Pandora's Box

by Miller, Gracen

  Nix nipped her chin and lifted his head to meet her gaze. “After tasting you, I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t use my mouth and tongue on you instead.”

  Madison groaned.

  Nix chuckled. “You’d love it.”

  “I’m sure.” Her voice sounded rusty, as if she’d just experienced pleasure strong enough to shift the Earth off its axis. “So long as it is your mouth and tongue.”

  Nix groaned. She chuckled.

  “I’ve never….” She felt her cheeks heat up. Such frank discussions had been discouraged in her parents’ home. Hypocritical, knowing her mother’s true nature. “I’ve never come with a man before.”

  Nix smiled, a slow, easy grin, one of supreme satisfaction to have been the lone male to give her such pleasure.

  She ran her finger along his jaw. “Don’t let it go to your head, cowboy.”

  He chuckled, kissed the tip of her nose. “Yeehaw.”

  Scrunching her nose, she resisted the urge to cover her nostril with her hand. She couldn’t ignore the stink any longer. “Smells like….”

  “Sulfur.”

  Frowning, she felt something dark shift inside her. Pandora’s Box? Her succubus half? No idea. She should be frightened by the level she would stoop to save Nix. Instead, she remained calm.

  “I thought two more weeks remained?”

  “It did.”

  Did? “What changed?”

  Thumb stroking over her bottom lip—the same digit he pressed against her clit—almost distracted her from her questions, but the matter was too serious to lose focus. Prodding him to answer, she pinched his shoulder.

  “I broke two of the three rules I was given. I was specifically instructed not to be in your presence and not to touch you.”

  Madison gulped. “I wasn’t aware of either detail.”

  He shrugged. She wanted to beat him over the head with something for his nonchalance.

  Nix shifted her breasts back into her bra and pulled her shirt down. Hell approached, and he still took care of her. The action, more than anything he’d ever said or done, hit her squarely in the gut with stark emotion.

  Madison shoved him aside, grabbed his hand, and dragged him to the opposite corner of the room. She turned and faced the door and two windows. “They’ll come through the doors.”

  “I made a covenant. I can’t fight him, Mads,” Nix said, his reasonable tone angering her.

  “I didn’t, so I’m not held accountable by the same rules.” She’d kill any fucker who tried to lay a collecting hand upon him.

  “Be reasonable abo—”

  The windows shattered inward, spraying tiny, razor-sharp shards of glass. Nix dove to cover her, but she side-stepped his attempt and he landed face down on the floor near her feet. The jagged slivers coalesced around her in slow motion, yet not a single splinter drew blood.

  Adjusting her stance, feet shoulder’s width apart, Madison lowered her arms to her sides and curled her fingers into her palm, staring at the door, knowing the first demon would enter momentarily.

  “Little Micah has lost his sheep and can’t tell where to find them….” Madison sang in a low, singsong voice, the tune and somewhat altered words to the nursery rhyme Little Bo Peep. “Leave them alone, and I’ll send them home, wagging their fucking tails behind them….”

  “Madison!” Nix yelled as he jumped to his feet and clutched her arm. He yanked her around to face him. Tiny nicks on his arms from the shattered window oozed blood. The smell…Madison fought not to take a lick and enthrall him with her succubus. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  “Only a King can beat me, Nix.”

  He stared at her a long time, a multitude of emotions flickering across his face. “You’re scaring me.”

  She laughed, recognized the sound as the one she used when in a killing mood. “Welcome to the club. I’ve been scared for five long, damn years. Not anymore. This is war.”

  Wariness skittered across his features and found a place to reside in his eyes. Whatever he saw on her face disturbed him. “That sounds a little demonic, Mads.”

  “I told you years ago you should kill me. Hate me for an eternity, Nix, but I’m about to give every Sherlock in the world a reason to hunt me.” The steely coolness settling into her spine testified to her determination. There would be no going back. This deal wasn’t about just him. She’d been dragged into it, too. Her mother’s involvement hinted of greater subterfuge, Micah’s type of complication.

  “Please, don’t!” Nix clutched her face between his hands, his touch gentle, but his eyes harsh and enmeshed with desperation.

  “Which King did you deal with?”

  He sucked in a rough breath. “How….”

  “How’d I know?” She elevated an eyebrow. “A lucky guess you just confirmed. Which King offered the deal, Nix?”

  “I can’t give you his name.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” There were only three Kings outside of Micah. She knew of two by their demonic names, which gave her a semblance of power over them. Demons never handed out their given names lightly, guarded them fiercely from everyone, including their demonic daughters. Micah trusted no one with his demon name, not even Petra.

  The door burst open, slammed against the wall, and shuddered. A male demon with coal black eyes stepped through the opening.

  “Ichnay,” she commanded, the instant he entered. The demon dropped to his knees, forced by her words to do her bidding.

  “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that. What does it mean?”

  “You don’t want to know,” she said, approaching her subject.

  “That’s what you said the first time. Tell me, Mads.”

  She shot a wary glance in his direction, sighed deeply, and answered. “It’s a royal command. And since I’m a demon Queen, Hell’s inhabitants have no choice except to follow my dictate when it’s used.”

  A small hitch to his breath said what he failed to speak.

  “Technically it means, ‘submit to your Queen’. A demon King would say ‘Ichnaday’.”

  “Damn, Mads. You’re dancing a fine line.” Nix scratched the back of his head. “Each time you use the command, you’re accepting Micah’s plan for you.”

  She shrugged. “I’ll use any means to take a demon out.” She glared at the demon. “Qavga ciok topul jtaqq.” Leave your human shell.

  Hell’s minion gasped his shock. “My Queen!”

  “Lif!” Now, she instructed, voice icy hot with vicious anger and determination.

  “Stop commanding him with your demonic side, Mads.”

  “I did nothing bad,” she said, watching the smut-colored demon leave the mortal husk. “I told him to leave his human shell now. Which he did. That was a Skeleton demon.”

  “I’ve never heard of a Skeleton demon.”

  “Stick with me, cowboy, and you’ll learn a few things.” She winked. Nix glared, unamused. “There are many things you don’t know about the demonic world.” He knew enough to get his ass in hot water.

  A full grown Neko entered the room. The three-headed, waist-high cat beast with a forked tail hissed a hello.

  “Easy, girl,” a thick male voice cooed to the monster cat. “You’ll get your treat soon.”

  “Micah,” Madison breathed, recognizing the sound of his voice. Confirmation for what she already suspected.

  Beside her, Nix gulped and took a step away from the hellish feline.

  “You dealt with Micah?” She shot Nix an unhappy glare. What a slap in her face! “How could you?”

  He gaped at the cat with eyes rounded in fear.

  Micah strolled into the room, and halted beside the Neko. He was dressed in hip-hugging jeans, Doc Martens, and a black T-shirt pulled snug over his muscular chest. Written in red on the T-shirt was ‘Coming Soon to Planet Earth…Hell…A Demon’s Paradise’. His straight, blond hair was parted to the side, worn longer, chin length, he could be a top-five centerfold candidate for Playgirl instead of his n
ormal GQ appearance. This new image pulled at pheromones she’d never felt before.

  His cold blue eyes took in the scene with a quick sweep. A grin of supreme satisfaction turned up the edges of his mouth, and wariness tingled up Madison’s spine.

  “Madison, kitten, I knew if I covenanted Phoenix’s lineage, I likely could drag you out of hiding as well.” What did he mean by ‘Nix’s lineage’? “It’s the only reason I agreed to give him three months to settle his affairs.” His hand caressed the feline’s back, a contented purring roared like a vehicle without a muffler. “Amos has done an admirable job of using his power to hide you both. As proud as I am of his skill, my patience is stretched thin, and it’s time for you to come home, kitten.”

  “Killing two birds with one stone? How poetic, Micah, since I’d rather be dead than satisfy you.” Anger set the succubus inside her on edge. Her demon hated being manipulated as much as her human side. A coldhearted bastard executed those types of plans. “You used my friend as bait?”

  “Friends don’t fuck you with their fingers, wife.” Voice hard with rage, his blue eyes shifted to the shade of smoldering orange and red coals. “I’ll punish you for your adultery until you scream and beg for forgiveness. If he and I weren’t partnered, I would remove every one of his fingers as reparation.”

  She snorted, and his eyes narrowed on her. “I’m terrified. My knees are knocking in fear.”

  A lopsided smile expressed his amusement. “I came for Phoenix. He broke the terms of our agreement, as I knew he would. And first things first…his dick as a treat for my Neko.” He scratched the ugly, three-headed cat behind the ear of its center head. “She’s breeding and needs the extra protein.”

  Madison shot Nix a glance over the tidbit of information he’d neglected to tell her.

  “Dismemberment is extreme, Micah,” she said, chilled to the bone by the anticipation in his eyes. “He’s never touched me with his dick. I begged him to fuck me, and he still wouldn’t.” Not true. Needling Micah was supremely entertaining, though. “When did I ever beg you to fuck me?”

  The question hit home, his smoldering eyes flaming bright about the edges. Nostrils flared and the hand at his side curled into a tight fist.

  “If you’ll recall, I suffered many headaches when you wanted sex?” She couldn’t resist prodding. “How many times did I have my period in a month, Micah? More than normal, in case you aren’t familiar with the female’s menstrual cycle.” As she stepped closer to him, the cat growled deep in its three throats. “Tell your beast to back off.”

  His manicured fingers rubbed the cat’s center head, her forked tail swishing. “She knows her place.”

  Madison stared at the feline and sent a thought…back the fuck off or else. Not more than fifteen seconds elapsed before the demonic cat lowered her tail, and backed a handful of steps away. The tip of her tail continued to agitate, as if nervous of her role.

  Micah cocked his head, obviously surprised at her managing to intimidate his Neko into submission.

  “I never once orgasmed with you, Micah. With Nix—” Micah snatched her against his brick-like chest, knocking the breath from her lungs. Neither his manhandling nor his glare of warning halted her needling. “—I screamed. I guess that makes him a better lover than you.”

  Micah’s lips whitened about the edges, good and truly furious. She tread on ice thin enough the weight of an eyelash could crack its surface. And she had never cared less.

  “I will find a way around our alliance to make him suffer for giving you the pleasure which should’ve been mine.” He tangled his hand in her hair, jerked her head back. “It’s past time for you to join me. Soon you will forget his name, and it will be my name you’re screaming.”

  She shook her head. “Never! I’d sooner die.”

  “Deny the truth all you want. I set my plan into motion before your birth. Each time you utilize your power, you become more than I could have hoped for. And what you’ve become without your entire succubus, it’s fucking amazing, kitten.”

  Her heart skipped a couple of beats. Nix was right. She followed Micah’s path each time she issued her demonic commands? Worse, she’d dive headfirst into the abyss if she could save Nix.

  “Let’s you and I make one of your sordid deals, Micah.”

  “There is none we can make, wife. We’re eternally bound already.”

  “In that case, I’ll make you a vow. If you take Phoenix, I swear I’ll come after you in a way you would never guess. I’ll be your downfall, Micah. I covenant that promise on everything precious to me…Amos’s life.”

  Releasing her like she burned his flesh, Micah hissed a shocked breath through his teeth. “Blasphemy!” He backhanded her hard, knocking her to the floor with the force of his hit.

  Rattled, Madison required a moment to regain her senses.

  “Mads?” Nix sounded worried.

  She pushed up into a seated position and wiped the blood off the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. She glared at Micah. Her husband enjoyed causing her pain. The pleasure of his brutality reflected in his eyes. Nix gave only pleasure in one form or another. She laughed at the discrepancy, realizing she thought more of Nix than her own husband. Nix’s actions were honorable and decent, Micah’s self-serving.

  The King frowned at her laughter, and she said, “You’re so good to me, Micah. Why on earth would I ever pick a mortal man over you?”

  Fury hit his features, bracketing his mouth with dark lines of anger.

  “Mads, seriously, just let me go with him. There’s no point in pissing him off, too.”

  “Shut up, Nix!” she said and Micah growled a warning.

  “I’m already pissed. At you. At her.”

  She kicked, striking Micah in the kneecap with the ball of her foot. He went down hard, his elbow cracking on the tile, and he let lose a bloodcurdling bellow, promising retribution.

  “You wanted a fighter and a demon whore for a wife, well, you got one.” She jumped up and kicked him in the balls.

  He threw his head back with such force his back arched off the floor, and he shrieked loud enough to crack the mirror over the dresser.

  “I allow no one to take advantage of me or shove me around. And that includes you, husband.” She toed his balls, turned her sneaker into them, and he hissed, tried to roll away from her torture. “In the fucking family jewels, you’re just as weak as any mortal man, huh, Micah?”

  “Mads, come on.” Nix tried to pull her away from her husband, but she resisted, wrenched her arm and broke his hold. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

  Pretty damn close. She’d never been this furious. Never felt this used or this betrayed, either.

  Micah lifted his head and met her eyes, his glowing with the flames of Hell. Staring him in the eyes, she smiled and punted into his crotch again. His screams rocked the earth, literally, with the power of a level five earthquake.

  Nix stumbled, caught himself on the bed. Micah grabbed her foot and jerked her feet out from under her. Madison went down as the earth’s grumbling settled.

  “You bitch,” Micah growled in his raspy, demon voice, massaging his abused balls.

  She kicked his hand off her ankle and crab-walked backward. “That’s Queen Bitch to you, asshole.”

  Throwing caution to the wind, too desperate to think straight, she flung open the lid to Pandora’s Box. The hinges creaked, screaming in protest as they snapped in two from the mental force she applied. There’d be no putting the lid back.

  Unchecked power flooded her nervous system. Black tributaries channeled her vision before bursting into prisms of blinding light, the agony of staring into the sun without blinking. She jerked, rose to her knees, and fell face first onto the floor, screaming as what felt like crushed glass moved through her veins.

  Micah laughed, but the sound turned into a choked groan. Even though her vision grew foggy, she could make out his wince and more rubbing of his balls.

  Nix ran to her, a
nd Micah called his cat back to attention, “Come, Vkuya.” The Neko’s translated name was Grace? Madison’s freaking middle name! He’d named his ugly ass Neko after her! “Guide Phoenix to Hell.”

  “No!” Madison screamed and forced herself up on her hands and knees. “Touch him, and I’ll kill your beast a moment later.”

  The Neko growled low in her throat and slung her three heads between Madison and Micah. Madison realized the cat held more intelligence than any feline she’d ever known. Micah stepped around the Neko and yanked Madison into his arms, her back to his chest. She tried to focus the untamed power of Pandora’s Box. Instead the alien force vandalized her neurons and jerked her in his arms like a Mexican jumping bean.

  Zen wouldn’t be happy. An ironic giggle erupted at the back of her throat, and she clamped her teeth against its release. Zen’s happiness mattered little if she felled earth because of her folly.

  “Either Vkuya or the Skeletons will take him,” Micah whispered, his lips moving against her ear. Hot tears hit her cheeks as her gaze connected with Nix’s. Micah’s hand slapped between her thighs, rubbed hard, and she cringed. “Maybe I can make you come while he watches.”

  “Please, Micah, don’t. Take me, instead. Leave Nix out of this.”

  “How noble.” He licked the back of her ear. “You already vowed yourself to me, kitten. And I need Phoenix.”

  “Get your hands off of her, you sick fuck!” Nix demanded.

  Micah’s throaty laugh vibrated against her ear. “She’s joining us in Hell. I’ll let you watch me screw her when we get there. Wonder how you’ll feel when she screams out my name in an orgasm and not yours.”

  The Neko snuck up behind Nix and, tail swishing fast, nudged him in the calf. Nix dropped and kicked one of the heads—a mixture of hissing and low-throated growling ensued.

  “Skeletons…take him,” Micah said. Five swarmed into the hotel room, wearing nothing except their smoky bodies with the outlines of skeletons.