Free A Demon Made Me Do It by Penelope King

butter and he holds me tight, caressing my hair
and whispering soothing words into my ear.
    I cry and cry until I can cry no
more.
    ******
     
    After what feels like hours, I slowly
raise my tearstained face and look in Bones’ eyes. “If you ever
tell anyone about this, I’ll find a loophole in the immortality law
and kill you. Slowly. And I’ll invent new ways to make it hurt
first.”
    He gently wipes away a tear trickling
down my cheek. “Your secret is safe with me. Besides, who’d ever
believe me anyway? That bad-ass Lucky has such a soft spot for some
Sapies,” he whispers.
    “ They weren’t just any Sapies.”
    “ I know.”
    He reluctantly lets me pull
from his embrace and I pace around, taking deep breaths, trying to
regain my composure. My eyes burn, and I’m sure my make-up is
ruined. But I don’t care. I spot an old tree with a massive
trunk. Perfect .
With all my might I push it until I hear a loud crack . I step back as the mighty tree
tumbles to the ground.
    “ Feel any
better?”
    I don’t, but I nod anyway.
    “ I’m really glad you did
that. That tree was giving me the heebie-jeebies.”
    I swallow a smile.
    “ Where were you planning on
going tonight?” he asks. “’Cause wherever it is, I’m going with
you.” I turn to admire his beautiful nude form splayed against the
rocks. Under the dull light of the moon he looks like a statue of a
god.
    “ Dressed like that?” I ask
with a hint of a smile.
    He glances down and arches
an eyebrow. “Right you are. Didn’t quite think this through.
I do need to mate
though. Badly. Suppose we could break into a house around here and
‘steal me something to wear…’” He adds air quotes, and I know he
cares nothing about clothes.
    “ But if you need to,
um, work , I don’t
think you will find what you’re looking for where I’m going. It’s a
nightclub, and not a very nice one,” I add in response to his
quizzical look.
    He nods, understanding. Bones has a
very specific type of female he’ll seduce: Between the ages of
seventeen and twenty-two, beautiful, healthy and intelligent. One
who doesn’t smoke, drink, or use any drugs, and most importantly, a
virgin who is at the peak of her fertility cycle. Girls like that
probably aren’t hanging out at a seedy downtown nightclub in the
middle of the week.
    “ Well, then, I’ll just
search the nearby area. Find a partner in a home that is not
brightly lit. Call for me when you’re done, and we’ll meet back
up.”
    “ I’m tormenting a few
regulars after. They’ve been let off easy the past few nights so I
have some making up to do.”
    “ You gonna hit up Old Lady
Sullivan?”
    I nod.
    “ Cool. I’ll meet you there.
I love watching you freak her out.” Of course he does. Mary
Sullivan castrated eleven men before murdering them and burying
their bodies in her backyard. So far the police and her neighbors
have no clue what she’s done. But I know. And now she’s a
regular.
    “ Okay.” I shuffle over to
where he’s standing and give him a hug. “Thanks for being
here…thanks for everything,” I whisper.
    “ No problem, kiddo.” His
voice sounds thick. I pull back, touched by the compassion in his
mahogany eyes.
    “ Go. You obviously need to
mate. Get it out of your system.” With a smile, I gently push him
away. I never want him to know how much it bothers me that he has
to go do that .
When he finds his perfect virgin, seduces her, and impregnates her
with his seed—I know he has no choice. If he doesn’t continually
reproduce with Sapies, his function as an incubus—one who is
capable of assuming human form and being my friend —will cease to exist. He’ll
become and remain a Hound of Hell permanently, forced to guard our
sacred realm for all of eternity.
    But it really bothers me. I hate
thinking of him lying with all those women, flooding them with his
intoxicating powers of romance and seduction. I hate knowing he
gives them something he can never give me. I