Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk

it. But Holly had actually volunteered for jock duty.
    If she was to teach math, then why not instruct the ones who had exponentially more to learn?
    And in truth, they were on their best behavior ninety-nine percent of the time. Though each Tuesday and Thursday night, some of the players always got there early to scribble sprawling messages for her on the blackboard. A fellow instructor had related to Holly that “the boys”—who were all of five or six years younger than she was—enjoyed watching her erase things in “those skirts.”
    Holly wore old-fashioned pencil skirts with hemlines past her knees. Would she never catch a break?
    She wondered what she’d be erasing tonight. Some of the past offerings included “Got it bad, sooo bad, I’m hot for teacher,” “I’ve been a naughty boy, Ms. Ashwin,” and “Professor + Ginger = Holly Ashwin.” They’d crossed the l ’s to make them t ’s.
    So far she didn’t think any of them had noticed her need to erase every millimeter of writing on the board, or to arrange the chalk in the tray into perfect trios, even breaking a stick to achieve a multiple of three….
    Outside the door to her room, she took a calming breath and smoothed her tight chignon. After ascertaining that the clasp of her strand of pearls was directly in the center of the back of her neck, she tugged each sleeve of her twinset sweater until the ends perfectly hit her wrist-bones. She checked the backs of her earrings, then opened the door.
    Empty. Every chair sat empty.
    CLASS IS CANCELED was scrawled across the board. They’d gone too far this time.
    Or maybe it wasn’t them? She swallowed, whirling around.
    Rough cloth covered her face, reeking of fumes, drowning out her scream.
    Just as her eyelids slid shut and her body went limp, she heard the unholy roar of a man in the distance.

    Rogue demons have my female.
    As Cade’s old Ford truck tore through traffic to yet another demon lair, he grappled to control the rage his breed of demon was known for.
    They’ve taken Holly….
    Almost one year ago, Cade had crossed paths with Holly Ashwin and had recognized the human as his own fated female. Unable to claim a mortal, he’d had to content himself by following her, guarding her.
    Which was the only reason why he’d been there when a group of demons had traced her, teleporting her to gods knew where. But they’d hunted on the campus; surely their lair would be near.
    Why would they want her ? Because she was an innocent? Then they’d picked the wrong virgin—Cade would hang them by their own entrails and watch them dance if they touched so much as a hair on her head.
    His phone rang just as he surged past a visibly drunk driver. When drunks drove slowly, it was exactly like they whispered—noticeably.
    “What?” he barked in answer. Tonight he was supposed to receive the details of his latest job. It’d be the most important one he’d had since becoming a mercenary centuries ago.
    “I’ve just left the meeting,” his brother Rydstrom said. “I have the information we need.”
    Riding the bumper in front of him, tempted to give it a tap, Cade asked absently, “So who’s the pay?”
    “The client is Groot the Metallurgist.”
    Normally that would have had Cade raising his brows. Groot was the half brother of Omort the Deathless. “He intends to help us against Omort?” Cade’s truck overtook another car, nearly trading paint with it.
    “Groot’s crafted a sword that can kill him.”
    Then it would be the only one in existence that could. Omort the Deathless didn’t come by his name without reason. “What’s the job?”
    “He wants us to find the Vessel and deliver her to him before the next full moon.”
    The Vessel . Every Accession, a female from the Lore would come into sexual maturity. Her child would be a warrior of either ultimate evil or of ultimate good—depending on which way the father leaned.
    A car weaved in front of Cade. “Son of a—”
    “What are you doing?” Rydstrom demanded.
    “Traffic.” He didn’t want his brother to know anything was off. Cade had told him that he would stop watching Holly. Though they both suspected she was his female, a future with her was impossible.
    Humans were forbidden to demons. Because they never survived the initial claiming.
    But Cade hadn’t been able to stop himself from watching her from afar, studying her, growing more and more fascinated with the young mortal. Becoming more convinced that she