Awakening the Demon's Queen (2 page)

He laid her on the cave’s smooth stone floor,
tucking her knees to her chest and rolling her to one side to
prevent her from resting on her bound hands. He whispered
reinforcement to his earlier command. She’d slumber until he
returned, whenever that was.

It took him less than an hour to find what he
wanted and he waved his hand to bind the pine needles together with
a small spell. He dabbled very little in the black arts common to
witches, but those he used were practical.

He’d need a soft bed for his captive,
especially if he was to spend part of the day hours feasting upon
her. He returned to her quickly, casting another small spell to
command the pine bedding to trail behind him. Just outside the cave
entrance were enough soft weeds for him to do one more thing.
Another spell had the grasses weaving together in a blanket. The
cave would be around fifty degrees and he knew that would be too
cold for his Dardaptoan prisoner. Dardaptoan women lacked the
ability to handle colder temperatures, so he must be cautious.

He flashed a beam of hell-light from his
fingers, setting the orb to floating around the small cave. It
allowed him to see his captive fully for the first time. She was as
he’d left. He knelt beside her, barely aware of the bedding and
blanket hovering just behind him. His fingers trailed over her
exposed cheek, then ghosted over the softness of her lips.

He wanted a taste.

Chapter Three

He rolled her onto her back and leaned closer
as her breath sighed out. He captured it with his lips as surely as
he’d captured her. His lips covered hers and his tongue darted
inside to finally get the taste he’d so wanted.

He hadn’t touched a corporeal female in
decades, had been forced to be content with mere brushes against
Rand’s sisters and cousins.

She tasted like the finest of Roman wines,
tart and rich. He couldn’t resist taking more than one taste. At
her lack of response, he pulled back slightly before running small
kisses over her face, tasting her cheek, her brow, her pointed
little chin. He could command her to respond to him, and he would
if that’s what was necessary. But for some reason, he was in no
rush. He just wanted to enjoy.

He pulled her into a seated position,
propping her against the cave wall while he arranged their bed for
the day. He scooped her up and settled her on the pine, before
removing her wrist bindings and rubbing the chafed skin. Her wrists
were small in his hands and he frowned at how easily he could break
her. He’d have to be gentle, and for a moment he worried he
couldn’t. This demon wanted a taste of an angel very, very
badly.

He brushed her mind with his, searching for
who she was, what she wanted in that deep secret place every woman
had.

All he found was a deep sense of sadness, of
fatigue far greater than any he’d ever found.

****

Kindara woke with burning pain in her
shoulders and burning questions in her mind. Where was she? Where
was her daughter? Had it been a nightmare? Gods knew she’d had more
than her fair share of those through the decades.

The bed she lay on was prickly and smelled
strongly of pine. The blanket covering her caused her skin to itch.
There was a chill in the air, air that smelled slightly musty.

There was a warm body beside her and hands
running along the edge of her tunic. Hot hands, large hands. Male
hands.

Her eyes widened in the darkness.

No man had touched her with that kind of
intent since her mate’s death thirty years ago. A gasp escaped and
she arched, trying to dislodge the hands.

A masculine laugh was her only reward. A
laugh she remembered from the edge of the highway. The hands
slipped beneath her tunic. “Who are you?”

“
Rathan.”

“
What are you?” He wasn’t
human and he wasn’t Dardaptoan or Lupoiux werewolf.

“
Demon.”

Kindara cringed. Demons were
soulless, amoral, conscienceless beasts from another dimension that
preyed on all humanesque creatures, including Dardaptoan. She’d
been fortunate in her four hundred plus years of living to only
have crossed paths with a handful of demons and never while alone.
But her brother had told her much about them. Cormac was a
Predatoi
, a demon hunter
of notable skill, and he’d killed hundreds through the years.
Kindara didn’t doubt this demon would be Cormac’s next
kill.

“
Why did you do this?
Where’s Jierra?” The last thing Kindara remembered was her
daughter’s scream. She bucked, tried to kick the demon away from
her when his hands tried to untie the green sash she wore to denote
her family line.

“
Relax, your friend will not
be hurt.” The demon ran his hands over her ribs, his fingers
counting each one.

“
My daughter. She’s my
daughter, and she’s only a baby.” Kindara’s words came out in a sob
of anger as one knee connected with the demon’s thigh. It did
little damage, he was large and solid. “Where is she?”

****

Rathan felt the desperation pouring off the
woman and it had him withdrawing his hands slowly. Desperation
never tasted good to him. “She is safe. The Lupoiux has no plans to
hurt her.”

“
Then why did he take
her?”

“
Vengeance.”

“
For what? Ji hasn’t hurt
anyone!”

“
No, but your king and his
advisers have.” That had his own anger returning as he thought of
Rand’s young sister, Mickey, with her sweet ways and shy smile. She
was the youngest of the four murdered women, at barely twenty-five
years of age. “They must be forced to pay.”

“
What did they do?” She
tried again to escape his hands. He’d retied her wrists, this time
above her head and around a small stalagmite. The bondage arched
her chest perfectly. He untied the green sash and removed it. An
expert finger began unhooking the tiny fastenings of her top. It
parted to expose creamy unblemished skin that glowed in the low
light. “Stop!”

“
Why?” Rathan dipped a
finger in her navel before trailing over her now exposed ribs. “Do
you stop when your human prey begs it of you?”

“
I don’t feed from humans! I
haven’t in thirty years!” Chills had risen over her flesh and he
smiled.

“
Then what do you eat, my
pet?” Rathan didn’t believe her; Dardaptoans needed human blood and
the women even more so. They were so weak otherwise. What male
would let one not feed properly?

“
Bagged blood. My daughter
does the same.”

She wore a bra, a plain cotton bit of
nothingness that covered her breasts--for the moment. Rathan knew
it wouldn’t for much longer.

“
Still. It is human, is it
not?”

“
Yes. But freely given,
donated to those who need it.”

“
Under false pretenses.”
Rathan truly didn’t care what she ate or didn’t. He’d feed from her
the entirety of the time he possessed her, as was fitting for his
species. Could he blame her for doing the same when she needed?
“I’m hungry, little one. You will feed me now.”

****

Kindara shivered under his hands as they ran
around the elastic of her bra. Feed him? Demons didn’t take blood;
Cormac had told her that. “What type of demon are you?”

“
You haven’t figured it out
yet?” He had a wicked grin and he flashed it at her, causing his
black eyes to glow red. “I am of the family of Lothan and
Lilith.”

She knew the legends of the first demon and
his third wife, knew of the hundreds of thousands of creatures
they’d spawned who needed to feed sexually from the humanesque. And
Lilith had become the mother of all Succubae, which made this
creature...Oh three hells! “Incubus.”

“
Exactly. And I’ve not fed
fully in nearly a decade. Do you know what that means?” He put his
face against her stomach, breathed deeply of her skin. His forked
tongue flicked against her navel and she gasped from the
sensation.

She shook her head even though she knew the
answer. “No...you can’t.”

“
Of course I can.” He looked
at her with an affronted expression. “Your people feed from humans,
why can’t I feed from you?”

“
Because I don’t want...” To
have sex with him. She never wanted to have sex again, not with
anyone other than Iavius. He had been her mate, no other creature
could compare to what they’d shared. “Let me go.”

“
No.”

The finality of his answer scared her. “I
need to find my daughter. You don’t understand how terrified she’ll
be. A friend of hers was nearly ripped apart by Lupoiux wolves just
last week. And she’s never been away from home, from me. I need to
get to her.”

She heard the almost begging in her words but
it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but getting to Jierra.

“
Enough. Your daughter will
be fine with this Lupoiux.” He nipped her neck and Kindara bit back
a moan. The neck of a Dardaptoan was ten times more sensitive than
that of any other being--especially for a female, who was often fed
from during sex with her Rajni. He knew that, he had to. “We have
matters to tend to. I am too hungry to wait.”

She brought her knees up, putting them
between them as a barrier. He shot her an irritated look before
pushing them down again.

“
You have two choices, pet.”
He stretched out over her, his leg draping her thighs to hold her
in place. One hand cupped her breast, massaged. “Either you feed me
with this delectable body, or I put you to sleep and feast on your
fantasies. Either way, I will get what I want.”

****

His face was mere inches from her own, his
eyes bright and hot. He wanted her, he was going to have her.
Whether she consented or not. To him it wouldn’t be rape, to him it
was as natural as blood-drinking was for her people, a way of
survival. Never before had she felt what the humans she used to
feed on felt.

“
And if I choose neither?”
She needed to stall him, give herself time to think.

“
Do you really have to ask?”
He waved a hand to the horns half hidden by the long black hair
that waved around his head. The horns were small and silver and
proclaimed him for exactly what he was. “With one touch of these I
can have you doing my bidding for hours. And it would be so
pleasurable.”

Horror filled her. If she became a mindless
slave, how was she to find Jierra? “I don’t want you in my
head.”

“
At all? So it is to be
physical dining this morning?” He grinned again, eyes filled with
boyish anticipation and lust. “Excellent.”

His mouth dropped dangerously close to a
nipple still hidden beneath her bra. She tried to pull away.
“Wait!”

“
What now?”

“
What will I get out of
this?”

“
Besides
pleasure?”

Arrogant asshole. Still, he was a damned
Incubus, she probably would enjoy being with him. “Besides
that.”

“
What do you want out of
it?” His tongue slipped beneath the top of her bra, bathing her
flesh and making her shiver yet again.

“
If I give you what you
want, you take me to my daughter.” Kindara drew in a shaky breath,
wishing her hands were free so she could fight him. Somehow.
Remembered sensations skirted over her body, reminding her of the
times with her Rajni. But these hands and lips weren’t those of
Iavius and never would be.

“
It’s a three day hike to
where he’s taking her.”

“
So I’ll...feed...you for
those three days, until I have my daughter back.” She’d sleep with
the devil himself to get her child back safely. This creature
wasn’t the devil, but close enough. And Cormac had told many
stories of how demons loved to bargain.

****

Rathan wanted to laugh at how easy she was.
“Three days, you give me exactly what I want, and I take you to
your daughter?”

“
Yes.” Determination had her
little chin firmed, and her body taut against his.
“Anything.”

“
Deal.” He’d have her
cooperation, at a price he’d already planned to pay.

“
But you need to untie
me.”

Was she planning something? It would surprise
him if she wasn’t. Still, he could so easily overpower her, and she
had to be uncomfortable. He wanted her very, very comfortable for
what he planned to do to her. His hands slipped to hers, and a
small spell had the bindings dissolving. She lowered her arms to
her sides, her face tightening at the movement.

He wrapped his hands around her shoulders and
massaged, feeling the delicacy of her. Once again, he reminded
himself of the care that must be taken with her. He slid fingers
beneath the unhooked tunic and pushed it aside. The white bra and
linen pants glowed in the low light, a sharp contrast to the black
clothing covering him. Clothing he was aching to remove. He pulled
his shirt over his head and flung it across the small cave.

He returned to her. He pressed her back into
the pine needles with his weight, his chest to hers. “Wrap your
arms around me, pet.”

His lips covered hers and he began to
feed.

****

Kindara did as he bid, wrapping her arms
around the demon’s shoulders. They were broad, and the feel of him
dwarfing her made her feel smaller, even more vulnerable beneath
him. His chest was completely hairless and without fat. Not
surprising, Incubi were legendary in their physical perfection.
They were supposed to be every woman’s fantasy personified. What
woman of any species wouldn’t dream of a strong male with a perfect
body doing the things she feared this demon was about to do to
her?