Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Violent shaking startled Ember to alert wakefulness. Heart hammering, she jolted upright. The bed trembled, its metal frame rattling.
Oh God, is this an earthquake?
She crawled to the edge of the mattress to seek shelter in a safer location only to freeze when she saw the floor.
Blue-white light shone from beneath the bed, covering everything in an ethereal glow that deepened and stretched the shadows in the room.
The air was charged, bristling with static electricity, and she felt it buzzing on her skin.
That sensation intensified as the shadows began to bleed into the light, overtaking it on the outskirts of the room and then creeping toward her bed with increasing speed, covering more and more of the space in darkness.
“This is definitely not an earthquake!” she whispered.
Ember’s eyes widened, and she scrambled backward, kicking at the covers until her back hit the bed frame.
The light brightened, but it did nothing to fight the expanding darkness. The bed vibrated more forcefully, making her book tumble over the edge and thump on the floor. She grasped the metal bars behind her.
The darkness closed in around her.
Ember whimpered, curling against the bed frame, and squeezed her eyes shut as she ducked her head. There was a roaring in her ears, growing louder, and louder, and louder.
Then it all stopped. The roaring, the rattling, the prickling sensation on her skin.
Tentatively, she opened her eyes and lifted her head. Both the unnatural blackness and the bright light were gone, leaving her room in perfectly normal nighttime darkness.
Ember ran a hand through her hair, sweeping it back. “What the fuck was that?”
A sudden bang beneath her bed wrenched a cry from her, and she almost didn’t hear the muttered curse from below over the sound of her own voice.
There was a scratch on the hardwood floor, followed by a rasping sound as though something was sliding out from beneath her bed.
“Of all the impractical, undignified places to draw a summoning circle…”
Ember’s breath hitched, and her eyes flared.
That was a voice. A voice! A deep, velvety, masculine voice with a hint of a growl that seeped into her, warming her from within.
No voice should’ve sounded that alluring, that otherworldly, especially if it belonged to… to what? The monster under her bed?
A figure emerged from the darkness. Its shape was humanoid, but it seemed to be comprised of shadows blacker than the blackest night. As it shifted, a pair of eyes settled on Ember, gleaming like twin stars in the otherwise lightless void of space. Wings of shadow unfurled behind the figure.
More glittering stars blinked into existence across the creature, turning it into a tapestry of the night sky, and its body solidified before her eyes, distinct features forming from what had a moment before been impossible darkness.
The tall figure before her had a lean, muscled frame with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and stood completely naked. Those shadowy wings spread wider, and she stared at them in awe—they were like tears in reality, magical windows revealing bright stars and nebulas against a dark purple sky.
His skin was also reminiscent of the night sky, blue-black with thousands of twinkling stars, even upon the gray colored portions making up his chest and face.
And oh God, that face…
It was the face of an angel, or perhaps more accurately, a seductive demon.
His features were refined and sharp, with sculpted lips, a straight nose, and defined cheekbones.
Thick, arched black brows rested over eyes that now shone brilliant blue and violet against black sclerae and were framed with long, dark lashes.
Short, tousled black locks framed that demonically attractive face, their ends curling roguishly against his forehead, cheeks, and neck.
His ears were long and pointed, with silver hoop piercings on their lobes and helixes, each pair of earrings connected by two chains and adorned with a dangling spike.
Two black, segmented horns sprouted from his temples, curling backward and up into lethal points.
Holy shit, he was…
“Gorgeous,” Ember whispered, unable to take her eyes off the creature.
Those unearthly eyes locked with hers and narrowed. “What did you say?”
Easing forward, she placed her hands on the bed and crawled toward him. She felt an inexplicable pull, a compulsion to be closer to him, to touch him. And she didn’t fight it. He was a monster lover’s wet dream come to life. “Are you my wish?”
Frowning, he folded his arms across his chest. A long tail swished through the air behind him. “Your wish, mortal? I am your nightmare.”
Ember snorted with a roll of her eyes. “Hardly.” She slipped her legs over the edge of the bed and stood.
“Hardly?” Those wings stretched fully, and the room dimmed again, making the light of his eyes stand out even more starkly as he spread his arms in the most behold me stance Ember had ever witnessed in person.
“I am the void, the vast, lightless emptiness between the stars, the cold embrace of a cosmos your mortal mind cannot fathom.”
She smiled as she approached him. “But you’re covered in pretty little sparklies.”
“Pretty little…?” His eyebrows slanted down sharply, creating a crease between them as he drew in his wings and stepped back from her advance. The moonlight made the silver spike piercings in his nipples glint. He bared his teeth at her, revealing a set of sharp fangs. “What are you doing?”
Ember continued closing the distance between them, the short skirt of her nightgown brushing her bare thighs. “Getting a closer look.”
“Stop, mortal. Immediately.”
Her smile widened into a grin. “Are you frightened of me?”
“I do not feel fear, I am fear. I instill it in creatures like you. You should be cowering in terror, human.”
“My name is Ember.”
His retreat halted when he bumped into the wall. Scowling, he flattened himself against it as she neared. “I’ve no need for your name. Let us conclude our business that I may depart this accursed realm.”
Ember stopped in front of him, leaving a scant few inches between them.
She was on the taller side at five foot eight, but this creature towered over her.
Keeping her eyes on his, she tipped her head back, breathing him in.
His scent of spice-infused incense and crisp night sky wrapped around her, suffused her, and teased her senses, causing heat to pool in her now aching core.
This had to be a dream, because there was no way this could be real. No way he could be real.
She raised her hands and settled them upon his chest. His nostrils flared with a sharp inhalation. She’d expected him to be insubstantial and cold, but he wasn’t. His flesh was solid and warm. She trailed her palms down slowly, over his hard nipples and piercings. “Are you real?”
A shudder coursed through him, and some of the stars on his skin flickered, flaring brighter.
“Of course I’m real.” As though reluctant to touch her, he took her wrists between his forefingers and thumbs. His dark claws grazed her skin as he guided her hands away from his chest. “Are you not the one who summoned me, witch?”
Tilting her head, she arched a brow. “Summoned you? Do you mean dreamt you?” She grinned and eased closer to him until her breasts brushed his chest. “Because if this is a dream, I definitely don’t want to wake up.”
As his gaze dipped to her cleavage, his hold on her wrists tightened, pressing those claws into her skin a little more firmly, and the light in his eyes intensified. “Those are quite…ample…”
He shook himself, lips peeling back to bare those devilish fangs, and narrowed his eyes.
“No. I will not fall victim to such wiles again.” Tossing her hands aside, he slid along the wall to escape her before stepping forward.
“Your charms have no effect on me, witch. Either state your business with me or release me from this summoning.”
Ember tried to ignore the sting of rejection as she turned to watch him. She touched her fingers to her chest. If this was a dream, why did that hurt so much? “What are you talking about? And why do you keep calling me a witch?”
His head snapped toward her. “Am I meant to believe this feigned ignorance? That you truly have no notion of what you’ve done?”
“I was sleeping.” Her brow furrowed. “Am sleeping?”
Shaking her head, Ember flicked her wrist, casting her confusion aside. “Anyway, my bed was shaking like there was an earthquake, and there was this bright light coming out from beneath it, then shadows filled the room, and you appeared. Now here we are.”
The demon scowled—and damn if that expression didn’t look hot as hell on him—before stalking toward her bed. With one hand and seemingly no effort, he dragged her bed away from the wall. A deep, guttural growl rumbled from him as he stared at the floor. “That meddling sprite…”
Ember stepped closer and looked down at what he’d revealed. A circular symbol made of glittering blue-white dust glowed faintly upon the dark wood floorboards, with a pentagram at its center and crescent moons at each of the star’s points.
The creature snarled and spun around. “Starling! I know you’re lurking nearby. Reveal yourself, now.”
A light giggle sounded from thin air. “I have not seen you this lively in so, so long.”
Ember’s eyes widened as light flashed behind the demon’s head, and a glowing orb the same color as the circle floated into view beside him.
But it wasn’t an orb at all. It was a lithe, radiant figure, a tiny humanoid with four arms and many-pointed wings formed of sparkling starlight.
She had long white hair that glittered as it moved.
The sprite bent to whisper loudly in the demon’s ear.
“I believe the words you are looking for are thank you, Starling for finally getting you out of that place, yes?”
The demon closed his eyes, massaged his temples, and exhaled heavily. “What have you done?”