Page 4 of Soul Bound (Cursed Descent (MistHallow Academy) #2)

4

DRAVEN

Running my fingers around the base of the tower, I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary until my fingertip dips and I hear a groan underneath me. “Fuck! Hold on!”

Once again, we are plunging into darkness, but this time it’s different. I can sense the magick all around me. It has Tilly’s scent, and when we hit the ground, I roll over and get to my feet immediately. Tilly grunts and gets to her feet, her backpack twisted and her hair a mess. I smile at her. She is a vision. I turn her around and pull the hair band out of her hair. I run my hands into it and work on a tight French Braid to keep her hair out of her face.

“Wow,” she murmurs. “I’ve never mastered a French Braid.”

I smile enigmatically, not going into how Xavier taught me when she caught me observing her teaching the girls. Sure, I could use magick, but this is more intimate, and our parents are very big on learning how to do shit the manual way. Just in case the magick ever goes awry. Which, let’s face it, keeps happening a lot in this fucking place. I make a mental note to thank them the next time I see them. I’m fairly certain it will be sooner rather than later. Xavier had no right to come to Matilda to threaten her. I will be having words, and I know Luc feels the same. Bristling as I feel Luc’s gaze on me as I think about him, I grit my teeth and relax my shoulders. At some point, real soon, we are going to have a massive brawl to work out these lingering issues between us. The fight earlier was nothing. We’d barely got started. Maybe taking that fight to Hell while we visit with Xavier will be killing two birds with one stone.

“So here we are again,” Luc growls, brushing off his clothes. “I’m so going to kick this place’s ass this time.”

“What, instead of it kicking yours?” I comment, unable to resist. Tilly shoots me a look, but I shrug. “What? He walked into it.”

“He has you there, mate,” Vex says, slapping Luc on the shoulder as he looks around. “Steps. Up and down,” he adds with a thoughtful pause.

“Up?” I ask, looking at where he is. “Back to the surface?”

“Who knows with this place?” Tilly grumbles, hoists the backpack higher, and, gripping the straps, marches over to the down steps. “Well? Are you coming or not?”

The three of us race to catch up with her, and we take the steps down carefully.

Luc lights up a Hellfire orb that floats to the front and shows us the way. “So far, so good in the magick department,” he mutters.

“Shut it.” I hiss. “Have we not learned by now?”

“Wait,” Tilly says, stopping suddenly. “Witch’s Eye.”

“What about it?” Vex asks.

“I learned how to do it in Air Magick class. If our magick is working down here, maybe I can get a lay of the land. See what we are walking into.”

I shoot a glance at Vex who was about to comment, probably, that he could do it. He nods, getting my meaning. We want Tilly to use her magick, to get used to using it. To not fear it and be scared of it going wrong.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Luc scowls at me from the shadows, but I pointedly ignore him. We have bigger shit to deal with than this paranoia that I’m going to betray him. I don’t even know where that’s come from. It’s not like we have ever been close. This is the most we’ve talked or spent time together. Getting annoyed with this passive-aggressive shit, I shoot him a filthy look, which he growls at.

“Will you two act your ages, for fuck’s sake,” Vex snaps, rounding on us. “You are behaving like two children. Spoilt ones at that. I get that you are Princes and that life in Hell was soooo hard and all that crap but get the fuck over it. One hundred per cent truce, right now and I promise you as soon as we hit the surface and after we have seen Blackthorn, you two can go at it hell for leather and I won’t give a shit which one of you loses. Got it?”

“Shh,” Tilly murmurs, as she descends again, her hand on the wall to steady her.

“Are your eyes still closed?” I ask.

“Yeah. I don’t know how else to do this.”

Vex grabs her arm in alarm, gripping her above her elbow. “What do you see?”

“I see... darkness,” Tilly murmurs, her voice taking on an eerie, distant quality. “But there are flashes of light, like a heartbeat.”

I exchange a concerned glance with Vex. This doesn’t sound good.

“What else?” Luc prompts, his earlier animosity forgotten in the face of this new development.

“There’s a chamber ahead. Large. Circular. In the middle, there’s... something. An altar, maybe? It’s hard to make out.”

“Can you see any runes or markings?” I ask, hoping we’re finally on the right track.

She shakes her head slightly. “No, but there’s something else. A presence. Ancient. Powerful. It knows we’re here.”

A chill runs down my spine at her words. “Of course it does.”

“Is it good or evil?” Luc asks.

“I think we can bank on everything down here being evil,” Tilly mutters.

“Not exactly true,” Vex says. “These entities are only protecting the sanctity of what we are invading. That doesn’t make them good or evil.”

“All right, Professor,” Luc mutters. “Let me rephrase. Friend or foe?”

“Only one way to find out,” Tilly says, and pulls her arm free from Vex as she hurries down the remaining steps.

As predicted, we arrive in a chamber with an altar in the middle.

“What do we do now? There is nothing else here.”

Tilly moves forward and lightly runs her fingers over the altar. “Blood sacrifice,” she mutters, staring at it.

“What?” I ask, crossing over to stand next to her. “Oh.”

We are staring at a dark red stain that pretty much looks like the remnants of a blood sacrifice.

“A sacrifice?” Luc says with a frown. “Sorry, I forgot to bring my ritual goat.”

“I don’t think a goat is going to cut it,” Vex says, crouching down to read the inscriptions on the base of the altar. “Tethered by blood, bound by soul, joined by body.”

“Are we not all of the above already?” Tilly asks, her voice going up a notch.

“Not in this place,” Vex says. “It is deconsecrated ground.”

“I thought you said evil didn’t exist down here,” I point out.

“Well, good doesn’t ask for blood sacrifices, ritual soul binding and sex on an altar, now does it,” Vex drawls and straightens up.

“But why do we have to do this?” I ask, eyes narrowed at the altar.

“Who knows why it does or wants us to do anything? We follow the rules.” He starts unbuttoning his shirt.

“Are you serious?” Tilly squeaks. “Here? Now?”

“Why not? I’m horny. Aren’t you? All this danger and excitement has given me a massive hard-on.”

Vex’s smirk is wicked as he tosses his shirt aside, the runes on his skin glowing faintly in the light of Luc’s hellfire orb. Tilly’s cheeks flush a deep crimson, and she takes a step back, her hands flailing slightly as if she’s trying to ward off the very idea.

“Vex, this isn’t the time for your twisted sense of humour,” I snap, though my voice lacks its usual bite. The tension in the air is thick, and I can feel the pull of whatever dark energy is at play here. It’s not just Vex—it’s all of us. The altar hums with a low, insistent vibration that resonates in my bones.

“He’s not joking,” Luc says, his voice low and dangerous. His eyes are fixed on Tilly, and I can see the hunger there, barely restrained. “This place is playing with us. Binding us. It wants something from us.”

“It wants everything from us,” Vex corrects, his tone darkening as he steps closer to Tilly. She doesn’t move, her wide blue eyes darting between the three of us like a cornered animal. “Blood. Soul. Body. It’s demanding it.”

Tilly shakes her head, her rainbow-streaked hair catching the flickering light. “No. No way. There has to be another way around this.”

“There isn’t,” I say quietly, stripping off.

“We are sealed in here,” Luc adds. “The exit is gone.”

“Fuck. Are we really going to get naked and vulnerable in this place?”

“Yes,” I say, standing before her completely naked. Vex and Luc aren’t far behind. I run my hands over her body, removing her backpack and clothes by magick to form a neat pile on the ground near her feet. Cupping the back of her neck, I pull her closer, crushing her lips to mine in a bruising kiss. She mewls and opens up for me, clinging to me as I devour her mouth.

I’m in control, and I know she reacts to that - it’s obvious by the way she melts in my arms. I break the kiss but keep her in arm’s reach with her pressed against my body. “On the altar, now.”

I guide her backwards and hoist her up easily onto it. Her breathing is shaky, the flush on her cheeks deepening. Spreading her legs, I kneel down and suck her clit into my mouth. She moans and grips the edge of the altar as Luc hoists himself up onto it behind her.

“Are we…” she pants as I thrust two fingers inside her. “Are we just ignoring the blood stain?”

Vex chuckles. “For now. Focus on the sexual energy in the room.”

I swirl my tongue around Tilly’s clit as I pump my fingers in and out of her hot cunt. Her thighs tremble as she moans, arching her back. Behind her, Luc runs his hands over her shoulders and down her arms, his lips trailing kisses along her neck.

“That’s it, my sweet,” he murmurs against her skin. “Let yourself feel it.”

The energy builds around us, dark and hungry. The altar vibrates beneath Tilly, sending shivers through her body. She cries out as I twist my fingers inside her, thrusting harder.

“Draven, please,” she whimpers. “I need more.”

I rise up, unable to deny her plea. In one smooth thrust, I bury myself inside her tight heat. We both groan at the sensation.

Luc shifts behind her, baring his teeth before he bites her and drinks her blood in steady gulps.

I wait for the backlash of his Incubus power, but it doesn’t come. I catch his gaze, and he raises his eyebrow. He’s not actively doing anything, it’s just this place. It’s protecting her. That makes my cock even harder, and I grind against her, gripping her hips tightly.

“Come all over my dick, petal. Fuck, I need to feel you in my soul.”

“Perfect,” Vex murmurs, climbing onto the altar when Luc releases Tilly, his mouth blood-stained. He moves to the side, and Vex slides in behind Tilly, lifting her slightly and then shoving his cock into her tight cunt alongside mine.

“Fuck,” she screams. “Fuck, that feels so fucking good.”

Tilly’s scream of pleasure echoes through the chamber as Vex and I thrust into her in tandem. The tight heat of her cunt around both our cocks is exquisite torture. I grip her hips tighter, driving deeper with each thrust.

“That’s it, sprinkles,” Vex growls in her ear. “Take us both. You were made for this.”

She whimpers, her body trembling between us. I can feel her getting close. Her pussy is clutching our cocks. Luc stands beside her on the altar, his hand wrapping around her braid as he guides her mouth to his cock.

“Suck me off with that dirty, little mouth,” he murmurs, and she obeys eagerly, taking him deep into her throat.

The energy in the room intensifies, sizzling around us like dark lightning. I feel it seeping into my skin, binding us together in ways I don’t fully understand.

Tilly comes with a muffled cry around Luc’s cock, her whole body convulsing violently.

There is a flash of silver and Vex catches my eye over Tilly’s shoulder. He is holding an athame to her throat. With one quick slice, he opens up her vein, and her blood spills out, flowing down her side to pool on the altar. She screams at the pain, but her pleasure is only just beginning. Her orgasm doubles up, and she climaxes again, covering our cocks with her juice.

“Fuck, Tilly. Fuck you feel so good when you come all over me.” I grunt and shoot my load inside her, sticky and hot, knowing it will seep back out of her when I withdraw. I pull away, my gaze fixed on her cunt as Vex thrusts deep inside her, his cock covered with my cum and hers. She trembles again as Luc pulls free and leaps down to ram his cock inside her pussy before Vex runs the blade over his neck, drawing enough blood to join Tilly’s. He grunts and hands me the blade as he dumps his load into Tilly.

“Good, little cum bucket,” Luc murmurs. “Taking all this inside your pretty cunt. Perfect. So perfect.”

I lean forward and quickly slash the blade across my neck, adding my black blood to the pool. Luc snatches it off me, and this time, he doesn’t hesitate or grumble about the use of his blood. He cuts himself and bleeds out over the altar as Vex withdraws and lets Luc push Tilly back until her back is flat on the cold stone and warm blood. Luc bleeds onto the puddle as he hammers into her, crawling his way up her body as his cock pounds into her. He grunts and unloads, his orgasm going on and on as she screams her way through another climax, coming hard and milking his cock until he is rasping for breath.

The chamber trembles around us as the dark energy rises. The altar glows with a soft red light, our mingled blood seeping into the stone. Tilly’s eyes are glazed, her body limply laid out as an offering to whatever fucked up god this is, still twitching as the aftershocks of her orgasm fade. Her neck is still bleeding, even though Vex, Luc and I are healed, and I move forward to clamp my hand over the wound.

The chamber rumbles again, and a section of wall slides open, revealing a new passageway.

“Looks like we’ve been granted access to the next level,” Vex says grimly.

“You up for it, petal?”

“Can’t stop now, right?” she says, smiling weakly. I help her off the altar, and with trembling hands, she gets dressed again, securing her backpack.

Pulling on my clothes, I turn to Luc. “Thank you.”

He pauses, doing up his belt. “What for?”

“For accepting this had to be the way.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “It’s not the blood ritual that pissed me off. It’s that my blood is now tied to her blood. Don’t you see how fucking dangerous that is? Incubus are made from blood, and sex, and heat, and everything else we did back in that room.”

The penny drops, and I chew the inside of my lip. “You think you made her like you? A Succubus?”

He starts to say something but stops. I don’t think he knows what to say. He huffs and shoves past me, catching up with Vex and Tilly, who are approaching the passageway. I sigh and follow, getting it now and hoping to fuck he is wrong.