Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2) (16 page)

After Callum dropped me off at his den, he went back out to talk to his demon roomies. He looked bone tired when he returned. The cut on his chest was red and raw, and I hoped his Devil’s whiskey would be enough to ward off infection.

I’d been wringing my hands in anticipation the entire time he was gone, worrying that he’d engaged in another battle with Shadow or his master.

“I have three sentries on duty,” he said as he bent over the table, reaching for his whiskey jug. “They will sound the alarm when Scorpius comes. Until then, we will need our strength if we’re going to zap that dog again.” He smirked and then took several swallows before setting down the jug with a clank. “We should get some rest.”

When Callum nodded toward his bed, I just about had a heart attack. My eyes bugged and my wings drooped as my gaze lingered on the striped furs. Did he expect me to sleep next to his rock hard, scaly body and not get turned on? Yeah, and never in a million years had I ever thought I’d use the words “scaly” and “turned on” in the same sentence, but this was Hell, and I was still horny from all that hormone water.

“You can sleep here,” he said as he stripped a fur off the bed and bundled it in his muscular arms. “I’ll sleep by the fire.”

I knew I should have been relieved to see him walk away, so why did I feel the keen stab of disappointment in my chest? Hot damn, his ass looked so good in that skimpy loincloth. If I hadn’t already been in Hell, I would surely have been banished to the fiery pit for wanting to jump the bones of my boyfriend’s demon brother.

I glanced over at the water trickling down the wall, licking my parched lips. It beckoned to me, told me to quench my thirst and then go rip off Callum’s loincloth and straddle his hard body. Just a quick screw. It wouldn’t count as cheating. We could blame it on the water.

I had to squeeze my legs together as desire shot through me and trickled into my panties. Oh, God, this was going to be one hell of a torturous afterlife if all I ever did was think about sex. I looked at the water again; the sound of it splashing against the stones was enough to drive me mad. I was so damn thirsty. I wondered how much it would hurt if I just had a few swallows.

“What are you doing here?”

“Huh?” My hand flew to my throat and my wings jerked me to my knees when I realized I’d been sitting on Callum’s makeshift bed. How had I gotten here, and what was I doing with a cup of water in my hands? One minute I’d been salivating over his tight ass, and the next I was getting cozy on the floor with him and drinking hormone water!

This was so not like me. I’d always been loyal to my men, even the jerks. But in Hell, it was like all of my morals had been turned inside-out.

He scowled at my goblet before prying it from my hands. “Go to bed, Ash. There’s no telling when Shadow’s master will arrive, but when he does, we will need our strength.”

Okay, lust momentarily forgotten. Shadow’s master was supposedly going to come for me because I was his prize. Why he wanted a frizzy-haired ghoster was beyond me, not when I was certain there had to be plenty of nice creepy demon girls he could kidnap instead.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Who is Shadow’s master?”

He frowned. “They call him Scorpius, and he’s The Gatekeeper, the most powerful demon in our dimension.”

The Gatekeeper? That sounded important.

“What’s a Gatekeeper?” I asked.

A shadow passed over his features before he reached for his whiskey jug on the floor. “The one who holds the key to your escape.”

I blew a lock of frizzy hair out of my eyes. “That sucks.” Somehow, I didn’t get the feeling he’d be giving up the key any time soon. I wondered if dimensions in Hell were like levels in Purgatory, and if so, we had to be on one of the lower levels, because my current living situation certainly sucked. “So is our dimension toward the bottom of Hell?”

The jerk actually had the nerve to laugh, which wasn’t good, because his throaty chuckle sent a wave of lust straight to my girly parts. “We’re on the first dimension, the top floor. This is paradise compared to the others.”

I wondered just how shitty things became with each level, and I prayed I’d never have to find out first-hand.

“Callum?” I asked, taking a chance and using his given name.

“What?” He groaned before tipping back his head and gulping from the jug.

I scooted away from him, feeling uneasy at the amount he was drinking. Then again, I had no idea of a dragon’s tolerance level. I’d always been a cheap drunk. Two drinks and I was usually flirting with the nearest stud at the bar. Three drinks and I would have probably slept with that stud. Four drinks and I would have woken up thinking I was with a stud, only to realize he was a middle-aged high school janitor who still lived with his mom and had a bad case of eczema on his ass from playing too many online video games.

“How did we get our demon forms?” I asked.

He took another long drink as his eyes gleamed with distant memories. “Our demon forms mirror our deaths, and sometimes, I think even our hearts. I was crushed for several hours beneath a printing press after a building collapsed on top of me. I’d been drinking whiskey, and I remember my lungs were on fire. I should have used that time to call out to God and beg forgiveness for my sins, but I cursed him instead for making me weak and selfish. I cursed Katherine for being a whore. Mostly, I cursed myself for betraying my brother, a damn good man and my best friend. By the time rescuers had lifted the rubble off me, I’d breathed my last living breath. And when I woke again I’d been cursed to Hell, a just punishment for my sins. The rage in my heart has made me this creature. Every waking moment my chest strains for breath and my lungs burn, only now the flame is real.”

Holy shitfire! Talk about a tortured soul. He’d been living this way for over a hundred years. And I’d thought my life was rough. Seriously, what had I been tortured about in Purgatory? PMS cramps? Gluten intolerance? Bad hair days? All of that paled in comparison to what Callum endured.

“I’m sorry, Callum.” I fluttered forward, resting my hand on his. “I wish there was something I could do to ease your suffering.”

He shook me off with a scowl. “There’s nothing you can do.” Then he took another swig.

My wings fell at my sides as my shoulders caved inward. Jeez, talk about rejection, and I wasn’t even coming onto him. Well, I didn’t think I was, but my girly parts still ached, so it was hard to tell.

I worried about his drinking. He had to have finished the entire bottle by now. And then what? Did he have more demon moonshine locked up somewhere? Was he going to get too plastered to protect me?

“Shouldn’t you slow down?” I asked.

He arched a brow as steam poured from his nose. “You my mother now?”

I rolled my eyes. I wanted to say if I’d been his mother, I wouldn’t have wanted to fuck him, but I decided to keep that snarky comment to myself. “I’d like you to stay sober in case this Scorpius shows up.”

He shrugged. “I fight better when I’m drunk.”

I threw up my hands, fluttering to my knees. “You’re impossible, you know that?”

He actually had the nerve to grin, a damn sexy grin at that.

“Hang on,” I said, leaning over him as I wiped a drop of whiskey off his chin. The scales on his face were a lot smaller than the ones on his chest, nearly blending in with his skin. Beneath his tough hide he looked very much like Aedan. This beast was more man than anything. My hand lingered on his mouth, tracing the line of his lips. They were soft, like Aedan’s. I wondered if his kisses were as intoxicating.

“You shouldn’t touch me like that.” He grabbed my fingers, squeezing as he pushed me away. But the molten look in his eyes said he wanted me to keep touching him and then some.

I sat back on my heels, pouting as I fought the urge to lean into him. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“I took Katherine without thought or care for anything but sating my desires.” His features turned to stone. “Her nettle is the bane of my existence, tempting me in her nude form, knowing I’m not strong like my brother.”

I fisted my hands in my lap, squeezing until nails broke skin, desperately trying to tame my desire. “You don’t seem weak to me.”

His gaze roved the length of my body, lingering on my breasts before our eyes locked for several pulsating heartbeats. “If I wasn’t weak, I wouldn’t be thinking about bedding you now.”

A shudder coursed through me, sending a trill of desire and fear across my senses. “Oh.”

He pulled a thick blade with a bone handle from the side of his loincloth and handed it to me.

“Sleep with this. If anyone tries to harm you tonight, don’t hesitate to use it.”

“What if
you
try to harm me?” I breathed, and by harm, I meant screwing my brains out all night long.

“Then strike hard and without mercy.” He pulled back, eyeing me with an intensity hotter than damnation’s deadly embers. “Not in all of thirteen hells would I ever wish to betray my brother again.”

Aedan

Since I’d drawn first watch, it was my duty to stare out into the blackness and watch for vengeful demons. So far, I’d seen nothing, so I had time to brood over dark thoughts while Sarge slept with what appeared to be one eye open and Jack’s two heads snored beside the campfire.

My thoughts traveled to Ash. I’d hurt her today with my careless words, and now she was gone. Why had Shadow taken her and for what foul purpose? Alone with my depression, my confidence had finally began to wane. I wondered if I’d be able to save her, or if she was lost to me forever. So far, Jack hadn’t been able to pick up her scent, and I had no idea where to start looking. Were my companions and I alone on our mission, or would God extend His mercy down below?

And then there was the question of my relationship with Ash if and when I found her. As my gaze flickered back to the sergeant, I recalled the moment I’d walked into Ash’s room and caught them pulling out of an embrace. Ash had pretended she was merely friends with the soldier, but I’d seen the look of guilt in her eyes. Had she run into his arms so quickly after the incident with Mar? Was her heart truly that fickle?

Having collected souls in the sixties and seventies, I’d gotten used to the immodest behavior of men and women. I’d seen the experimentation, the break from traditional marriage. I understood Ash came from a broken home. I’d known she was no maiden the first night we made love. I only hoped that from here on after, there would be no others.

“Hey, you! Over here,” a voice called out.

Startled, I jumped up, unsheathing my scythe and looked for the demon.

Sarge was beside me in an instant, scythe in hand and legs braced apart.

“Jack. Get up, boy,” I called over my shoulder.

Jack woke up with two grunts and immediately went to sniffing the perimeter of the cave. Whoever was calling was in the back, though I had no idea how he’d gotten there. We’d inspected the cave earlier and had discovered no hidden exits.

“Over here,” the demon called again.

Jack emerged from the shadows, one of his heads panting, tongue lolling to the side, while the other head clutched a ball of sorts between his fangs.

Sarge squinted, raising his scythe like a club. “What the hell is that?”

Jack dropped the ball to the ground and it rolled right to my feet. Instinctively, I kicked it when I saw the rows of razor sharp teeth and big, bulging eyes.

“Ouch!” the demon cried as its head went careening back to where it had come from.

“Go fetch, boy,” I said to Jack.

The dog happily went after it, bringing it back and dumping it at my feet again.

This time, the demon’s head was covered in Jack’s saliva and sticky clay.

“Gross!” it cried as it spit and rolled side to side.

“I’ve seen this demon before,” I said to Sarge. I remembered dismembering it when it attacked Ash at her last ghosting assignment. Usually, decapitated demons carried their heads around or tied them back on. I nudged it with my foot. “Where’s the rest of your body?”

“I don’t know,” he cried. “Shadow threw my head down here, and my body hasn’t found me yet.”

My breathing stilled. “Shadow? When?”

“Earlier today.” The demon flashed a wide smile, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. “He had the girl you were looking for. She was locked up in a cage.”

Ahhh, so the demon had been listening to our conversation earlier but had stayed silent. “Why did you wait until now to tell us?”

“I don’t know.” His bulging eyes blinked and then shifted. “I was scared.”

He was lying.

“What do we do with him?” Sarge asked.

I nodded toward the mouth of the cave. “Throw it down the cliff.”

“Wait!” He screeched as Sarge picked him up by the roots of his stringy hair. “Please help me.”

I pulled back my hood, scowling at him with a hard, skeletal face. “Why should we?”

His eyes shifted again, and I could tell he was formulating another lie. “I’ll lead you to the girl if you help me find my body.”

I leaned into his face, coming within inches of his sharp fangs. “How do we know we can trust you?”