Demon King (Claimed By Lucifer Book 1)

by Elizabeth Briggs

  I found Lucifer in his library sitting behind his desk, a glass of whiskey beside him and an ancient-looking tome in his hands. He rose to his feet as soon as he saw me, and my heart skipped a beat as our eyes met and I was hit with the full force of his magnetic presence. Then he quickly crossed the room in a few long strides and swept me into his strong arms. Before I knew what was happening, his mouth came down on mine and he kissed me hard, as if he hadn’t seen me in years, while his fingers tangled in my hair like he was never going to let me go. My hands gripped his soft white shirt while his tongue swept against mine and I wondered how I ever thought I could live without this man.

  My mate.

  “You came back to me.” He pulled back just enough to study my face. “You had us all worried.”

  I was still dazed from his kiss and it took a second for his words to register. “Worried?”

  “Jophiel texted me when you drove off with her car. Nice choice, by the way.” His lips quirked up in amusement as his thumb idly stroked my cheek. “Both of our people have been looking for you ever since. You shouldn’t have driven all that way without anyone protecting you.”

  I shook my head. “Lucifer, I can’t live in fear all the time. I may be cursed to die, but I’m ready to accept my life by your side. For however long we have.”

  “Even though I’m a villain? A monster? The root of all evil?” His eyes gleamed red as he spoke, as if he were challenging me to run away again.

  I reached up to stroke his eyebrows and the dark stubble on his jaw while I gazed at him, accepting him completely, red eyes and all. “I don’t care how the world sees you. You’re not evil. Not to me.”

  He gripped my arms tightly. “Only because of you. Your light keeps me from turning completely to darkness. I would be lost without you.”

  I trailed my fingers down his neck. “I’m here. I’m yours.”

  He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. “Say it again.”

  Sliding a hand behind his neck, I drew his face down to mine and brushed my lips across his. “I’m yours.”

  “Yes, you are.” He yanked me against him and turned my soft kiss into something much more, something that made red hot desire race across my skin. “Across the vastness of time, you’re the one thing that stays mine.”

  My heart beat faster with his words and his touch, my need for him becoming overwhelming. I quickly unbuttoned the top of his shirt, while his hands skimmed down my black, sparkling gown. The gown I’d worn to the ball as his guest. As his queen.

  “You’re still wearing this dress.” He unclasped the attached sheer cloak, and it billowed to the floor. “I love seeing it on you.”

  I smoothed my hand down the front of it. “It’s probably ruined now.”

  “It’s perfect. Just like you.”

  He drew the gown above my head, and I raised my arms, delighting in the feel of the silky fabric drawing across my skin and leaving it exposed to the cooler air. When I lowered my arms, Lucifer’s gaze raked down my body like a caress. Then he unclasped my bra, freeing my breasts, and I loved the way he looked at them with fire in his eyes. Like he’d never seen anything he wanted more.

  He took a step toward me and the dark hunger in his gaze made me tremble. He took each of my breasts in his strong, masculine hands, feeling the weight of them, rubbing his thumbs along my taut nipples. Then he lowered his mouth to one of them, tasting me with a slow lick that made me moan. His mouth thoroughly explored my breasts, his rough stubble grazing my sensitive skin and leaving the slightest burn behind. I wanted that burn to continue all over me. I wanted Lucifer’s fire to consume me.

  After sliding his fingers across my midriff with agonizing slowness, he slid my panties down. His fingers tickled along my thigh, leaving a path of desire from my pussy to my toes. Ready to explode from the heat and desire coursing through me, I ground against him, desperate for a little relief from the ache inside. My fingers fumbled for his trousers, yanking them open, searching for his cock. It didn’t disappoint as it sprung forward, and I wrapped a hand around it, savoring the feel of his size and length in my palm.

  With one arm, Lucifer shoved everything off his desk, the ancient texts falling unheeded onto the floor, before he gripped my hips and set me on the edge of it. Then he dug his fingers into my thighs and pulled my legs far apart, exposing my wet folds to him.

  He slowly kneeled in front of me. “It’s been far too long since I tasted you.”

  “It’s only been a few days,” I said with a delirious laugh.

  His tongue slid along my slit, one long, slow stroke before he looked back up at me. “Exactly. Far too long.”

  He lowered his head again and I moaned and grabbed his hair as he dipped his tongue inside my pussy, pushing until he filled my entrance with wet warmth. He fucked me like that with his tongue, driving me wild, and then suddenly moved to take my clit into his mouth. He hummed, the vibrations teasing while I writhed on the edge of his desk.

  He kept a firm hand on my hips but adjusted so his arms wrapped completely around my thighs, holding me in place. He spread my pussy open and sucked my clit harder, causing me to cry out in earnest as I begged and moaned. My hips tried to thrust against his mouth as he took me higher and higher. With my hands planted on the desk behind me, all I could do was throw my head back and chase the pleasure as it built, my every nerve tingling in anticipation. But then he stopped.

  “No.” Lucifer pulled back and let go of my thighs. “Not yet.”

  “Lucifer,” I begged. “Please.”

  He rose to his full height, then gripped his perfect cock and stroked it slowly, making my mouth water. When I was about to drop to my knees and start begging, he stepped forward and continued his torment by sliding his cock up and down my folds, getting the head slick with my desire. I whimpered a little, and a satisfied smile crossed his face at my desperation. When he looked at me like that, I knew exactly why they called him the devil.

  When I couldn’t stand a second longer of his teasing, his cock pushed inside me, and it was everything I needed. Thick, hard, and long, a perfect fit for me, like we’d been designed as a pair. He went slow this time, drawing out each thrust and retreat, and I felt every single inch as he moved inside me. He teased my breasts and stared into my eyes the entire time, watching my reaction when he stroked and pinched, when he plunged in deeper, when he claimed me again and again.

  Then he pushed me back so I lay flat on the desk, and he grabbed my legs and lifted them up, hooking them over his shoulders. The position allowed him to sink even deeper into me, and put me completely in his control. All I could do was take what he was giving me.

  His hips began to roll and lift in a slow, sensual rhythm, his cock hitting me in spots I never knew existed. With one hand he held me in place, and with the other he rubbed my clit, knowing the exact way to touch me to make me lose my mind. Of course he did. He’d been making love to me for centuries, whereas this was all new to me.

  “Tell me you’re mine and I’ll let you come,” he said, his voice rough with lust.

  “I’m yours,” I managed to gasp. “Always yours.”

  He moved harder and faster, hitting that spot over and over while he teased my clit, and the pressure built until I couldn’t hold back any longer. Just as I began to tighten around him, he dropped my legs and reached down to slide one hand under my head to grip my hair. As the orgasm swept through me, he tugged my body up to press against his chest, then claimed my mouth with a rough kiss. He kept thrusting into me the entire time he came inside me, and all I could do was moan into his mouth against the delicious tug of his hand in my hair, while he drew out every last second of my orgasm.

  He held me close against him, and I buried my face in his neck as our hearts raced together. Our breathing slowed to a normal rate, but he didn’t let me go.

  “Don’t leave me again,” he said, though it sounded more like a plea than a demand.

  “I won’t,” I promised, as I took his face in m
y hands and stared into his shockingly green eyes. My favorite color, and only now did I realize why.

  “You will,” he said, with a sharp intake of breath. “You always do.”

  My chest tightened at the inevitability in his words. “And you always find me again.”

  “I’m not sure how much longer I can do that,” he confessed. “Each time you die, I lose another part of my soul.”

  “We have no other choice.” I stroked his face. “Not even death can keep us apart. Somehow we’ll find a way to be together, no matter how much time or distance comes between us.”

  “Not even death,” he muttered, his eyes turning distant.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  He finally pulled back from me and picked up the ancient books on the floor. “I need to do a little research. I’ll join you in the bedroom shortly.”

  I stretched in a way that drew his eyes back to my naked body. “All right. I could really use a shower after my long drive.”

  He gave me a quick kiss, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere already. He sat behind his desk, cracking open one of the old books, and I watched him for a moment, wondering what research could be so important…and why his mood had shifted so suddenly.

  31

  Lucifer

  She’d returned to me. I’d hoped for it, but I wasn’t sure it would happen before the curse struck again and we began the cycle of love and death once more. A cycle I had grown weary of, but wasn’t sure we could escape.

  While my people had been searching for Hannah, I’d been going through Samael’s old journals in Aramaic, the ones he’d written to document the ancient days. In those thin, cracked pages he described the curse as it happened, and once again I scoured the tome hoping for answers, but found nothing I didn’t already know. There was only one way to break the curse, but it would destroy us both. And possibly the entire world with us.

  Could I make the ultimate sacrifice?

  For her, I would do just about anything… Except this, perhaps.

  I quickly sent off a few texts anyway, calling in a few favors. Now I had to wait.

  While I drummed my fingers on the cover of one of Samael’s journals, Hannah returned to the library, her hair wet from her shower. Now she wore one of the slinky nightgowns I’d bought her, which just begged to be pushed up to her thighs or even ripped off completely.

  She covered a yawn with her hand. “Quit reading those old books and come to bed already.”

  “Yes, dear,” I said, as I rose to my feet. I’d worry about breaking the curse tomorrow. And find Gadreel, while I was at it. Where was that bastard now? I took Hannah’s hand, realizing she didn’t know about him yet. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “I suspect there’s still a lot you need to tell me.” Then her eyes widened. “Actually, there’s something I need to tell you too. Something I heard at the ball. I completely forgot about it until now, but—”

  Her words were interrupted by a loud crash outside the library. I immediately shoved Hannah behind me, while shouting broke out from the entrance of the penthouse. Was it Gadreel?

  I turned to Hannah and took her face in my hands. “Stay in the library. You’ll be safer here.”

  She nodded, her eyes wide with fear, and I kissed her deeply, fearing it might be the last time. She hugged me tight and then I headed out of the library, closing the door behind me. Without any windows, the library was the safest place in the penthouse for Hannah at the moment, and I had to deal with whoever was invading my lair.

  I rushed through the living room, and from the corner of my eye I spotted dark shapes outside my windows flying back and forth in ominous patterns. I had no time to worry about that though, because at the entrance of my penthouse stood a tall, hulking man with hands turned into reptilian claws, now dripping with blood.

  The blood of my guards.

  “Mammon,” I growled, as I surveyed what he’d done. All of my hand-picked, loyal guards lay dead at his feet. “So you’re the one behind all this.”

  The ancient Archdemon of the dragons let out a haughty laugh. “Hardly. I’m but the first of many who want your downfall.”

  I drew my darkness around me, preparing to fight. “Then you’ll have the honor of being the first to die.”

  He let out a massive roar, making the floors and window shake, and dragonfire burst out of his mouth. I smothered it quickly with my darkness, almost offended. He should know better than to think that would work.

  “Why?” I asked. “Has your greed overcome you? You think you can steal my throne and be the next Demon King?”

  “It’s time for someone else to lead the demons.” He swiped at me with his claws, and I easily dodged and avoided them, my movements flowing like smoke around him. “You never should have forced us to abandon Hell. It was our home.”

  “A home that could no longer sustain us,” I reminded him.

  He ignored me as he kept attacking, knocking over all my furniture in the process. “And a truce? With angels? Come now Lucifer, surely you didn’t think that would work.”

  “You’d rather we kept fighting forever, while our numbers dwindled to nothing?” I cringed as he threw a chair into my bar, destroying dozens of bottles of my finest alcohol. “I did everything to save our people. The future of our race was at stake.”

  “Our race? You’re not even a real demon!” He blasted me with another mouthful of dragonfire, which I blocked with a wall of darkness. His face began to redden, his frustration becoming obvious. “Angels never belonged in Hell. Once we rid ourselves of all the Fallen, we’ll reopen Hell and begin to rebuild it.”

  We’d neared the huge windows overlooking Vegas now, and I had a clear view of the battle going on outside. My dark-winged Fallen angels fought in the skies against both dragon and gargoyle attackers, with blasts of fire and shields of darkness fighting for dominance of the air. I spotted both Azazel and Samael out there, but no sign of Gadreel anywhere.

  “You plan on destroying all the Fallen?” I asked, cocking my head. “But what of Gadreel? Isn’t he working with you?”

  Mammon snorted. “Gadreel is nothing but a tool the Archdemons have used to weaken you. He gave us the information we needed, but he’s a pawn. An inside man, if you will. He serves us, like all your Fallen will soon. They’ll be on their knees before the Archdemons, where they belong…or they’ll be dead. Along with you.”

  His threats against my people made rage boil up inside me. “I am the true Demon King, and you will kneel!”

  With a wave of darkness, I pushed Mammon through the windows into the night sky and launched after him, my dark wings spreading as I dove. Blood red scales slithered across his skin as his own wings erupted, his body shifting into his massive dragon form faster than I expected.

  We wove and dodged through the sky amid the other fighters, though they gave us a wide berth. Mammon scraped at me with his enormous claws, but I pulled back, trying to avoid the pointed tips. He was too fast though, and one of the massive claws caught me, gouging a jagged split from my collar bone to my abdomen.

  I went into a spin as I fell toward the city streets below. Pain washed through me, but the darkness forced my body to heal, and I fought for control over my flight. My wings beat strongly, lifting me back up, chasing the man who dared lead a revolt against me, who dared endanger Hannah.

  He banked and whirled, flying high over the city lights, above the fighting around us. Pushing out my wings, I soared upward as fast as I could, and moved just in time as a blast of orange dragonfire erupted from Mammon’s mouth, the heat intense even over the distance.

  He’d left himself vulnerable by spewing the fire. It took him precious seconds to coordinate his massive body for movement, and while he swung his head to try to locate my position, I made my way around him. I dropped onto his back, almost grateful for the opportunity to rest a moment while my body burned with the effort of healing. His leathery wings beat against the night air as he fought against
the sudden addition of my weight.

  Dragon hides were nearly impossible to penetrate due to their scales, but I pushed my darkness into his ears, his eyes, his nostrils, choking him. I wished for a moment I had my sword, Morningstar, but it was in the library with Hannah. Probably for the best. Instead I unleashed my hellfire, bright blue and charged with the magic of both Heaven and Hell, fueled by both light and darkness. A gift I rarely used because it was so destructive, and one that only I possessed. Well, along with Belial, but I hadn’t seen him in years.

  In a desperate move, Mammon dropped from the sky, unseating me as his weight plummeted from underneath me. He spun frantically, trying to put out the hellfire, the only kind of fire that could harm him. It went out, but I’d managed to injure him at least.

  I followed him down, but he banked again and maneuvered around me. Staying on his tail, I chased him high into the air, before I got close enough to sling out my darkness like a whip and wrap it around the base of his wings. I yanked hard, and the popping of his wing joints reverberated through the sky like thunder and skittered along the threads of my dark magic.

  He plunged from the sky as he tried to escape, but I made sure my threads of darkness held his wings just enough so that he couldn’t move. Pointing myself downward, I flung my feet onto his chest and held my darkness like a rope, pulling on his wings while letting another tendril of magic wrap around his throat. We kept falling, but I controlled it with my wings as Mammon struggled underneath me.

  “You can’t kill me,” I said, glaring into Mammon’s eyes. “Concede defeat and I’ll let you live.”

  “Never,” he growled, baring his fangs. “Even if you stop me, there will be others. This is just the beginning, Lucifer. You have no idea what’s coming. For you and your little bitch.”