8. Sin Garu

Chapter 8

Sin Garu

The Dark Lord

I faltered as I stared at my reflection in the looking glass taken from the woman lying dead on the stone floor beside me. I wiped a trickle of her blood from the corner of my mouth, annoyed my bloodlust continued to grow. Looking into the mirror, I considered my once-beautiful features and realized I now looked like the monster to which many had likened me.

My long, flaxen hair still flowed like silk around my face. But my eyes, which had once been a deep, inky blue, now flickered with red and green lights of demonic hunger that refused to fade. My pale skin was even whiter, any sense of Light a painful torture I could no longer bear. Jagged yellow nails encrusted with blood ended my thinner and longer fingers, which now resembled the talons of my Netharat wraiths.

I studied the changes overtaking my body. My limbs, like my fingers, had lengthened. While I missed my old body, perfect in both tone and form, the demonic forces within forced me to acknowledge the benefits in such a frame. Stronger, leaner, and more flexible, my body could contort to almost any shape, so long as I kept it fed and in the Dark.

The muscles in my legs suddenly tightened. I noted with amusement that the shaft hanging between my thighs tensed as well. A spike of torture I'd used without cease on the dead human beside me. The sight of her and the blood I'd just ingested stoked my hunger anew.

Sirral , I mentally yelled to my newest assistant, irritated that my trusted wraiths kept dying too quickly. I'd been forced to kill Mirego a year ago due to his subpar service. Then Caeth had fallen to a Storm Lord attack, another of Arim's casualties. The fucking Guardian of Storm.

Snarling, I bellowed again, displeased my wraith still had not arrived in Orfel, my refuge in the Between . Orfel was one of the last Dark Lord retreats still unknown to the Light Bringers or my treasonous sister. I'd once considered sharing information of the location with her, a generous act I would have later regretted. That the bitch had instilled in me a measure of trust only proved, once more, how truly dangerous Lexa could be.

A small pop heralded Sirral's entrance. The misshapen creature immediately prostrated itself, the scent of fear surrounding it overwhelming. "Yes, my lord?"

"I need more blood, Sirral. This one obviously expired." I kicked at the limp body on the floor, watching my wraith hungrily lick its lips, the thin, forked tongue trembling as it sensed the female's rotting flesh.

Nothing I touched lasted long anymore. Not since the demons had taken over my body.

I shrugged. No matter. They kept me alive and shared their considerable strength. If I had less control over myself than I once had, I considered the price worth it. My cock rose again, carnal hungers riding me hard. "Two more females, Sirral. Xiantopes. Ones with a bit of fight this time."

Sirral vanished, returning moments later with two attractive humans. The women made up for their lack of magic with waves of fear and anger, striking out against Sirral as he dragged them forward.

I had to admit, the Earthen plane had rewards despite having very little magic. The taller of the two xiantopes had white-blond hair, and I felt a longing for Alandra Storm, the Aellein princess I'd once been close to taking. So close, the magic of her kind within my grasp, and then Aerolus, her arrogant Storm Lord protector, had arrived.

And with him, Arim. Always Arim .

I scowled, and the brunette being dragged by her hair broke into screams.

"Really, bitch, cease your caterwauling. You're here to sate my hungers. Once you've done as commanded, you'll be free to go."

"Like she was free to go?" the blonde asked, her voice shaky and her eyes wide as she stared at the dead woman by my feet.

"Ah. Forgive the mess. I quite forgot about her." I touched the corpse with my foot, sending her through the Between into Malern, where the Netharat would feast on her body. A bit of a treat. That small reward would keep my starving army hungry for victory. "Now come to me, lovely." I faced the blonde, eager to taste her blood. "I so love that color hair."

She cursed me as she unwillingly complied with my will. She teased and begged me to take her, more than welcoming my touch while she cried.

"Tears of joy?" I laughed.

The brown-haired woman and Sirral watched together, respectively, frozen in terror and desire. I found the notion of an audience…pleasing.

After the blonde undressed, I had her crawl to me. Then I made my clothes vanish, and the sight of my magnificence caused her to utter a silent scream. Pleased, I decided to reward her and myself, of course.

The minute she reached me, I dragged her to her feet and plunged my teeth into her neck, the taste of her blood finer than any wine. Inside me, the demons hissed and clawed at one another, eager to feel her pain, their pleasure.

Then I left the forefront of my thoughts to let the demons have their way. Blood and flesh and pain and pleasure, all mingling together while I basked in a tidal wave of Dark bliss while that dwindling, rational part of me planned the next attack on Tanselm.

I needed a distraction, certainly. Something big enough to draw Arim out again. But it had to wait until I had news of Lexa. Though disappointed that I hadn't been able to dispose of her and Arim in our last battle, that the stubborn fools had saved each other rather than finish me told me much.

I never would have guessed it by the way they'd fought all these years. Apparently, the idiots cared for each other. Affection, a vulnerability I had been surprised to find in my older sister. Yet she'd defeated me… again . Working with Arim, no less. The need to kill her in front of him, to finally break the Light Bringer sorcerer into little pieces, exceeded my desire for everything else.

Nay, you shall have it all, the demons pledged as I felt myself pushing the edge of ecstasy. By the Night, the human women were so deliciously full of fear and Dark thoughts. I fought my way back through the demons and glanced toward Sirral and the other human, amused at the pathetic erection straining my wraith's ragged clothing.

The brunette cried, horrified at the events transpiring around her, and her negative energy encouraged my body's rise toward climax. My fangs lengthened as sexual need beckoned my unquenchable thirst anew. The demons screeched, encouraging me to release the hold on my baser instincts once more.

And then I realized the blond in my hold had expired, messed with all sorts of fluids, mine and hers and the myriad demons riding my soul.

"Sirral, bring her to me," I rasped, gratified by the disappointment on its face.

The demons within me screeched with delight, the despair pouring off the brown-haired woman a fine perfume. Instead of bending her to my will, I would let her try to fight for her freedom.

I tossed her a knife that clattered at her feet. "Pick it up. If you kill me, you're free to go."

She didn't hesitate.

Yessss , the demons hissed as the woman's terror mingled with my — our — hungers. As she tried to strike me down, the demons and I worked together to break her apart, using and abusing every part of her we could reach. I found more pleasure in the drinking down of her blood while the demons explored their carnal appetites to the fullest.

Sirral groaned as it watched, and the feeling of eyes upon me made me that much thirstier.

It didn't take long for the second human to expire. The demons could never seem to get their fill, and since inviting them into my body and soul, I had experienced ever-increasing desires, as well as seemingly never-ending orgasms.

I spent until my body held nothing more.

Then taking pity on my wraith, I nodded to the bodies before me. "Choose. One for you, but I'd eat quickly before your brothers grab hold."

He greedily yanked off an arm and started eating before dragging the blond away by her hair. I waved a hand and sent him and the corpse back to Malern.

The demons, now sated, faded back into my conscience. With no more delay, I took a bite out of the brunette, feasting on her tender flesh and the warm, coppery blood, my nectar of choice.

While I fed, I idly wondered how my sister fared. Had she recovered yet from her brush with the demons? If so, how long would it take me to unite both Arim and Lexa? To see them beaten and prostrate before me as they awaited my judgment.

And ultimately, their deaths.