Demons and Lovers Read online

  Demons and Lovers

  by

  Cheyenne McCray

  Copyright © 2014

  Demons and Lovers by Cheyenne McCray

  All rights reserved. No part of this e-Book may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  E-book conversion by Bella Media Management.

  Published by Pink Zebra Publishing.

  13-Digit ISBN: 978-1-939778-83-3

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Incubus Desires

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Succubus Seduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  No Cursed Allowed

  Welcome to New York City’s Underworld

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Also by Cheyenne McCray

  Cheyenne writing as Jaymie Holland

  Excerpt… Forbidden

  Excerpt… Branded For You

  Excerpt… Inked

  About Cheyenne

  Incubus Desires

  (Formerly published under the title Demon Lover in the “Hotter than Hell” anthology)

  by Cheyenne McCray

  Chapter 1

  He vanished in a whirl of mist, leaving behind scents of sandalwood and sex on a hot summer’s night.

  Ericka Roberts cried out and clenched her bedcovers in both fists as she woke. Perspiration coated her body and the sheets clung to her damp skin. Her breathing was harsh, her heart beating so hard it pounded inside her ears.

  These dreams are killing me.

  For the past week, since she’d arrived at the oceanside condo in San Diego, she’d awakened sweating, body aching with need and frustration. In her dreams, her demon lover tantalized her, licking, sucking, and biting her nipples. He teased her with his tongue and tasted her between her thighs until she was on the edge of a climax so powerful she knew it would rock her to her core.

  The moment she reached that pinnacle, he would stop. He’d rise, spread her legs with his hips, a sensual expression on his strong features. He’d nudge his cock against her folds and she’d hold her breath in anticipation.

  And he would vanish.

  He just disappeared!

  The dreams were so intense that each morning she woke up pleasantly sore from his rough attention.

  How’s that for a vivid imagination? She groaned and flung her arm over her eyes. “I’ve entered another dimension, where sane people don’t exist.”

  Ericka moved her arm from her eyes and turned onto her side, facing the window. Shadows from palm trees and the first hint of morning sunlight winked through the glass as she faced reality.

  Not too far away, the rush and pound of the surf matched the rush of blood in her ears and the pounding of her heart. The scent of sandalwood shifted into salt and brine mixed with the vanilla of candles she’d placed on every available surface of the room.

  She attempted to recapture the power of the dream, but it faded like tendrils of mist through her fingers.

  Yet he was there, never leaving her thoughts.

  * * * * *

  Ericka blew a strand of red hair out of her eyes and chewed on one of her nails. She slumped in the deckchair, her shorts hiking up her thighs. Her mind was anywhere but on the page on her laptop. Another planet, maybe.

  It was nearing sunset. For most of the day she’d been sitting on the porch, trying to work on her non-fiction book that included descriptions of visits by beings from Otherworldly realms.

  “The freaking book,” she grumbled as images of her demon lover refused to leave her mind. “The damned dreams happen because you’re studying and writing about similar paranormal occurrences.” She glanced at the ocean. “Get a grip.”

  This hidden stretch of beach on the outskirts of San Diego was a perfect place to “channel” her writing. The water called to her, calmed her, let her slip into a state of mind where her body no longer existed.

  Usually.

  “Okay, that’s enough.” She punched a few keys on her laptop and exited her doc and her web browser before closing her laptop. “You sure better have a productive day tomorrow.”

  When she’d rented the condo in the past, her fingers always flew over the keys of her laptop as she wrote her non-fiction paranormal books. Everything about the supernatural attracted her, but she especially loved her current topic.

  Hence the dreams.

  The wind kicked up and pages of one open research book on mythology flipped one after another in a sudden cascade. She reached for the book as the pages stopped at the intro to Incubae and Succubae.

  She drew the book closer and studied the picture she’d practically drooled over the first time she’d read the research book. A painting of the backside of a man. With her finger she traced his shoulder-length black hair, muscular back, and tight ass. Her imagination supplied the rest. No doubt he’d be as toned and fit everywhere else if she could manage a peek at him from the front.

  The corner of her mouth curved. When she first looked at the picture, she’d been intrigued about giving up your soul for your desires.

  Ericka rolled her eyes. Between that fascination and the topic of her book, no wonder she’d been experiencing such intense nightly dreams. She’d been reading about Incubae and Succubae until her eyes damned near crossed, and now her imagination had conjured up a demon lover of her own.

  She shook her head, snatched up her books and her laptop, and headed into the condo. After she put them away, she glanced at her cell phone. A tiny red light blinked, indicating she had a message.

  Ericka checked the recent callers. Mom, Mom, and Mom. And oh, Mom. Being the youngest child in a huge Irish family, Ericka had to suffer through her mother’s constant worrying over nothing and everything.

  She smiled when she saw that Julia, her sister and closest friend, had also called. No one in the world knew her like Julia did.

  For a moment, Ericka thought about calling her sister and talking about her dreams, but shook her head and set the phone aside. Despite Ericka’s notoriety for her widely received books on paranormal occurrences, Julia refused to believe in anything she couldn’t see for herself. A real skeptic.

  Ericka slipped outside of the condo into the wavering sunlight and trotted barefoot down a rocky, sandy path. The cool ocean breeze lifted her hair from her shoulders. She sucked in a deep lungful of salty air.

  Her thoughts wandered as she looked out at the beauty of the ocean. The water was relatively calm, only making a deep sucking sound before the onrush of a wave. Sand squished between Ericka’s toes as she walked closer to the water.

  “Could a dream man manifest himself as real?” she said out loud, then shook her head. Julia would be catching the next flight from Seattle before Ericka could blink if she started talking about a man coming into her condo at night—even if he was a dream man.

  Ericka reached the firm wet sand just as a wave receded, and she wiggled her toes.
Water rushed back and the small wave slapped her bare calves and ankles with a salty sting before drawing away again.

  “You should be writing fiction, Ericka,” she mumbled. “He’s a freaking dream.”

  Another small wave splashed against her, this time high enough to reach the hem of her shorts. She looked out at the soft swells of the ocean reflecting shades of orange and pink from the sunset that rippled on the waves.

  Her heart rate kicked up a notch—it was almost dark. Anticipation fluttered in her belly.

  Almost time for sleep.

  And her dream lover.

  * * * * *

  Aedan studied the winking stars above his quarters. The constellations were so different in his realm than in Ericka’s.

  Ericka.

  Just the thought of her hardened his cock so that it tented his toga. His skin felt tight beneath the material, as if he was being stretched from his bedchamber to Ericka’s bedroom in the Earth Otherworld.

  He took a deep breath before he lowered his gaze from the glittering sky to several pools of exotic fish he had collected from places he had visited over the centuries. His mother, Belisma, found it amusing that he, an Incubus, had a sort of hobby. He had to admit she was probably right.

  Demons didn’t have hobbies. Demons had missions.

  And I have friggin’ fish.

  He sighed.

  The swimming blurs of the colorful fish were likely proof that his mind—and demonic mission—was slowly unraveling.

  His chamber was carved from rock and in one corner a waterfall rushed over stones into a bathing pond. Moisture dampened the walls, moss growing on the surfaces, and the floor was soft grass—his own private paradise. Every Incubus or Succubus had a different type of chamber, depending on whether they were of fire, earth, air, or water.

  A water Incubus, Aedan was the offspring of the water goddess herself.

  Which probably explained his fascination with fish.

  Sort of.

  His bed commanded the center of the chamber and had a mattress of soft leaves in a carved-out stone shell. He wondered what Ericka would think of his world, never mind the fish. What it would be like to bring her here. To take her in his bed.

  He pressed his fingertips to his forehead.

  First the fish, and now dangerous thoughts. Way past dangerous. Why after centuries of fulfilling women’s desires, was he thinking of such abominations?

  That was never done—bringing the human through the veil. Only souls could travel with the Incubae or Succubae to be stored until the human’s shell died. Soul after soul he’d collected without a second thought.

  Until now.

  Ericka... Over the past month he had observed her before he went to her to attempt to win her soul. He had witnessed her strength, her beauty, her commitment to family and friends, her sense of fairness, her intelligence, as well as her love of writing. Which, ironically enough, involved researching his kind. Something he found both amusing and intriguing.

  For some reason she made him feel more real, more alive. Made him want things he had never wanted before. Made him look at who and what he was, and long for something different than what he had always known.

  Like wishing he was human so he could spend his life with her.

  Aedan scowled. An idiotic thought. Why was the woman affecting him like this?

  When a Succubus or an Incubus was sent to a human, it was because the person had projected a powerful desire. Perhaps the wish was for the fulfillment of a fantasy, or a longing that included the phrase, “I'd give anything for…” The human usually exchanged his or her soul in payment, often unaware of the magnitude of what they’d done.

  And usually that was the key.

  Unaware.

  I will take her soul, and she might not even realize what she has surrendered—if I don’t tell her.

  He pictured Ericka’s beautiful body as he prepared to take everything from her. He imagined the way she would look at him when he finally thrust into her core. She was already wild in his arms when he went to her—the way she whimpered and moaned, trying to seek the completion he denied her.

  It was his job to drive her insane with need nightly until she reached the point she would tell him anything, anything he wanted to hear—including giving up her soul.

  But...damnation. Something about Ericka made him feel as if he was a part of her and she a part of him. An irrational thought that had him grinding his teeth. The idea of taking Ericka’s soul tore at him like a piranha eating his gut.

  Piranha.

  Hmmm.

  Maybe I should get a piranha for my collection.

  Godsdamn, I’m losing my mind.

  Centuries of fucking women, yet this one drove him to thoughts of piranha. He had to shake off his madness. It was time. No matter how he felt, he had to claim the woman’s soul.

  It was either that, or he would face eternity in the fires of the Realm of the Dead.

  Aedan ground his teeth and left his bedchamber. It was time to go to the woman.

  His thoughts churned as he strode down the Hall of the Lost. When he reached the Chamber of Veils, he walked to the archway that would take him to Ericka. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her through the veil for a long moment.

  Her eyelids were closed, hiding her startling blue eyes. Her lips parted as she shifted in her sleep, the sheets rumpling beneath her naked body. Her red hair was a wild mass against the white of her pillowcase, her nipples high and puckered with arousal. Around the room, several candles burned within their holders and the soft light danced upon her skin.

  Gods and goddesses, he could already smell her woman’s musk and her warm vanilla scent.

  Yes, there was something about this one. Something innocent, yet wild at the same time.

  Something...perfect.

  His groin tightened, his cock aching. He wanted to be inside her. So many times he had come close to pushing her over the edge when she neared climax. The thought of being with her for the sake of pleasuring her made his lust spiral and his erection harder.

  His muscles tensed and he swallowed the feelings of rebellion rising within him. Feelings he shouldn’t be having—that contradicted everything an Incubus was.

  Ericka was his last assignment before he made the Great Transition to Annwn, that special place in Otherworld reserved for those who pleased the gods and goddesses. Aedan had been successful with every assignment and had earned his place, earned the right to live in such peace and beauty. He was looking forward to it. He had lost his taste for his work years ago. It was time for a change.

  More importantly, he had earned his reprieve from the flaming depths of the Realm of the Dead, where most demons and the soulless were sent.

  He rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger.

  If he took Ericka’s soul, she would go to the Realm of the Dead when her human shell died.

  The mere thought made him grind his teeth.

  If he did not take Ericka’s soul... That was unthinkable for an Incubus or a Succubus. To fail in his last assignment, to be moments from salvation from the Realm of the Dead, then feel the fire’s hideous, terrible bite for all eternity. Sweat broke out on his skin at thoughts of the endless labor he would be forced to do as liquid heat splashed against his body.

  Aedan returned his gaze to Ericka, to that beauty and innocence that called to his being like no other had before.

  “You want her.” Jett appeared at his side, his sister Succubus bringing him out of his thoughts. The Succubus stroked his arm. “More than anyone you have taken in their dreams. This one is important to you.”

  Aedan forced himself to tear his gaze from the erotic sight of Ericka Roberts. “She is naught but another human.”

  “Hmmm…” The black-haired beauty at his side looked at him with her brilliant gold gaze. Her toga sparkled, the same color as her eyes. “This assignment is taking longer than normal.” She curled her fingers around his biceps that flexed be
neath her touch. “Another Incubus, Kyne perhaps, should accompany you.”

  A low rumble rose in Aedan’s chest. His jaw tightened at the thought of another Incubus touching Ericka.

  That was irrational. Aedan had played out this drama with countless women over the centuries, fulfilling their needs and desires in exchange for their souls. The actions of Incubae and Succubae had been twisted into something considered evil. When in fact what they did only served to pleasure men and women and bring their fantasies to life. So what did their souls matter if they could have every wish granted?

  Jett gathered her long hair and pulled it over one of her shoulders. “Perhaps you have become too close to this human. Maybe you should have Kyne take your place completely, before you get into trouble.”

  “No.” The word came out sharper than Aedan intended. “Ericka Roberts is my assignment and I shall deal with her.”

  Aedan caressed Jett’s back at the base of her spine with his palm. Touching her in that location always served to distract her, and she released his biceps when he moved away.

  As he watched Ericka, his cock ached enough to drive him senseless. He hadn’t allowed himself an orgasm, just as he refused to let Ericka climax.

  His toga vanished with a thought as he prepared to walk through the veil.

  Tonight...would Ericka be ready to offer up her soul?

  Was he ready to take it?

  Chapter 2

  When the bed sank beneath the weight of someone easing onto the mattress beside her, Ericka wasn’t surprised. She opened her eyes and smiled at her dark lover.

  Shadows still hid his gaze from her, but because she had left several candles lit, this time she could make out his angular jaw, a cleft in his chin, and his straight nose. Dark hair skimmed his shoulders and his smile was so sensual it made her squirm.

  His naked body was a work of art. If she wrote fiction, she couldn’t have created a character to rival him. Broad shoulders, carved biceps, a muscled chest, well-defined abs—definite hero material. And his cock—wow.

  Ericka reached up to touch his face and he captured her hand in his. He held it to his heart and she felt his flesh, so warm and real against her palm.