Rummaging through my bag, I decided that my favorite hoodie was the best chance I had of feeling even slightly like myself in this insane life I was suddenly living, so I pulled it on and headed back downstairs.
The moment I stepped into the living room, I could feel Matteo’s eyes on me. I wondered if the others could tell, but couldn’t exactly ask them. While I wasn’t able to control the flush that spread on my cheeks when I saw him, I was proud of myself for not cringing and running away. I squared my shoulders and took a seat in an unoccupied sofa.
“You guys got any wine around here?” I asked as I made myself comfortable. Liquid courage, that was what I needed if I was going to survive this group.
Damon nodded, the corners of his mouth turning up when he read the words on my hoodie. “Any kind you want. Avada Kedavra? What language is that? Is that Elvish?”
“Red. Lots of,” I answered without hesitation, then added, “please. And the phrase is from Harry Potter. It’s the killing curse.”
“Your wish is my command. Killing curse, huh? You haven’t even known us one whole day.” Damon grinned and then disappeared from the room.
The remaining three guys had their huge bodies draped in various positions on the couches, looking like they didn’t have a care in the world. Each had a small pile of brownies somewhere on his person or pillow.
“Want one?” Lachlan passed the plate they’d piled the brownies onto to me. “Cute shirt, though I’d rather you hold off on the killing curses for now.”
“Thanks.” I made my own pile of brownies. “And, fine. I will, but consider yourselves warned that I know it if I need it.”
They chuckled as Damon came back with not a bottle of wine, but a case. He wore a wicked grin as he uncorked a bottle and poured some for everyone, then settled onto the couch he had been in when I’d gotten downstairs.
“If you guys really are demons, why are you being so nice to me?” I blurted out the question that had been plaguing me since that afternoon. And I hadn’t even had a sip of my wine yet. I remedied the situation by taking a swig that drained half the glass.
Lachlan laughed. “Demons aren’t evil, Stevie. That’s a myth. We were made to create balance in the universe, to promote free will.”
“The ancient priests didn’t think much of free will,” Damon added. “So they started telling people that demons were evil and voila.” He snapped his fingers. “The myth was created.”
“How do you become a demon then? If you’re not an evil person who died and went to hell?” Holy crap. Where had that come from? I backtracked quickly. “Or did it happen to you like it happened to me?”
Rex laughed softly. It wasn’t a sound I thought I’d ever hear from him, but he seemed more relaxed now that he was talking in a place that he clearly considered safe. He surprised me more by being the first person to start telling me his story.
“I was out on my twenty-first birthday when it happened to me, too. I don’t remember much about exactly what happened, I was slaughtered drunk and pounding tequila by the boatload when this warm feeling started spreading through me. I thought it was the tequila, but it wasn’t. When I woke up the next morning, my first clue that I’d changed was the fact that I had absolutely no sign of a hangover.”
“It’s an epic perk,” Matteo chimed in, but he was looking kind of pale.
“Yeah it is,” Rex agreed. “Anyway, I was lying in my bed and wished that I had someone to take care of my morning wood for me. Out of fucking nowhere there was this insanely hot girl lying next to me. Bare ass naked.”
Lachlan and Damon laughed, but Matteo only managed a strained smile. Clearly, the memories of his own demonization weren’t as pleasant as Rex’s.
“So you just wished for a girl and she was there?” I asked disbelievingly.
“Yup.” He made a popping sound with his lips on the “p” and sat back, looking extremely self- satisfied.
“The first magic I did was also on the night of my twenty-first, but I didn’t get a chick. I got a yacht,” Lachlan said.
I gaped at him. “A yacht?”
“Yeah, my house used to be close to the marina but my parents were dirt poor, so we never had anything like that. My friends and I were drinking on the beach and I told them that one day I was going to own the biggest yacht in town. Next thing I knew, this giant ship appeared out of thin air and literally had my name on it.”
“Only you,” Rex said with a shake of his head. “I still think mine is better though.”
“You would,” Damon replied. He wasn’t pale like Matteo still was, but he looked pensive and he didn’t launch into his story like the others had.
I realized that I had unwittingly touched a nerve with Damon and Matteo, so I scrambled to change the subject, blurting out the first thing that jumped into my head.
“Have you ever played a game called Never Have I Ever?”
Matteo exhaled what was clearly a sigh of relief. The light was already seeping back into his gorgeous brown eyes when he tilted his head at me curiously. “Nope, never heard of it. How do you play?”
I tried to keep my eyes steady on his, but I was kind of melting underneath them. Looking around the room, I saw that Lachlan and Rex were shaking their heads but Damon surprised me by nodding.
“I think I have, back in college maybe,” he said. I was so shocked by his offhanded mention of the fact that he’d gone to college that I was pretty sure you could knock me over with a feather if you were inclined to try.
“You went to college?” I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was, but something about all these guys seemed so otherworldly that I couldn’t imagine them having friends or twenty-first birthday parties, certainly not doing something as mundane as going to college.
Mischief glinted in Damon’s eyes and his lips curved into a grin. “I did. Would you believe that I actually have a degree in political sciences?”
“No way.” I shook my head, looking to the others for confirmation. They nodded, clearly amused by my surprise.
“Business management for me,” Matteo offered. “I have an entrepreneurial spirit,” he said with a shrug.
I was stunned, but I was also really enjoying getting to know them all a little better.
“So,” Lachlan said, drawing our attention back to the subject at hand. “This game you mentioned?”
“Oh yeah.” I looked to Damon to explain it, but he nodded at me.
Do the honors, his poison-greens seemed to be saying. I looked away quickly because it was so not the time to get swept into their impossible depths.
“Okay, so it’s a drinking game, I guess.” This earned me approving glances all around. “You have to say something that you’ve never done and everyone who has done it has to drink.”
“Sounds interesting,” Lachlan said, the corners of his cobalt eyes crinkling with laughter. “But what happens if there’s nothing you haven’t done? Do you just get passed by every time it’s your turn and drink when it’s someone else’s? Cause then it just sounds like it’s going to be a normal night of drinking for me.”
“There has to be something you haven’t done.” I arched an eyebrow at him.
He flashed me a devilish grin and shook his head, causing a piece of his light hair to fall into his eyes. “Am I right when I assume that this is mostly a game about what you’ve done sexually?”
Shit.
He was right. I was suddenly beyond embarrassed for having suggested it. So much for going with the first thing that popped into my head.
Damon saved me from having to answer the painfully humiliating question. “You’re right.”
“Then, no, I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything that I’ve never done,” Lachlan said, then winked at Damon. “Wait, there might be one thing. I’ll start. I’ve never done anything remotely sexual with anyone in this room.”
Damon gave him a pointed look, but couldn’t completely hide his smile. Rex leaned over to high five Lachlan. Matteo shook his head, a
wry smile on his face as he tipped his glass in Lachlan’s direction and drank.
I wanted to crawl under the table, but I reminded myself that they already knew and I lived with them now. Besides, for some reason I felt more comfortable in my skin when I was around them, especially now that I was getting to know them better. So I looked Lachlan straight in the eye and raised my glass to my lips.
His mouth quirked up, the bright fire in his eyes dancing. Strangely, he looked like he was proud of me. “Your turn.”
I wanted to shock them somehow, but I was so inexperienced that it was hard to think of anything that stood so much as a chance with these guys. I changed tactics, deciding to go with something that wouldn’t reveal my inexperience to them just yet. It was only a matter of time before they found out anyway given the game I’d chosen, but every minute counted.
“I’ve never gotten a blowjob before.”
Lachlan and Matteo laughed, Damon shook his head at me and Rex simply raised his glass to the others. They mirrored his gesture and they all drained their glasses.
“You don’t have to drink for every one that you’ve gotten, right?” Lachlan asked. “Cause then you’ve got to get more wine. Or we have to just face facts and go drink in the cellar.”
“I don’t think so.” Damon raised a dark brow at me. I shook my head, trying very hard not to picture my mouth on each and every one of them. He held my gaze, then smirked at me as he took his turn. “My turn then. I’ve never given a blowjob.”
When I didn’t drink, all four pairs of eyebrows shot up and they gaped at me. As the game wore on, I got used to receiving that reaction from them. Even though I wasn’t drinking for the game, I found my wine evaporating faster and faster and pretty soon, I had a decent buzz going.
It was only when I remembered that I also had an evil, magical nemesis who wanted me dead that the wind left my sails and I was left feeling exhausted and raw.
“I think I should call it a night,” I informed them when the cork of yet another bottle of wine was popped.
“You okay?” Rex asked, his eyebrows knit in concern.
“I’m fine, just feeling a little buzzed. It’s time for me to get to bed,” I said, forcing a smile.
“Okay,” Damon agreed. “Let us know if you need anything, yeah? We’ll still be down here for a while I think.”
“I’ll do that, thanks.”
By the time I climbed into bed, I was in a strange space that felt bittersweet. I could be days from death, but somehow, here with Rex, Matteo, Lachlan and Damon?
I’d never felt more alive.
Chapter 8
So strange, how complete the darkness was.
I shivered and glanced around me at the open field. One second, I’d been lying in bed, the room spinning around me. The next, I was here—wherever here was—wondering why, and feeling very alone.
“Damon?” I called softly, squinting to see anything past the tree line in the distance.
Then suddenly, I heard it. The sounds of footfalls, quickening into a run. Many feet, thundering toward me.
I didn’t know what was coming, but I knew deep in my gut, it was bad. Instinctively, I began to run, my heart beating faster as I pushed into a sprint. Fire shot from the ground in hiding spouts all around me like land mines and I let out a scream. I risked a glance over my shoulder, and promptly wished I hadn’t. Wild beasts with fangs thundered across the open expanse of grass, already closing ground between me and them.
My lungs felt like they were about to burst from the strain, but I couldn’t stop running. I couldn’t let up. I knew that if I slowed at all I would be dead.
I heard Damon shout behind me and turned in horror, nearly stumbling when I saw him engaged in a fight with a creature double his size. I wanted to turn. To go help him, but suddenly Lach was by my side, pulling on my hand and yelling for me to keep going.
The greatest fear I had ever known gripped my heart and spread like icy fire through my veins, not only for me but for my demon protectors as well. For Damon, currently fighting a giant. For Matteo and Rex who had come to join the melee, and were tearing into these creatures with their bare hands. And for Lachlan who never left my side even though I knew that he could run faster without me. Knew that they all had a good shot of getting away if they left me for dead.
After all, I was the intended target, wasn’t I?
As if summoned by my thoughts, an ethereal figure floated down in front of us, a woman with snow-white hair and pitch-black eyes. A succubus, like me. I could sense it. And I needed no introduction as those eyes lit with an unholy glee as she tried to block our escape. I managed to feint right and get past her, but Lachlan didn’t and suddenly disappeared into a pile of dust.
“Lach! Nooo!”
I skidded to a stop, despair welling up inside me like a wave as the fighting around me intensified, the smoke from the surrounding fires making it difficult to see. I lost sight of Damon and panic gripped my heart. One by one, the guys disappeared until it was only me and Luci left.
“Don’t fight this, Stevie. Come to me willingly and I’ll make your death a quick one. I might even spare one of your protectors,” her voice called to me.
“Stevie, angel, don’t listen to her!” A rush of relief swept through me when I heard Damon’s voice call from somewhere inside of the cloud of smoke.
I ran back into the fray, desperate to find out if it was really him or just a trick, but as I ran, she was hot on my heels. And then I was surrounded in every direction.
As I stared at the writhing, awful creatures in front of me, and felt her presence only a foot behind me, I knew I was fucked. Well and truly fucked. I turned and she smiled a cruel, cold smile that barely made it past her mouth, let alone to her eyes.
“Because of your obstinance, girl, you will watch your protectors be dragged to the bowels of hell for their penance, and then I will do things to you that will make you beg for your own death.”
An anguished scream ripped from my lungs as the ground split, leaving the earth open like a gaping maw of molten fire.
“No!”
I woke with a start, the scream dying on my lips as the field disappeared around me. It was replaced by my enormous bedroom in the stone mansion and Lachlan bursting through the heavy door.
“Are you okay?” His eyes darted around the room, his stance defensive, every muscle tense. “What’s going on?”
My breath was coming in quick gasps, my eyes stinging with tears as he stood over me. I tried to blink away the horrifying images conjured up by my mind, and failed miserably. Sobs wracked through my body and Lachlan scooped me up into his arms, whispering softly to me.
“It’s okay, Stevie. You’re safe. I promise. You’re safe, you’re okay,” he soothed, running his hands over my back and stroking my hair as I crawled into his lap.
“I...” I sobbed. “You...”
“You’re safe, so am I. So is everyone else. They’re downstairs, I promise. Everyone’s fine,” he whispered reassuringly. “If you want, I’ll prove it to you. I’ll go get them.”
My hands flew around his neck, my fingers digging into his shoulders. “Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave.”
Lach wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace, his breath on my ear as he kept whispering to me. “Okay, baby, I’m not going anywhere. Relax. It’s okay.”
He held me until the sobs subsided, until I was nothing but a tear-streaked mess shivering in his arms. “I had a nightmare.”
“I thought as much.” He pulled away from me only enough to wipe the remaining tears from my cheeks, his protective eyes blazing into me even if the only light was the moonlight filtering in through the windows. “Want to talk about it?”
“There was a woman. She had long, white hair. I…I think it was Luci. She was chasing me. Chasing us with an army. She told me to come to her willingly, that she would spare you guys if I did. Damon told me not to, why did he tell me not to?” A fresh sob escaped. I knew that it was
irrational to blame them for what they’d done in my dreams, but I couldn’t help it.
“You haven’t known us for very long, but you already know that we would never do anything that would hurt you. Especially not if it was to spare ourselves,” Lach replied evenly. “Even in your dreams, you know that. We are here to protect you, and that’s what we’ll do.”
I clung to him, listening to the steady beat of his heart and breathing in his scent. He smelled vaguely like the ocean I now knew he had grown up near. “But I don’t want to lose you.” Not when I’d just found them all.
“You won’t. We’re not that easy to get rid of.”
Despite my uncontrollable panic, I managed a watery smile at his confidence. Lach’s lips turned up against my cheek as he smiled back and planted a soft kiss there.
“Promise?” I peered up into his eyes, needing that assurance, letting it soothe me.
“I promise that we will all do everything in our power to protect you. To stay with you, always.” It wasn’t exactly what I’d asked for, but it was what he could honestly give me.
And for now, that had to be enough.
“I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” I whispered.
“You’re not a mess.” His expression was solemn. “You’re scared, Stevie. That’s all. It’s been a long day with a lot of changes. Nightmares are natural under the circumstances. You should get some rest.”
Lachlan shifted and lifted me from his lap, setting me gently back down on the bed. He pulled the covers over me, dropping another kiss on my forehead.
I hesitated. “Will you stay with me? I just...”
His face went tight as he stood. Fear gripped my heart, but he took one look at my expression before he started soothing me again. “Relax, baby girl, I’m not going anywhere. I’m just not sleeping in jeans.”
That made sense, I guessed as I collapsed onto the mattress. Despite that I was still shivering with fear—or maybe because of it—I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Lachlan as he stripped right in front of me for the second time that day. He was all right. Alive, well, and right here. Close enough to touch.
Her Demon Harem: Reverse Harem Duology 1 (The Succubus Chronicles) Page 6