10. Cherise

Chapter ten

Cherise

Christmas Eve

N ik’s eyes darken a shade, and he gives me a devious smirk. “Is that so, little reaper? You still want to kill me after I told you that I have nothing to do with the horrors of your past?”

I yank on these damned lights around my wrists to no avail. He’s got me spread wide for him, against this wall at his mercy. “You’re a liar! You said you were like me—that you only kill the bad ones! You’re just a parasite that feeds on innocent hosts every Christmas. You ruined a holiday that spread joy and kindness all over the world! For what? For your sick, demonic rituals for the Devil?” I snarl, extending my neck to get as close to his face as possible.

He takes a slight step back and looks fucking offended. He furrows his brows with a scoff. “I am many things, Cherise—yes, I lie, but never to you.” I inhale a sharp gasp and turn my face when he dashes forward again with a low, otherworldly growl. He grips my cheeks; his claws dig into my skin but not hard enough to draw blood, and turns me back to his dangerous glare. “Would you still call it ruining your precious holiday if I told you that dear old Saint Nick, the original, was a fucked up, perverted and sick old man that preyed on the innocent? That he and his elves molested children, even going as far as stealing some from their homes for their twisted pleasures? Would you still think me so evil when I tore him apart, limb from limb, and spread his mangled body across the globe? I saved your pathetic race from his perversions, the ones hidden under the guise of a happy, jolly man whose only goal was to spread joy to children. And yet, you all call me cruel—the destroyer of Christmas.” He grips tighter, and a distorted rumble echoes from his maw. My breath catches on a hitch at his rough touch, but I am not afraid. “I am just like you, Cherise Bates. The only souls I mark for harvesting are the so-called ‘bad men’ that hurt people, people like you.”

I flash him a sultry smile. “Has the almighty, righteous one, called The Saint, come to claim my soul shrouded in darkness? Are you here to kill me, Nik?”

He roughly removes his grip on my cheeks and laughs. “Kill you? No, little reaper, you’ve got me all wrong. I’ve come to fucking dominate you. To fucking own and possess you in every deranged way imaginable.” He flicks his black, elongated claw underneath my dress strap and shreds the material in two. “I didn’t lie about being protective over you or about you being mine. Just like I’m not lying about anything else I’ve told you tonight. As for your soul. That.” He rips my other dress strap. “Is.” He places the tip of one claw against the fabric between my breasts, slowly shreds the dress down the middle, and tears the destroyed material all the way off—exposing me to him in just my bra and underwear. “Fucking mine,” he growls. His red eyes burn hotter as he rakes his ravenous gaze over my scar-ridden skin.

I inhale a shaking breath, not out of fear, but from his possessive tone that’s doing things to my body. Finally, the demon I’ve sought to kill for a decade stands before me and claims that he is nothing that I believed him to be. He says he’s not the one who killed my family, which later led me to be locked up in that fucking asylum—raped and tortured for years. Nik swears that he’s just like me and rids the rot from the world. How can any of this be true? “Prove to me you’re not lying, Nik. I need the truth… I couldn’t take it if you lied to me, too,” I murmur, my voice breaking towards the end.

His crimson eyes burn into my own. He places a hand on my head and sighs. “I’m only showing you this because I know you can handle it. But I need you to know you can trust me, Cherise. Because once I show you my truth, you’ll spill your own while I claim you.” His growl is dark and laced with promise.

A single nod is all I can muster, before I’m looking through eyes that are not my own. Flashes of Nik’s memories race through my mind, Nik brutalizing Santa and getting him to admit to the horrifying truth of what he’d done to those poor children. Of Nik, torturing and dismembering the screaming, fat bastard. His devil imps ripping the elves to shreds—it was a beautiful masterpiece I wish I could have been present for.

The memories shift to Nik following me around the night before Branson met his rightful death—and when he realized that I was going to kill him. He was confused as he checked his golden parchment but did not find my family’s names on the list. I heave a sigh as a weight is lifted from my chest. He’s not lying.

Another flicker of his memory crashes into me, the day I was in the candy shop with my young friend. The day he found me, how he smelled me and became instantly aroused by me. All of his emotions flood into me: his lust, confusion, fascination, and something else I can’t name. I feel them all as if they were my own, and I let out a breathy moan.

“Your panties are soaking wet, little reaper. Was that proof enough for you?” Nik removes his hand from my head and glides one claw gently down my slit, over the lace fabric of my thong.

I shudder, and my hips buck without any thought of my own. I’m fucking drenched for a demon. I stare down at his exquisite form, his true form. He is truly a sight to behold, and everything I never could have envisioned him to be. “You’re beautiful,” I whisper, slowly grinding my hips to gain more friction against his claw. “I believe you.”

Nik grins, showing off his razor-sharp teeth. “I remember the way your little pussy strangled my fingers when I made you come in that club. Now I wonder, will your pussy strangle my cock the same way? What about your ass?” I widen my eyes in disbelief. His dick is fucking massive, but I am tempted to know what it would feel like to stretch me and fill me so fully. He slides his forked tongue across his lips, his tone husky. “I told you I would fuck all your holes, but what will it be today?” He continues slow strokes over my core, which makes me suck in a sharp breath. “I’ve already fucked that beautiful mouth,” he drawls, placing his other hand on my mouth to trace my lips.

I pull at my bindings again, eager to run my hands across his magnificent body. “Let me down so I can touch you. I’ve dreamed of the day when you would finally fuck me. Over and over, I’ve pictured it.”

Nik inhales sharply right before he crashes his lips onto mine, his teeth scraping against my lips, his forked tongue snaking into my mouth. He groans against my lips and pulls away. I whimper from the loss of his touch. “Take me, Nik—I’m yours. I need to feel you.”

He smirks and turns to the side. With two fingers, he motions out in front of him and sends me flying into the center of the room. The lights jerk my wrists behind my back. My knees slam against my chest, putting me in the fetal position mid-air, the lights wrapping around my throat. I raggedly suck in oxygen to try to catch my breath, the jerking movements making my stomach churn. The lights constrict tighter, but I’m still able to breathe. “Did you think it would be so easy? That I wouldn’t punish you first? You’ve done something to me, Cherise; I feel things that shouldn’t even be possible for a demon to experience. And you kept fucking pushing me away.”

In one swift movement, I’m flipped upside down. My candy cane-highlighted hair hangs loosely above the floor. “What are you gonna do?” I say breathily.

A sharp smack to my ass cheek is my response, making me jump and gasp while the sting settles into my nerves. “Do you need a safe word, Cherise? Because I’m not going to hold back otherwise. You’ve taunted a demon, and I’ve come to taunt you right back.”

“What’s a fucking safe word? Just let me come! I need you, Nik,” I cry as he slaps my other ass cheek with enough force to jolt my entire body.

Nik chuckles. “I’ll take that as a no, you greedy little reaper. You’ll come when I decide you get to.” He runs his finger over my soaking wet slit then tears my panties from my body in one fell swoop. He snaps his fingers, and my knees spread wider to expose my core to him fully. “So beautiful,” he groans.

A shiver surges down my spine when I feel his tongue glide over my throbbing clit, flicking vigorously, while the other fork of his tongue slides into my entrance—causing a strangled moan to rip out of me. “Fuck yes, just like that,” I moan.

With a demonic laugh that seems to echo throughout the room, his tongue leaves my aching pussy, and the emptiness is met with a swift slap on my clit. I cry out in pain, but Nik slowly rubs tight circles over my stinging bundle of nerves to soothe the sting. “I didn’t say you could come yet, did I?” My body thrusts upward so that I’m face to face with him, my head still upside down. “This is how this is gonna go, little reaper. I’m going to ask you questions. If you answer them truthfully, I’ll reward you. If you lie to me, I’ll take great pleasure in your punishment. Understand?”

“Why do you want to know about me so bad? Can’t you just fuck me already? Please!” I’ve never wanted a cock inside me so bad in my life. The emotions that Nik brings to the surface within me are so strange, but now that I truly know who he is, I welcome them in as the floodgates open. I want everything this man—this demon—has to offer me. It’s like I’m an addict. Addicted to his huge demon dick... but I know it’s so much more than that.

Nik grabs my hair roughly, which elicits a giggle to burst forth from my lips. “You love it when I’m rough, don’t you?” I nod, a wide grin still plastered to my face. “I want to know you because you will be mine for an eternity. You’re the only human to make me feel this way, and I don’t know how to describe it. So, will you be nice or naughty for The Saint tonight?”

“I’ll be good! Just please fucking touch me already, Nik!” I whine, wiggling my ass in the air.

He smiles like the Cheshire Cat and tugs harder on my hair. “I am touching you.” I open my mouth to backtalk when he shoves the end of a candy cane past my lips. “Suck it, Cherise.”

He thrusts the peppermint candy slowly in and out of my mouth, his hungry eyes fixated on my lips. I do as I’m told, savoring the flavor on my tongue, as I hum and suck in my cheeks. He pulls it out of my mouth, and my stomach flies into my ass when I drop lower to the floor again. I yelp from the sudden movement. “I know you like to fuck yourself with inanimate objects, baby. Let’s make your pussy taste like my favorite candy.”

I scrunch my face in astonishment. “Wh—” The skinny length of the candy cane slides past my entrance, the rough edges now smooth from my sucking on it. He slides it in and out, fucking me with a damn candy cane. I let out a low moan, but it doesn’t even come close to what I really need. “I need more. It’s not enough to get me off,” I grumble.

Nik clicks his tongue. “This is just to garnish my feast, Cherise. Don’t be silly.” I sigh when he removes the candy cane, but jump when he circles the wet tip of it around my back hole, nudging the entrance. “Let’s get you ready for me. Then the fun can begin,” he growls.

I scoff. “News flash, if it’s too small for my pussy to clamp down on, the same goes for my ass!”

The candy cane slowly skates into my hole, and I go still as a memory floods through me of my time back in the Silent Night Asylum when my tormentors abused me. “You need to relax, or else this will hurt.”

“I can’t do this, Nik. I can’t!” I cry out.

“Tell me why, and maybe I’ll reconsider it,” he says commandingly.

“The bad men,” I whisper so softly, I’m not sure he even heard me. My mind drifts back to the days that haunt me. When Branson, Scryer, and Ashcroft raped me, tortured me… brutalized me.

A slap to my clit knocks me from my daze, and I lash out. “The bad men! They hurt me when… when I was back at that place—the Silent Night. Every night they shoved their disgusting fucking cocks inside me anywhere they could! Jack Scryer, Thomas Branson, and Will Ashcroft. They took, and they took! I just can’t fucking do it.” My voice breaks during those last words; my heart squeezes in my chest.

I’m met with silence for far too long that I begin to wonder if any of this is even real. Am I hanging upside down with a candy cane in my ass in part of my demented mind, or is this real? “Nik? Where did you go?”

A phantom touch glides over a scar on my right upper thigh, below where my cheek meets my leg. “Let me see.”

I try to lift my head; I want to see his face, but all I can see are his fucking legs in front of me. “What do you mean ‘let you see’?”

His claw scrapes over my scar, and I flinch at his touch. “Every scar on your body is beautiful to me, Cherise. Everything about you fucking fascinates and excites me. I want to claim every inch of your body and know it intimately. While your scars are a thing of beauty, they were given to you against your will during a time of pure terror. Let me help you retake that pain back and turn it into pleasure—and by doing so, reclaim your mind, little reaper. Your scars will be torn anew by my hand. Your ass will be claimed by my cock. So that anytime in the future, when you look at yourself in the mirror, instead of your body haunting you, you will be reminded of me. Do you want that?”

I blink rapidly to push back the tears that threaten to break free. There’s a fluttering in my stomach that I don’t know the meaning of, and my heart feels like it will explode out of my chest. What is this demon doing to me? I don’t know how, or if, this will even work. But I want to try. With him, I want to try. “Yes. I only want to see you,” I whisper.

I hear the sharp intake of breath above me as I feel my flesh spread apart where Nik’s claw digs into the scar on my thigh. I kick my head back as a gate deep into my psyche is unlocked. Blinding white light with a crimson glow dominates my vision. I blink a few times, and then I’m standing face to face with Will Ashcroft.

“Aw, don’t look so scared. You’ve always loved the feel of my cock.” Will is dressed in a black robe, his features shadowed by the hood. His usual blade is held firm in his hand as he stalks closer to me.

I back against the padded white wall, my hands clutched together over my chest. My breathing is erratic. “Just leave me alone, please! What did I even do to you?”

He stalks closer, blade outstretched toward me. “You gonna deny it, bitch? You used to beg for me when your Daddy wasn’t looking. I felt on top of the world playing with his favorite toy. And then you fucking ruined everything and got your ass sent here and almost killed me in the process. I’m going to fuck that sweet pussy of yours. One. Last. Time. Then tonight, your sacrifice will finally be complete. You are going to finish the Rite—Christmas is almost upon us. And the Devil craves your soul the most, you evil, little cunt!”

I scream and try to run past him, but he’s too fast. Always too fast. He grabs my arm and slams me onto the bed, face first. I kick and buck my hips as he pounces on top of me. His blade rips into the fabric of my pants against my thigh, cutting me open in the process. He uses the blade to cut farther, to be able to open the fabric further, exposing my bare ass to him. “Such a good little slut. Your Daddy would be so proud of the whore I’ve turned you into,” Will sneers against my ear as he thrusts into my dry pussy raw.

I don’t even realize I’m still screaming until Nik yanks my head up by my hair and brings my face to his. His crimson eyes look like they blaze from the depths of Hell itself, a sneer pulling back his lips. “Fuck the Ashcrofts. They were going to sacrifice you to Lucifer, why, Cherise? And how did you escape?”

I stare away from his vengeful eyes. Scars are only skin deep. Listen. Feel. Remember. Look within . “The scars, Nik. They hold the answers,” I whisper.

Nik’s chest heaves, and he brings his lips to mine. The kiss isn’t rough; it’s gentle, so careful not to scrape his sharp teeth against my lips. He pulls back and runs a claw down the scar marring my lips. “This one is my favorite. It makes you look brave and strong—because that’s what you are, little reaper.”

I inhale a ragged breath when he presses his claw harder against my skin and then drags it across the lip scar. Both of our heads jolt back as we descend into another memory.

I’m back in my old bedroom, the one I vaguely remember from when I was a child. I sit on my bed, rocking back and forth with my hands grasping my toes. I’m humming “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” Mother’s favorite song. It’s the song she always sings to me when it’s close to Christmas time. But we have to be quiet; no one can know we sing it together, or Daddy will be mad. All the fun things Mommy does with me, Daddy gets mad at. I never understood why, and when I asked Mommy, she said that we are women of God, and we must act as such.

That’s stupid. I want to sing, dance, and eat all the candy I want!

My head snaps up; I gasp and pause my movements when I hear my door creak open. “What are you doing, sweet pea?”

I jump up and run to her, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist. She’s always the brightest part of my day. “Come in!” I take a step back and skip back to my bed. “Let’s sing together, Mommy!”

She smiles, and her cheery laughter fills the air around us. She sits on the bed next to me and grabs my hands. “What shall we sing, baby?”

“Your favorite Christmas song. Since it’s your favorite, it’s mine too!” I say with a grin.

Mother pushes the loose hairs that escaped my pigtails out of my face and chuckles. “Okay, but not too loud. We don’t want to upset your father.”

I almost jump up and down with glee, covering my mouth to quiet the squeal about to rip free.

Mother and I are halfway through the song when we hear footsteps pounding down the hallway. My door crashes open, and Daddy storms into the room with his hands on his hips. Mommy lets my hands go and stands up to face him.

“Did I hear singing in here, Cherise?” Dad glares at me in a threatening manner.

“Now, honey, it wasn’t—” Daddy smacks Mom across the face, so hard that she spins around and falls on the bed. She begins to weep, her hand clutching her red cheek as she turns back to face him.

Daddy lunges on top of her and starts punching her over and over in the face. I scream at the top of my lungs, and with all of my strength in my frail arms, I jump on his back and pull his hair—digging my nails into his skin and scratching at his face. “Stop it! Leave her alone!” I shriek.

“You stupid girl!” Dad backs up, crushing my body between him and the wall, and all of the air leaves my lungs from the force. My muscles slack, and I slide onto the floor when he pushes forward.

He spins around, grabs me by the arm, and slings me into my dresser. When I finally catch my breath, a shrill cry is all I can manage before Daddy is on me again. He grabs the back of my head and slams my face into the corner of the dresser. I’m sobbing uncontrollably, and the pain is unbearable. Why is he so mean to us? I want to run away.

“Your punishment for singing that trash under my roof will be paid in blood. That is the way of God, my child,” he snarls in my face. He pushes me against the wall and pulls the switchblade from his pocket. He flicks the blade free and presses it against my lips.

“She’s just a child! Stop it!” My mother cries from behind us.

He presses on my forehead with his free hand, cutting above my lip with the other hand while laughing. “Such a bad girl you’ve been, baby. I hate having to teach you these lessons and ruin this pretty face. But you just don’t listen. Now, you will learn to listen.”

I try to shake my head, uncontrollable sobs the only sound I can make. I’m crying so hard I can hardly breathe. “Stay still, or it’s really gonna make you ugly.”

“Daddy, p-please s-stop,” I wail.

He clicks his tongue, and his cold blue eyes bore into me. With a snarl, he presses the blade into my flesh again. I can’t stop moving, and the pain is overtaking all rational thought. The blade slices from my top lip down to above my chin.

“I told you not to move; now it’s all zig-zagged, baby.” Daddy chuckles, low and vicious. He pats me on the head before walking to the door and stopping. “Clean yourself up; be ready for Daddy when you get tucked into bed.”

My arms and legs are free from my bindings, and I’m mid-air, falling, when rough hands grab me. “Cherise?” Nik’s voice is wrecked, a sound I’ve never heard him make before.

My eyes flutter open, and I look up at my handsome demon. I brush my hand over his cheek, and I can feel him shudder beneath my touch. “I can finally touch you,” I murmur softly.

He sets me down, and holds me steady as I stand on my two feet again for the first time, finally out of that position he had me in for who knows how long. “What is your father’s name? You said he’s dead, that you thought I killed him. But give me the fucking name, and I will torture him endlessly in Hell, little reaper.”

I brush my lips against his, tenderly yet eager. “I don’t know, Nik. We can find out later; I still need you,” I whisper against his lips.

“I never thought I’d say this, but you’re sure you don’t want me to stop? We can pick up later, cause—”

I bring a finger to his lips to quiet his rambling. That memory was groundbreaking, but that was the past. “I want to live here, in the present, with you. We can focus on the past later.”

“Fuck,” he groans, before somehow making his sharp teeth disappear, normal human canines occupying his mouth. I help him shove off his jacket and shirt, and he basically rips his pants off. That glorious, Hellish, monster cock is rock solid and ready for me. It’s much bigger than I pictured in my head, now that I can see it in the light. I can’t help myself; I shoot my hand out to grab his shaft, stroking it up and down. His tip is dripping precum, and I smooth it around with my thumb. He moans and drags my head toward his, kissing me fiercely. It’s bruising, damaging, and filled with so much passion. He grabs my ass into his hands and lifts me into the air, my legs instantly wrapping around his waist like it’s second nature.

My back hits the wall, and I wrap my arms around his neck, never breaking our breath-stealing kiss of death and sin. I feel him reach down to grasp his shaft, and he aligns it with my soaked entrance. “I take it I’m done being punished?” I ask throatily.

“For now; I can’t wait any longer. I need to feel you. I’m going to stretch and fill your little pussy, and finish with my real punishment.” He smirks against my lips, pushing the tip inside. The last part of his sentence is lost on me as he slowly pushes inside. I gasp, throwing my head back. He’s barely past my entrance, and I can hardly breathe. “You’re going to take all of my cock, Cherise. Your pussy is mine, every beautiful inch of you is mine, and I will stretch you to adjust to me. I’ll fucking make sure of it.”

“Then fucking claim me already; stop holding back. I want to feel you, every damn inch of you. Your cock is mine, so act like it, demon.” He tilts his head and smirks, a sinful, cruel smile that should frighten me, but I’m never afraid when it comes to him.

“Hearing you claim me is the most delicious thing I’ve ever heard. Exhale, now.” He waits for me to listen to his command.

I inhale unevenly; the anticipation of what’s to come fills my core with desire. When I begin to exhale, he slams into me to the hilt. My jaw drops, and I arch my back. I’ve never felt this full and stretched in my entire life—it’s fucking euphoric. It’s painful, but I’ve never felt so alive. He brings his forehead to mine, a silent question as he stares into my eyes, and I nod for him to continue once I catch my breath.

He pulls out almost entirely and then forcefully slams back into me. A strangled moan passes my lips. My pussy is already clamping around him, even with the pain. Every ridge and bump along his shaft that resemble cock rings and studded piercings, rub along my inner walls, increasing the intensity of the pleasure that’s beginning to overtake the pain as he thrusts in and out at a steady, damning pace.

“Fuck, little reaper. Your little pussy takes my cock so well, you’re soaking wet for me. I can feel your muscles clamping around me, trying to milk every last drop of sin from my body.” He quickens his pace, his thrusts so forceful that my body bangs against the wall, and the hanging picture frames shake with every movement of his hips. His remarkably long forked tongue stretches from his mouth and flicks vigorously against my swollen clit while he fucks me.

I’m moaning so loud that I’m sure the whole neighborhood outside can hear me over the chaos that I’m sure is still brewing outside. I tightly grasp my hands into his long and smooth ivory locks. Nik groans, his blood-red eyes feral. He looks down at the destruction he’s inflicting on my pussy and moans along with me.

Pleasure pools rapidly in my lower stomach, my muscles clamping around his thick length as my orgasm simmers, on the verge of an explosion. My breath catches, and my entire body shakes from the intensity of the oncoming orgasm.

Nik senses that I’m about to come and laughs. He yanks his dick out of me and slurps his tongue back into his mouth. “Did I say you could come yet, Cherise?”

“Nik, what the fuck! I was so close,” I whimper as he sets me down; my knees wobble from how badly my body is shaking.

He holds me steady, and with a demonic laugh, he spins me around to face the wall. He brushes my hair off one shoulder, his breath hot in my ear. “We were having so much fun, you forgot about the candy cane lodged in your ass. I’ve been magically growing it in size as soon as I put it in you; your other hole is ready for me now, baby.” The sensation filling my back hole overwhelms me as he slowly slides it out, the thickness of it evident now that I can focus on it. Was that why I was going to come so hard? That was going to be the most intense orgasm I’ve ever experienced, and he stole it away. “Your pussy drenched my cock, little reaper, and you’ve been stretched wide enough.” I feel his tip slip past my entrance, and I tense. “Relax, baby, the worst is over. Now you get to come; you want that, right?”

I take a deep breath, bracing my hands against the wall. His promise of an orgasm rekindles my desire, and I exhale while my muscles relax. “Yes, I want that. Please.” My voice is raw and breaking from my earlier cries of pleasure.

He pushes in a little deeper, and his husky voice rasps in my ear. “Your pussy tasted like that candy cane—you’re delicious. I never want to stop devouring you.”

“Devour me. Consume me. Fucking take me, Nik.”

He growls ferociously, his grip on my hips tightening to a bruising hold. He thrusts in, inch by inch, my jaw locked open with each stretch of my walls until he’s all the way inside me. Thanks to the help of that mystical candy cane, and the adrenaline rush from him inside my pussy, this isn’t so bad. All restraint seems lost on him when he pulls out and slams back into me, over and over again, at the same brutal pace he set earlier. Skin smacking against skin rings loud, and mixes in with the melody of the Christmas tunes playing in the background. His distorted voice breaks through, and demonic growls emit from him with every thrust of his hips. He wraps one arm around my midsection and reaches his other hand down to my aching clit, rubbing it at a rapid pace.

“Come for me, Cherise,” he growls against my ear.

My orgasm shatters through me, his voice tipping me over the edge, letting me finally land in a sweet release. If he weren’t holding on to me, my legs would give out completely, and I would sink onto the floor. I cry out again and again; his harsh thrusts never cease while he wrings out every last drop of pleasure from my body. He sinks two fingers inside my wet cunt, his thumb resting on my clit, and an unforeseen second release rips out of me. I almost slam my head against the wall, the release too overwhelming, my hips grinding to meet every movement of his hips and fingers. Now, that was the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had in my life.

With a shout, warmth fills me as Nik finds his release and loads me with his spend. “Fuck, you drive me wild. You’re incredible, Cherise.” He pulls out of me and spins me around to face him; I stumble as I turn. I wrap my arms around him, and he lifts me into his arms. “You’re everything to me. Please don’t ever leave me,” I whisper against his shoulder.

He pulls me taut against him. “Never. You’re mine forever.”

My eyes quiver closed, and exhaustion overtakes me. Darkness claims me, and I fall fast asleep.