Her Black Heart (The Dark Amulet Series Book 2) (7 page)

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

Aza’zel

Aza had gotten comfy on the bed. The towel was no longer wrapped around his waist. Although he knew in public humans wore clothing, he wished this was optional.

“Aza? Are you still there?”

He approached the bathroom door. “Yes. I’m not out.”

“Can you bring me the phone and the room service menu?”

“What do they look like?”

“The phone is on the table next to the bed. Just bring me the part you talk into, and the menu is on the desk…crap…the table by the window. Should be bound in a leather folder.”

Aza went to table, but many things littered the top. He gathered the folder and a few other papers, just to be sure, and the phone. The bathroom door was unlocked and he barged in without knocking.

Water splashed over the rim of the tub. “Hey!”

“You asked me to bring—” Julia’s naked breasts bobbed near the surface of the water and he gasped. “Oh, Deus. Shiiit.” Aza backed up until he hit the wall with the towel rack.

Ow.

His eyes stayed fixed on her body. A few clusters of bubbles gathered around the sides of the tub. Her hand covered her crotch and an arm came over her chest.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare?”

Yes.
“Um, n-no.” He licked his lips.

“Put the stuff on the floor right here and get out.” She indicated a spot next to her with a wave of a hand. He moved laboriously since his penis had grown twice its normal size. “You look uncomfortable.”

“How can you tell?”

“How could I
not
?” Julia’s eyes widened while she spoke. “You may want to take care of that.”

“How?”

A laugh burst forth from her mouth. “Are you kidding me right now?”

He wanted to say “yes,” so she’d stop laughing, but he couldn’t. His face flushed crimson; maybe his head could explode and this conversation would end. Aza put the items on the tile and backed away. He cupped himself and fled the bathroom.

Once he was on the other side of the closed door, he ran his hands down his face. “Oh, Deus…you’re killing me.”

“What’s that?” Julia yelled through the door.

I said that out loud?

“I didn’t say anything.” 

“Did I mention, you’re
so
weird?”

Yeah, a few times.
Aza laid down on the bed. This time he pulled the sheet over his hips, then quickly tossed the covers off; he was sensitive. Julia had told him to take care of
that
. What was he supposed to do? When he still had the lower half of a goat, this wasn’t really an issue. Fur concealed his legs and a sheath protected his loins. Also, Netherworld wasn’t exactly a place to get aroused. He had no idea how Abaddon managed to, at all.

All the thoughts about his home realm killed his excitement, thank Deus. He pulled the sheet up again, carefully this time. Aza watched the moving pictures across the TV. He’d pressed a button on the remote and couldn’t figure out how to turn the volume on again. Although, he preferred the quiet. He also switched off all of the lights. The colors from the screen illuminated the room enough to see.

Knock. Knock.

“Room service.”

Splashing sounds came from inside the bathroom.

Knock. Knock.

“Room service.”

“Aza, answer the door, I’ll be out in a second,” Julia said. He pictured her wet. And naked.

He sighed heavily and rose from the bed nude. “Coming,” he grumbled. Aza swung the door to the suite wide. He’d grown a bit.

The man behind a cart averted his eyes. “Um…ah…where would you like it?”

“Like what?”

“Just put the food over by the window, please. Aza, you could’ve at least put a towel around you.” Julia rolled her eyes. “Sorry, he’s European,” she said to the stranger with the cart.

He’d been called a lot of things before, but never European. He couldn’t tell if the moniker was an insult or not. Julia handed the guy some money and he left. Aza shut the door, but not before he heard a gasp from someone out in the hallway.

He turned to find Julia wrapped in a fluffy cloth of some kind; it was similar to the towel fabric.

“Come eat. This stuff cost us fifty-five dollars and I had to give the poor bastard a bigger tip than normal. Seeing how you probably gave him a complex and all.”

He sat on the end of the bed. “I didn’t give him anything.”

She looked at the ceiling and muttered something under her breath he couldn’t make out. “Okay, you know…you’re really not that dumb are you? Because it’s starting to get on my nerves.” Julia set a plate of food on the bed next to him and sat at the desk.

He looked down. “I’ve been called stupid before.”

“A lot, I bet.”

His eyes snapped up to her face.
That
was an insult. He leveled his stare on her and despite having a humanlike appearance now, he growled like a beast.

“I didn’t mean—”

Aza lunged forward, gripped the seat of the chair she sat on, and spun her around. He stopped his face inches from hers.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

Julia

Julia’s lips parted. His face, mouth, were so close to hers. “I-I’m sorry, I…shouldn’t have said that.”

Aza’s pupils flared. The slate-blue of his eyes changed color. They glowed hot poker orange for a split second. The flash was so brief that if she’d blinked, she would’ve missed the quick morph completely. This demon was dangerous and it thrilled her. Although she tried to tell herself not to reach out and touch him, she longed to run her hands along the veins running up his biceps.

His erection bobbed between them; he was turned on too. Julia surged forward and took both sides of his face in her hands, pressing her lips against his.

Aza jerked away so fast, he tripped and fell on his ass. He scrambled to his feet.

BOOM!

The demon ran directly into the wall. He bounced back, staggering, blood gushing from his nose.

Julia went to him. “Are you all right? Aza, just stop and sit down.” He didn’t or couldn’t hear her. “Sit!”

This time he found the end of the bed and dropped down. Julia rushed into the bathroom and came back with some bright white towels. Her hands shook and she shoved the wad at him. “Here, use these, put them up to your nose.” This time, she’d gone too far. She didn’t want him to hurt himself.

He put the towels up to his face and groaned. Drops of blood ran down his chest. Aza pulled the towel away for a second. It was covered in red, but the flow had already slowed. She knelt in front of him. Her knees cracked as she lowered herself.

“Are you all right?” His eyes flipped over to hers. “I’m so sorry. I…I shouldn’t’ve kissed you like that. I know you hate to be touched.”

So stupid.

He took the towel away from his face again and cleaned himself the best he could. The towel got chucked to the floor. As she crawled over to retrieve the bloody mess, pressure in her upper back stopped her. She sat up on her knees and reached her hand around to feel the place where the pressure felt the strongest. Her skin was smooth and the painful pressure stopped.

What the hell?

Julia looked up to see Aza watching her. His forehead crinkled from how wide his eyes were. “What’s that look for?”

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something. Instead of speaking, he went to the bathroom and closed himself in. The sink faucet turned on. She heard water splashing around for a few minutes then everything went quiet. Julia sat on the floor hugging her knees to her chest. How could she try kissing him? Gawd, he already told her he didn’t want to be touched. But why? This question rattled around inside her head. Obviously, he’d been abused at some point. Of course, he had been, he was a demon. That place he was from couldn’t be a happy place of peace and tranquility.

She went to the bathroom and knocked gently. “Aza. Aza, you okay in there?” Julia tugged the lapels of the robe together. The door cracked open a tiny bit. A sliver of his face showed. She put her hand around the door in case he decided to shut it again. “Hey, can I come in?” she whispered.

“As long as you don’t touch me again.” He stepped back and allowed her to enter.

His
nose was slightly swollen, though not bleeding anymore. His face was also a little discolored, although nothing horrible. She looked over his features. “I don’t think it’s broken or anything. You’ll probably have black eyes…” Her words trailed off as he stared at her mouth. “Why are you, looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” he rumbled.

“Like you want to either kill me or kiss me, I can’t tell which.”

“I definitely don’t
want
to kiss you.” His pupils flared. He licked his lips.

Julia’s jaw dropped. She’d heard his words and knew what they meant all strung together in the same sentence, but they didn’t sound like a rejection. Her head tilted back as he stepped closer. His naked body brushed against her robe. She released the lapels and the garment parted at the top. Her cleavage was revealed down the center of her torso.

Aza’s face hovered over hers. His scent intoxicated her.

CHAPTER

TWENTY

Aza’zel

Aza looked down at Julia. Her once pale reddish blonde hair had turned more golden from when she was a child. She had tasted like nectar when she’d pressed her lips to his out in the bedroom. He knew the sweetness was from Abaddon. Julia was Tainted by the Demon Lord, poisoned by his venom.

The bathroom door shut when Julia backed up against it. He cocked his head to the side, wondering why she’d done that, until he realized his hands were on her shoulders. He’d guided her toward the door. Looking down between them, he could see the skin and side swells of her breasts. He swallowed hard.

Oh, Deus.

How was this helping them get the amulet back? It wasn’t. Still, he found that he wanted to taste her again. His body needed to be touched even if he didn’t.

“Um…are you okay?” she asked. “Because your—”

He nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“—fingers are digging into my shoulders. Let go.” She twisted and shrugged his hands off her shoulders. The top of the robe opened further. His breath caught. Her hard nipples were the only things keeping the sides from falling away and completely baring her breasts to him.

Aza moved backward. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She sighed and faced the door. “You didn’t.”

His eyes widened. “No?”

“No. But I don’t get why you’re allowed to touch me, but I can’t get near you.” Her hand gripped the doorknob.

“That’s not true, you can get near me.”

She opened the door into the bedroom and said over her shoulder, “Yeah, just not touch you.”

He followed her out, close to her heels, stalking her like prey. “Why do you want to touch me?”

“Why not?”

Aza drew his head back. What did this mean? Julia confused him. First she insulted him, probably more than once, he just didn’t know how many times, and secondly, she seemed genuinely remorseful. He squeezed his eyes shut. His mind was cluttered with all this stuff and the things he once knew to be true about himself. Now he wasn’t sure who or what he really was. He was definitely not human with the way he’d growled earlier, but somehow was not a demon either. At least he didn’t think so. He sat down on the bed and leaned over, propping his chin on his palm with an elbow on a thigh. When he glanced at her, Julia hadn’t fixed the front of her robe. It still hung open above the belt, loosely tied at the waist.

“I asked you a question. Why not?”

He sighed heavily. “Because I don’t like it.”

“Why? What’s wrong with you?” She spoke softer, “I mean, what happened to you?”

“Nothing I want to talk about.”

No…what?

He’d admitted something had happened? Where did that come from?

“I won’t judge you.”

“Why would you judge me?”

Julia blew out a breath. Some loose strands of hair not pinned up on the top of her head floated around her face. He hardened again. This was becoming a real burden. Not enough to want goat legs back or anything, though.

“Julia…nothing happened.”

No, just been tortured and groped against my will.

“Where I come from, no one touches you.”

Not unless they intend to hurt you.

“No one? How can you stand it? Everyone needs a little contact. I’d go crazy.” She shuddered and sat beside him on the bed.

“You’re not me.” He scooted over to put more distance between their thighs.

“So you’ve never been touched?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Okaaay, then what’s the issue, exactly?”

“You’re not going to leave me alone about this, are you?”

“Nope. If we’re going to working together, then I have the right to know.”

He didn’t think her logic was sound, but felt compelled to answer anyway. “The only time I’ve been touched has been to inflict pain or…or…” Aza took a deep breath.

“Were you raped?”

“No!” He shot off the bed.

“Sorry. Easy. I didn’t—”

He glowered at her. “I. Have. Not. Been. Raped.”

“Okay. Okay.”

He paced the floor in front of the bed. “It’s just that I’ve never known a gentle hand. Torture and pain are all I know.”

“Oh my God, never even been hugged before. Not even from your mother?”

“I don’t have a mother. And I…” He couldn’t tell her about the hug from Deus. How devastated he was when it had been taken away from him. The emptiness he felt and never wanted to feel again.

“There’s more?” He looked at the floor and nodded, but couldn’t meet her eyes. “Aza, look at me.” After several moments, he looked up. “What if I don’t touch you, but you touch me? Would that be okay?”

Why does she want this?

More importantly, why did he?

“Julia, I’m,” he sighed, “I’m a monster, a demon.”

“That’s okay, so am I.”

He shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

“Yeah, I am. I killed my best friend, and I’m not sure I feel badly about it. See? Monster.”

Aza groaned quietly. “So you think a demon touching you would be a good thing? This will clean your slate, absolve you of your crimes? Your need for remorse?”

“No. Nothing like that. I—”

“Maybe you should forgive yourself instead.”