The Binding - Bred by a Demon (Rough Reluctant Monster Breeding Erotica) by Madelene Martin Read Free Book Online Page A

contacted the recently departed on behalf of their families, and
sought advice from the netherworld on multiple occasions. She had conjured minor
demons and bound them to her will without a second thought, extracting secrets
and information.
    So why shouldn't she just go a
little further?
    “I know how to do it.” She said
quietly, after a moment to compose herself.
    “I know you do.” The witch
snapped.
    “Nthar can give it to me. I have
his seal -”
    “Do not speak his name!” Adela
hissed, and got up from her stool. Cursing under her breath, she crossed the
room to get away from her impetuous student. “You would be a fool to take him
on.” She said. Then, picking up her cane and leaning on it heavily, she sighed
and chose another approach. “Leah... you know as well as I do that death is a
part of life. You have been there with me to see it, time and time again. You
have always been accepting, understanding.”
    “But he is my brother !”
Leah protested.
    “Is he an exception because he
is your family?”
    The girl glared. Her pretty face
turned severe as her jaw tensed and her full lips pressed tightly together, in
a look that could - and often did - cow the village boys.
    Adela stared long and hard at
her pupil, who stubbornly held her gaze as long as she was able. Finally,
Leah's expression softened. She dropped her eyes as tears filled them and
threatened to roll down her cheeks. Her lips turned pouty, and quivered.
    The old witch was at her side in
a moment. “There, there.” She croaked, patting the girl's arm. “It is a hard
lesson we all have to learn, especially in our line of work.”
    Leah kept her eyes carefully
downcast as her mind continued to work. Her tears were real, but born of
frustration, not grief. Better to have the old woman blinded by sympathy for
the moment. She'd just have to remember not to let the crone look at her too
hard, or she would read it in her face: Leah fully intended to go through with
her plan.
    If Adela wouldn't help her, she
would just have to do the summoning ritual on her own. I know I can do it, she
thought . I've done it before. This is just a... step up .
    Instead of going home that
evening, Leah found an excuse to sort and re-label some components, a job that
would keep her busy for many hours.
    When Mistress Adela had fallen
asleep in her rocking chair as she did every night, the girl crept upstairs to
the attic where the witch kept her books. She lit the large oil lantern that
sat on the side table and carried it with her, holding it high to look at the
dusty shelves.
    She knew the shelves like the
back of her hand. Adela's old legs could no longer make it upstairs, so from
the day Leah had started her apprenticeship she'd run up and down to fetch
books countless times.
    She stood on her tiptoes as she
quickly thumbed through the tomes on the top shelf. Finally she spotted what
she needed in the demonology section - a thick book detailing the greater
demons, and instructions on their summoning and binding.
    It was written in the ancient
language taught only to hedge-witches, and was useless without the seal needed
to summon a specific demon. The seal for Nthar, Leah had discovered in her own
researches.
    Clutching the volume tightly to
her chest, she crept back down the stairs. As she passed through the kitchen
she gathered up jars, containing the herbs she had secretly set aside. She took
a few candles from the drawer along with some fire sticks, ink, and various
other odds and ends.
    Leah snuffed the lantern
but kept it with her. She would need it in the darkness of the ruins. She
opened the drawer where she kept her notes and snatched them up, grabbed her
cloak from the stand and left the cottage, closing the door quietly behind her.
    ––––––––
    T he town was sleeping, the
faint glow of lamplight visible in only a few windows. The people who lived in
the village were farmers who worked from dawn to dusk and went to bed tired.
Leah drew her