The Road To Hell Part 26

Not now, Peaches. I've got to win back my love.

If you've got your power back, you could just zap her into oblivion.

Yeah. But Paul wouldn't like that. And that's cheating.

The old rules are bending. And it's not cheating, especially since technically, he's dead.

But not d.a.m.ned. I won't f.u.c.k with him that way. He'd never forgive me.

Weren't you breaking up with him?

Not until after some really awesome makeup s.e.x. Now vamoose.

Peaches vamoosed.

Wondering what to say, I walked up to Paul. Nothing brilliant came to mind. I'd have to wing it. I cleared my throat, then nudged his knee with my toe. "Heya, sweetie. Wakey wakey."

He opened his eyes. I watched a series of emotions play out on his face, but the one he settled on was confusion. "Yes?"

"Paul, it's me. Jesse."

His brow furrowed as his gaze searched my face. "Jesse? Do I know you?"

The words sliced into my heart.

Next to him, Tracy stirred, stretched. She blinked sleepy eyes at me, then glanced at Paul, and back at me, all traces of sleep shed like snakeskin. A smile glued on her face, she sat straighter against Paul's body, her tiny b.r.e.a.s.t.s thrust out like weapons beneath her s.h.i.+rt, one hand resting lightly on Paul's lap. Everything about her body language shouted hands off. She had never met me before, but somewhere deep inside she knew me, knew what I was.

Knew what I meant to do.

"Don't you remember me?" I tried to smile, to show that ha-ha, we all forget things like the loves of our lives, but my mouth kept slipping and my chest felt too tight.

He was looking at me, focusing on my face. "You look so d.a.m.n familiar, but I just can't place it."

"We met at South Station," I said, remembering that morning when we'd first met, "took a train together to New York City."

He tilted his head to the side, considering. "Really? I haven't been to Boston for a long time."

"Sweetheart, what're you talking about?" Tracy looked up at Paul, her mouth set in a moue. Her voice was deeper than I would have imagined. "We're in Boston now."

"We are?" He smiled at her, bemused. "Looks more like New York City to me. See? There's the Fifth Avenue Arch."

A sheen of panic glinted in Tracy's eyes before she blinked it away. Interesting. Smiling big and fake, she said, "Who's your friend?"

"I'm trying to figure that out. Jesse, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, pleased to meet you, even if I don't remember you." He laughed, a wonderful rich rumble from his chest. Tracy must have felt that sound vibrate against her back. Jealousy wormed its way through me, turned my stomach to acid. "This is Tracy."

"Paul's fiancee," she said, honey dripping off the words.

"Hey, that's great." My words were as phony as Tracy's smile. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Maybe sensing my unease, Tracy settled back against Paul, smile still in place. First blood, Tracy. b.i.t.c.h. She said, "It's been a long time coming."

"Will the big day be here or in Boston?" I asked, trying to figure out what to do. How could I make Paul remember me?

"Boston," Tracy said over Paul insisting "Here." They looked at each other, shared a laugh in the easy way that lovers do. It made me want to claw her eyes out and suck on them until they popped between my teeth.

"We're figuring it out," Paul said, chuckling.

"Nice meeting you." Tracy snuggled deeper into Paul's lap, dismissing me.

f.u.c.k that. "Paul, you really don't remember me?" I squatted on my heels, looked into the stormy depths of his eyes. "Hotel New York? Belles?"

Something moved over his face-a spark of recognition. "Belles. The gentlemen's club, right? I heard that place was shut down."

Tracy clucked her tongue, drawing the attention back to her. "What do you know about those lands of places?" she asked, playfully slapping his arm, then shooting me a look that should have flayed the skin from my bones.

"Research," Paul said to her, waggling his brows.

She giggled, a lighthearted t.i.tter behind a delicate hand, all the while murdering me with her eyes. For someone who was the prior light of Paul's life, she was downright evil. Maybe love brought out the best in her.

Oblivious to her look of pure hatred, Paul smiled at me. "I'm a vice cop."

"I know." I reached out, stroked his cheek. Instead of balking from the familiar touch, he leaned into it, his body remembering what his mind had forgotten.

In his lap, Tracy stiffened. "Hey. Do you mind?"

"I know a lot about you," I said, willing him to remember me. "I know how you got that tiny scar beneath your left eye. I know how you love Chinese food and hate anything with curry. I know how you love Eighties music but would rather get a root ca.n.a.l than go out dancing. I know how you have to save the world at least once a day before coming home."

As I spoke, his eyes flashed between concern and distress, now blue, now green, now settling into hazel. Voice thick, he asked, "How do you know all this?"

"I know you" I said. "You're my White Knight."

The moniker clicked; I saw it in his eyes.

"You've got some nerve," Tracy huffed, but Paul shushed her with a touch on her shoulder. She quieted, but her body radiated poison. Silently, she skewered me alive, watched me bleed, and gleefully tap danced on my carca.s.s.

If Paul sensed her ire, he ignored it. To me he asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm the one you saved from h.e.l.l. I'm the one you taught how to truly love. I'm the one who returned to h.e.l.l to save you. I'm Jesse," I said, pouring my soul into the name. Then I kissed him.

Our lips barely touched before small hands shoved me back, pushed me away. But that instant had been enough-a force had moved through us, lightning quick, connecting us stronger than any magic.

"How dare you," Tracy screamed. "Who do you think you are?" .

"Jesse," Paul whispered, touching his lips. A grin broke across his face, and he reached out to me. "Jesse!"

My fingers entwined in his. "I told you I'd come for you," I whispered, smiling through sudden tears.

"Paul Matthew Hamilton," Tracy said, her tone cold enough to freeze over the Sahara Desert. "What on Earth is going on?"

Paul's eyes widened. He looked down at Tracy, then over at me. "Well," he said, "this is a little awkward."

"Get out of here," Tracy yelled at me. "Just go away!"

"Not without him," I said, a growl sounding in my throat.

"Okay, ladies, hang on a second." Paul had untangled his hand from mine, had set Tracy next to him instead of on his lap. The three of us were sitting in a semicircle, Paul sandwiched between Tracy and me. Normally, the thought of a menage-a-trois would have made me all sorts of happy. But the idea of Tracy f.u.c.king Paul turned my stomach to putty.

Oblivious to our metaphysical soap opera, the other people in the park went about their business. Off to the side, the guitar player switched to a different Beatles tune, strummed the opening chords to "We Can Work It Out." Terrific. Our own Greek chorus.

Paul said, "Let's talk this through."

"There's nothing to talk about." Tracy crossed her arms over her chest. "She's trying to steal you from me!"

"You're dead," I told her.

"What's that got to do with anything?" she snarled. "So're you! So's he!"

Pretty intuitive for part of a soul's fantasy.

"I'm not dead," Paul said.

"Yes you are," Tracy and I said together, then glared at each other.

"Really?" Paul touched his face, his chest. "I don't feel dead."

I said, "A demon seduced you and stole your soul. I'm here to bring you back."

"You're the demon," Tracy shouted, pointing at me. "You're the one stealing him from me!"

Hmmm. The girl sort of had a point.

"Jesse's no demon," Paul said to her.

I thought of how I'd tried to tell him the truth Above, how he'd scoffed, refused to believe me. How he wanted me to be something I wasn't. Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I said, "Yes, sweetie. I am." With my silent command, my costume slid off my skin, pooled to the ground.

Tracy stifled a scream and slunk backward, seeking shelter behind the base of the sycamore tree. I didn't care about her; my eyes were focused on my love.

Paul stared at me, wide-eyed, his mouth open in an 0. I heard his heartbeat slamming in his chest, smelled the fear wafting from him like strong aftershave. Once, that smell from him would have been an aphrodisiac, would have inspired visions of me seducing the terror away from him. Now it just made me sad.

"This is me," I said, my voice soft, imploring. "The demon Jezebel. I ran away from h.e.l.l, pretended to be a human. Then I met you and fell in love with you. I almost died for you. I earned a soul because of you."

His adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed, staring at me. The fear in his eyes dimmed, and he squinted, stared through me. "This is how you see yourself?"

"This is who I really am."

"She's evil," Tracy cried from behind the tree. "Get away from her!"

Paul's gaze softened, and a smile blossomed on his lips. "Oh, Jess. You really have no idea, do you?"

I felt my brow furrow. "No idea about what?"

He reached out and clasped my hand. "Who you really are. I see it, like a glow around you."

Did he see my soul beneath my demon's guise? Had he pierced Angel's magic to glimpse the truth? In my mind, I saw Daun's awed face, Angel's look of amazement.

You may call Me sire, if you wish.

Unholy h.e.l.l, what was I?

"What do you see?" I asked Paul, dreading the answer.

"I see you." He squeezed my hand. "G.o.d, you're so beautiful."

I blushed from the top of my bald head down to my hooves. "Flatterer."

"It's a lie." I couldn't see Tracy's face, but I heard the sulk in her voice. "She's trying to take you away from me."

The sour taste of truth on my tongue, I said to Paul, "She's right, you know. I am trying to take you away. This is h.e.l.l, sweetie. You don't belong here."

"No!" Tracy emerged from the safety of the tree, claimed Paul's other hand. "She's wrong, she's lying. This isn't h.e.l.l, this is Heaven! Here with you, this is Paradise."

"If this were Heaven, love," I said to Paul, "I wouldn't be here. Whatever you think of me, I am a demon. And demons can never know Paradise."

Tracy said, "Please, sweetheart, don't listen to her. Just tell her to go away. You can do that. This is your Paradise, here with me."

Paul looked from me to Tracy, and back again, like a kitten watching a tennis match.

"Paul," I said to him, "if anyone's meant for Heaven, it's you."

"Yes," Tracy said, nodding. "That's right. Paul's meant for Heaven. So go away, leave us alone."

Frowning, Paul looked at her, peered through her. "If this were Heaven, why would Jesse try to lure me away?"

Tracy's mouth opened, closed.

"There's no temptation in Heaven," he said.

Or wild parties, from what I heard. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"Please," Tracy whispered, "stay here with me."

Paul's hand slipped out of my grasp, and my stomach dropped to my knees.

He touched Tracy's pale cheek. Tears sparkled in her eyes, and she smiled at him-a good smile, one full of love.