DemonicPersuasion (3 page)

Fingers stroked the inner sides of her thighs and Fade
bucked back, meeting hard muscle and the firmness of Athanasios’ dick. She
gasped, trying to deny the swift ache that flared under her skin. “Who are you?
What are you?”

A pointed tongue teased her ear and shot a spike of need
down into her belly. “We are the Yalene. Caught here for centuries. Aching for
the right flesh.” Hands cupped her breasts, sharpened thumbs teasing over her
nipples. “And you are ours whenever and wherever we want you.”

“What?”

“No more questions.”

A dick sank deep into her pussy with one heavy thrust and
Fade bit back a cry. Her head bowed and she fought the sudden swell of raw
pleasure. What were they doing to her? The insane need for them to fuck her
clawed through her flesh and the second stroke into her body forced a low,
aching groan.

“Why me?”

The question burst from her. She didn’t want to distract
them, to question why they had to stroke her, kiss her, fuck her so very
thoroughly. But the strangeness of the whole thing…the Yalene weren’t bioware.
They couldn’t be, unless they were somehow projected from the pyramid dropped
at her feet—

Teeth nipped at her waist and she yelped. “
No thinking.
”
The order brushed against her scattered thoughts and a hot tongue licked over
the biting sting in her flesh.

Another tongue flicked across her pussy, curling and tasting
and only hard hands on her thighs and waist stopped her knees from buckling.
The dick thrust again, the conflicting press of a hard, male body, of stroking
hands and the nip of sharp teeth over her ass overwhelming her with sensation
and driving, hot pleasure.

“
Ours.
”

The word blistered over her, tightening the pressure that
had her legs shaking. Hands lifted her from the floor, spread her, teeth and
tongues and the pained pleasure of clawed fingers finding and playing every
inch of her body. The intensity stripped away anything she’d known before. Her
body, her soul was theirs.

A roar of satisfaction surged over her, igniting Athanasios’
release in a wild blaze over her own flesh and flaring her orgasm. She cried
out, her body arcing as Athanasios still fucked her, driving the heat and bliss
that coursed through her, twisting it, pushing her to a second, tighter release
that stole her breath and caught her heart.

“
Ours, body and soul.
”

Lips brushed her dried mouth and slow, stroking hands
lowered her until her feet touched the cool crystal floor. She dropped to her
knees, her forehead pressed against the coldness of the metal door. Her heart
still drummed, her breaths escaping in short puffs. Shaking fingers closed over
the dropped pyramid. She could leave it. Stop the insanity of her new and
invisible lovers. Her gut twisted. Give up such ecstasy? She couldn’t.

The heat of the light warmed her damp fingers and Fade
willed herself to stand again. She had to get to the transport and get home.
She didn’t trust Athanasios not to overpower her in the public rooms, to make a
spectacle of her…and she ignored the little traitorous thrum of her flesh at
the thought of him doing just that.

No, that wasn’t her. Foster watching her, that was one
thing—and the hot swell of her blood at the thought forced her to pause her
hand over opening the door—but a host of strangers? No. With her hand tight
around the pyramid, she pressed her hand to the lock and waited whilst it
opened.

The heavy scent of sex wove around her, igniting the dying
embers in her blood. She wove her way through the crystal-lit corridors, the
whispers of Athanasios burning against her skin. The ache was there for him,
them, to take her again. Which seemed impossible. How could she need them
again?

“
Your need for us will only grow.
”

Fade gripped the rail and fought to breathe. “
Not here.
”
The brush of taloned hands against her damp and bare hips forced her to suck in
sex-laced air. “
Athanasios!
” The name was a desperate hiss through her
thoughts.

“
You taste…
” A long tongue swept up her spine, hot
and wet and she couldn’t help but arch into it. “
Exactly as if you belong to
us.
”

Fade shivered. “
I’m not property.
”

With the creak of metal and fabric, a mechanized suit moved
from the shadows. A familiar voice broke into her thoughts. “Fade?”

She stilled and held the warm metal of the pyramid to her
belly. A hard squint into the visor covering the woman’s face and she saw a
fellow cleaner. “Caley.” She worked a smile across her mouth. “You’re early.”

“Shift change.” Caley leaned on the long pike of the washer
and let her gaze move over Fade’s almost-nakedness. “So you went ahead with it?
Foster is going to shit a brick. Ten of them. Are you taking vac-days? Tell me
you’re going into hiding.”

“I’m on duty again in six hours.”

Caley spluttered a laugh. “You’re insane.” She leaned in.
“What was it like? In the Cage?”

“I… It was…” Fade bit her lip, fixing her gaze on the bulky
cleaning suit, on the familiar toggles and snaps. She had to lie to her friend.
“I can feel the hum in my blood, on my skin…but what happened, I don’t know.”

Caley groaned. “People pay a fortune for the best fuck of
their lives. One they can never remember. Crazy. Though there’re those rumors.
That it can change you. Heal you.” She straightened, her gloved hand gripping
the pike. “Stay away from Foster.”

“I am. I will.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Fade closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. Silently she
also thanked whatever they were in her head for not touching her. She held back
a groan. Whatever this was, it would drive her insane. Maybe that’s why the
clients didn’t remember—

“
It’s not their right.
”

Air hitched in her chest at the deep, sure voice filling her
mind. And she had to ignore the need flaring warmth into her flesh at the
promise lurking in its words. She focused and her fingers flexed around the
pyramid, the sigils pricking at her fingertips. “
Where do you want me to
take this…gift?
”

“
It must stay with you. For now.
”

Fade ignored the little twist of regret that burned in her
belly. But she had to be realistic. She couldn’t have Athanasios as a permanent
fixture in her life. Her life was screwed. She had to stay unnoticed,
unobtrusive if she wanted to stay alive. There was also Foster. And how she was
betraying him.

“
Him.
” Derision thickened the voice and a sliver of
emotion, hot and angered cut through her thoughts. “
A man you’ve never had.
A man who refused you—
”

“
Enough!
” She snapped the word out and pushed herself
away from the rail. Bitterness put speed into her feet. “
I’m not discussing
him.
”

The silence in her mind was a relief and she couldn’t
question how Athanasios could know that. What else did he know about her? She
pushed her way into the service area, the wild thump of music and the scent of
sex thankfully dulled.

She wiped the sweat from her face and pulled in a cleansed
breath. Get changed and get out of the club. A shower could wait until she was
safely bolted into her tiny flat. She needed the safety of her own walls around
her. As dubious as that safety was.

Smog and dirt swirled around her in biting winds. She
squinted at the platform, working herself up to make the dash to her door.
Three seconds. That’s all it took to jump from the open door of the transport,
verify her tells, push her way into the room and lock herself in.

In a few heartbeats, it was done.

Fade leaned back against the thick door and closed her eyes.
In the club she felt safe. She knew the staff, the workers, and Foster’s
security meant there was never any trouble. In her room there was a dubious safety.
Metal walls she knew every part of, every dent, when a knock or clatter was
wrong.

She pushed away from the door, drew the silver pyramid from
the depths of her suit and set it on her small table. Light flowed from it in
rippling streams and the temptation to run her fingers over the strange script
tingled across her knuckles. She was a natural linguist. Languages came too
easily. Her hand curled away. Her skill had her on the run and people wanting
to kill her.

There was nothing she could do about it but accrue money and
buy herself another new identity—her Fadeyka Bryce persona was a fast grab and
brittle—a new face and genome listing. “Cleansing the beast” had brought her
closer to that goal. The light curve on the wall beside her bed hissed and spat,
but no new information had appeared. Whoever hunted hadn’t made planetfall.
Yet.

She stripped off the suit and threw it over a plastic chair.
The scent of sex on her skin drifted across the air filters and her heart rate
kicked up.

Athanasios had remained silent since the club, and for that
she was grateful. She could imagine the perverted joy the driver would get from
seeing her writhe on the backseat of his transport.

She stepped into her washing cubicle and the door shut
behind her. The thrum of the tank surrounded her and she lifted her face to the
first splash of water. Her hands against the smooth walls steadied her and the
weight of stress lifted.

“
Would you wash us away, Fade?
”

A squeak escaped, but the sudden thrill of want shot through
her. The need for him, them washed over her as quickly as the warm spray of
water. “
You
make
me want you.
”

“
The more we have you.
” A long tongue swept down her
spine and she arched into it, her flesh tight as it curled between her cheeks.
She hissed, the rush of water pricking against her suddenly sensitive skin. “
The
more you want us.
”

“
You’re an addiction?
”

Teeth grazed her backside even as clawed fingers skirted
over the backs of her thighs, rising to caress and part her lips, inviting the
sure lick of another tongue. Fade’s flailing hands smacked against the walls
and she groaned.

“
Aren’t we?
”

“
Yes.
” Her mental moan deepened as rough palms pushed
up against her breasts, claws flicking across her nipples. Already, the tension
twisting in her belly promised a fast, hot release. She licked her lips, her
throat drying with the thought that it’d be one of many—

All touch vanished.

Fade staggered, her unsteady legs flopping her back against
the wall. She cursed…and stopped. There was a noise beyond the cubicle, and not
one she knew. She snapped off the flow of water, pressed a fist to her chest to
fight the sudden rise of panic and stepped closer to the sealed door.

She stilled, her fingers curling into her palms and she
braced herself against the smooth wall of the cubicle. Her head dipped. She
fought to listen over the hard pounding of her heart. Of course this would
happen. That she’d be caught half-aroused and trapped, unable to escape.

Unhooking a towel, she wrapped it around her body, wincing
as her feet squeaked against the synthetic floor. The door flashed open and a
stranger lounged in the open doorway. Fear and the fading flickers of her
arousal ran through her.

Behind him, someone else moved. Two men. She had no chance
against two men. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Stheno, what’s this?”

The man before her glanced back. His partner had lifted up
the glistening pyramid and its silver light ran in a stream down to the small
table. “Bag it. Dolon will want it.”

Dolon. The man who owned the corporation for which she’d
worked. Her father’s cousin. And the scrupulously honest man who’d been hunting
her for the past four months because she was very aware that he wasn’t as
honest as his public image portrayed him. She’d read the encrypted evidence and
knew exactly who Aleander Dolon was. The upstanding citizen was also the head
of a vast criminal cartel.

Stheno looked back to her and a sharp glint cut his gaze.
“He will also want you. Alive was not in our contract.”

Terrified heat shot through her, bringing with it the
desperate urge to run. Her back hit the wall of the cubicle, her skin squeaking
against the synthetic. She wanted to scream. To cry for help. But she knew no
one would hear her. And if they did, where she lived no one interfered. Or
cared.

“Why does he want me dead?” The question came out in a rush.
Her attention darted between Stheno and his partner. Something caught in that
man’s gaze, a shining hint of silver, and it hitched her breath. “I don’t know
anything.”

“This isn’t a game, Zoya.”

Her old name. The one she had abandoned as she stripped away
everything in her life that Dolon could trace. Seems it hadn’t worked all that
well.

The other man joined Stheno in the open doorway of her
cubicle. He’d had the genetic grafts, it was there in the hard, sleek beauty of
his face and body. His head tilted and a dark smile touched his mouth. “We know
exactly who you are. Don’t insult us. As for what you know? We don’t care.”

“I…”

He held out his hand and light flickered across his
fingertips. “You’re ours.”

“Iasion, what the fuck?” Stheno frowned. “We agreed.
Interrogated, dead and wrapped for easy transport.”

Fade stared at the silver staining Iasion’s fingers. It
looked familiar… The pyramid, the pyramid she’d brought out of the Cage. The
one Iasion had just bagged. He’d touched it…and Athanasios had touched him?

She reached out, stroking over his knuckles and the bitter
hint of coal drifted across her senses. “Athanasios?”

Iasion’s fingers threaded through hers and he tugged her
forward. She hit his solid chest, the buckles of his great coat digging into
her bare flesh. “Lose the towel.”

Her heart pounded. What was she doing? This man was here to
kill her. His partner had just admitted their plan, but something, something in
the twist of silver through his dark eyes forced her to believe that Iasion was
no longer in control of his body.

Fade couldn’t look away from him. The heat, the want in his
gaze found a mirror in her own flesh. She tugged at the towel and let it fall
to the floor.

“I don’t fucking believe this.” Stheno turned away. He
kicked the frame of the cubicle, the dull sound of metal vibrating up the wall.
“We haven’t got time for you to fuck a mark, Iasion.”

“Hold this.” He handed his bag to Stheno. “And we have
time.” His large hand, rough with calluses, skimmed her spine down to her ass.
He squeezed and Fade jerked against him. “She’s ours for the taking.”

“Ours? I don’t want—”

“Don’t want what?”

With his free hand, Iasion attacked his buckles, his long
fingers deliberately brushing her breasts, her belly, stroking across her
pussy, before he shrugged out of his long coat and it followed her towel to the
floor.

Fade fought to breathe, her focus on his dark, mesmeric gaze
and the little hints of fire he wove under her skin. She wetted her lips, wanting
to believe that this was somehow Athanasios. That it wasn’t something woven
into his graft that had her falling under his spell.

Both his hands found her ass and he lifted her, easing her
over his exposed dick. She grabbed at his shirt, finding hot, hard muscle and
her chest tightened. Something in his touch, her touch of him screamed that he
was the same…being who’d been with her in the shower moments before the two men
broke into her flat. He was Athanasios and that fact tightened her thighs against
Iasion’s hips. It was insane not to care that there was another man in the
room. But she didn’t. She thought only of the creature who possessed the man
whose dick tormented her. And she wanted him, hot and hard inside her. This
wasn’t who she was, but she couldn’t, didn’t care.

Iasion’s wicked smile deepened. “Don’t want her sweet flesh,
Stheno?” He turned to find the nearest stretch of wall and Fade gasped at the
cold press of metal against her bare back. He ground himself against her, skin
against skin, and fire licked in her belly. “I know I do.”

Fade touched his jaw and the spark of heat coiled the want
in her flesh. Silver light crackled under her skin. “It’s you…” She murmured
the words against his firm lips, the taste of coal and bitter spices drumming
her heart.

“Maybe.” And he surged into her. Fade cried out, arching her
spine against his sudden, intense invasion. He pinned her to the wall, his gaze
fierce. “Maybe not.”

“How does she feel?” Stheno’s voice broke through the haze
of her thoughts. There was something different to it.

“Tight. Wet.” He ground against her, the rough material of
his trousers scratching the sensitive skin of her inner thighs and heightening
the feel of him inside her flesh. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Fade?”

She held on to him, one hand fisting his shirt, the other on
his neck, her fingers caught in his hair as she pressed her forehead to his.
“If you call an hour a while.”

He thrust up and Fade gasped, biting her lip to stop the
whimper threatening to escape. “Not a dick.” His fingers bit into the flesh of
her ass. “And never two.”

Darts of fire flashed across her vision and she arched into
him, taking him deeper as she met another of his fierce strokes. “Two?”

“You want that?” His voice was a low growl and he drew back
to slam into her again and the hollow ache in her belly screamed she needed
more. All of him. Over and over. Athanasios had said she’d crave him, but she
never thought… Another thrust and she cried out. “Tell me.”

Iasion increased his pace, his gaze spearing her and the
intimacy of that silver-edged look rushed fire thought her blood. “Do you want
him to fuck your mouth? Or your ass?”

Fade fought to breathe, the tightening coil in her belly
driving her to the edge of her release. How could she choose? Athanasios had
taken her, filled her, but it was nothing like the feel of flesh. “Both.
Please. Both.”

Her words were ragged, breathless and met with Iasion’s dark
laughter. “Good girl. But first…” He took her mouth in a searing kiss. He
tasted different, the sharp hint of Athanasios under the wet heat of another
man’s mouth. But it was enough.

She fisted her fingers in his hair and moved with him, rode
him, her mewls swallowed by his hungry mouth. The flash of heat burned up
through her body, her damp skin on fire and slick as she slid against the hot
metal wall. He surrounded her, his hands tight on her ass, the smooth rub of
his shirt against her breasts a sharp contrast to the rhythmic graze of rough
material against her thighs. His scent, dark and overlaid with familiar spice
filled her, scattering her higher thoughts.

He fucked her. Hard and fast. Taking his pleasure, giving
hers. His mouth…his mouth devoured her. No one had ever tasted or felt so good.

The wild flare of pleasure bloomed in her flesh, taking her
to the edge of her release. Holding her there, her need to come a tight and
burning ache hard in her belly. She ground down against Iasion, breaking her
mouth from his. “Make me come. Fuck me.” She gasped the raw words into the hot
skin of his neck.

“You need more.”

It wasn’t a question, but she didn’t care.

He turned, lifting her from the wall, exposing her…and new
hands grabbed her hips, urging on the hard rhythm of Iasion’s thrusts. The
bitter burn of coal swept around her and Fade arched into this second touch.
But still it wasn’t enough, the promised fire of her release tantalizingly out
of reach.

“Taste her.”

Iasion’s voice was a low growl and Fade groaned as Stheno
licked a line along her shoulder. “Sweet,” he agreed. His hand skimmed her
spine, the touch featherlight and adding a sharper edge to her need. Teeth
grazed her skin and Fade swore under her breath, Stheno huffing a laugh against
her shoulder. His fingers teased across her ass before dipping into the cleft.
“What should I do, Fade?”

“Fuck me.” A tremor shook her and the insanity in her flesh
only tightened. They were going to kill her. Just not in the way they
originally planned. “You have to…”

His mouth teased a slow line down her spine and a whimper
escaped her. She clung to Iasion, letting him take her as Stheno’s hands moved
over his partner’s, his tongue drawing tormenting patterns at the base of her
spine.

The promise of what he was going to do, of where his tongue
was destined rippled need through her flesh. His hands tightened, parting her
and the tip of his tongue teased down to her puckered hole.

Fade twitched, Iasion’s strong arms wrapped around her as
Stheno pushed his tongue into her hole. She cried out, the tight twist in her
flesh almost a pain now. All too quickly, he matched the rhythm of Iasion’s
strokes, but the quick, shallow darts of pleasure weren’t enough, not nearly
enough.

She bit Iasion’s shoulder hard to deny her scream of
frustration and Iasion’s “Take her” growled low and deep splintered a quick,
unsatisfying flare under her skin.

Bare, hot skin pressed against her spine and Stheno’s
knuckles brushed against her ass. “You want this.”