by Unknown
“You're the one who used to tease me about being a pervert with my Santa TV,” he leaned back on his arms and got comfortable. “Maybe you were right.”
“Come here, Minn Elska,” Trevor held out a hand and I saw that he'd gotten naked as my attention was on Odin. Damn that was fast.
“Alright,” I gulped as I stood up.
As soon as I got near them, I was pulled between them and my clothes started to fall away. In moments, I was pressed skin to skin with Trevor at my front and Kirill behind me. Trevor began to kiss me as Kirill did other things with his tongue. I groaned and gave in to the pleasure, until I felt myself lifted.
I opened my eyes to find that Kirill had a hand on each of my thighs, lifting me and spreading my legs around Trevor. I glanced back at him and saw him hard against my spine, then looked forward to where Trevor was positioning himself between my legs.
“Um,” I looked back to Kirill again. “We've never talked about this so I'm going to say it very quickly now. I'm not going to do anal. Exit only, guys.”
“Vhat?” Kirill's blue eyes widened as Odin started to laugh. “Vhy vould I vant to put my cock zere?”
“Shut up, Odin,” I growled before I answered Kirill. “Some men like it, they think it's naughty or something.”
“I zink ve have plenty naughty already,” Kirill grinned and lowered me onto Trevor.
“No kidding,” Odin chuckled.
I just laid my head back over Kirill's shoulder and let him hold me as Trevor leaned forward and took over. It was incredible, the position brought out a whole different group of sensations. I clung to Trevor's shoulders and gave in to those sensations but soon, Trevor was switching places with Kirill and the sensations changed once more.
“Alright,” Odin groaned. “I've had enough with watching. It's time for you guys to share.”
So Kirill carried me to the bed and Odin added his expertise to the mix. With Odin that meant the addition of several more magical and invisible hands... as if I didn't have enough hands on me to begin with. It almost became too much pleasure. It was difficult to focus on any one sensation. I had to just give in and allow them all to take over until I felt like I burst into a million pieces.
Then I was carried into the bathroom, where they filled the massive tub with hot water and bubble bath. The first time I took a bubble bath with my guys, I'd thought it was funny. It seemed like such a girly thing to be doing with men but then I'd seen them in the water, surrounded by all those scented bubbles. Bubbles sliding over slick flesh and hard muscles. Yep, I stopped thinking it was funny real fast.
I didn't have the energy for more sex though. I barely had the energy to sit upright. In fact, Kirill ended up holding me on his lap so I wouldn't slide beneath the surface. It was heaven, the only thing that was missing was my angel.
After a long bath with my three remaining men, I curled up on my bed with them for a well deserved nap. I was asleep for about three minutes before a chiming sound woke me. I rubbed at my eyes and looked over to the dresser. My mirror was ringing.
I shot out of bed, grabbing a blanket to cover myself, and ran over to the mirror. I was afraid something was wrong with Arach but when the glass cleared and I saw who was there, I sank into the dressing chair with relief. It was only Rowan and I already knew why he was calling me.
“Hey Rowan,” I sighed. “So she left, huh?”
“What?” He gaped. “How did you know?”
“We spoke already in the Faerie Realm.”
“We did?” He blinked. “When?”
“When I went to Castle Tempest to meet Dahlia's baby,” I grinned, enjoying the time twist.
“But Dahlia's still pregnant,” he gaped.
“Yeah, I know,” I chuckled. “For you, the Autumn Ball was last night, right? It was awhile back for me.”
“Right,” he huffed a low laugh. “So you know about Liatris running away.”
“Yeah,” I softened my expression to one of sympathy. “I'm sorry, I know you've already dispatched some ellingran to travel here with a pillowcase for me to use to track Lia in the Human Realm but I can't do it. I'd have to start at the place she left Faerie and I'm already there.”
“Could I mirror you in Faerie then?” He asked hopefully.
“No,” I shook my head. “If I leave Faerie now, I lose time with my men, time which is really important at the moment. I need to return from Faerie so I can go rescue them from evil flying monkeys.”
“I'm sorry, what?” He blinked his bright blue eyes. Blink. Blink. “Did you just say flying monkeys?”
“Evil flying monkeys,” I nodded. “They don't have wings though,” I grumbled. “Isn't that weird?”
“Sure,” he gave me an amazed look. “That's the weird part of this conversation.”
“Look, the time thing messes with me and I really don't know what would happen if I play around with it by returning late when I've already returned on time.” I frowned. “It's very confusing so I try to just keep it simple and return to the moment I leave a realm. Then I can't screw things up.”
“I understand,” he nodded.
“You really love her, huh?”
“I do,” he confessed instantly. “And I need to get her back. I don't know why she left.”
“Well, I can still help your ellingran search for her,” I chewed at my lip. “Just as soon as I get Constantin and Rhiannon out of vanara custody.”
“Vanara?”
“Those are the wingless, evil, flying monkeys,” I explained.
“Of course they are.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When Azrael failed to show up the next morning, I went looking for him in the Third Heaven. Shehaquim was an angelic territory. By that I mean that angels lived there, not that the territory itself was somehow sweet and innocent. On the contrary, it held one of the entrances to Hell. Come to think of it, angels weren't sweet and innocent either. Those were the guys sent to do Jerry's dirty work. They leveled cities and killed babies, not really the traditional definition of angelic.
From the entrance to Hell, four rivers flowed across Shehaquim. None of them were made of water. There was a river of milk, one of honey, one of wine, and one of holy oil. They trailed across the grassy landscape and ended in pools, each in a different section of the Garden of Eden. The garden was divided by the seasons and so there was a pool for each one. In the center of the garden were the trees of Life and Knowledge and in front of the garden was an ethereal mansion.
It was pure white, with wings stretching out to either side of the main body. Not angelic wings, though an angel did live there, but wings as in sections of a building. There were balconies with carved stone railings and stained glass windows but still the design seemed simple and elegant. The perfect home for Azrael.
I'd traced into the library on the second floor, as I usually did, and went out the door onto the landing which circled the stairs. The doors around the landing were open and I could see that Az wasn't in his bedroom, which was across from the library at the back of the mansion. So I ventured downstairs and through the art-hung hallways until I found him in one of the sitting rooms.
“Az?” I called softly but he still flinched, his shoulders tightening. I went into the room and moved in front of him. “Are you just going to avoid me or can we talk about this?”
“Sit down, Vervain,” he sighed.
“Alright,” I took a seat in a chair across from him.
The room was one of his more modern ones, with overstuffed couches upholstered in white leather and lots of pillows. There was plush carpeting in light blue to match the walls and the other pieces of furniture were pale wood. There was a bowl of seashells on the glass coffee table between us and a bottle of beer was sitting next to it. It was all very comfortable but totally lost on me in that moment.
“I begged you to let her be,” he began.
“And just let you rot?” I scoffed. “Or would you have preferred that we give in to her demand and make
her immortal?”
“She was just a scared woman,” his throat worked convulsively as he ran a hand over his face. “I'm not just the angel who takes souls to their afterlives. I'm the angel of comfort, remember? Part of my duties is to assuage fear and she was so very afraid. I could have helped her.”
“No, honey,” I said gently. “You couldn't. She wasn't going to settle for comfort. She wanted to live forever. A lot of people do.”
“She had cancer and it made her desperate,” he shrugged. “If I'd just been given a moment to counsel her, it could have turned out so much different.”
“Counsel her?” I lifted my brows. “When would you have done that? Do you think she would have let you come over and give her a hug?”
“Now we'll never know,” his eyes hardened on me. “The things you did to her will haunt me forever.”
“She was a demon summoner,” I sighed. “She used them to murder people... and she lives. I could have killed her, Az. Or even taken her into Hell and let your Dad have her. I'm sure Cid would love to get his hands on that woman.”
“I've informed my father about her torture and the removal of her spellbooks,” he said softly.
“What did he say to that?” I asked with a lifted brow.
“To hug you for him and tell you that you have the heartfelt thanks of all the denizens of Hell,” he grimaced.
“So your father's okay with what I did but you're not?” I huffed.
“My father is the Devil!” He waved his hands out violently.
“And also a very good man,” I added. “He makes a killer casserole.”
“This isn't a joke, Vervain.”
“I know that,” I sighed. “He is a good man, you know that better than I. It's the whole reason he is the Devil.”
“Perhaps,” he finally conceded. “But his values differ from mine... as they did yours once.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You've changed, Vervain,” he shook his head.
“That's what people do, Az,” I said simply. “That's what we have to do or we'll end up as stagnant as the fey were.”
“No, I mean your soul has changed,” he said grimly.
“My soul,” I frowned. “Now you're being dramatic.”
“I've touched your soul, remember?” His eyes went diamond bright. “I loved your soul but now that soul has altered.”
“It altered upon my birth into this body,” I took a deep breath and tried to tamp down the anxiety his words were bringing. “You already knew that. I have three souls now. Well, two souls and one fey essence but whatever.”
“Vervain, you're a different woman than the one I met in Chinatown that day,” his eyes went sad. “You never would have resorted to torture. Never.”
“That was before I myself was tortured. By gods and angels,” I reminded him and he flinched. “Experiences change people. It doesn't mean my soul is different, Az. I'm still me and I still love you. I didn't want to torture her and it wasn't by any means easy for me,” my voice broke and his hand reached out to me automatically but before I could take it, he jerked it away. “I did it for you and I would do it again. I have no regrets.”
“And there's the problem,” he sighed.
“You'd prefer me to be mentally tortured over her physical torture?” I huffed. “You son of a bitch.”
“What?” He blinked. I guess he was surprised by this sudden turn. “I'm sorry if I thought you might find some compassion for the woman.”
“Compassion for a woman who enslaved your friends and then captured you?” I snarled. “No, I don't have any compassion for her. She wasn't a novice, she was trained to do what she did. So she must have also known the risks. She was a murderer who deserved what she got and I deserve your gratitude not your scorn.”
“You want me to be grateful that you turned a deaf ear to my pleading?” He started to get as angry as I. “I was the one who was trapped and yet you completely disregarded my feelings in the matter. You'd be just as angry if I'd done this to you.”
“Maybe,” I admitted, “but then I'd get over it because I love you. But that doesn't seem to be enough for you.”
“I'm angry because of how much I love you,” he growled and stood up. “You've made a mockery of that love. Why can't you see that?”
“Maybe because I did something abhorrent to save your life,” I stood as well. “Maybe that doesn't seem like a mockery to me.”
“How can you say that when you're supposed to know me better than anyone?” He shook his head.
“Now what do you mean by that?” I huffed.
“I want to show you something, something you seem to have forgotten,” he grabbed my hand, then pulled me through the house and out the front doors.
Once we were on the steps, he spread his wings, yanked me against him, and shot into the air. I held tight as he took us all the way across Shehaquim, to the gates of Hell. Salem, a green dragon who guards the gates, came out of his new home to greet us. He waved delightedly with one paw as we descended.
“You think I forgot about Salem?” I whispered to Az before Salem reached us.
“No,” he said tersely.
“V!” Salem shouted and then lowered his snout to give me a quick nose rub. “I've missed you. How have you been?”
“Good,” I gave him a fake smile. “How are your new digs? The bed still comfy?”
“I love it,” Salem sighed. “So much better than sleeping on the ground. So what's up? Did you just come to visit? I can make some tea.”
“Oh, I'm sorry, honey but I don't have time right now,” I glanced at Azrael. “Azrael and I are in the middle of a fight and he evidently wants to take me through Hell to prove a point.”
“Oh,” Salem's face dropped and he took a step back. “I better let you two have at it then.”
“But I'll come back to visit soon,” I promised and he perked up.
“Okay,” he headed back to his home. “You're welcome anytime!”
Without saying a word, Az took my hand again and dragged me into Hell. Yes, I know, so many jokes. Hell was no joke though. The horrifying landscape made of blood, gore, and bones was enough to shake anyone's confidence. At least there was a path of crushed bone winding through it. It saved me from having to walk directly on the blood soaked earth, which tended to stain.
The sky above us was a burnt reddish orange, an angry, glaring color without any sun or clouds. Just a perpetual half-light in an empty expanse. It was like someone had simply scorched everything away. I gave it a glance but then tried to focus on my feet because Azrael was pulling me along so fast that if I didn't watch it, I might fall and cut myself on a shard of bone.
Soon we came to the Ice Blocks. I glanced up at the demons flying patrol over the blocks and wondered if Cid were on duty. He was the warden of Ice Block One, a collection of cells made from magic ice which tortured souls with their deepest fears... Oh, I was starting to understand why we were there.
“Alright,” I pulled out of Azrael's grip before we began to walk through the corridor between the two blocks. “I get it. I should have known how much you hate torture because your family is forced to be a part of it.”
“Exactly,” he said quietly. “How could you do that when you knew I grew up around this?”
“Honestly, Az,” I sighed. “I thought you were numb to all this. I didn't know it bothered you that much.”
“How does someone become numb to this?” He gestured to a cell where a man was being torn apart by little black birds.
“I don't know,” I whispered and looked away.
“No,” he grabbed my chin and turned my head back. “Look at it, Vervain. Take a good look at what I've lived with all my life and think about why seeing you do something similar would hurt me?”
I started to cry and he dropped my chin. He looked away and took a deep breath while I swiped at my eyes. I hated that. I didn't want to be that woman who cried in the middle of a fight. It wasn't fair, not to him or me
. So I took a deep breath too and squared my shoulders.
“I'm sorry I didn't think about that,” I whispered and Az looked back at me. “But can't you see it from my side? You walk this path all the time, how could I know this hurt you? You told me these people deserved to be here.”
“That's what I tell myself as well,” he exhaled harshly. “But does anyone really deserve this?”
“Maybe not,” I took his hand and squeezed. “But they created this place, not you. Let's get out of here. You've made your point.”
He hung his head as his wings rushed open and I went into his arms. He buried his face in my hair, inhaling and exhaling like he was searching for calm, before he tightened his grip and launched us into the scorched sky. I closed my eyes and held on.
Soon, we were back on the steps of his home and Az was letting me go. We walked inside silently and found ourselves in his bedroom. I went to sit on a blue velvet loveseat in front of the fireplace and he stood in front of me.
“I don't know how to get past this,” he said grimly.
“Are you kidding me?” I was suddenly angry again. “I've apologized. What else do you want?”
“You apologized for not knowing how I felt,” he growled, “not for the torture itself.”
“Because I'm not sorry I tortured her.”
“And there's my point,” he waved an exasperated hand at me.
“Okay, sure,” I stood up. “You were raised in Hell and you've had it hard. I should have known that but let me tell you what I do know. You liked it there.”
“What?” He gaped at me.
“You like the demons. You really like them,” I let myself transform into my dragon half-form and Azrael's eyes widened. In my half-form I looked very similar to female demons, with my golden scales covering my skin, my curving horns, my leathery wings, and my sharp tail... and Azrael had a thing for female demons.
“Yes, I find this attractive,” he snarled and grabbed my waist to pull me against him. “Is that what your banking on? You can't work things out with your half ass apology so you're going to seduce me?”
“No,” I snapped. “I'm trying to show you why I couldn't possibly have known how much you hate Hell.”
