by Devyn Quinn
Taking a final drag, Jackson handed it over.
Nikki positioned the tip between her lips, inhaled, and said, “So if this is hell where’d the cigarettes come from?”
Jackson released a long stream of white smoke through his nostrils. “Contraband from good old earth,” he said. “We’ve got a good supply of booze, and enough drugs to keep us senseless for centuries. We do appreciate mankind and their ability to create all these self-destructive devices.”
Nikki took another drag. “Sounds like you’ve got a perpetual party going on here,” she commented dryly. Hell was starting to sound like a pretty good place to ride out eternity. A good-looking man, drugs, and booze. Shit, better than being alive. She supposed that as one of the dead she wouldn’t have to worry too much about hangovers or overdoses.
He licked his fine lips. “This is hell, babe. Here we embrace and revel in the forbidden.”
“Sex, drugs, and rock and roll sounds pretty fucking okay to me.” She pumped her fist into the air. The ashes flicked from her cigarette vanished midair. You couldn’t beat the maid service in this place. No doubt the bed would replenish itself with fresh linen if left to its own devices.
She sighed happily. “Are you sure this isn’t heaven, Jackson? If I’d known this was waiting for me, I’d have made arrangements to get here sooner.”
“I can assure you this is hell.” As he spoke, the chiming of what sounded like mission bells rang in the distance. They rang on, twelve strikes echoing through the chamber.
Jackson slipped off the bed before the last chime had faded, moving with an inborn predatory grace. Sinew and muscle rippled across his shoulders and down his back. Aside from drying flecks of blood, no sign of the vicious scratches she’d raked into his pale skin during lovemaking remained. He’d healed completely. Not even a scar remained.
Hardly surprising. He wasn’t human.
“What’s that?” Nikki asked.
Eyes narrowing, his copper-green gaze slipped on a sinister glint. “We have company, darling Nikki.” A single muscle twitched in his jaw. His smile chilled. “It’s time for you to meet the rest of your eternal companions.”
Eternal companions?
A bitter shimmy went down her spine as the same time a gut-level sense of terror began its spread through her bowels. In the span of seconds, something about Jackson had changed, bringing a sense of revulsion that made her skin crawl and the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise. The air around him shifted and momentarily thickened. The cloying smell of sulfur singed her nostrils.
Nikki struggled to swallow past the lump forming in her throat. This was a surprise. She hadn’t expected—or suspected—that there might be other demons lurking in the midst. The blood in her veins turned to icy water.
Demons that might also be wanting to stake a claim on a nice piece of her ass.
This news did not bode well.
At all.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a minute. Damned if she’d be afraid. “So you’re not the only one?” Her voice nevertheless sounded a little thin and strained, hardly recognizable to her own ears.
Still smiling that hellishly icy smile, Jackson shook his head. “Oh, no. Our numbers are infinite. There are a lot of very horny men in the parlor waiting to take a turn with you.”
Nikki wavered. The shit was slowly seeping past her neck. Soon she’d be in over her head, for sure. “Infinite?” she parroted. Having sex with Jackson was acceptable. Adding two or three or even four? No sweat. She’d participated in a few gangbangs, had gotten off on the thrill of having more than one man at a time to satisfy that lust-laced hunger constantly burning in her core. She couldn’t claim she hadn’t enjoyed it either. She’d been stone-cold sober and more than willing every time.
He bent over, catching a handful of her silky hair and letting it sift through his fingers. “You’re a special one, Nikki Malone. I haven’t had a soul like yours through here in ages. It’s been a pleasure abusing you.” His fingers slid along her cheek, under her chin, tipping back her head. “And it’s going to last until the end of time.”
Nikki thought a moment. “Guess there’s no way I can repent for my sins before this little group sex party gets started?” She eyed his naked body. “Keep this between you and me, you know?”
Jackson snorted. “Oh, don’t worry, my dear. I’ll have you again. And again.” He lifted a single brow. Lust flashed in the depths of his eyes. “We’ve only just begun our own little affair.”
That promise didn’t sound very reassuring at the moment.
So what am I supposed to do now?
The answer arrived with crystal clarity.
There was nothing she could do.
Nikki sighed and tossed her hands into the air. “What the fuck?” she said. “Let’s get going.”
Pure unadulterated surprise colored Jackson’s features. She could have knocked him over with a feather. “That’s it?”
Prickling like a cactus, Nikki shot him a look that would have had the punch to knock him dead—if he’d been alive to begin with. “What do you want me to do, Jackson? Cry because someone’s going to get a little bit of tail? Shit. It’s not like a few dicks will wear me out.” She shot him a saccharine smile. “Right now I have a feeling I’ve got the tightest goddamned cunt in hell. And she who holds the pussy has the power.”
Jackson’s burst of laughter was unexpected, but welcome. “If no one else,” he chuckled, “you do belong here, Nikki.”
Trying to appear relaxed, Nikki bunched her fingers into the sheets around her. “So when do I meet the others?”
“We should go now,” he said. “They’re waiting.”
She cocked a brow toward him. “Naked?”
Jackson looked down at himself. “Ah.” He made a brief gesture with one hand. Barely had a blink passed and there he stood, fully dressed in a formal black tuxedo, complete with vest and bowtie.
Nikki’s brows rose. She’d almost, just almost, detected the moment when the change occurred. Slick. And very convenient. She’d like to learn that little trick herself. What woman wouldn’t want to be able to snap her fingers and appear fully dressed, with perfect hair and makeup done like a movie star.
Jackson looked like he’d just stepped out of a cover shoot for GQ. The tux fit his perfect body like a glove. “It’s a formal orgy, I assume?”
“Of course. We’re not savages here.” He winked. “Just a group of nondenominational pagans on a quest to have a little fun.”
“There’s a song in there,” she commented as an aside. “Who would have thought that demons were fashion conscious?”
“We keep up with everything going on in the modern world,” Jackson said.
“I didn’t know hell had a direct link with planet Earth.”
“Satellite, actually,” Jackson explained.
“You’re kidding, right?”
He sighed. “Hell isn’t all parties all the time. Some days it’s absolutely boring. There’s already so much that’s wrong in the world that no one needs us to throw a little angst into their lives. Humankind seems bent on reaching the end of days as soon as possible. Pity when there’s so many forbidden pleasures to be savored.”
She shrugged. “Good point.”
He held out a hand. “Everyone is waiting. Shall we go?”
Nikki cleared her throat, indicating her own obvious nakedness. “If you seriously think I am walking in a room full of demons naked…” She shivered. “You have another thought coming.”
Jackson lifted his brows with wicked intent. “I could always carry you in.”
Nikki challenged his warm gaze with a cool one of her own. “Kicking and screaming wouldn’t make a good presentation at all,” she countered, able to level her tone this time. “No one wants to fuck a hysterical woman.”
Brows lifting, Jackson rocked back on his heels, contemplating her. “I thought I already did,” he countered cheekily.
Nikki frowned. “I wasn’t hysterical. I
was just having a moment.”
Jackson rubbed his mouth in the place she’d smacked. “And I enjoyed every moment of your moment.”
“Don’t be a smartass, please. Just get me some fucking clothes.”
He considered. “Hmm. Fucking clothes. I think I can manage that just fine. Stand up, if you would.”
Nikki slid off the bed. She squelched the urge to cover her breasts and privates. Jackson had already and thoroughly ravaged every inch and then some. Her rear still hurt from the invasion of his massive cock.
He snapped his fingers. “Allow me.”
Nikki glanced down. “Shit.” She speared him with a glare. “Is this a joke, Jackson?”
He’d dressed her, all right. In a hot-pink halter-style baby-doll gown, all see-through lace. The confection included a teeny-tiny lace thong and lacy pink thigh-high hose. Her feet were crammed into lace-up stiletto sandals with a heel at least 6 inches high.
Nikki scrunched up her face. Frills definitely weren’t her style. “Oh, shit,” she groused. “It looks like someone puked pink spiders all over me.” She wobbled on the tiny sticklike heels. Her feet threatened to rebel. Whoever had created these devious devices of torture clearly hated women. High heels definitely had to be a demon’s twisted creation. The only good thing about them was they made her legs look twice as long, muscular, and very shapely.
Jackson grinned like a wolf on steroids. A certain part of his anatomy was beginning to take notice. “You don’t like it?”
Nikki stuck her tongue out at him. “No.”
His hand went for the zipper of his slacks. “Open that mouth again and we’ll definitely have to be late.”
“Like I would want to suck your cock for putting me in this confection.” Nikki kicked off the shoes and began to unsnap the garter. Her clothes were still draped over the chair beside the bed. “I’ll wear what I arrived in, thank you very much.”
She headed to reclaim them. Might not be as fancy as what he’d put on her, but her faded blue jeans, roach-stomping cowboy boots, and T-shirt were a heck of a lot more comfortable. Nothing plain about them either. Working in bars had taught her to wear ’em right, you had to wear ’em tight. Hustling those tips wasn’t easy. Maybe that’s why Sammy’s hair-brained scheme to rob drug dealers hadn’t seemed like such a bad idea at the time. Stealing from scum couldn’t be all bad.
Apparently, it hadn’t been a smart move.
It had landed her straight in the pit of hell.
She briefly entertained the idea of trying to make another break for freedom. Yeah, and look what that got you. Lashed to a bed and royally ass fucked by a man with a super-duper dick.
Not that she minded dicks that would make an elephant jealous.
Jackson caught her by the arm. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he expertly bent her in half over his lap. The flat of his palm came down hard against her bare ass.
Nikki gasped in surprise, twisting and wriggling hard to escape. “Hey! Quit treating me like I’m two years old.”
Jackson ignored her protest and held on, keeping her in place across his lap. “You’re acting like one, so you will be treated as such.” He delivered another two smacks in quick succession. “Your first lesson in minding your manners, Nikki, is that you will always obey me. Whatever I want to do with you—whenever I want to do it—I will.”
Nikki squealed. How undignified! He’d positioned her in such a way that her face almost touched the floor and her rear was straight up in the air, fully exposed. The teeny little thong offered no cover, little more than a piece of floss between her stinging butt cheeks. Pulled tight against her clit, the crotch rubbed in the most enticing way. Her nipples hardened as a velvet ribbon curled around her senses. Sudden, creaming arousal wet her inner thighs all over again. She’d never been spanked before and was stunned at how it made her feel.
Hotter. More intensely aroused.
Jackson smacked again and again. “We can do this all night if you like,” he warned smoothly. “I like the way your ass looks, all nice and pink. Matches what you’re wearing now.”
Nikki considered the options. Stay here and have her ass paddled all night, or she could go and meet the gang.
She relented. “Okay, Jackson. You’ve convinced me. I’ll go.”
His hand hovered above her ass. “Dressed like I want you.”
Nostrils flaring, Nikki released a pent up-sigh. “Yes, I’ll go like this.” She couldn’t resist a barb. “Tacky as it is. You’ve got me made up like a dollar whore marked down to fifty cents.”
Jackson reluctantly let her go. “And you’re only worth a quarter,” he smirked.
Nikki glared. “One of these days the tables will be turned, funny boy, and it’ll be your ass up for the reaming.”
Jackson grinned with delight. “My dear, that is a day I truly look forward to. You know I like the pain.” He winked. “A lot.”
Stepping back into the torturous heels, Nikki rolled her eyes. “Is there anything that turns a demon off?”
He shook his head. “If there is, I don’t know about it.”
Peachy.
7
Stepping into the hallway outside Jackson’s private suite, Nikki felt a sense of familiarity begin to seep into her mind. She vaguely remembered walking this hall, only heading into the room instead of out.
Jackson glided ahead of her, silently leading the way. Though she could see where she was going, everything around Nikki looked muted, as though draped in thin layers of see-though gauze. Where the light emanated from, she didn’t know. It was just there, a low, muted glow that showed everything, yet revealed nothing. She had the feeling if she reached out and tried to touch anything, it would evaporate under her fingers.
Only Jackson appeared to hold solid form. The rest felt unearthly and incorporeal, as if her spirit hadn’t fully merged with this place.
The hallway seemed to go on forever. Then it ended as it had begun, without warning. A long staircase spiraled downward, leading down into a mist-shrouded gloom.
Gazing into the distance below, Nikki shivered. “Where will this take us?”
Jackson checked her question with a commanding gesture. “You will soon find out.” He smiled back and added, “It is a place you’ll enjoy, I think.”
His words didn’t reassure.
Nikki shivered again, letting go of a heavy breath. Her heart rate bumped up a couple of beats per second. A volatile mixture of emotions knotted inside her. She suddenly felt extremely sensitive toward her surroundings. All nerves, she instinctively divined that this place felt she did not belong within its walls. “I don’t think I really want to know.”
Jackson plunged down into the darkness. His stride quickly carried him out of her sight. Apparently he wasn’t concerned with leaving her alone. She had no other place to go.
Mute and frightened, Nikki hovered at the top of the staircase. She didn’t want to go, but neither did she want to be left alone. Negotiating the narrow stairs in stilettos would be treacherous enough, each step demanded care. Trip and she would go plummeting into the darkness. Even now the murk seemed to reach up from its endless depth, seeking to embrace her in smothering arms.
An abrupt image of the town came flooding back to her mind.
She remembered that it had seemed a mirage, little more than a cluster of abandoned buildings; the remnants of its failure to thrive in the center of the godforsaken desert. Once it had a post office, a convenience store, gas station, a small one-room schoolhouse, and most poignantly, a playground with children’s toys overgrown and eaten away by the continual blasts of high desert winds.
Only one place seemed to have any current inhabitants: the huge, three-story manor appearing to rise out of the white sand like a beacon. There had been a sign, too, pointing the way. House of the Desert Sun, it had read. An oasis or a mirage, she didn’t know.
Nikki vaguely remembered carrying Sammy’s backpack. No way she would ever part with it. She’d walked through t
he windswept night, her soul feeling as devoid of life as the derelict town. A shimmering light, like a ray of hope, had pointed her toward the last sanctuary for a weary traveler. The front door had opened and a man had greeted her, one whose name she didn’t yet know. Welcoming her across the threshold, he’d shown her the way.
So tired, so cold and heavy with fatigue, Nikki had gratefully followed him inside. As the door closed behind her she’d heard the voices, whispers really, welcoming her.
There all recollection ended and her whole mind felt empty again. If anything, her disorientation was deepening, not fading. Only one thing was certain: She’d come into this place willingly. There were other roads she could have taken, different paths she could have chosen. But no, this place had beckoned. And she’d answered its siren’s call.
Destiny, the one that would claim her forever more, lay down that staircase.
I have to go.
Nikki swallowed hard and summoned her courage, not very much at this point. Squaring her shoulders and stiffening her spine, she headed into the belly of the beast.
Her walk did not last long.
Jackson waited below. Seeing her arrive, he held up a hand to take hers and help her negotiate the final few steps. “I wondered if you’d come,” he murmured.
Feeling a cold trickle of sweat work its way down her spine, Nikki licked dry lips. “Did I have any choice?” she asked, already knowing the inevitable answer.
He smiled. “No.”
Nikki looked around. Four gray stone walls met her gaze from all sides. There seemed to be no place to go but back up the stairs. “Where do we go now?”
Jackson pointed to the solid wall. “There.”
Just like that, the wall began to glow. From floor to ceiling, a series of square stones came to light, glowing with white-hot energy. Heat emanated from the stone, radiating outward with a skin-blistering intensity. The fire and brimstone had decided to put on a show.
Screaming in terror, Nikki’s hands flew up to cover her face. She was about to fry, sizzling like bacon in hot grease.