Vacation Hell: Princess of Hell #4 (2 page)

I grew to hate those forced family excursions, to the amusement of my sister, Bambi, who totally rocked a bikini and could eat sushi with a groan of pleasure.

Put raw seafood near my lips and I didn’t just gag. I hugged the porcelain of the nearest toilet. So my sudden fetish for the ocean wasn’t just unexpected, it was—

“Unnatural.” Auric stroked his chin. “So why are you suddenly so eager to go to the one place you dislike?”

“I don’t dislike the ocean and beach,” I protested, “so long as I’m inside a resort, looking at it through a window while getting a massage and being hand-fed chocolate-covered strawberries.”

“That kind of defeats the purpose of going somewhere tropical,” Auric pointed out.

Him and his logic. I’d fight it with irrationality. “Not really because that’s where you get the best drinks with those cute little cocktail umbrellas.”

“I know, how about instead of visiting the ocean, which you hate, we have a family vacation in Canada? We could drive through the Rockies. Commune with nature.”

That sounded fun actually. The last time I’d gone, I had a fabulous time hanging with the Sasquatch. Those big, hairy dudes could party. I also quite enjoyed outdoor lovemaking. Ooh, and hot-tubbing outdoors at night while listening the wildlife.

It sounded great. Fun. Just what I needed, which was why I said, “No. I need to go to the beach.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth, and that might have been why Auric’s gaze narrowed. His tone very careful, he said, “What about Disneyland? Lucinda would love it, and you could both dress as princesses and scream ‘off with their heads!’ until they escort you out.”

Hell yeah. I’d had such fun that day Auric had taken me. We’d no sooner made it off the hallowed Disney grounds than he took me, fluffy skirts up over my head. Good times, and something I wouldn’t mind doing again. So I said, “No. I
need
to go to the beach.”

There was something utterly annoying about two men exchanging significant glances. I totally hated it. Yet it happened often around me, especially when weird stuff happened, like my head thinking one thing and my mouth saying another.

“Muriel, why don’t you head upstairs and have a nice, long bath. David and I will keep an eye on Lucinda and figure out something we can do for a family vacation.”

Sounded great. Me, a deep tub, and bubbles that tickled my nose.

I might have blinked as I walked into David’s chest, which happened to be standing in front of the door. “Tub’s upstairs,” he reminded.

A high-pitched titter left me. “Oops. Wrong way.” Yet what truly felt like the wrong way was my feet going up the steps instead of out the door. Auric was right. There was something seriously wrong with me.

And I wasn’t just talking about my mental state. That was hereditary.

T
he swish of
her ass in that translucent sarong proved enticing, especially since her bikini bottom barely covered her full, heart-shaped ass. Yet Auric didn’t chase after her. Other things required his attention.

Muriel had no sooner disappeared out of sight when Auric turned to David. “I think we have a problem.”

“You think? I’d heard of postpartum depression, but this is crazy,” David said.

Auric’s shaggy-blond-haired friend still stared at the top of the stairs, even though Muriel was out of sight.

Did he fear she’d come flying down, determined to exit that front door again? He wasn’t alone.

“I think what we just saw was more than a case of her adjusting to being a mother and home life.”

The comment drew David’s glance. “You think someone’s cast a spell on her?”

Auric lifted his shoulders. “Maybe, and yet, at the same time, I don’t get the same feeling as the last time she had that problem.” The last time being when they’d been dealing with Gabriel and a spell of fear he’d placed on Muriel’s mind. “This seems like more of a compulsion.”

“Or a craving, like pregnant women get for pickles and peanut butter.”

Could she be pregnant? The old crone who examined her after everything calmed down claimed Muriel would never have another child. Even though she’d healed, the damage done when Lucinda was taken from her body had destroyed that chance.

I don’t think it’s hormones, though.
Something else was at work, and he didn’t like it one bit.

I need to call a meeting.
The sooner the better.

Auric moved away from the front door, paused, and pivoted back. He tapped at the keypad and armed the house alarm. Then he traced a symbol on the wall, activating the magical wards on the house.

“Are you worried someone might be trying to get in? Usually that’s not a problem in the daytime.” As David moved from the wall, his casual slouch morphed into a more alert position. The predator in him came alive.

Jaw set, Auric revealed, “It’s not something getting in that worries me. We could all use a bit of exercise. I’m more concerned that a certain someone will attempt to get out.”

For those who wondered, the wards would stop even Muriel from opening a portal to escape. The protective web on the house had been put in place by Nefertiti herself, one of the strongest sorceresses ever. Once Auric activated them, he could rest assured that Muriel couldn’t bypass it.

Yet.

As the old sorceress had warned Auric, “Her magic is growing. What she can’t do today might not apply to tomorrow.” Not reassuring, but then again, he’d not fallen in love with Muriel because she was normal and safe.

“Do you think she’ll really try and escape so she can go to the beach?” David asked as he matched Auric’s pace down the hall, a hall he noted sported a new dark line.
I see my daughter’s been expressing her artistic side again.

No wonder Muriel was in a tizzy. For a girl raised by the devil, she had certain notions when it came to behavior. She might not enforce the traditional please and thank-yous, but she did expect respect and had become OCD as of late about their home. A tidy Muriel was scarier than the slob he’d first met.

In reply to David’s query, he said, “Am I worried she’ll escape? Fucking right I am. This is Muriel we’re talking about.” And that said it all.

Headstrong, single-minded, and fearless, Muriel would not hesitate to charge into the fray with no thought beyond doing her version of the right thing. It was one of her most frustrating and endearing qualities.

She keeps life from growing stale.

A man never knew what she’d do next. What madness she’d wreak. What chaos she’d provoke.

Armed with this expectation, Auric could admit he needed reinforcements. He already had a certain cat on board. Time to recruit some others.

The gleaming kitchen, with its superbly modern cupboards in white, showed fingerprints, tiny ones in a variety of flavors.

Chocolate. Muriel’s fave. Peanut butter, smeared on the white subway tile backsplash, was something David ate by the spoonful. The bottle tipped over on the table was root beer, Lucinda’s flavor choice. Auric usually preferred his without the root.

It seemed a certain sticky-fingered girl took after her parents. And certainly put her mark on things.

David took a peek and whistled. “No wonder Muriel is losing her shit today. This is bad.”

“Bad? It’s a kid being a kid.” Auric saw the mess and thought not much of it. Kids were messy.

Except David didn’t agree. “This is doing it on purpose. The kitchen was spotless this morning, and Lucinda is a smart kid. There is no way a single child, in that span of time, could naturally cause such a mess. This took someone with special skills.”

No use in getting offended over the fact that David had called their child different. Couldn’t argue the truth. “But why?” Why purposely drive her mother to mental exhaustion?

The idea niggled as they bypassed the opening leading to the mudroom, which had gone from bleached haven to…

“Did a squirrel get loose in there?” What else could explain the mud marks on the ceiling? And yet another clue to Muriel’s exhausted state.

The next door was closed, and Auric yanked it open. No disaster here, just an ominous pathway down into the bowels of the house. He entered the basement with David on his heels. The door, on a pneumatic hinge, swung shut behind him, but LED lights inset on the steps illuminated the path downward leading to the vampire’s lair, Teivel’s home in the daytime. While the soulless bastard was tough, he truly couldn’t handle sunlight.

As Auric tread down the stairs, it hit him how far he’d come since he’d met Muriel months ago.

He’d begun life as an angel, and he meant literally began. People had often mused upon where angels came from. He could answer with absolute certainty…that no one knew. Or, if they did, they kept it a secret.

All Auric remembered of his awakening was opening his eyes and a feminine voice saying,
“Welcome to heaven. Please put on this robe.”
Strange, and yet everyone he dared ask that was angelic in nature repeated the same experience. His kind couldn’t procreate with themselves, only humans and certain types of demons. As a mixture of both, Muriel proved capable also of bearing him a child. Even if she couldn’t, he would have fallen for her anyway.

Muriel presented the ultimate forbidden fruit, and once he’d found himself enthralled by her, he finally understood why Adam and Eve had disobeyed.

He should note, though, that she wasn’t the reason for his fall or disgrace. His disobedience began before he’d even met Muriel. Originally, Auric served as a soldier in God’s Army of Light. Endless days of pretty sword work and flight drills. Only rarely were the soldiers of Heaven called into action.

But the thing was, once Auric tasted the allure of battle in fighting for justice and peace…that was where he perhaps committed his first sin. The sin of enjoyment.

He enjoyed helping others. He wanted to do more, so he asked his superiors what else they could do to help mankind.

Nothing was their answer. Those in charge let the injustices of the world continue. They refused to act. Auric didn’t understand. Did they not want man to ascend to Heaven?

At the time, he still held unwavering belief, a belief that faltered as tragedies continued to occur. He watched as atrocities unfolded that would have enjoyed a different outcome if only the angels intervened. It frustrated him to sit and do nothing. A champion was needed. His sword could make a difference, so Auric demanded they help the mortals fighting the day-to-day battles against sins and other Hellish conflicts.

He was forbidden, and they tired of him questioning.

He tired of them not acting, so he took matters into his own hands.

For his disobedience, Auric found himself tried, convicted, and cast from Heaven. Thrown down upon the earth to live among the mortals, without his wings, without any magic, just a man looking to make a difference.

It didn’t take long to realize that one sword could only wreak so much justice. He needed allies and found them. Along his quest to rid the world of evil, he discovered like-minded men. And only men because Auric tended to stay far from women. Raised in a sexist culture—because God truly had defined ideas of the roles of men and women—Auric remained true to his roots until one day a woman slammed into him, a woman whose scent of hot cinnamon and pure lust hit him like a train. He’d walked away from that first encounter stunned by his reaction, only to find Muriel again when he walked into a certain bar.

From that moment on, he was hooked. He stalked her, and not just because Muriel was the daughter of Lucifer, seed of evil. A seed for redemption. Heaven gave him a chance for pardon. He just needed to do one little favor. Kill her.

He’d rather kill himself.

From the moment Auric met Muriel, she became his new reason for being. Yes, she was sinful—especially between the sheets—and yet, at the same time, she had a core of goodness, a need to help others and do the right thing, even if it sometimes drove Lucifer mad.

How he loved that about her. How he loved her. And because of that love, Auric now lived a life he’d never imagined, but only because he’d let his mind open to the fact that not everything that happened was as black and white as the scriptures stated. There definitely existed a gray area, the area most people fell into. An area that suited Auric just fine, as it let him act as he saw fit. Because of this gray spot between extremes, he could have a life with the woman who completed him. The one woman who gave a fallen angel a place to belong, a woman he had to share with two other men.

People might spout sharing is caring. Like fuck. And, yes, he could curse, just like he could covet with the best of them.

What man wanted to turn mine into ours? Certainly not him. He wanted Muriel all for himself. If only her innate magic hadn’t made that impossible. But he couldn’t fight the truth. Auric alone was not enough to fuel her magic.

No big deal, some would say. How strong a magic did she need? The strongest. Even Auric could state that because he knew Muriel was destined for great things. He’d seen her do the impossible.

Fate kept tossing rocks at her, tough things that required Muriel to hold strong. Strength meant feeding her magic, and thus did his best friend, David, join them. Having sex with Muriel and another guy didn’t prove as traumatizing as he’d feared. Actually, another guy in the bedroom amped things to the next level.

With the dual magic she siphoned from their orgasmic pleasure, Muriel had played a large part in saving Hell when it froze.

When they’d defeated Gabriel, they stayed a trio and, not long after, found out about the pregnancy. Not surprising, shit happened again, in the form of Lilith, a first-generation bitch determined to rule Hell, Heaven, the Earth. In other words, anything she could get her greedy hands on.

Lilith was gone, but the magic they required to vanquish her meant they’d acquired another man.

And then we were four.

Actually five with Lucinda now living with them.

One big freaking family and yet, Auric feared it was about to grow.

The living room at the bottom of the basement stairs didn’t remain dark long as Auric barked, “Lights.” They came on suddenly, but muted, the recessed lighting soft and subtle in this cavern of a place.

There were no windows in the basement. The walls were painted a deep blue, while the furniture sported creamy black leather. One entire wall was comprised by a large screen—with a kick-ass projector providing the best Sunday night football ever.

Welcome to the lair, the ultimate man cave replete with all the game systems, surround sound, and a fully stocked bar.

But today wasn’t about hanging out. An emergency strategy session was required, but for that, he needed to call in a few more key players.

Auric yanked out his phone and sent a group message then strode to the only closed door, a leather-studded eight-footer, and banged on it.

David dropped onto the couch and aimed a remote. The screen flickered to life, and a dozen camera boxes appeared, each a different section of the house.

“Do you see her?”

“Yup. She’s running the water and dumping tons of shit in it.”

“So long as she’s here, that’s good.”
Bang. Bang. Bang
. Auric hammered the portal again and hollered. “Hey, dead dude, get your ass out here. We have a situation.”

The ankle sweep proved surprising, yet Auric recovered quickly. He back sprung and landed in a crouch. Arms tucked to his sides, he presented loose fists to Teivel.

A lazy smile stretched the vampire’s face. “Your reflexes are getting better, choir boy.”

“All the better to fool you with, fang.”

Teivel snickered as he took a seat in a club chair. He reclined and drummed long fingers on the armrest. “What’s got your blood rushing?”

Having Teivel remark upon his mood based on the flow of his blood was something Auric had grown accustomed to. For a blood-sucking, soulless fiend, Teivel wasn’t a bad sort, and when it came to protecting Muriel and Lucinda, he proved a strong ally.

“Muriel’s acting weird.”

“And this is unusual because?” The arched brow went well with the sarcasm.

“She wants to go to the beach,” David supplied.

“I thought she hated it.”

“She does,” Auric and David replied in unison.

“How badly does she want to go?”

The screen flickered and zoomed to one large image of Muriel dumping a decorative basket of seashells in the water. The goldfish and all his colored stone went in next, as did a certain doll with a shimmery tail.

“What the fuck is she doing?”

“I think she’s trying to create a beach,” Auric answered.

“Why?”

The half-second whiff of brimstone gave him warning, so he didn’t let out an unmanly yell when a smooth, car salesman’s voice boomed, “She’s trying to recreate warm, fuzzy memories of her childhood. Why, I still so clearly recall her expression every March break when I told her we were going to the beach for a vacation.”