Next-Door Incubus, page 20
part #1 of Becoming Lust Series
“Maria, don’t get mad, but—”
“You knew about this, didn’t you? Oh, my gosh. When were you going to tell me? Next thing, Zane is going to be one too.” She looked at Zane who scratched the back of his neck. “OH MY GOSH. You know what? I can’t do this right now.” She stuffed her mascara stick, her phone, and a bag of Lindor chocolates that Dr. U gave me last week from the kitchen counter into her purse and hurried to the door.
“Maria, wait!” Zane ran after her, but she slammed the door in his face.
Once he followed her out, Eros began his stride down the hallway toward my room. I wrapped my hand around his forearm and dug my heels into the ground. “Eros, please, I don’t want him to get hurt down there.”
“You don’t want him to get hurt?” He shook his head, lip curled in disgust. “Do you know how much danger you’ve been in with a fucking wrath demon living in your apartment with you?”
Yes, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“He hasn’t hurt me once. What makes you think that he’d hurt me now?”
He clenched his jaw and pulled his arm from my grasp. “Because my family would do anything that they can to break me, even if that means killing someone I love.”
My lips parted, and everything that we were fighting about seemed to vanish. All of my worries and all of my doubts were nothing now.
“You love me?” I whispered, shock running through me. Eros froze. His black eyes softened, and I found that strange comfort in their darkness again. I tried to steady my breathing, but it was no use. “Do you?”
Eros gulped. “You make me happy,” he said quietly. “Something I haven’t felt in a long time.” His voice nearly cracked toward the end. He gazed down for a moment at his ring. “And, with you, I don’t have to hide who I am. I feel free and my heart feels full and I don’t have to try too hard. It all comes so naturally.”
I smiled.
He grabbed my hands, intertwining our fingers. “But I don’t know what love feels like. I know a lot about lust and flirting and fucking, but I don’t know the first thing about love anymore. This feeling scares the heaven out of me… Is love supposed to do that?”
Was love supposed to smell like cinnamon? Was love supposed to have black eyes and curved horns and a heart that I wanted for my own? I didn’t know what love looked like or what it was supposed to do anymore either.
“What are you afraid of?” I asked softly.
He gazed at the floor, brows furrowed together in pain. “I don’t know.”
“What are you afraid of, Eros?” I asked again, wanting him to admit this fear to himself, because that was one of the first steps in overcoming it.
We waited in silence.
“I’m afraid of you,” he said. “I’m afraid that you’ll meet others like me and be turned off or—worse—you’ll be turned on. I’m afraid that you won’t like my style of living or that others will try to hurt you…” His voice faded. “I’m afraid that eventually you’ll think I’m worthless too.”
My heart hurt. His parents really screwed him up, and I hated them for that.
“Eros.” I brushed my hand across his cheek. “I can’t promise you that we’re going to have a perfect life, but I can promise you that I’ll never stop trying to show you your worth.”
He leaned into my hand and placed his over mine, eyes fluttering closed for a moment. “Dani, please, let me chain him. Just so I know that you’re safe.”
I played with his fingers. “Will it hurt him?”
“No, it’ll just get rid of the demon inside of him.”
“Okay,” I said. “As long as it doesn’t hurt him. He didn’t ask for this.”
Eros paused for a moment, then shook his head. “You truly care about people. You forgive them. You’re harmonious and divine, Dani. Too good for me.”
I playfully rolled my eyes. “And I suppose that you’re just this merciless demon who likes to tear people limb from limb and eat their rotting flesh. That definitely sounds like you.”
“Well, I do like eating you.”
I scrunched up my nose and shook my head at his infamous smirk. “Enough of that, we have to help Trevon.”
Chapter 38
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Eros said, standing in front of a supernatural black mist which was swirling around in the center of the living room. He had pushed the couches and coffee table into the kitchen to create the portal to Hell while I retrieved Trevon from my bedroom.
I shrugged as if talking Eros into bringing me to Hell was nothing. “I just wanna see what Lucifer’s kingdom is like.”
Truth was that I wanted to help Trevon and wanted to see if Mom’s stories of Hell were real. Was Hell everything people thought it was? Was it filled with deceit and violence and acts of terror?
Trevon shook his head next to me, the veins in his arms and neck pulsing violently again. “I don’t want to go, Dani.” He kept his gaze on me. “Why… how will this help me? I can barely survive with this—” He snapped his head to the side, eyes nearly rolling to the back of his head, but then took a deep breath.
“That’s why, Trevon,” I said. “The Chains will help you.” I cupped his face in my hands. “If I didn’t believe that this would help, I wouldn’t let Eros bring you there.”
Eros squeezed his way between Trevon and me. He grabbed my hand and snatched the back of Trevon’s neck. “Close your eyes.”
“What do you mean? What’s going to happen when we—”
Gusts of wind blew from the portal into my living room, making the curtains fly in all different directions. Eros pulled us into the portal, and I decided not to close my eyes because everything looked so surreal. Blurry objects. Hazy memories. Distant voices. All on a mesmerizing black backdrop. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from it if I tried.
We walked in further, and everything became clear. To my left, a woman who resembled Maria was smashing a bat into storefront windows in the city center, knocking antiques off of the shelves. To my right, a man who resembled Trevon was cutting a woman to pieces and storing her flesh in my kitchen fridge. And, straight ahead of me, a woman who looked exactly like Mom was pressing a knife to her own neck, watching drops of blood trickle down it in our old bedroom mirror as I watched from the bed—clapping.
My heart raced, and I shivered in fear. Someone grasped my hand and pulled me closer to them. I thought it was just Eros, but then another hand grabbed my shoulder, jerking me in another direction. Before I knew it, demons swarmed around me, baring rows of jagged teeth in my direction and reaching for me with their shredded flesh of arms.
“Dani!” someone yelled. It sounded so distant.
I needed to get out of here, but I couldn’t move. A demon reached for me, claws digging into my forearm and tearing my skin apart. I clutched my wound with a shaky hand.
Someone pulled me backward, and I bumped into a hard chest. Eros pushed away the demon, slid his hand around his neck, and snapped it. And, without another word, he pulled my face into his chest so I couldn’t see anything else. I inhaled his cinnamon, relaxing only slightly in his arms.
Jesus Christ, I’d never do this again. This was a mistake.
After a few more moments of listening to hissing and growling, we stopped. I reluctantly opened my eyes to see us standing in front of another portal. Inside of it, there were two demon guards. I sighed in relief, heart still pounding in my chest. Whatever we just went through was gone, at least for now.
“Brace yourself,” Eros said, pushing me into the hole. I somersaulted through the air a few times and struck the cold, hard cement on the other side. I posted my hands on the ground, trying to catch my breath. Maybe I should reconsider this whole Hell thing. If I had to see that again, I didn’t know—
Someone cleared his throat, and I gazed up at the two icy-eyed demons standing over me. “Was Lucifer expecting someone?” one asked the other.
“A succubus, but not…” He looked me up and down, eyes narrowing in a nasty stare as they landed on Mom’s necklace. “… her.” He crossed his pale arms over his chest. Their horns were curved like Eros’s—but smaller and were made of blue ice.
“What is she?”
The other one hissed and snatched my neck, nails digging into my flesh. “State your business.”
Suddenly, Trevon tumbled through the portal and smacked belly-first onto the ground. I squirmed in the demon’s hold, my fingers desperately trying to peel his away.
Eros strolled through the mist. No awkward tumble or fall, just a casual stroll—like this was normal. But when he saw my legs dangling in the air and me gasping for air, he growled. “Put her down now!”
The demon immediately released me, and I fell to the ground with a thud and clutched my neck. Hell. I really shouldn’t have come. I haven’t even been here for a whole minute and I have already almost been choked out.
Both demons bowed to Eros. “Sorry, Lord Eros. We didn’t know she was yours.”
Eros wrapped his arm around my waist, picked me up, and placed me at his side. “We’re going to The Chains.”
“You’re allowed to pass, but…” the one that choked me said.
“But?” Eros asked, challenging him.
“But—um….” He scratched the back of his horn, gaze everywhere except on us. “She must stay here.”
The other demon stepped forward. “Commander Lucifer’s orders. Any new human or demon must be approved by him before entering the kingdom.”
Eros’s fingers dug into my side. “Tell him I’m here with Dani. He’ll let her though.”
“Commander Lucifer is-is busy,” one said. He kept glancing in my direction and looking away. When Eros growled, the other guard stepped forward. “But we’re sure that we can find him.”
One of the demons called for a female guard to deliver a message to Lucifer. While we waited for her to return, the two demons stood deathly still next to each other. Every so often, they’d glance at Eros and gulp fear.
The female guard returned and nodded. “Commander Lucifer allows her to pass along with the prisoner.”
Eros grabbed my hand, snatched Trevon off of the floor, and pushed past the guards to the door. Well, what a warm welcome that was.
As soon as we walked outside, I gasped at the sudden coldness. The stories Mom told me about Hell—at least Lucifer’s Hell—were true. Lucifer’s Kingdom was far from flames and fire. It was pure ice. Chillingly frightening like he was.
Tiny icicles dangled from frost white trees. A soft layer of snow laid atop a chalky stone wall that stretched on for miles. Two blazing blue suns floated in the sky above a castle made entirely of ice. I gaped at it and clenched Mom’s pendant which was burning on my chest. Glacier-like mountains surrounded the castle, giving it an eerie feel.
“It’s cold in Hell,” I said. Usually, I didn’t like the cold, but this was something I could stare at for years and never get tired of.
Eros chuckled and tugged me along. “Only in Lucifer’s Kingdom.” He nodded to the castle and leaned closer. “I’ll take you there sometime. You’d love it inside.”
We trudged down a clear path that snow didn’t seem to accumulate on—or even touch seeing that it was dry stone—until we reached a heavily guarded stone building. Before we entered, Eros grabbed my hand. “These are The Chains. Are you sure you want to go in?”
I nodded and inched closer to him. Yeah, sure, I’d be alright. We were at a prison for demons. Nothing could be worse than what I went through in that portal. Nothing.
The guards opened the doors for us to enter, and the lights flickered on. Hundreds of iron cages were stacked on top of each other throughout the room. Demons rattled them and stuck their arms through the bars to reach for me. All I could smell was fresh feces.
Eros grabbed my hand, and we walked through the prison.
“Come here, little girl.”
“Let me taste you.”
“A sacred little sinner, you are.”
One held half a human arm in his hands, his beady eyes trained on me. “Confess your sins to me, and I will cleanse you of them.” He bit off a finger, and I nearly puked.
Holy Hell. I should’ve brought a cross.
Eros leaned down. “Don’t listen to them. They prey on your fear,” he said.
I gulped and thanked God when we moved away from the foul-mouthed demons and stopped in front of an empty set of cages. Eros pulled Trevon into one of them and clasped a silver chain around his neck and wrists.
Trevon sat on his knees, staring at me, unaffected. Then, suddenly, he let out a piercing scream—his body jerking up. His body moved in ways I had never seen before—back arched almost a hundred and eighty degrees until his head was resting on his heels, shoulder blades popping out of place, head rotating in a terrifying circle like an owl.
He hastily bear-crawled on his fingertips towards the bars that the chains were attached to and pulled, bending them. Every curse word imaginable was coming out of his mouth, and I cringed—never before hearing such vile things from him.
Moments passed, and Trevon stopped completely. He stood to his feet, standing two to three feet taller than both Eros and me. His body was being stretched, and I could see every one of his ribs, nearly bursting through his skin.
He seized back and forth, and I grabbed Eros’s forearm. My God, I was wrong. Things could get worse down here.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and black blood seeped from them. I screamed and leapt forward to help Trevon in any way that I could, but Eros caught me and held me back. “You said that this wouldn’t hurt him,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks.
His eyes turned black and his teeth lengthened into sharp fangs. The veins in his neck dilated so much that I thought they would burst. My heart was aching. How could this be happening? Why was this happening to him?
“Why did you lie, Eros?” I asked. He was in so much pain, and I could feel every bit of it.
Despite my best efforts to hold Trevon one last time, to tell him that everything would be alright, to try to comfort him when I knew a demon was terrorizing his body, Eros held me back.
In the next moment, Trevon fell onto his hands and knees, choking. He clutched his throat as a bulge—the size of a bowling ball—appeared in it. Two sets of sharp red claws pulled his lips apart from the inside, and what must’ve been a demon pushed his head through Trevon’s mouth—stretching it until the corners of his lips began to rip open.
The demon leapt out of Trevon’s body, and Eros snatched it. Trevon’s eyes returned to their normal brown, and he smacked against the cement.
I wrapped my arms around him, cradling his head to make sure he wasn’t hurt. When I turned him onto his back, I gazed at his face where his mouth was ripped open and doubled over him. Blood dripped down his cheeks, chin, and neck as tears ran down mine. I couldn’t believe this. This was nearly too much to handle.
After a few moments of trying to steady my ragged breathing, I gently rested him on the ground and turned back to Eros. I wanted us all to get out of here right now and never come back to The Chains.
Eros was standing in front of a cage which had Trevon’s demon on the inside. The demon had deep scar wounds, a long-pointed tail, and dark beady eyes. I didn’t know much about Hell, but it was clear that he wasn’t from this kingdom, especially not with that fiery red skin.
“Kingdom of Wrath,” Eros said to me. He stepped closer to the cage. “Did Sathanus send you?”
“Satan? Who listens to that livid fool anymore?” The demon grasped the chains and pulled on them. “Let me out!”
“Who sent you then?” Eros asked.
The demon curled his sharp tail around my wrist and yanked me right against the cage. “That bastard knew this would happen all along.” His beady eyes were fixed on me. “He knew I’d be chained to this fucking wall in this fucking kingdom!” The demon released me, and I grabbed my wrists. He pointed to Eros. “Your brother is going to fucking regret his very fucking life.”
Eros lunged toward the cage, hands grasping the metal bars. “Javier sent you?”
“I’ve had enough of your fucking voice!” The demon turned away and smashed his head into the cement wall on the other side of the cage. Talk about anger management issues.
Eros pushed himself off of the cage bars and stormed away, hitting me by accident. He gently grasped my elbow to steady me. “Sorry,” he said softly. He took a deep breath and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. Yeah, okay, sure. Let’s just get out of here.
“We have to go. I need to talk to Lucifer,” he said, grabbing my hand.
I tugged on his arm when we passed Trevon whose face was pale. “What about Trevon?”
“We leave him here for now. Being possessed by a demon leaves him more susceptible to another possession, and…” He frowned at Trevon. “My parents and Javier will think to use him again to get to me. He’s safe in here.”
I didn’t want to leave him here like this—especially with those wounds. “But what about his injuries? We’re just going to leave him in this jail with nobody to take care of him.”
“You hear that,” a demon with glowing green eyes said from the cage above Trevon’s. “She cares about the human boy.”
“He’s going to rot to the bone down here,” someone else said.
Eros placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “He’ll be alright. I’ll get someone to heal him,” he said with a look that gave me so much assurance that I actually believed him. “Lucifer has some of the best healers in all of Hell.”
I clasped Mom’s pendant, giving Trevon one last lingering look, then walked out of that disgusting prison.
My hands didn’t start trembling until we were half-way down the path toward the portal room. That was a lot. Too much almost. Demons from all those different kingdoms, their foul language, their disturbing laughter, and those menacing looks in their eyes—looks that I had only ever seen in passing on Earth.
Every now and then, there’d be someone with a red or yellow or green tint in their eyes, but I’d always, always, always think that I was seeing things. But this was real, and it was more frightening than the bedtime stories I’d beg Mom to tell me.
