Dancing on the Head of a Pin
Page 15
Humans would go about their lives without any idea of how close they’d come to annihilation. Michael would return to Heaven’s business. Lucifer would continue to plot his revenge from the bowels of Hell. The sun would rise and set. The waves would continue to kiss the shore.
The world would continue spinning.
Malak didn’t care about any of it.
His world, his life, lay as still as death in a pool of blood at his feet.
Michael laid his hand on Malak’s shoulder. “You fought well, little brother. As your reward, your soul will be made whole again. You can come home.”
Malak shook off Michael’s hand. “Don’t do it, Michael. Don’t take his soul from him. That was my gift to give him.” He looked at Michael, hot tears tracing his cheeks. “The only mistake Cael ever made was choosing the wrong side during the War. He paid for that mistake in flesh and pain. If my soul can give him any comfort in Hell now, then I want him to keep it, even if it means I can never go home again.”
“You would sacrifice that much for a demon?”
“No. I would sacrifice that for Cael. I love him, Michael, and nothing that Heaven or Hell can do will ever change that.”
“So be it. But I can’t leave you here, Malak,” Michael said, folding his arms across his broad chest, frowning. Then his eyes sparkled with a mischievous light. “Alone.”
Malak’s breath caught in his throat. Hardly daring to hope, he turned back to Cael’s body.
“Oh, my aching head. Mal? What happened? Where’s Lucifer?” Cael groaned. He tried to rise, hand reaching for his weapons even as his eyes blinked open.
“Cael,” Malak whispered, dropping to his knees. He pulled Cael into his arms, weeping openly. “I thought I’d lost you!”
“Lucifer… have to—”
“It’s over, love. He’s been sent back to the Pits.”
“It’s over? I missed it? Damn.”
Malak laughed, shaking with relief. He looked back over his shoulder at Michael. “Thank you,” he said softly, eyes bright with tears.
“You earned it, Malak. Demon,” Michael said, looking at Cael. “Take care of our angel for us. I’ll see you both at the end of time.” He smiled at them, then vanished, leaving them alone on the rooftop.
“Man, I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus,” Cael said, sitting up. He poked a finger through the hole that marred his Kevlar vest. “Ruined a perfectly good vest too.”
“Can you fly?” Malak asked. He cupped Cael’s cheek, running his thumb over the bristly jaw.
“Yeah. I’m fine. What happened, Malak?”
“Long story. Remind me to tell you about it sometime. I don’t have the time now.”
“Why? What do you have to do?” Cael asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.
“Take you home, strip you down, and make love to you until you can’t walk.” Malak grinned.
“Oh. Well, I can see how that would take precedence.” Cael laughed.
Malak melted into Cael’s arms, their lips meeting in a soft, tender kiss. He could have sworn that Cael had Hellfire in his lips. Their touch seared him to the core. His body tightened, a sharp-edged need flooding him that demanded he take Cael now, hard and fast. He groaned, forcing himself to step away. Taking Cael’s hand in his, he smiled.
Nothing would hurry them now, not even their own desires. Together they would go slowly, losing themselves in each other’s taste, in their scent, in their touch. They would not be rushed, would make it last.
They had all the time in the world.
More from Kiernan Kelly
It’s 1968, and Winter King is a young man with an exceptional paranormal talent for healing. Michael Westfield is a scientist charged by the government with capturing and bringing Winter in for examination. When Michael realizes the military wants Winter only to weaponize his power regardless of the consequences, his priorities shift.
And when they discover Winter isn’t the government’s only target, Michael and Winter band together to free the others and find somewhere they can hide from a government bent on hunting them down. Their plan takes them across the country from the Haight in San Francisco to Fancy Gap, a small town in Virginia where others with talents similar to Winter’s are being held against their will.
Along the way, they touch the lives of ordinary people with King’s extraordinary power and find an unexpected love growing between them that makes the success of their journey even more vital. Because if they fail, their love is not the only thing in jeopardy.
Ares, the Greek god of War, has fallen on hard times. Modern technology has left him a proverbial fish out of water, relegated to finding battle of a sort in rough biker bars. When Hermes shows up with an offer from Zeus, king of the gods, Ares thinks he’s finally found a way to regain his past glory.
A godling on Earth has come into his powers, and they’re strong enough to send a ripple through Olympus. Zeus needs the fledgling god dead. Dion, the godling in question, has no idea of his Olympian roots until he wakes up to find Ares there to kill him. But Dion isn’t totally defenseless, and Ares soon discovers he’s caught in a web of lies that only the Fates will be able to untangle.
KIERNAN KELLY lives in Florida among the alligators and palmetto bugs with her husband and a Shar Pei-Labrador puppy who thinks she’s a person (the dog, not Kiernan. Kiernan knows she’s a person. At least, she is after she’s had her daily dose of caffeine). Kiernan spends most of her time writing gay erotic romance while chained to a computer in the dark recesses of her office, which her children have dubbed, “The Gay Cave.”
Website: www.kiernankelly.com
By Kiernan Kelly
The Curious Case of Winter King
Dancing on the Head of a Pin
Don’t Try This at Home (Dreamspinner Anthology)
For Love of War
Staking His Life
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dancing on the Head of a Pin
© 2016 Kiernan Kelly.
Cover Art
© 2016 Paul Richmond.
http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63477-732-2
Published September 2016
v. 2.0
First Edition published by Torquere Press, 2007.
Printed in the United States of America
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