Wren

A burst of noise jerked me awake. My hand slid down to grip the handle of my knife as I listened for something that would reveal what had woken me. Then, a low rumbling built until it became a crescendo of noise.

Releasing the knife, I pulled my hand away and looked at the chair where I’d last seen Corson. He wasn’t there. Turning my head, I spotted him standing by the window, his hands raised over his head as he gripped the frame. His shirt sleeves had fallen back to reveal the corded muscles of his forearm.

My breath caught, and my heart hammered as a series of lightning bursts illuminated his lean body and the chiseled planes of his angular face. Not gorgeous like Magnus, Shax, or the angels, but there was something entirely fascinating about Corson.

This demon could make someone scream in pleasure as easily as he could in pain. I thought that should make my dislike for him return, but it didn’t. Instead, I found myself imagining what it would be like to feel his hands moving over me again, but this time they would be on my flesh as he slid deep inside me and took possession of my body.

I hadn’t found much enjoyment in sex those few times with Todd. However, I hadn’t been overly attracted to Todd either. He’d been cute and nice, but I hadn’t screwed him out of any real desire or feelings for him. I’d done it to ease my curiosity about sex, and because I lived with the constant knowledge that I could die in the next heartbeat.

I’d seen people die that fast before too. There had been one time when a man had been walking and talking beside me, the next second he’d been pounced on by a demon. I was alive only because the demon had chosen that man instead of me. I could die at any time, and I’d refused to be a virgin when it happened, so when Todd came around, I decided he was a good option.

But then sex with him hadn’t been all that wow-inspiring, and now I found myself still speculating what people talked about. With Todd, there had been discomfort; I’d expected that, but I hadn’t expected the constant worry that something might eat one of us or how fast it would all happen.

Deciding the first time was practice, I’d practiced a few more times with him before realizing practice was not making it any better. I’d finally given up on sex, and him, altogether. I hadn’t liked him much to begin with and hadn’t cried when I’d learned he died.

What did that say about me? Was I so cold, so broken by everything that I couldn’t feel sad over the death of my one lover?

I supposed someone didn’t watch their mother get slaughtered and turn out normal. The world going to shit hadn’t helped with the whole “being normal” aspect either.

Unlike with Todd, when I watched Corson, I felt desire.

I hadn’t gushed about Todd and sex, like Jolie and some of the other women did. After Todd, I’d assumed they were exaggerating what it was like to want a man and be with him… until Corson. Now I better understood what they were talking about, but Corson wasn’t simply a man; he was also a demon.

Why couldn’t he be human?

Looking at him, I realized I didn’t want him to be anything other than what he was.

Another crash of thunder rattled the windows and shook the house. The next flash of lightning illuminated Corson and the curtains as rain began to tick loudly off the windows. Seeming to sense my attention on him, Corson’s head turned toward me.

There was something primitive about him as he gazed at me, something I’d never seen in him before. The glow of the candle reflected in his eyes as he studied me with a predatory hunger. My heart hammered when I realized I was the prey trapped in the hunter's stare.

I didn’t know what to do. Part of me contemplated bolting from the room, but the far larger part wanted to open my arms to him. Corson could make me forget, if only for a bit, all the death lurking around every corner.

I dealt with people all the time, but I’d never dealt with anything like him. With Todd, things had been almost mechanical between us. He’d initiated things by kissing me while we were searching for food, and I didn’t stop it when it progressed further. Quick and efficient, that had been Todd. If I remembered correctly, we’d both left our socks on every time, and he’d still had his boots on too.

There’d been no flirting, no searing looks making my toes curl, but then there was no way Todd had the experience Corson did with his millennia worth of women.

Three different earrings, I reminded myself. He was wearing three different earrings the first time you met.

That helped to brace me against him again, but not much. Why did I care who he’d been with before? I shouldn’t, yet the thought of him with so many women made jealousy churn in my stomach.

Corson was all hunting grace when he stalked toward me. I tilted my head back to stare at him as he stopped before me. When his hand cupped my cheek, I didn’t push it away as I should have. I craved his touch against my skin. His thumb traced the arch of my cheekbone before sliding down to caress my lips. My breath caught and I waited to see what he would do next.

“You’re exquisite,” he whispered.

Shock rolled through me. I’d seen myself in enough mirrors to know I wasn’t ugly, but no one had ever said anything like that to me before and I didn’t know how to respond. “No, I’m—”

I stopped speaking when his eyes shot up to mine and his lips thinned out. “Yes, you are. I do not lie.”

“You spout pretty tales to get women into your bed though,” I retorted, hating myself for saying it, yet unable to stop myself from doing so. What was it about him that drove me so crazy in every single way and turned me into a catty bitch?

“No,” he said. “I don’t spout anything to get a woman into my bed. I have no reason to. Women come to my bed because they want to be there, not because I talked them into being there. Every woman I’ve been with has known there would never be anything more than sex between us. Some of those women I took to bed again, most I didn’t.”

“I see,” I said. “And now I know it too.”

“Are you coming into my bed then, Wren?”

“No.” Yes! My body screamed at me. I felt as taut as a bowstring right then, and I wanted him to be the one to release me.

“If it makes any difference, I don’t want you to know it.”

I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

He shook his head as if confused by his words and pulled his hand away from my face. “What of you, Wren? What have you told the men you took to your bed?” he asked. “Did they believe it was something more with you?”

“I didn’t tell him anything.”

Something dark flared within his eyes. It was something I’d never seen from him before. Was it possessive? Angry?

“Him?” he asked, his voice hoarser than normal.

I threw my shoulders back and lifted my chin as I stared defiantly at him. “Yes, him. I was curious; Todd was there. It happened a few times. I didn’t see the big deal about sex and ended it with him. Now he’s dead, as are so many others.”

He went to grip my chin, but I leaned away from his touch. “Wren…” His hand fell. A lost look flashed over his face before he bowed his head and stepped back from me.

I despised that lost look on his face.

“I’m curious about you too,” I admitted on a whisper.

* * *

Corson

I wasn’t sure I’d heard her right, and then her words sank in. My eyes fell to her mouth, and it took everything I had not to pounce on her. I’d scare her if I did, so I remained where I was, barely.

“And what are you curious about?” I inquired in a hoarse whisper.

Her soulful blue eyes held mine as she responded. “If it would be as mechanical with you as it was with Todd.”

“Mechanical?” What had that man been doing with her if she considered sex mechanical?

“Yes.” A line appeared across the bridge of her nose as she pursed her lips. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me. Maybe, after everything, I’ve become broken or frigid or something.”

“You’re not frigid or broken,” I assured her.

“And how do you know that?” she demanded.

“Because there was nothing frigid about you in the tunnel.”

A blush crept into her cheeks. “Maybe it’s different if I’m actually having sex and it would be mechanical with all the men I slept with, human or demon,” she continued. “But I’d have to experience it with someone else to know.”

My teeth scraped together at the thought of her with any other man. If Todd had been standing before me, I would have slaughtered him. If she tried to turn to another… The skin on the backs of my hands tingled as the tips of my talons prodded against it.

The more I considered it, the more certain I became she was not just any other woman to me. Whether she was my Chosen or not, I couldn’t say for sure unless we had sex, but she was special to me, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.

“And so you’re considering experimenting with me?” I asked her.

I couldn’t tell if that idea pleased me or pissed me off more. She might be curious enough to have sex with me, but I didn’t want to be an experiment she would move on from afterward.

“No, I didn’t say I intended to experiment with you. I said I was curious. That’s all,” she replied, breaking into my thoughts.

“I am more than willing to ease your curiosity, Wren, and I can guarantee there will be nothing mechanical about it.”

“You don’t know that,” she muttered.

I stepped closer and bent over to rest my hands on either side of her hips. She leaned away from me, but she licked her lips when her eyes briefly fell to my mouth.

“I do,” I assured her. “But know this. If you decide to experiment on me, I might not let you go afterward.”

Her eyes widened on mine. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t possibly think that I’m your Chosen?” she blurted.

“I don’t know if you are or not, I’m simply letting you know that I may decide to keep you.”

She swallowed heavily and, removing my hands from the couch, I stepped away from her. I stared down at her, hoping she’d open her arms to me, but she slid her knife back into its holster and rose to her feet.

“I’ll take this watch. You should rest,” she said.

I hid my disappointment as I moved further away from her. It would be best if I got as far from Wren as possible when we returned to the others, but I trusted no one to protect her as savagely as I would. Being this close to her, and not having her though, might drive me to do something I would never do under normal circumstances.

I’d never take her without her permission, but I may snap and kill someone else if she tried to be with them. I’d never believed such a thing would be possible, not with me. However, Wren pushed the boundaries of my control more than anyone ever had.

For the first time, I wished Kobal were here instead of at the wall, ruling with River as he should. Kobal would have answers for me, he would know what to do, and he would take me down if it became necessary.

“I’m not tired,” I told her, “and I don’t require as much rest as you do.”

She didn’t reply as she walked over to the window. Pulling aside a small corner of the curtain, she peered into the stormy night as the rain beat harder against the glass. A flash of lightning illuminated her lovely features and made her hair appear nearly white. She didn’t look at me again when she settled the curtain back into place.

“When you watched humans from Hell, was it because you enjoyed it, or was it simple curiosity?” she asked.

“At first, because I was curious.” I perched on the end of the couch and lifted my leg to prop my foot against the side of it. “But then, I came to almost like your species. No matter what, the human race found a way to keep going against some pretty steep odds, but then, I guess demons faced some bad odds while evolving in Hell.”

“Hell would be steeper odds than Earth, but you do have that whole immortality and regenerating body parts thing going for you that we mortals lack.”

“We do have that,” I agreed with a laugh.

A loud screech outside whipped Wren’s head toward the window. Her hand fell to her knife as she stepped away from the glass. “What was that?” she whispered.

“Not sure.” I lowered my foot to the ground and rose. I strained to hear anything beyond the deluge of rain hitting the windows and pounding off the roof. “Some Hell creature, but not one I’m familiar with. I’ve had about as much experience with the things locked behind the seals as you.”

“The seals of Hell falling means the apocalypse, or at least that’s what I was taught.”

“Not the apocalypse, not unless we allow it to become that. Remember, humans twisted a lot of what they glimpsed in Hell into different mythologies. Some things they got right, others they got completely wrong, and some they made their own. Demons are not all that is evil; angels are not all that is good. Things are never so simple. The falling of the seals left Hell a far different place than it was, but it doesn’t mean the end of the world.”

“Sometimes, I think the apocalypse happened fourteen years ago and we’ve all just been waiting for it to get around to ending us.”

“I can understand why,” I admitted. “And there is a possibility everything we know might still come to an end, but we’ve worked relentlessly to keep the world going for this long.”

“Yeah.”

Glass blew inward with a loud crash as something smashed through the window beside her.