Sleeping with Monsters

by Hutchins, Amelia

  The town was filled with deafening silence, and the closer I got to the store, the darker it became, as if the shadows were following me into the shop. The door to the store was pulled from the building, and I had to step over what I assumed had once been a human to get inside. It was a sunken husk of meat, as if the demon had eaten it from within until only the shell of the person remained. I stalled, staring at the old woman whose sunken, lifeless gaze stared up at me.

  Mrs. Carson, the baker who had always come over to get coffee from us even though her shop sold it inside.

  I rubbed my eyes and looked around for something to cover her up with, finding nothing. I stepped inside the shop, pulling a tapestry of the moon down and slipping it over her. Life wasn’t fair; it was never those who deserved to die who did. It was those who were kind and goodhearted who God took from us, leaving the nasty fuckers behind.

  The moment I moved inside, I whispered the spell to light the candles, unable to see in the darkened shop. It was empty, with trinkets strung everywhere, as well as potions that were shattered on the floor. The power grid was down, had been down in town since the moment the demons had entered it. As if something about the gates opening had short-circuited the grid.

  I removed my backpack and entered the back of the shop, searching through the plants that looked moments from withering and dying as the last traces of magic pulsed through them, keeping them alive. I pulled buds from plants, placing them into large Ziploc bags before I eyed the smaller room.

  I whispered the spell to light a few more candles and extinguished the one out front, leaving the door open in case anything entered. This room had no exit except the one I’d come in. Unlike the others, this room was secured for the plants to breathe, but also to keep the chill winter winds from killing the tropical ones. Not that it had mattered much without power to keep them alive. Luckily, they were clinging to life with the magic I’d used to grow them. I slipped packets of seeds into the bag, since we couldn’t grow them again without more. I’d plucked roots and other things to be able to use magic to replenish our supply when these ones ran out as well.

  Once I’d finished placing them all into the secure bags, I zipped the pack and slung it over my shoulder. I twisted around, listening as a shiver ran down my spine. I could hear crying—a child? I slowly moved into the next room, whispering the spell to light the candles.

  I could see tiny feet sticking out from the counter up front. I shoved down the urge to rush to it. I slipped closer, placing the bag on the floor as I made my way to the child. I had almost made it to her when I was rushed from the side, thrown against the wall with red hot pain that engulfed my head as my ears rang. I reached for the athame but something was thrown at me and I didn’t have time to dodge it. Pain erupted as blood dripped from where the glass had shattered against my head.

  “That’s enough,” a smooth, deep voice growled as I struggled to get back up. A piercing blue gaze locked with mine the moment I regained my balance. A silent scream bubbled deep in my throat as I faced Lucifer, who smirked at me, as if he was tickled he’d found me again. “You surprise me, sweet one. You’re either stupid, or braver than your sister. You don’t strike me as being stupid. How is my little bun in the oven, anyway? Does she miss me?”

  “Go back to Hell,” I growled, wondering what the fuck I could do to prevent him from taking me with him.

  “Now, why would I do that when I just got here? I’m pretty happy here,” he said softly as his gaze skimmed down my body. “You look better naked. This century’s clothing is not flattering at all. I prefer the dresses; so much easier to get to the goods, wouldn’t you agree? In this outfit you almost look normal, and we all know what you hide beneath isn’t normal. I must confess; I’m not sure what it is he sees in you. You look nothing like her at all.”

  “You should go before I get pissed off. You only want me because it would piss him off, but he doesn’t fucking care about me. You’re wasting your time here. I don’t belong to him or you,” I snapped as I wiped away the blood that threatened to drip into my vision. “You two, you think you can just say someone is yours and they are, but this is the real world. It doesn’t work like that. You both need lessons on how to date, or ask a girl out.”

  “It works exactly like that when you’re as old as we are, sweetheart,” he purred as his gaze slid to where my hand held the athame. “Tsk, tsk, Witch,” he clucked as his lips tipped into a seductive smirk. He brought his hand up, sending me sailing against the wall where the shelves still stood; they gave under the pressure as my body slammed against them, sending the items raining onto the floor below. I screamed as pain tore through me when something stuck into my side. He held me there, in midair, my feet dangling off the floor. I watched helplessly as he moved closer as he dropped his hand, leaving me unable to touch the ground or even move as he closed the distance between us.

  His nose pushed against my sex and I growled as I fought to get free. Whatever he was doing, it left me paralyzed, unable to move so much as a muscle. His nose grazed and rubbed against my sex and he laughed as his gaze rose to mine with laughter in their ocean-hued depths.

  “You smell like heaven, intertwined with the depths of hellfire,” he groaned as he pushed against it harder. “You have secrets of your own, don’t you?” he asked, and I stared down at him with loathing and hatred. “Or, you are unaware, which means he is as well,” he chuckled. “Fucking priceless; it’s working better than even I assumed it would. Are you aware of what this means for you?” He laughed harder, as if whatever the fuck he said made any resemblance of sense.

  I couldn’t answer him. I couldn’t move my lips. One minute I was in the air, pressed against the wall with slithering power that threatened to choke me, and the next I was on my hands and knees at his feet in the glass and other debris.

  “Fuck you!” I snapped, coming up to hit him, but something smashed through the window of the shop before I could. His head turned and his minions moved to investigate, leaving only a few who stood arranged around the shop with him.

  “No, it’s I who fucked you and you liked it. You are perfect for sin, un-fucking-educated on dick, but we can blame that on the creature who is grooming you to be his whore. I wonder, has he told you what he is?”

  “I don’t care what he is.”

  “Yes, you do, it’s in your eyes. You see, I own sins, and lying is one of them. You need to know what he is, what he wants, and how you fit into his world. You don’t. Fit into his world, that is. You’re nothing but a mere blink of an eye to creatures like us. You help us pass the time.”

  “You should leave,” I offered, pulling magic from the leyline. I pulled until I felt it pull back, knowing I was taking too much at once. I didn’t care. I wasn’t dying here. I was bruised, bloody, but I was alive and staring Lucifer down. I let it loose, letting the power pulse through the shop as the minions screamed and bellowed as their skin sizzled. Bones popped, skin sagged, and the nauseous smell of burning flesh filled the store.

  He didn’t get touched, at all. He watched me, uncaring that I was killing his men as power pulsed from my fingertips as I whispered the spell over and over until my head pounded and blood dripped from my nose.

  “You’re not normal, after all, sweetheart. You’re…different,” he mused as he watched me. He suddenly grabbed me, pulling me to him as he spun us around. His hands wrapped around me, turning me until I faced the door of the shop with my back pressed against his.

  Lucian stepped into the shop, Bane and Spyder flanking his sides. I watched them as the magic pulsed through me; anger sizzled in the air, palpable as the animosity erupted hot enough to bring the entire shop melting down around us.

  “Let her go,” Lucian said barely above a whisper.

  I felt my body sagging in relief, but it was short-lived as Lucifer rubbed his nose against my neck. He purred against my ear, watching
Lucian as he moved a little closer. “Take her from me if you can,” Lucifer challenged. His hand pressed against my neck and I closed my eyes against what I assumed he planned to do. He had an audience now, and if he wanted to kill me, it would be while Lucian watched him.

  “Let her go and I will consider letting you live,” Lucian warned, his eyes holding mine the moment I reopened them as his words registered. He could kill him? What the fuck was he?

  “You think I am afraid of you? You had your chance in this world, you gave it up. Now you want it back? Why, because you fucked up and lost the seal? It’s too late to fix it now, I’ve won,” he snickered as his lips touched my cheeks. “She’s sweet, but that’s not why you like her, is it? You taste the wickedness inside of her, don’t you? I tasted it, and it’s delicious. Did you know she came for me? Screaming for more?”

  “Because she thought you were me? You must feel accomplished,” Lucian replied coldly, his tone carrying death in every syllable he uttered. “Yet the moment she knew it was you, it ended, didn’t it? Always second in every fucking thing you do; must get tiring, always losing?” he purred.

  Okay, what the fuck? Getting the creature at my back angry while he held my life in his hands? Not okay. I swallowed down the words as I watched Lucian wipe invisible lint from his expensive suit. He looked bored, uninterested with the entire charade. His eyes held mine and spoke without having to say anything.

  “What the fuck are you doing out of the abbey?” his glare demanded.

  “I don’t need you to hold my fucking hand,” I glared back at him.

  “You seem to be doing a splendid job of holding hands with Lucifer at the moment.” His eyes narrowed.

  “It’s a hiccup, I got this,” I smirked.

  “Yet here you are, in his arms.” His frown tugged at the corners as he watched me.

  Lucifer tugged me closer, placing his arms around my chest as his hands tested the weight of my breasts. I stared at Lucian, fighting for calm as he continued to grope me. I stifled the cry as he applied pressure to them, taunting Lucian to make a move as he fondled me blatantly in front of him.

  “You sure you got this, Damsel in Distress?”

  I lifted my arms, wrapping them around Lucifer’s neck slowly, as to not alert him or make him hurt me. I stared Lucian down the entire time, watching as his jaw ticked angrily. I leaned into Lucifer’s body, feeling his inhuman heat as it pulsed against me. His lips touched my neck, sending heat unfurling to the pit of my stomach, and my eyes grew heavy. Lucian stiffened, watching me as I kept my gaze locked on his. Lucifer’s hands slid down my side and I moved, grabbing his neck as I bent my body, using the momentum to send him sailing across the floor into a set of shelves. He never struck them; the moment before he should have hit them, he vanished.

  I stood there, shocked it had actually worked and unable to move from the spot I was rooted in until Lucian moved, making a grab for me. My power sizzled, unable to find an outlet as it had continued to build.

  “Let it go,” Lucian warned, watching me as he got closer to me.

  “I don’t know if I can,” I admitted, jerking away when he moved to touch me. I was a live wire, an explosive device set to go off. I’d tapped the line, pulling on it even when it tugged back. I’d taken too much; the black piles of what had once been demons were proof of that.

  “Kitty, stop being a pussy and release it,” Spyder demanded, coming up on my right side as he watched me. “You took too much; if you don’t let it out, this store is going to be nothing but a burned mess. You don’t want that, so fucking breathe for me and let it out.”

  I trembled as the power grew, unable to stop it as my hair rose from the static charge that was pulsing through me. Items inside the store started to float in the air around me. My body burned, hatred pulsing to life as I imagined all the demons had done to this town, and I opened my mouth too fast, only to have Lucian’s lips pushed against mine. My mind whirled; the slight pressure had been enough to end the spell that had danced on my tongue. His hands touched my cheeks, erasing Lucifer’s touch with their tenderness.

  When he pulled away I exhaled, but the power still wouldn’t release. It intensified until I swayed on my feet with the force of it as it filling my veins.

  “Sleep, Lena,” Lucian whispered as he pushed his forehead against mine. The air whooshed from my lungs as my head dropped onto his shoulder and my eyes closed.

  Chapter 21

  I awoke to someone shaking my arm. I blinked, taking in the magnificent colors of the dawn as it took control of the sky. I turned my head, finding Kat staring down at me before she moved her gaze to someone who stood on the opposite side of me, staring down at where I lay in the grass. Lucian watched me; his midnight eyes sparkled with amusement as he knelt down to my level and watched me as I struggled to remember what happened.

  “Time to get up, sleeping beauty,” he murmured as he nodded to someone else behind me. I tilted my head, finding Spyder there in the shadows. He stepped out, handing off a flask, which Kat accepted and twisted the top off of. She pushed it against my lips and I drank deeply before sputtering as the Jack Daniels burned its way down my throat.

  “What did you do to me? Where’s Lucifer?” I demanded.

  “You kicked his ass, kitty,” Spyder chuckled, but it was cut off as Lucian gave him a warning look.

  “You want to explain what the fuck you’re doing outside the abbey?” Lucian demanded sharply.

  “To you? No, not really,” I grumbled as I sat up, grabbing my head when my vision swam. “I don’t have to explain coven business to you anymore,” I pointed out as two of him danced in my line of sight. “Besides, I don’t even like you.”

  “I told you to stay inside the abbey,” he growled.

  “No, I believe you said something along the lines of I cursed your penis with my vagina by using magic, or something to remove a curse,” I mumbled as I took in the battered and bruised faces of the witches I’d brought with me. I did a mental headcount and grimaced. “Where’s Tara?” I muttered, pushing through the spinning in my head to gain my footing. I swayed as Lucian reached out, holding me up until I jerked my arm away from him.

  “She hasn’t returned,” Kat answered as she stood up to stare at me. “Is it true? You took on Lucifer?” she whispered, as if the men beside her wouldn’t hear it.

  “Not exactly, I just used the defense moves we learned over the summer,” I grumbled as I rubbed my temples. “How long was I out for?”

  “Few hours, but we weren’t sure we should wake you up yet,” she admitted as her gaze slid back to Lucian before coming back to mine. “You were pretty out of it. You were leaking power, which was kind of scary. They said you pulled from a leyline and didn’t stop when it gave warning? Wasn’t that the first thing we were taught, Lena?”

  “Yeah, well I was facing down the Prince of Darkness and some lackeys, so I had to pull as much as I could to make sure I got out alive,” I explained delicately. “You guys were attacked too?”

  “A few of us; some of us heard the others being attacked and aided them to get free of the demons. We searched for you and Tara but they kept coming so we got out when Spyder came for us and told us you were with Lucian. We didn’t find Tara, though.”

  “And there’s been no sign of her yet?” I asked, knowing alone she wouldn’t stand a chance against the demons.

  “No, and we were told we couldn’t leave you,” she huffed as she turned to Spyder and hiked a thumb in his direction, indicating him as the culprit. “He said he’d tie us up and leave us hanging from the trees as demon bait if we even tried to go looking for her before you woke up.”

  “I’m going,” I said, turning to my bag only to realize I didn’t have it. I exhaled and shook my head. “I have to get the herbs anyway. I can’t leave them behind, the coven needs them.”

 
“You’re not going anywhere,” Lucian warned.

  “You’re not my boss,” I shot back, anger radiating from my pores. “You can’t tell me what I can or can’t do here. The coven is trying to survive alone, and in order to do that, we need those herbs and supplies. Tara was collecting medicinal things; her bag will have to be collected as well. So either come with me or step aside and let me do what I have to.”

  “You shouldn’t be out of the fucking abbey, let alone traipsing through the woods. You are fucking clueless to the monsters that are topside now, Lena,” he sneered angrily.

  “Then educate me, big boy,” I countered, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared at him and then faltered as heat entered his stare, as if I’d said something else.

  “You’re not going alone,” he returned carefully. “You have, what, twelve barely awakened witches who wouldn’t know the difference between a demon and a fucking harpy. You can’t cast on cue let alone on the spot; shit, you can barely tap a line without almost killing yourself. So no, Lena, you’re not going out there.”

  “Lucian, I may not be strong enough to save her, but I’m going one way or the other. Tara is alone. She’s probably hiding in one of those stores waiting for us to come get her. I’m not leaving without her, so either help or leave. Those are your options right now,” I seethed as I stepped closer to him, squaring my shoulders as I dug my heels in. I wasn’t leaving anyone behind.

  “They’re fucking demons, Lena, ones that can smell humans and their fear, and witches? Sweeter than humans, you call to them with it. You think they haven’t found her already? She’s a fucking beacon to them,” he argued, until he noted I wasn’t giving in. “You are the most stubborn, irritating witch in existence,” he snarled as he stepped closer to me.

  “You say it like I care, which I don’t,” I smirked as I turned to the group and away from the man who was even now crowding my space with his heady scent. “You guys head to the abbey, have them prepare for us in case we come in hot. Have the healers on standby as well, in case she’s bad off.”