One
“Mm, rest sweet Evelyn.” Zane, grovelling shadows gathering at his feet, stood over the sleeping woman, dark brown hair tossed across the pillows. Her eye’s moved gently beneath her eyelids, REM sleep. Evelyn was dreaming. Zane traced her cheek bone with one finger, feeling the softness of her skin and snatching a peek at her dream. It wasn’t of him, disappointing really. No matter. It was easily fixed. He ushered a little piece of shadow forward and watched as it sank into her flesh. Her demeanour changed in an instant. The tranquil sleep replaced with something more heated. Evelyn’s cheeks flushed, her breathing grew heavier and she moved sensually, moaning as she went. “Better, much better.” Zane, a Prince of Hell, smiled as the blanket slipped, revealing a breast.
“Oh dear brother. Does our father know you’re here…? Breaking the rules.” Kael stepped forward, letting his own shadows fall away. With a languid flick of his wrist, the Prince sent a shadow slinking across the bedsheets to cover her back up.
“Right, the rules.” Zane rolled his demonic eyes. “There are no rules yet.” His power crackled beneath his skin, shadows and lightning rolling and spitting. Evelyn moaned loudly in the bed. Zane smirked.
“In that case,” Kael moved to the end of the bed, slipping a hand around her foot, “there’s no issue with my joining the fun.” The Prince purred, sending his own magic flowing through the sleeping woman and morphing her dream. “Be a shame if someone told father and we had to find a new vessel. Did you think you had a head start? An advantage – because, I loathe to tell you, I’ve been visiting her just as long as you.” Kael chuckled darkly, watching the anger pool in his brother’s eyes. They had both found her at almost the same time shortly after her mark had appeared – a few minutes after she’d turned 18. Zane had been just ahead of him and Kael had thought it wise to leave him thinking that he was ‘winning’.
Truly, the game had not begun yet. While the mark of the vessel had appeared the moment she had turned of age, Evelyn couldn’t be transported to the realm of Hell until the gate could be unlocked on the next full moon. Souls and beings of magic could pass into the realm without the gate but Evelyn was a live human and the only way to keep her in that condition was to use the gate. Only the King of Hell, their father Malphas had the power to unlock the gate but his strength was waning, the time for a new King was upon them. Every King required a human vessel to bind to. A willing vessel. If they failed, there was little chance of them having the opportunity to try again with a new vessel before the crown fell and Hell descended into chaos. Without a King, souls and demons were free to roam all the realms.
Evelyn whimpered. It stirred the Prince. She would be his and he would have her make that delectable sound over and over for the rest of his reign. Kael had no intention of letting his brother win. He was the eldest. Succession should go to him, not based on the whims of some human woman. No matter how scintillating she was.
Zane huffed, letting it go. Confident, he leant against Evelyn’s wardrobe, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Not going to be much of a competition.” Zane observed, eyeing Evelyn’s creased brow. “You know humans don’t like torture?”
“Little brother,” Kael tutted, reaching into Evelyn’s laundry basket, “I think you’ll find, with the right application… some of them do.” He bought the lacy underwear to his nose, breathing in her musk. “Every night, after you’ve dipped your dream into her head, I replace it with my own. That’s why she wakes up soaked brother. This,” he tossed the panties at Zane, “is all for me.”
Zane’s anger rose and quickly fell. Much like the undergarment that had hit him square in the chest before dropping to the floor. “Perhaps she does like your dream better.” He shrugged, watching her dig her fingers into the sheets. “I mean, after all, Kael…” The Prince let his eyes drift over his brother, “it will be easier for me to win her over once she realises your cock’s only big in her dreams.”
“You little bastard.” Kael reached for his brother with both his hands and his shadows.
“Uh-huh.” Zane wiggled a finger at him. “Father said no fighting. Can’t afford for us to accidently kill each other now, can we? All Hell would break loose.”
Kael snarled in response, pulling back his lips to expose sharp teeth before he straightened himself out. The Prince flicked his long blood-red hair over his shoulder and smoothed out his shadows.
Evelyn’s sudden cry of pleasure had both Princes snap their heads in her direction. Still asleep, the woman’s brow was gleaming with sweat, her brown hair dark with it as she arched off the bed in ecstasy. Watching her writhe gave Kael an idea.
“You know what? She can have your dream back.” The Prince drew back his magic with a small flick of his fingers. A heat cut through him hearing Evelyn squeak in protest at the sudden absence of his dream-self.
“Why’s that? You worried she’ll get bored before you’ve had the chance to disappoint her in the flesh?” Zane’s jest might have struck a chord if Kael didn’t already have a jab of his own prepared.
“Not at all,” Kael smiled, wide. “It’s just she hasn’t had the chance to finish your dream yet and, hm, how do the human’s put it – it’s about time she recognised the grass isn’t greener on the other side. No sense in waiting until the thirsty bitch has the opportunity to put her hands on you to find out you can’t make her half as wet as me.” Kael let his shadows rise, sharp darkness that was ready to swallow him and whisk him back to Hell. “You see… in the dreams I give her, she only gets cock if she’s a good girl. And Evelyn is never a good girl.”
