“Ah,” Alex huffed. Then he blinked. “Wait, we did what?!”
* * *
Lydia was relentless.
She allowed Carlos neither rest nor the oblivion of unconsciousness. He begged, at least while he could still talk, but all 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.
She watched for the sunset. These things had to be managed carefully. The window between the separation of the soul from the body and physical death never lasted long.
Lydia reached past Carlos’s head to pull the ritual dagger from behind the wooden headboard.
Carlos couldn’t tell what was happening anymore. He only barely felt the point of the dagger as it carved shallow, profane runes into his arms, his shoulders and his chest. He didn’t bleed much. That wasn’t the point. All the while, Lydia called out to her master.
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. Soon, a tiny puff of ash escaped his mouth. More puffed out of 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 illusion 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.
“Tell 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 this?” Alex asked. He sat upright on the bed. Rachel lay next to him. He folded 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’ll 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 telling 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 going to be your slave. Not remotely.”
“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 real freedom. She doesn’t obey you because of the ritual, Alex. She’s going along with all this because she loves you and respects you.
“That whole thing about not being able to lie to you is irrelevant to me anyway. I told you that straight off. I couldn’t lie to you regardless.”
“Yeah, but you can apparently hide things from me.”
“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?”
“Hello? Naughty sex demon! Why wouldn’t she want us to hook up?” Seeing his displeased look, Rachel finally expressed a little penitence. “Alex, I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure if it would still work and I didn’t want you to freak out. This doesn’t change how I feel for you in the slightest.”
“I’m a little freaked out,” Alex put in sourly. “You’re taking a huge risk with your freedom.”
“I’m really not,” Rachel said. “I love you. I’ve never felt 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 would 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’ll be even stronger. So now if Vincent does get his way and I get fired, I’m still bound to protect you. Like I said, I’d do that anyway. But this is something I can 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 ridiculous sometimes, but it’s still Heaven. They aren’t cruel.”
Alex sighed, looking away from her. She took his hand. “I love you, Alex.”
“I…ugh. I love you, too, Rachel. It just seems crazy that you’d 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 gave him her best doe-eyed look. “Alex, love? I’m suffering from a terrible curse that makes me obey your wishes for, like, three whole days. Would you be a sweetheart and not order me around like I’m your slave?” She grinned at his reaction. “That’s why. That might be Lorelei’s kink, but you wouldn’t push it on anyone else.”
“Is there anything else you’re keeping from me? Anything at all?”
“Way too much for comfort,” Rachel confessed. “But virtually all of it is still stuff you’re not meant to know. Please don’t ask me to tell you such things. It would hurt you spiritually and psychologically.”
“Virtually all? What doesn’t fall under that?”
Rachel suppressed a grin. “Are you sure you’re not still mad at me?”
Alex almost snapped at her, but bit it back. There was no 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’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…but I love you. If you’re this scared of being separated from me…well, I guess it’s not like I know what it’s like where you come from.”
“Can I pull the blanket off now?”
He snorted out a laugh. “Oh, sure, turn my brain off again. What else aren’t you telling me?”
“You know how Lorelei can feel it whenever you’re with another woman?” She grinned mischievously as Alex made the connection. “Yeah. That. Oh. And your smoking hot girlfriend hit on me the other night while you were out playing pool. 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.”
“Huh. I can probably deal, but YouTube it or it didn’t happen.”
“I’d rather you participate,” Rachel said, kissing him deeply.
“You could’ve sold me on this if you’d 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.
Rachel played her part beautifully. Lorelei could probably have done better herself, but there was no need to criticize. 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 wildly, deeply in love with someone who felt the same about him.