Lucifer appeared above them and swiftly slammed the lid shut.
Wet with blood, Damian pressed his beaten body against her in the close darkness. Pressure built in his ears as the coffin sank into the ground, pushed by supernatural forces, plunging through forty feet of dirt and stone. The box stilled, surrounded by dead silence.
“Are you all right?” Her tiny voice sounded distant.
“I’m OK.”
Haley sucked in a heavy breath. “That was so horrible.” She broke into gentle sobs.
Damian reached for her, shifting so his arms wrapped around her. “I’ve been through much worse than that. I’m fine.”
She pressed her face against his throat, crying softly. “You stayed silent. How did you stay silent?”
“If I’d made a sound, it would have started all over.”
“But what they did to you…” She breathed a whimper. “I can’t unsee it.”
“I’m sorry, Haley.” His grainy voice was raw with guilt.
“What? No, you don’t have to be sorry. I just…”
Silent, Damian ran his fingers through her soft hair.
“I want to make it go away.” Her voice broke again. “For you, I mean. You must be in so much pain.”
He wound his hand into her hair. “I’m finding solace in my lustful creature.”
He traced his fingertips down her tear-stained cheek to her chin. “Come closer.” He tilted it upward, searching her face with his lips until they rested on her mouth. He moved his tongue between her full lips with sudden need. Despite the throbbing pain roaring through his body, his cock craved her attention, hardening at once as she pressed her naked body against him.
“Please, Haley,” he whispered into her mouth. “Please let me inside.”
Her fingers slipped to the whiskers along his jawline. “But…you’re hurt.”
Damian pressed his hardness against her bare thigh. “I am…” He choked back a groan. “Please make me feel better, Haley. I need to be inside you.”
“D’anakkis ent eren esservius…” Their surroundings shifted to Damian’s bed inside his mansion in Seattle. He was lying on top of her, speaking to her seductively in Trinnian, his demonic language. Let me inside your delicious pussy.
“Yes.” Haley blurted her reply, barely understanding his words, her legs spreading wide beneath him on the soft comforter.
They returned to the darkness of the tightly enclosed coffin.
“I’m so confused by those visions.” She skimmed her dainty fingertips along his chest. “They feel so real.”
He let out a ragged breath. “I don’t understand them either.”
“They make me want you so badly.” She brought her lips to his face, finding his parted lips and closed over them in a heated kiss.
He groaned against her mouth. “You have no idea how much I want you, Haley.”
“You can have me.” She lowered her lush lips to his neck, softly kissing his feverish skin.
He couldn’t breathe. Powerful feelings of love and lust welled up in his chest. He guided the tip of his cock between her legs, easing her thigh up over his torso, and pushed inside of her. Taking firm hold of her ass, he slid her clenching muscles along his length. The intense pain of the friction on his open lacerations combined with the most heavenly pleasure. He reveled in the closeness with her as their panting breaths mingled in the suffocating space.
Haley moaned against his shoulder, and the familiar anguish in his chest became almost unbearable. It was the first and last time he would ever make love to her.
Ugh, my heart fucking hurts. He kept his lustful grip on her backside, gliding her up and down. The ache in his chest counteracted the swirling pleasure in his cock. I don’t want to let her go.
Haley trailed her tongue up his throat. She breathed soft moans, calming his anguish.
His lower body rushed with pent-up arousal, ready to explode. He wouldn’t allow himself to come yet, he needed to hear her climax. He gave an agonized growl, laced with pleasure.
He leaned in to her ear with panting breaths. “Your pussy’s so tight and wet…” He skated his fingers across her clit.
She pressed her forehead against his chest with a ragged whisper. “I’m coming.”
Damian achieved his own bliss seconds later, spurred on by her deep, sexual moans.
As he caught his breath in the small space, he tightened his hold on her. I’ve fallen in love with her.
She moved her arms around his neck. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“Then stay. As my queen.”
“I want to…” She paused with a dreadful silence. “I can’t.”
Though he was still buried inside her, it felt as if he’d already lost her. He slowly withdrew from her body, calmly trying to recover from her words. He cleared his throat. “I know.”
She reached for him as he pulled away. “I have feelings for you.”
He kept his muscles stiff as she snuggled closer. “But not enough to stay with me.”
“I don’t belong here,” she whispered, “…you don’t belong here.”
“I’m the fucking dark lord, Haley, the ruler of this place. Of course I belong here.”
She didn’t answer for a moment. She choked back a sob, and the sound gripped his heart.
“Tell me about the life you’ll be returning to.” He pulled her close again. “What is your home like?”
“Um.” She sniffled a little, pausing a moment. “The castle. Well, actually, Stephen’s the one that started calling it that. It’s really just a giant brick building.”
“Who is that?” Damian grazed his teeth along her shoulder.
“Who?” she breathed.
“Your boyfriend?”
“What? N-no…”
“Liar.” Damian grasped her ass in his palm. “I recall a blond boy from your memories, politely fucking you in a tiny bed.”
She gasped at his harsh teeth on her neck. “That was Neil. My ex.” He began to lick her instead, and she melted in his arms. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Good. And Stephen?”
“My brother. He’s a healer for Adv—”
He halted when she abruptly cut her sentence short. “Adversus?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
He dragged his fingers along her bare back. If he had followed through with the plan he once had to join Adversus, maybe he could have built a life with her. Perhaps that’s what the visions were, wishful thinking. But his path had already been chosen.
“You have a brother in Adversus, and they haven’t come to rescue you?”
“I’m sure they’re looking for me.”
“The soldiers rarely venture to Hell for anything but information. You would have been here for the rest of your life.”
“I was counting on the success of my next escape attempt.”
Damian had to smile at that. Remarkable girl. It faded quickly when he remembered what he had to do. “I’ll be bringing you home.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Haley buried her face against his chest. How can I feel so grateful and utterly destroyed at the same time?
The box jolted and panic shot through her. She lost her breath as the coffin rose from the ground. The lid opened to reveal a great throne room, lit by candlelight. She lay still in the silk-lined box for a moment, staring at the elaborate filigree markings on the ceiling.
Damian stepped out of the coffin and slid his arms into a dark cloak. Though his scars remained, he had emerged fully healed, flowing with a malevolent power. He emanated strength.
Haley took his hand and climbed out. He wrapped her in a black robe, shielding her naked body from the crowd of onlookers.
He sat down in the black iron throne and grasped her wrist, drawing her toward him. She held back her emotions as she settled onto his lap.
The creatures in the room all bowed to him, muttering their praise. Her fantasy had ended. Damian had become the dark lord.
“L
eave us.” The visible dark power distorted his voice slightly, giving it an inhuman inflection. His subjects hurried to follow his command, and the large room emptied.
“I know I should go home.” Haley ran her fingertips along his neck. His dark energy moved under her touch. “I’m not ready to let you go.”
He caught her gaze, his beautiful eyes had blackened. “Be my queen.”
Lucifer’s presence entered the room, and a chill prickled over her skin.
“At last.” His growling voices echoed. “My son has fulfilled his destiny.” Bulbous reptile eyes stared directly at her. “Now it is time to deliver yours.”
“Your reign is over, father.”
“The throne suits you.” Lucifer stalked closer. “I may not be Lord of Hell, but I carry the dark power it brings. I still control you, Damian, and I’ve decided to remove the witch’s flesh.”
“Try.”
Lucifer started forward and her entire body tensed.
Damian shot up from the throne, grabbing her before she fell, and abruptly set her in the powerful chair. He advanced toward his father.
Smiling to reveal jagged fangs, Lucifer extended his bony wings and lifted off the ground. Damian grasped onto a tattered wing and snapped it. He closed his hands around his father’s throat and wrestled him to the floor.
“You control nothing.” Damian’s eerie growl sent a shiver through Haley. Dark shadow cloaked him as he tightened his grip.
A crowd of hooded demons flooded into the room. They ran toward Lucifer. Damian bared his teeth at them. He released his father and straightened, rolling his shoulders. With a deep breath, he turned to the throne.
“Let’s go.”
Nodding, Haley hurried down the steps to his side.
“Damian!” Lucifer’s voices cracked with his scream. “You signed in blood, my son.” He coughed as he struggled to stand. “You are bound by blood.”
Haley hid behind Damian’s rigid form.
“I wanted you to believe you had chosen this path on your own, but I didn’t anticipate the witch clawing her way into your head again. You didn’t read the scrolls I gave you? They are the guidelines by which you are to rule.”
“I don’t need fucking guidelines.”
“You came to me, Damian. Broken. Ready to end your own life. Raden had killed her.” Lucifer centered his bulging eyes on Haley. “The witch with the royal magic. The queen. It’s her fucking golden powers that get you, boy. They blind you. You begged me to spare her life. In return, you’d ascend to the throne under my terms. You signed in your own fresh blood.” He grabbed a roll of parchment from the high priest and gestured toward the dark red stain at the bottom of the paper. “I changed the clock back to the time before you’d joined Adversus. The witch was to live her life separate from you. And you are to rule Hell under my orders.”
Damian snatched the paper from his claws and studied it. He shook his head slowly. “Six years from now?”
Haley clutched the robe tighter around her. The strange visions… Were they memories? Of their future?
“Oh my God.”
“Silence, witch!” Lucifer used his four arms to adjust his cloak. “She can still live without her skin, I’m sure. Our agreement remains intact.”
“You will not fucking touch her.” Damian gripped the paper in his fist. “She lives a long, healthy life or I will end us all.”
Lucifer gritted his fangs together, an oddly-pitched growl settling in his throat as he glared at Damian. He jutted a black claw toward him. “Your cock shall never touch the queen witch’s cunt again, or I will gladly peel her apart in front of you, is that clear?”
Damian clenched his jaw in silence.
“You were not meant to be with her, Damian.” Lucifer shoved a hunchbacked demon forward. “Take her to wherever she lives.”
Tears filled Haley’s eyes as the creature advanced. She reached for Damian’s arm, but the hooded demon dragged her backward.
“Wait.” She swallowed, desperate.
Lucifer hissed. “Get her out of my sight!”
Damian stood stone still, refusing to look at her as she stumbled toward the door. The demon prodded her along, and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Damian. The moving shadow surrounding him seemed to darken. The shock of Lucifer’s revelation had barely set in. She couldn’t just leave him forever. She had to at least say goodbye.
“Wait!” Haley pushed the monster holding her, struggling to move past him. He knocked her to the floor with a snarl. More demons swarmed around her.
“I need to…I need to talk to him.” She fought their clutching hold, but they shoved her through the door, and it slammed shut.
They wordlessly pushed her along, moving toward an approaching high priest in thick velvet robes.
She crumpled to the floor. “Please, I need to talk to him.”
The priest knelt in front of her and held her temples with wrinkled hands. “Where do you live, child?”
“Please, just let me say goodbye.”
His lips curved into a little smile. “I will find it in your memories.”
She continued to whimper as shadowy clouds formed around her.
The billowing darkness faded. Haley blinked away her tears and pulled her knees close to her chest. Sunlight shone into her bedroom, and a light breeze rustled through a tree outside the window. She was home.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Whose house is this again?” Haley studied the gate as Aimee pulled into the driveway of a large mansion in North Seattle. She’d seen the iron enclosure before. Probably another memory from her erased future.
“Noah Andrews, remember? You met him once, I think. Apparently he’s got a rich roommate or something.” Aimee parked at the end of the crowded driveway and fluffed up her heavy dark locks. “Maybe we’ll meet some hot soldiers.”
Haley gazed silently out the window at the familiar landscape.
“Please try to have a good time at this party, Hales.”
“OK.”
“You’ve been home for months, but it feels like we never really got you back.”
“I know.”
“I just want you to be happy again.”
Haley nodded with a smile. “It’ll be fun.”
Aimee winked. “That’s my girl.”
Haley adjusted her skirt as they headed toward the large front door. She breathed in the warm night air and climbed the front steps. She knew the house, it held some strong significance for her other self. None of that mattered; this was her reality now. In her other life, she’d gotten herself killed. Damian had saved her from death with his sacrifice. She should be grateful, enjoying her second chance at life, but she felt heartbroken. Her very existence seemed wrong.
Loud music and voices blared inside the huge house. A large indoor gym had been converted into a temporary dance floor, flashing with colorful lights and hazy with smoke. After a few shots of whiskey, time disappeared, and Haley let the music move through her, healing her as she danced, invisible in the dark room.
Hours later, Aimee went upstairs with the guy she’d been dancing with, and Haley decided to find the kitchen in the giant place. Standing in front of the sink, she drank a glass of water. The room calmed her somehow, but the sensation seemed just out of reach. Her thoughts began to turn dark, and she pushed away the feeling. She’d had too much to drink. She needed to sleep.
Warm lips ran along her inner thigh, and she smiled in the darkness. His hot breath moved closer to her sex.
“Let’s take these off, OK girl?” Large, brawny hands slid her panties down her legs. “Yeah, you just need a nice hard dick inside you…”
“Mmm.”
“I know you’ve always had a thing for me, Haley.” He kissed her shaved skin and ran his tongue over her pussy lips. “I think you’re so fuckin’ hot.”
She still wore her heels. The night’s events slowly came back to her and Haley opened her eyes. Suddenly alert, she sat up, squinting in the dark. A m
an with thick dark hair pressed his face between her thighs. She gasped and shoved him away. Her powers flashed a golden blaze, burning his forehead and some of his hair. He shrieked and violently bit down on her soft inner thigh.
“Bitch!” Holding his head, he hit her across the face, and she wobbled to the floor.
She had fallen asleep on a couch in a deserted room in the mansion. The man’s deep voice was familiar. His overly large frame loomed over her.
“Talis?”
“You fucking burned my face!” He grabbed for her, and Haley scrambled backward. “Come here, bitch.”
She flew out the door and maneuvered through the crowds with Talis close behind. As she approached the living room area, he disappeared. She rushed to the front door. Outside in the still night, she took long, steady breaths. Her thigh throbbed in pain, wet with blood. She lifted her skirt and cringed at the deep bite wound.
She started toward Aimee’s car where she’d left her cell phone. Ginger was in Italy, and she couldn’t call either of her brothers. They would have too many questions. She would just call a cab. Wandering down the driveway, the surroundings sparked an intense longing in her spirit. She clutched her chest, trying to block out the feelings.
Metal clanked in the distance behind her, and she turned. Up ahead, the garage door was open and well-lit inside. A blue-and-white 1970s Chevelle sat on a car-lift with the hood open. Damian stood beside it, cleaning his hands with a rag.
She couldn’t move, watching in silence as he sifted through tools in the garage. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt that stretched over his broad chest. The muscles in his arms flexed as he worked underneath the raised car. Blinking, Haley continued to watch him. She would turn around and leave. That was the right thing to do, never to come near the cursed house again.
Damian glanced down the driveway. He lowered his arms, still holding the wrench, and stared for a moment. Her pulse quickened as she held his gaze. It probably appeared as if she’d hunted him down.
Talis burst out onto the front porch, flocked by four large men. “There she is.”
They sprinted toward her, and she spun around, her high heels slowing her run.
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