“This friendship’s special. Just let me touch you and you’ll get that little zap that tells you how important it is for us to be friends.”
The darkness would like that all too much. Touching. I couldn’t start getting handsy like him. I couldn’t predict what would happen. What was it I felt when we touched? A wave of warmth rolled through me just remembering what it felt like… Well, I knew what it felt like, but that’s just weird.
Considering I hadn’t had any sex in the last year, I knew exactly what I felt. Though I hadn’t felt so much energy from a person since…Julius. Sex, magic, and mayhem all brewed when I was around him. He took me when I was young and pulled me into everything. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, my relationship with him—as dark as it had been—was what had shaped me into who I was now. Even though I wasn’t truly a part of the things that happened to me, the memories I’d received from those darkened days told me everything I participated in.
Thinking of who I might be now if I had stayed with him a bit longer, made me shudder.
A piercing cry rang above us. My eyes widened as dragons soared overhead. They were monstrous in size and had bat-like wings with a hint of red between the grooves of their scales. Except for the two white dragons in the mix, they were all the same shade of grayish black. “Beautiful,” I whispered in awe.
“Yeah, that they are,” Sebastian agreed. When I looked back at him, he was watching the creatures with adoration… Relief coursed through me. I was beginning to think there wasn’t anything this guy didn’t smile about. “They protect the entire woods when we’re not here to.”
I glanced around once more, taking in the huge gray castle in the distance. We seemed to be at the edge of a cliff. I looked back and saw a house. It looked to be made of a darkish gray stone, almost dull compared to all the vivid colors this strange place held. “This entire place is weird. A beautiful weird.”
“We all call it Grim’s Woods.” Sebastian gazed my way as he spoke. “He created this place himself. He sure doesn’t make it easy for his sons to outdo him.”
“Is this place in the Underworld?” I asked.
“No, it’s on the outskirts.” His hand trailed upward as he pointed in the distance. “My parent’s castle is just beyond those woods.”
I nodded, that I could believe. This place was so full of life and warmth. It couldn’t have been the Underworld.
“And I’m guessing this place is yours?” I pointed toward the house behind us and he nodded with another easy smile. We both just stood there in awkward silence before I asked another question. “So, what now?”
“I’ll show you inside, then you’ll tell me who it is that’s after you.” He turned around and started walking toward his home.
I paused at his words. He noticed my reluctance to go further and turned. “Maybe you’ll change your mind about helping me,” I made the time to say while he was staring at me.
“Maybe you’re delusional along with cagey,” he mused. A phone started going off in his jeans pocket and he pulled it out to answer. “I’m busy. No, I’m not sleeping. You do it, it’s not like there aren’t hundreds of other Reapers.” He hung up. “Come on, Izzie.”
I followed him through the doors. The place seemed a lot bigger once we were inside. It was obvious he was the only one that lived here. It lacked anything to make it a home. There weren’t pictures or any personality. Sebastian was full of personality, so I did find it amusing that everything was so bare, but I guess he was a male after all. There was a sofa and a TV. I also didn’t miss the gaming console and smirked. What kind of entity played video games? He was losing his bad boy appeal from when I first met him, then I remembered the way he moved so at ease earlier and how he dealt with me like it was easy, or the fact that he didn’t die when I touched him and said the silliest things… Yeah, maybe he did have a certain appeal to him.
I knew he was cunning. I’d lost every verbal battle I’d had with him.
Easy, Izzie, it sounds like you almost respect this guy.
My voice of reason was right. I had to be careful. All I needed was to get attached to another entity. The last one did enough damage, and I would always live with it.
“Sorry about the place. It’s just me here and I don’t stay home much.” He watched me walk around the living room, even following me into the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was a dream. Spacious and so much to work with, but something told me his fridge and cabinets were empty.
“Why not?” I asked, opening the fridge. I gasped. Every shelve was packed to capacity. Two gallons of milk, an entire chocolate cake to itself on one. Veggies and fruits at the top. Every sauce and condiment neatly lined in the door. “For someone that doesn’t stay home a lot, you sure have a lot of food.”
“It’s for my sister.” He laughed. “If she runs out of stuff to eat, she’ll come over here and eat. Actually, I think we all keep our houses stocked just because of her. She’s the only one out of us that cannot make food materialize at will.”
That was strange. How much could one person eat? I didn’t comment though. Not even about the fact that he could get random objects to materialize for him. Instead, I realized what I was doing. I went through his fridge and walked around his home like it was mine. If my parents instilled anything in me—with hard training—it was manners. Flushing with newfound demeanor, I closed the fridge quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to just barge in and—”
My words were lost when he propped himself against the counter, crossed his arms, and smirked at me like he was amused. “You’ll be staying here with me, so do whatever you want.”
His carefree attitude was slightly annoying. Everyone liked their privacy. I crossed my arms. “So, if I go into your bedroom and start snooping, you won’t care?” I tested him.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Go ahead, I don’t care.”
Huh. He really was happy-go-lucky, wasn’t he? “I wouldn’t do that,” I answered, feeling bad that I kept trying to rile him up. His easy behavior made me suspicious. When would the curtain drop? “I was just trying to get a reaction from you. Does nothing faze you?”
“Of course.” He was still smiling. “Why do you want to know what sets me off?”
“Just wanting to know what I’m dealing with,” I replied honestly. “I already have enough problems. I don’t want this to be another one by coming here with you.”
“You have your portal chip if I get bad, don’t you?” Him saying bad had me thinking of what he might consider bad, and if it might involve an exchange of bodily fluids and intertwined body parts. My thoughts brought the darkness raging to the surface. It knew Sebastian was right there, so, so close for the taking.
Twitchy fingers. Twitchy fingers.
Damn, it made sense for him to be a powerful entity. That was why my darkness wanted it so much. All that power…
“What are you doing?” he asked.
My hand was reaching out between us. I smacked it against the fridge and placed my other on my hip, gripping it painfully. “Bug.”
His forehead wrinkled. “There are no bugs here.”
I sniffed and looked him in the eyes then focused on the fridge. “Must have just been a speck.” I met his gaze again. If looks could devour, that’s what his was doing to me. What the hell was going on here? Why was there some kind magnetic pull between us? If I used my brain, I would have known not to come here. This was a disaster in the making. He wanted to touch, my darkness wanted to touch and take him, and, and, I was sure that I was going to eventually want him underneath me.
Probably wasn’t a good idea to be thinking of anything other than keeping myself away from Julius.
“Hmm.”
I stiffened. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“No, you said ‘hmm’. Hmm always means something.”
He grinned at me. “Does it now?” Ugh, he was so infuriating, and I didn’t even think he tried to be that way. “I’m a hundred and fifty-three ye
ars older than you, in case you're wondering.”
I was thirty-five… So that made him a hundred and eighty-eight? “I wasn’t curious. Why would I be?” He was old, yet he didn’t look a day over thirty which wasn’t a surprise since he was an entity. I didn’t look a day over twenty-one myself, but I had my witch and Asian heritages to thank for that.
“Since I knew your age, I shared mine,” he said simply. “Wanna know anything else?”
“What are you doing?”
“Getting to know each other. That’s what friends—”
“Don’t pretend our friendship isn’t anything but a ruse for you to get handsy. Your paws aren’t going anywhere near my skin, we don’t even know what’s happening.”
“I don’t have paws.”
“Sebastian…”
“See, we’re all ready to the point where you use my name in that scolding tone,” he pointed out. “I am meant to touch you.” The tone of his voice caught me off guard. I could only stare at him as I came to grips with the meaning behind the way he was looking at me.
“Sebastian,” another voice yelled behind me, and I spooked.
I turned around to see another huge figure that towered over my small frame. He carried two weapons against his back. His dark eyes slanted as he met Sebastian’s easy-going ones. His look was intimating and strikingly handsome while Sebastian’s was like the ocean during the moments it was calm—sensual and breathtaking all at once.
“Let’s go,” the figure said. His gaze crossed over me before doing a double-take, the rapid blinks and all that went with someone overlooking, then finally noticing my small presence. “I didn’t know you had a guest. If I had known—”
“You would have still said, ‘back to work’.” Sebastian interrupted him.
“I would have given you a little longer.” The man smirked. “Like you have the stamina to last long, anyway.”
This other Reaper had the wrong idea if the heat I felt across my face was any indication. He thought I was his booty call. I looked to Sebastian trying not to burst into a fit of laughter, and for once, he seemed a little ruffled as he took in my grin. “I have no problem with my endurance.”
“If you say so, Sloth,” the other Reaper was still grinning, and Sebastian looked two seconds from losing it. “Your problem is more along the lines of ‘not falling asleep during’.”
And Sloth? Falling asleep during… Sex? Was that possible? Or was my mind in the gutter when it was supposed to be somewhere else?
My eyes roamed over Sebastian. “Sloth?” Now I was curious.
“Coming from Mr. Work and No Play,” Sebastian muttered, then his eyes fell on me once more. “Ignore Payne, he’s normally got a stick up his ass unless it comes to ruffling me or one of my brother’s feathers.”
Payne laughed, and I turned around and smiled. “I’m—”
“Isabella Wen.” Payne finished for me.
I gasped, staring back and forth between them. “Can all Reapers peek inside your mind and pull out information like that?” It was a little unsettling.
“It’s not your mind we’re pulling from,” Payne answered. “It’s like a databank we get inside our head once we’re bestowed Reaper power.”
“Bestowed?” I gave him a strange look.
“Yeah, no one’s born a Reaper unless your last name is Reaper. Grim or Melanie bestow it on demons they deem worthy or those that wish to be one.”
“Well, huh? You can be one just like that?”
“Why, you interested in becoming one?” Payne teased.
“Don’t do it,” Sebastian warned. “He seems pleasant now but try working with him. Besides, there’s no such thing as a day off as a Reaper.”
“Well, the dead don’t live,” Payne hummed.
“And evil doesn’t go away by itself,” Sebastian added.
“You must live in the human world,” Payne said to me.
I nodded softly. “Uh, yeah, I guess. I’ve been living there for the last decade, but it’s strange, I’ve been working at a hospital for almost a year and I’ve never encountered a Reaper until Sebastian.” Because it was a small town, I wondered?
“That is,” Payne agreed. “I’ve camped out at one when so many deaths were lined up that same day.”
“Enough about Reaper business,” said Sebastian in a bored tone.
Payne sighed. “Look, we all have something to do. I need you to check it out while the rest of us are busy checking out the other places we’ve found.”
“About that…” Sebastian moved from the counter. “Izzie might know something about the imps.”
I gave up on him calling me Izzie. Instead, I wished he didn’t drag me into whatever business they were getting into. “I don’t know anything about any imp behavior.”
Sebastian smiled. “Yeah, but you know who’s on the other end, right?”
I bit my lip nervously. “Possibly,” I admitted. “But if you guys are dealing with the same one I’m running from, then you might need to sit down for this.”
Sebastian’s smile waned, and Payne’s hardened. “This demon can’t be too bad. Believe me, we deal with the ugly side of the Underworld all the time,” Payne told me.
I took a deep breath and met their hard stares. “That’s the thing. He’s not a demon, and he’s been planning something for a very long time.” I looked at Sebastian. “He’s dangerous, I mean, you don’t even know… and he’s immortal, and… He’s an entity just like you.”
Seven
Sebastian
Making light of what could possibly be a very big problem, I looked to Payne and taunted him. “Is your dad trying to gain more power again?”
Payne swore. “Could you not? This isn’t a joke.” He ran his hand through his hair and glared at me. Ah, I somehow felt better now. He had to go and bring up the whole falling asleep during sex…if only it weren’t true. It’d happened before one time, and I had made it up to her once I woke…two weeks later. “Besides, that wasn’t him. He wasn’t Fear yet.”
“Wait, your dad’s an entity too?” Izzie gasped. “So you’re one too?”
Payne shook his head. “I’m not.” His parents found him when he was a newborn, and it was because of that he had the pleasure of growing up with us. “The only two entities that it can be are either Harvest or Jackal, which one?” he asked her.
Unlike my parents, entities created by God, Payne’s dad was one of the Devil’s creation. Fear along with Harvest and Jackal belonged to him. Me and my siblings were the only ones inheriting the designation by it being passed down. All of us were immortal, never aging or dying. Each one of us had our own capabilities too. Unfortunately, none of us knew anything about Jackal or Harvest—not what they looked like, their gender, or were they simply monsters. Our parents told us stories about the trouble Fear caused before he merged with Ryan, Mom’s best friend. The entity unleashed demons on the town and was obsessed with wanting more power—including gaining my mom’s power. But he failed and found redemption when he merged. Yep. The Underworld was a fun place.
If we were dealing with an entity, it could be a problem. Dad spoke of the body counts he’d find killed by Jackal long before he even met Mom, and Harvest was no different. He’d yet to see either of them, but he’d spent many moons cleaning up after them.
“He always wanted me to call him Julius,” she whispered. “Only demons call him Harvest.” She exuded fear as she spoke of him. “… It seems he’s finally making his move,” she whispered.
“Move?” I asked. “Do you know what he’s planning?”
She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. Her spitfire personality was dimmed now, replaced with a haunted grimace. “He’s obsessed with being a king.” She shook her head. “No, he believes he is one.”
Payne snorted. “Well, he fits right in down in the Underworld. Most demons believe themselves to be lords or kings—some are, by species if you wanna be precise.”
She sighed. “You don’t understand. He
doesn’t imagine small. He doesn’t want to be terrifying the way Fear is, or known like the Grim Reaper, or the alpha of a pack, or a leader of a cult—he wants to rule.” She never took her eyes from Payne’s as she spoke to him. “He wants the Underworld, then more.”
We were both quiet as we processed her words before we burst out into laughter. “He wants to rule?” I said in a childish voice.
“Wants to take his creator’s world and make it his own?” Payne piped in still laughing.
Izzie face turned apple red as she huffed and puffed. “Don’t take him lightly. He’s so much worse than you could possibly imagine! He’d make even the Devil look nice in comparison.”
I stopped laughing and straightened up. “You’re afraid of him.”
She scowled. “I’ve been running for a reason…” She dropped her arms and gripped her hands, flexing them in and out, before opening her palms and studying them. “You wouldn’t understand.” I didn’t, but I wanted to.
“Let him try to do whatever he wants with the Devil,” Payne interrupted. “I’m sure he won’t get far. Even for an entity, the Devil is still the Devil and his very creator. He reigns over the dark. He ain’t about to let it be stolen.”
“But… If he’s the one killing the children,” I muttered darkly.
Payne cracked his knuckles. “He’s gonna wish he could die.”
“Children?” Izzie’s face slipped into a horrific shock.
The alarms went off on both Payne and mine phones. We glanced at each other. It was Grim. “Think he’s got something already?” Payne asked.
I sighed. “He is the Grim Reaper after all.”
Payne looked down at his phone oddly. “You go see him. I’ll check the places we’ve found.” And then he smacked his hand over his pants pocket where he kept the portal chip and ported from the kitchen.
I slipped my phone in my back pocket and looked up. “So, Izzie,” I tilted my head at her. “You never told me how you know Harvest…I mean Julius.”
“You act like we haven’t just met.” She rolled her eyes. “You want me to go into detail about my past after a couple hours of knowing you?”
Bewitching Sloth Page 5
