The Blood King (8 page)

He flashed a beam of hell-light from his fingers, setting the orb to floating around the small cave. It allowed him to see his captive fully for the first time. She was as he'd left. He knelt beside her, barely aware of the bedding and blanket hovering just behind him. His fingers trailed over her exposed cheek, then ghosted over the softness of her lips.

He wanted a taste. He rolled her onto her back and leaned closer as her breath sighed out. He captured it with his lips as surely as he'd captured her. His lips covered hers and his tongue darted inside to finally get the taste he'd so wanted.

He hadn't touched a corporeal female in decades, had been forced to be content with mere brushes against Rand's sisters and cousins.

She tasted like the finest of Roman wines, tart and rich. He couldn't resist taking more than one taste. At her lack of response, he pulled back slightly before running small kisses over her face, tasting her cheek, her brow, her pointed little chin. He could command her to respond to him, and he would if that's what was necessary. But for some reason, he was in no rush. He just wanted to enjoy.

He pulled her into a seated position, propping her against the cave wall while he arranged their bed for the day. He scooped her up and settled her on the pine, before removing her wrist bindings and rubbing the chafed skin. Her wrists were small in his hands and he frowned at how easily he could break her. He'd have to be gentle, and for a moment he worried he couldn't. This demon wanted a taste of an angel very, very badly.

He brushed her mind with his, searching for who she was, what she wanted in that deep secret place every woman had.

All he found was a deep sense of sadness, of fatigue far more greater than any he'd ever found.        

****

Kindara woke with a burning in her shoulders and burning questions in her mind. Where was she? Where was her daughter? Had it been a nightmare? Gods knew she’d had more than her fair share of those through the decades.

The bed she lay on was prickly and smelled strongly of pine. The blanket covering her caused her skin to itch. There was a chill in the air, air that smelled slightly musty.

There was a warm body beside her and hands running along the edge of her tunic. Hot hands, large hands. Male hands.

Her eyes widened in the darkness.

No man had touched her with that kind of intent since her mate’s death thirty years ago. A gasp escaped and she arched, trying to dislodge the hands.

A masculine laugh was her only reward. A laugh she remembered from the edge of the highway. The hands slipped beneath her tunic. “Who are you?”

“Rathan.”

“What are you?” He wasn’t human and he wasn’t Dardaptoan or Lupoiux werewolf.

“Demon.”

Kindara cringed. Demons were soulless, amoral, conscienceless beasts who preyed on all humanesque creatures, including Dardaptoan. She'd been fortunate in her four hundred plus years of living to only have crossed paths with a handful of demons and never while alone. But her brother had told her much about them. Cormac was a Predatoi, a demon hunter of notable skill, and he'd killed hundreds through the years. Kindara didn't doubt this demon would be Cormac's next kill.

"Why did you do this? Where's Jierra?" The last thing Kindara remembered was her daughter's scream. She bucked, tried to kick the demon away from her when his hands tried to untie the green sash she wore to denote her family line.

"Relax, your friend will not be hurt." The demon ran his hands over her ribs, his fingers counting each one.

"My daughter. She's my daughter, and she's only a baby." Kindara's words came out in a sob of anger as one knee connected with the demon's thigh. It did little damage, he was large and solid. "Where is she?"

****

Rathan felt the desperation pouring off the woman and it had him withdrawing his hands slowly. Desperation never tasted good to him. "She is safe. The Lupoiux has no plans to hurt her."

"Then why did he take her?"

"Vengeance."

"For what? Ji hasn't hurt anyone!"

"No, but your king and his advisors have." That had his own anger returning as he thought of Rand's young sister, Mickey, with her sweet ways and shy smile. She was the youngest of the four murdered women, at barely twenty-five years of age. "They must be forced to pay."

"What did they do?" She tried again to escape his hands. He'd retied her wrists, this time above her head and around a small stalagmite. The bondage arched her chest perfectly. He untied the green sash and removed it. An expert finger began unhooking the tiny fastenings of her top. It parted to expose creamy unblemished skin that glowed in the low light. "Stop!"

"Why?" Rathan dipped a finger in her navel before trailing over her now exposed ribs. "Do you stop when your human prey begs it of you?"

"I don't feed from humans! I haven't in thirty years!" Chills had risen over her flesh and he smiled.

"Then what do you eat, my pet?" Rathan didn't believe her; Dardaptoans needed human blood, and the women even more so. They were so weak otherwise. What male would let one not feed properly?

"Bagged blood. My daughter does the same."

She wore a bra, a plain cotton bit of nothingness that covered her breasts--for the moment. Rathan knew it wouldn't for much longer.

"Still. It is human, is it not?"

"Yes. But freely given, donated to those who need it."

"Under false pretenses." Rathan truly didn't care what she ate or didn't. He'd feed from her the entirety of the time he possessed her, as was fitting for his species. Could he blame her for doing the same when she needed? "I'm hungry, little one. You will feed me now."

****

Kindara shivered under his hands as they ran around the elastic of her bra. Feed him? Demons didn't take blood; Cormac had told her that. "What type of demon are you?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" He had a wicked grin and he flashed it at her, causing his black eyes to glow red. "I am of the family of Lothan and Lilith."

She knew the legends of the first demon and his third wife, knew of the hundreds of thousands of creatures they'd spawned who needed to feed sexually from the humanesque. And Lilith had become the mother of all Succubae, which made this creature...Oh, holy hells! No. "Incubus."