The Devil Inside

by Lana Pecherczyk

  “Your girl has the Book of the Dead. She’ll know.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Cash

  MY TWO HANDS slipped behind Roo’s neck and held her still. She stared up at me, waiting. My heart beat rapidly against her palm on my chest and my lungs drew a ragged breath. A flicker of guilt over my absenteeism hit me, but that’s all it was, a flicker. My desire was too strong. It surged to the surface, wanting, needing to be closer to her. My fingers flexed on her nape, trying to be gentle. It was the neck I’d ruined days before, vulnerable again. I wanted to lay my lips on her, to remove the painful memory and replace it with something better. Need rippled through my body, leaving tremors in its wake. I couldn’t hold out.

  I bent and brushed my lips to the soft spot beneath her ear, and she melted into me. When I licked on her ear lobe, she moaned softly. She slid her palm around my chest to rest at my back and tugged me closer, a silent plea.

  “I missed you,” she whispered, her fingers twisted in my shirt.

  I pulled back and checked her eyes. They were sincere, glistening and wide, and they weakened me because I felt the same way.

  “There hasn’t been a day I didn’t think of you,” I said. “Hell, no, there wasn’t an hour, a minute, that went by without you in my thoughts. You’re all I think of, Roo, and I tried to deny it, but I can’t do it anymore.”

  “Why would you deny it?” Her breath hitched.

  “Because I’m no good for you. I know that’s a horrible cliché, but it’s all I’ve got.” I pulled my gaze from her. “The things I’ve done. Especially to you.”

  “Is that why you avoided me for the past week?” Her gentle touch on my chin pulled my gaze back to her hardened eyes. “There is nothing more despised in this universe than me. If there is anyone not worthy, it is me. I’m a Soul-Eater, Cash. Case in point.”

  “Yet, you’re new to this reality. I’ve got eons of sin dripping from me.”

  “If you were so bad, then your aura wouldn’t be so light. No. It’s me who is dark. It’s me who will taint you with what I am.”

  She stiffened beneath me, signaling she was about to pull away, but I held tight, hands fisting in her hair.

  “I’ve told you I don’t believe that.”

  “But it’s true, I’ve devoured souls.”

  “Perhaps we are made for each other,” I mumbled. “Because my soul is yours for the taking.”

  Before she could grumble about my second horrible cliché, I crushed my mouth to hers, moving her lips with a ferocious need that echoed in my heart. Her essence pushed into me, stroking my soul, setting it on fire. With her, it was more than a simple kiss. With her it was everything. Electricity and sensations I couldn’t explain traveled through our connection and amplified my entire being. I felt lighter and heavier with need at the same time. The scent of her swam through my senses, flooding me, drowning out every other thought. There was nothing but her.

  “Finally.” Roo pulled back and smiled. “You took long enough. Not about me taking your soul because I won’t do that. I mean, you took long enough about the—”

  I kissed her. “With this, I’ll take as long as I can.” I nipped at her neck, eliciting a long, drawn out moan from her. The sound tugged at my restraint and I doubted my words. I wanted her now. This instant. What this woman did to me was insane. I hadn’t felt like this since… since… Her.

  “You have no idea how much I want this, but we’re going to be late.” She patted my shoulder while my lips trailed down her neckline. I wasn’t done. On the way back up, I licked a line to her lobe and she shivered.

  “Fuck late,” I said and lifted her by the waist to sit on the kitchen bench.

  I gripped her above the knees and took a moment to appreciate her beauty. Red, tousled hair tumbling down her shoulders, rosy cheeks with kissable, swollen lips. Honey eyes that glistened for me. A possessive rumble erupted from the base of my throat. For me. Slowly my hands slid up her thighs until my fingers pushed at the hem of her skirt, reveling in the indecent vision I’d imagined earlier. I nudged in until she opened her legs to make room for me with an amused glint in her eyes.

  That look. White hot want burst through me and, without ceremony, I swiped the papers and coffee cups from the bench behind her, letting them crash loudly to the floor. I wanted her to lay back, to let me—

  “What’s that?” she said.

  “The cups.”

  “No, that other sound.”

  “Don’t care.” I kissed her above her breast.

  “I heard a sound.” She straightened herself and pushed at my shoulders until I drew away. “And I can sense an aura. A familiar one. There.”

  Someone knocked at the door.

  Roo squeaked.

  The haze covering my mind cleared.

  Jed shouldn’t be back yet. How much time had passed? I checked the clock on the wall. Perhaps he had figured out I’d lied about the job. I’d only wanted him out of the house. Yes, I was a bastard, but I’d deal with that later.

  “I’ll get it,” Roo said, cheeks flushed, and slipped off the bench.

  I enjoyed watching her pull her dress down her lush curves as she walked to the door, taking pleasure in the knowledge that I’d roused her that way.

  A grin broke out on my face.

  I didn’t notice who was on the other side of the door until it was too late.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Marc

  WHEN THE DOOR opened, I did not expect what I found. The sight of Little Red’s flushed cheeks hit me squarely in the chest. I swallowed. She looked magnificent. I let my gaze travel down her body and delighted in the tight dress she wore.

  “You knocked.” Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

  “Well, I’m not a complete degenerate. I do have manners, you know. I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  “Yes, but, you never knock. You just”—she made a gesture with her fingers—“poof, you appear.”

  My eyebrow arched. “Love, please tell me you didn’t call me a poof.”

  “Ah…”

  “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I have no qualms with a well timed orgy from time to time, but I detest the word.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” She glanced over her shoulder, preoccupied. It was then I noticed her usually abundantly sensual and flowing hair was messed up.

  “Sorry, love, am I interrupting?” I peeked inside, hoping to have a gander of what was going on in there. Bloody hell. Doing this the right proper way was a pain in the ass, but she did harp on about my need to respect her privacy, so here I was, respecting her privacy. I sensed an aura in there, but it was slippery, evasive. Stuff and nonsense.

  A large hand appeared on her shoulder and pulled her to the side to reveal the even larger body of the hunter.

  Of course. Who else would have a slippery, sneaky aura?

  “What do you want, Marc?”

  The hunter’s stormy gaze was more clouded than usual and, if I focused, I noticed a surge in his aura that caused me to dart between him and Little Red. The evidence became clear. The energy between them turned opaque in its entanglement. Cloudy wisps of essence sought the other half out. Bollocks. I knew exactly what that meant.

  I took a sudden breath, irritation rising swiftly, painting my atoms red.

  They’d been… in flagrante delicto. I could tell. It was as clear as the day. Written all over their faces. Her messed up hair and his disheveled shirt. Bloody hand
some devil in that shirt, he was. It sat rather nicely across his pectorals. Perhaps next time I visited, I’d wear something similar.

  I frowned again. I had no right to be, but the thought of them doing ‘it’ drove me mad. I didn’t want anyone touching her.

  She looked up at me all innocent and adorable, waiting for me to say something.

  I cleared my throat and met Cash’s hard stare. “I need to speak with you.”

  Cash checked the clock on the wall behind them and then sighed, stepping to the right. A gap opened up. “Come in.”

  I stepped across the threshold, walked near the kitchen bench, and noticed paper littered across the floor along with debris of some sort.

  “You said you had a third person living here, yeah?” I queried, choosing to ignore the mess.

  “He’s out,” Cash said and pulled up next to me where he folded his arms and leant a hip on the bench.

  “Right. So then, Little Red, I should probably let you know the spy has been dealt with. No need to proceed with Operation Scarab.” I touched the side of my nose with the tip of my finger as I looked at her.

  “Oh good. To be honest, I kind of forgot. Those notes were for Cash and something unrelated.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Because of his terminal condition, you mean?”

  “What?” Roo stepped back, away from Cash, away from me.

  Cash cursed under his breath.

  “You didn’t tell her, you cheeky sod,” I said.

  “What’s he talking about, Cash?” Roo asked.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Bollocks. Bertram told me.” In a flash, I was in front of the hunter, ripping his shirt at the center, popping buttons, displaying his bruised and manly chest for all the world to see. Tiny plastic buttons clattered to the floor and whirled loudly.

  “Asshole.” Fierceness flared in Cash’s eyes and he shoved me in the chest.

  “Careful now, hunter. I mean, I knew you had a death wish, but you don’t want to go there, mate, really.”

  Cash’s nostrils flared as he sized me up, calculating, assessing. Fists flexed at his side, pectorals tensed, abs bunched. Obviously the little tosser wanted another go.

  As if reading my mind, lightning fast, he shoved me again. I almost hadn’t seen him and he caught me unawares. I’d forgotten how quick he was. I dropped back a pace or two. He shoved me again. Lucky shot.

  “Right. That’s how you want to play it then, yeah?” I teleported directly behind him and slapped him playfully over the head, then shifted back to the front, ready to laugh at his inferiority, but was met with a fist to the sternum.

  I coughed as pain splintered from the site. Another lucky shot.

  I growled. Right, fun time was over. Fury surged through my anatomy. White hot rage ripped through me and I jabbed him in the face, hitting him squarely in the jaw.

  He staggered, head snapping backward. Slowly, he lifted his gaze to catch my eyes and wiped a smear of blood from his lip with a smirk. “Hoc est bellum, hey Marc?”

  Those words hadn’t been muttered in years. Thousands.

  “Why did you say that?” I asked, pausing my fist in the air.

  “One of Urser’s men uttered it to me before he died. I thought it appropriate in this case.”

  “Bloody Hell. Didn’t see that coming.” I stood down, urging my rage to release and let go. I scrutinized the hunter’s aura. There was no vindictiveness, no sin sparked my way, only the same steady Cash. I shook my head. Despite wanting to rip the sod’s head off, he wasn’t my enemy. Far from it.

  “This is war. You know that’s what you said, yeah?”

  Cash looked at me like I was barmy. “Of course I did. Why else would I say it?”

  “Did you also remember that when spoken between our kind, it’s an actual declaration of war?”

  “I was just…”

  “I’m not talking about you and me, I’m talking about that bloody Urser soldier. Use your head, hunter, think!”

  “Damn.”

  “That’s right, civil war. It’s here.”

  Cash slammed his fists on the kitchen bench, rattling its foundations. It was exactly how I felt.

  War.

  All of the time and effort spent honing this planet into something more peaceful, protecting and loving for the Simons—it will be eradicated. Bloody Urser. I knew he was up to no good. I knew it. But, honestly, the bastard had kept his machinations firmly within the confines of the rules of the Game. When did it go beyond that? When had he seen the need to teach his house those three little latin words?

  When you were too busy frolicking around with Simons to notice.

  I sighed. They were bloody good frolics.

  “Can somebody tell me, what the hell is going on?” Roo’s voice amplified in pitch as it filled the room, bringing our attention to her.

  Magnificent, I marveled. She’d instinctively used her power in her voice. Definitely not a Soul-Eater then, I thought, distracted. Unless she stole that ability off someone. I’d be utterly and truly devastated if she were one of those bloody parasites. Sure, she’d be handy in the coming war, but, what a waste.

  “Do I have to repeat myself?” Roo’s wild eyes darted between us.

  “Go on then, hunter, tell her the other juicy tid-bit you left out.”

  Cash’s eyes shuttered, and the air deflated in his chest. “I’m dying,” he said without opening his eyes.

  “What?” Roo choked, taking a step toward him. “That’s impossible. What do you mean? Shit. Have I done something?” She blinked at her hands. “Was it me touching you?”

  “No, love, it’s not you. What he means is that his simple Simon shell is failing. He’ll be returning to the Empire shortly.”

  “But, why didn’t you tell me?” Roo stepped away when Cash moved towards her. “You came here, and you… you lied.”

  “I didn’t lie, I was—”

  “You were going to quit, is what you were going to do,” I said with a smirk. This was grade-A entertainment, this. Who needed a talking box, when you had this? I folded my arms across my chest to watch the drama play out. All I needed right now was tea and honey cakes. Maybe some Ambrosia.

  Cash shot a glare precisely in my direction. “How did you know?”

  “God-of-the-in-between.” I pointed at myself and rolled my eyes. Really. How many times did I have to remind these people? “I can sense when people are close to crossing.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Alright. It was Betram.”

  “You were going to quit? As in… suicide?” Roo slid herself onto the edge of a stool. “I need to sit down.”

  “I didn’t tell you because I changed my mind.” Cash gave me a pleading look, and bloody hell if it didn’t pull at the old heart strings.

  Kinder, Marc. Be kinder. I could almost hear my old mate Plato preaching in my ear in his oddball Greek accent. “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.” Or did I get that from a wrapper around those little mints?

  I sighed. “Right. I apologize for my big mouth. I forgot about that part. You have no body to return to.”

  “This is so messed up.” Roo swiped her wet eyes. “I can’t lose you now… I…” Her voice trailed off, and she appeared to look inwards, thinking about something that clearly made her distraught.

  Then I remembered. Little Red had to pass the trials before being released as a full fledged Player i
nto the Game. She was at risk of being sent back to where she came from, and even worse, being tied to her father’s house for her duration here. Royals sometimes had other duties extraneous to the game. All at once my chest constricted, and I regretted being the one to break the bad news. I didn’t like seeing her this way. Desolate and hopeless. It wasn’t right.

  “Don’t worry, love, we’ll think of something.”

  “So what can we do? How long do you have?” Roo locked eyes on Cash.

  “Don’t know,” he said. “Could be months. Could be about a year, maybe more, maybe less. I guess it depends on how much I use my abilities. Bertram said the more I use them, the more I’ll burn through my body. It’s not exactly like I can stop smelling or sensing things.”

  I snorted. “Definitely don’t go using that flaming sword thingy then. Any expended energy will tax your body.”

  Cash stopped short. “What sword?”

  “You know, the one you used to… I thought you said your memories were returning.”

  “In dribs and drabs.”

  “Mate.” A smile inched up the side of my face. “You had the ability to conjure a sword made of flames. Red for eternal death, blue for severing souls from bodies, yellow for something or another. I stopped paying attention when you gave your little speeches to the rest of the cavalry. I much preferred to use my skills for loving than fighting.”

  They both stared at me dumbly.

  “What? Haven’t you ever heard ‘it’s all fair in love and war’? Who do you think that came from?”

  Silence from the two of them echoed in the air.

  “Right. Well, you’ve most likely heard of the Archangel Michael using a flaming sword to kick the sinners out of Eden and removing the ingredient they needed to return. That was you, hunter, except in the case of truth, you used it to kill all the infected Simons the Queen left behind. You and your bloody sword. I mean, talk about a man having an unnatural attachment to his appendage. You could just fire it up anywhere, any time. Magnificent, really. C’mon people. I told you all this back in Australia. Didn’t I?”