To Win a Demon's Love

by Nadine Mutas

  And it hurt her.

  Surprising, that. And she really shouldn’t feel this way. She should be relieved he was complying with her wishes, relieved to get away from a male with intentions that had her legs itching with the urge to run. Well, a part of her was glad. Once she got to Merle’s, she could confer with her best friend about this whole ridiculous turn-into-a-demon thing, and then get on with solving this mess. After, of course, she confessed to Merle what she’d done to Baz, a prospect that made her tremble with anxiety.

  And then there was the small part of her that didn’t, in fact, want to leave Alek. Crazy. That’s what it was. She hadn’t even known him for twenty-four hours. She’d barely scratched the surface of who he was. But still, the way she felt when she was around him…as if something that had been missing—something she hadn’t even been aware of—clicked into place. He made her feel safe. At a moment, in a situation when her entire world had come crashing down around her, when she wasn’t sure anymore who she was, he’d managed to somehow steady her.

  But he wanted more than she was willing to give, and she wouldn’t take advantage of his offer of help if it meant stringing him along. She was going to turn back into a witch, and he wouldn’t be able to mate with her then. And even if she were to remain a demon—which she was not, dammit—she’d never agree to mate with him. Or anyone else. Knowing that, she couldn’t stay around him and lead him on by accepting his help.

  Alek pulled the truck up into a parking lot sandwiched between three-story buildings.

  She turned to him with a frown. “Why are we stopping here?”

  Shutting off the engine, he said, “You need to feed.” Before she could interrupt, he went on. “Think about it. You’re running low on duh again, and you’ll need to take someone’s life force before the night is over. What do you think will happen when I drop you off at Merle’s house, and you’re hungry, your instincts taking over?”

  Well, hell. She hadn’t thought that far. He was right. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of her attack on Baz. If her guilt was eating her alive about that incident already, she didn’t want to imagine her emotional state if she also lunged at her best friend. She’d never be able to look at herself in the mirror again.

  But just the thought of having to take someone’s life—she shuddered. “Do I really need to kill? Can’t I just, like, nibble a little on someone’s duh? Like I did with yours?”

  He shook his head. “That’s only to tide you over in an emergency. It’s not enough to recharge you fully. You need to take someone’s whole life force if you want to survive.”

  She locked her jaw. “No one innocent.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find someone who deserves it.”

  Her eyes met his for an instant. “How?”

  “Auras. Duhokrads are exceptionally good at reading them. Once you learn how, you’ll find it very easy to pick out humans with especially strong duh and souls stained beyond redemption.”

  She studied him silently for a few seconds. “You mean to tell me you only kill bad guys?”

  He shrugged. “I can’t change the fact I need to kill to survive. But I have a choice about who to kill. I can be selective with my prey. Why should I take the life of an innocent mother of two if I can instead kill a murderer? Or an abuser? It makes no sense not to make that distinction.”

  “Do all duho-croutons make that choice?”

  “No.” The corners of his lips twitched, and despite the bleakness of her situation, the fact she could make him smile with her continued malapropisms of his species’ name let her heart sigh. “Many don’t care.”

  “But you do.” She eyed him with new-found respect, this male who fit in none of her neat little compartments.

  “I live to shatter your misconceptions, Lilichka,” he said with a smile. “And I’ll teach you how to take someone’s duh.”

  The look he gave her… I’ll be there for you, it said. I won’t let you deal with this alone. And damn if it didn’t make her feel better about facing this part of her new demon nature.

  Throat tight, she whispered, “I appreciate it.”

  He gave a curt nod and got out of the truck. She followed him onto the street, round a corner and toward a small park.

  “Where are we going?”

  He threw a glance at her over his shoulder. “A place where I’ve found suitable prey in the past. Chances are I’ll find more.”

  They walked into the park, following the path that led them to a pergola. A man was leaning against the pavilion’s railing, smoking a cigarette. The air around him pulsed with darkness, his aura dulled by a nasty tinge. While Alek and Lily approached, a harried-looking woman hurried up to the man and said something to him. They exchanged something, and the woman left as quickly as she’d come, her energy pattern trembling and crackling.

  “A dealer?” Lily asked, unable to keep the growl from her voice.

  “Yep.”

  “You knew you’d find him here?”

  “Not him in particular. Someone like him. I took out another one here a few weeks ago. Seems like whoever he’s working for likes to keep this corner in business.”

  As they drew closer, the guy’s aura became more pronounced, easier to read. The darkness in it clung to the air like sludge to boots. Underneath it pulsed his life force, beckoning like the finest treat. The man stood straight when he saw Alek, his eyes assessing him, probably trying to figure out if Alek posed a threat or was a potential customer.

  “Let’s not talk,” Alek said when he reached the dealer.

  The guy’s eyes glazed over and he nodded.

  Lily blinked. “You’re using mind control?”

  “Yep. So can you, once you learn it.” He caught her gaze. “I’ll take this one. I think it’s better if I feed first. You can watch and see how I do it, and then I’ll find someone for you.”

  Her chest drew tight. “All right.”

  He shot her a glance, noted her discomfort. “This guy here,” he said, his voice a rumble in the dark, “doesn’t just deal with drugs. The taint of his aura hinted at something darker, and I checked his mind to make sure. So, if it makes you feel better, know that he has a penchant for cruelty that will make you nauseous.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Like?”

  “He likes to set animals on fire.”

  She sucked in air through her nose, her lips pressed together tightly.

  “He used to have a dog,” Alek went on, while the dealer leaned against the pergola’s railing, his eyes unfocused. “Taped his muzzle shut, and watched him try to eat, laughing at the dog’s despair. He watched him starve.” Alek’s aura flashed like lightning in a storm, and she could have sworn she heard thunder.

  “Enough,” Lily rasped, her breathing fast, her blood a rapid of rage. “Do it.”

  Alek nodded once. “When you feed, it will be a bit different from when I gave you duh. I pushed my life force into you, which made it easy for you to grab it. Taking duh by making a kill will be trickier. You’ll have to keep control over your prey’s mind so they don’t fight you, while at the same time burrowing into their soul and pulling their duh out. Which is why we’ll be feeding from humans tonight, since their minds are easier to manipulate.”

  She raised both brows. “So I could always take duh from demons?” That first night she’d seen Alek…yes, he’d fed from the morbus demon, hadn’t he?

  “Yes. It’s just harder. Riskier.”

  That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Well, if she were to stay demon, that was. Which she wasn’t. Nope. So that was a problem she didn’t even have to deal with. There.

  He grasped the guy’s collar and pulled him close. “Watch.”

  Alek’s aura sizzled with power while he leaned in, clasping the guy’s jaw with one hand and opening his mouth. The man didn’t struggle, his mind apparently still firmly in Alek’s grasp. Alek didn’t press his lips to the dealer’s, instead stopping a mere centimeter from his mouth. The human’s aura lit up
like an overfired light bulb. He uttered an agonized moan even as his limbs remained limp under Alek’s control.

  And then Lily saw it. Glowing warm and golden, the duh left the man’s body, flowing out of his mouth and into Alek’s, whose energy pattern blazed brighter the more life force he took from the human.

  The glow of life around the dealer dimmed, then went out like a snuffed candle. The light in his eyes disappeared. Alek let go of the guy’s collar, and the man slumped to the ground. Aura pulsing with new power, eyes a swirl of red and black, Alek turned to her.

  He was magnificent.

  Every inch of him projected strength and primal potency, that same air of command and prowess he’d worn when he walked into Nine Circles, only now it was jacked up by a thousand percent. Muscles bulged underneath his T-shirt, beckoning her to touch. His scent wrapped around her like a siren’s call, wood fires and crisp fall nights, enticing her senses. He looked at her with an intent focus, the promise of indulgent sin in his eyes.

  Hoo, boy.

  Heat flooded her system, her skin sensitizing as if in preparation for touch. Mouth suddenly dry, she parted her lips on a gasp as he stepped toward her.

  An explosion of light flashed past her and hit Alek straight in the chest. He stumbled back, features slackening in shock, and barely caught himself on one of the pergola’s pillars.

  Breath stuck in her throat, Lily whirled around. Alek’s attacker was running toward them, hand stretched out in front of her, residual magic glowing around her.

  Selene. Through the haze of red fury spreading in her mind, Lily recognized her as the granddaughter of Elder witch Juneau Laroche.

  “Stop!” Lily yelled at her, but her cry drowned in the roar of magic as Selene threw another spell at Alek.

  He convulsed, bellowed in pain, and fell to his knees.

  The red haze in Lily’s brain whipped into a storm.

  Magic pulsed in the air, flowing from Selene to Alek. She held him tightly in her grip, knocking up the power some more with a twist of her hand and muttered word. Alek screamed and collapsed completely.

  She was going to kill him.

  All rationality, reason, and sense was erased in a violent surge of primal instincts, and Lily was no more. In her stead emerged a female predator with a single focus, all her fury concentrated on one target—the witch torturing Alek, her male. With a snarl, Lily lunged at her. She intercepted the witch as she was running to the pergola, her tackle slamming Selene to the grass. The witch let out an ooomph, gasping for air from the impact.

  Lily straddled her, her vision drenched in blood and wrath, and punched the female straight in the face. And again. And again. How dare she attack her male?

  The witch cried out and flailed against the onslaught of blows, obviously too overwhelmed by the barrage to even form a spell. The urge to maim and kill to protect her own driving her every move, Lily struck and hit and punched.

  Hunger roared to life again inside her. She had a human pinned to the ground. A human with a glowing life force.

  She grabbed the witch’s arms, held them in a death grip above her head, and then leaned in. A dark, dark need deep within barreled its way to the forefront.

  Take.

  Her lips almost touched the female’s. She exhaled, preparing to drill into the witch’s soul to extract her duh.

  Someone grabbed her around the waist from behind and yanked her off the human. Strong hands handled her with take-no-bullshit efficiency and slung her over an impressive male shoulder. She struggled, growling her anger at being denied her meal, and caught a glimpse of the witch sniffling on the ground, propping herself up in obvious pain while the demon who carried Lily ran away, and she lost sight of her prey.

  Chapter 8

  Alek flung open the passenger side door to his truck and placed Lily on the seat with as much care as the urgency of the situation allowed.

  “Buckle up,” he barked and slammed the door.

  He jumped in on the driver’s side, started the truck, and tore out of the parking lot. Heart racing a million miles a minute, he forced himself to slow down enough to avoid cop attention. He focused on his breathing—in, out, in, out—centering himself in the sensations of the air leaving his nose, his chest heaving.

  His pulse decelerated. His thoughts cleared.

  That was a close call.

  He shot a glance at Lily. “You okay?”

  She had her fingers buried in her hair on both sides of her face, her palms pressing against her temples. “I attacked a witch.”

  “Yes.” He didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t even start to process the fact she’d done so to help him.

  “I almost killed her.” She was staring out the window, her eyes troubled, her face ashen.

  “But you didn’t.”

  “Not for lack of trying. If you hadn’t pulled me off her…”

  He moved before he could second-guess himself, reaching out to clasp one of her hands. Gently he squeezed, anchoring her. The scattered, oscillating colors in her aura calmed, smoothed out. She exhaled—and squeezed his hand back.

  “You were overwhelmed,” he said, warmth spreading in his chest, “acting on instinct. This is all still new to you. You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Her voice was but a rasp. “They will.”

  “Who?”

  “The other witches.”

  He frowned. “She attacked you. You defended yourself. In my book, it’s justified to fight back.”

  She shook her head, still holding onto his hand, firming her grip. “You don’t understand. I attacked a witch.” She faced him then, shadows in her eyes. “It’s anathema. The highest form of treason among our kind. And it wasn’t even in self-defense. I defended you. A demon.” Her lower lip trembled. “I just committed the worst crime possible in my community. Well, second worst. You kept me from doing the worst.”

  He struggled for words. Hell, he’d never been good at talking. Dima, his twin brother, was the one to look to for verbal reassurance. He’d never had to console a female before, and certainly not one as desolate as the witch-turned-demon sitting next to him. And yet he wanted nothing more than to ease her pain, lift her sorrow, and make her believe everything would work out fine.

  He cleared his throat. “Your situation is unusual, Lilichka. Far as I know, there’s never been a witch before who was transformed into a demon. If you’d still been a witch, you wouldn’t have reacted that way. Your entire system is in uproar. Your mind is too rattled yet to leash your instincts. I’m sure the other witches will acknowledge that and make concessions.”

  She turned away, staring out the window with an air so forlorn he wanted to pull her close and hold her until she felt better. Withdrawing her hand from his, she muttered something that sounded like, “Not bloody likely.”

  Silence wove between them, filling the truck’s cabin with sad tension.

  Taking a deep breath, he said, “You still need to feed.” He hated that he had to bring it up, now of all times, but the parts of her razvitiye peeking out from the neckline of her T-shirt had faded to a light henna again.

  She jerked, her hands clenching. “Right.” A cascade of darkness rippled through her energy.

  He parked the truck on the street a few blocks from his target. They got out of the car, the mild night wrapping around them, and he led Lily toward the theater’s entrance. He gestured for her to wait with him pretending to peruse the announcements of upcoming plays.

  A few minutes later, the doors opened and the audience streamed out onto the sidewalk. He scanned the crowd, the multitude of auras coloring the air in a rainbow of energy. A couple of college-age girls chatting excitedly about the production. A mixed group of men and women, laughing and talking about where to go for drinks. And then there was a smudge within the quilt of colorful auras.

  He homed in on the man exuding that energy. Nudging Lily, he nodded furtively toward the older guy. “There,” he murmured, his voic
e pitched low so only Lily would hear him with her enhanced demon senses. “See that man with the graying hair and red scarf?”

  She nodded. “What about him?”

  “Focus on his aura. What’s it like?”

  Her forehead scrunched up in lines of concentration. “It’s darker. And it feels…wrong. It’s like an oil spill, almost as if it’s polluting the air around him. But he’s not sick.”

  “No. At least his body isn’t. We’ll follow him.”

  After the man waved goodbye to his friends, he sauntered down the street. Alek and Lily trailed after him, taking care to appear casual, a couple out for a stroll around the neighborhood.

  When the old man approached his car, which was parked in an open lot, Alek sped up to catch up to him. He tapped the guy on the shoulder.

  The human turned, his expression friendly but wary. “May I help you?”

  “Yes,” Alek said. “Yes, you may indeed. Let’s drive somewhere, shall we?”

  He slipped into the man’s mind like a breeze through a crack in a window. Easy, so easy. No mental shields at all. Plenty of darkness, though, and he fought bile rising up in his throat at the images he found in the guy’s memories. He wrenched control over his higher faculties from him and proceeded to supply the human’s mind with instructions for what to do.

  “Get in the car,” Alek told Lily while mentally ordering the man to open the driver’s side door and sit down.

  Lily took the front passenger seat, and Alek slid onto the back seat. Under his mental control, the human steered through the nightly traffic, toward a place where Alek could teach Lily without the risk of being interrupted.

  “His energy makes my skin crawl,” Lily whispered.

  “Yeah,” Alek said darkly. “Mine, too.” He took a deep breath, trying to shake the nausea boiling in his stomach at the details of the man’s sick proclivities. Rage a hot simmer underneath his skin, he leaned forward, catching Lily’s eyes. “Go into his mind. It’s time you learn how.”