Bound By Lucifer by Aiden Pierce
Chapter Nine
Jess
Canlis was a fancy place, and even dressed up like an expensive sex kitten, I still felt completely out of place. I’d expected all eyes to be on me when I entered the premises as if all the stuck-up rich people could somehow sniff out the stench of a frugal as fuck, middle-class party girl. So it was to my absolute relief when the door was opened for me by one of the staff in a tuxedo that I found the restaurant completely empty.
The space was absolutely beautiful, with the glass walls of the building displaying a jaw-dropping view of Seattle’s glittering skyline. All the tables had been cleared out of the main dining floor, all but one which stood in the center of the restaurant with a place setting for two, complete with candles, an elegant floral centerpiece, and dainty china hand-painted with gold accents. I strode across the restaurant, examining every detail, on high alert for anything that would suggest I’d just walked into the location of my murder. Plastic tarps to keep my blood off the carpet, virgins dressed in white, overly elaborate sacrificial dagger, a stone altar to the dark lord. Other than the elegant gold sigil of Lucifer painted on the china, nothing seemed to point to any dubious plotting or foul play. From what I could tell, it just looked like he’d booked Seattle’s fanciest restaurant for a nice date.
I stood at the window that overlooked Lake Union. A fraction of the moon peeked out behind its swath of clouds, making the surface of the lake glitter with silver.
“Beautiful, is it not?” a smooth as honey baritone asked from behind.
I whirled around, goosebumps erupting over my skin as that voice slid down my back like a forbidden caress. Lucifer stood beside the table as if he’d appeared out of thin air.
My knees went weak beneath me as I took in the devil’s sinful perfection.
His tall, athletic form was dressed in a black suit that fit his body in ways that would make any girl sell her soul for a peek at what lay beneath. The suit was paired with a crisp, black collared shirt and a gray silk tie in a color that matched my eyes, leaving me wondering if that had been intentional.
His ink-black hair was slicked back, and his golden eyes darkened as they slowly slithered down my body, glittering with a sort of hunger that caused my core to heat and liquify like molten gold.
“You look good enough to serve as tonight’s dessert, Ms. Sims,” he purred.
“You look good enough for me to almost want to be your dessert tonight, Mr. Morningstar.”
His brows arched. “Almost?”
“Well, a girl has to have some preservations.”
It could have been the restaurant’s lighting, but if I wasn’t mistaken, I was pretty sure I could see Lucifer’s cheeks flame beneath his facial stubble.
“Well, with that in mind, I’ll forgo the plum tartlet just in case you decide to offer yourself as dessert instead. And let that be an ode to how much I desire you. Because one decadent bite of that marzipan is almost worth eternal damnation.”
I let out a nervous laugh and strode toward him when he pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. “That must be a damn good tartlet.”
“The best. It’s the entire reason I bought this place.”
Hearing that, I nearly fell into the chair. “You own Canlis?”
“I own much of Seattle, Ms. Sims.”
I rolled my eyes. “So I’ve heard. You should know I’m not impressed by money.”
He took his seat, eyes bright with amusement. “I know. I can read your mind, remember?”
My cheeks turned red hot, realizing he’d seen all my dirty thoughts while I was drooling over him just a few moments ago.
“Oh, please don’t suppress any of your dirty musings on my account, Jessica. It was the entire reason I didn’t book out any musical accompaniment for tonight. Your fantasies starring me should be enough entertainment.”
“You’re kind of a lusty prick, aren’t you?”
At that, he laughed. The melodic sound sent a wave of relief through me for some reason, unwinding my clenched muscles some. I knew who I was sitting across from, and I should have been scared out of my mind, especially knowing that he could see into my thoughts. But instead, I felt at ease, like fate was somehow supposed to land me here, in Seattle’s finest restaurant, flirting with the richest man around over talk of dessert and mind-reading.
Gleaning my thoughts, Lucifer’s expression darkened. “I’m the devil, Kitten. Don’t forget that.”
“Is that supposed to be some kind of warning?”
His head tilted slightly, and he licked his sinful lips. “Not at all. It’s more of a promise, really.”
“Well, I haven’t signed anything yet, remember? You’re supposed to answer my questions.”
His mouth curved into a smirk that had my insides swirling. “Of course. First, shall we have a drink to kick off our meal? Our chef tonight is not Canlis’s usual. For this unique occasion, I brought up the chef and his staff from one of my restaurants back home.”
“‘Back home’? You mean—”
“In Hell, yes. I have a restaurant located above Lust, a club located on the Second Circle of Hell. Similar to Siren’s, but there we strictly serve deceased mortals and native demons. And my staff tend to stroll about in their true forms. Makes for a terrific show from the succubi.”
Just then, a lithe man in a black chef’s uniform hurried out from the kitchen with a pace that suggested a possible fire, clutching a bottle of wine in his hands. But then he stopped abruptly at our table with a sweeping, if somewhat bubbling bow.
“My King, My Lady. It is a pleasure and a complete honor to serve you, really. Truly.”
There was an energy to the twitchy man similar to what I’d expect of someone who’d helped themselves to the entire coffee pot in the back. That or it was just his personality. He had wiry brown hair that stuck out from under his chef’s hat and a long, hard nose with thin lips. He was handsome in a gangly sort of way.
“Ah, Jessica. This is Cerberus. My personal chef.”
“Cerberus?” I tried the name out on my tongue, weighing it. I wasn’t an expert on Greek mythology, but pretty much everyone knew the name Cerberus. Still, there was no way this man had any resemblance whatsoever to the three-headed hound said to guard Hell.
Lucifer grinned. “Cerberus is a shifter, his true form being a three-headed hound, and as it so happens, he once guarded the Third Circle of Hell. But he’s more akin to a Labrador than a terrifying hell beast, so he wasn’t so good at the guarding part. Once I took up the throne, I pulled him from the Third Circle and put him to work on the Second. A more suitable position there, wouldn’t you say, Cerb?”
“Oh yes, Sir!” Cerberus beamed with nothing but genuineness.
A moment of awkward silence settled between the three of us as I gapped stupidly at Cerberus. This was a whole shit ton of information to unload in itself, with Heaven and Hell being real, not to mention the devil wanting to own my heart for whatever diabolical reason. Now I was meeting the three-headed hound of the Third Circle of Hell? And he was going to serve me dinner?
Sensing my retreat into my rioting nerves, Lucifer cleared his throat and took the bottle of wine from Cerberus, who began wringing his hangs with giddy excitement.
“Cerb here has prepared a nine-course tasting menu tonight, each dish representing a level of our home. You’ll find his cooking to be no short of exquisitely divine, as close as the damned can get to Paradise while living a life steeped in sin. You’ll find his dishes will take you as close to the nine circles as possible without a literal portal.”
I tensed. “Um. I’m not sure I want to be transported to Hell.”
A small, almost secret smile touched his lips. It warmed me for reasons I couldn’t name. “Oh, but Hell is a fantastic place, Jessica. We only have one rule. Don’t be a dick. Although that doesn’t apply to Nazis, Catholic priests with a sexual inclination for choir boys, and people who microwave fish in communal microwaves.”
He uncorked the bottle with a pop and a hiss and poured me a glass of red wine, the burgundy liquid bubbling as it settled into the crystal.
“I thought this might be a pleasant way for you to learn of my home and me.”
Cerberus gave me an overly enthused nod as he took the bottle from Lucifer. “This is the first dish representing the First Circle of Hell, Limbo.”
I smothered a chuckle. “Wine is the first dish?”
“Oh yes, My Lady. You’ll find its strong flavor has a life of its own. When our king took up the throne from the archdemon Abaddon, he converted Limbo into a wine cellar. This bottle is a significant vintage, the same year our king concluded his renovation of Hell and left for the surface to seek out—”
“Er— That’s enough, Cerberus.” Lucifer cleared his throat and waved the chef off. With an awkward bow, the hound made his hasty retreat back to the kitchen.
I stared at the dark liquid in my glass with slack-jawed awe, trying to digest what any normal person would have excused as impossible.
Lucifer smiled at me over his glass. “You’re anything but normal, Jessica.”
“Are you going to do that all night?” I sighed. “This is weird enough for me as it is without you rooting around in my head.”
“I’m sorry.” His apology caught me off guard, and I would have mistaken it as genuine if it weren’t for his rueful smile affixed to his lips.
A lump formed in my throat as I dropped my attention back to the wine. Whenever he looked at me, it was like he could see so deep inside me that I was sure there were parts of my being exposed to him even I didn’t know about. I took another hasty sip of wine and nodded to it, eager to break the strange, blistering tension.
“So wine from Limbo, huh?”
His lips curved in a way that made the gold of his eyes light up with memories. He took a sip of the wine and let out an airy sigh. “That’s nostalgic.”
“Is it true what Cerberus said? That you came to the surface all the way back then? I thought you just came to Seattle.”
“To Seattle, yes. But I’ve been on the surface much longer than that. I’ve been more discreet about who I am and my origins up until now. I don’t believe the celestials knew I’ve been up top for this long. I’ve done well flying under the radar until now.”
“What’s changed?”
“I’m coming close to what I’ve been looking for.”
My eyebrows rose with curiosity. “And that is?”
His smile slipped some. “We’ll get to that in time, Jessica. Let’s enjoy the meal for now.”
I pinched the crystal glass by the stem and took a sip of the Limbo wine. I’d had a lot of wine in my day. But this taste was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. Which was to be expected from ancient wine, seeing as most of the wine I’d consumed in college was from a box.
The flavor was pungent, fruity at first with a mild burn as it slid down my gullet, with a bitter aftertaste of leather and smoke.
“Oh.” My lashes fluttered, and I sat back in my chair, letting the liquid fill me with a warmth I’d never experienced from any alcohol.
It tasted like a memory I didn’t have, almost…melancholy.
I pushed the glass away with a shiver. “Are they all going to taste like that?”
Lucifer watched me intently, almost with a pained look in his eye. “No. But they will all invoke some kind of emotion.”
“Couldn’t we just have a normal dinner? Cheeseburgers and a movie, maybe? Then we can get onto the weird stuff like talking about you buying my heart.”
He canted his head with a smirk. “I’m not buying your heart, Jessica. In any case, when have you ever settled for normal?”
The question took me aback. He was right. Fuck normal. Normal was boring. In my case, normal was painful. It usually involved situations others would find uncomfortable, but where I felt at ease.
Even now, I felt oddly calm when I was half expecting my heart to be one of the courses for tonight. Heck, maybe that’s what Lucifer meant by me being dessert. At the very least, I had to expect that he might try to poison or drug me.
The devil gave a purr-like chuckle and sent my flesh into another outbreak of goosebumps.
My blood froze in my veins as I caught the look on his face and realized he’d managed to catch the thoughts I’d just had.