by Eve Newton
“I knew that my chances were slim. I was strong, but you’d had others who were just as strong as me that failed. But I know you, Luc, I knew that one day, when you found one that got further than the others, you would keep her close by so that you could keep an eye on her. I knew you would bring her here. And I also know Demon bitches. Jealous little wenches,” she says, giving me a seductive look. “They would be drawn to the portrait, wondering who the lucky female was to have been given a place of honor in the foyer. One touch by one strong enough to have gotten this far and voilà!” She holds her arms out and cocks her hip.
“You are not exactly up to much though, are you?” I say and cross my arms. Seeing the only woman that I have sort of mourned for when she flickered out of existence, is getting to me.
“A technicality,” she shrugs. “All I need you to do is strip away most of the essence of the blonde bitch and let me enter her. I will be able to feed from the remainder of her essence and I will take over her form. I will be the one to give you what you want.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Your essence isn’t strong enough to give me what I want,” I remind her sharply.
“So, leave it until the last phase,” Jezebelle says, definitely stung by my words, as I’d wanted, and struggling not to show it. “You know you want it to be me,” she whispers to me, moving closer.
I had wanted it to be her. For so long I wished it, but now that Axelle is here and proving herself worthy, I have definitely changed my mind.
“Not anymore,” I say coldly.
Jezebelle flinches at my words, but she remains as defiant as ever. “If you don’t do this for me, then I will be forced into entering her form anyway. I have enough left in me to give her a bit of a fight and she will be so busy trying to get me out of her body that if the next phase just happens to come upon her, oops, she might not make it this time…” Jezebelle gives me an evil smile and I clench my fist in her face.
I believe she will do exactly that. She is a trickster by nature. It is what attracted me to her in the first place. I know she will do this in an attempt to force my hand.
“Stay away from her,” I say quietly. I have no need to raise my voice. She knows me well enough to know that I’m furious she is trying to blackmail me.
“No can do, baby,” she says, floating in a circle around me with her hands behind her back. “I want what was so cruelly taken from me, that which you stole from me. I was in my prime when you decided to use me for your ritual. I deserve a second chance, and that wench is going to give it to me. Whether you help me or not is your choice but remember that you have a lot at stake here as well, lover. I will give you a day to decide.”
“Stay away from her!” I growl. “If I see you again, Jezebelle, I will get Darius to finish off the rest of your essence, and you know you are a delectable treat for him.”
I have the pleasure of seeing her fear, even if it is for just a moment. Darius has always found my past lover a fascinating specimen that he was dying to suck on due to her rare heritage.
Jezebelle brushes off my threat with a little, tinkly laugh. “So delectable that I’m sure I can convince him to suck every last drop out of that slut you currently have housed in my old bedroom instead. Then what, Luc? You lose again.”
“He knows better than that,” I sneer at her. My guard wouldn’t dare to even think of touching Axelle.
“Not if I can offer him something he really wants,” she drawls.
I glare at her in disgust, wondering why I’d ever found her so attractive. She probably would give it up to Darius if it got her what she wants. She never did let much get in her way, but ultimately, she just wasn’t as resilient as she thought she was.
“Now who is the slut?” I ask, ready to end this conversation for good. “Go anywhere near her and you will regret it. That is a promise.”
“We’ll see,” Jezebelle singsongs and then she is gone from my sight. It will be taking quite a lot of her strength to stick around, even in semi-corporeal form. This is a worry for me that I have to take a precaution against. I’d wanted to go straight to Axelle to get her blood for the old hag, but now I should prepare an athame. I’m not going to give Jezebelle a chance to get to Axelle; I have to protect her at all costs. Jezebelle has put me in a precarious position with her threats. I’m incapable of getting rid of her while she is in her current state as she technically is no longer under my rule. She is something else entirely. I’ll have to wait for her to enter a form and be whole again before I can destroy her. Damn the little bitch! I don’t need this complication when things are so perilous. All I can do right now is make sure that Axelle is protected from my former lover.
Evan
“Evan? What are you doing here?” Axelle asks loudly.
I shush her with a little glance towards the door. “I had to see you, to see if you were okay,” I reply taking her hand. I want to add that the temptation of her is too much for me, that I can’t stop thinking about her and that I want to ravage her where she sits. But, I don’t.
“I’m fine,” Axelle says. “Really, I’m great.”
“Are you?” I ask earnestly, giving her a searching look. “You just left without a word. We had a date.” I add this tentatively in case she has changed her mind. She is after all sitting in Jezebelle’s old bedroom, clearly shacked up with Luc and loving every minute.
“Why are you so concerned?” Axelle asks me after a beat. “You barely know me.”
“I’m worried about you,” I say, biting my lip. “And wasn’t that what our date was for? To get to know each other.”
“Well, you have nothing to worry about,” Axelle reassures me and leans back into the pillows. “I’m horny as hell, but otherwise just perfect.”
“Luc not giving you enough?” I ask derisively, worried that she keeps ignoring my attempt at getting her to admit we had a date.
Axelle snorts with mirth at my unexpected humor. “He isn’t giving me anything at all. No male is,” she says with a great, big sigh. “I am to remain unsullied.”
“Hmm” I murmur with a slight frown, and then glance down at the bronze bangle. I shuffle a little bit closer to her, needing to be near her and trail my hand absently up her thigh.
She claps her hand down on it and I look up at her innocently.
“What are you doing?” she asks me sharply.
I don’t answer her, I just lean into her and press my lips to hers, slipping my tongue into her mouth. I grip her upper arms tightly and push myself against her, positioning myself in between her legs.
“Evan,” Axelle struggles to remove herself from my grip. “Stop this.”
I ignore her, her muffled moan into my mouth telling me all I need to know. She does want this.
“Evan, please,” she murmurs. “Luc made it very clear….”
“This isn’t about just you,” I suddenly snap at her. I don’t let go of her as I gaze into her sky-blue eyes.
Axelle glares at me, mildly insulted. “Then what is it about?” she asks after a moment of gloomy silence. “Why do you want to break the ritual?” she adds in a whisper.
“Because I know how dangerous it is,” I say eventually. “And it’s not just about the ritual. I want you, Axelle. Can’t you see that? Are you so blinded by the Devil that you can’t see me?”
She glares at me, but doesn’t acknowledge my words as she asks, puzzled, “How? I don’t even know what it is for yet. How do you?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a sigh. “All I know is that I knew someone who had the same bronze bracelet as you and she disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again. She died. I just know it.”
“Who?” Axelle asks.
“My sister,” I say, surprising her completely, as I knew I would.
“Sister?” Axelle splutters out. “How did you end up with a sister? Demons are created from the souls of the living sent here after they have died. They don’t have relatives as their human soul is destroyed and not at all the same
as the Demonic essence, that is created in its place.”
I huff out a breath. “Save the lesson in Demonic creation, I’m fully aware, and it’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time,” Axelle says eagerly.
“I wasn’t created, neither was my twin sister, Jezebelle. We were born of a human woman who was possessed by a Demon and impregnated by a Demon male,” he explains.
“Twins? Spurned from two Demons?” Axelle says loudly.
I give her a murderous look.
“Wow,” she adds, looking impressed. “I knew you were something special.”
“Not so much,” I say stiffly, although my cock goes to attention from her words. “I’m just a lowly Reaper. This is my real form, what I looked like on Earth. We are different to you, but I’m not special. I think Jez was though.”
“So how did you end up down here?” she asks.
“Our Demon mother sacrificed Jez and me to your precious Luc when we were sixteen. We have been here ever since. Well, I have. Jezebelle, as I said before, got involved with the Devil and lost her essence because of it. He killed her, just like he is going to kill you!”
“Oh, Evan,” Axelle says. “It’s not like that. Jezebelle wasn’t…” She trails off and bites her lip.
“Jezebelle wasn’t what?” I snap at her.
Axelle hesitates.
“Strong enough?” I bark. “Is that what you were going to say?”
Axelle shrugs her left shoulder and avoids my intense gaze.
“Oh, and you are?” I scoff to deflect from the painful reminder that she is not mine in any sense. Luc has claimed her like he claimed Jezebelle and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
“So far,” she says heatedly.
“Whatever. I have tried to warn you, but you obviously want to go on this suicide mission.”
“I’m prepared to see this through,” Axelle says stoically.
“Then you are stupid,” I can’t help but say. “Here I thought you were all about self-preservation.”
Axelle gapes at me. “How do you know anything about me?” she snaps.
“Oh, your reputation goes far and wide. One of three to escape once sent back. The fearsome Seductress that enslaves men for her own enjoyment. Yeah, we all know who you are, Axelle,” I spit out. “Are you saying there is more to you than your rep?”
“Yes!” she shouts at me. “I am loyal to my creator. He gave me a task and I will see it through or die trying!”
“Or die trying,” I repeat with disbelief. “Jezebelle was just as foolish as you.”
“I am not Jezebelle,” Axelle says haughtily.
“He cared about her,” I say suddenly. “In whatever way he is capable of those kinds of feelings, he cared for my sister. And he still put her through whatever this is. Don’t assume that he cares about you now or will care about you after this is over. Do yourself a favor, Axelle, and break the ritual.”
Axelle just glares at me. She has every right to be angry with me. Who am I to tell her all of this stuff, but she needs to know that Luc won’t try and save her if things go wrong.
“I thought you looked familiar,” she mutters suddenly.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“The painting downstairs. She looked like you.”
“Oh.”
We sit in an awkward silence for a few moments before I break it by asking casually. “He will know what we did in your office. Has he mentioned it?”
“No,” she growls at me, then she narrows her eyes. “How do you know he knows?”
“He knows everything,” I point out. “You see, he doesn’t care, Axelle. If he wanted you for himself, I would’ve been flayed alive by now.”
I see her lip quiver, but she doesn’t say anything. A second later, she is back to her confident self.
“In that case…” she whispers, leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine.
I can’t help the moan that escapes my lips as she slips her tongue into my mouth. Her kisses are making me weak in the knees. It’s a good thing I’m sitting down because otherwise I would be falling at her feet.
I tangle my fingers into her hair, pulling her closer.
She grabs my cloak and falls back to the bed, bringing me with her with a soft giggle. “I’m committed to this ritual, Evan. Take what I can give you or leave,” she states when I am on top of her, my rock-hard dick digging into her.
“What happens if I lose you?” I murmur against her lips, the pain of that thought slicing through me.
“I never lose,” she whispers, and slides her hands under my cloak and up my chest.
I close my eyes and let her hands wander all over my body, until she has my cock in her hand, tugging gently on me. I’m so ready to come in her hand.
“I can’t resist you,” I mutter out loud to my chagrin. “You are a temptation that is going to be the death of me.”
“I can’t resist you either,” she says.
“Fuck, I need you.”
“Take me.”
“Uhh.” I kiss her fervently, my hands undoing the robe she’s wearing, finding her completely naked underneath. I pull back and take a few seconds to admire her. She is absolutely perfect. But then she would be. The Devil made her for himself.
I tweak her nipples, making her writhe on the bed as I’m not gentle with her. I know she gets off on the pain, so I don’t worry about hurting her. I like it. I want to make her scream.
I run my hands down her ribs, across her flat stomach to her waiting pussy. She opens her legs for me, and I loom over her. Ready to just fuck her brains out when she puts a hand on my chest.
“The ritual,” she says and those two words, are almost enough for me to lose my erection.
Almost.
I take in a deep breath. “So, I can’t have sex with you?” I ask to be perfectly clear. “At all?”
She laughs as she gets my meaning. “You know, I never thought to ask.”
I roll my eyes at her. “Ask for next time, because while fucking your sweet pussy with my tongue is a delight that I revel in, I need my dick inside you so badly, I want to weep. You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
Her eyes fill with a raging lust at my words. She wants to hear them. She needs to hear them. Most especially, she needs to hear them from me, a male she knows she can’t seduce with her powers.
“You won’t lose me,” she whispers, guiding my hand onto her mound. “No way am I dying before you have a chance to fuck me until I beg for mercy.”
“Fuck,” I breathe out and thrust two of my fingers inside her.
Her juices coat my fingers as she cries out and arches her back. “Yes,” she pants. “Harder, Evan, harder.”
I finger fuck her with a force that rocks her back and forth, bringing the thumb of my other hand to place on her clit. I press down and it’s her undoing. She comes all over my fingers, clenching around me as I twist my hand and insert another finger into her.
“Axelle,” I moan, “please.” My cock is so hard, I’m so aroused, I’m seeping out pre-cum like there’s no tomorrow.
She grabs my cock and slides her hand down it as I continue to fuck her with my fingers. She pulls away from me, kneeling on the bed and bends over to take me in her mouth. As soon as her lips close over my tip, I’m coming in her mouth, making her choke on the amount of cum flooding out of me.
“Oh, fucking hell,” I groan as I watch her swallow it all and lick my tip, swirling her tongue around me before she looks up at me and gives me a wicked grin.
“You taste amazing,” she purrs.
I glance down at my still wet hand and bring it to my mouth to suck all of her cum off my fingers as she watches, the desire burning in her eyes now.
“You are a fucking sexy Reaper,” she comments, taking my hand before she plunges her tongue into my mouth to taste herself.
“You are a fucking sexy Demon,” I retort when she lets me up for air.
“Oh, I know,” she says br
ightly and then the next thing I know, I’m being hurled through the air by a magick so forceful, it rattles my bones as I hit the other side of the bedroom.
Axelle
“What the…?” I start, sitting up only to shrink back when I see Yasmine transform from her olive-skinned, gorgeous self into a complete monster. As she roars in anger at Evan, her jaw elongates and then widens so far, she looks like a hippopotamus. A hippopotamus with wickedly sharp teeth. Her arms extend and her fingers turn into razor-edged talons.
“Yasmine!” I shout at her as she advances on Evan.
Yasmine turns to me and roars in my face with her giant maw. I shrink back slightly, but don’t back down. “Leave him alone!” I yell.
“NO. MALES!” Yasmine bellows.
“Let him go, now!” I command, testing my shaky authority.
Yasmine ignores me and lumbers towards Evan.
“Go!” I shriek at him as I fly off the bed towards Yasmine.
“Wait!” he cries back at me.
“Run!”
He doesn’t need telling twice after that when Yasmine turns back to him and swipes her talons at him, leaving me to fight off the Yasmine-monster all by myself.
I hope he comes back. We left a simmering heat between us that definitely needs more exploring. I also intend to find out from Luc about anal. I can’t believe that I didn’t think of that myself.
“Bitch!” Yasmine-monster screeches at me.
“Shit!” Good thing I’ve suddenly discovered that I have more power than I’ve ever had before. Including some very kick-ass offensive surges of raw power that extend from my hands when I hold them out to Yasmine to fend her off.
This is awesome!
I grin with delight as Yasmine skids across the floor, her distorted limbs bending in ways that even in their hideous form looks wrong. I finally get to release some of my pent-up frustration at Luc by attacking his twin-minion, when Yasmine lumbers to her feet and lunges, swiping her talons at me, and, well, a bitch has to defend herself, right?
~ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ~