by Jane Hinchey
These thoughts, as delicious as they were, were also foreign to me. Why did I feel so obsessed with him? He was virtually a stranger. And a human at that. While I’d had lovers in the past, they’d never drawn out such feelings in me, and to say it was unsettling was an understatement. Snapping my attention away from him, I strode to the front door, feeling him behind me as we waited for the doorbell to be answered.
“Yes?” The woman I’d seen at the police station, Sarah Moore’s mother, opened the door and looked at us.
“Mrs. Moore, I was hoping to speak with Sarah, please. And Brianna if she’s here.” I smiled my most non-threatening smile.
“The girls aren’t seeing anyone at the moment.” She started to close the door. I reached out and grabbed it.
“Please, Mrs. Moore. I’ll only be a minute. It’s really important.” I pushed just a little bit of compulsion into my voice, using too much could send her into a comatose state and I didn’t want that.
She looked at us both again, her eyes darting between us before she let out a sigh. Letting go of the door, she ushered us inside. “Upstairs. First door on the left.”
The girls were both lying on the bed when we walked in, notebooks spread out in front of them with what looked like fashion designs sketched on the pages.
“Hi, Sarah. Hi, Brianna. Sorry to intrude. I’m Lucy and you probably already know Levi.”
“We know you. You were at the police station. Detective James said you’d killed Emily.” Sarah sat up, tossing her long dark hair over her shoulder.
“Sarah,” Brianna warned, “she didn’t say that at all. She insinuated it, which is entirely different.”
“I didn’t hurt your friend,” I assured them.
“We know that.” Brianna smiled weakly.
“A séance, eh?” I moved further into the room, looking around at the pictures on the wall.
“Girls, haven’t I warned you before about messing with that stuff?” Levi scolded, sitting down on the end of the bed and snatching the notebook away from Sarah to begin flicking through the pages.
“Hey, these are good.” Surprise colored his voice.
“We’re designing our Halloween costumes.”
“Wasn’t Halloween last night?” I was confused.
“Well yeah, technically, but since it’s a weeknight the school is holding a Halloween party this weekend.”
“Sounds like fun.” I loved a good party myself, but… “Sorry, girls, but this one is a no go.”
“No go? What?” Brianna frowned.
“Not to be alarmist—well, actually I’m probably going to have to take that back because what I’m about to tell you is, well, alarming.”
“What!?” the girls practically shouted. I held up a hand to hush them.
“Your friend, Emily, was killed by a soul stealer. You opened a portal to another dimension during your séance and he got through.”
“Are you for real?” Sarah’s voice was somewhere between sarcasm and fear.
“I’m very much for real. The reason I’m here is to give you these.” I pulled out the talisman bracelets. “These will hide you from the soul stealer. Wear them. At all times. They’re never to come off, not until I tell you.”
“Hide us? Why? Are we in danger?” Brianna asked, watching as Levi fastened the bracelet around her wrist.
“Yes.” I had no choice but to be blunt. There was no sugar-coating this. “If the soul stealer is to stay on earth permanently, he has to consume your souls.”
“Consume our souls? As in…kill us?” Brianna whispered.
“Correct. Naturally, I’m not going to let that happen. I’m going to send his sorry ass back to his own dimension, but in the meantime you need protection, and this is it.” I indicated their bracelets.
“How can a piece of jewelry protect us?” Sarah’s tone was disbelieving.
“Because I have placed a concealment charm on it. During the séance the soul stealer was able to get a lock on your individual essences, meaning he can find you, anytime, anywhere. There is no hiding. But as long as you’re wearing the talisman, you are in fact hidden. Safe. He cannot find you.”
“We’ll wear them, I promise.” Brianna touched her bracelet. “You did it up properly didn’t you?” she asked Levi. “It won’t come undone, fall off?”
“It’s secure.” Levi nodded, resting his hand on Brianna’s shoulder to reassure her. I watched Sarah, who was fiddling with her bracelet. I was worried about her. Even though she’d witnessed her friend’s death, I sensed she didn’t truly believe any of this.
“Sarah?” I pushed a little compulsion her way. “You’ll leave the bracelet on, right?”
“Yes.”
Satisfied the compulsion had worked, I continued, “While the soul stealer can’t track you, if he sees you—anywhere—and recognizes you? The bracelets won’t help you. They can’t protect you from an attack—they can only keep you hidden. As long as you’re sensible. Which means no parties.”
“But—” Sarah began, but Brianna spoke over her.
“We won’t go. I’d rather miss a party and stay alive.” She glared at Sarah, who shut her mouth against any more protests.
“Give me your phones,” Levi demanded, hand out. Brianna held hers out and Levi took it, quickly typing something in before handing it back. He did the same with Sarah’s.
“That’s my number. If anything happens. Anything. Call me.”
“The police said to call them,” Sarah grumbled.
“Call me first. Believe me, the two of us are going to be of more help than the police if the soul stealer catches up with you.”
5
By the time we returned to Levi’s shop, the sun was dipping on the horizon and the warmth of the day had seeped away. I changed from my dress into blue jeans, boots, and a T-shirt with the word Devil emblazoned across the front.
“Neat trick.” Levi’s eyes ran along my long legs encased in denim and I felt the heat of his gaze as if he’d touched me.
“I can do almost anything. I’m an archangel.” My stomach suddenly made a loud gurgling noise and I placed a hand over it. “What was that?” My body had never made such a sound before.
Levi laughed. “That was your stomach rumbling. You’re hungry. You need food.”
“Oh!”
“Don’t you eat food in Hell?”
“Well, yes, but my body has never demanded it before.”
“Your body must be adjusting to being here then because we need to refuel several times a day.” Levi eyed me up and down and I felt the searing heat of his gaze as it traced a path from the top of my head to my toes and back again. A ripple of desire speared through me and I was intrigued again at the reaction that I had, not to all humans, but this one in particular.
“What a design flaw,” I muttered. “I’m surprised Father didn’t rectify that.”
“Come on, let’s get you fed. Have you eaten at all today?”
I shook my head.
“No wonder you’re hungry. You’ve missed breakfast and lunch. Come on, we’ll get you an early dinner.” Levi flipped the sign on his shop door to closed again, muttering under his breath that today was a write off anyway. Side by side we walked down the sidewalk, coming to a stop in front of a café. The sign on the window said Falls Coffee.
Following Levi inside, I slid into a booth opposite him. At the counter stood the two Detectives, Jared and Nic, who appeared to be ordering coffee. I watched the waitress serve them and frowned. She didn’t like them. Or she didn’t like Nic, which wasn’t surprising. The female detective was prickly. It was no wonder she alienated many of the townsfolk. As if sensing me watching her, the waitress looked up, her eyes meeting mine. With a dramatic sigh at the inconvenience of having to wait on our table, she grabbed her order pad, told the detectives she’d be back in a moment and made her way toward where Levi and I were seated.
Jared glanced over his shoulder, then turned fully when he recognized me. I winked at him
and smiled at the light blush of color that rose in his face. He was easy to tease.
“You ready to order?” The waitress asked, pen poised. I glanced at her name tag, then leaned forward.
“I sure am, Sophie. Let me begin by saying I know what you do, and if you don’t cut it out, I’ve got a special spot reserved for you. In Hell.”
Her eyes shot to mine and I allowed the flames of Hell to dance in my gaze. I knew she saw because I could see it reflected back in her own eyes. She swallowed, stuttering, “Wh...what do you mean?”
“Fine, you want me to spell it out? I will because I don’t want any misunderstandings between us. I know you spit in the food of the people who didn’t leave you a tip the last time they were here. That’s not a very nice thing for you to be doing now, Sophie, is it?”
“I guess not,” she whispered, face pale.
“It stops now.” I lightly touched the back of her hand and she hurriedly snatched it away, dissipating the black mist that had gathered.
“What did you just do?” she accused.
“Marked you. Any more misdemeanors on your behalf and when your time is up, you’ll be coming to visit me. In Hell. Did I mention I’m Lucifer?” Again I let the fires of hell glow through my eyes. Her crime wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t nice either, and small things, left unchecked, can escalate into big things. If I could save her soul here and now, all the better.
“I understand. I’m sorry,” she whispered, hands shaking.
I blinked, masking the burning in my gaze, and smiled at her. “I’m ready to order now. How about you, Levi?”
Levi cleared his throat. “Errr, yeah. Sure.”
After we placed our orders and the waitress hurried off, I let my gaze linger on Jared, who had watched my interaction with the waitress from across the room. I couldn’t read his expression, but I thought I caught a hint of understanding, a dawning of comprehension. Either that or he was constipated.
“Can I ask you something?”
I brought my attention back to Levi who was watching me with raised brows. I nodded. “What was that? With your eyes?”
“Sophie has been doing something that, if left unchecked could possibly escalate into full-on…sinning…and earn her a place in my home. I let her know that,” I explained.
“Can I see?” He sounded genuinely curious, so I figured, why not? Levi was a good man, he wasn’t slated for Hell, but that’s not to say he hadn’t made mistakes. He’d made plenty. But he’d repented and made good what he could. That was what mattered. I let the fires of hell glow through my eyes so he got a nice close-up view of what Sophie saw.
“Right,” he said, peering into my eyes, leaning closer until I could feel his breath on my face. I blinked, extinguishing the flames, and he straightened abruptly, leaning back against his chair.
“No offense, but that was awful.” A look of disgust flitted across his face and I tensed at the unexpected barb.
“You don’t like my eyes?”
“Not with the flames in them. That’s more than creepy.” He shuddered, then went on, oblivious to my hurt—though why I should be hurt he didn’t like my eyes was another thing I filed away to examine later. “I thought they’d be, like, solid black, like you see on the TV shows. The flames are…”
“They’re fucking awesome is what they are.” I cut across him, affronted that he’d prefer my eyes be a solid pit of black.
“I’ve upset you.” Realization dawned. He reached across the table and captured my hand, his face sincere. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I’m sorry. Sometimes I speak without thinking—I open my mouth and words fall out. Sorry.” The warmth of his hand on mine heated my skin until a tingling began, working its way from my hand, up my arm, across my chest. I dragged in a breath, the scent of him filling my lungs. He was musk and chocolate and whiskey and earth. Deep, dark, and inviting. I wondered if he’d taste the same, ran my tongue across my lips as if I could taste him there.
His hazel eyes darkened, then lowered, watching my mouth. His own lips parted and my thighs clenched. I hadn’t had a lover in a long time, hadn’t been interested if the truth be told, but Levi Forrester? He was very interesting indeed. There was something primal about him, the way his eyes trailed over me, burning a fiery path everywhere they touched, and suddenly I was ravenous. Only not for food.
The clatter of a plate being put down in front of me startled me, shattering the fantasy of stripping Levi naked and kissing him until he was growling beneath me. Fanning my hand over my heated cheeks, I shifted my attention away from him, watching Sophie’s ramrod straight back as she stalked away from our table and back to the front counter. The barista had finished the order Jared and Nic were patiently waiting for. Sophie collected the steaming cups and placed them on the counter, carefully pushing on the lids and sliding the cups towards the detectives. “Have a nice day now.” She smiled, although it didn’t reach her eyes. Nic picked up her coffee and swiveled, in a hurry to be out of the café. Jared, on the other hand, eyed his coffee and slowly picked it up, looking from it to Sophie and back again several times before turning and looking at me. I arched a brow.
Nic turned back, clearly puzzled why Jared wasn’t following her. “Jared? You coming?”
Without taking his eyes off me, he answered, “Yeah.” He waited another second before following her out of the café.
Turning my attention to my food, I lifted the burger I’d ordered to my mouth and took a bite. Closing my eyes on a sigh, I chewed and swallowed. The food was delicious. I could see how the humans got addicted to it.
“Tell me about Hell.” Levi had almost finished his burger and was squirting sauce over his fries.
“It’s beautiful.” I smiled, thinking of my home. “Not as big as Earth, but big enough. The sky is a swirling combination of pinks, reds, and oranges. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”
“I’ve never imagined hell as being beautiful.” He cocked his head to one side. “Where do you live? As in, do you have…houses? A cave?”
“A cave? Seriously?”
“Sorry. I’m insulting you again. All I know about hell is that it’s all fire and brimstone.”
“It’s neither of those things.” I could see I had some educating to do. “Hell is basically one massive city. There’s a large expanse of flat land that drops off a deep cliff. At the bottom of the cliff is the pit—yes, the fire pit, but that is the only place in Hell you’ll find fire. Hell HQ is perched on the edge of the cliff top. It’s the tallest building in hell and I can see for eternity.”
“So all the souls are in the pit?”
“Nope. Only the really bad ones. Not every evil person deserves the pit. But they still deserve punishment, so we have hundreds of cells, all housed in high-rise prisons for want of a better word. Only we don’t simply incarcerate. We punish. I punish. It’s not about taking your freedom, it’s about punishment. So depending on what you’ve done, I’ll craft a punishment unique to each individual who graces my doorstep.”
“Such as?”
“Such as being locked in a room with your greatest fear, or make you relive the worst moment of your life, over and over. Or I could take it up a notch, string you up with hooks through your flesh.”
Levi shuddered. “That’s so gross.”
“I never said it was pretty.”
“And no one leaves? Ever?”
“Yes, souls can leave. They can ascend to Heaven once their punishment is complete. Some are with me for a short time, some are with me for a lifetime. Time doesn’t pass the same way it does here on earth. Ten minutes here is like ten years in Hell. If you’re having your bones broken over and over…can you imagine? The pain and torture, going on for ten years? Would you have repented by then? I break you down, down to your very last molecule and rebuild you into a better person. Then, and only then, can you leave.”
“I’m sure everyone would be sorry for their sins as soon as they turn up on your doorstep.”
&n
bsp; “True. Words are meaningless in Hell. I have to feel it. You can scream at me that you’ve repented, that you’re sorry, that you’re different, a better person. Until I feel it, your punishment continues.”
Levi was silent, mulling over my words, nodding slightly as he took it all in.
Returning my attention to my food, I finished the burger and half of the fries. Then I leaned back, settled my hands over my now full stomach and smiled. I’d have to remember to keep my body fuelled while I was here.
“You ready? I’ll settle up and then we can get out of here.” Levi wiped his mouth on a napkin then pulled the slip of paper Sophie had left on our table toward him. Flipping it over, he examined what was written there, then pulled out his wallet and left a handful of notes with the paper. Noticing me watching him he raised his eyebrows, then nodded to himself.
“This”—he picked up the piece of paper and waved it at me—“is our bill. For the food.” He put the paper down and picked up the dollar bills. “And this is the money I’m leaving to pay for the food.” I almost laughed. I knew how it worked, knew what he was doing, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I played along.
“Do you leave a tip?” I was curious. Had Sophie been spitting in Levi’s food?
“Of course!” Levi seemed shocked that I’d ask. “So you know about tips? I heard what you said to Sophie but wasn’t sure.”
I knew pretty much everything that went on in this plane, for I kept an eye on things on my monitors. I’d watched over the years as the humans progressed from the stone age, created fanciful inventions, and technology progressed. I’d watched as the free will Father insisted they have made them do horrible, evil things to each other.
“Never mind.” Pushing to my feet, I waited for Levi to slide out of the booth. I cast my eyes over the other diners in the café. It was early, but several people had decided on an early dinner or a late afternoon snack, one of which drew my attention. A young boy, ten years old, sitting with his mother, both enjoying a milkshake.
