Demons End (Tremble Island) (10 page)

“Yes, ma’am, I am Leroi, and who might you be? Aside from a voyeur and my savior that is. I assume that you are the one that has sent these creatures to me?” At her nod, he continued, “So tell me, beautiful cat, how do you know of me, and how did you get onboard to assist me?” He tried to stand and remembered the chains.
Damn things
, how was a demon to impress a beautiful female when he was trussed up like this anyway. “I do not suppose I can prevail upon your good nature to remove these chains from my person, now could I? It would be a kindness that I would greatly appreciate.”

She wondered why the two demon males called her a cat, and felt her face flush as she remembered what they were doing when Koler first used the name for her. Her eyes did slant slightly, but she was not slender and sleek by any means, nor was she as graceful as her cat nature was. She hurried over and knelt down behind the large male to work at the bindings holding the golden links. “I have met a demon before, his name is Koler. He is a bossy creature and thinks he knows everything. In fact, had you not been busy being tossed into the bottom of the rowboat, you might have met him again. He was with the Lords Tremble on the beach fighting the men there.”

She felt him jerk when she told him of his friend. Koler spoke of this demon with affection. She was uncertain of the outcome of this adventure, so she had no intention of telling him he would again be united with his good friend. The ship had drifted too far away from the island to swim for help, and that was her fault.

The brief storm that buffeted the ship around in the tall waves had come close to sending her tumbling into the sea. There was no telling which way the ship had drifted without the crew to direct its passage. The Captain, Flitch, and another male were still locked in the captain’s quarters, and the cook and cabin boy were in the kitchen galley.

As soon as the golden chains fell from his torso, the demon stood and stretched his body, twisting this way and that. He was tall and sported broad shoulders, and she couldn’t help but notice his thighs were well muscled also. Her eyes traveled up to view the rest of him and she saw that he had caught her staring at his form. He smiled as if he knew she was considering him in a carnal way. Well, from the looks he had been giving her, she was not the only one with an attraction here, so she refused to be embarrassed further.

She led the way up the ladder onto the deck and explained what she had seen from the beach, and her actions until now. “I did not mean to cut off our means of escape by letting the rowboat drift away, and I wanted to keep Flitch busy while I found his prisoner. He is a true bastard, with no clean quality to be found. He wanted to steal my niece and he and Lord Borland planned to torture her until they made her voice come. The only way for a siren to have her voice is maturity. They planned evil things for the little one. They planned to use her as bait to lure the Demon Prince, err you, from his lair onto the rocks of the lagoon. The water is very deep there, and you would have drowned if the legend of your adverse reaction to seawater is true.

“There were too many soldiers that came that day to steal Aria for me to fight. We fled through the waters of the lagoon and made our way to Tremble Castle. While at Tremble I met your friend, Koler, and he has traveled with the party to sort out Morlien Hall and Lord Borland.”

Leroi looked around the battered ship’s deck. The sails were still rolled and tied, but without the manpower and some means of knowing which direction they needed to go, sails would do them no good at all. He wanted to yell at the female for pulling such ignorant stunts such as allowing the ship to leave the safety of the cove it was moored in, but he could not bring himself to berate her. Without her interference, he might now be at the bottom of the ocean screaming in eternal pain.

“I saved Flitch and the captain of this vessel, and I have no idea who the third man is who I locked inside the room with them. They are waiting for rescue I would imagine. The other two I deemed harmless, in the galley, a nice young boy, and a fat cook.” She smiled when the demon threw back his head and began laughing deep sounds of merriment.

“Tell me, little cat, tell me you are not jesting me.” He made his way to the captain’s quarters and saw the plank of wood lodged there keeping the door closed. He laughed again, this time yelling at the door. “Flitch, you old bastard, you and old Pudding Pants thought you had me, did you not? Come out and say hello, bring your companions with you.” He pulled the plank away and clamped down on the latch, letting the door swing open, and got a knife tossed into his chest for his kindness.

He looked at the dagger sticking from his chest and stopped laughing. He pulled it free and looked at the man who had thrown the thing at him. “Did Flitch not tell you that you cannot kill me? I will forgive this one trespass, I believe you are too frightened to know better. Flitch is an old friend and knows I like a game as well as the next demon, attacks on my person is not one of them. Come to me, Flitch, it is past time we settled this between us, male to demon. Hiding behind a captain that will sell his own daughter to a slaver will get you nothing but sold to another slaver.”

He turned to the captain who was trying to muster an outraged expression, but only showed misery. “Tell him, Captain, tell him how you planned to sell him as soon as you reached the slave markets. You must not be shy about your plans, as a way of disposing of Flitch, I would say it is very fitting. The man would sell his own seed if some misguided female was hard up enough to offer him a spirited drink just to fuck her. Her sight or attributes would not matter. After all, if he can stick his organ into old Pudding Bottoms asshole, he cannot possibly be selective.”

Chapter Nine

As soon as they had the prisoners on the beach sorted out and the stories from the creatures about their captures, each cited Borland as the one who had ordered his arrest. The beings were sent back to their homes. They must wait for the cover of darkness so as not to raise suspicion before Tremble forces arrived at first light. All were eager to comply.

Koler absorbed the blackened souls at the beach. He would need to share energy with his mate again before the coming skirmish with Borland’s soldiers. The idea that she was his mate gave him a thrill, it was a shame that she hadn’t yet figured it out. Tonight, before the rest of the camp woke, he would lead her to the caves of Demons End where Leroi resided. They would explain to her why she would become the mate of two Demon Princes. She would probably not appreciate the idea at first, but he had little doubt that she could be convinced of the arrangement, if given the right incentive and a bit of time. He wondered what Leroi would think of her.

When they got back to camp, Koler searched for Wensel. Not finding her or the little siren, he sought out the Lady Rane. She was the only other person that he had ever seen her being friendly with. The lady was giggling with Aria making silly patterns in the dirt with a stick when he finally found them. The Lords Tremble were sitting nearby lounging back, allowing the sun to bake the weariness from their muscles.

“Pardon, Lady, I have been searching for Wensel, she seems to have gone missing, and I wondered if you could send me in her direction. I have things that I need to speak to her about before we reach Demons End tomorrow.”

Rane looked up from her play with the little one, “I am sorry, Koler, when you and my mates left, she brought Aria to me and left. I thought she was joining you in the skirmish. I have not seen her since. Tell me please, why do you continue to call Morlien Hall by the name Demons End? It is confusing, but I would be interested to hear the tale.”

Koler wanted to be gone from here to look for Wensel, but he also wanted to be polite to the woman who had been nothing but decent to him. “Long ago, before humans came to this island, depositing their failed experiments and creatures that have evolved more slowly or differently than they wished, this place was known as Demons End. You see, there were beings of humanoid characteristics already here before that legendary ship of settlers dropped anchor into the bay. They lived in the caves that are honeycombed throughout the mountain ranges. To my knowledge, there are more that still reside as they did a thousand years past, in the Northern mountains of the island.

“That ship was also not the first to drop anchor here. Nor did every man and woman leave on the ships when they sailed away. The word might have been put out that they were killed by wild animals or unknown beings, but many of the descendants of those first humans and the humanoid shifters are still here today. Somehow, Demons came into being. We are a cleanup type of being, we are a deterrent, and we take out the trash so to speak. Once the humans and advanced educated shifters decided to establish the Halls of Care, long known places and names were stricken from the records and the newly named Halls assumed the glory of the place. Such happened to Demons End. A Demon is not a bad being, regardless of what you have heard throughout your lifetime. We are, like your Lion and Nord, rulers of our own special area of expertise. We became cave dwellers because we were feared and ostracized, rather than given respect, we became a curse. Our home was given to humans that abused and debased our charges and created more creatures like them: evil, cruel, and greedy.” He bowed his head to the woman, “I did not want to see your tears, Lady Rane, I only tried to answer your questions honestly. Now I must backtrack to the beach and attempt to find out where Wensel has disappeared to.”

Koler searched the entire side of the beach for traces of her; however, she was nowhere to be found. The tide was coming in, and he could see a thunderstorm rolling over the distant waters. It was a good thing the storm was over the open sea and not over the island creating a mess for the Tremble assemblage to be forced to deal with. He made the decision to drop in on Leroi, and was angered to see the state of the mess he found at his old home. There were black orbs everywhere. They lounged about as if they had nothing better to do than lie around like the rotten lumps that they were. He sent twenty of the nasty things into the rock wall, flattening them with satisfying splat noises before ordering all of them back into the pit. “I have a mind to smash a few of you under my boot heel so you can again experience being fucked in the ass, even in death. Get out of my sight, and if I ever see you in this area again I will chop you into tiny pieces and layer you in the feces of my nightwings.”

One slowly moving orb got snagged between his fingers, “Where is Prince Leroi?” The fat blob was thrown against the fire pit when he answered truthfully that Leroi was taken by Flitch to drown in the sea. The answer so enraged Koler that he went through the demons’ pit and grabbed several of the nightwings that were sleeping.

“You will go into the Hall and wreak havoc, rip hair and eyes, skin and cloth, no male will go unmolested that follows the order of Borland. Befoul any food or drink they attempt to nourish themselves with. Do not touch Borland, he is promised to another.” He shook one of the nightwings hard enough to make it scream. “Do you understand what I want you to do? If you disappoint me in this, I will reward you by pulling your wings from your fat bodies and burning them in the bubbling fire. Go now, I will see your work by morning light.”

Within minutes, he heard screams and curses echoing in the night air. It was not enough to appease his wrath. It did nothing to soothe his soul. Not only had his mate disappeared, his only true friend was now lost to him. His rage knew no solace.

*****

Leroi stalked into the room and grabbed Flitch by the throat. “You have made your last mistake. Be comforted to know that your schemes for my demise would not have worked even had they gone as planned. Seawater burns my skin. It would cause pain, but I am a demon, I like pain. The worst that might have happened to me would be to have been in the ocean for several hours until my body shriveled, the chains fell off, and I would either wash up on shore, or snag a ride on a passing ship.”

The captain’s eyes widened when he saw Wensel walk into the room. The only females allowed on board his ship were slaves bound for the markets, or round heeled whores that enjoyed pleasuring his crew for a nugget or two of gold. This one looked too arrogant by half. “Who are you, woman? What are you doing making yourself at home on my ship?” His first mate, Mica, stepped closer, but was waved away. He could deal with a mere woman. He reached his hand to her arm, and pulled her to his body. He was frightened of the demon, but since he was busy with Flitch, the captain felt assured enough to exercise his dominance over the lone female.

Wensel allowed him to pull her near. She lifted her arm to curl around the fool’s shoulder to pull him even closer to her human form. The moment he realized that all was not as it seemed with the female, was his last sane thought. Her black fathomless eyes kept his captive as her lips pulled back in the most grotesque fashion he had ever seen displayed on a living being. When the slender snakelike tongue slid from between her teeth to lick his mouth, he lost his urine, and his mind, as his mouth opened with a scream, while she inhaled his essence, laughing at his horror.

She released him from her embrace without taking his life. He was little more than a shell that would follow the orders she gave, even should she have him jump into the ocean and attempt to swim around the planet. It gave her no pleasure to create such beings, because in the end she would have to end their existence. Only one time before had she done such a thing. He had been the male shifter that thought to mate with her. She was enamored with his good looks and determination. She learned the hard way to never trust herself letting go and enjoying sex sharing with another. She took the life from his eyes and happiness from his heart without meaning to. Her vow of never harming another being like that again without it being a life or death situation was now being tested.

This time, they would need someone to sail the ship back to Tremble Island. What happened to him once they got there would be someone else’s decision. She would be tempted to allow him to live as a village helper. To somehow redeem his blackened soul in service to those in need.