Touched by Hell

by Emma Shade

  He was no longer a shadowy figure, but a full-blown man. A very, very nice-looking man, too. His chest was wide, and his stomach displayed sinewy muscle. My eyes traveled down his chest, to the “V” at his hips. Thank God he had jeans on, or I may have gotten an eyeful. Doubt I would’ve minded.

  Mussed blond hair touched the tips of ears, and his squared jaw was free of stubble. I swallowed. The only time I had ever seen anyone this handsome was Coren. If Coren was an Adonis, this guy was sin.

  “Hello, Mara,” he said, his voice slightly accented. “My name is Lor.”

  “What do you want?” I asked, unsure how it was possible I saw him as a human now. Plus, I was wary of any being who dripped raw sexuality. Coren included.

  “For you to keep your soul.”

  I stood stunned. My soul, the one thing I hadn’t technically owned since I was about six years old and wanted back. Nobody said it was possible, but this shadow spoke with such conviction I wanted to believe it.

  Coren’s voice broke our surroundings, and I looked behind me to see him greeting the cashier. When I looked back at Lor, he was gone.

  After I finally did my business, I followed Coren wordlessly back to Raven’s car. We decided riding together was the best for now, and if one of us ended up covered in demon slime, the other could fade us both back. Of course, that meant me coming along for a spiritual Uber ride. Humans weren’t meant to fade in and out. It hurt like a son of a bitch.

  “I have a question,” I finally said as we reached Raven’s car.

  Coren turned to face me. “Sure. Go ahead.”

  “Are shadows people, or were they ever people at one point in time?”

  “I’m not sure. Some legends say they’re from another dimension. Others say they’re aliens or spirits of elders, and some say they are rogue entities released from voodoo rituals. Maybe they are ghosts of some sort. The gossip is they steal souls of the recently departed. Who knows? All I know is that Heaven and Hell won’t speak much about it when it comes to them.”

  My eyebrows quirked. “Do you know many people in Heaven? I assumed they didn’t associate with demons.”

  His lips twitched. “Who said I was a demon?”

  “You work for the Devil. Duh.”

  “Think what you want about me, Mara. All I know is that I will move Heaven and Hell to save you from Lucifer’s menacing plan.”

  The cage around my heart slid open a bit more. “Thanks, Coren. I mean it.”

  He slung an arm around my shoulder as we walked back to the car. We walked in comfortable silence, and I enjoyed the comfort of his embrace. I felt safe for once. Until another demon strolled out in front of us. This one looked like a burly cage fighter with muscles bulging behind his jeans and a black T-shirt. He was easy on the eyes, but his huge neck and beefy body were too much.

  The guy cracked his knuckles as he stared at us with eyes as black as a moonless night.

  “Another demon starting trouble, and this one seems to be on steroids.” I pulled my sword from my sheath. “What happened to your neck? Did your shoulders eat it because of roid rage?”

  “Well, well,” the hulking dude taunted, his voice so deep that my skin chilled. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  “Mara is under my protection, Zagan,” Coren warned, pushing me behind him as if I was some vulnerable female.

  I stepped around to his side, my hands wrapped around the handle of my blade. Even though I had a feeling this muscular demon would stomp me into the ground, I planted my feet in preparation for a fight.

  “Tsk. Tsk.” Zagan shook his head. “You’re not supposed to care about your ward, Coren. That could be dangerous for you.”

  I blinked in surprise. “He doesn’t care about me.”

  At the same time, Coren growled, “I’ll show you how dangerous I can truly be.”

  Chancing a glance at Coren, I frowned before looking back at Zagan. He hadn’t denied the caring thing, but then again, he was currently facing a potential foe. Anyone in his position had to show his threats were serious.

  Zagan smiled at me, and his teeth were straight and as white as copy paper. “I’m not here to battle...yet. I’m here to send a warning. If you so much as interfere with a demon hunt again, I’ll be back. Gossip runs as thick as blood back home.”

  “I did what I had to. Don’t question my method and I won’t question your loyalty.” Coren folded his arms across his chest.

  “I’m just doing my job, Coren. Nothing more.”

  The hulk of a man fell to the ground and I started toward him until Coren stopped me.

  “He’s fine. Just passed out. He’ll wake up in five minutes, tops.”

  My hands met my hips as I narrowed my eyes at Coren. “Who in the hell was that?”

  His chocolate eyes watched me. “An old friend.”

  “Thanks for clearing that up,” I retorted. “Was that what he looks like?”

  “That’s not his body.”

  “What? Are you telling me he possessed that bodybuilder?” And here I had assumed possessions were as rare as red diamonds.

  “Commandeered,” he corrected.

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s just a fancy word for a possession.”

  “Actually, no. Zagan borrows bodies and gives them back. The people wake up with a slight hangover and are fine. A full possession means the soul is combined with a demon and could die after the demon leaves. Totally different.”

  “Isn’t Zagan a demon?”

  “Not really,” he hedged.

  Anger rippled through me. “You’re full of answers, aren’t you?” When he only stared at me, I hissed, “You can fuck yourself.”

  Sick of half-truths, I stormed off, my long legs striding a good distance away from Coren. He didn’t follow. But... hadn’t I held the truth from him, as well? Lor had made contact, and I had a feeling he would again.

  What if I saved my soul and Coren left? Had I wanted him to leave? While at first the man gave the impression of a horny, vile demon, he had started to leak into my heart. I mean, I still believed demons were revolting creatures, but Coren was unlike the others. He was kind, smart, and had fighting skills like mad. Who would’ve thought I would begin to have feelings for a demon?

  My feet slowed and I took a deep breath of the cool night air. The streetlight cast an orange glow across my pale skin as I turned to look for Coren. I studied the abandoned streets and alleys. He was gone.

  CHAPTER 18

  Theater of illusion.

  My apartment was as silent as a grave.

  I had gotten used to Coren’s presence in the short timeframe he’d been here. Raven hadn’t returned after I killed the lamia, either. For so long I’d lived like a recluse, afraid to get close to anyone in fear of discomfort and pain.

  My childhood had instilled that in me, and if I had cried, whined, or even displayed happiness, my mother rewarded me with animosity. Actually, she shouldn’t have had a child in the first place, but here I was, in all my messed-up glory. Maybe I had become a fighter because of her. Maybe my will to live was in spite of my upbringing.

  “You look deep in thought.”

  I spun and faced the shadow from earlier. “What are you doing in my apartment?”

  His baritone voice seemed to echo in my tiny space. “Our conversation was cut short earlier. And I wanted to see you again.”

  My head tilted as I took him in. Dressed in a black button-down and dark jeans, he appeared to be ready for a night on the town, not a conversation with a demon hunter in her apartment. The only thing that gave away that he wasn’t truly human were his scarlet eyes. The color was so shocking against his pale skin.

  “You don’t drink blood, do you?”

  His face twisted. “What kind of question is that? Of course not.”

  “Fine. Can I ask you a few questions about what you are, then?”

  He inclined his head in agreement. The movement was so old-fashioned that it was out of place in the modern world.

/>   “How do you spell your name? Is it like lore as in a tradition or myth?”

  “No, it’s spelled L-o-r. Different meaning, but I guess I’m a myth to many.” He shrugged.

  “Are you even human?”

  “Don’t I look human?” His hands gestured to his body.

  “Yes, except for your eyes. Looks can be deceiving, buddy. Even salt looks like sugar, but the two are not the same.”

  “Don’t most people like salty, sweet treats? Consider me a, what’s it called?” His brows puckered as he tried to come up with a word. “Salted caramel.”

  My nose crinkled at his analogy. “What?”

  “I was born among humanity, but that’s where things get complex. My race belonged to another realm, but I happened to be born on Earth. The other shadows were not born here, however. They come from the other plane of existence called Perdita. The Devil sent his spawn to take over my homeland. The few who escaped went to my birthplace to flee an awful fate of slavery and death.”

  My eyes went heavenward as I wondered how God could allow an entire race to suffer the wrath of a power-hungry, evil ruler. Then again, maybe he was the reason I could speak to Lor in the first place. I looked back into Lor’s eerie eyes. “I’m sorry about your home. I can’t imagine losing your entire world to the likes of my boss.”

  His lips parted in surprise. “Your boss? You work for that monstrosity?”

  “Against my will,” I stated, holding up two hands in surrender. “When he tricked me into signing away my soul and my new job was the only way Raven and her father could keep me here on Earth. Why do you think I kill demons?”

  “Did you ever wonder”—his eyes flared—“why Satan would allow a human to kill his kin?”

  His kin? Who used that term these days? Apparently, an old-ass shadow did. “Because they slip the veil and wreak havoc and death.”

  Lor laughed, the sound deep and throaty. “Is that what he told you?”

  “Yes. That’s what he also told Raven and Death.”

  “Ah, the reapers. You all believed him. A satanic entity known to trick all manner of beings for their souls?”

  When he put it like that, I hesitated to respond and bit my lip instead. I thought about what he had said the first time I’d seen him in the flesh. “If that’s the case, then how do you expect to save my soul?”

  “Now, that’s something for another day, my dear...”

  My door locks clicked as they slid open. Lor went full-on shadow and blended into the darkness of my hallway.

  Coren entered the room, his eyes finding me in an instant. Without a word, his long, strong legs carried him across my small living room. He cupped my face and kissed me. I let him. His lips lit a fire under my skin, a hot, passionate spark of sensuality that pooled in my abdomen.

  When he ended the kiss, I opened my eyes to see him staring down at me with hooded lids. His eyes weren’t dark brown. They were more of a coffee color flaked with hints of gold and orange. His hands left my face, caressed my shoulders, and then stopped at my waist.

  “I’m sorry. I tend to lose my mind when it comes to you,” he whispered.

  Lor chuckled from the hallway and I attempted to keep my face impassive.

  Coren stiffened. Crap on a cracker!

  “Show yourself,” he ordered, his grip tightening on my hips.

  “Coren,” I warned, but his eyes went straight to the hallway.

  I followed his gaze, my heart pounding in my ears.

  With an air of confidence and arrogance, Lor stepped out of the shadows in full form.

  “Lor, Coren.” I made introductions. “Coren, meet Lor. A shadow I recently met.”

  Coren’s hands wrapped around me. I wasn’t sure if it was for protection or to show Lor I was his. I guessed it was the possession thing, which infuriated me. Using my hands in an expertly placed thrust, I pushed out of Coren’s arms. He growled and attempted to reach for me again.

  “No,” I snapped. “I don’t want you to mark your territory. I’m not anyone’s property.”

  “Well, technically, you’re Lucifer’s,” Lor stated.

  With a wince, I looked at Lor. He leaned against the wall outside of the hallway, his arms across his chest.

  “Listen, asshole,” Coren snarled, “she will not be going to Hell.”

  Lor inspected a nail before he finally spoke. “Agreed.”

  Coren relaxed for a moment and watched Lor like he would a deadly snake. He cleared his throat. “What?”

  “I concur. Hell wouldn’t be kind to her, and without her soul, she’d be nothing but his concubine.”

  Coren’s eyes flashed in anger and his jaw ticked.

  After a few minutes trying to figure out what a concubine was, I inhaled sharply when it sank in. “Oh, hell no. That son of a bitch will not lay a finger on me.”

  “You won’t have a choice, Mara,” Lor replied softly. “You’ll be beaten into submission over time until there’s nothing left but a hollow shell of who you are now.”

  Dread settled over me. My gaze went to my calendar and to the red marks counting down the days left. Fifty-seven days to figure out a way to stay here.

  “I won’t let that happen. I don’t care if I have to die to keep her alive.”

  I looked up at Coren in surprise, but he didn’t look at me. He kept his eyes on Lor.

  Lor nodded. “Good. My brethren and I are formulating a plan to save her. We may have the key to all that, but you keep her safe until then. We’ll be watching until she needs us.”

  “Stalker,” I joked. I was little creeped out at a bunch of shadows watching me.

  The edge of his lip tilted upward. “Until next time, beautiful.” Lor faded from the room.

  As he dissipated completely, Coren swore under his breath. “You need to watch out for him and his friends. We know nothing of shadow people, and they may be after your soul as well. I’m not sure if I can trust him.”

  “Sometimes I wonder the same thing about you.”

  Coren’s nostrils flared. “How could you not trust me? I’ve done everything I could to keep you safe, along with hiding your ass at SafetyNet.”

  He was right. My mouth tended to blurt out the first thing on my mind without a filter. I opened my mouth to tell him, Not without a price, right? but we were interrupted.

  Raven poofed into my living room. We both turned in surprise to face her.

  “Sorry, guys. I’ve been knee-deep in dead bodies,” she grumbled.

  I grimaced. Raven wasn’t technically knee-deep in piles of human remains, but instead overloaded with souls to transport. Still, I pictured her standing in her cherry heels amongst a butt-load of bodies. The visual caused a shudder to ripple through me.

  She continued, “Mara, I didn’t mean to be so absent lately. That’s not a good friend. Actually, it’s a crappy one and I apologize. But I brought you a surprise to sort of make up for it.”

  With a smirk, Raven held up a white paper bag. My mouth watered because I knew exactly what she clasped in her hand. Cookies—but not just any cookies. These babies were from Heaven Scent Bakery. Yeah, yeah. The name’s irony wasn’t lost on me, but they made the best cookies on the planet.

  With a grabbing gesture, I said, “Gimme. I forgive you. You could run me over with your car and bring me those and I would forgive you.”

  Still smirking, she placed the bag in my hand. The sweet aroma of freshly baked goods floated out of the bag and I opened it without a second thought. Placing one of the peanut butter cookies in my mouth, I groaned.

  “I wish she did that with me.”

  Raven chuckled. “Roll her eyes back like that in an orgasm?”

  “Hey,” I mumbled with a mouthful of peanut butter gooeyness, “I did not make that face.”

  “Yes, you did,” she said. “I mean, those cookies are the bomb. I can’t blame you. I ate a half dozen earlier.”

  “What’s the big deal?” Coren questioned, reaching into my bag to snatch a chocolate
chip. He was lucky I hadn’t bitten his fingers off. I tried to seize the cookie back, but he shoved the entire thing in his mouth before I could. I gave him my best death glare. How dare he steal one of my cookies?

  Once he finished, he said, “Those are great. I get it now. I’m surprised my eyes didn’t roll back, too.”

  Raven shifted on her feet. “Another reason I’m here is there are rumors circulating about Coren helping you slaughter demons. Lucifer is not happy. Don’t be surprised if you see him make an appearance soon.”

  Snorting, I rolled my eyes. “Like that shocks me. He’ll come up with whatever excuse he needs to threaten my soul. Lor said something about—”

  She held up a hand. “Wait. Spell it.”

  “W-a-i-t.”

  “Lor’s name, dork.” Raven rolled her eyes.

  “L-o-r.”

  She bit her lip. I clenched my hand into a fist, afraid I was going to find out that another being wanted my soul. You know, since it was apparently so shiny and made of precious metals or something.

  “Lor. Why does that sound familiar?” Raven pondered, her pale face crinkled in thought.

  “He’s a shadow that has the hots for Mara,” Coren ground out.

  “He so does not.”

  She tapped her chin. “One minute. I’ll be right back.”

  With a swirl of black mist, Raven popped out of the room.

  “What the fuck?” I gave Coren a puzzled look.

  He shrugged. “Hell if I know.”

  How in the world had Raven known Lor’s name? He was a shadow, a being from another realm who’d happened to be born on this one. A man who believed he knew how to save my soul.

  With a cloud of smoke, Raven appeared holding an old parchment paper. The swirly handwriting was barely visible from age, but she read the writing with ease. “The chosen one, at the hands of lor, shadow, and angel, will ruin the world of evil. The chosen can end all malice with the sickle. They can and will be strengthened by a suitor, an ally, and death.”

  Coren perked up. “What is this?”

  “An old prophecy,” Raven said. “My father assumed it was me because of the word sickle. He read it to me several times over the years, and we recently looked over it again. That’s why it was so fresh on my mind. Lor is spelled differently, so I assumed it was how they wrote it in ancient times. Now I know better. And sickle could mean a sword, too. I think this is about Mara, not me.”