Ash Rider. The high ranked demon holding my mother’s contract. I wasn’t expecting him to be so nonchalant about meeting me. Then again, I wasn’t so sure he knew that I was a demon.

His appearance wasn’t intimidating, even though it should have been. I thanked my royal status for that. If I were just some college kid facing the demon who was about to send my mother to hell, this meeting would have been different. He sat there with a wicked smile on him that only fumed me all the more. He had a debonair vibe to him, from the aristocratic clothes on his back, to his trimmed facial hair. A real pampered pretty boy.

I could see why this charismatic bastard ran an operation such as this so smoothly. He wore confidence as his sidearm, and poise as his main piece. When he bit into that eyeball and the sound of squelching fell on my ears, I tried not to twist my face in disgust. But when he swallowed it, the sound didn’t stop. In fact, that noise was coming from the floor.

Ash had a distinct sulfuric smell when I walked in, but this one was more subtle…

“Renee, can you give Isaac and I a moment?” he said, and suddenly, a naked brunette crawled out from under his desk.

“Yes, my lord,” she cooed, walking past me with a glance before she closed the door behind us.

“My apologies. My girls can get oh so very needy.”

“Save the snarky remarks!” I bellowed. “I’m here for your head!”

“Getting right down to it, aren’t we?” He grinned, licking the blood off his fingers. “But I insist we sit and have a chat. After all, it’s the least you can do after killing my girls…”

“I’m not here to talk!”

“Is that the way Carmen raised you? To be such a rude guest to your host?” he hissed, waving his finger around and sitting me on the seat across his desk.

I had no choice in the matter. One second, I was in full control of my body, and the next, this asshole sits my ass on his velvet seat with his powers!

“It’s been a long while, Isaac. I like to keep tabs on my clients and their relatives, but I’ve been so busy. However, I did hear about your father. Terribly sorry. I would have paid my respects at the funeral, but I had my hands tied. When business calls.” He chuckled. “This place would have been a knotty little mess without me. The weight of these contracts, such a burden. I imagine this is why you’re here, right? To kill me and save your mother? Only makes logical sense. Her due date is only a few days away…”

“Great. Now that we are on the same page, let’s cut the bullshit!”

“Aren’t you an ounce bit curious how your mother came to meet me? Aren’t you wondering if… your father was actually your father?”

“Cut it out with the mind games!” I barked at him, balling up my fists.

“Your mother, such a sweet little thing. I approached her years ago, as a potential worker in my little bee’s nest. Of course, she declined, but I couldn’t let a piece of ass like that walk away. So I stalked her, right into this dainty little home in the suburbs. She was married to Regus Baldwin. I’ll admit to being a tad bit jealous. Envy, not the cutest quality on someone of my caliber, but I was greedy. So on the evening of their anniversary, I made sure good Regus Baldwin stayed in that bar for an extra few hours, so I could spend time with your mother. When in doubt, stick to the classics—a variety box of chocolates, a bouquet of roses, a nice lingerie piece the both of us can enjoy, and the face of good man Baldwin himself. Your mother was… such an animal in bed. If I could paraphrase, it was the best fuck she had in a while.”

“You son of a bitch!”

“After our lovely night together, I gave her an offer she couldn’t refuse. I answered her prayers… someone had to. Clearly, her god wasn’t listening. All of those years, trying to conceive. Such a tragedy. My sweet Carmen didn’t give it another thought. A few short weeks later, she took her last pregnancy test, and the rest, well… is history.” He chuckled. “So, this long overdue meet and greet is a tad disappointing. I’m not sure how you found me, but I was expecting some appreciation on your part. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be alive right now, Isaac. In more ways than one. After she milked me, I bred her like any fertile man should. She begged me to fuck her over and over again. We must have done it three times. I’m not sure. I must have lost count. The last time was extra special. I held her in my arms while she insisted she allowed my cum to fester. You’ve had a little devil inside of you all along. No wonder you slashed the heads of my women with ease…”

I jumped, leaping over his meal and reached for his head. My foot was ankle deep in this girl’s guts but I didn’t care. He ignited something dark inside me, and all I saw was my rage ripping through. Flames engulfed my body, but this time, I was in full control. It didn’t eat through my clothes, however, it chewed on everything else around me, except for him.

To make matters worse, I missed decapitating him. He shot right up from his seat, my blade slicing through his chest instead.

That snarky look on his face faded. He wasn’t smiling anymore. All of that talk about doing my mother—he was preoccupied with my power, realizing I wasn’t as weak as he’d thought.

“Hmm, I must have chewed on my own tongue here. You are in fact a demon. However, you aren’t one of mine. No… you’re something else entirely. That power…” He grabbed the blade tight, countering me before I could aim for his head again. “You’re a demon of royal blood. Samael himself…”

He head-butted me dead center, and when my head ricocheted back, he came for my neck.

I managed to block his attack just in time, and figured, if he could take a sharp blade to his flesh, so could I. He made it look so easy, the asshole cutting deep, my shaking grip feeling metal suddenly grating against bone. I had to amp up the heat of my flames, and once I did that, I was able to bend the blade, and loosen his hand from the skyrocketing heat.

Ash wouldn’t let me retaliate. As soon as I found my opening to follow up, he swung, and he fucking swung hard. He side-kicked me right into the window of his office, launching me outside again. My back collided into a street pole outside before smashing into a storefront window. Glass showered me on my way down, among the tossed mannequins on the stage. I think I even swallowed a few smaller pieces as I coughed, while fixing myself to stand up again.

All right bastard, I’ll give you that one.

Across the street his office was ablaze. The fire alarm went off, and the sprinkler system kicked in. People started pouring from the strip club, both clients and members of his demonic nest. So much for not drawing too much attention to myself.

Ash wanted an audience by tossing me out here, and he got a few eyes on him. After some of the girls led the customers away, the other women began to creep up on me, ready to attack.

I didn’t pay them much mind. My eyes were on my target who was now walking out of my hellish inferno unfazed. The sight of his unscathed shadow approaching me made my girls move. I felt Lumi descend to my left, and Ruby, Trista, and Wren to my right.

“Get out of here,” I muttered. “He’s strong. I can feel it.”

“That’s why we’re here!” Lumi asserted. “You get a boost when you’re around your harem! So whether you like it or not, this is our fight, too!”

“Don’t worry sexy! We’ve got your back!” Ruby winked.

“So what are we looking at here? Seven against five?” Trista counted.

Wren scoffed. “Not a problem.” She took a step forward and her eyes pooled pure white. Instantly, the six stripper girls began to clench their throats in unison, dropping on their knees while they hacked up black smoke from their mouths.

“Oh no, we won’t have any of that,” Ash hissed, stretching his hand out and locking his fingers into a squeezing fist, pointing it toward Wren.

Trista intercepted, pointing her finger toward him and unleashing a lightning bolt, zapping Ash along his shoulder. It shoved him back a mere inch, but it was enough to stop him from attacking Wren.

“Hold on there, Lioncourt.”

“This battle doesn’t concern you,” he growled.

“Same could be said for your girlies,” Ruby bit back. “I don’t see their names on the invitation list.”

His employee list was now six women smaller. Whatever Wren had done to them left them in a line of corpses. I must have been staring out across the street completely baffled, because Trista explained what had just happened in all of five seconds.

“It was a tag team effort. Ruby mind controlled them into evacuating their human vessels, and Wren occupied those vessels with shadows so they couldn’t smoke back inside. As for my job,” she closed her fist out in front of her and then flicked her fingers back out, lightning bolts escaping her fingertips. She electrocuted the vessels, the demon spirits in black smoke escaping the scene. This made it harder for them to step in and help Ash fight, turning the odds in our favor.

“Well, aren’t you a delightful bunch of rejects?” Ash scoffed. “There’s more where they came from. Besides, I don’t need an army to defeat a lord and his peasants.” He wagged his finger again, and all of a sudden, my girls were scattered along the façade of the building behind me like flyers.

“Ugh! Master!” Lumi cried as she tried to peel away from the brick wall.

“Lumi!”

“You sit still pet, and let the men handle this.”