Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Gabriella washed her hands in the sink, wondering how the heck people could see what they were doing in the dark reddish glow of what passed for lighting in this club.
“We’re mostly able to see in the dark,” a voice said to her left, and Gabby whipped around to see the beautiful brunette Goddess had found her once more.
“Can you read my mind?”
“You were talking out loud, actually,” Aphrodite returned.
“I was? Ooops!” Gabby giggled.
“How many of those drinks have you had, dear?”
“I don’t know. Why? Ooof.” Gabriella turned to face the impossibly beautiful Goddess only to collide with the wall.
Thank goodness for boobs!
She let loose another giggle. Her double D’s hit the tiled wall first, causing her to bounce back. She bumped into the Goddess who was thin and tall, but somehow stood her ground against the much rounder female.
“Whoopsie! Hey Goddess person? Um, I think I’m drunk,” she muttered before bursting into chuckles. “Ha ha ha! First time for everything.”
“You’ve never been drunk?”
“Nope.”
“Oh dear.” Aphrodite frowned, grabbing onto her arm before she could slide to the floor.
“Your metabolism should burn off the alcohol faster than this, but perhaps it’s slow because you’ve never Shifted.
Hmm, tell you what,” Aphrodite said. “There’s a man waiting for you outside.
A Demon. Real good guy. Anyway, he’ll take care of you—”
“You want to send me off with some strange man, or sort of man? What is he anyway, a Goblin? Gnome? Donkey Shifter? Hey, wait a sec! Isn’t that like a recipe for date rape?”
“What? No. No! OMG! Gabby!” Aphrodite released Gabby’s arm, and this time she slipped all the way to the floor.
The Goddess hissed and covered her eyes with her perfectly manicured nails. At least they looked manicured, Gabby couldn’t exactly tell from her position on the floor.
“I would never do anything like that,” Aphrodite said through clenched teeth. “But here’s the deal, love, you are wasted. Completely fucked up. Get it? Now, yes, Ash is a Demon. But he is also the only person here I would actually trust to see you safely home. He can’t hurt you. He won’t.”
“Fine, fine. I need some air,” Gabby said, getting to her feet slowly.
“Is she alright?” Ash looked frantically from the Goddess to Gabriella and back again.
“Yes,” Aphrodite explained, holding firmly onto her elbow before finally shoving her toward him.
Gabby had to admit he was handsome. In fact, she rather liked when he looked at her. As he was doing right then, with eyes that were positively obsidian.
“Gabriella,” he breathed her name.
“You know my name.”
“Aphrodite told me,” he replied, brushing her hair off her forehead. “Come, let’s get some air, sweet.”
Then he was leading her outside, and Gabby, despite every after school special she’d ever watched, and all her Sunday school lessons, went with him.
Imagine that.
A goody two shoes and a Demon.
He wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her up firmly, and she was more than grateful for the support. Her body felt numb, achy too. She wondered if that happened to everyone when they drank, whatever that was she’d been drinking.
“So, you’re a Werewolf?” Ash asked.
“Who me? Uh, yeah. I suppose. Did I tell you that?”
“No,” he replied. “Is it true you just learned about this tonight?”
“Yeah, my Mim told me.”
“Mim?”
“My stepmom. I called her Mim growing up,” Gabby said, leaning on him.
“I see.” He spoke to her in a low, charming voice with an accent she could not quite place.
Not quite British, but not American. Like European, but different. She wanted to hear him speak more, wanted him to say her name.
Suddenly, she felt warm. Very, very warm. Like flames dancing along her skin, caressing, almost kissing her. Then she gasped. What had started as light tickling was now full blown fire.
“Are you alright?”
“I feel hot,” she said just as a cramp hit her.
Ash opened a door, and suddenly, wings sprouted from his back. Along with a tail and horns. She knew they should frighten her, but she couldn’t focus on anything other than the pain.
“Hang on,” the Demon growled.
Ash scooped her up in his arms, his handsome face stern, and if she wasn’t mistaken, worried. Cool air met her skin as he flew with her through the doors of the bar. Holy crap. She was flying. Darn it! And she couldn’t even enjoy it!
“Easy,” he whispered, as he lowered to what looked like a courtyard.
She could not tell, but she knew they weren’t in LA anymore. The sky was a strange shade of purple and red. And there were other creatures flying about, some with feathered wings, others with batlike ones not unlike Ash’s, but not nearly as impressive.
“Boss! You’re home! Let me aid you!”
A small man, at least, she thought he was a man, came running out to greet them. He moved strangely, in a sort of side scramble like a crab. In fact, he had crablike claws instead of legs on his lower body. Ash growled, and the creature stopped dead in his tracks.
“Sorry for growling at you, Ernie. But it’s okay. I’ve got her. You may retire for the evening,” Ash spoke to the cre—, er, to Ernie.
“Thank you, boss,” Ernie mumbled, casting an angry glance at Gabby before crawling away.
“Who’s that?” she asked, her head still spinning.
“Who, not what?” Ash asked, eyebrows raised, and she could tell he was teasing her.
“Well, since I am dreaming all this up, I don’t suppose it matters. Tell me both.”
“You’re not dreaming, sweet. And that was Ernie. He works for me. He is an Imp.”
“Are you sure I am not dreaming?” Gabriella asked, laying her head on his chest. It was still much too foggy to hold up on her own. This must be why she’d never indulged so heavily before.
Ugh.
Why did people even like drinking if this was the result?
“Why must you be dreaming, sweet?”
“Well, let’s see, tonight I was told I am a Werewolf. My stepmom signed me up to meet a guy through a supernatural speed dating service. I got drunk for the first time on who knows what mixed cocktail Eve, the actual Eve by the way, and Aphrodite, aka Goddess of Love, whipped up for me.”
“I see.”
“That’s not all,” she continued. “Most recently, I am being carried all over the place by this ridiculously cute guy, who is not gasping for air even though I weigh a ton, and I am pretty sure he can fly. Seriously, how drunk am I? Did you really have wings on your back a minute ago?” Gabby frowned, looking at the space those large black appendages had appeared only moments ago.
“First, you are light as a feather. Perfect, in fact. Second, my wings are still there,” he explained, causing all sorts of delicious waves of warmth to run up and down her spine. “You just can’t see them.”
“Wait. What? Where did they go?”
“When I need them, they will appear. You see, they are simply existing in another plane of reality.”
“Oh.” Gabriella sighed, nodding against his chest.
The fact the sumptuous mortal was taking him at his word was surprising in and of itself.
That she trusted him with her person was something else entirely.
Yes, he was the Demon of Lust, but he had caused enough death and destruction to have forged quite the reputation for being fearsome.
And yet, one brush of her hands over his chest, one sigh and the feel of her warm breath on his neck, and Asmodeus, the Demon of Lust, a Prince of Hell, and General of the Daemonium Guard, was undone.
Mine.
His Demonic side whispered in his mind, and he felt the truth of it to his core. Yes. She was his.
But was he worthy to claim her?
Before his doubts could grab hold of him, twisting and turning him inside out until he ran screaming from the place, his sweet would be mate touched his cheek.
“You really are so handsome,” she murmured, and her cornflower blue eyes widened as her fingertips ran over his lips.
Grrr.
Ash growled low in his chest. His body trembled at her tentative touch. Slowly, gently, he placed her down on a plush leather sofa before turning away. He had to and fast. Need and desire burned through him like wildfire. He wanted her so damn badly.
Instead of giving in to that lust, he turned to grab her a bottle of cold spring water. Ash helped Gabby kick off her shoes, realizing the female might think it rude, but she seemed weak and out of sorts, and he wanted her comfortable.
“Has the cramping stopped?”
“Yes, but I am dying of thirst,” she replied, tucking her feet beneath her and grabbing the bottle he held out to her. Ash watched with concern while she guzzled the cool liquid, hoping it refreshed her.
“Better?” he asked.
“Oh yes,” she said after finishing every drop.
“Thanks, I guess I needed that.”
“Not used to drinking?”
“Who me? I’m a Sunday school teacher. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke—”
“You don’t leave bars with strange men?” He grinned, liking the blush that crept across her cheeks.
He watched as her eyes regained focus. The fogginess in her head seemed to have retreated. At least, she no longer appeared drunk to him. He suspected he knew what happened.
“I feel strange. Like I was drunk a moment ago, and now, well, I feel better,” she stated, shaking her head, perhaps in disbelief.
He could only imagine how she felt. Getting used to supernatural metabolism must be difficult for one raised as only human. Concern rose inside of him once more, surprising him, but not really. His entire being seemed attuned to the lovely female.
“You feel like your entire system went into overdrive?”
“Yes!”
“I believe I can explain. You see, your Wolf side is trying to burn through the unfamiliar alcohol in your bloodstream.”
“My Wolf side? Oh, right, I told you about that,” she mumbled.
“You did. And it is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Are you sure about that? I mean, what happens when I get furry? Will I run around sniffing people's butts?”
“I suspect that is not accurate,” Ash replied with a grin. His heart squeezed inside his chest at her remarkable vulnerability.