Chapter 10
10
H ead H u n ter
M aybe their luck was turning, because when Ash got out of the shower, Raum had returned, and the worst of Belial’s rage seemed to have passed. Ash found everyone in the dining room, eating risotto. Food always had a way of chilling Belial out—a damned miracle.
He remembered the days before Bel had cooking as an outlet for his infamous temper. Nothing and no one could stop it from blowing or calm the storm until it had reached its natural conclusion. It had made him a legend in Hell. He had fan clubs and groupies and even an underworld pub named after him.
But now, he had food. And thanks to food, their apartment building had not burned down. It was a good day.
Ash took the fourth chair and watched his brothers digging in. Raum, the jackass, just shoveled it down and gave no explanations for where he’d been. He sprawled in his chair, the hood of his oversized sweatshirt over his head, the scowl on his face daring them to challenge him.
“You want some?” Bel asked Ash. He was back to his usual self, and no one was going to say a word about it. That was always how they rolled—they’d figured out long ago that if they mentioned the rage, they were flirting with another disaster.
“I’m good.”
Flames sparked in Bel’s eyes.
“Sure, I’ll have some,” Ash quickly amended.
“Great.” Belial rose to his towering height and went to the kitchen. He returned with a bowl for Ash, and they ate in silence. Bel never expected him to make any comments on the taste of the food—they all knew he didn’t taste a thing—but he still expected him to eat.
Belial was weird. He’d stopped questioning it long ago.
“The Hunter is tracking us,” Bel said when they had all finished eating. He dropped his spoon in his empty bowl and leaned back in his chair. His size made it look like a seat for toddlers, and the wood creaked ominously under his weight.
“I heard,” Ash said cautiously. Bel appeared calm, but he’d been wrong before and the stakes were high. “We’re safe in the wards here, though.”
“Yes. But not outside the wards.”
“Which means we can’t leave the apartment,” he finished with a sigh, and Bel nodded.
“That’s so lame,” Meph complained. “I’ll go crazy in here.”
Bel crossed his arms. “It’s either that or get caught.”
No one replied because no one wanted that outcome.
“We can’t just stay here indefinitely,” Ash felt the need to say. “We need a plan.”
“I think we should leave Montreal,” Bel said. “Half a dozen gargoyles already found us. There’s a chance the Hunter knows we’re here.”
Ash immediately balked at that idea. He wasn’t sure why, but he knew he was going to fight with everything he had to stay. It probably had something to do with the decadent little Eva whom he was in no way done indulging in.
“We killed all the gargoyles,” he said. “They never got a chance to report.”
“We killed the ones we saw. There could have been more we didn’t.”
“That would imply they were able to spy on us without us knowing. They’re not that smart.”
Bel frowned. “It’s a risk, Asmodeus. I know you like it here, but you have to admit that.”
“Yeah, but so is leaving when we’ve got a safely warded apartment to hide in.”
There was a tense pause.
“Fine,” Bel finally said. “We’ll stay for now. But we need to figure out some further protection so we can go outside. I didn’t escape Hell to get trapped in this shithole apartment for all time.”
“What we really need is to get our hands on some Nephilim blood,” Meph said, putting to words what everyone was already thinking.
Raum scoffed, fidgeting with the end of his spoon where it rested in the empty bowl. “Good luck with that.”
“The last time I heard of a readily available source was a century ago,” Ash agreed.
“It’s still available if you know where to look,” Belial said.
“If anyone can get it, it’s you, big brother.” Meph grinned, and Bel cocked a brow.
“Even if I can get it, it won’t be cheap.”
“We should be able to afford it, right?” Meph linked his hands behind his head and rocked back on two chair legs. “I mean, we’re not broke by any means, though we’re sure as hell living like it.”
“Sure, we could probably afford it for a while, but what happens when we’re out of money and the blood wears off? We’re right back where we started.”
“We have to take it one step at a time,” Ash said. “Right now, we need a way to leave the apartment safely. Once we figure that out, we can find a more permanent solution.” He smiled wickedly. “Maybe we could catch a live Nephilim to keep as a pet.”
They all chuckled.
“Can you imagine?” Meph sighed. “Our very own source to use at our leisure? We could go anywhere, do anything. We’d be free.”
Bel stood suddenly. “I’ll get in touch with my contact now. Don’t disturb me unless you want to die.” He passed through the kitchen, stooping under the doorframe and heading down the hall. “You can clean the dishes since I fucking cooked!” he called before his bedroom door slammed.
“I did it last time,” Meph whined.
“No, you didn’t,” Raum shot back. “I did.”
Ash rolled his eyes. “Neither of you dumbasses did it, because I did.” He always did the goddamn dishes, and he was the one who couldn’t even taste the food. “And I’m not doing it this time, so unless you want Bel to lose his shit again, you can do it together.”
Meph and Raum groaned simultaneously.
“I’m going to crash.” Ash skirted around the table, grabbing his jacket from the hook by the front door on his way past.
He slammed his bedroom door in a similar fashion to Belial and flopped onto his back on his bed. Pulling out his phone and the little Bluetooth speaker Eva had lent him from his jacket pocket, he connected them and cranked up some Herbie Hancock on the music app she’d downloaded.
He smiled, remembering the horrified look on her face when he’d told her he didn’t have a speaker or any way to listen to music. She’d spent half an hour teaching him how to use the damn app, but now, as he listened to Herbie shredding a solo on “Chameleon” in that classic crunchy synth tone, he had to admit it was worth the effort.
Stretching out on the bed, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. It was getting late, the sun had set, and he was tired from lack of sleep the night before. But he didn’t drift off.
Instead, he thought about Eva.
He thought about the sex because duh . But he also thought about playing music with her. At the club, and then again at her apartment, when she’d caught him playing freely because he thought no one was listening.
She’d picked up her violin and joined in like she’d been there all along, and he’d experienced that feeling like he was flying again. It was fucking enjoyable. There was no denying it.
His eyes popped open, and he grabbed his phone from beside him and punched in her number. Then he stopped, thumb hovering over the call button.
His brother had given him a bunch of bullshit advice on how to make sure he got laid. Compliment her a bit, but not too much. Look interested, but not too much. Make her work for his attention. A bunch of real dickhead moves that, unfortunately, were highly effective for the average modern woman. It was a sad state of affairs out there in the world.
But it was different with Eva. He’d thrown all that advice out the window with her. And yeah, he’d been desperate to get inside her, but strangely, it hadn’t been the only thing on his mind. He just... enjoyed her company.
And now he wanted to call her. Why? He couldn’t see her. He couldn’t leave the damn apartment. But he still wanted to talk to her. To hear her voice. Make her laugh.
He cringed. He sounded like a sap.
But that didn’t stop him. After putting Herbie on pause and disconnecting the speaker, he hit that call button as decisively as he had before, and he didn’t let himself think too deeply about it.
He was a demon. He didn’t think too deeply about anything.
It rang a few times, and he was just about to give up when Eva answered. “Ash?”
“Hey.”
She hesitated. He mentally kicked himself. Maybe he shouldn’t have called after all.
“Hey. I—” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”
“I know.” He dragged his free hand down his face, feeling like an idiot. “You know what, never mind. It’s probably not a good time. I’ll just—”
“No! No, it’s a great time. I’m glad you called.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. My friend Skye is coming over in a bit, so I have some time to kill until then.”
“Oh. Cool.” What else should he say?
“What did you get up to today?”
“Just... dealing with my brothers. Raum fucked off somewhere, which set off Bel, and then I had to calm everybody down. Usual shit.”
Eva laughed. “I want to meet your brothers.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I mean, I saw them briefly in the club that night, but I was a little distracted.”
“They’re tools.”
She laughed again. “They’re your family. You love them. They’re probably awesome.”
Ash frowned. What was with her and the whole love thing? Demons couldn’t love , and the way she kept suggesting he loved his brothers was creepy and, frankly, offensive.
“I guess,” he grunted.
“You’re funny, Ash. My mom told me I should drill you with questions about your past and try to figure you out.”
“You told your mom about me?”
Eva seemed to hesitate. “Is that weird? Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“I don’t know if it’s weird. I don’t have a mom.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“That you don’t have a mom.”
“Why?”
She hesitated again. “Because it’s sad. I love my mom. We’re really close, and she’s always there for me. It’s sad to think that you never had that kind of support growing up.”
“Oh. Uh.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I’m fine. Where I’m from there wasn’t really— We didn’t exactly have—” Fuck, what was he trying to say here? In the fiery pits of Hell, there was no place in my dark and somber existence for the nurturing love of a matriarch. Yeah, that would go over well.
“I had Belial,” he said lamely.
“You guys must be close.”
“He’s a tool.”
Eva burst out laughing. “I really want to meet your brothers.”
“What did you tell your mom about me?” Ash asked to change the subject.
“I told her I went out with a super hot guy last night. Who was an amazing piano player.”
His face felt hot, which was odd. Maybe he should open the window. “Oh.”
She chuckled. “Too bold?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re funny,” she said again.
Asmodeus had been called many things throughout his endless existence as a creature of darkness, but “funny” wasn’t one of them.
“My mom thinks I need therapy,” Eva blurted. “Oh my god, that’s way TMI. Just forget I said that.”
“Why?”
“No, seriously—”
“Tell me.”
She sighed. “After that shooting at the club. I thought I handled it okay, but I guess I didn’t.”
Ash frowned. He’d heard of humans having adverse psychological reactions to traumatic stimuli, but he hadn’t considered that she’d find what had happened at that nightclub traumatic. No one had died. There hadn’t been a single decapitation.
Well, besides that gargoyle, but Eva didn’t know that.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I... I think I hallucinated some weird shit.”
“Oh.”
“I shouldn’t have told you that,” Eva said quickly. “It’s just, my mom gave me this huge lecture on how I should be honest because that’s the way to build a strong foundation for a relationship— Not saying we have a relationship or anything! Wow, I’m really putting my foot in it here. But she said that since you were there, you might relate to what I’m going through, but really, please forget I said anything—”
“It’s okay. I don’t know if I can help though. I didn’t hallucinate anything.”
She laughed weakly. “I figured you didn’t. You seem like a pretty unshakeable guy.”
“I’ve seen a lot.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” No way was he elaborating on that. “So, what did you hallucinate?”
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“Probably.”
“Then I’m definitely not telling you!”
“Crazy is good, Eva. I like crazy.” Shit, he really sounded like a sap.
“Yeah?” But her tone had softened, so it was worth it.
“Yeah. So, tell me.”
“Don’t judge me, okay?”
“Spit it out.”
“Fine. Here goes nothing. Remember how you carried me outside?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I could have sworn I saw you get shot first. Like a bunch of times. I even remember seeing blood all over you.”
He winced. He had been shot a bunch of times. And there had been blood all over him. But thanks to his curse, he hadn’t felt a thing, so he’d been able to ignore it easily. And he wasn’t about to explain to Eva that he could get shot a bunch of times in the back and keep running. Then she’d know for sure he wasn’t human.
Really, the worst part had been when Meph had picked the bullets out of his back later that night. He’d talked the whole time, and it was annoying as hell.
“Oh. Uh, that’s weird,” Ash said lamely. “Pretty sure I’d know if I’d been shot.”
“Yeah.” She snorted. “I doubt you’d have just kept running either.”
“Probably not.” But now his head was spinning as he tried to recall what had happened. The gargoyle-in-human-form had opened fire on him, so he’d scooped Eva up and gotten the hell out of dodge. He remembered leaping off the bar and walls to clear the crowds of scrambling humans.
Shit. She thought she had hallucinated all that, and he wasn’t about to tell her otherwise. Oh well. Humans loved going to therapy. Eva would probably benefit from it somehow. She’d be fine.
“You know,” Eva said, “I feel better talking to you about it. I think my mom was right. It’s putting my fears to rest.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah, I mean, can you believe I thought I saw you with giant bat wings?”
Ash jerked upright on the bed.
“I was convinced for days that I’d seen you with wings. And red skin. And big horns. Who does that?” She laughed.
His hand clenched around the phone. “What else did you see?” He tried to keep his tone even.
“It was so bizarre. You were a giant, and you had these humongous black wings and so did your brothers. No, except the blond one had angel wings! And then there was an ugly monster thing, like a gargoyle, and you cut its head right off before your brother magically lit it on fire! Cold-blooded murder by beheading and mystical flame. Right before my eyes.” She chuckled. “I think I must have passed out from shock and had a really vivid dream.”
Asmodeus stared at the wall with his mouth open.
How in the hell had she seen any of that? There should have been no way. Glamor prevented humans from glimpsing the supernatural world. In a high-stress situation or after repeated exposure, yes, it was sometimes possible for them to catch glimpses of something they shouldn’t, but not like this.
Maybe Eva would have seen a flash of claws, or a shadow cast by wings on the floor, or the flickering apparition of the gargoyle in her peripherals, but no way should she have been able to witness the entire scene clear as day. No way. There was only one explanation:
Eva had the Sight.
How in the fuck did she have the Sight? What was she?
She doesn’t know , he realized, and he managed to relax infinitesimally. There was no way she knew what he was, or she’d never have spent five minutes in his presence without trying to perform an exorcism or stab him with a consecrated blade.
So, somehow, she had the Sight without knowing she had it, though it seemed impossible that she wouldn’t have seen something in the past and figured out what was happening by now. Supernatural creatures were everywhere.
Perhaps she’d been born with it, he hypothesized, but because she hadn’t developed it, her Sight hadn’t been triggered until she’d seen something big—like, say, four greater demons and a gargoyle facing off. Maybe she was the descendant of a blood-born witch. That was a reasonable explanation.
Was that why she could see through his curse?
The thought struck him like a lightning bolt to the brain, and his eyes got wide. If so, the implications were enormous. Maybe he could seek out other witch descendants for bed partners from now on and actually enjoy sex again.
The thought was strangely unappealing, which was odd considering the three thousand years he’d spent obsessed with it. But... he’d already enjoyed sex again. Sex with Eva. And he wasn’t feeling any particular desire for anyone else as long as he could have her.
“Ash? Are you there?”
Shit, this meant he was going to have to be extremely careful around her from now on. If he saw her again. He really shouldn’t. It was asking for trouble.
If she saw anything else, she would likely refute the conclusion she’d drawn about having hallucinations and question if it was real again. And if that happened, he’d probably have to kill her because she could start blabbing to everyone that she’d met the great Asmodeus, and that would make it a lot easier for the Hunter to find him.
Yeah, so they probably ought to have used fake names like other demons who came to Earth, but whatever. Sorry, not sorry.
If all that happened and he had to kill her, he’d be in even bigger shit than he already was for escaping and killing an unsanctioned human. Not to mention, he liked Eva and killing her wasn’t exactly at the top of the list of things he wanted to do to her. So he should definitely stay away from her.
But the sex , a little voice whispered. The sex is so good.
His eyes closed involuntarily just recalling the feeling of sinking into her hot, tight body while she moaned his name, watching him with so much desire in those deep gray eyes.
Fuck no, he wasn’t giving that up yet. No way.
“Ash, hellooo?” Eva sighed. “Look, I’m sorry if I freaked you out. My mom told me I should tell you, and I guess I got a little carried away, but—”
“I’m here,” he said, shaking his head to get back in the game. “I was thinking.”
“About how you wish you’d never met Miss Crazy Pants?”
“No. Just wondering if you’re descended from a witch.”
“A what?”
“A witch.”
“A witch ?”
“Yeah. You know, maybe it wasn’t a random hallucination. Maybe you had a vision.”
“A vision? Because I’m descended from a witch?”
“You never know.” He wanted Eva to look into her ancestry and figure out why she had the Sight, since it might provide him with some answers about his curse. If someone else in her family was a descendant, he could appear to them and see if they saw through the curse too.
But he wasn’t about to tell Eva what she’d seen was real either. This way, he’d planted the idea in her head and made her inquisitive without giving too much away.
“Oh my god, you’re as crazy as I am.”
“Probably more,” Ash agreed, smiling despite himself. Something about Eva made him feel... Fuck, he didn’t know. Good. He just felt good. And that was as far as he was going into it. “Ask your mother if you’re descended from blood-born witches. You never know.”
She laughed. “I never expected you to say that in a million years.”
“I’m full of surprises.” Still smiling, he lay back down on his bed and hooked his free hand behind his head.
“That you are.”
“I keep thinking about fucking you on the piano,” he blurted.
She paused. “Me too.” Her voice softened, and he instantly got hard. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at my piano again without thinking about it.”
“I want to do it again.”
“Damn. Me too.”
His thoughts went down the gutter with record speed. “Only this time, I want to sit you on the keys and fuck you while you wrap your legs around me. I wanna hear that sexy ass smash all the notes every time I pound into you.”
“Oh my god,” she whispered.
His hips rolled involuntarily on the bed at the images springing up in his head, and he decided to go with it. “And when that’s done, I’m gonna turn you around again and bend you back over. But this time I’ll lift up your foot and put it right on the keys and fuck you nice and hard from behind. I’ll hold your leg up so you can’t move even though you’re going to try to struggle when I hit you so deep. It’ll feel so fucking good when you come all over me.”
“Oh damn. I’m so turned on now.” Eva’s heavy breaths fuzzed out the phone speaker.
“Me too.”
“My turn.”
“For what?”
“To tell you my piano fantasies.”
“Fuck, yes. Tell me.”
“I want to shove your sexy ass up against the keys, and then I’m going to lick and bite my way down your naked body.”
His eyes fell shut. Shit, he couldn’t take it. He ripped open his pants, shoved them down, and fisted his cock. “Keep going, Eva.”
“And then I’m going to get on my knees.”
“Fuck.” His strokes got harder.
“And then I’m going to lick you from balls to tip like a popsicle. Mm, you’ll taste so good.”
His eyes rolled back into his head. He stroked harder. “You’re going to make me come if you keep talking like that.”
“Are you... ?”
“Yes. Keep going.”
“Oh my god. Me too. I thought I was being a pervert.”
“No. Don’t stop, Eva.”
“Okay. I’m going to lick my lips and get them nice and wet, and then I’ll suck you into my mouth so deep you hit the back of my throat. And then I’ll swallow and take you even deeper.”
He groaned. He was close already. “Then what?”
“And then I’m going to slide out nice and slow, looking into your eyes the whole time. Damn, I’m close to coming right now just from picturing your big cock in my mouth.”
He shuddered.
“You’ll taste so good when you come, and I’ll drink it all down, and lick off every last drop—”
“Oh fuck, I’m coming.” He groaned loud as he came all over his hand and his pants and even his damn shirt.
There was silence in the aftermath, the both of them breathing hard. “Did you come?” he managed to ask, his voice hoarse.
“Yeah.”
He pictured her sitting there, talking to him with her hand in her pants, pleasuring herself. “Damn, Eva, you’re so damn sexy.”
“When can we enact that fantasy?”
“Soon. I have to stay here for a few days and sort some shit out, but as soon as I can get away, I’m there. I want you to do every single thing you just described to me. That was so hot.” He looked down at the mess all over him and groaned. “Except I’m covered in cum now.”
“Too bad I’m not there to lick it off you.”
“ Eva .” She was too much. Not enough. Just right. Fucking perfect.
“You’re bad, Ash. I can’t believe I just had phone sex with you—”
“You did what ?” someone shouted over the line.
“Oh my god!” There was a lot of rustling and some frantic female voices that he couldn’t make out. A moment later, Eva picked up the phone again. “Skye is here. Oh my god, she just walked right in and heard me say that!”
“It’s a good thing she didn’t arrive any earlier.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” She chuckled. “Okay, I have to go. Call me tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” He wanted to, too. He didn’t care if that made him lame or whatever his brothers would call it. He wanted to hear her sultry voice. “I have to go take another shower now. Have fun with your friend.”
“Be nice to your brothers.”
“Don’t count on it.”
She chuckled softly. “Okay... bye.”
“Bye.”
Neither of them hung up.
She giggled. It was a soft, feminine sound. It was... cute. “Okay, I’m hanging up now. I’m not doing this with you. We’re both adults. We can hang up the phone.”
“Okay, Eva. Go for it.”
“Bye, Ash. Call me when you can.”
She hung up on him. He liked that she was decisive. He liked that she didn’t try to force a commitment out of him about when he’d see her next. He liked that she’d made him come so hard he saw stars just from talking about sucking him off. She hadn’t even touched him, and he’d gone to heaven. Well, as close as a demon could get, at least.
He couldn’t wait to get outside the apartment again.