Kathy Love - Demon Cant Help It

She hesitated still, trying to get the words to come, but they didn't. Instead she forced a smile.

"Isn't it enough that I was feeling left out? Missing my two best friends?"

Erika moved her plate aside, too, and shifted so she could join her hand to Jo and Maggie's. "It's definitely enough."

They stayed like that, her friends' fingers cool against her skin. A calming coolness that suppressed the nausea that seemed to be just at the back of her throat at all times.

Their kind, caring touch didn't hold back the tears that threatened to spill over at having them here. She pulled her hand away to sniff and grab her napkin, using the paper to wipe her eyes.

"I guess I really am overtired," Jo said with a watery laugh.

Both Maggie and Erika gave her sympathetic smiles that didn't really help the emotional overload. Jo swiped at her eyes again and swallowed back more tears.

"Let's get out of here," she said with strained brightness.

"Where?" Erika said, with a surprised laugh.

"Let's go see your boys," Jo suggested, needing to think about something besides herself for just a few moments. Loud rock and roll and other people seemed like just the thing.

"Really? You feel up to it?" Maggie asked with such concern that it made Jo pause. She glanced at Erika, seeing the same worry creasing her pale brow. Almost as if they sensed a problem.

Ridiculous.

"Of course," Jo said, already rising from her seat. "Don't you want to go see your boys?"

"If you want to, of course we do," Erika said also standing.

Jo was counting on that.

Maksim Kostova knew all about Hell. After all, he'd been a resident of the place for all of his existence. The eighth circle to be exact. But the real Hell had nothing on this bar on the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse.

Sweat clung to his skin and the all-too-familiar strains of a Kansas song pounded around him, making his head ache. He mindlessly plucked a plastic cup from the tower of them and headed to the beer tap.

If this place, or rather the man currently playing keyboards on the stage across the room, wasn't the only link he had left to his missing sister, Maksim wouldn't be here.

But he was starting to lose hope. Every night, he waited, expecting that Vittorio, or someone affiliated with Vittorio, would give him another hint, or maybe even the answer to what happened to Ellina.

So far, that hadn't been the case. Vittorio knew nothing. Maksim was confident about that. He'd known when he'd found the scrap of paper with Vittorio's name written on it in Ellina's handwriting that any connection was a long shot. But it was his only tie to anyone, and he kept hoping that someone Vittorio knew would know something, anything. A half human/half demon didn't just disappear. Vittorio was Maksim's last thread, however, tenuous. He didn't have anywhere else to look.

He finished pouring a light beer for a man, who had been bellied up to the bar for hours. As Maksim slid the plastic cup toward the man, it was on the tip of his tongue to tell the barfly that light beer wasn't going to make an iota of difference to his enormous girth. Not when he'd already had nine or ten of them. But instead of sharing that dieting tip, he said, "Put it on your tab?"

The man nodded, but for the first time since he arrived, his attention was on something other than his beer. Maksim followed the man's stare toward the open doorway to his left.

Three women strolled in, all of whom he recognized immediately. The first two were Ren and Vittorio's wives. But it was the third woman who caught Maksim's attention.

Maksim had met Jo Burke a few times, although the woman always acted as if she only vaguely remembered him with each introduction. That rankled him. Women did not forget him. Just ask any of the moony-eyed chicks who came here night after night to watch him tend bar. He had as many groupies as the band did.

What needled him even more than her indifference was that he wasn't even that into mortal women. So where did she get off ignoring him? It should be vice versa.

Mortal woman just didn't know how to get their freak on. Not the way his demon appetites craved. Oh, he would use them for easy entertainment when there was wasn't someone better to do. But paranormal paramours were always more interesting.

Still for whatever reason, aloof Jo Burke had managed to capture his notice and curiosity, probably because she didn't seem interested in him. And Maksim did so love a challenge. Well, as long as he won in the end.

"Hi, Maksim," Maggie greeted, taking a barstool across from him. Ren's wife had to be the Pollyanna of the vampire world, but Maksim liked her despite it.

Erika wasn't as warm. Of course she had good reason. He had been inside her head, a neat little demon trick he had. Not that she knew that, exactly. She just knew she wasn't very comfortable around him. But then having someone inside your head didn't exactly make you feel comfortable. Not that it mattered to him whether Erika liked him or not. She didn't have any information about Ellina, which was the only reason he'd jumped into her mind.

Still Erika managed a tight smile and a mumbled hello.

But by then, all his interest was focused on the third woman of the group.

When had she gotten into town again?

"Hi there, ladies. What can I get you?" His gaze stayed on Jo as he spoke. He breathed in and something about her, something he couldn't pinpoint, caused need to fire through his body like jet fuel ignited in his veins. The sensation literally took his breath away.

Unnerving, to say the least.

Jo's dark eyes locked with his, her expression steady and remarkably unaffected by him. Again, he was struck by the fact that she didn't seem to react to him in any way. No recognition, no happiness or dislike, nothing. Certainly no highly flammable substances shooting desire through her limbs.

"I'd love a club soda," she said dropping onto a stool beside her friends. She then turned to watch the band, dismissing him.

Maksim only half-heard what the other women ordered, irritated again by Jo's utter disinterest in him. Disinterest was a novelty, and he was discovering it was not one he particularly cared for.

He grabbed three cups and started filling one after the other, his glances going back to Jo every now and then.

She remained with her back toward him, her attention on the band. What was it about her that drew him? And damn, did it draw him. Right now, he wanted to just reach over the bar, grab her, pull her over to him, and lick her entire body.

Good Lord, he was a demon, not a mindless caveman.

"So, when did you get in?" he asked with casual politeness, forcing himself to keep the caveman out of his behavior. He set down the soda, then leaned forward on the bar, waiting for her to turn around. She did, but still didn't react to him, even with him bringing himself as close to her as he could with the long, wooden bar between them.

Instead she nonchalantly lifted her drink and took a lengthy swallow. She moaned with appreciation, the sound low and deep in her throat. She savored the soda water like it was a fine wine, her eyes closed, her lashes looking impossibly long and dark against her cheeks. Her lips parted once she'd swallowed, looking rosy pink and wet with moisture.

Maksim's already reacting body managed to react even more, an erection pressing against the unforgiving material of his jeans. His muscles clenched with pure need.

The response maddened him further, especially when she opened her eyes, set down her drink, and regarded him with her usual impassive stare. All bliss disappeared behind a no-nonsense gaze.

"I got in last week." She took another sip of her drink, again closing her eyes with appreciation.

For a moment, Maksim didn't understand her words, already forgetting that he'd asked her a question. Of course that was before his raging hard-on and the fantasies of making her look as blissful as the icy soda did.