Page 32 of Devour

“No.” I press my knees together because the ache between my thighs hasn’t let up since this morning. “But I got off on a toy in the bathroom with Axl. Then I must have been drunk and horny in the middle of the night because I woke up with my vibrator in my hand.”

“Sounds like a great night.”

I slap her thigh. “It’s not funny. I’m sore as fuck.”

I leave out the part about how I still had Axl’s cum caked on my pussy and thighs this morning.

“You know what your problem is? You should have saved that shit for tonight. That man is about to take out every bit of pent-up aggression on your cunt.”

“You aren’t wrong about that.”

She digs into her clutch and pulls out a small plastic bag with pills in it. She drops a couple into my palm.

“Do you think we should?”

She nods, grinning at me. “You want to spend the next six hours sober and sore, or do you want us to have the night of our lives?” She pops hers and dry swallows it without blinking. “Your choice.”

I look at the pills in my hand. My hips and thighs ache, and I’m pissed at myself for getting so drunk last night. And now my solution is to get fucking high.

I pop them into my mouth and swallow. Sounds like a fucking plan.

“This is going to be awesome.” Kynlee grins and shoves the plastic bag back in her clutch. “That’s going to make running through the woods way more fun.”

The crowd is called to attention as the first fight begins. A masked Talon walks onto the arena floor from the archway at the far end. He’s alone. The crowd shifts forward in their seats, and two men are brought out from a door on the opposite side of the arena. They aren’t masked. They’re in ratty clothes like they’ve been held captive for a while.

I don’t know where the Ravens find the men they throw in the cage with the Talons. I’ve heard they’re usually men who crossed the wrong people, but I’ve never asked and I don’t want to know. What I do know is that if a Talon loses, his family pays for it. The Council will exile them if they’re feeling generous, or wipe out the bloodline entirely if they’re not. The Ravens don’t keep weak links.

Once they’re all locked into a big cage together, a bell rings. The masked Talon moves first. He closes the distance on the first man and hits him so hard in the throat that the poor guy drops to his knees, choking. The other one tries to run, but there’s nowhere to go. The Talon catches him by the back of the neck and gives it a rough twist, breaking it. The sound carries through the cathedral. He goes back to the first one, who is still on his knees trying to breathe, and finishes him with a boot to the temple.

Two men are dead on the stone floor in what feels like under a minute. The Talon reaches up and rips his mask off. The crowd applauds. Attendants come out and drag the bodies through the far door while the stone is mopped for the next round.

I don’t flinch at all the violence. I’ve known what the Ravens are my entire life.

“Is it wrong if I found that hot?” Kynlee asks, leaning closer to me.

A couple seats down, one of the Doves is crying. I’ve never seen her before, so it makes me wonder if she’s from a first-generation family. If you weren’t raised in this world, you can’t as easily rationalize this fucked-up shit like the rest of us can.

I focus back on Kyns waiting for the drugs to kick in. “Then I would be wrong too.”

The fights cycle through the lower years. The Talons so far have all won each of their battles. We continue watching as one Talon gets his arm snapped at the elbow by one of his kills before he manages to put the man down with his good hand. He finishes the job and stands there with his arm hanging wrongly at his side, and the crowd applauds. The medical team tries to take him away, but he waves them off, pointing out the woman he wants to fuck. He bends her over the table on display next to the ring and fucks her with his arm hanging at his side.

The women they fuck after the fights come from Velum. They’re paid and willing, which is more than most women in our world can say about the men they end up with.

The Talon is still going at it, smacking her ass while her body rocks across the table, and the crowd cheers.

The Ravens love to watch each other fuck. Most ceremonies involve public fucking in some way. When Axl catches me, he’ll fuck me in front of all of them. And whenever I get married, my husband will fuck me in front of everyone too. I’m not sure what the point is to all of it, other than they must get off on reminding us that the men rule our world.

As if we could forget. I’m sitting here about to serve a man for a year because two generations ago, my family decided to sell their soul to the Ravens. At least if I marry into an established Raven family, my children won’t have to serve.

The Talon grunts a few more times as the woman moans. I question whether she’s getting off on it or if it’s just for show. He groans as he thrusts deep into the woman’s ass. They get to choose which hole they want.

He pulls out, and the woman uses a cloth to clean his dick. A man with a long needle steps forward and gives him a third piercing on the underside of his shaft.

The man doesn’t even flinch. He raises his non-broken arm, and the crowd cheers again. He exits through the archway, and the next Talon steps forward.

“That’s Priest,” Kynlee says, nudging me to make sure I’m paying attention.

“How do you know?”