Page 17 of Demonchild

Damn, damn, damn…

Malissa shoved herself to her feet and quickly raced around the darkstone ring to the place where the grimoire lay. With trembling hands, she picked it up and flipped through the yellowed pages until she found the start of the summoning spell. She looked up briefly to make sure all five of the candles were still lit. Then she started to read. She was so nervous, it took her three tries before she finally managed to get all the way through the incantation without an error.

When it was over, she called out weakly to the empty space within the ring.

“Beliath?”

There was no answer, but she knew the demon was there. She could sense his invisible presence glowering at her from the center of the circle of containment.

“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I—I shouldn’t have banished you like that. It was very… veryrudeof me. It’s just that I got startled, that’s all.”

Still nothing.

Malissa knew from experience that the demon enjoyed making her wait. She had already summoned him twice before, and bothtimes he had toyed with her in a similar fashion. Only this time, Malissa sensed he was not playing around.

He was angry with her. Very angry.

“If you give me a second chance,” Malissa said, “I won’t do it again. I… Ipromise.”

Silence.

“Please,” she said, her voice cracking with desperation. “Please don’t be angry with me, Beliath. I—”

She almost said,I’ll do anything,but she caught herself at the last moment.

At last, the demon spoke.

“I’m not angry with you, my little queen. I am merely enjoying theview.”

Malissa immediately realized what he was referring to. She was using her hands to hold the grimoire, which meant that her naked breasts and loins were fully exposed to the demon’s watching eyes. She experienced a surge of embarrassment, and nearly dropped the book in her rush to cover herself, but she forced herself to set it down carefully, atop her spread out gown, before standing up again with her arms and hands covering the parts of her body she didn’t want the demon to see.

Beliath clucked his tongue.

“So modest,” he said mockingly. “But to what end? I’ve already seen all your body has to offer, and I’ll see it all again very soon. I’llfeelit too. Tomorrow night, those bountiful breasts will be in my hands, and that pretty little cunt will be stuffed full ofmy hard cock. What’s the point in hiding those things from me now?”

Malissa ignored the demon’s foul language. She was more interested in the implication of his words.

“So you will still…breedme?” she asked.

“Of course,” Beliath answered, and even though she could not see him, Malissa couldhearthe smirk in his voice. “But there’s still the matter of the payment which you owe me tonight.”

“A kiss,” Malissa said.

“Ah, but the price has gone up.”

“It has?”

“It has. To be precise, it has tripled. You now owe methreekisses.”

“But that’s not fair!” Malissa half shouted. “You said—”

“Iknowwhat I said, woman, but you betrayed our agreement by banishing me before I could get what I wanted. You do not wish to anger me further, do you?”

“You just said you weren’t angry,” Malissa countered.

The demon chuckled again, but this time there was no mirth in the sound, only menace.

“I may be the one trapped inside the circle, woman, but you’re the one whose life is at stake. Tomorrow night, we will mate. There are many ways that can transpire. Some of them are pleasurable, some are not. If you wish to get on my good side again, you can start by paying what you owe me—three kisses.”

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