers glided around her neck and
along her jawline to cup her chin.
When he dipped his head lower to kiss her, she was ready. For over a month he’d shown
up to volunteer every night that she was on duty at the shelter. Few people who donated the
lavish sums of money Karl contributed would bother to put in so many hours of personal
service, too. She’d wondered whether his hovering around her meant anything more than the
casual interest of a man new in town, wanting companionship. His mouth exploring hers
answered that question. She parted her lips to welcome the dart of his tongue. Warmth
radiated from every point where the two of them touched, spreading over her like a silken
cloak. Delicious tingles danced from her lips to her nipples and the pit of her stomach. Heat
pooled between her legs. She caught herself shifting position to mold her body to Karl’s.
His growing erection pressed against her. With a gasp, she opened her mouth wider to
thrust her tongue boldly into his. When he copied the gesture, a low growl sounded in his
throat. She clutched the back of his shirt and rubbed her breasts against his chest. One of her
hands strayed upward to explore his thick, black hair the way she’d secretly wanted to for
weeks. It felt like the winter pelt of a furbearing predator. Soft mewling noises escaped from
her. She imagined his shaft plunging into her sheath the way his tongue lashed in and out of
her mouth.
His hand slid down her back to clutch her bottom. When one finger slipped into the cleft
between her buttocks, caressing through her skirt and panties, the zap of lightning to her core
jolted her awake from the sensual trance. Good grief, what am I doing? She tore her mouth
away from his, shifted her grip to his shoulders, and pushed a few inches back to create a gap
between their bodies.
“Erin, please—” Need roughened his voice. His hands roamed up and down her back as if
he couldn’t get enough of touching her.
It had been so long since any man had hungered for her that she almost weakened again.
But she’d known Karl only six weeks. When his fingers spanned her rib cage on each side and
his thumbs wandered to the lower curves of her breasts, she grasped his wrists to stop him.
Never mind that her nipples peaked in anticipation. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have let that happen.”
She could hardly catch her breath enough to gasp out the words.
Though his eyes still smoldered, he let go of her and took a step backward. “No, I should
apologize for taking advantage of the situation. Let me drive you home. Your car will be safe
here for one night. I don’t think you should be alone.”
“Really, I’m okay now.” She brushed a lock of hair off her damp forehead. Her hand still
trembled, she noted with annoyance.
“Please. I’d lie awake worrying otherwise.” He added with a wry smile, “I promise not to
force myself on you.”
She hoped he couldn’t see the blush that heated her face. “Okay, I accept the offer.” She
had to admit to herself that driving home alone didn’t appeal to her. Not only that, she didn’t
want to separate from him so abruptly.
His fingers rested lightly on her elbow to guide her to his car. He drove a Mercedes
two-seater, not a surprise considering what little she knew about him. Buckling herself into the
passenger seat, she inhaled the aroma of leather and sighed with pleasure when the air
conditioner blasted coolness onto her sweat-dampened arms.
She knew Karl had come originally from somewhere in central Europe, had moved to the
United States and made a fortune in some kind of dot-com business, and now lived in affluent
leisure with occasional consulting to keep him busy. Whenever she’d probed for more specifics,
he’d changed the subject. Not much background information to base a relationship on. For all
she knew, he might have made his money in organized crime instead of software. She laughed
to herself at that notion. Contrary to the Hollywood image of the mob boss with a heart of
gold, she doubted the typical man in that subculture gave five-figure donations to homeless
shelters.
As the car pulled onto the nearly deserted street, she gave him directions to her place.
“What in hell’s name possessed you to jump in front of that knife?” His obvious frustration
added an edge to the demand.
“I didn’t want him to hurt you.”
“Well, we have something in common. I didn’t want him to hurt you, either.” He shook
his head in apparent despair over her recklessness.
“I don’t think he would have. I probably could’ve talked him down. But he doesn’t know
you. He might have tried to cut your throat.” She swallowed a lump of unexpected fear. “I
can’t believe I just said that. It’s not like him. I wonder what came over him.”
Karl shrugged. “Drugs, perhaps?”
“As far as I’ve seen, his drug of choice has always been booze, nothing illegal.”
“Whatever the cause, now you understand why I walk you to your car whenever I can. I
hate to see you putting your safety at risk. I care about you.”
Erin cast a quick glance at him, then turned to the dark side window. Self-consciousness
battled with a tinge of wistful pleasure at his claim of caring. He couldn’t mean much by that,
not on such short acquaintance. “You’re exaggerating about the safety thing. I’ve been doing
this for five years.”
“Why?”
The vehemence of the single-word question startled her. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve wondered ever since we met.” The car turned off the commercial strip into the
tree-shadowed neighborhood where she lived. “You have a doctorate in psychology. You gave
up private practice to work at a soup kitchen, with a drastic cut in income.”
“Not soup kitchen, interdenominational ministry to the homeless.” A tiny smile quirked
her lips. She’d corrected him on the “soup kitchen” terminology many times. “I also gave up
the hassle of an hour’s drive into Washington every day, not to mention the stress of dealing
with clients one on one. And I gained the satisfaction of making a real difference.”
摘要：

DEMON’SFALLMargaretCarterChapterOneMalicelurkedwithinthescrawnyman’sbrain.Sensingthatmalicefromhispositionjustinsidethedoorthatopenedontothehomelessshelter’sparkinglot,KarlEngelvisualizeditasasnake.Itneededonlyalightprodtomakeitinjectvenomintoitshostandspurhimintoaction.Applyingthatprodwasn’tKarl’sj...

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