Demon's Alter-Ego Ch. 13-14

CHAPTER 13

I hastily moved my feet over the side of the pillow, "I told you I didn't want to stay."

He leaned over the counter top and folded his arms, "You're not staying, at least not in the way you might imagine. You overlook my generosity."

My face contorted in disbelief, "Generosity?!"

"Yes, I'm not this generous to others who dare traverse my Darkness. Very few get an offer to stay or leave and none have ever been in my sanctuary."

I choked a little on my next words, debating their wisdom. Instead, I stood and walked towards him, my socks making no noise on his floors.

Changing the course of our conversation I asked instead, "May I have some more water?"

"Of course." He turned on the sink and refilled the glass. I mused that the sound of water splashing out sounded like any other I'd hear from a faucet.

When I reached the other side of the island I smiled hesitantly in thanks and gratefully drank more. When I set it down, I skimmed his face. "You seem extremely calm."

"I'm always sated after a decadent offering. You can be assured that I won't be the one to tell Ila how you ruined her plans for punishing Oldavai. It would be fair comeuppance since she's been non-stop badgering me about blaming him for this new underground hunter movement."

"Hmm." My thoughts couldn't get past that I was the offering that sated him, it made me uncomfortable. Just like any demon who was sated from something off me.

He propped his hand on his chin, "Come now, Dove. Where's all that bravery that made you literally jump directly into my arms?"

I blinked myself into awareness, "Why do you need an offering to close the darkness?"

His facial expression opened, as if pleased that I asked, the emotion a faint waft of a lazy breeze through me. "I am part Darkness, but not all. It is a multitude of my kind. We are born with it inside and us inside of it. Understand that it is alive because we exist yet still separate as its own entity. It will not close without offerings because it will consume any devouring portal that opens to fill the ravenous hunger for all of us if any one is not sated. If there is no voluntary offering, then it will be forced. I will force it."

I stuttered, "Oh"

He studied me. Finally, I asked the question I needed to know, "Can you come out of any mirror?"

"When I'm made aware of it."

"Oh."

More silence between us.

"Will more of your kind come through my mirror now?" I asked wearily.

"No. Your mirror has belonged to me since the first time Ezra called me from it. He knew and actively wanted my awareness of it." I could feel my blood rush out of my face at his words. He leaned in closer towards me across the empty surface and whispered dramatically, "Don't tell Oldavai, but ravenous or not, the Darkness does not allow us to overstep each other's boundaries. We are polite and only the Darkness is allowed to go unhindered. Also, Ila and I feed it enough that it allows us to police our little slice of land. Mainly, the United States."

I cocked my head in surprise, "Ila..." I trailed off.

Shorn answered my questions without me asking, "She is the one who opened the devouring portal. I know she thought I'd forcefully take Oldavai. Her anger frequently gets the best of her and this time she forgot to consider one thing...," he gave me a meaningful look, "who he's living with. I have no doubt she would come storming into my office to make sure I didn't take her unwanted savior of demons. We're just fortunate Oldavai hasn't come raging into the office with his demands that I give you back. That would tip her off." He continued looking at me, his emotions blocked off, waiting for my reaction.

"He hasn't? Wait! How long have I been here?"

"Long enough. He values his life too much to question me. Unless I keep you here much longer, then he'll value his possession of you more. I don't need to see him to know he's having a fit of jealousy." His throat gave quick short bursts of crunching glass and his jaw moved as if he was grinding his teeth.

I frowned for so many reasons, backing up slightly, "Why doesn't Ila take the difficult warrants if she can do this?"

He leaned back to his side of the counter top island and raised an eyebrow, "Iloum... Oldavai..." His head bent down farther and his face a wave of movement inside it that caused me to cringe. The smell of brimstone intensified briefly while he continued, "My own irritant, Ratha?"

"Yeah."

He gave me a short-lived sardonic smile, "She's not going to catch the old ones unaware. They already know. They'll run as soon as they get a whisper of her name."

Hunh. I guess that made sense. I looked around the spacious room with barely anything in it. It was so dry in his home, "May I have some more water?"

His smile came back slow and genuine, the outside corners of his eyes creasing with the movement. It took me aback at how close to approachable it made him seem, close, not entirely.

"Absolutely." He procured another glass and kept his hand around the smooth surface as I reached for it, "Aren't you going to ask?"

I licked my lips, my fingertips tracing the condensation on the glass. Yeah. I was going to ask. "Are you two bonded?"

His smile stayed fixed, "No, but I did give her a little bit of Darkness in a whistle of wind that she keeps inside her magic. She can open a devouring portal off any mirror." His hand let go of the glass and he gave it a push into my own.

My hand curved around the coolness, "How is that even possible?"

He shrugged, "Many things are possible, and she was desperate enough when she lost her eye to take my bargain. Little did either of us know how close we would be working together in the future."

I drank down my third glass of water, relishing the mineral taste. "Now what?"

"Now I take you to your home." He walked around the counter, his hand outstretched in a gesture to take mine. I hesitantly placed my palm in his and let him guide it to his cheek again. I felt the movement of his cracking jaw as he murmured, "For someone so submissive you do cause a lot of trouble."

I snorted a noise of annoyance, "I'm compassionate, Shorn, not submissive."

His other arm slowly encircled my waist, "Guileless, then." He paused and stared at me before speaking again, "Do you think I need compassion?"

"Perhaps," I said distractedly as anxiety flooded me with his gentle pull to bring me closer into his personal space. It felt like he was trying his best not to scare me by being so languid and calm. I looked directly into his eyes and forced my courage to ask that exact question, sure I was wrong in my presumptions.

"Why aren't you trying to scare me?"

"It would be unproductive."

I looked at him askance, "To what ends?"

Shorn kept his mouth closed, the slightest uplift of the corners of his lips, and merely looked at me without answering. He moved my hand down to rest on his neck and the only thing I could think about was how it had that whip-like tentacle that would slip out of his skin sometimes. I shook slightly as he moved my head under his chin. The smell of brimstone filled my senses, and I couldn't stop the crinkling of my nose. Soon, my eyes started to water, and I closed them. He took one step, and I felt the Darkness closing in on us, reaching, and then another and we were out of it.

I opened my eyes and found us in my meditation room. I stepped away and couldn't feel any other demon nearby. "Oldavai isn't here."

When I looked back at him I found him grinning, "No. He's in my office."

I found myself smiling slightly back at him, "That's funny."

"It is," he agreed as he moved his foot behind him. I watched amazed as the darkness started to wind its way up his leg. "One other thing." I looked up at him in curiosity. "Would it help your guilt if you knew I signed the warrant on Regina and Vi reports to me and I only report what I want to?" With his next step backwards the rest of him was quickly swallowed by the dark that then sucked itself into the mirror.

I was alone.

Alone long enough for a short shower. I shampooed my hair while thinking about what Shorn said. How often were demon hunters' names on warrants? As I dried off, I knew it was something worth researching. Currently though, I knew I had other things to think about as I opened the bathroom door.

Oldavai was sprawled on my bed watching as soon as I walked into my bedroom with a towel wrapped around me. Sparks lazily floated around like embers from a campfire and my room smelled overpoweringly of him. The heady aroma had already wound its way into my bathroom before I stepped out, so it's not as if I was surprised.

"Your stare is a little intense, Oldavai," I said nonchalantly, as I moved towards my dresser.

He curled his finger at me, "Come here."

I raised an eyebrow at him at him and shrugged into some pajamas.

He looked upwards, then back at me and ground out with impatience, "Please."

I placed my hands on my hips, "That didn't sound sincere."

He growled, "Eros, save me from females." He was instantly in front of me and next I knew we were both sprawled on the bed, his weight a heaviness over me.

"I'm sorry," he said as he enshrouded me with his shining and all but attacked me. I was drowning in his ardor. I tried to push him away for a breath, but he wouldn't let me.

In between kisses he said, "I've never had to fight so hard to keep someone. And the one I need to convince isn't even here yet."

I pulled my head back and gave him an incredulous look, "You've never had to fight to keep someone, period. They fall right into your hands."

He rubbed his nose against mine, "True. Again, sorry."

I didn't get out my question before he was at my throat with his fangs buried deep. I stuttered a cry as he swamped me with magical foreplay. I felt his hips lift and my lower body jerked as he ripped my lounge pants in two. I was soaked and his fingers were entrenched deep inside me. He pulled his mouth away from me and I could feel the warm trickle of blood down my neck.

"Come for me, Dove."

Three fingers pumped in and out of me and I couldn't stop the torrent if I tried. He was throwing so much incubus magic around that I was lost. I shuddered from the orgasms invading my body and arched off the bed, tears leaking from my eyes, "Oldavai! Please! Stop!" I was so sensitive at this point.

He ignored me and buried his face in my sex. My hands went to the top of his silky hair, and I found myself desperate for his tongue. He sucked on everything his lips touched and then would dive back into my warmth. That strange unfurling he used on me before started deep inside, like a cat circling, rubbing, kneading until I could feel a non-stop spill of hot, thick liquid outpouring from me.

I screamed from the overload of it all and couldn't stop reaching for his touch even though I desperately wanted to. He finally came up for air and I watched his tongue lick his glistening lips. Those elegant fingers were back inside me and slowly moving.

He spoke quickly to me before bending down to delve inside again, "I can taste his Darkness in you." The cupping sensation of his tongue was like a cat drinking milk and his vibrating purr had me hitching my breath in ecstasy. He projected to me, 'You are a delicacy I have never known.' He brought his face up from my lady parts to look at me again. "What did he do to you in his Darkness that you taste different now?"

I'd like to say those words were a dash of cold water on me, but they weren't. Still, they registered even as my body continued to dance to the tune of his fingers. Before I had a chance to move my hands to force him to stop, he read my intentions, "Keep your hands where they are, Dove. I need this before I go into a jealous rage."

I moaned, "You're not?"

He shook his head negatively. "I've been meditating non-stop. He kept you for close to two days. He kept you and you belong to me. I am drowning with the need to know what happened. Shorn let me rant for close to thirty minutes in his office. It wasn't until he smiled that I knew you were home. He never had to say a word."

I gasped as another hand played with my back end. I was so wet that I had puddle underneath me, dripping from between the folds of my skin. He didn't even need to lubricate to make his slow glide into my ass easy. I moaned again, feeling the delicious pressure of his finger. In between breaths I tried to tell him, "I can't think when you do that."

He stilled, not withdrawing, but the intrusions kept me revved up and pushing into him. I moaned in frustration. His magic made me feel so over-the-top full.

"I'm waiting."

"Oh. Um..." I arced repeatedly into him again, desperately trying to get myself off. The friction kept itself at a steady pressure, never quite reaching that tense moment of release.

"Focus, Dove. Tell me and I will give you everything you want." His fingers inside my valley curled up and down and caused another annoyed groan to issue forth from my lips. He chuckled softly at my neediness. I didn't care.

I stilled myself. I could do this. I wanted another orgasm. I think.

"The Darkness was..." I stared at the ceiling.

"You don't need to tell me the details. I wouldn't relive my own experience with anyone. Why did you stay? Did you think you deserved it?" His voice was hard and demanding.

I swallowed; my throat suddenly achy with memories that pulled me away slightly from my frantic sex thoughts. My voice came out hoarse, "No, I didn't stay in the Darkness the whole time. He took me to his home."

Oldavai's fingers were immediately out of me, and he hovered in front of my face, "He did what?" he asked quietly.

His hair cascaded on either side of me, distracting me with its beauty, "You heard me."

"I heard you. I just don't believe you. Even in you were really in his home I know he didn't have sex with you because you would not be in this bed if you did. You'd still be healing since he'd likely break whatever he needed so you'd stay exactly where he desired."

I gave him a shocked look and focused on the worried frown marring his forehead. "He told me that's where I was. He never tried to have sex with me, Oldavai. He just gave me water."

His face contorted into shocked surprise and then exasperation. He shook his head, that hair distracting me again as it caressed my face. I reached up to touch it at the same time he dropped his weight on me. "How much water did he give you?"

"Three glasses."

He dropped his head into the curve where my shoulder met neck and mumbled, "No one should have as much bad luck as you."

"Now what have I done?" My anxiety spiked as I asked the question, dread curling in the pit of my stomach and my libido finally getting that douse of ice.

He kept his face hidden in my body, "You know of Hades and Persephone." It wasn't a question.

I grew angry, "He's not Hades and I am not Persephone eating pomegranates. I'm not stuck there like she was for six months."

He chuckled drily, "No, but you get the picture."

"No, I don't!" I pushed his shoulders but he wouldn't move.

His warm breath sighed on my skin, "It's his own way of holding you and it's why you taste of his Darkness. There is nowhere you can go that he can't track you, he may not be able to retrieve you, but he will find you. Three glasses of Dark water seem a bit much though. Nothing is there that is not made of the Dark."

The blood rushed to my face and Oldavai could feel my self-reproach because he raised his head to give me a direct look, "What?"

I turned my head to the side to avoid his stare, "I asked for the other two."

He burst out laughing, "And he gave them to you?! Every bit of his Darkness you possess makes him feel you even more. I'd never guess that Shorn would want that distraction. I mean, you're a mess."

Sarcasm rolled out of my mouth, "Great." Then I had a thought, "Can he feel me now?" I asked appalled. "Like when we were..." I trailed off thinking of my multiple orgasms.

Oldavai shrugged, "I honestly have no idea exactly what it means. All I know is it makes them able to hone in on you. Incubi and succubae have, in the words of your science, a genetic code that instinctively makes us understand our prey's sex language, but if we don't go into that world we'll never get firsthand knowledge. All I know personally is the ravenous Dark." He shook his head with a serious look, "None of my kind would ever seduce a hell carrier. Their idea of a good time is trying to kill or maim one another and I'm not into praying mantis sex. The majority are more animal instinct than conscious thought."

I cringed, "Ew! Is that why you said he would break parts of me?"

"Yes. You can't get away and he has his way with you until he lets you heal, or he kills you. It's generally thought with my kind that if a male hell carrier wants you permanently, they make sure their chosen can never physically leave. Females usually just try to kill you while the sex is being performed. Lunch, orgasm, and a baby all in one. The head is gone, but they make the dick and balls continue." He shuddered over me.

My heart stuttered and any leftover erotic thoughts had now completely flown my mind. Oldavai continued talking, I think he was trying to drive his point home about how dangerous Shorn is. I didn't need it.

"It's one of the reasons I'm mostly defenseless when it comes to Shorn. If I turned that floor into an orgy of epic proportions, it would have to be due to something dire and I would not stick around to feed." He shuddered again, "I'd rather have him choke me to death than see him in a sexual frenzy."

My mind churned at the information, "Well, some demon went there, otherwise Shorn wouldn't exist."

He raised an eyebrow, "And there is no doubt in my mind that that idiotic demon is dead. Shorn is the only of his kind, as much as Ezra is. And he's the only one I never imagined being in your life when I told you there would be no other demon after me."

"What do you mean?"

His eyes turned that dark shadowy gold color as he spoke in his serious tone, "I have absolutely no idea what's going on in his mind."

I asked again, feeling stuck on repeat, "What do you mean?"

Oldavai closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath, "What I mean is that whatever Shorn is planning, the only demon that has any chance of stopping him is Ezra."

His hands framed the sides of my face, "Your eyes are dilating and you're an extreme shade of white. You are not allowed to go into shock."

"He has access to my mirror," I whispered, trying to figure out Shorn's underlying motive for everything that had happened in the Darkness.

"Yes, and every mirror that he feels you near."

CHAPTER 14

It was probably two in the morning when I shot up in bed. Gold glitter fluttered around me, and I had a moment of exasperation. Then I startled, almost launching off the bed from Oldavai's hand grasping my wrist next to him.

His voice came out sleepy, "What is it?"

"I don't know. I just..." I trailed off and looked over to him. "We need to do something about hunter's killing themselves."

He scoffed, "You need to do something. I'm not doing anything."

I crossed my arms in anger, "Fine. Then you can tell me how to make your potion."

"No. Go back to sleep." His hand tugged at me to lay down.

I scowled at him, but he spoke before I could, "We'll talk about in the morning."

"Gods and Goddess! What are we, a married couple?!" I went to get out of bed only to find myself squashed beneath him. "Damn it, Oldavai!"

His hand twirled in my hair, "Relax, sweetness. We will deal with it in the morning."

I pushed at his chest, "You're not going to change your mind in the morning."

"You could try to convince me," he playfully cajoled as he ground his pelvis into mine.