“I am gratified that she seems better. But there is a more urgent matter. The creature came through because my horn tore the veil as I was pulled from it. I cannot leave it that way.”
“It was my fault,” Melissa said. “I was trying to get you closer to Bethany. I’m so sorry.”
“But you can fix it, right?” Bethany asked. Color had returned to her cheeks, and her eyes were bright. “You can do anything. You’re a god.”
Her shining smile, the obvious faith that a demon god was in fact a hero, made him want to live up to her wishes that much more. He glanced at Melissa and eyed her warily. He needed just a little more power to seal the small tear, one that the creature had made bigger by bursting through. The next one to force its way in might be larger still—and even more deadly. The smaller the hole, the less he would need to drain from her in order to seal it.
“Closing the rift would require another infusion of energy. Although not as great as before.”
“Melissa looks...tired,” Bethany said. She glanced down shyly. “Maybe I should offer some this time. If I hadn’t taken it from you, the barrier wouldn’t have torn.”
“No!” Melissa hopped off the bed, but then she wobbled and sagged against it. She shot Archipellus a glance. “I mean, you just got your strength back. And we aren’t even sure you’re completely cured. You shouldn’t be with him.”
Warmth heated his stomach, and he nodded at her. “I concur. You should be the one. If you are up to it.”
Blue-green eyes flickered with a fire that immediately stirred a new erection. “Bethany,” she said, still holding his gaze, “get behind the damn curtain.”
His lips curved into a grin that she returned. Bethany giggled. “You know, I think you two are starting to have a thing for each other.”
Gray arms, abnormally long with gnarled fingers, reached out of nowhere behind her. Archipellus cried, “Watch out!”
He saw the scene in slow motion, those fingers clamping over her shoulders, yanking her backward. Her smile morphed into confusion, then terror. He lunged forward to grab her, but it was too late. Melissa screamed as her sister disappeared through the breach.
“Bethany!” she shouted, racing forward. She staggered and wound up in his arms. “Hurry! We have to go after her!”
Something bellowed in the distance.
“No. We have to close the breach. Now. Before something larger comes through.”
She pulled away from him. “I’m not letting you close off the only way I can get Bethany back.”
“It is not the only way.” He glanced up at the rift, seeing the slight wobble in the air every few moments that betrayed its existence. “I recognized what took her. I know where to go.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Seal the breach first, or many more will suffer her fate—or worse.”
She glared at him. “You swear you can get her if this way is sealed?”
He gave a single nod. “On my duty as a sabbat god. There are other ways to cross realms that will not allow dangerous creatures to pass over to earth.” In response, a screech of something else, ancient and bird-like, came closer. “But we must hurry.”
“I don’t know if I can this time,” she said. “My sister was just taken by a monster. I’m not exactly in the mood.”
“You do not have to be,” he said, lifting her chin. “The breath of an incubus can stir erotic feelings.”
He gazed down at her, letting his darker nature take over. The incubus rose, and his cock followed. The demon part of him didn’t care that an innocent girl had just been stolen. He could have been in the middle of a natural disaster and still crave the sweet potency of her surrender. The demon could fuck Melissa with bodies falling left and right, if need be.
With his arousal heightening, that lust was communicated through his touch. The effect on her was immediate. She relaxed in his arms, sliding hers around his neck. When he breathed on her, she gave a shudder and parted her lips. He took the offering, biting her lower lip, sliding his tongue into her tempting mouth and grinding his dick against her stomach. The beast in him surged forward, and he gripped her upper arms tight. Already his horns heated with the power, and she swayed on her feet as he drew more. He marveled at the intense reaction she provoked in him, so potent, so addicting. All he wanted was to get his dick inside her again, even though he would drain her more than necessary.
Archipellus literally had to push her away from him to stop himself, and she blinked, a confused expression on her face while he drove his horns into the two edges of the breach. He released the power by taking himself in his fist, imagining the feel of Melissa’s wet depths while he jerked his shaft in tight, punishing strokes. She staggered toward him and pushed his hand away, wrapping her silken palm around him and finishing the job. He cried out and let go, power flooding into the veil, closing the rift, while his god seed spilled into her hand. He pulled back slowly while the final bursts erupted, allowing the veil to seal itself as he withdrew the tips of his horns.
She sank down on the bed, staring into space. He wet a cloth at the sink and sat beside her, catching his breath while using the rag to clean them both.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Thank me by saving Bethany.” She looked up at him with tears running down her cheeks. “Do you think she’s even still alive?”
“I know she is.”
“How can you be sure? That other monster you fought...”
“Death is not the goal of a nogrun. Captured treasures are what he is after. I promise you I will get her back.” He sighed. “But not without help. Nogruns aren’t the only dangers in that realm.”
“I’ll come with you.”
He rose. “No. I need the kind of help another immortal can give me.”
“She’s my sister, the only family I have left.”
“I took your energy.”
Melissa got up. “I’m fine.”
Her stubborn will was evident in the way she managed to stand tall for several moments before she wavered. He steadied her and pushed her back down on the bed. “You need rest to recover what I drained from you.”
“I’m not going to lounge around eating bonbons while you’re off saving her from some other world.”
He eyed her for a long moment, feeling a pang of regret that their time together was at an end. “I admire your courage and your determination. But I cannot risk your safety.” Not any more than he had already.
He took hold of the veil pendant around his neck. “Farewell, Melissa. I will return when I have your sister.”
As he focused on a destination back in his own realm, the woman and her earth reality began to fade. At the last moment, as he felt the pull of his crossing to the other side, Melissa lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him.
***
Melissa saw Archipellus turning translucent, fading from view. She squeezed her eyes tight while she grabbed hold of him. Like hell he was going to leave her alone, wondering whether she’d ever see Bethany—or him—again. Sure, she was tired. He’d wrung more seductive energy out of her than she’d give him the satisfaction of admitting. But if there was a way to follow him wherever he was going, a way to help save her sister, of course she would take it.
Part of her expected that when she threw herself at his wide, muscular body, he would simply disappear, leaving her arms empty. Instead, she was sucked into an intense pressure, a force that pulled inward, stealing her breath. She gripped him tighter, afraid of being lost in that void. When the pressure eased, she opened her eyes and let go of him to find herself in a new and altogether different room.
She was staring at a bed, but certainly not the one she’d just been looking at. This one was massive, larger than any king-sized bed she’d ever seen, with sumptuous linens in rich, deep maroons and swags of fabric hanging from a canopy. The room was more than large enough to accommodate the size of the bed, with furnishings of burnished woods and a design scheme that was dark, masculine,
and not of earth.
Melissa glanced up after her momentary scan of the space to find Archipellus staring down at her like he’d never seen a woman before.
“You should not be here,” he said.
“So you told me before. And I told you I wanted to help Bethany.”
“I mean I did not surround you with the cording of the veil pendant. You should not have been able to phase.”
“You’ll find I can be very determined.”
“Our essences were still mixed after our encounter.” He nodded, glancing upward as if thinking to himself. “That is the only explanation that makes sense.”
“None of this makes sense.”
“You and I were part of one another. Our energies were still flowing together. That is how your body was transported along with mine.”
The reply on her lips was forgotten when Archipellus kicked off his sandals and slid his robe off his shoulders. She’d seen plenty enough of him in the hospital, including the long member he’d buried inside her, but the sight of the god of Samhain naked rendered her momentarily speechless. His shoulders were broad and powerful, his biceps flexed into perfect bulges of sheer muscle. His cock, which for the moment had been dangling idly between his chiseled thighs, gave a twitch of interest. Her gaze flew up to find him watching her assessment, those glowing red eyes flashing while he reached out and laid his robe out along the foot of his bed. At least, she assumed this was his bed, in his own room in some other world.
He turned and strode off, disappearing through an archway to the left of the bed. She stood there, trying to swallow past the thick lump in her throat. Should she follow him? The sound of running water answered. A bathroom, perhaps. She’d definitely give him a minute.
“You will stay here while I obtain assistance and prepare to depart for the other realm,” he called out a short time later.
Melissa wandered closer to the archway, staying off to one side of it rather than gawking in at whatever he might be doing. “Will it take long to get help? Can we go right after that?”
“You will not be coming along.” He reappeared, dressed in a black shirt with full sleeves, leather pants, and boots. The pants were unforgivably seductive, hugging him in a way that displayed every muscle and cupped the large bulge behind the fly. The results were altogether unfair to any man who was not him, and to any woman who would never know his touch. A towel was draped over one shoulder, and he was lacing some kind of thick, intricately patterned leather bracers around his forearms.
“Of course I’m coming along,” she snapped. When he frowned down at the laces he was attempting to secure one-handed, she sighed. “Here. Let me do that.”
She tugged the ends tight and tied the bow while he watched her. He gave her a nod and tucked the ends in when she was through. “I will not argue the point.”
“Good, then it’s settled.” She folded her arms.
He pulled the towel off his shoulder and dropped it into a scrollwork receptacle inside the archway. “I would return you to earth here and now, but exposing you to the energies of another crossing so soon could be harmful. And we have little time to waste.”
“So don’t stand around debating it. Bethany could be hurt. She could be...” her breath hitched in her throat.
“I told you, I know of the species who took her. She will be all right, assuming we get to her with reasonable haste.” She brightened, but his eyes narrowed. “‘We’ meaning myself and my companions. Stay here while I present my request to them. I will return.”
“And I’m supposed to do what? Stay prisoner in your bedroom?”
He bent his head near hers. “You need not remain in here, but do not leave my home. And avoid the portal room. Should you get too close, the results would not be kind to your mortal body.”
He was close enough to see that his lips were moist and full beneath the scruff of his beard, something that she had no business noticing while her sister was in the hands of some foul monster.
“Just hurry up,” she said, and his boot steps clicked with confidence as he stalked from the room.
She hugged herself at his sudden absence, left by herself in a strange land. But she was in the richly appointed, presumably safe home of a god, whereas who knew what kind of horrors Bethany was facing alone?
“Hang on,” she murmured. “We’re coming for you.”
With nothing to do but think of all the terrible things that might befall her sole remaining family, Melissa tried to distract herself. She ran her fingers over the bedding Archipellus slid into at night, finding it velvety smooth. Did he sleep naked? Yes. She was betting he would. Testing the mattress found it to be of some soft, yet supportive material. So welcoming. And she was so tired.
She stretched out, feeling the bed suck her right in, making her never want to leave its embrace. Just like the god who owned it. With a sigh, her eyes fluttered closed. For a while, she slept without dreaming, but she jerked awake and bolted straight up.
“Archie?”
How long had passed? Why wasn’t he back yet?”
With a frown, she padded to the door and stuck her head out. There was a wide hallway, and beyond that, silence. She wandered out, pausing to listen for signs of anyone else in his home. Did he have servants? A roommate? A harem of willing sex slaves?
She pursed her lips at that and headed down the hall. It was wide enough to stand three Archipelluses shoulder to shoulder, more of a gallery, really. The expanse of it was long, filled with exotic statues and artwork that appeared unearthly. Much of it showed that he favored flowing, sensual lines and bold colors. Some of it was downright pornographic. A triptych featuring three figures caught her eye, and she paused to study it. On either side, two figures faced inward, one an incubus male, obvious from his appearance even without the engraved gold nameplate beneath the image. A female version stood on the other side, with a nameplate engraved with the word “Succubus.” She had exaggerated curves and massive, pert breasts. Both had their wings spread and stood with their tongues out and their bodies clearly aroused. The incubus was fisting his cock, which was not as large as Archipellus’s. The succubus was fingering her dark-haired pussy. The subject they were fixated on was the center painting of the triptych, a human, she supposed. A male. He was in the throes of pleasure, his dick hard and pointed upward while he reclined over some kind of lounger. His face was contorted in a mixture of ecstasy and anguish. After studying it for a short time, her hand resting on her throat, she started to move aside, stopped, and moved back. The figures shifted as she passed by, an illusion that morphed into the demons growing larger and crying out while the central human withered and, when she got far enough to one side, perished. With a shiver, she backed away from the art and avoided studying any of the others.
Trying not to think about the paintings, she poked her head through some doorways. To her relief, no harem awaited her in any of the rooms. All were vacant, some that matched what one might find in a normal earth home, others with purposes she couldn’t define. The most spectacular was the library, with wall-to-ceiling bookcases that made her feel like Beauty exploring the Beast’s castle.
Just that much wandering left her weary despite her nap, which was discouraging. She turned back, forcing herself to stop at the triptych again. How much had he drained from her? How long would it take to return to normal? Could she be normal again, after having experienced the erotic pleasures of his touch?
She became aware of a presence and jerked around with a gasp. Archipellus stood behind her, his expression unreadable as he glanced at the painting. “The others are here.”
“I, uh, I was just exploring a bit. To take my mind off things.”
“Come.” He was still eying the triptych. “You can meet my brother.”
He took her up the hallway, past his bedroom, and into a room with three carved marble archways. In the middle of each arch, the air shimmered, rippling like a mirage or a glittering pond. Two men were there, both clearly immortals. One
had thick muscles and brown flowing hair. He was busy polishing a sword with something like a small animal skin. The only thing that betrayed him as an immortal was the glow in eyes the color of burnished tiger’s eye. His gaze met hers as she entered, and he slipped his sword into a waist scabbard. The other man was taller, with a sheet of white hair and pale, silvery blue eyes that burned into her. More important, he had just the faintest outline of luminescent wings, truly beautiful, but from certain angles, invisible. They were just a suggestion, a reflection that lacked the substance of Archipellus’s wings.
“That is my brother, Jorandil,” Archipellus said.
“You’re an angel,” she said, and Jorandil nodded.
Archipellus gripped the other man’s shoulder. “And this is Andero. He has been a trusted friend to both my brother and me. He is a skilled tracker as well as a warrior.” He turned to the man. “I am grateful you agreed to lend assistance.”
“And who is this lovely woman you have hidden away in your house?” Andero asked, striding up to her with a lopsided grin. “An earth maiden. How enchanting.”
He kissed her hand, and heat rose to her face.
“I’m Melissa,” she said. “Bethany—the woman you’re going to help save—is my sister.”
His brows disappeared under his hair. “Sister?” He twisted around. “You stopped on the way to bring your lover’s sister along?”
She pulled her hand away. “She’s not his lover.” The words were snipped off one at a time, harsh enough that he regarded her with a curious look. “I am. Was. For the ritual, I mean.”
Jorandil leveled a hard stare on his brother. “You bedded a healthy human woman? Giving in to some nasty old habits?”
Archipellus folded his arms. “I assure you, it was not my idea.”
Andero let out a snort. “Right. And we’re supposed to believe this slip of a girl strong-armed the great god of Samhain into bed?”
“I’m not a girl,” she said. “And I wasn’t about to let him sex my sister to death. She’s been through enough.”
“He does not drain healthy women,” Jorandil said. “To do so might encourage a...relapse into his past ways.”
Archipellus: God of Samhain (A Sons of Herne romance) Page 3
