by Jen Ponce
“There you are, Adam. Granddaughter. I’d like you to meet my good friend Reginald.”
They exchanged rich-people pleasantries while I fought off yawns, and then she grabbed my arm in a vice grip. “Can you excuse us, gentlemen? I need a moment with my granddaughter.”
Reginald did a little bow while Adam smiled his politician’s smile. “I will talk with you soon,” he promised.
I did my best to look excited about it. When they were gone, she turned on me. “You have plans with him?”
I looked at her innocently. “Wasn’t that what you wanted?”
Her nostrils flared. “What is your game, Korrinthe?”
“It’s Korri, Grandma.”
Her hand went to her medallion and she fiddled with it. I wondered if she was contemplating asking her enslaved demon to bitch slap me or something, but finally her hand fell. “I don’t understand you at all. But at least you were smart about Adam. He’ll be Grand High Theurge of Lodge 1 one day and the woman he marries will have access to unlimited power. Remember that when you get all rebellious.” She turned on her heel and left me to my own devices.
I stuck my tongue out at her back and then headed out the side door to freedom.
13
When I got home, Poppy was pinned up against the wall by the demon I’d freed on the roof, the one I’d sent after the medallion. He was hissing things to my best friend I couldn’t quite hear.
“Hey, get off her,” I said, dropping the expensive shoes by the door.
The demon hissed at me. “She would be tasty.”
“Well, yeah, she would be. Poppy is a sweet lady. But you still need to get off her.”
He leaned in even closer and I tensed, ready to strike, though I wasn’t sure how well I’d do against a being of pure magic and rage. “Please,” I said.
He moved away from her abruptly and Poppy sagged to the floor, her eyes as wide as I’d ever seen them. “Please?” he said.
“Yeah.”
He moved around me, sniffing—why the fuck were they always sniffing me? “What kind of magus are you? ‘Please’,” he scoffed.
“The kind that freed your ass.” I held out my hand, deciding bravado would be my go-to when dealing with these creatures. The less well-endowed ones, anyway. “Medallion?”
He contemplated me, then pulled the medallion from whatever served for pockets on his shifty form. He dangled the jewelry above my palm. “Why did you free me?”
“Because it’s wrong to enslave you.”
“I could kill you.”
“Why?”
The medallion and its chain pooled into my palm. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing. Go home. Change your name so you can’t be summoned. Enjoy a little me time.”
He hissed again. Damn, he was an angry little fucker. “I don’t trust you, magus.”
“Not a magus. But it’s smart not to trust me, anyway. We haven’t known each other long enough. Right? So, good on you. Nice to meet you, go on, skedaddle.”
He stared at me a bit longer, then vanished with a small pop of displaced air.
Poppy laughed a little breathlessly. “You told a fucking demon to skedaddle.”
“Yep,” I said, eying this latest crystal. I carried it to the kitchen and pulled the hammer out of the toolbox beneath the sink.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked as I raised the hammer.
“Freeing this one.”
“Freeing a demon. In our house.”
“Yep.” I brought the hammer down and cracked the crystal. There was a clap of magic and another ghostly figure appeared. This one wavered and floated and didn’t seem quite there. I couldn’t hear it either. It said something and then dissipated like smoke in a breeze. “That was weird.”
“This whole thing is weird. What the ever-loving holy Hell?” She sat hard on one of the barstools and let her head drop into her hands. “It wanted to skin me alive.”
I patted her. “Well, he had been trapped a long time. Maybe he was making up for the boredom of captivity by scaring the locals.”
“I am not a local!”
“Well, technically you are …”
She flipped me off. “I am your friend and I like my skin where it fucking is, thank you very much.” She poked the crystal with her finger. “Why was that one so gauzy?”
“Well, Grey said he needed my help finding the other piece of himself. So I’m thinking this one had been pieced out so far as to be basically mist. Maybe I can find and free more of it so it can become solid again.” I hadn’t even been able to tell its gender.
“Grey? Is this the one with the nice cock?”
“Nope. That was Lux.” Another image of him being fucked in the ass by Grey intruded into my thoughts. “Though Grey had a nice cock too.”
“Holy Hell, Korri. Are you going to do every demon you release?”
“I didn’t do Grey, for your information. He did Lux while I watched.”
Poppy stared.
“Anyway, I didn’t fuck Blobby. Or Misty. So calm your tits.”
“They … they fucked each other while you watched?” she squeaked.
I grinned. “Yep. Jelly?”
She shook her head. “Oh Hell no. Oh Hell no. I am going to Connor’s tonight. I do not want to think about two hot demon dudes fucking each other …” She pressed her fingers to her head. “I already am. Fuck it. Goodnight!”
I laughed and gave her a hug. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Yeah, he only threatened, never did anything. You?”
“Well, I saw Adam Windhaven, and he thinks I’m interesting enough he has my phone number.”
Her look was a mixture of horror and excitement. “He has your phone number? Why?”
“Why do you think?”
“He wants to go out on a date?”
I shrugged. “Why else would he ask for my number?”
She rubbed her forehead. “Be careful. And don’t you dare even think about killing him. It would be too dangerous.”
I wanted to see what demon he had around his neck though. “I know. I’m gathering intel about Kyle. That’s it. And other magi he might know.” Like his father, Uriah. Now his demon would have to be powerful, wouldn’t it? Not that I had a prayer of finding out. He had all the strength of the Lodge behind him. I’d sooner get my hands on his medallion as I would fly.
“Oh crow, Korri. Forget I said anything. Okay? Just forget it. It’s not safe. If he ever suspected what you were doing …”
I stepped in front of her and put my hands on her shoulders. “I’ll be careful. More careful than I was with Harriet. I know this is a risk, but we’ll never get this close to him otherwise.”
“Right. You’re right.”
“This is what we wanted, remember? A chance to pay them all back for your pain. For my parent’s pain. And now that we know they’re using demons as slaves to boost their power? We have the advantage. We know how they work. I’ll either kill him or I’ll expose him. Either way, we win and they lose.”
Poppy swiped tears from her cheeks. “You make it sound so easy. You’re my sister from another mister and I can’t lose you too.”
We hugged, her a little more fiercely than I. I knew she’d eventually figure out what a great opportunity this was for both of us, for our plans of bringing down the Conventus Lodge. Hell, Adam was the head of the Conventud Academy. If I could take him down …
“Please be careful,” she finally whispered. “I couldn’t stand it if you died.”
“I will be. With you by my side, how can we lose?”
She let out a shaky breath that was half desperate laugh. “You don’t listen to me.”
“I fucked up, but I will be better next time, I promise. I want this as much as you do.” I kissed her cheek. “Go fuck your boyfriend and let me get this damned dress off.”
She sniffed. “It looks good on you.”
“Thanks. I’m giving it to Alice.”
�
��It’s a five-thousand-dollar dress.”
“Then she’ll look like a five-thousand-dollar angel,” I said over my shoulder as I headed to my room. I shut the door behind me and locked it, then smiled at the demon laying naked on my bed. “How long have you been here?”
“Since Heliope started tormenting your friend.” Grey put his hands behind his head and stretched, drawing my eyes to the long, lean length of him. “I wouldn’t have let him hurt Poppy.”
“You know her name?”
“I do.”
“I don’t know yours,” I said, reaching behind me to tug down the zipper on the dress. I shook it off my shoulders, then let it fall to the floor. If I hadn’t promised it to Alice, I would’ve kicked it into a corner. Instead, I lifted it and put it onto a hanger in my closet.
“I’m called Malphas.”
In just my bra, panties, and thigh-highs, I turned nice and slowly, giving him what I hoped was an enticing show. “Why are you here?”
“I thought you might need release.”
The matter of fact way he said it lit up all my nerves. When I pictured him cock deep in Lux’s ass, lust rose in me. When I remembered the feel of Lux’s hand on my ass, my body heated up. “Maybe,” I said.
“More than maybe. Did you touch yourself after we left, Korri? Did you relieve the ache between your thighs? Last night? This morning?”
I licked my lips. “No.”
“Why not?”
How could I explain why I’d obeyed the commands of this stranger? This demon? “Because it pleased me to do so,” I finally said.
“Ah, yes. It pleased you to be denied. Why do you think that is?”
Hell if I knew. “Because I’m a twisted little bitch?” I offered.
He laughed. “You are a delightful creature. One I want the chance to get to know … intimately.”
I started toward the bed and he held up a finger.
“I wanted to propose something to you … before we enjoy each other.”
I cocked my head. “Yeah?”
“You play a dangerous game with the magi, with the Conventus Lodge.”
He really wanted to talk about that now? When he was naked and I was almost so? Frustration winged through me. “I’m aware.”
“You’re vulnerable. A mortal. And they have the power of demons at their command.”
I shrugged. “I’ve killed a few of them, demons or no.”
He acknowledged that with a tip of his head. “You are quite the little bloodletter. Vicious. Uncompromising. Dangerous. But still mortal.”
“It’s not like I can help that last bit.”
He made a noise I couldn’t interpret, and then he said, “Last night you said you would help me find the other piece of myself. True?”
“I don’t go back on my word once I give it,” I said. My eyes followed his hand as it went to his cock. Holy Hell. He stroked himself as he watched me and suddenly I had too many clothes on. I needed to be naked and sitting on his face yesterday.
“Perhaps you’ll change your mind once you know who holds that other piece of me.”
“Nope,” I said dreamily, watching his hand move, wishing it were my pussy in its stead. Or my mouth. I’d bet a demon could sixty-nine the shit out of me.
“The pretty boy you met tonight, the one whose stench is all over you? He holds the other piece of my essence.”
Wait, what? “Adam Windhaven?”
He nodded.
Holy Hell. Another reason to be glad I let Poppy talk me into playing nice.
“Kill him, Korri, and you’ll have a prince of Hell at your beck and call.”
A prince, eh? “And Lux?”
“He was yours the moment you let him fuck you and knot you.”
Embarrassment and lust mingled inside me. “I didn’t let him knot me. It just happened.”
He smiled. “Believe that if you wish. Now, take off the rest of your clothes … except for the stockings. I want to fuck you in those stockings.”
His voice was a wet dream. I reached behind me and unclasped my bra, then let it fall. I bent at the waist, sliding my panties down more slowly, my eyes on him the whole time. They dropped to my ankles and I kicked them away.
“Turn for me.”
I did, shivers of desire racing through me, under my skin, making my nipples hard, my pussy wet. I wanted to run and jump him, but I refrained, still playing his game because it was the kind of game that turned me the fuck on. When I’d come full circle, he gestured for me to come to him, stopping me when my legs touched the bed.
“Spread your legs.”
I did, gasping a little when cool air hit my overheated lips. He leaned toward me and traced my cleft with his finger. It came away gleaming with my juices and he put it in his mouth. Sucked. I moaned, wanting those lips on mine, either set, I didn’t care. “Touch me,” I whispered. “Please.”
“On your hands and knees on the bed. Now.”
I complied, my muscles shivering in anticipation. I had no idea what he would do, and it made everything about this even hotter. Not only was I fucking a complete stranger, but this stranger was a demon, a creature so evil—supposedly—that the Conventus Lodge had to appoint powerful magi to banish and exorcise them. I was fucking a demon—or about to—and I couldn’t wait.
He moved, coming up behind me, still not touching me but I could feel his gaze on my ass, on my spread cheeks and my pussy now open to him. Nimble fingers touched my flesh, kneading the muscles in my buttocks, running along the backs of my thighs, making me jump with anticipation at every change of direction. When the bed shifted, when he leaned close, I moaned again. His tongue, his hot, wicked tongue, touched my clit and I curled my fingers into the bedspread like I had the night before watching him fuck Lux.
Now it was my turn and all I could do was shiver and moan as he flicked that sensitive button of mine, making my hips jerk in pleasure. His tongue dipped inside me, then trailed upward to my ass. I gasped in surprise as he tongued every inch of me before pressing me down onto the bed, his hand between my shoulder blades. One of his knees spread my legs apart, and his other hand spread my ass so he could see—I assumed—everything better. When the tip of his cock finally pressed against the entrance to my pussy, I moaned. My hips tried to move, but he pressed on me so I was still. He had me where he wanted me and he was going to fuck me however fast or slow he wanted.
His thrust, decisive and quick, made me cry out, and then he was holding my arm against the small of my back. When he shifted to get the other, I almost came right then. Being held like this, as if I was his captive, made me hotter than Hell and twice as wet.
If Hell was wet.
I’d have to ask him sometime what it was like.
Oh crow. His fingers tightened around my wrists, moving my arms up just enough for me to feel well and truly captured. I could wiggle all I wanted now but I was caught, and he had me and oh, if only there was a mirror so I could watch him fucking me. Except he hadn’t started yet, was still inside me but not moving. I bucked up my hips as best I could to remind him I was there but he gave me a light pinch on the ass with his free hand. “Hold still or I won’t fuck you.”
Why? I wanted to moan, but I held it in and tried very hard to stay still. It almost killed me not to grind up into his cock, not to move and wiggle underneath him to show him how much I—
He pulled out and thrust back inside me, hard, then again. When I forgot and wiggled he stopped, and I had to wait agonizing minutes while he waited for me to still again. It was maddening. It was wonderful. I couldn’t come this way so instead, the fires just built and built, making me hotter, so much hotter.
“You’re so wet, Korri. Slick. My cock loves being inside you. Can you feel me there? So deep, fucking you so deep.”
My breath left me in a shuddering moan.
He moved faster now, fucking me harder, driving me wild but no closer to an orgasm than before. It was almost like he had a hold on that too, like he had captured my ar
ms. It was ridiculous and yet … he was a demon. Perhaps that was something he could do.
“Please,” I panted.
“Not yet,” he purred. He released my hands and withdrew from me so he could flip me to my back, where he proceeded to pin me to the bed, hands overhead. His eyes were a stormy grey, his hair short and black, his face sharp, his nose hawk-like. His lips when they touched mine? Sensuous. Warm. Talented. His tongue, so warm, teased mine, making me remember why I liked kissing so much. He hadn’t yet entered me again, his cock hot against my leg. I wanted to move, to remind him, but I didn’t dare. I didn’t want him denying me again.
His smile against my lips stilled me. “You’re learning,” he whispered, and I ran both cold and hot all at once.
Could he read my mind?
“I can read your body,” he said, shifting so he could run his free hand down my breast, over my ribs, to my hips. “You tremble so delightfully when you’re drowning in desire.” His hand dipped further, to my wet pussy, where he slipped two fingers into my cleft, massaging there where I needed him most. “It pleases me to see you poised on the edge of orgasm, to know that I hold you there and can, at whim—”
Sensation crashed over me, hard, hot, blazing like a wicked wildfire burning all sense and reason. I may have yelled, I may have screamed, I may have only opened my mouth without a single sound escaping, I didn’t even know. All I knew was his fingers and the orgasm crashing through me.
“Like so,” he finished when I could breathe again, when the world was no longer sparkles of light and heat, but sounds that made sense as words, and shapes that were handsome demons giving me the best orgasms of my life.
No lie.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. And he wasn’t even done. He hooked an arm under my knee and pulled my leg up as he thrust inside me again. Everything was already sensitive from the first orgasm and this took me over the edge again. It was in his control that I came, and came I did, and again as he fucked me and when he finally came, he filled me with more heat and light, and I may have blacked out for the teeniest second.
Or maybe I’d just been overcome by lust.
He held me in his arms, his body as warm, his fingers still lightly touching me, caressing my flesh. When I could breathe at a normal rate again, he kissed my temple. “You’re a wonder, Korri. Perhaps you would like to do something else with me tonight.”
