Broken Halo (8 page)

      
Something
wet and pungent splattered onto her forehead and trickled down into her hair
tickling the skin in its wake.

      
“Oh,
damn. I do believe I have spilled my sherry,” Jude complained, though he
sounded thrilled to have soiled her hair with alcohol. She wondered if the
supposed accident had been intentional. She wouldn't put it past the brute.

      
Nimbus
winked at her while he spoke to Jude. “Don't worry; the table will wash.”

      
Sonya
blushed. She had been bathed by Demornae, which wasn't half as bad as being
scrubbed by the lecherous soul vampire, Jude, but god help her if Nimbus bathed
her. It was bad enough he was seeing her without her clothes right now. If he
touched her it would make her sick and probably break her heart in the process.

      
The
men dined and conversed as though she wasn't even there. When they finished and
Jude's slaves returned, he bid Nimbus farewell and mounted his two slave girls,
forcing them to give him a piggyback ride out to his waiting carriage. They
struggled under his weight. He was lithe and muscled, but the women were tiny
so it proved a challenge, but they succeeded.

      
That
was when Sonya realized she was alone with Nimbus; when burning anger became
raw, unadulterated fear.

      
“Have
you eaten today?” he asked.

      
Would
he show her compassion now that they had the house to themselves, or would he
only build upon the former ill treatment she had experienced these past two
days? “Not since the night before last.”

      
His
eyes were ambiguous, concealing his motives from her at present. “Are you
hungry?”

      
It
was a stupid question, but she had a feeling mockery was a bad idea right now.
“Yes.”

      
“I
will feed you, Sonya, but first you must feed me.”

      
She
gulped nervously. “You already ate.”

      
“I'm
not referring to that kind of hunger,” his husky timbre was scintillating as it
bathed her flesh in erogenous flames. “Sit on my lap facing me. Straddle me.”

      
Her
body trembled as she kept her face down and climbed into his lap, straddling
him. The bulge in his trousers brushed her crotch as she situated herself.

      
“Lean
back against the table,” he whispered.

      
Slick
heat gathered in her slit and she flushed with shame at how arousing his voice
was. She couldn't believe the seductive power in his face either.

      
He is a demon. He is a demon,
her mind repeated and the label helped to
stunt the slow birth of the ache in her pussy, but there was an enemy already
living inside of her - an inner demon that was very much a part of her soul.
Her heart opposed the knowledge in her mind with another truth that was equally
as solid:
But he used to be an angel – my
angel.

      
“Now
touch yourself,” he ordered.

      
She
grimaced. “I have never done so before.”

      
He
flashed her a sensual smile. “Would you like me to show you how it's done?”

      
“No,
thank you. I will manage.” She rubbed the tender protrusion, surprised by how
sensitive it was.

      
“Hold
my gaze while you masturbate, you filthy girl. I want you to know whose gaze
has you so inflamed with lust. I want the passion in my stare to scorch you
with sexual heat until your ripe, little cunnie oozes its cream for me.”

      
She
blushed, eyes darting away in embarrassment.

      
He
gently redirected her focus back to him. “Why don't you just admit that you are
sexually attracted to me? That you have fantasized about sleeping with me for
nearly as long as I have wanted to get my hands on you? You are so much better
than any dream or fantasy I ever had of you.”

      
His
admiration touched her, but the debauched way his eyes raked her body as though
it were his property made her feel even more undressed, if that were possible.

      
She
wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her make herself climax. She
closed her eyes and shook her body, groaning as though she were in the throes
of abandon.

      
His
eyes were a mixture of amusement and displeasure – a combination that rendered
her uneasy. “How was it?”

      
“Very
good,” she sighed. “Now may I eat?”

      
“You
will eat upstairs.” He lifted her from his lap, hand clamped down tightly on
her forearm as he carried a plate of food and led her upstairs into the master
chamber.

      
The
door closing and locking left her discouraged. Sonya tried to grab the plate,
but he led her across the room and shoved her forward so she was bent over a
bench. Her heart rate accelerated when he shackled her wrists in place. “What
are you doing?”

      
“I’m
punishing you for lying to me.” He retrieved the black walking cane leaning up
against the wall. A silver carving of a dragon adorned the handle instead of
the traditional balled top, “Do you really think an incubus can't tell the
difference between a real orgasm and a fake one?”

      
A
spike of fear leaped in her stomach. “I'm sorry.”

      
“Not
yet you aren't.” He caressed her posterior with the cane.

      
The
contact thrilled the nerves in her skin just below the surface of the wicked
instrument. “I was just so hungry.”

      
“I
know.”

      
She
screamed in shock at the sudden strike of death on her backside. The merciless
heat mingled with the biting pain and had her quivering in apprehension of
another blow.

      
“Did
that hurt?” His wry tone said he wore a smile from where he stood behind her.

      
Sonya
was furious. The pain gradually lessened, but her globes felt tender and heated
now. “Yes, it hurt, you vicious bastard.”

      
“Oh,
good. I would have graduated you to the bullwhip if it didn't. I can't have you
unresponsive to my touches no matter how passionate or violent.”

      
She
wailed as the cane whacked her twice this time, once on each butt cheek. He
would definitely leave marks on her. “Why?”

      
“Why
not, little flower? Do you have any idea how titillating it is for me beating
you like this? Or how lovely your taut, shapely ass looks when it’s blushing at
my violent touch? Or how rouged your facial cheeks will be when I touch you
intimately and bury myself in your virgin body? Tell me you don't want that.”

      
“To
be beaten within an inch of my life?” She cringed. Why couldn't she silence
herself? Her snide outbursts would only provoke him further.

      
He
leaned forward and breathed carnal heat into her ear in a sizzling whisper.
“Tell me that you don't want to join your body to mine.”

      
She
shivered, stifling the gasp of desperation that threatened to rear its horny
head under his indulgent tutelage.

      
He
ran his hands up and down her plump arms and nuzzled her neck with his soft,
yet scratchy stubble. Its punishing rasp was a guilty pleasure she relished
even as it threatened to mark her face with its punishing trail. This sudden
bout of cuddliness was sweet and endearing, summoning the spirit of romance
from its dormant slumber.

      
Sonya
couldn't be sure of anything in this drunken haze of sexual awakening, but it
did seem like her head tilted into his and nuzzled back. Or maybe she was only
doing that in her thoughts. She knew better in reality. Not that it was even a
battle. She didn't want it. Resistance would be simple. Getting food in her
belly again was looking to be a more challenging feat.

      
“Don't
tell me you have never entertained the idea.” He nipped at the place where her
neck and shoulder met.

      
She
flinched at the light pinch, unable to believe the way her snatch dripped with
delight because of him. It wasn't right, but it sure felt right feeling his
skin against hers like she always wanted it to be. The balmy wash of his tongue
loving on her left shoulder blade felt amazing.

      
“Do
you know how many times I felt the sexual energy permeating off your curvy
body, Sonya? Too many to count. I have masturbated and fucked other women to
fantasies of you and the ones I sensed you had of me.”

      
She
blushed at his knowledge and gasped when she felt his long, thick finger slip
into her cleft and palpate the silken heat therein. “You shouldn't touch me
like this.”

      
“Your
body says I should. It’s crying out for liberation from everything lawful. I
can sense how badly your cunt aches for consummation. I can hear your plump
clitoris pounding in my head like the steady beating of an erotic drum. It
says: 'Fuck me. Fuck me.' And I will, because it pleases me and because you
want me to.”

      
Sonya
jerked against her restraints, trying to shut out the sound of his steamy
whispers and deny the unprecedented effect he had on her body. She was so
aroused right now she was surprised she didn't burst into flames from the
unbelievable heat he scorched her senses with. “No! I can't want this! I mean I
don't! Let me go! I don't want you!”

      
His
finger retreated from her quim and she was greeted by the sadistic old foe of
his cane again. The impact felt brutal and twice as fierce as before, tearing a
bloodcurdling scream from her throat.

      
“You
are a bloody liar, Sonya! I like that, but I will not tolerate dishonesty from
you, not toward me. Extend it to whomever else you wish, though. Now take your
punishment like a good slave and stop protesting and cursing your master. You
may scream for me, though. It sets my libido ablaze to hear your spine-tingling
cries of suffering and desperation. You may thank me for the caning once I am
through with you. Then I will feed you while we bathe...together.”

      
Oh,
god. She would see him naked. He would touch her. She already knew this, but to
hear him say it made her even more...

      
Nimbus
reapplied the cane to her flaming ass cheeks making them throb with agony and
bloom with hellfire. She could feel him leaving welts as he stole the cries
from her. After a few blows she started to sob and begged him to stop. He
delved her three more thrashings, which irritated the hell out of her, before
brushing her raw, chafed buttocks with his fingers to soothe the tenderized
flesh.

      
Sonya
mewled in pain, her lidded eyes milking the tears. Her spirits lifted when he
brought the plate of food over. He left her fettered but fed her by hand, first
chicken and then biscuits and vegetables. She devoured the morsels like a
ravenous beast; trying to ignore the private intimacy eating out of his hand
was turning out to be. The way he played with her hair while feeding her and
cooed softly to her wasn't helping her despise him any easier. She could only
imagine what was going through his deviant mind right now.

***

      
Nimbus
was enthralled by the exotic beauty stripped bare for his wandering eyes. He
licked his lips when he thought of her body open to his will while she was
bound for his pleasure and forced to take the unforgiving penalty of being
caned.

      
She
looked utterly stunning with her hooded eyes and the delicious way her rose
petal-soft lips brushed his cupped palm while she ate from his hand. She
resembled an animal eating with her face practically shoved into her food and
completely dependent on him to give it to her like she was his personal pet.
Oh, but she was. Just what sort of pet he hadn't yet decided. He would observe
her submissive habits once he tamed her and decide which category she best fit
into. Tamed was probably too mild a word. Sonya was a fighter and would
inevitably have to be broken into the eventual, pliable state of absolute
surrender. Oh, but what a sweet, rewarding victory it would be once that
treasured day finally came.

      
He
never had a personal slave before. Many of the demons and vampires did for
sport and sometimes out of vengeance on a particular soul who had rubbed them
the wrong way, or jilted them at some point. Nimbus had punished and taken
advantage of the services of some of their slaves and pets, but he hadn't
really considered human companionship outside of his sexual needs as an
incubus. Truth be told, he felt it was the only thing they were good for. Aside
from that they were dumb cattle, easily led astray and distracted by whatever
diversion was thrown in their way. It proved a good deal of fun to watch, but
he didn't want to commune with the fools.