Sex, Lies & Demon Ties (Dark Desires #1)

by C. J. Laurence

  Balthazar grinned as he looked down at the floor and then back up to her, his hazelnut eyes glistening with cheekiness. “Well, in Hell we eat souls to survive. We receive their remaining life essence, which enables us to continue being.”

  “That’s gross.” She wrinkled her freckled nose up in disgust. “What about when you’re here?”

  “Well, we don’t need to eat anything but we may occasionally indulge in a little…blood sport.”

  She gasped. “Are you going to…?

  “No, I’m not going to eat you. It’s more a taste we enjoy than a requirement. Kind of like you females with your chocolate. You don’t need it but you enjoy it. The difference is that with us, we get to see someone’s entire life when we drink their blood. That’s the addictive part.”

  “Really?”

  Balthazar nodded. “Which reminds me…” He pulled her ring from his black leather jacket pocket. “You need to keep this on. All the time.”

  “Oh gosh,” she said. “I thought I’d lost that. Thank you so much.” She rushed to take the ring from his sturdy fingers. “Why do I need to keep it on?”

  Balthazar smiled. “We need to have a little history lesson. About your ancestor, Alice.”

  CHAPTER IX

  Kyla settled back onto the sofa, her hands still harbouring a small tremble. Just as Balthazar was about to divulge her ancestor’s history, Mildred appeared from thin air. A surprised scream left Kyla as she recoiled back into the plump sofa cushions.

  “Don’t be afraid, dear,” Mildred said. “I’m Mildred, the housekeeper.”

  Balthazar turned to her. “Did you really have to do your appearing trick right now?”

  A flash of angry blue eyes darted towards him. “The poor girl is frightened out of her mind. She needs a cup of tea and a biscuit before you carry on with your charade.”

  Kyla smirked. “Nice to meet you, Mildred. I’m—”

  “Kyla. I know, dear. Tea, two sugars, and lots of milk?”

  She nodded.

  “Back in a jiffy.”

  As quickly as she’d appeared, Mildred disappeared in a hazy mist leaving nothing but a scent of lavender behind.

  “She’s nice,” Kyla said. “I like her.”

  Balthazar remained expressionless. “She’s part of the furniture.”

  Kyla stood, trying to hide her shaking hands. “I think I need a fag.”

  “You know, all the money you waste on those pointless tobacco filled sticks is just ridiculous. I bet if you worked out all the money you spent on cigarettes over the years, you could have bought yourself a Ferrari by now.”

  “You don’t smoke,” Kyla said, narrowing her eyes at him. “And I don’t see your Ferrari.”

  A cheeky grin spread over his face, followed by a crisp click of his fingers. “Take a look outside.”

  “That’s cheating.”

  “You give them up—” He pointed at her half empty Lambert & Butler packet. “—and it’s yours.”

  “I don’t need a car—I already have one.”

  Ending the conversation by stepping outside for her much needed nerve steadying smoke, Kyla couldn’t help but gaze in awe at the incredible machine sat in front of the grand, old house. A bright red convertible Ferrari 355 smiled back at her, and she almost considered his offer.

  Almost.

  Once back inside, after a beautiful cup of hot tea with a few sugar-laden biscuits, she felt more than able to tackle the world.

  “Am I OK to continue now?” Balthazar said, glaring at Mildred.

  With a poker face, Mildred nodded. “Careful of your tone in future, Balthazar.” Without waiting for a response, she vanished once more.

  Kyla smirked as Balthazar scowled. Getting down to business, he reached up into the air and drew a large rectangular shape with his fingers. His hands flowed through the air, leaving behind a shimmering silver and gold energy.

  Kyla’s eyes widened in awe as she watched the marvellous scene before her. As he finished the drawing, the outline he drew began to float, taking a physical form. Around the size of a pillow, she reached out to touch it, entranced by its glittering edge.

  “Don’t,” Balthazar said. “Just watch.”

  Moving his hand inside the space, he clenched it shut, forming a tight fist. A surge of bright rainbow coloured strings appeared, their long tendrils squirming all around his closed hand. Opening his hand, the vibrant strings of energy settled onto his palm. He began picking them apart, moving them into different positions with the skill of an artist painting his masterpiece. A minute or so later, the blank transparent area inside the rectangle became a glimmering spectacle of all the colours known to man, plus hundreds more.

  “These are universal energies,” Balthazar said. “I’m delving into the past to show you what happened. It’s easier than explaining it.”

  As if swiping across a touch screen phone, he stroked a finger from right to left across the twinkling multi-coloured surface. Entranced by the real-life movie playing out before her, Kyla sat down next to him, leaning forwards in her eagerness to learn of her ancestor, Alice Sampson.

  ***

  The first image which flashed onto magickal TV was that of a beautiful, young girl. Vivid red spirals cascaded down her small frame, settling just below her perky breasts. Her pale skin and ocean blue eyes were a perfect background to her full, bright red lips.

  Snippets of her laughing floated across the screen as she roamed around her large family estate in the Scottish Highlands. She was so full of life, and judging from the birthday party, which had just flashed by, was only the young and tender age of eighteen. A brief image of Alice’s father speaking with a Duke appeared, then Alice and the Duke were shown together, courting.

  A fresh scene popped up, showing the date as tenth of April 1590. Azazel and Balthazar were hidden under the cover of the estate’s trees after roaming through the wild fields looking for rogue wolves. The moment they heard her laugh, their attention was caught.

  Their dark eyes settled on the little sprite of life as she emerged from her grey stone mansion. Her baby blue dress, trimmed with white lace, nestled against her body perfectly. The wide frame provided by her farthingale made it clear she was someone of importance. The fine fabric swished with every joyful step she took towards her awaiting four-horse carriage.

  With their jaws agape, the two brothers mumbled their agreement that they had to meet this girl—now.

  ***

  “She’s beautiful,” Kyla said. “So what happened to her? How am I related to her? And what’s the deal with this ring?”

  “Your relations to her go back through your mother’s side. After…it happened, your family moved away and down here, changing their name so they weren’t associated with the happenings in Scotland. The ring—” He stopped and smirked. “—I’ll explain about the ring after I’ve told you the story.”

  “Well, get on with it then.”

  Balthazar cleared his throat before he continued. “Azazel and I became a little…obsessed over Alice, shall we say. We both wanted her for ourselves, and jealousy of each other eventually became our downfall. We intervened in the family’s dinner that evening and each won a dance with her, trying our best to lock her interest, but she spurned both of our advances—initially.”

  He swiped across the magick screen once more to present Kyla with her next footage of what happened.

  ***

  “Mr Hawthorn,” Alice said. Her voice glided through the air with the elegance and grace of an angel. “I am truly flattered by your bold nature towards me but you must understand I am currently being courted with a view to engagement. I’m afraid this is not possible. Thank you, though, for a wonderful dance. You will make a splendid partner for a fortunate lady, I am sure.”

  Azazel’s eyes flashed with darkness at her rejection, but he let it go. After a week of “accidental” crossing paths and constant negative responses, Azazel was fuming with anger as Alice’s latest rejection tipped hi
m over the edge.

  Alice and her Duke strolled around the grounds of her estate, entering a small covering of trees. A stone bench sat alongside the small pond on the other side of the trees, calling to the lovebirds to settle on it.

  As they approached the bench, Azazel appeared from thin air, his view to revealing himself as subtle as ever. Alice screamed at the sight before her, and her husband-to-be bravely stood up to the mysterious man.

  A low growl emanated from Azazel’s chest. “Do you still reject me, Alice?” His shadowed eyes flooded with a mixture of menace and lust.

  “Mr Hawthorn,” Alice said. “I don’t know what kind of trickery or witchcraft you are subjected to, but it is wholly unappreciated and unacceptable on my grounds. Now, if you please—”

  “I’ll take that as a yes then?” Azazel smirked. He reached forwards and in a split second, snapped the neck of the honourable Duke. “Now your options are open my fair lady. Shall we?”

  Seething, Alice revealed her own interest in the dark arts. She thrust her arms out towards her demonic torturer, her palms facing the sky. In the blink of an eye, the warm sunshine coated over with a grey bleakness. The wind whipped around the trees, howling through the estate like a wolf. The air turned cold, biting at her pale skin.

  As if stood in her own whirlwind, the pressure around Alice increased, her hair fighting its way loose of its expensive grips with the powerful gusts surrounding her. Just as her rosy red lips began to turn shades of blue, granules of salt started to form in her open palms.

  A sinister smile tweaked at her lips. She pressed her hands together and glared at Azazel. As quickly as she’d pushed her hands together, she sprung them apart, facing her palms towards him. A football sized lump of sea salt hit Azazel full force in the chest, showering him in its potent presence.

  He shouted out in agony, his unholy skin burning and sizzling from the simple, natural weapon few were aware of.

  Before Azazel responded in fury, Balthazar saw his chance and took it, whisking Alice back to their abandoned cottage.

  ***

  Kyla’s mouth fell open. “I can’t believe he did that! Is he crazy?”

  Balthazar smiled. “If Azazel wants something, he gets it. Her rejections only served to tease him more than he could bear, making him more determined to win his “prize”. Unfortunately, tact is not a word known to my brother—he’s about as subtle as Hitler was.”

  She snorted, scoffing at Azazel’s behaviour. “I hadn’t noticed. So what was this? Some weird competition as to who could get her first?”

  Balthazar closed his eyes as he forced himself to admit his only regret. “Initially, yes. We both wanted her and couldn’t stand the thought of the other being near her. That’s when it all went wrong.”

  He swiped across the screen once more and presented Kyla with her next images.

  ***

  The next scenes were of Alice proudly revealing her magick skills, along with her older sister’s own skills. The two brothers found themselves fascinated by her as they watched her working wonders with broken bones, dead animals, and fusing together marvellous herbal remedies for the village folk.

  In only a matter of days, Alice and Balthazar were embarking on a passionate illicit love affair, much to Azazel’s distaste. Within a couple of weeks, Azazel colluded with her sister, Agnes, who happened to be rather entranced by Balthazar. They set him up in a rather questionable predicament to horrify Alice into thinking he was sleeping with Agnes behind her back. Of course, with Balthazar being a demon, why would Alice believe him over her sister?

  As Alice walked into her bedroom, finding her sister wrapped around a half dressed Balthazar, she burst into tears before finding comfort in Azazel’s arms. After a week of false words and romantic outings, Alice was soon gracing Azazel’s bed. Images of him kissing his way down her writhing body lingered on the screen, before the pair became hot and steamy, entwined around each other.

  An image of Balthazar overtook the sexy scene. Absolutely fuming, his eyes blacker and more twisted than the deepest abyss on Earth, he marched to the local magistrates and served Agnes up as practising witchcraft. The next scene showed Agnes being marched down to the dungeons, subjected to beatings and torture. Alice cried hysterically as the news of her sister’s arrest reached her.

  Azazel lost his temper with Balthazar in a violent confrontation. Gallons of blood spilled all over the empty fields around their home. Confessing his crimes, Azazel revealed the set up with Agnes to Balthazar and Alice. The scene froze on Alice’s face, twisted with grief and pain.

  ***

  “What the hell did you do?” Kyla yelled. “You pair need help! Do you think this is funny? Coming up here for a few months a year to fuck around and fuck off? What the hell is wrong with you?” Her face grew redder by the second, her anger seeping through.

  Balthazar remained silent for a few seconds. “Before Alice, yes, it was all a big game. She…she changed me. I was never the same after her, but Azazel…he just went back to being Azazel.”

  Kyla crossed her arms over her chest, her face glowering with anger. “Show me the rest.”

  ***

  The next images showed Alice sealing herself inside her home—after lining all the door and window thresholds with sea salt. Over the next few weeks, Alice took all her knowledge of sorcery, along with the things she’d learned from the two brothers, and created aids to help her family members should they happen to stumble across the brothers or anything similar in the future.

  She created a ring, Kyla’s ring, in an amazing scene of twisting and melting together all the different elements. After marvelling over her creation, she pulled out an old brown journal. Writing down what its purpose was, the screen hovered over her italic style handwriting.

  For any female cursed along my lines, wear this ring to ward against any demonic being or male with impure thoughts. If in the company of supernatural creatures, coat skin in pomegranate oil to prevent compulsion.

  Never again would Alice’s family be cursed or caught up in a mangled web of lies and deceit.

  An image flashed up of Alice placing the oil, journal, and the ring inside a locked box with her younger sister’s name on it.

  The scene moved forwards to show Agnes in a dungeon with her head shaved, cuts and bruises adorning her skeletal frame, and covered in mud. She displayed a wicked glint in her eye as the September sun shone through the small slit in her miserable cell. She was dragged from her cell, and drawn out on the rack, finally revealing Alice was an accomplice, now she knew the brothers were long gone.

  Kyla gasped as she watched the next images unfold. Alice was taken from her majestic home, kicking and screaming, and thrown into the grotty cell next to her cackling sister. Agnes taunted her sister, saying how if she was going down, Alice was going with her. It was quite clear from Agnes’ venomous words that she was jealous of her younger, prettier sister being the object of the brothers desires.

  The colourful TV played out its final images—Alice suffering thumbscrews, heated leg irons, rape, beatings, and being drawn on the rack before finally confessing that she had had sexual relations with Lucifer’s demons. The final scene froze as it showed her burnt, smouldering body tied to a stake in the cold depths of January 1591.

  ***

  “I’m speechless,” Kyla said. “I’m utterly speechless. How could you do that? You’re evil, pure fucking evil!”

  Balthazar cringed and bowed his head in shame at her words. “I did love her, Kyla. I tried so hard to convince her, but she wouldn’t see it after I dropped Agnes in it. I think she knew her own fate was coming. She did have a gift of foresight.” He smiled at his memories of her. “I think that’s why she left Amelia those little gifts. Amelia was six years younger than Alice, but she knew what her sisters practised. She never touched magick herself, and she always wore that ring.”

  Kyla looked down at the ring and fiddled with it, amazed at its age and the fact she had just seen a magick
al movie in which this ring had been created.

  Balthazar smiled. “The platinum and the gold symbolise strength and purity. Emerald gives clarity, opens the third eye, and helps with love. Amethyst complements the emerald with clarity and aids connections between this world and the others. It used to be used for drunkenness and keeping people sober, so I’m guessing this was Alice’s twisted humour on making sure no one was drunk on love. Diamond is known for its unmatched hardness. It brings courage, versatility, and fearlessness. It enhances other stones qualities and works best when worn with gold on the left hand…”

  Kyla looked down to where the ring was currently sat. “I never got told to wear it there. It just feels natural to wear it on that finger.”

  “I wonder why,” Balthazar said, a smile spreading across his face as he mused over his thoughts.

  “And the oil?”

  “Pomegranate oil links back to the Greek legends of Hades and Persephone. Persephone was tricked into swallowing the seeds, which were regarded as food, so she must then remain in the Underworld with Hades. By rubbing pomegranate oil into your skin, you are essentially grounding yourself to Hell so you are unable to be deceived by anything that originates from there.”

  “That’s quite ingenious. I think I like Alice.” Kyla smirked for a brief moment. “So how does the ring work?”

  “She cast a spell on it so that any impure man who gazed upon its wearer was immediately beseeched with images of the most unattractive thing to him. In essence, it projects unwelcome images into their minds of what they think they’re seeing when they look at you.”

  Kyla chuckled at the thought of why she had never had any luck with any men whilst wearing the ring, wondering what they had seen. “So what do you see now I’m wearing it?”

  Balthazar gulped. “I see…”

  “What?”

  “I see Alice.”