The Necromancer's Seduction

by Mimi Sebastian

  “I don’t know a whole lot about you. I mean, you don’t share about your demon life. Hell, do demons have families?”

  He looked at the Chinese cabinet and let a few seconds tick by. “Yes. Demons have families.”

  “Ewan, there’s something going on that affects your status among the demons. What’s the deal? Is it a family thing?”

  “Something happened in the demon realm, but it doesn’t matter as far as we’re concerned.”

  I tried to see into his eyes, tried to decipher his faraway look. “You’re a complicated demon, Marchois.”

  “No.” He shifted his gaze back to me, his expression languid. “I’m pretty straightforward when it comes to things I want.”

  Every breath I took seemed to draw him closer until he leaned over me, hands braced on the couch at my sides, his knees touching mine. My heart raced, and my breathing grew unsteady. His musky scent invaded my senses, and coherent thoughts slipped away. I managed to suck in a few breaths.

  “What do you want?” I whispered. I fingered my necklace absently. He took the glass from my hand and placed it on the side table behind me, not moving his eyes, which burned into mine.

  He took my head and pulled me into a searing kiss. My entire body sizzled, melting completely at the feel of his lips, his velvet tongue exploring, teasing. He abandoned my mouth and nibbled my chin and neck. I moaned and stretched my neck out to him, seeking more. His deep growl sent shivers through my body. I almost wept when he pulled away with a ragged sigh, releasing my head.

  His eyes sparked gold. “Is this what you want? Because if we continue, I won’t be able to stop.”

  I could tell from his heavy breaths and his heaving chest that it had taken every ounce of his will to stop. In that moment, I saw Ewan, really saw him, stretched above me, magnificent, powerful. Someone who knew he could have me, but asked my permission anyway. I wanted him, needed to feel him thrusting hard inside me, filling the emptiness I’d carved into my soul.

  I reached under his shirt, accessing the smooth hardness of his stomach and waist. His eyes tightened, but he didn’t remove them from mine as I continued my exploration, propping myself on my elbow. His muscles clenched under my hand, and I reveled in the effect of my touch on him.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” he rasped, quickly ridding himself of his annoying T-shirt.

  My eyes blazed a path down his chest to the bulge straining against his jeans. “My God, your skin.” I gasped at the gold, almost metallic shimmer to his skin, the same effect I’d seen at the demon lair.

  “It happens when my emotions are elevated.” His eyes became shuttered. “Does it bother you?”

  Bother me? I had my own god kissing me, making love to me. Hell no.

  I reached to unbutton his jeans, my hands shaking as I spread the fly and freed his swollen cock. I ran one hand along his ass, feeling the smooth skin. I didn’t want to stop touching him. Before I could take his throbbing length in my hand, he grabbed my shirt and yanked it off.

  “Not yet,” he said thickly. He lifted my hips and worked my khakis off, burning a path up my legs with his mouth. He inhaled deeply, and his skin shimmered again, blazing this time. “God, you smell sweet and spicy,” he said, his voice hoarse.

  Somehow, through the lusty fog, I remembered I was wearing my comfy, cotton undergarments. “I could go put on the sexy, lacy stuff.”

  “I’d only tear it off. I’m only interested in what’s underneath.” He had my comfy, cotton undergarments off before finishing his sentence, and I felt exposed under the naked desire radiating from his eyes.

  “Christ, I’ve waited for this. I want to look at you,” he said. “All of you.”

  I squirmed and shifted my leg up. He seized both my hands and stretched my arms to bend them around the couch’s armrest. I squirmed some more. He tasted my neck, making his way down to circle my breast with his lips, stretching my nerves tight. When he caught my erect nipple with his teeth, I cried out as I arched my back. He continued to hold my hands captive while he worked on the other breast. I writhed against his hard length, eliciting a groan from deep in his throat.

  “Impatient? You’ll have to wait,” he said in a gruff tone.

  He freed my arms and slowly feasted on my aching body. He opened my legs and caressed my inner thigh, inching closer to my liquid center. He worked a finger along my clit, and I moaned, my knees and thighs shaking. He emitted a satisfied growl from his throat, spread my legs wider, and braced my feet on his shoulders while he explored my moist folds with his tongue, using his fingers inside me to heighten the intensity.

  I tried to arch up with my feet, my senses a live wire, but he kept me down with his other hand against my stomach. He began sucking on the bundle of nerves, making it harder. When I’d reached the tip of the tempest, he pressed on the hard nub with his teeth, and I lost control of my senses and my mind, climaxing in one violent shudder. He kept his mouth on me, licking my juices until I stopped shaking. He moved up from between my legs with a satisfied gleam in his eyes.

  I pushed on his chest until he was upright. Kneeling on the couch, I took his rigid length into my mouth, smiling at his sharp intake of breath. I licked and sucked until the muscles in his thighs trembled. I released his cock and ran my tongue up his body, licking and nipping along his ribcage and nipples.

  “Ruby, if you keep this up, I can’t promise you I’ll be in full control.” The deep and primal timbre of his voice sent a delicious shiver along my skin.

  “Control? Who wants control?” I was surprised at how breathy my voice sounded.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “The only way you’ll hurt me is if you don’t fuck me now.”

  He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up to take my lips in a harsh kiss, biting me until I felt a hot trickle of blood. He licked up the blood with his tongue and groaned.

  “I thought only blood demons drank blood,” I managed to gasp from between his deep kisses.

  He pulled away and looked at me. I couldn’t stop the quick intake of breath. His eyes were on fire, almost blue in their intensity.

  “No, blood is an aphrodisiac to all demons.”

  Still holding my arms, he pushed me back down on the couch and thrust his hard cock into me in one swift movement. I cried out from the pain and pleasure of him searing me to my core. I gripped his waist with my thighs, holding on, while he drove harder and harder. My muscles tightened around him, squeezing tightly, until I felt as if all my nerve endings were exposed. I cried out, digging my nails into his back. He plunged into me deeper, grinding his hips against mine, until my body exploded, my muscles quivering in release.

  Ewan’s muscles tightened, and he howled his release, his body trembling violently. He pushed his hard cock deeper until his strained muscles loosened. Spent, he rested on top of me for a few minutes while we both worked to regain our breathing. My body teetered on the edge of the couch, and I wondered how we’d managed sex without falling off.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, that was . . . nice.”

  He grimaced, and I laughed.

  “Don’t ever use that word around me again,” he said.

  I ran my hand through his hair. “It was sheer ecstasy.” He nuzzled his head between my breasts, his silky hair tickling my tender mounds. He gently withdrew from within my depths and stood, his body glistening from our sweat. He reached down and picked me up. “Come on, let’s get some rest.”

  He carried me upstairs. I put my arms around his neck and nuzzled his chest, completely satiated. I could seriously lose myself in this demon and wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing, but I’d take it for now.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The gossamer yellow curtains in my bedroom wisped up and down with the early morning breeze when I awoke. The air felt cool against my skin, still sensitive from last night. We’d made love a few more times, Ewan coaxing me back from sleep with the fire of his touch and kisses. He n
ow snoozed beside me on the bed, his large expanse of back exposed to my stare. My nerve endings jangled at the memory of his touch on my body—inside my body.

  I pulled the cotton sheets over me. My movement must have woken him, because he turned, spooned me against him, then kissed and sucked my neck. The jangling nerves didn’t compare to the electricity running from my neck to my inner thighs. His voice was low as he said, “I’ve wanted to kiss you like this since the first time we met.”

  “You mean the party?”

  I recalled that meeting. Cora’s best friend Lily, a demon and non-profit fundraiser, had hosted a party to raise money for a local shelter that helped domestic violence victims. I hadn’t been too keen on going, but I also didn’t want my whole “avoiding the supernatural” thing to interfere with supporting family and friends and good causes.

  I smiled, picturing Cora’s hand on my arm, leading me to the bar where Ewan stood, pouring himself a drink. Even then, I was struck by his presence. When he’s in a room, nothing else seems to have shape or substance. I’d known he was a supe, and my defenses had immediately set up a perimeter.

  “When did you first meet my grandmother?” I asked.

  “At a Halloween party.”

  I laughed and rolled on the bed, dragging the sheets with me.

  “What?” he asked, his tone a mix of amusement and curiosity.

  “She wrote in the journal Malthus gave me that she had met the perfect demon for me at a Halloween party.”

  “Your grandmother was a smart woman.” He lifted his upper body and propped an arm on the bed. “I have to admit that at the fundraiser I enjoyed the many ways you blew me off. It was like trying to catch a hummingbird, flitting off nervously, wings buzzing every time I approached.”

  His fingers worked their way up my thighs, making it hard for me to focus on our conversation. “I saw your distrust for supes, for me, every time you squinted at me and perched your hands on your hips. I figured our paths would intersect again, and you’d realize your mistake in blowing me off . . . and of course you wouldn’t be able to resist my body.”

  I sat up and whacked him across the head with my pillow. “What if that intersection had never happened?”

  He threw the pillow on the floor and moved his body over mine, forcing me back down on the bed. “I would have made something up. A poor kitty stuck in a tree, needing the powerful necromancer to help her.”

  I laughed. “How would my power help the kitty get out of the tree?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know . . . make a zombie fireman or something.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He would eat the kitty, not help it. What if your plan had back-fired? Maybe a different demon would have attracted my interest,” I teased. “I heard Incubi are the best demon lovers.”

  “Ah, you’ve been talking to Kara,” he whispered against my ear, making me tingle all over. “The thing about sex demons, for that matter, is that they don’t have to work that hard at it. Their thrall generates almost the same amount of pleasure as the act of sex itself.”

  “Mmmm, sounds exciting.”

  He jerked up, eyes narrowed in irritation. I wrapped my hands around his head and pulled him back to my neck. “Don’t worry. I like the warriors.”

  He sucked hard at the juncture where neck met shoulder. “Good. I’ve worked hard perfecting my techniques.”

  I shuddered at his statement, or was it from his hand stroking my breast? “Mmmm, perfecting, huh?” My voice wobbled.

  “I’ll let you be the judge.” He slid his hand down and stroked my clit. All thought and reason dissipated along with the tiny voice that hinted I’d regret this later.

  * * * *

  Ewan sat across from me at a small table in my favorite cramped diner a few blocks from my house. The aroma of eggs and oil frying in a pan enveloped us while clattering dishes and waiters shouting orders competed with the conversational chatter. Breakfast was my favorite meal of the day, and Ewan was feeding me small tidbits of his life. They were just as yummy as the loaded-with-goodness omelets served in the diner.

  “I attended high school in this realm for a couple of years, played sports,” he said. “My family wanted me to understand human culture. I think they wanted to get rid of me and used this world as a demon boarding school.”

  “Dysfunction in the Marchois clan?”

  “Maybe. My brother and I—” His eyes darkened. “We had a good relationship. My father was very traditional. We butt heads with him often.”

  “Your brother spent time here as well?”

  He nodded.

  “Those poor high school girls. They didn’t stand much of a chance.” I bit into my bacon, spinach, and cheese omelet, savoring the fatty crunch of the bacon.

  “What about you? You stand a chance?”

  I ignored his teasing tone, finished chewing, and gave him a pointed look. “I’m not in high school.”

  “True. So what impressed you?”

  My face heated in scattered pinpricks, remembering last night.

  He grinned wickedly and leaned close to me. “Aside from my obvious skills,” he said, his voice low. He straightened. “What about my sharp mind and sparkling wit?”

  I laughed. “Sparkling? You do have that skin glowing thing going on.” Wanting to move the conversation away from topics that made me blush, I asked him about his brother.

  He moved his home fries around with his fork. “My brother is dead.”

  The crash of a tray full of plates falling to the ground startled me and filled the silence between us. Demons dying. Mortality was not something I imagined demons struggled with, yet I saw that struggle in Ewan’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry.”

  After taking a bite, he said, “We passed time here, but we spent the majority of our youth enduring one trial after another during our passage to adulthood. The trials are designed to teach a demon to use and control his power.”

  “Ah, like the African tribes who send the young man out into the bush, and he returns a man.”

  “Something like that.”

  “How was it for you?”

  His irises dilated, turned black. “Grueling.” He blinked a few times, bringing back the amber. “I bet you had lots of guys trailing after you, picking up whatever crumbs you left behind.”

  “Hard to leave many crumbs when you’re a supernatural. Relationships are hard to maintain when your life’s a big secret.”

  “Maybe you dated the wrong type of man.”

  I pressed on my knuckles. “And the right type of man is a supernatural demon perhaps?”

  “You won’t have to hide.”

  The look in his eyes definitely made me want to find a large rock—better a mountain—to crawl under.

  * * * *

  Ewan and I parted ways in front of the diner, and I walked home. I’d have to figure out where to fit Ewan into my life, but in my usual procrastination, decided to wait until this mess with the supes ended. I’d never felt this connection with a non-supe and wasn’t sure I could go back to normal. The sex alone was enough to swear off human men. Ewan’s lovemaking was ardent, driven by a primal urge, and I suspected he’d held back. More surprising was my response, like he’d fed an inner beast.

  I smiled and answered my ringing cell.

  “Hey there,” Kara said.

  “Isn’t it early for you?”

  “Yes, but I couldn’t wait. How did Ewan’s, ah, visit go last night?”

  “Ummm.” My laugh slipped out.

  “I knew things would get nasty when he told me he was going to check on you, that is, I knew it would happen if you were at all smart. I want details. Ewan, yum.”

  “Yum ain’t the half of it.”

  “You seem very accepting of the whole thing. Heeey, who are you, and what have you done with my friend?”

  “Tell me about it. We really connected. He revealed an interesting side to him.”

  “Boring, unless it was his backside.”

 
“I did get the backside, all kinds of sides. Don’t worry. He has plenty of he-man to balance the sensitive parts.”

  “I expect no less of a demon.” She paused. “So now what?”

  “I don’t know. Play it by ear. I’m not ready to get all Suzy Homemaker. Maybe when this mess blows over, he and I can explore things more.”

  “Is that how he feels?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “You’re handling this well. I agree, keep it casual. Ewan has done his share of philandering, and you don’t know what he wants from you.”

  And with those words, ice water exploded inside my head. What was I thinking? Practically skipping down the street, stars flashing before my eyes, considering a relationship with a demon just because I’d had a good fuck? Okay, it was a helluva good fuck. I sighed deeply. In less time than it took to take a breath, I’d tossed my chipper, sparkling morning on the ground, leaving nothing but scattered shards of doubt and self-imposed prejudices. My nerves felt numb, cauterized.

  “Uh, Ruby? Look, I didn’t mean to rain on your parade, call down lightning and thunder. It’s great that—”

  “Hey, you want to do something tonight?” I needed a proper distraction and didn’t want to spend the night by myself, still gathering my wits after various near death experiences.

  “I was going to ask you. There’s a carnival in town.”

  “The carnival? Really?” I hadn’t been to a carnival in years, and my nerves needed the antidote.

  “Yes. It’ll be fun. It’s one of the few places I can go and almost be myself.”

  “I can’t think of a time when you aren’t yourself. Anyway, sure, let’s go.”

  “You going to invite Ewan?”

  The shards gleamed before me. “No, but we should bring Adam, just to be on the safe side.”

  She sniffed. “You can make that excuse for bringing him if you want, like we can’t take care of ourselves.”

  “I’ll see you later,” I responded before we ended the call. I didn’t want to explain that I’d suggested Adam come along so I could keep an eye on him. Didn’t want her to worry. He’d already attacked me after only two days of reanimation. It was just a matter of time before he tried again, but I’d taken some precautions to protect myself. I was more distressed over him ravaging the general populace. Zombieland would seem Disneyesque in the face of his unleashed carnal appetites.