Addictions of a Sex Demon

by Jaye Shields

  He swerved during flight to avoid many of the bullets and arrows coming his way. The power from the successful heat thrummed through his veins and he flew faster than ever. Sephina clutched him tightly and the warmth from her body filled him with happiness. The holes in his back were forgotten. The sight of her rushing into danger was not. Gods, he’d been afraid then.

  The sound of another arrow whizzed toward them, but couldn’t reach their height. They were safe. An elbow rammed into his stomach. “What the hellplane? We could have had those guys, half of them were already charred to a crisp. You’re just going to let them go?” Sephina voiced an obvious desire to finish off their captors, but he had no desire to continue the fight with Sephina nearby, especially when they were outnumbered. The hunters had found him once. They’d find him again. The only thing he could do was ensure that Seph wasn’t around.

  Axel looked down as they tore through the clouds back toward home. “I’ll not risk your safety.” Her amber gaze glinted a deep orange and he knew she was displeased. Highly. “Although, I must commend you on the good form of that kick. On the other hand, when we get home, I’m going to throttle you for running straight into the enemy.”

  “See, this is why I don’t do relationships. A man never treats a succubus with trust. There’s no equality.”

  Her words caused him to grit his teeth. What she said couldn’t have been further from his intentions. They continued toward the village in silence as the thick white clouds billowed past. When they finally neared Orescia at sunset, Axel knew what he had to do.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. She didn’t move within his arms as they landed just outside of town. “Seph. Please, I’m sorry. I’m going to go back and finish off the hunters. I regret that you think I don’t trust you or respect your abilities. It’s so far from the truth. I cherish you, and I’d never been so afraid in my life. I love you.” He didn’t wait for a response. “I trust you. I want you to come with me when I go back. But I need to bring reinforcements so we’re not outnumbered. Your brother-in-law is an expert swordsman. I was hoping he could accompany us as well. By now, the hunters will have regrouped. We can use all the help we can get.”

  Sephina smiled. “I knew you’d come around.”

  Chapter 10

  “Where the fuck have you been!” Zahra’s frantic voice accosted Sephina as soon as she entered the room. Tears glistened in her sister’s eyes and Sephina rushed toward Zahra to wrap her in a hug. Zahra didn’t cry often, but now her body shook with unrestrained sobs as she clutched Seph close. “I thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere. I thought you’d relapsed or someone had tried to steal a succubus. There are some sick fucks out there...”

  Seph sucked in a breath. Zahra thought this way because nearly all of those things had happened, especially the relapsing and lying in a ditch part. “I’m sorry. If it makes you feel better, I did get kidnapped.”

  Lennox’s voice grumbled dangerously from the front door. “Speaking of sick fucks.”

  Sephina turned out of Zahra’s embrace and saw Lennox’s broadsword pointed at Axel’s neck. “Easy, Lennox.” She’d seen her brother-in-law kill men with that sword. “This isn’t a sick fuck. It’s the demon that saved my life.”

  Lennox sheathed the sword but continued to appraise Axel. “He’s bleeding.”

  “Actually I’m called Axel Stavros.”

  “And he’s a smartass.” Lennox growled his response.

  “Gods, what happened, Seph?” Zahra paid no attention to the verbally dueling dudes.

  “Isn’t anyone going to ask her why she’s wearing a burlap sack?” Axel sounded in utter disbelief.

  Zahra turned to him with impatience simmering in her bright yellow gaze. “A family of succubi don’t ask these kinds of questions. When you need near constant climax to thrive, sometimes clothes are quite cumbersome. Get used to it, quetzalem.”

  Seph smacked Zahra playfully on the back of the head. “If you guys are done hazing my boyfriend, we have hunters to discuss.”

  Lennox’s innocent baby blue’s glinted with a silver storm. “Hunters sound like his problem.”

  “Well, brother, I love him, so his problems are our problems now.”

  “You love me?”

  “You love him?” Lennox and Axel both looked astonished.

  “Oops.” Seph blushed. Guess that demon’s out of the bag.

  “Aw, congratulations.” Zahra wrapped Seph into a giant hug so tight her feet lifted off the ground.

  Lennox’s slapped Axel on the back and the sound cracked through the room. “Welcome to the family, asshole. Break her heart and I’ll sever your head.”

  “Noted.”

  * * * *

  Axel bristled at the blacksmith’s words, but in truth, they warmed his heart. Any man being protective over Sephina was a good man in his book. Axel would just have to prove that he wouldn’t be doing any heartbreaking. He’d rather walk into Lennox’s sharp blade and drive the thick sword through his own heart.

  Sephina had said she loved him.

  Axel moved away from Lennox and stole Seph from her sister’s grip. Capturing her within his arms, he dipped her back and kissed her. She was weightless in his arms and the injuries in his back completely forgotten. As he tasted her, the sweet, spicy aroma rolling off her skin enveloped him. He wanted to wake up in the scent and taste her lips every morning. Reluctantly, he released her to address the ogre in the room.

  “I’d like to explain the hunters, but we’re pressed for time.” A loud smack interrupted his words as Sephina’s tiny palm connected with his backside.

  Lennox grinned. “That means you’re official.” The blacksmith flexed his strong arms and folded them over his broad chest. “Now, tell me of the hunters.”

  “They’ll be a day’s ride from here, and I cannot anticipate their numbers. Probably not greater than twenty. They will be traveling out of realm, so they can’t travel in large groups and attract too much attention. If the Knights of the Fog detect their nature as quetzalem hunters, the portal realm law enforcement won’t hesitate to arrest them.”

  Zahra began braiding her long, black hair into a thick braid. “Let’s ride.”

  “I’ll grab the blades.” Lennox disappeared with his woman and for the first time since Sephina’s admission, Axel was alone with her.

  “Did you mean what you said, Sephina? Be sure, for you will not be rid of me.”

  She gripped his ass and pulled him against her. The forceful move stirred fire into his veins and his dick hardened. “I’m sure.” To seal the promise, she gazed up at him, ready for another kiss. “I’m glad you’ve met my family.”

  “Lennox is very charming.” Axel grinned mischievously. Sephina’s laughter that followed brought Axel to a new high. Gods, she was beautiful when she smiled. “I’m glad we’ll have a master sword maker in our family. Perhaps I too need to find another night job.”

  “No more dealing?”

  “No. There are other ways to keep the bad drugs off the streets. Perhaps I’ll petition to be a lawman.”

  “Ohh, sexual. I can’t wait to see that. Now that I’m going to be an official resident, I’ll have to get a job too. I think I’d be a great—”

  “Time to go, lovers. We’ve got the horses saddled and ready.” Zahra and Lennox appeared at the door. Lennox threw his arm around the amber-eyed vixen at his side. “We’ve got enough swords, daggers, and arrows to take out an army.”

  The thought of encountering an army made Axel grind his teeth down to nubs. Sephina squeezed his hand, as if reading his mind. She led him out the front door where four steeds waited to take them to battle. “I’m really good with a bow and arrow, you know. Lennox made me a special bow from astral stone and I can hit a fly from a rainbow’s length away.”

  Axel hoisted her onto a strong, white steed. A crisp evening breeze floated by and caught Sephina’s neon pink hair, casting it into the wind. It was a stunning sight. “Let’s hope you don’t have to get a
ny closer than that.”

  She glared at him in response, but leaned down to kiss him. The softness of her lips nearly brought him to his knees. Gods, he didn’t want her charging into danger by his side. Her insistence, bravery, and fire were what he loved most about her though. He’d just have to make sure he killed anyone who came close to her.

  * * * *

  Sephina rode hard. Her powerful, white Andalusian steed raced across the grassy landscape at a speed to be reckoned with. Axel, Zahra, and Lennox’s horses galloped beside her. The pounding of the hooves against the ground drowned out any option of conversation. She’d met Axel’s gaze many times during their long, hard ride, and each time he looked increasingly concerned. He was worried about her. And yet he trusted her to ride along, and for that, she loved him even more.

  Axel held out a hand signaling them to slow their animals. “Let’s rest them. We’re not far from the hunters.”

  “It would be best to slow our pace if we are to arrive unnoticed,” Lennox agreed.

  “How do you know how far they are?” Zahra raised a brow in Axel’s direction. Sephina too was suspicious of Axel’s plan to slow the horses so soon. They’d only been riding five hours.

  “They have quetzalem blood stored in their carriages. I can scent it.”

  Zahra and Sephina drew back so they walked several feet behind the men. Lennox and Axel seemed deep in conversation, but Sephina had the sneaking suspicion they weren’t bonding. She turned to Zahra. “Do you think they’re going to try to ditch us?”

  “Not if they value their lives. Lennox isn’t that stupid. Your man, on the other hand…he’s new enough to do something insane.”

  As if his ears were burning, Axel slowed to ride beside Sephina. Zahra raised a brow before nudging her horse to trot ahead and meet Lennox.

  Axel guided his mare closer to Sephina’s and grabbed the reins, bringing it to a halt.

  “We have to make way,” she pleaded, searching his face for an answer to why he’d stopped them. Instead of explaining anything, he guided his fingers through her hair and leaned in for a kiss. For the first time, she realized how much stronger the smoky scent was wafting off of his skin. Their lovemaking had indeed filled his body with fire.

  Their lips brushed across each other, but he didn’t take her. He lingered close, just a feather’s breath away. “I love you.”

  Before she could bat an eye, blue feathered and scaled wings sprang from his back and propelled him high into the air. He was an image of grace and speed as he cut through the sky…leaving her behind.

  “Damn him!” She urged her steed forward and raced in the direction Axel had gone.

  Zahra and Lennox immediately caught up to her. Lennox reached out and grabbed her reins. “Seph, he hasn’t left us behind. He has a plan.”

  Tears threatened to spill over her lids at the betrayal. When she met Lennox’s gaze, she forced the sadness down and replaced it with fury. “What plan calls for us to ride with him for near five hours only to be left behind?”

  Lennox looked into the distance. “The kind where he distracts the hunters long enough for us to catch them by surprise.”

  Sephina threw her horse into motion until she became a white blur across the midnight green landscape. She was even more furious than before. He hadn’t left her because he didn’t trust her. He’d ensured she had the edge in the fight because he loved her. Even if it meant sacrificing himself. Damn him for that.

  * * * *

  Axel spotted the hunters from high above the clouds. He hoped he could dispatch them all before Sephina and the others arrived. Not only did he want to keep her far from danger, but he didn’t have a strong desire for her to see him kill either. And he would. He would kill to protect his love, as well as his quetzalem race. The dragon demons had been hunted to near extinction. Only recently did rumors begin circulating that the lost quetzalem king had returned; the last of the noble blood line, the one who could lead the race to rebel against the humans that’d taken over Canicus, the realm of the dragons. Axel would do the lost king a favor and wipe out a few of the hunters this day.

  With a strong flap of his wings, his body aimed downward and he cut through the clouds. They slid against his skin like silk as he soared toward the ground. The humans straight below him had no way of detecting his silent, speedy arrival. Opening wide, Axel welcomed the sensation of the scorching, hot flames billowing up his throat.

  The first human to detect the heat screamed, but it was too late. The man rolled on the ground, trying to put out the flames that engulfed his body to no avail. Axel flew through the air spewing fire toward the hunters. As he set more bodies aflame, the remaining hunters aimed their munitions his way. A bullet whistled past his ear as he swerved to avoid the shot. Doing a somersault through the air, he jetted back toward the hunter with the gun. Arrows with flame suppressant flew his way, but he swerved away from them. When the armed hunter pulled the trigger, Axel unleashed his own missile of fire. The man exploded in bright red heat and unfiltered screams. Only half of the hunters were left. The evidence: ten charred bodies soaking the ground in ash and bubbling flesh.

  An arrow pierced into the hardened scales of Axel’s back, and he knew they’d saved him from the effects of the flame suppressant. He’d have to be careful of arrows coming from the front where he had no scales to save him. As he set fire to more hunters, a serrated steel rope latched around his neck. It slid tight and the barbs cut into his flesh as the sudden collar cut off his air.

  Axel turned, furious to be caught once more. His hands gripped the wire being pulled by the hunter on the ground. In a rush of speed, Axel flew to the ground and hauled the hunter into his arms. The man screamed like a child as his feet dangled from high in the clouds. So petrified was he, that he dropped the barbed lasso. Axel released the hunter and loosened the wire from around his neck. The twisted steel might come in handy, so he held onto it as he descended below the clouds once more.

  When he dropped back down to earth, the sight of Sephina charging toward the hunters turned the hot blood in his veins to cold steel. He hadn’t bought as much time as he’d hoped. Damn the woman rode fast. Her bright pink hair whipped behind her as her strong, white steed galloped toward the remaining hunters. One of them aimed a gun in her direction.

  Axel folded his wings, giving him the speed of a missile through the sky until he crushed the man to the ground. The impact of their bodies colliding together jarred Axel’s senses and another arrow with flame suppressant hit him from behind. The impact was worse for the hunter, for he was dead on the ground. Axel turned toward the foe who’d shot the arrow and spewed fire.

  Strong arms gripped his neck from behind. So the hunter would try to behead him then? Good. That meant they were out of weapons. Axel reached back and grabbed the hands circling his neck to throw the hunter over his head. The man landed against the human with the crossbow. Axel soaked them both in flames as the pounding of hooves drew nearer.

  “Axel!” Sephina’s voice reached him even through the roar of brimstone fanning against soft skin. She leapt off the horse in a graceful move and aimed her bow at the man in flames. Her arrow pierced the hunter’s heart as if to offer him a quick death.

  The scent of burning hair and melting flesh filled the air. She’ll think of me as a monster after this. He turned to see Lennox drive a sword through a hunter approaching Sephina from behind. Not far from Lennox, Zahra launched a dagger. It flew dangerously close to Axel, passing him only to lodge into the throat of a hunter.

  “Only five left. I like those odds.” Zahra flashed a wicked grin to the blacksmith before she swung out in a lethal arc once more.

  “Make that four, my love.”

  “Look!” Sephina pointed to the horizon where more hunters galloped toward them.

  Lennox clashed swords with two hunters as Axel breathed fire toward the enemies descending upon Zahra and Seph. The two men fell to the ground in a heap of flames. No matter how much they rolled in the
dirt, it would not save them.

  Axel caught sight of a pink blur and trapped Seph in his arms before she could mount her horse once more. She met his gaze with a fierce amber fire in her eyes. “We need to cut them down before we’re surrounded!”

  “I know. You can’t just ride into an ambush. Get on my shoulders.”

  Lennox finished off the last of the hunters and for a moment, there was silence. Sephina looked up at him with a question in her eyes. “What do you—like, ride you?”

  “I won’t let you fall.”

  “I know.”

  “You’ll be safer from the sky. You can cut them down with your arrows one by one before they get to your family.”

  “I’ll take care of the hunters,” Lennox added, stepping in front of Zahra.

  Sephina latched the bow around her arm so she could grab hold of him. “Let’s go.”

  Axel hoisted her up around his shoulders and couldn’t help but be reminded of the first night they met. He hardened instantly.

  Zahra huffed. “Do I really wanna know why this man might be flying into a trap with my little sister and he’s got a stiff one?”

  Lennox pulled Zahra against him. “Look at the quetzalem’s crotch again and I’ll lay you down on this ground and pleasure you until all the hunters and quetzalem disappear from this realm.” His mouth covered hers and the succubus groaned with pleasure. Gods. Axel wanted to do the same thing with Seph.

  “C’mon, lover boy, let’s go.” Sephina grabbed hold of him right before he launched into the air. Flying through the clouds toward the hunters, they’d be invisible.

  “Ready your bow. As soon as we leave the clouds, take out as many as you can. I’m going to sweep down on them and torch those without arrows so if they continue forward, they’ll be in bad shape by the time they reach your family.”

  “I’m ready. Hey—” Her soft palm rested on his shoulder. “I love you.”

  He wished he could see her. He relished the feel of her latched onto his back like a brave warrior woman. “I love you more.”