“Stop it!”
Kyla turned around to see the eldest girl shouting at her, her own face a mixture of upset and fear as she confronted her evil big sister.
Kyla grinned at her. “Well, aren’t we a big, brave girl?”
With barely a thought, the cream coloured carpet piles grew into long, spiny vines, tangling themselves around the delicate bones of both girls. Within a matter of seconds, the light coloured captors had wound themselves around the girls’ mouths, silencing them but allowing them to still see what Kyla was going to do to their mother.
“And what about this?” Kyla said. She bent down to her victim, and placed a hand over her heart.
Anna-Rose screamed out in yet more pain as her heart began to burn through her ribcage, feeling like a heavy, dead weight in her chest.
“Does this give you an idea of what it was like to watch you run off with my boyfriend after he scraped out my baby and prevented me from ever having children?”
Anna-Rose was beyond words as her ribs shattered one by one, her heat soaked heart pulsing its way through her body. The smell of burning flesh soon filled the air, its rancid smell choking the two girls whose small faces were soaked with tears. Anna-Rose was on the verge of passing out as her heart finally pushed its way through to the outside of her body.
“Hey, hey hey,” Kyla said, slapping her mother’s face. She pointed her index finger at her temple. “You’re not going just yet. You’re going to miss the best bit.”
Anna-Rose’s eyes were held open, an invisible power pinning her eyelids back to her skull as she was forced to watch what was coming next.
Grinning away to herself, Kyla returned her hand to the hole now exposing her mother’s heart. She closed her eyes as she drew power from the earth, demanding a fraction of its power for her big finale.
As she pictured with her mind’s eye what she wanted, she was delighted to feel the arteries and veins responding to her wants, lengthening and stretching themselves to tower above Anna-Rose’s body, her heart still connected and pumping.
“Mother,” Kyla said. “Oh, mother dear. Are you ready?”
Without waiting for a response, Kyla stood up, opening both of her hands flat, palms facing upwards. She walked to her mother’s feet, staring at her fear filled eyes as her beating heart was held up in the air like a majestic piece of art.
“Bye, mother,” she whispered, clapping her hands together.
As her hands met, the pulsing heart exploded, blood and fragments of tissue spraying all over, redecorating the living room with the dark hues of human life. The two girls’ screams were muffled but clear. Their legs gave way beneath them, but their firm yet velvet imprisoners forced them to stay standing.
“Are we ready for round two with Daddy?” she asked, walking her way over to Tony’s limp body.
She lifted her hands and pinned him against the wall. She pulsated her energy through his brain, waking him from his unconscious state.
“Well, hello there,” she said, smiling with a sickly sweetness.
Tony took one look at her blood-covered face before demanding to know where his wife was.
“You’ll see her in approximately one minute.” Kyla grinned, and spread-eagled his arms and legs.
With a deliberate pain-inducing move, she retrieved the nails from the wooden bannister, reusing them to crucify him against the wall.
The cream walls ran with a slow, steady stream of his blood, as his racing heart pumped his life essence from his body faster. “And for the party trick,” she whispered, standing next to him, facing the wall on the other side of the hallway.
She reached out her hand, flicking her wrist as she did so. As if it were a ball being thrown, his heart was flung from his chest, splattering itself against the pale wall, more blood covering the two girls as their father’s dying gasps escaped from his body.
Kyla laughed and clapped her hands together in joy, throwing her head back as she revelled in what she’d accomplished.
“Now then,” she said, turning to the two petrified youngsters. “What are we going to do with you?”
She bent down to discover the unmistakable smell of urine filling the air. Before she could open her mouth and scold them, an unfamiliar, deep, husky voice interrupted her.
“You are going to strike a deal with me.”
Chapter XXXI
Kyla started in surprise at the unknown voice. Her head whipped around and her eyes settled upon a broad, muscular male frame, his hair as dark as the black holes that served as his eyes. His smooth skin carried a bronzed glow whilst his entire energy gave off a surreal vibe.
“And who exactly might you be?” Kyla asked, standing up. She folded her arms over her chest, mirroring his offensive stance. Her eyes were begging to trail across his defined muscles bulging through his black T-shirt, but she refused to allow them to.
An arrogant smirk pulled at his dark red lips. “I happen to be someone you really ought to make alliances with, young lady.” His voice was raw and deep, pure masculinity dripping from every syllable.
Kyla couldn’t help but think that this guy was the capital A of alpha males. “Oh really?” she asked, her own cocksure attitude flooding over her. “And why would that be?”
He stepped forwards, offering her one of his shovel-like hands. “Lucifer.” He smiled, watching her face contort in surprise. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Kyla gasped. She guessed then why Azazel and Balthazar had disappeared. “Hi,” she said, her voice dropping to that of an innocent girl. She clasped his hand, biting her lip at his firm grip as they shook hands. When their hands parted, she yelped, feeling a searing pain roll across the palm of her hand. She looked down to see a trident shaped black mark burning itself across her flesh. “What the…?”
A sickly sweet grin revealed his pearly white teeth as a deep cackle erupted from his chest. “Oh sorry,” he said, his words laden with sarcasm. “Did I forget to mention that you’re mine now?”
Kyla’s head shot up, her skin paling to a shade whiter than snow. Her blue eyes began filling with fear driven tears as she stuttered, “What…?”
“You’ve just killed two people, Kyla. Are you forgetting the part where all murderers go to Hell? I’m here to collect my soul.” His eyes glittered with joy as he looked at the shock settling on her face. “That’s you, by the way, but you got that.” A little chuckle escaped his lips as her face registered utter disbelief at what was now happening to her.
A rabid panic began fluttering around her insides as she took in the meaning of his words. “But I…he…she…” Nothing more came out of her mouth as hot tears began streaming down her face.
“I know what happened,” he said, his arms dropping to his sides. “But it’s not up to you to exact justice—that’s what karma is for, or had you forgotten about that?”
“Really?” she said, almost spitting the word out. “And when was that going to happen exactly? I’m still waiting, which is why I did it myself!”
He grinned and stepped towards her. “The bigger the crime, the longer it takes to weave something together to give the perpetrators the relevant taste of their own medicine.”
“Well, I have waited long enough.” She snorted, her façade not covering her panic-stricken face.
“That’s fine,” he replied, licking his lips with a knowing smile. “And now we have this little predicament.” He waved a hand around at the dead bodies and the two petrified young girls.
“So what happens now?” Her voice was barely above a whisper as her shaky hands tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
“Well,” he said, glancing over at Kyla’s sisters. “You have two choices. You either wait until your death and your soul is mine for all eternity…” He looked down at the mark on her hand. “Or, you can let me take your sisters, we’ll forget about this whole scenario and you get your happy little life back.”
Kyla was stunned into silence. Now her anger had simmered down and the high emo
tions fizzled out, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the two youngsters, their big eyes filled with tears and confusion. Something deep inside tugged at her heart strings as she began to think about what she had already subjected them to, forcing them to watch her kill their parents. Could she really force them into an eternity with Lucifer himself? Was that actually any kinder than the gruesome death she had initially planned for them?
After several minutes, she managed a hoarse whisper. “What will happen to them?”
“They’ll come back with me and become part of my Lamia.”
Kyla frowned, the thought disturbing her more than she realised.
“My female vampires,” Lucifer continued.
“I know what they are,” she said, settling her eyes on the two innocents as she raged an internal war with herself. “How long do I have to decide?”
He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t have all day, Kyla. There are plenty of other murderers I should be visiting right now.”
“How do you expect me to make a decision like this?” she asked, her eyes filling with fury at his impatience. “It’s hardly a choice of whether to have chicken or beef for tea is it?”
A smirk passed over his lips as he looked at her. “You have three minutes.”
Kyla’s mouth fell open at his ludicrous timing. “Seriously?”
“Babies can be made in less than three minutes, Kyla, so I think I’m being rather generous.”
She scowled at his improper remark before her tussling emotions took over, pushing and pulling her backwards and forwards between two horrid fates. How bad would it really be for them to become sensual, sexy female predators?
“Once you’ve decided that, we then need to discuss what is going to happen with my two best demons.”
Kyla’s attention was caught wholly by these new words. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it seems they’re both rather fascinated with you, to say the least, and I know you have feelings for the pair of them.”
Kyla blushed at his words, thoughts of Azazel flooding her mind. Balthazar was an incredible guy in his own right too, and she couldn’t deny the pulsing sensations that throbbed through her when she thought of them both. She couldn’t imagine one being around without the other—they came as a pair and that was that.
Lucifer chuckled as he thought of her predicament. “It seems today is a big decision day for you.” His teeth gleamed through his winning smile.
“Why?”
“The problem is my dear,” he said, picking at his nails in boredom. “You can only save one of them.”
Chapter XXXII
“What?” Kyla gasped, her mind whirling at a sickening pace with the information overload. “I can’t choose between them!”
Lucifer chuckled. “Well, with Azazel being your soul mate I would have thought that was an easy choice.”
She shot him a dirty look, her disapproval clear as she replied, “They come as a pair. You can’t split them up after thousands of years.”
He pursed his lips as he looked at her. “Yes, I can,” he said. “I can do whatever I like.”
“You’re an arsehole,” she said, her annoyance bubbling into anger as each second ticked by.
“Thank you very much.” He grinned, bowing to her with a wicked smile. He stood back up and tapped his wrist. “Tick tock, young lady.”
“What happens to a soul when you take it?”
“It becomes my slave, it does as I wish. Some of them I save for future redemption, some of them just burn for all eternity.”
She gulped as she began to think of the probability for the latter. “And how do you decide what happens?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “That depends really.”
“On what?”
“On whether I think they’re good enough for a second chance or not.”
Kyla frowned, wondering which category she would fall into. A question popped out of her mouth before she could stop her lips from moving. “And Balthazar was worth redeeming after raping his brother’s wife, was he?”
Lucifer smirked. “He had a lot of feelings for that woman. It was not done out of a need for control. He learned his lesson on controlling his feelings, and now does an exceptional job of doing so. In his instance, my rehab programme worked a treat.”
“Rehab?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
“Well, that’s basically what it is when I turn a soul into a demon—they go through a programme which leads them on trials of death, destruction, lies, and everything else God loves. It’s when someone loves them despite that that I know I’ve done my job well. They always turn out good in the end anyway—being bad does get boring after a while.”
Kyla digested this information for a brief moment before asking, “And I suppose I’ve helped you do your job well with those two?”
Lucifer grinned, his pearly whites glistening as he confirmed this. “There’s always been something about the women from your bloodline, Kyla. God only knows I fell for the first myself…”
Kyla’s eyes widened at his words, her mind racing at a million miles an hour as she began to wonder if he meant what she thought he meant.
After a brief second of allowing his fond memories of long ago love to creep through, Lucifer buried them once again, his features darkening over the miniscule joy that had briefly made an appearance.
He snorted at her shocked reaction. “What did you really think me and him fell out over? We both had big egos and wanted the same things but also both loved the same woman. She actually chose me over him.”
Kyla’s heart was pounding in her chest as she realised what he could be saying. Was her entire bloodline derived from his blood?
Lucifer’s dark eyes glazed over as he searched his deepest memories, the recollection almost too painful to relive. “He tricked me, one night. He laced my drink with crushed garlic soaked in olive oil, rendering me unconscious for hours. When Mary walked into our bedroom, she saw one of his golden angels, naked over my just waking body. Obviously, she put two and two together, made five, and cast me out of Heaven herself, along with anyone who dared to protest my innocence. And that was the end of me.”
A wistful smile passed over his lips before he snapped back to reality, his eyes swimming with their now familiar blackness once again. “It would seem that any woman born from her line after that seemed to have a natural predilection for the…more evil kind of man, shall we say. It must be something in my making.” He outstretched his arms with a proud confidence as he said this, truly showing his cocky façade at his power over God and his wife.
Kyla was speechless whilst feeling slightly strange that it was written in her DNA to be attracted to something that Lucifer had created. She shuddered as she thought of her ancestors and what they could have possibly done with her two demons.
“Anyway,” Lucifer continued, clapping his hands together. “Decision time, please. I need to move on to my next client.”
Kyla’s mouth flopped open as her brain registered his rapid change of conversation. “I…I don’t know,” she whispered, her eyes filling with uncertainty as she gazed upon the two young girls.
“Come on, Kyla. Or I’ll make the decision for you.”
“Alright,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the two youngsters. “Take them.”
She closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath as she tried to ignore the girl’s desperate whimpers and begging screams.
“Shut up,” Lucifer growled, silencing them both instantly. He turned to Kyla with a big grin. “A choice well-made if I may say so myself. I honestly thought you were going to waiver for a moment there.”
Kyla faked a smile, her skin wet with the tears streaming down her face.
“Next decision then, please, Miss Marshall. Which of the two brothers will you choose to save?”
Kyla squeezed her eyes shut, tears dripping onto her lips, leaving her with an unpleasant saltiness as she opened her mouth and said,
“Neither.”
Lucifer raised an eyebrow at her, his surprise more than evident on his handsome face. “Well, you have surprised me there. May I ask why?”
Kyla finally opened her eyes, settling an unsteady gaze on him. “If I can’t have them both, then I want neither. They come as a pair, and I’m not going to be responsible for splitting them up.”
An ironic smirk passed over Lucifer’s lips. “Well, I have to say that is quite admirable of you. You are willing to sacrifice being with your soul mate in order for him to remain with his brother?”
Kyla hesitated for a brief second before nodding her confirmation. “It would kill him to be without Balthazar. I don’t want to be that reason.”
Lucifer sighed as he rolled his eyes. “Damn you humans with your good will and all. Fine,” he said. “You can have them both.” He stopped as Kyla’s eyes widened in hope. “But, they will remain as they are. They are too good for me to give them up completely. I could maybe cope without one, but not both. Do we have a deal?”
Kyla was stunned into silence. Her ears had heard his words but her brain had not processed their meaning. “Really? You’re going to let them live? On earth? All the time?”
“Yes,” he replied, his voice curt and impatient. “They will live as normal humans with assumed identities, but they will keep all of their abilities. There will be times when I will need them, I will call, and they will come running. Regardless. Do you understand?”
Kyla nodded before a barrage of thanks tumbled out of her mouth.
“Don’t thank me, Kyla, thank that arsehole upstairs who implored the rule of self-sacrifice. Lucky for Azazel, your love for him extended to that so there was nothing I could do.” He marched towards the two girls, grabbing both of their wrists in a smooth move. “Nice meeting you, Kyla. See you soon.”
With a sickly sweet smile, he vanished as quickly as he’d arrived. The only sound resonating through the air were the desperate cries of the two soon-to-be Lamia.
Sex, Lies & Demon Ties (Dark Desires #1) Page 15