This was fast becoming a day full of grand mistakes. He had thought that she would wreak less havoc if he carried her on his back, not more. The way she pressed into him and the feel of her inner thighs against his hips and her arms around his neck had him thinking about her in a reversed position, against his front, and naked. He growled at the thought of sliding his cock in and out of her hot sheath, her breathy moans in his ear and body trembling with pleasure.
“Veiron?” she murmured.
Veiron struggled to clear the image of making love to her from his head.
Something shrieked in the distance.
That did it.
He bolted up the slope to the path, clutching Erin’s hot soft thighs as she clung to him for dear life. The moment he hit the flat, he broke into a sprint.
Erin moved against his back, twisting away from him.
“Veiron?” she said, a note of panic in her voice. “Can you run any faster?”
“Three of them?”
She buried her face against his back.
“No... it’s more like twenty.”
Veiron growled. Fuck it. Desperate times and all that shit. They already knew where he was. Maybe he could lose them or at least slow them down.
He released one of Erin’s thighs and held his hand out in front of him, focusing a short distance ahead. The landscape there shimmered and distorted, and then disintegrated into curling black smoke. Erin’s arms tightened to a death grip on his throat that choked him.
“What the hell is that?” she shrieked close to his ear.
Veiron grinned as the portal erupted into fierce white flames.
“Our ticket out of here.”
CHAPTER 7
Erin had screamed at the top of her lungs from the moment Veiron had leapt headlong into a flaming vortex until they had exited it in another area of Hell. He hadn’t stopped there. He had produced another wall that had the look of a painful death if you made even the slightest mistake and leapt straight into that one. They had done the sickening jump several times and had eventually ended up next to another of the small groups of buildings that were scattered around the black and fiery landscape of Hell.
Veiron didn’t make another vortex this time. He ran with her through the village, heading up a winding wide road that led towards a plateau that had a sheer drop into the buildings on the left and a huge wall on the right.
Erin felt sick.
With all the jumping from one place to another and the fear that churned her stomach to acid, she was close to throwing up all over Veiron. She didn’t think he would appreciate it.
He set her down on the wide ledge that overlooked the village and walked towards a huge stone arch cut into the sheer black wall that rose up into the endless darkness above her.
“Is this a gate?” she said, unwilling to let herself believe that she was this close to freedom until Veiron confirmed it.
He nodded. Erin’s knees weakened. Veiron was there before they gave out, his arm around her waist, holding her steady. She cursed herself for looking so weak in front of him and clutched his biceps, breathing slowly to calm her feelings. A gate. She couldn’t believe it. She had thought her nightmare would never end and now she was on the verge of escaping Hell.
Erin slowly raised her eyes to meet Veiron’s dark ones, waiting for him to call her weak again. He didn’t. His expression remained soft but intense, edged with warmth that sent her temperature rising and tempted her to drop her gaze to his mouth, lift her lips to his and kiss him.
“It isn’t the gate we were supposed to use. Your sister isn’t on the other side.” His deep voice sent her insides trembling and increased the temptation to look at his mouth.
“Why can’t you zap us to that gate?”
He shook his head, released her waist, and a solemn look entered his eyes. “Amelia and Marcus are waiting there. If I teleport to that gate, then I’ll be leading the Devil’s army straight to her location. I came here to save you so the Devil wouldn’t find her, so he couldn’t kill her.”
“I get it.” Erin took his hand, marvelling at how small it made hers look, and squeezed it to let him know he didn’t need to explain. She understood. If they went to that gate, the demons would follow them and find Amelia. She would have to wait to see her sister again.
She stroked her thumb along the length of his. Maybe waiting wouldn’t be such a bad thing, if Veiron stayed with her until he reunited her with Amelia. Erin could certainly think of some delicious ways to pass the time. Would he stay with her? His mission had been to free her from Hell. When they reached her world, that mission would be over. Wouldn’t it?
“What happens when we go through the gate?” she said, struggling to get her voice above a whisper when fear of his answer squeezed her heart.
He glanced down at their joined hands, and then back into her eyes.
“When we reach the other side, we can’t stop running. Hopping around might have thrown them off my scent for now, but it won’t take them long to discover which gate we used. They will come after us.” Veiron led her towards the huge stone arch. Liquid darkness filled it, inky and rippling, reflecting the fires of Hell that glowed behind her. “I will find a way to get you safely to Amelia.”
Erin nodded and took comfort from his words. He was going to stay with her and help her and she was glad because she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him yet. The more time she spent with Veiron, the more she wanted to get to know him and unlock his secrets. He had risked everything to help her escape, had revealed himself by using his powers and placed himself in danger. She was grateful to him for that, but it wasn’t the reason she wanted to kiss him as she looked up at him, lost in his dark eyes.
He had tasted so good in her dream, had felt so good as he moved above her, his eyes locked on hers, body gliding in and out, taking her to Heaven.
He scared her but he fascinated her too, and spoke to everything that was woman inside her. He was lethal beauty and deadly grace, vicious yet tender, a world of contradictions wrapped in a body that was all honed muscle and masculine strength. A body she wanted to touch and a soul she wanted to taste in a passionate kiss that she knew would ruin her to all other men.
Veiron’s hand shifted. “Take a deep breath.”
Erin did, but purely because it hitched when his long fingers entwined with hers, locking their hands tightly together.
He stepped into the wobbling wall of black and slowly disappeared, swallowed by it. Erin followed him, their linked hands disappearing first and her arm following it. The inky liquid was hot against her skin. She sucked in another sharp breath, closed her eyes and stepped into the gate.
Cool air froze her bare skin.
“You can open your eyes now.” Veiron’s deep voice curled around her, chasing the chill away.
Erin slowly opened her eyes and couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
London.
She would recognise this city anywhere.
Home.
She stared out from the mouth of a narrow alley at the mixture of building styles that lined Oxford Street, the wintry cold night lost on her as the sight of her city warmed her. White lights twinkled in the leafless trees dotted along the pavements and decorations hung from lampposts that stood on small islands in the centre of the road. Shop windows declared fantastic savings in the Boxing Day sales.
When she had been taken to Hell, it had been early November. How long had she been gone?
Erin stepped out onto the wide path that lined the street and then looked back at Veiron.
“Time moves strangely in Hell,” he said as though he had read her thoughts.
A passing group of men raked confused but hungry eyes over her and then raised their eyebrows at Veiron. The chill came back, numbing her bare legs and arms. Veiron didn’t seem to notice the cold.
Erin looked over her shoulder at the men just as they looked back at her. Their eyes widened when they saw the sword strapped to her back.
“We should keep moving,” Veiron said and before she could agree, he scooped her up into his arms.
Erin couldn’t stop herself from snuggling into him, as close to his chest as she could get. He was warm, radiating heat that kept the chill off her exposed skin and she liked it. He held her close to him and strode down a side street, heading away from the main road and into the heart of the Soho district.
“Where are we going?” she said and looked up at him, studying his focused expression. He had looked stern enough when they had been in Hell. He looked even more alert now and something told her that it wasn’t because he was waiting for the demons to find them again. Didn’t he like it on Earth? “We could go to my place and I could get some clothes.”
That got his attention. He looked down at her, eyes black in the low light from the streetlamps. She didn’t need to see them clearly to feel the heat of his gaze and she didn’t hide her desire from him. Getting clothes wasn’t the only reason she wanted to convince him to come back to her loft apartment. In fact, they were last on the list of things she wanted to do when she got there. Number one was getting naked. Number two was getting Veiron naked. Three would take them to the shower under the pretence of getting the ash of Hell off their skin. Four would lead that passion party into the bedroom. Five was getting fresh clothes on her body, preferably the morning after a marathon lovemaking session with the sexy hunk of fallen angel who had his arms wrapped tightly around her.
“No way,” he grumbled and strode on as though she had never mentioned hitting her place or suggested with a wicked smile that she would make it worth his while.
Erin blew out a sigh. How could someone so good-looking be so damn stubborn? He was fallen so he couldn’t pull the virtuous thing. Surely all those morals and things people associated with angels had burned to ashes during his time in Hell?
“So where are we going?” she said and he turned down another side street, a darker one this time that had her edging closer to him. His legs hit the sword strapped to her back whenever he took a step. He wanted to avoid the bad guys but it would be the police they would have to avoid if many more people saw her walking around with a huge sword. Or being carried around anyway.
By a bare-chested dark beauty.
Her toes curled and warmth purred through her. Damn, there had to be a way to convince Veiron that hitting her place would be a really great thing.
“Veiron?” she said.
“No. Remember what happened the last time you were there? They will be monitoring your apartment.”
When he put it like that.
“Will I at least be able to get some clothes where we’re going? And some food and water? Basic necessities?” she snapped and his dark gaze fell to her bare legs, slid slowly over their lengths until they reached her bandaged feet, and then raked back up, lingering on her sleep shorts and top.
“I will do all I can.” He didn’t sound very inclined to make a sincere effort.
Erin supposed that should please her. Veiron liked her scantily clad, and freezing. It was one thing dressing like this in Hell, where it was warm and dry, but completely another when wandering around the streets of London in the middle of a cold damp winter.
“Thank you... and again, where are you taking me?”
He grinned down at her, pure sex and sin. “Cloud Nine.”
Now that was a look she liked on him and a place she would gladly let him take her.
He picked up the pace, passing several clubs and bars where patrons spilled out onto the streets despite the frigid weather. They gained a few curious looks from men and women. Erin ignored them. It wasn’t every day that a sword-wielding barely-dressed woman was carried past you by a topless man with the body of a god. She would have stared too.
They rounded a few more corners and ended up on a very dank narrow street. Music pounded ahead and the chatter of people rose above it. Lots of people.
Veiron didn’t slow when he turned the next corner. A queue lined one side of the street, flowing towards her from the bright neon sign on the featureless brick wall of Cloud Nine. Half-dressed men and women cast dirty looks her way. Judging by their appearances, she and Veiron were going to fit right in if they made it into the club. A three hundred plus pound bouncer blocked the door, a mountainous man who almost made Veiron look small in comparison. That was until Veiron strode right up to him, towering a good six inches taller and a few inches wider.
The man didn’t give Veiron a dirty look. The black look in his dull pale eyes was positively friendly compared with the one he cast at her.
“Sinking low, my man.” His voice was so deep it rumbled through her.
Erin glared at him.
“Mind your tongue,” Veiron snarled and the man shrugged thick hewn shoulders and grunted as he shifted aside enough for Veiron to pass.
Veiron kicked the black doors open and music assaulted her, ear-splitting in volume and with bass so heavy it pounded in her chest and made her feel sick. She covered one ear with her hand and pressed the other against Veiron’s bare chest. His heart thumped steadily against it.
He manoeuvred through the dense crowd with her, his height giving her a clear view over the heads of most of the patrons to the dance floor. Dear God. What sort of pervert club was this? There was a little more than the usual groping and snogging going on. The men and women on the dance floor were close to taking things deep into the indecent exposure list of crimes.
Veiron covered her eyes.
It was too late. The sight of the near-orgy happening on the dance floor was seared on her eyeballs.
She grabbed his arm and pulled his hand away from her eyes. He scowled down at her. A threat? Was she supposed to interpret that look as a warning not to gawp at the perversion playing out all around her?
Score two for Erin. She had the man jealous. Why couldn’t she get the man naked? That was what she wanted to know.
He strolled through the crowd and Erin watched how they parted, fascinated by their reactions to Veiron. As he approached, everyone turned to stare at him, fear in their eyes, and moved aside, giving him a wide berth. She looked up at his face. He was scowling and his eyes looked crimson in the flashing lights of the club. Not just the usual touch of red that edged them at times, but complete saturation.
Veiron’s gaze remained firmly fixed ahead. They walked in line with the long curved black bar to his right. Bright colourful bottles lined the mirrored wall behind it and spotlights switched from white to blue to purple to red, washing the bartenders in those colours. Erin caught sight of her reflection, and frowned. She looked around and stared at a beautiful dark-haired woman as she passed. This one didn’t look afraid of Veiron.
The woman tossed a flirty smile in his direction. Veiron didn’t seem to notice.
Another one further in tried her luck but Veiron turned away and set Erin down beside the bar, his back to the blonde beauty. Erin positively seethed. What had the world come to when a man carrying a woman was still a target for whores?
Bitches.
Veiron leaned across Erin, his body shielding her from the brunt of the crowd, and flagged one of the bartenders, a young handsome brunet. “Water.”
Erin closed her eyes and melted at the thought. Water. She had never been one for her eight glasses a day but she had found a new love for plain boring water.
The man slid a tall cold glass across the black bar top to her. Erin stared at the clear liquid, mesmerised and deeply in love. She wasn’t sure whether to drink it in one gulp or savour it slowly like a fine wine.
She grabbed the glass and gulped it down. The cold hurt her teeth but she didn’t care. Veiron chuckled and she stopped, and slid her gaze across to him. He smiled at her, devastating, too sexy for words, and reached out. His hand was warm against her face and tender as he brushed his thumb across her cheek.
“Do you want to clean up?”
Did she ever. Even what was likely to be a grotty club bathroom seemed like a luxury spa to her right
now.
“I’ll take that dreamy smile as a yes,” he said with a smile of his own and motioned to the bartender again. The man returned with a whole pitcher of icy water this time.
“On the house, Vay.” He grinned across the bar top at her. “You look as though you need it.”
Veiron grabbed him before he could leave. “You seen V around here tonight?”
The man nodded and pointed further along the bar.
“My gratitude, my man.” Veiron patted him on the back.
“So, Vay, who’s V?” Erin grinned when he scowled at her. “I take it I’m not allowed to call you Vay?”
He shrugged. “I would rather you called me Veiron.”
Erin frowned and poured herself another glass of water. “Be like that.”
Veiron huffed. “God Almighty, you are infuriating. It isn’t like that.” He rested an elbow on the black bar top, bringing him down to close to her height. “I don’t really like the nickname. Satisfied?”
“Not really. Why let people call you it if you don’t like it?” People had tried to pin her with nicknames and she had shot them all down, even the pet names her parents had used for her. Erin was a perfectly good name. Amelia didn’t seem to mind when people shortened her name. Each to their own.
“It pays to be friendly sometimes.” He sighed and scratched the thick stubble coating his straight jaw. What would he look like without those whiskers? He was handsome enough with them. Without them, he could probably lay waste to women with just a wink and a smile. “I’m not exactly welcome here.”
“Now I’m satisfied. So who is V?” She swigged her water, the cool liquid like bliss on her tongue and parched throat. She never wanted to drink anything other than fresh cold water for the rest of her life.
“Someone I don’t want you to meet but I think it wise that we stick together, at least until I know it’s safe here.” He straightened, his dark expression conveying the equally black feelings behind his words. Not jealousy this time. Not fear. A strange mixture of those two emotions, plus wariness and other ones that made him look as though keeping her with him was a struggle and all he wanted to do was keep her out of sight while he spoke to this V character.
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) Page 7
