by Celia Aaron
“I’d rather get back on the bike.” She backed away. “Without a helmet and with a knife between my teeth.”
“Don’t worry, carissima. I’ll protect you.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the door. Satisfaction rushed through me when she didn’t shrug me off.
“We can go back to your house, and you can tell me there. I don’t need to see anything that requires me to go near a pleasure demon. No-thing.” She tried to halt her steps but failed against my strength.
“Trust me.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile.
I needed her to do what was necessary to get past Voltaire. My nerves were almost as frayed as hers. I’d never shared this part of my past with anyone. But for some reason I didn’t understand, I wanted to bare my soul to her, even if it was twisted and ugly. Even if this book project was just a clever ruse toward some other end of hers. I feared her rejection, but I needed her to know me for what I was—the man and the incubus.
She nibbled her lower lip, making me want to taste her. “Why is it so important that we go into the catacombs?”
“Because some things are too powerful for mere words.”
“And it’s going to be worth getting past a pleasure demon?”
“Once again, you have to trust me.”
“I made that mistake once before.” A shadow passed across her face before she turned away from me.
“One day you’ll have to tell me about that.” I lightly grabbed her chin and coaxed her face back to mine.
She had put up her walls again, shutting me out. “I’m here to learn about you, not the other way around.”
We’ll just see about that.
17
Lilah
One hundred years ago
Forgotten Forest of Olympus
“Elena,” I called to my closest sister, motioning for her to hang behind the larger group of warriors.
“What is it?” Elena reluctantly slowed her pace. She always wanted to be the first to spar with the other maidens.
“I need to talk with you about something important,” I whispered.
“What’s more important than sparring with our sisters?” She was genuinely perplexed.
“Well, I, um.” I didn’t quite know how to break it to my sister. “I’m leaving.”
“Hunting on your own?” Elena shrugged. “That’s fine. Just be back in time for the dagger competition. Lynxia’s been bragging how she will best you with steel and bow.”
I itched to teach Lynxia a lesson but had more pressing issues at hand. “No, I mean I’m leaving the Forgotten Forest…with a male. His name’s Farrow.”
“What?” Elena stopped in her tracks and looked at me as if I’d just said I was pregnant with Zeus’s three-headed baby. “You can’t.” Elena searched my face. “It’s forbidden to warrior maidens. You know that. What’s this all about?”
I dreaded telling Elena the next part, especially since I’d kept it from her for weeks. “Umm, about that maiden part…”
Elena’s eyes widened with alarm. “You didn’t. You couldn’t have. No one can touch us unless we allow it. Artemis has commanded it so. What happened?”
“I allowed it.” I blushed. I’d met Farrow in the forest almost a month ago. He’d thrilled me with his gorgeous smile and affable nature. And we were in love.
I’d been meeting him clandestinely for weeks. He’d told me about life beyond the slopes of Olympus. I only had fleeting memories of my time on earth, but Farrow made it seem like the place to be, especially since I’d be there with him. He was everything I wanted—strong and proud and true.
Elena’s face went from dumbfounded to resolved in under five seconds. She grabbed my elbow hard. “You must not speak of this. If Artemis were to find out—”
“She won’t do anything, I’ve already planned what to say to Artemis: ‘This is my soon-to-be-husband, Farrow. We would like your blessing to marry and free leave for me to come and go from the slopes of Olympus. That way I could still be in your service and be with the man I love.’”
“You have lost your mind.” Elena looked like she wanted to slap me or scream, the telltale birthmark on her neck beginning to turn pink. She began nervously twirling an arrow around in her hand. “That won’t work, Lilah. You know how she feels about coupling.” She said the word as if it were “leprosy.” “And the fact that you’ve gone and done it. She’ll smite you.”
“No, it’ll be okay.” I kept my tone calm. Elena just didn’t understand. This was true love. Farrow and I were forever. “I’m going to meet him now and bring him straight to the goddess.”
Elena did a double take, the birthmark on her neck now an angry red. “You can’t lead a male to Artemis’s sanctum. She will kill you both as swiftly as one of your arrows!”
I heard the truth in Elena’s words, but I was determined to get Artemis to accept Farrow as my mate. Surely, Artemis would give me a chance to explain before smiting us with godly wrath? Surely.
“Go on to sparring. I’ll be along with Farrow in a bit.” I tried to keep my words strong, but my confidence was slowly dissolving under Elena’s crushing gaze.
She squeezed my shoulders. “No, you will not. You are coming to sparring with me and forgetting all about this Farrow. And you are never telling anyone you’ve been with a male. You understand?”
I shrugged out of her grip. “I love him, Elena.”
An exasperated cry bubbled up from Elena’s throat. “You can’t love him. You don’t even know him! And warrior maidens don’t fall in love! It’s impossible. We are pledged to Artemis.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Well, I’m pledging myself to Farrow.”
A crack of thunder sounded overhead, startling us both. Elena looked to the sky, as if expecting a lightning bolt to hit me directly, but nothing happened.
“Coincidence?” I asked, looking to the deepening blue above.
“There’s no such thing.” Elena eyed the sky warily. “But if you are going to do this, I’m going with you. I want to meet the male who you are intent on throwing your whole life away for.”
“He’s worth it.”
“Lead the way, thou knower of the man flesh.” Elena kept her tone sarcastic, but I could sense her apprehension. “And tell me about the whole coupling thing as we walk.”
After making our way through the forest and a lesson on relations between males and females that had Elena exclaiming, “And you liked that? Seriously?” we finally arrived at the clearing where Farrow would be waiting.
My heart expanded at the thought of his warm smile and welcome touches. He was so thoughtful; always bringing me flowers he’d picked on his way to meet me. He told me so many things about earth and the Underworld that I couldn’t wait to go there with him. In those few short weeks, Farrow had become my world. I was his sweetheart. Just the thought of him whispering endearments in my ear made me so happy I felt like I would burst. I tried to describe all this to Elena, but it was met with gagging sounds and outright derision. But I would not be deterred. Once Elena met Farrow, she would understand.
Maneuvering through the undergrowth, with Elena right behind, I stepped into the clearing. After a few seconds passed and my eyes adjusted to the blinding sun, I let out a strangled cry at what I saw. Farrow was atop a wood nymph from behind, pumping into her, his muscles straining with the effort. His hands were placed on her hips, leveraging his shaft into her as deeply as he could go. Ignorant of his surroundings, he continued on until finally he moaned, “Oh, sweetheart,” as he came into the thrashing nymph, who was likewise enjoying herself.
Elena wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. My knees had buckled at the sight.
Farrow had collapsed onto the nymph’s back, worn out from his exertion, but he looked up when he sensed the warriors’ presence. He rose and stabbed his legs into his pants, saying, “Lilah, it’s not what you think. Renna here—”
“It’s Erwain,” the out-of-breath nymph inter
jected.
“Right. Erwain just lost her way in the forest, and I was showing her how to get out.”
“Right.” Elena pointed. “Showing her with your man thingy?”
“Who’s your friend?” Farrow’s eyes devoured Elena’s golden locks and slim build. His demeanor had changed to that smooth self-assurance I’d come to expect from him. And that’s when it dawned on me. I’d been played, to use the common parlance. I’d gone up against a master player and had no idea. Not a clue.
All those times he’d told me how much he cared about me. It all meant nothing. I meant nothing to him. I had been so foolish, so very, very gullible. And I’d let him have me, given him my virginity based on his lies. The pain of his betrayal seared through my chest, marking me forever. But his duplicity would not go unpunished.
I focused my powers and drew my bow from thin air. It was a boon from the goddess herself to the best of her archers, a resplendent recurve crafted by Hephaestus and enchanted to appear at my will. A quiver to match materialized at my back. Now, nocking an arrow and aiming it at Farrow’s heart, I was determined to shatter it as he had mine.
Elena reached out a hand to stay my shot. “Lilah, let him go.”
“I can’t.” Tears blurred my vision.
“Sweetheart, I—”
“Silence!” Elena’s voice thundered through the air, shocking Farrow into compliance.
More softly, Elena pleaded with me. “You must let him go. If you kill him, the goddess will know what you’ve done. He must leave here.”
The tears rolled down my cheeks as my bow began to tremble. I lowered it hesitantly, knowing Elena spoke true.
“He’ll never stray into these woods again.” Elena turned to look at him. “If you do, I’ll gut you like the mongrel you are.”
For emphasis, the air around Elena began to shimmer, revealing her power. She was a witch from ancient times—long before I was recruited into Artemis’s service. Her power was legendary throughout Olympus and the Underworld. As far as I knew, no one tangled with Elena and lived. In the wars for supremacy among the gods, she was Artemis’s first warrior and tactician, given a place of honor among all her sisters. Demigods had fallen before her, never to return to the pinnacle of Olympus and damned to spend eternity in Hades. One look at the vengeance in Elena’s gaze had Farrow morphing into the wolf and crashing into the underbrush away from them, tail between his legs.
I wiped the tears from my cheeks. I refused to cry. I was a warrior. One of Artemis’s chosen. I would not shed tears for the wolf, even though I felt as if my body would melt into the ground with hurt. I quivered my arrow and let the bow return to the shimmering ether. My shame burned me like a brand, and I feared Elena would never look upon me the same way.
“Sister mine.” Elena wrapped me in a warm embrace.
She held me as I mourned the love I’d lost. One I’d never really had to begin with, as I now knew. In that moment, I steeled myself against ever falling for the love of a male again. They were two-faced cowards who could never know the depth of feeling I had for my sisters or Artemis. The goddess was right when she told me that males were beneath the notice of the warrior maidens. They were, and I would crush any male who sought to woo me. I could never be won. Never be sullied by the unclean hands of a male again.
After giving Elena a squeeze, I parted from her. “Shall we return to the sparring match?” It went unsaid that we would never speak of this day in the clearing again. Elena would never betray my confidence.
I would remain here in service to Artemis for the rest of my life, enjoying days and nights of hunting and warring with my sisters.
But the goddess had other plans.
18
Lilah
The darkness descended upon me the moment I stepped into the Étienne Noir. The entire front room, what had been the lobby of a once-opulent hotel, was painted a shade of blood- red. The floor was a shiny black. Metal cages hung from the ceiling and nude nymphs danced inside. The place was full of creatures, many staring raptly at something that was going on at the back of the room. Most were dressed in leather, and not much of it. Several of the females were wearing nothing but thongs as they made their way through the crowd.
“I think we’re overdressed, but that’s a good thing,” I yelled to Roth over the din of the thumping bass.
A pretty redhead made her way through the crush right in front of me. Her guileless face seemed out of place in a pleasure demon’s lair. Before I could blink, a pair of hands shot out and grabbed the witch. In an instant, a large male with crimson horns was on top of her, tearing off her flimsy thong and going for the gold. But there was more to the female than met the eye as she quickly flipped the demon to his back and straddled him. I had been tensed to pounce on the sex offender and snap his horns off, but the witch glanced up with a rapturous look on her face. She likes it.
“Is that the pleasure demon?” I pointed.
Roth spared a glance at the debauch with the redhead. “No. You’ll know him when you see him.”
Though there was some hardcore in and out taking place on the floor, most of the Underworlders were still focused on whatever was happening at the back of the lobby. There was a stage, but I couldn’t make out what was going on over the shoulders of all the bodies in the room. Roth stood over six and a half feet and probably had an excellent view.
“What’s everybody looking at?”
“I don’t think you want to know.” His grip tightened on my shoulders as a vampire walked by, scanning my body with hungry eyes. Roth let out a low growl that sent the vampire back into the crowd.
“Follow me. And whatever you do, don’t get separated. Here.” He took my hand in his firm grip. I hated to admit it was comforting, especially when surrounded by the goth Underworlders with a penchant for kinky sex. Though, of course, I could take care of myself.
We picked our way through the crowd. Roth was making a deliberate effort to keep me away from the stage, which only made my curiosity burn brighter. As we neared a door toward the right side of the room, I caught a break in the crowd and got a peek at what was going on. I almost gagged. A fallen angel was being racked while a nymph whipped him with a cat-o’-nine-tails. His wings were bound tightly against his back, giving him no chance of escaping the tortures, not that he wanted to. The look on the angel’s face was of exquisite pleasure and pain, though the ball gag in his mouth made it a little hard to see. He was much the worse for wear, with small cuts circling his bare chest as a vampire fed from his neck. A female demon rode him hard. The crowd was rapt, except for the ones pleasuring themselves or each other. The lust in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
I drew in a breath at the sight. “That’s not something you see every day.”
Roth pulled me roughly the rest of the way through the crowd.
“Hey!” I tried to loosen his tight grip without success. His back had gone tight, his shoulders wide and strained against the black leather of his jacket. It didn’t take an aura diviner to know he was on edge.
As Roth pulled me through the door and into an even darker but less crowded room, I yanked on his arm. “What’s the matter with you?”
When he threw a quick glance over his shoulder, I realized his eyes had changed, the embers burning bright in their depths. “Nothing. Keep up.” His voice was husky, a few octaves lower than usual. The incubus side of him must be eating this place up—the naked, sexed-up Underworlders likely had him in a frenzy. Did that mean I was in some sort of danger?
“Trust me,” he’d said. I was giving it my best.
Roth continued leading me past the couples and threesomes and even a foursome who were doing things I had only read about in Cosmopolitan, until he reached another door. This one was solid metal and guarded by the biggest rage demon I had come across. He had to be over seven feet, with shoulders wider than the door frame he stood beside. The large steel ring hanging from his nose made him look like the most pissed-off bull I’d
ever seen.
“Rannok.” Roth inclined his head slightly. “Is he in?”
“Depends.”
Roth released my hand and dug into his jacket pocket, eventually pulling out a thick fold of euros and slipping it into Rannok’s palm. As soon as the money changed hands, Roth’s hand gripped mine again, possessively.
“Right this way.” Rannok gave me a sinister smile, his fangs gleaming white in the faint light. The metal door swung open. Roth led me inside and through an empty hallway that led to a pair of French doors.
Roth gave a perfunctory knock and waited a few beats before a low rumble rang out. “Enter.”
Roth’s push on the door revealed the second scene of unforgiving debauchery—three vampires feeding on one witch who was tied up every which way but loose. Her head lolled back, and a moan escaped her lips as one vampire switched breasts. A stream of blood trickled from the previous fang marks as he set upon the unmarred mound. A nymph lay on a divan next to the scene, likely having been the previous entertainment. If she had been mortal, she would have bled out already from the bites and cuts.
I wanted to lunge for the cretins and knock them away from their current victim, but just like before, I could tell the witch was more than willing, she was enjoying the torture.
“This place is seriously fucked.” I shook my head.
“Welcome back, Roth, and I see you’ve brought me a gift.” The rumbling voice emanated from an ivory-haired demon with multiple horns protruding from his head, like one of the stags I used to hunt. His skin was a deep orange, like a sunset, but that wasn’t the most stunning thing about him. He was pierced in what had to be hundreds of places. His face was a mass of metal, as was his chest. Even his abs had what seemed like barbs protruding from them every few inches. Like everyone else in this part of the club, he was naked, and even his enormous shaft seemed weighted down with the metal loops that hung from it. I could feel my eyes about to pop out of my head at the sight of him, at least until my amazement turned to fury when the demon dared lay a finger on me. He brought a hand up to my neck, but before he could touch me, I’d backhanded him across his metal-infused face.
