Page 43 of SIN Bone Deep

“Once upon a time, there was a man,” he said softly as he began to loosen the knot. “A poet, who desired greatness, wealth, and fame. He heard of a crossroads, where at midnight, he might encounter a stranger who would grant his wishes. And so he went, and in due course, the stranger came,” he let the tie slip from his fingers and reached for the lapels of the robe. “And a deal was struck between them. The stranger would grant him his every wish, but at the end of twenty years the man would die, and when he did, he would not be granted his chance at rebirth, or ascend to the place known as Heaven, for he had have sold his soul to the Devil.”

He eased my robe open, sliding it down my arms to pool at the heels of my feet. “The man was happy with the deal for ten years. As promised, he became renowned for his poetry, wealthy and famous. But then, one day, he encountered true love. A decade of life and eternity in Hell seemed so unfair when it meant leaving his beloved behind, and he searched high and low for a way to break the contract with the Devil, to free himself of his debt. But debt is like a weed, it roots deeply, spreads fast, and is a painful harvest.”

He slid the straps of my bra down my shoulders and unhooked the front clasp. It joined my robe on the floor. I watched his face, hypnotized by the softly spoken words, by the darkness of his hair against the paleness of his skin that changed opacity in the shifting light showing bone below, and the fire-glow within his eyes. Most of all, I watched the way his lips moved, shaping the words. I wanted to feel their softness on mine, to taste him on my tongue.

“Ender…” I barely breathed the word. “I need to tell you about Mal…”

“I know, Elenyx,” he cupped my cheek. “As he knew I would.” He sent my underwear to the floor and lifted my chin on his fingers until I met his eyes. He tilted his head and stroked his thumb over my bottom lip. “The man grew increasingly distraught as his time dwindled, and then, tragedy struck, and the man’s true love died. He knew that she would be reborn or ascend to Heaven, whilst he would be condemned to Hell, and he would never again see her, in this life or any other.”

His fingertips trailed over my chin and down my throat, to the memento mori between my breasts. “He may not have found the answer to breaking the contract however his searches had revealed the secrets to crossing the veil into the underworld. He decided that rather than lose his love, he would enter the underworld in pursuit of her, and return her to the world of the living. There, he would persuade her to make a deal with the devil. There was no Hell quite as terrible as losing his lover, after all.”

“So, he crossed the veil. Of course, a living mortal’s presence in the underworld was immediately detected, and as such, he was brought to stand before the Lord of the Underworld and explain himself. He pled for his lover with such words of truth and beauty,” he toyed with the locket that I wore, centering it on my chest, before lifting his hand to cup my cheek. “That the Lord of the Underworld was moved by the depth and despair of his love and granted him mercy – something which is the Lord’s privilege to give, but only rarely and not without cost to the Lord himself.”

“The Lord’s offer was this: if the man could find his lover amongst the souls waiting to be claimed or reborn, and if he could persuade her to come with him, and then if they walked the way out of the veil without once looking behind, no matter what they heard or thought followed, only then could he take her back into Life, and there he had twenty-four hours in which to strike his deal, or she would be reclaimed by the reapers,” he scooped me up into his arms and laid me onto the bed. “An almost impossible feat for a mortal man.”

He lifted his top off over his head, a slow slide of black fabric over pale skin, the muscles of his beautiful body flowing beneath his skin as he stretched his arms over his head until the raven made his appearance. He cast the top onto the floor and unbuttoned his trousers. I watched, chewing my bottom lip, sliding one knee up, to press tight my thighs around the ache that looking at him caused.

“He succeeded, for his love shared his belief that better in Hell together, than in Heaven alone.” He pushed his trousers down his thighs and stepped out of them, pausing by the end of the bed, looking down at me. “It should have been a win for Hell, two souls for the price of one, but that is not how Hell works. They are not seeking happily ever after within their halls. Immortality with a loved one in Hell defeats the purpose of it.”

“What happened to them?” I wondered.

“Hell did not want them, Heaven would not take them, and they did not qualify for rebirth, so there was only ever one place that they could belong. They now serve the Lord of the Underworld.”

He lay at my side, propping himself up onto an elbow and looking down at me. “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old-Time is still a -flying, and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying,” he murmured as he stroked the back of his fingers along my cheek.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

His eyes met mine and he smiled softly. “I promise you, Elenyx, that soon I will explain,” he leaned over and brushed his lips over mine. He trailed his kisses along my cheek to the corner of my jaw and my eyes fluttered closed as I sank into the seduction.

His breath caressed my skin, raising gooseflesh and causing my nipples to tighten so that their sensitive points rubbed against the raven as he kissed his way down my neck and along my shoulder before taking his weight back onto his elbow.

I opened my eyes, meeting his, and he smiled and reached across me to take my hand, placing the palm, fingers pointing down, between my breasts. We both watched as he stroked my hand down the centreline of my body to between my thighs. He guided my fingers over my clit, watching as I touched myself, before releasing my hand.

His palm slid down my thigh, encouraging me to bend my leg up and over his hip, and then his hand rejoined mine, taking over the caress, the pads of his fingers bigger and rougher than my own, the change in texture and not being in control making me moan and arch.

“Yes,” he whispered leaning over without ceasing the movements of his fingers, his lips caressing mine as he breathed the word. “My beautiful Elenyx. She walks in beauty, like the night, of cloudless climes and starry skies, and all that’s best of dark and bright, meet in her aspect and her eyes.”

I came, and he stole my exhalation of pleasure from my lips with a kiss, deepening it, his tongue chasing into my mouth as he eased my leg from his hips, and positioned himself between my knees. I stared into the depths of his eyes to where the flame danced deep within the pupil until the pleasure of the press of his cock within me stole my focus.

“The taste of her pleasure on my lips… divine,” he stroked his lips across mine before his tongue stole between them. “Her thighs around my hips and I am lost,” his hand stroked up my thigh encouraging me to wrap my legs tightly around him as our bodies strained against each other, seeking that point at which promise broke into orgasm. “Her breasts against my chest; sublime…”

It shuddered through me, sparking up from my core, spearing through my heart, and tingling along my limbs, the burn of pleasure heating my core around him so that his words were lost to moans, and his thrusts into me grew fierce, driving us both past that promise and into pleasure.

My heart thudded within me, echoed in the pulse of my clit, and the clench of my cunt. I could feel the cool of his cum spreading within me and imagined that it doused the fire of Mal’s seed.

Oh, hex and havoc, Elenyx, I scolded myself. What was I doing, tangling with a demon and a grim reaper, making love to both so that their cum mingled within me like ingredients in a cauldron?

Ender’s expression was tender as our eyes met, his breath caressing my lips cooly as he smiled. “I cannot give this up, no matter the cost. She is mine,” he whispered the final words of his poem as a vow, and my breath caught, knowing it to be significant, like the bands of braided hair around my wrist and finger, but not knowing what it meant. I knew our relationship was impossible, for he belonged on one side of the veil, and I on the other.

Somewhere, faint music was getting closer, and I frowned. It was late for Nova to be playing music so loud that I could hear it in my room… And then headlights cut through the room, and I heard the driveway gravel spray beneath the wheels of a car. Men’s voices yelled, and the crash of glass.

I shoved Ender off me and scrambled across the bed, finding my robe on the floor, and pulling it on as I ran for the window. Two cars had pulled up and men in balaclavas were throwing things at the house. The wards repelled most of the objects, but the tree outside my window was not so lucky and the bark and leaves, dry from the heat of the summer, caught alight when one of the men sprayed it with lighter fluid and threw his cigarette at it.

I opened my window. “By star and moon in the sky, flame to ash, and ember die,” I cried out sharply as the flames raced up the trunk crisping the leaves that brushed against the window glass and filling my bedroom with choking smoke.

Ender appeared behind me, fully dressed, and reached past me, gesturing with his pale, long fingers. The flames snuffed out.

A man with a baseball bat smashed through a window, whilst another spray painted in blood red and black on the walls, scrawling lines that followed him as he walked around, maximizing his damage. He paused and wrote on the wall. Even from above, I could make out the word: “Witch.”

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