The Keepers of Hell Box Set

by Danielle James

  “Do not be so quick to judge,” Antonio reminded him. “The heart of the human is stronger than you think and usually forged in courage. Courage comes from trial. This is her trial.”

  “I can’t sit by and watch this,” Jake growled. “I’ll kill the bastard.” And then he went outside, spread his wings, and took to the sky. He muttered something about tiny penises and sick fucks as he shot out of sight.

  Antonio knew that Lucy was going through hell, but he also understood that her soul called to Ash for a reason. Jake was right. Her soul wasn’t ready to be a warrior. Yet. But one day, it would be. Antonio had watched the scene unfold, just as Jake had. But he had seen something Jake had not. He saw the fire in this little woman’s eyes. He could easily see that her soul was broken, her spirit trampled down under the weight of this pitiful excuse of a man, but that would change one day.

  Too many people were abused by the hands of those who pledged to love them. It was an unfortunate fact of life. There would always be predators and there would always be victims. The soul’s fate, however, was in their own hands. Some would break and die from the abuse. Others would grow into an abuser themselves, but a select few would rise above their situation and become fighters. They would fight for their freedom and they would continue to fight to keep it. Those were the ones that made a difference in the lives of the people around them. Those were the ones who stood up and said, “No more.” And not just no more for themselves, but no more for others as well.

  Lucy was one of those.

  Antonio completely felt Jake’s frustration. He wanted to clock the bastard too, but he knew he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He would allow Lucy to become the warrior she was destined to be. He let out his breath on a heavy sigh and stretched his wings to follow Jake before he got himself into trouble. And Lord knew that Jake was no stranger to trouble.

  It didn’t take Antonio long to find him. All he had to do was consider what he would do himself. It seemed too long ago, when Antonio had realized he was dead and was forced to deal with life. After his initial freak out session, Antonio had headed to the nearest bar. It took a huge amount of alcohol to affect a vampire, and the fact that when his family found him, Antonio was three sheets to the wind, was a testament to how much he drank.

  So it was no surprise to find Jake pacing back and forth in front of the nearest bar, cursing under his breath. “Hey,” Antonio said softly.

  “How the fuck can I get rip-roaring drunk if no one can fucking see me?” Jake demanded, spinning on his heel to face the angel. His face was distorted with a combination of rage and frustration.

  Antonio’s heart hurt for the man. This was so much for him to take in all at once. Hell, it was no cakewalk for Antonio when it had been him in this position, he could only imagine what it must be like for a human. “Come with me,” Antonio said.

  “No, I’m getting drunk. Just as soon as I figure out how.” Jake turned his back on Antonio.

  “I know,” Antonio said to his back. “But unless you want to explain to everyone why you have a huge set of wings and are wearing chain mail, I suggest you let me help you.”

  Jake turned to look at him. “I’m listening.”

  “Come on,” Antonio said, walking around to the back of the building. Jake followed him.

  When they reached the back entrance, Antonio stopped. “What, are we breaking in?” Jake asked, eyeing the door.

  “No,” Antonio said on a chuckle. “First, you gotta get visible. Then we have to hide your wings.”

  “And just how the fuck do I do that?” Jake asked.

  “You have to want to be seen,” the angel told him. “Concentrate on that first.”

  Jake did as he was told. He felt his body shimmer, for lack of a better description. Then Antonio nodded at him in approval. “Now make your wings disappear.” Jake willed his wings away and they obeyed. He stood there in front of Antonio, who had done the same thing, a mere man. There was nothing to indicate that Jake had become an Elite Warrior or that he currently resided in Hell. Hell, he had decided, was not necessarily in one specific place, but existed everywhere. “Now,” Antonio said, “Let’s get a drink.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Jake followed Antonio into the little dive bar that he had chosen. It wouldn’t have necessarily been Jake’s first choice, but it was the first one he had come upon during his flight away from his charge.

  The air smelled of stale cigarette smoke, sex, and alcohol. The bar was lined with rough looking men, as were the tables. There were two waitresses on staff, it appeared, and one bartender. The girls looked tired and Jake was fairly certain that one of them was on Meth. The bartender was built like a tank and he made no secret of the shotgun he kept behind the bar. It was hanging like a trophy on a pair of hooks on the wall behind him; easy to access, and Jake had no doubt it was loaded and ready for action.

  “Nice place,” Antonio said under his breath as they found a clean-ish table to sit at.

  “Beggars can’t be choosers,” Jake replied, taking a seat.

  “Hi, boys,” their waitress said, standing by their table. “Whaddaya havin’?”

  Jake just knew they were gonna get the meth-head to wait on them. “Tequila,” Jake answered while trying not to make eye contact.

  “Make it two,” Antonio said. The waitress grinned at Antonio with a definite come hither look, never mind that she was missing half her front teeth and the other half were rotting away in her gums. Jake rolled his eyes. Stupid angel even smiled back at her. Jake thought the woman was going to faint.

  “Ok, sugar,” she cooed. “Be right back.”

  “Ew,” Jake grumbled.

  “What?” Antonio grinned. “What can I say? I have a way with the ladies.”

  “I never did understand Meth,” Jake grumbled.

  “Remember that I told you not to judge too quickly?” Antonio asked, throwing back his shot of Patron.

  “Yeah,” Jake said on a harsh breath after downing his as well.

  “That lady,” Antonio said, leaning forward with his elbows on the table, “she used to be a meth head. Now she’s clean and sober. She’s been working here for about five years now, paying her way through college.”

  Jake nodded his head, properly put in his place. People could change. He should know, he was one of them. The change, however, wasn’t always for the better. She might have changed her life, but the physical damage had been done. She was going to have a hard time replacing those teeth and she needed to gain weight in the worst way. Just the knowledge about their server made Jake respect her. He didn’t know how Antonio knew the things he did, and he didn’t ask. He had enough on his mind at the time. Jake held up his hand and motioned for the server to bring them another round.

  Within minutes, she was there with a double for each of them. “Keep ‘em coming,” Jake told her, throwing back his drink. “In fact, just bring the bottle.”

  The server smiled and sauntered off. She returned moments later with a full bottle of Patron tequila.

  Half a bottle later, Antonio and Jake were laughing like old friends. “You should have seen his face!” Antonio bellowed around hoots of laughter. “It was kind of purple because the blue dye mixed with the red from anger!”

  Jake howled and slapped the table at the thought. Antonio wasn’t that bad after all, he decided. Who could not like him? “I tied my college buddy to his bed while he was passed out one time,” he told Antonio, “I cut his clothes off of him and then called his girlfriend. Oh, man, she was pissed!”

  “Oh fuck no you didn’t!” Antonio howled. “Did she kick his ass? Tell me there was some serious ass kicking!”

  Jake snorted. “It took three weeks to convince her that I did it as a prank!”

  The men were laughing hysterically, but they didn’t care. They tried to sober up when their server, Molly was her name, came over with a tray of shots. “Here ya go, boys,” she said, setting several drinks in front of each of them. “Starting off with a Buttery
Nipple, then moving on to a Wet Pussy, then a Blow Job, Sex on the Beach, and finally a Screaming Orgasm.” She pointed to each drink as she named them. “Compliments of the ladies at the table by the window.” She winked at Jake and then went on about her other tables.

  Jake looked at the drinks and then at the table of women who sent them over. “Well,” he exclaimed, “looks like we are getting laid by liquor tonight!”

  Antonio hooted and waved at the women. They giggled like school girls and waved back. “Yep, cause Lord knows that is the only way we’re getting any tonight!” They each took their shots in the order they were laid out in front of them.

  Antonio waved the server back and said, “Send those lovely ladies another of whatever fruity concoction they are drinking.” She smiled and nodded.

  “Man, I needed this,” Jake said, leaning back in his chair and feeling relief for the first time since he died.

  “Me too,” Antonio agreed. “I think that redhead has it for you,” he pointed out.

  Jake immediately looked around, but the redhead he was looking for wasn’t there. He wondered what Shelly was doing right at that moment and his dick perked right up to agree with him. He took a deep breath and willed that appendage into submission.

  “Oh, that redhead isn’t here,” Antonio said with a knowing smile.

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Jake muttered around his glass before taking another drink.

  “I think, my friend,” Antonio said with a toothy grin, “I think you do.”

  ***

  Ash was sitting at his desk with Mali, trying to figure out just who some of the emails he was getting were actually from. “This just doesn’t make any sense,” Ash admitted, running his fingers through his hair. It was sticking up at weird angles from all the times he had done the same thing.

  “I know that Lucifer used to communicate with several humans that he thought of as pets,” Mali told him. “Unfortunately, I was not privy to who they were. He didn’t like to tell me much of anything.”

  “I think maybe Antonio might know a little something about this,” Ash said. “He seems to know a little bit about a whole lot.”

  “But no expert in anything,” Mali finished for him with a smile.

  Just then, Ash picked up his head. “What the fuck is that noise?” he snarled as he stood from his desk. It wasn’t the cat in the washer sound that he had come to think of when Antonio sang, it was much, much worse. And there were two voices. He moved toward his office door to open it, expecting the worst.

  As soon as Ash opened the door, Antonio and Jake burst into the office singing “Since you Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson at the top of their lungs. The pair had their arms around each other, less in a show of affection and more for support so that neither of them fell on their faces. The smell of liquor preceded them, but even if it hadn’t, the empty bottle of Tequila was a dead giveaway.

  “What the hell?” Ash said with irritation.

  “Hey bosth-man,” Jake slurred. “Watz happenenenening?” He held his hand out as if to shake Ash’s hand. Ash clapped his hand into his newest guard’s and held it steady for a moment while Jake staggered a bit.

  Ash eyed Antonio suspiciously. “Why do I feel like this was your fault?”

  “Nope, no sir,” Antonio belted out. “All his idear. Ol’ boy here needed a drink and ya know, frens don’t let frens fly dunk ‘lone.” He pointed to Jake, who was giving him the stink eye.

  “Snitch,” he mumbled under his breath.

  Ash scrubbed his hand over his face and took several breaths. Would he never catch a break? “Go to bed,” he commanded, “both of you.”

  “Kay boss!” Jake said, saluting Ash with one hand and holding Antonio with the other.

  “Right-Oh Capitan!” Antonio cheerfully chimed in. “Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to bed we go…” they walked, staggered, out of Ash’s office. They were weaving back and forth through the hallway, laughing under their breath. “Shhh,” one of them said. “Stand up straight, you fuckin’ dunk,” the other said. Ash even thought he heard Jake ask, “Doya think we kin git the redhead to go to bed too? She’s pretty.”

  Ash refused to bang his head on the wall. It was tempting, though. He sighed and prayed, “Dear Lord, grant me strength. Or patience. Hell, I think I am going to need both in spades.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jake was standing alone in his room when Shelly barged through the door.

  “You think you’re something special, don’t you?” Shelly grumbled at Jake. She looked him over from head to toe and back again. He was a respectable height, with broad shoulders and a lean waist. His legs were powerful, she already knew. The white t-shirt he wore stretched over his muscles and she could see their contours easily through the thin material. He was hers. How dare he think any different? How dare he show concern for any woman but her? So what if it came naturally to him. She didn’t like it and that was all that mattered.

  “I’m not special,” he mumbled, fixing himself a drink of water. His head was pounding. Why did he drink so much? “I don’t get any of this.”

  “You were a fighter in life,” Shelly told him. “That’s why Ash chose you.”

  “I fought fires,” he said. “And I fought people for money. That is hardly noble.”

  “The fire part is,” she reminded him. “I did some checking. You gave your life helping others. There is no greater sacrifice.”

  But Jake knew that wasn’t true. He had sacrificed his heart for his own selfish greed. He had lost his one and only chance at love and it was his fault. He deserved the eternity of loneliness he was facing.

  “Are you pissed that I got the better of you?” Shelly asked, making herself comfortable on his bed. “I am a demon. You can’t help it that you’re just not as awesome as I am.”

  Jake spun around to face her. “I’m not human anymore,” he reminded her. “See these wings?” he pointed over his shoulder. “Those mean I am angel. Not demon. I should be able to kick your butt across the caverns and back again.”

  “Then what stopped you?” she asked arrogantly.

  Jake shook his head and sighed. “I can’t hit a woman. Never could.”

  “Well,” she said shaking her head, “that’s a weakness if I ever heard one. We all saw what you did with the fire. You know what you can do. Having a weakness is like having a bull’s eye painted on your chest. Demons will see it and go straight for it. Every time.”

  Jake watched her move as she talked. She was graceful and fluid in every move she made, each deliberate and purposeful. So what if his eyes were still seeing tracers from all the alcohol he had consumed. She turned to look at him and her hair flipped over her shoulder. “I do not have a weakness,” he said a little breathlessly. But she had that effect on him. Already, his blood was on fire for her and his heart was hammering in his chest. He felt like a school boy on his first date. But this wasn’t a date. This was a demon trying to goad him.

  As if to prove his thoughts correct, she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “When are you going to give up and let Greed claim you?” she asked sweetly.

  Jake stood straighter, forcing himself to sober. “I will never be a part of your realm,” he promised her. “You can take that to the bank, sweetheart. It ain’t happening.”

  Shelly got closer to him and walked her fingers over his chest. “Oh, make no mistake,” she said quietly, “you are mine. I know that Ash is letting you play hero for now, but eternity is a long time. You’ll come around eventually and succumb to your greed.”

  Everywhere her fingers touched burned, and not in a bad way. Jake could feel his body trembling under her touch, and he knew by the look on her lovely face that she could feel it too. Shelly got her other hand in on the game and started tracing his shoulders and the tops of his arms with her fingertips. “It may take you a while to give in to greed, but how long can you resist me?”

  Not very long, Jake admitted to himself. He could smell her. Smell h
er! She smelled of flowers and other girlie shit, but under that she smelled like sex in the sun. Hot. Musky. His body reacted to her immediately and his pants were quickly getting too tight.

  She leaned in and sniffed his neck. “You want me.” Not a question, but a statement of fact. Shelly leaned in and licked the side of his neck. There was no teasing or gentleness to it, she was tasting him. “Mmm,” she approved. “Tell me you don’t want me.”

  Jake fisted his hands at his side. The truth was, he did want her. He wanted her like he wanted to breathe. He wanted to feel her body under his and he wanted her shouting his name. But he wouldn’t give in so easily. She had made him look like a fool in the training center. She was all about herself and getting his ass into Greed. Well, he wasn’t going.

  Her hands explored his chest while her mouth planted little whispery kisses on his neck. She was murmuring something, but no, he was not going to give in. Aaaand then her hand found its way down his stomach and she cupped him through his jeans.

  He wasn’t going… what was it he wasn't going to do? Hell, he couldn’t remember. Shelly had molded her hand around his dick and was now stroking it through his pants. Her soft kisses had turned forceful. She was now sucking and biting his skin.

  That same skin was alive and on fire. Even his wings were twitching with the need to touch her. Just one kiss, he thought. Just one. He finally released his hands from their fisted position at his sides and grabbed the back of her head. He growled as he fused their mouths together.

  Heaven. He had died and gone to heaven.

  Shelly allowed Jake to control the kiss, at least, that was what she was telling herself, and she was sticking to that. His tongue forced its way into her mouth and bossed her tongue around until she sucked it between her lips.

  His answering groan was reward enough. Shelly felt herself growing hot and her thighs started to tingle. He needed to touch her. She pulled his hand from the back of her head and placed it on her breast. He released her mouth and moved to her neck as he massaged her breast. Her nipple had grown tight and hard, and he pinched it through her shirt.