Demon Bound (Bound Series, Book One) (7 page)

She sees Evan’s face close off.

“Very well,” he says in a monotone. “Just don’t come crying to me when you end up as a burnt out, insane whore, or worse dead, by
him
.” Evan storms off before she has even stamped the scroll, leaving the female soul behind to stare at Axelle in fear.

“Great,” she mutters as Evan doesn’t come back for his Reaped one. “What the hell am I supposed to do with you now?” she asks the soul.

All she gets back is more whimpering and it is getting on her last nerve. “A word of advice, dearie, you might want to grow a pair. The meek do not thrive down here,” she warns.

Axelle rolls her eyes as the soul outright weeps into her misty hands and she is just left to look at her. Will she just disappear if she closes the door on her? Axelle reaches up to slam it in the soul’s crying face, when Roberta bustles in behind Axelle with a loud tut.

“Who is responsible for… this?” she indicates in the general direction of the soul.

Axelle bites her lip. Evan will probably get into deep shit for abandoning his Reaped soul at Inbound. Why that bothers her, she has no idea, but she clamps her mouth shut, as Roberta scowls at her.

“You have loyalty to someone other than your master?” she sneers. “How well you deserve your new
trinket
.” Roberta snatches up the scroll before Axelle can shove it down the chute and she rakes her eyes over it. “Evan,” she growls.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” Axelle starts but then shuts it as Roberta glares at her and then her bangle. Axelle covers it up with her other hand.

“You should be careful, little girl,” Roberta says.

Axelle swallows, desperate to fix Roberta’s mood. It has gone really dark and Axelle does not want to piss her off, so she indicates to the soul. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Roberta accepts the change in topic with a small sniff. She leans past Axelle, crushing her between her enormous bosom and the wall, and reaches for the soul. “I’ll take her,” she says and whips her through the small opening with a step back. The soul lets out an “eek” and Roberta glares down at her. “By the Devil, will you shut the fuck up!” she shouts at her. “That noise is getting on my nerves.”

Axelle stifles her snort of amusement, as the soul lowers the volume on her whimpering a fraction.

Roberta’s eyes meet hers and she wipes the smile off her face. “Get back to work,” she snaps and then disappears with the soul.

Axelle looks around. There is no work to do, or she would. Man alive, but she was not made to sit around on her ass all day. She has always been where the action is, causing it even. This is…

This is her life now, she sighs heavily, and closes the door.

A few minutes after Axelle arrives back in her apartment later that day, there is a knock at the door. She frowns at it as she has never had a visitor before. Or at least not one who had the courtesy to knock.

It’s Evan.

She glares at him, blocking the doorway. “What do you want?” she asks rudely.

“To apologize,” he says quietly. “Let me in, please?” It was a plaintive plea and it causes her to take a step back and invite him in. He rushes inside and closes the door quickly. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I was out of order, but…”

“But, nothing, Evan,” Axelle says with her arms crossed.

“Do you know what that thing does?” he asks anxiously, so anxiously that Axelle unfolds her arms and twirls the bracelet around nervously.

“Yes,” she lies.

“Do you?” he demands. “It is going to hurt you, Axelle, you should never have…” he trails off looking forlorn.

“Look, I appreciate you looking out for me, but it’s not necessary,” Axelle says wondering what has his panties in a bunch. “I know what I am doing.”

“Fair enough,” Evan says, his mouth a tight, grim line. “I won’t stand in your way.” He turns to leave, but Axelle isn’t finished yet. She needs to know why he cares so much.

She steps around him and blocks his path to the door. “Why do you even care about me?” she asks with a tilt to her head.

He takes so long to answer her that she finds herself taking in every inch of his face and body. Now that he isn’t covered up in his Reaper cloak, she can see he has a hot body and he is really quite good looking. A shot of lust fires through her and she catches her breath. It has been so long since she had sex, well good sex, anyway. The weird, ritual kind with Luc doesn’t count.

She loses all of her defensiveness and gains a predatory air.

Evan looks up at her in surprise as he senses the shift in her manner and opens his mouth to say something to her, but she latches her mouth onto his and delves her tongue into his mouth.

Oh yes! It has been too long since she kissed a male, since she ripped his clothes off and used his body for her own pleasure. She needs this desperately now.

She walks him back to the bed, taking complete control over the situation and he lets her. His surprise at her arduous attack on him dissipates as she presses her body closer to him and his body responds with a painfully hard erection.

“Axelle,” he breathes as she pulls her mouth away from his to give him a wicked smile. He cups her face and turns them around so that he is now in control and the one to push her back to the bed so he can fall on top of her. She lets him take control, ecstatic that she hasn’t lost her touch to make male’s drool all over her when she wants them too. Luc, notwithstanding, of course.

Axelle can feel her arousal spiking and she is just about to reach for Evan’s zipper when she disappears from her apartment and finds herself standing in Luc’s stupid ritual bedroom with Stanford and a glowering ruler of hell glaring at her.

“What in the name of…” Axelle thunders at Luc, but he holds his hand up and her mouth slams shut of it’s own accord.

“I should ask you the same thing,” he thunders back at her, his rage at seeing his vessel about to be defiled by a disgusting, lowly Reaper bursting forth. His head is spinning; he cannot get the image out of his head of her projected onto his wall with her legs wrapped around that creature. She cannot under any circumstances be tainted by any anatomically correct male before she has been properly prepared… for him! And him alone, not that common minion.

“I was about to get laid and you whisked me away to yell at me!” Axelle shrieks so mad with him it momentarily escapes her notice that he was obviously watching her.

“You will not be tainted, do you hear me?” Luc bellows at her and she flinches at the sheer rage emanating from him. It is visible in the dimly lit room.

“Wait,” she says catching on. “You were watching me?” She steps back with her hand on her stomach, feeling slightly ill at the invasion of her privacy.

“You are my asset,” Luc says stiffly. “I have a lot invested in you.”

“Your
asset
?” Axelle repeats and quickly regains her composure. She needs her wits about her right now. She is about to take on the Devil in a seriously pissed off mood. “Well, you screwed me out of a potentially good fuck, you owe me.”

Luc’s eyes narrow to two thin slits, but she stands her ground. She was promised good sex tonight and she will get it.

“If you require your carnal needs to be met, my dear, Yasmine will be happy oblige you,” Luc says suddenly calm now that he has the situation under his control.

“Yasmine?” Axelle asks and then looks over to the chaise where twin number two is lounging, naked as usual, and waggles her fingers at her. Well, at least Axelle knows her name now. It really annoys her though that Luc thinks he can palm her off.

“Look, Luc, as much as I enjoy some girl-on-girl every now and again, let me make something very clear to you. I. Like. Cock. I like sucking it, I like my hands wrapped around it, and I like riding it. Got it? Either you take me to this bed yourself right now and show me that the fantasy that I have of your sexual prowess isn’t the lame intercourse we have engaged in previously, or you send me back to Evan to get the job done!”

In a flash Luc’s hand is around her throat and he is squeezing tightly. She can’t speak, she can’t breathe. He lifts her off the ground and the gagging noise she makes pleases him.

“You do not make demands on me, bitch,” he says to her deathly quiet. “You will do as I ask, or I will hand you over to Darius to be his sex slave for the rest of eternity. And believe me when I say that the rumors you have heard about his cock are all true.”

Luc is just blowing smoke up her ass, as Darius is--in spite of his hideously demonic form--an anatomically correct male. But it has the desired effect as Axelle blanches even further and the fear is showing in her eyes.

Axelle can smell her own terror at Luc’s threat. Yes, she has heard the rumors and while the “enormous” part of the story only excites her, the “spiked” part does not. He would rip her into shreds with just one thrust.

“What is it that you ask of me?” she chokes out eventually, knowing that she can’t win this. She is outmatched by the Prince of Darkness.

Luc loosens his grip on her and she drops heavily to her feet. “That you remain untainted by the male form,” he says mildly. “Take your pleasure from Yasmine, or do it yourself. I am not an unreasonable creature, Axelle. I, above all others, understand the need for sexual release.”

“But why?” Axelle asks quietly, her hand clutching at her bruised throat.

“One day you will see why I must protect you from the taint of others,” he says cryptically.
If you survive the next phase
, he adds to himself. “Now, go back to the Reaper and tell him to leave. I will be watching,” he warns her.

He flicks his hand at her and she reappears back in her apartment, to a fretful Evan pacing around in a circle, with only one of her shoes on. The other one must have fallen off as Luc was dangling her from his fist.

Evan looks relieved to see her. “Where did you go?” he asks her carefully. “The power to move yourself is…”

“Not mine,” Axelle says miffed that she doesn’t have that power yet. “Luc wanted me.”

“Luc?” Evan asks with a wrinkled brow.

“The Devil,” Axelle clarifies, folding her hands in front of her. This is not going to be easy.

“Oh,” Evan says flatly. “I see.”

He looks so heartbroken, it twists Axelle’s stomach. She doesn’t know why she cares that he is upset, or why he is upset in the first place. But, Luc gave her a job to do and she has to do it because she is sure that his threat is not a threat at all, but a promise instead.

“You and he…?” he stammers.

“Are an item,” Axelle finishes quickly wanting to rip the Band-Aid off. “He doesn’t like to share.” She cringes when she remembers that Luc is watching this and he is probably laughing at her lame excuse.

“Yes, I am aware of his possessive tendencies,” Evan remarks coldly to Axelle’s interest. How does he know about Luc’s possessive tendencies,
and
that he actually has them?

“So it begins,” he mutters and storms past her out of the apartment leaving her alone and feeling kinda guilty. Not to mention frustrated beyond belief. This evening had held promise, but now she is left to fend for herself. Not at all what she had in mind.

“Damn Devil,” she mutters, loud enough to be heard if he is still watching her.

That is confirmed when she hears a faint laugh coming from all around her and it freaks her out. He really can see her, all of the time, no matter what she is doing, he will always know. Dammit! Damn him to… fuck, there is nowhere to damn him to, the infuriating beast.

***

Luc is more than slightly amused by Axelle’s explanation to the Reaper. He wondered what she would say to get rid of him. He doesn’t mind being used as the excuse, at least Evan will know to stay away now. Luc watches her storm around the apartment, making deliberate movements and muttering to herself knowing that he is still watching her. He decides out of the blue to pay her a visit tomorrow and try to smooth things over. He was harsh with her this evening, but his anger was too close to the surface. No one has the right to touch her, only him, and even he has to wait until she is cleansed and prepared. He wishes he knew why he cares that she is upset with him. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t give a rat’s ass, but there is just something about her that has gotten under his skin, and it isn’t just the amazing strength she is showing him just by continuing to survive every passing hour as the binding ritual passes through her. He hasn’t been this enamored--no, he won’t use that word, “intrigued” is a word he is happy with--with a female since Jezebelle. Centuries have passed without him caring about the female’s he has bedded and it hits him as hard this time as it did that time.

He switches off the wall projection, giving her the privacy she has been muttering about even though he is desperate to keep watching her. He can wait until tomorrow. It is only a few more hours.

Just a few more hours.

***

Axelle wakes up in her bed, but still in her work clothes from yesterday. After Evan left and she cleaned this apartment from top to bottom to let off her frustration, she crawled onto the bed and she must have fallen asleep. She opens her eyes and she sees a manly leg covered in a navy blue pin stripe suit. She raises her eyes higher and sees Luc sitting on her bed watching her sleep with a smile on his face.

Great. Now he has taken to watching her from centimeters away. Man, that is so creepy.

“Good morning,” he says to her.

“Whatever,” Axelle mumbles. She has a splitting headache and it is just too bright in here. “Can’t you do something about the lights?”

Luc clicks his fingers and the light dims to almost darkness.

“Eh?” Axelle says sitting up and peering out of the window. Days and nights down here are a somewhat interesting concept. Time moves the same as on earth, but as there is no sun and no moon or stars, the days are just orange hazy skys which turn black when it is “night time”. Right now it is morning and it looks more like evening.

“It’s all just an illusion, dearie,” Luc says.

Axelle stares at him in awe. But of course he has the ability to control the illusion. He’s
the Devil
for fuck’s sake.

“Neat,” she says and then rolls over to ignore him. She is still annoyed with him for not only denying her needs, but also for humiliating her in front of a twin and an imp.

“You are upset with me,” Luc says. “I understand that. I am sorry for the way I acted last night.”

Axelle waits a beat as she is pretty sure she just made all of that up in her head. As she slowly turns her head to look at Luc, he is waiting expectantly for her to say something.

“The Devil knows how to apologize?” she scoffs and he narrows his eyes at her.

“Don’t get used to it,” he growls.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Axelle says breezily. “So why did you get so mad at me for doing something that I didn’t even know was wrong? It’s not like you have given me a sheet with the rules on it.”

“It’s complicated,” he says brushing it off.

“Then un-complicate it, Luc. What is going on with you, us?” she asks.

“I am not ready to share,” he says dismissively and stands up to turn his back to her. “Did you take matters into your own hands last night?” he asks with a wicked smile to himself. He will really regret not watching that if she had.

“No,” she says glumly. “There’s no fun in that.”

“I disagree,” he says seductively, giving her a raking once over, still clad in her crumpled work clothes.

“Oh?” she asks tartly. “You would get off on seeing me work myself up?”

“I certainly would,” he murmurs, his blue eyes hooding sexily as he continues to watch her movements.