“Delicious,” she whispered and he growled, his gaze boring into her mouth, robbing her of her breath and making her silently beg him to kiss her.
He hesitated and she cursed him when he sat back, taking the remains of the gateaux slice with him. He devoured it and set the paper case back in the box.
Liora stuffed her face with a piece of tarte tatin. It wasn’t as sweet as kissing Asmodeus would have been and it didn’t satisfy her in the slightest.
“I enjoy these pastries,” Asmodeus said and licked his lips clean, enticing her into kissing him if he wouldn’t kiss her.
He finished his orange juice, leaned back and sighed. He was looking better already, his skin no longer a sickly hue and his strength returning. She could feel his power rising again, coming back to the level it usually rested at when he was around her.
“Are you feeling better?” She screwed up the paper her tarte tatin had been on and tossed it back into the box.
He should be feeling sick after eating that many pastries but, then again, she had seen Apollyon devour an entire chocolate cake in one sitting without it giving him an upset stomach.
He frowned. “My head still hurts.”
“It’ll pass.” Had he never had a headache before either? What else was new to him?
He lowered his eyes to the road and stared at it, his gaze turning distant and cold again. He stayed like it for so long that the worry that had faded on hearing he was feeling better began to return.
“Are you still unwell?” she said.
He blinked and his attention snapped to her, a flicker of surprise in his golden eyes, as if he had lost track of the world and was shocked to see her sitting beside him.
He sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “I am being compelled to return.”
The Devil was ordering him to return to Hell. Liora’s worry returned, worse than ever. If he went back to Hell, would the Devil punish him for killing the angel and lying to him about her?
What if he didn’t go back?
“Will the Devil send another bad angel after you if you don’t go to him?” she said and his eyes opened and slid across to her.
“I am a bad angel… the baddest.”
Liora blushed at that, wicked scenarios running through her mind. He quirked his right eyebrow at her reaction and she could understand why it had confused him. He had meant to place distance between them, warning her away from him, and she had the terrible feeling she knew why.
He stood, brushed the crumbs off the strips of armour around his hips and stepped down onto the pavement.
“Return to Serenity and stay with them. You will be safe there. I must go.”
The ground bucked and cracked, a glowing fiery fault line stretching thirty feet across the road in front of her. The jagged line widened and lava dripped down into the dark crevasse, hissing as it disappeared from view.
A gateway to Hell.
“Wait.” Liora shot to her feet and reached out to him.
Asmodeus looked over his shoulder at her and then dropped into the darkness.
His wings caught her arm as he spread them and she tipped forwards, flailed her arms in a desperate attempt to right herself, and shrieked as she fell over the edge and plummeted into the abyss.
CHAPTER 7
Asmodeus’s heart missed a beat, slammed painfully hard against his chest and began to race as Liora dropped past him, perilously close to the sharp ragged black cliffs of the crevasse.
He pinned his obsidian wings back and shot after her, reaching for her with both hands at the same time, stretching as far as he could, until his muscles burned and joints ached.
Her chestnut hair streamed upwards, fluttering around her face, and her legs and arms flailed above her as her back took the brunt of the hot air blasting upwards from Hell. Magic sparked around her hands, hitting the rocks and sending shards of black basalt exploding over him.
“Liora.” He beat his wings and pinned them back again, closing the gap between them.
She thrashed her arms and legs and then her hair cleared from her face and she stared up at him, her eyes enormous and flooded with fear. That emotion struck him hard, beating within his heart and driving him to break the limits of his power and his body in order to bring her into the safety of his arms and take away her fear.
He growled and flew harder, using all of his strength because hers had failed her. She had used it up teleporting him to Apollyon and then to a place where they could eat.
Liora reached for him, her fingers stretching, and he reached for her, his heart pounding at a sickening pace against his chest. Hers rushed in his ears, her fear flowing over him, calling to him. He took no pleasure from it.
The walls ended and opened into the cavern of Hell, and the plateau loomed before him. He had only a few hundred feet left in which to catch her or lose her forever.
Asmodeus snarled, his fangs descended, his claws lengthened and his eyes burned red.
He would not lose her.
He flapped his immense wings and then pinned them back as far as they would go. It still wasn’t enough.
His eyes widened.
He knew what he had to do.
He focused and sent his wings away. They shrank into his back and his velocity increased as he became more streamlined, sending him rocketing towards Liora.
“Spread your arms and legs,” he called to her and she did as he instructed.
The second she had formed a cross before him, she shot upwards, straight into his arms.
He wrapped them tightly around her and focused on his wings again, calling them to emerge. The ground came at him fast, quicker than his wings were forming. He growled and threw his right hand out, casting a black vortex before him.
Liora screamed as they hit it and he twisted with her as they appeared on the other side, above his castle in the plains. His wings erupted from his back but too late for them to be of any use. They only made the crash landing worse on him.
He hit the black grounds of his castle hard, taking the brunt of the impact for Liora. Her body slammed into his, knocking the air from his lungs, and he held her with both arms, clutching her against his chest.
Fire tore through his wings as they twisted and bent beneath him. He skidded across the harsh, polished pavement of his garden and came to a halt near the pillars that supported a balcony that ran around the front of his black castle.
Asmodeus closed his eyes and let his head fall back. It smacked against the black slabs beneath him. He breathed hard, fighting to subdue the pain ripping through every inch of him and still clutching Liora close to him.
“Asmodeus?” Liora’s soft voice called to him, soothing some of his pain, and she moved in his arms.
He opened his eyes and looked up at her. Her hands pressed against his bare chest, burning into his flesh in the most delicious way.
“Are you okay?” she whispered and brushed the hair from his brow, concern lighting her hazel eyes. They searched his and he basked in her worry and the compassion and affection she showed him.
“I will live,” he said to alleviate her concern and then grimaced as a wet tongue slapped at his cheek.
Liora squealed and shot backwards, straight into the bulky black body of Romulus. The hellhound growled, exposing twin rows of deadly sharp black teeth. Remus stopped licking Asmodeus and lifted his head too, his red gaze locking on Liora.
“Heel,” Asmodeus commanded in the demonic tongue and the two hellhounds whimpered and moved to him. They lay beside him and nuzzled his cheeks, whining low in their throats.
It was difficult when he was lying on the ground, but he managed to twist enough to pet them on their muzzles and soothe them.
They sat up when he pushed himself up and moved closer, crowding him. Romulus trod on one of his wing feathers, pulling on it. Asmodeus grimaced and pushed him away. Foolish mutts. They always had wanted to sit on him rather than beside him, and were forever accidentally catching him with th
eir claws or treading places that hurt.
Liora stood and offered her trembling hand to him, earning her another growl from both Romulus and Remus.
“Quiet,” he snapped in his native language again and the hellhounds lowered their heads and settled down to lie beside him, resting their jaws on their large paws.
He took Liora’s hand, lumbered onto his feet and ran his gaze over her. She had a few scratches on her bare arms but other than that and her pale complexion, she seemed unharmed by her fall.
He wanted to take her back to her realm but he couldn’t yet. The Devil would know he had entered Hell and would become suspicious if he didn’t report in. She would be safe here at his castle in the wasteland, far from the Devil’s fortress and his army of Hell’s angels. Romulus and Remus kept the area clear of demons too, hunting and devouring any who strayed too close to the spire of rock on which his castle stood.
Romulus and Remus would protect her while he went to the Devil.
The two black hellhounds sat up and Liora moved closer to him, eyeing them warily.
“Come,” he said and the two got to their paws and trotted over to him.
Liora tensed and clutched his arm in both of her hands, and he liked the way she did that, using him as a shield, relying on him to protect her even though she wasn’t in any danger.
The hellhounds sat in front of him and started panting. Remus’s left ear drooped and then perked up again. He never had been able to keep it fully straightened. It somewhat spoiled his vicious, deadly appearance when it drooped and refused to stand again, giving him a lopsided look.
“Liora, this is Romulus and Remus.” Asmodeus pointed to each hellhound in turn and they both looked up at her, their ears pricking and their panting halting.
“They look the same to me.” Liora moved closer to him and the hellhounds, but remained slightly tucked behind him.
Her breasts pressed against his bare arm, wrecking his concentration. They were soft and warm, and he wanted to palm them.
“Will they be upset if I call them by the wrong names? Will they eat me?”
Asmodeus laughed. “No. They always travel together, ever since they were pups seven centuries ago and I found them in an empty den.”
“Where were their parents?” Liora emerged from behind him, her curious gaze fixed on the two hellhounds, a spark of sympathy emerging in it.
“The mother was dead a few metres from the den. I am not sure what killed her,” he said casually, remembering the day he had gone out to survey his realm and had spotted the butchered carcass from the air, and had found the twin pups nearby.
“So you brought them home?” There was a twinkle in her hazel eyes that he didn’t understand. She looked almost pleased.
He nodded. “I brought them to the castle and took care of them.”
She smiled at him.
“What is wrong? Did I say something strange?”
She shook her head, causing her tangled chestnut waves to brush across the crimson shoulders of her gypsy top. “No. I think it’s good that you took the hounds in and raised them… protected them. You must have spent hours each day taking care of them… feeding them… cleaning them… teaching them. It was very sweet of you, Asmodeus.”
Ah, he could see why she had smiled at him now, and it left him feeling uncomfortable and unsure what to say. He didn’t view what he had done as an act of charity, not as she did. He hadn’t even thought about it at the time. He had seen the pups alone, their mother gone, and knew they would die. He hadn’t been able to leave them.
He had done just as she had said. He had raised them, weaned them, fed them and trained them. He had taken care of them and they had taken care of him.
They both whined and looked up at him, their red eyes bright in the low light. Asmodeus petted them, rubbing the spots between their ears, feeling they knew his thoughts.
He crouched and they moved to sit in front of him.
He stared into their eyes and spoke to them in the demon tongue he had raised them to understand.
“Take care of Liora. She is precious to me. I am counting on you to keep her safe. Understand?”
They nuzzled his hands and nipped at his palms and he knew what they were telling him even though he didn’t have the power of telepathy so he couldn’t hear their reply.
“Is that the language you taught them?” Liora said from behind him.
He looked over his shoulder at her, stood, and nodded. “They will do as I bid and protect you.”
Liora toyed with a small silver pentagram around her neck, twirling it in her fingers and then clutching it in her right palm. He hadn’t noticed it before now. It must have been tucked beneath the frilled elastic neck of her crimson top the whole time they had been together, hidden from view. Between her breasts. He swallowed at that thought and stared at them.
She stopped playing with the pendant and he felt her gaze on him. When he finally dragged his away from her small pert breasts, she was blushing and there was that darkness in her eyes again, the one that said his staring had affected her, stirring passion that echoed within him.
“Thank you,” she said and then looked down at Romulus and Remus. “Thank you, too.”
They stared blankly at her. Asmodeus relayed her gratitude in the demon tongue and they began panting again. Remus’s left ear drooped. Asmodeus sighed and straightened it for him.
Liora hid her smile well.
Asmodeus turned to her. “You will be safe here. No one dares venture close to the castle and my hellhounds will protect you. Wait for me.”
Her relaxed air dissipated and she caught his wrist. “You’re leaving?”
He nodded. “I must report.”
Her nerves increased and he sighed and stepped closer to her, until her body brushed his and she had to tilt her head back to hold his gaze. He lifted his right hand and swept his knuckles across her cheek, marvelling over how soft it was beneath his caress and how she let him do such a thing. She closed her eyes and he opened his hand, laid his palm against her face, and she leaned into it.
He had never had anyone seek comfort from him before. The experience was incredible and overwhelming, and ignited a fierce need to stay and protect her. He wanted to make her feel safe.
Liora opened her hazel eyes and looked up at him, a soft needful look in them. His heart raced, anticipation stealing his breath and making it hard to focus. He wanted to fulfil that wish he could see in her eyes. He would, but not right now. He would do so later, when they had time, because once he began kissing her, he wouldn’t want to stop.
“I will not let anything happen to you, Liora, and neither will Romulus and Remus.” He stroked her cheek again, savouring the silky warmth of her skin and how she sought comfort from him.
“Those angels—”
“Cannot enter this castle or the grounds around it,” he interjected and she looked up at the tall towers of his black castle that rose above them, tipped with spiked roofs.
“Your home,” she whispered and he nodded, conceding that it was just that to him.
His home.
“You will be safe here, in my home. The Hell’s angels cannot enter here and the Devil cannot travel this far from the bottomless pit. No one will bother you. I swear it.” He dropped a brief kiss on her forehead and stepped back from her.
Before she could convince him to linger any longer, he threw his hand forwards and a portal appeared. He stepped into the swirling black vortex and through it, coming out close to the Devil’s obsidian fortress.
It speared the sky in the distance, black and forbidding, each tower taller than the last until it melted into the darkness. Black sharp spikes almost seventy feet tall curved around it and the expansive courtyard, forming a vicious wall intended to keep most demons out as they couldn’t fly and scaling the spires was impossible. Part of the wall was lower than the rest, the result of the Devil’s battle against his daughter, Erin, and Veiron, a traitorous Hell’s angel. The shards were sl
owly repairing themselves, bleeding lava from close to their newly forming peaks, but it would be many months before they towered as high as the rest.
Asmodeus took a few deep breaths to settle his nerves. He would not let the Devil have Liora. No matter what happened during this meeting with his master, she would be safe.
Even if the Devil killed him.
He casually strode towards the fortress, buying himself time to get his nerves under control and extinguish them together with the pain that still ebbed and flowed through his body. He would not show any weakness in front of the Devil. If he did, the male would realise that he already had Liora and would exploit the weakness that came from his feelings for her. He would play on them and taunt Asmodeus, and then he would probably command him to bring her to him.
He was regaining his strength, but was still weak. In his current state, he wouldn’t be able to resist if the Devil used the full might of his power on him.
He had to try though. He had to do what he must to keep his promise to Liora and keep her safe.
He crossed the cragged black landscape, following a wide path that wound through the short columns of rock that belched smoke and magma. The lava hissed as it rolled down their bumpy faces, cooling despite the fiery heat of Hell. He had never realised before now just how hot this realm was, the air thick with the scent of sulphur and other chemicals that turned it acrid.
Small brown and grey scaly demons scurried away as he approached, disappearing into the harsh terrain.
When he reached the formidable wall that encircled the Devil’s fortress, he spread his large black feathered wings and flew up the spires. His wings ached with each beat, sending fire along their bones and down his back. He gritted his teeth and flew higher and over the top of the wall.
From above, it was easy to see the damage the Devil’s battle against his daughter had done to the courtyard. The polished black flagstones had cracked and buckled in some areas, fused together at vicious angles by cooled lava. The place was a mess. Only a few sections of the paving had survived intact, most of them close to the imposing fortress.
Her Angel: Eternal Warriors Complete Series Box Set Page 82
