Page 96 of Wicked Flavors

“I’m only going to say this once. You didn’t do this to me. Do you understand?” he asked.

Truthfully, Gwen could comprehend the words, but they didn’t alleviate the guilt. If she could go back in time, andtake back what she said about making him regret choosing her, Gwen would.

“You didn’t hurt me,” Ambrosius stressed. “Humans did. Their influence over my being is exactly why I’ve been very careful about revealing myself to them. They think holy water and a crucifix will harm me? No, it’s their belief in those things that do. It’s their ideas and thoughts about me that shape me, Gwen. And the more humans know about me, the more dangerous their influence over me is.”

Slowly, Gwen nodded, pressing her forehead against his. She took a moment to breathe, trying to regulate the overflow of emotions running through her body.

“Okay … so how do we stop them?”

Gwen knew her way around the internet, but she wasn’t tech savvy enough to wipe an entire messaging board clean. If the internet was forever, how the hell were they going to scrub all traces of Ambrosius free?

“The knowledge of my existence has to be wiped from human consciousness. To put it frankly, you’ll have to kill for me … can you do that?” Ambrosius asked. “Will you kill humans for me? But more importantly, will you kill them to keep yourself alive?”

It was a question that had a clear answer over a week ago. Now Gwen let it weigh on her mind. Yet, she found it to be as light as a feather. A question that had only one answer when it came to the demon before her.

“Yes,” Gwen swore. “I’ll kill for you … just tell me what to do.”

“If these humans believe that I’m this … Bound Obscene, then it’ll only be a matter of time before I’m reborn as it. We know how it ended up on the internet, but doyou know how your coworker is linked to all of this?” Ambrosius asked.

“I do,” Gwen said, reaching for the laptop. She scrolled down to the very bottom. “I’m pretty sure this user here is Sierra. The writing style sounds a lot like how she talks, and this is where the origin of the word bracelets come from.”

The photo attached were of several bracelets with The Bound Obscene written.

“Ugh, these are tacky,” Ambrosius grumbled. “Whatever happened to a talisman? Or a tattoo?”

“That’s the thing you’re getting hung up on? Not the fact that Sierra is one of your supposed brides?”

Ambrosius blinked, sending Gwen an incredulous look. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, sorry, did you not read that part yet?” Gwen scrolled down the extended comment thread. “See? Sierra’s claimed to be one of your brides. Apparently, she’s the one who organized the ritual. It’s written like it’s all pretend, but obviously that’s bullshit. She talks about gathering The Bound Obscene followers to perform the ritual, but she doesn’t say where. And I don’t know where she would do it, either!”

The delayed emotional response was starting to catch up with Gwen. Her anger at Sierra resurfacing at the speed of sound. Sierra hadn’t come over to apologize, she had come over to set Gwen up. Because, in the younger woman’s mind, Gwen had slept with Tom, which made her the perfect person to sacrifice—

That fucking bitch.

“You know this woman, Gwen. Where do you think she would hold such a ritual?”

“Fuck, I don’t know,” Gwen shifted on the bed, running her hands through her hair. “Sierra’s in her twenties, she had a thing for our coworker, Tom—I mean, shit, when she’s not at work, she’s coming on her day off to hang out in the back of house.”

The amount of times Gwen had come across Sierra and Tom talking behind the palettes of boxes was more than she could count on her hands. Gwen had always just assumed Sierra was still in the honeymoon phase of the job. That short period of time where someone was all in for the company, hook, line, and sinker. Ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice for the job, to the point where their personality was just the job.

“Do you think she would be bold enough to hold the ritual there?” Ambrosius asked.

“I…” Gwen frowned. “Yeah, actually I do.”

Sierra was bold enough to lie to her face about spreading rumors about her. Bold enough to send her dead neighbor over to sacrifice her to a devil who was really Gwen’s patron and lover.

“Okay … here’s what we’re going to do.”

40

Jealous

Gwen

“This is a bad idea.”

Pressed against the exterior of Master Basting, Gwen peeked around the corner toward the entrance. It was a little after one in the morning, and the parking lot was empty, save for Tom’s car. A good sign that Gwen’s hunch was correct, however the plan was already falling apart.

---