Spoiler
Some say that freedom comes after graduating High School – that wasn’t the case for Kristabel Westchester, who spent her entire life waiting for the day when she would be handed the key to unlock her chains. Growing up in a controlling family wasn’t her cup of tea. However, her wishes for freedom are granted when she meets an escaped convict – from Hell, a demon named Crosse. He hands over the key to her chains all right, but at the price of her mortal life. Well, there’s no greater freedom than death, right?
Prologue
Crosse pulled back the velvet curtains of the hotel room, peering through the rain splattered window onto the dark streets of Dallas. The citizens looked like tiny figures, moving here and there as if all strung by some grand puppeteer. Making steps, making decisions whether to hide from the rainwater or run across and get soaked. Crosse raised his head while watching a child trip and land in a puddle. His mother lifted him up and around her waist then jogged for shelter.
How easy, he thought, they don’t know how easy it is.
Shutting the curtains with a distasteful flavor on his tongue, he turned to the table. A bottle of opened red wine sat next to two glasses. Reaching out his thin fingers, he grasped the bottle and poured himself a glass. He lifted the glass, inspecting it so it was exactly half-empty. Sitting down, he pressed his back against the chair and swirled the wine in his glass. Today was one of those days he actually enjoyed a silent date night with silence. He took a steady sip. The wine burned its way down his throat and nestled in his stomach.
Like ticking seconds, his nails tapped against the table. It had been a long time since he had been able to rest peacefully. Countless days, years actually, he spent running from the Devil’s pawns and hiding like some kind of deer. Now, he was going to have to run again but this time he had the witch to help cushion any of his falls.
The knock on the door caught his attention and he set the glass down. There was a muffled sound and some noise of struggling which made Crosse raise himself off the chair and peek towards the front entrance of the hotel room. The door opened and white light from the other side poured onto the wooden floor. A second later, Lavira came in with a woman tied down at her feet.
“I’ve found us…our first sinner,” she said breathlessly. He eyed the witch up and down. Normally, Lavira was the lollipop of men’s eyes but right now she looked as if she’d been thrown in the dumpster, then into a lake and then just barely managed to crawl back out with heels on all while keeping her red dress in one piece. Impressive.
“What…happened to you?” Crosse raised a brow, smiling. Lavira was a perfectionist when it came to appearance.
“She was quite a handful, I must admit.” Lavira used her tan fingers to wipe her dark, thick wavy hair away from her chocolate eyes. “You wouldn’t believe the things I had to do.” Her cherry lips pressed together when she noticed the open wine bottle. “And all while you were here, sitting and enjoying some fine wine,” she said while bitterly shaking her head.
Crosse ignored her and looked down at the sinner. She was a female, no older than twenty-five at most. Her clothes were covered in a blanket of mud and dirt. The woman’s mouth was taped and her hands were tied behind her back with a rope.
“She looks like an animal,” he muttered, putting his hands into his pockets, his eyes studying every inch of the body.
The woman’s emerald eyes met his and she muffled some incomprehensible words. The corner of Crosse’s mouth dipped. Taking a hand out of his pocket, he reached down picking up the corner of the tape. With one quick move he ripped it from her lips. The woman gasped and turned her head down. Her eyebrows furrowed together while she bided the pain in silence. Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes, and then her irises made their way back to Crosse with mercy.
“I d-don’t understand,” she whispered in a voice like a creek of a door. “Why me?”
Crosse leaned over with that distasteful flavor beginning to salivate in his mouth again. “The question is, why not you?” He flashed his eyes on Lavira.
Lavira straightened her back. “Melissa Rodriguez. Mother of two, married and-” She looked down with a faint smirk. “She loves the dollar bill.”
“Greed is your sin, darling.” Crosse’s hands held Melissa’s jaw firmly, halting any retorts. “Tell me about her, Lavira. Tell me why she’s a sinner.” Crosse let his eyes wander the fear that was evident on Melissa’s face.
Lavira licked her red lips. “Greedily she takes from people. She steals it from their pockets – not literally, but stealthily. The poor victims don’t even realize until their empty of every penny. She uses people like slaves, her friends and her family, until there is no one left to take from.” Lavira crossed her arms. “She’s a witch in disguise, I’m telling you myself.”
Crosse clicked his tongue and released his hold. Her cheeks were rosy with his fingerprints.
As soon as he let go, she opened her mouth. “How? How do you know so much about my personal life? Who are you?!” Her eyes teared as she spoke. “I only did it for my children. I just wanted to live a good life! Growing up I had nothing! You have to understand. I wanted a good life for them.” Her arms struggled as she tried to pull her hands from the knot behind her back. “Let me go, I didn’t break any laws, it was all legal.”
Shaking his head, Crosse glanced at Lavira. “Lock her away.”
“What?” Melissa shook her head, her hands reached out for Crosse’s feet. “Please, don’t do this to me! I’ll do whatever you want, please don’t do this to me. I have children, I have a family!”
Crosse was disgusted just by the sight of her pleading. She knew how to act pitiful, scared, but inside it all just ashes. Her heart was burned long ago by her own inner demon. For that, she’d have to pay full price.
Lavira’s fierce clutch on Melissa’s arm had shut her lips. “You should’ve thought about your family a little sooner, darling,” Lavira hissed in her ear. “Now look where your acts have gotten you to.” With a push, Lavira led the woman to another room and closed the door, enclosing the both of them.
Crosse dropped to his seat and listened to Melissa’s protest from beyond the door. He was going to get tired of this hunting, he knew that much. He picked up his glass but didn’t drink from it. His tongue swept over his teeth as he heard the last sound of struggling and then silence.
Lavira stepped out of the room and closed the door silently behind her. With the back of her hand, she wiped the sweat off her forehead. “I’m telling you, if the rest of the six sinners are like that one, I might just quit ahead of time.” She drooped into the chair in front of him and plucked the glass from his hands. She placed the rim to her lips and let the wine roll onto her tongue.
Crosse wrinkled his nose while eyeing her. “I’ll be sure to get you some help.” She offered him the glass but she shook his hand. He didn’t like sharing glasses, even with Lavira.
She wiped her lips with her thumb. “Right, because the great Lucifer Crosse knows the dirty demons that will be more than happy to do his bidding, correct?” She cocked her head. “Can you get me butler while you’re at it? I wouldn’t mind a tall, dark and handsome one at that,” she said with a shrug. “I can’t remember the last time I had a nice fling.”
“Hmm,” Crosse answered automatically. “We’ll see.” His hand reached into his vest and he pulled out a picture, uninterested in Lavira’s talk of her seduction skills. “This is your next task, Lavira. Find me this girl.” He set the small picture on the table and slid it over.
She lifted a brow at him and then studied the girl in the picture. “Who is she?”
“Kristabel Westchester.” Crosse reached back into his pocket and pulled out his golden pocket watch. It was old, a bit dusted on the inside glass but the seconds still ticked away. He faced his reflection in the ancient clock and pressed his lips together. “She lives not too far from here. Shouldn’t take you long to get her in.”
Her long red nails scratched the table as she picked up the picture and looked at it. “Ah…how chaste.” Lavira’s eyes sparked. “What’s the deal with this one?”
“It’s a surprise,” he smirked.
She tucked the small picture into the left breast of her dress. “Noted.” She made her way to the door. Lavira turned her head and peered at Crosse from over her shoulder. There was something in her eyes that made him curious, but it disappeared in a second and made him question whether there was anything there to begin with.
A lot of people already reviewed. I had a lot of stuff to do and every time I get online, something stops me from reading this -.-
