Poisonous Pleasure (3 page)

A laugh made Marcella jump.

“What a cute little thing you are. What a waste.”

Turning, the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen stood before her. Blond hair curled around his angelic face making his deep blue eyes stand out. The most sensuous, kissable lips smiled tenderly at her, filling her with relief. Immediately, she felt an unexplainable connection to him.

“You have to help me, please. My family…”

“Has already passed over.” His words cut her off so abruptly, she was speechless. “They’re gone Marcella, dead. So, tell me, do you know why you’re still here?”

“Dead…” She couldn’t speak past the word.

“Yes, I already said that, but you didn’t answer my question. Do you know why you’re still here?” Confused, she shook her head, no. “Well, it can mean many things, but since I heard your call, I’m assuming it’s because you belong to me.”

“You’re an angel?”

Another laugh echoed off the burning inferno around them. “Well, yes and no, but not the kind you’re referring to. Sorry, love. If I heard you then that means your soul belongs to me. I’m meant to take you to your eternal resting place. What could an innocent beauty like you have done to be condemned to an eternity of hell? Drugs, prostitution, were you extremely bad as a human? Oh I know, hold on. Was your life like this…?”

Marcella screamed as music blasted around her. The words to the song wouldn’t even register in her confusion. When the chorus began to play her jaw dropped. She’d heard the song before, but it wasn’t something she typically listened to. “That’s My Chemical Romance.”

“Great, isn’t it? Yes, it’s Teenagers, I believe. The music these days is amazing, so much emotion are placed into the lyrics.”

“I beg your pardon, but I wasn’t a bad person. My days were spent working at some stupid law firm, and before that I was in school. I graduated with honors! I’ve never even tried drugs.” A sob broke through Marcella’s voice. “You’re a…demon, aren’t you?”

The music died out while his face sobered. The tall blond took a step toward her. “Yes, I am. So, if you didn’t do anything bad, why am I here?”

“I don’t know, but I have to get out of this room and check on my family. Please, help me.”

“You don’t want to see them as they appear now, trust me. Listen, I know you’re upset, but I don’t have time to stay here all night while you tackle your emotions. There are places I need to be. I left a very good party because of your call. Imagine this, music filling the room… Damn what was playing as I left? You’ll never picture it if I can’t set the right mood.”

Marcella rolled her eyes and reached for something to throw at him, but she couldn’t grasp on to the lightest object. “Don’t even bother with the music effects. I’m so sorry our deaths interrupted your party. Go back. It’s not like I’m going anywhere. I can’t even leave this fucking room, asshole!”

“You do have a point. Well, while you sort through your grief, there are two blondes waiting for me. It’s been awhile, if you know what I mean.” He threw her a wink and another one of his gorgeous smiles. “I’ll be back in a few hours or so to collect you.”

The demon vanished, leaving her in the roar of the surrounding blaze. Sirens broke through the sizzling and popping of wood, bringing her rushing back to the window.

“Yes! Hurry, please!”

Despite what the demon told her, she wouldn’t lose hope. If her family was indeed deceased, she was glad to know they wouldn’t suffer the same fate as her. But if they made it out or possibly needed help, at least it was on the way.

Blue and red lights from the police cars and fire trucks pulled up in front of the lawn. Marcella watched with impatience as the firemen set everything up and began putting out the fire. Men began to pour in the house and she stared stunned while the burning bedroom door opened and everyone retreated back out, just as fast.

Marcella screamed as loud as she could, but rumbling and shaking had her growing quiet while she looked up. Pieces of the ceiling began to fall through her and she let them, not moving. A good two hours ticked by while she stood in the middle of the smoldering pathetic remains of what used to be her home. Large pieces of the frame and chunks of the walls stood intact, but that was about it. A hole, clear over the guest bed, gave view to the beginnings of the sunrise. To think that her brother’s room wasn’t above her anymore was too hard for her to take in.

Startled, she walked through the smoking debris until she came to an opening in the wall that gave a perfect view to the front lawn of their house. Cautiously, she tried stepping passed, but some unknown force was keeping her inside.

Throwing herself into the invisible barrier, she tried to get herself closer to her boyfriend. “Jason! Jason, I’m here! Can you hear me?”

People were thrown out of the way as she watched him try making his way to the front door. Two police officers brought him down while he tried fighting them off. “Marcella! Where is she?” he yelled at the cops. “Marcy!”

If she could have cried, she would have. The heartbreak resting on all of his features made her regret every mean thing she’d ever said to him. He just lost his father, now to lose her, too. What would this do to him? The beginnings of a fear so large made her become aware of feeling in her body for the first time since she’d awoke. A tiny tingling rushed to the tips of her fingers.

“Jason! Jason, I’m here!”

The officers restrained him and pulled him to their cruiser while he continued to twist and kick at them. No matter how hard they tried to get him through the door, he kept pulling them back toward the house, inch by inch. A fireman finally came to their rescue and got Jason locked inside. But it didn’t stop him from lying down to kick at the window with his bare feet.

Tortured, she watched, until they finally drove him off. His mother eventually came and picked up his truck, but hours went by and nothing else happened. It wasn’t until sunset that she heard the familiar voice.

“Sorry about that. I got a little wasted last night and forgot about you. So, how do you want to do this? You can come to me, or I can come to you. Either way, we both know you won’t be able to escape, so please don’t try. I’ve got a killer headache and the last thing I need is to chase you around the room.”

Tingling rushed through Marcella’s fingers again as rage took over. This demon was the rudest, most insensitive bastard she’d ever met. She stalked right up to him not once breaking their eye contact.

“I’m not afraid of you. What, no more music? I hope your head hurts so bad that every word out of my mouth makes you want to puke!” She yelled as loud as she could, happy when he winced.

Lips crushed into hers, pulling her into a passion she’d never undergone before. His taste hypnotized her, drugged her into forgetting everything she’d ever experienced. Marcella clung around his neck, amazed by her body’s response to him. He wasn’t going through her at all and if felt as if she knew him, knew him forever. Nothing mattered anymore but the pull that forced her to get closer against him.

Out of nowhere, she couldn’t breathe even though she hadn’t taken a single breath since she awoke. The need to take in air made her panic. Desperately, she tried to pull back and noticed she wasn’t the only one. He seemed to be pushing against her shoulders, but her lips were locked open with his.

Cold slowly began to seep into Marcella’s mouth as a bright light nearly blinded her. A piercing scream almost shattered her eardrums. It took a moment to realize the scream came from her. Dark spots blocked out the majority of her vision and everything turned to slow motion. She could feel herself falling and once again, she couldn’t control her body.

Peaceful darkness settled over her, but quickly vanished into a muffled voice. Fog drifted through her head while she tried to process what just happened. The voice got louder and she fought to listen to what it was saying.

“You owe me five souls. Do you know that? What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Marcella blinked to see the demon hovering over her. The glare on his face made her smile while she shut her eyes. To see him upset felt like perfect payback for the asshole he’d been earlier. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened. You stole my souls! What the hell am I supposed to do now? I’m due to meet with my master within the next month and if I don’t have those souls, there’s going to be hell to pay. Now give them back!”

“I already told you. I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about!” Aching raced through her body as she fought to sit up. “Are you going to help me or are you just going to stand there, maybe play me another song?”

The demon pulled her up so fast she fought not to be sick. Twisting resettled in her stomach and she clung to his white button up shirt so she wouldn’t collapse back to the ground in pain.

“Oh God, not again. Oh please, no.”

“What is it?” He growled.

Fingers laced through her hair at the base of her neck. She leaned into his strength and stared up at him. “I’ve been having these bad pains, even before the fire. My stomach, it hurts really bad.”

“Pains? You can feel?” At once, his voice softened and sounded confused.

“No, I’m just clutching to my stomach because it feels good. Yes, I can feel. It hurts. Make it stop.”

A scream escaped her lips while she buried her face into his wide chest. The hardness of muscle nearly made her draw back, but the throbbing immobilized her. “Make it stop!”

“I can’t. I don’t know what’s happening. You shouldn’t be able to feel. Shit, what in the fuck is going on? You take my souls, you can feel, you’re an amazing kisser. Nothing makes sense.”

Caught off guard by the amazing kisser part, she tried to look up. Tingling, followed by what Marcella could only describe as cobwebs, raced from her toes to her shins. “What’s happening? What is that? Something’s inside of me. I can feel it moving. Oh shit.”

“Tell me what you feel. Is it like bugs, or…”

“Cobwebs, it’s creepy. I don’t like it.” She tried pulling out of his arms, but he wouldn’t let her go. The need to curl into a ball pushed her to fight against him, harder. “They’re to my knees! It fucking hurts.”

Her fingers gripped into the demons shirt even tighter. Terror caused her breathing to become faster as the feeling began to accelerate and climb to the bottom of her stomach. Electrical charges shot in all directions making her vision blur.

“I’m dying,” she whispered. “Again, but this time they want me to feel it. Why is this happening? I’ve never done anything. I’m fucking boring!”

Light exploded in front of her while the cobwebs raced up her throat, blocking off every ounce of air she held. The demon’s eyes got big as he held eye contact with her. The expressions passing his face made her panic further. Fire raced down her skin feeling like a million needles penetrating at once.

“Your eyes.” The words were the last thing she heard before another pain exploded in her head. Then silence.

“Collector, wake up. Collector…Marcella! Damn woman, you faint more than anyone I’ve ever met before. Your change couldn’t have been that bad. Hello….wake up!”

“I can hear you, dammit. You don’t have to yell. And for your information, I’ve never fainted before today.”

Marcella sat up groggily. Long dark hair fell over her shoulder as she leaned forward. She stared at it confused. This
was not
her hair. Hers was only a few inches past her shoulders and wasn’t ever this dark. Now the loose curls hung past her elbows.

Looking at her skin, she nearly screamed. She was pale before, but now she was downright ghostly, and covered with tribal tattoos that stopped at her waist. Not to mention, she was completely nude.

The demon laughed. “I didn’t want to believe it. This is beyond anything I ever thought I’d experience. Marcella, do you know what’s happened? Do you know what you are? You’ve defied everything us demons were ever taught.”

“Less talk, and more clothes. Hello, I’m naked.” Marcella crossed her legs, and wrapped her arms across her chest trying to cover herself as much as she could.

The blue of his eyes left hers and gazed down at her body. Heat infested her skin, skin that looked real, human. Marcella pressed her fingertip against her thigh. Solid.

“I
am
real. I’m…alive?”

“You’re a collector.” The huskiness of his voice made her shiver. “You’re not supposed to be real. Soul collectors only existed back in the first few hundred years of hell. Lucifer supposedly made them to assist in his deeds, but he wiped them out. They were too powerful and began to deliver to who they thought best, or so the legend goes. That’s when us demons were sent to earth for the task.”

“Whoa, what makes you think I’m one of those?”

“Well, it could be the chants that are embedded in your skin. Or maybe it’s the fact that you stole my souls! Don’t tell me you’re forgetting that.”

“Ipos, or did you think I didn’t have a name? Although, maybe it’s better if you call me Dominic, that’s my human name. I do have a life to pretend to live.”

“Fine, Dominic. Listen. Maybe you’re right, but what if you’re not. Am I human or not?”

“Human, no. You’re a collector. Didn’t we already go over this? You’re not too bright, are you? Graduated honors, my ass. What did they teach you at that school you went to?”

“Listen asshole, since you seem to be missing what I’m getting at here. I want to leave. Can I make it past the walls of this room?”

“Oh, why didn’t you just say that to begin with? Yes, you’re free to do whatever you want. That is, after you hand over my souls.”

Marcella’s breasts hit the hardness of Dominic chest as he pulled her up. Fingers tangled into her hair making her look into his eyes. “I’m sorry, but this is the only way.” His lips pressed gently into hers at first, then harder, sending pleasure heavily to her lower stomach. The softness of his tongue caressed hers bringing her body to life with heightened sensations more powerful than before.

Wetness collected on her inner thighs while she pulled his body closer to hers. She could hear herself moaning as she sank deeper into him. The familiarity of his taste only lasted for the briefest moment. Flashes of her family and Jason made her jerk back, stopping the pull of harbored memories that were trying to break though. Thinking of what happened caused her heart to ache. Jason…