Dangerous Ties

by Devyn Quinn

  Dagon’s mouth worked liquid magic, teasing the soft petals of her labia, circling her creaming depth. He dipped inside her, but only briefly.

  The pressure of her need for penetration rose and rose until she cried out, “Take me—please!”

  Answering her cry, the tip of Dagon’s tongue flicked upward, curling right into the soft center of her pulsing clit. His tongue against her sex created instant sparks of electricity, flooding her entire nervous system with molten fire. Phenex simultaneously rolled his hips under hers, tugging her nipples into straight high points to double her pleasure.

  Nikki grunted in surprise. “Oh, holy hell…!” The rest of her words disintegrated into a babble. Lost in the sheer glory of shuddering climax, she whimpered, half crazed with the ravenous intensity of sheer ecstasy. Her pulse banged against her skin, threatening to burst through fragile veins. Orgasm roared through her like a tornado on the ground, tossing and tearing up her senses with ferocious intensity.

  And that was only the beginning.

  Now that the gates had been loosened, the others surged in.

  Still breathless and reeling, Nikki was hardly aware of her body being repositioned, lowered to the floor. She felt the scrub of carpeting against her back, was dimly aware of strong hands grasping her wrists and ankles, spreading her out.

  The whispers of names brushed her ears, so many that she could not comprehend or remember them all: Araziel, Gressil, Forneus, Murmur, Nelchael, Sonneillon, Mammon, Sytri. More and yet more until she felt she’d drown in the sea of names they murmured against her skin. Hot, wet mouths and hands caressed every inch of her skin, invading her inner thighs and breasts. Head to head, body pressed to body they circled around her, no one giving an inch to have a turn. The rest of her frilly gown disintegrated, pulled away by eager hands. Cocks strained, pressed, sought entry.

  Lost in the haze of their sheer numbers, Nikki finally managed to wrench open heavy eyes. She expected to see a dozen beautiful male bodies, all centered toward the focus of bringing her pleasure. What she saw chilled her blood.

  The beautiful angels had disappeared, replaced by a grotesque cadre of horrible misshapen creatures.

  Mouth going dry, Nikki felt her guts twist into knots of sheer horror. She looked in terrified disbelief, hardly comprehending the changes. Horns ruled over faces cankered with oozing sores. Skin flayed away; bones protruded in sharp angles. The smell of them sickened, like a corpse bloating and rotting under the hot sun. Red eyes flashed at her, filled with glee. Fangs gnashed over her exposed, very vulnerable flesh. They were just husks, an aberration mocking nature.

  Nikki opened her mouth to shriek, but nothing came out. Her vocal cords felt like they’d been ripped from her throat and tossed away. It was one thing to be abused by attractive demons, quite another to be menaced by such ogres.

  A commanding voice broke through the ugly mass. “Enough!”

  Standing tall and straight, Jackson materialized amid the fray. Unlike the others, his form hadn’t changed shape. Naked, he loomed over the group, a vision of beauty among the desecrated. Only his face had changed. A smirk twisted his mouth, as vicious as the glint burning behind his gaze. That alone made him ugly, as terrible and malformed as the other demons.

  But that wasn’t the thing about him that made Nikki start squirming and widen her eyes. Not at all. What so painfully and gut wrenchingly captured her immediate attention was the dagger he carried. The blade glinted dangerously, a silver sliver of pure menace. No doubt its edges were razor sharp.

  Nikki gulped. She had no doubt he intended to use it on her.

  The mark of the beast.

  Jackson grinned. “I have not yet introduced myself properly, darling Nikki. I am more commonly known as Jacsul, and I am the deliverer of great pleasure.” He lifted the dagger, turning it just so. “And great pain.”

  Even though she knew there could be no escape, Nikki started to struggle against the hands holding her securely pinned. “I don’t deserve this,” she gasped, voice hoarse with horror.

  Jackson smiled. “Apparently you didn’t study your scriptures close enough in life, Nikki darling. Otherwise, you would have noticed the passage that said, ‘If their souls should perish in their youth through rashness, their afterlife shall be wounded by the angels.’” He flicked the dagger against the tip of one finger. Blood welled as he lifted it to taste. “Mmm…I look forward to marking your skin…tasting your blood…possessing your body. It is a ritual I adore.”

  He’d no sooner spoken the words than the chamber around her took on a strange animation all its own, becoming a dark and cold place of almost no illumination or warmth. Gray dimness, like a heavy mist, solidified around the edges of the wall. The demons holding her seemed to melt away. Ugly, twisted, and gleeful, they cloaked themselves in gray mist. Only the glow of their beady red eyes revealed their presence.

  For a moment, everything fell out of focus, like a dream within a dream within a nightmare.

  Beneath her back, Nikki felt the floor begin to take on strange animation, almost like it was trying to wriggle away. A hard ridge of stone formed, widening as it lifted her into midair. Taking final solid shape, the stone platform was wide and long enough to support not one but two bodies.

  The platform sat level with Jackson’s hips.

  A spasm closed Nikki’s throat when he climbed up to join her. She struggled to raise herself but had not an ounce of strength. What the hell was he going to do with that blade?

  Locked against the platform, she was about to find out.

  Painfully.

  Jackson stretched out between her spread thighs. His mouth hovered just a few inches above her sex. “One thing I haven’t gotten to taste is this lovely cunt of yours—something I intend to have again.” He chuckled. “And again.”

  Nikki drew a sharp breath when he trailed the tip of the blade along the inner softness of one leg. She stiffened when the tip penetrated the skin there. Not deeply, just enough to draw blood.

  Jackson’s head dipped. He licked up her blood with a flick of his tongue.

  Nikki gasped and instinctively arched her back against the hard stone. Clenched fingers dug deeply into the palms of her hands. She didn’t want to enjoy this. Her body, however, had other ideas. She felt herself growing damp all over again, and the ache in her clit was fiercer than ever before. “Oh—!”

  Jackson grinned and followed with another suckling against the small cut. His tongue soothed away the brief ache he’d inflicted. Then his mouth found her clit through the nest of soft curls covering her mound.

  The friction invading her sex set Nikki’s insides on fire. Her hips rose, pressing against his mouth in silent plea. The pleasure uncoiling in her gut was so intense that little sparkles began to dance behind her eyes. The pressure of pleasure surged, threatening to erupt all over again like an active volcano. A long, lusty groan tore from the depth of her throat. Hips rising and falling, her body craved the harder friction of a male body.

  Jackson abruptly lifted his mouth away, ending the delicious sensations. “Not yet,” he warned. “You don’t come until I tell you.” The heat in his coppery eyes burned brighter than any flame. He inched his body up a little higher, nicking the softness just below her navel. His mouth followed, tasting her.

  Nikki gasped. Even as she fought to encompass her senses, she somehow found herself focusing completely on what Jackson was doing. The sight of him cutting her flesh, tasting her as he made love to her was fascinating. And intoxicating. She couldn’t tear her eyes off him.

  Possessed of a strange, sweet inertia, she gazed at him. Unlike the others, he was still so beautiful. So desirable.

  Jackson moved higher, cutting, licking. It vaguely occurred to Nikki that when he’d finished, the scars would create some sort of pattern on her skin. That would be her mark, the tattoo of the beast etched into her flesh. And it would leave no doubt whom she belonged to in the torturous realm.

  No, her mind filled in. Jacs
ul. The true name of her demonic lover.

  Coming to the level of her breasts, Jackson circled one pink nubbin with the blade. The bud immediately tightened under the assault of the icy silver tip. She drew in a sharp breath as lust stabbed as deeply into her core.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for a woman like you,” he breathed. “A soul like yours…so rare, so responsive.” He bent to taste one of her nipples, sucking it deep into his mouth. His mouth entertained the shadow of a smile. “I wanted to keep you, Nikki darling. But I want the energy sacrificing your soul will bestow upon me. One more is all I’ve needed to become the reigning prince of demons.”

  Sacrifice.

  The single word stood out, a stark alarm sounding in the back of Nikki’s beleaguered mind. Her mind began spinning backward, rewinding to the first things he’d told her, trying to recall if he’d mentioned anything remotely close to this. He hadn’t.

  Desire fled in the wake of pure, unadulterated fear. The awful sound of the word penetrated her brain deeper than any stab he could inflict with that wicked blade. It was something she couldn’t let happen. The demons had claimed her life but hadn’t yet fully wound their clutches around her soul. If Jackson finished the terrible deed, she wouldn’t even be damned. She’d simply cease to exist.

  She be…nothing.

  And that wasn’t acceptable.

  Nikki Malone wasn’t ready to cease to be. Existing in hell was better than existing nowhere at all. Life had been too short to be enjoyed. Hell damn sure wasn’t slipping through her fingers. Even pain was preferable to nothing at all.

  Flashing a smile laced with the menace of his murderous intent, Jackson repositioned himself between her legs. “Sorry, babe. It’s all politics.” Cock jutting toward his ridged abdomen, he loomed over her. His massive body trembled with the efforts of restraint.

  Nikki looked at him through horrified eyes. “Don’t—” she started to plead, then stopped herself cold. One thing she’d never done in her life was beg. Whined, whimpered, even sniveled a bit now and again, but she’d never begged anything from anyone. She’d always stood on her own two feet, took life as it came.

  Seething inside from his betrayal, Nikki decided then that her afterlife would be no different. She may have died. She may have landed herself in hell. But however seductive and entrancing Jackson’s lovemaking might be, giving up her immortal soul without a kicking, screaming fight just wasn’t the way she wanted to face eternity.

  So that he could better control penetration, Jackson settled the dagger vertically across her abdomen, the tip between her breasts, the hilt pointing toward her belly. Hands free, he guided the tip of his shaft to her sex. His hips pressed forward just a little. “I need to feel that hot little cunt of yours around me. A complete connection.” He smiled down at the blade. “Then bye-bye, darling Nikki.” His voice mocked like salt rubbed in raw wounds.

  Nikki squirmed, but there was no escaping. She felt the crown of his cock slide between her silky labia. All she could do was grit her teeth and reject the pleasure of imminent penetration. She groaned under her breath. “Damn you, Jackson. This isn’t fair.”

  Shuddering with raw need, Jackson grinned down at her. His red-hot gaze sparked dangerously. “No one ever said hell was fair.” His long, driving stroke penetrated.

  “You said you felt me,” she said, grasping at straws.

  Pulling halfway out, he tweaked a rosy nipple. His evil smile said that’s exactly what he’d intended for her to think. Chump.

  “I lied. You should know, Nikki, that all demons are master deceivers. We never tell the truth.”

  Nikki glared up at him. Confusion, then anger whirled like a hurricane inside her. “You stinking bastard!”

  Jackson laughed with glee. “It will only hurt once,” he said and drove his cock to the hilt. Seconds later, he pulled back out, then plunged again. “But you know that’s a lie too.”

  Gasping for breath at the size of him, she had to bite back a whimper as his massive cock plundered every last inch of her sex. He rode her with a smooth, rhythmic ferocity that made his pale skin glisten with sweat. It felt so good she wanted to give in, let herself go over the edge and embrace the climax insidiously winding like a venomous snake through her core.

  Determined not to let her body betray her at this last vital moment, she turned her head. Her arm was stretched away from her body, locked into place by some force she couldn’t see. She clenched her fist, fighting to raise her arm.

  Nothing.

  The chances of freeing herself seemed slim to none.

  She clenched her eyes shut and concentrated harder. Logic dictated that if Jackson were truly sucking up energy from her, then she should be able to reverse the current and draw off his. Her head hurt. Her chest hurt. Geez, come to think of it, there wasn’t an inch of her that didn’t ache.

  Nikki forced her mind clear of all images and all thoughts. Imagining a dark room, she next pictured a brief, tiny pinpoint of pure, pulsing white light. Taking a breath, she opened her eyes and focused on her left arm. She mentally pointed the blazing point of light toward her wrist, visualizing her arm rising from its locked position.

  Her arm lifted. A little.

  Nikki concentrated harder. More. Her breath came harder. Faster. If she lost control, that would be it. There wouldn’t be another chance.

  Suddenly, she felt a snapping sensation against her skin. She didn’t have to lift her arm more than an inch to know it was free.

  Jackson’s low moan tore her mind back to the dilemma at hand. Close to hitting climax, his cock strained inside her, more powerful than ever before. Groaning, he reached down and wrapped one of his hands in her hair. Lifting her, his free hand reached for the dagger poised between their bodies. Lost in the passion between them, he seemed not to notice the shift in power.

  Nikki recognized her chance. It was all or nothing now.

  Her hand beat Jackson’s to the dagger’s hilt. Sitting up, she angled the long, thin blade upward toward his abdomen. She sucked up fear and did what she had to do. With a quick jerk, she shoved upward. Hard. The blade slid under his breastbone, impaling him. “Feel me now?” she grated through clenched teeth.

  That was all it took to rip the smile off his lips. Jackson’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.

  Nikki fought the gut instinct to pull the blade out. Her stomach rebelled at the idea. She had to go with her first instinct, no holds barred. She swallowed several times, forcing down the bitter burn of acid at the back of her throat. Instead of relenting, she did something she hadn’t even suspected herself to be remotely capable of doing.

  She twisted the blade.

  And shoved it deeper.

  Too bad she had to do it. She could have fallen hard for this sexy devil. But when it came to the question of who would come out on top, well, it didn’t take a lot of brains to answer that one. Nikki didn’t play fair. Never had. And she wasn’t about to start now.

  Tension throbbed between them for a minute or so.

  Belatedly reacting to the incredible stimulus of penetration, Jackson’s body convulsed, every muscle in him twitching as though struck by a bolt of lightning. A series of violent spasms wracked him, pushing his hips forward a final time to impale her. His cock blasted, filling her womb with jetting hot semen.

  Still not fully comprehending what she’d just done, Nikki gasped and fell back. Her body arched against the stone as her own climax came fast and hard, lifting her up and crushing her with the ferocity of a giant crushing a gnat. Just as she thought she’d be able to catch her breath, a rushing crescendo of subsonic vibrations coursed through her nerve endings.

  Then the world went insane, like an atom bomb landing directly on top of her. Everything around her all of a sudden morphed into a weird, distant blur. Sparks of pure energy detonated inside her skull. Rather than ebbing away, the force gathered strength, deepening until she felt that she’d explode from all the pressure filling her. Her soul soar
ed on the outspread wings of dark euphoria.

  Waves after wave of glorious pleasure dimmed her sight. She screamed as the ferocious energy roared on and on, reverberating into some unimaginable gut-wrenching infinity.

  And then it was over, ending as quickly as it had begun.

  The atmosphere around them quivered, then collapsed.

  Nikki’s dazed brain could hardly process a single thought, much less two. Reduced and distilled to a shuddering, sated mass, it took a few minutes for reason to return, along with the realization of what she’d done. As her heart slowed down to a normal rhythm, the impact of what she had done horrified as much as it had aroused. Almost. She’d penetrated him, fully and completely.

  And it felt wonderful.

  Rubbing her hands across her numb face, she blinked, then glanced around to get her bearings. She reluctantly looked up at Jackson. To her surprise, he didn’t appear to be dying.

  Their gazes locked. Action and consequence simultaneously passed between them. Anticipation sent Nikki’s heart into a faster beat. Her nerve endings crackled with anxiety.

  Jackson smiled and slowly drew the dagger out of his gut. Incredibly, no blood seeped from the wound. Giving a grimace of disdain, he tossed the blade aside. “Oh, Nikki—” His voice was as taut and ragged as his respiration. “You should have known this wouldn’t kill me.”

  Blood turning to ice in her veins, Nikki gulped. She’d taken her shot and somehow botched it. There’d be hell to pay now. Palms sweating, throat tight with anticipation, she waited. Whatever he wanted to do, he probably would.

  Nikki’s muscles tensed. Her breasts rose and fell with each hard, panting breath she drew. She doubted she could pull off the escape trick a second time. It had taken every bit of effort she possessed to do it the first time.

  Payback, she silently bet, would be hell. The idea made her guts knot all over again.

  Jackson reached for her, grasping her wrists and lifting her astride his lap so that she faced him. Their lips were just inches apart, his still stained with her blood. He flexed his hips. His pale skin seemed to glow from inside, lit by some erotic force. “You are truly a devious little demon, my dear. Quite worthy to join our ranks.”