Demon Bound (Bound Series, Book One) (5 page)

Axelle is about to make a snappy comeback, when Roberta stands up straight and goes an ugly, pasty color. Stepping back from Axelle, she vanishes as quickly as she arrived leaving Axelle puzzled. What was that?

***

“Stay away from her, do you understand me?” Luc roars at Roberta as she quivers in front of him.

“Yes, sir,” she says with her eyes lowered. “But she is not doing her job properly, she has messed up an entire day’s worth of assignments.”

“Bite your tongue,” he says to her and she takes him literally as he expected her to do and she bites her tongue in half. The tip flops to the floor and Luc stares at it for a moment before he bends down and throws it in the fire.

Roberta’s muffled cry of pain makes him relax slightly. He is wound so tight, he needs some enjoyment, but unfortunately Roberta is invaluable to him so he cannot destroy her. It would take a couple of centuries until someone is as experienced as she is, and he doesn’t have the patience to take on a trainee with no trainer to guide them.

“You get a pass,” he says formally, and snaps his fingers, giving her a new tongue.

“Thank you, sir,” she whispers.

“I will deal with Axelle, but you will not approach her in a threatening manner again,” Luc says with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Of course,” Roberta says and with a slight curtsey she disappears from his sight.

Luc sighs. He knew Axelle was a handful; it is one of the reasons why he chose her, but he cannot have her fucking with his figures. She is clearly in a temper about the way he has been treating her and it makes him smile. He is getting to her, and now he will see how far she will go to stay loyal to him.

He dispatches the twins off to sort out the mess in Assignments--Axelle’s actions will take hours to fix--and then he sits in a deep armchair in the corner of his bedroom to wait for Axelle. He is going to push her to a limit that she will be uncomfortable with tonight and he cannot wait for her reaction.

The magick book, placed on a pedestal in the corner of his dark bedroom, suddenly slams itself closed as if in protest. Luc frowns at it and then checks himself. This is going to be harder than he thought.

Having forgotten about Roberta and her hasty exit, Axelle heads for home with the rest of the underlings. The rest of her day had been a bit of a stinker with absolutely no souls being sent her way. She is fairly sure that Roberta re-directed her traffic out of revenge or something, and it worked. Axelle was so bored out of her mind she caught herself several times doodling Luc’s name on the pad in front of her. What is she? A teenager with a crush? Man alive, she needs to kick herself up the ass. Her feelings are so conflicted over that beast. On the one hand she is angry with him for treating her so strangely, but on the other hand he is the creator of her spirit and there will always be a loyalty to him that wants to crush the other side.

Arriving back at her apartment, Axelle has decided that if the dress is there, she is going to go and keep her anger in check. She learned a long time ago that you catch more flies with honey. Of course, once you have caught them,
then
you can pluck their wings off and burn them with a magnifying glass. She knows how to play this game so when she sees the dress in the closet, she puts it on and plasters a smile on her face.

When she arrives at Luc’s mansion several minutes later, she finds herself in the dining hall facing a suckling pig, complete with an apple in its mouth, for her to feast on. Her stomach rumbles as she takes in the delicious sight and without waiting for her host to join her, she tucks into the platefuls of food, savoring every bite, and gulping back the blood-wine.

When she is finally sated, she sits back in her chair and remembers where she is and that she is still alone. Luc didn’t join her tonight. Perhaps she wasn’t supposed to come? She just assumed that the dress was her invitation to turn up.

“This way, please,” a low, sickly voice says from behind her. She is getting really tired of creatures talking to the back of her head.

Axelle spins around in her chair ready with an acidic remark on her tongue, but pauses when sees an imp standing there. She stands up, towering over the small, pinky-colored creature and crosses her arms. “Where are you taking me?” she demands.

“To the master,” he replies and hops off towards that damn door on the far side, his little wings flapping as he goes.

“No,” she says standing her ground. “I want Luc to tell me what is going on.”

The imp turns around and regards her with his big, round eyes. “You follow me, or Darius will take you to the master.”

Axelle gulps as she follows the long, crooked finger of the imp to a dark corner and she sees the shadowy outline of a beast so tall and wide she can only assume he is of the Devil’s personal guard. She doesn’t fancy her chances with Darius so much--she’s heard the rumors, so she scampers off after the imp and through the door to the much-loathed bedroom.

Axelle finds it empty as she scans the dim room. She isn’t sure if she is relieved by that or not.

“Axelle,” Luc’s deep, husky voice says to her as he enters the bedroom, dressed in his robe this time and clearly naked and aroused underneath it.

He closes the door and she asks, “Where are the twins?”

“They are otherwise engaged,” he says meaningfully and lets his black silk robe fall to the floor.

“So it’s just you and me?” Axelle asks, her hope rising that she might end up with a night of debauched sin with him after all.

“And Stanford,” Luc says indicating the leering imp.

“Stanford?” Axelle asks weakly.

“It’s too late to choose Darius,” Stanford says with a lascivious smile on his wide mouth.

Oh shit! What has she just gotten herself into? Axelle is into fornicating any way it is usually offered, but with a dusky-pink imp?

Oh, hell no!

Those long, creepy fingers and floppy ears, not to mention the wide, grinning mouth and sharp teeth do nothing for her whatsoever.

“Luc,” Axelle says and she hears her desperation.

“He’s not going to touch you,” Luc says with a mocking laugh. “He is here merely as a witness.”

“A witness to what?” Axelle asks the relief flooding through her that she isn’t about to be imp-raped.

“The joining of our bodies,” Luc says as if it is obvious. “Get yourself ready.”

What? She is supposed to strip off and masturbate while an imp watches her?

“You do it,” she says with her hands on her hips. “If I am good enough to fuck, I am good enough to touch.”

“Do it!” Luc roars at her, his blue eyes turning black. “Or if you prefer Stanford to finger you, it can be arranged.”

The threat of imp fingers near her gets Axelle into motion. She strips off and climbs onto the bed. She parts her legs and feeling utterly humiliated she proceeds to try and bring herself to an orgasm while Stanford ogles her bare pussy with glee.

After a few moments, Axelle knows its not happening. For once in her life she just cannot do this while that creature is watching her so closely. It is extremely off-putting. “I can’t,” she stammers and lets her hands drop to her sides.

Luc tuts at her and shakes his head. “It will have to do, I have somewhere else I need to be.”

He lifts her legs up and rams into her hard, enjoying her squeak of pain. He gets on with business and as soon as it has started it has finished.

But this time something different happens. Instead of him leaving her to clean up, Stanford hands him a blade and he slices his hand open. He holds it up over her abdomen and squeezes, letting the little drops of black blood drip down onto her stomach to join his seed. He then wipes his hand over her stomach and grabs her left wrist in his tight grip.

She gasps as a feeling of a dark and immense power washes over her and she can’t help but look away from Luc’s eyes. They are engulfed with flames licking up out of his eye sockets, and from his head, two twisted horns have sprouted as long as her arms.

Axelle trembles in terror. She has never been afraid of anything in her life, but right now she is almost peeing herself with fear.

As Luc mutters words in an ancient language, she feels her wrist burn and she cries out with the pain and then it’s over. Luc returns to his smooth, human persona and he releases his grasp on her and she falls back to the bed whimpering. She brings her hand to her wrist to find that a solid bronze bracelet has formed and circles her wrist. She tries to claw it off, but there is no clasp, it is almost like it has been smelted on right around her wrist.

“Phase one is complete,” Luc says to her with a hint of pride.

She brings her eyes back to his blue ones. She wants to ask what phase two is and why she is wearing this bracelet, but she cannot speak. Her fear has left her completely shaken.

“Go now,” Luc says as he dons his robe again. “Stanford will see you out.”

Axelle nods dumbly and climbs off the bed, her hand still cradling her burning wrist. She looks around for her dress, but it is nowhere to be found.

“Follow me,” Stanford says and with a last lusty gaze at her body, he turns and hops off on his big, flat feet towards the door that leads to the dining hall.

“Wait,” Axelle calls out, finding her voice. “My dress.” There is no way she wants to leave here naked and covered in Luc’s bodily fluids.

“The dress is gone,” Stanford says idly.

“Then find me a robe or something to wear,” she snaps at him.

“It isn’t my master’s wish,” Stanford says, still hopping along even though she hasn’t taken a step.

Axelle realizes that she has to follow Stanford. She has no choice but to go and do her walk of shame. She hesitantly steps out of the room and the dining hall is empty, so she scampers after him, keeping her arms crossed across her breasts.

She makes it out to the hallway without incident, but then she is faced with the twins raking their gazes over her with looks that can only be described as jealousy and hatred.

Axelle relaxes instantly. She has no idea what the fuck has just happened to her over the last three nights, but it is most definitely something for these female’s to envy. That can only mean it is important.

“She survived,” Stanford states the obvious to the twins.

Axelle glares at him as she gets filled in on the potential danger of what just happened.

“It is the master’s wish that you cleanse her and send her home,” he continues, and then bounds off without a further word.

Axelle is led to an antechamber and straight into a deep, dark pool of brimstone. It covers her up to her neck and she gags on the smell of the sulfur. ‘Her’ twin dunks her under the surface and Axelle comes up spluttering and choking in another pool, this one made from fire. The flames lap at her skin, but she doesn’t burn or feel the heat.

Eventually she is kicked out of the fire pool, literally by ‘her’ twin’s Louboutin’d foot, and she lands back in her apartment naked, but clean.

“Hey!” she yells as she rubs her behind. “That was uncalled for!” Axelle rubs her burning wrist and tries once again to take off the bracelet. But as she spins it around and around, there is no clasp, no hinges, just a solid band of bronze that is loose enough to move but too tight to remove. Axelle tries her old trick and dislocates the thumb of her left hand to try and wriggle the bangle off, but even that doesn’t work. It is stuck fast and now she has a sore thumb to go with her burning arm.

“Great,” she mutters as she pops it back into place with a grimace. She pushes her hair out of her face and looks down at herself.

Still naked.

Axelle dives for the shower cubicle, needing to get the stench of sulfur out of her hair, and to wash away the hideous nature of the evening.

As Axelle climbs into bed that night, the pit of her stomach clenches tight and she stops denying the fact that somehow and for some reason, Luc has bonded her to him. She is a Demon Bound.

With a heavy sigh she closes her eyes and determines to fix this tomorrow. She will go to Luc and tell him he has made a mistake, that she isn’t the special creature he thinks she is. So she survived this sex-ritual, so what? She is a weak fool and doesn’t deserve this honor.

Yep, sounds good
. She practices this speech to herself as she drops off to sleep.

***

Luc once again watches his little demon bitch as she sleeps. This time he is doing it from the comfort of his sitting room. She is restless and probably already feeling the effects of phase two. He sits back on his black leather sofa and tilts his head up to better see the projection of Axelle on the wall in front of him. Her image is very clear, thanks to their special connection and he can enjoy watching her now at his convenience.

That essence of hers is something else altogether. He knew it all along, but he needed her to prove to him that she is worthy, and the punishment he doled out to her in the process was worth every second of her discomfort. She is a willful creature and she needs to be reminded who owns her. Her face, as Stanford watched her masturbating, was a picture of anger and humiliation. The best kind. It had aroused him far more than he wanted it to and only the unsavory mental picture of Stanford finger-fucking her had caused him to regain his focus on the task at hand.

Luc thinks back to the pain he had felt of her escape as she struggled and clawed to get away from him the second time, but he let her go, knowing that if she made it back to earth, she was worth another look and that she was potentially the one for this lifetime.

And she did.

He found great joy in returning her to his domain and locking her up in solitary confinement for seven months. Her torment was pure pleasure for him and he reveled in every second of her frustration, waiting to see if she would break. But once again she defied the odds he set against her and she seemed to thrive instead of wither.

He knew then it was the time to officially choose her and to truly test her.

“My liege,” Vaska, his current fling, calls to him. “Come back to bed.”

He ignores her. He has no desire to be with her at this time. He wants to watch Axelle, to see if she survives the night.

She is tossing and turning, flinging her arms up over her head. She is sweating profusely; he can see the beads of sweat on her forehead as he zooms in his projection of her. Her face is scrunched up as she discards the sheets in her fever, only to drag them back up over herself as the chills start.

He is somewhat amused to see her suffering. It almost makes him want to go to her and increase her discomfort just to see if she can take it, but he cannot mess with her now. She is too precious to him.

Vaska calls out to him again and he frowns at the interruption.

“This big bed is so empty,” Vaska drawls as she saunters into his living area, completely naked and smelling like a bitch on heat.

Luc rakes his gaze over her ebony skin, but he finds that it now does nothing for him. He is over her after two days.

She sees the blank stare and she knows her end has arrived.

“My lord,” she says holding up her hands. “We’re good together, don’t do this.”

He has no more words for her. She was a good enough fuck while it lasted, but now he has more important concerns: Axelle is starting to tremble violently and it appears she is going the same way as the last one.