“How about we set a long engagement, a year or two? That would give you time to get to know me, and would keep the pressure off you.”
Kinsey sighed. My uncle wouldn’t go for that. Once he makes up his mind, few can sway him.”
The Old man said, “How about a human ceremony that can be severed by divorce. That would be less binding than dragon ways, leaving you an out down the road.”
There was a long silence out on the balcony. I noticed all the guards and Drake had an ear turned that way, avidly curious to know what would happen. Some of the demon waitresses were edging across the room to listen in too. By morning, this story was going to be everywhere.
“I’m hungry,” Julia said.
“Hungry,” Tera echoed.
Fortunately for them, the food arrived. A massive swarm of toga wearing demons brought plate after plate, asking if there was need of anything else, rushing off to refill glasses. By the time they all cleared the area, Lauphram and Kinsey were back. She had a guarded expression. The Old Man was smiling.
Drake looked up. “Well?”
She said, “We’re going to try a six month engagement, possibly followed by a discrete civil ceremony, if terms can be reached in a prenuptial agreement. I am not putting dragon wealth into demon hands.”
Julia stared at Kinsey. “You’re going to be my new grandmother?”
Kinsey looked back. “Definitely maybe, if that’s alright with you.”
Julia nodded. “Then I’d better leave you a note on when my birthday is, along with a list of things I don’t have yet.”
“That’s a very long list.” I unrolled my napkin, and picked up a coconut shrimp skewer, savoring the smell.
Tera balanced a wedge of pizza on fingertips, blowing under the crust to bleed off some of its heat before biting in. “I want a new grandmother, too!”
I was gratified by this ambush on Kinsey because of what it implied: Kur was getting nervous sitting on the golden dragon throne. Because of his treatment of my mother, I had every right by dragon law to challenge him for justice, and the golden crown as well. In my mind, that crown was already mine; as well as the black, and silver crowns.
Reading my father’s crystals had been highly instructive. They revealed he was in exile, but still retained a claim to the crown of the Village, the blood crown. In his absence, I had the right to claim that crown as well. That made me royalty four times over. Kur had to see that I wasn’t sitting on my ass, waiting for crowns to be handed me; I was going out after them, one by one, while defending what I had. With my powerbase growing, and the Red Lady at my side, he was being forced to do something just short of acknowledging me as an heir.
I bit into a shrimp and noticed red flickers dropping from the ceiling, flurrying to the floor behind Tera’s chair. There seemed to be multiple streams. The motes thickened, adhering, taking on three human form: one adult, two child-sized. The adult I knew, the Red Lady, my beloved Selene. The kids were strangers: a ten-year old girl in a homespun dress, with black hair and emerald eyes, and a twelve-year old boy with white hair, wearing leather britches and vest. His eyes were smoky jade, wary, sliding from face to face as if in search of a threat.
A house alarm went off, triggered from the War Room. I knew Selene’s goddess level aura would be wreaking havoc with the house wards. A half dozen of the mirror panels in the ceiling swung open. Wearing body armor and an array of weapons, an elite team of demon warriors repelled into the room to provide the Old Man with security.
The dragon guards drew weapons, coming in to surround Kinsey and Drake.
“Stand down everyone,” I yelled. “If she wanted you dead, you’d be dead already.”
Julia and Tera looked around, trying to see why everyone was suddenly all worked up. Lauphram stood and turned to see his uninvited guests. He made a mystic gesture and the house alarm fell mercifully silent.
The Red Lady lived up to her name, dressed head to foot in red silk. Her pale face and red lips were a sharp contrast. Her high-piled hair and eyes were red as well. She’d started life as a red dragon. What she’d transformed into over the centuries was a whole lot more. Even the legendary Wild Hunt of the fey feared her. As her mate, I knew she loved me, but I remained cautious of her power and whims, few of which were reasonable.
She ignored Lauphram, coming up behind Tera, peering at her from around the back of the chair. “I’ll be your grandmother, if you like. When’s your birthday?”
Tara stared, stricken mute by whatever her fey senses told her.
Left behind, the two nameless children moved together. The boy held his sister in his arms, trying to be protective in what was likely an alien environment. I guessed that these were Elena’s children. The succubus was working for me as a spy under condition that I’d protect and care for her children until her mission was over.
Drake called to me, “Caine, what’s going on, who is this?”
I swallowed a crunchy morsel, putting my skewer down. “Everyone, allow me to introduce Selene, the Red Lady, my soul mate.” And the best fuck I’ve ever had.
Hearing that thought, her red-crystal eyes found me. A feeling of being wanted, needed, desired above all else, hit me like a brick to the head. “Greetings, beloved. Have you missed me?”
Women expect to be lied to. It’s why they ask these kinds of questions. “Terribly. Desperately. I’ve had no appetite at all.” I picked up my skewer and resumed eating.
She swept around the end of the table, opposite from Drake and Kinsey. Several of our security demons backed away from the Red Lady, still trying to figure out what they should be doing since neither me nor the Old Man were freaking out. Selene came up beside me, bent, and seized my face. I could smell that she’d recently bathed in rose-petal scented water. Her eyes glowed softly. She pressed her lips to mine chastely, then with growing hunger.
“Buddha on a crutch, get a room,” Kinsey said.
Selene straightened, keeping her hands on my body. She turned her attention to Kinsey.
“How is one so young already tired of life?”
I put in a quick word, not wanting to see Kinsey’s suffering end too soon. “You can’t kill her. She’s my father’s fiancée and will soon become your mother-in-law. Besides, where’s the challenge? She’s hopeless out-matched by you.” I gave Kinsey a hard glare. “You should know who you’re fucking with before you run your mouth. Don’t follow my example.”
She looked like she wanted to be offended, but couldn’t get past the obvious truth.
The Old Man dropped back in his seat, setting a nonchalant atmosphere for the rest of the room. “Selene, I am Caine’s father, in all but blood. I welcome you to this engagement party and to our family. Pull up a chair. Have some wine.” His gaze scanned the assorted guards. “The rest of you, stand down, grab a table, and order some food. That’s an order.”
Hearing that, the two children Selene had brought, rushed to the empty end of the table and seated themselves, hunching a little, taking care not to challenge anyone by making eye-contact.
Tera stared at them curiously. “Hello,” she said.
“Greetings, noble one.” The boy dipped his head in respect, taking no chances with an unfamiliar crowd. His sister copied the gesture.
Tera giggled, and began talking up a storm as if these were long lost friends.
Drake, too, gave a stand-down order to his guards. They grabbed a couple of tables, but stayed close to Drake and Kinsey.
Selene smiled brightly at Lauphram. “Thank you for your gracious welcome. Any father of my beloved’s is a father to me.”
“Then don’t give him any trouble,” I muttered. “That’s my job.”
She sat down in the chair at my right and stole one of my skewers. “I’m surprised at you. When have I ever caused trouble?”
TWENTY-THREE
“You can’t hang onto love with clenched
fists. Chains work much better.”
—Caine Deathwalker
&nb
sp; I finished my steak and lobster tail—except for those parts that wandered off to Selene’s plate—and poured myself a final glass of wine. I was eating and drinking with my left hand because Selene had moved her chair up against mine and my right arm was imprisoned by her left.
I looked at her. “Why don’t you just climb into my lap and get it over with.”
Her smile brightened. “Oh, can I?”
“No.”
By this time, Kinsey had agreed to move into a suite here at the Clan House—provided it had numerous locks and she could install a few magic wards as well. She let Drake know she was only going along with this for now to save the family.
Desert came. I kept my promise, giving Tera two servings of ice cream, and Julia none. Tera dug in, fully enraptured. Julia pouted, throwing me baleful glances.
The Old Man noticed. “Julia? You don’t like ice cream?”
“I like it fine,” but Caine is being a butt-head. He won’t let me have any.”
“Standards must be upheld, lessons must be taught.” I set aside my empty glass.
Lauphram asked, “Did he say you couldn’t have some of the tiramisu? It’s excellent.”
I stared at the Old Man, “You’re not helping.”
“Grandfathers are supposed to be indulgent.”
I grimaced as my right arm was gripped much tighter. As I lost feeling in my right hand, I shot Selene a what-the-hell look. She wasn’t looking at me, but at Julia. “She’s your daughter? I didn’t know you had a daughter.”
“Her mother died the Night of the Red Moon, killed by my enemies,” I said. “I’ve been looking after her ever since because she’s like me, born with a foot in two worlds.”
“You adopted her? So no other woman has yet borne you a child?” Selene asked.
“Not that I know of,” I said.
Her death-grip on my arm relented. She said, “Good. I want that honor.”
I wiggled my fingers, waiting for feeling to return. “Well, one of these days—”
“Now,” she said.
“Now?”
“Now.”
“Getting pregnant takes months you know?” I said. “And there’s that whole awkward gestation period. Maybe we could just buy you a kitten.”
The room paused. No one breathed. Everyone had become statues, frozen in position as deep silence reigned. The air felt heavier. “Selene, what have you done?”
“I have pulled us between seconds, into a new temporal dimension.” She stood, dragging me to my feet with superhuman strength.
“Yeah, but what’s the idea?”
“Come, it is time you rewarded me for my recent efforts on your behalf.”
“Speaking of which, how is our spy in Fairy doing? I see you got her kids out of harm’s way.”
“Business later, I come first.” She dragged me from the room, into the outer hall, taking what seemed to be an arbitrary direction. We reached what should have been a dead end corridor. A crimson elevator was down there now. The doors opened as we arrived, revealing a red metal interior and a red-velvet couch. Inside, the control panel had more buttons than a craft store. She pressed the top button.
“We don’t have that many floors,” I said.
“You do now. I never let reality get in my way.”
Slowly, teasingly, she turned her back to me and began to strip her robes away. A bare shoulder showed, then both. Her robe slipped lower, revealing a back the color of milk. I wanted to lap up her creaminess. Her robe dropped to encircle her feet, from there, melting like red snow, the run-off evaporating at once.
“Is it so terrible a fate, to make love to me?” She looked over her shoulder, her eyes shimmered, ablaze with need. “You want me too, right?”
My gaze swept her naked flesh, inviting curves, and the sweet tremble of her lips as she ached for my kiss. I answered her question, “Right.”
“Then why are you waiting? Isn’t it your way to take what you want by whatever force is necessary?” Magical, unseen hands caressed me, parting my clothes like water so they fell off me. One of those hands skimmed lower, gripping my iron hard erection.
Selene said, “Mmmm, that certainly seems happy to see me. What’s wrong? Too much whoring around lately. Tired? Perhaps you’d like me to take the lead.” Her suddenly evil tone of voice scared me. She said, “Perhaps, you would rather I did the taking.”
Alarm shot along my nerves as my well-honed survival senses shouted dire warning in the back of my head. “Hey, wait a second. I think I need a safe word before we go any further.”
“Beloved, here are your safe words: ‘Let me fuck you.’ Say them quickly, or else.”
Women never fight fair.
“Fine,” I said. “You asked for it.” I shoved her into the steel wall, and slid my hands around her body. I clawed at her tits, my erection pressing into the crack of her ass as I bit her left shoulder, trailing kisses across her back. “You want to be fucked? You want your pussy pounded while you scream like a good little bitch?”
Her head went back. “Mmmmm, yes, yes! Hard and fast, then soft and slow, then fast again. Bruise my thighs with your passion, Beloved. I burn for only you.”
The elevator continued its smooth, eternal rise. I rolled her against the steel wall and dipped my head. My lips and teeth played with her nipples, licking and nibbling from to the other.
She pulled my face up for a kiss, slipping her tongue into my mouth, caressing mine. We shared a heated breath. She broke the kiss. Her lips settled against my neck. The warm pressure became a sharp bite. She gnawed one spot then roved on, rising to nibble an earlobe, pressing the ripe globes of her breasts against me. Her hands slid behind me, gripping my ass. She liked to be in control despite all her talk of me taking her, it was in her blood.
I spun her in my arms, taking back momentum and initiative, and swept her to the red-velvet couch, laying her out on that bloody altar. She stared up at me, reaching, smiling as I descended upon her, my cock poised to stab into her silky depths.
Then gravity intensified, shifting vector by ninety degrees so I was slammed into the back of the velvet couch. Like living things, chains slithered out of the cushions, wrapping around my limbs, returning to the backrest. Hanging sideways, I could barely move. The entire couch slid toward the elevator doors while the back of the couch fell level with the floor. I was left looking up at the red steel ceiling, laying on a bed. All that was missing were red silk sheets, fluffy pillows, and my freedom.
I made my voice firm and commanding. “Selene, fun is fun, but what the fuck? Take off the chains.”
She rolled on her side to look at me, placing a finger over my heart, drawing little circles there. “It will be all right, beloved. I will love you with such furious abandon that you will never miss your freedom. Songbirds come to love their cages in time. So will you. And if—in a few centuries—you remain adamant, I can always return you to the moment on Earth I took you from. Soon, we will reach my moon, and you will know such delight as only a soul—as twisted as your own—can deliver.”
I looked past her, up at the LED panel over the doors that was supposed to number floors. Instead of a number, there were words: WAY TOO GODDAMNED HIGH!
What the hell.
“Seriously? You’re kidnapping me?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way, exactly. It’s more like you’re going into the shop for servicing.” She spun, sliding across me and my chains. The heat of her mouth enveloped my cock. Her lips went to the base of my shaft and clung there. I swore, her tongue had to have morphed because it was doing things around my shaft that were anatomically impossible. She came up and the tongue spiraled off my cock. “Is this really so terrible?” She followed the question up with a gentle squeeze of my balls. And then the mouth descended again.
I had to admit, this was the most diabolical trap that had ever closed upon me. I couldn’t complain that she was ruining all my plans since I was effectively outside linear time with her and she could put me back
at the moment we’d left, with none the wiser. My concern was my own narcissistic nature. It might buckle after eons of sexual pleasure only the Red Lady could deliver. My very nature could be altered. I might wind up—eventually—not wanting to return. I think she hoped for an outcome where I was all hers, and she never had to share. Born a dragon, she was still dragon enough for that attitude.
I looked at the indicator display again. The text like writing had changed again: WAVE GOODBYE TO YOUR PLANET.
“Selene! You should have asked.”
Her mouth came off my cock.
I could hear my cock’s voice. No, come back! Suck me some more.
She turned above me, swinging around to face me, her tits bobbing in a hypnotic manner. Straddling my hips, she lowered herself upon me, becoming a warm, wet sheath for my weapon of love. “But, dearest, I did ask you to fuck me. Don’t you remember?” She ground herself against me, stimulating her clit with the friction, and I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this without donating a considerable amount of sperm. She leaned forward, dangling her large tits in my face.
“Bit me. Hurt me. Punish me all you like, but I hate it when so many women can have you and I don’t even get a number at the end of the line.” She pulled back a little so I could see the tears brimming her eyes. “I have needs, desires. Every bitch needs a bone now and then.” The rocking of her body intensified. Her head fell back. Her breathing came in gasps as she begged. “Oh, please, please…” Then came an inarticulate growl as she approached climax, the first of what probably be a hundred or so.
My body responded to her velvet heat, her naked flesh, and her wanton fire. How could I not? We’d bonded as dragons. My nut sack tightened. I exploded inside her. It pushed her over the edge; her channel tightened on my cock like a squeezing fist. Her whole body went rigid as she screamed.
I had felt off in some indefinable way ever since she first showed up. In a moment of clarity—and orgasmic release—I realized what was wrong. My inner dragon was silent, not sharing any of this with me. His sleep was deeper than I’d ever felt, like he was being … suppressed. I felt human, just human, or as close as my non-dragon side got to it.
Demon Lord 5: Silver Crown King Page 18
