“I do not feel fear, Iamfear. I instill it in creatures like you. You should be cowering in terror, human.”
“My name is Ember.”
His retreat halted when he bumped into the wall. Scowling, he flattened himself against it as she neared. “I’ve no need for your name. Let us conclude our business that I may depart this accursed realm.”
Ember stopped in front of him, leaving a scant few inchesbetween them. She was on the taller side at five foot eight, but this creature towered over her. Keeping her eyes on his, she tipped her head back, breathing him in. His scent of spice-infused incense and crisp night sky wrapped around her, suffused her, and teased her senses, causing heat to pool in her now aching core.
This had to be a dream, because there was no way this could be real. No wayhecould be real.
She raised her hands and settled them upon his chest. His nostrils flared with a sharp inhalation. She’d expected him to be insubstantial and cold, but he wasn’t. His flesh was solid and warm. She trailed her palms down slowly, over his hard nipples and piercings. “Are you real?”
A shudder coursed through him, and some of the stars on his skin flickered, flaring brighter.
“Of course I’m real.” As though reluctant to touch her, he took her wrists between his forefingers and thumbs. His dark claws grazed her skin as he guided her hands away from his chest. “Are you not the one who summoned me, witch?”
Tilting her head, she arched a brow. “Summoned you? Do you mean dreamt you?” She grinned and eased closer to him until her breasts brushed his chest. “Because if this is a dream, I definitely don’t want to wake up.”
As his gaze dipped to her cleavage, his hold on her wrists tightened, pressing those claws into her skin a little more firmly, and the light in his eyes intensified. “Those are quite…ample…”
He shook himself, lips peeling back to bare those devilish fangs, and narrowed his eyes. “No. I will not fall victim to such wiles again.” Tossing her hands aside, he slid along the wall to escape her before stepping forward. “Your charms have no effect on me, witch. Either state your business with me or release me from this summoning.”
Ember tried to ignore the sting of rejection as she turned towatch him. She touched her fingers to her chest. If this was a dream, why did that hurt so much? “What are you talking about? And why do you keep calling me a witch?”
His head snapped toward her. “Am I meant to believe this feigned ignorance? That you truly have no notion of what you’ve done?”
“I was sleeping.” Her brow furrowed. “Am sleeping?”
Shaking her head, Ember flicked her wrist, casting her confusion aside. “Anyway, my bed was shaking like there was an earthquake, and there was this bright light coming out from beneath it, then shadows filled the room, and you appeared. Now here we are.”
The demon scowled—and damn if that expression didn’t look hot as hell on him—before stalking toward her bed. With one hand and seemingly no effort, he dragged her bed away from the wall. A deep, guttural growl rumbled from him as he stared at the floor. “That meddling sprite…”
Ember stepped closer and looked down at what he’d revealed. A circular symbol made of glittering blue-white dust glowed faintly upon the dark wood floorboards, with a pentagram at its center and crescent moons at each of the star’s points.
The creature snarled and spun around. “Starling! I know you’re lurking nearby. Reveal yourself, now.”
A light giggle sounded from thin air. “I have not seen you this lively in so, so long.”
Ember’s eyes widened as light flashed behind the demon’s head, and a glowing orb the same color as the circle floated into view beside him.
But it wasn’t an orb at all. It was a lithe, radiant figure, a tiny humanoid with four arms and many-pointed wings formed of sparkling starlight. She had long white hair that glittered as it moved. The sprite bent to whisper loudly in the demon’s ear. “Ibelieve the words you are looking for arethank you, Starlingfor finally getting you out of that place, yes?”
The demon closed his eyes, massaged his temples, and exhaled heavily. “What have you done?”
Starling chuckled and turned her head toward Ember. “Oh, I simply taught this lovely witch a little spell while she was sleeping so peacefully. A lunar summoning.”
Ember shifted on her feet and crossed her arms over her breasts. “I’m not a witch.”
“Oh, but you are!” The sprite darted around Ember before twirling in front of her, flying close enough for Ember to see her face clearly. Starling had delicate elfin features with a sprinkling of alienness. A narrow chin, a tiny nose, and large, glimmering blue eyes with no distinction between sclera and iris. Three of them to be exact, with the third turned vertically at the center of her forehead. Her wide smile revealed razor-sharp, pointed teeth that were fairly unnerving. “A lovely witch who will put an end to his suffering, and thereby mine.”
“You taught her to summon me with alunarspell?” the demon demanded, the air around him darkening. “Any other method would’ve been bad enough, but a lunar summoning? Did you think I would be amused by this? That I would think it a quaint diversion?”
The sprite giggled again. “I am not concerned with what you think about it, only what you do. Because you needed to do something after four hundred years, and it was clear you would not do so on your own.”
“It is not your place to decide that.”
“Perhaps not,” Starling said, shrugging both sets of shoulders. “But it is done, so…enjoy!”
She disappeared. Simply blinked out of existence as though she was never there.
