She was. And suddenly so cold, even though it had been warm outside. Jett rubbed her hands up and down her arms and glanced at the front door. No sigils on this side. Yet she was literally trapped now.
What had he asked? Right. She nodded. Yes, water. Please.
He retrieved a glass from a cupboard and Jett marveled at the clear, clean water running from the tap. Shed forgotten how pure things could be. Unadulterated by the darkness she had learned to caress and rely on for comfort. When he handed it to her, she held the glass for a moment, taking it in. So normal. She remembered when her mother would hand her a glass of water. Drink it down. On to the next adventure, like chasing rabbits through the cabbage patch with Savin.
Im not going to ask if you are all right, Savin said. Deep and calm, his voice chased away her shivers. You cant be. You just came out of Daemonia. Maybe I should let you settle in and feel your way around the place for tonight?
She nodded. Please.
I bet a shower will feel great. Come this way.
She followed him through the living room stuffed with dark, wood-trimmed furniture and saw many guitars hung on the walls. Amongst them she noticed more demon sigils scrawled on the bare-brick walls. Some glinted at her, but none seemed to notice her presence.
Ive only got one bedroom, Savin said, but its a king-size bed. Comfy. You can sleep in that tonight and Ill take the couch.
She didnt want to put him out, butat sight of the bed, lush with a thick gray coverlet and pillowspillows! Shed not laid her head on a pillow for so long. Jett decided to quietly accept the generous offer.
Ahead, he flipped on the light in the bathroom and she blinked and stepped back. It was so bright.
Oh. He noticed her discomfort. Its on a dimmer. He turned a dial and the light softened. You can shower and there are towels in the cabinet. I probably have a shirt you can wear to sleep in. Does that sound good?
She nodded again and realized she clutched the water glass to her chest. So precious, the clean water.
Savin rubbed his bearded jaw. His deep blue eyes beckoned her to wonder if they were real. Never had she seen such blue irises. Lapis lazuli, she remembered, was one of the stones shed collected as a child. Though to consider his eyes now, they looked sad. Concerned.
Tell me what you need, Jett.
She didnt know what she needed, beyond the temporary safety she felt standing before Savins powerful build. In his home. Behind the sigils that would keep out demons. Of utmost concern was keeping any and all of those sorts away from her.
This is good. I will shower and sleep. I feel like I can sleep. She rarely slept. To imagine lying for hours without nightmares? It seemed an impossibility. You are too kind.
Its not a problem. Ill be out on the couch if you need anything. Youre welcome to wander about, help yourself to whatever appeals in the fridge. Just...uh, do what you need to do. Make my place your own. Well talk in the morning.
Another nod was all she could offer. She didnt want to talk about that place. Not right away. In order to move forward, she needed to put that experience behind her. To truly be free. But she was curious how Savin had escaped and how hed come to be a man who reckoned demons out of this realm.
Good night, he offered. When he brushed past her, the heat of his skin shivered over hers.
Jett lifted her head and sucked in a breath. As she followed his exit from the room, the flutters returned to her heart and her skin flushed warmly. Was this what desire felt like?
Chapter 4
Savin did not sleep much that night. He lay there in the cool darkness, bare feet jutting over the end of the couch, thinking about the woman who slept in his bed not thirty feet away in the other room.
After watching Jett being literally sucked over the wicked lava falls in Daemonia, had he given up on her too quickly? Should he have lain there at the edge longer, waiting for her to emerge? Hed thought he had sprawled there for days. But hed learned it was impossible to gauge time in such a place. Hed never cried so much as he had after losing his best friend. The remembrance zinged in his muscles with stinging aches and he almost thought to feel his skin burn now as it had then.
That harrowing experience had been seared into his very bones. It had become a part of him. It was him. It was the reason why he reckoned demons. Such creatures did not belong in this realm. No human should have to experience what he had lived through.
And now Jett was back. Alive, and seemingly sane. But how damaged must she be after living in that place for twenty years? He couldnt imagine. The demons he reckoned to Daemonia were often vicious, wild, physically disgusting and, many times, homicidal. For a human to exist in such a place, and with those creatures, for any longer than he had survived there seemed incomprehensible.
Yet there existed demons of all sorts, natures and aptitudes, and some were evensurprisinglybenevolent. Edamite Thrash being one such example. Savin could only pray Jett had been guided and sheltered by one possessing a modicum of kindness.
He had so many questions to ask. Why had they gotten sucked into Daemonia? It was something hed asked himself thousands of times over the years. Never had he gotten an answer. Might Jett have brought back that answer with her? He wanted to know, if she could tell him. But he must be careful with her, allow her time to heal and to adjust to the mortal realm.
Hell, he was thankful she was alive.
Hours later, the sun prodded Savin out of a snore. He rubbed a hand over his head and then his shaggy beard. He needed a shave. He tended to avoid the manscaping bullshit and suffice with a shower and comb. He wasnt trying to impress anyone.
Except now a pretty woman lay in the other room. He didnt want to scare her. Might be time to dig out the razor.
Rising, he tugged off the long-sleeved shirt hed slept in and unbuttoned his jeans as he walked toward the back of the flat. There were no doors between the living room and bedroom, so he peeked inside before entering. Jett lay still and was covered by the sheet, so he quickly snuck through the room and into the bathroom, closing that door quietly behind him.
Turning to meet his reflection in the mirror above the freestanding porcelain sink, he sneered at the gruff man who rarely smiled back. How long had his eyes been so dark and sullen? Was that the appearance of a wild man or a scruffy hermit? He really had developed a lack of concern. Kept the demons back, he figured. They feared his appearance. Heh. Not really. That was what the sigils were for. Protection and repulsion.
He traced one of the finely tattooed sigils on the underside of his forearm. Composed of circles within circles and some directional arrows along with demonic repulsion sigils. Sayne, the ink witch whod put the bespelled ink down, had promised him they would be effective against most demons. Of course, he could never be impervious to all because there were so many breeds of demons in existence.
There had been one occasion when Savin met a demon who had not been repulsed by any of his sigils. That demon had initially been locked in a cage in the bowels of the Acquisitions headquarters. Later, Savin had ended up working with Gazariel, The Beautiful One, to help track down a vicious vampiress intent on invoking a spell that could end the world by smothering all mankind with the wings of fallen angels. That was a long story.
Savin found his way into some serious shit at times. Like it or not.
Hell, he liked it more than not. Kept life interesting. And, well, it was what he knew how to do.
Flipping on the shower, he stripped down and grabbed the razor from the medicine cabinet. Time to make himself more presentable for his guest.
* * *
Jett sat up on the big, wide bed. Shed slept? Grabbing a pillow, she hugged it to her chest, burying her face in the rugged scent of Savin Thorne. She hadnt smelled anything so good. Ever. The man entered her pores on a brute whisper of masculinity and crisp fall leaves, and stirred up thoughts that didnt so much surprise her with their eroticism as rise to embolden her.
Was she still asleep and in a dream?
While she was in Daemonia, dreams had been elusive. Actually, nightmares might have been the only reverie possible there. When attempting to recline and rest, shed learned to shut down her thoughts. To sleep? Surely, she had. According to Savin, it had been twenty years that she had been absent. A person couldnt survive so long without sleeping.
Twenty years, she whispered.
Twenty years according to the mortal realms timekeeping.
It was impossible to track time in Daemonia. Night and day did not exist. The seasons of gray and white and rust did. Gray crept in on mist and eeriness. White had shocked with ice and the crackly lava flowers shed grown to enjoy despite their charcoal scent. And rust? Fire and screams.
It was late summer here in Paris. Perhaps. She hadnt taken careful note of the field and surroundings last night before Savin pulled up on the road beside her. But it was warm. Such comforting warmth teased at her skin. In all her time in that place, shed not known such a gentle and undemanding temperature.
Now she was determined to open her arms wide and embrace it all. Take it back in and flood her system with the muscle memory of a normal life. She must once again become a part of the human race.
Was it possible? She didnt have a clue. But she would not relent until she was proved either right or wrong.
A clatter from inside the bathroom clued her she was not, indeed, dreaming. Savin must have finished in the shower. And before she could decide if she should leave the bedroom to give him some privacy, the door opened. Steam wafted out on a sage-scented cloud. And a god wearing but a towel emerged.
Oh, youre up. Savin hooked his hand on the towel where it was tucked at his hip.
Jett dragged her gaze from his facehe had trimmed what had been a wild beard to something a bit more rulydown over his wide and solid chest. That was a lot of muscle, and all of it was tight and undulated in curves and hard planes and... She had seen demons who looked like they pumped iron in a gym. Theyd had muscles of blackest flesh or coldest steel. Some breeds physical makeup had been so terrible as to reveal bone and organs. But this man? Those muscles did not wrap about a rib cage that lacked within it a beating heart. Savin Thorne was a hot drink of the clearest, cleanest water shed ever desired.
Did you sleep? he asked.
Sleep? Adjusting her gaze from the tantalizing ridges of muscle on his abdomen, Jett hugged the pillow tighter to her chest, sensing a weird increase in her breaths. Which, when checked, she realized was want. Need. Hunger for the mans muscles pressed up against her body. Uh, yes. Surprisingly. I think thats the best sleep Ive had in ages.
That bed is comfortable. I, uh...
He glanced to the cabinet on the other side of the bed that stood up against the wall.
Oh, you need to get dressed. I should let you have some privacy. She dropped the pillow and walked to the edge of the bed on her knees, but Savin beat her to the cabinet, and if she climbed off the bed, shed step right up against him.
Its cool, he said. Ill just grab some things and change out in the living room. Im sure you want to use the bathroom. You can use whatever you like. I might even have an extra toothbrush in one of the drawers. Toothpaste is in the cabinet.
Toothpaste. That sounded so decadent.
How about we take a walk down the street and find something to eat? he offered as he claimed some clothes. Then we can talk.
Talk? Not about Daemonia. She wasnt ready for that. And she wasnt sure she would ever be. Sure. Itll be great to get out in the fresh air. Its not something Ive had... Uh... No. She wasnt going to detail what was now her past. Thank you, Savin. It was weird luck that you were out there in the country to help me.
It was. But also not a coincidence. He took her in with a shadowed glance. His eyes were deep blue and his thick brows were low above them, granting him a dangerous mien. A force to, literally, be reckoned with. That place where the rift to Daemonia opened last night is exactly where it happened.
Jett nodded. It. Yes, it had been. That day long ago when her life had been irrevocably altered.
Sorry. He winced. You probably dont want to talk much about all that. Well take it slow. Im hungry. Soon as youre ready, well head out. Feel free to raid my clothes. You might make a dress out of one of my shirts, youre so tiny.
He strode around the corner and Jett slid off the bed to look through the clothes cabinet. Shed found a T-shirt to sleep in last night and it hung to her thighs. Her hand glided over a pair of gray sweatpants with a string tie at the waist. It should serve until she could buy clothes that fit her.
Might Savin lend her some money to get her life established? She would need it because she had no means to a job or even knowledge of how to acquire the basics such as food, clothing and shelter.
Had she done the right thing?
The innate part of her that had seen to her survival in the Place of All Demons rose within her, reminding her she was not the same girl who had been taken out of this realm so long ago. She was stronger, and more vital. And she would have whatever she wanted, using her wiles if necessary. Let no man, or demon, stop her.
I will, Jett whispered decisively. And he will help me.
In the bathroom, she found a new toothbrush and Savins comb. Her hair was a tangle and hung to her waist. Also, it was no longer the color it had been while she was in Daemonia. She wasnt sure if she missed that or not. Shed often worn it braided and back, but she no longer had consorts to aid or help her dress. Such a loss.
A moment to focus inward and ensure that all would be welland secureserved her temporary solace. Maybe? She was trapped within something she was not in this realm, just as she had been in the other realm. And she was already questioning her decision to escape. Shed left behind things. Privileges. A certain status.
Jett shook her head. She had to stay on focus. She had wanted this. Had striven for escape. And the best person to help her achieve normality had been right there, waiting for her. Surely, that was a positive sign. For now, she was safe around Savin. Yet she could not overlook that the wards protecting his home pulled at her when she got too near the front door. She needed to be outside, free from any repulsive magic.
Pulling up the sweatpants, she tugged the ties and bunched up the excess. It still didnt fit smartly, so shed be forced to hold them up while she walked. But the invite to get outside could not be refused. She craved fresh air and would swallow it in gulps.