Part 13 (1/2)

It took Damon no time to make his way to the small town-flas.h.i.+ng was one of many powers he'd inherited from his mother's bloodline. He was a warlock, but he saw himself as more of a s.h.i.+eld for the good left in the magical community-or possibly even a hit man. He hunted those who abused the dark craft and helped White Witches protect their own.

Damon ducked into a local bar on the one-way main street that was the center of this little town. Ariel's aunt told him this was where he would find Ariel. She'd taken a job as a bartender/server. She moved far from her roots, leaving her coven to hide in a small-town biker bar.

Damon took a seat on a cracked leather stool and tapped the lacquer-finished oak bar. Jade eyes lifted from the beer tap to settle on him, a sultry smile stretched across her pretty face.

”I'll be right with you, handsome.”

Damon smirked.

”What can I get you?” Ariel asked, grabbing a bar towel and mopping up the area in front of him.

”Your best whiskey.”

”Ah, a top-shelf kind of man.” She smiled again. ”I'll be right back.”

Damon watched her glide around the other people behind the bar, her mahogany ponytail swaying as she moved. It didn't miss his observation that her hips and a.s.s were swaying with the same rhythm.

Damon waited for Ariel to finish her s.h.i.+ft and watched as she untied her ap.r.o.n and headed towards the back exit. Damon finished off his drink and followed quickly behind her into the dark parking lot.

”Should I be nervous that a hit man is following me?” Ariel asked, twirling to face him.

Damon arched a brow. ”What do you mean?” he asked.

”I mean that I know who you are, Damon Payne, and while I've always been told that you protect White Witches, I learned a while back that you can't really trust anyone.”

”Your aunt sent me to protect you-said Serna is after you.”

”Was,” Ariel corrected. ”I don't need protecting. I haven't caught wind of Serna or her h.e.l.lhounds in over six months. She either can't find me or has given up now that I renounced my cove-”

Ariel and Damon's heads both whipped towards an alley that ran alongside the bar, her words cut off by the pounding steps of the aforementioned h.e.l.lhounds. Serna's hounds were nasty-looking demons that she'd resurrected as her own personal hunting party.

With a flourish of blue mist, Damon pulled a sword out of thin air. There was only one way to send a h.e.l.lhound back to its dimension and that was beheading it with a blessed sword.

With the grace of a true swordsman, Damon glided the sword toward the closest h.e.l.lhound. Its head separated from its body with an ear-piercing howl and the scent of rotting flesh. The hound disappeared into a puff of dark smoke.

”Well, she found you now,” Damon took the time to remark before facing off with the next hound.

Each hound that Damon disposed of another seemed to appear in its place, materializing from the alley. Damon focused on disposing of the h.e.l.lhounds, only briefly noticing the night had gone deathly silent aside from the howls and the fighting.

”Are you doing this?” he called out to Ariel as a splatter of h.e.l.lhound blood splashed across his black s.h.i.+rt.

”I'm not a fighter,” Ariel yelled. ”I'm a caster, so I figured the best help I can offer is to hide us.”

”Good plan, but they keep coming.”

”Yeah, I noticed,” Ariel said, sarcasm bleeding from her tone.

Damon's sword disappeared as he wrapped his arms around Ariel's waist and flashed them back to his hotel a few towns over.

”You want protection now?” Damon asked sardonically.

”If not for you, they wouldn't have found me,” Ariel said, pus.h.i.+ng a long, loose lock of hair from her face.

Damon scoffed-was she serious? He just saved her life; she would have been a tasty morsel for those hounds.

”How do you figure?” he questioned her.

”I've been safe here for the past six months. Suddenly you show up and so do the hounds. I can only figure you brought them with you. What do you want from me?” Ariel asked, taking an obvious step back from him.

”I want to protect you. It was dumb luck that I showed up today and was able to protect you. If I hadn't, you'd be hound food.”

Ariel studied him, and then took in the room they were now in.

”Where are we?” she asked.

”We're in my room at the Doubletree in Rohnert Park.”

”So we're in a pretty public place?”

Damon raised a brow at her. ”I suppose.”

”Can they follow your flash?”

”No, you're safe here, Ariel, but the question I have for you is-what do you want to do now?”

Ariel narrowed her eyes at him before looking down at herself. She had dark stains covering her jeans and white s.h.i.+rt.

”What I want is a shower; you got h.e.l.lhound blood on me.”

Damon smirked and couldn't help but poke at Ariel a little. ”I got h.e.l.lhound blood on me too-care for some company?”

Ariel's eyes drifted up and down Damon's body. The man was built and had helped her and well...he was gorgeous: close-cut black hair, grey eyes, and a full mouth that looked oh-so kissable.

”No,” Ariel said with a smile as she walked into the bathroom and locked the door.

Three days had pa.s.sed with no signs of Serna or her hounds. Damon had been spending Ariel's work s.h.i.+fts at the bar with her. He'd admittedly spent most of that time in a corner booth watching her.

They'd fallen into a simple, flirty repertoire and Damon found his body wanting more than to just protect Ariel. He wanted her-he wanted to run his fingers through her silky hair, run his tongue along her soft, jasmine-scented skin, he wanted to hold her close, and he wanted her to straddle him in his bed. He was losing himself to the beautiful Witch he was sent to protect.

Ariel carried an air of mystery around her. He'd caught her studying him from time to time with a very observant eye, but she held back any thoughts she had. He knew she hadn't fully opened up to him, but he intended to change that tonight. He planned to-at the very least-taste her sweet, pink lips.

”You ready to go?” Ariel asked as she approached his booth.

Damon smiled... Yes, he was most definitely ready to go.