“If he’s not called after nearly two weeks, Sam, I don’t think he’s going to.”
Sam looked up at Kyla, resignation settling in her green eyes as she nodded her agreement. “Hit me again,” she said, slamming the shot glass down on the bar.
Kyla raised an eyebrow at her. “You’ve had six of those already and nothing to eat. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“You’re doing Sunday lunches—get me something.”
Kyla sighed as she stared at her best friend drinking herself into a state of oblivion. She’d not seen her like this since she’d split with her sugar daddy last year.
“Was he really that good?”
Her eyes gleamed at her pleasurable memories. “You have no idea…”
“What was his name again?”
Sam fell into silence as she struggled to search her memory for this vital piece of information. “Um…Ben, I think?”
“So what does this Ben look like?” Kyla asked.
The second she finished her question she had a horrid feeling in her gut which twisted around and told her she knew the answer.
“Me.”
Both of them started and turned to see Azazel staring at them, his muscled arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the mottled wallpaper.
“You slept with my best friend?” Kyla was stunned as the blonde demon sizzled her skin with his smouldering gaze.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t know she was your best friend at the time.”
“You two know each other?” Sam was horrified at the electric charged atmosphere building between her friend and her elusive one-night stand.
“Yeah, you could say,” Kyla replied, her blue eyes never leaving Azazel’s grinning face.
“Don’t tell me you’ve…?”
Kyla snorted at her. “If he had it his way then we’d have done it days ago.”
Sam gasped as she stared at Azazel. “You went after my best friend? After promising to call me?”
“Chill out, sweetie. It was a one-night thing. That’s all you’re good for. Unless they’re sixty, rolling in money, and about to pop it. And by pop it, I don’t mean Viagra.” His jade green eyes settled a hardened stare on the fragile minded blonde before him.
Sam’s mouth fell open as her eyes brimmed with tears.
“Hey,” Kyla said, her face hardening as she stuck up for her friend. “That was uncalled for. Play nice or get lost.”
Azazel smiled as he pushed himself away from the wall and sauntered towards the bar. He sat on the stool next to Sam, revelling in the shallow breathing he inspired in her. He gave her a cheeky wink before debating whether to produce his own drink or make Kyla pour him one.
“Pint please, Kyla,” he said. “From one of those glasses.” He pointed to a set of glasses sat on the bottom shelf.
She cocked an eyebrow up. “You’re not funny. You’ll have whatever glass I give you.”
Azazel pouted at her with a mocking look of upset. “Such a spoil sport. You’re no fun.”
Kyla smirked to herself as she let a silence fall over them. She bent her knees and faced Azazel as she got his required glass, ruining his fun even more. After pouring his pint, she placed it in front of him with a matter of fact statement and her tongue in her cheek.
“I don’t think your brother would say that.”
Azazel’s face fell from smiling arrogance to dark fury in an instant. “You better be joking.”
She offered her wrist to him, not caring about Sam watching the pair of them like a match of table tennis.
“Would you like to see?”
“Don’t mock me, Kyla.”
“He’s quite the stud, I’ll tell you. He surprised me with his burst of raw passion. Oh, his body…” She closed her eyes and slapped a hand over her chest as she lost herself in her memories of last night.
Azazel snapped, his hand crushing the glass in his hand into a million shards. He growled as he stood up, his green eyes flashing with darkness.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Why? We’re both single, no strings attached. If you’re mad that you missed out, then don’t be. You shouldn’t have gone out for the day should you?”
Azazel growled again as his demonic being started to shine through. Kyla didn’t even flinch at his turn, she merely smiled to herself as she watched the now familiar sight take form in front of her.
Sam began to scream, alerting the rest of the occupants on the other side of the pub to her situation. Within seconds, Azazel had compelled them all to be mute and forget whatever happened next.
“You don’t scare me, Azazel. I think it’s safe to say that me and you in bed would result in an explosive argument of who’s on top, don’t you?”
Azazel said nothing as he stood staring at her, his broad chest moving with rapid, shallow breaths. He resembled nothing short of an animal about to pounce on its prey.
“You’re going to forget my brother,” he said, stepping through the bar towards Kyla, his matter simply dissolving as he walked through the solid wood.
Kyla lifted her hand up and tapped her ring as she tutted at him.
“Don’t forget my oil too.” Her voice was singing with triumph as she took a shaky step back.
“There are ways around everything, sweetheart.”
Kyla gulped, a dry lump lodging itself in her throat as she took several steps back from the advancing demon. Her confidence faded as fast as a stone falls through water.
“What are you doing?”
“It won’t hurt, I promise.” He grinned, his needle-like teeth gleaming at her with menace as his black eyes settled on her bare neck. “He bit you didn’t he?”
Kyla’s hand automatically flew to her neck. “I asked him to. He was gentler than you, might I add.”
New depths of darkness swirled through Azazel’s eyes as he lunged at her, grabbing her shoulders and scratching her porcelain skin with his razor-like nails. “Hold still, sweetheart. This will only hurt a little.”
Before she could even take a breath to respond, an excruciating pain pricked through her as Azazel sank his teeth into her. All too soon, a welcomed blackness blanked her mind and coated her in a feeling of peace.
CHAPTER XX
Just before Azazel could finish submitting Kyla to her new memories, Balthazar grabbed his shoulders, ripping him from her.
“Get off her.” A snarling growl rumbled from him with a predatory warning. “Don’t push me, Azazel. You’ll get all of it.”
The wrath bubbling inside Balthazar was something he’d not experienced for centuries. His patience and placid nature of living with Azazel had finally worn more than thin.
“You arsehole, you slept with her!”
Azazel landed a cracking right hook on Balthazar, sending him flying backwards through the outer wall of the old pub. Bricks and furniture flew across the quiet street, scattering into hundreds of pieces all around.
Kyla’s unconscious body dropped to the floor, her head smacking the cold tiles with a sickening crunch.
Balthazar retaliated in seconds, jumping straight to his demonic abilities rather than needless physical contact. He shot a spear of burning hot energy straight at Azazel, hitting him square in the chest. It knocked the breath from him with a loud hiss. Before Azazel could register anything, he’d been flung through the air and pinned back against an old tree down the road.
“She’s too good for you,” Balthazar said, stalking towards his target. With a flick of his wrist, he wrapped Azazel in a vice-like grip of energy, breaking every bone in his body.
A roar of agony left Azazel, fury burning deep inside him at his incapacitated state. Horrific cracks and crunches sounded through the air as his bones began healing and resetting themselves with spine chilling snaps.
Balthazar released the hold on his brother and allowed his writhing body to fall. The ground shook as his heavy, energy ridden body met the fragile earth. Grasping hold of an entire tree branch, B
althazar stood over his brother’s vulnerable form, the fragmented stake hovering over Azazel’s heaving chest.
“Are you going to leave her alone or are you taking a few sleep filled hours to calm down?”
“No,” Azazel said, his voice ragged and raspy. “Just skip the sleep and kill me, Bal. Do us both a favour.” His voice tremored as he squirmed at the last few bones correcting themselves.
Balthazar’s anger simmered just a fraction, allowing his hold on the snapped tree branch to break. With a distinctive crash, the branch fell to the ground, encasing the pair in their own reality.
“I’m not ripping your heart out, Azazel.”
“Why not? You’ve already done it by sleeping with her.” He stood up, his chest rising and falling in rapid waves as he buried his purple form beneath his layers once again.
“What?”
“Oh come on, Bal. I thought even you would have caught on to this by now.”
He shook his head in confusion, the reasonable discussion fizzling his demonic being back to its depths.
“Am I missing something?”
“I’m in love with the stupid woman,” Azazel said, clutching at his chest.
“Are you being serious?”
Azazel nodded, his breathing calming as he looked at his brother, his vulnerable side finally showing through.
“I can’t stop thinking about her. She drives me mad in so many ways. I just…it’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this. I can’t…I don’t know what to do.”
A rush of guilt fuelled sympathy washed over Balthazar as he listened to his brother confess his feelings for a woman for the first time in centuries. Underneath his façade, Azazel was a good guy and if anyone deserved saving, it was him.
“I’m sorry, Azazel. I didn’t realise.”
Azazel smiled, the irony of it all not lost on him. “Never thought we’d be back here again, hey?” He chuckled as he looked at the destruction their brief tangle had left in its wake.
“No. I’m sorry. I’ll step back. You go for it.”
Azazel shook his head. “It’s fine. I’d only end up killing her anyway.” He laughed as he thought of how much she drove him around the twist with her attitude. He stopped and turned serious. “Did you…have the connection?”
Balthazar pulled his lips into a thin line, a heavy realisation settling in his chest. “No.”
Silence fell between the two brothers for several minutes, both of them lost in their own thoughts.
“She killed Tony,” Balthazar said. “Because of me.”
“She did what?”
Balthazar explained what had happened in exact detail. “Well, then she demanded I take her to bed. So I did.”
Azazel felt his chest clench once again as he thought of Kyla and his brother between the sheets. “So, where do we go from here?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Balthazar said, “I’ll tidy up this mess. You go to her.”
A dawning realisation hit Azazel. He flew over to Kyla, scooping her up off the floor like a delicate flower. So involved with their fight, the brothers had forgotten her unconscious state.
He laid her down on one of the velvet covered benches and sat next to her, watching her small chest rise and fall with steady breaths. Brushing a stray piece of hair from her face, he produced a pillow from thin air to lay her head on. He stroked his fingers over the angry red lump forming on her temple, making it disappear.
Balthazar watched his brother from across the road as he began reassembling the broken furniture and bricks. He couldn’t recall ever seeing Azazel exude such tenderness and care towards another being—not even Alice. Seeing him hold her hand, gazing at her lost in her dreams, it was then that Balthazar made the decision, despite his own heart cracking in two. He knew he could eventually find someone else, perhaps even his soul mate, but Kyla, she was Azazel’s only chance, and he wanted to give him that opportunity as wholly as he could.
“Let’s do it,” Balthazar said, stepping towards Azazel and his sleeping beauty.
Azazel frowned. “What?”
“Wipe me from her memories. Finish it.”
“No,” Azazel said, placing her hand back on her chest and standing up. “That’s not fair on you. I know you have feelings for her.”
“It’s fine, honestly. It’s not like I won’t find someone else. She doesn’t belong to me anyway. You, I’ve never seen you like this with anyone.”
Azazel gulped as he cast his eyes down to the floor. “It feels wrong. Shouldn’t we give her the option?”
Balthazar chuckled as he looked down at the peaceful woman still submitted to her magickal peace. “Knowing her, what do you think she will choose? Given your fiery interactions and all?”
Azazel grinned. “Fair point. OK, so are we just altering her memories or…?”
“Well, in all honesty, she really freaked out at how much she enjoyed killing Tony.”
“She enjoyed it?”
“Honestly, Azazel, it was like she became this whole other person. It was quite something. Watch it when you change her memories. I think we need to rewind everything and set it back to yesterday morning after you two had your little…moment on the sofa.”
Azazel grimaced as he walked back to Kyla and placed a light kiss on her pale cheek. “OK,” he whispered. “Bal?”
Already drawing signs in the air with his fingers, Balthazar half listened to his brother. “Hmmm?”
“Help me? Please? With her?”
Balthazar smiled, hiding the wrenching feeling deep in his own chest. “Sure.”
CHAPTER XXI
The two demons took the still unconscious Kyla back to their house. Azazel laid her down on one of the red sofas, placing a soft pillow under her head. Balthazar stood on the other side of the room, his arms folded across his broad chest, a sharp pain slicing through him. Watching Azazel push back a loose strand of fiery red hair from Kyla’s pale face, Balthazar realised for the first time in a very long time, his brother was laying a tender touch on a woman.
“Well, gentlemen,” Mildred said, shimmering into existence in the several metre gap between them. “Made quite a mess today, haven’t we?”
Azazel didn’t even lift his attention from his sleeping beauty. Balthazar sighed and settled a steely glare on the righteous spirit.
“We’re going to fix it, Mildred,” Balthazar replied.
“By meddling with time again?” She shook her head before holding her hands out in front of her, palms facing up. “You demons never learn. Here…” A pile of fresh, clean bed clothes appeared in her hands, “…you can remake your own bed.” With a look of pure disgust burning through Balthazar’s guilt, she threw the crisp white linen at him and disappeared.
Azazel glanced over his shoulder, his jaw clenching into a hard line as his top lip curled back in a dangerous mix of anger and distaste.
With a single curt nod, Balthazar dumped the pile of sheets on the floor, clicked his fingers and disappeared upstairs. Over the next few minutes, he completely revamped his bedroom, removing Kyla’s sweet scent from the aged wood and his comfortable bed. When he finished, he returned downstairs, sitting on the sofa opposite Azazel.
“Done.”
His green eyes glazing over with a glassy stare, Azazel nodded. “Are we getting on with this?”
A loud sigh left Balthazar. Pain and desire flowed through his veins, but he did what he had to do. “Sure.”
***
Time wound itself back to Saturday morning, erasing everyone’s memories of the past twenty-four hours, giving them their time to live again. A strange feeling of déjà vu washed over people, but, as odd feelings like this happened now and again, no one thought anything of it. They all carried on with their day as normal.
Anna-Rose was rushing around with her hoover and found herself opening the front door, thinking she’d heard the doorbell when her déjà vu hit. Shaking her head and brushing it off, she thought no more of it.
Tony had his déj�
� vu later that evening as he emptied himself inside his non-compliant wife. It had taken the two brothers more than half an hour to repair his battered body and put him back inside his place in space and time. It pained the pair of them to do this but both of them knew he was something Kyla needed to deal with on her own terms, and when she was ready.
Kyla was now receiving her own déjà vu moment. As she pulled a pint for one of the locals, she heard a familiar voice speak a sentence which triggered her reeling sense of having been here before.
“I have a present for you.”
Kyla looked up to see Azazel standing in front of her, grinning, his hands behind his back, and his eyes glittering with promise.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s you.”
“Well, that’s not very nice is it?” He walked to the bar and sat down on one of the stools, his hands still behind his back.
“Well, do you really think you deserve a pleasant greeting?” She walked away from him as she continued to serve the punters. The pub was always busy on a Saturday and she barely ever got a moment’s peace.
Azazel stopped himself from replying with a sarcastic remark. Instead, he smiled at her as he produced a beautiful arrangement of crisp white lilies, a single dark red rose nestled in the centre.
“Can we start again?” he asked.
“A bunch of flowers is not going to get me into bed.”
A group of three men sat next to Azazel spluttered on their drinks at her response. One of them piped up with a cheeky remark.
“All she needs is a fag and a shot of tequila. That’s way overboard for her.” He almost roared himself off his stool with laughter.
Kyla looked at the chunky middle-aged man with pure rage flashing through her blue eyes. “And how exactly do you know that?”
His laughing cooled to a degree, a broad grin still on his face. “It was only a joke, love. Chill out.”
“Keep your trap shut about things you have no idea about, OK?” She crossed her arms over her chest as she faced him off. “Not enough tequila in the world would make me even think of touching you, let alone doing it. Why don’t you fuck off home to your poor wife and give her a treat for the evening instead of sitting here drowning yourself in drink and watching my ass all night?”
Sex, Lies & Demon Ties (Dark Desires #1) Page 10