Caught in the Devils' Hand Read online

  No one was about, though they would be in just a few minutes. It was now safe to leave the village’s protective barrier, but many villagers waited an hour after sunrise before starting work in the fields, even though the fields were still within the protection of the barrier charms. It went to show how fear could be an excuse for laziness.

  Very carefully surveying for any spying eyes, she made her way down the path leading directly away from her home, which led toward the medicine field and to the meeting place. Satisfied that no one had seen her leave, though if they had, they would assume that she was going to till her own fields as usual, she picked up the pace once she was amongst the trees.

  Her mind immediately overflowed with sounds, images and thoughts of the demon she was about to meet. The feel of his hands, the sound of his harsh breathing and the way he made her feel—soft, melted and warm. She also remembered the bite of his insults, the grip of his fingers clamped around her wrists and the demands he made of her.

  Making her way up one of the hills, her eyes caught a flicker across her path, and she immediately stopped, a gasp trapped in her throat. The silky, tenuous threads of a spider’s web, only just begun, were stretched across her path, anchored by a few low tree branches hanging close together over the path.

  The tight chill of fear gripped her and she took a hasty step back, stumbling just a bit. Her hands went immediately to her chest, and she couldn’t help the shivering pants that she took, her arms and legs now frozen as she stood there in indecision. Her eyes flicked about, looking for the web’s architect, and soon found it. It was wiggling with constructive haste amongst the leaves in the branch on the right. The eight-legged menace was perhaps the size of a Numbing Kava Kava seed, not very big at all, but size didn’t matter. She was utterly terrified by it.

  The web was up high enough that simply ducking would clear her of the lowest threads, but there was no way she would walk under it. However unlikely it would be, images of a spider dropping onto her head, her neck, crawling under the collar of her dress, flashed across her mind’s eye, and she felt a pitiable mewling noise well up in her throat.

  She couldn’t be late to meet Vallen. She couldn’t skip. She had to somehow get around the web. Oka would be able to remove it later since they had to use this path every day—it was sort of his job to do so since she was useless when it came to spiders.

  Deciding to traipse through the forest to get around the web, she waded through some underbrush, giving the spider and its half-finished web a wide berth as she maneuvered around tree trunks and emerged back on the path farther down, her skirt a little wet from the morning dew, which made leaves stick to the material. She impatiently brushed the leaves away, feeling like this new feature to her already dismal morning was just the finishing touch.

  Taking a big breath to calm herself down, she looked in the direction of her destination and continued walking. She couldn’t help herself as her eyes scoured the path in front of her, though, checking for more construction sites as she came closer and closer to the meeting place.

  When the clearing became visible, now rock-throwing distance away, she stopped for a few heartbeats and fisted her hands, trying to give herself the courage to scream at the demon waiting for her.

  Taking a step forward, she nearly stumbled as arousal hit her full force, flushing her cheeks and making her shiver at the same time. The gasp from earlier that never managed to escape her throat finally broke free, and she hugged herself, having stopped in her tracks. She tried to regain her sense of balance before putting another foot in front of her and managed to walk, but her anger had returned full force. She was livid that he would use his magic on her already and her steps were awkward because her sex was throbbing and dripping for release.

  She was going to kill him.

  Only a couple of steps and the morning sun greeted her as she emerged from the tree line—tired, cranky and aroused. Her eyes immediately found him, standing to the left in a spot where the grass was crushed.

  It was where he had taken her for the first time and each time she had passed through this clearing on the way to the medicine field, she would remember that night, and the feel of his hot seed bursting inside her.

  Today, he was wearing a dark blue shirt, complete with gold ties to keep it shut and void of any embroidery. His black pants stretched tight across his powerful thighs but the shirt fell too far for her to see how tight his pants were across his groin. The shirt framed his shoulders perfectly and the seams were stitched with gold thread to outline and complement the lines of his chest and sides.

  She bit back the noise rising in her throat as her sex flowered with excitement. Even at a distance, she saw his knowing smile since he knew exactly how she was feeling.

  Forcing herself to walk to him, she waded through the thick, clinging blades of grass until she came to a stop on the crushed area, only arm’s length away from the man who had haunted her for the last week.

  “Good morning, dear Shumei,” he rumbled, his deep voice rolling over her body and making her shiver with its smooth timbre.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that my mother had died that morning?” she bit out, ignoring the dizziness in her head and the clenching arousal in her womb. She needed answers now.

  “I thought you already knew she was dead,” he readily answered, as if he knew she would ask. “I followed you to the river, thinking you had gone there to mourn in private, but finding you there naked distracted me so…”

  “Yet you managed to coax that deal out of me. Are you really so single-minded, you damned—” she began, her hands clenching into white-knuckled fists as he interrupted her.

  “Yes, I am. This way of life is all I have known for a very long span of time. I rarely think of anything else.” His gaze was hard, having been angered by her near insult. She was quiet for a moment. Fairly certain that he had never actually lied to her, she knew he spoke the truth now.

  “I have a question of my own then,” he said, leaning forward. His clear blue eyes stared straight into hers, and she almost looked away. “The evening before last, you received quite a kiss, but from what I could only assume was another woman. Tell me what you were doing,” he said evenly, a heat in his eyes. She wasn’t sure if it was anger or not.

  “Trading a kiss for information…that’s all,” she said, not wanting to say too much about her newfound knowledge of his origin.

  “Trading with whom?” he whispered, taking a slow step forward. She had to tilt her head up to keep eye contact.

  “With…with the witch,” she answered, seeing no reason why he shouldn’t know that detail. He inhaled swiftly, and she saw a raw emotion pass over his eyes.

  “She is dangerous, Shumei. Do not trade anything else with her. She has already cast one spell on you, but its effects are harmless and rather pleasant,” he said with a warning tone, though the last came out with a bit of a smile as he glanced at her chest.

  Her breasts! She gasped, realizing that he was right. The witch must have put something into the rice wine! It all made sense now. The morning nausea had started after that and ended when her breasts had finished growing to a larger size. She was doubly glad that she hadn’t taken any of the witch’s tea the other day. Who knew what that might’ve done to her…

  “She was probably experimenting on you, and let’s be glad that her experiment was very successful. Improperly mixed potions can kill you, often looking like a disease to outsiders, but most black-haired people have more than enough magic to battle the ill effects of such mistakes,” he said, his hint rather bold. She literally felt her face go pale.

  The Burning…

  It had to be Majo’s fault.

  “She…” was all Shumei could say. It was all too horrible to even imagine. That Majo would kill so many people, whether on accident or on purpose…

  “What information, Shumei? What was it you wanted to know so badly that you would kiss such a creature?” he said, his expression serious now.


  “I kiss you, don’t I?” she replied dryly, a bit touchy since he was acting like a scolding parent. The way his jaw stiffened told her that she had hit her mark. She let it go though, knowing it probably had been dangerous to trade things with the witch. “Knowledge of demons,” she admitted, though it still wasn’t too specific.

  “And what did you learn, hmm?” he asked, leaning even closer.

  “I already knew most of what she had said. I, unfortunately, traded a kiss for very little,” she said, putting some bitterness into her voice to add some realism to her half-truth. She had learned very little, but what she had learned was very important. He tilted his head slightly, and she realized almost immediately that he knew she was omitting something. However, he didn’t say anything further, leaning back up to his full height.

  “Well, let us not delay any longer. I have prepared a place for us, and my loins burn to be buried inside of you,” he uttered thickly, his eyes darkening to the color of a sky that threatened heavy rain. The abrupt change in subject and his vivid words immediately brought a blush to her face. He held out his hand, and against her better judgment but with no other choice, she placed her palm over his. His fingers quickly tightened around her hand, and he smoothly turned toward the woods behind him, leading her toward the tree line.

  “How far are we going?” she asked, obviously suspicious.

  “Far enough,” he answered shortly. His hand was firm and warm around her fingers, tight enough that she couldn’t easily snatch her hand away. They soon entered the trees again, though this time there was no path to walk upon, and the underbrush was quickly a hindrance. Walking in an ankle-length dress and attempting to keep it from snagging on every branch or fistful of thorns was slow going. Vallen seemed patient at first, letting her stop for a couple of seconds to gently detach her skirt, but after the eighth time, he sighed in great frustration.

  She finally eased a couple of thorns out of the bottom of her skirt and leaned back up, her face flushed with the exertion of trying to keep up with the demon. Though she had known he was standing close by, he was suddenly standing very, very close, and she jumped in reaction. He was practically a hand’s breadth away from her side. His hand slid away from hers, and she looked up at his face in question.

  “It’ll be faster to carry you,” he announced, his right arm snaking around her back as he bent slightly.

  “W-wait,” she stammered, not comfortable with being in his arms like that, even though she was about to be a lot more intimate with him, but it was too late for protests. His other arm hooked her under her knees and she was up in his arms in less than two heartbeats.

  “Think of it as part of the foreplay. You’re fulfilling your end of the bargain by letting me carry you,” he murmured, his arms holding her tight against his chest. Then, in a louder voice tinged with a bit of effort, “It’ll be easier, though, if you put your arms around my neck.”

  She had remembered a few times when her father had held her in such a way, and how she draped one arm behind his back to grip his opposite shoulder, her other arm mirroring it on the other side.

  She didn’t believe for a second that Vallen needed the adjusted position to make her easier to carry. Demons had superhuman strength. Before she realized it, though, she had shyly bent her arm and curled it around him, lacing her fingers together on his far shoulder.

  “What’s foreplay?” she asked, unfamiliar with the term. “Is it a kind of magic?” She heard him choke and wasn’t sure if it was a laugh or a cough.

  “Some women would call it magic,” he said, his voice teasing. “But no, foreplay is physical.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said, fighting not to stiffen in discomfort. Being in his arms was just too awkward.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll show you,” he silkily promised, looking down at her briefly. She couldn’t stifle the small gasp that popped out of her mouth, for at this distance, under the pure, pale light of dawn, his eyes were a blue softer than any summer sky, but as quickly as his gaze fell to her, it rose again, looking ahead.

  They fell into silence, and she began to notice things about Vallen as their silence stretched on. His impossibly white hair brushed lightly against her left wrist and hand, tickling a bit. She fought an insane urge to play with it. A faint scent drifted to her nose, like the smell of the night breeze mixed with sun-warmed skin. It also strongly hinted of some spicy soap, and underlying it all was a light, manly musk. She knew it was his smell and shivered in longing even as she wished his smell were less alluring. The spicy scent of his soap was still as familiar and calming as the last two times they had met.

  Vallen’s thoughts were of a similar bent. She felt so light in his arms. Soft. He wanted to sink into that softness—press his face into it, curl his hands around it and thrust himself inside of it. Her hair smelled of earthy plants, and her skin glistened beautifully under the dawning sun’s intermittent rays, as if she were some fairy with a dusting of natural glitter.

  He hadn’t wanted a woman like this since the one who had been his downfall.

  He wondered why it was Shumei whom he hungered for…though she shared a few physical traits with Miharu, her personality and background had been radically different. The world had been radically different back then.

  He spied the place he had been aiming for up ahead. His footsteps quickened as his heartbeat picked up, and his cock hardened to a semi-erect state. He felt Shumei turn her head, and knew when her eyes found what he had been looking for when her body stiffened in his arms.

  “W-what is that?” she half-squeaked, not expecting something…so grand. She wasn’t sure what someone like Vallen would have in mind, or what resources he would have available to him, but she actually had expected a simple blanket on the ground, if anything at all.

  She wasn’t even sure what to call this structure. A cloth house?

  “It’s a tent, purchased long ago in Kurosa, the City of Dunes. Wait until you see inside,” he purred, a sound all too close to Majo’s purr. She studied the cloth as they neared it, barely noticing his imposing horse standing guard behind it, though the tent was too tall to see much of the horse. The tent was a rich green, and its seams were laden with heavy gold ropes that were furred on the end, a strange design that she didn’t even have a word for. The entire structure was at least the size of her paltry hut.

  They finally emerged at a spot free of underbrush, and she expected to be set on her feet, but Vallen continued around the tent to the side with an opening. One side of the cloth door was already drawn open, and she gasped at the sight within. He easily steered both of them through the hole, and she looked around at the dozens of pillows arranged randomly over the small but otherwise uncluttered space. The floor of the tent was a thick carpet much like the one in the leader’s home, but much more beautiful. The pillows were varying hues of red and purple, the carpet a dizzying mix of gold and red. Five candles were burning brightly, about a third spent, and were arranged on solid-looking plates far from where any…activity might occur.

  She actually couldn’t believe her eyes.

  “Where did all of this come from?” she asked incredulously, still in his arms.

  “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you that my original estate is actually not far from here, though it looks as though no one has disturbed it since I last left, meaning it’s still as hard to find as ever.”

  “Estate? How can you own an es—” she stopped abruptly, realizing exactly how it could’ve happened. Vallen was once human, long ago. Who was to say he hadn’t been a rich human? Perhaps even a lord…it would make sense as motivation to curse him.

  “You would be surprised how wealthy human-like demons are. Wealth is acquired over time, and demons have a lot of time,” he explained, looking down at her.

  “How long are you going to hold me?” she asked dryly, going cold since the magic he had recently used on her had died away and since she had just said something stupid. Whether he had been rich during his
human life or not, he’d had plenty of time since his curse to become rich.

  “All morning.” He slowly, slowly smiled, his straight white teeth showing even in the dim interior. She felt a heavy throb roll over her and knew he had pulled the strings on his magic again, renewing her hunger. Smoothly lowering his body, he gently set her down on the lush carpet with her back against several red pillows. She was embarrassed when her hands actually clung to him as he leaned away in order to turn and let the tent’s flap close, encasing them in a candlelit world all their own.

  “Don’t worry, dear Shumei. I will return to your arms soon,” he chuckled, securing the flap so that no seam of light could peek inside to disturb their illusion. She felt heavy, her body warm and sluggish as sexual excitement budded inside. Another heavy throb of arousal assailed her and forced out a gasp, her body squirming amongst the pillows. They were so soft against her back and head, holding her up like she was an offering to the Divine One.

  Or a sacrifice to a demon.

  She pushed that thought away, knowing that frightening herself would not make the situation any better. Vallen then returned to kneel at her side. Rather than having a soft expression of comfort though, the fine lines of his face held a tightly reined emotion. He slowly settled against her right side, holding eye contact, and his left arm gently slid under her neck, pushing aside the pillow beneath her head.

  “Do you wish to see foreplay then?” he asked softly, his face very near. She felt a blush creep up her cheeks, and her eyes flicked to his parted lips.

  “C-can’t you just tell me?” she whispered, her eyes coming back to his. He smiled as if he knew a secret, and she felt his other hand light upon her knee.

  “That could be just as delicious, I suppose,” he hummed, his hand tightening. Another pulse of arousal, very strong this time, made her back stiffen and a soft sigh left her lips. She felt his fingers grasp the material of her dress and he slowly pulled up, making the skirt rise a few inches to reveal her ankles. She thought to herself, quite randomly, that maybe they should take off their shoes.