20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  “I am.”

  Lucifer smiled. “Very well then, the matter is settled. Good evening.” He paused, as though communicating something important. “Keep the tattoo.”

  I opened my mouth to say more, to ask more questions, but he silenced me with a raised finger. Lucifer bowed slightly, reaching up as though to tip an invisible hat, then he vanished in a flash, leaving a faintly hissing pentagram behind where he stood, and the cold wind blew the dust of Juliet all around us for a moment before falling completely and utterly still.

  But If You Try Sometimes…

  Interstate 476, just past Allentown

  New York State

  It was a long and very quiet drive out of the Pinchot State Forest and back in the direction of New Jersey.

  Gabe didn’t really say anything and neither did I. I had no idea what was going through his brain as he drove, but he was going a lot more slowly on the way back, falling in line with traffic and driving far more safely and cautiously than I’d seen him so far. Only after we passed through Allentown did I dare say anything.

  “Sooo…” I said, cautiously.

  “Sooo,” said Gabe.

  That was really about where we were at. I was content to not say more, but after a moment, Gabe spoke up again.

  “That was one hell of a moment,” he said, his tone light and playful. “Dying is a bit of a trip.”

  “You said it,” I said, but I knew that he was trying to get more from me and, given what had just happened, I probably owed it to myself to talk about it, let alone him. “But uh, yeah. I guess I…don’t have to go back to Hell. And you don’t have to go back to Heaven. So we’re stuck here for now.”

  “For now,” said Gabe, the ghost of a smile coming over his face. “I seem to recall this being what we wanted.”

  “What you wanted,” I said, but I couldn’t resist. “And me as well.”

  Gabe overtook a sporty red car driven by some middle aged guy obviously trying to prove some kind of point to people he’d never met. “So I guess we’re here, on this world, for now,” he said.

  “For now.”

  I reached up and rubbed my forehead, trying to force out the words we were both trying to get out. “…with me.”

  “With you.”

  All of a sudden, I was totally sick of beating around the bush. “I think I’m in love with you,” I said, the words feeling like they were fighting the whole way to get out of my throat. “Which is the most insane thing I’ve ever said. I don’t know how or why this is, or how it happened, but I think I’m in love with you. Which makes no sense!” I thumped my hand on the dashboard. “Lucifer’s Teeth, this makes no sense to me all. I’m a demon, we’re supposed to be biologically incapable of love. As in, whatever parts of our brains are supposed to control love, or the feeling of love? Our brains simply do not have that part.” I tapped my finger on my temple. “So why the fuck is this happening?”

  “I don’t know,” said Gabe, his voice possessed of a strange calm, a strange happiness. “But I love you too, Grace. And I’m okay with that.”

  Anger bubbled up within me. “How can you be okay with this?” I demanded, folding my arms in a way I knew was entirely petulant and sulky. “How do you know this isn’t some kind of long con? Some kind of trick from Lucifer? You know what he’s like. How do you know I’m not sent here to manipulate you, to fuck with your head?”

  Gabe turned the wheel calmly, overtaking another car. “You mean, apart from the whole crying and bringing me back to life, thing?”

  “I wasn’t crying,” I spat. I didn’t even know what I was saying anymore. “Or if I was, how do you know it wasn’t part of my act?”

  “Because. You didn’t helliport away from me at the battle at the safe house. You stayed and fought alongside me.”

  “I couldn’t,” I said, flatly. “Banished from Hell, remember? Believe me, I wanted to follow Asmodeus into the pits and escape. But I couldn’t. That doesn’t count for shit.”

  He nodded understandingly, eyes fixed on the road. “Doesn’t change a thing about how I feel.”

  The irresistible urge to lie came over me. To make him angry. To make him hate me. It made absolutely no sense given what I had just done, what we’d both just been through, and what I’d sacrificed to stay behind with him on the mortal realm—but I was angry. Angry with his decision. Angry with myself.

  Because he deserved so much better than me.

  “You were just a path to information to me,” I said, hauntingly. “Just a way for Hell to get an insight into Heaven and their agents. Nothing more. I mean, c’mon…I was one of the only demons who was allowed into Heaven, no matter how briefly. That’s a huge security risk. You have no idea that I didn’t do something…betrayal-ish while I was up there.”

  “Funny. If you thought that you wouldn’t be sitting there, telling me all this stuff. Trying to make me suspicious of you.”

  “You don’t know what I’ve done,” I said. I had to convince him. I had to push him away. The lies came quick and fast. “Before we met, I worked as a stripper.”

  “That’s honest pay for honest work,” said Gabe. “There’s nothing evil about engaging in a consensual show for pay as long as you’re happy to do it and safe while you do.”

  Obviously. I needed something bigger. “You don’t understand. I wasn’t just a stripper. That was a front. I was using it to have sex with guys. Lots of guys. Twenty. At least. Sometimes three, four at once. Just like…bam bam bam. Jizz everywhere. And I. Mean. Everywhere.”

  “Your sexual history is no business of mine. I’ve had sex before I met you. It’s fine.”

  How could I make him see? Make him understand I wasn’t worth it? “This isn’t even my face!” I jabbed my thumb at my cheek. “I tortured this person. I hurt her. I made her suffer and I loved it. Her soul is currently writing in Hell and I was, until I left, primarily responsible for her suffering.”

  “You were doing your job. She was a bad person. She deserved her punishment.”

  “While I was working as a stripper,” I said, balling my fists in anger and leaning toward him like I was going to punch his stupid goody face in. I summoned my best liars face. “I raped a guy. I tied him up and I fucked him in the arse while he was unconscious. I did it for no reason at all. I did it because I wanted to go home. To Hell. Where I belong!”

  Gabe kind of smiled that weird, half-smile he did. “Nah, you didn’t. Nice try though.”

  That actually, genuinely made me angry. “You fucking calling me a liar, holy boy?” I don’t know why it pissed me off so much. It just did. Something about him not thinking I’d tell him the truth really…confused me.

  “Yup.” Gabe took a hand off the wheel and touched his lips with his index finger. “When you kiss someone, you know if they’re good or evil. Demons and angels aren’t that different. I have the same ability. If you’d really done that I would know.”

  I stopped, frozen still. “Wait,” I said, trying to process this. Of course. He was talking about the house party. “You…’ve known I was evil or good this whole time?”

  “Yeah.”

  The question sounded utterly insane but I had to ask it. “Am I…evil?”

  He said nothing, eyes briefly flicking back to the road.

  “I told you!” I drew my fist back. “I told you, I’m evil, and you need to get out of here. Just…just leave me alone, you stupid bastard! That way you might be able to get back into Heaven after a while—you’re only not there because of me!”

  “When we kissed, you weren’t good,” said Gabe, looking back to me finally. “And you were definitely on the evil side. But there was…something else. Something about you that was different. When I used to hunt demons I killed them by the dozen. They stank of wickedness. Reeked of it. Rotten to the core. But with you…not the same.”

  No. That wasn’t true. “You were only sensing that because of Damien,” I said. “Just…because I had done a good deed. Because of that.”

/>   Gabe gave me a sly smile. “If you recall,” he said, “we had—ahem—kissed a little bit before that.”

  I searched my memory. Had we? No. I’d grabbed him, in the closet, and…my eyes flicked down to his pants. “That counts?”

  “It counts,” he said. “If the receiving person has the power. It only works for the giver if it’s lip-to-lip.” He smirked a little, throwing my own words back at me. “I don’t make the rules, buddy.”

  Shit.

  I put my fist down, letting my arm flop down by my side. The car zoomed on. “What does this mean?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know,” said Gabe, smiling fondly at me. “But I think we should find out. Together.”

  That sounded really nice.

  You Just Might Find…

  Frost Hall

  New Jersey City University

  New Jersey

  We pulled up at the university car park and opened the doors. It felt weird to be back in this place, as though nothing was wrong, going back to meet up with Laila as though we’d just been out for a shopping trip and were coming back with chocolates and beer.

  Gabe smiled at me. “Laila’s car, back safe and sound,” he said, clicking the lock button on the remote.

  “Honestly, I was expecting that thing to get trashed,” I said, giving the car a fond little pat. “It’s a mighty soul.”

  He chuckled. “You didn’t give it some kind of Hellish blessing, did you? Feed it full of demonic power and infuse it with invincibility?”

  “Nah,” I said. “Historically, giving vehicles souls has proved to be quite a problem. For a whole bunch of reasons.” I grinned. “Hey, we did something nice for Laila, which, you know, I’m okay with. Even if she is totally actually going to Hell when she gets her arse killed.”

  “Are you?” asked Gabe, seemingly curious. “Okay with it, I mean. That’s kind of against your demonic mandate…”

  “Sure. I’m okay with it. Lucifer and I have a complicated relationship now, I guess.” We began walking back to Laila’s room together, side by side. “I mean…I think I’m still a nasty kinky demon, but…I’m okay with being nice to people. Even if they are total bitches themselves.”

  Gabe reached out his hand, touching mine. Instinctively, and far quicker than I was ready for, I slid my fingers around his, giving a firm squeeze. “Well, I’m okay with that too,” he said, smiling at me.

  I smiled back. And I felt totally okay with things. Gently I squeezed his hand. “So,” I asked, curious about something. “Back at the party. You walked out to meet me. Were you were trying to distracting me from Damien?”

  “Not really,” confessed Gabe, “I just wanted to talk to you. There was just something about you that I wanted to investigate. Had I known what you were, well…” He snickered, squeezing back. “I don’t think I would have been so cavalier about the cupboard thing.”

  “Cupboard or broom closet?” I giggled, unable to resist. “Whatever it was.”

  “Whatever it was,” Gabe echoed.

  He stopped, right out front of the lift up to Laila’s place, turning himself to face me. I did the same thing, reaching out and grabbing his other hand, holding it too. We stood there for a moment, holding hands and just staring at each other, fondly, smiling.

  “This is nice,” said Gabe, sliding a little closer to me. “This is actually really nice. I know it’s not exactly what I figured would happen when I went to Damien’s party, but I gotta say…this has turned out pretty great for me. Mmm. Pretty great.”

  “Pretty great,” I echoed, unable to fight a big smile, shifting a little closer to him, too. “Sort of a solid eight of ten.”

  “Mmm, seven point five,” he argued, smirking teasingly.

  “Plenty of blame on both sides.” I stuck out my tongue. “I’m sorry for everything, excluding me and my actions.”

  He snorted playfully. “Sounds about right for demons.” Gabe tilted his head. “Lucifer mentioned a tattoo…do I need to be concerned about that?”

  “Nah,” I said. “Maybe I’ll show you…”

  Gabe waggled an eyebrow. “Is it in a sex place?”

  “I wish. Unfortunately no. But…hey. You might have to inspect me fully. Who knows what other tattoos I might have. It’s important to check.”

  “I think I can be okay with that. Okay. It’s a solid eight out of ten now.”

  I moved his hands until they were settled on my hips, and I pushed my body up against his, until my face was right near his. “Maybe I can bargain you up a bit later,” I said, my voice dripping with silky tease. “I mean…I’m sure Laila won’t mind if we borrow her bed.”

  “It’s a bit small,” said Gabe, leaning down and bumping his nose against mine, the smell of his goodness drifting into my nose, and for the first time I actually found it quite pleasant.

  “I guess it doesn’t have to be on her bed,” I said, my tone demure. “She has plenty of floor space…and a nice desk that really needs breaking in, if you know what I mean. Give it some fingernail scratches.” I looked to my side, back to the car park. “We also still have her car keys.”

  He snickered, his warm breath washing over my face. “Your idea of a fun time with me is defiling everything Laila owns?”

  “Something like that,” I said. “That sounds…” I hesitated, then managed a little smile. “Bearable.”

  He leaned forward, gently pressing his lips against mine. My power sensed his goodness; sensed the genuineness in his heart, the light and power, the angelic might in his blood.

  I kissed back, gripping him tightly and squeezing.

  We stood there for ages. I wasn’t sure how long. A really long time. Just hugging and kissing, in full view of the student body, arm in arm and lips locked, bodies pressed together.

  And for the first time in a long time, everything felt good.

  You Get What You Need

  Throne Room

  Hell

  Asmodeus wrung his hands nervously, lying face down before Lucifer, his tail lashing like a tiny whip. The Throne Room was an area that was off-limits to the likes of him, and this was…terrifying, really. The idea of sharing space with such a powerful being as the Prince of Lies was enough to make him shit himself.

  “So,” said Lucifer, purring softly as he spoke, shifting in his chair. “I think that turned out quite well, don’t you agree?”

  “I definitely agree that it did,” said Asmodeus, nodding emphatically.

  “What if I told you,” asked Lucifer, his tone curious, “that it didn’t work out very well at all?”

  “Then of course it did not,” said Asmodeus, lowering his gaze. “I only want to serve you, My Lord. I only want to execute your will. To make you feel good. To be your agent.”

  Sighing in frustration, Lucifer stood out of his throne, gliding over to Asmodeus, reaching down and scooping up the trembling imp in a hand. “I know,” he said. “But you must understand, little pet. That’s why I wanted Grace to be here. Because she was not afraid to question me when there was justification for it.”

  Asmodeus didn’t say anything, keeping his head down.

  “Typical,” said Lucifer, gently tossing him into the air. “Good help is just so hard to find.”

  Asmodeus flapped his wings, taking flight, quickly zooming down so that he was below Lucifer’s vision. “What do you want of me next, My Lord?” he asked, voice trembling slightly as he spoke, the fear unable to be banished.

  To that question Lucifer simply considered, touching his chin and scratching it thoughtfully. “Well, Grace’s position in Hell is currently vacant,” he said. “Feel free to claim her lands and her souls. She won’t need them anymore.”

  “What if she comes back?” asked Asmodeus, unable to keep the greed out of his voice, tempered by fear.

  “Then I’ll arrange something to make her happy. Do not concern yourself about Grace’s possessions, imp. There is so much I could offer one such as her in order to make her day.”

  Smili
ng like a jackal, Asmodeus nodded his head emphatically. “Of course you can, Dark Master. I have full and total confidence in you.”

  Lucifer raised an eyebrow at that and said nothing.

  “I’m…” Asmodeus struggled to get the words out. “Just curious about what your next move is, My Lord. Where do we go from here?”

  To that, Lucifer can only smile. “My needs are simple,” he said, reaching down and giving Asmodeus a little pat on the head like a dog. “You’ll see. Grace has a huge part to play in events in the future, she just doesn’t know it yet.”

  Confused, Asmodeus could only lower his gaze once again. “As you wish, Dark Lord,” he said, wings fluttering gently behind him. “What is your command for me?”

  Lucifer purred like a cat, obviously toying with an idea, a wide smile spreading over his face. “Do you,” he asked, “still have contact with the human known as Laila McDonald?”

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