Chapter 17
“The devil doesn’t come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you’ve ever wished for.”
—TUCKER MAX
C haos was waiting for me when I walked in. He was sitting pretty on my kitchen table, and I smiled at him. Reaver had been weird today, though not entirely in a bad way. He definitely exhibited some sketchy red flag behavior with the whole seatbelt thing, sure. But he had also helped me with the police situation and been almost… nice on the car ride home. It made me hopeful.
“Hey, Chaos, catch any mice today?” I asked as I dropped my bag on the sofa. He squinted at me and poked a coffee mug I had left on the table with a little black paw. I narrowed my eyes on him.
“Don’t do it, you asshole,” I warned. He looked me dead in the eye and poked the mug again, inching it closer to the edge of the table. “Chaos… don’t!” I lunged for the mug just as he gave it one final punt. It smashed on the ground, and the cold dregs of coffee exploded across the floor on impact.
“For fuck’s sake, Chaos!” I screeched. He leapt off the table, trotting merrily into my bedroom with his tail straight up in the air like a giant middle finger. I scowled after him as I went to grab some paper towels to mop up his mess.
Little shit disturber.
I was running low on glassware because of him. Maybe I needed to start buying plastic cups or something.
After cleaning up the mess, I decided to make some food, even though it was almost midnight. I enjoyed cooking and was pretty good at it. It sucked that I never had the chance to cook for anyone else, but on days like today, when I wasn’t working until the wee hours of the morning, I loved making myself a home-cooked meal.
I whipped up a pretty delicious mushroom risotto and watched The Haunting of Hill House while I ate. Rewatching Mike Flannagan’s specials was my little October tradition. I tried to get through as many as I could in the weeks leading up to my birthday, which just so happened to fall on Halloween.
Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a flicker of my own little ghost settling on the couch to watch with me. She wasn’t nearly as scary as the ghosts on the screen. If anything, I was happy to have her company.
Once I was full of risotto and thoroughly creeped out from my scary show, I decided to get ready for bed. I showered and brushed my teeth, and then I slipped on a band tee and another pair of cotton boyshorts. I winced as I remembered how my demon had ripped off my other pair, and I hoped he wouldn’t be back for another visit.
Chaos was curled up, snoozing at the end of my bed and barely moving as I crawled under the covers.
I lay in the dark and stare at the ceiling, recounting the day’s events. Reaver had been different. It was like he had become an entirely different person overnight.
Sitting at his bar and sipping on my Blood Orange Hauntini with Shem made me feel like I was almost… normal. If things were different, maybe it would have been fun to hang out with the two of them and get drinks more regularly. I imagined what it would be like to say yes one day when Shem invited me out after work. We could get drinks at Yabbos and maybe even go dancing.
I bet Reaver was a good dancer. He seemed to be good at everything else. Maybe he would wrap his large, tattooed hands around my waist and pull me into him, and I would breathe in his scent as he buried his face in my neck. Maybe he would kiss me and whisper into my ear that he wanted to take me home with him.
I let myself fall into my little Reaver fantasy and slid my hand down the front of my boy shorts. I was already wet, and I let out a tiny moan as I spread myself open. I heard Chaos jump off the bottom of the bed and stalk out of the room, but I ignored him. I was quickly starting to feel amazing, and it was probably better if he wasn’t here for this anyway.
The good feeling abruptly dissipated when the temperature of my room dropped to sub-zero.
My heart stopped.
That was why Chaos had left.
He had sensed that my fucking demon was coming.
My eyes flew open moments before Death manifested at the edge of my bed. He was suddenly looming over me, and without warning, he tore the blankets off. I screamed in horror, ripping my hand out from beneath my panties.
I could feel the rage rolling off of him as I tried to kick away. I attempted to launch myself off the bed, but he somehow managed to take hold of my soul again, and I was forced to freeze.
Frozen and falling halfway out of bed in my botched attempt to escape, I screamed. “I didn’t cut myself! I didn’t touch anyone!” I lied. The cold grip of panic was already starting to take hold of my heart. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed me on my back and onto the bed before him. With another wave of his hand, he forced my legs to spread, and he leaned forward between them.
‘Don’t lie to me, Lilith. I know exactly who you’ve been touching all night. I might have turned a blind eye to the host and the bartender, but you’ve touched what’s mine, and that cannot go unpunished,’ he hissed into my mind. I screwed up my eyes, trying to see what lay beneath that hood. I wondered what sort of horrible, grotesque face he kept hidden in there and shuddered.
“Wh- what? I didn’t touch anything!” I was wracking my brain, trying to think what belonging of his I could have touched to make him so angry. If he wasn’t mad about Reaver and Shem, what was he so mad about?
‘Were you not just touching yourself, Lilith?’ The cold, rasping voice scraped through my mind like nails on a chalkboard, and I choked on my own terror.
“How did you — I don’t understand…”
He reached forward and ripped my panties off, exposing me to him.
‘You want to come, Lilith?’ he asked, and I shook my head, attempting to push back away from him on the bed. He chuckled in my mind, and my fear suddenly turned to anger.
I hated him. I hated him. I hated him!
I bucked and struggled against the hold he had on me, but it just made him spread me open wider. He reached out a finger and gently caressed my bare clit, sending an unwanted rush of pleasure through my body.
“Don’t — ” I gasped as he slid his finger down to my soaking-wet entrance. He let out a growl.
‘Don’t what, Lilith? Touch you? I thought that’s what you wanted. Why else would you be touching yourself? We both know you can’t make yourself come the way I can.’
“Please,” I pleaded as he inserted a finger. I moaned, and he curled it upward, stroking that spot that felt so fucking good.
‘Begging won’t help you now,’ he hissed into my mind as I fought the pleasure and heat that began to pool in my core. He brushed his thumb over my clit in gentle, featherlight motions until he had me teetering on the edge. I panted and gasped as I struggled to work through the cacophony of confusing emotions. What he was doing felt so good, but I hated him so fucking much. I couldn’t stand that he was forcing this on me.
‘That feels good, doesn’t it?’
Unable to fight him any longer, I whimpered and strained toward him, finally giving in and allowing myself to chase the orgasm. Just as I was about to fall over the edge, he pulled his hand away, leaving me gasping and frustrated.
“Fuck!” I cried as his evil, rasping chuckle clawed through my mind again.
‘I thought you didn’t want it?’ he taunted, and I scowled at him, my chest heaving with pent-up rage. ‘Make up your mind, Lilith.’
“I hate you!” I screamed at him, and he ran an icy finger down the inside of my thigh.
‘Hmm. Maybe you need something a little thicker,’ he purred, and an explosion of fear coursed through me as he manifested his scythe. I shook my head, throwing everything I had into fighting his hold on me. I struggled to close my legs. It was as if he could feel how hard I was trying to get away from him. He slapped my pussy sharply, causing me to cry out in surprise. I regretted giving him a reaction as it just seemed to make him want to do it again.
‘Enough. You’re going to take what I give you, and you’re going to like it.’ He flipped his scythe in his hands so the smooth end of the staff was pressed against me. He rubbed the blunt end up and down, wetting it with my arousal before pressing it into me. I gasped as I felt myself stretch around it, and he slowly pressed it deeper.
‘Relax. You’re fine. It’s not that thick.’
“Fuck. YOU!” I spat, even as the heat he had previously built returned. He angled the shaft upward and slowly began to rock it back and forth inside me. The friction of the smooth, polished wood against my G-spot felt so good it was nearly unbearable. My breath quickened, and I felt myself clench around the shaft. He reached forward, rubbing my clit again as he continued to work me from the inside.
‘You want to come, don’t you?’ he asked, and I closed my eyes, feeling the overwhelming burn build to the inevitable crescendo. I did. I did want to come.
‘Too bad.’ Abruptly, he pulled the end of the shaft out of me, and I was left feeling cold and empty without it. I screeched in rage, and he laughed. Writhing, I bucked beneath his hold, and I knew he was enjoying every moment of my fury.
He chuckled and drummed his fingers on the staff of his scythe as he waited for the heat he had created to die down. Though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could once again feel them on me. His gaze was trained directly on my soaking, throbbing pussy.
‘You look so good when you’re upset,’ he rasped into my mind, and I screeched again in rage.
He waited several more minutes until I had calmed down. I had begun to shiver from the cold in the room when he stepped forward once more.
‘Are you ready to go again?’ he asked, and I threw my head back, letting out a frustrated groan.
“Please, no more,” I whimpered, and he leaned over me, stroking an ink-black finger down the side of my face.
‘Oh no, Lilith. This is a punishment. You’re not supposed to enjoy punishments. We’re going to do this all night until you’ve learned your lesson.’
“I’ve learned! I won’t do it again,” I cried out, shivering as he slid his hand between my legs, gently caressing my now-swollen clit. The heat immediately returned, and I was almost instantly on edge. He slid his fingers over me so gently it felt as though he was barely there. He touched me just enough to stimulate me but not enough for me to come.
‘I decide when you’ve learned your lesson. I decide everything for you, Lilith. I will decide when you come. I decide who you touch, and I will decide when you die.’
I whimpered as he leaned back and positioned the end of his scythe against me again. He inserted it slowly, and I felt myself immediately tighten around the shaft as he began working it deeper and deeper.
‘Now, tell me what it is you won’t be doing again,’ he asked as he slowly tortured me. I was so close, but he was moving too slowly. I just couldn’t get there.
“I won’t touch myself again,” I was nearly sobbing with need.
‘That’s right. Why won’t you be touching yourself, Lilith?’
“Because you don’t want me to.”
He slapped my pussy, and I yelped, feeling myself spasm around the hilt of his scythe with the sudden movement.
‘Wrong answer.’ He sounded angry. ‘Let’s try that again. Why is it you won’t be touching yourself, Lilith?’
I knew what he wanted me to say, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
‘Say it, Lilith, or I’ll kill someone at your precious little restaurant.’
Fuck.
I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes. He rocked the scythe inside me and pinched my clit between his fingers, tugging it gently. I gasped as a wave of pleasure rolled through me, and I thought for a second he might finally let me come, but he stopped almost immediately, leaving me frustrated and hot again.
“Because I’m not allowed to touch what’s yours,” I finally caved.
‘That’s right. I own you, Lilith. You’re mine to torture and mine to pleasure. If you’re good, I’ll be good to you. And if you’re bad… ‘
He increased the pace of his thrusts, bringing me to the brink again before pulling the shaft out of me. I gasped and choked as my pussy throbbed against nothing, begging for him to continue and let me finish.
‘I think you’re starting to learn what is going to happen when you’re bad.’