by Nikki Prince
As he moved through the crowd, the patrons parted like the Red Sea as if sensing he was not what he should be. She looked up at his approach. The sad fucker with her squared his jaw and clenched his fists as if he was trying to warn Samael away from the woman standing next to him. If he was looking for a fight, he could have one. Samael scowled at him. He dropped his fists and skulked back into the crowd.
A grin spread across her face but then she looked fully into his eyes. He watched her shiver and as she tried to move, he shook his head, stilling all movement from her. It was his Lilith. He would know her anywhere and had to stop himself from smiling when she squared her shoulders in defiance. As the music slowed, he pulled her close with one hand slung low on her back. Her sharp intake of breath moved through him.
Her face nuzzled into the side of his neck, and he groaned softly. It was definitely Lilith. She had always placed her face there, telling him she loved his scent. Even if she didn’t know him, her subconscious mind did. His hand smoothed down her back to cup her ass, pulling her even closer, while his other hand crept up her side to cup a breast as if he owned her.
On a ragged breath, she spoke, "What are you doing?”
"I’m dancing with you. Isn't that evident?" He inserted his leg between hers, pulling her flush against him, allowing her to feel every hard contour of his body. She felt his cock pressed firmly against her.
She moaned softly. "This isn't dancing."
"Oh, but it is," he whispered against her ear. "It is a dance that is as old as time. This is a wild and passionate dance that your body is lusting after, baby. I can smell how badly you wish this dance." He licked her earlobe, and she shuddered, a small groan tumbling from her lips.
"You're up to no good." She whimpered.
"Fucking right I am. But what I want to do to you will be good for us both," he said.
She arched back to look into his dark eyes, her mouth moving as if to speak, yet no sound escaped. By the end of the dance, she was panting against him, her eyes wild. She didn't speak, just allowed him to take her hand and lead her off the dance floor to a darkened corner of the club.
He quickly took control, pressing her up against the wall and leaning in to take her lips in a kiss. Their lips melded together, and he was home. Her taste and touch were everything he remembered, and he wanted more. He knew he had her attention when he heard her soft moan, and she pressed her body against his, her hands moving to cup the back of his head.
"I could take you right here, and you would let me. Wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I would, in a heartbeat," she stated simply.
He rubbed himself against her cleft, a low groan of pleasure escaping their lips as the need continued to build. Instantly he knew that even if she didn't know his name her body knew his and would always feel the answering need that they had for one another. He'd show her what mattered, even if that was only with his touch. He'd teach her to love him again and to need him, perhaps then her memory would spark.
Nibbling gently at her lips for a moment, he heard her whimper as his tongue suddenly thrust into her mouth. He kissed her, devouring her lips. He would overload her senses and keep her off balance until he was all she thought about.
****
Her eyes slid open as she heard her sister Eva's ringtone blaring from her cell phone. Buzz kill! The annoying sound from her phone brought her quickly out of her memories of her beloved demon, her Samael, and back into a stark and very cold reality. Like clockwork, Eva always called at the same time of the day. Sometimes it felt odd, and other times it was comforting to know her sister cared. Then there were the times that the help she gave her seemed a bit cloying and heavy handed. One would think Eva was the older sister as much as she liked to try to run Liliana's life. It was the other way around; Eva was the baby and Liliana was two years older.
She picked the cell up, holding it to her ear. Her sister didn't even wait for her to speak. "So, let me guess. Mr. Dark and wonderful is gone already?" Her tone dripped with sarcasm.
"Yes, Eva. Samael is gone. Please. No more lectures on how he isn't good enough for me and how I deserve better."
"He isn't, Lil. You know it, and I know it. Why do you let him do this to you?"
"E, when are you going to realize that he is in my life? Albeit only at night, but he is in my life to stay until I say otherwise. Neither you nor anyone else has a say in that, Eva, only me. Now please tell me what you called for this morning."
"Just making sure you weren’t going to be late coming to work. We have many orders to fulfill. You’re the other half of Two Sister’s Sinful Delights, after all. I need you here, but most of all, I need you to be here." Liliana heard the emphasis on the last here loud and clear.
"I know, and I will be. I just need to shower. I am coming in this morning."
"Girl, you need to drop his ass like a bad habit."
"Not dropping him. No matter what you say, E; it isn’t going to happen. Now, I will see you at ten." She hung up the phone quickly before her sister could say anything else. Flouncing back against the bed, she let out a huff. She had a few hours before she had to get to the store to help her sister open up their sex shop. It was going to be a long ass day. Her sister would keep at it. She didn't know what it meant to stop giving her opinion when it wasn't needed or wanted. Of course, it was done in love, right? Well, hell, what did one do with a demon who didn't take no for an answer? She grinned to herself. She knew what her answer was to that. Anything he asked for.
Chapter Two
Samael watched as Eva hung up the phone, turning with slow, deliberate movements towards him, a smirk on her face. She was perched on a nightstand next to the bed of the hotel room he had rented. As beautiful as she was, she in no way compared to his Lili. Her long, red nails tapped against the wood, the only sound in the room. He didn't speak for a few tension-filled moments, only watched as she visibly prepared herself to go on her tirade.
"No matter what you do, Lili will still be with me. Every time we come back, we find one another. It was destined to be this way from the beginning. When are you going to learn to stop? Every time you go after us, you’re only making things worse for you. He leaned against the wall next to the bathroom. He had been coming out of it when she suddenly appeared in his room, talking on her cell phone with Lili.
Times like this made him feel it seriously sucked to know other demons. Most especially, powerful ones like Eva Jackson. Eva Jackson was proof that if you gave a demon an inch, that demon would take a mile. He looked at her and couldn’t stop thinking she had taken more than her unfair share of miles from the both of them throughout the years.
Eva gave a shrug of her slim shoulders. "I will never stop, Sami." She smirked as his lips turned down, and his eyes darkened in anger. "Liliana needs to learn that what she did to me was wrong."
"What the hell did she do to you? She left Adam, which made it possible for you to exist." Why was he even trying to speak to her on a level she wouldn't understand? As many centuries that had gone by, she hadn't learned her lesson. Why would she learn it now? She didn’t want to learn anything, nor did she want to move past old hurts and wrongs. Stubborn, that was what she was, plain and simple.
"No, she made it so the man who should have been mine pined away the rest of his days over her! Instead of wanting me, he wanted her!" The venom in those words was like icy talons dragging across his skin.
"So you spend every waking moment, every time she is reincarnated, trying to sabotage Lili and me." The only proof of his annoyance was the shifting of his stance.
"Yes, it’s what I live for, after all."
"Drop the curse, Eva, please. Free us. We have been punished enough." His words were meant to entice her into agreeing to free them from the curse.
"No, I can't." She sniffed as if to dismiss his words.
"Can't? It's more as if you fucking won't. You're the key that keeps us in this holding pattern." He rumbled cynically.
"You're right. I fuc
king won't. So how about you pull up your big boy panties and get the fuck over it. You leave her and have something better." Samael watched as Eva stroked her long, crimson colored nails through her dark tresses. She preened and primped herself as if she didn't have a care in the world.
"And what the hell would that be?" He knew exactly what she was getting at. She had been after him forever. It angered her that he didn't want her, and that he only had eyes for Lili. It was a reminder for Eva of what occurred with Adam. The thing about the curse was that though he couldn't tell Lili who she was, it also made it impossible for Eva to allow him to forget Lili.
"You're life back and me. A sweet little packaged deal." She gave a wicked sounding giggle. She had everything all tied up in a neat little package in her mind. Damn, she was fucking crazy. However, that was an issue with all demons: they were inherently mad.
"I already have my life, and it is one with Lili. That's your whole problem, Eva. Every time she’s reincarnated, you always try to take what Lili has. It hasn't worked in the past, and it won't work now." There was a smirk on his face. He wasn't scared of her; she knew it, and it pissed her off.
The growl she gave would have crushed a lesser man. His skin was thick when it came to her. It did nothing but mar her beauty. His eyes narrowed as she moved close, trying to make him back up. He didn't. Her eyes became narrow slits as she brought her hand up, using a finger to jab him in the chest.
"If I thought you were right, I'd give up. But one way or the other she will break, and you will, too." Then with a flounce, she disappeared, leaving him alone in his hotel room. Eva had another think coming if she thought he would give up so easily and let her win. Hell would freeze over first. The curse wasn't going to be removed today. He would have to find another way. There was no way he was going to let Eva win again. Time was running out, but he would be damned if he would go out without a fight.
****
Liliana looked up from her desk in the back office of the business she ran with her sister, trying to focus on the numbers before her. It was hard to think of crunching numbers when all she could think about was Samael. Her sister was right. She wasn't where she should be, mentally at least. Lately, it was harder for her to focus. She couldn't stop feeling as if time was running out. This really didn't make sense when she thought about it. She was only thirty-two and still young with plenty of time. She should be in the here and now and not worried over the fact that her lover was a demon who only visited her at night. She wondered how many women had to deal with being in love with a demon.
At the rate she was going, everyone figured she would be an old, unmarried woman selling dildos and the like way into her eighties. She chuckled at the thought, thinking to herself that at least she would be one hip old woman.
Not to mention the fact that her being in love with a man she knew to be a demon would be disconcerting for most. From the time she could remember as a child, she had always felt there were unworldly things out there. It had gone beyond just believing there were other beings beyond humans when she was a young girl and had visits from her imaginary friend that she would play with when Eva was not around. A friend who’d help her when she needed help and even go so far as to protect her.
He would never present himself so that others would see him. He had always told her he was there for her and that there were others like him. He had said she would have an affinity for those like him and would now have her eyes opened to such things, as she was a natural. She would only not sense a being strong enough to block such things from her.
When she had asked him what his name was, he had told her Adam. For years, as a young child, Adam was always there. Then when it came time for her to grow up, he came to her and told her that he would have to stop coming around, that she was big enough to deal with life’s issues, and perhaps, someday they could meet again.
She heard the clearing of a throat and groaned. Of course Eva would catch her daydreaming. Why in the hell was Eva always in the wrong place at the wrong time? Every time she was thinking about Samael, there was Eva. If it weren’t absurd, she would think Eva knew what she was thinking and had come to disrupt those thoughts. She was being silly. Her sister loved her. She was a little overprotective. Yet, she loved her. She turned towards Eva, who was standing in the doorway taking a huge bite out of an apple, the scowl on her face all-knowing.
"Want a bite?"
Eva moved over to her holding a big crimson colored apple out. It looked delicious. For some reason, Liliana didn’t think she could even stomach it. It felt so much like a trap. Shit, what was she thinking, a trap? God, she was truly losing it! Her sister loved her. She wouldn’t do anything to harm her.
"No." Liliana shook her head vehemently. "Thank you, but no, I ate an hour ago. Not even hungry yet." Eva shrugged and perched her ass, clad in tight black jeans, on the edge of the desk and looked at her.
"So let me guess. You’re pining away for a man that is afraid to meet you in the daylight. A man, I might add, that’s probably married with the white picket fence, two perfect children and a dog. Which, my dear sweet sister, would make you the mistress. Are you so desperate, Lil, that you will take another woman's leavings?"
The pen that Liliana had been holding dropped onto the desk as she pierced her sister with a look of incredulity, her lips forming an O. Liliana fought the anger that was bubbling forth. This was Eva. This wasn't just someone off the street talking trash. It was her sister. She was so crossing the line, a very thin line that would be backing Liliana up against a wall if she kept it up. As much as she loved Eva, she needed to stop getting so close to that invisible boundary of what one didn't say to someone about her man.
"You don't know him, Eva, like I know him." She knew she sounded like a broken record. Eva just didn't get it, and perhaps she never would. God, she hoped that wasn't the case.
"I don’t have to know him to see what he is like and what he is doing, Lili." Eva took another big bite out of the apple. "You and I have always stuck together. Since the foster homes we bounced around in, who kept you safe? Who guided you through all the mess that happened to us and kept you from some of the shit that could have happened to us? Me! And this one time I tell you that someone is up to no good, you doubt me?"
"You don't know him like I know him!" Her voice rose with agitation. To calm herself she took several deep, calming breaths and then looked at Eva who still sat on the desk with her hand on her hip. "Please. Stop. This isn't the place for this. We need to get to work. I am almost done with the totals, and then we can go over the new items that have come in and figure out how we want to display them."
"We aren't done with this conversation by a long shot, Lili. I will give you your reprieve, as I know you are right about us needing to get things done today. So in that vein, I suggest you stop dreaming about Mr. Fuck'em and Leave'em and focus on the task at hand."
Liliana felt her lips tighten as she fought back the angry words that were so close to the surface. She gave a huff and a nod towards her sister, watching as Eva got up off the desk and made her way back to the office door to head out. She turned back to leave another parting shot.
"You'll thank me later." With another bite of the almost gone apple, Eva winked and left the room.
Thank her later indeed. Eva acted as if she didn't know Liliana loved Samael. This wasn't just a passing fancy of some young girl. No, this was the love of a woman who knew what she wanted, how she wanted it and why she wanted it. Samael spoke to her on every level. The pain of being without him was a physical hurt, not just a mental one. She felt so empty without him.
Yet if she were honest, it did chafe a bit that she only saw him at night. However, in truth, she knew why he did it. How could she tell her sister, or anyone for that matter, that the one she was in love with was a demon? She couldn't. She would just swallow the hurt and pride and made it seem like the situation was okay. Made herself feel it was okay to be alone half the time and only with him when it was night
time. It all seemed so convenient. A nice little present for Samael without any of the baggage that came along with being in a fully committed relationship.
The pull towards him was something she couldn’t deny. Besides, they didn't just fuck like rabbits all night, not as Eva thought. There was more to their time together than that. He held her and comforted her when she needed it, too. He let her talk about her day. He listened, and he told her he loved her. No, they didn’t have a conventional relationship by what society considered normal by any means, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t perfect for her. Samael was not a typical man. Hell, he wasn't a man at all; he was a demon. He was a demon with a curse. A curse he didn't like to speak of other than to tell her that it was his torment. The only thing he would tell her was that the curse was keeping him bound to the nightly visits. She believed him. Why would he lie?
A thought filtered into her mind that maybe he was lying because he was spending time with someone else when he wasn't with her. No! She wouldn't think like that. This was all Eva's fault. She had put that little niggling of doubt into her mind and made her question the relationship she had with Samael.
Her reflections returned to how Eva had offered the apple and how flippant she had seemed when she knew that Liliana loved Samael. Eva always had to be right about everything and always wanted to tell Liliana how to act, and this instance was no different. Her dismissive attitude spoke volumes of how little she thought of their relationship. The bond she had with Samael wasn't just a fling for her. It was love, something that Liliana had told Eva on many occasions. She laughed aloud, shaking her head. Eva really wasn't one to talk about relationships. She had scared off every man who was interested in her.
