The Kiss of Death

by Auryn Hadley

  "I left you coffee. Sam said not to ask questions until after you've been given some. Should I make you a cup?"

  "Thanks, Bel. I got it." I kept going, but his voice followed me into the kitchen.

  "Why do you never let me make you coffee, but you do all of them?"

  I placed the cup beside the pot and began pouring. "I don't let them half the time. They just do it."

  "Oh."

  Something about the way he said that sounded sad. I quickly mixed in my cream and sugar then made my way back to the dining room. "Why?" I asked.

  He swiped at the screen. "It says women find small gestures like making her coffee to be endearing. This says that men need to open up. I do neither, so I am trying."

  Ok, I had to know. Walking around the table, I looked over his shoulder to see a self-help slide show. One of those top ten things meant to get more clicks. The title at the top? How to Make Her Like You.

  "Bel? You know this is garbage, right? It's just clickbait."

  "Sam said it's good information."

  "Sure, if you want a shallow and thoughtless type of girl. I mean, it has a few good points, but it's too simple. Making someone like you is more about being yourself and letting them get to know you. There's no simple recipe for fitting in except to try it." Then I patted his shoulder. "Besides, why would you worry about it? If you want to impress a girl, just go to a bar, buy her a drink, and talk to her. Typically works better than this crap."

  "I don't want to impress a girl," he grumbled, swiping to the next page. "I want to make our Muse like me."

  "What?" I stepped back to see his face better. "You don't think I like you?"

  His head never lifted from the tablet as he mumbled, "You don't let me make you coffee."

  I had to bite my lips together to keep from laughing. Beelzebub was a big guy. He made Nick look like nothing more than an athletic college boy. Seeing him pouting was adorable, and a little sad. On impulse, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him from the side.

  "I don't want to put you out since you're already babysitting me and keeping me safe. But if it means that much to you, then sure, you can make my next coffee."

  "And then you'll kiss me, too?"

  I jerked back. "What?"

  "You kiss Nick. Sam got a kiss, once. He told me. I want to learn how to make a modern woman want to kiss me. It's not as easy as it used to be."

  "Bel..." I paused, trying to find the right words. "Hun, I'm dating Nick. Women don't just kiss every guy they're friends with."

  "I know, but you're our Muse, and I don't want to be the only one you don't like."

  "No, it doesn't work like that. Nick is my boyfriend. Sam is just a friend. I only kissed him because Raphael was there and we didn't want him to know I had a clue what was going on. I mean, I've never kissed Luke."

  He blew that off. "Don't blame you. No one wants to kiss an angel. They get excited and their feathers fall out everywhere. Not the same with demons."

  "Ok." Unable to think of anything else – and struggling to ignore the visions of Luke as a bad cartoon character with explosive molting – I leaned over to steal his tablet and opened a Google search. Typing in "monogamy," I waited for the screen to load then pushed it back in front of him. "I want you to research this, Bel. It might explain the difference between a girlfriend and a friend that is a girl. I know you've missed a lot, but it's ok to treat us just like everyone else and just hang out without needing to worry about weddings and all of that nonsense, ok?"

  "But I liked my wives. I took very good care of them, too." He looked up at me with the biggest brown puppy-dog eyes. "Why does only Nick get to snuggle with you?"

  "Because I'm dating him." Clearly, this was only going to go in circles. I decided it was time to seek out a little expert help. "Just read that, Bel. I have lessons."

  "Ok." He smiled at me as he reached for the doughnut, and I took the chance to escape.

  Nick said Luke would be in the study. I wasn't sure if he could help me, but I had a funny feeling he'd know where Sam was. One of them would be able to convince Bel that I couldn't just date all of them. I had no idea what had happened back in Jesus's time, but whatever it was, that crap wouldn't fly now. We needed to get the big guy up to speed before my protectors decided that having one girl in the house was going to make problems.

  Chapter 34

  "Luke?" I asked as I stepped into the room. "How well do you know Bel?"

  He didn't look up from the desk. "Well enough. Why?"

  That wasn't exactly the response I'd been hoping for. "Um, because I'm not sure he understands what it means that I'm Nick's girlfriend."

  "Nope." His mouth struggled not to smile. "Not a term that existed back in his day. Women were girls, available, promised, or married. Those were the only options. Terms like sweetheart and girlfriend imply control of your own dating choices, and when Bel was last awake, women didn't get that option." Then he finally looked up. "Well, unless she ended up catching the attention of a demon."

  "Ok?" I could tell there was a story there.

  He pushed away whatever he'd been working on and turned to face me. "For as long as I can remember – and that's a very long time – demons have always moved in groups. Legions, they call them. Angels have choirs." He waved that off. "Anyway, while the members of a legion aren't inseparable or anything, as you've seen with us, we do tend to stick pretty close. It's the only way to keep from getting surprised by the enemy."

  "And how does this apply to Bel's crush on me?"

  He leaned back, looking a little too smug. "Most human mating ideas are based on religion, sexism, generations, and possessions – and the construct is passed down through society. Now, for those of us outside those boundaries, we've made different rules."

  "Not helping."

  Luke chuckled. "Back when Bel last walked the Earth, women were traded like a commodity. We brought them into our culture, not the other way around. Often, we were the wealthiest men around, so fathers were more than happy to sell us their daughters. We just made sure to keep the girls happy, even if that meant not just with us, hence the stories of our hedonistic societies. Well, technically theirs, but I've been with the demons long enough to count as one."

  I thought back through all the history they'd shared so far. "Except Nick, right?"

  "Uh..." He rubbed at his mouth. "He spent most of his time on Tyrnigg because it was on the front line. He didn't always bring his legion with him. They waited on Earth to lend support and handle the staging area here, building supplies of aether and such. Just like this place. They made a home that served as a safe spot and often got to know the locals while he was doing his thing."

  "Luke." I sighed. "Stop trying to be nice. What the hell are you hemming and hawing around?"

  "When a woman's husband is gone for years at a time, she gets lonely. A man spending weeks locked away with her might do the same, and who knows if she'll live long enough for one of us to make it back? We don't see a reason to put unrealistic expectations on ourselves or our lovers, so we never have. One man, one woman – that's a societal construct made to secure property inheritance in a species that dies quickly. In case you forgot, we don't die."

  "And you think Nick would be just fine with me jumping on, I dunno, you?"

  Luke smiled. "Has he ever complained? Look, this is one of those things that if you want to know, you should ask him, not me. As for dealing with Beelzebub? Talk to Sam. If anyone can read Bel's mind, he's the one."

  He didn't let me push the issue anymore. Instead, Luke moved right into aetherweaving, explaining the theory and asking hard enough questions that I had to let it go. That's how I learned that aetherweaving was a lot like aethersmithing. Mostly.

  The main difference was that weaving required a container. Didn't matter if that was a plant, bacteria, or a sentient creature like an angel. So long as there was aether inside it, I could alter things about it. Aethersmithing took the aether from one thing and u
sed it to make something outside the container. Smithing was what I'd been doing so far. Weaving was more subtle and insidious, and often didn't require the container's cooperation. Naturally, I practiced by changing Luke's eyes.

  The eerie green had always bothered me. It wasn't the same color most people had. This was closer to spring green, just a little too vivid to come across as anything but colored contacts. Then there was that ring of yellow meant to hypnotize. Sure, it made mind-fucking people easier for him, but Luke seemed a lot more charming with ocean blue eyes. They matched the pretty-boy blonde hair thing he had going on. I debated making them brown to match the other demons, but the blue just looked too good.

  And changing his Earth skin wasn't the only thing I could do. According to Luke, altering thoughts was harder with outworlders, but for me, it was impossible. Changing the inner resonance wasn't. Every plane – and the corridors in between – had its own speed of atomic vibration and tone. In other words, I could shift him into the corridor with a thought. Oh, it wasn't easy, and according to Luke, I'd also be able to send him back to other planes once I knew the worlds better, but he was very impressed.

  Mostly, though, we just worked on shielding. That meant forcing my own aether into a hard shell that couldn't be bent or twisted. Over and over, Luke had me shield myself, then he'd try to make me do something stupid. Yeah, after walking around the study pretending to be a chicken – complete with crowing at the top of my lungs, I got better. Nothing like a little shame between friends to drive the point home.

  But this was how Mike had mind-fucked my ex-boyfriend. It's how angels had set some devout country boy up to die as a gas station robber. It's how outworlders had twisted the worldview so everyone ended up hating someone else. I wanted to master not only my defense against it, but also the ability to use it on the people who'd made my life a living hell. Sadly, it seemed I wasn't good at everything.

  Then he brought in Sam. Working with a demon was very different from trying to twist an angel. For the first hour, I strained, pushed, and tried everything I could think of to change one thing about Sam. Anything. I got nowhere, and the smug little smile was starting to get on my nerves.

  "Sia," Luke finally sighed, "how are you trying to move his aether?"

  "The same way I did yours."

  He nodded, sucking at an incisor. "Ok, but how did you do that? Nick said I'm not allowed to give you directions, just concepts so you don't learn hard limits. Talk me through this."

  "I..." I looked at Sam where he sat on the stool before me. "I think of him as being filled with smoke and I want to push it around. To sculpt with it. Like blowing away a cloud of cigarette smoke."

  "Ah." Luke crossed his arms and leaned back. "But he's warded. Maybe that's why you're having so much trouble?"

  I paused, immediately seeing a problem. "You are too, but I was at least able to touch you enough for you to feel it."

  Sam chuckled. "Because you two are already linked." He pointed at where my seal was hidden behind my shirt. "That aether in your skin is no different than a pinhole in a Ziploc bag. Not a whole lot can get through it, but some can." Then he tapped his head. "Waterproof, baby."

  "Ok..." I let out a deep breath, trying not to be annoyed at this. "So how do I get in?"

  As calm as ever, Luke asked, "How would you get into a sealed Ziploc?"

  "Smash it?"

  Sam quickly lifted a hand, holding me back. "Easy there. Those are my wards we're talking about, sweetheart. Maybe try the zipper, first?"

  "Great. Sounds like a plan. Just one problem. I have no clue what would even correlate to the zipper sealing thing. Anyone wanna explain to me how demon wards even work?"

  They tried. Both of them did their best to find an analogy that would settle in my mind, but it didn't help. Wards were like insect repellent. They were traffic signs that directed the aether. Oh, and they were even razor wire on the edge of a battlefield. All I got from that was that their fancy magic symbols worked like a wall, keeping things out and other things in.

  But aether worked on resonance. It was all about the pitch, or song. So, closing my eyes, I decided to try again. This time, I didn't force my way in. My goal was to leave what was already inside there but make it work for me. To tell it a story or sing to it, and let it spread the word. It was slower and more subtle, but if it worked?

  Sam began to hum softly. When I looked, his eyes had grown heavy. My goal was to make him sleepy, maybe even drunk. To remove his attention so I could do a little more – and it seemed it was working! Struggling not to squeal in excitement, I pushed a little harder...

  And something cracked. It wasn't anything tangible, but I could still feel it, like a change in the air pressure but between Sam and me. The wall that had been holding me out was no longer quite as solid. I had control of both sides. Complete control, and Sam had just become my puppet.

  "Stand up," I whispered softly.

  A smile touched his woozy face, but he did.

  "Sia?" Luke asked, sitting straighter.

  "Go open the door, Sam." I was going to keep my commands simple.

  Luke didn't care. He reached over and caught my arm, demanding my attention. "How'd you get in?"

  His voice didn't bother Sam at all. Just like Aaron had when Mike mind-fucked him at my old house, Sam obediently walked to the exit and pulled the door open. Then he did nothing. Absolutely nothing, just stared into the hall like he'd forgotten he was there.

  "Put him back," Luke insisted.

  "Shut up and I will!" The problem was that putting him back wasn't as easy as getting inside. I had to change his resonance back to the way it had been before I started, but I didn't remember how that was. Desperate to fix him, I decided to go another way. I told his aether to be free. To listen to Sam. To do whatever it wanted.

  The demon of seduction dropped like a rock.

  "Shit," I hissed, rushing to his side. "Sam?" When he said nothing, I looked back at Luke. "Can you see what I did?"

  "No," he insisted. "And I couldn't before."

  "Then go get Nick!"

  Before Luke could even rush out of the hall, Beelzebub walked up, chuckling at our panic. "Muse? You broke Sam?"

  "I don't know! I didn't mean to, I just figured out how to do aetherweaving so I told him to open the door, but I don't know how to put him back. Bel, go get Nick?"

  He ignored me. The jerk completely acted like I wasn't in a full-blown panic attack as he knelt at Sam's side. Sliding one hand up his shirt, his palm found Sam's chest and paused over the seal. "Samyaza," Bel said softly. "Be still. Be whole. Be here, Samyaza."

  Immediately, Sam sucked in a breath and sat up. "Fuck," he grunted.

  "Sam?" I grabbed his arm, trying to help stabilize him. "Are you ok, sweetie?"

  "Just..." He groaned and rubbed at his face. "Someone check my wards? See if there's a leak?"

  Both Luke and Bel closed their eyes, evidently doing exactly that. I figured I'd already messed up enough I'd just keep my aetherweaving to myself for a little bit. While we waited to hear the verdict, I smoothed Sam's magenta hair out of his eyes and back along the top of his head.

  "Are you ok?" I asked.

  "I'm fine, sweetheart," he insisted. "Can't feel a leak, but the last thing we need is an angel having a direct line into your inner circle. I'm just so tired. Feel like you gave me a sleeping pill."

  "I don't know what I did."

  He flashed me one of those seductive smiles he was known for. "Gathered that. Whatever it was, don't forget it, because damn. It worked."

  "I'm sorry."

  He caught my hand, pulling my attention back to him. "Sia, it worked. Angels can't do much to us. You slipped right between my wards and took over. I don't have a clue how, but I didn't feel it and couldn't stop it. That's a good thing, sweetheart. A good thing."

  "I managed to change Luke's eye color, too."

  His smile turned into a grin. "Gonna make my hair grow in this color, then?"

  "O
h, Sam. I don't want to mess you up anymore. In case you missed it, I don't have a clue what I'm doing."

  "Aw, c'mon."

  Luke made a pleased noise as he opened his eyes. "She somehow managed to manipulate his aether without blowing apart his wards. Sam, I can't find any vulnerabilities."

  "He's good," Bel said a second later. "What happened?"

  Sam tipped his head to me. "I just got mind-fucked by a Muse. That's what happened."

  The strangest part was that the guys were all smiling like they'd just won the lottery. I couldn't even begin to imagine what they thought this was good for, but I had a funny feeling it meant I'd be practicing this for a while. Next time, I'd make sure I remembered what he felt like before I started making changes. I was not going to mess up my boys - but I did end up fixing Sam's hair.

  ∞∞∞

  Luke locked me in the study alone with him for the rest of the day. Bel grumbled that he wanted to work on my defensive moves, but Luke was having none of it. He insisted I needed to master my inner shields first. Second, I had to figure out how to slip between wards faster. Fast enough to make it into a weapon. The problem was that it didn't work that way.

  I finally broke free when Nick announced dinner. Unfortunately, Sam wasn't there. Bel said he'd passed out, which had me worried. It didn't help at all that Nick was distracted by whatever idea he had about magnets. Bel and I traded eye rolls while they yammered on about polar attraction, anti-aetheric properties, and repelling resonances. As soon as the meal was done, Nick gave me a kiss, apologized, then vanished back inside the gold room.

  I went to find Sam.

  His room was across the hall from Nick's. Standing outside the door, I tapped softly and listened for any hint of life inside. I was expecting a snore, or maybe the sound of blankets as he rolled over. Instead, the response came back fast enough to make me flinch in place.

  "Come in!"

  Well, ok then. I twisted the knob and opened the door a crack. "Sam?"