“No, you do not.” Darius was back in front of her, his hands out. “Let’s get up. The unicorn blood should start working any moment.”
The air turned sparkly, and the colors around her started to change, a little too bright, like everything was oxidized. A rush of power pumped through her as she let Darius help her to sitting. Her nipples tightened, and her core ached with need.
“Oh my God, what did you give me?” She crossed her arms over her bare chest, blackened with soot, a couple pieces of fabric sticking to her flesh. Then she slapped her knees together, her legs scuffed and scraped but the leather holding up better against the flame. She could feel the burns healing, though.
“Unicorn blood has many effects, an aphrodisiac being one of them,” Darius said, pulling open their backpacks and checking the contents. “This is in good shape. Here.” He tossed a shirt at her. “This will make you feel better.”
“That stuff is addictive, huh?” Emery said, running his tongue around his lips. Her core started to pound now, aching to be filled by him. To feel his touch. To invite in his tongue…
“Highly,” Darius replied. “You must use it sparingly. You won’t think much of the antidote.”
“And that is?” Emery asked, pushing to standing. His bulge said he was feeling what she was, and his easy movements and calm demeanor said he wasn’t nearly as stressed out about it.
“Vampire serum or a vampire bond. A vampire touch can help, too.”
“Not interested. We’ll need to avoid the blood as much as possible.”
“Which is why I haven’t brought it out until now. Come. Let’s go. We shouldn’t be far now.”
“How can you possibly be so chill right now?” she asked Emery as he helped her up, then yanked her hands away before she gave in to temptation and cupped that bulge and pushed down those pants. She squeezed her eyes shut, shrugging into the shirt Darius had tossed at her.
“I always feel this way around you, Turdswallop,” he said, heat in his voice. “It’s a constant ache. This is just a bit heightened. I’m used to ignoring it until you notice I’m in the room.” He laughed. “It’s just another part of surviving. I’d rather ignore this feeling than the pain a few moments ago.”
“You won’t have to ignore it for long,” Darius said, and started off.
Penny hobbled after him, almost asking what he meant by that, and decided she really didn’t want to know.
Eleven
Penny eyed the ground as they made their way to a sort of large cliff face with multiple holes dotting the sides. It almost looked like a rock honeycomb, but the ground seemed to be made up of a soft, springy material. It rolled in small hills and berms toward lavender fields that waved softly in a breeze she couldn’t feel.
“It almost feels like a mattress,” she said, bouncing a little as she half trudged along, feeling much better from the unicorn blood and healing faster than should be possible. “Like…” She bounced again. “I feel like I should take my shoes off.”
Emery held her hand, walking beside her, as they quietly followed Darius. He hadn’t made a peep, but he didn’t seem tense. He was probably trying to take stock of whatever horrors lay ahead.
A shape moved down the path toward them, tall and slim and with slinky movements. Its hips swayed erotically, and its shoulders swung forward and back, like a model in front of a camera. Darius didn’t slow as it neared, but the creature did, giving Penny ample time to check out its form.
Humanoid but obviously not human, it had short legs, slim thighs, and a long body. Its chest was flat, but it had rounded hips, and its face was the stuff of nightmares, with no nose, red eyes, and leathery skin.
“Oh great, yeah. Good.” Penny shuffled a little closer to Emery. “I was hoping for more terrible things in this wretched place.”
“Now you are starting to sound like my beloved,” Darius said, passing the creature by.
It said something in a series of hisses and consonants that Penny didn’t understand. Another language, probably.
Darius glanced back at Penny, and Penny realized she and Emery didn’t have the concealing spell over them anymore.
“You will get a lot of opportunity to explore your…newfound tastes,” Darius said.
“My newfound tastes—what does that mean?” Penny wondered.
“I think this is a lust sect,” Emery murmured as they got closer. Two beings loitered by a large square hole in the rock, what probably passed for the entranceway. One was squat and round and wearing a tutu. The other was in full demon regalia, with a scabby body, insects crawling out of random holes in its hide, and limbs that could’ve used a little more fleshing out.
“Who could hold on to lust in a place like this?” she muttered. Then Darius’s words finally registered. Newfound tastes. A new sexual appetite, he meant, for peeping. “He’s making fun of me. Even here, he is making fun of me for accidentally seeing him with Rea—”
Darius spun so fast that Penny barely had time to squeak in surprise. His hand closed over her mouth before she could react.
In the next moment, he was magically bound and gagged and lying flat on his back, his eyes wide.
The beings near the door straightened up, now looking over. The short, round one smiled, its fleshy lips pulling much too wide, literally spanning ear to ear. She grimaced with the sight as it completed its turn, zeroing in on Darius lying prone.
“Hmm. The vampire is back. I feel it already. Delightful,” it said in crisp English, before bending at the waist. The one with the insects stepped closer, fastening its hands around the hips of the first, pulling back at the same time as it pushed forward. The resulting moan of the bent one explained what was happening.
“This better not be some elaborate joke,” Penny said, looking away quickly.
Emery unraveled Penny’s hasty spell around Darius and helped the vampire up. “She’s got fast reactions.”
“It seems so, yes.” Darius dusted himself off. “Had I been trying to kill her, however…”
“Yeah, she’s not quite fast enough, as…Bruiser would say.” Emery took Penny’s hand again, giving her a pointed look. “Remember not to say her name. We don’t know who knows it.”
She nodded, because yes, she knew that. She’d just lost her head for a moment.
“If I was waiting for danger, or didn’t know you, I would’ve been quicker,” she mumbled as they passed by the two thrusting creatures. “Well, let’s be real, I wouldn’t be this close— Oh God, there’s more.” She jerked her head away from the three creatures just inside the cavernous space, writhing and moving in a sort of dance she didn’t want to see.
The springy material covered the floor of the cavernous space, dotted with the equivalent of beanbag chairs and pillows. The ceiling rose to about twenty feet, letting in light from holes in the cliff face but maintaining the overall dim lighting. Away right, a rock staircase spiraled upward, empty at the moment.
“Is it always this empty?” Emery asked as Darius moved toward the staircase.
“This area seems to be, yes, for the most part. I believe they have various festivals where neighboring sects come to…visit, and this large area hosts them. This sect is made up of a string of caves and caverns, though. Certain areas are teeming with life at all times. This is the third lust sect I’ve been to, and its general makeup is very similar to the others. They like twisty halls and secluded rooms and hidden alcoves.”
“Or just banging on the stoop,” Penny groused. “So these…creatures just hang around and bang all day?”
She felt a little shiver. Then a little tingle, starting at the base of her stomach and sinking into her core. It pulsed there, aching, feeding on the unicorn blood and the thought of Emery so near. Meanwhile, her brain screamed at her to shut her eyes, uncomfortable because of her naivety, she knew, but uncomfortable all the same. She wanted to turn around and sprint out of here, much like her reaction when she had unfortunately burst in on Reagan and Darius. Twice.
/> “This might turn into the biggest mind-eff of them all,” she murmured miserably. “They’re like a bunch of bonobo monkeys.”
“It’ll do you good to…unwind a little,” Darius whispered as they reached the next level. He didn’t stop, leaving Penny to peer through the gloomy darkness. She didn’t see any shapes moving in its depths, though.
At the fifth floor, when Penny’s calves were burning, and she had to squint through the darkness to see anything, Darius finally stopped climbing.
“This is the leader’s quarters,” he said, stepping away from the stairway. “They call them conspectors.”
Those alcoves he’d talked about branched off to the sides, little cubbies with long, flat surfaces topped with piles of pillows. All of them were empty.
“They don’t have any guards or anything?” Emery asked quietly. They approached a dimly lit doorway at the back of the space.
“No, not that I’ve ever seen,” Darius replied. “They like the feel of my vampire magic, so I had no trouble gaining admittance and a meeting with the leader. From there, we worked to a place of understanding. I don’t think they get a lot of visitors in this area. I was directed here by my contacts in the Edges.”
Penny shook her head slowly. This vampire could clearly talk his way into anything he wanted. If Reagan ever thought she’d hear all of his secrets, she was sorely mistaken.
She chanced a glance behind them. Still empty.
They passed the empty alcoves, entering a dimly lit space with a couple of flickering lights on the walls—fairy lights, maybe?—mimicking the flickering candles lining the furniture along the sides. Couches crowded together, facing each other, no table in between. An assortment of beanbags and armchairs were arranged beyond them. Farther back, through another doorway, the ceiling dropped low until it felt like they were cocooned.
A being lounged near a bookshelf, an open book in hand and its other hand between its plump thighs.
“Good gracious,” Penny said, bumping off Emery’s side.
“Hmm,” the demon groaned before slowly closing the book and sitting up. It looked around, its eyes landing on Darius. “The vampire returns. Fantastic. Just in time for our weekly ritual. Your magic will be a pleasant boost to our usual efforts.”
“Acacius,” Darius said by way of greeting. “Let me introduce you to my associates.” He slid his hand through the air. “Penny and Emery, a natural dual-mage pair.”
“Ah.” The demon rose to standing, up and up until it reached the height of nearly seven feet, Penny was sure of it. A sheet draped its chest, masking what might be lady boobs or man boobs, and slid down the lower half. Nothing tented it. “The origin of the spells you peddle in the Edges.”
“Just so. Their craft is highly prized.” Darius clasped his hands in front of him. “We’ve had a long journey. I wondered if we could rest here for a time. Get some food for them. Replenish. After that, we will continue on into the Underworld. We won’t mention whence we’ve come.”
The demon waved the sentiment away as though that didn’t trouble it. Its smile was sly. “On one condition. They must attend the ritual.”
“Oh no,” Penny said immediately. “No, no, that’s okay. We wouldn’t want to impose.”
The smile spread. “I insist. You are inexperienced, are you not? I can see it in you. I can see the yearning, the great passion…and the fear. I can see the confusion as you respond. We will release you, little flenchlin. We will let you fly.”
Penny felt her eyebrows sink as her face twisted into a scowl. She stepped a little farther behind Emery, and the demon laughed.
“I will see that it is done,” Darius said, and turned, his hands out, motioning for Penny and Emery to get going.
Outside of the room, with Darius apparently knowing where he was going, Emery asked, “What’s the nature of the ritual? Penny won’t go quietly to anything extreme, no matter how much she tries. You must know that.”
“This won’t be that sort of extreme,” Darius said, and left it at that.
They only had a scant couple of hours of idle time before Darius emerged from his little alcove in their joined room, nothing more than a rough rock cut out from the main drag on the third floor, outfitted with a few little sleeping cubbies encircling a firepit in the center of the space. A spit straddled the circle of rocks. It had been slowly turning as they walked in, roasting a pig that must have been magically thawed when they first arrived at the compound. Darius was incredibly extra when it came to food, clearly. She’d been expecting to eat beans out of a can, cowboy style, and instead they would get fire-roasted pork. Now that she was finished healing, she could feel the hunger coming on.
The little alcoves didn’t have doors. Just something similar to mattresses, plus lots of pillows. Penny had quickly fallen asleep.
“So…you don’t have to participate in the ritual?” she asked Darius as she stepped out of her and Emery’s little alcove. Darius had been annoyingly silent on what the ritual would entail, and Emery hadn’t pressed for unknown reasons. She would’ve magically dragged it out of the vampire hours ago if she hadn’t fallen headfirst into a nap.
“No. They tried to make it a requirement of me at first, but I strictly refused. I told them I would engage in it when my beloved was with me. Not until then.”
“But I have to participate?” Penny demanded. “How is that fair?”
“Because your beloved is with you. And because I will still participate; I just won’t touch another.”
“Well, I won’t touch another,” Penny said adamantly as they walked down the corridor. Other demons walked in the same direction, some hurrying and others dawdling. They represented all different forms, some resembling humans, others looking like creatures, and one a sort of man-goat. That one was really gross.
When they got close to Darius, many smiled, and some made lurid sounds.
“You’ll touch me, I have a feeling,” Emery said softly, and something in his voice lit a fire in her core, tightened her up in all the right ways while loosening her in others.
She struggled to breathe out of a suddenly tight chest, butterflies filling her stomach. She wasn’t in the right headspace to comment on that.
“It’s your seduction they like?” Emery asked Darius as they took to the stairs.
“Yes. Humans are easy prey when offered the fundamentals of their species’ survival—-food and sex. Our magic is seductive to lure them in, and this type of demon feeds on it. It heightens their…senses, I think. Or maybe just adds a little flavor, I’m not sure.”
“So you hang around while they bang?” Penny asked in a harried tone. She knew she sounded like a prude. She knew she was theoretically clutching her pearls. But this was some sort of crazy. She’d only ever been with Emery, and she hadn’t started with him all that long ago in the scheme of things. She wasn’t ready for intense public displays of affection. Yes, okay, maybe she’d made love to him outside when they were becoming a dual-mage pair. But they’d been alone. And that had been a special circumstance…
“Yes.” Darius led them off the stairs and down a wide stone corridor, the nicest area she’d seen in this strange, cavelike dwelling. “I read, typically, or think about other things.”
“And it doesn’t gross you out?” she pushed.
“No, quite the opposite. It makes me long for…my beloved.”
“The leader didn’t seem concerned about why you’re here,” Emery said, his fingers entwined with Penny’s.
“No,” Darius replied. “This sect mostly ignores politics. That is why I sought them out. They thrive around my magic and don’t much care why I am here. It’s a perfect setup for my goals. I’m not sure if…they will be suspected in harboring us or not. Likely not.”
“And why is that?”
They turned a corner, the demons bumping and jostling now, the ground turning from stone into that mattress-like material. The room opened up into something similar to the cavern on the ground floor, although no
t nearly as big. The edges that seemed more like catacombs. There were little nooks and crannies everywhere, it seemed like, plenty of darkened corners for people to disappear from sight. And plenty of room for them to lie around, on full display, nestled in the pillows or along the soft ground.
A large cauldron stood in the center, raised on a stone dais. Creatures stood on the dais, dipping in golden cups and handing them to those waiting on the ground. Those that received the offering drank it down, handed the cup back, and moved on, choosing a spot in the open or grouping with others in the darkened areas.
“Do we need to drink that?” Emery asked in a low voice. He sounded unsure.
That made two of them.
Magic pumped and pulsed around them, pounding through her. It infused her blood and sank into her core. Touch. Kiss. Please. Be pleased.
“Yes, it is part of the ritual.” Darius stopped behind a sticklike creature that only came up to Penny’s chest. “I will be drinking it as well. It is pleasant and harmless, and you only need a mouthful.”
“Doesn’t that make you crave blood?” Emery asked.
“In such a small quantity, it won’t be an issue.”
“That’s good, because you won’t be getting blood from me.” Penny gripped Emery’s hands harder, her core pounding in time with the pulsing magic. It slid over her, incredibly erotic, stealing her breath. “I want to go home.”
“It’s going to be fine, Penny Bristol,” Emery whispered, his sweet breath dusting her face. “You are perfectly safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“This type of demon is completely safe, I assure you.” Darius stepped up, almost at the dais now. A crowd waited around and behind them, but no one pushed. The entire situation was orderly. “They might ask for your time, but they will not demand it, and they will not attempt to take it by force. It is forbidden. To do so would mean death.”
“Who distributes that punishment?” Emery asked, stepping up again, ever closer.
Taste. Lick. Enjoy.
“I assume you or Penny would, should it come to that. It is certainly within your power.”
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