Page 3 of Demonic Division (The Sundering Duet #1)

3

Dagny

Sitting at the foot of my bed is a demon. A real demon. Not a story told at bedtime, but teeth and flesh and blood and bone and…

Why does it look so happy to see me?

“Are you going to eat me?” My voice is barely above a whisper, and for a moment, I wonder if it can even hear me.

Boisterous laughter is my answer.

“You’re adorable,” it says, voice low and gravelly. “I forgot how fun humans are when frightened.” Suddenly, its laughter ceases, and its open expression is replaced with a serious one. It leans forward, surveying me with heated yellow eyes, and I watch in horror as its nostrils flare, scenting my fear. “I haven’t eaten your kind in eons. But I could make an exception for one so lovely…”

My eyes widen in horror, only for them to narrow when the demon breaks into another round of laughter. “I’m glad to know my fear amuses you,” I grumble.

“I’m just having a little fun. Though it’s for pleasure, not amusement.” He leans forward again, gnashing its pointed teeth together. “Your soul smells delicious. I may actually have to have a taste.” The demon lets out a low, sinful growl at my quick inhale.

“It would only hurt for a moment,” he murmurs, burning yellow eyes tracing the gentle curve of my lips. “I’m told demon venom is one of the most euphoric substances. You wouldn’t even realize it’s too late until you were all but digested.”

If you can fear, you can also be brave.

The words of my mother enter my mind as the demon inches forward. I force myself to stay put, scrutinizing the strange being on my mattress despite everything telling me to run and hide. He’s larger than any human man I’ve seen, with a chest the size of a whiskey barrel and long, powerful arms covered in corded muscle. Thin silver armor covers his figure, ending at the wrists and stretching up to his jaw, clinging to his body like a second skin. The material shimmers silver in the moonlight, contrasting beautifully with the dancing, swirling yellow runes that cover the fabric and pulse to the beat of his heart.

Where snapping, snarling teeth should be, full pink lips pull back to reveal a welcoming smile. The cruel, pitch-black orbs I was told of are replaced with shining yellow irises. Like his jaw, his brow is wide and strong, and it arches down to a slightly crooked nose where two endless dark slits should be. There is no greasy, thinning hair like the stories—instead, his head is covered with gleaming blond hair, cropped to just above his pointed ears. In fact, the only attribute from the tales that seems to be true are the two thick golden horns growing from his head. He’s nothing like the creatures I’ve heard about in the bedtime stories. He’s not terrifying.

He’s… beautiful.

I reach a hand out, an invisible string pulling my hand toward his face. I want to touch him, to see that he’s real. To lick and taste and fuck ?—

I pull back with a jolt. What the hell was that?

The demon’s smile widens into something predatory, its nostrils flaring slightly as it takes a deep inhale. I’m about to ask what it’s doing when its pupils blow, enveloping the warm yellow in an instant and turning its eyes black.

“ Mine. ” The voice that enters my bedroom is not human, and it sends a jolt of terror down my spine. I go to move back when its hand snaps out, gripping the back of my neck. Its fingers curl around my windpipe, and it pulls me to its face, stopping when our lips are a breath away. “ Mine, ” it repeats. “My—” Its voice cuts off as it releases me, shoving me back with such force I nearly smack my skull against the headboard. It blinks once, twice, and the yellow is back.

We sit in silence for several moments, staring at each other in shock and horror. On impulse, I scooch farther back on the bed, and the demon laughs, its face carefree as if its earlier slip never happened.

“Your fear really is one of a kind,” it says. “The scent will have to be enough—since you’re so opposed to letting me taste.” At the last word, its pupils dilate, and its smile morphs into something predatory. “For now, that is.”

Try never.

The demon bursts into laughter as if it can hear my thoughts. I narrow my eyes suspiciously.

You smell like dirty demon dick.

“Aw, well, that’s not very nice,” it whines, that smirk still playing at its mouth. “Not to mention untrue. I’ll have you know I take two baths a day and shine my horns.”

Holy shit. It can read my mind .

“It can,” the demon replies.

My mouth pops open as I stand there, unable to do anything but stare at that insipid smirk.

This is so fucked up.

“Right again,” it says. “My personal favorite was when you were saying how you wanted to touch me. To lick. To fu ?—”

“That’s enough!” I yell, clapping my hands over my ears. “Get out of my fucking head, you creep! Those were private thoughts!”

Its voice lowers to a rasp. “Nothing is private when you’re in the presence of a demon. I know all your secrets, your deepest regrets and fears. I know where you want to be touched and how you like to be fucked. I know all your desires, big and small. But most importantly, I know that you’re not really scared of me. Not even a little.”

It crawls forward on the mattress, placing an arm on either side of my legs, trapping me in its cage. My heart races as it leans in, stopping when its lips are a breath away from my ear. I’m buzzing with energy, with a need, a desire I’ve never held for any man in my life. I’m riding high—higher than any drug I’ve tried—but it all comes crashing down when it speaks. Its voice is barely a whisper, a secret and a truth woven together on the tip of its sinful tongue, but it’s enough to remind me of the terrifying creature before me.

“I know you’re not scared of me,” he whispers, tone a sinister warning. “But you should be .”

In an instant, its face morphs into the terrible creature I saw in the woods. Canines elongate, piercing the skin of his lower lip as shadows swarm his eyes, consuming the yellow pools until no color is left. The horns sweeping back from his hairline lengthen, pulsing with the same molten hue as the runes on his forearms. His claws extend, the pointed tips pushing from his skin and deep into the padding of the mattress. But strangest of all is the pair of wings materializing just over his shoulders, seeming to manifest from the shadows themselves. The outline dances and swirls in the air before condensing into two bat-like wings, pumping the air gently and blowing a gust of wind across my cheekbones.

At that moment, I’m finally able to understand its earlier words. Because when I lay eyes on the horrifying thing in my bedroom, I know for a fact that I am truly, utterly scared of it.

That’s much better.

I nearly scream when the demonic voice sounds in my mind. It’s similar to its human tone but darker. Distorted. Evil.

“W-what are you talking about?” I ask, my voice cracking heavily. “Better?”

Instead of answering, the demon stares at me, its face set in shock. You can hear me?

“Of course I can. You’re literally yelling into my brain with your creepy demon voice,” I say, my voice coming out a breathy whisper.

It shakes its head, blinking rapidly. You should not be able to hear my thoughts. The fact that you can…

Its eyes widen. In a flash, it transforms back into its human form, his glowing yellow irises the last to change back. Before I can react, he lunges forward, gripping my shoulders in his calloused palms and shaking me.

“Where is Bo?”

“Who?”

“The bunny—where is the fucking bunny?”

My mind reels for a moment. Bunny? What bun—oh !

I open my mouth to explain, but before I can get a single word out, the door to the bathroom bursts open, smacking against the drywall with a massive crash. A large, dark mass spills into the bedroom so quick and with such force that it slams into the opposite wall. Flecks of paint and drywall explode into the air from the impact, creating a thick cloud of dust that makes it impossible to discern what it is . That is, until a familiar scream pierces the air, high-pitched and childlike and oh, so horrifying.

The bunny.

“What… what the fuck is wrong with it?” I rasp, unable to take my eyes off the swirling form. The dust settles, allowing me to see parts that I hadn’t noticed before. Broad, sloping shoulders covered with matted fur lead to impossibly muscle-bound arms. Its hands are long, and clawed, the joints gnarled and causing the fingers to splay in unnatural angles. Thick shadows swirl around its feet and lower limbs, obscuring them from view, but I have every indication to believe they're just as deadly looking as the rest of it.

I hold back a yelp as it steps toward me, my night-light bathing the right half of its head in yellow light. A demonic rabbit face the size of a fully grown man’s stares back at me, its mouth open wide to display each one of its razor-sharp teeth. It gnashes its jaws as it slowly steps toward me. All the while, that eerie wailing pierces the air.

Panic seizes my chest as I scramble backward off the bed, landing with a painful thump onto the floor. At the sound, the creature quiets, but only for a moment. Those beady eyes pin me to the ground as it tilts its head, a low whine replacing the horrible shrieking noise from earlier.

“Demon guy? Can you please do something ?”

He doesn’t respond, but the demon’s footsteps draw nearer to me. He stops at my side, remaining silent for several moments. I keep my eyes on the bunny—Bo—too scared to look away, too panicked to ask the demon why he’s being so damn unhelpful. But when he reaches for the hem of my pajama shirt, I break.

“What are you doing?” I demand, swinging a glare over my shoulder. “ This is not helping ? — ”

Bo’s shrill wail cuts me off, and I swing my gaze back that way, only to find the demonic creature hovering less than a foot from my face. A choked noise escapes my throat as it leans in, giving my face a thorough sniff. And all the while, that good-for-nothing demon stands and watches.

After a couple more sniffs, the rabbit lowers to the floor, a low purring sound rumbling from its lipless mouth. The shadows around its legs evaporate as the edges of the creature begin to shrink and fall away. The change happens in just a few moments, and when it’s over, I’m staring wide-eyed at the little yellow bunny I saved in the forest.

The wounds that once marred its sides are healed, and his yellow fur shines with such luster, it’s practically golden. The little bun raises his head, staring with kind black eyes as his nose twitches happily. He hops into my lap, nestling into the crease between my thighs as the purring noise intensifies. And all the while, a comfortable warmth builds at the base of my stomach. I turn my gaze toward the demon, my gut churning at the horrified expression twisting his handsome face.

“What the fuck have you done?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything!” I close my eyes as panic squeezes my windpipe. “I didn’t… all I did was save a helpless little animal! There’s nothing wrong with that?—”

“ Everything is wrong with that!” the demon explodes. He slams his fist against the wall, ripping through the drywall like tissue paper as his features flicker between demon and man. “This shouldn’t be possible ! None of this should be happening. You’re just a…” His gaze cuts to mine, burning me up from the inside. “What are you?”

I sputter. “I’m a person?—”

My voice is cut off as the demon lunges forward, gripping my forearm and hauling me to my feet. I clutch the rabbit in my free arm, careful not to squish it despite the knowledge of what it really is. “What are you doing? Let go of me!”

“We have to go,” he murmurs, his brow set in stone as he hauls me to the door. “I have to fix this.”

“Fix what? ” I dig my heels into the floor to no avail and end up stumbling to keep up with his massive strides. “Where are you taking me?”

“Home.” He stops when we’re in front of my door, wrapping his clawed fingers around the handle and twisting. Like a strong gust of wind is pushing against the other side, the door seems to fly open on its own. And instead of the darkened hallway I expect, there’s nothing. No light, no spiderwebs, no apartment building—just an endless void of swirling darkness, sucking the air from the room.

“What’s happening? What are you?—”

I never get to finish my sentence. Halfway through the last word, the demon places his hand on the small of my back, fingers curling into my thin pajama top lovingly. It’s so gentle and so sincere that it causes me to forget myself, to forget the evil creature standing at my side.

And then, he pushes me into the void.

Darkness overwhelms me, dulling my senses until the only thing I’m aware of is the pressure building in my head. My ears pop as the shadows reach beneath my skin, probing and tugging and clawing at something just below the surface. And then, it all just stops.

The next thing I know, I’m kneeling, one hand clutching Bo to my chest while the other presses into the ground. My breath comes hard and fast, creating a thick cloud of vapor as it clashes with the air. Fire burns beneath my palm, turning the skin raw and pink—but it’s not from heat.

Flecks of snow gather at the tips of my dark lashes as I raise my head, taking in my new surroundings. A frozen wasteland stares back at me, the light from the silver sun bouncing off the snow like millions of shimmering diamonds. The rounded dunes of snow are desertlike, covering the land as far as the eye can see, but the chilly air cutting my skin is the opposite.

Bo wriggles from my grip, hopping toward the demon, but I hardly notice. I fold my arms around my middle as my teeth begin to chatter, tearing my gaze from the landscape and refocusing on the sadistic, yellow-eyed demon who dragged me here. I try to open my mouth to speak—to ask where the hell he’s taken me—but I can’t seem to part my lips. My entire face has gone numb, the muscles frozen in place and unable to bend to my wishes.

The demon tilts his head, studying me. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you quivering?”

Instead of answering, I clutch my arms tighter around my middle as the snow and sleet pelt my exposed limbs.

The demon blinks and steps toward me, his eyes wide in alarm. “ Hey! What’s going on? What’s wrong with your face?”

I try to shrug but realize I don’t have the energy and flop down to the ground. My lids grow heavier by the second, and soon, a comfortable warmth replaces the ice licking my skin .

“Mmm. Much better,” I whisper, allowing my eyes to close fully. Each breath is shallower than the last, and though something in the back of my mind screams, ordering me to remain awake—I simply cannot. I’m so tired, so warm and comfortable, and I know if I surrender, I’ll be blessed with a loving embrace.

I’ll just take a little nap. Just to recharge, and then I’ll get back up. It’ll only be for a minute, maybe five. And then…

“ Dagny! Wake up, Dagny!”