Demon Prince

By Laura Prior

The post apocalyptic world has been taken over by paranormal games and the competition for who reigns, is on.

In one corner of the globe, Belle and the valkyrie are competing for honor ad prestige, destroying hell beasts to restore peace in the new world.
While oblivious to the supernatural competition, Nate, a bounty hunter without equal is on a quest to capture the cold-hearted beauty.

While the world around them rages with war and intrigue, the bond between Belle and Nate burns out of control - but when the games turn deadly, will he turn her in, or keep her for himself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Prior
• Release date: Aug 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311409430

Laura Prior

Laura Prior lives in Melbourne Australia with her fiancé, two daughters and two dogs.

Book preview

Dedication

Many thanks to Sheree for scheming and plotting well into the night and to Kyle for the beautiful cover.

A huge thank you to all the readers of the Falling series, for following me over to the Immortal Soulmates—I hope you will delve into the erotic and passionate world of immortals with me.

Dedicated to my lovely Simon, my partner in love and life.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Violet eyes stared up at me, pleading.

Auntie Belle, tell me a story, the sweet voice wheedled. Please. I can’t sleep without one.

Shall I tell you about Snow White? I asked.

No. Her brow furrowed and she glared. Tell me a new story. One about valkyrie.

I grinned, amused at her ferocity. She would make a truly fearsome valkyrie when she was grown. No foe would ever be able to stand against her without trembling. As it was, this tiny six-year-old had most of us running when in a temper.

What story could I tell her that she hadn’t already heard? I settled more comfortably on the bed, leaning back against the mountain of pillows, my legs curled up under me.

Bea’s glare melted away and she cuddled into me, ready to listen.

The bed bounced, Verity and her brother Eli scampering up across the covers to snuggle in beside Bea. We want a story too, Verity pleaded.

Okay. I lay my head down on the pillow beside Bea’s and closed my eyes, willing all three to do the same. "Once upon a time there was a young human princess who lived in a land far away, in a world very different to this one. She lived with her brother, a great and terrible warlord; a man who terrorized the kingdoms surrounding his and made enemies of all who looked upon him. Wars raged on his lands, opposing kings sending their strongest warriors and largest armies to kill the tyrant and bring them his crown.

"One day, the princess was walking along the beach that surrounded one edge of the castle, enjoying a moment of stolen privacy and freedom, when war cries bellowed across the sands, the thud of armed soldiers running, shaking the very ground she stood on.

She fled, running for her life across the dunes, her eyes set on the caves at the edge of the ocean. There, she knew she could hide in the maze of tunnels until the battle had waned. She cursed herself for being a fool, for thinking that for one moment she could stand alone, unwatched along the shore, imagining being free. She knew what the attacking army would do to her if they caught her.

What would they do? Bea’s high-pitched voice broke my concentration. My eyes sprung open.

I shushed her. Close your eyes. When she did so, I continued. The opposing armies would seek to use her to gain access to the castle. They would expect the king to bargain for her life.

I gazed at Bea’s innocent face and shook my head slightly. Only, the princess knew the king would never give up his kingdom for her. He’d sooner kill her himself than risk his crown, and if he ever found out that she’d been beyond the castle walls he probably would anyway.

Did she reach the caves? Eli asked, his eyes wide open with fright.

Perhaps this wasn’t the best story to tell three preschoolers. I frowned. I have to finish it now.

She made it to the caves, I reassured him. "Close your eyes. No more questions. She ran past the first few openings until she found the cave she wanted. This one was deep, tunneling down far beneath the dunes twisting and turning. She reached a nook and sank down onto the cold sand, pulling her long skirts close around her body.

"She was there for hours. Often, she would hear screams and shouts close by and she would shrink down, praying no one would find her.

"Eventually the noise died down, her brother’s army wiping out the soldiers that had tried to invade. When she felt it was safe, she crept out, peering around the rocky alcoves, carefully leaving the relative safety of the caves to begin the journey back through the dunes, edging closer to where the forest met the sand. There, she would easily find her way back to the tunnel that led beneath the walls of the castle and no one would ever know she had left.

As she walked between the dunes, a soldier in black armor leapt out in front of her - a rebel soldier from the King’s own army. He swung his sword to take her head. A second soldier with a long, red cape jumped from a sand dune and knocked into the man in black, slamming him into the ground.

The princess killed them both though, right? Bea exclaimed, demonstrating a sword swing with her own plastic sword that she had kept tucked by her side.

I gave her a mock scowl and she immediately closed her eyes, pulling the sword up to her chest to cuddle it tightly.

A ferocious fight ensued, each soldier taking a beating from the other, blood running in rivets from the deep cuts they inflicted.

Aunty Belle, did the valkyrie run away? Eli gasped.

Bea turned to face him and glowered. "Valkyrie never run away."

He turned ashen and buried his face in the covers.

Bea’s correct, valkyrie do not run away, however—I glanced at her—"this was a princess, not a valkyrie. The soldier in the red cape finally cut down the man in black, thrusting his sword through his armored chest. The man in black fell to the sand, his sword kicked away. The soldier in the red cape turned and stared at the princess in confusion, wondering who she was, where she’d come from. As he stared at her, he began to smile, in awe of her beauty. She had long, dark brown hair that reached her hips, and she had eyes of the most brilliant blue. He held out one arm to her.

"The man in black knelt up and with his last drop of energy he thrust a dagger deep into the soldier’s thigh, right to the hilt, before keeling over, his life extinguished. The soldier dropped to his knees, excruciating pain radiating through his leg.

"The princess stood frozen in shock, her heart beating with a deafening, rhythmic thud in her ears. The beat grew loud, irregular, and with a start, she realized a contingency of horses was approaching. She couldn’t leave the soldier there to be killed, so she pulled him to his feet, draping his arm around her neck and wrapping her own around his waist. She forced him to hobble with her into the nearest cave until they were obscured from view. She left him there and ran back to the entrance, smoothing their footprints so that no one would follow them.

"She made it back inside just in time and placed her fingers over the soldier’s lips, silently telling him to stay still and quiet. He understood and pulled her in closely as the noise of the approaching horses grew louder.

"The soldiers didn’t stay long, only inspecting the body of their comrade before fleeing. The princess and the soldier stayed hidden until nightfall, whispering to each other, becoming friends. It appeared that two rulers had attacked her brother’s castle on the same day—the Emerald Queen from the far north, and King Leopold who held a bordering kingdom to the south. The soldier claimed to be King Leopold’s youngest son, Prince Nathanial, and though he offered the princess sanctuary among his people, she couldn’t abandon the people that depended on her, disappearing without a word.

"They hatched a plan to meet at every full moon, deep in the forest, and they parted ways with the promise that they would both wait there until just before dawn.

"Months passed, and every full moon the prince and princess snuck off together, becoming close friends and lovers. Eventually, Prince Nathanial persuaded her to escape her brother and hide among his people.

"The weeks passed by and the full moon arrived. The princess made her move, creeping through the tunnels beneath the castle until she was pushing open the trap door allowing her to escape into the forest. She had barely taken more than a step when her brother’s closest and most trusted warriors surrounded her. She knew they were there to kill her and that somehow her brother had found out that she had been sneaking out this way. She would die fighting.

"When the first one stepped forward to grab her shoulder, she spun away, slicing the tendons of his arm with her blade. She thrust it again, burying it deep into his heart.

"Excruciating pain roared through her body. She looked down, seeing the point of a sword shooting through her chest, blood gushing free. The princess collapsed, knowing that just a short distance away Prince Nathanial waited for her. He would never know why she didn’t come.

"As she lay dying, the world fading away, she saw faces all around her. Beautiful female warriors stared down at her, judging her and deeming her . . . worthy.

And so, another Valkyrie Shield Maiden was created.

What was the princess’s name? Bea whispered sleepily.

I turned my head, smiling at her, curled up, her eyes closed. I let my eyes trail over Eli and Verity as they slept soundly. I sighed and gently slipped out of the blue Frozen bed, padding softly to the bedroom door. I turned back. Her name was Isabelle.

Chapter 2

Yo, we heading out? Aoife chucked a dagger at me.

With lightning speed, I stepped aside, catching the blade in my left hand. I tucked it into the band at my boot. I’m ready when you are.

Aoife chuckled and gulped down a mouthful of Jack Daniels, wiping her forearm across her mouth. I’m always ready.

She leaped down the stairs, taking three at a time, while I followed at a more sedate place. I picked up my tool belt from the counter beside the door, clipped it around my waist and snatched the Jack from Aoife’s hands. I swallowed as I tipped, stopping only when Caleb, our leader of sorts, forcibly removed it.

A male valkyrie, Caleb was something of a rarity. There was only a handful of male valkyrie in the universe, compared to the hundreds of females. No one knew why; it was just the way it was. Thankfully, the continuation of the species was not dependent on those few males. A valkyrie could mate with any creature and still produce Valkyrie offspring—that was what happened when you were a superior being.

The valkyrie worshipped the god, Odin. A god of war and death, he provided us with the ferocious existence of demi-gods and goddesses and the luxurious afterlife of Valhalla. We were his shield maidens, his soldiers, and we harvested the souls and abilities of the brave and ferocious, containing their souls until they were needed.

After a recent battle our stocks were running low, so not only did we need to defend our lives and homes against the demons that had escaped from Hell, but we also needed to keep an eye out and an ear to the ground for any potential harvests.

Caleb stalked into the living room, where dozens of valkyrie stood to attention. Staring around the room was like looking at the aftermath of a rave. Every valkyrie present was astonishingly beautiful and unique. Piercings glittered, while every color hair imaginable was styled to perfection. Tattoos covered every inch of bare skin not covered by skimpy clothing and were obscured only by weapons strapped on. Some, like me, wore a dagger strapped to the outside of each thigh and a tool belt with an assortment of goodies, while some were more traditional with armor and swords sheathed at their waist. We valkyrie were fabulously ingenious at developing new technology and as such took advantage of the various gadgets that assisted us while hunting. Electronic stakes were attached to wrists, while nerve darts were loaded into guns, and wires that could transmit our self-made lightning bolts were wrapped around arms. The valkyrie were dangerous to cross.

Aoife and Belle will take the southern suburbs, Shmaz, Kathleen and Izzy will take the east. The rest remain here to protect our base, Caleb decreed, swigging on the bottle. He lifted it to salute us. Kill anything that moves.

A chorus of war cries rang out while emotion-fuelled lightning flashed outside, signaling the start of our hunt.

Aoife and I took the key to the white Audi TT Coupe Caleb had liberated during the recent apocalypse and roared out of the garage, screeching onto the road. The motorway was eerily empty, not a vehicle to be seen. When Lucifer had blasted his way through the realms, the humans had sensibly hidden themselves away, taking off to the countryside to see the battle out. The sky had turned red with Hell’s fury and even the demons had cowered beneath it.

The valkyrie had found themselves in an alliance with witches, lycan, werewolves, harpies and angels—the first alliance of its kind ever to be heard of. It hadn’t been without its difficulties. After all, the valkyrie played second fiddle to no one, but Caleb’s daughter led the alliance and valkyrie would never turn their backs on one of their own.

Only a small number of humans had returned to the city and the emergency services remained absent, making it the perfect demon hunting ground. Demons normally cowered away from crowds, preferring to snatch unsuspecting prey that wandered into their territory, but in the past few weeks we had found utter carnage in the cities. It was like a horror movie . . . or at least it would have been for normal people. For the valkyrie, tracking and destroying demons was a pleasurable past time.

We need to gut at least four tonight, Aoife said, turning her head to grin at me.

It was a shocking sight. Aoife had had her teeth filed into points, silver coating the tips. With her caramel skin and bleached Mohican, even the lycan had backed away from her. She loved it.

Four? I checked. Was that Coco?

Aoife grinned. Don’t you know it. She took down four in one go last night.

Each group in the alliance was doing their part in the clean-up post apocalypse, but for different reasons. The witches were a group of hippy tree huggers and wanted to ‘cleanse’ the earth. The lycan and harpies were seeking revenge. The werewolves had some sort of loyalty to Jasmine and were doing her a favor and the angels simply saw it as their duty.

The valkyrie were hunting the demons for sport. We didn’t need to prove ourselves to anyone, we certainly didn’t care two figs about the humans, and being the strongest of all supernatural creatures, we had no need to exact revenge. No, we had a wager between the valkyrie houses. To win, we needed to log the highest number of demon kills, proven with the retrieval of a fang. The penalty for the team with the least amount of kills was to work as servants for the winning team for six months. There were six teams—New Orleans, Moscow, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, London, and us, in Melbourne. A strict, no-nonsense valkyrie house in Peru would be overseeing the game. They weren’t in-it-to-win-it types, but had consented to supervise and tally the score.

We had an ongoing rivalry with the whore-bags in Moscow and they’d already gleefully announced on Facebook that the valkyrie in Melbourne would be outside cleaning the windows to their mansion naked every day for six months. It wasn’t that they were evil or anything, but if there was a house less inclined towards fun and revelry, it was theirs. They were malicious, vicious and predatory, living solely to insert their dominance over everyone else—their natures were stuck way back in the dark ages when the valkyrie ruled all. The rest of the teams, ourselves included, were more free-spirited, waifs of the new world, experiencing and enjoying everything there was to offer.

There was no way we were losing.

However, we were having trouble tracking the demons. They saw us and fled, and in a city like Melbourne there were a lot of good places to hide. Caleb split us into teams and sent us out into different areas, hoping to maximize our exposure. It seemed to be working; we had been at it for two weeks and so far had taken fifty-eight fangs. The most anyone had killed in one go was four, and that was when Coco had found a nest of vampires in St Kilda. Without knowing how many the other teams had scored, we were playing blind, but fifty-eight seemed like a good amount.

I checked the fastenings of my thigh dagger straps, tightening the left one a fraction. Tonight I want five.

Aoife grinned, her teeth glinting by the lights in the car. Six.

I tilted my head and laughed. Six it is. We fist bumped.

We drove onwards, passing signs for Windsor and headed straight for St Kilda. We followed the deserted motorway to St Kilda Road and pulled off to the foreshore. Passing a row of bars, Aoife turned the Audi down a side street just after, parking up beside an abandoned police car.

I slid out of the car, patting the hood goodbye. We’ll be back soon, I promised. I eyed Aoife. Caleb’s gonna kill us if anything happens to his car.

She shrugged. Bitch gotta do what a bitch gotta do.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah, you can tell him that when someone nicks the tires.

With my back to the car I marched purposefully down the graffitied alleyway, pausing beside a cracked window to a bar. I peered through, checking out the overturned tables and scattered glass. Nothing.

On we went to the next and the next after that. Where there was one vampire nest there would be another, and with a multitude of bars and apartments to hole up in, St Kilda was a good place to bet on.

We jogged across the road, passing looted shops and cafes, stopping outside the next building. Aoife rubbed on the glass, cupping the window to stare through.

Nothing, she grunted.

I tugged on the broken door handle, frowning when it refused to budge. I don’t think so, I whispered. I turned to Aoife with a grin. Why would every other shop, café and bar on this street be wide open, yet this one locked from the inside?

Aoife’s teeth glinted in the moonlight. She looked up, measuring the distance to the balcony above us. Pre-apocalypse this would have been a gorgeous place to sit and relax with a drink overlooking the beach. Now, all the signs hinted at it being a gorgeous vampire den, and really, who wouldn’t want to be holed up in a bar to see out the end of the world?

Following Aoife’s example, I took