by Debra Dunbar
“I’m flattered at your attention and interest, Harkel, but I have to let you know that I also have a previous significant link with another demon. I have a long-standing tie with an incubus named Irix, and his breeding proposal is also under consideration.”
It wasn’t. Irix had never expressed an interest in having children with me. Admittedly, children with me would require more commitment than between two full demons, but it still stung. Once again, old thoughts of marriage and kids sprang to life, only this time it was Irix as my husband, as the father of my children. It hurt to think that would never happen.
“Irix?” Something sparked in Harkel’s eyes at the mention of the sex demon. “The pair of you would create an impressive sex demon. I can understand why his proposal would be at the top of your many offers. Perhaps mine will be next? I do not demand exclusivity.”
I’d been told that demons seldom did. And although there was no breeding proposal from Irix, that excuse did buy me some time.
Harkel leaned down to kiss me again, slow and deep. “Perhaps, since I am here across the gateways from Hel…?” he murmured against my lips.
I understood. I’d tied this demon to me and he wanted me just as much, if not more, than I wanted him. My heartrate jumped at the thought of repeating the encounter we’d had in Hel, or maybe this time something different.
“Perhaps a brief encounter. I’d hate for you to return to Hel unsatisfied, but I do have some business I’m completing at this vineyard during the next few months.”
Again there was that spark of interest in his dark eyes. “I don’t see what could possibly interest a succubus such as yourself in the dirt outside this winery. And wine? Such an elven beverage. Although since you appear to have Owned the soul of an elf, perhaps you’ve learned to enjoy such things as plants and fermented grapes.”
“I’ll admit I do enjoy them.” I thought for a second. “And I need to let you know that Irix arrived last night for a lengthy stay with me. The nature of our relationship is such that it would be rude of me to engage in physical intercourse with another demon at this time without at least notifying him first.”
He blinked, tilting his head as he regarded me. “You have a tie with me. Any demon would understand that leads to a certain familiarity. There should be no need for Irix to grant permission, or to even know about anything that happens between us.”
I felt the sweat pool between my breasts. I couldn’t keep Harkel’s presence from Irix, nor could I have sex with the warmonger without Irix’s knowledge. But how was I going to explain this in terms that wouldn’t reveal I was less than a full succubus? “The next few months I’ve dedicated to Irix. I also have a tie with him, and your arrival here is unexpected. I’m not sure what sort of encounter you have in mind, but I will definitely make time for you. I vowed to Irix that I would tell him about any planned sexual act with another demon during the time he’s with me. It’s simply a formality.”
That sounded horrible, like I was trying to squeeze Harkel in on the side. Like he was an illicit affair that I needed to schedule around my other lovers. Irix would be so angry, but I didn’t see any other way out of this. I’d let him know about Harkel’s arrival, let him know that I needed to have sex with the warmonger, then hopefully afterward, Harkel would return to Hel for another few decades at least.
Irix would just have to be angry, because as much as I wanted to keep this from him, he had to know. I needed to tell him that Harkel had sought me out across the gates, and that I’d consented to a sexual encounter with him, not just because I owed him that due to our tie, but because I wanted this warmonger as much as he wanted me.
Harkel smiled, leaning back so he could cup my face in his hands. “Then I will indulge your silly request to alert Irix of my presence as well as your intention to have sex with me. I want you, little succubus. With you I feel like an angel again. Read my fantasies, Amber. Read them, and then you’ll know what I want from you.”
There was a thread of command in his words, a knowledge that I would never be able to deny him what he wanted. And as his desires spooled into me, I realized he was right. Wow. My legs were weak just thinking about it.
“I will be happy to oblige, Harkel. As soon as I’m finished here at work and consult with Irix, I will fulfill all of those fantasies and more.”
Work. Oh crap, I was standing in the middle of the walkway holding and kissing someone. Scotty and Manny were just ten feet from me. What must they be thinking? They’d seen me in passionate embraces with Kai, and now Harkel, and no doubt they’d see me with Irix within the next few days. I pulled slightly away from the warmonger and turned, expecting to see the two men scowling at me in shock, or at the very least disapproval over my less-than-professional behavior.
They weren’t paying one bit of attention to me because they were fighting. As in, exchanging blows, fighting.
I turned back to Harkel. “Seriously?”
He gave me a sheepish grin and shrugged. “I am a warmonger. It is what I do.”
I swatted him playfully on the shoulder, pulling out of his arms. “Well, don’t do it at my place of employment. Go cause strife somewhere else.”
“You are killing my joy. Spoiling my sport,” he teased, but with a wave of his hand Manny and Scotty stopped fighting. I hoped this didn’t ruin their working relationship.
It didn’t bother me that he’d made two of my co-workers fight. He was right, it was who he was. And the fact that he was a warmonger, that he’d no doubt been responsible for vast numbers of human deaths throughout the centuries didn’t dull the attraction I felt for him.
“Can I see you tonight? Perhaps in one or two hours?” His fingers traced along the edge of my jaw. “After you finish this strange work thing you are doing in service to the humans?”
Definitely, but where? And when? I couldn’t risk getting fired for doing someone in the tasting room. Irix was probably out taking care of his own needs and wouldn’t return until sunset. We could use my trailer. I’d tell Harkel to come by late tonight, after I’d had a chance to break the news to Irix and plan on how I could make this happen, how I could satisfy Harkel without exposing myself further.
“Nine o’clock tonight,” I told him. “There are a few things I need to finish first, and I want to prepare if we’re going to do…what you want to do.”
This felt weird, like I was planning on cheating, even though Irix had never been jealous of my succubus needs, or even my relationship with Kai. I knew it wasn’t that Irix was jealous of Harkel. He was only worried that with repeated contact, Harkel would eventually discover what I was. I’d tell Irix. I’d enjoy a wild romp with this warmonger. Then he’d return to Hel satisfied and Irix and I could go back to business as usual.
But Irix would want to stay while I was fucking this warmonger. I knew he wouldn’t want me to be alone with Harkel, just in case he needed to intervene. I’ll admit there was a part of me that hoped he would watch the pair of us, his eyes dark with passion. Hmmm. I’d known that Kai would never have been interested in having a threesome with Irix and I, but Harkel…
“My place.” I told the warmonger the address, again emphasizing that he should be there at nine tonight.
He smiled, brushing his thumb across my lower lip before turning to go. “I count the hours, Amber.”
Chapter 5
I didn’t feel like a femme fatale succubus as I made my way back to my trailer that evening. I stank with sweat. My hair was a damp mess. I was covered in dirt and mulch, and I was tired as well as hungry, having missed lunch. My growling stomach probably had as much to do with my exhaustion as the work I’d done today.
Irix had left a note for me that he’d gone out to recharge and would be back at dusk. I eyed the sun low on the horizon and realized that I’d have time for a quick shower before he got back. Unfortunately, his arrival time was dangerously close to when I was supposed to be having a passionate encounter with Harkel. Hopefully the incubus would be early, otherwi
se I’d need to stall the warmonger until Irix returned. Just in case either arrived while I was in the shower, I wrote a quick note and stuck it on the front door.
I was starting to regret my agreement to have sex with Harkel. Yes, I still wanted him, but with the warmonger’s absence, the reality of my situation hit me hard. I was just making things worse by prolonging this relationship with Harkel, but I couldn’t figure a way out of this situation I was in. He was an ancient, and my actions in Hel led him to believe our relationship was more than it was. I needed to be respectful. I needed to fulfill my obligations, no matter how unintended they’d been. And I needed to walk a tightrope of familiarity and distance to ensure I got out of this alive and didn’t wind up as an ancient demon’s dungeon toy.
I showered, then puttered around the trailer in my underwear, getting a bite to eat and opening a bottle of wine. At a quarter to nine I heard a knock at the door and cringed, wondering if I could climb out the back window and escape. Irix wasn’t back yet. The sun was just setting, and he should be here any minute. I just needed to stall.
I couldn’t run away from this. If Harkel had tracked me down this time, he certainly could do so again. The warmonger seemed earnest in his affections. I didn’t want to piss off a high level demon, but I didn’t want to hurt him either. And I wanted him. I returned his affections. I might not feel about him the same way I felt about Irix, but I still cared for him in a way that led me to believe we might have a future together. I’d just lost a future with Kai, possibly even our friendship. Perhaps this sort of love would be easier with a demon who didn’t feel the need to comply with human ideas of monogamy. If only I didn’t have to worry about him discovering I was a half-elf. If only I was a full demon and could enter into these sorts of relationships without having to hide half of who I was.
I answered the door, realizing too late that I was still in my underwear, my damp hair hanging down my back, a glass of wine in my hand. Harkel was looking like a Wall Street executive in his silk suit, one hand in his pocket and the other holding…a flower?
“In keeping with your elven appearance, I brought you a rose.”
Oh my God, the demon brought me a flower. How could I not like this guy? Irix’s warnings faded away as I opened the door wide to let Harkel inside my trailer.
He extended the rose toward me and I took it, smelling the rich fragrance. The tea roses that were typically found in floral shops and in Valentine’s Day arrangements were beautiful but without much of a scent. This was an old fashioned rose, not the newer hybrids, so it looked more like the ones that grew on the briars along the roadside, and had a sweet complex smell. It was a thoughtful gift.
I smiled and motioned for him to sit. “Would you like a glass of wine?”
He raised an eyebrow.
Okay. “Or perhaps some rum?”
How horrible was it that I was offering Irix’s rum to the warmonger? The whole thing made me uncomfortable. If only the incubus would hurry up and get home so we could all three sit down together and hash this out.
“Is an alcoholic beverage prior to intercourse a common ritualistic practice?” he asked.
Here’s where I recited what I’d learned during the nineteen years I’d thought I was a human. “Actually, yes. The ritual is that you arrive and present me with a small gift, which you’ve done quite admirably. Then we have an alcoholic beverage, sit on the very ugly couch over there and make small talk about the weather in Dis or the prospects of the local sports team. You give me extravagant compliments concerning my appearance and repeatedly mention your undeniable attraction to me. I return those compliments. Then we enjoy some food, and perhaps an additional alcoholic beverage. After a few hours of this, we let passion take the ball and run with it.”
And hopefully within those few hours, Irix would return.
He blinked in surprise. “Can we just fuck?”
“No, we cannot. The build-up makes sex more enjoyable because the whole time we’re talking about the weather, we’re eyeing each other’s bodies and thinking of all the incredible sensory experiences we’re about to have. It’s foreplay. Think of it as revving the engine at the starting line.”
“Then I will have some rum to start my engines.”
I poured him a shot and handed it to him. We sat side-by-side on the couch.
“Dis is hot,” he announced, throwing down the liquor.
“We too have had a hot summer here in Napa—”
The rest of my sentence was lost as Harkel knocked me backward onto the cushions, his hands in my hair, his lips crushing mine. Heat raced through me. It reminded me of making out with boys back in high school, when they were frantic to get it on, without any ability to restrain themselves whatsoever.
But in the middle of the kiss, something changed. Harkel’s gentle bites on my lips became painful. I tasted my own blood, felt the sting of something sharp rip through my shirt and graze the sensitive skin of my side. I gasped into his mouth and struggled to get out from under him, the curl of fear in my belly quickly replacing the lust.
He pulled his mouth from mine, trailing blood down my neck with his kisses, tearing my shirt at the neckline with sharp claws.
“Harkel, no!” I gasped. “Gentle. Don’t, please don’t.”
“Beg, little elf. Beg. This is better than I’d imagined.”
It wasn’t. It was a whole world of difference from the fantasies he’d sent my way in front of the tasting room. I reined in the pheromones and clamped my lips tight, hoping that if I didn’t cry out or encourage him, he’d at least dial it back.
He didn’t. And when he buried his fangs into my breast, I screamed.
The door crashed open. Harkel was lifted from me and thrown across the room where he hit the refrigerator hard enough to knock it sideways into the stove.
I looked up and saw Irix, his golden eyes ablaze, his hands curled into fists. He didn’t look at me. His entire attention was on the ancient warmonger who was picking himself up from the kitchen floor and repairing an arm that had been twisted at an unnatural angle behind his back.
Harkel snarled and the air crackled with tension. His hands sparked, talons lengthening. I knew that in a fight between him and Irix, Irix would lose. I’d need to get in the middle of this, to somehow diffuse the situation before the demon I loved wound up dead.
Irix snarled back, but the glow in his eyes changed and suddenly the room was thick with pheromones. They were so overwhelming that I nearly came lying bleeding and in pain on the sofa. The two demons crashed together. Harkel’s claws raked Irix’s back, his fangs biting down on the incubus’s shoulder so deep that they had to have hit bone. Irix never flinched, his face elongating into the beak of his demon form, his hands forming sharp talons. The sex demon pulled back and slapped Harkel across the face, raking furrows in neat red lines on the warmonger’s cheek.
The whole time, Irix kept pumping out the pheromones. I was scared. I was in pain. And I couldn’t help reaching between my legs through the tears in my underwear to stroke myself. The demons pulled apart, Harkel’s form shifting, broadening to the point that his nice suit split and tore. Out of his pants shot an erection of such length and girth that I winced. Had that been intended for me? Because there was no way I could have survived that sort of impalement.
Irix wrapped his hand around it, digging the tips of his talons into the demon’s cock and scratching along its length as he gave it two quick pumps. Harkel roared, and I waited for him to rip Irix’s head off, but instead he thrust his hips forward, jabbing claws into the incubus’s chest and tearing loose bits of skin and muscle. Irix continued to stroke the demon, ripping skin along the warmonger’s shaft until his cock was red and torn. Still, Harkel thrust his hips, his member hardening to the point where it seemed as if Irix was jacking off a bloody pike of steel. Claws flashed, fangs bit, and it was hard to tell which blood was the incubus’s and which was the warmonger’s. The entire time Irix kept the pheromones at maximum, and as scared a
s I was, I kept stroking myself, working my clit until I was writhing on the sofa, unable to take my eyes off the two demons.
Harkel gripped Irix’s hip, impaling his claws into the flesh. With his other paw he palmed the bulge in the sex demon’s pants and squeezed to the point that I was sure Irix would cry out, if not pass out. Instead he took a step forward, working the warmonger’s cock and bringing it between his thighs. His beak opened wide and bit down on Harkel’s shoulder. The warmonger shouted, slamming his pelvis into Irix’s and throwing his head backward. The pheromones stuttered. Cum shot all over my floor and carpet, on top of the pools of blood. I felt my approaching orgasm slip away from me, replaced once more with pain and fear.
Claws, fangs, and talons retreated. Irix’s beak shifted back to his normal, human face.
“You had no right to interfere,” Harkel growled. “We have a tie. The succubus Amber and I were only continuing to solidify our relationship. You had no right to interfere.”
“I had every right.” Irix’s voice was low and husky, sending a shiver of need through me. He reached up to grab the back of Harkel’s head and pull him forward. There was a shared breath, then Irix’s lips met the warmongers in one of the sexiest, most passion-filled kisses that I’d ever seen.
“We will discuss this,” Harkel murmured, his hand stroking Irix’s bloody cheek. “I will return in two nights, in the evening, after Amber has finished her ridiculous duties with the humans at the winery, and we will discuss this.”
Irix ran his thumb across the warmonger’s lower lip, his eyes watching the motion. “In two nights. I look forward to it.”
There was such innuendo to his statement that I had no doubt what Irix meant. Harkel’s huge cock stiffened again and he smiled, opening his mouth to suck on the tip of Irix’s thumb. “I look forward to it, too.”
Then the warmonger left, his clothing ragged, his body bloody, an erection that was beyond the scope of the human body poking from his torn pants.