Bewitching Sloth

by Gross, Michelle

  “I warned him not to touch me.” Sounding as if I were on auto-pilot, my feet slowly began to move toward them.

  Maureen had a question in her eyes as she stood and focused on me. “What do you think you’re doing?” She materialized a weapon in her hand and aimed it at me.

  Touch and take, touch, take. So much power from both of them. I want it. I want it—

  “Izzie,” Sebastian’s frantic voice gave me pause. He had faded in the room a few feet in front of me. My eyes leveled on his and he took in everyone in the room after briefly meeting my eyes. “Did he touch you?” he asked me as he hurried over to his brother and bent down. “Put down the weapon, Maureen. She probably warned him not to touch her, didn’t she?” Maureen glanced at him and frowned before her weapon disappeared and she moved toward the back of the room where her brothers were.

  “What did she do to him?” Sofia cried, scooting away as she watched me.

  I began walking toward them again, the darkness heavy on my heart and mind.

  “I think she stole some of his power.” Sebastian checked on his brother. “He’ll be okay. He’s already coming around. See?”

  Maureen nodded. “I do.” She sighed. “We’re entities, we bounce back quickly, remember?”

  Sebastian smirked at her, then his eyes widened as he noticed me bending down next to them, my hand stretched out for August. “Izzie, what are you doing?” he whispered.

  “Don’t let her touch him again!” Maureen hissed.

  “Touch, touch, take,” I mumbled.

  “Whoa, hold up, witch,” Sebastian was speaking. I heard everything, and their conversation made sense, but I couldn’t stop myself. The darkness reigned over me. “I’m going to grab your hand, okay?”

  “Don’t!” Maureen yelled. “What the hell is she trying to do to him?”

  He clasped his hand over mine and heat bloomed in my stomach. Instead of reaching for August, I turned and sought out more of Sebastian. He slid his fingers between mine and someone made a noise. No, not someone. Me. I moaned, leaning toward him as my body drained itself of August’s power. I sagged against him, hating how turned on these encounters with him always were, but at the same time, I needed more friction between us. I just needed more of him, more than this small amount. My free hand found his chest, and it rose and fell against my palm in big, heavy pants. I gazed up at him and saw unshielded lust.

  “What in the world is going on between you two?” someone said.

  “Look! Something’s passing between them!”

  Sebastian grabbed a fistful of my hair and whispered, “You’re mine,” in a way that was unlike him, but I couldn’t pretend to know someone I just met. I didn’t care regardless, and neither did he. He faded, taking me with him. He parted our fingers and slid his hand down my arm, and the darkness, the darkness was at the mercy of this Reaper because the only thing it thought to do was hum in desire.

  “What’s happening?” I panted and by the time the words were out of my mouth, we were back at his place.

  He was burning up against my skin or maybe it was vice versa. I dropped my gaze and licked my lips when I saw the huge-ass erection trapped in his jeans. He’d better eat me alive until I passed out. This with Sebastian was dangerous because he did something to the darkness in a way that was almost similar to Julius, and my body… Julius had been hypnotic, he had a pull, but this was… just me and Sebastian and how my body responded to his touch. It wasn’t control. It was simply unbelievable lust ignited by our touch and most likely the darkness.

  I wouldn’t regret giving my body over to this Reaper.

  “You know what’s happening,” his voice was raspy. He slid a finger up my shirt, then moved his other hand to join, ripping my shirt in the middle. His blue eyes blackened like a demon’s did seconds from preying on their victim. The thin black bra I wore did little to hide myself from those devouring eyes. “I want to see everything.” He bent down, yanking at my jeans. “Take these fucking pants off,” he snapped, and my stomach dipped into lava when he did.

  “Don’t let me hurt you,” I whispered as he tore me out of my jeans. I pulled him up and wrapped my arms around his neck. Black eyes held me captive, but I didn’t care. More like, I wanted to be captured.

  He blinked, blinked, then pulled away from me some. “Wait, Izzie,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  I frowned.

  “Shit,” he groaned, opened his eyes—they were once again blue—and looked at me. Just like that, they filled with lust at the sight of me. “I think you transferred what power you took from August to me.” He looked as if he were trying to regain a part of himself while I was falling deeper into our touches and had no plans on coming up for air.

  “Why?” That wasn’t possible…

  “Because I can feel it,” his eyes darkened over me. “His sin.”

  “His sin?” My frown deepened.

  “Yeah… I’m feeling really fucking greedy right now,” he murmured, pulling me into him and tracing the edge of my ear with his teeth. I moaned and gripped his arms. “It’s making me take something I have no business taking.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You,” he answered then while holding the nape of my neck possessively, he branded his lips on mine. My legs gave out, but he caught me. Maybe he was right because I felt so weak in the most delicious way. I dangled in his arms as he pulled away from my mouth. “Tell me to stop or you’re mine for tonight.”

  “Kiss me,” I rasped instead.

  My panties and bras disappeared as his massive body loomed over mine. He didn’t hide the fact that he was staring down at my nakedness. I didn’t know what kind of power Sebastian wielded, but I wasn’t about to complain that he used it to take the rest of my clothes off. “Stand on your tiptoes, witch, and kiss me yourself.” I didn’t have to be told twice, I did as he said and threaded my fingers through his hair as I brought his lips down on mine. He groaned as he delved his tongue into my mouth. I raked my teeth across his bottom lip and he scooped me up in his arms.

  “Does your darkness like me, Izzie?” I nodded my answer. “What about you?” he asked. I remained silent as he stepped into his room. “I’ll have to remedy that.” He placed me on his bed then climbed over me. My body was weak and overflowing with so much pleasure. The longer we touched, the more intense it felt. “If you let me have you for tonight, I might want to keep you.”

  “Or…” I whispered, sliding my hand up his cheek. “If you’re right about me giving you your brother’s sin then once it wears off, you’ll most likely regret this.”

  He placed his mouth next to my ear. “That’s the thing about it,” he whispered. “It only made me greedy for one thing.”

  “What’s that?” I shivered.

  “Your touch.” He cupped one of my breasts, squeezed almost painfully before pinching my nipple. I arched into his touch.

  “You have it,” I moaned.

  “Not enough.” His hand slid down my stomach and cupped my sex. “I won’t be satisfied until I’ve touched you inside and out—maybe even then, it won’t be enough.” He leaned up, staring into my eyes. “I might need you to bare your very soul to me.”

  “You ask a lot from someone you only just met.” I gasped as he slid a finger between my folds.

  “I give as much as I take,” were the words he gave me before plunging a finger into me. His thumb teased and rubbed my clit as he stared down at me, working me into a frenzy with his finger.

  “Sebastian,” I gritted out through heavy breathing. I reached up and pulled at his shirt. He knew exactly what I wanted because he got rid of every stitch of clothing he had on. Swallowing hard, I drank in his impressive build. My eyes closed as my legs spread and ass squirmed around as he felt me up with a single finger.

  With his other hand, Sebastian slid his index finger across the valley of my breasts and I felt the traces of the darkness follow after his touch. “Tell me you don’t feel what I feel when I’m touching you?”
he asked.

  “Which finger are we talking about?” I grinned despite the burning desire coursing through me. “The one sliding down my chest or the one inside me?”

  He smiled as he took his hand from my chest and placed it underneath me, then he lifted me up and positioned me on his lap so that I straddled him. He removed his hand from between my legs and I sucked in a shaky breath as he purposely rubbed his erection against my own needy flesh. We were naked, and his bedroom was completely lit. He saw every part of me while I saw all of him. Only it was in that moment that I let my gaze drift down between us to see what I so desperately wanted.

  Of course, his cock was as beautiful as him. It was also intimidating as hell since I hadn’t slept with anyone in the last year. I reached down and gripped him roughly in my hands. He groaned, and I grew slicker. His skin was velvety soft but hard as steel with his desire for me. I lifted my gaze and met his. Something flashed in his eyes, or more accurately they hollowed out. Barely. But I saw it. His skin rippled and seemed to move underneath my touch before he grabbed a handful of my hair and tilted my head back.

  He claimed my mouth the way I wanted him to—rough and thorough. In his arms, I was lax as he probed his tongue deep into my mouth. It had me picturing how his cock would feel in my mouth instead. I had no energy, but I felt everything. Everywhere we touched, he took more of me. Every second I let it continue, the darkness crawled over my skin and chased his touch as if he was its darkest salvation.

  Further sagging against him, I whimpered and panted to the rhythm of the way he mapped my body with his hands. He left my mouth briefly and kissed a trail down my neck before he found his way back and devoured my lips once again.

  “You’re like a fucking noodle in my hand,” he whispered into my mouth. I tasted his hot minty breath and wanted more. “Does my touch make you that mindless?” Breathing over my ear, he nuzzled my neck in a way that bordered possessive more than sweet. He gripped my waist, lifted, positioned, then forced me to raise my head. When our eyes met, he plunged every solid inch of himself inside me. And there was so much of him. Too much.

  I cried, arching my body and letting my head fall back as the orgasm slammed into me. I shook and shook as the pleasure racked my body and pulsed around him. He never moved inside me until I stopped twitching above him. Then when he did move, he controlled it all by gripping my waist and pumping himself in and out of me, all the while, touching and nuzzling me in a way that strangers didn’t do.

  My pleasure soon became my pain though, his touch kept bringing the darkness further to the surface and when it finally reached my skin, I opened my eyes and started screaming. I covered the parts that were in pain. “What’s wrong?” he asked, then he began to move off the bed, taking me with him. “It’s the light, isn’t it?”

  I leaned my face into his chest and nodded as he hauled ass to the light switch and flipped the light off. The darkness settled immediately, and I sighed. He held me effortlessly in his arms as his erection twitched inside me. He kissed my collarbone as he pressed me against the wall and made sure my legs were securely around his waist before he grabbed both of my wrists and lifted my hands above my head against the wall.

  “What?” I mumbled, once again getting lost within his touches. “You still want to?”

  “Does it feel like I want to leave your body?” He ground into me to prove his point. “This is where I want to fucking stay.” I whimpered at his words, and he pressed his nose into mine. “Are you still in pain?” he asked me. I shook my head causing my nose to continuously bump his. It felt oddly affectionate. “Good.”

  He pushed in deeper and when I gasped, he took that as an invitation to bite along my neck as he picked up his pace and hammered into me. “Oh, God,” I whispered.

  “Just let go, I got you.” And he did have me. I let go once again to the incredible sensation our bodies created when we were together. “That’s it,” he encouraged me, and the sound of his deep, throaty voice heightened my pleasure further. This time, I knew I took him with me. He groaned, and I felt him swell as my body brought him down with me. I was already nodding off to sleep as he thrust one last time and burrowed his face into my neck.

  Twelve

  Sebastian

  It was against the wall where I held Isabella in my arms, her head nodding once, twice until she succumbed to the lure of sleep and her head landed on my chest, her warmth still tight around my cock, that I felt the sin of greed fade away.

  “Izzie.” I lifted her face up by the chin which only had her head bobbing in another direction. Tucking her against my chest, I pulled out of her regretfully and moved away from the wall, gently placing her on my bed. My eyes lingered on her exposed flesh. The room was dark, but I never needed light to see. She was mesmerizing. I saw the remnants of what we had just done glisten against her inner thighs. I didn’t have to worry about getting her pregnant. As an entity, I could control even that. I should clean her up, but I wouldn’t. I wanted her to wake up and remember exactly what went on between us.

  Maybe August’s sin wasn’t completely worn off after all.

  I covered my mouth with my hand as I recalled the possessive, uncontrollable urge to take what I wanted after touching Izzie. There was no other explanation. Somehow, she had given me what she had stolen from August. And that was the thing, I had only a small portion of his curse and it had been impossible to ignore my want for her.

  Don’t get me wrong, I had planned to work my way into Izzie’s body all along, but not like this. I had planned to come onto her a little stronger every hour she was around me, so who knew, maybe I would have worked her into a frenzy anyway without my dick of a brother getting the sin sucked out of him.

  Did I regret it? Fuck no.

  The only reason I wasn’t still inside her was that she passed out on me, and there was that thing about needing to go check on August.

  Covering her up with a blanket, I sat down on the bed and ran my thumb down her cheek. “What have you done to us?” I asked. Her sleeping like this sent a chill down my spine. What if she had taken too much from me? I didn’t know what happened when we touched. I felt incredible. I felt like I could go the next year without sleeping, but what if what was good for me, was bad for her?

  I moved my thumb quickly and stood. I didn’t want to leave her alone, but now that I wasn’t succumbing to this crazy thing between us, I had to go check on August who I left in pain because I had a taste of what his sin was like.

  The asshole was perfectly okay, that I could guarantee, but it didn’t change the fact that I needed to go check on him. He was just asking for trouble when he took her, but for a short while, I realized that he couldn’t control his impulses. That was his curse.

  Before I left though, I walked outside and called Ruby and River to the house. The twin white dragons were awake and flying close by so it didn’t take but a second for them to drop down next to me. That way, I’d feel more comfortable leaving her.

  _______

  August was nursing what looked to be whiskey in a glass when I faded into his room that he used for his other job. When he wasn’t being a Reaper, he was busy running what businesses he owned in the Underworld and scheming people out of their money and women. It made me exhausted just thinking about the chaotic way he lived.

  “She is most certainly not my cure,” he grumbled as I crossed my arms.

  Maureen was still here as well, most likely to make sure he was fine before she left him. She rolled a couple of dice around in her hand as she frowned at me. “That wasn’t anything normal about what just happened. I’ve never seen a witch with that kind of power.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. “It’s not,” I told her. “Harvest messed with her somehow, changed her touch into something deadly to any demon.”

  Maureen threw the dice down on the table and swore. “Bringing Harvest up yesterday had everything to do with that witch and nothing to do with all the kids still missing.”

  “No,
call it a hunch or whatever but I believe Harvest is the one behind what’s going on.”

  Maureen shook her head at me and I ground my teeth. “We can’t just accuse an entity such as Harvest because you're infatuated with this witch’s touch. What was that earlier? Something was weird between you guys. It was fucking creepy almost like you two were swapping souls.”

  I rubbed my chest and thought about what she said. Hell, maybe she was right. Who knew what was going on between us?

  “I don’t even know how to explain what she makes me feel…” I trailed off. “I just know I was meant to run into her at the hospital. Don’t you see? It’s not a coincidence that she’s being chased by imps.”

  “Exactly.” August cracked his neck and stood from his chair. “How do you know this witch isn’t a part of what’s going on? Perhaps she’s the witch we’re looking for instead of… What was her name again?”

  I sighed. “Not everyone’s a crook like you, August.” There was a pause. “I trust her.” Backing up a step, I turned away from them both. “And Harvest isn’t getting anywhere near her again no matter if he’s the one behind this with the kids or not.”

  “Sebastian,” Maureen called after me.

  “Don’t go playing hero,” August added.

  “Isn’t that what the good guys do?” I asked them both.

  I found my way back to Izzie where she peacefully slept. There was no way I’d sleep, not with all this energy. I was tempted to try to wake her but decided on watching her instead.

  “What have you done to me?” I whispered. Only she didn’t hear me. Not that she’d know either. She was caught up in the whirlwind just as I was. Only I wanted it to keep spinning. I feared my little energizer might wake up and want it to stop.

  Too bad for her I was a persistent pain in the ass.

  Thirteen

  Isabella

  “All you have to do is breathe in the darkness, pour out the light. You feel that warmth you cling to? Get rid of it. I don’t need your goodness. I want the corrupt part of you.”