Hell's Kitty (Welcome To Hell) (5 page)

“If you ask me, that’s a pretty cool power.
A lot less messy than what I have to do to get some respect. Breaking out the claws to mete out some justice and a lesson in manners means getting blood on my fur and sometimes cracking a nail.”

“
So you take a bath. I don’t see the big deal. At least you have the choice of who gets hurt.”

“
Did you just tell me to take a bath?” He didn’t have to pretend affront. Did she truly know nothing about his kind? “I’m a cat, woman! The only time we go near water is to hunt. And even then, we prefer to lure our aquatic snacks to a shallow place where we can grab them and drag them to shore.”

“If you don’t bathe
, then how do you stay clean?” she asked with a cute wrinkle of her nose.

“When I’m in my human shape, I can handle a shower. It’s when I’m not that I run into issues.”

“So what do you do?”

“For one, I try to stay out of messy situations. But when I can’t avoid
them, and I get some blood or something else on my precious feline’s fur, then I’m licking for hours. Which, I might add, is not much fun. Do you know how gross it is to hack up hairballs?” Felipe shuddered. “Not to mention it clogs the pipes when I spit them out in the sink.”

It started with a shake of her frame, a tremble
, then turned into full-on laughter.

“It’s not funny
,” he stated in mock affront.

“Oh yes it is,” she said in between chuckles. “I’d take hairballs and clogged plum
bing over more damned roasted seagull for dinner any day. The sirens hate to see things go to waste, so whenever I’d play outside and got too noisy, we’d end up with whole flocks of visiting seagulls dropping dead.”

“Is that why there are no birds on the island?”

“Partially. But, even before my arrival, there was little alive on this island other than the sirens and their captives. I asked Raidne about it once, but she couldn’t explain why. While we can maintain aquariums, anything else just ends up dying.”

“So no steak? Or venison or mice?”

“Nope, not unless we salvaged some from a wreck. But we do have lots of fresh seafood.” She no sooner said this than she open a cupboard door in the island, stuck her hand in, and withdrew it, holding a massive, mottled green/brown lobster. “Would you like butter sauce with it?”

Would he ever.

A while later, his belly full, and utterly content—the green-haired Jenny could cook!—Felipe finally voiced the question plaguing him. “Tell me to mind my business if you want, but I have to ask. If your mother didn’t want to keep you, then why not send you to live with your father?” As soon as he said it, he wanted to take it back, especially since he couldn’t miss the flash of sadness that hit her eyes. “I’m sorry. That was too personal,” he quickly added.

“No. It’s okay. I mean it’s natural to wonder I guess. You do know mermaids are all female
, right? Like sirens, they require humanoid males to beget children.”

“Yeah, I’d heard, but how does that work
? I mean you’d think their, um, plumbing wouldn’t be compatible.”

Laughter crinkled the corners of her eyes
, and her lips took on a delightful smile he would have loved to kiss. “They’re not, in their sea state. Which is why there are dry caves at the bottom of the ocean. Mermaids snatch drowning sailors and bring them to these air pockets and keep them as their mates. When the tide is high, if a mermaid allows her tail to dry, then for a little while, she appears completely human.”

“And babies arrive nine months later.”

“If lucky, the mermaids get pregnant and give birth to a new mermaid. Or at least that’s what is supposed to happen. It didn’t in my case.”

“You took after your father and came out too human.”

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean, maybe?”

“My mother never said who my father was. She left the school one day to explore the ocean. When she returned, she was heavy with child and wouldn’t say who got her that way. When I was born in the ocean, I almost drowned before they realized I didn’t have gills. For years, my deformity meant I had to live in the caves. I guess the shame proved too much for my mother. One day, I went to sleep, and the next time I woke, I was sitting on the shore of Siren Isle.”

A child abandoned and orphaned, kind of like him. Her story echoed his in many ways, except Felipe’s mother had loved him until something bigger and badder killed her.
He’d lucked out when Ysabel found him as a kitten and took him in, just like Jenny had with the sirens who’d adopted her.

“Have you ever tried to contact your mother to find out why?
Maybe she had a good reason?”

“Nope. Nor do I intend to.
I much prefer living here on the isle with the sunshine and acceptance than in the dark caverns where I was constantly belittled.”

“I can’t blame you. I’m a daylight
-loving kind of guy myself, even if my usual sunshine is the bright glow of Hell’s sky.”

Curled up on the couch across from him, Jenny presented a pretty sight
. At ease, her green locks tumbled around her tucked knees in tempting waves. Felipe couldn’t recall a more relaxing evening, and odder, he spent it conversing with someone of the opposite sex. Usually his conversation with women was short and to the point along the lines of “My place or yours?” and “Let’s get naked.” But with Jenny, he quite enjoyed learning about her, and, in an unusual twist, he imparted personal details about himself.

“What’s Hell like?” she asked, interrupting his musing.

“What’s Hell like?” he repeated. “Depends on which part of it. In the inner circle, things tend to remain orderly. Lucifer might like the results of chaos, and the sin revolving around it, but he doesn’t enjoy living with it. Only his most trusted minions and allies are allowed to live in the inner ring. It’s the least decayed of all the civilized zones. The streets are swept clean of ash numerous times a day, and Lucifer’s guard keeps the criminal types in line. But the farther you move out, especially once you reach the fourth and fifth rings, the more society degrades. It gets harder to impose civilized rules, and the living conditions aren’t exactly as favorable.” Skirmishes broke out often as the damned and demons jostled for position and power. Buildings, no matter how new or renovated, aged quickly, an odd symptom of Hell that meant the construction and renovation business always had work.

“It sounds fascinating
, but frightening at the same time.”

“It is. But even amidst the ugly, there’s beauty to be found. I once hear
d the Dark Lord say, how would we recognize perfection if it were not for the flaws that highlight it? In a sense, Hell does exactly that.”

“An interesting perception.”

“Apt as well. Does your curiosity about Hell mean you’re willing to return with me?”

“
Yes. No.” She shrugged. “You’re asking me to make a life-changing decision. It requires thought.”

“If you say so. I see it more like an adventure.”

“And let me guess, you always jump at the chance to experience new things?”

“All the time.”

“And how has that worked for you?” she asked.

“I’m still alive
, aren’t I?” was his reply. He didn’t mention the close calls and loss of a few of his nine lives. Curiosity was a dangerous thing.

“
Do you think I’d fit in?” she asked, twirling a strand between her fingers.

Would she? Jenny possessed
a purity to her that Hell often lacked. Not to say all its denizens were out-of-control murdering thugs, but they weren’t in Hades because they’d lived a one hundred percent pristine life. Then again, some came close. Heaven’s rules of entry went past strict on to ridiculous at times. But that wasn’t her question. “I think the rings have a place for everyone, even a mermaid who can’t swim.”

“I can swim,” she retorted. “Just not for long underwater.”

“So you’re no good at holding your breath.”

“I bet I can hold it longer than you.”

“Prove it,” was the only warning he gave her before his tomcat impulse finally overrode his common sense. Before she could ask him what he meant, he’d landed on her couch, pulled her onto his lap, and devoured her luscious lips, stealing all her breath.

What he didn’t expect was for her to steal his control.

Jenny had kissed a man before. She’d had the one boyfriend
, after all, to experiment with. With all too much clarity, she recalled his sloppy embraces, the mashing and odd sensation of mouths pressed together.

That experience? Nothing compared to the embrace with Felipe.

One touch, just one, and her whole body ignited with heat. One firm slide of his lips on hers, and moisture rushed to her most private place, and a throb started within. His tongue flicked at the seam of her lips, and, instead of wanting to pull away, her breath stuttered, her mouth parted, and she clutched tight at his shoulders.

When he slid his tongue into her mouth, gliding it along her own, a moan sounded.
Was that me?
Indeed it was, just like it was her squirming on his lap, her sex aching for something. Something he understood and could give her.

A distinctly male hand, not that of a boy but calloused and sure, crept up her thigh, dragging her skirts with it. Cool air caressed her bare skin. Deft fingers kneaded her flesh. A warm
, wet mouth did decadent things to her own. An oddly compelling need built within her.

Knuckles brushed the top of her mound, teasing. They returned, lower. The tip of a finger lightly skimmed across her clit. Again. Her breath caught as Felipe teased her with feather
-light strokes.

A deep rumbling vibrated. Shook her. Was he
… purring?

Shocked, she opened her eyes and found him staring at her, his eyes bright yellow and glowing
, the hunger in them all too apparent. The grumbling purr came from him, from his feline side. And it struck her then in that moment how different he was from the men she’d met before.

A stranger.
A stranger who was taking liberties with her body. Pleasurable ones, but still, Jenny couldn’t help but wonder at how quickly she’d forgotten herself at his touch.

With
a gasp, she leapt from his lap, her skirts tumbling back down to cover her throbbing sex. But she couldn’t hide the fullness of her lips, the flush in her cheeks, or the racing of her pulse.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not?”

“Because. We hardly know each other.”

“We would have before the night was over, and quite intimately too,” he drawled before curving his lips into a mischievous grin.

“I don’t know what kind of magic you’re using on me, but it needs to stop.”

“No magic. Just pure unadulterated attraction.”

“I am not attracted to you.” Lie. She was. But Teles always taught her to never admit the truth unless it was to her advantage.

“I think I just proved otherwise, or would you like me to show you again?”

Yes please.
She retreated a step, and he laughed, a low husky sound that skated along her exposed skin leaving goose bumps behind. And not the frightened kind.

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?” he asked as he rose from the couch.

“Whatever you’re doing.”

“I’m showing my appreciation for a beautiful woman. What’s wrong with that?”

He thinks I’m beautiful?
Liar! His words dunked her in a cold shower of reality. “You’re doing this because you think it will convince me to go with you. Well, you can stop. You don’t need to fake or pretend interest in me. If I go, it will be because I want to and not because of your skills as a lover.”

“You think I’m faking it?” His tone and raised brow of surprise seemed real, but Jenny was
well aware of her shortcomings.

“Oh please. Are you going to tell me a man like yourself is overcome with lust by the sight of me? I
do own a mirror you know.” For years Jenny had the time to compare herself against the perfect beauty of her aunts. Beside their golden splendor and different, but shapely, figures, she was a pale, freakish-looking imitation. Everything about her was slightly off, from her voice to her strange hair to her overly wide hips and bosom and even her pale skin, which refused to tan even the slightest bit. Oh, and how about the fact her legs were covered in shiny scales?

Her only boyfriend had to be enchanted by her aunt to pay her any mind
, and yet Felipe expected her to believe he was beset with desire for her? Ha. She wasn’t that gullible. If her own mother couldn’t see something to love, then how could a perfect stranger?

“I think it’s time I went to bed,” she announced.

“Great idea.”

“Alone,” she added pointedly.

“Ah, but my kitty loves to cuddle.”

How a grown man could look so cute pouting, she couldn’t have said. All she knew was it required more strength of will than she would have credited to shake her head. After that, she didn’t say a word. She’d already spoken more in that one day th
an she ever recalled, the novelty of someone who could not only listen but pretended interest, and who wasn’t one of the aunts, a joy she’d not expected.

Was it possible she could find more people who could tolerate her voice in Hell? She wondered as she ignored his teasing smile, a smile she aimed for when she tossed him a pillow and a blanket. Could she forge a new life, a different life for herself in the rings
? She pondered those questions as she pointed to the couch while ignoring his moue of disappointment.

Did she have the courage needed to even attempt to leave the island? Even if they could make it past the Styx monsters, could she start over?

Maybe.

But
… she was scared.
I don’t want to be alone again.
She’d spent most of her early childhood virtually that way. What if she went to Hell and found herself shunned again?

Then I could always come back.
The aunts loved her, even grumpy Thelxiope. But what if the lover she yearned for, the one man who would accept her for who she was, never wrecked upon the shores? Would she die alone? Or could she find the courage to perhaps seek out happiness? Yes, she might fail, but she could also find great happiness. Either way, she would never know unless she tried.

And on that note, she went to sleep, certain she couldn’t ignore the fact the sexiest man ever slept only feet away, yet she did manage to slip into a deep slumber.

A pleasant dream where she ran through the mossy meadow on the isle while a giant kitty chased her. A single pounce was all it took for him to knock her down, gently, onto the spongy surface. Sitting atop her, his weight crushing, his slimy tongue laved her face with cold, wet strokes while cold air—

Jenny awoke suddenly only to realize her dream wasn’t quite gone. Something did press on her chest, and something wet covered her mouth, preventing her from screaming. Eyes wide, she peered in the darkness, seeing only a vague shape hovering over her, a shape that wasn’t Felipe
and stank something fierce.

Death, decay, rotted fish
, and stagnant seaweed. Whatever the scent truly was comprised of, it didn’t matter. All Jenny knew was it didn’t belong in her cave, she didn’t want it touching her, and she certainly wasn’t going to leave with it willingly.

Gross or not, she bit down on the flesh covering her mouth
, and as the thing let out a pained grunt, she screamed.

And she didn’t scream alone.