by Jane Hinchey
We could have been anywhere. Our surroundings didn’t matter anymore. There was nothing else in the world but Levi—his arms around me, his breath on my face, his lips grazing mine, his eyes drinking in my face. He lowered his mouth again with a low moan in his throat. The sound sent an electric current through my veins. I couldn’t get close enough. I wanted more than his mouth on mine, so much more.
I heard fabric tearing, but who needed clothes anyway? Certainly not Levi and me. I’d be perfectly happy to be naked with him for the rest of our days. His hands were everywhere, my skin sensitive under his touch. It was hard to focus on anything with such intense sensations pulling my attention to a million different places in my body. Places he explored with a thoroughness that stole my breath.
I wasn’t sure if it was the relief at having him back and safe that amplified our love-making, for each brush of his fingers left a path of fire that I reveled in. As I held him close, deep inside, I could swear my eyes rolled into the back of my head at the sensations exploding through me. My nails dug into his back and I told myself not to hurt him, but he didn’t seem to care or notice if I inflicted any pain.
We went from slow and sweet to hard, fast, and absolutely breath-taking. This moment seared itself into my brain. Each position, each thrust, each gasp, each drop of sweat. Ours. Ours alone. I nipped at him with my teeth, soothing the bite with my tongue, running my hands over his shoulders, reveling in the chuckle I felt vibrate through him and into me.
He was my everything.
6
I woke to the sensation of heat. A lot of it. Rolling onto my back, I checked that I hadn’t inadvertently set the room on fire, but there were no flames in sight. Just Levi asleep next to me, radiating an enormous amount of heat. Worried, I placed my palm on his forehead. Shit, he was burning up.
“What is it?” He mumbled, cracking open one eye to peer at me.
“You’ve got a fever. How do you feel?” Worry tinged my voice. Had he brought back an infection from Xoelax?
“What? No way! I’m fine.” He bounced out of bed, gloriously naked, and strode into the bathroom. I watched the magnificence of his muscled back, tight ass, and long lean legs before letting my hand drop to where he’d been laying on the bed only moments earlier. Definitely hot. What was up with him if he wasn’t ill?
His head appeared around the door frame and he crooked his finger. “Coming?”
The promise in his voice had me leaping from the bed and into his arms in record time. Our naked flesh collided, and I reveled in it, in the way every nerve ending sprang to life, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. Threading his fingers through my hair, he angled my head the way he wanted it and kissed me. He kissed me like I’d wanted to be kissed my entire life—with everything he had. That kiss told me he was mine and I was his. That kiss touched my very soul. It branded me. My head swam with it, my knees buckled, and I sagged against him, consumed by him.
“You’re so hot,” I whispered when his lips left mine to explore across my jaw and down my neck.
“So are you, babe.” He nipped, then soothed the sting with his tongue. He was doing crazy things to me, things that made my blood heat in my veins.
“No, seriously. You’re fucking hot.” I placed my palms on his chest and pushed, putting some distance between us. “As in, you have a temperature. Your skin feels feverish.”
“I’m not sick, I promise.” He pulled me back against him, his arm a hard band around my waist. “Does this feel sick?” He pushed his erection against me and I couldn’t contain the purr that rumbled in my chest. “I want you so damn much.”
The way he growled the words had me coming undone, unable to focus, no longer worried about his heat. Instead, I wanted more of it. I wanted his warmth wrapped around me. If he was going to go up in flames, I’d join the inferno and we’d burn together.
“I need you,” I gasped, pulling his hair, tugging until his mouth was back on mine.
When he pulled back from our clash of tongues and teeth, I wailed in protest. He chuckled. “Time to finish what we started. Spin,” he demanded.
“What?”
“Face the mirror.” Grabbing my shoulders, he turned me until I was looking at myself in the bathroom vanity, my back to him. “Spread ‘em.” He slipped a foot between mine and nudged my legs further apart. “Watch.”
Lifting my head, I kept my eyes trained on our reflection in the mirror. My hair was a wild tangle around my head, and my lips were swollen, my cheeks flushed. Levi's gaze met mine in the mirror. Then he placed a hand between my shoulder blades and pushed me gently down, until I was presented to him. His eyes never leaving mine, he dipped a hand between my legs and stroked me.
“So wet. So delicious,” he growled against my ear. “Mine.”
My legs trembled, not only because of his touch, but also his words. He was all alpha male and I loved it. I almost came when he wrapped my hair around his hand and tugged, bending my neck back. As he leaned forward to ravish my throat, he slid into me, and I couldn’t contain a long, low groan. My eyes flickered shut, but a sharp tug on my hair had me opening them again.
“Watch,” he repeated, straightening so the only place we touched was him inside me. Then he moved. Oh, Lord, how he moved.
I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began. I wasn’t sure I wanted to, and I didn’t want this to end—the smoldering of my very soul. The slap of flesh on flesh echoed around the bathroom in time with our rhythm. Sweat beaded my skin, and I looked at him in the mirror, my eyes glazed but satisfied, to see rivulets of sweat running down his chest. His fingers dug into my hips as he pounded into me. As much as I wanted to ride him, to throw him to the floor and take control, this new Levi—this super-charged, super-hot Levi—was doing all the right things. I was powerless to resist.
He tugged my hair again, focusing my attention back on him.
“Come,” he grunted, picking up the pace. “Touch yourself. Come with me.”
Without hesitation, I ran a hand over my abdomen to where he was connected to me, filling me so perfectly, and stroked. My body trembled, shivers dancing down my spine.
“Do it again, baby, that was so good,” he purred, releasing my hair and cupping a breast, squeezing and teasing the nipple.
My nerve endings were on fire, but I obeyed, running my finger over my clit, stroking and teasing, and as he surged inside me, I came with a yell that rattled the windows.
“You two finally decided to come up for air, I see.” Dacian was sitting at the breakfast bar, a cup of steaming coffee in front of him as he flicked through a newspaper.
“When did you get here?” I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. This morning with Levi had my skin tingling in all the right places.
“A little while ago. You were busy. I made coffee.” He nodded to the coffee pot, and I happily made my way to it, pouring myself a cup.
I noticed there were no jealous undertones in his voice and prayed my little foray into his brain had worked. “How are you feeling?” I ventured.
“Good. I feel good.”
“So…” I shuffled my feet, feeling awkward. “Those feelings from before? Gone?” I winced at the hopeful pitch in my voice, feeling like a bitch.
He grinned at me and winked. “Yup. You’re history. Ancient, history.”
“Not so much of the ancient, if you don’t mind.” Taking a sip of my coffee, I closed my eyes to savor the aromatic goodness. The humans had done well with this discovery. I’d been sneaking off to Earth for some time to stock up on my coffee bean supply.
“Hey.” Levi strode in, barefoot in jeans and a blue button down shirt, hair damp from his shower.
“Feeling better?” Dacian asked him. “You looked like a wreck yesterday.”
“Much better, thanks.”
“Does he feel hot to you?” I pushed Levi toward Dacian, and both men looked at me, Dacian with surprise, Levi with annoyance.
“I told you,” he said, “I’m fine.”
“I feel heat, but it’s coming from you,” Dacian said to me, returning his attention to the newspaper. “You are Lucifer, after all. I’d expect some residual heat from Hell to radiate off of you.”
“Ha!” Levi crowed. “It’s been you all along!”
Frowning, I looked down into my cup, searching its dark depths for I didn’t know what. Could it be true? Was the heat coming off Levi’s skin a reflection of mine? Was it simply radiating back at me?
Levi busied himself in the kitchen making breakfast, and I took a seat next to Dacian, content to stay out of the way.
“So.” Dacian folded the paper and put it to one side, swiveling to face me. “What’s the plan for finding God? Any idea where we should start?”
“Gah.” Where was one supposed to begin the search for a missing God? I’d been so consumed with finding Levi that I hadn’t given a whole lot of thought to Dad’s situation, but now it was unavoidable.
“Prayer?” Levi suggested over the sizzle of bacon.
I let out a weary sigh, consumed by guilt. “From what I’ve seen here, God’s been ignoring prayers for a long, long time. I should have realized something was up. I should have checked.”
“Hey!” Dacian nudged my knee with his. “This isn’t your fault! None of us had a clue. We thought he was just off doing his thing. Whatever his thing is.”
“Well, you had your mind wiped, anyway, so there’s no way you would have been aware.”
“I have an idea.”
Levi turned to us and slid a plate piled high with bacon, scrambled eggs, and fried tomatoes in front of me. I had to wipe my chin to make sure I hadn’t drooled. Cooking was a skill I lacked, and I was very quickly developing a love of human food—or, more accurately, food prepared by a certain human.
“Oh?” I said around a mouthful of the fluffiest scrambled eggs I’d ever tasted.
Levi nodded. “Use me. I can try to channel him. All I need is an object to use for channeling, and I stand a reasonable chance of locating him.”
I thought for a moment. “Can you use me as the object? I’m his creation. I’m made from his blood.”
He shrugged, shoveling food into his mouth. “An inanimate object is better, but I could try if you want.”
“We can go to Heaven and retrieve something that belongs to him,” Dacian said.
We could, but I suspected my brothers had Dad’s house on lockdown. Anyway, I had a better idea.
“The sword will probably work.”
Dacian frowned. “The Sword of Souls? But you only just created it. It’s yours, not God’s.”
“It’s a long shot, yes, but it’s made of my DNA. Which is part Dad’s DNA. It could work, couldn’t it, Levi?”
“We can try it and see,” Levi said.
“Oh, damn, no, it won’t work.” I was annoyed that I’d overlooked the obvious. “Only Dad and I can hold it. It’s made from us and bound to us. You won’t be able to touch it.”
“Let’s try it and see. I could hold the Sword of Angels no problems at all. In fact, that sword got passed around to all sorts, including ghosts. You might be surprised.”
Levi’s words alarmed me, for he was right. Heaven’s sword had been held by many, belying the commonly-held belief that it could only be wielded by God and his chosen one. Had the knowledge I’d downloaded about my own sword been wrong? Out of date? Or had my brothers found a way around the rules?
“Okay.” The sword materialized in my hand and I placed it on the kitchen counter. “Just be careful, please.”
“I won’t damage it,” Levi assured me.
“It’s not the sword I’m worried about.” I rolled my shoulders, trying to relieve the tension building there. Why was I so angsty all of a sudden? The air felt thicker somehow. It was harder to breathe. Yet when I looked at Levi and Dacian, they were perfectly fine. Was I having a panic attack? My chest grew tighter, and I placed a hand over my chest to calm my racing heart. What the hell was going on?
“Here goes.” Levi closed his hand around the hilt of the sword. I scrunched my eyes shut, afraid to see his hand burst into flames, and held my breath as I waited for his pained screams. When only silence filled the room, I cracked open an eye and took a peek. Levi stood calmly with the sword in his hand. No pain. No flames—except those dancing along the blade. What. The. Hell?
“Getting anything?” Dacian enquired curiously.
I looked between the two of them. How could they be so calm? Didn’t they know the enormity of this? Or, again, had I gotten it all wrong? Humans were not supposed to wield the Sword of Souls—they absolutely, irrevocably, could not touch it. I’d read the inscription on the blade. Even Dacian shouldn’t be able to hold it. Yet Levi stood with it firmly in his grasp, with no ill effects. A headache started to thrum behind my eyes, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Yeah, I’m getting a sense of him,” Levi muttered.
My head shot up and I leaned forward. “So he’s alive?”
Levi nodded. “Yes. Alive.”
“Where? Where is he?”
“I’m trying. Hang on.” Levi closed his eyes, his face a picture of concentration. I held my breath until Dacian nudged me and whispered at me to breathe.
“Damn, lost it.” Levi’s eyes opened and landed on me. “He’s definitely alive, but I couldn’t pinpoint where he is. I could only see darkness. A lot of darkness.”
“Do we know if he’s in Heaven, at least?” Dacian asked.
Levi shrugged. “Couldn’t tell what dimension. Sorry.”
“Well, he’s alive.” I was as surprised as anyone at the wobble in my voice. I hadn’t allowed myself to entertain the idea that Dad might be dead, and now that I knew he wasn’t, a wave of emotion hit me. Hard.
Levi wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close. “We’ll find him. It’ll be okay,” he said soothingly, and I nodded.
“Okay, let’s regroup,” Dacian said, taking charge. I gave him a watery smile. This was his thing. He was good at this. “We know God is alive. We also know he’s missing—missing in that he hasn’t been seen in Heaven, or anywhere, for millennia. We also know that Heaven is deteriorating. The Pearly Gates are locked. Buildings are decaying. My question is…would things be falling apart if God was still in Heaven?”
“We need to get to the archives,” I said. The archives held the complete history of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. “If we could pinpoint why Heaven is crumbling, maybe that will give us a clue as to where he is. Or at least a realm we can start searching in!”
“Let’s do it,” Dacian said to me, extending his wings, ready to leave.
“Hold on just a minute.” Levi’s voice rang out, a hardness I hadn’t heard before coating his words. “Where she goes, I go.”
“Heaven isn’t for living mortals,” Dacian said dismissively.
“Neither was Xoelax, but I went there and survived it.” He had a point.
Dacian looked between the two of us and shrugged. “It’s your call, Lucy.”
Levi took hold of my shoulders and turned me to face him, looking intently into my face. “I am not losing you again,” he murmured, his eyes burning with passion. “Wherever you go, I will find a way to follow. Might as well make it easier on all of us and take me with you.”
Who could resist? Certainly not me.
“Okay,” I whispered, choked with emotion. “Let’s do this.”
7
Dressed in my new favorite outfit—a black cat suit—and with Levi’s hand clasped firmly in mine, I took us to Heaven. Dacian had gone on ahead, and as I landed, I could see him in the middle of an altercation with my brothers.
“No. Absolutely not. We tolerated her previous visit, even gave her information that was to her benefit. She can consider herself banished.” Gabriel was inches from Dacian’s face, arms waving around. Quite frankly, he was making a spectacle of himself. The displaced souls gathered around the Pearly Gates with great interest, and angels already in heaven stop
ped to see what the fuss was all about.
“You don’t have that authority.” I interrupted Gabriel’s tirade, slipping through the gap in the gate Dacian had left for me. I kept a tight hold on Levi. I was pushing my luck even bringing him here.
“In God’s absence, I do,” Gabriel said.
“Says who? Is it in the scrolls?”
“What do you know of the scrolls?” Michael sneered, and I really wanted to wipe that look right off his face. With my fist.
Dragging in a calming breath, I slowly exhaled before answering. “Quite a lot, actually. We’re heading there now. Maybe I’ll look up who is next in command when God isn’t in residence. Since that has never happened before, I’m not sure such provisions have been established, but hey, let’s check, just to be sure.”
I caught the look my brothers exchanged and wondered for the millionth time what they were up to. Yes, they wanted Earth for themselves, but why? Of all the universes, and all the galaxies, and all the planets, why Earth? And why were they going to such extremes?
Gabriel looked Levi up and down, the contempt clear on his face. “I take it you’re the human she was so desperate to retrieve from Xoelax?”
Levi gave a nod.
“You have our sword,” Michael said. “Hand it over. Now.”
“Oh, so now we’re allowed in? Because we have your sword? The one you were careless enough to lose?” I taunted, unable to help grinning.
“You’re as annoying as always,” Michael grumbled, his gaze darting between Levi and me. “I suggest you hand the sword over now before anyone gets hurt.”
“Seriously? You’re making threats now?”
Gabriel stepped toward Levi, and I moved in front of him, blocking his way.
