ValiasVillain (10 page)

“Did I ever mention that my father was a
Sensus
demon?”

He shook his head.

“Well, I guess…” She hesitated. “I retained a little of his
abilities.”

“More than a little, I’d say. You manipulated their auras to
bend their will.”

Okay, he was familiar with
Sensus
demons. “Yeah, um,
it’s more than that.”
Just say it, Valia. Fuck.
“I kinda bound their
auras to mine. And ya know, thirty years ago, well…”

His gaze narrowed as a muscle in his jaw ticced. “What about
thirty years ago?” he asked, his tone hard.

“I remembered. When Debol forced me to remember in my dream,
I saw—”

Understanding reflected in his eyes. “I see. That’s what you
did to me. That’s what all this is—has been,” he said coldly, his amber eyes
glinting with fury. He jerked up and moved off the bed, grabbed his funky pants
and jerked them on.

“No. Maybe. No. I—”

“Save it. I understand. You use that ability to get what you
want, when you want. Explains why I was able to kill Debol. Your
bond
overrode his. Nice trick.”

She jumped off the bed and faced him. “No. I didn’t even
remember until—”

“Undo it. Now. Release me,” he demanded.

She reached out to touch him but he jerked away from her and
she let her hand fall to her side. “I can’t.”

The fury and hatred in his eyes, in his aura, sent cold
shivers down her spine.

He sneered. “Can’t or won’t? Not done playing with your
Ferox
toy?”

“I swear. I don’t know how to undo it. I don’t even know how
the hell I did it in the first place. Rydin, I swear.”

“Figure it out,
Sempire
or whatever the fuck you are.
You have twenty-four hours and remember, I know where you live. You can’t avoid
me for another thirty years.”

With that, he disappeared and so did a piece of Valia’s
heart.

Valia slumped on the bed, feeling bereft. This was so not
her style but she couldn’t fucking help it. She liked that damn
Ferox
demon. A lot. They’d finally found some sort of groove and it had been ruined
by something she’d had no memory of until yesterday.

A knock sounded at her door and she hoped to hell it was her
mother with a
Sensus
demon to help her figure this out. She didn’t want
to release him, she realized, because then she’d lose him and that connection
forever. But she needed to do it. It was the only right thing to do.

“Come in.”

Araya cracked open the door with her hands over her eyes.
“Is everyone decent?”

“Geez, I’m the only one here.”

She dropped her hand and frowned. “What happened to Rydin?”

Valia tried to sit up straight and be the awesome specimen
that she was, but her shoulders weighed a ton and her lips refused to flash one
of her fabulous smiles. “He left.”

Araya sat down on the bed next to her. “By your expression,
I take it you’re not happy about it.”

Valia slammed her fist into the bed. “No, I’m not happy about
it. I’m… Araya, I’m sad. This is super shitty. My stomach is twisted. My heart
hurts. What the fuck is this?”

“Love?” Araya offered.

Valia snorted. “If love feels like this, I know why I don’t
do love. Fuck love. Fuck it right in the ass.”

Laughter burst from Araya and Valia gave her, what she
hoped, was a fantastically dirty look.

“Sorry, you just have a way with words.”

“Whatevs, it’s not love anyway. I—shit. I bound his aura to
me.”

“Huh?”

Valia told her sister everything about what had happened between
her and Rydin thirty years ago and about how the deranged Incubus had entered
her dreams and led her to the hidden memory.

“Oh, wow,” Araya said.

“Yeah, wow.”

“But you didn’t know what you were doing. How can he be
pissed at you? It’s not your fault.”

“Tell
him
that.”

“You like him anyway, don’t you? I mean, even if the bond
didn’t exist?”

“He’s bossy and arrogant and domineering and yep, I do. He’s
big and badass and he’s got mad sex skills. When he—”

“Yeah, I don’t need those details. Thanks.” Araya’s face
turned ten shades of red.

“Well, just sayin’.”

“So, you have twenty-four hours to unbind him?”

Valia nodded.

“You know any
Sensus
demons to help teach you?”

“No but Mother does.”

“Well, maybe once you unbind him, he’ll be in a better mood.
Then you can talk or something.”

“Maybe.” She’d like to think so but he’d been angrier than
she’d ever seen him and seriously doubted it. “Anyhoo, how’s the
Sempire
we rescued?”

Araya scrunched up her face. “Freaking out. Fin tried to
console her but she freaks out worse when he’s around her.”

“Yeah, I guess she’s freaked out by what he is,” Valia said.
“It doesn’t bother you does it?”

“No. I mean, he’s always been there, like a big brother for
both of us. I was shocked but I’ve always loved him.”

“Me too. Our brother, the abomination. It’s kinda awesome.”

“It is,” Araya laughed.

“That
Sempire
is screwed though. Addicted to an
Incubus. She probably only has three or four days to live.”

“I know. Mother’s looking for a way to help her but no one
has ever heard of a cure for that. Do you think she would have been better off
with Debol?”

Valia snorted. “You were willing to die for love,” she
sneered as she said the word, “wouldn’t you rather die than be an abused
slave-pet of a crazy Incubus?”

Araya sighed. “Yes. Definitely.”

* * * * *

Luckily, her mother had a good relationship with Raimee, a
Sensus
demon, who sometimes worked with Talith on her films. Talith’s very lucrative
business was making demon fetish films. Valia wasn’t sure if Raimee starred in
them or what and hadn’t gotten around to asking for details.

She met with Raimee in the theatre room. Even though Raimee
had been a bit reluctant to share the secrets of
Sensus
demons, they’d
hit it off and she’d quickly taught Valia how to unbind Rydin.

She practiced on the two guards from Debol’s lair. It had
taken her thirty minutes to unbind Aidor and she hadn’t been able to do it
until Raimee slapped her in the face. She’d almost torn the bitch’s throat out
but Raimee used her
Sensus
abilities to manipulate Valia’s aura and help
her channel her anger toward the unbinding. After that, she’d unbound the other
guard in a matter of minutes.

It was comparable to weaving colors with your mind, or in
this case, unweaving, and the stronger your emotions at the time, the easier
and faster the process worked. That explained why she’d been able to manipulate
the auras of Debol’s guards. She’d been out of her mind with anger and worry
when they attacked Rydin.

Aidor actually offered to stay and work for Valia. Said he’d
rather live here than return to the demon realm. Valia wasn’t really interested
but had taken him to her mother knowing Talith would find something for him to
do. He was a cutie too. If she could get Rydin out of her head, she might
invite him into her bed next time she needed a feed. She sighed. The idea held
no appeal to her. What the hell had that
Ferox
done to her?

* * * * *

Rydin returned in exactly twenty-four hours. He’d burst into
her bedroom from the balcony door and promptly startled the crap out of her.

“Rydin!” she gasped. “You really need to get with the
twenty-first century and get a cell phone. Warn a lady you’re about to burst
into her room.” She still saw the fury in his eyes and in his aura. Twenty-four
hours hadn’t tamed it at all. She wanted desperately to lighten his mood, to
see his eyes shine with desire for her again. He glared at her, standing there
looking all yummy, even in his anger.

“You are no lady and I already warned you I’d be back in
twenty-four hours.”

Ouch
. Well, it was true, no one ever accused her of
being a lady but damn, it kinda bugged her coming from him. She didn’t let it
show and continued trying to defuse his anger. “True, just didn’t expect…” she
shrugged. “Whatevs, so whatcha gonna do with all your free time now? You must
be excited.”

“I’m not here for small talk. Unbind me. Now.”

She gave him her best pout. “Well, you don’t have to be such
a grouchy-pants about it. I told you I didn’t even know I’d done it. Geez.” She
huffed.

He closed the distance between them and gripped her
shoulders painfully. “You’ve caused me nothing but trouble. You cost me years
of my life. You bound me to you and forced me to feel things,” he shook his
head, “to do things. If my pants are grouchy, it’s your fault. Do you
understand, female? Do you understand that what I want to do—what I should
do—is snap your neck?”

Valia’s skin heated beneath his painful grip, his touch
awakening her want for him. Even in his fury, in his obvious hatred of her, she
wanted him still. It scared her, this wanting and she hoped to hell the
unbinding diminished it. It had to because she didn’t think she could stand to
continue wanting him so much and not being able to act on it.

“I tried to make up for it. Ya know, by helping you to
eliminate your contract. Remember that? Huh?” she taunted.

His eyes closed. She sensed him trying to rein in his
tempter. When his lids rose, his grip on her shoulders relaxed a little. “Why
did you do that?”

“Told ya. I felt guilty after remembering and I wanted to
help you.”

He huffed. “More likely you wanted your
Ferox
toy to
yourself.”

She reached out her hand to rub across his cock. “Well ya do
have an awesome toy.”

He shoved her away. “No more games.”

She walked up to him, frustration getting the better of her,
and poked him in the chest. “You’re a party pooper and kind of a dick. You know
that? Hello, big scary
Ferox
demon. If I was playing games with you, I’d
just manipulate your aura right now. But I’m not. Maybe I should. Whatcha gonna
do then?” she said defiantly, poking him one more time. She knew she probably
shouldn’t instigate more nasty feelings in him, but he was pissing her off.
They had some fun together, shared a connection and he was acting like an ass.

His hands clenched at his sides, a vein throbbed erratically
at his temple. “Do not push me, female. Unbind me now.”

“Fine!” She yelled.

Her anger and annoyance at him made his aura shine brighter,
the strands and spots of color illuminating the weave of their bond. It was
beautiful—shades of reds, blues, yellows, purples and grays twined together in
a delicate but definitive connection. It seemed a shame to undo it, to unravel
something so extraordinary.

She called on her lessons with the
Sensus
demon, and
mentally manipulated the colors, unweaving the reds from the yellows, the
yellows from the blues, the purples from the grays, rearranging them—freeing
them from the weave—letting him go. With each strand she released, a cold void
took its place, weighing her down, making her feel hollow.

They both gasped and staggered as she plucked away the last
strand and the bond broke. The sense of loss and emptiness threatened to
consume her.
Holy shit.
It was as if a chunk of her soul had been ripped
from her body and an insane need to cry bubbled inside her.

Rydin shook his head as his hand flew to his heart. “Fuck”
was all he said.

“Yeah, fuck,” she agreed.

They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity and
then Rydin disappeared without another word.

* * * * *

Free. Rydin no longer had that contract keeping him a
prisoner, was no longer stuck in the demon realm and he could feel the sunshine
on his face any damn time he pleased. He could stay in his home on one of the
Rock Islands of Palau. No more Incubus, no more
Sempire
. A new life
awaited him and he couldn’t wait to start living it.

He’d saved a lot of money while working for Debol, his main
mission having a home of his own in the human realm. It was a simple two-story
bungalow on his very own private oasis. He’d built it himself and it had taken
a damn long time because he was only able to work on it for very short periods
because of the restrictions of his former bond to Debol.

He walked through the front door and fell into the huge
chair he’d custom made from wood he’d collected from the demon realm. The
extra-thick cushion was wrapped in a leatherlike fabric. One gold pillow sat
atop the cushion. He’d bought it on a whim while buying sheets for his bed
while waiting the twenty-four hours he’d allotted Valia. The gold reminded him
of her eyes.

He jumped off the chair, frustrated, when his mind treated
him to an image of how Valia would look spread out on the chair, wearing
nothing but…nothing. Her blazing red hair splayed over the arm, her wicked
smile as she gazed at him, her supple tits begging to be licked, her delicious
pussy wet and ready for him.

He took the stairs up to the second level, through the
bedroom and stepped out the door onto the wood-railed balcony. Thick trees
surrounded the bungalow, some hosting coconuts, some sea grapes but through the
trees he had a view of the sun, sand and crystal-clear water. He inhaled the
salty air and sighed. Free. He could hardly believe it.

Free in more ways than one. He was finally free of the
Sempire
too, no longer bound and feeling that incompleteness, that void he’d never
understood. He could live the life he wanted now and maybe he’d even find a
female or three to keep him company. His lips tugged downward when that image
failed to inspire him.

Rydin gritted his teeth. He was lying to himself because he
did feel it, worse now than before. He didn’t know if it was aftereffects of
the unbinding, but he still felt incomplete. When she had broken the bond, he’d
experienced intense loss from deep within and it still hadn’t subsided. He’d
wanted to grab her and hold her to him, fill that void with her essence.

Damn. Stop thinking of her
. He walked back into the
bedroom trying to distract himself by looking around, making mental notes of
items he needed to buy. He’d built the king-size bed that was custom made from
the same wood as the chair downstairs, but it still sported the same type of
sheets that he’d had in his home in the demon realm. Scratchy sheets. Because
of Valia, he’d learned the luxury of expensive sheets. He ripped them from the
bed and put on the new, gold ones, rubbing his hand across the softness. An
image of Valia, tangled in them after he’d thoroughly sexed her up, heated his
blood.

It was no use. He saw her everywhere he looked. How would
she decorate the place? Would she choose items as bold and fiery as her
personality or would she choose soft, feminine items? Would this home be good
enough for her? He shook his head, trying to stop the incessant thoughts.

Damn her to hell.
He could do whatever the fuck he
wanted but all he could think about was her.

He wanted to port back to her, cuff her, port her back to
his home and lock her up. Keep her for himself. Forever. But it was only the
damn bond she’d forced on him and he’d forced her to remove. It had to be. It
was the only explanation for all the feelings coursing through him, the sickly
feeling of losing a part of himself. It would subside. It had to. But when?

To hell with it. If he had to feel this way until the
aftereffects wore off, she could damn well ease him through it. Before he had a
chance to talk himself out of it, he ported to the veil.

* * * * *

Valia lay on the balcony outside her bedroom on an oversized
chaise lounge, pretending she felt fantastic. Okay, trying to pretend but
failing. She’d considered spiffing herself up and hitting a club—it was
midnight somewhere—but she couldn’t muster up the motivation. If the thought of
smokin’ hot sex with yumalicous males failed to perk her up, she knew she was
in trouble.