by Brandi Bell
Cliona
As I make my way into the bar, I notice how bright everything is here. There are colors that don’t exist in hell. I also realize that I don’t have to do anything to gain the attention of these men. My natural power attracts them to me. This is going to be so easy. I lean up against a tall table, and it only takes seconds for men to start gathering around, vying for my attention.
I flirt, using my power to look into their souls and see who is the most innocent. So far, all of these men have already had their way with several women and are well on the way to their own corruption. I want to corrupt a virgin for my first time, since I’m being forced to have sex with a random human.
The crowd around me is two deep before I sense him, an innocent. He’s dragged over with his corrupted friend, but I can easily make this work. I make eye contact and gesture for him to come forward. His green eyes gloss over, and he pushes his way through the crowd. He’s tall with a dark tan and shaggy blond hair. I flirt harder, pushing my lust into him. He loosens up and starts flirting back.
He reaches out and touches my shoulder; then suddenly, he’s thrown back, and this strange dark-haired man is whisking me away.
“Put me the fuck down!” I scream, pushing my lust at him, to help make him obey.
“Sorry, babe; your lust wont work on a lust demon,” he smirks, his grey eyes twinkling. “Name’s Dayson, and I’ve been watching you all night.”
He’s full of it, since I already know my lust will work on any demon that is weaker than me.
“As a lust demon you should know that you just wrecked my mission!” I scream at him so he can hear me over the music.
“What kind of mission would have you flirt with a bunch of douchebags?”
“The kind my father sent me on.”
“Your father is Asmodeus?” he asks, his face turning white as a sheet.
“Yes, and if I don’t lose my virginity to one of those so called douchebags, he’ll have my head.”
“I could help you with that instead,” he offers, smearing on a panty-dropping smile.
He is hot, with dark hair, slight stubble, and gorgeous grey eyes. I’m tempted, especially if his demon form is as hot as his glamor, but I’m not that easy. If I were to be with a demon, they would have to work for it.
“I’m not that easy, buddy. You’re a demon. Should I tell my father of your proposition? He ordered me to lose my virginity to a human,” I taunt him to see how serious he is.
“Then how about we tell your father you followed through. Send that virgin you were after to have sex with someone else. You’ll still corrupt him and we can go on a date,” he counters, not visibly shaken by my threat.
I think about what he said, and to be honest, the thought of losing my virginity to one of these random frat boys isn’t very appealing. Maybe I will take him up on his offer, but I don't think I really am ready for the whole sex thing yet. It's one thing to corrupt someone else with my lust and powers, but losing my virginity is too personal to be done with some random human. I may be a lust demon, but I do have standards.
“Fine, but if my father finds out, it's your head that's going to roll not mine. I have no problem throwing you under the bus for this. You corrupted my corruption.” Okay, that made no sense but I'm still owning that shit.
Dayson throws his head back and laughs. How could he laugh at me? I am laying myself out there for all to see and he laughs at me. I don't think this is going to be a very good idea. We are too much alike, I feel like we are going to be clashing on a lot of things, the first being he laughed at me. The second, thinking that I would choose him to lose my virginity to.
“Let me send my good little poppet out to get laid, and then let's get out of here. The colors are messing with my head. How can you stand it?” I'm blunt, the colors are giving me a headache leaving me with no tact. All I really want to do now is go back home and rest my eyes. How humans can handle seeing so many colors is beyond my comprehension.
“This is your first time out isn't it? How could your father make you do this your first time earthside? Most of us just go out the portal and gawk at the colors the first time. I think I made it this far into the city on my seventh or eighth time over. Your head must be killing you. Let's get back and head to my place; we can talk more there.”
“I’m a Trulove. That means I must be able to do anything perfectly the first time.”
“That’s ridiculous, but I have met your father, so I can see it.”
“I’ll go back to hell with you, but I’m going home, not back to your place.”
“So, I get to go home with you?” he asks, a hopeful look in his eyes.
“Of course not! I’m going home alone, and you can go do whatever your little lustful heart desires.”
“Then go on a date with me tomorrow night. It’s what my heart most desires,” he pleads getting down on his knees making a spectacle.
“You don’t even know my name,” I retort, not wanting to answer.
“What’s your name pretty lady?” he asks, grinning ear to ear.
“Fine. One date,” I reply firmly. “My name’s Cliona.”
He stands up and grabs me around the waist and bring his lips crushing onto mine, making me lose track of my headache and the fact we are earthside. My stomach clenches and butterflies flutter about. The soft feel of his lips on mine, a whisper of a kiss. It was night and day. He starts so aggressive and ends with my toes curling. I’m beginning to second guess my virginity.
I pull away from the kiss, “That’s enough of that. Let’s go.”
We walk back to the portal area in awkward silence. I find it’s a good thing he’s with me because in my rush to get here, I forgot to ask the portal guy how to get back. He walks up to the brick wall and knocks four times, muttering something under his breath, and the portal appears. We step through, and I go running off as soon as we hit hell, heading straight to my father's office.
Before I walk in, I make sure the smell of sex is stuck to me from the bar, and thankfully, it is. I knock on his door. “Enter,” he booms from the other side.
“It’s done,” I reply, “There was one of your lackies spying on me at the bar.”
“I didn’t have anyone spying on you. I’m pleased you completed your mission, come back in two days for your next mission. Leave,” he dismisses me with a wave of his hand and ignores me.
Cliona
I wake up and look at the clock. It’s midafternoon already. The late night human side wore me out. I get up, put my work out clothes on, and head to the gym. I put my earbuds in and lose myself to the workout. I need to keep a perfect figure so this is part and parcel. I'm the only demon in the gym which is very unusual. After about an hour of being alone, another demon finally walks through the doors.
Shiny red skin glistens as he does rep after rep on the free weights. Okay, I admit, I stare quite a bit, but his body is beautiful with perfectly symmetrical crimson straight horns, which is a rarity in our world. He finally lifts his head and looks at me with eyes like raw garnets staring back at me. He smirks at me, and I feel my skin redden even more than it normally is. I decide that's my cue to leave. Not to run away from embarrassment, but because he is far too tempting.
I get home and shower. I put on a bathrobe and decided to call Meghan to tell her about my date with Dayson tonight.
“How was your birthday? Did your dad make you do anything?” she answers the phone asking questions.
“He sent me to a bar earthside to, as he said, lose my pesky virginity,” I tell her, rolling my eyes as I say the last part.
“I’m so glad I’m not a lust demon,” she replies, her voice tinkling with amusement.
Meghan is an envy demon and very vain, rightfully so. With her gray velvety skin, pure white eyes, and petite slightly curved horns, she is very attractive as a demon. We met when we first started school and have been friends ever since.
“I didn’t do it. This lust demon interrupted me and convi
nced me to go on a date with him tonight. I told my dad that I did though,” I admit, needing to confide in my bestie.
“OMG! I can’t believe you had the guts to lie to your dad! He would kill you if he found out,” she exclaims, almost shrieking in the phone.
“I know but come on, would you have wanted to lose your virginity to a random human? If I'm going to lose it, it's going to be on my terms not my father’s.” I know she’ll understand since we've talked about my father and his unbelievable control issues. If it was up to my father, my life would be micromanaged by him.
“Yeah, but if he finds out, then I don't even want to know what he's going to do to you. One for not telling him the truth and two for going against his orders. You’re my best friend, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you.” Even though she's an envy demon, I couldn't ask for a better best friend.
“Well that's not going to happen, so we are not going to dwell on it.” I refuse to let that demon have more hold over me than he already has.
“I still worry, girl. If something happens to you, who am I going to have to complain to? You know how I am, so I don't have to explain things to you, so trust me it's selfish reasons,” Meghan's voice warbles with emotions, which is something that I'm not used to hearing.
“Now help me; here lately, I've been having these problems with being attracted to demons I normally wouldn't give a second glance to. What is wrong with me? Is it residual lust pheromones? Is it my mind trying to find someone worthy of losing my virginity to? Help girl!” I all but scream into the phone.
“Well in my experience, from losing my virginity, it doesn't matter who or what you lose it to, it's going to suck. The first time always does. I can tell you my horror story or just let you find out on your own. Which do you want?” The tone of her voice indicates she wants to tell me.
“Go ahead and horrify me, love.”
“It wasn't that long ago maybe a month or two after I turned eighteen, and I can't even remember his name. I had one too many drinks at the bar. You know the one down by the school. After about the third or fourth margarita, I was starting to feel really good. I remember looking over and there was the most beautiful demon I'd ever seen sitting over across the room. He was with a group of his friends who were equally gorgeous. I tried everything I could to get his attention but he just didn't notice me. It was about three drinks later that I lost all memory. I woke up the next morning with this demon I don't even remember meeting. I was a little sore but other than that it was completely underwhelming.”
“Damn, why didn't you tell me this sooner? Now that I have my powers, that will never happen to you again, love. All I have to do now is put some lust pheromones on you, and you will be the center of everyone's attention.” At least, that's how I hope it works.
“I love having a lust demon as a bestie. I'm going to get the hottest demons. Everyone is going to be so jealous of me.”
“That's what friends are for. Now help me figure out how to get ready for this date. I have been on dates before, but for some reason, there's something about him that's special. He drives me crazy with his arrogance but he's, ugh. I can't explain it. I'm so nervous yet excited.” My voice cracks. I must be more nervous then I thought.
“Girl, you're a lust demon; just show up and he'll be eating out of the palm of your hand.” Wait, she sounds snarky saying that, when did this start?
“That's where you're wrong; he's a powerful lust demon too, so we cancel each other out. Or at least, he claims I don’t affect him. I think he might be lying.”
“How do you know you cancel each other out? Do you want to spend time with him? Is he constantly on your mind? From what you just said he very much affects you. If I were you, I would watch him like a hawk. See if he turns it on when you're around or not. If he does, then he'll be surrounded by women; hell without it, he probably will be still, but you will be able to tell the difference. If he truly wants you, he won't turn on his pheromones. He will want you to like him for him not his lust.”
Ugh, I hate it when she makes sense, but that's why I confide and talk to her; she helps me see reason and things that are right in front of me sometimes.
“Ugh, I hate when you're right, bitch. I'll keep an eye on him and tell you tomorrow what he does. I hope he doesn't turn it on. Wow, that sounded wrong didn't it?”
“You've had caffeine today haven't you? It's just now kicking in. Go work out or something to burn off that extra energy or tonight you are going to be sending out all kinds of mixed signals. You know you go from hot to cold when you drink coffee.”
“Nope not going to go work out for at least another hour. I just came from there and well, there was this really hot demon in there that I accidentally stared at and maybe drooled over before he busted me. Hell, even his eyes were gorgeous. So now, I'm waiting for him to leave before I go back there.”
“Since when do you run away from anything, especially hot demons?”
“No, it was a hot demon glistening with sweat, causing my pheromones to inadvertently turn on. Then I got caught, and the heat between us was so hot, I almost needed a cold shower to leave the room. I'm still blushing from it.” My body still shivering with pent up sexual tension.
“What kind of demon was he? Maybe he was a lust demon too and was trying to get in your pants.”
“No, he definitely wasn't lust. I'm thinking he is one of the seven, but not sure exactly which one. Maybe pride or gluttony. All I know is I contemplated losing my virginity right there in the gym on the weight bench.”
Meghan isn't saying anything, so I guess it's time to wrap this call up. I still need to get ready for my date; maybe getting ready will help me burn this extra energy I have.
“Well girlie, your attention span is gone as well; I'll call you tomorrow and tell you all about my date.” I shouldn't be surprised, when things get too focused on me, she loses interest quickly. I think it's an envy demon thing.
Cliona
I go in my closet and agonize over what to wear tonight. My outfit needs to scream interested but not easy. Sometimes being a girl can be hard work. Finally, I decide on some ripped jeans and a light grey corset top with black roses embroidered on it.
By the time I finish getting my makeup and hair just right, I have time to eat a quick sandwich before leaving for the bar. By the time I arrive in front of our chosen meeting place, my stomach is in knots. I see a handsome demon standing out front, and even without his glamour, I immediately know it’s him. He’s tall and has dark gray skin a couple of shades lighter than black. His eyes are like two onyx gems staring at my top; he must like corset tops too. He doesn't have any horns, a very rare thing for a demon, but not unattractive.
“I wasn’t sure if you would show up after you ran off like that,” he says, lust dripping from his voice.
“I said I would come, so here I am,” I reply awkwardly.
“I sort of invited some friends along in case you didn’t show up,” he says as he rubs the back of his neck.
I sigh with relief internally, a group would be easier to deal with than a one-on-one date with this hottie. “That’s fine. Lead the way.”
I follow him into the dark bar to a table at the back surrounded by six of the most handsome demons I’ve ever seen. My face grows hot as I notice the demon from the gym is there. I hope he didn’t catch me staring at him, but the smirk he is throwing my way proves otherwise.
“Let me introduce you to everyone. From left to right we have Zadkiel, Graden, Tanas, Holdon, Maddox, and Kannon,” Dayson points to each guys as he says their name. “Guys, this is Cliona.”
“My friends call me Clio,” I reply waving at them.
I check out each of them. Zadkiel must be a fallen angel, since he is sitting in a demon bar in human looking skin. He’s thin but muscular with a sharp jaw and bright blue eyes that shine like sapphires. His hair is blonde and spiked up in little points. Graden I recognize from the portal; he’s the lazy guy that let me through to ear
thside yesterday. Tanas the hottie from the gym, his red skin still makes me flush. Holdon has the most remarkable bluish gray eyes that almost match his curved horns, standing out against his black velvet looking skin. Maddox stands out in his own accord with all white eyes and dark grey, satin smooth visage. His horns look like little slightly curved nubs. Kannon rounds out the hotness at the table with his huge frame, black leather like skin, huge curved horns almost covering his whole head and blood-red eyes.
A round of nice-to-meet-yous and hellos come from the table. I sit down, wanting to run to the bar for a drink but not wanting to be rude. Thankfully, a waitress comes up and takes our drink orders. I know in hell you can drink as soon as you can see over the counter, but some places earthside make you wait until your twenty-one. We have ID’s made so we can get into any bar, as soon as we turn eighteen and can go on missions. I ask for something fruity and listen as the guys chat, trying to gauge the dynamic of the group.
It’s immediately obvious Zadkiel is the quiet calculating one. He’s sitting back listening and keeps sneaking thoughtful glances my way when he thinks I’m not paying attention. Tannas is obviously a pride demon after sitting here for a few minutes. He’s boasted about his time at the gym and a few other things. I can’t get a gauge on what everyones elses sin is yet, but I can tell they all belong to one of the seven. I start giggling and can’t stop with the thought of what if I have one of each. That would make this table the seven deadly sins.
“What’s so funny?” Zadkiel asks, bringing my attention to the fact that everyone is staring at me.
My face flushes as I stammer, “I just had a funny thought and forgot not to laugh out loud.”
“Are you going to share your thought with the rest of us?” Holdon asks, almost demanding.
