Bound by Night(118)

Everything he’d learned about the twelve original chiefs was exactly as he’d been told.
The chiefs, guided by visions of war between tribes and an invasion of white men, had summoned a demon they’d believed to be a god. Samnult had promised them unmatched strength, speed, and immortality in exchange for allegiance, obedience, and the firstbornchild of every mated first-and second-generation vampire.
Flames flickered in the demon’s ebony eyes. Actual flames that singed everything they touched. Including Hunter’s skin. “You summoned me.” It wasn’t a question.
In the dim recesses of Hunter’s mind, he knew he should be more shocked and terrified than he was.
Should be agonizing over whether this was real or not.
But as the herbal smoke swirled around him, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“I summoned you,” Hunter said, inclining his head a fraction of an inch. “As I’ve attempted to do every year since my twentieth birthday, Samnult.”
“Call me Sam.” Sam bared a mouthful of teeth that would be better suited to an orca. “And don’t try to shame me again. Not if you enjoy having your organs on the inside of your body.”
Right. Sam. And yep, Hunter would rather not be turned inside out. “Noted. I summoned you because I’m taking a mate—”
Sam cut him off with a sharp gesture. “I’m aware. A union     with ShadowSpawn. The eldest of karshawnewuti’s twin daughters. “ He yawned, as if this was all too boring to be bothered with. “You know the deal.”
The first stirrings of fear and anger broke through the agony/ecstasy haze of the ritual. “I’m not handing my firstborn child over to you.”
Hunter would sooner slit his own throat than deliver a baby into the hands of a demon.
Sam’s voice degenerated into a serrated growl.
“Then you and your mate will watch your child suffer before it dies a horrible, miserable death.”
Hunter really wanted to give Sam a horrible, miser- able death. “Not if you lift the curse.”
“Few make that request.” Sam folded his arms across his chest. The furs, some of which didn’t look like they’d come from any animal Hunter had every seen, parted, revealing a patch of black scales overlapping his rib cage. “Why do you think that is?”
“It’s because anyone who doesn’t ask you to lift the curse is an asshole who doesn’t deserve to have children.” Hunter moved closer, determined to make the demon understand how serious he was about this.
“I’ll do anything.”
Sam’s maniacal, sharp-toothed grin was like something straight out of an alien movie, and Hunter was the dumbass character who thought negotiating would be a good idea.
“So,” Sam said in a voice that made Hunter’s hair stand up, “if I asked you to kneel before me and take my cock in your mouth, you’d do it?”
Hunter dropped to his knees. He’d have to drown himself in vodka later, but he hadn’t been lying when he said he’d do whatever it took to save the life of his child.
Sam’s smile faded as he shifted his gaze to the fire, which flared as if he’d thrown gasoline on it.
“If you want to be released from the bargain I made with the twelve chiefs, you must first negotiate a series of tests.” Sam gestured for Hunter to rise. “And one of them isn’t to suck my cock.”
Thank the spirits. Hunter wouldn’t be nursing a grizzly-sized vodka-blowjob hangover later. He rose. “I accept.”
“Fool.” The shadow surrounding the demon seethed like a living thing, and Hunter wondered if it was a measure of Sam’s irritation. “You don’t even know what the tests involve.”
“I don’t give a shit what they involve.”
Sam reached out and dragged one hideously long, black-lacquered nail down the gash Myne had made.
Hunter sucked air as fresh blood streamed from the newly opened laceration.#p#分页标题#e#
“Before your trial can begin, you must choose one of the twins to accompany you. You can’t pass through the membrane into my realm without either your intended mate or her sister. It doesn’t matter which, since their veins run with the same blood. But consider this.” He paused his finger’s downward path just above Hunter’s navel. “No matter who you choose, you will die.”
Hunter recoiled, wrenching away from the demon.
Die? His choice was to either never have children with his mate or die?
“If I’m going to die on this fucking quest of yours, what’s the point of taking these tests?”
The fire roared to ten times its original size. Flames licked the wooden tent supports. Heat slammed into Hunter, blistering his skin and charring his hair. The stench of burned flesh filled the air, but Hunter held his ground, suffering through the searing agony with clenched teeth.