Sharon Karaa - A Familiar Problem (Northern Witches #2)

by Unknown

  Abaddon stopped outside the house with the tallest gates in the street. Sodding typical.

  “Why don’t we just transport through?” I whispered, looking up at the railings with the very pointy spikes on the top then looking at Abaddon and raising an eyebrow.

  “Low key, remember? Do you really want to run in to Cerberus and his mob, on top of everything else?”

  I grunted and we started to climb. Everything was fine until I reached the top. The spikes were six inches apart and stood like good little soldiers, a foot long and ready to do some serious damage. I prayed to everything unholy I wouldn’t impale myself on one as I pushed myself up and vaulted right over the top. I sailed down the fifteen feet back to the ground, unharmed and breathing a sigh of relief.

  Abaddon was waiting for me, arms folded. “You took your time,” he grinned. Show off.

  We crouched and ran across the drive to the side of the house. It appeared to be in complete darkness but that wasn’t always a good indication that the house was empty. This was Hell; people preferred the dark.

  Abaddon continued on round to the back of the house and I followed, enjoying the view of his rear….what’s good for the gander is good for the goose, and he did have an exceptionally firm and sexy specimen.

  Abaddon stopped abruptly, holding his hand up behind him.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  I followed his gaze to the open door and held my breath, wondering if someone or something was about to come through it. After a minute, Abaddon advanced slowly towards the door. I followed.

  He put his hand on the door handle and pushed the door further open, increasing our line of sight into the house. There was absolute silence and absolute darkness but I could smell blood and, looking quickly at Abaddon, I could tell that he could too.

  We walked into the house into what looked to be a hallway. Three doors were lined along the left and two on the right with one final door at the end of the hall, facing us. Abaddon turned to me, putting his finger to his lips.

  We crept along the hall to the first door, pushing it open to reveal a kitchen; pristine and untouched. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the room so we walked along to the second door and repeated the process. This time we were in what looked to be the dining room and again, it appeared to be empty.

  The third room was a living room and the smell of blood was strong as soon as Abaddon pushed open the door.

  We didn’t need a light turned on to see the carnage in the room. A sofa was lying on its back and the curtain pole over the windows was hanging by one screw, curtains spilling on to the floor. A scorch mark the size of a dinner plate marred the wall in front of me and the body of an imp was sprawled out on the floor next to an over-turned coffee table.

  Abaddon bent down beside it, looking for signs of life. I wondered why he was bothering when the creature raised its arm slightly and turned its head, opening its rheumy eyes half way and staring at him. I held my breath.

  “Vodalt, what happened?” Abaddon asked.

  I looked at him, surprised. He knew this thing?

  “Abyss….Kobal…” The creature’s hand dropped to the floor and he looked at Abaddon sadly until the light left his eyes.

  “How touching!”

  I spun round to the door to see Lilith standing there, wearing a short red dress and black thigh-length boots; her breasts, as usual, straining against the flimsy material. She must have a seriously good tailor. Abaddon suddenly appeared right beside me.

  “Lilith, what the fuck are you doing here?” Abaddon snarled.

  “Dealing with a traitor. You can thank me later, lover!” She grinned and started walking over to us.

  Abaddon frowned at her then looked quickly at me.

  I glared at him, disbelieving. He had lied to me. White-hot rage blasted through my gut but before I could act on it, I felt a shift in the air and almost fell to my knees. I steadied myself against the wall then noticed my hand had become almost translucent. I watched in horror as it disappeared altogether. The air around me started to bend and I look at Abaddon, his face blurring and coming in to focus, shock on his face before he disappeared completely and hot air started rushing past my body.

  I realised I was being pulled back through the portal before I even reached the surface to find Gerwyn and Felicity waiting for me. I glared at Felicity, wondering firstly how she’d found me and secondly what the fuck she was doing here. On top of my rage at a goddamn demon that I shouldn’t have been in the least surprised had lied to me, I sincerely feared for Felicity’s life.

  “Explain yourself,” I demanded.

  “Natalia, Lauren’s been beside herself. You need to come home. She’s threatening to go to Hell to find you.” She looked close to tears and not a little nervous.

  I looked at her, confused.

  “Why?”

  “She thinks you’ve returned to Hell because of what she said, she wants you home.”

  Gerwyn stood in her beautiful dress with her arms crossed and a very unattractive ‘I told you so’ look on her face.

  I thought about Abaddon and realised he wasn’t in any danger, unless it was of being shagged to death. He could look after himself. I had allowed my lust to blind me, but no more.

  “How did you find me?”

  “I didn’t, Geordie did.” She pulled Geordie out of her bag and placed him carefully on the bench. He looked up at me and grinned. “Good to see ye, arse face!” Then he turned his back to me and puked his guts out.

  “Oh for the love of God,” snapped Gerwyn, rushing to get disinfectant and a cloth from under the sink. Geordie wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to face me.

  “Sorry about that, first time transportin an it doesn’t agree wi me stomach!”

  “How did you know where to find me?” I walked towards the bench, looking at Geordie.

  “Am a demon, man! A tracked ye through ya scent.” He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. “Mmmmm!”

  “Knock it off you little pervert,” I replied angrily, but it did make me smile.

  “Where’s Abaddon?” Gerwyn asked, looking confused. “When we closed the portal, it should have brought him back too.”

  “I’m still in your head Natalia. You can’t get rid of me that easily!”

  Damn, I’d forgotten about the bond.

  “He’s fine, don’t worry about him.”

  “I’m coming for you, wait for me!”

  “Stay away from me you bastard, you got what you wanted, you’re free now back the fuck off.”

  Geordie looked at Felicity, confused and Gerwyn stepped in. “Don’t worry about it, lovers’ tiff.”

  “We are not now and never will be lovers,” I snapped.

  “Look, I hate to say it but as we speak, Lauren is having Selina make a portal potion. We need to get back now before she does something stupid.” Felicity stamped her feet impatiently.

  I looked at Gerwyn. “Are you coming?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she grinned.

  When we got back to Daniel’s, Lauren was sitting on his knee and sobbing her heart out. Agnes and Selina were busy cooking up a potion in Lauren’s cauldron and it smelled awful. It was a funny purple colour and Selina was scratching her head, confused.

  As soon as they realised we were there, Lauren jumped up from Daniel’s knee and ran to me, throwing her arms around my shoulders and sobbing.

  “Natalia, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you feel as though we didn’t want you here. I was so afraid that you’d decided to go back to Hell!”

  I patted her back, uncomfortable at the show of affection and a lump formed in my throat. Eventually, I pushed her away from me and back towards Daniel.

  “Welcome back, Natalia,” Agnes said, smiling at me. Her eyes were full of unshed tears. I wasn’t sure who they were for; me or Lauren.

  Felicity set Geordie down on the table and he made his way, on unsteady legs, to his armchair. He was a peculiar sha
de of green and I realised the transportation was still having an effect on him. Felicity picked up the thimble and turned it, providing a convenient receptacle in case he got sick again. Geordie smiled up at her, gratefully.

  I turned on Daniel.

  “You were going to let her go to Hell? Are you out of your fucking mind?” I snapped.

  “No, Natalia, I’m not,” he replied, angrily. “We lost a member of our family and we were going to get her back. Together.”

  That shut me up. A lump formed in my throat and I stared at him in shock. Family? I felt my chin wobble and tears welled up in my eyes. I dashed them away, quickly, before anyone could see.

  “Don’t buy it, Nats, they are not your family,” Abaddon shouted in my head. “You don’t belong there, you belong in Hell!”

  “Shut the fuck up,” I snapped. Daniel looked at me shocked.

  “Not you, Abaddon!” I sat down heavily in one of the chairs.

  “He’s still in your head?” Agnes asked, coming round and sitting beside me.

  I gritted my teeth. “Yes, he’s still there.”

  “What happened when you went back in?” Gerwyn asked, taking a seat at the table and looking at me.

  I filled them all in on how Abaddon had been set up by Kobal who had, in turn it seemed, been dealt with by Lilith, Abaddon’s lover. I still wasn’t sure what she’d done to him.

  “She is not now and never has been my lover,” snapped Abaddon.

  “Liar!”

  Gerwyn and Daniel exchanged glances and I realised my having a conversation with someone who wasn’t physically in the room was confusing everyone again.

  “Have you thought about what you want to do?” Daniel sat in the armchair opposite me.

  I met his eyes. “I need to get him out of my head.”

  “Well, we’re your family and we’ll help you.” Agnes patted my hand. “Won’t we, Daniel?” she glared at him.

  “This is a little outside of my realm of my experience, Nat. I wouldn’t want to do anything that could hurt you in the process. There must be something we can do but we need someone with more experience of this kind of thing.” He pulled a hand through his brown curls.

  Agnes jumped up from her chair. “I’ve got it!” she said, triumphantly.

  Abaddon laughed. Not a chuckle this time. A belly laugh. It echoed in my head and I covered my ears with my hands. “Ninety nine bottles of beer…..”

  Fuck. I wish he’d learn another song. Or at least take singing lessons.

  Agnes was trying to talk to me but all I could hear was Abaddon. He was deliberately stopping me from having this conversation. As the volume inside my head increased, the pressure became unbearable and I crumbled to the floor, clutching my ears.

  Lauren grabbed Daniel’s iPod and plugged in my headphones. Well, technically she had paid for them but they were mine. She shoved them over my head then turned the volume way up, picking me up by the shoulders and pushing me in to the living room and down on to the sofa. Meatloaf’s “Bat out of Hell” thumped through the tiny speakers and I waited with bated breath to see if it worked. After a minute, I realised I couldn’t hear him anymore and I sighed in relief, allowing myself to relax into the soft cushions.

  Agnes came in to my line of sight and bent down over me, pushing her spectacles back up her nose. Her mouth moved but all I could hear was Meatloaf. Great, I had relief from Abaddon but I still couldn’t take part in a conversation to get rid of him.

  I could see Selina and Daniel gesticulating and Selina shaking her head. Then Daniel and Agnes disappeared.

  Lauren and Selina walked out of the living room and I closed my eyes in relief. Eventually, despite the music, I drifted off to sleep.

  I was sitting at the bar, a blue cocktail sitting in front of me with a swizzle stick and a pink umbrella. Tacky. I turned to my left and sure enough, Abaddon was sitting beside me, an elbow on the bar top and his chin resting on his hand. Heat flared from my solar plexus and settled much lower down.

  “What, no flowers this time?” I snapped at him.

  “No flower can compare with your beauty, why embarrass them?” he grinned at me.

  I looked down and realised I was wearing a very short red dress that looked suspiciously like my favourite negligee, only a lot tighter. My breasts were almost spilling out of the top and I fought the urge to cover myself.

  I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “I take it this was your idea too?”

  He smiled lasciviously, his eyes going automatically to my chest.

  I instantly transformed to my leathers and a polo neck sweater and his eyes clouded over with disappointment. I made to jump down off the stool and he stopped me, his hand resting gently on my arm.

  “Look, I don’t have long; you have to listen to me.”

  I jumped down from the stool. “There’s nothing you can say that could possibly be of interest to me. You’re free now. You’re back home. What more do you want?”

  “For how long? As soon as Satan hears about this, I’ll be banished. He still believes I slept with Lilith.”

  “Shocker!”

  “Look Nats, I swear to you, it’s not true. Just give me a chance to figure out what’s going on and...”

  “And what? You’ll …”

  I didn’t get the chance to finish. Before I knew it, his arms were around me and his lips were on mine, hungry, forceful, sweet. I found myself responding and my mouth opened to him, allowing his tongue to probe its recesses, dancing with mine. I melted in his arms as his hand came round and captured my head, pulling me further into him.

  He pulled back, regretfully, and dropped a gentle kiss on my lower lip.

  “What is it about you?” He looked in to my eyes and my knees went weak. His mouth came down to mine again but before I got the chance to experience their sweetness, Meat Loaf sounded in my ear and everything faded to black.

  “Good girls go to heaven but bad girls go everywhere.”

  How appropriate I thought as I pulled off the headphones, opening my eyes to find Lauren’s face inches from mine, a worried expression on her face. I put my hand on hers to stop her from shaking me and sat up.

  “You fell asleep? With that racket in your ears?” Selina asked, holding on to the living room door, half in and half out of the room, and looking at me with a shocked expression on her face.

  “I was up all night at a one man show, remember?” I grimaced and swung my legs off the sofa as Lauren offered me her hand.

  “Come on sleeping beauty, the others are here.” She dragged me up and we walked together into the kitchen. Thankfully, Abaddon remained silent.

  Gerwyn was the first person I saw as I walked back in to the room. She had changed clothes and looked as beautiful as ever, dressed in a blue silk summer dress and wearing her fruit-basket hat and long sleeved gloves. She’d also refreshed her make-up and I made myself a promise. Before this was over, she and I had some serious work to do on colour and shading.

  Agnes, Matthew and Zerachiel were sat at the table. I glared at Zerachiel.

  “What’s he doing here? This is nothing to do with him.” I felt my eyes flash red in anger. The last thing I needed was another man-slut around me.

  “I’m here to help, Natalia. Believe it or not, I am in the unique position of having the most experience when it comes to dealing with demons. You need me.” If he was waiting for me to fall on the floor and kiss his feet in gratitude, he had a long wait.

  I looked about the kitchen in surprise. It had been extended and was now twice as big as it had been formerly, the table now big enough to sit ten people.

  “Someone been remodelling?” I asked, taking a seat. Lauren blushed proudly.

  “So, does someone want to give me some ideas as to how we can solve this little problem?”

  “We can’t banish him. Trying something like that could mean we end up banishing you too. We can’t take that chance.” Daniel was the first to volunteer his opinion.

  “Th
e devil definitely doesn’t want him back?” Agnes asked, sitting forward in her chair.

  “Would you?” I snorted. “Apart from the fact that he is a complete pain in the arse, he shagged his girlfriend.”

  “You’re looking at this all wrong,” Zerachiel said as he folded his arms and sat back in his chair, extending his muscular legs beneath the table. Wow, I hadn’t realised he was only wearing a loin cloth.

  “Enlighten us, oh wise one!” I said. He might be sexy but I still wanted to smash his handsome face in.

  “It’s a bonding, not a mating. It’s not permanent. It only lasts for about a year.”

  “I don’t think I can take this for a year.”

  “Then there’s only one other way you can resolve this.” Zerachiel pulled one leg up and crossed his ankle over his knee.

  I was tempted to see if his jewels were now on display but resisted the urge. Looking up, I caught his eye. The bastard was grinning at me like he knew what I was thinking.

  “Natalia, you could redeem your soul. Once you are redeemed, we can banish Abaddon and you will be free. You would get to live out the rest of a normal life on earth, with your friends, and then be judged just like everyone else. You have it in you to change, Natalia. As surprised as I am to say it, you are not inherently evil.”

  “I am not seeking redemption,” I spat.

  “What’s so bad about being good? You don’t even know what heaven is like, how can you make such a decision without all the facts?” Agnes said, slamming her hand down on the table top.

  “For fuck’s sake! I’m a demon! All I know is Hell!”

  “Not true,” Selina spoke quietly, ever the voice of reason. “You know life on earth and both good and evil live here. In fact, since you’ve been with us, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do anything remotely evil, aside from putting Geordie in the blender and threatening to turn it on.”

  Zerachiel dropped his leg back to the floor, his legs now wide apart. My heart did a little thump in my chest and I had to concentrate really hard not to let me eyes travel lower. I needed to get laid. All this man-candy was driving me to distraction.