by Jacey Ward
“We will need a room for longer than an hour,” he clipped out. “Possibly a week.”
Nathaniel placed several hundred dollars on the counter but the man behind the desk was unimpressed.
“I will see what I have available,” he choked. “But you will need a credit card, sir.”
Nathaniel’s brow furrowed, and he glanced at Mari who was equally perplexed.
“I am not familiar with this credit card,” Nathaniel replied. “What is it?”
It was clear the clerk was losing his patience.
“I don’t have time for this game, sir. If you do not have a credit card, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
Nathaniel stood, unsure if he was being dismissed. They had never been refused service at a hotel, but this was also the first establishment they had been inside which seemed a palace fit for the king of Prussia.
“What seems to be the problem, Joel?”
A man appeared behind the clerk and shook his head.
His nametag read “Manager.”
“Sir, this…couple does not have a credit card and I am simply informing them that even if we have availability, they cannot have a room.”
The manager smiled at Nathaniel.
“Is that true, sir?” he asked. Nathaniel noted how dark his eyes appeared to be, despite the bright lighting of the lobby.
They almost seemed like ebony globes and for a moment, Nathaniel was at a loss for words as he stared.
“It’s true!” Joel snapped as if annoyed at being second guessed.
“Well,” the manager said, turning to the computer. “How long of a stay are you looking for?”
“Damien!” Joel cried, aghast that his boss seemed to be entertaining the thought of giving them a room. “It’s against – “
“Joel, I can handle this,” Damien said in a clipped tone. “That will be all.”
Joel’s mouth dropped open, but he reluctantly rose, shooting everyone a dirty look before he stormed off.
“Forgive Joel,” the manager said smoothly. “Sometimes he forgets it is our goal to please the client.”
Nathaniel did not reply but at his side, he felt Mari step slightly closer as if she detected something she did not like.
There was also something tickling the corners of Nathaniel’s mind, but he was far too distracted with his quest to worry himself with the comings and goings of common people.
“Ah, here we are!” Damien announced. “I have a beautiful suite that is open for the next seven days. Will that suffice?”
Nathaniel nodded slowly.
“Yes,” he replied quietly. “Thank you for your trouble.”
Damien grinned, retrieving a key card and walking around the desk to meet them.
“I will show you to your room.”
On his way past, Damien swiped the cash sitting on the counter and tucked it away in his pocket, but Nathaniel made no comment.
This is why Mary and Joseph were rejected at the inn, he thought, smirking. They had no money to give the concierge.
It didn’t matter to Nathaniel.
As long as they had a room in which to sleep, he did not care what the manager did with the money. Currency had no use to him once he left the earthly realm, after all.
They stepped onto the elevator and Nathaniel felt his heart lurch at the foreign feeling.
Again, Mari pressed herself close to him and he noticed that she fingered the gold crucifix around her neck nervously.
I would have thought that she would be more comfortable in a hotel, he mused but he had to admit, he was curious about her behavior. He had never seen her act so ill-at-ease.
And I have had her in some rather compromising positions, he thought wickedly.
He didn’t have time to think about it and as the elevator opened on the top floor, Damien led them toward the far end of the hall.
“If you should need anything,” he said. “I am at your disposal.”
He placed the key card in the door and opened it, smiling broadly as they stepped inside.
To his surprise, Damien reached into his jacket and withdrew the bills, holding them out.
“You will likely need this during your stay,” he explained, pressing the wad of money into Nathaniel’s reluctant palm. “Welcome to your suite, Nathaniel.”
The angel’s blood ran cold as he spun to look at manager.
Mari had already disappeared into the spacious room.
“How did you know my name?” he whispered but Damien’s beam only widened.
“I know a lot of things,” he replied easily. “Do you like your accommodations?”
“Did Michael send you?” Nathaniel asked, a slight relief and annoyance tickling him simultaneously. “Or Josiel?”
It was the only explanation he could think of.
Who else would help him and know his name?
To his surprise, Damien began to laugh.
“Michael? You believe Michael would help you?” he snorted. “What has he done for you since you have arrived back here? Hell, what has he done for you since you arrived in Heaven? You angels are such unimaginative cretins. Bah! Bah! Bah!”
Nathaniel had no response, but he could not shake the feeling that he was walking into a trap.
“Who are you?” he asked. “What do you want?”
The manager closed the door and shook his head.
“It is not what I want, Nathaniel, it is what you want,” he replied easily. “I have come to help you find your brother.”
A wave of dizziness overcame him, but Nathaniel forced himself to concentrate.
“If Michael has not sent you, why would you help me find Cassiel?”
“Papi!” Mari called from the bedroom. “Come and look at this bed!”
Nathaniel ignored her, his attention fully on the man before him.
“Because Cassiel and I have…an understanding,” Damien explained but his words did not make anything clearer for Nathaniel.
“An understanding?” Nathaniel echoed. “What does that mean?”
Damien smiled again but suddenly the angel recognized the leer in his expression.
“You do not know who I am, truly?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
A cold chill passed through Nathaniel and suddenly Mari’s apprehension became clear. He stepped back, staring at the demon, awe and fear sweeping through him.
“What do you want from me?” he whispered as the hooker called out to him again, poking her head back into the entryway.
“Go!” he yelled at her and she gaped at him, her face shocked.
“Leave us a moment, mami,” Damien encouraged her in Spanish. “We will not be a minute.”
Mari eyed them warily but obeyed the instructions.
“I want you to go to your brother as you intended,” he replied. “And stop him from making a terrible mistake.”
“What mistake?” Nathaniel asked, his voice rising an octave. “What understanding do you have?”
Damien sighed.
“Fine,” he relented. “It is not so much an understanding as it is a wager.”
None of what he said made sense and Nathaniel wondered if Michael was not playing some ridiculous joke on him, but he knew the chances were unlikely.
He would require a sense of humor to play a jest and Lord knows he does not have one. This is Satan himself.
“You must go to Cassiel and stop him from pursuing the woman he has found. You have one week to steal her from his spell.”
“His spell? What does that mean?”
“He has one week to capture her affections and you must intercede.”
“Why? How?” Nathaniel squeaked.
Damien shook his head.
“You truly are not the brains of the family, are you?” he asked. “Because if he succeeds in making this woman fall…in love with him, I will have lost the wager. And I do not lose wagers.”
The devil seemed to stutter on the “L” word.
Nathaniel studied his fa
ce, swallowing the lump in his throat.
“And if I refuse?” he asked. As the words left his lips, he wondered why he would dare argue with the lord of the underworld.
Damien’s face contorted into an ugly mask of anger and he suddenly assumed the beastly demeanor which Nathaniel had always envisioned of him.
“You will not refuse, Andreas,” he hissed. “You do not think I know about you? You are only in Heaven because you sold out your brother. You murdered that girl in a fit of anger and blamed Cassiel. What do you think God and Michael would have to say if they learned about that?”
Fear made Nathaniel weak.
“If you succeed, your secret will forever stay in the depth of hell with me but if you should fail, well, I am sure I do not need to tell you what will become of you. I will save you a seat at our biweekly poker game. You can sit beside your brother.”
Nathaniel gulped and nodded.
“I will do as you ask,” he promised. “But if she is in love with him…”
Damien laughed jovially, his face returning to the nondescript manager.
“Oh, dear boy,” he chuckled. “I would not throw you in unarmed. I bequeath you with demonic powers for the next week to get the job done. Cassiel has been forbidden from using his so you will have the upper hand in this instance. Use them wisely.”
A spark of excitement flowed through Nathaniel.
Oh, what I would do with such an advantage, he thought, licking his lips with delight. The powers of a demon without being cast to the underworld. Who else will ever receive such an opportunity. And for what? To send Cassiel back into the pits of hell where he belongs.
He found himself nodding eagerly.
“Yes!” he agreed, gooseflesh exploding over his skin. “But you must promise that when Cassiel returns to Hell, he will remain there for eternity. I do not wish to seek him out every two centuries.”
Damien nodded.
“You have my word,” he replied solemnly, and Nathaniel exhaled.
“I will do this. It will be my great honor, Lord,” he promised the demon.
Damien chortled, nodding pleasantly.
“You may call me Lucky,” he replied. “I will not be Lord for much longer.”
Nathaniel did not question his meaning.
He was already plotting what to do with his newfound powers.
Soon I will forget that Cassiel ever existed, he thought gleefully.
He could not wait to get started.
Chapter Eight
Cassiel
Serafina sat on the edge of the mattress, brushing her shoulder length hair, the muscles in her naked back flexing with each stroke.
Cassiel could not take his eyes off her beautiful frame.
The artwork tattooed delicately on her skin entranced him and he tried to memorize every detail of her body as he studied her curves.
“I can feel you staring at me,” she teased him, turning her head to glance at him over her shoulder. “If I wasn’t already naked, I would think you were undressing me with your eyes.”
He answered her question with a crushing kiss to her parted lips and she giggled.
“Have mercy on me,” she gasped. “I can barely walk, I’m so sensitive!”
Cass didn’t care. His arousal didn’t understand the word stop with this woman, and for the third time in two hours, he felt a surge of heat to his cock. It wasn’t like any arousal he had experienced before, but he didn’t stop to overanalyze it as he leaned her back onto the bed, pinning her to the mattress as he straddled her with his own muscular body.
She squealed lightly, her lips parting as she stared at him with green, intelligent eyes. He sensed the wisdom in them as well as the beauty.
The realization that he was attracted to all parts of her only made him grow harder.
“I’m serious,” she murmured, but her tongue jutted out to meet his before his face sank into her silken neck, hands scooping beneath her to spread her cheeks apart as he slid his growing member across her slit.
“Hmm?”
“I’m tired,” she muttered, but the argument lacked any conviction as her breath hitched and a small moan escaped her as his mouth travelled across her collarbone, tasting the lingering sweat on her body as he worked his way lower to meet her swelling breasts.
Serafina’s hands twined into his hair and she groaned softly, bucking her chest upward as he nipped at her teasingly, but there were no more protests from her as she guided him across her belly toward the throbbing center between her legs. Cassiel in clothing was already too hot to handle, but naked Cass? Devastating.
“Oh God,” she sighed, and Cass spread her thighs apart, breathing deeply at the sweetness of her core as his tongue lashed out to taste her in long, firm strokes.
She quivered beneath him, his fingers sliding along the crack of her lush ass to toy with her openings while his tongue moved deeper.
Instantly he was rewarded with her hot juice while Sera tensed beneath him, her own hands tightening in his hair.
He barely noticed the grip, his laps grew more intense, relishing the jerks of her body as he brought her toward yet another orgasm.
“Please, fuck me,” she gasped when he suctioned on her swollen clit, the pleasurable pain almost unbearable. But he did not immediately obey.
He wanted to make her as desperate to take him as he always seemed to be to have her.
Cass’ actions were rewarded as a keening cry escaped Sera’s lips and she abruptly bucked upward, his tongue thrusting against her too-sensitive clit, but she didn’t seem to object as he slipped two fingers inside her to drive her completely to the edge.
“Please!” she whimpered but he wasn’t finished torturing her yet.
Slowly, he dipped a finger inside her, raising his head as she gushed over him, his hand soaked in her nectar.
His organ was raw and rigid, ready to plunge into her again and again.
He raised his body to lick at her parted lips, savoring the sultry and slightly desperate expression on her face as she silently begged him for more.
She gazed up at him with wide, awe-filled eyes as he slid his enormous shaft inside her and she choked as if it was the first time again, her core closing tightly around him to suck him in completely.
Cass grunted slightly, feeling himself become larger as he filled her entirely.
Her eyes were enormous, imploring with him, as his cock increased its punishing speed, the depths of his thrusts reaching that special place deep inside her. Sera’s cries grew louder in his ears.
He didn’t want to stop, his pleasure mounting with each penetrating jab, but he knew his resolve would be short lived after so many rounds, especially as Serafina’s body locked him in completely.
Her legs were circled around his waist like a vice, her center like a vacuum for his hardness.
Sack slapping against the sensitive skin of her sculpted buttocks, Cass felt himself shudder as his own climax erupted into her.
Serafina’s nails dug into his muscular shoulders as their cries escalated, her hips rising to meet him and together they clenched, their bodies quivering as they reached a peak higher than any other before. He exhaled as she continued to tremble beneath him, her whimpers subsiding but still ringing in his ears.
How could it possibly get better each time? This wasn’t normal, they both thought to themselves.
“Jesus Christ,” she moaned as he reluctantly withdrew his shrinking shaft from her. Serafina’s body clenched hard once more, trying to keep him inside.
A small smile toyed on his lips as he propped himself up to stare into her face pensively.
“What are you grinning at?” she asked almost sullenly as her eyes met his.
“Why are you not wed?”
The question made her laugh.
“Because I’m only twenty-six,” she replied. “And the prospects suck. Have you tried dating lately? The internet is the worst. People think they can get away with saying anything! And Tinder…don’
t get me started on Tinder…”
“But you would like to marry?” he asked. He could sense her growing tense.
“Not really,” she replied tightly, her green eyes narrowing slightly. “You’re not going to go all ‘stage five clinger’ on me, are you?”
Cassiel didn’t understand the inquiry but he suspected the correct answer was no and he said as much.
“I’m not looking for anything serious,” she continued but there was a wistfulness in her voice which was undeniable.
“Why not?”
She fully turned, her dark red hair resting atop her folded hands and peered at him with curious eyes.
“I don’t do relationships well,” she answered slowly. “I’ve never had anyone teach me how. My home life was pretty shitty and honestly, I’ve always been better on my own.”
She seemed embarrassed by the confession and her cheeks stained pink. What the hell? Why was she telling him this stuff? She never talked about personal stuff with her hook-ups. And truly, it didn’t matter that he was off the charts gorgeous, and that he seemed to be able to read her with just a look. Well, at least it shouldn’t matter…dammit.
Quickly she turned her head and looked back toward the wall.
“That was TMI. Anyway…”
Cassiel came over and cradled her face between his hands, connecting them with a solid gaze.
“I could show you,” he said softly, drawing her in and sliding his hand down the smooth skin of her cheek. The expression in his grey eyes was ernest, and she felt something deep inside her shift into place. The sense of rightness scared her more than anything though.
To his surprise, she jerked away, scowling with annoyance.
“Don’t get too attached,” she said brusquely, rising from the bed and moving out of his reach. “You’re only going to leave disappointed.”
Cassiel felt a stab of concern by her words. Leave? He was not going to leave.
“I find that difficult to believe,” he told her firmly. “And I don’t think you believe it either.”
Serafina’s mouth became a firm line and she shook her head.
“You have known me for all of three hours,” she scoffed. “You don’t know anything about me, except maybe that I like being taken from behind,” she said crudely.
