Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

R ewd

The demon under me makes a strange face, like it's attempting to disarm me.

He is charming and handsome, with a smooth snout and a ready smile. I do not trust him. He reeks of manipulation.

The more minutes I'm alive, the more awareness comes to me. My brain is made from a template shared by millions of others. Maybe billions. My mind races with the thoughts and memories of millennia of wars and conflict. It is too much to contain. I'm nothing but a weapon for killing. Destroying.

I've been built to be used and thrown away.

My body is thick and solid, with no finesse. I have been pounded together from a hunk of clay. This demon underneath me, however, was sculpted out of stone by a master carver.

"I'm Bragg, by the way. And you are?"

He thrusts his clawed hand at my chest. I roar at the assault and without thinking, pin that hand to the ashy, hot floor above his head. Everything burns here. The air in my lungs. The floor. My own skin feels like it's on fire. Everything hurts — not enough to kill me, but only enough to make me very, very angry.

"So, you don't like small talk. I can respect that," Bragg says. "Sorry if I startled you."

This one talks a lot. How does he find words with a million memories screaming through his head?

"You are puny and thin and do not startle me," I say.

Bragg cackles. "Rude!"

I think he may be mocking me, but I do not care.

Much to my surprise, Bragg's voice is having a settling effect on me.

More than his incessant talking, I enjoy how he trembles underneath me. The throb between my legs intensifies when he speaks to me, even when he's trying to hide that he is afraid.

"Very well. You can call me R-ew-d."

His cocky laughter abates. "Rewd. That's a good name. Shit, I wish I'd thought of it."

I study Bragg's sloping nose, his angled jaw, and corded neck. He is small compared to me. His horns curl upward from where they grow at the crown—unlike my massive horns meant to gore and maim. He is more…domestic somehow.

Out of pure curiosity, I lean down and smell him, running my snout over the smooth flesh of his throat.

I wish to understand what he is and why he's so different from me.

I let go of my hold on his wrists and run my talons over my face: a ridged snout, prominent brow, and longer fangs. Then I touch his face. My throat bobs. I am fascinated and jealous. He is beautiful. I am so ugly. Why?

"Why do you look so different? You smell like demon," I ask. My swirling memories and centuries of knowledge spin so fast that I can't grasp the facts I know are there.

He seems unconcerned that he's still pinned under me. Bragg shrugs. "I engage with humans more than other types of demons do. This shape makes shifting to a more…palatable…human-ish form much easier. I guess evolution saw to it."

His voice causes the speeding thoughts to begin to slow down.

The word registers hate. I growl. "Human?"

"I'm a succubus. I make deals with humans in need. Well, I used to. When I was allowed to run amok. My number hasn't been called up yet under the new rules, but I'm ready to get out of this hell hole, pun intended."

That word, succubus, puts another thought into my head. He is built for something else entirely.

The thoughts and memories grow slower still, and I'm able to pick out answers to some of my questions.

Bragg is built for sex. Of course he is. Look at him. The thought of him pleasuring a silly, soft human makes my cock jerk unexpectedly, bumping into his.

He laughs softly. "Careful with that thing, cowboy. You don't want to go and get all obsessed with me. I will suck the will to live out of you. And I kinda like having someone to talk to."

I drag my snout over the cords on the opposite side of Bragg's throat. His blood scent calls to me, and I am hungry.

"I s'pose a little foreplay is fine," he says, breath hitching. I've struck something inside him, as this is the first time he seemed less sure of himself since we met a moment ago. "We have all eternity to get to know each other."

He's a trickster, but I like him. I will keep him.

I concentrate so hard to parse his words that I don't hear the approaching footsteps of a guard demon.

"Bragg!"

I freeze at the sound. The voice speaks again. "It's your lucky day. You've been summoned."

Summoned. He's…leaving me alone.

I only just arrived, and I don't know what it is that I'm meant to do here.

I may not survive Bragg's absence. This life, or half-life, would be unbearable without him.

I swallow. "Are you coming back?"

I don't like the way I sound when I say this. I sound so small. Needy. Not at all terrifying, which I thought was my default setting.

Bragg rolls me off of him and stands to face the guard on the other side of the bars. I sit up, watching him go.

The succubus looks at me over his shoulder, his golden eyes glowing with mischief as he seems to read my mind.

"Don't worry, big guy. You're coming, too."

And he holds out his hand to me.