by Lia Davis
She reached up and slid his signature sunglasses to the top of his head. His copper eyes shined down on her. "I figured it out. One may say I am an expert in all things Dolan and demon. Others study in school, but I study you. There is no other explanation. I only have one question."
His eyes seemed to dim as if he didn't want her to know. "Question?"
"What kind of demon are you?" She inched closer, their bodies touching. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone. We all have secrets."
He kept his gaze on hers. "If you are so smart and educated, tell me what you think."
"I know you're not a goblin, you are much too handsome for that." She traced her fingers around his collar.
He didn't move, not even a blink.
"I have only two guesses." She ran her nail down the zipper of his jacket. "Fallen angel?"
He remained frozen as if daring her to figure out the riddle.
"No?" She pursed out her lower lip. "I sort of pictured you as doing something bad."
Nothing. Not one flinch to betray him.
"Okay." The heat rose in her face, but she continued. "Incubus."
Only the slight appearance of the dimple on the left side of his face let her know she was correct.
"Maybe I don't need to ask what you need then." Demon, incubus, whatever, he was the only one for her, and she needed to keep him satisfied. She slipped her hand lower, aiming for the fly of his jeans. "I'm finally old enough to help you."
He caught her wrist, squeezed tight and lifted her hand up.
"Dolan!" She tried to resist.
He pulled her to him, lowering his face until their noses almost touched and his breath brushed across her lips. "If you know what I am, then you know what I'm capable of and you know to stop playing games."
"I'm not." Tears flooded her eyes, but blinked, refused to allow them to fall. "I want you. My whole life has been about you."
"Then you are stupider than thought." He thrust her away.
She stumbled backwards, catching herself on the edge of her bed. For a moment, she crumbled. Her life centered on his visits, wanting him, waiting for him. She shut her eyes. "You keep coming back to me."
"I made a foolish mistake when you were a child. Every moment of my existence is misery because of you and a promise. Each second is with you is nothing short of agony and yet I am bound to you until you free me or you die."
"Liar." She pushed herself up and turned to him. "You saved my life."
"Another mistake." He crossed his arms.
"I don't think you make mistakes." Now she found the courage to stand again.
He stared at her down.
"I know what you need, and I'm willing to give you what you want."
His eyes widened.
She returned to the bed, sat and reclined back. "I know you have needs, so do I."
"My needs are far greater than an inexperienced sixteen year old."
He may as well have slapped her, her body stung the same. "You taught me everything else."
"Then let me give you another lesson." He approached, towering over her.
Maybe now he would join her. Her heart raced at the simple thought. "I'm ready."
He bent down. "Your classless antics will only get you the same in return."
"Why did you save me?" She twisted her hand in her comforter.
"Release me." He put his arms on either side of her, caging her in. "Don't waste the life I gave you. Say the words and let me go. That is what we both need."
At his closeness, she trembled. "You did make a mistake last time, but I made a mistake this time. I cared about your needs. Don’t worry I'm a quick study and I will never let you go."
He straightened up.
"You have a ripe teenager begging for you, and yet you do the right thing?" She shook her head. "I know you're not a fallen angel, you are a fallen demon."
Again, he went to the window. "You are evil."
"You made me." Others would want to be exorcised, she only wanted him, demon or not. Her entire existence was a mistake, but one day he would see her.
Chapter 5
DENIAL
* * *
Humans measured time, therefore Dolan needed to be aware of its passage and its meaning. However, with Leora he finally understood. Each trip represented a different milestone he only studied but never witnessed.
Now as he materialized in the upstairs hallway of her home, he instantly sensed yet this may be the biggest change yet.
Death visited here once again, this time leaving the house barren and depleted. Only the stagnant air carried the remnants of someone's end.
Leora wasn't in her room and for the first time he allowed himself the luxury of peeking in around. He needed any bit of ammunition to get out of this promise.
Gone were the photos and little mementoes that set apart this manor from many others. Furniture lay draped in cloths, and it was only when he went to the top of the stairs and peered down that any human life radiated in the house.
"I always think you're not going to show."
He made it to the bottom of the stairs and bent down. Flickering candlelight illuminated the space, her shadow distorted on a large wall. "Yet I always do."
"Until the day I die." She came out from around a corner holding two wine glasses.
The night he stumbled upon a little firecracker with bright red ringlets, he was taken aback. Tonight he was stunned.
Time may not mean much to him, but the four years completely transformed his human captor.
"I'm not dead." The vision in a flowing black dress approached. "Do demons indulge in a little wine, or does only one thing quench your cravings?"
"Who is dead?" He took the glass. In a flash she turned into a woman. The type of woman he was normally called upon to punish and prepare. Amazing what a four year hiatus could accomplish
"My father. Apparently Desmonds' aren't so healthy unless they have been healed through unexplained means." She tapped her glass against his. "I got everything, including this broken down house. It was my mother who had the money. My stepmother tried to fight me, but she didn't realize who I learned from. Her reputation will never be the same."
"Good to know you got what was yours." He took an extra moment to admire his creation. Curves filled out her form, makeup enhanced her already beautiful face, youth still surrounded her, but the bit of age refined her.
"Just about." She stepped closer to him, stopping an inch shy of pressing her body to his and tilting her face up to his. "Just about."
Since the second he found her, or she found him, he tried to suppress his instinct, urges, and training. Lust and arousal ruled his existence, an intense pain he carried with him at not being able to fulfill his destiny. Now, she taunted him by morphing into a sexual being with her hint of cleavage, pouty lips, and hips to grab onto. "It seems like you can have anything you want now."
Through her eyelashes, she glanced at him and then finished off her wine. "Then tell me why I never feel satisfied."
"Because you are selfish and nothing is ever good enough." He took a sip of the drink, the tangy tartness doing nothing for him. Food, wine, they didn't sustain him.
"No, nothing is, but at least I have done a lot of damage." She reached out, ran her finger down his arm and then turned and walked away.
He heated at her light touch, her slight tease, and both instinct and intrigue made him follow her. "Tell me."
She put her glass on the dusty table and spun toward him. "I did only what you told me to do."
"I've told you many things."
"Human men don't do it for me, but they'll never forget me." She licked her lips. "I took what needed, learned what you wouldn't teach, and as I walked away let them know each one of their failings."
The image of her having sex both inflamed and enraged him. For the first time, the minutes, the days the years took on meaning as his cock swelled. Urgent unfulfilled need coursed through him, and he dropped his glass to take her by
the shoulders. "How many?"
At his onslaught, she stiffened but still looked him right in eye, never even bothering to react to the crash of crystal on the wood floor. "What do you care? You made it clear you didn't want me? Made it clear I am nothing but a burden."
"Then why keep me coming to you?" He tightened his hold.
A smile that dripped deception and desire took over her face. "Because I can."
If ever a woman deserved his treatment, it was Leora. The little girl who charmed a demon, the teenager who played with forces beyond her control, the woman who took because she could. "What if I give you everything you want?"
She pressed her hand to his chest. "Am I suddenly something you want?"
He tightened his jaw and took her hand, guiding it to the bulge in his pants. "You're getting there."
"Good, I hope there's more." She cupped his balls through his jeans. "There better be."
"You know better than to doubt me." Once again, he was a demon. Not a babysitter, a nursemaid or a counselor. One who took what he wanted and left nothing but broken women in his wake. A surge of basic carnal need took over, rendering him powerful and ready to do his job. He pulled her in and crushed his mouth to hers.
Her taste filled his mouth, like the rest of her a mixture, sweet and tart combined. No doubt this conquest would return him to the good graces of those above him. Not only would he have her, he basically groomed her for this moment. After tonight, she would never want to be near him again, but she would accept any demon who crossed her path. All he needed was say the spell that would transform her life forever and teach her his final lesson.
She moaned, her body contoured to his and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
He pushed her back.
"This is all I ever wanted." She reached for him, eyes wide, lips full, cheeks flushed.
"Get away from me." He released her, turned and doubled over as the pain hit.
Leora spent ever second of her life in some form of limbo.
The last four years went by in both crept along and sped by in a whirlwind, but she met her goal, came into her own, turned into an adult.
At last Dolan could be hers. He wanted her. His erection left no question.
Their lips met, and limbo disappeared, leaving her in the here and now. The moment she wished and waited for a reality. A glorious one.
His kiss was softer than she anticipated, but it grew, igniting every nerve ending to her core. As if she were made for this, her body flooded, preparing to make this a night they would both remember.
Then the moment ended. Not in a rush, in an orgasm, in a panting finale that left them both satisfied.
Like everyone tried to do to her, he cast her aside as part of the unwanted and forgotten.
He turned away and bent over as if he was in pain, but she knew better. The monster was most likely laughing.
"Dolan!" She stomped to his side.
"Shut up." He swatted her away and hung his head down.
"I don't care if you torture me, I will never let you break your promise." She straightened up and scanned the room. Nothing but old, useless items in a rundown shack. She only kept this place because she was terrified Dolan may not be able to find her.
He braced himself on his knees. "It is not you who is being tortured."
"Don't give me your lines." She walked back to the kitchen, her heels crunching over the broken glass on the way. Before she reached the wine bottle she peeked over her shoulder expecting to find him ready for another battle.
"Dolan?" A tightness encompassed her chest. Did he figure out a way to leave after all? Did the kiss do something? She swallowed and ran back into the main room.
He remained hunched over.
"Dolan?" She returned to him. "What's wrong?"
"I lost control." Still not completely upright, he shuffled to the table and sat down, cradling his own head in his hands.
"What?" She followed and knelt down on the floor, using his knees for support.
"Don't touch me." He recoiled, his entire face covered in sweat.
"What's happening?" She pressed her hands to her chest trying to get her heart to calm down. Everyone died. Her mother, her father. She almost died. Did demons die?
At last he lifted his head, facing her with glazed over copper eyes.
She held her breath waiting for him to speak, make it better.
"You know what I am." His voice came out rough and ragged as if he were awakening from surgery in extreme pain.
"Yes." She reached for him but stopped.
"When I don't complete my assignments it's agonizing." He tilted his head back.
"You've never been like this before."
"It always aches." He inhaled and ran his hands through his hair. "I was close this time. I lost control."
"I'll help you." She stood. "Am I not even good enough for demon?"
A deep chuckle reverberated from his throat. "You are so completely self absorbed that you don't even see what's in front of you. I really topped myself, I should rewarded rather than punished."
Chills ran down her spine at his comment. "Now what."
Finally, he looked at her. "I will writhe in agony before I complete my assignment with you. I will accept any punishment while you spend the next four years pining away and wasting your life. For now, stay away from me and let me wait for the sun so I can be rid of you for a while."
Excruciating pain was the alternative to making love to her. She spent the last four years learning everything to please him, and he didn't even want a sample. "Bastard."
"For a human you have no heart. You truly are magnificent." He treated her to another one of those haunting laughs.
She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes. "I won't let you leave me."
"A fact I am more than aware of."
She opened her eyes and took him in. Over her life he had portrayed many roles, angel, rock star, crush, doctor. Those few scant hours were her world. Dolan was her world, and he was hurting. When she hurt he healed her.
He squeezed the bridge of his nose and bent over once more.
"One night." Her voice caught at letting the words out.
He glanced up at her.
"I am not letting you out of your promise, but I'm giving you one night to do whatever it is you do. You still have to return to me ever other time." She pressed her lips together and turned her back to him. "Just go."
Nothing but silence answered her.
With a nod, she peeked over her shoulder.
He vanished leaving the broken glass as the only evidence he was ever here.
Alone, she broke his rule and let the tears out. He was supposed to stay, guide and take care of her. Instead, she went and sat in his empty chair, her fingers automatically going to the heart necklace she only wore when she saw hem.
She undid the clasp and the necklace pooled in her hand. In order to get him, she needed to give him something. Next time, she would be stronger, but for now she prepared for another four years in purgatory.
Chapter 6
BROKEN
* * *
"I know you're here." Leora fought the urge to wrap her arms around herself and peek over her shoulder. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and straightened up. The echo of her designer stilettos tapping on the worn wood floor let out a much deeper and richer tone than her normal work pumps, but they were worth the expense. He would notice the difference.
Silence answered her words. She closed her eyes and inhaled. The change in the air the electric sizzle that indicated his arrival intensified. Damn him to Hell for making her wait. She shook her head. He was already in Hell. She would have to damn him somewhere else.
She opened her eyes, glancing at her watch and the window. The sky was black. Every minute he wasn't here was one minute less she would have. She returned her hand to her hip, not able to watch the seconds count down.
"If you knew I was here, then why are you looking at the time?"
His voice surrounded her as it did the first time she heard it twenty years ago. As a four-year-old she would have called his tone strong. At twelve it was healing. By the time she was sixteen she would have called it sexy. Today, his voice was heated as it coiled around her, squeezing her, making it hard to breathe.
"You know better than to doubt me." He chuckled.
Doubt. She wasn't certain doubt was the right word. More like anticipation. But she always did doubt he would show. She supposed her disbelief was her punishment for having expectations. "No, you’ve never broken a promise to me." She lifted her head, and remembering he taught her never to show her weakness, she turned.
Dolan never changed. Her whole body froze, reacting to his presence and allowing herself the time to take him in, though she knew every one of his features by heart.
Until she turned eight, she didn't realize how evil exuded from him. Different than monsters or devils, his evil was shrouded in dirty blond hair that grazed his shoulders, a face both masculine and beautiful, and one naughty dimple on the left side of his smile. No one would ever suspect who or what they encountered.
Only his copper eyes revealed he was something other than human.
By the fourth time he came to her, she knew enough to realize his body was sinful. His tall frame filled out his clothes, allowing her to assess every muscle, ridge and bulge. Tonight, he stayed true to his classic fit and style choices in a pair of black jeans and a matching button-down shirt.
He tilted his head. "You look older."
She forced herself to blink and to remember her goal. "Then I assume I am at last old enough to be a fit for a demon." She stepped forward, stopping less than a foot away from him. The back of her throat dried out, and she swallowed.
He put his hand to his chin, his gaze taking her in. "This old song and dance. When will you use the brains you have and leave it alone?"
His words hit her, but rather than retreating, she moved closer. The energy, the tingle, the wafts of spice encompassed her and lured her toward him. "Never."
"You were smart last time. Why don't you release me so I can do what I came here for." He glanced down at her and then shifted his focus beyond her. "I have needs as well."