Twisted Ginni by Nicola Rose
Andras
One minute the remaining glass clinging to broken window panes was shattering, the wind whipping up a storm, old rotten furniture flipping, and walls cracking… the next there was a flash of blue-gray smoke, and a woman standing before us.
“Never so thankful in my life,” she muttered, dusting herself down, flapping a hand in front of her face at the smoky cloud.
Phoenix stared in total confusion. Sam’s mouth flapped open and closed, nothing coherent coming out. Nothing new there.
Calling her a woman was a stretch. I knew what she was and I wouldn’t fall under her spell, no matter how surprising her appearance. But fuck, right there she was awoman, those curves telling a sinful lie. I didn’t think this would even work, but if I’d spent a moment thinking on it, I’d have at least expected a male demon. Not this cock-jerking vision — tits spilling out from a black corset, stocking-covered legs for miles, tiny waist, and the smoothest, tanned skin marred by something I couldn’t make out in the smoke. But the face?
Holy shit, that face was not right.
Beautiful and horrendous all at once. Pouty lips and black-smudged eyes, delicate neck, perfect to wrap my hands around—
And the tattoos, or paint, or whatever it was? Cracks in her skin, lines over her lips like the teeth of a skull.
Flowing white dresses and skull faces… they all beg for mercy. Except one. One who never even had the chance. Life slipping away in my hands…
I’d seen a face like that many times before, and the memories would haunt me for eternity. A deep scar in my soul, so raw it kept me awake at night. I suppose it looked a little like sugar skull face paint, one of those Day of the Dead things. But I don’t think people in Mexico were slitting the throats of virgins like we were.
If her face triggered me, it was likely to completely derail Sam. I looked to my side, expecting his tic to be damned near whipping his head from his shoulders, but he was motionless, totally absorbed by her.
That wasn’t good, either.
Finally, she looked up to meet our eyes. This piercing, sultry gaze that had my fists flexing. Well, one of them. We were all still touching the lamp with our right hands. I yanked my fingers away like I’d accidentally stuck them in pig shit.
“You all held the lamp together?” she asked. That voice? Shit, it was like everything I never knew I needed so badly, filtering into my ears, bypassing my brain, and jumping straight into my cock. Sexy British lilt to go with the sassy demeanor. “No wonder I could feel it so strongly across the veil. Can you believe this has never happened before? Three masters at the same time? As if one isn’t bad enough! Still, I suppose I should thank you, things were getting dicey there for a minute.”
The djinn sauntered around the room in her ridiculously skimpy outfit, running a finger over dusty surfaces and wiping it on her corset.
“Come on, boys.” She turned to face us, hands on hips. “Pick those jaws up off the floor. You made this happen. I didn’t just appear here in a magical poof for nothing.”
“You’re a woman.” Phoenix was the first of us to find his voice, demonstrating a rare lack of smoothness.
“Oh, sweet mercy, give me strength. Never in all my summonings have I encountered such raw intelligence!” She drew a deep breath. “Come on then, out with it. How’d a bunch of imbeciles like you manage to summon me? You stumble across the lamp? You pay someone?” She shook her head as we stood, speechless.
“What is it you want? Fame? Fortune? Sex? Ugh. I suppose all three, right?” She frowned. “It always is. Right then, let’s get to work, come at me.” She waggled her fingers impatiently. Fingers covered in tattooed cracks like she was falling apart. Now the smoke had cleared I could see the same faint cracks all over her.
A broken doll. Don’t fall for it.
“They’re all broken,” Dad said. “All filthy, rotten whores, begging for you to take them. Fill up that void inside you with their screams.”
“We need money. And guns,” Phoenix said.
“Le sigh. And for one tiny moment, I hoped you guys might be more interesting.” The djinn rolled her eyes.
Familiar anger brewed inside, erasing any interest my cock had been developing. Always such a relief when fury took hold. So much easier to function without feeling.
This bitch would regret answering our call. “And then we need you to help murder an entire satanic cult before they succeed in bringing about the apocalypse through the demonic possession of our bodies.”