by Cate Corvin
I still had no idea how the woman managed to hold her own in high heels and cocktail dresses, but she clearly hadn’t lived a thousand years without learning a few tricks.
The tunnels were dead silent, the only sound the drip of water. We stopped outside the warehouse, which the Morrígna had swept weeks ago. There was nothing in there but crates of black-market cargo.
“Hellfire?” Will asked, his eyes lighting up.
“Hellfire, bro,” Suraziel said, and Càel and I stepped back to allow the demon and demon-bound to do their work.
Black smoke billowed out of the entrance. “It smells awful,” I said, exhaling and letting my lungs lie still. The burning dust reeked of ichor and rot.
Càel wrapped his arm around me and pulled me in close. “They seem to be having too much fun,” he said, watching Will fling green fireballs at a stack of crates nearest the door. Suraziel was laughing maniacally as he melted down the cold iron cage.
“No such thing as too much fun when it comes to breaking shit,” I said. “You taught us that.”
He surveyed them for a moment longer and shrugged one shoulder. “Damn right.”
Will and Suraziel finally finished their task, and we retreated down the tunnel before they both tossed hellfire at the brick walls, collapsing a portion of the tunnel.
“Won’t be a speck left after that little inferno.” Suraziel brushed his hands together, green sparks flying off his palms. He glanced at me, a whole world of emotions caught in his features: hope to find what we’d come for, and fear that we actually might.
I slid my hand in his, ignoring the blistering heat of his palms, and squeezed.
The tunnel to the Cerberian Gate’s remains was collapsed, but we hadn’t explored the other direction yet. Càel became strigoi, following his sensitive nose, and after several long corridors, ducking under collapsed ceilings and broken pipes, his hand closed convulsively around mine.
The pocket of air in this portion of the tunnel smelled like resin and burnt sugar, Sitri’s calling card.
We found another room. I winced as soon as we entered, feeling Suraziel’s anger and sadness in the discordant notes of his bloodsong. My stomach lurched when I felt how thin the veil between worlds was here; a half-crushed summoning skull had been kicked into the corner of the room, out of the circle where Thraustila had summoned Prince Sitri. Then he’d made his slaughtering grounds of the incubi where their father had stood.
Thraustila hadn’t just harvested their saliva. He’d wrung out the incubi and succubi until nothing was left. Their horns were sawed off at the base, and all that was left of them were dry carcasses. There were only five of them, but between their saliva, blood, and horns, that’d been enough to taint thousands of pounds of pixie dust.
Suraziel stared down at the remains, his face frozen. I touched his shoulder, not saying anything.
When you’ve been kicked in the gut by life, sometimes you just needed a minute. And with Suraziel’s ability to feel emotions still so new, he was going to be feeling like life hadn’t just kicked him but pummeled him into a pulp.
He finally exhaled, scrubbed a hand across his face, and clenched his fists. “We’ll burn them, too. Send them back to hellfire where they belong, but not here. Not in this room.”
I knew as well as he did that another demon wouldn’t care to give their own kind a decent burial. It was something that just didn’t cross their minds. But I understood why he wanted to take them elsewhere: it felt disrespectful to give them a funeral pyre in the room where they’d been tortured to death.
Càel shifted back, scooped up two crackling forms in his arms, and Will followed suit. Suraziel took the last one, an incubus that might’ve matched him for size in life.
I glanced at the remains of the summoning skull one last time and turned to follow Suraziel, but the air rippled around me.
Just great. The exact greater demon I wanted to see. Not.
But he didn’t appear. I felt Sitri’s presence in the room, but his corporeal form was nowhere to be found.
Sensuous claws raked through my mind. I took a deep breath, making a concerted effort to shut him out.
You don’t know when to let well enough alone, do you? His mental voice sounded amused. That was all he was: amusement, lust, and greed all rolled into one egotistical package with a hair-trigger fuse.
“Fuck off, Sitri.” Telling a greater demon to fuck off wasn’t the best decision, but seriously. I’d be happy if I never heard from him again. Suraziel was ours, end of story.
I can give you everything you desire. An image blasted into my mind, making it past my iron defenses: a Sathanas demon soaring through a sky choked with ash, dripping sizzling ichor from its cruelly twisted beak. I can give you the vengeance you crave.
Somewhere deep inside me, a voice shouted to take it. Everything I’d hunted for was right there for the taking.
But that wasn’t my only motivation anymore.
“For a guy who thinks he understands human motivation, you don’t seem to understand much at all.”
What is one incubus when you can have so much more?
Another image: a hundred fawning men crawling at my feet, tearing their clothes off with bare hands and wild eyes just to be closer to me, skin to skin.
I swallowed a laugh. “I think you’re losing your touch.”
I felt Sitri’s petulant anger pulsing in the air. He wasn’t angry about losing a son. Sitri had ten thousand more to sacrifice, after all.
He was angry because his son had left him. Suraziel had chosen his own course, and that had to rankle Sitri’s pride.
I can give you a world of blood.
He fed me that image. The streets ran red with it, humans went to their knees at vampires’ feet and bared their throats. I sat on a throne of bones, high above it all, my mouth painted scarlet… and Sitri at my side.
“My god, you’re really desperate to get out in our world, aren’t you? Why don’t you try making Hell less of a shithole instead of trying to ruin this plane?”
That was all he wanted. To walk the earth without being beholden to the fragile bond of a summoning skull. He’d still need to place his trust in another living being, like Suraziel had with Will, but Sitri would never find that level of trust or love. He wasn’t capable of it.
Stupidbitchratfuckcunt WHORE QUEEN!
His mental voice blasted through me, and my knees wobbled. Every cell told me to go to my knees before that voice, but fuck that. Two could play a game, even if I made an enemy for eternity. He wasn’t getting Sura back, the petulant bastard.
“Hypocritical much? Don’t throw whore stones in whore houses.” Please. Coming from a guy in the infernal Court of Lust, you’d think he could come up with something more original.
His rage seethed around me, then cooled to a silky tone I liked much less. As least an id-driven demon’s rage was predictable.
You have eternity, slayer. As do I. We will meet again… and again… and again.
A phantom hand touched my face, the tips of claws dimpling my skin. There was rage under it, a desire to drive those claws through my flesh to the bone beneath… but Sitri had already found his mark, and he knew it.
His presence vanished, leaving me feeling chilled, and I strode to the summoning skull and stomped it until it was nothing but fine powder under my boot.
The chill was fear, living deep in my bones like a creature in a cage. I’d forever be looking over my shoulder for Sitri, fearing he’d take one of my singers from me, knowing his eyes would always be on my back with a target painted right between my shoulders.
“We’ll meet,” I whispered viciously. “And I’ll make you regret every single fucking time I see your face.”
There was no reply. I took a shuddering breath, calming my racing heart, and strode into the dark tunnels.
Will was coming for me. “Where’d you go, Tori?”
“Just checking if there was anything we missed.” I gave him an easy smile. A
line creased his brows, but he took my hand anyways. I couldn’t hide my feelings from any of them. Victoria the Open Book might’ve been a good accolade. “Let’s find Sura. He needs us.”
I’d be damned if I let Sitri win the long game. He might be watching me… but I’d be watching him right back.
For now, I’d enjoy every single moment of the life I had with my men. That was a feeling he could never take away.
When all the dirty deeds had been taken care of, bodies burned, the smoldering ashes poured into a river to carry them to sea, we went home.
If I could go back in time and tell my past self I’d one day think of Club Bathory as ‘home’, I would’ve told future me I was a complete whack job.
Bit by bit, we were slowly morphing it into the kind of place we all wanted and needed. Càel was no longer bound by the edicts of his Maker, wandering wherever he damned well pleased (which was mostly my bathroom while I was in the shower and my bed when I wasn’t showering), Will’s first order of business had been to create an actual office and convert the old blood-sports arena into a training ground, and Suraziel…
“Come on, I have to show you something,” he said, taking my arm. Now that he’d laid his kin to rest, he seemed to have shed a weight on his shoulders.
I followed him downstairs, to a room I hadn’t looked at much. Bathory had too many doors to explore in one day.
Càel’s hand rested in the small of my back as Will stopped outside the door. “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,” he said ominously, and pushed it open.
I blinked, dazzled by blinding light. Sunlight.
“Because you might never want to leave,” Suraziel said.
I was standing in a concrete corridor, but there was a beach in front of me. I stepped cautiously towards the light, stretching out one hand.
I didn’t start charring or crisping at the edges. It felt warm, dancing over my skin, without the slightest hint that it was deadly to me. Suraziel nudged me into the enchanted room. Even though my primal instincts recoiled at the sight of the sun, I wasn’t burning.
“It’s Fae magic,” he said, pulling me onto the beach. Sand shifted under my boots. “It can’t burn you.”
“How did you manage this?” I looked up at a blindingly blue sky.
Càel followed me inside. He glowed like ivory and gold, and did the exact same thing I did: looked up at the daylight sky. “We hadn’t gotten around to installing the tourists yet,” he informed me. “This is your home away from home.”
Will closed the door. On this side, it looked incongruously like a red door hovering in midair over a beach of pure white sand.
“This is fucking amazing,” I whisper-screamed. First order of business: take off the boots.
I raced through the sand with bare feet, enjoying the slap of salty wind in my face. Càel raced alongside me, his paws ripping through the sand much easier than my feet.
When we got back, Will and Suraziel had something else to show me.
There was a whole beach house, teakwood glowing warm under the sun, billowing white curtains draped over the windows.
Best of all, there was a massive bed, loaded with silky white sheets and framed with a carved headboard set with tiny mirrors.
“Yes!” I spun on my heel and flopped on the bed on my back.
“Hold up, hold up,” Suraziel said. He was naked. Of course. The midnight shimmer of his skin became a twilight brown-blue under the brilliant sun. “There’s rules for this bed.”
I raised my head off a pillowy cloud. “Wait, what? What sort of rules?” I was so comfortable, how could I be expected to move now?
“Rule number one: no clothes.” Will unbuttoned his shirt and my mouth went dry. I sat up, wondering if it could possibly be. Had the time finally come?
Was I standing on the threshold of Triple Dick Heaven?
“And rule number two?” If my mouth had been dry a moment ago, it was watering now. My fangs felt itchy as I watched Will’s golden-skinned stomach flex, and then he started unbuttoning his jeans.
Càel climbed onto the bed and forced me upright. A second later, my shirt was on the floor in shreds.
I raised my hips and wriggled out of my jeans, unwilling to risk shredding the first practical clothes Rhianwen had given me. Càel made a low noise of need when he unclasped my tit-wrangler- bra, goddamnit- and threw it. It landed on a dresser, dangling by a strap.
“The queen,” Càel said, burying his face in the crook of my neck, “Always comes first.”
“Wow,” I breathed, shivering when his tongue ran over my throat. “I could get used to this.”
Suraziel prowled over me. He wasn’t muting his nature now, letting the full force of incubus desire hit me like a train. A moan escaped me, my back arching with the sensation of Càel behind me and Suraziel before me.
His breath touched my face, lips hovering over mine. My nerve endings were already lit up like fire.
I leaned in to kiss him, starting the kiss gentle and putting all my love for him into it. There was nothing Sura wouldn’t do for me, and I wouldn’t do for him. He’d bound himself to us forever.
His breath hitched on a sigh and he thrust his tongue into my mouth, forcing me to open wide. The taste of caramel filled me, flowing through my veins, igniting the fire into an inferno.
Suraziel groaned and moved downwards, kissing his way down my neck as Will’s full lips replaced his.
I ran my tongue over Will’s lower lip, gently bit him and tasted blood, then pushed into his mouth, giving some of Suraziel’s essence over to him.
He pulled back in surprise and looked at me, the jade color of his eyes brighter than ever, then kissed me back with an intensity that was almost painful.
I welcomed the pain. It meant he was here, and we were all together, and nothing would ever break that. But these thoughts were deep, buried under the crashing wave of desire Suraziel’s essence had sent through me.
There were hands all over me, not a single part of my body left untouched, and I wanted to touch everything. I wished I had ten hands, just so I could feel them everywhere they touched me, my fingers slipping over broad chests and tense abs and finally found what my aching body needed.
My heart pounded with the bloodsongs and jumped into a higher tempo when Suraziel’s mouth kissed and licked all the way down my thigh, then upwards again. It took a simple arch of my hips to bring me to him and he plunged his tongue inside me, sending a thrill through my limbs.
Càel held me against him and his mouth glided over my neck. I turned my head to the side, exposing myself to his fangs.
More pain flared, transmuting to pleasure when he drew my blood. I was still so thirsty, dying for a taste of them all, but that driving need fell into the background between Suraziel’s tongue buried in my pussy and swirling my clit, and Càel at my neck.
I opened my eyes, and looked up at Will, licking my lips. I wasn’t sure which part of him I wanted more first: his cock or his neck.
My eyes dropped from the second one to the first, thick and already pulsing with his desire. Without thinking about it, I ran my fingers over the ridges of his stomach and wrapped my hand around his length, gliding my thumb over the sensitive underside of the flared crown.
Will’s breath caught in his throat, and that made up my mind for me.
Fuck, then feed.
I opened my mouth and wrapped my lips around him, groaning in satisfaction. He didn’t push into me, letting me set my own pace to savor him, the feel of silky skin against my lips and tongue.
Suraziel hit a spot that made my legs shake, and I grabbed one of his horns with my free hand, knowing he liked when I made the most of what he was.
The first time I came I felt like I was melting at the edges while a storm battered away inside my skin. Everything was whole and complete, me and them, together.
But I wanted much more than that. I pulled his horn, drawing him upright, and Suraziel pulled my ankles up onto his wide shoulders, the th
ick length of him driving into me without preamble. He was glowing with energy, every deep thrust shaking me against my other guys.
Will hissed when my mouth tightened around his cock, and I squeezed his ass, drawing him in deeper. I wanted every part of them in me right now or I was going to burst into flames.
Suraziel’s essence made me hungry for everything. Càel took a final pull from my throat and ran his tongue over me, healing the wounds. He was hard as iron, already pulsing with desire.
If you’re going to go to triple dick heaven, you might as well go all the way. Luckily, I had an incubus who could read every aspect of my needs in the lines of my body without my having to say a word.
He lowered my legs and I released Will when he picked me up, my breasts smashed against his chest, and rolled over. I straddled Sura’s broad frame and beckoned Will, but they had other ideas. This was their playground, and I was just along for the ride.
I blinked and it was like everything had shifted, the reality of time getting lost in the haze of lust. I rode Suraziel, but looked up at Càel, who gripped a handful of my hair. I wrapped my mouth around his cock, moaning in satisfaction as Will knelt behind me, gripping my hips.
His cock nudged my ass, and a moment later he slipped inside, carefully driving forward. There was no pain at all, not with Suraziel’s essence bringing me to a place where reality had no influence.
I felt completely full, joined with each one of them. Hot, pounding lust grew like a volcano deep in my abdomen with every thrust, until I felt that blinding wave hit me again. Will buried himself to the base deep inside me, his fingers leaving bruises on my hips, and Suraziel’s hard pounding ground against my aching clit.
My body clamped down on them when I came, shivering between the two bodies forcing me to feel so much pleasure I might explode from it.
They couldn’t hold on either, Will gasping as his cock tightened and he exploded, and Suraziel letting out a deep groan when he did the same. Words sounded like they were coming from far away, but I still heard them: they told me they loved me, every part of them, and Càel’s rough growl joined their voices. They loved me, and I loved them, and they knew it even if I couldn’t speak.
