by Marie Harte
When a demon and a dragon get busy, “burning up the sheets” gets real.
Ethereal Foes, Book 3
James thought stealing a royal dragon egg was a terrific idea—until the prank went sideways. His sister and twin brother have done their penance. Now it’s his turn. Ten days of servitude to Teban, the dragon prince—James’s best friend. Such a light sentence has to have a catch, so James does what any good demon would do. He bolts.
His string of bad luck holds steady when he falls prey to a pretty woman with sharp teeth. Kihra is havoc, a race of lower-realm creatures even demons fear. When she joins forces with Teban, their torment becomes delectable sin. No vice is too addictive, no demand too brutal when it comes to satisfying his lovers’ needs.
All seems hellishly perfect—until the angels arrive for some payback. Kihra’s kidnapped, Teban is missing, and James suffers the beatdown of the millennium. But he has no intention of letting his lovers go, though he risks the wrath of the demon king, the ire of the dragons, and an angelic punishment that could start a world-ending war.
Warning: Contents highly flammable. Contains dragons and demons having a painfully pleasurable good time. Havoc—literally—ensues. Handle with care.
Havoc & Hell
Marie Harte
Dedication
To Noah. Thanks for the edits. They were just right.
Chapter One
How the hell do I get mixed up in this crap? James Sinclair flexed his bound wrists behind his back as he slumped against the cold, hard rock behind him. That a demon of his caliber had been strung up, beaten and abused by a twelve-year-old girl embarrassed him. Of course, the girl was no human, and this wasn’t the human realm—the Ordinary.
At home in the Abyss, what the humans called hell, James should have been safe. The dark, oppressive heat of the lower realm welcomed him with the scent of brimstone and the feel of the familiar. Yet in this particular territory, James experienced nothing but pain and anxiety—two feelings he would have expected in the upper realm surrounded by his Ethereal counterparts, the angels.
He loved the physical form he’d been born into. He had no desire to possess another should this girl savage him unmercifully with her sharp teeth. Baal’s bones, but she’d been torturing him for days. He hoped like hell the blood elf he’d bribed had delivered his message for help.
Damn it. He knew better. This was what had gotten his sister Eve in trouble weeks ago. Helping those less fortunate. Demons didn’t go out of their way to help others; angels did. Still, the innocent-looking young girl glaring at him had appeared to be on the verge of death. He’d killed the giant viper he’d thought was stalking her. How could he have known he’d interrupted her hunt? Who knew the havoc race looked so normal? He’d thought he was rescuing a young demon.
“My aunt is going to suck the marrow from your bones.”
Not if you eat me first. A mouthful of razor-sharp teeth flashed at him every time the young girl spoke. She’d come and gone several times since tying him up, but on each occasion she’d come alone. The dozens of bites she’d taken out of his flesh made him woozy from the accompanying blood loss.
At least she’d made no move to eat him…yet.
Of the all the races in the lower realm, the havoc remained the least known. James recognized other demons, devils, dragons and blood elves. All of them dwelled in the lower realm, if not in peace, then in uneasy alliance. No one living knew much about the havoc, though. The race remained shrouded in mystery, stacks of consecrated bones marking their territory around the unexplored Abyss. Archaic texts described the havoc as true evil, full of corruption and a lust for chaos. What worried James most were the tales he’d heard about them eating souls. For a demon whose job it was to sway souls, creatures who ate them would make an unforgiving enemy.
“You know,” he said to the havoc, realizing she couldn’t care less but hoping to stir in her something besides death threats, “I busted my ass for two weeks, taking up my brother’s slack while he did time in the upper realm. I’ve swayed nearly forty souls for hell. You’d think I’d get a better reward than this.”
The beastly creature said nothing for a moment, then, “Why were you in the upper realm? Are you friends with angels?”
“Hell no. Duncan and I played a prank on those winged freaks. With the help of a friend of mine—” one he’d been avoiding for days “—we stole a dragon egg and blamed those interfering, nasty, light-bearing angels for it. It was awesome. The dragons kicked some major ass. Zephon and Daniel got the shit beaten out of them.”
The girl pursed her lips. “You shouldn’t curse.”
“Oh, right. My bad.” She was talking to him, not at him. Progress. Hoping to impress her, he said, “My younger sister ended up marrying the general of the dragon legion, which she still owes me for. The idiot managed to fall in love, while Duncan and I got busted.”
“Aren’t you in trouble, too? When I misbehave, Auntie takes me to task.”
He could only imagine the monster capable of putting this creature in her place. “Yeah, well, with Duncan doing penance in the upper realm, I was stuck doing his job. My punishment is coming as soon as you set me free. The dragon prince is going to serve me up for dinner.” Actually, his best friend Teban would probably serve him dinner. James still couldn’t believe his father thought that time with Teban would be a punishment. Which made it imperative James avoid his buddy. Asael was known for cruelty in the form of kindness. James shivered, wondering what the hell his father knew about Teban that James didn’t.
The girl grinned. “I like Teban. Auntie says he’s yummy.”
“Your aunt knows the dragon prince?” No one knew the havoc, or so the demons had always believed.
“Not personally, but we watch the dragons. We like them best, them and the blood elves.” The girl sniffed. “The dragons never interrupt a hunt.” Her amber eyes pooled with tears. “I was going to give the viper to my father, to prove to him I’m now grown.”
James hurried to continue, lest she punish him yet again for his colossal mistake. “I apologize. I’m very, very sorry. I only killed it because I thought it was going to hurt you.”
“Is that how demons instruct their young to survive?” The girl sneered and the pupils of her eyes grew thin and long, catlike. “Pathetic.”
He wanted to retort but dizziness assailed him and he blacked out.
James awakened to someone shaking him, digging sharp fingers into his open wounds. “Mistake,” he managed, as his vision focused once more.
The girl had vanished. A woman now gripped him. She looked enough like the girl to be her mother. Despite his pain, James couldn’t help assessing the female. He had an eye for beauty, and the dark splendor in this female enchanted him.
High cheekbones, full lips and large, expressive eyes a shade of whiskey-brown studied him. She wore garb common to the succubi living in the Abyss. A band of cloth stretched across full breasts, leaving her belly bare, and a low-cut sheath of black silk draped her lower torso, ending at mid-calf, exposing slim ankles and pretty feet. She had dainty claws on her toes, and he had an absurd notion to pet her just to see if he could get said toes to curl.
“Asael is looking for his son.” Her voice echoed around them in several pitches, ripe with power. When she spoke, her teeth remained even, her features surprisingly human.
“Are you havoc?” he rasped.
The woman moved back from him. She crossed her arms over her chest in study, plumping her breasts.
; “I apologized to the girl,” he tried again.
In a more normal tone, she said, “My niece.”
Shit. This was Auntie. “I was trying to save her.”
“Demons do not protect their young. You are a demon, are you not? I sense your hellfire, but I’ve never seen blue flame before. What kind of a demon are you, Asael’s son?”
Mention of his father put him into a real panic. Asael is going to kill me when my sways go Undecided. “Look, Auntie, you have to let me go.” Sudden thirst overwhelmed him, and he had a hard time continuing.
“My name is Kihra.”
“Kihra, if I don’t do my job, Asael’s going to throw me in The Pit. Full of agony, fear and pain—it’s not a fun place.” Understatement of the year. The Pit unleashed the deepest fears in any who entered it. A true hell no one in this realm found anything but torturous at best.
“Sounds fascinating.” The darkness in her smile captivated him. She shifted, and her black skirt rippled around her like dragon wings. An image of Teban came to him so unexpectedly he tensed in confusion, aggravating his injuries. “Well, you interfered with Naya’s kill, but your capture has proven she has enough skill to come into her own.”
“Wonderful. Glad I could help.” His vision grayed again.
When he opened his eyes, he stared at the bloodred sky above. Kihra leaned over him, blocking out a black orb—the Abyss’s version of a setting sun. “You’re beautiful,” he said on a croak, meaning it, and realized she’d removed his bonds.
Kihra gnawed her full lower lip. James inwardly flinched, expecting to see sharp fangs tearing into the soft flesh. Instead, Kihra exposed flat, white teeth. “Thank you.” She bowed her head, disconcerting him.
“Ah, right. So you’re letting me go?” He rubbed his wrists, not surprised at the blood seeping from the raw skin.
“After we complete the sacrifice.”
“Complete—what?”
“You are on sacred lands, Asael’s son.”
“James.”
“James.” His name sounded musical on her lips. “You cannot leave until the rituals have been observed.”
“Rituals.” The damn woman looked excited about the prospect. Apparently, the havoc were as primitive as he’d heard. Demons hadn’t celebrated blood sacrifices in centuries, not since Asael had taken charge. Even the dragons had let go of the proverbial roasted virgin. “Look, Kihra, my being here is a complete accident. I followed the wrong directions and ended up farther from Baphomet Falls than I’d intended. I’m still not certain how I crossed into havoc territory.” According to what he knew, havoc territory lay several leagues beyond the fields of the blood elves. He couldn’t possibly have teleported that far.
“Perhaps Kingu intended you to come.” Her eyes blazed, a golden fire that provoked unwilling lust from his sore body. An erection swelled despite his desire to leave this cursed place.
Who the hell was Kingu? And why did Kihra’s eyes suddenly resemble those of a cat…or dragon? Alarmed, James felt his cock pulsing in response to her feminine hunger. Not empathic by any means, James had never before felt another’s passion. He could only assume the havoc possessed such a gift. Yet her hunger might not be of the sexual variety, but of a visceral one. Her niece’s sharp teeth came to mind.
“When you say sacrifice, what exactly does that entail?”
Before Kihra could answer, a familiar rumble interrupted them. Thank the damned. Teban.
A large green head with tight, flat scales appeared around a cluster of gray rock. Teban’s red eyes glittered with rage as he sniffed loudly in the stale air. Twenty-five feet of angered dragon bounded around stacks of bones. His gray-green wings flapped with agitation, knocking down several of the bone markers around them.
Kihra stood in awe. “The dragon prince.”
Teban looked from her to James and back again. In an instant, a tall, naked male with wings replaced the fire-breathing beast. “James, I trust you’re okay?”
“Glad to see you, buddy.” He winced at Teban’s toothy grin that didn’t reflect joy in the slightest. “I’ve been better.”
“That’s too bad. But I’m glad to know it was injury that prevented you from making good your debt to me, and not that you were intentionally trying to weasel out of repayment.” A sardonic lift of brow told James the blasted dragon knew exactly what he’d been up to.
“Actually—”
“Save your breath.” Teban’s fake grin turned into a scowl. He turned his gaze to Kihra and a true smile returned. “And just who is this?”
“I am Kihra.” The once-terrifying female sounded breathy, excited.
“Kihra, a vision of loveliness, to be sure.” Teban took her hand in his larger one and kissed the back of it.
“Ah, hurting down here,” James reminded his friend, only to be ignored.
“Kihra, you aren’t demonic, are you?”
She shook her head and smiled shyly. Shyly? “I am havoc, great prince.”
“Call me Teban.” The frickin’ dragon practically purred the words. The slutty lizard had a reputation as a player, but James would have thought the welfare of his friend should come before getting laid.
“Teban.” Kihra quivered. Literally quivered before the lumbering beast.
Granted, James might do the same were he female. Teban had a way about him that screamed sexual pleasure. Large of frame, beautiful of form and with those deep-green eyes that could go red in a heartbeat, the dragon prince was a lethal combination of erotic fantasy and fierce power that had caused more than one female, human and Ethereal, to fall for him.
Oddly, James had entertained a few carnal thoughts about his friend, though his tastes normally ran toward women. Perversions of the flesh enthralled him, especially when he introduced pain into the mix. Giving or receiving from his female partners didn’t matter. A consensual mingling of pleasure and sin turned him on like nothing else.
Watching his friend and his new tormenter interact had him harder than a pike, in lust with…both of them?
“What infraction has my slave incurred, pretty Kihra? I would see that you’re recompensed for his insult, that I might take him home to recuperate my own losses. The boy owes much to my kind.”
“Oh.” She looked torn.
“Boy? Losses?” James stirred himself to glare at his giant “protector.”
“You lied to me, demon. Therefore you must pay.”
Guilty. James tried not to but felt his face heat. So he’d told a fib or two. The prank had been well worth it. After stealing a precious dragon egg—an egg that had come to no harm—he’d set up the angels to take the blame, and in the process started a small war between the upper realm and the dragons. Priceless. Even his father, the great fallen angel Asael, had found humor in the situation.
Privately, Asael had patted James on the back for a job well done. But to keep the peace, to those James and his twin had offended with the prank, he’d offered justice in the form of their servitude.
Teban, apparently, had taken the reparation seriously.
“Fine. I’ll pay. Later.” James tried to sit up but felt lightheaded and remained firmly on his ass. “Can you take me home?”
“I would, but you’ve offended the havoc.” Teban continued to hold Kihra’s hand, now stroking it with his thumb.
“Yes, and so he must pay the price. A great sacrifice is needed.” Kihra tugged Teban with her to a large, flat, centered stone.
James glanced around, unnerved to find himself on the outer ring of what appeared to be a ceremonial site. The slab Kihra brought Teban to looked like an altar.
“I offer myself in place of the idiot demon,” Teban said.
“Wait. Teban—”
“Shut up.” Smoke curled from Teban’s nose before he turned back to Kihra. “Will my willingness suffice?”
�
��Oh yes, great prince.” Kihra looked positively thrilled as she looked Teban over from top to bottom, focusing on that impressive and growing shaft between his legs. James snorted. Trust Teban to get off on being told he was about to die.
The female pulled a long, slender knife from out of nowhere and whipped it under his throat.
Oh shit. She wasn’t playing. “Teban!”
Teban didn’t move, which shocked him. With a quick swipe of those impressive dragon claws, which could appear in a flash, or with a puff of fire from his mouth, Teban should have been able to put up an impressive fight, even against the dreaded havoc. Yet the dragon prince did nothing? He shot James a glance James couldn’t read.
Panic, the likes of which James had never before felt, consumed him. “I’m sorry, okay?” He made it to his feet and wobbled a few steps in their direction before he fell to his knees, unable to recover his energy, gone with so much blood taken by the young havoc. “No, female. Take me. I’m your sacrifice.”
Kihra glanced from Teban to him, as if considering. “Yes, demon, you will be. But not until I’ve had a taste of a dragon first.”
Then she slashed with her knife.
Chapter Two
Kihra was thrilled to have found not just one, but two impressive specimens on her patrol. Poor Naya had been saddened about her stolen kill, then buoyed at the prospect of still impressing her father.
The demon, handsome, full of energy and unique with that aura of blue surrounding him, would have made an extraordinary sacrifice had he not been so wounded. Even better, the demon desired her—Kihra the Keeper. Known for always being alone, always on the hunt for that which pleased Kingu, she’d never known a mate. Sex had eased her hungers, her needs seen to by those whose duty was to care for the Keeper. They saw to her body, with no thought of love and affection.
James, though, desired her. As a woman. She sensed it in his blood. The dragon did as well. A dragon. No, the dragon—Prince Teban. It was as if destiny had come calling, seeking her out. Her prayers to Kingu had been answered. She just knew it. With the sacrifice of two such superb offerings, she might finally know the joy of purpose she’d been born to. Something more than guarding an empty territory hardly anyone ever entered.
