Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2)

by Tara West

  My serpent recoiled, hissing as she rose from her perch. Though I’d pledged my blood to my master, my pet had not, and I was still learning how to control her.

  His tail straightened and rattled as he growled into my ear. “Tame your beast.”

  My insides churned, and my legs weakened. Had my master not been holding me against him, I would have succumbed to my fear and fallen at his feet. I needed to explain myself before it was too late. I forced myself to turn up my chin. Too afraid to make eye contact, I focused my gaze just below his glowing eyes. “Though they did not believe I was their savior, I was able to convince them I was an angel of God. They gave me their three most virtuous Nephilim to be taken to the Holy Realm.”

  “You know my blood magic is useless against Nephilim. What do you expect me to do with them?”

  “They are my gifts to you. Do with them as you wish.”

  He tenderly stroked my neck before raking sharp nails down my flesh. “I always do as I wish, fair one. Never forget that.”

  Ash

  “Callum? Are you awake?” I was curled on the straw pallet we shared. I covered my ears as a thunderous sound rattled my brain. What was that? Thunder? Did they have storms in Hell?

  My hands flew to my mouth when I saw the giant stomp into the cave. He had to be at least fifteen feet tall with a frightening grey pallor, an elongated neck, and wings that hung limply at his sides. He walked with a stoop, almost like an ape, his thick knuckles nearly scraping the ground. Like Callum, he wore no clothing other than a loincloth. What was it with the loincloths? Had Demon Gap had a loincloth sale last week? Either they shopped at the same clothing store, or Hell had a shortage of boxer shorts.

  It was hard to unsee that awkward giant with skinny legs and a slight paunch wearing something that looked like a half dozen potato sacks sewn together. What was most disturbing about the creature were the heavy chains strapped to his arms and ankles, and the spiked collar encircling his neck, indicating that like me, he was a prisoner. What chance did I have of escaping if a giant couldn’t overpower Scorpius?

  I looked down at Callum, but he was still sleeping soundly. I placed a palm on his forehead and jerked back with a hiss. He was on fire. Scorpius’s venom had taken hold again. Shit!

  A woman breezed into the room behind the giant in a blur of white robes. I laid my head on Callum’s shoulder, pretending to be asleep while I observed her through slitted lids.

  “Hurry, Garf,” she said as she prodded the backs of his legs with a stick.

  She walked past my cage, and a lump caught in my throat as I noted how very much her fair face looked like Callum’s first nettle. Same porcelain skin, lush lips, pert nose, and high cheekbones. Damn, she was beautiful. I thought of my frizzy hair and yellow skin, and I knew my beauty paled in comparison to hers. I looked like a Chia Pet who’d fallen asleep in a tanning bed.

  But as I admired her flowing blonde locks, I stifled a scream. What had first appeared to be a heavy braid was actually a pale snake slithering across her back. It slid over her shoulder before curling up on top of her head. That’s when I saw its tail was somehow connected to the base of her skull.

  Ewwww.

  I could think of a dozen other things I’d rather have attached to my head, like cheap hair extensions, a festering pimple, or a hairy wart. But a snake?

  The snake woman pointed to a corner of the cave, and the giant stomped over there. Falling to his butt with a boom, he pulled his long legs up against his chest, huddling like a frightened mouse. A ginormous frightened mouse.

  The woman walked over to the table and poured a drink into a china cup, slowly sipping the beverage before daintily dabbing the corners of her mouth with a cloth.

  I licked my lips as she set down the cup and let out a satisfied sigh. What I wouldn’t have given for something refreshing to drink. But so far, the only two beverages in Hell I knew of were horny water and whiskey, neither of which would quench my thirst in the long run.

  A shadow crossed in front of the bars. I shot up in bed when I recognized Aedan’s profile. Could it have really been him or just an illusion?

  “Why, Katherine?” he bellowed as he stormed up to her. “Why would you betray me with my own brother?”

  A nettle, my conscience told me. If he was Aedan, he would have been more concerned with freeing me than lecturing his long dead wife.

  The snake reared up from Katherine’s head and began striking Aedan’s neck, over and over. He swatted at the serpent as he would a buzzing fly while continuing to nag her, calling her a whore and a fool.

  Yeah, my shoulders slumped, a nettle.

  I cradled myself in my wings, trying my best to hold back tears as he fell to his knees, clutching the welts on his neck. With no regard for his own suffering, he continued to hurl insults. I screamed when she kicked his chest, and he toppled to the ground before burning up in a pile of ash. I wiped tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand. I knew it hadn’t been Aedan, but, still, watching him suffer like that was more than I could bear.

  I scooted back against the wall when her gaze met mine. I should have pretended to be asleep, but it was too late now. She strode purposely toward the bars, grasping them with small, pale hands, hands that like her piercing green eyes, reminded me of mine.

  So, I finally get to meet dear Aunt Kate, minus the dear part. What a joyous family reunion this will be.

  She sneered as she looked me over from head to toe. “You look like my sister.”

  “I know,” I said, keeping my tone as even as I could.

  Her demonic little laugh made me cringe. “No wonder Aedan keeps you.” She pulled a key out of her belt and unlocked my cage. “Come, sit a spell.” She beckoned me forward with a crook of the finger while the snake coiled on her head hissed at me.

  “I’m good right here, thanks.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Do as I say before I send Garf after you.”

  I gave Callum a long look, hoping it wouldn’t be the last, before heaving myself off the floor and padding to the exit.

  She sat down at the bistro table, which, like the chairs, appeared to have been made of iron. As I neared her, I squinted at the little shapes carved into the chair. What I’d thought were some sort of Victorian floral motif were actually coiled snakes, just like that thing perched on her head.

  When she motioned for me to take the seat across from her, I eyed her and her serpent warily, and slowly lowered myself into the chair.

  “You look parched.” She turned to the giant with a snarl. “Garf, pour my guest some refreshment.”

  He heaved himself out of his corner and stomped toward us, his chains clanking loudly as vibrations rattled my chair and my brain.

  He grabbed the delicate porcelain tea pot with two beefy fingers, and surprisingly poured liquid into my cup without breaking or spilling anything.

  When he set the cup in front of me, I frowned at the clear liquid. Hormone water, no doubt. I carefully pushed the cup away, hoping not to offend the giant as I looked up at him with a placating smile. “No, thanks.”

  To my amazement, the giant smiled back, revealing two uneven rows of chipped yellow teeth, along with two gigantic fangs that curled up from his jaw.

  “Drink!” Aunt Kate bellowed, before fisting her hands on the table. She plastered a smile on her face. “It’s cool and refreshing,” she said in a tone laced with sugar and dripping with deceit. All the while, the friend on her head hissed and rattled, its demonic red eyes centered on me as its body swayed back and forth.

  I vehemently shook my head before flashing a fake smile of my own. “I’m not thirsty.”

  “Well, of course you are,” she said with a snort. “This is Hell. We’re all thirsty.”

  The giant made a sniffling sound as he hovered precariously close to me. I heard a splash and glanced down at a pile of wet stuff by my feet. I looked back up past his elongated neck to see a long trail of drool hanging off his fanged lip.

  Gross. I’m go
ing to pretend that didn’t just happen.

  “Don’t be afraid of him,” she said with an unnatural lilt to her voice. “He’s my pet.”

  Oddly, I wasn’t scared of Garf. He seemed to be nothing more than a gentle giant with a spiked collar I now saw had dug holes into his scarred neck. Ouch! And yet he did as she commanded without complaint.

  The snake rattled, sliding off her head and hissing in her ear.

  She cooed and stroked the serpent, wrapping its head and neck in her arms as if it were a newborn puppy. “You’re my favorite pet, dearest,” she said while licking its forked tongue.

  My mom always said I had an expressive face, and at that moment, I was sure at least a half-dozen emotions, primarily horror and repulsion, were reflected in my gaping mouth as I recoiled from them.

  Kate was the snake bitch from Hell. Literally. Who else would make out with a venomous serpent and imprison a gentle beast with barbed chains?

  I looked at her with hatred in my eyes as I nodded toward Garf. “Those chains look painful.”

  “He’s just a stupid lummox. Why do you care?” She snarled at the beast. “Garf, go to your corner. Do not disturb me until I summon you.”

  He bobbed his head. “Yah, Miftress.”

  “Move your ass!” she screamed, producing a whip from inside her robe and snapping it at his leg.

  He whimpered as he scuffled away but said nothing.

  Damn. This demon brought crazy bitch to a whole new level.

  She turned to me with a smile, folding her hands demurely in front of her while her serpent slithered down the back of her robe and, thankfully, out of sight. “Now, where were we, niece?”

  I nodded toward my cage. “I was about to go to sleep.”

  “Nonsense.” She waved me off with a flick of the wrist. “You’ve been sleeping for hours.”

  My eyes bulged when her robe fell down around her elbow, revealing what appeared to be a pimple volcano at least three inches in diameter with a deep, painful crater.

  “Do not be alarmed.” She smoothed a hand over the infestation, flashing a wicked smile. “It is only the remnants from last night’s foreplay with my master.”

  And here I’d thought kinky sex was limited to edible undies, dildos, and body butter.

  She pushed aside her tea-cup, leaning forward and eyeing me intently. “Tell me, is Aedan blinded by your beauty or does he know you’re a whore?”

  I snapped my head back, offended by the lash of her verbal slap. “I’m not a whore.”

  She arched a brow, a smug smirk tugging the corner of her mouth. “Have you lain with Callum?”

  “No.” I did my best to keep a straight face. “He is my boyfriend’s brother.” Disregard the fact that I’d tried to jump his dragon bones after drinking a prodigious amount of hormone water, or the fact that I’d had an erotic dragon sex dream, only to wake up unfulfilled and masturbate with Callum’s image in my mind. Those two instances hardly counted.

  “So.” She laughed. “Why should that stop you?”

  I folded my arms across my chest, refusing to answer her question. She was baiting me, trying to get me to admit I was a whore like her, which I wasn’t. She’d cheated on Aedan back when they were still alive, back before hellish H20. She had no excuse for her betrayal. None.

  “How many men have you lain with?” she asked.

  None of your business, I almost answered, but I didn’t want to risk her pulling out her snake again. “Less than ten.”

  Nine to be exact, but they’d all been boyfriends, or aspiring boyfriends, except for the Swede, but what woman could resist tall, blond, and beefy?

  “Then you’re a whore.” Damn. She didn’t even bat an eye when she said it. “Has Aedan bedded you?”

  Flame fanned my cheeks as I looked away. Aedan had been number nine, my new favorite number, and our lovemaking had been more than perfect until the day he’d called me Mar.

  “Ahhh, of course he has.” She wagged a finger, clucking her tongue. “Modern girls are fools. They give their favors away so easily without recompense.” Her snake hissed from somewhere behind her as she leveled me with a knowing look. “He must have known after that first time you didn’t die a virgin.”

  Well, duh. I hadn’t exactly cried about my popped cherry as I was digging my nails into his ass, now had I? Okay, I’d officially had enough of her shit. Time to break out my inner diva. “So.” I rolled my head with exaggerated movements. “He didn’t make a big deal out of it.”

  “Of course not.” She leaned back, her smug smile so wide, it appeared to be painted on. “Aedan is a gentleman, but I can assure you he was disappointed.”

  “Okay.” The heavy chair made a loud screech as I stood and pushed it back. I didn’t care. I was ready to get the hell off this crazy train. “I’ve had enough girl time. I’ll see myself to my cage now, thank you.”

  Even as I was backing up, she was on her feet, advancing quickly until she was practically on top of me. And then my blood ran so cold, my heartbeat ground to a halt. Her snake jutted out and wrapped itself around my waist, spinning me around and pulling me up against the she-devil until my tits were flush with hers. She reached a hand around the other side, pressing our bodies closer, until our tits were smashing each other like some sort of lesbian mammogram. I felt the pounding of her heart against my chest, and was surprised she had a heart at all.

  She stroked the side of my face. “You have the Murphy eyes. They are so pretty.”

  I shrieked, struggling out of her embrace. “Don’t touch me.”

  “Why?” She smiled. “I’m not hurting you.” Her green eyes were devoid of emotion. They reminded me of her snake’s eyes, serpentine and watchful, waiting for the right moment to strike.

  The more I tried to push away, the harder her snake squeezed me, wrapping completely around my waist like a constrictor. My poor kidneys felt like they were going to implode. “This is incest,” I cried.

  I gasped for breath and pounded against her, relieved when the snake loosened its grip, unsmashing my boobs.

  “Oh, dearest,” she cooed, trailing a hand down my face to my collarbone. “There is no right or wrong in Hell. When pleasure is presented to you, you seize it with both hands.” She grabbed my tits, squeezing until I screamed. “Your breasts are like two honey pots.” She rolled my nipples between her fingers. “So full and sweet.”

  “Please don’t,” I begged, turning my face to the side as she nibbled my ear with sharp teeth.

  “Why?” She eased up the pressure on my breasts, massaging them with firm, yet gentle strokes. “Don’t you like a woman touching you?” she breathed into my ear.

  “Because unlike you,” I growled, “I’m not a cheater.”

  I knew it was coming, but still I wasn’t prepared for the force of Kate’s slap, the sting of it burning my cheek like it had been lit on fire.

  “I do what I must to survive,” she hissed like a spitting cobra.

  When her snake loosened its hold even more, I jerked free, nearly falling on my ass as I stumbled backward. “You do whatever you want to do. You are a spoiled, selfish bitch who stops at nothing to get what she wants.”

  Now would be good time to shut up, Ash, I said to myself. Okay, little fun fact about me. Whenever I got pissed, my mouth started spewing like a geyser, which usually ended up getting me in a whole lot of trouble. As her porcelain complexion turned a bright shade of red, I had the feeling I was about to discover the real meaning of pain.

  Balling her hands by her sides, she stormed up to me. “You’re right, and right now, I want to see you suffer.”

  Aedan

  I cast a furtive gaze to my travel companions. Jack’s heads lolled to the sides, and he hobbled on three legs after severely burning a paw on a flaming geyser. Sarge was exhausted from hauling the Piranha Demon’s body through treacherous terrain. And I was nothing more than a pile of tired bones with a scythe.

  We’d been forced to dispose of three pestering demons
in the Valley of Fire. The Piranha Demon had called them nettles, and though he assured me they were created by our subconscious, remnants of bad relationships we’d left back on Earth, it was still hard for me to kill a woman. In the end, I had been left with no choice. Katherine had dogged my heels through the flaming pyres, reminding me what a worthless husband I’d been. I’d finally ended her incessant nagging by slicing off her pretty head and tossing it into the lava. Sarge had done the same with a soldier who haunted him and some skinny fisherman who hounded the Piranha.

  Jack’s nettle had caught me off guard. I recognized her as Ash’s mom, and she said not a word as she followed Jack, weeping into a tissue. Nobody wanted to kill Ash’s mom, so we allowed her to follow us, a decision I came to regret. Her mournful wails were like a knife twisting inside my heart. Poor Jack had not stopped whimpering since she found us. I finally had to end all our misery and chop off her head. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but in the end I knew it was the right choice. If I’d waited until we’d found Ash, she might not have let me.

  Having escaped the Valley of Fire, lucky to have all of our limbs intact, we made our way through a forest of sorts, a copse of stones as tall as men with macabre, demonic faces etched into their smooth surfaces. The night was black as pitch, save for the light cast by the lakes of lava behind us and three pinpricks of flame just beyond the stones.

  “Almost there, Masters. Almost there.” The demon’s head bobbed, suspended by his stringy hair in Jack’s teeth.

  The fish-faced-freak’s high-pitched whine grated on my last nerve. I was tired, sore, hungry, and damned thirsty, growing ever sicker of listening to that hideous ball of teeth ramble on. “If you are leading us to trouble,” I growled, “so help me God….”

  “God can’t help you here, Masters, and I do lead you to trouble.” His laughter reminded me of a squealing pig at slaughter. “All Hell is trouble.”

  “You know what I mean. If I discover you’re tricking us, I’ll find a bubbling pool of lava and toss your head in, but I’ll leave your body here. Try getting it back after that.”