Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy) Read online

  The last thing I saw before the house plunged into darkness was Leon’s wide, sharp smile and golden eyes blazing with righteous fury. I’d fucked up. I’d really fucked up. Why did I ever think I could control a demon? Why did I think I could make that work? Some chalk and a Google search didn’t make me a magician — but it sure as hell might make me a corpse.

  The house had gone completely dark. Not dark like the night — dark like a void, as if all light had been sucked up. I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face. I couldn’t see the floor beneath me. But I could feel the cold, creeping up around me like frosty hands settling on my back. I heard a little pat, pat, pat and the jingle of a bell as Cheesecake fled up the stairs. He had the right idea.

  Run.

  I tried to find the stairs, but my foot struck something hard and I swore, stumbling in the dark. Laughter sounded, echoing darkly from all around me. The sound of scratching claws came from somewhere above me, dragging eerily along the ceiling like something out of a horror film.

  “Stop it, Leon!” Fear dug in deep between my lungs. I held out my hands, trying to feel for something, anything, in the dark. “I get it, okay? You’re pissed! And I probably deserve that.” A breath against my ear made me whirl around, striking at nothing. More laughter. I whirled again, furious, goosebumps prickling over every inch of me.

  “Leon! Come out! Stop playing with me like this! If you want to punish me, just fucking do it!” Silence followed. Complete and utter silence, so heavy that I wanted to hold my breath because it sounded too loud. I gulped, and whispered, “Leon, please...please come out…”

  Suddenly, across the room, two golden eyes blazed into my sight. Just eyes, no form, no face. Staring at me, staring into me. If looks could kill, his would have set me on fire.

  “I’ve been in Abelaum since 1902.” Despite his gaze across the room, his voice whispered directly in my ear. “Over a hundred years, Raelynn. A hundred years of servitude. Coming and going only when summoned. Killing when ordered. Fighting when commanded. No sleep. No safety. Months and months in the dark, in confinement.”

  His eyes vanished. I shuffled around, my hands outstretched, trying to find the stairs, the couch, a wall, anything to center myself. “Leon, I’m sorry, okay? I get it, I do, I shouldn’t have tried to trap you.”

  “I offered you a deal.” His voice was above me now, sounding even deeper and more inhuman than ever. “A damn good deal. And I’m being very generous, because that deal still stands. I’ll tell you a secret, Raelynn.”

  A little light returned: gray and cold, just enough to see my breath form clouds in front of my face.

  His hands grabbed me from behind, one around my waist and the other around my throat, hugging me tight against him as his tongue licked my ear and he hissed, “I really fucking want your soul, Raelynn. I want it so goddamn badly it makes me sick. I want to own you, from now until eternity.”

  His teeth nipped at my skin and his tongue played, teasing that sensitive spot just behind my ear until I was twitching.

  “You deserve to be punished,” he said. I managed to nod as his hand gripped my jaw.

  “I know.”

  His hand around my waist moved lower, gripping my hip so hard his claws pierced through my jeans. “What did I fucking tell you about wearing panties?”

  He shoved me forward, and I stumbled but caught myself. I immediately stripped out of my jacket, pulled off my shirt, and began to peel my tight jeans down my legs, stumbling from foot to foot. I could see only his silhouette in the dark, watching me, eyes bright.

  “Trying to be a good girl now, are we? Suddenly so cooperative. Do you think taking your punishment so eagerly is going to make me go easy on you?”

  With my jeans around my ankles, he seized me again and pushed me against the wall, his body pressed close to mine. Some bizarre mixture of fear and need made me moan as his thigh pressed up between my legs. Hearing him speak about his captivity had been like needles slowly stabbing into my heart. The guilt was eating away at me. I’d acted out of desperation, but I’d tried to take advantage of him in the process.

  Demon or not, he didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve to have felt trapped where he’d thought he was safe.

  I deserved whatever punishment he decided to mete out. I needed it to make this awful guilt go away.

  “The little doll wanted to play at being master.” One claw traced down my cheek as he shook his head. “How did that work out for you?”

  I gave a frantic shake of my head. “It-it didn’t…didn’t work —”

  “No, it didn’t work at all.” There was a rumble to his voice that shivered through my belly. He leaned over me, pressed his forehead to mine, and asked softly, “Mercy?”

  I knew what I’d done. I knew what I absolutely deserved.

  “No. No mercy.”

  He chuckled darkly as he stepped back, giving me a little room to breathe. “Good answer.” He unbuckled his belt, the metal clinking, the leather making a smooth sound as he slid it out of his jeans. He ran it through his hands as he doubled it over, and snapped the two sides together. “No mercy.”

  I watched wide-eyed as he raised his hand and curled his finger at me. “Come here. Now.”

  I obeyed with slow, shuffling steps. I dreaded it. I wanted it. I needed it. I knew exactly what he was going to do, what I was going to let him do. I stood before him, naked except for the panties he’d scolded me for wearing, and my bra. He paced around me slowly, taking his time, snapping the belt intermittently and chuckling when I jumped.

  “You’re looking a little nervous, doll.” He stood in front of me again, and tapped the belt up under my chin, tipping my face up toward him. “Tell me, do you know what is about to happen?”

  I gulped. “You’re...you’re going to spank me.”

  He grinned. “I’m going to whip you, Rae, until your ass is red and you’re begging me to stop. Then I’m going to put you down on your knees, and you’re going to gag on my cock until you prove just how sorry you are.”

  My body was on fire. Guilt, humiliation, and desire made for a truly heady cocktail. I nodded. “I understand.”

  “Bend over.”

  A whimper escaped me as I obeyed. I felt so much more vulnerable like that: bent at the waist, reaching toward my ankles, nearly naked. His arm looped around my waist, pinning me close to his side, and the smooth leather belt trailed lightly over my skin.

  “This is a very important lesson, doll,” he said, and the belt drew back from touching me. “Don’t piss off a demon.”

  The belt smacked down, cracking across my skin with a bite that made me yelp. I didn’t try to stand up nor did I struggle. A second lash came, landing right where the first had left me tender. My cry was louder that time, and I bit my lip.

  “Naughty girl. Do you think you don’t deserve this?”

  Another lash, another cry. It stung like fire across my skin. Resisting the instinct to struggle away from it was nearly impossible. I sucked in my breath and said, “I—I know….I know I...deserve it —”

  The belt fell again, and again, the burn building up until I screamed, and he paused. My legs were shaking, every breath trembled, and my eyes had welled up with tears I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer.

  “How are we, doll?” he said conversationally, and even the sudden, soft touch of the belt teasing over my skin made me flinch. “I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson quite yet, but God, you sound so pitiful. Are you sorry?”

  “Yes,” I whimpered. I knew he wasn’t done. “I’m sorry.”

  Just as I’d suspected, the belt lashed down again. I shrieked, my bare toes curling, and I found myself clinging to the leg of his jeans just to hold onto something. Those tears I’d been holding back escaped, but they weren’t miserable — they were cathartic.

  It felt good to cry. It felt good to endure the pain. It tempered the guilt inside me, and stoked the roaring inferno of my desire. The belt stroked slowly
over me again, tingling across my stinging skin.

  “If we were in Hell, I’d do this in public,” he said. “Demons do love to see a good whipping. There’s just something about that exquisite suffering.” The belt cracked down, and I would have dropped to my knees if he hadn’t been holding me up. “It really is beautiful to see.”

  “I’m sorry!” I cried. “Leon, I’m…I’m sorry —”

  “Are you sorry? Or are you just a horny, pathetic little mortal who wants to get off?”

  I gasped as he stroked two fingers over my panties. But it wasn’t enough for him to feel the damp through my underwear; he shoved them aside, and his fingers pressed inside me. I was so slick he slid in easily, clicking his tongue as if in disapproval as he pumped carelessly in and out of me.

  “So the belt makes you wet. Poor perverted little thing.”

  He kept fingering me, pausing only to whip the belt down before pressing his fingers inside me again. My cries had turned to moans. My eyes practically rolled back every time he pushed his fingers into me. It hurt so good. The sting was going to linger on my ass for days, yet another mark he’d given me.

  Another sign that no matter how much I resisted giving him my soul, I was his.

  I was left gasping after three rapid lashes. As I tried to catch my breath, he said again, “Are you sorry, doll?”

  “Yes.” My voice choked with a little sob, but it was heavy with lust. “I’m sorry, Leon, I’m sorry, I am, I promise, I’m so sorry.”

  There was a clatter as he tossed the belt to the floor. He pulled me up, and I was dizzy for a moment while I adjusted to standing upright. He held me there, one hand in my hair and the other gripping my jaw. There was no anger on his face. There was only desire, and some desperate, almost pained emotion that I couldn’t name.

  “Prove it,” he said softly, and I nodded my head as I dropped to my knees.

  I had to open wide for his cock, and he couldn’t fit it all in before he hit the back of my throat and brought a gag out of me. He didn’t keep his hold on me; he let me work, he let me grip his hips with my hands and look up at him as I moved my tongue up and down his length. Seeing his face twitch with pleasure, his lips parting slightly as I moved my mouth over him, was almost as pleasurable as having his fingers inside me.

  “Good girl. Taking it so well for me.”

  My insides clenched, and I couldn’t resist touching myself as I continued to suck him. One hand on my clit, the other wrapped around his cock to stroke him as I pressed him into my throat. He exhaled sharply, and pulsed in my mouth, salty precum dripping onto my tongue.

  “Just like that, fuck. Are you going to swallow every drop for me?”

  I nodded eagerly, watching the pleasure on his face as he laid a hand against the back of my head and thrust into me. His girth made me gag, but I could take it. He moaned, deep and guttural, and the sound tipped me over the edge. I shuddered on my knees, my fingers rubbing me to orgasm, my mouth slack as he used it for his pleasure.

  His cock throbbed against my tongue, spurting his cum into my throat. His taste was hot and salty, sweetly bitter. I swallowed it all, sucking every last drop from his shaft before I popped him from my mouth and smiled up at him, light-headed and weak with pleasure.

  “There’s my good little doll.”

  I couldn’t get up, so he came down to me, wrapping me up in his arms where I finally went limp.

  Calm fell over us, punctuated by the fire on my skin. I stared up at him, my breathing slowing, then stopping completely when he leaned down and kissed my lips.

  I didn’t expect to feel tenderness from that wicked mouth.

  The evening light was dim beneath the trees, almost dusk. The scent of the pines, the rattle of the aspen leaves in the wind, and the smell of rich damp earth all took me straight back to my childhood. Running through these woods. Digging my hands into the dirt. Watching squirrels scamper up the trees.

  “I’ve missed coming out at night,” I said softly. Leon was nearby, behind me, leaning against a trunk. He’d walked with me into the trees, arm around my shoulders, silent now that he’d gotten all of his anger out of his system. There was a spot on the property back behind the cabin, where a massive pine had fallen years before I was born, and the carcass still laid there, covered in moss and lichens. I was perched up on it, my booted feet knocking against the wood as I swung my legs. I heard the flick of a lighter, and sour scent of pot wafted through the air.

  Were all demons such stoners? It wasn’t as if Leon acted high. If anything, his moods went from a dangerously quiet calm to raging impending-apocalypse.

  “So you have been listening to me,” he said. “You’re safe to go out after dark, as long as I’m here. Unless the Eld beasts get particularly bold, they won’t come back around with me near you. They’ve learned I’m dangerous.”

  I stared into the trees as my feet swung, as if my eyes could permeate the dark. How did humans ever survive before electricity, before fire? How did we ever make it out of the dark?

  Probably by having far better survival instincts than me. I’d been running blindly into the dark for years, screaming into it, waiting for an answer.

  “I used to go walking at night all the time in California,” I said. “We lived close enough to the beach that I could walk down a few blocks and listen to the waves. When the moon was full and the fog rolled in, I’d sit out at the pier for hours.”

  I glanced back at him. The cherry-red tip of the joint in his mouth flared in the dark, casting an orange glow across his face. “Where is your family now?” he said. “You moved here alone.”

  “Spain. My dad finally retired and my mom’s side of the family lives there. They have a house in some gorgeous coastal city now.” I laughed, a little bitterly. “I could have gone with them. They wanted me to. But I had to be independent.” I air-quoted around the last word. “What a different time that would have been.”

  Something that could have been a frown flickered across his face, then disappeared just as quickly. “Then your father’s family is from here?”

  “I was born here. Stayed here until I was seven, then we moved down to California. My grandparents moved around the same time we did. Now my Grams lives in Colville after Papa passed.”

  “You should visit her. I’m sure she misses you.”

  “You’re trying to get me to leave town.”

  “Absolutely.”

  My fingers plucked continually at a stubborn bit of moss on the trunk beneath me. The temperature had dropped rapidly as the sun set, and the chill made me shiver.

  Leon motioned to me, curling his finger. “Come here.”

  I hopped off the tree and went to his side, where he pulled me close against him and offered me the joint. His heat warmed me almost immediately, and he held the joint to my lips as I took a drag. “Did you like this place? As a child?”

  “I thought Abelaum was magical as a kid,” I said. “I convinced myself that fairies lived in the forest. Right there.” I pointed at the fallen log, which was riddled with cracks and crevices, and little gaps beneath it where the moss made a curtain. “I used to come out here with cookie crumbs and little bottle caps full of honey, and I’d leave it for the fairies.”

  “I’m sure they appreciated it.”

  I looked up at him, eyes wide. “Fairies are real?”

  “They are. But they’re not very nice. And you’re unlikely to ever see one unless you really piss them off.” He stiffened. “Don’t you fucking dare try to piss them off for a video.” I laughed, and his arm around my shoulders curled up, nudging up beneath my chin and tightening across my throat. He brought his mouth close to my ear, and said, “I mean it, Rae. Do not piss off the fae.”

  “I won’t,” I choked out, still smiling because how the hell could I resist smiling with his muscles tightening around my throat? He relaxed his hold, leaning back a little more comfortably against the tree. A few minutes passed in silence as we smoked together, the high relaxing me a
gainst him.

  After several minutes, I said, “So...how old are you?”

  “I’m not sure,” he flicked down the stub of the joint, crushing it beneath his shoe. “I don’t have any memories beyond the 1700s. My kind don’t give much attention to age.”

  “You’re immortal then?”

  He shrugged. “Old age and disease won’t take me. I could grow bored and fade away as some of my kind do. Or I could be ripped apart — that would kill me. Crush my skull and I probably wouldn’t be able to heal. I’m immortal if I’m careful, and if I wish to be.” He smirked. “I’m not very careful. Living forever isn’t so terribly important.”

  “What’s important then?”

  “Freedom,” he said softly. Crickets had begun to chirp, and a few stray raindrops made their way through the trees to splatter against my face. The darkness had moved in close now, like a cold blanket wrapping around us. From inside the cabin, the darkness seemed sinister in the way it filled the windows and was barely beaten back by the porchlight. But standing in it, calm and quiet, wasn’t sinister at all.

  The dark was peaceful.

  “Leon,” I said, after several more minutes passed in silence. “You said the God demands a life in return for my ancestor’s. What...what does that…” I didn’t know how to finish the question. I knew what I needed to ask, but I didn’t want to ask it.

  He understood. “Three survivors, three sacrifices. The Deep One promised power to those who fulfilled Its demands. It’s been asleep a long time, It’s weak. But with three souls, It will be free, and the human world will come under the rule of an ancient God once again.”

  It sounded so fantastical, so impossible. But I’d heard that voice calling in my dreams. I’d seen things, felt things.

  “The Hadleighs already sent me after you,” he said, and my stomach twisted into a knot. “That was Kent’s last command: bring you to him, alive. Make your disappearance look like an accident. Leave no evidence that you’d been taken to be murdered. Your family would have had a funeral without a body.”