Page 53 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
"That's a veritable eternity in a room with you." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "I remember that at the zenith of the plague, five thousand terrified souls died every day. How St. Cyprian was the only man who stood between smallpox and the world... and because of us both, he failed." Now his voice was hard and his cock soft. "I remember that I never hated anyone worse than I hated you then."
"You've hated me ever since."
He nodded, a quick movement of his sharp chin. "You would come to me whilst I was chained, rub against me, much as you're doing now, and offer to release me, to stop the carnage, if I would only submit to you. Lie with you."
"I asked you why you eternally denied me there in that pit." Lucifer bit his earlobe. "Right before I handed you that baby, I asked youwhy. And do you remember what you said to me while that infant died in your arms?"
With strong and sinuous movements, Julian disentangled himself from her grasp. "How could I forget?" he asked in a droll monotone. Though she didn't know why he bothered to. He knew she could feel his anger mounting. That when his heart had darkened and his blood seethed, she fed off those powerful emotions. As still and obsequious as Julian pretended to be, she alone knew the extent of his fury. She, alone, felt his pain.
This is what she wanted him to feel. This is how she would defeat the draw of the only woman who would ever get in her way. If Aerin de Moray was strong enough to survive his touch, she was strong enough to break Lucy's curse. If one of the de Moray witches could do that, then the four of them together might just have what it took to defeat her.
She either had to destroy them... or recruit them.
And destruction wasalwaysthe more attractive option, wasn't it?
She crept closer to him, pleased to see the hesitation in his eyes and the circle of decay in the ground beneath his feet. "You told me that if you gave in to me, then a fate more horrible than five thousand daily casualties would befall humanity."
"So I did."
"And why was that, exactly?" she prodded.
"Darkness," Julian murmured, turning from her as though he couldn't bear the sight of her. "You know that my powers are such that they not only infect others, but others likewise bind to me on a molecular level. Were I to kiss you, were I to take any part of you inside of me, or put any part of me inside of you, your darkness, your cruelty, yourevilwould infect me. I would never be rid of it, or you. And to be eternally rid of you is the thing that I desire most in this world."
Lucifer let the acid in his words slide off her skin as she went in for the kill. "Darkness," she repeated. "Do you know how I'm going to win this, Julian? Do you know just who is my secret weapon? Do you know who will have to delve into the darkness that is a part of her soul, that is a singular component to her element? Do you realize, Julian, that which you abhor, and that which you desire are one and the same?"
Letting her fingers wave in the air, she stirred a wind to ruffle the uncommon locks of Julian's black and silver hair. "Darkness, Julian. Darkness and the Devil have always walked hand in hand, and guess which element I've always commanded? Guess which of the de Morays has my same penchant for darkness?"
Julian whirled back to look at her, a stricken expression shadowing his masculine features. "No," he denied. "Don't say it."
She didn't have to, but she couldn't help herself. "Aerin de Moray.”
10
Aerin mowed down three zombies with her car, well, Tierra's car, before zipping into the Maison de Moray's drive. She’d left a peaceful Victorian mansion for a clandestine meeting with a forbidden would-be lover, and come home to the zombie-fucking-Apocalypse.
From a distance, they looked like neighbors filtering into a party, but from close up the undead were storming the gates.
She sprang from the car and made a running dive for the wrought-iron gate Claire slammed behind her as the horde reached it and poked their arms through in a parody of the TV walkers.
"Thank God, you're okay!" Aerin flung her arms around Claire.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked. "You know, except for the horde of zombies at our front door!”
"Where have you been?" Tierra demanded from the lawn where she brandished a shovel and rake like weapons, balefully eyeing the undead attempting to climb the six-foot iron fence.
"The corner of business and none of yours," Aerin answered. "Where's Tommy?"
"Tommy?" Claire echoed. "He's the least of our problems." She turned to the crowd shaking the gate. "Get bent, you creepy fuckers!" She grabbed Aerin's hand and walked toward the garden where Tierra stood. "What do you think they want?"
"Look what I found!" Moira emerged from the shed, their trusty ax in one hand and a chainsaw in the other.
"Dibs!" Claire and Aerin both spoke at once.
"Guess again." Moira jogged up to them in her usual bare feet and cutoffs, weighed down with her lethal loot. "Chainsaw's mine, bitches. The Notorious RBG and I are fixin’ to relieve some zombies of their civil liberties." She tossed the ax the very short distance between them and Aerin caught it and wielded it like a bat. "You ready to get your hands dirty, fancy pants?"
"I am now," Aerin said with a dark smile, wrapping her fingers tightly around the handy padded grip of the ax.
"Hey, where's my weapon?" Claire scowled.
