thenoondaydemon by Anastasia Rabiyah Read Free Book Online

and agony turned into hoarse gasps. When she stopped and stared down at him, some sort of superiority flooding her, she giggled.
    “Please.” He ran his palms along her thighs. “Say it, Abra . I don’t want to go back.” Tears welled in his eyes.
    The clocked ticked.
    He mouthed the word please once more.
    The clock struck one.
    Horns broke through his temples, twisted and black. His skin darkened. His eyes lost their whites, inking to the black pupiless ones in her painting. Red-orange flames glittered in their depths.
    Abra fought back her instinct to recoil. This was what she’d asked for, what she needed to see.
    He pulled his hands away from her, his nails curving into black claws. His mouth opened and snapped shut, the sharpened teeth within, too gory. He didn’t ask again. His time had ended for the day.
    The hot air that replaced his body whooshed into being. Just as his eyes blurred into nothing, Abra whispered, “I need you.”
    Too late.
    She sighed. Being alone had its rewards. There was no one to seek approval from, no one to anger, to make jealous. No one. It sounded so empty and final.
    Abra pushed her sweaty hair off her shoulders and closed her eyes. She wondered what she was getting herself into. A demon. Of all the men she’d ever met and had a good time with—and some of them weren’t the kind she’d have brought home to meet her parents—she had taken a liking to something not human.
    “Ironic,” she blurted and laughed at herself.
    She dressed and went to stare at the canvasses, seeing Val in both, although she had to admit, he was far more one than the other. “Can a demon rise after he has fallen?”
    She replaced the picture that had slipped off the wall and swept up the broken glass, careful to leave no shards behind. She no more wanted to give up who she was, the way she’d chosen to lead her life, than the demon tempted her to do so. Then again, maybe she could make room for a little laziness. Abra waited for tomorrow.
     

Chapter Six
     
    At noon the following day, Val strode up the steps and across the porch. He didn’t knock, but let himself into the old house as if he belonged there. Abra was seated at the table with glasses of water already poured and waiting.
    “You’re sure about this—about me?” he asked, one eyebrow rising.
    “No. Nothing is ever a sure thing. That, I’m sure of.”
    He snorted out a half laugh and pulled out a chair. Scooting in, he eyed her. “And let’s say if I were to stay, what would we do here on this little farm of yours?” He waved one hand in the air, indicating everything around them. “Besides work, since it seems like that’s all you ever do when I’m not around.”
    Abra looked at the glass in front of him. A dribble of moisture snaked down the side, shiny and wet. “I suppose we’ll fuck like rabbits when we’re not working.”
    He grinned. “We? Working? I’m not that kind of demon, and you know it.”
    “I’m not so sure you’re all demon now.” She reached across the distance between them and pushed a lock of hair from his brow. His skin was so warm, his face, his body, tempting. But something was different about him, about the temperature in the room. The heat of midday had gone, and it was a cool November afternoon. Nothing felt stifling. She had her thoughts, her voice. The drive to have wild, bestial sex was still there, but muted.
    “Maybe. Maybe not.” He leaned into her touch until she cupped his cheek. “Maybe I could do a little work around here, to pass the time.”
    She snorted out a laugh. “If you want to stay you’ll have to earn your keep.”
    He grinned and it was slightly sinister, although nothing like the thing in her painting. “I suppose it’s a bargain, although I think you’re getting the better end of the deal. A man to satisfy you at your whim when he’s not toiling on this Godforsaken flat piece of land. It could be worse.”
    “Could it?”
    Val nodded. He glanced around the