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“Fuck it.” I grabbed the neck of the bottle and slammed the fridge. Pulling open a cupboard, I looked up at the wine glasses before I shut it and carried the bottle back into the living room sans glass. I sunk onto the couch, pulled the black throw from the back, and threw it over my legs. It took me a moment to settle. My eyes were glued to the darkening woods as I screwed the top off the bottle of wine. I rested the bottom of the bottle on my thigh and just sat.
Time became nonexistent.
The setting sun painted the sky in hues of pinks that deepened to oranges then reds that set the tops of the trees on fire before black devoured the whole scene. I wondered if that same darkness would eventually swallow me whole.
14
ASMODEUS
The forest was soothing. It was comforting to be surrounded by dark shadows and whispered sounds. If I couldn’t return to the hells that held me, this could satisfy me for a while.
Still, anger boiled in me.
My wife commanded me to stay away and I was helpless to do anything else. The forest surrounding her house was as close as I could get to her. To the answers I needed.
The tree I knocked down in a bout of anger lay at my feet and I sat on the remains. With a stick in my hand, I swiped at whatever was in reach. The dull whack that emitted from each strike reminded me of the whips that had brought me such pleasure only days before my summoning.
Time passed slowly. I could only toy with the one called Imani for so long before even that got dull. It was entertaining to see her flooded with lust only to watch it so quickly transform into suspicion and then fear. Her anger was humorous.
The red flesh I had called home was hidden under this dullness I knew Eden preferred as my eyes honed on the house. I could see her through the glass, her eyes vacant as she stared at nothing with the bottle of wine clasped in her hand. She looked fragile. Her hair was slightly mussed about her head and tucked behind her ears.
I watched her and grunted at the sharp pull in my chest. At the sensation of the phantom of my heart hammering and dropping while the rest of me felt hollowed of my innards. The newfound distress was irritating.
I despised being so thoroughly drawn to a person while also wanting nothing to do with her. Wanting to wring her neck and pull the life from her to see if that would free me while also knowing the very thought of hurting her made bile rise from my stomach and sit on my tongue, forcing me to taste the bitterness of my thoughts.
All I could do was sit and watch.
That aggravated me. I was so used to doing what I wanted all the time. I was used to being unbound and unafraid of the consequences of my actions. If only I were back in the realm of darkness I called home.
A growl left me.
Instead, I was forced to sit and watch this woman.
Everything inside me tensed and the space above my head where my horns usually were heated. Terror iced my chest as my eyes narrowed. I watched Eden get to her feet and look around.
She was afraid.
Her terror was an injection right into my fiery veins I couldn’t ignore. These mortal women linked me with Eden and her emotions were mine. They sat in my chest replacing the urge for mischief, lust, and ego.
Annoying.
I took a jilted step forward, unable to stay where I was when her emotions vibrated under my flesh. After a few steps, I felt the force of her command bind me.
“Infuriating woman!” I growled. “Call for me.”
Another grunt of annoyance moved through me knowing it was a beg. I needed her to call for me so I could get to her. So I could see what lurked in her house, setting my senses on fire.
A flutter of wings drew my attention. I looked up at where a single moth perched on the trunk of a tree, its dull wings bright surrounded by darkness. It lifted, its wings carrying it through the barrier that forbade me from going any closer with ease. A light trail of orange followed behind it, the scent of magic billowing toward me. It flew through the window, a single blink transforming it.
Glowing orange eyes glared down at me. They sat in a silhouette that watched me from her window as she disappeared further into the house. It stood there, looking at me with familiar eyes I couldn’t place.
“Call for me!” I bellowed, wishing with everything I was that Eden would hear me.
15
EDEN
Asqueal left me as something creaked upstairs. My heart leapt into my throat, strangling me. My hand tightened around the neck of the wine bottle as I got to my feet.
