Page 2 of When I Accidentally Summoned a Demon

What in the unholy hotness?

He groans, pushing himself up on shaking arms. When he finally gets his head up, his eyes snap open. They’re pure, molten gold, burning with a mix of primal fury and absolute, agonizing confusion. Hot enough, they would wet my panties—if I were wearing any.

He doesn’t look at the trees. He looks at me.

His gaze travels all over me, settling on my well-endowed tits, on where the nipples have turned into bullets begging for his gun. His tongue traces his bottom lip, and his pupils dilate until they’re almost swallowing the gold.

“You look good enough to steal away to hell, sweetling,” he rasps. His voice is a wreck—like gravel crushed by heavy velvet.

I cross my arms over my chest, blow a muddy curl of my dark hair from my cheek, and scoff, “You’ve clearly taken a wrong turn, so I suggest you skedaddle back to the bowels of hell or wherever you came from, Mr. Bronze Na’vi.”

He slowly flicks his tail back and forth, slicing through a patch of my ferns. He grins, and it’s a devilish, predatory sight. “I’d rather stay. The scenery here…it has improved significantly.”

I reach down and snatch a large, jagged piece of smoky quartz from the dirt. I hold it out like a weapon, the crystal humming with a faint, dark energy I can feel in my teeth. “Give me a reason, horny horns. I spent four years of Catholic high school and three years in seminary learning how to deal with your kind, but I’m a pagan now. So, I’m more about balance. And right now, you’re a massive weight on my property line. Move closer, and I’ll send you back in pieces.”

The demon actually flinches. He stares in shock at the crystal. He pulls back, his tail lashing the moss in agitation. “Very well, pretty beastie. I’ll have to settle for… watching you for a while. That crystal…it has a bite I do not care to test. My name is Valefar.”

I blow relief through my nose and square my shoulders, unhindered by how it thrusts out my D-cups, which didn’t drop in size after fourteen months of breastfeeding.

“Well, you’ve certainly made my night interesting,” I mention, looking back towards the rambler home. “But my patience for supernatural visitors is exactly zero. Goodbye, Valefar.”

I turn and break into a run.

I make it about ten yards, the wet moss squelching between my toes, and then a scream splits the night. Blood-curdling. Spine-chilling. It howls through my nerve endings—half animal, half agony. A sound of pure, unadulterated pain.

I stop. I turn around.

Valefar is on his knees in the center of the circle. His head is thrown back, his bronze throat exposed as he lets out another gut-wrenching cry. He isn’t moving toward me. He looks like he’s being electrocuted from the inside out, digging his claws into the earth.

I’m fine. Mostly. A faint pressure catches beneath my sternum—not pain exactly, but a warning that something inside me, on the other end of the spell, is being stretched too far.

I slowly walk back toward him. The howls begin to fade. By the time I’m five feet away, he’s down to heavy, ragged breathing, his body shaking, muscles in his back jumping. He’s drenched in sweat, fear in his expression. I didn’t think demons could feel fear.

He looks up at me, gasping. “What-what have you done? What is this…tether?”

I stand over him, the smoky quartz still tight in my hand.

The energy of the Cascades seems to course through me with solemnness. It’s not guilt I feel. It’s power. And fierce protection. Maybe even…possession. Whatever the case, I’m not a monster. I can’t just…ugh! The frustration rears up in me, but it’s too weak to combat the assurance: he’s not going back to hell tonight.

“Welp.” I shake my head with a loud breath. “I was trying to banish a thief. But it looks like I just became the warden. My name is Vesper. Vesper Larson.”

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will test some anti-summoning spells, find a way to send him back where he belongs. But for now…he’s found a sanctuary, whether I like it or not.

He stares at me, tilting his head. “You are an odd creature, Vesper Larson.”

“What a nice compliment.” I set my hand on my hip. “Since you’re staying the night, we’re going to need to come up with some house rules.”

I’m not just going to stick him outside with a chain in the doghouse. Especially since I don’t have a doghouse. Or a dog. He wouldn’t fit anyway.

He gets to his feet, still a little shaky, but he easily keeps pace with me with his massive gait.

I trudge along, avoiding the urge to eye-fuck him. Just before we go inside, I turn to him and stab out a finger. “Just keep your hands off my towels. They’re Egyptian cotton.”

His brows lift. “I would never risk angering the old gods by robing myself in their garb.”

Rules. And crystals. And salt. And protection spells outside Bethie’s door.

A new and complicated chapter of my life is beginning. And if he’s a decent house guest, if he behaves like a good harbinger from hell, and if I can’t figure out how to exorcise the big guy, I might just let him stay a little longer.