Page 56 of Vengeance and Vipers
I saw the gnarled, ancient trees from below in the daylight and realized how far from the main house I’d come through the tunnels. There was a collapsed staircase leading upwards that I was just able to make it through, and I thought that was it, that he wouldn’t find me.
But now, as I look around the forest, I realize two things. Firstly, he hasn’t put a time limit on the game, so we’re playing until he wins. Rookie mistake on my part. And secondly, what I at first thought was a large bird flying high in the sky … is actually him.
He dives down while I stare up in complete shock. I saw his wings in the dungeon a few times, but it hadn’t occurred to me that they actually worked. He’s fast, like a bullet headed straight towards me.
I finally make myself move and run into the thickest part of the trees nearby, my dress getting caught on brambles and slowing my progress. I hear him land in the clearing by the well behind me, just a low thud that’s totally at odds with the speed at which I saw him descending.
I peek around a tree, my heart in my throat. I’m shaking, terrified, but exhilarated too. It’s like tag, but instead of a light tap if I’m caught, I’ll be drilled with a giant demon cock instead. In fairness, I hadn’t understood that he was allowed to demon-up before I agreed.
I strain to listen. I can’t hear him, but that doesn’t mean anything. For such a hulking form, he’s surprisingly quiet now that he’s hunting me on foot through the forest.
I’m hiding in a dense thicket, holding my breath and trying to figure out where he is. I hear something, a noise I can’t quite make out, a thudding. It’s low and constant, thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump. That can’t be … aheart beating, can it? Impossible!
It gets louder. If it’s Krase, if it is his actual heartbeat that I can somehow hear, he’s very close.
I keep still, adrenaline pumping through me as I hide behind a tree. A twig snaps no more than a few steps away. He’s coming!
I push off the trunk and sprint, jumping over a log, following a vague animal trail while I try to stay away from the thorns and gnarls that keep slowing me down. I notice my hand is bleeding, and I errantly wonder if it has a scent he’ll be able to track.
A figure is suddenly right in front of me, and I smack into his hard chest, looking up with fearful eyes. Krase’s grin is languid, and his arm snakes around me, pulling me flush against him. He caresses my face and down my throat, pulls the neck of my dress out so he can see my heaving breasts. He groans and kisses me hard on the lips.
‘Try again, little rabbit,’ he breathes, letting me go. ‘Last chance.’
I turn and stumble away, my lips tingling. I try to stay off the paths, dodging branches and splashing across a brook that’s deeper than it looks.
I don’t know how long this has been going on, but I’m tired, and my lungs are screaming. Cardio has never been my thing.
There’s no sound behind me, but I don’t dare look back. There’s a structure ahead of me, a stone building. Maybe I can get back into the catacombs from there, and he won’t be able to find me. I head for it. I’m almost there, but as I break through the tree line, I trip, going down hard on the remnants of a stone path. I stifle my cry and get up, my knees definitely skinned. I limp the rest of the way to the building, but it’s just a shell, the roof open to the elements. There’s no door or windows, just holes in the crumbling stone walls.
I make my way around the periphery first to see if there’s any opening leading down, battling through tall weeds and wild rose bushes that scratch at me. A nature girl I am not, I decide.
I get to the doorway, hoping that there’ll be somewhere to hide inside, but I realize quickly that there’s nothing but more weeds and a stone slab that I suppose once served as a table. I turn to go, but a shadow looms over me, and I gasp as I’m grabbed around the waist and lifted off my feet.
‘Got you.’ He grins. ‘No more chances. You lose, little fuck toy.’
I struggle in the incubus’ grasp, kicking at him and throwing punches. He laughs and tosses me high into the air. I scream loudly, my body scrambling. He catches me, and I grip onto his massive forearms with all of my strength so he can’t do it again.
But he doesn’t. Instead, he puts me down, taking both my wrists in one hand and pulling them above my head, rendering me helpless.
‘Krase—’ I begin, but he doesn’t give me the chance to say anything.
He takes hold of the neck of my dress and rips it down to my waist, displaying my bra-less tits to his eyes.
I let out a cry of outrage and fear …and anticipation. A mortifying heat coils in my belly, a dirty little secret that I’m afraid he’ll somehow sense.
Do Ilikethis?
He casually fondles my breasts, plucking at my nipples and making a sound of appreciation deep in his chest when I try to twist away.
‘I’ve been waiting for this ever since I smelled your sweet scent in the cell,’ he rumbles. ‘To think I would have killed you and never known … Tell me, gràidh, have you been fucked by a demon before?’
I blink at him, still panting heavily from all the running and the shock of being caught. I shake my head a little, staring into his black eyes.
‘Good,’ he coos.
‘Let her go, Krase.’
I look past Krase to see Iron step into the building.
