Good Intentions (51 page)

They were back to their normal clothing and back to their apartment. They had made sure that the upstairs neighbors were out for the evening and the guy next door was out at work. A heavy pair of curtains was laid against the windows. The pair enacted charms of discretion and disinterest around their apartment. It was al the privacy they could manage. Not for the first time, the young couple felt like they would soon have to find an acceptable way to start making some money with al this witchcraft stuff. For one thing, they really needed better digs. “I still figure this is gonna take a couple hours. You ready?” Molly asked. She held out a circlet of vines and stems. Interwoven within them were the strands of blonde hair Molly had found. “I love you, Mol y,” Onyx answered simply. Molly grinned, took Onyx in her arms and kissed her guilty look away. Eventually she leaned her forehead against her lover’s. “This is why I’m with you,” the redhead reminded her. “There’s no point to al this if we can’t help our friends. It’s not about you sleeping with him. I like him, too.” Onyx nodded. She let Molly pul away, then turned to light the last candle. Then she frowned. “Wait, like him how?” “Oh please. You knew I was a tramp when you brought me home,” Molly laughed. * Alex had one hand slipped up under Rachel’s head, pulling her hair just firmly enough not to hurt. She gasped in pleasure, encouraging him with dirtier words than he’d ever heard strung together. His breathing became loud, even vocal, and as the intensity of their contact rose, their mouths came together in a rough, hungry, loving kiss.

It went on and on. The sunset outside was beautiful, fol owed by clouded darkness. They didn’t notice. They lost al sense of anything other than one another. He was also too swept away to realize just how much this was like his first time. Their shared climax left them crying out involuntarily. They clung together, trembled, gasped and sighed. It was a long while before the rush abated. Awareness slowly came back to them both without diminishing the willd pleasure or wanton intimacy of the moment. “I love you, Alex,” the angel whispered. She sniffed. Tears fell from her eyes, streaming across her temples. “It worked. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you. It worked.” Alex laughed a little. “Yeah, I was afraid I wouldn’t get the job done there, too.” Rachel both laughed and sobbed happily. “No, you dummy. Not that.” She held him tightly as he trailed soft, loving kisses over her neck. “The ritual. The binding ritual. We just completed it.” “Ah,” Alex huffed. Then he blinked. “Wait, we did what?!” * Lydia was relentless. She al owed Carlos neither rest nor the oblivion of unconsciousness. He begged, at least while he could still talk, but al that did was make her smile. He would have cursed his virility, and Lydia’s unending, merciless lust, but that thought didn’t drift through his mind until he was incapable of speech. Shortly after sunset, it was time. These things had to be managed very careful y. There was a very short window in

these rituals between the separation of the soul from the body and the final expiration of life in the body. She would have only the briefest of moments. Lydia reached over Carlos’s head to pul the ritual dagger from behind the wooden headboard of the bed. Carlos couldn’t even really tel what was happening at that point. He only barely felt the point of the dagger as it carved shall ow, profane runes into his arms, his shoulders and his chest. There wasn’t much blood. That wasn’t the point. Al the while, Lydia cal ed out to her master. The cuts stopped bleeding. Lydia rocked harder against him, calling out wantonly in a tongue rarely used on Earth. Carlos let out a last, final sigh. His hands stopped twitching. Lydia continued to grind against him. A moment later, a tiny puff of ash came from his mouth. More escaped from the cuts on his upper body. Lydia grinned in satisfaction when Carlos’s hands grasped her hips with sudden strength, vitality and urgency. The forceful, selfish rhythm left no il usion of the succubus having any further control. She was gripped, used, and then tossed to her side. Her partner rose off his back to look at his surroundings, then down at the smiling woman sharing the bed. Black smoke swirled in his eyes. “Lord Baal,” she said, bowing her head in supplication. “Tel me quickly why this is worth my while,” said a much deeper and sinister voice than had ever come from Carlos before. Her satisfied smile was undiminished by her master’s apparent irritation. Lydia said only one word: “Lorelei.” What was once Carlos cocked his head curiously. “What of her?” “Belial has lost her. I know where she is.”

* “Why would you do something like that?” Alex asked. He sat upright on the bed. Rachel lay next to him. He had pul ed half the comforter over her so he could think straight. He didn’t want to think straight. He wanted to make love to her. She clearly wanted that, too. But this was crazy. “Because it will help keep us together, Alex,” Rachel explained. She reached out to take his hand, speaking in a voice that was both loving and urgent. “I’m tel ing you, it’s not what you think. It’s not what any of us thought. That urge to obey peaked like three days into this whole deal. You might get a few days to boss me around, which could be kinda kinky,” Rachel noted with a brief grin, “but in the end, I’m not really going to be your slave. Not real y.” “Lorelei doesn’t disobey me,” Alex said. “Oh, like you’ve given her commands she didn’t want? Look, maybe the ritual reinforces that and maybe it doesn’t, but you’re the closest thing a demon like her could have to being free. She doesn’t obey you because of the ritual, Alex. She loves you and respects you. If I were in her shoes, I’d feel the same way. “That whole thing about not being able to lie to you is irrelevant to me anyway, by the way. I told you that straight off. I couldn’t lie to you regardless.” “Yeah, but you can apparently hide things from me like this.” “Well , that’s something Lorelei can clearly do, too. She sure as hell knew this would happen. I think she was just hoping I wouldn’t find out.” Alex blinked. “Why would she do that?”

“Hel o? Demon! Bound to be a little naughty! Plus she loves you, dork. Put those two things together. Why wouldn’t she want you to have me hook up with you?” Seeing his displeased look, Rachel finally looked less pleased with the situation and more penitent. “Alex, I’m sorry. I didn’t tel you because I wasn’t sure if it would still work and I didn’t want you to freak out. And it doesn’t change how I feel for you in the slightest.” “Well , I’m a little freaked out,” Alex put in sourly. “You’re taking a terrible risk with your freedom.” “I’m really not,” Rachel said. “I love you. I’ve never felt love like this before. This bond between us…if anything, it helps keep us together.” “Why?” “Because the one thing it does permanently is obligate me to defend you.” “I thought you were going to do that anyway?” “I am. That’s not the point. That priest was at least smart enough not to try this without being damn sure that his slaves couldn’t turn on him. He did a good fuckin’ job on that, too. Even the angels couldn’t figure out a way to break the bond, and now it’l be even stronger. So now if Vincent does get his way and I get removed as your guardian angel, I’m still bound to protect you. Like I said, I’d do that anyway. But this is something I’ve got to throw at anyone who tries to send me to Bum Fuck Egypt to convey prophecies and shit. They can’t send me away from you now. They won’t. The Hosts can be ridiculously political sometimes, but it’s still Heaven. They aren’t cruel.” Alex sighed, looking away from her. She reached out and took his hand, which brought his attention back to her. “I love you, Alex.” “I…ugh. I love you, too, Rachel. It just seems crazy that you would put yourself in this position. Even if the whole ‘enslavement’ thing only lasts for a little while. I can’t imagine why anyone would be okay with that.” Rachel pursed her lips. “Alex, love? I’m suffering from a terrible curse that makes me obey your wishes for, like, three whole days. Would you be a real sweetheart and not order me around like I’m your slave?” She watched his reaction

and grinned. “That’s why. That sort of thing might be fun and kinky for you and Lorelei, but I know you wouldn’t put it on anyone else.” “Is there anything else you’re keeping from me? Anything at al ?” “Way too much for comfort, real y,” Rachel confessed. “But virtually al of it is still stuff you’re not meant to know. Please don’t ask me to tel you such things. It would hurt you spiritually and psychological y.” “Virtually al ? What doesn’t fall under that?” Rachel suppressed a grin. “Are you sure you’re not still mad at me?” Alex almost said something angry, but bit it back. There wasn’t any conviction behind it, anyway. He sighed, ultimately feeling annoyed at himself. “I don’t know how I can be mad at you. Or Lorelei. I mean, I’m mad, but I’m not gonna stay mad, and I know it, so…fuck it, I guess.” He shrugged. “Kinda feel like a heel, though…but I love you. And if you’re this scared of being separated from me…wel , I guess it’s not like I know what it’s like where you come from.” Rachel gave him a puppy-dog look. “Can I pul the blanket off now?” He snorted out a laugh. “Oh, sure, turn my brain off again. What else aren’t you tel ing me?” he asked. “You know how Lorelei can feel it whenever you’re with another woman?” She grinned mischievously as Alex’s jaw dropped. “Yeah. That. Oh. And your smoking hot girlfriend hit on me the other night while you were out playing pool with the guys. I almost went for it. Alex, she loves you, and I love you, but we might cheat on you together if you’re not careful.” “Um. well , I can probably deal, but YouTube it or it didn’t happen.” “I’d rather you participate,” Rachel said, kissing him deeply. Alex moved in between Rachel’s legs, which spread for him invitingly.

“You could’ve sold me instantly on this if you had just told me about the last part of the bond,” Alex said softly. “We probably already blew Lorelei out of her mind once tonight already.” “I like it, too,” Rachel agreed. “Let’s fuck her brains out again.” * Lorelei was, in fact, out of her mind with pleasure. She had felt the first rush of Alex’s desire when Rachel tackled him at school. She felt his longing for her rise in a spiral throughout the day. Lorelei recognized the taste of love in his desire from the beginning. She had tasted it there before today, but it only grew with time. Rachel played her part beautiful y, too. Lorelei could probably have done better herself, but there was no need to pick nits. No need to worry about technique or artistic flourish when sincerity, consistency and intensity alone could get the job done. Who cared if Lorelei would have chosen a scalpel for a task that Rachel accomplished with a steamroller. Alex was willdly, deeply in love with someone who felt the same about him. Taylor had been good enough to see Lorelei through the first throes of flirtation, but Lorelei knew enough to politely and affectionately— very affectionately—usher Taylor out in anticipation of the blissful insanity yet to come. This wasn’t the sort of thing Lorelei could share with Taylor. She suspected, rightly, that she would barely be able to interact with her environment when her prey and the angel made love for the first time, let alone acknowledge and involve another person. By the time Alex and Rachel were on the way to the hotel, Lorelei had the house to herself. She lay in her lover’s bed, clad only in the short, slinky black nightgown she’d thrown on to see Taylor out, and rode the waves of ecstasy the bond provided. With only the first coupling between Alex and Rachel, Lorelei was left writhing on her side while bone, sinew and black and red skin sprouted from her back at the shoulder blades. Lorelei had hoped to share that particular moment with Alex. It might have disturbed him, but at the same time, he

knew her for what she was. The growth of her demon’s wings might not have been such a pleasant sight, but he would have been thril ed at the sign of her final recovery. Lorelei wanted to fly, but more than that, she wanted to enjoy Alex’s touch in his bed, even with him miles away. It was every bit as good as having Alex herself. Not better, but not worse. Lorelei would feel no jealousy over this connection when every pleasure was so directly shared. And with the ritual binding of Rachel to Alex complete, the angel would likely feel the same way. She glanced at the clock, only to laugh when she saw that the night was still young. They would be at this for hours. Lorelei was in for a long, wonderful night of— Huge, clawed, monstrous white hands crashed through the bedroom window. They moved with speed and certainty. Lorelei was seized by her arm and leg and pul ed like a rag dol out of the broken window. Then she was dropped to the sidewalk two floors below. The blows fell upon her al at once: a longsword, an axe, a flail. There was a baton and pepper spray and a searing pain that could only come from sorcery. A flesh-bound demon of Lorelei’s stature was inhumanly resilient, and Alex’s ongoing pleasure gave her a steady torrent of power, but she was not invulnerable. Lorelei was disoriented and wounded, and the blows kept coming. Most of them fell with inhuman strength. She tried to use her wings to block them, but she couldn’t block them al . Instinct and determination took over. Her tail lashed out, grabbing an attacker behind her and flinging him onto his back. Lorelei caught the baton before it fell again. She slashed out with her other hand, talons growing out of her nails. Fire erupted out of the scars she left in the vampire; he fell back and burned. It was al eerily, unnaturally quiet. The street was engulfed in fog. More sorcery at work. The longsword came down across her back again. She buckled, but withstood it. Something small and immensely forceful struck her in the cheek, sending her reeling. A bul et, she realized, fired from only a few feet away by someone in a cowboy hat. The shot didn’t penetrate her skin, but the pain was immense.

Another figure stepped between Lorelei and the shooter, hulking and brutish, wielding the flail. Lorelei spewed flames al over him. He shrieked in pain and fell back, but someone behind the circling corpses was already there with a fire extinguisher. Two people, actual y. One of them blasted the burning man. The other blasted Lorelei. She twisted and moved, trying to get her bearings. The blows continued. Lorelei did her best to dodge what she could and shrug off what she could not. The pain mounted. She needed an escape. Her wings spread out. Lorelei looked up to see Harrow clinging to the side of Alex’s building. His fist came down on her head, knocking her to her knees. He slashed across the bare skin of her shoulders with his claws, drawing from her a shriek of agony that didn’t carry out into the street. His fist stopped coming. Al the other blows resumed. Like every succubus, Lorelei was born to lead mortals to their destruction. Her victims were never men or women of benevolence or even indifference; it would be hard for any knowing voice to claim that those Lorelei destroyed deserved to be treated with kindness. But Lorelei had been born to act without mercy, to feel neither affection nor pity, and to serve those who worked tirelessly to thwart the will of the divine in the mortal world and beyond. Her last thoughts were a silent plea to that divine presence to ensure the safety of the young man she so sincerely loved. hell ’s most accomplished succubus knew she had no right to pray. She knew, but did it anyway. The last thing she saw, just as the cacophony of blows to her body ended, was a pale man in a pin-striped suit with the sort of machinegun Lorelei hadn’t seen in decades. He leveled it at her. Fire and smoke and lead erupted from the gun. Her world went black. *