by Eve Newton
Luc
I hear the ruckus from all the way down the corridor. There is an almighty crash and a roar of pain that I recognize as one of my twin slaves.
Axelle!
It is my only thought as I race into the room and then stop at a dead halt at the spectacle before me.
If I weren’t so concerned about the safety of my bound Demon, I would no doubt be sporting a raging hard-on right now. The blood and guts that are splashed around the room is intoxicating and it is with a flash of fear that I realize some of the blood is Axelle’s.
Not much of it though. She definitely has the upper hand in this death match, with powers I’ve never seen on a Demon so young and inexperienced in the ways of Hell before. I wish that I could carry on watching, but my precious vessel is losing way too much blood for my liking.
I open my mouth and let out a roar of my own, so ferocious that the sound waves visibly bounce around the room.
“Fuck!” Axelle shrieks and covers her ears with her hands as Yasmine does the same.
“Enough!” I bellow and reach down to drag a battered and bloody Yasmine to her feet.
She shifts back into her human form and drops her head in supplication. Her fear is aggravating my arousal over the fight.
I grip her arms tighter and then she bursts into flames, screeching at the top of her lungs in agony. The ash falls to my feet and I turn to Axelle. She is gaping at me, the lust in her eyes almost more than I can bear. Especially as her face is bloodied and she smells so damn delicious, I want to take her and lick her clean.
The undercurrent of her own arousal is thick in the air, along with that of another.
I grit my teeth and resist the urge to demand why she has been fucking around with Evan in my home. But it’s clear. I’m not giving her what she wants, needs. I simply cannot blame anyone for this but myself.
I’m going to have to change this dynamic if I expect her to keep her adoring gaze firmly on me.
“Explain,” I say shortly, and she snaps her mouth shut quickly.
“Is she… is she gone?” Axelle asks, pointing at the pile of ash.
“What do you think?” I ask her, crossing my arms.
A deceptive look enters her eyes, which makes me narrow my own. Whatever she is about to say is going to be a lie.
“She attacked this servant, who brought me some champagne, out of the blue!” Axelle says, her voice rising with each word. She gestures at the champagne and my eyes flick to it briefly, and then back to her. “She went crazy! And then she turned on me. I had to defend myself.” Axelle crosses her arms, copying my stance.
“Which servant?” I ask, knowing it was Evan anyway.
Axelle shrugs casually. “I don’t know,” she says.
“For no reason?” I press, trying to box her into a corner. I want her to come clean. I don’t want her to be afraid of me and feel the need to suppress her true nature. It’s a first and it comes as a surprise to me that I’m allowing her this leeway.
“Yep. She’s insane! I have enough to deal with without shit like that,” she says now, turning on the seduction. “I was in fear for my safety.” Axelle runs to me and throws her arms around me.
I grit my teeth. Sadly, her powers don’t work on me, but she is trying her damndest to sway me. She doesn’t want me knowing about Evan and that can mean only one thing.
She cares about him,
She cares enough about the damned Reaper to want to keep him around.
“I apologize,” I say formally, pushing her gently away. “She was here to protect you, not attack you. She’s gone now.”
Axelle nods and acts like she is pulling herself together.
I want to roll my eyes at her and tell her to drop the act, but I let her have this. I have more important things to attend to.
“Unfortunately, I have some more bad news,” I say and pull out the athame.
Axelle’s eyes zero straight in on the ceremonial dagger and she gulps.
“We appear to have an unwanted visitor,” I continue. “I need to take extra precautions with you.”
“Unwanted visitor?” she repeats slowly.
“Yes, a ghost of sorts,” I inform her.
That catches her off guard. “A ghost?” she asks baffled. “Do you get ghosts down here?”
“Of sorts,” I reiterate with a pointed look. “She is a fraction of her essence, brought back from her demise by, I can only imagine, a very powerful spell, but she is very much real. I can’t let her harm you.”
“Huh,” Axelle says. “An ex?” she adds with an arched eyebrow.
I ignore that remark. “I must perform a protection spell on you so that she cannot enter your form and try to take you over,” I say, coming straight to the point.
“She wants to possess me?” Axelle asks. “Jealous ex?” she adds.
“Please step forward and bare your chest to me,” I say.
“Why don’t you just get Darius to…”
I snort with amusement as Axelle makes a sucking face, pulling her cheeks right in making her look beautifully comical.
“It is a last resort,” I say, wishing that she didn’t make me laugh. I have encountered more actual amusement with her since I met her than I have the rest of my very long existence. “It’s complicated,” I add when she gives me a curious look.
“It must be,” Axelle remarks. “I was under the impression that my safety was paramount.”
“It is,” I snap at her, furious with her audacity, especially in light of her little lie to me earlier. “Now step forward.” I wish that I didn’t have to inscribe the ward over her heart. How will I stop myself from looking at her perfect tits?
Axelle huffs at me but does as I ask only slightly hesitant.
I feel a slice of something work its way through me. I don’t recognize the feeling, and I don’t like it. I don’t really want to hurt her any more than she has been hurt today. She has endured a lot for me and now I’m about to give her more.
She throws her head back, pulls open the robe to bare her chest and arches her back to thrust her breasts at me.
I lick my lips as I take in her perfect mounds with their delectable pink nipples. It’s too much. I knew it would be. My abstinence from fucking every night is taking its toll on me. But I don’t want anyone but her. It just doesn’t seem worth it. Even though my dick is as hard as steel, I continue to deprive myself just for her.
It gets too much when she reaches up and puckers each nipple by tweaking them roughly, knowing that my eyes are riveted to them.
“I will break you,” she whispers. “Somehow.”
“I know,” I whisper back, causing her to look at me in astonishment.
I close my eyes, hoping that what I’m about to do doesn’t spiral out of control and force a break of the ritual.
I open them again and then inch closer to her. I lean down and suck one of those luscious nipples into my mouth, making her moan in surprise and delight.
She runs her hands into my hair, holding me close for a second before she lets me go, knowing that I need the room to back off before we lose ourselves in each other. It makes me fall that much more under her spell.
I nearly choke on the revelation that this Demon has a power over me that no one, not even Jezebelle had.
“Anal,” she breathes at me, making me splutter and pull back.
“Excuse me?”
“Can we have anal?” She is biting her lip so enticingly; I want to turn her around and punish her ass so fiercely she will feel me for a week.
“No,” I croak out. “I can’t risk it.”
She sighs and closes her robe. “I can’t do this anymore, Luc,” she whispers. “I want you too much and this rejection is killing me.”
I take a deep breath, wishing that I could give her what she wants, but the end game is more important to me than anything. Even her.
I straighten up and hold the athame up. “I still need to see your chest.”
She gives m
e such a filthy look, but then averts her gaze, lowering it in a way that screams defeat.
I start to loathe myself for hurting her.
“It’s not rejection,” I murmur. “I want you, more than I have wanted any other creature, Axelle. I just…can’t.”
“That makes it worse,” she mutters.
I sigh and chant the words of the protection spell quietly as I engrave the symbol to ward off Demonic possession into her pale skin.
She hisses as the athame slices open her flesh, but I have a steady hand and I’m finished in a matter of seconds.
She glances down and the symbol—which is three triangles interlinked with one another—is glowing gold under her skin. “So that’s it?” she asks.
“That’s it,” I say.
“Don’t suppose you really want that spell getting out, do you?” Her sinful laugh again lightens the despondent mood that had descended and has me chuckling at her.
“Not if I can help it, no,” I agree.
“My lips are sealed,” she says, miming zipping up her mouth.
“Yes, they are,” I respond with a dark undertone. “You should get some rest now.”
“Fine,” she says flippantly, and saunters over to the bed. She crawls into the cloud-soft bed and falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.
I watch her for a few seconds, but then I remember the athame in my hand. It is covered with Axelle’s blood and will be perfect for the Dark Oracle. I vanish from Axelle’s bedroom, confident that she is protected from Jezebelle, and into the dark cave of the witch.
“You have returned,” the Dark Oracle says, her voice a crackle from the shadows.
“Yes, I have what you asked for.” I hold up the bloody blade.
The witch appears before me eagerly holding her hand out for the athame. I hand it to her and then step back as she lights a fire with the wave of her hand. She holds the blade above the fire and a drop of Axelle’s blood falls into the flames. They flare up suddenly to create a burning, hot furnace in front of her.
As she waits, the fire dies down again until it is just a small campfire on the stone floor of the cave, casting flickers of dim light into the dark corners.
I’m growing impatient as I stand here waiting. I tap my foot, but she shushes me with a sharp hiss.
“I cannot see into the ritual,” the old hag says eventually.
“For fuck’s sake…” I bark at her, but again, she shushes me, with a long, crooked finger to her lips. I shut my mouth with great difficulty and wait for her next words.
“Her loyalty to you is what has brought her so far,” she says. “She is a wayward child, but she respects your authority and she respects you.”
“The other Demons have respected me and were loyal to me,” I point out. “What makes her so different?”
“Her belief in you is true. She will do anything you ask her to on blind faith that you will not lead her wrong. It is a rare quality for a chaotic temptress with control issues,” the Dark Oracle says with a cackle.
The feeling that I had in her bedroom intensifies into something that I don’t recognize, but I know it feels good to be told how Axelle feels about me. “Excellent,” I beam. “This means she will prevail.”
“No,” the Dark Oracle says, shaking her head slowly. “You must tell her now what you require of her. She has reached the point within herself where she must have free will to choose her path with you or not. If she reaches the next phase unaware of her choices, she will fail.”
“How do you know that?” I yell at her, my blood turning to ice. “You just told me you can’t see past the ritual.”
“I can see into her very essence,” the witch says. “The next phase for her will be about choice, my liege, that much I can see. If you wish her to succeed, you must tell her.”
I press my lips together. I’m not happy about this at all. “What else can you tell me about her?”
“You have already seen her essence, there is nothing that I can tell you,” she says, but then after a beat, she starts to screech, an unholy sound that makes me wince.
The Dark Oracle drops the blade on the floor and clutches at her head as she continues to wail.
“What is it?” I demand immediately, grabbing for her as she sways unsteadily on her ancient feet. “What do you see?”
My stomach twists into a knot as I wait for the witch to tell me what is causing her so much anxiety.
The banshee-like screams echo throughout the cave, bouncing off the walls and then she quietens down. She drops her hands from her head and takes my hands in a tight grip. The fear on her face is surprising and I tilt my head at her.
“She is intertwined with others,” the Dark Oracle whispers. “Three essences fighting for the same vessel. The carnage… the destruction… you must stop it…”
She drops my hands as I stare at her in utter confusion. What the hell is she talking about?
“Protect her,” she croaks out, “before it is too late.”
I watch with interest as the Dark Oracle is suddenly swept into a corner of the cave, her eyes and hair being burned by the flames that have leapt up from the fire. She screams in terror and agony, but then just as suddenly the fire is doused and the witch crumples in on herself, folding herself over and over again until she blinks out of existence and I’m left in the dark cave with more than a lot on my mind.
She has to be talking about Jezebelle. But I’ve already protected Axelle against my ex-lover. So who is the third that might try and take her away from me? Who else would try and enter her and destroy the ritual? I pick up the blade, not wanting to leave Axelle’s blood lying around, and with an irritated noise, I vanish from the cave, none the wiser.
I’m in a foul temper when I arrive back in the mansion and I whisk my annoying robes off, enjoying the feel of the natural heat on my naked body. I almost wish that I hadn’t gone down there now. The Dark Oracle has only given me a riddle to solve and information that I really don’t want to act on. A Demon wench like Axelle will not be happy to learn she is being prepared to give me a child. She will balk at the idea and she will end up failing me just like all the others.
Or will she?
The Dark Oracle said Axelle was in love with me, and that she will do whatever I ask. Surely, I have enough charm in me, without the need to bed her, to sway her mind towards my plans for her. All I have to do is try.
I suit myself up and wander down the hallway to Axelle’s bedroom thinking of all the ways I can seduce her without trying to screw her.
As I push open the bedroom door, I’m hit with an icy chill that makes me rush into the room, and growl at the sight of Jezebelle trying desperately to gain access to my vessel.
“What do you think you are doing?” I hiss at her, not wanting to wake Axelle up as she appears to be sleeping so soundly.
“I’m bored,” Jezebelle drawls. “Your time is up. Let me in.”
“Not a chance,” I grit out. “She is protected.”
“Hmm, I see that,” Jezebelle says, pointing her ghostly finger at the engraving. “But I am not really of this world anymore. Chances are it might not work.”
“Don’t test me, Jez,” I warn. “I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt her.” The witch’s warning is still ringing in my ears. Three essences.
Jezebelle gives me a salacious smile and places her hand just over Axelle’s forehead. Axelle scrunches up her face in her sleep. “Give me time and I will find a way. It would be easier for everyone if you just give me what I want.”
“Never,” I say and zap her with a ball of Hell fire. Not unexpectedly, it sails over Axelle’s body and straight through Jezebelle to hit the curtains and set them alight.
She giggles at me while I douse them with a click of my fingers.
“She has been a naughty girl,” she says.
I ignore her as I have no interest in her games.
“She has had a visitor,” Jezebelle continues. “Someone you loathe.”
I grate my teeth together. “I know all about it. You have no need to rat out your own twin,” I drawl.
“He cares for her,” she says, but I don’t rise to her taunts. “As she does for him. You will lose her if you don’t put out for her soon, my love. She will not be able to resist my brother for much longer.”
“You are getting weaker,” I state as she flickers in and out of existence, ignoring the stab of pain her words have caused. “All I have to do is wait.”
“Darius will…”
She didn’t get to finish that thought as she disappears from my line of sight. A good thing too, she was really starting to piss me off with her comments that I’m trying not to admit ring true. Not to mention she seems to think she has a sway over Darius and that is not acceptable. It is time to see where my guard’s loyalties really lie.
Later.
Right now, I want to stay here and watch over my bound Demon.
I have some serious thinking to do and I need to be looking at her while I do. It is the only way that I will come to the correct conclusion, not only to the riddle the Dark Oracle imposed on me, but about these feelings that I have for her and what to do about them.
~ CHAPTER NINETEEN ~
Axelle
I come to as I feel like I’m being watched. I crack one eye open and fix it straight on Luc’s blue ones. He is staring at me while I sleep again, and it sends a slight flush over my cheeks. I hope I wasn’t drooling, or worse, snoring.
“Hey,” I say, opening my other eye and stifling a yawn.
“Did you get some rest?” he asks.
“You tell me, you have been sitting here watching me the whole time,” I answer with what can only be described as a shy smile. Since when do I do shy smiles?
Perhaps since Luc sucked my nipple into his mouth, causing such an overwhelming feeling of love for him, I nearly wept with the happiness that enveloped me. Too bad he had to ruin it and leave me wanting. Again.
“Not the whole time,” Luc replies with a stunning smile that makes my heart flutter and my brain to scramble. “I need you to get dressed and come downstairs,” he adds.