Excerpt:

Cecilia stepped out of the shower, and wrapped a towel around herself painfully. ‘That answers my question,’ she thought irritably. The cold shower technique apparently didn’t work for women either…

Carefully, she dried herself, avoiding all her most tender regions so she wouldn’t continue the agony her state of arousal put her in, and reached into her drawer to find her nightgown. Her hand hovered above the nightdress before she stopped to think. If Augustine couldn’t give her body the attention it craved, then she might as well give them to herself. Determined to be satisfied with that, Cecilia shut her drawer, and walked out of her bathroom, and into her bedroom. Her lights were off, so she shucked her towel before she could change her mind, then flipped her light on.

She had only taken two steps when she heard a sharp intake of breathe. Scared, she turned, and her jaw dropped when she saw Augustine in the back of her room, his arms crossed, wearing that sexy leather jacket, and those loose jeans. ‘Did he change pants?’ Cecilia asked herself as she noted the tight pull the jeans had on his hip. Her eyes shifted more inwards, and she noticed the bulge at his crotch.

Swallowing, Cecilia stared at that spot for a second more, until her gaze slid slowly upward again. “Hey, Augustine what’s happening?”

His gaze went the opposite of hers, and he grinned wickedly as he said, “Nothing so far, except your nipples are a little bit hard.”

Her eyes widened, and she looked down, remembering she was wearing nothing except what she was born with. “SHIT!” She shrieked, and turned back to her chair to get her towel, until Augustine stopped her, his hand gripping her wrist violently. She gasped, knowing that he got to her faster than any human could. For the first time, she looked up at him with true fear. “What do you want?”

His eyes were masked by desire as he led her hand down his body to his erection. Her eyes widened, and she took a deep breath, feeling the heavy throb of him through the denim, the overwhelming power. “I’d like to think that’s pretty obvious, wouldn’t you?” She pulled her hand back quickly, and this time he let her go. “Cecilia? Why are you naked?”

Cecilia’s eyes shifted, and she crossed her arms, again reminding herself of her nudity at the pain her forearms caused on her sensitized nipples. As she leaned down to pick up her towel, it didn’t occur to her what exactly that did to her form, but she was aware of Augustine’s eyes, boldly staying on her chest. ‘Where they do NOT belong,’ she forcibly told herself. She answered as she wrapped a wet towel around herself. “I usually sleep in the nude.” Oh, that was a good answer! ‘But better than the truth I guess...’ As she looked up and saw the lasciviously intrigued look in his eyes. ‘On second thought...’

As she tucked a ringlet of hair behind her ear, Cecilia kept her gaze away from his, knowing what she would find. She didn’t trust him, and worse, she didn’t trust herself. Her breasts were agonized, and she knew the wetness between her legs was not from the towel. “So…why are you here?”

Augustine lifted a finger, and traced her cheekbone, to her nose and across her lips, her skin tingling everywhere his fingers went. He tilted his head, still saying nothing, and gently held her elbows, pulling her forward. Not knowing what he planned to do, she didn’t resist, thus finding herself against his well-formed chest. The build-up of tension inside her eased at the touch of his warm body and the enveloping warmth of his arms as they circled her. “I think you know.”

Cecilia’s eyes closed, realizing she did know. He was there to sleep with her, and she knew she couldn’t refuse anymore. It had been too long since she had any kind of relationship, and never since she had one so intimate. And the last thing she wanted was to be alone for the rest of her life. Gathering her courage, she stepped back, and with determination, slowly removed her towel, letting it fall to the floor…

Prologue: January 18, 1987

Augustine walked down the street, his father’s hand clasping his own with worried love. He looked down to smile at him tentatively, but his eyes snapped back up to the streets ahead of him. His lips trembling, Augustine’s gaze followed suite. The streets appeared normal; a young woman carrying two paper grocery bags was walking to her car, a dog-walker was pulling patiently on the leashes of two small dogs and three puppies, and a teenage boy was strolling down the street with a giant boom-box on his shoulder beside his ear, pumping out obscenities at an unbelievably fast pace.

He looked up at his sister again. His face was frightened and wary, contradicting the normality of their surroundings. “Papa?”

At the sound of his voice, his father stilled, and turned to him, his cat-eyes churning. He knelt to his son, hugging him so tight, Augustine squealed.

“Augustine, leave now, get back to mother, tell her that I had to protect you.”

Augustine struggled to get out of her grip. “Papa? What’s wrong? Can’t we go home together?”

Finally, his papa pulled away, tears forming in his eyes as he smiled. “No little one. If we leave together then they will find out where we live and hurt us. But if I stay...well, you know no one messes with your papa!”

“Who are ‘they’?”

“Augustine, never mind, go back to mama!”

“But papa---”

A shrill sound filled the air, like an eerie shriek, the high pitch making Augustine’s ears tremble. “Go Augustine, now!”

Augustine looked frantically for the noise, before he turned, and sprinted in the direction of his home.

Chapter 1

Augustine took a drag off his cigarette, then tossed it into the sand. He looked at the sun, and welcomed the warm glow. Everyone thought the sun too bright, and too hot, especially in these brutal summer months where humidity was at its worst. But today, it merely shined with tranquil rays, dropping among the people like a spring rain, warm and permitted.

He picked up his leather jacket, and put one hand in his pocket while the other held onto the jacket collar as he held it over his back as he walked along the beach. His mother always used to yell at him for wearing leather in the summer, and he still remembered her now, the lecture running through his head like a CD ‘Honey really, leather doesn’t breathe! You’d be much more comfortable with a cotton shirt. Why are you wearing a jacket anyway? Just trying to worry poor mother?’

His eyes rolled as his head shook. His mother died not even two months ago. No wonder he was constantly thinking of her. His entire day might have her rolling in her grave. He hadn’t gone on duty today: ‘Those demons wont hunt themselves...well they will, but give them a hand!’ He stole a pack of gum for Cathy, his thirteen-year-old sister: ‘Darling, no matter what the motive, stealing is still wrong, and remember that your target feeds off the wrong inside of you.’ And worst of all, he smoked about half-a pack of Salem Lights: ‘Oh! I’ll never understand why you smoke those dreadful things, they smell terrible! And do you have any idea what an influence you’ll have on your siblings? What about lung cancer, or gum disease?’

Augustine let out a long sigh. His mother was a wonderful woman, and someone he always looked up too. She had a heart of gold, and was as loving as a lioness to her cub. He looked up, and saw his house up ahead, and took the steps to get home.

The door pushed open at the twist of the knob, signifying that his brothers and sisters hadn’t locked the door. He frowned on that, not caring if anything they owned was stolen---what was there to steal? ---what concerned him was the fact that his brothers and sisters were home alone, with virtually no protection. “Ayame!” He shouted for his only elder sibling, his sister Ayame. She had been a great support to him after their father died when he was seven. As he grew older, he began to realize that his father’s death could have been his fault. The way he had foolishly run away, instead of staying to defend his papa. The knowledge was agonizing, until his sister explained to him that he couldn’t blame himself, since he was only doing as papa said.

Augustine tossed his jacket to the floor, and kicked off his shoes on the shoe-mat. Growing impatient, he finally shouted, “Ayame, where the hell are you!?”

“Hey! Keep your voice down, we have sick children napping in the house!” Ayame came to the entrance hall, wiping her hands on the apron she always wore when she cooked. After casting a disappointed look in his direction, it shifted to his jacket on the floor. “Augustine! How many times do I have to tell you to hang this thing up! If you’re going to wear it at least make it look presentable,” she criticized as her hands dusted off his jacket, then hung it up on the coat rack.

Augustine shook his head in memory. “You sound like mom, relax already. And don’t yell at me when Charlie left without even locking the door.”

Ayame turned her head back to her brother, her eyes wide and somewhat angry. Sighing, she locked the door, then went into the kitchen. “Well then, we’ll have to talk with him about that when he comes back from shopping wont we?” Augustine followed her, and snagged an apple. He was just cleaning it off on his shirt when she noticed him, and said, “Don’t eat that, dinner’s in thirty-minutes.” His lips pursed in annoyance, he held the stem of the apple, and twisted the fruit.

His father got him hooked on this game when he was a child: Recite the alphabet while you twist an apple stem, and whichever letter was announced as the stem came off, was the first letter of the person you were going to marry. He had never taken it seriously though. “A, B, C…” he easily plucked the stem off, C being the last letter. He threw it into the trash, and then replaced the apple back into the basket.

“HEY! I WAS WATCHING THAT!”

“It’s MY pick! You’ve been watching TV all day, I’ve been at work!”

Augustine cast Ayame an empathetic look of exasperation. “I’ll go,” he volunteered, and followed the noise into the living room where his brothers Daniel and Barry were fighting over the remote, wrestling each other to the floor, both of them clinging to the controller for dear life. “Hey!”

The loud voice immediately stopped them both, and they looked up at their brother in unison. “Alright, what’s going on here?” They both started talking at once, but Augustine, being keen of hearing and used to this kind of response, was able to hear both of their explanations. “Okay, okay! Daniel, what were you watching?”

“Rocket Power.”

A quick glance at the clock told Augustine what to do. “Barry, let him finish the show. Afterwards you can watch.”

With that matter settled, he went to help Ayame set the table. By the time the meal was on the table, Charlie had come home, and heard the lecture. When they all sat down, Augustine assessed them. Ever since his parents died, he felt more responsible for his family than ever. His family was a long one, starting at Ayame, then himself, then Belle, Barry, Charlie, Cathy, and Daniel. The double naming system was a thing his mom enjoyed. She loved that she had a girl, then a boy. That was how they developed their system: Every other child had to have a name that started with the next letter of the alphabet.

He loved his siblings, and since he was the next demon hunter in line, he’d do anything to protect them, and had the means to do so

Cecilia held her pencil between her teeth, and adjusted the gown on the rack. The wedding shop was almost ready to open for the day, which meant that her night shift was almost over. All she had to do was put the rest of the money back in the till, and she was ready to leave. Some of the dresses just needed a little bit of adjusting, since the new ones were looking kind of wrinkled from their trip. At least that’s what she told herself.

All the gowns were the most beautiful dresses, and she loved to look at them, stroke them and feel the material. Sometimes she would even put one over herself in front of the mirror, and hum the wedding march. Her greatest dream was to someday wear a beautiful wedding dress, and march down the aisle to the man she loved. But if she tried to do it today, she’d be cutting things a little too close, so she had to satisfy herself with feeling the material against her hands.

Cecilia sighed at herself, then put the money back in the register, and handed the keys to John, her coworker that arrived not even an hour ago. “See you later John.”

John nodded to her, then continued reading his book. Cecilia’s eyes rolled, knowing that John had a problem with remembering that when he was alone in the morning, he’d have to open the doors. She picked up the alarm clock, and set it for a half-hour away so he would have time to turn everything on and still get things cleaned. That put her mind at ease. Having dealt with him and that alarm clock before, she knew that even John’s ears, buried somewhere with his face in that book, would hear the shrill ding of the bell.

As she stepped onto the street, she moaned, the heat already making her regret leaving the air conditioned building. She sighed, then walked back to her house, where she lived alone. Just as she reached her front step, she heard the sound of the mailman arriving. “Hiya Barry! What’s happening?”

Barry turned to her, and beamed. He was a sweet kid, but surely no older than twenty. “Not much Cecilia. Thanks for asking. How have you been?”

Cecilia shrugged in a nothing-unusual way, and dug into her purse for her keys. “Same-old, same-old. I’m probably going to soak for a bit then head to bed.”

Barry tilted his head. “But it’s so early in the day.”

She laughed a little bit at what he said. “To those who weren’t up a great deal of the morning maybe it’s early. Just a nap though, I want to be able to sleep tonight. Take Care Bare,” she joked, as she always did before he smiled at her and they went their separate ways. To sleepy to do much, Cecilia kicked off her red stiletto boots, and hung up her coat and purse, then clapped twice. Candy, her little orange kitten came trotting out into the entry hall, and instantly jumped herself into Cecilia’s arms. “Awww, how’s my little Candy? Did you miss me today?”

She giggled as Candy’s rough-surfaced tongue reached out and licked her cheek appreciatively. She petted her kitten as she stole a sip of her cold coffee, then went to her room. Finally, she put Candy on the bed, her little body curling up into a ball of fur. Cecilia changed into her pink nightgown, and quickly snuggled under the blankets. She reached out, but all she found was a little kitten. Sadly, she sighed again, realizing that everything was too much of a routine.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everything at work was nice, Candy was healthy, her parents couldn’t call until Tuesday, and she and her friends only went out together on Fridays. And worse, no one except Candy was in the bed beside her…

Sorry, I felt compelled to introduce Cecilia, I know things aren’t really hot right now, but SOMEONE has been pushing me to the creative limits. I promise things will get much more interesting, and definitely steamier! ;).