Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 40901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Poor evil bastard has no idea what he’s doing. I can’t precisely feel sorry for him. It’s his own lack of self-examination that’s led him, and me, here. At least my suspicions are confirmed, and things make sense. This is one of the devil’s many snares. I have encountered several. This time his temptation comes with a sexy, dominant jailer whose obsession with me has spanned years. An interesting gambit.
I decide to change the subject.
“You always wear spurs, but there are no horses here. Either you’re a cowboy cosplayer, or there’s something secretly equine.”
“Adorable,” he says, smiling down at me with that warmth he tries so often to hide, yet emerges from him regardless. “You have a little girl’s instinct for ponies.”
“I doubt whatever you ride is a pony.”
He looks at me, and I can see the telltale signs of a secret yearning to be shared. He wants to tell me. He wants to show me. He does not want these walls surrounding us. He wants open plains, freedom, and love. Underneath his cruel exterior, Sheriff Starlight’s desires are as basic as any can be. Poor boy. He has no idea.
“Show me, please. Pretty please.”
“Yesterday you broke my nose,” he reminds me. “Today you are wheedling at me for a pony.”
“Things change.”
Starlight snorts. I know this is not what he planned. I am sure he expected to have me shackled and writhing now, punishing me for my imagined sins. I am sure he intended to fuck me and whip me, but he has already done both and now he needs something different. Companionship.
His spurs spark with devil magic and a shadow begins to form on the ground beneath him. I watch, entranced, as a demonic horse rises from the bowels of Hell and takes form between Starlight’s thighs, lifting him up until rider and horse are both as real and touchable as can be, standing before me, snorting and pawing.
“This is Deimos,” Starlight explains.
“When did you get Deimos?”
“He was a reward for finding and turning over another of your kind, a few years ago.”
“So these are the wages of your sin? Dark, demonic gifts from a mysterious employer?”
“There are very many artifacts of power in this world. He has shared some with me.”
Artifacts of power is a fun way to say gifts from the devil. I wonder if Starlight really does not consciously know who he is working for, or if facing the truth is just too difficult for him. Easier to believe you work for an eccentric collector of artifacts who occasionally demands to be brought actual people than admit you work for the devil himself and are an instrument of his will.
“He’s very beautiful.” I compliment the dark beast who stamps impatiently, pawing at the dirt with a big black hoof. Deimos is indeed a stunning creature. The devil does excellent work and has a flair for the powerful and the gothic.
“Would you like a ride?”
“Of course”
Starlight grips me by the forearm and helps me up onto the back of the horse, holding me in front of him. I feel a surge of dark power, and somewhere the devil laughs. He wants me to know this power. He wants me to feel the thrill of giving into his influence. The devil loves to become intimate with angels. In this regard, Starlight is his proxy.
The beast surges, and we are taken skyward. This creature is not bound by the laws of men. Its hooves can find purchase on motes of dust as easily as solid ground. The world begins to recede beneath us, and I understand how I was rescued.
“How many women have ridden this beast with you?”
“None,” Starlight replies, his face scruffy against my ear. “None but you.”
“I must be special.”
His hips move with the motion of the demonic steed. We are both rocked back and forth as Deimos races across the sky, a speck of darkness in the great blue beyond. Up here there is nothing but us and the sky. Am I still his captive? I am easily capable of flight under my own power, so I am not as fascinated by the flying horse as some might be, but I do appreciate the sensation of the beast.
The desert stretches out below us for what seems like eternity, as does the sky around us. If we could only stay up here forever, we might find happiness. It is strange to be caught between loathing and lust for this man, this poor simple creature who has been trapped in the devil’s trap.
Starlight cannot be a complete fool. The devil does not tolerate fools. He disposes of them, or has them disposed of by one of his other minions. I have encountered many of the vile creature’s puppets over the years. None have been so fascinatingly dominant as Starlight. His bond with Deimos seems easy and egalitarian. The creatures of the devil are not easy to tame. I am certain that this steed is as capable of killing Starlight as he is of submitting to him.