This Curse - By Alisha Basso Page 0,78
in the way, either. “Well,” I began, “you need to take the offer back. He’ll respect you for it. After all, he is used to women throwing their blood at him. This should raise his opinion of you greatly. You are better than a mere juice box, James.” I winked at her and she smiled. She rose to her feet and began to walk to her room.
“Grace?” She stopped, her face serious all of a sudden.
I sat up and looked at her, “Yeah?”
“Keep him out of your bed.” She blushed and before I could sputter my shocked response, she fled to her room.
I flopped back onto the couch and sighed. Not that I had any intention of sleeping with Seth ever again, but it was a blow to discover that from now on, I would have to keep him at arms length in order to respect my new friend.
Fuck. This was going to be a problem. Seth would resist, that was for sure. He didn’t do well with the cold shoulder. I thought about Jamie and her kind heart. If Seth didn’t change over soon, she was going to get that heart stomped. Well, I snuggled deeper into the covers, I guess I had some more work to do.
I sighed and closed my eyes as sleep took me straight to Hell.
TWENTY FOUR
“Does it always have to smell so bad?” I walked from the shadows into a dimly lit room. I smiled and shook my head as I was immediately surrounded with the scent of sandalwood and oranges. “Thanks.” I passed by a mirrored wall and stopped short at my reflection. “Are you kidding me?” I cocked my hip and goggled at my reflection. My legs were wrapped in thigh high, black stiletto boots made from shiny patent leather. My panties were tiny and made of the same plasticky feeling crap as the boots. Tiny little triangles covered a quarter of my breasts leaving them mostly exposed. I looked at my reflection again and concentrated. I replaced Lucifer’s S&M suit of sin with a fluffy white angora sweater and a pair of grey wool slacks. I smiled, and then a second later, I was wearing the tiny underwear again.
“Fine!” I shouted to the air, not knowing where he was. “Have it your way, I don’t really care, It’s not like you’re going to touch me, anyway!”
My back slammed hard against the glass of the mirrored wall. He was pressed against my body, his hand wound tight in my hair. My neck arched painfully as he pulled my head back. He was overwhelming. His presence made my stomach lurch with fear.
“I will touch you all I choose.” He ran his lips along my skin. “After all, you are not really here. This is your dream, Darling. You came to me just as I knew you would.” His whisper was soft, moist breath, hot against my neck.
“I did not come to you.” I shoved him away hard. “You’re really full of shit, you know? You even tell lies to yourself.” I walked deeper into the room. It appeared to be empty. I turned and glared at the father of lies. “You went back on your word. Lucian almost died!” I spat.
“You accuse falsely. I did nothing. Possession takes its toll. At any rate, your friend was never in any real danger. You are Madea; it is within your power to heal. So, tell me, how did you go about it?”
“As if I’ll ever tell you! You let a demon squat inside him and then tell me he will be fine only to find out that possession can almost kill the possessed!”
He frowned, “I did not tell you, because you did not ask and it isn’t often that the possessed become ill, especially when the squatter is...” He stopped mid sentence and looked at me while his eyebrow arched. “Well, we shall continue this chat later. Your Lucian does not interest me.”
“Oh, no you don’t!” I shook my head. “What were you going to say? When the squatter is what, precisely?”
He chuckled, shaking his head he moved away from me; cutting off any further discussion. He stood in the darkest part of the room and with a casual wave of his hand, an enormous bed appeared.
“Uck!” I stepped away and threw my hand over my mouth. It was made of human bones. Rib cages and long shining femurs made up the entire structure. Skulls, fused together in a macabre scream lined up to form