Page 77 of Coerced

The monstrosities strained against their leashes and made loud noises. She wrapped their leashes double around her wrist and pulled them back with a quick jerk.

“Stronger than she looks, huh?” Gigi tilted her head.

“Yeah.” Kerry nodded. “But a succubus’s real talent is luring you in close enough to cut off your head. Or worse, your balls.”

I barked out a laugh, and his reciprocal grin had nothing to do with humor.

“Give her to me and I’ll call off my pets!” The succubus was getting impatient.

“Gigi, you stay here,” Kerry said, and the two of us stepped forward.

At the same moment, a dull ripping sound came from behind us. I spun around. A long oval of utter darkness hung in the air about a hundred feet from our backs.

They opened a portalhere? Portals take massive amounts of energy and sacrifice. I can’t believe they were wasting one on us.

Right then, I heard Spin laugh, Jax curse, and Chance shout for Gemma and Travis to follow him. The succubus’ control must have broken with the distraction, as Kerry had predicted.

An enormous creature thundered out of the portal. It shook its huge head and snorted, then pinned its tiny eyes on Chance as he led Gemma and Travis toward a stand of fir trees.

“You take the succubus,” I hollered as I ran past Kerry. “I’ll take whateverthatis.”

“Behemoth!” he called back. “Soft in the belly!”

The ground shook as it ran, and I grinned in anticipation. This would be a good fight.

“Finally something your size, Rome!” I heard Spin shout. “Have fun!”

#

Kerry

“Shut up, Spin, and sink some arrows into it!” I snarled. “Maddy, the same with the monstrosities in front of us. I’ll take the succubus. John and Maddy with me, Jax and Tara with Rome. Gigi, go with Gemma.”

I didn’t look to see if they would follow my orders. If they did, they did. If they didn’t, I would die that much sooner. It was as simple as that.

And I was good with it.

Yeah, life really sucks when an eternity in Hell seems like it might be an improvement.

The succubus dropped the leashes and the monstrosities rushed into the fight, then she crooked her finger and motioned me closer. I knew better and stayed back. She tried to snare me in her gaze, and I avoided that trick, too. Then a flaming whip appeared in her hand and she snapped it at me, close enough to my face to feel the heat.

“Your friend is about to die.” She giggled and looked past my shoulder.

I took the dare and glanced around. Jax was working on the hyena, which had a dozen arrows sticking outta it, while the monkey thing charged at Maddy. Its fangs were bared and it was screaming. She screamed, too, but kept firing arrow after arrow into it. The demon inside had probably been banished already, but the monstrosity would attack anything now.

Just before it could slam into her, John tackled it from the side and they rolled across the grass. Maddy ran after them, an arrow ready to fly.

That was all I had time to watch. The succubus snapped her fire whip again and it wrapped around my arm. She yanked and spun me around to face her, only it wasn’t her. Tara grinned at me and tossed her hair.

“Wrong girl.” I shook my head and patted my sleeve to put out the fire.

I lunged for her, but she caught me in a hip toss and threw me to the ground. She lost her fire whip with the move, but was on me in a heartbeat, her hips astraddle mine and her hands pinning my wrists to the ground. Her features blurred until they morphed in Gigi.

“Nope.” I half-smiled. “Not her, either.”

Spiking up let me gain enough ground to twist my wrists out of her hold. I grabbed two handfuls of her blue-black ringlets and yanked her head back. Before I could snap her neck, though, she changed into Gemma. I paused for half a second and that was all she needed. Her emerald eyes snagged mine - and I was trapped.

“Ahh,” she purred and my hands slid into her hair for a different reason. “Thisis the one.”

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