“Spoilsport,” Jake smiled.
Ash laid his hand on Jake’s shoulder, bowed his head, and closed his eyes. “Father,” he said, “this man has proven his worth. I ask you to take him into our fold and make him one of ours.”
Father? Was he talking to… no way! Jake shook his head. No way was Ash talking to God. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it, though. His back began to burn like it was on fire.
He twisted around in an attempt to look at his own back, but it was useless. The more he turned the less he could see. The pain was blinding and eventually, Jake had to double over on himself. “What are you doing to me?” he cried out.
“Just another minute,” Ash told him calmly. “Burns like a bitch.”
“No fucking shit!” Jake shouted as a particularly sharp pain lanced through his back. The burning intensified and a sheen of sweat broke out all over his body. Was he going to burn for his sins anyway? He thought that when he agreed to help Ash that he was getting out of that, but apparently not, given the way his skin was on fire.
Jake had been through many fires in his lifetime. He had felt the heat against his skin, felt the blisters rising from his own flesh, and still it was not as bad as this burning that caused no damage, yet felt worse than anything he had ever felt before.
And then, as quickly as it began, the pain subsided. Jake was on the floor, on his hands and knees, panting for breath. He stayed there for a moment, getting his breathing right and trying to process what just happened. The burning pain in his back was gone, but he still felt like there was a Mac truck parked on it.
He forced himself to breathe steadily and pushed to his feet. If he was going to be tortured, he was going to do it with his head high. The pain had subsided, but Jake’s body was still in full on panic mode. Deep breaths, calm, he told himself.
Finally, Jake was feeling a little bit closer to normal and he craned his neck to look behind him. His eyes widened to the size of small saucers and he twisted himself around in an attempt to get a better look. “I don’t fucking believe it,” he whispered. Where his back had been burning now had a giant pair of wings jutting out from between his shoulder blades. The base of the wings were dark brown, but got lighter as the color moved away from his body. They were as tall as he was at six foot three and broader than he was by a foot. They were a dark brown closest to his body, but the color changed from a dark brown to a tawny color as they went further from his back. They got paler and paler, and then at the feathered tips, they were whiter than white. They shimmered when he moved them, and he was surprised at how easily he could move the giant appendages. They shimmered like magic. They were majestic and powerful, beautiful and functional. He hoped, anyway.
“Pretty swank perks, right?” Ash asked him with a grin.
“Fucking beautiful,” Jake replied.
“Wait till you learn to use them,” Ash warned him. “Then it’s the best thing you will ever experience.”
Jake grinned. Not burning in Hell was pretty great. Add a pair of beautiful fawn wings to the mix and he was one freaking happy camper. He couldn’t stop looking at them.
“Make sure you thank Him,” Ash said quietly and pointed upward with his finger.
Damn. A gift from God. Of course they would be brilliant! How could God do any less? A litany of all the ways he wanted to thank Him churned through Jake’s mind at about a hundred miles an hour, but finally, Jake just turned his face up and said, “Thank you!” And he meant it.
CHAPTER SIX
I guess it’s time to go and meet Shelly,” Ash said nonchalantly, as if getting wings were an everyday occurrence. “I want everything done as by the book as possible, because I don’t want any holes,” Ash continued, but Jake was barely listening. He was concentrating on those wings on his back. When he moved, they moved. They lilted from side to side with every step he took. They lifted slightly when he stepped onto the stairs, and then they let themselves back down again when he was on level ground. It was as if they had always been a part of him, yet had a mind of their own as well. He didn’t make a conscious effort to move them, yet they moved when they needed to. He would have thought with that much weight on his back that he should’ve had to lean forward to counter it, or fallen on his face already, but again, the wings seemed to know how to sit idle in exactly the right position he needed them in.
“Are you listening to me?” Ash asked, bringing Jake out of his own head.
Jake snapped to attention. He hadn’t realized how far they had gone until he looked around himself. They were standing in front of the entry to Greed and Ash had his hand poised over the electronic panel that would unlock the door with his touch.
“Sorry,” Jake admitted. “I’m trying here, but it’s hard.”
“I feel that,” Ash told him. “You gotta pay attention, though. It’s not all flowers and daisies down here.”
Jake nodded. “I can do better,” he promised. He swore to himself that he would do better. This was his only chance to be someone better than he had been before. He steeled his will as Ash pushed open the heavy steel doors.
Immediately inside, there was a large desk and that same, pretty woman from Ash’s office sitting behind it. Her hair reminded him of flames in the night. Dark red highlighted by golden blonde, waving like flames. He was drawn to it like a moth. He wondered if it was soft to the touch or if it would burn him. He knew by the look in her eyes that any touch from her would burn, but would it be in a good way, or a bad way?
“Oh, hi there, Ash,” Shelly cooed from behind her desk. She eyed Jake who was standing behind her leader. “Did you bring me something?” Yes, she could feel it. This was one of hers.
“Not exactly,” Ash told her. “Finishing up our tour. This is Jake.”
“Oh, thank you. I believe he is one of mine. I was just wondering where he made off to,” she said with a smile. She took in his appearance. Tall with broad shoulders, dark hair that was a bit too long, but she liked it. His eyes were brown as milk chocolate and wide with confusion. His features were sharp, almost angular. He had a perfect square chin just below a full lower lip. His top lip was out of proportion, though. It was a bit too small for the bottom one. They looked soft in comparison to his hard face and the hard lines of his body. She noticed the wings that were folded neatly behind his back, but she didn’t care about that.
“I think you are mistaken,” Ash told her. “Jake is going to be one of my new guards. This is his orientation.”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “He is mine, see?” she held her hand out, palm up, and a tablet appeared in it. “Says right here, Jake the Flame Rogers. He was supposed to check in two days ago.”
Ash narrowed his eyes at the leader of Greed. “He has been with me,” he told her.
Jake heard them arguing over him, but he was mad distracted. Everywhere he looked were people gathering gold and making piles. They were gathering riches for themselves, and some even fought with each other over it. He witnessed one man yanking the chain that was around his ankle and using it to strangle another man with it.
So much gold… he thought. I could pay off everything and still have plenty left over… he wondered what it would be like to touch just one of the golden nuggets… just one…
“Hey!” Ash’s voice boomed. “What the hell?”
Jake immediately turned his attention back to Ash. He didn’t know what to say. “So much gold,” he muttered. He hadn’t realized that he was walking away from Ash and into the realm, wandering off into Greed all by himself.
“I told you,” Shelly said, “he’s mine.”
Ash looked between Shelly and Jake, who was watching the realm with a glint in his eye. Well shit. This was his sin. “We gotta go now,” Ash said, practically dragging Jake with him as he headed for the doors. “Shelly, check the records again. I have already entered him into the system.”
“But I want to stay a bit longer,” Jake whined, actually whined, as Ash yanked him out of Greed.<
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“Sorry, buddy, but it’s gotta be this way. You can’t stay here. If you do, you’ll belong to Shelly forever.” Ash continued to forcibly remove him from Greed.
Jake allowed Ash to pull him along. Be Shelly’s forever, he thought. Would that really be so bad? She was gorgeous to a fault. And by fault, he meant that she knew it, but hey, no one was perfect. But that demon, she was about as close to perfection as Jake had ever seen. She could call him hers if she wanted too. He was starting to imagine all the ways he would let her claim his soul.
Wait, that was a bad thing, wasn’t it? Or was it? Jake was confused. He wanted to go back in there. He wanted to see Shelly and he wanted to see that gold and riches again.
Ash was merciless as he dragged Jake away. He was Ash’s first choice as a guard and he’d be damned if he let the man’s sin get the better of him. Besides, who had time to go and find another guard?
Once they were back at Ash’s office, Jake was thinking more clearly. What the fuck had just happened in there? He knew that Shelly was pretty and all, but he was willing to give over his very soul to stay there with her. He was starting to think that it may not just be her that was calling to him.
“You better now?” Ash asked him as they stopped in front of his office doors.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me back there.”
“I do,” Ash told him. “Greed was your big sin on Earth. If I hadn’t grabbed you up, you would be condemned to stay there for all eternity.”
“How did you know I was losing it?” Jake asked him.
“Because your eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas,” Ash answered. “You saw gold and riches, right?”
Jake nodded.
“Everyone else sees it for what it really is. A big fat pile of worthless rocks.” Ash shook his head. “Poor saps spend all their time trying to buy their way out and it just isn’t going to happen. Shelly says no one ever gets out. I don’t think you would make a very good Guard if you’re trapped in Greed, do you? Come on, we’re almost finished and then I have an assignment for you.”
Ash pushed open his office doors and motioned for Jake to go in first. Jake did. And then, he saw the strangest thing. There was a huge angel sitting at Ash’s desk. He was kicked back in the chair and had his feet propped up on the desk. The angel was also shoveling cookies into his mouth two and three at a time.
“Hey, guys,” the angel said without moving his feet.
“Antonio,” Ash groaned, “you know I hate it when you eat at my desk.”
“I know,” Antonio replied, “but I don’t mind and so long as one of us is reasonable, I figured why not?”
“Beat it,” Ash barked and the angel moved his feet off the desk and stood up.
“How’s it going so far?” he asked.
“This is Jake,” Ash mumbled as he brushed cookie crumbs off his desk and chair.
“Hey, Jake from State Farm,” Antonio said, sticking out his hand. Jake reluctantly took it and gave it a quick shake.
“Haha,” Jake said without humor. “That’s one I never heard before. You’re so original.” The statement was accented by a roll of his eyes.
Ash snorted and then covered it with a cough. “Yeah, uh, Jake, Antonio helps out around here. He is assisting me with finding new guard members. He helped me find you.”
Jake pondered this new information for a moment. “I guess I should thank you.”
“No thanks needed,” Antonio said with a grin. That was when Jake saw the angel’s entirely too long incisors. Antonio seemed to know what he was thinking. “Yeah those are fangs. I used to be a vampire. Or I guess I still am. Who knows?”
Jake was on some serious information overload. It was just so much to take in. Shelly and Greed, the vampire, the funeral, he didn’t know what to process first. Never in his life had he considered that hell was run by a giant angel who had another giant angel assistant in a huge office building that contained the different levels of hell. He never imagined he would have wings himself.
“I know its crazy right?” Ash said to him. “It’s just gonna get crazier. Embrace it or go nuts yourself.”
“You said something about an assignment,” Jake reminded Ash. Maybe that was what Jake needed. A distraction. Something to focus on in this big old ball of what the fuck.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “It’s easy. I got my eye on another potential guard and I want you to keep an eye on her.”
“Her?” Jake repeated.
“Hey, don’t knock the chicks,” Antonio piped in. “Some of the fiercest warriors are women.”
“But a female?” Jake said with a shake of his head, “I have a hard time with that. We’re supposed to protect females, not throw them into the line of fire.”
Ash felt the corner of his mouth lift in a half-smile. He thought of his own mate and his need to protect her, which brought on the thoughts of how well she protected herself. He thought about Shelly and her own skills as a fighter. “I tell you what,” Ash told him, “your training needs to get started and I want you to train with me, Antonio, and two of the best female fighters I have. If they don’t convince you that a female would make a great warrior, nothing will.”
“I am not going to fight a woman,” Jake shook his head. “I can’t.”
Antonio laughed out loud, “Well, you best prepare yourself because they ain’t gonna have any qualms about kicking your ass.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jake was led out of the office area and into the caverns. He had already learned that the caverns used to be where Lucifer held meetings and forced all of Hell to bow at his feet. Ash used it now as a training center and a triage of sorts. Souls that entered Hell were accounted for. Each and every one of them.
When they arrived, Antonio and Shelly were waiting for them. “So I get to kick your sorry ass,” Shelly said with a pleased expression.
Jake shrugged. “I don’t think so,” he retorted.
“Sorry I’m late,” Elizabeth chimed as she pranced into the cavern. Jake watched the expression on Ash’s face go from fierce to tender like flipping a light switch. The man loved his mate, that was clear. Jake felt a twinge of jealousy. He wanted that kind of love, but he had ruined his chance long ago. He wasn’t even entirely sure that he had been in love with Rheanne. Loved her, yes, but in love? Jake thought maybe he wouldn’t know real love if it slapped him in the face.
A blinding pain exploded in his cheek causing his head to jerk to the side, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He quickly gained his composure and saw that Shelly, leader of Greed, had bitch slapped his ass, hard. “What the fuck?” he growled.
She smiled sweetly at him. “Time to get to work, Princess,” she cooed.
“I already told you,” Jake said, rubbing his chin, “I will not fight a female.”
Shelly rolled her eyes. “You do realize that I am a demon, right?”
Jake shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. I can’t do it. I won’t.”
Ash laughed out loud. “That is one of the reasons I completely respect you,” he said between barks of laughter. “It’s also what is going to make this extremely interesting.”
Well that didn’t sound good. Jake watched as Elizabeth, Ash, and Antonio backed away, leaving him alone in the center of the training room with Shelly standing across from him. There were creatures gathering around; some looked human, but most did not. There were these tiny little things that had distorted faces and gnarled joints that had saliva dripping from their mouths. Their skin was a sickly gray color and they didn’t seem to have any hair whatsoever.
There were demons with red skin and demons with black skin. Some had horns, others didn't. And then there was Shelly. She stood about three feet in front of him, looking every bit the goddess she thought she was. She sure didn’t look like a demon.
“You ready?” she asked, crouching slightly and grinning like a feral cat.
“What kind of name is Shelly for a demon anyway?�
�� he asked, watching her sway slightly from side to side. He couldn’t take his eyes off her even if he wanted to. She was so beautiful, so elegant. His heart thundered in his chest as he watched her watch him. He knew that if he gave her an opening, no matter how small, she would take it. It was just like being in the ring when he was alive. The big difference was, he wasn’t alive and his opponent was female.
“It’s a nickname,” she growled. Her hands curled into claws at her side. She moved to the left and Jake countered to the right.
“It isn’t very intimidating,” he baited her.
“I don’t need an intimidating name, Jake the Flame,” she said sarcastically.
Jake had been an underground fighter for years and he had learned to watch his opponents’ body language. He knew the instant Shelly decided to strike. She pushed off with the balls of her feet and lunged at him.
Jake moved to the side, easily dodging her attack. She growled under her breath and moved for him again. Was it bad that he thought she was sexy as hell when she was in attack mode? He moved again to dodge her, but she was fast and her elbow connected with his throat.
He gasped for air, and while he was fighting back the tears that were stinging in his eyes, she used the opportunity to throw her arm out in front of him while tucking her leg behind him. Jake went down, hard.
The gathering of demons cheered and Shelly threw both fists into the air in victory.
“You’re just toying with him!” Elizabeth shouted from the sidelines. “Let me have a crack at him.”
Shelly danced her way over to where Elizabeth stood and high fived her. Then Elizabeth walked into the make-shift ring. Hell, they were tag teaming him! Jake got to his feet and steadied himself. This woman in front of him was a vampire, and she was his boss’s mate. No freaking way he could fight her. No way at all.
That didn’t stop Elizabeth from coming at him. She moved with vampire speed, and before Jake knew what was going on, she had him on the ground, pinned beneath her body. She was sitting on his chest and grinning. “You gotta up your game,” she told him before jumping off him and allowing him to stand.
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