A Soul for Love, page 6
"Isn't it plainly obvious?"
Fuck, she’s hot when she’s angry.
"Not really.” Ok, so maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say, but he just couldn’t seem to stop himself. He had been trying to wind her up for days in an attempt to get her to respond. Now that he had gotten to her, he was damn well going to enjoy it.
"Fucking typical! It is always the damn same with you people, you humans. God? A bloke. Satan? A bloke! Death? A fucking bloke. Okay, so maybe the first two you got right, but really, is it so hard to have an open mind and think, ‘you know what, maybe they could be a woman.’ I mean really, someone sees a picture of some spooky figure in a cloak and automatically they have to assume that it is a fucking bloke.” Her voice rose as the words continued to spew from her mouth. “Well sorry to disappoint but no, Death is not some big, brainless bloke. Death is me. I am Death. Do I need to explain it with diagrams and dolls?"
Fuck she was pissed… and he loved it.
“I didn't mean to offend,” he said calmly. And he hadn’t, far from it in fact. He was just so stunned by the breath-taking beauty before him that his mouth had just got away from him. There had been a small part of him, a small voice in the back of his head, that had thought that maybe she would be like a lot of the demons he had met… unattractive, to him at least. Not that looks were of any real importance, but sorry, even he couldn’t find entrails for hair attractive. Seriously, some of the demons he had seen walking around Hell were just plain gross.
“Here, maybe this will make it more real for you.” Grabbing the fastenings of her cloak and ripping them open, Death exposed the lush body she was hiding beneath… Her very naked body, except for the smallest, tiniest, sexiest black thong he had ever seen.
His mouth dropped open, practically to the floor. All the blood in his body instantly moved south, straight down to his quickly hardening cock. She was even more perfect than he had imagined, curved in all the right places. His mouth watered with the thought of suckling on the tightened peaks of her breasts, of kneeling before her and tasting her sweet pussy. He wanted her, badly. And judging by the very visible damp patch at the apex of her thighs, she wanted him too.
Chapter 11
Well, she had gone and done it now. She had been fine, a little tense perhaps, but fine all the same. Then that stupid troll had to show up with her clean laundry. Which mostly consisted of panties, what with her going through around twenty pairs a day at the moment. Talk about a stressful day at the office. And then she had to make it a whole lot fucking worse. She had to take the damn cloak off.
She knew that she didn’t have anything on under it except for her small lace panties that didn’t really hide much, knew he would see her in all her glory… almost. But she just couldn’t help herself. And now here she was, in an empty office, with the only human she had ever felt attracted to. Okay, well more than attracted to, but she wasn’t going to get into that now.
If she wasn’t so angry – not just with him but with herself also – she may have acted on his reaction to her body. May have gone over to him and kissed his gaping mouth. Or even better, pulled the hard shaft that was straining against the fly of his jeans out and sucked it into her hot, wet mouth. It was certainly tempting. But no, instead she flung the cloak off her shoulders and slung the heavy thing at him, expecting it to hit him hard in the face. But that never happened. The cloak flying towards him seemed to snap him out of it.
Reaching out, Hudson caught it just in time, stealing that little bit of satisfaction from her. Damn, she so wanted to see it hit him, for him to stagger under its weight. It was his entire fault that she had had to put up with wearing it almost constantly lately. “You finished staring at my breasts yet?” she asked, a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t seem to help it. There was just something about him.
Fuck! Why did he have to affect her so?
“What man wouldn’t want to gaze upon them?” he flirted back, obviously over his initial shock. “Or get his mouth on them,” he added with a wink.
How was it possible that she felt that wink all the way down to her core? She was so going to need another underwear change sometime soon, she was dripping arousal as it was, but his words brought a whole new gush of cream.
“They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
Not knowing how to react to his words, no one had ever told her she was beautiful before, Death just stood there, lost. But Hudson wasn’t, he was slowly making his way across the room, his eyes filled with desire. Need. Want. And focused completely on her.
His hand came up to stroke her cheek, her breath catching in her throat, a shiver running through her body. The moment his hand came into contact with her skin, it felt like she had been zapped by a million volts of electricity. What was that?
“Did you feel that?” he gasped, his eyes wide, breath coming as fast as hers. He’d felt it too?
“I felt it,” she panted, gazing into his eyes. She had never realised how blue they were before, how chilling… and she loved them, though they terrified her as well. It was as if they looked deep within her, seeing everything. There was nowhere to hide from that gaze, no secrets to keep… they saw everything.
He stepped closer, his eyes boring into her own, lips lowering. Her breathing picked up, her chest rising and falling rapidly. This was it. This was the moment she had secretly and selfishly been longing for. Fifteen long years she had waited for this moment, and finally, it was going to happen.
“What have you done to me?” he whispered, his lips only a breath away from hers. She could ask him the same thing. Never before had she felt this. This draw. This need. This desire. She was bewitched. He stopped there, giving her the final choice. Should she move that last millimetre? Close the gap between them and seal her lips to his? She wasn’t so sure, but she wanted to, badly. But he was leaving soon. They only had a few days left before he would be returned to the land of the living, returned to live his life free of Lucifer. A life away from Hell. Was it selfish of her to want him to remain?
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Flereous chose that precise moment to enter the office, his sudden entrance causing them to jump apart. Which was a good thing, right? She didn't want to hook up with the damn human. Didn't want the complication of screwing an unclaimed soul, a visitor to Hell. He was leaving at the end of the week. Okay, so Lucifer had said he would only be leaving if his contract hadn't been completed by then, but from the frazzled look upon the boss’s face every time someone brought up the subject of Hudson's contract, he was no nearer to giving the human what he wanted than ever.
What the hell had he asked for?
Smiling, his eyes widening a little when they fell upon her and Hudson, he said. “Well, well. What have we here? I hope I wasn’t interrupting.” His wink at Hudson not going unnoticed as he closed the door.
“Not at all,” Death sighed moving to sit behind the desk. If Flereous saw her damp panties, she knew for a fact that he would happily point them out.
“Oh really,” he laughed. “And you just randomly decided to get naked in front of our boy here.” Clapping him on the back with a grin.
“I was hot. You know how heavy and unbreathable that damn cloak is.” Which was true, so she wasn’t technically lying.
“If you say so, sweetheart. But I have to say, you could have kept it on for another day at least. Now, I’ve lost the pool.”
Shaking her head, she wasn’t surprised to hear that the guys in the office had been betting on her newfound silence. She should have got in on that bet herself.
Grabbing her black silk bathrobe from the laundry basket she shrugged it on, covering her body, the heat and desire she had been feeling just moments before gone completely.
“So are you ready to hear the good news or the bad news?” Flereous said as he took a seat in front of her desk. The lack of a smirk on his face made it obvious that he was back in full work mode. Though she was in no doubt that he would forget what he had walked in upon.
“Hit me with it.”
Nodding in understanding, he spoke. “Another soul was sent to the wrong place.”
Ever since the new team had taken over there seemed to be more and more souls getting lost, mixed up. And over the past few days, it seemed to be getting even worse. “What happened?”
“Hiss was sent to collect a soul, just your average collection, nothing special. Everything ran smoothly. That is until he returned to the office with the final paperwork this morning and discovered that the soul wasn’t meant for hell, but was set for reincarnation.”
“Oh shit!”
“What’s wrong? Can’t you just send the soul back, send it wherever they go to be reborn?”
If only it were that simple. “No, I'm afraid not. Once a soul is collected it can only go one or two ways. Up or down. There will be no reincarnation for that soul now.” And a whole load of trouble for her. “So you said there was good news?”
“Yes, Dee, there is,” he smiled, sagging back in the chair, a sigh of relief escaping his lips even as an evil smile spread upon his face. “Lucifer wants to speak to you about it.”
“And that’s good news how?”
“Well, he doesn’t want to see me.”
The smug bastard!
Chapter 12
It was never a good thing to be called before Lucifer, at least not when you knew there was a problem. But at least this time she hadn’t walked in on Candy with the boss’s cock stuck down her throat. That had to be a bonus, right?
His eyes raging, his presence more menacing than she had seen in years. He didn’t yell. Didn’t shout. But, if anything, the calm way in which he spoke was a whole lot worse.
“What the fuck is going on with that team of yours? Every five minutes there seems to be another soul gone missing or sent to the wrong bastard place. Do you have any idea how many souls I have lost in the past week due to that crap team of minions you decided to hire?”
Anger flared through her veins. She gripped the arms of the chair tightly, her nails digging into the leather. How dare he blame her for this.
“I decided to hire? Oh no, don’t go putting the blame on me. You hired them. You refused to increase the last teams pay. You refused to negotiate. Oh, and let’s not forget the most important thing… You killed the whole team of experienced soul collectors, leaving us with a bunch of dumb as fuck minions that keep fucking up.”
Okay, so maybe she had overstepped the line here. Lucifer was pissed as it was, and now she had shouted at him. Did she want to end up in the pit?
“There is no need to point fingers, Death. I merely want to know what you are going to do about it,” he smiled, trying his best to put on an innocent face. He was messing with her head. Playing mind games. One minute menacing and angry, the next calm and reasonable. But she would take it, say what she needed to say and get the hell out of there and back to the office before he could think of something else to yell at her about.
“To be honest, I have no clue. Everything in the office is running smoothly, everyone doing their job. I just can’t understand how this is happening.” The files were sent straight from Lucifer’s office for collecting and dealt with instantly. The chance of anyone having a chance to mess with them was near zero. A few times in the past Lucifer had changed a file or two, messed with them a little, but that was him. And anyway, even he wouldn’t fuck about with his own system this much. He was like an obsessive collector, and souls were his thing. He wanted them all. “But I will find out.” And when she did, the fuckers that had been messing with her business would pay.
“Well you better, and fast. In the past week alone nineteen souls were lost, processed as rebirth when they were meant to come to me. Three good souls have ended up here, and now a rebirth too! This is a major fuck up. I'm just glad that none of the souls destined for him, have ended up in the pit, or worse.”
So was she. But, with the way things were going, it was only a matter of time.
After the meeting – which was cut short by Gigi’s sudden appearance at the office door, and her lack of clothing – she headed back to the office. What was it with these succubuses and never wearing many clothes? The image of the bitches running their hands all over Hudson’s body, pressing their overly large breasts against him when they had grabbed him off the street the other day filled her head.
Fucking sluts!
And the worst thing was he’d looked completely happy with them doing it too. Knew I should have put up a bigger fight about them moving in down the street. But what could she do? He was male. Warm-blooded and thought with his dick. He had made a hasty retreat from them once Flereous had filled him in about how they fed, though. So maybe, if she showed him around the place, gave him the grand tour of Hell, he would keep from letting other females touch him. Wasn’t a very good idea when you still had your soul to lose. Lucifer wasn’t the only one interested in them.
Running her fingers through her hair, gripping tightly at the roots, she pulled in frustration, causing tiny tingles of pain upon her scalp. She was stressed, more stressed than she had been the other week when she had been stuck working all by herself. Someone was messing with the files, they had to be. That was the only conclusion she could come up with. But who? Who would be that stupid, would risk Lucifer’s wrath. Whoever it was she was going to damn well make sure they suffered for what they had put her through when she caught them. And she would catch them.
After returning from Lucifer’s office she had done nothing but look through all the incident reports, trying her best to find any information she could, any pattern, that might give her a clue as to who was behind the sabotage.
What was she going to do? The way things were going, it wouldn’t be long before someone from above was sent down to find out what was going on. The last thing she needed right now was those winged fuckers from upstairs sticking their noses in.
“Arrgh!” she screamed, dropping her head down on the desk in frustration. What was she to do? With the amount of staff she had, it wasn’t exactly possible to watch them all twenty-four-seven. And would any of them really do that? So yes, they were demons – sort of – officially minions of Hell, but they hadn’t been in the job long enough for Lucifer to have pissed them off enough that one of them would do this, had they? And there was also the fact that minions weren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. Were they even smart enough to pull something like this?
She really needed to spend more time on the main floor, get to know the new staff better. She didn’t know any of them, not really. Flereous, she talked to. But she had known him for centuries, they were friends. The others, she might have nodded in greeting a time or two, but not once had she actually spoken to any of them. Yeah, she definitely needed to put in some work getting to know everyone in the office… starting with a certain human.
A small smile pulled at her lips despite all her problems. Yeah, she would start with Hudson, and get to know him and every part of him very well.
Chapter 13
Placing the last book in the box, Hudson sighed, arching his back to dispel his sore muscles. He had spent the whole day clearing out that last storage room, packing up all the files and books. The files had already been taken away to the correct room; all that was left to do now was to take this last box down to Death’s office. No, not Death… Dee. Before she had left the office the day before to meet with Lucifer, she had demanded that he call her Dee. “You know who I am now. You might as well know my preferred name,” she had told him.
He still couldn’t believe what had happened. One moment she had been shouting at him, the next he had been across the room about to taste her lips for the first time. He had been so close to tasting those sweet plump lips. Damn Flereous. His sudden appearance had quickly put a stop to that.
Fucking demon!
Picking up the box, he exited the room, passing the same blue imp from the other day. Its teeth bared, a snarl leaving its lips. And he received the same two-fingered salute as it disappeared through one of the many doors.
Arriving at Dee’s office door, he took a deep breath. He hadn’t seen her all day and was a little worried about what her reaction to him would be. Would she go back to the non-talking, hidden beneath the clock Death? The angry yelling at him Death? Or would she be Dee, the breathtakingly beautiful woman that made his pulse race and his cock harden?
There was only one way to find out.
Knocking lightly on the door, entering when he heard Dee’s answering call, Hudson smiled at the sight that met him. Stood upon her tiptoes, attempting to place a book upon the top shelf, was Dee, in all her black leather glory.
Dropping the box, he raced over, grasping her waist to steady her as she pushed the book’s spine with two fingers up onto the shelf. “You ever heard of a ladder? Less chance of falling on your ass.”
“And less chance of you catching me,” she teased. “I take it those books are for me?” indicating to the box he had left by the door.
“Yeah. The last load.”
Taking his hand, he felt a shiver run through her as their fingers laced together. It was nice to know that he affected her as much as she did him. He only had to think of her, and he instantly became hard. Now, with her mouth-watering curves encased in skin-tight leather, he could hammer nails with the rock in his pants.
Pulling him towards the door, a smile pulled at her lips, a sparkle of mischief filled her eyes. “Well, I think that lot can wait till tomorrow. I have better things to accomplish tonight. Come on, it’s time I gave you the grand tour.”
* * *
Hell really was a remarkable place. In the two hours since they had left the office, Dee had shown him so much. There was the Vault, a large expanse of wasteland where the souls Lucifer had no important need for roamed. The Pit, where the darkest and most evil of souls were driven mad, even madder than they already were, through torture. The screams and cries coming from the dark entrance in the ground would give him nightmares for years. The Nests, where real fire-breathing dragons nested, more roaming the red sky above. And then there was the Arch, a strange portal surrounded by an arch of black stone that led, apparently, to other worlds.
