by A. J. Norris
“Yeah, I know, the cord the amulet was on.” She cursed under her breath.
“Lemme see it.” He swiped the cord from her hand. Aza dragged the leather under his nose while he inhaled. The same evergreen and woodsy smell coated the rope. His eyes watered and he sneered.
Julia laughed. “What are you doing? You’re so weird.” He blushed and tossed the necklace over his shoulder. “Hey, we might need that.” She chased after it.
“For what? I’ve smelled all I need to.”
“What do you mean you’ve smelled all you need to?” Julia laughed some more.
“I mean I have his scent.”
“What are you, a search hound?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
She shook her head. “Come on, let’s go back to the apartment and see if Chad’s still there.”
By the time they returned to the apartment building, cars with rotating flashing red and blue lights on the top surrounded the structure. Human males dressed in the same clothing waited out front. Aza headed for the entrance.
“Hold up, demon,” she said. “We can’t go in there. Let’s go across the street to that coffee shop and see if Chad comes out.” He walked behind her again, on purpose this time.
They sat in a booth next to the window.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Julia
“Well, this is boring,” Julia said into her coffee cup. Aza kept his stare fixed on the apartment building across the street. He hardly blinked.
Cop cars, an ambulance, and other people milled in and around the front doors. A sandy-haired man emerged from the building and stretched his arms over his head. Julia had only met him two or three times but recognized Chad immediately. He spoke to an officer, pointed with his thumb, and walked up the road to his car.
“There he is.”
“Who?” Aza asked.
“Oh, my God, please stop asking dumb questions. Who have we been waiting for?”
“The human, Chad.”
She rose from the table. They stayed on this side of the street and followed until the car disappeared out of sight.
“Stay here,” Aza said. “I’ll see where he’s going.”
Julia crinkled her forehead. “How’re you gonna do that?”
“I’ll be back.” He jogged into the small gap between buildings. When she got to the space where she saw him enter, he was gone.
“What the hell?” Where did he go?
After a while she asked a stranger on the street for the time. She’d lost her cell phone during her murder, or maybe she didn’t get to keep the piece of technology in the afterlife.
Yeah, some afterlife.
Where were the pearly gates and angels to take her home?
Oh, that’s right I’m a monster.
She paced back and forth, up to the coffee shop and down to the end of the block, until her feet ached.
A woman chuckled behind her. She gasped.
Augustina?
Julia pivoted in time to see a familiar waddle. The way the woman walked made her wonder how she stayed on her feet. She caught up to her and stood directly behind her at the curb. Julia reached out to tap her on the shoulder then retracted her hand, thinking better of giving the poor old soul a heart attack. What would she say to her anyway, and why? She inhaled and rubbed the center of her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them again, Augustina had disappeared as if she’d never been there. Was she going nuts?
On her way back toward the café, she passed the opening between the buildings. She sensed Aza behind her well before he spoke.
“I found the human, Chad,” he said.
She looked down at his hands; the knuckles were bloody. “Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“Not far. I heard him talking into a thin box.”
“Thin box? You mean a cell phone?”
Aza shrugged. “We can walk from here.” He strode away.
“Okay, wait up, what did he say?”
“He said he would be at the museum at eleven in the morning to pick up a check. I don’t know what this means.”
“I do.” Julia said. “What museum? Institute of Arts and Culture, downtown, maybe?”
Aza ran across the street. Horns honked. A motorist hung his head out of a passing car. “Watch it, asshole!”
Slices of pain stabbed Julia’s back. In the middle of the street, she reached her hand over her shoulder and felt around. Her fingers touched a tender spot. “Oww. What the fuu…” She stopped on the double yellow line and several cars whipped past her on both sides. “Aza!”
He wheeled around and darted across a lane of traffic. Tires squealed and more cussing ensued from the drivers. “What’s wrong?”
“I dunno. My back hurts.” His eyes went round. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, we must go.”
Julia’s knees buckled as another wave of pain washed over her, and she hit the asphalt hard. She looked up at him. “Please…”
Aza lifted her off the pavement from behind by her armpits and carried her with his arms straight out in front of him. He set her down on the sidewalk and asked if she was all right before he let go. She stood for a moment then listed to the side and would’ve fallen over if it weren’t for a city trash can in her way. Her upper body sprawled atop the round mesh container. The rotten meat stench made her glance inside. A half-eaten hamburger sat there, crawling with maggots. Her gag reflex forced her tongue forward. She pushed herself away and backed into a crosswalk signal. She staggered around like a drunk until she met up with something warm and solid.
Aza.
She hoped.
Again, he steadied her with his hands under her armpits, but this time she faced him. His jaw clenched. He raised her until her eyes were level with his.
“I-I’m okay, you can put me down.”
“Are you sure?” He pulled her in tighter to his face. “Your eyes don’t look right.”
She blinked several times. “I’m…I’m fine…just don’t like the smell of old meat.”
“You banged your head hard on the metal pole over there.”
“What? No, I didn’t.”
He snorted.
“I didn’t.”
“I’m not going to argue with you.” He set her down. “The human, Chad, is staying at a place that offers rooms to rent.”
“A motel?” Julia felt the back of her head. It did ache, now that he mentioned the hit. She wanted a soak in a hot bath followed by some sleep. Chad wouldn’t be heading to the museum until around eleven the next morning. “Where was this place the human went?” She gave up trying to convince Aza the “human” label wasn’t necessary. After all she was dead, so what did that make her? A large part of her still didn’t understand how she could be walking around with people being able to see her if she had actually died. A vein in her forehead throbbed.
Julia and the demon walked a few more blocks until they reached a hotel. He stepped into the fancy place.
“Are you kidding me? He’s staying here?” She looked around; she’d never been inside the hotel before. It looked expensive. The registration counter was made of dark granite.
A woman dressed in a camel colored blazer smiled as they approached the desk. “May I help you?”
“Yeah, how much for the night?” Julia asked leaning most of her weight on the counter. Julia didn’t return her smile.
“Two fifty-five.”
“I’m sorry, I said one night.”
“Yes, that is for one night. It includes a complimentary breakfast,” the woman said as if that made up for the outrageous rate.
How could Chad afford this?
Julia glanced at Aza. “Are you sure this is the place?” He nodded. “All right,” she said to the woman, “we’d like a room with double beds.”
“We only have a queen room available tonight.”
Julia inhaled a deep breath and le
t it out. “All right, that’s fine.”
After she received the room cards, they stood by the bank of elevators. She pushed the “Up” button. Aza paced the runner in front of her. “Can you not do that right now? And before you ask me what, I mean the constant pacing.”
He stopped and looked at his feet.
“You didn’t even know you were doing it, did you?” The elevator dinged and opened.
He followed her into the lift. The elevator lurched before moving upward. Aza grabbed the railing. While crouched, his eyes went from the floor to the ceiling.
The inside was completely covered in polished brass that had a mirror effect. Julia stood in front of the doors. Aza stared downward. From her position she could see his reflection.
What is he looking at?
She took a step backward and to the left then back to her original spot. His eyes followed as she moved. Julia smirked. “Are you staring at my ass?”
He averted his eyes. “No.”
She grinned. “Wouldn’t have pegged you as a butt man.”
“Butt…man? I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes you do. It’s all right.” The idea he was checking her out thrilled her. She pictured how he looked naked. She blew out a deep breath. The temperature inside the confined elevator rose to about a hundred and fifty degrees. The car stopped and she stood on the balls of her feet waiting for the doors to slide open.
Julia strode into the hallway. A sign told her the room was down the hallway to the right. She didn’t glance back to see if Aza had followed; she could feel his presence and the heat of his body.
The key card wouldn’t cooperate. She missed the slot several times before managing to stick the plastic in and open the door.
Holy crap.
The room was fabulous. A queen-sized bed with a cream bedspread sat up against the wall in the middle of the room. The plasma TV spanned the entire length of the dresser. She opened the cabinet and found a minibar under the TV.
Aza closed himself inside the bathroom. She glared at the back of the door for a few moments.
Julia kicked her shoes off and laid on the bed, right in the middle. She did snow angels then stretched her arms and legs.
Oh, God. That feels good.
She yawned and closed her eyes. Aza stood over her when she opened them again. “What? Did I fall asleep?” She must have because she never heard him flush or return from the bathroom. His hair was wet and he had a towel around his waist. “How long was I out?”
He cocked his head to the side and his forehead crinkled. “You didn’t go anywhere.”
She giggled. “I know that. I meant how long was I asleep?”
The demon shrugged. “A few minutes, I would guess. I only used the shower.”
Julia looked at the clock on the nightstand, eleven fifty-seven. She rubbed her face. “I’m going to take a bath.” Aza sat on the end of the bed. “If you’re bored, you can watch TV. Here.” She handed him the remote and showed him how to change channels.
Julia whistled as she drew the bath. She cursed when she realized what she was doing. She poured some of the tea rose scented bubble-bath she found on the vanity into the stream of water. Inch-by-inch she lowered herself into the hot bath. After washing her body with a washcloth, she sunk below the surface and lay flat on the bottom. Her arms and legs felt buoyant. She let her face come out of the water, her hair floating around her head. The bubbles started to dissipate.
Her stomach growled. What she really wanted was room service, but without a credit card on file at the desk downstairs she’d have to pay cash.
Hmm…would Aza be able to go get something?
“Aza,” she called through the door.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Aza’zel
Aza had gotten comfy on the bed. The towel was no longer wrapped around his waist. Although he knew in public humans wore clothing, he wished this was optional.
“Aza? Are you still there?”
He approached the bathroom door. “Yes. I’m not out.”
“Can you bring me the phone and the room service menu?”
“What do they look like?”
“The phone is on the table next to the bed. Just bring me the part you talk into, and the menu is on the desk…crap…the table by the window. Should be bound in a leather folder.”
Aza went to table, but many things littered the top. He gathered the folder and a few other papers, just to be sure, and the phone. The bathroom door was unlocked and he barged in without knocking.
Water splashed over the rim of the tub. “Hey!”
“You asked me to bring—” Julia’s naked breasts bobbed near the surface of the water and he gasped. “Oh, Deus. Shiiit.” Aza backed up until he hit the wall with the towel rack.
Ow.
His eyes stayed fixed on her body. A few clusters of bubbles gathered around the sides of the tub. Her hand covered her crotch and an arm came over her chest.
“Are you just going to stand there and stare?”
Yes. “Um, n-no.” He licked his lips.
“Put the stuff on the floor right here and get out.” She indicated a spot next to her with a wave of a hand. He moved laboriously since his penis had grown twice its normal size. “You look uncomfortable.”
“How can you tell?”
“How could I not?” Julia’s eyes widened while she spoke. “You may want to take care of that.”
“How?”
A laugh burst forth from her mouth. “Are you kidding me right now?”
He wanted to say “yes,” so she’d stop laughing, but he couldn’t. His face flushed crimson; maybe his head could explode and this conversation would end. Aza put the items on the tile and backed away. He cupped himself and fled the bathroom.
Once he was on the other side of the closed door, he ran his hands down his face. “Oh, Deus…you’re killing me.”
“What’s that?” Julia yelled through the door.
I said that out loud?
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Did I mention, you’re so weird?”
Yeah, a few times. Aza laid down on the bed. This time he pulled the sheet over his hips, then quickly tossed the covers off; he was sensitive. Julia had told him to take care of that. What was he supposed to do? When he still had the lower half of a goat, this wasn’t really an issue. Fur concealed his legs and a sheath protected his loins. Also, Netherworld wasn’t exactly a place to get aroused. He had no idea how Abaddon managed to, at all.
All the thoughts about his home realm killed his excitement, thank Deus. He pulled the sheet up again, carefully this time. Aza watched the moving pictures across the TV. He’d pressed a button on the remote and couldn’t figure out how to turn the volume on again. Although, he preferred the quiet. He also switched off all of the lights. The colors from the screen illuminated the room enough to see.
Knock. Knock.
“Room service.”
Splashing sounds came from inside the bathroom.
Knock. Knock.
“Room service.”
“Aza, answer the door, I’ll be out in a second,” Julia said. He pictured her wet. And naked.
He sighed heavily and rose from the bed nude. “Coming,” he grumbled. Aza swung the door to the suite wide. He’d grown a bit.
The man behind a cart averted his eyes. “Um…ah…where would you like it?”
“Like what?”
“Just put the food over by the window, please. Aza, you could’ve at least put a towel around you.” Julia rolled her eyes. “Sorry, he’s European,” she said to the stranger with the cart.
He’d been called a lot of things before, but never European. He couldn’t tell if the moniker was an insult or not. Julia handed the guy some money and he left. Aza shut the door, but not before he heard a gasp from someone out in the hallway.
He turned to find Julia wrapped in a fluffy cloth of some kind; it was similar to the towel fabric.
&n
bsp; “Come eat. This stuff cost us fifty-five dollars and I had to give the poor bastard a bigger tip than normal. Seeing how you probably gave him a complex and all.”
He sat on the end of the bed. “I didn’t give him anything.”
She looked at the ceiling and muttered something under her breath he couldn’t make out. “Okay, you know…you’re really not that dumb are you? Because it’s starting to get on my nerves.” Julia set a plate of food on the bed next to him and sat at the desk.
He looked down. “I’ve been called stupid before.”
“A lot, I bet.”
His eyes snapped up to her face. That was an insult. He leveled his stare on her and despite having a humanlike appearance now, he growled like a beast.
“I didn’t mean—”
Aza lunged forward, gripped the seat of the chair she sat on, and spun her around. He stopped his face inches from hers.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Julia
Julia’s lips parted. His face, mouth, were so close to hers. “I-I’m sorry, I…shouldn’t have said that.”
Aza’s pupils flared. The slate-blue of his eyes changed color. They glowed hot poker orange for a split second. The flash was so brief that if she’d blinked, she would’ve missed the quick morph completely. This demon was dangerous and it thrilled her. Although she tried to tell herself not to reach out and touch him, she longed to run her hands along the veins running up his biceps.
His erection bobbed between them; he was turned on too. Julia surged forward and took both sides of his face in her hands, pressing her lips against his.
Aza jerked away so fast, he tripped and fell on his ass. He scrambled to his feet.
BOOM!
The demon ran directly into the wall. He bounced back, staggering, blood gushing from his nose.
Julia went to him. “Are you all right? Aza, just stop and sit down.” He didn’t or couldn’t hear her. “Sit!”
This time he found the end of the bed and dropped down. Julia rushed into the bathroom and came back with some bright white towels. Her hands shook and she shoved the wad at him. “Here, use these, put them up to your nose.” This time, she’d gone too far. She didn’t want him to hurt himself.