Sexy, seductive demons seeking submission.
Demon Guardians. Seriously? Who thinks this shit up? Didn’t Lucifer know that putting his Tinta demons in charge of young women was just asking for trouble? For centuries, they’ve stayed silent, hidden, observing and interfering without being detected. But there’s only so much a demon can take…
* The first two Demon Guardians novellas, previously released elsewhere, have been revised for this 2-in-1 re-release. Watch for new titles in the Demon Guardians series coming soon from Changeling Press!
EXCERPT
My name is Aleixo, and I’m a guardian demon. Dark hair, dark eyes, blue skin, small black horns jut from my forehead… We all resemble one another somewhat, and carry the same intricate tattoos, winding down from our necks, down our arms, and covering our torsos. Each guardian demon has a charge to watch over, and it’s always a woman. I’ve never figured that part out. Demons, particularly Tinta demons, are a lusty bunch. Having sex several times a day is pretty much a necessity, so placing hot, young women in our care doesn’t make much sense, and yet that’s precisely what’s done.
Monica. That’s my charge’s name, and while she isn’t as troublesome as some, she still gets herself into scrapes. Usually the trouble involves men. She has the worst taste in men! Drug addicts, alcoholics, and this current asshole is abusive. He hasn’t done more than slap her, which still sets my teeth on edge, so I’ve let her be, hoping she’ll learn a lesson, but the moment he goes any further then everything changes.
Recently one of the Tinta demons fell for his charge. We weren’t sure what would happen when Bale had sex with Alia, and the fact he’d fallen in love with her was even more puzzling. I hadn’t even been aware that we were capable of love. The concept seemed foreign to me, and I hoped I never suffered from such a human emotion.
A demon being in love was so out of the ordinary we had thought for certain a higher-level demon or Lucifer himself would object, possibly even banish Bale to the lowest level of hell, but so far, they hadn’t done a damn thing. It seemed they not only condoned it, but supported the couple.
It had made the rest of us wonder about our charges. If Monica didn’t have a boyfriend, I might have been tempted to seduce her, just to see what all the fuss was about.
* * *
I observed, unnoticed. It wasn’t the first time the new boyfriend had slapped my charge around, but I couldn’t very well step in every time he raised his hand to her. I’d already arranged an accidental beating or two for him, but nothing seemed to help. I’d thought of having him dropped in one of the lower pits of hell, but he wasn’t slated for that region just yet. Oh, he was going there, there was no question about that, but the timing was off.
Monica cowered against the wall, watching Will with the wariness of a kicked puppy. He’d lost his temper before, but never like this. Her arms still bore the marks of his fingers, her cheek was still red from the slap he’d delivered, and now he was threatening her with a knife.
“Did you really think you could get away with it?” he spat.
“But I didn’t do anything! I swear,” she wailed.
“I know better, you stupid bitch! I know you cheated on me. Who was he, huh? Did he fuck you good?”
“Stop it! There isn’t anyone else!”
“We’ll see if he still wants you when I’m done with you. I’ll cut that pretty face of yours, and we’ll see if he still wants to fuck you.”
“Stop, please, Will. I swear to you there isn’t anyone else.”
I had seen and heard more than enough. I’d observed silently, nothing more than a shadow in the room, but the boyfriend’s words and threats were going too far. Making myself visible outside of the apartment door, with a savage kick I splintered the door, knocking it off its hinges.
“Let. Her. Go,” I growled, sending the man the darkest look I could muster, a look known to terrorize killers and rapists, a look that had sent more than one lesser demon running for its life.
Will turned to me, surprise flashing across his face for a moment, but then he turned back to Monica and sneered at her. “I knew you were lying.”
She stared at me, her eyes large, whether in fear or wonder I wasn’t sure. I was big for a human, standing well over six feet tall. I wasn’t as bulky as some of the other Tinta demons, but I was muscular. More than one human woman had been to my bed, sometimes more than one at the same time. They found me attractive, and I wondered if Monica felt the same. The bluish tint of my skin never seemed to repulse them.
“I think you need to back away from her,” I told the man.
He looked back at me, rage glimmering in his blue eyes, his face twisted in anger. I could almost smell the evil pouring off of him and knew his soul was destined for hell, and if he didn’t get away from Monica he was going to make the trip sooner rather than later.
“Who the fuck are you?” he snapped.
“Aleixo.”
“Well in case you missed it, Monica is mine, and this is a personal matter between the two of us, so you just need to turn around and leave.”
The man had balls, I’d give him that. No one spoke to me that way.
I looked at Monica’s terrified face, with one cheek red, and purple marks forming on her arm. Something in me shifted. Allowing my full fury and all the powers of hell to shine through my eyes, I faced off against the asshole, ready to end it once and for all.
He quaked in terror and dropped his knife, scrambling backwards as I advanced on him. When he turned to bolt out of the room, I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and lifted him off the floor. Hanging like a rag doll, his eyes bugging out of his head, he stared at me in horror — a look I’d seen many times before, but never had I relished it as much as I did right then.
“How does it feel to be the weaker one? How does it feel to be powerless, helpless?”
I shook him, rattling what few brains he might have had in his head, and he gurgled, so terrified that he pissed his pants. Had I not been so furious, I’d have laughed.
“You will stay away from Monica from now on. If I ever see you near her, or hear you’ve bothered her, I will hunt you down like the animal you are and I will gut you, slicing you open from navel to nose. Is that perfectly clear?” I growled.