Jingle Hells (4 page)

From under the cash register, I grabbed a
pair of scissors and flashed them at her. “He is Samson after
all.”

Keisha’s cheekbones lifted in a wide grin.
“Damn, you’re good.”

Upstairs, Keisha following on my heels, I
burst into my apartment with the scissors raised. Everywhere I
looked, my belongings were scattered, broken and torn. My small
bookcase had been toppled. My laptop lay on the floor with a giant
footprint crater in the center. There was a fist-size hole in the
wall by my flat screen.

“Stop!” I yelled to the couple who were
still going at it.

Neither of them even looked at me. Delilah
picked up the latest copy of Vogue from the coffee table and threw
it at Samson. He batted it away and lifted my floor lamp over his
head.

Fingers to mouth, I relied on my piercing
whistle to get their attention once more.

Two sets of angry eyes swung in my
direction, and then both of them froze as they spotted the
scissors. “Put the lamp down easy,” I said to Samson. “Or not only
will I cut the hair on your head, I’ll pluck every strand you own,
top to bottom.”

The lamp returned to its place on the floor,
and Samson held up his hands in surrender.

“What in Hell’s name do you think you’re
doing?” I demanded.

“She refuses to leave me be.” He gestured at
Delilah, who stood with her hands on her hips. “She trails after me
like a dog.”

Delilah huffed, clearly hurt by the
comparison. “And I will continue to do so until you take the
blinders from your eyes and see the truth!”

Instantly, both of them were on guard again,
ready to resume the fight. I waved the scissors. “Don’t start.”

Samson averted his gaze, put his fists on
either side of his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “I do not
understand what is happening to me. I am not prone to
violence.”

Could’ve fooled me. The mention of a dog
reminded me of my cats, Cain and Abel, who usually came running
when they heard my voice on the off chance I’d brought them vanilla
ice cream for a treat. “You better not have hurt my cats.”

“Cats?” Delilah’s gaze bounced around the
room. “I didn’t see any cats.”

Poor things were no doubt hiding under my
bed. I handed the scissors to Keisha and gave Samson and Delilah an
order. “Get this mess cleaned up or I’m shipping you both out the
door without any help at all. Got it?”

They exchanged a glance, and I brushed by
Delilah on my way to the bedroom.

Darkness embraced me as I stepped across the
threshold and closed the door. I turned on my bedside lamp and
wasn’t surprised neither of my beloved pets was in his usual comfy
spot on the bed. Cain liked to lie on the pillows while Abel
preferred burying himself in the covers. It was a good excuse never
to make up the bed.

“You can come out now,” I murmured, kneeling
on the floor to pull up the edge of the bed skirt. Sure enough, two
sets of yellow eyes stared back at me. “All’s safe, kitties.
Momma’s here.”

For the next two minutes, I cajoled them but
neither budged. Through the door, the sounds of shattered glass
being swept up and tipped over furniture righted penetrated the
quiet. I gave up on the cats and flopped onto the bed, rubbing my
forehead.

I’d made no progress finding out what to do
about Emilia or Samson and Delilah. While Father Leonard had helped
me with Luc, he appeared to be better able to handle pure evil than
evil masquerading as good, as I suspected Gabriel was. And now,
thanks to Samson’s foot, I couldn’t even get on the Internet and do
a search on the Erelim.

Option one, I could wait until morning and
try another church and another priest, but from the way things were
going with Samson and Delilah, I’d probably be forced to do more
than shave Samson’s head if we all had to wait that long.

Option two, I could call in a resource who
knew all about Heaven and Hell and the occupants that came with
both.

No way, I murmured to the dark room. Cain
jumped up beside me and began to knead my shoulder with his paws.
It would be a cold day you know where before I called Luc for
advice.

My head throbbed and voices from the other
room rose in a new argument. Something thudded against the wall.
Cain hissed and scrambled back under the bed.

Curses, my furniture would be kindling
before the night was over.

Sitting up, I hesitated, hating my weakness,
but then figured what did I have to lose?

“Luc?” I called meekly. He still kept tabs
on me, even though we’d been separated for months. His excuse was
that he was in love with me. Yeah, right. “I know you can hear me.
I need help.”

Seconds ticked by and Samson roared in the
other room. A crash followed the sound of splintering wood.

I stood and balled my fists. “Luc!” I said
louder. “I need you!”

And just like that, in a shimmering wave of
heat, the Devil appeared in my bedroom.

Chapter Four:
The Devil’s
Plaything

Before I could utter a word, his ardor
engulfed me and so did his arms. He lifted me off the floor as he
brought his lips down to mine. The attack was so unexpected, so
intense, I didn’t even utter a no or put up a struggle. For a few
beats of my heart, my body and my magic went under his spell.

That’s the thing with Luc. His human form is
as tantalizing to me as dark chocolate. He smells like wood burning
in a fireplace, looks like a Roman god, and the way his fingers,
breath and tongue run over my body, feels like a warm waterfall. To
fulfill my fantasy, he tastes like the perfect, thick square of
dark chocolate. Dove. Godiva. Ghirardelli. They’ve got nothing on
Lucifer.

So while Samson and Delilah continued
ranting and raving in the living room, my body erupted with the
sweetest high and my brain went into lockdown mode. Since, like
most witches, my magic is tied to my emotions, the chains I’d
wrapped around it broke and scattered like grains of sand.
Unfortunately, once my magic is unbound, so is my heart.

As Luc’s lips parted mine, the taste of him
exploded on my tongue, and I groaned low in my throat. He smiled
against my lips as he lowered me to the bed, pressing his body the
length of mine. Traitor that it was, my body arched into him, hands
pulling him tighter against me.

And, then, thank Heaven or Hell or whatever
power might have been watching, my brain broke through the lust and
the magic and slapped me silly. “W…wa…wait,” I sputtered, jerking
away from his lips and pushing on his hard chest.

Still in the throes of his own lust, he
ignored my protest and spilled kisses down my neck from earlobe to
collarbone. Another frisson cracked in my psyche. Knowing where he
was headed, my nipples rose in response. Horrified, I squirmed,
continuing to shove against his shoulders. “Lucifer. Stop. It.”

He raised his head an inch to look at me.
Fire danced in his eyes. The flames called to my air magic and a
river of passion roared through my nerve endings. His eyes
fluttered shut for a second as if he felt it, too, and his voice
was rough, dazed, when he spoke. “You never call me Lucifer unless
you’re angry.”

“Of course I’m angry. What the hell do you
think you’re doing?”

“You called me to your bedroom. You know
very well what I’m doing.”

The sounds of Samson and Delilah’s argument
escalated. “I called you here to ask you a question,” I said over
the noise. “Not get my bones jumped.”

He grinned and brushed a thumb across one of
my nipples. “Is that so?”

My breath caught in my throat, and I knocked
his hand away. “Believe me, the last thing I want from you is
sex.”

“Just words.” He ground his hips into mine,
and I choked back a moan. “Your body says differently.”

Dammit. Stupid body. I reached for some
logic, some argument. “You enchanted me.”

The laugh started low in his belly and
vibrated through my skin into my bones. “I don’t need to enchant
you, Amy. You belong to me. We love each other. I knew you’d come
to your senses sooner or later.”

He kissed me again, hard and deep, tangling
my emotions and my magic in utter joy. It would have been so easy
to give in. Give myself over to the brand he held on my soul. The
only thing that saved me was my stubbornness.

I grabbed a handful of his blue-black hair
and gave a yank, breaking the lip lock. He bellowed in pain, a
small satisfaction to counter my own throbbing ache. “I came to my
senses, all right, when I caught you with Emilia. Now get off me so
I can ask my question.”

One of his hands encircled my wrist and
forced me to let go of his hair. “Quid pro quo. I’ll answer your
question, and in return, you’ll do something for me.”

Like I couldn’t guess what favor he wanted.
I had, however, played this game with the Devil more than once.
“One condition. Whatever your something is, you can’t touch me,
mentally, physically or magically.”

His eyes narrowed in consternation, but I
still had the feeling I was losing this bet. “Deal,” he finally
agreed on a huff of air.

“Get off me.”

“Not yet. Ask your question.”

“You promised not to touch me.”

“We haven’t traded yet. You go first.”

My legs were pinned under his, otherwise I
would have kneed Hell’s supreme ruler in the balls. “Oh, all right.
Fine. What do you know about the Erelim?”

The previous noise from the living room
stopped as if someone pushed a mute button.

“Erelim?” The fire in Luc’s eyes went out,
the orbs went flat black. “Why are you asking about them?”

I hooked a thumb to point at the living
room. “Delilah claims they set her up and made her look responsible
for Samson’s fall from grace.”

Luc shifted his weight to the side. My nerve
endings sulked. “Samson—the one referred to in the Bible—was never
real, Amy. He was a mythological character left over from the
Greeks. The Hebrews adopted his story with a few modifications to
reinforce the idea that women were evil and sin would kill
you.”

No wonder I favored the occult over
Christianity. “But Samson is real,” I argued. “He’s destroying my
living room as we speak.”

Another chuckle vibrated from Luc’s body.
“There was a mortal man in biblical times who was a superior
warrior. His strength, however, had nothing to do with the length
of his hair, but with his genes. He came from a line of gladiators
and would have been a great leader if not for his ego. The Erelim
put him in his place because he wanted to be a god, not because he
disobeyed The Lord Almighty. The Hebrews mixed his story with the
Greek myth and Samson’s legend became a biblical parable.”

Maybe it was the lust still running through
my veins or my runaway magic, but I couldn’t make sense of Luc’s
story. “The Erelim have that much power? Why haven’t I ever heard
of them?”

“The Erelim are Thrones. Elders in the top
heavenly triad. They protect and administer God’s justice and
authority by keeping mortals in line.”

“But why use Delilah to teach him a
lesson?”

As Luc started to answer, the door to my
bedroom opened and a familiar face peered in, complete with shaggy
auburn hair, a huge grin and sexy dimple. A grin that dissolved
into a frown faster than melting butter.

My heart dropped to my toes. “Adam?”

“I was going to surprise you.” His eyes
locked on Luc, a muscle twitched in his cheek. He dropped his
travel bag to the floor. “Guess I’m the one who’s surprised.”

Luc smiled wide enough I could see his
molars. “While the cat’s away…”

Adam took two steps toward the bed, grabbed
Luc by the front of his shirt and punched him in the face. Luc went
sprawling to the floor.

I jumped up with a loud, “Oh!” —not sure if
I should rush to Luc’s side or Adam’s.

Luc surged to his feet, rubbing his jaw. His
flat, black eyes took on a menacing glow. “She called me here.”

Afraid he would retaliate, I stepped in
front of Adam and held out a warning hand. “To talk,” I said. “That
was all.”

Adam grabbed me by my upper arms and
deposited me out of his way without taking his eyes off Luc. His
hand curled into a fist again. “And you took advantage of her.”

Luc’s energy slammed into me as he took a
step toward Adam with a wicked grin on his face. “I didn’t have to
take advantage of her.” Another step and he was in Adam’s face.
“All I had to do was kiss her and she wanted more. Much more.”

Adam made to punch Luc again but froze with
the flick of Luc’s finger. His fist uncurled and his fingers
grabbed at an invisible hand at his throat. His eyes bulged and I
knew he was choking.

So I curled up my fist and hit Luc squarely
in the stomach.

He flew across the room, hit the wall and
fell to the floor. Even I was shocked. I hadn’t hit him that
hard.

“Amy?” Adam said, no longer held hostage by
Luc’s powers. He glanced at Luc, who was rising to his feet for the
second time and looking at me with the same strange expression.
“How did you…”

I looked at Luc, down at my hand, and back
to Adam. “I don’t know.”

“Magic,” Luc muttered.

“No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t use
magic.”

“You turned it loose a few minutes ago.” Luc
glanced at Adam. “When we were in bed together.”

Adam tensed and I laid a hand on his arm to
stop him from going after Luc again. Luc continued. “You’ve been
suppressing it for so long, refusing to let it out, it’s found a
new physical way to break free.”

I sat down on the bed and clenched and
unclenched my hand. It didn’t feel any different. Mentally, I did
an entire body scan. Nothing. “Maybe I’m just stronger than I
thought I was.”

Samson appeared in the doorway, Keisha and
Delilah trailed behind, both trying to peek around his massive
arms. He glanced at me and saw the distress on my face.
Testosterone flooded the room, mixing with Adam’s and repelling
Luc’s dark energy. Glaring first at Adam and then at Luc, Samson
demanded, “Which of you has hurt my queen?”