“No,” he said staring down into her eyes. “It’s only begun.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, fear climbing within her.
“Ms. Duquesne, I have an erection.”
“You bastard! If you think—”
“Be still, or I will be forced to—”
“To rape me?” she continued for him. “So that’s it! You did all this just to fuck the hell out of me!”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth, but I’m a man, and being this close to you is simply—” He moaned, feeling her body continue to squirm beneath him. His eyes followed the beautiful lines of her face. He could smell her woman’s fragrance, and the pressure of her naked breasts against his chest was driving him crazy. Finally losing it, he suddenly grabbed her in a clinch to keep her still, but it was useless. She became wild in his arms, causing his erection to rub harder against her. “You little witch, I told you to be…to be still, or I’ll explode all over you.”
Sugar gasped when she felt the size of his erection. She wanted to fight him. He was a stranger, after all. Still, she couldn’t help wondering how it would feel to have something that large plunging in and out of her. The feeling, the fire, swept upward within her. She couldn’t ignore his sinful eyes, his mouth. God, even the wound had a certain excitement, giving his handsome face a bad-boy look that drew her to him. Taking a wild chance, she opened her legs and made a cradle for his hips while her tied hands lay helpless above her head. In no time, Judas’s flying suit lay at their side, along with Sugar’s rags that hung from her body.
Their hungry lips met, his drugging kisses filling a need in her. His hard body woke something up inside her and sent shivers of delight racing through her. His hands cupped her breasts while he sucked and chewed on them, making a moist trail along her cleavage until he claimed each diamond-hard globe with tantalizing possessiveness. She could feel the sleek caress of his body as his flesh met hers. He opened her up, causing her to gasp when she felt his enormous size slowly fill her. She’d never felt anything like it. But it wasn’t only his size, it was the way he thrust and pulled. She wanted to let every inhibition she had dissolve in her lustful need of his body. Ravenous, she moved her hips in synch with his. She didn’t know if she was in heaven or hell, but she wanted to stay until his possession of her was complete.
“Oh!” she whimpered the instant his lips covered her mouth and kissed her with all the divine ecstasy she could stand. In and out he plunged, pulling cries and moans from her very soul. God, he was good, so very good. Even the palms of his hands were hot as he touched her body with flame. She went with him as he carried her to the very heights, where a heated orgasm swelled. She wanted to eat him, inhale him. She wanted to let herself go, to bite and suck and nip at his magnificent male chest.
It was as if something became unleashed inside her. She began to lick and suck, to clench him with her legs, to climb the mountain that was his body, all the while sipping at his delicious male elixir until there was none left.
Their breath mingled, each soul caressing the other while they surged higher and higher into the stratosphere of desire. The further she climbed, the more she felt like a wanton that would do anything to attain her goal. She hissed out her desire like a cat in heat and moved her hips with wild abandon. His tongue licked every sensitive spot she had, driving her to an urgency she had never known, an urgency to at last reach that gleaming orgasm she knew was just within her reach.
And then at last it happened!
She shattered as never before.
What had this man done to her? For the first time ever, he had done for her what it took at least two men to do before. Where did he come from? What world had he traveled from? He seemed to know every erogenous zone she had and played her like an instrument.
The room was dark, only lit from outside lights, lending an intimate look and feel to the room while he released her to grab at his clothes to dress. While watching him, she pulled her rags around her to hide her nakedness. The room was so quiet she could hear them both breathing in and out and feel the body heat still radiating between them.
“Who are you?” Sugar whispered, her soft voice sounding like a gun blast in the quiet room.
Judas pulled himself up and returned to the window. “I liked you better when you weren’t talking. Just don’t get too chatty. We’re not out of this yet.”
“Fine,” Sugar said, feeling rejected. “I’m too cold to talk anyway.”
Turning and looking around, he saw a man’s jacket hanging on a clothes tree in the corner. Getting up, he grabbed it and threw it at her. “Put this on.”
While she tugged it on, he turned his eyes back toward the outside activity, and with somber eyes and a clenched jaw, he said, “Don’t worry about who I am. You’re in trouble and I’m helping you. That’s all you need to know for now.”
“You’re insane! We just made love, and I don’t even know who the hell you are!”
Judas sliced his slumberous gaze toward her. “I’m the man that made you scream.”
“You egotistical moron! You expect me to do everything you say, yet you won’t even tell me who you are? How the hell do I know you’re not some raving lunatic—?”
He reached over and grabbed her arm, turned her around, and looked threateningly into her eyes. “Raving lunatic? Me? I know of only one raving lunatic around here, and it’s not me!” His voice rose into an angry bellow. “How do I know you won’t turn into some monster and try to rip my throat out like you do every other man you meet up with? I’m the one in danger, here, not you!”
Blood drained from Sugar’s face. “How did you find out? I mean, were you…did you see?”
He let go of her with a jerk. “Maybe I’ll tell you someday.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I saw it in my crystal ball. Now be quiet.”
Giving him a sullen look, she watched as he continued to stare out the window. “What’s happening out there?”
“The rain has slowed down,” he said, looking toward the sky. “They’re still in the woods.” He shifted his eyes toward her. The rain had washed most of the blood off her, and the large jacket made her look like a waif caught in a storm. He felt a stab of compassion when he saw her trying to wipe the rain away with hands that were hidden in the sleeves.
What the hell was wrong with him? He wasn’t supposed to feel things like that. Compassion, caring, and love were for weak ninnies and God-lovers. That wasn’t him. He didn’t go in for sunshine and flowers. Death and destruction were his things.
Still, he felt bad for treating her like a whore and yelling at her. His resolve to keep her at a distance had all the earmarks of a miserable failure. In spite of what had happened, he had to keep trying. He was used to playing with women, taking what he wanted and leaving them behind, and he wasn’t about to change now. After all, he came from a black hole called Hell. What woman could live with that?
This was no place for him. Earth was limited. He was used to flying through the vast inner space of the Black Heavens, going from one world to another and fighting battles to keep it reigning supreme. As for the women here, there were none who could equal those he’d already had. He shifted his gaze toward Sugar.
Except her, he thought. In hell she would even put a goddess to shame.
He quickly moved his eyes away and looked out the window trying not to think about the beautiful women he’d had every day of his life. They were goddesses, queens, many of them causing every kind of devastation you could possibly think of and enjoying it. Sugar and her bestial sister were no challenge to him. He saw evil a lot worse than her every day of his life. He ate it, lived it, breathed it. Yes, evil was what his world was all about. He was used to it, even preferred it.
And why not? After all, he didn’t go in for the holy.
Chapter 10
The rain had scattered the tourists and closed the Reef down for the night.
Thunder rolled over the heads o
f a small group of tourists who were trudging down the deserted beach to their homes or hotel rooms. Early morning gulls and scuttling sand crabs shared a beach full of broken shells, seaweed, and hundreds of footprints that would be wiped clean by the unrepentant storm.
Now it was quiet, and the ‘copter full of MPs, gone.
Feeling as if it was safe to leave, Judas looked over at Sugar and saw her asleep on the floor. Thinking he needed to take her home, he moved along the floor until he was beside her. With a gentle hand, he pushed the hair out of her face and once again marveled at her beauty.
“My best work,” came a voice behind him.
Judas whirled around and saw a horrifying creature that passed as human. Thick, dark hair hid a slight protrusion of horns and a devilish widow’s peak. His brows arched over eyes that flashed evil. An ugly darkness surrounded him, and his lips took on a sullen, menacing twist.
“What in hell are you doing here?”
“She’s my creation. Where else should I be?”
“Loose her, Lupercus. Then go back to Hell, where you belong.”
His dark eyes flashed like fire. “You’re in over your head, Judas. Do you know what it would take to undo this curse? Nothing short of my death, that’s what. That’s something you, a mere warrior, can never do.”
“I’ve defeated gods before.”
“Stupid races!” Lupercus hissed. “None of them with the sense of a worm!”
“There are other ways, Lupercus. Those that are the most stupid are the ones that are the most arrogant. Sound like anyone you know? Be careful you don’t stumble and fall into one of my traps.”
An evil smile crossed Lupercus’s face. “I am aware that you don’t like me, Judas. Possibly because you’ve had to clean up so many of my messes, but I don’t care. I’m here because I refuse to be intimidated, and I’m not leaving.”
“Intimidated? By a woman?”
“She challenged me,” he said childishly. “Tell me how I could turn my back on that. No woman is going to get the best of me. I don’t care who she is, or how beautiful. Besides, I needed someone to pass the curse on to. She was perfect since she’d been wounded.”
“But to turn her into something like this is cruel.”
“Evil is cruel, and that’s what I am. It’s what you are, Judas. Your soul is as black as mine, and to do something to help someone goes against all that we are.”
“I’m not doing this to help anyone but myself and everyone in the Black Heavens. Do you realize that because of you that black hole we call home was almost destroyed?”
“Hell, destroyed?” He gave an evil chuckle. “Please!”
“Hell as we know it, yes. I’m here to try and keep it from becoming a wasteland.”
“Well, you can go back home, pretty boy. I’m here now, and I can clean up my own mess.”
“Pretty boy? Look again,” Judas said as he pulled back his hair. The murky light settled on his face in macabre planes of light and shadow.
“My, my. What happened?”
“Death happened. He challenged me to a duel, but forgot to give me a weapon.”
“But how could something like this happen? Aren’t you—?”
“I learned that I’m half mortal. What a time to find out. My beloved father didn’t think it important enough to tell me.”
“And you’re here giving me grief? Death is your enemy, not me.”
“I wouldn’t invite either of you for a tête-à-tête.”
“That’s rap session.”
“What?”
“Rap session. If you’re going to stay here, at least learn the language.”
“Go to hell. Is that clear enough?”
“I could give you the same advice.”
“I warn you now. I’m going to do everything I can to remove this curse because that is what I’ve been sent here to do. Then, and only then, will I return to Hell.”
“Then suffer the consequences. Now that I know you’re mortal, I’ll look forward to taking you back to hell with me…in pieces!”
* * * *
Lupercus and Judas were in such a hot exchange that neither of them realized Sugar was awake and listening to every word. She lay there quietly, trying to comprehend the words and phrases she didn’t understand.
Gods.
Half mortal.
Black soul.
Hell, a wasteland?
The words were strange, their meanings foreign to her. Suddenly she remembered the most chilling word of all, Judas!
The hated name whirled around in her brain over and over again. It was the name of the stranger who had walked into her life uninvited. The man with the traitor’s name, the man with the enormous cock, the man who had made her scream, the man she had wanted to devour. Who was he? Was he also a traitor? She was desperate to get away, but she was trapped. She couldn’t let them know she had heard them, but couldn’t keep her trembling body still.
“That remains to be seen,” Judas said as the atmosphere took on an otherworldly light. Sporadic bursts of lightning eerily licked the room. Soft rumblings of thunder rolled across the sky, distant, cold, and unfriendly—as if it were traveling through the belly of a giant beast. Each burst of angry thunder sounded farther away, but in an abstract, extraneous way until finally it passed, sinking the room into an unsettling quiet.
* * * *
A slight movement poised on the edge of Judas’s peripheral vision. His head turned quickly toward Sugar. Had she moved? A feeling of dread washed over him when he realized she was awake. How much had she heard? More importantly, how much had she understood?
“Sugar?”
He waited as she slowly turned and sat up, her eyes fearful as she looked around the room. The words she finally spoke came out in a breathy whisper. “W-Who are you talking to?”
Judas looked around to see that Lupercus had fled. “I’m surrounded by fucking cowards,” he muttered under his breath.
“You were talking to someone.”
“Uh, no.”
“You were talking to yourself?”
“No, you must have been dreaming. There’s no one here but me.”
“I know what I heard. He called you Judas.”
“Judas, yes, that is my name, but I’m sure I must have mentioned it earlier.”
“No, you didn’t. You think a name like Judas would escape my notice?”
“There’s nothing unusual about it.”
“No, not if you’re an atheist, or a God-hater.”
“What about you?” Judas spat. “Don’t tell me you go to church on Sunday and then kill on Monday?”
“It’s none of your business what I do. Besides, I can’t help it.”
Judas looked at her as she hid her face in her hands. “Look, I’m sorry. There’s no need for us to argue. As for what you heard…it was nothing.”
“All right, just answer me this. Why in hell do you know all about me, but I know nothing about you?”
“Ms. Duquesne, when the time comes, I’ll answer all your questions, but this is not the time. Right now, I need you to trust me.”
“Oh, I see. You scare the living hell out of me, fuck me, but I’m not allowed to ask questions. In other words, we’ll talk about it when you damn well feel like it, is that it?”
“I’m sorry if I took advantage of the situation, but I couldn’t help it. It was the…we were…” He looked up at her. “You’re a beautiful woman. What can I say?”
“Typical man.”
“Well, I can hardly help it any more than you can help…” He paused, his gaze raking along her perfect body. “Oh, hell, forget it.” He moved to take her arm. “I think we should get you home.”
She pulled away. “I can get myself home. Thanks for what you did, but I can handle it from here.”
“Sugar, my…”
She looked up at him, her gaze stabbing his. “Sugar? What happened to Ms. Duquesne?”
“I’m sorry. May I call you Sugar? You can call me Judas.�
�
“I won’t be calling you anything, you pervert.”
“Fine,” he said, forcing himself to take a civil tone. “My offer of help isn’t only to see you get home okay, it’s to break this awful curse that’s on you. To do that you’ve got to work with me.”
“I don’t need you.”
Judas’s temper finally exploded. “Don’t be so damned stupid! Of course you need me. You can’t do this by yourself! Besides,” he said, nodding toward the window, “they could still be out there, don’t you know that? Alone you’ll be spotted. At least I can offer some kind of protection. What will it take to make you trust me? I got you this far. Let me finish what I started.”
“All right,” she hissed, “but that’s it. After that you leave, and we never see each other again.”
Chapter 11
As they walked, the old mansion on the hill drew nearer. Sugar remembered the first time she’d seen it. The house and grounds were in ruin, the…
As if on cue, she heard the howling of a dog nearby, and stopped dead still, her head turning sharply toward the bellowing cry. The lonely sound brought back the memory of her sons scouring the countryside, and her spine tingled with fear and foreboding. She’d learned a long time ago that a dog was the guardian of the underworld, and when one howled it meant someone from Hell was near. The words “Black Heavens” came back to her.
She looked at Judas. “What are the Black Heavens? I heard you and the other man speak of them.”
“Black Heavens? You must be mistaken.”
She whirled on him. “I’m not mistaken!” she shouted and saw a helicopter overhead. “Oh my God, they’re back! Why don’t they give up?” she cried. “Why can’t they leave me alone?”
“Come on, we’re almost there.”
“I can’t. I’m too tired. We…we have to hide.”
* * * *
Instead of trying to find cover, Judas swooped her up in his arms and carried her the rest of the way. He was climbing the steps of the mansion when the door flew open. Reflected in the dim fire light was a dark-haired man with dark eyes and a broad face. Lines of strain deepened along his forehead and beneath his eyes. His shirt sleeves were rolled up above his elbows, and a head full of straight hair was parted in the middle with a wayward lock falling forward over one eye. His soiled apron completed the picture of an insane butcher with a bloody hatchet in his hand. Judas could have sworn that he made a move to strike when his eyes happened to shift toward Sugar, who lay limp and exhausted in Judas’s arms.
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