It was real, and yet it could not be real. Everything she knew about what was possible was being challenged. But this was the realm of the demon. The rules were his. He could be the size of a mountain, and she could take him.
Her final orgasm came like a rush. Not a little death. A great big final passing, a breaking and a completion, a beginning and an end. Her flesh could not withstand the power of the pleasure rushing through her. She shrieked in climax, and in that moment of ultimate release, she was set free.
“Pretty little human thing,” the Dark purred, running his claws over her cheeks as she lay insensate on the intangible ground. It was not earth. It was not even a proper floor. It was just a place where things stopped falling.
Hail opened her eyes and felt herself ache, not just between her thighs, but all the way through her body, right to her soul.
“Am I still alive?”
“Yes, you are still alive, still trapped in that silly little body of yours. That breakable, stretchable, leaky little body.” The Dark tapped her nose with its claw, then slid back.
“You… mated with me.”
“Yes. It is all you are good for.”
Hail took offense, but was not sure how to show it to the face of this beast. The Dark had proved to be a rough and inconsiderate lover. Her pleasure, no matter how great, had been incidental.
Had she known what would happen when she lit that unnatural fire and caressed it into full potential? Had she had some sense… she tried to remember.
When the Dark took her…
She screamed. And she screamed. And then she stopped screaming because it wasn’t doing anything and she wasn’t actually sure what was happening to her anyway.
The word had suddenly gone dark, and something was holding her. Something very large and very pointy.
It dropped her. She turned to face it. It was a creature unlike any she had imagined. Hail loved monsters. She had tried to mess with the bearoark because it was the most frightening thing she could face. Now she realized it was only the second most frightening thing, and would probably be very far down her list by the time this was done.
This creature she was looking at, this had to claim the top spot. It was a thing of scales and muscles and teeth and claws. It was male, but not a man. It was handsome. There were so many impressions all coming at once, but most of all she found herself concentrating on a face of uncommon beauty and eyes which matched those of a snake, or a dragon. Slitted golden pupils which flitted all about the realm and somehow fixed themselves on her at the same time.
There was a marble paleness to the face of the thing, an almost sculpted appearance. Their eyes met and it smiled, revealing perfect teeth and long fangs. It was a beautiful monster. She felt awed and somehow privileged to behold it.
“Hello,” she said, simply. “Who are you?”
The creature smiled broadly, but not kindly. It was the leer of a predator.
“You may call me what everybody calls me. The Dark.”
“Oh.”
“You have the temerity to sound disappointed, human.”
“You look as though you should have a longer, more impressive name. Like Balthazar, or Merovingian, or…”
“Longer is not always better,” the Dark interrupted before she could list every long and impressive name she could think of. “Your kind usually conflates quantity with quality. You are a simple little animal which happened to grasp the concept of language and made yourself a nuisance in the limited realm you inhabit.”
“My kind? You mean lyrakin?”
“Human.”
“Oh.” She paused again as the creature hovered over her. There was some intention to it. Something she did not understand, but very much wanted to.
“Why did you take me?”
“You amused me.”
“What was so funny about me?”
“You had a sliver of talent, and a whole host of rebellion. You believed in yourself for no reason at all. You were warned of the danger, and yet you refused to see it. You are a fool.”
This demon was not very nice. He did not have a kind way with words. Hail did not care. She was fascinated merely by being in his presence, feeling the majesty of the thing. She probably was pathetic to him. An ant did not expect her to fawn all over it, and so she did not expect this creature to praise her.
If anything, she expected it to kill her.
She could have meekly submitted to it, but that was not Hail’s style. Being a sassy wench was.
“You want me to be afraid, but I’m not. So I won’t feed you. You won’t get anything from me. Poor Dark demon. You must be so hungry.”
The Dark laughed and snarled at the same time. “You are most infuriating, that is true. You might also be my one true mate.”