Chapter 1
Dante
MAYBE YOU WILL SOMEDAY.
“Give me a fucking break,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. I glared at the mystery hardback book in my hand. All thoughts of discovering who the killer was disappeared with the passing cold breeze. I was far too agitated to give a damn about the shitty book anymore.
Not after talking to Zagan.
I growled and threw the book into a dark alley as I stormed past it. I shoved my hands into my pockets and glared at the cracked downtown sidewalk.
Maybe you will someday.
Zagan’s words from mere hours ago kept replaying in my mind. I’d stared at my bandmate, the leader of our group, as he’d prepared to throw away everything we’d worked for. And for what?
Love, he’d said. The demon had fallen in love with his little human and was going to destroy his life for her. I didn’t fucking understand him or his decision.
Maybe you will someday.
“Shut the fuck up,” I ordered the fresh memory playing in my head. I yanked my ball cap off to rake a hand over my short black hair before slapping it back on.
I was so riled up that I worried my human guise might slip, exposing my demonic features, like my black horns or black-and-red slitted eyes. Wouldn’t that just be the fucking cherry-on-top of this evening? Revealing my true nature to any one that might also be wandering downtown late at night.
A group of drunken humans rounded the corner up ahead, chatting without a care in the world.
Seeing their carefree grins made the acrimony build back up inside of me.
Here they were, having a good ol’ time, while I was having a shitty day.
I glared at them as they walked toward me, and my venomous gaze didn’t leave them until they passed me and were out of sight.
Not that they noticed. They were too busy laughing about how stupid Billy from Econ Class was.
Humans and their idiotic gossip.
Humans.
They were toys. They were our food—literally. Incubi like me needed their pleasure from sex to feed. They were fertilizer for grass. They weren’t worth protecting, let alone loving. They were only good for one thing.
Entertainment.
Anger turning a family man into a violent murderer.
Jealousy convincing the innocent to back-stab and steal.
Greed pushing the faithful to fight for a place on a man-made throne.
They were twisted creatures, and it made for the ultimate show. A true mindfuck, humans.
Though, I wasn’t intrigued by their disgusting ways right now.
Because right now, my idiot bandmate was making a mess of things due to those fickle emotions that demons shouldn’t possess. And he’d dared to say I might understand one day? I’d been trying to understand for a millennium, and the one time I thought—
I swallowed down the rising memory, which burned like acid.
No. I’d never fucking get it.
Demons could only feel so much. Love? Regret?
Guilt? None of that shit fazed us. We were immune to all of the ridiculous emotions that caused people to do dumb shit.
When we slipped up and tricked ourselves into thinking that we did feel something more, we were quickly reminded of the difference between demons and mankind.
I was sure Zagan was about to relearn that hard lesson.
“Fuck this day,” I muttered as I threw an irritated scowl at the overcast night sky.
First, Zagan interrupted my night-in reading with his bullshit decision.
Then, he made it worse by pawning off one of our other bandmates on me. Since Zagan’s dumbass had decided to throw his freedom away, I was now stuck with our drummer, Coldin, the Letum Demon.
Letums were the most dangerous of our kind, and they weren’t allowed to just wander around loose. Coldin was only given freedom here on the human side, because he worked with us, but with Zagan leaving, he now fell under my care. In other words, I had a murderous spawn of Hell to keep an eye on.
I’d apparently become the designated babysitter among our band, because even Perseus, a fellow guitarist and Incubus, had recently dropped off a human at my house to keep locked up.
The human man had committed what we Incubi considered the greatest sin, so while it annoyed me that everyone was dropping off their problems on me, I could at least take out that ire on Perseus’s gift. The same could not be said of Coldin.
I’d dropped the drummer off at my place after Zagan laid the news on me, and now I was out for a stroll to clear my mind of everything.
A lot of good it was doing me.
With a bitter sigh, I scanned the line of bars on the other side of the road. I needed to find some prey to fool around with to distract myself from the turbulent thoughts in my head. I needed a warm body to get lost in for a while. Maybe a stiff drink, too.
I pushed into the first bar I came to. Dim lighting lit the room, and dark wood and maroon accents furnished the place.
It was packed, but that was to be expected for a Friday night.
A U-shaped bar stood in the center of the room with tables and booths spread throughout, while a decently-sized dance floor made up the back.
I pulled my ball cap down lower on my head as I wove through the dozens of humans. While I wanted to find a partner amongst the sea of bodies, I didn’t want to be ambushed by rabid fans right now. I wanted to wait and watch, carefully selecting my prey for the night.
Grabbing an empty stool at the bar, I ordered a glass of whiskey before scanning the mass of people. There were options of all types in every shape, size, color, and body type—a true buffet of options for a sex demon like me. Whatever I wanted, I could surely find here.
So why wasn’t I gravitating toward any of them?
My frustrations with Zagan, Perseus, and their love-tinted glasses kept my ass rooted to my chair. I was still too pissy to even bother pursuing someone right this second.
Growling under my breath, I grabbed my glass of whiskey and downed it in only a few greedy gulps before slamming it back down. With a wave of my hand at the bartender, I ordered, “Another.”
A cacophony of laughter drew my attention across the room.
A group of men and women stood around a table.
They leaned on each other as they threw back drinks and cackled at their topic of conversation.
It wasn’t a scene out of the realm of normalcy for a bar, but something—or rather, someone—kept my gaze trained on them.
Among the five people congregated around the table, a lean guy with rust-colored waves of hair looked familiar.
He pulled a well-endowed dark-headed girl under his arm and nibbled at her neck before the two whispered things to each other and laughed.
Moments later, their tongues were tangling in what could’ve been an erotic display if it wasn’t for the fact that they looked like two vacuums competing for best sucking efficiency.
Despite the second-hand embarrassment I got from watching them, I narrowed my eyes and studied them, letting my finger idly drag around the rim of my glass.
Where had I seen that guy?
One of the men in the group—a dirty blond with a buzz cut and a full face of scruff—leaned forward to point at the red-headed guy and his dark-haired date.
He wiggled his finger at them and boomed, “Bradley, man! You’re so ballsy to always do this in public.
Aren’t you worried Serenity’ll find out? ”
The guy with the familiar face—Bradley—snickered as he nuzzled the girl between his legs. “She hasn’t found out yet, has she?”
A guy with brown shoulder-length hair laughed and raised his beer at Bradley. “Crazy fucker. More power to you.”
A normal person wouldn’t have been able to hear their conversation, but seeing as I was a demon, their boisterous talk drifted to me as though I were actually sitting at their table, a spectator of this drama.
“You know what would be so fun?” the girl in Bradley’s arms asked, her eyes lighting up like New York at night.
“What would that be, beautiful?” Bradley purred to her.
“Yeah. Tell us, Cassidy,” the blond guy cheered.
Cassidy bounced on her feet, effectively rubbing herself against Bradley’s hard on. Even if my trained eye hadn’t caught the bulge in his jeans, his sexual desire muddied the air around him in a musky, woody scent.
“We should call her here,” Cassidy finally announced to the group. “Right now! Can you imagine how fun it would be? All of us knowing our dirty little secret while that loser has no idea?”
The group perked up at the idea, chanting that Cassidy was so mean but also a genius. They all drunkenly demanded that this idea come to fruition. Bradley soaked in their enthusiasm before settling them with a wave of his hands like a celebrity placating his fans.
“Okay, okay. The crowd has spoken. Let’s see if the gloomy girlfriend even wants to leave the house.”
He pulled out his phone and put it up to his ear. He and his friends shared snickers as they presumably waited for this poor Serenity character to answer his call. I wanted to shake my head at the vileness of their behavior, but I wasn’t even surprised.
Humans were awful creatures. They were truly only good for food and entertainment.
Bradley straightened in his chair, and his friends fixed their excited stares on him as he put on a sweet tone.
“Dollface. Hey. What’re you doing?” There was a pause before he continued, “Well, since you aren’t doing anything but writing, do you wanna come down to Oakley’s?
I’m here with the gang, and I just really want you here. ”
He rolled his eyes, making the guys and girls in the group stifle their laughter. I didn’t get what was so fucking funny, but then again, I didn’t get humans in general. I threw back the last of my drink and ordered another while watching the show happening before me.
“Come on, Dollface,” Bradley begged with sickly fake kindness. “I really miss you and want to be with you. You never hang out with me and the gang. Just this once. Please?”
The group of humans seemed to hold their breath as they waited for an answer on the other line. When Bradley’s mouth stretched into a wide grin, everyone silently clapped and smacked the table in excitement.
“Sweet! I can’t wait for you to get here,” Bradley cooed. “I love you, Dollface.”
He pulled the phone away from his mouth to gag, which earned him more snickers. Cassidy leaned in to resume her kissing and sucking of his neck, and his eyes practically clouded with lust as he mindlessly mumbled a goodbye to his girlfriend and hung up.
“You insane asshole,” the long-haired guy laughed. “Bringing the future wifey here with your side girl is wild.”
“And the dumb bitch is clueless,” the other girl at the table laughed, sloshing her beer out of the glass as she wobbled drunkenly on her chair. “She’s always been such a joke, though.”
Bradley hopped off his stool and tugged on Cassidy’s hand. “We only have thirty minutes before she gets here. Looks like you and I will have to do a little quickie before then.”
The group remaining at the table cheered the two on as they wove through the crowd and headed in the direction of the bathroom. I watched them go, wondering how this was going to play out. No soul here was calling out to me anyway. Why not watch the free show of fuckery that humans called life?
When the couple reemerged only two minutes later, I nearly sputtered on my drink. The bastard strutted around like a proud peacock who thought their shit didn’t stink. Meanwhile, he was a goddamn minute-man. I wanted to throw my head back in my own fit of laughter.
I suddenly hoped the arrogant prick got his ass dumped tonight by both women. Then they could each find a better partner.
There was time until the new arrival showed up, so I went back to people watching. With my mind no longer occupied by the human’s drama, my aggravation started to prick at my insides all over again. I really needed to find a partner to get lost in. But there wasn’t anyone interesting here.
Sexual energy swarmed the adults in the bar.
If I really focused on an individual, I could almost taste what they could offer me in a meal.
Some souls were coated in a thick, rich essence like honey.
Others were sharper and more aggressive like a really tart treat.
Some were subtle and simple like vanilla.
Nothing drew me in, though. Nothing spoke to my demonic nature in the way I needed it to right now. I was desperate for something to suck me in, to make me so hungry, all I could think about was that person and getting a taste of their pleasure.
Not Zagan trading in his life for a human.
Not Perseus suffering needlessly for a mortal.
Not silent yet persistent voices insisting I’d never understand them, because a monster like me wasn’t worthy enough.
Grumbling under my breath, I brought my glass up to my lips to down it once more when a new scent filled the air. I sucked in a hard breath, letting the essence fill my lungs and make my head go dizzy with its power. I whipped my head in the direction of the source.
Hovering just inside the entrance of the bar was a short and curvy human. Half of her long, curly hair was pulled back, and my mouth dried as one word came to mind.
Starlight.
The strands of her hair were like starlight as they framed her bare shoulders.
Her black long-sleeved top hung off those shoulders and cut across in a shallow vee to show off her delicious cleavage and the glimpse of ink peeking between it.
The shirt was tucked into an equally dark skirt, and fishnet tights clung to her tattooed legs.
Her gray eyes scanned the mass of people, and my very being longed for that gaze to meet mine.
I drew in another deep breath, deliberately reaching out to her essence.
She tasted like winter air holding the promise of snow on a star-filled night—crisp, cold, fresh, and pure.
The back of my throat tingled with the need to draw her into my lungs, to feel the explosion of her pleasure in every vein and bone of my body.
She started across the room slowly, and I watched with an eagerness to claim her. My dick bulged in my pants, needing to be buried deep inside of her pussy. I wanted—
“Pft,” Cassidy laughed across the room before whispering to the girl next to her. “Courtney, look. Here comes the fat weirdo.”
The air I’d been greedily sucking in froze in my chest as my winter star stopped right by Bradley and his friends. Bradley brightened and stood from his chair to pull her in for a one-armed hug, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
My fingers dug into my glass as my aggravation turned into a fierce fury. That delicious human was his? She was Serenity?
“Goddammit,” I growled, narrowing my eyes on the scene I no longer wanted to watch.