Bat Out of Hell (Promised to the Demons Book 2)

by Lidiya Foxglove

  "Jenny, you can't go back to him! He doesn't deserve a moment of your attention."

  "I know. But his voice is...in my bones. In my head. I think Mrs. Franch died, and he's alone. He's never been all alone...m--my Bernard." I choked on the words, and Variel swept me inside his wings, shielding me from the world. But he couldn’t block out Bernard’s voice.

  "Look at me," he said. "Look into my eyes. Stay with me."

  "I'm scared that I can't," I gasped. "I feel like I'm being pulled back into the darkness and you're getting farther from me." Bernard’s voice was a tug that made the world feel like shifting sands. He was calling me home, to St. Augustine and everything I had known my whole life. My fingers dug into his skin. "Variel, I'm afraid."

  "Celeste," he said. "Your real name is Celeste, is it not?"

  "Yes..."

  "Then, you need to be...my Celeste. Our Celeste. This name is for us, not for him.”

  Piers came running down behind me. "Is she all right?" he said.

  "I'm not all right!" I said. "I still...feel Bernard’s call. He keeps calling. And every time it cuts down to my soul."

  "Piers, go back up the stairs,” Variel said. “I don't fit in these cramped rooms, curse it all. We'll take her to the bedroom. We have to find some way to tether her here."

  "I wonder if her bond to Bevan was blocking Bernard," Piers said. "Now that he's gone to that island, the signal from her warlock is reaching her. I can try a binding spell. Yes, get her to bed."

  Variel hoisted me onto his shoulder. He didn’t have enough room to hold me properly in his arms. He was gripping me so tight I almost couldn’t breathe, but it felt good in the moment. I needed to feel him. I reached one arm up his back and dug one hand into his fur.

  I was surprised how gentle and protective it felt to have Variel hold me, even in this way. He clutched me like he was truly worried I could be pulled away from him.

  "Celeste." He put me on the bed I shared with Bevan. Bevan’s scent brought me a little comfort too.

  "Don't call me that," I whispered.

  "And why in flames not? Isn't it your name? Your true name?"

  "Yes, but...if I stop being Jenny, I'll have given up on Bernard forever. I know it sounds pathetic, but...we were together for everything, for so long. I watched his heart torn from him. I watched him lose his sister, and..." She swallowed. "I have tried to forget about him, to move on. I love everything about my new life. But I can't stop feeling like I abandoned him. That I...I could help him, and..."

  "No," Piers said fiercely. "Celeste. You can't help him."

  "Didn't I...help you, Piers?" I asked. "Don't tell me I didn’t! And doesn’t that mean I could help Bernard too?”

  "You did help me. You're right. But I don't think my own familiar could have helped me. Sometimes we have to step away from the things we know. It all becomes clearer." He sat beside me on the other side of the bed.

  Tentatively, Piers reached for my hand. I was happy to grip it in return. They were my fragile tether to this life.

  "Please stay with me," he said. "I don't know to express my feelings. I don't know how to...be anyone's lover. But if anyone might put up with me in the whole world, it's you. And what I can offer you is my power, my knowledge... I know there isn't any romance in that, but it's all that I have, all I've ever been. Let Bernard find his own answer. 'I have little left of myself, I must have you, though the world may call be absurd, my very soul demands you.'" His eyes screwed shut like he though he'd made a fool of himself. "I might not have quoted it correctly."

  "Quoted what?"

  "The end of Jane Eyre. And it sounded very ridiculous, to boot."

  "Oh! I certainly haven't memorized passages. My head's probably too stuffed with recipes."

  "I tend to remember everything I read. And I really don't know what to say, so I thought maybe..."

  "I love it." I squeezed his hand. “It isn’t silly at all."

  "Is the feeling passing?" Variel asked. "Do you still hear Bernard?"

  I listened, and Variel immediately snapped at me, "Don't listen for him! That will only cause trouble."

  But it didn't matter. I could still hear Bernard. I felt him, his pain and mourning, loneliness and anger, resonating through me, calling to the one person he thought might be able to save him.

  Variel leaned over me. His wing swept around me again, and he nudged me from the covers on the bed onto the leathery skin of his wing, which was surprisingly soft. He finally stole the kiss I knew he’d been wanting for so long, but in the moment, I found that I was willing to give it. His lips were surprisingly soft, too.

  "I will find a way to keep you here in the moment even if you hate me for it," he said.

  "I don't...hate you."

  "Not even for this?" He kissed me again, and this time his supple tongue slid against mine and caressed it.

  After all this time arguing with him, I was shocked how much my body responded to the kiss like it was full steam ahead. Of course, I knew I had some feelings for him, but it came on so strong that I was left reeling.

  "I didn't know different men would be so different to kiss!"

  "Kisses are very individual," Variel said. "It should go without saying that I have never kissed a nymph or demoness with such pleasure. But I'll assure you of it anyway. How do you feel now?"

  "Better...but..."

  I'm sure it sounded to them like I was just being a tease, but I meant it too. My terror over Bernard was real. Logically, I knew Piers was right. I shouldn't ever go back to Bernard. This was the place where I was loved, and happy, and Bernard would only get angry at me again.

  "You need more forceful attentions?" Variel glanced at Piers. "I think we may have a duty to give her such pleasure that she can't spare a thought for her old master."

  If I turned pink, Piers looked nearly terrified, but he couldn't seem to let go of my hand, either.

  "Both of us?" he asked incredulously.

  "I am certainly capable of doing it alone," Variel said. "But I must admit that your bond as a warlock and familiar, although not the bond, seems an important part of keeping here. Nor do I find you very threatening."

  That seemed to stir something up in Piers a little. "Seems like she likes me more than you," he said. “So maybe you should be a little threatened.”

  "Have you ever been with a woman in your life?" Variel asked.

  "One must start somewhere," Piers said. "I've been very busy learning magic.”

  "Don't fight over it," I said. "I'm not really sure which is better, nine hundred years of experience, or none at all."

  "I think it's very clear which is better," Variel said. "But you are kind to Piers."

  "You're a monster," Piers said. "And you're a monster that came out of her head.”

  "It's a good thing he is a monster, though,” I said. "He was able to stop that sea dragon! I am drawn to both of you for such drastically different reasons that I couldn't even compare you. I don’t want you to fight.”

  "Fighting is part of the fun," Variel said. "You don't want the mating dance to be all sugar and no spice, do you?"

  "I see…”

  That simple truth hit me all at once. Sometimes you needed to argue and speak your mind with the people you love. It made me start to like Variel, when he let me snap at him again and again, and vent my frustration with how he hurt me. Bit by bit, that anger seemed to fade away, almost without my noticing it. If these three men became my mates, they would need to argue and compete with each other sometimes, because all of us had negative feelings sometimes. Some of them could be smoothed over with cake and kindness…but not all.

  "Now, we must keep you distracted until your favorite of all masters comes home," Variel said. "At least, it's his title for now, but we'll see for how long. Piers, you have hands, and you'd better use them."

  "Use my hands? Should I just start touching her?"

  "Of course," Variel said.

  "I don't think women like it very mu
ch."

  "They do if you're quite confident and good at what you're doing." Variel said.

  Piers could clearly sense that Variel was judging him, and I looked at him expectantly.

  "Help me, Piers," I said. "Help me forget about Bernard. Variel's right. You're the only one who understands. I know you never had any feelings for Chester, of course, but I bet sometimes you wondered how it would feel if your familiar was a woman instead."

  I could tell by his sudden sharp inhale that of course he had. I knew some feelings were natural, at some point in one's life. I knew a little part of me wished Bernard had them for me, and wondered if the lack of it was why I lost him to the council.

  Now I knew that I could be loved, even if Bernard didn’t love me. Surely three men so different couldn't be wrong?

  Piers reached for me from behind, as I was still cradled on Variel's wing, facing him. Piers put a hand on my waist and then felt the line of my hip with his fingers and palm. There was something unexpectedly sensual about the slow touch, exploring the simplest curve as if he was discovering something unknown.

  I decided to tease him in return a little and made my underwear vanish beneath my dress as his hand slid back over the spot. I knew he would notice, as careful as he was feeling me.

  He paused slightly, breath quickening as he realized I was sending him a signal. He started gathering the fabric up in his fingers, very slowly. Piers' touch was the opposite of Bevan's lightness.

  Then there was Variel, surprisingly steady and unflappable. I guess an ancient demon lover had his advantages. If his attitude could be Medieval, he was also too old to be bothered by very much. I was sure if I'd been turned into some beast that altered my form, I'd be at least a little shy, especially when making love with two people.

  "What is your other hand doing, Piers?" Variel prompted the warlock, with a hint of amusement. "You have two of them again, and you're not even going to make good use of them?"

  "I...yes." Piers put a hand on my neck and slid his fingers up through my hair. I think Variel had meant something naughtier, but I sighed, "That's lovely, Piers..."

  "You have such a beautiful neck," he said. "At the ball, I...noticed."

  "I barely saw you there."

  "I didn't want to stare. I wanted Bevan’s trust even more than I thought I could ever want you. I didn't think I would ever have love, but a friend seemed in reach."

  "You could have both! Just think how wonderful--"

  I cut off as Piers suddenly finished sliding my skirt up and his hand cupped my mound and then his fingers slipped between the folds and stroked me quite insistently.

  “Yes…wonderful…oh, yes..." Especially with his other hand gently playing with my hair, the motions seemed to feed on each other.

  "I want to fuck you so badly, little one," Variel said. "Hearing you moan like that…"

  I wanted him, too. If his monstrous form was meant to scare me, it was failing at its duty. Maybe I couldn't truly be repelled by something the faeries plucked from my own mind.

  The very thought of running my hands over his hard chest and even the fur on his shoulders, feeling his thick length inside me, while his unearthly eyes met mine...

  Piers' hand grew emboldened by the gush of wetness that came out of me. I guess it was easy to have such fantasies when someone was stroking me and exploring all my most sensitive crevices.

  But I was also enjoying my newfound power and I wasn't sure I wanted to make it too easy on them.

  "If you really want to distract me from Bernard," I said, "You need to only pleasure me and not yourselves. I think I need to know that your intention is entirely on me."

  "What is this!?" Variel said. "Are you telling me that I won't be permitted to fuck you?"

  "No, not today."

  Variel let out a simmering growl of need that did something to me deep inside. For a minute I feared he wouldn't even be able to control himself as he drew my body against his and I felt his hard length throb against my swollen sex.

  "I think we'd better give her what she wants," Piers said. "She does hold our true forms in her hands..."

  "That is not quite how it works," Variel said. "I'll be hanged if Celeste wants a mate who only follows her every command. Sometimes she'll need to be surprised." And with that, he slid down, pulling his wing out from under me and dropping to his knees beside the bed. He hooked his claws on my legs and lifted them over his shoulders, and then he proceeded to thrust his tongue so deep inside me that I let out a crazed shriek of pleasure that I bet everyone on the ship heard.

  "Pin her hands down, Piers," Variel said. "And occupy her mouth before she embarrasses herself."

  Piers seemed good at following a direct order. There was the soldier's bearing again as he seized both of my hands and pressed them to the bed. He paused just a moment, looking at my flushed face as I tossed my head side to side, and then I let out another cry. His smile transformed him, becoming more confident, like he had just realized that he had some skills that could be put to good use here after all.

  Variel's tongue was fucking me with rapid, wet strokes, and while a tongue didn't fill me like Bevan's cock, it was also a lot more...focused. Plus, the texture of his tongue seemed a little rougher than a human form, just rough enough to make my body convulse with anticipation of every fierce stroke.

  Piers kissed me. First, his tongue briefly glided along my lips and gently bit the plumpness of my lower lip, and as I moaned again, he covered my mouth with his own. His body leaned on mine with a gentle weight that pinned me down and left me helpless to Variel's strokes, and meanwhile Piers kissed me very slowly and deeply.

  No sooner had Variel pushed me to one climax that shattered me from the inside out, but his tongue started slowly teasing my clit, and after a few moans of protest I was quickly getting desperate for more.

  "Oooh noo," I begged, but I hardly meant it.

  Variel chuckled, the sound slow and satisfied. "You said you wanted to be pleasured, my lady. But I expect this will be the last time you don't ask for my cock."

  My inner walls clenched at the very thought, wanting something to fill me.

  The tip of Variel's tongue flicked insistently across my wet sex, and soon I was reaching a second peak, just as strong as the first.

  "Perhaps I could take your place," Piers said.

  "Oh, be gentle!" I begged, but I expected Piers would be gentle, even timid.

  What I didn't expect was that he slowly parted my pussy lips with his tongue like he was discovering the very idea of me for the first time, and enjoying it as much as any man ever had; that the first caresses of his tongue were a reverent exploration, with none of Variel's speed and force, but an equally diabolical patience. I felt he was researching me like one of his books, and if he enjoyed each page as much, then I envied those books.

  Variel, meanwhile, was all too happy to press my hands into the bed and alternate his kisses between my mouth and my nipples--since my dress had vanished somewhere in the middle of this, almost against my will.

  "Celeste...," Piers whispered between a long, slow caress of his tongue and his hands along my legs.

  That third climax seemed to take forever and a day, but when it came, it also lasted forever, rolling through me like the motion of the ship itself.

  As I collapsed into sleep, almost directly after this, I was hardly able to say a word, but they stayed with me, and it was very safe to say that I didn't think about Bernard.

  Chapter Thirty

  Celeste

  I woke dreamily, surrounded by the two of them, and then I jolted because I realized Bevan was missing.

  "Guys...how long do you think it would take to explore a temple?" I asked, giving their shoulders a little shake.

  "Hmm...well...a little while," Piers said. "At least, I imagine he would want to look everything over thoroughly and since he couldn't carry anything with him, he'll want to memorize any writing or artifacts. After all, we might never see the temple again."r />
  "But...it didn't take him that long to fly there," I said. "Don't you think he would come back before dark?"

  “That would still be lost time, and the days are short," Piers said.

  "I don't know! I'm worried. I mean, the sea monster won't even go there... What sort of place is it to be after dark?"

  "I do think...it's odd," Variel said, stirring himself. "And I have an odd feeling."

  "An odd feeling!? Like what?"

  Variel suddenly shot up in bed and got right to his feet. "I think he might be in trouble," he said.

  "What is your feeling?"

  "He did take my powers after I ate his soul! I have a certain sense of him!" Variel hurried up the stairs to the deck, leaving Piers to rub sand from his eyes while I whisked a new outfit into existence. Impulsively, I changed my style and cut the neckline lower, to show off my neck and just a hint of cleavage, and I made it red and white instead of brown.

  Well, I hope it looked all right because I didn't even stop at the mirror for a second. I left Piers struggling into his human clothes and rushed after Variel.

  Cash, Finn and Lorian seemed to be sleeping. There was one crew man on lookout duty, keeping an eye on the island.

  "Have you seen anything?" Variel demanded of the crew man. "Any lights of a fire? Magic?"

  "Nope."

  Variel turned to me and gingerly rested his talons on my shoulders. "I'm going to try and go there. I'll protect him."

  "You can't fly!"

  "We don't really know if I can't fly. We just know I've never been able to practice," Variel said. "I'm a strong swimmer as well."

  "Variel!" Piers said. "Take me with you."

  "How? I can't turn you into an avornax now. Bevan ran off with my specialty gifts."

  "I can work wind magic," Piers said. "You're not going to fly so much as hang glide to that island. The wind is already steady. I can steer it. I'll just have to be tied down on your back. It's not the most dignified look, but then, I've had worse moments..."

  "If you're going, Piers, I want to go too!" I cried. "You can carry me in your hand!"

  "I think you're all insane," the crew man said.