Page 9 of The Bell’s Toll (Wanderlust Emporium Presents, Season One)

chapter Five

Nasiah

I ’ve paced back and forth in this room so much I know there is a path in this carpet. After the demon brought me here, I haven’t seen him. There’s a big, scary looking one with a shaved head and gray eyes that keeps trying to come into the room and talk to me.

Admittedly, I haven’t been harmed. The room I’m staying in is ginormous. It’s the size of two of my bedrooms. It has a sitting area with a full couch and two accent chairs to my left.

The bedroom has a massive king bed, dresser, a chest of drawers, foot bench, and two nightstands. To my right is the huge bathroom with double sinks, a wet closet, a standalone shower that could bathe three people at once and a claw-foot tub.

On the other side of the bathroom is a large walk-in closet with built-in shelves and an in-closet island.

And the most shocking thing is, among his clothes there are tons of clothes for me.

Not only are the clothes and underwear my style, but they are also the right size.

This crazy bastard has been watching me.

Even though I’m living in this luxurious room with anything I could ask for, it doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m being held as a prisoner.

A soft knock on the door gives way to the fact that the big scary one is coming back. I plant myself against the wall at the furthest point from the door where he will walk in.

As he enters, he ducks his head trying not to bump it against the frame. He spots me against the wall. A smirk lifts his lip, the same way it does every time he enters and finds me in this spot.

“I see you still don’t trust me,” he chuckles as he heads over to the bench.

He stops when he notices the food on the tray hasn’t been touched.

“You don’t like turkey?”

His deep voice always seems to catch me off guard. Although he’s always making funny comments to me, this is the first time he’s actually asked me a question.

I lift my chin. “I want to go home.”

He tilts his head to the side. “You need to eat.”

“I… Want… To… Go…. Home.”

He stares at me for a moment longer without saying a word.

My heart pounds in my chest. I’m trying my best not to piss these creatures off.

I have no doubt that they could probably kill me if they wanted to.

The scary one dips his chin at me before grabbing the tray of food.

He then quickly leaves my room, closing the door behind him.

I wait, keeping my back against the wall just in case he comes back.

After a few seconds and no return, I go back to my pacing.

I’ve checked every window in this room. They are forged shut with the strength of Hercules.

The door is locked from the outside. I’d use a crawl space vent if I could find one.

The only way in and out of this room is through that locked door.

Not for the first time, the overwhelming feeling of defeat and anger takes over me. I’ve never been one to just give up. I’m a fighter, have been since I was a child, but looking around this room with its airtight windows and locked door, I feel utterly useless.

After tossing my hands up in the air and letting out a frustrated growl, I head back over to the windows to try them once again. I give it all my might trying to lift them.

“They won’t open.”

I startle, spinning around to face the man of the hour.

I hate the way just the sight of him has my heart racing and my belly fluttering.

Look, no one can say this man isn’t downright gorgeous.

He has the face of a movie star, and the eyes of a psychopath.

There should be nothing about this man that I find appealing.

“You need to eat,” his deep voice shoots through my body like a missile. It lands and explodes like a bass drum between my legs.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“I don’t want your food.”

A smirk lifts his lips in a half smile.

“What do you want, Nasiah?”

The way he says my name is like a summons or a prayer. The syllables roll off his tongue as if he’s speaking in another language.

Squaring my shoulders, I muster up strength from deep within me. “Look, I understand that you and my mother made some type of deal. Okay, I get that. But seeing as I was an innocent baby, I think it’s only right that I’m left out of this. It’s not fair.”

“Fair?” he repeats with a chuckle. “You want me to be fair?”

“Yes.”

Part of me feels as if he is listening and actually taking my concerns in, but the voice at the back of my mind is telling me he’s only toying with me.

He pushes away from the door and makes his way over to the right side of the room where the sitting area is. He takes a seat in the armchair, leaning his back against it and spreading his legs wide. I turn away from the large print on his left thigh.

Now I know he’s the devil because there ain’t nothing good about the massive size of his dick.

“I’m listening,” he says.

Swallowing, I head in his direction but stop in the entryway where the sitting and bedroom meet.

“There has to be something else you want?”

His razor-sharp eyes drop to my thighs. When he runs his pointed pink tongue over his bottom lip, I have to fight everything in me not to crawl to him.

The throbbing in my clit seems to increase every second that he’s here with me.

My panties feel uncomfortably drenched. In all my twenty-seven years, I have never felt this turned on.

If I slid my hot coochie across this hardwood floor, I’d leave a trail of my essence like a damn snail.

When his dark eyes snap back up to my face, there is a smirk on his lips.

“There is nothing else I want.”

My heart knocks against my chest with the raspiness of his voice.

“Then let’s make a deal,” I say with courage I don’t have. “You like deals, right?”

The grin on his face lifts higher until it turns into a full-blown chuckle.

“Careful, human,” he says. “You should never make a deal with a forsaken.”

Forsaken? Since I’ve been here, I’ve never really heard him refer to what he is. I mean, he told us he wasn’t the devil. I assumed he was a demon or something. What is a forsaken?

I fight down my curiosity. I don’t have time to ask questions right now.

“Then a trade?” I counter. “I give you what you want, and you let me go.”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know this monster wants to fuck me.

Hell, the dick print reaching for his socks is a loud enough reminder.

How bad could it be to sleep with him and then get out of here?

If the way my pussy is clenching and unclenching around nothing right now is any indicator, I would say I’m definitely up for the job.

The creature unfolds from the chair slowly, yet gracefully, climbing to its over six-foot height. He stalks toward me like a predator. I back away until my legs hit the side of the bed. Shit, not a smart move.

My heart is thudding in my chest as I stare up at him.

“Why would I make a deal to have you only once, when you belong to me?”

Even though his scent and the look in his eyes has me wanting to strip off my clothes and ride his face, I squint my eyes and glare at him. His words pissing me off and battling with the arousal I’m feeling.

“Belong to you?” I nearly snarl. “I’m a full fucking person, I don’t belong to anyone.”

For about a minute, we stand in a stare off. Me glaring daggers at him, and him grinning down at me.

Finally, he speaks. “You think?”

I don’t know what comes over me, but I place my hands on his chest and shove him. He doesn’t even budge. That pisses me off more, and I rear back to smack him in the face. Before my hand could get close to his cheek, he grabs it and pins it behind my back, bringing my body flush to his.

My breath catches as I look up into his full black eyes.

“Deny it all you want, Beauty, but you belong to me. I own your soul, your body, and your pleasure. I always have, and I always will.”

“Let me go,” I try to fight against his hold, but there is no hope.

“You want to know the way out of this?” he growls. I don’t get a chance to answer before he responds. “A life for a life.”

I gasp at his words.

“Who will it be, Beauty?” he brings my body even closer to his, burying his face in my neck. He takes a deep inhale. “Who do you want me to kill?”

Despite the morbid topic, I whimper at the rush of heat that floods my body.

“Give me a name, Nasiah.” he sucks the skin of my neck into his mouth.

My eyes roll to the back of my head. No matter how hard I try to fight this feeling, I can’t. My toes curl gripping the shit out of my shoes.

“Raziel,” his name comes out on a moan.

“You smell like heaven. Like home,” he groans, pulling me so close to him I’m damn near in his skin.

My head swims with everything I want this creature to do to me. Baby, at this point I’d drop to my knees and beg for it. I open my mouth to tell him just how badly I want him.

However, at the last-minute, common-sense wins and I remember who and what he is. Shoving him with my free arm, he steps back. I know the only reason I could get him away from me is because he was distracted.

I stand in front of him, one arm out trying to ward him off. My chest rises and falls rapidly as I try to catch my breath. It feels like I’ve just run a marathon.

Raziel’s black eyes narrow as he bares his teeth at me.

“I don’t want this. Let me go,” I plead, hoping if I say the words out loud my body will listen.

He grins, slow and menacing. “No,” he replies with finality.

He turns and walks toward the door.

“You can’t keep me here forever.” I scream at his back.

He stops with one hand on the doorknob, his back to me.

“Forever is all we have, Nasiah.” He turns to look at me over his shoulder. “Eat the food my cook supplies for you, or I will have them feed you through a tube in your fucking stomach.”

He turns and walks out of the room and shuts the door. I toss the pillow off the bed at the closed door before screaming out my frustration.

It’s finally dawning on me that this monster has no intention of ever letting me leave. I figured after he got what he wanted he would toss me back, but his words have fear rearing up in me.

Forever is all we have, Nasiah.

I can’t stay here forever. I have to find a way out of this. But first, I need a cold shower.