Free Demon Fire by Ann Kellett

 
    Chapter One
    Dax Thelassian sighed with relief. Waiting in line would give him time to study his prey. He removed his cowboy hat as the door to the hotel lobby swung shut behind him, and welcomed the cool rush of air conditioning. Driving the twenty miles from the ranch into San Saba had left him hot and thirsty, but he couldn’t afford to look flustered. This was his most important assignment in his two centuries as a demon-warrior.
    Dax picked up a copy of the best-seller and got in line. The hotel serving the town of about three thousand was small, and the lobby was crowded. The patrons were mostly women, giving off excited, open energy at having a celebrity in their midst.
    Nothing demonic . He wouldn’t have to worry about his eyes turning gold. His sunglasses were within reach, just in case.
    Several women gave him appreciative glances. He knew that even in the heat, his white button-down shirt was perfectly starched, and his faded jeans crisp, ending at just the right spot on the tops of his pointy-toed boots.
    Dax studied Meredith Stone’s photo on the back cover of the thick novel. It was the same one she used on her Website, and in fact was the only one that Dax had uncovered despite extensive research. He had assumed it was several years old and heavily retouched. Perhaps the real Meredith Stone was too vain to let her readers see her crow’s feet and gray hair.
    He was shocked to see that the young woman seated a few yards ahead looked exactly like the photo. Long layers of black hair skimmed her collarbone. Elegant manicure. Expertly applied makeup that accentuated huge blue eyes. Ridiculously long eyelashes. A hint of a dimple on her left cheek as she smiled and made small talk.
    Damn . This might be more of a challenge than he or the other members of the Warrior Council had anticipated. Even more frustrating, Dax knew little about his prey. Never married, no children. This was her first book. Before this, she had never sought out nor been in the public spotlight.
    Some reviewers had dismissed Meredith’s book. If demons existed, surely they would pick a more sophisticated entrance into the world than a cave in the rugged and sparsely populated Texas Hill Country west of San Antonio. And surely the battles of good versus evil that Meredith depicted were naïve exaggerations.
    Dax was there to get to the bottom of the situation. The Warrior Council didn’t question Dax’s finding that Meredith Stone was fully human. Now Dax intended to find out much more. Was she a demon expediter, one of the mortals who dedicate their lives to facilitating the work of demons? Did she unknowingly channel highly sensitive information from a member of the Council without understanding its profound and terrible consequences? Or did she simply have a vivid imagination that somehow hit far too close to home?
    Expediters would rather die than give up the secrets of the demons they served. What good was money or fame if everything around you came crashing down? An expediter would be rewarded in the afterlife, not here.
    Meredith had written the book nearly three years earlier. At that time, no one—not even the demon-warriors—knew about the twists and turns that would lead them to their current battle strategy. One that was eerily similar to what Meredith detailed in the book he was holding.
    His turn. Dax found himself virtually drowning in the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. He was half-demon-warrior, but the half of his being that was human—and all male—quickened with desire. In a flash, he was in another world. He felt her glossy hair spilling through his fingers. He tasted the warm nape of her neck as she turned from the bank of the stream to face him so they could embrace. He felt her waist through her buckskin dress as he wrapped an arm around her and dropped something into the pouch hanging off her turquoise-beaded belt. “ For safekeeping until next time, my love ,” he whispered.
    The vivid image formed and