Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 29328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
I see everything. I feel everything.
I watch people fall in love. I watch them burn with hate, anger, rage, and I see the cycle repeat over and over again. I take it on every night I work at Timber, aka Anubis’s bar in downtown Seattle, and then I help the rest of the immortals keep the very intense balance between Heaven and Earth.
I see everyone's future but mine, and when I try to look, all I see is darkness, despair, need…
Until she walks into my bar with bruises on her face, getting pulled by one of the lesser demons. I do what any good bartender would do… I beat him within an inch of his life and turn my eyes to her.
By then, it’s too late.
She already has me in her grasp.
A succubus that has no other plan than to suck me clean of every inch of power that’s been bestowed on me by the Heavens.
I never thought my future involved getting kidnapped and tied up or that I’d die by way of sex—then again, maybe that’s for the best. Dying at the hands of my enemy rather than being one more burden to my already mated friends.
After all, giving into one last need before death, while selfish, may be exactly what my darkness means.
My need is great.
And she’s about to find out just how much.
**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
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One Thousand and One Dark Nights
Once upon a time, in the future…
I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.
I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and
the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast
library at my father’s home and collected thousands
of volumes of fantastic tales.
I learned all about ancient races and bygone
times. About myths and legends and dreams of all
people through the millennium. And the more I read
the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered
that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually
become part of them.
I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher
and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I
would not be telling you this tale now.
But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off
with bravery.
One afternoon, curious about the myth of the
Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to
see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar
(Persian: شهريار, “king”) married a new virgin, and then
sent yesterday's wife to be beheaded. It was written
and I had read that by the time he met Scheherazade,
the vizier's daughter, he’d killed one thousand
women.
Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived
in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged
places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had
never occurred before and that still to this day, I
cannot explain.
Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have
taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can
protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to
protect herself and stay alive.
Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.
And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a
point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.
And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that
he might hear the rest of my dark tale.
As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new
one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before
you now.
Prologue
Tarek
Listen, I know I have chains wrapped strategically around my wrists and that every second that goes by, said chains are burning a mark into my skin that may or may not mean I’m about to get completely demolished by a succubus demon.
But this is not how the story starts.
I mean, maybe it’s how it ends since I’ve been in this exact spot for the last two days without food or water, waiting for a rescue from my immortal friends, knowing full well they’re probably all just having sex and enjoying marital bliss without realizing I’m actually missing.
Me.
The manager of the Seattle demon bar, Sin.
Werewolf prince.
All around really upright kind of guy—or so I like to think. But do you know where that got me?
Here.
Chained.
See also: Demon goddess who has not come back to check on me even once and says she wants to kill me via sex.
Bartending is looking great right now. Immortal life in my werewolf clan did not prepare me for this or the fact that saving one succubus would actually turn me into her prey.
She was bruised.
Beaten beyond recognition.
I was going to kill the vampire that attempted to slaughter her, but that’s a longer, more violent story since she ended up doing the deed once she got a bit of my blood. But I did give her water, thinking, wow, I’ve done this person a total solid. I mean, despite the fact that she was pretty. Even her tears were pretty. The bruising and swelling on her face didn’t even hide how beautiful she was—or is.