Page 15 of Demon Bound

He looked up, water dripping from his face, and gave her a rather flat, disinterested stare before continuing his washing.

“Do you have one?” she asked.

This time, she thought his expression was one of annoyance. “All sapient beings have names.”

Not only could he speak, but he had quite the vocabulary for a monster. Was this how all demons spoke?

“I am Raiya,” she said. She had never felt so foolish introducing herself.

The demon brushed the water from his face. Rivulets ran from the sopping ink-spill of hair that clung to his neck. He stared at her for a long time, and she had the feeling she was being judged… or sentenced.

He waded toward her.

She forced herself to stand still as he approached. He seemed to grow larger with every step, and her fear welled up as if drawn by a pump. He put one hand around her throat—not tightly enough to hurt her, but enough to terrify her further—and took her wrist with the other when she started to resist. He pulled her down to the cold ground and knelt above her. His breath was dry and hot as desert wind as he inhaled her.

“Wait,” she gasped, pushing against his chest.

He laid his forearm over her chest to hold her down as his other hand dug into her hair, his fingers coming just short of causing pain as they pulled through the tangled strands. As he moved his face toward hers, she quickly turned hers away. She braced for him to put his mouth on her, to kiss her or bite her or tear her clothes off, but he just breathed her in, over and over, his eyes heavy-lidded. His lips kept coming close to her skin, but they never quite touched. His nose brushed against her occasionally, but it felt like an accident whenever it did. It was as if he longed to taste her, but held back for reasons she couldn’t guess.

Raiya’s panic ebbed. Fear. He wanted her fear. Nothing else. For the moment.

As her fear dissipated, the demon’s movements slowed, and after a moment, he pulled back to look at her. His eyes were blazing like otherworldly suns, but now that she was not brimming with terror, his hunger seemed to wane.

“Are you quite finished?” Raiya asked quietly.

The demon tilted his head a little.

It was foolish to be snide. Nirlan always said her tongue was too sharp for her own good. But if the demon cared about her attitude, he didn’t show it. He studied her for a long moment, as if she was as strange to him as he was to her.

And then he released her. He trudged to a nearby rock, where he sat down, looking oddly tired. Raiya sat up and straightened her hair. The ground had made her back damp, and now that the demon’s unnaturally hot skin wasn’t smothering her, she shivered with cold.

He was still watching her. But he did not seem about to devour her, nor pick her up again. Still trembling slightly with the adrenaline of the encounter, she opened her small pack. The demon’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, but he didn’t move to stop her.

She pulled out a threadbare blanket the color of slate and threw it around her shoulders. It was insufficient for Uulantaava nights, but it was all she’d been able to fit in the small bag. Also inside the satchel was a little money and, most importantly, her enchanting stylus and her old journal filled with rune translations and spells. Touching the soft leather cover of the book and the smooth steel of the stylus made her feel a strange combination of nostalgia and guilt. She closed the satchel without opening the book.

The demon had stopped looking at her. He seemed to be thinking.

“How often do you have to do that—feed?” She didn’t know what else to call it.

The demon’s eyes slowly shifted to her again. “I am always hungry,” he said. “And your smell is enticing.”

A chill went up her spine.

“Do you plan to return to the hells now?” she asked.

“No.”

It was what she’d expected. If she’d been summoned and trapped on another plane, she would want to find a way home, but demons were different. Their desires and motives were inscrutable to mortals.

She took a breath. “Are you… going to kill me?”

“No.”

The answer came surprisingly quick. It stunned her into silence. He could be lying, of course. He probably was. On the other hand, he’d given her no reason to doubt him so far.

“Why?” she asked.

He didn’t answer.

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