The Darkest Joy (2 page)

She began talking while
Caim
stood there silently regarding her. “You know I’d give all this up to see my daughter again.” She was signing paper after paper as she spoke. “I gave her to my mother, and I only sent money every month to take care of her. The last time I saw them, she was six months old. That was eighteen years ago.”

Caim
still stood silent. This was sometimes part of the job, listening to the lost before they descended to hell.

“You’re the one he sent for me?” she asked simply. She continued to scribble furiously on the papers. One after the other, she signed with haste.

“I am
Caim
, and I am the collector of his debts.”

“I am signing everything I won over to my daughter Lorelei. I hope she makes a better life for herself with this than I ever did. I should have stayed in that trailer park and earned my way out.” She closed the last file and set the pen down on top gently. She stood and crossed the room from behind her desk. “I’m ready.”

Caim
nodded. He moved from his position and stood before her. She tried to straighten her back to make her five-feet-two inches seem like more against his six feet.
Caim
liked her strength, her bravery. He always felt remorse for the ones who knew their dealings with Belial was a mistake, but faced it with honor. He would make it as painless as possible for her because he knew what she would face when her soul went to hell.
Caim
placed a gentle hand on her back. He heard her gasp when his wings, black as the feathers of a raven, unfurled from his back. He placed his other hand on her chest and tried to pull her soul slowly from her body. Her low cry was the only sound she made as her body crumpled to the floor. Her soul stood next to him now. They both looked down at the shell of her body.

“How will they think I died?” Daniela asked.

“Heart attack. It’s time to go.”

“I’ll be in pain for eternity, won’t I?” she asked softly.

Caim
could not lie to her. The truth would be hard enough as is. It was better she expected it beforehand. As they phased out of her office, back to hell, his words echoed. “Yes, you will be.”

The second soul he went after was an old man, which meant he was not going to go easily. He had hired guards to protect him at all times. Conrad Pendleton of
PenCon
Foods felt he could outsmart the Devil’s collector. When he had signed the contract, he lived in one room over a Laundromat in Chicago. Now, his mansion was bigger than most apartment complexes, and he still longed for more.
Caim
could smell the greed rolling off him as he stood in the middle of the mansion and the armed guards lay strewn around his feet.

“Did you really think you could get out of your deal?”
Caim
asked mildly.

“I . . . I can give you money, power, whatever you wish!” Conrad stammered hysterically.

“There is nothing you can offer me that I want, old man, except your fate.”

“I was a child. I didn’t know what I was doing!” Conrad shouted.

He opened a drawer quickly and pulled out a gun. He fired rapidly, and each bullet hit
Caim
in his chest.
Caim
stood under the barrage of bullets, and when silence
reigned
once more, his patience was at an end. Each piece of lead fell out of his body as his wings ripped from his back. He strode toward the desk.

Conrad Pendleton stared at the towering presence coming toward him.
Caim
ripped the soul from his body amid his screams. He felt no pity for this man. What lined his pockets and what he held in the bank were more important to him than anything else. The man begged and pleaded for a reprieve, but there was none to give. Even if he could offer him solace,
Caim
knew he did not deserve it.

When the soul was taken from him at the gates of hell by the reaper, the hounds of hell bit at Conrad Pendleton’s feet. They could smell the fear, and his shrieks of fright and pain only excited the beasts more.
Caim
turned away from the grotesque scene playing out in front of him. The reaper dragged the bleeding man away. It was a scene he had been part of for too long. He wanted peace, but it would be a long road before he could call it his own. He had to be very careful as well. If anyone caught on to his plan, he would be more damned than Mr. Pendleton, screaming in the darkest pits.

Chapter Two

Bliss stood beside her car, and the cool evening air caressed her creamy skin. It was fall in her small town. Only about two thousand people called Merry, North Carolina, home. With the leaves floating to the grass beneath the outstretched branches of the trees, they blanketed the green with the vibrant colors of fall. She could see why the founders had named this town Merry. You couldn’t help the bubble of happiness that this kind of evening brought. She was working the night shift, and it started at six. She pulled her bag from the car and headed through the swishing door of the hospital.

With the usual greeting to fellow workers, she got on the elevator that took her to her little office on the third floor. Outside she grabbed the door handle and hesitated just for just a moment. For the past few weeks, whenever she was in the office alone, she felt as if someone was watching her. She did not feel threatened, just watched, as if the person had a fascination with her or with what she did.
A ghostly phantom who loved phlebotomists
. Bliss smiled and shrugged off the thought. She turned the cool metal and flipped the light switch that was on the wall. The room flooded with light, and her little slice of heaven was open for business.

A little knock on her door made her look up from stowing her bag in the drawers of her desk. Bliss smiled warmly in greeting to the woman who stood in her doorway.

“How’s it going tonight, Amber?” Bliss asked. Amber was a nurse in the ER and one of her close friends. She was a redhead with gorgeous blue eyes, and next to her
pixielike
body, Bliss felt like a giant.

“You know Merry in a full moon. The freaks come out at night,” Amber
singsonged
.

Bliss laughed. “Anything for me to do?”

“That’s why I’m here. Four charts all need blood drawn and tests run.” Amber said. “Hey, are you taller today?”

“I’m wearing heels. I went shopping before work and picked these up at Clara’s, so I’m trying them out.” Bliss stuck her foot out for her friend to see the new red heels.

“Ooh la-la, flashy! Do you have a date or something?”

“No, I decided to splurge for once.” Bliss stood at an Amazonian height of five-feet-eleven inches. With too many curves and a skin color that seemed flat, Bliss didn’t think of herself as a beauty. She just thought of herself as plain,
ol
’ oatmeal in a small-town bowl.

“You’d better change out of those before the rush comes in.” Amber flashed a smile as she handed Bliss the charts with a flourish. “I am sure we’ll be running around before the night is over.”

Amber’s premonition was soon proved correct. The emergency room filled with people who came up with the weirdest things to do in a small town. One man, who was trying to shoot an apple off his friend’s head, missed and got the shoulder instead. They forgot to mention they were stone-cold drunk when they tried this little exercise. Another case that came through the door was four kids who thought it was really great to go tip over a cow while it was sleeping. Unfortunately, they picked on a bull, and one of them got a horn in the rear for it.
Of all the stupidity!
Bliss fumed as she drew their blood for testing. Some cases softened her heart and made tears come to her eyes. One woman came in with her son. The baby was two, and his fever was raging. He cried from being sick and from Bliss trying to get a needle into his arm. She was one of the best at what she did, and soon she had what she needed to find out why the poor boy was sick. But damn, every time he cried or sobbed, Bliss felt her own tears begin to form.

“Are you okay?” The deep timbre of a man’s voice reached her ears. She turned as one of her tears fell onto her cheek. She gazed from black leather shoes to dark slacks. A silk shirt covered a wide chest, and when she stared into eyes the color of jade, Bliss felt
herself
stop breathing. He was one of the most gorgeous men she had ever seen. The man was clean-shaven with a face that had a rugged jaw. He did not smile, but his lips were so kissable Bliss wanted to taste them immediately. Dark hair flowed over the collar of his shirt, but it was his eyes that beckoned her back into their green depths. They were mesmerizing, but still she saw something there, swirling like dark waters in a troubled storm.

“Are you okay?” he asked again. He raised his hand and wiped the stray tear away with the pad of his thumb.

Bliss knew she was staring with her mouth hanging open, but she couldn’t help it.
Say something, you fool!
she
hissed to herself. “Um, I’m fine . . . fine . . . Can I help you with something? Do you need to be seen by a doctor?”

“No, I saw your face. You looked upset. I thought I might help. Shall I take you to dinner?”

That question caused her mouth to drop open again. “Dinner? Uh, no, thank you. I don’t know you for you to take me to dinner, and I’m working.”
Hell, I’m tempted to say yes because he is so fine.

“Then let me introduce myself. I am
Caim
.” He bowed slightly. “And you are?”

“I’m . . . I’m Bliss
Tadeo
,” she offered,
then
laughed, flustered. “Why am I telling you my name? You could be a mass murderer!”

Bliss caught sight of Amber and a few other nurses standing behind the guy who had introduced himself as
Caim
. The curiosity was on their faces, and they were obviously ogling. Plus, Amber was shaking her fingers as if she were burned while mouthing the word
hot!

“Perfect joy and praise,”
Caim
said.

His comment diverted her attention from the onlookers behind him. “Um, what’s that now?” Bliss felt like fiddling with her hair or something to distract her from his eyes. She couldn’t do anything. Her hands held the fragile basket with tubes of labeled blood.

“Bliss
Tadeo
, your name, it means perfect joy and praise.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.” Bliss couldn’t think of anything else to say to that beautiful statement. “You aren’t from around here, but I feel as if I’ve met you before. Do you have family in Merry?”

He shook his head. “No, I am alone.”

Four words never sounded so desolate in her opinion. “You have no one, I’m sorry.” Bliss saw the frown of the head ER doctor. “Hey, it was nice meeting you,
Caim
. I have to get back to work. I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Good-bye for now, Bliss.” He made her name sound like a caress, and she could almost sigh as he passed by her and headed for the doors.

As she moved down the hallway, Amber fell into step next to her. “Okay, who was that mysterious
hottie
with the killer body? Spill it, woman!”

Bliss laughed lightly, but the flutter in her stomach told her she was excited just as much as her friend was. “I have no clue
who
he is. His name is
Caim
, and he asked me out to dinner.”

“And you said yes, right?”

“No! I don’t even know him!” Bliss said, shocked.

“Then why did he want to take you out to dinner?” Amber threw her a glance as if her best friend was hiding a secret.

“Because he saw I was upset over the boy who came into the emergency room. He wiped away my tears with his thumb.”

“Oh! That is so sweet. Can we keep him?” Amber gushed.

“Down, little pixie chick. I’m sure I will never see him again,” Bliss said with laughter in her voice.

“Well, shoot, that was the best excitement we had all night.” Amber pouted.

“Did you not see the two guys with the arrow?”