by Maya Nicole
He was nowhere to be seen, so I went into his bathroom and grabbed the one bar of soap I had left under the sink. I chuckled to myself as I opened the box and brought the creamy white bar to my nose. He was going to be pissed that I took his last bar of soap.
I walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab a small knife. Using a kitchen knife wasn't ideal, but since I had been wearing my pajamas when the lightning called to me, I didn't have any of my carving knives.
I sat at the counter and began to work on carving Amari's panther into the soap. I smiled, thinking about how everyone always teased me about carving soap, but no one ever refused one of my creations.
Besides Nico. My heart hurt at the thought of him. I felt like a piece of me was missing not knowing what had happened to him.
I shook my head and focused on the soap. I needed to try to stop thinking about it before I went nuts.
Another pang.
After carving the outline of the panther, I stood and walked down the hall to the guest room. It seemed to be getting darker outside so it was probably safe for them to come out of the dark cavern of the room.
When they joined me back out in the living room, they looked around with wide eyes at the space. They must have gone straight to the room once we had arrived.
I took beers out of the refrigerator and we sat down on the large couch. I grabbed the long rectangle that Raphael had called the controller and pressed the red button that said 'Power.'
The television came to life and Amari sat forward on the edge of the couch. "It's magic! Are there people inside of it? Do they shrink them?"
"No. Raphael said they have a technology that makes millions of pictures and that's what makes what's on the screen." I scoffed as Val reached across Amari and snatched the controller from my hand.
"If we had enough light magic in Inferna, I could make this. I don't know what a bunch of demons would do with such a contraption, but if humans can make use of it, so could we." Val turned the controller in his hands and opened a little compartment on the back. He snapped it closed and then pressed the buttons.
The screen flashed and then a different set of pictures was displayed. He did it several more times before I lost interest and went back to carving my soap. I was going to make a mess on the couch, but a large part of me was overjoyed with that fact.
Amari turned toward me, his eyes focused on the strokes of my knife as I added details to the face of the panther. "Where is Raphael? He really just decided to leave us here alone? It's like we’re children, not knowing what anything is."
"Last time I was here, he said something about going to Heaven to do healing. My guess is that's where he is. He's not upstairs." I was focusing on carving an eye when moans filled the room. I nearly cut off my finger.
My head snapped up to the television and my jaw dropped. What the hell was I seeing?
Sex. That's what. A naked man and woman fucking in a kitchen. He was holding her down against the counter, her ass to him. He was pounding into her with a red face and veins bulging from his neck.
"What is this?" I managed to squeak out. I wished Val would press another button to get it off the screen because my core stirred with tingles.
"I still don't understand how this thing works. They're just going at it for us to see? Are we the only three that can see this?" Amari shifted on the couch and then leaned back against the back cushion, making himself comfortable. "They’re going at it like she's in heat or something. Look at that vein on his forehead. Damn." He adjusted himself in his pants.
"From my readings, television is seen by a lot of people." Val didn't move his eyes from the television.
His fangs poked out of his slightly parted lips. He sat back into the crook of Amari's arm and put his hand on his thigh, squeezing it.
Damn Raphael for leaving us to our own devices. Now all three of us were getting turned on from watching two humans fuck like there was no tomorrow.
I swallowed down the groan that was in my throat as the man picked up the woman and sat down with her on a chair. Now she was riding him backwards with her breasts bouncing all over the place, her fingers working to please herself.
Her breasts were so gigantic that they looked like if they fell off her, they'd bounce. I briefly glanced down at my own breasts, which were half the size of the woman's, and definitely not as spherical.
Was that even natural? I wondered if she was some kind of demon and if her breasts did something special like suffocate her prey.
"Oh, yeah. You like that? You like the way I squeeze you?"
I snorted back a laugh as she whipped her hair around and threw her head back. The man gripped both of her tits in his large, meaty hands
"Fuck. You like that, baby? I want to give it to you so hard you'll be thinking about me the next time you fuck your husband."
"How are they even talking so much as hard as they're going at it?" I got no response because all eyes were glued to the screen as the man pushed the woman onto her hands and knees on the floor.
Raphael walked down the stairs and stopped abruptly. "I see you've found the porn channel." He walked in front of us and snatched the controller out of Val's hand. He pressed a button and the screen went black. "That wasn't even a good porno."
"Are there a lot of channels with sex?" Val asked, trying to grab the controller back from Raphael. "It was just getting good."
"Yes, there are a lot of porn channels. I'm pretty sure you just cost me an arm and a leg by pressing the button for that." His eyes landed on Amari. "What the fuck? Your arm."
I went back to carving my bar of soap. I felt Val's and Amari's eyes on me but didn't look up.
Raphael wrinkled his nose. "You're telling me that she brought his arm back?"
"I also fell asleep again." Amari grunted. "Slept like a cub next to his mama."
I would hardly call me his mama.
"Again? Are you not supposed to sleep?" I knew if I looked up at Raphael that he would be staring at me with his eyes pinched together in thought.
"Nope." Amari threw his new arm around me. "Our girl here can put you to sleep and regrow body parts. I say we test it out. What do you say we chop off your dick and give it a go?"
I looked up at Amari and rolled my eyes. "He's not going to chop off anything to see if I can grow it back, you idiot."
"What else can you do?" Raphael's eyes traveled down to my hands that were holding the bar of soap and knife. "I hope you plan on cleaning this mess up." He waved his hand around the mess that was on my lap, the cushion, and on the floor.
I smiled at him. I didn't plan on cleaning anything or attempting to grow any other body parts.
Raphael turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen. We all turned and watched him as he pulled a knife out of the knife block. He put his hand flat on the counter that was between the kitchen and living room.
I jumped up, dropping my own knife and the soap on the couch. "There's a fucking vampire here!"
The last thing we needed was for Val to have bloodlust and start drinking angel blood. I'm sure the thought had already crossed his mind several times, especially if I'd already considered stabbing the angel to get back to Inferna.
I glanced over at him and he was gripping Amari's thigh, digging his fingers in. "Don't talk about blood."
Raphael tapped the end of the knife on the counter and his eyes danced with mischief. He wasn't going to actually cut something off, was he?
"Don't cut off whatever you're getting ready to cut off." I put myself between him and Val, just in case. Not that I would be able to stop Val if he decided to attack.
"I was just going to cut off the tip of my pinky. Don't get your tentacles in a knot. It will grow back in about a day if you can't grow it back." He shrugged as if losing part of his finger was no big deal.
I smacked my forehead with my hand and kept it there. "You have got to be kidding."
"I wouldn't cut your finger in front of me. If the way I feel around hu
mans is any indication, I don't even want to think about how I’d feel around angel blood." Val's voice was strained from behind me.
Raphael dropped the knife on the counter and walked around the island. He placed his hands on my shoulders. "You grew back his arm. I don't even have the magic to do that, but you do."
My stomach fluttered. Whether it was from the idea of having more magic than an angel or from his touch was still up for debate.
Chapter 2
Kage
We were so screwed.
I stood at the edge of the forest, with the rope slung over my shoulder. I twirled the end of it lightly in my hands, trying to decide what the best approach should be.
The night before, when Miles and Tony had showed up, we didn't have much time. We didn't know if Raphael would come back for us.
So, like any self-preserving demons, Nico and I made the decision to run. Sammy was safe. At least we hoped so.
Nico had shifted to his squirrel, I had gone invisible, and we had taken off into the forest. The vacants were everywhere. We didn't know where they were coming from but there seemed to be an infinite number.
The first wave of flames cut through the forest and the horde as we tried to distance ourselves from the chaos. The earsplitting screams of the lost still rang in my ears.
Some of the vacants were running the same direction as us. I was fairly fast on my feet, but if the vacants ran into me while I was invisible, they would know I was there. I was not so invisible that someone couldn't pass their hands through me.
It seemed like we had made some ground so I slowed a bit. I could hear Nico in the trees. He kept making a clicking noise so I would know where he was. I looked behind me and could see flames in the distance. It seemed like the whole forest behind us was on fire.
I was completely out of breath and put my hands on my knees, gulping in air. We needed a better plan than just running.
Nico dropped out of the tree and shifted. "I think we should head back to the castle for now."
"Or the shifter village."
Nico shook his head. He grabbed onto my arm and started pulling me along with him.
"Do you think Samara's okay?" I was still breathing heavily and was so focused on escaping that I didn't feel nervous at all. It was more of a my life is in danger adrenaline dump.
"I think…" Nico stopped talking. In front of us, a man approached with about twenty vacants behind him.
We stopped in our tracks, Nico putting his arm out to stop my forward momentum.
"Nicolas." The man spoke with no emotion in his voice. As they got closer, I saw the malice in his eyes. He had the exact same eyes as Sammy, but they lacked the life hers held. That was about the only similarity I saw between them.
"I take it you're Taylor?" Nico stood in front of me in a protective stance. "What do you want?"
"You need to shift," I muttered.
Nico shook his head subtly and stood his ground. I backed up. I wasn't about to go head to head with a man leading a group of vacants that outnumbered us by so much.
"Where's my sister?" He stopped quite a few feet from us.
I wanted to grab Nico and run, but he seemed to be dead set on confronting this man in front of us.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Nico crossed his arms over his chest. "Who's your sister?"
Taylor's menacing laugh made my stomach drop to the ground, and my body started shaking. This guy dripped with evil intent.
"I know who you are. I know exactly who you are. I know everything." His eyes darted to me and then back to Nico.
Nico laughed. "No. I don't think you know anything."
Why the fuck was Nico provoking him? I stifled a whimper. We were screwed. Since Nico was being an idiot, I went invisible. Taylor's eyes snapped to where I was just standing and narrowed.
Faster than I had ever seen vacants move, they rushed forward and grabbed Nico, pulling him toward Taylor. Nico did nothing, because what else could he do? What could I do?
Ten to one wasn't good odds.
As soon as Nico was in front of Taylor, he chuckled. "Squirrels always have been stupid." He reached forward and ripped Nico's hip pouch from him.
He opened the pouch and dumped the contents into his palm. He smiled in a way that chilled me to my bones. Nico growled and struggled against the vacants. There was blood on his arms from trying to get out of their grasp.
I knew Nico's nuts were important to him, but didn't realize just how important they were until that moment. My heartbeat sped up as I realized I was going to have to do something or watch the man I had bound myself to get turned into a vacant.
What did that even mean for me? He'd still be somewhat alive, so the bond wouldn't be broken.
"This is quite the little collection you have here. I'm surprised this is all you have. But this isn't all you have, is it?" Taylor brought the nuts to his nose and inhaled. "No. These are your special nuts."
Nico strained against his captors. I wished I could do something to help. I looked around for a rock or even a branch. I grabbed a larger branch off the ground, drawing all eyes to where I was.
"No, Kage," Nico said through clenched teeth. "This isn't your fight."
I dropped the stick, Nico's command playing on repeat in my head as I tried to bend down and pick it back up. It wasn't impossible to deny a command, but it was difficult and I didn't have the strength after all the running.
Damn it. Maybe I shouldn't have attached myself to him. This had disaster written all over it.
Taylor closed his hand around the nuts and squeezed. The sound of the shells cracking made Nico's face go pale. I didn't understand what it meant, but if it shook up Nico, like it was appearing to do, it couldn't be good.
Taylor opened his palm and grinned at the shards of shells and exposed flesh of nuts. He brought them to his lips and blew on them, something dark spreading across them.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Nico was panicking. "Is that how you turn vacants?"
Taylor took a step closer to Nico. I fought to grab the stick, but the command on my body was too strong and a sweat broke out on my forehead.
"Hold his mouth open."
I watched in horror as one of the vacants pried open Nico's jaw as he tried to shake them off. Strangled sounds of protest escaped as the vacants held him still.
Taylor shoved the handful of nuts into his mouth and the vacants held his jaw shut until his throat moved as he swallowed them.
They let him go and shoved him to the ground. At first, Nico coughed and sputtered. He gasped for air and dug his fingers into the leaves on the floor of the forest. "What did you do? What the fuck did you do?"
Nico screamed and fell to the ground, his body shaking violently. This was not good. This was not good at all. Taylor stepped back and watched every second of Nico's pain play out in front of him.
Several minutes passed before Nico went still on the ground. Taylor dusted his palms off on his pants and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked confused and then angry.
After what felt like hours, Nico moaned and Taylor's downturned face perked up. He laughed. "Took a little longer than usual, but still perfect." With that, he turned and walked the way he had come from, the vacants trailing behind him.
Nico remained laying on the ground, making small moaning sounds like he was in pain. I tiptoed forward, uncertain. What was wrong with him? Was he poisoned?
I stayed invisible because really weird sounds were coming out of his mouth now. "Nico?"
At the sound of my voice, his head snapped up and turned toward me. I scrambled backwards. Whatever he had done to him, it wasn't Nico anymore.
Nico was now vacant.
I somehow managed to wrangle Nico in a way where I could lead him on a rope. It had taken time to go find a rope and I was half surprised he had remained standing in the same place I left him.
The question was, where was the safest place to take him? I couldn't go back to the castle. As so
on as they saw him they would kill him. Killing him wasn't a choice I wanted to make. I didn't see any other options, because vacants were essentially dead, with all light stripped from their souls. There was no coming back from the state he was in.
I tied the rope to a tree and sat down on a boulder out of reach. I had to move carefully when leading him. If I got too close, he would rush at me and snap his teeth like a deranged creature. He didn't seem to know how to get the rope off himself, though.
I rested my elbow on my knee and put my cheek on my closed fist. It was bad. It was really, really bad. There was no guarantee that the others would even be back from wherever they went. My guess was they went to Earth, since Raphael had taken her.
Earth had to be better than here. After all, Earth was the superior version of Inferna.
I felt guilty for what had happened to Nico. If I had just been strong enough to fight his command, I could have fought them off. My invisibility had to be good for something.
I carefully approached the tree to untie the rope. Vacants ran off instincts, so he must not have wanted to feast on my flesh because his head only turned toward me, watching me.
A chill ran down my spine.
Why had he been left behind? Taylor was going to need to rebuild his army since it had been decimated by the fire. That meant more demons would be lost to him.
What the hell was what he blew from his mouth? I had never seen or heard of anything like it.
I started walking in the direction of Val's estate. We were quite a distance away since we had run farther into the forest to get away from the flames and the vacants.
I never expected when I left the safe confines of the castle walls that I'd be dealing with all I had. It was testing me in ways I wasn't sure would leave me whole. I had thought being in the castle with Lilith at the helm was bad; this was much worse.
With Lilith, she was never around or she kept to herself. I tried to steer clear of her and not let her know of my presence. That was the way of the brownies, staying in the shadows.