Sleeping with Monsters by Hutchins, Amelia (1)

Chapter 1

My hair whipped against my face as the wind howled from the impending storm that was barreling down on Metaline Falls. I lifted my eyes to the moon, full and red from the smoke from the fires that were burning unchecked in the Pacific Northwest, from Washington all the way into Montana. My eyes burned from the pungent smell of those fires as I waited in the heavily wooded area at the back of the exclusive nightclub.

Music pumped from inside the club; the bass pulsated from the walls and vibrated the ground, stirring excitement from those who’d stood in line for hours just for a chance to be allowed into the kinkfest that happened in the lower levels of Blackstone’s notorious club. The front of this place was no different from the back; lines started early and people waited hours in them, uncaring that only a select few ever made it inside without knowing someone or having an exclusive invite.

Immortals stood with mortals, something I’d been noticing more of as I watched Lucian Blackstone and what went on inside this place. I’d asked the coven to investigate him and his club, and instead of taking my concerns seriously, I was warned against meddling in his affairs. No one questioned his motive for opening a sex club in the middle of Little Town, USA, but I did, while the coven seemed to be ignoring the growing demon problem—even though I was sure it had something to do with this place.

I watched a couple as they groped each other, uncaring that others watched and enjoyed the lewd show they were giving. One man had a woman pressed against the building, and from the motion of his hips, he wasn’t just kissing her. Others watched, touching their partners, or petting themselves. I closed my eyes, imagining the dream that played on repeat inside my head. The one where I wasn’t the voyeur, but the one they watched. I opened my eyes and pushed the memory of it away. Anger shot through me, my pulse quickened, and I exhaled slowly as I calmed my body’s response to it.

That music... Every beat was meant to draw you in, dull your senses, make you shed inhibition, and I wasn’t so sure that it wasn’t magic, or something else hidden in the salacious lyrics or tantric melody. I smoothed the skirt I wore, pushing it down to cover my bare legs as I turned to nod at Kat and Dexter, who waited for the elusive owner to exit the club.

We’d planned this to the smallest detail. There could be no mistakes here. I’d studied Blackstone for weeks now, watching him, learning every detail as possible about him. Nothing went unnoticed as I danced inside his club, catching his eye and holding it for what felt like hours at a time, and yet he never took the bait, never approached me. On those occasions where I would approach him, the moment I got close he would leave the area or the club, as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me. It stung my pride, and bruised my ego more than it already was.

I hated that night after night, he filled my dreams with no explanation for why it was happening. All girls fantasize, but I’d used spells to stop mine, and nothing I did halted the dreams or erased the feel of him after the dream had passed. I knew the layout of the club, including the levels below the main floor, and yet I’d never been downstairs. I knew certain details about him that I shouldn’t know unless I had been intimate with him. The challenge with discerning between fantasy and memory was I’d never been intimate with him—unless I had and he’d somehow taken those memories from me.

When I’d asked my grandmother to have the coven investigate him I explained what was happening to me, but she’d suggested that I take him for my breeding mate since his line was as old as ours. That hadn’t helped me, and only served to frustrate me more. Nothing about him made sense, and she blithely dismissed my worries as if I was crushing on him. I didn’t even like this guy; he was an egotistical control freak who waved money around and got what he wanted. I hated that she ignored my fears; as if I was crazy to even think what I was telling her could be true.

The crowd inched forward, and my heart quickened and beat painfully against my ribs. I looked up at the moon, judging the time before I withdrew a vial of sleeping sand I’d created to knock Lucian out. The sand was powerful, but considering how big he was, I’d brought extra, just in case I needed it. I placed a little of the loose sand in the pocket of my jacket and pulled out a small apothecary bottle of Siren’s essence. I removed the lid, placed it against my lips and tipped it back, inhaling and taking it into my lungs.

The sounds of the crowd grew louder, an indication that the man of the hour was leaving the building. I watched him as he emerged from the doorway, ignoring those who called out to him. In the last few weeks of watching this man, I knew he always left here with one or several of those hulking men, who seemed to be some kind of bodyguards, or alone. He was hot enough that he could curl his finger and get any girl he wanted, and yet he never did. Everything about him was an enigma.

He was dressed in an elegant bespoke suit, immaculate as always. His long hair was jet-black, pushed away from his sharp features. His strong jawline was etched in marble, a perfect contrast to the hard, sinewy lines of his body. His wide shoulders spoke of raw power, and thick muscles bunched beneath the suit, doing little to hide the raw, masculine form that lay beneath it. Midnight blue eyes lifted to the full moon before he gave the parking lot a quick onceover before pushing his way through the throng of people as if they didn’t exist.

Once he was far enough into the parking lot, I whispered his name, beckoning him to me with the lure of the Siren’s essence that filled my lungs, making it impossible for him to ignore.

“Lucian,” I purred, my voice all seduction, which carried to him on the gentle breeze. I watched as he paused, lifted those bedroom eyes and searched the wooded area bordering the parking lot where I waited. “Come to me.”

He began to walk in my direction, but then his steps slowed as our eyes locked across the crowded parking lot. Once he’d reached a certain point, the engine of a van roared to life as Kat and Dexter prepared to block the view of the bouncer.

“Come to me,” I said louder, watching over his shoulder as my words carried to a few people in the long line. Shit. “Lucian, I need you to come to me, now.”

I released a sigh of relief as he started moving faster, and alternated my focus between him, the bouncers, and Kat and Dexter in the van that were moving towards us. Power sizzled over my body the closer he got to me, and my hand dipped into my pocket, pulling out the sleeping sand. Once the view was blocked by the van and he was close enough, I crossed the distance to him, lifted my hand, and blew the sand into his face. Shock registered across his face before his eyes narrowed, his body swayed, and he started going down.

I moved to catch him, which ended with me on my ass in the dirt with a hulking male cradled between my legs and his heavy head on my breasts. Heat unfurled through me as our bodies made contact and I pushed against him to get him off of me. Okay, perhaps this wasn’t planned out as well as I thought it was. I heard the door of the old van protesting as Dexter opened it and hopped out.

“Damn, you move fast,” he teased as he tried to lift the sleeping male. “Shit, he weighs a ton and a half,” he grumbled as I struggled to get up.

I whispered a spell of weightlessness to help Dexter out and moved to the van, jumping inside as he approached. I laid out a blanket since the back of the van was dirty and covered in rust. Once Lucian was in, I covered him up, leaving his face exposed.

Once the van started moving, I stared down into his slumbering face. Thick black lashes dusted his cheeks and his hair, still perfectly in place somehow, shone in the moonlight that flooded through the windows. I checked his pulse and then lowered my mouth to his, brushing my lips against his as we left the parking lot and sped out onto the highway. Sparks ignited and I gasped as I lifted my hand and touched them where ours had just met.

“Are you molesting him?” Dexter laughed as Kat joined in.

“I’m making sure he’s still breathing,” I grumbled as a blush spread across my face. “Once we’re on the backroad, stay right at the fork. It is only a few miles from there to the cabin; my car is there. You will need to switch out, and then use the decoy spell we practiced. It will buy us an alibi if this goes awry.”

“I still don’t feel right leaving you there with him alone. What if something goes wrong?” Kat asked as our eyes met in the rearview mirror. “You’ll be alone with him, and no one will be there to help you.”

“Yes, but tell me, Kat, what can you do to help me? Our magic is limited, the coven is weak, and if we pull on them for anything, we’re fucked. No, you and Dexter will leave me there as we planned, because if anyone is going down for this, it will be me and me alone. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?”

“Everything, considering who we just kidnapped,” she grouched as her eyes moved back to the road.

“Positive thinking, please,” I mumbled as I stared at the man in question.

“I’m positive we’re fucked if he gets away,” she retorted.

I looked up to catch her eyes watching me, which unfortunately didn’t allow me to brace myself as we hit something in the road that sent me sailing forward, forcing me to land atop Lucian. I groaned as I righted myself, regretting the choice of being the one in the back with him. He smelled like sin mixed with sex, with a generous dash of male sprinkled on top of it.

“Just stick to the plan—no deviating unless something happens. If you come back and I’m gone, get back in the car; leave and go home. Don’t look for me, because if shit hits the fan, I’ll meet you tomorrow as we planned. The diner would be the best place for you guys to go tonight, it shouldn’t have a huge crowd even though it’s Friday. They also won’t hover, which is best since my doppelgänger will only be able to say a few things at most.”

“Are we even sure it will sound like you?” Her eyebrows rose skeptically.

“Yes, it is a mirror image of me, but don’t let it eat anything. It’s not real, so if it orders, don’t let it eat or drink, understand?” I peered through the windshield as the cabin came into view. I swallowed fear that crept in at the idea of being alone with this man, but I couldn’t back out now—we were in too deep.

Once the van rolled to a stop, I glanced at Kat nervously as our eyes met briefly before I exited the van as Dexter once again struggled with the door. Once my feet hit the ground, my heart leapt to my throat. The cabin was dark, vacant, and staged for the spells I was going to use to draw the truth out of Lucian. I reached back into the van and withdrew my heavy pack as Dexter struggled awkwardly with Lucian’s height and bulk as he tried to maneuver him. Luckily the spell of weightlessness was holding up, or I’d probably end up doing the spells right here.

Inside, I flicked my wrist and candles leapt to life, flooding the room with a warm glow and shadows as they swayed with the wind that entered with us. Rain started pelting the tin roof, and a clap of thunder rumbled in the distance.

“I need to remove his shirt before we lock him down,” I commented as Dexter nodded and turned to look at me as he scratched the back of his neck. He wasn’t a fan of this plan any more than Kat was, but neither of them were having my dreams. Dreams so real that, hours after they’d faded, I ached. Despite their misgivings about what I was about to do, they were here and helping me. Dexter sat Lucian down on the bed and held his heavy upper body up for me.

My hands trembled as I undid the buttons of his jacket and slipped it off his thickly muscled shoulders. I folded it and set it on the chair beside us as I went to work on the buttons of his crisp dress shirt. Once I’d pulled it away from his chest and down his shoulders, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes slid over his tattoos and paused on the piercing. I’d never seen him without a shirt, and yet I knew them as if my tongue had traced every one of them, every tiny detail of them, intimately.

I clasped my hands together to stop the trembling as Dexter lay Lucian down on the bed and snapped one end of a pair of handcuffs around each wrist before snapping the other end around the iron bars of the old bed. I frowned; the idea of being in the middle of a massive storm in an old decrepit cabin with Lucian and a bed was mildly disturbing.

“That’s it; he’s secure,” Dexter said as he wiped his hands on his pants and turned to look at me. “You don’t have to do this alone, Kendra.”

“Yes, I do. I just kidnapped Lucian Blackstone, and if anything happened to either one of you because of it, I’d never forgive myself. Now go, I have about twenty minutes before the sand wears off, and I have to get the first spell ready,” I said as I reached up and hugged Dexter tightly. “Keep Kat safe, and don’t come back for at least two hours.”

Once he was outside and the door was closed, I turned to look at the sleeping man. I scrubbed my hands down my face and shook my head.

“What the fuck did you do? This was a bad idea,” I babbled nervously. I’d just kidnapped Lucian, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t the kind of man who pressed charges; no, he’d carry out retribution himself. I was so screwed if this didn’t work, or if I wasn’t powerful enough to remove the memories of tonight from his mind.

I swallowed and turned to my bag, wondering what he’d do to me. Would he return the favor? Leave me somewhere no one could find me, maybe a spelled cabin deep in the Colville National Forest? Would he handcuff me to a bed and torture me? Probably.

Fan-fricking-tastic!

Chapter 2

I knelt in front of the stones that circled the cauldron, and reached into my bag, pulling out a pouch of glass vials. I dribbled a little of the liquid from each vial on alternating stones, then quickly sealed the rubber stoppers on the vials before pushing them, one by one, back into the bag. I lowered my head and whispered the words that would ignite the flames beneath the cauldron.

The room filled with magic as the rich scent of lavender and herbs boiled in the cauldron. It took seconds for it to reach a boiling point—one of the perks of having magic. I stood up, moving to the bed as I retrieved the other bag I’d left here last night. Inside, I had the gown I’d chosen for purity, washed and cleansed in a mix of lemongrass and flowers from the garden.

I kicked off my tennis shoes and pulled my dress up and over my head, exhaling as the soothing scents lingered and danced with my senses as I folded the dress and laid it next to Lucian’s clothes. Unclasping my bra, I tossing it on to the chair, enjoying the freedom it offered. I hooked my thumbs through my panties and pulled the fabric down, stepping out of them. I pulled out the purity gown as my neck began tingling and I turned, still halfway bent over, to find midnight eyes watching me.

I stood up, turning to face him as I held the dress in front of me like a shield. My heart quickened, beating against my ribs as my nipples perked up and goosebumps spread across my flesh.

“Release me,” he growled.

“No,” I whispered through suddenly parched lips. “I can’t do that,” I amended as I struggled to sound halfway in charge, but failed.

“Fitzgerald, if you don’t release me, I will destroy you,” he snapped angrily, his eyes sliding down my body—and I wasn’t so sure he meant ‘destroy’ as in kill me and leave my corpse in the woods for the wolves. “Uncuff me, now.”

“I said no,” I fumed. “You’re not in charge, I am. I have control here.” I crossed my arms over my chest before I remembered I wasn’t even dressed for this argument, let alone prepared. “You shouldn’t even be awake yet!”

“I am awake, and the longer you keep me cuffed, the angrier I’m going to get. I’m also going to guess you don’t have the coven’s permission or support in this plan of yours. Which means we’re alone, and you have no one here to help you?”

I dropped my gaze to his naked chest with a guilty shrug. I turned, pulling the gown on over my head. It barely covered my ass, but it was the only white thing I owned. I tugged at it, trying to pull it down a little further before I turned back to face him. The gown was drenched in magic, and would only be on long enough to protect me from dark magic that might be released at the beginning of the spell that I intended to cast.

“Don’t worry; you’ll be free soon enough. I have no intention of harming you,” I said softly as I moved closer until I was near enough to run my hands down his chest as they itched to do. I met his stare and smirked, leaning in a little closer so that I could appear to have control. “Scared?” I laughed.

“No, but you should be,” he growled and suddenly, magic filled the room, thick and powerful, and I felt strong hands grab my arms before I was pulled to him.

I didn’t have time to react; one minute I was beside the bed and the next, my body slammed against his and I cried out as my face was smashed against his heated body. A strong arm wrapped around me while a hand gripped my hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to look into those devilish midnight depths. Panicked, I looked up at his wrists, which were still secured in the handcuffs that strained against the iron bars of the bedstead.

“Un-fucking-cuff me,” he demanded. His mouth was inches from mine, and I couldn’t stop myself from running my tongue over my lips with hungry anticipation.

“No,” I whimpered huskily, wondering if the Siren’s essence had yet to leave my system.

“Release me.” He smirked and the grip on my hair tightened as his mouth lowered as if he intended to kiss me. “Even handcuffed, I can still kill you, Fitzgerald,” he warned. “I’m in control, and right now, we’re alone in a cabin, with one of us ill-equipped to handle the situation—and it isn’t me.”

“And what would you do? Kill me?” I snapped.

“There are plenty of other things I can do to you,” he rumbled as he watched me squirm.

I smirked and jabbed him sharply in the stomach before throwing myself backwards, landing on my backside on the floor, legs spread apart for balance as I grabbed and held my head, which I’d just knocked against the hardwood floor of the cabin.

It took moments to even be able to see past the stars dancing in my vision, and when they cleared, thunder exploded directly above us, shaking the little cabin. The wind howled violently as rain pelted the tin roof relentlessly, and I lifted my head to find Lucian hungrily looking between my legs at my naked sex. Instead of covering myself, I smirked. Asshole wasn’t immune! I almost wanted to do a happy dance, almost.

“Nice try, asshole,” I growled as I rolled to my side and stood up. I moved around him, rubbing my head as I watched him. I stared at the handcuffs, wondering how the hell I’d prevent him from casting again, since he shouldn’t have been able to in the first place. I whispered a spell, which would hopefully strengthen the chain of the handcuffs. “You’re not getting out of here until I get what I want from you.”

“What exactly do you want from me?” he gritted out angrily as he watched me with a coldness that sent a shiver running down my back.

“What do I want from you?” I scoffed. “Let’s start with the disturbing thought that I know if I kissed those lips, you’d taste like aged scotch with a hint of citrus; or that I dream of you every single night, but it doesn’t end when the dawn comes. Instead, I spend hours trying to remove the feel of you from my body. Let’s start there.”

“Just because you’re fantasizing about fucking me doesn’t give you the right to do this, Witch.”

“Fantasies?” I almost screamed. “Fantasies are dreams of sex you like! I don’t do that, I have the same dreams that replay in my head night after fucking night!” I scrubbed my hands over my face as I moved closer to him. “This is the kind of sex I’ve never thought of, even in my wildest imaginings! You hurt me, and I like it! You spread my legs in front of strangers and let them watch us, watch me as I come apart in your arms. I can feel you when I wake up, how you stretched my body, how it hurt—and yet you somehow made it so much more than that, didn’t you? You would make me wild with need, so wild that I would let you do anything to me, just to please you. But something happens, and then hurt and anger take over. I wake up broken, as if it actually happened. If it changed, or varied at all, I’d call it a dream, but never a fantasy—it’s more of a nightmare. I don’t like pain, no one does. In my dreams, I relish it, but only from you.

“I think it’s a memory, that somehow you did something to me and erased whatever happened from my mind. Either it’s a memory, or you’ve been with Lena and I felt it or shared it through her. One of those two scenarios has to be right, because I’ve used magic to block the dreams from my mind, to keep you out of my head while I sleep. The dreams actually got stronger after that, as if by trying to keep them at bay, I let something else in. Add that to the fact that there’s a ton of pictures in my bedroom that I have no memory of ever taking. Which means I have a big chunk of missing time,” I explained as I tapped my head. “Now, there’s no one in our coven strong enough or powerful enough to have achieved a mind wipe but me, and I didn’t erase my own memories.”

“There are ways to go about getting answers, but this isn’t one of them. I can tell you how this way ends,” he growled thickly.

“And how’s that?” I moved closer, as if I was drawn in by his seductive mouth.

“You lose,” he replied confidently.

“Even if I lose, it doesn’t really matter, does it?” I laughed hollowly. “Either I get my answers and I’m not crazy, or I don’t and I go to the coven and ask them to strip my powers. Because as powerful as I am, being crazy would make me a danger to others,” I admitted hesitantly.

“You would ask them to strip your powers. You would allow that to happen?” he asked cautiously.

“If I am crazy, or I can no longer discern what’s happening to me, then yes. I’d ask them to protect the coven, even at the cost of my powers. I’m not a saint, but I don’t plan to be a killer either, and with how much power runs through me, I could potentially destroy the coven. Dark witches are deadly witches.”

He didn’t look away, but he didn’t offer up any explanation as to what I was going through. Instead, he looked at me with pity. I chewed my lip as I watched him.

“I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way, then?” I murmured as I turned to the grimoire, a bowl full of black ink, and a spoon that waited for me near the cauldron. “You won’t keep your secrets for long, Blackstone.”

“That’s what you think, but your spells will not work on me,” he smirked.

I spun around, marched towards him, and before I could stop myself, I’d slapped him. I blinked, looked down at my hand and then up at him. I’d never hurt anyone before, and yet something about him got beneath my skin, festered, and wouldn’t let go. My breasts rose and fell with my anger as his face slowly moved back to meet my angry eyes.

“You’re going to regret that,” he whispered huskily, his eyes liquid depths of black-blue fire.

“I doubt I’ll ever regret removing that smug grin from your face, even if only for a second. Now shush, I need to concentrate.”

I turned, smiling as I made my way to the grimoire once more. I knelt beside it and picked up the spoon, then stirred the ink in the bowl with it before I scooped up some of the ink and examined the dark, oily substance as it dripped back into the bowl. Chanting a soft spell from the grimoire, I stirred the ink several more times; clockwise, then counterclockwise as I chanted. Leaving the spoon in the spelled ink, I cradled my hands around the bottom of the bowl, rose, and moved to the small table across the room.

I watched the candles flicker as the cracks in the cabin allowed the air to rush through them as the wind continued to scream outside. Like most spells, this one called for me to be bared to Hecate, exposed so that he, too, would be exposed and forced to whisper truths, unable to lie.

I set the bowl on the table and reached down to the hem of my gown. I chewed my lip nervously as I raised the purity gown over my head and tossed it to the floor, feeling its magic as I whispered the spell to hold its magic to me. I heard his hiss and forced myself not to react. I scooped up the bowl and dipped my fingers into it as I moved back to him and tried not to shrink under his furious glare.

“You could make this easier on both of us,” I offered as I held my hand out, threatening him with the ink. “Or I can make you powerless to answer me. I know a man like you isn’t used to being powerless, but maybe it will be good for you.” I waited and pursed my lips as he watched me through cold, angry eyes.

“If you curse me, there will be no one who can save you from my wrath,” he warned.

“Is that so?” I mused, pushing my fingers against his chest as I drew the runes onto his shoulders, across his chest and abdomen. I stepped closer, drawn by the contact, and with my free hand, I began working at the button of his slacks. “I have to remove your pants, so be a good boy and hold still, hmm?” I bent down and set the ink bowl aside, expecting him to fight me; instead, he didn’t move. I pulled his pants down and realized my mistake as I looked at what his pants had concealed. I swallowed as I looked up and saw his eyes filled with an emotion I couldn’t put my finger on, and then I stifled a groan as I closed my eyes, even though he laughed at me for it.

Who had a beautiful cock? Cocks simply were not beautiful, and yet, his was thick, long, and perfect. I shook my head to dispel that thought and then realized I hadn’t removed his shoes yet. As I bent my head down to look at his feet, my cheek rubbed over his cock, and I bolted backwards.

“It’s just a dick, Fitzgerald,” he mused thickly. I lifted my eyes and blushed from my roots as I realized the object of our discussion was growing!

“Stop that! Stop it,” I shrieked, covering my eyes as I pointed at it. “Put it away!”

“Free my hands and I will,” he growled, and I frowned even deeper.

“It doesn’t need to be growing for this, that’s uncalled for.”

“A pretty girl just rubbed her cheek over it,” he replied easily. “It doesn’t give a fuck about propriety.”

I dropped my hand and bit my lip as I turned, looking anywhere but at his cock. I moved closer as my heart raced, my mouth watered, and my throat longed to be filled. I really sucked at kidnapping, and worse, being naked with him! Everything that had ever played out in my head decided to become one big porno in that moment, which was the worst thing I could be thinking of right now. My sex heated and my body tightened with unsated need, a need he could easily satisfy.

I lowered myself, refusing to acknowledge his cock as it bobbed a firm hello like a happy puppy. I unlaced his shoes and tried to pull them off, but he wouldn’t meet me halfway. I backed up, looked at him, and shook my head.

“The book says we have to be naked—together.”

“Ask me if I care, little girl,” he returned thickly, as if he’d eaten the gravel from outside and it had become lodged in his throat. “This is a dangerous situation you have us in, one I didn’t ask to participate in. You’re naked, I’m hard. You also suck at kidnapping, but I bet you suck dick a lot better.”

“You’re an asshole,” I snapped, spinning around to retrieve the ink before moving away from him. I dipped my fingers into the warm mixture, brought them up, and painted the matching runes to Lucian’s on my body. I tried to ignore his glares and focused on the spell, chanting as I painted my waist and my arms.

I was so engrossed with what I was doing that time held no meaning. I smirked once the last rune was placed and turned around, only to come face to face with a wide, tattooed chest.

I looked up into midnight eyes and screamed.

Chapter 3

Hands wrapped around my throat as I was picked up and pushed against the wall, hard. My head hit, bouncing against it as lights exploded in my vision. How the fuck did he get free? My hands scrabbled against his, scratching his hands as I struggled to get free, but he held me in place as his body pressed against mine.

“Is this what you wanted from me?” he demanded as his mouth lowered to touch against my cheek, his breath fanning my face as he dropped his mouth to mine. Stars exploded behind my eyes, and I scratched him, raking my nails down his sides as I battled to breathe. Tears streamed down my face as I struggled harder, fighting for my life. My lungs burned, and the noises coming from me weren’t right. My hands dropped, and my head rolled to the side as blackness threatened to claim me. His mouth brushed against mine, his tongue pushed past my lips, and his hands loosened from my throat as he fed me air. He was feeding me air, his mouth my salvation. I cried out against it, claiming his tongue as I gulped his air greedily into my starved lungs.

He pulled away with a dark, dangerous look dancing in his eyes. “Who has control now?” he taunted huskily as he lowered his nose and rubbed it against my cheek.

I didn’t answer him; I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Plus, it was hard to manage it with the sweet, seductive taste of aged scotch and that fucking hint of citrus filling my senses. I wanted to scratch the look of victory from his face. It was dancing in the endless inky depths of his eyes as he watched me continue to gasp for air.

His smirk deepened, turning as twisted as he was. Lucian grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my naked body against his. I didn’t struggle, I couldn’t. I was still trying to figure out how he’d gotten free from the spelled handcuffs and how I’d known what he would taste like. He’d gotten free, his shoes were tilted drunkenly against each other on the floor, and I hadn’t heard anything, not a single noise as I painted my flesh.

He lowered his mouth as he jerked my head back, forcing me to lift my mouth to meet his. Right when I thought he’d kiss me again, he threw me onto the floor, roughly. I gasped as I went down, the dull thud of my hands hitting hard echoing through the room as I gasped. He’d knocked the wind out of me, and tears burned my eyes as pain assaulted me.

“I told you that I would win,” he growled as he slowly moved towards me. I struggled to wriggle away from him, mimicking a worm crawling atop the soil after a hard rain. “You should have stayed away from me.”

“Fuck you,” I whispered breathlessly. I screamed as he caught my legs, and I kicked out to escape him. He flipped me over, maintaining his hold on my ankles as he knelt between my legs, not even bothering to hide the lust sparkling in his eyes.

“It turns you on, doesn’t it? Not knowing if I plan to fuck you or hurt you?” His voice rumbled through me and straight to my sex as his hand released one ankle to trace his fingers through my folds. He hissed as he found it wet, ready, and turned on by the struggles. I hated myself right now more than I ever had before. What was wrong with me? “So fucking wet for me, aren’t you, sweet girl? You want me so bad you’re shivering with it, that primal need to spread wide so I can feed you every single inch of me…” The noise he made was animalistic. The tips of his fingers dipped inside and I moaned hungrily for more.

“I hate you,” I whimpered as my lips trembled from the adrenaline coursing through me. I hated that he was right, that I was trembling for him, that I couldn’t even hide how much I wanted him right now.

“You say that a lot. No, you hate that you don’t know why you want me. You hate that you can’t control the cravings. Your body knows the truth: it craves what it needs. You like everything perfect, and you need everything to make sense, and that isn’t how this world works. You think you’re crazy, but what I see? Is a beautiful fucking mess, one that doesn’t need her powers bound, because you are not dangerous. Shit, you can’t even manage to kidnap one man,” he growled as his fingers continued to stroke my skin. He leaned over as if he planned to kiss me, and I smirked as he lowered his mouth. “Next time, I won’t let you off with a warning, Witch.”

I felt around blindly until I touched a large piece of wood I’d reached for and my fingers closed around it desperately. I brought it up and hit him with more strength than I’d thought I had, considering the awkward angle. The sound echoed around the room and his body went slack. I wriggled out from under him and started to move towards the door, only for his hand to grasp my ankle and pull, knocking me down again. I turned, kicking him in the face and chest as I fought to get my foot freed from his viselike grip.

Angry tears of frustration erupted from my eyes and I screamed with fear as he used my legs to pull me beneath him, trapping me with his massive body. His cock slid over my belly and my eyes bulged as blood dripped from his temple.

“You shouldn’t have fucking done that,” he snarled. Anger pulsed inside the cabin, mirroring the storm outside. He watched me as I realized just how fucked I was. A sob exploded from me as he smirked, and deadly anticipation shone in his obsidian eyes, mirroring the chaos in the room. His hands captured mine as he pushed them above my head, easily securing them there. My muscles protested as he parted my legs, leaving me open, exposed. I couldn’t fight him; I didn’t have use of any of my extremities in this position and he knew it. “It was hard enough to walk away from you before you hit me, but now? Now we do it my way, little one,” he whispered as he lowered his mouth to my nipple and bit it. I screamed as pain ripped through me, but even as he bit the delicate flesh, he released it, rubbing his tongue over it, soothing the pain. The scream turned into a moan, and my head dropped back, hitting the floor. Pleasure flooded through my system, unfurling the coil that had been building in my stomach. My legs wrapped around him and I closed my eyes against the sensual assault.

His hands released mine as I found his hair, grabbed fistfuls of it, and held him to me as I succumbed to his dark pleasure. My hips rocked as his hand slid between us, finding my apex and sliding through it. Every time, every slow, leisurely pass through my willing pussy, he stopped and worked a circle on my clitoris until I almost reached the precipice he held me on the edge of.

“Bloody hell, you’re making it very hard to stay away,” he growled as he lowered his mouth to mine, and I claimed it, welcoming it as I continued holding on to his hair. I clung to him like I was drowning in a vast sea, lost adrift in the turbulent waves that crashed down onto me, and he was the buoy I clung on to in order to survive. The noise that tore from his throat was inhuman, and the way he kissed me changed, turning as dark as my soul. “Does it make you wet, knowing I could do anything I want to you right now? Is that why this pretty pussy is drenched?” he growled.

Lucian Blackstone was a hurricane, and I was the land he intended to destroy. He was a category five, creating and wreaking havoc, knocking down defenses as he obliterated me. He ripped me apart, tore me down to my basic animal instincts, and there was no knowing how much damage would be left when he was finished. The worst part was that I wasn’t sure I wanted to survive this storm. Some storms were worth dying for just to be witness to them.

He ended the kiss, his mouth still hovering inches from mine. I released one hand from his hair and swung it out, intending to slap him, but he caught it. He pushed it against the floor painfully. I moaned as he stopped his fingers’ slow discovery of my body and snatched my other hand from his hair, where I’d held on to him for support.

“I hate you so much,” I whispered, because right now, I did. I hated him for what he made me want, what I craved from him. This was wrong; we were wrong to want this. Everything I’d ever been taught said so, so how could I want this, how could I want him?

“No, you don’t,” he whispered softly. “You don’t hate me any more than I could hate you.” He laughed mirthlessly, the sound vibrating through our bodies due to our proximity. His mouth lowered as if he intended to claim mine again, but his eyes watched me, staring into me as if he could see inside my little black soul right down to the very fucked up fiber of my being. His teeth worried my lip, and I moaned at the slight pain, my eyes growing heavy as he nipped at my lip, already swollen from his demanding kisses. I whimpered from the pain as he sucked it between his lips and ran his tongue over the sore flesh. I moaned, feeling the pain and pleasure to the very center of my core, red hot lust coursing through me. He released my hands, and I raked my nails down his sides, smirking against the satisfying grunt of pain. “You want to play rough?” he rasped, and the sound of his hoarse words made my eyes open, but it wasn’t midnight eyes I found waiting for me; they were filled with liquid blue fire.

“Lucian,” I whispered as I took in the smile that was more teeth than anything, and the fire I saw in his eyes reminded me of the ancient stories of the blue flames that lit the Gates of Hell.

He kissed my throat as his body rubbed eagerly against mine. His cock rested heavily against my stomach. I moaned as his heated kiss trailed to my shoulder. He moved his hips, adjusting his position until I gasped as his heavy cock slid through the slick heat of my pussy. I writhed against it, using it. I wrapped my legs around his waist, holding him there as I rubbed my naked heat against the thick cock he so freely offered. His mouth continued to suck on my skin, his teeth scraping, nipping before he kissed it.

He rocked his hips, feeding my need and hitting my clitoris until I was screaming his name as the orgasm threatened to rip me asunder, but every time I got close enough, he shifted and pulled his cock away. I didn’t care that I was coming undone, or that I was screaming for him to enter me, to take me, to fucking own me. I wanted him in the most primitive way; a way that bares the soul, exposing the darkest needs in your lowest hour. Nothing mattered anymore except getting him to give me what I needed—and now.

Lucian leaned down, as if he intended to kiss me; instead his mouth touched my shoulder and his teeth clamped down. He bit into my shoulder and all thoughts of coming were gone, just like that. Pain erupted, and I screamed, bucking against him to get away. Then it hit me, and I screamed his name like it was a fucking benediction. It was brutal, coming so fucking hard that I shook uncontrollably as I shattered. I came so hard that when I started to fall back to earth, I realized I had his shoulder between my teeth and it was bleeding, dripping down my chin, and I didn’t care because that orgasm hadn’t abated as I had thought; it refused to release me. I was literally vibrating so much that his hands cradled my head as it hit the ground with each violent tremor that tore through me. I actually feared that it wouldn’t ever end, and I didn’t know if I necessarily fucking cared if it did. I was so fucking wet that the only noise inside the cabin was me, screaming as it started to recede. Lights continued to explode behind my eyelids. I wasn’t sure if I was dying, coming, or breaking into a million tiny pieces. His sexy as fuck, husky timbre sounded far away as he watched me try to bring myself back from wherever the fuck he’d just sent me to. Hell? Heaven? Who cared, I wanted more. Now.

“That’s my good girl,” he whispered as he watched me. The moment I thought I was safe, pain ripped through me as he entered my body. I gasped as he buried his cock in my tight sheath, muscles burning and clamping against him. “Tell me you hate me as I make you take every inch of my cock deep inside your tight pussy, owning every sweet inch of you inside and out,” he growled.

“Lucian,” I whimpered brokenly, unable to protest or do anything more than hold on to him. “It aches.” I was too full, too fast. My body burned where muscles fought to accommodate him, and failed.

“Tell me to stop,” he demanded. “I don’t do gentle. Are you sure you want to play with me? Because right now, the only thing I want is to ruin you. I want to bury my cock so deep that you always feel it there. You’ll feel me there, forever. If that’s not what you want from me, tell me to stop now.”

“Don’t stop,” I whispered as I shook my head, which was still cradled in his large hands. He moved them then, grabbing my shoulders as he leaned up and stared down at me. I waited for him to move, wiggling my hips to take anything he was willing to give me.

“I’m going to destroy everything you love while you watch me do it,” he hissed as his eyes lit from within. “I’m going to destroy everything you cherish, and then I’m going to fucking destroy you, Lena. You should hate me; right now, you should run from me,” he whispered as he watched me.

Lena…

Pain erupted inside my head and tears rolled from my eyes as I blinked past the pain. Lena. My breathing grew labored as he watched me coldly. Lena. Demons seemed to be watching me from the hellish depths of his eyes. Magdalena. My body trembled as he watched me, and his hips started moving slowly, building up speed as I pushed him away, trying to grasp on to that one name, the one I should know. My name.

“You son of a bitch!” I scratched him, lifting up, only to be slammed against the floor and weighted down.

“There you are,” he purred as he kissed me, and God save me, I kissed him back. My hands pulled at his hair as his hips slammed against me. I held him to me. “Just a few minutes, I just needed a few minutes with you,” he murmured, and I watched him.

“No, not again, no… Lucian, please don’t do that to me.”

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“I’m Lena,” I whimpered.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growled, and his hands bit into my skin.

“Yours, I’m yours!” I screamed.

“Damn fucking right, you’re mine. It’s too bad you won’t remember this, but I will,” he assured me. “Every fucking moment of your sweet ruin, I will relive this a thousand times a day when you are dead and gone from this earth, and long after your last offspring have perished. You have to come back to me on your own, do you understand me?” he demanded, and I stared up at him, not understanding his words as he brought me over the edge of the cliff and sent me sailing into the clouds as a kaleidoscope of colors burst behind my eyes. “You are Kendra…”

“I’m Kendra,” I whispered through a moan.

“I miss you, Witch,” he growled, something hitching in his tone. He leaned down, claiming my lips and deepening the kiss; a kiss that ruined me more than anything he’d done so far, because I felt it. I felt him. The emotion in his kiss was more than he’d ever allowed me to feel before, as if he was kissing me hello and goodbye all in one kiss. It ended too soon, and I sobbed from the loss of it.

“I hate you,” I replied icily as he started moving faster, until my body couldn’t keep up. I was going to be sore tomorrow. I opened my eyes to find blue fire staring back into mine; it burned so bright that it hurt to stare into it for too long. I felt the heat from it as he lowered his forehead and rested it against mine, staring into my soul. He was showing me what he was, the monster within, the monster I was sleeping with. His lips curled into a dangerous smile, and I shivered, trembling with the knowledge that he was anything but what he claimed to be. He wanted me to see him, all of him.

“You’re so beautiful,” he growled, sucking my lip between his teeth. I mumbled, coming around his cock, unable to stop myself from shattering as he stiffened and howled his release to the heavens. Power erupted around us as he peered down at me with blue fire dancing seductively in his eyes. The earth trembled around us as we exploded, and I didn’t look away from what I saw, not even as the cabin began to shake with the force of our mutual release.

It started to come apart, and he shielded me. This man who had torn me to pieces, shown me pain and pleasure, was protecting me as the cabin literally crumbled around us. His mouth claimed mine, oblivious to the splintering wood that was raining down on us.

“Lucian,” I whimpered as everything around us continued to shatter, and trees exploded and fell to the ground as I held on to him. “Don’t leave me.”

“You won’t remember this in a few minutes,” he said softly as he closed off his emotions and we lay in the remains of the cabin in the woods where it had been built; now, it all looked as if an asteroid had demolished it. “You got your questions answered, and then you let me go after wiping my mind,” he whispered forcefully, his voice layered, booming against my mind and echoing through it. “You still hate me, because I kind of enjoy this love-hate shit we have going on. But you are Kendra, so say it.”

“I’m Kendra,” I parroted.

I stared up at him through the darkness of the ruins. My vision swam with tears, my arms dropped, and I lay there, empty and cold, exactly how I felt inside.

“Look at me,” he demanded, watching me carefully. “Are you happy?”

“Am I happy?” I questioned. It was an odd thing to ask considering what had just happened. “Something is wrong with me,” I whispered brokenly. “Something has to be wrong with me, right?” Fear entered my mind, refusing to release its icy claws. “I’m not right, nothing about this is right. I’m not like this. This was so wrong, how can I like it? My body already craves your touch and we’re still connected,” I babbled as I turned to look away.

“And I don’t even like you!” I sobbed as my body rocked beneath his. “I’m insane. I don’t even know what’s real and what isn’t anymore. Everything is wrong, and I can’t stop it. I can’t remember if I did something, and everyone else can remember it. My clothes don’t even fit anymore, and I don’t even like them. Whatever grasp I had on reality is gone. I don’t even remember being with anyone inside the abbey at the Harvest and yet I pretend I knew who I was sleeping with, but the only thing I can remember when I spell myself, is you. That’s crazy. I have to be losing it, right?”

“You’re not crazy, you’re fucking perfect,” he mumbled, raining kisses on my face as he captured it between his hands as I tried to pull away. “Look at me. Listen to me; what we did here? It wasn’t wrong, it was beautiful. Does it feel as if I don’t already crave you again?” He rolled his hips to be sure I hadn’t missed his cock buried in my warmth still. “So what if we fuck like we are going to war; no one else has to like it or understand it. No one else matters but us. What we did, fuck, we do it well together. Someday you’ll remember everything. You’ll remember us, and you’ll know what happens when you try to contain chemistry like ours.”

“We blow up cabins?” I asked in a deadpan voice.

“Fuck that cabin, it couldn’t contain us.” He smiled, but there was something in his eyes—sadness? “When you remember everything, you’ll hate me, sweet girl, but I won’t care. Because, again, I kind of like it when you don’t like me,” he whispered.

My breath hitched as a tear rolled down my cheek. “I don’t understand.”

“Are you happy?” he asked again, and I blinked.

“You’re seriously asking me if I’m happy.” I blinked again. “Like right now?” My eyes focused on his throat as he swallowed hard. “I’m naked in the woods with a man I don’t even like. We just destroyed a cabin that didn’t even belong to us to destroy and you’re still inside me. I tried to kidnap you and you let me! You have runes on your crazy ass eight pack that must prevent anything like that from happening. You weren’t really unconscious, were you? Which means I am the world’s biggest idiot right now, and I seriously feel stupid,” I huffed. “We went to war with our bodies, and I mean, not the good kind. I don’t even like pain and yet I already crave more from you. I’m pretty sure I just had the biggest, most earthshattering, cataclysmic orgasm of my entire life because you fucking bit me! Who does that? Who comes apart because some guy they hate bit the shit out of them? I’ll tell you who: crazy people! Normal people don’t do shit like this! I can’t get you out of my head.

“I mean, I cast spells to eradicate whatever the fuck I was seeing, but the moment I close my eyes, you’re there again, waiting for me! I can smell you, I can feel you and I crave you. Yet this is the first time we’ve ever touched! The only plausible explanation is I am insane. I have to be, because even now I want you and again, I fucking hate you! So get the fuck off of me, get your dick out of me, and leave me the fuck alone!” I snapped, fighting to get away from him. “Stay out of my head! Stay away from me, please,” I sobbed.

“You’re perfect, you’ve always been perfect, sweet girl,” he crooned, his voice deepening. “We didn’t fuck, I never got loose, and you got what you wanted from me. When you wake up, Kendra, you will think everything went exactly as you wanted it to. You will not ask the coven to bind your powers, because you’re anything but crazy.”

“That makes no sense,” I mumbled sluggishly; his words were like a drug and my brain absorbed them greedily.

“Sleep. When you wake up, everything will be okay,” he promised, and I blinked as my eyes grew heavy. I was exhausted; mentally, physically, completely fucking wrecked.

Chapter 4

I stared blankly out the window at the old manor across the field from our house, which used to be empty. Several moving trucks had been parked in front of it, and had been blocking our driveway all day. A week had passed since I’d kidnapped Lucian, and he’d left town the day after. No one knew where he’d gone or what he was doing, but he still managed to drive me crazy. Then I found out he’d bought the old place, meaning he’d be right next door now.

“You stare any harder at it, and it might just catch fire,” Kat offered. She was dressed up, ready to head out to Club Chaos.

Pulling my eyes away from the mansion, I gave her a tight smile. “Heading to the club?” I already knew the answer.

“You should come with us; the shipment can wait until tomorrow, couldn’t it?” she questioned.

“No, Mom told me that Lucian ordered it for this weekend, so it needs to be filled by Thursday at the latest, and we can’t afford to lose his business. The economy is crap, and he is the one keeping us afloat,” I muttered, hating that I was defending him. But it was true; since the explosion at the abbey, everything had hit a downward spiral. The tourists who came to the shop were being sent to us by him or by word of mouth from those at his club who had sampled our potions, soaps, lotions, or tea mixtures.

“So you’re going to bail on us, again,” she complained. “You could just make samples and ask him if you could hand them out on the weekend outside his club. That way you could go inside once they’re gone, and I’d have someone other than Dexter to dance with. Love him, but he has two left feet and resembles a fish flopping out of water when he dances.”

“I will go with you next time, promise.” I gave her a small smile as I turned back to watch yet another truck pull up to the manor. “You know there is always such a thing as not dancing and saving your feet that way,” I said, laughing as she scrunched her nose up.

“I like him, a lot. My parents, on the other hand, think our line needs a stronger bloodline mixed with it,” she frowned.

“You think you have bloodline problems? My grandmother keeps pushing me to approach Blackstone to procreate. Could you imagine? Me and Lucian making a baby,” I mused softly, but my body heated, and my cheeks flushed with heat involuntarily as I considered it. “They should trust us to find a match without meddling.”

“There’s another ball being held. Pretty sure this one is going to be at his club sometime next week,” she said excitedly, ignoring me. Or so I thought, until I glimpsed the speculative look in her eyes. “You could approach him, then, ya know, he watches you when you’re not looking. And I hate to say it, but you guys would make a very powerful line.”

“He has a tendency to run away when I get near him, and you’re also forgetting that I don’t like him, and I’d have to have sex with him to make a child. I don’t think he’d be happy to just donate to the cause—oh, and not to mention, he’s refused all offers from every family who has placed a request for his swimmers.”

“Semen. Say it with me, s-e-m-e-n,” she spelled it out slowly. “Come. Protein-filled frosting, which, considering how he looks, probably tastes like heaven.” She snorted with laughter.

“That’s disgusting.” I cringed and shook my head. “No wonder your last guy can’t get over you. What did you do to him, you dirty, dirty girl?” I laughed, smiling until my eyes hurt and my stomach ached from it. “We’re horrible creatures, you know. We shop for men to use based solely on their blood and power. Almost like shopping for a sugar daddy, based on his bank account.”

“And? Men know what we want from them, it’s not like we’re hiding the fact that we want their semen and that’s it. Yes, we sometimes keep the men around if we like them, but it’s not new. We’ve been doing this forever, and those we choose from know the rules. And you changed the subject; I know you don’t like him, but I’m guessing Mister Owns-A-Genuine-Sex-Club knows how to fuck. So, it’s not like it would be a horrible time, and don’t tell me you two don’t have a ‘wow’ factor going on—you do. I’ve seen you looking at him and I see the way he watches you. One night, no strings, and wham! Happy grandma and maybe the most powerful child this coven has ever had cooking in the oven. Everyone is happy. It’s not like you’d have to marry him, and you know it.”

“You’re missing the point. He doesn’t want to breed, and I don’t want to breed with him—end of discussion.”

“The ball, it’s a setup, Kendra,” she pressed. “There’s a reason it’s being held at his club, and that reason is because he hasn’t been to any of the ones held in the last three weeks, and neither have you. This one is mandatory attendance, to celebrate the solar eclipse happening on the same day that Venus and Mars will be aligned,” she hinted.

“Are you serious?” I asked as I slipped into my jacket and turned to glare out the window one last time. “I mean, I knew we’d be doing something for the event since they don’t happen very often, but setting me up is a little asshole-ish, even for them,” I groaned as I pulled my hair out of the jacket and tied it up into a messy heap atop my head.

“Just think about it? You’d be the most popular witch in the coven if you land him,” she said with a note of hopefulness in her tone.

“I’ll see you later,” I replied, giving her another tight-lipped smile as I started towards the door. “Kat, be careful at the club. I still don’t trust him or his crew. Plus, there’s still the demon infestation, which seems to get worse when he leaves.”

“I will; we’re always ready for the demons,” she said, blowing a raspberry at me as she headed out. “Go be the mad scientist and make those love potions.” Her voice floated back through the hall as the sound of her footsteps quieted as she moved down the staircase.

I slung my backpack on my shoulder, grabbed my cell phone, and headed downstairs, only to pause as the sound of laughter and music tickled my eardrums. I set my stuff down on the couch and moved towards the kitchen, finding Alden and my mother dancing to the high-pitched, nasal sounds of Bob Dylan. I leaned against the doorjamb, smiling as he clumsily moved her to the beat of the drums and harmonica.

She was laughing so much, her eyes sparkled with it. I hadn’t seen her happy in a very long time. Not since we were all together, before Joshua had gone off to boot camp. I should have turned away, leaving them to their happiness, but I wanted this moment, this moment in time to see her smiling, to hear her laughter.

“The girls left,” Alden murmured close to her ear, a husky note in his tone that indicated it was time for me to get lost. “I don’t know what I want to nibble on more, you or that lamb in the oven.”

I turned to leave and cringed as my mother answered.

“Grab the wine, screw the lamb, let it burn. I will let you nibble on me wherever you want… Kendra!” she screeched.

I scrunched up my face as I turned back, my silent retreat noticed. I tilted my head, smiled, and wiggled my fingers in a silent wave.

“We thought you left,” she shrilled with a guilty flush that rose to her cheeks, creating a mottled blush. “We heard the door.”

“Kat left to go to Club Chaos. I have to go to the shop tonight to make sure the shipment for Lucian’s club is ready to be picked up on time.” I awkwardly waited for her to dismiss me. They looked like naughty kids caught pilfering from the cookie jar, which was cute in a nauseating way.

“Can’t it wait? You should be out there with her, at the club. You’re not getting any younger, and rumor has it that Lucian is there tonight,” she chided.

“Rumor also has it that you’re setting me up with him,” I shot back, watching her guilty blush deepen and spread. “Don’t do that for me, please. I’m not interested.”

“It’s a good match; his blood is as old as ours, if not older, Kendra. Your pregnancy test came back negative when the coven cast the sands for you. You have to produce a child soon, you know that. Magdalena is gone and Joshua is dead, so you are the only one who can carry on this line now.”

“I know, Mother, I’m aware of my obligations and I am looking into matches, but not with him. I don’t like him, and you know it.”

She frowned. “You don’t have to like him to do what is needed to produce a child. At least consider it, for me?”

“Fine, but don’t get your hopes up. Besides, she may come back eventually,” I mumbled.

“Who,” she questioned softly.

“Your other daughter,” I replied sharply with a tight frown.

“You’re right, but her powers wouldn’t be awakened for a few years, and the coven needs numbers added to it now, magical ones who will eventually receive powers around the same time. Think about it, you will love motherhood.” She smiled, her hands wringing the soft folds of her skirt as I nodded—and a flash of mischievous inspiration struck me.

“You know, I’m really not the last in the bloodline that can carry on the line. I mean, you two might pop a little bun in the magical oven if you are up to what I think you are up to,” I teased. Alden looked at me sharply and my mother turned about fifteen shades of red. Oh, yeah. Getting a little payback of my own felt pretty good. “Okay, you two crazy kids be good. I won’t be home until morning. Lucian ordered enough potions to keep me busy for a week,” I grumbled, even though I was thankful. It gave me an excuse to hide. “Love you.” I turned towards the living room to retrieve my bag.

“Kendra,” Alden called out as I reached for the door.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning to look at him.

“Be careful tonight; the demons are out thicker than they’ve been in a while. I placed a salt circle around the shop earlier today and added some wards to keep you and your mother safe while you work, but it doesn’t guarantee they won’t be able to get inside. These ones are stronger than most demons; something is fueling their power—something or someone.”

“I’m always careful, Alden. And thank you. She hasn’t laughed like that in a long time—but if you hurt her? I’ll rip your heart out and feed it to the cats.”

Chapter 5

I pulled into the empty parking lot of Midnight Emporium a little before nine. We’d picked the new name when we created the branding for the relaunch. Mom and Alden had come up with the idea to add a café that had outside seating, which had bumped the profit margin up. We sold mostly herbal teas that we made to order, or some of the baked goods that my mom and grandmother made on-site in the new kitchen.

It was a typical tourist store in the front, with baubles and whatnots that lined the windows, grabbing tourists’ curiosity. The front consisted of non-magical items, with the occasional harmless trinket that was spelled for prosperity or safekeeping. The back was where the real magic was, and where I made soaps, shampoos, and lotions, enriched in magic and herbs.

The shop had barely been above the red when Lucian made my mother an offer. He’d wanted a potion to enhance sexual stimulation. Of course, we’d said yes when he’d named the price he would purchase them for. It was unheard of, but then, I was sure he knew what a pain in the ass they were to brew, and didn’t want to deal with the manufacturing process himself. Magic was released during the brewing which went airborne when the magic mixed with the heat from simmering a batch for a few hours, so I’d be a mess distilling them.

I turned off the ignition and grabbed my overnight bag, then slipped it over my shoulder. When I stepped out of the car, I paused as the fine hair on my neck rose. Scanning the dark parking lot, I shivered and rushed for the shop. Once there, I dropped the keys and bent over to pick them up, but felt something touch my back. I spun around defensively, searching the lot, but found nothing. I exhaled as I turned, slipping the key into the lock and entering the store. Closing the door, I reached for the light switch, and murmured the words to ignite the protection candles which were positioned around the store.

I shook my head, knowing I’d let Alden’s warning slink around my mind, and was just reacting to it. I hated that we had little to no knowledge of why the demons were here, or why they were converging on this town as if it was some focal point of evil. While the majority of them remained just on the outskirts of town, there were an occasional few that made it past the wards. The other thing was, the demons were unpredictable and tended to show up when you least expected them.

Walking through the store, I righted items that were out of place or messed up from people picking them up and then setting them back down once they’d eyed something else. It was a never-ending process to keep everything where it belonged. The store was always busiest on the weekend, before and after the never-ending shenanigans at Club Chaos began or ended, depending on your viewpoint. I hated admitting it, but that club brought in the sexually curious who were a lot more open-minded than out-of-towners passing through here on their way to or from Canada.

Opening the door to the potion room, I dropped my bag on the couch and checked the supplies. I left the door open, because being here alone was creepy, but not being able to hear outside the room added to it even more. Plus, brewing in the room was horrible, the heat unmanageable if all of the state-of-the-art stovetops were brewing potions at the same time.

Moving to the couch, I slipped out of my pants and shirt and put on a sexy pair of ruffle shorts and a spaghetti strap tank top that I could easily move in and not melt from the stifling heat. I had resorted to cooking or creating potions at night, since it gave Alden and my mother some alone time, and allowed me to work more efficiently in less clothing. I quickly put my hair in a bun and turned on Ed Sheeran’s sultry voice. Music filled the room, and the last bit of stress from the day washed away.

Next, I headed into the very back of the store, where we had a small greenhouse that stored the fresh herbs. Most of them were exotic or foreign to the United States and were a lot more potent if they were grown fresh on site. I piled a basket full of the ingredients I needed and got to work filling the heavy pots. Pouring dried aniseed into the stone bowl, I began crushing it into a fine powder along with cinnamon, cloves, and fennel seed. When it had the consistency of dust, I poured equal parts into the boiling water. Sweat trickled down my neck and back as I used my wrist to push away a strand of hair that had plastered to my temple.

My hips swayed to the music as I ground the dried fruit that would reduce the black licorice flavor of the aniseed. Aniseed was the main reason black jelly beans and Jägermeister found their unique flavor, and it was renowned for its aphrodisiac properties around the world. Cinnamon, clove, and fennel had natural analgesic properties and the fruit I used was pomegranates to help blood flow, which of course added to the pleasure for both men and women.

Once the dust had been added, I placed the seeds of the fruit in and then a spoonful of raw honey and chanted the spell to increase the sexual potency of the potions.

My body ached already, pulsing with the magic from the potion that left me aching for release. Once I reduced the heat to a low simmer, I moved to the couch and retrieved the book I was reading, a naughty erotica that was my guilty pleasure.

I sat down, reaching back to rub my shoulder, which had a knot in it from the tension I’d been dealing with over the last few days. Alden’s training was more like military school. It left us mentally and physically drained, and considering he was having us show up three times a week, I was exhausted from the craziness of it all. We trained twice a week in magic, and one day was spent learning to defend ourselves, to fight back. On the bright side, I was learning to harness and control my powers, which hadn’t been easy.

I lifted my legs and set them on the arm of the couch as I sat up to fluff the decorative throw pillows behind myself. I rested my head on them and dove into the book as I waited for the timer to signal that the potions were finished. I groaned as I got to a particular part of the book that was filled with sex. I squirmed around the couch, hating that my vagina had a pulse, an honest-to-God pulse that needed release.

Setting the book down and turned to look at the timer. An hour remained. I lay back down and stared at the ceiling, feeling my eyes growing heavy as I fought the sleepiness that was threatening to take me down, but without meaning to, my eyes closed. I struggled to open them, but it felt as if I was being pulled into a dream, as if someone had reached into my mind and dragged me under.

I was inside a nightclub, one I assumed belonged to Lucian, since I’d heard he had several, and there were naked bodies writhing together on the floor, fornicating to the seductive beat of the music that pounded from the speakers.

My eyes slid over the couples in scandalizing positions; the sounds of body meeting body somehow matched the song, which was seducing my body as I stood, playing voyeur to the people in the room.

Searching the room, I found a couple who stared back at me, their frenzied movements slowing as the man pulled his cock  from her welcoming heat, slick with her wetness. Silver eyes met mine in naked need, his hand wrapped around his cock as he stroked it, beckoning me to partake in his pleasure. His other hand extended as he watched me, his eyes slowly roaming over my body. I stepped back, away from him, needing to put more distance between me and them, but I didn’t get more than a foot away before I hit something hard.

I started to turn, but hands wrapped around my waist as the panic kicked in. My heart beat in a painful staccato pulse, making it hard to breathe.

My brain told me to run, to leave this place, and yet the hands held me in a steel grip. They directed my body until I faced the stage, where a blindfolded woman was tied up as her lover was using her while the crowd watched, spellbound by the scene in front of them. I shivered from the heat of the hands that held me, contrasting against the chill in the room.

I tried to see who held me in place, but something moved on the stage, pulling my eyes with an invisible thread. Lucian stepped from the shadows into view, his shirtless body on display. I didn’t move, not as our eyes locked on each other. Everything else fell away, except for the hands that held me. I watched him as he stood there, beckoning me forward, and yet the hands wouldn’t release me.

Lucian unbuttoned his pants as I gazed upon him, unable to look away as he freed his glorious cock. I was transfixed, locked into those endless midnight eyes as the hands released me, slid slowly around my waist, and lifted my shirt until my breasts were exposed.

I trembled as the hands held up my arms and slipped the tank top off, dropping it on the floor. The strong hands caressed my breasts, testing their weight as Lucian watched us from where he stood on the stage. I couldn’t look away from him, not even to figure out who was fondling me. I felt the hands as they slid down from my breasts and pushed against my shorts. As he lowered my shorts and panties, his lips kissed the curve of my hip and the back of my thigh, trailing his mouth down my skin as he stripped me bare, leaving me naked for Lucian’s intensifying stare.

The moment Lucian’s heated gaze slid down my body, I was turned, and I peered down into piercing violet eyes framed by thick, lush black lashes. The man touching me was beautiful, terrifyingly so. His long, wavy black hair had been pulled away from his face and was restrained by a leather tie at the base of his neck. He was tall, with a muscular build like a swimmer; a dark seraph, who had come to seduce me.

He kissed his way up my thigh as I passively watched him, and once he stood again, he pulled me against his naked body, forcing me to step out of my panties and shorts.

Marilyn Manson’s Sweet Dreams started playing, and I shivered as the music seemed to steal my inhibitions. My body rocked to the beat, slowly swaying as the man smiled down at me where he’d stripped me for Lucian’s intense gaze, knowing I was lost to the magic in the lyrics and chords as the song played.

The man’s hands grabbed my arms, holding them out, much to the excitement of the crowd who now had stopped fucking to watch us. My eyes widened as I took in their hungry looks. I needed to get away from this place before I gave in to the music and ended up in the crowd. I struggled to get my hands away, but his mouth touched my shoulder and I sagged as desire ripped through me.

He spun me around for everyone to see, and then slowly turned my body around again, giving those on stage a delectable view of my ass as he parted my cheeks and growled from deep in his chest. He turned me again, and pushed me towards the stage, giving me no choice but to walk or be trampled by him as he walked right behind me, guiding me.

Lucian waited, his eyes filled with liquid heat as I approached him. The crowd’s anticipation was palpable, and mine grew with every moment the song played. Once I was close enough, Lucian held out his hand and I accepted, stepping away from the man who had been touching me.

“You surprise me,” Lucian whispered for my ears alone. He pulled me forward and then ran his thumb over my bottom lip. He stepped closer until his heat encompassed me and threatened to swallow me whole.

He didn’t smell the same. The fragrance of warm scotch with a touch of citrus was missing. Not that I cared, since it was still heavenly against my senses, disarming them as his mouth hovered against mine. The moment his touched mine, I moaned as desire unfurled deep inside of me. When he pulled his mouth from mine, I cried out from the loss of his heat. He turned me in his arms, forcing my back against his thick chest muscles.

Lucian held my arms out, just as the other man had done before him. He displayed me to the onlookers as he pushed my arms up, encouraging me to wrap them around his neck. His hands slowly slid down my body, until they found my wet pussy, which he rewarded me with an approving growl against my ear as his fingers explored the curves of my naked sex.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, his fingers slowly pushing into my body as the crowd watched us. “So fucking tight and wet; is this for me?” he asked, and I nodded. “You’re darker than the other one,” he hissed as he lifted me without warning, holding my legs open to the crowd as he held me there, balanced on his body.

The crowd quieted with anticipation. He turned me in the direction of a bed I hadn’t noticed before, and worry tried to sneak into my thoughts, only to be washed away as the song increased its seductive tempo. Once we were at the bed, he set me down and then shoved me. I bounced on the mattress, and turned to watch him as he crawled onto the bed slowly.

“Do you want to come for me?” His voice was a seductive heat that slid over my body and echoed in my head. I nodded, unable to say it aloud. “Say it, Kendra. Tell me to make you come, to make you mine. You want to be mine, don’t you?”

“Yes.” The single word slipped from my tongue, echoing through the crowd, who continued to watch us.

He turned my body until I was once again pressed with my back to his stomach as he gave the crowd an unobstructed view of my sex. His fingers slipped through the folds, slowly turning as he hit my clitoris with his knuckles, brushing the delicate flesh.

I could hear the muffled moans of the woman beside us, so I turned, staring at her blindfolded form. She was bound, her hands tied to her ankles, allowing the man who fucked her complete control as he pounded into her body. I felt my body heat at the idea of being so helpless, with no control over what happened.

“I’ll fuck you like that,” Lucian whispered against my ear. “I’d fuck every part of you until you knew you were mine to do whatever I wanted with. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I swallowed as I felt something wet touching my pussy. I looked down, finding the man with dark hair and violet eyes staring up at me as his tongue lapped at my sex. Panic shot through me and I tried to back away, only for Lucian to whisper against my ear as he kissed my neck. “Shhh, he won’t hurt you. He wants to tastes you, to know what your sweet pussy taste like when you come. You want him to make you come, don’t you?” This time, I shook my head. Lucian held my legs apart, giving the dark seraph full access to my body.

I shivered as his violet eyes stared into mine as he kissed and caressed my pussy with his devilish tongue. He was beautiful, and knew what I needed, and yet my mind screamed for me to end his play. My body wanted it to be otherwise and I exploded as the man pushed his tongue deep inside. He growled as my body pushed against him for more.

“Just you,” I whimpered to Lucian, yet I was rocking my hips against the beautiful man’s skillful tongue. My mind knew it was wrong, my body wanted another orgasm from him.

“Your body doesn’t lie as easily as your tongue,” Lucian growled as his fingers pinched my clitoris, and then pulled my pussy apart for the man, who pushed his tongue deeper, and then pulled it out, only to slowly run it through my folds. “Look at him,” Lucian demanded, holding my chin as he forced me to look down at him. “You’re so hot, so fucking sexy. You’re on fire for us,” he growled as I watched the man back away, taking the heat of his skilled mouth with him.

Lucian shoved me aside, and I cried out from being jolted from the delicious haze I’d allowed to engulf me. He turned me until my ass was in the air and my legs were spread apart, and then I screamed as his fingers pushed into my aching pussy.

“Such a bad girl, look at this mess. What am I going to do with you?” He tsked as his fingers pumped into me and his mouth touched the round globe of my ass cheek, kissing it as his nose pressed against it. His tongue slid around his fingers, lapping at the mess he’d spoken of. I trembled as my body started to move, working his fingers deeper into my core.

I wasn’t ready when the orgasm shot through me, violent, yet ending prematurely as he removed his mouth and fingers and slapped my ass, sending pain and heat rushing through me. I whimpered, the waning orgasm still throbbing through my body with the need to finish.

“Bad girl, I didn’t say you could come, did I?” he growled, anger lacing his tone. He turned me over, my face inches from his cock as he stared down at me with fury in his eyes. “You don’t come unless I allow it; now clean the mess you made.” He pushed his cock against my lips, as he grabbed my hair and forced his thick cock into my mouth. I gagged as it hit the back of my throat; tears filled my eyes as I adjusted to his size and the saltiness of his pre-come. He wasn’t gentle and right then, I didn’t want gentle. “That’s a good girl, take it all,” he encouraged, pushing deeper into my mouth as I relaxed my jaw to accommodate more. “Look at me,” he growled, and I looked up, finding his grin sinful—and there was something darker than usual in it. Something that bothered me as it registered in the back of my mind.

He pulled out and rubbed his thumb over my lips as he pushed me back down, moving his body between my legs as his mouth clamped against my sex. His noises were of approval, and I cried out at the heat his mouth delivered as his fingers slid over my ass. I was so lost in his sinful mouth that when he pushed a finger in, I jerked in surprise.

“You haven’t been fucked there yet, have you?” he laughed, sliding it in and out as I tightened against his exploration. That was a weird question for him to ask. I was coming undone and he knew it; my body tightened and the moment I should have exploded, he pulled out and pushed me down as he leaned over me. “Answer me.”

“No, I have not,” I whimpered, and then he turned my face until I was watching the woman on stage as his cock slid against the mess he had created.

“Isn’t she beautiful? Watch as they make her come for me.”

I watched as one man pushed his cock against her mouth as the other stepped away, his cock dripping come as he left the stage, another taking his place immediately. She opened to them, her body pushing and pulling as one entered her from behind while the other pushed into her mouth without stopping until his cock was buried to the base, deep in her throat.

“She can take three at a time now; she’s quite the pleaser. They beg me to fuck her, to abuse her sweet pussy and throat. She’s mine now; she does anything I tell her to, anyone I tell her to. She doesn’t watch anymore, doesn’t feel anything unless I allow it. You will be like that soon, begging me to let them fuck you. Never knowing who it is who enters your pretty holes, and yet willing to take who I tell you to.”

“Lucian,” I pleaded, unsure what I was asking, but his fingers had been teasing my sex as he spoke, and I needed to come, to find the release I knew he could give me.

“Call me Luc,” he demanded angrily. He sat back, staring at my glistening sex, wet from the need to come as the woman who was now screaming had. “I’m going to fuck you, do you want that?” His fingers pushed inside of me, forcing me to spread my legs wider to take more of him. “Do you want me to fuck you until my cock caresses your womb, planting my seed so deep that it can’t be removed?”

Seed? I swallowed a moan as he withdrew his fingers as he leaned over to kiss my lips, drawing my mind back into his haze of heated pleasure. When he pulled back, he pushed me to the edge of the bed, forcing me to watch the woman who was still pleasuring the men she was with. My head hung off the edge, and I lifted it to watch as Lucian knelt between my legs. His cock pushed against my pussy and I closed my eyes, knowing that soon he’d be buried in my welcoming heat and I’d get to come.

I heard his laughter and opened my eyes as I struggled to sit up, only to find vinelike things crawling over my skin. I whimpered as they caressed me, sending the feather-soft kisses over my flesh. His cock rubbed against my wet slit, entering it slowly as I watched the vines that were attached to him slowly entwining my body. Skeletal wings exploded from his back, and I gasped at the strangeness of it. His eyes, a shade lighter than true indigo, turned red, red as the flames that licked the walls of Hell. I dropped my head, unable to hold it up as the vines caressed my clitoris and wrapped around the peaks of my nipples, creating a maelstrom of sensations that threatened to consume me.

I turned my head to the audience, blanching as I took in the blood and gore. Women and men were tearing each other apart. Literally. I shook my head and turned to look at the other woman on stage, only to discover they’d removed the blindfold, and my own eyes stared at me. I was the woman on stage? I blinked and lifted my head, finding an inhuman creature between my legs as he watched me absorb the fucked up chaos that was playing out around us.

His huge, skeletal black wings expanded and vines ripped from his body without him reacting to the pain as blood seeped from where they’d escaped. They writhed as they left his body, slithering onto mine with a pleasure I couldn’t ignore. They caressed my pussy, rubbing my clitoris as he rocked his hips as the tip of his cock remained cradled in my pussy.

What fucked up shit was this? I dropped my head, trying to ignore what my eyes were telling me and focus on what my body felt: white-hot pleasure. It was everything. I needed to focus on it, and nothing else.

My eyes opened against my will as I heard my name being called. It was being screamed. I blinked at my reflection, who was now screaming at me as Lucian laughed wickedly while pushing further into my body. Something pushed into my mouth and I swallowed, unable to stop myself as it pushed in deeper.

Pain erupted as everything happening registered at once.

I struggled to sit up, only for my hair to be yanked back down as the man who’d tasted my pussy appeared in front of me. He made me look at Lucian—who wasn’t Lucian at all.

An Angel of Death stared back at me, his features twisted into smug satisfaction as he watched me struggle to get away from the monstrosities that were trying to enter my body through my skin. Not vines; they were alive, like he was.

“Scream,” he demanded as he pushed in deeper. “You let me in, so now you belong to me. No one can protect you from me, not even him. I own you both.” He buried himself in my body and I trembled as I exploded around his cock. Muscles burned, tightened as my body clenched against his cock, milking it as the orgasm tore through me. “I own you both, and he can’t save you now.” His laughter filled the room, drowning out the music as he watched me struggle against him. “My sweet girls, so fucking beautiful,” he snarled as he pumped harder into my body, as if he was running out of time.

“Wake up!”

The words tore through my mind. Another orgasm ripped through me as something slapped against my face. I felt myself being pulled in two directions, as if something was trying to get me away from this creature who gave me pleasure.

I winced as blood trickled from my nose and then gasped as water was doused on me. I blinked, watching as the winged creatures stared into my eyes with sickening amusement. I was being grabbed by rough hands, and then water was poured over my head, ice-cold water.

“Wake up!”

The voice boomed in my ear, ricocheting through my body and mind. I blinked, watching as my dream lover was forced from my body violently by blue flames. The blue flames hit the red flames as they erupted, protecting me from the searing heat. The sound of laughter echoed in my ears as hands held me up, forcing me back to reality.

“Bloody fucking hell, wake up!”

Something slapped me and I blinked, the echo of the orgasms still clinging to my body. I whimpered as I felt everything. The ice-cold water, the thing stuck in my throat, and the cock which withdrew, followed by the echo of his laughter.

I bent over, throwing up until I felt the thing that had slipped down my throat. I pulled on it, forcing it out as I retched up everything in my stomach. It was endless. I stopped, unable to get it out as pain ripped through me. Strong hands reached down, uncaring that saliva and blood were escaping along with the writhing creature, and yanked it out of me.

I looked up into terrifying midnight eyes and screamed. I slammed against the shower wall hard, my naked body a mixture of pain and bruises with the ghost pain of seductive fingers that played upon my pussy.

“Did he fuck you?” came a snapped question and I trembled until my teeth chattered violently.

“It was a dream. Just a dream,” I whimpered as another orgasm threatened to consume me. This wasn’t happening, right? I buried my face in my hands as my body shook and my knees buckled. Hands grabbed me, catching me before I could fall, and then the orgasm ripped through me and I sobbed at what was happening to me. I was coming in Lucian’s arms from a nightmare in which he’d just played a starring role.

“I’m going to rip his fucking spine out through his mouth,” he growled as he held me carefully, as if I was some delicate flower that would wilt.

A sob ripped from my chest as he moved me back into the other room, touching my stomach as he pushed my legs apart, and then looked up at me with ice-cold, midnight eyes. I looked down, finding lacy red marks all over my legs, torso, and breasts, and then lifted my tear-filled eyes back to his with accusation written in them.

If it had just been a dream, why was my sex swollen and sore from it? Why had I just tossed my cookies and thrown up God-knows-what in the bathroom?

“Get dressed, now,” he gritted out as he stood and turned away from me as if I was some vile creature he couldn’t stand the sight of.

Chapter 6

I was seated on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, as Lucian recounted the delicate position he’d discovered me in to my mother and Alden. He told them that he’d stopped by the shop to pick up his order early since normally I was done before the requested time. He’d explained how he’d found the door unlocked and walked in to find me in my more-than-compromised situation.

Thankfully, he’d skipped some of the embarrassing details, such as how I’d been naked, which I still couldn’t understand, or that I’d been throwing up something…weird.

“And you’re sure it was a demon?” Alden asked, and Lucian nodded with a look that passed between them that worried me. “Dream demons are almost unheard of these days; humans are who they prefer to go after, since witches can normally ignore their presence in a dream state.”

“Normally, yes,” Lucian explained patiently. “But this one had to have had something she wanted, something to draw her to him.”

Or someone.

“They can’t do anything unless the person who is dreaming wants what they are offering them.” His tone turned condemning as he spoke.

“So what you’re saying is that I wanted to be…that I wanted to have sex with him?” I asked sharply, and glass shattered. I turned my head in the direction of the sound and found Lucian glaring at me with a look that could easily kill. I lowered my eyes to his hand which had blood oozing from where the glass had sliced through it.

“Oh, my,” my mother murmured as she jumped into action and grabbed a tea towel to wrap around his hand. “I can heal it,” she offered, and my eyes were drawn back to his angry black-blue glare.

“It’s fine, I have runes active. It will be healed shortly without aid.” He continued to glare at me. “Did you fuck it?” he snapped angrily, and my mother’s eyes darted nervously from me to Lucian.

“It was a dream,” I gritted out. I hated that I still felt that creature’s touch on my skin. I hated that I remembered every lurid detail of it. I hated that the man sitting in the armchair across from me looked just as the supposed demon did.

“Keep telling yourself that and you may end up believing it.”

“If it wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t my fault! Dreams aren’t supposed to be real, that’s why they are called dreams!” I argued.

“How do we protect her?” my mother interrupted, ending our argument.

“She has to fight him; but before she can fight him, she would have to not want to fuck it first.”

“I didn’t want to fuck him!” I growled as I stood up and glared at him. He moved stealthily like a panther, until he was towering over and glowering down at me.

“You had to have or he wouldn’t have been able to get to you!”

“I didn’t want him!”

“Then what could he possibly have done to convince you to fuck him?” he shouted, shaking the planters.

“He didn’t do anything. It was you,” I whispered coldly. “You were the demon, Lucian. I fucked you. I let you use me, touch me, and play with me. If it was a demon, I let him fuck me because I thought it was you.”

He swallowed and seemed to deflate a little as the fight left him. His eyes closed as he rubbed his hands over his face as if he was exhausted.

Lucian grabbed my hand and I shuddered, remembering him holding me through the violent orgasm that he hadn’t given me, yet he’d cradled me through it, holding me as I cried into his chest.

When I just continued to stare at his hand, he dropped it. He resumed his place across from me, and I quietly sat down as the room remained in deafening silence. I wanted to scream and cry, but mostly, I wanted to figure out why it had targeted me in the first place.

“Why me, why would it go after me?” I asked softly.

“You’re powerful, fertile, and unmated. You have yet to choose a partner to procreate with, so you make an easy target. Demons like him, they like to breed because then they have total control over the one who carries their unborn child and the child itself once it has been born.”

“So you’re saying that when he said seed, he meant he wanted to impregnate me?” I swallowed against my rolling stomach as the color drained from my face.

“Well, he couldn’t achieve that goal unless you agreed to it,” he snapped, and I grimaced at his damning words. “You need to tell me what happened, and start from the beginning.”

I stared at him and then looked at my mother and Alden. I blushed and moved my eyes back to Lucian. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Leave us,” he demanded, and my mother and Alden stood up, yet waited for my direction.

I chewed my bottom lip and nodded at their unasked question. I was going to tell Lucian everything. Every time the coven had an issue, he was the one they went to anyway. If what he said was true, I’d given myself to a demon that had looked and sounded exactly like Lucian did, which meant the demon knew him. It had taken his form to get me to succumb to it, which said a lot, since no one knew I had a huge thing for this man.

Once the room was cleared, Lucian stood, moving to the sideboard, and picked up a bottle of scotch before twisting off the cap. He poured the amber liquid into the glass and returned to me, quietly offering one of the crystal tumbler glasses. As I took it, he sat on the sofa, way too close for comfort.

“What did he look like?” he asked, his penetrating glare seeming to drill a hole into my head as he stared at me while I gazed at the doorway my mother and Alden had just disappeared through.

“You,” I replied softly. “The first thing I can remember about the dream… It began with me walking through a club, one I assumed was yours. I was trying to leave, but someone grabbed me, and when I looked at the stage, you were there. It was like I had no will of my own and was just going with the flow. The man who grabbed me…I let him take off my clothes. I let him do it because I thought you were watching me, and I wanted that to happen, I guess. I let him take me to you, and then you showed me to everyone, and I let you. I’m such an idiot.” My voice hitched unevenly. “The one who grabbed me…I let him…I let it, it do things to me. I let it because you wanted me to.” My voice trailed off in a whisper as I covered my face with my hands, hating myself as I told every lurid detail, right down to what I felt coming undone for the creature.

Once the story was out, I waited for a few moments for him to say something. When a few more moments passed without any of his devastatingly hurtful comments, I turned my eyes to Lucian and found him studying me silently. He looked angry, hurt, and violent, a weird combination considering everything that had happened and everything I knew about him.

He stood up and moved away from me, as if I was some dirty little thing he couldn’t get away from fast enough. “You shouldn’t have let him touch you,” he snapped.

I turned in my seat and looked at him incredulously. “I didn’t know it wasn’t you touching me,” I argued.

“You should have been able to see through it. What type of music was playing in your dream?” he growled.

“Marilyn Manson, Sweet Dreams are Made of This.”

He stared at me, nodding. “The beat, it called to you?”

“It was like it went through me, taking away the part of me that wanted to run. Any time I got scared, the music got louder or the beat got faster. Once it had, he would touch me, and I would refocus on him. I wanted him, though—no matter what was playing, I wanted him to have me.”

“Him, or me?” There was a pain in his eyes that I didn’t understand.

“You, Lucian,” I admitted, albeit hesitantly. “I wanted you for some crazy reason.”

“Because you lust after me, and he’s a creature who feeds off sin. Lust is a big one for demons.”

“You know who he is, don’t you?” My eyes narrowed as I carefully observed every nuance about him.

“Yes,” he spat out as though he tasted something nasty, and I swallowed hard.

“Who was it?” My voice wavered and sounded breathy. He regarded me for a few moments as he considered his words, and when they came, it was as if he had leveled a wrecking ball right at my body.

“Lucifer.” His voice was so clear, there was no way I could mistake what he just said. I shook as tears filled my eyes and burned as they slowly slid down my cheeks. “You fucked the devil, Kendra.”

“He didn’t finish, and I didn’t agree to carry his seed, or whatever the hell it was,” I replied as nausea burned my insides.

“You took him in your mouth; you let him enter your body. You all but signed your soul over to him; it doesn’t matter if you agreed or not at this point. He’s marked you now, which means I have to undo it.”

“How?”

“That’s what I have to figure out. Until I do, you do nothing alone. You definitely do not sleep alone. Lucifer got to you once, he will do it again. You’re fertile, which is just an additional inducement for him to try for you again. Your child would be powerful, but a child from you and him…” He paused, staring at me as the tick in his jaw hammered angrily. “That would be a child more powerful than you could ever imagine.”

I shivered as a sob sounded from the doorway to the kitchen. I turned in that direction, and saw my mother covering her mouth as tears streamed down her face. Alden held her as he stared at me.

I’d had sex with the devil; because shit around here wasn’t crazy enough, why not screw Lucifer?

“How do we prevent him from finding me?” I turned away from the horror I’d just seen in my mother’s eyes. “Is there a spell, or some sort of devil’s trap? Is there any way to prevent him from getting to me?”

“Me, you use me. He won’t chance having to wait the nine months to know if the child you breed is his or mine.”

“Excuse me?” I blinked, wondering if I hadn’t heard him correctly.

Chapter 7

I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I prepared for bed. I’d showered and scrubbed myself until every part of my body was red and sore. No matter how hard I scrubbed, those phantom fingers still touched me in sinful ways. I glared at the weak girl in the mirror, wondering why she would have done something so stupid, considering she hated Lucian. I picked up the vase that sat on the counter and threw it at the mirror, closing my eyes as the glass shattered.

I picked up one of the jagged shards and then dropped it as I stared down into the fractured reflection that stared up at me. I was a mess, and now that my mother and Alden had left me alone with Lucian, I felt lost. They’d most likely done it so they could run and tell the coven what I’d allowed to happen, and to hopefully prevent it from happening to others. I was a defensive mess who wanted to be anywhere else but here right now.

Getting the broom and dust pan to clean the wreckage that seemed to symbolize my life allowed me a chance to get my head in a better space. I slowly cleaned the glittering shards, only to have the illusion shattered moments later as I made my way down the hall from the bathroom. I paused as I noticed Lucian leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom, watching me with amusement dancing in his eyes.

I crossed my arms and considered changing yet again. I was wearing a black nightgown, one that offered little to the imagination, but in retrospect, I never shopped with the thought of someone sleeping with me. It had little bows sewn into the hemline and matching ones on the spaghetti strap top. All of my normal pajamas were filthy since I spent so little time here, and most of my time was wrapped up in training or working in the shop.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly as I neared the doorway of my room.

“I’m fine,” I snapped, unable to stop the self-loathing that consumed my mind.

He straightened, eyeing me as if I’d said my hair was on fire, instead of being fine.

I pushed past him, moving to the bed we’d be sharing tonight. It was midnight, still too many hours until dawn, and my mother had suggested he sleep in my room, to protect me from being seduced by the devil. As if he wasn’t just another version of the devil, except this rendition in the flesh?

“Stay on your side of the bed,” I warned. The moment I said it, I eyed the twin bed and scowled at him. “This isn’t going to work.”

“It will work.” His tone carried more confidence than I felt. He pulled off his shirt and my mouth went dry. His muscles rippled in the dimly lit room, and I ran my tongue over my lips as I turned away from him. “We’ll just have to get up close and personal, which is fine since I have to touch you to keep the monsters at bay. He can’t get to you if you’re grounded.”

“Grounded?” I asked hesitantly as I turned around just in time to watch him slipping into a pair of sweats that did little to hide the fact that he wore nothing beneath them.

“If someone is holding on to you, he can’t pull you to him. It’s one of the basic laws of physics, so as long as I am holding you, he can’t have you.”

“So all I have to do is find someone to sleep with me every night and I won’t need you?” I raised one brow in question.

His mouth jerked into an angry smirk. “If they’re strong enough to fight the devil himself to keep you, sure,” he mused with a cocky grin.

“You’re so sure that that is who I was with?”

“Get in bed, you’re wasting my time,” he replied thickly as I kicked off my slippers and stared at him. I looked up as I started to roll my eyes, only to find a huge red devil’s trap that had been marked on the ceiling above my bed. It took the fight out of me; reality was such a bitch.

I did as he asked, slipping beneath the covers and then shivering as he did the same, our bodies connecting as he pulled me close and cradled my head on his arm. We fit perfectly, like two puzzle pieces that had once been lost, and were now being reconnected.

I inhaled his earthy masculine scent and closed my eyes, knowing sleep wouldn’t come easily, not after the last dream I’d had.

“You’d fight the devil for me?” I murmured as I opened my eyes and turned to face him, which was a huge mistake. Our lips were mere inches away, his breath fanned mine, and I licked my lips as I stared into his eyes, endless zeniths that answered my question.

He smirked. “Some people scare the devil,” he whispered as his eyes lowered to my lips. The tick in his jaw came back, as if he was considering right where my lips had been earlier. “Other’s become his playthings. Don’t be that one. Be the one he fears. Now go to sleep before I show you the difference between him and me.”

I turned back away and then jumped as his arm wrapped around my waist, just under my breasts. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, feel it beating wildly inside my chest, which meant he could too. His nose was in my hair, smelling it, and I could feel the heat pouring from his body.

“This isn’t going to work,” I grumbled as I sat up and rubbed my temples. I could feel his eyes on my back as I sat there, hating the idea of sleeping next to a man I hadn’t even realized I wanted until I’d kidnapped him. Then, as if I was being punished for lusting after him, I allowed Lucifer to pretend to be him—which, hey, turned out hadn’t been a dream.

“Look at me,” he growled, and I chewed my bottom lip before I turned and looked at him. “You’re not the first to get tricked by him, and you won’t be the last. You can’t stay up forever, so lay your ass down before I hold you down until you sleep.”

“Just fucking try it,” I snorted. I was picked up and slammed down, flat on the mattress. His heavy body pinned mine to the bed and a sexy smile played across his lips as I stared up at him in shock.

“I don’t try anything, little girl. If I say I will do something, plan on me doing it. Don’t challenge me, because I like to win,” he murmured as he lowered his mouth to mine, as if he was testing what I might do.

I lifted my lips to his, not kissing him, but needing to know the difference. Maybe he understood what I was doing, maybe he didn’t. I inhaled deeply of him as I opened my eyes to find him watching me with an intensity that made me shiver.

I wasn’t convinced it hadn’t been him in my dream. He’d felt so real. I’d noticed similarities, but there’d also been subtle differences. I licked his lips, needing him to open to me, but he didn’t. Instead, a guttural growl escaped from deep in his chest and he rolled off of me.

“Go to sleep,” he snapped.

I rolled away from him, hating that I’d even tried anything with him. What the fuck was wrong with me? He was part of the reason whatever had happened to me happened. I’d assumed I was with him, no one else. I’d wanted him so bad that I’d allowed my guard to lower, and it had landed me here, in my bed, with this man cradling me as silent tears rolled down my cheek.

“Sleep,” his voice boomed, echoing in my mind, and I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t. My eyes closed and my body sagged as I succumbed to his demand. 

* ~*~*

~Lucian

I was going to destroy Lucifer. Rip him apart, bit by bloody fucking bit, until nothing remained. I’d entered her shop, surprised at the sweet noises she’d been making. My cock had reacted, growing hard with the need to fuck her until she couldn’t move afterwards. The same shit which had been haunting me since I’d fucked her in the shack where she’d taken me to last week.

Then I’d heard other voices, and seen red. I’d pushed through the front doors, finding the one to her brewery room open. She’d been on the couch, naked, her body writhing as she touched her sweet bean, flicking it with urgency. I’d pulled back, watching as her body moved and her noises drove me to the brink of insanity—up until she’d whispered Luc.

Many had called me that before, but then I’d smelled sulfur, noted the way her body was moving, as if she was actually being fucked. The vine had slithered from between her lips and my stomach had dropped at what I was playing witness to. He was fucking my Lena. He’d gotten to her somehow, discovered they were twins and he’d somehow gotten her permission to enter her body.

Holding her as she escaped him without throttling her had been an act of supreme willpower. I’d wanted to show her the dissimilarities, to make her feel me to her core so that she never mistook the difference again, because somehow I’d known he’d used my image to get to my girl. He’d die soon enough, but right now…right now I had to prevent her from falling into his hands, which meant I had to stay close without getting emotionally attached to her.

“This is unexpected,” Hades’ deep voice whispered through the room before his form solidified from smoke.

I turned, locking eyes with his violet ones that skimmed my profile before moving to Lena’s scantily clad form; lingering at the place where her hip had been exposed as she’d kicked off her blankets. Without thinking, I moved my hand to pull the sheet over her, covering her from the burning curiosity in his eyes.

“She’s not worth starting a war. Call off the bounty you placed on Lucy’s head.”

“Fuck you, Hades. He wants her because she’s mine, because of what he thinks she has. That alone should fucking scare you, considering what would happen if that asshole gets his hands on the seal before we do. Consider this, friend: I am older than both of you. I am eternal, more than immortal and never-ending. I don’t think the little asshole is searching for the seal just so he can have a friendly game of hide and go seek; from what I have heard, he tires of being tethered to Hell. He can’t remain outside of Hell for more than a few hours without his strength weakening. He wants to open the gates, but he hasn’t figured out how to.

“Now, he’s creating minions to help him from outside. He meant to place his bastard in her belly tonight. Had he done so, he’d have more than a stepping stone into this world. He’d have a son strong enough to demolish the Gates of Hell and accomplish his goal without the seal. Do you seriously think their God would be merciful if his entire flock was murdered or possessed by demons? Lucifer is merely a child to us, one that needs to be knocked on his ass to be shown where he is in the chain of command. The other Gods have already noticed his demons are here, wearing humans as if they are fucking Halloween costumes. Sooner or later, he will get the war he wants.”

“What if the sky falls?” Hades shrugged, his eyes narrowing as he watched me. “We’ve dealt with other people’s problems for long enough. Let them clean up their own fucking messes.”

“Do you think this round is just about him wanting a little more room to move around in? How long before the old Gods and the New Gods declare war on each other—or us, for that matter? That seal he is searching for won’t just unlock this world to Hell, it will open every world. Every world, Hades. Only a few beings know what that entails. You damn well know we’re not ready to fight those creatures again. Besides, if they come, it means we lose everything we’ve worked to achieve here. There will be no place or no world where we can hide from them. That seal is the one thing keeping them where they are. So either help me, or fuck off.”

“You know whose side I am on: I’ve been beside you since the dawn of man,” he snapped. “Speaking of sides, I think it is best you hear it from me rather than one of your little spies: I tasted her tonight—”

Faster than he could blink, I flew from the bed, snatching him up and pinning him to the wall; my eyes burned blue fire as I snarled, inches away from his throat.

“I should destroy you.”

He laughed, staring me down as I held his throat in a death grip. “I parted her sweet pussy and she rode my face, coming on it so prettily. She does make the most divine noises, doesn’t she? And she tastes of heaven, which none of us can get enough of.”

My hand tightened and yet the asshole continued to smirk. I measured my words so there would be no question about how I felt about what he had done. “She is mine and mine alone, and if you want to continue your sorry existence, you will shut the fuck up about what you did to her.”

“Why? If I hadn’t made her pussy wet, hadn’t made her come hard for me, she’d be pregnant right now. I placed a nice contraceptive spell over her precious womb with my tongue as I licked her so he couldn’t plant that seed she so blindly agreed to host. I knew which twin he’d pulled into Abbadon. I knew she was yours, and while I could have stood back and watched him do as he pleased, I improvised. I presented her to him, the devil himself. I stripped her bare, kept her calm and controlled her mind so he wouldn’t rip her apart or rape her. He would have; he would have done the same things to her that he did to her sweet sister until she stopped fighting him.

“Now that her sister carries his child, she’s nothing but a broken toy that has been given to his minions to use. So yes, I made damn sure it didn’t happen to your girl, and bought you some time to get to her.” He eyed me critically as I let go of his throat and backed away from him. “This sentimentalism isn’t you. You don’t care about her; you care about the idea of her. You are the monster who is called upon to slaughter hordes of monsters. You are death, and yet here you are, with another mortal. Fragile, weak creatures that have an expiration date that starts counting down the moment they draw their first breath.” He made his way to a frilly armchair and made himself comfortable in it; his large frame dwarfed the absurd thing, yet he managed to look at ease as he crossed his long legs and looked at me expectantly.

“She’s different,” I bit out angrily, hating that I cared. She was a fucking weakness that I didn’t need or want, and yet couldn’t kill.

“This isn’t you. You have spent too much time on this mortal plane and you are starting to sound like one of them. You need to wake the fuck up and see what is happening around you. Faery is pouring into this world and their Goddess, bless her sexy tight ass, can’t stop it from happening. The Horde King, nope, he can’t stop it, either. Demons are already here, they’ve been in this world for a millennia and no one fucking cares but us. Where are the other Gods? They’re not here, not breaking a sweat to save any of these weak creatures. No, just us. You keep fighting this, but it’s never-ending, and personally, I’m damn tired of watching you fall for a mortal as you lie to yourself that you haven’t. I’ve watched you kill Katarina’s incarnations too many fucking times. If you plan to change the cycle, you have to change how you approach your problem. After that, if you plan on playing with the mortals, find one worth dying for. This game of cat and mouse is endless, and that’s because she is mortal and you are so much…more.”

“Magdalena isn’t Katarina,” I barked, and saw a taunting smirk lift the corners of his mouth. I struck, watching as it faltered ever so briefly.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and he swiped at it with his thumb before licking it clean. Hellfire danced in his violet eyes that were transfixed on mine. “How can you be so sure?” he began slowly as he settled back in the chair.

“If I was Katarina, I would have sent Lena in to keep you distracted. She seems to do just that, doesn’t she? But if we’re honest, their pussies taste nothing alike.” His jibe was meant to pull anger from me. Instead, I smirked, watching him with indifferent coldness. He sighed and shook his head, knowing that he wasn’t going to get me to admit what he wanted me to, and shifted tactics. “Luc upped the ante tonight; just be glad I happened to be there when he pulled his little stunt. I cast my spell to protect her from what he wanted her to see. He wanted her to see the chaos playing out around her. I fed her an illusion of lust. I played music inside her soul with my touch. She never noticed that she was ankle-deep in blood as I marched her perfect little ass to the stage. She didn’t notice that the crowd was ripping each other apart because they can never find release in that place.”

“Do you know if he has taken Kendra through the Hell Gates yet?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on her sleeping form.

“He’s kept her moving in different levels surrounding the gates for a few weeks now. Hidden right on the edge of the realm, not deep enough to tell if she houses the seal, if that is what you were wondering. If she did house the seal, there would have been a shit-show that none of us could have missed if he crossed over with her.” He glanced at me speculatively. “Now that he’s tasted the fire in both of them, he won’t stay away. Not when he knows that there are two of them; not when he knows he got the wrong sister first and that you hid the other.”

“You could have stopped him from fucking her,” I growled as I moved closer to Lena.

“Sure, I could have. I just love having sudden bouts of stupidity that would make that little fuck boy suspicious of me.” He rolled his eyes and shrugged his wide shoulders. “I gave you enough time to get to her, and so what if he got his dick into her? I just slowed him down and got in the way so he didn’t get what he really wanted, and I knew you wouldn’t be far away. Luckily, you pulled her out before he could make her a corpse. He would have, just to make sure you lost. Make no mistake, Lucian, this is a game to him. These girls are no more than pawns. This one got lucky; her sister is the one being tortured because Luc thought she was your lover, while this one suffered nothing more than a little sexy time in the arms of the devil. By the way, when she remembers who she is, and what you have done, do you think she will so willingly trip and land on your dick? Or will she hate you as much as my wife hated me? It could go either way; she’s a whisky kinda girl, they tend to be born of fire. That’s something you and I will never understand, never can since we are the flames that both birthed and burned them. You and me, we’re not so different. We both have an affinity for wanting women with complications, now don’t we?”

“You struck a deal, one you didn’t have to make. It prevented chaos; at least you get her for six months out of the year. It could be worse.”

“Oh yes, and such a sweet fucking deal it is, isn’t it? For the other six months, I have to be creative and get my kicks where I can. It took a lot of creative ingenuity and I had to swallow a fuck-ton of my pride to get her to stop hating me,” he said as he pointed his finger at Lena’s sleeping form. “You took her choice away from her, erased who she was without her consent. When she regains her memories, and she will, she will hate you. Sure, you can always keep her as a fuck toy chained to your bed, which is fun for the first couple decades, but trust me; fighting them every day gets old quick. You think I agreed to Atum’s deal because Demeter was having a massive hiss fit, or that I have a fucking heart for all those humans she killed because she was pissed at me? I assure you, I don’t. I was just like you, addicted to the fight in their eyes. The spirit in their soul, but captivity smothers it; extinguishes the flame and the fight. Then all you have left of them is a pretty, broken doll.

“No, despite the lies those storytellers told, I didn’t let her go back to her mother because I knew she missed the sun or because she wouldn’t stop crying. I did it because I’m a selfish prick and I figured six months at a go was better than none. One thing I can promise you is this; what you’re doing now won’t work, it never does. Your story has a little twist from mine, though. Yours is on a loop; the moment you love her, she’s dead. You were not created to be loved, or to give love. You are what you are because you’re the coldest motherfucker they could think of to become it. Do me a favor; if you win the game this time around, stay away from the witches and find someone who can’t be used by those who cursed you?”

“She doesn’t die because I fall in love with her.” I grimaced and stopped myself from rolling my eyes at his stupid speculation.

“Doesn’t she? You fell in love with the first one; three days after you admitted it, she was murdered—by you. And she keeps dying with every reincarnation. One of you falls in love, and she dies. If she loves you, she dies; if you love her, she still dies. Do us a fucking favor: fall in love with someone who isn’t associated with this fucking curse so that you can know what it feels like to have love and get it back and not have her die. Maybe then you’ll come back to us as you once were.”

“Leave,” I snapped, hating the truth that escaped his mouth. He was right, which meant I had to push Lena away before I killed her, or worse, cursed her to my soul.

Chapter 8

1897

My hair whipped against my face as the wind in the Rocky Mountain basin howled. The storm lingered, threatening to let loose in the open meadow where some members of my coven lay dead, or dying. I was bathed in their blood, my chemise pink from it. My wet hair whipped against my face, cold in the chill November air. I tilted my head back, letting the light from the full blood moon bathe my face as it did the meadow I moved through like a wraith.

I scanned the faces of the dead closest to me, stopping as I took in my sister’s lifeless gaze. Unlike the others, her death had hurt me. I’d loved her. Luckily, the evil inside me had turned off my emotions as I’d taken her soul into mine. It had whispered to me long ago, foretelling of the man who would come to destroy me, and I’d listened to it with bated breath.

It had told of my past lives, showing each one in vivid detail that brought their pain to me, letting me feel the love they’d shared with a monster, one who had ended each of their lives. I’d watched him through the centuries as he’d seduced and then murdered them, but it had been me who had played the voyeur as he’d taken each of them. I knew his touch, his taste, and everything they knew about him.

The moment Lucian had entered our town, I’d known it was he who sought the soul of the cursed witch who lived inside of me. He’d whispered in the ears of the coven, and my sister, Flora had succumbed to his allure; she’d taken him between her legs and accepted anything he told her as truth.

Together, they’d spread news of what I had inside of me. This utterly beautiful darkness that was real. It spoke to me of past lives, and how to end this deadly game, once and for all.

I’d started taking steps the moment the evil within me had told me what was coming, and how this game needed to end. I’d placed things at the farthest reach of our community. I’d packed up everything linking me to the cursed soul and made the long journey to the Guild. I had bargained with the elders and they agreed to help me. I’d hidden everything there, including the grimoires that had been passed down through the bloodlines, trinkets that each had owned, journals of each life lost, along with the coven’s tales of cursed witches.

The Guild Elders assured me that everything I found was hidden, locked away and sealed into the catacombs of the Guild. The one place no one in our own coven or he would ever think to look.

Like pieces of a game, everything was set up, placed perfectly for the next rebirth to find and use against him. He’d been searching for me, the one who had been reborn with the cursed soul of his beloved Katarina inside of her. The darkness had whispered her secrets, and with those secrets came her memories.

It was a love that always ended in death, a love that should have never been. In every rebirth, he seduced the unlucky woman. He turned her into a mindless being so lost in love that she allowed her to death to occur. Some had gone to him blindly, some had fought him; all ended up in love with him. In the end, no matter how hard they fought, every one of them ended up dead.

Each one had added a curse to his soul; one had made him unable to sire children. Of course, she’d had to include a way around it, as so many curses included some sort of exception to them. So far, he was childless, as had been my sister when I’d killed her. Another had cursed the soul to carry the essence and souls of those he had killed, figuring together, we were stronger.

What a mess that was, considering they all whispered inside my head, insistently. I could hear their voices, feel their emotions, even the love Katarina had for the monster she had fallen for. My curse, my curse wouldn’t do anything to him. I was the first reborn witch who planned to curse his beloved Katarina.

I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that I would survive where others had not. I knew death had called for me, whispering my name upon the stars, and I welcomed it. After they’d marked me, they’d taken everything away from me. My love, the man I’d given my heart to, had been slaughtered at the order of this monster who hunted me, and that monster was ultimately responsible for the dead and dying who now littered the meadows.

A few from the coven had distracted me, as the others had gone to my house to murder John, the man I’d loved with every piece of me. We’d planned our lives out, children to fill our home with love, and they’d taken it from me. I’d rushed home, only to find what was left of him inside our cabin. Written on his body had been a message from his murderers to meet them here, beneath the moon in this sacred place where the leylines gathered and crossed.

It had done them little good, considering I lived and they were nothing more than fodder to feed the worms.

The rest of the coven must have been confident that these fools would best me and had hidden in town or the abbey. Instead of hunting them, I’d started preparing for retribution. I’d called to the salt from the lines to gather and create the hexagram the evil inside of me had instructed me to make. Next, I’d started the fires that created a circle around me and the area I needed to work in. The fires burned brightly, fueled by the remains of those who had been sacrificed here and strengthening me and the curse I intended to inflict on the monster who’d taken everything from me. I’d prepped the cauldron, flames licking its sides as it began bubbling with the ingredients I’d collected as I waited for Lucian to come.

Because he would come, he always did.

I grabbed the dagger and pulled my blonde braid forward, sliced it off, and threw it into the boiling cauldron. It sizzled, sending a thick putrid plume of smoke into the air. I sliced the palm of my hand as a twig broke, alerting me that the monster was here.

The shadow took form, and I watched as he knelt beside Flora’s corpse. Two of the witches who had not succumbed to their injuries called to him as he rose from her lifeless body and I smirked, flicking my wrist as he moved to one who had yet to die. The moment he reached her, I flicked it again and enjoyed the sound as their necks broke, smiling as I felt their life forces fading away as they added to my growing power. He lifted those midnight eyes and locked gazes with me across the open field, and I smirked coldly as death stared at me.

He prowled towards me, his strut perfectly matching a cougar as it hunted its prey. I could feel his anger. The subtle pulse of raw power he exuded and gave off when he entered a room slithered through the protective barrier and across my skin.

I murmured the spell to ignite the barrier as I remained still, watching his fluid, graceful movements.

“You didn’t have to kill them to get my attention,” he growled, and I laughed, clapping my hands as he neared.

“You think I killed them for you? They didn’t die to get your attention. They died because they thought to do your bidding. You turned them against me, and so their lives ended here. You did this; you brought them into this, so their blood is on your hands. Not mine, monster,” I hissed as I glared at him from beneath my lashes. He walked over to the dead, unaffected by their brutal deaths—but then again, in the past, so many of us had died at his hands. He was the monster in this story, not me. “Besides, had I wanted your attention, I would have spread my thighs as my sister did for you. Isn’t that how this works? You fuck me, and then you destroy me.”

“They were trying to save you, as was I this time,” he snapped, his eyes burning with the anger that I felt.

I could sense the truth in his words. Unfortunately, no one had asked me if I wanted to be saved. Now, I craved death, because I’d be with John, at least until the souls were forced to be reborn into the next incarnation. Instead of speaking to me, they’d believed him as he’d whispered lies in their ears, telling them of the darkness which controlled me, and yet it hadn’t. It told me truths, showed me a path to escape the creature who stood before me. They’d tried to leave me defenseless against this man, this creature who hunted me through space and time just to kill me over and over again.

He’d told them I needed to be saved, but he had no idea that I enjoyed the darkness. I craved this thing inside me, the seal that kept balance between the worlds. Did I trust it? No, I trusted no one except John. I knew I was being used by the seal to fight this monster in front of me, and yet I didn’t care. I wanted to end this game, to put a stop to it once and for all. The next time he killed me, it would be over. There would be no rebirthed soul, it would cease to exist. I planned to hurt him as much as he’d hurt me by killing John.

“Ah, beautiful Katia likes the darkness she harbors, doesn’t she?” He studied me as he walked around the circle, looking for a chink in my defenses. Those eyes of his seduced, they bored into me and tried to lower my defenses as I watched him, spellbound by every step he took. His gaze slid down the tattered remains of my chemise and I shivered at the heat that pooled in his inky gaze. His eyes feasted on my breasts that had been pushed up by my corset, heaving with every breath I took. “Come to me, and I’ll show you pleasure unlike anything your poor lover could have shown you.”

“You’re afraid of what I hold inside of me, are you not?” I needed to change the direction of the conversation, as my body heated for him. It responded as if it knew he spoke truths, but then it probably did. I housed his lovers inside me; each one had succumbed to him at least once. “Is it because it shows me what you truly are? Or because it told me how you enjoy seducing, then murdering us after you’ve enjoyed yourself?

“Tell me, Lucian, what will you like most about hunting me down; the excitement of the kill, or fucking me as you end my life? I know all about you because I listened to it, and the women before me who you slaughtered. Did you want me to fall hopelessly in love with you so that we could play out this deadly game again? Or do you prefer I just take off my clothes and let you have me?” I pushed down the straps of my chemise, exposing my shoulders to him. “That’s why you killed my John, wasn’t it? Because he stood between us, and I loved him.” I reached for the bloodied ribbon that held the chemise together and pulled it free. Slowly, I moved closer to him as I exposed more skin than was proper.

I reached around, slowly loosening the ribbons that held the corset up, one by one, undoing them until I was before him in nothing more than the chemise. I dropped the corset to the ground and bent over, grasping the hemline of the slip and pulling it over my head to expose my naked body to his heated eyes.

My eyes held his in open challenge, knowing he wanted me as I wanted him, but it wouldn’t be love we made. It would be war. How I could want him after what he did—well, it didn’t make sense. He’d brought us to this time and place; he’d put me through hell to make sure this confrontation happened.

I stood inches from him, naked as the day I was born into this world and drawn by the fire I saw burning in his eyes. He watched my movements; they were slow, calculated, made to bring his attention to my naked form. The fire from the protection barrier licked my skin, and yet I cared little if it burned to the bone. His eyes did little to hide his hunger as he slowly moved them down my body until he brought them back up to hold mine.

“Come to me, Katia,” he crooned, his body calling to me, but his eyes… His eyes searched my soul, finding every flaw, every desire, playing it like a fiddle. “I’ll help you; you want me, don’t you?” He started to unfasten the gold buttons of his dashing blue undress coat. He’d come to us in the guise of a soldier, a deserter who did not think our country should be involved with the conflict between Spain and some of its colonies. Our town was isolated and news was hard to come by, so our coven had glutted themselves on his stories of the outside world. He’d played on our sympathies by telling us that his coven was no more and he longed to belong to another. Lies, all of it lies to ingrain himself into our tight-knit community.

I slid my hands down my sides, watching as his eyes followed their subtle descent. Once he removed his coat, he pulled the white shirt over his head, revealing runes that covered his chest in utter perfection. I moved my hand over my pussy, watching as the muscle in his jaw clenched.

“I don’t want to be saved,” I murmured. I stared into the flames inside his eyes; they burned midnight blue. “I like how I am, don’t you?” I taunted as I grabbed my breasts, squeezing them as he watched me. “Do you think I’m pretty?” I tilted my head as I gazed into his eyes defiantly.

“You’re beautiful, Katia,” he growled as he stepped back. “Let me touch you,” he pleaded as he worked the buttons of his breeches.

“I don’t think so,” I said, turning to dismiss him and walking back to the cauldron. I retrieved my knife from the ground and, over the boiling pot, sliced through my palm so both matched. Then I slapped my bloody palms together, twisting my hands as it sent droplets into the boiling potion. “Do you know what happens to a witch who kills those she is bound to?” I didn’t bother to turn towards him as I spoke, for fear that he would be more than I could resist. I was testing his knowledge of witches since it had to be vast, considering he’d stalked me through generations, always hunting the same coven.

“She will be cursed by Hecate,” he snapped, once more pacing the circle as he watched me, like an animal, stalking prey that was just out of his reach.

“And if she’s already cursed?” I turned and observed him as he paced around the circle, the hunger in his eyes deadly as he took in my naked form. The curses of my past lives were now visible, brought forth for him to see. My flesh marred, glowing with every curse he had placed upon me. “Do you know the answer or not?” I mocked as I drew the words and runes of a new curse upon my body in blood. “You should know the answer. Are you not the one who enjoys this game, Sir Lucian?” I asked with a one-sided smile. “The curse will be intensified, so any curse she used on herself, or those that someone else cursed her with, in this case, that’s you, are tenfold what they were when she is reborn.”

“Don’t do it,” he growled as he stopped in front of me, his naked body luminous in the moon’s light. “Come to me, now, or you will die,” he growled.

“I’m already dead,” I laughed. “I was dead the moment you walked in and spread your lies to anyone stupid enough to believe them. John, though, he didn’t deserve what you did to him. That was your mistake, Lucian. You shouldn’t have touched him. You see, I was content to play your game, but you had to go take the one thing I loved the most away from me.” I grabbed the ladle and poured some of the bubbling liquid from the cauldron into a vial.

“He deserved everything that happened to him and more,” Lucian returned, stalking my naked form as I moved around the cauldron, dropping in the remaining ingredients so he wouldn’t be able to identify the curse I’d made. “He wanted you because of something you have inside of you, not because he loved you. He didn’t marry you; he only wanted a child from you. He wasn’t even human anymore; a demon possessed a human so that he could come to you and appear mortal. Once he’d gotten you pregnant and the child had been born, he would have slit your throat.”

“He loved me,” I whispered defensively, as if I was trying to convince myself as well as the monster prowling nearby.

“You were fucking a demon, Katia. One whose sole purpose was to get between your pretty thighs and impregnate you,” he hissed as he knelt down, touching the circle that protected me. “Once he’d ensured you were pregnant with his child, and it had been born, you would have died by his hand. So yes, I had the coven kill him. I enjoyed giving the order, too. I heard that John bled for hours, and he never once thought of you or cried out your name as he lay there, dying.”

“You were jealous, and if he was a demon, then you are no better than he was.” I turned away from him so he couldn’t see the tears in my eyes. My hands trembled as I stood there with the vial in one, smoothing over my skin as if I’d still worn the chemise with the other. I pushed the pain away, burying it so deep inside of me that it was absorbed by the seal so I could focus. “You wanted her to be me, didn’t you?”

I nodded in the direction of Flora’s corpse. “You wanted it to be me you were fucking, and you couldn’t have me, could you? In every life I lived before, I was yours. Except this one. In this one, I was already his. What does that tell you?” I asked with a soft smile playing across my lips. I tipped up the vial, intending to drink it, which would render the circle broken and let him in, but his voice stopped me.

“That I should have fucked you anyway, and you would have forgotten all about him, sweet witch. You’re right, you are mine. It matters little what you come back as, because when you do, you are mine in every way. You love me, even now. You don’t like it, but you do. You crave me, don’t you?”

“I hate you, and I know that once the circle is broken, I am dead. But know this, Lucian; when I die, it will be with purpose. I have watched you kill them all, every single one of them. I have watched you manipulate their families. I have seen and heard the lies you spread about all of my incarnations. Most of them didn’t discover what you were doing until it was almost too late. I learned from them. I know what they did and where they failed. This time when I die, it will set wheels that you cannot stop into motion.”

I’d moved to the edge of the circle and watched as he knelt in front of me on the wet grass, his breath fanning my naked pussy as he stared up hungrily. The heat of it shot through me, rendering me stupid with how much I needed him to touch me. It had to be killing him to be this close to me, and yet I was so far out of his reach.

“I want to taste your sweet pussy—let me,” he whispered huskily, his tone filled with need. “I want to hear my name on your lips as I take you further to the heavens than that demon could ever get you to reach. He was a monster, one who only wanted a child from you. I’m a man. One who wants to show you what heaven is like. I want to feel your body against mine, feel it trembling as you find your pleasure. Let me have you,” he crooned seductively.

I lowered myself in front of him and smiled coldly. “Touch me,” I called softly, my own voice mirroring his need, yet I was in control. “Come get me if you can.”

“Come closer; let me show you what your body was made for. Let me love you.”

“I had love, you took it away,” I bit out, and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “You, you’re not a man. You are a monster who hunts me through space and time. You always leave my corpse behind in a pretty glass box covered in runes that you hope will stop my curses when you’ve finished. That’s not love; love is giving yourself to someone and discovering they’re flawed, but you love them anyway, because you make them a better person. You don’t know what love is. You, Lucian, will never know true love. You want her because she discovered what you are, because she preferred death over your touch. You hunt her because you’re a monster.”

We stood up slowly together, eyes fixed on each other until we were face-to-face again.

“You still love me every time. Every time you come back to me, Katarina. You are mine, and when you love me, you give me every piece of you. You hold nothing back from me. That darkness inside of you? It binds you to me. It is what brings you back to me. Your love, though, your love cannot be forced or taken; it’s given, because no matter how much time has passed, you are mine. Your love is the purest thing you have, and when you give it, you move mountains to protect it.”

“I am Katia, not your Katarina! I loved him, not you. I loved him more than I could ever love you! He didn’t want me dead!”

“He did, he wanted your body to bear him a child, and then he’d have cut your throat while it suckled your breast. He was a vile being, lower than anything that exists here. And you fucked him! You are mine, every part of you belongs to me, and you gave it to a demon!”

I lifted the vial and stared at him.

“Put it down, now,” he demanded as he watched me. “I can save you. We found a way to separate your soul from the seal, which means you can live. The seal is the reason Katarina ran from me. The seal weaves lies to try and get free. Please, Katia. Let me save you. Let me end this,” he murmured, never taking his eyes from mine. “Once it’s removed, you are free to be reborn without me; you can live the life you deserve. You will do more damage than just cursing your soul if you kill yourself, and you know it.”

“The hell with you and your curses. I already told you, I don’t want to be saved. Whatever this thing inside of me is? It hates you. It hates you as much as I do. It wants revenge and so do I. You also fear it, so I think I will keep it.”

“It’s evil,” he whispered as his eyes tracked the vial I held close to my mouth.

“I know it is,” I agreed. “So am I. It’s also the one thing you fear, and I own it. So why would I give it back? It terrifies you, so for now, it’s mine. I know what curses my predecessors cast against you. They whisper to me all the time, delighting in what little torments they could leave you with as you killed them. Let’s see if you can guess what I have added, shall we? One cursed you so that you could not create children—a nasty curse, that one. But considering how handsome you are, that’s almost a shame. Wouldn’t it be a boon for you if there was an exception to that curse? Perhaps my curse could counter that one under the right circumstances. Or there’s already an exception to that curse, and the one I have casted ends this once and for all in a way you cannot possibly foresee?” I taunted.

“Touch me, Katia,” he growled, his steps mirroring mine as I began to pace the circle with the vial clenched in my bloodied fist. When I didn’t respond, he nodded to my hand. “What’s in the vial?”

“What do you think is in it?” I smirked when he cursed under his breath. “What’s the matter? Afraid I will steal your kill?” I smiled as I paused to frown at him, close enough to kiss him. “Obviously she’s here with me because I find myself wanting to taste you. John always said it was a waste of seed and the cock only belonged in one thing, yet I crave you in my mouth. So, she must be here, ghosting in my soul. Because I don’t want you, never will. Neither will the next; in fact, she’ll hate you. I’ve more than made sure of it.”

“Tell me what you did,” he demanded. His hand pushed against the fiery barrier of the circle, and I watched as he struggled and almost succeeded in reaching me. I stepped back, narrowing my eyes on his.

I brought the vial up, tipped it against my lips, and drank the contents. Tears filled my eyes as I considered what I had done. I turned, taking in his naked body as he prowled, moving back and forth as his eyes watched the flames flare around the circle. No one had wanted me for myself in this life. John wanted a child, because once born, it would hold that which he had wanted most in this world. Lucian wanted her, the one he’d loved so long ago. My coven had chosen him over me, and in the end, I would die alone.

I dropped the vial, listening as it bounced off the ground. I lifted my eyes, staring up at the full moon as it reached its apex, high in the sky. My curse wasn’t much, but it was enough to give the next one a fighting chance against him. A chance to end this. My eyes slid back to Lucian, watching as he paced, naked, bathed in the moonlight in utter male perfection. I could see why she had loved him. I knew why they were all besotted by him until the end as their life force ebbed away. He was everything a woman would want in a man; strength, power, virile, and he’d never age. His body was sleek, hard, muscled, and covered in runes that seduced the eye of anyone brave enough to look. I dropped my gaze, watching as the flames around the circle died and he lifted his midnight gaze to mine as a dark smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

He moved with purpose, crossing the now nonexistent barrier, and then slowly, ever so slowly moved around me as his hand touched my body, creating a storm of emotions inside of me. His touch set me on fire, and I knew I didn’t want to desire this man. He’d taken from me, and yet I wanted him to lay me down and do what he wanted, which was utterly sinful. Instead, he circled me slowly, prowling around me like some naked beast ready to claim its prize. He strutted, making sure the hair on my nape stood up at his close proximity, and I waited, I waited for him to land the blow that would end my life. It didn’t come.

Instead, his fingers slowly drifted down my sides, sending heat unfurling inside of me. I was covered in blood, and yet the moment his hands touched me, I forgot who or where we were. His lips touched between my shoulder blades, kissing his way up the base of my spine.

“Turn around, Katia,” he whispered as he kissed the curve of my neck. I turned, watching as he backed up. “Tell me what you did. If you tell me, I will be able to help you.”

“I don’t know what I did,” I said woodenly, waiting for him to respond in violence. His hand raised and he backhanded me, sending me to the ground with a punishing blow.

He knelt beside me with his cock hard, his hand slowly touching me where he’d hit me. His eyes watched me and something soft took hold. “Tell me what you did. I don’t want to hurt you. Too much depends on what you did, you understand that, right?” Despite the violence he had just used against me, his tone was still that of a lover.

“I can’t,” I whispered, and cried out as he grabbed my hair and pulled me back to my feet.

“You’ll tell me, you always do,” he growled as he pulled me flush against him. “You feel that?” he asked as my body rubbed against it willingly. “Your demon made love to you, but me? I want to destroy you. I want to take you so hard that you know you are owned, so that when you come back, you’ll still feel me, here.” He pulled me away and slid his fingers inside my slick flesh. “That excites you, doesn’t it? My dirty little girl, so dark and deadly that she isn’t even safe from herself,” he hissed coldly. “Tell me, Katia, when your demon lay between your legs whispering sweet nothings, you craved more, didn’t you? You had no idea that it was me you craved.”

“Go to Hell!” I snapped.

“Hell doesn’t frighten me, it cannot contain me. Come on, Katia, fight me,” he demanded as I struggled against him. “I like it when you fight me, remember? Did she whisper that to you as well?”

“You didn’t at first,” I hissed back. “Tell me, what would you do if you only had one more chance to save her? Because that’s what this is; you’re trying to save her from what she did. But think about this, I didn’t curse you. I cursed her,” I laughed as he swallowed convulsively and shoved me to the ground. “I figured it out: the way to hurt you? Is to hurt her. You will try to save her, but you won’t be able to, no one will. You will love her, and the moment you do, her clock starts ticking. Every one of us will be with her, but they won’t love you anymore. She won’t love you. Next time she is reborn, she will win this game. We’ve made sure of it.”

“Tell me what you did, or I will make sure the reminder of your life is nothing but unnamable pain,” he warned. When I just smirked at him he shook his head and knelt between my legs. Never taking my eyes from his, I parted them. “Last chance, Katia.”

“I can’t tell you because I don’t know,” I whispered. “I spelled myself to forget what I cursed. I spelled myself to know of a thousand possibilities, but I do not remember exactly what I cursed anymore. I saw what you did to all of them. The way you manipulated and seduced them before you killed them. You think I’d trust myself not to beg you?” I laughed, feeling him as he settled himself between my legs as he captured my hands high above my head and forced me to arch my back. His mouth crushed mine with a fervent need that I matched. Unbridled lust ripped through us and, wanted or not, I needed his touch as the poison and curse burned through me. His tongue pushed past my lips, sucking mine as they met in primal need, unaffected by the chaos that played around us. Lightning lit the sky as thunder clapped and shook the ground. I craved him.

I craved him like a prostitute craved silver to feed her babes who waited hungrily at home. I moaned, unable to deny what he did to me when he touched me. I could feel his throbbing cock as it slid between my legs, poised to take what I freely offered. He laughed coldly, the sound unintelligible, but not wholly human.

“If you won’t tell me, then beg me for mercy. If you know the past, then you know what I am capable of. Beg me,” he demanded. He pushed inside, and I cried out against his mouth, moaning as he filled me until I hurt, yet craved the pain.

I smiled coldly as he witnessed the seal taking control of me, changing my eyes to the color of his soul; black. Thick black lines raced over my skin as the power of the seal surged through my veins. A knife materialized in his hand as he raised it and clenched his fist around it. I brought my hands up to stop him, but too late. The knife sliced through my hands and plunged into my chest. I screamed as he pulled out and stood up, ignoring the fact that I was no longer it, the evil which lurked inside of me. I struggled to my feet to face him.

“Let her go!” he demanded.

“It did,” I gasped as I brought my palms up, gagging as I took in the bloody gash that had cut to the bone and flayed me open. When he moved towards me, I whispered his name and he stopped, his hooded eyes blinking slowly, as if he was waiting. Waiting for her.

“Katarina,” he whispered.

“We are all here, my love,” I replied, unable to stop the darkness as it swirled to life once more.

“Gods,” he growled as he rushed to me, knocking me down as he entered me hard, moving at a pace that wasn’t human. As he chanted words I couldn’t understand, words that sounded older than time, his body took mine, sailing over the moon and through the stars as I shattered against him. With a gasping and ragged breath, he found release.

“Lucian,” I warned, unable to stop it from controlling me. A voice that didn’t sound like mine emerged from my mouth. “You’re making this too easy. You think I’d let her go?” it laughed, changing my features to hers. I rolled away from him, unable to stop it from using me to speak to him. Pain racked me, consuming my mind as it took full control. “You have been trying to put me back into that box, and I have no plans of going willingly.”

“Gods damn you,” Lucian snapped, retrieving the blade. “I will find a way to destroy you.”

“No, you won’t. There is no way that this ends with me being destroyed or going back into that box. You won’t kill her again. She knows what you are and what you do to her every time she is reborn. Next time, when you find her, it will already be too late for you. The gates will open and she will be free to be reborn as I have promised her in a life without you in it. You see, she’s not going to be the same when she returns. She will be faster, stronger, smarter, and hidden until she is ready to play the game. You loved her, which means she is a weakness which can be used against you.”

“I’ll be prepared, creature, I always am,” he snarled as he jumped, slicing me as, once more, the seal disappeared, leaving me to feel the bite of the blade as he cut me to ribbons. I fell to the ground as my blood flowed and his feet kicked, hitting my spine until it snapped, and with it, blissful nothing as he ended my life.

I awoke from the nightmare, gasping for air, and turned in bed, only to see Lucian watching me. I launched myself from the bed, covered in so much sweat my nightgown clung to my curves. I crawled across the floor, to the wall, and crumpled against it, staring at him.

“Bad dream?” he asked coldly.

“You, you killed me,” I whimpered as if he’d really driven that knife through me. I brought my hands up, holding them out as I looked at them, and then pulled away the top of my nightgown to examine my body. “Holy shit, that was fucking terrifying!”

“What happened in your dream?” He looked out the window as he stood up and turned to face me.

“I killed people, and then, oh God, I killed my sister, but it wasn’t my sister. And you, you were naked, stalking me around a circle of fire. Naked, like, dick swinging in the wind naked,” I babbled as I lowered my gaze to the dick in question. “Then when the circle broke, you killed me. You, you…” I looked out the window as the sun started to rise, then back at Lucian, who had gone as still as a statue.

“You should get dressed,” he growled, and I blinked at his cold dismissal.

“That’s it? You ask what happened and then nothing?” He’d turned from warm to cold faster than jumping in an ice-cold pond in winter.

“I said get dressed; it was a nightmare, Fitzgerald, what do you expect me to do about it?” he snapped angrily.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” I muttered as I pushed from the floor and stood on shaky legs, which he noticed. “Last night I had a dream about fucking Lucifer, and everyone panics. Tonight, it’s about you. So maybe the dreams have something to do with you and nothing to do with me.”

“Careful, Fitzgerald,” he warned, his expression glacial.

“No, no, I don’t think so, Blackstone. Last night you offered me a solution; today you’re as cold as the iceberg that sank the Titanic. If that solution is you, I think I’m willing to keep the dreams. After all, it wasn’t so bad being fucked by the devil, considering you’re a close second.” I was pushed up against the door with his hand wrapped around my throat, my head bouncing against the wood. I cried out as I brought my hands up to his and gasped for air.

A knock sounded at the door and my mother called my name softly. I started to reply, but his hand tightened until I couldn’t do anything but glare at him. We listened as her footsteps retreated down the hall.

“Do not fucking tell me I’m worse than he is or I will give you a damn good reason to think I am. You think I fucking care if you think I’m a monster? I promise you, little girl, I will fuck you and then destroy you in the same night. I’m not a nice man, but I still am a better choice than he is. I’m there when shit happens because, believe it not, I am trying to protect this coven since they seem hell-bent on fighting demons when they have no fucking clue how to accomplish it. You think I don’t know about you and your little group of demon fighters? When you get in over your head and they seem to run away from you? It’s not you they fear, it’s me. When you and your little playmates got in over your head a few weeks back, who the fuck you think stopped the demons from tearing all of you apart?

“Remember, Fitzgerald, they ran away from you even though you were on your ass in the dirt. It wasn’t you and it sure as dick wasn’t the old man downstairs that they feared. You need me, like it or not. You don’t have to like it; fuck, I prefer it when you don’t. Now, get fucking showered, you have places to be today. Try not to slip and land on Lucifer’s dick while I’m away.”

He pulled away and I slapped him hard, bringing my hands up to my throat as he backed away from me.

“Yeah, I like it rough, too, little girl,” he growled as he turned, taking long strides as he left the bedroom. I slid down the wall and glared at the door long after he’d closed it.

Chapter 9

I sat on the couch with my legs under my ass, watching reruns of I Love Lucy with my mom and Alden as the doorbell sounded merrily throughout the house. Alden jumped up and hurried to the foyer, and I could hear him opening the door.

A few moments later, as I drummed my fingers on my thigh, I looked up and froze as I caught sight of our guest. Green eyes found mine, smiling before they moved to my mother and then back to me.

“Babe, Kendra, this is Adam,” Alden announced as he cleared his throat and looked at us uncomfortably.

“Pleasure, ladies,” Adam seemed to purr as he entered the room. I righted myself and slid my eyes over him, because if sex walked on two legs, it had just walked in through my front door and was waiting for my mother and me to respond to his greeting. He was tall, like well over six foot, with long dark hair the color of mahogany, and muscles that went on for days.

“Hello,” I mumbled, wishing I’d taken a little more time with my appearance. But we’d been watching Netflix and chilling with Lucy all night, so I had been pretty comfy in my baggy sweats up until he’d arrived. “Sorry, we weren’t expecting company,” I admitted as I stood up awkwardly and smoothed down my sweatpants. At least they were Pink brand, and light grey that went with the baby tee I’d made to sell that said, “Witches eat Snitches,” across the breasts.

“That’s okay, you still look good enough to eat,” he smirked as he slid those green eyes down my body with a hungry look in them. “Just here to talk to Alden for a moment.”

“Is anything wrong?” my mother asked, worrying her bottom lip as her eyes darted from Adam and settled on Alden. They made puppy dog eyes at each other and I made a gagging noise that stole a laugh from Adam, which only made him even more boyishly handsome.

Something pulsed in the room and I swallowed as my body awakened with a violent need. I eyed Adam, who almost looked as if he was waiting for some kind of reaction from me. I licked my lips nervously and tried to pull my eyes away from him.

“Maybe we can double date later, ladies?” Adam suggested with a sly wink at me. On another man, the gesture would look smarmy. With this man, I was imagining panties thudding to the ground around the state.

“Are you from his coven, his old coven?” my mother inquired, and I noticed Adam’s lips tightening, as if something about what my mom said was funny.

“You could say that,” Adam nodded, but the way he said it made me question it.

Something was off here. Yet the more I looked at him, the more I just wanted to rip off my clothes. It was all wrong. I tore my eyes away from him, trying to make the pulse that had just leapt to life between my legs stop. He wasn’t a witch, not with those eyes he was trying to hide. I turned back to him in time to see the tattoos on his arms pulse and undulate briefly over his skin. Fuck me. I shook my head to clear it as Alden asked my mother if he could use her office; the moment she agreed, I beat feet through the kitchen and out the back door.

I ignored the fact that I wasn’t dressed for the chill in the air, or the fact that I was sneaking around my house to figure out what the fuck was going on in it. I paused as I pressed myself against the house and glanced at the driveway, wondering absently what kind of car he had come in.

A guy like that wouldn’t be driving around in a lime-green Gremlin or a Volkswagen bug. For starters, I doubted he would fit in one of those cars unless he was folded, but I was curious as to what he would drive.

There was nothing. I was about to head back inside when a window a few yards away from me opened, and Alden glanced around nervously as he placed new salt just outside on the ledge as they spoke. I waited for his head to move back inside, and then snuck as close as I dared to it. As my heart beat wildly against my chest, I tried to quiet my breathing so I could hear what they were saying.

“The Guild is almost finished, yet there’s still rooms inside the catacombs we can’t get into. So, if you know what’s inside of them, you need to start talking,” Adam said softly, and I froze.

“Couldn’t Olivia get into them like she did with the room that had those grimoires in it?” Alden’s voice was smooth, as if he wasn’t discussing treason against our coven in my house.

“We haven’t asked her yet, considering she’s pregnant and Ristan is being an overprotective asshole. He’d probably rip my heart out and eat it if I even suggested sending her in right now. Synthia is planning on asking him, but she’s been rather busy. All things considered, I didn’t want to bother them if you already know what’s inside there. Plus, now that the leyline witch is out of there, it’s safe to start gathering the little ones to live and train there again. Syn wants it up and running soon; seeing that other Guilds are falling, those children will have nowhere to go.”

“Has Synthia figured out what Lucian wanted from the catacombs yet? She made that deal with him without considering what it might have been first, and that worries me.” Alden’s voice turned stern, as if his own words disturbed him.

“No, but you know he’ll get it. Eventually. She won’t break her word to him.”

“No, no…once she gives it, she will honor it. God help us if it is something that threatens this world and yours, Adam. I worry about what he’s searching for, and how it will affect the Guild or this coven. Not to mention, the other night, Lucifer made another move that would have been almost as disastrous as his last one was. Do me a favor and keep an ear out, let me know if you hear anything. I’ll pour through the files you brought me last week; see if I find anything in them.”

“You do that,” he said. “Lucifer, huh? Sounds like a fucking mess you have here, old man. You need us, you know how to reach us.”

“Adam, use the door. The house is warded and spelled against every creature possible. These witches are smarter than most.”

“Fine,” he groaned, and I heard the window close, as the door opened to the hallway. I moved towards my car, hiding in the shadows as the man stepped from the house, walked into the driveway, and then disappeared.

I stood there, staring at where he’d evaporated into nothing. As if he just ceased to exist. I leaned against the car, staring at the mansion across the way before I turned towards the backdoor. I had barely made it through the door when I heard footsteps heading in my direction, so I dropped onto all fours on the carpet.

“Kendra?” Alden called out, and I answered him, as he came around the corner and found me, pretending to examine the carpet where it had become threadbare in places. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Only so much Lucy a girl can handle,” I lied with a tight grin.

“Don’t think your momma would agree with you on that one, kid,” he smirked, and studied me closely. “Lucian was a gentleman last night, wasn’t he?”

“Perfect gentleman,” I agreed. “Condescending asshole, but he kept his paws to himself.” I pulled myself upright and dusted off my hands. “I’m going to go out tonight with Kat and Dexter, so I’ll just go on in and shower, if you want to tell Mom?” I didn’t want to face my mother right now. Hell, if anyone could tell I was lying, it was that woman.

“You sure? Lucian said you shouldn’t be out alone.”

“I won’t be alone. I’ll be in his club with my friends.” I grinned brightly.

An hour later, I was walking up to Layton, who was tracking me with narrowed eyes. I paused in front of him, giving him a lopsided grin.

“I need to speak to your boss,” I stated boldly, expecting to be let in.

“He’s busy,” he growled, dismissing me coldly.

“I’m not here for pleasure, it’s business,” I replied icily.

He gazed back at me, his eyes roving over my curves, and what I was wearing seemed to be a footnote in his perusal. The dress was a double-slit maxi dress that looked damned good on me, and the top just happened to be a tube top, which meant no bra—which, apparently, he seemed to like. “Could have fooled me; ain’t no witches coming looking for business in a dress like that unless they’re in the business of looking for trouble. So tell me, Witch, you here to fuck or fight, which is it?”

“Neither,” I replied primly as I narrowed my eyes on him. “Where is he?”

“He’s below. You got the balls to go down there for your business?” he drawled as his eyes remained fixed on my breasts.

“You think I won’t?” I snapped, and he smirked.

“Go in; he’ll find you when he is ready to,” he growled as he lifted the red rope so I could pass through.

“Thanks,” I quipped, not caring if it sounded more like a fuck you.

I entered the club, hearing the fast tempo of a song that seemed to flow through me. I looked around, scrunching my nose as I took in the crowd, which looked more ‘other’ than human as they danced and moved to the beat. The vibe inside the club was sin, mixed with something darker.

I moved deeper through the crowd, pushing my way through until I got to the hallway that led below. Tonight it wasn’t blocked off. Normally there were men stationed at the entrance and you couldn’t get through. I looked around to be sure no one was watching, and smirked as a group of girls started down it; I caught up to them, blending in.

We moved down the stairs to the lower level, and I paused once we reached the dance floor. It was filled with half-naked men and women, all dancing to the hypnotic beat.

There was something beautiful and sensuous about the way they moved; it wasn’t anything like I had seen at the awkward high school dances or bars that catered to the college crowd. Their movements pulled me in and mesmerized me. I swallowed the urge to remove my dress and join them, forcing myself to go deeper into the secrets that lay in this level which we’d been forbidden to enter.

My eyes scanned the room for cameras, ducking my head as I passed some. I entered a winding hallway that branched in three different directions. I was about to go one way when I spotted Adam, who held hands with a girl as they walked deeper into what looked like a never-ending hallway. How the hell was this place so big?

I followed them, keeping enough distance that they didn’t see me. When Adam abruptly turned, I was forced to enter a dark room to avoid being seen. The door was opened just far enough so I could hear what they were doing. Was he really fucking her in the hallway?

Shit. How the hell was I supposed to get out of here if they were fucking? I moved further into the room, finding random sex furniture and toys set up throughout it. It even had a table big enough to hold a body. Weird ass shit. I moved to the glass wall that looked a lot like the one in Lucian’s office, but this one looked like tempered glass. I got closer and saw a group of people on the other side that looked like they were waiting for something.

They looked scared, almost terrified, but why? I heard a door open and watched as Lucian and Spyder walked in, both shirtless as they approached the group.

“You broke the rules tonight.” Lucian’s voice cut like ice shards through the group as a bloodied woman I hadn’t seen earlier moved into view. She was cut in several places, her body a mass of angry purple bruises. “Now, why don’t you tell me why you thought you could fucking do something like that in my club,” he demanded.

“Fuck you, you’re not king here,” one snapped. “She liked it, she screamed for more.”

“Is that so? It didn’t look like she was enjoying it to me.” Spyder tilted his head with a dangerous glint in his eye.

“Fuck you, too, shadow. You think we’d be here if we weren’t allowed? It’s a new world, there’s a new king coming. You won’t be here long,” another snarled, and I frowned, daring to look at Lucian, who smiled wickedly.

“You think he can take it from me?” Lucian challenged.

“He took your whore right from under your nose, didn’t he?” the guy taunted, and I watched as Lucian grabbed the guy’s throat with one hand and his shoulder with the other before literally tearing the man in half.

My hand flew up to my mouth, stifling the scream that tried to escape. My elbow hit the window and I stepped back, watching as one by one, they were killed in a manner that couldn’t even be considered remotely human. Horror movie, yes; human, not so much! My leg bumped something, and the sound of glass shattering on the floor made me look up down and then back up, only to find enraged midnight blue eyes locked with mine.

I spun and ran from that room of death as fast as I could go. My heart thundered in my head louder than the music that boomed inside the club. My feet moved faster than they’d ever moved before, because I’d just watched them kill someone, people, like, ripping them to fucking pieces. Lucian hadn’t even broken a damned sweat! Who did that?

I exploded onto the first dance floor, pushing people out of my way as I rushed through it and up the stairs to the upper level. I hid among the dancers, catching my breath as I made my way towards the door, but he was there, less than a few feet in front of me, waiting for me with a cold look in his eyes. He was the only one not dancing, staring at me as everything else moved around us.

I turned my head, intending to go out the side door, but somehow, he’d appeared there. Metallica’s Enter Sandman cut off the other song playing, and I felt my body trembling as he started towards me. I pivoted, scrambling back the way I’d just come from. I moved through the crowd to the next floor, finding him closer than I thought he could be on the other side of me. I spun around in a circle and then ran in the opposite direction, closing the distance between me and the staircase that led upstairs. I had almost reached it when he stepped out of the throng of bodies and blocked the exit. I turned again and hastily pushed my way back through the crowd, back in the direction I’d come from. He was hunting me, chasing me back down into the underground rooms of his club.

I hurried through the hallway without looking back, kicking off my shoes as couples embraced in the long winding hallway, oblivious to the monster chasing me, rounding a corner, planning to take the stairs up to the offices, but the moment my foot touched the stair, I looked up, only to find him slowly coming down the stairs. He was no longer covered in blood, which was insane because I’d just watched him slaughter a bunch of people.

What the fuck?

I twisted in the direction I had come from and ran blindly, looking for anywhere to hide from him. I rounded another corner and as I dashed towards the closest room, every door slammed shut. All except one, which had BOSS emblazoned on it. I sprinted inside and slammed the door behind me. I moved to the back of the room, where I found a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, I examined each side, trying to find whatever might make it work and let me out of this room. I touched it, and nothing happened. I pounded on it, and wondered if there was anything in the room that might break through it, but the moment I turned my head to look, I was slammed against the glass.

Midnight eyes ate at mine as he pushed me against it and grabbed a handful of my hair as he pulled my head back. “You shouldn’t be here,” he snarled. He was pulsing, his power vibrating, filling the room with raw current. “Not tonight, not when I need a release from what you did with the devil.”

“My coven knows I’m here, Lucian,” I whimpered as his mouth touched my throat and a growl rumbled from deep in his chest. He rubbed his nose over my cheek, allowing his heated breath to fan my flesh.

“You think they can save you from me?” he murmured as his fingers cradled my neck. “No one can save you from me tonight, no one.” His mouth touched my shoulder, and then he pulled the top of my dress down, ignoring the scream that ripped from my throat as I pushed him away from me.

“If I don’t go home, they’ll know I’m missing,” I babbled as I struggled to pull my top back up as I danced around him. I started backing away as he prowled closer, shaking my head. “Lucian.” I held my hands out to ward him off. “Please,” I gasped as my legs hit something soft, yet firm, and I fell backwards.

He loomed over me, shirtless. Beautiful in a terrifying way that left me both breathless and dumbfounded, which made me realize I was no better than the witch in the dream I’d had about him. Maybe that was why I’d dreamt it.

“Please what, Witch?” he growled as his arms reached for my legs. I scrambled, backing up on the bed as he smirked and stalked me across the mattress. “Please wreck your pretty pussy, or please let you go? I only have it in me to do one, and letting you go isn’t really an option.”

“I have to go,” I squeaked, trying to figure out how to get around him, but there was no way to do it without throwing myself off the bed. “Before someone notices I’m gone and comes looking for me.”

“I don’t think so; you told Alden you were coming here, so they know where you are. You’re out with friends, isn’t that right, Adam?” he asked over his shoulder. “Won’t be home until late,” he finished, not bothering to look guilty as he watched me squirm. My eyes moved to the door, where Adam leaned against the frame, watching us.

“You! You set me up!” I accused, and snapped a deadly glare at Lucian. “You set this up, why? Because I lip off to you? Because I don’t take orders well?”

“Because you let Lucifer fuck what’s mine, and I don’t like sharing my toys,” he snapped, pushing me onto my back as he followed me down. “There’s also your flagrant disobedience and unwillingness to follow my rules. You were warned to stay away from the lower levels repeatedly and yet you refuse to listen. Just because there wasn’t a guard posted doesn’t mean I don’t know everything happening inside my club.” He claimed my mouth, hard, demanding I open to him.

I moaned against him, bringing my hands up to cradle his face, uncaring that we had an audience. He pulled back as he stared down at me. “Before this night is over, I am going to fucking make sure you know the difference between me and Lucifer. There will be no question as to who is fucking you from now on,” he warned, pushing his sex against mine, forcing me to wrap my legs around him until our bodies were flush. “You’re so fucking beautiful. So utterly fucking perfect,” he purred as his tongue swiped against my lips, coaxing them open even further.

My body was ablaze with a need only he could fix. I whimpered his name as he pushed my dress down, his hot breath fanning my nipples as he laughed coldly. I was oblivious to everything else happening around me as he lifted himself up and pushed my dress down, and pulled it off of me then he was back, kissing me until I was making noises with how much I needed him to fix the ache he’d created.

Lucian pushed my hands away from him and I moaned, struggling to touch him, but then his mouth lowered, catching my lip as he gently bit into it. I cried out, feeling my body respond as it arched, and my nipples hardened, desperate to be sucked.

“I need you,” I whimpered, unmindful to anything but him. I wasn’t even sure why I needed him only that I did. He kept saying that I was his, and I couldn’t even bring myself to argue it. I’d never been his before, but I wanted to be in ways I didn’t understand.

“Soon,” he promised, glancing beyond the bed as he once again lowered his mouth against mine. My feet were yanked from around him and I stilled, feeling hands on my ankles, both ankles. I pulled away from him to see what was going on. He watched me as a wicked laugh rumbled through his chest.

“What are you doing?” I whispered as an uneasy feeling took hold when I saw Bane and Layton securing my ankles as I struggled against them. Swiftly they moved to secure my wrists. I slowly put it together, and my body trembled as I looked around at the men who looked down at me. This wasn’t what I wanted or needed. I stared up as Lucian sat back, exposing me to the men. My panties were all I still had on.

Bane tightened the rope through the loops in the restraint cuffs on my wrists and as he straightened up, he glanced down at me with a hungry look in his eyes. I was tied to the posts of the bed, which were too thick to break or get away from, spread out and vulnerable as they watched me squirm.

“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.

“Claiming you,” he smirked, stepping away from the bed.

“Let me go!” I spat, fighting against the ropes as I struggled to get away. “I will kick your fucking asses!” I knew it didn’t matter what I said or did, because it wasn’t as if I could actually kick their asses—yet.

Layton cleared his throat, clearly amused, and tipped his head at Lucian. “It’s going to take a little while to get everything prepared, you want me to get the others in here?”

More?

Fuck this.

I whispered a spell, but nothing happened. I chanted it inside my head, over and over, as tears began to slide down my temples into my ears. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to me? You won’t get away with this shit,” I warned.

“Don’t worry, we won’t do nothing you wouldn’t like, pretty kitty,” Spyder murmured as he emerged from the shadows, as if he’d been there watching the entire time. “The others are already on their way. She’s already hot, don’t want to keep her waiting, now do we, gentlemen?”

Chapter 10

I thrashed around, fighting to get away from them until Lucian called Adam over. I paused, glaring at the man who no longer concealed the telltale markings that identified him. His tricolored eyes slowly moved over my exposed breasts. His smile was sinfully beautiful as he sat beside me, and slowly and lightly caressed my ribs with one large hand, leisurely exploring. I chewed my lip as I felt his hands, sending shockwaves through me.

“Get on with it, but get your fucking hands off of her,” Lucian growled in warning.

“You want her to stop fighting, I need to touch her. This shit doesn’t work through the air like that for me. I’m not Ryder. I just transitioned less than a year ago, so if you want her mindless with need so she agrees with what you want from her, back off. Or find someone else. I’m not exactly on board with this as it is, because the whole consent thing is sort of out the window with this crap,” Adam said, not touching me until Lucian nodded.

“For what has to be done here, it is consent enough.” Lucian gave him a ‘get on with it’ gesture.

“You son of a bitch!” I cried as I put it together. Adam was Fae, but not just any Fae. His tricolored eyes and pulsing brands said he was royal Fae, and royal Fae could fucking make you do anything they wanted. “Don’t you do it!” I shouted, but his hands skimmed my sides, sliding over them, and my eyes rolled back as pleasure tore through me. I lifted my back, fighting to remember why I was struggling. I shook my head, screaming profanities and fought against the ropes.

“Damn, she’s fierce,” Adam murmured as he pulled his hand back and I growled. “I’m going to need to kiss her, because she’s not letting me in. It’s going to take more than my touch.”

“Try again,” Lucian ordered, pushing the hair away from my face as he watched me with an impassive look in his eyes, as if he was trying to detach emotionally from what he was ordering Adam to do to me.

“I’m going to rip you apart, asshole! Let me go!”

“And let him get to you again? I’d rather cut my dick off,” Lucian smirked. “Which isn’t happening,” he clarified when I grinned ferally at his answer. “You like my dick.”

“I’ve never even had your dick to know if I like it or not!” I growled back at him.

“I’m about to remedy that,” he murmured as he watched me.

I felt both of Adam’s hands caressing me and I screamed in frustration as I fought the Fae, hating that it was taking everything I had to hold his touch away from my mind so he couldn’t do whatever the fuck it was they did. I was winning, right up until Lucian leaned over as his hand slid into my panties and his mouth brushed against mine.

I yelped, moaning against him as my struggles to keep him at bay faded and my need for him grew to an explosive level. I whimpered as his fingers flicked my sex, pulling growls from every man in the room, as if somehow they knew what he had done. I felt Adam’s fingers as they caressed my nipples. Lucian released my mouth, and my eyes struggled to remain open.

“Fucking hell,” Adam groaned as he pulled away as if I was a fire, one he’d ignited and couldn’t put out. “She’s a spitfire,” he muttered as he scrubbed his hand down his face as if he was trying to ignore the tent in his pants, and I wanted it, I wanted them all.

“No, no please,” I begged. “I’m going to rip your cock off, asshole.” I lunged at Lucian, and no one had expected it. I bashed my head against his, catching him off guard, and he smirked, the motherfucker smirked at me!

“Jesus,” Adam whispered and moved off of the bed, probably trying to avoid getting his head butted too.

“That’s…unexpected, but fun,” Spyder smirked, sitting on the side Adam had just vacated. His hands touched my navel, gently tugging on the dangling piercing. He moved, sliding to where my head was, and sat behind me. I smelled sage and other things burning as candlelight bathed the room in its glow. He pulled my hair away from my face, rolling it under my head as I rolled my eyes to watch him. “I want to fuck you, what do you think about that? In fact, we all do, kitty. Think you can take us? Maybe tag-team a few of us?”

“Let’s start with your cock in my mouth so I can swallow it after I bite it off, asshole!” I cried as I tried to slam my head back against him, but he caught it, lifting me; in fact, they all moved together as if they’d just been waiting for his cue, pushing me up so he could sneak behind me as others readjusted the ropes that held me. Spyder cradled my body with his, holding my back against his naked chest as Lucian watched us through hooded eyes.

“I see why you like her,” Spyder purred against my ear. “Adam, kiss the bitch so we can move this along, yeah?”

“No,” I whimpered, moving my head from side to side as tears dropped unchecked. “Lucian.” There was nothing in his eyes, only anger as he watched me beg him. “I didn’t fuck him! I thought it was you I was with!” I shouted hoarsely, which caused everyone to pause and look at me. “It was supposed to be you.”

“It doesn’t fucking matter who you thought you were with. You fucked the devil, and you know what happens when you let him in? He doesn’t stop—he can pull you into purgatory, fuck you and you end up pregnant because of it. He can slit your fucking throat and it’s over, you die. So this? This is happening. You are mine, and he won’t get to you again, ever. Understand? Be a good girl, kiss the pretty boy. I told you, I’m not your fucking fairytale, I’m your nightmare.”

“I’m not yours and I will never be, asshole,” I whimpered and my head was turned, and Adam was there, seizing my lips as I pushed myself backwards, only to feel Spyder’s erection as Adam claimed my mouth. He didn’t just kiss; he fucked with his tongue, dipping it in, slowly caressing mine until I was leaning against Spyder, and rubbing my ass over his thick cock as if I was inviting him to play. When Adam pulled away, I groaned, whining from the loss of the heat he’d given me, only to take it away.

“She’s ready now, she won’t fight it anymore,” he murmured with something akin to sadness in his eyes. “You fucking owe me, remember that. Next time, leave us out of whatever the fuck this is. Not sure what calls for this many half-dressed dudes and one dainty female, no matter how strong her mind is.” Adam turned and looked angrily at Lucian before he shook his head and seemed to vanish from the room.

“Good kitty,” Spyder purred as his hands released their hold on my waist to squeeze my breasts as he kissed my ear. I moaned, never looking away from Lucian, as if my life depended on keeping eye contact with him.

Lucian glanced away and moved to the table, leaving me alone with Spyder as the others gathered around the table, adding something to a goblet. Spyder’s fingers continued to pinch my nipples, tugging on them as I closed my eyes and dropped my head against him as I inhaled the smell of him and the room. Masculinity mixed with magic. Spyder didn’t stop; he held me there as I struggled to open my eyes as I saw the other men, one by one accepting a dagger that slowly moved around the table. Each made a small slice in their palm and blood dripped into the goblet, until the dagger reached Lucian, who made his offering and brought the cup to Spyder. He glared down at Spyder, who growled as he played with my breasts.

“Give your hand to me,” Lucian ordered, and Spyder lazily extended his hand out, even though Lucian held a wicked looking blade in his hand, which he drew across Spyder’s palm until I could see his blood, glistening like rubies as it dropped into the goblet. After a moment, Spyder pulled his hand back and I couldn’t see a single mark on it as it descended to torment my nipples again. He was keeping me in the moment, locking me into whatever the Fae had done to me, making me want his cock even though I only wanted to hurt him, or them.

Lucian settled between my legs, pushing them further apart to accommodate his wide frame. He took a generous sip from the goblet and I could see the blood on his lips, blood that was contributed from every man in the room. Lucian touched the rim of the goblet to my lips. “Drink,” he ordered softly, and it was a compulsion I couldn’t ignore. The taste exploded on my tongue, not of a coppery tang, but of erotic musk, wine, sage and a hint of frankincense.

He then dipped his finger into the goblet and as his eyes captured mine, he slowly withdrew the bloodied digit and began making markings on my stomach as chanting erupted in the room. I swallowed as magic slithered over my flesh and my body heated. I shut my eyes as my head sagged against Spyder, who kissed my neck as he chanted huskily along with the others.

My eyes opened as I felt my panties being torn off, and a whimper of fear left my throat as I discovered Lucian painting the scrap of cloth with their blood. He watched me as I watched his hand, his thumb grazing my clitoris, and I cried out as Spyder’s hands moved to the backs of my thighs, holding me open to Lucian as he continued drawing runes over my body.

“Naked little pussy,” Spyder growled, his hot breath fanning my ear as Lucian moved around, making his markings. “Bet you taste like you need to be fucked—taste her for us,” he demanded as Lucian’s gaze moved over my shoulder. Was that anger in his eyes? He didn’t like them seeing me like this, or he didn’t like Spyder giving him orders? Fuck him. The next words from Lucian’s lips stunned me.

“She tastes like chaos, mixed with the beginning of a storm. She fucks like a hurricane, wild with need so raw and demanding that she cannot be match. And when she comes, she roars like a fucking beast killing its prey. And when she breaks apart, she’s a beautiful fucking mess. Find your own; she’s mine.”

“She’s ours now, Lucian,” Spyder corrected, slipping his hands closer to my sex as he pushed his fingers through the heated folds, which were wet, but it wasn’t from him. His finger pushed into my depths and I arched for him, needing release. I felt Spyder shiver behind me as he pulled his finger out of my body and once again slid it through the slick folds as Lucian watched us. Lucian and his fucking words, the man slayed me. “You want us to guard her, you know the cost. You know what it will take to protect her from him, and we have no reason to want her to keep breathing, except you. Take it or leave it, because there’s no other way around it. Lucifer is going to know what we did; he didn’t think you’d do this because you don’t like to share. If we don’t use it all, he will get to her again. Decide.”

Midnight eyes held mine and he nodded. I felt them all getting closer, even with the Fae haze mixed with the spell being cast upon my skin. I didn’t want them in me; my body wasn’t something to share. I didn’t care what he did, as long as he didn’t let them have me.

I watched as Lucian slid onto his belly and began kissing my flesh as the others moved closer, and I struggled to understand what was happening. I felt their mouths touching me, licking my stomach and breasts as Lucian latched on to my pussy and I cried out, sensing Spyder would join soon, even though he alone kept me upright as the multitude of sensations threatened to make me explode. I felt his mouth licking my shoulder as I held eyes with Lucian. Spyder bit into my shoulder and I screamed; pain burned and then, just as fast as it started, it turned to pleasure.

The others joined in nipping and biting and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Lucian as his smile turned sexy as he licked my clit. I gasped as I realized what he intended to do; even as he nibbled at my slick pussy, he was watching me with them. Only they weren’t fucking me, they were biting me and sending something into my system. Layton moved in close to my sex, and I caught a glimpse of fang just before he struck. As each one licked and bit me, the site where they bit flared and sent erotic sparks shooting through my entire body.

I felt Spyder release his hold, even as he moved slightly, sending my limp body falling against him until someone else grabbed me. Then he was back, opening my jaw as he held the goblet to my lips.

“Drink, or I’ll ruin this ass,” Spyder growled. “It’s tempting me with how sweet it is, and I’m not sure you wouldn’t enjoy me fucking it hard.” I struggled against him, but he laughed. “Aww, kitty, you inviting me to fuck it?” He pushed his hard cock against my back, holding me against him as the others started licking my body in one brutal assault, sending my body spiraling over the edge as Spyder held me through the orgasm.

I felt Lucian’s teeth against my thigh, close to my sex and I came undone as Spyder continued to hold me through it, even as Lucian released my skin to go back to working my pussy with his dangerous tongue. Spyder’s hand slid down, parting my flesh that Lucian was ravishing, slowly working his fingers against my clitoris. “You feel my cock?” Spyder murmured against my ear. “It wants to be buried in that tightness. You’d let me fuck it, too, wouldn’t you?” The goblet was back, resting against my lower lip, waiting.

“Drink, now,” Lucian growled as he nibbled my clit, sucking it as the orgasm subsided. I opened my mouth with a moan and drank what Spyder poured down my throat. I gagged and yet I continued swallowing until the last dregs were gone, licking my lips clean as Lucian smirked, his husky laughter vibrating against my body. When I’d finished swallowing the remaining potion, my body heated until sweat pooled between my breasts. I trembled as my body shook, as the men backed off, and stood around the bed, waiting. “Good girl, now tell me who you belong to and fucking mean it.”

Spyder’s lips brushed the back of my neck softly, his fingers departed from my pussy and he slowly moved away from me as Lucian loomed larger than life over me. His eyes drilled into mine as the meaning of his words hit me. Him or Lucifer, those were my choices.

“You,” I whispered without hesitation. His mouth touched mine as his cock pressed against my opening.

“You are mine now until forever,” he growled as he watched me tremble. His mouth curved into a devilish grin as he pushed inside of me as his men witnessed what he was doing. “Say it.” He rocked his hips as a loud moan of anticipation left my lips.

“I am yours, Lucian,” I moaned, dropping my head as he pushed deeper into my body. I cried out as he filled me, not caring about the audience surrounding us. “Now, until forever, I am yours, Lucian.”

“Good girl, now scream it so you never forget it,” he demanded, pushing in hard as he ripped the ropes free and pushed my legs against my chest as he fucked me. I screamed as I felt him inside of me. He was claiming ownership, but it wasn’t just of my body; he wanted every single part of me, including my soul. My very essence.

His men began chanting again and I detonated, my back arching off the bed as I felt them there with us, as if they shared this intimate piece of us even though they hadn’t touched or joined in as he fucked my soul. Lucian grabbed my hair, flipping me over as he pushed my legs apart, pounding into me with his inhuman speed as they chanted faster and faster, until my head dropped, only for him to grab my hair and pull my head back until he claimed my mouth with his hungry kiss.

Sex and magic filled the room. Dark sex mixed with black magic, and I had willingly agreed to be his, to be theirs. My mind was returning and I pushed back, joining into the foray that we called sex—and no, I didn’t give a shit if they watched me be dominated in the bedroom. I was on fire, and he was the fuel that burned inside of me. I turned over, slapping him as I pushed him down, earning a grin from him.

“There’s my girl,” he growled as I slid slowly down his thick cock, leaning over to bite his lip as I growled my approval. I raked my nails down his chest and heard the men around us groaning as I lifted and once again, slammed myself down until I exploded around his thick cock, only to be shoved down and captured against the bed as he smiled down on me. “Now, to punish you for not knowing the fucking difference, and to make sure you damn well never forget how I feel inside of you.”

I wasn’t sure how many hours had passed, or how long we’d fucked, but I was sure I’d never forget it. I turned over, exhausted and sated, and stared at him with heavy eyes.

“Such a naughty little girl, sweet Witch; you wanted them, didn’t you?” he murmured huskily, still hard and inside my body. “You’re mine. There’s no one who can reach you now, no one who can take you away from me. You can never run from me because I will find you. You. Are. Mine.”

“Suck a dick,” I groaned.

“That mouth of yours,” he laughed as he pushed in deeper. “It’s useful; let me show you what for.”

* ~*~*

I woke up sore as shit, unable to move. I groaned, pushing myself up off the bed, and looked around the room. I got to my feet, taking in my bedroom, blinking as I looked around it. It couldn’t have been a nightmare; nightmares didn’t leave you wincing when you walked, and damn, I was grimacing as I made my way into the bathroom.

I finished with my bodily needs and stared at myself in this mirror. I pulled up the Hello Kitty pajamas and glared at the multitude of red marks from where they’d bitten me. Proof of what those assholes had done.

Moving to the shower, I turned it on as I slowly got in and slid down the wall, where I sat and thought up ways to set them all on fire. There wasn’t one part of me that didn’t hurt, or at least ache. I remembered everything from last night. I quickly washed, using the new shampoo I had made, and then dressed in a skirt, without panties since I was too sore to even attempt them. I was going to fucking murder him.

I made my way to the front room, fully intending to find my mother and explain what had happened last night. Only, the moment I reached the bottom of the stairs, she wasn’t there. They were. Lucian and his men smirked, cocky as shit as they watched my slow, painful gait.

I didn’t make eye contact because I couldn’t; after what they’d done to me? I just couldn’t. I searched the room again and moved towards the kitchen, only to have something pull me backwards, which had moved faster than my mind could comprehend.

“Sweet girl, you’re ignoring us now?” Lucian purred, and I growled, baring my teeth like some rabid dog.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” I snapped. “You think I won’t tell my coven what you did? What you all did?”

“What did we do to you?” he murmured with a faux innocent tone as he inhaled the smell of my hair. He held me there, exposing me to the room full of men as he held my arms out. My midriff was exposed, and Spyder smiled at it as his eyes left it to hold mine.

“You know what you did!” I said.

“We protected you from Lucifer,” he whispered against my ear as his nose nuzzled it. I wanted to close my eyes so they wouldn’t see the angry tears building as I remembered them all kissing and touching me before they gnawed on me like a bone. “You let him in, not us. You were open to him, and you let him fuck what is mine, so we made you ours. All of ours, and now, now he can’t touch you,” he murmured smugly.

“And you had to do that? You couldn’t have warned me, or at least tried to talk to me about it?” I snapped as I pulled my arms away from his and turned to face him. “You had to fuck me to accomplish the spell, or was that just you being you and needing to claim shit?” He slowly walked forward, forcing me to move back.

“That was included in the spell. You see, when you claim something as we have, it normally constitutes being fucked, hard. And you were fucked hard, weren’t you?” His voice was deceptively soft as he moved forward, slowly pushing me towards the men. “Tell me, can you still feel me inside of you, claiming you, wrecking that tight pussy?” He smirked as a blush heated my cheeks. “Thought so. I told you, you’d damn well know the difference between us, little girl. When I fuck, I make sure you hurt in a pleasurable way you won’t forget. He plays, torments, tortures, and discards his broken toys; I own, and I take care of my belongings.” His voice dropped dangerously. “I let you keep your memories. You saw what I do, so go ahead, tell the coven. The moment they make a move against me, they die. You want a monster, I can be it. You think what you saw last night was bad, I can make it look like child’s play. Don’t make me show you the monster in your bed, little witch. You won’t like him.”

“You can’t kill the coven,” I warned as anger pulsed through me.

“I can, and I will if they find out what you saw, or if any of them learn about what we did together. Make no mistake; you joined in the fun for hours. That’s dark magic. You reek of it,” he laughed, pushing me backwards, where I landed in Spyder’s lap with a cry of pain. He pulled me against his body and growled, and my eyes lifted to Lucian’s, who had discovered I was rocking commando today as Spyder lifted the hem of my skirt. “Someone’s sore.” Lucian smirked as Spyder caressed my thigh, close to my sex.

“We enjoy killing, but we enjoy fucking more. Tell them, and I’ll make you watch as they are slaughtered while I fuck you; I think you’ll know pain and pleasure on an entire new level, kitty. I have tasted you and to be honest, I understand why he fucking craves you. You’re sweet, but you hide a dirty side that drives me crazy. So please, please tell them, because once you do, his protection ends and the real fun begins,” Spyder growled as his fingers traced the crease of my thigh, inches away from where my sex was bared to Lucian’s heated gaze.

I struggled in his lap until I felt his cock growing against my backside, realizing he enjoyed it more if I resisted. I stopped, arching my ass away from him as he laughed huskily against my ear.

“Too easy,” he murmured gently as he kissed my neck. “You taste of sex and magic, and a hint of whisky—and honestly, you look a lot better tied to a bed, naked. So don’t go and fuck up, because if you do, it’s where you will stay.”

“Fuck you,” I whispered hoarsely.

“No, but you whisper our secrets to a soul and that’s exactly what I will do to you,” he promised. “Now, be a good girl and don’t do anything stupid. We are everywhere, watching you.” My skirt was smoothed down as one hand slid down my thigh, the other touching my shoulder, and it burned the moment he did. “You smell good, almost good enough to eat.”

I stood up sharply and scrambled away from him until I bumped into Lucian, who smiled as I fumbled for words. I turned away from him with crimson cheeks and watched the backs of the men as they filed out of the house. I swallowed a sob as I turned to face Lucian, who raised a finger to run it down the side of my face.

I remembered being with him, all of him. I remembered begging him to do things to me, bad things. Begging. As in, I pleaded and did things to him just so he would give me what I needed, and still, I’d hungered for more. They had watched us all night, and every time we detonated, they’d come a little undone along with us.

“What we did…” I couldn’t finish as heat blossomed on my face and tears lingered in my eyes.

“We fucked, you and me. You didn’t fuck anyone else, and you won’t, ever again. Get over it; even animals fuck when they’re in season and right now, you’re the animal and I am the wolf hunting you because, make no mistake, you are in season. I told you I wasn’t a good guy, I told you I was the one protecting you, and so I am. I fixed your problem with Lucifer, but it wasn’t for free. You let him in. Not me, not them. We paid a price to fix what you did, and therefore, you are mine. Understand? And the next time you think about exploring my club, you’ll do it with me, or you won’t like what happens. Break the rules again, and you will be punished, and it won’t end as well as this turned out.”

“I’m supposed to find a mate. I have to get pregnant, so unless you plan on having a child with me, I will be up for selection at the next event. And you…you didn’t,” I paused, staring at him while I tried to delicately ask if he’d worn anything.

“Didn’t use protection?” He laughed as he watched me panic. “No, I didn’t, and I won’t with you. You will tell the coven that you are mine, or I will tell them that we fucked, and that we will continue fucking. One of the two will happen, because you are not fucking anyone else. Not unless you want to see them at the end of a sword, without a head.”

“You’re a bastard,” I hissed as I stepped away from him as he moved closer, forcing me up against the wall.

“Save the names for in the bedroom,” he laughed as he pressed me against the wall. “Kiss me, and fucking mean it. Pretend like your pretty little life depends on it, because it does.”

I lifted my mouth to his, slowly running my tongue over his lips as I moaned against him. My tongue slipped between his soft lips, capturing his. A growl tore from deep in his chest as he lifted me, pressing my pussy against his cock, tearing a cry from my lungs as the soreness he pressed against burned.

What was it with this man? He hunted me down, moving in ways no witch could, and yet I couldn’t stay away from him. I wanted him, wanted everything about him. I wanted him to fuck me right here, right now, and he knew it. I wrapped my legs around him, grabbing between us to free his cock, until a cough sounded from elsewhere in the room, and then another, followed by laughter.

I pulled away from him, staring into his condescending midnight eyes that smiled at me in triumph, struggling to calm my body’s response to him and forcing my breathing to level out. I bit my lip, leaning my head back against the wall as he let me slide down him, right until his fingers slid through my sex with my mother and her boyfriend mere feet away from us. I smothered my face against his chest, inhaling his earthy scent as I fought to calm the storm he created.

“What is this?” my mother chirped, and I groaned. “Is this why you didn’t come home last night until late?”

“She’s mine,” Lucian said firmly. “Let your mother know that I’ve claimed her as of last night and I intend to breed with her.” He watched me as I skewered him with a glare that promised a thousand deaths. “A Fitzgerald and Blackstone will make a very powerful child indeed, won’t we, sweet girl? Probably the most powerful in the coven’s history,” he murmured before he removed his hand and kissed my forehead.

“What about him?” she asked barely above a whisper.

“He can’t touch her anymore.” His eyes bored into mine, watching me as he spoke. “I used an old family spell to protect her and claim her. She’s bound to me now, and closed off to Hell forever.” I smirked coldly as I remembered his ‘family’ spell, which had consisted of a Fae and a room full of half-naked men licking and biting me.

“I will make the announcement; the coven will be thrilled. It’s unexpected, but I don’t think I could choose a better mate for her. That is if you breed, of course.”

“I agree, as does she,” he said softly, lowering his mouth to mine in a chaste kiss, which sent butterflies into a rage inside of me. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Hold your breath while you wait,” I whispered softly, for his ears alone.

“Don’t make me spank your ass, little witch,” he said loudly enough for them to hear, causing my cheeks to turn redder than they already had at being found with his hand in the cookie jar. Literally.

Chapter 11

Pacing in my room was becoming a bad habit. I’d been doing it for over an hour, probably punishing myself for what I’d allowed to happen last night. I still didn’t know why I went to his club, for starters.

Perhaps it was the conversation between Alden and Adam that rattled me, or it could have been to spy on Lucian and finally get some answers about the crazy that surrounded him and was influencing everything in my little world. Bottom line; I knew that, for whatever twisted reason it was, he had something to do with the Fae showing up at my house.

I’d heard talk of the Spokane Guild, that it was being rebuilt after it had been rendered into a pile of rubble. I had also heard about the Seattle Guild falling, though there was no word on that one being rebuilt. The news had covered both stories about the battles at the Guilds. Both battles had fingers pointing to the Fae as the logical bad guys, yet there seemed to be something bigger going on behind the scenes with the Guilds, something the media wasn’t telling us about.

Then there was Alden. He had invited the Fae into my home and seemed to be quite friendly with him. No, he was more than friendly with him; he was almost paternal to the royal Fae rat-fink who stripped me of all of my defenses and left me open to Lucian and his depraved band of merry-men. Alden, the man who had been training us to use our magic. Alden, who had been guiding our coven, knew a lot more than he let on about Lucian and what was happening with the Guild, a place our coven was forbidden to go to. Alden, the big fat traitor who was currently shacking up with my mother!

I grabbed up a picture of me and Lena and threw it against the wall, watching as it shattered in a gratifying shower of glass. I walked over to the remains and plucked the photo out of the glass remnants. I shook it for sharp fragments and noticed a map drawn on the back of it.

Sitting on my bed, I studied it for a few moments, and then a thought struck me as I slowly surveyed the other pictures. When we were kids, we’d left hidden messages everywhere, but the important ones we’d hidden in plain sight.

One after the other, I removed the photos from the frames and turned them over to find hastily scrawled notes, then lined them up on the bed until I had a full message. I swallowed fear as I figured out what it meant. My heart pounded as I studied the notes side by side on the map.

Taking one last look around the room, I grabbed my pack and stacked the notes into a neat pile before sliding them into the pack. I slipped on shoes, heaved the lightweight pack onto my shoulders and made my way to the door, but hesitated for a moment as I held the knob. I pulled it open and moved down the hallway, listening as laughter sounded from my mother’s bedroom.

Satisfied that she’d be busy for a bit, I crept down the stairs as quietly as possible, glancing furtively around the room, but found no one. I moved a little quicker to the front door then out to my car. I slipped the bag from my shoulders and tossed it into the passenger seat before sliding into the car myself.

Nothing was as it seemed here, and everything felt wrong. I felt like I’d slipped into a Twilight Zone episode, one with body snatchers. I’d replayed Lucian murdering people over and over inside my head, memorizing every minute detail, right down to those people in the crowd not being human; they’d been other. No one said anything when I was being chased; no one moved to help me. As if they were used to scared people running for their lives in the lower levels of the club!

The sun was setting as I pulled out onto the road and looked in the rearview mirror in time to see another car pull onto the asphalt behind me. Lucian had warned me that his people were everywhere, watching me, and I had learned the hard way that he never made any meaningless threats. If he said he was watching, I could count on it. However, I was a girl, and he had guys stalking me. I could literally bore them to death, make them lower their guard, and then sneak away.

I spent the next several hours meandering around the mall, indulging in chocolate and perfume samples while window shopping, then headed to a bookstore that was closer to where I really wanted to be. I spent a couple more hours looking through books as the clerk watched me as if she feared I was going to finish the one in my hand. I made my way to the cash register and placed the book on the counter, nonchalantly peeking out the window to see Bane waiting in his car with an unknown passenger.

“That’s it?” she asked, pushing her perfect librarian glasses into place as she made me feel like a naughty kid reading one of her mother’s saucy novels. “You sure you don’t want the others that you read half of?”

“No, no, they didn’t hold my interest. But this one did; thank you so much for asking!” I grinned cheerfully.

“Can’t say I blame you; they do lag a bit, but that one speeds up in the middle.” She pointed to one of the books that had a bodice-ripper type cover, surprising me. I looked out the window again and she watched me speculatively. “They have been out there this whole time; friends of yours?”

“No, not exactly,” I snorted. “Friends of my very-unwanted boyfriend, I guess you could say.”

“There’s a back door,” she offered. “Not that you could get your car without being seen, but it would give you some time before they figured out you were gone. I had an abusive piece of shit once. Sent his buddies to push me around when I broke it off with him. Us girls, we stick together, am I right, sugar?”

I stared at her as I considered it. The Guild was five blocks away from here. I could make it there on foot in minutes if I hurried. I still wasn’t sure how I would get in, but I didn’t intend on not getting in at this point.

“Please. That would help me out greatly, but I’ll need to come back through here, if possible,” I whispered quietly, and she nodded as she finished ringing up the book before pointing out a few shelves and talking about other books, as if she was helping me find something else. She rounded the register counter, and I followed her to the front of the shelves, where she began randomly pulling out books and describing them to me before we moved around to the back shelves, which we couldn’t be seen from the front windows. I exhaled as she set the books down and hurried to the back door, pulled it open, and peered down the dark alley in both directions. She didn’t stop there; she moved across the alley and rapped her knuckles on the door across from her store.

“Roger, open up, sugar,” she called, and when the door opened, a thirty-something man stepped out, smiling from ear to ear as he looked over the busty store clerk. Without missing a beat or an ounce of charm, she began talking fast. “This girl needs some help, she’s got a hot one on her tail; let her out through the front for me?”

“Anything for you, Carla,” he crooned before he looked at me and blinked, his eyes slowly traveling down my body with interest.

“Now, Roger, don’t you be doing that to her, she’s been through enough. Just let her out, please?” She shook a chastising finger under his nose.

“You got it, but you will owe me,” he grinned, and I narrowed my eyes on him, unsure I wanted to leave poor Carla in this guy’s debt.

“I can just walk around the buildings,” I offered, but she shooed me through the door.

“Now, I already told ya, we girls got to stick together. And Roger here has twelve-plus inches in his pants, so I don’t mind him at all. A girl has got to find it where she can. Lord knows they don’t make them all the same. No brains, all cock on this one. He’s just how I prefer them, these days. No hard feelings, sugar, but you know I’m in it for the cock already.”

Laughing, unsure I should have, but unable to stop it from bubbling up, I hugged Carla quickly then followed Roger, who informed me it was more like thirteen or so inches and he was willing to show all of them to me if I wanted to check. I passed, slipping out the front of his shop with a quick wave and a sneak peek at his crotch before dashing into the next alley.

I jogged from alley to alley until I skidded to a halt as I rounded the last corner and came face to face with the forbidding sight of the Spokane Guild. The soft glow of the streetlights reflecting off of it showed me that it really had been rebuilt and was a lot bigger than I expected; huge, in fact. Lights were glowing from some of the windows and I saw that the front was guarded by a couple of tall and forbidding-looking males that I didn’t have to go far out on a limb to guess were Fae.

I pushed the book into the pack, exchanging it for the map. There were arrows pointing to the back of the Guild on it, and I chewed my lip as I lifted my eyes and saw a familiar blonde as she and a dark-haired male moved around the front of the Guild.

Eyeing them suspiciously, I moved around the back and hunted around in the dark until I found the storm drain marked on the map that would give me access to the catacombs. I slipped through it, holding my breath along with my pack so I didn’t make any noise as I entered the stygian interior. I scaled down, ignoring the obnoxious odor of mold and musty stagnant water as I reached another ladder.

I climbed through a pile of rubble, one that had been mapped out, which meant the map was right. I clicked on a flashlight and looked at the map again. What the fuck had she been thinking coming here after it had been attacked? Her notes said she’d been coming for months, and yet the Guild had been damaged a lot longer than that.

I moved deeper into the sewers and finally into the outer edges of the catacombs as the notes instructed, then paused, taking in my first sight of the inside of the Guild. This section was still broken, rocks and concrete blocks that had once been walls littered the floors. Dried blood coated them like macabre paint, as if this was where the Guild members had fallen, then later been moved away for burial. My heart clenched for those who had died here. I pushed those thoughts away as I stepped past the rubble and deeper into the Guild.

I snuck down the dark hallway, following the arrows until I had to change page. My heart beat wildly as I discovered another hallway that led further into the labyrinth under the Guild.

Once I reached the floor I was looking for—thankfully without landing on my head—I turned off the flashlight and whispered the spell to see in the dark. It was a great spell, but unfortunately quite unpredictable. The leyline here was strong, strong enough that I wouldn’t cause a ripple by tapping it. I moved soundlessly through what I presumed had once been a library, holding the map at my side as I followed the picture inside my mind.

I passed what looked like a medieval altar room and stopped at the entryway of it. It was old and reeked of death, as if this had once been a place of sacrifice to the Gods of old. A shiver snaked down my spine as I stared at the door, covered in wards. Heavy wards, like the kind you didn’t mess with because it could bring the entire place down on your head.

Lena was officially fired.

I carefully picked my way through more rubble, wondering why they hadn’t fixed the lower levels as they must have done with the upper levels.

My first sight of the catacombs almost made me turn around and run; this section was worse. Every door had runes on them, and the deeper I got into the rabbit warren of tunnels, the more I wanted to leave this place. I could see traces of dried blood, as if some of the witches from the Guild had hidden deep inside the catacombs the day this place fell.

I paused outside a door, holding the map up to look at it. It was marked with blood, familiar blood, and yet instinctively I knew it wasn’t of my line. I felt it calling to me, so I placed my hand on the door, which opened it. What the fuck?

From outside the room, I peered in at the rows of books and rolled-up scrolls of parchment that filled the shelves. In the back were old wooden tables, along with decrepit old chairs.

The moment I stepped into the room, a ghostly figure appeared, staring at me. It was a beautiful woman, created in the image of what we were taught was the Goddess, Hecate, and yet somehow I knew she wasn’t the Goddess. I held my breath as I stepped closer, eyeing the door behind the figure.

“And so you’ve come,” it said. “Blood of my blood, and line of my line, I am released from this time.”

“Say what?” I asked, and watched as the door behind her opened as she disappeared. “Because drugs are bad, kids.” I groaned as I rubbed my temples and moved into the hidden room, pulling the door closed behind me as I whispered a spell to ignite the candles inside the room.

I gasped as I took in the ancient items inside the room. Jars of herbs and other items were interspersed with books on the shelves. I reached out, touching one of the vials that had liquid in it, and watched as fluorescent blue writing appeared across the label. I snatched my hand away from it, afraid I’d set something off, but as I pulled my hand away from it, the other labels all began to glow with the same iridescent blue writing. I moved to the next thing, which was a small box, where I found a cameo necklace that looked as if it had been crafted in the early 1700s. Pressing the tiny mechanism on the side, the locket sprang open and a dark-haired woman stared back at me, her lush lips full as she pouted at whoever had painted her image. I put it back and continued perusing the items. Turning in a circle, I noted the wards inside the room were of the same color as the writing that glowed from the objects, as if it was projected there.

My eyes followed the lines that zigzagged through the room until they landed on a stack of grimoires. I shivered and stepped closer, pulled by the glowing handwriting that was scrawled across the grimoire on the top of the pile.

I looked around the room once more and took the last step that brought me to the books. My hand darted out, grabbing the first from the pile. I dropped my bag as I knelt in front of the pile and opened the leather-bound cover to the first page. Everything inside of me said to close it and back away, but I couldn’t. I was drawn to them as if an invisible line connected me to them.

A violent tremor pulsed through me as my fingers touched the first page. My eyes grew heavy as the air inside the room grew thick with magic. As I watched letters rose from the page, slid across my flesh, and disappeared into my skin. My arms glowed with the fluorescent letters as one after another left the book and vanished into my body. I couldn’t stop myself, not until every grimoire was empty and sat in a pile beside me. I brought my hands up, wiping away the tears that refused to stop as every word and story entered my mind. Ancient spells swirled around my mind—and worse. The stories that belonged to the owners of the grimoires whispered through my mind as well.

It hurt; emotionally my mind screamed with their pain even though it wasn’t my own. Each one had predicted their own death, as well as whose hands it would come by. Names and dates were missing, yet somehow I knew more than just the details of their lives; I knew their pain. I stared at the last book, noting it hadn’t been a grimoire, but rather a yellow-paged journal. Upon the page that lay open were my tears as I’d cried as each word had played like an audiobook as it entered my mind. I stood up, putting the books back into a neat pile and stepping away from them.

I turned and looked at the other small box on the shelf, blinking back tears as I made my way to it. After removing the lid, I held another crude locket in my hand. This locket was older; it had something written on it and yet I couldn’t make out what it said. I put the top back on the box as I slipped it into my pocket and then I touched the next item. Memories that weren’t mine rushed through me. I removed the lid from the next, touched it, and the next, and so on, until I had touched every article in the room, and pulled the memories from them.

I righted the room, putting everything back where I’d found it, and then silently slipped from it.

I now held the grimoires of at least six witches inside my soul. Minutes, that was how long it took me to gain the entire lifetime of magic from each grimoire. Not only that, but I held treasured memories from them; love and fear tingled inside of me, and it felt foreign. None of it made any fucking sense, yet it somehow felt right.

My feet moved as if they were controlled by someone else. I turned into the next room, stopping in front of a coffin that was covered in beautiful craftsmanship. The wood was etched with a story of curses, and the strangest sense of déjà vu shivered down my spine. I ran my fingers over it, searching for the memories it held, but there was nothing there. The more I touched it, the more the hair on my nape stood up. Whoever had etched the carvings had done so with love, taking their time.

I turned away from it, forcing myself to go. A wall of skulls met my vision and I jumped back, hitting the coffin with my hip. Watchers? I moved my eyes from them to the coffin, swallowing an uneasy feeling. Creepy.

I shivered and as I did, I heard voices. I stiffened, eyeing the coffin and wondering if I had the balls to hide inside it. Not even going to try it. I flattened myself against a wall, whispered a spell, and blinked, standing still as people rounded the corner. I braced to fight, knowing I wouldn’t win, but they walked right by me.

I almost exhaled, but instead I stood as still as a statue, listening to them.

“Something tapped it, Ristan. I felt it, you didn’t?” the blonde asked, and I stared at her. “It’s still here, whatever it is. It feels…not right. Not whole. Powerful—I’m telling you, something is here.”

“I would have felt it too, Flower, and I feel nothing. I feel you, and I feel me. Maybe it was Adam, his magic tends to linger when he sifts. He hasn’t perfected it yet, but we all know he’s been through the wringer.”

I moved quietly, watching each place I stepped until I was back in the room with the altar. I had just entered it when the blonde appeared in front of me, with a sword drawn from thin air. I ducked right and crouched on the floor as she swung the sword in a wide arc, peering around the room as the other guy with long black hair gave her a golf-clap. I squinted at them, trying to get a better look at whatever weird shit was going on with his eyes.

“Congratulations, you killed air,” he laughed.

“Stuff it, Demon, something is here.”

I crawled on my hands and knees, rounding the altar until I rested my head against it. I heard her shoes, sexy as hell high heels that tapped as she rounded it and swung her sword inches from my head. I held my breath, holding my spot as she moved around it, staring at the spot.

“If I’m right, it’s a witch. A powerful one at that, which means she might be hiding here, needing our help,” she mused as she pushed the sword into the holster on her side.

“I doubt she’d ask with you swinging that thing around like She-Ra on steroids. I mean, pretty sure she’d assume you were team Skeletor about now. Come on; if you don’t feel malice, she isn’t evil. She’s probably terrified and hiding down here, so let’s give her some room. She’ll see we’re team He-Man soon enough.”

“You and your movie shit. We need to get you more Blu-Rays soon.”

“Blu-Rays are so last year. I have Demon on Demand, which is a step up from Fae-per-view.”

I held my breath until they’d left the room, and for what felt like an eternity after they’d gone, I remained in place. I slowly got to my feet, searched the area, and prayed that the invisibility spell I’d somehow cast was still working. I rushed out the way I’d come, not stopping until I entered Roger’s shop as I shed the spell. He smirked, coming around his counter wearing a pair of shorts instead of the jeans he’d been wearing before. I eyed the clock and saw that I hadn’t been gone more than an hour and a few minutes. It had seemed like several had passed.

“I need to get back inside Carla’s shop, now,” I blurted as he nodded.

“This way, little lady. All the pretty girls are always in such a hurry around here,” he grumbled. Once I was in the alleyway, he opened the door and I heard Bane’s voice. I held my finger up to my lips and looked around, finding the bathroom, and hurried in, quietly closing the door behind me.

I listened as Bane’s heavy feet pounded on the floor as I flushed the toilet and opened the bathroom door while fixing my shirt. I eyed him, narrowing a glare on him as I stepped out of the bathroom. I growled, and he smirked.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I snapped.

“Following your sweet ass for Lucian, you? Tell me, who the fuck spends this much time in a bookstore; my Gods woman, three fucking hours!”

“Book shopping, alone. Which means, doesn’t matter if it’s five or ten hours, because I’m alone,” I replied as I moved to the pile Carla had left on the chair, then moved to the register and set them down, smiling at Carla.

“Find everything you needed?” she asked me, as if I hadn’t spent the last hour or so not in the bookstore with her, curled up with books.

“And more, let’s just hope my newfound love has big shelves,” I joked.

“If a man expects to please a woman, he needs to please her mind first,” she giggled, and Bane snorted behind me.

“If a man wants to please a woman, he parts her pussy and fucks it with his mouth until she’s begging him to stop. After that, he fucks her for hours until she’s, again, begging him to stop. Then, then he claims her mind, because once you have her body and her mind, that soul is yours.”

I stared at him as the cashier sighed.

“His isn’t twelve inches; more like five,” I snickered, and she laughed at the disgruntled look on his face.

“The fuck you say,” Bane growled as he eyed his jeans.

“I do love my inches,” she winked.