Lucifer's Daughter

by Kel Carpenter

  “I thought I’d take you on a little field trip. Get you away from all the heaviness of this past week,” he replied without hesitation. I faltered mid-step, tripping over a rock because I was too busy looking at him. My arms flailed as I started to fall towards the ground, but Laran caught me by the elbow. Swift. Firm. He pulled me back so I didn’t fall flat on my face, or through the uneven door.

  “That’s oddly considerate for a demon. The Horseman of War, no less,” I murmured. Laran stepped closer and bent down, his lips grazing my jaw.

  “Haven’t you heard the saying, all is fair in lust and war?” he whispered. I shivered at the brush of his lips against that sensitive place just beneath my ear.

  “I’m pretty sure the saying is love and war,” I responded dryly. His lips curved up against my skin, leaving a trail of heat in their path.

  “I like my version better,” he rumbled. His very demeanor called to me, dark and seductive. Like a moth to a flame. But a moth didn’t realize it was going to get burned. I was smart enough to know, and part of me wanted it. A small sadistic side of me was drawn to these men—to all men—and it had nothing to do with love, or war.

  I swallowed hard, shoving my inner she-demon back. She was going to get me into trouble if she had her way.

  Laran chuckled as I stepped away from him, but didn’t release his hold on my elbow. His fingers were distracting, but I didn’t complain as he pushed open the lopsided door and escorted me into what was, for all intents and purposes, a dive-bar. For demons.

  All eyes turned on us and I froze.

  Why the fuck would he take me to a bar for demons in the middle of nowhere? He may as well have offered me up to them on a silver platter and said bon appétit.

  “What are we doing here, Laran?” I hissed through gritted teeth. I moved to shrug off his grip, but he held me tighter.

  “Relax, Ruby. They don’t know who I am. Anyone who looks at me will just see a glamor of a male demon they won’t want to fuck with, and by extension, you.” I stared up at him, my gaze slowly falling to the hand possessively wrapped around my arm. He was…laying a claim on me. A warning to anyone thinking they might want a new plaything. He was letting them know I am not on the market.

  I let loose a shaky breath as he moved us further into the bar. The scent of smoke and citrus drifted over me and my muscles relaxed instantly. I inhaled deeply, the softest of sighs escaping my lips as the tension left me altogether.

  “Feeling better?” Laran asked. His lips twitched in an amused smirk.

  “Much,” I answered through the haze that was beginning to cloud over. The corners of my vison softened, but the world never seemed so bright. So…tempting. My inner seductress smiled at the crowded bar as I walked away from Laran and squeezed my way in between two mischievous looking males.

  “I’ll have a Black Russian on the rocks. Make it a double.” My voice came out sultry. The succubus was out to play.

  **Laran**

  She disappeared.

  One minute she was standing next to me, sexy little smile lighting up her face, and the next minute she was gone. Someone was going to fucking pay for this, and it wouldn’t be pretty.

  A barely-tempered fury pounded in my chest as I scanned the gambling tables. Imps of every shape and size, banshees of all colors, a Chupacabra here and there, even a few shades littered the crowd, but no Ruby. Her amaryllis and lavender scent filled the air, mixing with the pungent smoke of burning white lotus. White lotus: the drug of choice for most demons, and a far kinder version of the black lotus that was known for its…undesirable effects.

  I left the gambling tables and searched the bar where I picked up the briefest hint of her. She was close, and yet, as I searched the entirety of the bar, I couldn’t find her anywhere. How the fuck did I lose her? The only person in the world I was created to protect?

  This shit was unbelievable.

  The itching inside me that something had gone terribly wrong sped up as I barreled toward the stairs. If I found her in one of these back rooms tied up like—I couldn’t even finish that thought. If she was up here, someone was going to die. I squared my jaw and kicked open the first door I saw.

  A sallow-cheeked she-demon looked up at me and let out a purr while the male behind her continued pounding into her flesh. She was bent over a desk that had seen better days. Her feral grin and crooked finger she used to try to beckon me forward was not appetizing in the slightest. There was only one person I felt like slamming my cock into and it wasn’t the drugged-out whore before me. I didn’t bother with closing the door as I moved on to the following rooms. They were all much the same: she-demons with one or two males, and no Ruby.

  I ran a hand through my hair as I paced the balcony overlooking the bar.

  Where the fuck was she?

  Nearly half an hour had passed since we walked into The Black Brothers and there was still no sign of her. Much longer and I was going to need to scour the grounds to see if someone snuck her out. I would have thought she would put up enough of a fight, but I didn’t get the vibe she was used to smoking white lotus, and the room itself was a hefty dose that left even the stronger demons slightly delirious.

  She’s young. She hasn’t transitioned. What the fuck was I thinking bringing her here?

  I took one last round of the bar before my patience ran out. She was here somewhere. I could smell it, but someone was glamoring her.

  “Allistair, I need you to get your ass down to Black Brother’s. Ruby’s missing.”

  Under any other circumstances, I would chew my own arm off before I called on one of the other Horsemen. Glamors weren’t my specialty, though, and there was no way I was calling on Julian for this. People always thought I was the biggest, baddest fucker around, but that’s only because they’d never seen Death in action. Truth be told, you were already a goner if you saw him lift a finger in a fight. His particular brand of subtly was not needed for this, and Rysten had already pissed me off too much this week. I didn’t know what state Ruby would be in when we found her, but I would rather place my pride on Allistair’s help than the doom-and-gloom twins.

  “How the fuck did you lose her?” His response took longer than I’d hoped, given who we were talking about.

  “Someone fucking glamored her and is hiding her underneath my nose. I need you to sniff the fucker out,” I snapped back.

  “I’m on my way.” Thank the fucking devil for that. I needed him here yesterday.

  I didn’t want to check the clock, but I knew the time was racking up. I gripped the railing, not noticing that I’d burned most of it away before I began to stumble over the edge. I pushed a gail of wind up from the floor below, and it hoisted me back onto the upper platform as parts of the broken railing fell on the poker table below. So much for keeping my cool.

  I could burn the building down. Tear through it with a twister unlike any other. Flood it with rain that would drown half of the demons in this room. Even decimate it with an earthquake that would level all of Portland.

  But Ruby was in here somewhere, and I needed to get my shit together until I found her.

  Allistair came striding through the door in record time. Famine must have been staring at himself in the mirror when I reached out, given how quickly he got here. I was halfway down the stairs when his eyes locked on something. I hoped to Satan it was Ruby, because if it wasn’t, I would level the Black Brothers to the fucking ground.

  “Laran,” Allistair said. The surrounding demons gave a wide berth when they realized who my friend was. I dropped my own glamor and the bar went silent. All except for one.

  Allistair snapped his fingers, and disintegrated her glamor. Across the bar at the very first table I checked, was Ruby.

  She was sitting on an imp’s lap, letting out breathy little gasps.

  Air tunneled through the bar at my beck and call, winking out the fire that burned the lotus leaves. The imp’s hands crept tighter around her, pulling her supple skin closer to his body.
The look on her face was dazed and confused.

  He dared to conceal a claimed she-demon?

  I saw red, and it was war.

  Chapter 9

  The male on my left turned to me and said, “Strong drink. What’s your name, dollface?”

  I gave him an appraising look. Neatly kept dark hair framed a handsome face. His eyes were wicked red and his teeth unnaturally white. He had a mischievous look about him, and I instantly put together that he was an imp. One of the most common demons in these parts, but also the ones a succubus would least want to tango with, if she were thinking clearly. I most certainly, was not.

  A full-blooded imp has some impressive powers to any lesser demon, but lesser I was not. Even a half-breed like me would be a prize in a place like this. Our skin was the most potent aphrodisiac on the planet, ten times more so to other demons.

  It was why I’d always stayed away. For fear of what someone skilled in persuasion, or Hell forbid, blood magic, could do.

  But for the first time in my existence, I did not feel afraid. On the contrary, his enigmatic persona was drawing me in, and he hadn’t said more than six words. Either he was more skilled with persuasion than even I could have guessed, in which case I was already fucked, or I was a glutton for punishment. Given how he exuded confidence like some men wore their desperation, I was inclined to believe it was a bit of both.

  How lucky for me.

  I eyed the black edges of a brand that were simultaneously peeking out of his collar and the cuff on his wrist. The ink was white, not the traditional black. Somewhere in the back of my mind, that meant something. So did the edges of what appeared to be flowers petals, but for the life of me, I couldn’t seem to hold onto that thought, that concern, for more than a moment before I relaxed back into a state of forgetfulness. My heart rate slowed to a steady thump, falling in line with the rhythmic beat of a song only I could hear. I smiled coyly to the imp as the bartender slid my drink to me and said, “It’s on the house.”

  I turned my pretty little smile on the bartender and he gave me a wink as I accepted the Black Russian and walked away from the bar. The imp would follow. I was sure of it. For a brief moment, I wondered where Laran went, but as I approached the table where the smoke was coming from, I seemed to no longer care.

  All thoughts of Laran, the Horsemen, and even thoughts of myself vanished as I stood over the crowded gambling table. Dice and cards were flying everywhere, but the slow burning pot in the center made it hard to tear my gaze away.

  “You want dealt in, poppet?” someone called out from the other side of the table. I shook my head.

  “Can I watch?” I heard the soft, velvety purr in my voice. The males at the table looked up at me, and the scraping of a chair made me turn. The imp from the bar had pulled up a seat, and the others moved to make room for him. He lithely sat down in the chair, his knees parted as he leaned back and beckoned me.

  “If you’re sitting on my lap, you can,” he growled. My stomach tightened at the challenge in his voice. I strode up to him and threw my head back, finishing my Black Russian in one swallow. I slammed the cup on table and turned my body around to perch on his knees. The imp took my invitation for what it was and placed a hand on my waist. Something like obsession took me as I focused on the funny looking leaves in the pot. The edges curled slowly, burning bright. I watched them, in a state of suspended euphoria that didn’t seem to have a beginning or end. It just was, and I existed within it.

  The imp flexed his fingers, the claw tips biting into my skin just beneath the sweater. I let out a sigh and shifted back. Closer to the demon. To heat. His arm wound around my waist, and I parted my legs so he could pull me back. Flush against him, I could hardly contain the moan building in my throat. Devil have me, I wanted him. I wanted all of them. I wanted to feel something heavy and hard between my legs, placating the need that drove me.

  The imp’s other hand clamped down on my knee that was pinned between his legs. Hot and heavy, his breath made my flesh break out in goosebumps as he whispered, “What do you want, dollface?”

  I squirmed restlessly on his lap as his hand unsheathed its claws and slowly started the ascent up my leg, dipping into the jagged rips in my dark jeans. A sigh escaped my lips as the hand around my waist tightened, and his fingers slipped under my shirt. The brush of his claws made me ache and my back arched—

  “Get your fucking hands off of her.”

  The hands on my body froze and I let out a hiss. That was not part of the deal. I turned my hooded eyes up to the demon that dared interrupt us, but was not prepared to see Laran and Allistair standing there.

  Laran’s face was a mask of frozen fury. I shivered leaning back into the demon whose lap I was currently sitting on. He didn’t feel so hot anymore, and the ache I was feeling was on the cusp of pleasure and pain.

  “Famine. War, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize who you—”

  “Ruby. Come,” Allistair commanded. My eyes swiveled from the glowering demon threatening to explode, to the demon striding towards me with a voice that my made my stomach jerk. He reached out with both hands and plucked me from the imp’s lap, locking one arm under my knees and supporting my back with the other. I squirmed in his grip, but Allistair held tight.

  “Save your words, imp. You glamored her and tried to separate us after I placed my claim.” Laran’s voice boomed, shaking the tables enough that glass rattled against the countertops of the bar and shattered as it fell to the earth. In my delirious state, I couldn’t process what was happening, or why. I just felt the need that drove me. I leaned into Allistair and inhaled deeply. Smoke filled my lungs, making me burn at my very core; a raging inferno that would not be denied.

  “I’m taking her home, Laran. Make sure you clean up your mess.”

  Laran grunted in response and Allistair began moving. We crossed through the bar, moving faster and farther from the smoke with every second. I watched over Allistair’s shoulder as we crossed the threshold, the embers on the smoking leaves expiring, and then we were gone.

  One moment we were outside the bar, standing in the parking lot, and the next we were in an oddly familiar bathroom. Home, I recognized, as he opened the bathroom door connected to my bedroom. My queen-sized bed loomed in front of us and all I could hear, all I could feel, was the heat radiating through him. I turned my face towards his, biting my lip when I saw the fevered intensity. His eyes were not just amber. They were molten gold. He was angry, but I couldn’t register why.

  Only that I knew I wanted to take it away.

  As my back hit the bed, and Allistair started to pull away, I fisted his shirt in my hand, holding him there.

  “Stay.” It was a single word: a command, a request, a plea, but it reverberated across the room and over his skin. I bit my lip again as his eyes dilated and darkened. He leaned forward, drawn in by the effect I had on him as I pushed my need through the air, through his clothes, over his skin, and into him.

  “Ruby,” he growled. The pain in his voice echoed the burning between my legs. I tugged him closer, grabbing his shirt with both fists and pulling. The buttons popped and ripped open when he stopped only inches away. I let out a growl and reached again, tearing through the undershirt. The moment our skin came into contact, an intense current of electricity shocked me, only it didn’t hurt. But the burning beneath my skin didn’t subside. A lust like I’d never known owned me.

  “I need you,” I whispered. The craving shook my body so hard, I was trembling. Allistair hovered over me, looking me up and down as I cocked my head, the succubus inside of me knowing just how to play the man before me.

  “It’s the drugs,” he growled, the muscles in his arms flexing as he held himself inches away from me.

  “I don’t care. It hurts,” I mewled. Allistair’s eyes flashed and he took a tight breath before a resolution seemed to settle over him. He moved back to step away as I quickly sat forward to stop him. He wrapped his hands around my wrists, holding me at arm’s
length, but making no move to let me go. Gently, he pushed me until my back touched the bed and released my arms with a strained kind of control.

  “I’m going to make it go away, Ruby, but you have to do what I tell you,” he murmured. I nodded as he removed his suit jacket and ripped shirts. I gripped the sheets as I drank in his very scent, waiting for him. Admiring the shape of him, the ripples of his muscle, the contours of his abdomen traveling below the line of his belt…he settled on his knees in front of me and motioned for me to sit up again. I hated being told what to do, but the throbbing ache between my legs was not going anywhere.

  Slowly, he hooked his fingers under the corners of my sweater and pulled it off. The crisp air hit my flesh and I let out a gasp. He placed a single finger against my lips, instructing me to keep quiet. Knowing it was rebellious, I opened my mouth and bit his finger as he let out a sharp hiss. Without warning, I was on my back, legs dangling over the edge of the bed, my jeans ripped off. I tried to sit up, but he forced me to my side, pinning both arms above my head as he lay next to me.

  “Let me—”

  “Shhh…” he whispered in the hollow of my ear. His other hand gripped my hip and began caressing my skin, teasing me as he moved his hand up my body.

  “I’m not going to have sex with you, Ruby. Not tonight. You will barely remember, and I want you to remember the first time I make you scream.” He squeezed my hardened nipples through the soft cotton of my bra. Pulling down the cup, he freed my breast to the chilled air and locked his deft fingers around my taught peak, rolling his thumb to send a sharp pleasure shooting through me. I let out a low moan as his lips brushed over my neck, and a throaty growl escaped as he bit me hard, sending shocks through my body.

  “I’m not even going to kiss you,” he continued. He moved his hand from my breast and trailed it down, grazing lightly over my ribs and settling on the apex of my thighs, cupping me over my cotton underwear.