I looked out at the pounding rain, unconsciously hunching my shoulders into a defensive posture. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, even though I hadn’t even put the key into the ignition yet. Lightning struck in a blinding flash, followed so closely by a smack of thunder that I was pretty sure it had struck the car—or damn close to it.
I yelped as a bolt of lightning struck a few feet in front of the car, leaving my ears ringing and my eyes burning with the afterimage. My heart slammed in uneven tempo, oddly out of sync with the peals of thunder.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. I could see the wall of rain retreating to the east, sky still flickering with lightning. I let out a shaking breath and leaned my forehead against the steering wheel. The car still seemed to vibrate from the reverberations of the rapidly fading thunder, but I finally managed to slowly unpeel my fingers from the steering wheel.
But it was several minutes before I felt settled enough to drive away.
Chapter 8
A mile away from the station the ground went from soggy to bone dry, and even though it was dusk, I could see that the sky was cloudless.
Somehow, I remained unconvinced.
I made it home before six, which normally would have given me time for a quick nap, but I was still stupidly unnerved by the freak thunderstorm. After twenty minutes of staring at the ceiling I gave up and started my preparations for the summoning. “Well rested” was the preferred state to be in when dealing with a demonic lord, but I reminded myself that I
Actually, not dealing with a demonic lord at all was best, but that wasn’t possible for me anymore. I’d first encountered the demonic lord Rhyzkahl by accident. I’d been attempting to summon a relatively tame fourth-level demon for help with finding the Symbol Man, and had instead produced a demonic lord—not a welcome state of affairs, since demonic lords were so averse to being summoned that they tended to slaughter anyone silly enough to make the attempt. However, I hadn’t been slaughtered and had been seduced instead—a complete shock, and one that I didn’t understand until much later. Almost half a year had gone by since then, and I was still trying to make heads or tails of my relationship with the demonic lord.
I’d summoned him three times since I’d sworn an oath to become his summoner, sticking to the terms of our agreement. The first time, he asked me what my two questions were, and I responded with a poorly phrased question about Ryan that Rhyzkahl managed to answer without actually telling me anything. Frustrated, I changed the subject and made my second question one about arcane techniques. Rhyzkahl was more than willing to teach me how to anchor a portal without closing it, and as soon as I mastered that, we did the hot and crazy sex thing in front of the fireplace.
And then he’d left. The second time he walked around my yard and my house for several hours, not saying much of anything at all, while I grew bored with watching him and dozed off in the swing on my back porch. He woke me up by doing interesting things to me, and we did the hot and nasty right there outside—a first for me. And I didn’t ask about Ryan, because I had a more pressing need to find out a detail about the warding structure in my storage diagram.
But last month’s had been the strangest and most surreal. I’d summoned him almost as soon as the sun set—as he’d requested. And then? We watched TV.
For two hours I flipped through channels, while he said almost nothing. Occasionally he’d lift his hand to indicate he wanted to see more of whatever was on. Everything from the local news and CNN to reality shows and HBO.
“You do realize,” I finally said, “that all of this isn’t really an accurate depiction of this world?”
He turned to me with a frown. “Truly? You are not forced to spend weeks on a remote island and engage in absurd competitions?”
I opened my mouth to explain, then I saw the amused gleam in his eye. Without thinking I grabbed a throw pillow and whacked him with it. “You ass!” I said with a laugh, then froze as shock coiled through me.
The air in the room seemed to grow heavy as he lowered his head and regarded me. My mouth went dry as I dropped the pillow. But before I could stammer out an apology his hand shot out and seized the pillow.
And he whacked me right back.
I burst out laughing in a combination of surprise and relief. A slight smile curved his mouth and he carefully set the pillow back on the couch.
“Do not fear, dear one,” he said. “I am able to discern entertainment from information.”
I sat back and tucked my legs up beside me. “Okay, so why do you want to know all this?”
“Is this one of your questions?” he asked, eyes intent upon me.
I almost nodded, then I caught myself. “No,” I said. “There’s something else I want to know more.”
He smiled and took hold of my ankles, then pulled so that I was abruptly lying with my lower half across his lap. He released my ankles then slipped his hand to the waistband of my silk pants and began to tug them lower. “You wish to know how many times I can make you release before I return to my demesne?”
A wonderful shudder raced through me.
“Ah,” he said while I tried to catch my breath. “I will have to keep guessing since you refuse to speak it.”
“Nice try,” I managed as I pushed myself to sit. “I want to know if Ryan—” An instant later my words were cut off by his mouth on mine and his hand on my breast. I wanted to be angry, but I found myself laughing against his mouth instead. He was so clearly enjoying toying with me, plus I didn’t exactly hate kissing him. He answered my laugh with a low chuckle, but didn’t release my mouth for several marvelous minutes. And, when he suggested something else with which to occupy my mouth, I eagerly complied.
For a few precious seconds he was the breathless one, but I wasted time grinning smugly. As soon as I began to speak he was on his feet with me slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I let out a shriek of protest, and he gave me a light smack on my naked rear as he walked me to the kitchen. He was openly grinning when he set me on my feet, then he turned me to bend me over the kitchen table.
“This isn’t fair,” I protested as he proceeded to demonstrate the quick recovery time of a demonic lord.
“You have only to say the word and I will stop,” he said as he thrust deeply.
I groaned and wiggled my hips. “Maybe in a bit.”
“Good. Because I intend to fuck you in every room of your house.” He stated it completely matter-of-factly and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I won’t be able to walk tomorrow!”
But I didn’t tell him to stop.
He lived up to his word, too. For the rest of the night we moved from room to room, always playful and laughing. My bedroom was the last to be christened, but instead of using the bed, he chose to press me against the wall, holding my wrists above my head while I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist as he drove into me. I twisted against his grasp and he tightened his grip, his azure eyes locked onto mine and a triumphant smile curving his mouth. But I wasn’t afraid. Excited, aroused, and extremely well-fucked, yes, but not afraid.
“I will take you back to my realm someday,” he murmured, eyes still intent on mine. “And I will fuck you in every room of my palace. A different position in each room.” His grip tightened very slightly and I let out a low moan. “And there are many many rooms in my palace,” he added with a low chuckle.
“Yes,” I gasped without thinking. But before I could say anything else his hand was over my mouth, and his eyes had gone dark and dangerous. Panic surged through me, and I struggled against him. Then I was coming, and screaming my release into his hand.
