Hell's Gift

by Haigwood, K. S.

  There was a classic red Ford Mustang and a dark green Land Rover parked on the gravel circle drive in front of the house. The wind was blowing slightly and the sky had darkened considerably off in the west. It was evident that a storm was brewing, but Josselyn had a feeling that another had already arrived.

  A slight movement to the right of the house caught her attention. She looked and focused in on a handsome lone figure, one broad shoulder propped against an oak tree, shoulder-length brown hair blowing in the slight breeze, arms folded over his firm chest and long legs crossed at the ankles.

  She had heard rumors of how beautiful some of Lucifer’s children could be, and she knew for a fact that this male was a demon; she could feel the tiny pricks of evil licking at her skin from where he was standing, fifty feet away from her. But clearly the descriptions of the creatures hadn’t been thoroughly explained to her, or the individuals observing them hadn’t been paying close enough attention to the ones they’d encountered, because the demon before her was extremely well-favored and devastatingly handsome.

  She knew he was dangerous, because behind the amusement in his green eyes, danger was evident. Was this Murry? Nobody had bothered to describe him to me. Shouldn’t that have been important for me to know?

  He studied her, unmoving, as if he had all the time in the world to stand there and let her ogle him.

  Jesus! She blinked several times. Am I lusting after a demon? No, I was merely acknowledging that I had been uneducated on their attractive and seductive looking nature, and that was all. End of story.

  The demon’s full, pouty bottom lip separated from his equally kissable top lip and Josselyn’s foot slipped from the edge of the porch.

  She was too stunned to stop the fall, and she came down hard on her knee beside one of Kendra’s rose bushes. She stayed there in the dirt and mulch on her hands and knees, eyes slammed shut, embarrassment clouding her thoughts and threatening to destroy her sanity. I’m so stupid.

  “I apologize,” the male said.

  That voice…Josselyn inhaled sharply, her body going rigid as the hypnotizing pitch threatened to make her swoon. He was standing right beside her, and apologizing for her clumsiness. Could it be possible that he’s not a demon? Demons don’t apologize; at least I don’t think they do. I am definitely not cut out for this job.

  Josselyn took another steady breath, then opened her eyes and got to her feet without making eye contact with him. She brushed at her clothes and hands and boots, then, when there was obviously nothing more she could do to stall, she forced herself to look up.

  “And just what would you be apologizing for? It wasn’t as though you pushed me off the porch. I tripped on my own.”

  He chuckled and her eyes were immediately drawn to that perfect mouth again.

  She cleared her throat, then turned and walked up the three steps to the porch again. She had to get herself pulled together or the Chamberlain family would have wings and halos by nightfall. Well, angels didn’t really have wings or halos, but she was practically handing their lives over to Murry.

  “No, you are correct. I didn’t push you from the porch. I’d never do something so cruel to someone so beautiful. I was only apologizing for being the reason the incident occurred.”

  Josselyn gasped, embarrassment trying to force its way in, but she quickly disguised it as anger. “Are you suggesting my thoughts were so clouded by lust for you that I couldn’t even pay enough attention to stay upright on my own two feet? Because it isn’t—”

  “I didn’t think angels could tell lies.” The demon took in a deep breath, then sighed heavily. His eyes drifted closed and his tongue came out to slowly play along the line of his lips. He took his bottom lip between his teeth and suckled gently. His moans started low, but soon grew in volume.

  Josselyn stood there, dumbstruck and mesmerized and completely turned on by the simple events that were playing out before her. She couldn’t look away and she couldn’t stop it; she didn’t want to stop it. She wanted more. She wanted him to rip her clothes from her body and take her right there, on the porch floor.

  Just before she opened her mouth and suggested he do just that, he stopped.

  Her eyes were filled with desire, but she knew enough to realize that her mind was being tampered with and he was slowly giving her back control over her own thoughts.

  Rage quickly replaced any sexual fantasies. Josselyn lunged off the porch and grasped the demon’s throat with her hands. Her body weight and the momentum of the jump caught him off guard and they both fell to the ground.

  She pulled her knees up to his shoulders, trapping his arms so he couldn’t grab her. She knew it was only temporary, she wasn’t strong enough to keep him down, but she had succeeded in stunning him for the moment and she took advantage of that.

  “Stay away from them and don’t ever mind-screw me again!” Josselyn shouted, then was thrown to her back on the ground by a gust of power.

  She didn’t have time to think about what had just happened before the demon was on top of her, his body in between her thighs, and only fabric and about two seconds’ worth of material ripping separated their most intimate parts from getting together and having one hell of a party. He was so strong.

  “The phrase is ‘mind-fuck’, skirt. You can say it. Even good girls say it when they want bad boys to do bad things to them. I could do bad things to you and make you beg for more.” The tip of his nose brushed her cheek and he inhaled her scent.

  Josselyn didn’t move. She’d been wrong before. She was no match for any demon. She couldn’t protect Kendra, and it would destroy Rhyan when something happened to his charge, the woman he had loved since her birth.

  “Don’t hurt them—please,” Josselyn sobbed.

  The demon’s body went very still for a moment, then he was on his feet, his back to her. “I’m not here for them.” He shifted so he could glare at her. “Murry knew you were a female, so he asked me to see how difficult it would be to get through you to them.” He bared his teeth, then growled as he looked away from her. “He won’t have a bit of trouble. You are weak,” he finished in a low voice.

  He isn’t Murry? And he isn’t here to kill my charge and her family? Maybe there is hope. Josselyn swiftly got to her feet. “So, if you’re not Murry, then who are you?”

  He laughed lightly. “You thought I was Murry? Who the hell is running this show up there, Helen Keller? They send an untrained female angel to take on a male guardian prince. That sounds about right,” he said, then turned to walk back to the tree where she’d first saw him.

  “You’re not going to tell me who you are? Why couldn’t Murry just come and take care of his own business, huh? Are you beneath him? Did he force you to come and test out the waters because he is a coward?”

  The male stopped and turned to face her. “Murry is my equal. He is Prince over the Syde of Wrath. And he asked me to come check you out because you are a woman,” he grinned mischievously, “and women are my specialty. Murry was busy, but believe me, skirt, you didn’t want him to have come here first, and I would suggest you get back-up for when he does decide to make an appearance. Or he will have you and your perfect little soul in Hell for all of us to play with.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “You really believe that, don’t you?” he said, his voice and expression full of amused curiosity.

  Josselyn jutted out her chin and squared her shoulders. “Of course I do. You can’t just steal souls that don’t belong to you.”

  He walked back to her, the small smirk growing bigger with each step he took.

  There were no mind games being played this time, but as he took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles, her knees threatened to buckle.

  He locked her eyes in his gaze. “We do it every day, and your kind does nothing to stop us.” He released her hand and turned from her once again.

  As he walked away she heard him say, “Better bring back-up, skirt. I won’t save you
again. And the next time we meet I’ll take you up on those fantasies you were having in that pretty little head of yours.” He turned and winked at her, and then popped out of sight.

  Chapter 21

  Rhyan

  Holding Abbi in my arms felt so good, so natural. We still had a long road ahead of us, but I was convinced we could make it work.

  Her sobs had long stopped. She’d battled through a nightmare after falling asleep, and I had held her tight to my body as she fought the demons away.

  I could tell she had awakened. Only a few moments earlier her body had given a violent jerk, gone completely still, then her arms enveloped me like I was her life support. I continued to run my fingers comfortingly over her back and right shoulder, waiting for her to talk when she was ready. There had been much for her to ponder.

  Abbi took a deep breath. “I want out of here, Rhyan. I don’t see how it’s going to be possible to steal my soul back from Lucifer. I’m not fooling myself into thinking anything we come up with will work, and I’m not completely sold on the fact that you’re here because I get another chance to go to Heaven, but I know I have to try. I refuse to lose you again and we will not be allowed to stay together here. You don’t want to know the torture we both will have to endure when he finds out who you are to me.”

  I hugged her closer; my chest was tight and my eyes were burning from the intensity of the moment. I knew we had to be careful, but it was actually looking like things were heading in the right direction for once. One thing was for certain, I wouldn’t stop until we were both out of Hell and safe.

  I glanced down at the top of her head where it was resting on my chest and managed to swallow around the lump in my throat. I had just opened my mouth to speak when she moved to casually prop her head on her palm and look at my face and the glistening tears that blurred my vision.

  I looked away from her, pressed my lips firmly together and cleared my throat. She was quick. I wasn’t expecting her to catch me going all soft in my thoughts.

  “Who is Kendra?” Abbi asked nonchalantly, but I could hear more in her voice that the words didn’t say.

  She was jealous and I didn’t have a clue how to explain about the woman I’d loved for thirty human years to my wife I had loved for over three-hundred. Of course, my love for her had been blocked from my memory, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there the whole time, waiting for our souls to be reunited.

  My breath suspired from my lips as I looked back at her, all excess moisture gone from my eyes. I had to do this or it would eat at the both of us until one of us blew up. She had been with other men, and I couldn’t honestly say I was as happy as a kid in a candy store about that.

  “Kendra is important to me, Abbi. She was given to me as a charge when she was born. The memory of you had been blocked from my mind and I allowed myself to fall in love with her, knowing that her soulmate had lost his faith at a young age. And even though they lived in the same city, I felt they would never meet. Even if they had bumped into each other at Starbucks, Adam was too far gone to love anyone, so I was all set to wait for her in Heaven.”

  I swallowed. That damn lump had returned, bigger and badder than ever. I cleared my throat again and risked a glance at her eyes. She didn’t seem to be thinking of stabbing me again, so I continued. I had to get it all out. “That was until Adam’s guardian angel caused an accident, landing Kendra on an operating table, which belonged to none other than her soulmate, Adam Chamberlain, M.D.”

  Abbi smiled like it would have been something she would have thought of doing, too.

  “Oh, it gets better. Coen, Adam’s guardian angel, bribed Kendra with her life. He explained that he could gift her life back to her if she would help him get Adam back on the right track,” I made eye contact with Abbi again, “back on our side.”

  Abbi sat up and faced me, then crossed her legs, Indian-style. She didn’t seem upset at all. She seemed intrigued by the story.

  “Go on…”

  I nodded. “She made the deal, but what she didn’t know was she was also damning her own soul if she didn’t succeed in getting Adam’s soul back. I didn’t know it either at the time, but when I did find out I turned him over to the archangels and they condemned him to an eternity in Hell.” I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s here somewhere, and if we cross paths before I leave here, I am going to make him regret his decision to gamble my charge’s soul all over again.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “Murry is Adam’s guardian demon, and he had so much control over Adam that he was able to live in human form. He worked beside Adam every day, lived just a couple of blocks away from him, too. Adam was a great surgeon, but I’m almost positive the reason he never lost a patient was because of Murry. I’m sure the demon kept Adam’s ego psyched, kept him feeling like he was superior to God, like he was the one in control.”

  Abbi took my hand and I looked down at the gentle gesture. I prayed I wasn’t wrong in thinking she had done a complete one-eighty. I had no choice but to jump in with both feet. If I thought losing Kendra was bad, I didn’t even want to imagine how it would feel to lose my soulmate for a second time. I would go mad. I was sure of that.

  I squeezed her hand gently and ignored the sudden heat that passed between our hands. The urge to kiss her senseless, take her beneath my body and make her mine again was almost too much to bear. But it wouldn’t happen now, not while I was talking about being in love with another woman. That was wrong on so many different levels. That wasn’t what Abbi needed at the moment anyway. From the looks of the fading bruises, she needed gentleness, a soft hand to make her feel safe and secure. I could give her that again. I hoped and prayed I would get the chance.

  I chuckled lightly as my thoughts returned to the story at hand. “Of course, Murry underestimated Kendra. Hell, I guess even I did, too, but she surprised us all and came out on top. She and Adam are happily married, have a four month old baby boy, and Adam has a brand spanking new guardian angel. I thought Murry would never be able to surface again, but I guess I was wrong, eh?”

  “Do you still love her?” Abbi asked quietly.

  I looked over at her in alarm. There was hurt in her voice, but I could tell she knew I couldn’t help how I felt. I wasn’t expecting her to ask that, but now that she had, I found that I had to ask myself the same question. Was I still in love Kendra?

  I had looked away from Abbi to ponder the thought and almost missed the sudden move as she brushed her fingers under her eye, quickly trying to wipe away a drop of salty emotion without my knowing.

  Panic rushed through me and I rose to my knees and had her beautiful face cupped in my big palms, searching her teary eyes with my own. I knew the answer to her question, but I had waited too long to answer it. I also realized she had asked a double-sided question. She was only half asking if I still loved Kendra. The real question, the hidden question, was if I still loved her.

  She tried to turn from me, but I didn’t allow it.

  I shook my head. “Don’t, Abbi.—”

  She couldn’t move her head, but her eyes cast downward. “No, it’s okay; I understand, Rhyan—”

  I repositioned my hands to the back of her head and tilted her head up, encouraging her to look me in the eyes. She complied, but it was clear she was uncomfortable. “I don’t think you do understand.”

  The tone of my voice had her looking at me differently, confused even. Good, ’cause I was about to clear everything up for her, and blow her mind a little in the process, hopefully.

  “I will always love Kendra, Abbi. I won’t lie to you or try to make you believe otherwise, but the feelings I have for her have changed. I no longer pray for her life to take a drastic turn for the worse so I can spend an eternity with her in Heaven. I only wish the best for her and the family that loves her. I am extremely happy she has found her soulmate. I’m ecstatic that I fell into such a deep depression over losing her that my negative voice landed me in Hell. Because if any of that had pl
ayed out differently I would have missed my chance to rescue my soulmate. I love Kendra as my charge and I wish to keep her safely away from Hell’s gates. Nothing more. How could I possibly be in love with any other woman when I have found my soulmate? I love you, Abbi. I am forever yours, my love.”

  I frantically searched her expression, praying I hadn’t misunderstood her signals. Her eyes filled with tears and I felt like my heart exploded in my chest, the love could no longer be contained in such a confined space and it had to burst free.

  It was right. Everything about her, me, us being together, was right. The constant tugging I felt when around her, as if there were magnets enclosed within our bodies trying to connect, was about to get its way. I couldn’t hold out any longer.

  My lips hovered a breath away from hers. This was the last chance she would get to say no. She was my woman. She was my wife. She was my soulmate, and no other man would ever touch her again if she accepted me as her man now.

  Her breath hitched and I could see she was still worried about the fallen demon angel. “Say it and I promise he will never lay another hand on you. Nobody will ever separate us from being together. I will never give up, and nothing will ever make me forget about you, ever again.”

  I waited.

  “Say it, Abbi,” I pleaded with her.

  She nodded, then smiled. There was definitely a change in her. She had made a decision, and she was happy about it. “I love you, Rhyan. I’m so sorry I did this to us and our child, but I want to make it right.”

  I didn’t need any more answer than that; my lips found and consumed hers. I took it painfully slow. I knew she hadn’t been treated well in my absence and I didn’t aim to dig up and remind her of any other men, except for the one male she was holding on to.

  I broke away and then kissed her again, lingering, taunting and teasing her supple, swollen lips.