True to his word, Damaris never took over his body apart from that one time with Prince Ixthan, so it was alarmingly easy to adapt to a life of possession. Mages presumably had it more complicated than this but Damaris seemed content to observe Archie’s life from behind his eyes. The oddest thing wasprobably when he could feel Damaris’s disapproval and hear his commentary on how he would have acted differently.
Occasionally, Damaris would go quiet, and Archie was slowly beginning the grasp the difference between when Damaris was there but not paying him any mind, and when he was not actually there at all.
Where do you go?asked Archie after one such instance. He tried to sound nonchalant, but suspected it came out as interrogative instead. One of the reasons the king’s mages held such a tight grip on the wording and details of their possession deals was because they didn’t want the demons getting overpowering the human host and getting loose. And here Archie was, letting Damaris slip in and out as he chose.
Demon business.
I thought I was your demon business.Even thinking the words made a blush rise. Archie had never been the lewd sort. As an adolescent, he’d always been uncomfortable when his friends talked about the things they’d tried, had always averted his eyes at the pamphlets they’d passed around, unable to bear looking at them straight on. Given the absurdity of his situation, Archie was trying to get better at thinking about it, talking about it, but making dirty jokes about it still made him squirm inside.
Damaris laughed though, a rumble that filled his torso, and Archie smiled down at his knees. Was it odd for a glow of pride to warm his chest when he managed to make the demon laugh?
I did not think a human would complain of not being possessed enough, said Damaris. He was teasing Archie, a gentleprod not designed to hurt. That alone astonished Archie. He wasn’t used to the way it made his stomach squirm, half out of embarrassment and half out of delight at being joked with.
I went to observe your Prince Ixthan. His rooms are well-protected with magic, for a human.
Archie caught that.But not for a demon?
Damaris made some sort of harrumphing noise that reverberated behind Archie’s ears and tickled; it took him a moment to figure out it was of indignance.He could sense I was there.
But only because you allowed it, I presume.
Indeed.
Archie hid a smile, although he didn’t know how possible it was to hide these things from someone who shared his body. And then started. When had Damaris started to make him smile? He’d started to lower his defenses around him, and that couldn’t be wise.
The tiniest beginnings of a thought formed in Archie’s mind and he suddenly raced to open his mental image of a tower and make sure all the windows were closed, before the rest of the thought revealed itself. He was smitten with the demon. Oh, gods.
He couldn’t let Damaris know. That was his first priority. The second was to reject it. Archie had done it before, it was old habit to him by now to deny his feelings and repressthem until they went away. He’d just never done it to a being who could read his thoughts.
From the outside, the servants must have thought Archie was going mad, staring blankly at the wall and not responding to anything. But inside, he was reinforcing his mental shield, his imaginary tower now solid stone with no windows to be seen at all. Only then, did he allow himself to wallow in his misfortune. And only when he’d finished feeling sorry for himself and the ridiculous situation he was in, did he slowly come back up for air.
Archie half-expected Damaris to wonder what happened in that little interlude for Archie to drop off the conversation so suddenly, but he wasn’t there. Oh, gods blast it, Archie had had one moment of weakness and the demon was off cavorting in the shadows wherever he pleased again.
He was back that night though, with satisfaction radiating off him. One moment Archie was thinking about how cold his bed was as he read one of his new novels, and as he reached to pull the blankets further up, the coldness was suddenly inside him. Almost as if his body was a warm coat for Damaris to take on and off as he pleased. Archie hissed, shivering until his body adjusted to the fact that the cold wasn’t real.
The Prince again?asked Archie, and the moment the thought left him, he knew he sounded like a jealous lover. He hated the way it made him feel, irritable and irrational.
I do not trust anyone’s mere word that they will simply not report us, unless there is a clear advantage for him,saidDamaris. And then, somewhat reproachfully,Do you not know you should only trust a demon’s word when it is magically binding?
Archie was reminded once again of how little he knew of demons.Not even yours? You have already possessed me, what more do you want?
What more?Don’t underestimate me, human. I always want more from you.Damaris grew in Archie’s mind, a strange sensation of getting bigger and bigger until he rose up out of Archie’s body, looming over him in the darkness. He was no longer cold, his heat filched from Archie’s body and Archie felt his caress from neck down to hip, pulling back the bed covers. Something tickled the hem of his nightshirt, the fluttering of the fabric across his bare skin making him shiver as Damaris slowly drew it up, exposing him.
He’d stopped wearing underwear to bed now, it was entirely pointless when Damaris descended on him more often than not, just an extra flimsy piece of fabric that got in their way. So he was bare as Damaris wrapped his shadows around him, enveloping him completely.
Archie gasped. It was different this time, not an imitation of a hand but a different texture. Almost as if – oh, gods, as if a man had his mouth on him. Archie swallowed roughly, and so his Damaris, the pressure around his cock alternating with light licks that made him stiffen almost immediately. He ground his hips upwards, trying to get more of it as the pleasure grew, but Damaris kept him pressed to the mattress, pleasuring Archie at his own pace.
Reaching down, Archie grasped at nothing. Tendrils of shadow wisped through his fingers that were searching for something to hold on to. He’d forgotten, for just a moment, that Damaris’s body wasn’t completely solid. He felt a push at his wrists and let Damaris guide his hands up above his head, until – oh, there. He clutched the posts in the wooden headboard, grateful for something to cling to as Damaris worked at his cock, slowly, methodically, speeding up until Archie was about to peak. Damaris stopped.
“Oh, gods!” Archie bit off his cry to muffle himself, snapping his hips up desperately into the empty air as he was denied.
Damaris’s laugh was cool, a puff of air that teased against his sensitive skin.It is not the gods you should beg mercy of.
“Demon,” moaned Archie. He reached down to finish himself off but Damaris forced his wrist back up with a strength so sudden it made Archie’s insides lurch with a wave of arousal.
You like that?
“No!” Archie was proven a liar as soon as the shadows coalesced, a weight spread across his entire body. Damaris had no limitation on hands as a human did so he could pin Archie’s arms, outstretched above his head, at the same time as smothering his mouth. The grip on his hips remained, and yet more tendrils lifted and spread Archie’s legs. He expected Damaris to enter him, his gut and his ass clenching in anticipation but Damaris made no move to.
