‘It wasn’t a botched exorcism,’ Meinrad said. ‘It was a shot in the dark to begin with.’ He seemed a lot less belligerent, almost apologetic. ‘I’m sorry, Jill, but we all knew that going in.’
‘So now what?’ Jill spoke with her mouth full, wondering how she could be wolfing down pizza at a time like this, but God, it was delicious!
‘She may come out on her own eventually,’ Chelsea said, forcing a cheerful smile.
‘Eventually?’
‘If she gets bored or finds someone else more interesting,’ Meinrad said.
‘Lovely. So all I have to do is bore her.’
‘I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one,’ Finn said, looking like he’d much rather eat her than the pizza. He moved to the couch, sat next to her and held her gaze. ‘Jill, Eleanor was drawn to you because of your powerful libido. She was able to possess you because we were … intimate. The full moon made it easier for her.’ The muscles along his strong jaw tensed, and he looked away. ‘I’m sorry, I should have known not to …’
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Jill said. ‘I practically attacked you.’ She shot the other two a quick glance, daring them to comment. They didn’t.
‘She sensed you when you entered the shop, maybe even before, and she was already in the boots waiting,’ Finn said. ‘She’s a lust demon. She’s drawn to sexual chemistry, and ours had to have been off the scale. Plus the act of lacing, tying, binding, making knots is in itself powerful magic. Once I finished lacing both boots, she was right there and ready.’
‘But why?’ Jill said, already grabbing for her second slice of pizza. ‘If she was in Meinrad at the time, and if he and Chelsea were shagging –’ she couldn’t hold back a blush ‘– then why wasn’t that enough?’
‘Sole Alliance is temporary housing,’ Finn said. ‘That was the agreement. She was to use our bodies when she needed them, and we were to make ourselves available. That was how we convinced Eleanor to … behave herself.’
Jill felt a chill. ‘Behave herself?’ As much as she hated to ask, she needed to know. ‘Just what happens when Eleanor doesn’t behave herself?’
The overburdened chintz chair creaked as Meinrad shifted uncomfortably. ‘She possesses people, has lots of sex and, though she doesn’t really make them do anything they don’t want to, she strongly encourages them to do things that they might think twice about if she wasn’t in residence.’
‘It’s all about physical experience for Eleanor,’ Chelsea said. ‘Being a demon and all, she has no body, so she misses out on the pleasures that come with it, like sex and hot baths and eating.’ She nodded at the pizza. ‘That means a body she can hang out in twenty-four-seven allows her the full experience, something Sole Alliance doesn’t offer.’
‘Eleanor wants the body she’s in to feel really good,’ Finn said. ‘That means her host will be anxious to keep her in residence. The problem is the host doesn’t always know what’s really good, and the other side of Eleanor is all about finding those dark desires in the psyche that the host might not act upon without a little push.’
Jill shivered. ‘Like attacking the shoe-store clerk.’
‘Thing is,’ Finn said, moving a little closer to her, almost as though he were afraid she might bolt, ‘Eleanor, because she resides in you now, will know your darkest sexual fantasies better than you do, and she’ll find a way to offer them to you, to make them real. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes it can be very good.’ He held her gaze. ‘But it can also be dangerous.’
Jill’s stomach knotted hard. ‘I’ve already quit my job. I’ve bought boots I can’t afford. I’ve had unprotected sex twice. I’m still horny as hell and it’s been less than twenty-four hours. How am I going to survive living with Eleanor until she gets bored and decides to come out?’
‘Sex is never unprotected when you’re possessed by a demon,’ Meinrad said. ‘Eleanor wants your body safe and healthy so she can enjoy it.’
‘Well, that’s something, at least,’ Jill said.
Finn took her hand in his. ‘I won’t leave you alone with her. I can sleep on your sofa or your floor if that makes you feel more comfortable.’
A stupid thing to say, she thought, since she’d already fucked his brains out twice. ‘The rent’s paid till the end of the month. After that you may have to share my park bench.’