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

by Sarah Piper

  “Something tells me you’ve spent a lot of time here,” I said, pushing the blond swoop of hair out of his eyes. It was silky and warm, and I wanted to run both hands through it, but restrained myself. “It suits you.”

  “It suits Liam Colebrook, maybe,” he said, offering a sad smile. “He loved the beach. Loved being in the water, surfing, swimming, diving, tasting the salt on his lips. All of it.”

  I nodded, not sure what to say to that. The more time I spent with him, the harder it was to remember that he wasn’t human, wasn’t just a really sweet guy I’d met on a quick getaway to California or Hawaii or some other beautiful, oceanfront paradise.

  He was Death.

  Again, I wondered how he did it. How he transitioned back and forth so often. How he’d existed for an eternity without any loved ones or memories or touchstones to anchor him to a specific time and place. To people.

  I wanted to ask him if it was freeing, not being burdened by the pain of loss, not being caught up in the cycle of human emotion. But when I looked into his eyes now, a very human sadness peeked out from behind his usual otherworldly expression.

  “This place… It’s beautiful, yes. But it isn’t real,” he said, turning his face toward the sea. “No more than any place in the realm. It exists inside of us. Outside of us. Alongside us. Because of us. Everywhere and nowhere, all at once and not at all.”

  “Now there’s the Liam we all know and love.” I smiled to lighten the mood and sat down on the beach, pushing my feet into the sparkling sand. The few beaches I’d visited in Oregon and Washington had been rocky and cool, but this beach felt like spun sugar set out in the sun. “You know, I think I kind of missed you.”

  This got a smile, and he sat down next to me, close enough that our bare arms brushed. “And I you.”

  A seagull cried overhead, and I closed my eyes, losing myself in the moment. For one brief, glorious second, I could almost believe that I had just met Liam on the beach. That we’d come here to hang out, to talk about life, to make each other laugh as the waves rushed toward us, then away.

  I nudged a little closer to him, my skin warm where our arms touched. I heard his sharp intake of breath as my knee brushed along his leg, but he didn’t move away.

  “I didn’t mean to venture so far from the cave,” I said, wondering if he’d been searching for me long. “I stepped out for some air, and I ended up… somewhere else.”

  “You passed through the Orchard of Echoes,” he said.

  “Orchard of Echoes, huh? Do they have a Yelp listing? Because that place sucked. They get no stars.”

  “No, I would think not. It preys on your fears and regrets,” he continued, “slowly driving you mad with guilt. For all those who enter its paths, there are only two possible outcomes: escape, or insanity. You escaped.”

  “All I did was walk away.”

  “Indeed, that is all one can do. Holding on to regrets, letting our fears consume us, allowing our minds to twist them into hundreds of painful scenarios and imagined punishments—that is the path to insanity. Most who enter the orchard never realize they already know the way out, and it isn’t magic or a hidden door or riddle to solve. It’s simply letting go.”

  A chill raced across my skin, and I leaned forward, hugging my knees to my chest. I didn’t want to think about the Orchard anymore.

  Liam reached over and squeezed my arm. “I’m proud of you, Gray.”

  His touch was warm and solid, an anchor on the shore. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I turned and looked into the ancient gaze of the only friend I had in the realm.

  My heart stuttered, then expanded, almost as if it was making room for something more.

  “You were gone a long time,” I said. “I was worried about you.”

  “Less than half a day on the material plane,” he said. “But I know it was long for you. I hated leaving you. But I did manage to locate your—”

  “The guys?” I sat up with a start. “Is everyone okay?”

  “You’ll be pleased to know that your vampire, your demon guardian, and your wolf have been accounted for.”

  “Define ‘accounted for’. Be specific.” I needed to know where they were. That they really were okay.

  “I found them together in Raven’s Cape,” he said, and my heart practically sighed with relief. “Sheltering with a female wolf and her pack.”

  A hot, unexpected flare of jealousy cut through the relief, but I swallowed it back. It didn’t matter who they were with. As long as she was on our side, the only thing I could feel for her was gratitude.

  “She’s Detective Alvarez’s sister, if I’m not mistaken,” he added, mischief glinting in his eyes. His serious expression turned into a smile, then all-out laughter, the skin around his eyes crinkling in the sun. “I see that last bit of knowledge brings you some comfort.”

  “Are you messing with me?” I returned the smile, narrowing my eyes at him. “You’re messing with me. I didn’t know you had it in you, Liam.”

  “Excuse me, but for your information, I was quite the comedian in my day.”

  “In your day?” I laughed, nudging his shoulder with mine. “Let me guess: you were the class clown of the primordial mound? Entertaining all the gods and goddesses of creation with your sparkling wit and boundless charm?”

  Liam blushed, suddenly very interested in the sand in front of him.

  Absently tracing a series of vertical infinity signs with his finger, he said, “They did not take the news of your banishment lightly. It seems they’ve made a deal with the Prince of Hell for passage through the hell portal.”

  “They’re coming here?” Flashes of Darius and Ronan dying in the orchard shot through my memory, but I refused to let them take hold. None of that had been real, and I wasn’t about to let those old fears consume me. Still, the idea of them following me here did not sit well. “Why didn’t you stop them?”

  “I would have, if they’d let me know about their plans in advance. But your vigilantes like doing things their own way, natural order be damned.” He shook his head, but when he met my gaze again, he couldn’t hide the spark of admiration in his eyes. “In any case, word travels quickly among hell’s servants. I’m told they have already passed through the portal, but with the time fluctuations here, it will be some time before they arrive.”

  “How will they find us?”

  “When I receive confirmation of their arrival from my sources, I will retrieve them.”

  “What about Emilio?”

  “It isn’t safe for him here. His soul his human. Demons and vampires don’t have the same risks.”

  “I guess that’s something, then.” As much as I hated the idea of Ronan and Darius in the Shadowrealm, I couldn’t deny the spark of warmth I felt at knowing I’d see them again. When I’d taken Jonathan’s soul in the prison, I’d truly thought that was the end. That I’d never get to say goodbye. Never get to look into their eyes or press another kiss to their lips.

  But now, it seemed we were all finding ways to bend the rules, creating a new reality, with or without magic.

  I blew out a breath. There was still so much I didn’t understand. So much left to learn about this place, about my powers, about their true limitations and consequences.

  All of that would come with time—time that I was starting to believe I might just get back.

  “I don’t suppose there’s an end game here,” I said. “Or anything even remotely resembling a plan.”

  “We all want to see you returned home, Gray. That’s the only end game.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe it was possible.”

  With the palm of his hand, Liam wiped away the infinite creations he’d drawn in the sand. “You make me believe anything is possible.”

  My cheeks warmed, and that expansive feeling in my heart intensified.

  “Will the hell portal stay open long enough for us to get back to it?” I asked.

  “With demon’s blood and the right incantation, both
of which Ronan possesses, the hell portal can be opened anywhere in the Shadowrealm. When the time comes, Ronan and Darius will need to return back through it, but you must find another path.” His eyes filled with something that looked a lot like sympathy. “You’re demon sworn, Gray. You can’t risk it.”

  Demon sworn. The words felt like a brand at the base of my skull, and I wrapped my hand around my neck, trying to rub the burn out of my skin.

  “Sebastian can’t touch me until I’m dead. If that portal can get me back home alive, what’s the issue?”

  “Portal travel is highly unstable for physical beings,” Liam said. “It’s not unusual for a soul to separate from its vessel during the journey. It’s almost always reunited upon arrival, but sometimes there’s a delay. If for any reason your soul was separated from your body in the portal—for any length of time—Sebastian could trap you there, refusing to release your soul from his domain, and no one would be able to challenge him. If that were to happen, you’d be beholden to him whether you’d died or not.”

  “Like Ronan,” I whispered, shuddering as I remembered the horrible story of Ronan’s demonic enslavement. His own parents sold him out. He hadn’t even been given a choice.

  “We will find you another way home, Gray. Demon sworn or not.”

  “Demon sworn,” I sighed. “Shadowborn. Necromancer. Violator of the Natural Order. Anything else I’m missing?”

  I’d picked up so many labels on this journey, yet none of them said a thing about who I really was. I was still trying to figure that out for myself, but I was pretty sure the answer wouldn’t fall under a neat little tag, like some kind of exhibit in a museum. And over here, we have the elusive demon sworn, a rare breed of human who lost her soul to a devil’s bargain made before she was even born. Now class, if you’ll follow me this way…

  “Consider yourself lucky, Liam,” I said. “You might try on different vessels from time to time, but at least you know who you are. Who you’ve always been.”

  Out on the horizon, the sun had just slipped into the sea, turning the sky the color of fire.

  When the last rays had finally faded, Liam turned to me and said, “I wasn’t always who I am now, Gray. I wasn’t always in this form.”

  His hushed tone was colored with shame, as if he were sharing some deeply-guarded secret.

  In that moment, I was willing to do anything to erase the haunted look from his eyes.

  “Oh, I know,” I teased, elbowing him gently in the ribs. “Seems like only yesterday you were terrorizing the neighborhood with your black-on-black grim creeper aesthetic.”

  “Gray, that’s not…” He shook his head and broke our gaze, staring back out across the sea. Clearly, I’d said something wrong. The waves hushed against the shore, the silence between us stretching on for so long, my legs fell asleep.

  When Liam finally spoke again, the words fell heavily—grudgingly—from his mouth. “I’m not what you think I am. Far from it.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I just meant… I don’t know what I meant.”

  I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder, and he scooched closer to me, wrapping an arm around my back.

  It felt like forgiveness. I tried not to show how relieved I was.

  “I know we’ve talked a lot about choice,” he said, his breath stirring the top of my hair. “But the truth is, we don’t always get to choose. Even when we think we have all the answers to make an informed decision.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “And you’re wrong.”

  He laughed. “Explain. Expand. Explore.”

  “We don’t always get to choose the things that happen to us—things other people do, or events outside of our influence, or the fact that everyone dies, or even who we love.”

  Liam pulled back to look at me. “You believe love is outside your influence?”

  “Oh, absolutely. The heart wants what it wants, no matter how crazy or impractical or…” I thought of the men in my life right now, friends and lovers alike. “Or against the natural order it might be.”

  Liam blushed at that, and I took a second to gather my thoughts.

  “So you’re right,” I said, “about things we can’t choose. But we can choose how we deal with those unexpected things.” I shrugged—that was really all I needed to say on the matter. “I chose to get out of that orchard. And I’m choosing to find a way out of this realm, no matter what the universe or anyone else has to say about it.”

  “And you will. I’ve never met anyone with as much stubborn determination and blatant disregard for the rules as you, little witch.”

  I leaned back on his shoulder, and Liam pressed a kiss to the top of my head, making my scalp tingle.

  “This might sound completely fucked up, because… well, hello. Shadowrealm.” I laughed, brushing away a tear that had slipped out. “But I’m really glad you’re here with me, Liam.”

  “I’m glad, too, little witch.” He turned and slipped his fingers beneath my chin, tilting my face up toward his and trapping me in his electric blue gaze. He watched me in silence for so long I almost didn’t realize how close his lips had gotten to mine.

  Almost.

  He seemed to be asking a question, and I nodded in response as if he’d said it out loud.

  Yes. I want this.

  Liam smiled, a little bit shy and a whole lot sweet, and closed the last of the distance between us. His lips brushed mine, and we sparked.

  Literally.

  Both of us laughed, but neither broke away. I shifted to get closer to him, and he guided me back onto the sand, deepening our kiss.

  The sparks turned into an electric current that raced down my spine and made every hair on my arms stand on end. Tiny white lights flashed on my skin wherever we touched, and overhead, streaks of lightning arced silently across the sky.

  I pulled back just for a moment, looking at Liam with awe. He’d been surprising me from the moment he’d first come into my life, but never more than this moment, right here, right now.

  Death was bursting with life.

  He lowered his mouth to mine once again, and I pulled him all the way on top of me. A single touch was no longer enough to anchor me here. I needed the weight of his body against mine, the solidity, the realness. The heat.

  Liam had no more words of wisdom for me, only kisses, deep and passionate and sensual, as if he were tasting chocolate and wine and all of life’s most delicious flavors for the very first time. I felt him growing hard against my thigh, and I shifted and arched my hips, gasping as the firm ridge of his cock pressed against my aching clit.

  He let out a soft moan, the sound of it vibrating across my lips.

  “You’re beautiful, Gray,” he breathed, and nothing else mattered. Not the realm, not the gateway, not my eternal soul.

  Only this.

  When the sky turned dark, we finally came up for air. As we broke apart, a tiny spark danced across my lips, and a dozen bolts of silent lightning raced across the sky.

  “Does it always do that?” I laughed, pressing my fingers to my mouth. Everything inside me was buzzing and alive.

  “I was about to ask you the very same question,” he said, then lowered his eyes. “I don’t… I’m not… I’ve never done this before, Gray.”

  “Never?” I bit back a smile. “Not even once, borrowing a human vessel?”

  Liam—older than time, vaster than the skies, etcetera, etcetera—blushed as he shook his head.

  “Well, you should definitely get more practice, then.”

  “Why?” He sounded alarmed. “Was that not… satisfactory?”

  “Oh, it was quite satisfactory. But you don’t want to get rusty. Use it or lose it, right?”

  “I’m not sure I understand what—”

  “Liam?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can we go back to the kissing part?”

  “Oh, right. Of course.” He smiled, then took my face into his hands, another spark tickling my lips as we leaned b
ack onto the sand. He’d just lowered his mouth to mine when the tide surged, dousing us both.

  We sat up with a jolt, both of us laughing, our clothes clinging to our bodies, hair dripping into our eyes.

  “Well,” Liam said, rubbing the water from his hair. “That felt rather ominous.”

  The tide had returned to normal, shushing softly against the sand several feet in front of us as if it hadn’t just reached up and slapped us. But the sky overhead was nearly black, flashing with lightning even though Liam and I had stopped kissing.

  “I don’t like the looks of that,” he said now.

  “Yeah, I guess it’s time to go,” I said, but I felt optimistic. The wave may have cooled things off between us, but it didn’t feel like an ending.

  Just the opposite.

  There was so much more to Liam than I could’ve imagined. So much more I wanted to know. To share with him.

  I was his first kiss. What other simple human pleasures had he missed out on? Had he even tasted chocolate and wine? Had he ever put a bathrobe on fresh out of the dryer, all warm and snuggly? Had he ever fallen asleep on the couch, only to wake up covered with a blanket that someone tucked around his shoulders? Had he ever heard blues music or run around the grass in his bare feet or gotten a back rub? Had he ever blown bubbles?

  I looked at him now through new eyes, my heart beating strong and solid, a smile stretching across my lips.

  I felt light. Airy. Almost… happy.

  Liam stood up from the sand and held out a hand to pull me up. Despite our soaked clothes and the dark sky, the air still felt warm, carrying with it the clean, salty scent of the sea.

  “I was just thinking,” I said, lacing our wet fingers together. “This was actually a first for me, too.”

  “Bringing your emotional desires into physical manifestation with an undefinable otherworldly entity alongside an interdimensional yet largely symbolic ocean in a minuscule subdimension of a vast, unknowable realm through which all souls must pass upon the expiration of their earthly vessels in order to free themselves from the limiting psycho-spiritual binds that prevent them from reaching their eternal resting place?”