Touched by Hell

by Emma Shade

  The next time I went to attack, he twisted my wrist and pulled me to him. Our mouths were only inches apart. His strong body pressed against me and one of his strong arms enfolded around me. With my sword trapped between us, he leaned forward so our lips were a mere centimeter from touching. So close, but so far away.

  “You’re no match for me,” he whispered. “If I was really evil, I’d take you in front of everyone.”

  My rage burned, but so did the heat low in my abdomen. The thought of him taking me on the rooftop caused my synapses to fire at a rapid pace, even if he meant killing me. All I thought about was his mouth on mine.

  I closed my eyes and let my head fall back. “Take me. Right here, right now.”

  I wanted him to ravage my body, but I wanted to prove a point more.

  Coren hesitated, his breath fanning my neck. A few seconds passed and he finally took a step back and released me, which was all I had needed. I lifted my fist and gave him an uppercut right to the jaw. He stumbled back in shock and I stopped my sword an inch before his jugular.

  I grinned. “Never trust a woman. You’re lucky I kicked your knee instead of your balls.”

  In a quick movement, his legs swept mine out from under me and I landed on my backside for the millionth time tonight. He pounced on top of me, holding my sword above my head with his wrist on mine. His head lowered to my ear.

  “You’re lucky we have an audience,” he murmured. “Fighting with you turns me on.”

  Clapping interrupted us, and Coren removed his body from mine. I closed my eyes in frustration. Both at losing the matches and for wanting Coren as badly as I did. It seemed we were like-minded and sparring with each other was an aphrodisiac.

  While I bested each of them in a moment, they also would’ve killed me if they weren’t my friends. What would happen if I ended up in Hell as Satan’s pawn? Or like the ugly beast with wings that showed up at my apartment? Nobody would want me then, not even Coren.

  “Well, love, you gave it your best.”

  Lor’s voice caused my eyes to pop open in surprise. He helped me from the ground with a gentle hand. Coren’s gaze was anything but friendly, and Raven and her father had their arms crossed as they glared at Lor.

  I smiled at him. “Still not good enough, though.”

  “You’ll get better with practice. I’m willing to offer my help as well. If you’d like to practice with me, that is.” His crimson eyes held a hint of mischief. “I know the perfect place.”

  Tilting my head in curiosity, I asked, “What do you want in return?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No,” Coren stated. “I’m not going to let you take advantage of Mara, no matter your intentions. She’s not going anywhere with you.”

  My gaze zipped to Coren for a split second. Hadn’t he said I owed him a favor when he decided to collect? His double standard was laughable. Lor offered me some training without anything in return. I needed as many combat skills as necessary. Even better, my decision was a big “up yours” to Coren for telling me what I could or couldn’t do.

  I nodded once. Lor grinned. As quick as a snakebite, he snatched my arm. I let out a groan as the pain crested from the upcoming relocation. Coren grappled for me as my body vanished, but I assumed he only grasped air as we faded away from the rooftop.

  CHAPTER 21

  Shadows aren’t always in the light.

  Lor caught me from falling when we arrived at our destination.

  Mountains illuminated by the setting sun filled my view to the left, and rock formations surrounded the house below the edge of the cliff. I blinked to adjust to the darkening atmosphere. The air was cool and crisp, barely an ounce of humidity.

  “Where are we?” I asked, turning around to see not only the gorgeous view, but a large adobe-style house.

  “That is the Garden of the Gods,” he answered as he pointed to all the red rocks from our view of the house. I gave him a quizzical look, so he continued as he pointed to the mountains. “Those are the Rocky Mountains. We’re in Colorado.”

  “Colorado?” I blinked and stumbled back in shock. He whipped out a hand and kept me from toppling to the rocks below.

  Sure, Raven, Death, and Coren faded me in and out inside our town, and the longest destination had been Hell. I assumed Hell was a straight shot south. Colorado was over a thousand miles away from home and we had traveled in a blink of an eye.

  I began to realize how powerful Lor really was. But was he powerful enough to save my soul? That was the million-dollar question.

  “Lor?” A man’s voice came from the house. “Is that you?”

  “Yes, Vex,” Lor answered. “We’re out here.”

  “We?” a female asked. Her voice was lilted and as sweet as sugar.

  Tilting my head, I took in their shadows from the large picture window facing the mountains behind us. Curiosity piqued my interest, but I refused to let it show. I reached for my sword, but it wasn’t there. I patted my sheath attached to my belt, feeling both naked and underprepared for what was to come.

  The man and woman made their way in our direction. Lor nodded in their direction. “That’s Char and her husband Vex. Fable and Zen should be along shortly.”

  I snorted. “Great names. Did you all pick them out at random from a dictionary?”

  Lor glared at me but didn’t honor me with a reply. Our couple from the house had arrived. They eyed me warily. Char was tall and strong, her pixie face hiding her true age. Her coppery red hair framed her chin in a bob. Vex, with black hair with a wisp of ashen near his ears. His face was strong and sharp, but he had nary a wrinkle.

  “Who are you?” Vex questioned, his arm on his wife. Although both their eyes were red, they were a darker crimson than Lor’s blood-red ones.

  Of course, I realized Vex was holding his wife back, not protecting her. I glanced up at Lor, who shrugged and gestured with his hand for me to say something.

  “Hi. I’m Mara Argueta.” For some reason, I wanted to curtsy, but figured that would be too smartassy. Instead, I held out my right hand.

  Char looked down at my hand, back up to my face, and cautiously shook my hand. “Nice to finally meet you. You’re not what we expected.”

  As I opened my mouth to say something rude, Lor snatched my free hand and squeezed it in warning. He said, “While her dyed hair and tattooed skin may fool you, she’s as quick as a whip and her mouth is even faster. You’ll have to forgive her if she says something that offends.”

  Vex waved a hand. “You forget Zen is as rude as they come. We’re used to it.”

  “Sounds like Zen and I will get along just fine,” I muttered, and then, seeing Char’s eyebrows raise, I cleared my throat. “For his mouth, that is.”

  Lor slapped his forehead.

  “No, not that his mouth and mine will get along, but that I’ll like his mouth.” Now it was my turn to slap my forehead. “Let’s try this again. I’m a natural smartass. It’ll be nice to be around another person without a filter.”

  Char let a smile blossom across her lips. “I know what you meant. I like to see people falter over their words. It shows character.”

  Lor laughed and grabbed my hand in his. I froze at the contact. His hand was soft but strong and felt strangely good in mine. Unlike Coren, there was no sexual attraction with Lor. He was like a brother, and that was okay with me. Lord knew I didn’t need two men fighting for my cold, dead heart. I could barely handle Coren.

  I smiled up at Lor and squeezed his hand in return and breathed, “Thanks.”

  He gave a quick nod. Addressing Vex, he nodded to me. “Our girl here needs some training. While her...” he stated and made a face, “friends have helped her with combat, I thought it might be good to support her mentally.”

  With a wicked smile, Vex rubbed his hands together. “I always love a good game. Been way too long.”

  His wife winked at me. “Are you sure about this? These guys are pretty competitive.”

  Well, I
wasn’t ready, but Lor had brought me to Colorado, after all. Might as well take advantage of it. I nodded, patting my belt for my sword again.

  “You don’t need it,” Lor whispered. “You’ll get it back when I take you home.”

  Two more figures emerged from the house; both of whom I assumed were Zen and Fable. A tall, lithe blonde woman followed a muscular man with light brown hair. They seemed to move in harmony, their footfalls barely audible. Of all the shadows surrounding me, I suspected these two were the killers. Their movements were too quiet, too perfect not to be. Yet, no weapons were visible amongst their tight clothing.

  Lor made introductions. “Mara, this is Zen and Fable. Guys, this is Mara.”

  Zen, the man, looked me up and down. His eyes were so red they glowed. “The demon hunter? This can’t be real. She’s nothing special, and she has no muscle mass.”

  “Well, muscles from steroids like yours usually mean a small dick, so don’t judge me until you know me,” I retorted back.

  Fable tilted her head back with a laugh. She slapped Zen’s shoulder. “I think you have met your match.”

  Char chuckled and swept her hand across the view in front of us. “We’re going hunting. You two in?”

  Swallowing hard, I tried to ignore her use of the word hunt. Lor’s hand tightened in reassurance.

  “Who are we hunting?” Zen asked, his eyes still on me.

  “I assume we’re going to play a game with Mara. Isn’t that right?” Fable waggled her eyebrows, her ruby eyes twinkling in excitement.

  “Yes, but we are only trying to give her some mental stress. Our girl has been hunted by some big bads lately, and I want to make sure she can rely on her brain as much as her sword,” Lor said.

  Char frowned. “Oh, you poor girl. Lor told me the Devil has been trying to take your body and soul. It’s not right. We won’t let that happen, darling. We’re going to save you.”

  I wanted to scream and ask them how. How they believed they could when Death himself couldn’t. I wanted to punch something in frustration. Instead, I took a deep breath and nodded.

  Fable rubbed her hands together. “Are we going to do this? We haven’t played this game in ages. I’m getting antsy here.”

  Zen kept his eyes on me, his mouth edging into a smirk. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Capture the flag, then. I’ll go out and set the flags. When I return, we’ll start.” Vex blinked out as he vanished, but I saw a hint of his shadow as he left.

  Lor shook his head once, so subtle I almost missed it. I crinkled my brows in confusion, but he had witnessed me watch Vex leave. They hadn’t known I could see them in their form. This little power would come in handy tonight.

  “So,” Zen asked, “how did you become a human demon hunter?”

  I gave him a once-over. “My mother sold my soul, she died, and I guess I had nothing better to do as a teenager.”

  He scoffed. “A teenager? Who trained you?”

  With a knowing smile, I answered him. “The Grim Reaper and his daughter.”

  Char let out a low whistle. “Thanks for telling us that little tidbit, Lor. That changes things quite a bit.”

  “Well, if I had known, I would have.” Lor’s red eyes practically blazed as he narrowed them in my direction.

  I shrugged. “You never asked. Why do you think Death, Raven, and Coren were practicing with me tonight? For shits and giggles?”

  “You’re impossible,” Lor grumbled.

  “So people tell me.”

  Vex returned, and the first thing I noticed was his shadow and glowing eyes. He appeared next to Char. “There are two flags set up, each with their own color. Are we drawing for teams?”

  “I’m on my own,” I answered.

  Lor shook his head. “I’m going with Mara. The rest of you can decide what you want to do.”

  “Two against four? That hardly seems fair.” Fable raked a hand through her hair as she looked over the surroundings.

  “Please,” Lor teased, “I can take you all on in a spirited game of capture the flag by myself.”

  “Only this time you’ll have a slow human with you.” Zen laughed. “Sucker.”

  “I’ll guard their flag,” Fable stated.

  Zen twitched in surprise. “Darling, we’ve never been on separate teams.”

  “Well, you’ve been nothing but an asshole to Mara, so this is payback for being a dick.”

  After a few tense minutes, Vex took out a small map and showed the two locations where each flag was located. The blue flag, which was mine, was located close to Sentinel Rock. The red flag, the one I was supposed to steal, was near something called the Cathedral Rock.

  I had never been to Colorado, let alone tried to figure out landmarks at night. My belly somersaulted as I looked over the landscape so unlike home. Did they have bears and mountain lions here?

  “You ready?” Lor asked, patting me on the shoulder.

  Startled, I realized everyone had already made their way to their starting points. Lor and I were the only ones lagging behind.

  I nodded and took a deep breath.

  As Lor led me down into the now-closed Garden of the Gods Park, I squinted my eyes to see our surroundings in the glow of the full moon.

  “Don’t be too nervous. My friends can be...what’s the word?” Lor paused. “Eccentric.”

  “They’re not family?” I questioned as the ground crunched under our feet.

  He shook his head slowly, his gaze down at the ground.

  My heart ached for him. There were only a few who’d escaped to Earth’s plane of existence. If he had no family left, that meant they had died by the hands of the man who paid me a weekly check. My stomach roiled at the thought.

  After a few seconds of silence, I said, “Sometimes friends are family. Blood doesn’t matter when you have people who love you. Look at me. My family is Raven and Death. They have always been there for me, and I’m only human.”

  Lor nodded. “And what of Coren?”

  “Coren is...” I sighed. “I don’t know.”

  “Whatever you decide with him, be sure to guard your heart. I’m not sure if he has evil intentions where you’re concerned.”

  “Why doesn’t anyone trust Coren?” I asked, tossing my arms up in frustration.

  “The same reason your friends don’t trust me.” He guided us around a mound of rocks. “Because they don’t know what I’m capable of. I’m an enigma.”

  “Coren’s a demon, so I’m—”

  He cut me off with a hand. “Are you absolutely certain he’s a demon?”

  I frowned. Coren had never said he was one, and he’d made me question the same. But how had he worked for the Devil if he wasn’t? I looked up at Lor’s face. “He lives in Hell. Who else would live in Hell besides a demon?”

  Lor took my hand and helped me over a rock formation to look over our surroundings. “Many creatures live in Hell, my dear.”

  I opened my mouth to ask what other beings lived there, but Lor held a finger to his lips. He gestured to our right, and I strained in the moonlight to see who or what was there.

  “You go to the left and I’ll go to the right. We’ll meet back up at the road there,” he whispered as he pointed to the road below us.

  The road seemed so far away, but by the time I had nodded, he was gone. As I walked as quietly as I could, my eyes scanned all over to look for any signs of darkness among the glimmering light.

  I crouched low behind some shrubbery to scope out the area. A hazy shadow materialized a few feet away. Its ruby eyes glowed in my direction and I held my breath. I reached for my sword and cursed myself when I came up empty-handed. Lor had taken it, which forced me to use my wit to outsmart a pack of shadows. Sadly, the only wit I had was a smart mouth.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Zen taunted.

  His voice was disturbing in the dark and sent shivers up my spine. I held as still as possible, my breath shallow. Zen hadn’t known I saw
him, and he stayed in his obscure form as a means to outsmart me.

  I took a step back. A branch cracked under the heel of my shoe and Zen’s gaze whipped in my direction.

  “Fuck,” I muttered and took off at a dead run. The road loomed about twenty yards away, but I felt his presence closing in. I wasn’t fast enough.

  His footsteps pounded behind me in the same cadence as my heart. Then it dawned on me. Zen had no idea I’d seen him as a shadow. If I wasn’t out of breath from exertion, I might have laughed.

  I stopped in an instant and crouched low to the ground. He was running so quickly that he couldn’t stop, and as soon as he ran into me, I flipped him over my back. Once he landed on the hard ground, I pounced and used my body weight to hold his shadowed legs and arms in place.

  He tried to squirm free but froze. “Holy shit. You can see us.”

  I smirked. “Surprise!”

  Lor appeared beside us and looked down at his friend. “Surprise indeed. Hello, Zen.”

  Once I removed my hold, he shoved me off him and stood to face Lor. “You knew this the entire time. You could’ve warned us.”

  “Now where’s the fun in that?” He held his finger to his lips. “No telling secrets until the game is over, only locations. You know the rules.”

  Zen growled low in his throat, but he nodded in agreement.

  “Is he out of the game now?” I questioned, my gaze traveling over the landscape.

  “For the most part, but he can help the others on his team if they see him. He just can’t move from this location.” Lor grinned. “The little demon hunter has a lot of skills, Zen. Don’t judge a person by their outward appearance. If Mara had her sword with her, you’d be dead instead of out of the game.”

  Pride swelled within me. Lor believed in what I could do. I beamed at him. “Damn right.”

  “You bested me. I have to respect you for it,” Zen said, his voice clipped. “But you still have two others to defeat. Vex and Char are a force of nature. Good luck.”

  When we left Zen on his own, I asked, “Are we going to be able to beat Vex and Char?”