A Reckoning so Sweet

by Candace Wondrak

  Dagon says nothing, turning his blue eyes upon me, as if I know why she’s here.

  “Here, sugarplum. This is for you.” A golden rose appears in her hand, much like all the ones she’s left me in the past, ones I’ve promptly gotten rid of because they remind me too much of Josie. “Can’t be the only one here not giving you something.”

  I can’t even fake my enthusiasm. Sighing, I take the rose and mutter, “Thanks.”

  The second I touch the rose, it disappears in a small cloud of glitter. The shiny stuff sinks into my skin, tingling as it fades. Okay, the other roses didn’t do that. Now I’m the confused one.

  I freak out a bit, staring at the fronts of my hands, and then my palms. “What was that? What did you do?”

  Aphrodite grins as she leans down and kisses my cheek. “You’ll find out soon, dear.” Straightening up, she gives me a wink, and then she’s off in a cloud of sparkles.

  “What did she do?” Dagon asks.

  The sound of his voice sends shivers down my spine, butterflies in my stomach, and a certain tingly sensation in my nether region. The urge to jump his bones right here and now has never felt so necessary, so strong. My body reacts to him, but never like this, at the sound of his voice. I’m not even staring at him, for goodness’s sakes.

  My fingers clench, and it’s hard for me to form words that aren’t take me right now. “She…made me,” I swallow, and it hurts to say the next word, “horny.”

  Dimples form on his cheeks as he smiles.

  “Don’t you…” I let out a moan that sounds very similar to what noise I make when Dagon kisses my neck. “…worry. I’ll…fight it.” It takes all my strength to turn and walk past him to the cave. Probably not what he wants to hear. Damn that Aphrodite.

  The end of the world made everyone a bit horny.

  That’s what I chose to tell myself when I happened to head upstairs, away from the group of children, and barged in on two very naked people doing something that I never, ever, in a million years wanted to witness.

  Eve, better known as my mom, sitting on top of an equally as naked Mike, also known as the ex-FBI Agent who tried to kill me not once, but twice.

  And by sitting on him…well, you know what I meant.

  My eyes burned. My mouth twitched. My whole body froze like I was a deer caught in the headlights of a giant semi-truck I never thought I’d see. Too much skin showed from their position on the bed, so much skin. I wanted to pluck my eyes out and get one of those Men in Black mind erasers.

  How is this…

  Why are they…

  They shouldn’t be…

  Whatever thoughts my mind tried to think, they trailed off the moment Eve and Mike stopped in their intercourse to look at me. The expressions on their faces told me that they were not expecting me to barge in, either. Eve looked downright mortified, while Mike, through his flushed cheeks, looked embarrassed and surprised.

  My mom was too stunned to grab a sheet and cover her naked chest. She simply stared at me, her face reddening. It felt like hours I stood there, when in reality it was only ten seconds, maybe.

  I could’ve said something about locks, but no smartass comment was going to come out. My voice was effectively gone.

  I didn’t even remember what I went in there for. Was it to change? To get something for one of the kids? Certainly it couldn’t have been to blind myself by witnessing my mom and Mike having sex. I wanted to be sick.

  Averting my eyes, I slowly backed up, closing the door as I went. I barely blinked as the door latched firmly before my face. With my mouth hanging open, I headed down the stairs as I heard my mom shout, “Wait, Lexa! It’s not—”

  It’s not what it looks like? I mentally finished for her. Of course it wasn’t. It never was. Although, I didn’t know how that couldn’t possibly be what it looked like. Both Eve’s and Mike’s sexy-time faces were burned in my mind, and as I reached the bottom stair, I cringed.

  Since I couldn’t return to the kids in the living room, I went to the kitchen. Nat and Penny sat at the table, their knees staggered, leaning close to each other and whispering. Penny reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind the Vamp’s ear, to which Nat gave her a smile that I imagined Eve gave to Mike before they took off their clothes and…

  I shivered. Yuck.

  I ignored their whisperings and moved to the back door. Outside, surely I could breathe some fresh air and get that horrid, disgusting sight out of my mind. Right? If I wanted to stay sane, I had to.

  I tugged my jacket closer to me, hugging my arms to my chest. I made it to the back porch, down the wooden steps, when I saw that I wasn’t alone in the backyard, and what I saw made me want to throw my hands up at the cosmic joke.

  David and Deb, together.

  Deb’s back was pressed onto the swing set, her pregnant belly caught between them, though she only recently started showing. David’s hand was on her neck, tilting her freckled face toward him. Their lips were very much together, their kiss slow and tentative. It was their first, and in all probability, it wouldn’t be their last.

  I glanced up at the sepia sun. What in the world was in the air? I groaned.

  Aphrodite had nothing to do with that day, I know, but it’s one way for me to rationalize it away. Plus, with how I feel now, well…I understand the need to do it. The need to feel skin, hands roaming over every inch of your body—

  Holy cheeseballs, Batman. This is terrible.

  Remind me to thank Aphrodite next time I see her.

  I walk in the cave, ducking at its entrance, hoisting myself down the ledges until I’m with our small group. Dagon is right behind me, his campfire scent lingering in my nose. He smells of pine, of nature. The best thing I’ve smelled in a long while.

  David bounces to me, causing me to step back and lean against Dagon’s hard, solid chest. I bet that’s not the only part of him that…When I start to think that, I step forward and stand a few inches from my best friend.

  When all he says is a variant of uh, I mutter, “Sorry, I’m too close to the both of you.” I move to the right, away from Dagon. At least I’m not feeling any sexual feelings towards David. I think I’d die of humiliation at that.

  David’s eyes flick between us as he says, “Okay. Anyways, while you were gone, I came up with a game plan.” When I gasp, he adds, “You’re not the only one who can make shit up as you go.”

  “What’s the plan, Stan?” My un-coolness knows no bounds.

  “Remember the show about the three witches—how they’d scry for stuff? Well, it’s going to be a bit harder, but I think I can find him.” David pauses. “If he’s still alive out there.”

  Penny and Nat walk up. While Nat nods furiously, Penny says, “We’ve got to try. Cloud was a good fighter. We need him.” Her honey-colored hair is drawn back into a ponytail, her clothes dirty. She sees my braless toga dress. “What in the hell are you wearing?”

  “That’s,” I start, biting my tongue when I imagine Dagon yanking it off me, tearing the fabric as he throws me down and crawls on top of me, “not important right now.” I look to David. “What do you need to do the spell?”

  “My spellbook,” he says, “you know the one. Also a crystal. A map, too.”

  “And where—” I fight to keep the airy tone from my voice. “—is all that stuff?”

  My mind must not be working as it should, for David gives me a weird look. “At my shop. As long as it’s still there.”

  Right.

  “I figure you and Dagon can portal there, grab what I need, and—”

  “No,” I cut in. “I want to go with you.”

  David shakes his head. “I’m not strong enough to portal that far.”

  “Surely,” Dagon says, moving beside me, “spending some time with me is not so horrible.” His light eyes are expectant, and I feel a rush of heat in my face. He speaks to David without tearing his gaze off me, “Is that all you need for the spell?”

  David, not quite underst
anding what is going on with me, is unhurried in nodding. “Yes.”

  “Then we will be back shortly,” he says, slipping his hand in mine before I can move away. A fiery portal encases us as I start to imagine those hands touching every inch of me, places that have never been touched…

  This sucks.

  The instant the portal opens in David’s shop, I pull myself away from Dagon and get to work. The sun is blistering hot outside, and inside, there’s a certain stench of oldness. Books that haven’t been touched in ages. Dust thick over everything, even the two corpses that lay on the floor. One cultist and one unlucky girl who, before her death, looked a bit like me. I try not to stare at them too much.

  I head behind the counter, sliding open the hidden door beneath the cash register. David’s favorite book of spells is no bigger than a mass market paperback, bound in crudely stitched leather. I set it on the glass countertop, roaming to the right side of the shop, where all the ingredients are stored.

  “It’s a good thing they didn’t bomb this place,” I mutter, trying to keep thoughts of a naked Dagon out of my mind. It’s getting harder with each passing second. I spot a set of quartz and pick it up. Though it’s bigger than what he needs, I’ll just take the whole thing. Why not? I put the crystals on the spellbook.

  Dagon watches me intently, grinning as I keep myself busy. When I head upstairs for a book of maps I know David kept near his bed, he follows me. I grab the book, tapping my fingers against it as I spin and run into Dagon. Tiny shockwaves go through me.

  As I try to step left, he does the same, blocking me. Right, left, right, left; we play the game for a good minute.

  “Lexa,” he says my name softly, dimples on his cheeks. “You’re trying to avoid me.” Dagon sets a hand on my face, rubbing my cheek with his thumb, and my eyes close involuntarily. “I really wish you wouldn’t.”

  “Dagon, we can’t—” Suddenly my words seem so very useless as he moves closer, pressing me against the bed. The book, along with our clothes, is the only thing between us.

  “We will defeat my father, along with Hades,” he says, drawing a finger along my collarbone. I shiver under his touch, and he’s able to pull the book from my hand and toss it atop the nightstand. Strong, rough hands travel to my chest. “I think you need to relax.”

  I think he’s right, but this is no way to relax.

  This is…a bad idea.

  My breath hitches when he puts his lips to my ear and whispers, “You wear this well. I hate to take it off you.”

  All I can say to that is a breathy “Not on David’s bed.” Not that he was using it any time soon. Or ever again.

  Dagon doesn’t miss a beat, suggesting, “The floor, then?”

  The floor sounds…hot.

  No sooner have I thought that when Dagon lifts me up. With my arms around his neck, our faces an inch apart, he offers another suggestion: “Or against the wall?”

  Oh, dear. That sounds amazing, too.

  My mind makes up the decision. “The floor.”

  What in the world am I thinking?

  “The floor it is,” Dagon whispers as he kisses my neck, laying me down on the old, wooden floors. His mouth is hot on my skin, slowly trailing to my lips, where he kisses me. Deliberately drawn-out, he moves his hands to my waist, lifting the dress past my knees, past my thighs, and lastly, past my private parts.

  The rush that comes with wearing no underwear—thank you, Aphrodite—sends a chill through me, but a burning feeling stirs, and it takes all that I have not to command Dagon to get down there this instant.

  The two straps on my shoulders are taken down, loose enough now that Dagon can tug them around my breasts. I am, for the first time, completely bared to him. Well, all the important parts, anyway. And frankly, I’ve never felt better.

  With my eyes still closed, I run my hands along his abdomen, his power, his muscles, make me feel even more hot and bothered.

  “I love it when you touch me,” he murmurs, our lips parting. He places a trail of kisses down my neck. “I love you.” His hardness presses against me, the buttons on his jeans a terrible hindrance.

  He loves me.

  Dagon loves me.

  Though his head starts to move south, I run my fingers through his hair and bring his face back to mine, needing to say it back. After all this time, we’ve never exchanged those words before. “And I love you.” My words stumble as I open my eyes.

  The mouth about to go down on me, the eyes staring into my soul, don’t belong to Dagon. My fingers are in Lucifer’s hair, my words of love spoken to him. He gives me a smile, and a wave of nausea sweeps over me. Whatever magical horniness Aphrodite instilled in me is gone just like that.

  “Get off me,” I whisper. When Lucifer’s figure doesn’t move, I repeat louder, “Get off me!” I pull myself out from under him, tugging down the dress.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, Dagon stands, unabashed by the erection against his jeans. “What’s wrong?” Lucifer is nowhere in sight, only Dagon and I stand in David’s old room.

  A shaking hand covers my face, and I reach for the book of maps. “I’m sorry,” I say, hurrying around him and down the stairs. They creak under my weight, and I try to calm myself. It was just a freak accident, I tell myself. Lucifer isn’t really here.

  I wasn’t about to have sex with the Devil.

  Dagon is near me, asking, “What’s wrong, Lexa?”

  “I’m sorry,” I say again, keeping my eyes averted, keeping my hands to myself. “I guess I wasn’t ready.” A lie, of course, because how can I tell Dagon that I pictured his father when we were about to do the deed? How is that something you can casually bring up in a conversation?

  There is a long, pregnant silence until Dagon says, “It’s all right.” He grabs my hand, spinning me to face him. He expression reads sincerity. “You know I’d never force you to do anything you didn’t want to do.”

  “I know,” I say, an obviously fake smile forming on my lips as he kisses my forehead.

  With a quick goose of my butt, Dagon picks up the crystal and the spellbook. “Let’s hope Aphrodite’s spell wears off of you soon, because otherwise I’m in for a rough night.” With his free hand, he takes mine, fingers interlacing with mine.

  Holding the book of maps against my chest, I hold in a sigh. I feel bad. Bad for cutting us off, terrible for seeing Lucifer, awful for telling him I’m not ready when the opposite is true.

  I just don’t want to take any chances. Not yet, not now.

  All I want is to face the end of the world, and then Dagon and I can worry about our sex lives.

  A fiery portal swallows us, bringing us back to our cave. David hops up from his position next to Deb. Rubbing his hands together, he says, “That was fast—” He must notice the hardness in Dagon’s pants, for he has to consciously keep his eyes up and averted.

  “Here,” I say, handing him the map book. I yank the crystals and the spellbook from Dagon, moving between them to shield his crotch. “Anything else?”

  “Nope. Just have to find the spell,” David is slow to say, eyes darting between us.

  I swallow, not wanting to answer the wordless questions David is asking me.

  As Night falls and the Locusts swarm the skies, I keep to myself. Deb tries drawing in the dim campfire light while David flips through his spellbook. Nat sits near him, and although my Warlock friend doesn’t like Vampires, he tolerates her presence. Probably because he knows she hates the smell and sight of Human blood. For a reanimated corpse, Nat isn’t bad. Neither was Cloud.

  Was.

  I should say is. We don’t know whether or not he’s dead. We could find him with the spell…or we could find the place where he turned into ash.

  Dagon speaks to my mom about something—about what, I don’t know—and I lay down, still embarrassed over what happened. I’m not tired, though, so when sleep takes hold of me, I’m shocked.

  I really should’ve known better than to heed the call of slee
p, especially after what happened in the shop.

  Chapter Six

  For a moment, nothing but blackness surrounds me. It ebbs and flows, twisting and turning until it forms a long room, tall columns of black glass. As long as a football field, I stand in the middle. On one end, a pair of doors rest, more than double my height. On the other, a roaring fire, the flames in the stone arch red and orange—the only bit of color in this place.

  I wear the same Greek dress, the same strappy sandals. My hair has fallen from its updo, a mess of curls and waves in its dark tresses. After glancing around, I see that I’m not alone in the long room.

  A dragon design is etched into the floor, stretching the length of the room. At its head stands a man with his back to me. A waist-length cape rests on his wide shoulders, a plate of metal on his torso. A sword sits on his hip. I don’t need to be closer to him to know who he is.

  “I’ve always admired fire,” he says, his voice strong enough to carry across the entire room. “It’s unpredictability. Its pure, destructive power. There is something so beautiful about it.” He turns to me. “Don’t you agree?”

  My usual gusto dwindles when he faces me, even though he isn’t exactly close. Dagon is the perfect mixture of his mother and father. Masculine but handsome, his edges softer. The man across from me is taller, wider, stronger. His features are sharp, his eyes always holding a deadly malice. Undeniably intimidating, frightening, and wicked.

  “I’ve never been a fan of fire. Too hot,” I say, finally finding my voice.

  Lucifer unsheathes his sword, inspecting it under his hand. “A shame,” he says, gaze lifting to me, “because I like it hot.” The blade shimmers, its blackness absolute. Whatever metal that is, it’s not anywhere on earth.

  My stomach twists. Of course he does. I never expected the Devil to like it cold.

  “Why am I here?” I ask.