Jaci Burton - Taken by Sin

“We can’t stay here, Mandy.”

She blew out a hard breath. “You go on ahead, then. I’m not leaving until I figure out what’s going on.”

He seemed to consider the idea. Fine. He could leave if he wanted to. This mystery was too good to pass up. And they were demon hunters, weren’t they? Their job was to hunt demons. There had been a demon standing right in this spot less than five minutes ago. And where there was one demon, there had to be more. Mandy didn’t like the idea of leaving the area crawling with the Sons of Darkness’ minions.

“Twenty-four hours,” Michael said. “I’ll give you one day. We’ll check things out. If nothing comes of it, we’re back on the road.”

She nodded. “Fine with me.”

“Okay, Mandy You saw the demon, so I’m putting you in charge. Where do we start?”

She’d never been in charge before. This was new. Lou had always told her that some day she’d get to lead a team. Now was her chance. Of course said team consisted of just her and Michael, but still, it was a start. Excitement drilled through her veins. “This is the downtown business district. My first thought when I saw the demon was, what was he doing down here? What does a demon need with a business environment in a major city?”

“Good point. And if a demon can pass as a businessman, anything’s possible,” Michael said as they made their way back to the SUV “The Realm has always feared that the Sons of Darkness would someday, somehow make inroads into our world. That they’d figure out a way to have their people live among ours.”

Mandy opened her car door and slid inside, turning to Michael as she slammed her door shut. “Infiltrating the human realm could have disastrous consequences. Commerce, politics, technology … think of the influence they could have in so many areas, Michael.”

His grimace said it all. “I’m trying not to. That’s why I’m hoping you’re wrong.”

For the first time, she hoped she was, too. The possibilities were endless. “Demons running our world … It’s unthinkable.”

“If the Sons of Darkness have somehow managed to create demons that look human, who can walk among and interact with other humans without detection …”

“How would we ever be able to identify them …to destroy them?” Mandy asked.

Mandy didn’t like the worry she saw on his face.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to start figuring that out. If there are demons passing for human out there, we’d better start hunting them. Which means we need to find one so we can figure out what they’re capable of. I pray you’re wrong, that you didn’t really see what you thought you did.”

“I know what I saw, Michael.”

Suddenly this mission had become more important than finding Dalton. She wanted to prove to Michael that she had seen a demon, but at the same time she really wished she hadn’t seen it at all.

It could change everything.

Isabelle sucked in a breath, ignoring the pounding of her heart. Dalton was right. Getting close to him in order to figure out how to dig into her mind and drag out her demons-literally or figuratively-might spell disaster, given what had been happening to her lately.

“Any idea how we’re going to do that?”

He offered up an encouraging smile. “It won’t be painful, I promise. We’ll just talk.”

“Talk? That’s it?”

“At first. You have to admit we haven’t done a lot of that.”

“True enough. But I don’t see how just talking is going to help.”

“It’s not just the talk, Isabelle. It’s the topics.”

“Oh.”

“I need to find out what you can remember, especially about those dreams you’ve been having. And then we need to delve into the … daydreams, or whatever they are.”

“So you’re going to push me.”

He nodded.

“Is that wise?”

“The more we know, the stronger you’ll be. You can’t fight what you don’t know, what you can’t see. Right now we’re fumbling around in the dark and I don’t like it. I know you don’t like it, either.”

He was right. She felt like she wasn’t in control, that someone or something else was pushing her buttons. She’d do whatever it took to change that, even if it meant opening up the Pandora’s box of her mind, her soul, or whatever held her captive.

“Okay, so when do we start?”

“How about some dinner first?”

Of course. It was getting late. She’d been so used to eating very little that the thought of food never occurred to her unless prompted by Dalton. She hadn’t even thought about the time.

Time, that elusive thing that seemed to slip by her a lot lately.

“Come on. You need some company besides me. We’ll go eat dinner with Georgie and her family.”

He was right. She could use the distraction.

But as they walked up to the house, she tensed. Maybe it was the way Georgie looked at her, as if she knew all her secrets. Which was funny, now that she thought about it, because even Isabelle didn’t know the answers. What made her think Georgie did?

She had to calm down. It was just dinner.

So why did she feel like she was on her way to an inquisition? Georgie had seemed nice enough the first time she met her. Hardly imposing. She was a slight thing, and friendly.

“Would you relax?” Dalton said as he pulled open the screen door and held it for her.

She walked through, inhaling the sweet scent of something cooking. She followed it into the kitchen in the back of the house. Georgie and a few other women were in there, surrounded by several children.

“Evenin’,” Georgie said as they walked in. “Grab something to drink and have a seat. Dinner will be on the table shortly.”

“Can I help?” Isabelle asked.

Georgie shook her head. “Almost finished here, chère , but thank you.”

Isabelle went to the counter and filled her glass with iced tea, then made one for Dalton. The tea was already sweetened; she licked her lips and savored the sugared brew. Okay, so far so good. No one had pounced on her or given her funny looks the minute she walked in the door.

Georgie introduced her to the other two women-Anabelle and Laticia, cousins who also lived on the property. The few children scurrying around belonged to them. Georgie had a daughter named Celine, after her great-grandmother. Three men came through the back door as soon as the women started serving food. Georgie introduced one as her husband, Frank, the other two as Anabelle and Laticia’s husbands, Thomas and Jerome. The men worked the small farm on the property.

Dinner was a raucous event, filled with lively conversation, everyone talking over one another and lots of laughter. Isabelle settled in as an observer, happy to stay silent and watch the interplay between the families. The children were well behaved, but allowed to intermingle in the conversations. The parents weren’t overly indulgent, but not too strict, either. They all engaged Isabelle and Dalton in their conversations, but didn’t pry into anything too personal. The children seemed fascinated by Isabelle’s career as an archaeologist, and of course wanted to know if she’d ever dug up dinosaurs. When she said she had, the kids were excited and filled with questions, which she was delighted to answer.

When the meal was finished, everyone helped clean up, so the chore was done in a hurry. Anabelle and Laticia scooted off with the kids, and the guys headed out the back door, leaving Georgie alone with Isabelle and Dalton.

“Now,” Georgie said, wiping her hands with a towel before sitting down at the table. “You two getting settled over at the cabin?”

Dalton nodded. “We’re fine. Took a nice hike today to get Isabelle familiar with the area.”