Hell Bent

by Blaire Valentine

  "Tabby," he said. I didn't give him the chance to say anything. I ran at him so hard that I knocked him over onto the couch. He didn't get mad. He just laughed and held me close to him while I took in his scent again. I had missed that smell so much. It was so unique to him.

  He smelled like musk and mulled wine and wood and leather. Sexy as fuck but comforting too.

  I enjoyed it for as long as I could, but of course, I had to let him have it then. He had worried me so much.

  "Where the fuck were you!" I exclaimed, pushing him off of me "I was worried sick!"

  "You sound like a housewife," he said with a smile, "A housewife whose husband has been playing the field. Which I haven't, by the way. I've just been busy. I didn't think you would get this worried about me."

  "You didn't think I would get worried? What the fuck! I don't know what kind of otherworld shithouse logic you have but I can tell you I was worried sick," I frowned, "Why haven't you been reaping?"

  "I have been reaping," he insisted. I shook my head.

  "There was a nightclub fire. A massive one. No one died," I said. Death shrugged and pulled a cigarette from his jeans and lit it. He wasn't usually a smoker, as far as I knew.

  "That's good, isn't it? Did you want people to die or something?" he asked.

  "No, of course not. But it doesn't make sense that no one did. Even the news reporter thought it was fucking crazy. People should have died. They would have if you were doing your job. But you weren't," I said.

  I watched Death take a drag of a cigarette. I didn't know that vices like that held any appeal to him. I was learning something new every day now.

  "It happens. It's strange but it happens," he said. I leaned forward.

  "You know what doesn't happen? Girls throwing themselves out of windows and then surviving. Unless it's a ground floor window. Where were you?" I asked.

  "Wait. You jumped out of a window?" he asked. His facial expression became horrified. I hadn't known it would bother him that much. Part of it made me happy. He gave a shit about me even if he had a really funny way of showing it.

  He grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.

  "Tabby, tell me right now. Did you try to kill yourself while I was away?"

  "Sure I did. I was under the influence. Not of drugs or booze. Of a spirit," I said.

  "A spirit?"

  I explained the whole Moira situation while Death looked on disapprovingly. He groaned and told me that I had been way too reckless. I didn't even mention the first demon we had accidentally released. He would surely kill me about that.

  "But," he reached out and touched my cheek, "I'm glad that you're OK."

  His thumb caressed my skin and then ran across my lips. I couldn't help it. I sucked it.

  Death took a deep breath and pulled it away. I knew if I pounced on him now he wouldn't say no to me. He wanted me as much as I wanted him.

  "Tabby," he said, "Let's go on a date."

  "A date? Like where?" I asked. I'd been on a few dates in my time and absolutely none of them seemed like suitable activities to do with Death himself. What movie would we go to see? He basically didn't need to eat so he wouldn't get a blockbuster combo. I'd be stuck eating by myself and I hated that. We could go dancing, but that would be awkward. What if someone overdosed in the club bathroom? Death would have to pull himself away from me and go clean up the mess. That wouldn't be fun either.

  To tell the truth I would have been perfectly happy to just stay in bed and fuck and cuddle and maybe watch some TV. I just wanted Death to myself. I didn't want to share him with anyone.

  "Somewhere you haven't been before," he reached out his hand, "Will you go with me?"

  I paused and looked from his hand to his face and back again. He was so honest. So decent. He wanted me and not just for my body. He was a good man.

  "I'm not dressed for it," I said.

  "You look beautiful," he said.

  That was all it took. I reached out and took his hand. I didn't even have time to blink and we were somewhere else.

  It was a garden. A beautiful garden with complicated shrubbery underneath a night sky. A table for two was set up especially for us. It was beautiful.

  I looked down at myself. Suddenly I was wearing a beautiful red dress. It was classier than anything I'd ever owned but it still suited my personality. It was amazing.

  "What is this place?" I asked. Death smiled at my reaction. He was pleased.

  "This is a place that's usually reserved for Demons. But I don't like following the rules. Please sit down," he pulled out the chair for me and I sat down. It was weird. It was like being on a real date, except for it wasn't awkward. It was romantic and exciting and beautiful, just like you imagine dates will be before they go wrong.

  Death poured me a glass of red wine and then poured one for himself. Then we had our date. Just like a normal couple. It was perfect.

  Death paused for a second and smiled.

  "Tabby, you look so beautiful tonight. I mean you always look beautiful but there's something about you in a red dress under the night sky. You look like art," he said. I could feel my skin flushing but I didn't let on that he was embarrassing me.

  "You're beautiful too, Death."

  The smile on his face was suddenly tinged with sadness. He swallowed like he had a lump in his throat. I could tell that he wasn't sure if he should speak or not.

  He did.

  "That's not my name."

  "What?" I said. That wasn't what I was expecting him to say.

  "Death. It's not my name."

  "Then what is your name?" I asked. Death shook his head and took a sip of his wine.

  "I don't know," he said, "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. This was supposed to be a special evening for us."

  "Special?" my heart started to race, "Special how? You're not leaving, are you? You can't leave me again."

  Death looked up at the sky. The stars seemed so close to us that it felt like we could reach out and touch them.

  "I'm not the first Death. And I won't be the last," he looked back at me, "There's been a lot of us. And all of them have come to the same end."

  I tried hard to take in what he was saying to me. It was just so much.

  "What end?" I asked. My voice was low. It had never occurred to me that Death would have an end. Sure, I knew I was most likely not going to live to be old. Even if I did somehow remove the curse I was still going to die someday. Our relationship wouldn't last forever. But Death, Death himself was eternal. The thought of that had given me great comfort over the years. Now I was learning that I had been mistaken.

  He exhaled.

  "They fell in love," he said, "Each and every one of them got too attached to one of their targets and gave everything up for them. They quit and you don't quit being Death. There's no two week's notice. It's considered to be treason," he said, "Their souls were all torn apart by hellhounds and then banished to the white realm. It's a realm of nothing. Just emptiness for all eternity. Hell would be a dream in comparison."

  He took another deep breath.

  "And that is most likely what is going to happen to me."

  The thought of it made me sick. I'd been so scared of dying but at least if I died I'd go somewhere. Being banished to nothing for all eternity was a fate worse than death. A punishment for the mere crime of falling in love? It was so extreme. I hated to think of that happening to my Death. It just couldn't.

  "It won't happen," I said quickly, "It won't happen because you're not in love with me."

  "Tabby..."

  "No!" I stood up, "You're not in love with me, Death. I won't let you be."

  "It's too late for that," he said sadly, "I thought you might take it as a compliment. I'm willing to endure nothing forever because I know that my memories of you will keep me sane for a while."

  "There has to be a way around this. You've been around for so long and you've done such a good job up to now. There has to be a loophole or an appeal o
r something," I said. Death nodded.

  "If I knew my name."

  "Your name? How would that help?"

  "There's a lot of power in a demon's name," he said, "That's what I am. That's what I was before. A demon. I remember that much."

  I leaned across the table and knocked over my glass of wine onto the grass. I didn't give a shit. It was the last thing on my mind now that Death was in danger.

  "You have to remember it," I said. I clasped his hands and he squeezed back, but shook his head.

  "I've tried. For years I've tried. It's no use."

  "So you're just going to let them take you?" I sat back in my chair and folded my arms like a grumpy toddler. It was the only thing that I could think to do that didn't involve bursting into floods of tears.

  Death shook his head.

  "I never said that."

  "I'll find out your name," I said, "I'll do it if you can't."

  Death nodded, but he didn't look like he believed me.

  "All right Tabby. You do that. But please, just in case. I have one request," he stood up and reached out his hand for me. I looked down at it.

  "What?"

  "Dance with me."

  I obliged. The two of us swayed together under the starlight. As his body pressed against mine I knew that this couldn't be the last time.

  I would find out his name if it was the last thing I ever did.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Tabby

  I didn't tell the guys what Death had told me. This felt like my job and it felt like I should do it alone. I didn't have much time. Things had already gotten out of hand.

  There were more news reports over the next few weeks. You would think that fewer people dying would be a blessing but it turned out to be a curse. Horrific car crashes where everyone survived, despite losing limbs, eyes and pints and pints of blood. People with rapidly worsening terminal illnesses writing in agony in their hospital beds as the medical staff looked on in awe. These people weren't supposed to be alive. Now that the release of death had been taken away from us, we were all suffering.

  Well, not me. I spent a lot of time locked inside a special room in the library downtown that very few people had access too. Connor got me in. Of course, he did. He knew every witch and warlock in the town and most of them seemed to respect him. I even got some secondhand respect out of it just for being associated with him. I wasn't quite ready to join a coven, but maybe someday I would be.

  I searched through the magic library for anything that might help me find out Death's name. I started with a massive tome of Demons and their summoning instructions. It seemed like a good place to begin, but by the third time, I'd fallen asleep on the book I knew that I wasn't going to get this done quickly.

  Connor got me into the library which was good of him. It was even better that he didn't ask too many questions. I supposed he thought I just wanted to be a better witch. Part of that was true too. Still, it wasn't a completely selfless task. He asked for one thing in return.

  I looked at him, dumbfounded.

  "A date?" I repeated. The librarian shushed me from her desk so I whispered, "A date? With me?"

  "Yeah," whispered Connor. He looked around, a little embarrassed.

  It was such a strange thing to ask for. The three of us had fallen into a routine now. Connor would work at the game store, Ezra would spend time with Joel and I would study. Then we would go back to someone's place and fuck. Unless Joel was there, then the three of us would watch cartoons until he passed out on his Daddy's lap. It was nice. It was better than being alone. It wasn't dating. That was for sure.

  "Why?"

  "Why? What do you mean why? I thought it might be nice to go somewhere and talk. We could brainstorm about the curse a little more. Or figure out what we're going to do to find Death. Things are getting pretty fucked up. I can't believe the fucker has just upped and left us like this," he said. I rolled my eyes.

  "That's not a date. That's a meeting."

  Connor sighed.

  "Fine. I just wanted to take you out somewhere nice because you're pretty and cool and I like talking to you. About normal stuff. Not Death," he said.

  That was more like it. I had to agree.

  I didn't think Ezra would care but it turned out he did care quite a bit. He saw me getting dolled up before Connor came from the game store to pick me up and there were questions.

  "Who are you meeting?" he asked as I applied my favorite crimson lipstick in my pocket mirror.

  "Connor."

  "Am I invited?"

  "I don't think so," I said, "How do I look?"

  I did a little twirl in my leather look mini skirt and high boots.

  "Ridiculous. Why aren't I invited? You're getting ready at my place. You're probably going to come back and fuck at my place. You're probably going to come back to my place and get fucked by me. So why can't I come?" he asked. His tone was gruff. I didn't think Ezra would give a shit about me dating Connor. He had no problem sharing with him most of the time. Was dating his hard limit.

  "I don't know. I guess you better ask Connor," I said. I was secretly enjoying Ezra's jealousy. It made me feel wanted.

  Before I could blink Ezra had me pinned by the wrists against a wall.

  "You're mine," he growled, "You might play with him sometimes but you belong to me."

  I opened my mouth to argue but suddenly his lips were on mine and I couldn't say a word. Ezra let go of my wrists and slid them around his shoulders, drawing him close to me.

  We were kissing so hard that it took a moment to notice Connor walk in.

  He laughed at the sight of us.

  "All right," he looked at Ezra and it was like he could read his mind, "You can come too."

  That's how the three of us started to more than just fucking. A few hours later we were sitting in a fancy restaurant, stuffed to our limits with gourmet food. I looked at my boys, then realized I was already thinking of them as my boys. That was weird. It was so strange and yet it made perfect sense.

  The only thing that didn't make sense was that one of them was missing.

  To be continued...

  #

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Thank You

  Thank you so much for reading the first book in the 'My Franken Harem' series. There are three more books to come.

  If you enjoyed this book please consider leaving review. It doesn't have to be a school book report. Even a line or two helps authors so much. Then make yourself a nice cup of tea. Tea is lovely!

  Thanks for reading!

  Blaire