He hissed the final word, and I tensed. Anything which roused this level of irritation in my master could not be good news.
“This new one again?” I snarled as he approached. “The one Damon was sent to deal with?”
“Precisely.”
“Shit.” The claws which had replaced my fingers balled into an enormous fist, puncturing the gnarled flesh of my palm. “What’s happened?”
Satan blew out a scorching, fiery breath, the flames charring the rocks between us. “It seems, he too, has become consumed with desire for the mortal.”
“She has hexed him?” I queried. “I recall her magic was said to be powerful.”
“Perhaps.” Satan stalked past me, his long cape breezing past my ankles. “Or perhaps he is not as strong as I had been led to believe.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “You think he has developed feelings for the witch?”
I could not help the disdainful tone in my voice. It was one thing for me to seek the solace of Tara, she was only a mortal—a weak and damaged one, I could mold to my liking—but quite another to welcome the whispered word of a Guardian. They were our sworn enemies, and over the centuries, the battles between our kinds had raged around the mortal souls they were so keen to protect.
“It seems so.” Satan halted, swiveling back to meet my gaze. “But then, that does seem to be a recurring theme among my demons these days.”
“You speak of Tara.” I took a step toward him. “You think I am weaker because I choose to keep her.”
“Not weaker,” he clarified. “Just distracted. You are there, delivering soft caresses when you should be here serving me.”
Falling to one knee before him, I lowered my head.
“You know my loyalty is always to you, Master. Forgive me if I have permitted the mortal to occupy too much of my time.”
He sighed, flicking his hand dismissively.
“It’s not as though I don’t understand it,” he said with a wistful tone. “I have had my share of enchanting nubile mortals over the centuries.”
“Naturally, Master.” I grinned. “They would all flock to you.”
“Perhaps I am just in need of a dose of good carnality myself?” His chin rose as if the answer he sought was carved into the rock surrounding us. “All of this anger does consume a lot of energy. The distraction might be good.”
“It does,” I agreed. “And having enjoyed some recently, I am inclined to concur.”
Satan smirked at me. “Oh, I bet,” he replied with a laugh. “And don’t forget, I still want to meet this little nymph of yours.”
“Yes, Master. I told her as much.”
“Warned her, more like?” His brow rose, daring me to challenge him on the point. “Yet you don’t feel like sharing her with me?”
My gaze lowered to the stone floor, thoughts of Tara filling my head.
“It sounds illogical, yet the answer is no. I do not want to share her, Master.” Lifting my chin, I caught his eyes. “Not unless you command it.”
He shook his head, the burned orange of his eyes dulling.
“I do not,” he replied. “I want a distraction of my own, not to destroy the one which brings you pleasure. I was thinking maybe I would take on this new Guardian myself. It has been too many years since I corrupted one of her kind.”
His eyes lit up at the prospect, and I grinned in response.
“It’s a good idea, Master,” I encouraged. “If you think the dominion could spare you.”
He blew out another breath. There was less intensity in the flames which erupted from his lips, but they still heated the rocks below.
“Hell has six other princes with supremacy.”
“But none of them are you, Master.” I smiled, knowingly, enjoying the way his lips curled around the jagged fangs at his mouth. It was not only that I wanted to ingratiate myself with him—though naturally, I yearned to be in his favor—I actually meant it. While all the princes had significant power, none of the others could match my master. “And what of your sins? Someone will need to bring order to wrath if you are absent.”
“Indeed.” His tone was pensive. “That is where you come in. Rise Solomon.” His voice promised a reward for my loyalty.
“What can I do to serve you?”
He chuckled at my eager timbre.
“You can watch over wrath’s realm for me, ensure it has fair bidding in the mix of sin.” He paused as his grin returned. “I am sure my princes will be keen to take a share of its sinners.”
I suppressed my smile out of respect to the other princes but agreed with Satan wholeheartedly. Each prince had dominion over one deadly sin and often competed for souls they could capture and afflict with their own variety of hell—the game that had amused demons for all the ages.
“You would trust me with such an honor?”
“Should I not trust you, Solomon?” Satan’s brow rose. “You were the first fallen angel I took under my wing all those centuries ago. In many ways, you have been like a son to me. It is only right you have the chance to handle the reins of power in my absence.”
“It would be a privilege, Master.”
“So, you want it?” he probed, stepping toward me. “You will stay here and caretake the world’s wrath?”
“Can I bring my little mortal to keep me company?”
“Keep you company?” he smirked. “A big brute like you, Solomon?”
Laughing at his reply, I clarified. “Well, I need a hot cunt to fuck while I wield this power, Master.”
“Indeed.” He pressed his dark lips into a hard line as he considered my wish. “Bring her to me. I need to meet the hot cunt in question before I can give you an answer.”
I had expected the demand.
“I shall, but she has never seen our true form.” I hesitated, glancing down at my hulking, hairy build as I stood before him. “Can I ask you to take a human guise before she arrives?”
Satan rolled his eyes. “Of course,” he murmured with a sigh. “The blasted human form. I haven’t missed its irritating limitations, yet I suppose if I wish to lure the Guardian, I must conform to them. She also would not be tempted by this beast.” He gestured toward himself, and I sniggered.
“Mortals do tend to find it overwhelming,” I agreed, intentionally playing down the revulsion humans demonstrated whenever they were faced with the realities of hell—of our kind. “Perhaps it will be best.”
“Fine,” he huffed. “I shall summon the old guise, and you, Solomon, you shall go and get her. I want to cast an eye over the mortal who has mesmerized you.”
“Of course, Master. I shall return with her henceforth, ready to take the helm until you relieve me.”
“I think it shall be the alluring Tara who relieves you, my old friend.” His brow rose at his own salacious joke. “And I shall be happy for her to do so. I have not fornicated with another demon for some years.”
“Naturally, Master,” I replied with a smile. “We do put up too much of a fight, don’t we?”
“Get out of here!” He sneered, revealing a serrated line of teeth. “Go back to your woman and prepare her for the task which awaits. For it is not only you who will need to reside in perdition while I am gone but her as well.”
An image of Tara naked at my feet while I ruled in Satan’s place filled my mind, and my lips curled. It was a good, promising prospect, so long as she could keep her fear under control. So far, I was the only demon she had encountered, and she had never left the safety of the confines I created for her. Existing in hell, even for a short time, was going to be quite the departure for the little mortal, and it would test her obedience and loyalty for all it was worth. The idea excited me. I wanted to punish and denigrate her further, and this dark palace was the perfect place to do so.
“She will do as she is told,” I assured my master. “Or she will be punished if she does not.”
He grinned, and all around us, the atmosphere lightened as though all of perdition was affected by my master’s m
ood.
“Fabulous! Let us not waste time. You have a mortal to retrieve, and I have a Guardian to bring down.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tara
Wherever this was, I had seen it all. Every inch of the contrived space. Every corner it had to offer. I’d tried to sleep to no avail, eaten the food which manifested on demand, and walked the perimeter. What I couldn’t do, though, was sit down and think.
So much had happened, and every act had been at my request. I got everything I ever wanted—a way to enact my retribution, a way out of the crappy little room I’d been forced to reside in like a rodent, an opportunity for a life with power and meaning. I should be happy—I was happy—but the endless minutes without Solomon left me bereft.
There was too much time—time to reflect, to ponder the consequences of the decisions I’d chosen.
“Worried about the consequences, are we?”
My attention was on the far wall as his voice swirled from behind me. The Renaissance-style imagery there seemed to furl as my eyes settled on the naked cherubs grinning at me with wanton blue eyes. I started at his tone, my heart missing a beat before it sped to a faster rhythm, but I didn’t question his abrupt reappearance. This was my demon master. Naturally, I hadn’t heard the soft tread of his arrival. I would only hear those things when he decided I should.
Solomon.
The thought of him filled my mind—Solomon was back.
“No, Master,” I murmured, turning to find him exactly where I’d imagined him to be, standing behind me, shirt undone to reveal just a tantalizing fragment of his muscular body. “Not worried. Just dwelling on them.”
He pressed his lips into a firm line as he advanced toward me.
“Then I have left you for too long,” he said in a contemplative tone. “There should be no need for my little mortal to concern herself over such trifles.”
“I do not think such things are mere trifles,” I replied, laughing lightly. “I have always had a propensity to overthink, Master, and your absence allowed the instinct to burgeon.”
“Just as well, I have returned.” Beside me once more, those dazzling eyes sparkled down at me. “For there is no time for thinking now. I have been tasked with an important role, and it means changes for us both.”
A ball of dread knotted in my belly. “Changes?”
“Yes.”
“Will I like these changes?” My voice was tiny, the answer to my question the pressing matter in the world.
He tilted his head. “Like them?” He shook his head with a grin. “Should I be concerned about your likes now, Tara?”
I bit my lip, sensing he was mocking me and unsure how to respond. His tongue flitted from his mouth, and I stood, hypnotized, as he ran it along his lips. Those lips. The lips which had captured me with their tenderness and pleasure.
“You concern yourself with things which are no longer yours to worry about.” His gaze burned into me, his eyes serious despite his softening expression. “Listen now, Tara, and understand me.”
I shifted, pressing into his hard body, though I was sure I hadn’t commanded my feet to move. Solomon had controlled them with the intensity of his scorching gaze, a feat I knew he was capable of achieving.
“You shall no longer think on these things. Your future is with me—by my side and at my feet—wherever and however, I deem it necessary.”
My heart raced at his words, my emotions swinging between trepidation and wonder.
“I think…” He paused, those delicious lips curling at his own thought. “You will come to enjoy the things I ask of you, but if I am wrong, you must endure them. It is what you agreed to. Do you understand?”
Nodding, a surge of feeling rose in me. I wasn’t sure if it was the starkness of his verdict or the realization Solomon had given me everything I’d ever wanted. Or maybe, there was some other reason for the tears that stung my eyes. I blinked them away, confused by the display of emotion and embarrassed it had happened now, of all times.
Solomon arched a brow at me. “You are sad at my edict?”
One tear escaped down my cheek, and I wiped at it with the heel of my hand.
“No, Master,” I whispered with a sniff. “It’s just a lot to take in.”
“I do not comprehend all of your mortal emotions.” His hand rose, resting at the side of my face and wiping the remainder of the water away. “Our kind is never burdened with such frailty.”
I lowered my gaze. “I’m sorry. It’s just the way I am.”
“Then you should not apologize, Tara.” The hand at my cheek shifted, guiding my chin north to meet his insistent gaze. “Never apologize for what you are.”
“But it’s different from you,” I murmured. “Less than you.”
“Naturally,” he smirked. “You could never hope to be as powerful as I. You are so young and so innocent, where I have lived an endless and God-forsaken existence.”
“Yet you want me with you?”
My head was starting to ache with the weight of all the competing concepts. His age and experience versus my comparative youth. His infinite dark powers versus everything I had been through, all coupled with the promises I had made to him—giving him all my heart and soul for the rest of my life or as long as he wanted them.
It should be crazy—it was crazy—yet gazing up into his voracious expression, I didn’t query my logic, didn’t regret the choices I’d made. Dark and dangerous, Solomon may be, but in all my life, he was the only one who had come through for me.
“Yes.” He breathed the word, my eyes briefly fluttering closed at the warmth of his breath. “You humans like to think you are complex, but that is laughable. My kind is a complicated breed. We want more than your heart can yearn for. We want everything.”
“But I can offer you so little in return?”
“You offer something you do not see the value in, little mortal.”
My brow furrowed with confusion until he chuckled.
“Do not look so bewildered,” he chastised playfully. “I mean only your virtue. You have an innocence I have never had, and for all my corruption, I will not allow it to be tainted. Every time I look at you, I want to see that light in your eyes.”
I inhaled, breathing in the scent which seemed to encircle him, a spicy aroma reminding me of the aniseed I’d enjoyed as a child—before Gavin.
“What do you need me to do, Master?” I was reconciled by his words, or maybe it was his presence which calmed me. “I will do whatever you demand.”
“I know you will.” His palm stroked under my chin, caressing my heated cheek as it made its way to my hair. “That is the thing about my possession of you, Tara. I can only enter by invitation, yet once I have you, you will find it is much more difficult to make me leave.”
His fingers tightened in my hair, a warning perhaps of what was to come, but it was lost on me, pinioned as I was by the weight of his knowing stare.
“It is the same for all mortals. Their curiosity compels them to reach out to a power they could not hope to understand. Some hope to govern it, others want only to revel in it.” He laughed, revealing those perfect white teeth. “And you, Tara, what did you want?”
“Your help,” I mumbled, knowing he would read them in my mind. “I needed your help, Master.”
“Yes.” His voice oozed with quiet authority, the timbre making that one word last for multiple syllables. “You wanted to employ that power—my power.”
“Yes.” I nodded my head as much as his hand would allow.
“I’m so glad you did, Tara Levinson.” He beamed, the sort of smile that might have swept me off my feet completely had he not already had control over me. “You have become my obsession, my newest plaything, and now it is time to show you off.”
“Wh-what does that mean, Master?” I squeaked. “How will you show me off?” Even the intensity in his eyes couldn’t prevent the way my belly twisted at that inference.
Steadying me, Solomon brushed his lip
s over mine.
“I’m glad you asked because that leads me back to the task at hand.”
I pulled in a shaky breath, sensing whatever came next would be imperative.
“My master is to be earthbound in the short term.”
“Earthbound?”
“Yes,” he said soothingly, smiling at me tenderly. “As I have been. He needs to walk among mortals for a while.”
My breath caught, my throat drying at the idea of Solomon’s master wandering around with everyday people.
“Which means two things for you and me.”
I tensed, unable to suppress my reaction but didn’t say anything. Whatever those things were, they would be the crux of the matter—the reason he was here, his fist in my hair, and I was lost in his beguiling gaze.
“You are right.” He hesitated, drawing away only a few inches. “My master has asked me to take his place in his absence.”
“T-take his place?” My eyes widened with alarm. “In Hell?”
His lips twitched. “Naturally,” he replied with a shrug. “And since you are mine, that means I must take you there earlier than I had planned.”
“You want me to go there with you?” The knot of anxiety furled until it was painful until I could scarcely take another breath. “To Hell?”
“Oh, yes.” His gaze sparkled at the thought. “There is no way I would leave you behind, little mortal. Not now that we have become so attached to one another.”
“But…” I hesitated, struggling to catch my breath. All at once, it seemed as there was no oxygen in the place—no way to satiate my lung’s desire. “But can I go there? Can I survive?”
He laughed, amused at my question.
“Mortals are sent there all the time,” he assured me.
“But aren’t they dead, Master?” I could hardly believe I was saying the words, let alone to a demon as powerful as Solomon, but it was important. When I’d given myself to him, I hadn’t envisioned this. He’d said I could live out many more years on earth before he called me elsewhere. “And I won’t be?”
My heart hammered in my chest as if it was daring him to counter me. He’d inferred before there would be no need to prematurely end my life, but everything he suggested now seemed to say otherwise. Would he really kill me in order to take me with him? I certainly knew he was both capable and inclined toward death, yet I had trusted in his words.
Defy Me: A Paranormal Demon Romance (The Demonology Series Book 2) Page 14