Darkness Becomes Her Read online

  The female voices around her intensified, growing louder. The whoosh of magic kindling nearby nearly brought Heidi out of her reverie, but it wasn’t enough to break the spell that had been cast over her.

  She knew those lips. That tongue.

  Varin.

  She recognized the broad hands that slipped down the sides of her ribcage to cup her ass and pull her hips forward, closer to his eager, waiting cock. Her palms itched to touch him. She lifted her hands and wrapped them around the space where he should have been, but grabbed nothing but air.

  The brief kiss shattered, ending much too soon. Her fantasy lovers’ groins moved against her pussy, her ass. They caressed her and teased her, taunted her with infinite patience but made no move to slip inside her body.

  Wetness seeped between her legs, adding the intensity of her arousal to the gathering currents of magic growing hot around her. Her nipples pebbled. A flush rose into her cheeks and spread outward, setting her entire body aflame.

  Heidi gasped and threw her head back. She glanced up toward the fat moon that hung in the strip of sky she could make out through the foliage draping over the clearing. Her vision was clouded with lust. Her breasts heaved and her hips shimmied of their own accord, demanding something only her mystery lovers could give her.

  Her head felt weighed down with more pressure than she could handle. A heavy ache pressed in on her temples. She forced herself to swallow but her throat constricted, preventing her from drawing a full breath.

  “This is it! The portal’s opening. Heidi, get ready!”

  “You’re so ready for us, aren’t you, sweetheart? Touch her there. She wants it -- can’t you tell?”

  Heidi whimpered as a pair of hands dipped between her gently parted thighs. A curved finger coiled in the nest of curls covering her mound and then moved a little further down, nudging her opening. Her pussy spasmed, her inner walls clenching and unclenching with the desperate need to be filled.

  “Heidi?” Lillian’s voice sounded very far away. “Heidi! Shit! Something’s wrong! She’s not with us!”

  The howling sounds of battling demons and Summoners erupted through the clearing. Metal clashed against metal, but the screeching noise seemed to be coming from somewhere else. From another world, maybe. One far away from Heidi’s euphoric ecstasy.

  Raw need sizzled in her veins. Pain lit a path through her body, culminating in the thundering ache behind her temples.

  Slowly, before she could make sense of it, a man’s face took form. It rippled and burned, etching itself into the empty air right in front of her.

  “Varin,” she whispered.

  Suddenly, the aches darting through her muscles melded into a familiar gnawing loneliness. Varin smiled at her then -- a real smile, not one of those cocky, arrogant grins he’d tossed her way when they’d first met and had sparred for control of the sexual magic that could have doomed them all.

  He gathered her to him, pressing her against his warm body. She could see him now, all lean lines and masculine strength. The sight took her breath away.

  His hand joined the finger that still circled her opening and settled against the folds of her pussy, drawing through them as though in slow motion. Every flickering contact sent a shudder of longing through her body. She didn’t know how this was possible. When had he crossed the barrier into her world? To assure herself of his presence, she reached up and slipped her palms along his back.

  Oh fuck.

  She could touch him. He was solid and real, his muscles as taut and firm as if they’d been masterfully carved by a sculptor.

  The rounded tip of his shaft jerked against her stomach and she sighed softly, letting her forehead settle against his shoulder. She drew in his scent, thick with masculine sweat and heavy with the aroma of lust.

  A gasp caught in her throat. Her entire body trembled, swaying on the altar. Her eyelids drifted closed.

  “Heidi! Damn! We need you!”

  “It’s no use. She’s gone!”

  A sharp cry tore through the air. Screams blended into background noise then blissfully faded into oblivion. It was better this way, Heidi told herself as more trickles of awareness slipped from her mind. The only cries she wanted to hear were Luke’s and Varin’s as they filled her. She yearned to listen to them groan their pleasure as their cocks thrust into her needy body.

  “Damn it, Heidi! We’re overwhelmed. Too many demons slipped through. It’s too late to stop it! Get your ass through that portal and end it from the other side!”

  “She can’t hear you!”

  “She’s abandoned us!”

  “Like hell she has.”

  Something hot snapped against Heidi’s right nipple. She groaned and arched into it, thinking it to be Varin’s teeth nibbling at one of the stiff buds. When the other nipple stung with the same sensation, jolts of awareness shot through Heidi’s veins.

  She gasped for breath, the twin weights that had been pressing in on her suddenly gone. Her head spun. She couldn’t concentrate on anything but random fleeting images that slipped out of her grasp as soon as she tried to focus on one.

  “Varin,” she murmured, but the word caught in her throat and came out as a strangled croak instead.

  She thought she could make out Lillian’s eyes, glowing a fierce blue as bright as the magical energy encircling her in swirling streams. Behind Lillian, blood splattered the clearing. The Summoners were being pushed back by a horde of demons whose deformed bodies were as grotesque as the jagged metal weapons they swung through the air.

  Only the altar had been untouched by the crimson spray of blood. It stood apart from the mayhem, protected by a sphere of magic that undulated around the stone slab.

  Lillian eyed Heidi with wary suspicion mixed with something that looked like terror. And pity. “You started this. You end it.”

  Abruptly, Heidi’s breath was snatched from her lungs. She fought to regain it and clawed at her throat, her eyes widening as fear gripped her tightly in an unforgiving hold.

  The portal above her head widened, blocking out the sky. A broad, masculine hand shot out. Perfectly manicured square nails reached for her. Instead of grabbing her and pulling her through, the man’s index finger twirled, as though struggling to unravel a tangled string.

  With a gasp of terror, Heidi looked down to where he pointed just in time to see what looked like a stream of gauzy cloud being tugged through the flesh just above her breast. She barely had time to notice the gold chain that extended from her right nipple to the left before the breath was yanked from her lungs.

  A strangled cry died on her lips. Tears spilled unheeded down her cheeks. She pressed her palm over her chest, but it was no use. Her soul continued to slip out, drawn to the creature that commanded it.

  A throaty, sexy chuckle was the last sound she heard. It slipped through her mind as she struggled for her last breath.

  At long last, just when she thought the comforting shadows had abandoned her, darkness swept in and claimed her.

  Chapter Two

  Cold seeped into Luke Howard’s bones as he huddled against the narrow edge of his cell, lost in a shroud of agony. Today’s torture session had been excruciating. Over the long years he’d spent in Hell, he’d had to endure more brutality than he’d ever thought possible, yet nothing had even come close to the excruciating torment his captors had just dispensed.

  The wraiths and Demon Guardians who yanked him from his cell twice a day and tossed him back inside when they were finished had left no part of his body untouched. He ached everywhere, though his tormentors had been careful to mend all the broken bones and staunch the bleeding when they were through. What remained was a bone-deep ache that seemed to be everywhere at once, pounding against each nerve ending, terrorizing every pain receptor in his body.

  Grimacing against the spasm that rippled through his muscles, Luke drew his knees into his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, bunching himself up into a ball in an effort to bring some wa
rmth back into his body.

  Even though every rock wall in the Underworld seeped with inner heat, Luke was perpetually frozen to the bone. Ever since he’d been sucked back into the gaping maws of Hell, it felt as though an icy chill had gripped his heart, imbuing every part of him with soul-numbing crystals.

  The only time the glacial chill abated was when Varin’s body was pressed up against him. Unfortunately, those brief moments of comfort were few and far between. They’d become even rarer of late, as with each day that passed, Varin had continued to grow even more quiet and withdrawn than he’d been before meeting Heidi. In the two years Varin had been his cellmate, Luke could count the number of words they’d exchanged on one hand, so the man’s sudden sullenness shouldn’t have concerned him.

  Yet it did. It bothered him even more than the cruelty of the wraiths or the howling laughter of the Demon Guardians.

  He’d seen Varin -- the real Varin -- come to life as Heidi had shared herself with both of them. He’d watched the man embrace her wholly as he fucked her with the kind of intensity Luke had never before witnessed.

  He remembered the jealousy burning in his gut as he’d watched the woman he loved being pleasured by another man, but he also recalled the all-encompassing arousal that had come with witnessing such a bold, wanton act. It had only ignited his lust further to know that she was doing it for him.

  To save him. To redeem him.

  It hadn’t worked, but that didn’t change anything. The more Luke had touched her, the more he’d understood she was his. She’d given herself over to him willingly. More importantly, she’d sacrificed her body to the demon who’d sworn to return him to Hell. Yet somewhere along the line, something unexpected had happened.

  A connection he couldn’t deny had developed between Heidi and Varin. Even more shockingly unanticipated, a tender bond had also grown between Varin and Luke. It was fragile still, like the strand of a spider web that could be broken by a light gust of wind, but it was there. And it was the only thing that kept Luke from giving in to the dark despair that constantly clawed at his soul.

  The gate to his cell scraped across the floor. Luke pushed the memories away and lifted his head in time to see one of the Demon Guardians haul Varin off his feet.

  Varin wasn’t a small man. At over six feet and built like a football player, he struck an imposing figure, even when held a foot off the ground. For a brief moment, orange firelight flickered against the myriad bruises marring Varin’s chiseled cheekbones and sculpted jaw. The light caught in the depthless black orbs of his eyes, illuminating the dark glint of fury within.

  The Guardian held him in mid-air for a moment, and Luke watched them both, marveling at the difference between the two men. Before he’d fallen from grace, Varin had been a Demon Guardian himself. Now, however, despite his strength and the feral grace apparent in his muscular form, he no longer resembled the fierce creatures that guarded the Underworld’s prisoners.

  The Demon Guardian’s gray armor was more for show than protection. None of the captives could harm their wardens, as the Guardians were protected by their magical nature. The demon’s muscles practically rippled in the orange light, and a grin split his face, revealing perfect white teeth. The look on his features was so cruel, it made Luke want to crawl back even farther inside his cell. If his back hadn’t already been pressed against the wall, he might have done just that.

  The Guardian launched Varin inside the cell with enough force to hurl him against the wall, inches from where Luke sat huddled in his corner. Varin didn’t even grunt as he slammed against the solid rock. Luke reached out to steady him as the man stumbled back, clearly dazed, but Varin quickly shrugged off his touch and lurched toward the opposite corner.

  The cell gate slammed closed.

  “Still won’t talk to me, huh?” Luke licked his dry lips, surprised at how gritty his voice sounded.

  As expected, Varin ignored him.

  Luke sighed. The night they’d spent with Heidi had left its mark on both of them. It had brought Luke more joy than he’d thought possible, and when it was over, it had summoned the soul-numbing chill to take the place of Heidi’s all-encompassing warmth.

  But it had been much harder on Varin. He’d sacrificed everything he was -- all he’d ever been -- to save her. He’d given up his only chance at redemption in the eyes of Baal, the Lord of the Underworld, for a mortal woman he’d never see again.

  In the time the three of them had spent together, Luke had realized there was more to Varin than met the eye. He wasn’t human, but neither was he the callous, vicious breed of demon with which Luke had become familiar.

  Except down here, in the bowels of the Underworld, Varin was human. His demon powers had been stripped from him, leaving him as vulnerable to the cruel whims of Hell’s denizens as any other prisoner.

  In the past, the Demon Guardians had always tormented Varin with more fury and sadistic vengefulness than they’d shown any other captive. Since he’d returned, their relentless cruelty had increased ten-fold.

  Many things had changed since their brief respite in the mortal realm, but Varin’s feelings for Heidi had stayed the same. Luke had seen the utter tenderness in his cellmate’s gaze as Varin had claimed her. He still heard that same possessive devotion in Varin’s voice when the man uttered Heidi’s name in his sleep.

  And every now and again, when exhaustion overwhelmed him, Varin even murmured Luke’s name with the same reverent fervor.

  More than anything else, those whispered words gave Luke hope.

  “Were you this stubborn as a child?” Luke tilted his head to peer into the opposite corner. Torches lit the outside hallway, but only a flicker of orange light reached inside their cell through the barred gate.

  No sound made its way from Varin’s corner. Not even the steady rhythm of the man’s breathing.

  A shiver of apprehension snaked up Luke’s spine. What had the wraiths and Demon Guardians been doing to him? What if they’d removed his tongue, robbing him of his ability to speak?

  The chill creeping up Luke’s body intensified. He shifted forward, scraping his knees across the rough stone. His shoulder throbbed as he propped his weight on an outstretched hand and slid toward the dark, masculine shape that beckoned to him, looking for the slightest reassurance, the smallest sign of life.

  Reaching out, he slipped his palm across a muscular calf. Coarse hair slipped between his fingers. Varin’s flesh was warm and pulsed beneath his touch, sending an electric jolt of lust into his veins.

  That brief contact was enough to rouse a sliver of heat from Luke’s groin. It curled up around his balls, stiffening his cock.

  A groan caught in his throat.

  He slid his hand up farther, infinitely slowly, held back by the burning ache in his muscles and the fear that any moment now, Varin would push him away like he’d done so many times before. Tentatively, he reached out and brushed the tips of his fingers against the man’s pubic hair.

  Varin’s flaccid shaft, silky and soft, caressed the side of Luke’s hand, then twitched, stiffening almost instantly. The thick member elongated as a hoarse moan slipped free from Varin’s throat.

  In a flash of movement, Varin reached down and clamped a broad hand around Luke’s wrist, yanking his fingers away from his hard shaft.

  “What’s the use?” Varin’s voice boomed inside the cramped interior of the cell. “Nothing will change if we do this. Nothing!”

  The raw agony so apparent in Varin’s words tore at Luke’s heart even as relief suffused his veins. The man could still speak. He’d just been infinitely hard-headed.

  Stubbornness Luke could deal with. He just had to prove to Varin how wrong he’d been.

  Instead of pulling away, Luke shifted his weight upward along Varin’s long legs and pressed his cheek against the man’s firm stomach. “Nothing, huh? You feel the same with me here, lying on you, as you did when you were sulking all by yourself in this corner?”

  “No,” Var
in growled. “Now my legs hurt more.”

  Luke wasn’t buying it. It was clear Varin would fight him with his last breath, despite the fact that intimacy and genuine closeness was what they both needed above all else.

  Varin wouldn’t listen to reason. Fine. Luke didn’t have to talk. He turned his head a fraction of an inch and placed a slow, lingering kiss to Varin’s stomach, just above his navel. The man sucked in a breath, his abdomen rippling with the effort of keeping still. Luke’s tongue snaked out, slipping over the planes and valleys that made up Varin’s perfectly toned stomach.

  A groan caught in Luke’s throat. He’d never seen anyone as perfectly formed as his cellmate. The man oozed sexuality from every pore. No wonder Heidi hadn’t been able to resist him. With his broad, muscular shoulders, chiseled cheekbones and hair the color of black velvet, he was every woman’s fantasy.

  Until recently, Luke wouldn’t have thought it possible to be so aroused by another man. He liked the soft, welcoming warmth of a woman too much to be swayed by a sculpted chest and rock-hard abs. But there was something about Varin that called to every part of him, and it went deeper than the primal hunger for human contact that gnawed at his soul.

  He had the desperate, sinking feeling that even if he’d met Varin at the Mall of America, he’d have been just as eager to take the man’s cock into his mouth.

  Luke reached his free hand down and slipped his fingers into the silky hair at the apex of Varin’s thighs. His mouth followed the path laid down by his questing fingertips. He buried his nose in the dark curls, inhaling Varin’s potent scent. The faint smell of sweat lingered in the man’s groin, but far from being unpleasant, it caused another jolt of sudden lust to clench in Luke’s sac, drawing up his balls against the base of his shaft.

  Varin released Luke’s hand, and Luke dug his fingertips into the man’s hip as his lips made contact with the head of Varin’s cock. He’d been careful to avoid the raging erection until now, but Varin’s rapid, shallow breaths encouraged him to seek the thick, inviting organ.