by Mina Carter
As she walked down the produce aisle, a sense of something otherworldly washed over her. She looked around, but saw no other patrons. She shook off the feeling as she noticed a sale for fresh Georgia peaches. She grabbed two cans of condensed milk conveniently displayed beside the fruit. Maybe she could convince her mother to make her famous peach cobbler for dessert tonight. Kayley, unfortunately, hadn’t inherited her mother’s cooking skills either.
She was a witch who couldn’t follow a spell or a recipe.
Since she was already at the store, she decided to pick up a few more things. She took her time going up and down the aisles, throwing in the items she knew they’d need for the weekend. Her father had mentioned something about a cookout on Sunday. As she lifted a bag of charcoal, a wave of energy washed over her, making her head spin. She grabbed the shelf to keep from falling.
She dropped the bag of briquettes as the floor in front of her undulated and shimmered. She screamed when her buggy fell into the giant hole that formed in the middle of the aisle, almost pulling her down with it.
“What the fu —” Before she could utter the word that would have her mother washing her mouth out with soap for a month, a large, fiery shape pulled itself from the edge of the abyss. Well, technically, it wasn’t an abyss; it was still just a portal. It hadn’t grown strong enough to form an abyss yet. She could tell by the flashes of blue lightning striking from side to side that it wouldn’t be long before it did grow out of control. Worry flashed through her mind. An abyss was not a good thing. Not a good thing at all.
A creature emerged, its body and head flaming as it straightened. It was well over six feet tall and reminded her of the lead character from Ghost Rider. As the flames burned out, a masculine form took shape. It didn’t look a thing like Nicholas Cage. It looked like something from the Black Lagoon.
She screamed again.
Before she could even think of the first word for a spell of protection, another figure jumped from the portal. This one wasn’t sporting any flames. It rocked a pair of leather pants and a matching vest that had her pussy clenching. Damn, but he was something else. Her heart sputtered as she took all of him in, the hell creature completely forgotten. He reminded her of a fallen angel his features were so perfect. He wasn’t just handsome though; he was rugged, masculine. His hair was midnight black. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes clearly, but imagined they would hold the same darkness since he was a creature of the night.
Or more accurately, a creature from hell.
Even so, he called to something inside her. Something she hadn’t known existed until that very moment — her suppressed, half-succubus, libido.
What a time for it to kick into gear. This was just her luck. As usual.
Since all her attention was on Mr. Tall, Dark, and Take-Me, Kayley didn’t see the other creature move until it was too late. His char-colored hand grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to him. The smell of rotten eggs invaded her lungs and she started coughing. As she tried to regain her breath, the thing pulled her further and further from the hole in the floor and her possible rescuer.
No one else was around to help her. Kayley sensed they were hiding behind the shelves, probably waiting to see if she was eaten or tossed into the portal. She couldn't blame them, she would have done the same thing.
“Let her go, Rafe.”
What? Kayley tilted her head back in order to see the creature holding her. This thing actually had a name? And it was Rafe? Talk about surreal. As she watched, more of the black soot covering his flesh faded as if someone used an invisible washcloth and wiped it away. Or was his charred flesh being replaced by unburned skin?
For some odd reason, Kayley found the whole process fascinating.
“You know I can’t do that.” The man holding her answered the leather-wearing man with a scratchy voice. No doubt, courtesy of the fire that had only moments ago engulfed his body.
Oh, yes, you can, Kayley answered silently. She tugged on the hand holding her just in case he was distracted enough for her to get away. He wasn’t and proved it by tightening his grip until she winced in pain.
The other man frowned and if she wasn’t mistaken, let out a small growl.
Rafe’s features slowly returned and damn, he was a fine-looking specimen of manhood — or demonhood.
Her eyes dropped to his chest and unconsciously, she compared the two males. Her vest-wearing demon’s chest was broader, thicker, but this man was no slouch in the muscle department. Her eyes dropped further down. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting. The man had stumbled from the hole, a living flame. It shouldn’t have surprised her that he was naked. Stark naked.
And hung like a —
“Let her go. I’m not going to tell you again.”
Kayley’s eyes righted themselves and she focused on her captor’s face. She found herself gazing into the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen. They reminded her of a blue glacier she’d once seen on a nature channel. Pure and cold.
At least she thought they were until they blazed with warmth and he gave her a small wink. WTF? Was he flirting with her?
“Come on, bro. You need to come home.”
“You know I can’t, Roark.”
“You’re going to chance death for a piece of ass? I thought you knew better.”
Kayley’s captor made a noise that sounded like the snarl of a large predator on the hunt.
“She’s not a piece of ass.”
“The fuck she isn’t. Women are good for one thing only — a hard, fast fuck. You and I both know that.”
Before Rafe could respond, a large plume of smoke exited the hole from hell. Kayley’s eyes widened at the creature that emerged. It crawled out, having no discernable arms, just leg, after leg, after leg. A centipede on growth hormones.
“Look, Mr. McHottie, I don’t know what the deal is between the two of you, but you might want to pay attention to that thing behind you.”
Her would-be-rescuer stepped away from the edge of the hole and cursed. In a flash, a sword materialized in the man’s hand. Before he could swing it at the creature, Rafe pushed her away.
Straight into the leather-wearing demon.
Roark cursed as Rafe shoved the curvy woman he’d been holding hostage straight at him, making her stumble. On reflex, he pulled her to him.
He and his brothers could open portals at will. They’d been given the power when they’d signed on as Satan’s bounty hunters. Rafe had that skill taken from him when he’d refused to come back to hell after his last recovery mission. That was the first time Roark had hunted his ass down. When he’d gotten wind of Rafe’s plan today, Roark had broken protocol and gone after him, hoping to prevent his brother from making a mistake that could end his life. His brother had already paid a very high price to enter the human realm. In order for a demon to leave hell without permission, he had to set himself on fire. It was agonizing feeling the skin melt from your body. A man had to be highly motivated — or horny as hell, pardon the pun. As young demons, he and his brothers had left hell on more than one occasion for that very reason.
To get a little ass.
Or a curvy ass, he thought, feeling the press of the woman’s luscious butt against his front.
“Damn it,” he cursed, realizing his momentary distraction of the woman’s curves had allowed his brother to vanish and the slug to escape from the hole. He pushed her behind him and swung the sword. With one, clean strike he beheaded the creature. The creature’s body, balanced on the edge of the portal, fell back down the gaping hole. A black cloud of smoke rose as it tumbled down the flaming walls and burned. He turned his face away. Nothing smelled worse than a burning slug. He kicked the head and it bounced into the hole, bursting into flames as it fell.
With a few muttered words, he closed the portal before it could expand. If it grew too large, he’d need help from another supernatural being to close it. No way was he going to ask the curvy witch standing behind him for help.
“Which way did he go?” The sword vanished in the blink of an eye. He had several skills and the ability to materialize any weapon of his choosing was one of his favorites.
The woman stood behind him with a stunned expression on her face.
“Speak up, woman. Which way did he go?”
Kayley felt as if she’d stepped into a bad Bugs Bunny cartoon with Elmer Fudd whispering in her ear, which way did he go, which way did he go? She shook her head to clear away the fog and saw the man frown yet again.
Granted Kayley could be a little grumpy herself some days and he was apparently a demon from hell — that could ruin anyone’s good mood she was sure… but still. She placed her hands on her hips and confronted the man with all the ire she had in her slightly Irish soul.
“Okay, you need to rein in the attitude, mister —”
“I believe that was Mr. McHottie.”
She couldn’t believe it when a grin lifted one corner of his mouth. He seemed too stoic to smile.
She ignored his teasing to continue with her rant, which was losing steam by the second. The decrease in her irritation had a lot to do with Mr. McHottie standing there, his legs spread, arms crossed, biceps bulging, staring at her. Hoping to make herself feel more confident, Kayley flipped back her hair, copying the move she’d seen her friends use on Saturday nights when they wanted to attract a man’s attention.
And you certainly want to attract his attention, a devilish voice sounded in her ear. She turned her head and swatted into thin air as if there really was a little imp whispering to her, urging her to do naughty things.
Before she could say anything else, she heard footsteps behind her. Since Mr. McHottie — was she ever going to live that down? — didn’t materialize a sword, she didn’t start shaking in fear, figuring whoever approached wasn’t a threat. She turned, seeing Wanda and a teenager she assumed was a stock boy slowly rounding the corner.
“Kayley, are you all right?” The woman almost ran the last few feet and took Kayley in her arms for a warm hug. Kayley returned it, rubbing her hands up and down the woman’s arms trying to calm her. Kayley, unfortunately, was used to crazy things like this happening. Usually, she caused the disturbance. For once, it was nice to see someone else at the center of the chaos.
“I’m fine, Wanda. Are you? No one was hurt, were they?” She had seen where the other demon had gone. He’d headed straight out the door and now, somewhere in the small suburban town was a naked man who looked like he had a very severe sunburn.
“Yeah, we’re great. Aren’t we, Wayne?” The lanky teen nodded his head, his attention focused on the demon.
She had the urge to introduce everyone, which was a ridiculous thought since a giant hell slug had almost eaten her. Taking a deep breath, she muttered a few words to calm everyone. Feeling the tension ease in the room, she was about to congratulate herself on her success when the demon behind her growled.
“What the hell did you just do?”
She turned around to see his eyes literally flashing fire. “What are you talking about?”
He closed the space between them and yanked her to him. As her chest crashed into his, the air left her lungs and that, along with her shock, kept her from crying out. Her mouth opened to ask what the hell he thought he was doing. Before she could form the words, his mouth covered hers, his tongue thrusting between her lips.
One hand cupped her plump ass and pulled her against the natural bulge beneath his leather pants. A bulge that was growing by the minute and making a solid statement that he was aroused. His attitude alone told Kayley he was the type of man who got hard whenever a woman was close by. Any woman. Even a plump one like her. His other hand threaded through her long, auburn hair and encircled her neck, holding her still as he continued to kiss her. Firm, sensuous lips plundered hers, his tongue delved deep, tasting her, and drinking his fill.
For a demon, he tasted damn good, Kayley thought. To be honest, she’d expected him to taste like ash — you know the whole fire and brimstone thing.
Instead, he tasted like fresh mountain rain. In other words, he tasted delicious.
She met each and every thrust of his tongue and her hands gripped the hard muscles of his biceps as she lost herself in the kiss. His hands pulled her closer and she realized he really was aroused. Really, really aroused. Her skin was on fire where their bodies touched. She wanted to will their clothes away so she could feel her naked skin against his.
Suddenly, she realized something else — her spell had gone wrong, yet again. She pulled out of his arms and pushed him back. “Umm, sorry about that.”
He looked down at her. The gold in his eyes faded as his desire lessened, indicating her spell waned as well.
Her calming spell had always worked before. She usually did it in the privacy of her bedroom after a long, hard day at work. Oh, crap, she thought. Maybe that’s why, afterwards, she…
It seemed her calming spell was actually a horny spell.
She clenched the muscles of her pussy, hoping to keep the feeling of pleasure his kiss has aroused, pulsing deep inside her. She wanted to crawl all over this demon and forget every reservation and inhibition she’d ever had about her curvy body.
Roark allowed the witch to pull away with great reluctance. He shook his head to clear it from the images flashing through his mind. All of them had to do with sex — and this witch.
He hated witches.
“Did you just cast a spell?” He’d never felt that kind of burning need before and he’d been around a long, long time. He’d fucked queens and peasants, movie stars and lonely housewives. Never had he felt such an overpowering need to have a woman, to possess her. Looking at the witch’s bright red lips, ones he’d crushed beneath his own, he knew he had to have been in the grip of some type of magic. When she refused to look him in the eye, he knew he’d guessed correctly.
“It’s not what you think.”
He opened his mouth to say more but the human woman stepped forward, waving her hands at the floor where moments before, a big gaping hole to hell had been. The tile was slightly warped where the hole had sealed back together and there was green slime all over everything.
“What am I supposed to do? Call for a cleanup on aisle four?”
The witch’s lips twitched at the woman’s comment and Roark suppressed his own laughter. Damn, what was happening to him? He wasn’t a laughing, smiling kind of demon and he’d done both in the last five minutes.
Yeah, the woman in charge of the store was humorous, but he didn’t have time for any of this. The humans, the laughter, or the witch.
He had to get his mind back in the game. Tracking down his brother. More customers gathered in the aisle, coming out from the hiding places they’d scrambled to when his brother had burst out of hell. It was time to get moving. He realized he — and his cock — didn’t want to say goodbye to the curvy witch smiling in front of him.
“Come on.” He grabbed her arm and dragged her behind him. In a show of strength for such a small woman, she dug in her heels. Some might not have agreed with his assessment of her size and stature, but any being under the six-foot mark was small compared to him. Even a woman who had more meat on her bones than humans found acceptable.
Her resistance didn’t stop him. He stalked to the front of the store with her in tow. Since his brute strength made it impossible for her to stop him, she tried words next.
“You better leave. Fast. Opening a portal is a punishable offense.”
She was right. The supernatural world had strict rules about some things. They had been made eons ago in order
to live in harmony with humans. Not all supernaturals obeyed the rules, which was why Roark had the job he did. He tracked down those beings who refused to obey.
The witch tried to convince him again. “I’m sure Wanda has already called the manager. Someone might be casting a no-demon spell as we speak.”
Some witches and sorcerers had the ability to spell cast from a distance, but he didn’t think the manager of a grocery store would bother. The cost wouldn’t be worth it.
“Tell me what you need to scry, witch.”
The beautiful gray color of her eyes darkened at his hard tone as she answered him. She was smart enough to realize she wasn’t getting away. Now why did that make him happy? “I need a map and some salt.”
He tried not to show his surprise at the last request. This wasn’t his first time around the block tracking rogue demons. Salt was not a necessary ingredient for scrying. It was used for something else entirely. “Salt, umm?”
She licked her lips and his attention immediately refocused on her mouth. He’d been in her presence less than an hour and he’d already kissed her. Worse than that, he wanted to kiss her again. This time without any spell compelling him to do it. He felt the twitch of his cock behind his pants, laughing at him. Yeah, like her weak little spell had anything to do with him wanting to taste her.
“Look, I —”
He didn’t know what she was about to say and didn’t want to know. His features closed up tight and he held up a hand, cutting off her response. “You’re all I’ve got. Stay here,” he ordered. He didn’t trust her not to run. He knew he could catch her if she did, but he cautioned her all the same. “If you don’t, I’ll make sure everyone else in the store pays for your disobedience. Do you understand?”
She gave a small nod.
Most of the items she needed were near the front of the store. All except the salt. He quickly located the correct aisle, grabbing a blue and white box. Tossing it up in the air, he walked back to the witch. He had a good idea what she wanted it for and decided to go along. It wasn’t as if she could harm him.