Born of Fire
Page 10
“I need you to fill me,” I admitted and moved my hips, grinding them closer to his face.
‘No,” he said. “No, you do not need that to gain satisfaction,” he corrected.
He guided my hand back to my soaking flesh and used my hand to stroke over it.
“Touch here,” he said, moving my hand above my opening, pressing down to trace firm circles on top of my fingers. “Like this.” He continued to press into the small ball of nerves until a jolt of pleasure forced my hand away.
“Continue,” he instructed. “And you will gain the knowledge to rule your own world.” He moved my hand back to the hidden pearl beneath my skin.
In a slow rhythmic pattern he taught me how to pleasure myself. Waves of ecstasy coiled up my body until the pent-up pressure built to such an intensity that I thought I’d pass out.
“Don’t stop.” His voice thrummed over me, husky and low.
I rubbed harder...faster, the heat rising in my body as I bucked my hips. I lost track of everything around me, harder...faster. My hips moved under my hand until a release spilled from my body, coating my thighs, and I plunged my fingers deep inside myself and cried out in gratification. Stunned, I rolled my head from side to side keeping my fingers deep in my opening as my body tightened and released around them in waves of intense satisfaction.
I pulled them out and raised my head then stared at Lucifer through half-hooded eyes. A sly smile played across his face.
The look in his gaze reminded me of the predators stalking the deers, yet I wanted to be his prey. I yearned to be caught in his snare, for him to pounce on me and devour my aching flesh over and over again.
I thrust my fingers to his lips. He grabbed my wrist and licked my fingers never looking away from where our eyes locked. He sucked hard, moving his body over my own and on top of me. The sensation of his weight against me sent pulsating waves through my core and my body tightened again. I thrust the fingers of my other hand inside myself, harder...faster, as Lucifer kissed my neck.
Every muscle in my body contracted at his kiss until I peaked and released underneath him without him ever entering me. Moans of pleasure poured from my lips as my body twitched at the slightest touch of his hand.
Although fulfilled, hot tears spilled from my eyes. I wasn’t sad, nor regretful, yet the tears flowed steady from me without reason other than the overwhelming beauty of it all.
Lucifer wiped them away and studied my face. “Why are you crying?” he asked as if he knew the source of my tears.
“I don’t know why.” I admitted, shaking my head. My hands trembled as I wrapped them around the back of his head.
“You have experienced that sacred place where beauty and sexual satisfaction meet and you almost glimpsed the Heavens.” He brushed the hair from my eyes. “It’s as close to experiencing the Creator’s love as you will ever get,” he said and frowned. “I can show you that love in all its forms.” He paused and blew out a deep sigh. “But I can never take you there.”
I didn’t understand his full meaning. Surely, I knew I couldn’t ascend to the Heavens like Mercy. Did he mean he could never take me to the Heavens or he could never take me there sexually, by joining with me as one. Confused, I kissed his lips and closed my eyes. And sleep crept up on me before I could ask him the question.
Every muscle in my body ached, yet I felt totally relaxed and lighter. Stretching my arms over my head and my legs straight out in front of me, I wiggled my toes before I realized I was alone in Lucifer’s bed. I sucked in a deep breath, almost a little relieved to have been granted the space to process everything that happened the previous night.
A smile in my heart made its way up to my face, and I giggled. Lucifer! My life had been so unhappy until my dear sweet Lucifer took me to the Heavens with the touch of my own hand. To think that I’d never have to rely on Adam to bring me the pleasure he did not know how to share. I jumped from the bed, elated, and twirled about the room laughing. My body…my body. It belonged to me and me alone, and now I truly was its master. My hands fell down toward the spot of my fulfillment, but then I reconsidered and decided to find Lucifer to shower him with kisses for teaching me one of the mysteries of life.
Darkness came and went two times, and I still hadn’t found Lucifer. The heaviness in my heart spread to my body and my limbs grew heavy and weakened. I lay in the bed that we’d shared for one precious Dark cycle, unable to find the energy to move.
My hand brushed over the spot where his body had lain in its magnificent glory and traced the outline as if he were there. His muscles, tan and powerful, flashed as the most vivid of images through my mind. Our bodies tangled together in raw heat while he taught me to care for my own needs.
An overwhelming anguish hit me, and I let out a low, guttural howl that rose in pitch and intensity. So much so that I jumped from the bed. My eyes squeezed shut tight to prevent the tears but they came with such force I wailed and keened as they flooded my face. I wanted to cry out to the Heavens, but something stopped me. The Heavens.
Lucifer’s words flooded my mind and almost knocked me over as reality tumbled over me like heavy waves beating me down. I can show you that love in all its forms, but I can never take you there.
He’d left me alone in this prison of paradise and returned to the Heavens. Without me, just as he’d said. Anger filled my heart, raising pressure inside as if I were filled with too much air. A rageful protest tumbled in my belly and spun upward clawing at my throat until it spewed out of my mouth in loud vengeful screams. My throat burned and I coughed hard choking back the tears until no more fell from my eyes.
Then a new revelation stunned me. I fell silent, staring at nothing—not even blinking—unable to move as if my limbs were frozen.
He took Lucifer… He took Lucifer from me!
He’d never leave me like this of his own will. I knew in my heart it was true. The Creator took him from me. I fell back on the bed, clutching at my belly.
“No! No, no,” I wailed, rocking side to side until all my energy drained from me, and I fell into a fitful sleep.
Darkness had fallen over the cave for the third time since Lucifer left me and I knew I couldn’t stay here, alone forever. The thought occurred to me that maybe the Creator had taken Adam too and left me here all alone as he apportioned his punishment. But a strange calm came over me as Lucifer’s words whispered in my mind.
Rule your own world.
As the light of the sun filtered in, it ushered with it new hope, and courage filled my heart. I picked up a palm frond and studied it, twisting and bending it to make a form to cover my body. Fashioning coverings helped take my mind off my loneliness. As much as I dreaded it, I knew Adam—if he were still here—would be worried and upset. I had to know if I now lived in this so called paradise alone or still had him to deal with.
No longer would I let him push me around or grab at my body at his whim. Lucifer might have been gone, but his words remained.
Rule your own world he told me, and that was exactly what I intended to do.
Lilith
The sun fell behind the horizon, streaking the sky in hues of pink and purple. A slight breeze ushered in the dusk, filling my nostrils with scents of honeysuckle and sage. Despite being here with Adam, peaceful feelings settled in as I watched the night sky from my bed of ferns and moss. He’d treated me kindly since my return, but a cool indifference hung in my heart. He’d broken my horn and tried to throw me in the fire—something I wasn’t willing to forgive. I was stuck here but not with him.
As the darkness descended, twinkles of light popped throughout the night sky. I tried to count the stars, to take my mind off my predicament, but they multiplied faster than I could keep track. Fascinated by the magic, I asked Adam how the stars hung anchored in the night, but he couldn’t tell me. I didn’t even know why I’d asked.
Lucifer would know.
My heart felt as if it dropped from my body. An unrelenting pain filled me as the loss of
Lucifer sunk into my being. At the realization I may never see Mercy again either, I clutched my stomach, winding my arms around my middle as if to hold myself together. New waves of pain raged through me as a numbing tingle ran across my chest growing in intensity as if it would burst my heart wide open. I may never see them again.
Tears formed in my eyes, but I turned my head to hide them from Adam. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my pain. My only hope was Mercy would come back, and I silently prayed she would bring the answers as to how we’d get Lucifer home.
My eyes followed a bright flash of fire as it streaked across the darkened sky before it fell from my view, disappearing behind the hillside. An intense white burst lit up the area before it flashed along the horizon. My mouth gaped open in surprise. I jumped to my feet and gathered myself to investigate this wonder, but Adam didn’t move.
“What are you doing? Didn’t you just see that?” I gave his shoulder a small shake. “We can’t just lie here and pretend to be asleep. We’ve got to go and see why the sky is falling.” I tugged his hand, but he shook off my grasp.
I turned my gaze back to the darkened hillside. It looked perfectly normal now, as if nothing had been disturbed or touched, but apprehension stretched delicate, silken strands in my chest. Adam had said the Creator would rain down punishment on me for what I’d done with Lucifer, and maybe for once he was right about something. But I lifted my chin and shook off the fear. No. My mind was mine, my body was mine. I ruled my own world. And right now I needed to check a disturbance in it.
I looked again at Adam. “You coming?”
“It is safer for you if we stay here.” Lines of displeasure on his face deepened into a frown.
I ignored his attempt to cover his fear. “I’m going.”
Adam’s eyes grew so wide I could see white all around his irises. He grabbed my arm, digging his clenched fingers into my flesh. "Do not go," he hissed. His panic begged me to listen.
But I jerked away and rushed toward the point of impact. A gentle glow had sprung up on the hillside. Fire? Fire called to me, and I willingly followed it. Adam trailed behind me, reluctant to lead the way.
“I’m not staying by myself again. I never know what you’ll do when you go off alone,” he said.
Coward.
The faster I trod, the more he lagged. He mumbled excuses, which I ignored. I no longer tolerated Adam well. In fact, I’d grown to despise his feeble attempt to cover his weak-willed ways.
But my opinion of Adam mattered less and less. I ruled my own world.
Even still, my heartbeat quickened in dread with each step, fearing the Creator was punishing me as He had Lucifer. Yet intuitively, I knew I had to go.
I trudged up the embankment to find out what fell from the Heavens. Surely the Creator wouldn’t send Lucifer back in such a manner? But the thought returned a quickness to my step, anyway. Maybe this wasn’t a punishment.
Once I reached higher ground, a small fire came into view, the flames licking the air with heated tongues of red and orange. Small sparks drifted towards the sky like tiny stars escaping paradise, and the wood snapped and crackled as it burned. The closer I walked to the fire, the more smoke burned my eyes and overwhelmed my lungs. Each breath became harder to endure.
Adam groaned behind me. He hadn’t appreciated the quickening of my pace as we crested the hill, but I had to know if Lucifer had returned.
I focused on the fire. Was it him? But as I watched the dancing flames, they seemed to sway and blend, forming a shape. I couldn’t tear my gaze away. It was mesmerising.
Then a raging lion, larger than any I’d ever seen, burst forth from the blaze and leapt onto the precipice of the hill, his golden fur engulfed in flames. Yet he didn’t burn as he roared loud and bold. Instead, he scanned the terrain, turning his head and taking everything in until, finally, his red eyes pierced through me. I was certain they stopped and focused on me, beckoning me to them.
The beast shook his head wildly from side to side, wisps of flame escaping into the Dark and burning for a moment more as they ascended. Confusion reigned inside me as I thought I heard my name fall from his lips when I moved closer to him, answering the call of his fire, yet only a roar crashed into my ears.
Terrified, I froze in my tracks, and my mind raced, as I scrambled to sort my thoughts about this ferocious creature. Nothing else like it existed inside my paradise. My breathing quickened, as a surge of energy coursed through my veins, pumping my heart faster. I twisted to face Adam, searching for some sort of help or guidance, but he had none to offer. He shook his head and shrugged, then looked about wildly as if searching for a path by which to escape.
Lucifer would help me!
Adam’s face drained pale. “He is here for your punishment, not mine,” he screamed as he whirled around and ran in the other direction.
I wanted to scream for him to help me and name him as the coward he always played when he deferred to me. But instinct forced me on toward the lion on the hill. I inched closer, one foot over the other, my knees slightly bent. A sharp branch on the ground caught my eye, and I picked it up then winced. What can a simple branch do to help me? An interloper had somehow gained entry to my garden, the life I ruled over, for I’d never seen a creature of fire fall from the sky. And if Adam, my so-called protector ran in fear, then perhaps this beast truly had come to cause us harm.
To punish me! The insidious voice in my mind, braver in the face of my uncertainty, whispered louder. Yes, what if the Creator had sent him? What if He’d warned Adam and Adam was simply obeying orders rather than being a coward? For the first time, my footsteps faltered.
The lion roared, shaking its head, his mane ablaze in glorious flames. Paralyzed, I contemplated my sudden urge to flee, but my body betrayed me and stood locked in place as he advanced directly toward me. Stealthy. Powerful. Predator. Each muscle in his body bunched and flexed as his hind legs and forelegs worked in tandem in his lazy pursuit of me. But his eyes watched me as if he counted my every breath and, if I so much as moved a muscle, he’d be on me in an instant.
The fear of death quickened my breathing, and in that singular moment, I was truly alive. Every pore of my body opened, each hair bristled in anticipation, as I waited for this dangerous creature to consume me.
When he closed in to pounce on me, I did the strangest thing. I stretched my arms wide as if in welcome and I swore a fiery glint lit the lion’s eyes. Sulphur hung thick in the night air and burned my eyes. I squeezed them shut tight and breathed in the smell of the fire embers. Instead of choking me, the smoke washed a strange familiarity over me, taking me back to my beginning, bringing me forward to where I was meant to be. Time stood still as I kept my eyes closed, gave in to my fate, and waited.
A mighty force knocked me to the ground, and intense, white-hot heat crushed my upper body. My eyes popped open in fear and trepidation. But also from curiosity. I had to know. What brought me such comfort when I should have felt only fear?
I gazed upward to behold the magnificent creature conquering me with one heavy paw on my chest. He changed his hold a little, tearing away the palm frond I’d fashioned to conceal my body from Adam. The lion no longer burned; the flames only danced in his amber eyes. As the smoke cleared, the wind caught his long flowing mane, moving it freely. Raising his chin to the Heavens, he loomed over me and roared. Entranced, I turned my head to the left and pressed my cheek into the cool ground, bearing my throat.
If he is to kill me, let it be swift. Let him hunt and stalk Adam, but may the Creator grant me a rapid release, even if this is my punishment.
He lowered his head and growled in my face, the heat of his breath washing over my skin as his sharp teeth sparkled in the moonlight.
Rule your own world.
My survival instinct rushed electricity through me, giving me the courage to fight. I struggled, beating his chest. I didn’t want to die in the dirt in the same fashion Adam had wanted to lie me down with him.
As I waited, not moving or breathing, something wrapped around my wrists, grabbing them firmly.
His paws? How is that possible?
His tongue licked my neck and over my face, and the rough texture caused my muscles to tighten. But the weight of his body no longer crushed me as a warm, plush texture rubbed against me, comforting and soothing my frantic nerves. The sensation lulled me, calming my heartbeat.
I buried myself into the softest fur of his body and nestled close to him. The silky texture caressed me, easing my rapid breaths. Slowly, I relaxed every muscle in my body and yielded to his beauty.
Fur gave way to hot skin and hardened muscles that felt as if they were forged in the glory of battle. I opened my eyes in thin slits to the shape of a man-like being on top of me. His reddish tan skin glistened with sweat, and he smelled of fire and salt. Pale blonde hair flowed past his shoulders, long and free, like his lion form. Amber eyes drilled into mine, and when he pressed his cracked lips against my mouth, I fought the urge to taste him.
He unclasped his hand and released the pressure on one wrist, and I wrapped my arm around this strange creature. A tingling sensation flooded my face and chest before spreading down my arms. Fire licked through my loins like I never had with Adam. I rubbed my hand through his hair and over his neck, working my way down his back. My hand stumbled upon small wings jutting out from beneath his shoulder blades, and my eyes shot open wide.
“I can’t! I’m forbidden.” In a frenzy, I tried to scurry from under him to get away.
"Calm yourself." He released my other hand, pushed his naked body upward—halfway off me—and rested his head in his palm, one elbow bent in support. “Who told you this?” he laughed.