I sauntered to the front door with a wistful smile on my face, only to have it wiped out the minute I opened the door.
“Angie?! What are you doing here?” I asked, distraught by the sight of the unpleasant female.
“I came to get what’s mine,” she said in a commanding tone, before pushing past me and barging inside the house.
Shocked, I gasped at the entitlement and rudeness. I was opening my mouth to give her a piece of my mind when my gaze landed on her bags still piled up next to the console in the entrance hall. Although I knew the real motive for her presence, I decided to play the game and see where it would lead us.
“Sure, your bags are all right here,” I said, pointing at them.
She scoffed at them before turning back to glare at me.
“Don’t play dumb,” she snapped. “No one cares about that trash. I want my Liderc, you thief!”
I lifted my chin defiantly. “We both know I didn’t steal anything. He’s not yours.Youdidn’t hatch him.Idid. Therefore, you have no claim over him.”
“You stole my property!” she snarled.
“You discarded the egg. That item became fair game.”
“I left it to be retrieved later along with my other stuff,” Angelique countered. “You said yourself to come get my stuff whenever. Well, whenever is right now.”
“I did,” I conceded. “And your stuff is all sitting right there. Except, by your own words, it is trash that no one cares about.”
“The egg—”
“The egg is no more,” I interrupted in a harsh tone. “It has hatched, and the shell has disintegrated. Now, a full sentient person exists. There is no object or property for you to claim.”
“Vazul is not a person. He’s a demon, a servant. MY servant,” Angelique hissed. “You cannot fulfill his needs like I can. I bet you don’t even feed him properly because you’re too pathetic to allow him to drain a sliver of your lifeforce.”
That comment struck a nerve. Even though Vazul promised that feeding off my emotions without leeching me was enough to sustain him, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was just saying that to please me or if he was actually growing weaker by the day for lack of proper sustenance. Something on my face must have given away that she had guessed right as a look of malicious triumph sparked in her blue eyes.
“I knew it. You’re so fucking weak, and you think you can own someone like him?” she gloated, taking a menacing step towards me. “I can ruin you, little girl. I have money, connections, and the law on my side. You are currently causing me severe financial harm.”
I recoiled, flabbergasted by that insane accusation.
“Financial harm?! How the hell am I hurting you?”
“The egg cost a fortune,” Angelique said smugly. “The price is high enough to qualify as grand larceny, an indictable offense. Added to that,myLiderc’s labor would not only offset that initial investment, but it would also help generate considerable long-term revenue for me. You are depriving me of this. For months now, I’ve had many clients lined up to benefit from his services.”
My jaw dropped. “So you want to pimp him out?!”
It was her turn to lift her chin defiantly, daring me to challenge both her right and the wisdom of her approach.
“How many men and women do you know who wouldn’t be willing to pay a fortune for the privilege of safely fucking a demon?” she asked, greed shining bright in her eyes.
“Oh, my God! You mean toliterallypimp him out,sexually, not just hislabor!” I exclaimed, completely floored even as anger swelled within me. “That is absolutely out of the question. Vazul is not some prostitute for you to exploit!”
“He’s a sex demon, you stupid cunt! Fucking is what he does. I can assure you that he wants that far more than the lame ass chores you’re probably giving him. You cannot give him what he wants or needs. What in the world ever made you think that someone like you could hold on to an otherworldly creature like him?”
Each of her words felt like a searing dagger stabbing me in the heart, exposing each of the fears that kept swirling inside my head. He was a sex demon. Why would he be content with me when he could have anyone he desired and indulge in the more extreme kinks I would never be into?
Angelique’s anger suddenly faded, and she took on an air of pity mixed with benevolence that hurt even more.
“I get it. I’m sure your pussy has never had it so good. After all, it’s not like the top men were knocking down your door. So I can be lenient. After you return my property, I’ll let him fuck you once a week for free. That’ll be far more action—and primequality at that—than you’ve had the entire year we were roommates. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more action than you’ve ever had in your entire mousey life.”
Tears of anger and shame pricked my eyes. However, as defeated and humiliated as I felt, I wouldn’t let her see how much she was getting under my skin. And above all, I wouldn’t let her do to Vazul what she had in store for him. Even if I ended up losing him in the long run, it would never be to a hag like her.
“Thanks for your leniency,” I said with as much sarcasm and contempt as I could muster. “But the answer stays no. I’m not letting you exploit him. The mere fact that you’re standing here trying to convince me to hand him over to you confirms that you have no right over him. If he was yours, you would have just taken him and walked out. You wouldn’t be here throwing idle threats to bully me into giving you what you want.”
