Demons are vicious. Sylver especially. I feel defiled and dirty despite my body being perfectly intact. He didn’t touch me, yet my mind’s broken into pieces.
I can’t stop looking at him as we walk the rest of the way back.
He’s wearing a satisfied grin that I want to wipe off his face. I remind myself that Jared and I should still try to find ways to escape these demons before they completely mess us up. Sylver is torturing me. Not in the same way as Xeres did to Jared, but he is. I don’t know whether he’s truly intending this to be torture, but if so, he’s doing a great job of it.
My body prickles. I can’t get the image of him in the alleyway cleaned from my thoughts. I’m regretting not finishing myself off. That little act of rebellion made satisfaction rush through me then, but now I’m dealing with the aftermath of soaked panties and nothing to show for it. I’m longing to find a quiet corner, because my insides are protesting at the lack of release.
I feel like I’m being betrayed by my own body, and that’s even more grating.
“So,” he says, “are you ready to submit?”
“Not a chance.” I attempt to quicken my pace and speed up in front of him, but his strides are too long. He’s so unnervingly gorgeous that he makes walking look like an art form.
“When you’re ready.”
I glance at the cobblestone pavement, not meeting his gaze for another second.
“You hate this club, don’t you?” I say, trying to change the topic. I noticed the way he tensed up when I mentioned it earlier. “Isn’t it the sort of place for people like you?”
“People like me?”
“Depraved.”
“You were the one sticking your tongue out hungrily back in the alley.”
Was I? Coupled with a whole night’s lack of sleep, my energy to talk to Sylver is gone. He was easy to talk to earlier. After that display? My insides light up with one look at him, and my words fumble out of my lips.
Perhaps I’ll eventually start begging. I can sense my wetness between my thighs, and the tension there won’t leave. The need to take care of it continues to pound at me.
There are more people in the club when we enter. It’ll be evening in a few hours. These clubs in Vegas are open twenty-four-seven, apparently, which I find strange. Perhaps demons need an endless supply of prey.
Sylver wanders off as we enter—good riddance. But that means that he isn’t going to help me with that ache between my thighs. Part of me hoped he’d reach out, drag me into another alleyway, and fuck me senseless. But he promised that won’t be happening until I say yes to giving myself up.
He shouldn’t count on that. I’m stubborn and still convinced that these guys are total assholes.
I feel terrible for wanting them. I try to tell myself I shouldn’t, but the guilt continues to consume me.
“Jared?”
My brother’s making out with a woman on a couch—a couch I wouldn’t want to lie on. Who knows how many demons and humans have lain in it, spraying their juices everywhere? Ugh.
His partner’s gorgeous. She’s a dark-skinned brunette with rose-tinted cheeks. Her heart-shaped face reminds me of Kylie. That’s when I realize awakening my demon powers gave me a heightened sense of smell, because I can tell this girl isn’t human. Her scent is stronger, more alluring.
Demon, definitely.
Jared is frolicking with the enemy? The ones who put him through that nightmare in the first place?
I suppose I shouldn’t complain, not with what just happened. But I didn’t jump in with Sylver, did I?
He pulls away from the girl. “Val!”
“Shit, Jared, what’s going on?”
He scratches the back of his head and smiles sheepishly. “Uh, meet Diamond.”
I’m quite certain that’s not her real name.
He looks at Diamond. “Bella didn’t have much to say to me… She said I was nothing interesting, then sent me out. She’s still in there with Vickal and Xeres. So, I walked away, and got a little bored, and Diamond here decided to talk to me, and, well… we get along.”
Get along. That’s one way to put it. My brother is ever the playboy. Seems like he doesn’t discriminate between demon or human. As long as he can stick his cock somewhere, all is well in Jared Land. “Uh, Diamond—” I almost call her “sweetheart” because of how pretty she looks, but she’s not one. Not if she’s a demon. “Can I have a word with Jared, please?”
She smiles at me so politely, it’s nearly startling. She bows and strides away.
“You’re kissing the enemy’s ass,” I tell Jared, once I’m certain she’s out of hearing range.
“Groping it, more like,” he mutters.
I rest my hands on my hips.
“What? She’s hot! She was there and willing.”
“She’s a demon! You can smell it as well as I can. Remember what they did to you?”
“That’s on Vickal, Xeres, and Sylver. Not her. They’re not all the same. Diamond’s sweet. She has two sisters she’s taking care of. She’s not a full demon. She’s half, like us, and Belladonna pays well, so she’s—”
“You can’t trust them.” I throw my hands into the air.
“May I remind you we’re half-demons, too?”
He’s got a point.
“We weren’t born into it,” I say. “Not like she was.”
“She wasn’t either. She was… put through a difficult childhood. It triggered her powers. Like what we’re going through now. Must be tough being a stripper. She told me she’s working for a better life. I’m sorry about her having to go through so much.”
The irony rings true in my mind. Jared doesn’t know what I’ve gone through just to give him a stress-free college education. He thinks I landed some obscure, high-paying job liaising with clients overseas, which requires me to work night shifts. Kylie’s in on the details and helped me with that lie.
I fold my arms and sit on the couch—only at the edge of it, however. I’m not about to sink my entire body in the filth like Jared is. Who knows what’s been there? “Jared, I love you. I don’t want to see you get hurt. And you open up so easily to people. You have to realize that these are supernatural beings we’re dealing with. Have you already forgotten what they did to you?”
“I remember. And I’m thankful for it.”
I turn to him sharply. “What?”
“They made me something better. I have powers now, Val. You do, too. It’s like they’ve enriched me. Made me more than what I thought I was.”
“Through torture?”
He summons his whitefyre. I still haven’t figured out why our fires are white, and the three demons’ are black. “This is amazing. I never thought anybody or anything could be capable of controlling the elements. The pain was terrible, but it’s passed. I’m stronger for it.”
“They’re holding us captive.”
“We serve a function for them.” There’s desire in my brother’s eyes. Ambition I didn’t think he was capable of. It’s foreign, and I don’t like it. “And they give us something in return.”
I lean my elbows on my thighs. “Did they do something to your head?”
“Val, I can think for myself.”
“I know. I know you do.”
“No.” Jared scowls. “I’m not sure you do. You’re always deciding things for me, for us. You provide, and I’m grateful. But you’re constantly giving shit up. Maybe it’s because you’re stronger. Because you tough it out for two. But now that I have this”—he gestures to his white flames—“maybe I can do something. I’m the cipher. I’m what they want. So now you can rest easy.”
“Rest easy? I’m more worried than ever.”
He closes his hand into a fist, and the flames disappear. “I can take care of myself, Val. You don’t have to keep pushing yourself. Ever since Eric…” Jared stiffens when he recalls our last foster father.
The one who abused us. Jared most of all.
I wasn’t aware of it at first. Jared and I were the unlucky kids. Some foster children found loving homes straight off the bat. Rich parents. Kind parents. They got to go to fancy schools, ate the most lavish meals, got the attention they deserved.
Not Jared and me. We got the assholes, the abusers. The ones who liked to beat and scream and fuck up little kids’ minds.
I was okay with it. Because it was me who got it most of the time. Most preferred to bully girls. I always fought back. I used my static as defense, and many of them gave me up after I proved too much trouble.
But Eric preferred boys, young ones who didn’t know how to fight back. Boys like Jared when he was younger. Jared didn’t say a word to me then. Eric told him to shut up or he’d get his tongue cut out, and Jared believed him. Heck, even I still believe him. The old man looked and acted like a person who belonged in a jail cell. Jared suffered through it for months, keeping to himself, getting more withdrawn as the days went by.
I got home earlier from school that day. That was when I saw them in the bedroom. Jared crying. Eric doing filthy things to him. It makes my chest hurt, thinking about it.
I decided I’d had enough of the failed foster system that day. I packed our things. It wasn’t much. Our belongings could fit in a medium-sized backpack. I walked out of Eric’s home, out to the streets, with Jared trailing behind me, and I’ve been trying to protect us since.
But now, Jared’s telling me he doesn’t need my protection. That he doesn’t want me fighting for us anymore. That he wants it to be the other way around.
“Vickal told me he’ll start training me,” Jared says.
I straighten. “What! Absolutely not.”
“He’s nice to offer.”
“Nice? He’s just using you! Like he does everyone—”
“As long as I help them find the orb.”
“You’re not going to help them find the orb. We’re getting out of here, and—”
“See! You’re doing it again.” Jared stands up. He towers over me, looking like he could break my bones if he wanted to, but he’ll always be my baby brother to me. “You make decisions for both of us. Always trying to shelter me. You call whenever I stay out too late. You’re always asking about who I’m dating, what are my plans. You still pack lunch for me.”
“Because I care—”
“I know.” Jared bends down and hugs me. “You do, and I love you for it. But you’re tiring yourself out worrying, and you don’t have to. I’m twenty-four, Val. We’re grownups. I can take care of myself.” He pulls back and smiles at me. “You have to let me grow into my wings.”
That makes me chuckle. “Wings, Jared? We’re half-demons, not angels.”
“You can’t keep me tied to your side forever.”
I look into his eyes and know he’s right. Here I am, thinking I’ve worked so hard for us to be free, when I’m tying him down. But taking care of him, making sure he’s unharmed… it’s become such a habit. I can’t just flick that switch in my head off. He’s asking me to get rid of years of conditioning.
“I’ll think about it,” I say.
He nods. He’s still hugging me, and he squeezes tighter.
Pain shoots through my head.
I remember Xeres’s compulsion—a hundred feet. I groan. It’s making my temples throb. Sylver must have walked too far away. Shit. I claw at Jared. The agony is eating into my brain, making it hard to breathe, digging through my skull.
“Where’s Xeres?” I say.
“He’s still in the room with Bella.”
I push myself to my feet. The pain weighs me down. I wish I could simply tear it away. My footsteps are heavy as I make my way to Bella’s dressing room. Jared’s helping me walk. My feet feel like there’s metal blocks tied to them, they’re so heavy and I’m straining to take each step.
The pain lessens as we inch a few feet closer. It disappears, as if it was never there. I blink hard, and my vision clears.
“I’ll need to have a word with Xeres,” I say. “A hundred feet is too damn little. And you want to stay with him anyway, so what’s the point of this stupid rule?”
It’s like nothing’s on my side, not even my twin brother.
Jared lets me go. “I’m sorry.”
I sigh. “You’re right, though. It’s not your fault. I can’t be looking over your shoulder forever.” Why’d he have to pick now to spread his wings, though? Can’t he do it once this is all over? This situation is making my protective instincts flare.
Diamond appears from behind us. “Hey, are you done?”
Jared turns to her then asks, “You’re all right, Val?”
I smile. “There’s no pain anymore. I’m good. Go talk to Diamond.”
He grins back. “Thanks.” He runs to Diamond, eager to play with his new toy. I wonder whether he’s this much of a playboy because of what happened with Eric. Maybe it’s his way of getting over him.
I shake my head and turn around, ready to have a word with Xeres. I reach the dressing room.
There’s moaning coming from it. It sounds like it belongs to a woman.
I swallow a nervous gulp. At first it sounded like pain… then, as it becomes clearer, I realize it’s not pain, but pleasure.
Curiosity rises in me. I probably shouldn’t peek. But I do, because I’m stupid like that.
Bella has Xeres up against her dresser. Vickal’s standing next to the dressing table, watching them. Xeres wears a bored expression. Bella is nipping at his neck, but despite her succubus wiles, he looks completely uninterested. His hands are in her hair, but it’s almost as if he doesn’t want them there.
Still, the scene looks erotic. When two godlike figures make out, it’s enrapturing. She brushes her lips over his. “Xeresss… look at me. I’ll give you what you need. Just let me have you. Both of you. When I want, and where.”
I take a second too long to tear myself away. His gaze reaches mine.
He smirks.