Page 12 of Mayhem's Magic

Mayhem comes from another time, with a whole other way of living. He does not like that I work part-time at my sister’s bakery. He claims he ought to take care of me while I stay at home, tending to the house or making him babies.

“Can we...I mean, can wehavebabies?”

“Yes, we can have as many as you want. I might have put my child in you by now, as many times as I have filled you with my seed,” he hums, rubbing his huge hand over my stomach.

Flushing, I swat his hand away, laughing when he growls at me. He does not like to break contact. He must be touching me at all times. Not that I mind him being so affectionate. I went without touch and attention, for a long time so I welcome it.

“What is this called again?” He wonders with a cute look of confusion.

It has taken a few days, but we transformed my cozy cottage into a spooky wonderland for a Halloween party. Mayhem takes in the twinkling fairy lights and eerie decorations I labored over. He strung the lights, hung faux flickering candles, and even put together the huge purple spider with its black web in the far corner.

“A party. A Halloween party. Do you do Halloween in Hades?”

“We do. It is the day of the dead. Nothing sparkling like this. It’s....darker, bloodier, hostile. What will happen here?”

“Costumes, punch someone inevitably spikes, cookies, terrible games, bad music. Fun times will be had by all.”

Mayhem nods but I have a sense he does not understand. He will. Bessi and Luci were totally on board with a monster party where we can show off our monster men. They can come to have a good time as they are, without needing to hide their magic. We will have a few friends over, and they will meet Mayhem.

I will tell my sisters I am in love with a Demon. It should be a good time.

“If it makes you happy, we will do it all,” he says with a grin, kissing me softly before he hangs another string of lights.

Rushing to the kitchen, I take out the last batch of cute monster shaped cookies. Mayhem comes to join me because it turns out he loves baking and is skilled at decorating. Tucking me against his huge body, pinning me to the counter, he goes to work.

“You cannot keep me prisoner all the time, big guy,” I tell him.

“But I can. I am good at keeping a prisoner. Azazel was fond of how good I was in fact,” he teases, kissing my neck as he frosts a ghost cookie with a swift twist of his wrist.

“You had to...I mean you had to hurt people, didn’t you?”

His icing hand stills before he sighs. “Yes, my love. I hurt thousands of souls. Tortured countless others. I had no choice. No that is not true. I am not a coward. I had a choice, I just...I was in such misery I wanted them to know how it felt.”

“I hate that you had to hurt for so long,” I sigh as I settle back against his chest.

Closing my eyes, I try to focus. To use the powers he claims I have. It takes some time, but I start to see flickers of his life. Not just the one down in Hades but before that. I see him on a large acreage, with dark skies and rain pouring down. There is a beautiful woman there shouting at him, cursing him to hell.

“Oh, baby,” I whisper, turning in his arms to wrap mine around him. “You were hurting so badly. You were so alone. Just as I was before you came to me. I hate knowing you were hurting.”

“We’re all hurting some of the time. I caused plenty of hurt to others. That pity is better served to ones who deserve it. I do not. I do not deserve to have you now, to get even a taste of the happiness I have had since I came to you.”

Cradling his face, I touch my forehead to his, sighing as his huge arms wrap around me. He lifts me off my feet and forces my legs around his hips. Backing me up against a wall, he seals his mouth to mine as my hands grab hold of his horns again.

“My sweet love,” he hums against my lips, his black eyes storming as they hold mine. “You’re the best thing on this earth. You deserve much more than I am, but I cannot give you up. It proves I am nothing but a monster, a Demon.”

“What does it make me that I don’t want you to give me up?”

“My mate,” he answers with a crooked grin. “We’re bonded now, nothing can tear us apart. Not man or monster.”

Nodding, I bend my head and kiss him again, letting the fissures of pleasure that erupt inside me take over. We’ve barely left the cottage since he came that first night. I do not care about painting or even the bakery. I just want to be with him. I just want to be in his arms, tasting him, having him inside of me, driving me to depths of pleasure I never knew could exist.

If I am under a magic spell, I do not want freed from it.

“Knock knock,” my sister’s voice calls before I hear the front door close. “We’re here Cari Bear!”

Mayhem’s eyes go wide as he sets me down, seeming to panic. I almost laugh. He is a Demon for God sakes. Hundreds of years old. What would he have to be afraid of? His dark eyes turn golden as his gaze flies past me, pausing on my sister and Gareth.

“Hi! Oh, you’re starting to show, how cute!” I shout, rushing past him to my sister, my hands going to her belly. I am hit with a wave of joy as always as I feel her little girl.

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