The First Book of Demons

by Raquel Dove

Balthazar woke to the afternoon sunlight in his eyes. As he cracked them open, the first thing he noticed was Alexandra's face hovering above him. His head was resting in her lap and she was sleeping, though she had the most adorable scowl marring her beautiful little face. He could tell she was troubled about something. Could it be his condition? He realized then how good he felt. He picked his head up and looked down at the rest of his body. There wasn't a single scratch on him. It simply wasn't possible. The Dragon King had put him in such bad shape that his beast had come out. He wanted to cringe as he thought about it. There wasn't much that he could remember, the beast had clouded his mind, but he very distinctly recalled lashing out at Alexandra. He could remember how she smelled to his beast.

  Normally, her scent was incredibly enticing, but in his more basic state she was absolutely irresistible. He'd been fighting with everything he had to put the thing back in his mental cage, but there was no use. With so many injuries and the Dragon King's magical influence, the beast had easily taken control. He didn't know how it was pushed back, and he didn't understand how Alexandra could ever want to be near him again after she'd seen that side of him. He also didn't know how he had healed so fast. It couldn't have been more than a couple hours that he'd been asleep. Those types of injuries would have taken him days, maybe even a full week to heal.

  He noticed that Alexandra was clutching the shiny white underscale of the Dragon King. Was it possible that she had healed him? Salaman had told him that being near other magic would naturally bring out her abilities, but even still, to be able to heal him so completely in such a short amount of time was unfathomable. Arastoo was considered to be very well adept at magic, but his healing abilities were nothing more than a glorified parlor trick compared to this. The Dragon King certainly had the ability to heal him, but not the inclination.

  Balthazar rested his head back in Alexandra's lap. He knew he shouldn't, but he wanted to relish this peaceful moment with her. The wind blew softly and picked up a strand of her black hair. It drifted across her nose and caused her to grimace as it tickled her in her sleep. Balthazar lifted his hand to brush it out of her face and tuck it gently behind her ear. When he did, her eyes popped open and she looked down at him with a startled jump.

  “Balthazar,” she gasped, her eyes growing large as she scanned his body. She shifted a little and Balthazar sat up from her lap. He knew the moment was over and he knew that he had to put some serious distance between himself and her, or he would do something that he would seriously regret. “Are you alright? I've been so....your injuries...they're all gone...”

  She continued to stare at him with wide-eyed amazement that stuck Balthazar right in the chest. The concern was plastered all over her face as she reached out for him, as if she needed to touch him to believe that he was healed. He grabbed her hands before they could reach his torso and forced his face to be hard.

  “Silence, girl,” Balthazar said, dropping her hands. “You're more trouble than you're worth.”

  He stood from the ground and brushed himself off. He didn't want to be so cruel to the girl, but he knew he had to. He could see the way she looked at him. He could smell her almost constant arousal around him. It was just too much for him to handle. He'd never felt this way about a female before, and he'd never wanted to. It only made his life more complicated. He'd push her away and even though it would hurt him to do so, they'd both be better off for it.

  “Well maybe if you clued me in a little more instead of just telling me to be silent all the time,” she said with a huff as she stood up, “then maybe things like this wouldn’t happen.”

  “Be silent,” he said, turning away from her and stalking off away from the lake. He wanted to put as much distance between himself and the dragons as possible, as quickly as possible.

  “I'm sorry,” Alex said. She had mumbled the words but Balthazar easily heard her. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. She had a sullen look on her face and her shoulders were slumped slightly. He really didn't want to go down this route with her.

  “Let's just go,” he said, gritting his teeth against the agony in his heart that she was causing. He turned away and barely got another step before she spoke up again. Of course, she wasn't going to make anything easy for him.

  “Where are we going? Shouldn't you rest? You were hurt really badly,” she said. She placed her balled up fists on her hips and looked at him with a scowl. Balthazar wanted to blink in astonishment. This girl flitted through moods quicker than anyone he'd ever met. One minute she was apologizing to him, the next she was practically scolding him. He just continued to walk and hoped that she would start following after him. He wanted to get to the closest village before sunset.

  “Hey! Answer my question,” Alex shouted after him as she stomped her foot, “or I’m not going anywhere. And how the heck are you healed already? That's crazy fast.”

  “A hot spring,” Balthazar said with a sigh as he turned around again to face her. He was quickly losing any patience he had for her. “And I don't know.”

  “A hot spring?” Alex asked. She dropped her hands from her hips and her shoulders slumped in the cutest way as her brows scrunched together. “You don't know?”

  “Yes,” Balthazar said, using his demonic speed to suddenly appear just inches before Alex. He just couldn't resist with the way she was looking at him. His hand wrapped around to the small of her back and pulled her body into his.

  Alex sucked in a sharp breath as a hot tickle erupted in her abdomen. She couldn't think anymore and she forgot the questions she was awaiting answers to. Her hands flew to the massive shoulders that hovered on either side of her as she struggled to keep her knees from buckling. She gazed up into his burning charcoal blue eyes and everything else just floated away.

  As Balthazar expected, her body responded in the most delicious way to his touch. A thick wave of heavy arousal lifted to his sensitive nose. An imperceptible smirk washed over his face as he tucked his nose into the crook of her neck. He inhaled deeply and was rewarded with a noticeable increase in her already intense arousal.

  “We're going to a hot spring, Alexandra” he mumbled, enjoying the way her name on his lips caused her to shiver in his arms. He pulled away to look at her flushed face. He wanted to capture every emotion that flooded over her and save them for the moments when his life became too much. “Because you're in need of a bath, and the stench is offending my delicate senses.”

  “How dare you!” she shrieked at him as he dropped his arms from around her waist and turned away. By everything that was good in life, she was so much fun to mess with. It was just too easy to bait her, and her reactions were priceless. “You’re dirtier than me.”

  Balthazar couldn't stop the smirk from spreading on his lips as she huffed and mumbled about how frustrating and mean he was as she trudged after him. She may have been offended by his comment, but it certainly worked to keep her quiet as they made their way across the Devasi countryside. They made much better time than he had been expecting and when they rounded the hilltop that overlooked a little village the sun was still high in the sky.

  “I thought you said we were going to a hot spring,” Alex said as she stepped up beside him with a light pant on her lips. She was still sour from his insult earlier and she had decided that she wouldn't say a word to him until they arrived. Of course, she realized that was probably what he wanted, but still. After a good three hours of hiking, she was loath to admit it, but now she really did need a bath.

  “This is a province in my kingdom. You'll be hard pressed to get into any real trouble here,” Balthazar said as he turned to look at her. His eyes narrowed on her for just a moment. There wasn't hatred or anger or disgust in his eyes. Alex could see he was trying to annoy her, and it was working like a charm.

  As they approached the village, Alex noticed a sweet smell lingering in the air around it. The houses were small, with white washed stucco walls and thatched roofs. A pounded dirt road ra
n through the middle of the town, lined with well maintained gardens on either side that preceded all the houses. The whole scene was rather quaint and Alex found she liked this place. It had a sort of easy peace about it that only came with a quiet country life.

  Alex followed closely beside Balthazar as they wound their way through the streets of the village. She could feel the uneasy stares of all the demons on them as they passed by. Many of them began to follow the pair into the city square, where a silver-eyed demon stepped out from the crowd and stopped them in their tracks. Alex looked up at Balthazar and saw a slight scowl on his face.

  “That's quite an interesting creature you’ve got there,” the demon said, his eyes flicking from Alex to Balthazar.

  “You have no idea,” Balthazar said, giving Alex a sidelong glance.

  The tension that hung in the air was palpable as Balthazar stared down the other demon. Alex took a step closer to him, unsure of what to expect. Then she noticed a smile spreading across Balthazar's face.

  “Temel,” he said, “It's been quite some time.”

  “Far too much time for my liking, Prince Balthazar,” Temel replied, a smile crossing his face as well.

  A murmur ran through the crowd of demons when they heard Temel say his name. They'd all heard it before, of course, but had never seen their crown prince in person. When they realized who he was they all immediately dropped to their knees and bowed before him.

  “Something tells me you aren’t here for a friendly visit,” Temel said glancing over at Alex. He gestured for them to follow him. “Come, my home is just up this way. If I know my prince at all, he'd like a meal and a hot bath.”

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