Demonic Desire (Becoming Lust Book 2)

by Destiny Diess

  Only a few people lingered by the bar, and I stared around at the now great yet barren room. I grabbed a Passion Delight from a random table—not giving a damn whose it was—and threw it back, letting it slide down my throat.

  Without letting another negative thought haunt my mind, I walked to the bar and stood between Eros and Lucifer. Jasmine took my cup and asked if I wanted another one, but I rudely ignored her, knowing that Javier was about to snap. “Is everyone gone?” I asked Eros. “Did Maria get back safe with Zane?”

  “Left about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Did Trevon leave with them?”

  Eros paused for a second, his green eyes widening. “No, I thought he left already. I hadn’t seen him since you and Maeve were talking to him.”

  Damn it.

  My heart almost dropped. Now Trevon was missing. The vein in my neck pulsed violently, and I dug my claws straight through the metal bar counter. If someone took him to get back at me… If it was Biast, I swear I would rip his head off.

  “Someone was supposed to be fucking watching him.” I growled, a red film blurring my vision for only a moment. “Why the fuck didn’t that happen?” Pure rage was pumping through my body, and I knew that it wasn’t Eros’s fault…

  But Trevon didn’t deserve to be in any more demon drama.

  “Calm down,” Lucifer said, loosening his tie and knocking back some Vemon. “He’s probably walking around your palace.”

  Calm down? I couldn’t calm down. Not after what had happened last time. Not after Biast’s promise to me. I stormed through the castle, shouting Trevon’s name and trying to find any fucking sign of where he could’ve gone.What was I going to do if he was gone? I couldn’t have him lost somewhere in the pits of Hell and continue with my Crowning Ceremony.

  After searching the bottom floor and finding nothing, I hurried up a flight of stairs and looked through every single one of the rooms, my heels digging into the red carpets. Dim white lights hung from the ceiling every few feet; the doors were all closed; the hallways smelt like vanilla and cinnamon. Nothing seemed out of place, except that there weren’t any guards on duty on this floor.

  There were always guards on duty. Someone must’ve led them away.

  I sprinted into each room like a wild animal, ripping the closet doors open, trying to sense someone’s soul, suppressing my rage… at least, trying to. Javier had been quiet for far too long and was about to burst.

  Another room. Another let down.

  My eyes locked on to the last room: my office. I pushed the door open and let out a wrathful shriek. Sitting on my chair, Trevon was clawing at the lock on my father’s journal, trying to rip it off with his teeth.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  The binds were ripping, the tattered leather becoming more and more destroyed with every tooth mark. I snatched it from him, and he latched his teeth into my forearm instead, immediately drawing blood.

  I screamed, feeling the blood in my eyes, begging me to release Javier and end his life. My vision blurred for a moment, and I stumbled back—terrified of what would happen if I surrendered to this innate urge.

  Trevon curled his lips into an ugly snarl, his eyes flashing… green. I backed away from him, my heart beating hard against my chest. Calm yourself, Dani. Stay calm. I grasped Mom and Dad’s ring, brushing my thumb over the pendant. “Eros!” I shouted. “Get in here now!”

  Trevon’s nails lengthened into claws, and he stepped toward me. Trevon was still there somewhere. Whoever had possessed him this time didn’t control him fully. I could see the faintest struggle in his eyes.

  He reached for the journal, his claws digging into my skin this time. So damn deep that I swore he cut the muscle. I grasped my arm and stared down at it, watching the blood seep from my forearm and onto the ground. I inhaled the scent and sucked the cut into my mouth.

  “Blood,” Javier whispered. “Need to drink blood.”

  My eyes closed in utter bliss at the taste of blood, the journal slipping from my hands. Ecstasy rushed through me, and I shuddered in pleasure, drinking more and more of it until my cut had healed. And, even then, I leaned back against the wall and sighed in relief. My mind was fuzzy, my vision blurred.

  Cinnamon entered the room—another tasty scent. I heard a loud crash and then a bang, and I blinked my eyes to see Eros standing above Trevon. My wooden bookcase toppled over from the impact and pieces of wood lodged in Trevon’s flesh. Eros ripped something from him and tossed my journal back to me.

  “Give that back to me!” Trevon said, immediately standing and reaching for the journal.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Eros said, sinking his claws into the back of Trevon’s neck and holding him in the air. When Eros really looked at him, his eyes widened. “An… Envy?”

  “Is it your sister?” I asked, licking the blood off my lips and hugging my journal to my chest. Esha had taken Kasey to The Chains, but that was before Trevon went missing. If it was Kasey, trying to find out all my damn secrets, I would lose it. I’d surrender to Javier and let him burn everything down in fucking flames. We would create our own Kingdom of Wrath right here in my palace.

  Eros stared at him—trying to get a good read—but Trevon wouldn’t look him in the eye, so Eros grabbed his chin and forced him to look into his black pits. After a few moments, Eros growled and tightened the grip on his neck. “No.”

  I pressed my lips together. She probably hired an Envy to possess him right before my ceremony, so I looked weak and like I didn’t know what I was doing. Had she planned this all along? Had she been trying to tear me down from the moment I met her?

  “We are going to The Chains,” I said, marching right out of the room and back downstairs. Lucifer and Jasmine were talking by the bar.

  Luci smirked. “What’s got you all angry?” He stood up, and I growled at him.

  “I’m not in the fucking mood.”

  He stretched out his arms. “You should be having the night of your life tonight,” he said. Eros stepped into the room, pushing a struggling Trevon in front of him. Lucifer raised his brow and sat back down. “Fair enough.”

  “We’re going to The Chains,” Eros told Lucifer. “We’ll be back in a couple hours.”

  “Fun,” Lucifer said, tipping his glass at me. “Tell all my friends there that Luci says hello.”

  After taking a deep breath, I snatched Trevon’s ear and pulled him toward the palace doors. Tonight was going from bad to so fucking bad, it wasn’t even funny. Out of all nights, why did it have to happen tonight? It could’ve happened tomorrow night or yesterday or, hell, right after the ceremony for all I cared. But… tonight?

  People crowded the walkway toward the portal, coming from it and heading to Chastion in droves. They parted for us as I continued to storm around them—without stopping once. Eros walked beside me, his jaw clenched and his gaze trained on the people in front of us.

  “This is absolutely ridiculous that we have to do this again,” I said through clenched teeth. Eros opened the portal room door for me and Trevon. People sat on the velvet red couches, gossiping with each other. Guards were pushing people along to keep everything moving smoothly.

  Esha hopped out of the portal, saw me, and said, “Kasey is locked away. Won’t be bothering you, Commander.” I nodded swiftly to her and shoved Trevon toward the portal. The guards stopped demons from entering and allowed us to pass.

  I tried hard to not be rough with Trevon in the portal, but when we reached Pride, I physically couldn’t help it. I shoved him right through it, watched him land hard on his stomach, and let out a laugh. Almost immediately, I slapped a hand over my mouth, unsure of where it had come from.

  Deep down, I knew that this wasn’t Trevon’s fault. He was just susceptible to so much demon shit because Javier had messed with his head. But… Javier was also messing with mine and I couldn’t help not feeling an ounce of shame or guilt for what I had just done.

  And that scared me more
than Kasey could ever hope to.

  The guards in Pride nodded respectfully to me and opened the doors to Lucifer’s white wonderland. Eros muttered an apology to them and ushered me down the damn cold path toward The Chains.

  Snow fell around us, the sky an eerie grey—even this late at night. And when those pretty white flakes touched my skin, they immediately turned to water. My entire body felt like it was on fire, burning like the pits of Tartarus.

  We trudged up a small hill, and I stared at Luci’s castle and the glaciers-like cliffs that surrounded it. When we made it to the hilltop, I smiled at the ashy-grey building Eros called The Chains—heavily guarded by demons.

  Trevon took one quick look at it and immediately trembled. His body convulsing back and forth, trying to steer me off the path and into the snow. I tightened my grip until my claws sunk deep in his muscle. “Stop moving, Trevon.”

  “I’m not going back there, Dani!” he shrieked, fear clear in his eyes. It was his voice and his fear, not the demon’s. And while part of me pitied him, I continued walking. Whoever Kasey hired would pay for ruining my damn party.

  “You have to.”

  Tears… damn tears rolled down his cheeks, and he grasped my hand. “No, Dani, please. I’ll do anything. I can’t… can’t deal with it again. I can still feel the demon clawing its way up my throat from last time.”

  I growled to quiet him down and nodded to the guards at the prison. When they opened the doors, Trevon struggled even more. The stench of feces rolled out of the building in waves. I scrunched my nose and stepped into the room, gazing at the hundreds of glowing colored eyes on me in the darkness.

  Someone turned on the bright lights, the shuddering sound echoing through the large concrete room. Demons cowered back in their cages, shielding their eyes with their talons. I took a deep breath, visions of last time I was here haunting me.

  Stacks of cages lined the walls and created narrow walkways around the room. I pushed Trevon toward the back and ignored all the vile questions like “Back again?” or “Decided you wanted another taste of Hell?”

  One demon in a cage on the ground reached out his bloody hands and brushed his fingers across Trevon’s shoulder. Trevon stumbled back into me, trembling even harder. “Don’t be afraid of them,” I said through clenched teeth. “They feed off of it.”

  “How am I not supposed to be terrified?” he asked, voice cracking. “They’re fucking demons.”

  I pushed him down another narrow walkway, trying to avoid the feces on the ground, and locked eyes with Kasey. She sat in a cell toward the back, her tight dress clinging to her body, her head hung in shame, an actual tear rolling down her cheek. Half of my angelic heart hurt for her. She didn’t belong here. At least… I wanted to believe that.

  When she sniffed the air and saw Eros and me, she stood up and grasped the silver bars, despite the natural bad reaction demons had to silver. “Dani, listen to me and what I have to say.”

  But I didn’t have to listen to anything she had to say. She betrayed me. She wanted me to hate Maeve—the only person who had been my friend the whole time I was here. I couldn’t trust Kasey or listen to her, especially not when my throne was on the line and when there was this underlying threat of the Unholy Trinity ripping Heaven to pieces tomorrow.

  I opened the cell across from hers and threw Trevon into it. He shook his head from side to side, grasping his throat already. “Dani… Dani, please, don’t do this.” He dropped to his knees, and I clasped a chain around his neck. “No! Dani!” he screamed, his brown eyes wide and filled with fear.

  The Wrath demon who possessed Trevon last time sat in the cell Eros had put him in, biting into a severed human leg. He chuckled, his rage suppressed. “Back again, you fuckin’ bastard?”

  My head snapped in his direction, and I clenched my jaw. “Don’t,” I said with such intensity that his eyes widened and he became quiet. The entire damn room became silent, and it was oddly peaceful.

  Too peaceful.

  And, then, everyone bursted out in laughter. “Daughter of Asmodeus thinks she’s a big deal now that she’s about to rule.”

  “Heard that your kingdom will be taken from you tomorrow.”

  “Think you can intimidate demons when you’re not even fully one yourself?”

  I took a deep breath and stepped closer to Eros, my fingers brushing against his. Something about the soft touch made my heart race in a pleasant way. It calmed the raging Javier inside of me and helped me focus on Trevon whose lips were quivering.

  Part of me felt bad for Trevon. Though he had fucked up in so many ways, he didn’t deserve this. He really didn’t. But because he was friends with me, this kept happening to him. And I didn’t want to cause anymore pain.

  After struggling a few moments, his eyes shifted to an envious green color. He fell, belly-first, onto the ground, his body seizing back and forth, green foam spurting from his mouth. I struggled to watch it happen to him, but I watched the entire time. If he had to go through it, the least I could do is watch.

  From the insides of his stomach, something moved around. Hands and fists and feet struggling to come out of him. Trevon grasped his waist, trying to hold it all in so he wouldn’t burst. Then, suddenly, his chest cavity expanded. And then his throat—the demon curling into a large bowling-ball like sphere again. And then the beast clawed its way out of Trevon through his mouth.

  Green blood gushed out of his mouth and down his chin. The demon leapt out toward me, claws ready to dig right into my eyes, but Eros caught it in his hands and clasped another chain around its neck. I grabbed Trevon’s body before it could smack against the ground and slowly put him down, resting him on his side so he wouldn’t choke on the blood.

  I glanced up at the demon, and my eyes widened. Covered in Trevon’s stomach acid, Samantha stood in front of me, struggling with her chains. What the actual hell was going on? Samantha was a damn Envy demon?

  Jesus fucking Christ.

  Samantha’s eyes blazed a bright green. “I should’ve known you’d figure me out. You always have Trevon curled around your finger. You stupid fucking bitch!”

  Calm, Dani, stay calm.

  “What were you doing in my office? What were you trying to find?” I asked Samantha, but when she didn’t respond, I turned on my heel and glared at Kasey. She hired the one person who tried to kill me—not once but twice.

  Samantha cackled, and I ached to rip out her throat. I should’ve taken care of her the moment she spiked my drink… but I was weak then. I didn’t know any better. I didn’t think I could kill someone with just a kiss.

  I knew better now.

  All I wanted was to see her dead, but I wanted her to suffer. And I would see her suffer. After the ceremony tomorrow, I wanted to drown her in the Styx River. Let her float to Tartarus. Stick her on a post. Cut off her horns. Wear them like a fucking trophy.

  Samantha threw her head back and stepped toward me, trying to intimidate me. The silver chains dug into her skin, hooking into it. “You think you’re so high and mighty… Well, know this, Commander. Tomorrow you’ll see your kingdom taken right from you by one of my kind.”

  I glanced at Kasey again, my heart pounding in my ears. She had to have hired more people to fuck with me. Kasey shook her head, looking so damn desperate. “Dani, I haven’t hired anyone. I didn’t do this.”

  Trevon lifted his head, wobbling from side to side, and rested himself against the bars. He mumbled something under his breath—words I had never heard spoken before by anyone other than Mom. It sounded like a hymn she’d sing to me whenever I accidentally fell off my bicycle and got hurt.

  Samantha continued to say something, but I ignored her, listening to his harmonic humming. He opened his eyes for a moment, and I watched them turn from dull brown to… white. I took a step back and glanced at Eros who had seen it too.

  Thankfully, nobody else saw Trevon’s white eyes as they were all too bothered by trying to talk to me. Eros cursed under his br
eath. “You have to be fucking kidding me.”

  I shook my head. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been. How was Trevon… Was Trevon an angel? I swallowed hard and glanced around the room. We needed to get him out of here as soon as possible. He survived The Chains last time… but once these demons found out he was part angel, they would try to corrupt him mentally.

  “We have to get him out of here,” I said, unlocking the chain around his neck and wrapping my arm around his torso to lift him to his feet. All my anger and rage disappeared in a matter of seconds and was replaced with pure shock.

  “We can’t,” Eros said quietly beside me. “We have nowhere to bring him.”

  “We can bring him back to Lust.”

  Eros snatched my arm, leaned closer to me, and whispered, “There are far too many people there, especially during the ceremony. Someone will find him out and try to kill him.”

  And, as much as I wanted to bring Trevon somewhere that I could protect him, Lust wouldn’t do. I thought hard about who could protect him. Dr. U crossed my mind, but she was out on a date and wouldn’t be available until morning. Zane was with Maria and would be back to Lust tomorrow morning for the ceremony.

  After taking a deep breath, I pushed him toward Eros. “I know someone in Pride who might be able to help.”

  Eros hesitated for a moment, then took Trevon from me, lifted his body over his shoulder, and hurried down the walkways with him. I slammed the cage shut and locked it, following Eros. Demons rattled their cages at us, but I ignored them—shutting the lights off and leaving them to wallow in their own damn misery.

  This was bad. This was really bad.

  Neither of us spoke a word to the guards outside the prison. Trevon continued to mumble the familiar hymn and swayed his head back and forth. When we were far away from any prying ears, I dug my claws into Eros’s tricep. “How didn’t we know this? How could… how could this happen?”