by Marata Eros
A ball at the end tipped the nexus of an enormous penis, a little nub at the end of a pleasure wand that Ruby was sure would be painful to the recipient. He also slept like the drugged and Ruby was glad.
She shuddered, thinking what he could have done to her with that. Not a weapon of pleasure, but maybe just a weapon. Period.
His tail hung to his feet, his toes grazing a floor made of some kind of jewel, the glass-like opaqueness releasing fragrance, a true and deep green that mimicked the ocean she loved- that Ruby missed.
Ruby gazed at the demon, her heart beating painfully inside her chest, the cushion of cloud she laid on seemed to float beneath her body, transparent yet solid wherever she touched.
They were alone and her eyes took in every surface, the manacles that held the demons where bolted to walls that appeared like thick glass, smoked like new age fractured quartz, the clouds hovered over the smooth walls and roof that held Ruby like a prison to torture the two demons that shared this new room she was in. The only solid thing in her “room” was the door.
Which opened as she noticed it and she immediately jerked the blanket up to her neck, then realized it was part of the “cloud” stuff. Ruby had to only conceptualize she needed a covering and the cloud came apart and became the blanket that she needed the moment that she needed it.
Ruby looked into eyes that were a pale dove gray but shone like pearls, his black hair a gauzy cloud that spun past a nipped waist and hard narrow hips.
He chuckled at her study of him and she flushed anew.
“It is fine, half-breed. I know that you have never seen a full angel before. Nor a warrior,” he added.
Ruby just stared. Well, they certainly were their own fan club around here, she thought.
He came closer and she shrunk away. He frowned. “I will not harm you.”
Ruby smirked, yeah right. Her lips cracked from the motion, her thirst its own zip code.
A goblet of alabaster appeared at her left elbow and she startled away from it. She began to reach with her right and it appeared inside the palm of her dominant hand. Ruby almost dropped it but her thirst came over her in a painful roar and her left hand quelled the trembling as she gulped whatever the liquid was in the inside.
It tasted like champagne, apple cider and the coolest water. It was gold on her parched tongue, precious gems in her stomach and utterly revitalized her senses.
She forgot the angel, the hanging demons, that she might be in heaven (almost certainly was in heaven) and drank. Ruby drank until there was nothing left and let the goblet go, expecting it to crash.
Instead, the image of it wavered in front of her for a long second or two then vanished.
Ruby stared at the spot where it'd been then turned her gaze to the one with wings like Brolach's, but eyes like pale smoke, hair that floated like an ebony cloud with the purest white stripe starting at his temple and disappearing into all that black.
He mesmerized her, he terrified her.
“I am Nolen,” he said in a voice that threaded through and clung to her like silken taffy.
She paused. Then finally responded, “I'm Ruby,” she said, still clinging to the blanket made of nothing.
Their gazes locked and she asked the question that most mattered, the one that burned in her head so hard she thought Nolen could hear it. “What is this?”
He smiled and his teeth dazzled her and she moved backward again, suddenly feeling nauseated. “Above,” he answered.
Something made her look over his shoulder and her eyes met Brolach's.
Ruby trembled with the rage she saw there.
It wasn't anger at her. It was anger at the one who stood in front of him, who faced Ruby with such arrogance.
In a costume of deceit.
For at that precise moment Brolach's tail curled in the air, thinning to become a dark slash of flesh and rope. He snapped it forward, his arms straining against the bonds of his captivity and pierced the angel in front of him.
Steam escaped and the façade of angel melted away.
Ruby screamed at what lay underneath the clever disguise. It was her demon father Damon. Come from hell to heaven. To have her no matter how far she ran.
He followed.
Ruby leapt out of the bed and he raced to intercept her, the white skin bleeding to the half-burnt old blood color she remembered so well. He swooped low, his stunted tail trying to slash at her as she slid close to him. Damon moved low but she was smaller, sliding between his legs and rolling between them, going for that door, moving between the tethered and straining demons who were awake and trying to break their bonds.
Both had tasted of Ruby and found her sweet, neither wanted the renegade father to lay hold of a rare female of her lineage, of her unique purity. Ruby didn't know any of that. She was thrust back into survival mode and did what she did best- escape.
But the chains of heaven held them against the walls of her jeweled prison while her mercenary father charged after her.
The demons who would rescue her fought the ties of above while the imposter laid his hands on her and Ruby screamed for mercy.
Brolach broke free with one hand, his tail at its furthest point, Damon just out of reach, Ruby too, as she made for the door and his hand curled into a fist around her pale hair, jerking her back against him.
Brolach bellowed as Damon laughed, his hand curling around her throat, a talon, though short, dug into the soft side where her neck met her shoulder.
He would kill her, Brolach thought. Give me the strength to do something, he raged inside his mind. Just this once, he pleaded.
To whom, he did not know.
His manacles became mist and he plowed forward, his tail stabbing the jeweled surface of this strange realm, at once balancing him and propelling Brolach forward. He landed within striking distance of Damon, Ruby's eyes protruded with fear, her skin smoldering against his, her mermaid eyes dark pools of terror.
The solid door burst open and the male angels, the real Nolen and Braedan, entered and viewed the scene in front of them.
What they saw were two demons about to due harm to a precious breeder of angelic descent and they reacted without thinking, their halos sailing off their perch into the waiting bodies of the demons.
Ruby hollered to warn them, instinctively knowing what the halos might do.
Her horror of a father dropped her and she fell on top of Brolach as the halo made its way through his chest, going for his heart.
The heart she'd hoped to hold someday. Her hands found his hot skin and held on, the halo moving.
Always moving.
Ruby's tears fell on his body.
They were not wet as they landed, but shone like the gems they were.
Glittering and beautiful on his flesh and blood.
Rubies.
THE END
*Want to know what happens to our Bad Boy Con? Check out the next installment in The SIREN Series, BRANDON, coming soon!
A Note of Gratitude to my Readers:
I began Druids with the encouragement of my husband and continued because of you, my Reader. Your faithfulness through comments, suggestions, spreading the word and ultimately purchasing my work with your hard-earned money gave me the incentive, means and inspiration to continue.
There are no words that are sufficiently adequate to express my thankfulness for your support. But know this: TDS novellas continued past HARVEST only because of you.
I truly feel connected to my readers. It is obvious to me, but I'll say the words anyway for clarity: a written work is just words on pages if they are not read by my readers. As I write this I get a lump in my throat; your enjoyment of my work affects me that deeply.
You guys are the greatest, each and every one of ya~
Marata xo
Acknowledgments:
You, my reader.
My husband, who is my biggest fan.
Lisa O'., my proofreader; Thank you readers, by supporting my work you've provided me wi
th the means to give you cleaner copy.
My Aussie Girl, I love ya.
BDH, a big supporter of my work, and of me as well; priceless~
Autumn, your support has made a difference in my life~
Dii, thank you for reminding me that I'm not always a writer!
Crystal, this one's for you, baby!
Lori P.
Tabitha
Rônin
Works written under my pen name, Marata Eros:
BLOG: Marata Eros
18+ readership
Dark Erotic Paranormal Romantic Suspense:
DRUID:
REAPERS
BLED
HARVEST
SOW
SEED
PLOW
THRESHER
EXOTIC
THE DRUID BREEDERS
DEMON:
BROLACH
SIREN:
EMBER
CONSTANTINE
DARK ROMANTIC SUSPENSE:
A TERRIBLE LOVE, a New York Times and USA Today bestseller~
A BRUTAL TENDERNESS
The DARA NICHOLS Series:
3500-5500 words each (naughty & sexual, non-romantic encounters)
Available in a bundle to include the following eight short stories:
#1, A Hard Lesson, where Dara Nichols gets “schooled” by a few students...
#2, To Protect and Service, Dara gets pulled over by the cops and taken in hand...
#3, The 13th Floor, Dara attends a professors' symposium and things heat up in the elevator...
#4, The Boardroom, Dara's sexual encounter with her students is discovered and she receives some much-deserved discipline...
#5, The Four Whoresmen, Dara takes a weekend getaway at a remote ranch and gets man-handled...
#6, The Masquerader's Balls, Dara and Zoe get nailed by a couple of masked men...
#7, The Ball Player, Dara takes one for the team at the local gym...
#8, The Cock Tale, Dara and Zoe teach university president Craig Taylor a lesson in discipline at his own party...
The ZOE SCOTT Series:
3500-5500 words each (naughty & sexual, non-romantic encounters)
Available (1/1/2014) in a bundle to include the following eight short stories:
#1, Smoldering Wet, Dara orchestrates a thorough “hosing” by the local firefighters whose ringleader is Zoe's vanilla boyfriend....
Future Titles:
BRANDON (Siren, #3)- 2013
THE TOKEN (#1)
BAIRD (Druid, #9)- 2013
The Zoe Scott Series (Erotic Anthology, Volume II) New Years 2014
THE DARKEST JOY- Feb. 18, 2014
The WALKER Series (Angelic Breeders)
Works written under my real name, Tamara Rose Blodgett:
BLOG: Tamara Rose Blodgett
The Death Series (young/new adult dark paranormal dystopian fantasy):
Death Whispers (Death Series, #1)
Death Speaks (#2)
Death Inception (#3)
Death Screams (#4)
Death Weeps (#5)
Unrequited Death (#6)
Death Bundle, books 1-3
The Savage Series (new adult dark post-apocalyptic steampunk paranormal romance):
The Pearl Savage (Savage Series, #1)
The Savage Blood (#2)
The Savage Principle (#3)
The Savage Vengeance (#4)
Savage Bundle, Books 1-3
The Blood Series (new adult dark supernatural fantasy and paranormal romance)
Blood Singers (Blood Series, #1)
Blood Song (#2)
Blood Chosen, (#3)
Future Titles 2013:
The Savage Protector (#5)
2014:
The Reflective (Reflection Series, #1)
Blood Reign (Blood #4)
Savage #6
New adult dark fantasy, recommended reading ages 17+
