Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Lindsey R. Loucks

  He mentally shook himself. This wasn’t the time to be waxing poetic.

  The anticipation, as she drew near, drove Rydin nuts. He hadn’t planned to make a scene in the club, but with her walking right toward him, it might just happen. He couldn’t wait to see the shocked expression on her face when she realized who she’d run into.

  Would she cry and beg for his mercy? Would she try to run, or would she actually try to fight him? Ha. He’d like to see her try. He was a Ferox demon—just short of seven feet tall and built for fighting and killing.

  There was still the obstacle of completing his assignment, and he still hadn’t caught sight of his mark. He couldn’t miss this kill, but he couldn’t let her slip through his fingers after waiting so long. The need for revenge burned like acid in his guts. He’d have to teleport her to his home in the demon realm, secure her, then come back and make his kill.

  He had no doubt of his ability to overpower her, but because he had to come back here, he couldn’t afford to draw much attention to himself. Although, with his size, he drew attention anywhere he went in the human realm. Puny humans.

  Holy shit. She was so close now he could smell her pineapple fragrance.

  Valia needed semen and she needed it soon. Sempire demons required it, derived nourishment from it, and would wither and die without it. Her sister, Araya, had been keeping her busy with planning Araya’s upcoming wedding to her human-Incubus fiancé, and Valia hadn’t fed in three days.

  Valia burst out laughing as she made her way through the crowd looking for a suitable male to feast on. It never failed to crack her up that her sister, a Sempire, was getting married. Sempires just didn’t do that. Sempires reveled in taking nourishment and pleasure from varied partners. Monogamy and relationships simply didn’t fit into their plans. In all of Valia’s years, she’d never heard of a Sempire getting married.

  What cracked her up even more was her sister’s fiancé being a goddamn Incubus. Sempires avoided and, if the opportunity presented, would kill an Incubus because of their semen being highly addictive to Sempires. Too dangerous. Once addicted, there was no cure, and just thinking about it made her uneasy.

  Oh well, her sister had been a sappy, romantically inclined, half human. She’d literally been dying because she refused to feed from a male and complete her transition to full Sempire. Their mother had been desperate to save her and had abducted and locked Kean, the human-Incubus hybrid, in Araya’s room hoping his alluring Incubus scent would be too much temptation to resist. It had worked, and not only had Araya fed from Kean, she’d fallen in love with him. Luckily for him, he loved her back and all was well.

  Valia was glad for her sister’s happiness, but that kind of life wasn’t for her. She had no sappy, romantic illusions of her own. She accepted her Sempire nature and fed it well and often. With so many delicious males to choose from, why saddle herself with one, or one thousand when there were millions available?

  She stopped short as the tingling in her chest grew to a rambunctious prickle. What was that sensation? It had started as soon as she’d stepped into the club tonight. It must be her craving for a feed. At her age, she only needed to feed once every four or five days before she’d begin weakening, but she never waited that long, so her body wasn’t adjusted. That must be it.

  She scanned the crowd and caught the gaze of a tall, well-muscled human. His face was a little prettier than she’d like, but he’d do for tonight. She preferred her males big, strong, burly, and a little rough.

  She was about to give him the come-and-get-it look, but that damn prickling sensation turned into a pulling sensation. Pulling her away from pretty boy. Was her Sempire DNA rejecting him, repelling her from him? It usually only repelled her from demons who weren’t compatible with Sempires, not humans.

  Whatevs. She was getting grumpy and didn’t feel like wasting time figuring it out. Once she fed, she’d feel better. She’d be back to normal.

  She moved through the crowd, but every male she considered notched up the prickling, and she felt as if being pulled or pushed away from them. Dammit. She never had this problem. Normally she saw a male that pleased her, seduced him, fed and moved on. Simple. So, what was her problem tonight?

  The closer to the back of the club and farther away from the crowd she got, the better, more at ease, she felt. So, instead of fighting the sensations, she gave in, let go and let them pull her in whatever direction they wanted. And she was so glad she did when they led her to the marvelous beast in front of her.

  She could sense his species. A Ferox demon. She’d never had one but had always wanted one, she assumed because of their lore—huge, feral, yummy. This one did not disappoint.

  He stood a good foot taller than her five foot eight inches, his muscles bulging in all the right places. He had cruel but sensual lips, short, dark brown hair, and deep-amber eyes. He wore a black baseball cap, she assumed to hide the horns she knew Ferox had, and she had visions of tonguing them before she rode him. And those arms… Holy hell, they were roped with muscles and bigger around than her waist.

  He felt right to her in a way she didn’t remember ever feeling before. The contentment inside her had grown with each step she’d taken in his direction, a warm excitement bubbling within her.

  His aura blazed with lust and anger. Scary but hot. Valia’s father had been a Sensus demon. Sensus demons could read and manipulate auras, and Valia had a little of the reading ability but not much. She wondered why his aura was so clear to her, but didn’t waste time trying to figure it out. He had what she needed and just knew he’d deliver it in a way that didn’t disappoint.

  His gaze, raking her from head to toe, made her skin hum and she grew instantly wet. Yeah, he was definitely the one she wanted. Hell, she was tempted to bend over the table for him right now. She could barely wait to feel his hands on her, his cock inside her, to inhale his masculine scent as they fucked each other into climactic ecstasy.

  He jumped when she spoke.

  “Wow. You’re a big one, aren’t ya? I think you’re the one I’ve been looking for tonight. Wanna get out of here?”

  Chapter Two

  She didn’t recognize him. How the fuck did she not recognize him? Her guards had locked him up and put a collar around his neck—a collar that kept him from harming her. And she had worked some kind of Sempire magic on him so that he, even though his brain had rebelled, had not been able to refuse her every sexual demand. Sempires weren’t rumored to wield any kind of magic, so he had no idea how she’d done it, but she had.

  Rage blinded Rydin. He’d waited all this time for revenge, and he hadn’t forgotten a single detail about her. He even saw her face when he slept, but she stared right into his eyes and showed not a single bit of recognition.

  Fury overrode logical thought. He threw her over his shoulder and stormed out the emergency exit. She didn’t kick and scream as he’d expected, so the heads that did turn their way, weren’t overly alarmed.

  Once outside the club and away from the noise, he heard her laughing. Laughing.

  “What’s so damn funny, female?” Rydin asked. He carried her to an unlit spot behind the club and set her on her feet.

  She flipped her blazing red hair from her temptress face. “Wow. A simple ‘yes’ woulda been sufficient, but the whole caveman thing is totally workin’ for you.” She looked around, treated him to a stunning smile and closed the few inches between them, pressing her body to his. “Public displays your thing?”

  He could not believe she was flirting with him, tempting him. The sting of her lack of recognition fueled his anger and need for revenge.

  “No,” he gritted out. He grabbed a fistful of hair at the back of her head and teleported her to his home in the demon realm.

  “Whoa,” she said. “Aggressive. I like it, but don’t jack up my hair.” She reached up and locked her fingers behind his head, encouraging him to kiss her. To fucking kiss her. He remembered how that mouth had felt. How it had aroused him
and brought him pleasure even though against his will.

  He released her hair and grasped her around the waist, lifting her to him. She didn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around his waist and cling to him. Her lips met his. He wanted to push her away, to reject her but he couldn’t resist. He hated her, but he remembered the feel of her, the taste of her, and he needed to taste her again. Now.

  He ravaged her mouth, holding nothing back. He put the past thirty years of wanting revenge into that kiss. She should be afraid, pushing away from him, but instead she met his intensity, tongue thrusting, tasting, biting his lip, fisting his hair.

  He had to stop before she bewitched him again and fucked up his kill tonight. He’d have plenty of time to ravish her later, and he would enjoy every second of it.

  He placed her on the bed, not breaking the kiss until he quietly removed the handcuffs from his nightstand—occupational equipment. He didn’t always kill. Sometimes he abducted.

  In one fast move, he raised one of her wrists above her head and cuffed it to the bed post. Now she’d understand this wasn’t a game. He was in control this time.

  “Ooh, handcuffs. Nice. Are we role-playing? I’d prefer fluffy, but the hard steel seems to fit your personality,” she teased.

  He growled at her utter lack of concern. “This isn’t a game, female.”

  “Whatever you say, male.” She scooted to a sitting position on the bed and drew a booted foot to her chest causing her tiny skirt to hike higher, giving him a clear view of her green, barely-there sparkling panties.

  His erection strained painfully against the zipper of his jeans.

  She struggled to remove the boot with her only free hand. “A little help?” she asked.

  Yeah, he would help her. He had been stripped of his clothing and left naked in that cell for three days. So, yes, he would help her remove her clothing so she could lie there naked as he had. Like for like.

  He bent over the bed, averting his eyes from her sparkly panties. He’d never get out of there if he didn’t rein in his lust. It pissed him off that she aroused him, tempted him so much. Yeah, he was going to fuck her senseless, but this was about revenge and only revenge.

  He removed one boot and dropped it to the floor, then repeated the process with the other boot. He was about to remove her skirt but the images that flashed through his mind froze him. He didn’t trust his control in that moment.

  He took a step back and said, “You can manage the rest. If not, I’ll take care of it when I return.”

  Her red brows drew together. “Huh? Return?”

  Finally, something got her attention. He sneered and immediately ported back to the club without answering, leaving her there to worry. Oh and how he hoped she worried herself sick.

  Valia sat in shock. He’d left her. Left her hungry, horny, and handcuffed to his bed. Alone. The handcuffed part was hot, but the alone part was disconcerting.

  She’d always fantasized about having a Ferox demon, but they were few and far between in the human realm, and she damn sure didn’t make trips to the demon realm. She and her family resided in the veil between the human and demon realms and lived a lifestyle of opulence.

  No, the demon realm wasn’t any place she wanted to visit, even if it had meant finding a Ferox sooner. She didn’t know why, but it was almost an obsession and even sitting there alone and confused, she wanted him. She knew she could simply break the cuffs and teleport, or flash as she liked to call it, out of there and find someone else to feed her hunger tonight, but she wanted him.

  From the moment she’d walked in the club, she’d felt him, had been drawn to him. She hadn’t realized that was what had been leading her, but once she found him, everything had felt right. Every fiber of her being had screamed ‘this is the one’. It made no sense, but some force had pulled her to him, and when he’d touched her, her body had hummed its approval. Valia enjoyed the males she fed from, many of them had been excellent lovers, but she’d never experienced that sort of rightness from a single touch.

  She looked around the small bedroom noticing, for the first time, her crude surroundings. The concrete walls were bare except for a couple of stray, creepy looking black vines winding through cracks. There was a beat-up dresser next to an open door with a sink inside that she assumed was a bathroom, and there were no windows. A raggedy chair sat to the left side of the bed, and the only light in the room came from a lamp with a crooked, shabby, light blue lampshade sitting atop an equally crappy looking nightstand next to the bed.

  Ah, a drawer. Maybe she could find out something about her absent Ferox demon. He was obviously poor. Dismally so, but that didn’t matter to her. All that mattered was his touch and his semen, but she’d get neither of those without his presence.

  With her wrist cuffed to the bed, she couldn’t quite reach the handle. Well, she’d just have to break his handcuffs. Although, looking around his room again, she figured he might not be able to afford a new pair. No problem, she’d flash home and grab a pair of fluffy cuffs. She had several and money was no issue for her. She rubbed the scratchy brown sheets beneath her and decided she’d also treat him to a set of her fifteen-hundred-thread-count sheets, or maybe silk.

  She forcefully jerked her arm in a downward motion and cried out in pain when the cuffs didn’t break. What the hell? Sempires were strong, and the cuffs should have broken. Was she weakening from lack of feeding the last few days?

  She tried again, putting more force into it. “Shit!” She rubbed her wrist with her free hand. Great, she was bleeding and she might have broken her wrist. These were not regular handcuffs. Fine. She’d simply flash out.

  “What the fuck?” she asked the empty room when nothing happened. They had to be forged with materials from the demon realm or were bespelled, negating her abilities. Holy crap, she couldn’t break free, and she couldn’t flash. She was truly trapped there.

  How long would he leave her there alone? What if something happened to him and he couldn’t make it back to her? Did he ever have visitors? Would she wither and die before someone found her? “No dammit,” she said to herself.

  Valia refused to panic. It wasn’t her style. She was much too awesome for panic. The Ferox would return soon, feed her, fuck her, and fulfill her fantasy, and then she might punch him in the dick for almost making her lose her cool. Until then, she had no choice but to wait. Wait in his dingy room on his uncomfortable sheets. She would not be stuck there for long, she assured herself. She sighed and tried to relax.

  A foul mood consumed Rydin as soon as he’d ported away from the Sempire. He told himself it was because his revenge had to wait, but if he were honest with himself, he’d admit he’d felt a sort of internal loss at the distance between them.

  Fuck. Where was this demon? He knew it was supposed to show up, but the when of it wasn’t known, and he was ready to get back to his prisoner. He’d left her handcuffed to the bed. What if? No. He refused to worry about her. It would serve her right to be scared for a while, to wonder what her fate held.

  There he was. Rydin wasted no time and walked quickly to where the demon stood twirling a drink in his hand. Not caring at that moment who might see, he grabbed him around the neck and ported him from the club to the veil between the human and demon realms. He didn’t speak, and he didn’t give the demon a chance to speak. He plunged a dagger into the demon’s heart, snapped his neck, then ported him to the steps outside Debol’s domain in the demon realm. That was exactly what Debol had asked him to do. He didn’t know why. He didn’t ask why. He didn’t care. With his task completed, he could get back to his revenge.

  With a thought, he appeared in his bedroom, and his cock instantly hardened in her presence.

  “Why aren’t you undressed, female?” he asked.

  She pouted, her pink, sultry lips begging him to kiss the pout away. Damn her for being so beautiful, so sexy and tempting him, almost making him forget what this was about.

  “You left me here alone.” She reache
d between her legs resting her fingers there. “I almost started without you,” she teased.

  She obviously still thought this was a game. He needed her to know. He needed to make her understand. It wasn’t revenge if she was having fun and in control. No. He was in control and was about to make her see the light.

  He walked to the bedside and glowered at her. “You will learn to obey me during your stay here. Now, remove your clothing.”

  “It’d be more fun if you removed it for me.”

  He bent over her, trying his best to be menacing, which usually came naturally to Ferox. Humans and demons alike cowered in the face of Ferox demons.

  “Obey me, Sempire.”

  She winked at him and pushed her miniskirt down her thighs with her free hand. He stood and crossed his arms across his chest in satisfaction. That was more like it. She bent her knees and tossed the skirt to the floor at his feet. She worked the halter top over her head, but it hung on the handcuffed arm. He sucked in a breath at the sight of her braless breasts. The pink nipples tipped slightly upward, beckoning him to lick them. His eyes traveled the length of her body. A growl erupted from deep within when he spotted the blood on her wrist.

  “What happened to your wrist?” he asked as he leaned over to inspect the wound.

  “Well, I tried to break your cuffs when you left me alone. Regular cuffs wouldn’t have left a mark. You coulda told me these were special.”

  “Damn it, female. Why didn’t you just sit and wait?”

  She snorted. “I’m not the waiting type. You’re lucky I still wanna stay. Still want you.” She leaned forward and lightly bit his jaw. Her warm breath caressed his skin as she said, “My name is Valia, not female and not Sempire.”