The last thing I saw before the house plunged into darkness was Leon’s wide, sharp smile and golden eyes blazing with righteous fury. I’d fucked up. I’d really fucked up. Why did I ever think I could control a demon? Why did I think I could make that work? Some chalk and a Google search didn’t make me a magician — but it sure as hell might make me a corpse.
The house had gone completely dark. Not dark like the night — dark like a void, as if all light had been sucked up. I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face. I couldn’t see the floor beneath me. But I could feel the cold, creeping up around me like frosty hands settling on my back. I heard a little pat, pat, pat and the jingle of a bell as Cheesecake fled up the stairs. He had the right idea.
Run.
I tried to find the stairs, but my foot struck something hard and I swore, stumbling in the dark. Laughter sounded, echoing darkly from all around me. The sound of scratching claws came from somewhere above me, dragging eerily along the ceiling like something out of a horror film.
“Stop it, Leon!” Fear dug in deep between my lungs. I held out my hands, trying to feel for something, anything, in the dark. “I get it, okay? You’re pissed! And I probably deserve that.” A breath against my ear made me whirl around, striking at nothing. More laughter. I whirled again, furious, goosebumps prickling over every inch of me.
“Leon! Come out! Stop playing with me like this! If you want to punish me, just fucking do it!” Silence followed. Complete and utter silence, so heavy that I wanted to hold my breath because it sounded too loud. I gulped, and whispered, “Leon, please…please come out…”
Suddenly, across the room, two golden eyes blazed into my sight. Just eyes, no form, no face. Staring at me, staring into me. If looks could kill, his would have set me on fire.
“I’ve been in Abelaum since 1902.” Despite his gaze across the room, his voice whispered directly in my ear. “Over a hundred years, Raelynn. A hundred years of servitude. Coming and going only when summoned. Killing when ordered. Fighting when commanded. No sleep. No safety. Months and months in the dark, in confinement.”
His eyes vanished. I shuffled around, my hands outstretched, trying to find the stairs, the couch, a wall, anything to center myself. “Leon, I’m sorry, okay? I get it, I do, I shouldn’t have tried to trap you.”
“I offered you a deal.” His voice was above me now, sounding even deeper and more inhuman than ever. “A damn good deal. And I’m being very generous, because that deal still stands. I’ll tell you a secret, Raelynn.”
A little light returned: gray and cold, just enough to see my breath form clouds in front of my face.
His hands grabbed me from behind, one around my waist and the other around my throat, hugging me tight against him as his tongue licked my ear and he hissed, “I really fucking want your soul, Raelynn. I want it so goddamn badly it makes me sick. I want to own you, from now until eternity.”
His teeth nipped at my skin and his tongue played, teasing that sensitive spot just behind my ear until I was twitching.
“You deserve to be punished,” he said. I managed to nod as his hand gripped my jaw.
“I know.”
His hand around my waist moved lower, gripping my hip so hard his claws pierced through my jeans. “What did I fucking tell you about wearing panties?”
He shoved me forward, and I stumbled but caught myself. I immediately stripped out of my jacket, pulled off my shirt, and began to peel my tight jeans down my legs, stumbling from foot to foot. I could see only his silhouette in the dark, watching me, eyes bright.
“Trying to be a good girl now, are we? Suddenly so cooperative. Do you think taking your punishment so eagerly is going to make me go easy on you?”
With my jeans around my ankles, he seized me again and pushed me against the wall, his body pressed close to mine. Some bizarre mixture of fear and need made me moan as his thigh pressed up between my legs. Hearing him speak about his captivity had been like needles slowly stabbing into my heart. The guilt was eating away at me. I’d acted out of desperation, but I’d tried to take advantage of him in the process.
Demon or not, he didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve to have felt trapped where he’d thought he was safe.
I deserved whatever punishment he decided to mete out. I needed it to make this awful guilt go away.
“The little doll wanted to play at being master.” One claw traced down my cheek as he shook his head. “How did that work out for you?”