My Soul to Play (Games People Play Book 2) Read online

"If you insist," she said, flashing me a grin. "But a simple pen will do just as well. Give me another minute."

  I waited, shifting impatiently. Now that I'd made my decision, I was anxious to begin. I was anxious to get this over with. Finally she smiled again. The printer in the corner began making noise, and a moment later she withdrew two sheets of paper. She scanned them briefly then turned towards me. Three steps brought her back in front of me, and she held out the contract. I took it from her and read it. While I was reading, she retook her place at the other end of the sofa.

  The contract was simple, a single page outlining our agreement. She had printed two copies. Near the bottom was a clause forbidding me from sharing anything she told me, and the final clause outlined the repercussions if I were to even attempt to do so. I had no intention of giving her my soul.

  I had an urge to complain about the terms, but I should have expected it. I read it through a second time before looking over at the demon.

  "Do you understand what happens if you violate the terms of our agreement?"

  "After a fashion."

  "I will own your soul for a period of time of my choosing based on the severity of the violation. It won't be forever. If you attempt to use this information to seek a search warrant of my property, your soul will become mine before you can obtain it, and I will keep you for decades. If I own your soul, I own you, and you become nothing but a puppet. Do you understand?"

  "Yes."

  "Once we have both signed both copies," she continued, "we are both bound. If you attempt to cheat me, I am allowed to use force to ensure compliance. If that were to happen, you are far less likely to enjoy your two days as my pet." She smiled. "I prefer my pets when they are willing and exuberant, but I'm sure I will enjoy myself either way."

  "I didn't come here to cheat you." I looked down at the papers then back at her. "How do I know you aren't trying to trick me?"

  "I have been completely honest with you, Detective," she replied.

  "You haven't admitted to knowing what happened to Rachel Spencer."

  "Of course I haven't," she agreed. "And I may know absolutely nothing beyond what you've already told me." She reached forward and tapped the paper. "This is the only way you'll get your questions answered. You may spend your entire time finding different ways to ask whether I know what happened to the girl, not believing when I tell you 'no'." She smiled again. "Life is full of risk."

  I stared at her. I stared at the paper. Then I pulled out a pen, held it up, and said, "A simple pen?"

  She smiled and nodded. I leaned forward, using the coffee table to support the papers, and signed them both. Ms. Marsh took both copies from me, used her own pen to sign them, then beamed broadly. She held one out to me. "Your copy, Detective."

  I pocketed it and said, "What game?"

  "We shall have a battle of wills. You will sit here." She patted the center of the couch. "You will sit with your feet on the floor and your hands in your lap. You will watch me. If you set your hands on me, I win. If you beg me, I win. If you can resist me for thirty minutes, you win."

  "Excuse me? What are you going to be doing?"

  "Talking."

  I stared. "Talking."

  "Yes. Well, I may move around. I most certainly will invade your space. But I won't touch you, except most inadvertently."

  "You're going to hypnotize me or something?"

  She laughed. "I do not believe that is the effect I will have on you, Detective."

  "Fine," I said. I moved over on the sofa, squirmed around until I was comfortable, and set my hands in my lap. The demon gracefully rose to her feet and moved to her desk. She returned a moment later. She showed me a standard kitchen timer set to thirty minutes. She pressed start then set it down on the edge of her desk.

  Then she began moving around the room. I followed her with my eyes. She was the most graceful creature I had ever watched, her moves deliberate and sinuous. She exuded sexy like no one I'd ever met before. When she turned to me, she was smiling.

  "I will ask you questions. You are under no obligation to answer. It is entirely up to you. Of course, this will be far more pleasant a game for both of us if you are an active participant."

  "I'm not interested in anything but finding Rachel Spencer," I said.

  "That's not at all true, Teigan. You don't mind if I call you by your given name, do you?" I didn't answer her, and after a short pause, she nodded. She moved closer then crouched down. "Do you want to tell me about your dreams?" Her voice sounded kind.

  "No."

  "Were they dreams? Or nightmares?"

  "Nightmares."

  "I'm sorry." She said it like she meant it. "Were they all nightmares?"

  No, but I didn't want to admit that. Instead, I looked away.

  "Teigan, if you don't look at me, I get to touch you."

  I snapped my head back. "You said you wouldn't touch me."

  "I also said you had to watch me. If you look away, I get to touch you."

  "Fine," I said. I made a silent vow not to look away again.

  "Some of the dreams were sexy, weren't they?" I didn't answer her. She waited for me, then went on. "It's natural to be curious. It's particularly natural for you to be curious about me, about what I do, about who I am." I tried to put on a droll expression, but she smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. Inwardly, I cursed. Her smile broadened.

  "You could hear that?"

  "Your pupils dilated," she explained. "And you're a little flushed."

  "Why are you doing this?"

  "Can you be more specific?"

  "Why the game, any game?"

  "Ah. I'm a demon, Teigan. With demons, everything has a price. You want information. I would rather have demanded you pay with your body for a week, but I thought that was a harder sell. I was sure you'd pay this price, if you were desperate enough."

  "Her family would pay to get her back."

  "And if I had anything to do with her disappearance, returning her for money would be kidnapping, would it not?" She smiled again. "Besides, while I am in business for money, this isn't business. This is personal. And I never take money for something personal."

  "Then why this wager? Why not something else?"

  "A girl has to eat."

  "What?" I reared back, pulling as far from her as I could.

  "Oh, Teigan, relax," she said. "I'm not going to hurt you. Well, unless you're into that sort of thing, or you try to hurt me." She paused. "You've been fed from before."

  I stared for a while before nodding slowly.

  "Do you know what sort of creature it was?"

  "She's some sort of vampire," I said.

  "Some sort of vampire?" the demon echoed. "Phrased that way, that means she eats emotions and not blood."

  "How could you tell?"

  "Some sort of vampire? If she drank blood, you'd just have called her a vampire. Did she feed from you more than once?" I nodded. "Were you willing?"

  I started to look away but then remembered she'd be allowed to touch me, and I snapped my eyes back to her. "She ate my pain."

  "That doesn't sound so bad, Teigan."

  "She made me like it," I continued.

  "Of course she did. When was the last time you saw her?"

  "Three years."

  "Three years," she echoed. "That's when you left the Crimes Against Children division."

  "You're well informed."

  She stood up and walked away from me. I watched her as she prowled around her office for a minute.

  "You're wasting your time," I observed. She fluttered a hand at me, suggesting she might not be concerned about losing a few of her precious 30 minutes. But finally she turned to me.

  "Vampires are people," she said. "Humans who are infected. When a human dies and becomes a vampire, their soul leaves them. The type of person they were tends to affect the type of vampire they become, but the hungers can be quite difficult to quench. Many vampires grow mad from the thirst. They are the ones wh
o give the rest a bad name."

  She moved closer but stopped with her hand on one of the easy chairs facing the sofa. "Those types of vampires always drink blood. Your vampire-"

  "She's not my vampire."

  "She's something else. She may be a demon. She may be fae. Many fae eat emotions. It's not all they eat, but it can be critical to their diet. Some require certain types of emotions, and some are quite adept at manipulating humans to produce those emotions."

  "I don't think she did that."

  "With you, with your job, perhaps she simply didn't need to."

  "What do you eat?"

  "All the things you do."

  "A girl has to eat," I quoted back at her. "Should I call you Hannibal?"

  "I require energy," she replied. "Most living creatures produce it. Humans produce it in abundance. It weakens you to feed me, but it is temporary. If I eat particularly deeply, you would be run down for a few days. If I only sip, you probably wouldn't even notice."

  "You're burning your time."

  "I'm helping you relax," was her answer. She smiled again. "Do you enjoy looking at me?"

  "No."

  She laughed. "Liar."

  "Then why did you ask?"

  "To see if you'd admit it."

  "This form-" I gestured towards her. "-Is an illusion."

  "Not at all. This is my form on earth. I can take the other only with effort, and only in a place that is thoroughly, completely mine. I couldn't appear on the streets like that. I couldn't even appear in the main room like that. Nor could I have done so if you'd had any sort of imaging devices in operation."

  "Against the rules?"

  "Not only is it against the rules, I literally am unable to do so."

  "Is that why you did it? To see if I was recording the conversation?"

  "I wanted to see your reaction. You were far calmer than I expected."

  At that, I shrugged. She returned the shrug but then said, "I want to ask you a few more questions. If you answer honestly, for each you answer, I owe you a small favor."

  "A cup of coffee favor?"

  "Maybe a little larger than that, but only a little."

  "Fine," I agreed.

  "Did you find my demon form alluring?"

  I considered before answering. I nodded. "Yes."

  She smiled broadly. "Not everyone does. Some find it frightening. Others find it both. You weren't frightened."

  "I was terrified out of my mind," I said.

  "You hid it very well, then. Are you terrified now?"

  "Nervous." I grinned. "That's two."

  She laughed. "I hadn't intended that question. Two. For my third, have you wondered what it would feel like to touch my skin, or to have me touch you?"

  "Yes."

  "Excellent," she said brightly. "If you lose this game, when I take you, do you want me in this form or the other?"

  "I don't know," I replied. "Would it hurt?"

  She moved closer and knelt in front of me again. "No, Teigan. Unless you want it to."

  "No," I said. "I wouldn't want it to hurt."

  "Then I would be both firm but gentle at the same time, as gentle as a lamb."

  "As a young girl, I was butted by a lamb. They aren't very gentle." She laughed. "I don't believe I would want to be butted by your horns."

  She laughed again. "No, I imagine not. I do not believe you have earned a favor with your most recent answer. I don't know is so wishy-washy."

  "Two days is a long time," I said.

  "Time can fly. Will you answer, Teigan?"

  I didn't want to answer, not even to myself. I found her alluring -- deeply alluring. That was dangerous. I didn't believe her when she said she wouldn't hurt me. She admitted to being a demon. I was able to break myself from the vampire only because she frightened me as much as she did. I wasn't sure Ms. Evaline Marsh would be as easy to escape.

  But I answered anyway. I couldn't have told you why. "I might like both," I said.

  "You might like both? That is also wishy-washy."

  I sighed. "I might not like your scales. They might be rough."

  "And if I stroked you with my demon hands, and it feels as good as, deep down, you know it will feel, then what do you say?"

  "You frighten me."

  "And so, to admit you would want me to take you in my demon form frightens you, because you don't know what you don't know."

  "Yes."

  She nodded. "Trust takes time to build," she declared. "That is four. Should we play for one more favor?"

  "I would like to spend one of my favors."

  She raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."

  "Will you take your other form?"

  "Is that the favor you ask?"

  "And let me touch you without costing me our game."

  "Ah. Yes, but I will pause the timer." I nodded, and she moved away, stepping to her desk. She did something with the timer and set it back on the desk. Then, her back towards me, she shimmered, and a moment later, she was again the demon.

  I couldn't help but stare.

  "The tail..."

  She turned around. "What about the tail?"

  "Are the clothes an illusion? Last time, I thought perhaps it poked out of your waistband."

  "I alter the clothing as I change form," she explained. "There is now a small slit. It took me decades to perfect that little trick. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, I could only shift to this form when unclothed. There are, after all, other changes as well, and clothing that fits me the other way doesn't at all fit this way.

  I nodded then began to rise, intending to close the distance and touch her. But she held a hand out.

  "No, no. You don't have permission to rise." Then she crossed the room to me, taking a seat beside me. We rotated slightly to face each other.

  I realized she was taller than I was, and that was without counting the horns. I looked up. "Are they as sharp as they look?"

  "Yes. If you touch, please be careful."

  I studied her carefully. She was quite stunning. She was, of course, everything a woman should be, but that was true in both her forms, and my body had calmed down from that. Amazingly, I wasn't gibbering in fear.

  "May I touch you, Ms. Marsh?"

  "If you call me Evaline. I believe Ms. Marsh is a little formal for this, wouldn't you say?"

  "All right, Evaline. May I have your hand?"

  She extended one hand, offering it to me. I took it, one hand at her elbow, the other holding her hand. I rotated her wrist so the palm was up. She relaxed, her fingers curled lightly.

  "It will be a little rough if you caress against the scales," she warned me. "And it is uncomfortable for both of us if you are firmer than that. You may find caressing with the scales very pleasurable." She smiled. "I know I will."

  I accepted her offer, brushing her arm down towards her hand.

  I've held snakes before, and it was much like that, and not at all like a fish. I adjusted my hold, clasping her wrist and using my other hand to brush more firmly, all the way from her shoulder to her hand. My touch grew lighter as I reached her hand. I examined carefully. Reaching her hand, I paused. The scales on her arm were already quite fine, but they were even smaller along her fingers. With a single finger of my own, I caressed each of her fingers in turn, sliding from her palm to each tip. She twitched a few times, and she watched me carefully, her eyes half-lidded.

  "That feels quite pleasant," she said. "Does it frighten you?"

  "No."

  "If you are gentle, try the other direction."

  And so, I did. The scales resisted the motion, and I could see how it would be unpleasant if done firmly.

  "Imagine a backrub," she said with a small grin. And then her tail wrapped around her body, coming to a rest across the arm I was holding. "I will grow upset if you tug it."

  I laughed a little nervously, but I slowly stroked the tail. I realized there weren't any scales. It grew thicker as it disappeared around behind her, but the ti
p was somewhat delicate with the two forks starting about as wide as two fingers but tapering over their eight inches of length.

  "How much control over it do you have?"

  "More than my fingers," she replied. "And the tips are deeply sensitive." She demonstrated, first twining the two tips around each other, then separating them and moving them in different directions. Then she reached with her tail and gently wrapped around my hand, the tips caressing my palm.

  It tickled. I let her do it for a moment or three then pulled away, rubbing my palm. "Tickles," I complained. She grinned but said nothing.

  I looked her over carefully. She sat still for the inspection. I lifted my hand towards her cheek then waited. She nodded, and I caressed the skin of her face. She closed her eyes and sighed.

  I didn't touch her horns. I wanted to, but I decided not to. Finally I lowered my hands to my lap. "Thank you, Evaline."

  She opened her eyes and nodded. "You are welcome, Teigan. Am I lovely?"

  "You know you are."

  Her smile was quite beautiful, and I found myself responding before I froze my expression. Her smile grew uncertain, but then she nodded and rose to her feet. She returned to her desk, picked up the timer, then leaned with her backside against the chair. We studied each other. She still held the timer.

  "Do I frighten you more in this form than the other?"

  "Are you going to restart the timer?"

  "After you answer my question."

  I thought carefully before speaking. "You don't frighten me the way you mean. I am not even afraid of what you'll do to me if you win."

  "You are afraid for after?" At that, I nodded. "If I retain this form, it helps to remind you what I am." I nodded again, although it wasn't as if I could forget. She nodded as well. "Neither of my forms is a lie or illusion, but if I switch back, you may feel I attempt to deceive you." She pressed a button on the timer, set it back on the desk, then made her way back in front of me. She pulled the coffee table closer to the sofa and sat down, our knees almost but not quite touching.

  I couldn't take my eyes off her.

  "Have you thought about what would happen if I win?"

  I gulped and nodded.

  She smiled and leaned closer. I leaned away, but she pursued me until I found my back pressed against the sofa. She didn't stop. Instead, she set her hands on the back of the sofa beside each of my shoulders, hemming me in. She moved closer, and I could feel the heat from her body, but she didn't quite touch me. Her face came to a stop with our cheeks fractions of an inch apart, her lips not far from my left ear. She began to speak.