Her Soul to Take

Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux is a dark romance and paranormal romance novel. Laroux is known for their expertise in crafting dark romance and erotica. Originally published in 2021, this book is the first in the Souls Trilogy, a series that explores the supernatural through interconnected stories.

The novel’s point of view alternates between Leon, a demon with a deadly reputation, and Rae, a student attempting to make her paranormal channel go viral who stumbles upon a malevolent force. As they navigate a world filled with demons, cults, and ancient evils, the story develops themes of The Transformative Power of Love; Consensual Power Dynamics; and Survival, Autonomy, and Trust in a Dangerous World. Laroux’s narrative blends romance and suspense, immersing the reader in a world where moral boundaries blur and the stakes are life or death.

This guide refers to the Kindle edition, published by Kensington Books in 2020.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, sexual content, rape, graphic violence, substance use, death by suicide, and cursing. In particular, the text incorporates kink/fetish content, horror elements, nonconsensual drugging, and depictions of hard kink/edgeplay and consensual nonconsent.

Plot Summary

Leon is a demon in Abelaum, Washington. He has been magically imprisoned by a cult leader, Kent Hadleigh, and forced to do his bidding. Kent has the grimoire where Leon’s true name is written, which allows him to control Leon. Kent tells him that the Deep One—the god that Kent worships—is waking up. He instructs Leon to find the grave of a young man named Marcus Kynes (later revealed to be a descendant of a man whom the Deep One saved and thus a life “owed” to the god) and to bring the body to an old mine named White Pine. Leon brings Marcus’s body to Kent and his followers, and Kent has his son, Jeremiah, throw the sacrifice into the mineshaft where the Deep One resides.

Meanwhile, Raelynn “Rae” Lawson returns to her childhood home in Abelaum, where she plans to finish her last year of university. Rae visits her best friend, Inaya, at Inaya’s bookstore, and Inaya gives her an ancient, handwritten book with an image of a demon with gold eyes that catches Rae’s attention. Rae runs a paranormal vlog, and she worries that it is not popular enough to turn it into a career. Rae hopes to find paranormal activity in Abelaum, which has a history of ghosts and spooky occurrences.

When Rae goes to campus, she meets an attractive but cruel “security guard”: Leon. Inaya introduces her to Jeremiah and Victoria Hadleigh, Kent’s children, who are immediately extremely friendly and welcoming. Later, Leon finds Rae researching St. Thaddeus’s Church, and he tells her to stay away from it. Rae presses him for more information, and he makes a sexual comment. Though she is offended, when she is home alone, Rae fantasizes about Leon dominating her.

Rae goes to an art festival in town and meets Kent. She also meets Everly, who is Victoria’s half-sister from an affair that Kent had. At a bar, Rae sees Leon with his friend Zane (also a demon) and meets them outside in an alleyway. Leon tells her a safe word and brings her to orgasm in the alleyway while Zane keeps watch.

Zane tells Leon that he’s obsessed with Rae, but Leon disagrees. Kent calls for Leon but does not summon him. Kent, Jeremiah, Everly, and Kent’s wife, Meredith, are in their living room. Leon realizes that Kent does not have his grimoire, and when Kent tells him to bring Rae to him, Leon says no. Leon forces Kent to dismiss him.

Rae sees an Eld, a forest monster unleashed by the Old One, in the woods while she’s walking home, but she believes it is an art installation. Leon stops and picks her up. He tells her not to walk outside after dark and then drops her off at home. Instead, Rae decides to summon the demon from the grimoire at St. Thaddeus. She does not think it will work, but she wants content for her vlog. While she is performing the summoning, Leon appears in a wave of smoke. Rae believes that Leon is pranking her, and she’s angry with him, but Leon knows that the Eld will hunt Rae. Later, while she reviews the footage, Rae sees Leon’s demon form and understands that she did summon a demon: Leon.

Rae confronts Leon but will not give him the grimoire because it is her only control over him. When an Eld attacks Rae, Leon kills it and tells her that if she offers him her soul, he can better protect her. Rae refuses, though she and Leon do have sex. Leon also tells Rae to stay away from the Hadleighs, but Rae is skeptical. When she returns home, her cabin has been ransacked, and the grimoire is gone. Leon knows that Everly is responsible. An Eld snatches Rae’s cat, Cheesecake, but Leon saves Cheesecake and kills the Eld.

Leon continues to protect Rae from the Eld, even mounting three of their heads on stakes around her yard. When he is injured while protecting her from the Eld, Rae tends to his wound. Leon falls asleep on the couch, and she puts a binding circle around him to prevent him from leaving. Leon is furious about what she’s done, and when Rae learns of his long imprisonment, she is remorseful. Leon asks Rae for her soul, and though conflicted, she declines again. Leon leaves in the morning.

As Halloween approaches, Jeremiah and Victoria are always around Rae despite her attempts to keep her distance. Rae is plagued by nightmares about a mining accident that occurred in 1899: An ancestor of hers was one of three men who survived, saved by the Deep One, which is why she is a target for sacrifice. Rae feels as though she’s always being watched; Gollums, another kind of monster, appear and tell her that the Deep One is waiting for her.

Leon continues to protect Rae without her knowledge while also attempting to find Everly and the missing grimoire. The Eld are overactive, and hikers are going missing. Leon finds the coven where Everly (a witch) is staying and encounters the Archdemon who is protecting her: Callum. Everly gives Leon the page with his true name on it.

Inaya and Rae attend a Halloween party at the Hadleigh mansion. Rae intends to find a relic that might help protect her from the Deep One. While at the party, Jeremiah gives her a roofie-laced drink, and Juniper Kynes makes her throw it up. Leon arrives, and Rae and Leon search the basement where Leon was trapped. They find a magical dagger, which Rae takes. Kent is waiting for them with a gun when they exit the basement. He tells them that Rae is destined to be sacrificed, as is one of his own children. If three sacrifices are made, then the Deep One will show mercy on humanity. Kent allows them to leave.

They encounter a Gollum in the woods; it is nearly Leon’s match and injures him before he kills it. Leon takes Rae to a hotel. Leon pierces Rae’s nipples, consensually, as a way to “mark” her. Victoria calls the next day, sounding scared, and tells Rae that Kent is dead.

When Leon and Rae go to a grocery store, Jeremiah ambushes Rae. Leon fights him, but Jeremiah has given himself over to the Deep One, and his strength is the god’s. Jeremiah lets them leave, but when they return to the cabin, they find that he’s summoned the most formidable monster yet: a Reaper. Leon gives Rae the grimoire page with his name and fights the Reaper to give Rae time to escape. However, Rae is unwilling to leave Leon to die, so she returns for him. She finds Leon incapacitated and near death, and Rae is finally captured by Jeremiah because Leon is too injured to intervene.

Jeremiah carves symbols onto Rae’s chest before tossing her down the mine shaft. Inside, she can feel the Deep One and finds Victoria’s body. Rae carves Leon’s name onto herself and gives him her soul. When the Deep One finds her, the god cannot take her soul because she has given it to Leon. The Deep One tries to kill her, but she stabs it repeatedly and forces it to let her go.

The mine collapses, but Rae’s bond with Leon pulls her to safety. Leon is determined to kill Jeremiah and the Libiri (the Hadleighs’ cult) so that Rae can be safe, but Juniper Kynes and Zane have already killed Jeremiah and set the Hadleigh house on fire. Rae has many scars and marks after nearly dying, but she loves the scar of Leon’s name.