Asty looked at him for the longest moment before slowly pulling the planchette toward the letter B. Then, to the letter O, and by the time the wooden piece stopped at Y, all the hairs on her body were raised.
Hunter licked his lips and grinned at her. “Looks like we’re having a boy.” He leaned closer for a kiss, never taking his fingers off hers.
Asty swallowed hard and dove her hand into her bag to pull out the large cardboard envelope where she put the prints from the ultrasound. It felt so heavy in her hand when she handed it to Hunter. “And that’s my surprise for you.”
Hunter took it and pulled out the prints, but when he realized what he was looking at, he stopped breathing. “Oh, fuck! For real? We are having a boy?” His grin was so big it could split his face in half. He got up and pulled Asty with him as he closed her in a hug. “That’s so amazing, babe,” he said and stroked her baby bump with a tender smile.
“Why, didn’t you believe the spirits?” she teased and spun some of his hair around her fingers. She was ecstatic to see so much unwavering enthusiasm in him. There was no doubt in her that he was invested in both her and the pregnancy.
“They could be evil. They could be lying.” He put both his hands over her belly and didn’t stop grinning like a madman. “I can’t believe I’m going to have a son. I’m going to be a dad. It’s so strange when you say it out loud.”
Asty nodded and kissed the tip of his nose, pushing against Hunter and glancing at the pictures. “You are going to be a dad. I hope you can teach him all the manly stuff he needs to know.”
“Like playing the cello.” Hunter snorted and grabbed her lips in a hungry kiss.
“That would be so cool. You two could play for me,” she said, freezing on the inside the moment she said that, even though her lips responded to Hunter’s touch. What was she even thinking? She would not be in the picture by then. This was her cue to stop thinking like a love-struck girl and take matters in her hands. Teach Hunter all he needed to know for the future, before it was too late.
“I bet he’d hate me for suggesting that. He’s gonna be a little rebel and become a priest, maybe even a bishop.” Hunter picked her up and spun them around.
Asty held on to his neck, and her heart beat even faster. She felt so confused by all this. “You know what, I have an idea for something to do in the evening. We could go out for a few hours and then come back,” she whispered against Hunter’s clean-shaven cheek.
“Oh? What is it?” Hunter put her down and kneeled in front of her, pressing his lips to her stomach through the fabric of her dress.
Asty brushed her fingers over the top of his head. “Something I need to show you. It’s very special to me.”
“Absolutely. We can go do that at night. We have the room ‘til tomorrow anyway.” He looked up to the ceiling and put his hand on the planchette. “Oh, Spirits! Spirits … Does Astaroth want to have sex with me right now?” His hand swiftly moved the piece of wood to“Yes,” and Hunter gasped. “Would you look at this …”
Hunter
Hunter needed to pick the lock in one of the smaller gates to the cemetery that Asty led him to, but he was high on today’s news, so it was no big deal. If Asty wanted to go to a cemetery for her birthday, so be it. He knew already that she didn’t always do things the same way the other women he’d known would. All he could think of as he drove the van through the streets, holding Asty’s hand between the seats, was that he would have a son and that the baby was healthy. Even the misery of having to still sneak around with Asty wasn’t an issue tonight. This night was just for the two of them, and he’d bend to whatever wish she could come up with.
“Where are we going?” he whispered as they strolled hand in hand among the graves. It was dark, but the moonlight and the glow of the city provided enough illumination to safely follow the path between the trees. Asty seemed to know her way by heart, as she led him forward without even a trace of doubt.
“To a special place.”
That sounded creepy, but he wasn’t scared of ghosts, so he’d go with it. “Why tonight?”
Asty squeezed his hand. “It just feels like the right time.”
“Is it a sexy surprise?”
Asty smirked as she looked back at him. “Maybe ...”
That was all he needed to know. He’d be up for another fuck. No problem at all. They had spent hours in the comfortable hotel bed, had long, sensuous sex, then ordered food, and watched movies curled up underneath the covers. They played with the spirit board and wrestled a bit, though he was bound to fail, having to be careful with Asty’s belly. He didn’t mind losing if the “punishment” was having to eat her sweet pussy. It was worth every penny he saved up for it from the odd jobs he got around the club. If only he could be with Asty all the time. Never before had he met a woman who had such a profound effect on him. It was almost as if her every movement was worthy of notice. True, sometimes she did say something creepy or asked him to participate in rituals he didn’t understand, but it was something they could do together, and usually he quite enjoyed himself in the process.
Asty strayed from the path and walked up a small hill and past a naked tree until she stopped behind it and gently pulled Hunter closer. The buzz of the city was echoing all around them, but the cemetery was very quiet. They were completely alone in the dark.
“So … what now?” He raised his eyebrows and looked around.
Asty looked up at him, and her eyes reflected the moonlight so beautifully he couldn’t look away. “Now, you should open my coat,” she whispered.
“The cold won’t hurt the baby?” he asked, but his fingers already went to the buttons at her front. If she wanted to perform some kind of birthday sex voodoo, he wouldn’t be objecting. She was the hottest, craziest girl he’d ever met, and he was eating it up like gingerbread for Christmas.
She hypnotized him with her eyes and grabbed his wrists, moving away from the tree without letting him go. “You’ll keep it warm,” she whispered and started lowering herself to the snow in front of a tombstone.
Hunter couldn’t care less about the weather. What was getting a bit cold and wet when he’d get to fuck Asty again, feel her hot body and her wet pussy. He was getting hard already, just thinking about it. His hands traveled up her thick woolen stockings as he kneeled on her long coat between her legs with a one-track mind.
Asty rolled her head back and rested it on the ground. She pulled up her dress, revealing a strip of naked flesh and black underwear. Her throat moved slightly, and she started a quiet chanting.
Hunter unzipped his pants and pulled them slightly lower, uncaring about the cold around them, because things were about to get heated. He put his hand over her shoulder to keep stable and let his fingers trace her pussy through the fabric of her panties. She was getting wet already. Bingo. “You ready for me, baby?” he whispered. “Do you want me to chant something?” He’d rather not, but whatever.
Asty shook her head and blew out a cloud of vapor. Never breaking her hypnotic chant, she reached down and pulled her underwear aside, revealing those perfectly plump lips.
He leaned down to kiss her and lay down on top, still holding some of his weight so he wouldn’t push on her belly. He slipped his cockhead between her slick pussy lips with sex on his brain, but when he let his lips explore all the way to her ear, he stilled, frozen to the bone and freaked out by his own erection.
The engraving on the tombstone read: Beelzebub Horton.
He got to his knees with a yelp. “What the fucking fuck?”
Asty blinked, looking startled as she raised herself on her elbows. Hunter didn’t waste time and pushed his still hard dick back into his pants.
“It’s your brother’s grave!” Only when he spoke, he realized his voice was shaking. “This is … no. Just no. Oh, my God!”
Asty sat up and closed her coat. “I know. Baby, calm down,” she said in a voice that was probably meant to be soothing but only creeped him out further.
And what was even more infuriating, she looked at him the same way the priest used to look at him when his parents decided to have someone “wiser than them” try to pull Hunter back into the arms of the Church.
“Hunter, listen. I want him to be as connected to the baby as possible. That’s why I wanted to get pregnant in the first place.”
For a long moment, Hunter let that sink in as the snow did into his jeans, but as his pants were getting wet, he didn’t understand her even a tiny bit more. “What?”
Asty held on to his shoulder and leaned forward, her face completely serious. “When my mother was dying, she was so close to death that she could get in touch with demons on a whole new level. And the many things she learned, she wrote down in a journal, and she gave it to me just before she died. She couldn’t speak anymore, but her eyes were so alert, so ... intent when she gave it to me. I knew she wanted me to continue what she began, and when I started reading her notes, I understood that she wanted me to bring him back. He died so violently, and my dad really needs him. Neither Lucky nor I can replace him.” She swallowed and went on, with her eyes getting slightly glossy in the moonlight. “He could come back, but he needed to be born of a blood relative. I followed all the instructions, and now, Bell’s gonna come back to us.”
It finally clicked, and Hunter looked down to her belly. “In our baby? In our baby’s body? Your brother will come back as our baby?” The last question came out high pitched, and he could hardly breathe. He was living a nightmare. Asty wasn’t cute-crazy, she was insane, and he hadn’t noticed, too focused on all the good sides that she had. He took a deep breath to be able to speak again. “And where will the soul of our baby go, huh?” He grabbed her arms and shook her.
Asty stiffened and looked at him utterly confused, as if she hadn’t even considered that. “I ... I think they will somehow merge.”
“You think?” He hissed and pulled his hair back in frustration. Only now he got up and pulled her along, unable to comprehend this whole concept was something that had been growing in her for months, something that he missed despite taking part in all her crazy ventures. “And that’s what the first ritual was about, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “Please, don’t be angry. I need you to listen. I know you will be an amazing father for him, but if you don’t listen to me, then we will be parted once I’m gone. And I have to be gone so that this baby can live,” she uttered.
Hunter wanted to scream and shake her again, but he took a deep breath and contained that visceral reaction. He needed to go along with this and listen. He needed to know what she was actually planning if he was to stop it. “What do you mean ‘we will be parted?’” He couldn’t help the childish fear at the pit of his stomach telling him they were both going to hell for this. And then his brain was so angry at those thoughts. There was only here and now, and she was living a lie.
A small smile ghosted across Asty’s lips, and she stroked his chest. “Hunter ... I love you so much,” she whispered, looking straight into his eyes, even as her own started tearing up. “But if I want to complete the ritual, then I need to give my life so Bell’s soul can live in the baby. There is no other way around it. And if you love me as well and want to join me and the other enlightened, then you need to believe. When I die, I will go to a place in hell guarded by demons. If you want to get there in the future, when you leave this earth in many, many years, there are rituals you will need to perform so that you can join us.”
That was it. Ridiculous. Disturbed. Completely and utterly delirious. And if this sounded like crazy talk and made no sense, then why did he still have hang-ups about hell, heaven, and patron saints for every damn thing, who were no better than Asty’s patron demons. It was all fucking made up, and he was done with it.
He took a deep breath and buttoned up her coat with shaky fingers. “We’ll talk about this at the hotel, okay? It’s cold here.” He could hardly keep himself from screaming when his mind pulsed with the horrible truth. Asty wanted to die. He needed to take her somewhere safe and not let her out of his sight.
Asty sniffed but eventually nodded and sought out his hand. Was this some kind of depression after her mom’s death that drove her to those beliefs? He was pretty sure she was not actually mentally ill, as she had clarity about her beliefs being outside the norm and acted normally in most situations. It was just her beliefs that were insane. Just as misguided as the ancient Aztec belief that ripping people’s hearts out would somehow keep the Apocalypse at bay. Just as silly as the notion that a celestial being listens to your prayers. And if Asty was insane, then she had the same kind of insanity as Hunter’s own mother.
Whatever it was, Hunter would not be tempting fate, and he squeezed Asty’s fingers. They would get through it together. He couldn’t hate her for what she was saying or planning. She sounded so completely lost that it was painful to listen to her words. Even the love confession now made him sad. Were her feelings even true, or were they some aspect of her deep-seated issues? Would she still love him when he stood against everything she believed in? He could only hope so as he held her close.
*
Asty was quiet all the way to the hotel and clutched at Hunter’s hand as soon as he parked in the underground garage. Even paler than she usually was, she followed Hunter’s lead to the elevator and then down the corridor, all the way to their room. He had no idea what was going through her head at this point. Was she disappointed by his initial reaction, or maybe the fate of the baby’s soul finally settled on her conscience? It was hard to tell. But knowing what she had been planning all along gave him the kind of clarity he was missing for years.
They went into the room holding hands like any other couple, but; however, what was on Hunter’s mind made him cringe. It had to be done. He’d brought a pair of handcuffs in case Asty would be up for some kinky fun later tonight, but in the end, their use wouldn’t give any of them pleasure.
“Sit on the bed, okay? I’ll make you coffee.” Once he had her on the mattress, it wouldn’t be that hard to cuff her to the bedframe.
“Okay,” said Asty and pulled off her coat and shoes before settling where Hunter told her to. She put her hands in her lap and curled her shoulders, looking fragile and lost.
He made the coffee in silence and brought it to her, to seem inconspicuous. But after he put it on the bedside table, he leaned over her and reached under the pillow. In one swift move, he cuffed her and then locked the other cuff on the headboard.
Asty blinked and pulled at the cuff, suddenly waking up from her stupor. “What are you doing—”
He hated the tinge of fear in her voice, but there was no other way around it. He grabbed her other hand before she could act and cuffed it to the bedframe on the other side, so the most she could do was rattle the cuffs.
“I’m sorry, baby, but this is for your own good.” He pulled out some duct tape from his bag and ripped off a piece to place it over her lips. Sadly, the vibrator he’d brought along wouldn’t be getting any action tonight.
Asty blinked and pulled on the cuffs, but the bedframe was steady, and there was no way she could break out of the handcuffs, as those babies weren’t the sex-shop type but were meant for play. She’d be staying here until Hunter came back for her.
Asty’s eyes were wide, and she screamed into the tape, but it was a futile attempt. Hunter pulled the comforter over her legs so she’d be warm and sat next to her, ashamed of what he just did, despite his best intentions.
“I will be back as soon as I can, but this needs to be done. Things have gone too far. I had no idea what you were cooking up in that brain of yours. Killing yourself to bring back your brother’s soul in our baby? Do you hear yourself?” Hunter shook his head and turned on the TV so she wouldn’t be bored. “I’m not lettin
g you die, whether you like it or not. And another thing you won’t like is that I am going to get your dad. He needs to know about this, and we will somehow find a way out together. I’m sure he’ll understand that the circumstances are critical.”
Only then did Asty really launch herself toward him, shaking her head violently. It was clear she hated that last idea.
Hunter kissed her forehead and got up. “I can’t risk losing you, baby.”
She whined and tried to hook her leg around his, but he moved away. His phone beeped with an incoming message as he approached the door. Ignoring her stifled moans, he read it with a low sigh. It was Priest asking him to pop into the club.
“See? Looks like me and your dad are on the same wavelength. He wants to see me. I’ll be back in no time.” Hunter took a deep breath, staring at his boots. “I really hate to do this. I hope you’ll forgive me one day.”
Asty screamed out, struggling against the cuffs like a fish thrown out of water, and he figured that the quicker he went, the smaller the chance that she hurt herself.
He left the hotel room with a heavy heart, ready to meet his fate.
Hunter
Hunter arrived at the clubhouse through a gate Prince opened for him. He had no idea why Priest would call him over at this time of night, but it was only convenient. Maybe Ray finally went through with some horrible assassination idea and had been caught? That would only serve him right. And it would have made sense for Hunter to be called, as his cousin. Judging by the bikes in front of the club, only Priest and Tooth were present, so it had to be something serious.
He stopped the van in front of the main entrance and rushed inside. “Priest?” he called out, but he immediately went across the lounge as he noticed light coming from the office down the corridor. His heart was drumming in his chest as he moved through the empty room, his feet like pieces of lead. If all went well, Priest could be his future father-in-law—if Asty had only accepted his proposal. There hadn’t been many moments more crushing in his life than the time when she had turned him down. But her having some psychotic episode where she believed she could bring her dead brother’s soul to life if she killed herself was a much more pressing issue than Hunter’s bruised pride. Just thinking about losing her forever had him breathless. Whatever was really happening, he could deal with that. He promised to stand by her, and he wouldn’t go back on his word. His palms were sweaty and his face hot, but this was bigger than his issues. Asty needed help, and he needed an ally in finding it for her.
Split - Coffin Nails MC (Contemporary New Adult Erotic Dark Romance) (Sex & Mayhem Book 7) Page 20
