Pure & Sinful (Pure Souls) (2 page)

Yeah, no big whoop.

She felt her mind lighten, as though someone had been gently massaging her temples and now withdrew. Jerry was no longer in her head. Which, given the way he growled, showing each of his pearly whites, really must have ticked him off.

She leaned to the side, angling her hip and crossing her arms over her chest. “If you know why I’m here, why all the chitchat, Jer-Bear? Lie down like a nice little scumbag and go peacefully.”

“So desperate to get me horizontal, Riona? That can easily be arranged, if you ask nicely.”

Without warning, a pig-headed behemoth barreled in their direction at full force. Jerry, easily outranking all the other riffraff in the joint, made no movement to recall the banger demon that jumped into the fray without order.  Instead, he observed, with what looked like demented pride, as Riona reached out her hand and invoked a lower-tiered vanquishing charm.

“Fornox tierna!”

With a huff and a puff, she blew his house down, making a nice little pile of demon dust as the banger disintegrated. The others witnessing the scene felt their grog-filled bellies turn in fear, but Jerry only smiled wryly.

“Impressive,” he commented, adding a round of mock clapping. “See? I was right about you. Chuck, there,” he pointed to the heap of purple-black Rorschach on the floor, “thought you were just another Willow Wannabe. But me? I saw you for what you really are.”

“Smokin’ hot and way too good for you?” Riona returned. “Thanks, but I didn’t need you to tell me that.”

In a dazzling blur of speed, Riona found herself pinned to the wall, a good twelve feet away, at the back of the bar, leaving a sea of demonkind between her pillars and she.

Marc and Dee gawked as they witnessed their favorite witch, scared broomless, her demon ex-lover choking the life from her, her feet dangling dangerously above the floor. Demon magic, properly wielded, could destroy a witch of Riona’s caliber, but the old-fashioned, mortal methods still worked just as well.

Luckily, that bus stopped on both sides of the street, and Riona had not forgotten how sensitive Jerry’s giblets were. She swung her boot point blank into his demonic assets, sending him on an impromptu one-on-one with the floor. A sound akin to a teenage girl being told “yes, that dress does make your butt look big,” filtered through the room, mixed equally with Riona’s coughing and the other demons’ jeering as she tried to reclaim the air her lungs so desperately needed.

Marc watched with a fretful lip as Riona struggled to form words, a twenty-demon variety pack seeing their chance to pounce, slowly closing in on her. If she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t focus her magic. Her self-defense instinct might kick in and manage to pull something off, but in that circumstance, she was as likely to take out her teammates as well as her enemies.

“We’ve got to do something,” he shot at the demigod.

Dee turned to him, one eyebrow raised, a “What you talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?” expression on his face. “We don’t stand a chance against a gaggle of goblins this big. Riona? Yes. Us?” He shrugged, “Toast.”

The priest rapidly indexed their options. True, with their magic, they could maybe dish out a few a bad cases of PMS, or perhaps athlete’s foot (or was it athlete’s hooves with this crowd? He’d have to check on that later), but banish or destroy them, they could not. That was a Keystone’s job. Always the resourceful one, however, Marc widened his vision and surveyed the room. Not much to work with, and quite a bit more to work against. Their backs were more or less against the wall. It would be easier to flee than fight. Seeing this out to its end, however, was critical for Riona. Having a demon on the loose that had the ability to read her mind and wreak havoc was too dangerous.

Not to mention, he didn’t like the way that asshole looked at her. Jerry had to be dealt with. Now. 

The tips of Marc’s ears went crimson. “Damn it all to hell!”

“And this from a priest,” Dee quipped.

Marc knew Dee registered as their resident pragmatist. No doubt, they were both surfing the same wave on this one, trying to find a solution. As a demigod, Dee’s muscles could out-whip any mortal born to the ranks of man, and he was nearly as strong as any demon divo in this joint. But could they really take on a horde of this fortitude?

Seemed Dee concluded they could. Without another word, Marc watched as his best friend picked up a nearby chair and turned it over, gripping the back like a handle of a true weapon.

“You know what they say, Father,” he proclaimed as he took three measured steps and landed the lounger over the head of a warthog demon, passed out cold. “God helps those who help themselves.”

Marc made his standard preemptive sign of the cross before lunging for a barstool and joining the action.

At the back of the bar, Jerry recovered much more quickly than Riona. It looked to her like he didn’t like being kicked in his favorite body part — next to his hair, of course. Not by a long shot.  “That’s going to cost you, witch.
Infuita permuter!”

She nearly doubled over in fear. Nearly. She hadn’t a clue what an
infuita permuter
charm did, but if it was demon magic, probably nothing good. The smug look on Jerry’s face confirmed she was likely in a heap of trouble. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in, and ratcheted her into high gear. She needed to know what she was up against. She needed Dee and Marc. Without another moment’s hesitation, she leapt to the left, spanning a distance that would have made a bullfrog jealous. Despite the circle of demons playing audience, probably savoring every lame quip Jerry spouted, she thought there was enough of a gap between two in that direction to break through.

But when her body slammed into some sort of invisible brick wall, the answer to “What does
infuita permuter
do?”
was all too clear. And painful as a bitch.
Trapped
. I
n every direction she ran, the barrier bounced her like a basketball. Confirming her suspicions, Jerry made no effort to stop her attempts to escape. Her battle with him would be
mano a mucus
.

Riona turned back around, trying to manufacture some confidence in her features if it wasn’t in her heart. “Looks like you got me all alone now. So I guess we’re not doing the group thing today?”  

Jerry froze. “Would you have… gone for that? Damn, talk about a missed opportunity.”

She nearly choked on her own words. “Come on, Jerry. You know me better than that. I’m much too greedy to share something so good.”

“You did think I was good.”

It didn’t come out as a question, more of an affirmation of what was undoubtedly true. In fact, his attitude gutted her, and Riona worked hard to keep her mounting anger from making her irrational.

“Oh, shut up,” she snipped back, her nails digging into her palms as her fists balled up way too tightly. “You know you’re good. You’re a demon. Sexual gratification is part of your damned repertoire. Next to the deflowering of virgins and stealing socks out of dryers, it’s just
the thing
you do.”

“I never should have shown you my collection,” he scowled. “Oh, you are the single most frustrating, fucking witch I ever… Argh! You think I do that for everyone?” he barked back as his body responded to the insult. His jittery pace could have burned a hole in the floor. “Hell, no! You were special, Riona. Yeah, I may get around because of my work and all, but I don’t always care what the other person gets out of it. For you, I tried to make it worthwhile.”

Visibly, she seemed to melt. “Aw, Jerry,” she cooed, “that is so sweet.” Then, her mock smile soured. “If only you hadn’t locked me in a meat locker with a half-cocked crazy who thought he was Attila the Hun, it just might have worked out between us.”

He tilted his head. “Holding a grudge over that still?”

“What can I say?” she returned, her arms spread out in a questioning posture. “Setting me up in a kill-or-be-killed situation? Kind of a deal breaker. Worse than leaving the toilet seat up, in my book.”

If demon teeth could withstand the level of gnash Jerry was applying, Riona thought black boxes on airplanes should be built from them.

“Come on, baby.” His voice and features took on a more relaxed tone as he stood and gazed at her tenderly. “Deep down, you know
I’d
never put you up on the chopping block like that. I knew you could take him. It was sort of the whole point, getting you to kill so you’d start down a path to evil. Don’t you get it, Riona? It was a set-up to get you to fall before you could be recruited by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Marc back there. It’s not just about your power. Yeah, Lucifer wants that hella lot, and who could blame him? But me? I just wanted
you.
”

Green, bumpy skin gave way to smooth, olive delicateness as Jerry managed in the midst of this declaration to pull his glamour back over himself. The swirl of scales atop his head showered into a beautiful cascade of wild, untamed, ebony grace. Thin lips concealing a forked tongue softened to kissable, tender tildes. But the eyes, they stayed the same: blue as summer skies over Rio. Eyes truly were the windows to the soul, she’d learned, and a soul carried its signature color no matter which body it inhabited.

“But, Jerry, now you’ve got me trapped, and as of two minutes ago, seemed quite intent on killing me,” she reminded him with a confused shrug. “You seem to be a demon who doesn’t know what he desires.”

“As much as I love every inch and every taste of your glorious human body, killing you wouldn’t take you away from me. It would give us the gift of forever when your soul sank into the underworld and Lucifer remade you into demon flesh.”

Hellfire blazed in his eyes, making her feel warm in all the parts she knew to high heaven should be icy cold right now.

He licked his lips seductively before adding, “I know exactly what, and whom, I desire.”

His hands were on her hips with blinding speed.

“You.”

He pulled her close and reclaimed her lips, the heat of Hell funneling his need. Despite herself, Riona gave into her momentary lack of judgment, and ability to stand, and let him take from her what he wanted. It would be a lie to say it was unpleasant. As his tongue found hers, she even thought for a moment that she felt that old flicker of warmth for him. But it couldn’t be… Things were different now. Riona knew who she was, and who she wasn’t. And who she wasn’t was any two-bit demon’s welcome mat, ready to be used whenever he decided to breeze into her good graces.

She was a Pure Soul, and a cosmically powerful, ass-kicking Keystone witch, at that.

The blasting hex took only a moment to leave her lips, sending Jerry on an improvised spacewalk into the invisible wall he created. She expected him to propel himself forward, to lash back in his usual bipolar way, even if a moment ago he held her with a level of intimacy and sincerity that had her head spinning. He didn’t. Gravity pulled him without objection to the floor, where he sat mournfully, looking at her with a hurt, defeated expression.

His words were laced with muted pride. “That’s my girl. Now, have at it.”

Something about seeing him give up so easily, to accept his end, knowing she held his earthbound existence in her hands… Something shifted. Sure, Jerry Romani was a demon of legendary dark deeds, and sure, he probably wouldn’t hesitate if their roles were reversed, but was that justification enough to destroy him?

“I … can’t!” Her tone approached an apology. “Jerry, please. I know there’s good in you. Someone who was as caring and tender with me as you were can’t be all evil. Isn’t there a way? Can’t you come back to our side?”

He looked like a man in mourning as his head shook. “The road to Hell has few exits and only goes one way. I can give up the demon, but I can’t forgo the damn.”

“There must be a way. Maybe—”

“There’s not, babe,” he said, cutting her off. “Believe me, it’s all been tried. I am a demon, you are a Pure Soul. If you’re not willing to come over to our side…”

She shook her head.

“Well, then,” he sighed, “let’s just leave the past behind us and get to kicking each other’s asses. In the end, we’ll always have Paris.”

She clicked her tongue. “
We
never went to Paris.”

“That wasn’t you?” He scratched his head. “Hmm, who the hell was it then? Damn, she was a sweet lay.”

Reminded all too well of the fickleness of a demon’s heart, Riona lashed out.
“
Quantos mironus
!”

It was so cliché, so Captain-Kirk-gets-attacked-by-an-alien, but magic was what it was. The power gathered at her fingertips and shot forward. The lightning-like stream collected into a ball at the pit of Jerry’s stomach before extending across the planes of his chest and down the tips of his limbs. A shake and a shimmer, a smidgen of a pained wince, then he gave her one last, enduring smile.

“Brava,
amaro mio.
” 

He didn’t vaporize like the other demon did; he exploded. In chunks. Riona found herself looking into blue eyes one moment, and picking bits of those eyes out of her hair the next.

“Could this
be
any grosser?” she mused to herself as she flicked what was probably a tooth off her blouse.

“Keystone!”

Was she so centered on the showdown that she forgot all about the buffet of bad asses who filled the room? Riona’s attention turned immediately to the brawl and bashing that could have been filmed on a Hollywood set when she heard Marc bellow, “I know breaking up is hard to do, but maybe you could, you know, help us?”

Dee threw demons left and right with rippling muscles and domineering physique. He looked like a Greek god defending Olympus from the Titans.

Wouldn’t his daddy be proud? Riona thought.

The priest, however, was doing what little he could, using a simple, electromagnetic charm to shock three scaled demons who had him cornered. His eyes were wild with fear, an emotion she had never witnessed before in his features.

Sensing that the magical barrier had disappeared with her ex, Riona summoned the power that so easily channeled through her. Still, it was her first attempt at multiple demon dumping, and she only hoped she was up to the task.

Who was she kidding? She had just destroyed Jerry Romani, the devil’s right-hand demon. She could take on Lucifer himself right now and probably get away clean.

Her hands worked the magic, moving in concentric circles as the power gathered from the reaches of the universe into a silver ball of light before her.

“Corbelum frotai nokturna fiente!”

The ball grew from a pinprick to an omnipresent light radiating throughout the room. As it touched each demon, a momentary sense of shock and pain overcame their ghastly features before each in turn fell to ashes in its wake. Of course, the power of the light only passed briefly through Marc and Dee, giving each no more than a tickle. Dee swung a barstool through empty air, making contact with nothing and spinning in the wake. Marc stumbled forward, his ramming charge pointless with the defeated enemy now gone.