by Maya Daniels
Encounter with the Devil
Maya Daniels
Copyright © 2019 by Maya Daniels. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references, real places, real events, or real persons names and/or persona are used fictitiously. Everything in this story comes from the author’s imagination and any similarities, whatsoever, with events both past and present, or persons living or dead, are purely coincidental.
Cover design by Jessica Allain, Enchanted Whispers
Interior design by Jessica Allain and Zoe Parker
Edited by Cassandra Fear
If you are unable to order paperback copy of this book from your local bookseller, you may contact the author at [email protected] or visit the website
www.authormayadaniels.com
Contents
Untitled
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
From the Author
Also by Maya Daniels
Helena
The slight breeze, a faint scent of caramel making my mouth water, and the silvery moonlight were not the things I expected to see when dropping down to Hell, unannounced. After falling through an endless abyss for what felt like hours, my body passed through an invisible barrier before my tailbone took the brunt of the impact when I hit the packed-dirt ground. For whatever reason, I expected to jump in the gaping hole in the middle of Sanctuary and fall to the center of the Earth with lava licking at my heels.
As you might suspect by now, that is not the case.
Glancing at Eric from the corner of my eye tells me I’m still missing something. The unease is made stronger by the gnawing feeling in my gut and the involuntary tremble in my hands.
Holy shit, I’m in Hell!
My mind screams like that annoying girl in a horror movie, the one we all want to tell to shut up, while my body is standing as still as a statue expecting an attack at any moment. You can’t just decide to drop in here and no one to notice, right?
“You okay?” Reaching for me, Eric tucks me under his shoulder. “You seem shocked.”
“Ummm…kinda.” With great effort, I pull my gaze away from my surroundings to look at him. “I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this”—Waving a hand to encompass everything, I let it drop to my side limply—“was not it.”
“No, pitchforks?” Chuckling, his green eyes dance with amusement.
“No, no pitchforks.” My snickering sounds strained. “Now what?”
He does a visual inspection while lines form in neat rows on his forehead. “We ended up further from the portal that we passed through than I expected.” Rubbing the back of his neck, his frown deepens.” I was too worried about you to pay closer attention. It must’ve picked up on my bloodline and spit us out here.”
“That’s a good thing or a bad thing?” Gut tightening, my head swivels left and right, expecting a horde of demons to descend on us at any moment. “Your face is not giving me the warm fuzzies right now.”
Lips quirking on one side, Eric looks down at me. “I thought you liked my face.”
“Just 'cause you are pretty doesn’t mean I’m all happy to get my butt handed to me here.” His grin grows, and my hand itches to smack it off him. “Plus, you are stalling. Where are we, and how do we get out of here?”
“You picked up on that, huh.” With a sigh, he turns in half a circle. “We need to head north. At the moment, we are too close to Lucifer’s quarters. I would rather be away from here before he senses my presence.”
“Why are we standing here, chatting? Let’s go.” Pulling away from him, picking a direction, my feet move fast.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Turning around, I keep walking backward with an eyebrow raised in question. Eric points to his right, and I follow the direction of his finger. My ability to see in the dark is not as good as his, but there is no mistaking the glint of the blade reflecting the glow of the moon. My feet stop like they’ve been nailed on the packed dirt, the bottom of my stomach dropping. A quick glance tells me Eric is forcing himself to stay rooted to the spot, his outstretched arm slightly twitching from the effort. Unwilling to test theories or ask questions when all I want to do is get out of here, my body moves so fast I’m almost sprinting. Snatching the dagger, tucking it at the small of my back, I turn to him.
“Got it, let’s go.”
His mouth opens, whatever he was about to say lost in the sharp intake of breath, and his head snaps to his left, I’m surprised I didn’t hear his neck breaking. Amber overtakes the green color of his eyes, and the unnatural stiffening of his body causes alarms to blare in my head. My own questions get strangled, forming a lump in my throat when a whooshing sound like helicopter blades reaches my ears.
They have helicopters in Hell? my mind supplies right before I’m tackled to the ground.
With a loud oomph, all the oxygen exits my lungs, my head spinning when Eric rolls us to the nearest tree. The blade digs into the skin of my back, luckily not severing my spine. Ending up on top of Eric at the gnarled roots of an ancient tree, I lift my head, pushing the hair out of my face. The area where we were standing looks like a circle clearing, surrounded by thorned bushes and rock formations I didn’t pay close attention to until now. From the place where I’m sprawled on top of a firm, warm body, I can tell it was made on purpose, not a natural formation as I previously assumed. Gray swirls resembling some of the markings on my blade are etched into the rocks, forming a tribal-looking art around the empty space in the middle. Ancient trees surround it on three sides, leaving the front open to a vast horizon reminding me of old Earth. A time when technology and people haven’t destroyed the beauty of nature around us. Dirt paths spread through tall trees, splitting in different directions, like veins forking under pale skin. The bright silver glow makes everything look enchanted, sparkling like jewels under the giant full orb in the sky. A starless sky, now that I’m focused on it.
Eric pulls me closer, wrapping his large hand at the back of my head, pressing my face in the crook of his neck. His arms are like steel bands around me, the stiffness more noticeable now that I’m touching him. My stupid body doesn’t understand the panic that is filling my every pore. Eric is still shirtless from his wings bursting out of his back before we ended up in this mess. I become acutely aware of hard planes and muscles pressed to me from shoulder to groin, his hips wedged between my spread thighs. Warmth pools in my lower belly, and the scent of his skin where my nose is pressed to his neck hitches my breath.
I’m acutely aware of the moment his breath stops, his attention turning from whatever made him put us in this position to me. A deep rumble vibrates from his chest to mine,
and I can hear him sniffing me. “Bad timing, Hel. Tone it down, or we might get caught with me buried inside you.”
That’s one way to throw a bucket of ice-cold water on a girl’s libido. Muscles clenching in anticipation of whatever he sensed coming for us, I jerk my head up, but he holds me firmly where I am.
“No one wants to get caught with their pants around their ankles.” My words are muffled, the chuckle falling flat. “You need to find a shirt to put on.”
“Right after I get us out of here.” His whispered promise is met with a louder whooshing sound.
The temperature around us goes up by a few degrees. Sweat starts trickling between my shoulder blades, my hair plastering on my skin and Eric’s shoulders. Blasts of hot air keep hitting my back in waves and the strangest thought barrels through my head. Why am I on top of Eric? He always shields me using his own body. Now it seems like he is using me for a living shield. Pushing the stupid idea to the back of my mind, I strain my ears to decipher what’s making the sound.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
There is a pause between the sound and the blast of scorching heath burning every inch of exposed skin. If it keeps going, I have no doubt I’m going to blister from head to toe. Heart jackhammering in sync with the men underneath me, I grind my teeth so I don’t utter a sound. It’s not every day I see Eric hiding instead of bulldozing his way through whatever stands in his way. That’s enough to hold me frozen, even if it means I’ll burn to a crisp under the barrage of what feels like an open furnace at my back.
After a long time, when I’m sure I’ll be spending days laying on my stomach to protect my burned back, the heat starts dissipating along with the whooshing sound that is getting further away from us. Eric loosens his hold on me but doesn’t push me off him. Curiosity is stronger than the agonizing pain in my back, and with great effort, I lift my head, looking up where I can see the starless sky. A shadow large enough to almost cover the entire span of the pregnant silver moon makes me suck in a sharp breath. I regret it the same second when an excruciating stinging pain stabs my back. Regardless of it all, my eyes must be as round and as big as the moon above me. After the shadow banks left and disappears in the distance, my stunned gaze drops down to Eric. He is watching me like he expects me to pull my blade and cut his throat. Swallowing the bile that’s trying to push its way through my esophagus, my eyes lift up to where I saw the shadow last.
Hell has motherfucking dragons. More extensive than a helicopter, with a fire burning along their spine and wings type of dragons.
And no one thought this little information to be significant enough to be the first thing they mentioned.
“We are going to die!” whisper-yelling at Eric, I push myself off him, hissing in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Lifting on his knees, he grabs my arm when I try to move away from him.
“It looks like we might have to lay low until I heal.” Jerking back like I’ve slapped him, Eric’s fingers go slack where they wrap around my arm. “I’m not sure I can move much before that.”
“Heal…” his words trail off, and before I realize what he is doing, I’m flipped around, so my back is turned towards him. “Where are you hurt? Did I hurt you?”
“What did you think was going to happen when all that heat was blasted our way, Eric?” Frustrated at his manhandling, I shrug off his touch. “We are lucky the trees didn’t catch fire forcing us out in the open, blistered skin or not.”
“You felt heat?” Glancing at him over my shoulder, my anger bleeds away at his shocked expression. “Your skin is not burned.”
Slowly, I turn to face him again, grateful we are still under the protection of the trees when I have no idea what else is waiting for us after we emerge. “That’s good news. It will take less time until I can move.” My words cut off when he shakes his head at me, rubbing a hand over his face.
“The dragon, as you call it, has an ability to alter your mind and force your fears to the front. It’s easier to capture prey if it’s scared and can’t think logically. There was never any heat around us because it was too high in the air for you to be able to feel it.” Meshing his lips in a firm flat line, the disappointment in his gaze feels like a physical punch to my sternum. “You think I would ever place you in front of me to protect myself if that means you’d be harmed?”
Considering the fact I was rescued from a building that exploded around me, fear from burning alive might’ve come to mind once or twice. “It did cross my mind that the situation was strange, but I was too busy making sure I didn’t scream out in pain to give it more thought.” The longer we talk, the less I feel the stinging on my back. “It’s not like I had time to consider options, or even think before we were eating dirt at the roots of this tree.”
His mouth opens, only a rush of air passing his lips when he keeps whatever words he wanted to say to himself. As I search his face, I can feel the walls lifting up behind his eyes, hiding him from me and closing off the Eric I know. Like a gaping chasm, the distance between us grows, regardless that we are physically so close our knees are almost touching. I don’t feel bad for having doubts, especially when everyone handles me like a fragile piece of glass that can shatter at any moment. It doesn’t mean seeing him distance himself from me hurts any less.
“We need to move.” Lifting himself up, he reaches for my hand. “That won’t be the only thing searching the area now that they’ve picked up on me being back here.”
“Picked up you’re here?” Allowing him to pull me to my feet, I wiggle my shoulders, testing the tightness of the skin that still lingers. Having my mind preoccupied with other things helps push away whatever that thing did to my brain. “Your father knows we are in Hell?”
“It would appear so, yes.” With one last searching look, he turns away and walks out from the cover of the trees around us.
I watch him go, my mind swirling with guilt that I shake off with determination. He can’t blame me for having doubts when everyone I’ve known has betrayed me, one way or another. Reaching behind me, I check that the dagger is still nestled at the small of my back before I follow behind Eric. His shoulders are stiff, although he is not walking fast enough to leave me too far behind. With a sigh, I turn around in a circle, checking the symbols etched on the rocks in the clearing before hurrying to catch up to him.
Avoiding the tension thrumming between us, I scan the area, trying to see everything at once. Dangerous calm that can get you killed surrounds me like we are the only two people in this entire realm. No birds are chirping, no rustling of leaves. Just a soft, warm breeze and sparkling moonlight as far as my eyes can see. My warning GPS has been surprisingly quiet considering that I’m in Hell. Shouldn’t it go haywire warning me of the danger I’m in? It didn’t even stir when that terrifying dragon was above me. The guilt for doubting Eric even for a short moment stabs me in the gut. Clearing my throat, I finally break the silence between us.
“I didn’t feel any danger.”
Eric’s feet falter for a second before he resumes his clipped pace, not turning to look at me. “What do you mean?”
Panic clogs my throat, and the thought of talking about something I’ve kept hidden most of my life tries to choke me, so I stay silent. The longer I say nothing, the more his gait slows down until I can touch his back if I reach my hand out. My fingers twitch with the need to do just that, but I clench a fist at my side. Being a hypocrite has never been so glaringly evident until this moment. I hold it against everyone for hiding things from me, yet it’s not like I’m an open book, is it? Swallowing the unease trying to choke me, I lift my face up towards the moon, looking for comfort. Eric doesn’t push or barrage me with questions. He never does, I realize. Letting me pick my comfort zone at sharing what I’m ready to share with him, he’s just there.
“I’ve always had this thing,” my words are murmured under my breath, but I know he hears me. I can see his head turn my way from the corner of my eye. “I call it my GPS.” Chuckling
awkwardly, I look away from the moon and let my hair fall around my face to hide me from his penetrating gaze. “It’s a feeling I get in the center of my chest when my life is in danger. On all my hunts, it has saved my life more than once. I associate it with evil being near since it was only activated around demons.” My eyebrows pull down after those words are said out loud. “It’s been getting wonky lately. I felt it around the holy ass a couple of times, but not always while he kept me prisoner. And it stayed silent a moment ago when that dragon thing was above our heads.”
Eric says nothing, just the crunching of dirt under our feet breaking the silence. Lifting my head up, I glance at him, but he is not looking at me. With a thoughtful expression, he is scanning our surroundings. Maybe he didn’t even hear what I said, which is a good thing. I shouldn’t have shared it. Adding stuff to the pile of crazy that makes me who I am is never a good idea. My heart skips a beat when he finally speaks.
“How does it feel?” At my questioning look, he finally turns those green eyes on me. “When your GPS gets activated, how does it feel?” A quirk of his lips is the only glimpse that my Eric is still there beneath the invisible armor he donned, but it’s gone too fast for me to feel any better.
“It’s a warning.” The lie tasting bitter on my tongue is clear as a day in this realm covered in darkness. I can feel Eric watching me as if saying, “Really? You going to go with that?” Filling my lungs with as much air as they can hold, I release it slowly like a wheezing balloon after you stick a needle in it. “It makes me feel excited, okay? Like I’m about to receive the gift of a lifetime.” Whipping my sweaty palms of my pants, I don’t dare turn his way. “Like I wasn’t a freak enough without it.”