Holiday From Hell Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Part 1

  Part 2

  Part 3

  Part 4

  Part 5

  Part 6

  Part 7

  Part 8

  Part 9

  Part 10

  Part 11

  Part 12

  Part 13

  Part 14

  Part 15

  Part 16

  Part 17

  Part 18

  Part 19

  Part 20

  Part 21

  Part 22

  Part 23

  Part 24

  Part 25

  Part 26

  Part 27

  Part 28

  Part 29

  Part 30

  Part 31

  Part 32

  Part 33

  Part 34

  Part 35

  Part 36

  Part 37

  Part 38

  Part 39

  Part 40

  Part 41

  Part 42

  Part 43

  Part 44

  Part 45

  All Hell Breaks Loose

  About the Author

  THE HOLIDAY FROM HELL

  Demelza Carlton

  Dedication

  For my husband, who first took me to Margaret River on our honeymoon.

  This dedication comes with his warning:

  Never trust Lucifer. Sympathy for the devil will cause nothing but trouble.

  Copyright © 2015 Demelza Carlton

  Lost Plot Press

  All rights reserved.

  Tears streamed freely down Keiko's face. "It was an honour to have met you, Mere-san. I only wish you could have stayed longer."

  Mel caught Koyane's fleeting smile and tried not to laugh at the siren's disappointment. She leaned close to the girl and hugged her. "If you want something from the Indian Ocean, you must first offer their leader, Sirena, a favour that creates a deep debt. Send your brother to provide a service that no one else can."

  The girl's eyes shone, unshed tears shimmering over her resurrected smile. "Thank you, Mere-san."

  "You already have my gratitude, Murielle-sama, and my deepest apologies for taking your precious time when you are needed elsewhere." Koyane lowered his eyes and bowed deeply again. Mel could feel his shame at the need to call for help.

  She touched his cheek, not breaking the contact as he straightened to face her. "I help where it is needed. There is no shame in it. None of us are perfect. Thank you for your care and hospitality. I hope we may meet for longer next time." It was her turn to bow, though just a shallow bob of her head.

  "Be well, take care and travel safe, Mere-san," Koyane replied. He hesitated, then added, "Please convey my well-wishes to your fallen angel and my hopes that next time you grace my house, you will allow me to extend my hospitality to him, too."

  "Thank you, Koyane. It was a pleasure to work with you again. Go-kuro sama desu. Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu." (Thank you for a job well done. I am sorry to leave you with work still to do.)

  "Osaki ni shiturei itashimasu." (Thank you for all your hard work.)

  The formal farewells said, Mel headed through the departure gate. Security, ticket and passport checks progressed quickly and she soon found herself outside the duty free shops in the departure lounge.

  "Miss?" Mel glanced up to meet the eyes of the uniformed airport hostess. "Your lounge is this way." The girl gestured at a set of doors to Mel's left.

  Mel thanked her and slipped into the shop that sold her perfume. If Luce was using it to scent the bed linen in her home, she'd need another bottle or perhaps two. Not to mention a bottle of some lovely Japanese whiskey to share with Luce.

  Fifteen minutes later, the sealed duty free bag clutched in her hand, Mel sank into one of the business lounge armchairs. A waitress brought her a pot of green tea and Mel settled down to enjoy the last hour before her flight home to Luce.

  Time flew and Mel roused at the sound of her boarding call. Time to go home.

  The steward who took her ticket ushered her to a first class seat and Mel smothered her laughter. Patrick, Luce and now Koyane were conspiring to give her unaccustomed luxury, but they were correct that her body required such pampering right now. In her present state of health, she needed to sleep on this flight.

  She glanced at the dinner menu as the plane left the runway, smiling as she noticed the oysters Luce would have ordered if he was by her side, as he should be. Soon.

  Mel managed to finish the little entrée tart and most of her lobster main course, but she waved away the offer of dessert. All she wanted was a cup of milk and sleep, she thought as she watched the steward make up her bed. She mumbled something about being woken for breakfast in time to eat before the plane landed and the steward seemed to understand. More exhausted than she could ever remember being before, she crept into her bed and slept, promising herself that the next time she closed her eyes, she'd be in Luce's arms.

  Mel waved to the taxi driver as she headed into the HELL Corporation building. She'd timed her arrival perfectly between the lunchtime crush and the mid-afternoon coffee crowd, so she slipped into the near-empty office without anyone noticing until she passed Mephi's desk.

  Mephi's relieved smile set her on edge. "Thank Heaven you're back. It's been Hell here without you," Luce's PA breathed.

  Glancing at Luce's empty office, Mel asked, "Where is he?"

  "Giving a presentation to all staff in the seminar room. I only got out of it because someone had to take his calls. When did you get back?" She eyed Mel's suitcase. "Did you come here straight from the airport?"

  Mel laughed. "Yes. I figured I was needed here."

  Mephi dropped her voice to a barely audible whisper. "Go home. Take a shower and a rest and unpack. The trouble here can wait. I'll tell him you'll be in tomorrow. You don't need to deal with Lord Prick today. He's been nothing short of impossible since he got back. Don't wear a skirt to work tomorrow – I've never seen a man more frustrated, in more ways than one. And when he's the Lord of Hell...well, he's the devil of a man who always gets his desires. Don't make it easy for him."

  It hurt to hear Luce described in such unflattering terms, but Mephi didn't know Luce like Mel did. "I'm sure I can handle him."

  "That's what he wants. And I think he'd sell his soul to handle you, so watch out," Mephi said darkly.

  Mel bobbed her head as she had to Koyane in the airport. "Thank you for the warning. I'd best be going, then."

  Once out of the executive offices, she knew exactly where to go – Mephi's warning be damned. She hadn't come home to wait another day to see him.

  Mel approached the closed seminar room doors. She could hear Luce's voice booming as he reprimanded someone. Her thoughts darted to her first media conference in this room. She didn't want to fall to her knees, speechless, on the stairs again. Focussing on her breathing, Mel decided to wait a few minutes until she was perfectly calm.

  She heard the doors open and close. Footsteps padded on the carpet.

  "Don't go in. Get out before he sees you. Go back to Heaven, or at least as far away from him as you can, so he can't find you, Mel. Please," Merih said, looking pained. "He doesn't deserve you and he has no right to keep you prisoner again. Escape while you can. I'll tell him I never saw you."

  Mel managed a smile of sympathy for his pain. "I'm no one's prisoner, and Luce has no hold over me. Has he really been that bad?"

  Merih nodded, biting his lip. "Since he got back from his last business trip. I've never seen him this angry – not in centuries. You should go."

  "I'll go in. I need to know how bad this is," Mel said, pressing her hand to the
door.

  "If he does anything to hurt you, I swear we'll stage a mutiny," Merih muttered.

  Mel pushed the door open and stepped into the seminar room. From the look of it, a mutiny was already underway. The room was full of shouting demons, standing and shaking fists at Luce.

  Luce was in fine form behind the lectern, his tail swishing as he bellowed, "If you don't follow my orders, I'll..." He broke off to stare at Mel. "Melody," he breathed.

  The demons fell silent as they followed his gaze, but they stayed standing. Mel felt her knees weakening, but she forced herself not to fall. It wasn't public speaking if she knew everyone, she told herself.

  Help me, Luce's eyes said.

  How could she refuse such a desperate plea?

  Mel trotted down the steps to Luce's side, saying, "What briefing am I late for?" She glanced at the projector screens. "Ooh, did the new records management software finally arrive? That system is nothing short of miraculous. Instead of having to print out all your correspondence, punch it and file it in every relevant paper file, you just click a button with your mouse and it's filed automatically. You can even schedule your computer to do it for you." She covered a smile with her fingers as she laid her other hand on top of Luce's. "I heard the best time to schedule it is when you want a long coffee break, because it can take half an hour or so for the computer to process correspondence and it locks your computer up nicely while it's busy, so you can't do anything else on it until it's done. We might have to order more coffee, or we'll run out mid-week." She surveyed the room, where demons were backing down and some were even resuming their seats. "Didn't you get to that bit yet?" She grinned impishly up at Luce. "Sorry. I should take a seat and behave for the rest of the briefing, right?"

  "It's finished," Luce said, his voice growling in his throat. His claws dug into the lectern laminate as he clenched those big, red fingers. "Everyone should get back to work." In the noisy mass exodus, he added, "You should go home and rest, Mel. HELL is no place for an angel like you who's off saving the world every other day. You shouldn't be here."

  Mel waited for the last demon to leave before she said, "Yes, I should. I've missed you, Luce." She touched her lips to his in a gentle kiss before she glanced down. "I must admit, you look pretty happy to see me, too. So, when did you stop wearing pants to the office? You're hardly keeping a low profile among humans in this form."

  He looked uncomfortable. "The imps made an illusion so humans see me as just a man in a suit. The demons...they're restless and insubordinate. Looking like this, I can still scare them into following orders. Most of the time. It's so hard, Mel. I don't know what's happening." He sank to the floor, his head in his hands.

  Mel dropped to her knees beside him. "It's a good thing I'm home early to help you, then." She spread her arms wide in an invitation.

  He grasped her in a desperate hug, pressing his face against her breast. "God, Mel, you don't know how good it is to see you again. I'm so sorry for messing up in Japan. I thought I was helping, but I just don't know how to do what you do. It's so much easier to slip into my old ways and I feel like it'll take forever for me to learn enough to be able to help you. And that woman...God, that woman...I didn't even want to touch her. I was trying to help you, if you can believe that."

  "I know. Truly I know. You meant well, Luce, which is what matters. The consequences...ah, humans have free will. They can always reject what I have to offer and accept what's worst for them." She pressed her lips to the top of his head, kissing the sensitive skin at the base of each of his horns as her fingers stroked the hot, red skin down his spine. Did he have any idea how soothing the contact was for her? "I never realised how much I'd miss you, my love. It hurt not to have you with me. We're together now. I'll help you put this place right. Everything will work out for the best – I promise."

  He tilted his head up. "You're such a sweet angel, Mel. Too good for me, but I don't know what I'd do without you." He kissed her with passion and need so thick she could taste it. Her exhaustion seemed to lift like a fading fog as the warmth of his love flooded her soul. It wasn't possible – souls couldn't directly share energy like this, surely. She'd never heard of such a thing...but she'd never bonded with another soul, either. Was it the bond they shared or simply the power of Luce's love for her? He wasn't just healing her body – he was restoring her soul. The air around them had a distinct ripple in its energy, just like the disturbance she'd noticed in Patrick's flat when they'd been talking about her trip through Hell. What if...

  The door at the top of the steps swung open and shut, so quickly and silently that Luce didn't seem to notice. Mel wondered who had seen their intimate exchange, but she dismissed the thought. Luce needed her now – his minions didn't matter for the moment.

  "First, you need to present an image that's far more in control than you are now," Mel began, concentrating on his body. Under her fingers, his ruddy skin paled to a light tan, softening with every stroke. "Still sexy, but you should be wearing a suit, not simply an illusion of one." Her eyes lingered on the naked man in her arms, before she clothed him carefully. "I'm sorry, I can't do black – just grey. If you really want to look dark and demonic, you'll have to fix that." She rose and stretched her hand out. "If you wish to accompany me, you'll have to rise with me, my love. I'm planning on spending the afternoon relaxing – anywhere but here. No matter what state it's in, your corporation can wait, for I won't do any more for it today. What's your afternoon schedule look like?"

  Luce grinned and grasped her hand, leaping lightly to his feet. The suave, suited CEO brushed imaginary dust from his jacket. "You know I'm at your command. For you...I'll happily wipe my desk and my schedule clean. I'll phone Mephi and tell her I'm taking the rest of the day off." He whipped his phone out of his back pocket and Mel wondered where he'd kept it when he wasn't wearing pants. "Unless you'd like to book a very long afternoon meeting. We can lock my office door, I can lay you on the desk, fall to my knees and thank you properly for being my angel, for simply being here...and anything else I can think of."

  "I'll pass on the dirty desk, Luce. Take me home."

  "Here, let me take that." Luce lifted Mel's suitcase out of the car and wheeled it along behind him, holding out his free hand for Mel's. Just the warmth of her fingers laced through his was a taste of Heaven. He tightened his grip on her, not wanting to let go.

  The trip up to his penthouse seemed interminable, but Luce endured it until he could kick the door shut behind them. Alone at last.

  "Where would you like to relax? The bed, the sofa...up against the front door? Your wish is my command." Luce grinned, loosening his tie.

  Mel laughed merrily. "Why your mind goes straight to sex, I will never understand. I was thinking about swans." She slipped off her shoes. "I'd like to take a leisurely walk to go feed the swans. I stopped in at the bakery downstairs from your office, so I have the dark, seedy rolls they like, and, now I have you all afternoon, I want to take you with me."

  Sighing inwardly, Luce adjusted himself. Maybe she'd be up for sex later. An idea sparked and he said, "How about we head down to the foreshore where we had the Christmas party last year? That swan you kissed is probably pining away for you."

  Mel sank onto the tiles, fishing through her suitcase for what turned out to be a pair of sneakers and some socks. "Or he's bragged to every swan he knows about the tasty CEO he sampled and he's hanging out for more." She laughed at the look on his face. "Don't worry, Luce, I'll protect you. I think Matilda Bay is a wonderful idea. You might want to get changed into something a little more casual, though."

  Luce hurried to do just that, finishing with lacing up his black sneakers before he said, "Let's go feed my fingers to the swans."

  Mel laughed as she took his hand and they headed downstairs together. The light breeze pulled wisps of hair from Mel's braid and the spring sunlight turned the loose strands into a glowing halo. Even the weather wanted to caress his perfect angel.

  The caf�
� was closing as they reached it, but Mel didn't seem to mind. She led the way to the same bench they'd used at the office Christmas party and Luce wasn't surprised when she tucked her skirt beneath her to sit in precisely the same spot where he'd found her feeding the swans then. A drift of swans by the river's edge turned their heads to stare at her, but only one ambled over.

  Mel shredded a roll to beak-sized pieces in her lap and fed them one by one to the black bird. Luce couldn't keep his eyes off her joyful smile. Hell, how he'd missed her. He stretched his arm along the table behind her, then curled it around her shoulders. Mel was too enraptured by the swan to notice.

  Luce sighed. "Are you going to kiss him again, too, to make me insanely jealous?" The swan tipped its beak up to swallow the last chunk of roll.

  Mel's fingers caressed Luce's cheek and he looked into her eyes, startled, before she sealed his lips with a kiss, her lips parting to welcome his tongue. She sighed happily. "No, my love. I'm only going to kiss you today, to make us both happy."

  Luce pulled her close, as eager as Mel for more heartfelt kisses. "My sweet, sweet Melody," he murmured, cupping her face in his hands. "There's no Heaven without you – only Hell."

  He felt her discomfort before she pulled away. "You're making me sound more than I am, Luce. I'm not..."

  He seized her hands. "You are. To me, you're Heaven. You're my bright, shining hope – since the first time we sat here together. You said dark wings don't make a demon. You saw through the illusions to my soul, Mel. You held me, healed me, looked deep inside me...and instead of turning and running away like anyone else would, you held my hands and looked deeper still until you cried for me. You said there was still light in my soul – you saw it! – and you gave me hope. Hope that life could be more than Hell because for the first time, I didn't want to see an angel fall. I wanted to see you rise."

  Tears flowed silently down her cheeks, but they couldn't dampen her loving smile. "Luce..."

  "I wanted to take you home with me, so I could be alone with you. Not...not just for sex...okay, maybe a bit. But I wanted...I wanted you as an angel. I didn't want you to fall because I wanted something to aspire to. I didn't know it then, but you're my salvation." He closed his eyes. "The reason I came to the party here was to seduce you. With a few words and your gentle hands, instead it was you who laid me bare – in front of demons, humans and an archangel who'd destroy me if she had the chance. You could have given me up to them, but you didn't. I still don't know why."