Christmas in Hell

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Christmas in Hell

Simeon stared around at the dank rock walls surrounding him. This really was sucked. In the blink of an eye he went from being the happy little center of a celestial yum-cake with Josh and Ryan to being here, in this totally gross sludgy yuck-pit… and to knock everything right over the top of the disgust-o-meter, he was naked. A crawling sensation skittered across the skin of his back. Simeon shivered. He spun around, not expecting to see anything, but needing to check anyway.

“Hello again, little elf.” Carl leaned against the far wall of the gloomy cell Simeon found himself in.

Simeon’s mouth dropped open. He stared in shock for a moment. “Carl! What on earth are you—”

Carl’s derisive laughter cut him off. “You can’t seriously have thought I was ever going to chase a complete nobody like you unless there was something in it for me, can you?  Now the big guy will understand what a worthless piece of crap you are and stop torturing me for failing to bring you in before those two idiots showed up at your door.”

 All the little pieces clicked into place, and a bead of sweat ran from Simeon’s temple to the edge of his jaw. “You were a set up. Somebody sent you to make me lose Ryan and Josh, before I ever even had them.”

Carl snorted. Spreading his arms wide he gestured at the cell they were in. “Yeah, well, Princess, what wouldn’t you do to get out of here?”

Simeon swallowed hard. “That. I wouldn’t steal your love from you. Not even now.”

A bright light flashed, and Simeon was wrenched sideways into nothingness. The image of the room he’d been in with burned across the backs of his eyes, and he cried out. In the distance, Carl screamed. “No, no, no—take me with you. Please take me—”

Another jolt knocked him sideways out of the nothing. He landed hard on his side, suddenly back in his own bed, Josh and Ryan staring down at him. Both men wore identical pinched mouth, furrowed brow expressions. Simeon drew in a gasping breath. Flinging his hands out he latched onto Josh with one and Ryan with the other. “Was that real?”

They exchanged a grim glance before speaking in unison. “Yes.”

Simeon closed his eyes, shuddering as he recalled the last sight he had of Carl. The man’s face had been a study in terror. “Guys, we can’t leave him there.”

Josh snarled out a curse. “Babe, what are you saying? Do you even know where you were?”

Simeon released the tight grip he had on Josh’s upper arm, sliding his palm up and over the silky skin of the big demon’s shoulder. He let his fingers wander, tracing idle circles on the velvet surface of Josh’s wing. “Yeah. I was in Hell I think. But I can’t leave him there… not even if he tried to stop us from getting together. He’s so scared, Josh. And it’s really, really scary there. I could taste the fear in the air.”

Josh’s face crumbled a little. He reached out both arms, scooping Simeon and Ryan into his arms. “Crap. You know this is just my dad trying to get us to come home for Christmas, right, Rye?”

Ryan snorted. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, can’t he just ask, like a normal parent?”

Josh laughed. “Has anything in our millennia together ever led you to believe my dad  even knows what normal, healthy parenting is?”

The thin, bitter sound of Josh’s voice scraped Simeon all hollow inside. He made a small, pained noise. “Oh. Oh, Josh, you don’t have to. I’ll—”

Both men reacted instantaneously, Josh clapping a hand over Simeon’s mouth, Ryan folding his wings around them both as he shouted. “No, not without us, never without us!”

A rush of blackness surrounded them.

Simeon blinked, and they were back in the cave. Carl was still there, only now he slumped dejectedly at the foot of the wall he’d stood next to before. His torso was covered with jagged welts and bruises. His mouth fell open and he pointed a shaking hand first Josh, and then Ryan. His voice came out in a croaking whisper. “You two are in so much trouble.”

Ryan grunted. Glancing around the dank little cell he shook his head. “This is so medieval dungeon. Could it be more boring? I know what I’m getting your dad for Christmas this year… a pre-paid redecorating service.”

Ryan snapped his fingers. Two cheerful pine-wood doors appeared in opposite corners of the back wall.  The center of the wall dissolved into a gracefully sweeping archway leading to a large, cozy room with a fieldstone hearth centered against the far wall, and a tall evergreen filling the far right corner. A comfortable looking couch in pale green and two roomy rust and green love seats were arranged in a lazy sort of half circle facing the fire. To the left stood a sideboard complete with an array of snacks and four steaming mugs of what smelled like cider.

Josh snorted. “You know he hates it when you do that.”

Ryan cocked an eyebrow at Josh. “Then he should make sure he has things better prepared before he summons you. I keep telling you, Josh, I’m not scared of your dad, and I’m not going to let him have you back. Not ever. If he wants to see you, he has to put up with me, and I won’t put up with his crap. Now go pick poor what’s-his-name there up off the floor and put him on one of the loveseats while I finish warding the rooms so no one can come in without my permission.”

Simeon gaped at his two lovers for a moment, and then asked the only pertinent question. “Er… guys? I take it we’re having Christmas in Hell then?”