Holidays Are Hell Esther Egg Hunt (3 page)

They walked in silence for a few minutes, and then she jerked to a stop. “Wait. You said you had a go bag. You were planning on running, too.”

“Yeah.”

She fixed him with an assessing look, her pretty, brown face a study in confusion. “But why?”

Luc was saved from having to answer that when a burly guy carrying a duffel bag opened the door and held it for them. They walked through. “Thanks, man.”

The driver nodded. “Have a good one.” The big man peered carefully at Luc from under a stained baseball cap, his lips working a toothpick.

Warning bells made the hairs on the back of Luc’s neck lift and, sure enough, his flame tat started to burn. He hid it behind his back and hurried after Esther, grabbing a container of something he knew would come in handy along the way.

He found her sorting through some flannel shirts.

“I think this one will fit you.”

“We need to get out of here.” Luc had her turn around and he slipped the dark blue cardboard container into her pack.

“But…” He snatched up her hand and headed for the back of the store. “There has to be an exit here somewhere.”

She tried to jerk her arm away. “Wait, I wanted to get a sandwich.”

“No time. Sorry.” He pulled her through a door marked
Showers
and dragged her down the hall. There was an exit at the far end of the hallway. Luc didn’t know how the chief judge had figured it out so quickly, but somehow they already knew he and Esther were on the run.

He slammed an arm into the bar on the door. A high-pitched squeal announced the opening of the door, and Luc swore. It didn’t matter anyway -- as soon as they emerged into the growing dusk, the sound of wings beat the air, and his tat went into full flame.

Luc cried out at the pain and doubled over.

Esther touched his back. “What’s wrong?”

The sound of wings beating the air stopped, and Luc risked a glance upward. They’d disappeared. “Come on, we need to…”

Esther screamed, her arms coming up to shield her face as the demon dropped down from the sky, its deadly claws stretched toward them. Luc shoved her behind him and pulled the fire from his core.

She jumped back with a shocked cry as his body flared up. He wished she hadn’t had to see him like that, but there was nothing he could do about it at that point. He had to get her away from the demons.

The demon hit him and they rolled, the other creature screaming in pain as Luc’s fiery flesh burned through its leathery, gray skin. Needle-like teeth snapped at Luc’s face but didn’t connect. Though the demon wanted to rip his face off, it was obviously reluctant to bring fire into its sensitive mouth. The demon had no such concerns about its claws, however. Already the thing had ripped bloody grooves into Luc’s back and legs.

He yelled at Esther, “Get out of here. Find a pipe of some kind and get into it.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she started to run.

Luc held onto the demon until he saw the second one heading for Esther, and then he shoved the writhing thing away and leapt into the air, tackling the second monster just as it reached deadly claws toward Esther.

She cried out as its claws raked down her arm but Luc rammed it into a tree and held on while it screamed in pain. It was smaller than the first demon, a thatch of blonde hair on its head telling him it was a female. Luc resisted the urge to show pity and tightened his grip. The demon snapped at his face, trying to wrest its arms free so it could claw him. But he held on.

As the female sagged into unconsciousness from the pain of his fire, Luc released her and took off running. He headed in the direction Esther had gone, moving quickly and keeping to the tree line so nobody would see him.

Finally, Luc spotted a concrete culvert and dove inside. He sat down on the rough concrete and leaned his arms against his knees. Resting his head on his arms, he tried to catch his breath.

“Luc?”

He didn’t look up. “It’s okay. They won’t be able to find us here.”

“Um, Luc?”

“We’ll stay here until they leave, then we need to find a truck to carry us.”

Esther took a step closer. “Okay. Um, aren’t you gonna be cold?”

He looked down and then up at her amused expression. “Yeah, that’s a problem with flaming up. It kind of burns my clothes away. Sorry.”

Her full, burgundy lips curved in a grin. “Oh, no need to apologize. Really.”

* * *

Esther laid her head back against the hard concrete. The drone of the big trucks on the highway drowned out all other sounds, and the vibrations were making her sleepy. But she wasn’t ready to give in to the lure of sleep just yet. She had way too much savoring to do first.

She was nurturing a picture of Luc running naked toward her through the shadows, his long, muscular frame easily eating up the distance. She’d tried to focus on how his muscular calves and well-toned thighs flexed as he dug in and ran. She really meant to notice how his broad chest and buff abs tightened when he leaped over holes and pushed off large rocks. But really all she kept seeing was the delightfully impressive package bouncing happily as he sprinted.

He was everything she’d thought he’d be and more. And all she wanted to do was throw him down and have her way with him.

Esther snuck a sideways look at Luc. He was wearing clothing he’d “borrowed” from one of the trucks at the truck stop and had all that yumminess covered in ugly flannel and overlarge denim. But she remembered. It was burned deliciously into her retinas. When he glanced at her and smiled, Esther dragged her mind from the gutter. “What are you looking for?”

Luc shrugged, his gaze locked onto the sky above them. “Just making sure the demons didn’t follow us.”

“I thought you said they couldn’t see us inside a circle.”

He sat back, draping his arms over his knees as he studiously avoided her gaze. “They can’t. I’m just being overly cautious.”

She saw that he was rubbing his arm again, and lines of pain had formed between his brows. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?” Esther didn’t remember seeing any wounds on his arm when he was naked. Hell, who was she trying to kid? She hadn’t been looking at his arm. He could have lost both arms and his head, and she might not have even noticed.

“It’s nothing. When we stop I’ll take some salt.”

Esther frowned. “Salt?”

Luc yanked the sleeve of his flannel shirt back and showed her the steady flame riding the skin over his tattoo. “They’re giving me a constant burn instead of a flash flame. It hurts more, and it’s harder to ignore.”

“That’s bullshit! This isn’t your fault.” Esther jumped to her feet in angry indignation and cracked her head on the concrete cylinder. “Ow! Shit.” Rubbing the back of her head, she dropped back down. “They should be punishing
me
. I’m the one who ran away.”

“Let me see that. You need to be more careful, Esther.” Luc moved over and made her lower her head, carefully prodding the spot where she’d cracked it into the concrete. She grimaced under his careful touch even while her body heated in recognition of his nearness. His warm, delicious scent enfolded her, and lust coiled low in her belly.

“It’s okay.” Embarrassed by her reaction to him, Esther tried to pull away.

Luc focused his intense gaze on Esther for a moment before settling back against the concrete. His arm rested against hers, and she could feel the heat all the way to her toes. “They’re punishing me because they know I’m running with you.”

It took a minute for his words to sink in. When they did, Esther blinked. “What?”

He shrugged. “If they didn’t know it for sure, they will once those demons report in.”

“But why?”

“You don’t deserve to be treated the way they were treating you.”

“Why do they treat me that way, Luc? Did I do something wrong?”

“Only dying on Good Friday. It’s a very precious day for the celestial set. Mostly only heaven-bound souls die on Good Friday. You’re the first sinner in decades to die on that day. The assembly decided to make an example of you.”

She frowned. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

He flashed her a guilty look.

“What?”

“I think they’re doing it to punish me. They can’t forgive me for being a fallen angel. So they gave me an assignment they knew would chafe. And they were right. I hated bringing you back to Hell last year, knowing what they had in mind for you. I had no intention of doing it again.”

Esther’s eyes widened. “Wow. I didn’t know. I guess that explains why they’re being so harsh. I mean, it’s not like I’m a mass murderer or something. All I did was cheat the one time, and it was for a good reason.” The words reminded her of her mother, who hopefully would live a much longer life thanks to Esther’s sin. They would never have been able to afford her mother’s kidney transplant if Esther hadn’t cheated the system. She knew she’d do it all over again for the same result.

“Insider trading?”

She sighed. “Yeah. I knew when I did it that I’d probably pay the price, one way or another.” She laughed. “I have to admit I thought I’d pay it
before
I died, though.” Esther shook her head and yawned.

Luc patted his lap. “Here, you’re exhausted. Lay your head down and get some rest. I’ll wake you up when we get close to our destination.”

Esther frowned. “I really shouldn’t. I’m afraid to go to sleep for fear I’ll wake up dead again.”

Luc’s expression softened. “I won’t let that happen, Esther. Do you trust me?”

She was nodding before she even thought about it, and she realized with a shock that she
did
trust him.

“Then lie down and rest. I promise I’ll wake you up if things get squiggy.”

She scooted sideways and lay down, placing her head on his lap. She didn’t even notice the hardness of the concrete beneath her hip or the stench of vehicle exhaust that had been a constant since they’d hit the highway. All she noticed was the heat from his skin and his delectable scent, which encompassed her entire world in that moment. Esther’s pussy tightened under a wave of pure lust, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep. But soon the drone of the truck’s tires over the highway and the delicious heat of the man cradling her head lulled her into sleep.

Luc closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But his arm was killing him. The flaming of his tat had been intermittent at first, small warnings that he’d gone off plan and needed to reel his supplicant in and return to Hell. But once he’d fought and defeated the demons, the assembly had gone into full-on attack mode.

Luc could picture Worm standing there continually amping up the torture, grinning at the knowledge of the pain he was causing Luc with every passing moment. The smoke-drenched rodent had been a sadistic monster during his time on Earth. He’d finally been executed after torturing and killing dozens of young women in a small, college town. It had been the deciding factor on his resume for assembly clerk. He still dished out lots of torture, but these days it came in the form of unending paperwork, rife with small print, and targeting PDs for corrective measures when things went badly.

Luc finally gave up trying to sleep and opened his eyes. To get his mind off the pain, he focused his attention on the woman sleeping across his legs. She was currently whimpering softly in her sleep, her slim body twitching under a bad dream. Luc’s heart twisted at the sight. Nobody should have to endure what she had.

Dying a horrible, excruciating death once was more than enough punishment. But reliving it year after year was unconscionable. Especially for a person as kind and loving as Esther Mooring. And the months of isolation and worry in between were an added burden that Esther didn’t deserve.

He’d been sick about the whole thing since the second year, when he’d been told about her resurrection and subsequent re-death, and had been ordered to bring her back again. Luc hadn’t been able to believe the assembly would subject her to that. He realized it was because, unlike most of Hell’s inhabitants, Esther wasn’t really evil. She’d made one big mistake, and it had cost her a soul.

The assembly couldn’t abide goodness. So they’d made an example of her. The unfortunate timing of her death was just a happy coincidence for them. It gave them an excuse to torture her.

Luc had gritted his teeth as long as he could, trying to ignore the assault to his conscience every time he saw her, but he couldn’t do it anymore. If the assembly was going to treat her badly in death, then he’d make sure she stayed alive. At least until he could use his connections with the celestial set to bargain for her soul. With the new quotas in place, Luc was pretty sure they’d take her into the light.

Then her suffering would be over.

That was the plan, anyway. But even as he went over it again in his mind, Luc found himself stroking her short, sexy cap of black hair and reveling in its softness against his fingers. Her small hand resting on one of his thighs was burning a brand into his skin. And his cock was in danger of being cut in half from the restrictive denim of his borrowed jeans. He didn’t think he’d ever been as hard as he was at that moment.

The hand stroking her curls slipped down her arm, finding her creamy, brown skin every bit as soft as her hair, and skimmed over her hip. He smiled at the pants she wore. She’d pulled on camo pants with pockets all down the sides and had jammed something into every one of the pockets. The woman seemed fragile and helpless, but he knew she’d spent her life doing things others would cringe at doing. She was fearless and capable and, if he hadn’t caught her when he had, he had little doubt she’d have made her escape.

Though he doubted she’d have lasted out the day. Death was a greedy bitch. She didn’t release her victims easily.

The truck’s brakes squealed, and Luc’s head came up. A rest area sign whipped past as they took the ramp to exit the highway. Luc hoped the driver didn’t come around back to check his load as he had at the last stop. Just in case, he needed to wake Esther up.

He wanted to go inside, anyway. Maybe a few bags of salty snacks would help dull the ache in his arm.