Catacombs (Cradle of Darkness 0.5)

“And?”

He may have been handsome, but she remembered the monster who’d spoken to her from the throne. It was almost impossible to lean forward and press a kiss to the man’s cheek, certain he would stink like a rotting corpse.

Instead, he smelled of sandalwood and fresh blood.

Something about it made her mouth water and brought a tingle to empty tooth sockets. The prickling became a sharp pinch, two small teeth descending to burst through the gum-line and end as useless points too short to be of any use.

Chuckling, the demon drove her back until her head hit the impenetrable door and his tongue was deep in her mouth. He licked each smear of blood, toying with her stumped fangs as if she’d performed some cute act.

It was less a kiss and more a scouring, the whole time red glowing eyes staring straight into hers.

With one final tongue curled lick, he pulled away, teasing, “Hungry, are you?”

Yes? No. She wasn’t ravenous, not in the ways she remembered. But under the terror, she was hungry for something—something sweet and filling that healed the soul and fattened the flesh.

Something that made it all better.

She wanted that delicious succor as one would pine for a drug. Breaking eye contact, she looked to the stranger’s neck, whining low in her throat and completely lost in unfamiliar need.

Stretching forward, Pearl caught herself inches from setting her useless teeth to the devil’s flesh when it gave a warning tut.

He took her chin, tapping her nose as he counseled. “It is a good thing you stopped yourself this time. Never take what isn’t offered. Though I never allow your mind to cling to the memory, I promise you, it is the worst of punishments I can offer.”

Again her blood went cold. “You make it sound as if I have been here a long time.”

Rolling words full of smoke and brimstone, he asked, “What did I tell you about time? The only time of any worth in your life are the moments you spend with me.”

“How many moments have there been?”

“Not nearly enough.”

What had he done to her in the days she’d lost in this place? What would he do? “And you punish me?”

“When I feel so inclined. But I’m not eager to harm your sweet body tonight.” Turning his back and walking across the room to settle his mass on the edge of the overly large, ornate bed, he said, “This evening I have come to my pet for pleasure. If you please me, I will let you drink your fill. Disappoint my appetites, and I will bring you great pain. For I have no patience for an insolent treasure. Save yourself the torment.” He crooked a finger, calling her forward. “Come here.”

She knew nothing about pleasing men. The men who had used her, had done only that—leaving her sullied and shamed as they’d tucked their cocks away and abandoned her where she’d bled.

It was to be one pain or another.

Pearl could submit now and spare the girl who would wake tomorrow to some unforeseen horror. Or she could refuse, earn the demon’s wrath and know suffering immediately.

She was in hell.

Killing Chadwick Parker had landed her here.

One foot in front of the other, ten steps total, and she stood before her tormenter.

Darius took her wrist, brought it to his lips to gently kiss, before yanking her face first into the mattress. Tense and trembling she lay as she fell, cheek to red velvet. He stood and moved behind her, flipping the girl face up.

“It’s like the first time every time, isn’t it? My Pearl is practically a virgin. Always fresh. Always frightened.” Creeping over her body, he took her gauze-draped nipple into his mouth for a sharp suck. Once it popped free, he teased, “But I know how to make the virgin a whore.”

Eyes to the bed curtains, fingers fisted in the sleeves of the man’s robe, Pearl tried to lay still. Let him do what he may, let him take, knowing the night would end and she would forget all of it.

Tomorrow would be better.

Chapter Six

There was no tomorrow.

The first time he’d fucked her had been slow, deviously tender. It didn’t feel like the same frightening creature who’d taunted, threatened, and mocked.

He took her as one takes a lover, a cherished wife. Long kisses, sweet touches, even the sweeping entry of his engorged cock had been smooth. Long nailed fingers drifted over her body, delving into places that brought unimaginable pleasures. She could have wept knowing love like that might truly exist in the world and that she’d never know it.

This thing didn’t love her. The proof was there in his violence when he’d grown bored of soft moans and fluttering cunts.

With his semen dripping from her slit, Pearl had panted, satisfied in body from a kind of release she’d never known.