My little wolf had broken her chains, and she was running free.
She jogged ahead of me under the cover of the trees. We were headed back toward the isolated side road where we’d parked her Jeep. The night air was crisply cool, the clear night sky peppered with stars and a waning moon. She’d glance back at me every few steps, a smile on her painted face, blood spattered across her jacket. Her button-up shirt hung open, and the sight of her tattoos and scars made me want to snatch her up and run my tongue over that soft, beautiful skin.
She was exquisite, she was built for Hell in every way. Most humans I’d taken over the years needed to adjust to Hell’s oddities — it had been a strange and confusing transition for them. But Juniper? She would thrive. I knew she would. When her mortal life was over and her soul made the crossing, I couldn’t wait to see her face when she beheld those first wondrous sights.
I wanted to be there every step of the way. I wanted to introduce her to a new life, at the end of this one.
I wanted to show her now. I wanted to give her a taste of what waited.
“How does it feel, little wolf?” I said as I spotted her Jeep ahead. She was breathless, her eyes wide in the dark. She smelt of blood, and sweat, and that sweet wild aroma that was so uniquely hers.
“Satisfying,” she said, but then she shook her head with an uncertain smile. “No, more than that. I don’t think there’s a single word for it. Vindicating. Amazing. Confusing.” We stood beside the Jeep, and she turned to me. Her smile was hopeful, but it was frightened too. Like she feared this victory would be snatched away. “I’ve waited so many years for that. So many years to kill a man, Zane.” She looked down at her hands, blood-stained and shaking with adrenaline. “And I did it. We did it.”
“You did it, love. And it was sexy as Hell to see you.” I reached for her face, but she playfully dodged back, her smile turned mischievous.
“Oh? You think you can outrun me?”
I let her get a few steps before I caught her from behind, picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder so she dangled over my back. She struggled, beating at my back, and she shrieked as I turned my head and bit her ass in retaliation.
She laughed as I set her down, this time keeping an arm looped around her back so she couldn’t run away again when I caressed my claws down her face.
“I’m never using bite my ass as an insult again,” she said.
I chuckled. “It was always a welcome invitation.” I paused as I admired her in the dark. We needed to get some distance between us and this party, but I didn’t want to go home. No, Juniper deserved more than that. This was her night, her moment. I wanted to take her somewhere she could celebrate, somewhere she could feel comfortable.
I wanted to give her a night where she didn’t constantly feel like she had to look over her shoulder. A night to feel free.
“I want to take you somewhere,” I said. She raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question. “Do you trust me?”
She blinked rapidly. Questions like that were unpleasant for her; any question that forced her to examine her feelings was. But I needed to know, before I committed to doing this. I needed to know she felt secure with me. If she didn’t, well…there were much bigger wolves than her where we were going.
Wolves with far sharper bites.
Finally, she raised her eyes to mine again. “Yes. I trust you.”
Her declaration made me feel far more sentimental than I’d expected. I’d frankly never cared if I was trusted or not — it simply wasn’t something that occurred to me as a necessity. I’d only ever needed humans to trust me enough to make a deal with me, and even then, they rarely actually trusted me. Why would they?
It felt like an honor to hear her say that. It felt like I’d earned something, like I’d been given a gift. I pulled her closer, tucked her hair behind her ear, and said, “I liked watching you tonight. You were ravenous. Merciless. You’re powerful, Juniper. You’re a rare soul.”
“Oh, come on.” She tried to look away, but I caught her face. I couldn’t see it beneath her paint, but her skin was hot as she blushed. It made me grin. “Don’t get all corny on me.”
“Sorry, I can’t help getting a little poetic about the most beautiful murder I’ve seen in years. My woman is an artist.”
“Your woman?” She smacked at me, but she was smiling again.
“Yes, my woman.” I held her tight as she playfully squirmed, snapping my teeth near her ear. “All mine. Every beautiful, murderous, perfect inch of you.” I smiled at her, the very idea of where I was about to take her making my erratic heart pound just a little faster with excitement. “I want to take you somewhere Hellish.”
She shook her head, smiling but confused. “Isn’t Abelaum Hellish enough?”
“No, true Hellishness,” I said. “The Hell I know, the Hell you’re bound for; not the Hell humans have concocted in their storybooks. Hellish in freedom and depravity.”
“Okay, enough being vague!” She leaned up against the Jeep, arms folded, eyes narrowed at me. “What is this Hellish place? And do they have liquor?”
“Only the best of it.”
“Is a bloody suit appropriate for their dress code?”
“You’ll be the envy of everyone there.”
“Let’s go then!” She reached for the door, but I caught her wrist. As excited as I was, I needed her to understand.
“There will be demons there. Many of them.”
She paused, her face growing serious. “What…what kind of place is this exactly?”
“Demons on Earth need a way to blow off steam,” I said. “We need places where we can be ourselves, let loose without worrying about being seen. We need places to socialize, places where we can meet playmates we don’t have to worry about accidentally killing.”
“And where is this place?”
“The locations never stay the same for long. It wouldn’t be a good idea to linger and draw too much attention. But an old acquaintance contacted me a few days ago and told me there was one nearby.”
“One…what?”
“We call them Clans,” I said. “Clandestine places. Think of a nightclub, but with no rules, no restrictions, watched over by a single host who ensures the liquor keeps flowing and everyone keeps fucking.”
Her eyes widened, her lips parting slightly. She was intrigued. “Is it…I mean…is it safe for me?”
“Of course. Demons know better than to fuck with another’s property.” I gave her a wink, before her pride could flare up too much. “And you won’t be the only mortal in attendance. You can relax there. You won’t have to hide anything.” Her eyes still flickered to the side. She would be thinking through everything that could go wrong, assessing every potential threat. But that was exactly what I wanted to free her from. I didn’t want her to feel threatened.
I wanted her to feel free.
“You can say no,” I said. “It’s up to you. But I’m only offering because I think you’d enjoy yourself. I think it would be something different for you, somewhere you don’t have to worry about hiding. You could speak openly there. You’d be surrounded by beings that understand the strange side of life.”
She gulped, chewing the inside of her cheek. This was for her, and if she said no, we’d find some other way to celebrate. But I wanted her to have this. I wanted her to have a place to let down her walls for more than just me.
She took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and said finally, “Okay. Let’s go.”
I drove, and she sat beside me in the passenger seat with her feet up on the dash, tapping her legs to the beat of the music as “Friend of the Devil” by Adam Jensen played through the speakers. An old friend had sent me the Clan’s coordinates a few days prior, and I didn’t need a map to find my way. Most demons had an instinctually good sense of direction, but I’d traveled around Earth enough that mine was better than most.
I drove southeast, until we were deep in the forest. I kept my senses alert, sniffing the air through the open window for any signs of dangerous creatures.
But the only scent I caught was that of dozens and dozens of demons. I pulled off the road, grateful now that we were driving her Jeep. My car was fast, but it wasn’t built for roads like these. I wound down the overgrown road until we reached a chain-link fence, barbed wire coiled along the top, with a large No Trespassing — Government Property sign secured to the locked gate.
I turned off the engine and hopped out. “We’ll walk from here. Can you make it over, or should I toss you?”
She looked up at the fence, hands on her hips, before she pulled off her jacket and tossed it back into the Jeep. “It’s not even an electric fence. I’ll be fine.”
I jumped over the fence easily, landing crouched on the other side. By the time I’d turned around, she’d already climbed halfway up.
“Not bad,” I said, as she carefully pulled herself over the top, gripping the wire between its barbs and turning herself so she could leap to the ground. “Not bad at all, little wolf. Although I still think it would have been fun to throw you.”
“Of course you do,” she snickered, shaking her head. We walked together back into the trees, the demonic scent growing stronger as we went. The cold air smelled of woodsmoke, sweet demonic blood, marijuana, and alcohol.
It smelled like home.
Juniper stopped abruptly, eyes wide, staring upward. I smiled at her awe over the massive structure ahead, and said, “Welcome to Hell on Earth, love.”
