A Darker Crimson

by Carolyn Jewel

  Behind her, the door hinges creaked and a shaft of light expanded on the window, blotting out a slice of the moon. A surge of adrenaline sent Claudia’s heart winging to her throat. She faced the door but kept her back to the wall. A shape filled the doorway. Wide shoulders, narrow waist. Male, unquestionably. The figure was tall and broad shouldered. In the light, she couldn’t make out the color of his hair or eyes. That it might be Aslet made her sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to be what she’d seen of the other human women here. Korzha had done Laura Masters a favor. Claudia was sorry he wasn’t around to do the same for her.

  Whoever it was, stepped inside. Claudia’s stomach bottomed out. The figure lifted a hand and the room lightened appreciably. She looked into a still-darkened corner, shading her eyes from the sudden brightness. After a bit, she adjusted and could look without squinting. There wasn’t any improvement in seeing better where she’d been imprisoned: a dismal room, as gloomy as it had looked in the previous dimness. The silence unnerved her.

  “Who is it? What do you want?” she asked. Maybe, just maybe, she’d try to escape. The door was open, and she didn’t have much to lose anymore.

  But…It was the Bak-Faru demon. The one with lilac eyes. The one who couldn’t wait for her to die. The one who’d killed Jaise and whose companions had frightened the pants off a hall full of demons. He sure as hell scared her. Of all the demons she’d seen in Orcus, his appearance was by far the most unusual, what with that black as midnight hair and purple eyes. God knows he’d never blend into a crowd looking like that. Platinum threads glittered in his hair. His pastel eyes didn’t make him any less threatening.

  The demon closed the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “A human female.” He took a step toward her and stopped. He drew a sharp breath, as if shocked or surprised or angry. “This cannot be so,” he said. “Not with a human female.”

  His voice sent shivers rolling up and down her spine. Claudia was dizzy, being this close to him. Her head pulsed. Had he come to kill her? No other reason came to mind. Improvise, she thought. Keep him off balance. She wrapped her palm over her fist and bowed in the hope there was no question of her not giving him all due respect. “Good evening. Um…” Quick, quick, had she ever heard his name? Her skin felt hot. And her belly, too, all shivery. “Demon…of the…Bak-Faru.”

  He looked at her like she was a particularly clever poodle. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, which disconcerted her. Not that it was cold or anything, though it wasn’t warm. A low body-fat demon, this one. His dimples appeared, and she was pretty sure that meant trouble. He’d been smiling right before he killed Jaise. He leaned toward her, so close she felt the warmth of his breath. “The vampire,” he said in a slow, easy tone, “hides from Nir-Aslet and the others.”

  Korzha was alive, then. Thank God. “Can you blame him?” she asked. “I’d hide from you too, if I could.”

  He nodded toward the ceiling. “He cannot hide himself from me.” The demon looked her up and down and shook his head. “I do not like human women. I do not like you or your dark eyes.”

  She smiled and said in a friendly voice, polite as she could be, “I don’t like demons. Sorry about that.”

  His lilac eyes flickered red but then settled back to their soft and pale shade of purple. What gorgeous eyes. Like his hair, his eyelashes were black as soot. She wondered why she wasn’t dead yet, and while she was wondering about that, the demon, standing less than arm’s length from her, stretched out a hand. She tensed, but all he did was touch a fingertip just below the inside corner of her eye.

  “Your eyes are too dark. This is not good for a demon male to see in his mate.” With a shake of his head, he drew a line from the inner corner of her eye to her temple. “Tes,” he whispered. “I do not like human women, but even so I will mate with you tonight.”

  Her first thought was foreign to her, and astonishingly carnal. She wanted to mate with him. Her second was that she must be insane to want anything to do with him. The demon moved closer, and she sucked in a breath. Her skin shivered as if he were already touching her, and the thing was, it wasn’t a bad feeling at all. She would have edged away, but the wall was against her back. “Why bother?” she asked. Jeez, he was handsome. An exotic mix of imperial beauty and golden skin. “If you don’t like human women, I mean.”

  “Tes.”

  “Um.” She swallowed. “That’s Claudia.”

  “This is your name?” He tipped his head to one side. “Claudia?” Unexpected curves interrupted the sharp planes of his face. He had a soft, full mouth, slanting cheeks, and a nose that hooked just the tiniest bit. Thank God, she thought, thank God he hadn’t brought his Bak-Faru friends. She wished Korzha were here.

  “Yes. My name is Claudia. Claudia Donovan.”

  “Claudia Donovan.” The syllables shimmered on the air, floated between them. His eyes flickered again. The heat in the room increased another fifty degrees. “Claudia-tes, I deny you.”

  He sounded cold and desolate. Desperately alone. He threw back his head and let out a long, low moan of despair and wrath. Cold heat whirled outward from him and through her.

  “Please,” she said. “Just leave me alone.”

  “You understand nothing of demons.” He drew a breath and lifted a hand. Lilac mist formed in the air, caught fire and danced around them both. “This is what I feel for you.”

  He wasn’t touching her, but she sure as hell felt his desire and behind that anguish. He loved what he was: a Bak-Faru demon. He loved his world and his people. Nature demanded he desire her, and so he did. Without limit. Claudia couldn’t help herself; she touched his bare chest. His sexual response to her grew. She didn’t understand why he hated and desired her, or when the heat and cold in her would ever stop. The demon hated with exquisite passion, and wanted with sublime need.

  “Claudia-tes.” His voice went soft and tender. “I will mate with you now.”

  “No.” Her head was quite clear about that. But every bone in her body said yes, like it wasn’t even connected to her brain.

  “Tes.” His voice, all shadows and black velvet, put some horrifyingly explicit thoughts in her head, and when he leaned forward to touch a fingertip to her forehead, all she could do was stare at the planes of his cheek. Something flowed between them, from him to her. Darkness clung to him. Power, too. He’d killed Jaise. Easily. And in a hall full of demons, no one, not even the leaders, had dared move against him. A sliver of cold rippled through Claudia at the spot where his finger touched, right there, between her eyebrows. Watching his mouth curve was like watching the sun rise on a cold morning. The air shimmered around him. This kind of beauty in a man ought to be criminal. He turned his head to one side, watching the nearby burning air.

  In profile, his face lost its hint of gentleness but none of its beauty. The very top of his cheek slanted outward, his skin fit tight over his bones, then curved to the hollow of his lower face. That Aztec face, blended with something else, drew her in a way she thought qualified her for insanity. His eyes, such a pure and icy color, met hers. Claudia felt his surge of lust, a rumbling, growling purr, and all of it resonating in her, too. In human mythology, demons were notorious for their libido. A convenient displacement, she’d always thought, for normal sexual longings most humans elected to deny. Well, all of her sexual longing had just been displaced to these six and some feet of lilac-eyed demon. The way he consumed her terrified her.

  He drew in a sharp breath. He stepped close and put his hands on her waist, up high, near her ribs. His head dipped until his lips hovered just inches over hers. The demon was quite a bit taller than her. If he played basketball, he’d be a power forward. Her hands ended up on his shoulders. Heat radiated off him.

  “Aslet does not have the power to properly create this bond.” His fingers moved slowly over her back, over the marks on her arms. “You will die because he tried to do what only we Bak-Faru can.” He scowled. “But still, I have this.” He tapped her forehead. “Th
e vishtau. With you. A human.” He seemed perplexed.

  “The vishtau.” She repeated the word. Any meaning seemed to race around her head, refusing to be caught. “What does that mean?”

  “Come, tes,” he whispered. His thumbs lifted, brushing the bottom swell of her breasts. “We will mate.”

  Her breath caught. She was horrifyingly close to letting him do whatever the hell he wanted, as long as he came inside of her. The feelings weren’t normal, but desire called to her, pulled at her, demanded that she go to him. She pretended she hadn’t heard him. Except, she knew he wanted her, that he intended to have sex with her. She wanted him in the same way.

  “Tes.” She kept a conversational tone, but she could hardly concentrate. The backs of her knees felt watery, and her hands were still on his heated skin. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

  He smiled and slid his hands up her rib cage, under her armpits as if he intended to pick her up. His beauty stunned her. Such a soft and tender mouth. Gentle, she thought. A gentle mouth on a dangerous monster. “This word is very old. An ancient word used between vishtau mates. It means…” He frowned, trying the find the right word. “Beloved.” He brushed his thumbs over the tips of her breasts. She felt her body react to the touch, tighten and tingle. “Claudia-tes, beloved vishtau mate, I wish to mate with you now.”

  Then his mouth touched hers, and pretty much she forgot everything but the demon. Heat rippled through her, between them. Soft lips, gentle lips. His chest pressed against hers, not hard, but solid. Insistent. She managed to lift one hand. Her palm pressed flat against his bare torso. She’d forgotten he was naked from the waist up. Smooth skin, muscle and sinew. So warm.

  “Claudia-tes.” The demon breathed her name. His breath warmed her cheek. He put his hands on either side of her waist again and pulled her hard against him. She did not want this, but she had no control over the sensations raging through her. And she felt damp heat between her legs, an aching need for sex with him. Just him. She wanted him.

  He stroked her, so soft and slow she thought she might float away. It was like he’d got hold of her thoughts and could twist them any way he wanted. Thwip. Her body reacted and she wanted him so badly, she’d do about anything for him. Anything at all, as long as he mated with her. She had an image of his golden body poised over hers, moving, sliding, thrusting, his lilac eyes caressing her.

  With a soft sigh, the demon froze. His eyes met hers, and she believed the tenderness she saw there was real. Nobody could fake that. Could they? “You are mine, human. Tonight must be. For us both.”

  God, what a fantastic voice, low and seductive. His lower body pressed against her, closely enough that she felt his erection. Everything about him was sublimely sexual. He backed away, toward the pallet, bringing her with him and there released her. While she stood, dizzy from the sensations that expanded in her, he stripped. Underneath his slate-gray pants he wore a pair of shape-hugging thigh-length shorts. Her breath caught. His erection bulged against the fabric. With a graceful flex of the long muscles of his legs, he slipped his hands under the waistband and extended the material out to ease his turgid penis free. He lifted one leg then the other and slid the shorts off.

  “Come,” he said, so softly, nothing but smoke and black velvet.

  In the back of her head, Claudia was more afraid than she’d ever been in her life. Ever since she’d got Holly out of the Lower and made a new life for them, she’d been in control of what happened. She alone decided whether she acted on her desires, however poor her choice of partners. That was her decision, no one else’s. Hers. And now what she wanted didn’t matter. Her mind was subject to her body. She wanted him. Beyond anything.

  Her attention focused on him, on his golden-skinned muscle and sinew, and he was splendidly and impressively aroused. The demon radiated warmth, a wonderful, welcoming warmth, and Claudia realized she felt cold. All her life she’d been cold, and only he could make her warm. And the worst part, the very worst part was that she knew she didn’t want him. Not rationally. Having sex with him felt like she was cheating on someone—a ridiculous thought, since there wasn’t anyone to cheat on. She had no one to love. No one who loved her. Did she? Her body wanted the demon more than her head objected. He had to have sex with her. He had to. She had to.

  His eyes were pools of the sky at thirty thousand feet. Her body ached for his. She didn’t like him, but perversely, inexorably, she wanted the act. She knew he felt the same way. He didn’t like her either, but his body demanded. Their bodies demanded.

  “Come,” he whispered, and she stepped close. His fingers slid beneath her shirt to just above her belly button, then downward. Heat radiated from the pads of his fingers. He would soon be inside her. She would die if she didn’t have him inside her.

  “Claudia Donovan,” he said in his dark voice. “Tes,” he murmured. “Mate with me now, Claudia Donovan.”

  She stared at the demon, forcing her eyes to focus. His gaze pinned her. A silky shiver went through her core. Mate? Jeez, she felt cold inside. A picture formed behind her eyes of his hands on her, his head bending over her, his body, sleek and powerful, flexing and moving, working itself inside her. God, yes, that’s what she wanted. “Mate?” she said with the very last shred of her resistance. “No. No, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.”

  But here she was, inches from him, her hands on his bare chest, her fingers moving over his nipples, feeling them peak under her touches, shaking with need for him. Against her stomach, in her head, she felt the pressure of his erection and more, his curiosity about her, about mating with her, a human. If her impressions were to be believed, he hadn’t had any satisfactory couplings with human women. She shook her head. The thoughts weren’t hers, but they were in her head, shared with him. He could see her, wanted to taste her, was aroused by the shape of her breasts, by her shoulders, stomach, legs. Overwhelming desire. More than enough for them both. She did want to touch him, to caress him, to have her hands on his buttocks, palms sliding along the backs of his thighs. She needed his body.

  He made a low sound, a purring growl. He took her in his arms and lay down with her on the pallet, and she shifted to accommodate his body over hers. He reached between then to work at her pants and slide them down. She wiggled her hips to help him. Her hands moved downward, slipping along the muscles and bones of his back. Inside her was the swirling sensation of desire. His? Hers? That desire increased, the duality of wanting and not wanting. As if he knew, a smile covered his face, wild and dark and in his eyes, pale purple swirling with specks of arctic cold. “We must, tes.”

  She felt the answering darkness in her reaching for him, a pull, as if something inside her belonged to him. As if he belonged to her. His fingers flexed on her skin, a light touch, delicate, at odds with the hatred also raging through him. He shuddered once, and his skin rippled. His nature opened up to hers and he became what he felt. And she embraced a demon of dark heat and darker fire. He scorched her very soul, pulled her toward him. Compulsion, black and hot and overwhelming. He pushed up her shirt and touched the bare skin just below her bra.

  “I am Bak-Faru,” he said. “I am called Lath. I am named Ur-Kashev-Ghan. And you are my vishtau-mate.”

  She thought about scooting away, but the pull between them defied her. Inside her head, desire pulsed. Not hers. Not his. Theirs.

  “I give you my name, Ur-Kashev-Ghan, because you have my heart and my life,” he whispered. He worked at her shirt, her bra. Her breath vanished when he covered her breasts with his bare hands. A reverence. “Give me your heart, Claudia. What are you named?”

  She shook her head. His hands were on her, touching, molding, melting her. Tears welled up in her throat, in her chest, but none of that could stop her need. Or his. Between them, that need grew, candesced, entangled and became irreducible. The last of her clothes came off.

  He ran his hands along her waist and then trailed one along her flank. “Tes. What are you named?” he repeated
.

  “Claudia Donovan.”

  “We have the vishtau.” He hauled himself atop her, his body naked and ready. “The vampire must not touch you as I do. Never. You are mine,” he growled. “I do not want you. I know you do not want me, but I must…we must…You are mine.”

  She opened herself to him, and he growled. And then, then he was at her entrance, seeking, nuzzling at her, sliding his cock inside her, and she was wet and hot, ready for him and only him.

  His beautiful smile appeared, dimples, too. “This is good, tes. You are beautiful, and you hold me well. You give me delight.” Claudia flew to the sizzling edge of a passion so deep she didn’t know if she could survive it. His cock was hard, and he filled her more than she could stand. She didn’t want him. She didn’t want this, but heat poured from his body, and she thought she’d die from needing it so badly. Her mind whirled along with his, both of them dark and insatiable. Quickly, too quickly, they moved toward an abyss. He was hard, and inside her, and this was wrong. She did not want this. Her body rocketed toward pleasure while she tried to pretend it wasn’t happening, she saw the planes and edges of his face, breathed in his scent, reacted to the touch of this demon who made her desperate for him.

  She held him as he continued thrusting, and he was just absolutely the most perfect thing in her world. He kissed her tenderly, and then passionately, and mindlessly. His ponytail fell over his shoulder, brushing her skin. She held him, stroked his body, arched toward him, mindless with need. Their need. Fast. Hard. Incredible. He hated her, hated her kind, but he saw to her pleasure first, made certain of that, and she peaked and shattered.

  His lilac eyes held her, caressed her, touched her. Lath lived in her head and made her want him. His hips flexed against her, the rhythm of his thrusting increased. His face tensed, flames shadowed his eyes, and he let out a low growl that rose in pitch. Beneath her hands, his back bowed and his sex was deep, deep inside her. Cold. His ejaculate felt cold. He kept his arms straight, his hips tight against her pelvis. “When you die, tes, my tears will fall on your grave,” he said.