The Devil Dances Read Online Free Page A

shoulders and looked troubled. “I don’t always feel human. Do you?”
    I smirked as I passed her my cigarette. “I felt pretty human last night when I was inside you. And David.”
    “That was fun,” she agreed as she sucked most of my cigarette down all in one inhalation. It actually impressed me.
    Her brow creased.
    “What’s wrong?”
    She shrugged. “I guess I’m just wondering if that’s it. You and me. You, me, and David. You, me, David, and his friends.” Again she shrugged. “I’m graduating next year. David’s graduating in another year. Guess that means everything ends soon. Did you know that David is talking about opening a practice down in Miami?”
    “We’ll find someone new,” I assured her. “There’s this club down in Philly called The Scene where the couples closer to my age group hang out. Sophisticated married types, so no more of that college scene stuff for you, missy.” I smiled as I leaned forward to peck her on the nose. “I’ll let you pick this time.”
    “Letting me graduate, huh?”
    “We can get one of those big, hairy, construction types you like so much.”
    She grinned as she returned the cigarette. Then a thought occurred to me, and I blurted it out before I really thought about it. “The ones at The Scene like to hook up with other married couples, so why not marry me?”
    She looked at me with upraised eyebrows like I was crazy. “Nick, are you really suggesting we get married so we find a better breed of swinger?”
    I thought about that as I smoked. “Nah. I just want to marry you, Vivian.”
    “For real?”
    “Yes,” I answered as I stared at the burning ember of the cigarette between my fingers. I had never been more sure of anything in my life. “For real.”
    “Sure you want to be married to The Whore of Babylon?” she asked, referring to the name that various and sundry people and other-creatures had called her over the years. It was not a badge of honor. “She can’t be trusted, you know. Everyone says so.”
    “Have you noticed the things the other-creatures call me?”
    “Good point.” She sat looking out of the windshield for some time. The sun was sinking low and the occasional flare of a firefly sparked against the glass. Finally, her shoulders sagged. “I don’t know, Nick. I really don’t know.”
    I tried not to let her answer bother me too much. “What we have… it’s not enough?”
    “It’s not that.” She shrugged but didn’t look at me. “I love you, Nick. And you’re so fucking sexy I can’t control myself around you. But I just don’t see myself as married. My mom was married.
Humans
get married. We…” She shrugged again.
    It wasn’t a perfect answer, but it was better than the alternative, that I wasn’t good enough, sexy or not. “Compromise, then. We move in together. Give it a year. If we’re still hot on each other by this time next year, we get married.”
    She relaxed visibly. “We get
almost
married?”
    “We could get a little house on the edge of town,” I said, hoping to entice her. “I have enough saved up for it. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about Morgana anymore. We could be together all the time. I could really apprentice you in the Craft. I mean, if that’s what you want.”
    I shut up. My heart was thudding in my throat and I was starting to feel like a teenage boy trying to cop a feel but afraid of pissing off my date. I had never experienced a fear like this before. If I pushed Vivian too far and lost her, I wasn’t sure how I would cope with that.
    She turned and scooted into my lap. She coiled her arms around my neck and kissed me softly and completely. Before long, she was moving her hips against me, and not long after that, I had her jeans off and was pressing her into the seat of the car while she moaned and writhed against me, kissing my face all over, and racing her fingers through my spiky blond hair.
    Her own personal brand of magick sparked between us, and soon all the