6
"I'm not hungry." Rayne repeated for the tenth time. Randy ignored her, firing up the gas stove.
"You are." He pointed to a huge pitcher of orange juice. "Drink something. This will be a few minutes."
Rayne huffed in frustration. Damn it. The juice looked good. She was parched. But...she didn't trust this guy. She grabbed a glass and turned on the faucet, then filled it with water. Tilting her head back, she drank it down in three huge gulps, closing her eyes at the heavenly feel of the liquid on her burning throat.
She refilled the glass, drank it down quickly again, then topped it off one last time. She sipped at it, then noticed Randy looking at her in amusement. So...she liked water. Big deal. Who didn't?
"Sit. It'll be ready in a few," Randy nodded toward an ancient looking table in the corner.
"Look...I told you I'm not hungry!" As if to spite her, Rayne's stomach took that opportunity to growl. "Damn it. I just want to know what the hell is going on here. I do not want to play house with you!"
"Please...calm down." Randy's eyes drifted to the ceiling. "Mark can be kinda...cranky if you wake him up before he's ready."
"Big fuckin' deal!" Rayne would not be calmed, not this time. She'd had about all she was going to take. "So am I. So is everybody else on the planet! Forgive the holy fucking hell out of me for not being courteous to the asshole who kidnapped me!" She raised her voice even more, hoping that he would hear, would wake up. She was tired of this waiting game.
There was a loud thump overhead. Randy smirked and turned back toward the stove. It was Rayne's turn to look up at the ceiling. Oh...he was definitely up now. Stomping. Good. She tapped her foot impatiently. And was rewarded with the sound of water flowing through pipes. The asshole was taking a shower. Great.
Heaving a sigh, she flopped into a chair at the table and put her head in her hands. She made a conscious effort not to think of the cell phone that was poking into her hip. Randy would be on it so fast her head would spin, she had no doubt.
Randy was putting a plate in front of her. The smell of eggs and bacon made her mouth water, but she didn't eat...not yet anyway. She was too busy trying not to think. To just clear her mind. Randy gave her an odd look, and settled into the seat across from her. Apparently his appetite was just fine. He dug right in.
Giving up, Rayne pulled the plate closer and tried a bite of egg. Not too bad. Hopefully he hadn't spiked it. That was all she needed. She almost giggled at the thought. He'd been able to knock her out without her knowing it, why would he resort to drugs? She wondered if maybe she was starting to crack under the pressure of being here, of not knowing what was going on.
She quickly finished eating, then pushed the plate aside. "Want more?" Randy gestured at the stove.
"No. Uh...thanks. I'm full." She watched him eat for a minute. "Can't you at least tell me something? I'm going to go nuts."
Randy shrugged. "I'd rather not. I mean...you're not going to believe me, and you're not going to like it. So I'll let Mark do the talking." He smiled at her frustrated groan. "Sorry." His eyes drifted to her right. "Food's ready."
Rayne turned her head, looking at Mark. His hair was still damp from his shower. He'd put on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. The expression on his face was neutral. He ignored her, going to the stove and piling a plate high with food. Then he went to the table and sat down to eat.
She waited patiently. Rayne had the feeling that he wasn't going to talk until he was finished anyway. To kill time, she gathered up her dishes and went to the sink.
"Uh...I'll get those," Randy was trying to nudge her out of the way.
"No. I can do it." She shook her head. Damn, but this was nuts. Doing dishes for the guys who had snatched her out of a club. She truly had lost her mind. Maybe she took a shot to the head and this was all some kind of crazy dream.
Randy was grinning at her. Damn it. She glared back. He looked away, smirking.
When she was finished, she sat back at the table, tapping her fingers impatiently. Mark kept eating, as if her agitation did not bother him in the least. And why would it? He already knew what was going on. At least, she hoped he did.
He finally sat back, nodding at Randy, who leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. Rayne looked at Mark expectantly. "Well..." she said when it appeared he wasn't going to talk.
Mark sighed. "This is going to be more trouble than it's worth." It was directed at Randy, who smiled but said nothing. Mark looked at Rayne. "You have a...special mark. You've been chosen."
"Chosen for..." she prodded. "What mark? You guys seem to enjoy trying to lift my shirt and stuff. I don't even have any freckles, so what's the damn fascination with my back?"
Mark rubbed his eyes. "Every twenty years..." He seemed to lose track of his thoughts for a moment. "A specific demon gains the ability to come to the human world. To chose...mates. He picks as many as he wants, as many as he thinks will last him through the next twenty years. He marks them, branding them so no other demons will claim them."
"Mates?" Rayne frowned. "Ok...demons, mates, marks. Fuck. What is that, some kinda sick joke?" She looked from Mark to Randy, then back. "There are no such things as demons."
"Really?" Mark looked at her thoughtfully. "You are sitting in this room with two." Her eyes narrowed. She thought he was joking with her. "And when I say mates, I do not mean it in the animal sense of reproduction. Although that has happened before." He stopped, obviously struggling with the idea. "He means to take you back to where he lives, torture you, abuse you, rape you, ultimately he will kill you. But it would not be for a very long time. And it would not be a...pleasant...death."
Rayne rolled her eyes. "That's fucking crazy. Do you realize how insane you sound?"
"Yes." He was deadly serious as he spoke. "As a human you refuse to understand. To accept. I expected that. But you do not need to understand or accept."
"That's where you're wrong, asshole," Rayne said, feeling her temper flare. "I need to know what the fuck is going on. Why you dragged me away from my friend last night, why you threatened me. Ok, so some demon guy wants to kill me. Big deal. What's that got to do with you?"
Mark motioned for Randy to sit down. He waited until the younger man was seated. He turned his gaze back to Rayne, locking eyes with her. "I want to kill the demon who is after you."
"Uh..." She started to speak, stopped herself, then went on. "You want to...use me for bait?"
"Basically."
"No offense, but I think I would have rather taken my chances on my own," She said flippantly. This guy had been an ass from the start, and now he admitted that he was just using her to get to someone else. Nice.
"Not likely. You see..." Mark smiled grimly. "This demon had marked four girls. Three of them are dead already."
Rayne's eyes widened in surprise. "Dead? He killed..."
"No. Not him. He can't get to you for at least another few days..." He trailed off, obviously not wanting to go into detail. "Another group of demons is trying to prevent him from taking his chosen."
"Great. Commando vigilante demons," She said sarcastically. Did he actually think she was believing any of this? "If he's a demon, and they are demons, then why would they want to stop him? Wouldn't they be inclined to do the same thing?"
Mark was shaking his head. "This demon has made enemies. Forty years ago, he chose a human woman to..." He cleared his throat. "She ended up conceiving. No demon is allowed to conceive with a human. The results are...not controllable by the laws of either side."
"So he got some girl pregnant and now he's in trouble for it?" Rayne almost laughed. "Shit...sounds like some southern shotgun wedding in the making."
Mark's eyes did not waver, and Rayne felt the laugh die inside her. "The demon did not stop there. Very few human woman could conceive and carry a demon's child. They are exceptionally rare. This demon decided that one was not enough. He impregnated her a second time only two years later."
Rayne said nothing. In spite of herself, she was being drawn into this little story, as far-fetched as it sounded.
"This demon...Dominic..." he said the name with a twist of hatred. "Wanted to raise the two boys as his sons, destroy the part in them that was human, that was their mother. He wanted to control them, to use them for his own means. There are certain...powers...gained from the mix of a human and a demon parent. He wanted that power for himself."
"And...what happened?" She looked from one man to the other again. "You happened. Or something to do with you," Rayne pointed at Randy. He half-smiled.
"My parents happened." He shrugged. "They were sympathetic to humans. Both of them were demons, but they had lived their lives here, in the human world." He looked at Mark. Mark nodded, urging him to go on. "At the birth of the second son, they helped the human woman, Celeste, to escape, back to the human world. She took her sons with her."
"And this...uh...Dominic...didn't follow them?" Rayne asked softly. She had seen the way Mark's face seemed to harden at the mention of the woman's name.
"He couldn't. He is an old demon, set in his ways. He is bound by his traditions and laws." Mark bit off each word. "Only one trip into the human world every twenty years..."
"Oh..." Rayne frowned. "So...years passed. And he came for them."
"Yes." Mark closed his eyes. "Celeste tried to fight him, but she was just a human. She had aged. She was no longer the young woman that Dominic had known. So he killed her."
"That's..." She didn't know what to say. She had a feeling she knew what was coming.
"The younger son, Glen, stood up to his father. He was half demon, half human. Much stronger than Celeste. But his powers had just woken up. He was still more human than demon. Dominic realized that he did not need both boys. Glen was...killed...violently. It made Celeste's murder seem...almost merciful."
"And the older son?" Rayne had the urge to reach across the table and touch his hand, offer him some comfort. That was just as insane as this story he was telling.
Mark opened his eyes, meeting her gaze. "Could not do anything against his father. The shock of seeing his mother and brother die...of seeing the blood..." He sighed. "He could do nothing. Dominic tried to...entice him to join him. And the older son was weakening. His family was dead, he had nothing left..."
Randy touched Rayne's arm, making her jump. "My parents intervened again. They had worried that something like this may happen. Together they managed to force Dominic into an early...leave...from the human world. Then they took the older son in, taking care of him until he was able to do it on his own."
"That was you." Rayne was looking at Mark. He nodded.
"Yes. My father killed my mother and my brother in front of me and I could do nothing to stop it."
"You were just a kid...what...like nineteen, twenty?"
"Yes."
"Christ." Rayne felt like crying for him. Even if he had been an asshole, to actually witness something like that...
"Dominic's time has come around again." Randy said softly. "Twenty years."
"And that has something to do with me?" Rayne asked.
"It has everything to do with you. He only chose four women..." Mark shook his head. "Such a low number. One of you would most likely be able to conceive with him. He wants another son. He wants what was denied to him so long ago."
"But...why me?"
"Because..." He seemed at a loss. "I do not know how the choosing works. I do not...participate...in that aspect of demon life. Perhaps you did something that caught his eye. Or maybe it was something he sensed in you. At any rate, he'll find out soon that his other three have been eliminated. He'll have no choice but to come for you."
"Eliminated..." Rayne was frowning again.
"Killed. So that Dominic can not fulfill his plans." Mark sighed. "I told you...he has enemies. People who do not want to see the cross of human and demon, who do not want Dominic to gain more power than he already has. Over the last few days they eliminated three of his choices, leaving just one."
"Me." Rayne felt a shiver work its way down her spine. She didn't actually believe any of this, did she? It was...it was insane. How many times was that word going to go through her head in one conversation?
"Yes."
"You mean to kill him, don't you?" Rayne asked Mark. He raised an eyebrow.
"For what he did to my mother and brother...yes. I am not a scared boy anymore. I am stronger now. I have accepted what I am."
"And you..." She pointed to Randy again. "What role are you playing in this...this...whatever it is?"
Randy smiled sadly. "When I was born, my parents knew that Dominic would target us all again. For revenge. They sent me to live with a human family, as a human. I did not know what I was until Mark found me." He sighed. "When I was three, Dominic convinced several of the...uh...less moralistic demons to kill my parents. So I never got to know who they were. But Mark knew about me, you see. He came for me when I turned eighteen. He helped me to come to terms with what I am. I was...uh...extremely confused. I thought I was going crazy, people's thoughts in my head. I got to the point where I wanted to just...kill...everybody...who even looked at me."
"You don't look like you'd hurt a fly," Rayne said with a smile. He ducked his head and grinned.
"Yeah. But looks are deceiving." He met her eyes. "I had this girlfriend...I wanted to...uh...you know...and when she said no, I just saw red. All I remember is ripping at her clothes, listening to her begging me to stop, loving that fear and shame that was in her voice..." He took a deep breath. "Kind of got interrupted before anything happened. Mark...uh...knocked me out."
Rayne was looking at Randy, then at Mark, who was nodding. "That whole demon raping the human thing..."
"Yes. Only in Randy's case, it would not have been every twenty years, just a few here and there. He had been raised in the human world. The demon laws did not affect him. He could rape and kill, torture, as often as he liked."
"Christ." That was all she could think to say. And he looked like such a cute innocent kinda kid. What the hell had she been dragged into? She didn't want to admit it, even to herself, but she believed. They were telling the most outrageous insane story she'd ever head and she believed every word of it.