Amalia

Magnus hadn’t spoken since we’d left Nalki behind. His shoulders remained rigid, and anger radiated from him. My irritation grew with every step we took. Just because I’d denied him a kill, he’d turned into an asshole. It wasn’t like I didn’t tell him I wouldn’t tolerate something happening to the jinn. I’d explained I would help him, but not at the expense of the jinn.

When I looked at his face though, I contemplated killing Nalki myself.

Shaking my head, I tried to rid myself of the absurd notion, but it wouldn’t go away. The idea of anyone hurting him caused an irrational need to destroy whoever the offender was myself. Never before had the idea of killing someone entered my mind, but the black bruises on Magnus’s face, which were already fading to a purple hue, and his still partially caved-in cheekbone made me feel murderous.

But fine, if he preferred to be a jerk, then he could screw himself because he wouldn’t be touching me again.

I kept telling myself this, but my body remained oversensitive from our encounter earlier. Nalki’s arrival had doused my passion, but staring at his bare chest and back helped renew it, as did the fact I kept replaying those moments in my mind. My toes curled when I recalled the intensity of the orgasm he’d given me.

What else he could do with that magnificent body, I wondered as my eyes locked onto his lean, flexing muscles more times than I would ever admit to myself or anyone else. Still damp, his skin glistened, and his hair was plastered to his face, revealing more of those horns I loved running my hands over.

He’d liked me touching his horns. I licked my lips at the memory.

What is wrong with me?

I resisted tearing my wet dress off as every step caused it to rub against me in ways that stimulated me further. If I believed it would help, I’d slip away for a minute and give myself some release, but I knew it wouldn’t. No, the only one who could bring me any relief was Magnus, and he was an ass.

Tugging at the collar of my dress, I pulled it away from my stiff nipples and breathed a little easier when it helped to ease some of my discomforts. My immortality must be coming real soon, as I’d never felt this hypersexual in my life. I’d been told a demon’s sex drive amped up right before and after they became immortal.

I hadn’t believed it as I’d already started to experience a growing sex drive, but now, I considered jumping Magnus and having sex with him just to end this torment. My skin flushed at the image such a thought conjured, and I found it increasingly difficult to breathe.

Magnus sniffed the air before his head turned toward me. Ducking my face, I forced my expression into one of nonchalance though my reddened skin, the color of my eyes, and the scent gave away my growing arousal. I’d never felt awkward before, but I wanted to melt through the ground.

Then, laughter floated to me.

My head shot up as three more equally girlish ones followed the first laugh. I turned to search for wherever the laughter came from and spotted a small crevice between the rocks.

When I stepped forward, Magnus gripped my forearm to halt me. “I’ll go first,” he said.

Before I could protest, he slid past me and, turning sideways, slipped into the opening. I followed him into the fissure, but unlike Magnus, the rocks didn’t scratch my chest and back as I sidestepped onward.

At the end of the opening, Magnus peered out before exiting. I emerged behind him and froze when I saw the group of naked women gathered on a plush, red bed. Pillows abounded on the bed, and a sheer, red veil hung around the edges of it.

One of the women was in the process of doing things to a pillow that would make a tree nymph blush. Some of the others moaned as they fondled one another. The remaining two women were laughing as they playfully hit each other with the pillows.

“Looks like they’re having fun,” I murmured.

“Yes, but someone isn’t,” Magnus said.

He nodded to a young man who was lying fifty feet away from the bed. I’d been so caught up in the orgie, I’d failed to notice the man sprawled out on the rocks with his hands propped behind his head, and his feet crossed at the ankles. A pair of sunglasses shadowed his eyes, but his head was turned toward the women.

“Hawk,” Magnus murmured and started toward the man.

Sensing our approach, Hawk’s head turned toward us. He lowered his hands and propped his forearms on the ground behind him as he gazed at Magnus. Well-muscled, Hawk was broad through his shoulders and chest and extremely good-looking. If my intense attraction to Magnus was because of my looming immortality, I expected to experience a wave of lust for Hawk, but I felt nothing as I took in the sculpted planes of his face.

Lifting the glasses, Hawk revealed indigo eyes as he looked Magnus up and down. “You must be real,” he said.

“And why is that?” Magnus inquired.

Hawk’s attention drifted to me, and his full lips quirked into a smile that I couldn’t stop myself from returning. Not only was he good-looking, but he emanated a kindness few other demons did. Magnus’s displeasure caressed my skin as he edged between us.

“Because,” Hawk said and rose, “only you would be arrogant enough to parade around whatever this place is, looking like someone mistook your face for a punching bag, while half naked.”

“Asshole,” Magnus said, but he grinned.

“Very true,” Hawk agreed. “What is going on here and where am I?”

“Someone made a wish allowing the jinn to take almost everyone in the camp into the Abyss.”

“And what is the Abyss?”

“A place where wishes are granted and the jinn feast,” Magnus replied. “Did you make any wishes?”

“I think I’d enjoy my time here more if I had.” When Hawk’s attention returned to the women, some of his amusement vanished and sweat beaded his upper lip. “A wish, huh? I knew something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it stop.”

“How did you know it was fake?” I asked.

“I didn’t, not at first. I… uh… I lost myself for a bit.”

“Only for a bit?” Magnus asked. “What kind of canagh demon are you?”

My breath sucked in at the revelation of the type of demon Hawk was.

“Not a very good one,” Hawk admitted.

“You’re a canagh demon?” I inquired and was surprised my voice didn’t squeak a little.

I’d heard about, and been cautioned to stay away from, the canagh demons who feasted on sexual energy. They could snare a lover and turn them into withered husks of what they once were through sex. Like the jinn, not all canaghs fed off those they enslaved, but many demons feared them.

“Not by choice,” Hawk replied.

“None of us have a choice about what kind of demon we are,” I said, confused by his choice of words.

“Hawk was once human, but he was accidentally turned into a canagh when the blood of one mingled with his while he was dying,” Magnus explained.

“Oh,” I murmured.

“And you are?” Hawk inquired with an appreciative twinkle in his eyes as they ran over me.

“Off limits,” Magnus warned.

Hawk’s hands shot up, and he grinned at Magnus. “I didn’t realize that, and I didn’t mean any offense to the beautiful lady.”

“None taken,” I said, and Hawk gave me a grateful smile while Magnus made another, menacing sound. “My name’s Amalia.”

“Nice to meet you, Amalia. I’m Hawk.”

I stepped around Magnus when Hawk extended his hand toward me. I recognized the gesture as something I’d seen humans do and, grasping his hand in both of mine, I gave it an enthusiastic shake that brought it up to our heads before down to our waists.

Hawk’s eyes widened before he started to laugh. Though I could still feel Magnus’s annoyance, he chuckled and stopped my next upward jerk.

“Easy, Freckles,” he said. “Leave his arm attached.”

I released Hawk’s hand when Magnus’s fingers gently pried mine away from his friend’s. Magnus gave my hand a small shake up and down. “This is the traditional human way of greeting others,” he explained.

“Oh,” I replied and frowned at our shaking hands. “My way is more fun.”

Hawk laughed as he shook out his arm. “It’s more of a workout. So, where did you come from, Amalia?”

“From Hell; I was behind one of the seals. I’m a jinni.”

Hawk’s smile never left his face, but uneasiness washed out of him. The change in emotion was subtle and one I probably wouldn’t have picked up on before. However, my empath ability was growing. I didn’t know if it was this place causing it to expand, or if my immortality was closer than I realized.

“She’s not like the jinn who placed you here,” Magnus said.

“I see,” Hawk murmured, and this time his eyes were more inquisitive than interested when they ran over me.

“So… did the women not please you?” I asked to distract him from his perusal.

“Oh, they pleased me quite well,” Hawk murmured and licked his lips. “But something wasn’t right.”

“How did you know something was off?” Magnus asked.

Hawk gazed at the women before looking to Magnus again. “If this is a land of wishes, then I guess I didn’t get mine.”

“I don’t understand.”

“As a canagh demon, I feed on sexual energy. As a human, I had different partners because I was young and having fun. But I was also waiting for… I guess you could say the right one to come along. I wanted someone to love and to love me, someone to have my children and share a life with, when I was old enough and ready for that to happen, of course.”

He wants that more than anything else, I realized when his longing coiled within my chest.

“Whoever put me here saw me only as a canagh demon and must have assumed sex was what I would want, but I already have this, and it’s….”

Hawk’s voice trailed off. Focusing on us again, he flashed a grin, but I’d already sensed the emotion he was about to name—lonely.

“Anyway, it appears the jinn misread me. Perhaps I was thinking of sex when they took me, which is likely, or perhaps they took one look at my stunning physique and stereotyped me into the playboy role,” Hawk continued.

He winked at me as he said this, and Magnus gave a throaty growl that had Hawk’s eyebrows shooting up.

“Okay, no winking at you,” he said to me while he gave Magnus a puzzled look.

“If you know this isn’t real, then why are you still here?” Magnus asked.

“I tried walking away, but every time I leave, I find myself standing here again. So, I figured I’d settle in and wait for someone to come, and you did. How do I get out?”

“Unlike us, it’s only your mind trapped here. Your body is in a cave with the others; you just have to return to it,” Magnus explained.

“Are you telling me I’m like Dorothy and I’ve had the power to go home this entire time?” Hawk inquired.

“Who?” I asked, and Magnus looked confused.

“Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz, the scarecrow and some flying monkeys—”

“Where?” I asked, and my eyes shot to the sky. I once discovered a book of Earth animals in an abandoned home. I remembered liking the monkeys because they were cute, but I didn’t think they flew.

“Demons,” Hawk sighed. “It was a movie I saw when I was a kid. Dorothy went to Oz, and she had these ruby slippers and… You know what, never mind. It’s not worth explaining.”

“It, ah, sounds interesting,” I said.

“It was.” Hawk threw back his shoulders and clicked his heels together. “I’m done with this fucking place.” Click. “I’m done with this fu—”

Before Hawk could finish, he disappeared and the women vanished. I hadn’t realized how loud the women were until silence filled my ears.

“I’m going to have to discover this Wizard of Oz thing,” Magnus said.

“Oz sounds strange, but Hawk seems nice.”

When Magnus shot me an irritated look, I smiled sweetly at him.