Her Demon Mate Audiobook

Chapter 1

Elia

Five Years Earlier

“I need to get a new set of needles,” I decide.

I cannot help but admire my work when I look down at the dead xaphan. He looks almost serene lying there on the cobblestone ground. It helps that this kill didn’t have a lot of blood.

His wings, large, bright, and feathered, are flared out on either side of him on the ground. A bit of dried, crusted blood remains where I plunged my knife through each wing, but still, this is the cleanest kill I have done in years.

“I’m getting better at this every day.”

I smooth my hand over his eyes that stare blankly at the ceiling and close them gently before I trace the sutures that I used to sew his lips shut.

Perfect.

The xaphan I killed today is almost beautiful. His dark skin is bright and smooth, his body large and powerful. He has tight, curly hair, and his eyes, when he was alive, were a striking gray.

And you killed him.

Something painful twinges in my chest, twisting in my stomach and rippling through my head, as I realize that I have, again, taken a life.

You killed him.

I breathe through the pain and the guilt, like I always do.

I guess I haven’t learned how to feel nothing when I kill.

I get up and heft my satchel onto my shoulder before I lean down and grab the xaphan by the feet. I drag his body into the middle of the street.

“Now you’re just being arrogant,” I say to myself as a smile stretches across my face.

I never used to leave my work where it could be found. But lately my hand has been so steady, my aim so true, that I simply have to show off.

I didn’t even get any blood on me this time.

I look up at the sky to ensure that I have placed the xaphan in the correct spot.

“There you are,” I murmur out loud to myself. Footsteps pound on the ground somewhere close by.

I look up at the moon, Neomia, that hangs full and fat and beautiful in the sky. Her light shines down on the city like a spotlight. And right now, the xaphan’s body is directly in the center of her light.

I thought it would be fitting when I figured out that Neomia would be full tonight.

Tonight is my last night in the city, and I want to leave my best work behind. Leaving a xaphan lying dead, bathed in Neomia’s light, is the best I can do on short notice.

“And now they’ll know,” I mutter as I adjust the straps of my satchel. “Now they’ll know that someone is killing their kind off.”

The footsteps and shouts grow louder. The xaphan have been arriving at each murder scene more quickly, as if they have been tracking me.

Who fucking knows? Maybe they have.

I slip away from the brightly lit street and head down a darker alleyway. The air is bright and sharp with the scents of salt and seawater.

I head for the docks. Like I said, it is my last night in the city.

I have known for a while now that the xaphan would catch up with me eventually. I might be strong enough to trick and overpower one of them at a time, but I cannot escape an entire army of the creatures.

I slow down in the doorway of an old, dilapidated building and pull my hair away from my face, tying it at the nape of my neck. I pull a cap over my head, and then I remove my jacket and pull on a long fisherman's coat.

The coat is threadbare and covered in pockets filled with silverware. It also stinks like it’s been dragged across the floor of a tavern, with some of the seams coming loose. I kick off my shoes next and pull on a pair of beat-up leather boots, finishing my fashionable ensemble with a pair of fingerless gloves.

I stuff everything I have removed from my body into my already full satchel because I am not in a financial position to throw anything away.

And then, peeking around the doorway, I check to see if the coast is clear.

My breath is shallow and the hair on my neck stands on end. I tremble with anticipatory fear as I bolt from the doorway and head down another alleyway just as a host of xaphan soar through the air above me.

This morning when I was getting ready, I didn’t think I would actually be leaving New Solas. But I knew the time was coming, so I packed my bag anyway, giving everything that I couldn’t carry to Mika from next door.

I slow down when the docks come into sight, and turn around for a second, looking out over New Solas. I admire the city that has been my home for as long as I can remember.

“It’s beautiful, I’ll give them that,” I murmur to myself as I examine the city’s skyline.

The buildings are white and gold, each with a glittering spire that reaches to the sky.

They all just want to be closer to Neomia, I think to myself. Sudden rage bursts through me so violently that I feel like screaming.

Why couldn’t they just stay on their own damn planet?

My inner voice is desperate and hopeless. Now that the rage has subsided, all I want to do is throw myself to the ground and sob for everything I have lost.

You killed him. I know that right then my tears must be glittering on my face as I stand directly beneath Neomia’s moonlight.

A host of xaphan, their wings shining like the spires of their city, fly overhead as they search for the person who has been killing their kind.

A shrill whistle resounds through the air, and I jump slightly. I hitch up the strap of my bag and turn to face the docks, a spray of seawater arcing through the air and drenching me in it as a boat leaves the docks.

I’ll be taking a trade vessel out of New Solas tonight.

You make it sound like you bought a fucking ticket. My girl, you’re simply hitching a ride. And no one else on the boat will know you’re there.

I have been scouting the movements of this particular vessel, manned by a Gorgon crew, for weeks now.

Tonight they’ll be leaving for Ikoth, a continent that will take me far away enough from New Solas that I hopefully won’t be found.

Because I know exactly what the xaphan will do to me if they find out I am the one doing all the killing, I think grimly to myself as I head to the side of the vessel where no one can see me.

The vessel is named The Medea, and she is a beautiful thing. She is sleek and large and powerful, and it is a pity that she is used as a trade vessel.

There is a ladder on her side with a large gap between the walkway and the vessel. Beneath the gap is the ocean, filled with sea monsters that no human should ever have the displeasure of meeting.

I have to stifle a hysterical laugh as I consider what might happen if I don’t make the jump.

You don’t have a choice, my girl.

I wipe my sweaty hands off on my coat, and when I look down, I see that streaks of blood have been left behind.

I didn’t even realize my hands were bloody.

I push the burgeoning thoughts of twisting guilt and blaring rage out of my mind and  take a running leap off the side of the walkway.

It is now dark enough on this side of New Solas that no one will see me.

I cling to the first rung of the ladder, nearly slipping off in the process. I shudder as the lower half of my body is submerged in icy cold water. But I manage to pull myself up the ladder and minutes later, I am stowed away beneath several boxes of caesin.

The boat takes off several minutes later, and I close my eyes as a wave of nausea washes over me.

“The sky was red this morning,” someone says right above me. I listen to the conversation between the captain of the ship – a gorgon – and one of his passengers.

A xaphan, I realize.

For once, I am not tempted to grab one of my knives and slit the creature’s throat.

Tonight, my life is changing forever.

Ikoth, I think tiredly to myself, here I come.

Read the full series out now!

1. Choosing the Demon
2. Loving the Demon
3. Submitting to the Demon
4. Embracing the Demon

And learn where the demons came from in:

1. Her Demon Daddy
2. Her Demon Mate

And the new Aerasak series:

1. Lich's Love