“You’re not?” she whispered, her eyes dropping to his beautiful mouth. “Those lips are going to be for me and me alone?”

“Yeah,” he promised just before he kissed her hard and deep. When he came up for air, he shot her a wicked smile.

“I have to admit—I like the making-up part of our little arguments.”

Ari nodded and leaned in for more.

“Me too.”

***

He moved above her in shadow and heat.

He was everything.

She sighed into the night, arching against him. Jai. Jai …

His hot lips brushed hers, his callused hands smoothing over her skin, searching, touching, everywhere.

She wrapped her arms tighter around him, drawing him closer, needing to see his face, but it was cast in darkness.

Silken hair slid against her cheek and it took a moment before she realized it wasn’t hers.

She froze.

He felt it.

Grim laughter vibrated through him and he pulled back, light moving across his face.

“This isn’t over, Ari,”

Asmodeus warned, pressing his body deeper against hers.

Ari bolted out of the dream, her scream caught in her throat. Trembling, she tried to blink the sensual nightmare out of existence, her eyes falling on Jai who slept soundly beside her. Guilt clawed at her chest as her heart tried to slow, as her body attempted to come down from the dream in which she’d been making love to Asmodeus. All throughout it, her subconscious had believed she was with Jai and then …

Why? She ran a shaky hand through her matted hair. She didn’t have those kinds of feelings for Asmodeus. Maybe once, when they’d first met, she’d felt some bizarre attraction to him, but his tendency toward sociopathic had definitely hammered those feelings out of her.

Her eyes trailed along Jai’s strong back, up his shoulders, to his face. His lips were parted slightly and Ari could still feel them on hers, still taste him against her tongue.

Jai was the only man she wanted.

Consciously or subconsciously.

Which meant Asmodeus was messing with her. Her eyes narrowed in the dark as she drew her knees to her chest. He was sending her a message.

He was telling her he hadn’t forgotten.

22

The Fragile Ordinary

The sun was out, flooding Sandford with a little bit of warmth against the spring chill. Only thirty minutes ago, it’d been raining and Ari had been standing under a tree, hiding in the Cloak, attempting to catch a glimpse of Derek Johnson through the windows of his home.

Five minutes after the sun came out and only minutes before Ari was about to give up, the back door opened. Two little boys, about seven and nine, ran into the backyard with a soccer ball.

They were wearing worn jeans and T-shirts and immediately set themselves up, one in goal, one with the ball.

“Make sure the grass isn’t too wet.

They’ll ruin it,” a female voice called from inside.

“They ruin it, they ruin it. What else is it for?” the familiar voice of Derek Johnson answered back seconds before he appeared in the doorway. He’d been frowning but as soon as his eyes took in his two kids, he grinned. “You letting Teddy be goalie this time, Jake?

What’s the world coming to?”

“I’m feeling nice,” the older boy answered with a shrug. Derek chuckled.

Ari hadn’t expected to feel so much at his appearance. Theirs had been an exceptionally complicated relationship, disjointed, broken, loving but careless. Derek’s less-than-brilliant parenting strategy had messed with Ari’s head. She’d been a lonely teenager, somewhat unloved, though in desperate need of it. She’d made some crappy decisions based on that desperate need.

For the longest time, Ari had tried to work out how she felt about Derek. Sometimes she thought she resented him; other times she was grateful.

Now, despite the ache in her chest, Ari guessed she was just happy he wasn’t alone. He had a family, he had kids, and she hoped to God he loved them more than he’d ever loved her.

With a sigh, she tread carefully away from the backyard until she had some privacy at the side of the house.

Letting the flames of the Peripatos surround her, she took off, next stepping into the Cloak in the Creaghs’ front yard.

Ari blinked in surprise at the sight of Charlie making out with a brunette on his porch swing. She felt a flicker of residual jealousy that came from days and feelings much older than they really were. However, that flicker quickly disappeared, and Ari stepped toward the house in curiosity. The couple stopped kissing and the girl pulled back to smile somewhat shyly at Charlie. Ari didn’t recognize her but she was pretty in a fresh-faced innocent way. Ari approved.

“I’m really glad your mom likes me, Charlie, but I think she might have an issue with us making out on her porch.”

The girl bit her lip in a small smile. “Maybe we should stop.”

Charlie grinned and brushed her hair off her face. “Babe, I’m pretty sure my mom knows we make out.”

The girl laughed and snuggled closer to him. “Do you have to work tomorrow? Couldn’t we sneak off for a picnic or something?”

“Unfortunately, I put my name down for overtime. But I’ll make it up to you. Promise.”

Ari smiled softly, moving slowly away. It had been four months since she’d said goodbye to Charlie and she’d promised herself that she would stay away. However, the feeling of protectiveness wasn’t going away any time soon. She needed to know he was okay.

Apparently, he was more than okay.

She recognized that look in Charlie Creagh’s eyes. He was falling in love with his shy brunette.

Even though he couldn’t see her, Ari blew Charlie a kiss. She turned and strolled down his familiar street. It was Saturday and the sun was now shining. Folks were out in their yards, pulling up to their houses with the weekly shopping. Ordinary sounds, sounds of life—laughter, conversation, and the sounds of dogs communicating filled the street. A beautiful, untouched ordinary. And it was now Ari’s job to make sure it stayed that way. She hunted, she killed, and she captured, just as she’d done in helping the Aissawa Brotherhood exorcise and trap Beau/Nick/Stalker in the Secretum some weeks back. Getting Beau back to his life after he’d missed months of it was harder because … well, they didn’t have time to help him assimilate. They pretty much dropped him off, back to his real life, to let his family deal with the memory loss. It sucked. But it would have sucked more if he’d been possessed for the rest of his life.