This Curse - By Alisha Basso Page 0,57

nudged Lucian with his booted foot. “So righteous, so nauseatingly pure of soul and heart.” He turned to me again, dragging his teeth over his bottom lip yet again. “I was never able to persuade a single one to cross over into Hell.” He was suddenly in front of me, so close that his next step brought his body close enough to mine that the fabric of his shirt rubbed my naked flesh. He reached out, and gently wiped a tear from my cheek. Bringing his finger to his lips, he took the tear into his mouth. “This.” He touched my cheek again and I flinched backward, pressing myself hard into the wall.

“This tear you shed for an enemy, one you know to be a demon is proof of your pure Madea soul.” He smiled, “What a superb gift.” He looked at Lucian again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My voice wavered and the Devil looked at me. “Lucian is my friend.” I felt my heart break. “He’s a man not a demon no matter what’s squatting inside.” I jerked back as he reached for me.

“Oh, my darling. Another week in that body and there will be nothing of you friend left.” He shook his head as if the thought sadden him. “Voltaire has no desire to depart. His own withered body is old and tainted with too much Hell. Demons do not age my angel; they rot with the evils of this place. This new body is strong. It has many years left.” Lucifer grazed his knuckles along my jaw and I clenched my teeth. “Voltaire can walk with the humans.” He bent and looked directly into my eyes. “He can fuck the humans.”

I turned my head. “You are the father of lies!”

He chuckled. “I can force him out for you, my darling.” He stepped aside so that I could look at Lucian’s fallen form. His lips were still blue. A puddle of white froth and blood had soaked into the golden locks of his hair. He looked dead. I jerked back a sob. “You lie!” I spat. “You’ve killed him. All you’d be doing is freeing one of your despicable demons from a useless body. I’m not an idiot!” My chest rose and fell rapidly with my angry breaths; my hair writhed in its unnatural, serpentine dance. The curls twisted and whipped about with a life of their own.

“You are wiser than most, but I will promise to restore your Lucian’s health and vitality. I will do nothing to him after this point to harm him in any way.”

I studied him, trying to chip away at his mind. A sculpted eyebrow rose and he let out a small laugh.

“You are a strong one, aren’t you?” He stepped back.

“Why would you do this? Clearly, I’m in your control. A position I’m getting pretty familiar with. Why would you try to make a deal with me?”

“I want you to have free will when in my home. I wish to ally myself with you.” He spread his hands as if to show that he was harmless.

“That is the biggest pile of horse shit ever shoveled. What’s the real reason? Sex? After all, I am still naked!”

I was suddenly free from the wall. I stumbled and quickly gained my footing. I was dressed, I observed with a sigh of relief and my hair was tamed into a tight braid behind my head.

“I do not wish to bargain for your body. I need no such empty pleasure; after all, sinners and whores surround me. For now I want you to remain pure, Madea.”

I laughed, “Oh, buddy. I am in no way pure. Don’t you know what year this is?”

“As far as I am concerned you have yet to be corrupted. You will not grace my halls when your life is taken, and believe me all immortals eventually die. Immortality is a cruel illusion.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” And it was. I had no desire to see the walls of Hell from the eyes of the dead.

“So, what is your answer? Do you wish to see your friend returned?”

I was nervous. I knew that a deal with the devil was just that, a deal with the devil. The worst deal any creature could make. I looked at him. “If I say no? If I tell you that, I won’t make a deal with you? What then?”

He tilted his head back, and then he looked down at me, his eyes focused on mine with unnerving