Read Demon's Kiss for Free Online

and magical symbols.
The watermarks of all his corporate documents were littered with images of
knots to bind those who signed them.
    It was said he cast spells against those who opposed him.
Whether it was the spells themselves or his belief in them, he carried himself
with an undeniable arrogance, the kind of confidence only success could bring.
    There were some who said the title of wizard wasn’t so far
off, that he practiced magic of the darkest kind, that he was a magus—a dark
magician. That he summoned spirits. And demons.
    Though she had researched and studied, she hadn’t really
believed it, had chalked the stories up to Templeton’s enormous ego. It had
seemed too unreal, hard to believe. But looking at Asmodeus, there was no doubt
now the stories were real.
    There was an awful satisfaction in Gordon Templeton’s dark
eyes. Gabriel should have known Templeton was behind this.
    A chill went through her just at that look but she didn’t
dare let him see it.
    This was as bad as it could get. Maybe worse.
    She kept her eyes level and her mouth tight.
    A beam of light speared through the darkness, off to the
right, beyond the rings. One of Templeton’s minions stood at a podium and
chanted from a book as Asmodeus writhed in agony beside her on the floor.
    The Book of Demons . The one that had summoned
Asmodeus and now tortured him.
    With a gesture like limning a door, Templeton stepped
through the circles with careless disregard for the danger of them.
    Slowly, Gabriel got to her feet to put herself between him
and Asmodeus—as useless a gesture as that was.
    “Hello, Gordon,” she said quietly.
    As an agent with the FBI, Gabriel had investigated Gordon
Templeton for years but he had lots of money to cover his tracks. His business
practices had always been shady but in all those years she had never been able
to prove anything against him. Until recently. She had been close to having a
solid case against him, finally.
    His business partners and competitors frequently suffered
astonishing bad luck, horrific accidents, fires, arson—nothing she could prove
or trace back to Templeton—while Templeton consistently made a profit. In the
last few months that bad luck had expanded to include anyone who had ever
crossed Templeton.
    Some of those who had crossed him had disappeared.
    Including her too, it seemed. Apparently, she had been
getting too close.
    She didn’t waste her time pointing out to him the penalties
for what he had done. Despite the stiff punishments for assaulting and
kidnapping a federal agent, given the circumstances, she didn’t think it likely
that anyone would ever know what became of her. She would simply disappear like
all the others. Escape seemed unlikely.
    That didn’t mean she wouldn’t try.
    “Well,” Templeton said with a thin smile. “How does it feel,
Special Agent Nicholas, to be served up as a slave, as mere food, to a demon?”
    A pause as he nudged the prostrate and powerless Asmodeus
angrily with his toe.
    “My demon.”
    Seeing the anger and the avid look in Templeton’s eyes,
hearing it in his voice, it was clear to Gabriel that Templeton had wanted to
watch as Asmodeus took her, had imagined Asmodeus raping her with his huge
cock, but Asmodeus had preserved their dignity as best he could.
    This was the price for it.
    A demon who had more consideration than a man? What a
shock , Gabriel thought dryly and bitterly. She had always thought that man
was far more vicious than any of his so-called enemies.
    For a moment she thought she heard Asmodeus’ deep voice in
the back of her mind, a sound that almost seemed to resonate in her bones.
    Thank you.
    She glanced at him and saw his eyes glow brilliantly despite
his pain.
    Turning back, she looked at Templeton and asked quietly,
“What do you want with me?”
    With a dismissive laugh, Templeton said, “You? Nothing.
You’re nothing to me. Do you understand? You are nothing. Not anymore. Not to
me, not to anyone. I have