Page 6 of Dead Air (Moon Murder Mysteries)

Five

N iall might have forgotten about Roger but the salamanders had done little to distract or to ease Cenn’s mind.

He had heard vile, violent thoughts and sensed Roger’s hatred as soon as they heard the other hikers’ footsteps.

The girls in the visitors’ center had been gossiping about their hopes for Niall and the “hot biologist” and Roger had overheard them while waiting on his party.

Cenn had kept Niall busy all afternoon until they parted ways in front of his cabin.

Over at Blue Sky Vista, Roger was being just as gloomy and disgusting as earlier.

It hadn’t been hard to find their campsite, all Cenn had to do was follow the slurs and sick jokes ricocheting inside Roger’s pea-sized brain.

His thoughts were few but they were loud and ugly, daring Cenn to come and get him.

He had yet to vocalize the worst of his thoughts but his sister and her boyfriend were nearly out of patience with his foul mood and tasteless comments.

“You know what, I think I’ll see if I can find that fruity forest ranger and ask him if he wants to suck my dick.”

“Ew, Rog!” Amanda’s face twisted and she shot him a glare. “Don’t start with that. You don’t even know if he’s still up here.”

His smirk was calculating and wicked as he pulled a rumpled trail map from his back pocket. “I overheard one of the chicks at the visitor center say he’s permanent crew and that his cabin’s about half an hour that way,” he said, hitching a thumb over his shoulder, making the other man groan.

“Good luck finding it in the dark. I’m not rescuing you if you roll down a ravine or get attacked by a bear.”

“I’ll take my chances,” Roger stated as he rose. “You two are about to call it a night and start fucking like bunnies. I’d rather risk running into a bear than listen to that for the next hour.”

“We’re going to be extra loud, just because you’re an asshole,” she said and Kyle held up his hand so she could slap it.

“You’d better run before your sister starts screaming.”

Roger ignored them as he opened the cooler and retrieved another beer. “See you in the mornin’, fuckers.”

He aimed his phone’s light around until he found the trail, then set off. His steps dragged and he tripped over the occasional root, stumbling along like an oaf. Roger took one last look over his shoulder to make sure he was alone and no one could hear him.

“He’s gonna suck my dick and get me off or he’ll be spittin’ out his teeth,” he vowed, grinning at the darkened trail ahead of him. “Almost killed the last one but his mouth felt real nice before he fainted.”

Is that so?

“Can’t get carried away this time or it’ll get back to me,” Roger noted, nodding at himself as he planned his encounter with Niall.

Cenn heard wisps of brutal, gory scenarios: Niall bleeding and begging on his knees, crying as he was kicked in the stomach, crawling in the dirt…

Rage was in abundance as Cenn trailed the monster but there was a rush of anticipation, a giddy sense of impending justice as they approached Niall’s secret salamander spot.

This time, the predator was about to meet his match and experience the terror his victims had felt.

Tonight, the victim would be victorious and his would-be assailant would suffer at the hands of a far more fearsome monster.

“Hold on,” Roger mumbled when the trail split. He pulled the map from his pocket and pointed the phone’s light at it. “Think he’s that way and there’s a drop over there,” he said and squinted to his left.

The outcropping and the steep drop off was to Roger’s left and Niall’s cabin was just a few minutes away. Roger hadn’t detected it yet, but Cenn could hear music faintly. Thankfully, Roger would never get any closer and Cenn was certain he’d never see Heaven either.

Cenn tapped on Roger’s shoulder and waited for the human to jump and turn before revealing his true, ancient form. The beer and the phone dropped but Cenn could see the whites of Roger’s eyes, so big and trembling as they took in a horror of smoke and glowing sulfur.

“Boo!” Cenn whispered, causing Roger to shriek. He turned to flee towards Niall’s cabin but Cenn moved faster, blocking his path. “Oh no, you don’t. He’s mine ,” he said, glowing brighter and looming larger.

“No! Get away!” Roger staggered back then swung around, attempting to run to his camp and his sister. Once again, Cenn moved and blocked his path.

“You should have listened to them.”

Roger shielded his face, cowering. “Please! Leave me alone!”

“Is that what the last one said?” Cenn growled and pretended to dive at Roger, making him bolt toward the cliff.

“Help!” Roger screamed as he fled. “Somebody help me!”

Cenn smiled as he followed, sure that Roger’s companions were indeed fucking as loud as they possibly could and Niall was dancing his happy little heart out.

“No one can hear you and no one will help you, Rog.” Cenn called after him, becoming invisible again.

They broke through the trees and Cenn grinned at the wide, open air ahead of them.

Roger skidded and caught himself, inches from the edge.

His arms were out and his hands shook as he looked behind him.

“What the fuck was that?” he whispered, searching the shadows between the trees.

He straightened and took a cautious step away from the cliff, leaning as he scanned for any sign of Cenn.

The moment and Roger’s tension stretched until Cenn made himself visible again, large and burning with vengeance. “Still here!” he laughed, startling Roger and making him scream as he drew back and tripped over the edge.

“Please!” he cried as his arms windmilled and reached for Cenn, his gaze brimming with pure panic as he plummeted.

Cenn sniffed long and hard, inhaling every trace of terror and savoring the distant thuds as Roger hit the cliff’s rocky face and tumbled the rest of the way to the ledge.

Elated, Cenn flew down to see the aftermath.

He found Roger, his body twisted and his limbs sprawled.

Blood poured from the corner of his mouth and he made a cracking, wheezing sound as he panted in the dirt and brush.

“Help me! Please!” he rasped weakly but Cenn clicked his teeth and shook his head.

“I will not. I will let you suffer, Rog, until your sick heart stops beating and then you will waste away in the void, lost and alone in the long, cold darkness.”

“No! Please!” Roger begged and added to Cenn’s delight. “Help me!”

Instead, Cenn hunkered down next to the dying man and saw his soul, thin and empty as it floated away like a plastic bag caught in a gust of wind.

It would pass from the warm world of the living and into the vast wastes between this world and the Otherworld.

In time, Roger’s soul would be warped and twisted into something aching, mindless, and eternal.

There would be no great hound or Valkyrie to shepherd Roger’s soul to glory, so he would become a sluagh, a slave to the empty darkness.

Once Roger had breathed his last breath and his soul had slipped away, Cenn went to watch over Niall.

He was passed out in his bed, his book open and on his chest. He’d bathed and had gone to bed in nothing but a pair of boxers but Cenn couldn’t smell Niall’s cum and sensed that he was still restless.

Niall hadn’t gotten off and Cenn flattered himself, wondering if his mortal had gone to bed missing him.

Cenn eased the quilt and sheet aside, lulling Niall into a deeper sleep. “See me. See Chance,” he commanded gently.

A drunken smile tugged at Niall’s lips. “Chance’s nice,” he slurred and nodded loosely. “Wanna see ‘im naked. Have his babies.”

That had Cenn fighting back a howl of laughter.

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible but I’ll see what I can do about the naked part, my love.

” He flinched, scolding himself for his silliness.

He was confusing possessiveness for love.

Demons weren’t capable of loving, only coveting.

And there would be no family, even if Niall could manage to spawn an infant without anything resembling a uterus.

Demons couldn’t love and their loyalty to their dark task came first. Like the sluagh, demons were compelled to cover the world in darkness and suffering.

That was what gave Cenn his power and made him strong, the way the light of glorious souls nourished and protected the inhabitants of the Otherworld.

He could never love Niall, but Cenn would protect him and shower his beautiful, gentle mortal with affection and pleasure for as long as he could.

But pleasure for a demon was different. Without a working soul, Cenn had no arousal of his own.

He could mirror off of a human’s pleasure, feeling only the adrenaline and exertion until his partner felt the stirrings of ecstasy.

Then, if Cenn was close enough to share their thoughts, he could tap into their energy and pleasure and feel it with them.

Cenn could also feel when a mortal’s will was being violated and unlike some demons, he didn’t revel in that kind of control.

And after all he had learned, Cenn cherished the indomitable spark of Niall’s will and his brave, generous heart.

Snuffing that out would have been a terrible waste and would rob Cenn of any enjoyment he might find in the matter.

It didn’t take any finesse and there had been very little joy in killing a cruel coward like Roger. His soul was flimsy and gross so Cenn hadn’t even bothered, swatting it away like a gnat. Roger’s fate was in the void and Cenn had better things to do with his time.

Like touching Niall.

The moment their hands clasped had been blinding and had nearly brought Cenn to his knees.

He’d never touched anything so pure and soft.

Niall’s soul felt so much more beautiful than Cenn was expecting and he was hooked before their palms had even connected.

Just the thought of an animal like Roger even looking at his Niall enraged Cenn.

“All mine.” He lowered onto the bed, spreading himself over Niall’s body and shuddering at the heady bliss.

Cenn was intoxicated as he breathed Niall in and wallowed in his soft, warm glow.

If humans were drugs, Niall would be heroin.

“Do you want to kiss Chance?” he whispered as he traced Niall’s lips with his smoky fingers.

Niall licked his lips and Cenn’s fingers. “Yes!” It turned into a moan as Cenn’s fingers swirled around Niall’s tongue. Hot, urgent need flared within Niall and Cenn fed on it, greedily sucking in every gasp and fanning his desire.

“More?”

“More, Chance!” Niall bucked off the bed, writhing impatiently beneath Cenn.

“That’s my good boy… Tell me what you want.”

“Need you to…flick me, Chance. Flick me hard!” he whimpered and mumbled.

“Shhh!” Cenn chuckled quietly, smoky fingers sifting through Niall’s hair and stroking his jaw and lips to soothe him. “One hard flick coming up, my love.”

“Mmm!” There was a loud, enthusiastic moan as Niall’s tongue thrust against smoke and a tendril swept along his thigh and up the leg of his boxers. He shifted and raised his knee to give Cenn more access, hissing and nodding frantically when his hole was brushed.

Cenn started out gentle, a wisp of smoke seeping past flinching, puckered flesh and making Niall shiver and giggle.

He spread and filled Niall’s passage, caressing his walls as he swirled and stretched.

Slowly and steadily, Cenn guided the tendril back and forth, making it firmer and hotter as Niall’s moans grew louder.

His legs kicked and Niall clawed at the bedding, undulating beneath Cenn and begging for more, more, more .

His lustful euphoria was sublime and Cenn had never felt so high as he filled Niall over and over again and drank his feral cries.

And he lapped up every drop of sweat and saliva, every tear and every dribble of pre-cum with curls of smoke that wound around Niall’s neck, torso, and limbs.

Smoke lashed and wrapped around Niall’s cock and teased the slit, sucking the cum from him as he came, babbling adoringly at Chance and ordering him to keep going.

In his sleep, Niall rolled onto his knees and arched his back.

His face was buried in his pillow as he invited Chance to mount him and begged to be bred.

Cenn rolled up his sleeves—figuratively—and pinned Niall to the bed, roughly filling his mouth and his ass while tugging at his erection.

That finally did it, driving Niall wild with pleasure and making him come with a muffled scream.

Cenn was spiritually winded as he cradled Niall, stunned at the incredible pleasure and the connection he’d felt.

He’d had sex countless times, through countless creatures, but it had never felt as joyful and as vivid as it had with Niall.

It was very similar to the way an animal gave itself to the rush of the rut, but Niall didn’t fear his primal self the way most mortals did.

He didn’t lie to himself about what he wanted or liked and he wasn’t afraid of where his imagination might take him.

Niall basked in his hunger and wonder, honest and unrestrained.

In the aftermath, there was no regret or shame.

He was content and utterly at peace as he dreamed, walking through a stream in his bare feet and building a new rope bridge.

That’s what Niall deserved and where he belonged: well and thoroughly fucked and unbothered as he communed with the butterflies and the bees.

And that was how Cenn would keep him until it was time to hand his soul to Hugh Dùbhghlas.