Mona Lisa Darkening m-4

by Sunny

"You're not a monster," I said, flinching at the outburst. "Just someone who is much stronger than I."

  "Someone who deliberately inflicted pain on you, as did Gryphon." Halcyon's eyes closed, dark lashes coming to a rest in crescent shadows over his golden skin. Then his eyes flashed opened, snaring me. "But what lies between you and I does not matter at the moment. Tell me," he said almost gently. "How will you convince Gryphon that you do not see him as the monster he sees himself as? As the monster you see him to be also?"

  "I don't! He's not a monster. Just a new demon with strange new urges and… difficulty controlling those urges."

  "Is that what you will say to him?" Halcyon gave a hollow laugh. "Maybe I should save us all the trouble, time, and heartache, and simply turn him loose, allow him to seek his final rest. Maybe I should seek it, too."

  "Don't say that!" I said angry, bewildered. "Why are you talking like this? Behaving this way?"

  "Because I am tired… so tired… and my own heart aches." He ran a hand through his damp hair. "Forgive me. I am not entirely myself. The other realm drained me more than I thought. I need to rest, and I shall do so, but not until we see to Gryphon first."

  I tried to hold onto my anger but it slipped away at seeing Halcyon so unsteady, so agitated… so unlike his usual calm and incontrol self. "What do you want me to do?" A simple question.

  A simple answer in turn. "I want you to be his Queen."

  "He is no longer Monère, Halcyon. And I am no longer his Queen."

  "You have been his Queen, his lady of light, longer than he has been demon dead."

  "Just barely," I said, feeling pain wash through me at that truth. How brief our time together had been.

  "He lived for over seventy-five years where his Queen was everything to him, her word absolute. I do not want you to ask him to forgive himself. I want you to command him to. To demand it of him."

  "I never demanded anything of Gryphon when I was his Queen. I asked for… hoped for things, but never demanded. I was not that type of Queen with him."

  "Mona Sera, your mother, his former Queen, was, however. And Gryphon spent many decades serving under her."

  "You're asking me to be like her? Cold, cruel, ruthless?"

  "Not cold. But cruel and ruthless? Yes, if you need to be. He will respond to that. It is too ingrained in him, and he is only just transitioned. Kindness, sweetness, any hesitancy on your part will not do the job. You must command his obedience."

  "That he, what? Not end his existence? How can I convince him to do that? Just telling him isn't going to make that happen. No matter how ruthless, how cruel, how Queenly I command him."

  "No, you are correct. Words alone will not convince him that he can trust himself with you again. You must show him with action. Convince yourselves both."

  "What action?"

  "What is the most definitive act that tells a man that a woman trusts him, that she loves him?"

  My lips flattened. "You want me to make love to him?"

  "No, making love is too tender an action, an emotion, Mona Lisa. I want you to take him and make him yours again."

  "You want me to fuck him."

  "Yes."

  I blew out a frustrated breath. "I don't know if I can," I said softly. "I keep remembering the way Gryphon looked when he attacked me. That frightening new strength of his."

  "He is chained. I will keep him so."

  "That doesn't make it better, Halcyon. And… I don't want to rape him."

  "It will not be rape."

  "I don't know if I can."

  "Then beat him."

  "What?"

  "Punish him. You have to do something to lessen his guilt or it will cause him to seek to end to his afterlife. Anything that you can think of that will accomplish this, you must do."

  "I can't think of anything other than give him the words — "

  "Which will not do when they are empty! He is hurting, not brainless!"

  "Then we have a problem. I don't know what else to do." Other than what Halcyon had suggested. To punish him or take him, as he put it.

  "We do not have much time," he warned, making me feel like a clock that he was winding too tight.

  "Just give me a fucking moment!"

  "Take your moment in the bath," Halcyon said shortly, as he headed out the door. "You need to wash the smell of blood off yourself before you see him."

  "Where are you going?"

  "To prepare him," he said and closed the door behind him.

  The bath didn't give me any new or brilliant ideas, but it did get me cleaned up, a wonderful feeling all on its own. I walked into Halcyon's large closet with the intent of pilfering some of his clothes. I didn't expect to see my own clothes hanging beside his. Not my old stuff but new clothes, made in my size, in vibrant colors that would flatter my white skin and dark hair. I slipped into a gossamer dress that fell in a light swirl down to my ankles. It was peacock blue and fit me perfectly. I found Halcyon waiting for me back in the bedroom, the hard look on his face softening when he saw me in the dress.

  "You made all those clothes for me," I said, uncertain how I felt about that.

  "There are undergarments and other women's apparel in the left bureau drawers," Halcyon said, all his anger gone, disappeared like mine. "But it would be better if you did not wear them. Just the shoes you have on." A dainty pair of slippers that I had chosen from among a dozen others. My shoes set alongside his. Men had shared my bed before. But never my room or closet space.

  "You even got me shoes," I said numbly.

  "Do not look so surprised," Halcyon said. "You are my mate. Of course I would provide for you."

  More than provide. He had made room for me in his bedroom. Taken space that had once been entirely his, and shared it now willingly with another. It… unsettled me.

  "You do not look pleased."

  "No, of course, I…" I stopped the lie I had started to utter. "It just seems so… married" A word, a concept, that suddenly made me feel a bit strangled.

  "Married is a human concept," Halcyon said with calm reasoning. "You are my mate. Demons provide for their mates."

  "Then why are you so willing to have me fuck Gryphon?" I burst out.

  "Because in your heart, you are also his mate," he said, looking at me with level eyes. "Come," he said more softly. "Let us go to him."

  I almost ran out the door in my eagerness to escape the shared intimacy of the bedroom. Given the choice between facing a chained and snarling demon, and tackling my other issues… Well, I'd take the angry demon any day, hands down.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Of course I felt completely different when I came face-to-face with Gryphon. He was chained as promised in the lowest level of Halcyon's home. In the dungeon. I didn't know whether to be more frightened that Halcyon had such a place here, where he lived, or over the state Gryphon had worked himself into. He had more than gone demon on me. If he'd still been human, I would have said that he'd gone crazy. Using demon terminology, he had gone into a full demonic rage.

  I'd never seen a demon that was totally out of control before. His lips were peeled back in a frenzied snarl, and his blood-stained teeth and fangs on full display as he screamed in a voice gone bone-achingly deep, "Unchain me! Release me!"

  His eyes were lava red, and his forehead and temples bulged as if the fury within was shifting his very bones. Muscles swelled his body, thicker than normal, as he viciously strained at the overhead chains that held him suspended almost completely off the ground. His shirt was ripped, hanging in tatters on him. And the neat black pants and polished shoes he still had on, remnants of a more civilized man, seemed jarringly out of place in the frenzied animal state he'd fallen into.

  "Let me go!" he howled with spewing hot rage. I was shocked speechless to see him in such a state. Kind and forgiving words, as Halcyon had said, were just not going to do the job here.

  "He's shifting into his demon beast," I said numbly.

  "He cannot complete
it," Halcyon said. "The chains prevent that."

  The chains holding Gryphon were purple, different from the black demon chains I was used to seeing. Of course, black chains wouldn't have been able to contain a demon, much less one in such full-blown fury. The chains rattled violently as Gryphon fought the restraints, both the ones around his wrists holding him up, and the ones binding his ankles, anchoring him down.

  "My God, Gryphon," I whispered, completely intimidated by what I was facing.

  "Stop it!" Halcyon growled at me. "Stop all the useless, mawkish sentiments, and just do something! Be the Queen he needs you to be."

  "She is not my Queen!" Gryphon screamed, pain mixed in with the fury. "Not anymore."

  "You're wrong. She will always be your Queen. Your Demon Queen now. as my mate," Halcyon said. "You must obey her as you obey me."

  "I've never obeyed you, Halcyon," Gryphon growled, gnashing sharp teeth.

  "Part of the trouble. I have been too lenient with you."

  Halcyon's words snapped me out of my shock, and into the role I needed to play. A sneer twisted my lips that was part Mona Louisa, part Mona Sera, my mother. Most of it, though, was just me. "Look at you," I said with biting contempt. "Look at the state you've allowed yourself to fall into."

  Gryphon was surprised enough to still his wild struggle for a moment.

  I walked closer, inspecting him. "This is unacceptable, Gryphon," I snapped, the words coming out sharp as a whiplash.

  "This is what I am," he snarled back.

  "No, you are more than this." I said it with a calm certainty that enraged him again.

  "I am nothing! Nothing but a danger to you now!"

  "You are mine," I said with quiet tenderness, and stepped in close to him. So close that I could have brushed my lips across his fangs, stained with my own blood. Close enough that those dagger-sharp teeth could have cut into me. But they didn't. My first point.

  I stepped back away from him. "I will not let you go, Gryphon. Never," I said in a hard, cruel voice. "No matter how you scream or plead for it." Sauntering behind him, I violently ripped off the remnants of his shirt. Gryphon's body jerked in surprise but he didn't snarl or say anything.

  Halcyon watched us both in silence.

  I dropped the torn fabric to the ground and circled around in front of him again. "You have been a bad boy," I noted coolly, and watched as the demon redness in his eyes receded, as his vivid blue irises swam back into focus, looking oddly beautiful on that half-morphed demon face.

  "You should be punished for hurting me," I said, and my cold decree seemed to calm him even more. The bestial thickness of his face slowly slid away. His face thinned, his bones becoming slim and proportioned once more. But his fangs — they still remained.

  I smelled blood wine nearby and spied a chalice set on a small table against the wall. Picking it up, I brought it to Gryphon. "Drink," I commanded, lifting the heavy rim to his lips.

  His eyes fixed fiercely on mine, Gryphon drank.

  "Good," I crooned as he drank it all down. Swallowed every last drop of it. His long fangs were ivory white now, my blood washed away. "Why are your fangs still prominent?" I asked.

  "You are standing here, your heart beating, your blood so near. I can hear it rushing within you," he said, the rumbling deepness gone from his throat, leaving it sounding more like his normal voice. His words should have frightened me, but they didn't because he was back in control. His rage had receded, if not his fangs.

  Returning the empty chalice to the table, I inspected the other objects laid out there, and raised a brow at Halcyon. "Your toys?"

  "My sister's."

  I wasn't sure if I was pleased or disappointed.

  My hand reached down and selected a heavy crop. Hefting it, I put it back down and picked up the slender switch beside it. Gave it a few testing swipes. Heard a nice satisfactory whistle as it cut through the air. "This one, I think."

  I sauntered back to Gryphon, switch in hand. The thin whipping rod did not feel as unfamiliar as I thought it would.

  The two-inch heels on my slippers thrust my pelvis forward enough to put a nice sway into my walk. Gryphon's eyes were fastened quite nicely on me. On the soft, flowing undulation of my body, the promise of it. On the whisper-thin material of my dress as it molded and clung to my hips, my thighs. I felt sultry, powerful, and just mean enough to enjoy the wariness in his eyes as I swayed over to him.

  I brought the switch up and whipped it lightly across his chest to test us both. It left a red mark against his lightly tanned skin. "Do you want this?" I asked.

  Eyes narrowed, he slowly nodded.

  I moved in close. Watched him grow still and tense. More tense even than when I had struck him. "Are you sure?" I whispered, so close to those threatening fangs.

  His body gave an involuntary shudder at the tease of my blood so near him. "Yes," he said roughly. "Just… do not stand so close to me."

  I threaded my hand through his hair, felt the thick, glossy locks slide beneath my fingers. Grasping those silky strands tight, I yanked his head back. "But I have to," I said, my soft breasts brushing his chest as I pressed myself tight against him. "It comes as part of your punishment."

  Those unearthly eyes glittered at me. "Then I refuse it."

  "Too late." I smiled coldly. "You already said yes." I eased myself away from him, my hand freeing his head to move, to strike. A long teasing moment before I stepped back out of striking range. For him. Not for me.

  "You will take all that I dish out as your punishment, and more. Because I want you to. Because I command you to. Because you are mine and I am not giving you a choice." I circled around him, in the periphery of his vision. "But first, we have to get rid of your clothes. You'd hardly feel my little switch wearing these thick pants." I trailed my fingers down around to the front of his waist, and yanked open the top button.

  "Why are you doing this?" Gryphon asked, his body tensing so still beneath my touch.

  "Because you've been a bad boy, and you must be punished — my way."

  The zipper rasped down and his pants fell open enough for me to see that he was semi-hard. Not aroused, but stirred a little. "Yes," I murmured, shoving his pants down to his feet with one swift pull. "Better. Much more skin now."

  I walked to his right side, standing slightly behind him. Lightly applied the whistling switch to his thighs, his calves. His buttocks — those lovely round muscular globes — I first caressed with my hands then slapped. Whack! Whack! Hard enough to leave the red imprint of my hand on each cheek. I brushed the soft material of my gown against those red stinging marks and circled around to his left. Applied more blows with the switch. Then came around to the front of him.

  "Is that your punishment?" Gryphon jeered, taunting me. "Just those light love taps?"

  Something in his voice, his sneered expression, triggered something in me, unleashing an anger I hadn't even known was buried inside me. In a blur, the switch came lashing down across his chest in a hard, swift blow. With that first unthinking blow, it was as if a dam was released, spilling hurt and anger out in a roaring mindless gush. Another hard blow, and another! I beat him as I had not intended to — with anger, with real intent to inflict pain, the same pain welling up inside me.

  "You bastard!" The words spilled out in a hot tide, mixing with my tears. Another hard blow. Another. "You left me! You died and you left me when you promised me that you would stay with me!"

  I hit him over and over again, giving him the beating that he had asked for, the hard whistling sound of thin wood hitting flesh lost beneath my sobs. I hit him, struck him, until I could no longer see clearly, my vision blocked by tears.

  Over the broken sounds of my weeping, I heard Halcyon say, "Enough. Enough, Mona Lisa."

  His voice brought me back to myself. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and saw with terrible clarity the angry red welts I had left all over his body. Appalled, I dropped the switch and backed away.

  "Oh, God," I
whispered brokenly. I would have turned and fled up the stairs had Halcyon not done something so unexpectedly shocking that it froze me into stunned stillness.

  He released Gryphon.

  A swipe of Halcyon's demon nails sliced away the pants at Gryphon's feet; a quick removal of the pin, and the manacles were unlatched from Gryphon's ankles. Another quick release above and Gryphon's wrists were freed.

  I stood there and watched Gryphon come toward me, the demon I had just angrily beaten, and made no effort to run away. A part of me feared retribution. A part of me wanted it, felt that I deserved punishment in turn.

  The tears would not stop, pouring out of me like clear blood.

  When Gryphon took me into his arms, offering comfort, cradling me against him, I wept even harder. "Gryphon." My arms crept around him. "Oh God, Gryphon, I'm so sorry."

  "Don't cry."

  "I beat you."

  "I deserved it."

  "I was so mad. You made me so mad, I lost control." A small hiccup. "You should… should beat me in turn."

  "There are other things I'd rather do to your body. Far better things than beat it," he murmured, and his hands slid underneath the dress. Touched bare skin. Just that one touch and my emotions swung from sorrow, guilt, and grief to something hotter, darker, much more base. My hands tunneled into his hair, gripped the silky strands, and pulled him toward me. "Love me," I demanded.

  "I do. I will." But he resisted the silent command of my hands, and kept his mouth, those sharp fangs, away from me. It reminded me sharply, vividly, of how much stronger he was than I with his new demon strength and my demon essence gone.

  A thrill coursed through me, a sharp zing of lust, of added desire, driving through me with a keen spike of excitement. Nothing like a little bit of danger thrown in with the sex. A residue from Mona Louisa or maybe my own twisted desire, I didn't know and didn't care.

  "You like it that I'm stronger than you," Gryphon said, dark knowledge glittering in his blue eyes as he pushed me down and moved over me. Gripping my wrists with a swift suddenness that made me draw in a breath and grow even wetter, he lifted my arms, pinning them above me. "Keep them here," he ordered.