by Debra Dunbar
And Irix meant what he said. There was no jealousy with him. Of course as a sex demon, he could hardly be jealous of the hook-ups that fed me energy, but my relationship with Kai had been different. He never been annoyed about the time I spent with her, or fretted over whether I cared about her more than I did about him. I didn’t. I loved them both, but in a different way. And the feelings I had for Irix were indescribable. He was part of my soul. When the world died at the end of time, I’d still love him.
I wished that Kai could somehow have that with Lee and not have to push me away. But wishing wouldn’t change things.
“You’re weak,” Irix said, pulling away to look me over from head to toe.
It was an accusation, and not the first time he’d made it. I pulled him close again and hid my grimace in his shirt. Two weeks of hook-ups and a week of gladly given affections from Kai couldn’t replace what I’d spent turning a demon into a tree nearly three weeks ago in Hel.
“I had to expend a lot of energy recently. I’ll recharge.” I was going to tell him. Just not right now, not when I wanted him to do less talking and more getting naked.
“Oh, really.”
I froze at his tone, not because of the drawled words, but because beneath them was a thread of anger. Crap. Oh shit, I was so busted. The fight I’d been dreading was coming, and there was no delaying this confrontation any longer.
“Maybe you can tell me what exactly you’ve been doing the last five weeks, and what this is about?” Irix stepped back from me and pulled something from his pocket. It was a scroll, thick cream parchment that had been tied with a red ribbon and closed with a wax seal. It was slightly squashed, no doubt from being in the demon’s back pocket.
I took the outstretched scroll and broke the seal. Inside were line after line of sigils and symbols, none of which I could read. I looked up at Irix, not sure if I wanted to know what it said.
“It’s a breeding contract,” he told me.
“A what?” Breeding contract for what? I didn’t own a purebred dog or any livestock. What in the world could this person, whoever they were, want to breed? The cool, impersonal look on Irix’s face was scaring me. I’d expected a huge blow-out fight about my trip to Hel, not this cold, detached demeanor. Or this scroll. What was that about?
“It seems a high level warmonger, an ancient, named Harkel is quite impressed with a succubus named Amber and feels that the pair of them would create notable offspring. He sent the offer through the Iblis as he was told that you were part of her household. She asked me to give it to you and convey her congratulations on what she says must have been the ‘fuck of the century’.”
Offspring? Babies? I give a demon a blow job and he wants me to have his baby? What the fuck was that about? I’d met Harkel once while I was in Hel. He’d transported a wagon full of plant samples for me and in return I gave him a quick hummer. Actually it wasn’t really for services rendered. I liked him. We didn’t speak one word of each other’s language, and I’d just met him, but I liked him. I felt an attraction to him strong enough that I’d thrown caution to the winds and let him think I was a full succubus who was granting him a sexual favor.
“I…uh, I was in Hel a few weeks ago and met this Harkel. It wasn’t ‘the fuck of the century’. I mean, it was really nice, and I liked him a lot, but it was just a blow job. Kind of a thank-you for pulling my wagon full of plant samples from Patchine to Libertytown. I don’t know where this baby proposal came from.”
I was babbling, sweating. Oh God, don’t let this be the thing that tore Irix and me apart. I knew he’d be furious about the Hel trip, but why was he upset about Harkel? He wanted me to feed my succubus side. And the demon had given me plenty of energy, even willingly tying himself to me.
“You did what?” Irix stepped closer, a spark of anger breaking his cold, impassive expression. It gave me hope that this would end well. Irix yelling at me was familiar. That other Irix wasn’t. “You went to Hel, by yourself, I’m supposing, and while there you met a demon and made enough of an impression that he’s proposing a breeding incident with you.”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“You went to Hel where you don’t speak any of the languages and know nothing of the customs. You risked coming in contact with elves who would kill you and demons who would chain you to a wall, hidden away as a plaything for a few centuries, until they tired of you and let you go or until I somehow managed to bribe and threaten enough demons to find you.”
“Yes.” I swallowed hard, trying to remember the reasonable explanation I’d planned to give him, the one I’d been rehearsing for weeks. “I had a demon interpreter, one who helped me navigate the cultural issues, one who would defend me if I got into trouble.”
Irix’s golden brown eyes bore into mine. “A Low. Sam gave you one of her Lows that speaks English. There are customs a Low wouldn’t be familiar with, and that level of demon wouldn’t be able to protect you from a mosquito.”
“But he did,” I protested. “He jumped on a giant cave lizard, got me out of a tight spot with the warmongers, and even helped me lie my way past the elves in the archives.”
Shit. That wasn’t what I was supposed to say.
A muscle twitched in Irix’s jaw. “You go to Hel against my orders, then don’t even attempt to hide your presence. Instead you’re playing with cave lizards, partying with elves, hauling carts across the desert, and giving warmongers blow jobs.”
“It was just the one warmonger.” This wasn’t going well. Not that I’d expected it would, but I hadn’t planned on this discussion derailing quite so fast. “I wasn’t running around Hel giving blow jobs to every demon I saw, just the one. The lizard belonged to the dwarves. He was their watch lizard or something and they called him off. And the elves…well I needed to get a Wythyn map of the water sources under Libertytown so they could put together an irrigation system, so I needed to go to the archives.”
“And you couldn’t let the humans do that? Have them bribe a demon to steal it?”
“No. An elf needed to open the case. It couldn’t be broken by a demon.”
“Well, then a demon could have stolen the whole case and let the magic users figure it out. Amber, what the fuck were you thinking? Where is your common sense? What is so damned motherfucking important that you’d disobey my orders and risk your life like that?”
Now here was the Irix I knew. He never cursed unless he was furious at me. I chose to overlook the whole “obeying my orders” thing, deciding not to throw gasoline on an already raging fire, and concentrate on the rest of his questions.
“Sam promised you’d receive immunity if I helped the humans in Libertytown. Her archangel agreed. And they need help, Irix. They’ll starve if they can’t find edible crops that can grow in a Dis-like landscape. The elven environmental modifications are falling apart, and they’ll soon be living in a desert. I had to help them.”
I felt some of the anger drain from him. The demon took a few breaths and rubbed his face. “And they couldn’t just leave Hel and come here?”
“They probably will have to in a few years, but they’re scared. Hel is all most of them know. I remember when Nyalla came here. She didn’t speak any human languages, didn’t have any skills that would translate into a living-wage job. She didn’t even know how to work the toaster or the phone, or drive a car. They need time, Irix. I gave them time.”
He looked at me again, something unreadable in his gaze. “You risked your life to give a bunch of scared humans time.”
“Yes, but this was mostly about you. You have immunity now. No more running for the gates every few months. No more me panicking as I try to explain to some angel that there was no demon where you’d just been standing five minutes before. No more being apart from me. No more me scared to death that you’re dead and no one even knows to tell me.”
“That’s not worth your life,” he argued.
I reached out to touch his arm. “Yes, it is. To me it is. That was my pri
mary reason, but once I got there, I realized I needed to help these humans. They had spent most of their lives as slaves. They’re scared. They needed me. And, honestly, it was a rush to know that I had the skills and abilities to make a positive impact. I was a hero to them, Irix. I like being a hero.”
“I’m assuming my ordering you to never return to Hel isn’t going to have any impact on your future actions.”
I bit my lip. “I need to go back in six months to check on them and make further modifications. And maybe bring them some canned goods. But beyond that, I’ll try to do as you say. If you want me to stay within the confines of Libertytown, or only have contact with humans, or something else I’ll make every effort to do so.”
This time when his eyes met mine, they were determined rather than angry. “Next time you will take me. That is non-negotiable. You will not go to Hel again without me. Understood?”
This wasn’t the moment to protest his ordering me around. “Understood.”
He sighed and took the scroll from my hand, shaking his head as he read through it. “Then I guess it’s time we discussed this and exactly how the attentions of a high-level warmonger are going to affect your life going forward.”
I blinked in surprise. “Um, I can’t just say ‘thanks, but no thanks’?”
Irix shook his head and led me to the couch. “Sit. I’ll explain in a minute, but first I’m going to fix us a drink. Or two. Or possibly three.”
Yikes. And my “life going forward”? I didn’t like the sound of that. “Better just bring the bottle. It sounds like three drinks might not be enough.”
Chapter 3
Irix plopped the bottle of rum on the table along with two glasses full of ice and several cans of ginger ale. “Go ahead. Tell me everything about this blow job.”
I bit back a smirk. “Well he changed into a human form because there was no way I was going to go down on a lion-bear. Then I put his cock into my mouth.”
“I think I’m familiar with the step-by-step of the sex act. I mean how did you meet him, how did he end up pulling your cart, and what led to the blow job. Actually, do tell me about the blow job, because there might be something there that sheds light on why this notable ancient demon is so smitten with you.”
I poured rum into my glass full of ice, then topped it off with ginger ale, taking a sip while I tried to organize the story in a way that wouldn’t end with Irix storming out of the trailer and my life.
“Andor, he’s a dwarf and a friend of Kirby’s, had led us to his city in the mountain caves where the dwarves gave me a cart full of plant samples to modify and use in Libertytown for crops. So I had this cart, but they didn’t give me a lizard to pull it. Andor let me have a transportation thingie that got me and Rutter, he’s the Low, to somewhere between Patchine and Libertytown, but that left me in the desert at nightfall with a cart and no animal to pull it. Rutter and I tried, but we’re not strong enough and the sand was too soft to really get the cart to roll.”
Irix sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Why do I have the Three Stooges theme song running through my head right now? Why?”
I gave him a stern look. “What was I supposed to do? Conjure a horse from the red sands?”
“Leave the cart and hike back to Libertytown so you could send some humans and either an animal to pull it or a magical device to transport it?”
Easy for him to say. He wasn’t there. “Rutter said it would be picked clean by the time we reached Libertytown and managed to send someone back for it. Demons roam that area during the night, and they’d trash the cart if they found it unattended. Or a sand wyrm could have eaten it. Or quicksand could have spontaneously formed under the cart and sucked it into the earth. I went to a lot of trouble to get those plant samples. I wasn’t about to lose them.”
“Quicksand? Sand wyrms?” Irix shook his head. “Never mind. So you and a Low were trying to drag a cart across the sand…”
“And we saw a group of demons—warmongers—approaching from the distance. It was too late to make a run for it. At first I was going to pretend to be a full elf, and Rutter was going to pose as a servant, but when they reached us, things got kind of tense and I inadvertently let some pheromones slip, and they all thought I was a full succubus who’d managed to Own an elven soul and had a really convincing elf form.”
Irix did the equivalent of a head-desk, only in his palms instead of on a desk. “There is so much wrong with that… I’m on the edge of a panic attack just thinking about that scenario. You could have been killed, Amber. A group of warmongers would never have allowed an elven woman with only a Low in attendance to pass unmolested. And a full succubus…how did you pull that one off? You don’t speak demon.”
“Rutter told them I’d been summoned by a sorcerer that had cursed me and the only language I could speak and understand was English. They were actually very nice. They wanted me to come party with them.”
“I’m sure they did,” Irix commented wryly. “It’s most demons’ dream to party with a sex demon. Unfortunately, demons can be quite rough, and sex demons are more fragile than others, and you, in particular, are even more fragile than a full succubus would be. If they’d burned you, or twisted you and broken your limbs because they wanted you in a weird position while they had sex with you, they would have realized you weren’t a full succubus, then the bidding war would have begun over who would get the pleasure of dragging you home as a fun, half-breed toy.”
I shivered, knowing he was right. And I’d known at the time it was happening that my safety, as well as my life, hinged on the warmongers not finding out my deception.
“I’m not stupid. I didn’t go party with them, but they were very strong, and this lion-bear guy was appealing, so I had Rutter ask him very nicely if he would pull the cart to Libertytown for us.”
Irix shuddered. “You asked a high-level, ancient demon to pull a cart like he was an ox or a draft horse? What did you offer him in exchange? I’m assuming there was more incentive than just a blow job.”
My face heated. “I didn’t offer him anything. I smiled very nicely, and I’ll admit I did have the pheromones cranking, but I didn’t offer him even a blow job in exchange. He just agreed, picked up the end of the wagon, and went.”
That received a moment of silence while Irix scowled and rubbed his chin. “Nothing? Demons don’t do favors for nothing, and high-level demons don’t stoop to pulling carts like a farm animal without significant incentive. Sometimes not even then. Think, Amber. You must have offered him something.”
I shook my head. “Rutter was translating for me. I know he’s a Low and all that, but I’m sure he didn’t commit me to something without my knowledge. The warmonger just agreed and pulled the cart. I walked beside him…and I petted him. His fur was soft, and I wanted to touch him, so I petted him as we walked to Libertytown.”
Again Irix put his face in his hands. “You had an ancient pulling a cart, and you were petting him like he was some sort of big fluffy dog. I’m assuming he didn’t try to bite your hand off, or tell you through Rutter that he was going to disembowel you if you didn’t treat him with proper respect.”
Yikes. This was making me realize how very, very lucky I’d been. “I think he kind of liked it. After the cart was within the gates, I walked out with him and we ended up sitting just outside the city wall, looking at the moons while I petted him. I told him that I wished we could understand each other, that I wished he had a human form because I wanted him, but I didn’t want to have sex with an animal. I know he couldn’t understand me, but he must have gotten the impression that he had a chance of getting lucky because he stood and changed into a human form.”
“And he indicated via gestures that he wanted or was receptive to a blow job?”
“No, I just did it. I liked him, and I wanted to do it, not just because he pulled the cart for me, but because I wanted to. And the energy he gave me…it was huge. I felt electrified afterward. It was enough energy that I was able
to make some significant plant modifications for the humans as well as defend myself and Rutter from a jerk of a demon in the elven archives.”
“Energy. Amber, I’ve had sex with lots of demons, and although it can be a fun experience, the energy I gain is not significant. What we gain from sex with humans if far more sustaining. I know this warmonger is a high level and an ancient, but you shouldn’t have received that much energy.”
He was scolding me, as if it were my fault. “I don’t know! I didn’t ask for the energy, I just wanted to give the guy a blow job. Then he pushed enough energy my way to practically light me up like a Christmas tree. He even offered a light tie.”
Irix’s head popped up from his hands and he fixed me with a hard stare. “Tie. He offered you a tie and voluntarily shared a large amount of energy with you. You had to have understood that those gifts come with strings attached? It’s bad enough that you had him pulling a cart, but to take his energy…please at least tell me you didn’t accept the tie.”
I squirmed. “It seemed rude not to.”
“There might have been a way around the cart-pulling favor and the gift of energy, but a tie? Amber, you accepted a tie with an ancient warmonger. There are consequences to that. And this,” he waved the scroll at me, “is one of the consequences.”
“It was just a blow job,” I shouted, starting to panic. What consequences? Why did no one tell me these things? What did Irix mean about “consequences”? “Of course I accepted his tie. He was nice. He’d pulled the cart, and I was attracted to him, and there was this heat-of-the-moment thing with the blow job and the energy lighting up every one of my nerve endings. The tie was freely given and it wasn't an all-consuming tie, it was light. I didn’t know he was an ancient. I just liked him, and I wanted him.”
“Amber, you can’t just go giving blow jobs, accepting energy and ties with demons because you like them.”
“Why not?” I insisted. “You’re a sex demon and I like you. We have sex and you give me energy, and I can tell there is a tie between us. Why not have sex and accept energy from those I like? What’s wrong if I wanted to do the same with other demons, like Sam or Rutter—”
