“I missed you guys so much.”
Gus, who’d been sipping his moonshine at the bar, came over and squatted down, his spun gold hair falling over his bare shoulders. Fuck, I’d forgotten how radiantly magnetic he was. He kissed my forehead.
“We have more than missed you, Ace. We have been incomplete without you.”
I ran my forefinger down the hard lines of his face. “I’m sure the demonesses have been soothing your pain.”
He laughed and shrugged guiltily. I screwed up my nose. Ugh, demonesses. I hated those bitches, with their wailing, their stupidly big breasts and their grossly long talons.
I looked at Memphis. He rolled his eyes at Gusion, as he did a hundred times a day.
“You too?” I asked him, already knowing the answer. Memphis didn’t mess around with the demonesses like Gus. Memphis didn’t mess around with anyone, except me. Not out of loyalty, though I knew without a doubt that he had my back until the End of Days. Memphis had his own demons, but they were the demons of memories long past.
“No.” He maintained his scary expression. He had a bad case of Resting Bitch Face. Luc batted Gus away from me.
“He can continue with the Demonesses for one more night, because I am not ready to share you yet.” He pulled me onto his lap, turning me so we were facing each other. His hands slipped into the slits in his jacket, running up the bare skin of my back and under the arch where my wings met the muscles of my back. I moaned. That felt better than I remembered. “Tonight, my love, you are mine, and only mine.”
And then he kissed me. His fingers wrapped in my hair as his mouth plundered mine, his tongue branding me as it tangled with my own.
“That’s my cue to leave,” Memphis muttered. “Come on Golden Boy, unless you wanna see how long it takes to grow back something important.” He stopped at the door. “Good luck, Arcadia.” There was a smirk in his voice, and I flipped him the bird over my shoulder, but I was smiling against Luc’s lips.
I don’t need luck. What I’m going to need is therapy.
In the same way that Arcadia had been doing to me for years, I could block her out. Only, I could do it a little more effectively. I could probably trap her soul so far down inside my own that she would float in blackness forever more, but I wouldn’t tell her that. She would definitely freak if she knew that I had that much control. I let her have free rein. I wanted her to be comfortable.
“You are thinking far too hard, Acerezeal. Apparently, I am not doing my job if you are able to form coherent thought.” With that, he flipped me over onto the couch, and put his arms either side rib cage. He unzipped his jacket, slowly revealing every inch of my flesh to his gaze. Achingly slowly.
“Fuck, I’d forgotten how beautiful you are. You steal my breath.” His jacket was a little big on me, ending just at the top of my thighs, and when the cool air reached my soaked pussy, I sucked in a breath. Luc finished zipping and pushed the lapels apart, baring me to him. He inhaled deeply. “The scent of your desire, however, is forever etched into my memory. You are so wet for me.” He ran his tongue across one nipple, then the other, before trailing his tongue down my stomach, dipping into my navel and then over the swell of my pubic bone. I bucked into his mouth, and his tongue dipped to my clit, striking it hard. I moaned. My body was electric.
Luc sat up and unzipped his pants, his cock bouncing out as if he too was ready to greet an old friend.
I can’t wait to tell Oz that Angels are definitely not smooth like Ken dolls down there. Arcadia let out a long, low whistle.
“I rescind my earlier offer, Arcadia Jones. You may not watch. Do not panic, I will undo this when we are finished.” He waved a hand, and Cady went quiet.
“That was mean. She’s going to freak,” I said as I used my flight feathers to stroke down his back.
“I do not want to share you tonight, not even with your Redeemer.” He snapped his fingers and the jeans that had clung so tightly to his thighs were gone. He had unlimited control in Hell. He could build a mansion of gold, so getting rid of his pants was child’s play.
I forgot about talking as I took in his body, every hard line, lightly shadowed dip and sharp angle. The long gash that ran from his left shoulder down his torso to his left hip was a constant reminder of falling, and the searing edge of Michael's sword. I’d run my tongue along it many times over the centuries, and my mouth watered to do it again. But Luc had other ideas as he practically dove between my thighs, kissing my pussy with as much intensity, and tongue, as he’d just kissed my mouth. I writhed against him as his tongue stroked up and down my folds in long, hard strokes. He sucked my clit, then swirled his tongue around it, before giving it a careful nip. He did that over and over again until I was screaming his name so loudly that they could probably hear me in the Elysian Fields. I came in wave after wave of pleasure, and I’d barely finished my orgasm when he picked me up, and pulled me against his torso and then impaled me on his granite hard cock.
“Fuck, Luc!” I screamed as he stretched my pussy wide. I wrapped my legs around his waist, drawing him tight against me, so every little movement shot waves of pleasure through my body until I was on fire with electric heat. His hands on my hips, he pulled me up and down, moving in the rhythm as old as time itself, muttering in the angelic tongue. I couldn’t even concentrate on what he was saying, but I knew it was probably an ode to me. It was probably a little sacrilegious to use the language during sex, but fuck it. We were already Fallen.
My orgasm crashed over me as Luc wrapped his onyx wings around me and caught my screams against his lips.
“I love you, I love you,” I panted, a pledge and an ode.
Luc roared as he reached his own climax, thrusting deep into me, edging the pleasure with pain. We rode it out, and I collapsed against his body.
“It’s better than I remember,” I gasped out.
“It’s exactly how I remember,” he said as he kissed each of my cheeks and then my forehead. I snuggled into his arms, still wrapped in the blackness of his wings, and slept.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Arcadia’s red hot rage woke me. Ten hours. I’ve been trapped in the abyss of nothingness for ten hours. Who has sex for ten-freakin’-hours?
Whoops.
“Sorry, Cady. Trust me, it was better than watching me tongue Luc’s balls. Well, for you anyway.”
Ew.
I rolled out of bed, the one Luc and I shared, and slipped on a T-shirt from the walk in robe. The bed was massive. Arcadia and all seven of her guys could sleep in it, comfortably. Hell, maybe even me, Luc, Gus and Memphis could fit as well. Like one big happy orgy.
Um, nope! Never going to happen. I don’t share.
I laughed as I brushed my teeth in the ensuite. Ensuite might be a bit of an understatement. It was larger than all the apartments Arcadia’s lived in combined.
“Lucky for you, I share very well.”
I walked along the stone floors that were beautifully warm. The bowels of Hell; it was the most efficient underfloor heating ever.
I strolled into the kitchen to find everyone already there. Memphis was reading a book that’s title was in Greek, and Gus was still drinking moonshine, though in consideration to the time of day he was mixing it with freshly squeezed orange juice. Luc was sitting at the head of the table, in his hand carved mahogany wingback chair, reading a newspaper.
When I saw the last person in the room, I resisted the urge to groan.
“Gus, you didn’t?” I whisper-yelled, and he had the brass balls to grin. I shook my head. “I thought you loved me?”
Unfortunately I hadn’t been quiet enough, because the person cooking pancakes turned. I hated pancakes.
“Acerezeal! It’s so good to have you back!” Bacciria gave me a huge fake smile, all teeth and big hair. And boobs. Bacciria was my least favourite demoness. She was practically my arch-nemesis.
“Baccy!” She curled her lip at the hated pet name. “It’s good to be home and back in my own bed
.”
She continued to give me the snarly version of a smile. “I bet. I made you your favorite. Pancakes. I’ve been taking such good care of the guys while you’ve been away.” Her voice was saccharine and I was about two seconds away from stuffing the pancakes somewhere a person shouldn’t have baked goods.
I walked over to Gus and sat down on his lap, kissing his cheek. “Thanks, Baccy. I really appreciate you keeping them in such good, mmm-” I ran my finger down between Gus’s pecs and over his abs, twirling my finger in the golden hairs just above his waist band. I waggled my eyebrows. “Health.” Gus’s body shook with contained laughter. Asshole.
“Tired of Lucifer already?” She wasn’t even trying to keep up the sweet charade now. I sucked in a breath through my teeth.
Uh-oh, wrong zinger there, Baccy, Arcadia groaned. She got it. But unfortunately, Demonesses weren’t known for their large intellects.
Luc stood, and spread his wings wide, their onyx hue casting the whole room in shadow. He appeared to grow and he became the imposing King of Hell that he was. Only fools forgot that he was scary as fuck, even when he was sipping juice and reading the sports pages.
“Bacciria, you forget yourself,” his voice boomed, shaking the walls of the palace. “You dare speak of me in that manner? I am you Master, your creator! You do not speak to me or my consort with such disrespect.”
Baccy fell to her knees and prostrated herself on the floor. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she wailed over and over again.
Holy hell, I’m glad I’m not corporeal right now, because I would have wet myself. That’s one scary mofo, Arcadia whispered. She had no idea. She’d only seen the warm, loving side of Luc. Even when he was angry at us, I was his beloved and she was his Redeemer, and we were never at risk of the full extent of his wrath. I had seen Luc when he was in full Devil mode. It wasn’t a sight easily forgotten, unless you were a vapid demoness with more cup sizes than sense.
“Be gone from the palace. If you return, I will send you to the seventh circle for eternity.”
Bacciria blanched and scurried out the door.
What happens in the seventh circle? Actually, don’t tell me. I’ll probably never sleep again. “They peel your skin off your flesh inch by inch, and then when the process is complete, they stitch it back on, let it heal and then peel it back off again. Over and over, for eternity,” Memphis answered from the stove, where he was removing the burning pancake from the heat.
I’m going to throw up. I said I didn’t want to know!
Memphis shrugged. “I always maintained that if the humans had a better understanding of what awaited them, they’d try harder to be good.”
Gus scoffed. “Good. Bad. Those definitions are what led us all here in the first place. You need to let go of your notions of good and bad. Hell has its place. But we need to embrace the shades of grey and talk about it in terms of harm. To their fellow humans, to the world that they live on, to the other inhabitants of the earth-”
“Someone stop him before he devolves further into his rant. We are all here because we agree with you, remember?” I said, hugging is beautiful blonde head against my chest. “We all fell because we had questions.
I don’t know. I liked his rant. I appreciate the shades of grey. All fifty of them, Arcadia laughed and I chuckled along with her, though the guys just looked confused.
I kissed the cute little frown lines on Gusion’s otherwise ageless face. “I’ve missed your passion, Gus. And your beautiful face.”
Gus dipped me backwards and kissed me like the star he was, before nibbling my neck until I giggled. Legit giggled like a freshman in a sorority. I’d spent way too much time in the earthly realm watching teen rom-coms with Arcadia. I looked over at Luc, but he was back to sipping his coffee and reading the Algerian news. I waggled my eyebrows and he winked.
He didn’t banish Bacciria because her statement hit too close to the truth; the guy knew he had all the moves that make me go boom. He banished her because she disrespected us all. We were angels, Fallen or not. Gusion continued kissing down my neck to my collarbone.
“Uh-uh, I’ve been distracted by sex once, now back to my problem.”
Gus sighed and sat me back up straight. “This is why I appreciate the demonesses. They are always clamoring to climb onto my angelic staff.”
I held a finger up to his lips. “Ew. Just ew.”
I stood and poured myself some juice. “Are there no other deities who have soul manipulation? What about the Norns?”
Luc shook his head. “Decide a soul’s fate, but can’t move them around.”
“There’s gotta be someone? Another angel or a human shaman? The disembodied soul of Nicolas Tesla must be hanging around here somewhere?”
“Tesla is out on the Elysian Fields. You know how the Greeks loved their men of science. But I do not think he could help you anyway,” Luc argued.
I sat on his lap and sipped my juice. “You know who could help?” I stroked his dark hair.
He flicked his eyes to me and unconsciously rubbed the scar on his chest. “Not Michael,” he grunted and went back to his paper. “Try Raphael. Or even Gabriel. But I will not be beholden to Michael.”
Arcadia wisely knew to stay quiet, despite the burning need she had to argue. I felt her frustration, but apparently I didn’t hide it as well because Memphis jumped in to help.
“I’d try Raphael first. He’s always been a bit of a softy for a good sob story. And he had a soft spot for you in particular. He might be able to do it, and if not, he might know who does.”
I kissed Luc’s cheek, and then bit his earlobe hard.
“Ow!” He rubbed his ear as I stood, wandering over to Memphis, but not before Luc swatted my ass with the back of his fingers. “You shouldn’t bite, my love. You never know where I will bite back.”
I threw him a saucy wink. “Who says I wouldn’t like it?” I purred. I stood in front of Memphis. “I’m going to go find Raphael. Do you know where he is?” Memphis nodded. “Wanna come with?”
Indecision ran across his face. He’d always been a bit of a hellbody, loathe to leave the palace. “Come on, it’ll be fun. I’m pretty sure he’ll be in Afghanistan or somewhere equally as bloody. When was the last time you went to a conflict zone? Maybe we can help save a few guys while we’re there. Perhaps even ensure a few of the baddies get an express pass to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect two million dollars. What do you say?”
“He’s in Syria,” Memphis said as he pushed off the bench and headed toward the doorway. I followed behind him, blowing Luc a kiss and winking at Gus.
It’d been a long time since I’d travelled with Memphis, and I was kind of looking forward to it. But first we had a stop to make.
How are they so big already? Arcadia’s melancholy musing broke my heart.
Time moves differently in the underworld. It’s hard to predict. If Luc and the Father are opposite sides of a chess match, then time would be the board. It plays by its own rules. Next time we come up, it might only be minutes from this moment. I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would have come back earlier.
Two weeks had passed topside since I’d returned home. The babies had almost doubled in size, and although they were still in the neonatal unit, they were happy and healthy. We stood invisible in the corner of their room, a lumpy armchair in the corner holding a snoozing Valery. A nurse was helping Oz hold Estrella.
“Skin contact helps build a bond. Perhaps if you remove your shirt, I can place the baby on your chest,” the nurse said hopefully. I resisted the urge to laugh. I was invisible, but not silent. Arcadia was fuming.
I died two weeks ago, and already people are trying to crack onto my guys? Do people have no shame?
Her outrage was beginning to color my own feelings. I moved into an empty hallway and dropped my invisibility, well except for the wings. I made sure I looked like a bombshell.
Memphis appeared beside me, looking like a sexy vision in tailored b
lack pants and a crisp white button down open to the second button.
We walked into the room, and the nurse nearly swallowed her tongue. I didn’t know if the cause was me or Memphis, but it was the reaction we wanted.
Oz stood, baby Estrella still clutched gently to his naked chest. “Ace!” He turned to the nurse. “Could you just give us a minute? Thanks.” His beard was looking scraggy, there were deep bags under his eyes, and his man bun was slipping to the left.
But he still looks damn good, Arcadia murmured.
“Valery! Ace is back. Is Arcadia okay? Have you made any progress? Eli hasn’t left his office in a week and I’m pretty sure more than one cardiothoracic surgeon has put out a restraining order on him, but we are getting there.” It all tumbled out at once, but I only half listened as Arcadia and I were both transfixed by the tiny little human pressed sleepily against his chest. Oz dropped his eyes to where we were looking.
“Sit. You can hold her. I’m not very good at passing her around. I’m still convinced that I’ll drop her or break her or something. It’s even worse with Hope. My finger is literally bigger than her little legs.”
I sat, because what else could I do? I wasn’t good at this, but the urge to hold them poured from my body. Arcadia’s longing was consuming me, and quite frankly it was scaring me. But her need for the babies, for her Seven, was an overwhelming force. And when Oz placed the baby into my arms, I could feel Arcadia’s soul pushing against mine, battering futilely to take control, so she would be the one who could stroke the down soft fluff of Estrella's head. So she could wrap her arms around Oz, and Val, who was fixing me with a bright eyed stare full of hope and longing.
I inhaled deeply. That new baby scent still lingered.
“Ace, why is a Prince of Hell standing in the same room as my daughters?”
I hadn’t heard Lux come in, he moved with eerie silence, and he stood in a fighter’s stance behind Memphis, ready to attack a possible threat.
Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset Page 26
