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Vik savored a minute of catching his breath and staring at the angel’s still luscious body before slipping off of the bed. The balls of his feet hit the ground and he took a deep breath of the accursed forest around him. Nothing like the return to nature after a filthy romp.

Looking around, Vik’s eyes searched until he found his belt. He went to it.

Kat lazily looked up to what he was doing. “What do your masters even want with the Crown anyways?”

“My masters,” Vik said, fixing the belt around his waist. “don’t give a shit about this. I’m here because a gang of arsonists want this world to burn. They summoned me, tried to offer me a lot of money, and I said yes but rejected a contract with them.”

Kat flipped onto her back and stared at the contract demon. “You wouldn’t really give it to them, right?”

Vik shrugged.

Kat didn’t know why she had suspected anything else. “Why did you reject them?”

Checking his blade and scabbard, Vik got his belt snug around his waist and went to grab the discarded loincloth. He’ll tie it another time.

“Vik?” Kat asked, partially unsure if he had even heard her or if she had asked the question.

“I heard ya,” Vik said. He went off to the side to piss. Felt like it was gonna burst. “I turned them down because I don’t like doing contracts with arsonists. Any fire fanatic or fire typa thing, really.”

“Why?” Kat began to wonder if she was ever gonna be able to catch her breath.

Vik looked over his shoulder with a grin. “Been burned too many times.”

Kat snorted a reply and let her head fall back onto the bed. She lay there until something landed next to her, shaking her from her cushioned fantasy. She glanced over. It was a crown made from interwoven roots and thistles.

“There. That’s the Crown of the Dreadking, aye?” Vik asked. He stood near the foot of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.

Kat nodded.

“Need to hear you say it.” Vik tapped the binding symbols on his chest. “Contract demon, remember?”

Right. “Yes.” She gave it another look. “This is the Crown of the Dreadking.”

“And I have held up my side of the deal, right? You walk away, my wife, unscathed, and with the Crown of the Dreadking,” Vik said, moving his hands behind his back.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Kat said dismissively before her eyes wandered below his torso and they were greeted. She forced her eyes up. “You have fulfilled your side of the agreement. You got what you wanted, and I got what I wanted.”

Vik clapped his hands together. “Wonderful.”

A portal — an egg-shaped blur of blue and red light made from magic — popped out from behind Vik. He took a step back. His hands came from behind his back, and there was something in them. Kat’s eyes widened. It was the Crown of the Dreadking. What was this? What was happening? Kat’s fatigued mind couldn’t make any sense of it.

Vik took another step back. “You’re probably realizing what’s happening, so I’ll take that as my cue to leave. See you soon, wife. You’ll know where to find me. I’m sure of it. Bye-bye,” he said before taking another step back and disappearing into the portal.

Dread and anger creeping into her, Kat looked to the Crown of the Dreadking at her side and took it. Her hands touched and felt around it. What was wrong?

And then, like the morning fog lifting off of dewy grass with the warmth of the sun, the Crown of the Dreadking — or whatever it was — began to shift in her hands. She blinked a couple of times to make sure she was seeing things straight. She stopped blinking. It had stopped shifting. It was a smooth circular runestone with a mark imprinted onto it. Ones whose owner had just left: Vik’s.

Anger-boiled growl coming deep from her throat, Kat screamed and threw the runestone at the portal. The entranceway flickered to death with a pop before the runestone could pass through. It felt softly to the forest floor with its mark looking up to the night sky. Kat silently fumed, wishing she could throttle Vik.

Should’ve never trusted a demon.

NSFW: yes

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