Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Vhaena
SURRENDER
Ihad no sense of self. It was as if I were floating, separated from my body as the demon used me. I had never felt this before—never felt this raw. But in a good way.
I had no idea that pain could be so beautifully intertwined with pleasure, heightening it to an even greater level than I could have imagined. Every long, torturous second of his claws tearing into my skin was a burst of euphoric sensation; pulling me ever deeper into the depths of desire.
When he turned me around, he already had his mask back in place. Strangely, I wasn’t disappointed this time. Somewhere in the hours we’d spent together, hatred had turned to surrender, and I now simply accepted it.
I supposed a few life-altering orgasms could do that. Or maybe it was the prospect of my impending death that made recklessness feel freeing. It was nice to feel something besides constant fear—nice to feel anything at all.
After he was done with me, after he had made me bleed and scream until I was nothing but a limp body trembling from pleasure, he fucked me again.
And again. On my stomach, on my back; me bouncing on top of him while my nails dug into his chest. And when we were finally sated, he cleaned me up, dressed me in my now-dry clothes, and held me in his lap.
My head rested against his bare chest, listening to the beat of his heart pounding in my ear. A humbling reminder of who had touched me, ruined me, and somehow made me feel more whole while breaking me.
After only a few minutes of stillness, we got up and left.
There was a faint glow from the sun behind the oncoming storm.
The dark clouds flashed with lightning, showing the outline of the storm heading directly for us.
I understood the demon’s urgency to find shelter the moment I saw it.
It was like a wall of darkness coming to roost on the island, rumbling across the ocean.
It was the sixth day. I only had to make it two more to see the eighth dawn, but I still had little hope that I’d ever make it home.
We were rounding a hill when the path narrowed, and we had to walk single file to avoid slipping off the edge.
On one side of me was the moss-covered hillside.
On the other was a steep bluff with a dense thicket of thorny brambles at the bottom.
I hugged the hillside, staying as far from the small cliff as possible.
A crack of thunder drew my eyes to the clouds above just before the sky opened and unleashed a torrent of rain.
It took only minutes before both of us were completely drenched.
The demon was particularly quiet as we trekked through the jagged hills.
Not that I had any idea of what to say either.
The silence was unbearable. There was nothing but the sounds of our breaths, the crunch of stones beneath our rhythmic steps, and the approaching thunder.
The quiet unnerved me more than it should have.
A deep, hollow pit formed in my stomach, and I wondered if I had done something wrong. Maybe I had given in too soon, and he was only interested in the chase. Or maybe his hunger had been satisfied, and I was no longer needed—just a mere momentary indulgence. Or perhaps he regretted it…
Stop. You’re just emotionally overwhelmed and overthinking. From Vosten dying, to being betrayed so many times, to now having fucked a demon during the Hunt, you’re all kinds of messed up.
But the cruel thoughts wouldn’t stop. I hated how easily my insecurities wrapped around me.
I had kept everyone at a distance for so long, the moment I let someone in, they turned on me and tainted the memories.
I shook my head and forced the doubts away.
I wasn’t going to let some silence make me fall apart after all I’d been through.
But my stupid mouth opened, and the moment I started speaking, I couldn’t stop.
“Are you upset with me?” I blurted as I whipped around to face the demon.
“Why—”
“Did I do something wrong? Is this really… Is there something between us?”
He shook his head and tried to say something, but I wouldn’t let him get a word in.
“You’re regretting this, aren’t you? Or are you tempted to kill me now or—”
“Vhaena…” His voice cut through the rain in a low warning.
“—or maybe you’re just being quiet because you’re already tired of me. You never wanted this. I was the one who pushed you to fuck me. I swore to myself I wasn’t going to let silence fill the space again, and I was going to take what I wanted this time. Or maybe, this was exactly what you wanted.”
“Stop,” he growled, sharper this time.
“I’m such an idiot. You said it yourself: demons come to the Hunt to kill and rape. Maybe you just wanted a quick fuck, while I’m over here latching onto a damn demon who I thought could actually want me, when in reality—”
The sound of my voice died against the feeling of his hand wrapped around my throat, tight enough to silence me yet still allowing me to breathe, and my pulse raced. I was spiraling, and I thought my heart was going to burst.
“I. Said. Stop,” he clipped. He stared at me through the dark holes of his mask.
“There is something here between us for as long as either of us lives. You’re not just a piece of ass—you’re so much more than that.
” His thumb rubbed along the column of my throat.
“You’re the storm in my blood. The wound I’ll never heal from.
You’re the chaos I crave and the one I want to sit with in the darkness I reign.
I don’t want you just for one night; I want you until there’s nothing left of you.
I want you until I’m nothing but ash in your hands after burning in the hells I’m destined for.
And even then, I’m taking you with me because nothing will keep me from you any longer.
You are bound to me even in my ruin. And you’re fucking delusional if you think I’ll let it be anything less. ”
The words sat heavy between us. And my own became lodged in my throat, pressing against his hand. I opened my mouth with no idea what would come out.
But I never got the chance.
A thundering crack around us cut through the air followed by a piercing roar. The demon’s gaze shifted above just before his hand was ripped away from my throat. I stifled a scream as a body landed on top of him, tackling him to the ground and nearly spearing him in the chest.
Amalia.
The demon flung her off him with a snarl. She caught herself, landing on her feet. He jerked back just in time to avoid her jabbing the jagged tip of the wooden spear through his gut.
“Run, Vhaena,” she pleaded, tussling with the demon and attempting to stab him.
“Amalia, stop!” I shouted through the storm.
But she didn’t.
“You better back off before I hurt you, woman.” The demon was holding her off as she continued to attack him but made no offensive moves against her.
I didn’t know what to do as I stood there and watched as Amalia thought she was saving me. She swung her spear at him again, but the demon caught it and ripped it from her grasp before tossing it aside.
“Damn it, don’t make me fucking kill you,” he growled.
That didn’t stop her. She lunged at him, and everything slowed.
She struck him in the face, tearing at him like a wild beast. Her nails caught the edge of his mask, scraping the hard surface until they hooked beneath it; nearly taking it with her as she was thrown to her stomach with her face planted in the mud. The strike wasn’t clean, but it was enough.
The mask had shifted. And so did my reality.
A single slip.
A gap in the darkness, illuminating the features I’d seen thousands of times.
While the storm surged around us, I froze. His features came into the light, revealing the bridge of a nose I’d traced with my fingertips, the cheeks I’d felt against my face; the lips I’d devoured with my own.
Then… Amber eyes, so bright they were almost glowing.
“Fuck! Don’t look!” he pleaded.
Guilt flooded his eyes, tangling with something more desperate—a kind of conviction that hurt to look at. A terror that came from teetering on the edge of something dangerous. He threw up his hand, clawing at the mask to right it again. To hide what I was never supposed to see.
It was too late.
I had thought I knew the man from my childhood and that the familiar pieces of who I saw in front of me were just a figment of my imagination to bridge the gap. But he had been right here all along.
Daemon.
My chest tightened. I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. My brows furrowed for a split second before my eyes widened, and my stomach flipped. Excitement, anticipation, fear. It all warred inside me when he slowly and deliberately reached a steady hand up to his mask.
“You…” I gasped as the world spun.
I took a staggering step away from him, the truth unraveling me from the inside out. My chest burned. Tears stung the backs of my eyes, and I hated that I couldn’t stop them from falling, mixing with the rain on my cheeks.
My heart had shattered into a million pieces. I felt more exposed than ever. Foolish. Used. Shameful. All this time, it had been him…
And he never told me.
My eyes slammed shut as I willed this nightmare away, but all I saw were the memories of his touch, of our bodies tangled together.
He had come here to watch me—to hunt me. Instead, he followed me. He touched me. Protected me.
And I let him.
With his mask back in place, Daemon took a step forward. “Vhaena, please—”
“Don’t touch me.” I took another step back.
“Listen. Let me—”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say!” I couldn’t listen to his justifications, how he had somehow convinced himself to lie to me like this.
Distracted, neither of us had noticed Amalia get to her feet with the spear back in her hand. She charged him, slamming into his body, and he was thrown to the ground by the sheer force of her fury.
I took another step back from them, not able to do anything to stop their fight and also needing as much distance between me and Daemon as possible. Only to remember that I had nothing beneath me to stand on, nothing to hold me steady. I had forgotten about the sheer drop at my back.
My foot met the edge of the ledge, and the rock gave way.
For a heartstopping moment, my body fell through nothing, and I grappled for anything to catch me. Daemon reached out, trying to halt my descent, but Amalia had successfully speared the wood through his skin and muscle until it was lodged within the mud beneath him.
He could only watch as I fell.
Daemon’s voice ripped through the air with his hand outstretched as he grew farther and farther away.
I tumbled down the cliff. My body twisted and rolled across sharp stones, and I hit the muddy ground at the bottom with a hard thud. I groaned and rolled onto my back. The raindrops stung my face like slaps. Pain flared in my shoulder, and I tasted the blood in my mouth from a split lip.
I could hardly feel any of it. Not past the rage simmering beneath my skin as I looked back up the cliff at Daemon snarling and grabbing at the spear embedded in him. I met Amalia’s eyes. The side of her mouth lifted as she nodded, then she bolted away.
For a moment, all I could do was stare, my breaths hot and shallow.
Daemon had lied to me. He hid behind his mask while he touched me, fucked me, made me want him while keeping the truth tucked behind a piece of fabric. And I let him, like an idiot. Like a whore.
He saw the fury in my glare, flinching back slightly.
“Are you hurt?” he shouted.
I didn’t respond.
“Don’t move.” He grunted, struggling to extract the spear from his pinned body.
My eyes flicked to the towering brambles right next to me. Thick gnarled vines twisted into a wall of thorns over ten feet high—too tall for anyone to climb over. But there, at the base, was a narrow gap, just big enough for me. And too small for him.
My pulse pounded. I winced as I pushed myself to my trembling knees, struggling to hold my weight steady. I turned back toward the cliff, eyes narrowing.
He began pulling the wood from his body, blood coating it while he kept his gaze on me. The rain fell down his face like tears he’d never allow himself to shed.
Our eyes locked through the holes of his mask, and he froze for a moment as I took a crawling step toward the brambles.
He looked at me, then the thorny bush, then back at me again. He saw the gap, and he saw the decision written all over my face.
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled, his voice rumbling through the space like the thunder above.
My lips curled with something wicked and fierce and unrecognizable.
Fuck all of this. Fuck the demons. Fuck the island. Fuck the Hunt.
Fuck Daemon.
“Fuck you,” I hissed, and turned my back to him before he freed himself.
Then, I thrust myself forward, sliding through the mud on my stomach beneath the brambles he wouldn’t dare follow me through.