Page 30 of Dark Rapture
Once the darkness swallows the room again, my head crashes back against Daemon’s shoulder and his skilled hand brings me to orgasm so hard and fast that everything I fought to contain detonates inside of me.
The bomb goes off, and he bites the side of my throat beneath my ear, hard enough to draw blood.
I feel no pain as his sharp teeth puncture my skin, only white hot pleasure. The ecstasy is so intense it steals the breath from my lungs and consumes every inch of me. I writhe in his embrace, expecting to combust and dissolve into nothingness from the insane intensity of my pleasure.
I can hear dark chanting, reverberating through me as his energy moves over me. He is containing the fire, soothing it, willing it to be calm and contained inside of me.
I am lost, lost in the tidal wave of bliss that crashes into me mercilessly. Daemon holds me in his tight embrace for what feels like an eternity, until my body settles quietly in his arms. I am satiated like I have never been before, every ounce of stress and pain absent from my body. Just a glowing warmth, absolute safety, and vitality vibrating beneath the surface of my skin.
“I am so fucking proud of you, Selene,” he whispers against my ear, rocking me gently in his arms. “So many witches would have burned from the inside out attempting what you just did, but your body and soul were made for me. Together, there is nothing we cannot achieve.”
I melt under his praise, then blossom like a desert flower starved of water beneath the rarest of rain. The archaic inferno inside of me is no longer dormant, and I feel so alive I don’t know how to stop myself from chasing this feeling to the very ends of the earth.
Daemon wasn’t lying about my innate power, or how he could set me free. In that moment, I know without a shadow of doubt that tomorrow I am going to say yes to him. I will give myself to this demon, and he will take my very soul.
I wait patiently as he works, soothing my scorched soul and putting the necessary protection in place to prevent my inner magic from consuming me before I learn how to truly wield it. When he is finished, serenity washes over me like a balm.
Pressing a kiss to my throat, he shifts away from me and I am painfully aware of the cold space between us. “Wait,” I whisper out loud, fighting against the sudden wave of drowsiness that floods my body as exhaustion takes hold. “Don’t go.”
“You need to rest, little witch. Your body must recover,” he whispers, his voice suddenly becoming disembodied again, as though it is coming from a distance. “I’m always with you.”
Just like that, his presence dissipates. I feel the sudden absence of him like a weight on my chest, as though I can’t quite catch a full breath. Yesterday, I would have been surprised by this feeling. Not today. Not anymore.
The connection between this demon and I is as real as anything I’ve ever known, the roots of it reaching deep. As I lift myself up, swaying slightly on my feet, I remind myself that there is no going back from this. You cannot break this kind of connection to an ancient evil, not once it has taken hold.
Leaving the walk-in closet, I enter my bedroom, surprised to find it cloaked in the darkness of night. My eyes wander to the clock on my bedside table, unable to fathom how an entire day has passed me by when it felt like only an hour, maybe two.
9:13pm. I’m too exhausted for a shower, so I strip off what little I am wearing and climb into bed.
Exhaustion slams into me like a freight train, and within minutes of closing my eyes, I am lost to a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Nine
IfeelasthoughI am floating through a dreamlike fog, drifting endlessly in some sort of subconscious purgatory. It must be an eternity that I am there, trapped on the edges of sleep. Part of me wants to stay here forever, while the other part realizes that life hasn’t stopped and I need to wake up.
Drunk on the soothing silence of this place, I stay. It is not just my body that is resting, but my mind too. The peace I feel here is heavenly. My body is so exhausted, I know instinctively that I need this rest.
Although I plan to stay here and heal whatever invisible wounds need healing, something tears me out of my blissful state and thrusts me back into reality.
I jolt awake, shooting upright in my bed. My breath comes out in harsh pants like I just broke through the murky surface after diving deep into some dark body of water.
I glance around my bedroom, but it is still dark, and the orange glow from the street lamp outside casts an eerie light throughout the room. I turn my head to stare at my clock, frowning at the time.
3:33 am.
Seriously? This again?
I sit there, knowing that something woke me up. Fear bubbles in my gut, wondering whether it was Daemon or another errant demon. The silence that surrounds me is heavy, but nothing happens. I sit there for at least five minutes, but I don’t feel any presence, good or bad.
Sighing, I lay back down and pull the soft cotton sheets up around me. If something woke me up, it isn’t here now. Considering it was 3:33 am when I looked at my clock, I can only assume it was paranormal in nature.
My mind drifts towards thoughts of protection wards for my bedroom, and soon enough I am flirting with the edge of sleep once again.
Just as I feel myself slipping out of consciousness, I am shocked back into reality as my bed sheets are pulled down away from my body. I heave myself upright, using the surge of adrenaline to throw my back towards the baseboard of my bed, trying to clutch at the sheets that are now out of my reach.
My breath comes harshly, my chest tight from panic. I blink rapidly to clear the blurriness of sleep, my eyes shooting back and forth across the foot of the bed where my sheets are clustered together in a mess.
My room no longer feels empty. There is an oppressive darkness, a cold air that has found its way inside, threatening to turn my rapid breaths into hyperventilation.
