Taken to the Deadlands: Tales of the Stolen Demon Brides

Chapter 5 - Aris

This little human is going to fucking ruin everything.

Not only had she burst out head first onto the stage, but even as I brought her back to my spot to sit, she fought against me.

"Let me go, you asshole!"

She tried to pull her tiny wrists from my hand, but she was too weak, like most of her kind.

I pulled at her, needing her to come close to me. When she winced a shot of guilt burst through me.

"Just be good," I warned while leaning closer to her. This time I didn't yank her to me but merely leaned down to whisper in her ear.

The weight of the eyes of the many demons in this room burned at my skin. It wouldn't be good if they saw my weakness against them. It wasn't uncommon for demons to take a human companion, but not many treated them with respect.

Nor did they let them throw a fit in the middle of an auction.

The Madams voice sounded behind me and the auction started once more.

The human looked back to the stage and it was the distraction I needed to pull her away.

She didn't fight me as hard this time. Maybe it was because we were headed straight to the twins and to the people who already put the highest bid possible on the next human.

"A royal favor." Eros's voice wasn't loud, but it carried far, silencing anyone who even attempt to speak over her.

Even the human knew not to speak up as I sat her down in my chair. She attempted to shrink herself but folding her shoulders in and putting her hands between her legs. I knew the right thing to do would be to kneel down in front of her and calmly talk her through this, but I had an image to uphold.

I felt Yien come to my side before I saw or heard her. The coldness of her shadows enveloped us and caused the human to look up at me with a startled expression.

Hazel eyes with long, damp lashes looked up at me. Umbre skin shone under the dim lighting enough for me to catch a glimpse of the dark freckles that lined her face and neck. Her brown hair was suck to her skin which I now just realized was slick with sweat.

The human is scared.

"Cover us more," I ordered Yien.

"My human is next."

"This won't take long."

Yien's shadows filled the space around us. I dropped to my knees infant of the human. She straightened suddenly and gave me a hard expression.

"I don't taste good," she said quickly. "I have a human blood disease that is slowly rotting me from the inside. If you're not careful it may jump to you as well.

For the first time in years, a smile threatened to tug at my lips.

I leaned forward, close enough for my nose to brush across her chest. Her heart was beating so fast it drowned out all sounds around me.

I inhaled deeply.

Pain stabbed deep at my gut. My throat constricted. Drool pooled in my mouth. My teeth ached.

I jerked my head back, not trusting myself to get any closer than I had.

The frenzy was already playing at the corners of my mind, reminding me of how long it had been since I feasted. Memories of my sharp teeth tearing at human flesh, of their feet blood bursting across my tastebuds, or their magic filling my veins hit me like a truck.

I closed my eyes.

"I won't eat you," I forced through my clenched teeth. It had an edge to it that I hoped wouldn't scare the human. "I have other plans for you."

Then another scent hit me. One I wasn't too sure I had the control to assess.

This time I shot up to my feet and exited Yien's shadows.

I hadn't heard the common but as soon as I was away from the human, my senses flooded back.

Demons were growling and yelling all around us. Chairs were being thrown. Bodies clashed against bodies.

"Empaths are a hot commodity it seems," Madam called out over the roaring crowd. "Let's add something interesting to this bet, hm? Does anyone have another soul sphere to offer?"

Yien raised her hand. Panic burst through me.

I didn't have what she was offering.

"Put your hand down right fucking now. You do not have a—"

"I do," she said, her tone not giving any indication of her lie. "A should sphere for the human. No royal coin."

Madam threw her head back with a loud, crazed laugh.

"Don't kid yourself," she spat. "Anyone else—"

"A soul sphere... of a realm ruler."

Silence fell across the room.

It's not possible. We demons... didn't have a soul to capture, so how—?

"Proof," madam demanded. The human on the stage was shaking with fear. Her eyes wide as she watched us.

Yien gave her a quick nod before looking over the crowd. When her eyes fell to the already dead Demis, a slow smile spread across her face. She didn't move to him, only sent her shadows over.

All black tendrils shot out from her shadows and circled around his large body. With ease they held him up and we all watched as the shadows attacked him.

The shadows writhed over his skin, as if searching for something. Then they started pulsing. With each pulse the body they covered got small and smaller until—

"How is that possible?" I breathed. "He was dead."

The shadows dissipated until there was only a single, black old with a red core floating where the body once was.

Quicker than I could have thought through, I turned around and yanked the human out of Yien's shadows.

Yien's eyes cut towards me.

"That hurts me," she said in a deadpan voice. "I thought we were friends."

"I didn't know you could—"

"Sold!"

Yien's gaze snapped back to the stage in a flurry of shadows they were gone.

I paused, looking towards the twins, but the spot they occupied was already empty.

A tug on my arm caused me to look back down at my human. Her eyes were wide and the angry act she had before was missing.

"Mia," she said. "My name is Mia."

I gave her a hard look.

"You want something... else right?" she asked. "If so, you should at least know my name. After all I do know yours, Aris."

My name falling from those lips shouldn't have set me alight like it did. Neither should the sent of her either, though.

So what the fuck kind of human are you, Mia?

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