Free Once You Go Demon (Pure Souls) by Killian McRae Page A

thought best when the rapture came.”
    She shrugged, but even Ramiel could hear the sadness in her words. It wasn’t exactly the conversation he expected to have with her tonight, but now that she’d brought it up, he had to quench his curiosity.
    “Why did you stay, Steph? Why didn’t you transition to an angel when you had a chance? If I had found you there … You have no idea how sex between souls makes this flesh-based thing look like foreplay.”
    A disbelieving grin stretched across her face. “Honestly, you don’t know this tale?”
    He shook his head.
    She laughed. Not with humor, but from a dark place born of regret and contempt. “I wanted to go to Heaven. But my father decided he was staying on Earth, and he wasn’t about to let any of his kids get away with sneaking in to Heaven behind his back. Most didn’t want to, mind you. Athena, Hermes, Apollo … They all liked Earth, couldn’t see how anything in Heaven could equal all humans attributed to them. The glory, the reverence, the offerings of wine, women, and wealth. Booze and babes have pretty much wiped out the higher brain functions of most of my male relatives. But I wanted Heaven. Turns out Dad found out I was planning to defect, and he worked out a deal with Hades, who’d always had his eyes on me. If Hades took me to the Underworld and kept me there until after the raptu primus , he could keep me as a wife.”
    He embraced her the moment she finished. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry, I should have asked. I guess I assumed that most of the Greek myth stuff was just that: myth. If I had known …” Then he pulled back, contemplation normalizing his features. “There’s got to be a way around that. Your free will was compromised. If the Prince knew that you’d been held prisoner during the nephilim’s rapture, I’m sure he would have made an exception and—”
    “Free will is a double-edged sword, you sexy beast. The same will that sets men free is also the one that keeps him in chains. It’s a case of whose will wins out in the end.”
    “But if you were in the Underworld, you never got asked what fate you had chosen. You weren’t given an option.”
    “Fate is not always in our own hands. I have an option every day. I choose to live. Besides, knowing Earth is the end of the line for your soul gives you other advantages. I have a good reason for wanting to stick around, especially knowing my soul won’t end up in Heaven or Hell.”
    He leaned in, capturing her lips again. “What could keep you here?”
    Storm clouds gathered in her eyes. “Revenge.”

Chapter 9
    The visitor log made her feel sad, then guilty, then angry, and then drop kicked her right back to sad again. There were at least fifty residents at the old folk’s home, yet the last official family visitor signed in at the front desk three days before. Riona was half-tempted to demand the names of the next-to-kin of each and every resident in the building so she could do a round up and curse them all with demonic flatulence. Then she recalled that she herself had not visited the facility in the better part of three months.
    “Your mom’s old enough to be in a senior center?” asked Jerry as he watched her loop the letters in her last name.
    “Momma was forty-three when I was born. Guess she heard her biological clock ticking, although that could have also been the bomb I’m sure some Good Samaritan planted in her engine. She had enough vim and vinegar in her to keep herself going until a couple of years ago. She came down with pneumonia, had trouble taking care of herself, et cetera. So, it was either move in with her, have her move in with me, or …” Riona splayed her hands out.  “Hanaford.”
    Jerry failed to hide a laugh.
    “What?”
    He shooed her curiosity with a swish of his hand. “Nothing, just kinda funny. Of all places, you stick her on the outskirts of one of the world’s wiccan strongholds. It was like, on some level, you knew she’d be