The Price of Exorcism by Dakota Brown (sneezy the snowman read aloud .txt) 📗

The man screamed in agony.

I collapsed, shivering, partially on top of Ezra. Thedemon groaned, before startling awake, his hands burning into me when hegrabbed me.

"What did you do?"

"What did I do? What the fuck was all of that?Why'd you let him in?"

"I didn't," Ezra replied, getting to hisknees and staring out the still open door.

Mayhem came back inside, looking pleased with himself.Ezra got up and shut the door.

I lay on the floor, too drained to move.

Ezra knelt in front of me, and Mayhem nuzzled my shoulder.

"What did you do?" Ezra repeatedinsistently.

"I, uh, shielded us."

"Chris, how?"

"With my aura, mate. Only thing I could think of."

He swore. "You can't do that."

"Well, clearly I can." I flopped back ontothe floor, unable to hold myself up.

"You nearly killed yourself."

I just gave him a thumbs up and stared at the ceiling.

Ezra swore again, in demonic, extensively.

At least I thought he was swearing. My vision wavered."It's been a long day. Think I'll just pass out now," I muttered.

"Chris," Ezra hissed.

I jerked awake as he flipped me onto my stomach. Hisweight settled across my ass as he straddled me, and his hands burned againstmy back.

I tried to squirm away from the discomfort, but heheld me tight.

"Oh no you don't," he muttered. "Thisis the third time I've saved your life," he grumbled.

I tried to object, not wanting to owe him anything,but his power flaring through me drove all thoughts from my mind. It waspossible I screamed, though I wasn't sure if it was in pleasure or pain. Ifinally got that mind breaking orgasm that had been teasing me for a day, butwhatever Ezra was doing also sent tingles of agony through my limbs, as if they'dbeen asleep and were being forcibly woken. The combination of pleasure and painnearly knocked me out, but I clung to consciousness, quite possibly with Ezra'shelp.

"I'm recharging your aura with my energy,"Ezra finally explained once I'd recovered. "I know it hurts."

All I could do was whimper as the combined pain andpleasure tore through me. The heat and pressure built in my core, threateningto shatter me again. I dug my fingers into the ridge of fur that ran downMayhem's back. At some point he had laid down in front of me. That he wasn'tattacking Ezra led me to believe that the demon prince wasn't actually doinganything bad to me. That was a little reassuring.

"And now I'm fixing the protections I laid downin haste. This is going to take a minute."

It almost felt like Ezra's hands sank into my back,and from there into my very soul.

I squirmed under him, but there was no escaping, and Iwasn't entirely certain I wanted to. Mayhem hadn't objected and he wascertainly a better judge of any danger I might be in than I was. I'd never hadthe best sense of self-preservation or I wouldn't have become an exorcist.

My body shattered again as Ezra seemed to caress mefrom the inside as he did whatever it was he was doing to the bindings he'dlaid on me.

"Holy crap," I breathed out, as my visionblackened, and my head swam.

"Not exactly holy," Ezra murmured as heworked his fingers through my body. Probably not literally, but that was whatit felt like.

I didn't have the breath to reply, body limp, allfight gone.

"And now, I'm force-feeding you some knowledgebecause I really don't want to have to save your life again," he grumbledas he shifted so he could turn me over.

He put his hands on my temples. I managed to move myarms, though they felt like wet noodles, and I grabbed his forearms. Ezraleaned forward and touched his lips to my forehead.

"Fuck," I hissed as he jerked me away intothat blank space we had used to communicate 'face to face' while he'd possessedme.

There was nothing here but us and whiteness. Blankwalls, blank floor, just me and the demon prince, dressed as we had beenearlier that evening. Ezra's hands were on my shoulders and he stood close.

I couldn't bring myself to move either toward or awayfrom him.

Mayhem showed up a moment later and leaned his shoulderagainst my side. Damn dog's head was nearly level with my own when he sat nextto me.

"What did you just do to me?"

"You depleted yourself to dangerous levels andwere fading away. If you didn't have the old magic running through your veinsyou would have killed yourself. As it was, I didn't know if you would recoveron your own or not and we don't have the time to find out."

"I was trying to save you."

"I know and I'm grateful. You did save me a greatdeal of harm." He caressed the bare skin on my arms, and I finally took astep forward. Ezra wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I fit nicely intohis embrace and I didn't have the energy to object to anything.

"Okay, so you recharged my aura for me. I'massuming it looks really strange right now." I shivered at the thought.

"Yes, to anyone who has the sight, it will beobvious you're mixing with demons. I'm sorry. The good news is, eventually youraura will mostly recover to its normal sapphire blue."

"S'okay, mate." I sighed, resigned. "Thenyou tightened all the bindings."

"I tightened your protections. The bindings arethe same. If I did any more, it would be noticeable to you all the time and Idon't think either of us want that."

"Right. And then you forced knowledge?"

"Yes. It will still take time to assimilate butyou now know how to do a fair number of defensive and offensive spells and youwill be able to speak and understand demonic. Of course, the spells are allfrom the abyss, so you will want to take the time to learn the earthly versions,as well, but you'll be protected."

"Wait, so I know demon magic."

"Yes."

"Can I do demon magic?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Chris..."

"Just tell me, Ezra."

"You can draw on demonic powers through thebinding. Essentially, you are using my energy."

"That go both ways?"

"I..." Ezra stilled as if thinking. "Idon't know, actually."

I buried my face in his jacket, inhaling his deliciouscinnamon and campfire scent.

"I'm so not okay with this right now," Imuttered.

He rubbed soothing circles on my back