39. Luc
39
LUC
“You suck, everything down here sucks,” I grouse as I head further into the tunnel.
Everything glows red, and it’s hot as Hell in here.
“Luc.”
I freeze and then smile darkly. “Okay, I get it. This is a test, yeah?” I turn around to face the woman who said my name. Blonde, gorgeous as fuck, dressed in practically nothing, which shows off her curves. “Elisa. How unpleasant to see you again.”
“Really?” she asks, gliding closer. “You couldn’t keep your hands off me last time we were together.”
“Last time we were together, I was seducing you to claim your soul to hand deliver to my mother in Hell.”
“Please,” she scoffs. “As if that was the only reason. You wanted me. You wanted your cock buried as far into me as you could get it.”
“I was doing my job.”
She narrows her eyes at my dismissal. “Liar,” she hisses. “You craved me. Couldn’t get enough of me.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, Elisa, but you aren’t that spectacular. You are nothing but a little slut who cheated on her husband the second someone else showed an interest in her.”
She laughs. “Do you think you were the only one?”
“No, I know I wasn’t.” I give her a sly smile. “But I was the last. I made sure of it.”
“Ugh, so fucking noble,” she spits out. “Only going after the bad girls. What about the good girls, Luc? Aren’t they more fun to corrupt and banish to a life in Hell? Or is it just because it’s easier? Are the angels too much of a challenge for you?”
I clench my jaw, fighting the urge to lash out at her. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“Oh, but I do,” Elisa purrs, circling me like a predator. “I know you crave that little witch. The one with the rainbow hair and the power that makes your Demon blood sing.” She leans in close. “I know you want to corrupt her, to drag her down into the darkness with you.”
“Shut up,” I growl, but she just laughs.
“Hit a nerve, did I? Face it, Luc. You’re drawn to her innocence, to her light. You want to extinguish it, to watch it flicker and die as you claim her soul.”
“You’re wrong,” I say, but even I can hear the uncertainty in my voice. “Besides, she isn’t innocent. She has fucked my half-brother and the TA.”
“But before Draven lured her into his car, she had only ever had sex once. One time. She lost her virginity, and then the warlock abandoned her after promising to help her run away from her parents. Draven defiled her, fucked her like a little whore, and that’s what drives you so crazy. Why you want her so bad. Because your little brother had her first.”
“Not true, and I don’t believe for a second that Draven lured her and fucked her like a whore. He doesn’t have it in him to be that passionate.”
“The little witch will tell you differently. You saw her coming all over his cock. You know how he makes her feel.”
I clench my jaw, not willing to discuss this further. “Why are you even here? You are supposed to be in Hell, being recycled into a Demon.”
“Who says I haven’t been?”
The penny drops, and I shake my head, laughing softly. “A succubus. How fucking apt. Roberta didn’t push the boat out with you, did she?”
“Why mess with perfection?” Elisa purrs.
“Get the fuck out of my tunnel,” I growl, suddenly pissed off with this charade.
Elisa’s form shimmers, her features blurring and reforming. In her place stands a creature of pure shadow and flame, eyes glowing like embers in the darkness.
“You think it’s that easy to dismiss me, little prince? I am your trial. Your test.”
I sneer, unimpressed. “What, to see if I can resist temptation? Sorry to disappoint, but you’re not my type.”
The creature laughs. “Oh, Luc, you misunderstand. I’m not here to tempt you.” She glides closer. “I’m here to make you face what you really are.”
“And what’s that?” I ask, bored now.
“A destroyer,” she hisses. “It’s in your blood, your essence. You crave chaos, corruption. That little witch? She’s just another soul for you to taint.”
“You don’t know anything about me or Matilda.”
“Don’t I?” The succubus’s form shifts again, taking on Matilda’s appearance. But this isn’t the Matilda I know. This version is darker, eyes glowing with unholy power, skin marked with demonic runes. “This is what you want her to become, isn’t it? A perfect little Demon Queen to rule by your side.”
I laugh again. “Okay, you need to do your research before you attempt to fuck with me. Firstly, my mother is the Demon Queen. That’s a title that won’t even be passed on, and secondly, I will never rule. My older sister has that honour.”
“Ooh, bitter,” she purrs.
“Bitter?” I scoff. “Hardly. I have no interest in ruling Hell. Too much bureaucracy, not enough fun.”
The false Matilda circles me, her movements are sinuous and predatory. “Then what do you want, Luc? If not power, if not a throne... what drives you?”
I consider the question, knowing my answer matters. This is a trial, after all. “Freedom,” I say finally. “The ability to choose my own path.”
She laughs, the sound harsh and grating. “Freedom? You’re half-Incubus, half-Devil. Your very nature is a prison of lust and corruption.”
“Maybe,” I concede. “But that doesn’t mean I have to be defined by it.”
“No?” She stops in front of me, Matilda’s features twisting into something cruel. “Then why do you crave her so desperately? Why does the thought of corrupting her make your cock so hard?”
“You’re wrong. What I feel for Matilda isn’t about corruption.”
“Isn’t it? Tell me, Luc. When you dream of her, is it soft and sweet? Or do you imagine her writhing beneath you, begging for more as you claim every inch of her?”
Images flash through my mind of Matilda gasping my name, her nails raking down my back as I fuck her hard and fast, claiming every hole she has.
I clench my jaw, fighting back the arousal those images stir. “My desires don’t define me,” I growl. “And they certainly don’t define her.”
The false Matilda laughs cruelly. “Oh, but they do. You can’t help yourself, Luc. It’s who you are. A corrupter. A destroyer.”
“You’re wrong,” I insist, but doubt gnaws at me. How many times have I felt that dark urge around Matilda? The desire to push her boundaries, to see how far she’d go?
“Am I?” she purrs. “Then prove it. Show me you can resist temptation.”
Her form shifts again, becoming a perfect copy of Matilda as I saw her in the hallway. Soft, vulnerable, her eyes wide with trust and desire, her rainbow hair wet, and her tee clinging to her curves from the rain.
She steps closer, and her scent, honey-covered chocolate, envelops me.
“Luc,” she whispers, her voice an exact match for Matilda’s. “I want you. I need you.” She runs her hand up my arm.
My body responds instantly, desire flooding my veins. It would be so easy to give in, to take what’s being offered. To finally taste her, to feel her cunt wrapped around my dick.
But it’s not real. It’s not her.
I take a step back, my voice rough. “No. This isn’t Matilda. And even if it was, I wouldn’t take her like this.”
The false Matilda’s expression hardens. “Why not? It’s what you want, isn’t it? To claim her, to make her yours?”
I clench my fists, fighting the urge to reach out and touch her. “What I want doesn’t matter. It’s Matilda’s move. When, if , she’s ready.”
She sneers. “We both know the truth. You’re just afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” I growl.
“Afraid that once you have her, you won’t be able to stop. That you’ll consume her completely, body and soul. Afraid that you’ll destroy her, just like you destroy everything you touch.”
I jerk away from her, my heart pounding. “You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” She laughs, the sound bitter and mocking. “Look at your history, Luc. How many souls have you corrupted? How many lives have you ruined in your pursuit of pleasure? Of freedom ? Including your own twin?”
“Draven is a big boy; he can handle his own shit.”
“Is that why you’re jealous of him?” She runs her fingers lightly over my belt and undoes it.
I grip her wrist, wishing with everything that I had that this was real. “I am not jealous of him.”
“You are. You want to be cold like he is. You want those walls so high, no one can crash through them.”
“Matilda has broken him.”
“Is that what you think? He’s broken.”
I yank her closer, and she grins, thinking she’s won. I lean down and brush my lips over hers before I let the real me loose. Horns, wings, the lot. She stumbles back, but the wicked smile on her face reminds me that this is not Matilda. “There he is,” she murmurs. “The big bad Demon. The one that wants to savagely rape the witch and take her soul straight to hell.”
Images of Matilda on her knees being forced to suck that warlock’s cock rip through me at the word rape. “Never!”
“Rape, seduce, it’s all the same thing at the end of the day, isn’t it, Luc? Taking away choices? You could do whatever you wanted to this body, and no one would ever know.”
“You are fucking sick,” I snarl and shift back to my human body, determined not to let this bitch get to me.
“Am I?” she murmurs and strips herself naked. “Do it, Luc. Do what comes naturally to you. Seduce me. Fuck me. Strip me of my soul as you feed from my desire. You know you want it. You know you want everything I’m offering you and more. Take it, Luc. Take it. You are too weak to resist her.”
I stare at Matilda, my breath a laboured rasp as she moves in closer.