Carnal (Her Dark Desires #1) (25 page)

I
had just enough time to draw breath, Agent Harris shouting commands in my ear
to the people around her, as Mia shape-shifted into Damien and stalked forward.
For a split second, my limbs were paralyzed by fear. Then Hector screamed my
name, and I snapped out of my stupor. Reaching at my belt, I pulled the
enchanted knife and plunged it into the earth. A pentagram of light lit up
around us, blasting a wall of pure white energy all the way up to the sky.

Damien
drew up short, his face taking on his more demonic qualities as he snarled at
the magic. About the same time, I twisted the knife, activating the containment
spell. The crystal dome of light went over us in an instant, trapping Damien in
a second circle surrounding the pentagram.

Shouts
rang up from the distance as my teammates closed in. I saw Yasmine and Angela
running toward us, led by Hector, his eyes glued to mine.

I
couldn’t take my gaze away from him. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have been
distracted when Damien laughed and stepped inside my Circle of Safety.

I
saw Hector’s mouth move, calling my name, but only after Damien’s arms had
seized me did I realize the horrible truth of what was happening.

The
spell had backfired. That, or it had had no effect to begin with. Lightning
bolts of White Magic electrocuted Damien, but he only twitched, like it merely
tickled. He pulled the knife from the ground and held it to my throat, tucking
me in to him. “Did you think you could trick me?” he said. “I am as old as
time. And I’ve never lost a soul once I’ve marked them.”

Horror
made my blood turn to ice. The air crystalized around us as frost formed on the
ground, radiating out from Damien in large gales that ripped through the
courtyard and threatened to level everything around us.

I’ll
never forget the look of terror on Hector’s face as he stared at us, nor
Damien’s next words as he looked back at Hector.

“I
win,” he said, smiling.

I
felt the air suddenly turn scalding hot as shadows writhed around us. My eyes
briefly met Hector’s, his arm outstretched as if to grab me, so damnably close
I could have touched him had he been about five feet closer.

Then
the world was swallowed up by shadows, and I plummeted with Damien into
darkness, the sound of Hector screaming my name echoing in the abyss as we
fell.

Chapter 19

THE
FIRST THING I realized when I woke up was that it was cold. Like,
cold
,
cold, as in dropped-in-the-middle-of-a-frozen-lake kind of cold. And that’s
about what I felt like - frozen. I couldn’t move because I’d lost sensation in
my limbs, which were stiff anyway from lying there so long.

The
second thing I became aware of was that my mouth was full of dirt. I was lying
facedown on the frigid earth, with this creepy white mist floating just above
the ground. It swirled with a life of its own, moved by a wind I didn’t feel.
Then again, I couldn’t feel much of anything.

My
ears were ringing, and my face tingled like mad, like I had a serious case of
windburn. Eyes watering, I tried getting a bearing of my surroundings, but hell
if I knew where I was.

All
I saw were dark skies and a desolate wasteland of sharp rock formations and
mist. It was the loneliest place I’d ever been.

Reaching
up, I tapped my ear, finding my wire must have gotten fried during the descent.
I was completely on my own, as Harris had warned.

Footsteps
approached. I tried craning my neck around to see who it was, but even that
small movement hurt too much.

Something
picked me up by the hair, yanking me upward. I let out a cry and tried clawing
at my assailant, but it was no use. My arms felt like limp noodles for all the
good they did me.

“I
told you I would get you one way or another, Sally,” a deep, rumbling voice
said.

When
the blur in front of me focused, I lost my breath to terror. Crimson eyes,
long, sharp teeth, a sinewy body like a reptile’s, and enormous bat-like wings.
The memory of what had just happened, of the failed Circle, came rushing back
to my groggy brain. “Damien,” I hissed.
This must be his true form.

He
chuckled and smiled. With his teeth, he looked like the Big Bad Wolf.
All
the better to eat you with, my dear…

“How
do you like my home?” he said, gesturing to the wasteland behind him. “I’ve
been redecorating, as you see. I can’t wait to add you, the centerpiece, to my
collection.”

It
took a moment to follow him, but boy, when I did, I wished I never had.

A
tree stood before me, or at least, I thought it was a tree at first. It had the
outline of one, with branches that clawed at the sky. That’s when I squinted
and realized the branches weren’t really branches but arms and hands, stretched
out as if the petrified people were seeking assistance from above and finding
no mercy. Bodies were twisted around one another to form the trunk, all the
same ashen color.

It
was the tree from my dream.

“What
did you do?” I whispered, horrified.

“Well,
once you harvest the soul, you see, you have to do something with the shell.”
He said this as matter-of-fact as if he’d been giving a science lesson.

“Where
did their souls go?” I dared ask.

I
wished I hadn’t.
Me and my big mouth.

Damien
trailed a talon along my chin. “I devour them. They become a part of me,
sustaining me, as you soon will. But don’t worry. I will make it pleasurable.”

It
dawned on me that’s why I’d felt like I was orgasming the last time he
attempted to drain me of my soul, back in the bunker. I wanted to hurl, but I
couldn’t seem to do that either.

“Why
me? Are all your victims students?”

He
laughed. “No, sweet Sally. I was at the school because I was trying to get
closer to my charming father so I could at last get my revenge for him summoning
me from my natural world and leaving me damned to walk both planes, belonging
in neither, for all eternity. But now he’s a bit out of my reach. I could
retrieve him, of course, but it wouldn’t be worth the headache. A lifetime of
imprisonment for tying me to your pathetic human plane is punishment enough for
me. As for my victims…” He trailed a claw down my arm, drawing a bloody
rivulet. “Loneliness and desperation are my drugs. Every one of my victims had
those qualities. The fact inhabiting their bodies granted me entrance past
Elysian’s charms and wards was an added bonus.”

It
was hard imagining someone like Delilah as desperate and lonely. She was
practically a living mattress, never seeming to struggle for companionship.

“Besides,”
Damien said. “Killing them was like sport to me.” He smiled. “But you,
especially, were enticing. You had my two favorite qualities in droves. So
desperate for approval, to be wanted by someone. The taste of your loneliness was
exquisite because it was laced with innocence. The fact you were a succubus
made you all the more attractive, like a walking contradiction. It’s what
attracted me to you.”

“I’m
not that girl anymore.”

He
chuckled. “You may have buried those traits, but they are still there, angel.
No one can change overnight.”

“Why
didn’t you just take me the night you fought off that vampire? Or in the
bunker?” I asked.

He
grinned, flashing his very sharp teeth. “I told you, I’m like a dog with a
bone. I enjoy the chase as much as the kill.”

I
cringed, reminded of the predator he really was.

“As
for the bunker,” he went on, sounding bored, “I could sense my father coming,
and didn’t want him to suspect it was me. Assassinations are so much trickier
without the element of surprise.”

Damien
lowered me to the ground, hovering over me like a dark angel. He caressed my
face. “Are you ready to finally accept your fate and be mine, Sally?”

I
mustered up enough breath to spit, “No,” at him, looking him defiantly in the
eyes.

Sharp
pain lit up my cheek, followed by something warm drizzling down the side of my
face.

“Doesn’t
matter,” Damien purred. “Your compliance is not needed.”

I
couldn’t describe what exactly he did next. It was like he was suctioning my
soul out of me, pulling and tugging me apart while I was powerless to stop it.

They
say your life flashes before your eyes as you die, but I only saw one face.

Hector
.

And
I wanted so desperately to stay, to see him again, that I would have done
anything to fight my fate.

The
pulling sensation gradually ebbed, and Damien tensed. “What is this?” he
snarled. “How are you resisting me?”

Hell
if I knew. All I knew was that with Hector filling my mind, my heart, I felt no
fear of this place. Or of Damien. I laughed. “Is that what I was afraid of?” I
rasped. “A wimpy demon who’s down on his game?”

Damien
roared with fury, backhanding me so hard I was sure he’d broke my jaw. He
stood, towering over me, those red eyes burning against the darkness. “No
matter. Others have resisted. And they too fell eventually. You will be no
different.”

“Don’t
count on it, buddy.”

Damien
grinned. “All you need is a little… persuasion.”

The
world shifted beneath me, and I cried out as my mind was assaulted, like
thousands of needles were being inserted into my brain. I clenched my eyes
shut, trying to block out the pain, when it abruptly stopped, and I opened my
eyes.

And
gasped.

I
STOOD IN FRONT of a sleek black desk, so shiny it might as well have been a
mirror. And that’s exactly what the handsome man sitting behind it was using it
as.

He
didn’t even look up after I’d walked in, too concerned with adjusting his
hairstyle to notice me. I shifted my weight, wondering if I’d been wrong in
thinking he’d like the makeup I’d taken extra care in applying this morning, or
the beautiful curls that had taken half an hour alone to style. My new outfit
didn’t seem to draw his attention, either, though I’d been so sure it would,
considering it was the type of clothing girls he was into wore.

Maybe
I’m just not his type
, I thought to myself.
Eric Walters is on a totally
different playing field. What chance did I think I had with-

He
looked up - and his jaw dropped.

I
froze, suddenly aware of how much of my curves the tight dress revealed. “Um,
I,” I blubbered, backing away toward the door, “I’m just, uh, dropping off the
report you, er, requested.”

I
could have crawled in a hole and died.
Smooth, Sally
, said a snide voice in
my head.

Eric
stood and gave me a hundred-watt smile. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.”

Yes,
you have
, I thought.
I get your coffee every day, and you never spare me
a second glance.

But
none of that mattered now that he was paying attention to me. I smiled
brightly. “Sally.”

He
smiled and shook my hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Sally. What happened to that
frumpy girl? I don’t remember firing her.”

My
smile stiffened. Admit the truth? I think not. “She, um, quit.”

“Oh,”
was all he said, and that saddened me. Was I really that forgettable?

Not
according to the suggestive trace of Eric’s fingers down my arm. “I’m sure
we’ll get along quite nicely.”

The
memory blurred, rushing forward through time in a swirl of color and light that
left me nauseous by the time I was deposited in the next memory. Or more like,
a series of memories. They followed one right after another; me making out with
Eric, me losing my virginity to him, my desperation at noticing he was growing
bored with me and was starting to look elsewhere.

My
stomach twisted with dread as I recognized the memory the demon had summoned.

No
,
I thought,
no, anything but this. Not this nightmare again.

I
might as well have been screaming into the wind. I was forced to watch my most
humiliating memory, from the time I entered Eric’s office, to when I started
what I thought wasn’t a bad striptease.

“Look
at the camera, you idiot!” I screamed at myself. “He’s going to ruin you!”

But
that naive girl kept dancing, kept thinking she was charming her way back into
the heart of a man who didn’t have one to begin with. Only when I had crawled
in front of him, on my hands and knees, and had blown him did he kiss me once
and dismiss me, telling me he was busy with a smile. If I’d been paying
attention, I’d have noticed the hint of frost to his gaze. I’d have noticed
when he’d turned me away a little too soon. But no, I didn’t even know
something was amiss until I saw the video the next morning, sent out in an
email to all the office staff.