Kobal
I detected River’s fresh-rain scent on the air as I pursued her, along with a spicier and more masculine odor. Vargas.
The three of them had shown they were more loyal to River now, but I hadn’t expected this kind of mutiny. I’d kill the man for going with her instead of stopping her.
Easy. Killing him would be the way to guarantee River forever shut me out, but since I couldn’t choke her, I’d happily choke him for a little while.
Judging by her scent, they weren’t far ahead of me, but still too far for my liking. Splotches of black blood amongst the leaves caught my eye as I ran. The sickly sweet scent of that blood wasn’t enough to throw me off of River’s trail, but I despised the cloying odor. They were definitely following the canagh demons.
What they’d do to her, especially if it is Lilitu…
I shut the possibility down; I’d lose my mind if I dwelled on it too much. Racing up a small embankment, I burst out onto a road where I spotted more blood splatters trailing over the dirt and booted footprints. Turning, I followed the blood trail and the increasing allure of River’s scent.
Behind me, other footsteps slapped onto the dirt road, but I didn’t look back at Corson and Bale as they followed. The delay of even a second could cost me her.
***
River
Vargas and I stepped into the cavernous building. I was studying the shadows playing over the large single room we’d entered when the heavy door closed behind us. I spun, but instead of someone standing behind us there were only more light and dark shadows coalescing in a way that made my vision blur before coming back into focus.
What did I do by coming here? Just find the others and go!
Turning, I focused on the building once more as I searched for anyone I knew within the large, barn-like building. The eaves of the building sagged above us. Bits of the vine overhead could be seen through the cracks in the ceiling. Wails of decadence and woe rose and fell in volume as the cries bounced off the walls.
All around us, figures crept forward from behind the sheer red material hanging throughout the room from the rafters to the floor. The building was almost entirely wide open inside, except for the material dividing this lower level into smaller room-like sections and a set of stairs leading to a loft across the way. More candlelight danced across the gauzy material blocking off the loft above.
The staircase to the loft wound down to a stage at the other end of the building. My heart leapt when I spotted Hawk and Erin lying on the stage with two of the others who had been taken. They appeared to be sleeping or unconscious. I refused to believe they were dead, but then if they were dead, they probably had little value to these creatures surrounding us. I didn’t know what had happened to the fifth person, but I had a pretty good guess as the moans grew louder within the room.
Pale, delicate fingers curled around the edge of the red material beside me. My breath froze in my chest at the sight of the pink claws that stood out starkly against the red. A head appeared next to reveal a gorgeous blonde woman peering out at me.
From behind her, more men and women emerged from the shadows, moving with surreal grace and all possessing a mesmerizing beauty. What little clothing they wore was so sheer there was nothing left to the imagination.
Beside me, Vargas’s eyebrows were in his hairline. His hands clenched around his gun as the canagh demons closed in around us. The demons’ heads tilted to the side. Their gazes were curious as they licked their lips and eyed us with a hunger that had my flight reflex screaming at me to listen to it.
I remained where I was, mostly because my feet felt frozen to the floor, but also because I wanted my friends back. Movement from above caused all the ones closing in on us to take a step away. My gaze went to the staircase as a woman, dressed in a sheer, blood-red dress that did nothing to hide any aspect of her body, descended the stairs. The skirt swirled about her calves as she moved with the grace of a ballerina.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from her when she stopped at the bottom of the stairs with one elegant hand resting upon the newel. Her blood-red, talon fingernails matched the color of her hair spilling about her shoulders and waving against the breasts exposed by her diaphanous dress. Sex oozed from every one of her pores, and she knew it as her tongue slid out to lick across her ruby-red lips. The woman’s emerald eyes surveyed us as if she were inspecting some bug and considering stomping it.
Beside me, as if under some spell, Vargas’s body swayed toward her. I grabbed his arm to hold him in place. Seeming to come back to himself, he shook his head and thrust back his shoulders. I held him for a minute longer before releasing him again. I had to have my hands free.
What could this woman do? Could she make him go to her against his will? I’d heard the legends of incubi and succubae, that they fed on humans during sex, but I had no idea what they were truly capable of.
It had been a big mistake to bring Vargas here. I hadn’t known what I’d expected from these demons, but I had mistakenly believed if we avoided their beds, we would be able to get away from them.
I’d never expected to come up against the pull these things possessed. I would 100 percent deserve Kobal’s I told you so, if we made it out of here, but first I had to make sure we made it out. Vargas had followed me into this place of the damned, and he would leave it again if I had to torch everything in here to ensure it.
Widening my stance, I focused on the dim pulse of life beneath my feet once more. It wasn’t much, but if I dug deeper, beneath the boards, I could feel the cool dirt of the earth as if it were slipping through my toes.
I could possibly feed off the life force of these things, but I’d prefer not to get close enough to them to try, and I had a feeling the pulse they radiated would be sickening. However, if push came to shove, I’d feast on these things if I had to.
The life of the earth seeped into me, but my fingers remained spark free as the woman took a step toward us. I preferred not to let any of these things know what I might be capable of unless it became absolutely necessary.
“This is a first, our prey coming to us,” the woman said in a husky voice that slid over my skin like silk.
She was a pit of iniquity and it radiated against us now. Beside me, Vargas swayed again and a dazed look filled his eyes as he lowered his head to stare at his feet.
I have to get him out of here!
Raising my chin, I held her gaze as I spoke. “You took some of our friends.”
She tossed a strand of hair behind her shoulder. “If we did, then they are ours now, as are you.”
“No, they aren’t and neither are we.”
“No?” She laughed as she practically glided across the floor toward us. “You have no idea what you walked into, dearie, but you’ll learn.”
Her fingers skimmed over Vargas’s arm, causing him to moan when she walked around him. The lascivious smile she gave me revealed two small fangs in the top of her mouth. “I could take him upstairs now, and he wouldn’t argue. He’d trip over himself to get there. And you,” she said to me. “The things I will do to you, the sounds I will cause you to emit, the pleas you will issue for me to stop even as you’re begging me to continue.”
My eyes narrowed on the woman as she stepped toward me. Then, her gaze latched onto my neck. With a ruthless shove, she pushed Vargas out of the way and came at me. He stumbled forward before regaining his balance and shaking his head as if trying to clear it from a fog.
Her hands clasped my shirt. She went to pull me forward, but I dug my feet in and grabbed hold of her wrists.
“You’ve been marked!” Her disbelief and fury beat against me.
“Let go of me!” I hissed, my hands constricting on her wrists.
One of her nails tore through my shirt. It scraped against my skin to leave small beads of blood on my flesh. She leaned closer to me, inhaling deeply. My heart thundered in my chest as she peered at me from under her thick fringe of red lashes. I would torch this bitch before I ever let her feed on me or my friends, but I didn’t want to start a fight when we were so outnumbered. Not if there was some small chance we could walk out of here without incident.
“Smell so sweet, so ripe for the picking,” she murmured. “I smell demon on you though.” Her gaze went to the marks on my neck again. “Couldn’t be.”
My eyes held hers when she leaned away from me. Malice flashed within those emerald depths as her lips skimmed back to reveal those small fangs once more. “Couldn’t be!” she spat. “Not a human, he wouldn’t choose a human.”
Kobal had said demons would know I belonged to him, and apparently he’d been right, but the knowledge of who my Chosen was only seemed to infuriate this woman more. I somehow managed to keep it together as I gestured to the stage. “We came for our friends.”
“He may have marked you, but you walked into my nest. That means you are mine now as are your friends. I will have you wasted and wanting so badly you won’t remember your name or his.”
“Try it and I’ll have you screaming in agony. We don’t have to fight, just let us leave here with our friends.”
She laughed before releasing my shirt and sliding her hand suggestively over her breasts until her nipples puckered. “Silly human, there is no leaving a canagh demon.”
“If you know who has marked me, then you’ll know he’s on his way.”
“He’s not here now, which leads me to believe he’s realized his foolishness in marking a human. A male demon rarely allows his Chosen out of sight for long, and he would never allow her to come to me.”
I couldn’t explain to this woman what I’d done and I didn’t intend to try. The cloying scent of her engulfed me, threatening to gag me when she leaned toward me. Done with trying to play nice, I threw up my arms, knocking her back a step. She fairly spit with anger before she recovered. I thought she was going to fly at me and slice me apart with those talons, but she remained where she was, her eyes burning into mine as she ran her hand down the front of her gown.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, and excitement pulsed from the other canagh demons as they moved closer to us.