Page 7
I’m as wet as the walls in this chamber, and things are clenching and far too interested in what Mr. Demonic is packing down low.
My glasses fog over as the humidity rises. Perfect. My first look at my new home, and it’s through two little clouds.
His warmth seems to expand around me. Whatever is happening here, I can no longer deny I’m hot for it.
Without another word, he walks straight toward the largest pool and lowers me toward the stone edge.
“Wait—my boots—” I kick my feet. “These are vintage.”
He snarls, still holding me above the steaming water in one massive arm, and instead of being scared, the sound makes my heart and belly flutter in a happy dance.
With his free hand, he snaps the boot buckles down each side using one clawed finger, pulls them off, and tosses them onto the stone with a thunk-thunk. Then he lifts me slightly, dislodging his cock from its hug.
The stone meets the backs of my thighs, cool and wet, as he sits me carefully on the lip of the pool.
“These come off,” he says, as though I should know the protocol, as he unclips my garters, one tiny clasp at a time, and peels my ripped fishnets down, one leg after the other, so gently I hold my breath.
Last, he plucks my glasses off my face between two fingertips, folds the arms shut one at a time, and sets them on a dry ledge set into the wall.
“I already know your vision does not require these.”
I don’t question how he knows that, because somewhere, prickling down my Spidey sense, I know demons have powers and strengths humans don't.
The only problem is, without my glasses, I feel about as invisible as a billboard.
“It is a ritual that I cleanse my bride before—”
I don’t want him to finish that, so I cut him off as a poke of fear stabs in my gut. “Before the fun starts.”
He considers that for a second and his lips peel back. It’s not quite a smile, but it shows off the jagged canine teeth lining the inside of his mouth.
Goat head. Wolf teeth. Minotaur body. And an elephant trunk for a cock because it’s on full display, thick and half-hard, dangling like an arm with a fist, pulsing and kind of…breathing.
Luckily, he eases me down into the black liquid so I stop staring at it, and I hold my breath as the water rises from my toes to my calves, then past my knees.
I notice his tail for the first time. It’s lazily wagging, twirling at the end, about as girthy as a bratwurst and as long as he is tall, with short, fuzzy fur covering it.
The water is stinging hot, swirling around my legs. It tingles. It’s dark but not murky like the duck pond by town hall. It’s like ink, but iridescent, a shimmer of galaxies under a black sheen.
He sweeps one hand through the water and holds it, frowning as my butt hits a ledge under the water. “Perhaps this is too hot for you. I do not know how to cool it. Does it hurt you?”
My heart thumps a little faster.
Is he checking I’m not going to be scalded, like a father concerned about his little girl’s tender skin at bath time?
“No, it feels good.” I should scream and tell him yes, it hurts, and then, when he’s distracted, bolt back up the stairs, but the realization roots inside me that I want to be here. I’m comfortable, and the world above can go suck it. The water laps around my ribs. “I like it hot.”
My answer does nothing to soften the deep line between his eyebrows.
He considers me with a low groan. “No one has ever been here and not been afraid. You confuse me, little one. I have never worried for what they felt, or had the desire to keep them from harm.”
Something is coiling and slithering between my organs, telling me to pay attention, but also that I may be a bit of light this being has needed for a while.
In a way, I gave up fear a long time ago.
Being passed around the village like a hot potato and encountering different living situations where I wasn’t exactly treated like royalty will harden a girl’s heart or break her. And I refuse to be broken.
Nothing broke Dolly.
