The Keepers of Hell Box Set

by Danielle James

  “I should leave, then,” she said softly. Closer.

  “Yes,” he whispered, hoping she wouldn’t.

  “Ok,” she agreed. But she didn’t make any move to get up and leave. In fact, she was so close that if he just tilted his head and moved one more inch, he would be kissing her. The thought of her lips and the way they felt against his rattled his common sense. He should let her go. He should let her leave. He should tell her to run and never look back.

  Instead, he closed that short distance and took her mouth.

  CHAPTER FOURTEN

  Ash didn’t waste any time. He plundered her mouth with his tongue, fighting her for dominance. The fact that she had grabbed his head and fought back was thrilling for him.

  Ever since he had first laid eyes on her, Ash couldn’t get Elizabeth out of his head. He couldn’t forget her eyes, her scent, and since he kissed her the first time, her taste. He thought that he must have imagined the flavor she had, but now as he sucked her tongue into his mouth, he knew he had not.

  Ambrosia. That’s what she was.

  He ate at her mouth like a man starved. He traced the shape of her lips with his tongue and took the bottom one between his teeth. That elicited a moan from her and Ash went back for more. He cradled her neck in his hand and tilted her head for better access. He pushed her gently on to her back. The sofa was not nearly big enough for the both of them, but somehow he managed to lay her down and crawl over top of her without letting her mouth go.

  Elizabeth couldn’t hold on to a coherent thought while Ash was kissing her. All she could do was feel. And that is what she did with her hands. She raked her fingers down his back and loved the growl that rumbled out of his chest. She found his ribs and then ran her hands over his arms too. She couldn’t get enough of those toned muscles that rippled under his skin.

  He was perfection as far as she was concerned. The scar down his chest only added to his wicked charm. When he finally allowed her to breathe, it was only so that he could suck at her neck. Which she loved. She leaned her head back as far as she could so that he could reach her better. Her hands found their way to his waistline and she pushed at his jeans. They were too snug to move so she grabbed two handfuls of his tight ass.

  And that had him rocking his hips into her. She split her legs to accommodate him and was rewarded with the thick ridge of his cock rubbing against her.

  “Oh my God,” he groaned. Ash ground himself into her harder. He could feel the heat from her core through the thick denim of his pants.

  “Please,” Elizabeth said on a hoarse whisper, “I need this.”

  “Me to,” he agreed. He lifted his weight off of her only long enough to shove his jeans to the floor and kick them off his feet. Elizabeth sat up and started to lift her shirt. “Allow me,” he offered as he grabbed the hem and yanked it over her head.

  Elizabeth giggled like a school girl. “Thanks,” she grinned.

  “I think those are the most perfect breasts I have ever seen,” he told her as he admired her chest. She was wearing a lacy pink bra and all he could think about was getting it off of her.

  “This will be better,” she said as she reached behind her back to undo the clasp. The material fell away from her skin and Ash’s mouth watered. He could actually taste her skin in his mouth.

  He rumbled something unintelligible and lunged for her. In a second flat, she was on her back and he had her nipple in his mouth.

  “Oh yes, like that,” she moaned and arched her back to push herself further into his mouth. “Suck harder.”

  Ash did as he was told. He was rewarded with a sharp cry of pleasure from her lips. He knew that he could live an eternity with only that sound in his ears. He kissed from one tight nipple to the other until they were both red and swollen.

  Elizabeth pushed at his chest and Ash rolled to the side. “Sit up,” she demanded. He did and then she was standing in front of him. She pushed her pants off, leaving her only in her lacy panties. She crawled into his lap and straddled him. She leaned down and kissed him hard, rubbing herself against his erection.

  “Oh God,” he moaned around her lips. “I gotta have you now.”

  Ash reached down and took her fragile panties in his hands. With one sharp tug, he ripped the material away from her body and tossed them across the room. He lifted her hips and positioned her over his cock. “You ready?” he asked.

  “Hell yes,” she replied.

  He pushed his hips off the cushion at the same time she lowered her hips, impaling herself with his cock. Ash pushed up again and he was fully inside her. “Fucking hell,” he growled as he started to rock his hips into her. Elizabeth tilted her hips back and forth, accepting each and every thrust he gave her.

  When she cried out in pleasure, he picked her up off of him and placed her on the sofa, facing the back. “Hold on,” he said as he put her hands on the back of the sofa. Elizabeth angled her knees apart and Ash stood behind her. He pushed back into her and Elizabeth screamed out his name. He knew he had not hurt her.

  Back and forth he pushed into her, lost in the sounds of their bodies meeting and their labored breathing. He was covered in sweat but he didn’t care. He had never felt so much at home as he did with Elizabeth. She was something special to him, as if she was made for him, and he took it all. When he could hold out no longer, he reached his hand around her and found her clit with this thumb and finger. On his next thrust he gave the little nub a pinch and sent her flying in ecstasy. He followed right behind her, holding her body tightly to his own until the orgasm subsided.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “I’ve never known you to play with your targets first,” Shax’s voice boomed in Ash’s head. He jerked upright in his bed and sure enough, the demon was standing by the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Get out,” Ash grumbled softly.

  “Afraid the little woman will hear me?” Shax sneered. “Don’t worry, she can’t hear me.”

  Ash looked to his left and saw Elizabeth sleeping soundly by his side. Her hair was fanned out over the pillow and concealed part of her face. They had made love in just about every room of his house that night, but managed to find their way into the bedroom. Ash resisted the urge to cover her with his body; to protect her from the demon’s sight.

  “I grow tired of your procrastination,” Shax said with a roll of his eyes. “I gave you a job to do and yet, here you are, not doing it.”

  “Why her?” Ash asked as he threw his legs over the side of the bed. “What has she ever done to deserve to die?”

  “I told you, she took the life of another,” Shax replied.

  Ash grabbed his pants off the floor and yanked them up his legs. “Out there,” he said, pointing to the door. “We aren’t going to wake her with this conversation.” He waited for Shax to turn and leave before following him out of the bedroom. Once they were in the kitchen, the demon turned to Ash.

  “She set fire to the home she lived in. Deliberately. Her brother was inside and he was killed in the blazing inferno that she ignited with her own hands. He was in the house and she knew it. She left the house while he was inside screaming for help. She watched him die.” The demon leaned back against the counter with a completely contented look on his face.

  “I don’t believe you,” Ash growled. “No way would she ever hurt a fly.”

  “Believe me or don’t,” Shax said. “But it’s your sister’s life that hangs in the balance. Would you really be so willing to sacrifice her for a woman you don’t know? For a woman that is guilty?”

  Images of Leanne flashed through Ash’s head. He saw her being held in the arms of the demon in front of him. He saw her being raped and murdered, over and over again in still pictures that played like a strobe light in his mind.

  “Stop it!” Ash yelled, grabbing his head and shutting his eyes tightly, willing the images away. “I know what I have to do. Just give me the time I need to do it.”

  “There isn’t much time,”
Shax told him. “You have three days. If by the end of three days the woman still breathes, then not only is our contract void and I own your soul, but I will collect your sister’s and the good doctor’s as well.”

  Ash didn’t say another word as he watched the demon disappear in a cloud of smoke. He left behind the heavy stink of sulfur in his wake. Ash’s nose burned as well as did his chest. The nose was from the demon stink. He had a feeling his chest was for a whole other reason.

  Three days. He had three days to come to terms with what he had to do.

  Or find a way out of it.

  Ash walked quickly to his bedroom and peeked in the open door. Elizabeth was still sleeping soundly on his bed. He gently pulled the door to, but not closed. He wanted to hear her if she needed him. Then he took himself to his computer and turned it on.

  He opened Google and searched newspaper articles on a fire involving Elizabeth. At first, nothing was doing. He scrolled through page after page of arson charges and accidental fires. Then, after five pages, he found it.

  It was an article from twenty years earlier. Elizabeth was only a teenager at the time when the home she lived in caught fire under suspicious circumstances. He read on, only to find that the reporter mentioned that Elizabeth tried to resuscitate another child from the home. The article didn’t give much other information though.

  Ash returned to his search page and scrolled through the list a bit more. He didn’t find any other information about the fire, so he logged into the city’s database. He found record of the fire, but not anything he hadn’t already read.

  He knew he was going to have to dig deeper. The article mentioned that Elizabeth and the other child were foster children, so he went to the county database for social services. It didn’t take him long to hack into the system and soon enough, he had found her file.

  Elizabeth had been with several families over her childhood. She was removed from the home with the fire and the file stated that the family requested it. They believed Elizabeth was responsible for the blaze. There was an interview with her in the file so he opened it.

  After a long two hours, Ash was able to ascertain that even though she set the fire, it was never her intention to kill her brother. In fact, she had tried to save him.

  Ash closed his laptop and stretched backward in his chair. He could hear the shower running and knew that she was awake. He pushed out of the chair and went to make her some fresh coffee. He needed her to talk to him as she had needed information from him the night before.

  Just about the time the coffee pot stopped dripping, Elizabeth walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of his boxers. Ash felt his chest puff out in pride that she was wearing his clothes.

  She followed the direction of his eyes and blushed. “I hope you don’t mind, mine didn’t make it through the night.”

  Memories of the night before leaped into his mind, the image of her panties ripping away from her body being the most prominent. His cock jumped behind his fly. “No of course not,” he said as he willed his cock into submission. He needed to think clearly now, and the image of her wearing a tank top and his boxers was not helping in the least. “I made coffee.” Duh.

  “I can see that,” she said with a knowing smile. Damn her for knowing exactly the effect she had on him. “I hope you have cream.”

  “In spades,” he grinned at her.

  She rolled her eyes and helped herself to the coffee pot. She moved around his kitchen as if she belonged there. As he watched her move with confident grace, Ash realized that he wanted her to belong there. He wanted her to be a part of his life, and not just a part that came and went just as easily as he changed pants. He wanted her to stay.

  But that wasn’t going to happen, was it? He was supposed to kill her. But how could he? Even if any part of what Shax said was true, Elizabeth wasn’t that girl anymore. She was a healer. But he didn’t believe even for a minute that she intended for her brother to die. It wasn’t fair for the demon to ask this of him.

  But who ever said demons were fair? He had made the deal, and now Shax owned his sorry ass. He had to do what he said or it would be Leanne that paid the price, and it would be with her soul. He hated that demon. Now more than ever.

  “Is everything all right?” Elizabeth asked cautiously. “You’re growling like an angry bear.”

  Ash shook himself out of his thoughts. “Yeah, uh, listen. We gotta talk.”

  “Oh no,” she said as she took a seat. “That’s never good. Here, let me do it for you. This thing between us, it’s been great, but after I get dressed it’s over.”

  Ash felt his brows tighten over his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said, “But what?”

  “You’re about to give me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech. I’m saving you the trouble. It’s ok, Ash. I’m a big girl. I know how this works.” She studied her coffee cup while she spoke. “You don’t have to say it.”

  Ash shook his head. “Uh, ok, but that’s not what I was going to say.”

  “Oh?” she asked. “Well, what was it?”

  Ash sat across from her. “It’s about that demon I told you about,” he started.

  “The one you made a deal with,” she said.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s about something he wants me to do.”

  “Well, what is it?” she asked. “You only kill other demons, right?”

  Ash ran his hand through his hair. How the hell could he explain this to her? He didn’t want to say the words out loud, much less to her. “So far, yes. Our contract says that I can’t kill an innocent.”

  “He wants you to kill a human,” she said. Not a question.

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Is this human guilty of some unforgivable crime?” she asked, leaning in toward him.

  “He says murder,” Ash mumbled.

  “I see,” she said. “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered. “I can’t hurt her. I won’t do it.”

  “So it’s a woman,” she said.

  “It’s so much worse than that,” Ash told her. He forced himself to look into her eyes. His stomach was twisted up in knots and felt like it was full of lead. He made note of the curious expression on her beautiful face; how the tiny lines at the corners of her eyes made her look like someone who laughed a lot, of how the tilt of her lips was adorable, how the hair brushed her forehead. He wanted to remember her like this. Unafraid of him. Because what he was about to say was going to change that forever. Finally he found the courage inside of himself to be honest with her. “He wants me to kill you,” he finally said. And that is when her coffee cup hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces, sort of like his life.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Elizabeth said as she scooted her chair back and crouched down to clean up the mess she made.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Ash told her. He got up and walked around the table to help her. He brushed her hand with his and she jerked it back. He tried to ignore the stab of pain and disappointment he felt at her rejection.

  “I uh, hell,” she mumbled. She sat back on her ass and looked up at him. She had known he was dangerous from the first time she saw him. Now, he was proving her right. But why tell her? Why make love to her like she was the only woman in the world? Was that all part of his plan? She could have sworn she felt real tenderness from him when they were together.

  “Elizabeth,” he pleaded with her, “Please listen.”

  “Are you going to do it?” she asked bluntly.

  That was something he loved about her. Her directness. Shit. Love? He was well and truly fucked, wasn’t he. “Hell no,” he answered her quickly. “I will find another way.”

  “What about your sister? Won’t he kill her?”

  “He says he will, but there has to be something else I can do. I know you’re not a murderer.” Ash moved toward her and although she didn’t back away, she kept a wary eye on his every move. “I told you, I w
on’t hurt you.”

  “There is something you should know,” she said softly.

  “I already know,” he said. “I did my research. I don’t believe for a second that you would deliberately harm anyone. Not now, not ever. I can’t do it.”

  “What happens, exactly, if you don’t do it?” she asked. Elizabeth wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

  “He gets my soul and my sister.”

  “What if you run away? Hide somewhere obscure and change your name?” she asked.

  Ash shook his head. “He’ll always be able to find me.”

  Elizabeth stood and brushed off her shorts. “I think I should get dressed now,” she told him. “I have a shift at the hospital. I don’t know what to tell you to do, but if you feel like killing me is the best way to go, I understand. Just don’t let me see it coming,” she told him.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” he demanded as he grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him.

  “Not everyone is as innocent as you think,” she said. “We all have our skeletons. We all have our crosses to bear and we all have to pay the piper when the time comes.” She pulled away from him. “I can’t deal with this right now,” she said as she turned away from him.

  Ash felt a stab of regret for telling her. But he wanted to be honest with her. Always. For however long that may be. He wanted her to know that she was important to him and that he cared for her. “I’m going out for a bit,” he said. “I need to clear my head. If you want to come back after your shift, you can. You’re safe here,” he told her.

  She nodded, but didn’t answer him. Ash couldn’t bear to watch her walk away from him, so he turned for the door. He grabbed a sweatshirt on his way out and pulled it over his head.

  The city was nearly dark by the time he made it into the town proper. A million thoughts swam in his head, but not one of them included killing Elizabeth. His brain wouldn’t even think it. But what was he to do?