CHAPTER 13
Kira must have drunk a good portion of the bottle of vodka because when she woke the next morning, she was draped over the loveseat and had a pounding headache. She started to rub the sleep from her eyes and remembered who had sat on that couch the night before and jolted up.
The movement was too quick, too much and too early. Her stomach turned over and she rushed to the bathroom. Kira stared into the toilet bowl as she heaved up the contents of her stomach.
The bile burned her throat and she filled a cup with water from the bathroom sink and rinsed her mouth before drinking the rest. She needed a plan. She couldn’t tell Pam and frankly, she didn’t know anyone else.
Azrin was the only person she could trust with this information. Maybe together, they could think of something. Later, when the room stopped spinning.
When she woke up the second time, she was freezing cold and everything ached. The tile floor of the bathroom was not a great place to sleep, she decided. Maybe better than the loveseat though.
Maybe she’d get a new couch altogether and never have to think about the fallen angel’s (probably perfect) ass on the cushion again. She peeled her tongue from the roof of her mouth and sat up against the tile wall.
“Azrin,” she said out loud, almost breathless, and gasped when immediately a knock sounded at the door.
Azrin looked worried when she opened the door. “Are you alright, Kira?” His face was set with genuine concern.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Just too much to drink. It doesn’t seem fair to get hangovers in the afterworld.” She winced at the fluorescent light streaming in through the open door, her head was still pounding. “Come in, sit down.”
Azrin walked past her and into the living room, he started to sit on the love seat, but Kira yelped, “Not there!” and he jolted upright and sat on the edge of the coffee table instead.
He stared up at her with his brows raised.
“Kira, perhaps you would like to put on some more clothes?” he said, looking down at her bare legs, the t-shirt that barely covered her curvy hips, let alone her ass.
She pulled the shirt down, cursing, and scurried into the bedroom. Azrin’s lips curled into a smile as he caught a glimpse of her black panties and her round ass cheeks.
When she came back into the living room, she was wearing leggings and a cropped t-shirt and any embarrassment was gone. She sat on the bar stool opposite where Azrin was now standing in the kitchen preparing coffee.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What does it look like? I’m making you some coffee. You said you had too much to drink. Isn’t this what humans do when they intake too much alcohol?”
He looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, as if she was the crazy one. Kira just stared in amazement at the incredibly hot demon who was in her kitchen, making her a cup of coffee to soothe her hangover.
“I could just magic wand your headache away, but you’d never learn your lesson.” he laughed to himself as the coffee machine sputtered and hissed. He passed a mug of the steaming liquid to her.
Azrin took a sip from his coffee as Kira glared into her own mug. He must have remembered her coffee order from the cafe, because it was the perfect amount of cream and no sugar.
“So, would you like to explain why you drank most of a bottle of vodka last night or why I’m not allowed to sit on the couch?” His expression was neutral, but there was a glint of playful curiosity in his black eyes.
“You can’t sit on the couch, because” she didn’t know how to say it out loud. She blew on the hot coffee and sipped, sighing as the heat filled her chest.
“Because he sat there.” She whispered and gestured toward the sofa.
Azrin set down his mug and braced his hands on the island, leaning over the counter and fixed his gaze on Kira’s face. He could see the stress, smell the fear. Wondering who could possibly cause this woman to leak fear through the room, he said, “He? Who sat there, Kira?”. His voice was calm but deadly serious.
Kira’s hands flew up above her head. She almost knocked over her mug in her exaggerated movement. “Who do you think it was? It was him.” She didn’t want to say his name.
Didn’t know if it would summon him, some sort of Beetlejuice situation. She wasn’t interested in finding out.
“Satan?” He inquired. “Satan was sitting on your couch?”
She put a finger to her pursed lips and looked around the apartment, expecting him to shimmer into existence at any minute. “Yes. Keep your voice down,” she warned.
Azrin leaned back against the counter again. He wasn’t dressed in his tailored suit as she had seen him before. He was wearing tight black jeans and a black tshirt. The muscles in his biceps shifted as he clenched his fists and flexed his fingers.
“Why did he come here? What did he say to you?”
“He wanted to know how I got into the city.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him the truth.” Kira took a gulp of the hot coffee, letting it scald her throat. “I told him I just walked in and that you saved me and took me back here. I told him I wouldn’t tell anyone what I saw there. Is he going to unexist me??”
Her wide eyes were fixed on Azrin, looking for any reassurance.
She didn’t find any as he said, “Probably not. Did he threaten you?”.
“No, but he said he would send you to collect me and accompany me to the palace. He said he had questions to ask me, but not here.”
Now his face shifted to true concern, maybe a tinge of fear in those depthless eyes. “The palace? Interesting.”
“Yeah. He said that word too.” She shivered, remembering the excruciatingly gentle touch. “I guess he hasn’t contacted you?”
“Not yet,” he shook his head, strands of black hair falling over his face. He brushed them back with a hand.
“Well, what do we do? We need a plan.”
“We?” He mulled over the word, as if it tasted good on his tongue. “We can do nothing, but wait. And when we’re summoned,” here was the reassurance she was craving. “We’ll go to the palace and hope he only wants to ask questions. I doubt he’s going to punish you. It wasn’t your fault the barrier let you in. Unless you have something you want to tell me?” His eyes narrowed on her.
Kira just shook her head. It wasn’t exactly the reassurance she needed, but at least she wouldn’t have to go alone. Azrin had scared those small demons, maybe the big ones feared him too.
Azrin broke the silence, placing his empty mug in the sink and turning to face the couch. “Are you really never going to sit on it again?”
She looked toward the little cream sofa and swore she saw a shimmer in the air. “No, no I don’t think I can.”
“Well, then I’ll take you to the shops and you can pick out a new one. How about that for a distraction?” His expression was smug, he was apparently pleased with his idea.
CHAPTER 14
“What don’t you like about it? It looks just like the one you had before!” Azrin was nearly shouting. They had been in every furniture store that Hell had to offer and Azrin was growing increasingly irritated with her indecision.
“Exactly! It’s boring. I want something new and exciting. Like that one.” She pointed to a long black velvet sofa.
“It’s black. How cliche.” Azrin rolled his eyes. His tail slashed through the air, causing other shoppers to go out of their way to avoid it.
“I like it. It’s soft. It’s going in my apartment, what do you even care?” She stamped her foot.
“I have to sit on it when I come over.” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Then don’t come over.” She also crossed her arms over her chest, he didn’t fail to notice the way it pushed her breasts up and almost out of the v-neck t-shirt.
“Really? That’s how you want to be? I don’t know why I’m even here.” He stared down at her, challenging her.
“Me neither. You know what? Why don’t you just go. I can handle this on my own. I don’t need your help.” She took a step toward him, challenge accepted, and battle won.
“Fine. I will go.” A swirl of black smoke and he was gone. Kira suddenly felt very lonely, but shrugged off the guilt and regret.
An employee approached Kira with caution, swatting the black smoke away. “Would you like this one, Miss?”
“Yes. I would like that one,” she pointed again to the black sofa. It was the kind of thing she would have bought in the waking world if she’d ever had enough money. Azrin didn’t understand what that meant, couldn’t understand, she thought.
“Can you deliver it? I don’t have to haul it on the train, do I?” she asked the short, brown haired woman in the blue uniform polo-shirt.
“Of course, Miss. We’ll take the old one away as well if you like. Just fill out this form here with your information.” The woman handed Kira a piece of paper and a golf pencil. Either Satan had a sense of humor or was completely unoriginal.
With the purchase complete, Kira walked to a restaurant and ordered some dinner to go. She boarded the train and went home. The fight with Azrin had been a small thing, but it weighed on her. She shouldn’t be fighting with anyone, least of all him. He was trying to help, afterall.
When she got back to the apartment she was impressed to find the new, black velvet couch in place of the old cream loveseat. It was huge and took up most of the small living room. But it was hers, and frankly, that was all she cared about.
She thought to plop down right away, but opted to eat dinner at the kitchen island instead. Maybe she’d lay down to watch tv later, she thought.
She was lying on the sofa watching reruns of Lover’s Island when she heard a soft knock. She rose and opened it just enough to see Azrin standing on the other side. He was still wearing the black t-shirt that hugged his muscled chest. His black eyes looked strange though, sad maybe, pleading.
“What do you want?” she said by way of greeting.
“I wanted to apologize and to bring you this.” He held up a bouquet of a half dozen black roses, mixed with small red flowers she’d never seen before.
Kira swung the door open, but didn’t wait for him to enter. She walked to the large couch and sat on one side, leaning against the armrest. Azrin shut the door behind him and took in the sight of her on the massive velvet couch. He opened his mouth to speak.
“Don’t say it,” she said, holding up a hand. “I’m well aware that it takes up most of the room.”
“I wasn’t going to say that at all. In fact, I think it suits you.” He studied her for a moment, her gray leggings and the white t-shirt were stark against the black, but it was her skin that stood out to him.
Against the black fabric, her skin was like cream, punctuated with light orange freckles. The curves of her breasts peeking over the v-neck were incredibly distracting. It took some effort to pull his attention from her.
“Do you have a vase?” He said moving into the small kitchen.
“Yeah,” she said, unmuting the TV. “Top shelf, next to the fridge. There’s beer in the fridge, help yourself if you want.”
Azrin reached up to the top shelf, wondering how she had managed to get anything up here. Kira turned to see him stretching, the muscles in his back straining and shifting, his thighs, his ass, that damned tail! She quickly turned her attention back to the television.
“What are you watching?” he said as he set two beers on the coffee table.
When he sat on the couch, he sunk nearly six inches into the cushion. Kira glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was sunk so far into the couch that his bent knees were higher than his face. She couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s a terrible couch, I’ll reinforce the cushions tomorrow.” She said, chuckling as Azrin tried to prop himself up with pillows.
“You wanted soft. I’d say you got it.” He had finally righted himself into a comfortable position. He took the beer from the table and drank almost half of the bottle in one long chug.
She looked at him sideways, “Are you alright?”
“No,” he answered, voice grave, eyes distant. “I received a note today. We’re to meet him in the palace tomorrow evening.”
“Well shit.” Kira too drank deeply from her beer.
They watched the end of the reality show in silence, Azrin getting up twice to get more beers, and then struggling all over again to get comfortable.
When the show was over, Kira muted the tv. “Can I ask you a question? And get an honest answer.”
“Of course.”
When she looked into his face she found it was open, raw. She could have sworn she saw a familiar look in his eyes. A look she’d seen a hundred times before, and often after several drinks.
“Do you treat all of the humans you work with like this?” She asked at last.
“Like what? With kindness?”
“It’s more than that though. Do you drink coffee with them? Do you take them furniture shopping and then get mad when they can’t decide? Do you bring them flowers and drink beer while watching garbage tv with them?”
The sound that broke from Azrin’s lips was delightful. Laughter, pure, and honest. “I try to be nice to everyone. You win more favor with honey than vinegar, but no, I don’t bring them flowers or sit with them on their ridiculous couches and watch garbage tv.”
“So why me?”
Azrin tried to shift closer to her, but the plush couch was like quicksand. He ended up leaning toward her, propping himself up with an arm. His eyes were pools of starlight. She wondered if those were demon bedroom eyes and started to wonder what other demon features might look like in the bedroom.
“Because, Kira, you’re not afraid of me.” His intense stare faded and he sat back, relaxing. “And I deserve to have a friend, don’t I?”
That was not what she was expecting in the least. Hesitantly she said, “friends? Are we friends?”
“Of course we are,” he laughed a little, perhaps nervously. “Why wouldn’t we be friends?”
“Well, I guess you did save my existence. So maybe we are friends.” She didn’t know why, but she reached across the cushions, her palm turned upward. Azrin looked down at her hand and tentatively placed his on top, curling his long fingers around hers. She unmuted the TV.
CHAPTER 15
Kira woke in the middle of the night. The apartment was dark, save for a soft yellow light coming from the kitchen. The TV was still on, some sort of infomercial playing in the background. Kira had a crick in her neck from sleeping on a rather firm pillow.
She opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the darkness of the room, the flickering light of the TV. When she twisted to get more comfortable, she found herself staring up into Azrin’s face. The realization hit her that her head was in his lap, that her hair was loose and his fingers were tangled in the length of it.
“Hello there.” His voice was warm and comforting and Kira had the feeling that she could have stayed there for a long long time.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I don’t know when I fell asleep.” She sat up, noticing a little wet spot on his thigh. Kira looked at him with big, pleading eyes.
“It’s not the first time a woman has drooled all over me.” A soft smile spread across his face. “You fell asleep only about an hour ago. Don’t worry. It’s fine. I should go though.” He started to stand.
“You’re leaving?” she asked.
“Yes, we have a busy day tomorrow. We both need rest.” He was already at the door, his hand on the knob.
Kira’s voice wavered as she tried to put her thoughts into words, “Azrin.”
He paused and looked back at her disheveled form on the couch. Her t-shirt was crooked, a hot pink bra strap falling out of one sleeve. Her hair hung in loose waves around her face and shoulders. He made a small questioning sound.
“Thank you,” she said, “for being my friend.” The soft smile crept back into his face and his eyes sparkled in response.
“I’ll be back around two tomorrow,” he said gently. Be dressed and ready to go.” With that he was out the door and gone.
Kira felt utterly lost. She sank back into the sofa, thinking. Everything she’d ever done in her life had led in some way to this point.
She wondered if she would rather be dating Keith, married even, a big house and a lawyer husband, two point five kids. The image of Azrin’s face ghosted into her mind, clearing away any thoughts of Keith or Marc or any number of men she’d known in the mortal world.
There was something about him that she couldn’t ignore. Something she didn’t want to ignore. And now, she was going with him to the pit of Hell, to the castle of Satan, himself. She should be afraid, but she wasn’t. She was, however, sleepy.