Page 32 of The Bell’s Toll (Wanderlust Emporium Presents, Season One)

chapter Twenty-one

Nasiah

A sound to my right draws my attention. I can’t see what it is, but I listen intently.

“Well, aren’t you a pretty thing,” the deep voice says.

Icy dread fills my body. I try to move, but nothing obeys the command. The bed dips on my right; something hot gets close to me.

“Wake up, Nasiah. Wake up.” I try to get myself to wake.

A deep chuckle fills the room. “Hate to burst your bubble, but that will not happen.”

A heavy hand touches my shoulder. If I had control, I’d yank away.

“Come on, wake up,” I growl.

The cover lifts, and a heavy weight moves on top of my naked body. I want to scream when the thing on top of me comes into view. It looks as if it crawled straight from hell.

His flesh has been burned away, and now only scar tissue remains.

He looks as if he haunts teenagers’ nightmares on Elm Street.

Beady red eyes set deep into his face. There are two holes where the nose should be.

His thin lips barely contain razor-sharp teeth.

And there isn’t a sprig of hair on his head.

I scream at the sight of him. He sits up, his legs straddling my waist. He tosses his head back, and his long black pointed tongue comes out of his mouth. It moves like a snake as he licks the air.

“Your fear tastes so sweet,” he moans.

When those red eyes turn back to me, he’s smiling.

“Do I not appeal to you, human?” he asks even though he knows the answer.

Right before my eyes, he transforms. His skin turns a deep tan color. Brown hair sprouts from his bald head along with a full beard. His nose is pointed, and his lips are slightly fuller.

Gone are the sharp teeth and red eyes. Straight, white, regular teeth replaced his razor-sharp ones, and cornflower blue eyes replaced his eyes. He looks nothing like the monster from seconds ago. However, no matter how human he looks, I still don’t want him on me.

He leans down and licks my neck toward my mouth. I seal my lips together. I try to turn away from him, but it seems like the only thing that I can control is my mouth. He chuckles against my closed lips.

“Awww, come on, beautiful. Let Abeh taste you.” He sticks out that long, black, snake-like tongue and shoves it into my mouth.

I gag as it reaches my tonsils. It’s slimy and thick. When he pulls back, a thick line of saliva trails from his mouth to mine. Tears spill from my eyes.

“Yes,” he purrs. “You taste fantastic. Too bad I can’t have you. I was only asked to kill you.” He looks upset by this.

He lifts his hand, and like his tongue, it’s not human like the rest of his body. It looks like the creature that I saw first. Long, skinny digits ending in sharp black claws.

“I would’ve loved to fuck you until you ripped and then leave your cum-stained body for that traitor to find.”

He runs one of his long digits over my bottom lip. My tears come faster. Having this creature touch me makes me want to vomit.

“Raziel,” I scream his name.

The thing laughs. “Poor human. You think he can save you? Let’s see.” The smirk on his face fills my belly with rocks.

He takes one of his long claws and runs it over my chest. I scream at the burning pain. The damn creature cackles.

“How should I kill the traitor’s whore?” the demon taunts.

“Please. Please, Raziel, I need you.” I plead in my head.

“Maybe I will cut your throat?” he runs a long claw against my neck lightly. “Or maybe I will take out your heart.” This time his talon digs into the skin over my chest.

I scream again at the stinging pain.

He raises his clawed hand over his head with a smirk. “Hell, why not both?” he shouts.

I shut my eyes abruptly, not wanting to see when he brings that hand down.

Suddenly, his weight is lifted off me. The covers are thrown back. My body is exposed but I still can’t move. All I hear is growling and groaning and what sounds like flesh hitting flesh. I can’t turn to see what’s going on.

Something flies over me. The moment it hit the wall, my body returned to normal. I can finally feel my limbs.

I sit up in bed and clutch the sheets to my chest. Looking to the left, up against the wall that leads into the sitting room, is the mangled body of the demon.

It’s no longer in its human form. It looks like the creature I first saw.

The position of its neck and the black blood pouring from its head tell me it’s dead.

I turn to my right and leap out of the bed and rush to Raziel. He’s in his true form. His long wings sprouting from his back, those horns on the side of his head, that dark charred skin that should be terrifying but isn’t.

He wraps me in his arms and buries his face in the top of my head. His body melts down, taking him from his tall frame back to the 6-foot two man I love.

Just feeling his arms around me makes more tears spill out. I break down. Sobs wreck my body as I allow all my frustration and disgust for what that demon did to me to come out.

“I can’t take anymore.” I sob. Despite loving this man and not wanting to live without him, there's only so much more I can take.

Raziel exhales over my head. His arms tightened around me. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so fucking sorry.”

I don’t know how long he holds me like that, but eventually, I wake up.