Hellishly Ever After (Infernal Covenant Book 1)

by Nadine Mutas

  Our position and the angle made it an especially tight fit...and all the more damnably erotic as he pushed forward. I tilted my hips to guide him a little, groaned as he slid home.

  Sweet mercy. I was a second away from coming already. If he touched my clit now...I’d explode.

  The arm cushioning my front moved up, his hand shoving down my tank top and bra to expose my breast. He pulled his hips back and thrust forward again at the same time as he squeezed my breast, thumb flicking my nipple.

  I held on to the rungs for dear life, my entire body aflame. Breath coming in short pants, I melted into his hold as he fucked me against the ladder. Harder, faster, his mouth at my neck, heat and teeth and hunger, a storm of lust and feral need.

  The touch of his fingers on my mound, pressing down on my clit—and I unraveled.

  With a keening moan, I came with a ferocity that shattered me. He snarled and bit my neck, pumping ever faster into me until he followed me over the edge with a deep groan that curled my toes.

  For the span of several heartbeats, he leaned against me, pressing me into the ladder—with his arm still serving as cushion—his face buried in my neck. The quiet of that moment was a hundred times more intimate than the sexual connection we still had, with his cock still buried inside me, my inner muscles clenching in aftershocks.

  Clothes rustled as he drew back, pulled out and fixed his pants. Still holding me upright with one arm, he quickly dabbed between my legs with a tissue he must have summoned. Always so considerate and thorough, I mused.

  I startled at the sound of susurration, but the next second he’d lifted me, one arm under my knees, the other at my back, and I realized he was using his wings to balance on the ladder as he held me.

  One mighty flap, and we were down on the floor. His wings vanished with a whoosh, and I made a soft sound of disappointment.

  He peered at me, a brow raised in question.

  They’re pretty. I had to mentally push the words to him, because he’d actually done his job well and rendered me temporarily incapable of using my mouth to form words.

  “Pretty.” His narrow-eyed stare spoke volumes, but even so, he brought the wings back out, flaring them for extra effect as he walked over to one of the couches and sank down with me still in his arms.

  What was left of my jeans and panties went up in flames and fell to ash under his hand, the dagger plopping down on the couch. I jerked upright.

  “Shh.”

  A blanket appeared in his hand, and he wrapped it around me, pulling me back against his chest. His wings slightly curled around us, the glossy black feathers shimmering with iridescent flames.

  “Are you cuddling with me?” I muttered.

  “I’m making sure you won’t flow into a puddle on the floor.” His chest vibrated against my cheek as he spoke. “The merihem would have a hard time cleaning that up.”

  The merihem. I frowned. “Is that what the gremlins are called?”

  “Gremlins?”

  “The little guys running around cleaning stuff and bringing me food.”

  He chuckled. “Yes. They’re not gremlins. Gremlins wreak havoc on Earth. Merihem are lesser demons, a hellborn species that came into being after the Fall.”

  “Wait—gremlins are real?”

  “Rare, but real, yes. They like to cause engine failures in big machines. Not exactly fans of new technology.”

  I craned my neck to look up at him. “You’re shitting me.”

  A wicked smile stole onto his face. “Got you for a second, though.”

  “Ugh.”

  I went to mock-slap his shoulder, but he caught my wrist, brought it up to his mouth and kissed my palm, his quicksilver eyes intently focused on mine. I shivered despite the warmth of the blanket.

  “So violent,” he muttered, leaned down and captured my mouth in a kiss that melted my brain.

  It took me a good minute after he broke the kiss to regain my faculties. I blinked, sorted through my jumbled thoughts and found the question I’d wanted to ask before.

  “So are the merihem slaves?”

  “No.” He played with my hair. “They are compensated for their work, and they are free to leave and offer their services to another demon.”

  My brows drew together. “But half-bloods don’t have that choice?”

  “Ah, yes. That’s a bit more complicated.”

  “Why?” From all that I’d seen, half-bloods should have more standing than merihem.

  “Because they have familial ties to a certain demon and their bloodline. With that comes a claim to their loyalty and obedience. Family is…a complex issue among demons.” His features darkened. “You owe allegiance to your line, and that allegiance comes with constraints on your freedom and choices.”

  “You mean your family owns you?”

  “In a way.”

  “So they what? They say jump, and you have to jump?”

  Something hard glittered in his eyes. “The more so when you’re younger.”

  “That’s messed up.”

  I thought of my father, and all the drama and pain when he’d decided to leave us for his second family, and I was infinitely grateful I had the choice to live with my mom and cut him out of my life. Did it hurt to turn down his repeated attempts at contact years later? Of course. But it was my choice, my only bit of control in a scenario that pulled the rug out from under my feet and ended my childhood years too soon.

  The thought of someone—him, or the rest of my family—ordering me to keep in touch with him, essentially taking my right to determine at least this part of the debacle…the idea alone chafed. I couldn’t imagine having relatives practically dictate other parts of my life as well.

  “Who’s your family?” I asked into the ponderous silence. Who held such rights over him?

  His gaze flicked to mine, something hard and implacable glimmering within. “My line goes back to Daevi. She’s an original Fallen, and she’s the archdemon of this territory.”

  Okay… I waited, because the weight of his words indicated there was more to this. Much more.

  When he didn’t elaborate, I raised a brow and carefully asked, “And did Daevi found an entire family like Zeus birthed Athena from his head?”

  He narrowed his eyes.

  “I mean,” I went on, “unless you guys can reproduce by fragmentation like sponges—”

  Lightning flashed in his gaze.

  “—then it takes more than one demon to have offspring. So your line goes back to Daevi and…” Waving my hand in an encouraging manner, I let the rest of the sentence hang there.

  He stared at me. A world of reticent defiance lay in that stare. His power seemed to replace the air in the room, and every breath made me inhale the raw force of Azazel in full-blown brooding mood.

  It was quite impressive, as far as masculine sulking went.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “You don’t want to talk about it—we won’t talk about it. Just to let you know, though, I get it. Family stuff can be shitty, and I know what it’s like to pretend one side of your family doesn’t exist.” I fiddled with the edge of the blanket. “The closer they are to you, the more it hurts when they betray you, so it makes sense that family has the potential to wreck us the most.”

  The silence that followed was charged with the hum of his power and the quiet snoring of Vengeance on the couch to our left. I felt his every breath where my head lay on his chest, the thump of his heart a steady beat sinking into my skin.

  “Thank you for installing a sprinkler system in my rooms,” I said after a while. “Mephistopheles wasn’t amused, but I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome.” His voice a deep rumble, he started playing with my hair again. After a moment he added quietly, “Lucifer.”

  “What?”

  “My line goes back to Daevi and Lucifer.”

  I sat up so fast, my head spun. Gaping at him, I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again. “You’re related to Lucifer? The Lucifer? Ruler of Hel
l?”

  He nodded, his expression sour.

  “Wha—what kind of relation? Like, how close?”

  A muscle feathered in his jaw. “Two generations.”

  “He—” I cleared my throat. “He’s your grandfather?”

  “My mother’s father, yes.”

  Holy shit. Ho-ly shit.

  I was related to Lucifer by marriage. The Devil was one of my in-laws.

  The motherfucking Devil.

  My mind just blanked. I couldn’t…process.

  “Zoe?”

  I stared past him.

  He waved his hand in front of my face. “Hell to Zoe. You there?”

  I didn’t respond.

  Sighing, he shifted on the couch, reaching into his pocket. The next second he wiggled a small object in front of my face and said with surgical precision, “I carried this around all day with your delicious fragrance on it, and more than one demon sniffed the air around me like a hound who’s scented blood.”

  My gaze focused on the vibrator in his hand, and heat shot into my face. “Ugh! Give me that.”

  I tried to snatch it away from him, but he raised his arm out of my reach, tutting. “What are you going to do to earn it back?”

  “Earn it back?” If looks could incinerate, he’d be a pile of ash. “It’s mine, you stole it. Now give it back.”

  “Mine, yours…” He peered at the vibe and pursed his lips. “…ours.”

  I crossed my arms. “I didn’t know you had a thing for vibrators, but if you want it for your own use so badly, go ahead, have at it. I’ll let you borrow it for a while.” I waved at it with one hand. “I can recommend setting number two, it has the best vibe rhythm.”

  He smiled. “Good to know. And you don’t need to freak out about being related to Lucifer by marriage because it’s of no consequence.”

  I blinked. “No consequence? Excuse me if I find that hard to believe. He’s your grandfather.”

  “Who doesn’t give a shit about me, and vice versa. I barely ever see him, not since Daevi claimed me as her own. Chances are low you’ll ever meet him. I make it a point to avoid his attention.”

  I studied his face—features drawn tight, eyes hard—and asked quietly, “What did he do to you?”

  The air around him shimmered. His smile twisted something in my stomach. “When Lucifer is angry, he physically rips someone apart. Limbs, we grow back without a trace of injury. When he’s coldly furious, however, he finds other, more permanent ways to hurt someone. Something that will leave invisible scars.” He tapped his temple. “When he brought me to his court, his fury was such that it chilled the air. The object of his wrath was out of his reach, but I…I was a mirror image of the one who’d inspired the kind of cold hate in Lucifer that made the walls frost over.”

  “So he hurt you?”

  “He never laid a hand on me. He didn’t have to. No need to strike me when he could instead publicly eviscerate the only demon to have shown me kindness at his court, as a punishment and a warning for others. After that, everyone else made sure to treat me with the sort of contempt that wouldn’t arouse Lucifer’s ire.”

  I shook my head, trying hard to piece things together and wrapping my mind around the kind of abuse he hinted at. “Wait, so who was Lucifer really mad at? Your mother, or your father?”

  “Father. Azmodea is the one who takes after our mother, and it saved her from Lucifer’s fury.”

  I hesitated, my throat raw. “What happened to her? Your mom?”

  His gaze rested on an errant lock of my hair. Twining it around his finger, he said, “We should get going.”

  “Where?” I didn’t comment on his obvious evasion of my previous question. He’d tell me when he was ready.

  “Earth,” he said simply. “For your visit.”

  Drawing back, I blinked at him. “Now?”

  “I have time. I have taken care of my duties for today and am not currently needed here. I can take you to see your friend and your mother.” His silver gaze met mine. “Unless you don’t want to?”

  I sat up straighter, my heart pounding. “No, I mean, yes, of course I do.”

  Throwing back the blanket, I stood up and froze, cool air tickling my skin from the hips down. When I turned to him, he was already holding a new set of panties and jeans.

  “I hope you’ll be replacing the ones you keep incinerating,” I said as I pulled them on. “Or else I’ll run out of clothes to wear.”

  His face took on a speculative look.

  Oh, no. I kept walking into it, didn’t it?

  Pointing a menacing finger at him, I snarled, “Don’t.”

  He smiled. It was equal parts disarming and worrisome.

  Pants in place, I moved toward the door. “All right, I’m ready. We can leave.”

  I was halfway across the library floor when I realized he wasn’t following. I stopped and turned on my heel.

  Azazel was still lounging on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees, hands loosely clasped together. He jerked his head at me. “Come here.”

  Gingerly, I walked back to him. “Are you going to give me a speech? Because you look like you’re going to give me a speech.” About what?

  “Sit.”

  I perched on the armchair opposite the couch.

  “You won’t leave this room.”

  I drew back. “The what now?”

  “Not physically.” Fire licked over his wings. “Your body, the one you were born with on Earth, was bound to Hell the moment I brought you down here. It cannot leave this realm anymore, or it will disintegrate and you will die.”

  “Then…how will I travel to Earth? You said I could.” My voice rose along with my adrenaline.

  He held up a hand in a placating gesture. “And you will. Just not with your physical body. You’ll have to leave it here. Ever heard of astral projection?”

  I nodded.

  “It’s sort of like that. Humans differ from demons and angels among other things in terms of metaphysical makeup. You have a soul and an earthly, mortal body, and the two are entirely separate entities. When you are born, your soul is poured into this physical body, which will be its container, its vessel, for your mortal lifespan. Upon your death, your soul leaves this body and is either ferried to Heaven, dragged to Hell, or, in some cases when a demon fails to grab the soul, roams Earth as a ghost. No matter what, though, the mortal body dies and remains on Earth while the soul lives on.”

  I stared at him, hanging on his every word. This stuff was fascinating. I’d never been much of a real believer in religion, but like everyone growing up in a Christian-dominated society like the United States, I’d learned my fair share about Judeo-Christian mythology. To hear certain aspects of it confirmed—and to be living them—was a bit of a mind-bending experience.

  “Contrary to the souls here in Hell,” Azazel went on, “you didn’t die a natural death and leave your body on Earth. In fact, you didn’t die at all. You’re still very much alive, down here, in your mortal body, which you brought with you. As I mentioned, that body is now bound to Hell courtesy of your contract with me and the fact you entered this realm with it alive and intact. But since, as a human, your soul is separable from your body, you can temporarily leave your physical form and travel to Earth with the immortal, spiritual part of your being.”

  “But there are limits, right?” I remembered him saying something along those lines when he first mentioned it.

  He nodded, his expression grave. “The connection of your soul to your body is tenuous once you leave your physical form. If you stay separated too long, the link will sever, your body will die, and your soul will be trapped on Earth.” He paused, his gaze thoughtful. “And because of the way you entered this realm in the first place, it is not quite clear whether you’d be allowed back in even as a damned soul. You’d be barred from Heaven as well.”

  I sucked in air through my teeth. “I’d be a ghost on Earth?”

  “At first.” He grimaced. “
Maybe. Again, your case is different from other humans and their regular deaths, but even with them…when they get left behind on Earth as ghosts, eventually they all turn into something…darker. There are ghosts, and then there are wraiths.”

  That didn’t sound good.

  “Lost souls on Earth start out as ghosts,” he elaborated. “And at first, they are more or less who they were in life, with all their memories and their personality intact. They often linger around the places they’ve lived, with the people they knew, and most of them are benign. They are not there to cause trouble, they’re simply lost.”

  I was waiting for the But.

  “But over time,” he continued, “they deteriorate. They lose their memories, they forget who they were, where they are, until all that is left of them is confusion that manifests as uncontrollable anger. And then they start destroying things and hurting people.”

  “Sounds like poltergeists.”

  He gave a solemn nod. “Yes, that is one of the terms humans have coined for them.”

  “Okay.” I blew out a breath. “So no staying too long, or I’ll end up as a horror movie prop. Got it. Anything else?”

  “You’ll be solid and visible to me, but unless you choose to show yourself, no one will be able to see you, and while you can affect the physical world with touch, you won’t feel it. You won’t smell or taste anything either.”

  It took a moment, but then it sank in. I pressed my lips together, his words clanging in my mind. Swallowing, I turned my head and blinked against the sudden, unbidden prickle of tears behind my eyes. “When you said I could visit,” I whispered, “you didn’t mention I’d be a ghost.”

  Because I would be, for all intents and purposes. I’d have my body here in Hell, sure, but during the visit I’d be little more than a spiritual leftover from my old life, sneaking a peek at a world I’d never again be a part of.