Redemption (The Keepers of Hell Book 3) (10 page)

     “It looks like they took her blood,” Antonio said.

     “Well, fuck,” Ash grumbled.

     Shelly growled. “I swear I’m going to kill them.”

     “I don’t understand,” Jake admitted.

     “If they took my blood then they can call me again and again,” Shelly told him. “Not to mention any number of other things.”

     “This is seriously fucked up,” Antonio said to no one in particular.

     “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Shelly snarled at him.

     Jake heard a low growl that seemed to come from everywhere all at once. Shelly looked up into his eyes and he realized the feral sound was coming from him. His vision went red and smoke began to fill the room.  “I will kill them,” he snarled, pulling her closer to his chest. Yellow and red flames began to dance up the walls and across the ceiling. The fire grew until the alarms went off.

     “Shit,” Antonio barked.  Out of habit, he started looking for an extinguisher.

     “No,” Ash said, “let it go. It’s better if it burns anyway. Antonio, grab the laptop and anything else that might help us and Jake, take Shelly home.” He saw Antonio get to work on his orders and there was no sign of Jake. He didn’t have to be told to take Shelly out of there, it was already done.

     Ash looked around the room one last time. The smoke was heavy and thick. No doubt the other residents of the building had already started evacuating. Once Antonio was gone and the fire was chewing up everything in its path, Ash flashed himself back to Hell.

CHAPTER TWENTY

     Ash and Antonio returned to Hell with electronics in hand. They flashed immediately into Ash’s office. Ash knew before he had completely materialized that Elizabeth was already there.

     “And what did you think would happen?” she asked. Ash turned and saw that she had pulled a chair up to the cage and was talking to the soul who had escaped Greed.

     “I didn’t know,” Liam admitted to her. “I just thought I could help.”

     “Hey, Liz,” Antonio said cheerfully, “What’s up my boo?”

     Elizabeth turned and gifted Antonio with a warm smile. “Just talking,” she answered him.

     Ash growled at his friend. “She’s not your
boo,
” he grunted under his breath. He knew that Antonio was just like that, but still, he didn’t like anyone calling his woman by a pet name. Especially
that
one. Who came up with that anyway? He should find that person and rearrange their brain for them, he decided. It would be doing the whole world a favor.

     “Oh, that is where you are wrong,” Antonio grinned. “I love this woman to pieces. She can be my boo if she wants to.”

     Ash knew that Antonio was just messing with him for fun. It was just the way the angel was. He was a fierce warrior, but damn if he didn’t try to get a rise out of Ash every chance he got. Ash knew better though. Antonio had his own mate waiting for him in Heaven when he was finished helping Ash get his guard together. “Don’t make me rethink that whole not killing you thing,” Ash warned him as he went to his mate. He held out his hand for her and she took it. Ash pulled her from her chair and wrapped her in his embrace. He stole a kiss from her lips and set her on her feet. “What are you doing?”

     “I was just talking to Liam,” she said. “I missed you. Did you find Shelly?”

     Ash nodded. “Someone summoned her. They took her blood.”

     “What does that mean?” she asked him.

     Ash settled into his chair and pulled Elizabeth into his lap. “I’m not sure yet. We have their laptop and a few other things. We’re hoping that we can find out what their plan was by the information we get off it.”

     Antonio had already taken a seat and booted up the laptop. “Yeah, that’s not going to be as easy as we thought,” he said without looking away from the screen.

     “Why not?” Ash asked him.

     “It’s encrypted. Pretty fucking good too.” Antonio tapped away at the keyboard but his brow furrowed deeply. “I ain't sure I can get into it. I don’t suppose you are computer savvy?”

     Ash motioned for Antonio to give him the computer and he slid it across the desk. Ash typed at it for a moment, only to realize it was locked up good. “Damn,” he cursed.

     “Yeah, that’s what I said,” Antonio agreed. “I thought you were good at hacking?”

     Ash shook his head. “I am a novice at best,” he admitted.

     “Oh, well,” Antonio said cheerfully. “I got this.” He closed the laptop and tucked it under his arm.

     “What are you doing?” Ash asked him.

     “I know a guy,” Antonio answered, as if that should explain it.

     “The last time you said that my woman came back to me a vampire,” Ash reminded him.

     “What, you don’t like me as a vampire?” Elizabeth said incredulously. “I thought you liked the fangs.” She grinned, exposing the teeth in question, and Ash had to will the shiver that ran down his spine into submission. Oh, he liked the fangs. He liked them a lot.

     “I was just saying,” Ash said.

     “I promise not to bring back a vampire computer,” Antonio vowed before taking the computer and disappearing.

     “That man,” Ash said, shaking his head.

     “I like him.” Elizabeth turned to face Ash and draped her legs over his, straddling him. “But I like you more.”

     “Hmmm,” Ash hummed, “Speaking of teeth,” he said, “You seem pale. Are you hungry?”

     Elizabeth grinned and Ash stood, taking her with him. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he walked them both to his bedroom.

***

     Jake and Shelly flashed to his sleeping quarters. He let go of her only long enough to make sure the door was locked. “No one is getting in here tonight,” he told her.

     Shelly was standing there with her arms wrapped around herself, as if she were trying to hold it together. And why wouldn’t she be?  She had just been through a terribly traumatic experience, and the fact that it was a blur to her only made things worse. “I don’t understand,” she said softly.

    “Shh,” he whispered to her as he took her into the circle of his arms. “Right now, you need to rest.” He led her over to his bed, and the fact that she allowed him to lead her at all was a testament to how shaken up she really was.

     She sat on the bed and tried to clear the confusion from her mind. Her body felt as if she had been standing for days, and in reality, she had been. How long had those humans kept her prisoner? That she had been taken at all grated against her nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.  “How could I have been so careless?” she asked.  “Why didn’t I see what was going on? How can humans be so powerful?”

     Jake thought maybe she wasn’t talking to him, exactly, but more as if she were thinking out loud, sorting things out in her head. He let her ask her questions before finally laying back on the bed and pulling her down beside him. “Come on,” he told her. “Stay with me tonight.”

     Shelly started to object, but by the time she had a good argument formed, Jake had positioned her within the crook of his arm with her head on his chest. She could hear the steady drum of his heart under her ear and the sound was soothing. His arm was wrapped around her back and he was holding her close to him, as if she were precious to him.

     She tossed her objections aside and allowed herself the comfort of another soul. Shelly had always been a loner, never trusting anyone too much, but she felt as though she could trust Jake. With her life, as it were.

     There was just something about him that called to her and something that smoothed her rough edges and made her feel things that had been completely foreign to her before.

     Trust was one of those things. Safe. Loved.

     Even if Jake didn’t know it, Shelly knew. He loved her. It was obvious in the way he held her. No one could fake that kind of concern or the kind of protectiveness he displayed for her. In the shelter he provided her from the rest of Hell, Shelly allowed herself to do something she had never done before. She let herself fall asleep in the presence of another.

***

     Jake didn’t know how long he watched Shelly sleep before he drifted off himself. He woke a few hours later to the feel of her small hands on his chest.

     She wasn’t being still, either. Her hands were exploring his torso as if she were learning each and every curve of muscle and each follicle of hair that scattered over his chest. Her nails drifted over his skin and gooseflesh broke out all over his body.

     His skin wasn’t the only organ affected by her touch. He had fallen asleep in his jeans and they were becoming very uncomfortable, very quickly.

     He tried to pretend that he was still asleep for fear that she would stop touching him, but when her nail raked over one of his nipples, his sharp intake of breath gave him away.

     “Like that, do you?” she smiled, looking up at his face.

     Jake opened his eyes and found her staring back at him. “I could wake up every day to that sight,” he mumbled.

     “I don’t know about every day,” she said with a smile, “but for today it seems to be working.”

     Jake smiled at her and craned his neck down to kiss her forehead. She pushed up on her arms and fused their mouths together. Her lips were soft on his and she took her time exploring him.

     Jake leaned back and let her. He didn’t want to push anything on her at that moment, so he let her do whatever she wanted to him.

     For the time being, she seemed content to nip and suck at his lips. It wasn’t long before Jake couldn’t be submissive any longer. He reached up and cradled the back of her neck with his hand and drove his tongue inside her mouth.

     Shelly moaned softly and allowed Jake’s tongue to boss hers around. She sucked at him and reveled in the shivers he tried to control. He was hers.

     She moved her body to straddle his and he wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her chest to his own. He could feel her heart beating against her ribs and his own heart echoed the same beat.  “I need this,” she whispered in his ear.

     Jake was all too happy to oblige her. He held her tight and flipped their positions so that she was underneath him. In the amount of time it took him to move, the entire dynamic of the situation changed. Jake became suddenly desperate for her.

     He lowered his head to her lips once again, but this time he was not gentle about it. He ate at her like he was starving and she was the river of life. Her mewls and moans were all the encouragement he needed to keep going. He finally dragged his lips from hers and left a blazing trail of hot kisses down her neck and across her collarbone.

     That shirt she was wearing had to go. He pushed up on his arms and then shifted his weight to one hand while the other yanked it up over her head.

     Shelly was happy to help him and sat up just enough to get the shirt off. “Stunning,” Jake said to her as he took in the sight of her breasts in front of him. He paid homage to the soft skin on her chest and to each pink bud that strained toward him, begging for attention.

     Then he kissed his way down her stomach until he reached the barrier her jeans presented. “Gotta go,” he said to the material as he ripped it open and shoved it down her legs.

     Shelly giggled at his antics. She had always been the alpha in any relationship she had, but she liked this caveman attitude he was showing her. She liked that he was desperate for her, almost as much as she was for him.

     Jake split her thighs with his large shoulders and settled on his elbows. He breathed in her scent before lowering his head for a taste of her core.

     Shelly’s hips shot up off the mattress at the first contact and her hands secured his head in place. His tongue teased and tormented her, but it was such sweet torture.

     After he had licked and nibbled and kissed every inch of skin he could find on her, Shelly was finally able to convince him to let her do a little exploring of her own.

     She started at the top, kissing his neck and shoulders, and worked her way down. He was happy to kick his pants off for her and Shelly paused her lick-fest to admire his body. “You are perfect,” she told him.

     “Not perfect,” he argued.

     “You are to me,” she said, and as the words left her lips, she realized how true they were. He was perfect. From his strong arms to his broad shoulders, his tight abs all the way down to his toes, she couldn’t find anything that didn’t make her engine rev. Even his cock, which she held in her hand at the moment, was perfect for her. Shelly looked up his body at his face. “I wish I had some chocolate right now,” she said with a grin.

     Jake picked his head up. “What?”

     Shelly shrugged as her hand tightened around him. “Everything is better dipped in chocolate.”

     “Oh,” Jake said with wide eyes when he realized what she was talking about. “I really need some chocolate right now.”

     Out of nowhere, a bottle of chocolate syrup appeared in his hand and he laughed. “Angels always have what they need,” he chuckled and handed the bottle to her.

     Shelly pushed up to sit on her knees and opened the bottle. With a sly grin, she tilted the bottle on its side and watched with fascination as the thick dark liquid poured out. She aimed for his cock, drizzling the sweet syrup over him in short lines.

     “Oh, that’s much nicer than I could have imagined,” he breathed as he watched her. He pushed up onto his elbows to have a better view. His whole body jumped when she licked her upper lip. Then, she went in for dessert.

     Shelly licked and sucked at the chocolate, running her tongue along his length and back up again, until there was nothing left but smooth skin that stretched tight over steel. Jake had muttered encouragements to her at first, but eventually, all he was left with was incoherent moans.