Lovely Darkness Read online

  Lovely Darkness

  DEMONS WITHIN

  R SULLINS

  Contents

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Juliette - age 6

  Juliette - age 10

  Juliette - age 17

  Chapter 1

  Juliette

  Chapter 2

  Juliette

  Chapter 3

  Juliette

  Chapter 4

  Juliette

  Chapter 5

  Juliette

  Chapter 6

  Varek

  Chapter 7

  Juliette

  Chapter 8

  Juliette

  Chapter 9

  Juliette

  Chapter 10

  Juliette

  Chapter 11

  Juliette

  Chapter 12

  Varek

  Chapter 13

  Juliette

  Chapter 14

  Juliette

  Chapter 15

  Juliette

  Chapter 16

  Juliette

  Chapter 17

  Varek

  Chapter 18

  Juliette

  Chapter 19

  Juliette

  Chapter 20

  Varek

  Chapter 21

  Juliette

  Chapter 22

  Juliette

  Chapter 23

  Varek

  Chapter 24

  Varek

  Chapter 25

  Juliette

  Chapter 26

  Juliette

  Chapter 27

  Varek

  Chapter 28

  Varek

  Chapter 29

  Juliette

  Chapter 30

  Juliette

  Chapter 31

  Varek

  Chapter 32

  Juliette

  Chapter 33

  Varek

  Chapter 34

  Juliette

  Chapter 35

  Varek

  Chapter 36

  Juliette

  Chapter 37

  Juliette

  Epilogue

  Thank you for reading

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by R Sullins

  Copyright © 2019 by Renee Sullins

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission granted in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction intended for adult audiences only. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  * * *

  Cover by Getcovers.com

  Created with Vellum

  Dedication

  This is for everyone that had a shitty childhood…and wished they could have gotten some vengeance.

  Prologue

  21 YEARS AGO

  VAREK

  I walked around the desk and leaned my hip against the sturdy wood, knowing that it could take my weight, and crossed my arms over my chest and slowly shook my head before tilting it to the side as I took in the demon on his knees before me. The thick sheet of plastic rustled as he adjusted his weight.

  Long seconds passed as I watched his face change from the cocky smirk he’d had when first brought into my office to the anxious, panicky look that morphed over his countenance the longer I left him stewing in silence.

  I picked up a letter opener from my desktop and admired the detail in the handle. I didn’t know the maker of this particular item but was impressed by the craftsmanship. I had an undeniable soft spot for artists and made a point to support as many as I reasonably could, usually by purchasing from them, but sometimes I would sponsor them anonymously as they were building their careers.

  I looked back at the demon in front of me and bit back a sound of satisfaction that he was watching the letter opener with dread and terror.

  “We’ve been here before, haven’t we, Greg?” I flipped the letter opener in my hand and checked the weight, balancing the metal on my finger. I grunted in satisfaction and set it down with a mental note to find out who the artist was. “How long ago did we have Greg here, in this very position, Talon?”

  My head of security grunted from where he was standing at the door with two of his newest recruits. He had his hands folded behind his back and had his usual stoic expression on his face. “Two weeks ago, sir.”

  “Two weeks? Well, Greg, you’ve been busy since we last spoke,” I paused and looked him dead in the eyes, “haven’t you?”

  His grey skin took on a sickly yellow cast that I was certain wasn’t a good sign in this breed of demon. The man knew he had fucked up.

  “Y-yes, sir.”

  “Really? That’s all you have to say about your recent activities? Yes, sir?” I stood and slowly walked around his kneeling body, my footsteps crinkling on the heavy tarp. I stopped when I was back to standing in front of him, the toes of my polished black oxfords just shy of grazing his disgustingly filthy jeans. I hitched up the heavy material of my slacks so I could squat down to face the demon that had broken my rules for the last time. “You drugged and raped a demoness two weeks ago. She swore that the two of you had an ongoing agreement for some pseudo-relationship and that the two of you would sometimes let your activities get out of hand.”

  I picked a small piece of lint off my slacks. “So, color me surprised when three -three, Greg- three more reports came in from other demonesses this morning. Ones that did not have prior relations with you, zero agreements, but yet, you took them while they were... unwilling.” I stood back up and stepped back to lean against my desk again.

  “Tell me something, Greg… what is my number one rule?”

  He began shaking, and the smell of his terror began to fill the room with its pungent, sour odor.

  “N-n-never h-harm a human.” His swallow was loud in the room. “S-sir.”

  “Never. Harm. A. Human. Do you know why that is the number one rule, Greg?”

  “So w-we don’t ex-expose-“

  “So, we don’t expose ourselves!” My shout echoed around the room, and I sighed as the scent of urine filled the air. “You would have died for what you did to the demonesses, but what you did to that human woman...” I shook my head in disgust. “She was barely old enough to be even admitted into this club, and you stole her innocence and then her life.”

  His sizable gray body shook, his yellow eyes filled with tears, and his large, bulbous nose began to run.

  “Pl-please, sir, I swear I will never hurt another hu-human…”

  “Quiet.” He immediately clamped his sharp teeth closed, his large, tusk-like fangs protruding from inside his thick upper and lower lips. “I don’t know why you decided to hurt those demons, and I really don’t know what made you insane enough to hurt that human girl, but you have already sealed your fate.”

  I lifted my hand and watched as tendrils of his soul leaked from his chest and disappeared into my waiting palm. I watched as he, with large, bulging eyes filled with pain and terror, clutched at his chest with both hands as if he could keep his essence from leaving his body. It was impossible. If I called on a soul, nothing could keep it from me.

  When he was nothing more than a husk of a demon, barely breathing in front of me, I closed my fist and cut off the flow. I was told that pulling on the soul was painful, but I had the ability to make it excruciating or unnoticeable. Since most demons needed to be taught a painful lesson, I made sure to make
it as agonizing as possible.

  I walked around to the back of what was left of Greg and placed my hands on his head. There was another lesson that many demons needed to remember, and Greg was a perfect example and would do well as a reminder. I twisted to the left and then pulled the head towards me, carefully keeping it at an angle. It was impossible to clean blood out of fine wool suits. After eons, one learns the proper way to remove a head without getting any blood spatter on oneself.

  I walked to the door, ignoring the sick-looking recruits, and opened it to reveal one of many guards standing alert in the hallway and tossed the head at him. “Make sure this gets displayed properly, where all our guests will receive the message.” I took the cloth handkerchief out of my pocket and wiped my hands before dropping it on Greg. I shook my head. What self-respecting demon was named Greg? These younger demons born within the last few decades have been given, or taken, names that definitely fit in more with the humans. “Have someone clean this up, will you, Talon?”

  “Of course, sir. The witch is already on her way.”

  “Thank you, Talon. And have someone open the window, please.” Talon gestured to one of the recruits, who was swallowing rapidly and was paler than he presumably was normally. We both turned to walk out of the room together without looking back. Whatever orders were given were sure to be followed precisely.

  I straightened my sleeves as we walked down the long hallway, back towards the club proper. “The stench of fear likes to cling for hours.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  I gave him a sideways glance and raised a straight black eyebrow. He chuckled and relaxed marginally. “Varek, you just had to show off with the whole head ripping thing, didn’t you?”

  “You want your recruits to understand what it could be like working for me?”

  He sighed and then grinned. “I thought Sam was going to puke on his new boots.”

  “Well, they both handled the whole thing surprisingly well. I hope these ones last.”

  “If you didn’t scare them off. I have high hopes for them.”

  We stopped at the heavy black door that opened up into the interior of the club. It was a Saturday night, and the place was already at capacity with a line down the block. It was like that each night, every week. As the central neutral zone for demons in this part of the country, it was always guaranteed to stay busy. As a trendy hotspot, humans couldn’t resist either. Though the humans often found themselves waiting outside for relatively long periods of time while the demons were able to enter immediately as VIPs.

  I often fielded requests for VIP passes from the wealthier humans who thought they were important enough to be treated superior, not knowing it wasn’t a pass that allowed the demons in; it was the bouncer knowing that all demons had priority. It was a demon only zone, after all. If the humans wanted priority, there were plenty of places that were available just for them.

  The heavy bass that always managed to penetrate the thick door to the club entrance suddenly became just shy of overwhelming when the door swung open to admit two demons into the hallway. Talon and I stepped to the side to allow the hopeful looking male and the shyly giggling female. The female looked up at me through her eyelashes, interest immediately lighting her eyes. She was a cute little thing in her human form, but she was an Annis demon under her glamour. Her skin was a lovely shade of blue, and her iron claws were carefully tended to. If I didn’t already have plans for the evening with a human woman, that was probably getting impatient at the wait, I might have been tempted to take this female up on her offer.

  I nodded to the couple and waited until they both walked to the door just inside the hallway entrance that led to the real reason for this building. Hidden within wards that kept human eyes from seeing how large the building actually was, were clubs that allowed demons the freedom to be who they were. The Tower housed a dance club, a sex club, a fighting ring, gambling den, and an all-around safe place for demons to hang out and play without fear of exposure to humans and the attention of the human police force.

  Brimstone was large and popular, but the rest of the building was much larger than the humans would ever know. There was a bank of elevators that took demons to different levels within The Tower, depending on what type of entertainment they were in the mood for. On the top floor of The Tower was where I had called home for nearly a hundred years.

  Inside Brimstone, I placed and maintained wards to keep demons from being able to drop their glamour. They were also obligated to follow all demon laws when involving humans. As the master of all demons on earth, I was duty-bound to punish those who chose to break those rules. When it came to the seriousness of demon exposure to humans, they were amongst the strictest laws and held some of the highest penalties.

  I entered through the door and nodded to the guards standing at the heavily warded entrance. Human eyes should pass over the doorway as if it didn’t exist. I walked to the side of the bar closest to the main entrance as well as the hallway to the office from which I had just come. The club was designed so the demons who wanted to enter The Tower didn’t have to go far and so the humans wouldn’t get overly curious from seeing so many walk through the club just to disappear. Most humans didn’t stay at the front of the club as the dance floor and the music drew them further in and past The Tower entrance. And, of course, the wards in place helped to ensure humans did not want to linger. Still, a small bar was set up for those who chose to mingle without having to shout to be heard over the pounding music. It was still loud but not as deafening as it would be once they passed through the wide, open archway.

  I glanced around, looking for the woman that was supposed to be my entertainment for the evening. My eyes caught on a green dress at the other end of the bar from where I was standing. The brunette had her head thrown back, laughing at something the bartender had said. Her emerald gown was likely a nod to my eye color. I wondered if she had any idea how many women had done precisely the same thing in an effort to gain my attention for more than the moment.

  Her gown was held by two narrow straps over her thin shoulders, and the front draped loosely, dangerously low over very generous breasts. The rest of the dress left little to the imagination as it hugged every inch of her waist, hips, and ass. Her long hair hung over one shoulder, brushing teasingly over one large breast, and her plush lips were painted a deep red that looked almost black in the low lighting above the bar.

  The rest of the club was mostly lit up by red lights covered by black sconces against the black painted walls, but the bars needed a bit more light than that. Not for the bartenders since they were all demons and therefore saw in the darkness, but for the humans.

  The woman must have felt my stare because she looked around slowly before her eyes finally met mine. One side of her mouth lifted in what was a very coy smile and probably had men of all ages eager to drop what they were doing to rush to her side. I stood there, continuing to stare at her.

  Her smile lost some of its cockiness as I made her wait for a reaction from me. This woman was nothing special to me. She would be a, hopefully, interesting distraction for the evening, nothing more. I wouldn’t allow her to think she had a fleeting chance in hell of getting more than tonight with me. I had made the mistake of being too attentive or too nice in the past, and it never worked out well for the woman. And having to convince a woman who felt she had been scorned, and whose name I couldn’t even remember, that I would never be interested in more than a moment of distraction was bothersome at best. Nothing much had changed over the centuries.

  Finally, I started to step towards her when a burning sensation halted me and had me grabbing my wrist. The pain was excruciating, and I had to grind my teeth to contain the shout of agony that threatened to break free. As it was, I couldn’t contain the grunt that escaped. I looked over at Talon, who was still standing at the door, saw his eyes had widened, and he was staring where I was holding my inner wrist tightly.

  I looked down and slowly lifted m
y right hand to reveal what I knew would be there. An intricate symbol in a deep, blood-red appeared branded onto my inner left wrist. The mark was in our demonic language and was the same symbol every bonded demon received. I watched as the pain receded as quickly as it had risen, and the writing faded into a flesh-colored, slightly raised brand. It would remain as so until I came into contact with my fated mate for the first time.