Bad Blood: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Bonds of Blood Book 2)

by Cate Corvin

“The thing is, Tori, those daggers are steel.”

  What? “Yeah, obviously.” Silver was reserved for vampires, cold iron for Fae, and blessed iron for-

  Oh.

  “If you really wanted me dead, you would’ve brought the blessed iron.” Another step, and he still hadn’t taken out any weapons. A low-grade hum had started low in my stomach, working its way up to my heart until it felt like my blood was super-heated in my veins: just an incubus’s presence could cause physiological reactions. “But you didn’t, which means there’s still a chance. You didn’t think of me as a demon first.”

  “Well, I am used to seeing you wearing a human face,” I said quietly. The distant sound of shrieks reached my ears from a distance: the Citadel was under attack.

  “And you could’ve commanded me to jump out the window. You didn’t.”

  “Are you testing me?” I snapped. “All I have to do is say the words!”

  He was so close now the only escape for me was the plank bridge. Sura reached out, gripped my tie, and pulled me back into the cloud-fort.

  My lungs had stopped working completely as he looked down at me, his brow knit as he searched my eyes for something. “Didn’t bring blessed iron or water,” he muttered, as though to himself. “Didn’t make the command first.”

  I’m not sure what I expected. For him to sucker-punch me, or maybe toss me out the door to drop eighty feet, or use his demonic wiles on my mind; all those things flashed through my mind at top speed, and I made a plan for each of them. Kick him in the balls. Get a grip on the plank bridge. Focus on locking him out until I could use his true name to command him.

  What I didn’t expect was for him to kiss me. No demonic desire wound through my brain and influenced me to do the same; just a simple, genuine kiss.

  It was all Sura. He kept his grip on my tie, holding me in place while soft lips worked over mine. He was even careful to keep his mouth closed, so there was no chance of his saliva driving me to lustful madness.

  My heart and lungs came back to roaring life. Before he’d screwed me over, winning a real kiss from Sura had seemed like some sort of accomplishment. Now I knew why he’d always avoided kissing me… until the night he’d thrown his lot in with Will’s cruel plan to film me.

  “There’s still a chance,” he said, his lips moving to the corner of my mouth. “If you can see him as worthy, you can see me as worthy.”

  Soft, searching fingers found the side of my neck, gently grazing the marks Càel’s teeth had left.

  Sura pulled back, gazing into my eyes. There was no demonic influence coercing the softening at the edges of my heart; that was all me.

  “There’s still a chance, right?” he asked. “I’m still the Sura you got to know. Nothing changed just because I’ve got horns and infernal saliva and I was born in a pit of semen and hellfire…” He winced at that last part. “Well, okay, a few things changed. But I can be me, not just a demon.”

  I’d heard him in Seventh Heaven. I didn’t know I was empty until I wasn’t. A demon who understood that his inherent nature was to be the essence of wanting, and to always want to fill that void with an endless hunger.

  And he wanted to change it.

  Incredible.

  “The problem is that the Sura I got to know turned around and stabbed me in the back.” I couldn’t weaken now. I wouldn’t. “Without warning, without a thought for what it could do to me. So fuck you.”

  His beautiful features froze between hope and anger. I raised iron walls around my mind, and impenetrable barrier, and pushed all my will into it.

  “Suraziel, jump out the window.”

  20

  Tori

  We won by a landslide. Will had only given Pheric perfunctory instructions, expecting the new prefect to live up to his new title, and most of Tenebris had found themselves kicked out of the Citadel by the screaming horde of Lux.

  The spell that caught their flailing forms slowed their descent to a drift until they hit the piles of leaves at the bottom. Pheric looked devastated by their performance, but Will was completely impassive. He was assigned to tidy the biome by Professor Ermengol as part of his punishment and academic probation.

  I was still shelving my team’s weapons in the armory after everyone else had left. Will was off somewhere digging around in leaves and checking every single rope ladder fastening, which was a satisfying thought in itself.

  “Did you prove your point?” Sura’s voice was low and angry, accompanied by the sound of the door closing behind him. I lowered a dagger and turned.

  A leaf still clung to the top of his head. I nodded to it, and Sura yanked it off his head.

  “No, not yet.” I hung the dagger on its rack, trying to ignore the pounding of my heart. We were locked alone in an armory… just a demon-binding slayer and an incubus. No big deal, right? “You got out of it unscathed, didn’t you?”

  “I almost landed in Lara’s puke, and she had shrimp and grits for breakfast. You call that unscathed?”

  “Almost is the operative word here.” I turned and managed not to jump. Sura was only inches away. He’d moved as silently as a ghost. “Did you actually get any on you?”

  He was scowling, an expression that always obnoxiously dangerous and sexy on his usually friendly face. “What’s your endgame here, Tori? You didn’t bring holy weapons or water. You could’ve walked me out in the middle of a busy intersection. What are you trying to prove?”

  I stared up at him. Somewhere between the Gala and discovering Sura’s hidden video, the furnace that stoked my rage seemed to have banked to a simmer.

  Maybe it was because I had someone in this world who loved me so much, he wanted to Make me as eternal as he was.

  Maybe it was because I’d realized how fucking petty and stupid something like a sex tape was when you knew your mother was a prisoner in the home of a psychopath.

  Maybe it was knowing a demon had infiltrated Libra Academy and had been living cozied up to their bosoms for almost four full years.

  I’d set out to kill them all, ravenous for their blood. I’d known that one way or another, Beatrice Glover and I would settle the score between us. Lydia’s transgression had been paid for. Will had been broken down into shattered little pieces, but now, at least the world would have another good slayer from whatever he became when he reassembled those pieces.

  But now so much made sense about Sura. His unwillingness to kiss me, when I’d thought he was treating me like meat. His need for consent and desire before he’d put hands on me.

  Demons didn’t want to be anything other than conscienceless beings. Why would he want to change at all?

  I couldn’t kill that, a rarity among his kind. And hadn’t I been wrong about Càel?

  “I want you to feel the same humiliation I felt.” My fists clenched at my sides, and Sura looked taken aback. “I’m not going to kill you, that would be too easy. It would just release you from having to feel guilt.”

  “But I do feel guilt,” he said. He thumped his fist on his chest, like he could pinpoint the emotion. “I’ve never felt that before you.”

  There was something staggering about Sura’s insistence that he’d developed basic feelings. I was watching a demon climb out of the infernal circles and become something else.

  “Yes. Which is pretty fucking astonishing, I have to admit. That’s why I won’t be killing you today, or any other day… unless you force my hand. You can feel that guilt and absorb what it means.”

  Sura’s lips tightened as he looked me over. “Why couldn’t you have had this realization before?”

  “Why couldn’t you have told Will to fuck off?” I asked, but I already knew why. Whatever the Cords of Fate were, they were the sole reason Sura was capable of feeling emotions besides lust at all. “Look, it doesn’t matter now. That’s all in the past.”

  “If it’s all in the past, why is there still empty space between us?” A purr had returned to Sura’s voice and he took another step.

&
nbsp; I crossed my arms, creating whatever shield I could between us. “Because I’m still angry, and you haven’t paid me back for what you did.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Sura held out his hands in supplication. “You want to humiliate me? Go for it. You can’t humiliate an incubus, I mean- honestly, what would you even make me do?”

  “I could make you go confess to the Headmaster that you were also in that video.” He already knew, which was the galling part. I mean, it was pretty damn obvious- but it was amazing what family connections and a bribe could do.

  “No. Don’t even command it.” Sura held up a hand. “I’ll go of my own accord. What else? You made me jump out of a window. I almost landed in shrimpy puke.”

  “The Headmaster is a little too lenient with his punishments, if you ask me,” I said. I settled back against the counter. “I think I’d rather see you in deep shit with Ermengol.”

  Sura’s eyes glittered as he looked me over. “And what do you have in mind, Victoria the Vengeful?”

  I could ask him to wreck her armory or try to break into one of her lockboxes, but he’d just resist the commands. The only sure-fire way to command him without breaking a real sweat was to take advantage of his true nature.

  “You know the drill. Unzip.” Of course, as soon as I said it, my eyes dropped to his crotch. Wasn’t my fault the incubus’s dick was literally made to be admired.

  A smile tugged at his lips as he obeyed my orders. The simmer of the blood-bond between us was satisfied, coiling through my chest as my demon on a leash gave in.

  Knowing what he was didn’t stop a shiver from running over me when he gripped himself, already hard.

  “I think you should show your appreciation for these weapons by giving them a good show.” I didn’t have to tell him what to do out loud. All I needed to do was think it, then he was stroking himself. “Or maybe I should have you walk into the profs’ lounge and have you perform for them as well.”

  Sura’s teeth sank into his full lower lip. “Or you could keep me all to yourself. I would do anything for you. Anything to you.”

  Well, that was tempting, I had to admit. It wasn’t like it hadn’t crossed my mind more than once already. But I wasn’t willing to rule out the possibility that he was the one planting that thought in my head.

  “Oh, no. Why wouldn’t I share you?” I nodded toward the corner of the room, near a rack of Faerie swords Ermengol was particularly fond of. Finding demon semen- ha- all over them was sure to set the little professor off in a rage that would make the world quake. “Walk over there.”

  He did fight against that order a little bit. Every line of his body was clenched tight as he fought to keep his feet still, but with the sexual distraction, he didn’t stand a chance.

  I strolled up behind him and peered around his shoulder. Christ, his hand could barely wrap around himself. How had I even screwed him the first time without getting split apart? Maybe the incubus saliva somehow made it easier. “Answer this question truthfully: what do you want the most?”

  Sura gritted his teeth, jaw clenching with both lust and determination to throw off the Solomonic binding. His chest heaved as he struggled to exhale without words, but he failed. “I want you and Will to accept me.”

  My stomach lurched. Well, fuck.

  Hadn’t I felt the same way about them? Why did asshole Shadowed Worlders always have to be so damn relatable once you got to know them?

  “What’s the point of this?” he gasped, choking back a groan.

  I glanced absently at the swords. Somewhere between my vengeful drive and pondering Suraziel’s strangely wholesome desire for acceptance, I’d discovered that watching his hand work his cock was a hell of a lot more fascinating than I’d bargained for.

  “Painting Ermengol’s property with your come is probably going to get you expelled,” I said. “It’ll take Mater Bellum three seconds to cast a charm to figure out who it was.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing myself to turn away. Incubus influence, Tori. He’s not that sexy.

  I mean, it was a lie, but I needed to hear it. I didn’t like my hyper-awareness of his proximity or the sensation of my jeans between my legs. It just meant I had no upper hand here.

  To my surprise, Sura laughed. I spun around, expecting him to be zipping himself back up, the binding over him broken.

  Nope. Still definitely had that monster cock in hand, but he gave me a sly grin. “That’s it? I don’t give a damn about Libra or finishing this degree. I’m just here for you two.”

  “Then finish,” I said, and put the weight of the seal’s commands into it. “If you don’t care, then let’s see you do it. I’ll be expecting the news by tonight: slayer expelled for chronic masturbation issue.”

  It was an open-ended order, but Sura laughed again before his breath hissed out. “Why don’t you help me out here, Tori?”

  The psychic blast of Sura’s influence washed over me. My body suddenly felt like syrup was traveling through my veins, slow and sticky-sweet.

  My clothes felt far too restrictive. I didn’t realize I was shedding them until my thumb slipped on my belt buckle and sharp metal jabbed my finger. I was standing there with my jacket, tie, and shirt puddled on the floor at my feet, with just my bra still on up top.

  “Get out of my head!” I hissed at him.

  “I’m not in your head,” he grated out. His arm was jittering as he tried to stop himself from fulfilling my command. “I’m only using what’s already there.”

  “And this is why no one likes incubi.” I grabbed my shirt off the floor and shoved my arms into it.

  “Please, babe. Most people love us. You’ve seen it yourself- humans are willing to throw themselves into Hell for a chance at eternal bliss in our arms.” Sura’s eyes were on my face, not the iron seal resting between my breasts. “Don’t knock it till you try it.”

  “Absolutely not,” I whispered. “Do as I told you.”

  He grunted and opened his hand. “Nope.”

  “Suraziel, I gave you an order.” I backed away a step, just as he took one forward. The bastard was fighting the binding with everything he had. “Stay away from me.”

  “You come to me,” he said, but his voice was deeper, rumbling through me like a shockwave. So that’s what he sounded like when he wasn’t trying to be human. It felt like hands reaching inside me, every word caressing the inside of my body.

  I blinked. I only vaguely remembered drifting across the room, and Sura’s hands hovered inches over my shoulders as he struggled against my order.

  His cock was sandwiched between us, throbbing against my lower belly. Sickening desire crashed over me. “You absolute bastard. Fine, you know what? I’d rather make you stab Headmaster Burns at lunch tomorrow. Get dressed.”

  Sura shook his head, his smile tight. “I feel everything you feel, Victoria the Lascivious. I think you should touch that tight pussy.”

  I was distantly aware of my fingers slipping under the waistband of my jeans. “Stop. Ordering. Me. Around.” My breath was so shallow, I barely had enough air to make the words.

  His fingers brushed my skin, just as my fingertips parted my folds and found my clit. I was already swollen, images of Sura’s nude form in the back of my mind. He groaned when I gasped, and I remembered one of the drawbacks of demonic binding, just a little too late.

  Sexual desire fed him, and that binding only made us closer. I was feeding him at the same time that I was commanding him. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop that, because I did lust over Sura. I was an open tap of energy for him.

  God, why couldn’t he have been physically repugnant?

  “That’s more like it,” he said with a satisfied sigh. “You stop ordering me around, Tori. I already told you I’d willingly be your slave to the end of time- as long as I get the same chance Càel got.”

  “That’s not how this works.” I tried to curl my fingers upwards and pull them away from my aching center, but my body
was rebelling against me. “You don’t get the right to bargain out of what you deserve.”

  “Stop trying to resist. The rest of you knows what it wants. This is all you.”

  My hand slid back down under his orders, and when my fingertips ran a slow circle around my clit, my knees about gave out. “Take five steps back!” I put every ounce of effort I had into that one command, and Sura jerkily walked back from me.

  “Zip your pants.” I gave one last mighty tug and yanked my hand out of my jeans. Feed on nothing, asshole.

  “Nah. I never obeyed your command, Victoria.” His deep voice, just a touch above a growl, stroked my name. “I still need to finish, don’t I?”

  A tension that had wound into my bones began to loosen as he obeyed the unfulfilled command, his hand stroking the length of his cock.

  His other hand took over as he slid off his jacket, loosened his tie, and started unbuttoning his shirt. “I don’t understand how you slayers wear these. Do you like being choked out by unnecessary clothing all day?”

  “Put your clothes back on,” I whispered, but my mouth had gone dry and my eyes had taken on a will of their own, eating up the sight of him.

  Sura crooked a finger, calling me over just like I’d called him that morning. “You’re still naked.”

  I’d dropped my shirt again, my hands slack. I clutched at the seal of Solomon, the edges of the metal scraping my palm. “Suraziel, I command you to release all influence you have on me at this moment.”

  He drew a hitching breath. Liquid glistened at the tip of his cock, and my core tightened at the thought of running my tongue over him… “I’m not using any influence,” he said, and raised an eyebrow. “All you, Tori. All you.”

  Worst part was, I believed him. He was stroking himself, muscles tensing and relaxing naturally, without the slightest bit of strain. I was feeding him power over me.

  All because I wanted him.

  How the hell did a slayer fight something like that?

  Sura stalked towards me. I backed away until my ass bumped into the counter in the corner. “Stop.”