He slid her down his body feeling the soft contours of her breasts inching down his chest. It caused a flame to erupt behind the cage of his ribs, burning deep inside him that it almost ignited the blood that pumped through his heart. She leaned her weight against him, the soft pressing of her small frame curling against his own. He could still feel the tingling pleasure of remembrance of her lips on his mouth. It was like a ghostly echo full of exotic desire and sensuality that only increased as that lopsided smile once again uplifted her kiss-plushed lips.
Her hooded lids dipped downwards over the vivid green of her eyes, hiding them from his view as her lashes brushed over her flushed cheeks. They seemed to flutter across her skin in time with the beat of her heart as she slowly moved her face away from him and glanced down to the base of the hole they stood in.
As her the toe of her injured leg gently bobbed just above the soft soil they stood in Jess curled her fingers into the material of his top and gently snagged the fabric in her grasp. It was an action that her brain was requiring of her to accomplish. One to keep her balanced on the unsteady ground and two so that she could determine that he was real, a physical presence against her and not some incredible fantasy that she had dreamed up in her mind. Trailing her eyes up his body slowly until she met his heated gaze she mewed in the back of her throat has his hand glided across her back and pressed her further into him. The movement caused her back to arch and her head to tilt to the side as he leaned forward and nuzzled the curve of her neck just below her ear.
Then her eyes shot wide as she felt the press of his hardness against her stomach. Definitely a very virile presence, fantasy or not that caused her breath to hitch as it escaped her lips. A soft tickle of heat brushed against her flesh under his mouth as he gave a short laugh against her skin and as he lowered and pressed his mouth to her neck for one final kiss, Jess felt the wide smile that donned his lips.
As he pulled away he slipped his hand across the base of her back and downwards until it rested against the back of her thigh. Then as he straightened to his full height he lifted her upwards with him. The motion caused her injured leg to lift from the ground as he manoeuvred her so that she almost sat across his forearm and ever so gently he placed his other hand on the outside of her thigh for balance.
He grinned at her as she gripped his shoulders and hobbled in a vain attempt to wiggle away. Then with one swift pull on his leg, his foot came free with a crack of splitting wood and she was completely lifted from the ground. A soft squeak left her mouth in surprise as she clutched him tighter, the muscles under his coat flexing beneath her touch.
He walked with her like that, her rear resting against his arm as her front pressed firmly into his side. His eyes glistening with unshed laughter between the flashes of desire that darkened his light blue irises. The changing colour kept her captivated as his slow, easy steps kept walking steadily. It wasn't until she felt the cold bump on her back that she realised he had moved them to the wall of the grave. A small gasp left her at the dampness that seemed to ooze through her clothing and with a small shiver she whimpered as he took another step closer and pinned her into the softened soil.
He wanted to taste her again. Claim her mouth in a frenzied kiss that left her panting and melting in his embrace. It was the seductive call of her sweetened scent and the burning in her eyes that left him craving more of her. The softness of her in his arms left him seared with desire, but he knew he couldn't. Not at that exact moment because if he let the short leash on his control go he would be lost in her and being lost in the damp darkness of a cemetery wasn't the best idea, as tempting as it was. Instead he reluctantly lifted her away from his body, upwards to the edge of the grave and perched her there neatly.
A shudder rattled up Jess's spine at the loss of his heat. The cold, early night air soaking through her clothing and sending shivers running across her skin as goose bumps eagerly formed against the chill. Then just as it started it began to ease as darkness fanned above her before a comforting heat settled across her shoulders. The darkness once again gave way to the low hanging moonlight as the heat spread down her arms. Jess blinked and grabbed the leather that covered her wrapping it around her front to cocoon herself in the lingering heat that remained from his body as a cold breeze swept across her.
Then a smell hit her. A vile smell that seeped into the lining of her nostrils so deeply that its aroma would take some time to leave her senses afterwards. Jess wrinkled her nose in disgust before slipping a hand through the gap of the leather and pinching her nostrils together.
'I my defence,' Dante took a step back and lifted his hands before him as a buffer to the disgust on her face, 'I killed a lot of demons last night'
Jess shook her head, the ghost of a smile hidden behind her palm at the, well there was no words to describe the look on his face, it had an almost childlike defence etched across it. It caused the masculinity of his face to soften, giving him a more youthful appearance underneath the lengths of his white hair but still held the traces of danger around his eyes.
The breeze swept against her once more and the overpowering stench caused her eyes to water. Shaking her head once again, Jess choked and coughed as the smell slid down the back of her throat.
'It's not your coat' she wheezed as she gaged slightly, 'oh my god, what is that?'
Dante tilted his head upwards and inhaled through his nose so deeply that his nostrils flared. Then lowering his head he glanced at the hole in the ground before fixing his gaze back on her.
'That babe,' he started as he moved beside her and rested his forearm on the grass beside her knee, 'is the smell of very old, dead guy'
Jess followed the point of his finger and glared into the grave, picking up the flashlight she had abandoned on the verge of the open hole she swept the beam downwards towards the splintered wood.
'Rex once ate an entire block of French cheese,' tilting her head Jess watched Dante's eyebrows rise at her words, a silent acknowledgement to the smell that the small dog could sometimes excrete. Pointing towards the small hole Jess added emphasis to her voice as she spoke, 'that is so much worse.'
Turning his face towards her he gave her a half-hearted smile, 'Prepare yourself then' he stated and ignoring the frown that she cast at him, he paced across the space and bent down. Tucking his hand into the small gap he wrapped his fingers around the edge of the opening and gave it a hard jerk. Wood groaned and creaked under his grip.
'Are you ready?' he called over his shoulder as the muscles in his arm tensed in preparation but he didn't wait for a response before jerking upwards roughly.
The crack of the wood echoed like a gunshot around the eerie silence as the top half of the old coffin split away from the nails that pinned it closed. The wood splintered at Dante's feet snapping in half with the force of his strength. As his arm arched upwards, Dante released his tight grip on the wood and tossed it high over his head. The sound of it crashing and rolling against the grass was lost within the loud yelp that left Jess's mouth.
Dante's head jerked towards her, his chest tightening as he looked through the darkness. She had rolled away from the edge of the grave, disappearing from his view as she groaned loudly.
'Jess?' Dante strode forward purposely. Placing his hands on the edge of the grave to pull himself up just as her head popped back into his line of vision. She was only inches from his face. The look of horror on her face would have been comical if the panic that had suddenly and unexpectedly overtaken him hadn't of lodged in his chest.
'I was not ready for that' she muttered behind the sleeve of his coat that she had pressed against her nose and mouth in a bid to keep the increased stench from making her vomit.
Dante pushed out an unsteady breath as the panic eased slowly. He gulped an intake of air so quickly that he almost choked as he breathed.
'What's wrong?' Jess looked over his face with a concerned expression as she took in his heaving breaths and then the startled look in his eyes. Jess dropped her hand away from her mouth, allowing the sleeve of his jacket to dangle to the damp grass below her knees. Placing her palm on the side of his face Jess's heart skipped a beat at his worried expression.
'Dante, what's wrong?' her voice quivered slightly as a chill spread through her body. The look on his face was scaring her, she didn't think he could show that type of emotion and whatever had brought it upon his face meant that they were in severe trouble.
Dante pushed out a halted breath, his heart banging against his chest uncontrollably. He had never reacted like that before, not when he fought against the many demons that plagued his life, not when he had taken down the king of hell or even when he had fought his own brother. He felt bruised on the inside all because she had disappeared for a fragment of moment from his life.
Grabbing her wrist he tugged her forward ignoring the startled gasp she gave him. The only way to rid himself of this sudden flash of fear was to feel her alive and whole in his arms. As she fell against him he circled her in his embrace, clutching her so tightly to his body there wasn't a gap of space between their chests. Burrowing his face into the thickness of her hair, he inhaled the sweet scent that belonged to her and as it flowed into his nostrils each intake eased the raging emotion inside him.
'Dante' Jess clung to him like he was a lifesaver and she was being swept out to sea on a vicious current, 'Please let's just get these damn pages and go home'
It took him a minute or two to calm himself and as the echo of her final words lingered in his head he finally allowed a brief smile to flick up the corner of his mouth. Nodding into her hair, Dante slowly eased her away from him. The concern was still evident in her face as he looked at her, her pinked cheeks having paled against the tension in her body. It was a reaction to him and he knew it but there was a heavy reluctance inside him to explain his actions to her. Honestly it was because he couldn't explain them to himself.
Jess pressed her palm against the ground and braced herself as he turned away from her. His body was strung tight as he moved quickly. Stepping away and bending downwards into the gap he had created to rummage through and pluck out a yellowed, sealed paper envelope. It was browning around the edges and crinkled with age and as Jess eyed it in his hand she released a sigh of relief.
It was a sigh that came to soon because as Dante straightened and turned back to her, the ground beneath them began to vibrate and shake. Loose soil from the edges of the open grave topped and tumbled into the hole. Jess's mouth dropped, her eyes widening in fright as she caught Dante's gaze. Twin lights erupted through the gaps in the trees surrounding the cemetery and a roar of metal pistons screeched across the empty lot.
A large truck rounded the corner, its large cargo trailer appearing and disappearing through the spaces of the tree outline. Jess grasped her throat as she panted, her heart beating a fast tempo inside her chest as anxiety washed through her.
Dante causally looked over his shoulder and watched as the truck disappeared from view before once again pinning her with his eyes. The horror-filled look on her face did make him laugh this time.
'It's not zombies' he chuckled as he waved his hand to the side, 'not unless they can drive'
Jess looked at him from the corner of her eye, unwilling to take her full focus away from the direction of the truck. Then as the ground beneath her stopped shaking with the weight of the passing vehicle Jess slammed her hand down onto the damp grass and pushed herself upwards.
'That's it,' she snapped, 'I'm not spending another second in this creepy-ass place'
Dante chuckled as he rolled the aged pagers in his hands, only to tuck them securely into the waistband of his trousers at the base of his back. Taking two strides forward he leapt out of the hole and reached a hand down towards her to help her to her feet.
'Let's go then' he grinned as he draped an arm causally around her shoulder.
The radio was blaring an awful country song about a brother who had fallen in love with is step-sister. Banging his dirty hands on the top of the large steering wheel, Buzz Harper beat a rhythm that was out of time with the chords of the chorus. The whistling he tried to accompany the deep voice of the singer was off key and bounced shrilly off the closed windows of the trash-filled cab. A fine rain had started causing him to halt in his fantasy of a country singer's life to flick on the windscreen wipers of the haulage truck. The only thing the wipers did was smear the grime of the screen further across the glass. What didn't help was the continuous splattering of insects that seemed to like attacking his windscreen.
'You're some big, ugly fuckers, aren't ya?' he voiced, his voice raspy due to his forty a day habit. Spraying screen-wash through the outside nozzles he smirked as he watched the wiper smear blood and insect guts away.
Then another hit the screen with a heavy thud, followed by another and another. They were the size of quarters, black, scaly bugs that looked like locusts.
'Fuckers round here have a bug problem' Buzz barked as he watched the wipers make slow work of the mess.
Lifting a cigarette from the packet stuffed into his plaid shirt pocket, Buzz tapped it against the steering wheel before popping it between his lips. Pressing in the small, in-built lighter on the unit below the cabs stereo he waited patiently for it to heat.
The cigarette dangled from his lower lip, the filter stuck on the dried skin of his chapped mouth as his lips parted and his jaw dropped with terror. There was mast of black, like a living wall in front of him. The loud buzzing of thousands of insect wings overpowered the loud tone of the music blaring in his cab as he squinted through the windscreen.
The squinted turned into a wide stare, the filter giving way and dropping from his mouth to land between his legs. The wall was flying towards him at high speed, the noise increasing and drowning out the scream that left his mouth.
Buzz didn't have time to step on the break as the wall of insects crashed into the front of the truck. Each one dinged and bounced against the metal of the vehicle until they caught grip with their skinny legs. As each appendage touched down they seemed to melt and mould themselves into the truck's outer layers.
It only took several seconds for them to cover it in its entirety, until it looked as if the truck itself was covered in scaly, black armour. Buzz continued to scream within the darkness of his cab. He fought against the pull of the steering wheel, as it turned and twisted in his hands of its own free will. He screamed when he felt the gap under his foot as the accelerator beneath it pushed itself to the floor. The engine roared into life, reviving and screaming as if was a living creature, filled with hate and anger.
As the wheel forced itself to the side suddenly, Buzz felt the lurch of the truck as it twisted into a sliding turn. His shoulder and head jammed off the window of his side door, causing a wave of dizziness to cloud his mind.
The truck jerked and shuddered as the tyres screeched and the vehicle levelled out, only to lurch forward once more as it gained momentum. A growl filled the cab, causing the last wave of dizziness to instantly disappear from Buzz's head; it was like a sudden splash of cold water on a drunkard to sober them up.
A booming voice sent an overwhelm fear rush through his body, so much so that he felt a warm, damp patch over his jeans as he urinated within his week old boxers.
'Kill Dante' that's what the voice said.