Underworld Queen (20 page)

“Screw the election. At this point, I think she’d willingly vacate it. But it’s not that simple.”

“Tell me, then.”

“Turns out Peter has a very nasty older brother.”

Josh shrugged. “You’re a fairly nasty dark angel yourself. I don’t see the problem.”

“He introduced me to someone I thought I would never meet, his wife.” Jonas finished off his drink and set down his glass. “She is a direct descendent of my son, who lived and became quite a wealthy man after I left for the Caribbean.”

“Forgive me, Jonas,” Josh said as he reached for his glass and picked up Jonas’. He walked to the bar and poured them each another. “I’m not feeling the problem. Back then, you and I, we probably fathered all sorts of children, right? As modern men, we wouldn’t do that now, but at the time, this wasn’t considered anything bad—Hell, the king had thirteen illegitimate offspring and, what, twenty mistresses? What would make any of these families come after us after three hundred years, or am I missing something?”

“They want the kingdom of the Underworld. For their own domain. They’ve turned hundreds of their kin into dark angels to grab it.”

“So, let them have it. They’ll muck it up. The place is a mess, has been for centuries. No one, and I don’t care how many they put on it, no one will ever straighten it out. It’s a bureaucracy that makes Washington, D.C. look like a high school picnic.”

“I don’t think they’ll just give us a pass if they take over. I think they have designs on the human world as well. I think they want it all. None of us are safe, now that they are dark angels and have their special powers of turning. For all I know, they even have the power to vaporize others.”

Josh frowned. “Not good. Not good at all.”

“We might feel safe today, but, truth is, they have a plan they’ve been forming, passing down from generation to generation, until they discovered how to enter the Underworld. Now that they are immortal, they will never stop until they conquer and payback everyone who ever stopped them before. Even if I help them now, which is what they are demanding, they won’t let us go. I just know it.”

“Sounds like some kind of religious zeal.”

“That’s a good way to put it. They intend to make lackeys of all of us. ALL of us, Josh.”

“And who is the head of this cadre of lost souls?”

“My twenty times great granddaughter, Catarina.”

“Fucking women.”

Jonas gave Josh a glare.

“Well, it’s true. The power trip they go on these days. There were definite advantages to a male-dominated Underworld where women were needed for pleasure. Now they want to run things. What sick times we live in, my friend.”

“Face it, Josh. The Underworld mirrors the human world in many respects. I don’t think it is really about women running things. It’s about the treachery used in this war. I honestly haven’t seen this level of cunning for centuries. Hell, I even ran with women pirates who were born leaders, and their men loved serving under them. I fought with women warriors and heard stories of captured slaves where the women were the defenders of a whole race of people. No, Josh, it isn’t women, it’s pure evil, left festering for hundreds of years. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the Circle of Evil cults in her day. They believe in the restoration of their kingdom, and nothing less will do.”

“You say this woman, your distant granddaughter, is married to a brother of Peter’s?”

“Yes.”

“Now there’s a relationship I’d love to explore. That’s your weak link, Jonas. Can you imagine being immortally tied to that woman? And what do you suppose would happen if she tired of him?”

“He’d have an oily charred spot somewhere.”

“Exactly. Forget reasoning with the woman. Go for Peter’s brother. What’s his name?”

“Rupert Blade.”

“Now that’s a good name for a lap dog. You need to remind him of the possibility of his own true death. He’s immortal, but he can still be fried, just like his brother was.”

Jonas and Josh
talked until dawn began to break. Josh agreed with Molly’s assessment of Glenda as a dark witch.

“I’ve known some of them, in a purely pleasurable sense. The light ones are exquisite with their red hair. Very satisfying partners in all respects. The dark ones I’ve stayed away from. Of course, they’re never redheads. Only the light ones are redheads, and you know my fondness for any woman with flaming hair.”

“Yes. I suppose that’s part of the reason Melanie didn’t like the girl.”

“Oh, how right you are. But this is going to surprise you, Jonas. Little Judy was a turned Guardian.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. My handiwork. She had been a most enjoyable conquest, I might add. I had Doris notify Father.” Josh leveled a twinkling eye at Jonas. “You know, Father asked me to get his Guardians back that day when he turned me human? Father was delighted. So you see, you’ve done the right thing.”

“So where’s the girl?”

“I have no fucking idea. I’m afraid to go look for her. I don’t dare bring up her name. Still trying to get myself back in Melanie’s bedroom upstairs, if you know what I mean. No, Judy’s probably way better off that way.”

Jonas nodded. “Well, you’ve racked up some points with Father. Good for you.”

“Now if I could only convince Melanie…” Josh was lost in his personal thoughts.

“Where am I going to find out about Audray’s pregnancy?”

“I’d go back to the witch, Molly. She probably knows someone who can help with that. Witches have been known to use their healing powers and spells where mere good and evil is insufficient. Sometimes magic is needed. And if she’s right, the dark witch wants something. Molly or her kin may know where her vulnerabilities lie. Give her a chance, if she’s willing to help.”

When Jonas and
Audray left early the next morning, Joshua thought about his loyal friend. Time to perhaps pay back the old warrior for his help. In the past, Jonas had helped save Melanie. Maybe helping Jonas would be the last real thing he could do for her. She deserved more than a human husband who was constantly having to reel himself in, trying to convince himself he could live a just and honest life without his special powers, without the pleasures he had indulged in for centuries.

Am I bored? Or, is it that I’m just unsatisfied?

His human life had taken on a civil tone. But now that he understood the war continued to rage on, he was surprised to find he rather relished the fight. Going up against witches and evil cults going back hundreds of years, dark angels wanting dominion over the Underworld as a first step to taking over the human world?

Now this was what he was created for.

But he’d have to clear it with Father first. He wondered how much the old man would let him dabble on the dark side. If he had to be honest with himself, he did miss it just a tad.

C
arl awoke to
the feel of Molly’s arms around his bare chest, her head resting, as she liked to do, just under his chin. Her left breast was pressed into him, and her right one voluptuously tickled him as she raised and lowered her ribcage in deep sleep. He traced the smooth curve under her right arm, finding the pink pillow of her breast, loving the slow arousal she brought him at the touch of her skin. She stirred and stretched, looking up with a smile.

Her bedroom walls were covered in a warm primrose patterned wallpaper. The curtains were peach, made of silk material, that shimmered in the early morning sun, undulating in the air coming through the open window.

Carl felt time was suspended. As Molly became more interested in his enlarging body part, he felt like he was floating in the calm before the storm. He only hoped the two of them would be able to weather it.
So many unknowns. So few tools at our disposal. So few allies. How will we be able to make it?

Molly’s lips on his cock brought him back quickly to the pleasures of the moment. He hoped he could do this forever, but for this morning, it was pure heaven. He lay back on the pillow, letting her pleasure him without touching her, a new sensation for him. He was filled with joy as he watched her take him deep into her mouth and then lick the undersides of his engorged member and let it twitch at the end as she dug into the little crease at the end, probing for a drop of his seed. How he loved that pink tongue that made him quiver all over every time he thought about the spell it cast over his body. How he loved the feel of her moist cherry lips that sucked his balls and kissed the head of his cock.

She straddled him, so he put his hands on her ribs, holding her thin body upright while she searched, and then placed him at her opening. She rubbed her lubrication over him before setting her luscious lips over his sex and slowly sliding down his shaft. It had become a routine; their first lovemaking of the day was always slow and deliberate. They always looked at each other as his cock penetrated her inch by inch. Each new day started with a new commitment to the pleasures they shared, the unearthly connection between their bodies. The aftermath left him craving for more.

Molly’s skin almost went ablaze, as if every fine hair on her pink body stood out like a tiny flame. Her fiery curls cascaded down over her breasts as he raised himself up to kiss the rosy nipples that hardened as he suckled them. He gently pulled her hair towards him, pulling her face to his, so he could drink from her lips. Her fingers moved over his temples, sifted through the errant hairs there as she kissed him and whispered little incantations he couldn’t understand but he loved hearing. She kissed him under his chin, and then along his neck to just under his ear. The scent of her body warmed him from the inside out. She wore that vanilla and cinnamon fragrance that wafted from the place between her breasts. Behind her ears it smelled of lemons.

She raised herself up and peered into his eyes. The green pools pulled on something deep inside of him. He felt his cock enlarge, instantly filling her with his seed, as if acting on cue. Her muscles milked him, as her green eyes remained steadily fixed on his. Her forehead beaded with sweat as she pulled every drop from him. At last she sighed and rested against his chest and, somehow, released his soul.

Carl was left with the feeling that Molly had just dropped a veil, revealing something previously hidden from him. He wondered if perhaps she had been given to him for some reason, by some outside force or entity. There was no question of her desire for him. And yes, he couldn’t help but desire her. He wondered if she were sent by someone to do this, to enamor him, distract him, make him lose control.

But is this love?

He wondered why he was even thinking about this. He tried to put it out of his head, but found he couldn’t. The thought stayed stubbornly fixed in his brain.

Carl, you’re going insane. What is wrong with you?

Molly raised her head and looked deep into his eyes. She did not smile.

She’s read my thoughts.
He wished she didn’t have this power over him. He had no explanation for the way he was feeling, but now he felt wary.

Molly frowned, and nodded her head. She climbed off his spent body. Where she had touched him his skin was suddenly cold as the remains of their mingled sweat attracted the morning air. She pulled her silk bathrobe off the back of her bedroom door, put it on and tied it around her tiny waist, seating herself in a chair in the corner, watching him. Her legs were tucked underneath her and she was silent, her face in the shadows.

He raised himself off the bed on one elbow. “Molly, I don’t know what to say. I saw something, felt something. Can you explain it to me?”

Molly didn’t respond, but checked out the bedroom window. She stood. “Your dark angels have arrived at last, Carl. Better throw on some clothes.”

He got up and saw the black Hummer parking. Carl grabbed Molly and hugged her. “Don’t misunderstand me, Molly. I haven’t experienced this before, like this. It just takes some getting used to.”

“I know,” she said, dismissing him and wiggling out of his grasp. “Get your clothes on, unless you’re wanting to show off.” She closed the door without giving him a reassuring smile or even looking back at him at all. Carl’s heart felt like it had been scored and lay bleeding.

What is going on?

Molly had answered
the door and let Jonas and Audray in. She looked up as Carl arrived in a pair of drawstring pants and a tee shirt. There was still no smile there for him. But he did feel the electricity of their mutual desire.

“I’ll make some coffee. Do you…?”

“I do, Audray doesn’t,” Jonas answered before she finished.

Molly went around the corner to the kitchen. Carl noticed Audray looked much better this morning. “I was worried about you when you didn’t show up last night,” he began. He noticed Jonas was leaning away from him, looking for Molly. The massive dark angel adjusted his muscled body so he could watch her in the kitchen.

Was he distrustful of her for some reason?

Molly dropped her shoulders and gave Carl a glare. Then she went back making coffee and returned to the living room with a glass of orange juice for Audray. She sat across the floor from him.