Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress Book 2)

by J. L. Weil

  Rushing down the hall, I found the nearest exit and burst out the door, running down two flights of stairs until I was staring out into the courtyard below the bedroom window. My breath was ragged, but it wasn’t from exertion. Rain hammered over my face, drenching my clothes.

  Ashor’s hand rested on my shoulder. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “I-I swear, I saw…”

  “What did you see, luv?” he coaxed, trying to understand what had me so spooked.

  I blinked, scanning through the night and sheets of rain. Nothing. There was nothing out there. I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. No one is there.”

  “Oh, there is something out there,” the prince murmured. “Multiple somethings, just waiting for an opening, a moment when my focus isn’t on you, to snatch you away.”

  “I don’t see anything,” I insisted.

  His vivid eyes continued to glare into the night. “That’s the point. They are only seen when they want to be seen. It is not safe out here, especially in a storm of darkness. It attracts those lower than lesser demons.”

  My body shivered.

  Ashor slid his arm around my waist. “Let’s get out of the rain.”

  I nodded, resting my cheek on his chest.

  We were both soaked through by the time we returned to our suite. A pair of demons had followed us outside. I hadn’t even noticed them, not until they escorted us back inside. The suite was dark when Ashor shut the door. Stepping out of my wet boots, I shook out my hair, running my hands over my face. I moved into the bedroom with every intention of grabbing some towels and a change of clothes, but my gaze flicked to Ashor. His eyes were luminous as they followed me, cutting through the shadows. Neither of us said a word.

  For a few moments, I could almost pretend we were at his home in Brimstone, submerged in darkness with only the roaring of the fireplace.

  His eyelashes were thick from the rain as every shadow in the room appeared to cling to him. I should be doing something, like getting out of these wet clothes, but I stayed rooted, unable to look away from him.

  My heart beat wildly in my chest, the figure I thought I saw outside forgotten.

  Ashor strolled over to me, never breaking eye contact. He curled a hand behind my neck, and with his other hand swept pieces of wet hair off my face. “Are you okay?”

  “Not even close,” I admitted, pressing my cheek into his palm.

  The pad of his thumb rubbed over my lips, swiping away tiny beads of water. “Perhaps there is something I could do to help.”

  I was deathly afraid of the answer.

  My eyes devoured all of him. “A few things come to mind. A hot bath. A massage. A bottle of wine.”

  His soft chuckle caressed my cheek. “I love when your eyes shift colors. They remind me of the ocean at sunset.”

  Thank god for his arms. I didn’t know if I would have been able to support myself otherwise. Desire slammed into me, befuddling my mind. “What are you doing?”

  His fingers were at the hem of my shirt. “Getting you out of these wet clothes.” Thud. My shirt hit the floor.

  “Oh,” I squeaked as a frosty breeze kissed my bare belly.

  Snap. The button to my pants popped open next. Holy fucking demon breath. “It’s only fair you lose your clothes as well.” I tugged at the hem of his shirt, pushing the material up over impressive abs.

  A slow curve of his lips. “When did I ever give you the impression that I was fair?” Tingles scattered over my skin from the lazy stroke of his fingers dipping inside my pants.

  I swayed forward, my body craving the feel of his, but before my chest hit his, I was swept off my feet and tucked into his arms. In my next blink, the mattress was underneath me, plush and almost as inviting as the man leaning over me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, not letting him pull away from me. Not yet. It was too soon. “Where do you think you’re going, princeling?” My voice sounded far away and slow.

  His soft laugh brushed up across my jaw in a cool breeze of night. The bed dipped with his weight as he settled in beside me. “Nowhere.” Tender lips touched the corner of my mouth where his breath had been. “Tonight, you’re mine.”

  18

  Ashor’s tattoos seemed to absorb the moonlight, making the dark ink glitter. Did my own look the same? I couldn’t stop staring at the marks on his neck, the same ones that I bore on mine. “I don't know how much training you expect to get done if you are going to insist on being shirtless,” I said, frowning. All that glorious toned skin gleaming was fucking with my concentration.

  His expression was wicked and playful, just how I liked my prince. “It will help you work through distractions.”

  “If you say so,” I mumbled, unconvinced. We were going to end up spending more time exploring each other than exploring my new ability and releasing my demon. Not that I was looking forward to either of those things.

  Tucked deep into the Gardeness woods, Ashor and I trekked down a steep slope into a rocky valley, at least a half a dozen of those little fairy demons fluttering in the trees around us—our prison guards. The moment we left the castle the following day, they appeared.

  The ground was soft from the recent rains, and climbing the rising foothills could be slippery and challenging, but I wouldn’t have passed up the opportunity to get out of the sex castle. My ears couldn’t handle any more of the little moans that escaped from behind closed doors, or the slapping of whips on flesh.

  We were miles from the city hub, yet being so remote also had its pitfalls. The wildlife in the underworld could be detrimental. There were things living in these woods, things I never wanted to meet face-to-face. Without Ashor, I wouldn’t have dared entered the forest alone.

  Tying back my hair, I brushed at the beads of sweat already gathering on my neck. The formfitting tank and shorts only offered some much relief from the heat. I didn’t know how Ashor withstood the sun’s warmth in all that black attire. I perspired more just looking at him. How attractive was that?

  We found a clearing suitable for our needs. I angled my head to the side, ogling the prince, and asked, “Are you going to show me your wings now?” I desperately wanted to see his demon form in all its glory. There was something so primal and dangerously sexy about that side of him. It appealed to my own dark side.

  “Only when you show me your demon.” His voice had a challenging bite to it, baiting me.

  “Why don’t you show me how,” I rebutted, placing my hands at my hips, a gesture I hoped conveyed my stubbornness.

  “With pleasure.” He stepped forward, and that was all it took. One step for his eyes to melt gold and his canines to drop down.

  But no wings.

  He noticed the disappointed pout on my lips. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. The choice is always yours. Just shift.”

  The pout grew on my lips. “It’s not that easy for me.”

  Above our heads, one of the demon fairies chirped, as if to mock me.

  “I don’t want excuses. I want you to shift,” he replied.

  I bit my lower lip, trying to keep my eyes and hands off his abs, but the swirls of ink were summoning my fingers. “I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work,” I said, shoving my hands into my back pockets. God, he was too close. Would I always have this absurd need to jump him and attack him with my lips?

  Shaking his head, Ashor placed his hands on my hips. “Not with that shitty attitude.”

  A gold haze blanketed my eyes as I bristled at his tone. “You suck.”

  His chest vibrated with a cold chuckle. “Pretend no one is here but you and me. What are you afraid of?”

  He wanted me to pretend the forest wasn’t full of unimaginable creatures that wanted to consume my soul for lunch and little fluttering demon faeries in the trees whose colorless eyes gave me the creeps. “Who said I was afraid?” I replied sharply.

  His smile turned lethal, flashing his canines at me. “Stop procrastinating and shift.”

&n
bsp; “You might actually be the worst teacher I’ve ever had. Not even my high school math teacher was this bad at—”

  He shot forward, sweeping me off my feet, and shoved me off the ground just as a pair of sleek wings burst from his broad back. There wasn’t time to catch my breath. He moved so damn fast, I barely registered that we were soaring into the clouds with the warm wind kissing over my cheeks and blowing my hair back off my face.

  “Shift,” he hissed in my ear.

  My arms moved to wrap tight around him as I dragged in a gulp of air. “I can’t—”

  Suddenly, I was free-falling.

  Holy shit. The bastard dropped me.

  A scream of panic clogged in my throat. Wind tore at my hair and clothes. And my arms and legs flailed, desperate for something to cling to. But there was nothing. No net. No Ashor. Just the ground closing in.

  No way was he going to let me break nearly every bone in my body. He wouldn’t dare, but the closer the ground got, the more that fear he wanted me to feel became real. The impact wouldn’t kill me, but holy shit would it hurt like hell.

  Once I healed, I was going to kill the princely prick.

  The world spun past at blurring speeds, and I finally managed to release the scream that was caught in my throat. “Ashor!”

  Swooshing wings came out of nowhere, seconds before strong arms plucked me out of the air, stopping my downward progression. My feet hit the sturdy ground, and I whirled, blonde hair flying through the air as I faced my mate. “What the fuck!” I spat, shoving at his chest. “You asshole. How dare you play games with me? I’m not your mother or your brother. I’m your mate. If I had hit the ground, my pain would have been yours as well,” I snapped.

  Ashor tucked his majestic wings behind him. “I am no stranger to pain.”

  How devious of him to throw out the I’ve-been-tortured card. Pine needles and pebbles crunched under my boots as I paced in a circle, nearly pulling my hair out. “Is this you trying to scare me into shifting?”

  His violet eyes gleamed demon-bright in the dark, lips curled. “A dose of fear is healthy, but you can’t let it consume you.”

  I halted in my pacing and snarled, “You don’t scare me.”

  “So you keep saying, but my power, the one inside you, does.” He angled his head to the side. “How does that work?”

  “Prick,” I said between my teeth.

  “Shift,” he ordered, folding his arms across his broad chest.

  My nostrils flared. “How about I just kick your ass instead?” Then I lunged, throwing out a kick, but the prince anticipated my attack, sidestepping to the left.

  He crooked a finger at me, egging me on. “Good, use your anger.”

  Prick. I threw a punch at his pretty face, but he caught my hand and whirled me around.

  “Hitting isn’t nice, luv,” he murmured.

  “Who said I was nice,” I growled in response, my chest heaving. I slammed my elbow backward, catching him in the gut, and grinned when I heard him groan.

  “Cheap shot.”

  I whirled around, my eyes twinkling with humor and annoyance. “Cheap or not, I still hit you.”

  “You’re an exceptional fighter, I’ll give you that, but you need to be disciplined to control the darkness and your demon. You have that discipline inside you. You just need to trust yourself.”

  “Show me,” I said, grim determination set in my features.

  He nodded, and so it began.

  Ashor was grueling in his training, treating me not like a pampered princess or his mate, but as he would any other demon. I didn’t know how much I’d needed to release all my pent-up emotions and energy. The magic within me was just as eager to be set free as the demon. I couldn’t handle both, not at the same time, so I directed my focus on the darkness, wielding it, manipulating it, summoning it, and banishing it.

  My cheeks were flushed with exertion when Ashor called for a cease-fire. I plopped down on a patch of grass and plucked a strange-looking yellow flower. “How do you do it? Release your control?” It had taken all my effort just to maintain a handle on my power.

  He took a seat beside me, one leg stretched out in front of him, the other arched up. “It’s different for me. I was taught to embrace that side of myself, not suppress it as you were. I’ve never had to fear my demon. He is a part of me as I am a part of him. But make no mistake, even when he is free, I’m the one in control.”

  And that’s what scared me the most, losing myself to that dark part of me. “What about when we’re in bed?” Yep. My brain went there, back to the bedroom when Ashor let his demon free while buried inside me. Heat rushed into my cheeks, my blood rising at the memory.

  A smug twinkle highlighted his eyes. “That might be the only place I’ve ever lost control. Where you are concerned, my demon can’t be tamed.”

  Perhaps I lied about wanting power. There was something so heady about knowing I had the ability to shred the prince’s restraint. I leaned over, mingling my breath with his. My gaze flicked to his lips with the sole purpose of placing mine over his. I wanted to kiss him. Needed to.

  But as my eyelashes drifted lower and our lips were about to touch, a wet snarl came from among the trees.

  Ashor’s body stiffened, and everything in me froze. His eyes shone with alarm that darkened them to a lethal shade of purple, it was almost black. “We’re not alone, luv.”

  We never were alone, but I didn’t point out the obvious, because we had bigger problems than the fluttering fairy demons. Something ominous had found us.

  “Get her out of here,” Ashor ordered Verena's guards, jumping to his feet. His harsh voice sent the demons into a flustered tizzy. Well, that combined with the creature stalking our way.

  Like hell I was leaving him. I reached for my weapon, only to remember the queen had confiscated them at the gate. For fuck sake. “I’m not going anywhere without you,” I replied, my jaw set in determination.

  “Lexi,” he rumbled, and the sound of my name in such a deep tone, was reminiscent of all the other times I’d refused to listen. In a move that I was beginning to anticipate, Ashor stepped in front of me. “Get your ass up the hill before I—”

  It was too late. At the top of the ravine, a man appeared, eyes like burning embers. His powerful jaw opened, revealing teeth dripping with poisonous saliva as he let out a battle cry that pierced my demon ears with octaves high enough to make them bleed.

  Sometimes the worst kind of demons were the ones that looked almost human.

  “Why must you always argue with me?” he gritted out.

  “I’m not leaving you,” I said again. There was so much meaning behind that statement, and the trickle of his understanding wove through our bond. Deep down, he felt the same. The idea of being apart again was too hard. It would rip me up inside like a serrated dagger plunging through my gut.

  “Don’t be fooled by his appearance,” Ashor warned, his nails lengthening into black razor-sharp tips. “This isn’t his true form, nor is he alone. A skinwalker always has a parade of demons at his call.”

  “Lovely,” I muttered, centering myself. I had no weapon, so I was going to have to rely on my unstable magic and pray it kept my soul intact. If it did fail, I was confident Ashor would ensure nothing happened to me.

  Behind the man, six demons in the shape of skeleton wolves crested the top of the embankment. The bony animals let out a ghostly howl that resonated over the trees. Fuck. Our odds just got a whole lot smaller.

  Then the beasts charged.

  “Don’t let them bite you,” Ashor said swiftly, his gaze never wavering from the threat. He had laser focus, scarily so.

  That was all I needed to know.

  The wolves advanced on us as the demon watched like an overlord. Stuck inside the pitfall, we were sitting ducks. “What is that supposed to—” The ground under my feet trembled, and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing a storm of darkness gathering around Ashor like a cloak. The shadows crawled over my feet, and
as if the prince had thrown a switch, the darkness swept over the land, consuming everything in its path, rattling the world.

  I was thrown against Ashor, and his arms were there to steady me, strong and true. His soft yet durable wings enclosed over me, a shield of protection just as the ghastly wolves received the brunt of Ashor’s powers, turning the beasts into whimpering dust.

  I regained my footing, pulling out of Ashor’s arms, and turned to face the new wave of enemies descending upon us. Verena’s little fairy demons were already on the attack, setting the grove on fire. The pesky demons had breath made of fire, a bit of information that would have been useful to know before I pissed one of the buggers off.

  “I’m assuming you guys aren’t here on vacation,” Ashor said sarcastically as he hauled a red-faced demon off his feet.

  “We’re here to bring you home,” the skinwalker said, his mouth never moving.

  What. The. Actual. Fuck.

  That was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. I never wanted him to talk again.

  Ashor’s fiery gaze shifted past the grunt demon in his clutches to the skinwalker. “Is that so?” he said, glancing around at the handful of demons and looking unimpressed. “And she only sent you? I’m insulted.”

  “This isn’t an elimination. Just a friendly warning,” the skinwalker replied with his uber chilly nonmoving mouth.

  I snorted. Friendly, my ass.

  Ashor must have had the same thought. He struck with immortal speed, hitting the demon he clasped with a sword made entirely out of his darkness, and all I could do was watch with awe as the blade sliced the demon’s head off in one clean swipe.

  Holy crap.

  The Prince of Darkness was a badass.

  And he was mine.

  I refused to let his mother come between us. Never again. Such a violent roar screamed in my blood, I could no longer think straight. My body just reacted; consequences be damned. A demon appeared in front of me, red lips grinning, and I couldn’t have been more thankful. The bastard swung at me, and it was my turn to grin. Ducking, I forced him to hit nothing but air.