Chapter 1 Chapter One

Ashara’s POV

There was blood everywhere, slouched in dark red puddles on the floor, sprinkled in ghostly drops on the walls. In my hands, the cleaver trembled, the steel blade dripping blood.

I’d killed them all. The mother of the girl whose body I had possessed, the sister, the uncle… probably the whole village…

I had lost count after the third kill. There were so many bodies lying around the hall now. It was like a mini concert—one with dead bodies parading torn limbs, sliced necks, and ripped stomachs.

This wouldn't have happened if they had left as I had advised, if they had given up the body as I had instructed them to.

I raised the cleaver in the direction of the last two humans—women, hugging each other tight and trembling against the wall in the corner of the large hall, eyes restless in their sockets, chins trembling.

“You brought this on yourselves, ladies. If you had left as I said. If you hadn't provoked my dark side, then your kindred would still be alive.” I threw my hands around at the carnage, “…this wouldn't have happened.”

The elder woman just snarled. “Stay away, devil, stay away from us,” she pulled the younger one tighter to her. “You will burn in hell, demon.”

I scoffed. She couldn't hate my existence more than I do. The only thing I lived for was revenge, one I was going to get before my existence eventually crumbled into nothingness.

I stared down at my new body, my heaving chest, and racing heartbeat. This body should hold me for another month or two.

Each body hop strips me of more than my identity. I only do it when I need to. It strips me of my memories, my powers, my life.

But I held on to the memories of the bastards that did this to me. I burned their faces in my mind so I could never forget how they brutally killed my kin and stripped me of my divinity and goddesshood, turning me into a rat, a half-succubus and half-demon that needed to hop from body to body to draw her next breath.

I took another step forward, and the elder woman yelled again. “Stay away, demon. Stay the hell away.”

Her eyes rattled more, like flies trapped in a bottle.

I smirked at them as I raised the cleaver higher, high enough that it would take just one swing to kill them, clean and fast, no struggle, and no time to feel pain.

That was the only mercy I could grant them. I couldn't stop this. The dark demon side of my existence had corrupted me so much that I do not just have to kill for fun. I now craved it, like humans craved food.

“Don't worry. I will be fast. You won't feel pain. You wouldn't even know that you are dead.” I made them a half-smile, and I swung the cleaver low.

Just before the cleaver could land on its target, something knocked the large weapon from my hands. It fell to the ground, clattering, and I was knocked back a foot by the force.

I looked up. Striding in with an air of confidence that stifled the balance in the room was a male.

There was danger in his presence, silence in his steps, and yet loudness in his appearance.

He glanced around at the corpses about, jaw tight, fury buried under the hate that filled his eyes when he steered them to me.

“That's the problem with you demons. You never know when to fucking stop.” He growled through clenched teeth.

I moved away from the humans, strolling closer to him. “You aren’t wrong. We never know when to stop.” I bent low and picked up the cleaver, and I raised it to him. “So why don't I end this with you?”

I didn't strike first. I held back a bit, studying him carefully. The large, broad shoulders. The dark, messy hair falling over a roguishly handsome face and cloaking the right eye.

He wasn't human, but at the same time, I couldn't tell what he was. A vampire, succubus… I didn't try to guess. The list could run long.

“What are you, and who are you?” I demanded. “And what do you want?”

He sneered, disgust tainting his face. “I am your nemesis. A predator to your kind.” He declared proudly.

We both turned briefly at the little commotion as the humans scurried fast from their hole, past him, and away from the hall.

“When you say a predator to my kind, do you mean a demon exorcist?” I inquired.

“I am more than that to your evil kind, but if that term works for you, then you can call it that.” The disgust only grew in his expression. “And for why I am here, it is to rid the world of your corrupted existence.”

He snatched the amulet he wore on his wrist, and he pressed it in his palm, feeding his body with its power until his eyes grew from steel-grey to completely black, the darkness claiming even the whites of them.

Then he snatched his sword and charged at me.

He moved so fast, I almost couldn't keep up as I dropped back, pulling away from the swinging sword aimed at my neck. I had barely dodged one strike when another came.

He feinted for my neck, fooling me into dodging. Then, he jammed the tip of the sword against my stomach, and I doubled back. My spine cracked with a sharp cry when my back crashed roughly against the wall, agony jarring my nerves.

Hell! That was why I hated human bodies. They were very fragile. I tried to move, but I couldn't even get a limb to work.

I was still gasping for breath, gritting my teeth in pain, when his scents engulfed my senses. He stood before me, nearly a few inches away. His eyes had calmed now to the initial grey, but they still held his hate.

For a moment, they trapped mine to them like a magnet until I snatched my eyes away.

He pressed his amulet against my neck, and his brows narrowed in concentration as if expecting something to happen. They tightened when that thing didn't.

“Is that amulet supposed to vanquish me or kill me or something?” I chuckled, amused by the turn of events.

“Shut up, demon.” He snarled me into silence. He pressed the amulet harder against my skin, brows deepening.

I relaxed against the wall, my chest still heaving, breath still raspy. I waited for a minute to pass, and I teased. “Are you done already, exorcist? I have somewhere else to be. I am a busy person.”

I had seen how he fights. In this form, I was powerless against his strength. My best weapon was psychological, not physical.

“Shut up,” he snarled again before I could even move my lips to form words.

He pressed the amulet harder on my neck and grunted when whatever he expected to happen didn’t happen.

He tried again and again, grunting harder at each disappointment, fury brewing in his eyes.

“Didn't you test your equipment before you left home? What kind of exorcists are you?” I said.

He growled. “The one that still captures you regardless.”

He threw the amulet into his pocket, and he spun me around, throwing me against the wall.

His strong hand clamped down on my shoulders, while he pulled my hands together, tying them behind me with a rope.

“Why don't you let me go, exorcist or whatever you are, and I'll make it worth your while. Huh?" I suppose this new body was enough to tempt a male like him.

I didn't fancy being intimate, but the body wasn't mine. I could just jump body to one of the females at the door when he's about to get naughty.

“What do you say, exorcist?” When I still didn't get a response, I leaned back and rubbed my ass against his thighs while he tied my wrists tight behind me.

"Stop, demon." He growled. But I was never one to obey. I leaned my waist back more and rubbed harder until I began to feel his bulge grow against my leg.

“Stop that, bitch.” He barked, his yell jarring my eardrums. He spun me around, halfway through tying my hands.

That was just the slip-up I needed. As a succubus, I knew when a male was aroused. I didn’t just feel it. I could smell it.

I capitalize on the moment immediately. The moment I was turned back, I threw myself onto my toes, and I kissed him blatantly on the lips.

That reeled him back a foot. His eyes went wide with shock, hands relaxed on my shoulders.

For some bloody reason, something zinged across my skin as our lips touched, something like electricity. It almost pulled me forward, more into his arms.

Gosh! Ashara. Focus!

It steered every mental energy into pulling away, and I drove my knee into his groin with every bit of strength I could gather from this fragile human body.

I didn't wait to watch him double over in pain as I bolted for the door.