Dying is hard enough. Coming back to life is brutal.
Grimm’s Circle, Book 5
Vanya has been hunting and killing demons ever since one of them scarred her face and killed her sister. Correction—since she was forced to kill the demon possessing her sister.
Then some sort of angel offers her a deal she can’t refuse—that if she becomes one of them, she gets to kill even more demons. Tonight, she’s made that choice. The death she smells on the air will be her own—and she welcomes it.
Silence feels a darkness is looming. Change—something he has every reason not to welcome. The deeply hidden memories that robbed him of his past, of his own name, render him unfit to teach anyone the ways of the Grimm. Yet here he is in the dankest sex club in town, waiting to assume his charge—after he stands by and watches her die.
When Vanya awakes, their complicated, dangerous dance begins. And so does something else—a searing need that blisters along their unexpected mental connection. Silence shouldn’t be drawn to his student, but once they touch, he can’t think of a reason to stop. Even though acting out their darkest desires puts them in more danger than they realize.
just a bit of a note…Silence is mute. He communicates through sign, or in Vanya’s case…(the heroine) through pyschic communication.
~*~
I’m such a tramp. A hopeless, lovesick tramp.
Almost an hour had passed. She was back on a barstool. Alone.
Not for long, though.
Morosely, Vanya watched as Silence walked across the bar’s dance floor.
Here she was in the middle of a sex club, her body still buzzing from the arousal from earlier. In the back of her mind, she was aware of a discordant cadence—succubae, incubae…demons. They’d have to deal with them tonight—after all, that was why they were here, to see how she could handle one on her own now that she was one of the Grimm.
But all she could think was, Damn, he looks hot, and if those bitches don’t quit staring at him, I’m going to hurt them.
Some of those bitches were demons.
But most of them were human, and hell, she couldn’t blame them for staring at Silence.
He was damn well worth staring at. He was so damned beautiful—angelically beautiful, even. She smirked as she thought it. Then she thought about what he’d said, what he’d offered.
That dark, disturbing fantasy.
Her belly turned into a hot, nervous tangle and she needed a drink even thinking about it.
“The job,” she told herself. “Think about the damn job.”
It wasn’t like that wasn’t enough to keep her mind occupied right now.
She was getting ready to actually engage with the enemy.
She’d been moved from the basic part of training to the actual fighting-with-demons part.
He hadn’t given it a fancy name—just told her a week ago she’d be engaging with demons soon.
After two months of being pummeled by him during the nights and spending the dawn hours under him and a few hours of the day wrapped around him, she was moving from punching bag to demon fodder.
Yay.
Of course, he hadn’t told her she was going to be demon fodder.
She just felt that way.
There were more demons here than she was used to dealing with. She could feel them. Feel them in a way she hadn’t felt them before. She’d all but started shaking when he’d led her in here, and only his hand on her back had kept her from bolting.
His hand…and the low, soothing rumble of his voice in her mind. You’ll be fine. This is nothing you haven’t done before, remember that. You’ve fought succubae and incubae—when you were human, and you did fine. You are ready for this. I wouldn’t bring you here if you weren’t ready, and I’ll never be too far from your side, I promise.
He’d kept that promise too.
Save for when he left to get her a drink, he’d hardly left her side at all.
They’d danced, they’d necked in the corner, they’d watched the couple act out a rape fantasy, and then he’d used his very talented hands to give her several delightful orgasms.
And now…
He was coming back to her with a glint in his eye and a man in tow.
Except the man behind him wasn’t a man.
It was an incubae, and Vanya knew she’d dealt with his kind before—there was no reason to be so scared—none. She’d killed these things before, on her own, and she wasn’t alone now.
But something felt…different. Off.
Hell. Maybe it was just her.
She’d been on edge ever since she’d stepped into the club, and it wasn’t just because she’d watched the hottest damn sexual act ever, and it wasn’t just from what Silence had offered.
Nerves, she told herself. Just nerves and she needed to get over it.
Now. Because the incubae was only five feet away and he was staring at her like she was a piece of candy and he was starving for a taste.
Demon…
Vanya saw it in his eyes.
“He thinks we’re looking for a third,” Silence said to her. “And he already thinks you’re nervous, so we don’t need to worry about that.”
Briefly she wondered how he’d managed to communicate with the guy, but five seconds later, she figured it out.
The guy was already trying to crawl all over her, his hands coming to rest on her outer thighs while he nuzzled her neck. “Fuck, you’re hot. I’ve been watching you two since you came in, baby, and I’ve been hoping you were looking for some more action. Lucky me…”
Obviously Silence hadn’t needed to speak—the man had done all the speaking for him.
She stared over his shoulder at Silence, well aware that her eyes were too wide, that she probably looked a little too panicked. Damn it, she couldn’t do this—couldn’t do it…
A hand touched her shoulder. Warm, hard, scarred—she knew that touch. Turning her head, she stared into Silence’s blue eyes. He cupped her chin, angled her head back. As his mouth covered hers, he murmured into her mind, “He can’t stop talking any easier than I can talk, it seems. Relax…he’s new, unused to being in the mortal world, I suspect. All we need to do is get him outside. He already thinks I’ve talked you into this, so that’s why you’re nervous.”
Nervous?
Shit.
Vanya wasn’t nervous.
She was terrified.
The man currently rubbing his crotch against her leg was a demon. She was used to demons, yeah. But she wasn’t used to being quite so surrounded by them, and Silence had already told her they were going to do the kill here—not away from the rest of the others, but here. And if more came, she was supposed to deal with it.
Deal with more than a couple of them at a time.
His tongue teased her lips, and his voice, that teasing, rough rumble in her mind said, “Open for me…relax. Ah, you’re sweet, Vanya…”
The ridged scars on his palms rasped over her flesh as he stroked a hand up over her arm, her shoulder, cupping her neck.
“Y’all want go into the back? Find one of the rooms?” their new companion asked, right when she’d thought maybe she could relax.
This was better, though.
Because the sooner they got moving, the sooner she could either try to kill this guy or screw up so Silence could step in.
And shit, how pathetic was that? She’d killed these things before. A lot. Without Silence’s help, on her own, back when she’d been a human. Just because she’d lured them away and acted on a one-on-one or two-on-one basis didn’t change things much.
She was more than human now.
She could handle this.
Pulling her mouth away from Silence, she looked at the incubae.
Well, he was a good-looking bastard, she’d give him that.
They usually were, though.
His eyes ran over her with appreciation, never once pausing at her scarred face. No, he was too interested in staring at her tits, which were very much on display in the corset she wore in lieu of a top. Her clothing consisted of that and a microscopic skirt. The boots covered more flesh than the skirt did, for crying out loud, coming up to her knees. Fortunately, there was no heel to the boot, and she knew she’d be able to move in them—she’d already checked that out.
She also had her knives stashed inside them.
Suddenly, eager hands were gripping her waist, pulling her from the stool where she was sitting. Realizing the guy had taken her silence for consent, she stiffened.
“We need him outside,” Silence said into her mind, his voice hard and flat. “I will not risk you getting cornered with this many of the possessed. You’re too new.”
Even as he said it, he slipped an arm around her waist, nuzzling her neck—maybe to look as though he were encouraging her.
Stiffening her legs, she gave the demon tugging on her hand a nervous look and shook her head. “How about outside?” she shouted, raising her voice, even though she knew she didn’t need to.
She leaned against Silence, not having to feign her nervousness or the shyness as the guy looked at her. The indulgent smile curling his lips made her want to pop him, though.
Silence’s hand, resting on her waist, tightened. “Breathe, dear one…don’t let him know you’re angered. He can sense it as well as I can.”
Turning her face into Silence’s chest, she took a deep, steady breath, forced the tight muscles in her back to relax. Then she pushed back and gave Silence a tight smile. She couldn’t get rid of the anger altogether, or the nervousness. Rising up on her toes, she curled a hand around his neck and tugged him down. She didn’t have to talk loud—the demon would hear her, and that was the point. “Do you have any idea just how big you’re going to owe me for this, baby? Sooooo big. I’m thinking oral sex and breakfast in bed every day for a month.”
As she settled back down in front of him, Silence flashed her a wide grin, and in her mind, she felt the warm blast of approval.
No, she couldn’t hide her discomfort. Might as well roll with it, right?
As the demon came up behind her and started to rub his cock against her ass, she clenched her jaw.
Silence caught her face in his hands just as the demon cupped her breasts and teased, “Come on, angel…relax. You got no idea how much fun we can show you.”
She blushed a brilliant shade of red, shooting a look around the club. Yeah, people were looking at them, but it wasn’t in shock.
Hell, it was a fucking sex club.
Of course people were looking at them.
But she had to get away from their stares before she cracked.
“Take me outside,” she said, her voice strained even to her own ears.
Silence tugged her away from the other man, his arm curling around her. Tucked against his leather-clad side, she relaxed a little, even as the demon came up next to them, his hand settling low on her back, his fingers toying with the laces of her corset.
“You’re doing fine,” Silence assured her as they broke through the crowd.
Out in the cool darkness of the evening, she managed, finally, to breathe. The itching, tight sensation along her spine relaxed and she let him guide them around the building. He’d already scoped it out, picked out the exact area he wanted to use.
Smart, prepared…so much more equipped to handle this than she was.
Damn it, was what she doing—
A hand clamped over her ass.
She stiffened but managed not to pull away. Barely. Just barely.
In the darkness, Silence came to a stop.
They were at the very far edges of the parking lot where, handily, lights were out. Handily—she’d watched as he took care of them. Not too many mortals would come to this area because of the darkness, and as she leaned against him, she watched as the darkness thickened.
“Dude, it’s fucking dark over here,” the demon muttered, his voice oddly strained. “Why not go back inside, beautiful? I want to see that pretty mouth of yours…”
“He’s used to being able to see in the dark and he can’t see past my illusions,” Silence said. Because she was touching him, the shadows weren’t affecting her and she could see the way the other guy’s dark eyes were darting around nervously.
Swallowing, she stepped away from Silence, relying on her ears to guide her to the other man, because once she wasn’t touching Silence, the darkness was complete, like being wrapped in black cotton and thrown in a cave with no exit, no natural light, nothing.
She could hear him, faintly.
Reaching out, she touched him. Her fingers brushed against a hard, flat stomach. Trailing them lower, she curled her hand around the front of his leather pants, tugged him forward. “I like it better out here,” she said softly. “It’s quieter…and I’m already nervous. Besides…” she had to force the breathy little giggle, but it sounded legit enough. “I’ve got a thing for doing it outside.”
The incubae relaxed as she touched him, giving in to the nature that ruled him. His mouth came down, finding hers easily enough, despite the dark. “Do you, angel?”
Angel—
She coyly tugged her head aside, guided his mouth to her neck and wiggled around in his arms so that she was facing Silence again.
Knowing he’d see her, even if she couldn’t see him, she signed, Now?
“It’s your move, Vanya. I’m just the backup.”
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