Demon’s Quest (High Demon #4)(34)
Author: Connie Suttle

"I’ll make one for you and see if you like it," I said, and went to the liquor cabinet.

"I like this." Lok finished one off and asked for another, just as Astralan came back, masseuse in tow, with a table and everything.

"Now, our girl gets the massage she needs." Lendill smiled and pulled on his tomato spice drink.

"Oh, no." They were going to undress me right there in front of everybody.

"Reah, I don’t think there’s anybody here who hasn’t already seen you naked," Teeg laughed. Yeah, he was on his way to drunkenness.

"Watch, I can do this," Lendill was almost as drunk as Teeg. He waved his hand and all my clothing disappeared. I shrieked.

"Baby, don’t you worry," Teeg was nearly slurring his words. "We’ll take care a’you." Stellan had already had one drink, Astralan was working on his first, now. I’d mixed up another double batch in a pitcher, and they were already working their way through that.

"Come on," Lendill lifted me onto the table while I was trying to pull the sheet off to cover myself. "Breah-mul, just lie down and relax. We promise not to give the masseuse alcohol until she finishes, all right?"

"No, don’t cover that up," the masseuse was about to lay a towel over my bu**ocks.

"Teeg!" I was trying to pull the sides of the sheet over me.

"No, baby. We’ve seen it before."

"Not all at once," I hissed.

"Don’t upset her." Lok laid the towel over my hips. I sighed with relief as the masseuse started working on my back. About halfway through, the hands changed. Became firmer. More sure.

"You don’t know me, little girl, but I was giving massages to the Dragon Warlord a long time ago. I’m Rik, and I’m Kyler’s ai yevu," his voice whispered next to my ear.

"Another Falchani I don’t have a chance with," I muttered, my face down. I didn’t even look up at him. I’d heard of Rik—his healing hands were almost legendary around Lissa’s palace. He’d come to her shortly after Gavril had gone missing. Word had it that he could work wonders.

"Just relax, little girl. We won’t worry about stupid Falchani men right now. Let’s just worry about our little High Demon who needs better care. See, that little neck is full of knots. Now, how many of these men put those knots there and didn’t take them away again?" His fingers on my neck were heavenly. Just the right amount of pressure and gentleness. "Look how pretty these shoulders are," Rik soothed. "Who wouldn’t want that?" He worked on those. And then my ribs, hips and legs. Then, because I was so relaxed and boneless I couldn’t move; he turned me over and worked on my front. I was asleep before it was over.

"Thanks, Rik." Gavril offered to pay, but Rik waved him off. "She’s Aurelius’. She’s entitled, just because of that. Do you want me to carry her to bed?" Reah was wrapped tightly in the sheet from the massage table.

"We’ll take care of that," Gavril said. Rik nodded and disappeared.

"Want to flip for it?" Lendill asked. They’d all sat around drinking while Reah got her massage.

"I think it’s my turn," Gavril observed, lifting Reah. Lok and Lendill watched as Gavril carried Reah toward her bed.

"You staying?" Astralan asked Lendill.

"I want to."

"You get the extra bedroom. Stellan and I will bring bedding in and sleep out here." He gestured at the sitting room.

"Good enough," Lendill nodded to the two warlocks.

"We need to find a house for Reah if she’s going to stay here—a big one," Stellan said.

"Maybe Gavril and I will work on that tomorrow," Lendill grinned.

"Reah, I want to stay in bed with you all day." Teeg nuzzled my neck. "I never got to bite—I didn’t want to give myself away," he murmured against my skin. "I shouldn’t do it now—you have to work today. I want to, but it wouldn’t be good for you."

"You bite?" Somehow, I hadn’t expected that. Aurelius did, but then he’d been a vampire. I had to remind myself that Gavril had been born a vampire. To vampire parents.

"I got the urge around nineteen or twenty, I think. Dee had to show me how to do it properly."

"I don’t know what to say." I sat up in bed, rubbing my forehead.

"You’re not getting a headache again, are you?" Teeg sat up with me—he was just as naked as I was. Teeg is a beautiful specimen. I couldn’t argue about that. I’d always thought him well-put together and muscular. Working construction had made his shoulders every bit as wide as his father’s, too.

"Sweetheart, we have time—don’t we?" He put his arms around me when I told him I didn’t have a headache.

"Teeg."

"Come on, we do. You know we do. Then we’ll have a quick breakfast and I’ll take you to work. And one day this week, we’ll go skiing and take the reptanoids with us."

"Really?" I hadn’t done anything fun in so long.

"Yes. I promise. We’ll take all eight of them. They love to ski."

"I remember." They did, from their very first time—Farzi, Nenzi and their brothers loved snowboarding, and could do it naturally from the very beginning.

"Come on, sweetheart. Let’s make love." Teeg rubbed himself against my thigh suggestively. We did. And he did bite. He didn’t take much and the climax was powerful and immediate. I may have fainted for a short while. Teeg was kissing and nuzzling when I woke; told me so many times that he loved me. Said the taste of my blood was powerful and intoxicating. I didn’t know what that meant—Aurelius had never said anything, but then Aurelius hadn’t bitten me in a while. Not since I’d lost the baby, anyway. In fact, we’d only made love once since then, a few days before.

"Come on, let’s have breakfast," I sat up, looking around for my robe or something suitable to wear. I got a shower before making breakfast for everyone, and then dressed quickly. Teeg folded me to the restaurant and kissed me before seeing me through the employee entrance.

Silmor left a note for me on the prep table, asking for the fish stew. Everything was in the keeper already, so I got that started, the stuffed pork roast went into the oven and we started working on the river fish in a creamy citrus sauce. Bread was kneaded and set to rise again—stock was cooked and reduced for the sauce to go over the pork roast. I prepared the rice noodles last of all—Lok would come for those. We worked on the regular menu, too, but much of the prep had already been done for that. When we opened for the midday meal, people were lined up already.

"We have someone asking when you’ll serve the ox-roast again," the waitress who’d taken me to Lok’s table the first time told me. Her name was Marissa, and she had long, red hair that she tied back while she was working.