Split - Coffin Nails MC (Contemporary New Adult Erotic Dark Romance) (Sex & Mayhem Book 7) (29 page)

“You should,” said Priest and combed his
fingers through his grey hair. “It was her mother’s. She should have it
anyway.”

Hunter looked down at the ring in silence
and felt a pang of pain for Priest losing the woman of his life. It only made
Hunter want to cherish the time he did have with Asty more. And Asty had an
intense bond with her mother, so the ring would most definitely be special for
her.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, well, it was time. I can’t just keep
it in a drawer forever anyway.” Priest slowly lit a cigarette and took a long
drag of smoke.

Hunter smiled as he got up. “I’ll make it
special for her.”

Priest nodded. “You still need to get her a
ring eventually. I’ll be watching you.”

Hunter couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, sir.”

Priest waved his hand in the air and looked
at the computer. “So much work ... have a safe trip,” he added, even though the
new house was less than half an hour away.

Hunter left with the ring clenched in his
hand. He needed to make it special, and he knew just the way to do that.

Asty

Everything was set for the ritual, and
while a part of Asty wanted it to work, another part of her was bracing for the
fact there might not be any spiritual forces out there to listen to her and
protect them. She’d chosen her namesake demon, Astaroth, for this final foray
into demon summoning.

The interior of the abandoned church only
added to the melancholy she was feeling. Maybe she just wanted to believe all
this so much that it began to feel real? It connected her to her mother and reminded
her of the time when Mom taught her how to charm candles or how to use tarot
cards. But this place also had significance in Asty’s life. It was where her
baby was conceived.

As she lit the green and brown candles on
four sides of a circle, to symbolize the elemental powers, her gaze slid over
the naked grey walls of the three naves, now colored by soft daylight coming
through the stained glass windows. The frescoes enveloping the altar, which was
now stripped of stone tiles, were as bright as she remembered from the night
when her baby had been conceived here. This was where she first met Hunter and
lost her virginity. It was a good place to call out for the protection of her
demonic namesake. Enclosed between the wall behind the altar and the wooden
banister that divided
sacrum
from the
profanum
, she felt
completely safe alongside Hunter.

Even the weather was on their side, as it
was quite warm. It was nothing like during the late October ritual when she had
been worried about staying undressed for such a long time. Asty watched the
demonic tattoos on Hunter’s back as he leaned down to light more candles. Even
with the bright day glow coming from outside, they needed to be lit for the
purpose of the ritual.

They had blankets layered next to the
altar, as Asty intended to have sex with Hunter during the ceremony and ask the
demon to bless their union and protect their child. There were even small
copper plaques stuffed underneath the fabric, as it was the metal associated
with Astaroth. Once they were finished with the setup, she stepped out of the
circle and took off her clothes, folding them neatly on top of her backpack.

“I take everything off as well?” Hunter asked,
tracing her stomach with his fingertips. They felt chilly, but she still loved
his touch.

Asty smiled and stroked his hand. It was
almost as if he too supported the weight she was carrying. “Why, are you
embarrassed of her?”

“It’s just kind of weird to get butt-naked
in a public place.” Hunter bit back a smile when he swirled his finger over
Asty’s nipple.

Asty reached out to a bowl that she had filled
with clean water earlier. She dipped a washcloth in it and brushed it against
her neckline, letting some of the droplets roll down toward Hunter’s fingers.
“No one’s gonna come here but us. The whole neighborhood is practically
deserted.”

Hunter groaned and unzipped his pants. “Can
I at least keep my boxers on?”

Asty cleaned her skin with the cloth in quick,
efficient strides. “Are you gonna fuck me in your boxers?”

“I’ll take them off when we get to that …”
He bit his lip, and it was nice to see the bruises on his face fading to
finally reveal his normal skin color.

Asty dipped the cloth into the water again
and went on, awkwardly leaning down to clean her legs. “All right.” It was
funny how uncomfortable he was after walking around completely naked at any
other time when they were intimate.

“So this should bring protection to our
boy?” Hunter asked and took off his jeans.

“And to us,” Asty said quietly, looking
into his eyes. She swallowed hard, knowing the odds were against them. She was
very young, and they never had the time to adjust to being together as a
couple, without a child in the equation. But she believed they could make it
work. She desperately wanted that to happen, to always wake up next to Hunter
and smell his hair, as she pulled closer. She had never felt like this before,
and somewhere at the back of her mind, there was a fear she’d never be able to
feel this strongly about anyone again.

Hunter took a deep breath and leaned down
to kiss her. The touch of his hands on her face sent a shiver down her body.
Each of his words echoed between the empty walls. “How will we know if this
ritual works? If the demon is real?”

Asty choked on some air as she leaned
against him, and her breasts brushed against his chest. “I will ask her for a
sign, but maybe she will come. Maybe we’ll see her in the corners of our eyes,
feel her touch...”

“Can she hurt us if something goes wrong?”
Hunter hugged Asty close and kissed her cheek.

She slid her free arm around his neck and
brushed their cheeks together. “No, but we will ask her to leave at the end.
And you need to participate in that as well. It’s very important.”

Hunter nodded with a serious expression,
and even though this ritual was a test, something to prove or disprove her
beliefs once and for all, having him so engaged in it, not mocking or annoyed,
meant the world to her. “I will.”

Asty brushed the cloth over his chest,
tracing the black tattoos. “Are you scared?”

Hunter laughed. “I’d lie if I said I’m not
nervous. This isn’t a fight, it’s something else. Something a little creepy.”

Asty nodded. She understood that no matter
what Hunter’s logic was telling him, the fear of demons would be deeply
ingrained in him. And if she was to say the truth, she was scared too. What
they were about to do was much more advanced than any of her previous rituals
had been. “Don’t worry. I’ll hold your hand,” she said and winked.

Hunter shook his head. “Good. I’ll make
sure yours don’t tremble.”

They finished all the preparations, and
then finally, Asty squeezed Hunter’s hand and led him to the middle of the
circle of candles. Cool air teased her naked skin as she picked up the
ceremonial dagger she inherited from her mother and took Hunter to the four
candles that marked north. She could feel his palm sweat slightly as they both
relaxed, taking deep breaths in the silence around them. Her skin was becoming
slightly numb when she finally raised the dagger toward the ceiling high above
and chanted the invocation of the elemental energy of earth by calling out to
one of the relevant demons. The sound of Hunter’s voice, quiet yet powerful as
it repeated her words, sent a shiver down her spine. It was almost as if her
feet were bound to the floor for a moment, but the ritual had to go on, and she
led Hunter farther around the circle.

Now that they started, fear was slowly
seeping out of her, replaced by hope and by the happiness of being here with
her beloved. Hunter was always there for her, and never once tried to desert
her, even when she hadn’t really been in her right mind. He followed her lead,
chanting words she knew creeped him out and even held the dagger with her. And
as their voices intertwined, as their eyes met, Asty felt a pang of heat
caressing her skin from the inside, just after she called out to Astaroth
herself. It almost seemed like the stained glass windows let in more light all
of a sudden, and Asty swallowed hard, leading Hunter to the altar where there
was a stone bowl prepared with three pieces of paper inside it. Each one held a
name: hers, Hunter’s and their baby’s.

She lit a match and put it under the one
with his name and then passed the matches to Hunter, who in turn lit the piece
of paper with her name. They looked into each other’s eyes, and once Hunter lit
the last match, she put her hand over his and they held the fire under the name
of their baby. Beelzebub.

She tried to talk a few times, but as her
throat choked up, she only started when Hunter’s name was almost gone in the
bowl. “Please, protect this family,” she whispered and then repeated the words
in Latin, slowly rolling into Hunter’s arms. He stepped back on the layers of
blankets they prepared for the body of the ceremony, and she followed him
without hesitation as her skin broke out in goose bumps. The light was so
bright in Hunter’s hair, and the sense of being watched became so profound, she
couldn’t help but smile. Astaroth was here, witnessing their union.

She could swear she even heard footsteps
somewhere in the church. But just as she glanced over her shoulder, a bang so
loud that all the pigeons flew up from the windowsills burst through the air.
Only half a second later, she realized she screamed out. Hunter fell to the
ground just next to her bare feet with a dull sound, grabbing onto his arm.

“Fuck. Fuck. Asty, get down to the ground!”
he yelled, and she was still in shock as she looked to the specks of blood on
the pale skin of her legs and then to the red seeping through Hunter’s fingers
where he was holding his own arm.

The world became a blur as Asty hid behind
the altar, falling on all fours. She rushed to Hunter’s side, reaching out for
him, and grabbing the blanket with her other hand as she leaned closer,
thinking only of stopping the blood from leaving his body. Her mind was numb.
She didn’t know what was happening.

The steps on the other side of the altar
got louder. “You thought I’d just give up? After my father was murdered? Priest
won’t see me coming, and you didn’t either.”

Asty forcefully pulled some air into her
lungs and raised her gaze up to a pair of faded black jeans, all the way to the
square, tense face she regretted knowing so well. It was Ray.

Hunter was heaving when he looked up at
her. “I’ll distract him. Run, okay?” he whispered.

Asty clenched her hand on his, but the
decision had been made. She had nothing to defend them with, and she needed to
do
something
. The marble was hard on her knees as she rapidly crawled
back behind the altar, and her eyes focused solely on the side nave where she
left her bag. Her stomach weighed her down as she moved forward, stiff with
fear that was like nothing she had experienced before. She didn’t even feel
cold anymore.

“I’m your cousin!” Hunter hissed and
struggled to his feet. “I could have told Priest all about you, but I didn’t.”

Asty hid behind the shorter side of the
altar, struggling for breath as Ray’s heavy footsteps thudded against the
floor. Her instinct was to just crawl forward, into safety, but another voice
called out for her to wait for the right moment. She’d be exposed if Ray happened
to be looking her way as she fled, and he did have a gun. He could just kill
her with a shot in the back.

“You have diluted blood in you,” hissed
Ray, all too close for Asty’s liking. Something creaked beneath his boots, and
he laughed. “You choose that bitch over your own uncle.”

A sudden crack and a thud resounded through
the air, and Asty was pretty sure Hunter and Ray were fighting. This was her
moment. She didn’t want to run, but with Hunter shot, there was nothing she
could do, especially naked. At least if she got to the phone, she could get
help.

The first two steps were stiff, but the
moment she leapt off the first step, toward the wooden banister, it was as if
some invisible power injected her muscles with new strength. Her feet barely
touched the cold floor as she sped toward the open gate of the banister that
was her key to safety.

Even the click of a gun didn’t make her
stop. If only she made it soon enough, lead would not catch her.

“Come back here, you stupid slut, unless
you want me to put a bullet through you lover boy’s head,” Ray yelled to her.
“Or I could feed him rat poison, like I did to your goat.”

Something stilled deep within Astaroth’s
chest, and she grabbed the banister, abruptly stopping on her way. Relative
safety was just a few yards away, but she couldn’t move anymore. She looked
back, shaking away the hair that fell into her eyes, completely numb.

Ray stood over Hunter, twisting back his
bleeding arm, and holding a gun against his head. Every last nightmare Asty
could remember was coming true, sucking her into the void of reality where no
demon would come to save her. They were supposed to be protected. That was what
this ritual had been all about in the first place.

“Asty, go!” Hunter yelled, only to be hit
over the head with the gun. With his body twisted back and hair sticking to his
face, his eyes were still focused only on her.

Ray growled. “I don’t have all day, bitch.”

Asty reached out toward them, shaken. “No,
don’t hurt him,” she pleaded, slowly stretching and taking a step toward the
two men. Her muscles were so tight she could hardly move without stinging pain
in her calves and arms. Ray killed an innocent animal, attacked her, and now he
was ready to hurt his own cousin. She couldn’t let that happen. That man was unpredictable,
but if he hadn’t shot them both yet, there was still a chance to get out of
this alive. Seeing the blood drip down Hunter’s arm made Asty want to both cry
and tear Ray to pieces.

An unpleasant smile surfaced on Ray’s face.
“Good. Now come over here, and cuff him to the banister.” He threw Asty a pair
of steel handcuffs, and she caught them reflexively. The metal was warm, and
just thinking it was because they’d been close to Ray’s body made her gag.

“Why? Just ... leave ... no one will stop you,”
she uttered, slowly stepping forward across the floor that felt cooler every
time she touched it. Ray seemed like a giant, who could easily twist her neck
if he wanted to, but with him holding Hunter’s life in his hands, she had to
obey.