“Get in the shower,” he growled. Jackie glared at him, but did what she was told.
She snapped on the water and stripped out of her clothes. Her sweatshirt wasn’t too bad, but she definitely needed a new pair of pants. Her jeans were stained and stank like a dumpster. And some clean underwear wouldn’t be a bad idea either. But where the hell was she going to get any of that?
She jumped into the shower and scrubbed as quickly as she could. She wasn’t rushing because of what Iradon had said, she was rushing because the more time passed, the closer they would be to being discovered in the motel room—Iradon might not have been worried, but she was terrified of being caught.
When she stepped out of the shower, she combed her fingers through her wet hair and wrapped herself in a towel and frowned at her dirty clothes. “Shit.”
She opened the bathroom door and peered out at the guys. Iradon paced the carpet in front of the door, and Admar was still sitting in the chair Iradon had thrown him into. He tapped his long fingers on the table and stared at the lantern that Iradon had placed there.
“Iradon?”
He looked up at her and she felt her cheeks warming as he looked at her. And it wasn’t just him—it was Admar, too.
“Clothes?”
Iradon growled and she tightened her grip on the towel she had wrapped around her body. “I’ll make do,” she muttered.
She closed the bathroom door and frowned at her clothes again. She wrapped the towel tight around her waist and pulled her t-shirt and sweatshirt over her head. She wasn’t putting the jeans on again.
She would just have to wait until they stopped somewhere and they could get her something else to wear.
She emerged from the bathroom again and flipped her wet hair over her shoulder. “Fine. I’m ready.”
“Good,” Iradon snapped. He pulled Admar out of the chair by his collar and held him tightly as Jackie picked up her boots and grabbed the lantern.
He opened the door and dragged Admar behind him as they stepped out into the parking lot. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but the sky had begun to lighten. Iradon seemed restless and eager to get on the road. His head whipped back and forth as he tried to locate the right vehicle. The parking lot was sparse for choice, but he chose one and pulled Admar behind him.
Jackie skipped over the parking lot, wincing as her bare feet hit the gravel. “Wait for me,” she pleaded, but Iradon didn’t slow down. He moved to the driver’s side of a black sedan and laid his hand against the door. The lock clicked and he pulled the door open. Jackie went for the passenger door, but Iradon shook his head.
“I need this bastard where I can see him.”
Jackie stared at him. “I have to get in the back?”
“Get in the car.”
Jackie grumbled, but didn’t argue as Iradon marched Admar around to the passenger side and shoved him into the seat. Jackie clambered into the back seat and set the lantern on the seat beside her.
She crossed her arms over her chest as Iradon got into the driver’s seat. Admar tried the door, but it was locked.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Iradon growled as the car started.
Admar hissed at him and crossed his arms over his broad chest. Jackie could see his face in the rearview mirror, and he looked angry and sullen.
He pulled out of the parking lot and headed back to the highway. Admar didn’t say anything, and Jackie got the feeling that any attempt at conversation would be met with a stony silence. Iradon was angry, she could feel it radiating off him, but there was nothing she could do to fix it.
All she could do was sit in the back and wait and see what lay in wait. They were heading west again—always west. The green flame in the lantern flickered, leaning forward. West.
She settled back against the seat and closed her eyes. The sun was rising, and she was exhausted. She hoped that Iradon would remember that she needed to eat at some point, too.
Jackie woke up as the car lurched to a halt. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. It was dark, and the only light was the eerie orange of a single streetlight.
“Where are we?” she yawned.
“Almost there,” Iradon replied. “Are you hungry?”
Jackie’s stomach growled. “Definitely.” She looked around and saw that they were at another truck stop. A broken-down looking diner and a small motel with a flickering sign were the only buildings around. The parking lot was full of long-haul trucks, and the lights of the motel office was dark.
“Another shitty motel,” she sighed.
“Do you have a better idea?” Iradon said dryly.
“Noooo.”
She opened the door, grabbed the lantern, and clambered out of the car. She was stiff and sore, and starving. Iradon pulled Admar out of the car and yanked him around to the trunk. He placed his hand on the lock and the trunk popped open.
Jackie let out a little shriek of happiness as she saw a suitcase inside. “We stole a car AND some clothes?”
“Looks like it,” he said.
Jackie pulled the suitcase from the trunk and followed Iradon and Admar toward the motel. Iradon chose a room at the end of the row, just as he always did, and Jackie didn’t complain or argue with him as the door opened. She scooted inside and threw the suitcase on the bed. The lantern was placed on one of the crooked bedside tables and then she turned her attention to the latches on the suitcase.
Iradon shoved Admar down onto the bed and Admar hissed at him and shook off his hand. “You don’t have to push me around,” he snarled.
“I don’t trust you,” Iradon snapped.
“You shouldn’t.”
“Shut up.”
Jackie struggled with the suitcase and let out a frustrated noise as the latches resisted her attempts to open them. Admar watched her for a moment and then leaned forward and extended one finger toward her. A long silver claw extended from his fingertip and Jackie’s eyes widened.
Admar smirked at her. “May I?”
“I— I guess?”
He inserted the claw into one of the locks and twisted it deftly. The lock scraped and clicked and then popped open. Jackie spun the suitcase toward him so that he could unlock the second catch.
He made quick work of it, and Jackie clapped her hands as the second lock released and opened. “You’re handy,” she laughed.
“I can be useful when I want to be,” Admar said with a shrug.
“Bullshit,” Iradon growled.
Jackie ignored them and opened the suitcase. “I guess it would be a miracle if the suitcase belonged to a woman,” she said. She held up a plaid flannel shirt and made a face. She wasn’t overly picky about her wardrobe, but this was pushing it.
She pulled out a pair of pants, a set of boxers, and draped the plaid shirt over her arm. “Good enough,” she muttered.
She hitched up the towel around her waist and went to the bathroom to get re-dressed.
She closed the bathroom door behind her and leaned against it. She was sharing a motel room with two demons. Two hellborn demons. Demons.
“What the hell am I doing,” she whispered as she pulled up the boxers and stepped into the pants. They were a little big, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She pulled the plaid shirt over her t-shirt and tied it at her waist. She stared at herself in the mirror and shook her head. “You look like shit,” she said.
She made a face at her reflection and opened the bathroom door.
Admar and Iradon were glaring at each other and she walked into the room with her hands raised. “I think you two need a break,” she said. She pointed at Iradon. “Go get me a burger,” she commanded. “Extra fries and a chocolate shake.”
Iradon’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue with her. “Fine. But he stays put.”
Admar shrugged. “Whatever.”
Iradon glared at him. “If you do anything—I’m going to make you wish you’d never been created.”
“I wish that all the time,” Admar snarled.
“Get out!” Jacki
e shouted. “Don’t forget the chocolate shake!”
The motel room door slammed shut and Jackie crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Admar. He leaned back on the bed and put his arms behind his head.
“So,” he said. “What now?”
Eight
The first road wound through the forest, and the only way she could mark the passage of time was in the change in the sky above the treetops. The grey blue of the autumn afternoon had given way to red and purple and the chill in the air that had struck her had returned and made her shiver.
“Are we there yet?” she moaned. “My feet hurt.”
“Almost,” Admar said breathlessly. His pale eyes had changed and become even more catlike, and she knew instantly that he could see better in the strange light than she could.
“Where are we going, exactly?” she asked irritably.
“The Gates of Hell,” Iradon said simply as though she had asked about the weather.
Jackie stopped short. “The what?”
“The Gates of Hell,”Admar echoed. “It’s not as big a deal as it sounds. There are plenty of Gates. This is just the one we need.”
“Great, just great.”
The trees began to thin and the vibration from the lantern grew stronger as the road widened and the dirt became dark black gravel.
“Volcanic gravel,” Iradon said as she looked down at it in confusion.
“There aren’t any volcanoes here,” she muttered.
“There are plenty in hell,” Admar chuckled. “Just a little landscaping detail. The boss is really into details.”
“Fantastic,” Jackie said bitterly. These were not little factoids she needed to know.
She blinked in surprise as they stepped out of the trees and a stretch of perfectly green lawn spread out in front of them. “What the hell—it looks like a golf course.”
“What were you expecting?”
Jackie shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t know… some gothic cemetery with creeping mist and a scary caretaker and a few goth kids sprawled over the tombstones looking pale and tragic—”
Admar laughed and rubbed a hand over her face. “None of that shit here. The boss doesn’t like all of... that. Melodramatic bullshit.”
“My entire life has been a lie,” she muttered.
They were in a cemetery, but it was the most well-manicured one she had ever stepped foot in. It made Barren Field Memorial Gardens look like a family plot behind a broken down farmhouse in comparison.
Admar grinned and gestured to the grounds. “Not bad, huh?”
Jackie was stunned, and even Admar seemed impressed.
Bright flowers in elaborate arrangements covered the larger tombstones, and the unnaturally lush grass was meticulously trimmed. The volcanic gravel paths were perfectly straight and free of weeds and footprints. It was strangely, and unsettlingly, beautiful.
Jackie swallowed hard. “Okay. So the gates shouldn’t be hard to find, right? Just… straight through? Follow the paths?”
“What does the lantern tell you?” Admar asked.
Jackie frowned and concentrated on it for a moment. “Left,” she said firmly.
“Left it is,” Admar said with a smile.
The path she had chosen led down a gentle slope, and Jackie bit back a gasp of surprise as the spire of a small chapel appeared.
“Why is there a chapel here,” she whispered.
Admar grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “That’s where we have to go.”
“You’re shitting me. The Devil has a chapel?”
“The Black Chapel,” Iradon agreed.
Jackie shook her head at the obviousness of his statement. The chapel was constructed entirely of black stone, with a black roof that glittered in the fading sunlight.
Admar nodded. “The lantern’s cradle is in the mausoleum beneath the chapel.”
“I haven’t been into a chapel since I was a kid,” Jackie snorted.
“It’s not quite the same,” Admar said with a sharp smile.
“No… I guess it wouldn’t be.”
Fear clawed at her insides but Jackie did her best to keep pace with the demons at her side. They would protect her, she was sure of it… At least, she hoped they would.
As they approached the chapel, Jackie walked ahead of the two demons, allowing the lantern to guide her. The vibration was much stronger now and she could sense that it was as eager to be returned to its resting place as she was to be rid of it.
The door of the chapel was made of burnt wooden boards, and the wrought iron hinges were sunk deep into the black stone doorway.
“What are you doing here?”
The shouted question made Jackie pause, hand extended, ready to push open the chapel door.
She heard Admar’s hiss, and Iradon’s growl of warning, as she turned to see an older man limp around the side of the chapel. He carried a rake in one hand and wore green coveralls that were stained with dirt and leaves. His face was wrinkled, and would have been grandfatherly, except for the fact that his watery eyes blazed with anger.
“Whoa, I’m sorry,” Jackie exclaimed as she jumped back from the door. “We were just… we’re tourists, coming to check out the chapel. It’s in all the travel brochures and I just had to see it.”
The old man glared at her, and Jackie could feel the heat of his gaze. There was nothing right about this. Nothing normal. They were in a perfectly manicured cemetery down an endless dirt road off the highway—none of this made any sense. Especially him.
“Get back,” Iradon growled. He grabbed for Jackie’s elbow and pulled her away from the chapel door. “We’re not here to cause any trouble,” he said.
The old man pointed at the lantern. “Like hell you’re not.”
“Admar— this is your territory,” Iradon snarled. “Who the hell is this?”
The old man laughed and leaned on his rake and Jackie pressed herself against Iradon’s back. The heat of his body was comforting, but it didn’t stop the cold rush of fear that shuddered through her body.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the old man snarled and Jackie saw the flash of sharp teeth as he sneered at them.
Admar stepped in front of Iradon and held up his hands.
“Look, we have a job to do,” he said. “This— This is the boss’ new bride. We’re just delivering her to the chapel so he can collect her.”
“Hey!” Jackie shouted indignantly. “You can’t—”
The old man smiled, but there was something sinister about it. “Her? Desperate times, I suppose…”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Jackie shouted. “Who the hell does this guy think he is—”
Admar turned back to her and his eyes were desperate as he mouthed, “Shut up!”
Jackie pressed her lips together in a thin line and glared at him.
“Doesn’t sound like she’s a willing participant,” the old man said. “And what’s with the hellpup. He’s not supposed to be here.”
Iradon growled, but didn’t move and Jackie’s hand tightened on his arm.
“He’s the one who tracked her down,” he said. “I found her, he brought her in. It’s a two-man job.”
“Never has been before,” the old man said suspiciously. He lifted his chin and sniffed the air. “Something’s not right.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Admar said nervously. He was trying to be calm and forceful, but the old man wasn’t buying it.
“Who is that,” Jackie whispered.
“How should I know?” Iradon whispered back. “This isn’t exactly my jurisdiction.”
The old man laughed, and the sound made Jackie wince as it pierced her eardrums and vibrated through her chest. “Who am I? This is the bride you’ve brought for our master? This is his reward?”
Jackie peeked over Iradon’s shoulder as the old man’s eyes glowed red. “Oh shit,” she whispered.
“I can smell you on her,” the old man roared. “I can smell your claim t
o her body. You’ve violated the agreement!”
Admar stepped back as the old man doubled over and laughed again. When he straightened Jackie smothered a cry as a pair of shining black horns sprouted from the old man’s wrinkled forehead. His snow-white hair darkened and curled, and his beard sharpened. He reached up with a clawed hand to rip away the green coveralls, revealing a muscled torso and a pair of goat legs that ended in obsidian-sharp hooves. A snake-like tail lashed the air and Jackie stumbled back. She tripped over her own feet and fell to the grass in a heap before scrambling as far away as she could. Her back struck a gravestone and she crawled behind it, frantically trying to hide from whatever the fuck had just revealed itself.
“You have broken the infernal bond you made when you accepted this duty,” the demon cried. “It will be my honor to skin you both alive and bring your worthless hides to the foot of our master’s throne.”
Admar shouted something Jackie couldn’t understand, but she winced at the violence of it. He leapt forward, fist swinging wildly. The demon blocked his attack easily, and struck him with one large fist in the middle of his chest. The blow sent him flying back through the air and he crashed against a tombstone and lay there for a moment. Jackie didn’t even have time to scream for him before he shook his head and scrambled to his feet.
“Stay there,” he whispered harshly to her. Jackie nodded. She had no intention of moving.
Iradon charged forward with a roar and dodged around the demon’s first attack, aiming for the goat legs with a powerful tackle, but the demon struck downward with a massive hand and swept him away like a fly. The blow sent him sprawling in the grass and Jackie stifled a cry of dismay as he rolled onto the path. He got up quickly, and shook his head.
“This is bullshit,” Admar grunted. Black smoke engulfed him, and his body twisted and changed, elongating and contorting until a large black cat with sharp teeth and wickedly red eyes stood on the path. But instead of the sleek black cat she had encountered in the Barren Hill’s Memorial Gardens, this hellcat was the size of a panther, and its hissing growl was powerful and loud.
Another cloud of black smoke wreathed around Iradon, and his powerful bark echoed through the graveyard even as the demon laughed loudly. When the smoke cleared, a massive dog with three heads and snapping jaws leapt forward to stand beside the hellcat.
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 133
