Bare Devotion

by Thorn, Lacey

  “He’s waiting for someone. He knows that she will be there tonight. He’s watched her before. But she’s not here. So he’s sitting and waiting.” Ally took a deep breath and closed her eyes, centering her thoughts completely with his. She had to learn all that she could. And who knew when she would get another chance. When her voice emerged again she knew that it would be deeper, harsher, more in line with his than hers.

  “For the wages of sin is death.” She boomed and vaguely she sensed the confusion of the men in the room. “Only through the fire can a sinner gain entry into the hallowed halls of heaven. It is my duty, Lord, and I don’t take it lightly. I know that you have set this task for me and I live to serve you. Your fire and damnation live through me. I am but a humble torch of Your power and might.”

  His thoughts were chaotic as he sat there waiting. It was a jumble of scripture and reverence for his version of God. She could feel his contempt for the other people in the bar. He didn’t like that they drank and flirted. There was a couple in the corner almost having sex and he was appalled and disgusted. His gaze moved around the room again but she still wasn’t there. It had to be her tonight. The Lord had already made his selection and The Messenger would follow. They were both startled when a waitress stopped by the table.

  “Hey there, sug.” She stuck her hip out and rested the tray below her well-formed breasts. “Can I freshen that drink up for you? Or you want to try something else?” The suggestion was blatant and made Ally wish for a mirror so that she could see the reflection of The Messenger. She could feel his contempt for the woman and her sexual offer.

  “I’m fine, thank you.” The Messenger spoke to the waitress and, in a silent kitchen miles away, Ally repeated it to an audience of four.

  “Just let me know if you change your mind.” The waitress leaned close and whispered in his ear. “I get off at midnight and if you’d like, so could you.” With a saucy smile she walked away, her hips swaying and drawing the gaze of many eyes.

  “The devil is tempting me with the sins of the flesh. But I am strong in Your love, my Lord. I will not waver from my task and give in to the jezebel sent to torment me. I am simply The Messenger.” She felt the tension course through his body. His gaze locked onto the back of a woman who had just entered the bar. She was speaking to the waitress and laughing.

  Ally tried to break out of The Messenger’s mind enough to describe her. She was almost positive that this woman was his next intended victim. It would be up to her to try to stop him. “She has long dark hair. Petite frame. I… There is something about her that is familiar. I can’t place her but I know that I’ve seen her before.” Ally wanted to see the woman’s face more than she could say, but it was only the woman’s back presented to The Messenger and Ally as well. What was it about her that tugged at Ally’s memory?

  The waitress came back with a takeout order but all that was going through Ally’s mind was The Messenger’s voice repeating over and over, “she is leaving.” The Messenger was getting up and making his way across the room to follow her. Ally was hoping that they had lost her, but The Messenger seemed to know exactly where he was going. He was whistling a song, “Onward Christian Soldiers”, as he walked down the sidewalk and headed to a small compact car parked along the curb.

  “He knows where he is going. He’s been there before.” Ally suddenly realized what The Messenger had in play. “He visited her home earlier today and set the scene for her salvation.” Ally tried to pull at his memory of the woman’s home. She needed an address, a street name, anything to point them in the right direction. “He was very displeased with her. Her home was filled with Oriental art and different depictions of the Buddha. It angers him that she might believe in something other than his own one true God. Her punishment must be carried out right away. He placed the magazines and newspapers from her recycling bin under her bed, as well as some of her cleaning cloths that were under the sink. He must be sure that the flames burn hot enough to cleanse her completely of her sin.

  “I can’t see an address or any street names. He thinks of her house as the candy house. I don’t know what that means.” Ally could feel the taste of excitement in The Messenger’s mouth, feel the anticipation in his veins. Although the waitress in the bar had turned him off, the thought of fire had his cock at full mast beneath his jeans. It was a sickening bit of information that Ally could have done without. The Messenger pulled his car to the side of the road and his gaze locked on a house that sat by itself at the end of a cul-de-sac.

  “The house is a pink-and-white gingerbread-style home. It sits on the curve of a cul-de-sac by itself. There’s a car parked in the driveway and lights on. This is where she lives and this is where he was earlier. He is sitting in the car and watching the house.” Ally shook her head from side to side as she tried to focus on the streets around him. She still couldn’t make out the number on the house. “He is waiting for the lights to go out. He’ll give her five minutes once the lights are out before he’ll enter the home and grant her the salvation of eternal life. He is pulling on thin latex gloves.” Ally struggled with in The Messenger’s mind urging him to turn and look at the street sign. She tried to make him wonder where they were by placing questions in his mind but nothing worked. Although she was linked with him, he was unaware of her.

  “The lights are out.” Ally’s voice was deadly calm when she dropped those words into the room. Everyone knew what that meant. “He’s set his timer on his watch. He’ll give her five minutes before he enters through the back and begins the Lord’s work.”

  The kitchen was quiet as the minutes ticked by and Ally sat, focused on the events taking place inside her head. The Messenger opened his door and stepped out into the night. He glanced down at his watch and smiled at less than a minute to go. Whistling again, he began to make his way to the house and around the side, giving Ally a chance to take in more details.

  “The number of the house is 1975. It is on the house in big gold letters just beside the front door. There is a walkway that leads to the back of the house. A little gate that opens through the white picket fencing. The yard is filled with flowers and there is a pond of some kind in the corner. It is surrounded by lush plants. There’s a grill on the patio but it looks as if it has never been used. He’s doing something to the door, I can’t… He’s opening it. He picked the lock. He’s entering the house and pulling it closed behind him, relocking it. He is in a little living room filled with the Oriental things.”

  Ally tried to look around and take in as much as she could as quickly as she could. She knew that a woman’s life depended on it. “The couch and easy chair are an orangey color, soft. Leather, I think. There is a throw on the back of the couch. Black with a dragon design on it. There’s a picture on the shelf over the fireplace. A woman and a man. The man is big. He looms over the woman. There’s another photo. It’s a blonde woman.” Ally tried to focus on that picture. There was something about it that was clicking in her mind. Not only had she seen the woman before, but the place where the picture was taken. Who was it? Where was it? Suddenly it hit her. “It’s a picture of Moira. Taken at her gym. The woman in the house. I’ve seen her before. At the dinner earlier. She was there. She left with Catherine.”

  Things spiraled out of control then and Ally was left drained and shaking. The Messenger passed a mirror hanging in the hall and stopped to straighten it. It was the first good look that Ally had of him. Simultaneously the room around her exploded into action and she heard the name Michelle spoken. Before she could focus intently on The Messenger’s thoughts again someone touched her.

  “No,” Ally screamed as she felt the jolt through her body when she slammed back into her own consciousness. “I told you not to touch me,” she murmured before pitching forward into a secure set of arms and passing out.

  Blake scooped her up and glared at Ben. “She said not to touch her. Didn’t you fucking listen to her?”

  “I was worried. She didn’t look good.” Ben
hadn’t even realized that he had touched her ‘til Ally screamed and Blake shoved him out of the way.

  “Roman’s on his way over to Michelle’s. Jack’s right behind him.” Shep interrupted them. “I’d suggest someone stay here with Ally and the rest of us head over as quickly as we can.”

  “I’m staying,” Blake stated. It was the first time that anyone had ever come before the job and he knew that from this point on Ally would always come first. He loved her. “You guys go on. We’ll meet you there when we can.”

  “I’ll call the station on the way,” Gil said pulling his phone out as the three men hit the door running.

  Blake nodded and watched them go. It was the first time that he didn’t feel a need to be in heat of the moment. His entire life had been one adrenaline rush after another. He glanced at the woman he still held in his arms and headed down the hallway to the bedroom. From now on she was all the excitement that he needed. He had a feeling that she would be more than enough.

  Chapter Ten

  Roman could see the smoke and flames when he pulled into the housing addition where Jack’s sister Michelle lived. Someone would have already called the fire department, but he still had to try to get in and reach Michelle. She was family and you never walked away from family. He’d learned that lesson once already in his life.

  He was out of the truck and running when the first sirens filled the air. Three powerful kicks to her front door and he had a way in. The flames were everywhere and the heat was intense. Smoke filled his nose and mouth, and Roman lifted his arm to cover both with his sleeve. It couldn’t have been more than three minutes since Shep’s call. Yet the fire was already raging out of control.

  Roman forced his way through the house, but the closer he came to the room he knew Michelle was in the hotter the fire and the thicker the smoke. He dropped to his hands and knees trying to crawl. He never saw the figure obscured by the smoke, who stepped out behind him. Couldn’t hear over the crackle and roar of the fire. But he felt the slam of something into the back of his head and turned even as he fell. Slipping into unconsciousness, the last thing on his mind was a woman. Not the one he was trying to save. But the one who had saved him. If he made it out of this alive, he’d keep her any way that she demanded. Suddenly he knew that being with her was all that mattered.

  “Rin,” he whispered. But the only one who heard was The Messenger.

  * * * * *

  God had brought him another soul to save. The man was big, though, and solidly built. The Messenger decided to leave him in the hall, knowing that the smoke would get to him long before the flames did. He went out the back door and made his way through the yard to the side gate, the match still in his hand. He had to leave it on the porch so that they would know that the woman and man had been saved by The Messenger. It was his sign to God that these were the souls that he had sent.

  He made his way to the porch. The sirens were closer and he could make out the glow of lights. He placed the match carefully on the edge in plain sight and turned to walk away. He was met by a fist to the jaw that knocked him flat on the ground. He was flipped and his hands were tied behind him. Harsh hands jerked him to his feet and headed him away from the beautiful flames toward the sidewalk.

  Fire trucks screamed into the area followed by police cars and an ambulance. He had never seen the aftermath of what God’s work demanded. He was only The Messenger and it was not his place to see. The man holding him was met by another in uniform as organized chaos convened around them as the fire fighters engaged in yet another battle with the house behind him.

  “This the one?” A rich baritone filled the air as the muscular black man with the deep green eyes spoke to the man holding him.

  “Yeah, Teddy. This is the scumbag who’s been setting the fires all over.” The man stepped around him as the one called Teddy grabbed him and The Messenger recognized him from one of the pictures on display in the house behind him. The man’s eyes scanned the growing crowd around them. “You see Roman anywhere? I saw his truck when I got here. He went in to get Michelle.”

  “And the flames of salvation shall grant them passage into the halls of heaven and the Lord will welcome them with open arms.” He told them grandly, willing to share his wisdom.

  The men ignored him.

  “I haven’t seen him, Jack. Where would he have taken her?” The name on the uniform was Simons, so The Messenger took him to be Officer Teddy Simons. A fine-looking man perhaps sent by God to take care of him.

  “His truck is still here or I’d say that he took her straight to the hospital.” The other man said, the one called Jack.

  “He is being cleansed by the fire,” The Messenger proudly told them. He was sending the Lord two more souls today. “Soon he and the woman shall walk in the halls of heaven and bask in the presence of the Lord.”

  “What?” The one called Jack grabbed him and shook him violently. “Are you telling me that they’re both still in there? Is that what you’re telling me, you sick, twisted fuck?”

  “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” Didn’t they get that it wasn’t him? Didn’t they understand that he was just the Lord’s Messenger?

  The man thrust him back toward Officer Simons and started running back to where the firemen still battled. “There are people in there!” The man yelled. “There are still two people in there.”

  “And the flames shall set them free. The cleansing fires of salvation shall wash away their sins and they will be anointed in the Holy Spirit. God’s message is delivered.” He had saved two more souls. He was a faithful Messenger.

  * * * * *

  The room was lit by the dim glow of a lamp when Ally opened her eyes. She was resting on the bed in Blake’s room and he was lying close beside her, one hand stoking softly over her hair.

  “You’re awake.” He spoke softly making her wonder just how long she’d been out. It varied with every encounter. Sometimes she never passed out at all.

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Maybe five minutes. Not long at all.” He moved so that he was looking down at her and she was overcome by the emotion shining so vividly in his eyes. “The others left to head to Michelle’s house. Hopefully they’ll make it in time.” He took a shaky breath and traced his fingers down her cheek. “I almost killed Ben when he touched you and you screamed. I didn’t know if he had hurt you or not.”

  “I’m sure that he didn’t mean to.” Ally almost laughed at the way she felt compelled to defend a cousin who had walked out of her life without looking back. Or had he? She was beginning to understand Ben’s reasons. And he was happy now. Wasn’t that all that mattered in the long run? “You stayed with me?” She couldn’t believe that the man who had rushed out the door in the wee hours of the morning was still with her now.

  “Yes,” was all that Blake answered, but he continued to run his hands over her body.

  “I’m fine now, Blake. You can go on if you want. I’ll just rest a few more minutes and then I’ll join you.” She wouldn’t keep him from where he wanted to be. God help her but she loved him.

  “You’re not going anywhere.” Her startled gaze locked with his and she felt the pool of liquid between her thighs at the look in his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. They can handle it just fine without us. We’d only be in the way.”

  “But your job…” Ally started to say, but her words were cut off by the touch of his lips, the slip and slide of his tongue against hers. The kiss was hungry, consuming, but filled with something more. Something she prayed was love but was afraid to believe. They were both gasping for air when he pulled away.

  “They can handle it. My job is to be right here with you.” He skimmed his tongue across her jaw and nibbled his way down her neck. “For now I want nothing more than you and me, making love. I want to feel your skin against mine. I want to taste you everywhere until neither of us can hold back.” His eyes connected with hers and there was no more denying the love that reflected there. “I
want to love you. For now and every day for the rest of our lives.” He cradled her face in his hands and brushed at her tears with his tongue. “I want you to stay with me, to be with me, to love me. I don’t want to be without you.” She watched him take a ragged breath before continuing. “If you want Shep to be with us, then I’ll accept that. I’ll take you anyway that I can have you. I…”

  She stopped him with a finger to his lips wanting to put his mind at ease. “Shep and I didn’t have sex when you left, Blake. He took me down to the basement and let me work out. He’s a good friend and I’m pretty sure that he knows how I feel about you.”

  “He’s the best friend I’ve ever had and I’m—” He stopped and looked intently at her as the rest of what she said sank in. “How you feel about me?”

  “I love you, Blake. I love you more than I ever thought possible. I know that we haven’t known each other long and that my gift can be hard to handle, but I hope that you’ll give us a chance.” She was so afraid to believe his earlier words.

  Blake laughed and bent to nip her bottom lip with his teeth. “Did you not hear me, woman? I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Your gift doesn’t change that at all. I’ve never been so jealous in my life as when I thought you and Shep were back in this bed without me.”

  “Well, maybe we could invite him back sometimes. I’d hate to come between your friendship.” She smiled brightly and was rewarded with his rich laughter.

  “We’ll see what we can do,” he agreed before turning serious once more. “I’d like to marry you, Ally. I never thought that I would again after what my first wife did. But with you I want it all.”