Page 13 of Taken to the Deadlands (Stolen Demon Brides #1)

Chapter 13

Mia

T his one was so much worse than the one in the auction house.

Yes, she was skeleton-like, but the skin that she had left on her was grayish. The hair that had once covered her head stuck out around her on all sides and flowed as if she were underwater. There was a cloth wrapped around her arms, chest, and waist that seemed stained with blood. That, too, was floating around her.

My attention was fully focused on her, and when Aris moved to look back at whatever I was seeing, I got a full look at the girl's mutilated body and ripped-up face. I could just make out her eyes and gaping mouth, but everything else was unrecognizable.

I tried to push myself back as far as I could and yelped when my back slammed against the headboard.

"What is it?” Aris asked. “Do you see what it is? What do you see? Is she here? Cara?"

She looked around the room, not noticing the being that was right behind her.

Aris can’t see her.

"Cara, is that you?" she tried again, but the being paid her no mind. Instead, she just stared straight at me.

“Hel—,” she started, and her voice came out gargled. "Help me.”

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. "What does Cara look like?" I asked Aris, not daring to take my eyes away from whatever the apparition was.

"Yellow hair, green eyes," Aris forced out, still frantically searching for the ghost that was staring directly at me.

Disappointment hit me straight in the gut. Even with her changed body, I could tell this was not Cara.

"It's not her," I forced out a scream that got caught in my throat when the being pushed forward and put her bony hands on the bed.

“What do you mean it's not her?" Aris asked, her voice dropping.

"Don't come closer," I warned. Aris’s gaze snapped toward me.

"What happening? Where is she?” she asked in a growl her eyes searching across the room.

The moan that came out of the being's mouth caused all my hair to stand on edge.

"Help me," she pleaded again.

When her hand shot forward to wrap around my ankle, I opened my mouth to scream, but no words came out.

Memories that weren’t mine forced themselves into my head. Memories of a human life so unlike my own. I saw her with her family at home. The eldest daughter simply on the way home from work when the demons had taken her.

I watched as she spent months on end at the auction house, being assessed by potential buyers as if she were some—thing. They looked at her, watched her as she slept, made comments on her body shape.

It had been hell for her. Until the day of the auction.

I can’t watch this.

I saw Aris in her mind. She looked so much like she had the night she bought me. Then a flash of Aris’s bloodstained face and red eyes hit me. The frenzied version of her was attacking me. No —she was attacking the girl.

Image after image of Aris losing control was forced into my mind. It was disorientating, especially when I knew how much it had to have hurt Aris as well.

“Aris, please," I choked out, trying to reach for the demon. “Aris, help. Please, god. Make it stop.”

Even without knowing what I was seeing or why I was afraid, she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around me, one behind my back, one under my legs, and lift me up and away from the bed. When she yanked me away, the woman’s memories started to fade. The being was too slow to grip onto me as we pulled away, but she sure as hell tried.

Her head slowly turned toward us, and whiplash from the memories caused bile to rise in my throat. I had to grab on to Aris to steady myself.

"What does she look like?" Aris asked, pulling me further away from the memories.

That’s right. This Aris is different. This isn’t the one you saw.

"Black hair.” I tried to squint and make out the eyes. “I think the eyes are brown. I can't tell. Her face is—” I couldn’t even describe it. “Oh my gosh. It's awful.”

Aris cursed under her breath and all but ran out of there with me in her arms. As soon as we left the room, I felt like I could breathe again. Her aura wasn’t sticking to me and the memories had almost disappeared, but the image of Aris’s frenzied face lingered.

"That's not a ghost," I said, peering back behind us.

I could still hear her moans, but she didn't follow us.

"That's not Cara," Aris said. "I won't know who exactly it is without some sort of picture, but I'm assuming it's one of the other ones I ate."

One of the other ones.

The girl had been mutilated, so much so I could barely make out her facial features. Was that how the person who was now holding me had treated humans?

My first instinct was to ask her to put me down, but I pushed my lips together in a thin line.

She never lied to you. You knew about this.

As if she knew what was on my mind, her warm touch turned scalding.

“You’re staying with me tonight.”

“Is that something you had made or…?” I trailed off as I took in the sight of the contraption Aris tied to her face.

She stood at the foot of the bed, her chest puffed and hands on her hips. Pride was radiating off her even if I couldn’t make out the bottom half of her face, which was now covered by a thick leather-like fabric. Straps held it in place and wrapped around the back of her head, disappearing into her long hair that was now flowing against her almost bare back.

She had changed into a loose tank top-like shirt that could hardly be called a tank top with the amount of skin it showed. My eyes kept trailing to her barely concealed nipples, but the elephant in the room kept pulling my attention away from her breasts.

“It’s necessary if you are to be staying in here with me,” she said, then turned her back to me and lifted the top half of her hair up. In the middle of her head, attached to the mask, was a glowing blue crystal. “Touch it. Then it will only come off if you take it off.”

“That’s a lot of trust,” I muttered before shakily kneeling on her bed. She stayed still as I crawled toward her.

It had been hours since the encounter with that… thing , and most of the memories had faded, except for the image of Aris with blood splattered on her face.

It scared me, of course it did. But it also made me so incredibly sad for her.

“I meant it when I said I didn’t want to hurt you,” she whispered.

The hand that had unconsciously reached out for the crystal paused.

“You can still kill me without the muzzle,” I said.

A beat of silence passed between us.

“Yes,” she admitted in a low voice. “But the frenzy wants to feed, not just kill. If anything, I would try to persuade you to take it off.”

I swallowed thickly and let my fingers brush across the crystal.

A low burst of heat exploded from the rock and shot down my arm. The straps tightened around her face. She turned back around and let her hair down. The muzzle was stretched against her skin and only had a few holes to allow her to breathe.

I reached out and let my fingers trace the seams. Feeling every bump on the thick fabric. She groaned when I forced my fingers between the fabric and her skin, but made no move to stop me.

I shouldn’t be doing this. Being so casual with her. Imagining what could happen next. But I couldn’t stop myself.

Not even when I knew how much of a monster she had once been.

“That defeats the purpose,” she growled.

With a smile, I tugged harshly at it, causing her to jerk forward.

“Just making sure I won’t wake up with your teeth buried in my shoulder.”

A light flashed across her eyes before her eyebrows pulled together.

“Maybe it would be better if I stayed elsewhere tonight,” she said. “You might not end up with my teeth in you, but… who knows what I might do when I’m half asleep?”

I fell back to the bed, letting go of her muzzle.

“I need you near me in case that… thing comes back,” I replied, trying to suppress a shiver.

“My guess is that it’s either a wraith or a phantom, neither of which my kind can see, though I’ve heard of them,” Aris offered as an explanation and started to climb onto the bed.

The action forced me backwards involuntarily, my heart pounding in my chest. Aris’s face twisted.

When I stayed still, she slowly crawled toward me on her hands and knees, her long hair brushing against the bed. When she finally got close enough, she placed her hands on either side of me and leaned forward.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, though the look in her eyes told me the opposite. “You smell really good.”

Her words caused my entire body to heat.

Shit. Her eyes flashed red for a second telling me she could smell just how turned on I was.

“Don’t tell me you like the muzzle,” she teased, leaning forward to rub the contraption against the crook of my neck.

“Is this the frenzy talking?” I asked. My breathing came heavier then, and with each breath, my erect nipples brushed across her chest. She was so close I could feel the heat radiating off her skin.

“No,” she said with a growl. “Something else.”

Heat blossomed in my lower belly.

“I thought?—“

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” she cut me off before moving her muzzled mouth up toward my ear and whispering, “But now that I can’t, and your scent tells me how much you like the sight, I think I want something else from you tonight.”

“And if I say I don’t?”

She let out a husky chuckle and pulled away. Listening to her desire-filled voice and the way her eyes flashed while her mouth was muzzled did something to me. Maybe it was the control aspect of it. Knowing I was the only one who could release her. Knowing I was the one bringing her to the brink of a madness I didn’t quite understand just yet.

She leaned forward again, as if to kiss me, before inhaling deeply. I lifted my chin, but instead of pushing her muzzle to my lips, she trailed down to my chest, pausing to inhale again.

My breath caught.

She’s not going to do what I think she is, is she?

When her muzzled mouth brushed against my breast, all thoughts left my mind. Her eyes trailed up to mine as she lowered herself between my legs.

I was still wearing the thin slip I wore to bed with just a thin pair of panties under it. She pushed my legs apart, a low snarl falling from her lips when she caught sight of my clothed pussy.

“Lift your dress for me, human.”

With a shaky hand, I did as she said. Her fingers hooked onto the straps of my underwear before pulling it apart. The tearing sound echoed through the room.

I let out a gasp when the cool leather of her muzzle pushed against my wet cunt. She inhaled again.

“If I inhale deeply enough, I can just make out your taste,” she groaned. The veins had appeared again, and her eyes were now flashing wildly. More red was seeping into them, warning me of what was to come.

“Your frenzy?—“

“Frenzy or not, I plan to fuck you tonight, Mia,” she warned. “No matter how much I plead and beg, don’t take off the muzzle.”

I reached out and pulled her forward. Her loud warning growl sent a shock of heat to my core. Evidence of my arousal coated her muzzle and gleamed in the darkness, so I swiped my tongue across it. My own taste burst across my tongue.

I could feel the push of her tongue on the other side of the muzzle, desperately trying to savor me.

Tell her, the sane part of my mind ordered me. Tell her you’re lying.

Guilt and shame filled my chest. The sound of her calling out the ghost of her last companion swirled around my head.

I can still back out . And knowing the demon in front of me, she probably would have understood.

But the way my pussy was throbbing was too delicious to ignore. I never thought myself to be a good person, so why would I change that now?

“Delicious,” I muttered, looking up at her through my lashes. “But I know for a fact you will taste even better.”