Touched by Hell

by Emma Shade

  “And neither would Heaven.”

  “Nah, that place won’t ever fall, and somebody would take our place to bring souls there. There is too much good in the world, whether you believe it or not. Besides, have you seen how hot angels are?”

  I laughed. “I’ve never heard you say a word about angels before. You didn’t tell me they were good-looking.”

  “Yeah, but they are off-limits. I can still watch them and admire their bodies from afar, though.”

  We chuckled at that, and then she glanced around my room until her gaze fell on my sword. “It’s been a while since I sharpened your blade. The hellfires are the best way to do it. I feel like I have to do something for you.”

  “I have to hunt demons tonight. With a demon.” I groaned. I hadn’t thought about it until now. Falling back on my bed, I rubbed my face and held back a scream.

  Raven grinned. “I’ll have it back to you this evening before the sun even sets. Trust me.”

  Oh, I trusted her. I didn’t trust Coren. What would happen if he attacked and I didn’t have something to protect myself? On the other hand, I knew Raven wouldn’t leave me without protection if she felt I was truly in danger. I nodded. “Okay. My baby is due for some love, anyway.”

  Standing, I grabbed my sword and petted it. As I went to hand it over, Raven’s arms came around me in a hug. I remained stiff and unsure. Emotion wasn’t something I handled well and her display of affection was abnormal. It made me nervous.

  When she finally pulled away, she smirked. “Girl, you have to learn to drop those thick walls around your heart sometimes.”

  “Emotions are messy and unnecessary.” My face was blank, my body rigid. However, I did care for Raven and her father. A lot. They were the only family I had ever really known. My mother didn’t count. She had never been a model parent, plus, she was dead.

  Grabbing the sword from my outstretched hand, Raven grinned. “I love you, too.” Then she vanished in a whiff of black smoke, a laugh echoing as she disappeared.

  The bedroom door bashed open and Coren marched in with a large kitchen knife, his other hand held out in front of him like he were a wizard casting a spell. I jumped in surprise at the intrusion and gaped at him.

  “I felt something fade inside your room,” he stated, surveying the area in suspicion. “Are you okay?”

  When I didn’t answer quickly enough, he threw me behind him and whipped opened my closet doors, looking for the intruder.

  “Fade? Is that what you guys call it?” When he looked at me for an explanation, I shook my head in frustration. “You’re a little slow on your game, moron. Raven poofed in about twenty minutes ago. She just left.”

  “Raven,” he said with a nod. “She’s a sneaky little weasel. I should’ve felt her arrival the moment she faded in.”

  “She has to be. I don’t think she wants to be noticed when she’s dragging souls to Heaven and Hell.”

  Coren shivered. “Or purgatory.”

  “I remember that word from when I’d snuck off and went to Bible study as a child. Purgatory is a real place?”

  “Very real. The tests as they await their fate can be brutal, and in between those tests, there is nothing but dead silence and isolation. It’s enough to drive someone mad. I get why people can fear silence.”

  My eyebrows hit my hairline. “How would you know that?”

  His eyes avoided mine. “We need to formulate a plan on the demon hunting tonight. The clock’s ticking and I don’t want to be caught unprepared.”

  As he walked out of my bedroom, I followed. “So you’re not going to tell me how a demon knows about the perils of purgatory?”

  “You really want to know how I know?” he asked and spun around so fast I almost ran into him. With our bodies inches from each other, Coren’s eyes narrowed. He leaned his face down, and I thought he might kiss me, but he whispered in my ear instead. “I’ve observed thousands of persecuted souls who’d begged for another test. Just one. More. Test.”

  My eyes widened while the hair rose along the back of my neck. He lifted his head away from my ear and watched my expression. These sixty days were my test. My one test to keep my soul protected for another day. Coren’s face appeared cold and calculating like he longed to be back in Hell punishing those souls. I shivered, even though I was inches away from his radiating body heat. However, no matter how detached he appeared to be about the souls begging for another chance, I swore I saw pain and regret in the dark depths of his eyes.

  A demon with regret? Nah. Impossible.

  CHAPTER 12

  Demons, monsters, and death - oh my!

  “Where is Raven?” I demanded as I paced the living room of my tiny apartment.

  “If she said she’d be back with your sword before the hunt tonight, she meant it,” Coren said, but his words were no reassurance.

  I was going to be late, dammit. Not a good way to start a workday with my boss breathing down my neck.

  The air quivered and Raven faded in. “Sorry! I’m behind at work. Stubborn, old Italian lady who didn’t want to leave her secret recipe behind. Another middle-aged businessman who wanted to negotiate his death with me, like it was my choice he ate his weight in greasy foods and had suffered a heart attack. Then, of all things.” She paused and swallowed. “I had to take a child. I hate taking children. They shouldn’t die so young.”

  Coren and I were silent. Raven spoke about her job occasionally, and her emotions were erratic when children were involved. I wanted to hug her as she blinked back tears. However, this was her job. An inherited job, sure, but people of all ages died. That was the one thing that didn’t discriminate. Death was a part of life.

  I blinked in shock at my thoughts. Wow. Was I really that jaded and cold-hearted?

  Instead of letting my best friend stand in the middle of the room choking back tears, I took a few steps and awkwardly wrapped an arm around her. Patting her back, I muttered, “There, there. Everything will be okay.”

  Coren’s laughter caught us off guard and we glared at him.

  “That was even awkward for me, Mara. You hugged her like she was a prickly cactus.”

  “I did not,” I argued.

  “Yeah, you did,” Raven said. “But I know you’re not good with all this emotional stuff, so that’s okay. Even attempting to comfort me meant more than you know. Anyway.” She held out my sword. “I wanted to bring this back to you before you were late.”

  I gently took the sword from her hands and ran my fingers across the beautiful blade. The cool, dark metal hummed as I stroked it, and a small smile formed on my lips. My sword always reacted to my touch.

  “You’re turning me on stroking your sword like that,” Coren said. I turned my eyes up to his and he smirked. “If you want to stroke something of mine, I’d let you.”

  “How about you go fuck yourself?” I responded.

  Raven chuckled.

  Coren winked. “Only if you help.”

  “Okay,” Raven grumbled, “let’s get off the sexual crap and get to work. We have some demons to send to Hell.”

  *****

  “I’m starting to think you’re bad luck,” I told Coren as we made our way through the dance clubs.

  “Just because we haven’t spotted a demon doesn’t mean I’m bad luck,” he grumbled as we strolled to our next location.

  Raven, Coren, and I had stopped outside of a club called Serpent. I frowned. This place hadn’t been here a week ago, and I inspected the red sign hanging above the door. The “S” in Serpent was shaped like a snake eating the letter E. My eyes wandered to the line of partygoers hoping to gain entrance to the newest club on the party strip. Something drew my attention to the club, even though my hidden sword vibrated against my back in warning. I adjusted my leather jacket and hair in hopes to keep the weapon concealed from peering eyes.

  “Let’s go in here,” I said and began walking to see if the bouncer would make us wait in line like the rest of the crowd.

&
nbsp; Raven grabbed my elbow and stopped me. “Something about this place is giving me a crazy vibe.”

  “I agree.” Coren nodded. “Let’s move to the next club. We’d probably never get in here anyway.”

  As soon as Raven let go of my arm, I pretended to stroll past the club but swerved in the direction of the bouncer instead. Coren let out a grunt of surprise.

  “Mara,” Raven warned, but followed me anyway.

  “Name?” the bouncer asked. His bright indigo eyes watched me with eerie intensity, but I refused to squirm under his unwavering gaze.

  “Mara Argueta.”

  The bouncer tapped on an iPad with a tanned finger, his gaze still swerving to me occasionally.

  “I don’t like this,” Coren muttered.

  After a beep coming from his tablet, the bouncer nodded at the three of us and opened the chain to allow us inside. No questions, no cover charge. The people waiting in line said a few choice words to the bouncer and us, but loud music vibrating through our bodies drowned out their protests. I didn’t want to question our unrestricted entrance, but something felt off about it.

  The dance club was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Large, flaming sconces scattered the walls, and I wasn’t too sure if the flames were real or not. A brick bar accented with wrought-iron and glowing candelabras was to our right, and a black marble dance floor to our left. The atmosphere was dark but illuminated enough to see the other patrons and each other.

  “This place looks gothic.” Coren shook his head. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were either going for the medieval look, but I think they were trying to make it look like—”

  “Hell,” Raven finished for him.

  Too stunned to respond to either of them, I surveyed the people surrounding us with confusion. The bartenders and servers wore strappy leather that barely covered their private parts and nipples. With weird techno music pounding through hidden speakers, the dancefloor was full of couples intertwined and dancing offbeat.

  My sword rattled on my back. Then my skin prickled. Actually, my whole body vibrated with awareness and I swung my wide eyes to Raven and Coren. We had to get out of here. I opened my mouth to speak, however, the DJ said something in Latin and the crowd around us screamed in elation. Misty fog pumped in from somewhere unknown, coating the entire club in seconds.

  The mist smelled fruity and I preferred it over the smell of sweaty dancers. A few seconds passed and my vision became hazy. I stumbled and caught myself on Coren’s strong arm.

  “Guys, what’s going on?” I slurred over the loud music but didn’t get a response.

  When I looked at Raven, I froze. Her eyes were pitch black with no white whatsoever, and she was swaying to the music with a smile. Then I looked up at Coren, who hadn’t moved since I’d caught my balance on his arm. He smirked down at me and his eyes were completely white and reflective in the surrounding light.

  Shit. I was in trouble. Another spray of mist pumped in and I tried to hold my breath, but I finally had to inhale a second round of whatever they were drugging us with. I reached for Coren, but he wasn’t there. Warm hands caressed my waist under my shirt, and the touch sent electrical pulses raging through my body that felt so good I moaned. Coren kept his hand on my waist and came around to stand in front of me. His white eyes took me in and then his mouth met mine. Oh, God. I wanted him. Wanted him like fire wanted fuel. Our tongues mingled as we kissed, his hands slinking up my waist between us until he found my breasts.

  When his fingers pulled my bra down and stroked across my nipples, my head fell back with another throaty moan as I broke our kiss. Coren’s mouth ran along my neck and I opened my eyes to look around us. His hands left my breasts and made their way to my waistline. When he dipped his hand underneath my jeans and panties, I had to hold back the groan from the overwhelming sensations of pleasure. But, as his fingers dipped between my legs, the fog lifted from my brain. Several demons in full form licked each other on the dancefloor, and a few others had unabashed sex. A demon and a human were in an embrace to my right, and at first, I thought they were attempting foreplay until I saw it trying to take the human’s essence. Raven was to my left with another male demon, her body shifting between her beauty and her skeletal reaper form.

  I yanked away from Coren, and he reached out for me again, this time a little too forcefully. “Get off of me,” I growled. However, when he kept coming, I punched him across the face.

  His brows lowered, those creepy eyes now narrowed in anger. So, I ran. I struggled through the crowds of demons in raptured passion and made my way toward the exit.

  “Mara, you know you want me,” Coren taunted as he followed.

  Finally, I made it outside and past the bouncer, whom I now knew was a demon. I sprinted across the road. Cars honked, tires squealed. I didn’t care. I had to get away from Serpent and Coren. Raven could take care of herself, and if she didn’t, the dude she was with would be finding himself in Hell once she fully transformed.

  As I ran on to the sidewalk across from the club, I slammed into a strong, tall masculine body. Arms reached out to catch me from falling back onto the road. I glanced up and my mouth dropped.

  “Raven still inside?” Death asked. Dressed in jeans and a tight-fitting black T-shirt, he looked halfway normal. Unless you caught his coal-black eyes.

  Looking back, I noticed Coren outside the entrance, shaking his head to clear it.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Whatever they have pumping in that club drowns out everything.”

  He sighed. “That’s probably the new experimental drug called Serpent’s Kiss. Keep your sword handy. I’m not sure what will happen when I walk in there.”

  I blinked in surprise. Serpent’s Kiss? Well, that would explain the name of the club. However, Serpent was a demon club. Holy shit. Who knew? Death stared at me, awaiting a response, and I nodded in agreement.

  As Raven’s father walked across the street, I stared at his ass until I noticed the cars driving right through him. Nobody else saw him but Coren, myself, and the demons. Coren’s body went ramrod stiff when he saw Death approaching. They exchanged a few heated words. Death pointed at me. Then, without an ounce of trouble, Death walked through the door of Serpent.

  Jogging across the street after the cars slowed, Coren came up to me. When I pulled back in mistrust, he winced. “I’m sorry, Mara.”

  “You and I, we, I...”

  “I know. And I had no clue that would happen—not to both of us.” His hand reached up and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. “But... I don’t regret kissing you. I’ve wanted to do that since the day I first saw you.”

  I frowned up at him. “You have?”

  “Yeah, until you kneed me in the balls. That kind of ruined the mood.”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “Good thing we stopped before we did something we’d regret in there. Did you know it was a demon club?”

  “No. There were no hints, feelings, or anything of what lay inside. They went to great lengths to keep it hidden.”

  “That’s my thought, but something felt off somehow, and my sword vibrated as if it were alive.”

  Screaming from inside the club had both of us jolting in surprise. Demons in their true forms ran outside in fear. With Raven slumped over his shoulder, Death quickly dispelled a few of them with a wave of his hand. Now I understood their terror. Death had arrived—and he was pissed.

  Another escaped his wrath and screeched across the road, right toward us. I slid my sword free, and as soon as the monster came near, I sliced his head off with a quick upsweep of my sword. Death waved his hand and the dead demon vanished from its decapitated state.

  The bouncer, a big, hulking man, transformed into an ogre of a demon with red, oozing scales and mustard-yellow eyes. At least eight-foot tall, he roared and shoved humans and demons aside. The humans didn’t see a full-blooded demon because they shouted rude comments to him, but he barreled forward in our direction. Death turned at the commotion, and I ob
served the struggle on his face for the safety of his daughter, and for mine as well.

  As the ogre loped across the road, I planted my feet and held my sword steady. This would be the biggest demon I had ever faced. Coren stood in front of me, his body stock-still and ready for the upcoming fight.

  With more quickness than I expected, the demon lifted his big fist and whacked Coren. His body flew in the air like a ragdoll and rested about ten feet away. I swung my sword, and the demon dodged the sharp blade and sidestepped. I tried to slice his legs next, but a swift kick sent me sliding into the brick building behind us. Pain exploded along my side and I groaned. The creature chuckled, the sound resembling rocks dropped in a metal barrel.

  Despite the pain, I rolled out of the way when a large foot stamped down where I’d previously landed. As I moved, I cut the back of its ankle with the sharp, curved blade and watched it stumble and roar. A fist connected with my face and I tasted blood as I sailed through the air and landed in a heap about ten feet away.

  The ogre grabbed my neck with his enormous, gross fingers, lifting me up into his view. My air supply was instantly squeezed and I struggled against his hold. His damn mouth was so big I could fit inside comfortably, but I knew if he put me inside his gaping maw I wouldn’t be comfortable at all. Luckily, I still had my sword, but my swings were worthless with his neck so far away.

  “Hunter,” the ogre growled with a gravelly voice. He lowered his head close to mine and narrowed his evil, goat-like eyes at me. “You’ll finally get to enjoy Hell. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Fuck... you,” I hissed out, barely a whisper with his fingers restricting my air.

  With as much strength I had left with little to no oxygen, I took my sword and lifted it. The blade stabbed through his neck and he shuddered at the contact. Then, he roared, his sour breath and spittle hitting me in the face. He yanked me away from my sword, which remained embedded in his skin. I grappled for it, my hands outstretched as the world started to fade from lack of air. The last thing I remembered was feeling his hot breath over my body as he lowered me into his mouth.