by Eve Newton
I strip off my clothes, standing completely naked on the lush carpet and hold my arms out to the sides. The magick whips around me and I find myself deep in the bowels of Hell, in a cavern large enough to house an army.
With a roar of pure gratification, I clench my fists and allow the power of my true self to wash over me.
I grow taller by several feet. My feet turn to cloven hooves that scrape on the rock as I shift to crack my back, which explodes into a series of spikes along my spine, poking through my skin that has turned a violent shade of red and black. My enormous, black, feathered wings sprout, flapping intensely as my fingers hook into claws so wickedly sharp, they are made for slicing open flesh like a knife through butter. My head pounds as my horns grow, extending to two feet in height and my jaw elongates to house all of my teeth, which change into several rows of sharp fangs. My pointed tail protrudes, swishing around me joyfully as I stand in my true, terrifying form.
I see everything through a red haze with my serpent’s eyes, causing the evil to bubble up and the need to cause destruction to spike. I flick my forked tongue, remembering with the lengthening of my enormous, spiked cock, how Axelle reacted to the touch of it.
I wonder how she would react to seeing me like this. She expressed desire when she thought I looked like my father, but I am so much bigger and petrifying now. Would she still want to take me as I am?
Time will tell.
Another one of the many reasons for these trials is so that she will be strong enough to withstand the onslaught my true form will assault her fragile body with.
Only once.
Once is all it will take in this form to conceive my child. The rest of the time, I can enjoy my Demon Bound in my human form, ravaging her, pleasuring her, hurting her as much as I like.
I will enjoy every second of it.
I let out a deep rumble of a laugh that echoes eerily around the cavern as I stamp heavily over to the altar. The time has come to take a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter, to ensure my success.
“Come to me!” I bellow into the darkness of one of the tunnels that lead off from my unconsecrated sanctuary.
The human female that I’d picked out days ago, stumbles, frightened, towards me. Blindfolded and naked. She cannot lay her gaze upon me as she will disintegrate on the spot. No, I need her alive and well when I drain her blood.
As she approaches, whimpering in absolute dread that sends my lust skyrocketing for the beautiful, delicate creature, I grab her by her arms and haul her up onto the altar. I pause as I breathe in her scent and decide to see to my raging hard-on that is jutting out in front of me before I sacrifice her.
I grab my jagged cock, the spines tearing through the palm of my hand and I jerk myself off, once again wondering how Axelle will feel about me penetrating her this way. Will she scream? Will I tear her in half and have to repair her body? The thought of her small body screaming and writhing underneath me as I pound into her, excites me further. I see her beautiful blue eyes and long, blonde hair. Her flawless skin and smart mouth. Her feisty attitude and defiance of me makes me groan and soon I’m releasing my evil seed onto the female laid out before me. She screams in terror as she feels the jet-black splats land on her, and it is the perfect distraction.
I hold my hand out and an athame appears on my bloodied palm. I pick up her arm and slice deeply across her wrist.
She grunts in pain.
The pulse in her neck mesmerizes me. I can’t help but slice across her pale, white throat and watch as the blood oozes out of the wound. I lick my lips and take a drink, swiping my long tongue across the cut before I say the ritual words.
The female is dead before I have even finished the chant. I whisk the blindfold off her, needing to see her dead eyes before I set her on fire to complete the ceremony.
I feel her pure soul enter me and it shimmers slightly before it settles deep inside me, adding to my power, strengthening me and therefore my bound one. Axelle will feel the boost and it will help her now with whatever the last phase will throw at her.
Evan
“I’m not entirely sure why I’m here,” I say eventually, after I crush Axelle to me, kissing her and trying not to cry, I'm so grateful to see her again. I look at the body of the host that Axelle has uninhabited.
She has passed out and will probably remain that way for some time.
“Luc’s ejection process was a bit ham-fisted,” she explains. “Not with the usual finesse with which I like to leave a body. I’m so glad you are alive,” she adds, kissing me again.
“Me too,” I murmur, not wanting to relive that experience ever again. Fucking Darius.
Axelle looks over at Dashel. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “I know this is what you have been trying to avoid.”
He shrugs at her, his face grim. “The choice is, undeniably, yours. I cannot tell you not to do this, only advise you that you are making a mistake.”
She looks back at me, her face as grim as the Angel’s. “What is your take on this?”
I look down. Do I want her fucking Luc and creating a child with him? No. Seriously. No.
However, if she wants to do it, then who am I to tell her she can’t, or judge her for her choice?
“Evan?” she presses me with a look of concern on her familiar, beautiful, Devil-given face.
“If this is what you want, then I will support you. But…just don’t…don’t be too hurt when it’s all over.”
She frowns at me. “I can make him love me.”
“You don’t need to,” I say lightly. “He already does. He just doesn’t know it and he sure as shit won’t admit it. He thinks he can’t love because of who he is, but that isn’t true. Demons can love.” I curl a lock of hair around her ear and drag her closer to me again. “Just look at you.”
She grins up at me. “Do you really think he loves me?”
I nod, feeling the weight of this on my heart. But at the end of the day, she is all that matters to me. If she is happy, then I’m happy and I won’t stand in her way of being with Dashel, or Luc, if it comes to that. “Just remember that I love you and I’m telling you, showing you how much.”
Her smile widens even more. “I know,” she says. “I love you too, Evan. I won’t ever dismiss that, no matter what happens with Luc.”
I nod with gritted teeth. “It’s all I ask.”
She blinks and turns back to Dashel. “What about you, Angel? Are you abandoning ship?”
He swallows, his gaze on her, taking in every inch of her. He slowly shakes his head. “No,” he says. “I will not leave you. But I do not know what my place will be in your life once you go back to him.”
“You will be by my side. You both will. I will make sure of it,” she says.
I give her a soft smile, that suddenly turns to a frown as I realize that she is standing here in her fucking, goddammed, Devil-given body.
“Fuck!” I roar, startling her and making her step back from me slightly. “You are off limits again. Fuck! He gets his own fucking way, again!”
She sighs. “Back to oral, I’m afraid. Anal is out. I asked.”
I snort with amusement at her words. “Well, damn,” I mutter. “You’re going to kill me.”
“Not for much longer. I’m in phase five. Only one left. You’ll have to make do with my mouth til I come through this.”
Her confidence that she will in fact come through this is a relief. Had she been worried or scared it would make my own fears shine through. This way I can try to ignore the dread that I may not see her again in a few days time.
“I guess, first things, we should get out of here before she wakes up.” Axelle indicates the host with her chin. Then she looks up at me with a start. “Shit! I forgot to mention to Luc about the Dark Witch.”
I shrug. “Is it important?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she says with a frown. “He needs to know that someone out there knew I would come here and prepped this host to accept me. I mean, why? What w
as the purpose of this?”
“Something to figure out later,” I say and lead her back into the house with Dashel close behind.
“Where are you going?” I ask as she turns towards the stairs.
“I need clothes,” Axelle says. “I’m still dressed in the nightgown I was in when I escaped. Luc is weird!”
“No need to tell me that,” I mutter under my breath.
Axelle goes directly to Eleanor’s bedroom and pulls out a duffel bag and her backpack. She throws in a few clothes with a grimace. It’s doubtful they’ll fit her shorter, less top-heavy body now, but I’m glad she’s back in it despite the no sex rule. She is who she is in that body. Then she picks out the smallest top she can find and a pair of jeans to change into.
“Good thing I don’t need a bra,” she says with a sassy wink.
I snort while Dashel turns red as he stares at her perfect tits. The host’s ones were gorgeous, but everything about Axelle now is perfection. She knows it as well, which makes me smile.
Somehow, I’m going to have to convince her to let me fuck her soon because I don’t think I can stand by and abstain when she looks like that.
She crosses over to me and strokes my face. “It’s good to see you again, my Reaper.”
“You too,” I murmur.
“Is Darius dead?” she asks.
“No,” I spit out. “Fucker. And while we are on the subject, you know it was Luc that told him to come here and kill me, don’t you?”
“But he brought you back,” she says lightly, not able to hate him on my behalf. It pisses me off, but I get it.
“I’ll get the car started,” I say a bit annoyed.
She grabs my hand and gives me a smile. “I love you,” she murmurs and that’s all it takes. I forgive her and kiss her lightly.
“I love you too.”
I leave her and Dashel alone, sensing that the Angel has more to say, but doesn’t want to in my presence.
~ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~
Dashel
“Say it,” she says to me, facing off with a straight back and a determined look.
I falter because I’m still too overwhelmed with seeing her in this body in real life and not just in my mind. She is absolute perfection.
“I have nothing else to say on the matter. You know my thoughts,” I say eventually.
“You have something else to say, I can tell,” she chides me gently, coming over to me, taking my hand and lowering her eyes. “Are you terribly upset with me?”
“Yes,” I state. “I am upset, but not with you. This situation has you tied up in knots. I understand how you feel about the Devil. He made you, he is your creator, no one more than I understands that kind of love and loyalty.”
“But?”
“But I wish that you had consulted me before you let him put you back in that body. I was under the impression that we are in love and this affects me too.” There I’ve said it.
“I know,” she says with a sigh. “But it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
I frown at her. “I do not know what you mean.”
“I mean, had I discussed this with you, you would have told me ‘no’. Now, you have no choice and you will either forgive me or not.”
I dislike that thought process. It is manipulative, but I shouldn’t be surprised. She is a master manipulator. It is what she does, who she is.
“I am worried about what will happen to me when you leave here,” I say quietly.
“You will be coming with me,” she says forcefully.
“To Hell?” I croak.
“Yes,” she says. “I know that it is difficult for you to understand now, and that the thought scares you, but I will protect you. Luc won’t touch you.”
“I won’t have my powers down there,” I say.
“You don’t know that,” she says carefully, but I feel it is just to placate me. Then, she blinks at me. “Speaking of powers, how did that Vazna guy find us? I thought we were cloaked?”
“So did I,” I mutter. It has been plaguing me and the only thing I can come up with is that Vazna’s power now exceeds my own.
“Hmm,” she murmurs and takes my hand. “Everything will be okay, Angel. Trust me.”
I search her eyes, those cornflower blue eyes that bewitched me days ago and made me rethink my entire existence.
“I do trust you,” I tell her, making her beam at me, which makes me feel happy inside.
“Good, because I trust you with my life, Dashel,” she says seriously.
I give her a swift nod.
“What?” she asks. “There’s more?”
I hesitate once again, but this time out of selfishness. I do not want to tell her, but I cannot lie to her. “Evan was correct earlier, about Luc. He—he does care about you. I saw it on his face when he dragged you out of the pool. The two of you together make for quite the spectacle. Neither one of you will admit how you feel.”
“Why are you telling me this?” she asks cautiously.
“Because I want you to be happy and if that means that you have to become involved with the Devil, then I trust you to ensure that you will be safe, and that you will not leave me behind when he inevitably comes to this realization for himself.”
She bites her lip. I focus on it as I try to ignore the ache inside me that I have failed in my mission to save her. I have failed her.
“And the child?” she croaks out the words I was hoping she wouldn’t right now.
“The child has been foreseen to bring the end of the world, Axelle. It is why Luc is so desperate for his heir.”
“I can’t think about that,” she says in a surprising show of cowardice. “I just want to take this one day at a time.”
I nod, wondering how I am supposed to stop this from happening. We are on a collision course with Armageddon and I am going to be forced to choose a side. I have no idea how I am going to make the choice to align with Hell over this. It goes against every fiber in my being. I will accept that Axelle has to go back there and that I have to go with her, but the rest is going to haunt me until I figure out how to come to terms with it.
“By the way, don’t think for a second that me being back in this body lets you off the hook for a screw that will rock your world. I’ll be through these trials before you know it and then it’s every woman for herself,” she says with all the sass of the Demon she is.
“Screw?” I ask in confusion, as she hands me her bags to carry and then brushes past me with those breasts pressed against me, laughing gently.
“Fuck,” she explains, making me blush with her incessant expletives. “Once passed, Luc will have no choice but to let me off this leash.”
Once passed, she will be prepared to receive the spawn of the Devil. I trail after her pondering the opposite of that. Once passed, she will be prepared to receive a child with so much power that a normal female isn’t able to handle. Any child with immense power.
I have immense power that can be passed on.
It is a thought, that now expressed, I cannot stop it hurtling towards a conclusion that terrifies me, but at the same time, excites me in a way that I have never experienced.
I smile as I watch her pert rear, encased in tight jeans, descend the stairs in a way that is deliberately teasing me.
I drop her bags suddenly, the thump making her stop and turn to me in query. I grab her arm and drag her up the step to meet me on the same level. I crush my mouth to hers, surprising her with my action and my vigor.
She responds to me after her astonishment vanishes, her hands slipping around my waist and then dropping to squeeze my rear.
“I love you, Axelle,” I murmur against her lips before I plunge my tongue back into her mouth, dueling with hers in a war that I want to win. I need to show her the male that I am. The powerful Angel that takes no prisoners. The warrior.
I bring my hands up to hesitantly touch her breasts and then I squeeze the puckered nipples that are begging me to suck.
> I lift her tight top to reveal the ripe buds and I bend down, taking one in my mouth with a groan of satisfaction.
She flings her head back, her hands in my hair as she shudders against me. I feel a wave of power so great pass through her and settle, causing sparks between my hands and mouth devouring her, and her skin.
“What has got into you?” she pants at me.
“I am accepting my fate,” I say, and she gives me a curious look.
“Fate?” she asks with an arched eyebrow.
I nod happily. I finally know why all of this has happened to me. I can still change the course of the Demon in my arms. I just have to fall to do it and be willing to corrupt my very soul to save the world.
For the first time since I encountered this Seductress, I feel the weight lift off my shoulders. It is all part of the grand plan. I am willing to sacrifice myself not just to be with her, but now, for a purpose other than my own selfish needs. It makes my decision to love her easier to bear knowing that it was foreseen. It was supposed to be me that came here instead of Vazna. I was supposed to come here, meet her and fall in love with her. Only it happened sooner than that, before she found this host. It is how Vazna, as Heaven’s Guardian now, found us. It was meant to be. It means that my powers aren’t waning, they are intact and that means that I am capable of impregnating Axelle once she passes the trials, to change the course of history.
“I love this new side to you, Angel,” she murmurs to me. “Be free, my sweet. You have nothing to lose now.”
“And everything to gain,” I say as I let go of her and pick up her bags to run lightly down the stairs two at a time, Axelle laughing as she catches up with me.
Luc
A short while later, I gather up the hem of my black ceremonial robe as I descend the stairs that lead to the chamber of the Dark Oracle. I’m back in my human form and in fine fettle after my time in my true form and, most especially, after the sacrifice. I can still feel the soul inside me being corrupted and adding to my power.
