Page 4 of Drawn to the Demon Duke (Sombra Demons)

HE’S BACK (AND HE brOUGHT A FRIEND)

SUSANNA

I grabbed my broom, but I also made another pitstop to my bedroom.

Grabbing my Walkman, I popped my Bon Jovi cassette into the player, then slipped the headphones on over my ears.

I used the clip to attach the player to the waistband of my leggings, tucking the headphone’s wires under it so that it didn’t get snagged on anything as I made my way back to the living room.

I’ve listened to this tape a hundred times. Practiced fingers worked the rewind button, followed by the fast forward when I went too far back, going until I cued up ‘Runaway’.

Only once the familiar sounds of David Bryan’s keyboard playing came in through the foam protectors did I grip the broom properly, ready to sweep up the salt circle and chalk sigil.

And I was about to. Really. But I’ve been a Bon Jovi fan from before they blew up with their ‘Slippery When Wet’ album, and despite Mindy’s jab earlier, ‘Runaway’ is one of my fave songs.

Jon Bon Jovi’s vocals are killer on this track, and a lot of people don’t know this, but Richie Sambora wasn’t the lead guitarist for the band then.

It was a studio musician who wailed on the guitar, making one rad song.

Is that why, instead of sweeping up the mess, I switch my hold on the broom and pretend it’s a guitar in the privacy of my living room? Maybe, but that doesn’t stop me.

I wish I’d gone to that concert with Mindy.

I’d been psyched when she said Dan managed to score four tickets to the gig, especially since I’ve always had a thing for a guy with long, pale hair.

Whether that’s David Bowie, his tight-pants-wearing alter ego in Labyrinth , or Sebastian Bach, the lead singer of Skid Row, I jumped at the chance to go see him and Jon Bon Jovi on stage.

I looked forward to going… but then Dan mentioned that the fourth ticket was for Jeff.

Jeff McNally is a classically handsome dude in his early thirties, with a perfect smile, short blond hair, and a way-too-preppy-for-me style.

When he looks at me, he sees an innocent girl he can mold into a wife and mother, just like Mindy.

Barf.

I want love. True love. And maybe it hasn’t happened for me yet.

With the spell a big ol’ bust, it might not.

I mean, I dragged a… I don’t know what he was, though I’m pretty sure I was right and he was a demon so let’s go with that…

I dragged a demon through a portal because a magic spell said we were meant to be, only for him to poof . Disappear.

And, no, I’m not distracting myself with belting out the lyrics to ‘Runaway’ because I want to just forget that, after twelve years, I finally cast a spell in my grimoire only for it to fail spectacularly.

I don’t know why I’m so bummed. I’m used to rejection. My whole life, I’ve been compared to Mindy. My pretty, perfect sister who I love dearly, don’t get me wrong… but she’s who everyone wanted me to be.

Jeff, especially.

Dan’s co-worker has spent the last six months trying everything he could to get me to go out with him, and as soon as I knew Dan invited him to the concert, I asked Lissy if she wanted to grab a bite to eat with me after work that night so I could come up with an excuse to pass my ticket onto someone else.

Settle for Jeff McNally when I grew up on Judy Blume and Francine Pascal, and now that I’m in my late twenties, I still adore recent films like Princess Bride and Labyrinth and Legend, each one with a male lead who will do anything for the woman they love?

No way.

See, I’m a romantic. If he was my true love, that strange dude with the glowing eyes and white hair—again with the long, pale hair—was a little bit shocking, but I could make it work.

There might have to be a little step stool action so that I could reach his face, and as a virgin, I’d hate to think about how big his junk is if he’s proportional…

and that’s assuming he’s got a dick under his tight pants because, unlike Jareth, I didn’t notice a bulge there.

Then again, I was kind of taken aback by the whole tusks and horns and claw-thing he had going on.

He might’ve had a bulge that the dark pants hid.

Pity I didn’t get to stare long enough to notice before he got one peek at me, probably thought I looked just as strange to him as he did me, then decided… true love? Nah.

It’s okay. That’s what I tell myself. Having to introduce that giant demon to Mindy as my new boyfriend? While her expression would’ve been worth grabbing my Polaroid camera, maybe it’s for the best that my fantasy adventure started and ended with a spell gone wrong.

For now, I throw myself into enjoying the song through the guitar break near the end, dancing around the room in my sneakers. Once Jon starts up with the last couple of lines, I swivel, moving the broom, about to finally get down to some cleaning at last.

At least, that was the plan.

The whole two or three minutes I was playing around, pretending I was in the band, I kept the mess behind me. As I turn, I see the salt circle and the pentacle drawn in yellow chalk—and two demons.

This time, there’s no denying that that’s what I’m looking at.

Definitely demons, and the one in the front is the giant from before.

Hovering just behind him, as though it— he —is made of black smoke or spilled ink or, I don’t know, shadows or something…

there’s a shape similar to the white-skinned demon, with matching horns and long, flowing hair that shifts softly though there isn’t any breeze in my house.

His eyes are glowing, too, even if they’re purple instead of blue.

Oh, and he has a length of friggin’ chains stretched out between his black hands.

I sure as heck can’t miss those. Gold and shining, they glow nearly as bright as the demons unblinking stares.

The broom falls from my hand, clattering against the hardwood floor.

My heart beating like a drum, louder and faster than the rock music pumping through the headphones.

I snatch them, yanking them off my ears.

“ She’s a little runa ? — ”

The headphones off, I fumble with the wire, shoving it away from me so that I can hear myself think. I shove so hard, the Walkman falls off of my waist. That hits the floor harder than the broom, and I wince. It cost almost two paychecks to buy the cassette player. I hope it didn’t break.

Break, Su? You have two demons in your house—and chains, can’t forget the chains I’m gawking at—and you’re worried about your Walkman?

I hold up my hands, warding them off. “Okay. Um. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I didn’t read the spell again. Message received, you know? You don’t want to be my true love, and… and…” Crud. “You have no idea what I’m saying.”

Of course not. I’m not so arrogant as to believe that a demon from another world—if that’s indeed where the portal leads—would know English just because it seems to be that case in every fantasy movie I’ve ever seen.

If I had to spend twelve years working toward translating the grimoire…

the same grimoire that brought these demons here…

then that’s gotta be the language that speak.

In fact, once the big, white demon starts rumbling something to the slightly less huge demon with the chains, I’m pretty sure that he’s speaking in the same language the spellbook is written in.

Like with the grimoire, I understand a word here or there. I’m certainly not fluent. I can read it better than I’ll ever be able to translate it from the source, and that’s with about six different language dictionaries in my hand.

So do I know what they’re talking about?

Nope.

Do they have any idea what I was blathering about?

Uh-uh.

I gulp, grateful that I listened to Mr. Woodrow and drew that protective circle?—

“Holy shit,” I breathe out, stumbling back, my heel landing awkwardly on the Walkman. I kick the stupid thing aside as I make my quick retreat.

Because the blue-eyed giant? He just stepped over the circle of salt like it wasn’t even there.

He glances over his shoulder, long white hair flowing kind of majestically as he turns to face the dark demon. The giant gestures for his buddy to follow him.

Only he can’t .

As though there’s an invisible wall in front of him, when the shadowy demon with the purple eyes tried to follow the white demon with the… hang on, is that a crown? I peer closer at him, focusing on the crystalline crown nestled between his black horns that I totally didn’t notice before.

Who is he, I wonder.

A king?

Not a goblin king, not like Jareth, but a demon king?

Is that my true love? Am I?—

What? Su. No. Focus!

I rip my gaze away from the king guy, looking at the other demon.

He walked face-first into that invisible wall.

I know he did. Now he’s tracing the circle, using a single hand to test the border.

My estimation for Mr. Woodrow goes up just a little bit when it becomes clear that it’s the circle of sale keeping him in.

But why didn’t it keep in the king? Because he’s royal?

Because the magic knows he’s my true love?

Because he’s not a shadow like his pal?

I don’t know, but his monstrous face assumes a very familiar expression. He kind of reminds me of Mindy when she gets annoyed with me over something. With a scowl, he points at the purple-eyed demon, points at me, then rattles off something that I can’t make heads or tails of.

The other demon does.

He shoves his hands outside of the circle, every part of him that does going up in flame immediately.

I shriek once I realize that that… that’s happening alright.

It’s gotta hurt like heck, too, but the shadowy demon with the fiery hands—and the chains, can’t forget the chains again—just makes a pushing gesture.

I don’t know how he does it. More magic, I figure, but as he pulls his hand back inside of the circle, the fire goes out. They’re back to being inky-black hands, and maybe they’re burned to a crisp beneath the hazy edge, but I can’t tell.

Sorry, but I’m a little distracted by the fact that his hands are empty now. And mine?

They’re clasped in a pair of glowing, golden cuffs on my wrists, the length chain stretched between them.

I yelp, shaking my hands, trying to get them off of me. They’re warm. Not too hot that I’m burning the way the purple-eyed demon did, but it’s toasty against my skin. And, you know, I’m trapped.

Trapped .

“What are you… no. Get these off of me. You can’t do this!”

Turns out, the giant demon can .

While I’m screeching, flapping my hands ineffectively, he stalks right over to me. Next thing I know, he’s picked me up easily, cradling me like I’m a friggin’ baby.

He jerks his chin at the other demon. That crown must mean something because he doesn’t hesitate. The shadowy demon does something with his hands, and suddenly there’s a wall of fire in front of him.

He hops through it.

The demon king marches toward it.

I shriek again. “No, no, no! I’m human, okay? I don’t know what you two are, but I burn.”

Nope. He still can’t understand me. He does, however, pat my ass in what’s probably supposed to be a soothing gesture, then ducks his head and walks right through the fire.

I screw my eyes shut, waiting for the sizzle as he burns me alive.

It doesn’t happy.

Oh, thank God.

I sense movement, but there’s a noticeable shift when he steps out of the portal again.

The way my eyes glowed red from behind the lids vanished, and when I risk opening them again, I’m in a hall that’s slightly dark and gloomy.

A handful of strange glowing lights are positioned every few feet on the stone wall.

They alternate between blue and white, both shades powerful enough for me to see what’s opposite of the wall.

Bars.

Gleaming silver bars.

Bars that lead to jail cells.

My heart leaps up to my throat. I nearly gag when the purple-eyed demon opens the nearest cell, stepping aside so that the king guy can carry me in.

Once he has, he eases me to my feet. I guess that’s something. He could’ve tossed me to the cot in the corner or something, but instead of doing that, he waits until I’m standing on shaky legs before he snaps something at the other demon.

Instantly, he waves his hands and the chains are gone.

A little too late, I think, considering I’ve gotten a better look at those lights. They’re unlike any lightbulbs or fluorescents I’ve ever seen before, and the way they hover and twist, more of an orb than anything else, it looks like… magic.

Magic .

Well, I’ve always wanted to be like Alice. Take a tumble through a rabbithole and go on an adventure in another world… that was Suzy’s dream. As Su, I was hoping for my own romantic hero.

And what did I get? A giant who is bearing down on me, his hand outstretched, palm up.

He pauses when there is about a foot separating us. I don’t know his language, but I don’t need to in order to get the gist. He wants me to put my much smaller human hand in his mitt.

I gulp.

The weird part… and I mean, the really weird part is… I kind of want to.

So I do.

A jolt passes between us, like an electrical shock times ten. My arm jerks. He doesn’t let go of me, though. Instead, he folds his fingers over mine, tethering me to him.

And then he speaks, and if he wasn’t holding onto me, I might’ve crumpled to the floor of the cell?—

“I am Duke Haures, ruler of Sombra, Lord of the Shadows,” he rumbles, his English slightly accented, though there’s no denying that sing that, suddenly, he’s speaking English .

Which means I can’t even pretend I don’t understand it when his blue eyes blaze wildly and, in the deepest voice I’ve ever heard, he says, “And you are mine, mortal.”