EXCERPT: Evanne Lorraine's A Very Demon Valentine's Day
An Excerpt from A Very Demon Valentine's Day
Evanne Lorraine
Genre: BDSM Paranormal
Length: Novella
Price: $4.99
http://www.loose-id.com/Demon-Hunters-2-A-Very-Demon-Valentines.aspx
Miranda has crushed on Tey forever. Demon biology, great timing, and a scarcity of female demons conspire to make mating with the earth demon irresistible. Saving Tey's life gives her cart blanche to love Tey. If he loved her back she'd be thrilled, but he doesn't even like her.
Tey avoids inhaling around Miranda because her scent is an aphrodisiac amping up his already out-of-control sex drive. Faced with imminent mating mania and Miranda's proximity, he succumbs to temptation. After he bonds with her, his priorities change, but he's determined to do the honorable thing and keep her from mating to him. If lust wasn't fogging his mind and if he could keep his hands off her, then he might save her from a lifetime of regrets.
Mutual respect, trust, and lots of hot sex will eventually make two very stubborn demons realize how perfect they are for each other, if they can survive long enough for their own kinky little Valentine's Day miracle.
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual situations, graphic language, and material that some readers may find objectionable: anal play/intercourse, BDSM theme and elements ((which may include scenes of bondage, spanking, and other elements practiced within a BDSM lifestyle).
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Black velvet, gilded by the sparkle of a few stars, cloaked the winter night's sky. A ghostly, waning moon lingered in its infinitesimal slide toward the eastern horizon. There were still hours to go before the tardy sun would put in an appearance as Miranda approached the employees' entrance of La Ceinture Noire, or LCN as she and the rest of the staff referred to the exclusive BDSM club.
The stiff breeze whipped her coat around her knees and helped her stay awake. She unwound her scarf, shifted her mocha grande to her left hand, and removed a glove with her teeth in order to hold her right thumb to the scanner. A faint buzz announced the lock's release. At the quiet sound, she shoved the bar and slipped inside the building. Her heels tapped out a businesslike tempo as she hurried down the chilly hall to the elevator.
Yesterday had been a typical, frantically busy Saturday, which had included her working later than usual last night. On any other Sunday, she would have slept in and then enjoyed a late leisurely brunch. With the Valentine's Day celebration only two days away, she was on duty hours earlier than usual.
She tensed as she neared the elevator. Silly to let the metal cage trigger her claustrophobia. After all, she rode the damn thing at least twice a day. She rolled her shoulders to loosen the tension and strode ahead.
Thoughts of the business helped keep her mind off the coming ordeal. She loved being part of LCN. The success of the club was vital to the whole demon community. Demon males had supercharged sex drives that grew stronger as they neared sexual maturity. Since they couldn't achieve release by their own hand and female demons were rare, willing bodies -- usually humans' -- and erotic dreams were their only relief from constant arousal. With this volatile market of unmet needs in mind, Duec, her boss had founded LCN.
A decade later, the club's amazing popularity continued to grow. The exclusive fetish venue offered a meeting place for a large population of eager submissives. Basic demon biology provided the club with a steady stream of masterful Doms -- primarily male demons who weren't part of the demon-hunter cadre, aka civilians.
Given the acute shortage of female demons, Miranda should have had her choice of masterful demon males. Maybe in different circumstances or a perfect reality she would have, but she only had eyes for one male, in or out of the club, Tey Durron.
Every demon hunter, except for him, treated her like a favorite kid sister. Civilian males seldom crossed her path. Those that did either worked for the club or Duec, and they treated her with the same kind of careful, hands-off respect they would show any honorable male's unmated young sister.
While she spent her days and a good part of her nights at LCN -- kink central for humans and demons alike -- working as Duec's assistant put her in a strictly off-limits zone. She was as cosseted as a temple virgin. She rolled her eyes in self-mockery.
The elevator was right in front of her. The floor numbers descended. She would not chicken out and take the stairs.
The elevator settled with an ominous hiss. The doors opened, and Tey strode out.
In an instant, her body went both softer and tighter as her heart raced. She took a quick sidestep to avoid collision with the delicious-smelling male.
Since he lived a few floors beneath street level, seeing him was an everyday occurrence. She'd never gotten over the thrill. This morning, Tey was as tall, dark, and mouthwateringly delicious as always. A thick black mustache emphasized his lush, cruelly beautiful mouth. Visible beard shadowed his rugged jaw, making him look even more lethally sexy.
Either he was up unusually early or else he hadn't been to bed -- at least not to sleep. With his remarkable demon constitution, no matter how he abused himself, no trace of debauchery showed. His usual long, rapid strides caused his black duster to flap behind him, making her hope for a glimpse of his tail.
Silly me. His tail is hidden by his glamour, just like my horns.
His midnight eyes flickered over her for half a second. Strongly shaped eyebrows lowered, and he nodded in her general direction as he moved past.
Once again, he'd caught her gaping at him like a newt. Even the brief encounter made her pulse race in excited welcome. Somehow she responded to him with an intensity no other male -- not even another earth demon -- evoked. She ignored her traitorous body. Too late to impress the male with her fake indifference, she inclined her head in the same brief dip he'd given her. Good morning to you too, Mr. Warm and Fuzzy, Sir.
Tey wore irresistible like a designer fragrance. Too bad he was such a terminal jerk.
Still, she'd give a month's pay to see his demon form. She swallowed a sigh and chased it with a gulp of her cooled mocha grande.
She gave herself the familiar lecture about youth giving her time to outgrow her stupid infatuation with the handsome male. Someday she would get over her pointless crush and find a male of honor worth mating. Familiarity with Tey hadn't diminished her one-sided attraction. With a small headshake at her own foolishness, she stepped into the elevators and pressed the third-floor button. The doors whispered shut, and the plush cage ascended.
Then the sealed elevator triggered her aversion to small spaces. Mooning over Tey took a backseat to fear as she breathed through the daily trauma.
By the time Miranda crossed into her office, she'd shaken off the hopeless longing for the impossible male. A smart female wouldn't waste her time on an unrequited attraction. Bright about most things, she couldn't seem to move past her crush.
The problem with Tey, besides his total irresistibleness, was that every once in a while, when he didn't think she was looking, she'd caught him staring at her with the same kind of bitter yearning she knew too well. This thin excuse for hope kept her dreaming that someday he would get over whatever it was that kept him from sweeping her into his arms.
Right, it's official, I've lost my mind in a rare case of insanity brought on by constant lust. Her lips quirked with self-deprecation while she turned on lights, shed her coat, and put away her handbag.
Once comfortably seated at her desk, she sipped her now drinkable coffee and logged on to the club's network. She cued up Saturday night's video streams. Ten minutes later, she was still scanning images, suppressing a yawn, and waiting for the caffeine to kick in and give her sleepy brain a jump start.
The security camera focused on Tey, and suddenly she was alert and quivering with a tingling awareness. His right hand cupped a sub's nape. The woman had to take two steps to every one of his to keep up as he herded her to one of the private rooms on the level below the main dungeon.
Miranda's stomach clenched with relief or regret, she wasn't quite sure which. Maybe a little of both.
Tey occasionally played in one of the glass scene rooms. More often, like this time, he'd chosen an unmonitored private space. Although most of the club, including the restricted access playrooms, were equipped with cameras, only trusted members were allowed in the private area, and the dungeon master on duty seldom overrode the nonsurveillance settings.
When Tey crossed the threshold with his sub in tow, Miranda reached for the mouse, ready to click to the next video file, but the display stream flickered and then continued. For some reason the motion-activated cameras were live.
"This is going to get messy. Do you want your harness on or off?
His deep voice reverberated through Miranda's body as if she were the submissive in the room with him.
The sub of the moment knelt in front of him, arms locked behind her back, and her toned thighs spread.
"Off, Sir."
Miranda's stomach clenched again, this time in envy. She recognized Diane's toned curves and trademark leather harness. Although the woman was far too pretty for Miranda to like her, both she and Diane showed a discriminating appreciation for Tey's numerous charms.
The submissive was a regular at LCN and practically a demon-hunter groupie. To be fair, the submissives, including the much-too-lovely Diane, were attracted to the hunters' male beauty, obvious strength, and powerful dominance. The women had no way of knowing they were playing with the world's deadliest predators.
Tey bent for a second. His hand brushed the hem of his jeans in a blur of speed too fast for the camera to track. When he straightened, a knife blade gleamed in his right hand.
"Are you going to cut me, Sir?" The beautiful woman sounded much too eager and too pushy as she added, "I would love to wear your mark, Sir."
"No marks. Don't ask me again. If that's what you need to get off, you're free to leave."
Miranda bit her lip and shook her head at the screen. If she lived to be a thousand, she would never understand humans. Most submissives knew better than to push their agenda on one of LCN's Doms. Perhaps rejection and humiliation were part of the appeal for Diane.
"I meant no offense. Please forgive me and let me stay, Sir."
"Not into blood. Stand up," Tey muttered.
His repressive tone made Diane bow low before him. Her muffled words sounded sincere and contrite. "Grant me another chance to please you, Sir."
She rose with fluid grace and stood with her arms straight out and her legs shoulder-width apart. Her mouth was pressed shut, her nipples jutted stiffly, and her breasts jiggled with each rapid breath she took.
Tey sliced through the leather straps circling her smooth skin and then slid the knife back into his boot. He left the strips of leather where they'd fallen and didn't seem to notice the gold chain dangling from her trimmed snatch.
Imagining where the chain led and the pain involved in such an intimate piercing made Miranda cross her legs a little tighter.
After blindfolding Diane, who he'd yet to address by name or even a friendly endearment, he spread a drop cloth over a raised platform.
"Get up there. On your hands and knees. Keep your arms away from your body and your thighs spread."
Instead of telling him to stuff it, Diane scrambled to obey.
His voice was as smooth and seductive as melting chocolate, but the restraints and not knowing what would happen next made Miranda edgy. Perhaps they'd negotiated the whole scene ahead of time, but somehow she didn't think so.
Tey secured her in place with sturdy leather restraints and padded cuffs around her wrists and ankles. After testing her bonds, he picked up a ball gag and tapped her lips. She opened wide to accept the rubber ball.
Before inserting the gag, he said, "I don't want to hear anything from you unless you want me to stop. If you use your safe word, we're done. Nod if you understand me."
The submissive bobbed her head eagerly and opened wide, showing a reckless unconcern about making herself understood around the rubber plug, or else she was confident she wouldn't need to stop him.
His face remained a stony blank and his eyes black as he stuffed the ball into her mouth and tightened the head straps.
The male's obvious lack of interest in Diane, despite her willing submission, made Miranda cringe for the woman.
He reached into his toy bag and pulled out a plastic squeeze bottle of baby oil, several candles in different sizes and colors, and a box of matches. Then he arranged the materials well away from the bound sub.
Diane hummed around the ball stretching her mouth as the first drizzle of oil hit her spine and rolled down the cleft dividing her bottom. Her slim hips jerked at his first match strike.
The same snap of the coated match head against his nail made Miranda cringe again. She could practically smell the faint whiff of sulfur, and her breath caught in queasy anticipation as he lit an ordinary white candle. The wick caught, and fire bloomed. Almost at once, hot wax pooled and beaded below the flame.
For a fire demon, Miranda was a little skittish around blazes, even tiny ones, and she hated the idea of being burned.
Obviously Diane didn't share the same prejudices. Her bottom arched, ensuring the oil coated her already drenched channel and dripped down the delicate gold chain, which dangled from her clit, or maybe its hood, and swung between her spread thighs.
The camera rotated to follow Tey's movement and then refocused on him. Miranda watched mesmerized while he tested a drop of wax, rolling the warm bead between thumb and index finger with the same kind of disinterested expression her air demon father had worn when forced to deal with anything other than one of his intricate technical problems.
Where was his sensuous warmth? Earth demons were known for effortless seduction. Tey had always simmered with that sultry layer of eroticism.
Now Miranda shivered just from watching him, grateful that his sub was spared the sight of his indifference. Perhaps distance made him attractive to this slave. Uncomfortable parallels with her own unrequited crush pushed Miranda to consider the possibility fairly. Earth demons stoked lust in others with the same ease that she called fire.
Although Tey's features remained cold, the submissive gave every sign of being wildly aroused by his attentions. Given his demon gifts, his influence might well go far beyond anything the remote surveillance lens could capture. Or maybe the answer was that his submissive wanted him to be cruel.
The camera panned again as the first drops of hot wax hit the small of Diane's back. She writhed sensuously against the leather restraints.
Hot white wax dripped hardening trails in arcs from her back down her bottom and along both hips. Tey extinguished the white candle before lighting a black pillar and then adding an overlay of lacing swirls. After inspecting the design, he relit the white column and dropped lazy beads between her red cheeks. When a tiny blob of the hot wax splashed on her distended clit, she went rigid.
Unable to bear another second of the recorded torture, Miranda finally found the strength to click off the video feed. A real-time view of the parking lot was displayed. She sighed with relief at the blessedly quiet asphalt.
Shaken by the video she should never have watched, she occupied herself by cleaning her boss's office. The sensitive nature of his activities meant the discreet civilian cleaning service they used for most of the club wasn't allowed access to his private suite. Duec was frighteningly tidy, and Miranda didn't mind the light chores. As always, the routine housekeeping soothed her.
Indirect lighting warmed the light cocoa walls and gleamed on the just dusted rosewood credenza. When she finished vacuuming, most of the office looked as Duec liked it -- immaculate. The glass-topped rosewood desk was spotless. A substantial black leather couch, which would've been perfectly at home in any human private club, was flanked by heavy end tables holding massive brass urn-style table lamps. She straightened the latest copies of Time, Newsweek, and Fortune, then nudged one of the club chairs that faced Duec's desk back into alignment. When she glanced up, the wall of video displays showed little activity either inside or outside the club.
Her cheeks heated as she remembered the feed she'd viewed a few minutes ago. To dispel her salacious thoughts, she measured and ground Duec's custom blend of beans, decanted the spring water into the coffeemaker's well, and pressed the On button. The rich fragrance of the dark brew filled her nose with reassuring normalcy as she organized a tray.
The winter sun had almost made it past the horizon when her boss's private elevator purred to life.
Miranda poured a cup of coffee, centered the elegant china cup and saucer on his desk, replaced the carafe on its lacquered tray, and gave the room a final once-over before she slipped out of his office and gently closed the connecting door behind her.
After three years, she knew better than to try to exchange pleasantries with her volatile boss before he'd had coffee.
Most administrative assistants' duties included care and feeding of their executive. Her employer was a bit more demanding than the average management type. Duec not only owned and ran La Ceinture Noire, Treeland's most exclusive BDSM club. He headed the secret cadre of demon hunters -- seven of the most lethal males on the planet. Plus he sat on the Demon Council of North America, the governing body of demon society. Naturally he was a full-blood demon, a requirement for a seat on the council. Miranda assisted her boss with all three of his roles. Making him coffee was the least of her duties and didn't bother her a bit.
She turned on her desktop system and logged back on to the club's network. A quick scan of waiting messages showed nothing urgent, and she brought up Duec's personal calendar. He had a full day -- a council meeting this morning, followed by sparring with Colin. The cool air demon was the only mated male and her favorite of the hunters. Duec's afternoon had only one appointment -- a meeting with Tey.
The irresistible male was always respectful, correct, and courteous to her. Unlike the other demon hunters, he never flirted, teased, or even warmed enough for her to count him as a friend. After years of trying to win his approval, let alone anything more, she'd learned how to fake treating him with the same cool politeness he showed her quite convincingly.
Given how he'd treated the adoring submissive, she wasn't sure she could manage her usual calm dispassion today. She hoped she wouldn't be required to attend their meeting.
All the demon hunters were powerful, potent male demons. All of them wore sinfully handsome glamours. So she blamed perverse chemistry for her involuntary attraction to Tey, the male colder than any of the others.
When she'd first worked at the club, every encounter with the strangely remote but so seductive earth demon held the potential for total humiliation and the loss of her dream job. Years of daily exposure to the male hadn't dulled his charms, but it had conditioned her enough to keep lust off her face and safely hidden in her heart.
What kind of crazy, sick female spent years mooning over a male who didn't even like her? She shook off the doubts about her sanity that thinking about Tey always triggered. It was way past time for her to get over her silly crush and move on to looking for a male who could love the real her. Somewhere there had to be a mixed-blood like her -- a male of honor -- who thought pointy ears, horns, and sharp talons were hot stuff.
Meanwhile, the Valentine's Day celebration of kinky romance was two days away, and there were still a million details she needed to nail down between now and then.
The morning flew by. When Duec came back from sparring, she delivered his lunch.
"Sit." His voice was harsh and louder than necessary -- an understandable side effect of his near-total deafness. She held up her left palm and then slowly lowered it in their agreed-upon signal to soften his delivery.
Most demons had super-sensitive hearing. Duec wasn't interested in advertising his hearing loss, not even to the other demon hunters. She understood and did all that she could to support his illusion there was nothing wrong with his hearing. But she didn't agree with his choice. His hunters respected him, loved him, and their loyalty had nothing to do with his ability to hear pins drop on plush carpeting.
He nodded -- a curt bob -- in acknowledgement of her gesture. "Report."
For several minutes, she recapped club business and the progress on construction of the new civilian medical clinic he was funding. His lip-reading skill was phenomenal. She kept her face angled toward him but stubbornly continued to sign as she spoke.
"Not necessary." He waved toward her flying fingers.
Miranda blushed but raised her chin. "Your hearing is not improving. Learning to sign is not the same thing as an admission of defeat. It's no different than IMing or texting -- just another communication tool."
She peeked through her lashes and realized she might as well have saved her breath. Duec had swiveled to face the view of downtown Treeland, effectively silencing her argument for him to learn sign language. Her temper flared.
Someone knocked on the office door.
Frustration with Duec's stubbornness fled, and she scooted into his line of sight. "Company."
He dismissed her with a curt wave, and she raced for the safety of her office.
© Evanne Lorraine, February 2012
All Rights Reserved