DemonofDesire

by Ari Thatcher

  Suthu dropped to her knees in front of Gower, yanked his zipper down and groped for his cock. Her throaty cackle announced her find and she tugged it free. “So big and wet, just the way I like them.”

  He groaned when his cock disappeared in the demon’s mouth. She took his entire length in one move. When she cupped his ass cheek, he seemed to snap out of her spell. Prying her jaws away from his flesh, he jumped back out of reach.

  “Mine,” the demon whined. “My cock. Let me suck you. You know you’ll like it.”

  Sin cringed watching herself—her body—beg for sex. Had she ever felt this horny? Her breasts begged to be touched, her labia were swollen, pulsing with need. She had no control over anything that happened, no chance to scratch the sexual itch or save face and get the hell out of the room. She was not ready to die, which seemed to be the only way this possession would end.

  Chapter Three

  Gower battled with his body’s desires, part of him wanting nothing more than to come in Sin’s mouth. Suthu’s mouth, he reminded himself. As tempting as her wet, swollen lips were, they weren’t worth the price of his life. Yanking on a handful of her hair, he pulled himself free and zipped his jeans.

  The musky scent of Suthu’s arousal hit him. Fuck, he wished he’d sampled some of that earlier, before the demon showed up. The erotic aroma made him weak. A wave of dizziness washed over him. The truth hit like a punch in his gut. “I need to eat. I’m getting shaky.”

  Baen stepped closer to Gower as if to protect him. “We’ve got to deal with this quickly, so we can get home and get some blood.”

  “I’m getting lightheaded, too,” Enos complained. He skirted around Suthu’s reaching arm. “She must be doing something to drain our energy. Maybe if we knock her out. Maybe that’s all that Sin needs to take her body back.”

  “Wouldn’t someone have figured that out a few centuries ago?” Baen picked up the lamp off the nightstand, holding it at the ready.

  “How do we know they didn’t?”

  Gower grunted in agreement. “Unless you’ve got a better idea, I say we try it.” He circled behind her, trying to suppress the urge to bite her ass. That had nothing to do with the need to feed, the curved white cheeks just begged to be explored. How the fuck was he supposed to think straight when what little blood he had was in his cock?

  “Enos, you come at her from the front and grab her arms, I’ll come in from behind and grab her legs. Once we have her, Baen, hit her good.”

  “And try to miss us,” Enos added.

  Gower counted to three and they jumped at the demon. He locked his fists around her ankles, tightening even as the demon kicked.

  “Hurry, Baen. Do it!” Gower grabbed around her thighs, tackling Suthu.

  The demon shrieked, her keening wail sounding sharp enough to shatter the windows. She tugged and wrestled, kicking Gower in the gut. Enos fought against her arms.

  Baen swung the lamp but Suthu ducked and he almost smacked Enos in the face. “Hold her still.”

  “I can’t.” Enos jerked her wrists and tried to roll on top of her.

  Gower lifted her legs. “Let’s get her onto the bed, tie her down.”

  They wrestled the wriggling demon onto the bed and took turns holding her in place while Gower tied her limbs to the bedposts using scarves from the aunt’s dresser.

  Lying spread-eagle, surrounded by the men, Suthu continued to curse and struggle to free herself. Still feeling the wooziness from lack of nourishment, Gower tried to figure out what to do next. As Suthu bucked, her glistening pussy open and available, it took all his strength not to bite a vein or fuck her, whichever need hit him stronger.

  Enos rested on the edge of the nightstand. “Fuck, she looks so damn sexy, tied up like that. I have to keep reminding myself it’s the demon. Not Sin.”

  “No shit,” Baen agreed.

  “I can smell her blood, so hot. It makes me so hungry.” Enos leaned closer and inhaled again.

  Suthu screeched and yanked at both arms. The wooden bedframe groaned.

  “Damn it, the demon’s too strong. She’s going to destroy the bed!” Gower jumped away and looked for the lamp Baen had dropped. Grabbing it, he held it high and prepared to strike if she got free.

  Suthu’s face reddened as she tugged at her arms and legs. The scarves holding her began to tear. Amid the brothers’ shouts, and groans of the bedposts, the sound of rending fabric filled the air.

  She was free. The demon launched herself off the mattress, diving at Baen, taking him to the floor. Dropping the lamp, Gower fell on top of her, locking his arms around her shoulders and entrapping her arms from behind. He rolled away from Baen. Enos pinned her legs with his own, lying over the length of her. Again he sniffed at her neck.

  Sin cringed as she watched from above and moved reflexively as if she could control her body. Enos seemed to smile as his fangs appeared. He moaned and dropped his face to the demon’s neck. A moment later he lifted his head, licking blood off his pale lips.

  Suthu changed. Her hips rocked sensually. She whimpered like a lover begging for completion, attempting to roll over but no longer fighting.

  “That did something,” Gower said.

  Enos bent down and drank some more. To Sin it felt as if someone tongued her pussy. Hot, throbbing shards of ecstasy shot through her. The demon thrust her ass back against Gower.

  “It’s working.”

  Moaning, Enos pulled back. “Fresh blood. No plastic aftertaste.” His eyes closed, yet he continued to hold the demon by the neck.

  Baen bent down and drank briefly from her vein. “Gower, you drink, too. Just enough to make Suthu think she’s dying. We can make her one of us if we don’t kill her.”

  Suthu writhed as if offering up her body. Sin felt close to orgasm, a higher peak than Tim had ever carried her to. Her need was obscene.

  The demon began to wail, her struggles increasing. Baen tightened his hold at her ankles as Gower slipped out from underneath her. “Hurry. Just a little more blood loss should drive Suthu out.”

  Gower lowered his face to her neck and the room began to grow fuzzy around Sin. When he bit his own wrist and held it to Suthu’s lips, Sin felt the cool liquid of his blood over her tongue. Yet the room was slipping away from her. Awareness dimmed. Hazy. Darker. Black.

  Baen pulled the quilt over Sin’s nude, pale body and fingered the ragged bite marks on her neck. “You guys could have been neater about it.”

  Enos snarled. “You try feasting on a demon. I’m lucky I didn’t slash her throat.”

  Gower felt for her pulse before tucking her arm under the quilt. “She’s breathing awfully shallow.”

  Watching her still form, Baen ran a hand through his hair. He needed a shower. He needed to eat. He needed Sin to waken. “How do you think she’ll take it?”

  “Take what?” Enos glared. “The fact that she’s still alive?”

  “Maybe the fact that she’s undead,” Baen barked back.

  “What choice did we have? Suthu wasn’t leaving while the body was still alive.”

  Gower raised a hand in a placating motion. “He’s right. There were no options. We’ll just have to help her accept that.”

  Baen studied his brothers, both of whom appeared wan, drained. While he looked younger, it was only because he’d been the first turned, nine years before Enos and twenty-one before Gower. Once they became vampires, they’d ceased to age. They were triplets; he was oldest by forty minutes. Somewhere along the line, he had assumed the role of big brother as was his due by that minute passage of time. “In the meantime we need to eat. And feed Sin.”

  “And figure out what to do about Suthu.”

  All three men turned to the dresser where the sandstone icon lay atop the cotton wadding. There was no way to tell if the demon had returned to the carving, but it was safe to make that assumption. History told them it had.

  Gower spoke first. “I should take it to Marrett.”

  “Yeah,” Baen agree
d. “Why don’t you do that, and Enos, you stop by the house and pick up some blood packs for our dinner. Can you get there and back safely in the storm?”

  “We’ll stick together and make it somehow. If we’re lucky, it won’t be snowing as heavily as they predicted.” Gower wrapped up the fetish and followed Enos out of the room.

  As his brothers left, Baen tucked the quilt tighter around Sin and planted a kiss on her forehead. It occurred to him he’d just met her, but in some ways he’d known her forever. Walking around to the opposite side of the bed, he plumped a pillow against the headboard and leaned back, resting his head against the wall. He heard the sounds of his brothers’ footsteps on the porch, and the quiet rhythm of Sin’s breath. Relaxing, he let his hearing sharpen until he heard the comforting, constant beat of her heart.

  * * * * *

  Sin landed in her body as if she’d fallen from a skyscraper. Pain hardened her muscles and her skin felt as if it was about to shatter. The sound of a cat purring roared in her ears.

  With caution she opened her eyelids just a slit, snapping them closed again when the light stabbed through her head. This was far beyond any hangover she’d ever experienced. What had she drunk last night?

  The thought of a drink sent nauseating waves coursing through her belly and the room began to spin. She was going to vomit, if she could gather the strength. Suddenly, strength or not, she had no choice. Her abdomen spasmed as she rolled toward the edge of the bed.

  “Here.” A man’s quiet voice spoke and a wastebasket appeared below her head as she retched. Dry heaves hurt worse than all her other aches combined.

  When her body quieted, she lay back on the pillow. “What happened last night?”

  “What do you remember?”

  She peered through one twitching eyelid. Baen stood over her. Well, that was a start. She remembered him. And his older brothers. She drew in a deep breath and it filled her with his scent. Warm spice, soap and something a bit wild that she couldn’t name. “You and your brothers came over to help get the house ready for the storm.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I was moving my aunt’s clothes out of the closet.” She turned her head, planting her hands firmly on the bed to keep it from spinning, and looked at the closed door across the room. “There was a wooden box.”

  “A casket. That’s correct.”

  She shivered. “Casket?”

  He laughed, a quiet, rich sound that soothed her. “That’s what that type of box was called. It’s antique, you know.”

  Sin saw the box sitting on the dresser. “There was something in it. A carving.”

  “A fetish.”

  Her eyes widened as the rest of the memory came back. She remembered hovering above the room, watching herself, her body, strip for the three men and seduce them. She groaned.

  “And the rest of the evening has obviously returned.”

  She couldn’t bear to look at him, but heard the teasing in his voice. “Please, you have to realize, I don’t—I would never—”

  “We know. It was the demon.” Baen sat on the edge of the bed near her feet. “Suthu.”

  Gooseflesh rippled down her skin. “Don’t say that name. You might conjure it up.”

  “It’s okay. The demon is gone now.”

  Gower entered the bedroom. “You’re awake.”

  Sin recalled commenting on his ass and kissing him not long before her possessed body had reached for his belt buckle. Saints forgive me. She closed her eyes and willed herself to vanish under the quilt.

  “And she remembers all of it,” Baen said.

  The bed sank beneath Gower’s weight as he brushed her hair back off her face. His fingers were cool on her skin. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m wishing the earth would swallow me up right about now.”

  “That’ll fade.”

  She glared up at him. “And when was the last time you stripped before total strangers and begged to be fucked?”

  “She’s got you there, brother.” Enos’ laughter-rich voice announced him as he came to stand at the foot of the bed. “You’re looking good, hon, all things considered.”

  In her head images flashed of her body rolling around under the men. She supposed that was the perfect way to end a sexual drought, getting naked with three men at once. The only problem was, she didn’t remember how it ended. Somehow asking, was it good for you too, didn’t strike her as the right way to find out.

  And worse, after being possessed by a sex demon, why did it matter to her if she’d come?

  The thought of being in her body while having sex with these three sent shivers of excitement throughout her. How insane, to feel like a limp rag and be craving a ménage á quatre. Maybe the demon hadn’t left. Making sure the quilt was tucked tightly under her arms and hid her hardening nipples, she shifted to sit up against the headboard. “So, how’d you guys get rid of the demon?”

  The brothers exchanged glances before Gower spoke. “It’s complicated. Mythology says the demon possesses the body until death.”

  “But I’m still alive.”

  Gower lowered his gaze. Sin turned to Baen. “You guys found a different way, obviously.”

  Baen nodded, and looked over at Enos.

  Enos straightened, spreading his feet and crossing his arms across his chest. “We had to bring you near death, without actually killing you.”

  “Near death? How do you do that? How do you decide what is near enough but not too much? What are we talking about here?”

  She thought no one would answer her as she studied one man after another. In the movies when a character wanted to experience near death, there was usually all sorts of medical equipment involved. There hadn’t been time for that last night. Just how big a risk had they taken with her life?

  “Gower? Tell me whatever it is you guys are avoiding. It can’t be all that bad because I’m sitting here now talking to you. I’m still alive.”

  He met her gaze and held it. “Not technically. None of us are. Sin, we’re vampires.”

  She remembered seeing Enos’ fangs appear, and the blood on his lips as he fought with the demon inside her body. She pulled the quilt a little higher, desperate for a modicum of security. They obviously didn’t want to kill her or they would have done so already. Or left her to deal with the demon on her own. Yet none of them would meet her gaze. “You’re vampires.”

  Enos shook his head. “No, we’re vampires.”

  “That’s what I said.” Then her mouth formed his words and understanding hit her. “Oh God. We?”

  They all nodded.

  “I’m a…” She couldn’t finish it. How the hell did she become a vampire? Two days ago she was packing for her move, thinking evil thoughts of her great-aunt who left her fortune to her cats, and now she was some sort of undead freak. It was unreal.

  Gower spoke softly beside her. “It gets easier to deal with in time. There’s a woman in the village who can help you, if you’d like.”

  “A woman. Is she a vampire, too?” What kind of place was Whispering Valley? Why did her aunt remain in a community like this? “Was my aunt a, you know, vampire?”

  “No. As far as we know, you aunt had no special gifts beyond communication with spirits.”

  “Gifts?” They were kidding, right? The desire to suck blood and an allergy to sunlight weren’t something she’d considered asking Santa for. Ever. She grew faint when she had a hangnail. Drink blood? No way. Not even with vodka and pepper sauce.

  “Not everyone here is a vampire,” Baen explained. “There are psychics, witches, fairies…”

  Sin frowned. “Fairies aren’t real.” She heard the words as she said them. So she could accept vampires, but drew the line at fairies? Closing her eyes, she leaned back into the pillow. “It’s too much.”

  She heard shuffling sounds and the room grew quiet.

  Baen pulled the door closed behind them and followed his brothers downstairs. “We should call Ana.”

/>   “Do you think she can help?” Gower dropped into an overstuffed chair in the front room.

  “She can’t hurt. We can’t just leave Sin to deal with this on her own.” Baen stood facing the large window, his back to his brothers. “Even if Sin weren’t the one we’ve been looking for, we have to help her adjust.”

  How had this gotten so screwed up? Just over a year ago he’d been in this very room helping Absinthe prepare to move into the local nursing home. He’d promised to feed the cats, and to watch over her grand-niece when the old woman died. Apparently, the aunt had seen the end coming, but it had taken longer than she expected. Had she also known the connection between the brothers and her niece?

  One thing he knew for certain, turning a woman into a vampire wasn’t the best way to start a relationship.

  Baen turned and looked at Enos. “We need to continue to stay with her until we’re sure she’s going to be okay. I’ll take the first shift.”

  Enos nodded. “I’ll talk to Ana.”

  Baen watched his brothers leave, then went into the kitchen to feed the cats. The three sat on the counter watching him intently. Their loud purrs did nothing to convince him they were happy to have him invade their space. He found some cans of food and dumped them in the cat dishes, then looked in the fridge for something to fix for Sin.

  It would take a while for her body to adjust to a diet of blood as its mainstay. He knew meats wouldn’t digest well, and there was no fresh produce in the drawers. He should have thought about groceries when Enos went for their dinner the night before.

  He felt, rather than heard, the door push open behind him. He straightened to see Sin walk in, shoving her blonde hair back from her shoulders. “Hey, how’re you feeling?”

  She made a face. “Still fragile. As if I’m going to break into a million pieces.”

  Nodding, he moved to the small table and pulled out a chair for her. “Let me fix you something to eat.”

  Her complexion took on a green tinge. “I’m not sure about food.”

  “Trust me. It’ll help.”