Tempted by Demons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms)

by Lidiya Foxglove

  The island was bathed in afternoon sunshine by the time the boat was finally pulling back to the docks. Dante grabbed several grocery bags of frozen pizzas and fancy cheeses and hopped out first, while Alister offered me a hand. I was practically skipping with excitement over what would come next, now that this place was mine. They were mine. And I couldn’t wait to find Van so I ran ahead up the rocky stairs, expecting to find him in the garden.

  “Van!” I called.

  Alister hung back while Dante ran up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Wait—Edie. We think something’s wrong.”

  “What?” I was already gasping for breath again. Damn it, that was going to take some time.

  “We’re picking up a strong prickle of outside magic. Alister is reading the waters now.”

  Alister was stomach down on the dock, trailing his hand in the water, but now he quickly got back to his feet, brushing off his clothes. “The point,” he said. “We’ve got to get down there now and perform the bridal rituals as soon as possible. I’d hoped we’d have more time to introduce Edie to her new world, but I’ve never felt so many…”

  A shiver went down me. I didn’t know what I was in for.

  I moved toward the boat, but Dante shook his head. “They’re stronger in the sea. Better to go on foot. I guess you’re getting your magical education in the field, Bright Eyes.” He started unbuttoning his shirt as Alister threw off his jacket. They undressed down to their underwear so fast, I barely even had time to enjoy the experience. But I certainly could enjoy the aftermath.

  They both held up a hand and flexed their fingers in a pattern, whispering a few words. Before my eyes, their bodies grew taller and more muscular and now Alister had tattoos as well, although in different patterns. Horns sprouted from their heads, and their teeth sharpened so they truly looked like demons now.

  My mouth was gaping open. They were so hot, every inch of their slightly larger than life bodies exquisitely formed and marked in the sexiest ways, the sharp edges giving them a suggestion of danger. Since Dante also showed tattoos in his human form, his transformation seemed the least surprising. Alister still looked gentlemanly even mostly naked; it was in his graceful and restrained movements.

  “Should we try a jump?” Dante asked.

  “I think we need to save our strength,” Alister said. “Being in the Fixed Plane has already taken a toll.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Jumping in and out of the Sinistral Plane,” Alister said. “It has its own risks. Can you get on my back and hold tight?” Alister asked. “We can move more quickly if we carry you.”

  I nodded, a little speechless, and wrapped my arms around his neck. They started running down the paths. I half expected them to move at super speed, but it was just a normal—albeit very fast—run. I could tell they were frustrated with the length of the island. It was a few miles.

  “Still weak from the Fixed Plane,” Dante panted. “Damn it.”

  “Pace yourself,” Alister said. “We’ll get there in time.”

  Afternoon sunlight has a way of turning into dusk quickly, and by the time we reached the point, the shadows were growing long.

  And there were a lot of shadows; serpentine forms crawling up over rocks and even over each other to get to the cave and skittering crab-creatures running around. The birds were attacking some of them while vines snaked out to strangle others.

  “Van?” Dante yelled.

  “I’m trying to keep them out of the cave!” Van’s voice yelled back.

  “Let’s clear a path for Edie,” Alister said.

  I felt a little nauseated, seeing so many creatures teeming on the banks. Dante charged ahead without anymore being said. Fire leapt to his hands, and he threw fire balls into the midst of them. They shied back immediately. Alister stayed closer to me, within arm’s reach, protecting me, as he led me down the stairs to the cool, wet sand of the shore. The briny smell had a tinge of something that reminded me of blood.

  The serpents were trying to get into the cave.

  “The ward’s down!” Van said. “Someone’s attacking us!” He was standing in the mouth of the cave, but he still gave me a little grin. “Glad to see you, though.”

  I couldn’t get to the cave yet. There were too many things with snapping claws and teeth. The entire shore seemed alive with hisses and sinuous bodies. Up close I could see that the crabs had very sharp jagged claws and they were also the largest crabs I’d ever seen. Well, that’s new. Dante kept throwing fire at them until his chest was heaving with exertion. He drove a lot of them back, and incinerated some. Van’s vines formed a sort of net over the mouth of the cave, snaking out to grab anything that tried to get in, but the beasts kept trying to bite through.

  Alister swept a hand and a wave swelled up onto the shore and dragged some of them back in. He waved his fingers, creating a whirlpool to pull them farther out.

  They managed to beat back the onslaught and Dante was picking off the few that remained.

  “Go, my dear, while we have an opening,” Alister said, urging me toward the cave. Van’s vines snaked back around his own arms and legs, going dormant for the moment.

  “Ready her for the elemental joining,” Alister said, all business, as Van took my hand.

  It was very dim in the cave. I guess Dante would light the torches if he had a chance. Van pulled me into an embrace.

  “Edie, is it true?” he asked. “You’re here to stay?”

  “Yes…”

  “It wasn’t easy, was it?”

  “No,” I admitted. “It all had to happen so fast. But…I feel good about it. I mean, difficult isn’t always bad.”

  He kissed my forehead tenderly. “I missed you so much. I’ve never missed anyone the way I missed you. I thought I was okay with staying behind, but I’ve just been hanging by the phone waiting to hear from you. But I know we have to hurry. This part of it is magical more than anything. It’s sort of like when I become bond-mates with Dante and Alister, except…you’ll like this one better. That one had a lot of blood, and this one will involve much more enjoyable exchanges of bodily fluids.” He grinned, taking a step back to look at me. “Do you trust us?”

  “I…” I looked at the stone table with some apprehension, but just as before, I also felt aroused by the prospect. I knew they were going to expect surrender, that they would take me hard.

  “Are you as excited as I am?” he asked.

  “The creepy sea monsters are what’s ruining it for me, I gotta say.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry about them. They’ll go away when the bond is sealed. If nothing else, this is a way for us to show off how well we can protect you from threats. Take off your clothes.”

  I was getting more nervous as I struggled out of my skinny jeans. Why did I wear these?They were so hard to get off my ankles. “It’s a little cold,” I said, shivering.

  “You definitely won’t be cold for long…” He picked me up and sat me on the edge of the stone table. The vines around his arms and legs snaked forward and lashed around mine, immediately dragging me down, slithering up around my armpits and hips before tightening, drawing my arms and legs apart. My fingers stretched out and found the lip of the table as my toes also found a foothold there. Well, now I knew what that was for.

  “It feels like embracing you with a hundred arms,” Van said, with a slow exhale of satisfaction. “Wait here just a moment.”

  “Hurry, I really am cold!”

  No sooner did he run out of the mouth of the cave than a blinding light filled the room. I shut my eyes against it, battling against the vines.

  “Edie!” I heard Van yell. I could tell by his tone that this was not supposed to happen.

  “Van?”

  “Edie?” I heard a terrified female voice say. As my blinded vision cleared, I saw Nicole standing near the table, hugging herself, almost in tears, but as she took in the sight of me, she rushed forward. “Oh god, Edie! What are they doing to you?” She clawed
at the vines.

  “What are you doing here?” I cried. “Wait a minute—I know this trick. I watch enough TV. You’re not really Nicole at all! What are you?”

  “I am Nicole,” she said, in a very believably horrified tone. “They told me you would be—they told me what would happen to you. That you’ll be bound to these demons.”

  “Who is ‘they’?”

  “She said she was a good witch but that she can’t come here to this island, because it’s a bad place and humans can only come here because we’re neutral… She said the demons trick women into becoming their bride. The good witches attempt to intervene and save women from their grip.”

  I could hear the guys screaming my name beyond the barrier. “What does she want with me?”

  “To save you from your fate, of course! You seem very calm considering what they’ve done to you!” She motioned to the vines.

  “Well, it’s—none of your business, really, but they haven’t actually done anything,” I sort of mumbled. “And I don’t want to hear about it when you’re the one who read all of Fifty Shades and saw the movies. I—I don’t know, Nicole. This island is under attack, that’s why they need me. Maybe it’s this witch. Or, I don’t know, maybe the guys are master manipulators and I’m stupid, but I’ve never felt like that, not for a moment. I feel like I’ve known them forever, and they always have time for me, they’re patient, they’re gentle when needed… You saw what a good time we were having. Tell me more about this witch.”

  Nicole looked close to tears. “This whole thing is scaring the shit out of me. I never even believed in ghosts.”

  “I know! I didn’t want you to know either. I wanted to protect you…”

  “I…kind of had a bad feeling about the witch, actually. But I just want you to come home. I didn’t know what to do. And then before I knew it she was actually performing a spell, and I was here.”

  “Is Dakota safe?”

  “I…” Nicole’s face warped, and a voice that was not her own contorted her mouth. “No,” she spat. “Poor, naive child. You’re coming with me.”

  “No!” I snapped. “I don’t know what your deal is, but I have a hard time trusting anyone who tricks my best friend into a spell and then possessing her!”

  “Too bad. I have your best interests in mind. The world will be better off without Sinistrals, and you will be better off going back to your ordinary mundane life!” Nicole’s arms lifted, chanting something. The guys were really trying to bust through now and of all the things, I felt terrible thinking that they might lose me and blame themselves, after they had never done anything but protect me and care for me…

  Then I remembered how I had been able to use Van’s vines underwater after he activated them.

  It’s not technically using magic? Well, Alister won’t say that anymore if I get out of this—

  I drew on the well of strength and confidence that had been slowly but surely building inside me since the day I set foot on the island. The assurance that Alister, Van, and Dante had given me that I didn’t need to try so hard to be liked. I was loved—as I was. They needed me too, but if they had almost lost the island for lack of finding the right wife, then that showed it wasn’t just about need, and it wasn’t about manipulation either. They’d been waiting for me.

  The vines unwound from my arms and legs, spooling quickly away from me and toward the witch, responding to my will. I was alarmed by the speed with which they swept toward her, like whips.

  “Leave my friend alone!” I cried.

  The vines slowed down, curling back. They swirled around Nicole’s body, binding her arms and legs, forcing the witch onto the ground. Nicole was probably going to get some bruises from this. I couldn’t help that, but I didn’t know how to stop the witch without actually hurting her.

  “You are succumbing to the world of evil,” the witch hissed.

  “I don’t believe that. I don’t think the answers are that easy.”

  Break the barrier, I thought, trying to will the vines to do something. Don’t hurt Nicole, but do something to stop this witch! Please! I was making a reasonable assumption that the witch was keeping up the barrier keeping the guys out of the cave with the strength of her will, and if I broke her concentration, the wall would come down.

  The vines responded, swirling around the witch, muffling her voice. She thrashed and growled at me, her eyes glaring. And then the vines started—tickling her. Well, I guess there weren’t many options without hurting Nicole’s body, although I cringed. I did not like being tickled.

  I was free now, and sprung to my feet, running to the barrier just as the guys busted through it. The power from the vines apparently broke the spell. Nicole’s body collapsed and the furious expression of the witch left her face.

  “Edie…” Nicole’s voice was back. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’m sorry!”

  “Are you okay?” Van asked, as Dante grabbed Nicole.

  “Don’t hurt her!” I cried. “It’s just Nicole. There was an Ethereal witch possessing her.”

  “I didn’t know it would be like this,” Nicole said. “I would never want to hurt Edie!”

  “I can take care of sending her home,” Alister said. “The witch still could easily exert power of the island…”

  “Wait,” Nicole said, untangling herself from the vines. She opened her arms and threw her arms around my shoulders, hugging me as hard as she could without getting awkwardly close to my naked body. “Are you sure this is what you really want?”

  “Only if you put off that trip to London and come visit me in Maine,” I said. “I swear, it won’t be like this. It’ll be relaxing and nice.”

  She looked more shellshocked than anything. “Okay.”

  “I’ll call you,” I said.

  Another hug for me, and Alister walked her out the door. Poor Nicole. I couldn’t even imagine what she thought of the sight of them in their real forms, not to mention the carnage of dead creatures outside. Man, I was going to have even more to explain if she ever came back. But I had a feeling she would. Curiosity would win out, and Dakota was already very curious, so she could work on her.

  Dante lit the torches. Van looked restless and alert, drawing his vines back to him.

  “That was one very dirty trick,” Dante said. “We haven’t even begun the bridal ceremonies and we already failed to protect the bride.”

  “But she protected herself,” Van said, walking up to me. He put a hand on my arm and met my eyes. “All the more reason that she’s perfect. You’re very good at harnessing the magic that’s already present. I can’t wait to see what you do when you learn some of your own.”

  “What will I learn? Do I get to pick an element?”

  “You’re human,” Dante said. “You’ll be a Sinistral witch. And not a witch by blood, but a witch by choice. They’ll call you a mere hedge witch. But if they call you a weed witch, let us know and we’ll banish them from the island.”

  “You mean the witches that come here to buy powdered horn from you?”

  “There are so many politics in the magical world,” Van said with a sigh.

  “Well…I’m from DC. And I worked for an environmental charity. I don’t think it could get much worse.” I shivered. “If we don’t get to it, I’m putting my clothes back on.”

  Van pulled me against him and wrapped his arms around mine. His skin was warm, comforting and solid, and I tingled at the sensation of his arms brushing against my nipples. “Your heart is still beating fast,” he said, rubbing my shoulders.

  Alister walked back in. “Your friend is home safe and sound, but when we get back to the house I’ll send a message to the Demon Symposium and someone will check on her.” He looked at Dante, who shrugged.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Alister was hoping we would improve our standing but that’s not happening after all this mess,” Dante said. “We’ll probably have to go to a hearing now.”

  “Still wor
th it,” Alister said. “Dearest, do you need some time to recover after all of that?”

  “We don’t have time, do we?”

  He paused. “No. Not really. But we can make time, if we must. That was a shock no one anticipated. Although you handled it beautifully. I can’t wait to unlock the cabinet for you…” I’m not sure anyone had made a cabinet sound so sexy before. He walked up to me and slipped two fingers between my folds. “You are still quite ready, aren’t you?”

  “I am…” I leaned into his touch. Van released me into Alister’s arms.

  “I’ve been looking forward to this part for a long time,” Alister said, and he put me back on the table.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Edie

  This time they could all see me spread out for them. I strained against the hold of the vines, not from fear or discomfort but more out of sheer crawling anticipation. Touch me…please touch me.

  They stood around the table and held hands across my body.

  “O wisest and highest spirits of Sinistral, we request that you embrace this human girl,” Alister said. “We declare our intentions to claim her as our bride.”

  “We declare our intentions,” Van and Dante repeated.

  “We allow her to make use of our magic as if it were her own and ask that the channels of magic be opened to her. We swear to watch over her and guide her in all things and protect her with our body and will.”

  “This we swear.”

  “Edie, do you swear to respect the laws of the Sinistral world, which we will offer to you in honesty and good faith?”

  “Yes…”

  “It is done.”

  “I don’t have to swear to love and cherish you ’til death do I part or anything?”

  “No,” Alister said. “You don’t, because pledges like that are not so easily broken in this ceremony, and we wouldn’t want you to make that promise in case you stopped loving us after all. Our pledge is to you and our job is to see that you never have reason to leave.”

  “Oh, I…”

  “Shh.” He pressed two fingers to my lips. “You can say all the fond things you like later, but not until we have left the island’s heart.” He nodded to Van.