The kitchen was like stepping into another house altogether. It was bright, modern, and had stainless steel appliances both large and small, a huge counter island, and tons of cabinet space.

  Malina opened a cabinet and grabbed a cup, while the demoness poured a coffee she explained, “The last Moore took up cooking in his second century of life. Once he had mastered the available magic, he branched out into other disciplines and tried to attain mastery in those as well. He was a good chef actually, once he caught on. Some of his ancestors created new spells and the like, but he was never an innovator in magic so branched out instead to stave off the boredom of a long life.”

  She asked, “And Shawn, any predictions?”

  Malina just smiled at her, obviously not planning on giving any information on her current warlock, “Cream or sugar?”

  She sighed, “Both please.”

  There was an awkward silence as the succubus finished making her coffee and handed it over. She took a sip and sighed in pleasure.

  Malina said calmly as she made a coffee of her own, “It isn’t what you think, I just don’t know. It’s too early to say. He’s brilliant of course, they all were in their way, and he learns at an almost frightening pace. But learning and creating are two different endeavors. Only time will tell.”

  They sat at the kitchen table and chatted about stuff for a while. It was a surreal experience for her as the adrenaline drained from her system and she gossiped with a succubus, who she was coming to suspect was a greater demon.

  Mainly because lesser demons couldn’t read minds, and the succubus’s answers and comments seemed to match the questions in her thoughts all too often. She also thought a lesser succubus wouldn’t have as much control over herself, and would have hit on her by now instead of being the gracious hostess.

  It would also explain why the Moore warlocks were so successful over the centuries.

  Malina looked up, and then back to her, “He’ll be down in a few minutes,” the succubus pulled out a parchment, “Why don’t you review this. It has the details for the deal, he wrote this up earlier since it’s a bit complicated.”

  She picked it up and read it over. She raised an eyebrow, as he was being very generous. She wasn’t required to marry him, or bear his young, until they had put her in as high council for the mages, and had rooted out and killed all the current corrupt councilors, and lastly had created a treaty.

  There was even an out clause, where if they honestly just failed to set her up, the pact would be voided. Although she was pretty sure that was for his benefit, if they failed to overcome the council on a completely airtight agreement he would be more fucked than she’d be.

  She was happy about all that, yet when she thought of him she was also strangely disappointed. She’d been rather looking forward to sleeping with him. He was so attractive, confident, and damned intense, and it had been too long since she’d had a lover that could… Maybe they could practice? She saw the sly smile on the succubus’ face, and blushed.

  The pact looked good to her, it was exactly what they had discussed yesterday. She had a moment of doubt, was she really going to sell rights to her womb for power? She squashed the thought ruthlessly, and promised herself it wouldn’t be like that. It might start off like a political marriage, but he even said he hoped it would be more, that kind of left it up to her didn’t it?

  Still, it wasn’t lost on her that one of the things she hated about the council was the backroom deals, and she was about to resort to a pact to get her own way. But really, all it would do was get her started, the rest of it was up to her ability to hold her power, and rule fairly. Shawn hadn’t asked for anything outside of a treaty of non-aggression as far as the mage government went.

  In other words, she wasn’t selling out her people, just herself, personally.

  She felt better after thinking that through.

  Malina smiled mysteriously, and she suddenly wondered what it would feel like to kiss the demoness.

  Malina looked at her half empty cup, “More coffee?”

  Chapter 21

  I kissed Lilliana under the hot spray of the shower, as we rinsed off the soap. Making love had been amazing, but we hadn’t stopped there and went a few more rounds. It wasn’t until I felt Karen at the wards that I had any desire to leave the bed. Even then, we finished up that round and then jumped in the shower first.

  Lilliana seemed a bit different, more relaxed and at ease.

  “Lia,” I said, and she looked me in the eyes and smiled. I could see genuine joy and contentment in those eyes.

  “Why did you call me that?”

  I replied, “In the beginning, you said call you Lil or Lia for short. I was just testing it out. It suits you more than Lil I think, now that I know you better.”

  It was true, she seemed, softer somehow. Not that she wouldn’t turn hard in a second to defend me, but there had been a thin wall between us that I hadn’t noticed because of her exuberant and highly sexual nature, at least, I hadn’t perceived it until it was gone.

  She blushed, “Stop looking at me like that, or we won’t make it out of this shower. You do know Karen is down there, with Malina, right?”

  I nodded, “Of course, how did you know?”

  She tapped her ear and winked. Right, vampire hearing.

  “Pick up anything interesting?”

  She grinned, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  I gave her an amused look, “What will it cost me Lia?”

  She snuggled into me as I turned the water off, “I suppose I could tell you. She’s here to do the pact of course. She’s also on the run, I wouldn’t be surprised if mages show up to demand her back, if they figure out where she is that is. Everything else was just gossip, and flirting.”

  I looked up and there was only one towel. With a shrug I cast a water spell in my mind, careful to do one word at a time, and we were instantly dry. It was hard to enunciate clearly without actually speaking, magic was kind of handy, but I wondered if it would make me lazy.

  Lilliana said, “I’ll be right back,” and went off to her bedroom, I assumed to get dressed.

  I went into my closet and got dressed as well. I didn’t pick jeans, but I also didn’t pick a suit, and went with business casual. A pair of dark gray Dockers, and a collared shirt. When I left the closet she was already back, wearing a fetching black dress that showed just enough to fire the imagination, but was actually quite conservative.

  We headed downstairs, and I could tell they were in the kitchen with just a thought through the amulet. The wards in the house were quite impressive. We walked in and Karen was sitting at the table with Malina. She looked really sexy in her yellow dress and I resisted the urge to ask her to stand, so I could see the full effect. I also saw her eyes narrow slightly when she looked at me and Lilliana and realized where I’d been.

  Was she jealous?

  “Hi Karen, I heard you ran into some trouble?”

  Karen nodded cautiously, “Yes, Clarissa managed to blame me for everything, including Brandon’s death. Please tell me it was painful,” she added rather viciously.

  I winked, “Very. Krystal was happy to suck his life force out, it was very painful, and he screamed like a little girl for almost a whole minute.”

  Karen shook her head, “Krystal? Is that the onyx sword you have? Us mages are told horror stories about that thing as children to make us behave.”

  I felt Krystal shudder in pleasure in the back of my head, apparently she really liked that idea.

  “Yes, she’s a little bloodthirsty. So then what happened?”

  She shrugged, “They were deciding on my fate, either death, or they were going to strip my powers and banish me. I didn’t like either option, so I left. I’m… ready, to do the pact. Do you still want to? Being on their wanted list will just make it harder to get things done.”

  I snorted and acted offended, “What, you think I’m fickle? I don’t ask just any woman for her hand in marriage you know.”

  She shook her head, “I’m serious.”

  I looked her in the eyes, “So am I. The stakes are high, but so are the possible gains, both personal and business.”

  I knew we were strangers, and it was a very strange marriage proposal. But in a weird way it had given me hope I could have an almost normal family in addition to hiding some of my children out there, who I’ll never see. I had to do that, just in case. Insurance for my after life so to speak. But this deal was a once in a lifetime opportunity, if I passed on it because it got a little harder, who knows when a possible true peace with the mages would come up again.

  The book was clear marriages and normal families had failed in the past for the Moore warlocks, but then they’d never made a treaty with the mages either, or married one.

  Honestly, the whole thing was insane, but it was worth the risk.

  She smiled, “Very well, I really didn’t want to talk you out of it anyway. Just… full disclosure and all that. So what do we do?”

  I pulled the ring box out of my pocket, and popped it open. Her eyes widened in surprise and panic, but she took a deep breath and pulled it together. It was a diamond engagement ring of course, with a very high grade two karat solitaire diamond on it, with smaller quarter karat diamonds around it.

  “Simple, I put this on your finger, and then activate the pact as we both understand it. You’ve read it completely, and have no questions?”

  She gulped, “I wasn’t expecting a ring.”

  I frowned, “Why not? We’ll be engaged right? And married as soon as we kick Clarissa’s ass.”

  Okay, I probably could have found something more romantic to say, but honestly had just blurted it out.

  She laughed, “Good point, and it’s a beautiful ring,” she held out her left hand and had an amused twinkle in her eye as she smiled up at me.

  I took the ring out, and slipped it on her ring finger, and then whispered, “So do you agree with the pact as I’d written?”

  She nodded, still looking in my eyes.

  I smiled, a bit entranced by those green eyes, and her power, strength, and beauty.

  “You have to say it out loud Karen, verbal agreement.”

  She blushed, but maintained eye contact, “Yes, I agree,” she said a little breathlessly, and I activated the pact spell in the medallion.

  The infernal magic swirled around us, and bound us in the pact. I released her hand, rather reluctantly, and then broke the intense moment by going to get a cup of coffee. When I got back to the table I had three beautiful women who were also powerful in their own right staring at me. It was a bit disconcerting, because in my own way, I cared about all three of them.

  More Lilliana and Malina, because I knew them better. But Karen was included in that, if only because she would be my wife, and hopefully the mother of my children. If we could pull off the impossible.

  I sat down and asked, “So Karen, tell us everything you know about the council building. We need to work up a plan.”

  Karen sighed, “The building is warded almost as heavily as this mansion, and the council room itself is probably even more warded than here. I’m honestly not sure how four of us could get this done.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “I’m still learning spells, most recently I’ve been looking into summoning lesser demons. I know you want to keep the deaths down, but enough of those could create havoc, and some great distractions. Also, do you know anyone of like mind in the mages, people that are tired of Clarissa’s heavy handed and corrupt rule?”

  Karen nodded, “Lots, but I’m not sure if they would risk joining us.”

  I shrugged, “Maybe just not fighting against us would be enough, so give it some thought. We need a way to come at her sideways, so she doesn’t see it coming. Let’s go over all the building’s defenses first, and then we can brainstorm.”

  Karen started to explain all about the building that housed the mage council, being an agent of the council, even a junior enforcer, meant that she knew a lot. It would take time to go through it all. I’d also enjoy every minute of it. I’d forgotten how pleasing and soothing her beautiful voice was.

  Chapter 22

  Elissa walked haughtily down the hallway toward the conference room. She tossed her head slightly, and her long ash blonde flipped out of her face and down her back. She could feel all the human men, and the women, staring at her. She ignored them, she was used to being stared at. It wasn’t arrogance exactly, she just knew she was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman in the city, of any race.

  Clarissa had called an emergency joint council meeting of all the groups, and she could sense all the rest were already there. She held her head up high, fearless, as she walked into the room and walked slowly to her seat. She didn’t really care about Clarissa’s problems, but it might be fun to watch, plus, she had to make sure it wouldn’t affect her, or even her people, whatever it was about.

  She was in a fairly good mood, after all the last Moore had managed to survive Clarissa’s warlock hunt, and things seemed to be settling down instead of spiraling out of control. Which is why this summons came as a surprise.

  Clarissa said, “Good, we’re all here. Now…”

  Clarissa stopped talking when she put up her hand, “We are missing one. Or was the warlock not invited?” she asked in an innocent voice she knew would taunt the mage.

  Clarissa growled, “He has no place…”

  She held up her hand again, “But he does. I believe he already has active treaties with half of the races assembled here. Now that he is established, he should have been invited.”

  All so she could start seducing him of course, for the next time she was bored.

  Clarissa clenched her teeth, and she suppressed a smile, “Oh, go ahead, speak your peace. But if he isn’t here next time I’ll leave. Despite your opinion he and his line is vital to our city.”

  “Very well,” Clarissa gave in, probably just to shut her up, “But he is central to the issue I came to speak about. Moore is currently harboring a fugitive mage who was found guilty of crimes, and was sentenced to death. I wanted to ask for your support to demand he turn her back over to mage authorities.”

  Elissa was speechless, surely the old bitch wasn’t that stupid.

  Dion asked, “Why would we care Clarissa, this is clearly a mage problem, and has nothing to do with vampires.”

  Darren was more abrupt, “I agree, this problem is a result of your own machinations, and I want nothing to do with it.”

  Elissa didn’t even bother to comment. She did consider killing Clarissa for a brief moment, but what would be the fun in that?

  Clarissa spoke with conviction, “But he is involving himself in an internal mage affair. I thought you would want to help put a stop to that, teach him a lesson. What if next time he involves himself in your affairs?”

  Dion shook his head and said smugly, “That won’t be an issue, because I have a treaty with him that says he won’t do that. My advice to you is to reach out to the young man and do the same, although I doubt he’d be amenable at this point. You made this bed Clarissa by overreacting and killing all his family members, and now you have to lie in it. Go get your rogue mage yourself, or let her go, I don’t care which.”

  Clarissa clenched her fists in frustration.

  Elissa smiled, on the inside. Maybe there would be more entertainment after all. There was another shakeup coming, she could sense it. She’d have to send some more spies out to keep an eye on things, and to report back what they find.

  Clarissa turned to her, “What do you say?”

  She raised an eyebrow, “This isn’t a fae matter.”

  She disliked saying it, as if the stupidity of the comment was so apparent it made her feel foolish. Like she’d declared the color of the sky like a clever two-year-old.

  She watched, amused again as Clarissa struggled with herself, and then chose to back down rather than speak whatever she was going to say. That was wise of the old mage.

  She preferred to work subtly, but if Clarissa pushed her too hard she’d have to teach her a lesson, and remind her and the rest of the council why the other races feared the fae. Come to think of it, she hadn’t taught such a gauche lesson in fifty some odd years, perhaps she’d have too soon. Mortals seemed to have such short memories. It was sad, really.

  She was suddenly bored, “Was that it?” she asked sweetly.

  She had a slave to get back too, he’d become even more talented with his tongue with just a little guidance and a judicious application of corrective pain. Humans could be hard to train, but she had a knack for it.

  Dion cleared his throat, “I agree with Elissa, unless there’s something else?”

  Clarissa stood, “I will remember this,” and stalked out of the room, dragging the tattered state of her dignity behind her.

  Chapter 23

  Karen hung up and stared at her phone for a second, not sure how well that call had just gone. She’d managed to contact a few in the security force, and tried to feel them out. She got the feeling they hated Clarissa, she knew they did, but that they wouldn’t be rebelling anytime soon. The only question was, is if they would stand aside when the time came.

  Not all of them would obviously, but she was calling those that were most powerful, and by extension most underappreciated. In other words, those she thought would gain from her actions, because they’d be strong enough to secure a council position. The real problem was she couldn’t fully explain her plan without fear of total betrayal.

  She snuck another look at Shawn. He was studying his magic book, he’d called it Sal, whatever that meant. He had his nose in the book, so she felt pretty secure she was safe studying him. She felt butterflies in her stomach, and certain parts below that seemed to wake up as she traced his strong jaw with her thoughts.

  He was built too, muscular. Not in the hulked out bodybuilder way, he was just very toned and from what she could see of him, ripped. She was more attracted to him now than before, and she looked down absently at the ring he put on her finger. That made it all seem real, even more than swearing a pact had. There was a surprising kindness in him that attracted her, but she was truthful enough with herself to admit that she was just as attracted to his bad boy confidence and intense personality.