by L. A. Long
“It was just a question. I’ll take it back.” I turn around and look out the tiny kitchen window that not even a tiny mouse could squeeze their tiny ass out of. “I don’t need to know. I don’t know why I asked it.” I grab the faucet like I’m going to turn it on. “You get good water pressure?” I glance at the weird lumberjack patterned curtain that hides the driver. “Who is driving anyway?”
Bast leans so close to me I can feel the heat coming from his skin. “Come back to us, Caz. We need you.”
I look into his eyes. “So, we’re doing this now?”
He slowly grins. “Now and always.”
I feel Makus’ breath behind my ear, and I don’t dare move or breath. I’m not going to be the one to accidentally break the no touch rule. “You better not be thinking of touching me, demon.”
“Why don’t you use my name? I love it when something of mine is on your tongue.”
“Back off, demon. I mean it.”
I hear him take a step back.
I turn around and shoo him further away.
He raises his hands and backs up a whopping two feet. Bast doesn’t move. I look at him and motion for him to do the same.
Makus leans a bit closer. “Just use my name once.”
“I used it when I was with Ren and Syn.”
Makus grimaces. “Ugh. Do not use their names or even bring them up ever again.”
“Ren and Syn were very cordial when I was at their cabin.”
Makus’ glare isn’t so much menacing as totally sexy. “Did I think that?”
He slowly nods.
“Anyway, Ren and Syn’s cabin. It’s cozy. Warm. Comfortable.” I make a point to slowly eye the RV.
Makus folds his arms across his chest. “No more angel or reaper talk. It’ll give me a headache, and my headaches can only be assuaged one way and only by you.”
I fold my arms across my chest mimicking him. I don’t know why, but I can’t help myself. “Ren and Syn—”
Makus immediately lunges at me and puts his arms on either side of me careful not to touch me. “You love to tempt me, don’t you?”
His lips are inches from mine, and his blue eyes taunt me into wanting to give him everything.
He studies my lips.
I try to look away, but Makus follows my line of sight so I have no way to avoid him. I look at Bast hoping he’ll do something or say something.
Bast grins just like Makus. “I’m sorry, beautiful, but giving into him means you’re also mine. I’d prefer more than anything not to have to share you, but that’s the only way to get you back.”
Makus stares into my eyes like he can see my past, present and future. “You want more from me, don’t you?”
Just shake your head, Caz. Shake your head.
His sinister grin tells me he knows I’m struggling. “Just say the word, Caz, and you can have anything you want from me.” His hand hovers near my face. “One word is all I need. Any word. Even an unintelligible grunt. In any language.”
I clamp my mouth shut just in case something flees. My lips ache as I smush them together until I think they’ll bleed.
Makus looks to Bast as they both laugh.
“I love how stubborn you are.”
Bast flinches and looks at his arm.
I close my eyes and pray for a job. Any job. I don’t hold out hopes of resisting either of them much longer.
Makus winks at me.
Bast sighs. “We have a job.”
Makus backs up and lets me breathe. “When?”
“Now.” Bast runs his fingers through his hair as he looks at me. “We were so close.”
“Indeed.” Makus’ eyes flip red and black and back to blue. “Another taste. Don’t you owe it to yourself to sample us again before you go back to them?” His mouth contorts like he’s just tasted bile. “So pious and disciplined not to give in to you.”
I freeze. That’s why he’s not angry.
Makus studies me. “Why would I be angry?”
I shake my head. I will my thoughts to disappear. I force my expression to be blank.
Makus’ eyes widen. “What in the fuck? On their counter?”
Bast slams his fist into the wall. “How did they hide that from us?”
“I thought you knew,” I say. “They said either could do what the other did. As long as I wanted it.”
“And you wanted them?” Makus’ eyes plead with me to tell him no, but I can’t.
“I can’t help it. When I’m with you, I’m all about you, but when I’m with them …”
Makus sighs and fumes. As angry as he gets, I realize I’m not afraid of him.
He looks at me with the strangest expression. “I swore I’d never hurt you. I tease and taunt and punish exquisitely, but I would never willfully hurt you out of spite. I’m not human.”
I feel heat coming from him.
I step back. “Is that because you’re from hell?”
He looks down at himself. “Yes, plus I’m fucking pissed. That angel and reaper had no right to touch you.”
“Did you hear what she said?” Bast asks. “They did exactly what we did.”
Makus’ eyes narrow as a grin slowly appears. “Assfucks. Don’t have an original thought in their dull minds.”
He leans as close to me as he can. “When you go back for the last job with them, tell them I’ll introduce them to hell if they even think of touching you.” His eyes return to their normal gorgeous blue. He walks out of the kitchen.
“So, what’s the job? Where is it? Who is it?”
Bast leans close to me and shows me his arm. “I love that you can read this,” he whispers.
“I have one more job with the angel and reaper. And I have lots of questions for them. Perhaps they’ll actually answer them. Do we drive there? And exactly who is driving?”
Makus motions towards the front of the RV as an invitation. The way he glances at Bast makes me wonder what the hell I’m going to see. But, there’s no way I can’t look. I walk to the curtain, take a deep breath, and prepare for anything.
I jerk the lumberjack curtain back and brace myself. I hold my breath, nod, and return the curtain like it was before. Then I turn around and try to act nonchalant. Like it’s everyday I see a rotting corpse without eyes try to wink at me as he figures out how to use the turn signal. “Friend of yours?”
Makus shakes his head. “That’s my Caz. You wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of screaming, would you?”
“I’m not a screamer.”
Makus closes his eyes and puts his head back like he’s remembering a fond memory. “That I know. You gasp a lot like you’re trying to control yourself.”
I shake my head. “Don’t even.”
Makus narrows his eyes. “Or maybe you’re trying to prolong how good it feels. You don’t have to. There are no limits on us. We can go as long and as many times as you want.”
Bast nods his head this way and that while he ponders Makus’ words. “I like the gasps. And when you release those. Pure heaven.”
I fidget and fume and sigh and then start over again. I close my eyes and try to unhear the last few seconds and try to unsee the last few moments. I mean the dude’s skin was literally falling off, and I swear I got some on my boot. I won’t look. No matter what. I open my eyes quickly.
Makus’ eyes widen. “Do you think you can use the driver’s condition as a cold shower to resist us?”
“Yes?”
The RV screeches to a halt, and I grab the back of the chair before I’m hurled back towards the undead driver.
“We’re here.” Makus claps his hands together. “The last job before Caz comes back to us forever.” He pats the counter. “I have to remember to reinforce this. It’s going to get a hell of a workout.”
“Will I get my soul back?”
Makus studies me. “You want that back?”
I nod.
He puts on his black shirt but doesn’t button it at all. “That way you can lust af
ter me. You can keep the half-soul I created for you.”
“What happens to the good half?”
Makus shrugs.
“Is it an actual soul? The part you created?”
He grins. “Yes, Caz, I did know what I was doing when I created it. And it would technically be called a dark soul.”
I grab my heart. “I had a dark soul inside me…” I instantly hold my hand up before either of them says something extra pervy.
Bast opens the door for me.
Chapter 13
As soon as I step outside the RV, blinding snow and freezing air slaps at me. “Fuck. Where the hell?”
The wind whips around us. Bast and I have to squint before we go blind. Makus, of course, is completely unaffected like he’s just sauntering along the beach at sunset. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
I want to hit him, but that might be construed as touching. I grunt instead. I hadn’t intended upon the grunt. I think the wind smashed one out of me.
Bast points to a diner that can barely be seen around the whipping snow. “In there.”
Makus slowly meanders to the diner. I know he’s taking his time to taunt me. I follow him for three feet before I give up and rush around him to get to the door. I throw myself inside and am instantly warmed by the heat which they have to be cranking.
I stomp around to get the ice off me. “Merde, it’s freezing out there. Where are we?”
Makus saunters past me but lingers just long enough to look me up and down. “Say the word, Caz, and you’ll be warmer than you’ve ever been. You can’t be cold with me inside you. You’ll never want me to stop.” He moves past me.
Bast jumps up and down to warm up. He motions for me to hold out my hands and peers around to make sure no one is watching us. He blows into my hands, and my entire body warms immediately.
“Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He winks and walks further into the diner.
Once I’ve thawed, I join them. The place looks deserted. A trucker … at least he looks like what I think a trucker would look like sits at the counter and guzzles coffee.
There’s some goth guy in all black huddled over a notebook in the corner booth, but the only other ones in the diner are the waitress and the short order cook.
The lights are dim and periodically flicker, but luckily the heat is cranked to full. Although, Bast’s warm trick did it for me.
He puts his hand over his heart like I’ve just made his month.
Makus squints his eyes and then glares at Bast. “Next time, I warm her up, and I’m not going to be blowing into her hands.”
“Maybe you don’t have what it takes, demon.”
Makus gasps and points to himself. “Me? Have what it takes? Oh, you must get your memories back. What I’ve done to you will sizzle your brain.”
I flinch. “That does not sound pleasant.” I look around the diner. Who are we here for? I study each one. Not goth guy writing in his journal. “Dude writes ‘fuck’ a lot especially about Steve. Oh, yeah Steve totally deserves it. Total shit’s ass.”
I study the trucker guy. Been sober for twenty years. Finds a church every Sunday and attends service. Sends all the money he makes home to his nieces and nephews after his sister died of an aneurysm. “Not him.”
I try the short order cook. He’s blank. Clean. Clear. The man has no past. No sins. Nothing. I look at Bast.
“New soul.”
Has to be the waitress. She’s mid-fifties. Platinum blonde hair threatened into a messy bun. As wide as she is tall. Smacking gum she stole from one of the lockers. “Gum thief. That’s a significant crime.”
Makus leans against the counter and folds his legs and arms like he’s settling in for a show. “Look again.”
Her name tag says Sue. Not even her real name. I study her and have to stop myself from fleeing the diner. I actually have to force my feet not to move from the spot. The images. The things she’s done. She killed … everyone. Her entire family. Poison. Slow acting and very painful poison. Her parents. Her kids. All seven. Two neighbors. Her husbands. All five of them. “She’s pure evil. She’s never done a decent thing in her entire pathetic existence.”
Makus nods. “A rare soul. She’s magnificent, isn’t she?”
“We have a different definition of that word.”
Makus shrugs. “Probably. You know me being a demon and all. Tell me, Caz, what is my actual name again?”
“Dipshit,” I answer.
He shakes his head and smiles. “The lovely things you say to me. Makes me feel so girlish and flirty.”
Bast walks past me to the goth kid. He leans over and says something to him which makes him jump up, grab his journal, and run out the back.
The trucker gets up and throws some change on the counter before walking out into the snow.
The waitress counts the change and curls up her lip. “Hope you die out there tonight, Bob. Find the first ice patch and bleed to death. Fucking Bastard.”
“Wow.” I glance at Makus and Bast.
“Sit anywhere,” fake Sue says without a glimpse of a smile.
“We’re actually here for you, Gina,” Makus says.
She stops. “You know my real name.” I think she’s going to flee, but she turns around with the most devilish grin. I don’t even think a demon could produce that shit kicker. She laughs and saunters over to us as she slowly unties her apron. She unpins the name tag and throws it at the short order cook. It barely misses his eye. “Hope you choke on it, stupid fucker.”
The short order cook gasps. I motion for him to turn around and leave us alone. He does. Gladly.
Gina looks each of us up and down. “How’s this going to happen?” She studies Makus. “Me on top? You on the ground trying to fit all of you in me?” She glances at Bast. “Or me on all fours with the demon behind and I blow the warlock? Or do we all do the girl at the same time?”
I back up and hope I don’t pass out. That is so not happening. Not ever. At least not my part of her disgusting scenario.
Makus grins at me. “As tempting as that is, that’s not why we’re here Gina.”
She walks to Bast and tries to touch his face. He expertly avoids her and glances at me.
“Oh, you belong to her.”
“I do.”
“Kudos, honey. You got yourself a warlock. They are sturdy. I knew this one warlock who could expand his man parts to fill anything.”
I cough up a bit of bile. “What in the actual fucking fuck are you?”
Gina ignores me and looks Makus over while licking her lips. “Can’t I just have one more before you send me back?” She touches his chest. “I’ve never had a demon as ancient or powerful as you before. The things I bet you could do to me.”
Makus takes her hand off his chest. “Try talking me up to her over there. She can’t seem to remember just how good I am.”
Gina looks me up and down as if I was suddenly an option. “Honey, demons are the best. The dirtiest. The nastiest. Definitely the naughtiest. Very flexible, and they never tire. Ever. I once had this low level demon who used to have these two slaves who—”
I hold up my hand to stop her. “Save some of the good stuff for the holiday mixer.”
She sneers at me. “Don’t put your nose up at me. You’ve been down and dirty with the worst of the worst.” She leans closer. “You’ve had every part of both of them. And you loved it. Every inch of them. Every delicious—”
I snap my fingers to stop her barking.
She grins at me. “You can read me, can’t you? You saw everything I ever did. You know how long it took them fucking kids to die? Puked for weeks. Reeked of it. Worse than changing dirty diapers. Moaned and groaned about how much it hurt. Doctors never suspected. They all felt so sorry for me.” She laughs and holds up her hand like Makus or Bast should high-five her.
I can’t listen anymore. I don’t know if I’m doing all of it or if Makus or Bast are helping, but she’s totally immobilized. I visua
lize her heart and squeeze. She never stops smiling. Not even when she drops to the floor dead.
“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Makus smiles at me with such pride.
I nod. It was. I can’t deny it. Feels good to do that. “Plus I didn’t have to touch her.” I look at my hand. “Don’t think I could get that stench off.” I look at them. “Is that the job?”
Bast’s eyes reflect worry, and he grabs me and kisses me. His hand touches my face as his kiss intensifies. His other hand runs up my back. I think some of my memories come back because I see us. Smiling. Laughing. I’m happy. He presses his forehead against mine and gently touches my lips. “Please come back to me. Please, Caz. I can’t do this without you. I won’t.”
Bast pulls back, and Makus is right there. He kisses me as well. Deeply. Passionately. He holds onto the back of my neck and runs his fingers through my hair. His kiss tells me everything. He lets me read his thoughts. Come back to us. We belong to each other. We are part of each other. You’re my greatest creation. I’m nothing without you. Just promise you never stop giving me shit. Turns me the fuck on. I’ll give Bast his soul back if you return to us. I’ll give you anything. Everything.
Even as he’s kissing me, I’m smiling. It would be so easy to choose them.
Then he turns into his normal Makus. If you don’t choose us, I’ll kill the angel and reaper bloody, and you’ll have to endure an eternity of such delicious punishment from me.
I push him off and laugh. I finally allow myself to open my eyes, but I’m not in the diner anymore.
Chapter 14
Wood walls. Floor to ceiling windows. The mice family out gathering snacks. The wolves smile at me before romping back to the woods.
“Heaven’s cabin.” I turn around to see Ren and Syn watching me.
“Got some questions for—”
Before I can get the words out, Ren steps forward, gently grabs me and kisses me. It’s a deep, passionate, toe curling, forget what I had for breakfast type of kiss that burns through every cell of my body.
He stops and smiles, but he stays inches from me. “I love breathing you in.”
Okay, my knees buckle a bit. He steps back and Syn touches my lips before kissing me. Another can hardly breathe, please don’t ever stop kind of kiss that makes me feel all of his love and passion and everything that he could ever say to me through his skilled lips.
