Demon Sworn: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Witch's Rebels Book 3)

by Sarah Piper

  But for the first time in many, many years, I no longer cared about protocol. My body, which had learned over the decades to be satisfied with the chilled donor blood procured from medical establishments with poor security, suddenly vibrated with a deep, ancient need.

  I was… thirsty.

  I bent my head to his neck and opened my mouth. The room dimmed around me, all other concerns vanishing. There were only two things now that mattered: my rapidly-elongating fangs and his pulsing vein, begging to be pierced.

  I bit into his flesh, enjoyed his gasp of shock.

  I drank deeply. Desperately.

  Warm, wet liquid filled my mouth, coating my throat. There was an angry, bitter tang to it, like wine that had long ago turned, but I didn’t stop. Not even when my head spun and my skin buzzed with too much, too soon, too… everything.

  Not even when I felt the last of his life force fade away.

  I drained him quickly. Completely. Abandoned his lifeless body without another thought.

  Moving to the front of the room, I tipped the ruined dresser onto its side and peeled the other dead man from the wall.

  So much blood… So thirsty…

  I tossed his still-warm body onto the bed and climbed on top of him, wrenching his head back to expose the thick, corded veins of his neck.

  I still had the wherewithal to understand I was heading down the path of darkness, but I chased that blackness eagerly, letting it fuel me. Fulfill me. Just as I’d done to his companion, I pierced his flesh and let the blood flow. His was even more bitter, but I was no longer concerned with taste.

  I sucked greedily, ignoring the tremble rapidly spreading through my limbs.

  A shallow grunting sound filled the room, much like an animal in heat, something wild and undignified. Moments later, with no more than a mild amusement touching my lips, I realized the animal was me.

  I was spiraling, losing the last of the humanity I’d done my best to cling to for so many years. It would kill me, this indiscretion. We weren’t made for this much blood at once; the overdose would surely wreck my mind, destroy my body, leave me comatose. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I knew that, but it wasn’t enough to make me stop.

  How did I even get here?

  Didn’t matter. There was no point in considering the hows or whys. There was only thirst. Only drink. Only blood.

  As I moved on to his wrist in search of a fresher vein, faintly I heard something—sensed something that gave me momentary pause. A whisper in my ear? A tingle creeping up my spine? A pinch of anxiety in my chest as if I’d forgotten something important?

  I closed my eyes. Inhaled deeply.

  Had I been… looking for something? Waiting? For someone? For…

  Drink.

  Dismissing the feeling, I sucked the dead man’s flesh until my lips were sealed tight against it. Took a deep, dark drink. And let the world spin away from me one last time.

  There was an image—no more than a flicker, really. The soft, silky touch of a woman’s hair in my hands, her mouth on mine, the whisper of my name on her breath…

  Darius…

  I tried to hold onto it. To her.

  But she slipped away, and everything around me went as black as the beast inside.

  Four

  Gray

  I forced the magic out through my palms, directing it at the two demons rushing toward me. The fireball exploded on impact, blasting them backward.

  Another demon lunged at me from behind, spitting fire. I barely registered the burns, the pain. I retaliated with another fiery pulse that slammed into his chest and sent him reeling.

  Their chilling screeches echoed across the otherworldly landscape.

  But too quickly, the flames engulfing them died out. Their flesh remained unburnt.

  Shit.

  Other than buying me some time, my magic wasn’t working on them, but theirs sure as hell worked on me. The skin on my arm was already black and blistering.

  It seemed I was weaponless.

  A demon struck my back with his whiplike tail, tearing through my shirt and splitting the skin beneath. Another raked his claws along my thigh, but they were holding back now—toying with me. Who knew how long this game would last.

  Calling on my earth magic, I envisioned a curtain of rock surrounding me. I pictured it in my mind, willing it to manifest.

  Suddenly, the loose rock and scree along the ridge rumbled and shot toward me in a swarm of dust and debris, encircling me in a protective silo.

  It was dark inside, save for the faint red glow squeezing through the gaps between the jagged rocks.

  It was crazy. This strange, inhospitable landscape was responding to my magic in ways that pushed the boundaries of my imagination—ways I’d never before experienced. It felt like a lucid dream. Like I could literally bend and shape and recreate the world by thought and intention alone.

  A smile touched my tight-pressed lips.

  This is how it should always be.

  The magic inside me pulsed. My body buzzed with power.

  But the demons outside my newfound walls weren’t deterred. They hit me with a coordinated, sustained attack, their flames heating up the stones around me.

  Immediately the temperature inside my silo began to rise.

  They’re going to cook me alive.

  I was weakening fast, my muscles cramping, pain hammering my skull as my mind fought to hold on to the magic keeping the rocks in place.

  And it was so. Fucking. Hot.

  A few months ago, I might’ve tried to fight them. But I wasn’t that crazy, impulsive witch anymore. I knew when I was outgunned, and I had no intention of becoming a human barbecue.

  With one final, desperate burst of magical will, I blasted apart my stone silo, turning my protective rocks into projectiles that shot outward at my foes.

  The demons were thrown back by the explosion, battered with a barrage of hot, sharp rocks.

  Taking advantage of the momentary chaos, I threw myself down the rocky slope.

  I tumbled forever, feeling every bump on the way down. When I finally stopped rolling, landing unceremoniously in a shallow depression at the bottom of the rise, I was pretty sure I’d died somewhere along the way.

  But I wasn’t dead. I could still feel every ache, every scrape. My skin was shredded, my bones rattling, my insides jumbled up like beaten eggs. And the fire demons had already taken wing—they were circling overhead.

  Wincing, I pushed myself up and got to my feet, trying to get my bearings. The scent of sulfur was much stronger down here, but beneath it, I caught a faint strawberry whiff once again.

  “Sophie?” My heart was pounding. Was she really here with me? “Where are you?”

  Here, the voice responded. It sounded like it was inside me. Come with me.

  “I can’t see you!”

  This way. Here, Gray. Hurry!

  The response was louder this time, accompanied by a flash of coppery red—her hair blowing in the breeze.

  “Hey!” I called out. “Wait!” I darted after the blur of colors ahead of me, catching a brief glimpse of her white lace tee and black miniskirt—completely out of place in this twisted realm—and those unmistakable red curls.

  Curls that flickered with rainbow light.

  I laughed as I jogged after her, ignoring the pain, the burn in my lungs, the ash filling my mouth. Smoke billowed across the landscape, winding its way around me as the demons circled closer, but my Sophie was here, and I pressed on.

  I couldn’t lose her. Not in this awful place.

  “Sophie! Wait!” I’d reached the edge of another rocky rise, but unlike the steep drop from the ridge, this one descended gradually. At the bottom, not too far in the distance, the landscape morphed into a lush, inviting forest that I could’ve sworn wasn’t there before.

  It made no sense, but I didn’t care. A cool breeze drifted up from the woods, rolling across the valley and up to greet me. In front of me, for as far as the eye
could see, the earth was green and verdant, teeming with life. That meant there was a water source. Probably food—edible plants, maybe even a rabbit or deer.

  My mouth watered at the thought.

  Sophie was waiting for me down below, frantically waving from a copse of ponderosa pine, the ground at her feet blanketed in pink and white flowers.

  I zipped down the slope, desperate to reach her. But the closer I got, the more transparent she became.

  She was fading away, and we hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk.

  “Sophie, wait!” I called out. “Don’t go!”

  But it was too late. By the time I reached the woods, she’d vanished entirely.

  Had she even been here at all? Maybe it was just a vivid hallucination brought on by my fatigue and dehydration.

  I sagged against one of the ponderosa pines, breathing in the sweet, butterscotch aroma of its bark. At least I was out of the heat.

  The forest ahead was silent—a calm oasis in this harsh, inhospitable place. I turned to look over my shoulder, hoping the demons hadn’t seen me slip into the woods. But they were nowhere in sight. None of it was. The fiery, barren land I’d been traversing for days was just… gone. Behind me was more forest, stretching on for miles and miles.

  The Shadowrealm was much more vast and complex than I’d ever imagined.

  Whether or not Sophie’s spirit had guided me here, I figured I might as well continue on in the direction I was heading. I took a step forward, clearing the copse of ponderosa.

  The sight before me nearly brought me to my knees.

  Surrounded by the same pink and white flowers I’d seen beneath the trees, a serene, glassy lake glistened ahead, beckoning me forward.

  With a burst of renewed hope, I jogged over to the edge and waded in up to my ankles, then my knees, tears of gratitude stinging my eyes as the cool, healing water soothed my damaged skin. Inch by inch I sank down, squishing my toes into the muddy bottom, letting the waterline graze my lips.

  It was a struggle not to gulp it all in, but I didn’t want to get sick. I sipped it slowly, letting the water replenish me. It was clean and pure and cool, but unlike water out of the tap back home, this had other properties.

  Maybe it was another trick, maybe even one more dangerous than a hallucination, but I felt the water healing my wounds, my skin tingling as it knit itself back together. Inside, the water quenched my thirst, filling me up and giving me strength. The hunger that had gnawed holes into my stomach faded into a dull ache hardly worth noticing. And everything in my mind sharpened, clarified.

  Feeling renewed, I leaned backward and floated effortlessly, gazing up at the sky. No longer dark and miserable, it was a stunning sapphire blue, bright and cloudless. There was no sun that I could see, but everything about it felt like a sunny, beautiful day.

  I could stay here forever, just floating…

  I relaxed my arms and legs, my eyelids growing heavy. A gentle breeze kissed my cheeks, carrying with it the scents of lavender and lilac. The combination seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place it. My mother’s perfume, maybe? A garden from my childhood?

  No matter. I didn’t need to know. Or remember. Or think. Or exist.

  I just needed to drift. Drift away like smoke on the breeze. Or maybe I would just become water. It was already happening—I could feel it, cell by cell, starting in my toes. They were disappearing into the lake. My legs would be next. Then my torso. My arms. Everything.

  I should’ve been frightened, or at least startled, but I wasn’t.

  This… this was meant to be. I’d found my place. My purpose.

  Mindlessly, I began to chant, whispering the mantra as if I’d heard it a thousand times.

  I am the water, the water is me

  I am the water, the water is me

  I am the water

  Water

  Water

  Water...

  No, Gray… You’re lingering too long. You can’t!

  Water water water water…

  Wake up. Wake up now! Gray! GRAY!

  I gasped at the sound of Sophie’s voice, yanking me out of my haze. My eyes snapped open, and I dropped through the water like a stone, sputtering as it filled my mouth.

  It tasted like rot.

  I swam to the shore and dragged myself out, shivering. Behind me, the lake turned menacing, the water suddenly black and murky as mist rolled over the surface. It’d come out of nowhere, filling the entire forest.

  I was completely disoriented, scared to move for fear of ending up back in the lake.

  “What now?”

  I was hoping Sophie would answer. Instead, the magic inside me warmed, and I felt a gentle tug, like someone was pulling on a string connected to my bellybutton.

  Trusting it, I followed in the direction of the pull.

  After only a minute or two of walking, the mist parted. Several yards ahead, I spotted the edge of a new forest, barren and eerie, with black, leafless trees draped with black-and-silver threads.

  My heart leaped. I’d know those trees anywhere—they were part of the black forest that now surrounded my magical realm. Part of my realm, according to Liam. Part of the source of my power.

  My magic stirred again, tugging me forward as if it were being called home. Hope surged inside me. Maybe I wasn’t trapped. If I could get back to my own magic realm, I could find Liam. I could find a way back to the material plane. Back to my rebels.

  The trees seemed to be welcoming me as I approached, stretching out their black branches, their silver tinsel fingers fluttering in the breeze.

  Mesmerized, I reached out to touch them, eager to get back to my realm. My palms glowed indigo as the silver threads wrapped around my fingers in a gentle caress, urging me forward.

  Urging me home.

  I took my first step into the black forest.

  I was home. So, so close I could taste it, the lilac and lavender scent of my sacred place filling me so completely, it almost felt as if I’d never left. Not even after Calla died.

  It’d been a long time since I’d felt so happy. So relieved.

  And then I froze.

  A heavy hand fell on my shoulder from behind, its grip tightening painfully.

  “Leaving the shadows already, Sunshine?” His voice slithered down my spine, so close I could feel his damp breath on the back of my neck.

  I turned to face him. My captor. My tormentor. The man I’d loved more than a decade ago. The man who led his family to my house to butcher the only mother I’d ever known.

  The one I’d sentenced to an eternity in this place, just as I’d sentenced myself.

  “Haven’t you had enough of this, Jonathan?” I jerked away from his touch, but he grabbed me again, his fingers digging into my flesh. He had no fingernails left.

  “Let me go,” I said. “Or I’ll—”

  “Or you’ll what? Rip out my soul and banish me to the Shadowlands?” He grinned, most of his teeth missing now, the dead-animal stench of his breath turning my stomach. “I’m afraid that plan didn’t work out so well. So now we’re gonna do things according to my plan. And Sunshine? You’re not going to like it one bit.”

  Five

  Emilio

  My gun and badge were missing.

  I opened my eyes and sat bolt upright, and was swiftly rewarded with a lancing pain through my skull, so bright and sharp I nearly puked.

  Clutching my head in my hands, I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the nausea to pass. It cleared out fast enough, only to pave the way for another shot of pain. This one, however, brought a rush of memories back with it—Leaving Darius at the motel. Ronan and I searching for clues at the Landes place, where Gray’s ex had left us a message in the form of a body wearing her mother’s amulet. The two of us getting ambushed by the local pack, headed up by none other than the Raven’s Cape Chief of Police, Elena Alvarez.

  My sister.

  Damn.

  I blew out a breath. At least she hadn�
�t killed us. From the looks of things, she’d brought us back to her place. I was on a leather couch in the living room, a bright, airy space with gleaming wood floors, lots of windows, and cheerful yellow-orange walls.

  As nice as it was, though, something didn’t feel right about the place. It took me a minute to realize what it was.

  There was nothing remotely personal about it. No photos. No knickknacks. The books on the shelves were decorative, and the sparsely-placed art on the walls was the kind of framed generic crap you could pick up at any department store.

  Still, I knew it was my sister’s place. I could feel her presence everywhere, and the color of the walls was the exact same shade my father had painted her bedroom in Mendoza when we were kids.

  Tangerine sunset, it was called. He’d sent me back to the hardware store in town for more when he realized one coat wouldn’t be enough.

  Gingerly, I rose from the couch and stretched. My muscles were stiff and tight, my back cracking and creaking.

  Shifters aged at about half the rate of humans and lived three times as long, but hell. Even with such a long life ahead of me, I still felt like I was getting old.

  At least my head had stopped throbbing.

  I looked around and got my bearings. I was alone in the tangerine sunset room, but Ronan was around here somewhere—his scent was fresh, as was the recently brewed coffee and something that smelled a lot like Mamá’s tortilla de papas.

  If I let myself, I could almost pretend we were back home. That all the people we’d so fiercely loved—the pack—were still alive. That everything had turned out differently.

  But that had never done me a damn bit of good.

  So I went with anger instead.

  “Elena!” I roared her name, the sound of it still foreign and gritty in my ears. “Elena!”

  “Well, well!” came her sarcastic reply. “The lone wolf lives.”

  She stepped out from behind a pair of French doors at the other end of the room, arms crossed over her chest, dark hair spilling over her shoulders. Now that she wasn’t pointing a gun at my chest, I took a minute to take in the sight of her. She was thinner than I remembered, but muscular, dressed in jeans and black v-neck tank top that showed off her well-defined arms. She had a long, narrow nose and sharp cheekbones that’d always made her look both beautiful and intimidating. But time hadn’t softened the severity of her face. Just the opposite; there were lines around her mouth and a streak of gray in her hair that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen her.