by Cate Corvin
Instead, Tori threw herself at me.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, soft mouth pressing crashing into mine, and all her emotions veered into one single burning pinpoint: desire that lanced through her as deeply as it cut through me.
There was no fighting that.
I wrapped my arms around her torso, pulling her in close before I slammed the door shut and threw the bolt. She sucked my lower lip between her teeth, worrying it with a soft moan while she pushed me back to the bed. That sound, combined with the feeling of her body pushed insistently against mine, had my cock achingly hard in less than a second.
I had no idea which demon I’d pleased to bring this heaven down on me, but I wasn’t looking a gift slayer in the mouth.
I grabbed her hips, grinding her against me as she shrugged off her jacket. Tori’s dark hair was loose, hanging down her back, and gold glinted at her neck and wrists, next to a thin iron chain around her neck.
Every fiber of my being was shouting at me to get these damn clothes off and bury myself in her, to feast on her blazing lust, but the sight of the vampire fangs on her chest, just below the two tiny scars on her neck, had my pulse rocketing. They jumped out at me, drawing my attention like a flashing sign, because lust was written all over those marks.
He’d bitten her. And it was so neat and clean, there was no way he’d done it with anything other than utmost care… which meant she’d allowed it.
She’d allowed a Shadowed Worlder to mark her. Permanently.
My chest tightened with the sort of rage that I didn’t often feel, almost sickening as it washed over me in a tidal wave.
“What is this?” I rasped, touching her neck. Her hips rolled against mine, and even with the fury pounding in my veins like a sickness, my cock responded to the sensation.
Tori smiled, but it wasn’t the sunny smile I was used to seeing on her. It was slow, sultry, and tinged with dark intent.
But all I felt was her lust. For the first time, it occurred to me in my haze of rage and desire that she was here for something else.
When she opened her mouth, it wasn’t the explanation I’d expected.
“I adjure thee, Suraziel, blood of my blood, to obey me in all things.”
Pain jolted through my chest. She yanked the iron chain around her neck, drawing a pendant out of her shirt: a disc of blessed iron and bone, etched with the seal of Solomon. Several droplets of dried blood already spattered the surface- her own.
The tiny stiletto in her right hand pulled away from my chest, leaving an open cut as she smeared my own dark blood over the seal, mixing it with hers.
From the moment she’d spoken and stabbed me to the moment she irrevocably bound me to her until her death or mine, only three seconds had passed.
She’d taken my spit willingly and used the incubus-induced lust against me, hiding her true intentions. Sly. Sneaky. It made me want her even more. Hell, I was proud, in a weird way.
She gripped the seal of Solomon in a trembling hand. “Keep your hands off me.”
I struggled, every muscle screaming to push forward, but my body wouldn’t obey. All I could do was sit there with Tori perched in my lap. I watched as she uncorked a tiny vial from the gold chain around her wrist and lapped at it, all the while straining to grab her.
I was fucked. I was so fucking fucked it’d be centuries before the word fuck held any pleasant connotations for me again.
She took the tiniest droplet possible from the vial and resealed it, watching me with those wary golden eyes. Within moments, the fevered lust gripping her mind settled. It didn’t vanish entirely, which I was perversely pleased about- really, I had nothing to be pleased about, because she’d just wrangled herself a pet demon- but it meant she wasn’t immune to my influence on her.
Without saliva.
She was naturally attracted to me. Satan, why would that make me so happy right now, of all times?
But now, triumph and vindication were eroding the lust. She took a deep breath, her eyes glittering with excitement. “Take off your glamour,” she whispered.
I fought the demand, but my hands jerkily rose and pulled away the thick, suffocating charm.
It was honestly a relief to drop the glamour and breathe air without the magic tickling my nose. Tori’s gaze ran over my face, both fascinated and disturbed, and lingered on my curling horns.
“Like what you see?” I asked. The moment stretched, but she didn’t make a face or pull away. She was still straddling my lap, my cock snug against the heat between her thighs.
Then she reached up and touched one, running a fingertip along one of the stygian black spirals crowning my skull.
The movement brought her closer, that plush mouth only inches from mine. My cock throbbed when her other hand rose to touch the other horn and her weight shifted across my thighs.
And now her breasts were in my face, close enough I could’ve leaned down and caught one of her perfect pink nipples between my lips if I was so inclined. I just had to get her shirt out of the way.
My hands refused to move, still freshly bound by Tori’s command. By the time I’d thrown off the command enough to draw several inches closer, her exploration of my horns moved down to my face.
She cupped my jaw and raised my chin to look at her, turning my head from side to side.
Surprisingly, I was relieved. She was finally seeing my true face, examining me like she was memorizing every detail. She hadn’t killed me or run away or started retching in disgust.
Hope reared its ugly head.
Tori ran her finger down my neck to the midnight-toned skin of my chest. “You’re a work of art,” she said tonelessly. “Like you were made to be beautiful.”
“I was.” All my kind were.
“An incubus… from Sitri’s court.”
Okay. This was starting to sound familiar. “Did Will watch the video, too?”
“I’m assuming not, or he would’ve said something. I stole the thumb drive from him. You will not tell him either of those things.”
Well, now I wouldn’t. Not that I was jumping at the prospect to confess to Will that I was just a planted demonic agent.
There was a tiny smile on Tori’s face, one that was growing wider with each passing second. Trepidation filled me. “Why are you smiling like that?”
She laughed softly. “I’ve spent weeks crawling over every fucking inch of this city looking for the bastard who sold you two the incubus spit… and you’ve been down the hall from me this whole time.”
“Yeah, sure. I’m sure it was such a hardship between fucking Càel and letting him feed on you.” I allowed the flame of anger to grow higher. Hypocrite slayer. No matter how much I wanted her, or how wanted she made me feel, she was willing to pick and choose who was worthy of respect and who wasn’t.
Tori stilled, thank Satan, because I couldn’t deal with her rubbing against my cock much more or I’d explode in my pants. She gazed at me, and I almost saw the understanding click in her eyes.
“Ah.”
“Yeah, ah. You get it now? Get why someone might be incredibly fucking pissed at you?”
Her lips thinned, jaw clenching tightly.
“I wanted to be your friend, more than that, even, but if I’d stripped off that glamour before now, what would you have done?”
She swallowed reflexively. “I would’ve… I would’ve tried to slay you.”
I nodded. It was getting easier to move my hands; they were only an inch away from wrapping around her waist now. “Damn right you would’ve. I was only worth a damn because you thought I was Sergio Enver. And there you are, fucking Càel, letting him bite you- no, don’t deny it. I feel lust, remember? You wanted him long before now. I felt it the day you met him. What makes him better than me, Tori?”
My fingers touched fabric. She gazed into my eyes, which were unveiled now. They wouldn’t just look dark anymore. She would see the fires of Hell burning in them. The ladies loved that shit.
�
��Would it make you feel better to know I’ve never killed a person? Càel has. I mean, shit, the guy’s killed literally thousands of people. Meanwhile, over here on Team Incubus, I’ve killed none. So, there’s one point in my favor.”
Tori shifted uncomfortably. For me, it was a painful tease. Satan’s balls, who was the bastard who’d invented pants? They were the original cock-block.
“How about my sisters, the succubi? I’m not saying it’s not possible to screw them, I’m just saying I haven’t. We can’t feed each other. It’d be like trying to subsist on air. So I wasn’t lying about that, either. You and I have both slept with humans, big deal.”
Finally, I felt the warmth of skin beneath her shirt. The command was almost worn away to a sliver, barely holding me in check. Only my free-flowing anger kept me from breaking through that final shred.
“Literally the only thing I’ve done wrong is lie. Who the fuck hasn’t lied at least once in their life? I’d never sell out Will, nor you-”
“The only thing wrong?” She let out a short, sharp laugh, holding my shirt balled in her fists. “I don’t fucking think so, Suraziel. You drugged me with your own saliva. You did know what it would do to me, and you encouraged Will. You gave him the means to destroy me and humiliate me in front of everyone.”
I nodded. My fingers pushed against the skin of her waist, and I held back a sigh of wanting. “Okay. Yes. I did that. I was the cause of everything, and I didn’t tell Will what it was or where it came from. That was all me.”
Acknowledging it aloud brought the bitter guilt and regret bubbling to the surface. And here I’d thought allowing myself to sink back into the guiltless demon mind would help; nope. It was all there, in its full, burning gall.
“And you did it because I’m a hypocrite.” Tori couldn’t not gaze into my eyes; I felt like she was searching for something, and whatever it was, I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to find it or not. “I was willing to give a vampire a chance, but not a demon.”
“You call us trash,” I said, my voice husky. “I am trash to you. I fought at your side, didn’t I? I had your back. I was part of the team.”
She blinked and looked down. “I admit I’ve been wrong about Shadowed Worlders. From the day I was born, that’s what I was taught: we exist to kill them. And most of them only reinforced that opinion.”
I gripped her hips securely, holding her place against my pelvis. “Look, it wasn’t like I didn’t get it. Some slayers are assholes, right? Some demons are assholes, too. Some aren’t. When you told me about James, all I wanted was to be there for you.”
Her eyes shadowed, some other emotion eating at her under the victory of binding me. “And I admit it was wrong of me to not be willing to give you a chance to prove you’re capable of goodness.”
The sensation of her hips under my palms and the heat of her pussy against my crotch was almost too much to bear anymore. The only sex I’d had in almost four years had been with her, and that’d been once. Enough to whet my appetite and turn it into a roaring inferno.
My entire baser nature strained towards her. I pulled her hips forward, grinding her clit against my cock, and my balls ached when she sucked her lower lip between her teeth and bit down hard. Her beautiful eyes were heavy-lidded.
I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Just because you were capable of being decent doesn’t mean you are.” Tori ripped my hands off her waist and stood up. “You still drugged me. You participated in that, and you’re gonna pay, same as everyone else. Having your feelings hurt doesn’t justify it.”
“You shot me with a crossbow, Tori,” I said, still sitting on the bed that, only moments ago, had been the site of many a vivid fantasy involving both of us kissing- and everything else- before making up. “Doesn’t that count for something?”
She smiled thinly. “Not enough.” Victoria the Merciless adjusted the iron chain around her neck, hiding the bloodstained seal of Solomon under her collar again. “Let’s see how far this binding goes.”
Oh, Satan fuck me.
“Stand up.”
I stood up. It wasn’t even a conscious thought; in fact, it felt a lot like the Cords of Fate that bound me to Will, a tugging that began deep in my marrow and flowed outwards.
“Take your shirt off.”
I raised an eyebrow, but this time I struggled against the command. My arms shook as I fought against it, but Tori’s eyes blazed, and slowly but surely, the shirt came off. Her gaze raked over me.
“Hungry?” I asked, and her eyes narrowed.
“I’m here for revenge, not to watch a strip-tease, Sura.”
Her scowl only grew fiercer when I smiled. I felt the growing tinge of lust in her thoughts, and now that she was well aware of every facet of my nature, she knew that I knew. “Yeah. Good luck hiding it from me.”
“Put it back on.”
I opened my hand and dropped the shirt to the floor, locking my spine and knees. No fucking way was I allowing her to bind me. They could be fought. The struggle was a pain in the ass, but it was a hell of a lot better than allowing Tori to walk me off the edge of a skyscraper. “Hmm. No, don’t feel like it, thanks.”
My spine quivered, but I held firm. You can do this! I told myself. Demons rule, girls drool!
“Pick. It. Up.”
I turned and picked up a stray sock, and the command rattling around in my bones shivered and faded. That one had been vague enough to side-step.
Which hadn’t been smart, because a calculating look came into her eye. Satan shit on it, now she knew that specificity mattered, and I’d wasted that one chance on a stupid sock.
Tori licked her lips, that edge of lust intensifying to a glow. Tori touched the gold bracelet around her wrist. I knew that yellow glow in that drop of fluid. Belphegorian ichor. If she could see the imps that stuff came from, she probably wouldn’t want it anywhere near her.
“Unbutton your jeans.”
My stomach lurched with my own desire. A second later, my hands were unbuttoning my jeans, an action I most certainly had not authorized.
“Pull them down.” My thumbs hooked in the loops, pushing the fabric down over my hips. Tori’s breath caught, but she kept her chin up, clutching the bracelet as though for comfort. “Further.”
I pushed until my cock sprang free, still hard, and growing even harder from the explosion of need that swamped Tori in a wave. “Want some?” I asked, unable to hold back a grin, but honestly, I was going to lose it soon if I had to feel her pulsing want for much longer.
She raised an eyebrow, but I watched her throat work nervously. “Push the alarm clock off your dresser.”
I struggled, but had no choice but to watch my own hand sweep the clock to the floor. It hit the ground with a clang.
Now there was an edge to Tori’s smile I didn’t like, a fresh stripe of victory alongside her desire. What the fuck was she planning? “Take your cock in your hand and masturbate.”
Oh. My. Satan. She was just about my favorite thing in the universe, even more than Will.
I gripped myself with a sigh of relief, pumping my heated cock as the pressure built in my lower stomach and sank towards my balls.
“Harder.” Her voice was silky now, all sleek satisfaction. “Let me watch you come.”
Tori’s desire was all I needed to tip me over the edge. I gripped myself harder, jerking my fist until the pressure exploded and I released, my hips thrusting forward with the force of the climax. A low groan ripped from my throat. She took a tiny step back as my come spattered across the floor.
My knees were shaky and I was panting by the time the orgasm’s intensity wound down. Tori sucked her lower lip, her own desire a quivering intensity inside her.
“Enjoy the show?” I gasped, jolts of satisfaction still shivering through me. If she wanted some, I’d be hard again in three seconds, no problem. She’d just fed me a delicious meal, her want combining with the force of my orgasm to juice me up.
Which would make it all the easier to resist her commands.
Tori’s lower lip shone when she smiled. “Just testing a theory I had. Everything checks out. Put your glamour back on.”
I didn’t try to resist this one. It was safer to keep Sergio’s face on while in Libra, anyways. “What theory is that, Victoria the Lusty?”
She unlocked the bolt, her hand on the knob, almost suggestive in the way she gripped it. My mind was full of a haze of need, barely registering the fact that my pants were down and my cock was still in my hand. And I had a mess to clean up.
“Oh, you’ll see, Suraziel. You’ll see.”
She opened the door and slipped out, pulling it shut behind her.
I couldn’t help but feel that somewhere in my time with her, I’d severely fucked up, and it was going to bite my ass hard.
19
Tori
I hadn’t been that excited to watch a guy jerk off in a long time.
If ever, to be fair. Forcing Sura to take himself in his hand wasn’t only for my own edification on how far this binding went, but because he was a goddamn masterpiece of beauty. A burly wall of rippling midnight-toned muscle crowned with glossy dark horns, and a thick cock that went on for days.
Okay. I could admit that he was a primo specimen of physical male allure, and yeah, he had a good point.
I’d acknowledged my fuck-up. I was wrong to act like all demons were pieces of shit, when Sura had proved, while wearing a human face, that he was a good guy. A damn good friend who was the heart of the team… before he’d allowed Will to give me his saliva.
Now I understood why it had affected me so hard. It was fresh from the incubus; an incubus I already had a particularly strong craving for.
But I’d promised myself-the hurt, broken Tori bleeding in the Dresden Hall bathroom after having her heart ripped out- that he’d pay.
So here we were.
By our fourth day back in Libra after the winter break, Aislin had clearly adjusted to her new lack of responsibility with extreme enthusiasm, passing the gold lapel pin of prefect over to me without so much as a hint of resentment.