Chapter 5

LUNA

Blonde hair spread across my black sheets. Her cheeks flushed from sleep, and I watched her from my seat in my large, comfortable chair in the corner of the room. A sleep demon who didn't need rest. I could doze off, but I didn't require it. Instead, I watched the princess. The taste of her still lingered on my tongue. Fear was sweet, but the arousal-infused blood in her veins was intoxicating. That had shocked me. While I'd hardened as I got her off, I hadn't broken that barrier. Had I wanted to, yes, but I had another night to look forward to.

I'd ordered Gailie to take care of anything that needed done for the next week. Food and drink would be delivered for Ivory. My security had been warned no one was allowed on my floor until further notice. Ivory was simply mine until I grew bored. Yet I was also curious about what hold the female had on me.

It had hit me the second she'd stepped foot in my territory. Sex had never been part of my life, I'd never craved it. Sometimes I allowed myself to fuck one of my toys when the urge struck, but it wasn't a requirement. It was far too personal. Before Ivory I'd never even kissed. The need to torture and absorb the fear to keep me going was still there, but not with her. Not saying I didn't want to cause her pain. Yet I knew I could make her like it. She'd submitted to my marks so easily.

I sensed her indecision. The way she questioned the way she'd let go with me. The meltdown was coming, I knew it. Although, I was sure I could distract her. One night of not causing an entire city to sink into their greatest fears hadn't bothered me. The normal run-of-the-mill nightmares fed me as well, not as satisfying as normal, but that was fine, for now.

Unfolding myself from my chair, I crossed to the bed, and crawled onto the mattress to stretch out beside her. I used my left hand to slide the covers from her body. Earlier, I'd stood over her, memorized every inch of her rounded form. Her softness melded with my harder, more angular form. Bodies were just bodies to me, I didn't crave a type. I just wanted their terror.

With Ivory it was so different. I drew the tip of my index finger from her shoulder, along her soft arm, and then over the swell of her hip. Candlelight highlighted the dimples of her thigh. Her ass cheeks were lush and again had cellulite. Every dip screamed to me tasted with the tips of my tongue. The wound on her neck was healed and scarred, the bruises still lingered and would remain for several days.

Once I'd had my fill of my princess, I would be visiting her father as I wanted answers. They had sent a complete innocent to me with no doubts that I would kill her the moment she bored me. I respected my mother, grandmother, and every generation I'd grown up with, but love was something we hadn't understood. Offspring was about carrying on the line, nothing more, nothing less. My mother had simply kept me alive to take over, but once I was self-reliant I was on my own.

What did I know about caring for someone, especially a human?

"Mistress," Gailie whispered and I turned to find her hovering beside the bed, her tiny hands rubbing together.

"Did I tell you that you could enter my room?" I asked.

She audibly gulped. "The sun is about to rise, the club is cleared out. Would you like me to draw your curtains? Will I be preparing breakfast for your human?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Pull the curtains, and I'll call for you once she awakens to make her breakfast."

"I'll go out in the morning to shop. Will you find out her favorites so that I can get them for her?"

"She'll make a list."

Gailie's tiny eyes widened and a cloud of dust surrounded her. I understood her shock. She'd assumed like everyone else I'd do away with her before sunrise. I'd thought so myself.

"Do you, um, like your human?" she asked.

"So far. I want her all to myself for a few days. Security has already been informed. You'll be in charge of making sure she's fed and comfortable. You'll get her anything she asks for."

"Will she be allowed to leave?"

"Only with a security detail and you with her, but not for a while."

"Very well. I'll close the curtains and await your call."

I didn't have to answer. The curtains snapped closed, cutting off the waning of the full moon. Gailie relit candles, replacing the ones that had burned too low. I had plenty of light, but she knew I preferred to exist in the shadows. Leaving my home while the sun was up didn't happen often. Hell, I rarely ventured from my home at all. It took too much energy to conceal myself. The Hags before me had been different, outside of nightly visits they spent their time in their human forms. I despise humanity. Too many millennia we'd been hunted. Forced into the shadows. The newer generations didn't cower or hide from humans.

We knew we were the superior species, and refused to pretend we didn't exist for the comfort of mankind. My true form was where I was most comfortable. The fear it elicited. They tried to bribe us, like we were them. Not that there weren't some who thrived on greed and materialistic things, dragons and their hoards for example. Most of us were simple, we had our purpose, and as with any species, preternatural ones evolved–adapted to the new worlds and realms we lived in.

I rolled to my back, removed my pants and then my shirt, throwing the items over the side of the bed. Then I turned to cuddle up to Ivory's back. My cock notched in her crease. I hadn't stripped in front of her. Gailie was the only one who knew of me being Trans. What would Ivory think? She hadn't balked at me using my tail to fuck her. But that didn't mean her years of isolation hadn't been detrimental to her education about the world.

"Luna." She whispered my name in her sleep.

"Hello, princess, it's still late. Go back to sleep," I said as I brushed my lips to her shoulder.

Just because I didn't sleep regularly didn't mean I didn't like being lazy in bed. I was also enjoying my human's ample body against mine. The way her rounded stomach gave under the press of my hand–my fingers sinking into her flesh. I wondered if my mother had done this with the human she used to have me. She had never spoken about him.

Sometimes she'd wondered if his human genetics had tainted the bloodline, but I'd quickly dispelled her of those assumptions as I was more powerful than her or any who came before me. I silently ruled Paralese. Everyone answered to me, and the ones who dared question me didn't exist for long or wished they hadn't. No matter the species, everyone had to sleep, and I knew everyone's greatest fear.

I knew what the princess's was: She was scared of being alone and unwanted. Tame in comparison to some fears. Yet she'd spent so much time alone. Years of feeling like a burden to everyone, her father in particular. He'd proven his dislike for his only child by sending her to me. How much had he fought to save her? Did he even bother trying to suggest alternatives?

I sensed he had offered her up easily, and he'd pay for that. She was mine now; I'd protect her from any threat, even one as weak as her father.

I lowered my head on the pillow behind hers, inhaled the scent from her soft hair. Her skin felt chilled against mine, I pulled the covers up to keep her warm. There were so many plans to make. How was I going to take care of my human? I wanted to keep her, but what happened when she saw the monster who'd claimed her? Eventually, I'd expose what I was truly capable of. Until then I'd seduce her, maybe by then I could have my beautiful human obsessed with what I could do to her. Everything that I had to offer, there was nothing I'd deny her, well, almost nothing, my existence depended on the cruelty I wrought on all those around me.