Insatiable Desire by Rita Herron Page A

nipples so hard she cried out. Laughter bubbled from him, and he bounced up and down, the bedsprings squeaking as the scent of his sweat filled the air.
    He moaned, his vile breath bathing her face as he leaned over to suck her neck. She twisted, playing along with his bondage fantasy, and his teeth sank into her skin.
    She cried out, but he bit her again, then made a loud keening sound as he shot his cum into her.
    She opened her eyes, and fear gripped her at the darkness clouding the room. The shadows spun sickeningly as his face twisted into that of a black monster.
    She had to be imagining things.
    But she blinked to clear her vision, and the ominous shadow remained, this time its orange eyes beaming down on her in a faceless black mask.
    She tried to scream and struggled to escape, but the sound died in her throat and her limbs refused to cooperate. She was not only tied to the bedposts, but frozen in place. Had he drugged her somehow?
    With a menacing growl, he raised a black hand, and suddenly a dozen snakes rained down on her, hissing and spitting.
    She hated snakes, was deathly afraid of them, especially rattlers.
    Yet she couldn’t move, couldn’t fight or escape. Fear ripped at her insides as the snakes circled her, slithering between her legs, up her arms, down her bare thighs.
    The scream in her throat gurgled and came out raw, a plea for the monster to save her.
    But the poison slowly seeped through her, burning her veins, causing her body to seize and convulse with pain.
    “Please, I’ll do anything . . .” she pleaded. “Just get them off of me . . . don’t let me die . . .”
    The maddening roar of darkness beckoned nearby. Heaven or hell—where would she go?
    “Anything?” he hissed.
    “Yes,” she whispered. “Anything.”
    His sinister laugh chilled her to the bone, and her body jerked as death began to claim her.
    “Trade me your soul,” he murmured in a menacing voice that sounded inhuman. “Be my slave, and I’ll breathe life back into you. Then you will live forever.”
    Her son’s tiny face flashed in her mind just as the well of death consumed her. She’d promised to take care of him, protect him. What would happen to him if she was gone?
    “Your soul?” he asked.
    A snake darted his tongue out and licked at her ear; another brushed her cheek, its scaly skin scraping her tender flesh. Little Petey’s face flashed in her head again. She couldn’t leave him . . .
    “Yes, please, whatever you want. Take my soul, and I’ll do anything for you.”
    Clarissa shivered as a scream reverberated in her head. “Help me! Save me!”
    Startled, she hugged her arms around herself and closed her eyes, struggling to see the girl’s face.
    But the images blurred, and instead, she saw a faceless black monster.
    The demon . . .
    Then a bed of snakes as they covered the girl’s body. A timber rattlesnake, then another and another . . .
    God . . . this creature, whatever it was, was sadistic and without mercy.
    Nausea clawed at Clarissa’s throat and stomach, but she fought it and ran for the phone. She had to call Vincent and the sheriff. Tell them there had been another victim.
    And let them know that the killer they hunted wasn’t human. He was a demon monster with a black, soulless face.
    Laughter burst from Pan’s lungs as he waved his hand and made the snakes disappear. Only a whisper of his demonic breath into Sadie Sue’s lungs and her body surged back to life. The woman was his—a victory on his part, a soul for his collection that would aid in his journey to a higher level in the underworld.
    All she needed to do now was make her first kill, and she would be Satan’s servant forever.
    Had Clarissa heard Sadie Sue’s screams? Were the other voices he’d sent taunting her?
    Another smile curved his mouth.
    She had to be growing weak now, her sanity teetering on the brink of destruction.
    Yes, soon she would be his, as well. He could almost taste the joy of victory and the