I snarled at him, an ugly vicious sound that wasn’t at all the woman Jeanne des Montagnes had raised.
The Demon was on me in an instant, the cup of broth suddenly the only thing separating us. “My name is Cortland.” His eyes flashed with fury as he spoke in a deceptively calm voice, but I knew that he was anything but calm. His heat brushed against mine and I fought the blush that I knew was spreading upon my face, my lips parting of their own violation as my gaze tracked his own lush mouth, wanting things I didn’t need.
“I didn’t want you to do any of those things.” The denial sounded hollow, even to my ears, and it was met with a harsh chuckle, which only told me that he knew I was living in a state of denial.
“It does no good for a powerful Witch such as yourself to be a liar.” His voice brushed against my neck, sending shivers across my skin, and suddenly I was stretching my body towards his, my feet curving inwards so that I could push up on the tips of my toes, simply so I could be closer. I shook my head at that realization, this time stepping away from him entirely.
Cortland chuckled once more, only this time it wasn’t a brittle, harsh sound. This time it was filled with the sensuality that I’d come to associate with him.
And the fact that I was starting to associate anything with him was a dangerous game, one that I needed to bow out of, quickly. But he didn’t relent, instead, with each step I took away from him, he stalked towards me, and I understood that the time to classify myself as anything other than prey was long gone.
“Adele Martin.” He prowled forward, his words making no sense, I veered left, walking backwards to keep the Demon still in my line of sight, and that movement seemed to only excite him more, as if I suddenly gave him something to chase. His smile was a deathly beautiful thing that had probably seen many a human fall at his knees, offering all to him for a simple taste of the pleasure he had to offer. It was difficult to not do the same, to not simply give in, but still I moved backwards.
“Juliette Leroy.” He continued talking as he tracked my movements and I was certain he could pick up my elevated heart rate - could smell the panic that surely tinged my blood, but the Demon did not relent. The ground suddenly felt uneven as if the earth was newly turned and I froze in horror: I was walking over my grandmother’s grave. In this game of cat-and-mouse we were inadvertently playing, I hadn't paid attention, refusing to tear my gaze away from the Demon.
“Lilou Morel.” The Demon kept talking despite my faltering steps - despite the fact that we now stood above a dead woman. But something about the name he had just spoken tugged at my memory, and suddenly an image presented itself in my mind of a girl with strawberry blonde hair, tanned skin, and a gap tooth. She was one of the girls from my village, a few years younger than myself, which is probably why I hadn't recognized her name instantly.
I moved backwards, my grandmother’s headstone halting my tracks as my waist touched the stone, my ass cheeks resting deftly on the newly engraved piece. But I stared at the Demon, working backwards to the other names he had spoken, understanding that each of them belonged to a girl from my village - girls like me. He must have read the realization on my face because suddenly his grin turned contemplative as if he were waiting for me to puzzle out the why of it all.
I could only blink at him, the realization that I had underestimated the creature before me far more deadly than I could ever have imagined.
“Those are just some of the Witches in your village.” He spoke the words as if he were offering me some gift, and I tried to swallow down my panic, tried to reason through what he was saying. Was he threatening me? Threatening them?
Still, he stepped towards me, bridging what little distance remained between us as he plucked that steel cup from my fingers, placing it on the tombstone behind me, before resting a hand on either side of me, effectively caging me in.
His minty smell that was tinged with spice had my body flaring with heat once more as if it remembered exactly what being near that unique scent entailed. I inhaled in an attempt to clear my head, but all I ended doing was breathing the Demon in more than I already was.
“They could all work as a sacrifice to your river - all have strong Magick running through their veins that your element may accept as an offering.”
My confusion turned to horror almost immediately as I understood what he had just suggested. “I’m not going to sacrifice innocentgirls for my own freedom.”
“Don’t pretend to boast human morals when you operate within the same Demonic code as I do. I’ve seen the way you negotiate, have watched you bargain, have felt you fuck yourself on my cock, and nothing about the way you conduct yourself is remotely human, so don’t pretend that my suggestion offends your human sensibilities, not when you marked Julian for pissing you off.”
“He transgressed against a Witch!” I seethed up at him, and the movement only brought my chest to his, my nipples hardening through the material of my dress.
“He tried to transgress against you, but you and I both know that he wouldn’t have been remotely successful. The boy doesn’t have a Magickal bone in his body. But marking him? You should have killed him. No clan will accept him now, and he didn’t strike me as the independent type. You survived away from the village - thrived, even, but that boy who called himself your ex-lover, he will wilt without a community to uplift him.”
My blues clashed against his greens in anger and I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but even in that moment when Cortland held Julian’s face down so that I could carve him up effectively, I knew what I was doing.
“That doesn’t mean I’m about to offer up innocent girls to the river in the hopes of breaking free from this place.”
I didn’t think the Demon could move closer, but suddenly he did, inhaling every breath I exhaled.
“No one is innocent, little Witch, you should know that.”
I fisted my hands, wishing I could shove him away - push him further back to create some distance just so I could breathe - think, but that was not what I did. As his fingers danced along my upper thigh, my body melted into his, and I didn’t think I could hate his Magick more than I already did up until that moment because just his touch alone sent licks of desire through my entire system, that seemed to bring forth flashbacks of all the things he had done to me this afternoon.
“You think I’m mean, that I’m unhinged.” His fingers slid beneath my dress, the pad of his thumb touching my bare flesh, and any want that I had of pushing him away evaporated on that warm summer night. “But I don’t operate by your human societal rules.” He angled his head, and suddenly his breath brushed my neck as he whispered, “and neither do you.”
My hands moved of their own accord, reaching around his neck, tugging him closer. I wanted nothing more from the Demon than just sex, and tonight, whilst I mourned, left to muddle through my own thoughts and ideas, he could offer me that - he could allow me to forget and simply feel.
It seemed that the Demon was good for something after all.
His lips grazed my neck and in that instant, I wanted more, so much more. My fingers curled into his dark hair and I tugged his face towards mine, ignoring his knowing chuckle. He’d probably gloat about this later. But then his mouth pressed against mine, and I wasn’t patient or disciplined, I was greedy. He couldn’t expect anything less, not when he enticed such reactions from those he dallied with. I slid my tongue against the seam of his lips - a demand for him to allow me entry, and the Demon didn’t disappoint.
With every sweep of his tongue I was more and more intoxicated, diving in deeper, craning my neck for more until my teeth grazed his bottom lip and the Demon moaned. It was a sound of desperation, and that spoke to my primal needs - the ones he seemed to control.
A whimper tore from my throat and I couldn’t find it in me to be embarrassed as he pulled his mouth from mine, bringing his lips once more to my ear.