Fashionably Dead Down Under (Hot Damned Series, Book 2)

by Robyn Peterman

  “Ah yes, compassion… that pesky little habit.” He smiled and then turned to go.

  “Will what she did affect her claim to the throne?” I asked

  He paused and turned back. “No. Her behavior tonight will have no bearing on whether or not she succeeds me.”

  “Will having a son affect it?”

  “Possibly.” He nodded. “But probably not. In the end–and mind you, the end is many thousands of years away—it will not be up to me who shall succeed me.”

  “Who will choose?” He was a ball of cryptic and I expected no answer.

  “You, Astrid. You will choose.”

  With that, he disappeared in a cloud of black glitter and smoke. I fell back into Ethan’s arms and sucked in a huge breath.

  “I didn’t want to know that,” I whispered and bent over at the waist so I didn’t hyperventilate. “I’m going to stop asking questions.”

  “Quite honestly,” Ethan replied, as shocked as I was. “I think that’s a fine idea.”

  I was right back where I started when I arrived in Hell. The same room with the same predictably cheesy black silk sheets—only this time I knew exactly where I was, the walls were silent and I was with the man I loved.

  “Ethan I… ”

  “Astrid, stop. The answer is I don’t know. The only good thing to come out of that conversation is the very likely fact that you will be around thousands of years from now. Everything else was alarming to put it mildly.”

  “I don’t want that job,” I whispered as I tried to pull the thigh high boots off my tired legs.

  “Let me help,” he said and unzipped my dress.

  “What about my boots?” I whined as he slipped my dress over my head and tossed it on the floor.

  “You’re going to leave those on.”

  “I am?”

  “You are.”

  Tilting my head to the side and batting my lashes, I feigned a huge yawn. “It will be awfully uncomfortable sleeping in stiletto boots.”

  “You won’t be sleeping,” he said and removed his coat and dress shirt. Ignoring me, he stripped off the rest of his clothing. My mouth went dry and my lady parts began to sing. The hard planes and edges of his body made me dizzy. A crooked half grin pulled at his lips. My breath caught in my throat and I grabbed the bedpost for balance. I smiled and began to back away from him. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Angel. A game you won’t win.”

  “Who says I want to win?” I continued to move farther away and he continued to stalk me. I was in danger of my knees buckling from sheer excitement and the look in his eyes. His erection lay flat on his stomach and his body was a perfect male sculpture come to life. He was the predator and I was his prey. A shimmer of panic and lust settled in my loins and I wet my lips with my tongue. His eyes darted to the movement and I realized the predator could be distracted…

  Putting more distance between us, I ran my hands over my breasts and pinched my achingly hard nipples. My breasts had become tender with pregnancy and even more sensitive to touch. I hissed out a sound of pleasure and watched his eyes dilate and burn a beautiful green. He was no longer playing a game… it had turned serious. I stared at the lines of his sleek naked body and my heart bounced around in my chest. His muscled torso and biceps were the things dreams were made of. Someone as beautiful as he was should not exist.

  He’d backed me into a corner, but that was as much my plan as his. I pressed my back to the cool wall and waited. I wanted him to take me and make me forget where I was, what I had to do and who I was supposed to be. I closed my eyes and inhaled his scent.

  The feathering of light kisses across my belly startled me. I opened my eyes to find him on his knees worshiping the tiny bulge of my belly. His lips were warm and gentle and my throat constricted with emotion. Neither one of us had truly had time to bask in the miracle we had created. My eyes pooled with tears and I realized I was no less aroused, but I was far more deeply affected than I ever had been.

  “Come with me.” He took my hand and led me to the bed. I suddenly felt shy. Without a word he slid the boots down my legs and they dropped to the floor by my dress. His lips and teeth tickled my ankles and his hands massaged each part of my body till we were face to face. With his tongue, he teased the seam of my lips and I opened to him willingly. His taste was addictive and his large body covering mine made me feel safe.

  He ran his open mouth along my jaw to my ear and I gasped in delight as his fang pierced the lobe. “You are my miracle,” he whispered. “I have waited my entire lifetime for you.”

  His voice rumbled in my mind, sending little shockwaves of the purest pleasure I’d known. Wrapping my arms around him, I held tight to his body. The pressure in my chest verged on pain and I buried my face in his neck.

  “What’s wrong, my love?” he asked as he took my face in his hands and searched my eyes.

  The simplicity of the moment was harder to deal with than if we’d been wildly out of control and all over each other. I had never been loved like this—so completely. Never been loved by someone who knew my weaknesses and didn’t care. Someone whose strength matched my own and someone whose wisdom should have found me lacking, but didn’t.

  I traced his lips, nose and high sculpted cheekbones with my finger and I was free. I didn’t need the love of a mother or a father. The love of a child would only be an added bonus to the overwhelming feelings I had for the man who lay atop me.

  He shifted his weight to his elbows, but still covered me like a blanket. With his lips, he followed my tears from my eyes to my jawbone to my neck. My inside weren’t big enough to contain everything I was feeling and I thought I might explode.

  “Ethan, I… ” Words were inadequate. I wrapped my legs around his waist and arched to meet him. I needed to show him with my body things that words simply couldn’t convey.

  As his body joined with mine, I gasped and cried out. The slow pace was more erotic and frightening than the wild coupling we were more accustomed to. Our eyes locked and our bodies moved in a rhythm that was age old but perfectly new. My body contracted and tightened around his. We merged and became one sexual and spiritual entity. Two bodies—one heart.

  “I can’t get close enough,” I murmured as the pace of our lovemaking increased. The intensity burned and my legs clamped tighter around him as my fingers tangled in his hair.

  “Don’t close your eyes,” he whispered. “Watch what you do to me. Watch what I feel for you.”

  My tears made him blurry, but the magnitude of what he felt could be seen without vision. It was in his magic, in the strength of his possession—in his essence.

  We surged closer to crawling inside of each other than we ever had. He put his weight on one hand and skimmed my face, my breasts and hip with his other. He slid in and out and I raised my hips to meet his thrusts as the pressure built. His mouth came down on mine, hard and possessive. I bit at his lips as his body grew larger within me. The slow gentle lovemaking was over, but the ferociousness of our love and desire remained.

  His inhuman beauty and strength sent my core into liquid meltdown and I writhed beneath him, unable to think or hold any part of myself back. His eyes never left mine and I struggled to keep mine open. The vulnerability was terrifying and raw. My insides danced and contracted around his girth and the sounds he made went straight to my most engorged and sensitive spots, unleashing a wild woman inside me that I gave to him freely—willingly and with every inch of my being.

  I screamed as the orgasm hit. My eyes stayed open and I watch the explosion of pleasure rip across his beautiful features. With his fangs bared and his eyes hooded he came as hard as I did. I was more frightened and more satisfied that I’d even known I could be. The aftershocks of my climax continued to wrack my body as his mouth descended to my neck. My exhausted body reawoke as his fangs grazed the soft skin. The aftershocks turned into the feeling of a massive orgasm about to burst.

  “I’m not sure I can… ”

  “You
can,” he muttered into my neck gruffly. “You will. I will take you there.”

  He grew rigid inside me and all of my nerve endings jumped to attention with need. My fangs dropped and we bit each other at the same time. I was sure this would end me. The sheer passion that tore through me was more extreme and acute than I’d experienced. Colors ripped across my vision and I cried out against his neck. The frenzied exchange of blood, lust and pure love sent me to heights that would have destroyed a mortal.

  As I floated down I heard his chuckle of pure masculine satisfaction and it made me smile.

  I was so fucking glad I was already dead… because that would have killed me for sure.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Holy shit, Carl had the hairiest back I’d ever seen.

  “It looks like a fur rug,” I whispered to Ethan.

  “I’d have to agree,” he muttered as he led us to seats beside the mats.

  The fight exhibition was in full swing before we’d arrived. Our tardiness was due to a quickie meeting with the General who promised to get my Baby Demons and bring them back to the palace. I was concerned about them… actually that was inaccurate. I was more concerned for the Demons they might come across. I had no desire to be prosecuted because they munched on the wrong person.

  The fight training room was impressive, although seriously over the top. I should have expected no less, but the gross show of wealth constantly surprised me. Padded bleachers with backrests lined both sides of the huge room. Padding was an understatement—the seats were covered in buttery-soft caramel leather. And from the thirty foot ceiling hung four exquisite crystal drop chandeliers.

  Satan had yet to arrive, but the demonstrations had already begun. Carl’s preparation for the next fight was doing his left and right leg splits… Janet and Myrtle stood by him and growled at anyone who dared to poke fun at Carl’s unusual warm up. He wore a tight, fitted yellow wrestling suit that should have been burned in the eighties and, of course, the hair blanket on his back.

  I poked Ethan. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “He seems to be fine with himself,” Ethan observed. “If he’s smart he’ll use it to his advantage.”

  “How in the world can a hairy back be an advantage?” I asked as I wracked my brain.

  “Well, he could wear a cape and then reveal it at the last second, alarming his opponent and getting the upper hand. Or he could slick it back with a conditioner or gel so it would be impossible to take him from behind due to the slippage factor.”

  “That’s either brilliant or just really weird,” I muttered, trying to figure out if he was screwing with me. I looked around the room and got a wonky feeling. “Ethan… um, I think we were set up.”

  “I quite agree.”

  Everyone in the room was dressed casually, but not us. We were dressed in the workout clothing that had been delivered to our suite by a very timid Demon named Norm. Did my uncle expect us to fight? He was in for a surprise. I had no desire to fight unless it was life or death. Fighting for fun was not on my agenda today.

  “Do you feel something odd?” I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off.

  “A dampening spell,” he replied as he scanned the crowd. “Satan meant business when he said this would be hand to hand. The dampening spell prohibits magic.”

  “Oookay, that could be a clusterfuck if something hellish goes down.”

  “True. The Guards are the only others dressed as we are.” He nodded in the direction of a group conversing quietly. Cole, standing in the middle, sported the same type of garb that we did—loose fitting black pants and tight black t-shirt.

  “The Devil is always up to no good,” I said. Ethan just grinned and shrugged.

  “All rise for Satan,” someone in the crowd yelled as Lucifer made his usual movie star worthy entrance.

  “Good afternoon, my people!” He was dressed similarly to us and my stomach fell to my toes. Did he plan to fight today? Shitballs. “I see we’ve started, but I do believe I’m just in time for Carl and Moby.”

  The crowd went wild and Satan took his seat next to Amanda. The Sins, along with Dixie and Dante, were right behind him but Lust and Wrath were missing.

  “What do you suppose he did with Wrath?” I asked Ethan.

  “She’s in Purgatory,” a large male Demon behind me whispered with delight. “She’ll be there for years.” His grin made my skin crawl a little, but I was glad to hear she wouldn’t be showing up any time soon. I nodded and gave him a polite smile. Everyone took way too much interest in others’ pain and suffering here, but what did I expect? It was how they thrived.

  The crowd was larger than the dinner party last night and I wondered if Satan had added more suspects or if these Demons might be staff. I shook my head and worried about how this would all play out.

  “Begin,” the Devil bellowed.

  Carl, of the hairiest back I’d ever seen, and Moby, a sullen looking Demon, took the mat as Journey’s Wheel in the Sky blasted from speakers around the room. I suppose it was in preparation for tonight’s concert… The fighters bowed to Satan and proceeded to beat the living shit out of each other. What they lacked in finesse, they made up for in grunts and sweat.

  “What the hell?” I mumbled, watching a bloody comedy of errors unfold before my eyes.

  The mild mannered Carl I knew had disappeared and an out of control violent wooly monster had taken his place. Moby didn’t stand a chance. Janet and Myrtle jumped and cheered on the sidelines as Carl literally wiped the floor with Moby. Literally. The crowd roared their approval. I felt a little sick, but I was happy Moby wasn’t wiping the floor with Carl.

  A bell chimed and the fight stopped. Carl stood victorious in the center of the mat. He slowly slid into the splits with his arms raised above his head. Rolling out of the splits he hopped up, ran to the barely conscious Moby and picked him up. Cradling him in his arms, he hugged and kissed him, then encouraged the crowd to clap for the loser too. The Demons managed a light smattering of applause for the bloody Moby.

  The next several exhibition fights were far more polished and beautiful. No less blood, but far more finesse. The partners were more fairly matched too. They fought with many of the same techniques we used and I got lost in the beauty of the movement. The lack of magic in the room let me relax and take in the show without worrying if a mystical tsunami was going to blow up out of nowhere. Amanda looked fine… alright, she looked slutty, but she didn’t look like she been beaten and almost killed less than ten hours ago. Demons clearly healed as quickly as Vampyres. The music stopped abruptly, right in the middle of Faithfully.

  “And now for the challenges,” Satan shouted to the delight of the crowd. “Do we have a challenge?”

  The denizens of Hell murmured with excitement and Cole stepped forward. A hush went through the crowd and I watched many Demons slink low in their seats so as not to be noticed by the Devil’s second in command.

  “My finest warrior has stepped up to the mat.” Satan was positively orgasmic. This was not good. Was Cole going to kill someone? “Who do you challenge?”

  Cole glanced casually around the room until his narrowed gaze landed on Ethan. Ethan grinned at him and winked. Oh my hell, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or groan.

  “I challenge the Vampyre,” he said smugly. The crowd gasped and the large Demon behind us patted my mate on the back.

  “It was good knowing you,” he sniffed sadly. Was he crying?

  “Actually,” Ethan said, still grinning from ear to ear. “You don’t know me at all.”

  I shuddered. To anyone watching it would have appeared I was nervous for my man. They couldn’t have been more mistaken.

  Ethan stood and removed his shirt. I rolled my eyes at the gasps of appreciation for his ripped body. He was mine and I gave the stink eye to two buxom female Demons who were drooling. His ego was enormous and I suppressed a giggle. He sauntered slowly to the mat. The tension in the room was palpable.
>
  Cole removed his shirt and I had to admit the sexy in the room had elevated greatly. Satan slashed his hand in the air and Steven Perry started belting out Who’s Crying Now.

  “Oh my, Astrid.” Dixie slid into Ethan’s seat and gripped my arm in distress. “Are you okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  “The last four Demons Cole fought with are damaged,” she whispered. “Permanently.”

  “Did he cheat?”

  “He doesn’t have to. He’s a weapon even without his magic.”

  I rolled my neck, pulled my legs up to my seat and sat crisscross applesauce. Dixie gaped at me with concern.

  “Astrid, this won’t end well.” She was a wreck and I felt bad for her.

  “You’re right Dixie,” I told her. “It won’t end well. Watch.”

  The sex gods bowed to Satan and began slowly circling each other. Ethan’s perfect body was completely relaxed and excitement coiled in my stomach. Everyone, including the Devil sat forward in their seats.

  Ethan refused to make the first move and waited patiently for Cole. Cole was stupidly cocky. He took Ethan’s inaction as fear. Mistake number one… He smirked at the Vampyre and made his move. It was the most violent balletic battle I’d seen. They were well matched and utterly focused. A bomb could have detonated and they wouldn’t have taken their eyes from one another. It was a mixture of martial arts and pure brute strength. Ethan was the deadliest fighter I’d ever seen and I hoped he didn’t accidently kill Cole.

  They parried, each getting kicks and punches in. Ethan deflected most of what Cole dealt out, but it was inevitable that he would come out scathed. My beautiful man was getting bored. Cole’s moves, while powerful and potentially deadly, were predictable.

  “You have nothing more than that?” Ethan asked in a disinterested voice. Cole sucked in a furious breath and attacked.

  Ethan ducked to his left and Cole went tripping forward. His roar of fury made the hair on my neck stand up. Dixie’s grip on my arm was going to leave a mark, but I didn’t have the heart to peel her off. She was a mess.