The Holy Dark

by Kyoko M

  I pried my eyes open and ducked my head around the shower curtain. There, in front of the sink, stood a tall, pale-skinned man with shoulder-length hair as black as soot and a smile as sinister as the devil himself. His eyes were the lightest hue of blue that existed and the pupils were thin and diamond-like rather than round. His features were vaguely European—small forehead, narrow nose, thin but sensual lips, arched eyebrows—but I knew he didn’t have an accent.

  He clutched my towel in his long-fingered hand, the other tucked in the pocket of his easily seven-hundred-dollar black suit pants. I recognized his favorite dark color scheme—a charcoal grey button up shirt, black silk tie, and Gucci dress shoes.

  “Looking good, my pet.”

  The archdemon Belial was standing in my bathroom.

  Shit.

  I snatched the curtain up across my upper body to hide it. “What the hell are you doing here, you son of a bitch?”

  He let his gaze drag across what he could see of me. “We need to talk. With all the charms and incantations you have knowledge of, this was the only place I could think of where you’d be vulnerable.”

  “Vulnerable? How did you get in my hotel room in the first place?”

  “Your roommate was loathe to cooperate, but even the Honey Badger cannot defeat an archdemon with orders.”

  I glared at him, but it was only to hide a pinprick of fear blossoming through my chest. “Where is she?”

  “Relax. I have no intention of harming such an interesting specimen. She’ll come around shortly, after we’ve conducted our business. Speaking of which, I think it’s time you got out of there.”

  “I’m not going anywhere near you naked,” I snarled, trying to analyze the situation. As always, he had the upper hand—strength, speed, and ruthlessness to boot. My Glock was in the bedroom. No way I could get to it before he got his hands on me. I had a backup weapon in here, but it would take a miracle to get to it with him in the way.

  Belial chuckled. “Forgive me. I must have made that sound like a suggestion. Get out of the shower or I will happily help you out of it.”

  The threat carried in his emphasis on “help” made me realize I’d used up the last bit of his patience. Time for Plan B.

  I slapped my hand down on the faucet. “In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti benedicam aquae.”

  I grabbed the handheld spout and sprayed the now purified water straight at his smirking face. He dodged, but the tiny bathroom prevented him from getting far. He slammed against the far wall. The water skimmed over his right hand. The skin flushed an angry red and steam billowed forth, making him hiss in pain.

  He examined the fresh burn and then tossed an impressed look my way. “Using your own shower to defend yourself. Clever girl. However, you and I both know that you are stalling. You’re not going to defeat an archdemon with some holy bath water. I’ll offer you a truce. Put it down and we’ll talk.”

  I kept a firm grip on the sprayer, not pointing it at him but considering it. “We’ll talk when you give me my damn towel.”

  He clucked his tongue. “Still stubborn and irritatingly modest. Very well. Here you are.”

  The demon held it out with his uninjured hand. I glared harder. “Toss it to me.”

  He rolled his eyes and obeyed. I caught it with my left hand and shifted behind the curtain, wrapping it around myself. It was stupid, really. He’d seen me naked before in my ex-boyfriend’s memories after he killed him and inhabited his body. I didn’t like thinking about it. Terrell had been dead over two years now and it was my fault. I’d visited his grave a few months back and put fresh flowers on it. He liked lilies. Always had.

  “There. Happy now?” he asked.

  I didn’t answer. The holy water really was just a stall. I couldn’t kill him with it. I’d have to get out of the tub, which is what the bastard wanted. Dammit.

  I let go of the sprayer and set one foot on the bathmat. He didn’t move—just kept staring at me with that infuriating smug look. So far, so good.

  The sole of my right foot hit the bathmat and then I realized too late that his long, narrow shoe was only inches away from it. He used his heel to jerk the mat towards him. I stumbled and fell forward, landing right in his waiting arms. He coiled them around my waist in an instant, crushing me against his chest, grinning like a Cheshire cat. I made a strangled sound as his hand closed around my right cheek—and not the one on my face.

  “Why, Jordan, I never knew you were so clumsy,” the demon purred, watching as I struggled to free myself from his vise-like grip. I tried to knee him in the groin, but my legs were awkwardly positioned—bent at the knees, ankles splayed out in opposite directions with no balance.

  “Here, let me help you up.” He threw me against the adjacent wall, pinning my wrists beneath his huge hands, crucifixion style. The force of the movement knocked my skull against the wall, leaving me dazed. Thankfully, the towel managed to hold on, but I felt the material slip an inch lower.

  “There. This is much more familiar, isn’t it?”

  I balled my hands into fists, opening my mouth to curse him, but he cut me off. “Don’t bother trying one of your fancy incantations. It won’t work. Besides, I can think of much better things for you to do with that pretty little mouth of yours—”

  “Shut up!” I spat. “What do you want? If you’re here to kill me, just do it so I don’t have to listen to you talk anymore.”

  He released that Paul Frees-esque chuckle again, an unnerving sound from so close. “So hostile. I’m here for information. You and your friends have found an awful lot of coins, which leads me to believe you are working with David Faust. Where is he, pray tell?”

  “You must have lost your damn mind if you think I’m going to tell you anything.”

  He smiled. The gesture was poison incarnate, practically dripping with a savage promise. “I was hoping you’d say that. You see, while you have witnessed my interrogation methods before, you’ve never been on the receiving end of them. I’m going to warn you right now to cooperate or you’re not going to like what happens next.”

  “Save your threats. We don’t know where he is. You should know that by now. I thought demons were supposed to be smart.”

  The smile wilted around the edges. I’d bruised his ego. Ha. “It is not that simple any more. Nothing is these days.”

  Curiosity bubbled up my chest. I spoke without thinking. “What are you talking about?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “I thought I was the one interrogating you.”

  “Yeah, you’re doing a great job of it. I could squeal at any moment.”

  A smirk appeared in full force. “Poor choice of words, my dear.”

  He leaned in towards my neck, exhaling hot air across my throat that made me shiver. He kissed my collarbone, snaking his tongue across the skin to catch a couple of stray water droplets. Dammit. Why did I forget how literal he was?

  “Stop it,” I said through clenched teeth, forcing myself not to breathe hard because it would make the towel fall off. It was a dangerous game between us. He hadn’t pulled it off because he wanted to toy with me—both my mind and my body—but his patience wouldn’t last forever.

  “Why?” Belial whispered, climbing higher with each kiss, his satin hair tickling my shoulders. “You and the archangel have been separated for months. How long has it been since you’ve felt a man’s touch, Jordan? How long since you’ve died a little death?”

  A thought occurred to me. “If you want to know so bad, maybe you should find out firsthand. The bed’s right through there, y’know.”

  He raised his face enough to look me in the eye. “Nice try. I saw the blood trap rather cleverly made on the bottom of your mattress. Maybe you did know I would come for you someday.”

  A sweltering sensation swept over my cheeks. He just made me blush. I hated him so much in that one moment that I thought I’d burst into flames.

  He laughed when he saw the embarrassment creep across my features
. “I think I forgot how fun you are, Seer. I almost regret the path we’ve been put on.”

  “And what path is that?”

  His expression sobered. “My rank as a Prince of Hell is being questioned. After all, thanks to you, I have failed my master on major cataclysmic events more than once.”

  “Hasn’t that happened before?”

  “Occasionally, but it was never caused by the same person.”

  Slowly, I realized what he was getting at. “What are you saying, Belial?”

  He leaned closer, not stopping until our noses brushed against each other and our breath mingled together. He still smelled the same—like spicy cologne and Lucky Strike cigarettes. I couldn’t slow my heart rate to save my life. The scariest part was that I couldn’t tell if he was going to kiss me or kill me.

  “My master brought me before him, before the throne in Hell, alone. He told me that he liked my ambitions. He told me I was his favorite because I was heartless and cunning. But he also said that I had been corrupted. Poisoned. Infested by a disgusting parasite.”

  He met my gaze. “You.”

  I licked my lips, my voice unsteady. “What did he tell you to do?”

  “You know what he told me to do,” he murmured.

  “He told you to kill me. Personally.”

  “Yes,” the demon said. “Yes, he did.”

  I swallowed hard. What a bad way to go. Taken out wet and naked in the bathroom of a shitty hotel in Connecticut. I imagined dying at least once a day and it was never like this, not even in my weirdest nightmares.

  “Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Do I at least get the chance to defend myself?” Wow, I managed to sound tough instead of scared. Go me.

  He trailed his right hand down from my wrist, across my forearm, my bicep, until his fingers were wrapped around my neck. He didn’t squeeze. He just left it there, stroking the fine hairs on my nape, seeming to be lost in thought.

  “No.”

  I didn’t move, paralyzed with the terrible thought that this was my last moment on earth. Then, he slid his hand down until his palm mapped the edge of the scar over my heart, the place where he’d stabbed me with the Spear of Longinus shortly after we met. He may have been an evil sack of slime, but he seemed oddly sentimental when it came to my scar. I had no such attachment. I kept it as a reminder, not a fond memory.

  Worse still, once upon a time, he’d had a similar scar over his heart that I’d made with an angel feather the first time we ever fought. However, the night we raised the Leviathan, Michael and I destroyed Belial’s human body. This one was just a copy, not the original, but I knew deep down that the scar was still there in spirit. We were connected through a mark he’d made on my soul when he kissed me. I had unknowingly ingested his blood, and he ingested mine. Two more steps and I’d be his servant for all eternity. I had avoided it so far, but he showed no signs of relenting until now.

  “No,” he said again, a little louder this time. “I won’t kill you now. Your story is not ready to end, Jordan Amador. When I kill you, when I end your life and renew my own, the timing must be flawless.”

  My fuzzy mind finally put two and two together. “So this is your version of a courtesy call?”

  “So to speak.”

  “Such manners,” I said, regaining some iota of confidence. Or, more likely, stupidity. “Your mother would be proud. Now hit the road, Jack, and don’t come back.”

  “Careful,” he said. “I said I wouldn’t kill you. That does not mean you are safe tonight, my pet. I haven’t had my fill of you just yet.”

  A tingle shot up my spine. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what caused it. Then again, I was only fooling myself. He was a sadistic, murderous, heartless predator…and yet somehow, he always drew me into him. He’d called me a parasite, but the truth was that we both were. I could no more get him out of my system than he could. And he hadn’t been lying. It felt like an eternity since the last time someone kissed me.

  “What are you saying, Belial? This is a conjugal visit?”

  He shrugged. “Perhaps, if you want it to be.”

  “Well,” I said, placing my free hand on his chest and trailing my fingertips down the buttons on the center of his shirt. “If you’re going to kill me, the least you can do is make up for all the shit you’ve put me through over the years. You stabbed me in the heart. You murdered my ex-boyfriend. You tricked me into releasing the Leviathan. You helped break up my marriage. I’d say that you definitely owe me something in return.”

  He inhaled sharply at my touch, his gaze dropping to my recently moistened lips. “And just what would that be?”

  “I don’t know. Use your imagination.”

  “Be careful what you wish for, my pet.” I didn’t resist when he grabbed a handful of my towel and jerked me forward, hard. I collided with him and in seconds his lips were on mine. The kiss was ravenous and selfish. The only thing that kept the towel up was the front of our bodies smashed together.

  I shoved him up against the sink. He grunted as his lower back hit the counter, his fingers still clutching the edge of the damp cloth around me. I ghosted my palm across the flat plains of his abs, stopping when I brushed against the belt in his slacks. I undid it and tossed the accessory aside, undoing the first button to the pants. He groaned into my mouth, tugging at the folded end of the towel to bare my skin to the humid air. Just before he could, I snuck one hand around the rim of the counter until I found what I’d been looking for.

  I slid the silver angel feather from its hidden spot and stabbed him in the right shoulder. He cried out as the tip glowed white-hot and burned through his shirt, turning a patch of perfect skin cherry-red. A second degree burn, no doubt. Good.

  Belial stumbled backwards, nursing the wound, and smacked into the closed door. He panted heavily as he glared at me. I stood there with one hand on the feather, the other keeping my towel from falling.

  “Goddamn it!” he snarled. “I cannot believe I fell for that again.”

  I smirked, giving him a patronizing look. “That’s what happens when you think with your little brain instead of your big brain.”

  I stepped forward. He turned the doorknob, backpedaling into the bedroom. The grin on my face expanded. I probably looked maniacal and somehow didn’t care.

  “What’s the matter, Bels? Come back and gimme some sugar.”

  His face flushed red with anger, but the uncertainty in his eyes told me otherwise. He knew the feather could kill him and he’d be screwed if he ended up in Hell with yet another failure under his belt. It would be a fitting punishment. He’d deserve it a thousand times over but…something made me stop and think. Maybe I didn’t have to do it just yet. He may still have been useful after all.

  “So now what?” he sneered. “You going to kill me, Seer?”

  “Tempting, but I think I have another use for you.”

  I cocked my hand up as if to stab him and he jerked backwards. His long legs bumped against the mattress, distracting him. I extended one finger and pushed him. He toppled over onto the bed, too surprised to catch himself. A faint red light glowed from underneath it. He was trapped like a bug under a glass. Perfect.

  Belial sighed, dropping his head on the sheets in defeat. “I suppose I had that one coming.”

  I set the feather on the nightstand, relaxing somewhat because I knew he couldn’t get off the bed to hurt me. The spell encapsulated the bed and only the bed. If he tried to leave it, he’d burn to a crisp. “Hey, at least you got what you wanted—you’re in my bed, aren’t you?”

  He glared as he sat up. “I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

  “This is me trembling in my boots. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get dressed. Stick around.”

  I shut the bathroom door behind me. Then, I collapsed against it and let out a weak, shaky breath. Often, I played things close to the vest, but this time he almost had me. Once, Belial told me he admired the fact that I seemed to be good at using my bra
in to get myself out of jams. Tonight, I’d used my body. I didn’t like that, not in the least. I may not have been with Michael any longer, but it didn’t mean I liked kissing the archdemon who ruined my life on several occasions. Or at least I hoped I didn’t.

  I donned my bra and underwear and started to put my robe on, but then a rather sick idea crept into my head.

  “Parasite, huh?” I muttered, examining myself in the mirror. I ran a small towel through my tangled black locks and parted my hair down the middle so it spilled around my shoulders. My lips looked a bit fuller thanks to his brutish kisses. All in all, I did look pretty ravishing by normal standards. Who said I couldn’t be a little demonic?

  I waltzed out of the bathroom in just my underwear, making sure to put a sway in my hips as I walked to the closet. Belial’s alien eyes tracked my movements. I felt his gaze like twin lasers gliding over my damp skin.

  “I suppose you think you’re funny,” he said with no small amount of venom.

  “Hysterical, actually,” I said, choosing a shirt. I faced him, holding it up.

  “What do you think? Red or black? I have this in both colors.”

  Belial sent me a look that should have made me explode into a sopping pile of gore. It instead made me feel really, really great about myself.

  I shrugged. “Feelin’ the red. What about bottoms: jeans or Capris?”

  He just kept glowering. Marvelous. I chose a pair of black jeans and pulled them on extra slow, making sure to bend over. I ventured a peek over my shoulder. There was a vein in his neck that was throbbing. Oh, yes. This was definitely the best night of my life.

  I zipped up the pants and found some boots. By then, Belial had regained the ability to speak. “I hope you realize this is going to cost you later.”

  “Undoubtedly so,” I said, lacing up. “But until then, you’re my little demon bitch. Now unless you want another hole in your shoulder, you’re going to tell me everything you know about the Judas coins.”

  “Or what? You’ll leave me here? Blood spells are only temporary. I’ll get out of this one, and when I do, I’m going to redecorate this tacky little room with your entrails.”