Page 222 of Lost in the Dark

When she slackened beneath him, he nearly fell off the bed in his haste to turn. He desperately needed to bury his cock in her, and his eyes rolled back at the now-familiar, sucking heat. He should take her back to the unwaking world with him, Corviss thought, force her to keep his cock warm with her body every minute he was not otherwise engaged fucking her, feed on her fear and her desire, and take an early retirement... it was something to ponder, but for now, he wanted to sink back into her unconscious mind.

He had felt her pleasure clenching around his cock and fingers, had smelled it and witnessed it, and now he’d tasted it. Tipping forward with a splash into her mind, he wanted toseeit, and he was not disappointed. A kaleidoscope of color swirled through her dreamsea, and Corviss realized he might not have need of her fear again. He was sated on her pleasure, well-fed from the ecstasy he licked from her cunt, and had no cause to pull her into a nightmare.

He was not expecting her to be waiting for him.

“It’s-it’s you,” she wheezed, suspended in the rippling dream water like a pixie floating in a birdbath. Her long, dark hair wavered behind her like seaweed, her limbs floating weightless. “I knew it. Iknewyou would come again. But why? Why are you here?”

He did not know enough about humans to be able to say if she was beautiful by their own standards. Her hair was the same color as the stygian cliffs where he nested, overlooking the waters of the Lethe, and her soft skin was the same color as a newborn fawn. Her eyes resembled a fawn’s as well, luminous and dark, opened wide as she took him in. Her body was soft and round and warm, and he did not relish the thought of perching next on a human without her soft curves. She was lovely, he thought.

“You’re the one who summoned me, pet. I am only here because you called.”

Dawning realization bloomed across her face just as she went slack around him.

“The ritual... Do you mean to tell me it-it worked?!”

He nodded, watching as her eyes cast about as if she had dropped something.

“But-but that doesn’t make sense! I was supposed to gain clarity, be in tune with the other side. I’m supposed to understand what I’m supposed to do next.”

Corviss watched as she sputtered. He understood the cat’s frustration, he supposed. The girl was still under the impression she could simply buy a spell and make her life easier, despite having been told it didn’t work that way. He was quite sure what she was seeking clarity on. It seemed to him that her problems lay only in how she perceived herself versus how she wanted to be perceived.

“You were tricked. By the cat. The ritual you completed was to summon a demon.”

Her mouth dropped open. “A- a demon?!”

“An incubus, to be precise. You should have known from the —”

“The candle,” she whispered, drawing a hand to her face. “I should have known from the shape of that fucking candle. Iknewit looked like a cock!”

She looked him up and down, and he could tell she wondered if her face betrayed her feelings over his physical appearance. It did, he thought dourly.

“An-an incubus. Is that what you are?” The levity he had been feeling quickly dissipated, and he scowled, shifting. In the waking world, she cried out, his avian talons digging into her skin.

“Iam no demon. I am here because you called. The ritual you completed summoned a particular incubus, and I am covering his shift this month.” He realized they were no longer swimming in the dreamsea, but they were back in her bedroom. Her mind had brought them somewhere more familiar, more comfortable, and he could not say he minded. “As I said, you were tricked. By the cat.”

“Cat... no, by Holt. He’s a man, he runs a shop. They sell —”

“He is a cat,” Corviss interrupted. “Cats are malevolent creatures, all of them. Corrupt to their cores. They serve a dark master and would never deign to make themselves low for love of a human. Trickery is a skill they have long mastered.”

She gaped at his words, but then after a moment, a small smile curved her lips.

“Well, youwouldthink, being a bird.”

It was Corviss’s turn to sputter.

“I am not a-abird! I am the thing you fear most in the dark; your worst nightmares made real!”

“You don’t look that scary,” she mused, the small smile still on her face. “Did you get the bird food I left you?”

His nostrils flared, and her smile stretched before being replaced with a look of confusion.

“Wait, if you’re not in incubus . . my dreams. You’re the one who crashed the plane.” She sucked in a breath when he nodded, echoing the motion. “I already knew that. I knew it was you. But an incubus wouldn’t care about my dreams.”

“I already told you, I am not —”

She held up a hand, cutting him off.

“So if you are doing the work for an incubus, does that mean you’ve-you’ve been...” She trailed off, both hands raising to cover her mouth as her eyes widened further. She understood then.