I arch my back, pressing myself into his hand, riding it as he moves in rhythm with me. “Faster,” I cry. I need to feel the release, the building sensation too much for me to handle. Everything tingles, each movement building higher and higher.
“Patience. Let it come to you.” Running his nose along my chin, he blows gently on my neck. Chills spread along my heated skin. The movements on my core remain the same, but each breath he tickles me with almost pushes me over the edge. “That’s it. Let yourself go.”
His tongue darts out, tracing the edge of my neck before gently biting my skin between his teeth. My eyes roll back as the release hits me slowly, each contraction of myself around his fingers building until it’s suckling his hand. Lights flash behind my eyelids while my body shakes beneath his. A cry sits on my lips, but nothing comes out as all the energy is releasing from me, slowly lowering me down. His hand slips out, causing another clench of my insides with the emptiness.
My eyes start to close, each of them wedging themselves deeper into my heart. The way they taste, the way they feel. I slowly drift to sleep as I curl into Lex’s arms, accepting defeat from all the energy expelled.
The soft thump from the other room pulls me from a dreamless sleep. Cracking my eyes open, I look to see if all of them are still in here, but the bed is empty. I almost wonder if I imagined all of it, but the soreness in my muscles and the rawness of my skin tells me I didn’t. Glancing down, I see I’m still completely naked. There’s light bruises around my skin, and my nipples are red from their lips. I can smell them each on me, which is driving me crazy. Oh no, I can’t go again. Pushing myself off the bed, I fight the urge to go find one of them. Instead, I head straight for the bathroom. A hot shower should break the spell. Well, maybe a cold shower would be better.
After washing for what felt like eternity and soaking in the warmth of the water, I throw on my clothes. The thumping and mumbling of voices from the other room floats through my door. I’m not sure what time it is, but by the sun I’d say midafternoon already. So they spent most of the night and this morning pleasuring me. My stomach tingles at the thought, but I quickly fix that. I’m not going to think about it, not now. We have to get home first; then we can talk about what this all means. Where we’re going from here. And how soon I can feel them again.
Pushing open the bedroom door, I walk out, embarrassed to meet the four sets of eyes swinging my way. I fiddle with the bottom of my shirt, averting my gaze. “What are we doing today?” Please don’t let this be so awkward. What if they only did it because they felt it was their duty? Aries did say it’s their job to protect me.
Levi’s the first to walk over. I try to avoid his gaze, but the smirk on his lips causes me to laugh. “First, we eat!” He wraps his hand around mine and pulls me into the kitchen. The table is covered in BLT sandwiches, chips with dip, and a large jar of pickles. “We figured you’d be hungry. Even we were starving after everything.” He winks, and the heat rises to my cheeks.
“Thanks,” I whisper as I take in all the food. It could feed twenty humans, but then again it is four demon-blooded princes and the devil who are eating. Sitting down, I bite my lip as I look at the jar of pickles. Before I can debate on how to open it, Levi pops the top off and passes me the jar with a fork. The others come in, each of them sitting in their usual seats. They dig in, grabbing sandwiches and chips, and after I take three pickles, they take some too. Lex piles two BLTs on my plate as Ryce passes me the chip dip.
“After we eat, I say we head out and check out that area where the electricity has been wonky. It’s still flickering at a higher voltage than it should be according to my sources.” Lex takes a bite out of his pickle, the juice dripping down his lip. I chuckle as he sucks the end of the pickle to catch the rest. Definitely didn’t think that would look so hot. I see the appeal now. I pull my gaze away, meeting Levi’s next to me, his eyes darkened as he smirks seeing where my mind was going.
“I agree. We need to figure out where Lilith is, but this is priority too. It could be the cause of the portal closing. Levi and Ryce, you take Lucia with you while you search the area. Last we heard, there weren’t many people around the area, so it should be safe,” Aries commands. I glance under my eyelashes at him while eating a chip. He’s including me without me having to beg. “Lex and I will head toward downtown where Lilith was last seen. If any of us find her, no one makes a move on her. We report back here, and we make a plan together.” The others nod in agreement. Seeing them fall back into their roles so quickly but letting me be included has my heart beating a little extra fast.
“As soon as we’re done, we’ll head out,” Ryce agrees. He pops the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth before pushing back from the table. “I’ll clean up. Levi, you grab the weapons and make sure Lucia has something to use too just in case.” Grabbing the empty plates, he heads to the kitchen like it’s a normal lunch between friends. I’m still in shock as they all act like nothing major happened last night. Like my world didn’t shift and I’m suddenly included in their foursome.
“And if she gets hurt or killed on your watch, I’ll gut you personally,” Aries says nonchalantly. His hand caresses my knee under the table, giving it a gentle squeeze before he pushes himself up and heads toward the other room. The others nod solemnly in agreement, like being gutted is the most reasonable thing that can be done. Maybe I was wrong—it’s more like lunchtime between four psycho princes and their queen. I swallow down my fear as I hope I don’t accidentally get myself killed. I’d feel guilty causing them to be destroyed by Aries for my own stupid mistake.
22
The streets around the electrical surge are pretty dead. There’s a few homeless people dispersed down alleyways, but there’s not a constant flow of humans. I glance up at the old business buildings around us, all of them dark, some with a few broken windows. The fact that this entire business district looks like a ghost town has the hairs standing up on my arms. Where did everyone go, and why hasn’t the news picked up on this? I walk a little behind the guys, taking in the surroundings. My skin has goose bumps, but there’s nothing, not even a breeze, to explain where it’s coming from.
“This place is creepy,” I mutter, catching up to them.
“That coming from the devil isn’t a good sign,” Levi says while looking through a weird contraption at all the buildings. “There’s definitely something disturbing the atmosphere here. I’m just not sure what it is.”
I look through the lens of the item he’s holding. There’s a few red shapes lighting up, but it’s where the homeless people were sitting when we passed. “What is that thing?”
He brings it up and looks toward the top floors of another building. “It’s an infrared scanner. It picks up on body heat. If there’s any humans hiding here, we’ll see them.”
Huh. “Why would we care if there’s humans?” I glance up where he’s looking, the silence deafening besides us talking. Not even a cat or mouse scurrying down an alley can be heard.
“If there’s humans, that means less of a chance for this to be caused by demonic powers. They don’t like to stay where there’s a lot of humans,” Ryce answers, while checking the map printout we brought with. It has all the blueprints for the area including sewage tunnels of the surrounding few blocks.
“And there’s not a lot of humans here, which makes me wonder what we’re about to walk into.” Levi frowns, glancing at Ryce. “Something’s off.”
“I agree. There should be an entrance to the sewage system right here.” He points to a spot on the map directly where we’re standing. I look down, but there’s nothing besides concrete. “As you can see, it’s not here. Either there’s magic at play or the maps are wrong. Where did you find these things at?” He shakes the paper like it might change the drawings on the page to rearrange them correctly.
Levi snatches it out of his hand, shaking his head. “I printed these off from the city’s records site. There’s no logical explanation as to why
they’re wrong. Which means…this might be Lilith’s doing.”
My stomach drops at the sound of her name. I move closer, letting my shoulder touch Levi’s arm. “So, what’s the plan here? Obviously, something is going on. I feel like we’re being watched, but I can’t quite place a finger on where from.” I peer behind my shoulder where the eerie feeling is coming from, but there’s no one there.
“Maybe we should head back, regroup, and leave Lucia at home. I’m not taking a chance on her getting killed out here.” Ryce scans the area, knife in hand.
“I hate to say it, but I agree,” Levi says, both of them shifting so I’m between their bodies. Ryce faces forward while Levi stands at my back.
“Come on, this is ridiculous. Our imaginations are getting the better of us. Let’s just take a quick peek, then we’ll at least have some data to report. Do you really want to go back telling the guys we chickened out over eerie silence and a wrong map?” I grab on to the back of Ryce’s shirt, tugging on it to get his attention.
With narrowed eyes, he turns to face me. “She has a point. Even though I don’t want to admit it, we can’t go back without something.” Running his hand through his short hair, he glances over his shoulder. “Up ahead should be a small courtyard where most of the buildings meet. Let’s see if there’s anything that way. If not, we’ll head back and come later at night.”
“Why later at night?” I follow behind him, still keeping Levi at my back as we walk forward.
“Because, if it’s from demonic powers, they usually tend to prowl in the evening hours,” he confirms. Great, just what I need—darkness being roamed by evil. That’s my gig down in hell. They can’t take that from me. We walk slowly alongside the building, all of us pressed with our backs to it, listening for any sounds in the courtyard. There’s some rustling up ahead, but no voices. Ryce holds up a hand, telling us to wait while he moves ahead. Fine with me. I’d rather hide back here and let him get spotted first. At least he can defend himself. I’d probably end of tripping and stabbing myself with the knife they equipped me with. After a few minutes, he reappears, walking toward us. His eyebrows are pulled down as he whispers, “It’s demons, but they don’t fully look like demons.”
“What do you mean?” Levi shifts to my side, his hand still resting at my lower back.
“They’re disguised as humans.” He pulls out his phone. “I should text the others, tell them to meet us back at the apartment.”
“If they look like humans, how did you know they’re demons?” None of this is making sense. I picture the demons in Hell, black and scaly, walking like creatures, not as a human.
“Because we’re all from Hell, we can see their true forms under the mask. It’s like a halo effect—the human shell blurs and we can see the black creatures underneath.”
I peek around his shoulder. My curiosity winning out, I start to head toward the courtyard, being sure to walk as quietly as possible.
“Lucia, where are you going?” Levi whispers, catching up to me.
“I want to see for myself. I figure if I can see what to look for in the future, it will prevent me from accidentally walking into a demon by surprise.” I shrug like it makes all the sense in the world. Apparently he agrees with me as he leads the way. When we reach the edge of the building, I slowly ease myself in front of him, sticking to the shadows. Peering out into the courtyard, I watch the humans roaming the area. A few are talking to each other, some a carrying items from a truck into a building across the way. I look for what Ryce described, but I don’t see any demons.
“Holy crap,” Levi whispers. “He was right. There’s a ton of demons here. How did they get up here from Hell?” I glance around, but I still don’t see what he’s talking about. I’m about to mention it when he talks again. “See that one by the truck? It’s the one grabbing the box out of the back.” Looking over, I just see a brown-haired man dressed in a yellow dress shirt and brown pants. “That’s Nassiter. I can tell by his eyes.”
Holy shit. Turning back, I try to see what he’s seeing, but I can’t. “Nassiter, as in the leader of the demons back in Hell? How did he get up here?” I squeak as I shift forward a few steps to see more. His hand wraps around my wrist, pulling me backward into the dark just as Nassiter turns and glances our way. Both of us pant in the dark, covering our mouths so they can’t hear us.
When the coast is clear and we don’t hear shouting, he moves us back down the alley toward Ryce. “I think it’s best if we get out of here,” he whispers. I couldn’t agree more. We grab Ryce and we all teleport back to the apartment.
Aries and Lex seem surprised about the news of Nassiter and the fact that demons are walking on Earth. I’m trying to figure out how the demons got on Earth in the first place. They were banned to Hell like the rest of us, but because there’s no humanity in them, they shouldn’t have been able to cross the portal into this world.
“If Nassiter is up here, then we can only assume Lilith is using him for whatever she’s up to,” Lex deduces.
Aries leans forward on the couch next to me, running his hands over his face. “The bigger question is how did he get up here. The portal closed with us crossing through. If he followed us out, it would make sense why it’s sealed shut permanently now. A being of Hell born and raised in the fires cannot cross through the portals.”
“I’ve heard of the legends, but how do we unlock it again to cross him and us back over?” Levi says, flopping onto the couch next to me. A large bowl of ice cream sits in his hands. He takes a bite before handing it to me. Vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate and strawberry sauce with a banana chopped on the side. Fuck yeah! I take a bite, letting all the flavors sit on my tongue. Holy shit, this is like a party in my mouth.
“We need to find Lilith. She’ll have answers. One plus to all of this bullshit is we can see the demons, so it will be easy to track her down,” Lex says.
They all nod. “And easier for us to avoid running into them. It should help when we take Lucia with us so she can avoid them too,” Ryce agrees.
My heart starts racing as I debate on telling them that for some reason I can’t see them. Instead, I take another bite of my ice cream and hope I can figure out a solution to all of this before I get myself in more trouble.
23
I shut the bedroom door with the excuse of needing rest, asking them to give me some time alone. I’m still panicking about the lack of powers I seem to have on Earth. They keep dwindling, and I’m not sure why. Pacing the room, I think back on when I first landed here. Not when the guys found me, but before that asshole murdered me. I could feel the energy in the air, my body responding to the evil souls around me even before I knew what was happening. The blackened pupils and goose bumps on my skin were all signs I was still connected to my powers in hell. I haven’t felt that since the alleyway when those jerks tried to blow us up. Even since the lust overdose the other night, I haven’t been able to sense others’ feelings. Today, I couldn’t even feel or see the demons right here on Earth.
Shaking my hands, I try to calm my nerves. There’s no point in panicking. Panicking only makes things worse. Remember the time you panicked when the deader showed up in hell? You exploded it and were covered in gray goo. We don’t need that, Lucia. I sit down on the edge of the bed, hoping to calm myself. My foot taps wildly on its own while I take deep breaths. In and out. I close my eyes and try to meditate, letting all the bad thoughts out and only the productive ones in. As my body relaxes, my senses feel stronger.
All right, this might work. Excitement springs in my chest as I think about my magic. I imagine it manifesting under my skin, growing in intensity, allowing me to mold it and control it. I picture reaching it out, letting it be an extension of myself.
Opening my eyes, I focus on the bedroom door, all of my energy winding toward it. I think of the spell to place the ward around it, keeping anyone from entering. A light spark of red bursts from my hand but fizzles out before it can complete its mission. “
Fuck!” I whisper-scream.
This is absolute bullshit. Grabbing a pillow, I chuck it at the wall, hoping it will make me feel better. There’s no reason any of this should be happening. If only I could contact my brother Michael, the fucking angel of the living, I could maybe get some answers. That damn library book said he had them at least. My arms start to shake as I think about all the chaos we’ve been through. This is all bullshit! My anger builds as I think of my brothers, the ones who are seated next to Father instead of me while I hunt down his crazy ex-girlfriend who ruined my life. Damn it, Michael! Grabbing the lamp, I fling it at the wall as I cuss. All the glass shatters to the floor but lands with a silent thud. Even the crack I was expecting to hear of the lamp exploding was muffled. Tilting my head, I stare at its broken pieces scattered on the cream-colored carpet.
“If you wanted to see me, you could have summoned me the old-fashioned way. Not commanded me to you.” Michael’s dry, bored voice floats to my ears. I whip my head to the side, my eyes landing on him. His blonde hair is brushed back from his face, and the sharp angles of his jawline fall in the shadows from the now darkened room. His ice-blue eyes look bored as he sits in the chair at the desk against the wall. He’s wearing his white pants, the ones that tie at the waist with a golden rope, and a white shirt over it. He’s wearing sandals. So he’s not in battle mode. Good to know.
“I didn’t command you to me,” I sigh, exasperated from being near him even for only a few moments.
For Hell's Sake (Queen of the Underworld Series Book 1) Page 13
