Soul Seduction

“Are you Ashlee Bennett?”

I cringed. Usually no one saw me dressed like this. Most people saw me during the day, dressed as a nurse and looking respectable in scrubs instead of garbed in black jeans, a black shirt, and my thick leather coat. Tonight I was dressed for hunting, not an impromptu meeting with my neighbor. Busy as I had been, I didn’t have an extra minute in my hectic life to go over and introduce myself.

And right now wasn’t the best time, anyway. I thought about walking inside and pretending I hadn’t heard him. But he cleared his throat, and I realized I was just standing there, staring at my door. So much for being antisocial.

Shit. Cursing because I hardly looked presentable, I turned around and tried my hardest to become invisible. That was no easy task when the walls outside my apartment were boring beige and I looked like a Goth hobo, even if not taking into account that I appeared to have been wrestling with animals in the woods.

When the owners of my apartment had told me about their neighbor before they left, I imagined a nice older gentleman. Nothing they’d said prepared me for the hot stud standing in the doorway.

“I’m Luke Byrne,” he said, holding out his hand.

His lyrical accent did odd things to me. I heard the Northern England inflection all the time since moving here, but there was something about the way he spoke that made my belly flip-flop and my toes curl.

My mom had warned me that a guy as suave and good-looking as Luke would break my heart. Tall and muscled, with dark, wavy hair, he nearly made me drool. I met his gaze and watched a self-assured smile spread across his lips. As handsome as he was, I steeled myself to be indifferent to his stunning good looks. Guys who looked like him were often cocky and rarely interested in me. They usually went for slutty bimbos.

So I pasted on a smile and nodded as I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Once I spoke, he raised his eyebrows. “I don’t hear American accents all that often. Only in London from time to time,” he said.

I took in a deep breath and let the intoxicating smell of him wash over me. Even though my nose was working overtime, I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about him that I found so thrilling. He didn’t let go of my hand, but he did pull back a little to look me up and down. I thought I saw interest in his eyes, but I was probably kidding myself.

My nipples tightened as I breathed in his musky scent mixed with cologne. I didn’t recognize the brand, but it spoke to something inside me. It whispered come closer, and my heart pounded harder. Everything about him—his self-confident stance and the way his lips parted—excited me, even though I knew my chances with him were nil. If he was interested in me, the attraction would be bittersweet. I already knew he was human; his aura told me that.

I nodded and tore my gaze away from his hot body to look him in the eyes. They were a perfect clear and light blue, and they reminded me of the sky after a long, hard rain. “Yeah. I’m here on a nursing visa, working at Broadgreen Hospital.”

He gave a short nod. “Don and Dottie left me a voice mail telling me to keep an eye on you and see if you need anything while they are away.”

How about your hot body in my bed? The blood rushed to my cheeks, and my pussy started to throb. He narrowed his eyes as he checked me out, and his gaze lingered on my breasts a second too long.

It wasn’t just his body that caused me to respond; it was his scent too. I shook my head. I needed more than just that to clear it. I managed to pull myself together long enough to say, “Nothing right now, thank you.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me to take you outside for a good scrubbing?”

His comment drew my gaze down to my boots. While I had already washed them off once tonight, mud still clung to my jeans from my knees to my ankles. I was mortified, but his teasing tone took the sting out of his words.

Even though I was a mess, I didn’t need any help from him. What I did need was for him to stay out of my way—for his own safety. “Don’t do me any favors.” I hoped the bite in my response would let us leave the conversation there.

But instead he leaned against the door frame. God, he looked sexy. “I’ve seen you come and go, Ashlee, and you’ve been dirty every time you’ve come back. You need a keeper.”

That last word—“keeper”—put me on high alert, and my heart pounded. Did he know what I did when I was out there? I used a special, hidden entrance I’d found when I visited the catacombs to hunt, and while the church grounds weren’t locked, there were signs to deter people from entering the area.

I gritted my teeth. “And you think you’re just the guy for the job?” I cocked my eyebrow at him. “Because I don’t think you can handle me. I’m a tough girl, Luke.”

He frowned. “How do you get into so much trouble?”

I stared at him, wondering if he was being flippant. Then the words tumbled out of my mouth before I could bite my tongue. “I’m a demon slayer. I kick some serious demon ass. Are you sure you want to mess with me?”

He recoiled, and for a moment I wondered wildly if he would call someone to have me shipped off to the funny farm. But then he laughed. His whole face lit up, and he was even more beautiful than before. “That’s funny. I’ll keep my eye on you.”

The way he said that made me shiver, and if I were a normal woman, I would have jumped at the chance to flirt with him. Sadly I didn’t even know how to bat my eyelashes at a man. Not that it mattered much, though: slayers and humans didn’t mix, which was too bad, because he was sinfully gorgeous. He would definitely be starring in my dreams from now on.

“Oh thanks. That’s just what I need,” I drawled, glaring at him as I stepped through the doorway to my apartment, wanting the solid steel door between us. I couldn’t figure out why he smelled so good to me, his woodsy scent coaxing me to reach out and touch him.

He smirked before looking down at my feet. “Don’t track mud through their house.”

I groaned as I shut the door. I needed a long shower because I was more hot and sweaty than usual after my nights out, thanks to Luke. I usually made it to bed before the adrenaline crash, but already my vision was swimming.

Slaying the gray, slimy creatures always gave me an intense high, even if the English weather usually rained on my parade, but tonight a full moon had made my job much easier. As I sliced and diced demons, I dreamed about hopping into the shower, putting on a pair of warm, dry pj’s, and drifting off to sleep. My life was all about simple pleasures.

I glanced in the mirror. At least I didn’t have any leaves in my hair. I had checked on my way home. I tried not to think about bad first impressions as I took off my coat and patted it.

The hard steel of my swords beneath the thick leather was obvious to me now, and I hoped he hadn’t seen the outline of my weapons. Back home in California, I’d usually throw them into the trunk of my car, but I didn’t need one here, since the catacombs were so close.

I had sewn a scabbard into my coat so that when I walked along the street, I didn’t look out of place. But even after taking all precautions to blend in, I still felt the stares. This girl doesn’t belong here. This girl is different from us. As if they could see who I really was. I was different; ever since I hit puberty and my slayer genes matured and took over my body, my whole existence centered on killing demons.

Okay, that was a bit melodramatic, but I did kill crazy, weird creatures that had been haunting mankind for millennia. Some of the demons I slew were nightmarish, and some had become urban legends. Even though I led a dangerous life now, I grew up in an average household with a boring, normal life, or so it would seem to anyone looking in.

I took Luke’s advice and stripped out of my jeans in the entryway after I kicked off my boots. I had tried to clean them off outside at my first chance, but with the rains over the past few days, the mud was insane out by the catacombs. I balled up my jeans and threw them in the washing machine before heading to my room.

The clock on my bed stand showed it was after three in the morning. It seemed awfully late for Luke to be up. On nights like this, I ran into club-goers, and I’d seen the walk of shame more times than I could count. Maybe Luke was just getting back from a rowdy night out with the boys. Not that I cared. It wasn’t any business of mine.

I walked into the bathroom and pulled off my T-shirt, then took a good look in the mirror at the bruises gracing my limbs and torso. Most of the marks were from tree branches I barely felt as I ran through the forest. I took in the corded muscles of my shoulders and arms as I twisted to better study my injuries. Soon I wouldn’t even remember them, because my body healed faster than a human’s did.

I hopped into the shower. I wanted to be clean so I could just slide into my bed and be comfortable once again. Luke had offered to give me a good scrubbing, and my pussy grew wet as I imagined him following me into the stall. As I slid the washcloth over my body, I visualized his long fingers caressing my skin. I heard my moan echo against the tiles.

He tweaked my nipples as he kissed me, rolling the buds between his fingers while I begged for release. He listened to my moans to know exactly where to touch me. He glided his fingers down my stomach, eliciting a giggle as he ran his hand over my ticklish spot on his way to my pussy.

I was sopping wet there, my juices flowing all over my fingers. What would happen if this were the real deal? I’d want him to finger-fuck me to get me ready for his hard cock. He would push my back against the wall and lift me up to the perfect level for him to fuck me.

I slid my finger into my pussy and shuddered with pleasure. I edged closer to my peak with every stroke. Luke wouldn’t need to be gentle with me. He couldn’t break me. He could lose control and fuck me hard until we both came.

My orgasm rolled through me; the image of Luke taking me fast and hard had brought me to the finish line that much quicker. My body throbbed from the release, but my cheeks burned with embarrassment. Hopefully I wouldn’t see much of Luke from here on out, lest I be reminded that I thought of him while masturbating.

Sadly I was fooling myself. Making love to Luke couldn’t happen. Slayers mated for power, not for love or pleasure. To be more powerful, I had to remain a virgin until I found another slayer to mate with. Once I did, our souls would bond, and we would be nearly indestructible.

But it all came with a price. Luke wasn’t a slayer, and therefore he needed to stay out of my life. He was tempting, but I couldn’t afford to hook up with him. He was a threat to everything I was.

I shut off the shower and dried off. The night had taken its toll on me, and with my orgasm, I was weak with exhaustion. Once I was under the covers, I quickly slipped into a slumber. I needed my body to rest, because I had another morning shift at the hospital.

* * * *

The day after demon-hunting was always a bitch. Not only was I still exhausted, but my body ached too. With just a couple of hours’ sleep and a coffee from a local shop—an awful-tasting coffee, at that—I was able to muscle through my early shift, then head back to my apartment, where I wanted to sleep through the remainder of the afternoon.

I had battled being a night owl my whole life, trying to change my genetic makeup. When I reached puberty and found out I was a slayer, I understood I wasn’t supposed to be awake during the day. Slayers needed to be out at night. Demons didn’t come out in the sunlight to follow people around. They preyed on their victims in the darkness, snatching them from wherever they could—if I didn’t catch them first.

Because I was born to be a slayer, I was born to live in the darkness. My pupils opened wider than normal, and bright lights hurt my eyes, which was why I had jumped at the opportunity to live in England. Cloud-filled days made my life easier. With only sixty sunny days a year, this country was perfect for me.

Though nighttime was my favorite time to work, I took any shift I could get. Sucking up to my supervisor would help me out when I needed to take extra time off to slay demons. But this week, nearly everyone had the flu. Since my handy-dandy slayer genes made me immune to any bug humans carried, I was the one picking up the slack.

On top of that, my senses were more acute, and my reaction times were lightning fast. But life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It was lonely work, consisting of hours spent at the catacombs.

My gorgeous sublet was perfect for two reasons. It was cheap, for one. Babysitting cats was almost yawn-worthy, but the owners were a little OCD about their fur-children, and I got to live there for free if I took care of them. But the real plus was easy access to the catacombs, an ancient graveyard with tunnels and gardens.

Every night I could, I visited the catacombs, where demons were drawn for reasons I’d never understood. Usually I could feel the tide of demons building. I would feel restless, like I couldn’t get comfortable in my own skin. If I let them be for too long, they would overrun the catacombs, and that meant danger for me and anyone else who happened along.

On the average night, I’d listen for the howl of the latest demon I needed to kill. Most people, if standing at the edge of the forest, would think the noise was a wild dog. If the humans were smart, they’d turn and leave. If they didn’t, it was survival of the fittest out there, and only my swords were a match for the demon’s claws.

My bed called to me as I walked home from work. The muscles in my thighs burned from chasing the stupid monsters through the catacombs the previous night. I was frazzled and exhausted, and now wasn’t the time to be running into gorgeous Luke from across the hall. Apparently he hadn’t gotten the memo the other night to stay inside his apartment, because he walked out with his just-as-beautiful guy friend.

He held my attention, shooting me a sexy glance. “Hi, Ash,” he said, shortening my name, which was something no one outside my family had done before. Nobody ever talked to me long enough to find out I liked the nickname Ash, but he did it naturally.

My heart began to beat faster, and my pupils widened to take in every little detail about him. I couldn’t get over how yummy he smelled.

I watched him lock and check his front door, which gave me a good look at the way his shirt spread across his shoulders and conformed to his muscles. His designer jeans cupped his ass perfectly, looking like they were tailored fit to accentuate his long, lean legs.

He turned back to me and nudged his friend. “This is Ashlee, my new neighbor. I told you she’s a demon slayer, right?”

Turning invisible would have been handy right about then. My cheeks burned. I cursed myself for being so flippant the night before. I met his gaze, ready to give him a sound tongue-lashing for making fun of me, going on the offense so I wouldn’t have to defend myself.

But Luke’s gentle smile made me melt into a little puddle. As he turned to leave, our shoulders brushed, and I felt the heat from his body through my scrubs. “Have a good night, Ash.” His huskily spoken words went straight to my clit, as if he’d kissed me there.

Damn him for looking so cool and sexy when I was the one all hot and bothered. Once he was gone, I shut the door behind me and sighed. I needed to forget him. Luke was a distraction, and I had to concentrate on work and slaying.

© Lori Toland, November 2011
All Rights Reserved