Waking Up Dead

by Savoy, Skye

  Suriyel took a perky breast into his warm mouth to suckle. I wantonly thrust the other in his way just to make it even. A deep growl rumbled from somewhere deep inside me as his fingers found home in my wet center and began to put BOB to shame.

  Nuclear fusion from the sucking and manual stimulation drew all the particles of pleasure and built them into one ball of passion. “I want you inside me.” I grabbed Suriyel’s tight ass.

  His eyes blazed like molten copper as they met mine over the top of my breast. The leather covering his luscious butt disappeared instantly. A breath escaped me after I pushed him back. Toned muscles shimmered in the galactic light. My fingers made contact with his solid chest and traced their way down to the darker hair beneath his navel.

  I absorbed every beautiful detail of his angelic body. My gaze followed my hand down to grasp his thick, hard penis, making circles on the weeping seam with the tip of my finger. He moaned as I worked up and down his shaft while drawing him closer to my core which transformed itself into a small dwarf sun of hot, desperate need.

  I wrapped one leg around his hips.

  “Okay, I get the point,” he said, seconds before his lips crashed against mine while he lifted my other leg around him.

  Meteors flew near us and grew in number until they looked like a waterfall backlit by the sun. His thrusts, made intense through the use of his wings, brought us to our climax.

  Like a supernova blew through all its fuel in one cataclysmic explosion, we fell through the atmosphere still connected. We hit the Earth. The impact jolted me out of my dream. Suriyel slept beside me with one wing draped protectively over me.

  I shot straight up in bed. The fallen angel rolled to his feet in a battle ready position. “What is it?” The tip of his sword poked a hole in the popcorn ceiling tile Kitty had yet to remodel.

  “Put your sword away. Nothing’s here but you as far as I can see in the lamp light. Care to tell me why you’re in bed with me?”

  “I was uh…protecting you.” His dark skin turned a brick red.

  “Are you sure we didn’t uh…you know.”

  His sword disappeared. “No, I do not know. Tell me.” He lowered his long, full lashes to half mast in a sly manner.

  “Well, if you don’t know, I’m not gonna tell you,” I huffed and felt the flush of embarrassment start in my chest and make its way up to my ears.

  Cold air wafted over my skin. It reminded me of how naked I was. A tug on the sheet freed from the end of the bed. I wrapped up in it sufficiently enough to stomp toward the bathroom.

  Suriyel grabbed tail of the sheet from the floor as I stomped past. He reeled me into his body so quickly I lost my breath. He drew close to my ear and sent shivers of pleasure down my spine. “Nice girls do not have dreams like that.”

  “You mean it was only a dream?”

  “You sound so disappointed.”

  A twitch from “Vlad the Impaler” pressed into my belly and sent a thrill to my core. “Apparently, I’m not the only one, buddy-boy.”

  He quirked a mischievous half smile, but wouldn’t let go of the sheet. I dropped it, turned heel and allowed him a good look at my ass before I slammed the bathroom door.

  Chapter Six

  There were new recipes to perfect and, upon Jimbo’s insistence, pink serving ware, paper goods, and table cloths to buy. I put it all on hold. Suriyel insisted I jar what little brains I had left and practice fighting at the park most of the day.

  The fabulous sex dream distracted me until he forced me to focus by kicking my butt in combat. I got mad at him since he refused to tell me a thing about how he knew what I dreamed.

  I finally wore Suriyel down with my nagging to the point he yelled, “Fine! I’ll tell you if you can focus long enough to show me you know how to use what I have tried to teach you.”

  The pent-up sexual frustration mixed with plain, old, anger made for a powerful stream of energy I directed at my mentor. The blast sent him careening across the picnic area into the path of an oncoming camper. My stomach clenched like it was lassoed, and pulled tight by an invisible cord.

  I willed the elderly couple with their yapping Maltese to drive faster. I anxiously scanned the area for Suriyel. A tap on my right shoulder assured me I hadn’t killed him. Oh, thank God!

  “Well, do I get my answer now?”

  “I do not know.” He looked down at the dust on his leather pants. He snapped his fingers. They became pristine

  “What do you mean, ‘I do not know?’ You said you would tell me.”

  “I did tell you. The answer is, I do not know.”

  My teeth ground together so hard, I was sure some were broken. I knee-ed him in the side.

  “Ow! What was that for?”

  “I do not know,” I mimicked in a jeering tone.

  He tackled me to the ground. The rough iron and quartz gravel cut into my skin. I started to zap myself to safety, but he caught me. It brought to mind my fight with demon-senator Elvis. I stopped resisting his attempt to pull my arms over my head. “Can demons stop us in mid-transport like you just did?”

  Suriyel’s brows shot together. He scrutinized my face with such intensity, I imagined I suddenly sprouted chartreuse nose hair. “I have never heard of it happening before.”

  “Maybe my powers aren’t as strong as yours because that thing stopped me mid-beam when we fought in the fridge.”

  “Your powers are not as strong as mine because you are not a full-blooded nephilim. And, we do not know how strong the powers of the amulet are—”

  “Stop. You aren’t being very reassuring.

  Suriyel agreed. His eyes took in my face and stopped at my mouth. Every erogenous zone in my body began to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus,” as he bruised my lips with his kisses. If they sang any louder, they might attract some unwanted divine attention.

  I ground my hips into his erection, made even more enticing by the tight leather pants. My nails raked over his shoulder blades for his wings. I found nothing but muscles, so I moved to his butt and pulled him closer where I needed him.

  He broke away with a frustrated growl.”This is wrong! I cannot let this happen again. I let my feelings for another human get in my way of my mission to teach and protect the people of Earth.”

  “I’m not your wife! How could you forget that I’m not human anymore? You created this monster!”

  I squirmed to get out from under him without any luck. Suriyel rested on top of me and blinked as if he’d forgotten what he’d done.

  “Oh, this is just lovely, Suriyel. I’m off collecting my souls and yours so you can protect Stacy. I return to find she needs protection from you,” Sam admonished out of nowhere.

  I rolled Suriyel off. We both jumped up like kids caught comparing private parts behind the church which I never did. Okay, maybe once, but I didn’t get caught.

  Suriyel seemed more surprised at my actions than bothered by Sam’s interruption. “I believe we made a deal after I beat you in combat. My methods of protecting Stacy are not in question. However, your presence is.”

  I admired his eloquence. The most I did when caught off guard was pretend to be deaf and dumb until the moment passed. It was a trick I learned from Craig.

  Sam gave us a long-suffering look. “Something told me I should look in on you two. That’s all.”

  Notes from the chorus of Sarah McLachlan’s song Angel, distracted me. The irony jolted me. God saw me in the arms of an angel. It was the only explanation for Sam’s arrival and my phone ringing within minutes of each other. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

  Kitty’s muffled voice sounded through the receiver. “Stacy! I’m so glad this thing works in here. You’ve got to help me!”

  “What do you mean, ‘in here?’ Where are you?” I asked as panic did a two-step through my brain.

  “Well, I was uh…exploring a…uh…sound I heard from the dumpster behind the Piggly Wiggly. Someone grabbed me from behind and threw me in. The door’s jammed. ‘Course I can’t
get your dad because he’s playing golf. Can you—” I heard the rev of a motor I assumed was a compactor, “Get me outta here now,” Kitty shrieked.

  A shaky hand flew to my heart then latched onto Suriyel. “We’ve got to get Kitty! She’s trapped in a dumpster!”

  We appeared in front of a giant green dumpster. The stench of spoiled produce, rotten eggs, and fetid meat was overpowering. Tell me again how such a prim and proper southern belle could enjoy such a putrid hobby?

  Suriyel placed his arms in front of him, palms out. It looked as if he commanded the green monster to stop. Sweat broke out on his brow, but the crunch of cardboard boxes, garbage, and possibly Kitty continued.

  I willed the dumpster to explode, but nothing happened.

  A sickening crunch elicited a terrified cry from Kitty.

  “Kitty, I’m here,” I called to her over the whine of the motor. “Where the hell is the off button to this thing?”

  “Oh, thank God, Stacy! It’s on the right,” she yelled.

  I frantically scanned the metal box for the switch while Sam tried to pry the door open. Suriyel used his sword to hack away at the hoses fueling the compactor. Nothing killed the green beast.

  “Hurry, Stacy! I’m running out of room!” Her voice was muffled.

  Apprehension clawed at my heart. I quelled it with a deep breath. I refused to give into the helplessness overpowering me. There was no switch on the right, front, or back. I zapped myself to the other side of the stinky box-of-death. My directionally-challenged sister meant her right. I slammed my fist into a big red button marked “stop” at the same time Suriyel cut through the compressor hose. It didn’t stop. It actually sped up.

  I levitated to the top of the dumpster, grabbed the door, and wrenched it open. Kitty’s head was covered in produce and pieces of who knows what. The arm of the compacter pushed more debris over her. Crushed in a dumpster. Not a glamorous way for “Ms. Cotton Patch 1972” to go out.

  “Stacy, help me!” She stretched her hand out. Her nails were bloody and broken.

  I held my breath to block the stench and dropped to my stomach. Her hand, slick with blood and garbage slime, made a squicking noise as it slipped from mine a couple of times. I gripped harder and pulled with all my might. She wouldn’t budge. The wall of trash gathered momentum.

  Suriyel jumped into the dumpster, slipped on some slimy stuff, and began to lift her up to me. Her body un-wedged itself from the boards, Frito Lay bags, and wire that trapped her.

  “Oh, thank God!” I cried. My eyes radiated beams of gratitude to Suriyel’s, which were locked on mine. He remained perfectly pristine as he stood there among cans of tomato sauce and some kind of blue powder. Styrofoam peanuts embedded themselves in my hair. Rivers of sweat flowed under my boobs.

  Kitty put her arms around my neck. Sobs racked her body. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”

  “Big Mama would never forgive me if I let you die in a dumpster,” I said as I yanked her to safety.

  The compactor’s arm hit the back of the metal box with a force hard enough to knock us into the gaping fiend. My vice-like grip kept her from tumbling in. I allowed myself a second to hope Suriyel wasn’t still in the bowels of the green monster.

  My heart did a happy dance when I saw him at the bottom of the ladder. He waited for us to climb down. I resisted the temptation to zap us to the ground, and attach myself to his lips. Suriyel hovered, undetected, by Kitty’s side in case she lost her footing as she made her shaky way downstairs. I scrambled down beside her and did a body scan to make sure she wasn’t seriously hurt.

  I drew a sharp breath through my teeth. “There’s a big gash on your leg!” I squatted down to take a closer look. “You’re going to need stitches.”

  Kitty picked the Styrofoam peanuts out of my hair. “Stacy, your hair is a mess! Damn things! Once you unpack them, they go everywhere.”

  “I guess they flew in there when I opened the dumpster,” I caught myself, rose to my full height, and planted my hands on my hips. “Didn’t you hear what I said? Your leg is bleeding. You need stitches, and all you can think about is my hair.”

  She used the back of her hand to wipe the tears away, then picked the cardboard shreds and other indistinguishable pieces of garbage off her blouse. “I heard you.”

  My lips formed a moue in utter disbelief. She gave me a pained look. “If I look at it, I might faint.”

  I nodded in complete empathy. As kids, Big Mama told us if we looked away from whatever boo-boo we’d gotten it wouldn’t hurt as much. It worked most of the time. Not on boo-boos of the heart though.

  Sam and Suriyel caught my attention. They argued by my car, their quarrel immaterial. Note to self: thank Sam and Suriyel for bringing my car around.

  I motioned to my car. “C’mon, let’s get you to the ER.”

  “How am I going to explain how I got this? Nobody knows how I find the stuff I do to earn extra money on e-Bay.”

  A big guffaw escaped me. “Nobody? Everybody knows about your eccentric activities. Several of your frequent haunts installed surveillance cameras a few years ago. What people don’t understand was why a rich dentist’s wife and former beauty queen needs to root around in trash bins to find things to auction off on e-Bay.”

  Kitty narrowed her eyes at me, brushed her pants off and headed toward the Land Rover.

  “Something—somebody just threw you into a trash compactor, and all you’re worried about is how to explain what happened.”

  She continued to ignore me and rolled her now fingerless gloves off with a thwack. I grabbed her arm before she could open the door.

  “Ki—Mama, you must be in shock. You were almost squashed like a tomato! I can’t let you just drive off.”

  Kitty struggled against my grip. “Ow. When did you get so strong?”

  I resisted the urge to unload the entire sordid story of my transformation from her sister into her daughter. I simply let go. “Aren’t you even the least bit curious about who tried to kill you?”

  “You don’t think—” Her expression wavered between hurt and anger. “I mean I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve made enemies, what with being ‘Miss Cotton Patch’ several years in a row, but those old hags would rather talk about me than kill me.”

  I knew exactly which hags she was talking about Lorna and Nina. Kitty fended those two off for years. The brainless wonders started a nasty rumor and said she slept with judges who were too old to do anything but sleep. Kitty won the title of ‘Miss Cotton Patch’ in spite of them, then gracefully retired her crown.

  “Unless,” Kitty rambled, “it was that friend of your Aunt Ava’s who still has it in for me for accidentally taking those stupid plant stands!”

  “Don’t you think Jimbo would’ve tried something a few years ago? After all, you did chase him through the alley with your car.”

  Kitty managed to look sheepish and dignified all at once even with rotten squash on her cheek. “That was before I started taking those anti-anxiety pills. I did go to his store to apologize, but he hid behind some hideous black, feathery tree and refused to come out until I left.”

  Kitty turned the color of the lye soap Big Mama used to make us wash our mouths out with when we got a little too colorful. Blood saturated Kitty’s pant leg.

  “You’re going to the ER.” I ignored her protests and shoved her in the passenger side of the SUV. “We will figure out what to tell them when we get there.”

  She looked down at her leg. “Oh. My. Lord!” I barely got the window down in time for her to lose the contents of her stomach.

  Without missing a beat she grabbed a tissue from the glove box and wiped her mouth. “Just when I thought I couldn’t smell any worse.”

  * * * *

  Robert showed up just as the doctor finished the twenty-two stitches in Kitty’s leg. He knew better than to admonish Kitty for her disgusting habit. He simply held her close and smoothed her hair while she went over a, “Dumpster Diving For Dum
mies” version of the truth. I left rather than succumb to jealousy over the relationship I always wanted.

  Suriyel held the door open to the GT open for me in hospital parking lot. “Have you been driving my car or did you just think it here?” I pictured myself as I tried to explain to onlookers why my car drove through town like “Knight Rider.”

  “I have been doing this for centuries. You need not worry about whether anyone saw me or not.”

  “Need not worry? Yeah, right.” I slid behind the wheel. He popped in. Our arms brushed in the process. My train of thought derailed. I flashed back to the feel of his iron hard body as it pressed down on mine in the park. Wonder what would have happened if Sam hadn’t shown up and Kitty hadn’t been attacked. Stupid Sam! “Stupid demon!”

  “I am an angel not a demon unless I am with you.” He actually smiled. His rare attempt at humor was duly noted, but I wasn’t in the mood.

  “Not you. I was thinking about whatever trapped Kitty in the dumpster. Seriously though, you’ve got awful timing what with some evil ‘Amityville Horror’ thing trying to kill Kitty, and little old me.”

  ”Me? You get a new, much improved body and have the nerve to think you are irresistible.” Suriyel shifted closer to the window.

  “Did you forget why I’m in this body? It’s not like I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a new one!” I paused to count to ten. “Something killed me and Stacy. So far, we’re no closer to figuring out who or what it is than when we started.” I slung him against the seat as I sped off to Ava’s to do some food prep with Mason and Mel.

  “I think about you and your new body every second.”

  “Humph. I don’t think you’d feel that way if ya’ll hadn’t put me in Stacy’s body.”

  I kept my eyes on the road and suffered through the waves of discomfort radiating from Suriyel.

  “This entity is only getting stronger. We are running out of time.”

  “I know. I know. You want to get me to the afterlife so you can be a warrior again.”