Page 109 of To Crave Deeply
Okay, I could do that.
I crouched down in front of him, so that I was eye level with him. His eyes were a dull brown and devoid of emotion. He’d cut himself off from them to stop feeling them. Oh, what fun I was going to have with this one, I thought with a wicked grin.
I grabbed his chin and my long black claws pushed into his cheeks. I forced his eyes to lock with mine and I started opening the connection with his mind. There wasn’t much at first, just his name and a few minor memories.
“Hello, Gideon. Do you know why I’m here?”
He licked his lips and chuckled. “Are you my last request?”
“Unfortunately not. I’m here to play.” I fully opened the connection to his mind and walked around the memories until I found what I was looking for.
Deep in the back of his mind was a little wooden box.
“What do we have here?” I mused aloud. Fear sparked in his dull brown eyes, and I knew I’d found the memories I needed.
“No. Don’t,” he pleaded.
“Uh-uh,” I tsked. “This isn’t how the game is played.”
He resisted my attempts to open the box and I flooded the connection with more power.
“Stop!” he shouted, panic creeping in and making his voice waver.
I was so close. I could taste it.
I kept pushing against his barrier. His body started to squirm and buck as he fought my hold on his mind. The anticipation of finally breaking through was building inside me and the adrenaline was pumping around my system. The fact that my victim was resisting and fighting me was just adding to the thrill of it all.
With one final push, the box exploded and everything he’d hidden in there burst forward. And oh, how magnificently wicked those memories were.
Everything from rage to shame, guilt and regret poured into me and I devoured every single drop. There was so much of it. So much bloodshed. So much death. So much horror.
He screamed as I forced the images to the forefront of his mind and made him relieve every single one. Every murder he’d committed, but I saved the best until last. The day he murdered his family. My own horror at his actions filled me and a new determination to make him suffer sprung to life inside me. I ripped his mind open; I didn’t care that he was screaming in agony and terror. This monster deserved to die.
Once I’d burned through his memories and all his sins, I pushed further, exposing the golden ribbon of his soul. I pulled at the thread and watched in delight as the life inside him faded. I savoured the moment the last wisp of his soul left him, and I threw my head back in bliss as I felt the dark energy run through me.
I felt… euphoric.
I hummed with pleasure, with delight and desire. My demon purred in satisfaction as I stood and left the dead husk of the witch at my feet. I turned to the others and found Iveri grinning at me and Alec looking at me with something I couldn’t quite decipher. It seemed to be a mixture of curiosity, fear, and desire. It had my core suddenly clenching with need and I wanted to throw myself at him.
“Come on,” Iveri said, a smile still curling her lips. “We need to get you back upstairs so you can summon Lucifer before you waste all that energy on lover boy over here.”
“I wasn’t… I hadn’t…” I choked.
“It’s written, plain as day, on your face. You’re practically growling at him,” Iveri chuckled.
A flush crept up my face and I had a hard time maintaining eye contact with Alec.
“She’s right. About the need to get back upstairs,” Alec spluttered. “Not about the growling.”
“Nope,” Iveri said, clearly enjoying watching the two of us squirm. “She definitely growled at you.”
“Let’s just go,” I finally said, walking out of the cage and back the way we came. The sooner I was out of here, the better. I didn’t want to think about how much I enjoyed consuming that soul, or how much I wanted to do it again.
***
“Lucifer,”I called out through our connection as I pushed all the dark energy into the soulbond.“It’s time.”
There was a faint flutter behind the mark on my chest and I knew Lucifer was on his way. I turned to the others in the room. “He’s coming.”
